A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



up in Carrow Prior)'. In the poem Jane laments 

 the untimely fate of her pet sparrow, killed by 

 Gilbert or Gib, the priory cat. Jane in her 

 wrath thus excommunicates pussy : — 



That vengeaunce I aske and cry 

 By w.iy of exclamation, 

 On al the whole nacion 

 Of cattes vvilde and tame 

 God send them sorrow and shame ; 

 That Cat specially 

 That slew so cruelly 

 My litle prety Sparow 

 That I brought up at Carow. ' 



The county Suppression Commissioners reported 

 that they found eight religious persons in the 

 priory ' of very good name by report of the 

 country, four of whom desired dispensations and 

 four preferred to continue in religion.' There 

 were seventeen other persons who had their living 

 at the house, two being priests, seven hinds for 

 the husbandry, and eight women servants. The 

 house was in very good repair ; the bells and 

 lead worth ;^I45, and the movable goods 

 £4.0 i6s. i\d. 



The site and revenues were granted in 1538 

 to Sir John Shelton.' 



Prioress Suffield obtained a pension of ;^8, 

 which she was still enjoying in 1553. 



Prioresses of Carrow 



Maud le Strange,' occurs 1 1 96 



Agnes de Monte Gavisio,^ occurs 1224 



Magdalen,* occurs 1264 



Petronel,* died 1289 



Amabel de UfFord,' died 1290 



Katherine de Wendling,* elected 1290 



Beatrice de Hulm,' elected 1 3 10 



Agnes de Carleton,*" elected 1324 



Agnes de Lenn,'' elected 1328 



Cicely de Plumstede,'- elected 1341 



Alice de Hedersete,*' elected 1349 



Margery Cat," elected 1365 



Margery Engys,'* elected 1369 



Edith Wilton,'* elected 1395 



Alice Waryn,'' elected 1430 



Mary Pygot,'^ elected 1444 



Joan Spalding," elected 1472 



Margaret Palmer,'" occurs 1485 



Katherine Segryme,-' elected 1 49 1 



Isabel Wygan,^- elected 1503 



Cecily Stafford alias Suffield,-' last prioress,! 535 



' Skelton, Works (1736), 223. 



' L. and P. Hen. Fill, xiii (2), 407. 



' Blomefield, Hist. o/Norf. iv. 525. * Ibid. 



' Ibid. ' Ibid. ' Ihid. ' Ibid. 



' Norw. Epis. Reg. i, 39. " Ibid, i, 1 1 1. 

 "Ibid, ii, 22. " Ibid, iii, 44. "Ibid, iv, 91. 

 " Ibid. V, 67. 'Mbid. 143. 



•" Ibid, vi, 205. " Ibid, ix, 40. '» Ibid, xi, 55. 

 " Norw. Epis. Reg. xii, 27. 

 '" Hisi. MSS. Com. Rep. cxv (Lothian MSS.). 

 -' Norw. Epis. Reg. xii, 101. 

 *' Ibid, xiii, 29. » Falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.). 



The first twelfth-century seal (3f by i^ in.) 

 represents the crowned Virgin in profile seated 

 with Holy Child on left knee, &nd Jieur-de-/is in 

 right hand. Legend : — 



s' SANCTE MARIE lUXTA NORWICU "* 



The second seal, thirteenth-century (2i^ by 

 I fin.) also bears the seated Virgin with Holy Child; 

 but on the left is the prioress kneeling in adora- 

 tion, holding a scroll bearing the words Mater 

 D'Afem. Over the scroll is a crescent and a star. 

 Over the Virgin's head a hand of blessing. 

 Legend : — 



•i< SIGILLUM SANCTE MARIE DE KAROWE *' 



14. THE NUNNERY OF ST. GEORGE, 

 THETFORD 



There was an old religious house on the Suf- 

 folk side of Thetford founded by Uvius, the first 

 abbot of Bury St. Edmunds, in the days of Cnut. 

 It was said to have been founded in memory of 

 the English and Danes who fell in a great battle 

 near by between King Edmund and the Danish 

 leaders Ulba and Ingwar. It was served by 

 canons who officiated in the church of St. George 

 as a cell of St. Edmunds. About the year 1 160, 

 in the days of Abbot Hugh, Toleard and An- 

 drew, the two surviving religious of this cell, 

 depressed with poverty, visited the abbot and ex- 

 pressed their strong desire to withdraw. At 

 their suggestion, the abbot and convent of St. 

 Edmunds resolved to admit to the Thetford 

 house certain Benedictine nuns who were then 

 living at Ling, Norfolk. The bishop of Nor- 

 wich, the archdeacon of Canterbury, and the 

 sheriffs of Norfolk and Suffolk gave these ladies 

 and their prioress Cecilia an excellent character, 

 and the change was solemnly effected. 



The abbot assigned to these nuns, at the time 

 of the transfer, the Thetford parish churches of 

 St. Benedict and All Saints, his rights in Favertin 

 Fields, and whatever else belonged to the abbey of 

 Bury within the limits of Thetford. As an ac- 

 knowledgement of this, the nuns were to pay 

 yearly 4;. to the abbey infirmary. The prioress 

 undertook to be in all respects faithful and obe- 

 dient to the abbot.'* 



Maud, countess of Norfolk and Warenne, gave 

 to these nuns in her widowhood a rent of tliree 

 marks out of her mill at Cesterford, Essex, to- 

 wards their clothing.-' 



Pope Nicholas' taxation gave the annual 

 value of the temporalities of this house as 

 £72 9J. 4d.'' 



" B.M. Ixxxiii, 38 ; Brit. Arch. Ann. Joum. xxxviii, 

 .76. 



'■' B.M. XXXV, 248 ; Dugdale, Mon. iv, pi. xxi. 



** Dugdale, Mon. iv, 477-8, where the original ac- 

 count of the foundation is set forth at length, from 

 Harl. MS. 743, fol. 219. 



" Maddox, Hist, of Essex, 33. 



" Taxatio (Rec. Com.), 109. 



354 



