RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Bristol in 1383. John Kynyngham, provincial 

 from 1393 till his death in 1399, did credit to the 

 Ipswich friary as a writer of many works. Prior 

 John Barmyngham, who died in 1449, Doctor 

 of both Oxford and Paris, was considered one of 

 the most enlightened scholars of each of those 

 universities. Nicholas Kenton, provincial from 

 1444 to 1456, 'shone so as a historian, poet, 

 philosopher, theologian, and orator,' that he was 

 appointed chancellor of the university (Cambridge) 

 in 1445. 



John Bale, elected prior of Ipswich in 1533, 

 joined the order at Norwich when only twelve 

 years of age. It is generally said that he broke 

 his vows and married in 1534 ; but his marriage 

 must have been some years later, for he was 

 writing as prior of this monastery in 1536. He 

 held the bishopric of Ossory from 1553 until 

 his death in 1563. In all his virulent and coarse 

 writings against his former co-religionists, Bale 

 had the grace to deal gently with his former 

 order of the Carmelites, and evidently esteemed 

 the learning that characterized various members 

 of the house over which he was for a short time 

 prior. 1 



The Carmelites of Ipswich were suppressed 

 by the ex-friar Richard Ingworth, then suffragan 

 bishop of Dover, in November, 1538, as is 

 known from his letter about various friaries 

 addressed to Cromwell. 2 Earlier in the year, 

 ' the petition of the Carmelyttes of Ipsewich 

 supplicacion to the Lorde Cromwell moste 

 piteously lamenting ' set forth, on behalf of the 



prior and his co-brethren of their ' poore religious 

 house,' that Dr. Ingworth, as Cromwell's deputy- 

 visitor, had confiscated the sum of ^28 13*. 4^., 

 owing to them for tenements in Ipswich, which 

 they had been compelled to sell through extreme 

 poverty. They desired, in their simplicity, Crom- 

 well's assistance. 4 About the same date Cromwell 

 received a strongly-worded begging appeal from 

 one Sir John Raynsforth, asking for the gift of 

 the house of the Ipswich White Friars. 5 



The site was granted to Charles Lambard, of 

 Ipswich, in October, 1 539- 6 



VVeever mentions the following among the 

 more important burials in this church : — Sir 

 Thomas de Lowdham and his son Sir Thomas, 

 both knights, and John de Loudham, esquire ; 

 Margaret Coldvyle, and Gilbert Denham, esquire, 

 and Margaret his wife, who was a daughter of 

 Edward Hastings. Also the following of this 

 order : — John VVilbe, 1335 ; John Hawle, papal 

 chaplain, 1433; John Barmyngham, 1448-9; 

 Richard Hadley, 1461 ; and John Balsham, 

 bishop of Argyle, 1425. 7 



Priors of the Carmelite Friars of 

 Ipswich 



Richard de Yllea, c. 1280 



William Ludlyngton, occuis 1 300, &c. 



John Berkhamstead, occurs 13 1 2 



John Reppes, occurs 1396 



John Barmyngham, c. 14^0—8—9 



John Ball, 1533 



HOUSE OF MINORESSES 



44. THE ABBEY OF BRUISYARD 



A brief account is given under the nunnery of 

 Campsey of the founding by Maud countess of 

 Ulster, in 1346, of a perpetual chantry of four 

 chaplains and a warden in the chapel of the 

 Annunciation, within the conventual church of 

 Campsey. 3 Eight years later this chantry or 

 college was removed from the nunnery to the 

 manor place of Rokehall, in Bruisyard parish, 

 where a chapel of the Annunciation was built 

 and rooms provided for the warden and four 

 priests. The sound reasons alleged for the 

 change were that the residence for these five 

 chaplains was in the village of Ashe, some 

 distance from the priory church of Campsey, 

 and that this going backwards and forwards for 

 the various divine offices in wintry and rainy 



'Stevens' Cont. of Dugdale's Mon. ii. Writers 

 of the Order of the Carmelites, Nos. 25, 34, 41, 5;, 

 70, 104, 116, 124 ; 'The White Friars of Ipswich,' 

 by the Rev. Benedict Zimmerman, Proc. Suf. Arch. 

 Inst, x, 196-204. 



' L. and P. Hen. Fill, xiii, pt. ii, 1 021 



'Pat. 21 EJw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 5. 



weather was unduly onerous for the older chap- 

 lains ; moreover it was thought more expedient 

 that their chapel should be in some other place, 

 ' ubi non est conversatio mulierum.' 8 



This chantry or collegiate church at Bruisyard 

 had, however, but a brief life ; for in 1364, on 

 some complaints, at the instance of Lionel duke 

 of Clarence and with the consent of king and 

 bishop, it was agreed that this establishment 

 should be surrendered for the use of an abbess 

 and sisters belonging to the order of Nuns 

 Minoresses or Sisters of St. Clare. 9 The actual 

 surrender to the nuns was not accomplished until 

 4 October, 1366. 



' L. and P. Hen. Fill, xiii, pt. ii, App. 17. 



5 Ibid. 1262. 



6 Misc. Bks. (Aug. Off.), ccxii, fol. id. 



7 Weever, Funeral Monuments, 750. The date of 

 the death of John Balsham is erroneously stated by 

 VVeever to be 1530; Friar Balsham resigned the 

 bishopric of Argyle in 1420, and was buried at 

 Ipswich five years later. 



* Pat. 30 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 5, per inspex. where 

 the statutes for the rule of this collegiate church of. 

 Bruisyard are set forth. 



9 Ibid. 38 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 44. 



'3 1 



