History of the religious orders and communities and of the hospitals and castle, of Norwich

Preface

The Manuscript which, has supplied the materials for the following pages is a quarto volume of two hundred and fifty-eight folios ; the first sixty devoted to notes upon the Castle at Norwich, the remainder to an account of the Religious Orders and Houses, and the Hospitals of the City. It is altogether in the hand-writing of its author, Mr. John Kirkpatrick, by whom it was bequeathed, with many others, to the Norwich Corporation. No portion, however, of that bequest, which was neither unimportant in quantity or in quality, remains at present in the hands of the legatees. Indeed, none is even known to be in existence, except the volume before us ;* and this is now the property of the representatives of the late Mr. William Herring of Hethersett, whose father purchased it many years ago of a bookseller. He himself lent it to the editor, with the

* Perhaps from this sweeping assertion should also be excepted a certain quantity of the " small pieces of paper containing notes of the tenure of each house in Norwich," [seep, xi); but on this subject the editor is not fully informed ; and he has reason to fear that, if such do exist, they are so scattered and injured by waste or neglect, as to be no longer applicable to any useful purpose.

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by the steps of the altar, bears the following Arms and Inscription : —

"Argent, a saltier, and on a chief azure, three woolpacks of the field.

Crest, a hand, holding a dagger, proper. Motto, I make sure.

" Here resteth, in hopes of a joyful resurrection, the body of John Kirepatrice of this city, Merchant, and Treasurer to this Hospital. He was a man of a sound judgment, good understanding, and extensive knowledge ; industrious in his own business, and indefatigable in that of the Corporation, in which he was constantly employed. He died very much lamented by all that knew him, on the 20th day of August, in the year of our Lord 1728, aged 42."

The farther particulars toriching Mr. Kirkpatrick that the editor has found it possible at this period to collect, are few, and principally extracted from a letter written by the late Mr. Woodward, himself no less persevering and successful an inquirer in the same line. His father was a native of the village of Closeburn in Dumfries-shire, a fact recorded by the son in his will, and farther proved by the arms just mentioned upon his tomb, which are those of the baronet's family of Kirkpatrick, of Closeburn. From Scotland he removed to Norwich, where he resided in the parish of St. Stephen. His son, John, was apprenticed in that of St. Clement, and subsequently established himself in business as a linen-merchant in St. Andrew's, in premises opposite Bridewell Alley. He was here in partnership with Mr. John Custance, who was mayor in 1726, and was the founder of the present family of that name at Weston. In the year of his partner's mayoralty, Mr. Kirkpatrick was

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ix appointed Treasurer of the Great Hospital in St. Helen's — ■ an office which his premature decease allowed him to occupy only for two years. He married the youngest daughter of Mr. John Harvey, great-grandfather of the late Lieutenant- Colonel Harvey, of Thorpe Lodge, where his portrait was preserved during the life-time of that gentleman. It has since been engraved in the very interesting series of portraits of the more eminent inhabitants of Norfolk, of whom no likenesses have yet appeared ; a work now in the course of publication, under the superintendence of Mr. Ewing. With such, Kirkpatrick is deservedly associated. He died childless. Of his family nothing more is known, than that he had a brother of the name of Thomas, who is mentioned by Blomefield as being Chamberlain of Norwich at the time he wrote. The account-books of the Corporation contain several entries in reference to both the one and the other, but not of sufficient interest to warrant the quoting of them at length. Of the latter, they show that he was elected chamberlain with a salary of thirty pounds per annum, in the room of Matthew King, in 1732 ; that in the same year the freedom of the city was conferred upon him ; and that twelve years subsequently he was removed from his office, by reason of irregularity in his accounts. To the antiquary their testimony is invariably honorable ; the most frequent notices being votes of money for the services he had rendered in adjusting the different accounts of the city.

As concerns the manuscript, more immediately the object before us, the following extract from Mr. Kirkpatrick's Will, will place, in the clearest point of view, his wishes and intentions regarding it, as well as regarding his other

X

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papers of a similar description : — " I give to my brother, Thomas Kirkpatrick, all my manuscripts, books, and papers, (which I have with no small pains and expense collected and purchased) relating to the History of Norwich, to enjoy the same during his natural life. And, after his death, I give them all to the mayor, sheriffs, citizens, and commonalty of the said city, to be kept in the city treasury, in the Guild-Hall there ; as well for their use and service on occasion, as that some citizen hereafter, being a skilful antiquary, may from the same have an opportunity of completing and publishing the said history, or such part of it as my said brother shall not publish. — I farther give to the mayor, sheriffs, citizens, and commonalty aforesaid, all my ancient manuscripts, and ancient coins of silver and brass, to be deposited in the library of the New Hall. — Also, all my printed books in the Anglo-Saxon language, and all such of my books as were printed before the year of our Lord 1660 and are not already in the said library ; together with Montfaucon's Antiquities, and Madox's Firma Burgi lately printed. — And I will and desire that all these things be kept there, for the same purposes as the other books in the said library are and shall be appointed by the said corporation."

Of the manuscripts referred to in the will, which bears date July 17, 1729, and is in Mr. Kirkpatrick's own hand-writing, the following were safe in the custody of the corporation, about thirty years ago, when Mr. De Hague held the office of town-clerk. They have now disappeared, ' as mentioned above, with the exception of the volume here

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xi printed (No. S), and of a portion of trie papers included under the last number.

No. 1. A thick folio volume of the Early History and Jurisdiction of the City; date 1720.

2. A similar folio volume ; being an account of the Military

State of the City — its walls, towers, ponds, pits, wells, pumps, &c; date 1722.

3. A thick quarto.

4. Several large bundles, foolscap folio ; — Annals of Norwich.

5. A fasciculus, foolscap folio ; — Origin of Charities, and

Wills relating thereto, in each parish.

6. Memorandum-Books of Monuments.

7. Ditto of Merchants' Marks.

8. Ditto of Plans of Churches.

9. Paper, containing Drawings of the City Gates and a Plan

of Norwich. — This is said to have been in the possession of the Friars' Society.

10. Drawings of all the Churches. — These Mr. Woodward

has seen in the possession of Mr. William Matthews, Mr. De Hague's clerk.

11. An immense number of small pieces of paper, containing

notes of the tenure of each house in Norwich.

In turning from the author to his subject-matter, it needs scarcely be mentioned that the points here selected by Mr. Kirkpatrick have already been described in the History of Norfolk, or that, as that portion of his work was completed and published by Mr. Blomefield himself, they are there treated of with knowledge and judgment. But his notices of them are necessarily scanty: the materials before him were too comprehensive and varied, to allow of his dwelling upon any particular one in its »full xii

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details. And yet both the first and the last deserve to be thus handled ; and they are so in the present work, which, in reference to the topography of a County or a Hundred, may be regarded as the monograph of a botanist — describing the Lily or the Rose, with its many species and varieties, and the peculiarities of each — as compared with the Species Plantarum or the Flora Britannica. In the part devoted to the Religious Communities, our author gives an account of the establishment at Norwich of the four principal orders of Mendicant Friars, the Minors, the Augustins, the Dominicans, and the Carmelites ; of the foundation of their monasteries and churches, their guilds and schools, and other dependencies ; of the continual increase of their lands and possessions ; of the benefactions they received ; of the different modes whereby individuals of importance became connected with them ; and of the eagerness shown by wealth and power to secure interment within their precincts. He also points out the widely- extended influence obtained by means of their Letters of Confraternity ; and, he, on the other hand, draws in strong colors the reverse of the picture, when the wisdom of the Almighty, through the agency of human pride and violence, and perversity and lust, annihilated at a blow the mighty fabric. Their churches fell, and their lands were sold, and their property confiscated, and the eager hand of unsparing rapine was every where extended against them. Yet still the popish services and vestments and sacred vessels lingered ; and the fires in Smithfleld, kindled by the bigotry of Mary, for a while relumed the ancient rites, till " the Gospel light that first had dawned from Boleyn's eyes,"

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xiii was at length diffused over the nation, under the sceptre of her successor.

In speaking of the Norwich Hospitals, Mr. Kirkpatrick confines himself to two, those of Hildebrond and St. Paul, both early establishments, and both suppressed at the Reformation. The latter, called also Norman's Spital, was founded at the beginning of the twelfth century, while Eborard held the see of Norwich ; and among its numerous charters it could boast of five, granted by English Kings — Henry the first and second, Stephen, John, and Edward the first. Its possessions in the county were considerable. In the seventeenth year of Queen Elizabeth, a part of it was converted into S( a bridewell and house of correction for sturdy beggars, who were therein set to work, to the great benefit of the commonwealth;" and in 1631 the whole was leased to one Robert Brooke, with a reservation, however, of so much of its antient character, that " he was obliged to take in and lodge for one night, in a convenient room within some part of the premises, all and every such wayfaring person and persons as should be sent unto the said house by the mayor for the time being."

In the matter of the Castle, Mr. Kirkpatrick has brought together whatever could be traced of its history: he describes it as it existed in his time : he enters at length into the castle-guard services, particularly those due from the Abbeys of Ely, of Bury St. Edmund, and of St. Bennet in the Holm : he enumerates the franchises enjoyed in antient times by the inhabitants within the liberty of the castle, called the castle-fee ; and he concludes with a description of the shire-house and ditches, and with a list of xiv

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the wardens and constables, commencing with the reign of Henry the third, and ending with that of James the first.

From the foregoing brief abstract of the principal contents of this volume, it will be apparent that the author embraces a wide field, capable of yielding much of instruction and interest to the historian and the antiquary, but not altogether attractive to the general reader. The latter, however, may not be displeased to be told, that he will every where meet with illustrations of antient usages and manners ; that by the catalogue of the library of an eminent monastery he may draw a comparison between both the quantity and quality of the books in such establishments, and those in the residence of a gentleman of the present day ; that in the details of the care and expense bestowed upon the decorating of the outsides of the houses with tapestry on public occasions, he may trace the use of the irons that will often strike his eye in the front of old buildings ; and that from the literal version of the Letter of Confraternity, he may form an idea of the necessity of the Reformation ; the sale of these, whereby the friars parcelled out a portion of their own merits to the purchasers, being among their most effectual modes of raising money, while the demand for them was so great that they habitually carried them in their pockets, " ready cut and dried," except only as to the name of the future possessor. He will probably be surprised to find the little real reverence paid to the emblem of our salvation, when he reads, how, on one occasion, " a crucifix was riven to blocks, to help to heat the plumber's irons for mending the church roof:" he will meet with various allusions to the importance of the village

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XV of Ormesby, its four churches and royal hall, all passed " sub silentio " by Blomefield ; and, though last not least, he will acknowledge with pleasure the extensive assistance to be derived towards heraldic, and more particularly genealogical, inquiries, by the lists of individuals who have been buried within the walls of the convents, or have made them the objects of their charity.

For all this, and much more, it is to be hoped that thanks may be considered to be due to Mr. Kirkpatrick for his labor in the compilation ; and the editor would fain flatter himself that, in thus preparing it for the public, he has not undertaken a useless or unprofitable task.

DAWSON TURNER.

Yarmouth, Htk March, 1845.

OF THE

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

AND

RELIGIOUS ORDERS IN NORWICH.

There were in England formerly (as now in Popish countries) several sorts of orders of persons called Religions, because they pretended to be devoted to continence and the service of God, and to have separated themselves from all worldly pleasures and affairs.

Isidore, in his second book de Ecclesiasticis Officiis, cap. 15, distributes the monks into six sorts, of which he commends three and explodes the rest : " among the former," saith he, " the first sort is of Coenobitce, who dwell in Monasteries, living in common after the manner of those at Jerusalem, who, at the times of the apostles, having sold all their possessions, gave all to the poor, and dwelt in the communion of a holy life ; whence monasteries had their original."

The second sort is of Hermits, who, retiring far from men, are related to follow and inhabit desert places and desolate wildernesses, in imitation of Elias, John the Baptist, &c.

B

RELIGIOUS HOUSES, &c.

The third sort is of the Anchorites, who, being become perfect by a monastical conversation, shut themselves up in cells, far remote from the sight of men ; giving access to no man, but living only in divine contemplation. But these are chosen to this contemplation, after, upon examination, they have been found approved in all the disciplines of a monastery for thirty years.

And from this shutting up, the Anchorites are also called Recluses. ( Spelm. Gloss, sub verbo inclusus.)

About the beginning of the thirteenth century, many new Orders of Religious sprang up, and speedily spread themselves throughout Europe : these were named Friars, because they called one another Fratres, or brethren, which, in French, is Freres, and thence came our English word Friars.

I shall take notice of such of them only as came and settled in Norwich. And, first, of the four principal orders of Friars : namely, the Black Friars, the Grey Friars, the White Friars, and the Austin Friars. All these were styled Fratres mendicantes , or begging Friars, because they had no revenues, but went about the country and cities to beg. In the statute of 4 Henry iv., they are reckoned in this order : — namely, 1, Menours, or Grey Friars ; 2, Augustines ; S, Preachers, or Black Friars ; and 4, Carmelites, or White Friars.

THE BLACK FRIARS.

John Bale relates that, a.d. 1204, or, as others say, 1197, the Dominicans, a bloody kind of Monks, now first sprang up, and that Dominick their founder, preached the cross against the Albigenses, (who were called Hereticks), and the Papists slew one hundred thousand of them, f Bale, Script. Cent. 3, 57 ; S, 67 ; et 4, 20.) Or, according to the Popish

IN NORWICH.

account of the matter, a. d. 1203, St. Dominick, a Spaniard, with, twelve brethren, his companions, founded the Order of the Preachers or Black Friars ; which being divinely instituted, he also (says the story) received the holy habit from the glorious Mother of God. At the command of Pope Innocent the third, he conquered, (compescuit) with wonderful power and speed, the heresy lately arisen at Tholouse. At length, a. d. 1223, he died at Bononia, a city of Italy ; and afterwards Pope Gregory the ninth, having heard of his miracles, &c, added him to the number of holy confessors (that is, made a saint of him.)

A.D. 1218. The Order of the Preachers, founded, as just stated, by St. Dominick, and instituted under the rule of St. Austin, as a new and most splendid sun among the thickest clouds of sinners, was this year, after many oppositions from bad men, at length confirmed by Pope Honorius the third, after a vision, in the first year of his popedom, in which he saw Dominick with a great multitude of Friars, in the Lateran church, all supporting it with their shoulders, as it seemed ready to fall. He therefore confirmed the said Order, and ordered it to hold the first place amongst the Mendicants. This Order, therefore, (proceeds the mendicant historian) flowing, as a most rapid river, from Austin, our father, truly a lucid fountain of paradise, we may most fitly compare to the river Tigris. For this Tigris, according to Josephus, is called Dilach, which signifies acute, because it is accounted the swiftest and most impetuous ; and so this Order is accounted always among the other Orders to be the most impetuous and boldest against hereticks, who are by all means to be extirpated, says my author, an Austin Friar, who calls himself reverendissimus pater Jacobus Philippus Bergamensis, Ordinis Heremitarum, in his Supplementum Supplementi Cronicarum ab exordio mundi usque ad 1502, folio.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES, &c.

But, in the famous Book of Lies, called the Aurea Legenda, or Golden Legends, compiled by James de V oragine, a Black Friar, printed at Lyons, a. d. 1514, (folios 79, 80, and 81) we have the legend of this Dominick, which tells us that, when his mother was with child of him, she dreamed that she bore a whelp in her womb, who carried a burning torch in its mouth, and that, being come out, it set fire to the whole frame of the world. And that a certain matron, who was his godmother, thought she saw an exceedingly bright star in the forehead of this child, which made the whole world light. Being grown up to man's estate, he became a great preacher against hereticks. And once, on a certain time, he put his authorities against hereticks in writing, and gave the schedule of them to a certain heretick, that he might deliberate upon the things objected against them. The same night, the party being met at a fire, this man produced the schedule which he had received ; whereupon his companions said they would have him cast it into the fire, and if it should happen to burn, then their faith (or perfidy rather) was true ; but if it could not be burnt, they would teach the true faith of the Roman church. Whereupon, the schedule is cast into the fire, which having lain there a little, it sprung presently out of the fire unburnt. All were amazed ; but one hardier than the rest says, " Cast it in again, and we shall be more fully satisfied of the truth." 'Tis cast in again, and again leaps out unburnt. Again he says, " cast it in the third time :" it was done, and again sprung out safe.* But the hereticks remained still in their hardness, and bound themselves by oath not to publish the matter ; but it seems one of

them did.

* This great Miracle was represented on the common Seal of our Black Friars of Norwich. (The Seal is engraved in Blomefield's History of Norfolk.)

IN NORWICH.

Afterwards, they tell us that Dominick, being at Home in the church of St. Peter, as he was praying for the love of his Order, he saw the glorious princes of the apostles, Peter and Paul, coming towards him; whereof the first, namely, Peter, (to be sure) seemed to give him a staff, and Paul a book, saying, " Go, preach, because you are chosen by God to this ministry and, in a moment, he thought he saw his sons dispersed throughout the world, going by two and two. Also, that Dominick, being at prayer another night, saw Christ coming in the air with three lances to destroy the world ; but that his mother came, ran hastily to him, and asked him what he would do, and fell at his feet, and expostulated the matter, and at last told him that she had a servant that could subdue the world to him ; and that she would give him a second also, who should faithfully labor with him. Hereupon, Christ desiring to see these brave servants, she presented Dominick first, and then Francis. Christ approved them both ; and, next day, Dominick fell in with Francis the first time, whom he knew again very well to be the man he saw in the vision ; and their hearts were as one ever after, &c. Many other strange things are related ; as of his casting a devil out of a novice, down whose throat the fiend had cunningly slipped along with a little wine, which the poor fellow had happened to drink without first making the sign of the cross on the cup. How a certain man, purposing to enter into this Order, was first taken with a dangerous fever ; whereupon, Dominick praying to the Virgin Mary for him, the good lady came in person with two beautiful damsels to the sick man, anointed him, and brought him the habit of the Order. And that Dominick also saw this in a vision ; and going in the morning to visit the sick man, found him restored to health. And, the

RELIGIOUS HOUSES, &c.

third day after, trie good lady came again and anointed him to so good a purpose, that not only the heat of the fever but the burning of concupiscence was so extinguished in him, that he had never the least motion of lust in him afterwards. But I cannot here recite all the miracles which they say he wrought ; such as raising the dead to life, forcing the devil to depart visibly out of people, his discourses with the devil, how Jesus and his mother drew him up to heaven on a white ladder after his decease, and of many miracles wrought by him after death. But these are so many and such palpable lies, that were it not to let Protestants see from what sort of a religion — a religion founded on lies and gross errors — they are delivered by their freedom from the Popish yoke, every wise man would with scorn pass them over as fooleries not worthy to blot paper with the mention of any of them.

A. D. 1198, Innocent the third was made Pope, by whose favour, saith Matthew Paris, there arose in Italy a new kind of preachers, who would be called Jacobites, because they began to imitate the life of the Apostles in diet and garments. They were in a short time multiplied throughout the world, by reason of their spontaneous poverty: residing by tens and sevens in capital cities, they took no care for, nor reserved any thing till, the morrow. They came first into England a. d. 1121, as Leland has noted ; or A. d. 1124, according to Bale.

A. D. 1226, these Friars Preachers came first to inhabit in Norwich. About a. d. 1253, came forth, on the part of the Friars Preachers, a book, intituled Evangelium JEternum, or the Eternal Gospel ; concerning which, in a book written against the said gospel by four Magistri, (Doctors of Paris) it is said, that some labour to change the gospel of Christ into another gospel, which

IN NORWICH.

they say is more perfect, better, and of greater worth, and they call it the Eternal Gospel, or the Gospel of the Holy Ghost, which being come, (as they say) the gospel of Christ shall be made void. The scandals and hatreds between the Magistri just mentioned and the Friars Preachers increasing, some of the most famous Doctors were chosen to go to the Pope, for the tranquillity of the university of Paris and for restoring the faith. And the Preachers also sent presently their messengers thither against the university. But the Pope, having heard the complaints of both parties, commanded that the said new book, which they called the Eternal Gospel, should be secretly burnt.*

A. D. 1259. The limits were settled between the Friars of Norwich and the Friars of Dunwich, whereby the Norwich Friars had all the county of Norfolk to beg in, &c, by the following instrument :

" Mememomndum — That, in the year one thousand two hundred and fifty-nine, the fourth of the ides of January, the Friars of Norwich and of Dunwich met together at Herringfleet,in the house of the canons of St. Olave, (namely, such of them as were elected by their convents, ad limitandum ) to settle the limits between the aforesaid convents, whose names were these : — on the part of the convent of Norwich, Friar Robert de Hecham, Friar Robert de Bristune ; on the part of the convent of Dunwich, Friar Geffrey de Walsingham, Friar William of Saint Martin. Which said friars there treated about making the limitation ; but, whereas they could not come to an agreement, there was also present Friar William de Notingham, at that time the Lector (or Reader) of Norwich, upon whom the said limiters had unanimously pitched, that, to which part he

RELIGIOUS HOUSES, &c.

should consent, the same, (namely, their proposal) according to the Acts of the Chapter of Glocester, held in the year one thousand two hundred and fifty-seven, should stand in force. And when the said friar, William de Notingham, had diligently considered the reasons of each party, he gave his assent to the party of the Dunwich ( elector es ) deputies : namely, that the ( aqua ) river which divides Norfolk from Suffolk should divide the limitation of the Norwich Friars from the limitation of the Dunwich Friars, as it hitherto hath divided. But that, nevertheless, the Friars of Dunwich should have the parishes of Mendham and of Ressewrde,* as well in Norfolk as in Suffolk, both in spirituals and temporals. In testimony of which thing, for perpetual memory, the prior and convent of Dunwich have caused this present writing to be confirmed by their conventual seal."f

It seems therefore that at this time there were no other monasteries of the Friars Preachers in the diocese of Norwich but the two above mentioned. And it being their custom that limits should be settled in all places, determining how much of the country each monastery should have for its friars to preach in and beg in, &c, these travelling friars were hence called Limitours, as we see in Chaucer, in the Sompner's Tale.

A. D., 1262. The Black Friars in England were employed in a notable service by Pope Urban the fourth, namely, to preach a crusade here for relief of the Holy Land, then newly overrun by the Tartars. I have seen in the Guildhall of Norwich, among the records belonging to the Black Friars, an exemplification which was under the seal of Friar Robert, the provincial Prior, of twelve

* So in the original. I have no idea what parish is meant — Editor. f Ex Autogr. in Guildhall, Norvici, inter cartas Fratrum Prcedicatorum.

IN NORWICH.

bulls of the said Pope, directed to the Prior Provincial of the Friars Preachers in England, concerning this business, which is dated at Oxford on Sexagesima Sunday, a.d. 1262; but the seal is lost, and the instrument much impaired by wet. It may not be amiss to insert here an abstract of the said bulls, to show the subtle arts then practised for picking the people's money out of their pockets : — In the first bull, which is dated the fourteenth of the kalends of May, the Pope, having set forth the miserable state of the Holy Land, requires the said Prior, by the Friars of his order, diligently to represent the same to the people of England and Scotland, and to press them to take upon them the sign of the cross, and hasten to the relief of the said land ; granting to all such persons, and to those who should assist with their p"urses, all that pardon of their sins, privilege, and immunity, which in a general council was granted to such as should go to the Holy Land for its defence. Granting also to the said Prior and his Friars authority to assemble the clergy and people of the places where they should preach this matter, who were to come processionally to such preachments. And also a power of granting forty or a hundred days of pardon to those people who came to them.