her Curate Minester or Preist there to be nominated and appointed
by the said Inhabitants or the greater part of them as aforesaid.
Lastly it is ordered that the said Lands shall at the next Leete at
Wolverhampton for the said Mannor of Stowheath be granted by Coppie
of Court Roll to Nine Feoffees or Stateberers and their heires then
and there to be nominated, uppon wch Grante there shall be Thirteene
pounds six shillings and eight pence paid for a Fine and Herriotts,
and that after the death of six or seaven of the said Feoffees or
Stateberers there shall be sixe or seaven others from tyme to tyme
chosen by the said Inhabitants or greatest pte of them to whom and to
the other three or two surviving Feoffees and their heires uppon the
Surrender of the said three or two Feoffees or Stateberers a new
Grant shall be made by Coppie of Court Roll of the said Lands
accordinge to the Custome of the said Mannor. And soe from when and
as often there shal be remaininge but three or two Feoffees or
Stateberers And that uppon every such admittance there shall be payed
to the Lords of the said Mannor the some of six pounds thirteen
shillings and fower pence for a fine and Herriotts as often as any
such admittance shall be as aforesaid.

The disclosure here made, that part of the endowments went to the repair
of the church, gives the key to the probable solution; because this
unquestionably constituted a "charitable use," and where such was
intermixed with a "superstitious use," only so much as went to the latter
purpose was subject to confiscation under the reforming Statutes of Henry
VIII. A generous interpretation would not inquire too closely into the
amount left for a Chantry Priest, and the portion devoted to repairs of
the fabric. It was to discriminate between the two kinds of uses that
the subsequent Statute of Elizabeth (43 E. Cap. 4) was passed, empowering
the Lord Chancellor to appoint Commissions authorised to investigate the
complaints of aggrieved parties, and to alter the direction of the
endowment funds, where necessary, to make them conformable with the
Protestant religion. This was precisely the nature and function of the
Willenhall Commission. All it accomplished was done under the authority
of the Great Seal of England, the Commissions being generally directed by
the Lord Chancellor to the Bishop of the diocese, as in this case; the
judgm