Confessional Letter to William Bowland, Prior of Tandridge, and his brethren, from William [Goddard], Minister Provincial of the Franciscan Order, in Latin; dated at London, 16 September 1479

single-sheet document, 215×340mm, vellum, 13 lines in formal book-hand, with a 3-line illuminated initial with two-sided border, the bottom 20mm folded up

‘Venerabili domino Willelmo Bowland priori monasterii Tanrygge … frater Willelmus fratrum minorum in Anglia minister et servus, salutem. … dominus Sixtus divina providencia papa quartus … Datum London xvi die mensis Septembris Anno domini Millesimo Quadringentesimo Septuagesimo nono.’

The document states that whereas Sixtus IV has granted the Franciscan Order, and its co-brethren and co-sisters, the right to choose their own confessor to absolve them from sin once a year and at the point of death, so William Goddard on behalf of the Franciscan Order accepts William Bowland and his brethren of Tandridge as co-brothers, so that they too may benefit from this privilege.

The Augustinian Priory of Tandridge was originally founded in the late 12th century as a hospital for priests and poor brethren and sisters. Information about the house is sketchy (but a number of documents were published and discussed by Heales; see previous lot). Until the discovery of the present document, for example, the surname of William Bowland was not known, only that he was in office in between February and April 1477 (see D.M. Smith, Heads of Religious Houses, England and Wales, III: 1377-1540, p.530).

On letters such as this see R.N. Swanson, ‘Letters of Confraternity and Indulgence in Late Medieval England’, Archives, 25, 2000, pp.40-57, and Indulgences in Late Medieval England: Passports to Paradise?, 2007, p.145.