Chapter XLV: Appendix: IV (4)

[257] _Cal. of Papal Letters_, VI, p. 55.

[258] _V.C.H. Suffolk_, II, pp. 83-4. The other cases may be noted more briefly. For the story of Denise Loweliche, Prioress of Markyate (Beds.), see _Linc. Visit._ I, pp. 82-6, and below, pp. 458-9. Alice de Chilterne, Prioress of White Hall, Ilchester, was deprived for incontinence with the chaplain and for wasting the goods of the house to such an extent that the nuns were reduced to begging their bread (1323). Hugo, _Med. Nunneries of Somerset, Whitehall in Ilchester_, pp. 78-9 and _Reg. John of Drokensford_ (Somerset Rec. Soc.), pp. 227, 245, 259. In 1325 Joan de Barton, Prioress of Moxby, was deprived _super lapsu carnis_ with the chaplain. _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 240. In 1495 Elizabeth Popeley was deprived, two years after her confirmation as Prioress of Arthington, for having given birth to a child and for wasting the goods of the house. _Ib._ p. 189. The case of Katherine Wells, Prioress of Littlemore, who put her nuns in the stocks and took the goods of the house to provide a dowry for her illegitimate daughter is noted below, Note F. See also the stories of Elizabeth Broke, Abbess of Romsey, and Agnes Tawke, Prioress of Easebourne. Liveing, _Rec. Romsey Abbey_, pp. 211-222 and _Sussex Archaeol. Coll._ IX, pp. 14-19. Joan Fletcher, Prioress of Basedale, resigned from fear of deposition in 1527 and then cast aside her habit and left the house. _Yorks. Archaeol. Journ._ XVI, pp. 431-2.

[259] It was translated by the Rev. Dr Cox in _V.C.H. Hants._ II, pp. 132-3, from a chartulary of Wherwell Abbey compiled in the fourteenth century (_Brit. Mus. Egerton MS._ 2104) and quoted by Gasquet, _English Monastic Life_, pp. 155-8.

[260] See the account in the _Reg. of Crabhouse Nunnery_, ed. Mary Bateson (_Norfolk Archaeology_, XI, pp. 59-63). Also a charming account of Crabhouse (founded largely on this register) in Jessopp, _Ups and Downs of an Old Nunnery_ (_Frivola_, 1896, pp. 28 ff.). The English portion of the register was written some time after 1470.

[261] _Reliquiae Antiquae_, I, p. 314. See also a little further on in the Crabhouse Register: "And xx mark we hadde of the gifte of Edmunde Peris persoun of Watlington before seyde sekatoure to the same Roger wiche was nought payed tyl xvj yere aftyr his day." Compare the complaint at Rusper in 1478: "Item dicit quod Johannes Wood erat executor domini Ricardi Hormer ... qui fuit a retro in solucione pensionis v_s._ per xxx annos priorisse et conventui de Rushper." But this may mean that the late Richard (a rector) had failed to pay. _Sussex Archaeol. Coll._ V, p. 255.

[262] With this account of the building of Crabhouse church it is interesting to compare the costs incurred in building the "newe chirch" of Syon Abbey in 1479-80. Two small schedules of accounts dealing with this work are preserved in the Public Record Office. The first is particularly interesting for its list of workmen employed: "Summa of the wages of Werkmen wirchyng as well opon and wyane the newe chirch of the monastery of Syun, as opon parte of the newe byldyng of the Brether Cloyster, chapitirhous and library, that is to sey fr. the xth day of October in the xixth yere of the reigne of kyng E. the iiijth vnto the vijth day of October in the xxth yere of the reigne of the same kyng, as it is declared partelly in ij jurnalles of work thereof examyned. It. ffremasons ccxlv li. xij s. xj d. It. harde-hewers xxx li. xj s. vij d. ob. It. Brekeleyers xvj li. xvj s. ij d. It. chalk-hewers xlj s. iij d. It. Carpenters and joynours xlvj s. ix d. It. Tawyers ix li. xvj s. iiij d. It. Smythes xliiij li. xix s. x d. It. Laborers xxxvj li. xix s. vij d. It. Paied to James Powle Brekeman for makyng of breks lxxvj li. viij s. iiij d. Summa to{l}, cccclxvij li. viij s. iij d. ob." (_P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1261/2). The other schedule gives further details: "Expenses vpon our newe churche. The makyng of the rof w{t} tymber and cariage and workmanship ix{c}lxv li. xviij s. iij d. q{a}, lede castyng, jynyng, leyyng sawdir with diuers cariage v{c}xxxv li. x s. x d. Iron bought with cariage, weyng and whirvage lxxiij li. xvi s. x d. Ragstone, assheler ffreston with cariage, masons and labourers for the vantyng and ffurryng of the pilers and purvyaunes vnto the xxvij of maii m{l}m{l}v{c}xlix li. xj s. j d. ob. Summa total for the church m{l}m{l}m{l}m{l}cxxxiiij li. xvij s. ob. q{a}. Expenses of the cloystor and dortour vnto the xxvij day of maii vj{c}iiij{xx}xviij li. ix s. x d. Summa to{l}. m{l}m{l}m{l}m{l}viij{c}xxxiij li. vj s. x d. ob. q{a}." (_Ib._ 1261/3.)

[263] Mr Coulton suggests the reading 'a mason hewande,' i.e. a hard-hewer or rough hewer, as opposed to the better freemason.

[264] The _Valor Ecclesiasticus_ was published in six volumes by the Record Commission (1810-34). It is the subject of a detailed study by Professor Alexander Savine, "English Monasteries on the Eve of the Suppression," in _Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History_, ed. Vinogradoff, vol. I (1909). For this reason, and also because of their greater interest, I have preferred to base my study of nunnery finance on the account rolls of the nuns. The _Valor_ as it affects nunneries has been largely drawn upon in an unpublished thesis by Miss H. T. Jacka, _The Dissolution of the English Nunneries, Thesis submitted for the Degree of M.A. in the University of London_ (Dec. 1917). It is a pity that this useful little work is not published. I have been able to consult it and have made use (as will be seen from footnotes to this chapter) of the admirable chapter II on "The Property of the Nunneries"; for my quotations from the _Valor_ I have invariably used her analysis. Anyone wishing for an intensive study of the Dissolution from the point of view of monastic houses for women cannot do better than consult this thesis, which is far more detailed, exact and judicial in tone than any other modern account.

[265] _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1260.

[266] The wardens' accounts are in _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 867/21-6 and the prioress's accounts, _ib._ 867/30, 32, 33-36. and _Hen. VII_, no. 274. They are briefly described in _V.C.H. Herts._ IV, pp. 430-1 (notes 30, 31, 39). An excellent prioress's account for 2-4 Hen. VII is printed by Dugdale, _Mon._ III, pp. 358-61, the prioress being Christian Bassett.

[267] _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1257/10. See Gasquet, _Eng. Monastic Life_, pp. 158-176.

[268] A. Gray, _Priory of St Radegund's, Cambridge_, pp. 145-85.

[269] Baker, _Hist. and Antiq. of Northants._ I, pp. 278-83. Compare _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1257/1 for a Catesby account roll for 11-14 Hen. IV.

[270] Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, pp. 458-60. See also _P.R.O._ 1257/2 for Denney, 14 Hen. IV-1 Hen. V.

[271] See Ch. IV, _passim_.

[272] _Valor Eccles._ IV, p. 302.

[273] _Ib._ III, p. 103.

[274] _Ib._ I, p. 119.

[275] _Ib._ I, p. 397.

[276] _Ib._ I, p. 424.

[277] Jacka, _op. cit._ f. 44.

[278] Jacka, _op. cit._ ff. 27, 29-30. The information about Syon and the Minoresses is taken from _Valor Eccles._ I, p. 424 and I, p. 397 respectively.

[279] See Jacka, _op. cit._ f. 25.

[280] If the demesne land were let out in farm the customary ploughing and other services of the villeins would no longer be needed and if only a portion of it were so farmed the number of villein services required would be proportionately less. This, as well as the increasing employment of hired labour on the demesne during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, accounts for the item "Sale of Works" which appears in the Romsey account for 1412. Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, p. 194. From another point of view the number of rent-payers was increased by the fact that both free and unfree tenants could rent pieces of the demesne. As to the farming of the demesne, note however the conclusion to which Miss Jacka comes from a study of the _Valor_ and the Dissolution _Surveys_ now in the Augmentation Office: "The question 'to what extent did the nuns in 1535 farm their demesnes?' cannot be confidently answered on the evidence of any of the records before us. Apart from the fact that in many cases there is no statement at all, the word 'firma' or 'farm' is used so ambiguously that even where it occurs it is impossible to be certain that a lease existed.... There are, of course, unmistakeable cases in which the demesnes were farmed: Tarrant Keynes kept in hand the demesnes of 3 manors and farmed that of 7; Shaftesbury occupied the demesne of one manor and farmed that of 18 (_Valor Eccles._ I, pp. 265, 276). But in none of the few cases in which the whole of the demesne is described as yielding a 'firma,' should we be justified, in view of the several uses of the word, in asserting that it had the definite character of a lease. That is to say, whatever may be our suspicions, the evidence before us does not warrant the assertion that in a single case did the nuns farm the whole of their demesnes; and this conclusion is an unexpected and remarkable one, for we might well expect them to be among the first land holders who seized this method of simplifying their manorial economy." Jacka, _op. cit._ f. 47.

[281] In the account roll of Dame Christian Bassett, Prioress of Delapre (St Albans) for 2-4 Hen. VII, the "rente fermys" range between L7 from Robert Pegge for the farm of the whole manor of Pray, to 2_s._ received from Richard Franklin "for the ferme of vj acres of londe in Bacheworth"; one John Shon pays 6_s._ 8_d._ "for the ferme of certeyne londs in Bacheworth and ij tenements in Seint Mighell strete with a lyme kylne"; Richard Ordeway pays 10_s._ for rent farm of "an hous w{t}in the Pray" and Robert Pegge 8_s._ for rent farm of "an hous and a stable w{t}in Praygate." Dugdale, _Mon._ III, pp. 358-9. In this account her assize rents amount to L2. 11_s._ 2_d._ within the town of St Albans and her rents farm to L4. 13_s._ 2_d._; while outside the town the rents of assize amount to L2. 5_s._ 0_d._ and the rents farm to L11. 19_s._ 8_d._, while four items amounting to L1. 19_s._ 11_d._ are doubtful, but probably represent farms. That is to say very nearly three quarters of the lands and houses belonging to Delapre were farmed out, and if we except payments from the town of St Albans, which were probably house-rents, over four-fifths of its possessions were in farm. Similarly in the account roll of Margaret Ratclyff, Prioress of Swaffham, for 22 Ed. IV. the rents are classified as _Redditus Assise_ (L6. 0_s._ 4_d._ in all), _Firma Terrae_ (L13. 0_s._ 3-1/2_d._ in all) and _Firma Molendini_, the farm of a mill (L3. 14_s._ 4_d._). _Ib._ IV, p. 459.

[282] References to money paid in fees to rent-collectors, or in gratuities to men who had brought rents up to the house often occur in account rolls, e.g. in the Catesby roll for 1414-15, "Also in expenses of collecting rents wheresoever to be collected ... xix_s._ Also paid to divers receivers of rent for the time viij_s._ viij_d._" Baker, _Hist. of Northants._ I, p. 280. In the Delapre account of 2-4 Hen. IV, "Item paid to a man that brought money from Cambryg for a rewarde viij_d._ Item for dyvers men y{t} brought in their rent at dyvers tymes xx_s._ ij_d._" Dugdale, _Mon._ III, p. 359. In the St Radegund's Cambridge account of 1449-51, "In the expenses of Thomas Key (xvij_d._ ob.) at Abyngton, Litlyngton, Whaddon, Crawden, Bumpsted and Cambridge for the business of the lady (prioress) and for levying rent ... and in the stipend of Thomas Key collecting rents in Cambridge and the district this year xiii_s._ iiij_d._" Gray, _Priory of St Radegund, Cambridge_, pp. 173-4.

[283] Gray, _op. cit._ pp. 148, 164.

[284] See for a translation of the whole charter, Aungier, _Hist. of Syon_, pp. 60-67. The original is given _ib._ pp. 411-8.

[285] See the valuation of Syon Monastery, A.D. 1534, translated from the _Valor Ecclesiasticus_, _ib._ pp. 439-450. At Romsey in 1412 the perquisites of courts brought in a total of L14 out of an annual income of L404. 6_s._ 0-1/2_d._, made up of the rents and farms, sale of works, sale of farm produce and perquisites of courts on six manors. Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, p. 194.

[286] _V.C.H. Hants._ II, p. 135.

[287] _V.C.H. Norfolk_, II, p. 370. So apparently had the Prioress of Carrow. Rye, _Carrow Abbey_, p. 21.

[288] See p. 70 above. Compare the Catesby roll for 1414-15. "And in the expenses of the steward at the court this year and at other times vi_s._ viii_d._" Baker, _Hist. and Antiq. of Northants._ I, p. 280.

[289] _V.C.H. Essex_, II, p. 118.

[290] _Cal. of Close Rolls_, 1272-9, p. 392.

[291] _Cal. of Close Rolls_, 1296-1302, p. 238.

[292] In the account of the Prioress of Delapre already quoted occurs the item "Receyvid for ij standyngs at Prayffayre at ij tymes v_s._" Dugdale, _Mon._ III, p. 359. The fair time was the feast of the Nativity of the B.V.M. (Sept. 8th) and the account for another year shows that over L1 was spent on the convent and visitors at this time. The accounts for 1490-3 include payments for making trestles and forms in connection with the fair. _V.C.H. Herts._ IV, p. 430 (note 31) and p. 439 (note 39). The nuns of St Radegund's, Cambridge, were granted by Stephen a fair, which was afterwards known as Garlick fair, and was held in their churchyard for two days on August 14th and 15th. They did not receive much from it; in 1449 the tolls amounted only to 5_s._ 2_d._; moreover they had to give the toll collectors 6_d._ for a wage and they evidently made the occasion one for entertainment, for they hired an extra cook for 3_d._ "to help in the kitchin at the fair time." Gray, _Priory of St Radegund, Cambridge_, pp. 49-50.

[293] The _Valor Eccles._ occasionally notes income derived from fairs. Tarrant Keynes had L2 from the fair at Woodburyhill, Shaftesbury had L2. 4_s._ 6_d._ from Shaftesbury fair, Malling received L3. 6_s._ 8_d._ from Malling market and fair and L3 from a market "cum terris et tenementis" at Newheth, Blackborough had L1 from Blackborough fair and Elstow had L7. 12_s._ 0_d._ from Elstow fair. _Valor Eccles._ I, pp. 265, 276, 106; II, p. 205; III, p. 395; IV, p. 188.

[294] The mill belonging to the home farm would be in the charge of a miller, who was one of the hired servants of the house and was paid a regular stipend. Other mills would probably be farmed out. The nuns of Catesby had two mills, which brought them in 12_s._ and 22_s._ a year respectively; one, a wind-mill, was probably farmed, but the water-mill was in charge of Thomas Milner, at a wage of 20_s._ and his servant, who was paid 2_s._ 6_d._ The nuns also received tolls of grain in kind from the mill; a certain proportion of which was handed over to the miller for his household. The mill does not seem to have paid very well, for a heavy list of "Costs of the Mill," amounting to 31_s._ 6_d._ appears in the account; it includes the wages of the miller and his boy and payments to a carpenter for making the mill-wheel for seventeen days and in damming the mill-tail and buying shoes with nails for the mill horses. Baker, _op. cit._ I, pp. 279, 281. At Swaffham Bulbeck the "Firma Molendini" brought in L3. 14_s._ 4_d._ Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 457. Malling Abbey had a fulling-mill. _Valor Eccles._ I, p. 276.

[295] For instance in Hone, _The Manor and Manorial Records_ (1906).

[296] Coulton, _Med. Garn._ p. 591.

[297] Baker, _op. cit._ I, pp. 279, 282.

[298] _V.C.H. Norfolk_, II, p. 370.

[299] For examples of mortuary law-suits, receipts and results, see Coulton, _Med. Garn._, pp. 561-6. On the whole subject of mortuaries and the unpopularity which they entailed upon the church, see Coulton, _Medieval Studies_, no. 8 ("Priests and People before the Reformation," pp. 3-7).

[300] Translated in Coulton, _Med. Garn._ p. 323. Compare another of Caesarius' tales of the usurer who was taken by the devil through various places of torment: "There also he saw a certain honest knight lately dead, Elias von Rheineck, castellan of Horst, seated on a mad cow with his face towards her tail and his back to her horns; the beast rushed to and fro, goring his back every moment so that the blood rushed forth. To whom the usurer said, 'Lord, why suffer ye this pain?' 'This cow,' replied the knight, 'I tore mercilessly from a certain widow; wherefore I must now endure this merciless punishment from the same beast.'" _Ib._ p. 214. Certainly the medieval imagination had a genius for making the punishment fit the crime.

[301] A nunnery in a large town would be far more dependent on buying food. Thus an account of the household expenses of St Helen's Bishopsgate, in the sixteenth century shows that the nuns had to pay L22 for buying corn and L60. 13_s._ 4_d._ for meat and other foodstuffs. They were heavily in debt, and their creditors included a brewer, a "cornman," two fishmongers and a butcher. _V.C.H. London_, I, p. 460.

[302] Baker, _op. cit._ I, pp. 281-3.

[303] The convent bought 4-1/2 qrs. of salt for 25_s._ for the operation this year. Baker, _op. cit._ I, p. 280. Compare, for the operation at Gracedieu, Gasquet, _Eng. Mon. Life_, p. 174.

[304] The account of the cellaress of Syon for the year 1536-7 gives very full details of the income derived from the sale of hides and fells. John Lyrer, tanner, buys from her fifty-five ox-hides at 3_s._ 6_d._ each, and three cow-hides, two steer-hides, one bull-hide, and one murrain ox-hide at 2_s._ 4_d._ each, making a total of L10. 8_s._ 10_d._ The same John Lyrer buys 230 calf-skins for L3. 16_s._ 8_d._ John Cockes, fellmonger, buys 287 "shorling felles," at 3_s._ the dozen, 190 "skynnes of wynter felles" at 6_s._ the dozen, 77 "skynnes somerfelles" at 8_s._ the dozen, for a total for L10. 18_s._ 1_d._ The different qualities of wool were always carefully distinguished and priced. _Myroure of Oure Ladye_, ed. Blunt, p. xxix.

[305] A few examples taken at random will suffice: "By the sale of wool 4 marks 11_s._ 8_d._ From Gilbert of Chesterton for the wool _del aan ke est aveni_ 100_s._" (32-3 Edw. I). _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1260/1. "From the sale of 14 stone of wool, price per stone 7_s._, 4_l._ 18_s._" (48-9 Edw. III). _Ib._ 1260/4. "Received for one sack of 20 stone of wool sold last year, at 4_s._ per stone, 13 marks, 10_s._ 8_d._ Received for one sack of this years wool, at 4_s._ 6_d._ per stone, 5_l._ 17_s._ 0_d._" (either 46-7 or 47-8 Edw. III). _Ib._ 1260/21. "From John of the Pantry for 11-1/2 stone of wool at 6_s._ the stone, 69_s._" (1-2 Rich. II). _Ib._ 1260/7. In 1412 Romsey Abbey derived L60 out of a total income of L404. 6_s._ 4-1/2_d._ from the sale of wool. Liveing, _op. cit._ p. 194.

[306] See, for this very interesting document, Cunningham, _Growth of English Industry and Commerce_ (1905 ed.), I, App. D, pp. 628-41. The nunneries mentioned, with the amount of wool obtainable from each annually, are Stainfield (from 12 sacks), Stixwould (from 15 sacks), Nuncoton (from 10 sacks), Hampole (from 6 sacks), St Leonard's Grimsby (from 2 sacks), Heynings (from 2 sacks), Gokewell (from 4 sacks), Langley (from 5 sacks), Arden (from 10 sacks), Keldholme (from 12 sacks), Rosedale (from 10 sacks), St Clement's York (from 3 sacks), Swine (from 8 sacks), Marrick (from 8 sacks), Wykeham (from 4 sacks), Ankerwyke (from 4 sacks), Thicket (from 4 sacks), Nunmonkton (number missing), Yedingham (do.), Legbourne (from 3 sacks). A similar Flemish list mentions Hampole, Nuncoton, Stainfield and Gracedieu (33 lbs.). Varenbergh, _Hist. des Relations Diplomatiques entre le Comte de Flandre et l'Angleterre au Moyen Age_ (Brussels, 1874), pp. 214-7.

[307] "The Libel of English Policie," in _Hakluyt's Voyages_ (Everyman's Lib. edit.), I, p. 186.

[308] See, for instance, a petition from the nuns of Carrow asking to be allowed to appropriate the church of Surlingham, of which they had the advowson, "qar, tres dute seignour, lauoesoun ne les fait bien eynz de les mettre en daunger de presentement en chescune voedaunce"; _P.R.O. Anct. Petit._ 232/11587. It appears that the prioress had letters patent to appropriate the church, probably in answer to this petition in 22 Edw. II; Rye, _Carrow Abbey_, App. p. xxxvi. It may be useful to give a few out of very many references to the appropriation of a church to a nunnery on account of poverty: Clifton to Lingbrook (_Reg. R. de Swinfield_, p. 134), Wolferlow and Bridge Sollers to Aconbury (_Reg. A. de Orleton_, pp. 176, 200), Rockbeare to Canonsleigh (_Reg. Grandisson_, II, p. 698), Compton and Upmardon to Easebourne (_Bp. Rede's Reg._ p. 137), Itchen Stoke to Romsey (_Reg. Sandale_, p. 269), Whenby to Moxby (_Reg. Wickwane_, p. 290), Horton to St Clement's York (_Reg. Gray_, p. 107), Bishopthorpe to the same (_Reg. Giffard_, p. 59), Dallington to Flamstead (Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 301), Quadring to Stainfield (_V.C.H. Lincs._ II, p. 131), Easton Neston to Sewardsley and Desborough to Rothwell (_V.C.H. Northants._ II, p. 137), Lidlington to Barking (_V.C.H. Essex_, II, p. 119), Bradford, Tisbury and Gillingham to Shaftesbury (_V.C.H. Dorset_, II, p. 77).

[309] An analysis of the possessions of Carrow gives some good examples of this. The churches of Earlham, Stow Bardolph, Surlingham, Swardeston, East Winch and Wroxham were all appropriated soon after their advowsons had been granted to the priory, which also possessed the advowsons of four churches in Norwich, the moiety of another advowson, the moiety of a rectory and various tithes or portions of tithes in different manors and parishes. Rye, _Carrow Abbey_, App. X.

[310] Gasquet, _Eng. Mon. Life_, p. 194.

[311] For the abuses of appropriation, see Coulton, _Medieval Studies_, no. 8, pp. 6-8. For the part played by the lower clergy in the Peasants' Revolt, see Petit-Dutaillis, _Studies Supplementary to Stubbs' Constit. Hist._ II, pp. 270-1, and Kriehn, _Studies in the Sources of the Social Revolt_ in 1381 (_Amer. Hist. Review_, 1901), VI, pp. 480-4.

[312] _Valor Eccles._ IV, p. 188.

[313] _Ib._ III, p. 276.

[314] _Ib._ I, p. 897.

[315] Jacka, _op. cit._ f. 35. See the list of "Farms and Pensions" in the prioress of Catesby's accounts for 1414-5. Baker, _Hist. and Antiqs. of Northants._ I, p. 279.

[316] _V.C.H. Northants._ II, p. 98.

[317] Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 268.

[318] This appears from the regular entry of the amount brought in by the farms of the two churches in the account rolls. In 1458 the nuns received formal permission from the bishop to lease out and dispose of the fruits and revenues of any of the appropriated churches. Madox, _Form. Anglic._ dxc.

[319] _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1260/7.

[320] See for instance Norris' note (quoted by Rye) on the grant to Carrow Priory of the tithes of all wheat growing in the parishes of Bergh and Apton, which tithes "occasioned many disputes between the Rector and the Convent, till at length about the year 1237 it was agreed by the Prioress and Convent and Thomas, the then Rector, ... that the Rector should pay to the Convent 14 quarters of wheat in lieu of all their tithes there, which was constantly paid, with some little allowance for defect of measure, until 29 Edw. III, when there was a suit between Prioress and Rector about them. What was the event of it I find not, but they soon after returned to the old payment of 14 qrs., which continued until 21 Hen. VI, when the dispute was revived and in a litigious way they continued above ten years, but I find they afterwards returned again to the old agreement and kept to it, I believe, to the dissolution of the Priory." Rye mentions a suit between the Rector and Prioress in 1321. Similarly the nuns were involved in a tedious suit (10 Edw. I) about the tithes of the demesne of the manor of Barshall in Riston, with the Rector of Riston. Rye, _Carrow Abbey_, App. pp. xxx, xxxv.

[321] See below, p. 199, for the other side of the matter.

[322] Similarly the nuns of Kingsmead, Derby, had part of the shirt of St Thomas of Canterbury, and the nuns of Gracedieu had the girdle and part of the tunic of St Francis, both of which were good for the same purpose. _V.C.H. Derby_, II, p. 43; Nichols, _Hist. of Leic._ III, p. 652.

[323] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 115, 119, 130, 159, 178, 189.

[324] _V.C.H. Northants._ II, p. 122.

[325] _V.C.H. Essex_, II, p. 118.

[326] See for instance the receipts of the nuns of St Michael's Stamford from _Almes, Almoignes et Auenture_ entered in their roll for 45-6 Edw. III. "From Sir John Weston for a soul, 13_s._ 4_d._ For the soul of Simon the Taverner, 1_s._ For the soul of Sir Robert de Thorp, L20. 6_s._ 7_d._ For the soul of William Apethorp, 3_s._ 4_d._ For the soul of Alice atte Halle, 3_s._ 4_d._ In alms from William Ouneby, 6_s._ 8_d._ In alms from Emma of Okham L5. Received from the pardon at the church 6_s._ 8_d._ For the pardon from Lady Idayne and from Emma Okham L1." _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1260/3. But this was an unusually good year.

[327] The account rolls of St Michael's Stamford usually arrange expenses under the following headings: (1) rents, (2) petty expenses, (3) convent expenses, (4) cost of carts and ploughs, (5) repair of houses, (6) purchase of stock, (7) weeding corn and mowing hay, (8) threshing and winnowing, (9) harvest expenses, (10) hire of servants, (11) chaplains' fees. See _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1260/_passim_. The active prioress of St Mary de Pre, Christian Bassett, classifies her payments as for (1) "comyns, pytances and partycions," (2) "yerely charges," (3) "wagys and ffees," (4) "reparacions," (5) "divers expensis." Dugdale, _Mon._ III, pp. 358-61. The prioress of Catesby (1414-5) classifies (1) rents, (2) petty expenses, (3) expenses of the houses (i.e. repairs), (4) household expenses, (5) necessary expenses (miscellaneous), (6) expenses of carts, (7) purchase of livestock, (8) customary payments (to nuns, pittancers, farmers, cottagers, etc. in clothing; details not given); (9) purchase of corn, (10) rewards (various small tips to nuns and servants), (11) tedding and making hay, harvest expenses, stubble, thrashing and winnowing corn, (12) costs of the mill, (13) servants' wages. Baker, _Hist. and Antiq. of Northants._ I, pp. 278-83.

[328] Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, pp. 194-5.

[329] See below, p. 323.

[330] See below, pp. 157-8.

[331] Gray, _Priory of St Radegund, Cambridge_, p. 156.

[332] _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1260/10.

[333] _Valor Eccles._ I, p. 84.

[334] _Ib._ I, p. 119.

[335] _Ib._ I, p. 394.

[336] _Ib._ III, p. 76.

[337] _Ib._ III, p. 77.

[338] _Archaeol. Journ._ LXIX (1912), pp. 120-1.

[339] Gray, _op. cit._ p. 172.

[340] Dugdale, _Mon._ III, p. 359. The heading under which this item comes is _Yerely Charges_.

[341] Baker, _Hist. and Antiq. of Northants._ I, p. 281.

[342] A. G. Little, _Studies in English Franciscan History_ (1917), pp. 25, 43.

[343] See below, p. 199.

[344] Gray, _op. cit._ pp. 156, 172.

[345] _Myroure of Oure Ladye_, ed. Blunt, introd. p. xxxi.

[346] See below, p. 202.

[347] See e.g. above, p. 70.

[348] Gray, _op. cit._ pp. 153-5.

[349] Mackenzie Walcott, _Inventories of ... Shepey_, pp. 32-3.

[350] Maurice Hewlett, _The Song of the Plow_ (1916), pp. 9-10.

[351] Baker, _Hist. and Antiq. of Northants._ I, p. 283. Compare the St Radegund's Cambridge accounts: "Et in butumine empto cum pycche hoc anno pro bidentibus signandis et ungendis, ij s j d. Et in clatis emptis ad faldam, iij s iij d. Et solutum pro remocione falde per diversas vices, iij d. ... Et in bidentibus hoc anno lavandis et tondendis ij s iij d." Gray, _op. cit._ pp. 155, 171.

[352] They are a regular item in the St Michael's, Stamford, accounts and compare the accounts of St Radegund's, Cambridge: "And in viij pairs of gloves bought for divers hired men at harvest as was needful xij d." Gray, _op. cit._ pp. 157, 172.

[353] Tusser, _Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie_, ed. W. Payne and S. J. Herrtage (Eng. Dialect. Soc. 1878), pp. 129-30.

[354] Tusser, _op. cit._ p. 132.

[355] _Ib._ p. 181.

[356] C. T. Flower, _Obedientiars' Accounts of Glastonbury and other Religious Houses_ (St Paul's Ecclesiological Soc. vol. VII, pt II (1912)), pp. 50-62. The nunnery accounts described include accounts of the Abbess of Elstow (22 Hen. VII), the Prioress of Delapre (4 and 9 Hen. VII), the Cellaress of Barking, the Cellaress of Syon, the Sacrist of Syon and the Chambress of Syon. On obedientiaries and their accounts in general, see the introduction to _Compotus Rolls of the Obedientiaries of St Swithun's Priory, Winchester_, ed. G. W. Kitchin (Hants. Rec. Soc. 1892).

[357] Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, p. 236. At St Mary's Winchester at the same date the 14 nuns included the abbess, prioress, subprioress, infirmaress, _precentrix_ and three sub-chantresses, _scrutatrix_, _dogmatista_ and librarian. _V.C.H. Hants._ II, p. 124.

[358] Aungier, _Hist. of Syon Mon._ p. 392.

[359] _Myroure of Oure Ladye_, ed. Blunt (E.E.T.S.), introd. p. xxviii.

[360] Aungier, _op. cit._ pp. 392-3.

[361] See below, Note A.

[362] Aungier, _op. cit._ p. 395.

[363] I have been unable to discover what is meant by _feri_ and _asser_.

[364] _Tabite_ was a sort of _moire_ silk. Probably carpets or tablecloths here.

[365] _Register of Crabhouse Nunnery_, ed. M. Bateson (Norfolk Archaeology, XI, 1892), pp. 38-9.

[366] See, for instance, the Godstow Register; charters nos. 105, 139, 556 and 644 concern grants appropriated to clothing and nos. 52, 250, 536, 619 and 630 to the infirmary. No. 862 is a grant of five cartloads of alderwood yearly "to be take xv dayes after myghelmasse to drye their heryng." _Eng. Reg. of Godstow Nunnery_, ed. A. Clark (E.E.T.S. 1905-11), pp. 102, etc. In the Crabhouse Register it is noted that a certain meadow is set aside so that "all the produce of the said meadow be forever granted for the vesture of the ten ladies who are oldest in religion of the whole house, so that each of the ten ladies receive yearly from the aforesaid meadow four shillings at the feast of St Margaret." _Op. cit._ p. 37. When Wothorpe was merged in St Michael's, Stamford, the diocesan stipulated that the proceeds of the priory and rectory of Wothorpe should be applied to the support of the infirmary and kitchen of St Michael's. Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 268.

[367] See, for instance, the payment of a yearly pension of five marks from the appropriated church of St Clement's for the clothing of the nuns of St Radegund's, Cambridge, and similar assignations of the income from appropriated churches at Studley, St Michael's Stamford, and Marrick. Gray, _Priory of St Radegund, Cambridge_, p. 27.

[368] See C. T. Flower, _loc. cit._, for an account of the Syon, Barking and Elstow accounts; also Blunt, _Myroure of Oure Ladye_, introd. pp. xxvi-xxxi, for Syon chambresses' and cellaresses' accounts (1536-7) and _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1261/4 for a Syon cellaress's account (1481-2). See _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1260/14 for a St Michael's Stamford chambress's account (1408-9).

[369] See below, Ch. VIII.

[370] Blunt, _op. cit._ pp. xxvi-xxviii.

[371] Gray, _op. cit._ pp. 149, 165, 167.

[372] A barrel contained ten great hundreds of six score each.

[373] A cade contained six great hundreds of six score each.

[374] A warp was a parcel of four dried fish.

[375] Gray, _op. cit._ See the accounts, pp. 145-79 _passim_.

[376] _Ib._ pp. 10-11.

[377] _Catholicon Anglicum_, ed. S. J. Herrtage (E.E.T.S. 1881), p. 365.

[378] Blunt, _op. cit._ p. xxx. In 1481-2 their Lenten store included "saltfysshe," "stokfyssh," "white heryng," "rede haryng," "muddefissh," "lyng," "aburden," "Scarburgh fysshe," "salt samon," "salt elys," "oyle olyue" (34-3/4 gallons), a barrel of honey and figs. At other times this year the cellaress purchased beans (1 qr. 4 bushels), green peas (7 bushels), "grey" (i.e. dried) peas (4 bushels), "harreos" (3 bushels), oatmeal (2 qrs. 7 bushels), bread, wheat, malt, various animals for meat and to stock the farm, a kilderkin of good ale, 15 lbs. of almonds, 39 Essex cheeses, 111-1/2 gallons of butter, white salt and bay salt, also firewood and coals. _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1261/4.

[379] _Poems of John Skelton_, ed. W. H. Williams, pp. 107-8 (from "Colyn Cloute," ll. 210-13). For the curious custom of eating dried peas on the fifth Sunday in Lent, called Passion or Care Sunday, see Brand, _Observations On Popular Antiquities_ (1877 ed.), pp. 57 ff. In the north of England peas boiled on Care Sunday were called _carlings_. Compare the St Mary de Pre (St Albans) accounts (2-4 Hen. VII) "Item paid for ij busshell of pesyn departyd amongs the susters in Lente xvj d." Dugdale, _Mon._ III, p. 359, and the Barking cellaress' _Charthe_, below, Note A.

[380] See below, p. 568.

[381] Blunt, _op. cit._ pp. xxx-xxxi.

[382] Shakespeare, _Winter's Tale_, IV, ii, 38 sqq.

[383] For _sowce_, see below, p. 565.

[384] The weekly allowance of beer to each member was supposed to be seven gallons, four of the better sort and three weaker, but the amount varied from house to house. See _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 89 (note). The Syon nuns had water on certain days, but doubtless as a mortification of the flesh, for it was sometimes complained of as a hardship when nuns had to drink water. ("Item they say that they do not get their corrody (i.e. weekly allowance of bread and beer) at the due times, but it is sometimes omitted for a fortnight and sometimes for a month, so that the nuns, by reason of the non-payment of the corrody, drink water." _Test. Ebor._ I, p. 284.) The weekly allowance of bread was seven loaves. A note in the Register of Shaftesbury Abbey (15th century) which then numbered about 50 nuns and a large household, says: "Hit is to wytyng that me baketh and breweth by the wike in the Abbey of Shaftesbury atte leste weye xxxvj quarters whete and malt. And other while me baketh and breweth xlj quarters and ij bz. whete and malte." Dugdale, _Mon._ II, p. 473.

[385] Aungier, _op. cit._ pp. 393-4.

[386] See below, p. 568.

[387] They are diversely defined as pancakes, cheese cakes or custards, but they differed from our pancakes in being made in crusts. See the recipe in _Liber Cure Cocorum_ for flawns made with cheese:

Take new chese and grynde hyt fayre,
In morter with egges, without dysware;
Put powder therto of sugur, I say,
Coloure hit with safrone ful wele thou may;
Put hit in cofyns that ben fayre,
And bake hit forthe, I the pray.

_Liber Cure Cocorum_, ed. Morris (Phil. Soc. 1862), p. 39. A fifteenth century cookery book gives this recipe for _Flathouns in lente_: "Take and draw a thrifty Milke of Almandes; temper with Sugre Water; than take hardid cofyns [pie-crusts] and pore thin comad [mixture] theron; blaunch Almaundis hol and caste theron Pouder Gyngere, Canelle, Sugre, Salt and Safroun; bake hem and serue forth." _Two Fifteenth Century Cookery Books_, ed. T. Austen (E.E.T.S. 1888), p. 56.

[388] For Maundy Thursday, see Brand, _op. cit._ pp. 75-9. For the Barking Maundy see below, p. 568, for the St Mary de Pre Maundy see Dugdale, _Mon._ III, p. 359, and for the St Michael's, Stamford, Maundy, see _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1260 _passim_. The nuns of St Radegund's owned certain lands in Madingley which were held by the Prior of Barnwell on payment of a rent of 2_s._ 3_d._, called "Maundy silver." Gray, _op. cit._ p. 146. Maundy money is still distributed at Magdalen College, Oxford.

[389] See below, p. 566, for the Barking pittances. The following extracts from one of the St Michael's, Stamford, accounts is typical of the rest: "Item paid for wassail 4_d._ ... paid to the convent on the Feast of St Michael and the dedication of the church 6_s._ Item paid for ... on All Saints Day and St Martin's Day 3_s._ Item paid for a pittance of pork on two occasions 6_s._ Item paid for fowls at Christmas for the convent 5_s._ 6_d._ Item paid for herrings on St Michael's Day for the poor 1_s._ 8_d._ Item paid for beer for the convent on Maundy Thursday (_Jour de Cene_) 10_d._ Item paid for bread and wafers on the same day 6_d._ Item paid for spices on the same day 3_s._ Item paid for herrings for the poor on the same day 1_s._ 8_d._ Item given to the poor on the same day 1_s._ 9_d._ Item for holy bread on Good Friday 2_d._ Item paid for _fflaunes_ 2_d._ Item paid for herrings on St Laurence's Day 9_d._" _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1260/11. At this convent "holy bread" was always brought for Good Friday, "flaunes" (or sometimes eggs, saffron and spices to make them) for Rogationtide, beer and spices on Maundy Thursday, herrings on St Lawrence's Day, and various money pittances were paid to the nuns from time to time for the _misericord_ of Corby and sometimes of Thurlby, the appropriated churches. On one occasion there is an entry "Paid to the convent for the misericord of Thurlby, to wit 28 fowls, 12 gallons of beer and mustard and a gift to the prioress 9_s._, paid to the convent for the misericord of Corby 9_s._, paid to the pittancer for a pittance from Thurlby throughout the year 14_s._ 4_d._" _Ib._ 1260/3. See an interesting list of pittances payable on forty different feasts throughout the year to the nuns of Lillechurch or Higham: they are either extra portions of food or special sorts of food, e.g. "crepis" on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, "flauns" on Easter Day and 12_d._ on St Radegund's Day. R. F. Scott, _Notes from the Records of St John's Coll. Cambridge_, 1st series (from _The Eagle_, 1893, vol. XVII, no. 101, pp. 5-7).

[390] For these prebendal canonries see Mr Hamilton Thompson's article on "Double Monasteries and the Male Element in Nunneries," in _The Ministry of Women, A Report by a Committee appointed by his Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury_, app. VIII, pp. 150 _sqq._

[391] Dugdale, _Mon._ III, p. 424.

[392] Walcott, M. E. C. _Inventories of ... the Priory of Minster in Shepey_ (_Arch. Cant._ 1869), p. 30. This house paid stipends to three chaplains, one being "curat of the Paryshe churche"; a "Vycar's chamber" is described among what are obviously outlying buildings. At Cheshunt the "Prestes Chamber" contained a feather bed, with sheets and coverlet and a "celer of blewe cloth," valued at 4_s._ 10_d._ Cussans, _Hist. of Herts. Hertford Hundred_, II, p. 70.

[393] Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, Prologue of the Nonne Prestes Tale, ll. 3998 ff.

[394] _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 120-1, 123.

[395] _Valor. Eccles._ I, p. 397, IV, p. 220.

[396] _Ib._ I, p. 276.

[397] _Ib._ II, p. 109.

[398] _Ib._ III, p. 76.

[399] _Ib._ I, p. 106.

[400] _Ib._ V, pp. 43, 87, 94.

[401] _Ib._ I, p. 114.

[402] _Ib._ V, p. 206.

[403] _Ib._ I, p. 424, IV, p. 339.

[404] E.g. in the Sheppey inventory, after "the chamber over the Gate Howse called the Confessor's Chamber," comes "the Chamber next to that," "_the Steward's chamber_" (well furnished), "the next chamber to the same," "the chamber under the same," and "the Portar's Lodge," all evidently outside the cloister. Walcott, M. E. C. _op. cit._ p. 31.

[405] Gray, _op. cit._ pp. 163, 167, 173. Cf. pp. 156, 157, 158.

[406] Walcott, M. E. C. _op. cit._ pp. 30, 33.

[407] E.g. Brewood (Black Ladies). See Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 500.

[408] A Joan Key or Kay votes at the election of Joan Lancaster as prioress of St Radegund's in 1457 and is receiver-general, keeping the account in 1481-2. Gray, _op. cit._ pp. 38, 176.

[409] See, for instance, an item in the accounts of St Radegund's Cambridge: "Paid in a pittance for the convent ... at the month's mind of John Brown, lately bailiff there ... in accordance with his last will." Gray, _op. cit._ p. 151.

[410] _The Ministry of Women_, _loc. cit._ pp. 162-3. So in 1492 it is complained at Carrow "quod mali servientes Priorissae fecerunt magnum dampnum in bonis prioratus." Jessopp, _Visit. of Dioc. of Norwich_, p. 16.

[411] Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, Prologue, ll. 597 ff.

[412] See, for instance, the Prioress of Marrick _v._ Simon Wayt, to give an account for the time when he was her bailiff in Fletham (1332); the Prioress of Molseby (Moxby) _v._ Lawrence de Dysceford, chaplain, to give an account of the time when he was bailiff of Joan de Barton, late Prioress of Molseby at Molseby (1330)--an interesting case of a chaplain acting as bailiff for a small and poor house; Idonia, Prioress of Appleton _v._ John Boston of Leven for an account as bailiff and receiver in Holme (1413). _Notes on Relig. and Secular Houses of York_, ed. W. P. Baildon (Yorks. Arch. Soc. 1895), I, pp. 127, 139, 161. Visitation injunctions sometimes regulate the presentation of accounts by bailiffs and receivers, e.g. _Exeter Reg. Stapeldon_, p. 318, _V.C.H. Beds._ I, p. 356.

[413] _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 67.

[414] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 185. An illustration may be found in the Gracedieu rolls where on one occasion the nuns paid wages to the bailiff John de Northton, to his wife Joan, to his daughter Joan, to Philip de Northton (doubtless his son) and to Philip's wife Constance. _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1257/10, ff. 203-5.

[415] _V.C.H. Suffolk_, II, p. 84.

[416] _Reg. Epis. J. Peckham_ (Rolls Ser.), II, pp. 658-9. Compare p. 662. The injunction that the head of the house should not appoint stewards, bailiffs or receivers without the consent of the major part of the convent was a common one; cf. _ib._ II, p. 652; Dugdale, _Mon._ II, p. 619.

[417] Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, pp. 218-22 _passim_.

[418] Liveing, _op. cit._ pp. 229-30, 232.

[419] _Essays on Chaucer_, 2nd Series, VII (Chaucer Soc.), pp. 191-4; also in Dugdale, _Mon._ II, 456-7.

[420] Gray, _op. cit._ p. 158; cf. p. 174.

[421] _V.C.H. Hants._ II, 151.

[422] _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 71_d._ The Bishop forbade them to keep more than the necessary servants and made the same injunction at Legbourne. _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 187.

[423] _Archaeologia_, XLVII, pp. 57-8. Compare his injunction to Studley, _ib._ pp. 54-5. In 1306 every useless servant who was a burden to the impoverished house of Arden was to be removed within a week. _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 113. In 1326 the _custos_ of Minchin Barrow was told to remove the _onerosa familia_. _Reg. John of Drokensford_ (Somerset Rec. Soc.), p. 242.

[424] _P.R.O. Suppression Papers_, 833/39.

[425] _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 4, 121, 131; _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 6. At Ankerwyke Alnwick enjoined "that ye hafe an honeste woman seruaund in your kychyne, brewhowse and bakehowse, deyhowse and selere wythe an honeste damyselle wythe hire to saruf yowe and your sustres in thise saide offices, so that your saide sustres for occupacyone in any of the saide offices be ne letted fro diuine seruice." Compare the complaint of the nuns of Sheppey that they had no "covent servante" to wash their clothes and tend them when they were ill, unless they hired a woman from the village out of their own pockets. _E.H.R._ VI, pp. 33-4. The provision of a laundress was ordered at Nunappleton in 1534. _Yorks. Arch. Journ._ XVI, p. 444.

[426] _Yorks. Arch. Journ._ XVI, p. 443.

[427] "Also she says that secular servingwomen do lie among the sisters in the dorter, and especially one who did buy a corrody there" (Heynings, 1440). _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 133. The Abbess of Malling in 1324 was forbidden to give a corrody to her maid. Wharton, _Anglia Sacra_, I, p. 364.

[428] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 133.

[429] See below, pp. 395, 396.

[430] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 121. Alnwick notes "Amoueatur quedam francigena manens in prioratu propter vite inhonestatem, nam omnes admittit vniformiter ad concubitus suos"; and see his general injunction, _ib._ pp. 122, 125.

[431] _Ancren Riwle_, introd. Gasquet (King's Classics), p 287.

[432] _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 7.

[433] _Ib._ f. 26_d_.

[434] _E.H.R._ VI, p. 33.

[435] Liveing, _op. cit._ p. 101.

[436] _Ib._ p. 104. Compare Peckham's injunctions to Wherwell in 1284 "Et si quis inveniatur, serviens masculus aut femina, qui amaris responsionibus consueverit monialem aliquam vel aliquas molestare, nisi se monitione praemissa sufficienter corrigat in futurum, illico expellatur." _Reg. Epist. J. Peckham_, II, p. 654; also his injunctions to Barking and Holy Sepulchre, Canterbury, _ib._ I, p. 85; II, p. 707. Also Thomas of Cantilupe's injunctions to Lingbrook, c. 1277. _Reg. Thome de Cantilupo_, p. 202.

[437] _New Coll._ MS. f. 87_d_.

[438] Gray, _op. cit._ _passim_.

[439] "_Names of the Servants now in Wages by the yere._ Mr Oglestone, taking wages by the yere. Mr White, taking 26 s 8 d by the yere and lyvere. John Coks, butler, lyvere, xxvi s viij d, whereof to pay 1 quarter and lyvere. Alyn Sowthe bayly, taking by yere for closure and hys servant 6 l 13 s 4 d and two lyveryes. Jhon Mustarde 20 s a kowes pasture and a lyvere. William Rowet, carpentar, 40 s and lyvere. Richard Gyllys 26 s 8 d and lyvere. The carter 33 s 4 d and no lyvere. Thomas Thressher by yere 33 s 4 d and no lyvere. Robert Dawton by yere 33 s 4 d and no lyvere. The kowherd for kepyng of the kene and hoggys by yere 30 s and no lyvere. Jhon Hartnar by yere 28 s and no lyvere. Robard Welshe, brewer, by yere 20 s and no lyvere. A thatcher 33 s 4 d, a hose cloth and no lyvere. William Nycolls 20 s and no lyvere. Jhon Andrew 22 s 4 d and no lyverye. Jhon Putsawe 13 s 4 d and a shyrt redy made. George Myllar 21 s 8 d and no lyverye. Robert Rychard, horse keper, 20 s and no liverye. Jhon Harryes, Frencheman, 13 s 4 d, a shyrt and no lyverye. Jhon Gyles the shepherd, 14 s, a payre of hoses, a payre of shoys and no lyverye. Richard Gladwyn for to make malte, 26 s 8 d by yere, he hath ben here 8 wekes, and no lyverye. Dorothe Sowthe, the baylyffe wyfe, owing for a yere's wages at 40 s by yere and no liverye. Ales Barkar 13 s 4 d and lyvere. Also Sykkers 13 s 4 d and lyverye. Gladwyn's wyfe 13 s 4 d and lyverye. Ellyn at my ladyes lyndyng. Emme Cawket 12 s and lyvere. Rose Salmon 12 s, she hath been here a month. Marget Lambard 13 s 4 d and lyvere. Sir Jhon Lorymer, curat of the Parysche churche, 3 l 16 s 8 d and no lyvere. Sir Jhon Ingram, chaplen, 3 l 3 s 3 d and no lyvere. Jhon Gayton shepard 53 s 4 d and no lyvere. Jhon Pelland 20 s and no lyverye. Jhon Marchant 13 s 4 d and pasture for 40 shepe and no lyverye. Jhon Helman 16 s and 10 shepes pasture and no lyverye. Jhon Cannyng shepard by yere 20 s and no lyverye." Walcott, E. C. M. _op. cit._ pp. 33-4.

[440] _Letters relating to the Suppression of the Monasteries_, ed. Thomas Wright (Camden Soc. 1843), p. 140.

[441] _Essays on Chaucer_, 2nd Series (Chaucer Soc.), p. 189.

[442] Savine, _English Monasteries on the Eve of the Dissolution_ (Oxford Hist. Studies, ed. Vinogradoff, I, pp. 221-2). See also above, Ch. I, pp. 2-3.

[443] _Cal. of Papal Letters_, IV, p. 436. In 1442 its numbers (which should have been fourteen) had sunk to seven and it was six marks in debt (_Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 38). The clear annual value of the house in the _Valor Ecclesiasticus_ was only L5. 19_s._ 8-1/2_d._ Compare the case of Heynings, whose founder, Sir John Darcy, had also died without completing its endowment. _Cal. of Papal Letters_, V, p. 347.

[444] Fuller, _Church History_, III, p. 332. Its net income at the Dissolution was L1329. 1_s._ 3_d._ Compare _The Italian Relation of England_ (Camden Soc.), pp. 40-1.

[445] _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 1, 49, 117, 119, 130, 133, 175, 184; _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. ff. 6_d_, 38, 83.

[446] _Cal. of Papal Letters_, V, p. 347.

[447] The Prioress of Ankerwyke also claimed to have reduced the debt from 300 marks to L40, but one of the nuns said that it had been only L30 on her installation and that it had not been paid by the Prioress but from other sources. _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 1, 3.

[448] _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1260 _passim_.

[449] _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1260/1. It should, however, be noted that some of the items which go to make up the total of the debts are sums of money owing to members of the convent (e.g. the Prioress and Subprioress) by the treasuresses, though the sums owing to outsiders are larger.

[450] _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1257/10 ff. 34 and 34_d_, 39_d_. Similarly the Prioress's account of Delapre for 4 Henry VIII contains a long list of debts. _St Paul's Ecclesiological Soc._ VII (1912), p. 52. An analysis of Archbishop Eudes Rigaud's visitations of nunneries in the Diocese of Rouen gives even more startling information on this point; all but four of the fourteen houses show a list of debts growing heavier year by year and this was in the thirteenth century (1249-69). See _Reg. Visit. Archiep. Rothomag._ ed. Bonnin _passim_.

[451] _V.C.H. Dorset_, II, p. 88.

[452] _V.C.H. Oxon._ II, p. 73.

[453] _Cal. of Papal Petit._ I, pp. 56, 122, 230.

[454] For other cases of debt, in different centuries, see _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 124, 161, 163-4, 188, 239, 240; _Reg. Walter Giffard_ (Surtees Soc.), p. 148; _V.C.H. Oxon._ II, pp. 78, 104; _V.C.H. Essex_, p. 122; _V.C.H. Derby_, II, p. 43; _V.C.H. Norfolk_, II, p. 351; _V.C.H. Hants._ II, p. 150; _V.C.H. Bucks._ I, p. 355; _Visit. of Diocese of Norwich_ (Camden Soc.), pp. 108, 109; _Test. Ebor._ I, pp. 284-5; _Cal. of Papal Letters_, VI, p. 25; _Sussex Archaeol. Coll._ IX, p. 7.

[455] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 186.

[456] _V.C.H. Lincs._ II, p. 157.

[457] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 92.

[458] _The Knights Hospitallers in England_ (Camden Soc.), p. 20.

[459] _V.C.H. Worcs._ II, pp. 157-8.

[460] Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 285.

[461] See below, p. 340.

[462] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 177.

[463] _Test. Ebor._ I, p. 133. The account book of Gracedieu (1414-8) contains entries of money paid by William Roby "for the clothes of his relation Dame Agnes Roby" and at another time by Margaret Roby for the same purpose (6_s._ 8_d._). Gasquet, _English Monastic Life_, p. 170.

[464] _Lincoln Diocese Documents_ (E.E.T.S.), p. 57.

[465] It is amusing to notice the indignation of the nuns when their beer was not strong enough. See e.g. _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. ff. 71_d_, 72; _Visit. of Dioc. of Norwich_ (Camden Soc.), p. 209; _Yorks. Archaeol. Journal_, XVI, p. 443.

[466] Dugdale, _Mon._ V, pp. 493-4.

[467] When little Elizabeth Sewardby was boarding in Nunmonkton she had ten pairs in eighteen months! _Test. Ebor._ III, p. 168.

[468] _Reg. of Walter Giffard_ (Surtees Soc.), pp. 147-8.

[469] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 181.

[470] _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 4, 5. This lack of bedclothes for the younger nuns was partly due to the fact that the Prioress did not want them to sleep in the dorter, for Thomasine adds "and when my lord had commanded this deponent to lie in the dorter and this deponent asked bedclothes of the Prioress, she said chidingly to her 'Let him who gave you leave to lie in the dorter supply you with raiment.'" Mr Hamilton Thompson thinks that "probably sister Thomasine had previously been lodged separately with the other younger nuns and the Prioress and elders objected to the crowding of the dorter." But poverty was the main cause, for at a later visitation the Prioress stated that she was unable to supply the sisters with sufficient raiment for their habits "because of the poverty and insufficiency of the resources of the house." _Ib._ p. 7.

[471] The same injunction was sent to Wherwell. _Reg. Epist. Johannis Peckham_ (Rolls Ser.), II, pp. 651, 659-60.

[472] Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, p. 103.

[473] _New Coll._ MS. f. 86_d_.

[474] _Visit. of the Diocese of Norwich_ (Camden Soc.), pp. 290-2. Cf. the complaint of the nuns of Studley in 1530: "They be oftentymes served with beffe and no moton upon Thursday at nyght and Sondays at nyght and be served oftentymes with new ale and not hulsome." _V.C.H. Oxon._ II, p. 78.