THE MEDIEVAL CARMELITE PRIORY AT YORK FOUNDED 1253

NOTES ON WALTER KELLAWE Provincial Prior 1358 (Died and buried Northallerton August 1367)

KELLAWE (Chellavus, Kelhowe, Kellaue, Kellauus, Kellaw, Kellawensis, Kello), Walter Bale’s earliest notes record simply that he was a member of the York distinction.  [Bodl. Libr., Ms. Selden supra 41, fo. 168].  Later, Bale, basing himself on Leland, claims that Kellawe was born in Northallerton, Yorkshire.  [Bale, J., Scriptorum Illustr. Brytan., ii, 59].  He probably joined the Carmelites in York, not Northallerton as claimed by some (the house was only founded in 1356).

Kellawe studied at Oxford university where he had incepted as D.Th. by 19 Feb 1348 for he was described as magister when he was licensed to hear confessions in the York diocese.  He was licensed again on 16 Feb 1353.  [Reg. la Zouche, York, x, fo. 278: Reg. Thoresby, York, xi, fo. 3v].  He was the confessor of Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury, (d.1460) and his wife Alice, (m. 1421: d.1462) daughter of Thomas Montague, the previous earl.  [Brit. Libr., Ms. Harley 3838, fo. 76].

Kellawe was appointed provincial at the General Chapter held in Metz in June 1348.  [Acta Capitul. Gen. Ord. Carm., (Rome, 1912), i, 40].  His appointment was confirmed at the provincial chapter held in Nottingham later the same year.  [Bodl. Libr., Ms. Bodley 73, fo. 80].  He was re-appointed at the General Chapter held in Toulouse in June 1351.  [Acta Capitul. Gen. Ord. Carm., (Rome, 1912), i, 42].  During his term of office, Kellawe held provincial chapters at Lynne in 1349, London in 1350, Cambridge in 1351 and Lincoln in 1352. [Bodl. Libr., Ms. Bodley 73, fo. 80v].

On 8 Aug 1352, he was summoned to attend a consultation with the king:

 "To the provincial prior of the Carmelites in England to be before the council on Thursday after the octaves of the Assumption next."  [Cal. Close Rolls, 1349-1354, (London: HMSO, 1906), 499].

Kellawe resigned at the chapter in Norwich in 1353.  [Bodl. Libr., Ms. Bodley 73, fo. 80v].  But, due to the illness of his successor, William Lubbenham (Carm.), Kellawe was re-elected provincial at the chapter held in Maldon in 1354 and he vacated the office for the second time in 1359.  [Bodl. Libr., Ms. Bodley 73, fo. 80v].  His appointment as provincial was confirmed at the General Chapters held in Perpignan in June 1354 and in Ferrara in 1357.  [Acta Capitul. Gen. Ord. Carm., ed. G.  Wessels, (Rome, 1912), i, 44, 46].  In his second term, he held provincial chapters at Maldon in 1354, Stamford in 1355, Lynne in 1356, Nottingham in 1357 and Ipswich in 1358.  [Bodl. Libr., Ms. Bodley 73, fos. 80-80v].

On 8 Nov 1356, he is mentioned in a document by which the king gave the Carmelites a croft called Tentour Croft, with an adjacent meadow, containing in all 3 acres and one rod at Northallerton for the foundation of a Carmelite house.  [Pat. 30 Edw. I, pt. i, m. 11; pt. iii, m. 19; in A. Little, Hist. of Yorks., (V.C.H., 1913), iii, 270].  The Neville family, to which Kellawe was confessor, were noted benefactors to Northallerton and often chose to be buried there.  Kellawe’s name as provincial occurs also on 18 Oct 1358 when the bishop of Hereford granted permission for four Carmelites from Ludlow to hear confessions.  [Reg. Charlton, Hereford, 62].

After handing over his office as provincial in 1359, Kellaw appears to have retired to the new Carmelite foundation at Northallerton.  Ingledew suggests that he may have been the first prior of Northallerton which is unlikely as he was provincial when Northallerton was founded (1356-7). [Cole's Ms.; quoted in C. Ingledew, Hist. & Antiq. of Northallerton (1858), 245].  It is quite possible he was the second prior (from 1359).  He died and was buried in Northallerton in Aug 1367.  [Bodl. Libr., Ms. Selden supra 41, fo. 168].

His name ‘Kellaw’ occurs in a book recorded in the catalogue of the Carmelite library at Hulne.  [K. Humphreys, The Friars’ Libraries, (British Library, 1990), 175].

Note:  Some authors have attempted to identify Walter Kellaw with other Carmelites.  Villiers confuses him with Walter Heston (Carm.) and hence makes Heston provincial in the 1350’s.  Staring attempts to correct the situation by reversing the process and identifying Heston with Kellaw.  Both are clearly mistaken as Heston is a separate individual in the contemporary records (see entry for Walter Heston). [Bib. Carm., i, 579: "Walter Heston", Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographique Ecclesiastique, (Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1991), xxiv, 293 (unsigned by inserted by Staring)].  Another confusion is between Walter Kellaw and an earlier Carmelite,Walter Kesso (Carm), who occurs in the Bruges necrology.  However, chronologically, they must be separate individuals, (See entry for Walter Kesso).  [Norbert a St. Julian, O.Carm., De scriptoribus Belgicis et viris illustribus ex ordine Carmelitarum, Brussels, Royal Library, Ms. 16492, p. xxii-xxv].

Bale ascribes the following works to him:

1. Determinaciones quasdam theologicas, Lib. 1; [Bodl. Libr., Ms. Bodley 73, fo. 118v].

2. Quodlibeta quoque, Lib. 1; [Brit. Libr., Ms. Harley 3838, fo. 76].

 Bale adds:

3. "Atque sermones aliquot."  [J. Bale, Script. Illustr. Bryt., ii, 59].

Which Villiers completes into a further work: Sermonum variorum, Lib 1.  [Bib. Carm., i, 581].

 Bibliography

1. Bale, J., Bodl. Libr., Ms. Bodley 73, (S.C. 27635), fos. 80-80v, 118v, 133v:

2. Bale, J., Bodl

3. “Kellawe ou Kello, Walter” Dictionaire de Théologie Catholique,(Paris,1903-50)viii,2333