RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



the prior, four canons, and two novices were 

 examined, all of whom reported omnia bene. 

 The bishop found nothing worthy of reforma- 

 tion, but he enjoined the providing of a preceptor 

 to teach the novices in grammar. 1 



When Wolsey formed his design in 1527 for 

 the establishment of Cardinal's College, Ipswich, 

 this priory was one of the small monasteries 

 marked out for suppression for that purpose. 

 Pope Clement issued a special bull sanctioning 

 the dissolution of this house in May, 1528, in 

 favour of the college. Therein it is described as 

 holding the Ipswich churches of St. Peter and 

 St. Nicholas, St. Clement and St. Mary-at- 

 Quay, and also the parish churches of Wherstead 

 and Cretingham. 2 



On the disgrace of Wolsey, the Cardinal's 

 College came to an end, and the king granted 

 the site of this monastery of six acres, which 

 served as the deanery of the short-lived college, 

 to Thomas Alvard, one of the gentlemen ushers 

 of the king's chamber. 3 



PRIORS OF ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL, IPSWICH 



Gilbert, 4 elected 1225 

 Nicholas de Ipswich, 5 1252 

 William de Secheford, 6 resigned 1289 

 John de St. Nicholas, 7 elected 1289 

 Henry de Burstall, 8 elected 1304 

 Henry de Kurseya, 9 elected 1311 

 Clement de Ipswich, 10 elected 1343 

 William de Ipswich, 11 died 1381 

 John de Monewedon, 11 1381 

 John de Ipswich, 12 elected 1419 

 Geoffrey Stoke, 13 elected 1444 

 Geoffrey Grene, 14 died 1476 

 John York, 15 electeJ 1476-96 

 Thomas Godewyn, 16 occurs 1514 

 William Brown, 17 occurs 1526 



The late twelfth-century seal of this priory is 

 of much interest. It shows the priory church 

 from the south with central tower and spire, 

 nave, chancel, and south transept ; over the roof, 



I Jessopp, Visit. 221. 



* Rymer, Foedera, xiv, 241-2 ; L. and P. 

 Hen. nil, iv, 4229, 4259 (2). 



3 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, v, 392 (9). 



4 Pat. 9 Hen. Ill, m. 5. 



5 Ibid. 36 Hen. Ill, m. 1 1. 



6 Ibid. 1 7 Edw. I, m. 21. 



7 Ibid. m. 20, 10. 



8 Ibid. 32 Edw. I, m. 15, 9, 5. 



9 Norw. Epis. Reg. i, 43 ; Pat. 5 Edw. II, pt. i, 

 m. 13, 1 1, 10. 



10 Pat. 1 7 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 26. 



II Norw. Epis. Reg. vi, 75 ; Pat. 5 Ric. II, pt. i, 

 m. 25, 31. 



11 Norw. Epis. Reg. viii, 51. 



13 Ibid, x, 54. 



14 Pat. 1 6 Edw. IV, pt. ii, m. 19. 



15 Ibid. m. 15. " Jessopp, Visit. 137. 

 "Ibid. 221. 



each side of the tower, are circular panels con- 

 taining respectively the half-length figures of 

 St. Peter with key and St. Paul with book. 

 Legend : 



SIGILLUM ECCLE SCOR* PETRI ET PAUL* DE 

 GIPESWIC. 18 



A small oval counterseal, probably the signet 

 of the thirteenth-century prior, has the bust of an 

 emperor with antique crown, from an ancient 

 intaglio gem. Legend : 



MITTENTIS : CAPITI : : CREDIT' sicuTEi. 19 



23. THE PRIORY OF THE HOLY 

 TRINITY, IPSWICH 



An Ipswich church of the Holy Trinity is 

 named in Domesday Book ; but the foundation 

 of Austin canons under that dedication was not 

 established until the time of Henry II. The date 

 of the first building is 1177. 'Normanius 

 Gastrode fil. Egnostri ' was the first founder, 

 according to Leland ; 20 at any rate Norman is 

 shown by the charter of King John to have 

 been one of the chief benefactors and a canon of 

 the house. 21 This charter shows that the priory 

 held, at the beginning of the thirteenth century, 

 the Ipswich churches of the Holy Trinity, 

 St. Laurence, St. Mary-le-Towers, St. Mary-at- 

 Elms, St. Michael, and St. Saviour, and the 

 churches of ' Wilangeda,' Henham, Layham, 

 Foxhall, and Preston, and moieties of the 

 churches of Tuddenham and Mendham ; and 

 lands in Nacton, Helmingham, Hemingstone, 

 Bramford, Delf, Coddenham, Tunstall, Tudden- 

 ham, &c. 



At an early date this monastery is said to have 

 suffered from fire; it was rebuilt in 1194 by 

 John de Oxford, bishop of Norwich. He placed 

 there seven canons under a prior, but as endow- 

 ments increased, the number was at one time 

 raised to twenty. Richard I gave the patron- 

 age of the house at the time of its re-opening into 

 the hands of the bishop. 22 



The Taxation Roll of the temporalities of this 

 priory in 1291 shows that its lands and rents, 

 which were chiefly in the town and immediate 

 neighbourhood of Ipswich, produced an annual 

 income of ,47 141. <)d. The spiritualities 

 reached the much larger annual value of 

 j88 14*. 40. It would appear from this 

 return that the canons then held the rectories of 

 St. Laurence, St. Margaret, St. Mary-at-Tower, 

 and St. Mary-at-Elms, Ipswich, and the country 



18 Engraved in Wodderspoon's Ipswich, App. 303 ; 

 and in Brit. Arch. Assoc. Journ, ii, 268. B.M. Cast, 

 D.C., C. 6. 



19 Attached to a charter of 1282, B.M. Cat. of Seals, 



594- 



21 Leland, Coll. i, 62. 



21 Chart. R. 5 John, m. 1 6, 125. 



" Angl. Sacr. i, 409 ; Dugdale, Man. vi, 447 ; 

 Wodderspoon, Ipswich, 200-2. 



103 



