Dean
John Bernard of Tamworth
and
the sale of the church books
Niall
C.E.J. O’Brien
On 18th
December 1422 King Henry VI sent a commission to Thomas Stanley, esquire,
Thomas Mollesley, John Comberford, John Breton and the sheriff of Staffordshire
to make inquiries concerning the royal collegiate church at Tamworth,
Staffordshire.[1]
The church of St. Editha at Tamworth is said to be a royal foundation of the
tenth century. St Editha was a sister of King Athelstan and the wife of Sihtric,
the Norse king of York. She died in the 960s and was made a saint shortly
after. It is claimed that she was buried at Tamworth or at Polesworth, some
three miles away.[2]
In the early twelfth
century Tamworth church and castle was acquired by the Marmion family. The
collegiate church at Tamworth was founded by the family. In 1218 Robert Marmion
junior made a fine with the king to succeed to his English lands including
Tamworth. This event was witnessed by Henry de Pont-Audemer who we met in an
earlier article.[3]
[Link to article on Henry de Pont-Audemer = Article link]
In 1291 the last male
member of the family, Philip Marmion died leaving three daughters and one
grand-daughter as heirs. The crown lost no time in attempting to acquire the
colligate church at Tamworth. In 1203 Edward I claimed the advowson against the
heirs. The case went lapse as the grand-daughter was a minor. In the 1320s the
crown made two unsuccessful attempts to claim the church. Two minorities with
one of the inheriting families allowed the crown to intrude on Tamworth. In
1342 and 1347 the crown successful got its person into the prebend of Wilnecote
which was attached to Tamworth. The right of presenting the dean of Tamworth
continued to be claimed by the Baldwin family but after the death of Dean
Whitney in 1369 all further dean were royal appointees.[4]
Many of the subsequent
deans were career civil servants of the crown. Their presentation to Tamworth
was as much to provide them with a source of income as it was to care for the
spiritual needs of the people of Tamworth. In December 1399 Master John
Bernard, parson of the church of Bishop’s Hatfield, Hertfordshire, was
presented to Tamworth in an exchange of benefices with the then Dean of
Tamworth, John de Messyngham.[5]
John Bernard was a graduate of Cambridge University. There was an attempt in
1404 to present William Pountfreyt to the deanery but John Bernard kept the
position.[6]
John Bernard held a number of benefices such as Wilbeye in the Diocese of
Norwich and just collected the income for his own use. The jury at the
inquisition found that Bernard never resided in the parish for the whole of his
incumbency. The vicars and canons at Tamworth were left to care for the
spiritual needs on a very small income which sometimes left them unable to do
their job.
By 1422 reports of bad
practises had come from Tamworth. It was reported to the King that “all the
fruits, rents and income of the chapel of Middleton and the tithes of the mills
of the castle of Tamworth and of Amington, which were lately piously conferred
… by the founders of the … church of Tamworth for the common fund of the
resident canons … and for the maintenance of the business and ornaments … were
withdrawn …and wasted by certain enemies of the church of God and those
forgetful of the salvation of their souls, by applying them wickedly to their
own uses”.
It was further said
that there was “notable defects in the books, vestments and other ornaments of
the church have … resulted … in frustration and defrauding of the pious
intentions of the founders, to the grave peril of their souls …”[7]
A panel of twenty-three
jurors met at Tamworth on the Monday before the feast of St. Hilary in 1423
from which twelve were sworn. They found that the fruits, rent and income were
worth 16 marks per year and the tithes were worth 23s 4d per year. After the
deduction of costs and expenses for the business, ornaments and necessaries of
the church the resulting profit should go to the common fund of the church.
Instead, since Midsummer 1402 John Bernard, the Dean of Tamworth, took the
money for his own use and profit.
The church of St. Editha at Tamworth
The jury also found
that around the year 1401-2 Dean Bernard had sold the books, vestments and
ornaments of the church for his own profit. These books included “a missal at
the high altar, another at the altar of the Virgin, another at the altar of St.
John the Baptist, two graduals, two legends, both of saints and temporal
persons, four breviaries marked for the use of the choir, four processionals, and
ten copies of various patterns”. As well as telling us what type of books were in the church of St. Editha the report also tells us that there was more than one altar in the church. Many medieval parish churches had more than one altar whereas today most have just one altar. It would appear that there was a missal for each altar so that a number of services could be held at the same time. This would be particularly useful when conducting numerous memorial masses for the dead souls of the parish - speed up the process and earn more money by having more masses.
In addition to the sale of books, Dean Bernard sold six vestments, five silver chalices, four frontals for the high altar and four candlesticks among other items. The value of all these books and vestments was set at £200.[8] This action by Dean Bernard meant there was no sufficient missal left in the church and no vestments whereby divine service was completely withdrawn.
It must be remembered that the vast majority of books in circulation in the early fifteenth century were still hand made books and thus expensive. Printing was only just beginning in southern Germany and even many early printed books were illustrated by hand. Printing in England only started in 1476 with William Caxton and took awhile to take off. If John Bernard was dean of Tamworth in the early sixteenth century then the sale of the church books would not bring in so much money. It may even be the case that some books would not be worth selling because the market was full of printed books.
In addition to the sale of books, Dean Bernard sold six vestments, five silver chalices, four frontals for the high altar and four candlesticks among other items. The value of all these books and vestments was set at £200.[8] This action by Dean Bernard meant there was no sufficient missal left in the church and no vestments whereby divine service was completely withdrawn.
It must be remembered that the vast majority of books in circulation in the early fifteenth century were still hand made books and thus expensive. Printing was only just beginning in southern Germany and even many early printed books were illustrated by hand. Printing in England only started in 1476 with William Caxton and took awhile to take off. If John Bernard was dean of Tamworth in the early sixteenth century then the sale of the church books would not bring in so much money. It may even be the case that some books would not be worth selling because the market was full of printed books.
Clearly Cambridge
University instilled no love of books on Dean Bernard. The vicar of Morland in
the Diocese of Carlisle, Rev. Richard de Havingdon would be very displeased. We
saw in an early article [Link to Morland vicarage and the lost book = article link] how when Richard de Havingdon lost his book of canonical hours in 1342
while on a journey between Morland and Penrith, he was heartbroken and reported
the loss to his bishop with a “mournful face”.[9]
The jury calculated
that it would take £300 to restore the sold books, vestments and ornaments to
the church. They also calculated that it would cost more than £40 to repair the
chancel of Middleton chapel and its associated buildings. Even the rectory did
not escape John Bernard as he had four chambers knocked and the materials sold
for 400 shillings. The cost of repairing the rectory was judged at more than
£50.[10]
With such a report Dean
John Bernard should have had the “book thrown at him” but there was no book
left to use. Instead the report was buried in a filing cabinet in the chancery
and Bernard continued to hold Tamworth church until he finally gave up the
benefice in 1429. In February 1429 John Bernard exchanged Tamworth for the
prebend of Keton in the royal chapel of St. Martin-le-Grand in London.[11]
The new dean, Clement Denston, left Keton in February 1429 but he barely saw
Tamworth before he resigned in April 1429. Three more deans came and went in
quick succession before the appointment of John Bate in 1436. The new dean was
one of the few holders of the office to reside in Tamworth and in 1442 he
introduced reforms which included an increase in the wages for the vicars and canons.[12] It is not recorded if Dean Bate purchased new church books to replaced the ones sold by Dean Bernard.
Despite these reforms
the fortunes of the college continued to be mixed until it was dissolved in
1548. The church at Tamworth was retained as a parish church but the prebends
and other sources of income were sold to royal grantees.
============
End of post
============
[1]
J.W.B Chapman and Mrs. Leighton (eds.), Calendar
of Inquisitions Miscellaneous (Chancery) preserved in the Public Record Office (Boydell
Press & National Archives, 2003), Vol. 8, no. 5
[2]
W.M. Greenslade & R.B. Pugh (eds.), A
History of the County of Stafford (Victoria County History, 1970), Vol. 3,
pp. 309-10
[3] http://celtic2realms-medievalnews.blogspot.ie/2013/12/henry-de-pont-audemer-royal-official-of.html
accessed on 10 December 2014
[5] Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Henry IV, 1399-1401, p. 160
[7]
J.W.B Chapman and Mrs. Leighton (eds.), Calendar
of Inquisitions Miscellaneous (Chancery), Vol. 8, no. 5
[8] J.W.B
Chapman and Mrs. Leighton (eds.), Calendar
of Inquisitions Miscellaneous (Chancery), Vol. 8, no. 5
[9] http://celtic2realms-medievalnews.blogspot.ie/2013/07/morland-vicarage-and-lost-book.html
accessed on 9 December 2014
[10] J.W.B
Chapman and Mrs. Leighton (eds.), Calendar
of Inquisitions Miscellaneous (Chancery), Vol. 8, no. 5
[11] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry VI,
1422-1429, p. 531
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