HOUSES OF BENEDICTINE NUNS
7. THE PRIORY OF ST. SEPULCHRE, CANTERBURY
In the chronicle of William Thorne this house
is said to have been founded by Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury (1093-1109), in the parish
church of St. Sepulchre, of his patronage. (fn. 1)
William Calwell is called the founder in the
Valor; and probably the bulk of the endowment
came from him, the archbishop merely sharing
in the foundation. The priory was situated
within the limits of the fee of St. Augustine,
and in 1244 the prioress and nuns bound themselves not to enter on or appropriate any lands
belonging to the abbey without licence from it. (fn. 2)
In 1184 the abbot and convent gave the church
of St. Edmund, Redingate, Canterbury, to them
in frankalmoign for a rent of 12d. yearly. (fn. 3) The
prior and convent of Christchurch granted to
them as much wood in the wood of Blean as
one horse, going twice each week-day, could
bring thence; but in 1270 in lieu of this they
granted a definite portion of the wood. (fn. 4)
Henry III on 19 March, 1247, granted to
the prioress and nuns a charter confirming in
detail gifts of land by various donors; (fn. 5) and in
1255, at the instance of Lauretta, recluse of
Hackington, he granted that they should be quit
for five years of suit of court-for certain land. (fn. 6)
Archbishop Peckham in 1285 gave 10 marks
to the nuns for roofing their dormitory. (fn. 7) On
20 April, 1284, he issued injunctions (fn. 8) to them,
in consequence of a visitation. The prioress
was to be strictly impartial, and strife was to
cease in the monastery. Quarrelsome nuns were
to be put in solitary confinement in a dark house
under the dormitory, where no secular was ever
to enter, whether a nun be there or not. The
new house where religious and even secular men
used to come for talk with the nuns and other
women was interdicted. Any nun talking with
any man, except in the case of confession, was
to go with two of her fellows to the common
parlour. Seculars were not to frequent the
refectory or cloister. No man was to enter the
precinct after sunset unless life be in peril, and
then only in suitable society. No nun was to
enter the town without a companion or go to
any place, for confession unless she had no other
confessor; and she was not to take food or
drink or prolong her stay. All suspected
women and servants were to be removed, and
no woman was to stay in the nunnery in future
without the archbishop's special licence. This
ordinance was to be read in chapter on the first
day of each month. The archbishop at the
same time ordered (fn. 9) his commissary to take the
ordinance to the priory and appoint two coadjutors for the prioress, as the goods of the
house had been much wasted by her negligence;
Sarah was to be one of these, but Benedicta was
not to be one, as she had offended the whole
college by her abuse. The vicar of Wickham
was to take care of the goods of the house.
The commissary was also to receive the purgation of Isabel de Scorue, who had been guilty of
a scandal with the cellarer of Christchurch, and
to forbid her and other nuns to go to that church
or the cellarer to come to the nunnery or have
access to any nun.
Archbishop Langham found at a visitation on
3 March, 1368, that Joan Chiriton, prioress,
did not govern well. Among other faults she
permitted the rector of Dover and other suspected persons to have access to Marjory Child:
and Joan Aldelose, and these alone among the
nuns were allowed to visit the town. The
prioress was removed on account of the scandal,
and Agnes Broman appointed in her place. (fn. 9a)
In 1369 a chantry was founded (fn. 10) in the
priory church for the soul of Robert Vyntier of
Maidstone and his parents and brothers, and his
executors granted the manor of ' Scheforde by
Maidstone called La Mote' to the chaplain.
The patronage of the chantry was to belong to
the archbishop, and the prioress and nuns were
to have all profits from the manor in times of
vacancy for the use of a chaplain to be found by
them. Archbishop Morton by his will in 1500
granted the manor to the convent to find a priest
to serve the chantry. (fn. 11)
Archbishop Warham ordered proper accounts
to be given after a visitation in 1511. (fn. 12) At this
visitation Mildred Hale, prioress, said that the
nuns did not rise for mattins in the middle of the
night, but at dawn, because the doors of the
cloister were being mended and the roof covered,
and there was so much noise outside the
church. There were then five other nuns in
the priory.
St. Sepulchre's came into unenviable notoriety
towards the end of its career through Elizabeth
Barton, the Nun of Kent. (fn. 13) She was originally
a domestic servant at Aldington, and was attacked
by disease and in consequence developed religious
mania about the year 1525. The parson of the
parish reported the case to Archbishop Warham,
and the latter ordered the prior of Christchurch
to inquire into it. Two monks were sent for
this purpose, and one of these, Edward Bockyng,
conceived the idea of making use of her for the
Catholic party; he carefully educated her in the
legends of the saints and theological arguments,
gave as much publicity as possible to her utterances, and in 1527 procured her admission to
St. Sepulchre's, where for several years she
continued to grow in importance, Bockyng's
information enabling her to avoid serious error
in her prophecies. She became one of the chief
opponents of the divorce of Queen Katharine,
and declared that if it came to pass the king
would die a villain's death, although Katharine
refused to have anything to do with her, and it
is clear from the letters (fn. 14) of Eustace Chapuys,
the Imperial ambassador, that he was under no
illusions whatever about her. So far she had
been allowed to talk unchecked. But when the
marriage of Henry VIII with Anne Boleyn had
come to pass and he still lived, it was necessary
to explain her prophecies, and she did so by
saying that he was no longer king. Cromwell then
took the matter up; Cranmer, who had succeeded
Warham as archbishop, examined her carefully
and secured her confession; an act of attainder (fn. 15)
was passed against her and her accomplices; and
she was executed on 20 April, 1534. St.
Sepulchre's cannot, however, be considered principally responsible for the affair.
In the Valor of 1535 the possessions of the
priory, including the parsonage of St. Mary
Bredne, Canterbury, and the manor of the Mote
by Maidstone, were valued (fn. 16) at £38 19s;. 7½d.
yearly. The deductions amounted to £9 7s. 2d.
and included one quarter of wheat to be given
yearly for the soul of William Calwell, the
founder, on Thursday before Easter; and so the
net income remaining 'to the seid prioresse and
vii nonnes for their mete, drynk, apparell and
other chargs' was £29 12s. 5½d. The house
consequently came under the operation of the
Act of 1536 and was dissolved, the prioress
receiving a pension (fn. 17) of 100s. yearly.
The site and possessions of the monastery
were leased (fn. 18) to Robert Darkenall of Canterbury
on 21 May, 1537, for twenty-one years at a rent
of £39 9s. 3d.; and on 31 July 1538, the
reversion was granted to the archbishop of
Canterbury. (fn. 19)
Prioresses Of Canterbury
Juliana, occurs 1227, (fn. 20) 1236, 1244, (fn. 21) died
1258 (fn. 22)
Lettice, succeeded 1258 (fn. 22)
Benedicta, occurs circa 1300 (fn. 23)
Sarah de Peckham, elected 1324 (fn. 23a)
Margaret Terry appointed 1349 (fn. 23b)
Margery, occurs 1356 (fn. 20)
Cecily de Tonford, appointed 1356, (fn. 24) resigned
1366 (fn. 25)
Joan de Chiriton, elected 1366, (fn. 26) resigned
1368 (fn. 27)
Agnes Broman or Bourghman, elected 1368, (fn. 28)
died 1369 (fn. 29)
Alice Guston, elected 1369, (fn. 29) removed 1376 (fn. 30)
Margery Child, succeeded 1376 (fn. 30)
Joan Whitfelde, died 1427 (fn. 31)
Lettice Hamon, elected 1427 (fn. 32)
Mildred Hale, occurs 1511 (fn. 33)
Philippa Jonys (fn. 34) or John, (fn. 35) the last prioress
The seal (fn. 36) (twelfth century) measures 2½
inches and represents the Holy Sepulchre in the
form of a rectangular case with mosaic front;
on it an angel seated; over it four columns
supporting a dome-shaped tent or baldachin.
Legend:—
SIGILLUM ECYE ˙ SEPULCHRI CANTUARIE.