Chapter II: The Head of the House (1)

"My lady Prioresse, by your leve
So that I wiste I sholde you not greve,
I wolde demen that ye tellen sholde
A tale next, if so were that ye wolde.
Now wol ye vouche-sauf, my lady dere?"
"Gladly" quod she, and seyde as ye shal here.
CHAUCER.

It usually happened that the head of a nunnery was a woman of some social standing in her own right. All nuns were Christ's brides, but an earthly father in the neighbourhood, with broad acres and loose purse strings, was not to be despised. If a great lady retired to a nunnery she was very like to end as its head; Barking Abbey in Essex had a long line of well-born abbesses, including three queens and two princesses; and when Katherine de la Pole (the youngest daughter of that earl of Suffolk who was slain at Agincourt) is found holding the position of abbess at the tender age of twenty-two, it is an irresistible inference that her birth was a factor in the choice[151]. The advantage in having a woman of local influence and rich connections as prioress is illustrated in the history of Crabhouse nunnery under Joan Wiggenhall[152]; how she worked and built "be the grace of oure Lord God an be the helpe of Edmund Perys, Person of Watlington," her cousin; and how

whanne this good man beforeseyde was passid to God, oure Lord that is
ful graciouse to alle his servauntis that have nede and that troste on
hym, sente hem anothir goode frende hem to helpe and comforte in her
nede, clepid Mayster Jon Wygenale, Doctoure of Canon and person of
Oxborow, and Cosyn to the same Prioresse;

and how

in the xix yere of the same Prioresse, ffel a grete derth of corne,
wherefore sche muste nedis have lefte werke with oute relevynge and
helpe of sum goode creature, so, be the steringe of oure Lord, Mayster
Jon Wygenale befor sayde sente us of his charite an 100 cowmbe malte
and an 100 coumbe Barly and besyde this procurid us xx mark. And for
the soule of my lord of Exetyr, of whos soule God of hys pyte he wil
have mercy, we had of him xl pounte and v mark to the same werke,
whiche drewe ccc mark, without mete and drinke. And within these vij
yere that the dortoure was in makynge the place at Lynne clepped
Corner Bothe was at the gate downe and no profite came to the place
many yeris beforne. So that maystir Jon before seyde of hys gret
charite lente the same prioresse good to make it up ageyne and
procured hir xx mark of the sekatouris of Roger Chapeleyn[153].

The election of a superior was a complicated business, as may be gathered from the list of seventeen documents relating to the election of Alice de la Flagge as Prioress of Whiston in 1308, and enrolled in the _Sede Vacante_ Register of Worcester diocese[154]. Indeed there were so many formalities to be fulfilled that the nuns seem often to have found great difficulty in making a canonical election, and there are frequent notices in the episcopal registers that their election has been quashed by the Bishop on account of some technical fault; in such cases, however, the Bishop's action was merely formal and he almost always reappointed the candidate of their choice[155]. An election was, moreover, not only complicated but expensive; it began with a journey to the patron to ask for his _conge d'elire_ and it ended with more journeys, to the patron and to the Bishop, to ask for confirmation, so that the cost of travel and the cost of paying a clerk to draw up the necessary documents were sometimes considerable; moreover a fee was payable to the Bishop's official for the installation of the new head. The account of Margaret Ratclyff, Prioress of Swaffham Bulbeck in 1482, contains notice of payments "to the official of the lord bishop, at the installation of the said prioress for his fee i. li." and to one Bridone "for the transcript of the decree of election of the prioress v. s."[156]. An account roll of St Michael's Stamford for the year 1375-6 illustrates the process in greater detail; under the heading of "expenses de nostre Elit" are the following items:

Paid for the hire of horses with expenses going to the abbot of
Peterborough [the patron] to get licence to elect our choice 9-1/2_d._
Paid for the hire of horses going to the bishop of Lincoln and to the
abbot of Peterborough and for their expenses at our election 4_s._
8-1/2_d._ Paid for bread, ale and meat for our election on the
election day 2_s._ 11-1/2_d._ Paid for a letter to the abbot of
Peterborough for a licence to elect 3_d._ Paid for the installation of
our elect, 10_s._[157] Total 18_s._ 8-1/2_d._[158]

The only necessary qualifications for the head of a house were that she should be above the age of twenty-one[159], born in wedlock and of good reputation; a special dispensation had to be obtained for the election of a woman who was under age or illegitimate.

ABBESS RECEIVING THE PASTORAL STAFF FROM A BISHOP

BENEDICTION OF AN ABBESS BY A BISHOP]

As a rule the nuns possessed the right of free election, subject to the _conge d'elire_ of their patron and to the confirmation of the bishop, and they secured without very much difficulty the leader of their choice. Often enough it must have been clear, especially in small communities, that one of the nuns was better fitted to rule than her sisters, and, as at Whiston, they

unanimously, as if inspired by the Holy Spirit[160], chose dame Alice
de la Flagge, a woman of discreet life and morals, of lawful age,
professed in the nunnery, born in lawful matrimony, prudent in
spiritual and temporal matters, of whose election all approved, and
afterwards, solemnly singing Te Deum Laudamus, carried the said elect,
weeping, resisting as much as she could, and expostulating in a high
voice, to the church as is the custom, and immediately afterwards,
brother William de Grimeley, monk of Worcester, proclaimed the
election. The said elect, after being very often asked, at length,
after due deliberation, being unwilling to resist the divine will,
consented[161].

But Jocelin of Brakelond has taught us that a monastic election was not always a foregone conclusion, that discussion waxed hot and barbed words flew in the season of blood-letting "when the cloistered monks were wont to reveal the secrets of their hearts in turn and to discuss matters one with another," and that "many men said many things and every man was fully persuaded in his own mind." Nuns were not very different from monks when it came to an election, and the chance survival of a bishop's register and of another formal document among the muniments of Lincoln, has preserved the record of an election comedy at Elstow Abbey, almost worthy to rank with Jocelin's inimitable account of the choice of Samson the subsacrist.

After the death of Abbess Agnes Gascoigne in July 1529, the nineteen nuns of Elstow, having received Henry VIII's _conge d'elire_, assembled in their chapter house on August 9th, to elect her successor. They chose Master John Rayn "_utriusque juris doctorem_," as director, Edward Watson, notary public as clerk, and the Prior of Caldwell and the rectors of Great Billing and Turvey as witnesses. Three novices and other lay persons having departed, the director and the other men explained the forms of election to the nuns in the vulgar tongue and they agreed to proceed by way of scrutiny. Matilda Sheldon, subprioress, Alice Boifeld, _precentrix_, and Anne Preston, _ostiaria_ (doorkeeper) were chosen as scrutineers and withdrew into a corner of the chapter house, with the notary and witnesses. There Matilda Sheldon and Anne Preston nominated Cecilia Starkey, _refectoraria_, while Alice Boifeld nominated Elizabeth Boifeld, sacrist, evidently a relative. The three scrutineers then called upon the other nuns to give their votes; Anne Wake, the prioress, named Cecilia Starkey; Elizabeth Boifeld and Cecilia Starkey (each unable to vote for herself, but determined not to assist the other) voted for a third person, the subsacrist Helen Snawe; and Helen Snawe and all the other nuns, except two, gave their votes in favour of Elizabeth Boifeld. Consternation reigned among the older nuns, prioress, subprioress, _refectoraria_ and doorkeeper, when this result was announced. "Well," said the Prioress, "some of thies yong Nunnes be to blame," and on the director asking why, she replied: "For they wolde not shewe me so muche; for I asked diverse of them before this day to whome they wolde gyve their voices, but they wolde not shewe me." "What said they to you?" asked the director. "They said to me," replied the flustered and indignant prioress, "they wolde not tell to whome they wolde gyve their voices tyll the tyme of thellection, and then they wolde gyve their voices as God shulde put into their mynds, but this is by counsaill. And yet yt wolde have beseemed them to have shewn as much to me as to the others." And then she and Dame Cecilia said, "What, shulde the yong nunnes gyve voices? Tushe, they shulde not gyve voices!" Clearly the situation was the same which Jocelin of Brakelond had described over three centuries before: "The novices said of their elders that they were invalid old men and little capable of ruling an abbey." However the Prioress was obliged to admit that the younger nuns had voted in the last election and the subprioress thereupon, in the name of the scrutineers, announced the election of Dame Elizabeth Boifeld by the "more and sounder part of the convent" (poor Anne Wake!). But the Prioress and disappointed Dame Cecilia still showed fight; the votes must be referred to the Bishop of Lincoln. Further discussion; then Dame Cecilia gracefully gave way; she consented to the election of Dame Elizabeth Boifeld and would not proceed further in the matter. Master John Rayn published the election at the steps of the altar. Helen Snawe (whom after events showed to be a leading spirit in the affair) and Katherine Wingate were chosen as proctors, to seek confirmation from the Bishop, and Dame Elizabeth was taken to the altar (amid loud chanting of _Te Deum Laudamus_ by the triumphant younger nuns) and her election announced. She, however, preserved that decorous semblance of unwillingness, or at least of indifference, which custom demanded from a successful candidate, even when she had been pulling strings for days, for when the proctors came to her at two o'clock "in a certain upper chamber called Marteyns, in our monastery" and asked her consent to her election, "she neither gave it nor refused." Away went the proctors, without so much as a wink to each other; let us leave our elect to meditate upon the will of God. At four p.m. they came to her "in a certain large garden, called the Pond Yard, within our monastery"; and at their repeated instances she gave her consent. "Wherefore we, the above-named nuns, pray the Lord Bishop to ratify and confirm our election of the said Elizabeth Boyfeld as our Abbess." Which the Lord Bishop did[162].

But this was by no means the end of the matter. A year later the whole nunnery was in an uproar[163]. The bishop, for reasons best known to himself, had removed the prioress Dame Anne Wake and had appointed Dame Helen Snawe in her place; perhaps Dame Anne had said "Tush" once too often under the new _regime_; perhaps she was getting too old for her work; or perhaps Abbess Elizabeth Boifeld had only commanded Dame Snawe's intrigues at a price; evidently the subsacrist was no less adroit than that other subsacrist of Bury St Edmund's. At any rate Dame Anne Wake was put out of her office and Dame Helen Snawe ruled in her stead. It might have been expected that this change would be welcomed by the nuns, considering how strong the Boifeld faction had been at the election of the Abbess. But no; during the year of triumph Helen Snawe had aroused the hearty dislike of her sisters; led by Dames Barbara Gray (who had voted against the Abbess at the last election) and Alice Bowlis they had strenuously opposed her substitution for the old Prioress; they had been impertinent to the Abbess of their own choice (indeed she was only a figure-head); they had written letters to their friends and refused to show them to her; and finally when the election of Dame Snawe was announced, they had risen in a body and left the chapter-house as a protest. This was intolerable, and the Bishop's vicar-general came down to examine the delinquents. Matilda Sheldon, the subprioress, admitted to having left the chapter, but denied that she had done so for the reason attributed and said that she did not know of the departure of the other nuns, until she saw them in the dorter. Margaret Nicolson showed more spirit; she said that she went out "because she wold not consent that my lady Snawe shulde be priores," and that "ther was none that ded councell hir to goo" and that "my lady abbes did commaunde them to tary, that not withestandyng they went forthe"; and she gave the names of eight nuns who had followed the subprioress out. Dame Barbara Gray was next asked "yf she ded aske licence of my Lady Abbas to wryte letters to hir frends," and replied "that she ded aske licens to wryte to hir frends and my Lady Abbas sade, 'Yf ye showe me what ye wryte I am content,' and she saide agene, 'I have done my devoir to aske licence, and yf ye wyll nede see it I will wryte noo letters.'" Asked whether she had left the chapter house, this defiant young woman declared that "yf it were to do agene she wolde soo doo," and moreover "that she cannot fynde in hir hert to obbey my lady Snawe as priores, and that she wyll rather goo out of the house by my lord's licence, or she wyll obbey hir ... and that she wyll never obbey hir as priores, for hir hert cannot serve hir." Asked for her objection to Dame Snawe, she said that "she wyll shewe noo cause at thys tyme wherfor she cannot love hir"; but after a little pressure she declared with heat that "the priores maks every faute a dedly syne"[164], treats all of them ill except her own self and if she "doo take an oppynyon she wyll kepe itt," whether it be right or wrong. Dame Margery Preston was next examined and was evidently rather frightened at the result of her actions; she said that she had left the chapter-house as a protest against the deposition of the old prioress and not for any ill will that she bore Dame Snawe, "and she sais," the record continues, "that she ys well content to obbey my lady Snawe as priores. And she desiers my lord to be a good lord to the olde priores, because of her age." Ill-used Dame Cecilia Starkey, so unkindly circumvented by Dame Snawe a year ago, next appeared before the vicar-general and said "that she went forthe of the chapter howse, but she sais she gave noo occasion to eny of hir susters to goo forthe. And says she knewe not howe many of hir susters went forthe whyle she come intoo the dorter; saynge that she cannot fynde in hir hert nor wyll not accepte and take my lady Snawe as priores" (an amusing comment on her vote in 1529). Next came Dame Alice Foster, who admitted to having left the chapter-house

and sais that they war commanded by the Abbes to tare styll. But she
and other went forth because the olde priores was put done [i.e. down]
wrongfully and my lady Snawe put in agenst ther wylle, saynge that she
wyll never agre to hir as long as she lyvys; she says the sub-prioress
went forthe of the chapiter howse fyrst and then she and other
folowyde;

and evidence in almost the same words was given by Dame Anne Preston and by Dame Elizabeth Sinclere, the latter adding that "she wyll take tholde priores as priores as longe as she levys and no other, and she says yf my lord commaunde vs to take my lady Snawe to be priores, she had lever goo forthe of the howse to sum other place and wyll not tare ther." Dame Alice Bowlis, another young rebel, asked

yf she ded aske lycence of the Abbes to wryte, she sais she ded aske
licens to wryte and my lady Abbes seyde "My lord hathe gevyn vs soo
strate commaundement that none shuld wryte no (letter) but ye shewe it
to me, what ye doo wryte"; and she sais she mayde aunswer agene to
thabbes, "It hathe not bene soo in tymis paste and I have done my
dewty. I wyll not wryte nowe at this tyme"; she admitted that she left
the chapter house, "but she says that nobody ded move hyr to goo
forthe; she says that she must neds nowe obbey the priores at my lords
commaundement, saynge that my lady Snawe ys not mete for that offes,
butt she wolde shewe noo cause wherfor."

Two other nuns declared with great boldness "That my lord ded not commaunde vs to tak my lady Snawe as priores, but he saide, 'Yf ye wyll not take hir as priores I wyll make hir priores'" and that "they was wont to have the priores chosyn by the Abbes and the convent, and not by my lord, after seynte Bennet's rule," one of them remarking cryptically "that she wyll take my lady Snawe as priores as other wyll doo" and not otherwise. Meek little Dame Katherine Cornwallis was then interrogated and said,

"that she was going forthe of the chapiter house wt. other of hir
susters and then when she herde my lady abbes commaund them to tary,
she ded tary behynde, but she sais that she thynks that none of the
oder susters that went forthe ded here hyr, but only she" (kind little
Dame Katherine), "and she is sory that tholde priores ys put out of
hir offes. She says that my lady abbes ded tare styll and domina
Alicia Boyfelde, domina Snawe, domina Katherina Wyngate, domina
Dorothia Commaforthe, domina Elizabethe Repton, and domina Elizabeth
Stanysmore."

Finally the ill-used abbess made her complaint; she had bidden saucy Dame Alice Bowlis and others to stand up at matins, according to the custom of the house, "and went out of hir stall to byde them soo doo, and lady Bowlis ded make hir awnswer agene that, 'ye have mayde hir priores that mayde ye abbes!', brekyng her silence ther." Evidently poor Elizabeth Boifeld had not succeeded in living down the intrigues which had preceded her election, and the convent suspected her of rewarding a supporter at the expense of an old opponent.

Here was a pretty state of affairs in the home of buxomness and peace. But the vicar-general acted firmly. Barbara Gray and Alice Bowlis were given a penance for their disobedience; they were to keep silence; neither of them was to come within "the howse calde the misericorde" (where meat was allowed to be eaten), but they were always to have their meals in the frater; neither of them was to write any letters; and they were to take the lowest places of all among the sisters in "processions and in other placys." Finally all the nuns were enjoined to be obedient to the abbess and to the hated prioress. Their protests that they would never obey Dame Alice Snawe, while the old prioress lived, were all in vain; and when some ten years later the Reformation put an end to their dissensions by casting them all upon the world, Dame Elizabeth Boyvill (_sic_), "abbesse," received an annual pension of L50, Dame Helen Snawe, "prioresse," one of L4 and Dame Anne Wake, "prioresse quondam," one of 66_s._ 8_d._[165]

The turbulent diocese of York provides us with an even more striking picture of an election-quarrel. In 1308, after a vacancy, the election of the Prioress of Keldholme lapsed to the Archbishop, who appointed Emma of York. But the nuns would have none of Emma. Six of them refused obedience to the new prioress and, six being probably at least half of the whole convent, Emma of York resigned. Not to be daunted the Archbishop returned to the charge; on August 5th he wrote to the Archdeacon of Cleveland stating that as he found no one in the house capable of ruling it he had appointed Joan de Pykering, a nun of Rosedale, to be Prioress.

As a number of persons (named) had openly and publicly obstructed the
appointment of the new prioress the Archdeacon was to proceed
immediately to Keldholme and give her corporal possession and at the
same time he was to admonish other dissentient nuns (named) that they
and all others must accept Joan de Pykering as prioress and reverently
obey her.

It is clear in this case that the feuds of the convent had spread beyond its walls, for the Archbishop at the same time warned all lay folk to cease their opposition on pain of excommunication and shortly afterwards imposed a penance upon one of those who had interfered. But pandemonium still reigned at Keldholme and he went down in person to interview the refractory nuns; the result of his visitation appears in a mandate issued to the official of Cleveland on September 3rd, stating that he had found four nuns, Isabella de Langetoft, Mary de Holm, Joan de Roseles and Anabilla de Lokton (all had been among the original objectors to Emma of York) incorrigible rebels. They were therefore to be packed off one after another, Isabella to Handale, Mary to Swine, Joan to Nunappleton and Anabilla to Wallingwells, there to perform their penances. In spite of this ruthless elimination of the discordant elements, the convent of Keldholme refused to submit. On February 1st following the Archbishop wrote severely to the subprioress and convent bidding them at once to direct a letter under their common seal to their patroness, declaring that they had unanimously elected Joan de Pykering as prioress; on February 5th he issued a commission to correct the crimes and excesses revealed at his visitation; and on February 17th he directed the commissioners "to enquire whether Joan de Pickering" (luckless exile in the tents of Kedar) "desired for a good reason, of her own free will, to resign and if they found that she did to enjoin the subprioress and convent to proceed to the canonical election of a new prioress"; and on March 7th the triumphant convent elected Emma of Stapelton. At the same time the Archbishop ordered the transference of two other nuns to do penance at Esholt and at Nunkeeling, perhaps for their share in these disorders but more probably for immorality.

But this was not the end. Emma of York could not forget that she had once been prioress; Mary de Holm (who had either returned from or never gone to Swine) was a thoroughly bad character; and in 1315 the Archbishop

directed Richard del Clay, _custos_ of the monastery, to proceed at
once to Keldholme and to summon before him in the chapter Emma of
York and Mary de Holm, who like daughters of perdition were
disobedient and rebels against the Prioress. Having read the
Archbishop's letter in the mother tongue in the chapter, he was to
admonish the two nuns for the first, second and third times that they
must humbly obey the Prioress in all lawful and canonical injunctions.
They were not to meddle with any internal or external business of the
house in any way, or to go outside of the enclosure of the monastery,
or to say anything against the Prioress, on pain of expulsion and of
the greater excommunication.

At the end of the year, however, harassed Archbishop Greenfield went where the wicked cease from troubling; and the two malcontents at Keldholme seized the opportunity to triumph. Scarcely a couple of months after his death Emma of Stapelton resigned; she said she was "oppressed by age," but since Emma of York was at once elected and confirmed in her place, it is probable that the rage, like Joan de Pickering's free will, was something of a euphemism; her reason doubtless took a concrete and menacing shape and wore a veil upon its undiminished head. The last we hear of these very unsaintly ladies is in 1318, when the new Archbishop enjoined a penance on Mary de Holm for incontinence with a chaplain[166]. It is noticeable that this was the second case of the kind which had occurred in the diocese of York within fifteen years. At Swine in 1290 the appointment by Archbishop Romeyn of Josiana de Anlaby as Prioress had been followed by similar disorders and he ordered an inquiry to be held and the rebellious nuns to be sent to Rosedale[167].

Much trouble might arise within a convent over the election of its head, as these stories show. But sometimes external persons interfered; great ladies used their influence and their wealth to secure the coveted post for a protegee of their own; and the protegee herself was not averse to oiling the palms of those in authority with good marks of silver; "blood-abbesses," Ensfrid of Cologne would have called them ("that is, foisted in by their kinsfolk") or "jester-abbesses" ("that is, such as had been thrust in by the power of great folks") or "simoniacs, who had crept in through money or through worldly services"[168]. In these cases there was likely to be more trouble still, for great ladies were not always careful of the character of a friend or relative whom they wished to settle comfortably as head of a convent. In 1528 the Abbess of Wilton died and Mr John Carey thought he would like the appointment for his sister Eleanor, one of the nuns. He was brother-in-law to lovely Anne Boleyn, and a word in her ear secured her warm support; the infatuated King wished to please Anne; and Wolsey, steering his bark in troubled waters, wished to please the King; so he promised that the lady should have the post, the election to which had been placed in his hands by the nuns. It seemed that all would go well with Dame Eleanor Carey, when Anne Boleyn pulled the strings; but trouble arose, and the action taken by the Cardinal and by the future oppressor of the monasteries is greatly to the credit of them both, for both had much to lose from Anne. "As touching the matter of Wilton" Henry wrote to her

My lord cardinal hath had the Nuns before him, and examined them, Mr.
Bell being present; which hath certified me, that for a truth that she
hath confessed herself, (which we would have had abbesse) to have had
two children by two sundry priests; and furder, since, hath been kept
by a servant of the Lord Broke, that was, and that not long ago;
wherefore I would not for all the gold in the world clog your
conscience nor mine to make her a ruler of a house, which is of so
ungudly demeanor, nor I trust you would not that neither for brother
nor sister I should so destain mine honor or conscience. And as
touching the prioress [Isabel Jordan] or Dame Eleanor's eldest sister,
though there is not any evident case proved against them, and that the
prioress is so old that of many years she could not be as she was
named [ill-famed]: yet notwithstanding to do you pleasure I have done
that neither of them shall have it, but that some other good and well
disposed woman shall have it, whereby the house shall be the better
reformed (whereof I ensure you it had much need) and God much the
better served[169].

Wolsey, however, gave the appointment to Isabel Jordan, who in spite of her having been the subject of some scandal in her youth, was favoured by the greater part of the convent as being "ancient, wise and discreet"; whereupon he brought down upon himself a severe rebuke from Henry, who had "both reported and promised to divers friends of Dame Elinor Carey that the Prioress should not have it"[170]. Without doubt pretty Mistress Anne was sulking down at Hever.

Not only did outside persons thus concern themselves in a conventual election; the nuns themselves were not always unwilling to bribe, where they desired advancement. A series of letters written by Margaret Vernon to Cromwell, concerning the office of Prioress of St Helen's, Bishopsgate, throws a lurid light upon the methods which were sometimes employed:

"Sir," she wrote to her powerful friend in 1529, "Pleaseth it you to
understand that there is a goldsmith in this town, named Lewys, and he
sheweth me that Mr. More hath made sure promise to parson Larke that
the subprioress of St. Helen's shall be prioress there afore
Christmas-day. Sir, I most humbly beseech you to be so good master
unto me, as to know my lord's grace's [the king's] pleasure in this
case and that I may have a determined answer whereto I shall trust,
that I may settle myself in quietness; the which I am far from at this
hour. And farthermore if it might like you to make the offer to my
said lord's grace of such a sum of money as we were at a point for, my
friends thinketh that I should surely be at an end."

Soon afterwards she wrote again:

Sir, it is so that there is divers and many of my friends that hath
written to me that I should make labour for the said house unto your
mastership, showing you that the King's grace hath given it to master
Harper, who saith that he is proffered for his favour two hundred
marks of the King's saddler, for his sister; which proffer I will
never make unto him, nor no friend for me shall, for the coming in
after that fashion is neither godly nor worshipful. And beside all
this must come by my lady Orell's favour, which is a woman I would
least meddle with. And thus I shall not only be burdened in conscience
for payment of this great sum, but also entangled and in great
cumbrance to satisfy the avidity of this gentlewoman. And though I
did, in my lord cardinal's days, proffer a hundred pounds for the said
house, I beseech you consider for what purpose it was made. Your
mastership knoweth right well that there was by my enemies so many
high and slanderous words, and your mastership had made so great
instant labour for me, that I shamed so much the fall thereof that I
foresaw little what proffer was made; but now, I thank our Lord, that
blast is ceased, and I have no such singular love unto it; for now I
have two eyes to see in this matter clearly, the one is the eye of my
soul, that I may come without burthen of conscience and by the right
door, and, laying away all pomp and vanity of the world, looking
warily upon the maintenance and supportation of the house, which I
should take in charge, and cannot be performed, master Harper's
pleasure and my lady Orell's accomplished. In consideration whereof I
intend not willingly, nor no friend of mine shall not, trouble your
mastership in this case.

In another letter she mentions a saying of Master Harper, that from the good report he has heard of her, he would rather admit her without a groat than others who offer money; but her conscientious scruples were not rewarded with St Helen's, though she almost immediately obtained an appointment as prioress at Little Marlow, and on the dissolution of that house among the lesser monasteries, received and held for a brief space the great Abbey of Malling[171]. It is true that these instances of simony and of the use of influence belong to the last degenerate years of the monasteries in England. But cases hardly less serious undoubtedly occurred at an early date. The gross venality of the papal _curia_[172], even in the early thirteenth century, is not a very happy omen for the behaviour of private patrons; smaller folk than the Pope could summon a wretched abbot "Amice, ut offeras"; nor was it only abbots who thus bought themselves into favour. The thirteenth century jurist Pierre Du Bois, whose enlightened plans for the better education of women included the suppression of the nunneries and the utilisation of their wealth to form schools or colleges for girls, mentioned the reception of nuns for money and rents, by means of compacts (i.e. the dowry system) and the election of abbesses and prioresses by the same illicit bargains, as among the abuses practised in nunneries[173].

Once having been installed, the head of a house held office until she died, resigned or was deprived for incompetence or for ill behaviour. Sometimes prioresses continued to hold office until a very great age, as did Matilda de Flamstead, Prioress of Sopwell, who died in 1430 aged eighty-one, having lived in the rules of religion for over sixty years[174]. But the cases (quoted below) of the prioresses of St Michael's Stamford and of Gracedieu prove that an aged and impotent head was bad for the discipline of the house, and it appears that a prioress who was too old or in too weak health to fulfil her arduous duties, was often allowed to resign or was relieved of her office[175]. Sometimes an ex-superior continued to live a communal life as an ordinary nun, under her successor, but sometimes she was granted a special room and a special allowance of food and attendance. In some houses certain apartments were reserved for the occupation of a retired superior. Sir Thomas Willoughby, writing to Cromwell on behalf of his sister-in-law, who had resigned her office as Abbess of Malling, begs that she may

have your letter to my lady abbess of Malling (her successor), that
she at your contemplation will be so good to her as to appoint her
that room and lodging within the said monastery that she and other of
her predecessors that hath likewise resigned hath used to have, and as
she had herself a little space, or else some other meet and convenient
lodging in the same house[176].

When Katherine Pilly, Prioress of Flixton, "who had laudably ruled the house for eighteen years," resigned in 1432 because of old age and blindness, the Bishop of Norwich made special arrangements for her sustenance:

she was to have suitable rooms for herself and her maid; each week she
and the maid were to be provided with two white loaves, eight loaves
of "hool" bread and eight gallons of convent beer, with a daily dish
for both from the kitchen, the same as for two nuns in the refectory,
and with two hundred faggots and a hundred logs and eight pounds of
candles a year. Cecilia Crayke, one of the nuns, was to read divine
service to her daily and to sit with her at meals, having her portion
from the refectory[177].

These aged ladies probably ended their days peacefully, withdrawn from the common life of the house. But sometimes a prioress resigned while still young enough to miss her erstwhile autocracy and to torment her unlucky successor. Then indeed the new head could do nothing right and feuds and factions tore the sisterhood. Such a case occurred at Nunkeeling early in the fourteenth century. Avice de la More resigned in 1316, and the Archbishop wrote to the nuns making the usual provision for her; she had "for a long period laudably and usefully superintended the house"; she was to have a chamber to herself and one of the nuns assigned to her by the Prioress as a companion; and daily she was to receive the portion of two nuns in bread, ale and victuals and her associate that of one nun; an end, one might suppose, of Avice de la More. But the Yorkshire nuns were quarrelsome ladies; and two years later the Archbishop addressed a severe letter to Avice, threatening to remove the provision made for her if she persisted in her "conspiracies, rebellions and disobedience to the prioress" and imposing a severe penance upon her. But seven penitential psalms with the litany upon Fridays, a discipline in chapter and fasting diet could not calm the temper of Avice de la More; she stirred up the nuns to rebellion and spread the tale of her grievances "to seculars and adversaries outside." There was some family feud perhaps between her relatives and the St Quintins to whose house the unhappy Prioress belonged; at any rate "clamorous information" reached the Archbishop concerning the intrigues of certain of the nuns. Once more he wrote to Avice "with a bitter heart." She had broken her vow of obedience in arrogancy and elation of heart towards her prioress, "who was placed in charge of her soul and body and without whom she had no free will"; let her desist at once and study to live according to the rule; and a commission was sent to inquire into the misdeeds of the rebellious nuns of Keeling. But alas, the finding of that commission has long since powdered into dust and we hear no further news of Avice de la More[178].

The head of a house was an important person and enjoyed a considerable amount of freedom, in relation both to her convent and to the outside world. In relation to her convent her position laid her open to various temptations: she was, for instance, beset by three which must be faced by all who rule over communities. The first was the temptation to live with too great luxury and independence, escaping from the daily routine of communal life, to which her vows bound her. The second was the temptation to rule like an autocrat, instead of consulting her sisters. The third was the temptation to let human predilections have their way and to show favouritism. To begin with the first of these temptations, it is obvious that the fact that the superior nearly always had a separate room, or suite of rooms[179], and servants, and had the duty of entertaining important guests, gave her much freedom within her house, especially if she were the head of one of the great abbeys. The Abbess of St Mary's Winchester, at the Dissolution, had her own house and a staff consisting of a cook, an undercook, a woman servant and a laundress, and she had also a gentlewoman to wait upon her, like any great lady in the world[180]. The Abbess of Barking had her gentlewoman, too, and her private kitchen; she dined in state with her nuns five times a year, and "the under celeresse must remember," says the _Charthe longynge to the Office of Celeresse_,

at eche principall fest, that my lady sytteth in the fraytour; that is
to wyt five times in the yere, at eche tyme schall aske the clerke of
the kychyn soper eggs for the covent, and that is Estir, Wytsontyd,
the Assumption of our Lady, seynt Alburgh and Cristynmasse, at eche
tyme to every lady two eggs, and eche double two egges, that is the
priorisse, the celeresse and the kychener[181].

The stern reformer Peckham was forced to take in hand the conduct of the Abbesses of Barking, Wherwell and Romsey, who were abusing their independence of ordinary routine. The Abbess of Barking was forbidden to remain in her private room after sunset, at which hour all doors were to be locked and all strangers excluded; she might do so only very rarely, in order to entertain distinguished guests or to transact important business; and he ordered her to eat with the convent as often as possible, "especially on solemn days" (i.e. great feasts)[182]. The Abbess of Wherwell had apparently stinted her nuns in food and drink, but caused magnificent feasts to be prepared for her in her own room, and Peckham ordered that whenever there was a shortage of food in the convent, she was to dine with the nuns, and no meal was to be laid in her chamber for servants or strangers, but all visitors were to be entertained in the exterior guest-hall; if at such times she were in ill health, and unable to use the common diet, she might remain in her room, in the company of one or two of the nuns. At times when there was no lack of food in the convent and when she was entertaining guests in her own room, all potations were to cease and all servants and visitors to depart at the hour of compline[183]. About the same time (1284) Peckham wrote two letters to the Abbess of Romsey, who had evidently been guilty of the same behaviour. She was not to keep "a number of" dogs or monkeys, or more than two maid servants, and she was not to fare splendidly in her own rooms while the nuns went short; his injunctions to her are couched in almost precisely the same language as those which he addressed to the Abbess of Wherwell[184].

According to the Benedictine rule the superior, when not entertaining guests, was permitted to invite the nuns in turn to dine with her in her own room, for their recreation, and notices of this custom sometimes occur in visitation reports; at Thicket (1309) the Prioress was enjoined to have them one by one when she dined in her room[185]; at Elstow (1421-2) the Abbess was to invite those nuns whom she knew to be specially in need of refreshment[186]; at Gracedieu (1440-1) the Prioress was ordered

that ye do the fraytour be keppede daylye ... item that no mo of your
susters entende up on yowe, save onely your chapeleyn, and otherwhile,
as your rule wylle, ye calle to your refeccyone oon or two of your
susters to thair recreacyone[187];

at Greenfield (1519) there was a complaint that the Prioress did not invite the nuns to her table in due order, and at Stainfield it was said that she frequently invited three young nuns to her table and showed partiality to them and she was ordered to invite all the senior sisters in order[188]. In Cistercian and Cluniac houses the superior was supposed to dine in the frater and to sleep in the dorter with the other nuns, and even in Benedictine houses it was considered desirable that she should do so. But the temptation to live a more private life was irresistible, and visitation records contain many complaints that the head of the house is lax in her attendance at dorter and frater and even in following the divine services in the choir[189]. Bishops frequently made injunctions like that given by Alnwick to the Prioress of Ankerwyke in 1441:

that nyghtly ye lygge in the dormytorye to ouersee your susters how
thai are there gouernede after your rewle, and that often tyme ye come
to matynes, messe and other houres ... also that oftentymes ye come to
the chapitere for to correcte the defautes of your susters ... also
that aftere your rewle ye kepe the fraytour but if resonable cause
excuse yowe there fro[190].

Sometimes a minimum number of attendances was demanded. At St Michael's Stamford Alnwick ordered the old Prioress

that nyghtly ye lyg in the dormytorye emong your susters and that
euery principale double fest and festes of xij or ix lessouns ye be at
matynes, but if grete sekenes lette yowe; and that often tymes ye be
at other howres and messes in the qwere, and also that ye be present
in chapitres helpyng the supprioresse in correctyng and punisshyng of
defautes[191].

It was further attempted to restrict the dangerous freedom of a superior's life, by ordering her always to have with her one of the nuns as a companion and as witness to her behaviour. So Peckham ordered the Abbess of Romsey to "elect a suitable companion for herself and to change her companions yearly, to the end that her honesty should be attested by many witnesses"[192]. Usually the nun whose duty it was to accompany the superior acted as her chaplain. It will be remembered that Chaucer says of his Prioress "another Nonne with hir hadde she, That was hir chapeleyne"[193], and episcopal registers contain frequent allusions to the office. William of Wykeham gave a comprehensive account of its purpose when he wrote to the Abbess of Romsey in 1387,

since, according to the constitutions of the holy fathers, younger
members must take a pattern from their rulers (_prelati_) and those
prelates ought to have a number of witnesses to their own behaviour,
we strictly order you (lady abbess) in virtue of obedience, that you
annually commit the office of chaplain to one of your nuns ... and
thus the nuns themselves, who shall have been with you in the
aforesaid office, shall (by means of laudable instruction) be the
better enabled to excel in religion, while you will be able
immediately to invoke their testimony to your innocence, if (which God
forbid) any crime or scandal should be imputed to you by the malice of
any person[194].

So at Easebourne in 1478 the Prioress was ordered

that every week, beginning with the eldest ... she should select for
herself in due course and in turns, one of her nuns as chaplain for
divine services and to wait upon herself[195].

The Norwich visitations of Bishop Nykke afford further information; at Flixton discontented Dame Margaret Punder complained that the Prioress had no sister as chaplain, but slept alone as she pleased, in a chamber (_cubiculo_) outside the dorter, "without the continual testimony of her sisters," and the visitors enjoined that henceforth she should have with her one sister in the office of chaplain for a witness, and especially when she slept outside the dorter[196]. At Blackborough one of the nuns complained that the Prioress had kept the same chaplain for three years[197] and at Redlingfield it was said that she never changed her chaplain[198]; the Abbess of Elstow in 1421-2[199] and the Prioress of Markyate in 1442[200] were ordered to change their chaplains every year, and this seems to have been the customary arrangement. The title of "chaplain" is sometimes found after the name of a nun in lists of the inmates of nunneries[201].

Besides the temptation to live too independent an existence the head of a house had also the temptation to abuse the considerable power given to her by the monastic rule. She was apt to govern autocratically, keeping the business of the house entirely in her own hands, instead of consulting her sisters (assembled in chapter) before making any important decision. There were constant complaints by the nuns that the Prioress kept the common seal in her own custody and performed all business without consulting them. Peckham's letter to the Abbess of Romsey illustrates the variety of matters which might thus be settled without any reference to the nuns; she had evidently been misusing her power, for he wrote sternly:

Know that thou art not mistress of the common goods, but rather the
dispenser and mother of thy community, according to the meaning of the
word abbess.... We strictly command thee that thou study to transact
all the more important business of the house with the convent. And by
the more important business we intend those things which may entail
notable expenditure in temporalities or in spiritualities, with which
we wish to be included the provision of a steward; we order for the
peace of the community, that H. de Chalfhunte, whom thou hast for long
kept in the office of steward contrary to the will of the convent, no
longer intermeddle in any way with this or with any other bailiff's
office (_bajulatu_) of the monastery. Moreover we make the same order
concerning John le Frikiere. Let each of them, having accounted for
his office before Master Philip our official ... look out for an abode
elsewhere. Besides this thou shalt transact all minor business of the
church according to the rule with at least twelve of the senior
ladies. And because thou hast been wont to do much according to the
prompting of thine own will, we adjoin to thee three coadjutresses of
laudable testimony, to wit dames Margery de Verdun, Philippa de Stokes
and Johanna de Revedoune, without whose counsel and attempt thou shalt
not dare attempt anything pertaining to the rule of the convent in
temporalities or in spiritualities. And whensoever thou shalt
wittingly do the contrary in any important matter, thou shalt know
thyself to be on that account suspended from the office of
administration. And we mean by an important matter the provision of
bailiffs of the manors and internal obedientiaries, the punishment of
delinquents, all alienation of goods in gifts or presents, or in any
other ways, the sending forth of nuns and the assignment of companions
to those going forth, the beginning of lawsuits and all manner of
church business. And if it befall that any of the aforesaid three be
ill or absent, do thou receive in her stead Dame Leticia de
Montegomery or Dame Agnes de Lidyerd, having called into consultation
the others according to the number fixed above. And whenever thou
shalt happen to fare forth upon the business of the church, thou shalt
always take with thee the aforesaid three ladies, whom we have joined
with thee as coadjutresses in the rule of the monastery both within
and without; and if ever thou goest forth for recreation thou shalt
always have with thee two; in such wise that thou shalt in no manner
concern thyself to pursue any business without the three[202].

The danger of autocratic government to the convent is obvious; and it is significant that a really bad prioress is nearly always charged with having failed to communicate with her sisters in matters of business, turning all the revenues to any use that she pleased. Moreover the head of a house not only sometimes failed to consult her convent; she constantly also omitted to render an annual account of her expenditure, and by far the most common complaint at visitations was the complaint that the Prioress _non reddidit compotum_. At Bishop Nykke's Norwich visitations the charge was made against the heads of Flixton, Crabhouse, Blackborough and Redlingfield[203]. At Bishop Alnwick's Lincoln visitations it was made against the heads of Ankerwyke, Catesby, Gracedieu, Harrold, Heynings, St Michael's Stamford, Stixwould, Studley; at Ankerwyke Dame Clemence Medforde had not accounted since her arrival at the house; at St Michael's Stamford the Prioress had held office for twelve years and had never done so; at Studley it was said that the last Prioress who ruled for 58 years never once rendered an account during the whole of that period, nor had the present Prioress yet done so, though she had been in office for a year[204]. Sometimes the delinquent gave some excuse to the Bishop; the Prioress of Catesby said she had no clerk to write the account[205]; at Blackborough one of the nuns said that her object had been to avoid the expense of an auditor and another that she gave the convent a verbal report of the state of the house[206]. Sometimes she flatly refused, and the bishop's repeated injunctions on the subject seem to have been of little avail; the Prioress of Flixton had not rendered account since her installation _et dicit quod non vult reddere_; she was superseded, but six years later the same complaint was made against her successor and the visitors ordered the latter to amend her ways, _sub poena privationis, quia dixit se nolle talem reddere compotum_[207]. The bishops always inquired very carefully into the administration of the conventual income and possessions by the head of each house, and invented a variety of devices for controlling her actions[208].

There remains to be considered the third pitfall into which the head of a house was liable to fall. The wise Benedictine rule contained a special warning against favouritism, for indeed human nature cannot avoid preferences and it is the hardest task of a ruler to subdue personal predilections to perfect fairness. The charge of favouritism is a fairly common one in medieval visitations. Alnwick met with an amusing case when he visited Gracedieu in 1440-1. The elder nuns complained that the old prioress did not treat all equally; some of them she favoured and others she treated very rigorously; Dame Philippa Jecke even said that corrections were made so harshly and so fussily that all charity and all happiness had gone from the house. Moreover there were two young nuns whom she called her disciples and who were always with her; these nuns had many unsuitable conversations, so their sisters thought, with the Prioress' secular visitors; worse than this, they acted as spies upon the other nuns and told the Prioress about everything that was said and done in the convent, and then the Prioress scolded more severely than ever[209]; but her disciples could do no wrong. These nuns, indeed, were among the most voluble that Alnwick visited, and he must have remarked with a smile that the two disciples were the only ones who answered "Omnia bene"; but he did not intend to let them off without a rebuke.