men of

living at the same time. Happily, both were peace, and showed so much respect for each other, that things went on quite smoothly. Neither Graystanes, who had suffered the wrong, nor (which is more wonderful) Bury, who had triumphed unfairly, showed any ill-feeling. In fact, Bury used much courtesy towards his rival. We find, too, that he protested against being thought to have grasped at so great an office; for when people asked him whether he would not apply for this bishopric, he had replied that he never had asked for anything, nor would he ever ask. Later on, when Graystanes died, Bury showed an excellent spirit. William of Chambre, in his continuation of Graystane's Chronicle,* tells us that, "One day, as Bishop Richard sat at table at York with seven others, in came Master John Warham with the news that Graystanes was dead. And the Bishop took it so much to heart, that he dismissed the messenger, and sat distressed, until the guests asked him why he felt it so keenly? To this he replied that 'if you had known his industry as I did, you too would grieve as I do'; and so he paused a while, and then added: Yes, he was more fit to be Pope of Rome than such a man as I am to hold even a lesser dignity in the Church.'

A curious incident arising from this failure of the Convent to secure the see for Graystanes, appears in a letter addressed by the King to his Justiciaries on 30 March, 1334, to tell them that he had pardoned William of Melson, Archbishop of York, for having presumed to consecrate Graystanes : Rex dilectis et fidelibus suis Ricardo de Wylingby et sociis suis Justitiariis ad placita coram nobis tenenda assignatis Salutem :-Cum de gratia nostra speciali pardonavimus Willelmo Archiepiscopo Eborum transgressionem et contemptum, quas nobis fecit confirmando electionem nuper factam de Roberto de Graystones, Monacho ecclesiae cathedralis Dunelmensis

* Tres Scriptores, p. 129.

in episcopum loci praedicti, et ipsum episcopum consecrando, dicto Roberto per nos non acceptato, nec regio assensu nostro, prout moris est in hac parte, adhibito, Vobis mandamus quod placito inde coram nobis inter Nos et praefatum Archiepiscopum per breve nostrum moto ulterius tenendo pariter supersedeatis, et ipsum Archiepiscopum praemissa occasione non molestetis in aliquo seu gravetis. Teste Rege apud Rokyngham, 30 Mar., 1334."

Richard of Bury, then Dean of Wells, received the temporalities of Durham See on the 7th December, 1333. At the beginning of our volume we find documents bearing on this transaction: first, the Compotus Roll of Ralph Neville, who was guardian of the temporalities in the vacancy, and then a letter of Edward III and his Mandate, ordering the transference of the worldly affairs of the See to the new bishop.

In the course of this year, somewhat earlier than this transaction, Edward III was lodging in the Prior's house at Durham, which is now the Deanery; Graystanes, a monk of the Cathedral House, and on the spot at the time, describes a singular incident that occurred at this moment. Edward was having his supper on Friday in Easter Week, 1333, in the Prior's Refectory, when Queen Philippa arrived. She had ridden over from Knaresborough, and "in her ignorance† had entered the Abbey," and disregarding the usages of the Church, dismounted at the Prior's door. There she went in, and joined the King at supper. After this, being wearied with her long ride, she retired to bed, no doubt in the chamber which now goes by the name of "King James' Room," and fell into her first sleep well earned. Meantime, one of the monks craved audience with Edward, and pointed out to him that St. Cuthbert could not abide a woman within his House, and would visit the Queen's sleeping there with *In the Record Office, London.

† That is, her unconsciousness of St. Cuthbert's views about women.

some horrible murrain. So the King sent someone to the chamber in which Queen Philippa was lying, and she, thus unkindly roused, sprang up, threw a cloak around her shoulders, and went off, just as she was, out of the precincts of the priory; she passed through the Treasury Gate and then Lichgate, and took refuge in the Castle, where she ended her disturbed night. Graystanes opines that she was alarmed at the displeasure of St. Cuthbert, "and prayed the Saint that he would not punish her for what she had done in ignorance."*

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This visit of Edward III to Durham "Abbey" was in days of anxiety as to the Scottish enmity, always perilous to him when war with France was impending. Bishop Beaumont was failing in health (he died that September), so that the King must have thought how vital it was for him to place in the Durham Bishopric, that most important inner stronghold of the northern March," some man whom he could trust, a man who would be a better protector against Scottish raids than weak Louis of Beaumont, so ignorant, idle, and selfish. What had been the use of such a man? He was "greedy of gain and wasteful in spending,"† a man of whom the contemporary chronicler tells us that he cared for nothing but himself, and how he could extort money from the Prior and Convent;" who, when men remonstrated with him, coolly replied, "you do nothing for me, why should you expect me to do anything for you? Pray for my death; for while I live you will have nothing from me."‡

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At any rate, when death did take him, Edward III thought that his old tutor was the very man for the place. He knew with what peaceful persuasion he would handle the thorny border difficulties. Hence came the curious struggle just described.

* Tres Scriptores, Graystanes, c. xlvii, p. 117. † Ibid., c. xlviii, p. 118.

Ibid., p. 119.

Bury was not enthroned at Durham till the 5th June, 1334.* At this moment he held not only the Deanery of Wells, but a long roll of benefices needed to support his lavish magnificence. Since the accession of Edward III the King had bestowed on him fourteen valuable livings, etc., in different parts of England. It does not appear that he even visited many of them.

Immediately after Bury's enthronement we find a glaring illustration of his passion for magnificence, in the description of the great feast he gave to the assembled royalties and nobles. There sat down at his table in Durham, Edward III and Philippa his Queen, the QueenMother, the King of Scots, now a friendly guest, the Archbishops also, and several bishops, earls also, with their countesses, and, in fact, as the Chronicle says, all

* We have two curious entries of this date: In 1333, Cowton, Prior of Durham, spent 10s. 1d. in going to greet Robert of Graystanes on his consecration as bishop; and then, directly after, we find this: "In expensis ejusdem [prioris] apud Eborum ad loquendum cum domino nostro Episcopo Ricardo, xli. xis., ivd."

† Bishop Tanner, in his Britannico-Hibernia (1748), enumerates these preferments thus:

1327. Rector of Croydon, and Prebendary of Crediton.

1328. R. of Dadington, Lincolnshire.

1330. Prebendary of Penryn; Archdeacon of Sarum (which he shortly after lost); Prebendary of Beniston 2a and of St. Botulf.

1331. Prebendary of Northampton (but this was also given away per provisionem papalem,' so that he missed it); also Canon of Weston, in the College of Westbury, and Prebendary of York.

1332. Canon of York; Prebendary of Lok in St. Patrick's Cathedral; Parson of Salrichesworth.

1333 (Feb.). Dean of Wells, by Papal Provision, and Bishop of Durham. There were certainly more than these. Thus in the Reg. Pal. Dun., iv, xxxii, the Archbishop of Canterbury writes to Bury as Rector of S., styling him "the King's Clerk." The document runs thus: R. [Winchelsey] permissione divina Cant. Archiep. totius Angliae primas delecto filio R. de B. subdiacono, rectori ecclesiae de S. nostrae diocesis, illustris Regis Angliae clerico, salutem. Tuas occupationes arduas quibus ad utilitatem publicam in ipsius domini Regis obsequio, prout asseris, continue detineris plenius advertentes, ut a quocunque Episcopo nostrae provinciae Cantuarensis ab unitate ecclesiae non praeciso ad subscripta potestatem habente omnes sacros ordines a te per . non susceptos oportune suscipere valeas, non obstante quod in nostra diocesi, ut praemittitur, beneficiatus existis, liberam tibi concedimus facultatem. In cujus rei, etc.

And similarly for a Rectory in Carlisle diocese (Liber Episc. R. de B., f. 23v), Pateat universis praesentes literas inspecturis quod nos Johannes [Halton] miseratione divina Carliolensis Episcopus ordines celebrantes in Capella Infirmariae sita infra Prioratum ecclesiae nostrae Beatae Mariae Carliolensis, die Sabbati quo cantatur "Sitientes," anno gratiae etc., dilectum nobis in Christo dominum R. de B. rectorem ecclesiae de B. literas

the magnates of the north, with a multitude of the religious and a countless crowd of the common folk.

Bury was not long permitted to stay quietly in his new home. Just before he became bishop, in 1330 and 1333, Edward had sent him as his ambassador to the Pope at Avignon. For the 1330 mission he had been accredited by an autograph letter from the King, and in 1333, Edward had also addressed the papal nephews with language of great trust and affection towards his envoy : "Unicum igitur secretarium nostrum carissimum Magistrum Ricardum de Bury."*

In these embassages he took the papal court by storm, so gallant was he with a brilliant suite; behind him were ranged twenty clerks and thirty squires, all wearing his uniform; and the effect of this splendour may be seen in the bull issued by Pope John XXII in 1333, together

venerabilis patris domini Thomae Oxoniae (sic) [should be Exoniae] Episcopi [sc. Th. Sutton] nobis dimissores porrigentem et subdiaconum duximus ordinandum, has literas patentes concedentes eidem in testimonium praemissorum. Datum etc.

And a record of the intention of Edward III to heap preferments on Bury's shoulders is a document in the Lib. Epist. R. de B., f. 1,043v (or 206v).

Suo desiderato patri et domino reverendo domino R[obert Winchelsey] Ut quis Dei gratia totins Angliae primato (sic), W[alter Langton] ejusdem permis- beneficiorum permittetur sione Coventriae et Lichfeldiae ecclesiarum minister, salutem et obedientiae pluralitate debitum cum reverentia ac honore. Dum omnium beneficiorum exilitatem gaudere. domini R. de B. clerici domini nostri Regis et nostri attente conspicimus, pensantes quod propter obsequia regia quibus insistit non modica oporteat ipsum subire overe [onera] expensarum, quodque duntaxat beneficia ecclesiastica quae optinet summam xx1 marcarum vel circiter vix attingunt, et ipsum coram vobis super beneficiorum ipsorum pluralitate ex officio impetitum, prae compassionis affectu compatimur, arbitrantes Deo placabili nec a sanctorum patrum traditionibus alienum ipsum in tam exilibus beneficiis gratiose dimittere pacificum et quietum, et praecipue cum si quid recepimus alias, ipsum dimisistis a vestro officio super istis. Hinc et quod vestram reverendam paternitatem omni affectu quo possumus ex corde duximus requirendum, quatinus ejusdem clerici devotionis promptitudinem, favorem regiam nostramque instantiam considerantes, ac propter haec et alia quae eundem clericum gratiae dignum reddunt, plena benevolentia prosequentes eundem ei in suo negotio quod in auditorio vestro tractatur sperati favoris et optatae gratiae impendere dignemini complementum, ut idem clericus per nos se juvari laetetur, et nos, qui totaliter vester sumus in his quae cordi vestro votiva fuerint fortius astringamur. Ad regimen ecclesiae suae sanctae altissimus vos conservet. Datum, etc.

* Rymer, Foedera, a. 1333 (ii, 854).

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