March 28, 1464, Warden Booth was made prebend of York. A. D. 1465, he incurred the displeasure of Edward IV. by his activity in the civil wars between the houses of York and Lancaster, and was in consequence fined and deprived of his wardenship."

CHAPTER III.

ANNALS OF THE WARDENSHIP OF RALPH LANGLEY, A. D. 1465 to a. d. 1481.

From the collections of the late Rev. J. GRESWELL.

RALPH LANGLEY, second son to Sir - Langley of Edgecroft," was at the presentation of Richard Halfield, and Nicholas Stathouse, whom Richard West,

brother was William, who, in 1447, was rector of Prescot in Lancashire. In the twenty-fifth of Henry the Sixth he was made bishop of Lichfield by papal provision, (the Bull dated April 26, 1447, consecrated July 9,) where he continued during the space of six years, and was then translated to York. He died A. D. 1464.-Willis's Cath. Vol. I. p. 389. Ralphe Booth, another brother, A. D. 1463, was made archdeacon of Durham, and in 1480 was promoted to York archdeaconry, perhaps by p. 259. Lawrence Boothe, and held both to his death, A. D. 1497.-Willis's Cath. Vol. I.

m In the sixth year of Edward the Fourth, John Boothe was restored to the royal favour, and was promoted to the see of Exeter; the licence of consecration being dated July 2, 1465.-Goodwin. This dignity he held with great reputation, and adorned his cathedral church with such exquisite workmanship as was not to be equalled by any in England. Retiring from the bustle of political tumults, he resided at his house at Horsley, in the county of Hants, where he died April 5, 1478.-Fuller's Worthies. Bishop Goodwin says he was interred in St Clement's church, London; but this appears to be a mistake. Wood says, that in the church of Horsley, in the county of Surry, was the following epitaph :

"Hic jacet Joannes Boothe, quondam Episcopus

Exon, qui obiit V°. die mensis Apr. An. Dom.

"MCCCCLXXVIII."-Goodwin. Note by Richardson, Vol. I. p. 414.

a The last male of this family was Sir Robert Langley, who died in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and left four daughters, one of whom was married to Reddish of Reddish; another to the younger brother of the Leghs of Lyme, by whom he had Altrington, now in possession of the Levers; the third was married to Ashton of Chadderton, who is still patron of Prestwich; and the fourth to one Dauntesey, Esq. [of a family of Wiltshire,] whose posterity now enjoys Edgecroft, the ancient seat of the Langleys.-Ancient MS. p. Rev J. Brookes. The crest of the family was a griffin.

Lord De la Warre, had made patrons for this time only, admitted warden.-Hollingworth's Mancuniensis.

A. D. 1476. Warden Langley built the church of Oldham, as appears from a deed found in the Tower of London.-Fuller's Worthies.

He is said by Hollingworth to have given the first chimes to the church of Manchester, the erection of which was probably not completed.

Ralph Langley was also made rector of Prestwich, by the patronage no doubt of his father, who had married the heiress of that place.

During this wardenship, “ James, Abbot of Abingdon, the nuncio and commissary-general of Pope Sixtus IV. and the collector of the revenues of the Apostolic Chamber, visited Manchester, and for money paid, as was alleged, for the maintenance of Christianity against the Turks, granted plenary indulgence to those who thus purchased it, as if on a day of jubilee they had in person visited all Rome."-Hollingworth's Mancuniensis, MS.

July 27th, 1481. Ralph Langley resigned his wardenship and retired to his rectory of Prestwich, where he ended his days.

CHAPTER IV.

ANNALS OF THE WARDENSHIP OF JAMES STANLEY, D. D. THE FIRST OF THAT NAME, A. D. 1481 To 1485.°

Written by Dr HIBBERT.

HOLLINGWORTH, in his "Mancuniensis," has distinctly stated, that there were two successive wardens of the name of James Stanley, and there is no doubt but that he has derived his information from correct authority. By another writer it is said that Sir James Stanley, warden, was brother to Thomas Stanley, son and heir of Sir John Stanley of Latham, knight, which said Thomas was made baron by Henry the Fourth.—(Ancient MS. pen. the Rev. J. Brooke.) But the history of the House of Derby states, that Sir John Stanley of Latham had only one son. It is certain, therefore, that there were two successive James Stanleys who enjoyed

o With respect to there being two successive wardens, each of the name of James Stanley, Dr Hibbert has requested the publishers to state, that he is exclusively responsible for this opinion, Mr Greswell having fallen in with the prevalent notion, that there was but one warden of that name.

great ecclesiastical honours, and who were wardens of Manchester. An ignorance of this circumstance has led to the most contradictory and inconsistent statements." James Stanley, the first warden of that name, was not the son, but the grandson of Sir John Stanley of Latham. He was the youngest son of Sir Thomas, created Lord Stanley, and was probably the same who, in the year 1458, was made prebendary in the cathedral of the collegiate church of St Paul. In 1478 he was made archdeacon of Chester.

r

In the year 1485 the building of the church is said to have been completed. But this is a very doubtful date. It is stated by Mr Hollingworth and Mr Ainscough, that, in the reign of Henry the Seventh, the Collegiate Church, supposed to

P Thus, some maintain James Stanley was educated at Cambridge, others at Oxford. Some discover that he was a stripling in 1496, when he had an interview with Erasmus, and others that he was then sixty-four years of age.

9 Mr Barritt of Manchester was shown a curious deed by the late Colonel Chadwick of the Lancashire Militia, which has a reference to Lord Stanley and the church of Manchester. He has related the subject of it in his own peculiar quaint rhyme.

r

In our fourth Edward's fickle days,

A serious quarrel, story says,

Took place near Rochdale, we are told,

'Twixt Trafford and a Byron bold.
The cause was this, we understand,
About some privilege of land.

Oliver Chadwick from Chadwick Hall

On Biron's part that day did fall;

But afterwards it came to pass

Lord Stanley arbitrator was,

Who fixed it upon this ground,
Trafford should pay full sixty pound

In holy church at Manchester,

And from this contract not to err,

To Chadwick's heirs to keep them quiet,

And never more to move a riot:

Ten marks at birth-day of St John,

And ten at Martin's day upon

Each until the whole was paid ;

year,

And to be friends again, he said.

Hollingworth says he was archdeacon of Richmond. Here the first James Stanley is confounded with the second. Willis says he was a Bishop of Man about 1573; in this instance another individual of a different name has been mistaken for him. Thomas, son of Lord Monteagle, was bishop of Man at that period.

have been formed of wood, was, with the choir, taken down; and that one part was removed to Ordsall, another part to Clayton, and the main body to Trafford. But whatever might have been the original structure, there are reasons for supposing, that, at a very early period, alterations and enlargments had been going on, and that the materials employed were not of wood, but of stone, so that in process of time a church of a cruciform plan was the result. This question will be set at rest by the architectural researches of Mr Palmer, which will be given in the fourth part of this work.

James Stanley, the warden of Manchester, and archdeacon of Chester, died about the year 1485 or 1486. Hollingworth assigns to his decease the former date, and he is probably correct.

CHAPTER V.

ANNALS OF THE WARDENSHIP OF JAMES STANLEY, THE SECOND OF THAT name, A. D. 1485 to 1509.

From HOLLINGWORTH, Mr GRESWELL'S Collections, &c. &c.

MR HOLLINGWORTH states, that, "Anno 1485, 22d July, upon the death of the said James Stanley, another James Stanley was made master or keeper of the college." This warden was the grandson of the first Thomas Lord Stanley memtioned in the last chapter. He is properly described by Wood as a younger son of the second Thomas Lord Stanley, who, in the year 1485, was, by Henry the Seventh, for the support rendered at Bosworth Field, created Earl of Derby, and had bestowed upon him almost the whole of the forfeited estates in the north of England :'

• A little before his coronation he bestowed upon Thomas Stanley almost all the forfeited estates northward, viz. he had Sir Thomas Broughton's estate, also Harrington's of Hornby Castle, Francis Lord Viscount Lovell's, who, by a match, had the estate of Holland of Holland, the estate of Sir Thomas Pilkinton of Pilkinton, and what the said Sir Thomas had in right of his lady, who was daughter and heir of Chetham of Chetham. The said Sir Thomas Pilkinton was owner of all the land the Earle of Derby now claims in Salford hundred. He had also Pooton of Pooton's, Bythom of Bythom's, and Newby of Kirkly's estates in this county, with at least twenty gentlemen's estates more.- —(Ancient MS. pen. the late Reverend J. Brookes.)

His third sonne was James, a goodlye man, a priest,
Yet little priest's mettle was in him, by Christ.

*

A goodlie tall man as was in all England,

And spedd well all matters that he took in hand.

Because he was a priest I dare do no lesse,
But leete, as I know not, of his hardines.

What proud priest hath a blowe on the ear sodenlye,
Turneth the other ear likewise for humilitye?
He would not so doe by the crosse in my purse,
Yet I trust his soule fareth never the worse.

Ancient Metrical History of the House of Stanley.

Prior Robert Steward, in his Anglia Sacra, has, in a few words, said of James Stanley, "Armis quam libris peritior."

James Stanley had, according to Willis, been presented to the prebend of Driffield, which he resigned in the year when he was made Warden of Manchester.* It has been supposed that this warden was indebted for his promotion in the church to the powerful interest of Margaret Countess of Richmond and Derby. In 1491 Warden Stanley was installed prebendary of Yatminster Prima in the cathedral Church of Salisbury, which he exchanged the next year for Bemister Prima in the same church. In 1493 he was made dean of St Martin's-le-Grand in London.

Dr Knight, in his Life of Erasmus, has offered reasons for the supposition that James Stanley was the same young and rich priest who resided with Erasmus in his house at Paris in the year 1496, and who had refused a bishopric from a consciousness of his insufficiency, but was to have possession of it the following year, when he had made some further progress in learning. It is added, that he made great offers to Erasmus to instruct him, though in vain. Erasmus slighted the overtures, because they were calculated to draw from his studies.

u

But the warden's great frailty was the infraction of his vow of celibacy, which by many authors has been severely commented upon. More charitable animadversions, however, are to be found in the Metrical History of the House of Stanley :

* Other accounts state that it was the prebend in the cathedral of St Pauls which he resigned upon being made warden. This was, however, held by James Stanley, Primus.

u Mr Greswell, who was not aware that there were two successive James Stanleys, wardens, has endeavoured to show that the adolescens of Dr Knight must have been sixty-four years old. But Hollingworth's testimony is fatal to this objection.