Appointment
to the Carlingford vicarage in 1361
Niall
C.E.J. O’Brien
Introduction
When you read the papal
appointments to medieval parishes as appears in the Calendar of Papal Registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland (20
vols. +) one could get the misleading impression that to be appointed all that
was needed was a letter of recommendation from the Pope or the local bishop.
Yet there was a longer procedure for parish appointments that was implemented a
local level in Great Britain and Ireland. Due to the absence of episcopal
registers for most dioceses in Ireland it is not possible to see this longer
procedure in action. English episcopal registers often show this longer
procedure.
Yet all is not lost in
Ireland as the Armagh registers of the Archbishops of Armagh provide us with a
few examples. In 1361 there was a vacancy in the vicarage St. Mary at Carlingford,
County Louth and in the Diocese of Armagh. The Register of Archbishop Milo
Sweteman provides us with a series of documents which show the procedure of
appointment and induction of a new vicar to a parish.[1]
First
stage of appointment: presentation
The first act in
filling the vacancy was the presentation before the 6th April 1361 by
Thomas de Burley, prior of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in Ireland, of
Sir Thomas Waleys, priest, to the dean and chapter of Armagh.[2]
The Archbishopric was vacant since the death of Richard FitzRalph in November
1360 and the consecration of the new archbishop, Milo Sweteman in November
1361.[3]
Second
stage of appointment: customary inquiries
On 6th April
1361 Master Isaac O Culean, canon of Armagh and commissary for the dean and
chapter, instructed the archdeacon, or his commissary, to make the customary
inquiries when a new vicar was presented.[4] On
26th April 1361 Hugh Germey, vicar of Drummeskyn, commissary of the
archdeacon, reported to Isaac O Culean that having made the customary inquiries
he found the vicarage to be vacant by the death of Sir Henry Mowir; that Prior
Thomas Waleys was the true patron and that the new prospective vicar was a fit
person to hold the position.[5]
It was an important job
to make inquiries as to who the right patron of a parish was, especially in the
case of Carlingford where the patronage was divided between the Knights
Hospitallers and the Archbishop of Armagh. In 1457 Master Nicholas Sutton entered
a bond of £40 with the Bishop of Bath and Wells in the event of any trouble
arising on account of he having admitted a new rector to Purlock church without
making the proper inquisition as to the right of patronage.[6]
Patronage
of Carlingford
The patronage of the
church of Carlingford in 1361 was divided between the Knights Hospitallers and
the Archbishop of Armagh. Within the Knights Hospitallers the patronage of
Carlingford was sometimes in dispute between the prior of Kilmainham, the chief
house of the Hospitallers, and the prior of Kilsaran in County Louth. In July
1471 Philip Bermingham, prior of Kilsaran, presented John Karny to the
vicarage. The previous vicar, William Water, had been presented by the
Archbishop of Armagh.
An inquisition into the
vacancy of the vicarage of Carlingford, taken in October 1471, found that the
patron was the priory of Kilmainham, near Dublin. Thus the July 1471 claim by
the prior of Kilsaran to be the patron was dismissed. The enquiry further found
that Kilmainham was the patron of Carlingford for one hundred and fifty years
or more, i.e. pre 1320. The evidence for these findings was based on ancient
documents of Steven Sedgrave, Archbishop of Armagh and the cathedral chapter of
Armagh.[7]
Carlingford
patronage before the Hospitallers
With the patronage of
Carlingford in the hands of the Knights Hospitallers one would expect to see a
reference to Carlingford in the records of the Hospitallers. Yet the Register of Chapter Acts of the Hospitallers,
covering the years 1321 to 1349 does not mention Carlingford.[8] This
absence may be because the parish was not fully integrated into the property of
the Hospitallers or that it was at such a low level of priority that it didn't reach the records of the chief Hospitaller house at Kilmainham.
The above 1471 document
said that the Hospitallers had the patronage of Carlingford since before 1320. This
is confirmed by a royal pardon in 1327 given to Roger Outlaw, prior of the
Knights Hospitallers in Ireland, for appropriating in mortmain, without licence,
three churches including that of Carlingford, worth 5 marks.[9]
Yet this patronage was recent. Before 1314, when the Knights Hospitallers
acquired the property of the dissolved Knights Templar, the patronage of
Carlingford and the preceptory of Kilsaran were in the hands of the Templars.
In 1311 King Edward II presented Master John de Coleworthe, upon the
resignation of Richard de Estdene, to the church of Carlingford, in the diocese
of Armagh, which was in the king's gift by reason of the lands of the Templars
being in the king’s hands.[10]
Kilsaran, Co. Louth was
originally founded for the Knights Templar by Matilda de Lacy.[11]
It is possible that before the suppression of the Templars in 1307, Kilsaran
may have managed the patronage of Carlingford. If so, the claim of patronage by
the preceptor of Kilsaran in 1471 may not be so out of order.
A view of Carlingford from the Lough
Carlingford
in 1540
The dissolution of the
monasteries in 1540 provide us with further information relating to Carlingford
church and the patronage of the parish. The tithes of Carlingford were worth £4
10s of which two thirds of the tithes and altarages belonged to the rector. The
tithes of the fish caught in the Carlingford River were worth £6 and were leased
to Richard Rawson of Bristol for 40s per annum.[12] On
9th July 1539 the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem at Kilmainham
leased the tithes of the rectory of Carlingford to Richard Rawson for 81 years.
The same Richard Rawson of Bristol got other property from the Hospitallers on
the same date and a year earlier in June 1538. He may have been a relation of
the last prior of Kilmainham, Sir John Rawson.[13]
One third of these
tithes belonged to the Archbishop of Armagh. The rest of the tithes and
altarages belonged to the vicar. The advowson belonged two thirds to the King
and one third to the Archbishop.[14] A
later undated document, citing the property of Kilmainham priory at the
dissolution, said that the rectory of Carlingford with the tithes of fish and
the advowson belonged to Kilmainham priory while the presentation to the
vicarage was divided three ways with twice to Kilmainham and the third
presentation to the Archbishop of Armagh.[15]
It is not clear when
the patronage of Church of St. Mary at Carlingford was divided between the two
parties. It is also unknown where the Church of St. Mary was located in the
town of Carlingford.[16] The
Dominican priory of St. Malachy at Carlingford was founded it is said, by
Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster and lord of Carlingford, in 1305. But the Dominican
Archbishops of Armagh, Walter and Richard Jorz, are also accredited with the
foundation. The patron of the priory was the Earl of Ulster but the priory
history shows that the Archbishop of Armagh had interests in Carlingford.[17]
Third
stage of appointment: admission
We now return to the procedure
for the appointment of a new vicar to Carlingford in 1361. Following the report
of Hugh Germey on the 26th April 1361, Isaac O Culean admitted the
candidate for vicar, Thomas Waleys on that day or early next morning. On 27th
April 1361 Isaac O Culean issued at Drogheda a certificate of admission for
Thomas Waleys who he styled ‘chaplain’. In return Thomas Waleys gave Isaac O
Culean gloves as a token of acceptance and submission.[18]
Fourth
stage of appointment: induction
On the same day of 27th
April 1361 Isaac O Culean wrote to Hugh Germey informing him that he had
admitted Thomas Waleys to the vicarage and ordering the official or commissary
of the archdeacon to cause Thomas Waleys to be inducted to Carlingford.[19]
On 28th April 1361, at Drummeskyn, Hugh Germey issued an order to
Sir Adam, rector of Mar … [the document is faded here and the parish of Adam is
difficult to identify] to induct Waleys.[20]
Soon after Sir Thomas
Waleys was inducted to the vicarage of Carlingford (the rector of the parish
was the prior of Kilmainham). It appears that Thomas Waleys served as vicar for
many years. On 3rd May 1375 Archbishop Sweteman sold the tithes,
greater and less, of Carlingford and Coly for a year, to Thomas Waleys, styled
perpetual vicar of Carlingford, for £20.[21]
It is not known for how
long after 1375 Thomas Waleys held Carlingford. The next vicar that we have
record of was Sir Richard Waspall, who was vicar of St. Mary’s, Carlingford, in
about May 1407.[22]
===========
End of post
===========
[1]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380 (Irish Manuscripts Commission,
Dublin, 1996), nos. 2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5
[2]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, nos. 2, 2.1
[3]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, p. xiv
[4]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, no. 2.1
[5]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, no. 2.2
[6]
Sir H.C. Maxwell-Lyte & M.C.B. Davis (ed.), The register of Thomas Bekynton, Bishop of Bath & Wells 1443-1465,
part 1 (Somerset Record Society, Vol. XLIX, 1934), p. 279
[7]
Mario Alberto Sughi (ed.), Registrum
Octaviani Alias Liber Niger: The Register of Octavian de Palatio, Archbishop of
Armagh 1478-1513 (2 vols. Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin, 1999), vol.
1, no. 279
[8]
Charles McNeill (ed.), Registrum de
Kilmainham: Register of Chapter Acts of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem
in Ireland, 1326-1339 under the Grand Prior, Sir Roger Outlawe (Stationery
Office, Dublin, 1932), pp. xiv, 159
[9] Calendar Patent Rolls, Edward III, 1327-1330,
p. 171
[10] Calendar Patent Rolls, Edward II, 1307-1313,
p. 394
[11]
Charles McNeill (ed.), Registrum de
Kilmainham, p. 166
[12]
Newport White (ed.), Extent of Irish
monastic possessions 1540-41 (Stationery Office, Dublin, 1943), pp. 109,
110
[13]
Margaret C. Griffith (ed.), Calendar of
inquisitions formerly in the Office of the Chief Remembrancer of the Exchequer
prepared from the MSS of the Irish Record Commission (Irish Manuscripts
Commission, Dublin, 1991), No. H VIII 143/43 (11), (12), (13)
[14] Newport
White (ed.), Extent of Irish monastic
possessions 1540-41, pp. 109, 110
[15]
Margaret C. Griffith (ed.), Calendar of
inquisitions in the Office of the Chief Remembrancer, No. H VIII 195/57
[17] Aubrey
Gwynn & R. Neville Hadcock, Medieval
Religious Houses, Ireland (Irish Academic Press, Blackrock, 1988), pp. 222,
223
[18]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, no. 2.4
[19]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, no. 2.3
[20]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, no. 2.5
[21]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, no. 140
[22]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of
Nicholas Fleming Archbishop of Armagh 1404-1416 (Irish Manuscripts
Commission, Dublin, 2003), no. 55
