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The Barons of New Romney in Parliament
Cobham and its Manors
( 64 )
COBHAM COLLEGE.
BY A. A. ARNOLD, E.S.A.
THE old College at Cobham was founded by Sir John de Cobham,
Lord Cobham, 36 Edward III., A.D. 1362; the original ordination
or foundation is not known to be in existence, and has probably
never been published.* It is not unlikely that there may be a
copy, or some record of it, in the Vatican Library, as it was sanctioned
by Pope "Urban V. (1362—70). This is shewn by a brief
recital of the fact contained in a decree or formal letter of Thomas
Brinton, Bishop of Bochester, dated 23 March 1388, on the occasion
of the augmentation of the College by the Founder in that year.
This document (set out in Registrum Boffense, pp. 234—39)
recites that the Bishop has received a Bull from Pope Urban VI.
(1378—1389), to the effect that in the time of his predecessor Pope
Urban V. of happy memory, Sir John de Cobham, inflamed with
pious zeal and wishing to change earthly things for heavenly, bad
founded and ordained in the Parish Church of Cobham, in which
his ancestors had chosen their place of burial, a perpetual chantry
in which there should be for ever live chaplains, making a college
there and serving for ever in divine offices, of whom one should be
the Master on the presentation of tho Prior and Convent of St.
Saviour, Bermondsey, who held the said Church for their own use
(and that such Master should preside over the College and undertake
the care of the Church and support the burthens incumbent on
the vicarage of the said Church), to the praise and honour of God
and for the health of the soul of the Founder and the souls of his
progenitors; and at the same time he amply endowed it of his own
proper goods with possessions and annual rents for ever, and gave
them wholesome statutes and ordinances to be observed by the
said Master and chaplains, in the which, as His Holiness recites,
William, then Bishop of "Worcester (William de Whittlesea, the
predecessor as Bishop of Rochester of Bishop Brinton, to whom
* Soon after the death of this Lord Cobham, his relative, the head of another
branch of the family, Lord Cobham of Sterborough, founded a very similar
College, but on a smaller scale, in Lingfield Church, Surrey. The ordination
and rules of this College, which probably followed those of Cobham, are noli
existing or cannot be recovered,
COBHAM COLLEGE. 65
the Bull was addressed), had assisted. He further goes on to say
that the said John de Cobham sumptuously repaired the Church at
no small expense (opere non modicum sumptuoso), and gave to it
liberally goods, books, vestments, and other ecclesiastical ornaments
which the above Prior and Convent were bound to provide,
all which was recited to have beeu approved and ratified by the
several religious bodies concerned and was thereby sanctioned by
the Pope Urban V. The Bull then further recited that the Founder
being desirous of increasing the number of the chaplains with
two more, as the revenues of the College were not sufficient he had
given the Church of Eolvenden to it, the revenues of which were at
that time valued at 60 marks, as those of the College were at 200
marks, and all this, subject to further enquiry and investigation by
the Bishop of Eochester, the Pope consented to and ratified. This
Bull was dated from Perugia the 8th day before the Ides of March in
the tenth year of his pontificate (8 March 1387). The Bishop
of Eochester then goes on to say that, having received this apostolic
sanction, he proceeded with due reverence and diligence, and had
found uo canonical or other objection to the annexation and union
of the said Church of Eolvenden to and with the Chantry, and
therefore the Bishop declares the desired annexation to be duly
carried out, and he confirmed the appropriation of Eolvenden to
the use of tlie College; and further, the Bishop, at the request of
the Founder and with the consent of the chaplains, added two
more to the College, these to be paid out of the revenues arising
from Eolvenden. But they were to have a different status from the
others: they were to be temporary, and subject to be removed;
their duties were to say masses daily for the souls of the Founder
and certain specified members of the Founder's family; the}' were
to live in common with the other fellows of the College, and to be
ruled and to have their sustentation in the same way and according
to the old statutes, but with certain differences; they were not to
be fellows for all time, but only at the will of the Master and the
more discreet (sanioris) part of the chapter—not to be incorporated
with the chapter, nor to be part of them, nor to have any voice
there; they were not to be admitted to the secret counsels of the
house, nor be stewards of it; they were to have a less stipend than
tlie others ; they were not to presume to take any part of the surplus
or to receive any perquisites beyond what was specially and
by name assigned to them; they were to be clothed or robed from
the robes of the other chaplains of the first foundation; and
further, the Bishop decreed that there should be two aquibajuli
VOX,. XXYH, .
66 COBHAM COLLEGE.
(servers of the holy water), and that they should have their table
in the College and should serve continually in the Church as
sacrists, and that they should learn in the schools with the other
scholars so far as they are able, unless prevented by their aforesaid
duties, and that they should not be sent out of the College by
the Master or by the fellows, so that they may not be hindered
either from divine service or in their study of letters unless for
good and necessary cause, and for some purpose useful to the
College, and not solely for the convenience of any particular
member of it. There are numerous other provisions and directions,
and the whole is decreed and signed by the Bishop of Eochester at
Trottiscliffe on the day before-mentioned, tbe 23rd March 1388,
rather more than twelve months after the Pope's approval.
There is subjoined to the above decree or episcopal letter the
full acceptance of it by the Master and fellows, and the names of
all the seven are given : William Chuldham (sometimes spelt
Shuldham), Master or Warden (custos), John Moys, Sub-master,
John Thurston, William Tanner, John Mercott, Eichard Zonge,
and Ealph Lister. The document is under the seal of the College,
is dated from their Chapter House in the said College on 1 April
1389 (within nine days from the Bishop's promulgation of it). Then
follows the confirmation of the whole by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
by the Prior and Convent there, and by the Archdeacon, who
were all affected by this appropriation, Rolvenden beinginthatdioce.se.
The full text of tlie document is set out in the Begistrum
Boffense, and a summary of it is also given in Hasted (folio edition,
vol. i., pp. 503, 504). On the whole it would 'seem, though the
matter is not free from doubt, that whereas the original foundation
was for five chaplains, two more were added on the above augmentation,
and then that, by the sanction of the Bishop, and with the
concurrence of the Founder, two more were to be nominated by the
existing College of seven members, but not quite on an equality
with them, thus making the total up to nine. At the dissolution
there were, as we know from Bishop Tanner's Notitia Monastica,
eleven priests in the College altogether; one of these was provided
by the prebend of Cobhambury, of which hereafter.*
As to the possessions of the College, we know from the Bull
of the Pope that the Founder had in 1362 amply endowed it.
Mr. J. Gr. Waller (Archceologia Oantiana, Vol. XL, p. 74) states,
without quoting any authority, that the endowment consisted of
* The prebend of Cobhambury, with other matters not relating to the
College, will be dealt with in a subsequent Paper.
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