THE TRINITARIAN FRIARS OF KNARESBOROUGH

 

In March 1532-3 the minister paid Cromwell £ 10 for restitution of temporalities. According to the Valor Ecclesiasticus the temporalities were worth £24 11s. a year, the spiritualities, the rectories of Hampsthwaite, Pannal, Thorner, Fewston, and Whixley, £62 4s. 10d. Sums were due to the king, the vicars of the churches, and other officials amounting in all to £51 4s. 9d., leaving as the net annual value only £35 11s. 1d. The friars were accused of stirring up the rebellion in 1536, making bills and proclamations that the king was going to claim 6s. 8d. of every plough, 6s. 8d. of every baptism, and 4d. of every beast. The most active was Friar Esch or Ashton, a ' limitor' for the house, who with a passport from William Stapleton raised the country round Malton. The minister supported the government in getting two rebels executed at York. Robert Ashton escaped to Scotland.

The house was dissolved 30 December 1538, the deed of surrender being signed by Thomas Kent, the minister, nine priests (one of whom signs with a mark), and one undescribed. The commissioners found the clear annual value of the house to be £93 12s. 6d. This revenue was charged with £56 6s. 8d. for pensions to the minister and friars, the minister receiving £13 6s. 8d. Goods sold and debts received brought in £63 8s., out of which £27 2s. 8d. was expended in giving rewards to friars and paying debts. The woods were estimated at 6s. 4d. a year, the lead at 18 fother. There were five bells and 82 oz. of plate.

Ministers (or Masters)

Ralph de Redinges 1280, 1284, 1286

John [Sperry] [1297], 1300

Henry of Knaresborough, 1315

John [de Spofford] 1343 [1344]

William Donyngton, 1348, 1349

Alan of Scarborough, 1352, 1366

William de Pudsey, 1372-4, c. 1380

John Kyllyngwyk, c. 1380, January 1387-8

Richard Savage, 1400, 1416

William Brotte, 1425

Robert Harton, 1438

John, 1444

Richard Fawkes, 1449-50, 1454

Robert Bolton, 1461, 1484, 1491

Robert Teshe or Tesse, 1499, 1510

Oswald Benson, 1524

Thomas Kent, 1529-1536, 1538

The seal of the convent was pointed oval and represented the Trinity on a carved throne under a canopy; below, under a carved arch, a man, probably St. Robert, seated to the right, under a tree, reading a book. The seal of the minister showed the figure of a saint, probably St. Robert, seated to the right with an open book on his knees, under a tree. The legend in both impressions is fragmentary.


Index