^{page 96 note a} Custance, or Custans, was chauntry priest, but, as he was appointed before the register opened, of what chauntry does not appear. He was warned in the visitation of 1475 to attend service better.

^{page 96 note b} The principal was, according to Lyndwood's Constitutiones (ed. Oxon. p. 196), the same as the mortuary, and was the “best beast” of the deceased. It was called “principal,” because, “dying persons used, and in some places still use, to bequeath their first or second-best beast, first, and before other legacies, to God and the church for the good of their souls.” It arose from custom which the church through the church courts crystallised into law. In Edward I.'s statute “Circumspecte agatis” the Ecclesiastical courts were expressly recognised as the proper tribunal to try cases of mortuaries. They were an unpopular exaction. In 1305 a constitution of Archbishop Winchelsea directed the clergy “in taking of mortuaries to have God before their eyes,” “considering mainly the poverty or want of him from whom it is exacted,” says Lyndwood.

Whether Lyndwood is right in taking the principal to be the same as the mortuary seems doubtful. In Henry the Eighth's Mortuaries Act the mortuary is identified with “corse-presents,” and principal does not seem to mean the first legacy, but the first or “best catell.” Probably the church, in imitation of or as, lords of the manor, took the best beast as a kind of heriot for “the good of the soul.” In 1367 Archbishop Langham told the clergy to take the second best beast, if some one else (i.e. lord of the manor) had a right to the best beast, if three or more beasts were left, but not to claim any if there were only two beasts. In this constitution the reason of the claim seems to be attributed to compensation for forgotten or withheld tithes. It would seem that at all events where there were no beasts the best “catell” in the sense of “chattle” was taken instead “in name of principal.”

^{page 97 note a} Sic.

^{page 97 note a} This seems to be earlier than the next entry, but it is a pity that no express date is given, as Cristina Saynton is a difficulty. She was certainly wrongly accused with Warsopp by mistake for Agnes Saynton in 1475, see p. 18, and probably in 147, with John Bull, see p. 35.

^{page 98 note a} Of what Prebend Warsopp held the Vicar's stall does not appear. In spite of his pious exordium he was rather a bad character, was warned in 1470 (p. 5); suspended for misconduct with Agnes Saynton in 1473 (p. 18).

^{page 98 note b} Sic.

^{page 98 note c} Sic; but it does not mean that he was really buried with his best beast, but that he bequeaths it as a mortuary.

^{page 99 note a} Sic.

^{page 100 note a} See post in list of Southwell Parish Vicars' possessions “pars oculi sacerdotis.”

^{page 102 note a} For mortuary, see note p. 96 on “principal.”

^{page 103 note a} Sic.

^{page 105 note a} The name of the month is omitted in the original.

^{page 105 note b} Toga talaris is said to mean a gown reaching to the ankles, “tali.”

^{page 105 note c} It is doubtful whether muster villers is the name of a stuff or a colour. In Anstey's Mun. Acad. p. 604, in will of Mr. Robert Hoskyn, 27 Jan. 1450, is a bequest of “togam penulatam cum bevere, coloris de musterdevillis.” In another will, p. 560, “meam togam novam de musterdevelys.” In will of Edmund Hunt, of Nottingham, 4 Sept. 1488, Surtees Society, Test. Ehor. iv., p. 34, “a muster-devilows gown furred with black lawe throughout.” Buck's Drapers' Dictionary seems to incline to its being the name of a stuff derived from a place in France. Rock and Maskell mention “a cloth made in France at a town called Mustrevilliers,” Textile Fabrics, p. 74. It is mentioned twice in the Paston Letters (Nos. 107, 402, ed. Ramsay).

^{page 106 note a} Cf. Anstey, Munim. Acad. administration to Lasbrowe, of Vine Hall, 24 Nov 1455, “unum par cultellorum.”

^{page 107 note a} Sic.

^{page 107 note b} “Serviciis” appears to be for “cervisiis.”

^{page 107 note c} The five wounds appear to have been a favourite symbol, particularly at this time. They were adopted as the ensign of the anti-reformers in the Pilgrimage of Grace and Aske's rebellion. The five joys of the Virgin were the Annunciation, Birth of Christ, Gifts of the three Kings, Resurrection of Christ, and Assumption.

^{page 107 note d} Bevale or Beauvale, “Be Pulcra valle in parco de Gresseley, Notts” (Dugdale, vi. 11), was a Carthusian house of a prior and twelve monks.

^{page 108 note a} Cf. Chaucer's Oxford student, who

“Woulde liever han at his bed's head

A twenty books clothed in black and red

Of Aristotle and his Philosophy," than any lighter amusements.

^{page 111 note a} It is written “man.” The best book is the best chattel of the priest, taking the place of the best beast; unless indeed it be not merely for anim [al]

^{page 112 note a} A T. Orston was executor to the will of Sir R. Clifton, father of Sir G. Clifton, 1 April, 1470, S. S. Test. Ebor. iv, p. 31.

^{page 114 note a} What this means I cannot discover. Is it for albidam, i.e. white, or whitish?

^{page 115 note a} He was a witness of Abp. Laurence Booth's will, 28th Sept. 1479. S. S. Test. Ebor. iii., p. 249.

^{page 115 note b} L. Booth, in his will, directed “corpusque meum sepeliendum in capella Sancti Johannes Baptistæ infra ecclesiam collegiatum de Suthwell in australi parte parietis ejusdem capellæ: et volo si opus circa capellum prædictum, per me inceptum, in vita mea finittum non existat quod tune executores mei post decessum meum opus illud performari faciunt juxta intentionem meam.” In 1491 Sir Gervase Clifton, by his will, directed “liiij. lib. in my hands of my Lord Laurence Both goodes be imploied and spended for the reparacion and wele of his chauntre and chapel at Southwell by my executors.” See p. 39 for the fate of this chapel.

^{page 116 note a} Thurgarton, Notts, near Southwell, a Priory of Augustinian or Black Canons. Parts of the church, and, under the house, the cloisters still remain.

^{page 116 note b} Southwell town was divided into the prebendage, i.e. the soke of the Prebendaries, and the burgage or town proper. Henbeck is a stream in Southwell which flows into the Greet.

^{page 117 note a} The school was never founded; at least no trace of it as a separate institution from the Grammar School of the Collegiate church can be found.

^{page 118 note a} Sic

^{page 119 note a} …? and for ever.

^{page 121 note a} Query.

^{page 123 note a} This case is rather obscure. Presumably the two Wyvells intermeddled with the estate and claimed part of it beneficially. What was the result does not appear.

^{page 125 note a} Barra was collated to the prebend of Dunham on 25 Aug., admitted 27 Aug. 1499. This will, the only will of a Canon of Southwell in the Register, has I find been already printed by the Surtees Society. Test. Ebor. v. p. 220.

^{page 126 note a} Of Newark, a party and surviving feoffee of Magnus' deed of foundation or augmentation of Newark Grammar School.

^{page 126 note b} This book is concealed in the British Museum catalogue, under Tudeschi Nichilaus de, Archbishop of Palermo. His “Decretals” are in fact written under the title Abbas. The book bequeathed may be either (i) Domini Abbatis Siculi super Decretalibus. 5 vols. Fol. Printed at Basle 1477. (5063. g.); or (ii) Domini Abbatis Siculi lectura super Decretalibus. 5 vols. Fol. Printed at Venice 1477. (5063. h.)

The books were seemingly written in 1425, when the author was Abbat Mamacensis, or Monocensis, and Auditor of the Papal Chamber.

^{page 127 note b} Apparently a cope or the price of a cope, fixed at Ripon at 10 marks, had to be paid to the chapters of which he had been a member by the executors of a deceased canon as the best good by way of principal. A canon on leaving the Church in any way had to pay this. Cf. White Book, p. 123; letter of Thomas of Corbridge in 1301, to the Chapter directing them to make Master John de Ebroic (i. e. Evreux), canon, pay to Ripon Minster, of which he had been lately canon, certain debts, and also “a cope, in which he is bound to that church according to the custom of the same.”

^{page 127 note c} Sic.

^{page 128 note a} Sic.

^{page 129 note a} The hearse was the raised canopy above the tomb. The framework of one is to be seen still over the tomb of one of the Earls in the Beauchamp chapel at Warwick.

^{page 129 note b} Prikkets are candlesticks having a prick or spike.

^{page 129 note c} I cannot find out what the “great foot” was. The Rev. C. Wordsworth suggests that it was the “great fonte ” or “greet well.” There is no mark of abbreviation over “fote,” but it might easily be omitted by a scribe ignorant of local Lincoln nomenclature.

^{page 129 note d} It was the custom for laymen to be made brothers of the friars, so as to get the banefit of their prayers and the odour of their sanctity. To be buried in a friar's gown was not Unusual.

^{page 131 note a} Until Henry VIII.'s Statute of Wills, a man could not at common law make a will of lands; but by the intervention of equity he could do so by vesting the lands in trustees to perform the uses declared in his will.

^{page 133 note a} Causeway. In Yorkshire the paved streets are still so called.

^{page 133 note b} High road.

^{page 134 note a} Supposing the posthumous child was not a boy, as the testator seems to have determined it was to be, there would have been an intestacy, probably, as to these 10 marks.

^{page 135 note a} Harden, “a common linen made from tow or the coarsest quality of hemp and flax.” — Beck's Drapers' Dictionary.

^{page 135 note b} Board cloths, i.e., table-cloths, — Catholicon Anglicum, Camden Society.

^{page 135 note c} Awmbre, a cupboard.

^{page 135 note d} Hallynge,. tapestry to hang round a hall.

^{page 136 note a} Wymble, an auger.

^{page 136 note b} Cobornes, cob-irons, the irons by which the spit was supported.

^{page 136 note c} Skomer, a skimmer, a fire shovel.

^{page 136 note d} A metal ladle.

^{page 136 note e} Flaket, a flask.

^{page 138 note a} This was the Act of 1529, 21 Henry VIII. c. 4, limiting the value of mortuaries to be taken, to 38. 4d. where the goods were worth between 10 marks and £30; to 68. 8d. on £30–£40: and to £1 on £40 and upwards. None at all were to be taken unless there was a custom to that effect, nor on goods below 10 marks in value, nor from married women, children, or any but householders.

^{page 139 note a} Blank in original.

^{page 141 note a} Serges, i.e., cereos, wax tapers.

^{page 141 note b} Throwen chair, i.e., turned.

^{page 141 note c} Portesses or portiforia were breviaries, i.e. service-books containing the offices of the hours of prayer, for daily recitation by the clergy in choir or at home.

^{page 142 note a} The registrar of the chapter of Southwell and a vicar choral.

^{page 142 note b} His name, was Sawyer.

^{page 144 note a} Brinckley was chauntry priest at Normanton chapel. Hall was a chauntry priest also.

^{page 144 note b} This is about the worst written document in the whole book, having been written in the reign of Elizabeth, as appears by the note at the end. It is interesting as being the earliest will after the suppression of monasteries, and it is remarkable to see how the elaborate and expensive provisions for torches, tapers, and trentals, doles, et hoc genus omne, have shrunk to a beggarly mark for the highways, and a shilling apiece for the parish vicar and the high altar.

^{page 145 note a} The list of admissions given below, under date of admission, taken from the Southwell Register, is curiously incomplete.

The form of admission of canons was pretty much the same in all cases, though there is a curious variety of expression in detail. It is the exception when the canon is admitted in person. The first few forms are given as specimens.