HOUSES OF CARTHUSIAN MONKS
43. THE PRIORY OF KINGSTON-UPON-HULL
Tickell (fn. 1) says that the site of the Hull Charterhouse was originally occupied by a small religious
house, 'which appears to have been erected by
Edward the First, and given by him, along
with other lands in Myton lordship, to Sir William de la Pole. . . . This house, at first, was a
College of six Priests: but they disagreeing
among themselves were turned out, and the
Friers minor succeeded; who, behaving no better
than their predecessors, soon shared the same fate.
This determined Sir William to pull down all
the old buildings, and to erect, on the site of
those buildings, a large monastery for the reception of Nuns of the Order of St. Clare.'
Unfortunately no authority is cited for all these
statements, although they are probably correct. The Letters Patent of Edward III (fn. 2) show
that William de la Pole's original intention, for
which he had obtained the king's licence, was to
found a certain hospital of chaplains and poor
folk, and to endow it with property in Kingstonupon-Hull and Myton, but that afterwards, in
place of the proposed hospital, he determined on
founding a religious house of thirteen nuns of the
order of St. Clare, (fn. 3) one of whom was to be
called abbess; a certain number of poor persons
were to be maintained under their charge, and
for this the royal licence had been granted that
he might divert his originally proposed endowments of the hospital to the nuns, and also give
the advowsons of the churches of Frisby, North
Cave, and Foston to the nuns or sisters and the
poor persons. William de la Pole dying before
his scheme was carried out, his son and heir,
Michael de la Pole, obtained from Edward III (fn. 4)
power to alter the scheme, and in place of the
nuns of the order of St. Clare to found a
monastery for thirteen monks of the Carthusian
order, one of whom was to be prior, and besides
this, as originally proposed, there were to be
thirteen poor men and thirteen poor women, one
of the former of whom was to be master; the
prior and monks and the master and the poor
folk might live together, or separately, according
to the ordinance which Michael de la Pole, or
his heirs or executors, should determine. In consequence of this latter provision, although the
Charterhouse and the hospital were more or less
distinct there was a close connexion between
them, the prior of the monastery was given a
certain authority over the affairs of the hospital,
and it was commonly known as the Charterhouse Hospital.
By charter dated 18 February 1378 (fn. 5) Michael
de la Pole founded in his messuage outside the
walls of Kingston-upon-Hull a religious house
for thirteen monks of the Carthusian order, to
the honour of God, the glorious Blessed Virgin
Mary His Mother, the Blessed Michael archangel, and all archangels, angels, and holy spirits,
and St. Thomas the Martyr, sometime Archbishop of Canterbury, and other saints of God,
which house he desired should be called the house
of St. Michael of the Carthusian order. With
assent of the prior of the Great Charterhouse, he
appointed Walter de Kele prior of his house,
which he endowed with the messuage aforesaid,
containing 7 acres of land, lately parcel of the
manor of Myton, and called the Maison Dieu,
together with a chapel and other buildings erected
there for their habitation, and also the advowson
of the church of Foston, the manor of Sculcoates,
&c. The monks were enjoined to pray for King
Richard, for Katherine the founder's mother, (fn. 6)
and Katherine his wife, Edmund his brother,
and Michael his son and heir, Alexander Nevill,
Archbishop of York, and a large number of other
distinguished persons separately named.
In the reign of Henry IV John Colthorpe and
Alice his wife endowed a cell for a monk of the
order of the house, who was daily to say mass
for their souls and for those of all faithful departed. (fn. 7) This cell, which was what would
ordinarily have been termed a chantry, possibly
augmented the number of monks. It was endowed with a rental of 20s. yearly, arising out of
a manor in Essex. This the monks exchanged
with Michael de la Pole for land in Myton.
When the cell became vacant, the prior and convent were to appoint another monk within three
months; if they neglected to do so, they were to
forfeit £40 to the mayor and commonalty.
Richard II joined the prior and convent in a
petition to Pope Urban VI, stating that the
monastery had been founded for a prior and
twelve monks, but had not been sufficiently endowed; that the patronage of the church of
Hoggestorp (Hogsthorpe) in Lincoln diocese had
been given to it by lay patrons. Urban VI
thereupon appropriated Hogsthorpe Church to the
monastery for five years, and Boniface IX in
perpetuity, the values of the church and monastery
not exceeding 120 and 180 marks, respectively.
This appropriation had been included in a subsequent general annulment of appropriations by
Pope Boniface in 1412, and the prior and convent
petitioned Innocent VII that the appropriation
of Hogsthorpe to their monastery might hold
good, in spite of the general annulment. On
23 June 1406 he granted their petition, and
confirmed the appropriation. (fn. 8) Subsequently the
monks complained that John Brynnesley, priest,
of the diocese of Lincoln, had despoiled them of
their church of Hogsthorpe in spite of this confirmation, and consequently Alexander I, on
2 July 1409, directed the Archbishop of York
to appropriate the church to them in perpetuity. (fn. 9)
The total annual value of the house in 1535
was £231 17s. 3d., and the clear annual value
only £174 18s. 3d. (fn. 10) It therefore came under
the operation of the Act for the suppression of
the lesser monasteries, but it received the king's
licence to continue, (fn. 11) though why it was selected
for exemption is not known.
Among the Suppression Papers (fn. 12) there is a list
of the members of the community compiled in
1536; against the names of all, except that of the
prior, 'religion' is written in the margin. The
names are: Ralph Mauleverey, prior (age 47),
Robert Brewet (60), Robert Fuyster, claustral
vicar (60), Robert Halle (60), Ralph Smyth
(60), James Scooles (54), William Remyngton
procurator (42), Adam Rede, sacrist of the
church (32), John Rochester, James [ ]
'de London' (40), Nicholas Swyfte, priest, not
professed (27), Helizeus Fumes, novice (30),
and Brother William Gentil, convenus (34).
In the Monasticon
(fn. 13) another and shorter list is
given of pensions assigned 9 December 1539.
Besides the names of Mauleverey, Brewet, Hall,
Remyngton, and Rede, against whom pensions
are entered in the preceding list, two other names
are added, viz., William Browne and Thomas
Synderton, each of whom received £6 13s. 4d.,
the same as Brewet, Hall, Remyngton, and Rede.
Some of these can be traced in the pension
inquiry list in the sixth year of Edward VI. (fn. 14)
Ralph Mauleverey, the late prior, died on
10 May 1552. William Remyngton and William
Browne received their pensions of £6 13s. 4d.
Of Thomas Synderton the record is 'abest.'
Priors of Hull Charterhouse
Walter de Kele (first prior), 1378 (fn. 15)
John Craven, occurs 1410 (fn. 16)
Roger Billyngton, occurs 1412 (fn. 17) (Roger Rillington occurs 1415 (fn. 18) )
Richard, occurs 1423 (fn. 19)
John, occurs 1428. (fn. 20) John Wodrington, occurs 1430 (fn. 21)
John Caunsfeld, occurs 1433, (fn. 22) 1439 (fn. 23)
Peter Burton alias Johnson, died 1459-60 (fn. 24)
Rauf, occurs 1514 (fn. 25)
Rauf Smyth, occurs 1520 (fn. 26)
Ralph Mauleverey (last prior), (fn. 27) died 1552 (fn. 28)