66 'Cross of Paulinus" in an account of enclosures made in the forest before the time of Edw. I. countenances the supposition that the first Archbishop of York and great Restorer of Christianity in Northumbria, exercised his ministry in its immediate neighbourhood, as well as at Brafferton, the first mention of its ecclesiastical arrangements is in the Domesday Survey already given. An inscription on the ancient communion plate, intimated that the church was named after St. John the Baptist, and surely no designation could be more appropriate to a forest oratory than that which revived the recollection of him who first proclaimed the glad tidings of salvation in the wilderness, whether a Christian application was thus given to any previous festivities, of less worthy origin or not. But there is early evidence that it also bore the designation of All Saints Church, by which it is now commonly described, "Dns. de Stivellington tenet quoddm. pratum quod vocatur Pratum Paulini quod factum fuit de p'prestura facta super dominicum Regis tempore R. Joh'is & val. per ann. ijs. Item homines de Esyngwald tenent quandam p'presturam que facta fuit temp. Rob. de Ros que continet xiv acr. prati & red. per ann. vijs. iijd. Item Wills Peitevin tenet unam purpresturam que de novo facta est super dominicum Regis juxta Crucem Paulini que continet vi acr. & valet per ann. iiijs. Item tempore G. de Langet facta quedam purprestura apud Esingwald que continet iiij acr. et alia apud Hoby qu. continet viiij acr. unde quelibet acra valet vijd. & tercium reddunt inde tenentes. Item magr. S. Leonardi habet apud Esingwald unam p'presturam de antiquo qu. continet 1 acras et valent per annum xxxijd." "Ecclesia de Esyngwald et capella de Kereby fuerunt aliquando in donacione Regum, & Archid. Richmund modo tenet dictam ecclesiam sed (juratores) nesciunt a quo tempore nec per quam"-Rot. Hundred. Edw. I. These extracts will at once shew the connexion in which the name of Paulinus occurs (perhaps still preserved in Paulins's Carr adjoining to a field belonging to the poor of Stillington, on the borders of the parish of Easingwold, and in the line of the Roman Road from York to Tees Mouth), and furnish some further particulars as to early proprietors in the neighbourhood. It appears from Camden's Britannia, p. 693, that it was customary to erect crosses in places where Paulinus preached and celebrated divine service, with this inscription, PAULINUS HIC PRÆDICAVIT ET CELEBRAVIT. and which is usually regarded as indicative of a Saxon origin.3 Nor is such a double designation uncommon, especially where an original fabric has been restored, in a manner which may have induced the second race of builders to regard it as a new foundation. In the account of the Forest already referred to, temp. Edw. I., the patronage of the church with its chapel of Kirby is stated to have been in the crown, but it appears to have been appropriated, with four others, towards the endowment of the Archdeaconry of Richmond, at the first institution of that dignity in the church of York, by Abp. Thomas, about A.D. 1090. The vicarage was constituted before the year 1293, and was valued in Pope Nicholas's taxation, about that time at £5; reduced in 1318 by the Scotch Invasions to £4, but estimated in the King's Books, reg. Hen. VIII. at £12. 11s. per annum. The Archdeacons had a fair manor house with sufficient offices at Easingwold, and as it was the nearest of their houses of residence to York, it would probably be their place of retirement, when disengaged from their duties in the city, where also they had a capital mansion. Some traces of its former consequence may still be discerned in the moat, and ponds, and venerable trees around the "Hall or Rectory," but having for a considerable time been occupied as a farm house, its ancient architectural features had gradually been disappearing, till at length they were totally removed to make way for a new erection, better suited to its altered circumstances, about sixteen years ago. The following list of these dignitaries before the severance of the Archdeaconry of Richmond from the diocese of York is given by Gale Conan, Archdeacon (probably of Richmond) subscribed a charter of Stephen Earl of Bretagne in the reign of William Rufus. William, Thurstan, and William son of Durandus, Archdeacons, signed a charter of Thurstan, Abp. of York, in the reign of Henry the First. One of these was probably Archdeacon of Richmond. 3 Archdeacon Churton's Early English Church, p. 171. William de Chauville (or de Choneli according to Hoveden) was Archdeacon, 1189. Eustacius, 1196. Honorius, 1198. Roger de St. Edmund, Mar. 2, 1200. Richard de Marisco, keeper of the great Seal, 1213, Bishop of Durham, 12174 Walter de Gray, Abp. of York, 1217. William de Rotherfield, L.L.D., 1217. church of York, 1239. Walter de Woburn, 1240. Treasurer of the Henry de Newarke, 1281, resigned 1290, on becoming Dean of York. Gerard de Weppens, Wypas, or Vyspeyns, May, 1290. Francis Gaytan, an Italian Cardinal, appointed by Papal provision 1307, to the exclusion of John de Sandal, Baron of the Exchequer on whom Edward II. had conferred the dignity. He died at Avignon, 1317. Roger de Northburgh, installed June 13, 1317. Bishop of Coventry, 1322, for whom Edward II. several times endeavoured, but in vain, to obtain the dignity of cardinal. 4 Richard de Marisco is most probably the Archdeacon of whom the Canons of Bridlington complained to Pope Innocent III. that he travelled on his visitations with a train of ninety seven horses, twenty one dogs, and three hawks, and that coming to a church of which they were impropriators, he had put them to as heavy outlays in one hour as would long have sufficed for the maintenance of their whole convent. Very similar complaints were made of him, according to Godwin, by the monks of Durham, and he died suddenly at Peterborough on his way to make his defence in London-"magna jurisperitorum catervâ stipatus,"-leaving a debt of 40,000 marks to his successors, A.D. 1226. Truly there was need of a house "with sufficient offices" for the conductor of such visitations. Elias Talairand, brother of Archambaud, Count of Perigord, appointed by Papal provision 4 non. Nov. 1322. Bishop of Altissiodori, 1328. Robert de Wodehouse, Sept. 14, 1328. Baron of the Exchequer 1319. Treasurer of England, 1330. Summoned to Parliament 1329 & 1337. Died, 1346. John de Gineswell, Chaplain of John Duke of Lancaster, afterwards Cardinal. Henry de Walton, July 18, 1349, died 1359. Humphrey de Cherleton, D.D., Dec. 14, 1359, bequeathed his body to be buried in the chancel of Rykhall church, 1382. John Bacon, Feb. 20, 1382, resigned. John de Waltham, Jan. 11, 1384. Bishop of Salisbury, 1388. Treasurer of England, 1391, died 1395. Thomas de Dalby, Sep. 22, 1388, bequeathed his body to be buried in York Cathedral, 1400. Stephen le Scrope, Junr. May 22, 1400. He was son of Abp. Scrope near whose body he desired to be buried, by will, proved Sept. 7, 1418. He resigned the Archdeaconry Mar. 16, 1401 to Nicholas Bubbewith, but two days after was readmitted, his successor taking his prebend of Driffield. Nicholas Bubbewith, Mar. 16, 1401, afterwards Bishop of London, Salisbury, Bath, and Treasurer of England. Henry Bowet on the death of Stephen le Scrope, Sept. 6, 1418. Thomas Kemp, D.D., Archdeacon, first of York, then of Richmond, Nov. 19, 1442. Bishop of London, 1448, died Mar. 28, 1489. William Grey, D.D., Mar. 3, 1449. Bishop of Ely, 1454, died Aug. 4, 1478. Lawrence Bothe, Aug. 21, 1454, afterwards Dean of St. Paul's, London, 1456. Bishop of Durham, 1457, Abp. of York, 1476, died 1480. John Arundel, M.D., Oct. 31, 1457. Bishop of Chichester, 1458. John Bothe, May 27, 1459. Bishop of Exeter, 1465, died 1478. John Shirwode, D.D., July 14, 1465. Bishop of Durham 1483, died Jan. 12, 1493. Edward Pole, Jan 6, 1484, died 1485. John Blyth, L.L.D., Oct 8, 1485. Bishop of Salisbury 1493, died 1499. Christopher Urswick, L.L.D., Mar. 21, 1493. He resigned the Deanery of York for this dignity, and after a rapid succession of other preferments, and refusing the Bishoprick of Norwich in 1498, at length resigned the Deanery of Windsor to which he had been appointed in 1495, and died Rector of Hackney, near London, where he was buried Oct. 24, 1521. John Stanley, admitted on the resignation of his predecessor, Dec. 5, 1500. Bishop of Ely 1506, died Mar. 22, 1514. Thomas Dalby, L.L.B., Aug. 24, 1506, died Jan. 26, 1525. Thomas Winter, Mar. 24, 1525, resigned 1529. William Knight, L.L.D., Dec. 7, 1529, resigned May 20, 1541, and died Bishop of Bath and Wells, Sept. 29, 1547. Among the names of many persons who attained the highest dignities of the church, are those of several foreigners of distinction, whom probably the long connexion of the Dukes of Bretagne with Richmond, might aid in introducing to their English territory. An Elias de Talairand, brother of the Count of Perigord was Archdeacon in 1322, and appearances of the Flamboyant, or French Gothic style of Architecture, such as the absence of capitals from the pillars, and peculiarities in the tracery of the windows in Easingwold and other churches in the neighbourhood, the present fabrics of which belong to the above named period, may with great probability be traced to this foreign connexion. The Archdeacons exercised manorial rights over their demesne, distinct from those of the crown and its several grantees, which have devolved on their successors, and many interesting particulars respecting the general condition of the place may be gathered from a curious "extent or survey of the manor and church of Easingwold" preserved by Gale, from which we find that "their residence which in the time of Henry de Newark, 1281, was in excellent condition, had, during the incumbency of his two immediate successors, Gerard de Wypas and Cardinal Francis Gayton, from 1290 to 1317, become ruinous, and great Registrum Honoris de Richmond, p. 70-72. |