  THE DISSOLUTION. Attitude of the Grey Friars towards the Reformation in its intellectual, religious, and political aspects.—The Divorce.—Visitation of Oxford in 1535.—Suppression of the friaries in 1538.—Condition of the Grey Friary.—Expulsion of the friars; their subsequent history; Simon Ludford.—Houses and site of the Grey Friars.—Dr. London tries to secure the land for the town.—The place leased to Frewers and Pye; bought by Richard Andrews and Howe; resold to Richard Gunter.—Subsequent history of the property.—Total destruction of the buildings. The intellectual torpor which oppressed Oxford for more than a century after the disappearance of Wiclif and his followers was due less to the repressive measures adopted by Archbishop Arundel, than to the want of vitality, of adaptability to new modes of thought, in the scholastic philosophy and method, with which the intellectual life of Oxford had for so long been identified. The University as a whole did not extend a warm welcome to the New Learning, and it was to be expected that the Mendicant Orders especially should be attached to the old state of things, with which their past greatness was connected, and to which their present position and any prestige they still possessed were due[749]. The Grey Friars consequently were inclined to oppose the revival of learning; and Tyndale no doubt classed them among ‘the old barking curs, Duns’ disciples and like draff called Scotists, the children of darkness,’ who ‘raged in every pulpit against Greek, Latin, and Hebrew[750].’ Dr. Henry Standish, sometime Warden of the Grey Friars of London and Provincial Minister of England, attacked Erasmus’ version of the The close historical relation, notwithstanding the fundamental differences, between the intellectual movement and the religious movement, was neatly expressed in a saying current among the friars: ‘Erasmus laid the egg; Luther hatched it[753].’ The beginnings of the English Reformation in its religious aspect are to be sought among the educated classes, especially at Cambridge. The Minorites, while generally hostile to the new religion[754], did not take a leading part in suppressing it. And when it is remembered how very little progress the Lutheran doctrines made in England before the Dissolution, the few instances of sympathy with those doctrines recorded in the lives of Oxford Franciscans acquire a certain importance[755]. These, however, were exceptional cases. If we trace the fortunes of individual Franciscans after the Dissolution, it will be found that no generalization as to their attitude towards the Reformation can be made. A few remained loyal to the old religion[756], others embraced the new[757], and on both sides persecution was suffered for conscience’ With the Reformation as a political movement, the Franciscans had more sympathy. A large section of them had, long before this, taught the supremacy of the State over the Church in all things political[760]; they approved in principle the confiscation of Church-property for the common good[761]; and Friar Henry Standish, in defending the claim of the temporal courts to try and punish criminous clerks, together with the broad principles on which that claim rested, was only applying to present circumstances the time-honoured traditions of his Order[762]. It is true that the Friars of the Observance resisted the royal supremacy in 1534. But the supremacy claimed by Henry VIII went beyond anything asserted by his predecessors, involving, as it did in effect, the establishment of a lay jurisdiction superior to all ecclesiastical courts in spiritualibus as well as in temporalibus, constituting Henry ‘a king with a pope in his belly’[763]. The Franciscans at Oxford seem, like most of the religious, to have accepted the supremacy in this extended form and to have taken the oath without demur: at least there is no evidence to the contrary[764]. The oath administered to the monks and friars involved an acknowledgment, not only of the royal supremacy, but of the lawfulness of Henry’s divorce from Katharine and marriage with Anne Boleyn, and a promise to preach the same on every occasion[765]. The attitude of the Oxford Franciscans to the divorce, so far as it can be ascertained, may be briefly stated here. Henry attached great importance to securing a decision in favour of his divorce from the chief universities of Europe. The divorce became the all-absorbing topic at Oxford; and individual Minorites took a prominent part in the discussions. But the convent as a whole did not present a united front. Dr. Thomas Kirkham, a Franciscan, is mentioned as one of the Doctors of Divinity who opposed the The most active champion of the King’s cause was also a Minorite, Dr. Nicholas de Burgo, a native of Italy, who enjoyed the patronage of Cardinal Wolsey[769]. The unpopularity of the divorce, among those who were guided by their sentiments rather than by their personal interests, is shown by the treatment he received at Oxford. He was pelted with stones in the street, and the good women of the town would have ‘foyled’ him ‘if their handys might have served their harts’[770]. In retaliation the friar caused about thirty women to be locked up in Bocardo for three days and nights[771]. As we shall see later on, his services did not go unrewarded[772]. The position of Friar Nicholas, however, was exceptional, and his action cannot be regarded as representative of the feelings of the Oxford Convent. The causes which led to the dissolution of the monasteries do not concern us here. The friaries were not included in the Act of 1536 for the abolition of the lesser monasteries; they possessed as a rule no estates except the site on which they were built, and the gains to be derived from their disendowment were perhaps regarded as insufficient compensation for the odium which the measure would necessarily involve. The first blow had already fallen upon the Observant Friars, the fearless champions of the legality of the Queen Katharine’s marriage and of the Papal supremacy. The conventuals were left alone till Henry decided on the general suppression of the religious houses throughout England. The object of the royal party was then to obtain what was called a ‘voluntary’ surrender of their property from the members of each religious In 1535 Cromwell sent his agent, Layton, and others, to Oxford to reform the University. After abolishing the study of the schoolmen[774], the visitors proceeded to deal with the religious students[775]. For the reform of the monasteries, they were armed with a set of eighty-six articles of inquiry and twenty-five injunctions[776], the real though not avowed object of which was to make monastic life unbearable and so to prepare the way for ‘voluntary’ surrenders[777]. ‘We have further,’ writes Dr. Layton to Cromwell on the 12th of September[778], ‘in visitynge the religiouse studenttes, emongyste all other injunctions, adjoyned that none of them for no manner of cause shall cum within any taverne, in, alhowse, or any other howse whatsoever hit be, within the towne and the suburbs of the same, upon payne onse so taken by day or by nyght, to be sent imediatly home to his cloister whereas he was professede. Withoute doubte we here say this acte to be gretly lamentede of all the duble honeste women of the towne, and specially of ther laundres that now may not onse entre within the gaittes, and muche lesse within ther chambers, wherunto they wer ryght well accustomede. I doubt not but for this thyng onely the honeste matrones will sew unto yowe for a redresse.’ It is probable, that, between this time and the summer and autumn of 1538, when the general dissolution of the friaries took place, many of the Oxford Franciscans had left their house[779]. The Friary, it will be seen, was wretchedly poor and in a ruinous condition; ‘and few do geve any almys to them’[780]. The commission to visit the Oxford ‘At Mr. Pyei’s comyng home Mr. Maier and Mr. ffryer wer at London, and forasmoch as we dowbtyd of ther spedy comyng home, and Mr. Pye and I wer creadable informyd that it wasse time to be doing among the friers[782], we went to euery place of them and tok such a vew[783] and stay among them as the tyme wolde permytt.’ After visiting the Carmelites and Austin Friars, they came to the Grey Friars. ‘The Grey ffryers,’ continues London[784], ‘hathe prayty Ilondes behynde ther howse well woddyde, and the waters be thers also. They haue oon fayre orchard and sondry praty gardens and lodginges. It ys a great hoge howce conteynyng moche ruinose bylding. They haue impledged and solde most of ther plate and juellys forcyd by necessitie as they do saye, and that remaynyth ys in the bill. Ther ornamentes of ther church be olde and litill worthe. Ther other stuff of howsholde ys ybill worth x li. They haue taken vppe the pypes of ther condytt lately and haue cast them in sowys to the nombre lxxij, wherof xij be sold for the costes in taking vppe of the pypes, as the warden saith. The residew we haue putt in safe garde. Butt we haue nott yet weyd them. And ther ys yet in the erthe remaynyng moch of the condytt nott taken vppe. In ther groves the wynde hathe blown down many great trees, wich do remayn upon the ground. Thees freers do receyve yerly owt of thexchequer of the Kinges almys l markes. Thys howse ys all coveryde wt slatte and no ledde.’ Before August the 14th the doctor had sent up the plate of the Oxford friaries to Cromwell’s servant in London, Mr. Thacker, and received from him ‘a bill indentyd conteynyng the parcels of the sayd plate wt the nombre of ownces.’[785] The following is the list of
The treatment of the friars themselves was a more complicated problem. All of them seem to have been willing to become secular priests, and London urged ‘that with spede we may haue ther capacyties, ffor the longer they tary the more they will wast[789].’ On the 14th of August[790] he complains that ‘as yet we haue nott the capacities and therfor be at the chardge in fyndyng them mete and drink.’ On the 31st of August, again, he writes to Cromwell from Oxford[791]: ‘I have causyd all our fower ordre of fryers to change ther cotes, and have despacchide them as well as I can till they may receyve ther capacities, for the wiche I have now agen sent uppe thys berar doctor Baskerfelde[792], to whom I do humblie besek your lordeschippe to stonde gudde lorde. He ys an honest man, and causyd all hys howse to surrendre the same and to chaunge ther papistical garmentes. I wrote to your lordeschippe specially for hym to have in hys capacytie an expresse licens to dwell in Oxford, altho he wer benefycyd; and your lordeschipp then wrote that yt wasse your pleasur he and all other shulde have ther capacities according to ther desyer, and for that thys man is now an humble sutar unto your lordeschippe. He hath be a visitar of dyvers places wiche they do call custodies, and knowith many thinges as well in London as otherwise, wiche he hath promised me to declare unto your lordeschippe, if it be your pleasur he schall so do.’ The list of Oxford Grey Friars who ‘wold haue ther capacytis’ which was sent to Cromwell[793], contains eighteen names, thirteen of them being priests, one subdeacon, and four not in holy orders. The It is not often possible to trace the subsequent career of the friars when they had been turned adrift on the world. The monks as a rule received pensions, and the entries respecting the payment of these in the Ministers’ Accounts and other records, afford some clue to their fate. The Mendicants except in a few isolated cases received no pensions. Dr. London in his letter of the 8th of July[795] asked Cromwell ‘what reward euery freer shall have ...[796] at ther departinge,’ but the question no doubt refers merely to the gift of a few shillings, which was usually made to each friar on his dismissal. No instance occurs in the records of a pension having been paid to any of the Grey Friars who were at Oxford at the time of the suppression[797]. It is probable that Baskerfeld, who was an important person in the University, received a benefice with license to live in Oxford. Robert Newman seems also to have been presented to a living[798]. But the career of only one of these eighteen friars can be traced with any certainty. Simon Ludford, a native of Bedford, became an apothecary in London. On November 6, 1553, he supplicated for the degree of M.B. at Oxford after six years’ study in the medical faculty. On November 27, he obtained the degree and was admitted to practise. The College of Physicians remonstrated with the University and recommended that the degree should be revoked on the ground of Ludford’s ignorance. Though the University refused to withdraw its license, the ex-friar proceeded to Cambridge, but the Physicians hastened to warn the authorities there against him. They had, they wrote to the University, already examined Ludford ‘on the 17th day before the Calends of March, 1553’ (?), and, finding him completely ignorant of medicine, philosophy, and the liberal sciences, and distinguished only by ‘blind audacity,’ unanimously voted against his admission. Ludford left Cambridge, but persevered. In May 1560, We turn now to the Minorites who had studied at Oxford, but who were living in other convents at the time of the dissolution. Of these a considerable number obtained benefices[800], a few even rising to positions of some importance in the Church[801]. But what proportion these successful cases bore to the unsuccessful cannot be even approximately ascertained; it would naturally be higher among friars who had received a university education than among the common herd. Yet it is unlikely that a majority even of the former were presented to livings. The number of disbanded monks and friars seeking employment as priests must have been very large, and at the same time the demand for priests was growing less and less.[802] Some of the friars probably drifted into secular employments; others perhaps joined the ranks of the ‘sturdy beggars’ of whom so much is heard in the sixteenth century. It can hardly be doubted but that the lot of many was one of hardship and suffering. In the eyes of Cromwell and his royal master the only question of real importance was the most advantageous disposal of the property. The buildings of the Grey Friars were of little account, and the convent was among those ‘howses of freres that have no substance of lead, save only some of them haue smale gutters[803].’ The site, however, was of considerable value, Dr. London was anxious that it should be secured for the city; and his letter[804] gives a curious picture of the state of Oxford at the time of the dissolution. ‘It ys rumoryd her that dyuers of the garde do intende to begge thees howsys of the Kinges hyghnes, and that with other consideracions moveth me now to be an humble petitioner vnto your lordeschippe for my neybours. We haue in Oxforde two of the Kinges grace’s seruantes The writer then urges that Mr. Banaster should have the site (‘cyte’) and profits of the White Friars, Mr. Pye those of the fair of the Austin Friars. ‘Mr. Pye specially hath be diligent to bring vnto the Kinges grace’s hondes thees howses, and therefor I besek your gudd lordeschipp to be gudd lord vnto hym. And syns Mr. Mayer com home he ys as diligent as maye be and so is Mr. ffryer.’ London goes on to plead for his ‘neybours of Oxford,’ ‘seying so gudd an occasion ys come wherin your lordeschipp may do vnto them the hyest benefytt that euer dydd honorable man. The greatest occasion of the povertie of thys town ys the payment of ther fee-farme. ffor thys ys customablie seen, that such as befor they haue be bayliffes hath be prety occupyers, if in ther yere corn be nott at a hie price, then they be nott able to pay ther fee-farme. And for the worschipp of ther town they must that yere kepe the better howsys, fest ther neybours and wer better apparell, wich maketh them so pore that few of them can recouer agen. If by your gudde lordeschips mediation the town my?t haue the grey and black fryers growndes after the Kinges grace hath be answerd for the wodd and buyldinges with other thynges upon the same, and lykewyse the cytes of the Whyte and austen fryers after the decese of Mr. Banester and Mr. Pye; It wolde mervelosly helpe the town, and geve them great occasion to fall to clothynge, ffor vpon the grey and black fryers water be certen convenyent and commodiose places to sett fulling mylles vpon, and so people my?t be sett awork. Now the baylys forcyd by necessitie taketh such tolls of such as passith by the town with catell or any maner of cariage as makith men lothe to com herbye; and Oxford ys no great thorowfare whereby moche resort schuld helpe them. Thys benefytt shuld lytill hynder the kinges maiestie and mervelosly helpe thys pouer town; and your lordeschipp schuld do a blessyd dede to helpe so many pouer men wich by ther fee-farme be notably poverischyd. And yet the Kinges grace schuld save a C markes yerly in hys cofers by reason of the grey and black fryers wich hath euery of them C (sic) markes by yere.’ The plan here sketched out, creditable as it is to its author, was not carried into effect. On August 10th, 1540, William Frewers and John Pye of Oxford, obtained a lease of the house and site of the Grey Friars, together with the grove containing by estimation five acres, for twenty-one years, at a rent of 20s. a year—half the amount In 1544 the tenants seem to have opened negotiations for the purchase of the property. In the official ‘particulars’ sent up to the royal commissioners we read: ‘These houses of ffryers ar wythin the towne of Oxford and as I haue lernyd they ar not nyghe eny of the Kinges houses neyther hys graces parkes fforestes and chase by seven myles. And what ffyne wylbe gyuen ffor the same I know not neyther can lerne. And they ar the ffermers them selues yt desyreth to by the premysses[806].’ The price which the tenants offered was probably unsatisfactory; the impecunious Pye with his wages of 4d. a day can hardly have had a chance against wealthier speculators in monastic lands. In 1544 a successful bid was made by Richard Andrewes of Hales, Esquire (Glouc.), one of the largest of these speculators[807], who as usual was acting in partnership with another, in this case John Howe. On July 14th, 1544, the King granted to these two, in consideration of £1094 3s. 2d. paid by Richard Andrewes, various monastic lands in the counties of Derby, Middlesex, Oxford, &c., including the sites of the Black and Grey Friars in Oxford[808]. ‘We give also and for the aforesaid consideration by these presents concede to the said Richard Andrewes and John Howe, the whole site of the house late of the friars Minors, commonly called “les Grey ffreers” within the town of Oxford now dissolved. And also our whole grove of land and wood with its appurtenances containing by estimation five acres of land, now or late in the tenure or occupation of William ffrewers and John Pye or their assigns; and our whole close of land called ‘le Churcheyarde’ with its appurtenances, now or late in the tenure or All the property granted was to be held by Richard Andrewes and John Howe and the heirs and assigns of Richard Andrewes, in chief, ‘for the service of the twentieth part of one knight’s fee.’ An annual rent was to be paid to the King from each parcel of property, the rent of the site of the Friars Minors being 3s., that of the Friars Preachers 4s. The purchase was purely a matter of speculation, and the next month (August 26th, 1544), Andrewes and Howe obtained from the King, for a fine of 9s., license to alienate the site of the Grey Friars, with the grove, churchyard, Paradise, and Boteham, and the buildings, except those already reserved for the King, to Richard Gunter, alderman of Oxford, and Joanna his wife, and the heirs and assigns of Richard Gunter, to be held by them ‘for the services due thence to us, our heirs, and successors[809].’ It does not appear whether the leases of Frewers, Pye, and Thomas, were cancelled or allowed to run their course. The subsequent history of the property is obscure, and probably would not repay an exhaustive investigation. Wood states that the land ‘being shifted through severall hands doth now acknowledg also severall owners[810].’ Part of it was ‘now inhabited by tanners[811].’ The island or grove on the south of Trill Mill stream belonged Writing about a century later, Peshall states that the site ‘now forms the messuage or Tenement and large Yard of Charles Collins, Gent; the Garden, Orchard, and Tenement of Swithin Adee, M.D., late Sir James Cotter’s, Bart., and the large Garden and Orchard called Paradise Garden. The Island in their possession ... is occupied by Mr. Shirley, which serves partly for a Tan Yard and Buildings necessary thereto[813].’ In a short time little was left of the buildings—so complete was the work of destruction. ‘The trees were soon cut down, all the greens trod under foot, the church thrown down, and the stones, with the images and monuments of the greatest value, scattered about[814].’ The name only survived; Agas in his map (1578) puts the Graie Friers where the house of the Black Friars stood. ‘The ruins of this college are gone to ruine,’ wrote Wood, ‘and almost lodged in obscurity[815]:’ and the ‘scanty fragments’ (rudera paucula) which were visible to Hearne and Parkinson as they walked towards the Watergate[816] have long since vanished. Even the use to which the materials were put is unknown. Some of the stones form no doubt the foundation-work of many houses in St. Ebbe’s: but while something definite is known about the materials of the Houses of the other Mendicant Orders, the records are silent respecting the greatest of the friaries[817]. BIOGRAPHICAL AND BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
