ALIEN HOUSES
33. THE PRIORY OF FRAMPTON
The Domesday Survey records that the manor
of Frampton in Dorset was held by the church
of St. Stephen, the Norman abbey of Caen
founded by William the Conqueror 'for the
weal of himself, his wife, his children, and his
relatives,' (fn. 1) and that 2 hides of land adjoining
the manor were the gift of his queen Matilda,
the whole being worth 40s. (fn. 2) Henry II, confirming to the monks of Caen the gifts of his
predecessors, enumerates the manor of Northam
in Devonshire with its appurtenances, including
wreck of the sea and dues of the ships calling
there, given by Matilda in her last illness; the
manors of Frampton and Bincombe in Dorset,
the gift of the Conqueror together with 7 hides
of land in East Hendred, Berkshire; the manor
of Burton Bradstock, Dorset, given by Henry I,
partly for the redemption of his soul and those
of his father, mother and relatives, and partly
in lieu of the crown and other ornaments belonging to it which William his father had bequeathed
to the abbey; and the little manor (maneriolum)
of Pantfield in Essex. (fn. 3) Richard, archbishop of
Canterbury, 1172-84, confirming to the abbot
and convent of St. Stephen's all their possessions
in the province of Canterbury, includes the
churches of Frampton, Bincombe, Winterborne,
and Bettiscombe—saving the rights of the bishop
of the diocese—according to the charter of Jocelin
bishop of Salisbury. (fn. 4) Henry III in 1252 granted
to the prior and monks of Frampton the right
of free warren within their demesne lands of
Frampton, Ernley, Bettiscombe, Mosserigg,
Burton Bradstock, and Bincombe, Dorset, and
Northam (Devonshire), provided their lands
should not lie within the king's forest. (fn. 5)
The Taxatio of 1291 gives the prior temporalities in this county amounting to £62 2s.;
£7 3s. 4d. from Northam, Devonshire, and
£3 10s. from East Hendred, Berkshire. (fn. 6) The
spiritualities of the priory are omitted. In the
same year an order was sent to the treasurer and
barons of the exchequer to acquit the prior of a
fine of 100s. in which he had been amerced for
his claim for wreck of the sea within his manor
of Northam. (fn. 7)
The cell of Frampton as a typical example
affords very good material for a study of these
alien dependencies, and from its history we may
learn in a measure the vicissitudes of fortune that
during the greater part of their existence alternately despoiled and restored them. As regards
the attention they evidently attracted in this
county it should be noted that their number
and position near the coast made them legitimate
objects of suspicion, and we have to remember
that their prayers were naturally engaged, or supposed to be engaged, not for the armies of England
and her king, but for her adversaries and an alien
cause. (fn. 8) On the seizure of lands held by Normans in England following the loss of Normandy
in 1204, the prior of Frampton is said to have
secured his property from John by promising to
pay a fine of 100 marks in two moieties, the
first at Michaelmas, 1204, and the second at the
Feast of St. Hilary following, and afterwards
£80 yearly at the usual four terms, in return for
which he was allowed the custody of the lands
of the abbot of Caen in Somerset and Dorset. (fn. 9)
From this time £80 per annum, or a proportionate fraction of it, seems to have been the
sum demanded by the crown on the vacancy
of the parent house occasioned by the death or
cession of the abbot of Caen. (fn. 10) Hugh de Neville
was ordered 10 April, 1208, to restore to the
prior of Frampton all his lands taken into the
king's hands by reason of the interdict. (fn. 11) The
reign of Henry III passed without incident,
but early in the reign of Edward I the cell
excited suspicion, and the prior was required on
a summons from the sheriff, April, 1275, to
certify that neither he nor his house were in any
way bound to any foreign merchant, nor had
received from them money or 'arras' in exchange for their wool, which on the contrary the
prior declared had been sold to Geoffrey and
Thomas de Aune, burgesses of 'Corcestree,' and
to Stephen Bray, burgher of Sefton. (fn. 12)
In 1294 the prior obtained letters of protection from Edward I for a year with other
ecclesiastics who had granted a moiety of their
benefices and goods to the crown, (fn. 13) and, in
accordance with the principle of allowing the
foreigner to escape none of the burdens imposed
on the native clergy, in 1332 he was requested
to assist the subsidy raised on the occasion of the
marriage of the king's sister. (fn. 14) In December,
1295, the protection granted to him the previous
year was renewed, with the restoration of his
lands and goods on condition that he should
pay yearly a fixed sum at the exchequer for the
custody, (fn. 15) the grant being repeated March, 1297,
on the same terms. (fn. 16)
On the general seizure of the property of
aliens in 1324, the issues of the manors belonging to Frampton Priory taken into the hands of
custodians by the king's orders from 8 October
to the 10 January following were valued at
£260 7s. 4d. (fn. 17) An inquisition held to inquire
as to the yearly value of the priory lands estimated Frampton with the advowson of the
vicarage at 100s. and the church held 'in proprios usus' at £13 6s. to be worth £58 4s. 9d. (fn. 18)
This measure, however, did not satisfy the king,
and in September, 1326, in anticipation of a
French landing, Edward II addressed a letter to
the bishop of Salisbury pointing out the danger
that lay in the position of the enemy's confederates
near the coast, and desiring certain brethren
dwelling in these parts to be transferred to other
houses of the same order further inland. The
bishop in his reply notified the king that in
obedience to his order he had sent William
Pyequier of the priory of Frampton up country
to the monastery of Sherborne. (fn. 19) As Edward III
restored the lands and possessions of 110 alien
houses a few days after his accession the following January, Frampton belonging to the abbey
of Caen being of the number, this transference
was probably not of long duration. (fn. 20)
A period of tranquillity ensued till the year
1337, when an outbreak of war caused foreign
dependencies to be again seized, and Henry de
Haydok, clerk, was deputed to take into the
king's hand the lands and rents 'of foreign
religious men of the power and dominion of the
king of France' in this county, the sheriff to
whom they had been delivered accounting for
the issues of Frampton Priory then valued at
£294 19s. 7d. (fn. 21) The prior meantime was
granted protection and allowed the custody of
his house on condition of paying a yearly
farm of £90 and 10 marks. (fn. 22) This payment
included all incidental charges, and the king's
escheator in 1341 was ordered not to meddle
further with the priory, which he sought to enter
on the excuse of the voidance of the abbey of
Caen by the death of Simon the last abbot, as it
was being farmed by the prior for the king; (fn. 23) in
the same way the collectors of the tenth granted
by the clergy in 1338 were ordered to exact no
more from the prior of Frampton, as he was
already paying £90 for his farm. (fn. 24) In December,
1341, the foreign superior was ordered to appear
before the council, and to bring with him all
accounts and memoranda of payments made by
him. (fn. 25) The following month he received a
promise that a quantity of wool requisitioned by
the crown officials commissioned to take a moiety
of wool in Dorset for the king's use should be
paid for. (fn. 26) An extent of the priory was ordered
to be made at the close of 1344, (fn. 27) and in 1346
Edward III granted £100 of the farm of the
priories of Frampton and Loders to William de
Groucy, (fn. 28) Thomas de Lancaster receiving a
grant of £100 of the farm of Frampton alone
the following year. (fn. 29)
The waste and destruction attending the
occupation of alien cells in the reign of Edward III
resulted in a harvest of inquisitions under
Richard II with the object of ascertaining the
cause. A commission in 1381 was appointed to
survey Frampton and its lands and to make inquiry
into the damage done therein. (fn. 30) The king, the
year after, on the payment of 100 marks, licensed
John Devereux, knt., to acquire the priory from
the abbot of St. Stephen's, Caen, for life with
successive remainder to Margaret his wife, John
their son, and Joan their daughter, paying £80
yearly farm at the Exchequer while the war should
last. (fn. 31) The lessee presented in 1387 to the
church of Frampton, which, except for an interval
following the restoration of alien houses in 1361,
had been in the king's hands since 1337, and in
1385 the farm paid for the custody of the priory
was remitted by letters patent of Richard II.
Henry IV in 1400 confirmed the manor or priory
of Frampton with its issues to Joan, the daughter
of John Devereux, who had survived her mother
and brother, and with her husband, Walter FitzWauter, 'chivaler,' entered into possession in
1398. (fn. 32) In 1402 after the restoration of alien
houses, Frampton Priory, 'which is conventual,' was restored to Ralph de Nubibus, monk
of the abbey of St. Stephen, Caen, on condition
that he should maintain its former condition and
pay to the king during the war the ancient
apport due to the head house in time of peace,
with other charges. (fn. 33)
It is, as a rule, extremely difficult to get any
real idea of the internal condition of a foreign
cell, and Frampton is no exception in this respect.
The episcopal registers record that priors were
presented by their superiors, the abbot of Caen or
his proxy, to the bishops of Salisbury for institution, letters being subsequently issued to the
archdeacon of Dorset for their induction. The
resignation of a prior was also made into the
hands of the ordinary, but though the house was of
the Benedictine order and consequently could not
claim exemption, there is no record that he
exercised the right of visitation. A very common
cause of misgovernment, the frequent and
arbitrary withdrawal of the head of a dependent
cell by the foreign superior, seems to have been
present here, for in 1343 the bishop successfully
petitioned the pope to confirm the presentation
of Lawrence de Sancto Brioco to the priory in
order to strengthen his position and prevent his
arbitrary removal by his superior. (fn. 34)
Previous to the suppression of alien cells in
1414 the priory or manor of Frampton was made
over by Henry IV to John, duke of Bedford,
and Thomas Langley, clerk, keeper of the privy
seal, for as long as the war should last for a
yearly farm of £93 6s. 8d., the grant under date
of 2 March, 1414, providing that a reduction
should be made at the Exchequer in the event of the
priory being injured and destroyed by the enemy
(quod absit); it was followed in December of
that year by another grant which remitted the
payment of this rent and included William, prior
of Ogbourne, as holding jointly with the duke
and Thomas Langley, and again in 1410 by a
licence enabling the duke to acquire from the
chief houses in Normandy the whole, or part, of
all the temporalities pertaining to the priories of
Ogbourne and Frampton. (fn. 35) Henry V confirmed
the grants of his father in the first year of his
reign, (fn. 36) but on the reversion of the priory of
Frampton to the crown by the death of the duke
of Bedford, it was given by Henry VI, 16 No
vember, 1437, to the dean and canons of the
royal college of St. Stephen, Westminister, (fn. 37) the
gift being confirmed to them in 1445, (fn. 38) and again
on the accession of Edward IV. (fn. 39) The Valor of
1535 gives the possessions of Frampton as still
held by the college, who retained them down to
the Reformation. (fn. 40)
Priors of Frampton
William Humez, 1207-14. (fn. 41)
Guimund, 1261 (fn. 42)
Robert (fn. 43)
Richard (fn. 44)
Martin, (fn. 45) occurs 1296 and again in 1302
James de Troarno, presented 1302 (fn. 46)
Richard de Montigney, presented 1317, resigned 1329 (fn. 47)
William de Rusca Villa, presented 1329, resigned 1335 (fn. 48)
Lawrence de Sancto Brioco or Breoto, presented 1335, (fn. 49) occurs 1345 and 1347, (fn. 50) he
presented to the vicarage in 1363
John Letour, collated by the bishop, 1377 (fn. 51)
Ralph de Nubibus, collated by the bishop
1400 (fn. 52)
The fourteenth-century pointed oval seal of
Prior Richard found at Sydling, near Frampton,
represents the Virgin half-length, the Holy Child
on the left knee, in the field on the left a crescent,
on the right a star. In base, under a pointed
arch with a carved gable topped by a cross on
either side, the prior, half-length, in prayer. (fn. 53)
Legend:—
✠ S' RICARDI PRIORIS DE FRVMTVNE.