RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



William Esyngwold, 1428 l 

 Thomas Goldesburgh, 1439* 

 Thomas Bothe, I448 3 

 Hugh Belton, recalled 1464* 

 John Ward, I464 5 

 John Brown, 1478* 

 Richard Mowbray, 1483' 

 Walter Hotham, 1484* 

 John Lovell, 1492 

 Walter Hotham (again), 1492 10 

 Thomas Burton, 1495 u 

 William Skelton, I497 12 

 Richard Wood, 1498" 

 John Ledell, 1 507" 

 Launcelot Wharton, 1523 ls 

 John Halton, I525 18 



7. THE PRIORY OF SNAPE 



About the year 1155 William Martel, in 

 conjunction with Albreda his wife, and Geoffrey 

 their son, gave the manors of Snape and Aide- 

 burgh to the abbot and convent of the Benedic- 

 tine house of St. John, Colchester. The 

 founders intended that a prior and monks should 

 be established at Snape subject to St. John's, 

 Colchester, and this was speedily accomplished. 

 The priory, by the foundation charter, was to 

 pay the abbey annually half a mark of silver as 

 an acknowledgement of its submission. The 

 monks of Snape were to say two masses every 

 week, one of the Holy Spirit and the other of 

 our Lady, for the weal of William and Albreda, 

 and after their death masses for the departed. 

 The abbot of Colchester was to visit the cell 

 twice a year, with twelve horses, and to tarry 

 for four days. 17 



In 1163 Pope Alexander III confirmed to 

 the prior and brethren of St. Mary, Snape, the 

 churches of Freston and Bedingfield. 18 



The taxation roll of 1291 shows that there 

 were then appropriated to this priory the churches 

 of Snape, Bedingfield, Freston, and Aldeburgh 

 with its chapel, producing an incomeof 23 6s. %d. 

 The lands, rents, and mill brought in 21 I2s. id. 

 a year, and other temporalities jn 19*. 7\d.; 

 so that the total annual income was 56 18;. 4^. 19 



Upon complaint made by Isabel, countess of 

 Suffolk and patroness of the abbey, to Boni- 



1 Norw. Epis. Reg. ix, 32. 

 * Ibid, x, 29. ' Ibid, xi, 14. 



"Ibid. 6 Ibid. xii,6i. 



8 Ibid, xii, 104. 

 10 Ibid, xii, 162. 

 " Tanner, Norw. MSS. 

 14 Ibid. 



16 Norw. Epis. Reg. xiv, 199. 



17 Foundation Charter cited in an Inspeximus 

 Charter, Pat. 51 Edw. Ill, m. 36. 



18 Dugdale, Mm. iv, 458. 



19 Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 1 1 6, 119^, 125^, 

 126, 127, 1273, 133. 



4 Ibid, xi, 146. 



7 Ibid, xii, 99. 



9 Ibid, xii, 156. 

 "Ibid, xii, 1 80. 

 " Ibid. 

 15 Ibid. 



face IX, that the abbot and convent of Colchester 

 did not maintain a sufficient number of religious 

 at Snape, according to the founder's directions, 

 the pope, by bull dated 10 January, 1399-1400, 

 made this priory independent and exempt from 

 all control by the Colchester abbey. 20 But whilst 

 this matter was still in hand, the abbey of Col- 

 chester had sufficient influence to stir up the 

 crown against this papal action. On 3 May, 

 1400, commission was issued to John Arnold, 

 serjeant-at-arms, to arrest John Mersey (monk of 

 St. John's, Colchester, and prior of Snape), which 

 Henry IV claimed as of the king's patronage, as 

 Mersey had obtained divers exemptions and privi- 

 leges prejudicial to the abbey from the court of 

 Rome, and was proposing to cross the seas to 

 obtain further privileges. He was to be brought 

 before the king in chancery, and to find security 

 that he would not leave the kingdom without 

 the royal licence, or obtain anything prejudicial 

 to the abbey in the court of Rome. 21 On 

 1 6 July, Mersey was still at large, for the com- 

 mission to arrest him was renewed and its execu- 

 tion entrusted to four serjeants-at-arms. 82 The 

 upshot of the dispute was favourable to the abbey ; 

 but the final agreement was not reached n 

 until 1443. 



Pope Sixtus IV, in 1472, confirmed the priory 

 in its possession and privileges, but with no state- 

 ment as to independence. 24 



Archdeacon Nicholas Goldwell visited this 

 priory, as commissary of his brother the bishop 

 on 20 January, 1492-3 ; Prior Francis pro- 

 duced his accounts, and the commissary found 

 nothing worthy of reformation. 26 There is record 

 of another visitation of this small house in July, 

 1520; the visitor reported that everything was 

 praiseworthy considering the number of the re- 

 ligious and the income of the priory ; the prior 

 was ordered to provide another brother, and to 

 exhibit an inventory of the condition of the 

 house at the synod to be held at Ipswich at the 

 ensuing Michaelmas. 28 



This priory was one of those numerous small 

 religious houses of East Anglia for whose sup- 

 pression, in favour of a great college at Ipswich, 

 Cardinal Wolsey obtained bulls in 1527-8. It 

 was at that time valued in spiritualities at ^20 

 per annum, and in temporalities at 7 9 is. li^d., 

 yielding a total income of ^99 if. i i^- 27 



After Wolsey's attainder, the site and posses- 

 sions of this priory were granted to Thomas, 

 duke of Norfolk, on 17 July> I532. 28 



10 Rymer, Foedera, viii, 121. 



" Pat. i Hen. IV, pt. vi, m. 4 d. 



" Ibid. pt. viii, m. 28 d. 



" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. viii, 625. 



" Rymer, Foedera, xi, 750. 

 15 Jessopp, Visit. 37. M Ibid. 177. 



17 See the subsequent account of Cardinal's College, 

 Ipswich. 

 * Pat. 24 Hen. VIII, pt. ii, m. 9. 



79 



