Chapter LVII: Section II

_Account of the convent of the Carmes_, _Carmelites_, _or White Friars_, _in South Lynn_, _with a sketch of that religious order_.

This House stood close to the river Lenn or Nar, in the field now called _the friars_. All the remains of it have long disappeared, except the Gateway or Gate-house, which is supposed to have been the principal entrance into the place. It is said to be founded about 1269, by the lord Bardolph of that time; though others say that the founder was Thomas de Feltsham, but that the lord Bardolph, the lord Scales, and Sir John Wigenhale were also considerable benefactors to it. William le Breton was also among its benefactors in the reign of Henry III. having endowed it with lands in South Lynn, Burgh Green, Dillingham and other places, in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. William lord Randolph, who died in the 9th of Richard II. was buried here. In the 12th of the same reign these monks had a patent for the rent of ten quarters of _frumenti_, and ten quarters of barley, to receive them annually of the manor of Stow Bardolph, granted by John lord Bardolph.—April 13th, 1379, Sir Hamon Felton, of Litcham willed his body to be buried in the church of the Carmes, at Lynn. The noble family of Hastings also appear to have been great benefactors to this house.—From all these circumstances it may be very plainly seen, that this convent was a place of considerable note and reputation, and that, probably, for many ages. But nothing could save it from that dissolution which all such places experienced in the memorable reign of Henry VIII.—The site of it was then purchased by John Eyre Esq. who was one of that king’s auditors or receivers; and he conveyed it to a priest, from whom the corporation purchased it, who have been in possession of it ever since. How long after that it was suffered to stand does not appear. The Steeple was probably that part of it which stood the longest, except the Gatehouse above-mentioned. The said Steeple appears to have stood near a 100 years after the dissolution: it fell, as we are told, for want of due repair, on the 9th of April 1631, after having stood upwards of 360 years. Where this lofty steeple and the great church and convent of the Carmelites stood for so many ages, not a stone is now left upon another. A plain field or pasture is all that is now to be seen; just as if such an extensive edifice had never existed or stood there. The case is much the same with the other Lynn monasteries, except that of the Grey Friars, whose steeple still remains, owing to more attention being paid to the keeping of it in repair.

The Carmelites, together with the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Augustinians, constituted the four famous orders of Mendicants: and it is somewhat remarkable that they all established themselves at Lynn, and had the whole town, in a manner, divided among themselves, which seems not to have been unusual with them. {495}—Of the present order, that of the Carmes, or Carmelites, the following account will give the reader, it is presumed a sufficiently correct idea.

“About the middle of this century (the 12th) a certain Calabrian,
whose name was _Berthold_, set out with a few companions for mount
Carmel, and there, upon the very spot where the prophet Elias is said
to have disappeared, built an humble cottage with an adjoining
chapel, in which he led a life of solitude, austerity, and labour.
This little colony subsisted, and the places of those that died were
more than filled by new comers; so that it was at length erected into
a monastic community by _Albert_, patriarch of Jerusalem. This
austere prelate drew up a rule of discipline for the new monks, which
was afterwards confirmed by the authority of the Roman pontiffs, who
modified and altered it in several respects, and among other
corrections mitigated its excessive rigour and severity. Such was
the origin of the famous _Order of Carmelites_, or, as they are
commonly called, of the _Order of our Lady of mount Carmel_, which
was afterwards transplanted from _Syria_ into _Europe_, and obtained
the principal rank among the mendicant or begging orders. It is true
the Carmelites reject, with the highest indignation, an origin so
recent and obscure, and affirm to this very day, that the prophet
Elias was the founder of their ancient community. Very few, however,
have been engaged to adopt this fabulous and chimerical account of
their establishment, except the members of the order, and many Roman
Catholic writers have treated their pretensions to such a remote
antiquity with the utmost contempt.”

“Scarcely, indeed, (says Maclaine) can any thing be more ridiculous
than the circumstantial narrations of the occasion, origin, founder,
and revolutions of this famous order, which we find in several
ecclesiastical authors. They tell us, that _Elias_ was introduced
into the state of monachism by the ministry of angels; that his first
disciples were _Jonah_, _Micah_, and also _Obadiah_, whose wife, in
order to get rid of an importunate crowd of lovers, who fluttered
about her at the court of _Achab_ after the departure of heir
husband, bound herself by a vow of chastity, received the veil by the
hand of _father_ ELIAS, and thus became the first abbess of the
Carmelite order. They enter into a vast detail of all the
circumstances that relate to the rules of discipline, which were
drawn up for this community, the habit which distinguished its
members, and the various alterations which were introduced into their
rule of discipline in process of time. They observe, that among
other marks which were used to distinguish the Carmelites from the
seculars, the _tonsure_ was one; that this mark of distinction
exposed them, indeed to the mockeries of a profane multitude; and
that this furnishes the true explication of the term _bald-head_,
which the children addressed, by way of reproach, to _Elishah_, as he
was on his way to _Carmel_. (2 Kings ii. 23) They tell us, moreover,
that even _Pythagoras_ was a member of this ancient order; that be
drew all his wisdom from mount _Carmel_, and had several
conversations with the prophet _Daniel_ at _Babylon_, upon the
subject of the Trinity. Nay they go still further into the region of
fable, and assert, that the Virgin _Mary_ and _Jesus_ himself assumed
the habit and profession of Carmelites; and they load this fiction
with a heap of absurd circumstances, which it is impossible to read
without the highest astonishment.” {498}

The Carmelites came into England in 1240, and appear to have obtained an establishment at Lynn not a very long while after. What sort of men they were, the reader can now form some idea.