HOUSE OF BENEDICTINE NUNS
1. THE PRIORY OF KING'S MEAD
In a general charter of confirmation to the
abbot and canons of Darley, soon after their
foundation, Bishop Walter Durdent, c. 1160,
makes special mention of the nuns of Darley.
He assigned the care of them to the Abbot
Albinus, whom he names as the builder of their
house. (fn. 1)
This nunnery of St. Mary de Pratis, or King's
Mead, was the only Benedictine foundation in
the county. It was situated to the west of the
town of Derby, just a mile from Darley Abbey,
as stated by Bishop Walter, in the meadows by
the side of the Oddebrook. These meadows,
parts of which belonged to the abbey, were
usually known as King's Mead, and hence the
title by which the nunnery was generally distinguished.
Very soon after the foundation of this small
house a warden was appointed, whose duty it
was probably to act as resident chaplain, but more
especially to look after the temporalities of the
priory. Such a course was by no means unusual with Benedictine nunneries. The three
large nunneries in Hampshire of pre-Norman
establishment, Nunnaminster, Wherwell, and
Romsey, had a small number of canons attached
to them, who in the earlier days not only had
seats in quire, but on certain occasions even in
chapter. The two small Benedictine nunneries
of northern Northamptonshire, Winthorpe and St.
Michael's, Stamford, had each a resident master,
or warden, who was duly instituted by the bishop.
The large nunnery of Nuneaton, Warwickshire,
had a like custom which prevailed till its dissolution; in this case the resident chaplain was
termed the prior, and thirteenth and fourteenth
century covenants ran in the name of the prior
and prioress. Within a few years of its foundation, William de Bussel, then warden (custos) of
the nuns, and Emma the prioress, confirmed to
Dean Hugh, the co-founder of Darley Abbey, a
toft in Bag Lane (Baggelone), at a rental of 8d. (fn. 2)
In a grant of Hubert de Burgh, earl of Kent,
between 1227 and 1243, to Croxton Abbey, it
was covenanted that 2 marks yearly were to be
paid by the abbey to the nuns of St. Mary by
Derby. (fn. 3)
Henry III, in 1229, granted the nuns of Derby
a messuage and 12 acres of land in 'Bistallegh'
and Ashop. (fn. 4) In 1230 a grant was made to
Emma, prioress of King's Mead, of 13 acres of
land and a messuage in Stokes, together with
pasture for 300 sheep and their lambs, and for
8 oxen, 6 cows, 30 goats, and 20 pigs in the
same vill, by Lancelin FitzLancelin and Avice
his wife. The donors and their heirs were to be
always sharers in the benefits and prayers of the
conventual church of King's Mead. (fn. 5) In 1236
Henry de Doniston and Eleanor his wife, in
conjunction with Robert de Stanton, granted an
acre of wood at Thursmanleigh to Rametta, the
prioress of King's Mead, and her convent. (fn. 6)
The happy and quiet dependence of this nunnery on the powerful abbey was not of long
duration. Various differences and disputes arose
between the two as to the specific endowments
that accrued to the nunnery. These contentions
at last grew sufficiently grave to demand the
intervention, about 1250, of Bishop Roger de
Weseham (1245-57); his decision is prefaced by
devout aspirations for the peace that holy religion above all things demands, so that Martha
may the more securely and efficaciously give
herself to frequent ministrations, and Mary the
more quietly and happily meditate at the feet of
her Master. The agreement, arranged by the
bishop, to which both parties signified their
solemn assent, was to the effect that henceforth
the nuns and their property should be altogether
free from the control of the abbot and canons, a
condition expressed in the most absolute terms, so
that nihil potestatis nihil juris remained to the
abbey. At the same time certain properties were
definitely assigned to the priory. These included
King's Mead; the church of St. Werburgh, Derby;
'Welleflat'; 'Sirreiers' mill, and the adjacent
meadow; eighteen acres of the land of Ralph
Unenath; 'Becroft'; and the houses (mansiones)
which the nuns have in Derby. (fn. 7)
A covenant entered into between Walter the
abbot (1247-59) and Sibil the prioress, apparently at the same time as the episcopal agreement
or shortly afterwards, testified that the prioress
and the nuns granted to the canons an acre and
a half of land at Scarcliffe and an acre at Langwith
in East Derbyshire, without any service. (fn. 8)
On 2 September, 1327, the prioress and nuns
put forth a petition to the king, showing that
great numbers of persons came to their house to
be entertained, but owing to the badness of the
past years, and the unusually heavy mortality
amongst their cattle, their revenues are so reduced
that they beg the king to take the monastery
into his special protection and grace,—granting
the custody of it, if it please him, to Robert of
Alsop and Simon of Little Chester—until the
priory be relieved and able again to exercise
hospitality. As the result of this petition (fn. 9) protection was granted by Edward III for three
years in December, 1327, to the priory of Mary
de Pré by Derby, on account of its poverty and
debts. At the same time Robert of Alsop and
Simon of Little Chester were appointed custodians,
who, after due provision for the sustenance of the
prioress and nuns, were to apply the issues and
rents to the discharge of the liabilities of the
house and to the improvement of its condition. (fn. 10)
The house was much in debt at this time, and the
bishop refers to its poverty at the appointment
of Joan Touchet as prioress (fn. 11) in December,
1334, on the resignation of Ellen de Beresford. (fn. 12)
Joan died, doubtless of the plague, in 1349, and
was followed by Lady Alice de Ireland.
In March, 1366, Bishop Stretton appointed
Robert Attemore, rector of Broughton, to visit
this nunnery whenever needful. (fn. 13)
From this date there is but little to be gleaned
of the history of the priory save the election of
the successive superiors as chronicled in the
diocesan registers. It is noteworthy that all
these prioresses without exception were members
of the leading families of the county, who were in
the habit of sending their daughters to be educated
at: the only nunnery that Derbyshire possessed. (fn. 14)
In the time of Henry VII a bill in Chancery
was filed by the abbot of Burton against Isabel
de Stanley, prioress of King's Mead, alleging that
she had refused for twenty-one years to pay
certain rents which he demanded as due to him,
and that when his bailiff went to distrain she
declared with great malice,
Wenes these churles to overlede me or sue the law
agayne me ? They shall not be so hardy but they
shall avye upon their bodies and be nailed with
arrowes; for I am a gentlewoman comen of the
greatest of Lancashire and Cheshire; and that they
shall know right well. (fn. 15)
In November, 1509, Thomas Weell, bishop
of Pavada, who was then acting as suffragan for
Coventry and Lichfield, was commissioned by
Bishop Blyth to inclose Joan Hethe, nun of the
priory of the Blessed Mary juxta Derby, for
a solitary life in the chapel at Macclesfield, in
the parish of Prestbury. (fn. 16)
The Valor of 1535, when Joan Curzon was
prioress, gave the clear annual value of this small
house as £18 6s. 2d. The rectory of St. Werburgh was of little worth, merely bringing in
40s. a year. With such an endowment as this
the house could scarcely have been maintained
unless a fair income had been obtained through
the nuns acting as teachers to their boarders.
Such a fluctuating source of income would obtain
no recognition in the Valor.
The alarm caused to the nuns by the sham
royal visitor James Billingford, in 1534, has
been already mentioned, (fn. 17) but more genuine and
abiding alarm resulted from the visitation of
those authorized royal officials commissioners
Legh and Layton early in the year 1536. In
their extraordinary and incredible comperta even
these men had no charges to bring against the
prioress and nuns, but under the head of Superstitions they stated that a part of the shirt of
St. Thomas of Canterbury was preserved at the
priory, which was an object of reverence to
pregnant women. They reported that the
rentals of the house only produced £10 a year,
and that it was in debt to the extent of
20 marks. (fn. 18)
Prioresses of King's Mead
Emma, c. 1160 (fn. 19)
Margaret, early thirteenth cent. (fn. 20)
Emma II, occurs 1230 (fn. 21)
Raimon, early thirteenth cent. (fn. 22)
Rametta, occurs 1236 (fn. 23)
Sibilla, c. 1258 (fn. 24)
Ellen de Beresford, resigned 1334 (fn. 25)
Joan Touchet, appointed 1334, (fn. 26) died 1349 (fn. 27)
Alice de Ireland, appointed 1349 (fn. 27)
Elizabeth Stanley, occurs 1431, (fn. 28) died 1457 (fn. 29)
Elizabeth Mackworth, 1457 (fn. 29) -1487 (fn. 30)
Margaret Cholmeley, appointed 1487 (fn. 30)
Isabel de Stanley, occurs Henry VII (fn. 31)
Elizabeth, occurs 1514 (fn. 32)
Alices Knowles, died 1531 (fn. 33)
Joan Curzon, appointed 1531 (fn. 34)
There are several impressions extant of the
first seal of this nunnery, (fn. 35)
c. 1200, but they are
all too imperfect for the legend to be deciphered.
It is a pointed oval seal with the Blessed Virgin
seated on a throne and the Holy Child on her
left knee. The upper part of the impression of
a later seal remains attached to a document of
1461; the legend has evidently been the angelic
salutation:—
+ AVE MA . . . .DRS . . ECE. (fn. 36)