HOUSES OF BENEDICTINE NUNS
3. THE PRIORY OF ST. RADEGUND, CAMBRIDGE (fn. 1)
The origin of this convent is unknown and no
one is recorded as having founder's rights or
patronage until Bishop Alcock in 1496, when he
planned to convert it into a college, justified his
action by the questionable assertion that it was 'of
the foundation and patronage of the Bishop of
Ely'. (fn. 2) In 1138 King Stephen confirmed to the
church and nuns of St. Mary of Cambridge the
gift which William le Moyne (Monachus), goldsmith, made to them of 2 virgates of land, 6 acres
of meadow, and 4 cottar holdings in Shelford in
alms for the soul of King Henry (d. 1135). (fn. 3)
Bishop Niel, who also confirmed this grant, (fn. 4) gave
to 'the nuns of the cell newly founded outside the
town of Cambridge' certain land, (fn. 5) afterwards
stated to be 4 acres, (fn. 6) lying near to the said cell.
In a charter of 1153 or 1154 Constance, widow
of King Stephen's eldest son Eustace, granted to
the nuns of Cambridge that their land should be
free from payment of hagable and langable to the
borough, and gave them such fishing and river
rights as belonged to the borough. (fn. 7)
Other gifts of land in and around Cambridge
were made by private persons, the most important
being 80 acres in West Wratting given by Stephen
and Juliane de Scalars when their daughter Sybil
was admitted to the nunnery. (fn. 8) The nuns were
therefore in a position to build a suitable convent,
and between 1159 and 1161 King Malcolm IV
of Scotland, who was also Earl of Huntingdon,
gave to the nuns of Cambridge 10 acres adjoining
Grenecroft (now Midsummer Common) on
which to place their church; they were to pay a
rent of 2s., but this his steward was to offer at the
altar of the said church. (fn. 9) A second charter by
Malcolm, (fn. 10) confirming the first but remitting the
rent, is important as for the first time naming the
convent as of St. Mary and St. Radegund, an
ascription probably connected with Malcolm's
visit to Poitiers, 'the special centre of the cult of
St. Radegund', in 1159. (fn. 11)
Benefactions were numerous, but mostly on a
small scale, and although the nuns had, in addition
to many tenements in Cambridge itself, land in
fourteen parishes in the county, seven in Essex,
and at Rippingale in Lincolnshire, (fn. 12) the convent
was never wealthy. No valuation of their
temporalities is given in the Taxation of 1291; in
1277 their poverty was said to be notorious, and
it was pleaded in 1340 as an excuse for exemption
from the charges of procuration. (fn. 13) In 1450 their
income was only about £75. (fn. 14) Two churches in
the borough were given to them: that of All
Saints in the Jewry by Sturmi, brother of the
Prioress Lettice, in or shortly before 1180, (fn. 15) and
that of St. Clement, assigned to the Almonry, by
Hugh son of Absolom of Cambridge about 1215. (fn. 16)
The nuns' demesnes seem to have been separated
from the parish of All Saints to constitute the
parish of St. Radegund about the middle of the
13th century, part of their conventual church
being parochial and served by a stipendiary priest,
who received £5 in the 15th century. (fn. 17) The advowson of the church of Reymarston (Norfolk)
was conveyed to the priory in 1218, (fn. 18) but it was
not appropriated.
Of the history of the community not much is
recorded. Henry III when he was at Barnwell
on 16 June 1244 ordered the sheriff to pay £5 to
the nuns for their support, (fn. 19) and he possibly
visited the priory in 1251, as on 1 April, when he
was at Royston, he ordered 6 marks to be paid to
the sheriff for a cup offered in the church of St.
Radegund. (fn. 20) The house met with a series of
disasters: in 1277 the bell-tower fell, in 1313 the
nuns lost their house and goods by fire, another
fire occurred in 1376, and in 1389 their buildings
were ruined by violent storms; on each occasion
appeals for contributions were supported by grants
of indulgence made by various prelates. (fn. 21)
In 1373, during a vacancy in the see of Ely,
Archbishop Wittlesey's delegate, Thomas de
Wormenhale, visited the priory. It was evidently
in a bad state, as the prioress excused herself for
not finding priests to celebrate for their benefactors and for allowing the roof of the refectory
to be so out of repair that it could not be used in
rainy weather, on the ground that the burden of
debts and taxation made it impossible to find the
needful funds. She seems to have been a person
of weak character, as she allowed the nuns to go
out of the cloister with little excuse, and failed to
make one of the sisters, Elizabeth Cambridge, get
up to attend matins; she also allowed friars and
scholars to visit her at inopportune times. (fn. 22) The
prioress, Margaret Clavyle, eventually resigned
early in 1378. (fn. 23)
Archbishop Courtenay in 1389, while making
a visitation of the diocese of Lincoln, found
Margaret Cailly, a professed nun of St. Radegund's, living in sin and a secular habit. He sent
her to Bishop Fordham of Ely, who returned the
apostate to her priory, ordering the prioress to
keep her in close confinement and enjoining certain penances. (fn. 24) Archbishop Arundel visited the
priory on 19 September 1401, but no record of his
finding has been preserved. (fn. 25) By 1459 the priory
was evidently in bad physical condition, as Bishop
Gray promised 40 days' indulgence to those who
would lend a helping hand for the repair of the
bell-tower of the conventual church and the
maintenance of books, vestments, and other
church ornaments. (fn. 26) In September of that year
the Prioress Agnes Seyntelowe died and the subprioress, Maud Sudbury, obtained the bishop's
licence to elect a successor. In the ensuing election
eleven nuns took part and Joan Lancastre, then
sacrist, was elected. (fn. 27) That conditions generally
were not good is suggested by the fact that one of
the nuns who took part in the election, Ellen
Craneswyk, in 1462 obtained leave to transfer to
the Priory of Hinchinbrook (Hunts.); (fn. 28) and in the
previous year Elizabeth Butiler, then aged nearly
16, who had been four years in the priory but was
not professed, finding that she could not there
serve God devoutly and quietly, appealed to the
bishop and was allowed to transfer to St. Helen's,
Bishopsgate. (fn. 29) By 1478 the convent had run up
a bill of £21 for meat supplied to them by Richard
Wodecote, butcher, (fn. 30) two of whose daughters
were being boarded in the priory in 1481-2, at
which date the treasurer's accounts show that the
house was in desperate straits. (fn. 31)
When Prioress Joan Cambridge died in 1487
Bishop John Alcock visited the priory and, after
declaring that all the nuns were unfit and disqualified to elect, himself appointed Joan Fulborne
as prioress. (fn. 32) By 1496 the priory had been reduced
to utter ruin by the incompetence, extravagance,
and dissolute life of the nuns, attributed to their
proximity to the University of Cambridge, so that
they could no longer maintain divine services and
works of piety, nor even support their own community, which was reduced to two only, 'of whom
one is elsewhere professed (fn. 33) and the other is of illfame'. (fn. 34) Accordingly Henry VII granted Bishop
Alcock licence to expel the nuns and to receive
the buildings and estates of the priory for the
foundation of the College of St. Mary the Virgin,
St. John the Evangelist, and St. Radegund the
Virgin (fn. 35) —which was, however, almost from its
inception known as Jesus College. (fn. 36)
Prioresses (fn. 37)
Lettice, occurs c. 1213, 1228
Milisent, occurs 1246, 1249
Dera, occurs 1258
Agnes Burgeylun, occurs 1274
Constance, 13th century
Amice de Driffeld, 13th century
Alice Chamberlain, c. 1278
Ellen, occurs 1289, 1299
Christiane de Braybrok, occurs 1311
Cecily de Cressingham, occurs 1315, 1316
Mabel Martin, occurs 1325, (fn. 38) 1330, 1332
Alice, occurs 1347
Eve Wasteneys, occurs 1359
Margaret Clavyle, occurs 1363, resigned 1 Feb.
1378
Alice Pilet, elected 20 Feb. 1378, occurs 1398
Isabel Sudbury, occurs 1402
Margaret Harlyng, elected 1407
Agnes Seyntelowe, occurs 1415, died 8 Sept.
1457
Joan Lancastre, elected 27 Sept. 1457, occurs
1466
Isabel, occurs 1468
Elizabeth Walton, occurs 1468, 1479
Joan Cambridge, elected 1483, died 1487
Joan Fulborne, appointed 12 Oct. 1487
The 12th-century seal of the convent shows
St. Radegund standing with a knop-headed staff
in her right hand and an open book in her left
hand; a tasselled bag is slung over her right
shoulder and hangs by her left arm. Legend:
SIGILLVM SANCTE RADEGVNDIS. (fn. 39)
A seal ascribed to a (? 13th-century) prioress,
Margaret, shows the Blessed Virgin Mary seated
with the child on her left knee. Legend: MATER
DEI MEMENTO MEI. (fn. 40)
A small common seal, used in 1485, shows St.
Radegund, with arms upraised, between two palm
branches. (fn. 41)
A seal (? ad causas) of 1392 shows the saint
in a niche, with a kneeling nun below. (fn. 42)