c. 871

132. WINCHESTER St Mary and B.Ab. Hants. Win. King Alfred and St Edburga Queen Ealhswith, c. 900. Refounded by St Ethelwold, 963

133. WINTNEY St Mary, St C.Pr. Hants. Win. Richard Holte Mary Magd. and Christine and St John his wife, Baptist daughter of Thomas Cobreth, twelfth century

134. WIX St Mary B.Pr. Ess. Lon. Walter Mascherell, Alexander and Edith, children of Walter the Deacon, temp. Henry I

135. WOTHORPE St Mary B.Pr. Northants. Linc. Uncertain: united to St Michael's, Stamford, 1354

136. WROXALL St Leonard B.Pr. Warw. Worc. Hugh, Lord of Hatton and Wroxall, temp. Henry I

137. WYKEHAM St Mary and C.Pr. York., York Pain FitzOsbert, St Michael N.R. c. 1153

138. YEDINGHAM St Mary B.Pr. York., York Helewise de E.R. Clere, before 1163

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. MANUSCRIPT SOURCES

I. EPISCOPAL REGISTERS

(_a_) _Lincoln Episcopal Registers_

Register of Memoranda, Sutton (1280-99).

Register of Memoranda, Dalderby (1300-20).

Register of Memoranda, Gynewell (1347-62).

Register of Memoranda, Bokyngham (1363-98).

Register of Visitations, Alnwick[2158] (1436-49).

Register of Visitations, Atwater (1514-21).

Register of Visitations, Longland (1521-47).

(_b_) _Lambeth Palace Registers_

Register of Langham (1366-8).

Register of Courtenay (1381-96).

(_c_) _New College Oxford_

Register of William of Wykeham Bishop of Winchester, for 1386-7, ff. 84_d_-89_d_ (Injunctions to Romsey and Wherwell)[2159].

II. DOCUMENTS IN THE PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

(_a_) _Account Rolls_

Ministers Accounts, 867/21-6, 30, 33-6. (Delapré, St Albans. Between 16 Edw. III and 2 Ric. III.)

_Ib._ 1257/1 (Catesby, 11-14 Hen. VI).

_Ib._ 1257/2 (Denny, 14 Hen. IV-1 Hen. V).

_Ib._ 1257/10 (Gracedieu, 1-5 Hen. V).

_Ib._ 1260 (St Michael's, Stamford, 24 rolls between 32 Edw. I and 20 Hen. VI).

_Ib._ 1261/4 (Syon, Cellaress' Account, 21-2 Edw. IV).

_Ib._ 1307/22 (Syon, Cellaress' Account, 36 Hen. VI).

(_b_) _Petitions_

Early Chancery Proceedings, 181/4 (Petition from Elizabeth Webley, late Prioress of Sopwell, concerning her deposition and imprisonment by John Rothbury, Archdeacon of St Albans Abbey).

_Ib._ 4/196 (Petition from Richard English and Margery his wife concerning a corrody withheld from them by the Abbess of Malling).

_Ib._ 7/70 (Petition from Richard Haldenby and Agnes his wife concerning the daughters of Agnes by a former marriage, one of whom has been made to take the veil by an uncle, for the sake of her inheritance).

_Ib._ 44/227 (Petition from Thomasyn Dynham, Prioress of Cornworthy, concerning two children at school in her house, whose fees have not been paid for five years).

Ancient Petitions 302/15063 (Petition from the Prioress and nuns of Rowney for leave to have a proctor to beg alms for them, as their buildings are ruinous).

Ancient Correspondence, 36/201 (Petition to Queen Isabel from the Prioress and Convent of Clerkenwell, asking her to obtain the King's leave for them to receive certain lands, by reason of their poverty).

Chancery Warrants, Series 1/1759, 1762, 1764, 1769 (Petitions for the arrest of apostate nuns, nine in all).

B. PRINTED SOURCES

I. ARCHIEPISCOPAL AND EPISCOPAL REGISTERS

(_a_) _Bath and Wells_

Registers of Walter Giffard (1265-6) and of Henry Bowet (1401-7), ed. T. S. Holmes. (Somerset Record Soc. 1899.)

Register of John of Drokensford (1309-29), ed. E. Hobhouse. (Somerset Record Soc. 1887.)

Register of Ralph of Shrewsbury (1329-63), ed. T. S. Holmes. (Somerset Record Soc. 1896.) 2 vols.

(_b_) _Canterbury_

Registrum Epistolarum Fratris Johannis Peckham Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis (1279-92), ed. C. Trice Martin. (Rolls Series, 1882-5.) 3 vols.

Visitations of Archbishop Warham in 1511, ed. Mary Bateson. (English Historical Review, VI, 1891, pp. 28 ff.) (Full abstracts.)

See also The British Magazine, vols. XXIX-XXXII, _passim_ (abstracts).

(_c_) _Chichester_

Episcopal Register of Robert Rede, Bishop of Chichester (1397-1415), ed. Cecil Deedes. (Sussex Rec. Soc. 1908.)

Blaauw, W. Episcopal Visitations of the Priory of Easebourne (1442-1527). (Sussex Archaeol. Collections, IX, 1857, pp. 1-32.)

Way, A. Notices of the Benedictine Priory of St Mary Magdalen at Rusper (1442-1527). (Sussex Archaeol. Collections, V, 1852, pp. 244-62.)

(_d_) _Durham, York, Carlisle_

Historical Papers and Letters from the Northern Registers, ed. James Raine. (Rolls Series, 1873.)

(_e_) _Durham_

Registrum Palatinum Dunelmense. Register of Richard de Kellawe, Lord Palatine and Bishop of Durham, 1311-16, ed. Sir T. Duffus Hardy. (Rolls Series, 1873-8.) 4 vols.

(_f_) _Exeter_

Register of Walter de Stapeldon, Bishop of Exeter, 1308-26, ed. F. C. Hingeston-Randolph (1892).

Register of John de Grandisson, Bishop of Exeter, 1327-69, ed. F. C. Hingeston-Randolph (1894-9).

Register of Thomas de Brantyngham, Bishop of Exeter, Part I; 1370-94, ed. F. C. Hingeston-Randolph (1901).

Register of Edmund Stafford, Bishop of Exeter, 1395-1419, ed. F. C. Hingeston-Randolph (1886).

(_g_) _Hereford_

Registrum Thome de Cantilupo, Episcopi Herefordensis, 1275-82, transcribed by R. C. Griffiths, with an introduction by W. W. Capes. (Canterbury and York Soc. and Cantilupe Soc. 1907.)

Registrum Ricardi de Swinfield, Episcopi Herefordensis, 1283-1317, ed. W. W. Capes. (Canterbury and York Soc. and Cantilupe Soc. 1909.)

Registrum Adae de Orleton, Episcopi Herefordensis, 1317-27, ed. A. T. Bannister. (Canterbury and York Soc. and Cantilupe Soc. 1908.)

Registrum Roberti Mascall, Episcopi Herefordensis, 1404-16, transcribed by J. H. Parry with introductory note by Charles Johnson. (Canterbury and York Soc. and Cantilupe Soc. 1917.)

Registrum Thome Spofford, Episcopi Herefordensis, 1422-48, ed. A. T. Bannister. (Canterbury and York Soc. and Cantilupe Soc. 1919.)

Registrum Thome Myllyng, Episcopi Herefordensis, 1472-92, ed. A. T. Bannister (1920).

(_h_) _Coventry and Lichfield_

Register of Roger de Norbury, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, 1322-59, ed. Edmund Hobhouse. (William Salt Archaeol. Soc. Collections, I, 1881.) (Table of contents only.)

The Second Register of Bishop Robert de Stretton, 1360-85, abstracted into English by R. A. Wilson. (William Salt Archaeol. Soc. Coll., New Series, vol. VIII, 1905.) (Brief calendar.)

(_i_) _Lincoln_

Visitations of Religious Houses in the Diocese of Lincoln, ed. A. Hamilton Thompson. Vol. I. Injunctions and other Documents from the Registers of Richard Flemyng and William Gray, 1420-36. (Lincoln Record Soc. and Canterbury and York Soc. 1915.)

Visitations of Religious Houses in the Diocese of Lincoln, ed. A. Hamilton Thompson. Vol. II. Alnwick's Visitations (1436-49). (Lincoln Record Soc. and Canterbury and York Soc.)

Injunctions of John Longland, Bishop of Lincoln, to certain Monasteries in his Diocese, 1531, ed. E. Peacock. (Archaeologia, XLVII, pp. 49-64, 1883.)

(_j_) _London_

Registrum Radulphi Baldock, Gilberti Segrave, Ricardi Newport et Stephani Gravesend, Episcoporum Londoniensium, 1306-38, ed. R. C. Fowler. (Canterbury and York Soc. 1911.)

(_k_) _Norwich_

Visitations of the Diocese of Norwich, 1492-1532, ed. A. Jessopp. (Camden Soc. 1888.)

(_l_) _Rochester_

Registrum Hamonis Hethe Episcopi Roffensis (1319-52). (Canterbury and York Soc. 1914 ff., in course of publication.)

(_m_) _Salisbury_

Registrum Simonis de Gandavo Episcopi Saresbiriensis (1297-1315), ed. C. T. Flower. (Canterbury and York Soc. 1914, in course of publication.)

(_n_) _Winchester_

Registrum Johannis de Pontissara (1282-1304), ed. C. Deedes. (Canterbury and York Soc. 1913-15.)

Registers of John de Sandale and Rigaud de Asserio, Bishops of Winchester, 1316-23, ed. F. J. Baigent. (Hants. Rec. Soc. 1897.)

Wykeham's Register, 1367-1404, ed. T. F. Kirby. (Hants Rec. Soc. 1896-9.) 2 vols.

(_o_) _Worcester_

Register of Godfrey Giffard, 1268-1302, ed. J. W. Willis-Bund. (Worcester Hist. Soc. 1898-1902.) 2 vols.

Register of the Diocese of Worcester during the vacancy of the see, usually called Registrum Sede Vacante, 1301-1435, ed. J. W. Willis-Bund. (Worcester Hist. Soc. 1893-7.)

(_p_) _York_

Register of Walter Gray, Archbishop of York, 1216-55, ed. J. Raine. (Surtees Soc. 1872.)

Register of Walter Giffard, Archbishop of York, 1266-79, ed. W. Brown. (Surtees Soc. 1904.)

Register of William Wickwane, Archbishop of York, 1279-85, ed. W. Brown. (Surtees Soc. 1907.)

Register of John le Romeyn, Archbishop of York, 1286-96, ed. W. Brown. Vol. I. (Surtees Soc. 1913.)

Registers of John le Romeyn Archbishop of York, 1286-96, Part II, and of Henry of Newark, Archbishop of York, 1298-99, ed. W. Brown. Vol. II. (Surtees Soc. 1917.)

Visitations in the Diocese of York, holden by Archbishop Edward Lee (1531-44), ed. W. Brown. (Yorks. Archaeol. Journal, XVI, 1901, pp. 319-68.)

(_q_) _Foreign Visitations_

Des Augustinerpropstes Iohannes Busch Chronicon Windeshemense und Liber de Reformatione Monasteriorum, bearbeitet von Dr Karl Grube. (Halle, 1886.)

Regestrum Visitationum Archiepiscopi Rothomagensis, Journal des Visites Pastorales d'Eude Rigaud Archevêque de Rouen, 1248-69, pub. par Th. Bonnin. (Rouen, 1852.)

II. ACCOUNT ROLLS

(_a_) _Catesby_ (_2-3 Hen. V_)

Baker, History of Northampton (1822-30), vol. I, p. 278.

(_b_) _Romsey_ (1412-13, _summary_)

Liveing, H. G. D., Records of Romsey Abbey (1906), p. 194.

(_c_) _St Helen's, Bishopsgate_ (_sixteenth century, extracts_)

Victoria County History: London, I, p. 460.

(_d_) _St Radegund's, Cambridge_ (1449-51, 1481-2)

Gray, A., The Priory of St Radegund, Cambridge (1898), pp. 145-179.

(_e_) _St Mary de Pré, St Albans_ (1487-9)

Dugdale, Monasticon, III, p. 358.

(_f_) _Swaffham Bulbeck_ (1483-4)

Dugdale, Monasticon, IV, p. 458.

(_g_) _Syon_ (_Cellaress' and Chambress' Accounts_, 1536-7)

Myroure of Oure Ladye, ed. J. H. Blunt. (E.E.T.S. 1873.) Introduction, pp. xxvi-xxxi.

(_h_) _Miscellaneous_ (_Extracts_)

C. T. Flower, Obedientiars' Accounts of Glastonbury and other Religious Houses. Trans. St Paul's Ecclesiological Soc. vol. VII, Pt. II (1912), pp. 50-62.

III. INVENTORIES

(_a_) _Brewood_ (1536)

Dugdale, Monasticon, IV, p. 500.

(_b_) _Cheshunt_ (1536)

Cussans, History of Hertfordshire, Hertford Hundred, App. II, pp. 267-71.

(_c_) _Easebourne_ (1450)

Sussex Archaeol. Coll. IX, pp. 10-13.

(_d_) _Gracedieu_ (1536)

Nichols, History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester (1804), III, pp. 653-4.

(_e_) _Hedingham, Castle_ (1536)

Trans. Essex Archaeological Soc. IX, pp. 289-92.

(_f_) _Kilburn_ (1536)

Dugdale, Monasticon, IV, p. 424.

(_g_) _Langley_ (1485)

Walcott, Mackenzie E. C., Inventory of St Mary's Benedictine Nunnery at Langley, Co. Leicester, 1485. (Leicestershire Architec. Soc. 1872.)

(_h_) _Lillechurch_ (1525)

R. F. Scott, Notes from the Records of St John's College, Cambridge, 3rd series (privately printed, 1906-13), pp. 403-8.

(_i_) _Sheppey_ (1536)

Walcott, Mackenzie E. C., Inventories of St Mary's Hospital, Dover, St Martin New-Work, Dover, and the Benedictine Priory of SS. Mary and Sexburga in the Island of Shepey for Nuns. (Reprinted from Archaeologia Cantiana, 1868, pp. 18-35.)

(_j_) _Wherwell_ (_Sacristy_, c. 1340)

Victoria County History, Hants. II, pp. 134-5.

(_k_) _Wintney_ (_Frater_, 1420)

Victoria County History, Hants. II, pp. 150-1.

(_l_) _Miscellaneous Fragments_

Fowler, R. C., Inventories of Essex Monasteries in 1536. (Trans. Essex Archaeol. Soc. vol. IX, Pt. IV.)

Walcott, Mackenzie E. C., Inventories and Valuations of Religious Houses at the Time of the Dissolution. (Archaeologia, XLIII, 1871.)

IV. CARTULARIES

(_a_) _Buckland_

A Cartulary of Buckland Priory in the County of Somerset, ed. F. W. Weaver. (Somerset Rec. Soc. 1909.)

(_b_) _Crabhouse_

The Register of Crabhouse Nunnery, ed. Mary Bateson. (Norfolk and Norwich Arch. Soc. Norfolk Archaeology, XI, 1892.)

(_c_) _Godstow_

The English Register of Godstow Nunnery, ed. Andrew Clark. (Early Eng. Text Soc. 1905-11.)

V. WILLS

Calendar of Wills proved and enrolled in the Court of Husting, London, ed. R. R. Sharpe (1889).

Early Lincoln Wills, ed. A. Gibbons (1888).

The Fifty Earliest English Wills in the Court of Probate, London, ed. F. J. Furnivall. (Early Eng. Text Soc. 1882.)

Lincoln Diocese Documents, ed. A. Clark. (Early Eng. Text Soc. 1914.)

Lincoln Wills, ed. C. W. Foster. Vol. I. (Lincoln Record Soc. 1914.)

Testamenta Eboracensia, a Selection of Wills from the Registry at York, ed. James Raine. 6 vols. (Surtees Soc. 1836-1902.)

Somerset Medieval Wills (1383-1558), ed. F. W. Weaver. 3 vols. (Somerset Record Soc. 1901-5.)

VI. MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS AND LETTERS

Calendar of Close Rolls.

Calendar of Patent Rolls.

Calendar of Papal Letters.

Calendar of Papal Petitions.

Dugdale. Monasticon Anglicanum, ed. J. Caley, H. Ellis and B. Bandinel. 6 vols. in 8 (1817-30).

Ellis, H. Original Letters illustrative of English History, 1st series, vol. II (1824).

Fowler, J. T. Cistercian Statutes, A.D. 1256-7, with supplementary statutes of the order, 1257-8. (Reprinted from Yorks. Archaeol. Journal, vols. IX-XI, 1885-90.)

Gasquet, F. A. Collectanea Anglo-Premonstratensia, 3 vols. (Camden Soc. 1906.)

Gibbons, A. Ely Episcopal Records (1891).

Lyndwood. Provinciale (1679).

Madox. Formulare Anglicanum (1702).

Paston Letters, ed. J. Gairdner. 4 vols. (1900).

Rotuli Parliamentorum. (Record Com. 6 vols. n.d. Index, 1832.)

Valor Ecclesiasticus. (Record Com. 1810-34).

Wharton. Anglia Sacra, 2 vols. (1691).

Wilkins. Concilia Magnae Britanniae et Hiberniae, 4 vols. (1737).

Wood, M. A. E. Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain. 3 vols. (1846).

VII. CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE[2160]

An Alphabet of Tales, An English 15th Century Translation of the Alphabetum Narrationum once attributed to Etienne de Besançon, ed. M. M. Banks. (Early Eng. Text Soc. 1904-5.)

Amundesham. Annales Monasterii S. Albani (Rolls Series, 1870), I.

Ancren Riwle, ed. and trans. James Morton (Camden Soc. 1853). Also trans. (by Morton) with introd. by F. A. Gasquet in The King's Classics, 1907.

Caesarius of Heisterbach. Dialogus Miraculorum, ed. Joseph Strange, 2 vols. (Cologne, 1851.)

Chaucer, Complete Works, ed. Skeat (1906).

Chronicle of Lanercost, translated by Sir Herbert Maxwell (1913).

Clene Maydenhod, ed. F. J. Furnivall. (Early Eng. Text Soc. 1867.)

Court of Love, The, printed in Chaucer's Complete Works, ed. R. Morris (1891), vol. IV.

Early English Lives of Saints, ed. F. J. Furnivall. (Trans. of the Philological Soc. 1858.) For _The Land of Cokayne_ and _Why I can't be a Nun_.

Etienne de Bourbon. Anecdotes Historiques, etc., ed. Lecoy de la Marche. (Soc. de l'Hist. de France, 1877.)

Fifteenth Century Cookery Book, A, ed. R. W. Chambers, and Two Fifteenth Century Franciscan Rules, ed. W. W. Seton. (Early Eng. Text Soc. 1914.)

Gower. Vox Clamantis, ed. G. Macaulay (1902).

Hali Meidenhad, ed. O. Cockayne. (Early Eng. Text Soc. 1866.)

Jacobi Vitriacensis Exempla e Sermonibus Vulgaribus, ed. T. F. Crane. (Folk Lore Soc. 1890.)

Langland. Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman, ed. Skeat, 2 vols. (1886).

Medieval Garner, A, selected, translated and annotated by G. G. Coulton (1910).

Myroure of Oure Ladye, The, ed. J. J. Blunt. (Early Eng. Text Soc. 1873.)

Rule of St Benedict, ed. Gasquet. (King's Classics, 1909.)

Tale of Beryn, The, ed. Furnivall and Stone. (Chaucer Soc. 1887.)

Three Middle English Versions of the Rule of St Benet, ed. E. A. Kock. (Early Eng. Text Soc. 1902.)

Walsingham. Gesta Abbatum Monasterii Sancti Albani, ed. H. T. Riley (Rolls Series, 1867-9), 3 vols.

---- Historia Anglicana, ed. H. T. Riley (Rolls Series, 1863), vol. I.

VIII. PLANS

Burnham Abbey, by H. Brakspear, in Archaeol. Journal, LX (1903). (See Bucks. Archit. and Archaeol. Soc. Records, XXXI.)

Carrow Priory, by R. M. Phipson, in Norf. and Norw. Arch. Soc. Trans. IX, and Rye, Carrow Abbey (1889).

Kirklees Priory, by J. Bilson, in Yorks. Archaeol. Journ. XX (1908).

Lacock Abbey, by H. Brakspear, in Archaeologia, LVII (1900). (See also Wilts. Archaeol. Journ. XXXI.)

Marlow, Little, by C. R. Peers, in Archaeol. Journ. LIX (1902).

Marrick Priory, facsimile of plan taken at time of Dissolution in Coll. Topog. et Gen. V (1838).

St Radegund, Cambridge (now Jesus College) in Gray, The Priory of St Radegund, Cambridge (1898).

C. MODERN WORKS

I. ON PARTICULAR NUNNERIES (INCLUDING CHARTERS, ETC.)

_Aldgate (Minoresses)._ Fly, H. Some account of an Abbey of Nuns, formerly situated in the street now called the Minories. Archaeologia, XV (1803).

_Barrow Gurney._ Hugo, T. Medieval Nunneries of the County of Somerset (1867).

_Brodholme._ Cole, R. E. G. The Priory of St Mary of Brodholme. (Linc. Archit. and Archaeol. Soc.) in Assoc. Archit. Socs. Reports and Papers, XXVIII (1905-6).

_Bromhale._ Scott, R. F. Notes from the Records of St John's College, Cambridge (reprinted from The Eagle, 1890-1903, _passim_), Series I and III. (Documents from Bromhale and Lillechurch.)

_Buckland._ Hugo, T. History of Minchin Buckland Priory and Preceptory in Somerset (1861).

_Cannington._ See Barrow Gurney.

_Carrow._ Beecheno, F. R. Notes on Carrow Priory (1886).

Rye, W. Carrow Abbey (1889).

Rye and Tillett in Norfolk Antiq. Misc. II.

_Crabhouse._ Jessopp, A. Frivola (1896). For 'Ups and Downs of an Old Nunnery' (Crabhouse).

_Dartford._ C. F. Palmer. Hist. of the Priory of Dartford in Kent. Archaeol. Journ. XXXVI (1879).

Notes on the Priory of Dartford in Kent. _Ib._ XXXIX (1882).

_Delapré, Northampton._ Serjeantson, R. M. A History of Delapré Abbey, Northampton (Northampton, 1909).

_Delapré, St Albans._ Page, W. History of the Monastery of St Mary de Pré. St Albans and Herts. Archit. and Archaeol. Soc. Trans., New Ser. X.

_Easebourne._ Hope, Sir W. H. St John. Cowdray and Easebourne Priory in the county of Sussex (1920).

_Elstow._ Wigram, S. R. Chronicle of Elstow Abbey (1909).

_Fosse._ Cole, R. E. G. The Royal Borough of Torksey, its Churches, Monasteries and Castle. Linc. Archit. and Archaeol. Soc. In Assoc. Archit. Soc. Reports and Papers, XXVIII (1905-6).

_Ickleton._ Goddard, A. R. Ickleton Church and Priory. Cambridge Antiq. Soc. Proc. and Commun. XLV (1905).

_Ilchester, White Hall._ See Barrow Gurney.

_Kirklees._ Armytage, Sir G. Kirklees Priory. Yorks. Archaeol. Journ. XX (1908).

Chadwick, S. J. Kirklees Priory. Yorks. Archaeol. Journ. XVI (1901), XVII (1902), XX (1908).

_Lacock._ Bowles, W. L. and Nichols, J. C. Annals of Lacock Abbey (1835).

Clark-Maxwell, W. G. Outfit for the Profession of an Austin Canoness at Lacock, etc. Archaeol. Journ. LXIX (1912).

_Lillechurch._ See Bromhale.

_Marlow._ Peers, C. R. The Benedictine Nunnery of Little Marlow. Archaeol. Journ. LIX (1902).

_Nunburnholme._ Morris, M. C. K. Nunburnholme and its Antiquities (1907).

_Romsey._ Liveing, H. G. D. Records of Romsey Abbey (1906).

_St Helen's, Bishopsgate._ Hugo, T. The Last Ten Years of the Priory of St Helen, Bishopsgate (1865).

_St Radegund, Cambridge._ Gray, A. The Priory of St Radegund, Cambridge (1898).

_Syon._ Aungier, G. J. History and Antiquities of Syon (1840).

_Swine._ Duckett, Sir G. Charters of the Priory of Swine in Holderness. Yorks. Archaeol. Journ. VI (1881).

Thompson, T. History of the Church and Priory of Swine in Holderness (1824).

II. GENERAL

BUTLER, C. Benedictine Monachism (1919).

CLAY, R. M. Hermits and Anchorites of England (1914).

COULTON, G. G. The Interpretation of Visitation Documents. (Eng. Hist. Review, 1914.)

---- Medieval Studies. (First Series, 1915.)

---- Monastic Schools in the Middle Ages. (Medieval Studies, No. 10, 1913.)

DEANESLY, M. The Lollard Bible (1920).

ECKENSTEIN, L. Woman under Monasticism (1896).

FOSBROKE, T. D. British Monachism (1802).

FOWLER, R. C. Episcopal Registers of England and Wales. (S.P.C.K. 1918.)

GASQUET, F. A. English Monastic Life (1904).

GRAHAM, R. An Essay on English Monasteries. (Hist. Assoc. 1913.)

---- St Gilbert of Sempringham and the Gilbertines (1901).

GREEN, M. A. EVERETT. Lives of the Princesses of England. Vol. II (1849).

JACKA, H. T. The Dissolution of the English Nunneries. Thesis submitted for the degree of M.A. in the University of London. (Unpublished; deposited at the University.)

JARRETT, B. The English Dominicans (1921).

Journal of Education, 1909 and 1910. (Articles and Correspondence by J. E. G. de Montmorency, G. G. Coulton and A. F. Leach on "The Medieval Education of Women in England.")

MODE, P. G. The Influence of the Black Death on the English Monasteries. (A Dissertation for the Degree of Ph.D.) (Privately printed, Univ. of Chicago Libraries, 1916.)

SAVINE, A. English Monasteries on the Eve of the Dissolution, in Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History, ed. P. Vinogradoff (1909), I.

THIERS, J. B. Traité de la Clôture des Religieuses. (Paris, 1681.)

THOMPSON, A. HAMILTON. English Monasteries (1913).

---- Double Monasteries and the Male Element in Nunneries. (In The Ministry of Women, A Report by a Committee appointed by his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury (1919), App. VIII.)

---- The Monasteries of Leicestershire in the Fifteenth Century. (Leicester. Archit. and Archaeol. Soc. Trans. 1913-14.)

---- Registers of John Gynewell, Bishop of Lincoln, for the years 1347-50. (Archaeol. Journ. vol. LXVIII (2nd Ser. vol. XXI), 1914.)

---- Visitations of Religious Houses by William Alnwick, Bishop of Lincoln, 1436-49. (Proceedings of the Soc. of Antiquaries, 2nd ser. XXVI, 1914.)

Victoria County Histories. Articles on Religious Houses, _passim_. (Cited as V.C.H.)

WALCOTT, MACKENZIE E. C. English Minsters (1879), 2 vols. Vol. II. The English Student's Monasticon.

WORKMAN, H. B. The Evolution of the Monastic Ideal (1913).

INDEX

Ff. after an entry implies that there are references to the same subject on at least two immediately succeeding pages.

Abbess, autocratic power of, 64ff., 149

---- chaplain of (nun), 62ff., 112, 129, 250

---- entertainment of guests by, 59ff., 69, 118; nuns by, 61

---- executrix or supervisor of wills, 73, 73_n. 2_

---- lodging and household of, 59, 135, 151, 167, 316, 317

---- of Fools, 311

_Abbey of the Holy Ghost_, 533

Abbot of Fools, 311

Aberford, Rector of, 220_n. 5_

_Accidia_, 293ff., 302, 437

Accounts, 96ff., 118ff., 245, 333ff., 639ff.; annual statement of, 221; audit of, 220, 221

---- presentation of, by head of house, 219, 220; by obedientiaries, etc., 219, 224; _see also_ _Status domus_

Aconbury Priory, 23_n. 1_, 339

---- Churches appropriated to, 113_n._

Adeburn, Alicia de, 21

Adeleshey, Joan, 443

Aelred, Abbot of Rievaulx, 271

Alcock, John, Bishop of Ely, 398, 533, 602

Aldelesse, Juliana, 399

Aldgate, St Clare outside, 171_n. 2_

Alesbury, Agnes of, 39, 40

Alfrâd, the donkey of, 383, 588ff.

Alice, Prioress of Wintney, 87

Alienation of goods, 225

Allesley, Agnes, 272, 409

Almenèches, St Sauveur, 636; moral state of, 666, 667

Almoness of nunnery, 132

Almsgiving by nuns, 118, 120, 121, 132, 649

Alnwick, William, Bishop of Lincoln, 22, 23, 26, 32, 33, 62, 66ff., 71, 77, 79, 80, 82, 83, 154, 161, 162, 164, 165, 199, 204, 207, 210, 215, 221, 225, 226, 234, 245, 249, 250, 263, 264, 272, 273, 277, 278, 283, 304, 317, 320, 331, 332, 334, 336, 340, 357, 358, 361_n. 1_, 363, 367, 377_n. 2_, 380, 382, 397, 399_n. 1_, 400, 402_n. 3_, 405_n. 2_, 408, 412, 414, 416, 437, 449, 457, 461, 463, 481, 483, 486, 488, 490, 491, 500

_Alphabet of Tales, An_, 511_n._, 516_n. 2_, 519_n. 1_

Alsace, 239

Alsop, Robert of, 234

Amesbury Priory, 2, 3, 242_n. 8_, 268_n._, 350, 360_n. 2_, 454, 455, 470, 482, 497

Anchoresses, 271, 528ff.

_Ancren Riwle_, 156, 258, 271, 305, 383, 500, 525, 527ff., 557, 592, 650, 655

Ankerwyke Priory, 26, 81, 82, 111_n. 3_, 146, 166, 218, 333, 405_n. 2_, 441_n._, 460, 461, 487_n._, 491_n. 2_

---- financial mismanagement of, 205, 225_n. 2_; illiteracy of inmates at, 250; inventory of goods of, 222_n. 3_; poverty of, 153, 154, 162, 167, 177, 234, 235; Prioress of, 32, 62, 66, 163_n. 1_, 210, 304_n. 2_, 340, 414, 493; _and see_ Kirkby, Margery; Medforde, Clarence; _status domus_ of, 221, 222; teacher for young nuns appointed, 260; visitors at, 490

Anlaby, Josiana de, 53

Apelgarth, Sabina de, 469

Appropriation of benefices, 113, 135, 144, 224

Arden, Henry, 85

---- Priory, 16, 153_n. 3_, 184, 213, 242, 382_n. 1_, 494_n. 1_, 601

---- accounts of, 220; boarders at, 579; corrody granted by, 206; custos of, 230_n. 8_; dilapidations at, 170, 175; mismanagement of, 85, 86; poverty of, 184_n. 4_; Prioress of, 83; _and see_ Eleanor of Arden; relics at, 116

Arderne, Katherine de, 189

Armathwaite Priory, 428, 429

Armstrong, Jane, 326

Arnecliffe, Hugh de, 234

Arthington, 213, 217, 291_n. 2_, 356_n. 4_, 400_n. 1_

---- accounts of, 220; bequests to, 326; children at, 579; coadjutress appointed at, 224; _custos_ of, 231; dilapidations at, 170; dorter of, 170; frater of, 170; moral state of, 598, 599; private property at, 336, 337; prioresses of, 180, 217; _and see_ Berghby, Isabella de; Popeley, Elizabeth; Screvyn, Agnes de; relics at, 117

Arundell, Elizabeth, 442

---- Sir John, 73, 74, 429ff.

---- Thomas, Bishop of Ely, 176

Aschby, William, 399_n. 3_

Aske, Robert, 282ff.

Asserio, Rigaud de, Bishop of Winchester, 188, 369

Asshe, John de, 198

Assize of bread and ale, 104

Astley, Lora, 30

Astom, Matilda, 453

Atwater, William, Bishop of Lincoln, 222_n. 3_, 273, 292, 382_n. 3_, 441_n._, 491, 596

Aubrey, John, 274, 381

_Aucassin and Nicolete_, 513, 514, 541

Auditor of nunnery accounts, 99, 100

Audley, Lady, 306, 412

---- Sir Hugh, 419

Aunselle, Alice, 337

Avernay, novice of, 500, 507

Avice of Beverley, 365_n. 3_

Aylesbury, Margaret, 318

Ayscough, Bishop, 182

Ayton, John of, 354, 391, 435

Babyngton, Katherine, 243

Backwell, Rector of, 233

Bacton, Margaret, 168

Badlesmere, Bartholomew de, 203

Bailiff of nunnery, 99ff., 109, 129, 138, 143, 147, 148, 219, 227, 228, 257

Bakewell, Mr, 124, 140

Baldock, Ralph, Bishop of London, 34_n. 2_

Ball, John, 138

Barber, Isabel, 268

Bardi, the, 91

Bardney, Abbot of, 364

Barking Abbey, 2, 13, 19, 42, 64_n. 6_, 142, 156_n. 7_, 162, 176, 186, 188, 258_n. 4_, 320_n._, 326, 347_n. 2_, 366_n. 3_, 404_n. 5_, 406_n. 3_, 407, 635

---- Abbess of, 60, 61, 105, 117, 185, 198, 420; _and see_ Pole, Katherine de la

---- Cellaress of, 131_n._, 133, 257, 563; accounts of, 136, 139_n. 5_; _Charthe_ of, 562ff.

---- children at, 571, 572; church appropriated to, 113_n. 1_; claustration at, 348, 349; Clemence of, 239; corrodies at, 190, 197, 198; library of, 242_n. 8_; pensions demanded from, 195, 196; pittances at, 143_n._, 323, 324; _Puerilia solemnia_ at, 312; resident chaplains at, 144; sanctuary at, 420, 421

Barnehous, John, 269

Barnwell, Prior of, 125, 142_n. 3_, 202_n. 3_

Barrow Priory, 233, 385_n. 4_, 360_n. 1_; _custos_ of, 233; Prioress of, 233; _and see_ Gurney, Joanna

Barsinghausen, 674

Barton, Elizabeth, 419_n. 2_

Bartone, Isabel, 399_n. 1_

---- Joan, 413

Basedale Priory, 445; _custos_ of, 230_n. 8_, 231; moral state of, 597, 598; prioresses of, 205, 284_n._, 360_n. 2_; _and see_ Davell, Elizabeth; Fletcher, Joan; Percy, Joan de

Basilia de Cotum, 361_n. 2_

Basle, Synod of, 314

Bassett, Christian, 69, 97, 102_n._, 105, 106, 201; accounts of, 118_n._, 313, 334

Batayle, Margaret de la, 26

Bateman, Bishop of Norwich, 268

Bath and Wells, Bishops of, 37, 38, 71; _and see_ Drokensford, John de

Bauceyn, Juliana, 185

Beatrice, story of, 512ff.

Beauchamp, Agnes de, 192

---- Katherine de, 25, 26, 330_n. 3_

---- Sir Guy de, 25, 330_n. 3_

---- Thomas, Earl of Warwick, 330

Beaumont, Lady, 257

---- Lord, 268

Beauvais, John, Bishop of, 418

Becon, Thomas, 282

Bedford, Jacquetta, Duchess of, 419

Bedford, Sheriff of, 195

Belers, Margaret, 367, 382

_Bel-Eyse, L'Ordre de_, 537, 537_n. 2_, 542

Belgrave, Bridget, 137; _and see_ Syon Abbey, chambress of

Belle Doette, 555, 556

Benedict, Rule of St, 23, 50, 61, 66, 136, 150, 245, 278, 285ff., 300, 315, 322, 341ff., 356, 408_n. 4_

---- translations of, 251, 252, 341_n. 1_

Benet, Isabel, 80, 83, 278, 283, 292, 310, 378, 389, 449, 460, 486, 489, 493

Bengeworth, John, 449

Berghby, Isabella de, 224, 469, 598, 599

Berkeley, Lady Elizabeth, 410, 411

---- Lord, 74

Bernard, Eleanor, 360_n. 2_

Berners, Juliana, 240, 308

Bernier, 433ff.

Berre, Alice, 206, 207

---- William, 206

Berthold of Regensburg, 518_n. 1_

Berwick, North, Priory of, 418

Berwick-on-Tweed, Gild at, 11

Berzé, Seigneur de, 542

Betsone, Thomas, 287

Bever, John, 86

Beverley, St Nicholas' Hospital, 365

Bible, reading of, by nuns, 254, 255

Bicester, Prior of, 234

---- Priory, 210_n. 2_

Birlaunde, Henry of, 233

Bischofsheim, Abbess of, 237

Bishopsgate, St Helen's, 2, 13, 55, 56, 58_n._, 109_n._, 292_n. 3_, 309, 311, 395, 402_n. 4_, 405, 408, 441_n._; children at, 265, 273, 576, 577; corrodies granted by, 209; Prioress of, 55, 56, 265, 307

Bival Abbey, 636, 647; Abbess of, 645; financial state of, 637, 638

Bixley, John, 208

Blackborough Priory, 32, 170, 371, 412; fair of, 106_n. 2_; poverty of, 184_n. 4_; Prioress of, 64, 65, 220

Black Death, the, 164, 177ff., 215, 457

Blacklow Hill, 419

Blankney, Vicar of, 232

Bleden, Joan, 5

Bleeding of nuns, 257ff., 259_n. 2_, 316, 324, 646; of monks, 258, 259

Blois, Robert de, 8

Blund, Ann le, 6

---- Sir John le, 6

Boarders in nunnery, 112, 113, 158

Boccaccio, 516_n. 4_, 522

Bodenham, Cecily, 72

Boleyn, Anne, 54, 55

---- Thomas, 77

Bondeville Priory, 636, 646; accounts of, 640; _custos_ of, 640; financial state of, 255_n. 2_, 637, 638; inventory of, 641, 645; Prioress of, 644, 645

Bonevyll, Sir William, 329

Boniface VIII, 201_n. 2_, 344, 350, 351, 353, 354

---- IX, 117, 175, 345

Booth, Archbishop William, 175

Bossall, Vicar of, 231

Boteler, Margaret la, 365

Botere, Walter, 33

Botulphe, Joan, 312

Bourbon, Etienne de, 309, 372, 516_n. 1_

Bourbon, Marie de, 558

Bowes, Agnes, 457

Bowet, Henry, Archbishop of York, 83_n._, 339, 477

Bowlis, Alice, 48ff.

Boy Bishop, the, 311ff.

Boyfield, Alice, 46

---- Elizabeth, 46ff.

Bradford-on-Avon, Church of, 176

_Braies au Prestre, Les_, 541

Brakle, Agnes, 88

Brampton Church, 463

Brantyngham, Thomas de, Bishop of Exeter, 353, 403_n. 5_, 417

Brasyer, Stephen, 103

Brentford, Chapel of the Angels, 99

Brenyntone, Alicia, 33

Bret, Isabel, 27, 32, 191, 192

---- Robert, 191_n. 2_, 192

Brewood (Staffs.), 98, 147_n. 4_, 308, 443_n. 2_

---- Prioress of, 183_n. 6_

Brid, Aleyn, 207

Bridlington, 427

Bristol, St Bartholomew's Hospital, 442_n. 2_

---- St Mary Magdalen, 183, 184_n. 4_

Brittany, Duke John of, 429

Brodholme Priory, 229_n. 1_, 244, 449; _custos_ of, 230; Prioress of, 423

Broke, Elizabeth, 88_n._, 149, 169, 389, 469

Bromele, Thomas, 267

Bromhale Priory, 73, 81, 87, 360_n. 2_, 377; dissolution of, 603; prioresses of, _see_ Juliana of Bromhale

Brompton, John, 326

---- Rector of, _see_ Playce, Robert de

Bromyard, John, 516_n. 2_

Broughton (Northants.), Rector of, 352

Browne, Agnes, 20

Bruce, Robert, 427

Brugge, Joan, 424_n. 2_

---- Peter, 424_n. 2_

Brun, Alicia, 21

Brunne, Robert of, 521

Brus, Elizabeth de, 420

---- Robert de, 420

Bruys, Joan, 441_n._

Bryce, Master, 149, 170

Buckingham, Archidiaconate of, 174

---- John, Bishop of Lincoln, 22, 24, 220, 223, 226, 249, 273, 322_n._, 337, 386, 390_n. 5_

Buckland Priory, 1, 2, 37, 330; poverty of, 165; Prioress of, 37, 38

Bugga, Abbess, 237

Bungay, 33, 442_n. 2_

Buonvisi, Lucrezia, 474

Burghersh, Bishop, 450_n. 2_, 582

Burgo, Elizabeth de, 420

Burn, John, 242

Burnham Abbey, 146, 188, 191, 301, 326, 351, 442_n. 2_, 457; education of children at, 263, 272, 569; poverty of, 184_n. 4_

Burton, Abbot of, 4

---- Margaret of, 443_n. 2_

Burtscheid, Abbey of, 28

Bury St Edmunds, 48, 370

Busch, Johann, 271, 296, 345, 473, 670ff.

Bustard, John, 231

Butler, Agnes, 449

Bycombe, Isolda, 410

---- John, 410

Byland Abbey, 427

Caen, Abbaye-aux-Dames, 305, 636, 646; accounts of, 639; financial state of, 637

Caesarius of Heisterbach's _Dialogus Miraculorum_, 27, 27_n. 1_, 28, 108, 274_n._, 277_n. 1_, 296, 297, 450_n. 3_, 511_n._, 516_n. 3_, 520, 531, 627ff., 656

Caldwell Priory, 308_n. 1_, 386; Prior of, 46

Calle, Richard, 411, 412

Caluerley, Richard, 399

Calwell, Thomas, 120

Camberwell, 71

Cambridge, Elizabeth de, 398

---- Friars Minor of, 122

---- Jesus College, 270, 602

---- Mayor of, 122

---- St John's College, 603

---- St Radegund's Priory, 60_n._, 106_n. 1_, 122, 137ff., 148, 151ff., 157, 158, 175, 292_n. 2_, 356_n. 2_, 398, 571; accounts of, 98, 102_n. 2_, 103, 119, 123, 127, 128_n. 1_, 142, 152, 327, 571; alms given by, 121, 122; bailiff of, _see_ Key, Thomas; chaplains of, 153; church of, 125; churches appropriated to, 135_n. 5_; confessor of, 152; clothes of nuns at, 323; dissolution of, 602; fire at, 172; Garlick Fair of, 106_n. 1_; gifts to, 175, 176; hospitality of, 119, 120; liveries of servants at, 137; poverty of, 184_n. 4_; prioresses of, 147_n. 5_, 152, 169, 177, 366_n. 2_; _and see_ Lancaster, Joan; repairs at, 123ff., 169; servants of, 137, 152; visitation of, 494_n. 1_

Camoys, Margaret de, 73

Campsey Priory, 2, 39, 64_n. 6_, 167, 168, 243, 336; hospitality at, 417, 418; mismanagement by Prioress of, 168, 417

_Canard Blanc, Le_, 617

Cannington Priory, 188, 194, 410, 452; boarders at, 453, 578; coadjutresses appointed at, 225; corrodies, unauthorised sale of, at, 224; Prioress of, 21, 224, 225, 410, 453; simoniacal admission of nuns at, 224

Canons Ashby Priory, 231; Prior of, 231

Canonsleigh Abbey, 2, 113_n. 1_, 183_n. 4_, 248, 353, 376, 406_n. 1_, 411, 416_n. 1_, 417; Abbess of, 71_n. 4_, 224; coadjutress appointed at, 224; claustration relaxed at, 354, 355, 355_n. 2_; presentation of accounts at, 219

Canterbury, Archbishops of, 87, 347_n. 2_, 482_n. 1_

---- Holy Sepulchre, 41, 156_n. 7_, 224, 348, 350, 356_n. 2_, 359_n. 2_, 387, 399, 403_n. 5_, 413_n. 2_, 449, 487, 494_n. 1_, 581; alms given by, 120; _custos_ of, 230_n. 8_, 232, 234, 487; poverty of, 234

---- Hospital of St James, 82_n. 4_, 184_n. 5_, 390_n. 5_, 494_n. 1_

---- pilgrimage to, 95, 145

---- Priory, 210_n. 2_; Prior of, 461, 482_n. 1_

Cantilupe, Thomas de, Bishop of Hereford, 248, 324, 347_n. 2_, 367_n. 2_, 369

Capron, John, 454

Carey, Eleanor, 54, 55

---- John, 54

Carinthia, Monastery of, 592

Carmaynton, David, 36, 37

Carrow Priory, 6, 12, 113_n. 1_, 148_n. 1_, 268, 292, 305, 366, 587; boarders at, 411, 577; children at, 267, 268; churches appropriated to, 113_n. 2_; complaints of bad food, etc., at, 168_n. 2_; enforced reception of nuns into, 212; lawsuit of, 202_n. 2_; pestilence at, 181; Philip Sparrow at, 590ff.; Prioress of, 72, 105_n. 3_; _and see_ Wilton, Edith; revels at, 312; sanctuary at, 422; titles granted to, 116_n. 1_

Cassian, 294

Castile, Constance of, 421_n. 1_

Castle Hedingham Priory, 188, 192; Prioress of, 360_n. 2_

Catesby, Joan, 84

---- Priory, 78, 82, 83, 87, 106, 107_n. 1_, 110, 146, 186, 188, 225, 228, 292, 304, 335, 358_n. 2_, 378, 388, 395, 402_n. 3_, 408_n. 2_, 447, 477, 486, 489, 583; accounts of, 98, 102_n. 2_, 105_n. 3_, 115_n. 1_, 118_n._, 127, 220; children at, 265, 272, 409, 577; dilapidations at, 171_n. 2_; home farm of, 109, 127; households of nuns at, 320; jewels pawned, 211; master of, 231; _peculium_ for clothes, 323, 333; pilgrimages to, 117; poverty of, 175, 184_n. 4_, 205; Prioress of, 66, 107, 109, 121, 180, 192, 210, 211, 255, 272, 283, 320, 323, 333, 395, 452, 463, 477, 488, 493; _and see_ Rich, Margaret; Wavere, Margaret

Catherine, nun of Bungay, 33

Catley, 18

Catton, Rector of, 30

Caxton, 241

Caynes, Sir Robert de, 192

Cellaress of nunnery, 117, 119, 132ff., 141, 143, 367, 368; duties of, 133, 138; accounts of, 119, 131_n._, 135

Chambress of nunnery, 119, 132, 134, 137, 368; accounts of, 119, 131_n._, 135

Champnys, Alice, 243

_Chansons de Nonnes_, 502ff., 604ff.

Chantimpré, Thomas of, 584

Chantress of nunnery, 131, 132

Chaplains, 143ff., 148_n. 3_, 151; residences of, 144

Chapter house, 249, 252, 475ff., 648ff., 672

Chark, John, 156

Charles V of France, 429

Charter, foundation, exhibition of, 221, 251

Charterys, Elizabeth, 152

Chatok, Elizabeth, 403

Chatteris Abbey, 19, 184_n. 4_, 306; Abbess of, 65

Chaucer, Geoffrey, 19, 62, 74, 77, 94, 95, 371, 561, 588

Chaucy, Elizabeth, 19

_Checker_, 319

Chelles, nuns of, 345

Cheshunt Priory, 172, 313; poverty of, 173, 174, 184_n. 4_

---- priest's chamber at, 145

Chester, 185

---- St Mary's, 146; poverty of, 172

Chicksand Priory, 420

Children, education of, 261ff., 568ff.; costs of, 269, 270

Chilterne, Alice de, 88_n._, 233

Chivynton, Johanna, 399

Chondut, Agnes, 17

Chondut, Katherine, 17, 18

---- Ralph, 17

Chygwell, William de, 197

Chyld, Margery, 399

Cîteaux, Abbot of, 375_n. 1_

Clay, Richard del, 52

_Clef d'Amors, La_, 8

Clemence of Barking, 239

Clementhorpe Priory, 326, 360_n. 2_, 365_n. 3_, 384_n. 1_, 600, 601

_Clene Maydenhod_, 16, 525

Clerkenwell Priory, 2, 13, 179, 259_n. 3_

Cleveland, Archdeacon of, 51, 52

Clinton, Isabel, Lady, 7, 39

Clouvill, Isabel, 441

Coadjutress, 223, 224

Cobham, Thomas de, Bishop of Worcester, 39, 223

---- Eleanor de, 418, 419_n. 2_

---- Henry de, 421

_Cokaygne, The Land of_, 534ff., 542

Cokehill Priory, 165, 232_n. 5_, 385, 481, 482; chaplain of, 232_n. 5_; Prioress of, 185_n. 6_

Cokke, John, 124, 152

Colchester, 420

Coldingham, nuns of, 303_n. 2_, 365, 471

Coleworthe, Joan, 84

Cologne, Provincial Council of, 360_n. 1_

Colte, Anne, 447_n. 6_

Common Pleas, Court of, 70

Condé, Jean de, 539, 541, 542

_Congé d'élire_, 43_n. 2_, 44ff.

Conyers, Alice, 328_n. 2_

---- Cecily, 31

Cook, Alice, 395

---- William, 395

Copeland, John, 197

Cornhill, 41, 192

Cornwallis, Katherine, 50

Cornworthy Priory, 267, 413_n. 4_, 444, 445, 571; boarders at, 269, 279; Prioress of, 269; _and see_ Dynham, _and_ Wortham

Corp, Isabella, 328

---- Thomas, 328

Corrodians, 188, 190, 197, 206ff., 409ff.

Corrodies, 151, 155, 190ff., 197, 206ff., 225, 226

Cotnall, William, 454

Coton Priory, _see_ Nuncoton

Cotton, Ellen, 459

Courtenay, Joan, 242

---- Lady Elizabeth, 417

---- Sir Hugh de, 417

---- William, Archbishop of Canterbury, 176, 226, 383, 459, 468

_Court of Love_, 509, 511

Couvel, Isabella, 224, 337

Coventry, 256

Cox, Agnes, 261_n. 2_

Crabhouse Priory, 30, 42, 90ff., 169, 378_n. 3_, 461, 468, 477_n. 1_; dilapidations at, 170; fire at, 171, 172; Prioress of, 65; _and see_ Wiggenhall; Register of, 134, 135, 207; repairs at, 92ff., 169

Cranmer, 270

Crayke, Cecilia, 57

Crécy, 10

Cressy, Sir Hugh de, 214

---- Jonetta, 214

Crioll, Margery de, 330

Crofton, John, 370

---- Juliana de, 329

Cromwell, Gregory, 263, 267

---- Thomas, 30_n. 5_, 32, 51_n._, 55, 57, 72, 146, 263

Crosse, Margaret, 363, 364

Croxton, 231

Cumberworth, Sir Thomas, 72, 166, 330, 370

Cunyers, Alice, 328

_Custos_ of nunnery, 229ff.

Dalderby, John, Bishop of Lincoln, 78, 173, 174, 231, 351ff., 366, 423, 443ff.

Damory, Roger, 420

Danby, Margaret, 360_n. 2_

Danne, Roger, 198

Dante, quoted, 294, 295

Darcy, Lord, 146

---- Margaret, 7, 322_n._

Dartford Abbey, 2, 3, 98, 247_n. 2_; alms given by, 120; boarders at, 573

Daubeney, Henry Lord, 146

Daubriggecourt, Sir John, 6

---- Margery, 6

Davell, Elizabeth, 360_n. 2_

Daventry Priory, 58

---- Roger de, 230_n. 1_

Davington Priory, 165, 184, 366, 604; _custos_ of, 232; financial mismanagement at, 203; Prioress of, 183_n. 4_

Davy, Alice, 360_n. 2_

Davye, Agnes, 20, 319

Decun, Alice, 496

Delapré Priory (Herts.), 142, 244, 245, 313, 456, 479, 481; accounts of, 97, 102_n._, 118_n._, 121, 131_n._, 139_n. 5_, 163_n. 4_, 309, 335, 479_n. 4_; dissolution of, 604; grades of inmates at, 244, 245; huntsman of, 308; illiterate inmates at, 244, 245; litigation by, 201; master of, 231; merrymaking at, 309; pittances at, 324; Prioress of, 206, 370, 479_n. 4_; _see_ Bassett, Christian; Wafer, Alice

Delapré Abbey (Northants.), 249, 321_n. 2_, 425, 457; Abbess of, 360_n. 2_; claustration at, 351ff.; nuns of, excommunicated, 441, 442; pensions demanded from, 195; poverty of, 175

Delft, Franciscan tertiaries of, 240_n. 2_

Dene, William de, 203, 204

Denesson, Henry, 123ff.

Denny Abbey, 3, 13, 378_n. 3_; Abbess of, 122

Depeden, Margaret, 326

---- Sir John, 325

Derby, Earl of, 146

Dereham, William de, 195

Derneburg, 673, 680

Deschamps, Eustache, 500, 507

Despenser, Hugh, 30, 420

---- Juliana, 198, 199

_Diolog concerning the Monarché_, 251

_Dives and Pauper_, 366_n. 4_

Dorset, Marquess of, 146

Dorter, 155, 169ff., 272, 273, 283, 313, 319, 409

Draycote, Cecilia de, 224

Dreffield, Maud de, 214

Drokensford, John de, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 71, 233, 358_n. 4_, 410

Du Bois, Pierre, 56

Dudley, Sir John, 279

Dunkirk, 258

Dunstable Priory, 308_n. 1_

Dunwyche, Alice, 484

Durant, Geoffrey, 40

---- Molde, 40

Durham, Bishops of, 31, 309_n. 6_, 427; _see_ Hatfield, Thomas; Skirlaw, Walter

---- Priory, 210_n. 2_

---- Sherburn Hospital, 361_n. 2_

Dychere, Agnes, 167

Dymmok, Elizabeth, 413, 417

Dynham, Thomasyn, 269, 571

Eadburg, Abbess of Thanet, 237

Easebourne Priory, 4, 33, 63, 79, 188, 209, 255, 292_n. 2_, 330, 331, 340, 448_n. 1_, 452, 494_n. 1_, 582; boarders at, 415; churches appropriated to, 113_n. 1_, 182; dilapidations at, 170, 171_n. 2_; disorder at, 453, 454, 462; inventory of goods of, 222_n. 3_; library of, 241; poverty of, 177; prioresses of, 76ff., 83_n._, 205, 255, 454; _see_ Montfort, Isabel de; Sackfelde, Margaret; Tawke, Agnes

Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, 191

Edward I, 455, 462

Edward II, 197, 204, 247, 427, 419

---- III, 9, 12, 198, 234

Edyndon, William of, Bishop of Winchester, 173, 213_n. 1_, 416

Egglestone Abbey, 428_n. 3_

Eleanor, Prioress of Arden, 83, 85, 87, 94, 211, 218, 382_n. 1_

Eleanor, wife of Henry III, 455

Elizabeth, Countess of Hereford, 196

---- of York, 19

Ellerton Priory, 31, 428

Elstow Abbey, 2, 22, 24, 51_n._, 64_n. 6_, 186, 217, 226, 291_n. 2_, 333, 335, 351, 369, 383, 387, 390, 401_n. 1_, 402_n. 4_, 404, 405, 407_n. 1_, 454, 459ff., 463ff., 477, 581, 583; Abbesses of, 19, 61, 64, 171, 195, 196, 217, 318, 464, 477; _and see_ Boyfield, Eliz., _and_ Gascoigne, Agnes; accounts, 131_n._, 335_n._; bailiffs of, 227, 228, 249; boarders at, 411, 415; dilapidations at, 171; education of children at, 262, 263, 272ff., 569; election of Abbess at, 46ff.; fair of, 106_n. 2_; fashions at, 304, 586; hospitality at, 358_n. 5_; households of nuns at, 318, 320_n._, 321_n. 1_; learning of novices, 244; livings held by, 114; number of nuns at, 216; pensions demanded from, 195; Precentress of, 261_n. 2_; sacrist's accounts at, 136; treasuress to be appointed at, 223; visitations of, 497

Ely, Archdeacon of, 175

---- Bishops of, 423; _see_ Alcock, John; Arundell, Thomas; Fordham, John of; Grey, William

---- fair, 138

Embroidery by nuns, 255ff., 287

Emma of Stapelton, 52, 53

---- of York, 51ff.

Ensfrid of Cologne, 54

Erasmus, 139, 376; _Colloquies_, 549ff.

Erfurt, St Cyriac, 674

---- St Martin, 676

Erle, Peter, 327

Erlham, John de, 268

Escherde, 681, 682

_Escoufle, L'_, 560_n._

Esholt Priory, 52, 170_n. 3_, 177, 213, 251_n. 2_, 390, 402, 405, 467_n. 3_, 601; bequest to, 326; children at, 263, 269, 284, 579; indulgence for contributors to repairs at, 175; immorality at, 284; Prioress of, 31, 57_n. 2_

Estates, management of, 71, 99, 100

Estrées, Angélique d', 451_n. 5_, 474

Eton, Robert de, 448

Etton, Alice, 31

Euphemia, Abbess of Wherwell, 29, 89, 90, 94, 169, 243, 501

Everesdon, John, 152

Everingham, Margaret, 449

Everyngham, Alice de, 442_n. 2_

Evesham Chronicle, 489_n. 1_

Evreux, St Sauveur, 636ff., 646

Ewer, Margaret, 370

Excommunication of nuns, 183

Exeter, Bishops of, 444, 445; _and see_ Stapeldon, Grandisson, etc.

Eynsham Abbey, 449; Abbot of, 234

Fairfax family, 7, 15, 18_n. 4_, 19, 20

---- Elizabeth, 328

---- John, 327

---- Margaret, 76, 77, 303_n. 1_, 327, 329, 399_n. 3_, 468_n. 4_, 500, 587

Fairs, 105, 106, 133, 138; _and see_ Stourbridge Fair

Fairwell Priory, 217_n._, 220_n. 1_, 248, 320_n._, 356_n. 3_, 384, 416_n. 1_; children at, 272, 273, 578; dissolution of, 604

Falowfeld, Isabel, 362

"Farms," 101, 102, 209, 335

Favences, Antoinette de, 258

Faversham, Vicar of, 232

Feast of Fools, 312ff.

Felawe, William, 328

Felton, Mary de, 442_n. 2_

Feriby, Benedict de, _see_ Broughton, Rector of

Ferrar, Agnes, 185

_Ferry Woman, The_, 616

Ffychmere, Joan, 202

Fisher, Jane, 247_n. 2_

FitzAleyn, John, 267

---- Katherine, 368

Fitzjames, Richard, Bishop of London, 385

FitzRichard, Elizabeth, 326

---- John, 326

Fitzwilliam, Lady Isabel, 329

Flagge, Alice de la, 43, 45, 173

Flamstead, Matilda de, 57

---- Priory, 59_n. 2_, 351, 458, 461; children at, 573; churches appropriated to, 113_n. 1_, 181; _custos_ of, 230_n. 8_; poverty of, 174, 177

Flemyng, Richard, Bishop of Lincoln, 22, 24, 217, 223, 226, 249, 263, 308_n. 1_, 384_n. 1_, 386, 407_n. 1_, 415, 459, 477

Fletcher, Joan, 88_n._, 467_n. 3_

Flixborough, Rector of, 235

Flixthorpe, Agnes de, 353, 443ff., 457, 467_n. 3_

Flixton Priory, 59_n. 1_, 63, 79, 168, 292_n. 2_, 340, 489_n. 2_; cloister and frater defective at, 170; poverty of, 181; Prioress of, 63, 65, 66, 307; _and see_ Pilly, Katherine

Folgeham, Cecily, 22

Fonten, Margaret de, 446

Fontrevrault, Abbess of, 305_n. 6_, 360_n. 2_; cells of, 455; nuns of, 3, 343; rule of, 400_n. 2_

Fordham, John of, Bishop of Ely, 176, 177

Fosse Priory, 333; Master of, 231; poverty of, 165, 175, 184_n. 4_; Prioress of, 180, 250

Foster, Alice, 49

---- Thomas, 208

Foukeholm, St Stephen's, 180, 448_n. 1_

Fountains, Abbot of, 375_n. 1_

Fox, Richard, Bishop of Winchester, 149, 252, 392

---- John, 449

---- William, 449

Franke, Beatrice, 365, 366

Frater, 315ff., 328, 648, 649; children in, 273; repair of, 125

Fratress of nunnery, 131, 132

Fraunceys, John, 207

Free Warren, Grants of, 105

Fréjus, Council of, 373

French, knowledge of, in 14th century, 246, 247

Froissart, 240, 428, 431, 435

Frost, Ellen, 22

Fulham, Nicholas de, 259_n. 3_

Furmage, Joan, 187, 338, 362

Fychet, John, 410

Gandersheim Abbey, 238; Roswitha's history of, 238

Gascoigne, Agnes, 46

---- Thomas, 253, 254, 447_n. 6_, 531

Gaveston, Piers, 419

Geoffrey de Saint Belin, 345

George, Christopher, 149

Germyn, Helen, 480

Gertrud the Great, of Helfta, 239, 500

_Gesta Romanorum_, 516_n. 2_, 541

Ghent, Simon of, Bishop of Salisbury, 195, 201, 350, 528

Gibbs, Elizabeth, 243

Giffard, Agatha, 463, 464

---- Alice, 462

---- Godfrey, Bishop of Worcester, 350, 463, 464

---- Juliana, 463, 462

---- Mabel, 463

---- Sir Osbert, 463ff.

---- Walter, Archbishop of York, 21, 166, 214, 229, 232, 247, 302, 355_n. 1_, 399_n. 3_, 463, 472_n. 1_, 482, 494_n. 1_, 635

Glastonbury, Abbot of, 162; _and see_ Whiting, Richard

Gloucester, Duke of, 26

---- Eleanor, Duchess of, 328_n. 5_

---- Richard, Earl of, 161

---- Thomas of, 418

Godstow Abbey, 2, 121, 162, 248, 249, 291_n. 2_, 292_n. 2_, 325, 347_n. 2_, 348, 351, 353, 384_n. 1_, 395ff., 401, 402, 405_n. 1_, 407_n. 1_, 440, 448_n. 1_, 449, 460, 582, 586, 635; Abbess of, 180, 270; _and see_ Henley, Alice; bailiff of, 148; boarders forbidden at, 414, 416, 578; books of, 253, 254, 277; claustration at, 348, 356_n. 5_, 357, 358_n. 1_; debts of, 164, 234; disorder at, 456; education of children at, 263, 273, 283, 319, 456; households of nuns at, 318ff.; Prior of, 230ff.; _Puerilia solemnia_ at, 312; _Register_ of, 17, 40, 206_n. 3_, 253; steward of, 205; visitors at, 408, 414

Gokewell Priory, 111_n. 3_, 332; children at, 576; households of nuns at, 318; poverty of, 163, 235; Prioress of, 23, 250; steward of, 235, 236_n. 2_

Goldesburgh, Joan, 469, 470

Goldwell, James, Bishop of Norwich, 461_n. 1_, 494_n. 1_

Goring Priory, 53_n. 2_, 301, 304, 351, 353, 358, 395, 457; _custos_ of, 230_n. 8_; dilapidations at, 171; poverty owing to lawsuits of, 202; violence at, 423, 424, 435

Gorsyn, Alice, 301

Gosden, William, 454

Gower, John, 447, 499, 509, 544, 545

Gower's _Temple of Glas, The_, 509, 510; _Vox Clamantis_, 499, 544, 545

Gowring, Jane, 32

Gracedieu Priory, 97, 110_n._, 111_n. 3_, 127, 149_n._, 154, 155, 205, 210, 358, 363, 364, 367, 382, 400_n. 1_; bailiff of, 257; boarders at, 418, 573ff.; cellaress of, 146, 272, 409; chaplain of, 145, 146; children at, 268, 272, 283, 409; debts of, 163; embroidery made at, 257; households of nuns at, 318, 320_n._; jewels, etc., pawned by, 210; mismanagement at, 225_n. 2_; _peculium_ for clothes given at, 323; Prioress of, 57, 61, 66, 80, 162, 180, 318, 413, 478, 484, 490; relics at, 116_n. 3_; treasuress of, 163, 323

Granary, repair of, 125, 157

Grandisson, John de, Bishop of Exeter, 183_n. 4_, 192, 193, 353

Grangyer, Joan, 152

Gravesend, Richard de, Bishop of Lincoln, 175

---- Stephen, Bishop of London, 188, 481

Gray, Barbara, 48

---- Richard, 465, 466

---- William, Bishop of Lincoln, 24, 83, 216, 244, 249, 253, 272, 308_n. 1_, 319, 321, 325, 365, 396, 402, 405_n. 1_, 457, 488, 491

Great Billing, Rector of, 46

Green, Nicholas, 441_n._

Greenfield, Margaret, 455

---- Priory, 180, 241, 330; corrodies, etc., granted by, 214_n. 4_; Prioress of, 61, 78, 180, 214; solitary confinement at, 30; titles remitted, 184_n. 2_

---- William, Archbishop of York, 16, 26, 51ff., 214, 220, 222, 257_n. 2_, 264, 273, 302_n. 1_, 337, 339, 357, 362, 478, 491

Gregory X, 212

Grey, William, Bishop of Ely, 176

Grimeley, William de, 45

Grimsby, St Leonard's Priory, 111_n. 3_, 174, 177, 457; fire at, 172; Master of, 231, 232_n. 1_

Grome, Katherine, 168

Grosseteste, Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, 309, 471

Guest-house, 118, 119, 125, 157; accounts of, 120

Guiot de Provins, 542

Gurney, Joanna, 233

Gynewell, John, Bishop of Lincoln, 7, 200_n. 4_, 249, 262, 272, 273, 322_n._, 356_n. 5_, 357, 358, 374_n. 1_, 386, 400, 401, 415, 441_n._

Gyney, Joan, 189

Hainault, Bailiwick of, 105

---- John of, 435

Hales, Thomas of, 513_n. 1_, 525

Halewey, Agnes, 83

_Hali Meidenhad_, 16, 40, 441, 525ff.

Haliwell Priory, 2, 13, 34_n. 2_, 422_n. 2_, 442; alms given by, 120; Prioress of, 71, 442

Hallam, Bishop, 385

Halle, St George (Marienkammer), 673, 681

---- St Maurice, 674

Hampole Priory, 113_n. 3_, 146, 213, 214, 320_n._, 326, 329, 339, 365_n. 3_, 401_n. 1_, 427, 428, 466_n. 1_, 477, 579, 601; and Richard Rolle, 532_n. 2_; bad administration at, 203; boarders at, 413_n. 4_, 414; children at, 272; _custos_ of, 230_n. 8_; Prioress of, 26, 83_n._, 205, 329_n. 5_, 339, 477

Hampole, Richard, 254

Hampton, Alice de, 189

Hanam, Elianora, 361_n. 1_

Handale Priory, 52, 57_n. 2_, 146, 175, 220_n. 5_, 361_n. 2_; _custos_ of, 230_n. 8_, 231

Harcourt, Catherine d', 558

Harmer, Margaret, 168

Harold, Henry, 105, 422

---- Isabel, 105

Harreyes, John, 449

Harrold Priory, 154, 226, 457, 465; children at, 272, 569; _custos_ of, 230_n. 8_; debts of, 162; financial mismanagement at, 205; Prioress of, 66, 205, 210

Harvesting, 128

Hatfield, Thomas, Bishop of Durham, 234

Haukeforth, Elizabeth, 33

Haunsard, John, 457

Hauteyn, Alice, 41

---- Walter, 40, 41

Haverholme Priory, 35, 442_n. 2_

Head of house, conduct of, 80, 86, 87, 94, 643ff.; disciplinary powers of, 300, 302; dress, etc., of, 76, 77, 94; favouritism by, 66ff.; financial mismanagement by, 81ff., 203ff., 217ff.; hospitality of, 78, 79; journeys of, 69, 70ff.; luxurious living of, 74ff., 94, 211; _and see_ Abbess

Hede, Dr, 282, 461, 482

Hedington, Sir Nicholas, 121

Hedsor, Margery, 457

Heidenheim, 237

Helewell, Ada de, 444

---- Peter, 444, 445

---- William, 444

Helfta, Convent of, 89, 239, 500

Helmsley, 242

Helmstedt, 682ff.

Helswindis, Abbess, 28

Henley, Alice, 252, 253

Henry II, 308

---- III, 346

---- IV, 247

---- VIII, 46, 78, 216, 313

Henwood Priory, 180; Prioress of, 180

Herars, John, 397

Hereford, Countess of, 196

Herminal, John de, 233

Hermyte, Isabel, Prioress, 88, 94

Herrad, Abbess, 239

Herryson, John, 152

Herward, Elene, 138

Hexham Priory, 426

---- schools of, 426

Heyden, John, 325

Heynings Priory, 7, 22ff., 111_n. 3_, 155, 220, 226ff., 249, 291_n. 2_, 292_n. 2_, 322_n._, 337, 374_n. 1_, 400, 402_n. 4_, 459ff., 489, 581; accounts not kept at, 205; appropriation by, 209; children at, 263, 272, 273, 575, 576; claustration at, 357_n. 1_, 358_n. 1_; corrodies at, granted by, 209; _custos_ at, 231; hospitality at, 200; poverty of, 162, 177, 184, 209; Prioress of, 66, 67, 205, 210; restriction of numbers at, 215; seculars at, 409, 415, 416; treasuress of, 223

Heyroun, Margaret, 328, 330

---- William, 328

Higham Ferrers College, 380_n. 4_

Hildesheim, St Mary Magdalen, 672, 675, 677, 680, 682

Hilton, Sir Robert de, 399_n. 3_

Hinchinbrooke Priory, 361_n. 1_; Prioress of, 180

Hodesak, Beatrice de, 365

Hohenburg, 239

Holewaye, Elizabeth, 442_n. 2_

Holland, Robert de, 36

Holm, Mary de, 52, 53

Holystone Priory, 427

Home Farm of Nunnery, 125ff., 133, 135, 137, 150, 151; harvesting on, 128, 129

Horde, Dr, 492

_Hortus Deliciarum_, 239

Hosey, Agnes, 33

Hours, Canonical, 286, 291ff.; irreverence at, 292, 293

Hubbart, Alicia, 441_n._

Humberstone Abbey, 377_n. 2_

Hunter, Matilda, 442_n. 2_

Huntingdon, Archidiaconate of, 175

---- Priory, 308_n. 1_, 360_n. 1_

---- St James' outside, 175

Hutton, Joan, 467_n. 3_

Hyde Abbey, 369; Abbot of, _see_ Bromele, Thos.

Hylyarde, Elynor, 326

Hythe, Hamo of, Bishop of Rochester, 204, 218

Ickleton Priory, 184_n. 4_, 306, 400_n. 1_

Ilchester, St John's, Rector of, 233

---- White Hall Priory, 386, 447; coadjutresses appointed at, 224; condition of, 233; _custodes_ of, 233; poverty of, 172; Prioress of, 88_n._, 172, 224, 233; _and see_ Chilterne; Draycote

_Imitatio Christi_, 243

Indulgences, 174, 175

Infirmaress, 134

Infirmary, 316, 322, 649

Ingham, Katherine de, 39

Inglewood Forest, 429

Ingoldesby, Margaret, 412

Ingoldesthorpe, Sir John, 90

Innocent III, 363

Irford Priory, 244, 330

"Issues of the Manor," 109ff.

Ivinghoe Priory, 175, 184_n. 4_, 357_n. 1_; Prioress of, 363, 364

Jafford, William de, 220

James I of Scotland, 510

James I's _King's Quair_, 510

James V of Scotland, 552

Jeanne de France, 342_n. 1_, 345

Jecke, Philippa, 66

Jerves, John, 265, 269

Joan de Barton, 88_n._

---- Princess of Wales, 418

Jocelin of Brakelond, 45ff., 496

John of Gaunt, 19, 370_n. 5_, 418, 421_n. 1_

Johnson, Margaret, 326

---- William, 399

Jordan, Isabel, 54, 55, 392

Joseph, Stephen, 37

Josiana de Anelagby, 362

Julian of Norwich, 366, 502_n. 1_

Juliana of Bromhale, 87, 211

Jumièges, Abbot of, 310_n. 2_

Jurdane, Isabel, 67

Keldholme Priory, 51ff., 111_n. 3_, 306, 360_n. 2_, 443_n. 2_, 448_n. 1_, 467, 477; moral state of, 598; Prioress of, _see_ Emma of Stapelton; Emma of York; Pykering, Joan de

Kemp, John, Archbishop of York, 86, 175, 374

Kempe, Alice, 489

Kempis, Thomas à, 243

Kent, Holy Maid of, _see_ Barton, Elizabeth

---- Isabella de, 423, 424

Kentwood, Dean, 209, 261_n. 2_, 273, 307, 309, 405, 408

Kessingland, Rectory of, 114

Key, Thomas, 138, 147, 152

Kilburn Priory, 13, 18_n. 4_, 528; chaplain's chamber at, 144; library of, 241

King, Philippa, 453, 454

King's Mead Priory, 4, 262, 361_n. 1_; children at, 571; _custodes_ of, 234; hospitality of, 200; poverty of, 180, 234; Prior of, 230; relics at, 116_n. 3_

_King's Quair, The_, 510

Kington, St Michael, 255, 350, 360_n. 2_

Kippax, Rector of, 231

Kirkby, Margery, 81, 82, 167

Kirk Deighton, Rector of, 231

Kirklees Priory, 320_n. 1_, 325, 448_n. 1_; _custos_ of, 220_n. 5_, 230_n. 8_, 235, 236; moral state of, 599, 600; Prioress of, 180, 258, 620, 621

Kitcheness of nunnery, 131ff.

Knaresborough, St Robert's, 231

Knight, Laurens, 267, 269

---- Richard, 198

Knyghte, Elizabeth, 269, 279

---- Jane, 269, 279

Koc, Margaret, 422

---- William, 422

Kyme, 249_n. 7_

Kyrkeby, Margery, 405_n. 2_

Lacock Abbey, 2, 19_n. 3_, 268_n._, 497; alms given by, 121; claustration at, 350; visitors at, 238

Lacy, Henry de, 420

Lambley Priory, 426, 429

_Lamentations de Matheolus, Les_, 542, 543

Lampet, Julian, 366_n. 3_

Lancaster, Isabella de, 240, 455

---- Joan, 138, 147_n. 5_, 327

---- Margaret de, 417, 418

---- Thomas of, 419

Lanercost Chronicle, 426

Langeland, Thomas, 88

Langeloft, Isabella de, 52

Langendorf Nunnery, 305_n. 4_

Langland, William, 30, 178, 202, 263, 297ff., 301, 308_n. 1_, 309, 310, 373, 390, 544

Langley Priory, 22, 23, 32, 111_n. 3_, 210, 306, 313_n. 5_, 333, 336, 402_n. 3_, 408, 412, 587; children at, 409, 575; corrody sold by, 207; embroidery at, 256, 257; households of nuns at, 318; illiteracy at, 250; poverty of, 162, 163, 205, 211; Prioress of, 207, 210, 250, 252

Langton, Thomas, 149

Lateran Council, Fourth, 21

Latin, knowledge of, by nuns, 246, 247

Latymer, Matilda, 330

Lawrence, Robert, 399

Lay-brothers, 288

Lee, Edward, Archbishop of York, 61_n. 2_, 154, 211, 220, 251_n. 2_, 284_n. 1_, 356_n. 5_, 390, 402, 405

Legbourne Priory, 23, 68, 78, 111_n. 3_, 153, 228, 330, 332, 356_n. 5_, 409, 412, 413; bailiff of, 148, 149, 205; boarders at, 576; corrody in, 205; _custodes_ of, 231, 236_n. 2_; dilapidated condition of property of, 170_n. 1_, 181; households of nuns at, 318; poverty of, 164, 205; Prioress of, 67, 71, 163, 170_n._, 205, 221; _status domus_ of, 221

_Legenda aurea_, 241

Legh, Margaret, 261_n. 2_

Leicester, Countess of, 257

Lelle, Avice de, 448_n. 1_

Leominster Priory, Sub-prior of, 449

Leycroft, Thomas

Leygrave, Alice de, 196

---- Ellen de, 196

---- Juliana de, 196

Leyva, Virginia de, 474

Libaud, Sibyl, 421_n. 1_

---- Thomas, 421_n. 1_

_Libel of English Policie_, 112

_Liber Poenitentialis_ of Theodore, 450_n. 3_

Lillechurch Priory, 143_n._, 603

Lilleshall, 265

_Limburg Chronicle_, 604

Limington, Rector of, 233

Lincoln, Archdeacon of, 90

---- Bishops of, 44, 47, 120, 123; _and see_ Alnwick; Buckingham; Flemyng; Gravesend; Longland; Sutton

---- Cathedral, 465, 466

Lindesay, Sir David, 251, 510, 511, 549, 552ff.

Lindesay's _Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaits_, 510, 549, 552ff.

Lingiston, Thomas de, 449

Lioba, _see_ Bischofsheim, Abbess of

Liseway, Roger, 198

Lisieux, St Désir, 636; financial state of, 637

Lisle, Honor, Viscountess, 258, 279

---- Sibil de, 365

Little Chester, Simon of, 234

Little Coates, Vicar of, 232_n. 1_

Littlemore, Agnes de, 366

---- Priory, 26, 60_n._, 265, 267, 269, 301, 448_n. 1_, 452, 578, 604; dilapidations at, 169; ill-fame of, 397, 491, 492, 582; moral state of, 595, 596; Prioress of, 180, 469, 477; _and see_ Wells, Katherine

Llewelyn, 30, 185

Lokton, Anabilla de, 52

Londesborough, Rector of, 220, 231

London, 68, 70, 105, 191, 233

---- Council of, 1200, 21, 585

---- nunneries of, 99

Longland, John, Bishop of Lincoln, 23, 79, 153, 170, 208, 211, 273, 304, 312, 321, 356_n. 5_, 369, 374, 380, 387, 399, 404

Longspey, Alice, 397, 398, 449, 456, 460

Loughborough, 146

Loveday, Anne, 19

Loweliche, Denise, 64_n. 5_, 88_n._, 458, 460, 469, 486_n. 2_, 493

Ludlow, Gild of Palmers, 11

Luitgard of Tongres, 500, 525

_Luue Ron, A_, 16, 513_n. 1_, 525, 527

Lylis, John, 77

Lymbrook Priory, 113_n. 1_, 183, 248, 263, 309ff., 347_n. 2_, 356_n. 5_, 359_n. 3_, 367_n. 2_, 369, 377, 384, 403_n. 5_, 408_n. 2_, 449, 586; children at, 573; Prioress of, 361_n. 1_; private property at, 324, 325, 339_n. 2_

Lyminster, 478, 635

Lynn, King's, 43, 138, 147

Maiden Bradley, Prior of, 451

Malling Abbey, 2, 13, 56, 58_n._, 146; Abbess of, 20_n._, 57, 155_n. 1_, 180, 203, 204, 218; _and see_ Retlyng, Lora de; corrody granted in, 208_n. 2_; fair of, 106_n. 2_; financial mismanagement at, 203, 204; falling mill of, 107_n. 1_; poverty of, 184_n. 4_; prebends of, 144; seal of, 218

Malnouë, nuns of, 345

Malory, Sir Thomas, 514

Malory's _Morte Darthur_, 556, 557

Manorial courts, 103ff.

Marcens, 433ff.

Marcham, Agnes, 26, 397

Mare, Thomas de la, 244, 479

Margaret, Countess of Ulster, 39

Marham, Abbess of, 105, 380_n. 4_; chartulary of, 107

Marie de Bretagne, 305_n. 6_

---- de France, 558

Marienberg, 682

Mariensee, 678ff.

Markyate Priory, 154, 156, 351, 358, 408, 423, 450_n. 2_, 452, 457, 460; _custos_ of, 230_n. 8_; debts of, 162, 210; disorder at, 457, 458, 488, 491, 492; domestic economy of, 332; illiteracy at, 250; Prioress of, 64, 180, 250, 352; _and see_ Loweliche, Denise; visitation at, 351, 352, 354

Marlow, Little, Priory to, 174, 351, 366; children at, 570; poverty of, 184_n. 4_; prioresses of, 17_n. 2_; _and see_ Bernard, Eleanor; Vernon, Margaret

Marmyll, Cecily, 455

Marrick Priory, 111_n. 3_, 201, 213, 214, 230_n. 8_, 326, 328, 356_n. 5_, 401_n. 1_, 428, 579; Prioress of, 148_n. 3_, 214

Marshall, Richard, 243

Marshalsea, the, 201

Martin IV, Pope, 209

Mason, Barbara, 380_n. 4_

_Matheolus, Les Lamentations de_, 542, 543

_Matrimony, The Christen State of_, 378

Matthew Paris, 240

Maundy Thursday, 142, 142_n. 3_, 143_n._

Mautravers, Sir John, 194

Maxstoke Priory, 210_n. 2_

Meaux Abbey, 449

Mechthild of Hackeborn, 239, 500

---- of Magdeburg, 500, 525, 533

Medforde, Clemence, 73, 76, 77, 81, 82, 166, 167, 218, 221, 234, 330, 361_n. 1_, 377, 405_n. 2_, 490

Melton, William de, Archbishop of York, 199, 235, 248_n. 7_, 264, 301, 329, 356_n. 4_, 365, 373, 427, 467, 468_n. 1_, 469, 477

_Menagier de Paris_, 563

_Messe des oisiaus, etc._, 539

Mestowe, Hundred of, 105, 422, 422_n. 2_

Metham, Margaret, 138

Middle class, rise of, 9ff.

Middleton, manor-house at, 90

Minchin Barrow Priory, 4, 188, 358_n. 4_; _custos_ of, 153; poverty of, 184_n. 4_; Prioress of, 71

Minories, the, 2, 3, 12, 13, 26, 39, 100, 114, 146, 176_n. 3_, 328_n. 5_

Minster Priory, 20

_Misericord_, 316

Mistress of novices, 134

Mitford, Katherine, 33

Molynes, Lord, 423

Montagu, Katherine, 442_n. 2_

Montfort, Isabel de, 73

---- Peter de, 30

---- Simon de, 346

Montivilliers Abbey, 560_n._, 636, 641, 647; Abbess of, 644, 650; financial state of, 637

Montmartre, nuns of, 345

More, Avice de la, 58, 59

Mori, Gui de, 532

Mortimer, daughters of, 420, 450, 451

---- Roger, 420

Mortival, Bishop, 213

Morton, John, Archbishop of Canterbury, 219, 230_n. 6_, 480, 482_n. 1_

Mortuaries, 107ff.

Mounceaux, Ella de, 457

Mowbray, Katherine, 598

Moxby, 58_n._, 122, 199, 217_n._, 325, 385, 402_n. 4_, 429, 447, 580; bakehouse and brewhouse of, dilapidated, 170; debts of, 200, 220_n. 4_; destroyed by Scots, 427; masters of, 231; moral state of, 599; prioresses of, 148_n. 3_, 427; _and see_ Apelgarth, Sabina de, _and_ Bartone, Joan; Whenby Church appropriated to, 113_n. 1_

Muisis, Gilles li, 305, 542, 543, 661

---- "Register" of, 543, 544

Munkton, John, 77, 303_n. 1_, 399_n. 3_

Musgrave, Agnes, 365

Mydelsburg, Thomas, 220_n. 5_

_Myroure of Oure Ladye_, 253, 254, 293, 531, 532

Myssenden, James, 326

Neasham, St Mary's, 31, 170_n. 3_, 402_n. 4_; Prioress of, 360_n. 2_

Needlework in nunneries, 255, 256

Nether Sutton, 184

Nevers, nuns of, 305, 593; _and see_ Vert-Vert

Neville's Cross, Battle of, 428

Newark, Henry of, Archbishop, 248, 338_n. 3_

---- Ermentrude, 441

Newburgh Priory, 232; Prior of, 184

Newcastle, St Bartholomew's Priory, 362_n. 3_; appropriations to, 172; _custos_ of, 234; fire at, 172; poverty of, 234; Prioress of, 360_n. 2_

Newemerche, Elizabeth de, 329

Newhouse Abbey, 230, 387, 399_n. 3_

Newington, Prioress of, 305

Newman, Nicholas, 149

Newmarch, Jane, 18

Newton, Matilda, 366_n. 3_

Nicke, Richard, Bishop of Norwich, 63, 65, 183, 388, 461, 484_n. 1_

Nicolson, Margaret, 48

_Nonnes, Chansons de_, 437

Norbery, Lady Anne, 267

Norbury, Roger de, Bishop of Lichfield, 21, 190_n._, 248

Noreton, Roger de, 165

Norfolk, Thomas, family of, 35

Northallerton, St Stephen's nunnery, 428_n. 3_

Northampton, Archdeacon of, 174, 175, 353, 441

---- Battle of, 45

---- Friary at, 388

---- St James, Abbot of, 220

Northeleye, Rector of, _see_ Joseph, Stephen

Northlode, Alice de, 194, 452

---- John de, 194

Norwich, Bishops of, 57, 63, 65, 175, 309_n. 6_, 411; _and see_ Goldwell _and_ Nicke

---- Isabel, 168, 336

---- Priory, 210_n. 2_, 388

---- Tombland in, 91

Nottingham, Archdeacon of, 444

_Novellae Definitiones_ of Cistercians, 362

Novice, the, 1ff., 352, 260, 261; mistress of, 134, 261_n. 2_; teacher of, 260

Noyon, Robert de, 263

_Nun who Loved the World, The_, 511

_Nun, Why I can't be a_, 545ff.

Nunappleton Priory, 16, 52, 61_n. 2_, 87, 154_n. 1_, 200, 213, 251_n. 2_, 248_n._, 322_n._, 326, 338_n. 3_, 339, 373, 374, 389, 400, 402_n. 4_, 406, 410, 445, 601; accounts of, audited, 220; boarders at, 417, 580; _custos_ of, 230_n. 8_; gifts to, 326ff.; poverty of, 184_n. 4_, 200; Prioress of, 326; visitations of, 497, 635

Nunburnholme Priory, 53_n. 2_, 213, 365_n. 3_, 400_n. 1_, 428, 478; boarders at, 580; _custos_ of, 220, 230_n. 8_; Prioress of, 478

Nuncoton Priory, 22, 23, 33, 111_n. 3_, 153, 211, 215, 217_n._, 263, 291, 292, 301, 330, 332, 337, 358, 371, 374, 380, 381_n. 2_, 382, 387, 399, 402_n. 4_, 408_n. 4_, 457; boarders of, 413, 576; bondmen of, alienated, 205; corrodies sold at, 205, 207, 208; debts of, 225_n. 4_; frater at, 317_n. 1_; households of nuns at, 318; invalids at, 259_n. 1_; jewels, etc., pawned, 211; master of, 231; Prioress of, 79, 153, 205, 211, 408; revels at, 312, 313; seculars at, 409

Nuneaton Priory, 2, 3, 14, 34_n. 1_, 146, 186, 421_n. 1_, 441_n._; alms given by, 120; numbers of nuns at, 215

Nunkeeling Priory, 6, 52, 58, 184_n. 4_, 212, 257, 291_n. 2_, 357_n. 5_, 427, 448_n. 1_, 477, 598; boarders at, 580; bursars of, 223; cellaress of, 469; enforced reception of nuns at, 212; Prioress of, _see_ More, Avice de la; St Quintin, Isabella de

Nunmonkton Priory, 7, 15, 18_n. 4_, 111_n. 3_, 399_n. 3_, 427, 469, 494_n. 1_, 580, 587, 601; Prioress of, 19, 242; _see_ Fairfax, Margaret

Nunneries, amusements in, 303, 304ff., 662; animals in, 662, 663; aristocratic members of, 3ff., 12ff., 73, 74, 194, 212, 255, 324, 503; books of, 239ff.; children in, 264ff., 496, 568ff., 655ff.; episcopal disapproval of, 270ff., 568ff., 655ff.; _custodes_ of, 228ff.; discipline in, 300ff.; disputes in, 300ff.; education of girls in, 260ff., 568ff.; _and see_ children in; election of superior in, 43ff.; expenses of, 117ff., 134, 183, 211, 636ff.; farm labourers of, 150, 151; financial difficulties of, 161ff., 180ff., 217ff., 655; mismanagement of, 166ff., 179_n. 3_, 203ff., 235; food supplies of, 138ff., 332ff., 334ff., 640ff.; girls forced into, 33ff.; home farms of, 109ff.; hospitality at, 200, 201, 401ff., 417ff., 649; household staff of, 150, 151; illiteracy in, 250ff.; income of, 2, 3, 100ff., 134, 161, 183, 223, 270, 641; earmarked, 135; Latin, study of, in, 246, 247, 249, 250, 276, 286, 288; middle-class members of, 10ff., 26; moral state of, 436ff., 597ff., 665ff., 675; numerical size of, 2, 3, 161, 213, 215, 215_n. 4_; overcrowding of, 212ff., 225; payments for reception into, 17ff., 658; pensions demanded from, 194ff.; private rooms in, 318ff., 328, 336, 654; quarrels in, 663ff.; reasons for entering, 25ff., 290; repairs to, 123ff., 135; right of nominating to, 189ff., 244_n. 1_; routine in, 285ff., 475ff.; ruinous condition of, 168ff.; satirists on, 533ff.; seculars in, 401ff., 446, 470, 660ff.; separate households (_familiae_) in, 272ff., 316ff., 332, 335, 336, 338, 654, 655; servants of, 129, 143ff., 651; _status domus_ of, 221, 484; weak-minded in, 33, 34; widows in, 38ff.

Nuns, almsgiving by, 118, 120, 121, 132, 649; annuities for, 324, 325; beer allowance of, 141, 141_n._, 167, 168_n. 1_; bread allowance of, 141_n._, 167, 168_n. 2_; Bible reading by, 254, 255; claustration of, 7, 71, 72, 78, 173, 201_n. 2_, 228, 259, 303, 341ff., 543, 660ff.; clothes of, 119, 135, 136, 211, 235, 255, 302_n. 1_, 303ff., 315, 329ff., 585ff., 663, 674, 675; dowries of, 17ff., 191_n. 1_, 214, 224, 268; education, etc., of, 237ff.; food allowances for, 334, 564ff., 648, 649; journeys out of cloister by, 354ff.; legacies to, 325ff.; linguistic learning of, 246, 247, 276, 288; love and, in medieval popular literature, 622ff.; money allowance of, 141, 338ff.; penances of, 466ff.; personal property of, 19, 20, 272, 273, 315ff., 322ff., 337ff., 651ff., 672ff.; pets of, 302, 303, 305ff.; pilgrimages of, 371ff.; pocket money (_peculium_) of, 322, 323, 331, 334, 336ff.; occupations of, 251ff., 285ff.; recreation of, 259; songs about, 502ff.

Nuremberg, library of Dominicans at, 240_n. 2_

---- St Clare, 239

Obedientiaries, 131, 132, 150, 219, 319, 322, 367; _and see_ Cellaress, Treasuress, etc.

Odiham, John de, 198

Oignies, Mary of, 525

Okeley, Katherine, 397, 398

Oldyngton, Henry de, 197

Olifaunt, Elizabeth, 420

---- William, 420

Olyfard, Hugh, 420, 421

Origny, nunnery of, 432ff.

Orwell, 188

Oseney, Abbot of, 396

Ottobon, Constitutions of, 338, 346, 354, 367, 369

Oundyl, Henry, 203

Overton, William, 242

Oxborow, Parson of, _see_ Wiggenhall, John

Oxford, Council of, 1222, 21, 165, 310, 323, 337, 338, 415

---- St Frideswide, 308_n. 1_

---- scholars of, 325, 395, 396, 398, 456, 460

Page, Robert, 152

Palmer, Robert, 152

Panham, Countess of, 257

Pantolfe, Sir William, 251

Pape, Thomas, 399_n. 3_

Papelwyk, Sibil, 67, 68

Paris, Faculty of Theology at, 314

Paston, Edmond, 10

---- John, 10_n._, 72, 423

---- Margaret, 267_n. 1_, 302

---- Margery, 411, 412

Patent, Joan, 322_n._

Pateshull, Sir John, 411

Patryk, Alice, 327

Pavy, Joan, 412

Paynel, Cecilia, 370

Peasants' Revolt, 114

Peckham, John, Archbishop of Canterbury, 27, 60, 62, 64, 149, 156_n. 7_, 167, 188, 191, 217, 223, 224, 230_n. 8_, 232, 248, 258_n. 4_, 306, 307, 312, 313, 346ff., 353, 358, 385_n. 2_, 387, 390_n. 5_, 407, 416, 456, 464, 487, 581, 586

Pecok, Reginald, Bishop of Chichester, 447_n. 6_

Peke, William, 18

Pelayo, Alvar, 545_n. 1_

Pelham, Maud, 452

Pembroke, Countess of, 330

Percy, Joan de, 597, 598

---- Lady Margaret, 411

---- Sir W., 146

Peresson, John, 152

Pergolotti, Francesco, 111

_Periculoso_, 343_n. 3_, 344ff., 350, 353, 354, 360, 367, 376, 440

_Persones Tale_, Chaucer's, 295, 296

Peruzzi, the, 9

Perys, Edmund, 43, 91, 92

Peterborough Abbey, 200, 291

---- Abbots of, 44, 45, 115, 230, 444, 481

Philippa, Queen, 198

---- Duchess of York, 418

Pilgrimage of Grace, 282

Pilgrimages, 371ff.

Pilly, Katherine, 57, 58

Pinley, 30

Pirckheimer, Charitas, 239, 500

---- Wilibald, 501

Pisan, Christine de, _Livre du dit de Poisy_, 558ff.

Pittancer, 143

Pittances, 112, 118, 120, 135, 142, 143, 147, 155, 221, 223, 323, 328_n. 2_, 334, 336, 370, 522, 567, 568

Plagues, medieval, 178ff.; _and see_ Black Death

Plantagenet, Bridget, 276, 279ff.

---- Elizabeth, 279

Playce, Robert de, 18

Pocket money (_peculium_), 322, 323

Poer, Maude, 410

_Poisy, Livre du dit de_, 558ff.

Poisy, Priory of, 558ff.

---- Prioress of, _see_ Bourbon, Marie de

Poitiers, Holy Cross, 345

Pole, Katherine de la, 42, 263, 270, 571

Polesworth Abbey, 160, 366, 416_n. 1_; Abbess of, 42_n. 1_, 217_n. 1_; alms given by, 120; children at, 265, 267, 282, 579; servants of, 159

Poleter, Robert le, 198

Polsloe Priory, 171_n. 2_, 190, 242, 248, 259_n. 1_, 286, 353, 386, 403_n. 5_, 408_n. 2_, 416_n. 1_; claustration relaxed at, 354, 355; meals at, 317; poverty of, 192, 193; presentation of accounts at, 219

Poncher, Étienne, 345

Pontefract, 419

Pontoise, John of, Bishop of Winchester, 156, 183, 195, 218ff., 244_n._, 259_n. 1_, 336, 350, 387

Poore, Richard, Bishop of Salisbury, 527

Popeley, Elizabeth, 88_n._

Porter, Alice, 67

---- James, 198

---- Richard, 152

Portsmouth, Joan, 453

Potton, Rectory of, 114

Poutrelle, Agnes, 67

Powes, Emma, 361_n. 1_

_Pratica della Mercatura_, 111

Pratt, Ralph, 462

Praty, Richard, Bishop of Chichester, 340

Preaux, St Leger, 636; Abbess of, 643; financial state of, 637

Precentrix of nunnery, _see_ Chantress

Prémontré, nuns of, 343

Prestewych, Margaret de, 35, 36

Preston, Anne, 46, 49

---- Margery, 49

Prioress, _see_ Head of house

Proctors for begging, 173, 174

Punchardon, Margaret de, 365

Punder, Margaret, 63

Pyghtesley, Richard, 103

Pykering, Joan de, 51ff.

---- Margaret de, 328_n. 1_

Pykkell, Robert, 152

Rading, Philippa de, 198

Radyngton, Joan de, 224

_Raoul de Cambrai_, 432ff., 560_n._

Rasponi, Felice, 474, 501

Ratclyff, Margaret, 44, 102

Raulyn, 202

Rayn, John, 46, 47

Raynevill, Thomas de, 466_n. 1_

Reading, Abbot of, 279

Receiver of nunnery, 99, 100, 147, 151, 219

Redlingfield Priory, 64_n. 6_, 249, 263, 319_n. 3_, 452, 468, 578

---- Prioresses of, 64, 65, 467; _see_ Hermyte, Isabel

Redynges, Margaret, 202

Relics, 116, 117

Rennes, Cloth of, 76, 77

"Rents of Assize," 101, 102

Rents from lands and houses, 100, 101, 118, 119

Retlyng, Lora de, 204

Reymound, Thomas, 242

Reynolds, Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, 36, 37, 179

Rich, Margaret, 117

Richemond, Elianore, 152

Ridel, Mary, 198, 199

Rievaulx, Abbot of, _see_ Aelred

Rigaud, Eudes, Archbishop of Rouen, 163_n. 4_, 255_n. 2_, 258, 271, 305_n. 3_, 308_n. 2_, 310_n. 2_, 312, 324, 337_n. 2_, 338_n. 3_, 380_n. 4_, 450_n. 3_, 473, 491, 587, 635ff.

Ripon Minster, 377_n. 2_

Roche, Abbot of, 214

---- Joan de la, 189

Rochester, Bishops of, 208_n. 2_; _and see_ Hythe, Hamo of

Roger atte Bedde, 197

Rolf, Katherine, 157

Rolle, Richard, of Hampole, 532_n. 2_, 533

_Rolls of Parliament_, quoted, 196

Romayn, Alice, 442_n. 2_

Romeyn, John de, Archbishop of York, 26, 53, 184, 231, 361_n. 1_, 411

Romsey, Abbess of, 60ff., 118, 167, 170_n. 2_, 185, 195, 216, 217, 224, 248, 252, 306, 308, 350, 410, 461; _and see_ Broke, Elizabeth; Rowse, Joyce; Walerand, Agnes; accounts of, 101_n._, 118, 219; animals at, 307; coadjutress appointed to, 224; children at, 572, 573; corrodies at, 190, 198, 199; dilapidations at, 169, 170; disorder at, 461, 462; _magister noviciarum_ at, 261; Manor courts of, 104_n. 2_; mills of, 118; mismanagement at, 167, 218; numbers at, 215_n. 4_, 216; obedientiaries of, 132; pensioners at, 195; pittances at, 259_n._, 324; poverty of, 173, 181, 210; prebendary canons of, 144, 229; private property at, 337, 339_n. 5_; pupils at, 273; servants of, 156; taxation of, 185; too many nuns at, 212, 213; visitations of, 496; visitors at, 238, 407, 408, 416

Romsey Abbey, 2ff., 7, 21, 26, 58_n._, 88_n._, 111_n. 2_, 113_n. 1_, 132, 149, 162, 186ff., 210, 213_n. 1_, 217_n._, 218, 220, 259, 263, 291_n. 2_, 292_n. 2_, 301, 304_n. 1_, 320_n._, 322_n._, 348ff., 353, 358_n. 3_, 361_n. 1_, 367_n. 2_, 369, 380, 384_n._, 386, 389, 395, 400_n. 1_, 402_n. 4_, 404, 416, 424, 448_n. 1_, 454, 482, 558, 583, 584, 586, 587

Roos, Eleanor, 242

---- Joan, 328

---- Sir Robert de, 242, 328

Rosedale Priory, 53, 111_n. 3_, 205, 306, 339, 360, 400_n. 1_, 467_n. 3_, 580, 584, 601; dilapidations at, 170; destruction of, by Scots, 427; process of, 222; relics at, 117; _status domus_ of, 222

Roselis, Joan de, 52

Roswitha, 238, 239

Rotherham, Thomas, Archbishop of York, 177, 374, 389, 406, 417

Rothwell Church, 463

Rothwell Priory, 98, 161, 171_n. 2_, 304_n. 1_; begging license granted to, 174; boarders at, 424; debts of, 162, 173, 211; Desborough church appropriated, 113_n. 1_; Prioress of, 180, 250, 445; violent scene at, 424

Rouen, St Amand, 636; Abbess of, 644; accounts of, 639; financial state of, 637, 638

Rouen, St Paul by, 636, 641, 646

Rowney Priory, 171_n. 2_, 176_n. 3_, 423, 443; alms-collector appointed for, 173; master of, 231; Prioress of, 584

Rowse, Joyce, 149, 493

Rudd, Agnes, 326

Rummynge, Elynour, 389

Rusper Priory, 4, 79, 91_n._, 144, 245, 399_n. 3_, 462, 494_n. 1_, 583; poverty of, 153; Prioress of, 79, 221_n. 1_, 462

Russel, Alice, 464

Rutebeuf, 375

Sackfelde, Margaret, 209

Sacrist of nunnery, 131, 132, 134; accounts of, 136

Sadler, Hugh, 397

St Agnes of Bohemia, 500

St Albans Abbey, 70, 230, 245, 335, 456_n. 4_, 479, 482

---- Abbots of, 56_n. 2_, 259_n. 1_, 335, 361_n. 2_, 476, 480; _see_ Mare, Thomas de la

_St Albans, The Boke of_, 239

St Albans Chronicle, 429ff.

St Aldhelm, 303

St Andrews, Bishop of, 418

St Aubin's Priory, 636, 646; financial state of, 637, 638; moral state of, 667, 668

St Bernardino of Siena, 518_n. 1_

St Boniface, 237

St Caesarius of Arles, 343

_St Catherine, Life of_, 239

St Christina of Stommeln, 501

St Clare, 500

---- Order of, 417, 418

St Douceline, 501

St Elizabeth of Schönau, 239

St Francis of Paula, 345

St Francis de Sales, 363, 392

St Hildegard of Bingen, 239

St Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, 262, 263

St John Baptist, Fair of, 138, 139

_St Katherine of Alexandria, Life of_, Capgrave's, 243

St Lydwine of Schiedam, 501

St Mary Graces, Abbot of, 375_n. 1_

St Paul, John de, 195

St Quintin, Anne, 327

---- Isabella de, 469

St Saens Priory, 636, 641, 646; financial state of, 637ff.; inventory of, 641; moral state of, 668, 669

St Sepulchre's, Canterbury, _see_ Canterbury, Holy Sepulchre

St Theresa, 501

Salimbene, 27, 634

Salisbury, Bishops of, 189, 190

Saltmershe, Maud, 22

Salwayn, Sir Roger, 260

Sanctuary, 420ff.

_Satyre of the Thrie Estaits, Ane_, 510, 549, 552ff.

Sauvage, William, 420

Savernake, Forest of, 105, 172

Saxony, 239

Saxton, Roger de, 235

Scorue, Isabella de, 487

Screvyn, Agnes de, 336, 337

Scrope, Eleanor Lady, 39

Scroupe, Jane, 278

Seal, Common, of nunnery, 218, 225, 248_n. 7_

Seckworth, William de, 40

Sele, William, 399

Sempringham Priory, 35, 228, 326, 328, 420; fire at, 171_n. 3_

---- Chronicle of, 419

---- Order of, 537

Senoke, Sir John, 415

Sens, Council of, 369

Sermons, medieval, 249, 518ff., 518_n. 1_

Seton Priory, 36, 478, 479

Sevekworth, John de, 447

Sewardby, Elizabeth, 19, 166_n. 4_

---- William, 19

Sewardsley Priory, 34_n. 1_, 174, 351, 353, 419, 457ff., 461; appropriation of church to, 181; begging license granted to, 174; church appropriated to, 113_n. 1_; disorder at, 458, 459; fair of, 106_n. 2_; master of, 231

Shaftesbury, Abbess of, 78_n. 5_, 162, 185, 188, 190, 195; _see_ Bauceyn, Juliana; Ferrar, Agnes; Furmage, Joan; Giffard, Mabel

---- Abbey, 2, 30, 101_n._, 146, 181, 186, 188, 189, 243, 268_n._, 300_n. 1_, 338, 339, 385_n. 2_, 421_n. 1_, 464, 482, 558; appropriations to, 113_n. 1_, 176, 182; bread allowance at, 141_n._; claustration at, 350; corrodies at, 198, 199; financial difficulties of, 162, 177, 182, 187; hospitality at, 238; license to crenellate, 424; number of nuns at, 213, 215_n. 4_; pensions demanded from, 195; prebendary canons of, 144, 228_n. 5_; Prioress of, 328; _Register_ of, 141_n._; resident chaplains at, 144; steward of, 146

Sheen, Agnes of, 440

Sheldon, Matilda, 46, 48

Shelley, Elizabeth, 279ff.

Sheperd, Richard, 107

Sheppey Priory, 13, 20, 147, 154_n. 1_, 156, 158, 159, 221_n. 1_, 300_n. 2_, 313, 325_n. 1_, 330_n. 6_, 336, 403, 494_n. 1_; cattle owned by, 126, 127; "confessor's chamber" at, 145, 147_n. 1_; dorter at, 319; library at, 241; numbers at, 216; servants of, 159; "steward's chamber" at, 147_n. 1_

Sherburn, Bishop, 170, 462

Shouldham Priory, 7, 25, 26, 330_n. 3_, 420; Prior of, 91, 420

Shrewsbury, George, Earl of, 146

---- Ralph of, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 21, 188, 194, 224, 410, 452

Sinclere, Elizabeth, 49

Sinningthwaite Priory, 214, 217, 249_n. 7_, 251_n. 2_, 284_n._, 291_n. 2_, 302_n. 1_, 320_n._, 381_n. 2_, 402, 428, 446; children at, 273, 580; claustration relaxed at, 356_n. 5_; _custos_ of, 231; jewels pledged, 211; poverty of, 154, 165, 211; Prioress of, 31, 217, 273, 302_n. 1_; relics at, 116; visitation of, resisted, 482

Skelton, quoted, 139, 278, 590ff., 603

Skerning, Roger de, Bishop of Norwich, 175

Skirlaw, Joan, 327, 328

---- Walter, Bishop of Durham, 73, 327, 328

Skotte, Alice, 22

Slibre, John, 152

Slo, Katherine, 328

Smith, John, 453, 454

---- Margaret, 167

Snawe, Helen, 46ff.

Snowe, William, 399_n. 3_

Sompnour, Richard, 452

Sonnenburg, Abbess of, 377_n. 4_

Sopwell Priory, 13, 245, 259_n. 1_, 265, 370, 378_n. 3_, 402_n. 4_, 456_n. 4_, 476, 479, 481, 581; accounts of, 267; _custos_ of, 230; children at, 263, 573; Prioress of, 245, 370, 480; _and see_ Berners, Juliana; Flamstead, Matilda de; Germyn, Helen; Webbe, Elizabeth; seculars at, 406; warden of, 480

Southwark, St Thomas the Martyr, 442_n. 2_

Spalding, Robert de, 231

_Sparrow, Philip_, 305, 412, 590ff.

Sperri, Reyner, 26

Sperry, Joan, 365_n. 3_

Spina, Juliana de, 244_n. 1_

Spinning by nuns, 255

_Spiritualities_, 100, 113ff.

Spofford, Thomas, Bishop of Hereford, 23_n. 1_, 339, 356_n. 5_, 377, 384

Stafford, John, Archbishop of Canterbury, 447_n. 6_

Stainfield Churchyard, 390_n. 5_

---- Priory, 38, 111_n. 3_, 199, 292, 365, 381_n. 2_, 409; church appropriated to, 113_n. 1_; Prioress of, 61

Stamford, St Michael's, 23, 44, 49_n._, 70, 117, 122, 123, 128, 129, 135_n. 3_, 142, 164, 180, 200_n._, 236, 310, 332, 334, 350, 358, 368, 402_n. 3_, 408, 443ff., 449, 450, 457, 460, 465, 480, 481, 584; accounts of, 70, 97, 98, 115, 117_n. 4_, 118_n._, 120, 128, 136, 143_n._, 163, 202, 221, 323, 370; alms given by, 121; begging license granted to, 174; boarders at, 414, 415, 577, 578; chambress of, 136, 323; children at, 265, 272, 283, 459; churches appropriated to, 115, 128, 135_n. 4_, 143_n._; debts of, 221; disorder at, 491, 492; financial mismanagement at, 204, 225_n. 2_; guests at, 120; households of nuns at, 318; litigation by, 201; _peculium_ for clothes at, 323; pension paid by, 199, 200; pittances at, 143_n._, 324, 334; Prior of, 230, 233; Prioress of, 57, 62, 66, 80, 162, 199, 204, 221, 233, 235, 250, 310, 318, 323, 368_n. 4_, 452, 460; treasuresses of, 111, 128, 185_n. 6_, 202, 205, 235, 368_n. 4_; warden, special, appointed, 233

Stanley, Agnes, 442_n. 2_

---- Isabel, Prioress, 4

---- Sir John, 263

Stapeldon, Walter de, Bishop of Exeter, 219, 224, 248, 259_n. 1_, 286, 354, 357, 376, 406_n. 1_

Stapelton, Emma of, 52, 53

Starkey, Cecilia, 46, 47, 49

_Status domus_, 221

Staunton, Richard de, 229

Steinfeld Monastery, 108

Stevyn, Joan, 454

Steward of nunnery, 99, 100, 103, 112, 143, 146, 147, 149, 221, 250, 267

Stil, Clarice, 35ff., 500

---- Robert, 36, 37

---- William, 37

Stixwould Priory, 111_n. 3_, 228ff.; boarders at, 413, 417, 576; children at, 265, 409; debts of, 162, 184_n. 4_; domestic economy of, 332; frater at, 317_n. 1_; households of nuns at, 318, 320_n._; master of, 230; Prioress of, 66, 78

Stok, William de, 230_n. 5_

Stokesley, John, Bishop of London, 447_n. 6_

Stommeln, Christina von, 27_n. 2_

Stonore, John, 17_n. 2_

Stories, medieval, 515ff.

Story, Edward, Bishop of Chichester, 453

Stourbridge Fair, 125, 138

Stow, William, 241

Strasburg, 239

Stratford, Abbot of, 375_n. 1_, 481

---- John de, Bishop of Winchester, 7, 189, 212

---- Priory, 13, 27, 32, 51_n._, 191, 577; poverty of, 191, 192; Prioress of, 191, 192

Stretford, Jonette de, 189

Stretton, Robert de, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, 36, 248, 272, 384

Studley, Isabella de, 301_n._

---- Priory, 26, 153_n. 3_, 156, 168_n. 1_, 208, 268_n._, 304_n. 1_, 351, 380, 397, 398, 399_n. 1_, 408_n. 2_, 587; claustration relaxed at, 356_n. 5_, 358; _custos_ of, 230_n. 8_; debts of, 211; Prioress of, 66, 208, 209, 358, 447

Sturges, Dorothy, 32, 33

Style, N., 453

Suffewyk, William, 445

Suffield, Walter de, Bishop of Norwich, 175

Surlingham Church, 113

Suthwell, John de, 85

Sutton, Oliver, Bishop of Lincoln, 176_n. 3_, 231, 232, 440, 447

---- Richard, 441_n._

---- William de, 233

Sutton-on-Derwent, Rector of, 231

Swaffham, Agnes, 327

Swaffham Bulbeck Priory, 263; accounts of, 98, 102_n. 1_, 279; children at, 265, 268, 279, 570, 571; mill of, 107_n. 1_; Prioress of, _see_ Ratclyff, Margaret

Swine Priory, 15, 21, 52, 53, 111_n. 3_, 146, 213, 214, 228, 229, 248, 291_n. 2_, 320_n._, 337_n. 3_, 355_n. 1_, 399_n. 3_, 427, 449, 472_n. 1_, 580, 581, 586; books left to, 242_n. 5_; _custos_ of, 229ff., 230_n. 8_; dilapidations at, 170; disobedience at, 302; gifts to, 326; mismanagement at, 166, 223; papal exemption from tithes, 184_n. 2_; prioresses of, 73, 166, 169, 223, 302, 329; _and see_ Anlaby, Josiana de; Skirlaw, Joan; visitation of, 449_n. 1_, 635

Swine, Vicar of, 242

Swinfield, Richard de, Bishop of Hereford, 183

Swynford, Elizabeth, 110, 333

Symon, Katherine, 168

Syon Abbey, 2, 3, 67, 98, 136, 140, 141_n. 1_, 146, 253, 256, 268_n._, 586; Abbesses of, 104, 105, 366_n. 3_; _and see_ Gibbs, Eliz.; building accounts of, 92_n._; cellaress of, 98, 111_n. 1_, 122, 131_n._, 136, 139, 368; accounts of, 136, 333; chambress of, 131_n._, 136, 137, 368; dumb signs at, 287; library of, 240_n. 2_, 242; _Myroure of Oure Ladye_ written for, 531, 532; privileges of, 103, 104; _Rule_ of, 132ff., 141, 286, 287, 584, 585; Sacrist's accounts of, 131_n._, 136

Syward, John, 11

---- Dionisia, 11

Talbot, Thomasine, 167

Talke, Anne, 467_n. 3_

Tanfield, Amicia, 403

Tang, Margaret de, 467_n. 3_

Tarrant Keynes Abbey, 2, 101_n._, 350, 424; Abbess of, 71; and _Ancren Riwle_, 527, 528; debts of, 164; Fair of, 106_n. 2_

Tates, Joan, 88

Tawke, Agnes, 4, 88_n._, 211

Taylour, William, 82, 84, 463

_Temporalities_, 100ff., 182, 186, 187, 204, 205, 228, 235

Terbock, 149

Terrington, Maud of, 443_n. 2_, 467

Thanet, Abbess of, _see_ Eadburg

Thélème, Abbey of, 32, 539

Thetford Priory, 33, 210_n. 2_, 260, 267, 269, 361_n. 1_, 577; corrody granted by, 208; poverty of, 182; Prioress of, 32

Thicket Priory, 111_n. 3_, 146, 177, 213, 291_n. 2_, 428, 601; bequests to, 325; dilapidations at, 170; Prioress of, 61

Thirkleby, Vicar of, 231

Thomson, Johann, 326

Thormondby, Agnes de, 445

Thornton, Abbot, 365

---- Robert, 396

Thornton-upon-Humber, 387

Thornyf, Katherine, 374, 375

Thorpe, William, 241, 372_n. 2_

Timber, sale of, by nuns, 210, 217, 225, 226

Titchmarsh, Maud, 441

Tithes, 107, 113, 114, 128, 184

Titles, farming out of, 114, 115; granted to nunneries, 116

Tittivillus, 293, 646

Traherne, William, 413

Translations for nuns, 251ff.

Treasuress of nunnery, 109, 110, 117, 118, 132, 134, 136, 219, 223ff.; accounts of, 118, 127, 137

Trent, Council of, 345

Treverbyn, Lady Margery, 411

Trimelet, Joan, 453, 467_n. 3_

Tuddenham, Sir Thomas, 30

Tudor, Edmund, 270

---- Jasper, 270

Tudowe, Agnes, 31

Tufton, Manor-house at, 90

Tunstede, Hugh de, 30

Turberville, Agnes, 189, 192_n. 5_

---- Johanete de, 192, 193

Turvey, Rector of, 46

Tusser, Thomas, quoted, 128, 129, 131

Tychenor, William, 399_n. 3_, 462, 583

Tydeswell, William de, 195

Tylney, Grace de, 418

---- Margery de, 413, 417, 418

Tyrelton, Simon de, 196

Tyttesbury, Katherine, 458

Ufford, Robert de, Earl of Suffolk, 330_n. 3_

Ulrich of Steinfeld, 108

Upton, Vicar of, 232

Urban IV, 181, 342_n. 1_, 344

Usk Priory, 223, 224, 348, 350; _custos_ of, 230_n. 8_, 232

_Valor Ecclesiasticus_, 96ff., 114ff., 120, 146, 161

Ver, J. de, 224

Vergi, Châtelaine of, 303

Vernon, Margaret, 55, 56, 263, 267, 570

Vert-Vert, 413, 593ff.

Vienne, Council of, 1311, 306_n. 3_

Villarceaux Abbey, 636, 645ff.; accounts of, 639, 640; financial state of, 637, 638; live stock of, 640, 641; moral state of, 665; Prioress of, 643

Virgin, Cult of the, 513ff.

_Virgin averse to Matrimony, The_, 549ff.

_Virgin, The Penitent_, 549, 551ff.

Visitations, injunctions after, 494ff.; regularity of, 492; routine of, 483ff.

Vitry, Jacques de, 372_n. 1_, 516_n. 1_, 519_n. 1_

_Vox Clamantis_, 499, 545

Vylers, Agnes de, 198

Wace, Humphrey, 195

Wachesam, Sir Robert de, 268

Wafer, Alice, 201

Wake, Anne, 46ff.

---- Thomas, 419

Waldegrave, Rose, 273

Walerand, Agnes, 149

Waleys, Joan, 326

Wallingford, Richard de, 361_n. 2_, 479

Wallingwells Priory, 35, 52; Prioress of, 180

Walsheman, John, 103

Ward, Joan, 31

Warde, John, 399

---- Robert, 205

Wardon, Robert de, 231

Warenne, John de, 455

Warham, William, Archbishop of Canterbury, 216, 221_n. 1_, 390_n. 5_, 494_n. 1_

Warland, Ingelram, 267

Warwick, Countess of, 18

Wason, Joan, 410

Waterville, William of, 480, 481

Watlington, Parson of, _see_ Perys, Edmund

Watre, Johanna atte, 442_n. 2_

Watson, Edward, 46

Watton Priory, 326, 412_n. 2_; gifts to, 326; pittances at, 326

Wavere, Margaret, 81, 82, 84ff., 94, 220, 299, 388, 460, 489, 583, 584

Webbe, Elizabeth, 480

Webster, John, 103

Weinhausen, 675

Welan, Thomas, 268

Wellingborough Church, 465

Wellisham, Sir Roger, 267

Wellow Abbey, 231, 232_n. 1_, 249_n. 7_

Wells, Katherine, 88_n._, 211, 299, 493, 584, 595, 596

Wennigsen, 677

Wester, Richard, 152

Westirdale, Isabella, 87

Westminster, Abbot of, 263

---- Council of, 1175, 21

Westmoreland, Joan, Countess of, 418

Weston, Matilda de, 191

Westwood Priory, 114, 184

Wherwell Abbey, 2, 3, 29, 156_n. 1_, 167_n. 2_, 186, 188, 195, 263, 320_n._, 329, 353, 461, 635; Abbesses of, 60, 61, 104, 105, 224, 252, 324_n. 1_, 410, 422; _and see_ Colte, Anne; Euphemia of Wherwell; building at, 169; burning of, 425, 433; claustration at, 350, 351, 402_n. 4_, 404; children at, 573; coadjutress appointed at, 224; hospitality at, 401, 402; _jocalia_ at, 330_n. 3_; library of, 242_n. 8_, 243_n. 3_; prebendary canons at, 144, 228_n. 5_; prosperous condition of, 89, 90; sacrist of, 330_n. 3_; sanctuary at, 422

Whiston Priory, 43, 45; poverty of, 173, 186; Prioress of, _see_ Flagge, Alice de la

Whitby, 471

Whiting, Richard, 265

Whitstable, Rector of, 234

Whittell, Roger, 121

Whytford, Richard, 254

Wickham, Vicar of, 232, 487

Wickwane, William, Archbishop of York, 6, 212, 338_n. 3_, 339

Wiggenhall, Joan, 42, 43, 90ff., 169, 170, 172, 502

---- John, 43, 92

---- St Peter's, 91, 134

Wilberfoss Priory, 6, 30, 175, 212, 213, 325, 401_n. 1_, 416_n. 1_, 587, 601; _custos_ of, 231; Prioress of, 58_n._

William of Stanton, 75

Willoughby, Sir Thomas, 57

Willynge, Hugh, 452

Wilton Abbey, 2, 3, 146, 186, 188, 189, 242_n. 8_, 392, 421_n. 1_; Abbess of, 54, 105, 172, 185, 188, 350; _and see_ Bodenham, Cecily; Giffard, Juliana; _and_ Jordan, Isabel; fire at, 172, 425; pensions from, 195, 198; prebendary canons at, 144, 228_n. 5_; resident chaplains at, 144

Wilton, Alice, 470_n. 3_

---- Edith, 422

Wimborne nunnery, 237

Winchelsea, Robert, Archbishop of Canterbury, 33, 300_n. 2_, 325_n. 1_

Winchester, Bishop of, 118, 179, 252, 309_n. 6_; _and see_ Asserio, Rigaud de; Pontoise, John of; Wykeham, William of, etc.

---- St Swithun's Priory, 369, 387; Compotus Rolls of, 131_n._, 313; register of, 310_n. 2_; revels at, 313

---- St Mary's Abbey, 2, 3, 34_n. 1_, 151, 153, 159, 160, 171_n. 2_, 186, 188, 189, 195, 210, 279, 369, 387, 451, 454, 461; Abbess of, 5, 60, 185, 195, 252, 265, 276, 300, 451; _and see_ Shelley, Elizabeth; appropriation to, 181, 187; boarders at, 151, 153; chaplains of, 151, 153; children at, 265ff., 279ff., 572; corrodies at, 190, 196, 197; debts of, 164, 173, 185, 187; disobedience at, 300; fire at, 425; hospitality at, 185, 200_n. 3_; library of, 241_n. 4_, 242_n. 8_; mistress of novices at, 201_n. 2_; obedientiaries at, 132; prebendal canons of, 144, 228_n. 5_

Windesheim, monastery of, 670; _and see_ Busch, Johann

Windsor, Lord, 99, 100, 146

---- Sir Anthony, 281

Wing, Manor-court at, 105

Wingate, Katherine, 47

Winterton Church, 365

Wintney Priory, 87, 153, 179, 448_n. 1_, 461; bad management at, 203; embroidery made by, 257; poverty of, 183, 184_n. 4_; Prioress of, 252, 452; _and see_ Alice of Wintney

Winton, William de, 449

Wireker, Nigel, 593

Wittlesey, Archbishop, 494_n. 1_

Wix, Priory of, 88, 308, 361_n. 1_, 374, 385, 467, 587; poverty of, 209, 210; Prioress of, 360_n. 2_

Wodhouse, John de, 328

Wolfe, Juliane, 489

Wolsey, Cardinal, 30, 54, 55, 392, 602ff.

Womersley, Church of, 209

Wonnenstein, 240_n. 2_

Wood, grants of, 105, 172; unauthorised selling of, 205

Wood, Walter, 269

Woodlock, Henry, Bishop of Winchester, 156, 218ff., 248, 259_n. 1_, 319_n. 3_, 336, 416

Wool, sale of, by nunneries, 110, 111, 127, 217

Worcester, Priors of, 184, 186

Wortham, Margaret, 269

Wothorpe Priory, 115, 135_n. 4_, 171_n. 2_, 176_n. 3_, 180, 200_n. 3_, 353, 457, 584; Prioress of, 180; _and see_ Bowes, Agnes

Write, John, 149

Wroxall, 7, 39, 217_n. 1_, 223, 356_n. 1_, 359_n. 3_, 385, 402_n. 4_, 581; Prioress of, 58_n._, 78; _and see_ Alesbury, Agnes of

Wülfinghausen, 675

Wyatt, Sir Thomas, 146

Wykeham Priory, 18, 53_n. 2_, 111_n. 3_, 257, 291_n. 2_, 374, 428; dilapidations at, 170; fire at, 172; Prioress of _see_ Westirdale, Isabella

Wykeham, William of, Bishop of Winchester, 5, 21, 63, 156, 167, 170, 216, 218, 219, 249, 261_n. 2_, 273, 300, 306, 324_n._, 337, 353, 358_n. 2_, 367_n. 2_, 369, 380, 401, 410, 451

Wyllyamesson, John, 152

Wylughby, Elizabeth, 465

Wynkyn de Worde, 254, 533

Wyteryng, Alice de, 204

Yedingham Priory, 18, 58_n._, 111_n. 3_, 170_n. 3_, 206_n. 3_, 257, 291_n. 2_, 325, 362, 532_n. 2_; _custos_ of, 230_n. 8_; repairs at, 175

Yong, Juliana, 423_n. 4_

York, Abbot of, 200_n. 1_

---- Archbishops of, 58, 59, 165; _and see_ Giffard, Walter; Greenfield, William; Romeyn, John de

---- Cathedral, Chaplain of, _see_ Burn, John

---- council of, 1195, 373

---- Emma of, 51ff.

---- friars of, 122, 199

---- St Clement's, 53_n. 2_, 111_n. 3_, 122, 165, 175, 199, 301_n. 1_, 414_n. 2_; boarders at, 580; churches appropriated to, 113_n. 1_; relics at, 117

---- St Mary's, 199

Yorkshire, moral state of nunneries in, 597ff.

Ypres, William of, 433

Zouche, Elizabeth la, 443_n. 2_

PRINTED IN ENGLAND BY J. B. PEACE, M.A., AT THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought

ERRATA FOR THE PASTONS AND THEIR ENGLAND

Add to List of Authorities:

Berkeley _Extracts_. Abstracts and extracts of Smyth's _Lives of the Berkeleys_. Fosbroke, T. D. London. 1821.

Libraries. Old English Libraries. Savage, E. A. London. 1911.

p. 9, l. 6. _For_ "in the cathedral" _read_ "at the door of the cathedral," and so on pp. 174, 184, and 221 _n._

p. 53, ll. 14 ff. I have somewhat exaggerated the amount of spinning and weaving done at home for purely domestic use in the fifteenth century. The industry in East Anglia was by then highly organised under capitalist clothiers, who employed workers to perform the various processes of the industry in their own homes, providing the raw materials and taking away the finished cloth. Spinning was thus essentially a bye industry as well as a purely domestic occupation. The Bury citizen was probably a clothier "putting out" work and following the quite common practice of having a number of webbers or websters under his eye in his own house. See _The Paycockes of Coggeshall_, Power, Eileen, pp. 45-8.

p. 113, ll. 11 ff. _For_ "_de Regimine Principium_ of Hoccleve" _read_ "_de Regimine Principum_ of Lydgate" and so on p. 261.

p. 154, l. 23. _For_ "Brabraham" _read_ "Babraham."

p. 168, l. 1. _For_ "Paston's" _read_ "Pastons'."

p. 193, l. 31. _For_ "S. Peter's Hungate" _read_ "S. Peter, Hungate," and so on p. 285.

p. 198, l. 32. _For_ "herse" _read_ "hearse."

p. 208, n. 2. _For_ "Oddy" _read_ "Addy."

p. 219, n. 1. _For_ "Prothero" _read_ "Ernle (Lord)."

p. 240, n. 5. _For_ "Jessop, J. J." _read_ "Jessopp, A."

p. 280, Index, sub Cambridge, corporal punishment at. _For_ 88 _read_ 82.

p. 284, Index, sub Margaret of Anjou. _For_ "(Queen of Edward IV)" _read_ "(Queen of Henry VI)."

p. 286, Index, sub Paston, Sir John II. _For_ "make knight" _read_ "made knight."

p. 288, Index. _For_ "Straton Richard," _read_ "Stratton, Richard."

ERRATA FOR SOCIAL LIFE IN THE DAYS OF PIERS PLOWMAN

The main errata are on matters of coinage (pp. 69-70).

(_a_) There were no "copper" coins in England in the 14th (or 15th) centuries.

(_b_) The designs of "noble" and "groat" were not so exactly similar as the text might imply. The noble bears a king with sword and shield on a ship; the groat has a king's head crowned.

(_c_) "Groats" were first struck in the reign of Ed. III; it is therefore questionable whether they had become the "commonest" silver coins.

(_d_) "Pence" and "farthings" were of silver.

(_e_) There was no coined "shilling" until Henry VII's reign; until then, the "shilling" was only money of account.

p. 103. _For_ "signing" of charters _read_ "sealing." No signing was necessary until the Statute of Frauds. See B. II. 112, "this dede I assele."

p. 100. A reviewer in _The Manchester Guardian_ has expressed strong disagreement with these generalizations on the medieval woman; and we are loth to neglect such criticisms from a serious source, even when they cannot be called corrections of fact. Both author and editor, on careful reconsideration, are still convinced that these words represent the actual documentary evidence; but their epigrammatic conciseness, necessitated by the whole plan of the book, may well have misled some readers. They would prefer now, therefore, to write thus:

"There was a very general tendency, _in ecclesiastical circles_, to a painful depreciation of women. Marriage (in spite of frequent protests that no such blame was intended) was often regarded by the clergy as a practical confession of failure, since the titles of 'virgin' and 'martyr' were most desirable. It will be remembered that Chaucer is even more explicit than Langland on the subject of clerical anti-feminism; and if Chaucer, like Dante, gives us fine types of women, these owe far more to the troubadour tradition than to any ecclesiastical source."

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Based on Professor Savine's analysis of the returns in the _Valor Ecclesiasticus_ (Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History), I, 269-288.

[2] I have based this estimate partly on a list compiled by M. E. C. Walcott, _English Minsters_, vol. II ("The English Student's Monasticon"), partly on one compiled by Miss H. T. Jacka in an unpublished thesis on _The Dissolution of the English Nunneries_; the figures, if not always exactly correct, are approximately correct as far as the classification into groups, according to size, is concerned. It must be remembered, however, that there were more nuns at the beginning than at the end of the period 1270-1536; the convents tended to diminish in size, especially those which were poor and small to begin with.

[3] These are discussed in Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, pp. 112 _sqq._

[4] _V.C.H. Sussex_, II, p. 84.

[5] _Ib._ II, p. 63.

[6] Hugo, _Medieval Nunneries of the County of Somerset, Minchin Barrow_, p. 108.

[7] Well-known names occur, for instance, among the prioresses of the poor convents of Ivinghoe, Ankerwyke and Little Marlow in Bucks. _V.C.H. Bucks_, I, p. 355.

[8] Lysons, _Magna Britannia_, V, p. 113. Compare the remark of a nun of Wenningsen, near Hanover, who considered herself insulted when the great reformer Busch addressed her not as "Klosterfrau" but as "Sister." "You are not my brother, wherefore then call me sister? My brother is clad in steel and you in a linen frock" (1455). Quoted in Coulton, _Medieval Garner_, p. 653.

[9] _Wykeham's Register_ (Hants. Rec. Soc.), II, p. 462. Cf. _ib._ II, p. 61.

[10] E.g. _Reg. ... of Rigaud de Asserio_ (Hants. Rec. Soc.), p. 394; _Reg. ... Stephani Gravesend_ (Cant. and York. Soc.), p. 200; _Wykeham's Register_, _loc. cit._

[11] Bishop Cobham of Worcester at Wroxall in 1323 (_V.C.H. Warwick_, II, p. 71). Cf. the case of Usk in Monmouthshire, "in quo monasterio solum virgines de nobili prosapia procreate recipi consueverunt et solent" (_Chron. of Adam of Usk_, ed. E. M. Thompson, p. 93).

[12] Gibbons, _Early Lincoln Wills_, p. 117.

[13] Sharpe, _Cal. of Wills enrolled in the Court of Husting_, I, p. 236. Cf. _ib._ I, p. 350 and _Testamenta Eboracensia_ (Surtees Soc.), I, pp. 170, 354.

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

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

[16] Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, p. 98.

[17] William de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, mentions two daughters, nuns at Shouldham, in his will (1296). Sir Guy de Beauchamp mentions his little daughter Katherine, a nun there (1359) and his father Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, mentions the same Katherine and his own daughter Margaret, nuns there (1369). Katherine was still alive in 1400, when she is mentioned in the next Earl's will. _Testamenta Vetusta_, I, pp. 52, 63, 79, 153.

[18] See below, p. 15.

[19] See below, pp. 39-40.

[20] "Et pur certayn cause nous auens enioynt a dame Margaret Darcy, vostre soer, qel ne passe les lieus de cloistre, cest assauoir de quoer, de cloistre, de ffraitour, dormitorie ou fermerie, tantque nous en aueroms autre ordeigne, et qele ne parle od nul estraunge gentz, et soit darreyn enstalle, et en chescun lieu qele ne porte anele, et qele die chescun iour un sautier et june la quarte et la sexte ferie a payn et eu. Ensement voilloms qe la dit dame Margaret se puisse confesser au confessour de vostre couent quant ele auera mester." _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Gynewell_, f. 34_d_. It looks like the penance for immorality.

[21] "Item quod nulla monialis ibidem cameram teneat priuatam, sed quod omnes moniales sane in dormitorio et infirme in infirmaria iaceant atque cubant, preter dominam Margaretam Darcy, monialem prioratus antedicti, cui ob nobilitatem sui generis de camera sua quam tenet in privata, absque tamen alia liberata panis et ceruisie, extra casum infirmitatis manifeste, volumus ad tempus tollerare." _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Buckingham_, f. 397_d_.

[22] _Canterbury Tales_ (ed. Skeat), Prologue, ll. 127 ff. It is interesting to notice that the _Roman de la Rose_, of which Chaucer translated a fragment, contains some remarks upon this subject which are almost paraphrased in his description of Madame Eglentyne.

[23] _La Clef d'Amors ..._, ed. Doutrepont (1890), V, 3227 ff.

[24] Le Chastiement des Dames (Barbazon and Méon, _Fabliaux et Contes_, II, p. 200).

[25] See Mrs Green, _Town Life in the Fifteenth Century_, II, pp. 77-80.

[26] Langland, _Vision of Piers the Plowman_, ed. Skeat, passus A, VIII, l. 31.

[27] _English Gilds_, ed. L. T. Smith (E.E.T.S.), p. 194.

[28] _Ibid._ p. 340.

[29] Sharpe, _op. cit._ I, p. 589.

[30] Sharpe, _op. cit._ II, p. 299. The Fishmongers, who, up to 1536, were divided into the two companies of salt-fishmongers and stock-fishmongers, were a powerful and important body, as the annals of the City of London in the fourteenth century show, "these fishmongers" in the words of Stow "having been jolly citizens and six mayors of their company in the space of twenty-four years." Stow's _Survey of London_ (ed. Kingsford), I, p. 214.

[31] Sharpe, _op. cit._ II, p. 606.

[32] Sharpe, _op. cit._ I, p. 594.

[33] Rye, _Carrow Abbey_, App. IX, pp. xvi, xvii, xviii.

[34] See _Archaeologia_, XV (1806), pp. 100-101; _ib._ XXXV (1853), p. 464.

[35] _V.C.H. London_, I, p. 518.

[36] _Ib._ pp. 518-9.

[37] Sharpe, _op. cit._ II, p. 267. Two years previously (1396) John de Nevill had left legacies to his sister Eleanor and to his daughter Elizabeth, minoresses of St Clare; _Durham Wills and Inventories_ (Surtees Soc.), p. 39.

[38] Sharpe, _op. cit._ II, p. 589.

[39] _Ib._ II, p. 331.

[40] _Ib._ II, p. 577.

[41] Not counting legacies left to various nunneries, without specific reference to a relative professed there.

[42] Sharpe, _op. cit._ I, pp. 107, 300, 313, 324, 408, 501, 585, 701. Philip le Taillour had three daughters here in 1292 (I, p. 107), and William de Leyre had three daughters here in 1325 (I, p. 300).

[43] _Ib._ I, pp. 222, 303, 569, 638, 688; II, pp. 20, 76, 115.

[44] _Ib._ I, pp. 229, 303, 342, 400, 435; II, pp. 47, 170. Ten nuns in all.

[45] _Ib._ II, pp. 119, 267, 331, 577, 589.

[46] _Ib._ I, pp. 26, 126, 238, 349, 628. Ralph le Blund's three daughters and his sister-in-law were all nuns here in 1295 (I, p. 126) and Thomas Romayn, alderman and pepperer, left bequests to two daughters and to their aunt in 1313 (_ib._ I, p. 288).

[47] _Ib._ I, pp. 34, 111, 611; II, p. 119.

[48] _Ib._ II, pp. 167, 271, 274.

[49] _Ib._ II, pp. 474, 564.

[50] _Ib._ I, pp. 510, 638.

[51] _Ib._ I, p. 119; II, p. 306.

[52] There are two exceptions, Greenfield (Lincs.) (_ib._ II, p. 327), and Amesbury (Wilts.) (_ib._ II, p. 326), but the testators in these cases are not burgesses, but a knight and a clerk.

[53] The corresponding fines for girls were _merchet_ if they married off the manor and _leyrwite_ if they dispensed with that ceremony. The medieval lord, concerned above all with keeping up the supply of labour upon his manor, naturally held the narrow view of the functions of women, which has been expressed in our day by Kipling: "Now the reserve of a boy is tenfold deeper than the reserve of a maid, she having been made for one end only by blind Nature, but man for several" (_Stalky and Co._ p. 212).

[54] Henry de Causton, _mercator_ of London, left a bequest to Johanna, a "sister" at Ankerwyke, formerly servant to his father (1350). Sharpe, _op. cit._ I, p. 638.

[55] _Register of Bishop Godfrey Giffard_ (Worc. Hist. Soc.), II, pp. 288-9.

[56] _Testamenta Eboracensia_ (Surtees Soc.), I, p. 6.

[57] _Test. Ebor._ I, p. 9, dated 1345. Cf. will of Roger de Moreton "civis et mercerus Ebor." 1390; two of four daughters nuns at St Clement's, York (_ib._ I, p. 133).

[58] Sharpe, _op. cit._ I, p. 400, dated 1335.

[59] _Ib._ I, p. 501, dated 1349.

[60] _Ib._ I, p. 503, dated 1348.

[61] _Testamenta Vetusta_, I, p. 286.

[62] See above, p. 7. There were two Welbys, two Lekes and two Paynelles at Stixwould; _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 76. Other references might be multiplied.

[63] Cf. also Sharpe, _op. cit._ I, p. 238; and _Reg. of Bishop Ginsborough_ (Worc. Hist. Soc.), p. 51.

[64] _Testamenta Eboracensia_ (Surtees Soc.) I, pp. 187 ff. (will of Sir John Fayrfax, rector of Prescot, 1393).

[65] See below, p. 302.

[66] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 172.

[67] On this subject see Coulton, _Monastic Schools in the Middle Ages_ (Medieval Studies), pp. 34-5.

[68] _Hali Meidenhad_, ed. Cockayne (E.E.T.S.), p. 8.

[69] _Old English Miscellany_, ed. Morris (E.E.T.S., 1872), p. 96.

[70] _Clene Maydenhod_, ed. Furnivall (E.E.T.S.), pp. 5-6.

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

[72] _The English Register of Godstow Nunnery_ (E.E.T.S.), introduction, pp. xxv-xxvi. Cf. _Cartulary of Buckland Priory_ (Somerset Rec. Soc.), introd. pp. xxii-xxiii.

[73] _Reg. of Godstow_, u.s. no. 76, pp. 78-9. See also an exceedingly interesting action of _quare impedit_ brought by John Stonor (probably the Lord Chief Justice) against the Prioress of Marlow in 1339, probably merely to secure a record. He had bought the advowsons of the two moieties of the church of Little Marlow and an acre of land with each and conveyed the whole to the Prioress, subject to the provision "that out of it the said Prioress and nuns shall find Joan and Cecily, sisters of the aforesaid John, and Katherine, daughter of the aforesaid John, nuns of the aforesaid place, 40_s._ a year each during their lives, and also for the sustenance of all the nuns towards their kitchen half a mark of silver each year and for the vesture of the twenty nuns serving God there each year 10_s._ of silver, to be divided equally between them." After the deaths of the Stonor ladies all the money is to go to the common funds of the house, with certain provisions. _Year Books of Edward III, years XII and XIII_, ed. L. O. Pike (Rolls Series, 1885), pp. cxi-cxvii, 260-2. For the appropriation of these money dowries to the use of the individual nuns, see below, Ch. VIII, _passim_.

[74] Nicolas, _Testamenta Vetusta_, I, p. 118.

[75] Gibbons, _Early Lincoln Wills_, p. 113.

[76] _Testamenta Eboracensia_, I, p. 11.

[77] See above, p. 6. See also the interesting deed (1429-30) in which Richard Fairfax "scwyer," made arrangements for the entrance of his daughter "Elan," to Nunmonkton, always patronised by the Fairfaxes. He left an annual rent of five marks in trust for her "yat my doghtir Elan be made nun in ye house of Nun Monkton, and yat my saydes feffis graunt a nanuel rent of fourty schilyngs ... terme of ye lyffe of ye sayd Elan to ye tym be at sche be a nun." His feoffees were to pay nineteen marks "for ye makyng ye sayd Elan nun." And "if sche will be no nun" his wife and feoffees were to marry her at their discretion. _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 123. Cf. an interesting case in which Matilda Toky, the orphan of a citizen of London, is allowed by the mayor and aldermen to become a nun of Kilburn in 1393, taking with her her share (£38. 5_s._ 4-1/2_d._) of her father's estate, after which the prioress of the house comes in person to receive the money from the chamberlain of the city. Riley, _Memorials of London_, p. 535. The father's will is in Sharpe, _op. cit._ II, pp. 288-9; he had three sons and a daughter besides Matilda.

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

[79] Quoted in _V.C.H. Beds._ I, p. 254.

[80] _Testamenta Eboracensia_, III, p. 168. The sum left for entrance of Ellen Fairfax to Nunmonkton was about the same, £10. 13_s._ 4_d._ (16 marks). Above, p. 18, note 4. There is an interesting note of the outfit provided for an Austin nun of Lacock on her profession in 1395, attached to a page of the cartulary of that house. "Memorandum concerning the expenses of the veiling of Joan, daughter of Nicholas Samborne, at Lacock, viz. in the 19th year of the reign of King Richard the second after the conquest. First paid to the abbess for her fee 20_s._ then to the convent 40_s._, to each nun 2_s._ Item paid to John Bartelot for veils and linen cloth 102_s._" (this large sum may include a supply for the whole house). "Item to a certain woman for one veil 40_d._ Item for one mantle 10_s._ Item for one fur of shankes (a cheap fur made from the underpart of rabbit skin) for another mantle, 16_s._ Item for white cloth to line the first mantle, 16_s._ Item for white cloth for a tunic 10_s._ Item one fur for the aforesaid pilch 20_s._ Item for a maser (cup) 10_s._ Item for a silver spoon 2_s._ 6_d._ Item for blankets 6_s._ 8_d._ Item in canvas for a bed 2_s._ Item for the purchase of another mantle of worsted 20_s._ Item paid at the time of profession at one time 20_s._ Item for a new bed 20_s._ Item for other necessaries 20_s._ ... Item paid to the said Joan by the order of the abbess." The total (excluding the last item) is £17. 6_s._ 2_d._ _Archaeol. Journ._ 1912, LXIX, p. 117.

[81] Mackenzie E. C. Walcott, _Inventories of ... the Benedictine Priory of St Mary and Sexburga in the Island of Shepey for Nuns_ (1869) (reprinted from _Archaeologia Cantiana_, VII, pp. 272-306). Compare the letter to Cromwell from Sir Thomas Willoughby, who asks that Elizabeth Rede, his sister-in-law, who had resigned the office of Abbess of Malling, may have suitable lodging within the monastery, "not only that but such plate as my father-in-law did deliver her to occupy in her chamber, that she may have it again." Wood, _Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies_, II, p. 153.

[82] "Nullus praelatus in recipiendo monacho, vel canonico, vel sanctimoniali pretium sumere vel exigere ab hiis, qui ad conversionem veniunt, aliqua pacti occasione praesumat. Si quis autem hoc fecerit anathema sit." Wilkins, _Concilia_, I, p. 477.

[83] "Monachi etiam sub pretio non recipiantur in monasterio.... Si quis autem exactus pro sua receptione aliquid dederit, ad canonicos ordines non accedat." _Ib._ p. 508.

[84] "Praeterea statuimus, praesenti concilio approbante, ut nullus de cetero pro receptione alicujus in religionis domum pecuniam vel quicquam aliud extorquere praesumat; adeo ut si pro paupertate domus ingrediens debeat vestire seipsum praetextu vestimentorum ultra justum pretium eorum ab eo nihil penitus recipiatur." _Ib._ p. 591.

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

[86] _Reg. of Roger de Norbury_ (Will. Salt Archaeol. Soc. Collections, I), p. 259.

[87] _Reg. of Ralph of Shrewsbury_ (Somerset Rec. Soc.), p. 684.

[88] _MS. Register at New College_, f. 87_d_.

[89] _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Bokyngham_, f. 397_d_.

[90] _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 49.

[91] See _Linc. Visit._ II, and _Alnwick's Visit._ MS., _passim_.

[92] _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 133, 134. See also the very sternly worded prohibition sent by Bishop Spofford of Hereford to Aconbury in 1438. _Reg. Thome Spofford_ (Cantilupe Soc.), pp. 223-4.

[93] _Archaeologia_, XLVII, p. 57.

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

[95] _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 49.

[96] _Reg. Johannis Peckham_ (Rolls Series), I, p. 189.

[97] _Ib._ I, pp. 40-1, 356.

[98] _Wykeham's Reg._ II, pp. 60-61. Cf. _ib._ p. 462.

[99] _Reg. Johannis de Pontissara_, pp. 240, 252.

[100] _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Bokyngham_, f. 397_d_.

[101] _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 53. Cf. Flemyng's injunction in 1422, _ib._

[102] _Testamenta Vetusta_, I, pp. 63-4.

[103] See above, p. 7, note 2.

[104] _V.C.H. London_, I, p. 518.

[105] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 5.

[106] _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 26_d_.

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

[108] Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, p. 248.

[109] _V.C.H. Yorks_, III, p. 163. In 1312 the prioress of Hampole was rebuked for receiving a little girl (_puellulam_), not on account of her youth, but because she had omitted to obtain the archbishop's licence. _Ib._

[110] _Reg. of Archbishop John le Romeyn_ (Surtees Soc.), I, p. 66.

[111] _Reg. Epis. Johannis Peckham_ (Rolls Series), I, p. 356. Compare Caesarius of Heisterbach: "In the diocese of Trèves is a certain convent of nuns named Lutzerath, wherein by ancient custom no girl is received but at the age of seven years or less; which constitution hath grown up for the preservation of that simplicity of mind which maketh the whole body to shine" (_Dial. Mirac._ I, p. 389, quoted in Coulton, _Medieval Garner_, p. 255). The thirteenth century visitations of the diocese of Rouen by Eudes Rigaud make it clear that novices there were often very young, e.g. at St-Saëns in 1266 "una earum erat novicia et minima" (_Reg. Visit. Archiepiscopi Rothomagensis_, ed. Bonnin, p. 566). The Archbishop ordered novices to be professed at the age of fourteen and not before (_ib._ pp. 51, 121, 207).

[112] For example the béguine Christina von Stommeln, who said of herself, "So far back as my memory can reach, from the earliest dawn of my childhood, whensoever I heard the lives and manners, the passion and the death of saints and especially of our Lord Christ and His glorious Mother, then in such hearing I was delighted to the very marrow" (quoted in Coulton, _op. cit._ p. 403). At the age of ten she contracted a mystic marriage with Christ, and at the age of thirteen she joined the béguines at Cologne. Cf. St Catherine of Siena.

[113] Caesarius of Heisterbach, _Dialogus Miraculorum_, ed. Joseph Strange, I, pp. 53-4.

[114] This was Helswindis von Gimmenich, first abbess of Burtscheid after the transference thither of the nuns of St Saviour of Aachen c. 1220-1222. See Quix, _Gesch. der ehemaligen Reichs-Abtei Burtscheid_ (Aachen 1834).

[115] Caesarius, _op. cit._ I, pp. 54-5. For another case of children in this convent see the charming story of Gertrude's purgatory, _ib._ pp. 344-5. There are fifteenth century English translations in the _Myroure of Oure Ladye_ (E.E.T.S.), pp. 46-7 and in _An Alphabet of Tales_ (E.E.T.S.), p. 249. A little girl of nine years old had died, and, after death, appeared in broad daylight in her own place in the choir, next to a child of her own age. The latter was so terrified that she was noticed and on being questioned told the vision to the Abbess (from whom Caesarius professes to have had the story). The Abbess says to the child "Sister Margaret, ... if Sister Gertrude come to thee again, say to her: _Benedicite_, and if she reply to thee, _Dominus_, ask her whence she comes and what she seeks." On the following day (continues Caesarius) "she came again and since she replied _Dominus_ when she was saluted, the maiden added: 'Good Sister Gertrude, why come you at such a time and what seek you with us?' Then she replied: 'I come here to make satisfaction. Because I willingly whispered with thee in the choir, speaking in half tones, therefore am I ordered to make satisfaction in that place where it befell me to sin. And unless thou beware of the same vice, dying thou shalt suffer the same penance.' And when she had four times made satisfaction in the same way (by prostrating herself) she said to her sister: 'Now have I completed my satisfaction; henceforth thou shalt see me no more.' And thus it was done. For in the sight of her friend she proceeded towards the cemetery, passing over the wall by a miracle. Behold such was the purgatory of this virgin." It is a tender little tale, and kinder to childish sins than medieval moralists sometimes were; Saint Douceline beat a little girl of seven (one of her béguines) "so shrewdly that the blood ran down her ribs, saying meanwhile that she would sacrifice her to God" simply because she had looked at some men who were at work in the house (see Coulton, _op. cit._ p. 321).

[116] _V.C.H. Lincs._ II, p. 184. But the usual custom was to place such women as lay boarders in the custody of a nunnery. See below, pp. 419 ff.

[117] "Processus et sententia divortii inter Thomam Tudenham militem et Aliciam filiam quondam Johannis Woodhous armigeri, racione quia est monialis professa in prioratu de Crabhous et nunquam carnaliter cognita per maritum suum predictum durante matrimonio predicto, licet matrimonium predictum duravit et ut vir et uxor cohabitaverunt per spacium viij annorum. Durante matrimonio unicus filius ab eadem suscitatus, non tamen per dictum Thomam maritum suum, sed per Ricardum Stapleton servientem patris ipsius Aliciae" (1437). Her husband's sister Margaret Bedingfield left her a legacy of 10 marks in 1474. _Norfolk Archaeology_ (Norf. and Norwich Arch. Soc.), XIII, pp. 351-2.

[118] _Testamenta Vetusta_, I, p. 74.

[119] _Testamenta Eboracensia_, I, p. 18.

[120] See the letter from John Clusey to Cromwell in her favour: "Rygthe honorable, after most humyll comendacyons, I lykewyce besuche you that the Contents of this my symple Letter may be secret; and that for as myche as I have grete cause to goo home I besuche your good Mastershipe to comand Mr Herytag to give attendans opon your Mastershipe for the knowlege off youre plesure in the seyd secrete mater, whiche ys this, My Lord Cardinall causyd me to put a yong gentyll homan to the Monystery and Nunry off Shafftysbyry, and there to be provessyd, and wold hur to be namyd my doythter; and the troythe ys shew was his dowythter; and now by your Visitacyon she haythe commawynment to departe, and knowythe not whether Wherefore I humely besuche youre Mastershipe to dyrect your Letter to the Abbas there, that she may there contynu at hur full age to be professed. Withoute dowyte she ys other xxiiij yere full, or shalbe at shuche tyme of the here as she was boren, which was abowyte Mydelmas. In this your doyng your Mastershipe shall do a very charitable ded, and also bynd her and me to do you such servyce as lyzthe in owre lytell powers; as knowythe owre Lord God, whome I humely besuche prosperyusly and longe to preserve you. Your orator John Clusey." Ellis, _Original Letters_, Series I, II, pp. 92-3. An injunction had been made that profession made under twenty-four years was invalid, and that novices or girls professed at an earlier age were to be dismissed.

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

[122] _Test. Ebor._ III, p. 289, note. She was one of the Conyers of Hornby (Richmondshire) and is mentioned in the will of her brother Christopher Conyers, rector of Rudby in 1483.

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

[124] _V.C.H. Durham_, II, p. 107. For another instance of dispensation and installation on the same day see _Reg. of Bishop Bronescombe of Exeter_, ed. Hingeston-Randolph, p. 163. For other dispensations _super defectu natalium_, see _Cal. of Papal Letters_, III, p. 470 (cf. _Cal. of Petit._ I, p. 367), V, p. 549 and _Reg. Johannis de Trillek Episcopi Herefordensis_ (Cantilupe Soc.), p. 404.

[125] Rabelais, _Gargantua_, ch. LII.

[126] _Reg. Epis. Johannis Peckham_ (Rolls Ser.), I, p. 367. Cf. pp. 191 ff. below.

[127] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 4. She was also charged with the introduction of unsuitable persons as lay boarders, etc. "Item priorissa introducit in prioratum diuersos extraneos et ignotos, tam mares quam feminas et eos sustentat communibus expensis domus et aliquas quasi ideotas et alias inhabiles fecit moniales. Negat articulum." But _ideota_ probably simply means unlearned here, and in the case of Agnes Hosey, below p. 33. Compare the case at Bival in Normandy 1251. "Ibi est quedam filia burgensis de Vallibus que stulta est." _Reg. Visit. Archiep. Rothomag._, ed. Bonnin, p. 111.

[128] _Visitations of the Diocese of Norwich_ (Camden Soc.), pp. 91, 311.

[129] Gasquet, _Henry VIII and the English Monasteries_ (pop. ed. 1899), p. 293.

[130] Gairdner, _Letters and Papers, etc._, IX, no. 1075.

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

[132] _Visitations of the Diocese of Norwich_, p. 91.

[133] _Sussex Archaeol. Coll._ IX, p. 26.

[134] Wilkins, _Concilia_, II, p. 487.

[135] _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 77.

[136] Hence the certificates sometimes required from bishops to testify whether or not a girl had actually been professed. Such a certificate occurs in _Wykeham's Register_ (II, p. 192), announcing that Joan, daughter of Stephen Asshewy, deceased, was not yet professed at St Mary's Winchester or at any other house. The case of Isabel, daughter of Sir Philip de Coverle, is also interesting; she left the wretchedly poor house of Sewardsley to claim her share of her mother's inheritance, therewith to provide fit maintenance for herself among the nuns; but she was excluded from inheriting with her sisters on account of her religious profession (_V.C.H. Northants._ II, pp. 125-6). Compare also the case of Joan, wife of Nicholas de Grene (1357-8); on a question of inheritance the King's court issued a writ of inquiry as to whether she had been professed at Nuneaton. _Reg. of Bishop Roger de Norbury_ (William Salt Archaeol. Soc. Collections, I), pp. 285-7.

[137] See e.g. the commission for the release of a novice preserved in the register of Ralph Baldock, Bishop of London (1310). "We have lately received the supplication of our beloved daughter in Christ, Cristina de Burgh, daughter of the noble Sir Robert Fitzwalter, to the effect that whereas she was delivered by her parents, while not yet of a marriageable age, into the order of St Augustine in the monastery of Haliwell of our diocese, and for some time wore the habit of a novice therein and still wears it, nevertheless there is no canonical reason why she should not freely return to the world at her own free will; and whereas we do condescend to licence her to return to the world, having diligently made inquiries in the aforesaid monastery for our information as to the truth of the aforesaid matters, etc. etc."; the Bishop having no time to finish the inquiry himself commissions his official to carry it on and to release Cristina if the result is satisfactory. _Reg. Radulphi Baldock_ (Cant. and York Soc.), p. 129. But note that this girl is only a novice.

[138] See below, pp. 502-9, and Note H.

[139] _V.C.H. Bucks._ I, p. 355.

[140] _Cal. of Papal Letters_, I, p. 17.

[141] _P.R.O. Early Chanc. Proc._ 7/70.

[142] _Reg. of Bishop Robert de Stretton_ (Will. Salt Archaeol. Soc. Collections, N.S. VIII), pp. 149-50. With her case compare that of Jane Wadham, which came up after the Dissolution in 1541. She "after arriving at years of discretion was forced by the threats and machinations of malevolent persons to become a regular nun in the house of nuns at Romsey, but having both in public and in private always protested against this seclusion, she conceived herself free from regular observance and in that persuasion joined herself in matrimony with one John Foster, _per verba de presenti_, intending to have the marriage solemnised as soon as she was free from her religion." For the further vicissitudes of her married life, see Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, p. 255. Compare also the case of Margery of Hedsor who left Burnham in 1311. _V.C.H. Bucks._ I, p. 383.

[143] _Year Book of 12 Richard II_, ed. G. F. Deiser (Ames Foundation, 1914), pp. 71-7. Cf. pp. 150-3. It may be noticed that Marvell, in his poem "Upon Appleton House" (dedicated to the great Lord Fairfax), preserves the tradition of another of these cases. In the time of Anna Langton, the last Prioress of Nunappleton, a certain Isabella Thwaites, who had been placed in her charge, fell in love with William Fairfax. The Prioress, who wished her to become a nun, shut her up, but eventually Fairfax, having got the law upon his side, broke his way into the nunnery and released her and she married him in 1518. It was her sons who obtained the house on its dissolution (see Markham, _Life of the great Lord Fairfax_, pp. 3, 4).

For a somewhat similar case to that of Clarice Stil, see _Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. 102, p. 615. A widow Joan de Swainton married a widower Hugh de Tuthill. She had four daughters by her first husband, and of these Hugh married two to his own two sons by his first wife, and placed the other two (they being under twelve years of age) in the nunnery of Kirklees, in order that his two sons might obtain through their wives the whole inheritance of the co-heiresses. But the wardship of the girls belonged to a certain William de Notton, who prepared to dispute the arrangement, but was dissuaded by one of the young nuns.

[144] It was probably more common for widows to take a simple vow of chastity and to remain in the world. But the will of Thomas de Kent, fishmonger, seems to show that it would be considered quite natural for a widow to take the veil, even in the burgess class, which possibly remarried more frequently than the nobles. He left his wife a tenement for life, adding that should she wish to enter any religious house the same was to be sold and half the proceeds given for her maintenance (Sharpe, _op. cit._ I, p. 124).

[145] _V.C.H. Suffolk_, II, p. 113. Cf. _Testamenta Eboracensia_, I, p. 117.

[146] _V.C.H. London_, I, p. 519. Cf. Sybil de Felton, widow of Sir Thomas Morley, who became Abbess of Barking in 1393, at the age of thirty-four. _V.C.H. Essex_, II, p. 121.

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

[148] _English Register of Godstow Nunnery_ (E.E.T.S.), p. 43.

[149] _Ib._ p. 383. Confirmation of this deed of grant by Peter Durant, about 1200. _Ib._ p. 384.

[150] Sharpe, _op. cit._ I, p. 108.

[151] _V.C.H. Essex_, II, pp. 120-2. Margaret Botetourt became Abbess of Polesworth in 1362, by episcopal dispensation, when under the age of twenty. "This early promotion was not the only mark of favour which this prioress obtained. In 1390 the Pope granted her exemption from the jurisdiction of the Archbishop or Bishop of Lichfield." _V.C.H. Warwick_, II, p. 63.

[152] "I take it that Prioress Joan was an heiress, and, in fact, the last representative of the elder line of her family, and the nuns knew perfectly well what they were about when they chose a lady of birth and wealth, and highly connected to boot, to rule over them. They certainly were not disappointed in any expectations they may have formed. The new prioress set to work in earnest to make the nunnery into quite a new and imposing place and her friends and kinsfolk rallied round her nobly." Jessopp, _Ups and Downs of an Old Nunnery_ in _Frivola_, pp. 59-60.

[153] _Reg. of Crabhouse Nunnery_, ed. Mary Bateson (_Norf. Archaeology_, XI), pp. 57-62 _passim_.

[154] They are as follows: (1) _congé d'élire_ by the Bishop-Elect as patron, (2) notification by the subprioress and nuns of the date appointed for the election, (3) formal warning by the subprioress that all who ought not to be present should leave the chapter house, (4) notification of the election of Alice de la Flagge, (5) declaration of Alice's assent, (6) letter from subprioress and convent to the Bishop-Elect praying him to confirm the election, (7) letter from the Prior of Worcester to the same effect, to the Bishop-Elect, (8) the same to the commissary general, (9) commission from the Bishop-Elect to the Prior and to the commissary-general, empowering them to receive, examine and confirm the election, (10) instrument by the subprioress and convent appointing Richard de Bereburn, chaplain, their proctor to present the elect to the Bishop-Elect, (11) another appointing two of the nuns as proctors "to instruct and do things concerning the business of the election," (12) decree by the subprioress and convent, describing the method and result of the election and addressed to the Bishop-Elect, (13) acts concerning the election made before the Bishop's commissaries by Richard de Bereburn, proctor, by the subprioress and by the two nuns, _instructrices_, examined on oath, (14) certificate by the Dean of the Christianity of Worcester that he had proclaimed the election, (15) confirmation of the election by the commissaries, (16) final declaration by the Prior of this confirmation and of the installation and benediction of the new prioress and of the injunction of obedience upon the nuns, and (17) a certificate by the commissaries of the Bishop-Elect that the business was completed. _Reg. Sede Vacante_ (Worc. Hist. Soc.), pp. 111-4; the text in Nash, _Hist. and Antiquities of Worcestershire_ (1781), I, pp. 212-6, which also contains many documents relating to the election of other prioresses of this house. There are frequent notices of elections in episcopal registers; for other very detailed accounts, see _Reg. of Bishop Grandisson of Exeter_, ed. Hingeston-Randolph, pt III, pp. 999-1002 (Canonsleigh) and _Reg. of Ralph of Shrewsbury_ (Somerset Rec. Soc.) pp. 284-7 (Cannington). See also Eckenstein, _Woman under Monasticism_, pp. 367-8.

[155] See e.g. _V.C.H. Glouc._ II, p. 93; _Reg. of Bishop Grandisson_, pt II, p. 742; _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 114-5, 120, 124; Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 636; _ib._ V, p. 207; _V.C.H. Durham_, II, p. 107.

[156] Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 458.

[157] Evidently this was the usual payment here, for, in the roll for 1392-3, there is an item "Paye al officiale pour stalling de prioris x_s._" _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1260/4.

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

[159] The Cistercians fixed the age at 30. Later the Council of Trent fixed it at 40 including 8 years of profession.

[160] An election by acclamation was said to be conducted _via Spiritus sancti_ or _per inspirationem_. For this and the methods of election _via scrutinii_ and _via compromissi_, see J. Wickham Legg, _On the Three Ways of Canonical Election_ (_Trans. St Paul's Eccles. Soc._ III, 299-312).

[161] _Reg. Sede Vacante_ (Worc. Hist. Soc.), p. 114, and Nash, _op. cit._ I, p. 214.

[162] From a document preserved at the Exchequer Gate, Lincoln.

[163] For the following account, see _Linc. Epis. Reg. Visit. Longland_, ff. 22-25.

[164] Compare the complaint of one of the nuns at St Michael's Stamford in 1445, "Dicit quod priorissa est sibi nimis rigorosa in correccionibus, nam pro leuibus punit eam rigorose." _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 96.

[165] Dugdale, _Mon._ III, p. 415. For another instance of disturbances in a convent caused by the appointment of a Prioress (here the head of the house) by the Bishop contrary to the will of the nuns, see two letters written by the nuns of Stratford to Cromwell, about the same time that Longland was having such trouble at Elstow. In one they ask his help "for the removing of our supposed prioress," explaining "Sir, since the time that we put up our supplication unto the king, we have been worse entreated than ever we were before, for meat, drink and threatening words; and as soon as we speak to have anything remedied she biddeth us to go to Cromwell and let him help us; and that the old lady, who is prioress in right, is like to die for lack of sustenance and good keeping, for she can get neither meat, drink nor money to help herself." In another letter they report "that the chancellor of my lord of London (the Bishop) hath been with us yesterday and that he sayeth the prioress shall continue and be prioress still, in spite of our teeth, and of their teeths that say nay to it, and that he commanded her to assault us and to punish us, that other may beware by us." Wood, _Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies_, I, nos. xxx and xxxi, pp. 68-70.

[166] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 167-9.

[167] _Ib._ III, p. 180 and _Reg. of John le Romeyn_ (Surtees Soc.), I, pp. 213-4. Whether any nuns were sent to Rosedale does not appear, but shortly afterwards two nuns, Elizabeth de Rue and Helewis Darains, were sent to Nunburnholme and to Wykeham respectively; these punishments may not have been connected with the election trouble. _Reg. Romeyn_, I, pp. 177, 214 note, 225; compare p. 216. Josiana appears to have been twice Prioress; she was confirmed in 1290 and finally resigned because of old age in 1320, but Joan de Moubray is mentioned as Prioress in 1308 and she resigned in 1309. _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 181. There was discord over an election at St Clement's, York, in 1316, one party in the convent electing Agnes de Methelay, and the other Beatrice de Brandesby. _Sede vacante_, the Dean and Chapter appointed the former. _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 129. See also a case at Goring. _V.C.H. Oxon._ II, p. 103.

[168] Translated from Caesarius of Heisterbach's _Dialogus Miraculorum_ in Coulton, _A Medieval Garner_, pp. 251-2.

[169] Dugdale, _Mon._ II, p. 318.

[170] See Brewer, _Reign of Henry VIII_, II, pp. 281-3.

[171] See Wood, _op. cit._ II, nos. xxi, xxii, pp. 52-6. (See nos. xxiii, xxiv, xxv, lxxiii and lxxiv for further letters from Margaret Vernon.)

[172] See, for example, the account in the _St Albans Chronicles_ (Rolls Series) of the great costs incurred by the Abbots of St Albans in seeking confirmation here. A detailed account of expenses incurred at Rome for the confirmation of Abbot John IV in 1302 has been translated in Coulton, _Medieval Garner_, p. 517; the total was 2561 marks sterling, i.e. about £34,000 in modern money. See also Froude's essay entitled "Annals of an English Abbey" in his _Short Studies on Great Subjects_, 3rd ser. pp. 1 _sqq._

[173] Pierre Du Bois, _De Recuperatione Terre Sancte_, ed. Ch.-V. Langlois (Paris, 1891), p. 83.

[174] Dugdale, _Mon._ III, p. 363.

[175] At the time of the suppression Joan Scott "late prioress" is placed second in the list of nuns at Handale and is described as "aet. 90 and blynd." _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 166. At Esholt the ex-prioress was over 70 and is described as "decrepita et non abilis ad equitandum, neque eundum." _Ib._ p. 162.

[176] Wood, _op. cit._ II, p. 153. See A. H. Thompson, _English Monasteries_, p. 123.

[177] _V.C.H. Suffolk_, II, p. 116. See also the provision made for Joyce Brome, ex-prioress of Wroxall. Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 89 note. For the case of Isabel Spynys, prioress of Wilberfoss (1348), see _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 126; and for an example of such an arrangement at a priory of monks see the very detailed ordinance for the living of John Assheby, ex-prior of Daventry, by Bishop Flemyng of Lincoln in 1420. _Linc. Visit._ I, pp. 39-42. It was not unusual to make provision in the form of corrodies such as these for other nuns, who were prevented by age and infirmity from taking part in the communal life of the convent. Isabel Warde of Moxby, "impotens et surda," held such a grant for life at the time of the dissolution (_V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 239) and Margaret de Shyrburn of Yedingham, who was ill of dropsy, had a secular girl to wait on her in 1314. _Ib._ p. 127 note. Compare the amusing case of Joan Heyronne of St Helen's, Bishopsgate (1385), who was ill of gout and not sympathised with by her sisters (_V.C.H. London_, I, p. 458), and see also cases at Romsey (1507), Liveing, _op. cit._ p. 230; Malling (1400), _Cal. of Pap. Letters_, V, p. 355; and St Mary's, Neasham, _V.C.H. Durham_, II, p. 107.

[178] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 120-1. Compare an amusing and very similar disturbance at Flixton between 1514 and 1532. _Visit. of Dioc. Norwich_, ed. Jessopp (Camden Soc.), pp. 142-4, 185, 190, 261, 318.

[179] The abbess's or prioress's chamber is constantly mentioned in the surveys of nunneries made at the time of the Dissolution, e.g. at Arthington, Wykeham, Basedale and Kirklees (_Yorks. Archaeol. Journ._ IX, pp. 212, 326, 327, 332); at Cheshunt (Cussans, _Hist. of Herts., Hertford Hundred_, II, p. 270), Sheppey (Mackenzie E. C. Walcott, _Inventories of St Mary's Hospital, Dover, etc._ p. 28), Kilburn (Dugdale, _Mon._ III, p. 424). See also the inventory of the goods of Langley in 1485 (Walcott, _Inventory of St Mary's Benedictine Nunnery at Langley_ [Leic. Architec. Soc. 1872], p. 4). The last three contain interesting inventories of the furniture of the prioress's chamber. At Sheppey it was hung with green "saye" and contained "a trussyng bed of waynscot with testar, sylar and cortens of red and yelow sarcenet"; at Kilburn it was hung with "four peces of sey redde and grene, with a bordure of story," and contained "a standinge bedd with four posts of weynscott, a trundle bedd under the same ... a syller of yelowe and redde bokerame and three curteyns of the same work." At Langley also there were two beds in the prioress's chamber "hur owne bed" and "ye secunde bed in hur chambur." Clearly the prioress nearly always had a nun to sleep with her, and the evidence of visitations bears this out; see e.g. cases at Redlingfield, 1427 (_V.C.H. Suffolk_, II, p. 83), Littlemore, 1445 (_Linc. Visit._ II, p. 217, "iacet de nocte in eodem lecto cum priorissa"), Flamstead, 1530 (_V.C.H. Herts._ IV, p. 433). For the position of the prioress's chamber see plan of the nunnery buildings of St Radegund's, Cambridge (now Jesus College) (Gray, _Priory of St Radegund, Cambridge_, p. 53).

[180] Dugdale, _Mon._ II, p. 458.

[181] _Ib._ I, pp. 443, 445.

[182] _Reg. Epis. Johannis Peckham_ (Rolls Series), I, p. 84.

[183] _Reg. Epis. Johannis Peckham_, II, pp. 651-2.

[184] _Ib._ II, pp. 659-60, 662-3. For another instance of a prioress faring better than her nuns, see Archbishop Lee's injunctions to Nunappleton in 1534: "That their be no difference betwene the breade and ale prepared for the prioresse and the bredde and ale provided for the covent, but that she and they eatt of oon breade, and drinke of oon drinke and of oon ale." _Yorks. Archaeol. Journ._ XVI. pp. 443-4.

[185] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 214.

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

[187] _Ib._ II, p. 124.

[188] _V.C.H. Lincs._ II, pp. 155, 131-2.

[189] Sometimes, however, bishops licenced the head of a house to hear the service separately, e.g. in 1401 Wykeham licenced dame Lucy Everard, abbess of Romsey, to hear divine service in her oratory during one year, in the presence of one of her sisters and of her servants (_familia_). _Wykeham's Reg._ (Hants. Rec. Soc.), II, p. 538. Cf. similar licence to the prioress of Polsloe in 1388. _Reg. of Bishop Brantyngham of Exeter_, pt. II, p. 675.

[190] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 8. The same injunction was sent to Stixwould. _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 75_d_.

[191] _Ib._ f. 83_d_. The next year when Alnwick came again this prioress announced that she did not lie in the dorter, nor keep frater, cloister and church on account of bodily weakness; she alleged that he had dispensed her from these observances, which he denied. _Ib._ f. 39_d_. Compare injunctions to Godstow, Gracedieu and Langley, _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 115, 125, 177. For other injunctions on these points, see _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 78 (Nuncoton, 1440); _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 119 (Nunburnholme, 1318), 120 (Nunkeeling, 1314), 124 (Thicket, 1309), 188 (Arthington, 1318), 239 (Moxby, 1318).

[192] _Reg. Epis. Johannis Peckham_ (Rolls Series), II, p. 662. Compare _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 113, 239 and _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 6.

[193] Before it was realised that this office was often held by a woman in nunneries, scholars were much exercised to explain this passage in Chaucer's _Prologue_, though a search through Dugdale would have provided them with several instances. The office is still held in modern convents, and Dr Furnivall printed an interesting letter from a Benedictine nun, describing the duties attached to it. "It is in fact the nun who has special charge of attending on the Abbess and giving assistance when she needs it, either in writing when she (the Abbess) is busy, or in attending when sick, etc., but that which comes most often to claim her services is, on the twelve or fourteen great festivals," when the chaplain attends the Abbess in the choir and holds her crosier, while she reads the hymns, lesson, etc. _Anglia_, IV, pp. 238-9. In the middle ages the chief stress was laid on the constant presence of a witness to the superior's mode of life, that it might be beyond suspicion. Miss Eckenstein has pointed out that in the allegory of the "Ghostly Abbey," by the béguine Mechthild of Magdeburg, in which the nuns are personified Virtues, Charity is Abbess and Meekness her Chaplain; and in the English version of the poem printed by Wynkyn de Worde (1500), Charity was Abbess and Mercy and Truth were to be her "chapeleyns" and to go about with her wherever she went. The Prioress (Wisdom) and the Sub-Prioress (Meekness) were also to have chaplains (Righteousness and Peace) because they were "most of worship." Eckenstein, _Woman under Monasticism_, pp. 339, 377.

[194] _New College_ MS., f. 88_d_.

[195] _Sussex Archaeol. Coll._ IX, p. 15.

[196] _Visit. of Dioc. of Norwich_ (Camden Soc.), p. 190.

[197] _Ib._ p. 108.

[198] _Ib._ p. 138.

[199] _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 50. For other references to the abbess's nun-chaplain at Elstow, see _Archaeologia_, XLVII, p. 52 and Dugdale, _Mon._ III, p. 415.

[200] _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 6. The Prioress was Denise Loweliche (see p. 458 below) and at the visitation Dame Margaret Loweliche "_cappellana priorisse_" (evidently a relative) said that she had held the office for the last eight years. Another nun said "that the Prioress ever holds and has held for seven years, one and the same nun as chaplain, without ever replacing her by another, and when she goes out she always has this young nun with her."

[201] E.g. at Campsey (1532) and Redlingfield (1526 and 1532). _Visit. of Dioc. of Norwich_, pp. 224, 291, 297. At Elstow (1539). Dugdale, _Mon._ III, p. 415. At Barking (still in receipt of pension in 1553). _Ib._ I, p. 438 note.

[202] _Litt. Johannis Peckham_ (Rolls Series), II, pp. 658-9. Compare injunctions to the Abbess of Chatteris in 1345. Dugdale, _Mon._ II, p. 619.

[203] _Visit. of Dioc. of Norwich_ (Camden Soc.), pp. 108, 109, 138-9, 143, 185, 190-1.

[204] See _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 3, 48, 120, 130, 133; and _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. ff. 83, 75_d_, 26_d_.

[205] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 49.

[206] _Visit. of Dioc. of Norwich_, p. 108.

[207] _Ib._ pp. 143, 191.

[208] See below, p. 216 ff.

[209] Among "greuous defautes" enumerated in the "additions to the rules" of Syon Abbey (fifteenth century) is the following: "If any lye in a wayte, or in a spye, or els besyly and curyously serche what other sustres or brethren speke betwene themselfe, that they afterwardes may revele or schewe the saynge of the spekers to ther grete hurte"; others are, "if any sowe dyscorde amonge the sustres and brethren," and "if any be founde a preuy rowner or bakbyter." Aungier, _Hist. and Antiquities of Syon Monastery_, p. 257.

[210] _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 121, 123.

[211] _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 123, 185, 133.

[212] See e.g. _Visit. of Dioc. of Norwich_ (Camden Soc.), pp. 143, 290.

[213] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 186. Compare _ib._ pp. 124, 135 (Gracedieu and Heynings); _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Gynewell_, ff. 139-40 (Elstow, 1359); _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Bokyngham_, ff. 343 (Elstow, 1387), 397 (Heynings, 1392); _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 117 (Moxby, 1252), 164 (Hampole, 1314).

[214] Dugdale, _Mon._ III, pp. 359-60. There are various other references to "Wynge" (i.e. Wing in Buckinghamshire) in the account, e.g. "Item receyvid of Richard Saie for the ferme of the personage of Wynge for a yere and a half within the tyme of this accompte xlviij_li_. Item. rec. of the same Richard Saie as in party of payment of the same ferme for a quarter of a yere x_s_," "item, paid to the bisshop of Lincolns officers for the licens of Wynge for ij yere xxij_s_ viij_d_. Item paid to the ffermour of Wynge for his goune for ij yere xiij_s_ iiij_d_." For the London lawsuit see below, p. 202.

[215] See _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1260, _passim_. The London references are in 1260/7 and 1260/17 respectively.

[216] Constitutions of the legate Ottobon in 1268. Wilkins, _Concilia_, II, p. 18.

[217] Hugo, _Medieval Nunneries of the County of Somerset, Minchin Barrow_, p. 81.

[218] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 187.

[219] _Wykeham's Reg._ (Hants Rec. Soc.), p. 500.

[220] _V.C.H. Dorset_, II, p. 89. In 1374 the Abbess of Canonsleigh had licence to have divine service celebrated in her presence in the chapel of St Theobald in the parish of Burlescombe "dicto monasterio contigua," but her nuns were not to leave the claustral precincts on this pretext. _Reg. of Bishop Brantyngham_, ed. Hingeston-Randolph, pt I, p. 335.

[221] Wood, _op. cit._ II, pp. 156-7. Even Ap Rice seems to have considered Dr Legh's enforcement of enclosure as overstrict "for as many of these houses stand by husbandry they must fall to decay if the heads are not allowed to go out." Gairdner, _Letters and Papers, etc._ IX, no. 139; cf. preface, p. 20.

[222] Rye, _Carrow Abbey_, p. 8.

[223] _Linc. Dioc. Documents_, ed. A. Clark (E.E.T.S.), pp. 50, 53.

[224] _Test. Ebor._ I, p. 314.

[225] For instance Margaret Fairfax of Nunmonkton was one of the _supervisores testamenti_ of John Fairfax, rector of Prescot, in 1393 and of Thomas Fairfax of Walton in 1394. _Ib._ I, pp. 190, 204. The abbess of Syon was one of the three overseers of the will of Sir Richard Sutton, steward of her house in 1524. Aungier, _Hist. and Antiquities of Syon Mon._ p. 532. Emmota Farethorpe, Prioress of Wilberfoss, was executrix of John Appilby of Wilberfoss in 1438. _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 126 note. Margaret Delaryver, Prioress of St Clement's York, was executrix of Elizabeth Medlay (probably a boarder there). _Ib._ III, p. 130. Joan Kay in 1525 left most of her property to her daughter the Prioress of Stixwould to found an obit there and made her executrix. _Linc. Wills_, ed. C. W. Foster (Linc. Rec. Soc.), I, p. 155. Sir John Beke, vicar of Aby, who left the greater part of his property to Greenfield for the same purpose, made the Prioress Isabel Smith executrix. _Ib._ I, p. 162. These offices were sometimes filled by nuns other than heads of houses, e.g. the will of John Suthwell, rector of St Mary's South Kelsey, Lincs., was witnessed by his sister Margaret, a nun, in 1390. Gibbons, _Early Linc. Wills_, p. 76. Alice Conyers of Nunappleton was made coadjutress of the executors of Master John de Woodhouse in 1345. _Test. Ebor._ I, p. 15. For Carrow nuns (usually the prioress) as executors, supervisors and witnesses, see Rye, _Carrow Abbey_, pp. xv, xvi, xxii, xxiii, xxix.

[226] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 2.

[227] _V.C.H. Sussex_, II, p. 84. See _Rot. Parl._ I, p. 147.

[228] _An Alphabet of Tales_, ed. M. M. Banks (E.E.T.S., 1904), no. XV, pp. 13-14. I have modernised spelling. This fifteenth century English version is ultimately derived from an _exemplum_ by Jacques de Vitry, of which it is a close translation. _Exempla e sermonibus vulgaribus J. Vitriacensis_, ed. T. F. Crane, no. LIX, pp. 23-4.

[229] "Item Priorissa raro venit ad matutinas aut missas. Domina Katerina Hoghe dicit quod quedam moniales sunt quodammodo sompnolentes, tarde veniendo ad matutinas et alias horas canonicas." _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 133.

[230] J. P. Krapp, _The Legend of St Patrick's Purgatory; its later Literary History_ (1899), pp. 75-6.

[231] _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 3, 4, 5, 8. The Prioress of Brewood White Ladies in Shropshire was severely rebuked in the first part of the fourteenth century for _expensae voluptuariae_, dress and laxity of rule. _Reg. of Roger de Norbury_ (Will. Salt Archaeol. Soc. Collections, I), p. 261.

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

[233] _Sussex Archaeol. Coll._ IX, pp. 7-9.

[234] Compare the anecdote related by Caesarius of Heisterbach about Ensfrid of Cologne. "One day he met the abbess of the holy Eleven Thousand Virgins; before her went her clerks, wrapped in mantles of grey fur like the nuns; behind her went her ladies and maidservants, filling the air with the sound of their unprofitable words; while the Dean was followed by his poor folk who besought him for alms. Wherefore this righteous man, burning with the zeal of discipline, cried aloud in the hearing of all: 'Oh, lady Abbess, it would better adorn your religion, that ye, like me, should be followed, not by buffoons, but by poor folk!' Whereat she was much ashamed, not presuming to answer so worthy a man." Translated in Coulton, _A Medieval Garner_, p. 251.

[235] _V.C.H. Lincs._ II, p. 148.

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

[237] _V.C.H. Lincs._ II, p. 155. Sometimes however, the heads of houses received episcopal dispensations to reside for a period outside their monasteries, for the sake of health. Joan Formage, Abbess of Shaftesbury, received one in 1368, allowing her to leave her abbey for a year and to reside in her manors for air and recreation. _V.C.H. Dorset_, II, p. 78. Josiana de Anlaby (the Prioress of Swine about whose election there had been so much trouble) had licence in 1303 to absent herself on account of ill-health. Dugdale, _Mon._ V, p. 493.

[238] Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 638.

[239] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 187.

[240] Dugdale, _Mon._ II, p. 619.

[241] _Sussex Archaeol. Coll._ IX, pp. 18-19.

[242] _Ib._ V, p. 256.

[243] _V.C.H. Oxon._ II, p. 78.

[244] _Archaeologia_, XLVIII, pp. 56, 58.

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

[246] _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 120, 121.

[247] _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 2-4, 6.

[248] _Cal. of Pat. Rolls_ (1441-6), p. 141.

[249] _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 46-52.

[250] Compare the complaint of the sisters of the hospital of St James outside Canterbury in 1511, that the Prioress was a _diffamatrix_ of the sisters and used to say publicly in the neighbourhood that they were incontinent _et publice meretrices_, to the great scandal of the house. The ages of the sisters were 84, 80, 50 and 36 respectively and the Prioress herself was 74. _Eng. Hist. Rev._ VI, p. 23.

[251] Compare Archbishop Bowet's injunction to the Prioress of Hampole in 1411 that "Alice Lye, her nun who held the office of _hostilaria_, or anyone who succeeded her in office, should henceforth be free from entering the rooms of guests to lay beds, but that the porter should receive the bedclothes from the _hostilaria_ at the lower gate, and when the guests had departed, should give them back to her at the same place." _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 165. For the charge that the Prioress made the nuns work, compare the case of Eleanor Prioress of Arden in 1396 (pp. 85-6 below) and the case of the Prioress of Easebourne in 1441: "Also the Prioress compels her sisters to work continually like hired workwomen (_ad modum mulieres conducticiarum_) and they receive nothing whatever for their own use from their work, but the prioress takes the whole profit (_totum percipit_)." _Sussex Archaeol. Coll._ IX, p. 7.

[252] Compare the case of Denise Loweliche, p. 458 below.

[253] _Test. Ebor._ I, pp. 283-5 (summary in _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 114-5).

[254] An analysis of receipts and expenditure by the Prioress during her term of office, given at the end of the _comperta_, stands thus:

In the first year: Receipts £22. 7_s._ 6_d._ Expenses £27. 6_s._ 8_d._ In the second year: Receipts £25. 3_s._ 0_d._ Expenses £40. In the third year: Receipts £26. 9_s._ 6_d._ Expenses £27. 3_s._ 0_d._

[255] The nuns of Swine made the same complaint in 1268. "Binis, tamen, diebus in ebdomada aqua pro cervisia eisdem subministratur." _Reg. of Walter Giffard_ (Surtees Soc.), p. 148.

[256] Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 506 note.

[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 Delapré (St Albans) for 2-4 Hen. VII, the "rente fermys" range between £7 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 £2. 11_s._ 2_d._ within the town of St Albans and her rents farm to £4. 13_s._ 2_d._; while outside the town the rents of assize amount to £2. 5_s._ 0_d._ and the rents farm to £11. 19_s._ 8_d._, while four items amounting to £1. 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 Delapré 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_ (£6. 0_s._ 4_d._ in all), _Firma Terrae_ (£13. 0_s._ 3-1/2_d._ in all) and _Firma Molendini_, the farm of a mill (£3. 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 Delapré 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 £14 out of an annual income of £404. 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 Delapré 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 £1 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 £2 from the fair at Woodburyhill, Shaftesbury had £2. 4_s._ 6_d._ from Shaftesbury fair, Malling received £3. 6_s._ 8_d._ from Malling market and fair and £3 from a market "cum terris et tenementis" at Newheth, Blackborough had £1 from Blackborough fair and Elstow had £7. 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 £3. 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 £22 for buying corn and £60. 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 £10. 8_s._ 10_d._ The same John Lyrer buys 230 calf-skins for £3. 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 £10. 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 £60 out of a total income of £404. 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 Comté de Flandre et l'Angleterre au Moyen Âge_ (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, £20. 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 £5. Received from the pardon at the church 6_s._ 8_d._ For the pardon from Lady Idayne and from Emma Okham £1." _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 Pré, 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 Delapré (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 _moiré_ 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 Pré (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 Pré 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 £5. 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 £1329. 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 £40, but one of the nuns said that it had been only £30 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 Delapré 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.

[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 £40, 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. Delapré (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 £3 for the church of Corby, which was appropriated to the nuns, and for other tithes elsewhere. The sum of £3 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 £22. 3_s._ on repairs and other expenses and that the debts "for repairs and other necessary expenses this year" amount to £66. 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.

[861] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, 120, 127, 183. Greenfield may have so enjoined other houses; the injunctions are not always fully summarised. As to nuns' embroidery there is an interesting passage in the thirteenth century German poem _Helmbrecht_ by Wernher "the Gardener": "Old farmer Helmbrecht had a son. Young Helmbrecht's yellow locks fell down to his shoulders. He tucked them into a handsome silken cap, embroidered with doves and parrots and many a picture. This cap had been embroidered by a nun who had run away from her convent through a love adventure, as happens to so many. From her Helmbrecht's sister Gotelind had learned to embroider and to sew. The girl and her mother had well earned that from the nun, for they gave her in pay a calf, and many cheeses and eggs." J. Harvey Robinson, _Readings in Eur. Hist._ I, pp. 418-9, translated from Freytag, _Bilder aus der deutschen Vergangenheit_ (1876, II, pp. 52 ff.).

[862] _Manners and Household Expenses_ (Roxburghe Club 1841), p. 18.

[863] Gasquet, _Engl. Monastic Life_, p. 170.

[864] _Trans. St Paul's Eccles. Soc._ VII, pt II (1912), p. 54.

[865] _Ancren Riwle_, ed. Gasquet, p. 318.

[866] See below, p. 655.

[867] Wood, _Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies_, II, pp. 229-31.

[868] Peckham, forbidding the nuns of Barking (1279) to eat or sleep in private rooms or to receive mass there, makes an exception for those who are seriously ill, "in which case we permit the confessor and the doctor, also the father or brother, to have access to them." _Reg. Epis. Johannis Peckham_, I, p. 84. Cf. _ib._ II, pp. 652, 663. For nuns and medicine see S. Luce, _La Jeunesse de Bertrand de Guesclin_ (1882), p. 10.

[869] At Romsey Abbey a pittance of sixpence was due to each nun "when blood is let" (see Bishop John de Pontoise's injunctions in 1302 and those of Bishop Woodlock in 1311, both of which refer to the payments not having been made). Bishop Woodlock enjoined that "Nuns who have been bled shall be allowed to enter the cloister if they wish." Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, pp. 100, 103, 104. In 1338 Abbot Michael of St Albans orders all the nuns of Sopwell to attend the service of prime, "horspris les malades et les seynes." Dugdale, _Mon._ III, p. 366. At Nuncoton in 1440 the sub-prioress deposed that "the infirm, the weakminded and they that are in their seynies ... do eat in the convent cellar." _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 71_d_. Bishop Stapeldon forbids the nuns of Polsloe in 1319 to enter convent offices outside the cloistral precincts "pour estre seigne ou pur autre encheson feynte." _Reg. Stapeldon_, ed. Hingeston-Randolph, p. 317.

[870] On the custom of periodical bleeding in monasteries see J. W. Clark, _The Observances ... at Barnwell_, Introd. pp. lxi, ff. It is interesting to note that medieval treatises on the diseases of women occasionally refer specifically to nuns, e.g. in a fourteenth century English MS. a certain "worschipfull sirop" for use in cases of anaemia is said to be "for ladyes & for nunnes and other also þat ben delicate." Brit. Mus. MS. Sloane 2463, f. 198 vº.

[871] E.g. Nicholaa de Fulham dates her will in 1327 from Clerkenwell and leaves certain rents for life to Joan her sister, a nun there. Sharpe, _Cal. of Wills enrolled in Court of Husting_, I, p. 324. The will of Elizabeth Medlay "of the house of St Clement's in Clementthorpe" directs her body to be buried in the conventual church, bequeathes legacies to the high altar, the Prioress and each nun there and appoints dame Margaret Delaryver, prioress, as executor (1470). _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 130.

[872] _New Coll._ MS. ff. 88, 88_dº_.

[873] _The Fifty Earliest Wills in the Court of Probate_, ed. F. J. Furnivall (E.E.T.S.), p. 54. But she may have been a sister from a hospital.

[874] _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 4, 5, 6.

[875] _Visit. of Dioc. Norwich_ (Camden Soc.), p. 243.

[876] Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, pp. 226, 236. William of Wykeham in 1387 ordered that three or four at least of the more discreet nuns of this large abbey, "in regula sancti benedicti et obseruanciis regularibus sufficienter erudite" should be chosen to instruct the younger nuns in these matters. _New Coll._ MS. f. 86. At St Mary's, Winchester, in 1501, besides Margaret Legh, mistress of the novices, there was Agnes Cox, senior teacher (_dogmatista_). _V.C.H. Hants._ II, p. 124. At Elstow in 1421-2 the bishop ordered "That a more suitable nun be deputed and ordained to be precentress; and that elder nuns, if they shall be capable and fit for such offices, be preferred to younger." _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 50. Dean Kentwode's injunction to St Helen's Bishopsgate in 1432 runs: "That ye ordeyne and chese on of yowre sustres, honest, abille and cunnyng of discretyone, the whiche can, may and schall have the charge of techyng and informacyone of yowre sustres that be uncunnyng, for to teche hem here service and the rule of here religione." Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 554.

[877] The controversy was roused by an article by Mr J. E. G. de Montmorency entitled "The Medieval Education of Women in England" in the _Journal of Education_ (June, 1909) pp. 427-31. This was challenged by Mr Coulton, _loc. cit._ (July, 1910), pp. 456-7; see the correspondence _passim_, especially the two articles by Mr A. F. Leach, _loc. cit._ (Oct. and Dec. 1910), pp. 667-9, 838-41. The subject was afterwards treated with great erudition by Mr Coulton in a paper read before the International Congress of Historical Studies in 1913, reprinted with notes as _Monastic Schools in the Middle Ages_ (_Medieval Studies_, X, 1913).

[878] For the rest of this chapter I shall not give full references in footnotes, because they can easily be traced in Note B, p. 568 below.

[879] _Cistercian Statutes_, 1256-7, ed. J. T. Fowler (reprinted from _Yorks. Archaeol. Journ._), p. 105.

[880] Probably, however, after the dissolution of her house.

[881] Tanner, _Notitia Monastica_ (1744 edit.), p. xxxii (basing his opinion on three secondary authorities and on a misunderstanding of two medieval entries, one of which refers to lay sisters and the other to an adult boarder).

[882] N. Sanderus, _de Schismate Anglicana_, ed. 1586, p. 176. The statement is not in the original Sanders. A well-known passage in the _Paston Letters_ illustrates the practice as regards girls; Margaret Paston writes to her son in 1469 "Also I would ye should purvey for your sister to be with my Lady of Oxford, or with my Lady of Bedford, or in some other worshipful place whereas ye think best, for we be either of us weary of other." It is probable that this method of educating girls was more common than nunnery education.

[883] Quoted by Mr Leach, _Journ. of Educ._ (1910), p. 668.

[884] Possibly, as Mr Coulton points out (_Med. Studies_, X, p. 26), this may account for the fact that evidence of girl pupils is wanting for some of the wealthier and more important nunneries; he instances Shaftesbury, Amesbury, Syon, Studley and Lacock. For the life of the nuns at Lacock and Amesbury we have very little information of any kind, but our information is fairly full for Shaftesbury, and very full for Syon and for Studley.

[885] For a discussion of these charges and of other prices and payments, with which they may be compared, see J. E. G. de Montmorency in _Journ. of Educ._ (1909), pp. 429-30 and Coulton, _op. cit._ app. iv. (School Children in Nunnery Accounts), pp. 38-40.

[886] Quoted in S. H. Burke, _The Monastic Houses of England, their Accusers and Defenders_ (1869), p. 32. Compare the words of a Venetian traveller, Paolo Casenigo: "The English nuns gave instructions to the poorer virgins as to their duties when they became wives; to be obedient to their husbands and to give good example," a curious note. _Ib._ p. 31.

[887] Quoted in Fosbroke, _British Monachism_ (1802), II, p. 35.

[888] _Ancren Riwle_, ed. Gasquet, p. 319.

[889] Notice the recognition of the financial reasons for taking schoolchildren. So also in 1489 the nuns of Nunappleton are to take no boarders "but if they be childern or ellis old persons by which availe by likelihod may grow to your place"--fees or legacies, in fact. Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 654.

[890] Caesarius of Heisterbach gives a picture of a less disturbing child in quire (though she was more probably a little girl who was intended for a nun). This is the English fifteenth century translation: "Caesarius tellis how that in Essex" (really in Saxony, but the translator was anxious to introduce local colour for the sake of his audience), "in a monasterye of nonnys, ther was a litle damysell, and on a grete solempne nyght hur maistres lete hur com with hur to matyns. So the damysell was bod a wayke thyng, and hur maistres was ferd at sho sulde take colde, and she commaundid hur befor Te Deum to go vnto the dortur to her bed agayn. And at hur commandment sho went furth of the where, thuff all it war with ill wyll, and abade withoute the where and thoght to here the residue of matyns"; whereat she saw a vision of the nuns caught up to heaven praising God among the angels, at the _Te Deum_. _An Alphabet of Tales_ (E.E.T.S. 1905), II, p. 406.

[891] Fuller, _Church Hist._ See p. 255 above, note 3.

[892] Quoted in Gasquet, _Eng. Monastic Life_, p. 177.

[893] Hugo, _Medieval Nunneries of Somerset_ (_Minchin Buckland_), p. 107.

[894] G. Hill, _Women in Eng. Life_ (1896), p. 79.

[895] _Times Educational Supplement_ (Sept. 4, 1919). This seems to be taken from Fosbroke, _Brit. Monachism_, II, pp. 6-7, who takes it from Sir H. Chauncey's _Hist. and Antiqs. of Hertfordshire_, p. 423; it is the first appearance of dancing; as Fosbroke sapiently argued, "The dancing of nuns will be hereafter spoken of and if they dance they must somewhere learn how."

[896] _Journ. of Education_, 1910, p. 841. Mr Hamilton Thompson sends me this note: "Probably, so far as any systematic teaching went, they were taught 'grammar' and song, which would vary in quality according to the teacher. These are the only two elements of which we regularly hear in the ordinary schools of the day. I do not see any reason to suppose that they were taught more or less. Song (i.e. church song) takes such a very prominent part in medieval education that I think it would not have been neglected; it was also one of the things which nuns ought to have been able to teach from their daily experience in quire. Bridget Plantagenet's book of matins (see below) would be an appropriate lesson book for both grammar and song, as nuns would understand them."

[897] _An Alphabet of Tales_ (E.E.T.S. 1905), p. 272, from Caesarius of Heisterbach, _Dialog. Mirac._ ed. Strange, I, p. 196.

[898] See e.g. the Knight of La Tour Landry, p. 178, "Et pour ce que aucuns gens dient que ilz ne voudroient pas que leurs femmes ne leurs filles sceussent rien de clergie ne d'escripture, je dy ainsi que, quant d'escryre, n'y a force que femme en saiche riens; mais quant a lire, tout femme en vault mieulx de le scavoir et cognoist mieulx la foy et les perils de l'ame et son saulvement, et n'en est pas de cent une qui n'en vaille mieulx; car c'est chose esprouvee." Quoted in A. A. Hentsch, _De la littérature didactique du moyen âge s'addressant spécialement aux femmes_ (Cahors, 1903), p. 133. So Philippe de Novare ([dagger] 1270) refuses to allow women to learn reading or writing, because they expose her to evil, and Francesco da Barberino ([dagger] 1348) refuses to allow reading and writing except to girls of the highest rank (not including the daughters of esquires, judges and gentlefolk of their class); both, however, make exception for nuns. _Ib._ pp. 84, 106-7.

[899] See below, p. 388.

[900] _Archaeologia_, XLIII (1871), p. 245 (Redlingfield and Bruisyard).

[901] See below, p. 309.

[902] Wood, _Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies_, II, pp. 213-7.

[903] Quoted Gasquet, _Hen. VIII and the Eng. Monasteries_ (1899), p. 227.

[904] _The Catechism of Thomas Bacon, S.T.P._, ed. John Ayre (Parker Soc. 1894), p. 377.

[905] See above, p. 82.

[906] _Yorks. Archaeol. Journ._ XVI, pp. 452-3. Unluckily among Archbishop Lee's injunctions there remain only three sets addressed to nunneries; there are also two letters concerning an immoral and apostate ex-Prioress of Basedale. At the other two nunneries addressed, Nunappleton and Sinningthwaite, no specific accusations are made, but the Archbishop enjoins that the nuns shall "observe chastity" (§ IX, p. 440) and avoid the suspicious company of men (§ V, p. 441).

[907] Aungier, _Hist. of Syon Mon._ p. 385. Compare also the regulations for behaviour in choir, "There also none shal use to spytte ouer the stalles, nor in any other place wher any suster is wonte to pray, but yf it anone be done oute, for defoylyng of ther clothes." _Ib._ p. 320.

[908] The hours seem to have varied in length according to the season; see Butler, _Benedictine Monachism_, ch. XVII.

[909] _Reg. W. de Stapeldon_, p. 316.

[910] Aungier, _op. cit._ pp. 405-9. It is unlikely, however, that Betsone actually invented any of the signs, for similar lists are to be found in the early consuetudinaries of Cluniac houses and other sources. The signs were probably to a great extent "common form."

[911] _Ib._ p. 298.

[912] Bernold, _Chron._ (1083) in _Mon. Germ. Hist._ V, p. 439, quoted in Workman, _The Evolution of the Monastic Ideal_, p. 157.

[913] E.g. a nun asks that sufficient clothes and food be ministered to her "ut fortis sit ad subeundum pondus religionis et diuini seruicii." _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 5. A bishop orders no nun to be admitted unless she be "talem que onera chori ... ceteris religionem concernentibus poterit supportare." _Ib._ I, p. 53.

[914] Vattasso, _Studi Medievali_ (1904), I, p. 124. Quoted in _Mod. Philology_ (1908), V, pp. 10-11. I have ventured to combine parts of two verses.

[915] _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 1_d_; but some of these would be absent from the monastery.

[916] _Ib._ ff. 71_d_, 72. For other injunctions against "cutting" services, see Heynings, 1351 and 1392 (_Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Gynewell_, f. 34_d_, and _Bokyngham_, f. 397), Elstow 1387 and 1421 (_ib._ _Bokyngham_, f. 343 and _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 51), Godstow 1279 and 1434 (_Reg. J. Peckham_, III, p. 846, _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 66), Romsey 1387 (_New Coll._ MS. f. 84), Cannington 1351 (_Reg. R. of Shrewsbury_, p. 684), Nunkeeling 1314, Thicket 1309, Yedingham 1314, Swine 1318, Wykeham 1314, Arthington 1318 (_V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 120, 124, 127, 181, 183, 188), Sinningthwaite 1534 (_Yorks. Arch. Journ._ XVI, p. 443), etc.

[917] See e.g. _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 1, 8, 67, 131, 133, 134-5, _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Gynewell_, f. 34_d_, _Sede Vacante Reg._ (Worc. Hist. Soc.), p. 276, _Reg. Epis. J. Peckham_, II, pp. 651-2, etc.

[918] _V.C.H. Lincs._ II, p. 131. For other instances of lateness at matins, see Heynings 1442 (_Linc. Visit._ II, p. 133), Godstow 1432 (_Linc. Visit._ I, p. 66), Flixton 1514 (Jessopp, _Visit. of Dioc. of Norwich_, p. 143), Romsey 1302 (Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, p. 100), Easebourne 1478, 1524 (_Sussex Arch. Coll._ IX, pp. 17, 26-7), St Radegund's, Cambridge (Gray, _Prior of St Radegund, Cambridge_, p. 36).

[919] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 48; Jessopp, _Visit. of Dioc. of Norwich_, p. 209; _Arch._ XLVII, p. 55; compare Romsey 1387, 1507 (_New Coll._ MS. f. 84; Liveing, _op. cit._ p. 231), St Helen's Bishopsgate, c. 1432 (_Hist. MS. Com. Rep._ IX, App. p. 57).

[920] "These are they who wickedly corrupt the holy psalms: the dangler, the gasper, the leaper, the galloper, the dragger, the mumbler, the foreskipper, the forerunner and the over leaper: Tittivillus collecteth the fragments of these men's words." G. G. Coulton, _Med. Garn._ p. 423. He also collected the gossip of women in church. On Tittivillus see my article in the _Cambridge Magazine_, 1917, pp. 158-60.

[921] _Myroure of Oure Ladye_, ed. Blunt (E.E.T.S.), p. 54.

[922] Greek [Greek: akêdia]; whence _acedia_ or _accidia_ in Latin; English _accidie_. It is a pity that the word has fallen out of use. The disease has not.

[923] An interesting modern study of this moral disease is to be found in a book of sermons by the late Bishop of Oxford, Dr Paget, _The Spirit of Discipline_ (1891), which contains an introductory essay "concerning _Accidie_," in which the subject is treated historically, with illustrations from the writings of Cassian, St John of the Ladder, Dante and St Thomas Aquinas, in the middle ages, Marchantius and Francis Neumayer in the seventeenth century, and Wordsworth, Keble, Trench, Matthew Arnold, Tennyson and Stevenson in the nineteenth century. See also Dr Paget's first sermon "The Sorrow of the World," which deals with the same subject. He diagnoses the main elements of _Accidia_ very ably: "As one compares the various estimates of the sin one can mark three main elements which help to make it what it is--elements which can be distinguished, though in experience, I think, they almost always tend to meet and mingle, they are _gloom_ and _sloth_ and _irritation_." _Op. cit._ p. 54. On _Accidia_, see also H. B. Workman, _The Evolution of the Monastic Ideal_ (1913), pp. 326-31. During the great war the disease of _accidie_ was prevalent in prison camps, as any account of Ruhleben shows very clearly. For a short psychological study of this manifestation of it, see Vischer, A. L., _Barbed Wire Disease_ (1919).

[924] See book X of Cassian's _De Coenobiorum Institutis_, which is entitled "De Spiritu Acediae" (Wace and Schaff, _Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church_, 2nd ser., vol. XI, Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins and John Cassian, pp. 266 ff.; chapters I and II are paraphrased by Dr Paget, _op. cit._ pp. 8-10); Book IX, on the kindred sin of _Tristitia_ is also worthy of study; the two are always closely connected, as is shown by the anecdotes quoted below.

[925] Dante, _Inferno_, VII, l. 121 ff. Translation by J. A. Carlyle.

[926] Chaucer, _The Persones Tale_, §§ 53-9.

[927] See the translation of the episode (from Busch, _Chronicon Windeshemense_, ed. K. Grube, p. 395) in Coulton, _Med. Garner_, pp. 641-4. On the subject of medieval doubt and despair see Coulton in the _Hibbert Journal_, XIV (1916), pp. 598-9 and _From St Francis to Dante_, pp. 313-4.

[928] Caes. of Heist. _Dial. Mirac._ ed. Strange, I, pp. 209-10.

[929] _Ib._ I. pp. 210-11. For a case of doubt in an anchoress, which, however ended well, see _ib._ I, pp. 206-8.

[930] Langland, _Piers Plowman_, ed. Skeat, B, passus X, 300-5.

[931] Langland, _Piers Plowman_, ed. Skeat, B, passus V, ll. 153-65. The C text has a variant for the last four lines:

Thus thei sitte the sustres · somtyme, and disputen, Til "thow lixt" and "thow lixt" · be lady over hem alle; And then awake ich, Wratthe · and wold be auenged. Thanne ich crie and cracche · with my kene nailes, Bothe byte and bete · and brynge forthe suche thewes, That alle ladies me lothen · that louen eny worschep.

It is strange that the same hand which wrote these lines should have written the beautiful description of convent life quoted on p. 297.

[932] See above, p. 82 and below, Note F.

[933] From "Why can't I be a nun," _Trans. of Philol. Soc._ 1858, Pt II, p. 268.

[934] _Wykeham's Reg._ II, pp. 361-2 (1384). Compare case at Shaftesbury (1298) where the nuns had incurred excommunication. _Reg. Sim. de Gandavo_, p. 14.

[935] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 8. Compare Winchelsey's injunctions to Sheppey in 1296. _Reg. Roberti Winchelsey_, pp. 99-100.

[936] Liveing, _op. cit._ pp. 245-6. The "bad language" may be scolding or defamation rather than swearing. It is rare to find a nun accused of using oaths. But see the list of faults drawn up for the nuns of Syon Abbey; among "greuous defautes" is "if any ... be take withe ... any foule worde, or else brekethe her sylence, or swerethe horribly be Criste, or be any parte of hys blyssed body, or unreuerently speketh of God, or of any saynte, and namely of our blessyd lady"; among "more greuous defautes" is "yf they swere be the sacramente, or be the body of Cryste, or be hys passion, or be hys crosse, or be any boke, or be any other thynge lyke"; and among "most greuous defautes" is "yf any in her madness or drunkenesse blaspheme horrybly God, or our Lady, or any of hys sayntes" (Aungier, _Hist. of Syon Mon._ pp. 256, 259, 262). In 1331, on readmitting Isabella de Studley (who had been guilty of incontinence and apostasy) to St Clement's York, Archbishop Melton announced that if she were disobedient to the Prioress or quarrelsome with her sisters or _indulged in blasphemy_ he would transfer her to another house. _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 130.

[937] _V.C.H. Bucks._ I, p. 383 and _V.C.H. Lincs._ II, p. 155.

[938] In 1311 Archbishop Greenfield issued a general order that nuns only and not sisters were to use the black veil; sisters wore a white veil (_V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 188 note, and _Journ. of Education_, 1910, p. 841). This order was repeated at various houses, which shows that there must have been a widespread attempt to usurp the black veil (_V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 124, 127, 175, 177, 188). At Sinningthwaite the Prioress was also ordered not to place the sisters above the nuns. A common punishment in this district was to remove the black veil from a nun and this was reserved for the more serious misdeeds.

[939] _York Reg. Giffard_, pp. 147-8. For further instances, see Note C below.

[940] Injunctions against dicing and other games of chance are common in the case of monks (see e.g. _Linc. Visit._ I, pp. 30, 46, 77, 89). I have found none in nunneries, but a more stately game of skill, the fashionable tables, was played by Margaret Fairfax with John Munkton. Above, p. 77.

[941] Quoted from St Aldhelm's _De Laudibus Virginitatis_ in Eckenstein, _Woman under Mon._ p. 115. Compare Bede's account of the nuns of Coldingham some years before: "The virgins who are vowed to God, laying aside all respect for their profession, whenever they have leisure spend all their time in weaving fine garments with which they adorn themselves like brides, to the detriment of their condition and to secure the friendship of men outside." _Ib._ pp. 102-3.

[942] For detailed examples, see Note D below.

[943] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 118. Similar _detecta_ and injunctions at Catesby, Rothwell and Studley (_ib._ pp. 47, 52; _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. ff. 38, 26_d_) and at Ankerwyke (quoted above, p. 76). Also at Studley (1531), _Archaeol._ XLVII, p. 55, and Romsey (1523), Liveing, _op. cit._ p. 244.

[944] _Archaeol._ XLVII, p. 52. For an equally detailed account see the case of the Prioress of Ankerwyke, quoted above p. 76.

[945] See below, p. 543.

[946] See below, pp. 325-30.

[947] For nunnery pets as a literary theme, see Note E and for pet animals in the nunneries of Eudes Rigaud's diocese see below, p. 662.

[948] "Ye shall not possess any beasts, my dear sisters, except only a cat." _Ancren Riwle_, p. 316. At the nunnery of Langendorf in Saxony, however, a set of reformed rules drawn up in the early fifteenth century contains the proviso "Cats, dogs and other animals are not to be kept by the nuns, as they detract from seriousness." Eckenstein, _op. cit._ p. 415.

[949] "Mem. quod apud manerium de Newenton fuerunt quedam moniales.... Et postea contingit [_sic_] quod priorissa eiusdem manerii strangulata fuit de cato suo in lecto suo noctu et postea tractata ad puteum quod vocatur Nunnepet." Quoted from Sprott's Chronicle in _The Black Book of St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury_ (British Acad. 1915), I, p. 283. In Thorn's Chronicle, however, the crime is attributed to the prioress' _cook_. See Dugdale, _Mon._ VI, p. 1620. The nuns were afterwards removed to Sheppey.

[950] There really seems to have been a parrot at Fontevrault in 1477, to judge from an item in the inventory of goods left on her death by the Abbess Marie de Bretagne, "Item xviij serviecttes en une aultre piece, led. linge estant en ung coffre de cuir boully, en la chambre ou est la papegault (perroquet)." Alfred Jubien, _L'Abbesse Marie de Bretagne_ (Angers and Paris 1872), p. 156. It is interesting to note that J. B. Thiers, writing on enclosure in 1681, mentions "de belles volieres à petits oiseaux" as one of those unnecessary works for which artisans may not be introduced into the cloister. Thiers, _De la Clôture_, p. 412.

[951] _Reg. Epis. Peckham_ (R.S.), II, p. 660.

[952] Dugdale, _Mon._ II, p. 619 (Chatteris) and _Camb. Antiq. Soc. Proc._ XLV (1905), p. 190 (Ickleton).

[953] A decree of the Council of Vienne (1311) complains that many church ministers come into choir "bringing hawks with them or causing them to be brought and leading hunting dogs." Coulton, _Med. Garn._ p. 588. Similarly Geiler on the eve of the Reformation complains, in his _Navicula Fatuorum_, that "some men, when they are about to enter a church, equip themselves like hunters, bearing hawks and bells on their wrists and followed by a pack of baying hounds, that trouble God's service. Here the bells jangle, there the barking of dogs echoes in our ears, to the hindrance of preachers and hearers." He goes on to say that the habit is particularly reprehensible in clergy. The privilege of behaving thus was an adjunct of noble birth and in the cathedrals of Auxerre and Nevers the treasurers had the legal right of coming to service with hawk on wrist, because these canonries were hereditary in noble families. _Ib._ pp. 684-5. Medieval writers on hawking actually advise that hawks should be taken into church to accustom them to crowds. "Mais en cest endroit d'espreveterie, le convient plus que devant tenir sur le poing et le porter aux plais et entre les gens aux églises et ès autres assamblées, et emmy les rues, et le tenir jour et nuit le plus continuelment que l'en pourra, et aucune fois le perchier emmi les rues pour veoir gens, chevaulx, charettes, chiens, et toutes choses congnoistre." Gaces de la Bugne gives the same advice. _Le Ménagier de Paris_ (Paris, 1846), II, p. 296.

[954] Below, p. 412.

[955] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, pp. 168, 175.

[956] _New Coll._ MS. ff. 88-88_d_, translated in Coulton, _Soc. Life in Britain from the Conquest to the Reformation_, p. 397.

[957] _Hist. MSS. Com. Rep._ IX, app. pt. I, p. 57.

[958] Jessopp, _Visit. of Dioc. of Norwich_, p. 191.

[959] Chaucer's description of the monk is well known:

Therfore he was a pricasour aright; Grehoundes he hadde, as swifte as fowel in flight; Of priking and of hunting for the hare Was al his lust, for no cost wolde he spare.

Compare Langland's picture of the monk, riding out on his palfrey from manor to manor, "an hepe of houndes at hus ers as he a lord were" (_Piers Plowman_, C Text VI, ll. 157-61). Visitation documents amply bear out these accounts; in a single set of visitations (those by Bishops Flemyng and Gray of Lincoln during the years 1420-36) we have "Furthermore we enjoin and command you all and several ... that no canon apply himself in any wise to hunting, hawking or other lawless wanderings abroad" (Dunstable Priory 1432); "further we enjoin upon you, the prior and all and several the canons of the convent aforesaid ... that you utterly remove and drive away all hounds for hunting from the said priory and its limits; and that neither you nor any one of you keep, rear, or maintain such hounds by himself or by another's means, directly or indirectly, in the priory or without the priory, under colour of any pretext whatsoever" (Huntingdon Priory 1432); "also that hounds for hunting be not nourished within the precinct of your monastery" (St Frideswide's Oxford, 1422-3) and a similar injunction to Caldwell Priory. _Linc. Visit._ I, pp. 27, 47, 78, 97.

[960] Wm. Salt Arch. Soc. Coll. I, p. 261. Compare also the provision in one of Charlemagne's capitularies: "Ut episcopi et abbates _et abbatissae_ cupplas canum non habeant nec falcones nec accipitres," Baretius, _Capit. Reg. Franc._ (1853), p. 64. Some of the birds at Romsey may have been hawks, though it is more likely that they were larks and other small pets, such as Eudes Rigaud found in his nunneries.

[961] _V.C.H. Essex_, II, p. 123, and see above, p. 105.

[962] The nuns of St Mary de Pré, St Albans, kept a huntsman. _V.C.H. Herts._ IV, p. 430 (note).

[963] _V.C.H. Herts._ IV, p. 431 (note); Dugdale, _Mon._ III, pp. 359-60.

[964] _Hereford Reg. Thome Spofford_, p. 82. (This was combined with an injunction against going to "comyn wakes and festes, spectacles and other worldly vanytees" outside the convent. Below, p. 377.).

[965] Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 554.

[966] Quoted in Coulton, _Med. Garn._ p. 304.

[967] See Chambers, _op. cit._ I, pp. 38-41.

[968] _Ib._ I, p. 56 (note). "The bishops of Durham in 1355, Norwich in 1362, and Winchester in 1374, 1422, and 1481 had 'minstrels of honour' like any secular noble."

[969] _Ib._ I, pp. 39, 56 (notes).

[970] Langland, _Piers the Plowman_, C, Text VIII, l. 97.

[971] "Payments for performances are frequent in the accounts of the Augustinian priories at Canterbury, Bicester and Maxstoke and the great Benedictine houses of Durham, Norwich, Thetford and St Swithin's, Winchester, and doubtless in those of many another cloistered retreat. The Minorite chroniclers relate how, at the coming of the friars in 1224, two of them were mistaken for minstrels by the porter of a Benedictine grange near Abingdon, received by the brethren with unbecoming glee, and when the error was discovered, turned out with contumely," Chambers, _op. cit._ I, pp. 56-7. In the Register of St Swithun's it is recorded under the year 1374 that "on the feast of Bishop Alwyn ... six minstrels with four harpers performed their minstrelsies. And after dinner in the great arched chamber of the lord Prior, they sang the same geste.... And the said jongleurs came from the household of the bishop," _ib._ I, p. 56 (note). See extracts from the account books of Durham, Finchale, Maxstoke and Thetford Priories relating to the visits of minstrels, _ib._ II, pp. 240-6. At Finchale there was even a room called "le Playerchambre," _ib._ II, p. 244. In 1258 Eudes Rigaud had to order the Abbot of Jumièges "that he should send strolling players away from his premises." _Reg. Visit. Arch. Roth._ p. 607. At a later date, in 1549, a council at Cologne directed a canon against comedians who were in the habit of visiting the German nunneries and by their profane plays and amatory acting excited to unholy desires the virgins dedicated to God. Lea, _Hist. of Sacerdotal Celibacy_, II, p. 189.

[972] "Histrionibus potest dari cibus, quia pauperes sunt, non quia histriones; et eorum ludi non videantur, vel audiantur vel permittantur fieri coram abbate vel monachis." _Annales de Burton_ (_Ann. Monast. R. S._ I, p. 485), quoted Chambers, _op. cit._ I, p. 39 (note).

[973] _Alnwick's Visit._ f. 83.

[974] _Aucassin and Nicolete_, ed. Bourdillon (1897), p. 22.

[975] See the well-known story of "Le Tombeor de Notre Dame" (_Romania_, II, p. 315), and "Du Cierge qui descendi sus la viele au vieleeux devant l'ymage Nostre Dame," Gautier de Coincy, _Miracles de Nostre Dame_, ed. Poquet (1859), p. 310. Both are translated in _Of The Tumbler of Our Lady and Other Miracles_ by A. Kemp-Welch (King's Classics 1909).

[976] For the following account, see A. F. Leach's article on "The Schoolboy's Feast," _Fortnightly Review_, N.S. LIX (1896), p. 128, and Chambers, _op. cit._ I, ch. XV.

[977] See below, p. 662.

[978] _Reg. Epis. J. Peckham_, I, pp. 82-3. For a similar injunction to Godstow, see _ib._ III, p. 846. At Romsey the Archbishop forbade the festivities altogether: "Superstitionem vero quae in Natali Domini et Ascensione Ejusdem fieri consuevit, perpetuo condemnamus," _ib._ II, p. 664. The superstition was probably the election of the youngest nun as abbess.

[979] _Norwich Visit._ pp. 209-10.

[980] _Archaeol._ XLVII, p. 56. On the Lord of Misrule, see Chambers _op. cit._ I, ch. XVII. There is a vivid account (from the Puritan point of view) in Philip Stubbes, _The Anatomie of Abuses_ (1583) quoted in _Life in Shakespeare's England_, ed. J. D. Wilson (1915), pp. 25-7.

[981] Chambers, _op. cit._ I, p. 361 (note 1).

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

[983] Cussans, _Hist. of Herts., Hertford Hundred_, app. II, p. 268.

[984] Walcott, _Inventory of Shepey_, p. 23. There is perhaps another reference in the inventory of Langley in 1485: "iij quesyns (cushions) of olde red saye, ij smale quechyns embrodred and ij qwechyns namyde Seynt Nicolas qwechyns," Walcott, _Inventory of Langley_, p. 6.

[985] E.g. (besides the well-known case of Dr Rock in _The Church of Our Fathers_), Gayley, _Plays of our Forefathers_, pp. 67-8.

[986] Leach, _op. cit._ p. 137.

[987] _Ib._ p. 131.

[988] Leach, _op. cit._ p. 137 (from _Martène_, III, p. 39). I have slightly altered the translation.

[989] On Benedictine poverty, see Dom Butler, _Benedictine Monachism_, ch. X.

[990] The alteration was made even by the Cistercians in 1335. See _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 238 (under _Misericord_). Among Black Monks it began much earlier.

[991] _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 238. Alnwick's visitations sometimes mention this division of the frater. "Also she prays that frater may be kept every day, since there is one upper frater wherein they feed on fish and food made with milk, and another downstairs, wherein they feed of grace on flesh" (Nuncoton 1440). "Also she says that they feed on fish and milk foods in the upper frater and on flesh in the lower" (Stixwould 1440). _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. ff. 71_d_, 76.

[992] "Et qe nule Dame de Religion ne mange hors du Refreytour en chambre severale si ceo ne soit en compaignie la Priouresse, ou par maladie ou autre renable encheson.... Item, purceo qe ascune foitz ascunes Dames de vostre Religion orent lur damoiseles severales por faire severalement lur viaunde, si ordinoms, voloms et establioms qe totes celles damoiseles soyent de tut oste de la cusine, et qe un keu covenable, qi eit un page desoutz lui soit mys per servir a tut le Covent" (1319). _Exeter Reg. Stapeldon_, pp. 317-8. Compare _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 165 (Hampole 1411).

[993] For the following references, see _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 46, 89, 114, 117, 119, 121, 175; _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. ff. 71_d_, 76, 77, 83.

[994] Pupils or boarders may account for these discrepancies.

[995] _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 67 (and note 3); compare _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 181.

[996] Walcott, M. E. C., _Inventories of ... the Ben. Priory of ... Shepey for Nuns_ (_Arch. Cant._ 1869), pp. 23 ff.

[997] E.g. at Gracedieu "_The dorter_, item ther three nunnes selles whyche as sould for 30_s._" Nichols, _Hist. and Antiq. of Leic._ (1804), III, p. 653; at Catesby where the "sells in the dorter were sold at 6_s._ 8_d._ apiece," _Archaeologia_, XLIII, p. 241. In theory the nuns were supposed to get up and lie down in full view of each other and curtains were forbidden by Woodlock at Romsey in 1311. Liveing, _op. cit._ p. 104. On the other hand at Redlingfield in 1514 a nun complained that "sorores non habent curricula inter cubilia, sed una potest aliam videre quando surgit vel aliquid aliud facit" and the Bishop ordered the Prioress to provide curtains between the cubicles in the dorter. Jessopp, _Visit. of Dioc. of Norwich_ (Camden Soc.), pp. 139-40. Dom Butler thus traces the transition from the open dorter to private cells: open dorter; side partitions between the beds; curtains in front; a latticed door in front, making a cubicle; a solid door with a large window; the window grew smaller and smaller until it became a peephole; the dorter became a gallery of private rooms. _Downside Review_ (1899), pp. 119-21.

[998] _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 51-2. See also among many other injunctions and references to the custom the following: Gracedieu (1440-1), _ib._ II, p. 125; Godstow (1432), _ib._ I, pp. 67-8; Barking (1279); Wherwell (1284), _Reg. Epis. Johannis Peckham_, I, p. 84, II, p. 653; Hampole (1311), _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 181; Swine (1318), _ib._ p. 163; Nunappleton (1346 and 1489), _ib._ pp. 171-2; Fairwell (1367), _Reg. Stretton of Lichfield_, p. 119; Romsey (1387 and 1492), _New Coll._ MS. ff. 85, 85_d_, 86, Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, p. 218; Aconbury (1438), _Reg. Spofford of Hereford_, p. 224; Stixwould (1519), _V.C.H. Lincs._ II, p. 148; Sinningthwaite (1534), _Yorks. Arch. Journ._ XVI, p. 441. Sometimes the system can be traced in one house over a long period of years. At Elstow, for instance, in 1387, _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Bokyngham_, f. 343; in 1421-2, _Linc. Visit._ I, pp. 50, 51; in 1432, _ib._ I, p. 53; in 1442-3, _ib._ II, p. 89; and in 1531, _Archaeologia_, XLVII, p. 51. For an admonition to a nun by name see "Moneatis insuper dominam Johannam de Wakefelde commonialem quod illam cameram quam modo inhabitat contra debitam honestatem religionis predicte solitarie commorando omnino dimittat et sequatur conventum assidue tam in choro, claustro, refectorio et dormitorio quam in ceteris locis et temporibus opportunis, prout religionis convenit honestati" (Kirklees 1315), _Yorks. Arch. Journ._ XVI, p. 359.

[999] See, for instance, Longland's careful injunction to Elstow in 1531: "Foras moche as the very ordre off sainct benedicte his rules ar nott ther obserued in keping the ffratrye att meale tymes ... butt customably they resorte to certayn places within the monasterye called the housholdes, where moche insolency is use contrarye to the good rules of the said religion, by reason of resorte of seculars both men women and children and many other inconvenyents hath thereby ensewed ... we inioyne ... that ye lady abbesse and your successours see that noo suche householdes be then kepte frome hensforth, butt oonly oon place which shalbe called the mysericorde, where shalbe oon sadde lady of the eldest sorte oversear and maistres to all the residue that thidre shall resorte, whiche in nombre shall nott passe fyve att the uttermoost, besides ther saide ladye oversear or maistres and those fyve wekely to chaunge and soo ... all the covent have kepte the same, and they agen to begynne and the said gouernour and oversear of them contynally to contynue in thatt roome by the space of oon quarter of a yere, and soo quarterly to chaunge att the nominacon and plesure of the ladye abbesse for the tyme being. Over this it is ordered undre the said payne and Iniunction that the ladye abbesse haue no moo susters from hensforth in hir householde butt oonly foure with hir chapleyne and likewise wekely to chaunge till they have goon by course thrugh the hole nomber off susters, and soo aghen to begynne and contynue." _Archaeologia_, XLVII, p. 51.

[1000] Wilkins, _Conc._ II, p. 16. See also "Et fetez qe lez deuz parties du covent a meyns mangent checun jour en le refreytour" (Wroxall 1338); _Sede Vacante Reg._ (Worc.), p. 276; cf. Elstow (c. 1432), _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 53. It is often accepted that the nuns shall keep frater only on the three fish days, but see Gray's injunction to Delapré Abbey (c. 1432-3) enjoining its observance on the three accustomed days (Sunday, Wednesday and Friday) and on Monday as well. _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 45.

[1001] _Ib._ I, p. 68.

[1002] See, for instance, Bokyngham's injunction to Heynings in 1392: "Item that no nun there shall keep a private chamber, but that all the nuns, who are in good health, shall lie and sleep in the dorter and those who are ill in the infirmary, saving dame Margaret Darcy, nun of the aforesaid house, to whom on account of her noble birth we wish for the time being to allow that room which she now occupies, but without any service of bread and beer, save in case of manifest illness," _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Bokyngham_, f. 397_d_. But see Gynewell's injunctions to the convent in 1351. _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Gynewell_, f. 34_d_. For the use of separate rooms allowed to ill nuns, see Nunappleton (1489), _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 172. At Romsey in 1507 the nuns, under the eye of the visitor, "concluded and provided that Joan Patent, nun, who had hurt her leg, by her consent shall in future have meals in her own chamber and shall daily have in her chamber the right of one nun." Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, p. 230. But usually the use of the common infirmary is enjoined. Separate lodgings were also allowed to ex-superiors after resignation. See above, p. 57.

[1003] _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1257/10, ff. 46, 119, 170, 214.

[1004] _P.R.O. Mins. Accts._ 1260/14.

[1005] Gray, _Priory of St Radegund, Cambridge_, pp. 27, 147, 155, 163, 171.

[1006] Baker, _Hist. of Northants._ I, p. 280.

[1007] _Reg. J. de Pontissara_, I, p. 126. William of Wykeham writes to Wherwell in 1387 concerning the abbess' illicit detention of "certain distributions and pittances as well in money as in spices," which divers benefactors had endowed. _New Coll._ MS. f. 89 vº.

[1008] See below, p. 653.

[1009] _Reg. Thome de Cantilupo_, p. 202. Compare Archbishop Winchelsey's injunction to Sheppey (1296) "ne qua monialis pecuniam vel aliam rem sibi donatam aut aliqualiter adquisitam sibi retineat sine expressa licencia priorisse" (a loophole). _Reg. Roberti Winchelsey_, p. 100.

[1010] W. Rye, _Carrow Abbey_, app. IX, p. xix.

[1011] _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 68.

[1012] See above, pp. 15, 17, 18.

[1013] _Test. Ebor._ I, pp. 296-7.

[1014] _Ib._ II, p. 97.

[1015] _Lincolnshire Wills_, ed. A. R. Maddison (1880), pp. 4, 6.

[1016] See, for example, _Test. Ebor._ I, pp. 6, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 31, 43, 54, 62, 90, 98, 109, 143, 166, 179, 216, 292, 337, 345, 349, 363, 376, 382 (chiefly wills of clergy and country gentry); Nicolas, _Test. Vetusta_, I, pp. 52, 70, 76, 79, 85, 115, 116, 120, 121, 123, 137, 155, 170, 196, 300, 377 (chiefly wills of the aristocracy); Gibbons, _Early Lincoln Wills_, pp. 18, 21, 25, 26, 40, 41, 56, 60, 67, 71, 76, 80, 87, 97, 125, 138, 139, 150, 160 (chiefly wills of clergy and country gentry). The wills of the citizens of London preserved in the court of Husting contain many legacies to nuns, chiefly annual rents.

[1017] Gray, _Priory of St Radegund, Cambridge_, p. 156.

[1018] _Test. Ebor._ I, pp. 317, 322, 324. The items occur in the inventory of the Bishop's goods and against each is written "Detur Priorissae de Swyna sorori meae."

[1019] _Ib._ I, p. 332.

[1020] _Test. Ebor._ I, pp. 187-9. He also left the Prioress 13_s._ 4_d._ and each nun 6_s._ 8_d._ and each sister 3_s._ 4_d._ To certain nuns he left special bequests, to Margaret de Pykering, "one piece of silver, with the head of a stag in the bottom and 2_s._," to Elizabeth Fairfax 26_s._ 8_d._ and to Margaret de Cotam 13_s._ 4_d._; also to the Prioress and convent "my white vestment with the gold stars and all the appurtenances thereof and my cross with Mary and John in silver and one gilt chalice." Nor were his legacies confined to Nunmonkton; he left his two sisters at Sempringham 100_s._ and two nuns of Nunappleton and Marrick respectively, a cow each.

[1021] _Ib._ I, pp. 14-15. He also leaves 40_s._ to the Prioress and convent "for a pittance," 20_s._ to another nun there and 6_s._ 8_d._ to a nun of Watton. He evidently had great confidence in Alice Conyers, for the injunctions of his will are to be carried out "according to the counsel and help of the said Alice Conyers and of my executors." For other gifts of plate to individuals, see _Test. Ebor._ I, p. 216, _Somerset Med. Wills_, I, pp. 18, 144, _Reg. Stafford of Exeter_, pp. 392, 415, 416, _Testamenta Leodiensia_ (Thoresby Soc. Pub. II, 1890), p. 108.

[1022] Sharpe, _Cal. of Wills ... in the Court of Husting_, I, p. 688. She also leaves Margaret and two other nuns a piece of blanket to be divided between them.

[1023] _Test. Ebor._ I, p. 179. He also leaves her 40_s._ and a silver cup.

[1024] _Somerset Medieval Wills_, I, p. 47. Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester, left a bed among other things to her daughter, a nun of the house of Minoresses without Aldgate (1399). Nicolas, _Test. Vetusta_, I, p. 148.

[1025] _Test. Ebor._ I, p. 382.

[1026] Dugdale, _Mon._ IV, p. 194.

[1027] _Test. Ebor._ I, p. 51.

[1028] _Reg. Stafford of Exeter_, p. 392. For other gifts of clothes see Rye, _Carrow Abbey_, app. p. xix (a habit cloth), _Lincoln Wills_, ed. Foster, p. 84 ("a fyne mantyll of ix yerds off narow cloth"), _Test. Ebor._ I, p. 59 (my two robes with mantles), _ib._ II, p. 255 (my best harnassed belt).

[1029] At Hampole in 1320 he warned the prioress to correct those nuns who used new-fangled clothes, contrary to the accustomed use of the order, "whatever might be their condition or state of dignity," _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 164 (where the date is wrongly given as 1314).

[1030] See e.g. Wilkins, _Conc._ I, p. 591; _V.C.H. Bucks._ I, p. 383; _Linc. Visit._ I, p. 52; _ib._ II, pp. 3, 8.

[1031] See above, p. 76.

[1032] See above, p. 328. For other bequests of rings, see the wills of Sir Guy de Beauchamp, 1359 (his fourth best gold ring to his daughter Katherine at Shouldham), Robert de Ufford, Earl of Suffolk, 1368 ("to the Lady of Ulster, a Minoress ... a ring of gold, which was the duke's, her brother's"), Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, 1369 (rings to his daughter and granddaughter at Shouldham). Nicolas, _Test. Vetusta_, I, pp. 63, 74, 79. But rings might be put to pious uses. The inventory of _jocalia_ in the custody of the sacrist of Wherwell (c. 1333-40) contains the item, "a small silver croun, with eleven gold rings fixed in it, for the high altar; another better croun of silver, with nineteen gold rings." _V.C.H. Hants._ II, p. 135.

[1033] _Linc. Dioc. Doc._ ed. A. Clark (E.E.T.S.), p. 50.

[1034] _Reg. Stafford of Exeter_, p. 415.

[1035] Gibbons, _Early Linc. Wills_, p. 5. In the Prioress' room at Sheppey at the Dissolution were found "iiij payre of corall beds, contaynyng in all lviij past gawdy (ed.)." Walcott, _Invent. of ... Shepey_, p. 29.

[1036] _Sussex Arch. Coll._ IX, p. 8.

[1037] See pp. 272-3.

[1038] Another nun says that she has nothing at all for raiment and another deposes, "seeing that the revenues of the house are not above forty pounds and the nuns are thirteen in number with one novice, so many out of rents so slender cannot have sufficient food and clothing, unless some help be given them from other sources by their secular friends." _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 184, 186.

[1039] For these references, see _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 7, 47, 92, 117, 184, 186; _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. ff. 6, 71_d_, 76, 83. Also injunctions as to food at Elstow _ib._ II, p. 39 (and note).

[1040] Baker, _Hist. and Antiq. of Northants._ I, pp. 280, 282-3.

[1041] Dugdale, _Mon._ III, p. 359.

[1042] Temp. Henry VII the Abbess of Elstow's account records the payment of double commons of 1_s._ a week to the Prioress and 6_d._ a week single commons to each of the nuns. Pittances (double to the prioress) are paid on days of profession and on the greater feast. The nuns also had dress allowances in money. C. T. Flower, _Obedientiars' Accounts of Glastonbury and other Relig. Houses_ (St Paul's Ecclesiol. Soc. VII, pt II, 1912), pp. 52, 55.

[1043] _Visit. of Dioc. of Norwich_, ed. Jessopp, p. 290.

[1044] _Eng. Hist. Rev._ VI, p. 34.

[1045] _Linc. Visit._ II, pp. 176, 177.

[1046] _Reg. J. de Pontissara_, I, p. 125.

[1047] Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, p. 103.

[1048] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 164.

[1049] _Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Bokyngham_, f. 397_d_. Compare Eudes Rigaud's difficulties with the hens at Saint-Aubin, below, p. 653.

[1050] E.g. in the will of Agnes de Denton, 1356 (Item to dame Cecilie de Hmythwayt two cows), _Testamenta Karleolensia_, p. 12; Sir John Fairfax, 1393 (Item I bequeath to dame Katherine de Barlay, nun of Appleton, one cow. Item to dame Custance Colvyll, nun of Marrick, one cow); Sir William Dronsfeld, 1406 (Item I bequeath to dame Alice de Totehill, nun, one cow. Item I bequeath to dame Margaret de Barneby, one cow); Sir Thomas Rednes 1407 (Item to Alice Redness nun [of Hampole] one cow and one fat pig). _Test. Ebor._ I, pp. 189, 345, 349.

[1051] _Alnwick's Visit._ MS. f. 72.

[1052] Wilkins, _Conc._ I, p. 593.

[1053] _New Coll._ MS. ff. 85_d_, 86. The sin of _proprietas_ seems to have been serious in this house, for the Bishop couples his prohibition of wills with a prohibition of private rooms and pupils, and later (f. 86_d_) makes a general injunction against private property.

[1054] _V.C.H. Dorset_, II, p. 78.

[1055] Wilkins, _Conc._ I, p. 592.

[1056] In connection with this, see Wickwane's injunction to Nunappleton in 1281, "We also forbid locked boxes and chests, save if the prioress shall have ordained some seemly arrangement of the kind and shall often see and inspect the contents." _Reg. Wickwane_ (Surtees Soc.), p. 141. Also Newark's injunction to Swine in 1298 that "the Prioress and two senior nuns should cause the boxes of any nuns of whom suspicion [of property] should arise to be opened in her presence and the contents seen. And if anyone will not open her box ... then let the prioress break it open." _Reg. of John le Romayn and Hen. of Newark_ (Surtees Soc.), II, p. 223; compare Eudes Rigaud's struggle against locked boxes, below, p. 652.

[1057] Wilkins, _Conc._ II, p. 16.

[1058] "Where the lawe and the professyon of yche religyouse person that thei have shuld have one fraitoure and house to ete in in commyn and not in private chaumbers, and so to lygg and slepe in one house, in youre said covent sustren reteynen money and proveis thame selfe privatly ayensthe ordir of religion, etc." The injunction is coupled with a strong injunction against dowries. _Hereford Reg. T. Spofford_, p. 224. Compare the injunction to Lymbrook, p. 324 above.

[1059] _V.C.H. Dorset_, II, p. 77.

[1060] For other references to the _peculium_ for clothing, see _Visit. of Dioc. of Norwich_, ed. Jessopp, p. 274; _Sussex Arch. Coll._ IX, p. 23; Liveing, _Records of Romsey Abbey_, p. 130.

[1061] Thus William of Wykeham, in the course of his severe injunction against _proprietas_ at Romsey (1387), thus defines it: "Vt autem quid sit proprium vobis plenius innotescat, nos sancti Benedicti regulam imitantes, id totum proprium siue proprietatem fore dicimus et eciam declaramus, quicquid videlicet dederitis vel receperitis sine iussu vestre Abbatisse aut retinueritis sine permissione illius." _New Coll._ MS. f. 86_d_.

[1062] _Reg. Wickwane_ (Surtees Soc.), p. 140.

[1063] _V.C.H. Yorks._ III, p. 174.

[1064] _Ib._ III, p. 164.

[1065] Jessopp, _Visit. of Dioc. of Norwich_, p. 143.

[1066] _Linc. Visit._ II, p. 8.

[1067] "The monastery, however, itself ought if possible to be so constructed as to contain within it all necessaries, that is, water, mill, garden and [places for] the various crafts which are exercised within a monastery, so that there be no occasion for monks to wander abroad, since this is in no wise expedient for their souls." _Rule of St Benedict_, tr. Gasquet, pp. 117-8.

[1068] Chap. L, _ib._ p. 88.

[1069] Chap. LI, _ib._ p. 89.

[1070] Chap. LXVII, _ib._ p. 118. This, however, is clearly exceptional; the regulation comes in a later chapter and not in the first edition of the rule. The translations of the rule made at a later date for nuns, sometimes specify visits "to fadir or moder or oþer frend" not mentioned in the original.

[1071] In some reformed orders founded at a later date the formula of profession actually contained a vow of perpetual enclosure, e.g. the Poor Clares, whose vow, under the second rule given to them by Urban IV in 1263, comprised obedience, poverty, chastity and enclosure. Thiers, _De la Clôture_ (1681), pp. 41-2. Compare the formula given in the rule of the Order of the Annunciation, founded at the close of the fifteenth century by Jeanne de France, daughter of Louis XI. _Ib._ p. 55. The nuns of the older orders did not make any specific vow of enclosure, and it was enforced upon them only as an indispensable condition for the fulfilment of their other vows, which accounts for the obstinacy of their opposition; some jurisconsults, indeed, were of the opinion that the Pope could not oblige a nun to be enclosed against her will. _Ib._ p. 50.

[1072] The passage is quoted in the preface to Thiers, _op. cit._ For the Church's view of virginity, see especially St Jerome's famous _Epistola_ (22) _ad Eustochium_.

[1073] Thiers, _op. cit._ p. 245. Quoting the jurisconsult Philippus Probus. For a good example of the mixture of ideas, see Mr Coulton's account of the arguments used by the monk Idung of St Emmeram in favour of enclosure: "He begins with the usual medieval emphasis on feminine frailty, of which (as he points out) the Church reminds us in her collect for every Virgin Martyr's feast 'Victory ... even in the weaker sex.' Then comes the usual quotation from St Jerome, with its reference to Dinah, which Idung is bold enough to clinch by a detailed allusion to Danae. This, of course, is little more than the usual clerkly ungallantry; but it is followed by a passage of more cruel courtesy. The monk must needs go abroad sometimes on business, as for instance, to buy and sell in markets; 'but such occupations as these would be most indecent for even an earthly queen, and far below the dignity of a bride of the King of Heaven.'" Coulton, _Med. Studies_, No. 10, "Monastic Schools in Middle Ages" (1913), pp. 21-2.

[1074] Words which Menander puts in the mouth of one of his characters. Compare the famous Periclean definition of womanly virtue, which is "not to be talked about for good or for evil among men."

[1075] Coulton, _Chaucer and his England_, p. 111.

[1076] The following references will be found conveniently collected in