A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



HOUSES OF CLUNIAC MONKS 



5. THE PRIORY OF ST. ANDREW, 

 NORTHAMPTON 



The priory of St. Andrew, Northampton, was 

 founded between 1093 ^"'^ 11 00 by Simon de 

 St. Liz, earl of Northampton.' According to an 

 account given in the chartulary of the monastery,* 

 Simon was the younger of two brothers — strenuis- 

 simi m'tUtes — who accompanied the Conqueror to 

 England in 1066. The elder, Garnerius le 

 Ryche, on the death of their father returned to 

 France to claim the paternal inheritance; Simon 

 remained to take his chance as a soldier of 

 fortune. On the disgrace and death of Waltheof, 

 earl of Huntingdon, the king bestowed his eldest 

 daughter Maud in marriage on the favourite 

 together with the honour of Huntingdon,' and 

 Simon de St. Liz became the first earl of North- 

 ampton of that name. In 1084 he is said to 

 have founded the priory, which is described by 

 Leland* as situated on the north-west side of 

 Northampton, abutting on the town walls and 

 bordering on the river Nen, and planted there 

 monks from the powerful priory of St. Mary de 

 Caritate or La Charit^-sur-Loire, France, to 

 which it was henceforth a cell. 



During the reign of Henry I. the earl of 

 Northampton died on his homeward journey from 

 the Holy Land at La Charit6 and was buried 

 there. His heir, Simon the younger, was placed 

 in the custody of David, brother of the king of 

 Scotland, to whom the king granted the hand of 

 the widowed countess. Both he and Simon the 

 third earl were buried in the priory church. ^ 



The new foundation was largely endowed by 

 the noble founder and his descendants.* Simon 

 the first earl in conjunction with Maud his 

 wife confirmed to the monks of Caritate the 



1 No importance can be attached to the statement 

 of Ingulf that in 1076 he found at Crowland two 

 monks who had been professed at St. Andrew's. 

 Ingulf (Gale ed.), 76. The usually accepted date for 

 the foundation of this priory is 1 084, but Mr. Round 

 (V. C. H. Northants, i. 293) has shown that it is prob- 

 ably about ten years later. 



2 Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xvii. f. i. 



' Ingulf states that the Conqueror first offered 

 Judith the widow, but that she refused Simon on 

 account of his lameness. Ingulf (Gale ed.), 72—3. 

 Dugdale, Baronage, i. 56, 58. 



♦ Leland, Itin. (Heme ed.), i. 9. 



6 Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xvii. f. 9. 



6 In the fine chartular)- of the monks of St. Andrew's 

 containing innumerable grants to this wealthy house 

 appear the names of different kings of England as 

 benefactors, as well as of David, earl of Huntingdon, 

 brother of the king of Scotland, who afterwards 

 ascended the Scotch throne ; Malcolm, king of Scot- 

 land ; Henrj", son of the king of Scotland ; and 

 William, king of Scotland. 



possession of their own church and the gift of all 

 the other churches of Northampton. 7 Simon 

 the younger, his son bestowed on them a tenth 

 of his profits from the fairs of All Saints, North- 

 ampton,* and confirmed the gift by Maud de 

 Mandeville of the manor and church of Sy well.* 

 Simon the third earl signified to Robert, bishop 

 of Lincoln, that he had granted the church of 

 Potton to the monks of St. Andrew for the good 

 of his soul and for the souls of his father and 

 mother,'" and ' on the day of the burial of Simon 

 my son' he bestowed the advowson of the church 

 of Whissendine, in pure and perpetual alms on 

 the brethren.'' Among other benefactions 

 Henry I. gave to the monks the church of 

 St. Sepulchre with four acres of his demesne for 

 the soul of his father and mother,'^ as well as the 

 church of St. Giles,'* and confirmed all gifts 

 granted by the first earl Simon with an annual rent 

 charge of 40J. out of the town of Bedford, the gift 

 of the Countess Maud.'* Hugh of Wells, bishop 

 of Lincoln, 1 209-1235, at the request of the 

 monks, confirmed the following churches in their 

 possession : All Saints, St. Giles, St. Michael, 

 St. Sepulchre, St. Mary, St. Gregory, St. Peter 

 with its appurtenances the church of Kingsthorpe 

 and chapel of Upton, St. Edmund, St. Bartholo- 

 mew, and the chapel of St. Thomas ; the 

 churches of Ryhall and Exton (Rutland), 'New- 

 enton ' (Newton), Sywell, Moulton, Brafield, 

 Preston, Billing, Horton, Quinton, Hardingstone, 

 ' Stotesbyry,' Sulgrave, and Potton.'* According 

 to the Taxation of 1291, the priory held spiritu- 

 alities in the diocese of Lincoln amounting to 

 ;^30 1 2/., their temporalities in the same amounted 

 tO;r54 i6j. 8d'.'« 



The position of this Cluniac house thus largely 

 endowed, and in the possession of all the churches 

 of Northampton, was one from the first of great 

 importance and influence. One of the earliest 



7 Royal MS. 11 B. ix. f. 55d. 



8 Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xvii. f. 3. 



9 Ibid. f. 3d. '0 Ibid. f. 4. " Ibid. f. 6. 

 '2 Ibid f. 13. '3 Ibid. f. i4d. 1* Ibid. 16 Ibid. 

 " Pope tikh. Tax. The entries relating to this priory 



have been extracted by Dugdale, Man. v. 186, note c. 

 An entry in the chartulary of the monks states that 

 Prior Canon on his preferment to the house in 1320 

 found the priory, according to an old document 

 {yeteri papiro) of Prior Guichard de Kariloco 1 3 1 6, 

 seised of the following churches in ' proprios usus ' : 

 All Saints, St. Sepulchre, St. Giles, St. Edmund extra 

 Northampton, Exton, Ryhall, Moulton, Brafield, 

 Horton, Preston, Hardingstone and Sulgrave, and 

 that the monks had the patronage of the churches of 

 Potton, ' Newenton in Kesteyn,' Sywell, Weston 

 Favell, Little Billing, Quinton, ' Stotesbyry,' as well 

 as the churches of St. Gregor}-, St. Michael, St. Mary, 

 St. Bartholomew, and the hospital of St. David of 

 Kingsthorpe. Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xvii. f. 263. 



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