The Nobility and Ecclesiastical Patronage in Thirteenth-Century England

Abstract

In thirteenth-century England, to hold the appropriation of a parish church or to be the patron of a regular house carried obvious benefits for those so fortunately situated as to have such power and privilege. Patronage was a visible indication of social status. The patron of a parish church or monastic house had a reasonable guarantee that the prayers for the donor and others so designated would be said as instructed. This gained in importance after the promulgation (or “invention” or “discovery”) of the doctrine of purgatory in 1274. And, most importantly as upper-class life ran, it was the lever whereby the lord or patron could name the incumbent when the church fell vacant. As Elizabeth Gemmill tells a well-documented tale, replete with case studies for virtually every point covered, the patronage game was a triangle, the parties being the English aristocracy, the king, and the Church (usually as papal policies and interventions). More often than not the alliance between the king and his peers was one of common interest, a union often formed because of joint opposition to papal decrees and appointments (provisions). But this is not a static story; one important aspect of the issue focused on whether patronage rights were tied to the village or manor on which the church stood or whether they could be dealt with separately. And what happened when estates were divided or went into wardship or lordship changed?