RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Arundel, in a letter to the ' visitor-general of 

 monasteries,' in 1536, states that by the advice 

 of the writer the abbess and convent have given 

 him (Cromwell) the next presentation to the 

 parsonage of Tarrant, for which he had expressed 

 a desire, adding, ' my lady is right glad to do you 

 pleasure.' "° The transfer to Shaftesbury in the 

 same year of the prioress and nuns of the small 

 Benedictine priory of Cannington (Somerset), 

 dissolved by the earlier Act of suppression,'" 

 may have encouraged the poor lady to continue 

 her efforts, and nerved her to hold out longer 

 than was the general disposition in this county. 

 At any rate. Sir Thomas Arundel, writing again 

 to Cromwell in December, 1538, informs him 

 that, contrary to advice, the abbess of Shaftesbury 

 refuses to follow the 'moo' (majority), and 

 resign, and offers the king 500 marks and Crom- 

 well ;rioo for her house to be allowed to stand.'" 

 The offer was fruitless ; the fate of Shaftesbury 

 was sealed, though the house, owing perhaps to 

 the abbess's spirited endeavour, was the last to fall 

 in this county. With the surrender of Elizabeth 

 Zouche and her fifty-six nuns on 2 March, 

 1539,"' ends the long line of abbesses headed 

 in the ninth century by Alfred's daughter. 



Abbesses of Shaftesbury 



Elfgiva or jEthelgeofu or Algiva, first abbess 



about 888"* 

 iElfthrith, occurs 948 "^ 

 Herleva, occurs 966,"* died 982"' 

 Alfrida, occurs 1 00 1 or 1009"* 

 Leueua, occurs temp. Edward the Confessor"' 

 Eulalia, appointed 1074 '■" 

 Eustachia'^' 



Cecilia, appointed 1 107 ''^ 

 Emma, occurs temp. Henry I '"' 

 Mary, occurs 1189 '^ 

 J., elected 1216'^' 

 Amicia Russell, elected 1223''' 



"» L. and P. Hen. VIU, xi, 1340. 



'" Ibid. 1450. '" Ibid, xiii (2), 1092. 



"^ Ibid, xiv (i), 586. To Elizabeth Zouche was 

 assigned on her surrender a pension of ^^133 6/. id. ; 

 the prioress received a pension of ;^20, the sub- 

 prioress £j, and the remainder of the sisters yearly 

 sums ranging from £6 13/. i^d. to 56/. %d. ; ibid. 



"* Will, of Malmes. Gesta Regum (Rolls Ser.), i, 

 131 ; Flor. Wigorn. Chron. (Engl. Hist. Soc), i, 104. 



'" She is mentioned in a charter of King .i^dred, 

 Harl. MS. 61, fol. 4. 



"* Gale, Rerum Angl. Script. \, 45. 



'" Angl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 103. 



'" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iii, 27. 



'" Dugdale (Mow. ii, 473), from Exon. Domesday. 



'^'' Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 30. 



'-' Dugdale, Mon. 11, 473. 



'-' The third daughter of Robert Fitz Hamon, who 

 elevated Tewkesbury to the dignitv of an abbey. Ibid, 

 ii, 473. '^'Hari. MS. 61, fol. 23. 



'■' Ibid. fol. 26. '" Pat. I Hen. Ill, m. 16. 



'-'« Ibid. 7 Hen. Ill, m. 3. 



Agnes Lungespee, elected 1243'" 

 Agnes de Ferrers, elected 1247 '-* 

 Juliana de Bauceyn, died 1279 '^' 

 Laurentia de Muscegros, elected 1279,'^" died 



1290 

 Joan de Bridport, elected 1290,"' died 1291 

 Mabel Gifford, elected 129 1 '" 

 Alice de Lavyngton, elected 1 302,'^' died 1 3 1 5 

 Margaret Aucher, elected 13 15,"* died 1329 

 Dionisia le Blunde, elected 1329,'" died 1345 

 Joan Duket, elected 1345,"^ died 1350 

 Margaret de Leukenore, elected 1350'" 

 Joan Formage, elected 1362,"* died 1394 

 Egelina de Counteville, appointed 1395"' 

 Cecilia Fovent, occurs 1398,'*° died 1423 

 Margaret Stourton, elected 1423,"' died 1441 

 Edith Bonham, elected 1441,'*^ died 1460 

 Margaret St. John, elected 1460 "' 

 Alice Gibbcs, died 1496'" 

 Margaret Twyneo, elected 1496,"' died 1505 

 Elizabeth Shelford, elected I505,'"died 152S 

 Elizabeth Zouche or Zuche, elected 1529, 



surrendered her abbey, 1539 '*' 



The round thirteenth-century seal attached to 

 the surrender deed of the abbey gives on the 

 obverse an elaborate design of the church. la 

 the doorway St. Edward, King and Martyr, full- 

 length, with the name s' edw — ardvs upon the 

 string-courses at the sides.'** Legend : — 



Sa[lUE :] STELLA : MARIS : TU : NOBIS : 



AVX [iLIARIS :] [gemma :] PVELLARIS : regia : 



DONA : PARIS 



The reverse shows within a carved quatrefoil 

 the Coronation of the Virgin. Overhead the 

 Dove ; at the sides two candlesticks, crescents, 

 and other emblems. In base, under a trefoiled 

 arch, an abbess, half-length, holding a pastoral 

 staff, is in prayer.'*' Legend : — 



1^ sigill' : scE : marie : et : sci : edwardi : 

 [reJgis : et : martiris : schef[tonie] 



Ibid. m. 16. 



'-' Ibid. 27 Hen. Ill, m. 2. 

 ''' Ibid. 31 Hen. Ill, m. 8. 

 ''' Ibid. 7 Edw. I, m. 21. 

 "' Ibid. 18 Edw. I, m. 34. 

 '" Ibid. 19 Edw. I, m. 3. 

 '^' Sarum Epis. Reg. Simon of Ghent. 

 "* Pat. 9 Edw. II, pt. I, m. 14. 

 '"Ibid. 3 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 13. 

 "' Ibid. 19 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 13. 

 '" Ibid. 24 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 21. 

 "' Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iii, 27. 

 '" Pat. 18 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 10. 

 "" Sarum Epis. Reg. Mitford, fol. 105. 

 '" Pat. 2 Hen. VI, pt. l, m. 22. 

 '" Sarum Epis. Reg. Aiscough, fol. 10. 

 '" Ibid. Beauchamp, i, fol. 37. 

 '" Ibid. Blyth, fol. 95. "' Ibid. 



"'■ Ibid. Audley, fol. 1 26 a". 

 "' L.andP. Hen. Fill, iv, 5290 ; xiv (i), 586. 

 "'Deeds of Surrender, No. 211. See also B.M. 



'" Ibid. 50. 



Se.ils, 1x11, 49. 



79 



