ad been Abbot since 1536, holding his
canonry at Ripon at the same time, and after the suppression of the
Abbey, he became once more a power at Ripon. As sole residentiary in
1544, 1545, and 1546, he appears to have used his influence well, and
played a prominent part in the last architectural operations before the
Dissolution. The old system of sanctuary, suited only to times when the
State was weak, seems to have died out about this period. In 1545 came
an Act for the dissolution of chantries and hospitals. As 'Supreme Head
of the Church' Henry VIII. renewed the visitatorial authority of the
Archbishops, and both he and Edward VI. confirmed the ecclesiastical
jurisdiction of the Chapter. But the end was imminent. In 1547 the
College was dissolved,[23] and its revenues were annexed to the Duchy of
Lancaster. There had been attached to the church for centuries a =Grammar
School=, for which the Chapter had claimed a monopoly of education within
the Parish and Liberty, forbidding in 1468 the establishment of any
other school without their special licence. This ancient seminary was
apparently dissolved, and a new grammar school independent of the church
was founded by Edward VI., whose benefaction was completed by Mary, the
endowment being provided from the revenues of four of the late
chantries. There had also been a Song-school, but it was perhaps merely
a room in which boys of the Grammar School were trained to be
choristers. Out of the confiscated revenues one or more clergy were paid
to minister to the parish, but under Mary the old state of things was in
some measure brought back. There was once more a Chamberlain, whose
accounts show much the same items as do those of his mediaeval
predecessors, and the old religion was restored; indeed, there were six
altars in the church.

Under Elizabeth there was a return to the arrangement of Edward, the
clergy (now as many as five in number) being denominated vicars.
Archbishop Sandys (1577-1588), Lord Burleigh, Richard Hooker, Moses
Fowler (afterwards the first Dean), and others tried to bring about the
establishment of a theological college in the Bedern, and an increase of
the endowments of the church, but in vain. The town must have lost all
favour in 1569, by taking part in the Rising in the North. It was
visited by the rebel earls of Northumberland and Westmorland, many of
the townsmen and local gentry joining them, and for the last time the
minster witnessed the celebra