4. THE ABBEY OF ROMSEY
The statements with regard to the early
foundation of Romsey are confusing and
conflicting, but it would seem probable that
Edward the Elder founded this house about the
year 907, and that his daughter St. Elfleda
became abbess and was buried there. (fn. 16) In
967 Edgar, grandson of Edward the Elder,
reconstituted the abbey, dedicating it to the
honour of St. Mary and St. Elfleda, and
placed there nuns under the Benedictine rule
over whom he appointed Merwenna as abbess. (fn. 17)
In this reconstitution Bishop Ethelwold (96384) took a considerable part. (fn. 18)
Of Merwenna little is known; she is said
to have been of noble Irish birth. Elwina,
the second abbess, succeeded about 993, when
Hampshire was overrun by the Danes, and
it is supposed that the abbess and her nuns
had to take refuge in Winchester.
The considerable holdings of the abbey at
the time of the Domesday Survey consisted
of the vill of Romsey, fourteen burgesses in
Winchester, Itchenstoke, Sidmohton, a hide in
Totton and a hide in Sway in Hampshire, and
Edington and Steeple Ashton in Wiltshire.
In 1086 Christine, sister of Edgar Atheling, took the veil at Romsey, as stated in the
Saxon chronicle, and became abbess. To
the same retreat Christine was followed by
her young niece Maud, but she did not take
the vows, and became the Queen of Henry I.,
being married at Martinmas, 1100. (fn. 19)
Mary, daughter of King Stephen, became
abbess here about 1160, and it was her uncle,
Henry de Blois, Bishop of Winchester (112971), who was probably the builder of the
greater part of Romsey Abbey as it now
stands. Abbess Mary in 1160 left her monastery to become the wife of Matthew, son of
Theodoric, Earl of Flanders. By him she had
two daughters, but was afterwards separated
from her husband. According to Matthew
Paris this separation was brought about by
the censure of the Church, and she returned
in penitence to Romsey.
In 1283 this nunnery was visited by the
energetic Archbishop Peckham. Among the
numerous decrees, issued as a result of the
visit, was the forbidding the abbess to have
more than two secular maids; the loss of
her pittance in the frater by any nun breaking silence in the cloister; forbidding a nun
ever speaking to a man (save in confession)
unless two of her sisters were present; confessions to be made in the church, either
before the high altar, or at the side of it
towards the cloister; forbidding the nuns
to eat or drink in any house in Romsey
under pain of a year's suspension; and the
forbidding of the entry of any male, under
pain of excommunication, into the rooms of
the nuns, save in times of sickness to the
farmery, and then only the confessor, the
doctor, or a near relative. At the same
time Peckham decided a dispute as to the
steward, Richard de Chalfhunte, who held
office against the will of the convent, and
ordered the abbess to take to her aid three
coadjutors from among the nuns, and to
transact no convent business without their
assent, namely Margaret de Verder, Philippa
de Stoke, and Joan de Ronedonne. (fn. 1)
In August, 1286,Archbishop Peckham issued
a mandate to William Shirlock, a prebendary
of Romsey, charged with illicit wandering
(inhoneste devagantem] through the town
of Romsey and elsewhere, not to dare to
enter the cloister nor the abbey church of
Romsey so long as there were probable
grounds of suspicion against him. This was
accompanied by an inhibition addressed to
the nuns of Romsey to hold no manner of
conversation with this prebendary in their
house or elsewhere. At the same time a
mandate was despatched to Master Henry,
official of Winchester diocese, directing him
to inquire into the case of William Shirlock,
accused of disturbing the nuns of Romsey,
and leading a dishonourable and dissolute life. (fn. 2)
The taxation of 1291 valued the temporalities of the Abbey of Romsey in the
archdeaconry of Winchester at £78 7s. 6d.,
in the deanery of Potterne (Sarum) at £100,
in the deanery of Wyly, 10s., and in the
archdeaconry of Gloucester at £5, giving a
total of £183 17s. 6d. In addition to this
the abbess received a pension of £5 6s. 8d.
from the church of Inmere (Sarum), and
of £9 3s. 4d. from the church of Weston
(Worcester).
In 1301 Bishop Pontoise visited the
Abbey of Romsey, and as a result injoined
that a balance sheet should be audited twice
a year in the chapter house; that a bell
should be rung for all the hours; that high
mass should always precede nones; that the
chaplains should be inhibited from ever celebrating after nones; that the doors of the
cloister and dorter be better warded; that
the safe custody of the seal be secured; that
there should be no eating nor drinking with
any religious or secular person in the town
of Romsey; and that no corrody nor pension should be granted without the bishop's
sanction. (fn. 3)
In February, 1305, the abbess found herself so infirm that she nominated Roger
Bandet and Roger de Presland to act as her
attorneys for three years; (fn. 4) and in June, 1307,
a grant was made to the prioress and nuns
of the custody of their abbey on the death,
cession, resignation, or deposition of their
Abbess Philippa. (fn. 5) This order was confirmed
by Edward II. on his accession to the throne.
The convent was visited in 1310, and the
decrees consequent on the visitation are set
forth in the bishop's register both in Latin
and French. The decrees were divided
into thirteen heads, and ordered that the
mass of the Blessed Virgin, with at least
eight nuns present, and the farmery mass
should be celebrated daily, and that no seculars of any condition or age should come
within the precincts to hear mass in the
farmery; that a bell should ring for all the
hours, and that high mass should be celebrated before nones; that no secular women
should enter the convent at any time; that
there should be a half-yearly balancing of
accounts before the chapter; that the seal
should only be affixed in chapter to documents read intelligibly; that two nuns should
be appointed to assist the prioress in the
receiving and disbursing of rents; that the
doors of the cloister and the dorter should be
warded, and that there was to be no eating
nor drinking in the frater after compline; that
children were not to be admitted to the dorter, nor to be in the quire when divine offices
were celebrated; that curtains (if any existed)
before the beds in the dorter were to be removed; and that woodmen and other work
men were to be excluded from the convent.
Special rules were also laid down as to the
dietary of the farmery, and as to bloodletting. (fn. 1)
The claim of the Crown to enforce the
payment of corrodies and pensions from
monasteries under its patronage, to persons
nominated by it, was frequently insisted upon
at Romsey. In June, 1310, Juliana la Despenser was sent with letters under privy seal
to the abbess and convent to be provided with
fitting maintenance for herself and her maid
during her lifetime. (fn. 2) In 1315 the abbess and
convent were enjoined to give a pension to
Richard de Ayreminn, they being obliged to
grant a pension to one of king's clerks on
account of the new creation of an abbess. (fn. 3)
For the same reason John de St. Paul obtained
a pension in 1333, (fn. 4) and Thomas Sampson, a
scholar, in 1515. (fn. 5) The bishops of Winchester in like manner claimed the right to
nominate a nun to be admitted to the abbey
at their consecration. (fn. 6)
On 11 May, 1315, Alice de Roffa and Margaret de Middleton, nuns of Romsey, brought
news to the king of the death of Abbess Alice,
and obtained the necessary licence for another
election. (fn. 7) It was alleged that the late abbess
had come to her end by foul means, and on
28 May the justices, Henry de Scrop, John
Daubernoun and John Bluet, were appointed
a commission of oyer and terminer touching
the persons who killed the late abbess at
Romsey, on the confines of the counties of
Hants and Wilts, from which two counties
the jurors were to be selected. The cause
of death is stated in the letters patent to
have been intoxicatione, which we take to
be drugging or poisoning, and not ' forced
inebriation,' as Dugdale has it. (fn. 8) To this
commission John Randolf (fn. 9) was added in
July, but the result of the trial has not been
recorded.
Meanwhile the king gave the custody of
the abbey to Master Richard de Clare, but
the prioress and nuns recovered it on paying
a fine of forty marks. (fn. 10)
On 20 February, 1316, order was issued
to the abbess to examine the rolls, etc.,
of Nicholas de Romsey, late justice-in-eyre
of the forests this side Trent, which were said
to be in her treasury, and all other muniments
touching the said matters in her possession, and
to send them under seal to Westminster. (fn. 11)
Bishop Orlton visited the house on November 28 and preached in the chapter house
from the text, ' Que parate erant intraverunt
cum eo ad nuptias.' (fn. 12)
In 1336 Edward III. granted to the convent the custody of the temporalities of their
house during a vacancy, for which they were
to pay £20 for each month of the vacancy. (fn. 13)
By the return of the aid for making Edward
the Black Prince a knight it appears that the
abbess held in perpetual alms half a knight's
fee in Sidmanton. (fn. 14)
In 1370 Bishop Wykeham authorized the
abbess to appoint one or two chaplains, clean
in life and pure in conscience, to confess herself and the sisters. (fn. 15) Later in his episcopate
the bishop adopted the better plan of himself
appointing the confessors. By an undated commission, apparently circa 1395, Ralph Basyng,
a monk of Winchester, and two other priests
were appointed to confess the abbess and nuns of
Romsey. (fn. 16) Basyng was appointed to a similar
position for the nuns of Wherweil in 1393.
At the time of the nomination of Basyng
and his two colleagues as confessors, the confessor's licence held by Friar John Burgeys
was revoked, and a monition was issued to
the abbess warning her not to allow any
secular priest serving in the conventual church
or in the town of Romsey to have access to
her in the rooms or cloister of the abbey, nor
to hold with them any conversation save in
the presence of an honest and trustworthy
sister nun.
On 29 May, 1372, Bishop Wykeham
wrote to the Abbess and Convent of Romsey
desiring them, at the request of William, Earl
of Pembroke, to receive his noble kinswoman,
Dame Elizabeth de Berkele, during the absence of Maurice Wytht, her husband, on
foreign service with the earl. (fn. 17) The letter
was to be taken as an episcopal licence, for
without such leave the reception of a guest
would have been quite irregular. At the
same time a like letter was sent to the nunnery of Wherwell, so that Dame Elizabeth
could make her choice of houses or change
her residence during her husband's absence.
The Earl of Pembroke was in charge this
year of the disastrous expedition to relieve
Rochelle, when his ships were burnt by the
Spanish fleet and he himself taken prisoner.
A curious dispute arose in the time of
Bishop Wykeham between the (canon) sacrist
of the abbey church and the vicar of the
parish church of Romsey. An order from the
bishop to the rural dean of Sombourn to inhibit the vicar, John Folyot, and his chaplains,
pending the decision of a cause promoted by
the abbess and convent against them, states
that it had been the usage, time beyond
memory, for the sacrist of the abbey church
to bless the palms and boughs of other trees
used at mass on Palm Sunday, and that from
the high altar and not elsewhere; nevertheless
the vicar and chaplains had interrupted the
sacrist in the exercise of this privilege. (fn. 1) The
instruction to the rural dean is dated 13
March, 1372, and as Easter that year fell on
March 20, the inhibition would be in good
time to prevent a scandal on the ensuing
Palm Sunday. The north aisle of the great
abbey church of Romsey was used as the
parish church. The high altar would be in
the nuns' quire. It can therefore be readily
understood that the vicar ministering to the
people would resent the palms being blessed
out of sight of the congregation.
At this time there was also a dispute between the town and the abbey as to the repair and maintenance of this north aisle or
chapel, and on 15 March, 1372, the bishop
appointed Thomas de Sheptone, canon of
Wells, and two other commissioners to hold
an inquiry in order to settle upon whom this
responsibility lay. (fn. 2) On 10 May, 1403, a
faculty was granted to the vicar and parishioners of Romsey to pull down and rebuild
the wall of the north aisle of Romsey Minster
from the transept to the porch in order to
enlarge it. The petition of the parishioners
stated that the aisle was so narrow and confined that on Sundays and festivals there was
no suitable or even decent accommodation for
the worshippers, and they expressed a desire
not only to make their part of the minster
larger, but fairer. The bishop granted the
faculty in language strongly approving of the
beautifying of God's sanctuary, and of providing fully for the numerous population of
both sexes of the town of Romsey, for whom
this north aisle was their only parish church;
but he made it a condition that not only was
the work to be done at their own expense,
but it was to be sustained in like manner.
On the day following the grant of this faculty
the bishop sent a letter to the abbess and nuns
of Romsey advising and exhorting them to
show favour and kindness to the project of
the vicar and parishioners. (fn. 3)
Henry, Bishop of Annadown, acting as
suffragan to Wykeham, was at Romsey abbey
on Sunday, 19 September, 1400, when he
received thirteen novices, Margery Camoys,
Alice Warennere, Joan Stratford, Alice
Northlode, Alice Forester, Elizabeth Sampson,
Maud Lovell, Katherine de la Mare, Alice
Chamberlayn, Isabel Lekforde, Alice Artone,
Juliana Shirnham, and Joan Umfray. (fn. 4) From
the names it may be assumed that the abbey
received ladies of position and good birth
among its professed members.
The abbess, Dame Lucy Everard, was apparently ailing in 1402. In August of that
year licence was granted her for a twelvemonth to hear divine service in her oratory
in the presence of one of the sisters and her
servants.
After having held the position for about
thirty years, Elizabeth Brooke, who was
elected abbess in 1472, brought the gravest
discredit on the abbey. The scandal of her
life was naturally accompanied by general laxity
of discipline and by the decay of the fabric.
In 1494 Archbishop Morton caused Robert
Sherborne (afterwards Bishop of Chichester),
treasurer of Hereford Cathedral, to visit those
religious houses of Winchester diocese that
were subject to diocesan control. Abbess
Brooke confessed on that occasion to a debt
of £80; she suspected that the nuns made
egress through the church gates, but denied
that any frequented taverns or suspected
places. Isabel Morgan, prioress, testified, on
the contrary, that some of the nuns did frequent taverns, and went into the town without leave; she also hinted at a scandal concerning the abbess. Various of the nuns
were examined, and one of them complained
that their sins or faults were not punished,
and that the doors were not kept shut. (fn. 5)
This nunnery was again visited on 27
March, 1502, by Dr. Hede, the commissary of
the Prior of Canterbury, during the vacancy
of the sees of both Canterbury and Winchester. The abbess stated that the statutory
number of nuns was forty, that they did not
take their meals in the frater but in certain
rooms assigned them by the abbess, that there
were no debts and no valuables pledged, that
there was a secular chaplain in the monastery
according to their statutes. Isabel Maryuleyn,
prioress, testified to the due observance of the
night and day offices; that the abbess was
very remiss in correcting the delinquencies of
the sisters. Cecily Reed, sub-prioress, had
but little to say. Joan Skelyng stated that
the abbess was wont to pay certain salaries to
the nuns of 10s. or 6s. 8d.; that a great
scandal had arisen concerning the abbess and
Master Bryce super mala et suspecta conversations; that lately, at the instigation of Master
Bryce, the abbess had been negligent in correcting the sisters. Joan Paten, precentor,
said that tenements in the town of Romsey
belonging to the monastery were in decay
through the fault of the abbess; that since
the coming of Master Bryce the abbess had
conducted herself badly towards the sisters,
and that she would accept no one's advice
but his; that since his coming she had not
taken her meals with the nuns, and that there
were rumours of incontinence. Thomasine
Ashley, almoner, stated that the bread had
diminished in quantity; that one Gilbert de
Wilshire had certain letters pertaining to the
convent under the common seal without the
consent of the chapter; that the abbess and
her accomplices had broken open the chest in
which the common seal was enclosed, and
that Joyce Rowse, who had the custody of
one key by the mandate of the late Bishop of
Winchester, could testify to this. Edith
Holloway, cellarer, said that Mary Tystede
and Agnes Harvey wore their hair long.
Anne Rowse, sacrist, said that the abbess was
somewhat remiss in correction, and made
further charges of a pecuniary character
against Master Bryce. Joyce Rowse agreed
with Thomasine Ashley as to the custody of
the common seal and the dismissal of the
holders of the keys; she further said that
the abbess under the influence of Master
Bryce behaved cruelly towards her sisters and
that there was a great scandal about them;
that the roof of the chancel was defective
through the fault of the abbess, and she gave
particulars as to various defalcations in the priory
accounts. Maria Fystede, cantatrix, referred
to the condition of the accounts in the time
of the late abbess Joan Brygges, and said that
rents which were then only 90 marks under
the present abbess had grown to 300 marks;
but that the bread and cheese in the convent
had lessened in measure through the intervention of Master Bryce; that Bryce was suspected of being the father of a girl in Wiltshire; that houses in the town as well as the
dorter and the chancel were in decay through
the fault of the abbess, and that Master
Bryce kept two or three horses at the expense
of the monastery; that he had obtained a
large salary under the common seal as chaplain of the farmery, and that he sat at table
with the abbess and that there was common
scandal about them. Ellen Tawke, third
cantatrix, testified that the dorter and chancel
were defective in their roofs; that the abbess
had been in that office for thirty years, but
what gain she had brought the monastery she
was ignorant, but rather believed that the
annual rents had increased to 111 marks from
50; that the houses of the monastery were in
decay through the fault of Master Bryce,
whose advice was followed by the abbess, and
that scandal had arisen about them. Christine
More, fourth cantatrix, said that the house
was not in debt more than twenty marks, and
that as for the rest it was omnia bene. Avice
Haynow said that the chancel and the dorter
were in decay, so that if it happened to rain
the nuns were unable to remain either in
quire, in the time of the divine service, or in
their beds, and that the funds that the abbess
ought to have expended on these matters were
being squandered on Master Bryce, and that
there was a grave scandal about these two.
Agnes Harvey, sub-sacrist, made similar statements as to the roofs of the quire and dorter,
and that the actual fabric of the monastery in
the stone walls was going to decay through the
fault of the abbess, and gave further particulars of the expenses incurred through Master
Bryce. She also asserted that Emma Powes
was guilty of incontinence with the vicar of
the parish church. Emma Powes, who had
been professed in a certain priory near Derby,
and from that place had been removed to
another priory in Hereford diocese, where she
had been prioress, and thence had come to
this house, said that silence was not observed
in the dorter, and that the roof of the quire
and the lady chapel were in decay. Alice
Whytingstale, mistress of the school, said that
the abbess at various times had prohibited her
from receiving the Eucharist and from making
her usual confession, and that since the arrival
of Master Bryce the abbess had not conducted
herself amicably towards her sisters. She also
gave evidence as to the faulty roofs, and that
a corrody had been granted to Master Bryce
of the annual value of £20, and that he had
caused a great scandal. The testimony of
six other nuns were also set forth of a brief
character. The visitation is left incomplete,
much of the last folio being blank. (fn. 1)
The result of this grievous exposure seems
to have brought about the enforced resignation of the aged and evil abbess, and in June,
1502, Joyce Rowse was elected abbess and
received the temporalities. (fn. 2)
It was difficult for the abbey to recover
from the long laxity that had so unhappily
prevailed under Elizabeth Brooke, and in 1506
Bishop Fox had to remove the sub-prioress
and to administer severe censures. (fn. 3)
Abbess Joyce resigned in September, 1515,
and on the 16th of that month the congè
d'elire was granted to the prioress and convent,
who elected Anne Westbrook, ' sexteyn ' of
the monastery, as their abbess.
Elizabeth Ryprose, the last abbess, was
elected on 15 December, 1523. The documents relative to this election are set forth in
great detail in the episcopal registers. (fn. 4) The
temporalities were restored in the following
month. (fn. 5) In November 1537 the abbey,
alarmed at the fate of the smaller houses,
procured an elaborate inspection and confirmation of all their royal charters from the
time of Henry I. downwards. (fn. 6) But this was
so much waste of parchment and fees.
Sir Richard Lister wrote to Cromwell in
September, 1537, informing him that the
nuns of Romsey, hearing they were in danger
of suppression, were making leases and alienating their goods. He desired to know
whether he was to stay them in this. (fn. 7)
On 28 December, 1538, John Foster reported to Sir Thomas Seymour as to the state
of the house of Romsey. He pronounced the
house out of debt; that the plate and jewels
were worth £300; the bells worth £100.
The church is described as a great sumptuous
thing, all of freestone and covered with lead,
and worth £300 or £400 more. The
annual rents are returned at £481 1s. 8d.
The names of the abbess, Elizabeth Ryprose,
the prioress, Edith Banester, and the subprioress, Katharine Wadham, are set down,
together with twenty-three other nuns. Mr.
Foster wrote: ' In answer to your letter by
Mr. Flemynge, whether the abbess and nuns
would be content to surrender their house,
the truth is, that, in consequence of the motion made by your kinswomen and other
friends, they will be content to do you any
pleasure, but they would be loath to trust to
the commissioners' gentleness, as they hear
that other houses have been straitly handled.' (fn. 8)
Nearly a third of this community had made
their religious profession in July, 1534, very
shortly before the beginning of their troubles.
One of these was Katherine, youngest
daughter of Sir Nicholas Wadham, Governor
of the Isle of Wight, whose sister Jane had
also been for some years a professed nun of
the same abbey. John Foster, whose letter
to Seymour has just been cited, lived at
Baddesley near Romsey, and was convent
steward. His reference to ' kinswomen' applied to the two Wadham nuns and to
another nun of the name of Elizabeth Hill.
Sir Nicholas Wadham's first wife was a
daughter of Robert Hill of Antony, and his
second was Margaret, sister to Queen Jane
Seymour and Sir Thomas Seymour. Through
their influence it was hoped that a quiet surrender would be made. (fn. 9)
Whether this was effected or not cannot
now be asceertained, for there is no extant
formal surrender. But the abbess and convent in January, 1539, had licence to alienate
their lordships or manors of Edingdon and
Steeple Ashton and all their lands and tenements in Hampshire and Wiltshire to Sir
Thomas Seymour. (fn. 10)
The clear annual value of the abbey was
reckoned by the commissioners at £161
7s. 10d. (fn. 11) The lands returned on the first
minister's account after the dissolution of the
house were the manors of Romsey with the
rectory and fair, Moor Abbas,' Moor Malwyn,'
Itchenstoke with the rectory, Sway, Sidmonton, Holm Lacy (Hunlacey) with ' Torleton
juxta Coates,' and ' Bardolfeston' in the parish
of Puddle. (fn. 12)
The parishioners of Romsey managed to
save the fine old conventual church from destruction by buying it back from the Crown
in 1554 for £100. This is much below
Steward Foster's valuation; but it must be
recollected that the parish had an unassailable
right to a considerable portion of it, which
even Henry's counsellors could not ignore.
The pointed oval seal, of late twelfth cen
tury date, of which an illustration is given,
represents St. Elfleda, the abbess and patron
saint, in full length with crozier in right hand
and book in left. Legend: SIGIL'S MARIE
. . . HOMES' ECL'E.
Abbesses of Romsey
Elfleda, died in 959
Merwenna, 974
Elwina, 993
Elfleda, 996
Christine, 1086
Hadewis or Avice, 1130-55
Maud, 1155-60
Mary, 1160
Juliana, (fn. 1) died in 1199
Maud Walerand, (fn. 2) 1199-1219
Maud Paria or Paricia, 1219-61
Amice, 1263
Alice Walrand, 1290-8.
Philippa de Stokes, (fn. 3) 1298-1307
dementia de Gildeford, (fn. 4) 1307-14
Alice de Wyntereshulle, 1315
Sibil Carbonel, 1315-33
Joan Icthe, (fn. 5) 1333
Isabel de Camoys, (fn. 6) 1352-96
Lucy Everard, (fn. 7) 1396
Felicia Aas, (fn. 8) died in 1419
Maud Lovell, 1419-62
Joan Brygges, 1462-72
Elizabeth Brooke, (fn. 9) 1472-1502
Joyce Rowse, 1502-15
Anne Westbrook, 1515
Elizabeth Ryprose, 1523-39