36. THE PRIORY OF NUN APPLETON
About 1150 Eustace de Merch (fn. 1) and Adeliz
de St. Quintin, his wife, with consent of their
heirs Robert and William, granted to God, St.
Mary, and St. John the Evangelist, and to the
prior (fn. 2) and nuns abiding in the territory of
Appleton, near the River Wharfe, the place
which Juliana held, and other land subsequently. The foundation charter states that
Adeliz de St. Quintin and her son and heir
Robert de St Quintin re-granted this to Brother
Richard, and the nuns serving God there, for the
souls of Robert, the son of Fulk, and his parents. (fn. 3)
This grant was confirmed by St. Thomas
Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, between
1162 and 1171. (fn. 4)
King John in 1205 confirmed these and many
other grants made to the nuns, (fn. 5) and curiously
enough the gift of the church of St. Mary Coddenham is included in the grant, though as will
be subsequently shown it had passed in 1184 to
Royston Priory. Early in the reign of Henry II (fn. 6)
Eustace de Merch, who, in virtue of his marriage
with Adeliz de St. Quintin, was possessed of the
church of St. Mary of Coddenham [in Suffolk],
granted that church to Nun Appleton that a
monastery of nuns might be established at
Coddenham, ' de congregacione et professione et
ordine sanctimonialium de Apeltuna.' It is
extremely doubtful whether any steps were
taken, beyond the making of this grant, towards
the foundation of this proposed cell, or nunnery.
At any rate Coddenham Church, given by its
patron Eustace de Merch, is mentioned in a
papal confirmation in 1184 (fn. 7) of the possessions
of the newly-founded priory of Royston in
Hertfordshire. On 17 February 1275-6 (fn. 8) Archbishop Giffard wrote to the Prioress of Appleton,
in common with other Cistercian prioresses in
his diocese, that the Friars Minor were to hear
their confessions, as had been the custom, in spite
of the inhibition of the abbots of the order, who
possessed no jurisdiction, ordinary or delegated,
over the nuns.
In 1281 (fn. 9) Archbishop Wickwane issued a
series of injunctions to Nun Appleton. The
prioress was to be more diligent in her duty than
heretofore. No nun was to appropriate for
herself any present of clothing or shoes, given
her by anyone, without the consent of the
prioress. All that the prioress received in money
or kind for the use of the monastery, she was
not to receive alone, but in the presence of two
or three of the older and wiser of the nuns and
at the end of the year she was to reckon up before
the seniors, chosen for that purpose, the receipts
and expenditure of the house. No one was to
be received as nun or sister of the house, or even
to live there, without the archbishop's special
licence, but honest hospitality for a day or night
was not meant to be forbidden, so that no occasion of sin or scandal arose. Locks on forcers
and chests the archbishop forbade, unless the
prioress, very often inspecting the contents,
should make other honest order in this respect.
The refectory and cloister were to be better
guarded from strangers than was wont, lest the
good fame of the nuns should vanish hereafter
more than it had already done.
One of the great troubles against which, from
the first, the archbishops had to contend was
that of the nuns receiving secular women to
board with them. It was constantly forbidden,
generally on the ground of expense, but probably
the presence of women of the world had a secularizing effect, and did not conduce to the religious
life of the nuns. Writing from Cawood, on
5 March 1289-90, (fn. 10) Archbishop Romanus forbade the nuns to take any women as boarders, or
to admit anyone to their habit, without his special
licence. Almost in exactly the same terms
Archbishop Corbridge wrote on 17 February
1302-3, (fn. 11) forbidding them also to allow anyone
to remain at the convent's expense, the house
being already heavily in debt.
On 9 May 1306 (fn. 12) Archbishop Greenfield
appointed Roger de Saxton to the care of the
goods of the nunnery. The same archbishop
addressing the Prioress and convent of Appleton,
of the order of St. Benedict, on 4 January 1307-8, (fn. 13)
directed them to send Maud de Bossall to Basedale (fn. 14) in Cleveland for a while, she having been
for many years unruly and disobedient, setting a
bad example to the other nuns. In the same
year the archbishop granted licence that Agnes
de Saxton (fn. 15) might be admitted a sister of the
house, and directed that the custos of the house
was to have his meals daily in the chamber
assigned to him, unless it happened that the
prioress was having her meals in her own chamber,
on account of entertaining strangers, in which
case, for the sake of company, the custos might
join them. A year later, 27 January 1308-9, (fn. 16)
the prioress and convent were directed to re-admit
Maud de Bossall on her return from Basedale.
In September 1309 (fn. 17) the archbishop appointed
his receiver, William de Jafford, to audit the
accounts of the convent, and also wrote to the
prioress and convent that A vice de Lyncolnia,
niece of William de Jafford, might remain for
four years in the monastery without prejudice to
their house. A letter from the archbishop
(12 November 1309) (fn. 18) directed that Maud de
Ripon, a nun who had incurred the sentence of
the greater excommunication for apostasy, and
had been absolved, was to be re-admitted. The
trouble as to taking boarders seems to have come
to the fore again in 1316, (fn. 19) for on 5 November
in that year the dean and chapter, sede vacante,
forbade the nuns to take any kind of secular
women as boarders, without special licence.
Archbishop Melton held a primary visitation
of Nun Appleton on 7 April 1318, (fn. 20) on which
occasion he issued a long list of injunctions,
many of which are exhortations and commands
of a general character, or similar to those of his
predecessors. Among those which are not so is
an inhibition that no brothers of any order were
to be received ad hospitandum, unless, perchance,
they arrived so late that it was impossible not to
lodge them, and rather inconsequently it is added
that two sets were not to be received at the
same time, until the house was relieved of debt.
No nun was to leave the cloister to talk or sit
at night time with such brothers. Secular
persons were forbidden to enter the cloister at
unlawful times, except for honest and urgent
causes, lest their going to and fro should interfere
with the quiet and devotion of the nuns. Not
more than two or three nuns from one family
were to be admitted into the house without
special licence for fear of discord arising. (fn. 21)
The archbishop straitly enjoined all the nuns
not to leave their monastery by reason of any
vows of pilgrimage which any of them might
have taken. If any had taken such vows, then
such a one was to say as many psalters as it
would have taken days to perform the pilgrimage
so rashly vowed.
In 1320 (fn. 22) Elizabeth de Holbeck, the prioress,
resigned owing to her old age and bodily weakness, having, as the archbishop wrote to the nuns,
laboured with efficacy while her strength lasted.
She was succeeded by Isabella Normanvill. On
21 April 1335 (fn. 23) the archbishop granted licence
to the convent to relax the penance imposed on
Joan de Scardeburg, one of the nuns, but does
not say for what offence it had been imposed.
Archbishop Zouch issued (February 1346) (fn. 24) a
series of injunctions, as a result of a visitation.
Many are in general terms, and like others of
the kind. He began by reproving the prioress
for grave neglect of duty, to the scandal
of her house, and the nuns were admonished to lay aside every trace of pride and
arrogancy, and in the spirit of humility to obey
their superiors. In regard to Katherine de
Hugate, one of the nuns, who, miserably defiled
by a carnal lapse, had retired from the house in
a state of pregnancy, the archbishop ordered that
if she returned, she was to be very severely
punished, according to the appointed penance of
their order, and her penance, or any like penance
imposed on a nun or sister for a similar offence,
was not to be mitigated in any degree, except by
special licence of the archbishop. Margaret, a
sister of the house, who had retired in a similar
state, was on no account to be taken back, as the
archbishop had found that in the past she had on
successive occasions relapsed, and become pregnant. The infirmary was too limited in capacity,
and the archbishop directed that certain chambers
on the west part of the church, beyond the
locutorium, or parlour, in which certain of the
nuns, contrary to the honesty of religion, were
abiding, were to be pulled down within a year,
so that the infirmary might be extended. The
doors of the church, cloister, and locutorium for
long time past had been negligently guarded;
this was to be corrected, and no secular woman
of any description was to sleep or pass the night
in the dormitory. The guests who flocked
(hospites confluentes) to the house were to be
admitted to the hostelry constructed for that
purpose. The internal officers in charge of the
food and drink had done their work badly, to the
loss of the house, and the nuns were to substitute
efficient servants in place of those who were
useless, who were to be discharged. Lest the
nuns might overstep the means of their house, no
one was to be received as nun or sister, without
special licence.
In 1489 (fn. 25) Archbishop Rotherham issued a
series of injunctions for the nuns of much the
usual character, but being in English it may be
conveniently quoted in full. They reveal no
serious offences, the worst being that of visiting
the ale-house. The nearness to the River Wharfe
was something in the nature of a temptation,
being a favourite resort, and also being near the
water highway between York, Selby, and Hull,
accounted for the hospites confluentes mentioned by
Archbishop Zouch in his decretum above quoted.
First and principally we commaunde and injoyne,
yat divine service and ye rewles of your religion be
observed and kept according to your ordour, yat ye
be professed to.
Item yat ye cloistre dores be shett and sparn (fn. 26) in
wyntre at vij, and in somer at viij of the clok at nyght,
and ye keys nyghtly to be delyvered to you Prioresse,
and ye aftir ye said houres suffre no persone to come
in or forth wtout a cause resonable.
Item yat ye Prioresse suffre no man loge undir the
dortir, nor oon the baksede, but if hit be such sad
persones by whome your howse may be holpyne and
secured wtout slaundir or suspicion.
Item yat ye Prioresse and all your sistirs loge
nyghtly in ye dortour, savyng if ye or your sisters be
seke or deseasid, yen ye or yei so seke or deseased to
kepe a chambre.
Item yat noon of your sistirs use ye ale house nor
ye watirside, wher concurse of straungers dayly
resortes.
Item yat none of your sistirs have yeir service of
mete and drynke to yer chambre, but kepe ye ffrater
and ye hall accordyng to your religion, except any of
yaim be seke.
Item yat none of your sistirs bring in, receyve, or
take any laie man, religiose, or secular into yer chambre
or any secrete place, daye or knyght, nor wt yaim in
such private places to commyne, etc, or drynke, wtout
lycence of you Prioresse.
Item yat ye Prioresse lycence none of your sistirs to
go pilgremage or viset yer frendes wtoute a grete
cause, and yen such a sistir so lycencyate by you to
have wt her oon of ye moste sadd and well disposid
sistirs to she come home agayne.
Item yat ye graunte or sell no corrodies nor lyveres
of brede, nor ale, nor oyer vitell, to any person or
persones from hensforward wtout yauctorite and speciall
lycynce of us or our Vicar generall.
Item yat ye se such servauntes as longeth to your
place come in to mete and drinke, and not to have
yer lyveres of brede and ale outwardes, but if ye thynk
hit necessarye and for the welthe of your house.
Item yat ye take no perhedinauntes (fn. 27) or sogerners
into your place from hensforward, but if yei be children or ellis old persones, by which availe biliklyhood
may growe to your place.
In Archbishop Savage's Register (fn. 28) there is an
entry recording the institution of John Cristall,
chaplain, to the chantry of St. John the Baptist,
in the conventual church, which had become
vacant by the profession of John Harpham, the
late chaplain, as a Carthusian monk, in the
chapter-house of Mount Grace. (fn. 29) The chantry
had been founded by John Latham, a wealthy
ecclesiastic of the diocese of York, Master of
Trinity College, otherwise Knolles Almshouses,
Pontefract, and Canon of Beverley, probably ' the
greatest benefactor the little nunnery of Appleton
ever had.' (fn. 30) After directing in his will that his
body was to be buried in the church of the priory
of Nun Appleton, in the chapel before the altar
of St. John the Baptist, he left to the prioress
13s. 4d., and to each nun 6s. 8d., and each of
them were, if possible, to recite a psalter for him
on that day. The celebrant was to have 20d.,
and for constructing a new roof to the conventual
church he bequeathed £26 13s. 4d. He condoned any debts due from the prioress and convent
to him, and left to Joan Ryther, the prioress,
if she survived him, a plain silver piece, and a
large feather bed with a bolster, for the use of
the convent but to remain with the prioress
during her life. For her own use he bequeathed
a silver-gilt piece with its cover, a new maser
gilt, standing on a foot, and certain beds, cloths,
sheets, &c. (which are minutely described) on the
condition that the prioress, in recompense for
all these bequests, would during her life say
placebo and dirige with commendatio for his soul,
and those of his parents. To the prioress and
convent for the use of the chaplain of his
chantry, Latham bequeathed his large Portiforium,
two chalices, a ' paxebrede' of silver, and his
missal of York use, with all necessary cloths for
the apparel of the altar of St. John Baptist, the
chaplain being bound to pray for him. He also
left the prioress and convent two small 'salina
Anglice saltesalers,' of silver with a cover. To
Isabella Burdet, sub-prioress, he bequeathed three
silver spoons, to pray for him. Joan Ryther,
the prioress, with two other persons, he appointed
his residuary legatees and executors. Joan
Ryther probably belonged, Canon Raine observes,
to the old family of Ryther of Ryther, as did no
doubt her predecessor Agnes de Ryther.
According to the Taxatio of 1291 the priory
held temporalities in the diocese of Lincoln to
the amount of £13 13s. 10d., and in the diocese
of York to the amount of £23 15s. 10d. besides
a pension of £3 6s. 8d. from the church of
Ryther. (fn. 31) There is no record of the value of
the house in the Valor Ecclesiasticus, but in a
return of 1522-3 the clear value of the priory of
Nun Appleton is set down as £29 2s. 1d. (fn. 32)
This, however, can only apply to its revenues in
the county of York. According to the Monasticon
Dugdale and Speed had preserved a note that its
clear value at the time of compiling the Valor
was £73 9s. 10d. (fn. 33)
The office of prioress (fn. 34) would seem to have
been vacant at the Dissolution. At any rate
the pension list, dated 4 or 5 December 1539,
begins with Elinora Normanvell, late sub-prioress,
who received £2 6s. 8d. She is followed by
eighteen other nuns, one of whom, Agnes
Snaynton, received £3. Of the rest two
received a like pension to the sub-prioress, the
rest less.
Prioresses of Nun Appleton
Alice, (fn. 35) occurs 1235
Mabel, occurs 1262 (fn. 35a)
Hawise, (fn. 36) occurs 1277,1285, (fn. 37) resigned 1294 (fn. 38)
Isolda, (fn. 39) occurs 1300
Joan de Normanvill, (fn. 40) confirmed 1303,
occurs 1306 (fn. 41)
Elizabeth de Holbeke, (fn. 42) confirmed 1316,
resigned 1320 (fn. 43)
Isabella Normanvill, (fn. 44) elected 1320
Margaret de Nevill, (fn. 45) resigned 1334
Idonia, (fn. 46) occurs 1342
Lucy de Gaynesburgh, (fn. 47) died 1367
Agnes de Egmanton, (fn. 48) confirmed 1367
Emma de Langton, (fn. 49) occurs 1388, 1397 (fn. 50)
Idonia Danyell, (fn. 51) occurs 1404, 1408, (fn. 52) died
1426
Elizabeth Fitz Richard, (fn. 53) confirmed 1426
Agnes de Ryther, (fn. 54) occurs temp. Henry VI
Joan de Ryther, (fn. 55) pardoned 1454, occurs
1459, (fn. 56) 1470 (fn. 57)
Maud Tailbusse, (fn. 58) confirmed 1489, died
1506
Anne Langley, (fn. 59) appointed by lapse 1506
The 13th-century seal (fn. 60) is a vesica, 23/8 in. by
1¾ in., showing a full-length figure of the Blessed
Virgin holding cross and book. The legend
runs—
✠ SIGILLE SANCTE MARIE SANCTI IOHANNIS
DE APELT'