Part 9

=Sir WILLIAM DE LA POLE.= A merchant of Ravenserodd, who migrated to Hull. | +-------------------+------------------+ | | =Sir Richard de la Pole.= =Sir William de la Pole.= A merchant of Hull; A merchant of Hull, founder d. 1346. of the Hull Charterhouse and | first Mayor of Hull (1332–5); | d. 1366. | | =Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk.= Mayor of Hull 1376, and Admiral of the King’s Fleets in the Northern Parts; Italian Ambassador and | Lord Chancellor of England; | d. 1389 in exile at Paris. | | =Richard, Duke =Michael, Earl of Suffolk.= of Buckingham and Fought at Harfleur, and Chandos.= died of dysentery, Sept. d. 1889. 18, 1415. | +-------------------------------------+---+ | | =Michael, =William, Earl of Suffolk.= Earl of Suffolk.= Commander of the English army Slain at Agincourt, in France; became =Marquis=, and Oct. 25, 1415. later =Duke, of Suffolk=; was accused of various crimes, exiled, and murdered at sea, 1450. | =John, Duke of Suffolk.= Married Elizabeth, sister of Edward IV. and of Richard III.; d. 1491. | +-------------------------+----------+---------+ | | | =John de la Pole, =Edmund de la Pole, =Sir Richard Earl of Lincoln.= Earl of Suffolk.= de la Pole.= Declared heir-presumptive Beheaded by Fled to Italy, to the English throne Henry VIII., 1513. and was killed 1484; Commander-in-Chief at Pavia, 1525. in Lambert Simnel’s rebellion; killed at Stoke 1487.

PEDIGREE OF THE DE LA POLES.

In all English history there is no stranger family history than that of the De la Poles. For had there been no battle of Bosworth, the great-great-great-great-grandson of a Hull merchant would, in all probability, have become King John II. Such, however, was not to be, and there is now living no descendant of the first William de la Pole in the male line. A few years ago the female line was represented in the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, who was lineally descended from Richard de la Pole, the elder partner in the ‘great Hull Firm of De la Pole Brothers.’

XIV. MONKS, NUNS, AND FRIARS.

Scattered over some of the pleasantest parts of Yorkshire are to be found the ruined homes of men and women who centuries ago formed a very distinct class among the people of our country. These men and women were the monks, friars, and nuns of mediæval England, and their homes were known as monasteries and friaries.

The foundation of monasteries was due to the growth of an idea that men and women could serve God better by withdrawing entirely from worldly affairs, and by giving themselves up to a life of continual prayer and worship. Many were established in England during the tenth and eleventh centuries, but the great period of their foundation was that from 1066 to 1216. During these years no fewer than 556 monasteries were founded in our country, and 65 of these were in Yorkshire.

According to whether a monastery was independent of all others or not, it ranked as an Abbey or a Priory; and according to the particular code of rules under which its inmates lived, it was inhabited by BENEDICTINES, CISTERCIANS, or CARTHUSIANS. The monks of the Order of St. Benedict were popularly known as _Black Monks_, and their three Abbeys in Yorkshire were at Whitby, Selby and York. They had no House in the East Riding, but there were Benedictine nunneries at Nunburnholme, Nunkeeling, Wilberfoss and Yedingham.

The Order of the Cistercians, or _White Monks_, received its name from the Abbey of Citeaux in Normandy. In this the rules were stricter and the life harder than among the Benedictines. The Cistercians believed that the work of a man’s hands was as acceptable an offering to God as the recitation of prayers and the chanting of psalms, and hence they became great farmers and wool-growers.[29] Yorkshire was particularly their county, and the great Abbeys of Fountains, Rievaulx, Jervaulx and Byland were some of the wealthiest and most powerful in England. In the East Riding the Cistercians had an Abbey at Meaux and a nunnery at Swine.

Footnote 29:

In 1280 the monks of Meaux owned 11,000 sheep and 1000 beasts.

A still stricter Order of monks was that of the Carthusians, who received their name from the Abbey of Chartreuse in the south-east of France. From the popular corruption of the word ‘Chartreuse’ into ‘Charterhouse,’ their monasteries became generally known as _Charterhouses_. One of these was established at Hull by Sir Michael de la Pole,[30] and there was in the North Riding another at Mount Grace, near Northallerton.

Footnote 30:

Close to this Carthusian monastery Sir Michael also built—in 1384—a _Maison Dieu_, or Hospital, for twenty-six poor men and women, ‘feeble and old.’ Its buildings were pulled down during the second siege of Hull, but afterwards replaced by others. This is the ‘Charterhouse’ that exists to-day, the present buildings dating from 1780.

The life of a monk or a nun was one spent apart from the world but, at the same time, in common with all other inmates of the monastery or nunnery. The inmates worked together, prayed together, had their meals together, and slept in a common dormitory.

Their life was also one of absolute devotion to carrying out the rules of their Order. Each inmate took, on entering the religious life, the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. By the first, no monk or nun might own separate possessions except the necessary clothing and bedding. Thus, one mattress, two pairs of blankets, two counterpanes, one cowl and frock, two tunics, two pairs of vests, four pairs of breeches, two pairs of shoes, four pairs of socks, two pairs of day-boots, one pair of night-boots, one night-cap, two towels, one soiled-linen ‘pokett,’ and one shaving cloth formed the wardrobe of a Black Monk. In addition he might possess a silver spoon, and then his outfit was complete. By the second vow he bound himself never to marry, and by the third to obey implicitly the orders of his superiors.

* * * * *

The Houses of these monks and nuns were, with slight exceptions here and there, constructed on certain definite lines, which can best be illustrated by a plan of the Cistercian Abbey of Kirkstall, near Leeds. Surrounding all was a wall, not shown in the plan.

The arrangement of the various buildings was very simple. Foremost in importance ranked the _church_, which was always the first building to be erected and that on which the greatest wealth was lavished. To the south of this were attached the domestic buildings, grouped round a central _cloister court_. Of these the most important were the _chapter house_, in which the monks assembled each morning to hear a chapter from the Latin rules of their Order; the four _cloisters_ or covered walks in which the daily tasks of the monks were performed; the _frater_ or _refectory_, in which their midday meal was served; and the _dorter_ or _dormitory_, in which they slept. This last ran above the line of buildings to the south of the south transept, and had a staircase leading directly into this as well as one leading into the east cloister.

The other buildings included the _sacristy_ or treasure-house; the _library_; the _locutorium_ or parlour, which was a meeting-place for conversation as well as a school for the novices; the _infirmary_ for sick monks; the _calefactory_, or warming-house, where a fire was kept burning from the first day in November till the following Easter; the _kitchen_; the _cellarium_ or store-room; the _hospitium_ or guest-house; and the _Abbot’s house_.

Attached to each House of the Cistercians was a band of _conversi_, or lay brethren, the uneducated portion of the community, who did all the rough work of the House. Their frater and dorter were separate from the other buildings, the dorter running over the cellarium; and they attended service in the nave of the church, whereas the monks used the choir or chancel.

Such was the general plan of a Cistercian monastery or nunnery. That of the Benedictines did not differ from it except that their churches were larger and more magnificently built than those of the Cistercians, and their fraters ran east and west instead of north and south.

Look at the outer wall of the south aisle of Bridlington Priory Church, and you will at once notice something strange. The windowless wall and blocked arches are due to the fact that the Abbot’s house adjoined the church at this spot. Look along the wall farther to the east, and you will see plainly the brackets on which once rested the roof beams of one of the four cloisters.

In some cases the domestic buildings lay to the north of the church, but this was exceptional. Advantage was usually taken of the protection afforded by the church against the biting north winds of winter, an advantage not to be despised by those who had to live in unwarmed stone buildings on the bleak moorlands of Yorkshire. One can imagine a shivering monk returning from his two hours’ service in the church at two o’clock on a cold winter’s morning, and piling on the bed his whole wardrobe in a vain endeavour to keep the marrow of his bones from freezing into solid ice. It was worth something to be an Abbot. For the Abbot’s house had fire-places, and there would be little fear of his forgetting to make use of such a comfortable privilege.

* * * * *

As was mentioned earlier in the chapter, the monk lived in common with his fellows. In winter his time-table was as follows:—

7 a.m.—Prime—a prayer,[31] hymn, and three psalms. 8 a.m.—Mixtum or breakfast. 8–30 a.m.—Morning mass. 9 a.m.—Chapter, followed by confession of sins and punishment for faults. 10 a.m.—High mass. 11 a.m.—Dinner. 12 noon.—Manual work. 5 p.m.—Vespers. 6–30 p.m.—Collation—a short reading in the chapter house. 7 p.m.—Compline—a service in the church. 7–30 p.m.—Bed. 12 midnight—Matins and Lauds—services in the church. 2 a.m.—Bed.

Footnote 31:

The prayer with which the daily life began was this: ‘O Lord God Almighty, Who hast brought us to the beginning of this day, so assist us by Thy grace, that we may not fall this day into sin, but that our words may be spoken and our thoughts and deeds directed according to Thy just commands.’

Strict regulations were made with regard to the church services, manual work, and meals. Each monk had some definite occupation for his working hours. He was a stonemason, a carpenter, a worker in metals, a scribe, or a farmer; and his work must be carried out in silence—a very needful exception being made in the case of the blacksmiths.

Each monk’s dinner allowance was one pound of bread and a pint of wine or ale, with two cooked dishes and fruit or salad. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and all the days in Lent were fast days, when no meat might be eaten. On these fast days there were allowed as cooked dishes to every two monks either two plaice or mackerel, or four soles, or eight herrings or whiting, or ten eggs. No breakfast was the rule on fast days, and to avoid excess of blood due to good living, each monk was ‘cupped’ four times a year.

Table manners were also looked after. ‘No one was to clean his cup with his fingers, nor wipe his hands, or mouth, or knife, upon the tablecloths.... Salt was to be taken with a knife, and the drinking-cup was to be held always in both hands.’

More severe by far was the life of the Carthusians. They lived solitary lives, each in his separate two-roomed cell, never talking to others, and not even seeing others except at matins and vespers. A Carthusian never ate meat and always wore a hair shirt next his skin. It is therefore not surprising that this Order did not become a popular one.

* * * * *

So far we have been dealing with monks and nuns. Besides these there were the REGULAR CANONS—men who lived under a _regula_, or rule, as did the monks, and who took the same three vows, but who were generally priests, while the monks were generally laymen. The Augustinian Canons had priories at Bridlington, Haltemprice, Kirkham, North Ferriby and Warter, and there was a Gilbertine nunnery at Ellerton and a House for both Gilbertine Canons and Benedictine Nuns at Watton. Here the canons and nuns had each their separate domestic buildings, but they shared the church, the canons using one half of it and the nuns the other half.

Quite distinct from monks and canons were the FRIARS. Monks were concerned with one thing only—the salvation of their own souls. Hence their monasteries were, as a rule, built in desolate spots, far removed from the centres of population. The churches of the canons were, in most cases, partly used as parish churches, the prior of the convent being also the rector of the parish. Friars were concerned with the salvation of the souls and bodies of other people, hence they established themselves in populous towns. _Fratres_, or _frères_, they were to all poor people, whether they were Dominican Friars, Franciscan Friars, Carmelite Friars, or Austin Friars.

The followers of St. Dominic were the teachers, the followers of St. Francis the doctors, of the middle ages. _Black Friars_ and _Grey Friars_ they were in the language of the common people. Beverley had its Dominican and Franciscan Friaries, while Kingston-upon-Hull had its Carmelite and Austin Friaries—the names of the two latter remaining to-day in our ‘Whitefriargate’ and ‘Blackfriargate.’

* * * * *

It is difficult for us to realise what enthusiasm there was in the olden days for that which was called ‘the religious life.’ ‘It is good for us to be here, for here a man lives more purely, falls more rarely, rests more safely, and dies more happily’ was the honest thought of each of the _religious_ in early days.

But as with all other human institutions, these good ideals perished in the course of time. Men did not continue to live up to the rules of their Order. Even in Chaucer’s time—that is, before the year 1400—the typical monk had travelled far away from his vows of poverty and obedience.

Full many a dainty horse had he in stable. * * * * * * Greyhounds he had as swift as fowls in flight; Of riding and of hunting for the hare Was his delight, for no cost would he spare. * * * * * * He was not pale as a tormented ghost, A fat swan loved he best of any roast.

Chaucer’s friar was likewise a wanton and merry man, who knew the taverns well in every town.

His tippet was aye stuffèd full of knives, And pins also, fit for to give fair wives. And certainly he had a merry note, Well could he sing and play upon a rote.[32]

Footnote 32:

A violin with three strings.

XV. SAINT JOHN OF BEVERLEY AND HIS MINSTER.

Each of two East Riding villages, Harpham and Cherry Burton, claims to be the birthplace of Saint John of Beverley. His date of birth is even more uncertain than his place of birth; but we know that he was sent to school at the monastery at Canterbury, and afterwards became an inmate of the famous monastery of St. Hilda at Whitby. Then he was for nineteen years Bishop of Hexham, and finally, in 705 or 706, was ‘translated’ to York, and thus became the fifth in the long line of eighty-nine Archbishops from Paulinus to Cosmo Lang.

While John was Bishop of Hexham he purchased a plot of ground in Beverley, and on it built a church which he placed in charge of a small number of canons. The surrounding country was then nothing but swamp and forest—the swamps of the river Hull and the wild woodland whose name has come down to us as ‘Beverley Westwood.’ So fond of this church was John, that in 718 he gave up his Archbishopric and retired to Beverley, where he died three years later.

John’s church suffered the fate which came to nearly all the monasteries and churches of those far-off times. The ravaging Northmen fell upon it, and it was not till the reign of King Aethelstan that it recovered from their attacks.

Then its fame began to grow. In 934 Aethelstan was marching north to make war upon the Scots, and when at Lincoln met—so the story runs—a band of pilgrims who joyously declared that they had been healed of all manner of diseases by visiting the tomb of the blessed John of Beverley. Their story induced the King to pay a visit to the same tomb; so he journeyed directly north, crossed the Humber, and went on to Beverley, while his army went round by the longer branch of the old Roman road to York.

Arriving at Beverley, Aethelstan besought the aid of the holy Bishop John, and placed his knife on the high altar as a pledge of the rewards that he would bestow upon the church if he were successful in his journey. Thereupon a vision of John of Beverley appeared before his eyes, and he heard the words, ‘Pass fearlessly with your army, for you shall conquer’—words which certainly came true enough.

Believing that his success was due entirely to the power of the holy Bishop whose banner he had brought with him from Beverley, the King, on his return, liberally fulfilled his pledge, and endowed John’s church with grants of lands, tolls, and the right of Sanctuary.

=Swa mickel fredom give i ye,= =Swa bert may think or egbe see=—

is the way in which a charter of much later date than the time of Aethelstan describes the King’s gifts to John of Beverley’s church.

So great after this became the fame of the miracles performed at the tomb of the founder of the church, that in 1037 the Pope ordered that John of Beverley should thenceforth be ranked as a Saint. His bones and other relics were then laid in a magnificent shrine in front of the high altar, and the story of the fate which came upon the sacrilegious Toustain in 1069 is sufficient evidence of their power.[33]

Footnote 33:

See page 152.

* * * * *

The charter of Aethelstan was renewed by Edward the Confessor, Henry I., and Stephen; and in the reign of the last-named King the banner of St. John was for the second time in the forefront of a battle against the Scots. This was the _Battle of the Standard_, when the banners of the four northern Saints—St. Peter of York, St. Cuthbert of Durham, St. Wilfrid of Ripon, and St. John of Beverley—brought victory to the English host.

Once again an English King visited Beverley and carried north with him the banner of St. John. The King was Edward I., the ‘Hammer of the Scots,’ and the Household Accounts of his reign show that in 1299 there was paid:

To master Gilbert de Grimsby, vicar of the collegiate church of St. John de Beverley, for his wages, from the 25th day of November, on which day he left Beverley to proceed, by command of the King, with the standard of St. John, in the King’s suite aforesaid, to various parts of Scotland, until the 9th day of January, both computed, 46 days, at 8½d. per diem ...

£1 8s. 9d.

Edward II., Henry IV., Henry V., and Henry VI. all paid visits to the shrine of St. John of Beverley, and his power was once more demonstrated in the victory of the English army at the battle of Agincourt. For during the time that the battle was being waged, did not the tomb of the Saint sweat drops of holy oil? So at least said the pilgrims to the shrine, and certainly they ought to have known whether it did or not.

Royal gifts and pilgrims’ offerings brought great prosperity to the church of St. John of Beverley. But evil days were fast approaching, and in 1547 Royal Commissioners were sent to report on it. They reported that there were attached to the church a Provost, 9 Canons, 7 Parsons, 9 Vicars, 15 Chantry Priests, 4 Sacristans, 2 Incense Bearers, 8 Choristers, and 22 others, a total of 77 officers, who shared among them an income of £900 derived from lands and tithes. Two years later its revenues were declared confiscated to the Crown, and its inmates reduced in number to 1 Vicar and 3 Assistants.

* * * * *

Of the building as it was in its earliest days we know little. In Aethelstan’s time it was probably entirely of wood. The erection of a stone church is believed to have taken place in the reign of Edward the Confessor, but we know that in 1188 the chancel and transepts of this church were destroyed by fire.

Rebuilding was commenced shortly afterwards, and a lofty tower was built on the weak foundations of the older one. As a result the new tower soon fell, and about 1225 the building of an entirely new church was taken in hand. This was the time when what we call the _Early English_ style of building was in vogue, and there is nothing of this style in all England finer than the chancel and transepts of Beverley Minster.[34]

Footnote 34:

The name _Minster_ became attached in mediæval times to the great churches which were not parish churches but were governed by a _College_, or body of secular canons.