HOUSE OF AUGUSTINIAN NUNS
15. THE PRIORY OF EASEBOURNE (fn. 1)
The priory of the Nativity of the Blessed
Virgin Mary (fn. 2) was founded in the thirteenth
century by one of the family of Bohun of Midhurst, probably Sir John, (fn. 3) for a prioress and ten
nuns (fn. 4) of the Augustinian order. (fn. 5) The original
endowment included the church of Easebourne,
of which Midhurst was a chapel, which was valued
in 1291 at £26 13s. 4d., the temporalities of the
priory at the same date being worth £41. (fn. 6) Property
had been acquired in the Isle of Thorney before
1313, (fn. 7) and in 1332 John de Bohun made a
considerable grant of land in Sturminster Marshall (Dorset). (fn. 8) Five years later the priory had
licence to acquire lands to the value of 10 marks, (fn. 9)
but only a few small grants appear to have been
made after this; and the Black Death in 1350,
with the subsequent economic revolution, reduced the nuns to great poverty, to relieve which
the prior and convent of Lewes granted them
the churches of Compton and Up Marden, reserving a pension of 40 shillings and stipulating
for the provision of sufficient vicarages. (fn. 10)
Though but poorly endowed Easebourne appears to have always been an aristocratic community. In 1283 Archbishop Peckham, who
as primate had the right of appointing one nun,
desired the prioress to receive Lucy, daughter of
the late Sir William Basset, as an inmate, (fn. 11) and
in 1295 the prioress of Easebourne, one of the
ladies by whose oath Margaret de Camoys
purged herself on a charge of adultery, was
Isabel de Montfort. (fn. 12) Amongst later prioresses
and sisters of this house we find members of such
well-known families as Sackville, Covert, Hussey,
Tawke, and Farnfold.
Unfortunately high birth is not the most
necessary qualification for the religious life, and
what we know of the inmates of this priory is
but little to their credit. A visitation (fn. 13) held in
January, 1442, revealed the fact that the house
was in debt to the extent of £40 through the
extravagance of the prioress, who was continually
riding about with a large train of attendants,
fared sumptuously, and dressed so finely that the
fur trimmings of her mantle alone were worth
100 shillings (well over £100 of modern money);
but though luxurious herself she apparently believed in vicarious mortification of the flesh, as
she made her sisters work like hired workwomen,
and kept them true to their vow of poverty by
appropriating all the profits of their labour. The
bishop removed the prioress from office, putting
the house under the control of a clerk and a layman until it should be free from its debts, for the
reduction of which he ordered the prioress to
sell her costly furs; at the same time she was
ordered to diminish her household and reduce
expenses in other ways, and to cease from compelling the sisters to work; if any of them
wished to work they might do so and might
receive half the profits, the other half being converted to the advantage of the house. The success of the commissioners in dealing with the
finances of the priory seems to have been small,
as in 1451 the debts and expenses of the house
were £66 6s. 8d., to meet which there was
only a sum of £22 3s. (fn. 14) The inventory of the
furniture of the priory drawn up at this time (fn. 15)
seems to speak of a state between poverty and
riches. The community at this date probably
numbered eight, as there is mention of eight
psalters and eight beds; there is also mention of
two other beds with hangings of red worsted, in
one of which we may no doubt see the 'bed of
red worsted with a half-canopy embroidered'
which John de Bishopeston, chancellor of
Chichester, bequeathed to his niece, a nun of
Easebourne, in 1374. (fn. 16)
When Edward Story was appointed bishop of
Chichester in 1478 he apparently heard that
things were not well at Easebourne, and in May
of that year took the unusual step of summoning
the prioress to Chichester, where she took an
oath to resign at one if the bishop should require it. At the same time the bishop enjoined
her immediately to remove the sub-prioress from
office; to hold at least one chapter every week
and correct the faults of the nuns; to see that
neither she herself nor any of the sister should
leave the precincts for the purpose of drinking or
other improprieties; and finally, to select every
week one of the nuns to be her personal chaplainess in order of seniority, but omotting the
sub-prioress. (fn. 17) In the following month the
bishop visited Easebourne and found matter
enough for reformation. (fn. 18) Silence was ill-kept,
and the prioress was lax in enforcing the statutes;
moreover her kinsmen constantly stayed for
weeks in the house enjoying the best of everything, while the nuns had to put up with the
worst. A certain 'brother William Cotnall,'
who appears to have had control of the priory's
affairs and the common seal, had used the latter
for the advantage of his friends and had also disposed of certain jewels for his own benefit; he
further admitted having had improper relations
with Philippa King, one of the nuns, who had since
absconded with another sister, Joan Portesmouth,
in company with a chaplain and one of the earl
of Arundel's retainers. One of the sisters attributed the apostasy of these two nuns to the illdiscipline of their superior, coupled with the fact
that they had each had one or more children
long before their withdrawal. Another sister
said that she had heard that the prioress herself
had had one or two children many years before.
It would almost seem that this remote priory
served as a kind of reformatory for young women
of good family who had strayed from the path of
virtue. (fn. 19) The bishop's injunctions following on
this visitation are not preserved.
A visitation held in August, 1521, shows a
better state of affairs; the cloisters required repair, but the prioress had already bought the
necessary materials, and the only other complaint
was that the prioress, Margaret Sackville, did
not pay her sisters their annual allowance of
13s. 4d. for clothing. As no accounts were
produced for examination the visitor adjourned
the visitation to 17 October. (fn. 20) The community
at this time consisted of the prioress, four professed nuns, and one novice, Joan Sackville, but
in 1524 there were seven sisters besides the
prioress; of these, however, one is noted as
twelve years old and another as ideota. On
this occasion (fn. 21) the chief complaint made by the
nuns was that the sub-prioress was too strict;
she, however, retorted by complaining of their
disobedience, and the visitor contented himself
with ordering her to behave well to her sisters.
No very serious matter was brought forward,
though the sub-prioress mentioned that Ralph
Pratt, farmer of the church of Easebourne and
apparently receiver of the priory, some twelve
years before had led astray Joan Covert, then a
sister of the house. Orders were given for the
prioress to render account yearly, and for the
door leading into the church from the cloister to
be kept locked. The privacy of the nuns in
their portion of the church of Easebourne was
further provided for by Sir David Owen, who
had succeeded to the patronage, when he made
his will in 1529, giving instructions for the
building of a covered wooden passage from the
nuns' dorter to the choir. (fn. 22) Sir David also left
to the priory many ornaments and rich vestments, but his pious care was in vain, for he outlived the nunnery, dying only in 1542, whereas
the priory being only of the clear value of
£29 16s. 7d. (fn. 23) was suppressed in 1536, and
granted to Lord Treasurer FitzWilliam. (fn. 24)
Prioresses of Easebourne
Alice, before 1279 (fn. 25)
Isabel de Montfort, occurs 1302 (fn. 26)
Edith, occurs 1313 (fn. 27)
Beatrice, occurs 1327 (fn. 28)
Mary, occurs 1339 (fn. 29)
Margaret Wyvile, occurs 1362 (fn. 30)
Margery, occurs 1411 (fn. 31)
Elizabeth, occurs 1440 (fn. 32)
Agnes Tawke, occurs 1478 (fn. 33)
Margaret Sackville, occurs 1521, (fn. 34) surrendered
1536 (fn. 35)
The seal (fn. 36) is not now known, but was oval,
with the Virgin and Child under a carved
canopy; in base a man handing a book to a
seated nun (?). Legend:—
SIGILLUM DOMUS SANCTE MARIE DE ESEBORNA.