A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



and side by side with the papal letter is the 

 official declaration of the prioress that ' A.' 

 had actually been fifteen years professed, had 

 been precentrix in the choir, and had lived 

 all the time ' as a nun among nuns ' ; with a 

 mandate to the dean and archdeacon of Lin- 

 coln and the Archbishop of Canterbury to 

 excommunicate ' A.' and a certain W. de 

 Bidun, who had aided and abetted her. The 

 story serves to show how even in the twelfth 

 century, when the religious houses of England 

 were in their first fervour, there were cases of 

 unfaithfulness to the religious ideal ; further, 

 in what a serious light apostasy was regarded ; 

 and again, the tremendous ecclesiastical ma- 

 chinery that might be brought to bear upon 

 one insignificant nun. 



Bishop Burghersh issued a commission in 

 1338 ! for the visitation of this monastery, 

 both head and members, to correct, punish 

 and reform in all points needed. The entry 

 is merely formal, and the results are not given. 

 In 1382 Bishop Bokyngham excommunicated 

 a nun of Ankerwick for leaving the monastery 

 by night, and all those who aided her in any 

 way : as well as certain who had carried away 

 goods belonging to the priory. 2 



In 1441 in the course of his general visita- 

 tion Bishop Alnwick came to this house, and 

 called all the sisters, according to custom, 

 into the chapter house. The prioress, Dame 

 Clemence Medford, had no complaint to 

 make, except that the nuns were given to eat 

 and drink between meals, contrary to the rule 

 of St. Benedict ; the sub-prioress answered 

 Omnia bene ; but the other sisters had a good 

 deal to say. Dame Margery Kirby declared 

 that the house was ruinous, that a barn had 

 been lately burnt down, and that the prioress 

 kept the convent seal in her own hands and 

 disposed of the goods of the priory without 

 consulting her sisters at all. Dame Julian 

 Messenger said that the prioress wasted the 

 goods of the monastery, often invited guests 

 of her own but would never let the other 

 nuns invite any one, and was very austere in 

 her dealings with them generally : she also 

 said that the novices had no informatrix to in- 

 struct them in the rule and in the choir office. 

 Another sister, who had been ill, complained 

 that she had not proper coverings for her bed 

 nor warm clothes for herself, nor such food as 

 might make her strong enough to ' endure 

 the burden of religion.' There were three 

 others of tender age and much simplicity 

 (perhaps these were the novices) who said 

 nothing at all. 



1 Line. Epis. Reg. Memo. Burghersh, 332. 

 1 Ibid. Memo. Bokyngham, 247. 



356 



The bishop passed over the minor com- 

 plaints probably he had heard the like else- 

 where and simply ordered the prioress to 

 consult her sisters as to the disposal of pro- 

 perty ; the common seal was to be in the 

 custody of two sisters, of whom Dame Mar- 

 gery Kirby was to be one : two keys were to be 

 made, one for the prioress and the other for a 

 sister who should be elected by the rest of the 

 convent. 3 



In 1519 Bishop Atwater visited the priory. 4 

 Two cases of apostasy were recorded : one 

 who had worn the habit four years had for- 

 saken her monastery ; another had not only 

 left the monastery, but had married, and was 

 living in sin 5 in the house of a relative. There 

 were two novices at this time in the priory, 

 of whom one was Magdalen Downes, after- 

 wards prioress ; and the unhappy examples 

 she saw before her at this time may have left 

 their mark upon her. For she has the unen- 

 viable distinction of being the only nun in 

 Buckinghamshire who married after the dis- 

 solution of the house she was still living in 

 1552 and drawing her annual pension. 8 The 

 note affixed to her name in the pension list 

 ' Is married and so remains ' whatever it 

 may really be intended to convey, 7 has cer- 



3 Visitations of Bishop Alnwick, in the episcopal 

 registry at Lincoln. Margery Kirby occurs as 

 prioress two years after this visitation (Dugdale, iv. 

 230, from Browne Willis) : if her complaints were 

 dictated by a true zeal for the religious life, and not 

 by any desire to find fault with her superior, her 

 election may have brought a change for the better. 



4 Ibid. Visitations of Atwater. 



5 The report says in adulterio : it was of course 

 the marriage that was the sin. It might be won- 

 dered how it would be possible for a nun at that 

 time to find a priest who would perform the mar- 

 riage ceremony for her : but one who would leave 

 her monastery for this purpose would probably not 

 scruple to conceal the fact that she was a nun. 



Exch. Mins. Accts. Bdle. 76, No. 26. 



' The phrase is at any rate unique. The record 

 in which it occurs is of great interest : it is a list 

 drawn up in 1552, for the diocese of Lincoln, of all 

 the pensioned monks, nuns, and cantarists still 

 living ; it gives their present abode, their means of 

 livelihood, and states in every case whether they 

 have married or not. The ordinary phrase is 

 simply nunquam nuptuj (or nupta) or est nuptus, 

 without qualification. The names of monks who 

 married will be given in connection with their own 

 monasteries. Magdalen Downes is the only mar- 

 ried nun in this county. There were several nuns 

 of Elstow in Bedfordshire (one who was professed 

 at sixteen and only twenty-three at the surrender) 

 and of other monasteries, living in the same neigh- 

 bourhood ; all entered as nunquam nupta. Fifteen 

 married nuns in all are mentioned in the counties 

 of Bedford, Buckingham, Hertford and Lincoln t 



