RELIGIOUS HOUSES FRIARIES 13. THE HOUSE OF FRANCISCAN FRIARS, BEDFORD The house of the Grey Friars at Bedford was said by Leland to have been founded by Lady Mabel de Pattishall l ; the Valor Ec- cksiasticus however gives the name of John St. John as the first founder. 2 It is uncertain at what date the Grey Friars came to Bedford, but their church was completed and dedicated on 3 November 1 295,' when indulgences were granted by Bishop Sutton to those who should visit it. In 1300 4 some of the friars of Bed- ford received licences from Bishop Dalderby for hearing confessions. Like their Domini- can brethren, they seem to have met with more kindness from the nuns than from the monks of the older orders : for in 13 10 the prioress and convent of Harrold 6 joined with some of the citizens of Bedford in making them a grant of divers small plots of land within the town for the enlargement of their area. The friars of Bedford 6 signed the ac- knowledgment of the royal supremacy on 14 May 1534, John Vyall, S.T.P.,' being at that time warden of the house ; his name appears again in the Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535. The warden of the Friars Observants of Greenwich was sent to this house in I 531, when the brethren of his own order were dispersed, and was kept there under some kind of restraint. 8 The deed of surrender, 9 which is dated 3 October 1538, gives the names of a warden, vice-warden, and ten other friars 10 ; it is in the form which seems 1 Quoted Dugdale, Mon. vi. 1509. » Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv. 190. 3 Line. Epis. Reg., Memo. Sutton, 127. « Ibid. Memo. Dalderby, nd. 6 Pat. 4Edw. II. m. 18. ° L. and P. Hen. VIII. vii. 665. 7 This can scarcely be the same as the warden who signed the deed of surrender ; though the Christian name of the latter is John, his surname certainly begins with 'M' and ends with 'er.' 8 There is a letter printed in Beds N. and Q. i. 191 from the vicar of the Observants to Sir John Dyve, a knight dwelling in Bedfordshire, asking him to find out how the warden is being treated, whether his friends may resort to him or write. The writer wishes the king knew his virtue and religious conversation and loyalty ; and pro- mises to find money, if Sir John will see that he has all he needs. » Deeds of Surrender (P.R.O.), No. 19. 10 The confiscation of the conventual seal was one of the means employed to obtain the surren- to have been offered to the friars only, be- ginning ' Forasmuch as we the warden and friars of the house of Saint Francis in Bed- ford ... do profoundly consider that the perfection of Christian living doth not con- sist in dumb ceremonies, wearing of grey coat, . . . ducking and becking and girding ourselves with a girdle full of knots, and other like pharisaical ceremonies ' ; and has no seal. 11 The value of the house in 1535 was £2 1 3*. 2d} 2 14 THE HOUSE OF DOMINICAN FRIARS, DUNSTABLE The Black Friars arrived in Dunstable in 1 259 13 at the invitation of the king and queen and the magnates of the neighbourhood, and began at once with the help of alms to build their church. They were very unwelcome to the canons of that place, and not without reason ; for the novelty of the friars' coming, and of their manner of life, drew many people away from their parish church, and diminished the customary offerings there at a time when they were sorely needed. 11 But the prioress of Markyate, though her own house was not a wealthy one, was more generous, and helped the friars with a dole of loaves until their church should be finished ; a kindness ill- repaid, for they insisted on the continuance of the gift after the immediate necessity was passed, and when the nuns were almost as poor as themselves. 16 The jealousy between the canons and the friars lasted for some time, but there seems never to have been any open quarrel ; on the contrary, one of the friars was admitted to ders of the friars (Canon Dixon, History of the English Church, ii. 38). It would be interesting to know why the friars surrendered in English and the monks in Latin ; and also why the special humiliation of signing such a document as this was reserved for friars. 11 The friars, as well as the nuns of Elstow and Chicksand, seem to have been usually known by their family names ; the majority of the Cister- cians and the Austin canons are called by place- names. " Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv. 190. 13 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Series), iii. 213 ; Dugdale, Mon. vi. 1485. 1* See Dunstable Priory. is See Markyate Priory. Adam of Biscot, the second vicar of Luton, became a Dominican friar (probably in this house) about this time (Rev. H. Cobbe, Luton Church, 122). 395
