A HISTORY OF LONDON the Dean of Arches, and the Archdeacon of London, saying that the friars had authority to do this, and that on account of the simphcity [simplicitas) of the parish priests they were generally more fit to direct others and to deal with difficult cases."' The grievance about the friars did not end here, for Winchelsey at some time during his primacy, probably at the Provincial Council held in London in 1309, received a petition"' from the rectors and curates of London complaining of these encroachments, and requiring an explanation of the privileges recently granted to the friars by Pope Benedict, especially with regard to preaching, hearing confessions, and burying the dead, since under cover of these articles the friars procured for themselves the parochial oblations and other things, and turned the hearts of the parishioners from their churches so that ' the rectors are scarcely able to receive food and clothing from the altars that they serve.' "^ The petitioners sought that the friars should be made to produce proper certificates from their superiors before being allowed to preach, and that they should not publicly defame rectors. With regard to confession, they said that the friars pretended to have general powers of absolution while they really had no greater powers than the parish priests,"' and that they neglected to tell all persons to confess at least once a year to their parish priests,"' as they were bound to do. They not only heard confessions in their own churches, but also forced their way into parish churches against the will of the rectors, and there publicly heard the confessions of the parishioners. They visited wealthy parishioners who were sick, heard their last confessions, and influenced their wills to their own advantage, while the poor, contrary to the rule of their order, they left entirely to the care of the rectors. They abused their privilege of burying the dead, so that Christians were buried in unconsecrated ground, and they refused to give any satisfaction to the rectors for the obla- tions and presents received in this way. The petition goes on to say that in consequence of the actions of the friars the laity neglected to visit their parish churches and to pay the arrears of their tithes and oblations, despised the presence of the rectors and parish priests"" at the making of their wills, and usurped the rule and care of the parish churches with their cemeteries and ornaments when the rectors were resident, though the sacred vessels and vest- ments were not allowed to be polluted by the hands of the laity. They also usurped rights concerning the burial of the dead, not allowing the poor to be buried in their own churchyards, and thus forcing the parish priests^" to bury them in the churchyard of St. Paul's. They destroyed trees, &c., growing in the churchyards, contrary to a decree of Pope Boniface, and after the death of a rector pulled down the buildings which had been erected in the churchyards and consecrated places so that the rector might be near at hand to administer the sacraments. These oppressions the parochial churches suffisred through the various orders of friars, and also through the hermits of the hermitages"^ and the priests 'not stipendiary,' who had not the cure of
- " Reg. Epist. J. Peckham (Rolls Ser.), iii, 956. '" Camb. Univ. Lib. GG. 4, 32.
'■ This petition shows that the London clergy depended for a good deal of their income on the casual oblations of their parishioners, which explains to some extent the low values given in the Taxation of Pope Nicholas. "* 'Capellanus parochialis.' '-' ' Sacerdotibus parochialihus.' '*' ' Capellanorum parochlalium.' "' ' Capellanos parochiales.' '" Cf. account of hermits in ' Religious Houses.' 200
