RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



charter further provided that if the founder, or 

 the king, or any of their successors should here- 

 after secure the conversion of the priory into 

 an abbey, that then all tokens of subjection to 

 St. Albans should cease. A near relative of 

 the founder, Richard de Albini, was at that 

 time abbot of St. Albans (1097-1119), and 

 gave his formal assent to this arrangement. 



William de Albini, the founder, and Maud 

 his wife, who was the daughter of Roger Bigod, 

 earl of Norfolk, richly endowed the priory with 

 lands, churches, tithes, and rents, chiefly at 

 Wymondham, Buckenham, Happisburgh, and 

 Snettisham. Soon after the completion of the 

 church, the founder showed his practical in- 

 terest in the worship there conducted, by aug- 

 menting his original grant so that the monks 

 should hold the meadows and lands before their 

 church doors, and thus escape molestation during 

 the time of divine service by the noise of 

 passengers. For this purpose he obtained the 

 royal licence to divert the highway which ran 

 close by the church, and turned it by his own 

 house. 



William de Albini, the grandson of the foun- 

 der, confirmed all the original foundation, to- 

 gether with the considerable additions made by 

 his father, which included the advowson of 

 the church of Besthorpe, and liberty of fishing 

 one day and night in all his moats and new 

 fisheries, namely the day and night before the 

 anniversary or obit of the founder.^ 



The taxation of 1 29 1 assigned to the priory 

 an annual income of ;^I53 is. 2^d. ; at that 

 time it held property in no fewer than forty- 

 three Norfolk parishes. 



Boniface IX in 1399 sanctioned the appro- 

 priation to the prior and convent of Wymond- 

 ham (whose endowments were formerly sufficient 

 fortwentymonks,but were then greatly reduced) of 

 the perpetual vicarage of St. Mary's, Wymond- 

 ham. The value of the vicarage did not exceed 

 thirty marks, and that of the priory 600 marks. 

 Upon the resignation or death of the vicar, they 

 might have the church served by one of their 

 monks, or by a secular priest, removable at will 

 by the prior. ^ 



The Valor of 1535 gives the clear annual 

 value of the abbey at ^^21 1 lbs. 6^d. 



Nigel, the first prior, is named in the charter 

 by which the founder gave to the monastery 

 his manor and church of Happisburgh. This 

 was granted at the time of the interment of his 

 wife, and he confirmed his donation by offering 

 upon the high altar a silver cross in which were 



' There is a good chartulary or register of this 

 priory at the B.M. (Cott. MSS. Titus C. viii), of which 

 an analysis is given in the Monast'uon. Blomefield 

 and Dugdale have made good use of it, and reproduced 

 the more valuable parts ; but it has been carefully 

 searched for the purpose of this sketch, more especially 

 for the list of the priors. 



' Pap. Reg. v, 192. 



2 337 



many precious relics, including a fragment of the 

 true cross. 



Ralph de Miers, a monk of St. Albans, was 

 chosen prior in 1160, through the influence of 

 Robert, the eighteenth abbot of St. Albans, 

 and imposed upon the priory. With this direct 

 violation of the charter of the founder of 

 Wymondham began the unhappy strife that 

 kept breaking out for the next three centuries 

 between the great abbey and its strenuous vassal. 

 Ralph is described by the chronicler of St. 

 Albans as a religious but passionate man. Soon 

 after his appointment the tenants of Happisburgh 

 refused their dues and services to the prior, 

 upon which Ralph, with the convent servants, 

 and aided by the servants of William de Albini, 

 earl of Arundel, the founder's son, broke open 

 the doors of the tenants, and seized the goods 

 of some and the persons of others. Whereupon 

 the tenants, with their broken locks, set off for 

 St. Albans to represent their case to the abbot 

 as their superior lord. The abbot proceeded to 

 Wymondham with a considerable retinue and 

 forcibly entered the priory, and was in his turn 

 resisted by the earl of Arundel. Very full 

 details of the dispute and of the consequent 

 actions are given by Walsingham ; but the 

 result was that the abbot mostly gained his way, 

 set at defiance the enactments of the founder of 

 Wymondham, and boldly claimed the right of 

 the abbots to visit Wymondham just as often- 

 and as long as they pleased, and to appoint the- 

 priors, whom they henceforth nominated or 

 recalled almost at pleasure, without reference tc» 

 the convent of Wymondham or their patron.* 



In the time of Stephen, the prior obtained the 

 grant of a three days' fair at Wymondham on 

 the eve, day and morrow of the Nativity of the 

 Blessed Virgin, and also a confirmation of the 

 weekly market. 



In 1 21 7 Alexander de Langley was appointed 

 prior by William, twenty-second abbot of St. 

 Albans, at the instance of the Earl of Arundel, 

 but was soon recalled on the plea of unfitness 

 for the post. In the place of Alexander the 

 abbot appointed Ralph de Stanham, who was 

 often called Ralph of Whitby, as he had formerly 

 been a monk and then prior of that house.^ 



Soon after Ralph de Whitby's appointment. 

 Abbot William visited Wymondham, with the 

 result that Prior Ralph was speedily recalled on the 

 plea of wasting the revenues of the cell, and court- 

 ing the favour of the Earl of Arundel, the patron. 

 Ralph retired to a hermitage assigned to him by 

 his old priory of Whitby, and there ended his days 

 after some years of holy living.' In the place 

 of Prior Whitby, the abbot appointed William 

 de Feschamp, but he was successfully objected 

 to by the Earl of Arundel, as patron of the 



' Gcsta Abbatum 

 166-75. 



* Ibid, i, 260. 



Mon. S. Albani (Rolls Ser.), i. 



Ibid. 



272, 

 43 



274. 



