A HISTORY OF RUTLAND were graver troubles than this now and again ; several incumbents and curates were accused and convicted of moral offences like simony, drunkenness, and incontinence between i 563 and 1 599. The rector of Tickencote was deprived for adultery in 1563 ; but such cases were not always dealt with as they de- served. The officiating clergy of Lyndon, Cottesmore, Morcott, Normanton, Brooke, Preston, Ryhall, South Luffenham, Teigh, and North Luffenham were accused, and in most cases convicted, of one or more of the above offences between 1565 and 1589. The little village of Normanton from 1572 to 1620 suffered under the charge of a man wholly unworthy of his sacred office. The church was again and again reported ruinous ; it possessed no Bible, no chalice, no fair linen cloth nor surplice ; there were no weekday services, and Holy Communion was administered only twice a year, if at all. The rector was spoken of as a common gamester and drunkard, and in 1590 was suspended for a time on a charge of immorality. He was restored after purga- tion, but his curate did penance for adultery the following year, and the accusations against the rector were renewed. The vicar of Oakham had to face a similar charge in 1593, and he was certainly guilty of gross neglect of his cure. He held it from 1565 to 1596, and all that time the parish church and its chapels were most insufficiently served. At Egleton a layman did all that was done from 1576 to 1586, and the vicar even allowed him to administer what he called the Communion once a year, until the archdeacon forbade it. Apart from the neglect of rubrics and injunctions, there were cases of actual refusal of conformity all through the latter part of the reign. In 1587 the rectors of Teigh and Tinwell were not wearing the surplice : in 1589 the rectors of Pilton and Stoke Dry, the vicars of Ridlington and Ryhall, and the curates of Caldecott and Manton were included in the same category, and the vicar of Exton in 1598." Some of these also tried to escape the reading of the royal injunctions, and substituted Bible readings of their own choice for the Epistle and Gospel. As a rule they made excuses, or conformed for a time when called to order. The vicars of Ridlington and Exton, and the rectors of Clipsham and Little Casterton, had run a long course of evasion and protest before they finally wore out the patience of the authorities, and were deprived by Bishop Dove in 1604—5. '^^^ historic case of Robert Cawdray is dealt with separately. Of the rest, the most notable was Thomas Gibson of Ridlington. Some names of interest are connected with the history of this county during the reign of Elizabeth. Michael Renniger, Prebendary of Empingham in 1567, had been one of the exiles during the reign of Mary. He was an eager defender of the right of the clergy to marry if they would, and later on, when Archdeacon of Winchester, was made one of the royal commis- sioners to search for Jesuits and seminary priests.*' Robert Johnson, parson of North Luffenham, became a notable benefactor to the whole county when, as Archdeacon of Leicester, he founded and endowed, by means of collected funds and the rents of certain concealed Church lands begged from the " The vicar of Wardley allowed Thomas Gibson of Ridlington to preach in his church, and was probably of the same school. It was from his pulpit that Gibson gave forth his opinion that baptism and the Holy Eucharist were of no avail unless administered by a preacher. " Blore, Hilt, of Rut. 1 3 8. »» Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vii, App. Si^-]. 148
