iJonsecration of Nuns at Amhresbury , A.B. 1327. 287 



in our Diocese having besought us that certain Nuns of the said Prioiy being 

 Virgins & having made profession, being of suitable age and otherwise qualified 

 according to canonical regulations, maj' be consecrated by you on the next ensuing 

 Feast of the Ascension of our Lord, We, yielding to their request, do of our 

 special power grant pennission unto you to bestow on the said Nuns ihe gift of 

 consecration, and unto them to receive the same. As witness these present letters 

 confirmed by the impression of our seal and addressed to your reverend Father- 

 ship. And may the Supreme guardian of Virgins of his mercy preserve you in 

 all desirable prosperity for the government of his Church. Given at Nonesle 5"" 

 May, A.D. 1327." 



Names of the Nuns consecrated at Ambresbiiry on Ascension Day. 



" Domina Isabella de Lancaster * Domina Johanna le Eons 



Margareta Florack „ Johanna Pauncefot 



Alicia Groucet „ Elyzabeth de Wyncester 



Agnes de Horncastel „ Umania [?] de Somboume 



Johanna Aucher „ Alicia Baudich 



Elena de Babynton „ Margeria de Burton 



Margeria de Pyrebroke f » Maria Mautravers 



Editha Bisshop „ Hawysia le Veel 



Agnes de Wynkenbolte „ Alicia de Somboume 



Amisia Knouel „ Margareta de Cranle 



Johanna de Wrotham „ Katharina de Oxenford 



Margareta de Bottenham. „ Margareta Archur 



Mary Fitz Gautier [ Walter^ „ Claricia Sylveyn 



Agnes de Kyngesle „ Agnes de la Folye 



Katharina Galruge „ Christina De la More 



Margeria de Donestaple. „ Alicia Kytewyne 



Lucia de Oxenford „ Alicia de Depeford 



Agnes de Seynte Lieger. „ Sibilla Pycot " 



This list of ladies^ names (though little or nothing may be known 

 about the greatest part of them) suggests one or two remarks : — 



1. The first on the list, Isabella de Lancaster, was daughter of 

 Henry Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster, son of Edmund Crouchback, 

 son of King Henry III. She being of blood royal, some at least of 

 her associates may be presumed to have belonged to an upper, rather 

 than to any lower rank in society. So that we probably have here 

 a fair illustration of John Aubrey^s account of female education in 

 old times. 



" The young mayds were brought up (not at Hackney, Saram Schools, &c., to 

 leame pride and wantonnesse but) at the Nunneries where they had example of 



• By some said to have been Prioress : but see Wilts Arch, Mag., vol. x., 67, note. 

 t Prioress in 1349 (Wilts Institutions). 



