A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



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 1 155 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.' 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 ioj. to the sacrist.** 

 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.' 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.* 

 According to the Taxation of 1 29 1 the temporali- 

 ties and spiritualities of the priory within the 

 diocese of Lincoln amounted to ^bd 13J. 4^.^ 



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.* The 

 consent of the abbot was necessary to the election 

 of each successive prioress, and to him also per- 

 tained the right of receiving the profession of the 

 sisters ; on St. James's Day, 1298, we read that 

 Abbot William of Woodford received the profes- 

 sion of Joan, daughter of Sir Waleran Mortimer, 

 at Peterborough, as a sister of St. Michael's 



1 Dugdale gives an account of the foundation, and 

 cites various charters of the founder from the register 

 of the abbey of Peterborough penes John Selden, etc. 

 Mon. iv. 260-1. 



' The half-mark to be paid at Michaelmas was 

 originally assigned to the abbey library, ' ad liborum 

 emendacionem.' Soc. of Antiq. MS. Ix. 150. 



* These and other gifts are recorded in charters 

 cited in full by Dugdale. Mon. iv. 260-3. 



* Pat. 3 Edw. IV. pt. 2, m. 6. 



6 Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 74b. 



6 Cott. MS.Vesp. E. xxii. f. 39d ; Cleop. C. i.f 130. 



Priory, and wrote to the prior at Stamford to 

 give her the veil {(juod conferret habitum). 

 The admission is entered in the abbey register 

 and witnessed by several of the monks.^ 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 1 22 1, 

 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 Gret- 

 ford 1334, were successively presented at Lin- 

 coln as warden of St. Michael's Priory.' The 

 warden acted as senior chaplain in the conventual 

 church, heard the confession of the nuns, and 

 had certain powers of supervision over the tem- 

 poralities. 



About the year 1230 the sisters employed a 

 clerk to solicit a confirmation of their privileges 

 at the Roman Court, and by their actions em- 

 broiled 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 annul- 

 ling 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 un- 

 fair 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.' On the death of the prioress Alice 

 about 1240, the nuns elected Petronilla of Stam- 

 ford as their superior, the appointment being 

 confirmed by Bishop Grosset^te ' saving the rights 

 of the abbey.' '° 



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. n 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 



7 Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xxii. f. 7. 



8 Peck, Annals of Stamford ; Line. Epis. Regs. /<;//;>;. 



9 Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xxii. f 39d ; Peck, Annals of 

 Stamford, lib. viii. I 3- 1 4. 



10 Soc. of Antiq. MS. k. I. 205. 



11 Ibid. i. 150. 



98 



