Nicholas of Wedergrave owes 50l. of the remainder of 91l. 6s. 3d. of the remainder of his account of the issues of the temporalties of the abbey of Glastonbury when void, as is contained in the principal roll and in the first roll, that is to say, by the mainprise of Andrew of Welles, John Danyel, and John of Uphull, executors of the will of the aforesaid Nicholas deceased, and of John de Say, William Homond, and William of Hyneton, of the county of Somerset, and Richard of Kyngton, of the county of Wilts, sureties of the same executors, for the aforesaid 50l., as is contained in the Memoranda of the 6th year among the mainprises of Easter term. Whereof the Sheriff answers above for 33s. 4d. And he owes 481. 6s. 8d. And he answers in 'Adhuc Residuum Somerset.'

[Pipe Roll, 178. Item Somerset, Dorset.]

Nicholas of Wedergrave renders account of 391. 6s. 3d. of the remainder of his account of the issues of the temporalties of the abbey of Glastonbury when void from the 21st day of November in the 16th year until the 12th day of March next following, as is contained in the principal roll, and 481. 6s. 8d. of the remainder of the same debt, as is contained in Item Somerset.' Sum, 87l. 12s. IId. In the Treasury 50s. by the Bishop of Bath, on behalf of Andrew of Welles, executor of the will of the aforesaid Nicholas. And he owes 85l. 2s. 11d. The same renders account of the same debt. In the Treasury nothing. And to the ministers and servants of the abbey aforesaid, that is to say, to 20 brethren of the same place and to 60 ministers and servants of whom 52 are officers (officiarii) and 8 are grooms serving in the abbey aforesaid and whom he had necessarily to retain for doing hospitality and other kindly services there during the time of the voidance aforesaid, to wit for III days including the first day, 53l. 13s., to wit to each of the said brethren and officers 1d. by the day, and to each of the said grooms Id. by the day, by the King's writ directed to the Treasurer and Barons for the executors of the will of the aforesaid Nicholas now deceased, enrolled in the Memoranda of the 6th year in Hilary term, wherein it is contained that the

said King Edward the father lately gave order to the said Nicholas that, out of the issues of the temporalties of the abbey aforesaid, he should cause the monks, the ministers and the other servants of the same abbey to have due maintenance and the accustomed yearly liveries, and the men who had corrodies in that abbey to have such corrodies during the voidance aforesaid. And although the Barons of the Exchequer allowed to the same Nicholas in his account of the issues of the temporalties aforesaid that which he paid to the monks aforesaid for their maintenance, yet divers sums of money which the same Nicholas paid to the ministers and the servants of the abbey aforesaid for their maintenance, and the liveries and corrodies which, in pursuance of the order aforesaid, he delivered to divers men, were not allowed to the same Nicholas, and by which writ the King gave order to the Barons that of those sums of money which it can be shown that the same Nicholas had paid to the ministers and the servants aforesaid, and of the liveries and corrodies which it can similarly be shown that he had caused the aforesaid men to have, they should cause the aforesaid executors to have due allowance, and by letters patent indented sealed with the seal of the convent of the place aforesaid and testifying that payment, and by inquisition taken on the premises and likewise noted to the Barons in the Memoranda of the 17th year of the said King the father among the Recorda of Hilary term. And to 19 men receiving divers corrodies and yearly liveries due to them in the abbey aforesaid before the time of the voidance of the same in money by tale paid to the same by the aforesaid Nicholas during the time aforesaid, besides clothes and hose and other petty necessaries due to certain of them, whereof they received nothing during the same time, 34l. 9s. 1d. by the same writ and by the letters, inquisitions and decisions aforesaid. And he has of surplus 59s. 21d.

[Pipe Roll, 178. Adhuc Residuum Somerset, Dorset.1]

1 Although this entry occurs on the roll for the financial year ending at Michaelmas, 1333, it appears to be later.

GLASTONBURY ABBEY AND THE

CHURCH OF WEST PENNARD.

THE document printed below was brought to my notice by the Rev. E. S. C. Lock, Vicar of West Pennard, who found it in a tin box in the vicarage. It is, as will appear, an award by William Wareham, or Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury 1504-1532, between the Abbot of Glastonbury and the churchwardens and people of West Pennard, who were at odds on the question of the repair of the chancel of the church of West Pennard. This is the churchwardens' copy of the award, and it must have remained in their custody. It is clear from the terms of the document that the church of West Pennard was a chapel of St. John's of Northbin in Glastonbury, which church itself belonged to the abbey (cf. Warner, History of the Abbey of Glaston, 1826, p. 247, note). The chancel of the church had apparently fallen into disrepair and the question had arisen as to the responsibility for its restoration. The abbey was in the position of rector or proprietor of the church, and thus would normally have the responsibility of the maintenance of the fabric of the chancel. But the award puts this responsibility on the churchwardens and people of West Pennard. The law in cases of this kind is thus laid down by Phillimore, Law of the Church, p. 1415:

By the canon law the repair of the church belongs to him who receives this fourth part [i.e. of the tithes, which fourth part was to be applied to the repair of the church], that is, to the rector, and not to the parishioners. But custom (that is, the common law) transferred the burden of reparation, at least

of the nave of the church, upon the parishioners, and likewise sometimes of the chancel, as particularly in the city of London in many churches there, and this custom the parishioners will be compelled to observe where such custom is. Where there is no such custom the parson is to repair the chancel."

The terms of our document would perhaps be best explained by supposing that there had been some dispute as to the custom between the parties and that the archbishop's court had found in favour of the abbey. The award was made on the 4th of October, 1528. It will be seen that the notary calls attention to the fact that certain words in the 19th line are written over an erasure and duly authenticates the words in question. But in 11. 8, 9 a later hand has struck through the date by indiction and pontificate in which the name of Pope Clement VII appears. Such erasures are common in documents of pre-Reformation date. It is clear that the churchwardens, when the Reformation came, felt it safer to comply with the times and to obliterate the dangerous name of the pope. In this connection it is interesting to note that one of the witnesses to the award is Thomas Bedyll, Warham's secretary, who after the death of the archbishop in 1532 went into the King's service and took an active part in the divorce of Queen Katharine and the changes in ecclesiastical policy which followed. About 1536 he presided over a commission appointed to examine papal bulls and briefs conferring privileges on churches and dignities in England with a view to their confirmation or abolition. And he revised the "book" that was circulated through England as a basis for sermons on the futility of the pope's claims to authority in England.

The following summary of the award will perhaps serve to elicit the material points from the cumbrous verbiage of the ecclesiastical lawyers.

Letters testimonial of William [Warham], Archbishop of Canterbury (1504-1532), notifying an award in a suit between Richard [Whityng], Abbot, and the Convent of Glastonbury on the one part and the wardens and inhabitants of the precinct of the chapel of West Pennard appertaining to the church of

St. John of Northbin in Glastonbury on the other part, concerning the repair of the chancel of the chapel of West Pennard and the restoration of the sacrament of the Eucharist on the high altar of the chapel. The abbot on the one part and Richard Tanner, warden, and John Honygood, John Donkerton, William Whyte and Walter Bevyll, inhabitants, on the other part, having committed the decision to the Archbishop, he makes the award as follows. The wardens and inhabitants and their successors are to repair and maintain at their own expense the chapel and its choir, its "roof, timbers, walls, foundations, doors, windows, glass, etc.," and the abbot and convent are to be free of the charge. The decree to this effect is to be read in the chapel during divine service before Christmas next on a Sunday or feast-day in the presence of a majority of the inhabitants by the clerk there serving or some other learned man from the pulpit, and explained in the vulgar tongue in a loud and clear voice, and immediately after divine service the wardens and inhabitants or a majority of them shall accept and ratify the decree before a notary and witnesses in the chapel and cause the notary to draw up an instrument or instruments with witnesses to testify such acceptance and ratification. And within eight days of such ratification the sacrament of the Eucharist is to be restored and to be suspended over any convenient altar until the chancel shall be sufficiently repaired. And the wardens and inhabitants shall repair the chancel at their own expense before Michaelmas and shall cause the sacrament to be suspended over the high altar by the archdeacon of that place or another priest by his authority. And with regard to the provision of a priest to celebrate divine service, formerly provided by the abbot and convent, and the provision of bread, wine, and wax for the priest to use in celebration at the altar, and the rendering of all archidiaconal dues, ordinary and extraordinary, to the archdeacon of that place or other ordinary, nothing is to be altered, but former custom is to be followed, the abbot and convent and the wardens and inhabitants performing what they have been accustomed respectively to perform.