"Elvet's Chantry." The priest received £5 6s. 8d., and shared a house with the chaplain of Hervey's chantry.
3. Another chantry, founded by William Bedell, had one priest, who received £4 6s. 8d. a year.
4. By his will John of Gaunt ordained a chantry of two chaplains to celebrate divine service therein for ever for him and his soul and the soul of his late well-beloved consort, dame Constance, who was buried there, and to hold an obit for the soul of his late consort on the 24th day of March yearly for ever. This chantry was licensed by letters patent of March 8th, 1402-3. The two chaplains had a joint salary of £13 6s. 8d., and a chantry house and garden in the close, valued at 10s. a year.
5. The widow of William Hervey, who had been one of the ladies of John of Gaunt's household, and who was afterwards the nurse of Henry V., in the year 1406 founded a chantry of one chaplain to be appointed by the dean, who was to say mass daily either in the church or in the "poor folks' chapel." His salary was £5 6s. 8d., and he shared a chantry house in the close, valued at 10s. a year, with the chaplain of Elvet's chantry.
6. The chantry of William of Wigston was founded in 1512 for two chantry priests, who received £14 between them, and a house in the close, valued at 10 shillings a year, which is still in existence. He built to the honour of Almighty God, our blessed Lady, St. Ursula and St. Katharine, a new chapel, "inclosed with costly works wrought and made of latten, fixed and laid between two pillars, in the body of the church of the aforesaid college, on the north side thereof."
The most valuable ecclesiastical asset of the church was given to it by the good Duke of Lancaster, who brought home from Paris, in 1351, as a present from the French King, one thorn taken from the crown of Jesus, which had been enshrined by St. Louis in the Sainte Chapelle. This inestimable relic was placed near the high altar, upon a stand of pure gold. Pilgrims from all parts of Christendom were drawn to the church, perhaps more through the attraction of this treasure than by the exquisite beauty of the Gothic architecture, or by the indulgences and relaxations from penance which were granted to all those who
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