>> 37 to assign to Robert de Messenden, king's clerk, appointed prebendary, a stall in the choir and a place in the chapter." His tenure of the deanery, however, was but a short one, for just seven months after his appointment he was succeeded (Sept. 12th 1265)38 by John Kirkby. Meanwhile the king granted to him the manors first of Havering39 and then of Silverton, subject in both cases to payments at the Exchequer, 40 Bishop Stubbs has been able to gather together some few details about him. William, or Geoffrey, Archbishop of Edessa, alias Rhages, in Media, was "suffragans in partibus. infidelium." He was an Englishman, and at the time of his election continuously abiding in England. He is described as being "circumspect, and a man of considerable eloquence." He consecrated the Bishop of Norwich in 1266, and consecrated the Priors' Chapel at Bury in 1275. He was present at the translation of St. Hugh in 1280. In 1286 he was acting as Suffragan or Commissary to the Bishop of Norwich, and consecrated the cemetery of the Carmelites "Lincæ." To him probably belongs the inscription on the wall of a barn at Rhuddlan, formerly the site of a house of Black Friars, "priez pur l'alme frere Will. Freney erceveske de Rages : with an effigy of a bishop with crozier and mitre." 41 The next four Deans are given in the lists. Of these John de Kirkby (1265) was afterwards Bishop of Ely; and John de Berwick (1286-1312) was buried in the South Choir aisle of Wimborne Minster. His altar tomb for nearly five centuries stood in the centre of the aisle, and upon it some portion of the business of the churchwardens, &c., was carried out, as the following extracts from the Churchwardens' Accounts will show : Dec. 14, 4 Edward VI. (1550). Item fyrst we the afor namyd John Ryckeman and Thoms fframpton (churchwardens) Receyvyd the same daye upon the tombe In the Churche viii li. 37. Patent Rolls, Aug. 18, 1265. 38. Ibid. Sept. 12, 1265. 41. Stubb's Registrum Sacr. Angl., pp. 195, 63. (Dec. 14, 1567). Receiptes. ffyrste Receyved at barwyke's Tombe of the p'rshe at ye daye of oure Charge viii li. (Dec. 1571). Receyved at the p'yshe handes at Barwyke's Tombe viii li. (1573). ffyrste Re' the daye afforsayde at Barwyks Tombe at the p'yshe handes accordynge to the Custome viii li. The tomb was lowered to the level of the floor about the year 1790, and it was removed from its original position and placed near to the south wall in 1857. An inquisition of 1316 gives us the name of another Dean, who does not appear upon the lists :-viz., Nicholas Daudel. Dorset. 1284-1431. A.D. 1316. Burgi, Ville, &c., earumque domini. In hundredo de Baddebury, Nicholaus Daudel' dominus. Wymburn Mynstre,-Nicholaus Daudel', decanus Wymbornie, et quatuor canonici libere capelle.42 66 He cannot have held the Deanery long after this, for 'Master Richard de Clare, one of the "King's clerks," was appointed Dean on August 22nd, 1317.43 On May 29th, 1335, another unrecorded Dean, William de Cornere, dean of Wymburne, is mentioned as being one of the witnesses to an Inspeximus and Confirmation of a Charter at York.44 Of the Deans who followed, Reginald de Bryan (1349) became Bishop of St. David's and afterwards of Worcester; and his successor, Thomas de Brembre (1350-1361), founded a Chantry at the Minster.45 The next unrecorded Dean was Roger Corringham, who was granted the Deanery of Wimborne Minster on December 24th, 1400.46 On February 28th, 1401, in his capacity as Dean of Wimborne, he presented to the Rectory of Hampreston. 42. Inquisitions and assessments relating to Feudal aids, 1900. 43. Patent Rolls, Aug. 22, 1317. 44. Ibid. May 29, 1335. 45. Hutchins' Dorset III., 186, 190, &c. 46. Patent Rolls, Dec. 24, 1400. Five more Deans follow in Hutchins's list before we come to Hugh Oldham, afterwards Bishop of Exeter, Co-founder of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and Founder of Manchester Grammar School, &c., who, according to our local historian, 47 succeeded" to this Deanery in 1485. This date, as will be seen below, is incorrect. Oldham was not presented to the Deanery of Wimborne until 1499, and before him we have the names of two more unrecorded Deans. The first of these was William Smyth, "clerk," who, on September 24th, 1485, was "by the king's special favour, granted the Deanery of the king's free chapel of Wymborne Mynster in co. Dorset." Born about the year 1460, the fourth son of Robert Smyth, of Peel House, Prescott, Lancashire, William was, according to tradition, educated in the household of Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby (first foundress of the Grammar School at Wimborne Minster), the second wife of Thomas Stanley, who was created Earl of Derby as a reward for the help that he had given in the battle of Bosworth. William Smyth, (king's) clerk, was made clerk of the hanaper on September 20th, 1485; and four days later was presented to the Deanery of Wimborne. Honours and preferment came quickly to him. Two of the daughters of King Edward IV. were entrusted to his keeping. He was a member of the Royal Council. He obtained the livings of Combe Martin, Devon, of Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, and of Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, all of which were in the King's gift; and, in 1493, he was presented to the Deanery of St. Stephen's, Westminster. Two years later, in 1493, he was consecrated Bishop of Lichfield; and in 1496 was translated to Lincoln. During the years 1500 to 1503 he was Chancellor of the University of Oxford; and, in 1507, conjointly with Sir Richard Sutton, he commenced the work of founding a new College in Oxford, for which in 1512 a charter 48. P.R.O Duchy of Lancaster Misc. Books 21 fol. 194. was obtained; and the King's Hall and College of Brasenose was established. He retired from the Bishopric of Lincoln in 1512, and died in 1514. William Smyth held the Deanery of Wimborne for seven years, when, as the following extract shows, he fell temporarily. under the displeasure of the King, and was dismissed from his office, being followed therein by Thomas Barrow, who was another unrecorded Dean. Grant to Thomas Barowe, clerk, of the Deanery of our free chapel of Wymborn Mynster, now vacant by the dismissal of the last possessor of the same, and in our gift by reason of its belonging to our Duchy of Lancaster. Dated at Chesterfield, 27 April, 5 Henry VII. (1492).49 Thomas Barrow, ecclesiastic and judge, rector of Olney, Bucks, had been appointed Prebendary of St. Stephen's in the Palace of Westminster, in July, 1483. He became Master of the Rolls in September, 1483, and on the 6th day of the following December he received the tun, or two pipes, of wine, which, according to custom, were granted to the Master of the Rolls. On July 29th he was appointed Keeper of the Great Seal; but, on August the 22nd, after the defeat of Richard III. at Bosworth, he delivered it up to King Henry VII. Although deprived of the Mastership of the Rolls, he was permitted to retain his Prebendal Stall and a Mastership in Chancery. He was apointed Dean of Wimborne on April 27th, 1492, and retained the Deanery until his death in 1499, when, as already stated, he was succeeded by Hugh Oldham. Four more Deans followed before the Deanery was dissolved in 1547, by the Act which was passed51 for the vesting of all Chantries, Hospitals, Colleges, Free Chapels, Fraternities, Brotherhoods, and Guilds in the King, &c. The celebrated Cardinal Pole, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, was Dean of Wimborne from 1517 until 1537, when he was deposed by Henry VIII.; and the last Dean, Dr. Nicholas Wilson, 49. P.R.O. Duchy of Lancaster, Misc. Books 21 fol. 194. 50. Ibid. fol. 194. 51. I. Edward VI., c. 14. 50 was appointed in his place. Although he is not an unrecorded Dean, I may be permitted to conclude this paper with a quotation from a letter written by him on August 25th, 1537, to Thomas Cromwell, which is unrecorded in the histories of Wimborne, as well as in any of the biographical notices of the Doctor which have hitherto been written. In this letter, dated the 25th of August, 1537, he states that he is going to visit the benefice which the King has granted him at Cromwell's request; and he asks Cromwell to obtain for him a deer (bestiola aliqua) from one of the royal parks near his benefice (Wimborne Minster), in order that he may give a dinner to his parishioners and friends.52 * 52. Gairdner's Letters and Papers of the reign of Henry III., Vol. XII.-i., p. 216. |
