A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



buildings of the priory. In the same year 

 William archbishop of Edessa granted a like 

 indulgence. 1 The bishop of Bangor also granted 

 an indulgence, at the same time, for all who 

 should say an Our Father and a Hail Mary there 

 for the repose of the soul of Richard de Christes- 

 hale, whose body was buried in the friary 

 church. 2 



On 10 May, 1305, died Joan of Acre, and 

 was buried in the conventual church of the friars 

 of Clare, in the presence of Edward II and most 

 of the nobility of England. Joan was the 

 second daughter of Edward I and Queen 

 Eleanor, and took her name from the eastern 

 town where she was born in the first year of her 

 father's reign, when he was fighting the Saracens. 

 She was married at the age of eighteen to 

 Gilbert, earl of Clare and Gloucester, grandson 

 of the founder of the priory, to which she was a 

 benefactor, building the chapel of St. Vincent as 

 an adjunct to the conventual church. She out- 

 lived the earl, and took for her second husband, 

 Ralph Mortimer. Her daughter Elizabeth, by 

 tier first husband, who became the wife of 

 Sir John de Burgh, built a new chapter-house, 

 dormitory, and refectory for the friars, about 

 1310-14. Ralph, bishop of London, in 1307, 

 granted a forty days' indulgence to all penitents 

 saying here an Our Father and a Hail Mary for 

 the soul of Joan of Acre. 3 Thomas, bishop of 

 Worcester, when at Clare in the first year of his 

 consecration (1318), granted a like indulgence; 4 

 and so also did Stephen bishop of London in 

 1319,' Benedict, bishop of 'Cardie,' in 1338, 

 and John, bishop of Llandaffj in 1347.' 



In 1324 Bishop Rowland, formerly arch- 

 bishop of Ordmoc, granted an indulgence to all 

 penitents contributing to the fabric and orna- 

 ments of the church. 8 Benedict, bishop of 

 Cardie and suffragan and commissary for the 

 Bishop of Norwich, granted in 1338, forty days' 

 indulgence to penitents visiting this church and 

 contributing to the fabric fund on the solemn 

 dedication day. 9 The same bishop in 1340 

 granted a like indulgence to those saying an 

 Our Father or a Hail Mary for the soul 

 of Brother John of St. Edmunds, D.D., of 

 good memory, whose body was buried in this 

 church. 10 



Prior Robert of this house, on 3 August, 

 1361, formally assigned in the chapter-house to 

 Brother John Bachelor, for use at the altar in 



1 Chartul. Nos. 171-2. * Ibid. No. 170. 



1 Ibid. No. 1 60. < Ibid. No. 159. 



5 Ibid. No. 173. 



6 Ibid. No. 162. Benedict Cardicensis (Sardis), 

 prior of the Austin Friars of Norwich, was suffragan 

 of Norwich from 1333 to 1346. 



'Ibid. No. 163. 

 Ibid. No. 169. 

 Ibid. No. 164. 

 10 Ibid. No. 165. 



the newly-built chapel of the Annunciation, a 

 great missal, a silver chalice weighing twenty- 

 seven shillings with a silver spoon weighing six 

 pennies, a green velvet chasuble and set of vest- 

 ments with gold orphreys and apparels, various 

 cushions, a green carpet four ells long, two neck- 

 laces set with precious stones and a silver necklace, 

 nine gold rings, a small chest containing four 

 silk veils, &c. u 



Edward Mortimer, son of Joan of Acre by 

 her second husband, was buried in this church 

 by the side of his mother. Further celebrity 

 was given to the friars' church by the burial, 

 before the high altar, after long delay, of the 

 body of Lionel, duke of Clarence and earl of 

 Ulster, son of Edward III. He died at Alba 

 Pompeia, Piedmont, in 1368, and was first buried 

 at Pavia. Eventually the body was exhumed 

 and re-interred in this chancel. The sum of 

 ten marks was paid to the prior and brethren, in 

 the chapter-house, on 12 September, 1377, for 

 their share in the funeral expenses. 12 



In 1373, a dispute that had arisen between 

 the Austin Friars of Clare and of Orford, as to 

 the seeking alms in the Isle of Mersea and other 

 places, was settled at the provincial chapter held 

 in August at Newcastle-on-Tyne ; the upper 

 gate of Colchester was to be a bound between 

 the two houses. 13 A similar difference between 

 the Austin Friars of Clare and Thetford was 

 settled in 1388, when a list of the parishes 

 where they might severally visit and seek for 

 alms was drawn up. 14 



On St. Agatha's Day (5 February), 1380, 

 William, bishop of Pismon, suffragan of the 

 bishop of Norwich, dedicated the new ceme- 

 tery without the walls of the church, extending 

 from the west gate to the footbridge to the 

 castle, together with the re-built cloister and 

 chapter-house. 15 William, bishop of Norwich 

 in 1381, granted twenty days' indulgence from 

 enjoined penance to those contributing to the 

 fabric. 18 



Robert, bishop of London, in a communica- 

 tion to the prior of the Austins of Clare, with- 

 drew the excommunication of Sir Thomas 

 Mortimer, knt., who with his assistants had 

 dragged out from the friary church one John de 

 Quinton, who had escaped there for a certain, 

 theft, thus violating sanctuary ; provided that 

 Sir Thomas, on the first Sunday in Lent, after 

 evensong, came to the church bareheaded and 

 barefooted, carrying a taper, and presented both 

 the taper and a silk cloth valued at ^3, at the 

 altar. 17 



Weever printed in 1631 a curious rhymed 

 descent of the lords of Clare, in both Latin and 

 English, from a roll which was then in the 





11 Ibid. No. 165. 

 13 Ibid. No. 138. 

 15 Ibid. No. 158. 

 "Ibid. No. 161. 



" Ibid. No. 120. 



14 Ibid. Nos. 176, 177.. 



16 Ibid. No. 174. 



128 



