RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Very possibly she had been a nun of Carrow in 

 her youth. It must not be supposed that the 

 anchoress attended the Paston funeral, for it was 

 the very essence of the life of these recluses to 

 live and end their days in a single chamber. 

 Moreover Juliana must have been nearly a hun- 

 dred years old at the date of this funeral. Dona- 

 tions to Juliana, the anchoress of Carrow, occur 

 several times in wills of this period, coupled with 

 a request for her prayers for the soul of the donor. 

 Money received by anchorites was usually spent 

 in alms to the poor.^ Other anchoresses, termed 

 ' of Carrow,' seem to have used her cell after 

 her death. 



Bishop Goldwell personally visited Carrow on 

 lO October, 1492. He was met by the prioress 

 and nuns in solemn procession, and with the 

 banner of the holy cross borne before him, amid 

 the ringing of the bells, proceeded to the altar 

 and gave the episcopal benediction. Thence the 

 bishop went at once to the chapter-house, accom- 

 panied by Nicholas Goldwell, archdeacon of 

 Norwich, Thomas Wotton, bachelor of laws, 

 and John Aphowell, the notary, when the prioress 

 and twelve nuns were severally and separately 

 examined. Katharine Segryme was prioress, and 

 Cecilia Ryall sub-prioress. The respective state- 

 ments are not given, but the report shows that 

 there was nothing serious amiss. The prioress 

 was too partial, and there was not a sufficiency of 

 bread. ^ 



Bishop Nicke personally visited the priory on 

 25 August, 1 5 14. Isabel Wigan, the prioress, 

 who had been elected that year, and seven of the 

 nuns contented themselves with omnia bene. 

 Anne Martin sub-prioress said that Margaret 

 Kidman, one of the nuns, was not gentle in her 

 behaviour, and Joan Grene thought that the food 

 was sometimes insufficient.' 



On 14 June, 1526, the bishop held another 

 visitation. Prioress Isabel reported favourably 

 and denied that the house was in debt. The 

 aged sub-prioress Anne Martin, who had been 

 sixty years in religion, knew of nothing worthy 

 of reformation, but not unnaturally thought that 

 the sisters read and sang in the offices quicker 

 than was seemly and without due pause ; she also 

 complained of the weakness of the beer. Mar- 

 garet Steward, who had been a nun for thirty- 

 eight years, also complained that there was not 

 sufficient pause in the offices, and that breach of 

 silence was not punished. Katharine Jerves, 

 chantress, who had also been professed for thirty- 

 eight years, reported favourably of everything save 

 the weakness of the beer. Agnes Warner also 

 complained of rapidity and lack of pause in the 

 offices. Agnes Swanton, sacrist, professed for 

 twenty-one years, stated that they had no clock. 



' N. and Q. (ser. 3, x), iii. 137 ; Rye and Tillett, 

 Norf. Antiq. Misc. ii, 469-70. 



' Jessopp, T<lorw. Visit. (Camd. See), 15. 

 » Ibid. 145. 



2 353 



Anne London and Cecilia Suffield had no com- 

 plaints. Joan Botulph said that the festivals of 

 the Name of Jesus and of St. Edward were not 

 observed ; that the obedientiaries were held liable 

 for breakages of the pots and pans ; and that at 

 Christmas there was a game of the assumption of 

 the functions of an abbess by one of the younger 

 nuns, the expenses of which were defrayed by 

 friends. The result was that the bishop enjoined 

 on the prioress to provide a clock by Michaelmas ; 

 to celebrate the divine service with greater rever- 

 ence and due pauses ; to replace broken vessels 

 at the general expense ; to abandon the girl-abbess 

 play ; to impose penalties for breach of silence ; 

 and to observe the feasts of the Name of Jesus and 

 of St. Edward as in other parts of the diocese.'' 



Six years later, namely on 10 June, 1532, 

 another visitation of Carrow Nunnery, destined to 

 be the last, took place, and all the aged ladies 

 were still in their peaceful cloisters. The prioress 

 simply made a good report, in which she was 

 joined by Agnes Swanton the sacrist. Anne 

 Martin was evidently too old to continue to act 

 as sub-prioress, and was then in charge of the 

 farmery. Margaret Steward, as sub-prioress, 

 complained that some of her younger sisters per- 

 sisted in wearing silk waistbands, and were ad- 

 dicted to gossip. Katharine Jerves and Anne 

 Langdon referred to the absence of gates between 

 the quire and nave. Joan Botulph complained 

 that the festival of relics was not duly observed ; 

 that the nuns did not have their faces veiled 

 when they left the convent ; that they had no 

 annual pension ; that laity could enter the quire 

 through the absence of gates or doors ; that the 

 priest saying vespers could scarcely be heard by 

 the sisters in quire, through lack of a desk for his 

 book. Cecilia Suthefield's one complaint was as 

 to there being no regular pension. Matilda 

 Gravell said that the rule of one of the nuns 

 waiting on the others at table in the fratry was 

 not observed, and that they did not keep the 

 octave of St. Benedict. 



Thereupon the visitor enjoined that the younger 

 nuns, who were not office-holders, should sit to- 

 gether in the afternoon in a room assigned them 

 by the prioress according to past custom ; that the 

 sub-prioress should not permit the absence, or call 

 from quire any of the nuns during compline save 

 once a week ; that after the feast of St. Peter ad 

 Vincula, no laity should enter through the west 

 door of the quire ; that the feast of relics should 

 be duly observed as elsewhere as a double, on 

 the Sunday after the Translation of St. Thomas ; 

 and that the prioress, according to ancient custom, 

 should see that one of the nuns served her sisters 

 in the fratry.' 



In the Litle Boke of Phyllyp Sparow, by John 

 Skelton, rector of Diss and poet laureate to 

 Henry VIII, reference is made to Jane Scrope, 

 who was probably one of the young ladies brought 



Ibid. 



209- 



Ibid. 273-5. 

 45 



