16. THE PRIORY OF STUDLEY
About the beginning of the reign of Henry II
Peter Corbezon (afterwards called Peter de Studley from his changed residence) transferred to
Studley a priory of Austin Canons that he had
founded at Wicton, Worcestershire. The founder
endowed the house with the churches of Wicton,
of Studley and Coughton in this county, and of
Salperton in Gloucestershire, with half the town
of Wicton, three houses in Worcester, two furnaces of salt at Wiche (Droitwich) and the tithes
of all the rest of his salt there, and 100 acres of
his demesne land at Salperton. After their transference to Studley the generous founder added
the church of 'Audburne' and the chapel of Dornston, the site for the priory and other lands,
woods, and a mill at Studley, and 200 acres of
his demesne at Salperton. (fn. 1)
These considerable endowments of the founder
were much wasted and mismanaged, so that in
the time of Peter Corbezon, the son of the
founder, who transferred the patronage of the
house to William de Cantilupe, there were but
three canons resident at Studley Priory. The
pious care, however, of the new patron caused
the house again to flourish, for William de
Cantilupe bestowed on the priory considerable
possessions in Shotswell, (fn. 2) and granted them the
privilege of free election of their priors, only
stipulating that licence to elect at a vacancy was
to be asked of him and his heirs, and also his
assent to the choice of the canons. He further
provided that, although the custom in English
monasteries was for the patron to have custody
(that is to take the temporalities) during vacancies,
the sub-prior and cellarer should have the custody on the part of the patron, first seeking
powers of administration from William or his
heirs; but that no secular officer nor the bishop
should have ought to do with such custody. (fn. 3)
William de Cantilupe, who succeeded his
father of the like name, gave the canons lands in
Aston Cantlow to the value of £10 per annum
for the support of a hospital for impotent folk at
the monastery gates. He also granted them 20s.
rents out of lands at Snareston, Leicestershire,
with rights of pasture. The church of Hempston, Devonshire; certain assarts with his park
at Shelthull; the church at Aston; and certain
lands in the village of Trent, Somersetshire. (fn. 4)
He also obtained a charter for the canons from
Henry III in 1242 of some importance, whereby
their woods within the forest of Fakenham were
declared free for themselves, and none of the
king's foresters were in any way to intermeddle,
or press for hospitality or entertainment, which
was only to be given of the priory's own good
will. (fn. 5) The pressure that foresters brought to
bear upon some of the religious houses of this
county, of Northamptonshire, and of Hampshire
was often felt to be a heavy burden on the
religious.
In 1262 Eva de Cantilupe, widow of the
second William de Cantilupe, gave lands to the
annual value of 100s., and 20s. in rents, within
her manor of Loddiswell, Devonshire. (fn. 6)
The Valor of 1291 gave the annual value of
the temporalities of the priory in Worcester diocese as £11 14s. 3d.; in Coventry and Lichfield
£3 16s. 6d.; and in Bath and Wells (Trent)
£4. In spiritualities they held the church of
Dornston—£2 13s. 4d., and portions from three
others, amounting to £2 6s. 8d., all in the
diocese of Worcester. (fn. 7)
John de Hastings, one of the heirs of George
de Cantilupe, in November, 1296, assigned in
mortmain to the prior and convent of Studley
the advowson of the church of Aston Cantilupe,
or Cantlow, in exchange for land there of the
yearly value of £13. (fn. 8) There had been some
irregularity in the former bequest of this advowson, and Queen Eleanor, who had the wardship
of John de Hastings, recovered it, in his right,
earlier in this year. Though the canons purchased the advowson, they parted with it in 1493
to Maxstoke Priory. (fn. 9)
The canons were visited by Bishop Giffard in
1269. On 25 July, 1284, they were again
visited by the same prelate, when he preached to
the clergy and laity of the house from the text
'Omnis edificatio constructa crescit in templum
sanctum in Domino.' He remained that day at
Studley at the cost of the house, but on the
Wednesday he tarried there at his own charge,
visiting on that day the nuns of Cokehill over
Worcestershire border. As a result of this visitation the prior and convent received a mandate
from the bishop not to pledge their property
without the consent of the diocesan. There is
record of another visitation of Studley by Giffard
in 1300, when he preached from 'Fratres tuos
visitabis si recte agant.' (fn. 10)
In July, 1307, Adam de Honnburne (alias
Tessull), the prior, obtained from the papal
nuncio, through the prior of Worcester, a dispensation on account of defect of birth, to hold
his office; for he was illegitimate, being the child
of a deacon and an unmarried woman. (fn. 11)
The canons began to rebuild their conventual
church about the beginning of the fourteenth
century; it was consecrated in June, 1309, by
John of Monmouth, bishop of Llandaff, acting
as suffragan to the bishop of Worcester. (fn. 12)
The Sede Vacante register of the priors of
Worcester (1301-1435) contains the record of
numerous visitations of this house by the prior
or his commissaries. These visitors found nothing to reform save on the first two occasions.
Prior John de la Wyke visited Studley in person
on the Monday before the feast of the Annunciation, 1307, and a few days later, after his return
to Worcester, he forwarded a letter to the prior
and convent of Studley relative to certain matters
requiring correction.
First that the prior in the correction of the brothers
and rebuking the excesses of the same should take care
to have more discretion than he was wont lest the
lukewarmness of the discipline should in the future
increase the reason for laxity ('dissolutionis materiam
amplificet in futurum'); also that none of the brothers
in the frater distribute or send out of the monastery
any of the remains of their food to anyone, without
the knowledge of the president, to the prejudice of
alms, nor do anything to the detriment of alms; also
that the time of religious service be more properly
observed by more strictly keeping silence than is wont,
according to the rule of St. Augustine and to the approved custom of the place; also the same prior of
Worcester at his visitation absolved brother Thomas
de Wateleye, who for his disobedience and other
excesses had for a long time been kept in prison, he
having shown signs of contrition. (fn. 13)
The commissaries of the prior of Worcester
visited Studley in January, 1313. Early in the
following month, as a result of their report, Prior
John de la Wyke issued his mandate to the prior
and convent of Studley instructing them, under
pain of the greater excommunication, to remove
Adam Wyberd from the office of cellarer, and
not to restore him to that office within two
years, and then not without the consent of all
the brothers; and to insist on a half-yearly return of the receipts and expenses of his office
from whomsoever they elected cellarer in Adam's
place. (fn. 14)
There was some considerable discord here in
1319, for in August of that year Bishop Cobham
committed the entire charge of everything at the
monastery to Walter de Stoke, rector of Welford,
in the interests of peace, and at the same time
wrote to the prior and convent saying that if
they showed themselves rebels to his commissary,
they would be cited to appear before him within
three days at his manor of Bredon. The prior,
Robert de Holland, retired for a time to the
priory of Horsley, but in the following March
he was recalled by his diocesan to the rule of his
monastery. (fn. 15)
The bishop of Worcester in 1350 commissioned
the archdeacon of Worcester and another to inquire into the state of this priory, and as to the
alleged excesses of some of the canons and ministers; the result was a restraint on their waste
of goods, which continued in force until February,
1351. (fn. 16)
In April, 1350, Thomas de Warwick, canon
of Studley, obtained licence from Pope Clement VI
to return to his monastery, he having left it without leave the previous July in order to go to
Rome for the indulgence of the year 1350.
Mandate was at the same time issued to the
neighbouring abbot of Alcester and two colleagues to see that this licence to return was complied with by the prior and convent of Studley. (fn. 17)
During the short vacancy in the Worcester
episcopate in the year 1364 John de Evesham,
prior of Worcester, visited Studley in person.
On his arrival on 20 May he found many
assembled with bows and other weapons forcibly
to resist his entrance; but eventually, through
threat of excommunication, he was permitted to
enter and exercise his jurisdiction in the chapterhouse, meat and drink being provided as procuration. (fn. 18) No reason is given in the register for
this violent opposition.
At the ordination held at Worcester by the
bishop of Emly in September, 1434, three canons
of this house, John Syllull, John Morton, and
William Selston were admitted at the same time
to the sub-diaconate and the diaconate. (fn. 19)
On 6 August, 1534, John Yardley, prior,
William Dalam, sub-prior, and seven other canons
of this house signed in the chapter-house their
acknowledgement of the king's supremacy. (fn. 20)
The Valor of 1535 gave the annual value of
the six churches appropriated to the priory as
£88 18s., they were the churches of Studley
and Coughton, Warwickshire; Hempston Magna,
Devonshire; St. Peter's, Droitwich, Worcestershire; and Dornston and Salperton, Gloucestershire. The total clear annual value was declared
as £117 1s. 5½d. £21 was reserved for the
annual use of the hospice, and £4 was bound to
be spent yearly in alms to the poor. (fn. 21)
Prior Yardley wrote a pitiful letter to Cromwell on 14 March, 1535. The vicar-general,
after his usual fashion, endeavoured to secure a
valuable farm for one of his friends about court,
Francis Grant. The prior wrote that the farm
of Skillis was the chief of their demesne and
never let. Their poor house was maintained by
husbandry, and if this farm was taken from them
they could not live. With some dignity he reminded Cromwell that he was their visitor, and
the king accepted as their supreme head, and
therefore he trusted that he would have pity
upon them and suffer them to live. (fn. 22)
The commissioners of 1536 gave the annual
value of this priory as £141 4s. 9½d. They
found eight religious with the prior, 'all priests
of good conversation and lyvyng wheroff ii desier
to have capacities.' There were thirty dependants, namely six yeomen, twenty hinds, four
dairy-women, and one corrodian. The bells,
lead, and buildings were worth £76 3s. 4d.;
the house was a proper house and in good repair.
The stocks, stores, and goods were worth
£122 13s. 10d.; and there were 113 acres of
wood. The debts amounted to £122 0s. 4d. (fn. 23)
John Yardley, the prior, obtained a pension
of £15. (fn. 24)
The site of the house and the manor of Studley were granted to Sir Edmund Knightley shortly
after its suppression. (fn. 25)
Priors of Studley
Fromund, temp. Stephen (fn. 26)
Nicholas, occurs 1221 (fn. 27)
Roger, temp. Henry III (fn. 26)
John de Wytenhull, c. 1291 (fn. 26)
Adam de Honnburne alias Tessull, occurs
1307 (fn. 28)
Robert de Holland, appointed 1319 (fn. 29)
Robert de Langdon, died 1339 (fn. 30)
John le Souche, appointed 1339 (fn. 30)
John de Gorcote, died 1371 (fn. 31)
John de Evesham, appointed 1372 (fn. 31)
William Hay, appointed 1407 (fn. 32)
Robert Wynley, appointed 1431 (fn. 33)
Richard Skytt alias Upton, appointed 1449
Thomas Bedull, 1450
Richard Woode, 1454
Thomas Attwode, occurs 1493-1520
John Yardley, 1520-36 (fn. 34)