dern[20] (whence 'Bedern Bank'). The office
of _penitentiarius_ or of rural dean was often held by one of them.
Besides the seven Canons and the six Vicars in Ripon, there were three
deacons, three sub-deacons, six thuriblers, and six choristers, and the
full officiating staff thus amounted to thirty-one, exclusive of the
chantry priests, of whom, however, there were as yet but few.

The successor of Archbishop de Corbridge was an ex-Canon of Ripon,
=William Greenfield= (=Archbishop= 1304-1315). He rebuilt the chapel of the
Palace and founded a chantry in it. It was at Ripon that he put forth,
with additions of his own, certain rules against clerical abuses which
he had borrowed from the diocese of Chichester. He found indeed much to
reform. Already the vicariate was becoming demoralized. Vicars and
inferior clergy were addicted to shows and sports, to dances and
stage-plays. A chaplain invented a gambling game called "ding-thrifts."
What wonder that the laity, then, begged at the altars under pretence of
being proctors of absent canons, or intruded into the choir during
service--a privilege reserved for the great? And another privilege of
rank had been invaded also, for the Archbishop had to direct that only
great persons and benefactors were to be buried within the minster. In
1310 two women fought in the graveyard so savagely that it had to be
reconsecrated. In his last year the Archbishop had to restrain the
proctors of absent canons from acting independently in the
administration of the prebends, and from exercising capitular authority.

These internal difficulties, however, were presently forgotten in a new
danger from without. Already, in 1298, Archbishop de Newark had called
upon the Chapter to assist in providing cavalry for Edward I.'s campaign
against John Balliol, King of Scots. The King himself is said to have
visited the town in 1300. In 1315 the Chapter had sent a representative
to a council held by Archbishop Greenfield at Doncaster to consider the
defence of the realm. Since Bannockburn the Scots had been raiding the
northern counties, and in 1316 Edward II. ordered Ripon to provide
maintenance for Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, who was to pass
through on his way to check the raids. In March 1318 the town sent a
contingent to the King's forces, and the money, together with a banner
of St. Wilfrid, was provided by =Archbishop William de Melton=
(1317-1340). In May of the same year the Scots descende