HOUSE OF BENEDICTINE NUNS
7. THE ABBEY OF SHAFTESBURY
The Benedictine nunnery of Shaftesbury is
generally, though not universally, ascribed to the
foundation of Alfred the Great (fn. 1) about the year
888; (fn. 2) the king, by his charter in honour of
God the Blessed Virgin and all the saints, conferring on the nunnery, over which his daughter
Elfgiva, Æthelgeofu or Algiva, presided as abbess,
100 hides of land as an endowment, consisting
of 40 hides at Donhead St. Andrew, and Compton Bassett (Wiltshire), 20 hides at Handley and
Gussage, 10 hides at Tarrant, 15 hides at
Iwerne Minster and 15 at Fontmell. (fn. 3)
This nucleus was much increased by the
grants of Alfred's successors; from Æthelstan
in 932 the nuns obtained 4½ carucates of land at
Fontmell on condition that they should sing psalms
for the redemption of his soul (fn. 4) and by another
charter in 935 land at Tarrant in Pimperne
Hundred. (fn. 5) Edmund in 942 gave to the religious
woman Wenflede the land of twenty manses at
Cheselbourne; (fn. 6) Eadred in 948 land in Purbeck
to the religious woman Ælfthrith; (fn. 7) Edwy bestowed on the nunnery in 956 for the love of
Christ the land of 80 manses at Donhead St.
Andrew, Easton Bassett (Wiltshire), Compton
Abbas, Handley and Iwerne Minster (Dorset). (fn. 8)
Edgar confirmed and renewed to the church
and nuns of Shaftesbury in 966 ten cassates
of land at Piddle formerly granted to them
by his grandmother Wenflede, the record of
which through carelessness had been lost. (fn. 9)
Æthelred 'the unrede' gave in 984 the land
of twenty manses at Tisbury (Wiltshire), (fn. 10) and
by another charter in 1001 bestowed on the
church of St. Edward the vill and monastery of
Bradford (Wiltshire) to be subject to the nuns, that
with the relics of the Blessed Martyr (King
Edward) and other saints they might find there a
refuge against the attacks of the Danes, the king
stipulating that on the restoration of peace and
tranquillity when the sisters returned to their
ancient home they should leave behind at Bradford a sufficient community, according as the prior
should think fit, for its monastic state to be maintained. (fn. 11) The chartulary of the monastery
records that in 1019 Canute, who died here in
1035, (fn. 12) made a grant of sixteen cassates of land
at Cheselbourne to his servant Agemund with
the object of their ultimate reversion to the
church. (fn. 13)
During the first century of its existence the
abbey appears under the dedication of the Blessed
Virgin, but after the translation to Shaftesbury
of the body of Edward the Martyr, murdered in
978, (fn. 14) it was called after him and became popularly known as St. Edward's; the earlier dedication, however, was never formally dropped and
the house frequently occurs, as in the Domesday
Survey, under the dedication of both St. Mary
and St. Edward. (fn. 15)
According to the Survey of 1086 the abbey
at that time held the following lands: 15½ hides
at Felpham in Sussex; (fn. 16) 5 hides at Beechingstoke; 10 at Tisbury; 40 at Donhead; 42 at
Bradford; 7 at Alvediston; 38 at Liddington;
and 20 at Downton (Domnitone) in the county of
Wilts; (fn. 17) 5 hides at Combe, and a rent of 50d.
paid by six burgesses of Milborne in the county
of Somerset; (fn. 18) in this county the possessions of
the nuns were as follows: 20 hides at Handley;
8 at Hinton St. Mary; 17 at Stour; 15 at Fontmell; 10 at Compton Abbas; 10 at Melbury;
18 at Iwerne Minster; 10 at Tarrant; 5 at
Fifehead; 10 at Kingston; 1 at Farnham; 5
at Stoke; 11 at Mapperton and 10 at Cheselbourne. (fn. 19) In the time of Edward the Confessor
the abbess had 153 houses in the town of
Shaftesbury, now owing to the destruction of
forty-two she only had 111, she also held at the
time the Survey was taken 151 burgesses in the
same town, twenty vacant houses and a garden. (fn. 20)
A great increase in the value of the manors had
taken place since Edward the Confessor's time
and Domesday records that William the Conqueror had given the church of Gillingham to
the nuns in place of a hide of their manor of
Kingston on which he had built his castle of
Wareham, and had restored to them the manors
of Cheselbourne and Stour, of which they had
been robbed by Earl Harold, on the production
of a writ by the late king ordering their restoration together with the manor of Melcombe,
which the Conqueror still retained for himself.
Puddle was another manor that had been seized
by the late earl. (fn. 21)
The Norman and Plantagenet kings by their
gifts and privileges added enormously to the
power and wealth already enjoyed by this richlyendowed house. (fn. 22) William Rufus in 1090
confirmed to the church of St. Mary and
St. Edward and to Eulalia the abbess various
grants by different persons, each grantor bestowing a daughter as a nun in the house as a condition of his gift. (fn. 23) Henry I confirmed the
manor of Donhead to the nuns 'for their
clothing' to be held quit of all geld and tax,
pleas of the hundred, suits and quarrels save for
murder and theft. (fn. 24) Stephen by his charter
confirmed the lands which Emma the abbess
had proved to belong to the abbey in the presence of Henry I and his barons. (fn. 25) Henry II
took the community under his special protection
and made them free of all toll and passage. (fn. 26)
Richard I in the first year of his reign granted
to the abbey, and especially to the abbess Mary,
the privilege of the hundred in their manor of
Bradford. (fn. 27) John count of Mortain gave the
nuns, at the special request 'of my dearest
friend the abbess Mary' of Shaftesbury, two loads
of brushwood daily in his manor of Gillingham. (fn. 28)
The abbess received from Henry III a charter
for wreck of the sea in her manor of Kingston, (fn. 29)
licence to hold a market and two fairs at Kintbury (Berkshire), (fn. 30) and right of free warren over
her lands at Barton, Cheselbourne, Almer and
Caundle (Dorset), Donhead, Tisbury and Bradford (Wiltshire), and Felpham (Sussex). (fn. 31) Edward I by letters patent in 1290 licensed the
alienation to the abbey by Edward de Manneston
of land and two messuages in Donhead and Tisbury, (fn. 32) and on payment of a fine in 1304
allowed the nuns to acquire the manor of Stour
by feoffment of Ralph Wake. (fn. 33) By licence of
Edward II in 1318 Stephen Pruet, parson of
Compton Abbas, bestowed on the convent 20s.
yearly rent out of Donhead (Wiltshire) for the
provision of a light to burn through the night
in the cloister of their abbey. (fn. 34) Edward III in
1337 gave a licence for the sisters to acquire
more land to the value of £10 yearly. (fn. 35) The
king in 1340 after an inquisition confirmed to
them the right to have four horse-loads of brush
wood daily except Sunday from the forest of
Gillingham. (fn. 36) Hugh le Despenser in 1343 bestowed a yearly rent of 10 marks from the
manor of Broad Town (Wiltshire) for the lifetime of his sister Joan, a nun in the abbey, (fn. 37)
and the following year the community obtained
in proprios usus the church of Felpham (Sussex)
of their advowson. (fn. 38) The abbess was allowed
in 1368 to crenellate the abbey for the purpose
of defence. (fn. 39) At the beginning of the fifteenth
century the convent obtained from Henry IV
letters patent inspecting and confirming the
charters granted to them by his predecessors, (fn. 40)
and in 1481 Edward IV inspected and confirmed
by his letters patent a grant of Henry III for
wreck of the sea in their manor of Kingston. (fn. 41)
That popular form of religious endowment,
the foundation of chantries, was the object of
many additional grants to the abbey in the fourteenth century. In 1326, and again in the first
year of Edward III, the community acquired
two messuages in Shaftesbury in aid of the
maintenance of a chaplain who should celebrate
daily in the church of St. Mary and St. Edward
for the souls of Edward I and all the faithful departed. (fn. 42) In 1330 Walter Hervy obtained a
licence for the alienation of a toft and 8 acres
of land in Shaftesbury for the provision of a
chaplain to officiate daily at the altar of St. Anne
in the conventual church; (fn. 43) by another licence
in 1334 three messuages, 26 acres of land, and
4 acres of meadow in the town were alienated
for the maintenance of a chaplain to celebrate
daily for the souls of Sibyl Cokyn, Thomas de
Hacche, John Kokyn, and Agnes de Hacche,
their ancestors and heirs, at the altar of
St. Thomas the Apostle. (fn. 44) Richard Poinz in
1340 made over a rent of 15s. for the provision
of a chaplain who should celebrate daily in the
church for his soul and the souls of his ancestors; (fn. 45) and in 1342 a chantry was founded at
the altar of St. Nicholas for the good estate of
Thomas Platel of Shaftesbury and Alice his wife
and for their souls after death, and the souls of
their ancestors, heirs, and benefactors. (fn. 46) The
priest serving the chantry at the altar of Holy
Cross was in 1364 transferred by the bishop to
the church of Holy Trinity within the churchyard of the monastery, and inducted therein as
perpetual chaplain with a fit salary assigned. (fn. 47)
Various other chantries were established to commemorate the souls of certain of the abbesses. (fn. 48)
In the episcopal registers mention is made of the
chantry of St. Edward within the abbey, (fn. 49) and
the chantry commissioners of Edward VI in
the sixteenth century made a return of three
chantries at Shaftesbury: St. Catherine's at the
altar of St. Catherine, St. John Baptist, and the
chantry of St. Anne de la Gore in the chapel
of that name within the parish of St. James. (fn. 50)
The abbess and convent were granted in 1386
reversion of the manor of Brydesyerd for the
support of a chaplain officiating in a place called
'le Belhous' in Shaftesbury and of the twelve
poor inmates there. (fn. 51) In the Valor of 1535
various sums were assigned by the community
in support of these twelve poor men in the
'Maudelyn' or 'Belhous' of Shaftesbury, who
in return for their maintenance were bound to
pray for the founders of the monastery. (fn. 52)
The endowment of the monastery was so considerable and the extent of its possessions so vast
that in the Middle Ages there was a popular
saying, 'If the abbot of Glastonbury could marry
the abbess of Shaftesbury their heir would hold
more land than the king of England.' (fn. 53) In the
reign of Henry II the holding of the abbess was
assessed at the service of seven knights, (fn. 54) three
of whom appear to have represented her fees in
Dorset and Somerset and four those in Wiltshire. (fn. 55)
In 1166 she certified the king by charter that
the seven knights she was bound to find for his
service were as follows: Earl Patrick one fee,
Anselin Mauduit, Jordan de Necche, and Thurstan de Huseldure a fee each, Robert FitzPeter and Roger de Thoka held the fifth fee,
and the sixth and seventh were held 'against the
convent' by Roger de Newburgh, who in addition held Almer at a rent of 40s. and said that
he ought to hold it for half a fee, which however the abbess declared William de Glastonia
never did; twelve other tenants held various
fractions of fees. (fn. 56) Henry III by charter of
4 May, 1233, released to the Abbess Amicia
and her successors the demand made by the king
and his ancestors of the service of three knights
and the fourth part and sixth part of a fee in
addition to the seven already enumerated, ordaining that in future the said abbess should be
accountable only for the service of seven knights,
which she admitted to be due. (fn. 57) At the close
of the thirteenth century the Taxatio assessed
the temporalities of the abbey in the diocese of
Salisbury at £506 14s., (fn. 58) in the diocese of Chichester at £50, (fn. 59) and £33 in the diocese of
Bath and Wells. (fn. 60) The spiritualities of the
convent, reckoned only at £14, consisted of pensions from the churches of St. James, Shaftesbury, Tisbury, and Bradford. (fn. 61) The power and
influence in the district possessed by the abbess
can have been only less than supreme; to her
belonged a moiety of the manor of Shaftesbury—
the other half pertaining to the king (fn. 62) —and
the custody of the vill for which she paid a
fee farm of £12. (fn. 63) The patronage in her
hands and those of the community was above
that of any other religious house in the county;
in addition to the presentation of all the churches
in Shaftesbury, at that time numbering twelve
with the abbey, and the advowson of the hospital of St. John super montem, she had within
her gift the four prebends or portions for secular
priests within the conventual church, viz.,
Iwerne Minster, Gillingham, Liddington, and
Fontmell, the appointment of the various chaplains officiating at the different chantries, and
the presentation to the office of deacon of the
high altar within the church, collation to which
fell to the crown in the vacancy of the abbey. (fn. 64)
In the return of church property of 1535 the
receipts and disbursements are entered of an
official appointed by the abbess and removable
at her will, William Breton, clerk, who held the
office of sacrist of the abbey and to whom was
assigned certain rents for the maintenance and
repair of the church, the provision of bread, wine,
and other necessaries for the celebration of
divine offices, and the payment of salaries and
pensions for certain priests officiating in the
church. (fn. 65)
On the eve of the Dissolution the net income
of the abbey was assessed at £1,329 1s. 3d.; (fn. 66)
the spiritualities of the community included the
parsonages of Bradford and Tisbury and tithes
from Barton, (fn. 67) their temporalities the manors
of Barton, Downton, Fontmell, Tarrant, Liddington (Wiltshire), Hinton, Felpham (Sussex),
Kingston, Donhead (Wiltshire), Stour, Tisbury
(Wiltshire), Cheselbourne, Combe (Somerset),
Caundle, 'Arne,' 'Kulmyngton,' Handley, Melbury, Sedgehill (Wiltshire), Berwick (Wiltshire),
Almer, Iwerne Minster and Kelston (Somerset). (fn. 68) But if the revenues of the abbey were
enormous, (fn. 69) the charges on the house were by
no means trifling, and the management of so
vast an estate and the direction of so large a
community called for powers of government and
organization which it is more than probable
every abbess did not possess. Whether the difficulties that arose were due mainly to the too
frequent absence of these qualities or sprang
from other causes the fact remains that from the
fourteenth century, and even earlier, onwards,
the house with every outward sign and manifestation of wealth and influence was continuously
crippled by insufficient means and its existence
chequered by the constant recurrence of debt
and insolvency. As regards the charges on the
house, the abbess was summoned by writ to
furnish soldiers for the field in proportion to the
number of her fees; (fn. 70) the summons to Parliament,
to which by tenure she was entitled, was omitted
on the ground of her sex. The convent, in
common with the majority of houses under the
royal patronage, was called on to provide maintenance for boarders at the king's presentation, (fn. 71)
and was expected on the occasion of the new
creation of an abbess to furnish a pension for a
clerk at the royal appointment. (fn. 72) In addition
the king claimed a right to present a nun on
the occasion of the voidance of the abbey, (fn. 73)
and the episcopal registers record that the bishop
of Salisbury, on his promotion to the see, had the
right of placing an inmate in the house and of
appointing one of the nuns to act as her instructor. (fn. 74) Henry V, in the first year of his reign,
presented Iodonia Wodehill to the convent in
accordance with his prerogative to nominate a
nun to the abbey on his coronation. (fn. 75) Henry VI,
in 1480, recalling this ancient privilege, presented
Joan Archcombe, 'of good life and honest conversation;' in like manner, (fn. 76) Richard III in his
first year issued letters of recommendation for
Elizabeth Bryther to be the king's 'mynchyne'
at Shaftesbury. (fn. 77)
One of the causes contributing to the troubles
of the monastery was the excessive number of
its inmates. The pope, whose attention in 1217
was directed to the abbey by an appeal made to
him in connexion with a disputed election, (fn. 78) in
1218 forbad the community to admit nuns beyond the number of a hundred, on the ground
that they were unable to support more or to give
alms to the poor. (fn. 79) Evidently the decree was not
observed, for in 1322 the bishop of Salisbury, after
a recent visitation of the house, wrote to the abbess
and convent pointing out that they had neglected the order of the Holy Father, that the inmates of the house were far too many for its goods
to support, and forbidding them to admit more
until the state of the abbey had been relieved. (fn. 80)
Four years later, in response to a petition from the
abbess asking him to fix a statutory number,
the bishop issued an order stating that the house
was capable of maintaining 120 nuns and no
more, and until the community had been reduced to that number the abbess and convent
should not receive any more inmates. (fn. 81) It is
evident that this number became considerably
reduced a century later. The voting body at
the election of Edith Bonham in 1441 consisted
of forty-one professed sisters and fourteen awaiting profession (tacite professae); (fn. 82) the total number at the election of Margaret St. John in 1460
was fifty-one; (fn. 83) at the election of Margaret
Twyneo in 1496 twenty-five professed sisters
and eleven not yet professed are mentioned; (fn. 84)
at the election of Elizabeth Shelford, 1504,
twenty-eight professed and twenty-two tacitly
professed voted. (fn. 85) The surrender deed of the
abbey on its dissolution gives the names of fiftyfive sisters besides the abbess and prioress. (fn. 86)
The usual expedients were adopted in order to
relieve the financial difficulties of the abbey.
The sisters, after a petition setting forth the charges
incumbent on them for the maintenance of the
statutory number of 120 nuns and the exercise
of hospitality, as well as the losses they had incurred through the inundation of their lands,
obtained a bull from the pope in 1343 appropriating to their use the church of Bradford of
their advowson. (fn. 87) Edward III in 1365, by a
charter reciting the reduction of the house by
tempestuous winds, pestilences, and other adversities, so that its means barely sufficed to
support the community or to meet the charges
incumbent on them, granted to the prioress and
nuns the custody of the temporalities of the
abbey on the occasion of its next voidance by
the death of Abbess Joan Formage. (fn. 88) In 1380
the sisters were allowed, in consideration of the
damage to their lands by encroachments of the
sea and losses of sheep and cattle, to appropriate
to themselves the church of Tisbury, the advowson of which already belonged to them. (fn. 89) About
the same time Bishop Erghum made an ordination assigning a weekly allowance of 2d. to each
nun from the issues of the house with the object
of reducing as far as possible the expenditure of
the community. (fn. 90) The convent in 1382 petitioned Richard II that, whereas they could
not hold out another year against their indebtedness unless some remedy were provided,
the king would on all future occasions of a
voidance in the abbey allow the community to
retain the temporalities in their own hands
(saving to the king knights' fees and advowsons),
rendering an account of the same to the Exchequer for a year or any part of a year. (fn. 91) Bishop
Aiscough in the fifteenth century sanctioned
the appropriation of the church of Gillingham to
the abbey, which, through pestilence, failure of
crops, want of labourers 'and their excessive demands,' was said to be much reduced. (fn. 92)
To focuss the various references to Shaftesbury in the episcopal registers so as to gain
some idea of the state of the monastery, apart
from its financial condition and worldly standing,
is a task of extreme difficulty. Incidents that
illustrate the inevitable defects and shortcomings
of a house are calculated to mislead in many
instances, and doubly so if accepted as representing the normal state of affairs in connexion
with a community of the size and importance
of the abbey of St. Edward. (fn. 93) The house
was visited from time to time by the bishop of
Salisbury or his commissary; he received the
profession of canonical obedience from the abbess,
and bestowed the benediction on her election.
The episcopal registers record the appointment
by him of confessors to the abbey and the reception of the profession of the nuns. An order
was sent in 1298 to Robert, rector of the church
of Donington, desiring him to enforce suitable
penance to the abbess and nuns of Shaftesbury,
who, 'for their offences against God and by the
creation of scandal,' had incurred sentence of
excommunication. (fn. 94) A copy of the edict of
Pope Boniface for the stricter inclosure of nuns
was forwarded to the sisters at the beginning of
the fourteenth century by Simon of Ghent, who
announced that by the 'new constitution' he was
bound to visit yearly the nuns subject to his
authority. (fn. 95) The abbess, after a visitation in
1309, was strictly admonished not to allow the
sisters to go out into the town of Shaftesbury
save under special conditions, 'lest scandal enter
in and not without negligence on your part.' (fn. 96)
Further, one of the nuns, Christina Baryl, was
ordered to be confined within the cloister of the
monastery until notice had been sent by the
bishop. (fn. 97) The archdeacon of Dorset and William
of Braybrook, canon of Salisbury, were ordered in
1316 to adjudicate in a dispute which had arisen
in the monastery between the abbess and certain
of the nuns. (fn. 98) Joan Formage, who was elected
abbess in 1362, received a dispensation from the
bishop in 1368 to leave the abbey for a year and
reside in her manors for the sake of air and
recreation. (fn. 99) On her death in August, 1394,
the bishop ordered the abbey to be sequestrated,
and annulled a will by which she had alienated
the goods of the house in bequests to friends,
declaring such a disposition to be injurious to
the community and contrary to the usage of
religious women. (fn. 100) A good deal of disturbance
and a species of interregnum ensued before the
appointment of a successor, in spite of the consideration of Richard II, who granted a licence
to elect immediately on the voidance of the
abbey, (fn. 101) and, 'in pity for the poverty of the house,'
directed the bishop to signify the royal assent
without delay to the choice of the community. (fn. 102)
In November of the same year Richard Pittes,
canon of Salisbury, John Gowayn, and Thomas
Bonham were appointed to examine and take
charge of the abbey, to inform themselves as to
its condition, the withdrawal and waste of its
goods, as well as to make allowances for the
maintenance of the nuns and their household,
holding the remainder of the revenues in charge
until further orders. According to the letters
patent of this commission the king had been
forced to abrogate the grant made by himself and
his predecessors to the prioress and convent of the
temporalities of the abbey during voidance, as
by fraudulent means an election had been obtained of an unfit person, who, with the object of
securing confirmation of her appointment, had
repaired with an excessive number of men to
places remote, to the waste and destruction of the
possessions of the community. (fn. 103) Richard II, after
an interval of more than six months had elapsed
since the death of abbess Joan Formage, wrote
to the bishop, April, 1395, desiring him to provide a fit person to the abbey, which by this time
had lapsed to his collation. (fn. 104) The choice fell
on Egelina de Counteville; the pope, at the
king's special request, confirmed her election
as abbess, 'although Lucy Fitzherberde has the
greater number of votes,' (fn. 105) and so the matter
ended. Bishop Hallam in 1410, on a report
that the nuns were given to frequenting places
outside the monastery, addressed a letter of
admonition to the abbess and convent, bidding them consider the punishment that overtook
Dinah the daughter of Jacob for yielding to
the desire to go abroad. (fn. 106) In the same year
the bishop issued an indulgence for those who
should visit the monastery on the principal feasts
of St. Edward, King and Martyr, from the time
of the first to the second vespers. (fn. 107) In 1412
letters of indulgence were published for those
visiting the shrine of St. Edward on the feast of
his translation, 20 June. (fn. 108) There are no visitation reports of Shaftesbury during the fifteenth
century, and few references during the remainder
of its existence save those recording the election
of superiors and the admission of the profession
of nuns. (fn. 109)
The last abbess of Shaftesbury, Elizabeth
Zouche, hoped doubtless by a conciliatory attitude
to secure from the court party some measure
of consideration for her house. Sir Thomas
Arundel, in a letter to the 'visitor-general of
monasteries,' in 1536, states that by the advice
of the writer the abbess and convent have given
him (Cromwell) the next presentation to the
parsonage of Tarrant, for which he had expressed
a desire, adding, 'my lady is right glad to do you
pleasure.' (fn. 110) The transfer to Shaftesbury in the
same year of the prioress and nuns of the small
Benedictine priory of Cannington (Somerset),
dissolved by the earlier Act of suppression, (fn. 111)
may have encouraged the poor lady to continue
her efforts, and nerved her to hold out longer
than was the general disposition in this county.
At any rate, Sir Thomas Arundel, writing again
to Cromwell in December, 1538, informs him
that, contrary to advice, the abbess of Shaftesbury
refuses to follow the 'moo' (majority), and
resign, and offers the king 500 marks and Cromwell £100 for her house to be allowed to stand. (fn. 112)
The offer was fruitless; the fate of Shaftesbury
was sealed, though the house, owing perhaps to
the abbess's spirited endeavour, was the last to fall
in this county. With the surrender of Elizabeth
Zouche and her fifty-six nuns on 2 March,
1539, (fn. 113) ends the long line of abbesses headed
in the ninth century by Alfred's daughter.
Abbesses of Shaftesbury
Elfgiva or Æthelgeofu or Algiva, first abbess
about 888 (fn. 114)
Ælfthrith, occurs 948 (fn. 115)
Herleva, occurs 966, (fn. 116) died 982 (fn. 117)
Alfrida, occurs 1001 or 1009 (fn. 118)
Leueua, occurs temp. Edward the Confessor (fn. 119)
Eulalia, appointed 1074 (fn. 120)
Eustachia (fn. 121)
Cecilia, appointed 1107 (fn. 122)
Emma, occurs temp. Henry I (fn. 123)
Mary, occurs 1189 (fn. 124)
J., elected 1216 (fn. 125)
Amicia Russell, elected 1223 (fn. 126)
Agnes Lungespee, elected 1243 (fn. 127)
Agnes de Ferrers, elected 1247 (fn. 128)
Juliana de Bauceyn, died 1279 (fn. 129)
Laurentia de Muscegros, elected 1279 (fn. 130) died
1290
Joan de Bridport, elected 1290, (fn. 131) died 1291
Mabel Gifford, elected 1291 (fn. 132)
Alice de Lavyngton, elected 1302, (fn. 133) died 1315
Margaret Aucher, elected 1315, (fn. 134) died 1329
Dionisia le Blunde, elected 1329, (fn. 135) died 1345
Joan Duket, elected 1345, (fn. 136) died 1350
Margaret de Leukenore, elected 1350 (fn. 137)
Joan Formage, elected 1362, (fn. 138) died 1394
Egelina de Counteville, appointed 1395 (fn. 139)
Cecilia Fovent, occurs 1398, (fn. 140) died 1423
Margaret Stourton, elected 1423, (fn. 141) died 1441
Edith Bonham, elected 1441, (fn. 142) died 1460
Margaret St. John, elected 1460 (fn. 143)
Alice Gibbes, died 1496 (fn. 144)
Margaret Twyneo, elected 1496, (fn. 145) died 1505
Elizabeth Shelford, elected 1505, (fn. 146) died 1528
Elizabeth Zouche or Zuche, elected 1529,
surrendered her abbey, 1539 (fn. 147)
The round thirteenth-century seal attached to
the surrender deed of the abbey gives on the
obverse an elaborate design of the church. In
the doorway St. Edward, King and Martyr, fulllength, with the name s' EDW—ARDVS upon the
string-courses at the sides. (fn. 148) Legend:—
SA[LUE :] STELLA : MARIS : TU : NOBIS :
AVX [ILIARIS :] [GEMMA :] PVELLARIS : REGIA :
DONA : PARIS
The reverse shows within a carved quatrefoil
the Coronation of the Virgin. Overhead the
Dove; at the sides two candlesticks, crescents,
and other emblems. In base, under a trefoiled
arch, an abbess, half-length, holding a pastoral
staff, is in prayer. (fn. 149) Legend:—
✠ SIGILL' : SĈE : MARIE : ET : SBI : EDWARDI :
[RE]GIS : ET : MARTIRIS : SCHEF[TONIE]