HOUSE OF CARTHUSIAN MONKS
4. THE PRIORY OF SHEEN
In the year 1414 Henry V. founded at
Sheen, Richmond, a priory, known as the
House of Jesus of Bethlehem, for forty
monks of the Carthusian order. This was
the last of the religious foundations of Surrey.
The foundation charter (fn. 1) describes the site
with much nicety. It was built on the
north side of the royal manor house, on a
piece of land 3,125 feet long by 1,305 feet 8
inches broad, extending from 'Hakelok' by
'Diverbussh' on the south to the cross
called 'Crosasshe' on the north. The buildings were on a fine scale, but as there were
only thirty sets of chambers round the great
court or cloister, it would appear that the
original design of a house for forty monks
was reduced to that number. (fn. 2) According to
the Carthusian rule each monk lived and fed
apart, they only met in common in quire and
chapter. (fn. 3)
The considerable property assigned to this
royal foundation largely consisted of the possessions of the suppressed alien priories. The
endowments included the alien priories of
Ware, Hertfordshire; of Hayling in Hampshire; of Carisbrooke, in the Isle of Wight; of
Lewisham in Kent, including the manors of
East Greenwich and East Combe; all the
estates of the abbey of Lyre in England and
Wales, or 700 marks out of the royal
revenue if these should ever be recovered;
the weir of Petersham, with fishery rights;
and the manor of East Hendred, Berks. The
spiritualities were very considerable, and included the advowsons and appropriations of
the churches of Ware in Hertfordshire; Belgrave, in Leicestershire; Byfield, Marston St.
Lawrence, and Middleton Cheney, Northamptonshire; Lewisham and Marden, in
Kent; Hayling, Upper Clatford, and St. John's
Southampton, in Hampshire; Carisbrooke,
Arreton, Freshwater, Godshill, Whippingham,
Newchurch, and Newtown, in the Isle of
Wight; Winterbourne Stoke, in Wiltshire;
Basildon, Easthampstead, and Sunningfield, in
Berkshire; the four churches of Wareham, in
Dorset; Linton, Bridstow, Westeord, Much
Marcle, Fownhope, Lene, and Areland with
tithes of various other lordships, in Herefordshire; 'Tuddenham,' Lydney, and Chedworth,
with tithes of other lordships, in Gloucestershire; Eastham-cum-Hanley, Feckenham,
Tenbury, and tithes of the forest of Malvern, in
Worcestershire; Elmdon, in Essex; Hellingly, in Sussex; and Padbury, in Buckinghamshire. Another royal gift of the founder was
that of four pipes of red wine annually at
Candlemas.
This wholesale bestowal of the property of
alien priories on the new foundation, though
authorized by the parliament of Leicester, did
not pass without strong protest. The abbot
and convent of the Benedictine abbey of St.
Evroul, Normandy, wrote an earnest appeal
to the Carthusians of Sheen, in the year 1416,
to restore the property with which Henry V.
had endowed them and which had belonged
to them for centuries. In their case, as they
stated in this letter, their English possessions
had been their chief source of income, and at
one time had supplied them with £2,000 a
year. Owing to frequent wars between
France and England they had of late
obtained nothing from this source, and had
in consequence been obliged to reduce their
quire monks from forty to less than twenty.
They appealed to justice and ecclesiastical
traditions, stating that no state policy or fear
of foreign wars could justify the Carthusians
in retaining property thus obtained. Eleven
years were consumed by the monks of St.
Evroul in a vain endeavour to regain their
English property. In 1427 they carried their
case to Rome, but failed. (fn. 4)
There is a fifteenth century chartulary of
this priory among the British Museum manu
scripts entitled Registrum privilegiorum et terrarum monasterii de Shene. It contains abstracts of charters and other particulars relative
to the possessions of the alien priories of
Ware and Hayling, and the rest of the property bestowed upon it at its foundation. (fn. 5)
Among the Lansdown MSS. (No. 1201)
is a small fifteenth century manuscript on
vellum described as a Formulare et Consuetudinarium Carthusianorum de Shene in com. Surr.
It opens with the form of receiving postulants
and novices, in English, inserted on paper.
On the postulant seeking admission the prior
first asked four questions, as to whether the
candidate had been professed in any religious
order, whether he had any impediment to
taking holy orders, whether he was suffering
from any incurable disease, or whether he
was in debt or owed any money? If these
were answered satisfactorily, the candidate
retired, and the prior thus addressed the
chapter:—
Venerable Fathers, you have heard his humble
petition, you see with what earnest desire he
solisets to be receaved to our order. Bee pleased
therefore, to let me knowe your mindes wheather
you judg him fit to be admitted or noe.
What thinke you father Vicar? etc.
The candidate was then recalled, if the decision of the chapter was favourable. On
readmission the following was the procedure:—
Pr. Quid petis?
Postulans prostratus. Misericordiam.
Pr. Surge.
Post. Supplico, etc.
Pr. The convent hath deliberated of your
humble petition. And now our Statutes doe
appoint me breefly to set before your eyes the
strictness and austoritie of our order, and the length
and prolixitie of the divine office as well of the day
office as the night office, which in the wynter is
farr longer, besides the office of our Blessed Lady
which you are to say daylie in your cell; morover
you are to say yearly a hundred dead offices in
private, likewise many Psalters (or as wee tearme
them monachales) which you are yearly to say
unless you performe them in masses. For your
cloathing and lodging after you have received the
habitt you can make no further use of lynen except
handkerchers, towels and the like, but for your
body you are to weare a shirte of heare and a cord
aboute your loynes and a wolen shirte. You are
to lie upon strawe or a bed of chaffe with a blanket
betweene. For your diet it is a perpetuall abstinence from flesh insomuch that in the greatest or
most dangerous sickness you can expect no dispensation theirin. Also a good parte of the yeare we
abstaine from all Whitmeates, as in Advent, Lent
and all the Fridayes of the yeare, besides many
other fasts both of the church and of our order in
which wee abstain from Whitmeat.
Likewise from the exaltation of the holie Crosse
untill Easter wee fast with one meall a day except
some few days of recreation before Advent and
Lent. For silence and solitude it ought to be
perpetuall except when our Statutes giveth license
or that you aske leave. These be the generall
observances of our order common to all as well as
seniours as juniours. But besides these generall
there are some particular ordained and appointed
for novices or newly professed to exercise them in
the purgative way, and for theire soner attaining
of humility and solid vertue. As is the dressing
up of Alters, sweeping of churches and chappels,
making cleane of candelstickes, serving of others
and suchlike. Which workes by how much they
are more vile and contemptible in the eyes of the
world, by so much they are more precious and
meritorious in the sight of Almighty God, and by
how much that men, wether more noble better
learned or of greater talents doth willingly and
affectionately perform the same for the love of
God by so much soner they will obtain remission
of theire sinnes, be purged from their reliques, be
freed from theire former evill habitts and obtaine
puritie of hart humility and other solid vertues,
which are not gotten without humiliation and
therefore those who doe flye or withdraw themselves from ye works of humility, doe deprive themselves of the best meanes to gaine the vertue itselfe. These according to our Statutes and the
Custome of our house I have layed unto you.
Putas te ista posse performare?
The postulant made reply in Latin, that
with the help of God and the prayers of the
brethren, he trusted to be enabled to fulfil
the rules. Then he knelt before the prior,
and placed his hands within those of the
prior, whilst the superior stated that he admitted him to the fellowship (societatem) of
the order, but that before his profession he
had liberty to depart.
The following are the heads of the Latin
portion of the book: De novitio induendo:
De professione novitiorum: De visitatione
egroti: Quomodo tractandum sit qui moritur:
Quid agendum sit cum defertur nobis mortuus
a foris: Quid agendum sit in trecennario at
anniversario extraneorum: Forma absolvendi
personas ordinis in extremis agentes: Tria
responsoria que cantantur in exequiis mortuorum.
The book concludes with four pages in
English' for the receiving of conversi (lay
brothers) this forme to be kept as nere as we
can to the order of the heddhouse, as by letters from thence to the same, and also by the
booke of their customes apperithe.' The father
was, in the chapter house, to lay before the
candidáte the hardness of the order as in the case
of the monks. If the house agreed to receive
him, the lay brother was to be received with
the kiss of peace both by the monks and lay
brothers. When he had kissed them all the
father put on him a converse cowl. At the
end of high mass the prior, with the father
vicar, the proctor and the sexton (sacrist)
brought him up to the high altar where he
made his prayer. After the Veni Creator and
other prayers he was conducted to his cell.
At his profession the lay brother went up to
the high altar in his cowl and long cope,
after the offertory had been sung, and there
openly read his profession in English and received the benediction lying prostrate. (fn. 6)
By his will of 1415 Henry V. left 1,000
marks for the completion of the house of Sheen,
repeating that he had endowed it for the support of forty Carthusian monks, and bidding his
executors see that the number was sustained. (fn. 7)
In the year 1416 an anchorage for a recluse was founded, endowed with an annual
rent of twenty marks issuing out of the
manors of Lewisham and Greenwich; the
first recluse or chaplain to occupy it was John
Kingstone. (fn. 8)
An inspection and confirmation were
granted to John Ives, the prior, and the convent of Sheen by Edward IV. in 1461 of the
foundation charter and of the grant by Henry
VI. in 1442 of sixty-four acres of land in
Sheen, and that they might pray for the good
estate of the king and Cicely his mother and
for their souls after death, and the souls of
the king's father Richard, late Duke of York,
and his progenitors. (fn. 9)
Licence was granted in June 1466 to the
prior and monks to make a subterranean conduit from a spring called 'Welwey,' alias
'Pickwelleswell,' to their house, and to repair
the pipes of the conduit when necessary.
Henry V. had granted them leave to make a
conduit from a spring called 'Hillesdenwell,'
but the supply of water was insufficient. (fn. 10)
In July 1474 licence was obtained by
Prior William Wildy for the acquisition in
mortmain after inquisition, of land, tenements
and rents to the value of £50 yearly. (fn. 11)
Edward IV. in 1467 granted to Queen
Elizabeth his consort the manor and lordship
of Sheen to hold for life, and she by letters
patent of 1 April 1479 granted to John
Ingilby, prior, and the monks of Sheen 48 acres
of land in West Sheen, parcel of the manor
to hold for her life. Whereupon the king
by letters patent of 25 May confirmed this
estate to the monks and granted it to them
in free alms for ever. (fn. 12)
In July 1480 Prior Ingilby, in conjunction
with Robert Houglot, Richard Newbryge, clerk,
and four others, obtained licence to found a
perpetual gild or fraternity for themselves and
other persons, both men and women. The
brethren and sisters were to elect from themselves yearly a warden for the governance of
the gild and the custody of its possessions;
the fraternity was to have a common seal and
to be termed the Gild of St. Mary in Bagshot. Licence was also given to acquire in
mortmain lands and rents to the value of £10
yearly, to find a chaplain to celebrate in the
chapel of St. Mary in Bagshot for the good
estate of the king and queen and of the
brethren and sisters of the gild, and for their
souls after death, and to do other works of
piety according to the ordinance of the
founders. (fn. 13)
On 4 August 1480 the priory obtained
licence for the acquisition in mortmain of
lands, tenements and rents to the value of
£100 yearly. (fn. 14)
It is related of one Godwin, a monk of
this convent, that in the latter end of March
1502 he murdered the prior of the house in
a cellar, but whether it was Prior Ingilby or
some other that succeeded him, and whose
name is lost, is uncertain. (fn. 15)
On Sunday, 12 January 1510, Henry VIII.
was at the Sheen charter-house, and made an
offering of 33s. 4d. (fn. 16)
According to Stowe, the body of James IV.
of Scotland was buried at this monastery after
the battle of Flodden Field, in 1513. 'After
that the Earl of Surrey had taken order, and
set the North in good quiet, he returned to
the Queene with the dead body of the Scottish king, which body being inclosed in lead,
as I have been informed was conveyed to
Shine, a monastery in Surrey founded by
King Henry the Fifth, whose it remained for
a time, in what order I am not certaine, but
since the dissolution of the House, to wit, in
the raigne of King Edward the Sixth Henry
Grey then Duke of Suffolke there keeping
house, I have been shewed the same body (as
was affirmed) so lapped in lead throwne into
an old wast roome, amongst old timber, stone,
lead, and other rubble.' (fn. 17) This statement is
supported by a passage in a book called The
Flower of Fame, printed in 1575. 'The
dead body of the King of Scottes was found
among the other carcasses in the fielde and
from thence brought to London, and so
through London streets on horseback. And
from thence it was carried to Sheene (neere
unto Brentford), whereat the Queen then lay,
and there the perjured carcas lyeth unto this
day unburied.' The Scots however steadily
maintained that the body found and conveyed
to London and thence to Sheen was not that
of their king; nevertheless, Stowe's statement is apparently correct.
In 1516 licence was obtained by Thomas
Pygot and Richard Broke, serjeants-at-law,
and others to alienate to the House of Jesus
of Bethlehem, Sheen, possessions to the annual
value of £15 15s. These possessions included
the manor of Portpole and lands in St.
Andrew's, Holborn. (fn. 18)
Dr. John Colet, the learned dean of St.
Paul's, was allowed to build himself lodgings
within the precincts of the monastery of
Sheen. Discovering the sweating sickness
to grow upon him, he retired to Sheen,
'spending the little remainder of his days in
devotion, and surrendered up at length his
last breath to Him that first gave it, on the
16th of September 1519.' (fn. 19) His body was
however taken back to St. Paul's for burial.
On 28 April 1528 John Jobourn, prior of
Sheen, as visitor of the order, consented to the
alienation by the monastery of the Carthusian
house, the Salutation, near London, of a
tenement in London of the gift of Sir Robert
Reede, late chief justice of the Common Pleas,
in exchange for other lands more profitable. (fn. 20)
Among the alms of Katharine of Arragon
for the year 1529 is the sum of £7 6s. 8d.
to the convent of Sheen. (fn. 21)
In March 1530 Prior Jobourn, was one of
the parties to an indenture tripartite touching
lands devised for finding two secular priests
in the chapel of All Angels beside 'Breynford
Brygg.' (fn. 22)
On 1 November 1530, Prior Jobourn
granted to the king the convent's possessions
in Lewisham and East Greenwich, (fn. 23) and an
indenture was entered into on 5 September
1531 between him and the king for an
exchange of these manors for the site and
precinct of the late priory of Bradwell, Bucks,
with lands in nine parishes of Buckinghamshire and two of Northamptonshire, together
with seven advowsons, as held by John Ashby,
the late prior; also the chantry lands of Beddington, and other lands lately belonging to
Cardinal's College, Oxford. (fn. 24)
In common with other English Carthusians, the prior and convent of Sheen were
very reluctant to take the oath of supremacy
in favour of Henry VIII., which was generally enforced in 1534. The Carthusians
were almost as zealous in opposing the royal
action as were the Friars Observant. (fn. 25) On
7 May 1534, Roland, Bishop of Lichfield,
and Thomas Bedyll wrote to Cromwell that
they had accomplished the business at Sheen,
the prior, convent, and novices having taken
the oath. The prior and proctor had shown
themselves honest men and faithful subjects,
and exhorted the Observants of Richmond to
do the same. (fn. 26) A letter to Lord Lisle, of 13
May, mentions however that the priors of
the Charterhouses of London and Sheen were
both in the Tower. (fn. 27)
There is also a letter extant of this year,
apparently of the month of August, from one
John Pyzaunt, a monk of Sheen, to Sir John
Alayn, alderman of London, which though
loyal to his house and order, shows that there
was difference of opinion amongst the brethren.
He asked for Sir John's intercession with 'Mr.
Secretary,' for, though many of them were
ready to conform with the king's wishes,
'others I think will rather die from a little
scrupulosity of conscience, and would not
give way for sorrow and despair of salvation,
losing peradventure both body and soul which
were greatly to be lamented.' He besought
the alderman to speak some good word for
the obstinate ones that they might be suffered
and borne with. (fn. 28) Henry Man, proctor of
the house, which was the title of the third
official, was the leader of those who were
apparently ready to comply with the king's
wish.
In June 1535 Robert Marshall, one of
the Sheen monks, wrote to Cromwell stating
that he had of late been at home in the
house of Sheen, and made inquiry whether
the king's commission sent by the Bishop of
Winchester for the king's supremacy was
declared among the brethren in their chapterhouse, and to strangers and others in church
every Sunday and holy day. He asserted
that this had not been done, adding that
those of his brethren who were the king's
friends were shocked and greatly offended
with vicar and proctor. As a true subject
Marshall declared that he felt he must reveal
this matter to Cromwell. This was evidently
written during the absence of Prior Man. (fn. 29)
Writing to Cromwell on 8 August 1536,
Prior Man stated that his 'lordship' had put
in the commission for the visitation of their
religion that the brethren should preach within
their monasteries. He understood this to mean
that their priors who might ride abroad should
preach also in other churches, but wanted
assurance on this point. (fn. 30)
In March 1538 Prior Henry showed himself amenable to Cromwell's wishes in the
matter of the advowson of Godshill. (fn. 31)
On Easter Day 1538 one Dr. Cottys, a
secular priest, preached in the charter-house,
Sheen, a sermon which was said to be sinister
and seditious. A version of parts of it was
sent to Cromwell by Robert Singleton. 'To
be brief,' wrote Singleton, 'the sermon seemed
to be to blaspheme against the king and you
that be of his council, and to seduce the
people from the Son of Man to the abomination standing in the Holy Place.' (fn. 32)
The Valor of 1535 showed that the clear
annual value of this well-endowed house was
£800 5s. 4½d.
The house surrendered, through the influence of Prior Man, early in 1539. The
prior was assigned the great pension of £133
6s. 8d., and small sums to eighteen of the
other monks. (fn. 33) The prior's complacency was
further rewarded by his being made dean of
Chester, and in 1546 he was promoted to be
bishop of the Isle of Man, retaining his
deanery in commendam.
The site of this charterhouse was granted
in 1540 to Edward, Earl of Hertford, afterwards Duke of Somerset; and on his attainder
in 1552 to Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk,
who made the house his residence. But on
26 January 1557, Queen Mary replaced the
Carthusian monks in their house of Sheen,
making Maurice Chauncy their new prior,
and granting them a moderate endowment.
With the accession of Elizabeth however the
few religious houses that Mary had refounded
were again dissolved, and Sheen once more
became Crown property.
Maurice Chauncy, the last prior of Sheen,
was one of the few religious of the London
charterhouse who purchased their lives of
Henry VIII. by compliance with his wishes,
and on its dissolution obtained a pension of
£5. In his future penitence he deeply bewailed that he had not shared the crown of
martyrdom, and spoke of himself as 'the
spotted and diseased sheep of the flock.' The
Carthusians, who were for a short time
gathered together under Prior Maurice at
Sheen during Mary's reign, were the scattered
remnant of the various English charterhouses.
Several died during their brief sojourn at the
restored house, and the rest followed their
superior into exile on Elizabeth's accession.
Prior Maurice died at Paris on 12 July 1581;
two years later his history of the sufferings of
the Carthusians under Henry VIII. was
printed, of which Mr. Froude made so much
use in his graphic and sympathetic account
of their treatment. (fn. 34)
Priors of Sheen
John Widrington, elected 1414
John Bokyngham, " 1431
John Ives, occurs 1461
William Wildy, occurs 1474 and 1477 (fn. 35)
John Ingilby, " 1479-80 (fn. 36)
John Jobourn, " 1504, resigned
1534
Brian, elected 1534
Henry Man, (fn. 37) occurs 1535-9
Maurice Chauncy, occurs 1557
The fifteenth century pointed oval seal (fn. 38)
represents the Nativity of Our Lord, with
the star of Bethlehem above, and a demiangel holding a scoll. In the base are the
quartered arms of France and England.
Legend: SIGILLU: COVĒ: DOMUS: IDŪ
DE: BETHLEEM: IUXTA: SHEEN: ORDINIS:
CARTUYS.
A smaller pointed oval seal (fn. 39) of fifteenth
century has the Nativity treated after a
natural and picturesque fashion, in a different
way to the larger seal. The shield of France
and England and the legend are the same.
The seal of the latter foundation by Queen
Mary (fn. 40) treats the Nativity after a rude fashion.
Legend: JESU · BETHLEHEM · SHEENE.