ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY really nine at this time ;* 8 and no chapels are mentioned except that of St. Giles, Blaston, which had become free, and the two chapels of Staunton Harold and Worthington, appendent to Breedon on the Hill. Peckleton had become an independent parish since 1220. The total value of spiritualia in the archdeaconry, as given in the Taxatio* was 3,166 i2j. There were very few rich benefices. Only thirty-five were worth more than 20 a year ; only twelve more than 3- Melton Mow- bray, appropriated to the priory of Lewes, stood highest, being valued at 110; Market Bosworth came next, at 58 131. d. ; no other rose above ^6. M It might seem that in this archdeaconry the temptation to hold benefices in plurality was greater than elsewhere, as the churches were so poor. This excuse might serve for the eighteenth century, when two or three small curacies strung together barely made a living for one priest, but in the four- teenth century it was the richer benefices which were usually held in plurality by non-resident and alien rectors. So in 1 308 Bertrand de Verdun held Lutterworth and Bosworth, and had licence to accept another. 50 Aylestone (33 6j. 8d.) was held by Stephen, dean of Glasgow, in 1310, with Stow, and a canonry and prebend of Dunkeld. 61 Walter of Maidstone, not yet a priest in i 306, had Nailstone with four other benefices, a hospital, and pre- bends in six cathedrals. 62 John of Edingdon, nephew of the bishop of Winchester, at seventeen years old was prebendary of St. Margaret's, archdeacon of Surrey, and warden of the hospital of the Holy Cross at Winchester. 63 The archdeacons were some of the worst offenders in this respect ; not only foreigners like Raymond 61 and James Orsini 65 and Poncel d'Urbini, but Englishmen like Henry of Chaddesdon 60 and William de Doune, 67 who should have known better. There is not one of the arch- deacons of the fourteenth century fit to stand beside Grossetete and John of Basingstoke. The fourteenth is the century also of the great pestilence, which was certainly felt very heavily in Leicestershire. The statistics given by Henry Knighton, a canon of Leicester who lived within memory of the first great plague-year, if not actually through it, have long passed unchallenged. It is he who tells us how in the little parish of St. Leonard there died as many as 380, in the parish of St. Martin more than 400, in the parish of St. Mar- garet 700. It was hard work, he says, for the clergy to perform their ordinary duties and give the help which was needed by so many sick and dying. The bishop gave licence to all priests, regular and secular, to hear " The Leicester churches named in the Matriculus and Lexington Roll are St. Mary de Castro, St. Nicholas, St. Clement, St. Leonard, All Saints, St. Michael, St. Peter, St. Martin, St. Margaret, and the chapel of St. Sepulchre. There is a tradition of another church dedicated to St. Augustine and St. Columban, on the east side of St. Nicholas' Church, not parochial, but a chapel to Cosby. It is said to have been destroyed at the Conquest. The authority for its existence is Charyte, of Leicester Abbey. Nichols, Leic. i, 6, and App. p. 66. 49 Pope Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.), iv. 189 seq. M Cat. of Papal Lett, ii, 41, 104, 399. 51 Ibid. 68, 71. 5I Ibid. 12. ' ss Ibid, iii, 269, 274, 357, 461. M Ibid. 236. 65 James Orsini was archdeacon of Durham and Leicester, and dean of Salisbury, and had benefices with and without cure of souls in the dioceses of Lincoln, Wells, Chichester, London, Rochester, and Carlisle. Ibid, iv, 168, 196, 227, 403. 66 He was, in 1349, dispensed to hold his archdeaconry with canonries and prebends of Lincoln, London, and Derby, and a benefice besides. Ibid, iii, 305, 317. 57 He was allowed, in 1354, to keep nine benefices. Ibid, iii, 112, 345, 427, 517, 524. i 3 61 46
