The great act of defence against this danger which threatened was the canon which forbade the son of a parson to succeed to his father’s benefice. The canon was re-enacted from time to time, but not without occasional instances of strenuous resistance. Thus, in 1235, Alexander, Bishop of Coventry, complained to Pope Gregory IX., that certain rectors, sons of priests, presumed to occupy their fathers’ benefices by force of arms; and in some cases where fit incumbents had been placed, the priest’s sons had threatened them with injury to members and life, so that they feared to dwell there; and he asks the pope’s protection.[264] The pope tells him to deprive them of all their benefices.[265]
Some of the results of the state of things above described appear very frequently in the bishops’ registers. Illegitimacy, we have seen, was one of the defects which stood in the way of a man’s ordination, and the son of a priest was regarded by the canons as illegitimate; but the bishop could, if he pleased, give a dispensation which removed the barrier, and there are many records of such dispensations.[266] Sometimes the dispensation only admits the grantee to take minor orders, sometimes “to take all the sacred orders, and to hold ecclesiastical benefices even with cure of souls.” In the Register of Bishop Quivil, of Exeter, 1282, is a record of a Dispensatio super defectu natalium granted to J. de Axemuthe, the defect being that he was de presbytero genitus et soluta. So, in the Exeter Register of Bishop Stapledon, J. de Hurbestone, clerk, in 1308, had a dispensation, being de presbytero genitus et soluta. Soluta means single woman, but in the eye of the canon law and of the bishop, the wife of a priest would be soluta, so that these may be cases not of immorality, but of married priests. In the Register of Montacute, Bishop of Ely, is a record of a dispensation (1338) to the son of Ada Bray, of Canterbury, qui patre de presbytero genitus, to be promoted to all minor orders.[267] In a great number of cases the nature of the illegitimacy is soluto genitus et soluta—born of a single man and single woman; it is very possible that a number of sons of the clergy may be included in this formal legal description also.
Sometimes a man, refused perhaps by his own bishop, went to Rome for a dispensation, and obtained it.[268] Sometimes the Papal Court gave a priest’s son license to be promoted to any dignity short of a bishopric.[269]
If a man, being thus disqualified, neglected to obtain a proper dispensation, he might find the neglect a serious difficulty in after-life, or if he failed to have at hand the proof of his dispensation; thus, in 1234, it was objected to Thomas de Melsonby, prior of Durham, that he was the son of a rector of Melsonby, and born while his father was in holy orders.[270] Similarly on Feb. 20, 1308-9, Stapledon, bishop of Exeter, in the chapter-house of Launceston Priory, admonished the prior on pain of deprivation to exhibit, within two years, to himself or his successors, his “Privilegium” by virtue of which he retained the dignity, being illegitimate. He appeared within the term and satisfied the bishop, and was discharged.[271]
It appears that those who were thrust out on this ground were treated with some consideration. In 1126, Wm. de Ruley was deprived of the Church of Ruley, on the ground that he was the son of the last minister; but the archbishop assigned to him the tithes of a chapelry in the parish for his support during his life.[272] The mandate for the removal of Peter of Wivertorp from the Church of Wivertorp, for the same reason, concludes with the note, salva pensione, from which we infer that all incumbents removed for this cause were entitled to, or at least were usually granted, a pension. But Peter of Wivertorp did not rest content with his deprivation. He made friends at the Court of Rome, representing that his father was married when in minor orders, and that he himself had held the benefice for ten years; and obtained a letter from Pope Honorius interceding for him, that he should be allowed to retain Wivertorp till the archbishop gave him some other competent living.[273]
The curt, formal entries in these musty records sometimes seem to give us a glimpse into men’s hearts and lives: John Curteys, Vicar of Hobeche, in his will, made in 1418, leaves all his lands in Holbeach and Quappelode, to William Curteys for life, on condition that he shall become a priest as soon as possible after obtaining his legitimation, to celebrate for the souls of his parents; the remainder for pious uses.[274] We venture to conjecture that John Curteys, the vicar, in view of his approaching end, was uneasy in his conscience about the uncanonical marriage of which William was the offspring; therefore he thus appeals to his son to obtain as rapidly as may be a dispensation, and ordination to the priesthood; and then to use continually during his future life his priestly office in praying for the souls of his erring parents.
The author of “Piers Plowman’s Vision” includes these dispensations to priests’ sons, and sons of serfs, among the abuses of his time, in lines which are worth quoting—
For should no clerk be crowned,[275] But if he come were
Of franklins and freemen, And of folk wedded.
Bondmen[276] and bastards, And beggars’ children,[276]
These belong to labour, And lord’s children should serve
Both God and good men As their degree askith.
Some to sing masses, Others to sit and write,
Reade and receive, What Reason ought to spend.
And since bondmen’s bairns Have been made bishops,
And bastard bairns Have been archdeacons,
And cobblers and their sons For silver have been knights,
And monks and monials, That mendicants should feed,[277]
Have made their kin knights, And knights’ fees purchased,
Popes and Patrons Poor gentle blood refuse,
And take Simond’s son, Sanctuary to keep.
Life holiness and love Have been long hence,
And will, till it be weared out Or otherwise ychanged.
