3. HERTFORD PRIORY
The Benedictine priory of St. Mary of Hertford, a cell of St. Albans Abbey, was built about
the end of the 11th century (fn. 1) by Ralph de Limesi
for six monks who were to be sent from St.
Albans. (fn. 2) Ralph gave as endowment a good
hide of land at Hertford, the church of Pirton
with tithe of his land and that of his men and
2½ hides of land, (fn. 3) the mill, pasture for the oxen
of the monks' ploughs with his own and feed for
their pigs in his woods; a carucate of land in
Itchington (co. Warw.) and certain tithes there
and in Ulverley in Solihull (co. Warw.), (fn. 4)
Cavendish (co. Suffolk), Bibbesworth in Kimpton
(co. Herts.), Epperstone (co. Notts.), and 'Torp.'
The charter was confirmed between 1108 and
1123 (fn. 5) by Henry I, who granted the priory sac
and soc, tol and team, infangthef and its own
court. The monks received from Ralph later
the church of Amwell with tithe, (fn. 6) and from his
wife Avice land of her dower in Bradwell, on
condition that she had three corrodies (fn. 7) from the
priory while she lived, and that after her death
another monk was added to the convent.
Several other members of the Limesi family
figure as protectors and benefactors. Alan,
Ralph's son, besides confirming his father's gifts
to the monks, granted the church of Itchington (fn. 8) ;
Gerard, his son, (fn. 9) gave them land in Cavendish
and Itchington and forbade interference with
their jurisdiction in places owned by them (fn. 10) ;
John son of Gerard de Limesi (fn. 11) acquitted their
tenements within his fee of scutage and made
over to them the church of Cavendish, (fn. 12) while
from his sister Amabel de Limesi they acquired
land in Bibbesworth. (fn. 13)
Their possession of the benefits granted was
not always left unquestioned. In the reign
of John they had to prove by their charters
their exemption from services demanded of
them in Amwell by Ralph de Limesi. (fn. 14) About
the same time Wiscard Ledet, owner of the
chapel of Ramerick in Ickleford, disputed their
right to the sum of 5s. payable apparently as
tithe from the mill there. The monks, however, agreed to supply a chaplain to celebrate
mass four days a week in Wiscard's chapel (fn. 15)
and were allowed the 5s. and 20d. more.
The question whether the Abbot of St. Albans
or the Bishop of Lincoln ought to have jurisdiction over the priory was settled in 1219, (fn. 16)
when it was decided that the prior must be
presented to the bishop and do canonical obedience to him for benefices in his diocese, but that
he was to be appointed by the abbot, who
also had the right to select and remove the rest
of the convent and to check abuses there.
Gilbert, Earl Marshal, after the accident
in the tournament at Ware, June 1241, was
carried to Hertford Priory, where he died
and his viscera were buried. (fn. 17) Contrary to
expectation, the occurrence was the reverse of
profitable to the house: the earl's brother
Walter at the time promised the convent a
rent of 60s., but afterwards refused to fulfil his
obligation, and subjected the prior to some
persecution into the bargain. (fn. 18)
Small gifts were occasionally made to the
monks for special purposes. Thus Richard de
Puteo c. 1200 gave them 12 acres of land in
Bibbesworth for their kitchen, (fn. 19) and in 1258, at
the instance of Abbot John, (fn. 20) once Prior of
Hertford, (fn. 21) a rent of 2s. was assigned to
maintain the ornaments and lights of an altar,
probably that of St. Mary, in their church. (fn. 22)
The indulgence of ten days granted by the
Bishop of Lincoln in 1302 to those going to
the altar of St. Theobald in the priory and
making offerings (fn. 23) suggests that money was
then needed for building. The fact that in
1318 (fn. 24) and 1321 (fn. 25) the prior was borrowing
points in the same direction, though the
extortions of the abbot from the cells at that
time (fn. 26) would account for debts.
The prior in May 1309 went abroad, (fn. 27) probably to obtain the pope's confirmation of the
election of Abbot Hugh de Eversden. Another
prior, Nicholas de Flamstead, a notably good
and able man, accompanied Richard de Wallingford, abbot-elect, to the papal court in
1327. (fn. 28) His connexion with the priory seems
then to have terminated. As cellarer of the
abbey he came to the priory in 1331 to make
provision for the entertainment there of the
justices of Trailbaston. (fn. 29)
As far as can be judged, the house throughout
the 14th century was quietly prosperous. It
was one of the three cells to give a present
to Abbot Richard in 1327, (fn. 30) and made its contribution to the expenses incurred by Abbot
Thomas de la Mare in obtaining the substitution
of a fixed annual payment for the sums due to
the king and pope, when some cells had to be
excused owing to debt. (fn. 31) Yet it was not among
the richest of the St. Albans cells: its share of
the above yearly payment was fixed by Abbot
John de la Moote (1396-1401) at 30s., the
smallest but one. (fn. 32)
The house in 1461-2 (fn. 33) was extremely unlucky
in its prior, Thomas Walden. The payments
made to him within this time and not entered
in his accounts amounted to £50 at least, and
the goods (fn. 34) alienated by him, not counting
jewels, to £46 more. The priory was ill able to
stand such malversation of its funds. The
accounts for 1488-9 show that the receipts,
£115 10s. 0¼d., did not quite cover expenses, (fn. 35)
and in 1497-8 the income of £90 10s. 3½d. barely
sufficed. (fn. 36)
The priors during this period were not always
well chosen. John Bensted, (fn. 37) prior in 1489,
apparently left the house £12 poorer than he
found it. (fn. 38) William Waterman, prior a little
later, had a suit brought against him in Chancery
for appropriating plate valued at 20 marks and
£5 in money entrusted to him by a widow named
Alice Newbury. (fn. 39) He declared that she had
given them to him to reimburse him for paying
her debts, but this she absolutely denied,
though she acknowledged she owed him 5 marks
which she professed herself ready to pay on the
restoration of her property. Even if the case
against Waterman was not so bad as it seems,
it was not to his credit. (fn. 40)
The proportion of income spent in law and
travelling expenses in 1497-8, £11 16s. out of
£90 10s., is also rather significant, considering the
past record of the prior, William Dyxwell. (fn. 41) The
receipts in 1525-6, £85 15s. 9½d., were £5 above
the expenditure, (fn. 42) but whether the financial
soundness of the house was due to wise administration is doubtful. The convent apparently
numbered only four, including the prior, (fn. 43) and
£42 had been spent on the kitchen and hospice, (fn. 44)
so that unless food was at famine prices hospitality there must have been on a lavish scale.
The grant of the priory and its property by
the king to Anthony Denny on 9 February
1538 (fn. 45) appears to prove that the house was then
already dissolved. Yet from a settlement about
the tithes of Amwell it was presumably still in
existence in July 1539 (fn. 46) ; if so its end was no
doubt delayed till the fall of St. Albans.
Its possessions, in 1297 worth about £30 or
£40 a year, (fn. 47) were reckoned in 1535 to be of the
clear annual value of £72 14s. 2½d. (fn. 48)
Priors Of Hertford
Ralph, the first prior (fn. 49)
Nigel, c. 1200 (fn. 50)
William de Sandruge, instituted 1213 (?), (fn. 51)
died July 1222 (fn. 52)
John, instituted January 1223, (fn. 53) became
Abbot of St. Albans 1235 (fn. 54)
Richard, instituted 1237 (fn. 55)
Nicholas, instituted 1241 (fn. 56)
Simon, died September 1247 (fn. 57)
Richard, occurs 1252, (fn. 58) died 1253 (fn. 59)
Thomas Martel, instituted 1254-5 (fn. 60)
William de Hertford, instituted January
1270-1 (fn. 61)
Mark de St. Edmund, instituted September
1276 (fn. 62)
William de Romeseye, instituted 1299 (fn. 63)
Richard de Hertford, instituted July 1303, (fn. 64)
Richard occurs 1309 (fn. 65)
William de Kirkeby, instituted 1312 (fn. 66)
John de Walsingham, instituted 1315 (fn. 67)
William de Kirkeby, instituted 1316 (fn. 68)
Stephen de Withenden, instituted 1317 (fn. 69)
Richard de Wathamstede, instituted 1318 (fn. 70)
Geoffrey de St. Albans, instituted 1323 (fn. 71)
Nicholas de Flamstede, occurs 1327 (fn. 72)
Adam de Doncaster, instituted 1350 (fn. 73)
Robert Nony, instituted 1352 (fn. 74)
John de Colby, occurs April 1389 (fn. 75)
William Wynselowe, occurs 9 October 1396, (fn. 76)
10 January 1397-8, (fn. 77) October 1398, (fn. 78)
12 December 1401 (fn. 79)
William Giles, occurs 1420 (fn. 80)
William Ellis, occurs 1423 (fn. 81)
William Brit, occurs 1429 (fn. 82)
John Welles, occurs 16 January 1452 (fn. 83)
Thomas Walden, occurs 25 March 146125 December 1462 (fn. 84)
John Welles, appointed 1463, (fn. 85) occurs 1465 (fn. 86)
Richard Lamplew, occurs 1476, (fn. 87) made prior
for life 1 August 1484, (fn. 88) died 1489 (fn. 89)
John Bensted, occurs 25 March-29 September
1489 (fn. 90)
William Waterman, occurs c. 1490-3 (fn. 91) (?)
William Dyxwell, occurs 29 September 149729 September 1498 (fn. 92)
John Kelyngwurthe, occurs 16 September
1507 (fn. 93) and 1511 (fn. 94)
Thomas Hampton, occurs 1512-13, (fn. 95) February 1520, (fn. 96) June 1525-June 1526, (fn. 97) January 1537 (fn. 98) and July 1539 (fn. 99)
The seal attached to a charter of 1520 (fn. 100) is
a large 13th-century vesica. On it is represented a half-length figure of the Virgin standing,
and holding on her left arm the Child, whose
head is surrounded by a cruciform nimbus.
All that remains of the broken legend is
. . . . . . SANCTE. [M]ARIE. [DE.H]ERTO. . . . .