HOUSE OF MINORESSES
44. THE ABBEY OF BRUISYARD
A brief account is given under the nunnery of
Campsey of the founding by Maud countess of
Ulster, in 1346, of a perpetual chantry of four
chaplains and a warden in the chapel of the
Annunciation, within the conventual church of
Campsey. (fn. 1) Eight years later this chantry or
college was removed from the nunnery to the
manor place of Rokehall, in Bruisyard parish,
where a chapel of the Annunciation was built
and rooms provided for the warden and four
priests. The sound reasons alleged for the
change were that the residence for these five
chaplains was in the village of Ashe, some
distance from the priory church of Campsey,
and that this going backwards and forwards for
the various divine offices in wintry and rainy
weather was unduly onerous for the older chaplains; moreover it was thought more expedient
that their chapel should be in some other place,
'ubi non est conversatio mulierum.' (fn. 2)
This chantry or collegiate church at Bruisyard
had, however, but a brief life; for in 1364, on
some complaints, at the instance of Lionel duke
of Clarence and with the consent of king and
bishop, it was agreed that this establishment
should be surrendered for the use of an abbess
and sisters belonging to the order of Nuns
Minoresses or Sisters of St. Clare. (fn. 3) The actual
surrender to the nuns was not accomplished until
4 October, 1366.
Sir Nicholas Gernoun, knight, in his old age
and infirmity, was allowed to dwell at the house
of the Nuns Minoresses of Bruisyard ex devocione,
and he obtained leave from the crown in 1383
to continue to hold his rents and farm from
Drogheda to the amount of £66 13s. 4d. yearly,
which had been forfeited for the defence of
Ireland by virtue of the statute of 3 Richard II
touching non-residence. (fn. 4)
Licence was granted in May, 1385, to the
executors of the Earl of Suffolk to alienate to
the abbey the manor of Benges, Suffolk. (fn. 5) In
the following February the abbess and convent
of Bruisyard were licensed to alienate this manor
of Benges to the prioress and convent of Campsey,
in exchange for the manor and advowson of
Bruisyard, together with leave to appropriate the
church. (fn. 6) In 1390 the abbey acquired various
plots of land in Bruisyard and adjacent parishes,
and in Hargham, Norfolk, as well as the advowson of the church of Sutton, Suffolk. (fn. 7)
The Valor of 1535 shows that the abbey then
possessed temporalities of the clear annual value
of £43 15s., namely the manors with members of Bruisyard, Winston, Alderton, South
Repps, Hargham, and Badburgham (Camb.).
The clear value of the spiritualities, comprising
the churches of Bruisyard, Sutton, and Bulmer,
amounted to £12 7s. 1d., leaving a full total of
£56 2s. 1d. (fn. 8)
This house seems to have been exempt from
episcopal supervision; at all events it does not
appear in the visitation registers of Bishops
Goldwell and Nykke.
In 1535, when dissolution was in the air,
some complaint was made to the Lord Privy
Seal as royal visitor-general, with regard to the
action of this abbey, whereupon the abbess and
convent wrote to Cromwell:—
We your oratrices and humble subjects, thank you
for your worshipful letter, whereby you have comforted us desolate persons. We assure you we have
not alienated the goods of our house, or listened to
any but discreet counsel. We have not wasted our
woods beyond the usage of our predecessors in times
of necessity. We beg you to intercede for us with
the King, our founder, that we may continue his
bedewomen, and pray for him, the queen, and the
princess. (fn. 9)
The Suffolk commissioners for the suppression
of the smaller religious houses visited Bruisyard
Abbey on 22 August, 1536, and drew up an
inventory. The ornaments of the church included a variety of vestments and altar cloths, a
table of alabaster, two great candlesticks of
latten, and 'a payor of lytell orgaynes very olde,
att xs.' The parlour, several chambers, buttery,
kitchen, bakehouse, and brewhouse were but
poorly furnished. The church plate was valued
at £28 12s. 4d.; it included six chalices, two
paxes, and a pair of cruets. The total inventory,
signed by Mary Page, abbess, reached the sum
of £40 13s. 4d. (fn. 10)
The abbey, on payment of the sum of £60
to the king, was able to stave off the evil day,
being specially exempted from suppression, and
Mary Page confirmed as abbess by patent of
4 July, 1537. (fn. 11)
On 17 February, 1539, came the final surrender of the house and all its possessions, signed
by Mary Page, abbess, in the presence of Dr.
Francis Cove. (fn. 12)
The site and precinct of the abbey, with the
whole of its possessions, was assigned by the crown
to Nicholas Hare and Katharine his wife, on
9 March, 1539, at a rental of £6 4s. 1d. (fn. 13)
Abbesses of Bruisyard
Emma Beauchamp, (fn. 14) occurs 1369 and 1390
Agnes, (fn. 15) occurs 1413
Ellen Bedingfield, (fn. 16) occurs 1421 and 1425
Katharine, (fn. 17) 1444
Elizabeth Crane, (fn. 18) occurs on 29 August, 1481
Alice Clere, (fn. 19) 1489
Margaret Calthorpe, (fn. 20) 1497
Mary Page, (fn. 21) 1537