de Barton, Geoffry de Hopwood, Geoffry de Hulton, and William de Highfield. a

To this assembly Thomas de la Warre represented, that the parish of Manchester had become large and populous, and that some of the former rectors were seldom residents in it, while others had absented themselves altogether. He therefore pleaded, that, for the greater honour of the town, and the better edification of its inhabitants, a college and collegiate church, calculated for a warden, and such a number of associate priests, or fellows, as the bishops of Durham and Litchfield might appoint, should be founded and endowed. He offered, at his own charge, to erect the costly buildings that would be required; but he also recommended, that, in further aid of the pious purpose, and for the permanent support of the college, the parishioners should, for themselves, their heirs and successors, give their free assent to the appropriation of the estates attached to the existing rectory : and, as additional funds would still be needed, the convener promised that the deficiency should be supplied from certain lands which he himself possessed in the lordship of Manchester. To this proposition the parishioners gave their free consent, and the mutual agreement being drawn up in writing, was ratified with the signet of the dean of Manchester, and with more than twenty other seals of individuals of rank.

b

The proposed endowment of the college and collegiate church was ample. " It comprised, in the first place, the carucate of land in Kirkman's Hulme, granted to the church of St Michael previous to the Norman conquest, which was free from all impost, with the exception of Dane-geld: to this was afterwards added the glebe of land in Deansgate, gifted in a later period to the use of the parson and dean, after the church of St Mary had been erected in the newer town; whence the name it still retains of the parsonage land. Upon part of this ground an addition to the town had been built, the remainder having been occupied by the dean. In the second place, the original endowment comprised the tithes of the parish of Manchester, which arose from numerous hamlets or townships.-But Thomas Lord de la Warre, and his advisers, the Bishop of Durham and the Bishop of Litchfield, judged that this property of the church was not sufficient for the maintenance of the increased religious establishment which was proposed. The munificent founder therefore reserved for its further use the following lands, which

2 For these names, and other information connected with the foundation of the Collegiate Church of Manchester, I am chiefly indebted to Hollingworth's MSS.

b The endowment has been loosely estimated at 800 acres of land, Lancashire measure, and the tithes of the whole parish included in thirty-two hamlets. But with the details from which this sum total is inferred we have not been favoured.

were parcel of the manor of Manchester: First, the messuage named the Baron's Hall, which was the residence of the Lord of Manchester, and the fortified ground contiguous to it, named the Baron's Yard, the extent of which was an acre and twenty-four perches :-upon this land the ancient baronial mansion of his proge nitors had long stood, which he proposed to pull down, and from its materials to erect the building intended for the residence of the various members of the college. He next made a reservation for the use of the intended college of about eight acres of land in Nether Aldport, situated between the glebe in Deansgate, belonging to the parsonage, and the ancient church-land of Kirkmanshulme, subject however to a rent of certain services due and customary. To this donation he added one messuage in Gorton Green, and another in Heaton, each containing eleven perches ;-the total of baronial land thus gifted being estimated at five messuages and ten acres. With these various resources, exclusive of the sum of three thousand pounds, which Thomas Lord de la Warre reserved for the completion of the intended buildings, it was resolved to found a collegiate church, which was to consist of one master or keeper, and as many fellows, chaplains, and other assistants, as the Bishop of Durham and other advisers might judge to be expedient. As it was also designed that, upon the completion of the collegiate church, St Mary's church, situated near Aca's Field, should be abandoned, Thomas de la Warre proposed, that, while the new religious edifice should be erected in honour of the same saint from whom the tutelar protection of the old place of worship had been for several centuries implored, it should be dedicated to St Dyonise (or Dennis) of France, and St George of England, the respective guardian saints of the two countries, to which, from family considerations, he was alike attached. He then paid two hundred marks into the king's exchequer, and, on the 9th of May, in the ninth year of Henry the V. obtained the Royal licence, under the seal of the Duchy of Lancaster, for the appropriation of the rectory to the foundation of the college, and for the power of vesting in the trust of certain individuals the additional land of which he had made a recent gift.

CHARTER

OF THE ORIGINAL FOUNDATION OF THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF MANCHESTER.

Ecclesia Collegiata de Mancestre in Com. Lancastria.

Licentia regia pro fundatione ejusdem.

Rex omnibus ad quos &c. salutem: Sciatis quod cum venerabilis in Christo pater Thomas Episcopus Dunelmensis, Johannes Henege, Nicholaus Motte,

personæ ecclesiæ Swine-Shevede, Ricardus Lumbard, nuper persona ecclesiæ de Holtham, et Ricardus Frithe, teneant manerium de MAUNCESTRE cum pertinentiis, una cum advocatione Ecclesiæ de MAUNCESTRE in com. LANCASTRIE, sibi et hæredibus suis, ex dono et feoffamento Thomæ la Warre clerici, prout per quendam finem in curia domini Henrici nuper regis Angliæ, patris nostri, com. sui Palatini Lancastriæ inter præfatos Episcopum Johannem, Nicolaum, Ricardum, et Ricardum et Willielmum Thirnyng militem, Willielmum Auncell, et Johannem Overtone jam defunctos; necnon Willielmum Rouceby vicarium ecclesiæ de Sleford, qui totum jus, suum et clameum, quæ habuit vel habere potuit in eisdem manerio et advocatione præfatis Episcopo, Willielmo Thirnying, Johanni Nicolao, Willielmo Auncell, Ricardo, Johanni et Ricardo remisit et relaxavit quærentes, et præfatum Thomam de la Warre de manerio et advocatione prædictis, deforciantem levatum, liquet manifeste: Nos, de gratia nostra speciali, et ex certa scientia nostra, pro cc marcis nobis in hanaperio nostro solutis, concessimus et licentiam dedimus, pro nobis et hæredibus nostris, quantum in nobis est, præfatis Episcopo, Johanni Nicholao, Ricardo, et Ricardo, quod ipsi dictam ecclesiam de Mauncestre in ecclesiam collegiatam erigere, seu per eum ad quem pertinet erigi facere valeant ; et in et de eadem ecclesiâ quoddam collegium, de uno magistro sive custode capellano, et de tot sociis capellanis et aliis ministris, quot eisdem Episcopo, Johanni, Nicholao, Ricardo, et Ricardo, ac præfato Thomæ de la Warre videbitur expedire, divina in ecclesiâ prædictâ singulis diebus, pro salubri statu nostro, ac dictorum Episcopi et Thomæ la Warre dum vixerimus, et animabus nostris cum ab hac luce migraverimus, ac animabus progenitorum nostrorum et antecessorum ipsius Thomæ de la Warre, nec non animabus omnium fidelium defunctorum celebraturis imperpetuum facere, fundare, et stabilire possint, juxta ordinationem dictorum Episcopi, Johannis, Nicholai, Ricardi, ac Ricardi, ac præfati Thomæ la Warre, seu quinque quatuor, trium vel duorum prædictorum Episcopi, Johannis, Nicholai, Ricardi, Ricardi, et Thomæ la Warre in hac parte faciendum imperpetuum.

Et quod idem magister sive custos, et successores sui magistri sive custodes collegii prædicti, magistri sive custodes collegii Beatæ Mariæ de Mauncestre nuncupentur imperpetuum: Et quod idem magister sive custos, et socii sui appellant. ejusdem collegii, et successores sui, sint personæ perpetuæ et capaces beneficiorum terrarum et tenementorum, ac aliarum possessionum et emolumentorum quorumcunque: Et quod habeant sigillum commune: Et quod idem magister sive custos ejusdem collegii, et successores sui, possint implacitare et implacitari per nomen magistri sive custodis dicti collegii.

Concessimus etiam et licentiam dedimus, pro nobis et hæredibus nostris, quantum

in nobis est, præfatis Episcopo Johanni, Nicholao, Ricardo, et Ricardo, quod ipsi quinque messuagia et decem acras terræ cum pertinentiis in Mauncestre, Gortone, et Hetone quæ sunt parcella dicti manerii, ac advocationem prædictam, quæ de nobis ut de dicto comitatu nostro palatino tenentur, dare possint et assignare prædictis magistro sive custodi, et sociis suis capellanis ejusdem collegii cum sit erectum, factum, fundatum et stabilitum fuerit; habenda et tenenda eisdem magistro sive custodi et sociis suis capellanis ejusdem collegii, et successoribus suis, de nobis et hæredibus nostris, ut de dicto comitatu nostro Palatino, per servicia inde debita et consueta, in subventionem sustentationis suæ, ac aliorum ministrorum dicti collegii imperpetuum: Et eisdem magistro sive custodi, et sociis suis capellanis ejusdem collegii, quod ipsi dicta messuagia et terram cum pertinentiis, et advocationem prædictam, a præfatis Episcopo, Johanne, Nicholao, Ricardo et Ricardo recipere, et ecclesiam illam appropriare ; et eam sic appropriatam in proprios usus, una cum messuagiis et terra prædictis tenere possint eisdem magistro, sive custodi, et sociis suis capellanis ejusdem collegii, et successoribus suis, in subventionem sustentationis suæ ac ministrorum suorum prædictorum imperpetuum, ut prædictum est, tenere præsentium similiter licentiam dedimus specialem; statuto de terris et tenementis ad manum mortuam non ponendis edito, &c. non obstante, &c. In cujus, &c. T. Rege apud Weston: xxii° die Maii. ©

с

c Monasticon Anglic. Tom. III, p. 174, 5, 7. A translation of this charter was inserted by the late Reverend J. Greswell in his collections for the History of Manchester, which I shall beg to give. A blank left in one of the passages, considered obscure, I have supplied.

The royal licence for the foundation of the old church in Manchester :

The King to all unto whom these presents shall come, greeting: Know ye, that, whereas the venerable father in Christ, Thomas Bishop of Durham, John Henege, Nicholas Motte, parsons of the church of Swineshevede, Richard Lumbard, late parson of the church of Holtham, and Richard Frith, hold the manor of Manchester, with its appurtenances, together with the advowson of the church of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, to themselves and their heirs, by the gift and feoffment of Thomas la Warre, clerk, even as by a certain fine in the court of the Lord Henry, late King of England, our father, in his county Palatine of Lancaster, between the aforesaid Bishop, John, Nicholas, Richard, and Richard, and William Thirnyng, Knight, William Auncell, and John Overtone, now deceased, and also William Rouceby, vicar of the church of Sleford, who, all his right and claim which he had or might have in the same manor and advowson, to the aforesaid Bishop, William Thirnyng, John, Nicholas, William Auncell, Richard, John and Richard, did remit and release, and by the said Thomas Warre's [deforcing a levy from] the manor and advowson aforesaid, manifestly appears: We, of our special grace, and of our certain knowledge, for two hundred marks paid to us into our exchequer, have granted and given licence, for ourself and heirs as much as in us lieth, to the aforesaid Bishop, John, Nicholas, Richard, and Richard, that they be empowered to erect, or cause to be erected, by him to whom it appertaineth, the said church of Manchester into a collegiate church: and in and of the said church a

Thomas Lord de la Warre next made a deed of gift and feoffment of the lands and rectory of Manchester, reserved for the maintenance of the intended college, to Thomas, Lord Bishop of Durham, John Henege, Richard Lombard, parson of Holtham church, and Richard Firth. The bishop of Durham then founded a collegiate church, consisting of one warden or master, eight fellows, four clerks, and six choristers, in honour of St Mary, St Dennis, and St George. After this act had been performed, Thomas de la Warre, by proxy made to certain college, consisting of one master, or keeper, and of so many fellows, chaplains, and other assistants, as to the same Bishop, John, Nicholas, Richard, and Richard, and to the aforesaid Thomas la Warre, shall seem expedient; and, that they may celebrate daily for ever in the said church Divine worship for the well-being of ourself, and of the said Bishop and Thomas la Warre, while we live, and for our souls when we depart this life, and for the souls of our progenitors, and of the ancestors of the said Thomas la Warre, and also for the souls of all the faithful deceased, they are hereby empowered to make, found, and establish it, according to the appointment of the said Bishop, John, Nicholas, Richard, and Richard, and of the aforesaid Thomas la Warre, or of five, four, three, or two, of the aforesaid Bishop, John, Nicholas, Richard, Richard, and Thomas la Warre, in this part to be made for ever :—

And that the same master or keeper, and his successors, masters or keepers of the college, be called for ever the masters or keepers of the College of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Manchester; and that the same master or keeper, and his fellows, chaplains of the same, and their successors, be parsons perpetual, and capable of benefices, lands, and tenements, and other possessions and emoluments whatsoever; and that they may have a common seal; and that the same master or keeper of the same college, and his successors, may implead and be impleaded by the name of the master or keeper of the said college.

We have granted also, and given licence for ourself and our heirs, as far as in us lies, to the aforesaid Bishop, John, Nicholas, Richard, and Richard, that they may give and assign to the aforesaid master or keeper and his fellows, chaplains of the same college, when it shall have been so erected, made, founded, and established, five messuages and ten acres of land, with their appurtenances, in Manchester, Gorton, and Heaton, being parcel of the said manor and the advowson aforesaid, which are held of us as of our County Palatine, to be had and held by the same master or keeper and his fellows, chaplains of the same college, and their successors, of us and our heirs as of our said County Palatine, by services thence due and customary, in aid of their sustenance and of the other assistants of the said college for ever:

And by the tenor of these presents, we have in like manner given special licence to the same master or keeper and his fellows, chaplains of the said college, that they, the said messuages and land, with their appurtenances, and the advowson aforesaid, may, from the said Bishop, John, Nicholas, Richard, and Richard, receive, and the said church appropriate, and hold it thus appropriated to its proper uses, together with the messuages and land granted to the said master or keeper and his fellows, chaplains of the same college, and their successors, in aid of their sustenance, and of their said assistants for ever, as is beforesaid: the statute published concerning lands and tenements not to be assigned in mortmain, &c. notwithstanding, &c. In witness of which, &c. By the King at Westminster, 22d day of May.

F