[224] Mon. Franc. I, 335; cf. Harl. MS. 431, fol. 100 b, election of J. David to be lector at Hereford: Wadding, X, p. 156 (A. D. 1430); XIII, 73. At first the lecturers seem to have been appointed by the Provincial Minister (Mon. Franc. I, 37, 354), or, when a friar was sent from one province to another, by the General (Ibid. 39, R. de Colebruge). In the 14th and 15th centuries, the reader had to be confirmed by the General, and might be appointed by him: MS. Canonic. Misc. 75, f. 77 b; and Wadding, X, 156. Anal. Franc. II, 240 (A. D. 1411).
[225] Mon. Franc. I, 357.
[226] Woodford in his reply to Armachamus (cap. 8) says: ‘Pope Benedict ordained statutes for the order of friars Minors, of great and mature counsel, which are called among the Minorities statuta papalia; in these it is decreed concerning which parts of the Order ought to lecture on the Sentences at Paris, which parts at Oxford and Cambridge, how they ought to be elected in general and provincial chapters, and how consequently they ought to ascend to the doctor’s degree by papal ordinance or election of the Order.’ The constitutions of Benedict XII, de studiis (A. D. 1336), were printed in Chronologia historico-legalis seraphici Ordinis Fratrum Minorum, Neapoli 1650, tom. I, p. 46 (referred to in Anal. Franc. II, 165); I have not seen this book. They are omitted by Baronius et Raynaldus, Annales Eccles. Vol. XXV, p. 92 seq. They are contained in Bodl. MS. Canonic. Misc. 75, ff. 73 seq., but no mention of Oxford occurs here. The following regulations are given for Cambridge (fol. 77 b): ‘Simili quoque modo, aliorum (qui) ordinabuntur ad legendum sentencias in studio Cantabrigie, duo assumantur duobus annis de provincia Anglie per ipsius provincie provinciale Capitulum eligendi, et tercius anno tercio de aliis partibus ordinis per generale capitulum tam de cismontanis quam de ultramontanis eligendus.’
[227] MS. Canonic. Misc. 75, fol. 78: ‘Nullus quoque frater dicti ordinis ad legendum in prenominatis studiis (i.e. recognised Universities) sententias assumatur, nisi prius legerit 4or libros sententiarum cum scriptis approbatorum doctorum in aliis studiis qui (sic) in eodem ordine dicuntur generalia vel conventibus infrascriptis, vidz ... Londoniensi, Eboricensi, ... Novi castri, Stramforicensi (?) ... Exoniensi,’ &c. Nineteen convents in all are mentioned; only those which are, or may be, in England are here quoted. I have found no evidence to show whether this rule was or was not carried out.
[228] Anal. Franc. II, 241.
[229] Lyte, p. 107.
[230] Mon. Franc. I, 232.
[231] See dates of the Oxford lectors in Part II; Harl. MS. 431, fol. 100 b, &c. The period of necessary Regency was at first one year, afterwards two.
[232] That the Chapters of the Minorites were actually held yearly in England may be seen from Pat. Roll, 1 Hen. IV, part 5, m. 7: ‘ac pro capitulo suo provinciali quod in Anglia singulis annis celebratur.’
[233] e.g. Adam Marsh, T. Docking, &c.