THE ABBESSES OF ROMSEY
A complete list of the abbesses who ruled the religious house at Romsey is
not in existence; there are several gaps of many years in the succession.
The exact dates of the election of some of those whose names have been
handed down to us are not known. The following list is as complete as
possible. The names printed in ordinary type are taken from a board
suspended in the retro-choir, those printed in italics are added from a
list given in the "Records of Romsey Abbey," by the Rev. H. G. D. Liveing,
1906, which embodies the result of the most recent research. Whenever the
date is uncertain _c._ for "circa" is prefixed; the date of death when
known is added, marked with _o._ for "obiit." The spelling of many of the
names is uncertain; in the list below the spelling follows that given by
the authorities quoted above:
_c._ 907 AElflaeda, _o._ _c._ 959.
* * * *
966 S. Merwenna.
_c._ 999 Elwina.
_c._ 1003 AEthelflaeda.
_c._ 1016 _Wulfynn._
_c._ 1025 _AElfgyfu._
* * * *
_c._ 1130 Hadewis.
_c._ 1150 Matilda, _o._ 1155.
1155 Mary, married 1161, _o._ 1182.
_c._ 1171 Juliana, _o._ 1199.[5]
1199 Matilda Walrane.
1219 Matilda (Paria), _o._ 1230.
1230 _Matilda de Barbfle_, _o._ 1237.
1237 _Isabella de Nevill._
1238 _Cecilia._
1247 _Constancia._
1261 Amicia _de Sulhere_.
1268 Alicia Walerand, _o._ 1298.
1298 _Philippa de Stokes._
1307 Clementia de Guildeford, _o._ 1314.
1314 Alicia de Wyntereshulle, _o._ 1315.
1315 Sybil Carbonel, _o._ 1333.
1333 Ioane Jacke (or _Icthe_).
1349 Iohanna Gervas (or _Gerneys_).
1352 Isabella de Camoys.
1396 Lucy Everard.
1405 Felicia Aas.
1417 Matilda Lovell.
1462 Ioan Bryggys.
1472 Elizabeth Broke, _o._ 1502.
1502 Joyce Rowse, resigned 1515.
1515 Ann Westbroke, _o._ 1523.
1523 Elizabeth Ryprose, dispossessed 1539.
[5] Christina is mentioned as abbess in 1190, in the list suspended in the
church, but it is uncertain if she was an abbess.
About the majority of the abbesses little or nothing is known; some,
indeed, were women of exemplary piety, others were remarkable for their
administrative abilities, and did good work in their own way; but of many
all that can be said is that
In due time, one by one,
Some with lives that came to nothing, some with deeds as well undone,
Death stepped tacitly and took them where they never see the sun.[6]
[6] "A Toccata of Galuppi's," R. Browning.
In this chapter will be narrated any incidents connected with the lives of
the abbesses and the nuns over whom they ruled that seem to the writer
likely to be of interest to the general reader. It is noteworthy that the
story of the nunnery is, for the most part, pre-eminently credible; with a
few exceptions we hear nothing about visions or miracles; here and there
we have touches of romance, which show that the life of discipline within
"narrowing nunnery walls" is not always able to quell human passion,
especially when pressure had been brought to bear by friends and relations
upon women scarcely more than children, to induce them to take the veil.
And as time went on grave scandals arose, which even the energetic action
of reforming bishops was not altogether successful in stopping, so that
although the greed of Henry VIII and his courtiers was, no doubt, the
prime factor leading to the suppression of the religious houses, yet the
unholy lives of the inmates gave them some valid reasons, or at rate
excuses, for their action in closing nunneries and monasteries.
A story is told of King Eadgar which, indirectly, has some bearing on the
Abbey of Romsey. About the year 960 he heard of the surpassing beauty of
one AElfthryth,[7] daughter of Ordgar of Devon, and possibly never having
heard of the mischief that befell Arthur when he sent Launcelot to ask at
her father's hands his fair daughter Guinevere, or to Mark when he sent
Tristram on a similar errand to Iseault's father, he sent his trusted and
hitherto trustworthy friend AEthelwold to Ordgar. But AEthelwold as soon as
he saw AElfthryth fell hopelessly in love with her, and so hid the king's
message, and wooed and won the fair damsel for himself; and on his return
told the king that the accounts of her beauty were altogether false, that
she was vulgar and commonplace. So the king, believing his friend, turned
his thoughts to other ladies; but before long some rumours of the way in
which he had been deceived came to the king's ear, and he, dissembling his
purpose and not telling him of what he had heard, simply told AEthelwold
that on a certain day he intended to visit the lady himself. AEthelwold, in
alarm, hurried to his wife and begged her to conceal her beauty and clothe
herself in unbecoming attire, so that she might not win the king's
admiration; but she did just the reverse, and enhanced her natural beauty
by donning handsome raiment and jewellery. Her plan succeeded, the king
fell in love with her and, according to one account, slew AEthelwold with
his own hand while they were hunting, and when no man was by; or,
according to another version, he sent him to hold a dangerous command in
the north and slew him by the sword of the Northumbrians. It is, however,
doubtful if Eadgar compassed his death at all, but two years after it he
married his widow, whose beauty was her chief recommendation, for though
it has nothing to do with Romsey, it may be mentioned in passing that it
was she by whose order Eadgar's eldest son by his first wife, Eadward the
Martyr, was murdered at Corfegate, where the well-known castle afterwards
rose and where its ruins remain until this day. Now AEthelwold had
previously had to wife one Brichgyfu, a kins-woman of Eadgar, and had had
by her many sons and daughters, the last born of them was named AEthelflaed;
according to other accounts, AEthelflaed was born after her father's death,
and therefore must have been AElfthryth's child. Be this as it may, she was
in any case akin to the king or queen, and was by them entrusted to the
care of St. Merwynn of Romsey. A true mother in God the abbess proved, and
a dutiful and loving daughter was AEthelflaed. In due time she took the
veil, and the sanctity of her life was shown in various ways, and was
attested by miracles. She made no display of her austerities, pretended to
eat and drink with the other nuns but hid the food in order to give it to
the poor, and used to leave her dormitory at night, even in winter time,
to plunge naked into one of the streams and there remain until she had
chanted the Psalms of the day. Once in her younger days, when the abbess
was cutting some switches from the river banks wherewith to chastise the
girls under her charge, the stone walls of the nunnery became clear as
transparent glass to the eyes of AEthelflaed, and she saw what the abbess
was doing, and when she came in she besought her with many tears not to
beat her or her companions. The abbess, much astonished, asked her how she
knew that she was going to beat them; to which AEthelflaed replied that she
had seen her cutting the switches, and that they were even now hidden
under her cloak. Another miracle is recorded which, for the saint's
reputation, one would hope was a pure invention of the chronicler, since
if it were true it might lay her open to the charge of performing an easy
trick with phosphorus in order to gain credit for miraculous power. It is
said that one night when it was her turn to read the lesson the lamp which
she held in her hand went out, but that her fingers became luminous and
shed sufficient light upon the book to enable her to read the lesson to
the end. Other miracles are related of her, and though she was not elected
abbess on the death of St. Merwynn she obtained that honour three years
afterwards on the death of Abbess AElwynn.
[7] The Elgiva of school histories.
The next sainted woman who calls for mention is Christine, daughter of
Eadmund Ironside, and sister of Eadgar the AEtheling, and of St. Margaret,
Queen of Scotland, who became a nun at Romsey, and is supposed by some to
have been Abbess, though this is very doubtful. The Scotch king Malcolm
Canmore and Margaret his queen, sent their two daughters Eadgyth and Mary
to be educated by their aunt Christine. Aunt Christine acted on the
principle of the proverb, "Spare the rod, spoil the child," and Eadgyth
spoke in after days of the whippings she had received because she refused
to wear a nun's veil. Professor Freeman tells us how on one occasion the
Red King came to Romsey to woo Eadgyth, for it must be remembered that she
was now the eldest female representative of the old Wessex kings, and a
marriage with her would do much to weld together Normans and English. But,
although he was admitted to the nunnery, Christine persuaded Eadgyth to
put on a nun's garb as a disguise--she was at the time about twelve years
old--and told her to go into the choir; to allow time for the change of
raiment she invited the king to come and see the flowers in the cloister
garden. As he went thither, he caught sight of Eadgyth in her veil, and
imagined that he was too late, for even he, bad as he was, would not care
to press his suit, especially as it was prompted by policy, not by love,
and a marriage with a nun would be counted illegal and so would fail to
have the result he desired.
This took place in 1093. Later in the same year it is said that another
king, her father Malcolm of Scotland, came to see her and was vexed to see
her wearing a veil and tore it from her head, saying he did not wish her
to be a nun but a wife.
Another suitor in due course came to woo her, a more eligible one than
Rufus, namely his brother Henry I. In this case the union was dictated not
only by policy but by love. But there were certain difficulties. There was
no doubt that Eadgyth had worn a veil, but whether simply as a disguise or
a professed nun was open to argument; so a solemn assembly was called by
Anselm to hear evidence on the subject. The decision it came to was that
she was not a nun, and, to use Mr. Freeman's words, Anselm "gave her his
blessing and she went forth as we may say Lady-Elect of the English."
On her marriage she laid aside her English name Eadgyth, and assumed that
of Matilda or Maud. Robert of Gloucester calls her "Molde the gode
quene." And Peter de Langtoft says of her
Malde hight that mayden, many of her spak,
Fair scho was, thei saiden, and gode withouten lak.
* * * * * * *
Henry wedded dame Molde, that king was and sire,
Saynt Anselme men tolde corouned him and hire.
The corounyng of Henry and of Malde that may,
At London was solemply on St. Martyn's day.
Henry and Matilda were benefactors to many abbeys, and naturally the queen
was not forgetful of Romsey when the days of her girlhood had been passed.
She was the mother of the prince who perished in the White Ship, and of
Matilda who married the Count of Anjou, and carried on warfare against
Stephen on behalf of her son Henry. Matilda of Romsey died in 1118 and was
buried at Winchester.
The next abbess worthy of notice was Mary, daughter of King Stephen, of
whom a true and romantic story is told, and who, by breaking her vows and
marrying caused a great scandal at the time. She was the youngest daughter
of the king, and a granddaughter on her mother's side of Mary, whom
Christine had brought up with her sister Eadgyth. She was educated at
Bourges, then was transferred with other French nuns to the abbey at
Stratford le Bowe, but as the original English nuns and the imported
French ones did not agree, the latter went to a Benedictine house near
Rochester, which had been founded by Stephen, and later on, about 1155,
Mary became Abbess of Romsey. Her brother William, Count of Boulogne, died
about 1159, and his estates passed to his sister. Matthew of Alsace cast
covetous eyes on her broad lands and encouraged, it is said, by Henry II,
who thought thereby to gain a powerful friend on the continent and, at the
same time, annoy Thomas Becket, sought the abbess's hand in marriage. He
persuaded her to leave Romsey and become his wife: it is thought that
Henry II may have brought some pressure to bear upon her to induce her to
take this step. Anyhow, she was married in 1161. Her new people gladly
received her, and her kindness of heart won and held their affection. For
ten years Matthew and Mary lived happily together, or would have been
happy if it had not been for the ban of the church. Then either on account
of conscientious scruples about their past conduct, or on account of
the disabilities imposed on them by the church, they separated, and Mary
once more took on her the religious life, but not at Romsey. No doubt she
thought it better to go to a convent entirely new to her, that at
Montreuil, where she would not be constantly reminded of her former
misconduct. Here she died in 1182, aged forty-five. It is noteworthy that
her two daughters were legitimatized, their names were Ida and Maud. Ida,
the elder, married first Gerard of Gueldres, and then Reginald of
Damartin, and the younger, Maud, married the Duke of Brabant, so that it
would seem that the pope did not take a very serious view of the Abbess
Mary's broken vows.
[Illustration: PIER IN THE NORTH NAVE ARCADE]
The thirteenth century abbesses followed one another in quick succession,
no good thing for the discipline of the abbey. When Matilda died in 1219,
the old gallows on which the abbess had had the right of hanging offenders
condemned by her court, fell into disuse, but the right was restored by
the King to Amicia. Towards the end of the century, episcopal visitations
began, and the Bishop of Winchester looked into various disorders that had
grown up among the abbesses and sisters. The various methods of procedure
and the things forbidden give us some idea of the abuses that prevailed.
The abbess was required in the injunction issued about 1283 not to
exercise an autocratic power but only a constitutional one, being guided
by the advice of her chapter. It was forbidden to any men except the
confessor, and the doctor in case of illness of a nun, to enter the
convent; all conversation with outsiders was to take place in the presence
of witnesses and in an appointed place. The nuns were forbidden to visit
the laity in Romsey, and other like ordinances were enjoined.
Philippa de Stokes and Clementia de Guildeford were infirm, and
Clementia's successor, Alicia de Wynterseshull, was poisoned soon after
her election, but no evidence could be produced to convict the murderer.
Many episcopal visitations took place during the fourteenth, fifteenth,
and sixteenth centuries. The injunctions issued at many of them are in
existence: these deal only with what is blameworthy, not with that which
calls for no reproof. Some of the things objected to seem to us very
trivial. On one occasion the nuns were forbidden to keep pet animals, as
the abbess was charged with giving her dogs and monkeys the food intended
for the sisters. Sometimes the abbess was forbidden to take into the
convent more than a certain number of nuns. In 1333 there were ninety-one,
but after a time the numbers decreased, and at the dissolution there were
only twenty-six. The injunctions of 1311 were very strict, some of them
deal with the locking of doors, forbid the presence of children, whether
boy or girl, in the dormitory or in the choir.
Romsey, like many other religious houses, suffered severely at the time of
the Black Death. The number and names of the ninety-one nuns voting in
1333 at the election of Johanna Icthe has come down to us. The pestilence
reached Weymouth from the east in August, 1348, and of it died the abbess
Johanna, two vicars, one prebendary, and no doubt many of the sisters, as
in 1478 the number of nuns had dropped from ninety-one to eighteen, and
after this there were never more than twenty-six nuns at Romsey. The
reduction in the nuns not only decreased the importance of the abbey but
led to a terrible relaxation of discipline.
The worst scandal arose when Elizabeth Broke was abbess. The evidence
given before Dr. Hede, Commissary of the Prior of Canterbury, is still
extant. There were various charges against her, that she allowed some of
the sisters to wear long hair, did not prevent the nuns going into the
town and drinking at the taverns, treated some with great severity, did
not keep the convent accounts accurately, suffered sundry roofs to get out
of order, and that she was much under the influence of the chaplain,
Master Bryce. Some years before this she had been charged with adultery;
this she seems to have denied with oaths, and finally, when she could
brazen it out no further, she confessed to adultery and perjury and
resigned her office, the only thing she could do; but the most remarkable
part of the story is still to come: the sisters being required to fill the
vacant post by the election of an abbess, almost unanimously re-elected
Elizabeth Broke. Two only, Elizabeth herself and one other, did not vote
for her. The bishop thereupon restored her to her position as abbess, but
to mark his displeasure with her he forbade her to use the abbatial staff
for seven years. The remaining years of her rule were not satisfactory.
The sisters took advantage of the scandal she had caused to act in an
insubordinate way towards her. The next abbess was Joyce Rowse, but she
was utterly unable to reinstate the old discipline--we hear of her
revelling with some of the sisters in the abbess's quarters. Bishop
Fox in his injunctions in 1507 forbade sundry priests to hold any
communication with the abbess or with any of the nuns. William Scott was
forbidden to gossip with the nuns at the kitchen window. Nature it would
seem was much the same in the sixteenth century as it is now, and the
convent servants loved gossip as much as ours do.
The abbess, finding that she could not maintain her authority in the
abbey, resigned, and Anne Westbrooke, formerly mistress of the convent
school, was appointed to succeed her in 1515. She died in 1593, and was
succeeded by the last abbess, Elizabeth Ryprose; she seems to have been
a capable woman, and tried hard to do her duty. But it was too late to
purify the abbey. Various nuns were reprimanded or punished in 1527 by the
vicar-general. Alice Gorsyn confessed to having used bad language and
having spread false and defamatory stories about the sisters; on her
confession she was admitted to penance, but it was ordered that if she
transgressed again in like manner she was to wear a tongue made of red
cloth under her chin for a whole month, and the abbess was ordered to see
the sentence carried out.
Clemence Malyn was deposed from her office of sub-prioress and sextoness
on account of the careless manner in which she had performed the duties
of these offices, and she also, in answer to questions asked by the
vicar-general, acknowledged that she had frequently hidden a key of the
abbey church in a hole so that a certain Richard Johans might find it and
enter the church, and might drink in the sacristy wine with which she
provided him, though she denied having ever drunk with him or otherwise
misconducted herself. Margaret Doumar confessed that she had been guilty
of incontinence with Thomas Hordes, and she was severely punished: she was
to be imprisoned for a year, to hold no conversation with any sister save
her gaoler, she was to eat no food except bread and water every third and
sixth day of the week, and to receive chastisement on those days in the
Chapter House.
The nunnery was suppressed in 1539, and the fact that no pensions were
given to the abbess or sisters seems to point to the fact that the abbess
did not voluntarily surrender. Where this was done the monks or nuns were
generously treated by the King's commissioners, but when they refused to
surrender they were expelled without any provision being made for them.
What became of the majority of these expelled monks and nuns we do not
know, possibly any of those who were in priest's orders found work in
parish churches, but the case of the nuns was harder. We hear nothing of
the after life of any of the Romsey nuns save Jane Wadham, who married one
John Forster, who had been the collector of the abbey rents. She declared
that she had been forced to take the veil against her will, and he said he
had been similarly forced to enter the priesthood.
After the suppression the domestic buildings of the abbey disappeared--but
the church was sold to the people of Romsey by Henry VIII for the small
sum of L100. The deed of sale may still be seen in the clergy vestry at
Romsey. Queen Mary, at the beginning of her reign, restored some of the
church plate.
And so the history of the religious house at Romsey ends. In one respect
it was more fortunate than the neighbouring nunneries at Shaftesbury,
Wilton, and Amesbury. The abbey church remains until this day, and enables
us to form an idea of the arrangements in force in the churches of
Benedictine sisterhoods. Many monastic churches remain, some having become
cathedrals, as Gloucester, some parish churches, as Sherborne, but few of
the churches belonging to nunneries survived the suppression of the
religious houses; one at Cambridge, now used as the chapel of Jesus
College, and the church at Romsey, are, however, among the few exceptions.
We could wish that we knew more about the history of this religious house,
but sufficient is known to show us that it was once a very famous abbey,
and a place of instruction for many royal and noble ladies, in its early
days the discipline of the Benedictine rule seems to have been well
maintained, though in later years faith grew cold and worldliness
prevailed within its walls, as indeed it did in many another monastery
and nunnery, so that when the old order changed giving place to new, the
people of the country, especially in what was once the original kingdom of
the West Saxons, saw them suppressed without any great feelings of regret.
The architectural student and the archaeologist, indeed, regret that so
many of the abbey churches have become little more than picturesque ruins
such as Glastonbury, or mere grass-covered foundations such as Bindon and
Shaftesbury, and when so many have perished we cannot be too thankful that
the splendid abbey church at Romsey still stands in all its pristine
beauty and interest.
VICARS OF ROMSEY
_As given in a list suspended in the Retro-choir_
1282 Solomon de Roffa, Prebendary of St. Laurence Major.
1292 John de Romese, Prebendary of Edington.
1304 John de London, Prebendary of Edington.
1312 Gilbert de Middleton, Prebendary of Edington.
1322 Henry de Chilmark.
1325 Richard de Chaddesley, D.C.L.
1342 Nicholas de Gutleston.
1344 Nicholas de Ballestone.
1349 John de Minstede.
_c._ 1360 Thomas Eggesworth.
1371 John Ffolliott.
1380 Roger Purge.
1400 John Winfrey or Umfray.
1420 John Bayley, M.A.
1464 John Green, M.A.
1482 Edward Coleman, M.A.
1500 John Hopwood.
1519 John Newman, LL.B.
1546 Roger Richardson.
1586 Samuel Adams.
1620 Anthony White, M.A.
1648 John Warren (an intruder).
1662 Thomas Doughty.
1666 Jacobus Wood.
1669 Samuel Walensius.
1680 Thomas Donne.
1690 William Mayo.
1727 John King.
1746 John Peverell.
1781 John Woodbron.
1808 Daniel Williams.
1833 William Vaux, Canon.
1841 Gerard Noel, Canon.
1849 William Carus, Canon.[8]
1855 Charles Avery Moore.
1860 Edward Lyon Berthon.
1892 James Cooke Yarborough.
[8] Well known at Cambridge, where the Carus Greek Testament Prizes
perpetuate his memory.
INDEX
Abbesses, historical list of, 67-78.
AElfgyfu (Emma), benefactress, 18.
AElflaed, 16, 17.
Aisles, 24, 48;
north choir, 22, 28;
south, 56.
Ambulatory, 52.
Apse, foundations of, 17.
Apsidal chapels, 24, 34, 50, 59.
Bells, 34.
Berthon, Rev. E. L., 18, 24, 59.
Brackley tomb, 50.
Broke, Eliz., Abbess, 76.
Capitals, carved, 48.
Chantry of St. George destroyed, 22, 28.
Choir rebuilt, 40.
Christ Church, Oxford, 47.
Church purchased by the people, 22, 78.
Clerestory, 45.
Corbel table, 30.
Danes, destruction by, 18.
Dimensions, 82.
Doors, 32.
Eadgyth (Queen Maud), 71.
Font, 64.
Foundation, 16.
Horse-shoe arches, 52.
Icthe, Joan, Abbess, 61.
Kilpec, Isabella de, supposed effigy of, 60.
Lawrence, St., Parish Church, 22, 28, 50.
Mary, Abbess, 72.
Monuments, 60-63.
Nave, interior, 39.
Organ, 60.
Petty, Sir W., tomb of, 63.
Relics, hair, 52;
sundry, 53.
Reredos, fourteenth-century, 51.
Restoration, 24, 36.
Robert, Earl of Gloucester, 48.
Romsey Psalter, 53.
---- Rood, 32.
Ryprose, E., last Abbess, 77.
St. Barbe John, monument of, 60.
Saxon carving, 56.
Screen, choir, 59.
Suppression of the nunnery, 77.
Tomb of priest, 62;
of unknown lady, 60.
Tower, top, 24;
interior, 49.
Triforium, 44, 46.
Vaults, 39, 48.
West front, 29.
Western (Early English) addition, 20, 43.
Windows, east, 21, 28, 64;
west, 63.
DIMENSIONS
Total length of church, including buttresses 263 feet.
" " from outer faces of walls 256 "
Total width of nave and choir from outer faces of walls 86 "
Total length of transept: exterior 140 "
" " interior 127 "
Length of nave, interior 165 "
" choir " 54 "
Width of retro-choir, interior, east and west 15 "
" nave, interior, between centre of piers 39 "
" aisles, interior, from centre of piers to walls 18 "
Height of nave walls to wall plate 70 "
Height of tower 93 "
Length and breadth of tower, interior 28 "
Total area 21,470 square feet.
[Illustration: GROUND PLAN OF ROMSEY ABBEY CHURCH]
A Saxon Rood.
B Saxon Reredos.
C Effigy of Lady.
D Sir W. Petty's Monument.
E Choir Screen.
F Organ.
G Font.
H Abbess's Door.
J Nuns' Door.
K North Door.
L Clergy Vestry.
M Choir Vestry.
(The three western
bays are of
thirteenth-century
work).
CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.