A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



fixed the possessions of the see as well as those 

 of the priory.' 



The taxation roll of Pope Nicholas, 1291, 

 yields ;^489 Js. 2d. as the total annual value of 

 the priory. Of this sum £^6 is. came under 

 spiritualities, consisting of portions or pensions 

 from twenty-eight parish churches in the arch- 

 deaconries of Norwich, Norfolk, and Suffolk, 

 varying in amount from 41. to ^^4. Of the 

 temporalities, £1,^ 91. <,\d. came from different 

 parishes in the city of Norwich. The five 

 places that yielded the largest incomes outside the 

 city were — 'Sechford,' £-jb i8j. ^\d. ; Hemsby 

 and Winterton, £j^i \ls. 2\d. ; and Hindol- 

 veston, ^TiS OS. J^d. 



The Fa/or EccUsiasticus shows a great advance 

 in the annual value of the priory during two and 

 a half centuries, for the income was then esti- 

 mated at ;^i,o6i 14;. 2ti^- The increase largely 

 arose from the considerable number of appro- 

 priations of churches that had been gained during 

 that period by the priory. 



In the county of Norfolk the priory then held 

 the appropriations of thirty rectories, as well as 

 of two moieties of rectories. These produced 

 an income of ;^207 65. 10^^., the largest being 

 Bishops Lynn ^^38 13J. 4^/., and the smallest 



contents ; a somewhat more extended description is 

 to be found in Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. i, 881-9 '■ — 



1. A small folio, written about 1300, but with 

 later insertions. It contains the history of the 

 foundation of the monastery and the estab- 

 lishment of the see at Norwich, and tran- 

 scripts of royal charters, papal bulls, grants from 

 benefactors, and general title deeds up to 

 about the end of Edward I's reign. 



2. The Almoner's Register, chiefly of the time 

 of Edward II and Edward III, and in the 

 main concerned with properties pertaining to 

 the almoner's office. 



3. A register, written about the end of the 

 fifteenth century, treating of the liberties of 

 the priory, particularly against the city of 

 Norwich. 



4. A small quarto volume chiefly devoted to 

 charters and grants by bishops of Norwich to 

 the priory. 



5. A small quarto volume, known as the 

 ' Celerer's Boke,' mostly in the writing of 

 Ralph de Elingham, cellarer, in 1282. 



6. Another small quarto, known as the Chamber- 

 lain's Book, of about the same date as the last. 



7. A small register giving the charter of founda- 

 tion and other charters and bulls ; this is 

 also of Edward I's reign. 



8. A paper volume of copies of deeds, the oldest 

 of them transcribed in the fourteenth century. 



9. Proficuum Maneriorum Prioris et Conventus, 

 compiled in the reigns of Edward II and 

 Edward III. 



10. A miscellaneous collection of deeds, ttmp. 

 Edward I and Edward IV. 



11. An interesting volume of various dates, 

 known as the Sacrists' Register. 



12. Miscellaneous deeds temp. Edward III. 



Riston £^\ 13;. s^d. They also held three small 

 rectories in Suffolk, which added £^<^ 6j. bd. to 

 their income. In addition to this they possessed 

 the city rectories of St. Paul, St. James, St. 

 Gregory, St. Giles, St. Martin Coslany, St, 

 Martin at the Palace Gates, St. John Berstreet,. 

 St. John de Sepulchre, St. George Colegate, and 

 St. Peter Parmentergate ; these together with the 

 tithes of the gardens of the Carmelites, produced 

 an income of £1. 1 I \s. %d. 



The commissioners made an entry to the 

 effect that the priory also held the city rectories 

 of All Saints Fybridge, St. Vedast, St. Saviour 

 Fybridge, St. Cross, St. Mary the Little, St. 

 Cuthbert, and St. Etheldreda, but that no claim 

 had been made for many years on the parishioners 

 of these churches in consequence of the poverty 

 of the inhabitants. A further sum of ;^23 \s. 40'. 

 issued from over thirty pensions from religious- 

 houses to which churches had been appropriated ;. 

 a small pension to the cathedral being the usual 

 condition of episcopal licence to appropriate. Old 

 established portions or pensions from different 

 parishes brought in ^^16. 



The small sum of ^^3 1 3$. Z\d. represented 

 the offerings made that year at three shrines in 

 the hands of the priory, viz. £2. 19/. "jd. at the 



The Ledger Books begin in 1538, and the Chapter 

 Act Books in 1566. 



The two large folio volumes of Tanner's MS. 

 collections for Norwich diocese contain valuable 

 excerpts from the episcopal registers and from many 

 other documents (some of which have since dis- 

 appeared), arranged according to parishes. Tanner 

 was chancellor of Norwich and archdeacon of Norfolk 

 before he became bishop of St. Asaph. 



At the British Museum there is a single manu- 

 script of some value pertaining to the history of the 

 priory, namely, Stowe MS. 936, a terrier or rental of 

 Norwich Priory, covering 1 1 5 folios, and of early four- 

 teenth-century date. It is imperfect at the begin- 

 ning ; the lands specified are all in the county of 

 Norfolk, viz. Hindringham, Hindolveston, Newton,. 

 Eaton St. Andrew, Taverham, Elmham, Catton,. 

 Plumstead, and Martham. The names and hold- 

 ings of the tenants are set forth in full detail. 



The manuscripts given by Archbishop Parker to- 

 Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, included a 

 valuable customary of this Benedictine Priory. In 

 Stanley's catalogue of this library, printed in 1722,. 

 it is thus described : ' N. xxxvi. Consuetudines Ec- 

 clesiae Norviccnsis seu Ordinare vel Brevarium Nor- 

 vici in usu per annum, cum Calendario ad initium 

 libri.' 



The old customary has not been printed, but an 

 expert states that it is on much the same lines as the- 

 customaries of Westminster and Canterbury, recently 

 edited by Sir E. M. Thompson for the Henry Brad- 

 shaw Society. 



Reference is made later on to the fine collection 

 of Obedientiary Rolls of this priory extant at Nor- 

 wich, and to a few of the same series now at the 

 Bodleian. 



' Hist. Eccl. Nor. Bodleian MS. 8 B xvi, 2, cited 

 in Dugdale, Mon. iv, 15-16. 



318 



