gave mede, or hire, to come into worldly offices, and to get lordship and maintenance. He, lastly, denounced such confessors as winked at simony, by not warning prelates and lords of their great peril in holding curates in their worldly office, and for not requiring from them repentance and satisfaction for living in sin and treachery against God and his people.-[See Wycliffe's treatise "Why many priests have no benefices," as published in Gilpin's lives of "John Wickliff and the most eminent of his disciples," 1785, p. 88-101.] Wycliffe, in the course of his various writings, considers, that the evils which he describes might meet with a remedy from the interference of the state. His recommendation is to the following effect:-"Let the parochial boundaries in the ecclesiastical state remain. Let the present system of patronage continue undisturbed. Let what is solicited from the magistrate be simply protection, and to meet the evils arising from the withholding of public pastors from the established cures."[Dr. Vaughan's Wycliffe, vol. ii, p. 301.] Rector. Patron. Johanna quæ fuit uxor Jo. le Ware Mil. Cause of Regarding the right of presentation conceded to mortmain. family of John la Warre, being styled "atturnatus suus." The records in which his name appears certainly prove that he was more employed in the manorial than in the spiritual affairs of the barony, and that he likewise held a confidential situation under Roger la Warre. It is also worthy of remark, that, at a period ten years later than the induction of Thomas de Wyke into the living of Manchester, we find it noted, that a " Thomas, the son of Thomas del Wyke," was presented to the living of Ashton. Now, unless there had been a third individual of this name, which no record extant has yet shewn, Thomas de Wyke, the father, must have been a widower at the time when he accepted the incumbency of Manchester. That the son was illegitimate is out of the question, as the canons of the church refused ordination to the natural sons of the clergy.-[See page 109.] But whether the supposition is admissible or not, that Thomas de Wyke held some secular office in the household of Roger la Warre at the time when he was made rector, it is at least certain, that he formed no exception whatever to the succession of Manchester rectors, whose habitual absence from their charge, and employment of stipendiary and remotive substitutes, gave rise, on the part of the parishioners, to the most bitter accents of complaint. Wycliffe, a cotemporary of Thomas de Wyke, was the first, in the course of his agitation for reform, to denounce all lay patrons whatever for their custom of retaining such as they presented to benefices in some worldly office, and providing for them illiterate substitutes. observes, will hold their curates in some worldly The lords, he office, suffering the wolves of hell to strangle men's souls, so that they have their office done for nought, and their chapels holden up for vain glory, or hypocrisy. "And yet," as the reformer adds, and of good life, and holy ensample to the people, "they wolen not present a clerk able of God's law, penny-clerk [clerk of the mint], or one wise in but a kitchen-clerk [clerk of the household], or a building castles [an architect] or other worldly doing, tho he kun not read his sauter, and knoweth not the commandments of God, ne sacraments of holy church."-[From the treatise of John Wycliffe, "Why many priests have no benefices."] Upon the present occasion, however, it is impossible to say to what extent Thomas del Wyke would fall under the censure of Wycliffe; for which reason we must pause before his memory falls into farther condemnation. In justice to his patroness, the Lady Johanna, widow of John la Warre and surviving sister and heir of Thomas Greslet, it is only fair to add, that if the education of Thomas de Wyke had not previously been that of a theologian, we can readily understand why, on the occasion of his institution, she procured him a license for study (licencia de studendo), through the medium of the bishop of Lichfield. Any ignorance of the psalter, of the Divine laws, or of the sacraments of holy church, would thus be obviated. This is shewn in another entry relative to Thomas de Wyke, which, in the copy by Holmes, bears the date of 1332. But it is evident that 1352 must have been meant. words are as follows: p. 157. was accustomed to exert over the consciences of the faithful. It is remarkable, that even during Protestant times, these crosses, notwithstanding their great state of mutilation, continued to suggest conyenient sites for traffic when the town of Manchester was visited with the later plague of the reign of James the First. To this curious fact I shall allude hereafter. The § 8. THE GALLANTRY OF ROGER LA WARRE AT 1332. 5 Nov Octobris. Thomas de Wyke Capellanus, Rector ecclesiæ de Manchester. Licentia de Studendo. The date of this pestilence is three years later than that of the "first and great pestilence," which extended from the 31st of May to the 29th of September, 1349. Supposing that Hollinworth is correct in his history, it is a curious circumstance, that, in the history of the epidemic, it should have visited Manchester in 1352, instead of three years previously. In the vicinity of Stretford and the adjoining hamlet, named "Cross Street," a few stones may be found, named "plague stones." But a great uncertainty subsists on the question of their true origin. They have been described in this history as nothing more than the remains of stone crosses, originally planted as meters of the depth of the waters, when the low tract of land, in which they appear, was flooded over by the sudden rise of the waters of the Mersey and Irwell. The name which these crosses acquired of "plague stones," is of a much later date. There is a tradition, that they were in use when a sort of cordon encompassed Manchester, for the purpose of cutting off all communication with the town and the surrounding villages, except for the purchase of provisions from the country people. Now, as every town in England was encompassed with crosses, severally planted at each avenue leading to its church, or churches, the sites of such crosses would be selected as convenient trafficing places, intended to impart sanctity to the engagements of sellers and buyers, similar to the religious influence which a regular market cross THE BATTLE OF POICTIERS. The battle of Poictiers took place in the 30th of Edward the Third, September 19th, 1356. The Duke of Lancaster was one of the great heroes of the day. He had of his own retinue on the field eight hundred men-at-arms, two thousand archers, and thirty banners, whom he hospitably maintained at the rate of one hundred pounds a He is said to have expended, in the wars which gave rise to the victories of Cressy and Poitiers, a sum amounting to seventeen thousand pounds sterling, besides the pay which he had from the king. [Baines, vol. i, p. 137.] day. For the honour of taking John, King of France, Roger la Warre was one of the competitors. The French monarch had yielded to Sir Dennis Morbech, a knight of Artois, in the English service, but being afterwards forced from him, more than ten knights and esquires challenged the taking of the king, among whom Sir Roger la Warre and John de Pelham were the most concerned. In memory of so signal an action, and the king surrendering his sword to them, the Lord la Warre had the crampet, or chape, of his sword for a badge of that honour:-"a crampet, or."-[Coland Leigh's Accidence of Armory, 1576, fol. 51.] lins's Peerage, vol. ii, p. 88, and vol. vi, p. 176; 9. THE SECOND MARRIAGE OF ROGER LA WARRE. Roger la Warre had married, for his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Adam, the third Baron de Welles, by whom he had issue John la Warre, born before the year 1339, and Thomas la Warre, afterwards a priest in holy orders, who, late in life, founded the college of Manchester. The date of the demise of Roger la Warre's first wife is as uncertain as that of his second marriage with Eleanor, or Alionora, daughter of John, Lord Moubray, described as son and heir of John by Joan his wife,-which Joan was second daughter of Henry Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster, who was grandson of Henry the Third, King of England. In the eighth year of the duchy of Lancaster (1359-60), there were divers fines for writs de conventione, &c., concerning lands in Mancestre manor and the advowsons of the churches of Mancestre and Assheton, Penhulton in Salfordshire, &c., the nature and object of which are unknown to us. Some fines of an early date are also said to have been preserved in the Chapter House Record Office, relating to lands and messuages in the manor of Assheton. It is lastly stated, that a final agreement was made in the duke's court at Preston between Roger la Warre, knight, and Alionora, plaintiffs, and John la Warre, knight [the son of Roger's first marriage], and John Wyke, deforceors, or deforceants, of the manor of Manchester and the advowsons of the churches of Manchester and Ashton-[See Records of the Duchy, and Kuerden's MSS., &c., as quoted by Baines, vol. i, p. 347, and vol. ii, p. 190, 193, and 535.] We know nothing more of these law pleas than is contained in the following brief notice, which I have endeavoured to amend from a rather inaccurate copy published in the History of Lancashire, vol. ii, p. 190. Hec est finalis concordia facta in curia Domini Ducis apud Preston die Lune in crastino Sancte Marie Magdalene auno Ducatus Henrici Ducis Lancastrie octauo coram Thoma de Seton Henrico de Haydoke Johanne Cokayne et Rogero de Faryngton Justiciario et aliis Domini Ducis fidelibus tunc ibi presentibus. Inter Rogerum la Warre chiualer et Alionoram uxorem ejus querentes, et Johannem la Warre chiualer et Johannem Wyke deforciantes de manerio de Mancestre cum pertinentibus et de aduocacionibus ecclesiarum de Mamcestre et Ashton Vnde placitum conuencionis summatum fuit inter eos in eadem curia Scilicet quod predictus Rogerus recognoscat predictum manerium cum pertinentibus et aduocaciones predictas esse jus ipsius Johannis la Warre vt illa que ijdem Johannes et Johannes de Wyke habent de dono predicti Rogeri Et pro hac recognicione fine et concordia ijdem Johannes et Johannes concesserunt predictis Rogero et Alionore predictum_manerium cum pertinentibus et aduocaciones predictas Et illa eis reddiderunt in eadem curia habenda et tenenda ejsdem Rogero et Alianore et heredibus ipsius Rogeri de capitalibus Dominis [feodi] illius per seruicia que ad predictum manerium et aduocaciones pertinent imperpetuum. LANCASTRIE. What this plea can exactly mean, it is difficult to John la Warre and John de Wyke, prosay. bably a kinsman of Thomas de Wyke, rector of Manchester, are introduced to us as deforceors, or deforceants of the manor of Manchester, and of the advowsons of the churches of Mamcestre and Ashton. Now, according to lawyers, a deforcement (deforciamentum), is a term used when any one is cast out of his lands or possessions by force, -or, it is a withholding of lands or tenements by force from a right owner:-while a deforcior, or deforciant, is one who overcomes and casts forth by force and violence, or who holds out against the right heir, or who enters forcibly into the possession of a property before the law has decided his right therein.-[See Jacob's Law Dict.: In voce deforcement.] In keeping these definitions in view, I shall,— with the assistance of a friend more conversant with the imaginary processes of ancient law courts relative to tenure, than I profess to be myself,attempt to divest this suit of some part of its mystery: The effect of this instrument, so far as it affects the rights of Alionora la Warre, would be to give to her, in case she should survive her husband, a life estate in the whole of the hereditaments, in lieu of a life estate in a third part only, to which she would have been entitled as her dower at common law. And, in consideration of this gift, she probably, by some other fine, released other lands and hereditaments of Roger la Warre (mayhap in some other county), from her right of dower. § 10. THE PRIVILeges of manchester as a free BOROUGH ARE DISputed. Henry, Duke of Lancaster, was a munificent prince, by whom the monastery and the parish church were alike endowed. The possessions which he held in the hundred of Salford were very great, and he was jealous of any infringement upon his influence, or power, particularly by his neighbour, the baron of Manchester. West Derby manor, and Salford manor, with the annexations of divers feuda were held by him as from the honour of Tuttebury, viz.:-Childwall, Burghton, Barton in Salfordshire, Asphull, Brokholes, Dalton, Parbold, Withington, Lostock, Rumworth, Pilkington, Worthington, Heton-subtus-Horwich, Tildesley, and Barton.-Other possessions adjoining the barony of Manchester, and apparently unconnected with the honour of Tuttebury, were Great Penhulton [Pendleton ?], Great Merley, Bury, Middleton, and Penhulton in Salfordshire. There was also ascribed to him lands at Flixton, Tildsley, and Bedford. When Henry, Duke of Lancaster, had the territories of a petty sovereign conceded to him, he seems to have been actuated with the wish to suppress many local courts of jurisdiction, which had infringed upon the sphere of jurisdiction enjoyed by him in the hundred of Salford, as well as in other parts of the Honour of Lancaster. With these ambitious views, his attention was particularly directed to the newly-created portemanmote of Manchester, and to the necessity of limiting the privileges of the baronial court of Roger la Warre. In the creation of a newer court of justice for the burgesses of Manchester, a great question had certainly been overlooked. It had been inferred, from a regulation of Edward the Confessor, that, if the lord had full jurisdiction equal to that of the sheriff, namely, the privilege of holding both criminal and civil pleas in a court leet and in his court baron, as the sheriff had in his tourn and hundred courts,-that, in this case, the jurisdiction of the sheriff would be excluded. Accordingly, when Ranulf de Blundeville, lord of the wapentake of Salford, granted a portemanmote to the borough of Salford, a jurisdiction equal to that of the sheriff must have certainly subsisted. But it must also be kept in view, that to the same Earl of Chester had been intrusted the custody of the Honour of Lancaster. It was impossible, therefore, that the functions of the new portemanmote of Salford would be overruled either by the hundred court of Salford, of which court the portemanmote was merely part and parcel, or even by the sheriff's tourn held within the Honour of Lancaster. But, with regard to the portemanmote of Manchester, the circumstances were widely different. Thomas Greslet, a former baron, owed an ancient service to the court of the Salford wapentake, which had rendered his newly-created portemanmote an inferior tribunal, incapable of excluding from any interference with the jurisdiction of Manchester, the bailiffs of the wapentake of Salford, much less the bailiffs of the sheriffs' tourn. This inferiority is evident from the state of the law at that time, as it has been explained by Messrs. Merewether and Stephens (in vol. i, p. 52, of their work), after the following manner:-"If the lord has only a partial jurisdiction either with respect. to the subject to be inquired into, or the persons to be subjected to the inquiry, then the sheriff would be obliged to interfere in all criminal matters: or, if he has only a jurisdiction over his own tenants, then the freemen, and all others residing in the district, would be under the jurisdiction of the sheriff, who would be obliged to interfere. And in neither of these cases would the sheriff's jurisdiction be ousted, but the place, though the land belonged to the lord, would continue to be part of the shire." Such were the grounds of the dispute, which arose in the year 1359, between Henry, the first Duke of Lancaster, and Roger la Warre, the inhabitants of the town having been amerced by the bailiffs of the duke in damages, to the prejudice (as it was alleged) of the lord of Manchester. For the settlement of the matter at issue, the duke, in 1359, caused an inquisition to be taken at Preston, before Thomas de Seton, and others, his justices, by the oaths of John Ratcliffe, Oates Halsal, Roger de Bradshagh, Henry, son of Simon de Bickerstath, Robert de Trafford, Adam de Hopwood, Roger de Barlow, John del Hoult, Robert de Hulme, John de Chetham, Thomas de Strangewayes, and John de Scholefield, who (as it is added) were "brought in upon their oaths; that the sayd Roger and his ancestors, time out of mind, held the towne of Manchester, not as a burrough, but as a market towne, enjoying some priviledges, as infangtheife, breaches of the peace, assize of bread and beer, waif and stray, punishment of butchers, tanners, and retailers, gallows and tumbrel, fair and free warren." Farther than this brief summary of the dispute, as revealed to us by Hollinworth, and a notice to be found among the Harleian manuscripts, we know nothing. It would appear, first, that the lord of Manchester had no judicial privilege to which he had a legal claim, except that of his court baron; secondly, that there could be no judicial officer appointed by the lord of Manchester, whose general authority was equal to that of the lord of the wapentake of Salford, or to that of the sheriff's tourn;-thirdly, that the jurisdiction of the wapentake of Salford, as well as of the sheriff's tourn, would, of course, continue to be in force within the town of Manchester in all cases, except such as related to the lord and his tenants, which, according to ancient usage, would be determinable by the court baron;-and, fourthly, that the newer portemanmote of Manchester was merely a subsidiary court of the said court baron. As for the exclusion of Manchester from the list of English free boroughs, this disparagement was doubtless suggested by the angry feelings of the Duke of Lancaster. Manchester was strictly a borough, or pledged town, and it possessed sufficient privileges, by the charter of Thomas Greslet, to entitle it to the name of a free borough. But, at this time, there was an unwillingness to dignify any town with the name of "free borough," unless it possessed a jurisdiction competent to the exclusion of the sheriff's tourn,— which Manchester did not. There was, also, an unwarrantable liberty everywhere taken with boroughs: they were not unfrequently seized into the king's hands for the purpose of extorting money, and, when payments were made, they were indulged, by the force of new charters, with regrants, or confirmations of their ancient privileges. It is related, that, at this time, the whole rental of the lord of the manor, derived from his possessions within the hundred of Salford, amounted to £137 19s. 6d. § 11. THE NAMES OF TWO CHAPLAINS OF MAN- § 12. THOMAS, THE SON OF THOMAS DEL WYKE, CHESTER. These two chaplains were Galfridus de Bexwyck and Roger de Mamcestr. The ancient family of the Beswickes is associated with the history of the most valued foundations of Manchester, namely, those of the Collegiate Church and Free Grammar School. Nor has Manchester in any period been enabled to boast of inhabitants more devoted to its weal, than those who during many generations have borne this honoured name, for which reason, I have felt anxious to record the name of a chaplain, Galfridus de Bexwyck, who administered to the sacred duties of the church so early as 1361. Whether he was a chaplain of the parochial church of St. Mary, or of the chapel founded by Robert Greslet, is not known. His name appears in two documents, information of which I owe to the kindness of a reverend gentleman, who, from his near connexion by marriage with the Beswickes of Pike House, near Rochdale, the representatives of the family, has had access to valuable archives, whence I have derived (as will be seen in other portions of this work) much valuable information relative to the early ecclesiastic state of Manchester. The first of the documents adverted to, bears the date of the 35th of Edward the Third (A.D. 1361-2), William de Mamchestr et Galfrid de Bexwyck grant lands to Thurstan de Holand which they had from Thomas de Albany of Ael Pike in Denton subter Deneshagh:-divers remainders &c. And in a second document, of the date of 38th of Edward the Third (1364-5), Roger de Mamcestr et Galfrid de Bexwyck, Capellani de Mamcestr, convey messuages in Wythington to Thurstan de Holand. Date 11th Feb. Of the family of Roger de Mamcestr, nothing satisfactory is known. Mr. Raines gives me the additional information, that in another deed, the notice of another Bes RECTOR OF ASHTON. The following notice appears in Vernon's extracts from the episcopal registers of Lichfield: Time of Presentation. Rector. Patron. 1362. 4 Id. Maii. Tho. fil Tho. del Wyke. Rog. la Ware. The cause of vacancy is left a blank. As a conjecture only, I have suggested, that the father of this present rector of Ashton, Thomas del Wyke, of the same name with the son, might have been the rector of Manchester, who, before he took orders, had been a widower. The reasons for this supposition have been already fully explained.[See page 105.] § 13. ROGER LA WARRE IS ENGAGED IN THE CAMPAIGNS OF HIS Sovereign. During the term of three or four years, we have little or nothing recorded of the state of Manchester, or of its church. Roger la Warre was frequently serving with the king's army in France. In the 34th of Edward the Third, he was taken prisoner by Jo. Haubert. Two years afterwards, he was summoned to parliament. A mandate then came down to the sheriff to raise soldiers, men-atarms, and archers, to march against the Scots in Salfordshire. In 1364, Roger la Warre was again in the wars, serving in the retinue of Prince Edward. In 1366, we find John of Gaunt (late Earl of Richmond), who four years previously had succeeded to his father-in-law, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, invested with the title and honour of the dukedom, and engaged in the wars with France. In 1368, Roger la Warre was sent to Calais with the earls of Salisbury and Warwick, accompanied by five hundred men-at-arms, and five hundred archers. And, in 1369, four hundred archers of Lancashire were required to accompany John, Duke of Lancaster, to Aquitaine. wick in holy orders was to be found; but as the f 14. THOMAS DEL BOOTH PROMOTES THE BUILDdocument was without a date, it cannot be assigned to a proper place in this history. The memorandum sent me is as follows:-Thomas, son of Roger de Mamcestr, grants to Roger de Pilkyngton the lands which Adam de Pylkyngton held in Sharples, and which Geffrey de Mamcestre, Esq., his uncle, gave to Mabel, wife of the said Adam. Hiis testibus, Domino Johanni Byron, Thoma de As'ton Rogero de Mydelton Adamo de Prestwych Thoma de Heton Henrico de Workedslegh WILLIELMO CLERICO DE BEXWYCK, et aliis. [From a communication of the Reverend F. R. Raines, M.A., Incumbent of Milnrow, near Rochdale.] ING OF A BRIDGE FROM MANCHESTER TO John del Booth, supposed to have not been above the rank of yeoman, married, about the beginning of the reign of Edward the Second, Loretta, daughter and heiress of Sir Gilbert de Barton. A son of this marriage was John del Booth, who had for a grant of arms, a chevron, engrailed, in a canton, a mullet: the crests a Catherine wheel and an agnus dei. Thomas del Booth, living at Barlow, in the parish of Eccles, was rich in land, houses, and |