11. THE PRIORY OF ST. DENIS, SOUTHAMPTON
The priory of St. Denis was founded by
Henry I. about the year 1124 for Austin
Canons. The foundation charter, directed to
Bishop Gifford, William de Ponte Arche, the
sheriff, and the burgesses of Southampton,
granted to God and the church of St. Denis
and the canons serving God there, for the
health of his soul and of the souls of his father
and mother, Maud his wife and William his
son, a parcel of land between Portswood and
the Itchen, having a rental of 11s. 6d., together
with another parcel of land near the sea to the
east of the borough, having a rental of 41s. 6d.
Girard, the canon named in this charter, was
doubtless the first prior. (fn. 13) King Stephen confirmed to the canons the grant of land at
Baddesley made by Robert de Limesey. (fn. 14)
William son of Audoenus gave to Adelard
the prior and the canons in 1151 the manor
of Northam, which grant was confirmed by
charters of Henry II., Bishop Blois and St.
Thomas of Canterbury. Henry II. also
granted to the canons his chapels of St.
Michael, the Holy Rood, St. Lawrence and
All Saints within Southampton. The possessions of the priory during this reign consisted
of three ploughlands in Portswood, three
groves of woodland, 100 acres of pasture, 40
acres of meadow, and 400 acres of marsh. (fn. 15)
On 8 September, 1189, Richard I. gave to
the priory Kingsland and the wood called
Portswood. The chartulary has a most
interesting mention of the customary work
which the men of Portswood did for the king
as lord of the manor before Henry I. gave it
to the canons. Subsequently the same services were rendered to the prior. (fn. 16)
Hadewise, Abbess of Romsey (1130-55),
granted a perpetual corrody of meat and drink,
such as was served for one of their nuns, to her
brothers and benefactors, the canons of St.
Denis. (fn. 17) Geoffrey Hose, one of the justices of
Henry II., about 1180 granted to the priory
a parcel of land at Edboldington and the
church of Little Faccombe. (fn. 18)
In 1201 King John granted a confirmation
charter, and in 1204 Bishop Godfrey de Lucy
confirmed the gift of William Aliz, which
consisted of a tithe of his yearly rents and
pannage at Aldington, 5s. annually from the
mill of Aldington, and pannage in his woods
for thirty pigs. Humphrey de Bohun, Earl
of Hereford, confirmed in the time of Edward
I. the gift made by his father of the church of
Chilworth with all its appurtenances. William
Musard, about 1290 gave 3s. rents in the
village of Eldon on condition of the canons
always burning a wax taper before the Lady
altar of their conventual church, where his
wife Isabel was buried. There were also
numerous bequests of houses, tenements and
messuages in the town of Southampton during
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. (fn. 1)
The taxation of 1291 gives the total annual value of the priory in Hampshire at
£13 16s. 8d. In the archdeaconry of Sarum
they held temporalities yielding an annual
income of £7 4s. 8d.; in the deanery of
Maryborough, the rectory of Chiselbury was
entered at £2 13s. 4d,; and there was a
holding at Burbage worth an annual rent of
10s.
Henry de Hamelton held the office of prior
for fourteen years. On 18 August, 1294, the
bishop sanctioned his resignation on the
grounds of infirmity of both mind and body. (fn. 2)
On 21 August the king's assent to the election
of Richard de Chacombe, one of the canons,
was sent to the bishop, and on the morrow
the bishop's mandate to the archdeacon to
induct, and to the sub-prior and convent to
obey their new prior were sent forth. (fn. 3) At
the beginning of the year 1298 Prior Richard
was in poor health, and by reason of his
weakness obtained leave from the Crown to
nominate brother Robert de Stanham and
Roger de Preselande his attorneys for two
years. (fn. 4) In 1300 the prior, by reason of his
continued feebleness, was allowed to renew
the nomination of the same two attorneys for
another two years. (fn. 5) Bishop Woodlock had
to interfere with the rule of this house on
several occasions, whilst the feeble Richard de
Chacombe was prior. In March, 1307, the
selling of corrodies without episcopal licence
was forbidden; in September of the same year
the bishop wrote about the internal management of the house; in April, 1300, he held a
visitation of the priory and promulgated certain
statutes for its better regulation, and he
caused the house to be again visited by commission in May, 1309. (fn. 6)
Prior Richard resigned at the close of the
year 1313, and on 23 January the king notified the bishop of his assent to the election of
Robert de Stonham, cellarer, and the temporalities were restored to him on 22 February. (fn. 7)
In 1318, Edward II. sent Walter de la
Marche, who had long served him and his
father, to the priory to provide him with the
necessaries of life in food and clothing. (fn. 8) A
return of the same year as to the value and
stock of the episcopal manors at the death of
Bishop Sandale, mentions, under Bitterne,
that the jury reported brother William Fymarc,
a young canon of St. Denis, who had been
ordained deacon in 1316, for breaking into
the lord's warren with four others, and taking
young rabbits. (fn. 9)
In January, 1328, Bishop Stratford wrote to
the priory stating that as he was about to
attend the meeting of parliament at York, he
could not give immediate attention to the
reformation of the defects he noticed at his
recent visitation, but that, God willing, he
would speedily do so on his return; meanwhile he enjoined that none be permitted to
leave the house without the express sanction
of the prior or sub-prior. (fn. 10) John de Vienne,
clerk, was sent to the priory by the king on
4 March to have such maintenance there as
John de Ash, deceased, had at the request of
Edward I.; a year later John atte Lane,
yeoman of the king's kitchen, was sent to fill
the same vacancy, so that apparently John de
Vienne (fn. 11) went elsewhere.
On 9 March, 1328, the sub-prior and convent obtained licence to elect, on the resignation of Robert de Stonham, and their choice
fell on Thomas de Newton; the royal assent
was signified on 12 April. (fn. 12) The bishop
however declined to confirm this election for
some irregularity of procedure. It was a
serious matter for a small convent to have a
prolonged voidance, for during that time the
revenues went to the Crown; but on the
petition of the priory the king granted to them
on 13 May, in consideration of their poverty
and debt, the custody of their temporalities,
save the knights' fees, advowsons and escheats,
yielding to the king for this privilege eight
marks until the feast of the Assumption, and
if the voidance should last longer, then at the
rate of £10 a year. (fn. 1) On 28 June the convent gave way to the bishop, and put the
selection of a prior from among their canons
into his hands, with the result that William
de Wareham was appointed, and received the
episcopal benediction on 18 July. (fn. 2)
In 1330, the priory received letters patent
granting that on the death of the royal pensioner John atte Lane, who took the place of
John de Ash, deceased, they should not be
called upon to admit any one in his place. (fn. 3)
This grant was made on 10 May, but on 1
June the king insisted on his right to send a
new pensioner clerk on the new creation of a
prior, and sent to them Master William de
Kirkham. (fn. 4)
Edward III. granted the priory of St. Denis
a charter to secure to them yearly a tun of
wine, between Christmas and the Annunciation, for use at masses for the souls of the
faithful departed; and in February, 1334,
Richard de la Pole, the king's butler in the
port of Southampton, had orders to deliver to
the prior a tun of red wine of the first wines
brought to the port. (fn. 5)
Bishop Orlton visited St. Denis on 22
November, 1334, and preached in the chapter
house from the text, 'Israel shall dwell safely.' (fn. 6)
In the same month the bishop confirmed to
the priory the appropriations of the churches
of East Tytherley, Shirley and Chilworth,
and the chapels of Holy Trinity and St.
Andrew, Southampton, also pensions from
the following Southampton churches: St.
Michael, 60s.; St. Cross, 13s. 4d.; St.
Lawrence, 13s. 4d.; and All Saints, 26s. 8d. (fn. 7)
In 1346, Bishop Edingdon licensed for
celebrations an oratory lately built over the
outer gateway in honour of St. Katherine. (fn. 8)
A commission of three was issued by Bishop
Wykeham in September, 1381, to visit the
priory of St. Denis on the Saturday after
Michaelmas Day; as no injunctions followed
there could have been no serious defect. (fn. 9) In
the same year, John Stamford, one of the
canons, was appointed coadjutor in consequence of the infirmities of Richard de
Stamford, the prior. (fn. 10)
On 19 May, 1382, Richard II. inspected
and confirmed in favour of John Machon of
Quidhampton, and Edith his wife, three
indentures for corrodies with the priory of St.
Denis: (a) A grant, dated 1365, for the life
of Edith of a white loaf and a gallon of ale
daily, a canon's pittance of food and drink
daily from the kitchen, and six yards of
coloured cloth of the suit of esquires for her
robe on All Saints' Day, provided that John
did not leave the convent's service. (b) A
grant, dated 1376, to John Machon and
Margery his daughter for their lives and the
life of the longer liver, of a white loaf and a
black loaf called 'sweynlof' daily, and of the
reversion on the death of Edith of the livery
granted to her. (c) A life grant, dated 1372,
to the said John of the chamber over the
middle gate of the priory, with free ingress and
egress for himself and his household, a white
loaf such as a canon had, and a gallon of ale
daily, a canon's pittance daily from the kitchen,
and a robe yearly such as one of the free
servants of the prior had, or 10s. in lieu thereof, also two cartloads of firewood yearly, with
power, in case of default, to distrain on their
manors in Hampshire. (fn. 11)
The town of Southampton was a long time
in recovering from the serious damage done in
1338, when a large portion was sacked and
burnt by the French. In April, 1385, protection was granted to the priory of St. Denis
and its possessions, it being recited that much
of its property had been burnt and destroyed
by the French, putting the convent to
immense cost in repairing their tenements and
in fortifying the town, so that they were
deeply in debt and had not the means to pay
pensions and corrodies or to maintain their
canons. Thomas, Earl of Nottingham, and
three others were appointed to the custody of
its temporalities. (fn. 12) The same custodians were
reappointed for two years in 1387. (fn. 13)
William of Wykeham left by his will
twenty marks for the repair of the church of
the priory of St. Denis.
In 1465 Edward IV. inspected and confirmed to the priory a great variety of charters
from Henry I. to Richard II.
This priory was visited on 15 March, 1501,
by Dr. Hede, the commissary of the priory of
Canterbury, in the vacancy of the sees of both
Canterbury and Winchester. Robert Wode,
the prior, reported that Canon John Somerset
was absent through sickness. He stated that
at the time of his entry into office there was a
debt on the priory of a hundred marks; the
common seal was kept under three keys, one
in the custody of the prior, and the two others
in the charge of the senior canons. Thomas
Wardle testified that the house in the time of
the predecessor of the present prior was burdened to the extent of £60, of which the
present prior paid £30; and that a certain
silver vessel called a ' spice plate' was pledged
by him to one Dorothy of Southampton, but
for what sum he knew not. Brief statements
as to the debts incurred by the late prior were
also made by Canons William Thurley, John
Scott, Walter May and Richard Lynton. (fn. 1)
On the death of Wode in February, 1509,
Walter May, the last prior, was elected. (fn. 2)
Soon after this election Bishop Fox visited the
priory, and subsequently sent them a decree
of twenty-four articles, enjoining a stricter
observance of their rule in various details; the
canons were also ordered to go about two by
two and never to frequent towns, nor were
they to go to Portswood or Southampton to
dine, except by leave, lest by secular conversation their quiet be disturbed, and they be
tempted to worldly thoughts and desires. (fn. 3)
The Valor of 1535 gave the clear annual
value of the house as £80 11s. 6d. At the
time of the dissolution in the following year
there were nine canons in addition to Prior
May. The prior obtained a pension of
£13 6s. 8d., and also the free chapel of the
Blessed Mary with its appurtenances for life. (fn. 4)
The holding of this chapel (which belonged
to St. Denis) was a post of some value, for it
was a place of pilgrimage known as St. Mary
of Graces; here in 1510 Henry VIII. made
an offering in person of 6s. 8d. (fn. 5)
From the first ministers' account, after the
dissolution of the monastery, we find that it
held various possessions in Southampton, including the manor of St. Denis, and pensions
from the churches of the Holy Rood, All
Saints, St. Laurence and St. Michael's, the
manors of Northam, 'Leverley,' 'Berfords,'
'Bremerton ' and Quidhampton, the rectories
of ' Estadderley, Aulworth' and Shirley, and
lands, rents, pensions, etc., in Aldington,
Portswood, East Dean, Broughton, Houghton,
King's Somborne, Romsey, Ablingeton, Appleshawe, Burbage, Chisbury, 'Brinknoll,' 'Shreton,' and Stapleford together with Wilton in
the county of Wilts, and Sturminster and
' Lichette' in the county of Dorset. (fn. 6)
The site and certain possessions of the
priory were granted in 1538 to Francis
Dautry, namely, the house and site of the
grange and lands at South Stoneham; two
gardens, the tenement called ' le Bordelhouse'
and three cottages in Southampton, and the
manor of Lockerley in East Dean. The clear
annual value of these was estimated at
£32 15s. 0d., and the rental for the same was
65s. 6d. (fn. 7)
The sole relic of this ancient priory, so
closely connected with the history of the town
for four centuries, is a fragment of grey
ruined wall on the right bank of the Itchen,
about three miles above the dock entrance.
The pointed oval early fourteenth century
seal, of which an illustration is given, represents St. Denis standing on a corbel, holding
a book to his breast. The background is
diapered lozengy. Legend: . . . LLUM:
COMMUNE: MONAST . . . JUXTA: SUTHAM . . .
Priors Of St. Denis
Girard, 1124
Adelard, 1151
Nicholas, (fn. 8) resigned in 1280
Henry de Hamelton, (fn. 9) 1280-94
Richard de Chacombe, (fn. 10) 1294-1313
Robert de Stonham, (fn. 11) 1314-28
Thomas de Newton, (fn. 12) 1328 (elected, but not confirmed)
William de Wareham, (fn. 13) 1328-49
Richard de Stamford, (fn. 14) 1349-91
John Stamford, (fn. 15) 1391-97
John Ryal, (fn. 16) 1397-1412
Thomas Winchester, (fn. 17) 1412
Thomas Arnewode, 1435-57
William Norman, (fn. 18) 1457-62
Thomas Robys, (fn. 1) 1462
John Foster, (fn. 2) 1490-99
Robert Wode, (fn. 3) 1499-1509
Walter May, (fn. 4) 1509-36