The Unpensioned Ex-religious in Tudor England

G. A. J. Hodgett

doi:10.1017/S0022046900068330

The Unpensioned Ex-religious in Tudor England

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011

G. A. J. Hodgett

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G. A. J. Hodgett: Affiliation:
Reader in History, University of London King's College

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The first Register of the Faculty Office, in Lambeth Palace Library, is a document which throws much light upon those who left religion before 1538. These ex-religious were, in the main, unpensioned. Although the late E. H. W. Dunkin made an almost complete transcript of the register in 1890, these early records of the Court of the Faculties were at one time thought to be lost. So much has been written about the treatment of the ex-religious, their pensions and benefices, that only the appearance, or more correctly the re-appearance, of fresh evidence justifies further consideration of this subject. Views as to whether the ex-religious were well treated or ill treated have been widely expressed, and of those who applied for capacities in 1536, Professor Knowles has recently written ‘whatever the numbers concerned, they were certainly not very large, and as they were the first religious to appear in the market in search of employment they were probably absorbed without great difficulty’. Any material which increases our knowledge of the unpensioned religious should be brought before scholars for, as the late Geoffrey Baskerville wrote in 1937, ‘the after-careers of the religious who were dispersed in 1536 are more difficult to trace than those of their companions whose sense of vocation led them to accept transference to the larger monasteries, and who were eventually able to claim a pension.’

Type: Articles
Information: The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , October 1962 , pp. 195 - 202

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022046900068330 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1962

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^{page 195 note 1} The author is deeply indebted to Mr. E. G. W. Bill, Librarian and Archivist and to Mrs. A. E. B. Owen, formerly Deputy Archivist, Lambeth Palace Library for drawing his attention to this register (F.A/I/Vv), hereafter cited as Fac. Reg.

^{page 195 note 2} B.M. Addl. MS. 39, 401.

^{page 195 note 3} Essays presented to R. L. Poole, ed. H. W. C. Davis, Oxford 1927, 439, n. 4.

^{page 195 note 4} Knowles, M. D., The Religious Orders in England, Cambridge 1959, iii. 404Google Scholar.

^{page 195 note 5} Baskerville, G., English Monks and the Suppression of the Monasteries, London 1937, 155Google Scholar.

^{page 195 note 6} Baskerville, G., ‘Married Clergy and Pensioned Religious in Norwich Diocese, 1555’, E.H.R, xlviii (1933), 199CrossRef Google Scholar.

^{page 195 note 1} That of bishop Gardiner of Winchester, Canterbury and York Society, xxxvii; those of bishops Fox and Bonner of Hereford, ibid., xxviii; that of bishop Clerke of Bath and Wells, Somerset Record Soc, lv; and that of bishop Tunstall of Durham, Surtees Soc, clxi.

^{page 196 note 2} Associated Architectural Societies' Reports and Papers, xxiv (1898), 1–32, 467–525, xxv (1900), 459–544 and Line. Notes and Queries, v, vi (1898, 1901) and E.H.R. xix (1904), 106–21, for the diocese of Gloucester.

^{page 196 note 3} London 1708–10, revised by G. Hennessy 1898.

^{page 196 note 4} London 1900.

^{page 196 note 5} P.R.O. Exch. 334/1, 2.

^{page 196 note 6} In Lambeth Palace Library.

^{page 196 note 7} Oldham, J. B., English Blind-stamped Bindings, Cambridge 1952, 42Google Scholar.

^{page 197 note 1} In the right margin, anno 1^o Archiepi. Cranmeri.

^{page 197 note 2} Statutes of the Realm, iii. 464–71.

^{page 197 note 3} S.R. iii. 47 m.

^{page 197 note 4} I Fac. Reg. fol. 28. The Roman I has been used to indicate the first year of the register, II, the second year, etc. I have used the original foliation which begins each year with folio 1.

^{page 198 note 1} Letters and Papers … Henry VIII, ed. Brewer, Gairdner and Brodie (hereafter cited as L.P.), xiii, Pt. ii. No. 457 (p. 178).

^{page 198 note 2} L.P., xiii, Pt. i. No. 575.

^{page 198 note 3} V.C.H. Northants, ii. 176.

^{page 198 note 4} Lincoln Record Society, liii. 42 et al.

^{page 198 note 5} L.P. xv, No. 474.

^{page 198 note 6} L.P., xiv, Pt. ii. No. 262.

^{page 198 note 7} L.P., xiv, Pt. i. p. 597.

^{page 198 note 8} Cant, and York Soc, xxxvii. 115.

^{page 198 note 9} I Fac. Reg. fol. 2^r.

^{page 198 note 10} Cant, and York Soc, xxxvii. 108.

^{page 198 note 11} I Fac. Reg. fol. 5^r.

^{page 198 note 12} Valor Eccl, iv. 107.

^{page 198 note 13} I Fac. Reg. fol. 14^r.

^{page 198 note 14} P.R.O. Index to the Composition Books for First Fruits, s.v. Kent.

^{page 198 note 15} Valor Eccl, i. 109.

^{page 198 note 16} Ibid., v. 28.

^{page 198 note 17} Ibid., ii. 386.

^{page 198 note 18} Cant, and York Soc, xxxvii. 168.

^{page 198 note 19} Ibid., xxviii. 372.

^{page 199 note 1} Valor Eccl., i. 104.

^{page 199 note 2} Ibid., i. 91.

^{page 199 note 3} Ibid., iv. 333.

^{page 199 note 4} I Fac. Reg. fol. 43^r.

^{page 199 note 5} Valor Eccl., i. 324.

^{page 199 note 6} Ibid., i. 339.

^{page 199 note 7} Ibid., iv. 183.

^{page 199 note 8} Knowles, op. cit., iii. 305.

^{page 199 note 9} See Salzman, L. F., ‘Sussex Religious at the Dissolution’ in Sussex Archaeological Collections, xcii (1954), 26Google Scholar.

^{page 199 note 10} Knowles, op. cit., iii. 310.

^{page 199 note 11} Carmelite 10, Franciscans 16, Observants 4, Crutched 3, Dominican 5, Austin 8.

^{page 200 note 1} This figure is based on the sources mentioned above, 196.

^{page 200 note 2} II Fac. Reg. fol. 36^v.

^{page 200 note 3} P.R.O. Index to the Composition Books for First Fruits, s.v. Berks.

^{page 200 note 4} II Fac. Reg. fol. 19(ii)^v.

^{page 200 note 5} Ducarel's Index s.v. Hayse.

^{page 200 note 6} Ibid., s.v. Hadleigh.

^{page 200 note 7} II Fac. Reg. fol. 34^r.

^{page 200 note 8} Ducarel's Index s.v. Hernehill.

^{page 200 note 9} Pensions in L.P., xiii, passim.

^{page 201 note 1} In 1538, 326 Friars Minor, 249 Dominicans, 102 Carmelite friars, 79 Austin friars, Crutched friar, I Observant and 4 unstated: in 1539, 61 Friars Minor, 49 Dominicans, 59 Carmelite friars, 19 Austin friars and 1 unstated: in 1540, 8 Friars Minor, 1 Dominican, 3 Austin friars (omitting a few Irish and Channel Island friars).

^{page 201 note 2} A few became schoolmasters or yeomen; see Line. Rec. Soc, liii. xxi, 53, 87, 121.

^{page 201 note 3} Knowles and Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses England and Wales, London 1953, 364Google Scholar.

^{page 201 note 4} From L.P., xiv., xv., xvi., and Line. Rec. Soc, liii.

^{page 201 note 5} Line. Rec. Soc, liii. xvii. et al.

^{page 202 note 1} Line. Rec. Soc, liii. xvi.

^{page 202 note 2} II Fac. Reg. fol. 371.

^{page 202 note 3} Ass. Arch. Socs.' Reports and Papers, xxiv. pt. 1, 23.

^{page 202 note 4} II Fac. Reg. fol. 8.

^{page 202 note 5} Ducarel's Index s.v. Somers.

^{page 202 note 6} Assoc. Arch. Socs.' Reports and Papers, xxv. 510.

^{page 202 note 7} Ibid., 511.

^{page 202 note 8} Ibid., 512.

^{page 202 note 9} Ibid., 51.

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The Unpensioned Ex-religious in Tudor England

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