19. THE PRIORY OF ST. MARY, THETFORD (fn. 1)
The Cluniac priory of Thetford was first
founded on the Suffolk side of the river by
Roger Bigod in the reign of Henry I. Roger
had made a vow of pilgrimage to the Holy
Land, but was allowed to commute this by
applying the money which it would have cost
to the establishing of a monastery. He communicated his intention to Hugh, abbot of
Cluni; and although the abbot could not spare
monks from his house to form the new foundation, he welcomed the proposed addition to
the order, and asked for a silver mark yearly
in token of its dependence. The abandoned
cathedral church of the East Anglian bishops,
dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, was at first
selected as the church of the new priory, and a
cloister or cells of woodwork were erected for
the accommodation of the monks. Lanzo, prior
of Lewes, in 1104 sent twelve monks to serve at
Thetford, together with Malgod, a man of
simple life, to serve as their prior. Thetford,
desolate at the loss of its bishops, welcomed the
monks, and for three years they were busy
in building the new monastery within the
borough. At the end of this time Stephen, a
monk of noble parentage and of the highest
learning and morals, a great friend of the abbot
of Cluni and sub-prior of Lewes, was sent to
Thetford to complete the foundation, and to
take the place of Malgod, who was recalled, as
prior. Stephen at once saw that the monastic
site, surrounded by the houses of the burghers,
was inconveniently straitened, and that there
was no room for a guest-house. He soon
prevailed on the founder, with the sanction of
the king, who often held his court at Thetford,
to give them a pleasant and open site on the
other side of the river in the county of Norfolk.
Herbert, bishop of Norwich, turned the first
sod of the new foundation, and the prior,
founder, and many noblemen laid the foundation
stones. But the eighth day after the stonelaying Roger Bigod died, and an unseemly
dispute ensued between the prior and bishop as
to the place of his burial. Eventually the latter
prevailed, and Roger was buried in the cathedral
church of Norwich. Meanwhile the building
went on, the revenues increased, and Prior
Stephen lived to see its completion, and the
removal of the convent to their new premises on
St. Martin's Day, 1114.
In 1240 Gregory IX granted leave to the
priory of Thetford to appropriate the church of
Notheli, in the diocese of London, which was
already in their patronage, a due portion being
reserved for their vicarage. (fn. 2) The revenues of
this priory increased so considerably during the
thirteenth century that at the taxation of 1291
it held the appropriation of six Norfolk churches
and portions of the rectory of eighteen other
churches in the same county, as well as four in
Suffolk. The total annual value of its temporalities and spiritualities was then reckoned
at £123 12s. 5d. The Valor of 1535 gives the
clear annual value of this wealthy priory at
£312 14s. 4½d.; the gross value was £418 6s. 3d.
In 1331 John de Warenne, earl of Surrey,
obtained licence for alienation in mortmain of
the advowson and appropriation of the church of
Gersham to the priory of Thetford. (fn. 3)
If the first Prior Stephen thus worked for the
good of his house, the second prior of that name
was equally thorough in working evil. He was
appointed some time before 1240, in which
year he wrote to Cluni excusing himself from
attending the general chapter, (fn. 4) and was a native
of Savoy, a connexion (or at least a compatriot)
of the queen. Presuming on the influence of
his royal protectress, he turned the priory of
Thetford into a house of debauchery, carousing
night and day with his brothers Bernard, a
knight, and Guiscard, whom Matthew Paris (fn. 5)
describes as 'clericus monstruosus . . . cujus
venter quasi uter in pruina, cujus quoque cadaver
plaustrum oneraret.' At last in 1248 he
engaged in a quarrel with one of his brethren, a
hot-blooded Welsh monk Stephen de Charun
by name, (fn. 6) whom he wished to send back to
Cluni, whence he had only lately come; angered
at his prior's abusive language the monk drew
his knife and stabbed him that he died before
the great door of the church. The murderer
was arrested and handed over to the bishop of
Norwich, from whom the king, urged by the
queen's desire for vengeance, claimed him,
casting him into the prison of Norwich Castle,
where he died.
An alleged miraculous interposition about the
middle of the thirteenth century had considerable
effect upon the fortunes of the priory. The
following is an abstract of the remarkable story,
as told by Brame in the fifteenth century. (fn. 7) An
artisan of Thetford, suffering from an incurable
complaint, dreamt three times that the Blessed
Virgin appeared, and told him that if he would
regain his health he must persuade the prior
to build a Lady Chapel on the north side of the
church. When the prior heard the revelation he
began to build a chapel of timber; but the man
persisted that the Virgin should be honoured
with a fair building of stone. After some
further revelations the prior set to work in
earnest, and then a new marvel occurred. In
their old monastery on the other side of the
water there had been, in the frater, a wooden
image of the Virgin which the monks had
brought with them to their new church; but in
the course of time it had been removed to make
way for one of greater beauty, and placed in a
dusty corner. The thrifty prior thought that
this old image would suffice for the new chapel,
and it was handed over to the painter to be
beautified. On removing the old paint from
the head a silver plate came to light, and on its
removal a hollow was disclosed wherein, wrapped
in lead, were a variety of precious relics, with
their names engraved on wrappers of lead.
The more important of the contents were relics
of the robe of our Lord, of the girdle of our
Lady, of our Lord's sepulchre, of the rock of
Calvary, of our Lady's sepulchre, of our Lord's
manger, of the sepulchre of St. John, and relics
of SS. George, Agnes, Barbara, Vincent, Leger,
Gregory, Leonard, Jerome, Edmund, Etheldreda,
and parts of the grave-clothes of Lazarus. A
letter was also found, addressed to Stephen the
second prior by William, minister of the church
at Merlesham, who sent these relics, transmitted
from the church of the Holy Sepulchre at
Jerusalem, at the request of Hugh Bigod and a
monk named Ralph. When the relic-bearing
image had been honourably replaced, the priory
became the scene of miraculous cures. Brame
gives the particulars of three, one of recovery of
speech, and two of the restoration to life of
children apparently dead. Pilgrims flocked to
the priory, and as a result of their offerings a
fine Lady Chapel was built on the north of the
quire, the quire was itself extended forty feet,
the frater was rebuilt on a larger scale, and five
monks were added to the establishment.
Martin says that in 1236 the abbot of Cluni
complained to Henry III that Earl Roger would
not suffer him to visit this monastery, although it
was a daughter of his church of Cluni, and one
to which he claimed to appoint the prior; but
that, after a suit, (fn. 8) the visitation was adjudged to
the prior and the patronage to the earl. (fn. 9) Nevertheless, as is proved from the many subsequent
Cluni visitations, this decision must have been
speedily upset.
The report of the visitors from Cluni in 1262
sets forth that they made inquiries in London
through Henry, sub-prior of Thetford, andThomas
the chamberlain, as to the condition of their house,
and they stated that all divine offices and spiritual
duties were properly carried out. The prior
was prevented from coming in person, being
hindered by bodily infirmities. The debts of
the house amounted to 610 marks, the prior
furnishing a full statement of accounts. The
number of the brethren was twenty-two. (fn. 10) The
Cluniac visitors of 1275-6 were at Thetford on
the third Wednesday in Lent. They found
twenty-four brethren all living with sufficient
regularity save Ralph the cellarer, whom they
found guilty of incontinency. The visitors
expelled him and sent him to do penance at
a distant convent. They also removed another
brother for injuring a college servant. The
liabilities of the house were 804 marks, and
there was also a debt under the chapter's seal
of 400 marks to the convent's patron, the Earl
Marshal. (fn. 11)
In September, 1279, the priory was visited
by the French prior of Mont-Didier and the
English prior of Lenton. They reported that
Prior Vincent, who found thirteen monks there
on his appointment, had increased the number to
twenty-two. They all led commendable lives,
and the divine offices were regularly and devoutly
conducted. The buildings were in good repair,
and the church and cloister exceptional for
beauty and workmanship. There was a
sufficiency of goods until the next harvest. The
debt of the house was 500 marks when the
prior took it over, although his predecessor, Prior
Thomas, affirmed that the liabilities did not
exceed 400 marks. The prior had taken in
hand the repair of the conventual buildings and
the erection of new granges, on which £100 had
been already spent. The visitors expressed
themselves in warm terms of the worthy
character of the prior, whose praise was in
everyone's mouth. The house was, however,
much embarrassed and crippled by the residence
there of the advocate (advocatus), brother of the
Earl Marshal, who cost the house more than
the whole convent and prior. (fn. 12) This advocate,
or avoué, was John the brother of Roger Bigod,
fifth earl of Norfolk, the patron of the house,
who succeeded to his honours in 1270.
In May, 1281, Vincent, prior of Thetford,
and the sub-prior of Lewes, were appointed to
act as vicegerents for John, prior of Lewes,
during his absence beyond the seas. (fn. 13) On
6 September of the same year the prior of
Thetford obtained protection for his own absence
across the seas until a fortnight after Easter. (fn. 14)
Vincent, prior of Thetford, on 16 March,
1287, nominated Henry de Henham his fellowmonk, and Guy de Holbeach to act as his
attorneys until Michaelmas, as he was going beyond the seas. (fn. 15) The same prior on 22 January,
1291, obtained protection during a year's absence
across the seas, (fn. 16) and on 4 March of the following
year the prior again obtained leave of absence
until Michaelmas, appointing attorneys. (fn. 17)
On the death of Prior Vincent about the
beginning of the fourteenth century, considerable
dispute arose as to his successor, which resulted
in an appeal to Rome. In April, 1301, the
pope directed the prior of Holy Trinity, York,
in conjunction with two continental ecclesiastics,
to hold an inquiry into the cause relative to the
priory of Thetford, subject to the abbot and
convent of Cluni, by whom their prior had.
hitherto been appointed. The convent of Thetford, wishing to withdraw themselves from the
jurisdiction of Cluni, elected by the procurement
of the Earl of Norfolk one of their own monks,
Reginald de Montargi, or de Eye, as prior, and
his election was confirmed by the bishop of
Norwich. Reginald resisted the abbot of Cluni,
and went so far as to imprison and ill-treat certain
monks sent by the abbot to publish the process
against the prior and convent of Thetford,
relying on the power of the bishop, John Bigod,
clerk, and Roger his brother, Earl Marshal,
patron of Thetford, to defend his position. The
abbot's proctor on this occasion was Thomas
de Mountargys, a monk of Lewes, who came
to Norwich to lay his case before the bishop,
apparently before he confirmed the election ofReginald. While Thomas was sitting in the
cemetery of Norwich Priory reading over his
instruments, Roger Bigod, earl of Norfolk, and
a number of his friends came and seized him,
carried him out of the cemetery against his
will, and set some thirty men to guard the
gate and prevent his re-entering. The monk
then tried to seek refuge in the cemetery of
St. George's church, but two of the earl's men
came up and beat him and cut off part of his
hood and assaulted a bystander who remonstrated
with them, so that the monk fled in fear to
the church of the Friars of the Sack, and his
pursuers came in after him and shut him up
in a room within the friars' house and kept him
there till late the next afternoon, after the time
fixed by the bishop for hearing his case had
passed. (fn. 18) Cluni then petitioned Boniface VIII
in the matter, and the pope ordered his commissioners, if the above allegations were true,
to upset the bishop's action, to deprive the
intended prior, to release the imprisoned monks,
and to warn John Bigod and the Earl Marshal
to desist from interference. If this order was
disobeyed all parties were to be cited before
the pope. (fn. 19) The result of this appeal could not
have been favourable to Prior Reginald, for in
1302 Ralf de Frezenfeld was appointed prior
by the abbot of Cluni. (fn. 20)
During the short rule of Reginald de Eye
one of his monks, Henry de Wangeford, fled
from the priory to the neighbouring house of
Austin Canons, from which he went away after
sunset in company with one of the canons,
Richard de Harpele, and some servants of the same
house who escorted him with arms half a league
in the direction of Elveden, when Prior Reginald
came up with a number of monks and servants,
and a fight ensued ending in the re-capture of
brother Henry, (fn. 21) who was taken back to the
priory and there imprisoned for two months, but
eventually escaped. (fn. 22)
To Ralf de Frezenfeld succeeded Thomas
le Bygod, a monk of Walden. His appointment as prior was confirmed by the bishop on
31 December, 1304. Blomefield says that he
was elected by the sub-prior and monks; but
this seems most doubtful, for he had not shaken
off his allegiance to Cluni and attended the
chapter-general in the year following his appointment. On 14 October, 1305, Thomas prior
of Thetford, nominated two attorneys to act for
him in his absence until the following Easter. (fn. 23)
On 3 February, 1307, Walter de Norwich,
king's clerk, was appointed to the custody of the
priory of Thetford, which was stated to be of the
king's patronage since the death of Roger le
Bigod, earl of Norfolk. The reason for taking
this step was said to be that the house was
oppressed with debt, (fn. 24)
John de Benstede and William Inge were
accordingly appointed by the crown in October,
1307, to the custody of the priory of Thetford,
with its cells of Wangeford and Horkesley, to
apply the rents and issues to the discharge of the
debts of the house, reserving for the prior and
convent and its ministers a reasonable sustenance. (fn. 25)
In 1308 the king committed the custody of
the house to William de Ventodoro, dean of the
priory of St. Peter of Carennac, Gascony, during
the voidance of the priprship, instituting him ad
interim prior of Thetford. In January, 1309,
the term of his custody was extended to Michaelmas. (fn. 26) When Michaelmas came William de
Ventodoro's term of custody was further extended
to Easter, to enable the abbot of Cluni, to whom
the preferment belonged, to prefer one of his
monks and present him to the king. From an
inquisition it appeared that upon every voidance
the abbots of Cluni had been accustomed to
prefer one of their monks to that house, and by
letter to present him to the Earl of Norfolk for
the time being as patron of the priory, for the
restoration of the temporalities; that the earls
had always made such restoration until Earl
Roger during the war with France had caused
certain of the monks, on the death of Vincent to
elect Reginald de Eye, to whom he delivered the
temporalities; that upon every voidance the earls
were accustomed to place a porter (a horseman
or footman) in the priory, who received necessary
sustenance, but who took nothing else either for
himself or his lord; and that the earls, fealty
having been done them by the priors preferred,
were accustomed by their bailiffs to restore the
temporalities and remove the porter without
taking or retaining to their own use any of the
goods of the priory. (fn. 27) The custody of the
temporalities in the hands of William de Ventodoro was still further extended until Christmas,
1309. (fn. 28) Soon after this date William must have
been presented and accepted by Cluni as actual
prior, for in February, 1310, he obtained, under
the title of prior of Thetford, protection for a
year's absence across the seas, and. nominated
attorneys to act for him. (fn. 29) In 1311, Prior
William Ventodoro again obtained protection to
cross the seas from 14 May until the following
All Saints' Day. (fn. 30) Soon after this Prior William
either died or resigned, for in December, 1311,
we find the temporalities of Thetford restored to
Martin de Rinhiaco, a Cluniac monk who had
just been preferred to be prior by the abbot
of Cluni. (fn. 31)
In 1313 there was a most serious riot at the
priory, when a mob made forcible entry, assaulted
Prior Martin and his monks and servants, maimed
some of them, and followed others who fled to
the church so that they might be in sanctuary,
and actually killed several of them by the
high altar, and carried away the goods of the
priory. On 17 August a commission of oyer
and terminer was appointed to inquire into the
affray and give judgement, and protection for a
year was granted to Prior Martin. (fn. 32)
At the request of the prior and convent
Walter de Norwich was appointed in 1314,
during pleasure, to be keeper of the house, which
the king had taken into his protection on account
of its poverty and indebtedness. A reasonable
allowance was to be made for the sustenance of
the convent and its servants, and the balance was
to be reserved for the discharge of the debts of
the priory and to make good its defects. The
keeper was to accept the advice and assistance of
some of the more discreet of the house, and so
long as he remained in custody no sheriff, bailiff,
or other minister of the king was to lodge in the
priory or its granges without the keeper's special
licence. (fn. 33)
In 1318 the Close Rolls show further money
entanglements. Peter de Bosco, who had been
appointed prior in 1316, acknowledged on the
part of the convent a debt of £ 100 owing to
Master Roger de la Bere, clerk, and another
debt of £50, owing to John Sarazein, of
Ekenbleyen. (fn. 34) On 18 June of the same year,
Boniface Karle de Doliano, executor of the will
of Master Berenger de Quiliano, put in his place
Banquinus Brunelesii of Florence, to sue in the
matter of a recognizance in chancery for £200
made to Berenger by the prior of Thetford. (fn. 35)
Evidently the house was in the hands of professional money-lenders. In 1323 Prior Peter
acknowledged a debt of £200 to John de
Dynieton, clerk, (fn. 36) and James de Cusancia, prior
of Thetford, acknowledged in 1336 a debt of
£82 13s. 4d. due to William Cosyn, a citizen
of London. (fn. 37)
In March, 1337, Prior James de Cusancia
further acknowledged his indebtedness in the sum
of £88 to Peter Guernersi and Bindus Gile of
Florence; this entry was afterwards cancelled on
payment. (fn. 38) In June of the same year the prior
had to acknowledge for himself and convent that
they owed to Andrew Berton, merchant of
Chieri, the great sum of £265, to be levied in
default of payment on their lands, chattels,
and ecclesiastical goods in the county of Norfolk. (fn. 39) The prior was allowed to retain custody
of his house on the yearly payment to the
crown of 50 marks, and 10 marks as custody
fee. (fn. 40)
Prior James in 1345 refused, in conjunction
with the other leading English priors of the
Cluniac order, to pay their subsidy to the abbot
of Cluni. Clement VI, on appeal, forwarded
his mandate, through the archbishop of Canterbury to the prior, ordering him to comply with
the ancient custom.
On account of his great age Prior James was
removed from his rule in 1355, and was succeeded by Geoffrey de Rocherio. (fn. 41)
In 1376 letters patent were issued to the prior
and convent of Thetford, granting that they
should thenceforth be reputed denizen, and they
were thus free from all direct allegiance to Cluni. (fn. 42)
This grant was inspected and confirmed by
Richard II in 1380, on payment of a fine
of 40s. (fn. 43)
Although the priory of Thetford was made
denizen in 1376, which enabled it to elect its
own prior and set it free from any pecuniary
obligation to Cluni, the house continued to yield
some allegiance to the great abbey, and accepted
its visitations up to the close of its existence.
In 1390 the Cluniac visitors were at Thetford,
and described it as a direct affiliation of the
mother church of Cluni. There were then
twenty-two monks. There were six daily
masses, three of which were sung. A tenth part
of the bread was reserved for distribution to the
poor. The visitors found that all monastic
obligations according to the Cluni rule were
duly observed.
In 1399 Boniface IX exempted Thetford
Priory from the jurisdiction of the abbot of
Cluni, who is described as distant arid schismatical; he further authorized the convent to elect
their own prior, with confirmation from the prior
of Castle Acre. (fn. 44)
The yearly apport of 13s. 4d., which the
priory of Thetford used to render to the house of
Cluni, was granted by Edward III, in 1462, to
the provost and college of Eton. (fn. 45)
Robert Weting occurs as prior in 1480. In
the patents of that year it is recited that the king
ought to have a nomination to one corrody in
this priory, and he understood from Robert the
prior that, although Nicholas Michegood obtained
a corrody of the king's nomination in the time
of John the late prior, which he still holds,
nevertheless William Newerk, one of the gentlemen of the king's chapel, obtained another
corrody from the late prior and still held it, so
that the prior and convent are chargeable with
two crown corrodies; he then for the love he
bore his son Richard duke of York and Anne
his wife, daughter of John, late duke of Norfolk,
patrons of the priory, granted that henceforth
there should only be a small royal corrody at the
priory. (fn. 46) A good example of a corrody is found
at an earlier date, 1315, when Simon son of
Benedict of Thetford, and William de Thunderle complained that Prior Martin had refused
to give them the daily corrody to which they
were entitled, namely a white loaf called a
' miche,' a whole-meal loaf called ' white bread
of the hall,' a gallon and a half of the best beer,
pure and not mixed, a portion of soup, a dish of
meat on the three meat days from both first and
second courses, namely as much of each as the
prior or two monks had, and on the four days
in the week when fish was eaten portions of the
two courses of fish, and if the first course were
herrings their portion should be six herrings, but
if eggs then six eggs, and for the second course as
much as the prior received. (fn. 47)
The notorious visitors Legh and Leyton were
here early in 1536, and alleged that they obtained
confession of theft from one monk, and of uncleanness from another, adding that they suspected
confederacy, as so little evil had been confessed
although they were seventeen in number. (fn. 48)
On 26 March, 1537, Prior William wrote to
Cromwell, in answer to his application for the
preferment of his servant, John Myllsent, to
their farm of Lynford. They begged to be
excused, as their founder (patron), the Duke of
Norfolk, had the custody of their convent seal. (fn. 49)
The Duke of Norfolk, the powerful patron of
Thetford Priory, naturally looked with dismay
upon the approaching destruction of this house
and of the church, where not only his remote
but more immediate ancestors had been honourably interred. His father, Sir Thomas Howard,
earl of Surrey and duke of Norfolk, who died on
21 May, 1524, was buried before the high altar
of the conventual church, where a costly monument to himself and Agnes his wife had been
erected; whilst still more recently, in 1536,
Henry Fitzroy, duke of Somerset, had been
buried in the same place. As a means of preserving the church and establishment, the duke
proposed to convert the priory into a church of
secular canons, with a dean and chapter. In
1539 he petitioned the king to that effect, stating
that there lay buried in that church the bodies of
the Duke of Richmond, the king's natural son;
the duke's late wife, Lady Anne, aunt to his
highness; the late Duke of Norfolk and other of
his ancestors; and that he was setting up tombs
for himself and the duke of Richmond which
would cost £400. He also promised to make it
' a very honest parish church.' At first the king
gave ear to the proposal, and Thetford was
included in a list with five others, of ' collegiate
churches newly to be made and erected by the
king.' Whereupon the duke had articles of a
thorough scheme drawn up for insertion in the
expected letters patent, whereby the monastery
was to be translated into a dean and chapter.
The dean was to be Prior William, (fn. 50) and the six
prebendaries and eight secular canons were to be
the monks of the former house, whose names are
set forth in detail. The nomination of the dean
was to rest with the duke and his heirs. The
scheme included the appointment by the dean
and chapter of a doctor or bachelor of divinity
as preacher in the house, with a stipend of
£20. (fn. 51) .
But the capricious king changed his mind,
and insisted on the absolute dissolution of the
priory. The duke found that further resistance
was hopeless, and on 16 February, 1540, Prior
William and thirteen monks signed a deed of
surrender. (fn. 52) Two months later the site and the
whole possessions of the priory passed to the
Duke of Norfolk for £1,000, and by the service
of a knight's fee and an annual rental of
£59 5s. 1d. The bones of Henry's natural son,
and of the late Duke of Norfolk and others,
together with their tombs, were removed to a
newly erected chancel of the Suffolk church of
Framingham, and the grand church of St.
Mary of Thetford speedily went to decay.
Priors Of Thetford
Malgod, (fn. 53) appointed 1104
Stephen, (fn. 54) appointed 1107
Constantine, (fn. 55) occurs 1131
Martin, (fn. 56) occurs 1189
Peter Vincent, (fn. 57) occurs 1202
Richard, (fn. 58) occurs 1226, died c. 1236 (fn. 59)
Stephen II, (fn. 60) occurs 1240, killed 1248 (fn. 61)
William I, (fn. 62) occurs 1262
Vincent, (fn. 63) occurs 1279, died c. 1300 (fn. 64)
Reginald de Montargi (fn. 65)
alias de Eye, elected
c. 1300
Ralph de Frezenfeld, (fn. 66) appointed 1302
Thomas Bigod, (fn. 67) appointed 1304
William de Ventodoro, (fn. 68) appointed 1308
Martin de Rinhiaco, (fn. 69) appointed 1311
Peter de Bosco, (fn. 70) appointed 1316
James de Cusancia, (fn. 71) occurs 1336
Geoffrey de Rochario, (fn. 72) occurs 1355
Roger de Berton, (fn. 73) occurs 1370
John de Fordham, (fn. 74) occurs 1372, 1395
John Ixworth, (fn. 75) appointed c. 1400
Nicholas, (fn. 76) appointed 1430
John Vesey, (fn. 77) appointed 1438
Robert Weting, (fn. 78) appointed 1480
Roger Baldry de Bermingham, (fn. 79) appointed 1503
William Ixworth, (fn. 80) appointed 1518, last prior.
There are two impressions as well as casts of
the fine thirteenth-century seal (3½ in. × 2 in.)
of this priory in the British Museum. The
seated Virgin, with nimbus, holds the Holy
Child, with cruciform nimbus, on the left knee,
and a flower in the right hand; the background
is diapered. Legend:—
SIGILLUM; PRIORIS; ET CONVENTUS: MONACHORUM THETFORDIE. (fn. 81)