31. THE PRIORY OF PENTNEY
The Austin priory of Pentney, founded in
the twelfth century by Robert De Vaux, was
dedicated in honour of the Holy Trinity, the
Blessed Virgin, and St. Mary Magdalen. The
founder endowed it for the health of the souls of
himself and his wife Agnes and his ancestors,
with the manor of Pentney in the isle of Eya,
with all its appurtenances, and especially with the
mill of Bridgemill; with two salt pans, the one
at Lynn and the other at South Wootton; the
whole rent of Fulk de Cougham; the assart
belonging to the hermitage of Walney, with
Offsey and Shortwood; fifteen acres of land at
Wadington, called Crundale; thirteen acres of
Richard the weaver at Wadington; the mill at
Shotesham; the land of Ralph the son of the
priest; and the advowsons of his churches of
Thurton, Chediston, Ketteringham, Shotesham
St. Botulph, Houghton, and Shotesham All
Hallows. (fn. 1)
William the eldest of the three sons of the
founder, confirmed his father's grants with a
small addition. William de Vaux, in his turn,
left three sons, and was succeeded by Robert, as
William his eldest son took holy orders, and
eventually became prior of Pentney. John
de Vaux, great-grandson of Robert, died in
1288, leaving two daughters, his co-heirs.
Petronel the elder daughter, who married Sir
William de Nerford, brought her husband the
patronage of the priory.
In 1291 this priory held property in thirtyfour Norfolk parishes, in addition to Chediston,
Suffolk, and was held to be of the annual value
of £68 1s. 9¼d.
Licence was granted in May, 1305, for the
alienation in free alms by William de Ros of
Hamelak and Maud his wife to the prior and
convent of Pentney, of an acre of land in Shotesham and the advowson of the church of
St. Mary in that town. (fn. 2) In 1316 the priory
paid a fine of ten marks to secure the alienation
in mortmain by Petronel de Nerford of the
church of Little Abington, Cambridgeshire, and
a moiety of an acre adjoining the church. (fn. 3) In
the same year the bishop of Ely sanctioned the
appropriation of this church to the priory. (fn. 4)
The church of Bilney was irregularly appropriated by Pentney Priory without royal sanction. When the benefice was vacant in 1344,
Edward III presented to the rectory, claiming
that it was in the crown's gift by reason of the
appropriation being made, after the publication
of the mortmain statute, without the the licence
of any. of the king's progenitors. (fn. 5) Another
irregularity, this time on the part of the crown,
came to light in the following year, when
pardon was granted by Edward III to Pentney
priory—at the request of Peter de Brewes,
Icing's yeoman—for entering upon and appropriating the church of Little Abington, of their
patronage, which the king remembers he granted
them licence to appropriate, after the death of
the late rector, before obtaining formal letters of
licence. (fn. 6)
Pentney during the years 1166-7 played
a part of some importance in the struggle
between the ecclesiastical and royal authorities—
Becket and Henry II. Hugh, earl of Norfolk,
had cast covetous eyes upon the priory's lands,
and had seized them on the pretext of a recovery
made, apparently by collusion, against William
de Vaux, the patron and son of the founder;
against this seizure the prior and canons appealed
to Rome, and the pope ordered the sentence of
excommunication to be pronounced by the
bishop of London against the earl. The bishop,
however, finding himself in the dilemma of
either disobeying his ecclesiastical superior or
offending the king, endeavoured to persuade. Earl
Hugh to restore the lands; he seems to have
offered other lands to the canons in exchange,
but they refused his offers, declining to give up
a site which had been dedicated to God's service.
The earl continuing obdurate, the pope sent an
order for his excommunication and that of
William de Vaux to Becket, who ordered the
bishops of Norwich and Ely to publish it, while
he at the same time wrote to the canons comforting them and urging them to have courage
and to make no rash compromise with the earl. (fn. 7)
The exact course of subsequent events is difficult
to trace, but victory eventually must have rested
with the canons, as they continued in possession
of their lands at Pentney.
Vincent de Caldecote, one of the canons of
St. Mary Magdalen, Pentney, obtained an indult
in 1349 to choose a confessor for plenary
remission at the hour of death. (fn. 8) In the following year Henry de Yakesle, another of the
canons, obtained a like indult. (fn. 9)
In 1468, Walter bishop of Norwich, with
the consent of the priors and convents of both
houses and of John earl of Northumberland,
patron of the priory of Wormegay, united
Wormegay, on account of its poverty, with the
priory of Pentney, of which it was henceforth
considered a cell.
To secure the union and consolidation of the
two priories, the prior and convent of Pentney
covenanted to pay 40d. per annum to the prior
of Norwich for a moiety of the church of
Fordham, which had been appropriated to
Wormegay in 1346; and 20d. per annum for the
church of Westbrigg, which had been appropriated to them in 1416. The rectories of
East Tuddenham and Wormegay were also
appropriated to the same priory.
Pentney Priory was visited on 7 November,
1492, by Archdeacon Nicholas Goldwell, as
commissary for his brother the bishop. Ralph
Midylton the prior, John Lyncoln the sub-prior,
and sixteen canons were present. Nothing was
discovered that required reformation.
On 6 July, 1514, Dr. Thomas Hare visited
the priory as commissary of Bishop Nicke. The
prior and twelve canons were severally examined.
John Woodbridge, the prior, said that he had
not made any return of his accounts to his
brethren for the last two years. Thomas
Wormegay and William Maltershale complained
that they had no schoolmaster for two years.
The other ten canons contented themselves
with omnia bene. No injunctions followed this
visitation.
The suffragan bishop of Chalcedon and other
commissaries visited Pentney on 5 July, 1520.
After a sermon in the chapter-house by Master
Dry from the text Fraternitatem diligate, the
prior and ten other members of the convent
were separately examined, when each testified
that all was going on well.
At another visitation held in August, 1526,
when Robert Codde was prior, the five canons
and four novices who were examined gave an
equally satisfactory report.
The final visitation of Pentney before its
dissolution was on I August, 1532. Prior
Codde, Sub-Prior Richard Stafford, and eleven
canons testified omnia bene. Canon Richard
Bowgynn, who was in charge of the cell of
Wormegay, said that that priory was much out
of repair. Canon Thomas Lytyll, who was also
at the cell of Wormegay, made no complaint.
Canon Richard Lynn complained of the capacity
of the schoolmaster. (fn. 10)
The Valor of 1535 gave the annual income
of Pentney Priory, including Wormegay, as
£170 4s. 9¼d.
The secret comperta of Legh and Ap Rice,
early in 1536, recorded that Prior Codde had
carried on an intrigue with the abbess of
Marham, and we are asked to believe that the
prior and five of his canons confessed their
incontinency to these two visitors, themselves of
scandalous lives. (fn. 11) In the face of the report of
the county gentlemen who visited the house a
few months later, and of the several satisfactory
reports made at the searching episcopal visitations
of this house during the sixteenth century, it is
impossible to give the least credence to the
slanders. The county commissioners reported
that 'the priory of Chanones of Pentney and
Wormegay of the Order of Seynt Augustine'
had a clear annual value of £180 19s. 0¾d.;
that the religious persons in the house numbered nine, 'alle Prystes of very honest name
and goode religious persones who doue desyre
the kynges highness to contynue and remayne
in religione'; that eighty-three other persons
had their living there—namely, twenty-three
hinds, thirty household servants, and thirty children and other poor servants; that the lead and
bells were worth £180, and that the house was
in very good and requisite repair; that the goods
were worth £119 5s. 6d.; that the woods were
worth £20; and that £16 was owing to the
house. (fn. 12)
In March, 1536, Richard Southwell, himself
a county commissioner, and Robert Hogen wrote
to Cromwell, specially commending to his notice
the prior of Pentney, who, according to Legh
and Ap Rice, was guilty of a grievous crime
and the head of a dissolute set of canons.
Southwell and Hogen assured Cromwell that the
'prior relieved those quarters wondrously where
he dwells, and it would be a pity not to spare a
house that feeds so many indigent poor, which is
in a good state, maintains good service, and does
so many charitable deeds. (fn. 13)
On 6 October, 1536, the county commissioners, Messrs. Townsend, Paston, Southwell, and Mildmay, were at Pentney; in a
subsequent report they stated that they did
not then suppress it because of the insurrection in the north parts; probably thereby
meaning that they were afraid of exciting further
hostility by suppressing a house that bore so good
a repute and did so much for the poor of the
district. (fn. 14)
The county commissioners sold to 'my Lorde
of Rutland,' on 16 February, 1537, 'alle the
stuff in the Quyre for xls. the stuffe in Lady
Chappell fo. xs., and the stuffe in the vestry for
£13 6s. 8d.' He also purchased the contents of the
conventual buildings, cattle, corn, hay, and growing crops; the total amounting to £114 15s. 9d.
In addition to this the plate, in the custody of
Richard Southwell, was valued at £22 11s. 4d.
The debts of the house amounted to £16. (fn. 15)
In March, 1537, ex-Prior Codde was not
only awarded a pension of £24, but was appointed
warden of the hospital of St. Giles, Norwich. (fn. 16)
The priory was granted on 14 February,
1538, to Thomas, earl of Rutland. (fn. 17)
Priors Of Pentney
Geoffrey, (fn. 18) occurs 1167
William de Vaux, (fn. 19)
temp. Hen. II
Ralph, (fn. 20) occurs 1225
Simon, (fn. 21) mentioned 1228, 1250
Geoffrey, (fn. 22)
c. 1260
William, (fn. 23)
temp. Edw. I
Richard de Marham, (fn. 24) elected 1302
Giles de Whitwell, (fn. 25) elected 1338
Thomas de Helgeye, (fn. 26) elected 1342
Ralph de Framlingham, (fn. 27) elected 1349
Vincent de Caldecote, (fn. 28) elected 1351
Peter Bysshop, (fn. 29) elected 1353
Walter de Tyrington, (fn. 30) elected 1381
John de Wilton, (fn. 31) elected 1397
William Swaffham, (fn. 32) elected 1414
John de Tyrington, (fn. 33) elected 1416
Richard Pentney, (fn. 34) elected 1449
Ralph Medylton, (fn. 35) elected 1464
John Woodbridge, (fn. 36) elected 1496
John Hawe, (fn. 37) elected 1518
Robert Codde, (fn. 38) occurs 1526, last prior
The thirteenth-century seal ad causas of
this house is oval (2 in. by 1½ in.), and shows
Christ standing, in his left hand a cross, his right
hand raised towards the kneeling figure of Mary
Magdalene; over his head the crescent moon
and stars, between the two figures the conventional tree, in the field NOLI ME TANGERE.
Below is the half length figure of a monk in
adoration. (fn. 39) Legend:
S' . ECCLESIE . SCE . MARIE MAGDALENE DE
PENTENEI AD CAVSAS *