7. ST. MARY DE PRÉ PRIORY,
ST. ALBANS
The foundation of the nunnery of St. Mary
de Pré in 1194 by Warin, Abbot of St. Albans,
was the outcome of a vision. St. Amphibalus
appeared in a dream to a man of Walden, and
ordered him to tell the abbot to honour the
place where the relics of himself and his companions on their way to the abbey had met the
shrine of St. Alban, (fn. 1) for the spot was very dear
to God and those martyrs. (fn. 2)
In obedience to this direction Warin built
there a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary
and houses for leprous women, (fn. 3) who were to
be veiled and live under a rule. The endow
ment was made entirely at the abbey's expense, (fn. 4)
and was of a nature to keep the new priory
very dependent on St. Albans. Warin gave to
the house (fn. 5) the site, church and buildings on
both sides of the street and various tithes, including those of the abbey's demesne of Luton,
of the new assart at Sarratt and all assarts made
in future and of all pannage belonging to St.
Albans; a rent of 20s. in Cambridge for the
sisters' clothing (fn. 6) ; and to each leper up to the
number of thirteen a monk's left-off frock and
cloak; for their maintenance the corrodies
already given for past abbots, and one at the
death of every abbot in future, (fn. 7) until they
numbered thirteen; the corrodies of Kings
Offa and Henry and Pope Hadrian when the
holders died, and meanwhile an allowance of
bread, meat and ale from St. Albans; two
loaves from every ovenful of the abbot's portion;
leave to grind a measure of oats and another of
malt at certain mills; 3d. a week from the toll
of the town of St. Albans; food for two horses
every day from the abbey granary; and a cartload of wood every week; while the chaplain
and his clerk were to receive their food daily
from the abbey, a mark a year from Walden
Church and half a mark from the church of
Newnham.
The sisters were fortunate in their first
warden, John de Walden, who was an able
advocate of their cause, and as he enjoyed the
royal favour it was probably through him that
King John confirmed to them in 1199 2 acres
in Eastbrook (fn. 8) given them by Queen Eleanor,
and granted them a yearly fair on the vigil and
feast of the Nativity of the Virgin (fn. 9) ; in 1204
he further gave them 30 acres of assart in
Eastbrook Wood (fn. 10) and in 1215 received the
house and sisters into his protection. (fn. 11)
A papal mandate of January 1223 (fn. 12) forbade
the abbot and convent to use their patronage
to lay burdens on the lepers at Pré, but the
actual grie\?\ance of the subject community is
unfortunately not explained. According to
Matthew Paris Pré was so poor in the middle
of the 13th century that its inmates had scarcely
the necessaries of life. (fn. 13) The exaction of the
clerical tenth in 1254 must therefore have
pressed hardly on them, especially since the
house had just then to be rebuilt. It seems
indeed that they could not have finished what
they had begun if Pope Alexander IV had not
helped them by offering indulgences to those
who contributed to the work. (fn. 14)
Abbot Richard de Wallingford (1328-36)
made a few regulations for the house. (fn. 15) He
required the brothers at their reception to swear
fealty to St. Albans before the abbot and archdeacon, and vow never to procure the entrance
of brothers, sisters or nuns except through the
abbot; they must also promise in writing to
live in chastity, voluntary poverty and obedience
according to the rule of St. Benedict. Up to this
time it is said the brothers and sisters had professed no certain rule.
Some idea of the life led by the inmates may
be gathered from the ordinances drawn up (fn. 16)
possibly by Abbot Michael or his successor
Thomas de la Mare (fn. 17) who is known to have
made a rule for Pré. (fn. 18)
The master, who must be versed in temporal
affairs, was to transact the business of the house
with the advice of his brothers and the prioress
and to render an account to the abbot every
year; chapters were to be held twice a week by
such brothers as were monks to treat of the
needs of the house; when the bell was rung in
the morning all were to rise, and after washing
their hands go to church, where the brothers
and chaplains were to say the matins of our
Lady and of the day, then after a short interval
the hours, and finally high mass, at which all
unless very ill were to be present; the brothers
were to have a common board, and the prioress,
nuns and sisters were likewise to dine together
in the frater, and none was to be late or leave
before grace; from Easter to All Saints there
were to be two meals a day, from All Saints to
Lent one only, except on Sundays; intervals
between mass and vespers were to be occupied
with work or devotions in church; talking in
church and after Compline was forbidden; the
doors between the men and women were to be
closed except at service-time; the brothers
were not to speak to the nuns and sisters, and
all were forbidden to talk to seculars where
suspicion of evil might arise; no men must eat
in the nuns' close without leave of the prioress;
visitors were to be kindly received, men by the
brothers, women by the nuns and sisters, who
must never allow secular persons to eat in the
private rooms, such as the dormitory; the
prioress was to see that the nuns slept in their
beds in one house and the sisters in another;
no brother or sister must go out of the house to
roam about (fn. 19) or talk to friends or enter a town
without leave of the master and consent of the
archdeacon; obedience to the master was
enjoined on the brothers and obedience to the
prioress on the sisters and nuns.
The division of the inmates into nuns and
sisters holding an inferior position seems not to
have been contemplated by Abbot Warin, who
intended the house apparently for thirteen
sisters, but the mention of a prioress in 1255
proves that the two classes existed soon after
the foundation. (fn. 20) Of the proportion of sisters
to nuns there is no information, but in 1341-2
there were four sisters, (fn. 21) in 1342-3 five, (fn. 22) and in
1352-3 eight nuns besides the prioress. (fn. 23) As
leprosy died out and the house became less of
a hospital, (fn. 24) the distinction was found unsatisfactory, and Abbot Thomas de la Mare (1349-96)
provided that no more sisters were to be
received and those there then might become
nuns if they wished. (fn. 25) At the same time he
insisted on a higher standard of education.
Most of the nuns were so unlettered that they
could only repeat one or two prayers, (fn. 26) but the
abbot now required them to learn the service and
say it daily, and because they had no books
gave them some from St. Albans. (fn. 27) In the
interests of discipline he ordained also that all
entering the house in future must profess the
rule of St. Benedict in writing and take the vows
before the Archdeacon of St. Albans. (fn. 28) He did
not forget their temporal welfare, but had what
was due to them from the monastery noted in
a register to prevent its withdrawal at any
time. (fn. 29)
The accounts of the wardens 1341-57 (fn. 30)
provide much information as to buildings, (fn. 31)
food (fn. 32) and domestic economy generally. Among
the receipts are one or two interesting items:
40s. paid at the entrance of the abbot's sister
in 1342-3; 15s. 3d. paid to Sister Isabella
Rutheresfeld for her ale (fn. 33) in 1350-1; £10
received from John Kyrkely on becoming a
brother of the house in 1352-3. (fn. 34) Every expense is noted, the lock for the larder, thread
and pack-needles, wax and cotton for candles
and payment to a man making them, the
stipend of a brewer for four days and payment
to a barber. The servants in 1350-1 numbered
fifteen and comprised three tenatores, apparently farmers, a huntsman, cowherd, shepherd, swineherd, four ploughmen, a maidservant
of the kitchen, the nuns' maid, the master's
servant, and a man collecting bread and ale for
the nuns at St. Albans. The income in 1341-2
was about £55, the expenses £46; both were
much the same in 1342-3; in 1350-1 the receipts were £63 13s. 5½d., expenses £75 3s. 9½d.,
but in 1352-3 the balance was £15 on the right
side; so on the whole the management must
have been good. (fn. 35)
Early in the 15th century the nuns received
an important addition to their property,
Henry V in 1416 granting them the reversion,
after the death of Queen Joan, of the alien
priory of Wing, co. Bucks. (fn. 36) He also exempted
the estate from payment of all subsidies,
though owing to an omission in the wording of
the grant the convent's claim in this respect
was not acknowledged until 1440. (fn. 37) On the
accession of Edward IV the convent obtained
a fresh patent, which mentioned the parish
church and its advowson as well as the manor. (fn. 38)
From 1461 to 1493 the accounts of the house, (fn. 39)
now kept by the prioress, again supply many
details about its administration. (fn. 40) There were
then nine or ten nuns besides the prioress, and
the expenses were usually kept within the limits
of an income of about £65. The house financially seems generally to have been well ordered.
Of its condition in other respects nothing is
known (fn. 41) except from the letter of Archbishop
Morton to the Abbot of St. Albans in July
1490. (fn. 42) Morton had heard on good authority,
he said, that Helen Germyn, the prioress, was a
married woman who had left her husband for a
lover, and that she and others of the convent
were leading notoriously immoral lives with
some of the monks of St. Albans. There was
enough truth in the report to cause Helen's
removal, (fn. 43) and apparently the selection of the
next prioress from Sopwell. (fn. 44)
Beyond the accounts of the prioress in 1515 (fn. 45)
and in 1526-7 (fn. 46) there is no further information
about Pré until April 1528, when it was found
on an inquiry (fn. 47) that the last prioress, Eleanor
Barnarde, had died in the previous June, and
that the three nuns composing the convent
had deserted the place. It had apparently
been represented to Pope Clement VII before
that regular discipline was much relaxed and
the nuns did not live as good lives as they
ought; for it was on this ground that in May
1528 he dissolved the priory and annexed it to
the abbey of St. Albans, then held by Cardinal
Wolsey in commendam. (fn. 48) In July Henry VIII
granted the site of the late nunnery with all its
possessions to Wolsey himself, (fn. 49) who conferred
it on his new college at Oxford. (fn. 50) Its property
comprised, (fn. 51) the manors of Pré, 'Playdell' (fn. 52)
and Beaumonts, rent in lieu of tithes in Redbourn, Sarratt, Codicote (co. Herts.) and
Dallow (fn. 53) (in Luton, co. Bedford), and various
parcels of land, the manor of Wing with the
advowson of the church and the rectory and
the manor of Swanbourne (co. Bucks.), in
which place the nuns had a holding in 1252. (fn. 54)
Wardens or Masters of St. Mary De Pré
Priory
John de Walden, the first master (fn. 55)
Richard, occurs 1235 (fn. 56)
William, occurs 1248 (fn. 57)
Richard, occurs 1278 (fn. 58)
Roger, occurs c. 1316 (fn. 59)
John le Patere, occurs March 1325 (fn. 60)
Richard de Bovyndon, occurs September 1341
to September 1342 (fn. 61)
Nicholas Redhod, occurs March 1352 to
March 1353 (fn. 62)
John de Kyrkely, occurs 13 August 1356 to
25 March 1357 (fn. 63)
Prioresses of St. Mary De Pré Priory
— de la Moote, occurs 1401 (fn. 64)
Lucy Botelere (?), occurs 1430 (fn. 65)
Isabella Benyngton, occurs 1446 (fn. 66) ; Isabella,
occurs 1460-1 (fn. 67)
Isabella or Elizabeth Baron, (fn. 68) occurs September 1468-71, (fn. 69) retired 4 April 1480 (fn. 70)
Alice Wafer, appointed April 1480, (fn. 71) occurs
1482-5 (fn. 72)
Christiana Basset, occurs March 1487 to
December 1488 (fn. 73)
Helen Germyn, occurs July 1490 (fn. 74)
Amy Goden, occurs 29 September 1490-3 (fn. 75)
Margaret Vernon, occurs 29 September 151315 (fn. 76)
Eleanor Barnard, the last prioress, died
4 June 1527 (fn. 77)
The seal of the house attached to a 13thcentury charter (fn. 78) is a pointed oval. On it
is represented a three-quarter length figure of
the Virgin, crowned and enthroned, with a
sceptre in her right hand; she holds on
her left knee the Child, who has a cruciform
nimbus. At the sides are two lily branches.
Below, under the words AVE MARIA, which the
cutter has reversed, is a leper-woman praying,
and behind her a star. The only letters remaining of the legend are: S' . . . E . . TO.