RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Mabel de Reyby,i elected 1337 



Agnes de Brakenburgh,'- elected 1359 



Isabel of Maltby, occurs 1370 



Agnes Leek:,3 appointed 141 3, resigned 1429 



Margaret de Gudchepe,^ occurs i486 



Margaret Stainbarn,^ occurs 1528 



Isabel Savage/ occurs 1538 



The small round seal of the priory, of which 

 there is a cast at the British Museum,7 represents 

 St. Michael in conflict with the dragon ; on the 

 right is a figure kneeling in prayer. Legend : — 



. . . . O IOh' est' MICHAEL ME cPTEGE PESTE 



4. THE PRIORY OF WOTHORPE^ 



It is impossible to ascertain with certainty 

 when and by whom this small Benedictine 

 nunnery, dedicated to the honour of the Blessed 

 Mary, was founded. According to the pseudo- 

 Ingulf, a foundation existed here as early as the 

 reign of Henry 1.9 The earls of Kent were 

 the patrons of the convent, and its superiors, 

 chosen by the community and approved by the 

 patron, received confirmation from the bishop on 

 their appointment. The names of different 

 prioresses are entered in the Lincoln episcopal 

 registers. 



The priory itself was situated at Great VVo- 

 thorpe on the hill, and the only endowment that 

 it appears to have possessed was the rectory of 

 the adjacent parish church of Wothorpe which 

 has long since disappeared.'" A vicarage was 

 formally ordained and the rest of the proceeds 

 assigned to the nuns in accordance with the 

 decrees of the third Lateran Council of 1215. 

 The bishop in 1292 granted an indulgence to 

 all penitents who should contribute alms towards 

 the repair of the buildings of the prioress and 

 nuns, then in a ruinous condition.^^ In 1323 

 Bishop Burghersh ordered an inquiry to be made 

 into certain irregularities within the priory caused 

 by discords raised among the nuns by sister 

 Joan de Bonnwyche.'^ 



All the inmates of this house, save one, died 

 or were dispersed after the Black Death of 1349, 

 and so disastrous was the effect of this terrible 

 visitation on the finances of the priory that on 



1 Cott. MS. \'esp. E. xxii. f. 106. 



- Line. Epis. Reg. Memo. ofGynwell, f. lizd. 



» Add. MSS. 25,288, fF. 14, i4id-i42. 



* Lansd. MS. 825, f. 52. 5 Madox, Form. Jng/ic. cl. 



'' She received a pension in that year as last prioress, 

 L. and P. Hen. yill. xiii. pt. i, p. 575. 



7 B. M. Ixv. ii. 37. 



" There are considerable varieties in the early 

 spelling of this township of the parish of St. Martin's, 

 Stamford : Wyrthorp, Wlrthorp, Wrythorp, WriJ- 

 thorp, Wridtorp, Wulsthorp, Worthorp, and Wothorp 

 are all found in the thirteenth and fourteenth 

 centuries. s Gale, Rerum Anglic. Script. 115. 



'" Peck, Annuls of StamJorJ, lib. xi. 51. 



11 Line. Epis. Reg. Memo, of Sutton f. 13. 



^- Ibid. Memo, of Burghersh, f. 103d. 



nth March, 1353-4, Sir Thomas Holland and 

 Joan his wife, daughter of Edward of Woodstock 

 earl of Kent, the patrons, obtained from the 

 king a licence for the bishop to unite this 

 slenderly endowed foundation with the adjacent 

 nunnery of St. Michael, Stamford, making over 

 to the latter the appropriation of the church 

 of Wothorpe, together with all other posses- 

 sions of the deserted house.'' The bishop of 

 Lincoln, who seems to have made the surviving 

 nun of Wothorpe, Agnes Bowes, prioress, in 

 order to maintain that convent's rights, sanc- 

 tioned the union on 11 June, 1354, to take 

 place so soon as the prioress should die, resign, 

 or be removed,'* the prioress and convent of 

 St. Michael in their petition for the annexation 

 setting forth the losses they had sustained and 

 the difficulty of maintaining accustomed hospi- 

 tality. The diocesan stipulated that the proceeds 

 of the priory, with the rectory of Wothorpe, 

 should be applied to the support of the infirmarj- 

 and kitchen of St. Michael's, and that the prioress 

 and convent should maintain a chaplain in the 

 parish church of Wothorpe to celebrate daily 

 and to minister to the spiritual needs of the 

 parishioners there day and night. '^ 



At the dissolution the manor, rectory, and 

 advowson of the vicarage of Wothorpe were 

 granted by the crown to Richard Cecil. '^ 



Prioresses of Wothorpe 



Denise of Caldwell,"' 1224 



Maud of Glinton,''* died 1290 



Isoda or Isolda of Wyrthorp," elected 1 290, 



died 13 13 

 Emma of Pinchbeck,-" elected 1313 

 Agnes Bowes,-' collated 1349 



i'' The king's licence states that 'the convent, being 

 poorly endowed, was, by the pestilence which lately 

 prevailed, reduced to such poverty that all the nuns 

 but one, on account of their penury, had dispersed.' 

 Pat. 28 Edw. III. pt. I, m. 16. 



'* This same Agnes deserted the convent of St. 

 Michael in 1 359 ; a commission was appointed to 

 inquire and bring her back. Line. Epis. Reg. Memo, 

 of Gynwell, f. 117. 



15 Line. Epis. Reg. Gynwell, cited by Dugdale, 

 Mon. iv. 268. 1'' Pat. 32 Hen. VIII. pt. 7. 



'' She was a nun of St. Michael, Stamford. Line. 

 Epis. Reg. RoU of Wells. '■* Ibid. Roll of Sutton. 



'9 Ibid. Bridges {Hist, of Northants, ii. 593) states 

 that Isoda was probably succeeded by Ascelina, who 

 through levity of mind resigned her office ; but the 

 register of Bishop Sutton with two entries desiring 

 the prioress and convent to receive back sister Ascelina, 

 who ' through levity of mind and irreligiousness went 

 out of the monastery,' does not state that she held 

 office. Line. Epis. Reg. Memo, of Sutton, f. 154, 

 and Inst, of Sutton, f. 218. 



-0 Ibid. Inst, of Dalderby, f. 12 2d. Bridges in 

 his list makes her to be preceded by another Isolda, 

 but this is probably the same Isolda who was elected 

 in 1290. Hist, of Kortkants, ii. 953. 



21 Dugdale, Mon. iv. 267. 



lOI 



