Chapter XLVI: Appendix: IV (5)

[475] Other houses in the diocese of Norwich which complained of bad food were Flixton (1520) and Carrow (1492, 1514, 1526). Carrow was one of the most famous nunneries in England, but in 1492 one of the Bishop's _comperta_ ran: "That the present sisters are restricted to eight loaves, and this is very little for ten sisters, for the whole day. Item there is often a lack of bread in the house, contrary to the good repute of the place." See _Visit. of the Diocese of Norwich_, pp. 16-17, 145, 185-6, 209.

[476] _Reliquiae Antiquae_, I, p. 291. Translated in Coulton, _A Medieval Garner_, p. 597.

[477] _V.C.H. Hants._ II, p. 135. The belfry of St Radegund's, Cambridge, fell down and injured the church in 1277. Gray, _Hist. of the Priory of St Radegund, Cambridge_, pp. 37-8; cf. p. 79. That of Esholt fell in 1445. _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 161.

[478] _Reg. of Crabhouse Nunnery_ (_Norfolk Archaeology_, XI, 1892), pp. 61, 62.

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

[480] Gray, _op. cit._ p. 32.

[481] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 217.

[482] _V.C.H. Hants._ II, pp. 129-31 _passim_. For another complaint that tenements and leasehold houses belonging to a priory were ruinous and like to fall down, through the negligence of the prioress and bailiff, see the case of Legbourne in 1440. _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 185.

[483] _New Coll._ MS. ff. 87_d_-88. He ordered the Abbess to repair defects at once out of the common goods of the house. Better still, he would seem to have assisted them from his own pocket to carry out the injunction, for by his will (1402) he remitted to them a debt of L40, for the repair of their church and cloister. Nicolas, _Testamenta Vetusta_, II, p. 708.

[484] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 113, 124, 168, 174, 181, 183, 188, 240; Yedingham and Esholt (_ib._ pp. 128, 161) and St Mary, Neasham (_V.C.H. Durham_, II, p. 107) needed repair in the middle of the fifteenth century.

[485] _Sussex Arch. Coll._ IX, p. 23; V, pp. 256, 258.

[486] _Visitations of the Diocese of Norwich_ (Camden Soc.), pp. 107-8, 109, 261, 311.

[487] _Archaeologia_, XLVII, pp. 52, 54, 59.

[488] _V.C.H. Lincs._ II, p. 104. A few out of many other references to ruinous buildings may be given here. Easebourne (1411). _Bishop Rede's Reg._ p. 137. Polsloe (1319). _Reg. of Bishop Stapeldon of Exeter_, p. 318. Delapre (Northampton) (1303), Wothorpe (1292), Rothwell (fourteenth century), Catesby (1301, 1312). _V.C.H. Northants._ II, pp. 101, 114, 138, 123. Rowney (1431). _V.C.H. Herts._ IV, pp. 435-6. St Radegund's Cambridge. Gray, _op. cit._ pp. 36-8, 79. St Clare without Aldgate (1290). _Ely Epis. Records_, ed. Gibbons, p. 415. St Mary's Winchester (1343-52). _Cal. of Pap. Pet._ I, pp. 56, 122, 230.

[489] Perhaps in the same way that a fire broke out at Sempringham in the lifetime of St Gilbert. "A nun, bearing a light through the kitchen by night, fixed a part of a burnt candle to another she was going to burn, so that both were alight at once. But when the part fixed on to the other was almost consumed, it fell on the floor, on which much straw was collected, ready for a fire. The nun did not heed it, and believing that the fire would go out by itself, she went away and shut the door. But the flame, finding food, first devoured the straw lying close by, then the whole house with the adjacent offices and their contents, whence a great loss happened to the church." Quoted from MS. Cott. _Cleop. B._ I, f. 77 by R. Graham, _St Gilbert of Sempringham and the Gilbertines_, p. 135. It will be remembered that the author of the thirteenth century treatise, called "Seneschaucie," is most careful to declare that ploughmen, waggoners and cowherds must not carry fire into the byres, stables and cowhouse, either for light or to warm themselves, "unless the candle be in a lantern and this for great need and then it must be carried and watched by another than himself." _Walter of Henley's Husbandry_, ed. E. Lamond (1890), p. 113.

[490] _Reg. of Crabhouse Nunnery u.s._ p. 61.

[491] Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 328. See also _V.C.H. Herts._ IV, p. 426.

[492] _V.C.H. Herts._ _loc. cit._

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

[494] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 183.

[495] Gray, _op. cit._ p. 79.

[496] _V.C.H. Lincs._ II, p. 179.

[497] Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 485.

[498] Wood, _Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies_, I, p. 35.

[499] _Reg. of John of Drokensford_ (Somerset Rec. Soc.), p. 227. Text in Hugo, _Medieval Nunneries of Somerset: Whitehall in Ilchester_, p. 78. But seven years before they had been begging, according to the Bishop, by the compulsion of this expelled prioress, whose case was _sub judice_. _Reg._ p. 115 and Hugo, _loc. cit._

[500] _Reg. Sede Vacante_ (Worc. Rec. Soc.), pp. 112-3.

[501] Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, p. 145.

[502] _V.C.H. Herts._ IV, p. 427.

[503] _V.C.H. Northants._ II, p. 137.

[504] _V.C.H. Herts._ IV, pp. 434-5. The text of their petition is as follows: "A tres reverend pier en dieu, mon treshonure seigneur le chaunceller dengleterre, suppliant voz pouers oratrices la prioresse et les noneyns de Rowney en le countee de ... qe come lour esglise et autres mesons sont en poynt de cheyer a terre pur defaute de reparacion et ils nount dont lez reparailler, si noun dalmoigne de bones gens, qe plese a vostre treshonure seignurie de vostre grace eux granter vn patent pur vn lour procuratour, de aler en la paiis a coiller almoigns de bones gentz pur la sustenance et releuacioun du dit pouere mesoun et en noun de charite." _P.R.O. Ancient Petitions_, 302/15063.

[505] _V.C.H. Bucks._ I, p. 358.

[506] _V.C.H. Lincs._ II, p. 179. Another licence in 1459.

[507] _V.C.H. Northants._ II, p. 137.

[508] _Ib._ pp. 100, 126.

[509] _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Dalderby_, f. 374. (_Pro monialibus de Rowell._) It is surprising, however, that Peckham, in his constitution forbidding nuns to be absent from their convents for longer than three, or at the most six, days, adds: "We do not extend this ordinance to those nuns who are forced to beg their necessities outside, while they are begging." Wilkins, _Concilia_, II, p. 59. It is certain that the nuns did beg in their own persons. When Archbishop Eudes Rigaud visited St-Aubin in 1261 he ordered that the younger nuns should not be sent out to beg (_pro questu_); and in 1263 two of them were absent in France, seeking alms. _Reg. Visit. Archiepiscopi Rothomagensis_, ed. Bonnin, pp. 412, 471.

[510] On this subject see an interesting article by C. Wordsworth, "On some Pardons or Indulgences preserved in Yorkshire 1412-1527" (_Yorks. Arch. Journ._ XVI, pp. 369 ff.).

[511] _V.C.H. Herts._ IV, pp. 426, 432.

[512] _V.C.H. Northants._ II, pp. 114, 123, 116.

[513] _V.C.H. Bucks._ I, p. 353.

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

[515] _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Dalderby_, ff. 96_d_, 244_d_.

[516] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 115, 128, 161.

[517] _Cal. of Papal Letters_, IV, p. 393; V, p. 373.

[518] Except where otherwise stated the following references all occur in Gray, _op. cit._ p. 79 and are printed in full in R. Willis, _Architectural Hist. of the Univ. of Cambridge_, ed. J. Willis Clark (1886), II, pp. 183-6.

[519] _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Dalderby_, f. 96_d_.

[520] Gray, _op. cit._ p. 36.

[521] _Ib._ pp. 37-8.

[522] A few other references may be given: Bishop Fordham of Ely for Rowney (1408) and Bishop Alcock of Ely for the Minories (1490). Gibbons, _Ely Epis. Records_, pp. 406, 414. Bishop Sutton of Lincoln to Wothorpe (1292). _V.C.H. Northants._ II, p. 114.

[523] _V.C.H. Wilts._ II, p. 77.

[524] _V.C.H. Essex_, II, p. 119. References to this occur in 1380, 1382, 1384, 1392, 1402 and 1409.

[525] Gibbons, _Ely Epis. Records_, p. 399.

[526] _V.C.H. Lincs._ II, p. 179. Cf. Thetford. _V.C.H. Norfolk_, II, p. 355.

[527] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 161.

[528] _Ib._ p. 124.

[529] _V.C.H. Wilts._ II, p. 77. The reference is perhaps to the famous storm of St Maur's Day, 1362, which, together with the Black Death, is commemorated in a _graffito_ in the church of Ashwell (Herts.) and in a distich quoted by Adam Murimuth

C ter erant mille, decies sex unus et ille.
Luce tua Maure, vehemens fuit impetus aurae.
Ecce flat hoc anno, Maurus in orbe tonans.

[530] Gray, _op. cit._ p. 79.

[531] _Bishop Rede's Reg._ (Sussex Rec. Soc.), p. 137.

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

[533] Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 301.

[534] The following account of medieval plagues and famines is taken mainly from Creighton, _Hist. of Epidemics in Britain_, I, pp. 202-7, 215-223. See also Denton, _England in the Fifteenth Century_, pp. 91-105.

[535] Creighton, _op. cit._ I, p. 19.

[536] Denton, _op. cit._ p. 93.

[537] _Ib._ p. 93 _sqq._

[538] _V.C.H. Hants._ II, p. 150. He attributed their condition to negligence and bad administration.

[539] _P.R.O. Ancient Correspondence_, XXXVI, no. 201.

[540] _V.C.H. Derby_, II, p. 43. See below, p. 200.

[541] See P. G. Mode, _The Influence of the Black Death on the English Monasteries_ (Univ. of Chicago, 1916), _passim_.

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

[543] A. Hamilton Thompson, _Registers of John Gynewell, Bishop of Lincoln for the years 1347-1350_ (reprinted from _Archaeol. Journ._ LXVIII, pp. 301-360, 1912), p. 328.

[544] _Ib._ pp. 359-60.

[545] A. Hamilton Thompson, _The Pestilences of the Fourteenth Century in the Diocese of York_ (reprinted from _Archaeol. Journ._ LXXI, pp. 97-154, 1914), pp. 121-2.

[546] Wharton, _Anglia Sacra_, I, pp. 364, 375.

[547] _V.C.H. Warwick._ II, p. 65.

[548] _V.C.H. Suffolk_, II, p. 116.

[549] Liveing, _op. cit._ p. 146.

[550] _Cal. of Papal Petitions_, I, p. 230.

[551] _Cal. Pat. Rolls_, 1364, pp. 21, 485.

[552] Rye, _Carrow Abbey_, p. 37.

[553] _V.C.H. Northants._ II, p. 126.

[554] Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 301. Their petition had been presented in 1380. _V.C.H. Herts._ IV, p. 433.

[555] _Cal. of Papal Letters_, IV, p. 521.

[556] _Bishop Rede's Reg._ p. 137.

[557] _V.C.H. Norfolk_, II, p. 335.

[558] _Rot. Parl._ III, p. 129 and Dugdale, _Mon._ II, p. 485.

[559] _V.C.H. Dorset_, II, p. 77.

[560] _Visit. of Diocese of Norwich_ (Camden Soc.), p. 155.

[561] _V.C.H. Glouc._ II, p. 93.

[562] On other occasions, however, they were careful to take all their due. _Vide_ the great Bishop Grandisson's letter to the abbess and convent of Canonsleigh, announcing his forthcoming visitation and "mandantes quod in illum eventum de procuracione ea occasione nobis debita providere curetis in pecunia numerata." _Reg. of Bishop Grandisson_, ed. Hingeston-Randolph, pt II, p. 767. At Davington in 1511 the Prioress deposed that "the house has to pay 20_s._ to the Archbishop for board at the time of his visitation." _E.H.R._ VI, p. 28.

[563] _Reg. Johannis de Pontissara_ (Cant. and York. Soc.), I, p. 299.

[564] _Reg. Rich. de Swinfield_ (Cantilupe Soc.), p. 366. Other cases of excommunication are sometimes to be found in Bishops' Registers, e.g. in 1335 the Prioresses of Cokehill and Brewood were excommunicated for failure to pay the tenth; one owed 9-1/2_d._ and the other 1_s._ 8-1/4_d._--paltry sums for which to damn a poor nun's soul! _Reg. Thomas de Charlton_ (Cantilupe Soc.), p. 57.

[565] _Reg. John le Romeyn_ (Surtees Soc.), I, p. 159.

[566] _Reg. Sede Vacante_ (Worc. Hist. Soc.), p. 62. Cf. remission of tithes by Bishop Dalderby to Greenfield, because of its poverty. _V.C.H. Lincs._ II, p. 155. Some Cistercian houses held papal bulls exempting them from the payment of tithes, e.g. Sinningthwaite and Swine. Dugdale, _Mon._ V, pp. 463, 494.

[567] Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 288.

[568] For a few out of many instances of remission of payment on account of poverty see Ivinghoe, Little Marlow, Burnham (_V.C.H. Bucks._ I, pp. 353, 358, 382); Cheshunt (_V.C.H. Herts._ IV, pp. 426-7); Stixwould, Heynings, Greenfield, Fosse, St Leonard's Grimsby (_V.C.H. Lincs._ II, pp. 122, 147, 149, 155, 157, 179); Catesby (_V.C.H. Northants._ II, p. 122); Ickleton, Swaffham, Chatteris, St Radegund's Cambridge (Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 439); Malling (_Ib._ III, p. 382); St Mary Magdalen's Bristol (_V.C.H. Glouc._ II, p. 93); Minchin Barrow (Hugo, _op. cit._ p. 108); Blackborough (_V.C.H. Norfolk_, II, p. 351); Arden (_V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 113); Nunkeeling and Nunappleton (_Reg. John le Romeyn_, I, pp. 140, 234); Wintney (_V.C.H. Hants._ II, p. 150).

[569] _Cal. of Papal Letters_, V, p. 347. Compare the case of the hospital of St James of Canterbury which "grievoussement ad estez chargez pur diverse contribucions faitz au Roy entre les laiz, ou les biens ... ne sufficent mye ala sustinaunce de la Priouresse et les seoures." _Hist. MSS. Comm. Report_, IX, p. 87.

[570] _Cal. of Pat. Rolls_, 1467-77, pp. 138, 587.

[571] Dugdale, _Mon._ II, p. 472. Cf. p. 328.

[572] _Ib._ p. 473. Cf. _Parl. Writs_ (Rec. Comm.), II, div. 3, 1424.

[573] _Cal. of Close Rolls_, 1339-41, pp. 215, 217.

[574] On this subject see Rose Graham, _St Gilbert of Sempringham and the Gilbertines_, pp. 90-2.

[575] _Cal. of Close Rolls_, 1307-13, p. 50. Compare the entry in the treasuresses' account of St Michael's, Stamford, for 1392-3. "Item done en curtasy a le Balyf de Roy quant nostre carre fuist areste al seruice del roy viijd." _P.R.O. Ministers' Accounts_, 1260/10.

[576] _Cal. of Close Rolls_, 1307-13, pp. 262-6, _passim_.

[577] For instance in 1275 the King granted the custody of Barking Abbey, void and in his hands, to his mother, Queen Eleanor. _Cal. of Close Rolls_, 1272-9, p. 210.

[578] _Reg. Sede Vacante_ (Worc. Rec. Soc.), pp. 112-3. Compare the petition of St Mary's Chester to Queen Eleanor, p. 172 above.

[579] See above, p. 182.

[580] Dugdale, _Mon._ II, p. 485 and _Rot. Parl._ III, p. 129. The petition was granted, but the nuns seem to have shown themselves unworthy of the royal clemency, for, after the death of Abbess Joan Furmage in 1394, the King was forced to abrogate the grant, because by fraudulent means an election had been obtained of an unfit person, who, with the object of securing confirmation, had repaired with an excessive number of men to places remote, to the waste and desolation of the convent. _Cal. of Pat. Rolls_, 1391-6, p. 511.

[581] _Cal. of Papal Petitions_, I, pp. 56-7.

[582] _Cal. of Close Rolls_ (1313-8), p. 189 and _ib._ (1333-7), pp. 70-1; cf. _ib._ (1307-13), p. 1 and _ib._ (1323-7), p. 252 and _ib._ (1349-54), p. 29.

[583] _Cal. of Close Rolls_ (1339-41), p. 377.

[584] _Ib._ (1343-6), pp. 407-8. Cf. p. 418.

[585] _Ib._ (1343-6), p. 599. The profits during vacancy were similarly remitted to Godstow in 1385 "because of its poverty and misfortunes" (_V.C.H. Oxon._ II, p. 73).

[586] _Reg. Epist. Johannis Peckham_ (Rolls Ser.), I, pp. 40-1, 56-7, 189-90, 356-7, 366-7, 577.

[587] _Reg. of ... Rigaud de Asserio_ (Hants. Rec. Soc.), pp. 387, 388, 394-5. Compare nominations of John de Pontoise. _Reg. Johannis de Pontissara_ (Cant. and York. Soc.), I, pp. 240, 241, 252 and of William of Wykeham, _Wykeham's Reg._ (Hants. Rec. Soc.), II, pp. 60, 61.

[588] _Reg. of Ralph of Shrewsbury_ (Somerset Rec. Soc.), pp. 26, 39, 146.

[589] _Reg. ... Stephani de Gravesend_ (Cant. and York. Soc.), p. 200.

[590] Dugdale, _Mon._ II, p. 473 and _V.C.H. Dorset_, II, p. 75.

[591] Liveing, _op. cit._ pp. 97-8 and _Wykeham's Reg._ II, pp. 461-2.

[592] Liveing, _op. cit._ p. 98.

[593] _Cal. of Close Rolls_ (1307-8), pp. 48, 53, 134.

[594] _V.C.H. Essex_, II, p. 117.

[595] _V.C.H. Dorset_, II, pp. 76-7.

[596] _Cal. of Close Rolls_ (1318-23), p. 517. She was still unadmitted in 1327, when the order was repeated. _Ib._ (1327-30), p. 204.

[597] _Ib._ (1333-7), p. 175.

[598] _Ib._ (1343-6), p. 604.

[599] Liveing, _op. cit._ p. 99, and in the Register of Bishop Norbury of Lichfield there is a certificate (dated 1358) of "having admitted, twenty years ago, _thirty_ nuns at Nuneaton at the request of the patron, the E. of Lancaster," Will Salt Arch. Soc. Coll. I, p. 286. Perhaps there is a clerical error.

[600] _Reg. Epist. Johannis Peckham_ (Rolls Ser.), I, pp. 189-90.

[601] _Ib._ I, pp. 356-7. The reference to "distinguished friends and benefactors" is interesting, because she was the daughter of Robert Bret, "_civis London._"

[602] _Op. cit._ I, pp. 366-7. The assertion that the convent was required to receive Isabel "without burden to themselves by the provision of the parents of the said little maid" is interesting, partly because it suggests that the royal and episcopal nominees were not always received at a loss, partly because it looks suspiciously like a condonation of the dowry system by an otherwise strict disciplinarian.

[603] Sharpe, _Cal. of Wills_, I, p. 111.

[604] _Op. cit._ I, pp. 56-7.

[605] _Ib._ II, p. 704.

[606] An Agnes Turberville was sent by the King to Shaftesbury in 1345. _Cal. of Close Rolls_, 1343-6, p. 604.

[607] _Reg. of Bishop Grandisson_, ed. Hingeston-Randolph, I, pp. 213-4.

[608] _Op. cit._ I, pp. 222-3. Does the Bishop mean that he will help to provide a dowry for Johanete out of his private purse, in another religious house?

[609] See below, p. 452.

[610] _Cal. of Close Rolls_ (1313-8), p. 210. A few months later, however, Richard de Ayreminn was sent on the same pretext (p. 312).

[611] _Op. cit._ (1333-7), p. 175.

[612] _Op. cit._ (1349-54), p. 82.

[613] _Op. cit._ (1339-41), p. 466.

[614] _Op. cit._ (1337-9), p. 286.

[615] _Op. cit._ (1343-6), p. 652.

[616] _Op. cit._ (1318-23), p. 517; (1343-6), p. 475.

[617] _Op. cit._ (1327-30), p. 366.

[618] _Op. cit._ (1313-8), p. 611; (1327-30), p. 564; (1341-3), p. 133.

[619] See below. For the prebendal stalls in the churches of five of these abbeys (Romsey, Wherwell, St Mary's Winchester, Shaftesbury and Wilton), see above, p. 144.

[620] _Reg. Johannis de Pontissara_ (Cant. and York. Soc.), I, pp. 243-4, 300-1, 315-6.

[621] _Reg. Simonis de Gandavo_ (Cant. and York. Soc.), pp. 2-3.

[622] _Hist. MSS. Comm. Report_, IV, p. 329.

[623] _Rot. Parl._ I, p. 381. John de Houton, clerk, had been sent to Elstow in 1318 (_Cal. of Close Rolls_ (1318-23), p. 119).

[624] _Cal. of Close Rolls_ (1313-8), p. 611.

[625] _Op. cit._ (1307-13), pp. 581-2.

[626] _Cal. of Close Rolls_ (1313-8), p. 437. The avenere was an officer of the household who had the charge of supplying provisions for the horses. See _Promptorium Parvulorum_ (Camden Soc.), I, p. 19, n. 2.

[627] _Cal. of Close Rolls_ (1327-30), p. 393.

[628] _Ib._ p. 523.

[629] _Ib._ pp. 396, 534.

[630] _Rot. Parl._ II, pp. 381-2. Letters patent were duly sent to Barking bidding them admit Agnes, on Nov. 6th, 1331. _Cal. of Patent Rolls_ (1330-3), p. 407.

[631] _V.C.H. Essex_, II, p. 117.

[632] _Cal. of Close Rolls_ (1307-13), p. 267.

[633] _Op. cit._ (1318-23), p. 117.

[634] _Op. cit._ (1307-13), p. 328. She was the niece of John de London, late the King's escheator south of Trent.

[635] _Loc. cit._

[636] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 129.

[637] _Ib._ p. 237.

[638] _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 83. The Taxation of Pope Nicholas mentions a pension due to the Abbot of York of L3 for the church of Corby, which was appropriated to the nuns, and for other tithes elsewhere. The sum of L3 is occasionally mentioned in the account rolls of St Michael's, Stamford, as having been paid to "our Lady of York," or as being still due.

[639] Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, pp. 256 ff. Payments to the abbot and to other officiaries of Peterborough also occur very frequently in the conventual accounts.

[640] See above, p. 180. Compare the case of St Mary's, Winchester, where the nuns complained in 1468 that they were so burdened, that they could not fulfil the obligations of their order as to hospitality. _V.C.H. Hants._ II, pp. 123-4. The difficulty of keeping up the accustomed hospitality was one of the reasons for annexing Wothorpe to St Michael's, Stamford, after the Black Death. Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 268.

[641] _Cal. of Papal Letters_, V, p. 347. Compare Gynewell's injunction in 1351: "E vous, Prioresse, chastiez les soers qils ne acuillent mie trop souent lour amys en la Priorie, a costage e damage de dit mesoun." _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Gynewell_, f. 34_d_.

[642] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 117, 171, 172, 239. On the subject of abuse of monastic hospitality, see Jusserand, _English Wayfaring Life_, p. 121. Edward I forbade anyone to eat or lodge in a religious house, unless the superior had invited him or that he were its founder, and even then his consumption was to be moderate.

[643] Pope Boniface VIII's edict for the stricter enclosure of nuns contained a clause warning secular lords against summoning nuns to attend in person at the law courts; they were to act through their proctors (see version promulgated by Simon of Ghent, Bishop of Salisbury in 1299. _Reg. Simonis de Gandavo_ [Cant. and York Soc.], p. 11). The heads of the larger houses often did act through proctors, but less wealthy convents usually sent the head or one of the other nuns in person. See Eckenstein, _Woman under Monasticism_, pp. 362-3.

[644] Dugdale, _Mon._ III, p. 360.

[645] _V.C.H. Oxon._ II, p. 104. Compare a long lawsuit waged by Carrow Priory. Rye, _Carrow Abbey_, App. p. xxi.

[646] _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1260/4. Compare the amusing account of how the Prior of Barnwell secured a favourable judgment from the itinerant justices. "Ipsis eciam justiciariis dedit herbagium alicui tres acras et alicui quatuor, et exennia panis, ceruisie et vini frequenter, in tantum quod in recessu suo omnes tam justiciarii quam clerici, seruientes et precones, gracias uberes referebant, et ipsi Priori (et) canonicis se et sua obligabant." _Liber Memorandorum Ecclesie de Bernewelle_, ed. J. Willis Clark (1907), p. 171.

[647] _V.C.H. Hants._ II, p. 150.

[648] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 164. The "misrule of past presidents" is mentioned as a contributory cause of distress at Lilleshall (1351), St Mary's Winchester (1364) and Tarrant (1366). _Cal. Pat. Rolls_, 1351, p. 177; 1364, p. 485; 1366, p. 239.

[649] _E.H.R._ VI, p. 28.

[650] Wharton, _Anglia Sacra_, I, p. 362.

[651] _Ib._ I, p. 364.

[652] _Ib._ I, p. 377.

[653] Gasquet, however, mistakenly attributes its state entirely to the plague. _The Great Pestilence_, p. 106.

[654] _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. ff. 39_d_, 83, 96.

[655] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 185.

[656] _Ib._ II, p. 114.

[657] _Ib._ II, p. 133.

[658] _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 72.

[659] _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 130, 131.

[660] _Ib._ II, p. 175.

[661] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 159.

[662] _Ib._ p. 174.

[663] _Ib._ p. 164.

[664] _Sussex Archaeol. Coll._ IX, p. 7.

[665] Dugdale, _Mon._ III, p. 353.

[666] It must be understood that the judicious sale of corrodies was not necessarily harmful to a house. Sometimes it might lead to the acquisition of land or rents at comparatively little expense to the convent, as a glance at some of the charters in the English Register of Godstow Abbey will show. See _Eng. Reg. of Godstow Abbey_ (E.E.T.S.), pp. xxvii-xxviii. The convent probably drove a good bargain when in 1230 the harassed Stephen, son of Waryn the miller of Oxford, conveyed all his Oxford property to Godstow "and for this graunte, & cetera, the forsaid mynchons yaf to them to ther grete nede, that is to sey, to aquyte hym of the jewry and otherwise where he was endited, X markes of siluer in warison. And furthermore they graunted to hym and to hys wyf molde, with ther seruant to serve them while they lived, two corrodies of ij mynchons and a corrodye of one seruant to their systeynynge" (_op. cit._ p. 392). Nor was there much harm in grants for a term of years, such as the grant of board and lodging made by the convent of Nunappleton in 1301 to Richard de Fauconberg, in return for certain lands bringing in an annual rent of two marks of silver, both the corrody and the tenure of these lands being for a term of twelve years. Dugdale, _Mon._ V, p. 653. Sometimes, again, corrodies were granted in return for specified services; in 1270 Richard Grene of Cassington surrendered 5-1/2 acres of arable and 2 roods of meadow land to Godstow in return for "the seruyce under the porter for ever at the yate of Godestowe and j half mark in the name of his wagis yerely." _Eng. Reg. of Godstow_, p. 305. At Yedingham in 1352 an interesting grant of a _corrodium moniale_ was made to one Emma Hart, who, in return for a sum of money, was given the position of deye or dairy woman; she was to have the same food-allowance as a nun and a share in all their small pittances, and a building called "le chesehouse" with a solar and cellar to inhabit and was allowed to keep ten sheep and ten ewes at the convent's charge. In return she was to do the dairy-work and when too old to work any longer the convent engaged to grant her a place in "le sisterhouse." _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 128. Sometimes also corrodies were granted by way of pensioning off old servants, as when, in 1529, the nuns of Arden granted one to their chaplain "for the gud and diligent seruice yt oure wellbeloued sir Thomas parkynson, preste, hav done to vs in tyme paste." _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 115. To corrodies such as these there was little objection (though the last might lead to financial loss). The danger came from life-grants in return for an inadequate sum of ready money.

[667] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 115.

[668] She received 68_s._ 4_d._ in part payment for the commutation of the corrody.

[669] Jessopp, _Frivola_, pp. 55-6.

[670] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 175.

[671] _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 71_d_.

[672] _Visit. of the Diocese of Norwich_ (Camden Soc.), pp. 243, 303-4. There is in the Record Office a petition to the Chancellor from Richard Englyssh and Marjorie his wife, setting out that the Bishop of Rochester had granted Marjorie for life a corrody in Malling Abbey of seven loaves and four gallons of convent ale and three pence for cooked food weekly, which corrody she and her husband had held for some time, but that now the abbess and convent withheld it. Evidently it was a burden to the house, but it is not clear whether the bishop had forced a corrodian on the nuns, or had merely confirmed a grant by them. _P.R.O. Early Chanc. Proc._ 4/196.

[673] _Archaeologia_, XLVII, p. 58.

[674] Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 554. He had once before ordered the holders of corrodies there to display their grants, that it might be known whether they had fulfilled the services due from them. _V.C.H. London_, I, p. 459.

[675] The appropriation was confirmed by the Pope in 1401. _Cal. of Papal Letters_, V, p. 347. In 1440 Bishop Alnwick made an injunction at Heynings against the granting of corrodies. _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 135.

[676] See below, pp. 225-6.

[677] _Sussex Archaeol. Coll._ IX, p. 25.

[678] Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 516.

[679] See below, pp. 225-6.

[680] Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 194.

[681] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 175.

[682] _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 6.

[683] Liveing, _op. cit._ p. 146; _Cal. of Papal Petitions_, I, p. 122. At Studley in 1530 it was found that the woods of the priory had been much diminished by the late prioress and by "Thomas Cardinal of York for the construction of his college in the university of Oxford." _V.C.H. Oxon._ II, p. 78.

[684] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 120.

[685] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 147.

[686] _Archaeologia_, XLVII, pp. 58-9.

[687] _V.C.H. Durham_, II, p. 107.

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

[689] _Test. Ebor._ I, pp. 283-4.

[690] Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 506, note _b_.

[691] _Sussex Arch. Coll._ IX, p. 19.

[692] _V.C.H. Oxon._ II, p. 76.

[693] See above, p. 153.

[694] See Ch. IV.

[695] Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 71.

[696] _Reg. of Archbishop William Wickwane_ (Surtees Soc.), p. 113.

[697] Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, p. 98. Similarly Bishop Edyndon wrote in 1346 and again in 1363 to St Mary's Winchester, Wherwell and Romsey, forbidding them to take a greater number of nuns than was anciently accustomed or than could be sustained by them without penury. _Ib._ p. 165.

[698] _V.C.H. Dorset_, II, p. 77. Nevertheless at Romsey and at Shaftesbury the King and the Bishop himself continued to "dump" nuns, in accordance with their prerogative right, throughout the career of both houses. In the six years following this prohibition of 1326 Bishop Stratford not only gave permission for a novice to be received at the nuns' own request, but deposited no less than three there himself. The words and the actions of bishops sometimes tallied ill.

[699] See _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 113, 117, 119, 120, 124, 161, 163, 171-2, 188; _Reg. of Archbishop Giffard_ (Surtees Soc.), p. 148; _Reg. of Archbishop Wickwane_ (Surtees Soc.), pp. 112, 113, 140-1.

[700] _Reg. Giffard_, _loc. cit._

[701] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 117.

[702] _Ib._ III, p. 163. The house was heavily in debt at the time and though the Bishop had forbidden the granting of corrodies and liveries without leave, the Prioress was also charged with having "sold or granted corrodies very burdensome to the house."

[703] Heynings, Ankerwyke, Legbourne, Nuncoton, St Michael's Stamford, Gracedieu, Langley.

[704] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 134.

[705] _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. ff. 71_d_, 77_d_.

[706] It would be interesting to collect statistics as to the relative size of different nunneries at different periods. It is here possible to give only a few examples of the decline in the number of inmates. The numbers at Nuneaton varied as follows: 93 (1234), 80 (1328), 46 (1370), 40 (1459), 23 (1539). (_V.C.H. Warwick._ II, pp. 66-9.) At Romsey (where the statutory number was supposed to be 100) as follows: 91 (1333) and 26 (from 1478 to the Dissolution). (Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, _passim_.) At Shaftesbury as follows: forbidden to receive more than 100 in 1218 and in 1322; number fixed at 120 in 1326; between 50-57 (from 1441 to the Dissolution). _V.C.H. Dorset_, II, p. 77.

[707] _New Coll._ MS. f. 55_d_.

[708] _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 53.

[709] _Archaeologia_, XLVII, p. 55.

[710] _E.H.R._ VI, pp. 33-4. From the fact that the Prioress was ordered to make up the number again to fourteen, as soon as she conveniently could, it appears that the ten nuns who gave evidence before the Archbishop represented the full strength of the house.

[711] A few out of many specific instances may be given: Wroxall 1323 (_V.C.H. Warwick._ II, p. 71); Polesworth 1456 (_ib._ p. 63); Fairwell 1367 (_Reg. of Bishop Stretton_, p. 119); Romsey 1302 (_Reg. Johannis de Pontissara_ Cant. and York. Soc. p. 127); Moxby 1318 (_V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 239); Nuncoton 1531 (_Arch._ XLVII, p. 58); Sinningthwaite 1534 (_Yorks. Arch. Journ._ XVI, p. 441).

[712] See above, pp. 64-5.

[713] _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 50.

[714] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 188.

[715] _Ib._ III, p. 177.

[716] E.g. Clemence Medforde at Ankerwyke in 1441 and Eleanor of Arden in 1396. See above, pp. 81, 85.

[717] Liveing, _op. cit._ pp. 100-101.

[718] _New Coll._ MS. f. 88_d_.

[719] See above, p. 204.

[720] _Reg. of Bishop Stapeldon_, ed. Hingeston-Randolph, p. 318.

[721] Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, pp. 99-100.

[722] _Ib._ pp. 102-3.

[723] _New Coll._ MS. f. 87. In 1492, at the visitation by Archbishop Morton's commissioners, a nun prays that injunctions be made to the sisters and abbess that they choose no one as auditor without consulting the Archbishop of Canterbury. Liveing, _op. cit._ pp. 218-9.

[724] For other mentions of the rendering of accounts by bailiffs, officiaries, etc. see Arden 1306 and Arthington 1315 (_V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 113, 188), Fairwell 1367 (_Reg. of Robert de Stretton_, p. 119), Elstow 1422 (_Linc. Visit._ I, p. 50).

[725] Writing to Sinningthwaite in 1534. _Yorks. Archaeol. Journ._ XVI, pp. 442-3.

[726] _Visit. of the Dioc. of Norwich_ (Camden Soc.), p. 108.

[727] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 119.

[728] Sometimes specific mention is made of this duty, e.g. in 1318 Thomas de Mydelsburg, rector of Loftus, was ordered to administer the temporal goods of the Cistercian house of Handale, to receive the accounts of the servants and to substitute more capable ones for those who were useless. _Ib._ III, p. 166. Cf. the commission to the rector of Aberford to be custos of Kirklees about the same time. _Yorks. Archaeol. Journ._ XVI, p. 362.

[729] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 171.

[730] _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 52-3.

[731] In 1442, for instance, the Prioress of Rusper was ordered to render accounts yearly before the Bishop of Chichester and the nuns of the house (_Sussex Arch. Coll._ V, p. 255), and at Sheppey in 1511, two nuns having complained that the Prioress did not account, she was ordered to render accounts, with an inventory to the convent and to Archbishop Warham (_E.H.R._ VI, p. 34).

[732] _Alnwick Visit._ MS. f. 83.

[733] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 184.

[734] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 1.

[735] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 174.

[736] An inventory of the goods of Easebourne Priory, drawn up for the Bishop of Chichester on May 27th, 1450, has survived. It is very complete and comprises all departments of the house, together with a list of land, chapels and appropriated churches and a note that the house can expend in all L22. 3_s._ on repairs and other expenses and that the debts "for repairs and other necessary expenses this year" amount to L66. 6_s._ 8_d._ _Sussex Arch. Coll._ IX, pp. 10-13. It may be of interest to quote the briefer inventory of the poor house of Ankerwyke, as presented to Bishop Atwater at his visitation in 1519 and copied by his clerk into the register. There were at the time five nuns in the house and one in apostasy. "Redditus ibidem extendunt prima facie ad xxxiij li. x s. Inde resoluunt pro libris (_sic_) redditibus v li. x s. Et sic habent clare ad reparacionem & alia onera sustinenda ultra xl marcas. _Jocalia in Ecclesia_: Habent ibidem vestimenta sacerdotalia ad minus serica xiij. Habent eciam vnicam capam de serica & auro. j calicem de argento deaurato. j par Turribulorum. j pixidem de argento pro sacramento. ij libros missales impressos. j magnum par candelabrorum ante summum altare. j paruum par candelabrorum super summum altare. ij urciolos argenteos. j paxbread de argento, una parua campana argentea. _Catalla_: Habent vaccas duas, ij equas, boues senes iij, unus bouiculus (_sic_), j vaccam anne (_sic_) (_blank_), iij equas pro aratro. _Vtensilia_ vj plumalia, x paria linthiaminum, iiij superpellectilia, iiij paria de le blanketts, ij le white Testers. Habent Redditus Annuales preter terras ipsarum dominicalium (_sic_) in earundem manibus occupatas xlvj li. xj s. x d." _Linc. Epis. Reg. Visit. Atwater_, f. 42. A fair number of inventories of convent property made for this or for other purposes is extant; notably those drawn up, for purposes of spoliation instead of preservation, at the Dissolution. See _Bibliography_.

[737] _Reg. of Walter Giffard_ (Surtees Soc.), p. 147.

[738] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 120.

[739] _V.C.H. Warwick_, II, p. 71.

[740] See below, p. 226.

[741] _Reg. Epis. Johannis Peckham_ (Rolls Ser.), III, pp. 805-6.

[742] See below, pp. 337-8.

[743] See _Reg. Epis. Johannis Peckham_ (Rolls. Ser.), II, pp. 654-5, 659, 708.

[744] _V.C.H. Yorks._ II, pp. 187-8.

[745] _Reg. of Bishop Stapeldon_, ed. Hingeston-Randolph, p. 96.

[746] _Reg. of Ralph of Shrewsbury_ (Somerset Rec. Soc.), pp. 240-1, 684.

[747] At Ankerwyke, Catesby, Gracedieu and St Michael's Stamford. _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 6, 9, 52, 125; _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 39_d_.

[748] To this reception of boarders was sometimes added, but with a different purpose, viz. to protect the nuns from contact with the world.

[749] At Moxby in 1318 no fresh debts, especially large ones, were to be incurred without the convent's consent and the Archbishop's special licence. _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 239. At Nuncoton in 1440 "ne that ye aleyne or selle any bondman" was added to the usual prohibition. _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 77_d_.

[750] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 131. A few other instances of these injunctions may be given: Arden (1306), Marrick (1252), Nunburnholme (1318), Nunkeeling (1314), Thicket (1309), Yedingham (1314), Esholt (1318), Hampole (1308, 1312), Nunappleton (1489), Rosedale (1315), Sinningthwaite (1315), Arthington (1318), Moxby (1314, 1318, 1328), _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 113, 117, 119, 124, 128, 161, 163, 172, 174, 177, 188, 239-40; Sinningthwaite (1534), _Yorks. Arch. Journ._ XVI, p. 441; Arthington (1286), _Reg. John le Romeyn_ (Surtees Soc. I, p. 55); Ankerwyke, Godstow, Gracedieu, Heynings, Langley, Legbourne, Markyate, Nuncoton, Stixwould, St Michael's Stamford (all 1440-5), _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 8, 115, 124, 134, 186 and _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. ff. 6_d_, 77_d_, 81_d_, 75_d_; Elstow (1359), _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Gynewell_, f. 139_d_; Elstow (1421), Burnham (1434), _Linc. Visit._ I, pp. 24, 49; Studley, Nuncoton (1531), _Arch._ XLVII, pp. 54, 58; Polsloe and Canonsleigh (1319), _Reg. Stapeldon of Exeter_, p. 317; Romsey (1302), _Reg. J. de Pontissara_, p. 127.

[751] _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Bokyngham_, f. 343.

[752] _Lambeth Reg. Courtenay I_, f. 336.

[753] _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 49-50.

[754] _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Bokyngham_, ff. 397-397_d_. These injunctions are scattered among the others, but have been placed together here for the sake of reference.

[755] _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Bokyngham_, f. 343. Compare Flemyng's injunctions in 1422. _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 49.

[756] _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 151.

[757] _V.C.H. Lincs._ II, pp. 148, 150, 154 (note 1).

[758] _V.C.H. Northants._ II, p. 121.

[759] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 178-9, and _Reg. of Archbishop Giffard_ (Surtees Soc.), pp. 147-8. The canons at these houses must be distinguished from the canons who held prebendal stalls in the Abbeys of Romsey, St Mary's, Winchester, Wherwell, Wilton and Shaftesbury; these were often bad pluralists and could have been of little use to the abbeys, as chaplains or as _custodes_. See _V.C.H. Hants._ II, pp. 122-3 and p. 144 above, note 1.

[760] _Loc. cit._ Compare the complaint of the nuns of Brodholme in 1321-2. "A nostre Seyngnur le Roy e a son Counsaill monstrent le Prioresse el Covente de Brodholme, qe lour Gardayns de la dit meson par lour defaute sount lour Rentes abatez, e lour meson a poy ennente e le dit Gardayns ne vollent nulle entent mettre ne despender pur les ayder kaunt eles sount empleydie, mes come eles meymes defendent a graunt meschef. Pur qoi eles prient pur l'amour de Dieu, trescher Seygnour, pur l'alme vostre Pier, e ouir de charite, qe Vous vollez graunter vostre Charter qe l'avantdit Prioresse el covent pouissent avoir lour rentes e lour enproumens, de ordiner a lour voluntes, e al profist de la dit meson, si pleiser Vous soit, Kare autrement ne poivent eles viver." The reply was "Injusta est peticio, ideo non potest fieri." _Rot. Parl._ I, pp. 393-4. Brodholme was one of the only two convents of Premonstratensian nuns in England; the guardians were probably the canons of the Premonstratensian Abbey of Newhouse; for an ordinance (1354, confirmed 1409) regulating the relations between the two houses, see _Cal. of Papal Letters_, VI, pp. 159-60.

[761] _V.C.H. Lincs._ II, p. 148 (from Pat. 2 Edw. II, pt ii, m. 22_d_.).

[762] _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Dalderby_, f. 330. Roger de Dauentry, canon of Catesby, had been made master in 1297. _Reg. Memo. Sutton._ f. 175.

[763] _Reg. Epis. Johannis Peckham_, III, pp. 850-1.

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

[765] _V.C.H. Derby._ II, p. 43.

[766] _Loc. cit._ see also _Linc. Epis. Reg. Institution Roll_ (_Northampton_) of Sutton for the presentation of William de Stok, monk of Peterborough as Prior of St Michael's Stamford, by the Abbot, and the Bishop's ratification.

[767] Walsingham, _Gesta Abbatum_ (Rolls Ser.), II, p. 519, and _V.C.H. Herts._ IV, p. 429. On their misdeeds see Archbishop Morton's famous letter in 1490. Wilkins, _Concilia_, III, p. 632.

[768] See _Cal. of Papal Letters_, VI, pp. 159-160.

[769] Mention of _custodes_ occurs at the following houses, in addition to those mentioned in the text: Studley (1290), Goring (1309), _V.C.H. Oxon._ II, pp. 78, 104; Markyate (1323), Harrold (late thirteenth century), _V.C.H. Beds._ I, pp. 359, 388; Flamstead (1337), Rowney (1302, 1328), _V.C.H. Herts._ IV, pp. 432, 434; Arden (1302, 1324), Marrick (1252), Nunburnholme (1314), Yedingham (1280), Basedale (1304), Hampole (1268, 1280, 1308), Handale (1318), Nunappleton (1306), Swine (1267, 1291, 1298), _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 113, 117, 119, 127, 159, 163, 166, 171, 180; all in Lincoln or York. For mention of _custodes_ in other dioceses, see Cookhill (1285), _Reg. of Godfrey Giffard_ (Worc. Hist. Soc.), II, p. 267; St Sepulchre's Canterbury, Davington, Usk, Whitehall (Ilchester), Minchin Barrow, Easebourne, St Bartholomew's Newcastle, King's Mead, Derby, below, pp. 231-5 _passim_. The frequency with which _custodes_ occur in houses in the diocese of Lincoln and York and their rarity in other dioceses would seem to support the theory of Gilbertine influence. Of the cases quoted from other dioceses all are either _custodes_ appointed as a deliberate policy by Archbishop Peckham, or _custodes_ appointed to meet some special moral or financial crisis, not regular officials. King's Mead, Derby, seems to be the only nunnery outside the two dioceses of York and Lincoln (with the exception of those in direct dependence on a house of monks) which started its career under the joint government of a _custos_ and a Prioress. _V.C.H. Derby_, II, p. 43.

[770] _Reg. of John le Romeyn_ (Surtees Soc.), I, pp. xii, xiii, 86, 125, 157, 180.

[771] _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Dalderby_, ff. 23_d_, 37, 44, 60_d_, 79_d_, 118_d_, 328_d_, 366, 373, 378, 382, 388. (These comprise two appointments to Rowney, Godstow and Nuncoton; the dates are between 1301 and 1318.)

[772] _Reg. of John le Romeyn_, I, pp. 203-4, 209, 211, 217.

[773] _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Sutton_, ff. 82_d_-83.

[774] _V.C.H. Lincs._ II, p. 179. But in 1318 Dalderby appointed the vicar of Little Coates, _loc. cit._ f. 373. Originally St Leonard's Grimsby, had been placed under the protection of the canons of Wellow.

[775] _Reg. of Archbishop Giffard_ (Surtees Soc.), p. 54.

[776] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 113.

[777] _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Sutton_, ff. 25, 92_d_.

[778] Sometimes the chaplain of the house must have acted as an unofficial _custos_ and sometimes he held the position by special mandate, e.g. in 1285 Bishop Giffard ordered the nuns of Cookhill that "for the better conduct of temporal business and for the increase of divine praise," Thomas their chaplain was to have full charge of their temporal affairs. _Reg. of Godfrey Giffard_ (Worc. Hist. Soc.), II, p. 267.

[779] _Reg. Epis. Johannis Peckham_ (Rolls Ser.), I, pp. 72-3; II, pp. 708-9, III, p. 806.

[780] _V.C.H. Northants._ II, p. 99.

[781] _V.C.H. Somerset_, II, p. 157. Text in Hugo, _Medieval Nunneries of the County of Somerset: Whitehall in Ilchester_, App. VII, pp. 78-9.

[782] _Reg. of Ralph of Shrewsbury_ (Somerset Rec. Soc.), p. 177.

[783] Hugo, _op. cit._ _Minchin Barrow Priory_, App. II, pp. 81-3. With these cases compare the appointment of _custodes_ to the worldly Prioress of Easebourne in 1441. See above, p. 77.

[784] Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 413.

[785] _Ib._ IV, p. 485.

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

[787] _V.C.H. Derby_, II, pp. 43-4 (from _Ancient Petitions_, No. 11730); cf. _Cal. Pat. Rolls_, 1327-30, p. 139. See above, p. 180.

[788] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 7.

[789] _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 39_d_.

[790] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 117.

[791] See e.g. _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 113, 117, 119.

[792] _Yorks. Arch. Journal_, XVI, p. 362.

[793] It will be noticed that all the references to _custodes_ given on p. 230, note 8, belong to the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries; appointments at a later date are generally made to meet some regular crisis. There are no references to the Prior of St Michael's Stamford in the later account rolls of that house, though one or two rolls belonging to the beginning of the century mention him. One of the few references to the regular appointment of a master in a Cistercian house after the first quarter of the fourteenth century is at Legbourne, where "later Lincoln regulations record the appointment of several masters from 1294-1343 and in 1366 the same official is apparently called an _yconomus_ of Legbourne" (_V.C.H. Lincs._ II, p. 154, note 1). The will of Adam, vicar of Hallington, "custos sive magister domus monialium de Legbourne," dated 1345, has been preserved. Gibbons, _Early Lincoln Wills_, p. 17. The _yconomus_ of Gokewell in 1440 is a very late instance. (Compare Bokyngham's advice to the Abbess of Elstow in 1387, above, p. 228.) Much the same function as that of the _custos_, was, however, probably performed by the steward (_senescallus_), an official often mentioned during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

[794] See account in L. Eckenstein, _Woman under Monasticism_, ch. IV.

[795] L. Eckenstein, _Woman under Monasticism_, ch. IV, pp. 160 ff.

[796] _Ib._ pp. 238 ff.

[797] _Ib._ pp. 256 ff.

[798] _Ib._ pp. 328 ff.

[799] _Ib._ pp. 416, 419, 428, 458 ff.

[800] See _Romania_ XIII (1884), pp. 400-3.

"Je ke la vie ai translatee
Par nun sui Climence numee,
De Berekinge sui nunain;
Par s'amur pris ceste oevre en main."

[801] Devon, _Issues of the Exchequer_, p. 144.

[802] There does exist a catalogue of Syon library, but unluckily it is that of the brothers' library and the catalogue of the sisters' library is missing; it was probably a good one since we have notice of several books written for them. See M. Bateson, _Cat. of the Lib. of Syon Mon._ (1898). Only three continental library catalogues survive, of which two are printed and accessible; one is of the library of the Dominican nuns of Nuremberg, made between 1456-69 and containing 350 books, the other belonged to the Franciscan tertiaries of Delft in the second half of the fifteenth century and contained 109 books; the third comes from the women's cloister at Wonnenstein in 1498. See M. Deanesly, _The Lollard Bible_, pp. 110-5.

[803] _Sussex Arch. Coll._ IX, p. 12.

[804] Mackenzie, Walcott, _Inventories of ... the Ben. Priory ... of Shepey for Nuns_, pp. 21, 23, 28.

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

[806] At a visitation of St Mary's Winchester by Dr Hede in 1501, "Elia Pitte, librarian, was also well satisfied with that which was in her charge." _V.C.H. Hants._ II, p. 124.

[807] _Test. Ebor._ I, p. 179.

[808] Sharpe, _Cal. of Wills_, II, p. 327.

[809] _Test. Ebor._ II, p. 13.

[810] _Ib._ III, p. 262.

[811] _Ib._ III, p. 199. See an interesting list of books left by Peter, vicar of Swine, to Swine Priory some time after 1380. _King's Descrip. Cat. MS._ 18.

[812] _Reg. Stafford of Exeter_, p. 419.

[813] _Test. Ebor._ II, p. 66.

[814] For Barking books (including a book of English religious treatises) see M. Deanesly, _The Lollard Bible_, pp. 337-9. Besides the books mentioned in the text there are fine psalters written for nuns at St Mary's Winchester, Amesbury and Wilton in the libraries of Trinity College, Cambridge, All Souls College, Oxford, and the Royal College of Physicians respectively. There is an interesting book in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (_McClean MS._ 123), which belonged to Nuneaton; it contains (1) the metrical Bestiary of William the Norman, (2) the _Chasteau d'Amours_ of Robert Grosseteste, (3) exposition of the Paternoster, (4) the Gospel of Nicodemus, (5) Apocalypse with pictures, (6) _Poema Morale_, etc.

[815] Wright and Halliwell, _Reliquiae Antiquae_, II, p. 117.

[816] Capgrave, _Life of St Katharine of Alexandria_, ed. Horstmann (E.E.T.S. 1893), Introd. p. xxix.

[817] _St John's Coll. MS._ 68. Other psalters from the aristocratic house of Wherwell are _MS. add._ 27866 at the British Museum and _MS. McClean_ 45 at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

[818] _MS._ 136 (T. 6. 18). See J. Young and P. Henderson Aitkin, _Cat. of MSS. in the Lib. of the Hunterian Museum in the Univ. of Glasgow_ (1908), p. 124. In the introduction the book is conjectured to have belonged to the Carthusian monastery at Sheen, where it obviously was written; but the reference to "sorores et ffratres" and the name of Elizabeth Gibbs (see Blunt, _Myroure of Oure Ladye_ (E.E.T.S.), p. xxiii), show clearly that it belonged to Syon.

[819] So John of Pontoise sends Juliana de Spina to Romsey on the occasion of his consecration (1282), with the recommendation "Ejusdem Juliane competenter ad hujusmodi officii debitum litterate laudabile propositum speciali gracia prosequentes, etc." _Reg. J. de Pontissara_ (Cant. and York Soc.), I, p. 240. Cp. _ib._ p. 252.

[820] _Collectanea Anglo-Praemonstratensia_, II, p. 267.

[821] _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 53.

[822] _Gesta Abbatum_ (Rolls Ser. 1867), II, pp. 410-2. But professions were often written by others, and the postulant only put his or her cross. So also with the vote.

[823] _Ib._ II, p. 213. This was a not uncommon method of voting. It is clear, too, from prohibitions of letter-writing in various injunctions that nuns could sometimes write.

[824] _Sussex Archaeol. Coll._ V, p. 256. Compare the editor's note on the education of Christina von Stommeln: "Simul cum psalterio videtur tantum didicisse linguae latinae, quantum satis erat non solum illi legendo, sed etiam epistolis ad se Latine scriptis pro parte intelligendis, ac vicissim dictandis: nam scribendi ignoram fuisse habeo." _Acta SS. Junii_, t. IV, p. 279.

[825] Jusserand, _A Literary History of the English People_, I, pp. 239-40.

[826] Jusserand, _op. cit._ I, p. 236.

[827] It is interesting to find the Master-General of the Dominicans in 1431 giving Jane Fisher, a nun of Dartford, leave to have a _master_ to instruct her in grammar and the Latin tongue. Jarrett, _The English Dominicans_, p. 11.

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

[829] _Reg. John le Romeyn_, etc. (Surtees Soc.), II, pp. 222-4.

[830] _Reg. Epis. J. Peckham_ (Rolls Ser.), III, pp. 845-52.

[831] _Reg. Thome de Cantilupo_ (Cant. and York Soc. and Cantilupe Soc.), p. 202.

[832] _Reg. R. de Norbury_ (Wm. Salt Archaeol. Soc. Coll. I), p. 257.

[833] _Reg. R. de Stretton_ (_ib._ New Series, VIII), p. 119.

[834] _Reg. W. de Stapeldon_, p. 316. See below, p. 286. In the same year Archbishop Melton writes to the nuns of Sinningthwaite that in all writings under the common seal a faithful clerk is to be employed and the deed is to be sealed in the presence of the whole convent, the clerk reading the deed plainly in the mother tongue and explaining it. _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 177.

[835] Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, p. 105.

[836] _New Coll._ MS. f. 84.

[837] _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Gynewell_, ff. 34. 139_d_, 100_d_.

[838] _Ib._ _Reg. Memo. Bokyngham_, ff. 343 (Elstow), 397 (Heynings).

[839] _V.C.H. Suffolk_, II, p. 83.

[840] _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 52.

[841] _Ib._ I, p. 45. At Kyme and Wellow, houses of canons, however, the injunctions are also to be expounded in the mother tongue.

[842] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 1.

[843] _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 6.

[844] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 91; _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. ff. 83, 38.

[845] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 117.

[846] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 174.

[847] Archbishop Lee's visitations of the York diocese on the eve of the Dissolution (1534-5) are typical. The injunctions sent to the nunneries of Sinningthwaite, Nunappleton and Esholt (_Yorks. Archaeol. Journ._ XVI, pp. 440, 443, 451) are in English, but those sent to the houses of monks and canons are all in Latin.

[848] Sir David Lyndesay's _Poems_, ed. Small, Hall and Murray (E.E.T.S. 2nd ed. 1883), p. 21.

[849] _Three Middle Eng. Versions of the Rule of St Benet_ (E.E.T.S. 1902), p. 48.

On the other hand the Caxton abstract at the end of the century is translated "for men and wymmen, of the habyte therof, the whiche vnderstande lytyll laten or none." _Ib._ p. 119.

[850] The preface is quoted in _The Register of Richard Fox while Bishop of Bath and Wells, with a Life of Bishop Fox_, ed. E. C. Batten (1889), pp. 102-4.

[851] _Eng. Reg. of Godstow Nunnery_ (E.E.T.S.), pp. 25-6.

[852] _The Myroure of Oure Ladye_ (E.E.T.S.), pp. 2-3.

[853] _Ib._ pp. 63 ff.

[854] _Ib._ pp. xliv-xlvi; Eckenstein, _op. cit._ p. 395. Wynkyn de Worde's edition was reprinted for the Henry Bradshaw Society in 1893.

[855] Deanesly, _The Lollard Bible_, pp. 320, 336-7. It may be noted as of some interest that when in 1528 a wealthy London merchant was imprisoned for distributing Tyndale's books and for similar practices, he pleaded that the abbess of Denney, Elizabeth Throgmorton, had wished to borrow Tyndale's _Enchiridion_ and that he had lent it to her. Dugdale, _Mon._ VI, p. 1549.

[856] _Sussex Arch. Coll._ IX, p. 7.

[857] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 49. At Bondeville in 1251 Archbishop Eudes Rigaud has to forbid the nuns to sell their thread and their spindles to raise money, "quod moniales non vendant nec distrahant filum _et lor fusees_," _Reg. Visit. Archiepiscopi Roth._ ed. Bonnin (1852), p. 111.

[858] "Nuns with their needles wrote histories also," as Fuller prettily says, "that of Christ his passion for their altar clothes, as other Scripture (and moe legend) Stories to adorn their houses." Fuller, _Church Hist._ (ed. 1837), II, p. 190.

[859] J. H. Middleton, _Illuminated MSS._ (1892), p. 112. On nunnery embroidery at different periods see _ib._ pp. 224-30; but the book must be read with great caution.

[860] Mackenzie Walcott, _Inventory of St Mary's Ben. Nunnery at Langley, Co. Leic. 1485_ (Leic. Architec. Soc. 1872), pp. 3, 4.