Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

254 ARCHBISHOP PECKHAM
After the synod was over the Archbishop set out
on a visitation of his whole diocese. The evils in
the Church were largely occasioned bypluralists and
non-resident pastors. The nomination of worthy
bishops was a subject he strenuously impressed
on Edward I.
One of the worst royal customs opened the Church
to creatures of the king, who had no care for the
sheep, being worldly and mercenary. The Bishop
of Lichfield at that time happened to be a foreigner,
who had always lived out of his diocese. The Archbishop
summoned him publicly to return under pain
of deprivation. Other instances of his chastisements
are on record. On one Sir Osburn Gyfford the full
severity of a canonical penance was imposed for his
conduct towards two nuns at Wilton.1 In his care
for those consecrated to God, the Archbishop forbade
the said Sir Osburn ever to speak again to a nun, or
to go into a convent. A priest in the diocese of
Chichester he sentenced to three years' penance for
want of chastity.
Some years later, in 1290, the Archbishop gave
sentence in a case which had been long pending
between Worcester Cathedral and the Worcester
i
Franciscans. The body of a certain H. Poche had
been carried off by main force and buried in the
cathedral churchyard, whereas the friars alleged
that he had wished to be buried with them. The
Archbishop to whom they appealed decreed "that if at
- I Antiquities of the English Franciscan*, p. 97.