HOUSE OF PREMONSTRATENSIAN CANONESSES
12. THE PRIORY OF BROADHOLME
There were but two convents of canonesses
of the Premonstratensian Order in England,
namely at Broadholme, Nottinghamshire, and
Ilford, Lincolnshire.
There is some uncertainty as to the date of
the foundation of the small house of Broadholme
on the borders of Lincolnshire, and as to the
name or names of the original founders. It was
an early offshoot of the Premonstratensian house
of Newhouse (Lincolnshire). It appears, strange
to say, to have been originally a house for both
sexes, for the first benefaction named in a long
inspection charter of Edward II, subsequently
cited, was made to God and St. Mary and to the
brethren and sisters of Broadholme—an expression
which is repeated in other early grants. Leland
states that Agnes de Camville, wife of Peter
Gousla (or Gousley), the founder of Newhouse,
placed here a prioress and nuns of the Premonstratensian Order about the latter part of the
reign of King Stephen. (fn. 1)
When the Taxation Roll of Pope Nicholas
was drawn up in 1291, it was found that the
Prioress of Broadholme held a variety of small
temporalities in Lincolnshire to the annual value
of £4 13s.; and that in Nottinghamshire the
appropriated church of Thorney (in which parish
the house was situated) brought in an additional
income of £8. (fn. 2)
A charter of inspection and confirmation
granted to the priory of Broadholme by Edward II
in 1318 gives a summary of the benefactions up
to that date. (fn. 3) The principal of these were:—
An orchard by the cemetery of the church of
St. Botolph, Saxilby (fn. 4) (Lincolnshire), by Ralph
D'Aubeney; a large amount of land, meadow,
pasture, and tenements in Saxilby, on the south
side of the Fosse Dyke, by Peter and Agnes
Goushill and their children and others; lands in
Ingleby (adjoining Saxilby), by Geoffrey de Crosby;
rents in Skellingthorpe (Lincolnshire), by Baldwin
Wake; the church of St. Helen, Thorney, with
lands and the site of a mill, by Walter and Agnes de
Clifford; rents in Newark and two quarters of
corn from the manor of Wigsley, by Hugh de
Basset; a toft in Fillingham, Lincolnshire, by
William Wynok; rents at Broadholme, by
William Newbrid; lands and rents in the parish
of Sir Edward Wigford (Lincoln), by Aubrea and
Ivo, children of Ralph son of Lambert; rents at
Collingham, by Ralph de Muscamp and Isabel
daughter of Alured de Collingham; lands in
North Collingham, by Richard de Claypole; lands
in Torksey (Lincolnshire), by Walter Faber;
rents in Stow (Lincolnshire), by Peter de
Campania; and lands, pastures, meadows, and
rents in Little Hale (Lincolnshire), by Simon de
Hale.
A confirmation charter granted by the king in
the following year conjointly to the abbey of
Newhouse and the priory of Broadholme is evidence of the close early alliance between these two
houses, and also makes mention several times of
the 'brethren and sisters of St. Mary's, Brodholme'
in the earlier grants. (fn. 5) But such a title as this
does not appear to have long prevailed, and was
clearly out of date when this confirmation charter
was issued. In the very next year (1320) a
licence appears on the Patent Roll for the
'prioress and nuns of Brodholme' to acquire in
mortmain lands, tenements, and rents to the
value of £10 a year. (fn. 6)
In 1326 Matthew Brown, escheator for the
counties of Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, and
Rutland, was ordered by the Crown not to intermeddle further with a toft and 20 acres of
land of the prioress (Matilda) of Broadholme in
Saxilby, which had been mistakenly taken by the
escheator into the king's hands, on the death of
Margaret Warrok, who was the priory's tenant
for those lands. (fn. 7)
Queen Isabel was a particular patroness of
the nuns of Broadholme. In February 1327,
'for the special affection which she bore to them,'
the queen granted the prioress and nuns a yearly
rent of 8 marks out of certain lands in Great
Massingham, Norfolk, whereof one moiety was
to be applied for clothing, 2 marks for their
pittance, and the remaining 2 marks for the
repair of their buildings. (fn. 8) In October of that
year the priory, at the request of Queen Isabel,
obtained licence to acquire in mortmain land and
rent, not held in chief, to the yearly value of £10. (fn. 9)
Two years later a mandate was issued to the
sheriff of Norfolk to aid the prioress and nuns in
recovering the rent of 8 marks granted them
in 1327 out of Great Massingham. (fn. 10)
The advowson or patronage of Broadholme,
which simply implied a formal approval of the
appointment of the elected prioress, usually went
with the manor of Saxilby. William Cressy of
Markham settled that manor with the advowson
of Broadholme, in 1365, on James son of Sir
John de Lysers and Maud his wife; it afterwards
frequently changed hands for lack of heirs male. (fn. 11)
A papal confirmation of a former ordinance of
the chapter-general of Prémontré, granted by
Alexander V in 1409 at the petition of the
Prioress and Convent of St. Mary's, Broadholme, is
of much interest in connexion with the somewhat
meagre history of this house. The ordinance
hereby confirmed was passed in 1354, when Joan
de Rield was prioress. Out of consideration for
Queen Isabel, and by the mediation of a number
of abbots of the order, and particularly of Alan,
then Abbot of Newhouse, the father abbot of the
priory, it was ordained, in the presence of the
Abbots of Barling, Langdon, Croston, and Welbeck, and of Sirs Richard Gray, John Lysyers,
John Pigot, and John Everingham, knights, that
(1) on voidance of the priory of Broadholme the
Abbot of Newhouse should repair there in person,
or send a fit member of the order, to investigate in
the chapter-house the wishes of each sister under
oath, and should appoint as prioress her on whom
falls the consent of all or the greater part; (2)
that all the money arising from the fruits, &c., of
the priory, together with the common seal and
muniments, should be kept in a chest fitted with
two keys of different make, one to be kept by
the prioress and the other by the sister whom the
others shall choose; that (3) in order to avoid the
impoverishment of the priory only one canon of
Newhouse should dwell there, to say daily mass
for the sisters and to overlook their temporalities,
but he is not to presume to dispose of aught
thereof against the will of the prioress; that (4)
the prioress should have temporal jurisdiction over
all her servants, appointing and removing them
at pleasure; that (5) in the event of paucity of
sisters, she may, with the counsel and leave of
the abbot, admit others; and that (6) the father
abbot should have right to hear or cause to be
heard four times a year, without expense to the
priory, the confessions of the prioress and sisters,
and should also visit them for two days once a
year, with four or five carriages, and stay at their
expense. (fn. 12)
Among the Premonstratensian records is the
fragment of a visitation of Broadholme, probably
of the year 1478, from which it appears that all
the nuns, before reception, were to know how to
sing and read. (fn. 13)
In a list of the names of the order in the
English province, drawn up in 1494, nine canonesses are entered as on the roll of Broadholme,
namely:—
Dame Elizabeth Brerworth, priorissa
" Johanna Stertone, suppriorissa
" Johanna Uptone
" Agnes Aschby
Dame Elizabeth Formane
" Johanna Newsome
" Johanna Roos
" Johanna Steyntone
" Margery Robynsone (fn. 14)
The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1534 gives the
gross annnal value of this small priory as
£18 11s. 10d. Rents at various places in the
counties of Nottingham and Lincoln, together
with 80 acres of demesne lands, only brought
in £16 11s. 10d., whilst the value of the great
tithes of Thorney had dropped to 40s. The
clear annual value was but £16 5s. 2d.
On 12 December 1536 Joan Aungewen (or
Angevin), the last prioress, was assigned a pension
of 7 marks. (fn. 15)
The site was granted by the Crown in 1537
to Ralph Jackson. (fn. 16)
Prioresses of Broadholme
Matilda, occurs 1326 (fn. 17)
Joan de Rield, occurs 1354 (fn. 18)
Elizabeth de Brerworth, occurs 1496 (fn. 19)
Joan Aungewen, occurs 1534 and 1536 (fn. 20)