(II) The Fellows were to be thirteen in number, counting the Rector as holding a Fellowship; and consequently, when augmented by Darby, sixteen. Provision was made for the increase of their number if the revenues of the College could bear it; but this provision seems never to have been acted on. The corresponding provision for diminution of the number of Fellowships to eleven, to seven, to five, and even to three, was, however, from time to time had recourse to; and as a rule, the circumstances of the College have not permitted of the extreme number of Fellowships being filled up.[167]
The Fellows were to be elected from graduates of Oxford or Cambridge, born within the counties or dioceses described below; and if not already in priest’s orders were to take them immediately they were of age for them. A Bachelor of Arts was not to be elected unless there was no Master of Arts possessed of the proper county or diocese qualification. When, however, Darby in 1537 gave his three additional Fellowships, he recognized the fact that there might be no graduate in the University eligible, and provided that they might be filled up by the election of an undergraduate Fellow[168] either from undergraduates in Oxford, or by taking a boy from some grammar school in Lincoln diocese; but the person so elected was to have no voice in College business until he had taken his degree.
Taking the full number of Rector, twelve Foundation Fellows, and three Darby Fellows, the sixteen places on the foundation of Lincoln College were assigned as follows—
One Fellowship was to be filled up from the diocese of Wells (i. e. county of Somerset), in memory of the benefactions of John Forest, dean, and Thomas Beckington, bishop, of Wells; but this Fellow was specially excluded from election to the Rectorship or Subrectorship. All the other places were to be apportioned between the dioceses of York and Lincoln. It is not known whether Fleming, himself a native of Yorkshire and bishop of Lincoln, had made any such limitations; but Rotheram, possessed of the same twofold interest, draws particular attention to the fact that his College is designed to make provision for natives of these two dioceses which had hitherto been neglected by the founders of colleges. Four places were assigned for natives of the county of Lincoln, with a preference to natives of the archdeaconry of Lincoln; four places were open to natives of the diocese of Lincoln; two places were assigned for natives of the county of York, with a preference to natives of the Archdeaconry of York, and within that with a more particular preference to the parish of Rotherham, in which the second founder was born; two places were to be open to natives of the diocese of York. Of the Darby Fellowships, one was to be for a native of the Archdeaconry of Stowe, one for a native of Leicestershire or Northamptonshire (with a preference to the former), and one for a native of Oxfordshire.[169]
The next point which we may consider is the duties of the Fellows. These may be classified as follows:—
(1) They were to be “theologi” (students of theology), with the single exception of the holder of the Fellowship founded by John Crosby for the study of Canon Law. Their orthodoxy was ensured by a very stringent clause directed against heretical opinions:—“if it be proved by two trustworthy witnesses that any Fellow, in public or in private, has favoured heretical tenets, and in particular that pestilent sect, lately sprung up, which assails the sacraments, divers orders and dignities, and property of the Church,” the College is to compel him to immediate submission and correction, or else to expel him.
(2) They were to pray for the souls of founders and benefactors, at the celebration of mass, in bidding-prayers, in the graces in hall, after disputations, and on the anniversaries of their death. This was the chief duty contemplated by all pre-Reformation benefactors.
(3) They had considerable duties to perform with regard to their four Churches which may be classified thus:—
(a) As regards spiritualities. Although the ordinary services of the Churches throughout the year were to be discharged by four salaried Chaplains, yet, during Lent, a Fellow of the College was to assist the Chaplain of All Saints in hearing confessions and in other ministerial functions; another, similarly, to assist the Chaplain of St. Michael’s; another, to assist the Chaplain at Combe; and the Rector, or a Fellow appointed by him, to assist the Chaplain at Twyford. On all greater festival days, the Rector or his representative (in an amice, if he had one, and if not, in surplice, and the hood of his degree), accompanied by all the Fellows (except one who was to attend as representative of the College at St. Michael’s), was to go to service at All Saints.[170] St. Mildred’s Church was to be commemorated on her day (13th July) by a celebration in the College chapel; and the benefaction of John Bucktot by a Fellow going to Ashendon to say mass on St. Matthias day, and that of William Finderne by a similar service in Childrey parish church.[171] Sermons in English were to be preached at All Saints on Easter Day and on All Saints Day,[172] by the Rector, and on the dedication day of that Church, by one of the Fellows; and at St. Michael’s on Michaelmas Day, by one of the Fellows.[173]