nd of St. Wilfrid (? 1420). In some of these,
other chantries had been merged. There were also four or five chantries
in various chapels in the parish. The chantry-chaplains were not
strictly on the staff, but helped on Sundays and festivals. As their
chantries did not give them sufficient occupation, they sometimes held
in addition such offices as that of Proctor of an absent canon, Curator
of the Fabric, Sub-Precentor, Sub-Treasurer, or Chamberlain, the holder
of this post being the chief financial officer of the community.

On the eve of the Reformation the discipline of the staff was again very
unsatisfactory, chiefly through the influence of the Treasurer, Canon
Christopher Dragley, who employed the vestry clerks on his private
business, disposed of chantries prematurely, and encouraged the Vicars,
who were now living dispersed, to be insubordinate. It was the custom
for choir and clergy to adjourn after Prime to the Chapter-house, where
the martyrology for the day was read and notices were given out. Here,
too, once a week sat the Chapter Court. But Dragley was able to hinder
all this by keeping the door locked. From 1533 to 1539 he was Treasurer,
Canon Residentiary, and President of the Chapter, and the general laxity
was largely due to this concentration of authority in the hands of one
bad man through non-residence. The case of Dragley drew several decrees
from =Archbishop Edward Lee= (1531-1544):--that no vicar should be
appointed without the consent of a majority in Chapter; that the Chapter
seal must be kept by three people; that one canon must no longer form a
quorum (as hitherto) in the Chapter Court, and as a question had arisen
whether the powers of the Chapter were not entirely vested in the
canons-resident,[22] it was laid down that the latter were indeed
competent to dispose of certain chantries and other offices, and to
exercise the Chapter's spiritual jurisdiction, but that in most other
matters the whole body must be consulted. As most of them were always
absent, this means, perhaps, that they were represented in Chapter by
their proctors. There is an instance in 1546 of the Vicars, chantry
priests, and deacons being allowed to take part in a Chapter meeting.

An attack on relics was begun in 1538, and it was probably about this
date that the shrine of St. Wilfrid was destroyed. In 1539 came the
suppression of Fountains Abbey, the abbot who surrendered it being no
other than Marmaduke Bradley. He h