THE EARLY CATHOLIC HISTORY

OF NEWARK UPON TRENT

THE WILTON DIPTYCH (c. 1395-1399)

An extremely rare survival of a late English Medieval art.

This diptych was painted for King Richard II who is depicted

kneeling before the Virgin and Child

THE EARLY CATHOLIC HISTORY OF NEWARK UPON TRENT

“Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth”

Newark on the river Trent in Nottinghamshire is one of England’s most historic towns. The Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene with its soaring spire has been a well-known landmark for centuries. During the time of the Reformation of the 16th century, and for nearly 400 years prior to that date, Newark's Parish Church played a prominent role, both by being in the centre of the town and central to the lives of those who lived and worked around Newark.

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST MARY MAGDALENE NEWARK

painted by: Ted Towndrow

In those early times, the parish priest and other parochial officials in Newark were deeply involved in many aspects of day-to-day life beyond those of a strictly ecclesiastical nature. Religion and religious observances were an integral part of English people's very existence in a way that is very difficult to understand today. At times there were twenty or more religious officiating in the town, with the parish priest, his curate, the chantry priests and those serving as friars. One might imagine Newark Market Square in those days with a population of the town being very small in comparison to today’s numbers but with a very noticeable number of Clergy some shopping or going about other business or preaching at the Market Cross. Parishioners too contributed their time and gave alms for the support of those less fortunate. Much of this charitable work for those in St. Leonard’s Hospital Northgate, the poor, elderly and housebound was carried out through the work of the many religious guilds of the town. Daily Masses and other services were held at Newark Parish Church and at other chapels around the town. One of the chantries at the Parish Church was at the altar of St. Laurence and here every morning at 4am Mass was celebrated, with a commitment to a regular Mass being celebrated there in perpetuity, that is, forever. These early morning Masses were popular in England in pre-Reformation days and were called by various names of which 'Morrow Mass' and 'Jesu Mass' were the most common. Newark’s links with politics, with royalty and famous battles play an important part of English history. At the locally fought battle of East Stoke in 1487 Henry Tudor was victorious and from then on he presided over a dynasty that lasted over a century. His son, born in 1491, governed a revolution that forcefully and dramatically changed the way the Christian faith was practised in England, a faith by that time which had been in place for 900 years. That revolution was the Reformation, and the son was one of England's most famous kings - Henry VIII.

KING HENRY VIII

If the battle at East Stoke fought three miles from Newark had been lost by his father in 1487, then Henry would have not have succeeded to the throne. Therefore the Reformation that so devastated the Catholic Church in England might never have happened! It is ironic, that the Observant Friars were given residence in Newark by Henry Tudor after his victory at East Stoke, and nearly 40 years later these same Friars offered some of the strongest resistance to his son Henry VIII and to the Reformation. Also it appears the last Catholic Priest to serve the church of St Mary Magdalene, Father Henry Lytherland was born in the same year as the battle of East Stoke 1487. Imagine what might have transpired if Henry Tudor had lost the battle fought on a small field near Newark………. In Newark, as elsewhere in England, ordinary people together with priests and monks opposed this enforced change to their religion, but failed to prevent it. This story explores the origins of Newark’s Catholic heritage to the time of the Reformation and describes some of the brave individuals who were prepared to defend the old faith.

THE EARLY YEARS OF CHRISTIANITY IN NEWARK In the 5th century A.D. there was an abrupt withdrawal from Britain of the Romans and the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. The shock to the political, social, economic and religious life of the country must have been profound. Although there is no evidence of Roman settlements at Newark the effect on the Newark district must have had been devastating, being close to the Fosse Way and not far from Lincoln a centre of Roman Geo’political life. From the time of Constantine’s peace with the church 313 A.D. to the total acceptance of the Christian faith by him and the Roman state, Christianity flourished and prospered. With the country left isolated, Britain might have been considered an orphan in most civilised respects, at the mercy of pagan, barbarian and heretical attack, even so the holy sacrifice of the Mass continued to be offered for the faithful, somewhere and somehow! The time-span from the late 5th century A.D. to about the time of the Norman Congress of 1066 is generally considered an 'unenlightened' period, and is often called the Dark-Ages for that reason. In England during that time very little was written or recorded and so we do not have a clear picture of day-to-day life. This began to change with the arrival of the monastic orders in England, beginning with Augustine, later St Augustine, in the late 6th century. The advent of the monastic orders brought educated monks to our shores who were then able to teach others and spread their learning. Understandably change was slow, and many years were to pass before a significant proportion of the populace became literate. One man in particular played an important role in recording life in those times. Saint Bede the Venerable - considered the Father of English History – was born in the north east of England in 673 on land owned by the Benedictine monastery of Wearmouth. At the age of seven he began his education under the watchful eye of the monastery's abbot and a few years later he moved to a new monastery at Jarrow where he remained for the rest of his life. Bede received an impressive education from the monks, in particular learning Latin, exploring literature and the Bible. At the age of 19 he was ordained a deacon by the Bishop of Hexham and later wrote the first account of Anglo-Saxon England, which was completed in 731. It is thanks to his written word, the ‘Ecclesiastical History of the English People’ that we have a reference to these early times and in particular the acceptance of the Christian faith in England and in the Newark area. In his writing, Bede tells of a British king in the year 156 who wrote to Pope Eleutherus asking to be made a Christian by his direction. The king's request was quickly granted, and the Britons received the Faith. Later Bede

describes how the holy Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) sends Augustine, then a prior of a Roman monastery, together with 40 monks to preach to the English nation, encouraging them in a letter to persevere in their mission. In the region around Newark, it was a monk called Paulinus who visited with the Christian message. St Benedict, who established this first monastery at Monte Cassino in Italy around 529, is commonly regarded as the founder of Western monasticism. Benedict's rule was based upon vows of poverty, obedience and chastity. Augustine brought the Benedictine rule to England, founding the first Benedictine Abbey in Canterbury in 598. Under Pope Gregory’s guidance, he adapted rites and practices to local conditions, and successfully evangelized the kingdom of Kent, establishing bishoprics at Canterbury, Rochester and London. In 601, Pope Gregory sent Paulinus, a monk from the same monastery as Augustine, as part of the second group of missionaries to England. While visiting the Newark district, Paulinus assisted in the conversion of Britons, and at Newark itself, multitudes followed him, some of whom were baptised in the River Trent. Paulinus built the first Christian church - made of wood - in 627 at York. The church at York was later rebuilt of stone, and Paulinus also founded a stone church at Lincoln.

NEWARK IS GIVEN TO THE GILBERTINES In Saxon times a church once stood on the site of Newark’s St. Mary Magdalene Parish Church and at that time there may also have been a church where Newark Castle now stands.

HOUGH ON THE HILL

At the local village of Hough on the Hill can be seen the remains of a turret from the

original Saxon church. In Saxon times at Newark similar constructed churches would have stood.

There are today more than 250 Saxon church remains in England, some standing as they were built but the majority modified and extended over the centuries. At the nearby village of Hough-on-the-Hill for example, two thirds of the rectangle bell tower with attached semi-circular stair turret constructed in the 9th/10th centuries can be found and only a couple of miles from Newark other Saxon/Norman churches were built, the remains of Saxon type stone work can be seen in these village churches at Farndon and Averham. From viewing these we might imaging how Newark’s early church may have looked. Of course as Newark grew in size and importance so did the

number attending Mass and eventually the need arose for a larger place to worship. In the early 11th century, England was divided into four provinces, Wessex, East Anglia, Northumbria and Mercia. Newark fell within the boundaries of Mercia. Each of these provinces was controlled by an Earl with Newark governed by Leofric and his famous wife Lady Godiva. Leofric had amassed a fortune from the mutton trade around Shrewsbury and using his wealth funded the building of a monastery in the centre of Coventry in 1043. Both were generous benefactors to a number of religious establishments including those at Evesham, Worcester and Chester. In the 11th century, on a high altar of Newark’s Saxon Church, Leofric the Great of Mercia, and his celebrated wife Lady Godiva, are said to have dedicated the Manors of Newark and its church to the Benedictine monks of Stow, near Lincoln. Stow’s endowment is described in writs belonging to King William I and these charters record that Bishop Remigius of Lincoln (1067 –1092) re-established the abbey of Stow in 1091. These sources, thought to date from the first half of the 1070s, show that the endowment comprised Newark, Fledborough and Brampton (Notts) and Well wapentake (Lincs). By the time of the Norman Conquest of 1066, under the authority of the Pope in Rome, a more or less unified Christian system of belief had been established. After the Norman Conquest the endowment made by Leofric and Lady Godiva passed to the Bishop of Lincoln and in the 12th century it was given by the Bishop to the Gilbertine Priory of St Katherine, Lincoln. The Gilbertine Canons then oversaw the building of the Parish Church and provided the priests for Newark, retaining control of the church until the Reformation. The Gilbertines were the only English monastic order and were founded by St Gilbert of Sempringham, Lincolnshire in the mid-12th century.

The English Monastic Order of the Gilbertines originates from Sempringham in Lincolnshire: The Gilbertine Monastery of St Catherine of Lincoln was responsible for the care of Newark and the Abbots of that House had the responsibility for selecting a Parish Priest to serve Newark for some four hundred years, from the 12th century through to the last Catholic Priest appointed, Father Henry Lytherland in 1532 Between the years 1154 and 1169 a charter from King Henry II confirmed the foundation of the Gilbertine Monastery and its ownership of Newark Church. “Henry, King of England, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine…by this present charter have confirmed to the Church of Canons of the Order of Sempringham …which with the consent of his Charter, has founded hard-by the city of Lincoln and to the Canons serving God there…the Church of Newerc” (meaning Newark). King Henry in his charter gave: “a tenth penny (a tithe) of the whole toll of the burgh of Newerc…and four shillings worth of land held in Newerc. All these I have granted to the aforesaid church for the soul of King Henry, my grandfather, and for the soul of Matilda, Empress, my mother, and for my salvation and Eleanor, my Queen…Witnesses – (for this charter included the) Archbishop of York and others at Westminster.”

Although subject to the Bishop of Lincoln as Lord of the Manor, Newark with the rest of Nottinghamshire lay in the Diocese of York and at times this resulted in much tension as both ecclesiastical Overlords and the Prior of St. Katherine’s’ Lincoln attempted to impose their own wills on the town of Newark and the Parish Church. NEWARK PARISH CHURCH Work started on the building of Newark’s St. Mary Magdalene Church about 1180, around 20 years after the formation of the Lincolnshire Gilbertine Order which at that time had responsibility for the care of Newark. It is likely that the same skilled craftsmen, mainly lay brothers from that Order who had worked on their own monastic settlement at Sempringham or even Lincoln Cathedral, were later involved in building the Newark Parish Church. Whilst brothers from the Gilbertine Order were overseeing the construction of Newark’s Church, other skilled craftsmen would have been employed on its fabrication over a period of some 350 years. Quite early in the Middle Ages, the various trades connected with building had become organized, each controlled by its own Guild. There were Guilds of masons, carpenters, plumbers, glazers, plasterers, tilers, many of whom would have participated in the building of Newark’s church. The senior craft was generally that of mason with the master mason supervising the work, the nearest medieval equivalent to the modern architect. The spire of St. Mary’s Newark was completed in 1330 and once stood at 262 feet.Unfortunately the spire lost ten feet of its final taper in the early part of the 19th century. However Newark’s spire was not quite so tall as that at Grantham’s Parish Church at 280 feet but both are of similar design and were completed at around the same date. One might wonder if at the time of construction both towns being so close to each other were striving to achieve the highest and most beautiful building. And it might have been the case that some of the stonemasons and labourers worked on both of these churches.

The building of the church was however suspended for about forty years or so when the plague known as the ‘black death’ struck Newark about the year 1349. This horrendous visitation took two thirds of the population of Europe and would therefore have seriously affected the skilled workforce working on the building of the church. In fact church building, then in progress in all parts of the country, was brought to a sudden standstill, and, craftsmen and labourers alike being dead, for the most part remained at a standstill for a whole generation. Thus a long interval elapsed before the inhabitants of the

Newark had means and heart to finish their church, and when they did proceed with it, the designs of the old craftsmen had been forgotten, and a new architectural the era, the Perpendicular, had begun.

PAYING FOR THE CHURCH The building of such a magnificent church would have cost a great deal of money. However, from the earliest times in the Christian Church it was regarded as everyone's duty to assist in such projects, according to their means. In Newark and elsewhere in England by the middle of the 10th century the religious duty of paying tithes was enforceable by law and this form of tax was known as ‘God’s portion’ ‘the tribute of needy souls.’ In the pre-Reformation days everyone was liable to pay a tenth portion of all ‘profits’ earned or goods produced, for the use of the Church and the poor. At that time this was considered to be a fair offering to God and one not too burdensome on those who were obliged to pay. People often made gifts of land, or of materials to build churches. Gifts were also made to monks who used land and materials given to build monasteries for worship and then worked the land. Once the monastic land was made suitable for agriculture, it was sometimes leased back to the local community who in return gave their tithes, one tenth of any profit, as a proportion of profits made. The tithe may have been paid in money or in goods such as wool, sheep, cattle, cereals or other products of the land. Tithe money was used to support monastic life and the poor, but it also contributed to the cost of constructing churches. Up until the Reformation it was taught that tithes really ought to be divided into four parts: one to the poor, one to the bishop, if he needed it, one to the ministers and one part for the repair of the church fabric. Raising funds for the building of a parish church such as Newark’s St. Mary Magdalene was the responsibility of both the parishioners and religious. It is no exaggeration to say that in Catholic times the parish church was the care and business of all. The repair and beautification of the nave became the responsibility of the congregation, but the chancel's upkeep was the responsibility of the rector or priest, which was sometimes called ‘parson’s freehold’. This was to be found from a portion of tithe received by the priest. In medieval wills, parishioners would often bequeath money or land for the construction, repair and enhancement of the parish church. As far as the clergy's financial contribution was concerned, in addition to the regular revenue from parochial tithes, the parish priest had other sources of income for instance from the offerings made for various services to individuals -

baptism, marriages and funerals. Offerings from individuals were also made for events such as a special Mass said or sung for a particular person or intention. Not least, every adult parishioner above the age of 14 was obliged to make an offering four times a year, at Christmas and Easter, on the patronal feast, and on the dedication feast of his parish church, or according to custom, on All Saints’ day. After the death of King John in 1216, his successor Henry III made a grant of timber for use in the Newark Church. This grant, made in 1227, was given as a royal order, and sent to the Sheriff of Nottinghamshire.

“That he cause the Canons (the Gilbertines of Lincoln) serving the Church of Newark to have six oaks in the forest of Sherwood, for the repair of the aforesaid church of Newark” By law, according to the statute of Archbishop Peckham in 1280, which remained in force till the Reformation, the parish, broadly speaking, was bound to find all that pertained to the services – such as vestments, chalice, missal, processional cross, paschal candles etc – and to keep fabric and ornaments of the church in repair. Surviving churchwarden accounts and the church inventories prove beyond dispute that the people of England were only too anxious to maintain and improve their parish churches and that frequently between neighbouring churches there was a holy rivalry in this labour of love. A Dr. Jessopp wrote: “The immense treasures in the churches were the joy and boast of every man and woman and child in England, who day by day and week by week, assembled to worship in the old houses of God which they and their fathers had built, and in whose every vestment and chalice and candlestick and banner, organ and bells, and picture and image, and altar and shrine, they look upon their own, and part of their birthright.” NEWARK CHURCH IN THE EARLY DAYS The pre-Reformation church in England would have been resplendent with stained glass, gilded and painted walls, woodwork, beautiful hanging paintings and sculptured figures. On festival days church interiors would be decked with floral and evergreen decorations. In addition the old Catholic liturgy called for vestments, altar frontals, canopies and a range of items needed for the Mass or for rituals associated with feast days such as Corpus Christi: altar crosses, censers, incense boats, candlesticks, processional crosses and illuminated service books. On certain feast days such as Corpus Christi, processions around Newark and through the market place would

have taken place with the participation of large numbers of locals. What an impressive sight that would have been!

14TH CENTURY PICTURE - HANGING IN A VILLAGE CHURCH NEAR NEAWRK

Beautiful art like that from a painting shown above which has survived the destruction of the Reformation once filled all churches in England. Father Henry Lytherland spoke requesting that such images were not removed from his church at Newark

The Archbishop of York had ordered, as far back as 1250, that every parish should provide:

“the principal image in the chancel of the saint to which the church is dedicated.”

At Newark there would have been an image of St Lawrence, to the repair of whose altar 20 shillings was left in 1466. The image of the Virgin Mary is mentioned in his will by John Burton, Vicar of Newark in 1475.

“I will that certain jewels (monilia), rosaries, rings, gems, crucifixes and other jewels (jocalia), remain for ever, for adorning of the image of the Blessed Mary Virgin and of her son, in the Chapel beyond the south folding doors of the aforsaid church, in honour of God, the blessed Mary Virgin, and of all saints, and in perpetual memory of me, the aforesaid John”

The spacious Chancel of Newark's Parish Church was erected at the joint expense of the Prior and Convent of St. Catherine, with the aid of a particular benefactor from Newark. In 1483, Nicholas Kayser, who had been warden of the Newark Trinity Guild bequeathed 26 shillings and 8 pence to the new building of the chancel.

A prominent feature in the south transept was the Altar of the Holy Trinity, towards which in 1466 William Boston was a contributor in his will. He also bequeathed an image of the Blessed Virgin.

Each of the Newark Guilds would have also have had images of their patron saints. There were 16 altars beside the High Altar. These included the Altars of the Holy Trinity, in the south transept, Our Lady, in the north side of the church, Jesus, Corpus Christi, St Lawrence, St Nicholas, St Katherine, St James, St Peter and St Stephen.

It is said that the windows of Newark Parish Church were of great richness and beauty. There was a window to Thomas a Becket, as it is recorded,

“glaess wyndow in the church of Newerke of Thomas Bekket wasse taken downe at the laste affore crystenmes” (1538 or 1539 – that is during time of the Reformation).

Rich benefactors had delighted in adorning the beautiful edifice with the best that the artist could produce. In 1506, Sir Thomas Tempest of Bracewell made this bequest.

“I wyll xiiis.iiid be given to make one glasse wyndow in the chapell of Saynt Saveyour in Newark.”

It is also recorded:

“In the windows of the north aisle were painted the history of the New Testament and that the great east window had a history of Joseph.”

One of the most striking differences between an English parish church before and after the Reformation was the post-Reformation absence from the eastern end of the nave, above the chancel screen, of a Rood and the necessary apparatus for supporting this large crucifix (the Rood was often mounted on a large horizontal oak beam several feet above the chancel screen or sometimes directly on the screen itself). A Rood was a large representation of Christ crucified, flanked on either side by Our Lady and St. John. Our Lady and St. John were usually large and painted statues. At Newark there were 13 chantries in all. Chantries date from the medieval period, but they were not numerous in England until the 14th and 15th centuries. Chantries were often added to existing churches or were contained within them as in our Newark church. While some chantries were established for the purpose of saying Mass and prayers for the dead, they were also established on behalf of Guilds. A Newark man Henry de Newark, later the Archbishop of York, endowed with the consent of the Gilbertine Prior of St. Catherine Lincoln, the first Chantry Chapel to Newark together with some of his Yorkshire property. “November 12th 1293..Henry de Newark, Dean of St. Peter’s,York …two acres of land in Northorp, with the church there, to the Prior and Convent of St. Catherine, Lincoln, to find two chaplains to celebrate divine service in the chapel of St. Catherine and St. Martha, recently built by the said Henry in the churchyard of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, for the soul of the said Henry and the souls of his ancestors.” On the 25 May 1349, one Alan Flemyng of Newark founded, within the Chapel of Corpus Christi, a chantry for one secular chaplain to celebrate for various souls and for himself. The special function of a chanty priest (not to be confused with a parish priest) was to sing Masses for the soul of the founder of the chantry and his departed relatives. The most usual way of endowing at this period was to establish a chantry or chapel, with priests specially attached to it to sing Masses and to say private prayers for the souls of deceased persons named in the bequest. Prayers for the dead were no new thing, for in the 11th and 12th centuries, the foundation of monastic houses absorbed most of the endowments, and the monks then undertook to say Masses for the souls of the benefactors.

We might search through all England and find few, if any, parish churches with such an array of chantries as Newark. The chantries were a way in which Christians expressed their love of their brethren, and their zeal for the glory of God. Newark Parish Church chantries included: Corpus Christi, Holy Trinity, Blessed Virgin Mary, All Saints, St Catherine, St Nicholas, St Magdalen and Morrow Mass.We could take this as evidence of the great wealth and prosperity of the town in those days and also as evidence of the piety and devotion of the citizens. NOTABLE FEATURES OF NEWARK’S CHURCH An interesting feature to be seen at the top of Newark Parish Church, and one not common in England, is the ornate Sanctus bell cote made of stone. The Newark Sanctus bell mounted on the roof of the Chancel is best viewed from the garden that was once a cemetery, on the north side of the church. The use of the Sanctus bell was first introduced in England towards the end of the 12th century and became of general use during the 13th century. When the Sanctus Bell was rung, its sound alerted those unable to attend, the sick such as those in St Leonard’s Hospital Northgate, the housebound, those working in the town and in the fields around the town, telling them that the consecration at the Mass was taking place. The bell would also allow people working and shopping in the market place and elsewhere in the town to stop what they were doing and offer an act of adoration to God. Inside the church it helped to focus the attention of the faithful on the miracle that was taking place on the altar with the words of the priest, “Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth” (Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts). The most ancient part of the present church of St. Magdalene is the crypt, dating from mid to late 12th century. The lower stage of the tower is early 13th century, while the south aisle and the spire are from the early 14th century. The rest of the church dates from the 15th century, with the exception of the transepts, vestry and porches, which are early 16th century. Architecturally speaking, it seems that the Parish Church we see today is very much as it was when it was built before the Reformation.

THE GUILDS OF NEWARK In medieval times many would have attended Mass and other services at the Parish Church. At that time it was normal practice for parishioners to help with their time or to give alms to the poor and less fortunate. In addition to providing a tithe for the use of the church, many in the congregation would also have been active members of one of the town’s several guilds. In those days guilds fell into two classes – craft or trade associations, and religious societies.

Craft guilds controlled the work and their members, with responsibilities for regulating quality, prices and the employment of apprentices. Their function was essentially the protection and promotion of a particular work or trade and the people engaged in it. All guilds, however, no matter for what special purpose they were founded, craft or religious, had the same general characteristic guiding principles of brotherly love and charity. It seems that no guild was divorced from the ordinary religious observances commonly practised at that time.

In Newark there were several guilds whose aim was to come together in every exercise of religion, and primarily to associate for the veneration of certain religious mysteries and in honour of the saints. Each of these guilds was placed under the patronage of a saint, chapel or shrine, for example, St Peter, the Holy Cross, or the Holy Sacrament. In Newark, the largest of the guilds was under the patronage of the Holy Trinity. In honour of the guilds there were dedicated altars in the church where prayers would have been said. Each altar displayed an image of their patronage illuminated with candles. The Holy Trinity altar was situated in the south transept. Religious guilds had considerable power in the town and were joined by many prominent people. This enabled the purchase of lands for the building of chapels, the erection of altars and the maintenance of chaplains and priests. Each guild was managed by an Alderman who was annually elected by its members and meetings were held in the Guild Hall or elsewhere in the town. These associations also prayed for the souls of members who had died, made provisions for their funerals, and maintained shrines. Some founded and supported schools and arranged relief for members with financial difficulties.

Annual guild processions were made through Newark, normally on the feast day of each guild's particular patron. Some guilds had their own minstrels or employed minstrels for their own use, and these featured in colourful

pageants. The annual pageants of the guilds provided some of the principle festivals and entertainment of the year. We can get some idea of the spectacle of these pageants, from the last entry made for the Trinity Guild of Newark in 1546, at a meeting held in the Guild Hall chaired by the then Alderman, Anthony Foster. Requests were made for money from funds to pay for a bellman and for the bearer of the dragon, for the tunics of actors and for the repair and materials necessary for the cloths of the banners. Money was also asked for the supply of bread and wine for celebration at the altar of the Holy Trinity and for the supply of wax for the candles to be lit at this altar. In the same account 20 shillings had been requested for three priests of that guild for spending on the repair of their houses. In the will made by Thomas Magnus in1530, monies were left for the following guilds of Newark; Holy Trinity, Mary Magdalene, Our Lady’s (also know as the guild of the Virgin Mary), Corpus Christi, Holy Richard de Newark and St Peters. The Guild of the Holy Trinity in Newark was the largest and also the wealthiest and most influential. Its members bestowed annual pensions on the poor, received travelling strangers and carried out other acts of charity as far as their revenues allowed. We know that the Holy Trinity Guild in Newark existed as long ago as the 13th century, because a deed of 1271 conveyed land in Balderton Gate to the guild.

In 1477, William Calesse of Newark made a will and bequeathed 20 shillings for the Altar of the Holy Trinity to be expended about the house of the guild of the Holy Trinity, which he had at one time owned. Houses were purchased by some guilds or inherited, as was the case with the gift made by Mr. Calesse. Some of these properties were then rented at low rates to some of the poorer inhabitants of the town.

By the middle of the 15th century, there were an estimated 30,000 religious guilds in England, but by 1548, the last of them would be disbanded or converted into a 'craft only' guild. The fall of the religious guilds in England began in 1536 when King Henry VIII drastically changed the liturgical calendar, abolished most saints' days and ordered all saints' images to be removed from the churches. Without an annual day for feasting and a physical manifestation of their patron saint in the local church, their activities diminished and many guilds just slowly died away. The final blow to these once vigorous and well supported associations came in 1547 under Edward VI with the Chantries Act, which abolished all intercessory institutions and guilds and confiscated their property.

NEWARK CASTLE BUILT BY THE BISHOP

Newark Castle also has Christian associations. A Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire report gives details of excavations at Newark Castle, and reveals that several Christian burials, oriented east west, were found. These were dated as mid 10th to mid 11th centuries. This report suggested that a religious settlement might have once been situated on the site; "the presence of a cemetery taken in conjunction with the existence of a Saxon stone building, raises the possibilities of a church or monastic settlement"

In a royal charter from Henry I, possibly dated from the last year of his reign in 1135, Newark was granted a castle.

"Henry, King of England - to all the Barons and to the Sheriffs and to his ministers and faithful men of Nottinghamshire, Greeting. Know ye, that I have granted to Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, that he may make a ditch and rampart of his fishpond of Niwerc upon the Fosseway and he may divert the Fosseway through the same town as he shall wish."

In this charter permission was given to Bishop Alexander, of Lincoln to start work on the castle. The bishop of Lincoln, appointed 1123 was known as Alexander ‘the Magnificent.’ Alexander, who was also Lord of the Manor of Newark, had distinguished himself by completing the building of Lincoln Cathedral, started, by one of his predecessors Bishop Remigius (1067).

The Bishop later obtains permission from the king, in another charter, to build a bridge over the river Trent, for the ease of entry to the castle and to Newark.

"Know ye that I have granted to Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, that he may cause a bridge to be made over the water of Trent to his castle of Newerc it so be that it will not harm my city of Lincoln nor my borough of Nottingham, and if it would injure them, let him make such a one as will not injure them."

The Castle once housed a chapel, which was dedicated to the Apostles Philip and James and was built by the Bishop of Lincoln, Alexander. This was consecrated in 1123. It is still possible to see parts of this chapel, through the windows of the tower, above the gatehouse.

Bishop Hugh (later St. Hugh) was appointed Bishop of Lincoln in 1186. St. Hugh stayed at the Castle on several occasions and St. Hugh’s Chaplain reported on one of these occasions

"Bishop Hugh kissed a Leper in the town of Newark. He touched the livid face of the Lepers, kissed the sightless eyes or eyeless sockets, I shudder with disgust but Hugh said to me that these afflicted ones were the flowers of Paradise – pearls in the Coronet of the Eternal King, waiting for the coming of their Lord, who in his own time, would change their forlorn bodies into the likeness of his own glory”

SAINT HUGH OF LINCOLN

Window to be found in Holy Trinity Church Newark showing St. Hugh embracing a Leper in the grounds of Newark Castle

Perhaps Newark Castle's most famous visitor was King John. Crossing the marshy area known as the Wash in East Anglia, King John in 1216 lost his most valuable treasures, including the Crown Jewels to the unexpected incoming tide. This dealt him a terrible blow, which affected his health and state of mind. Moving from place to place, and suffering from dysentery, he arrived at Newark Castle. Feeling that death was imminent, King John took steps to secure the royal succession on his son Prince Henry and then sought religious aid from the Abbot of Croxton (a visiting monk from Croxton, near

Grantham). The king suffered severely for three days, and in that time he received both the Sacraement of Confession, and Holy Communion, before breathing his last on the 18th October 1216. He is buried in Worcester Cathedral.

In King John’s will, which was written in Latin, it is recorded: “in making satisfaction to God and the Holy Church for all indignities offered, damages sustained, and injuries brought upon it by any means”

NEWARK CASTLE

When we consider King John’s past we might better understand this will. John expelled the Canterbury monks in July 1207 and the Pope ordered an interdict against the kingdom. John immediately retaliated by seizure of church property for failure to provide feudal service. In November 1209 John was excommunicated, and, in February 1213, Pope Innocent threatened stronger measures unless John submitted. The papal terms for submission were accepted in the presence of the papal legate, and in 1213 King John offered to surrender the Kingdom of England to God and Saints Peter and Paul.

HOSPITALS AND THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR When Bishop Alexander had completed his work on Newark Castle he proceeded with building monasteries and hospitals, in Newark founding a hospital in Northgate dedicated to St. Leonard. A register cites a document of August 3rd 1315, when a commission was issued to the Archbishop of Armagh, authorizing the dedication of three altars, newly erected in the Chapel of St. Leonard’s Hospital in honour of St. Mary, St. Leonard and St. Catherine.

The Military Order of the Knight Templars was founded about the year 1118. They derived their name from the Temple of Jerusalem, and the original purpose of their institute was to secure the roads to Palestine and protect the holy places. They came to England in the reign of King Stephen and had several foundations at that time the earliest known being 1136. The Order was suppressed by Pope Clement V in 1309.

THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR

Once had a presence in Newark and were disbanded on the instruction of the Pope

In 1185 a hospital at Newark was granted to the Knights Templars, but we cannot be accurate about its location. It is thought that a chapel dedicated to St John of Jerusalem, the patron of that order, once stood at the west end of the current town hall to the north of Stodman Street. By the late 13th century Newark folk may have been familiar with the sight of the Templars, walking the streets, in their white mantles with red cross. Some years later Newark would have known the two orders of friars (their name derived from frater, Latin for brother) who supplied their services to the town.

TEMPLE BRUER

Just 15 miles from Newark a rare survival of a Knights Templar Preceptory. One of two towers that stood on the east end of the church at Temple Bruer. Knights from Newark’s

Chapel of St John of Jerusalem may have journeyed here for meetings either by foot or horse

THE NEWARK FRIARS

The first order of Friars to settle in Newark was that of the Austin Friars or to give then their proper title, the Hermits of St. Augustine, who built for themselves a house near Appleton Gate. This particular body of friars took its historical origin in the union of several existing friars and was established in 1265 by Pope Clement IV. They were regarded as belonging to the ranks of the mendicant friars and not to the monastic order. We do not know exactly when the Austin friars arrived in Newark, but the Order was introduced into England in mid 13th century and they may have been resident in the town for a couple of centuries prior to the Reformation. They dressed in a black gown with broad sleeves, girded with a leather belt and a black cloth hood. Their religious observances included the singing of psalms at all hours and the nightly reading immediately after Vespers. The chief work was that of evangelisation and they were continually teaching and preaching and preparing religious functions in Newark and in the surrounding villages. The Order of St. Francis known as the Franciscans began in Assisi in central Italy and dates from 1209. St. Francis died in 1226 and was canonised by Pope Gregory XI shortly after. In 1224 nine Franciscan friars landed at Dover and within ten years there were 22 in England. By 1230 they were establishing their 13th house in this country at Nottingham and by 1260 there were some 50 Franciscan friaries and a thousand friars. In the early 15th century a movement spread within the Order for a more strict interpretation of the Franciscan Rule. The friars of this movement were known as Franciscan Observants and they arrived to England in 1482. The first Observant Franciscan Friary was established at Greenwich in July of that same year at the insistence of King Edward IV. The Observant Friars were introduced to Newark by Henry VII (Henry Tudor) the conqueror at the battle of East Stoke of 1487. Henry Tudor became a special patron of the Observants and founded several English houses, which were chiefly re-foundations of original Franciscan establishments. But there appears to be no evidence that there was any house of the Observants at Newark prior to the days of that king. His founding of the Newark house of this severe order occurred about the year 1499. By that time the Friars represented nearly 300 years of Franciscan history.

The Observant Friars from the Franciscan Order were some of the best educated in the country. They were to oppose the king and his appointment as head of the church and suffered greatly for their resistance

Through a codicil to his will, Henry VII in 1509 left £200 to the convent. 'that by his succour and aid was newly begun in the town of Newark.’ In March 1513 Henry VIII wrote from Greenwich Palace to Pope Leo that he could not sufficiently praise the Observants in their adherence to poverty and their battle against vice. In Newark these austere Observants were housed at the friary in Appleton Gate and wore the Order's habit of grey tunics of coarse cloth with long sleeves and a knotted rope for a girdle. An attached pointed black hood or capuche formed part of the habit, and their feet were bare or protected by sandals.

Following the Rule of St. Francis, the Observants of Newark would have practised an austere life of self-sacrifice, visiting the sick, such as those in St. Leonard’s Hospital Northgate, aiding the poor and destitute and those cast

out from society, including those suffering from leprosy, an infectious disease that was common in England in those days. The Observants had a reputation for providing leading national scholars, some of whom reshaped the nation's universities from seats of learning for lawyers into centres of theology and philosophy. A German historian wrote: “The English nation had given to the Franciscan Order a greater number of eminent scholars than all the rest of the nations put together.” Each friary had its own lecturer and most had libraries. In Newark there were at least three Crosses erected, where the Friars would preach the gospel. They would speak on other subjects too, such as the validity of Henry VIII as head of the English Church, for it is recorded that they spoke out against the Reformation in Newark. Later they suffered greatly for publicly expressing these views. The Friar Crosses originally stood in the Market Place, Beaumond Cross and near the friary, north of Cliff Nook Lane. Nationally the Franciscans had a reputation as peacemakers and, being trusted by all sides, they successfully negotiated a number of treaties. Their efforts would have been readily witnessed in Newark prior to the dissolution of the monasteries.