6. THE PRIORY OF NUNEATON (fn. 1)
The celebrated abbey of Fontevrault, Anjou,
was founded in 1100 by Robert de Arbriscelle,
for both monks and nuns of the Benedictine
order. Many French convents were subordinate
to this monastery, as well as the three English
cells of Amesbury (Wilts.), Grove (Beds.) and
Nuneaton.
The latter appears to have been originally
founded at Kintbury in Berkshire by Robert earl
of Leicester and Gervase Paynel, who was his
son-in-law, having married the earl's daughter
Isabel, widow of Simon de Senliz, earl of Northampton. About 1153-5 the earl of Leicester
gave to the abbey of Fontevrault 25 librates of
land in Kintbury and in the soke of Hungerford
for the erection of a convent of nuns belonging
to that abbey. (fn. 2) At the same time Gervase
Paynel granted to Fontevrault and to 'the nuns
of Keneteburi serving God in that place' his
mill of Inkpen (Berkshire). (fn. 3) For some reason,
however, the site of the foundation was speedily
removed to Eaton in Warwickshire, subsequently
known as Nuneaton; and about 1155 Gervase
Paynel confirmed his gift of the mill of Inkpen
'to Saint Mary and the nuns of Eton of the
order of Fontevrault serving God and Saint Mary
in that place.' (fn. 4) Robert, earl of Leicester, in a
charter (fn. 5) possibly slightly earlier than that of
Gervase Paynel, as it does not mention the mill
of Inkpen, confirmed to the convent of the
order of Fontevrault which he had founded at
(Nun)eaton the manor of Eaton, except the
lands at Stockingford held by the canons of
St. Mary 'de Prato' of Leicester and those held
by the nuns of Chaise-Dieu (in Eure) in Attleborough or Eaton; (fn. 6) also land paying £25
rent in Kintbury, his holding in Upwell and
Outwell (Norfolk); the gift of his daughter
Isabel and her son Earl Simon of land and pasture in Waltham (Leicestershire); (fn. 7) land in
Swinford, and rent in Leicester.
In this confirmation charter the nunnery is
called an abbey, and it is so termed in most of
the early charters, and occasionally in the later;
but from the time of its foundation its head never
appears to have had a higher title than prioress.
Associated with the prioress was a prior, leases
and similar deeds running in the names of 'the
prioress and prior and all the convent both of
brethren and sisters.' These brethren, of whom
the prior was the head, were not monks, but a
community of secular chaplains, similar apparently to that which existed at Godstow Abbey. (fn. 8)
A deed of about 1160 is attested by Hugh,
Fromund, Nigel, Robert 'the bearded,' Bertram,
and Humfrey, all called 'brethren,' whose names
are preceded by those of William and Vital,
priests, who may also have belonged to the community. (fn. 9) In 1328 there were seven chaplains,
including the prior. (fn. 10) The title of prior appears
to have lapsed in the fifteenth century, and is
not found after 1424, the chief chaplain being
referred to after this date as 'master and receivergeneral of the convent.' The post of prior, in
its business aspect, can have been no sinecure,
for not only were the priory estates widely scattered, but the number of inmates was remarkably
large. In 1328 there were eighty-nine nuns, (fn. 11)
while a century earlier, in 1234, there had been
ninety-three. (fn. 12) These numbers must have
diminished considerably after the Black Death
of 1350, for in 1370 there were only forty-six
nuns, (fn. 13) and there would seem to have been
about forty nuns in 1459, as the prioress in that
year arranged for forty choir stalls to be made by
Thomas Karver of Lichfield, (fn. 14) from which same
city, it may be observed, two free-masons were
obtained in 1516 to complete the stonework of
the cloisters. (fn. 15) At the election of Elizabeth
Hasilrigg as prioress in 1507 the nuns numbered
twenty-three in all, (fn. 16) and the same number received pensions upon the dissolution of the priory.
Besides the prioress there were the claustral
prioress, sub-prioress, third prioress, 'fratrissa,' and
'celleraria.' (fn. 17) The 'celleraria' appears to have
had part control of the infirmary, as about 1180
Aileva dē Kerleton, wife of Robert the Cook,
quadam infirmitate detenta, put herself into the
hands of Dame Cecilia, the 'celleraria,' and
Dame Eidiez de Hinkelai, at the same time
granting to the priory certain houses in Leicester
and Bristol, cattle, a fur mantle and cape, and a
gold ring, on condition that if she recovered the
priory should restore her enough to live upon,
and receive her as a nun when she should so
desire. (fn. 18)
Naturally there were many distinguished ladies
in the priory; the founder's wife, Amice, became
a nun there, (fn. 19) and his daughter Hawise was also
an inmate. The earl had given 100s. of land
in ' Dadelinton' to the nuns with his daughter,
but Hugh de Novilla deprived them of the land;
they thereupon entrusted their charter to the
abbot of Leicester, who undertook to guard it
until the earl had made good the loss. (fn. 20) Accordingly, Robert (IV), then earl, granted 9 virgates
of land formerly held by Aaron the Jew of Lincoln in Belgrave in exchange for 'the land of
Dadelinton which my father gave with my sister
Hawise of pious memory.' (fn. 21) Apparently in this
case the girl had been entrusted to them for
education and not to become a nun, as she subsequently married the earl of Gloucester, (fn. 22) and,
as countess of Gloucester, left her body to the
priory with 100s. rent from Nutfort mill in
Pimperne, Dorset. (fn. 23) Emma, mother of Ralph
de Tureville, became a nun here shortly after
the foundation of the house, and persuaded her
son to grant the church of Burton Hastings. (fn. 24)
Several other churches were obtained; that of
Burley in Rutland being given by Richard, bishop
of Winchester, at whose disposal it had been put
by David de Armentières about 1182 (fn. 25) ; that of
Waltham-on-the-Wolds by the nuns of St. Paul,
Beauvais, to whom Earl Simon de Senliz had
given it about 1186; (fn. 26) the chapel of Blendworth, in Hampshire, given for the soul of
William, its founder, by Geoffrey the Fowler
and his wife about 1170, (fn. 27) and in the same
county the church of Petersfield with Mapledurham chapel, Catherington church, and that
of Chawton given by Henry II before 1163. (fn. 28)
Also those of Hodnell, obtained from Kenilworth
Priory; St. Gregory's, Sudbury, from William,
earl of Gloucester; Mursley (Buckinghamshire),
from Richard Fitz Nigel, and Claybrooke (Leicestershire), from Isabel de Wateville, mother of
Arnold de Bosco. (fn. 29) The church of Marton
was given by Robert de Craft, (fn. 30) and confirmedabout 1160 by William, earl of Warwick, as
being situated upon the fee of his man Hugh
FitzRichard, (fn. 31) the founder of Wroxall Priory;
to this church a number of neighbouring vills
paid yearly rents of rye and corn as 'churchamber,' (fn. 32) and to it was appurtenant the
chapel of Honingham, which the nuns surrendered to the priory of Monks Kirby about
1170, reserving a rent of 5s. (fn. 33)
Henry II granted the nuns a fair at Nuneaton
on the feast of the Invention of the Cross and
the four following days. (fn. 34) Henry III confirmed
this in 1239, and extended the fair to the two
days preceding the feast. (fn. 35) In 1226 Henry III
granted the priory a Tuesday market at Nuneaton; (fn. 36) and the market day was changed in
1233 to Saturday. (fn. 37)
In 1236-8 the nuns were rebuilding their
church, and the king granted them ten oaks out
of Kenilworth Woods and fifteen out of Cank
Forest. (fn. 38)
Yet in spite of these and many other gifts
Gregory IX, in 1234, granted leave to the
priory and nuns of Nuneaton of the order of
Fontevrault, who for the past half-year had been
unable to support themselves, to hold for their
uses, on its voidance, the church of Chawton
(Hants) in their patronage, valued under sixteen
marks, provided that a vicar was appointed and a
portion reserved for episcopal and archidiaconal
procurations. (fn. 39) In May, 1255, Pope Alexander IV, in consideration of their hospitality
and great service to the poor, sanctioned the
appropriation by the nuns of the church of
Claybrooke in the diocese of Lincoln, which
was of their patronage, on the next voidance,
without the assent of either bishop or archdeacon, provided a portion was reserved for a
perpetual vicar. (fn. 40)
The taxation of 1291 shows how large had
been the benefactions to this priory. The temporalities of the nuns of Nuneaton in the
deanery of Arden were declared of the annual
value of £49 3s. 7d., and the three churches
appropriated to them in the county, Burton,
Marton, and Hodnell had a united annual value
of £13. The temporalities in the diocese of
Lincoln were worth £26 2s. 2d., and in the
diocese of Sarum £16 10s. 8d., as well as smaller
sums elsewhere. (fn. 41) But next year, in 1292,
John, bishop of Winchester, allowed the nuns to
appropriate the church of Catherington 'as their
revenues have diminished, and three or four
times a week they have lived on hard bread.' (fn. 42)
Later, in 1451, their revenues had been further
reduced, and they had suffered by royal officials
seizing their goods on the way to Nuneaton fair;
accordingly they received licence to acquire
property to the value of 20 marks, and exemption
from such seizures. (fn. 43) The Valor of 1535 gives
the clear annual value of the priory of Nuneaton
as £253 14s. 5½d. The nuns gave in yearly
alms £6 17s. 4d.
In 1320 a dispute seems to have arisen as to
the right of appointing a prioress. The abbess
and convent of Fontevrault, to whom the priory
of Nuneaton was subject, appointed Katherine
de Stamforde one of the nuns, but the bishop of
Lichfield and Coventry ' intruded' Isabella de
Sullec (sic, recte Sudlee), also a nun, who held
office as prioress 'in contempt of the pope' and
to the injury of the abbess and convent of
Fontevrault, who thereupon petitioned the pope
for redress. In November of 1320, John XXII
issued a mandate to the bishops of Salisbury and
Hereford to examine and report to him on the
subject. (fn. 44)
There was a writ of inquiry from the king's
court addressed to the bishop of Coventry and
Lichfield in 1358, with reference to Joan wife
of Nicholas Grene. It would appear that Joan
had pleaded that the cause in which she was
defendant (a question of inheritance) should be
heard in the ecclesiastical courts on account of
her having been professed at Nuneaton Priory.
But the bishop denied that Joan had ever been
professed at Nuneaton, and forwarded a certificate of having solemnly admitted, twenty years
before, thirty nuns at Nuneaton, at the request
of the earl of Lancaster, the patron. It transpired that the priory of Nuneaton was exempt
from episcopal visitation, but the nuns were
admitted by the bishop or his suffragan. (fn. 45)
In 1391 Pope Boniface IX wrote to the prior
of Coventry requiring him to confirm the election
of Rose de Everingham. The like confirmation
was to be made so long as the schism lasted, the
abbess of Fontevrault, to whom the confirmation
belonged of right, being an adherent of the antipope. (fn. 46) The influence of the mother house was
further affected by the French wars, and in 1412
the pope commissioned the bishop of Salisbury
to visit the priory at Nuneaton as often as necessary so long as the abbess of Fontevrault, to
whom the right of visitation belonged, should be
prevented by the continuance of war between
England and France. (fn. 47)
In 1462, 'on account of the bad and wasteful
governance of Maud the prioress,' the priory had
been taken into the king's hands. On 20 September he issued letters patent by which it was
entrusted to the custody of the abbots of Leicester
and Merevale, the prior of Coventry, Sir William
Hastings of Hastings, Richard Byngham, a justice
of the bench, and three others, who were directed
to apply all issues beyond the necessary sustenance of the prioress and convent and their
servants to the relief of the priory, and they were
also to inquire into all the excesses and alienations which had been committed. (fn. 48)
The immediate result was not altogether satisfactory, for although the abbot of Merevale and
the prior of Coventry in 1465 removed 'Dame
Maude Everyngham prioresse of Nuneton and
Sir Simon Byllyngay (fn. 49) broder of the same place,'
by whose misrule the goods of the priory had
been wasted, and entrusted the management of
the house to Sir William Ecle and Sir John
Westby, 'breder of the same place,' yet the
ex-prioress and Simon contrived to get the
revenues into their own hands and to waste
them as before, (fn. 50) and indeed Maud Everingham
appears in January 1471 acting as prioress,
having no doubt taken advantage of the confusion due to the brief restoration of Henry VI
to oust Elizabeth Barton, the lawful prioress. (fn. 51)
In September, 1533, Sir Walter Smyth, sheriff
of Warwickshire and Leicestershire, who had
been knighted at the coronation of Anne Boleyn,
wrote to Cromwell as to this priory, alleging
that it kept no good rule either to God or the
world, charging one of the nuns (the name is not
mentioned) with unchastity. He asked that the
king should be moved, as founder (patron), in
the matter to appoint a new prioress. If his
prayer was granted the king should have £100,
and Cromwell should have £40 for himself. (fn. 52)
But there were others who held a very different
view as to the character and value of the nunnery, and when Cecily, Lady Dudley, wrote to
Cromwell on 24 February, 1537, complaining of
the poverty of herself and her husband, who were
utterly undone unless the king took pity on
them, she stated that she had but little above
£20 a year to find her and one of her daughters
with a woman and a man to wait upon them,
and unless the good prioress of Nuneaton had
given them meat and drink free of cost, she could
not tell to what straits she would have been
driven. Moreover, whenever her children came
to see her at the priory, the prioress entertained
them as long as they liked to tarry, with horse
meat and man's meat to boot, and when they
departed put a piece of gold or two in their
purses. If aught should come to the house of
Nuneaton she would stand in a very hard case. (fn. 53)
On 12 September, 1539, the prioress Agnes
Oulton and the convent were supposed to surrender their house; but the deed of surrender
has no signatures, merely twenty-seven crosses. (fn. 54)
London received the surrender and signed the
pensions, namely, £40 to the prioress; £3 each
to Agnes Wilsey, Isabel Purfreye, Joan Whalleye, Elizabeth Milwarde, Mary Worseley, and
Joan Wetnall; 53s. 4d. each to Isabel Babington and Joyse Fitzherbert; 46s. 8d. each to
Anne Everatte, Lucy Hasilbrigge, Joan Bate,
Joan Haseley, Margaret Dyxwell, and Rose
Ceton; 40s. each to Joan Copstone, Mary
Barington, Ellen Townesende, Dorothy Riddell,
and Joyse Clarke; 26s. 8d. to Elizabeth Berdemore, Isabel Bannester, Joan More, and Agnes
Kingstone; and 33s. 4d. to Joan Palmer. Robert
Glen, chaplain to the nunnery, had a pension of
£6. (fn. 55) Seventeen of the nuns were living and
drawing their pensions in 1553.
Eight months after the surrender Henry VIII
gave the site and all the priory's possessions to his
servant, Sir Marmaduke Constable. (fn. 56)
Prioresses of Nuneaton
Agnes, c. 1160 (fn. 57)
Alice, occurs 1163-c. 1175 (fn. 58)
Juliana, occurs 1180-3 (fn. 59)
Alice, occurs 1186-c. 1198 (fn. 60)
Mabel, occurs 1202 (fn. 61)
Emma, occurs 1206-8 (fn. 62)
Ida, occurs 1214-26 (fn. 63)
Sibil, occurs 1227-32 (fn. 64)
Ida, occurs 1240-7 (fn. 65)
Cecilia de Lexynton, occurs c. 1256 (fn. 66)
Cecilia de Sutton, occurs c. 1257-c. 1272 (fn. 67)
Agnes de Sutton, occurs 1284-7 (fn. 68)
Agatha de Sutton, occurs 1290-7 (fn. 69)
Hawise de Sancto Mauro, occurs 1298-1300 (fn. 70)
Joan de Bristoll, occurs 1303-18 (fn. 71)
Isabel de Sudlee, occurs 1321 (fn. 72)
Katherine de Stafford, occurs 1322-3 (fn. 73)
Agatha de Auerham, occurs 1329-32 (fn. 74)
Margery de Shireford, occurs 1342-5 (fn. 75)
Agatha Bruys, occurs 1350-65 (fn. 76)
Margaret Seliman, occurs 1367-86 (fn. 77)
Rose Everingham, 1387-98 (fn. 78)
Eleanor Frechevyle, occurs 1401-3 (fn. 79)
Margaret Wanere, occurs 1408-9 (fn. 80)
Elizabeth Walcote, occurs 1412-46 (fn. 81)
Maud Everingham, occurs 1448, deposed
c. 1465 (fn. 82)
Elizabeth Barton, elected 1465, occurs 1485 (fn. 83)
Maud Everingham, occurs 1486-99 (fn. 84)
Christine Topcliff, occurs 1500, resigned
1507 (fn. 85)
Elizabeth Haselrigge, elected 1507-21 (fn. 86)
Agnes Olton, occurs 1522, surrendered 1539 (fn. 87)
Priors of Nuneaton
William, c. 1160 (fn. 88)
Hugh, c. 1160-c. 1175 (fn. 89)
Berengar, c. 1180 (fn. 90)
Vital, occurs c. 1180-3 (fn. 91)
A., occurs c. 1202 (fn. 92)
N., occurs 1208 (fn. 93)
G., temp. John (fn. 94)
Richard, occurs 1227 (fn. 95)
Robert, occurs c. 1228-c. 1245 (fn. 96)
Gilbert, occurs 1247 (fn. 97)
William de Verny, occurs 1256-c. 1260 (fn. 98)
Peter de Palerne, temp. Henry III (fn. 99)
Henry, occurs c. 1272 (fn. 100)
Roger de Verny, occurs 1287-92 (fn. 101)
Walter, occurs 1294 (fn. 102)
Hugh, occurs 1298-1300 (fn. 103)
Robert, occurs 1308-18 (fn. 104)
Robert de Rodbourn, occurs 1328 (fn. 105)
Richard de Greneburgh, occurs 1329 (fn. 106)
Robert de Radbury, occurs 1330 (fn. 107)
Richard de Overton, occurs c. 1342 (fn. 108)
John de Wappenbury, occurs 1342-3 (fn. 109)
John Rodene, occurs 1345-62 (fn. 110)
Henry de Eton, occurs 1364-5 (fn. 111)
Baldwin, occurs 1366-72 (fn. 112)
William Ledbury, occurs 1373-7 (fn. 113)
Roger Appleby, occurs 1382, resigned 1401 (fn. 114)
John Denes, occurs 1424 (fn. 115)
The fourteenth-century seal (fn. 116) of the prioress
is a pointed oval, showing the Virgin and Child
under a carved and pinnacled canopy; on the
plinth below the Virgin's feet, AVE MARIA; in
arch below the half-length figure of the prioress
in adoration, between two shields, dexter the
three leopards of England, sinister two bars and
three roundels in chief. Legend:—
....... PRIORISSE DE . . TON
A seal attached to deed of c. 1272 (fn. 117) shows
the prioress standing under a trefoiled canopy.
Legend:—
S' CECILIE PRIORISSE DE ETON
The seal of Prior Henry attached to the same
deed shows the prior standing with right hand
raised; the legend is illegible.
The seal (fn. 118) used by Prioress Rose Everingham
in 1398 was a small oval with the Virgin and
Child under a canopy. Legend:—
AVE MARIA GRA' PLENA