8. THE PRIORY OF BINHAM
Before the end of the eleventh century Peter
de Valoines and Albreda his wife began the
foundation of a priory or cell of Benedictine
monks at Binham which was to be subordinate
to the great abbey of St. Albans. Matthew
Paris mentions the existence of this cell as an
accomplished fact in the year 1093; (fn. 1) but the
foundation charter, with which the extant
chartulary opens, is of the reign of Henry I, and
probably of the year 1104. (fn. 2)
The manner in which the priory of Binham,
dedicated to the Honour of the Blessed Virgin,
was to be subject to the abbey of St. Albans,
whilst retaining a certain degree of independence,
was exactly stipulated at the time of its founding.
It was to pay yearly, on St. Alban's Day, a silver
mark to the parent house; the abbot was allowed
to stay at the priory once a year for eight days,
but no longer save at the request of the prior;
the visitor on such occasions was not to have more
than thirteen horses in his train. There were
to be not fewer than eight monks from St.
Albans maintained at Binham, and the heirs or
successors of the founders were to be the patrons
of the cell. The original endowments of the
priory, which had a completely independent
monetary existence save for the small pension,
comprised the manor of Binham, two-thirds of
the tithes of Dersingham and Ingoldisthorpe,
and the tithes of the manors of Ryburgh, Snaring Tofts, Testerton, Little Ryburgh, Wood
Dalling, Saxlingham, Walsingham, Barney,
Babingley, Appleton, and Pattesley. These
gifts were confirmed by the son, grandson, and
great grandson, of the founder, as well as by
papal, episcopal, and regal charters.
Henry I granted the monks a Wednesday
market at Binham, together with a fair of four
days beginning on the Vigil of the Annunciation,
and free warren on all their lands.
In May, 1251, the priory obtained papal confirmation of the gift of the church of Westley, in
the diocese of Ely, to their own uses, notwithstanding the collation thereof by previous papal
mandate to Henrigeitus, clerk of Genoa. (fn. 3)
The taxation of 1291 shows that Binham
Priory held property, mainly spiritualities, in
twenty-one Norfolk parishes, which was declared
of the annual value of £103 7s. 5¼d., which
value was maintained with little increase down
to the date of the dissolution of the priory. In
1527, when John Albon was prior, a full return
was made to Cardinal Wolsey of the condition
of the priory from midsummer 1526 to midsummer, 1527. The arrears from the last
account were £31 4s. 2d.; the receipts in
money £119 12s. 4d.; pensions and portions of
tithes £13 6s. 8d.; sales of wool, &c.,
£8 9s. 2d.; court fees and church offerings,
£6 8s. 10d. Among the outgoings were £4, as
stipend for the prior, and 40s. each for four
monks; these payments were probably intended
in the main for clothing, of which there is no
entry. (fn. 4) The clear annual value of Binham
Priory, according to the Valor of 1535, was
£140 5s. 4d.
Thomas was prior in 1199 and 1200. (fn. 5) The
removal of this prior from his office by the abbot
of St. Albans provoked considerable dispute,
which is recited at length by Matthew Paris.
Robert Fitzwalter, a powerful baron, was a
friend of Prior Thomas. Resenting his dismissal,
the baron asserted his claim to be patron of the
cell, and alleged that he possessed a deed from
the parent abbey by which it was stipulated that
no prior could be removed without the patron's
assent. He therefore impleaded the abbot in
the king's court, (fn. 6) charging him with coming to
the priory of Binham to lodge there with more
men and horses than he ought to have, and also
with increasing the number of monks there
resident, and extorting much money from the
men of the priory, from which he ought only to
receive one mark yearly. Finally he alleged
that the abbot had infringed his rights by removing the prior during his absence with the
king in Ireland (in 1210). The defence was
apparently a denial of Fitzwalter's claim to the
patronage, and seems to have been successful.
Having therefore obtained no satisfaction from
the law he assembled his retainers, and so closely
beset the priory that the monks then in residence
could not get anything to drink save rain water,
or anything to eat save bread made of bran.
When King John heard of this outrage he sent
an armed force to relieve Binham, and Fitzwalter fled the kingdom. He died some years
later, in the reign of Henry III, but to the last
persisted in retaining the deed by which he
claimed a right over the appointment of the
prior. On his death, his friend and fellowsoldier, Adam Fitzwilliam, having learnt where
the forged deed had been concealed, delivered it
up to the abbot of St. Albans, and presented a
silver-gilt pix for the high altar in expiation of
his share in the crime, having been privy to the
transaction. (fn. 7)
It is difficult now to gather the nature and
origin of the serious dispute that arose almost
immediately after the nomination, by Abbot
Hugh, of William de Somerton to the priory in
1318, but it was sufficiently grave to cause the
king to write to the pope on the subject in April
of that year. The prior appealed to the sheriff
of Norfolk to supply him with a lay force sufficient to resist the intrusion of the abbot of St.
Albans into the priory, and the application was
granted; but on 28 May the king ordered the
sheriff, on the appeal of the abbot of St. Albans,
immediately to withdraw the force, as the abbot
could lawfully exercise jurisdiction there as
ordinary by apostolic authority. (fn. 8) The dispute
continued, and the abbot removed Prior William
from his office; but the prior, supported by all
his monks, refused to leave the house. Thereupon, on 28 October, 1320, the king ordered
the sheriff to proceed to the priory of Binham to
arrest Brother William de Somerton, who called
himself prior, and thirteen other monks, and to
deliver them to the abbot of St. Albans, to whom
they are subject, by him to be corrected according to the rule of St. Benedict. In the letter to
the sheriff it was recited that Simon, abbot of
Ramsey, recently presiding over the general
chapter of the Benedictines of Canterbury
Province held at Northampton, had informed
the king that the chapter had found that the
monks of Binham were living in disobedience
and insolence, had taken up arms and made
assemblies of aiders to foment their boldness, and
paid no heed to the canonical censures of the
abbot of St. Albans, and that consequently the
chapter prayed the aid of the secular arm to
repress the malice of the offenders. (fn. 9)
Meanwhile the priory of Binham appealed to
Rome, and on 16 July, 1321, Pope John XXII
addressed a letter to the English primate on
the subject. It was therein recited that
Nicholas de Wimundham, sub-prior, and the
convent of Binham had complained to the pope
that William de Somerton, their prior, who had
appealed to the pope on a matter at issue between
them, the priory, and the abbey of St. Albans,
had his cause committed to Arnold, the king's
chaplain and papal auditor, who sent his letters
of commission to the abbot. Whereupon the
abbot caused the messenger and a notary who
accompanied him to be so grievously beaten that
their blood was sprinkled on the walls of the
church, and the letters were taken from them.
The prior was also ejected, and some monks who
appealed to the pope were imprisoned and kept
without food for six days. The pope ordered
the archbishop of Canterbury to inquire into the
matter, and if the allegations were true, to cite
the abbot to appear before the pope. (fn. 10) Among
the Ormsby-Gore MSS. at Brogyntyn is a letter
from Edward II to the pope saying that bad men
on the side of the prior of Binham had tried to
get the abbot of St. Albans summoned before
the pope on a charge of treating the papal
nuncios with violence. The king espoused the
cause of the abbey, and lauded the abbot, alleging
that William Somerton, whom the abbot had
made prior, had tried to subtract the cell from
its obedience, and for that cause visited the papal
court. Edward asked for the pope's support of
the abbot. (fn. 11)
It does not now seem possible to trace the
eventual issue of this disturbance, but in about
1322 the king placed William de Leycester,
clerk, and Nicholas de Flamstede, monk of St.
Albans, in custody of the priory of Binham, by
reason of divers destructions therein; but in
August, 1323, the custodians were ordered to
meddle no further with its affairs, because the
king understood that the priory and its estates
were improving. (fn. 12) In the latter year Nicholas
de Flamstede was definitely appointed prior
by the abbot. It was the custom of the
cells of the great abbey to make considerable
presents to a newly elected abbot; but on
the election of Richard de Wallingford as
abbot, in 1326, it is recorded that the priory
of Binham was in considerable straits, and
found a difficulty in sustaining its own monks,
so that it was only able to offer 40s. to the
new abbot. (fn. 13)
About 1400, when Robert Stoke was prior,
an ordinance was drawn up by the abbey of
various payments due from the different cells.
The annual contribution of Binham to the provincial chapter was 13s. 8d., and as a pension
for the schools 53s. 4d., in addition to 20s. as an
acknowledgement of their obedience. (fn. 14)
In 1454 there was an unusual occurrence in
the annals of St. Albans. A number of monks
who had left the abbey in the time of Abbot
Whethamstede's predecessor returned. Among
them was one Henry Halstede, who had formerly
been prior of Wymondham, and of quarrelsome
repute. He entreated with much persistency to
be reinstated as a monk of the abbey, and to be
made prior of Binham; promising that, in that
event, he would entirely rebuild the dorter of
Binham Priory, which had at that time fallen
into ruins. The monks of St. Albans, however,
objected to this proposal, as the character of
Halstede was odious to many of them; but the
abbot recommended that he should be appointed
if he would give sureties in writing not only to
rebuild the dormitory, but also to clear off all the
debts of the priory of Binham. To these proposals Halstede readily assented, but the brethren
still objected to his readmission, and sent the
kitchener of the convent to the sacrist as a deputation to express their views. The abbot, considering them to be self-willed, remonstrated
with them at considerable length, taking a high
religious line of forgiveness. His arguments
prevailed, the convent assented to Halstede's readmission, who was forthwith sent as prior to
Binham. (fn. 15) Another brother, John Middleton,
who had for several years deserted his monastery,
was also sent to Binham shortly after Halstede's
appointment. (fn. 16)
The scandalous comperta of Legh and Ap Price,
drawn up early in 1536, alleged three confessions
of incontinency from the monks of Binham.
When the county commissioners for suppression
reported later in the same year, they gave no
details of this house, merely stating that: 'The
Priory of Bynhame namyd to be a cell to the
monastery of Seynte Albounes hath a Prive Seale
to appere before yore incontynent upon the syght
thereof.'
As a cell it escaped the suppression of the
smaller monasteries. In March, 1538, Sir
Richard Rich, one of the visitors, wrote to
Cromwell, saying that he was intending to
suppress Binham before his return, for though it
claimed to be a cell of St. Albans, it made leases
under its own seal without any mention of the
abbot. (fn. 17) The actual suppression did not, however, take place until May, 1539, when Thomas
Williams, the last prior, received a pension of
£4. (fn. 18)
Thomas Paxton, a gentleman of the king's
privy chamber, obtained a grant in September,
1539, of almost all the priory's property, including the manor and advowson of Binham. The
clear annual value was estimated at £101 8s. 4¾d.
He had to pay a rent of £10 3s. (fn. 19)
Priors Of Binham
Osgod, 1106
Enisandus, (fn. 20)
c. 1125
Ralph, (fn. 21) occurs 1174
Peter, (fn. 22) occurs 1189, 1193, 1197
Ralph Gubion, (fn. 23) occurs 1198-9
Thomas, (fn. 24) occurs 1129-1200
Richard, (fn. 25) occurs 1214
Miles (fn. 26)
William de Gedding, (fn. 27) died 1227
Richard (II) de Parco, (fn. 28) elected 1227, resigned
1244
Richard (III) de Selford, (fn. 29) occurs 1244
William, (fn. 30) occurs 1262
Adam de Motu, (fn. 31) occurs 1264, 1267
Milo (fn. 32)
Peter (fn. 33)
Robert de Waltham, (fn. 34) occurs 1279, 1289
Walter, (fn. 35) occurs 1296
William de Somerton, (fn. 36) occurs 1318
Nicholas de Flamstede, (fn. 37) 1323
John de Caldewell, (fn. 38) elected 1337
Adam, (fn. 39) occurs 1354
Robert Stoke, (fn. 40) occurs 1396
Michael Cheyne, (fn. 41) elected 1424.
William Bryt, (fn. 42) elected 1430
William Spygon, (fn. 43) elected 1436
Nicholas Wellys, (fn. 44) elected 1438
Henry Halstead, (fn. 45) elected 1454
William Dixwell, (fn. 46) occurs 1461
John Peyton, (fn. 47) LL.D., elected 1464
Richard Whitingdon, (fn. 48) elected 1480
Thomas Sudbury, 1481
William Fresell, (fn. 49) elected 1585
John Albon, (fn. 50) elected 1509
Thomas Williams, last prior, 1539
There is a twelfth-century cast of the pointed
oval seal of this priory at the British Museum
bearing the Annunciation legend:
+ SIGILLUM . ECCLE . SCE . MARIE . DE . BINEHAM (fn. 51)