HOUSES OF BENEDICTINE NUNS
3. THE PRIORY OF ST. MICHAEL, STAMFORD
On the south-east side of Stamford, at the
Northamptonshire end of the bridge over the
Welland, lies that part of the town which is
called Stamford Baron or Stamford St. Martin's.
In this quarter about the year 1155 a Benedictine
nunnery, dedicated to St. Michael, was founded
by William of Waterville, abbot of Peterborough.
The convent was originally designed on a large
scale for the support of forty nuns. (fn. 1) The founder
assigned to them the church of St. Martin, out
of the profits of which they were to make an
annual payment of half a mark to the chanter of
Peterborough Abbey and 10s. to the sacrist. (fn. 2)
Subsequent abbots conferred on the nuns the
churches of Thurlby, and of St. Clement, All
Saints, and St. Andrew, in the Lincolnshire
portion of Stamford. Moieties of the church of
Corby and the chapel of Upton were granted in
the reign of Henry II. by Ascelina de Waterville
and Maud de Diva, her sister, the daughters of
Geoffrey de Waterville. (fn. 3) These and other gifts
were from time to time sanctioned by the crown.
An elaborate inspeximus and confirmation was
granted to the convent by Edward IV. in 1464
recording previous confirmations by Henry II.,
John, Henry III., Edward I., and Richard II. (fn. 4)
According to the Taxation of 1291 the temporalities and spiritualities of the priory within the
diocese of Lincoln amounted to £66 13s. 4d. (fn. 5)
This priory was from the earliest time subject
to the abbey of Peterborough to a remarkable
extent. It was the custom on the morrow of the
feast of St. Michael, when the convent paid an
annual pension of a silver mark to the abbot, for
the prioress in the name of her chapter to make
formal recognition of their subjection, which was
usually done under their common seal. (fn. 6) The
consent of the abbot was necessary to the election
of each successive prioress, and to him also pertained the right of receiving the profession of the
sisters; on St. James's Day, 1298, we read that
Abbot William of Woodford received the profession of Joan, daughter of Sir Waleran Mortimer,
at Peterborough, as a sister of St. Michael's
Priory, and wrote to the prior at Stamford to
give her the veil (quod conferret habitum).
The admission is entered in the abbey register
and witnessed by several of the monks. (fn. 7) The
abbot also had the appointment and removal
at pleasure of a custos or warden, occasionally
termed canon and sometimes prior. The
diocesan claimed the right of instituting the
warden from time to time and occasionally
he was duly presented. A. de Boby 1221,
Richard de Scoter 1223, Henry de Silkeston
1224, Serlo de Burgo 1230, Henry de Overton
1271, Wairin 1295, Stephen de Burgh 1302,
and Thomas de Stanford and William de Gretford 1334, were successively presented at Lincoln as warden of St. Michael's Priory. (fn. 8) The
warden acted as senior chaplain in the conventual
church, heard the confession of the nuns, and
had certain powers of supervision over the temporalities.
About the year 1230 the sisters employed a
clerk to solicit a confirmation of their privileges
at the Roman Court, and by their actions embroiled themselves with the abbey. Their
agent in his zeal exceeded (as they alleged) his
instructions, and obtained the insertion of certain
articles abrogating the necessity of the abbot's
sanction for the election of a prioress, and annulling the payment of pensions from several churches
that had been assigned to them. The abbot and
monks in consequence proceeded to take action
against the nuns, who, being aware of the unfair advantage taken by their proctor, sent the
prioress with the charters of their house to lay
the matter before the archbishop of Canterbury
and his suffragans, asking for their intervention to
restore to them the friendship of their powerful
neighbours, and renouncing all claim to the
papal privileges that had been thus unduly
obtained. (fn. 9) On the death of the prioress Alice
about 1240, the nuns elected Petronilla of Stamford as their superior, the appointment being
confirmed by Bishop Grossetête 'saving the rights
of the abbey.' (fn. 10)
In 1270 Bishop Gravesend sanctioned the
personal visitation of this house once a year by
the abbot and two or three of the monks with
power to correct and reform. (fn. 11) The abbot
usually visited the convent in person at the feast
of St. Michael. The register of the abbey shows
that Abbot William of Woodford was there on
29 September, 1297. On that occasion the
visitor absolved from the greater excommunication
three of the nuns, Alexandra de Langtoft,
Cecilia Fleming, and Margery Arkeld; the
offences of the two first are not named, but
Margery is said to have been excommunicated
for laying violent hands upon Emma, a novice,
the daughter of Matthew de Eston, who had been
recently admitted to the priory. (fn. 12) Abbot Godfrey
de Crowland formally visited the priory on
20 July, 1300. (fn. 13) The result was probably
omne bene, otherwise visitation injunctions and
decrees would have been recorded in the register;
the like seems to have been the case with another
visitation held by the same abbot on Wednesday
after the Purification, 1303. (fn. 14) Shortly before this
Abbot Godfrey detected some mismanagement
of the revenues of the priory, and appointed
Thomas of Salisbury, a monk of Peterborough,
special warden for a season, with full powers
over the temporalities and of adjudicating and
ordering all temporal matters both within and
without the convent as he should think profitable, reserving to the prior and prioress the
spiritual disposition of all things concerning their
house. (fn. 15)
Abbot Adam of Boothby visited the priory in
the autumn of 1323. His mandate for an impending visitation, dated 6 October, was directed to
the prior, prioress, and convent, and bade the
prior issue visitation summonses for the Monday
before the feast of St. Luke. On the appointed
day the prior and prioress, with all the nuns,
brethren, and lay sisters who by right or custom
were obliged to be present at the visitation,
assembled in the conventual church of St. Michael.
The lord abbot, who had associated with himself
for visitation purposes two of his fellow monks,
Hugh of Stukely and Robert of Tanser, began
his inquiries touching the state of the monastery,
the life and conversation of the prior and prioress,
as also of the nuns and other persons there
abiding. The reality of the visitation, which
included private interrogation of each member of
the house, is evident from the fact that the
inquiry extended over the whole of Monday and
Tuesday, so that it was found necessary to
adjourn the visitation of the hospital of
St. Thomas and the lazar-house of St. Giles of
Stamford Baron, which were also under the
abbot's jurisdiction, until the Wednesday. (fn. 16)
The sad story of Sister Agnes of this house,
extending over nine years, so far as it can be
gleaned from the episcopal registers, affords
striking evidence of the zeal and painstaking
determination of Bishop Dalderby. In 1309 the
bishop excommunicated Agnes de Flixthorp (alias
de Wissenden), nun of the house of St. Michael
without Stamford, for apostasy in leaving the
monastery and leading a secular life, and warned
all persons not to receive her into their houses
nor give her aid or counsel, and that any who did
so should be cited to appear before the bishop. (fn. 17)
In 1310 the bishop sent a letter to the crown
authorities asking for the arrest of Agnes, an
apostate. She was then living at Nottingham,
and the archdeacon was instructed to warn her
to return to her monastery, resume the habit, and
submit to discipline. (fn. 18) In the same year the
bishop caused it to be generally proclaimed that
Agnes de Flixthorp, a nun of this house, was
leading a worldly life, and lay under excommunication. He also addressed a letter to the abbot
of Peterborough to see to her being taken back
to her monastery, and there shut up and guarded
by persons whom he could trust, forbidding all
the sisters of the house to go to her, except for the
health of her soul, under pain of excommunication. The defaulter was then secured and returned to Stamford. Her imprisonment was to
be very rigid, for a further letter to the prioress of
St. Michael's ordered that Agnes should be confined in a chamber with stone walls, and that each
leg (utramque tibiam) should be shackled with
fetters until she consented to resume her habit. (fn. 19)
In March, 1311, the bishop sent a letter to Ada,
sister of William de Helewell, instructing her to
take the custody of Agnes, the apostate nun of
St. Michael's without Stamford. In August of
the same year the bishop issued his mandate to the
official of the archdeacon of Lincoln, the rector of
Barnack, and another, to go to the convent
of St. Michael, and there to inquire, by the confession of Agnes and others, into the truth of the
matter of her apostasy; for Agnes had declared
that she was never professed, as she was married
to one whose name she refused to give before she
entered religion, and still continued in her
obstinacy. (fn. 20) The report of this commission is not
entered in the diocesan register, but the substance
of it can be gathered from a letter addressed by
the bishop of Lincoln to the bishop of Exeter in
November of the same year. In that letter it
was stated that Agnes Flixthorpe, after having
been a professed nun of St. Michael's for twenty
years, left the house and was found wearing a
man's gilt embroidered gown; that she was
brought back to her house, excommunicated, and
kept in solitude; and that she remained obstinate
and refused to put on her religious habit. The
bishop, thinking it desirable that she should be
removed from the diocese for a time, prayed his
brother of Exeter that she might be received into
the house of Cornworthy, (fn. 21) there to undergo
penance, and to be kept in safe custody away
from all the sisters. A mandate was at the same
time sent to the prioress of St. Michael's to
deliver Agnes to Peter de Helewell, clerk, to be
conveyed to Cornworthy. (fn. 22) In December, 1312,
the poor woman declared her penitence, and the
bishop of Exeter was commissioned to absolve
her; (fn. 23) but there must have been a relapse, for the
unhappy Agnes remained in solitary confinement
at Cornworthy until August, 1314, when Peter
de Helewell was commissioned to bring her back
to Stamford. (fn. 24) The register of Bishop Dalderby
contains yet one more entry relative to the
'apostate,' who in truth was probably a lunatic.
In September, 1318, a letter was addressed to the
prioress, wherein it was recited that Agnes Flixthorp had three times left her order and assumed
a secular habit, and had then for two years remained in the world; the prioress was ordered,
under pain of excommunication, and without any
dissimulation, to find Agnes and bring her back
to the convent as an obstinate apostate, and to
keep her in safe custody at her peril. She was to
be kept in solitude, to receive no letter or messages, and to undergo the discipline. (fn. 25) There is
no further information as to Agnes; Bishop
Dalderby died about a year after this injunction,
and it is but charitable to hope that no further
steps were taken to secure the poor woman.
This house, in common with most religious
foundations in Northamptonshire, suffered severely
in the visitation of the plague in 1349. The
small adjacent nunnery of Wothorpe was united
in 1354 with the larger house of St. Michael, as
described in the account of the former. Bishop
Gynwell in his confirmation of the union speaks
in the warmest terms of St. Michael's, and states
that the amalgamation was granted at the express
petition of the prioress and convent, setting forth
the losses they had incurred through the recent
epidemic, and in order that hospitality might
be maintained. (fn. 26) The bishop in 1359 granted the
nuns a licence to beg alms in order to assist them
in their poverty. (fn. 27) Some years later the diocesan
issued an inhibition to the prioress and convent
forbidding the residence of any secular persons
within the precincts of the priory, as being
prejudicial to religion. (fn. 28)
Entries relating to this priory in the fifteenth
century are rare. The prioress, Agnes Leek,
appointed in 1413, resigned on 12 August, 1429,
as set forth at some length in the register of Abbot
John Deeping. The declaration of the prioress
is entered in English. She describes herself as
'perioresse of ye nunnes of ye pryorye of Seynt
Michel by syde Stamford of ye order of Cistewes
of ye diocyse of Lincoln'; her resignation was
not brought about by constraint, 'nor by strength,
drede, nor decyt induced bot purely wyllfully
sympylly and absolutely and by myne own fre
and greable wytte.' Licence was at once granted
by the abbot to the nuns to choose a successor. (fn. 29)
This reference to the priory being of the Cistercian order is, we believe, an error of either Prioress
Agnes or the scribe. The house is elsewhere expressly described as Benedictine, and as it was
founded by a Benedictine abbot, it is scarcely
likely that it would have followed the reformed
rule of Cîteaux. In January, 1457-8, the bishop
of Lincoln granted the prioress and nuns a licence
to lease out and dispose of the fruits and revenues
of any of their appropriated churches. (fn. 30)
Margaret Stainbarn was prioress on 29 September, 1528, when she executed on behalf of her
convent a curious lease, which in view of the
storms at that time gathering between the king
and Rome was certainly a shrewd bargain. In
return for a yearly rental of £6 13s. 4d. she
made a lease for two years to Isaac Mychell of
Blandford, Dorset, of 'all the comodyteys profetts
and advantageys that by the Reyson or occasyon
off all Indulgencies, pardons, and faculteys, be
gyffen to the seyd Monastery by divers Holy
Fathers, Popes of Rome. . . . . So that yt shalbe
lafull to the seyd Isaac and to hys lafull assignes,
in the Dyocese of Salysbury, Wynchester, Bathe,
Excetter, Saint Davyd, London, and Canterbury,
to declare the seyd Pryvylegeys and pardons, and
to gedder the Brotherhed and Devocion of good
Crystyn people, to hys best advantage and profet.'
Payment was to be made at four yearly terms at
the 'Crosse Aultar in the hye quere of the seyd
Monastery,' beginning on Christmas Day next. (fn. 31)
The value of the house was declared in the
Valor of 1535 at £65 19s. 9d. (fn. 32) ; it was suppressed
with other houses of a less yearly value than £200
yearly. (fn. 33) Isabel Savage, the last prioress elected
shortly before the suppression, obtained a pension
of £8. (fn. 34) The site and demesne lands of the
priory were granted by Henry VIII. to Richard
Cecil 'of the Household.' (fn. 35) Francis Peck, who
published the Annals of Stamford in 1727, says:—
'Nothing of the monastery or church is now
standing, but the site is well known, and at this
day called the Nunns in St. Martin's. There are
divers traditions both of the beauty of the church
and the stately remains pulled down in the
memory of man; these last not without the loss of
his life who threw down the first stone and the
leg of another labourer miserably broken.' (fn. 36)
Prioresses of Stamford
Alice, (fn. 37) died about 1240
Petronilla of Stamford, (fn. 38) elected about 1240
Mabel le Venur, (fn. 39) appointed 1306, resigned
1337
Mabel de Reyby, (fn. 40) elected 1337
Agnes de Brakenburgh, (fn. 41) elected 1359
Isabel of Maltby, occurs 1370
Agnes Leek, (fn. 42) appointed 1413, resigned 1429
Margaret de Gudchepe, (fn. 43) occurs 1486
Margaret Stainbarn, (fn. 44) occurs 1528
Isabel Savage, (fn. 45) occurs 1538
The small round seal of the priory, of which
there is a cast at the British Museum, (fn. 46) represents
St. Michael in conflict with the dragon; on the
right is a figure kneeling in prayer. Legend:—
. . . . O IOH' EST' MICHAEL ME [P]TEGE PESTE