hounds and various other dogs, are mentioned as being in Sussex with the King.

Walter Reynolds, who succeeded Robert de Winchelsea in 1313, also wrote various letters from Mayfield, showing that he, at times, resided there, but they are of little importance. From his register we find the value of the rectory was 90 marks, or £60, at which sum it had been taxed in 1291.

He was followed in 1328 by Simon Meopham, who was more identified with Mayfield than his immediate predecessor.

A Provincial Synod was held in St. Paul's Cathedral, in January, 1330, to deal with matters of morals and of Church discipline, and several other Councils were convened by the Archbishop, either for meeting the royal demands for money, or for the purpose of enforcing discipline. In the year 1332, one of these Councils or Synods, called "Consilium Maghfeldense," was held at Mayfield to regulate festivals and holidays, proof enough that it was then a goodly town, since it must have been able to afford accommodation for the numerous retinues of bishops and other great dignitaries of the Church, who, from all parts of Southern England, must have been present on the occasion. It must have been a picturesque and busy scene that day, such as probably the place has never since presented; with its thronging crowd of bishops and clergy, who, with their retinues and armed escorts, must have travelled hither on horseback, by rough and dirty ways, which, two or three hundred years later, were still matters of much complaint.

The result of the meeting appears in a circular letter addressed by the Archbishop particularly to the Bishop of Salisbury. In it he affirms that "holidays, which were designed for the promotion of God's glory, are too often profaned by rioting and drunkenness and all manner of iniquity." He enjoins the clergy to represent to those under them to observe these feasts with reverend solemnity, and desires each diocesan to teach the people "that the Lord's Day is to begin on the Saturday before, but must not on that account be confounded with the Jewish Sabbath." The letter concludes with the words, "Given at Maghefeld, 16, Aug., A.D. 1332, and the fifth year of our consecration."

The Archbishop was unpopular. One cause of his unpopularity may have been that soon after his consecration he commanded a provincial visitation, which involved both bishops and clergy in considerable expense. The unsettled state of the country rendered it necessary that he should be attended by a large retinue and by armed men. His daily expenses were said to amount to £24, a large

sum, as we have seen, in those days. He seems to have travelled with a company of about eighty horsemen, and, assuming that the horses had to be fed, and the riders entertained, at the expense of several parishes, and that the Archbishop and his train were unlikely to be content with very homely fare, we can imagine these visitations of his were no light burden. Also, minute inquiries were made into offences, and delinquents were punished with severity, as a part of the routine of the visitations. He did not find peace at Canterbury, as he became involved in a controversy with the monks of St. Augustine, who claimed over the parishes of which they were impropriators a jurisdiction free from episcopal control. The monks appealed to the Pope, who delegated Icherius, a canon of Salisbury, to hear the cause, a man who had already prejudged the case. The Archbishop, instead of appearing before him, went to his house at Slindon, whence the commissioners of the papal court followed him to compel him to appear. On their demanding admittance, they were only allowed as far as the court, where the servants of the Archbishop (who was in bed at the time) only abused them, and made game of them. The proctor of the Augustinians could hardly restrain his rage; and so exasperated were the papal company at the behaviour of the retainers, that their men-at-arms drew their swords, and a pitched battle ensued. The Archbishop's people seized Aymeric, rector of the leper hospital in London, and on seeing that his tonsure was imperfect, when his cap fell to the ground, they ordered the barber to shave him, and in order to cleanse his hair, threw several gallons of water over him. The proctor meanwhile tried to escape on horseback, but, being a poor rider, was hunted down by his enemies, who overtook him at Petworth, and brought him back in triumph to Slindon.

Of course the monks were not slow to inform the Pope how shamefully his representatives had been used; but the Archbishop still refused to pay the sum of £1,210, which had been imposed as a fine by Icherius, and stated that he was ill at the time of the disturbance, and therefore could not prevent it. He was then pronounced contumacious, and declared excommunicate.

Not long after, being at his Palace of Mayfield, the Bishop of Rochester going to visit him the Sunday after the Virgin Mary's Assumption, 1333, found him sitting very pensive and dejected; and upon his endeavouring to comfort him by advising him to get absolved from the excommunication, the Archbishop made answer that he was little concerned for that; nevertheless he survived not many days, dying there on Tuesday morning after St. Paul's Day,

October 12th, 1333. His body was conveyed to Canterbury Cathedral, and buried in the Chapel of St. Peter; but not till after the Abbot of St. Augustine, and the Archbishop his successor, had taken off the excommunication.* Among letters of Christ Church, Canterbury, is one to the prior from Master Robert de Weston at Mayfield about the funeral arrangements.†

The registers of John de Stratford, who succeeded him, are missing; therefore we have nothing to show whether in the earlier days of his primacy he resided at Mayfield. No deeds of his seem to have been executed here; we are only told that, "Weary of business, he sought quiet retirement at his manor of Mayfield."

When he resided here, thirteen poor persons presented themselves every morning, to receive each a loaf of bread and one penny from the Archbishop's own hands. At noon thirteen other poor people made their appearance, who dined at his table, and at their departure also received a loaf and a penny. The fragments left on his hospitable board were carefully collected, that nothing might be lost, and sent with his benediction to those among the poor who were too infirm to present themselves at the gates.

There are interesting notices by a contemporary of his being executor of his own will, and of his charitable donations to the parish. "Having," says the writer, "been much occupied by his pastoral charge, he was seized with illness at Maidstone, and growing daily weaker, he was conveyed to Mayfield, where, having made his will, he distributed all his bequests before his death."

The Nona Roll of 1341 gives some details concerning the tithes at Mayfield. It appears that the ninth of sheaves was valued at £30 (which included the ninth of sheaves of Michelham Park, 10s.), and the ninth of fleeces and lambs 3s. 4d.; the sum being £30 3s. 4d. It is added that in the taxation of the church at £60 is included the manor, belonging to the said rectory, with its appurtenances, worth £10 yearly; also the tithe of hay valued at £10; also the fourth part of the tithes of the parish belonging to the Prior of Ledes by composition with the Archbishop, valued at 10 marks. Moreover, certain land is enclosed in Fraunkhame Park, which used to be cultivated, and then the tithes yielded 10s.; also there are in the manor of Bivelhame two carucates of land, and John de Wadeherst holds one carucate of land in the parish which this year lies uncultivated, from which the tithe of wheat is usually valued at 30s. The sum total of the above is £58 16s. 8d., so that there *Courthope MSS. Coll. of Arms.

† Hist. MSS. Com. Vol. I.

is a deficiency from the extent of the said church of Maghefeld of 238. 4d.*

In the registers of Simon Islip is a further mention of the rectory, showing that in 38 Edward III. (1364) that Archbishop granted to John Cogger and his lawful heirs the right of pasturage in Cortwode and Pondesheved, both appertaining to the glebe of the church of Maghefeld "appropriated to our table," yielding for the same the yearly sum of 11s. 6d. †

By reference to the signature of Islip attached to various documents, it is seen that he was resident here from May to September in 1350, from April to July in 1352, in February 1357, in March 1361, from January 1362 until the July of the year following, and from August 1364 until his death in 1366. The see had been impoverished by Archbishop Stratford, but it does not appear that the splendid hospitality usual when an archbishop entertained royal visitors in the Palace of Canterbury was curtailed when in May 1357, the Prince of Wales (Edward the Black Prince) arrived there with his prisoner, John, King of France; and it is admitted that in repairing edifices belonging to the see, he displayed not only munificence, but much taste in architecture. He is said to have found all the buildings so decayed that not one was habitable. He succeeded in obtaining from the administrators of his predecessor, Stratford, a large sum for the dilapidations of the palace (said to be 1000 marks-£666 13s. 4d.-equal to about £15,000 of our money). He obtained a bull for a tenth from his clergy, and repaired or rebuilt the residences. He pulled down the house at Wrotham, and rebuilt that at Maidstone with the materials. He enlarged and repaired Lambeth Palace; and though we have nothing recorded about this manor-house of Mayfield, it is impossible to come to any other conclusion, looking at the style of the building, than that Islip rebuilt the greater part of it, and built the hall on a grander scale. He committed great waste in timber in the forests near, and this may be taken as conclusive evidence of the time of the additions to the house.

S. de Birchington, who is the authority for this statement, says, "He wasted more oak timber in the Dourdennes (Weald of Sussex) for his new buildings than any of his predecessors."

It was in Islip's time also that the park attached to the Palace

* Inquisitiones Nonarum, p. 376.

† Reg. Islep., f. 206, a.

E. Roberts, F.S.A. Arch. Ass. Vol. XXIII.