RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



in the diocese of Salisbury, notwithstanding 

 that he was also the holder of canonries in 

 Lincoln and London, and was expecting a 

 benefice from the Abbot of Ramsey. 1 Or 

 again, Canon Richard of Norwich of this 

 convent had papal sanction in 1355 to hold 

 a London canonry, although in addition to 

 the prebend from Nunnaminster he drew the 

 emoluments of prebends from Salisbury and 

 Kilkenny, and held the church of Adesham. 8 

 Throughout the papacy of Clement VI. 

 (134252) pluralism was specially rampant, 

 and there were few worse cases than those of 

 the holders of prebends in the Hampshire 

 nunneries of Nunnaminster, Romsey and 

 Wherwell. 



In 1317 papal sanction was obtained for 

 Roger de Inkepen, a wealthy and beneficent 

 citizen of Winchester, to found and endow 

 a chapel in the cemetery of Nunnaminster, 

 to be served by two priests, the patronage of 

 which was to belong to him and his heirs. 3 

 This chapel was dedicated to the Holy 

 Trinity ; one of the priests was termed the 

 warden and the other the chaplain ; they 

 lived together and had a common table ; they 

 were ordered to say daily mattins and even- 

 song in the chapel in addition to the masses. 4 

 In December, 1321, this chapel was defiled 

 by shedding of blood, when the bishop com- 

 missioned Peter, Bishop of Corbavia, to recon- 

 cile it. 5 We have mention also of another 

 chantry in the monastery founded at the altar 

 of St. Peter at the east end of the south quire 

 aisle by Robert de Wambergh, Archdeacon of 

 Wells, in 1328. It was endowed with lands 

 at Urchfont for the support of a chaplain to 

 pray for the souls of Emeline Longspee and 

 others. 8 



During the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- 

 turies the abbey, like other similar foundations, 

 seems to have got into pecuniary difficulties. 

 In 1343 the convent attributed one of the 

 chief causes of their poverty to the action of 

 the king in taking the profits of the tempor- 

 alities during a vacancy, and to assist them 

 they petitioned the pope for licence to appro- 



1 Cal. of Papal Petitions, i. 152. 



8 Ibid. i. 281 ; see also the petition for a 

 canonry for William de Meon in 1343 (ibid. i. 

 58). Reference has already been made to the re- 

 buke by the bishop in 1 3 1 8 of the unseemly dress 

 of one of the chaplains of the nunnery (supra, 

 p. 28). 



3 Ibid. ii. 1 60. 



4 Pat. II Edw. II. pt. I. m. I ; 12 Edw. II. 

 pt. I, m. 20 ; St. Swithun's Chartulary, ff. 60- 1 b. 



5 Winton. Epis. Reg., Asserio, f. "j\>. 

 8 Pat. 2 Edw. III. pt. i, m. 1 1. 



priate the parish church of Froyle. To this 

 the pope assented, but ordered that it should 

 be done through the diocesan. 7 The pre- 

 liminary arrangements for this appropriation 

 had been carried out by Bishop Orlton just 

 before his death ; but on the succession of 

 Bishop Edingdon, that prelate, with the sup- 

 port of the Archbishop of Canterbury, re- 

 fused his sanction. Whereupon the convent 

 in 1346 again approached the pope, setting 

 forth the state of affairs, and pleading the 

 sterility of their lands, the destruction of their 

 woods, the diminution of their rents, and the 

 excessive number of nuns and sisters, whereby 

 they were unable to pay their debts, provide 

 for the inmates, or repair the buildings. 

 They further pleaded the reduction of their 

 temporalities through royal administration. 

 The pope in reply empowered the Bishop of 

 Hereford to carry out the appropriation. 8 In 

 the same year Bishop Edingdon issued an in- 

 hibition to the abbess not to receive sisters 

 beyond the ancient number. 9 



A few years later in 1349 the monastery 

 suffered on account of the Black Death. The 

 abbess, Maud Spine, apparently succumbed to 

 this plague, at all events there was a vacancy 

 in that year. 10 The cattle plague which fol- 

 lowed the Black Death severely affected the 

 convent. This, coupled with the general re- 

 duction of their rents and the barrenness of 

 their lands, caused by the sparsity and dearness 

 of labour, were among the causes again pleaded 

 on behalf of Nunnaminster, in a petition to 

 the pope in 1352, for the appropriation of 

 the church of Gretford, in the diocese of 

 Lincoln, valued at 40 marks. The prayer 

 was granted, and the ordinance of the vicarage 

 was committed to the Bishops of Salisbury, 

 Worcester and Wells. 11 Notwithstanding that 

 the custody of the temporalities during a 

 vacancy was granted to the prioress and con- 

 vent at a rent to the Exchequer in I464, 12 

 which, as we have seen, was a concession 

 much sought after by the convent, the abbess 

 and convent in 1468 again complained that 

 they were so burdened with the repair of their 

 houses and church, and with the payment of 

 tenths and other imposts that they could not 



7 Cal. of Papal Petitions, i. 56 ; Cal. of Papal 

 Letters, iii. 112. The licence had been obtained 

 for this appropriation as far back as 1330, but it 

 had never been completed (Pat. 4 Edw. III. p. i , 



m- 39)- 



8 Cal. of Papal Petitions, i. 122. 



9 Winton. Epis. Reg., Edingdon, ii. f. 3b. 



10 Ibid. i. f. 51. 



11 Cal. of Papal Petitions, i. 230. 



12 Pat. 4 Edw. IV. pt. 2, m. 7. 



123 



