Parish priests and their people in the Middle Ages in England . ishop, and thearchbishop sent his commissaries, to conduct theminto a new habitation in the west quarter of thetown ; but the monks drove out both the EpiscopalCommissaries and their clients. The king sent downthe chief justice to give them possession of a newsite, but the monks did not submit to the chief justice,and made good their opposition. At length a com-promise was arrived at, and the friars were allowedto settle outside the Four Crosses, which marked * In 1233 t^e convent obtained a prohibition from the pope to erectan or
Parish priests and their people in the Middle Ages in England . ishop, and thearchbishop sent his commissaries, to conduct theminto a new habitation in the west quarter of thetown ; but the monks drove out both the EpiscopalCommissaries and their clients. The king sent downthe chief justice to give them possession of a newsite, but the monks did not submit to the chief justice,and made good their opposition. At length a com-promise was arrived at, and the friars were allowedto settle outside the Four Crosses, which marked * In 1233 t^e convent obtained a prohibition from the pope to erectan oratory or chapel within a Roman mile of their altar ( PapalLetters, vol. i. p, 137, Rolls Series). THE MEDLEVAL TOWNS. 513 the Liberties of St. Edmund for a mile in everydirection.* Offa, the great King of the Mercians, in the eighthcentury, is said to have discovered the relics of , the Proto- ^ __ Martyr of Britain,and built a monas-tery to contain themon the site of themartyrdom. A po-pulation gatheredaround the monas-tery. The foundingof St. Albans. St. Albans. Town is ascribed to Usinus, the sixth abbot, in thetenth century. He is said to have built three parishchurches for the people: St. Michaels, St. Peters,and St. Stephens, on the north, south, and westsides of the abbey, and established a market forthem. From Domesday it appears that the townwas then part of the possessions of the abbey, andwas held by the abbey in demesne. Early in the fourteenth century, the inhabitantstried to relieve themselves from this hereditary juris-diction, and wrested from Abbot Eversden (i 308-1326)the right to elect two of their number to represent * When the Countess of Clare, the lady of one of tlie manors atWalsingham, gave the Franciscans a site for a house here, in 21Henry II., the prior and convent petitioned her against the foundation,but without success. 2 L 514 PARISH PRIESTS AND THEIR PEOPLE. them in Parliament; but a little later AbbotRichard of Wallingford (1326-1334) s
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