_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 Desir, 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
Malnoue, 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, Etienne, 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
Premontre, 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 Schoenau, 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
Theleme, 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, Chatelaine 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
Wuelfinghausen, 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
[Illustration: ENGLISH NUNNERIES IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES
(EXCLUDING DOUBLE GILBERTINE HOUSES)]
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 Meon, _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 (L38. 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, L10. 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 L17. 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 Treves 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-Saens 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 beguine 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 beguines
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 beguines) "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) _conge d'elire_ 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
L34,000 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.