RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



son of the church of Yardlcy (Worcestershire) 

 on condition that the nuns should appoint a 

 canon of their house, as soon as the appropria- 

 tion had been made, to say mass for him and his 

 family, and that he should be buried before the 

 altar in the chapel dedicated to St. Edmund of 

 Canterbury. There was, however, some diffi- 

 culty about this appropriation, and not long after 

 the church of Yardley was bestowed on the 

 abbey of Merivale.i 



The two succeeding heads, Isolda Hastings and 

 Biblisia, were both admitted by the bishop of 

 Lincoln.^ Immediately upon the promotion of the 

 latter in March, 1 290-1, the right of the priory 

 to the park of Westbury (Bucks) was disputed, 

 but the cause was decided in favour of the nuns.' 

 An entry in the Close Rolls under the year 

 1279 gives the enrolment of a grant by William 

 Bagot to Queen Eleanor of the advowson of the 

 priory of Catesby.* The cellaress of the house, 

 Joan of Northampton, was elected by the nuns 

 at the conclusion of the brief rule of Biblisia, 

 but licence not having been obtained first from 

 the diocesan, the bishop of Lincoln declared the 

 election void, but afterwards confirmed the same 

 on the ground of the merits of the said Joan,^ 

 and similarly in 1 3 10 on the election of Joan 

 of Ludham.^ Building and repairing operations 

 were in progress, we read, in the early part of 

 the fourteenth century. In 1 30 1 an indulgence 

 was granted by Bishop Dalderby to those helping 

 to rebuild the conventual church of the nuns of 

 Catesby, and the same bishop in 1312 granted 

 another indulgence to those who should assist in 

 paving the cloisters and house of the priory. ? 



With regard to masters or wardens, frequent 

 mention occurs of them. In 1286, Hugh, for- 

 merly master of the house of Catesby ,8 together 

 with the prioress and nuns, elected brother John 

 one of the canons. The master had the rule of 

 the house, admitting the canons, as well in spiritu- 

 alities as in temporalities. This is shown by a 



^ Dugdale, Baronage, ii. 1 1 2 ; Antlq. of IVarw. 890. 

 An assize was ordered to be held at Martinmas, 1324, 

 to ascertain the right of the prior of Tichford or the 

 prioress of Catesford to the advowson of a tenth of 

 the chapel of Yardley. Close, 18 Edw. II. m. 27. 



- Line. Epis. Reg. Roll of Sutton ; Ibid. Inst, of 

 Sutton, f. 47. 



3 MS. Hatton, cited by Bridges, Hist, of Northants, 

 i. 34. 



■* Close, 7 Edw. I. m. 3d. 



5 Line. Epis. Reg. Inst, of Sutton, f. 51. 



" Ibid. Inst, of Dalderby, f. 120. Katherine de 

 Boydon was nominated by the bishop in 1344, her 

 previous election by the nuns being set aside as irre- 

 gular (Ibid. Inst, of Beck, f 65d.). On her death in 

 I 349 Bishop Gynwell nominated her successor Orabel 

 on the plea of defective formality (Ibid. Inst, of Gyn- 

 well, f I4id.), and in 1361 the bishop again rejected 

 the choice of the nuns, and appointed Joan Fabian, of 

 Banbury, as superior (Ibid, f 186). 



7 Ibid. Memo, of Dalderby, if. 40, 235. 



8 He was appointed in 1266. 



writ attached to the roll." Robert of Wading- 

 ton, canon of Canons Ashby, was appointed 

 master of the priory by Bishop Sutton in 1293, 

 and in the following year was succeeded by 

 William de Grutterworth, another canon of 

 Ashby.^" In 1293 Bishop Sutton wrote to the 

 prioress of Catesby as to the absence of the 

 master, and the improper treatment of the prioress 

 of St. Michael's without Stamford, and certain 

 of her nuns whom the bishop had instituted as 

 nuns of Catesby .1' Richard of Staverdon, canon 

 of Catesby, was appointed master in 1316,^^ in 

 succession to Roger of Daventry, 1297. It ap- 

 pears that lay brothers {conversi) were at one 

 time connected with this house, as well as canons 

 and wardens. In 1307 Bishop Dalderby wrote 

 to the bishop of London to procure the return 

 of Robert of Weston, a lay brother of Catesby 

 monastery, who took the habit of religion, but 

 after some time threw it aside, and for some ten 

 years past had lived in London with a certain 

 woman to the scandal of religion. At the same 

 time excommunication was pronounced against 

 Robert de Gretworth, also a canon of the same 

 house, who, under pretence of going to Rome, 

 had thrown aside the habit of religion, and 

 led a dissolute life.^' It seems doubtful if the 

 office of master or warden was retained after the 

 fourteenth century, but so long as it lasted the 

 master appears to have been recognized as official 

 head of the priory in pecuniary matters. In 

 1 3 10, when large supplies of victual by way of 

 loan were exacted from the heads of religious 

 houses in England for the expedition of Edward II. 

 into Scotland, the master of Catesby came eighth 

 on the list of the Northamptonshire houses, 

 between the priors of Daventry and Canons 

 Ashby.i* 



The priory received various evidences of royal 

 favour and consideration in connexion with the 

 exaction of aid or subsidy. In 131 5 the crown 

 granted ' protection with clause nolumus ' ^* for 

 one year to the prioress of Catesby or rector of 

 the church of Basford, and the same to the vicar 

 of Basford ; a general protection for all her pos- 

 sessions was granted to the prioress for two years 

 in 1316.^^ In March, 1 32 1-2, Edward II. 

 ordered his ministers to levy nothing from the 

 prioress of Catesby, and to restore anything they 

 might have levied by virtue of a general levy of 



9 Ibid. Roll of Sutton. 



1" Ibid. Inst, of Sutton, ff. 97, io6d. 



11 Ibid. Memo, of Sutton, f. 82J. 



1- Ibid. Inst, of Dalderby, f 330. The names 

 recorded of other masters are Thomas de Spittleworth, 

 I 319, and William Houles, 1370. 



13 Ibid. Memo, of Dalderby, i. 98. 



" Close, 3 Edw. II. m. 5d. 



15 Pat. 9 Edw. II. pt. I, m. 12. This signified 

 exemption from any claim for cattle or speci.al royal 

 supplies by the king's ministers. 



1^ Ibid. 10 Edw. II. pt. I, m. 4. The prioress re- 

 ceived like protection in 1329 and 1337. 



123 



