A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



John of Eynesham, 1 1381-94 

 John Letcombe, 1394-1408 

 John London,* 1408-16 

 Nicholas Strode, 1416-40 

 Thomas Bramley, 1440-65 

 Henry Bonville, 1465-72 



Thomas Worcester, 1472-9 

 John Collingborne, 1480-5 

 Thomas Forte, 1485-8 

 Richard Hall, 1488-1509 

 Richard Romsey, 1509-29 

 John Salcot, 1530-38 



HOUSES OF BENEDICTINE NUNS 



7. NUNNAMINSTER, OR THE 



ABBEY OF ST. MARY, 



WINCHESTER 



To the north-east of St. Swithun's, and 

 immediately to the east of the New Minster, 

 stood the great abbey of St. Mary, the nuns' 

 minster, usually known as Nunnaminster. It 

 was founded jointly by Alfred and his queen 

 Eahlswith, about the close of the ninth cen- 

 tury, 3 but the buildings were completed by 

 their son, Edward the Elder. After Alfred's 

 death, the queen retired to this monastery, 

 where she died. It would seem probable 

 that she should have been made abbess, but 

 Leland describes Edburga the daughter of 

 Edward, who died in 925, as the first abbess. 4 



The endowment of the monastery seems 

 to have been inadequate for its maintenance, 

 and it is said to have fallen into great poverty. 

 King Edred bequeathed to it Shalbourn and 

 Bradford in Wiltshire; 6 but notwithstanding 

 this addition to its revenues, Bishop Ethelwold, 

 possibly on account of its poverty but more 

 probably with a view of establishing there the 

 stricter form of Benedictine rule, practically 

 refounded it in 963^ and apparently re-en- 

 dowed it. 



By the Domesday Book we learn that the 

 abbess held Lyss, Froyle, Leckford Abbess, 

 Long Stoke, Timsbury, and Ovington in 

 Hampshire ; Coleshill in Berkshire ; and Urch- 

 font and All Cannings in Wiltshire. We 

 know nothing of the history of this monastery 

 from this date till the middle of the twelfth 

 century, when during the civil war between 

 Maud and Stephen the city of Winchester, 

 together with this monastery, was burnt in 



1 Pat. 4, Ric. II. pt. I, m. I ; 4 Ric. II. pt. ii. 

 m. 3 3 ; Winchester Epis. Reg., Wykeham, i. ff. 

 113, 114. 



3 Winchester Epis. Reg., Beaufort, ff. 4, 5. 



8 William of Malmesbury ascribes the founda- 

 tion solely to Alfred, but the Hyde Chartulary 

 (Harl. MSS. I76i,f. 14) describes the queen as 

 fundatrix eccleiie Sancte Marie lanctimmia&um 



Ann. Manas Act (Rolls Series), ii. 10. 

 5 Liber de HyJa, 346 and note. 

 Ang. Sax. Cbron. (Rolls Series), ii. 93. 



H4I. 7 It was a rule that upon the election 

 of an abbess, the convent was bound to find 

 in early times a corrody and later a pension 

 for a person nominated by the Crown, and 

 in this way it appears that Juliana de Ley- 

 grave, niece of the king's (foster) mother, Alice 

 de Leygrave, who suckled him in his youth, 

 received at the election of Maud de Pecham 

 in 1 3 1 3 a nun's corrody for life, the value to 

 be received by her wherever she might be, 

 and a suitable chamber within the nunnery 

 for her residence whenever she might wish 

 to stay there. 8 This prerogative of the Crown 

 seems to have been exercised at each election 

 of an abbess, and writs for the payment of 

 such corrodies or pensions are to be found 

 among the public records. 9 The Crown also 

 seems at a later date to have claimed a right 

 to nominate a nun for admission to the mon- 

 astery at the coronation of each sovereign, 10 

 and a like privilege was exercised by each 

 Bishop of Winchester at his consecration. 11 



Besides the professed nuns and their house- 

 hold the abbey of Nunnaminster supported a 

 certain number of chaplains or canons who 

 had prebendal stalls in the abbey. 18 The 

 original idea of having canons attached to 

 these old Benedictine foundations seems to 

 have been to provide the nuns with suitable 

 chaplains, as well as with priests who could 

 superintend the management of their tempor- 

 alities. The canons of Nunnaminster could, 

 however, as a rule, have been of little or no 

 service to the monastery, whose income they 

 drained. For instance, at his own request, 

 the pope granted Roger Holm, canon of this 

 monastery in 1349, the church of Elvydon, 



7 Ann. Monastic! (Rolls Series), ii. 52. 



8 Close, 6 Edw. II. m. 4d. 



9 See grant to William de Boiston, clerk, of a 

 pension in 1337 (Close, 1 1 Edw. III. p. 2, m. $d) ; 

 and to Richard Withers in 1527 (Letters and Papers, 



Hen. rill.iv. 3i3[3])- 



10 See the nomination of Agnes Denham in 1418 

 (Pat. I Rich. II. pt. 2, m. 3). 



11 See mandate for the admission of Dyamunda 

 daughter of Richard de Sutton in 1320 (Winton. 

 Epis. Reg., Asserio, f. i) ; the same for Joan Test- 

 wood in 1367 (ibid. Wykeham, iii. f. lob). 



11 Dugdale's Monasticon, ii. 452. 



122 



