A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



already in their patronage, a due portion being 

 reserved for their vicarage.* The revenues of 

 this priory increased so considerably during the 

 thirteenth century that at the taxation of 1 29 1 

 it held the appropriation of six Norfolk churches 

 and portions of the rectory of eighteen other 

 churches in the same county, as well as four in 

 Suffolk. The total annual value of its tem- 

 poralities and spiritualities was then reckoned 

 at;^i23 I2J. 5^/. The Valor of 1535 gives the 

 clear annual value of this wealthy priory at 

 ;^3I2 14J. 4.hd. ; the gross value was ^^4 18 6;. 3^. 



In 1 33 1 John de VVarenne, earl of Surrey, 

 obtained licence for alienation in mortmain of 

 the advowson and appropriation of the church of 

 Gersham to the priory of Thetford.^ 



If the first Prior Stephen thus worked for the 

 good of his house, the second prior of that name 

 was equally thorough in working evil. He was 

 appointed some time before 1240, in which 

 year he wrote to Cluni excusing himself from 

 attending the general chapter,^ and was a native 

 of Savoy, a connexion (or at least a compatriot) 

 of the queen. Presuming on the influence of 

 his royal protectress, he turned the priory of 

 Thetford into a house of debauchery, carousing 

 night and day with his brothers Bernard, a 

 knight, and Guiscard, whom Matthew Paris* 

 describes as ' clericus monstruosus . . . cujus 

 venter quasi uter in pruina, cujus quoque cadaver 

 plaustrum oneraret.' At last in 1248 he 

 engaged in a quarrel with one of his brethren, a 

 hot-blooded Welsh monk Stephen de Charun 

 by name,' whom he wished to send back to 

 Cluni, whence he had only lately come ; angered 

 at his prior's abusive language the monk drew 

 his knife and stabbed him that he died before 

 the great door of the church. The murderer 

 was arrested and handed over to the bishop of 

 Norwich, from whom the king, urged by the 

 queen's desire for vengeance, claimed him, 

 casting him into the prison of Norwich Castle, 

 where he died. 



An alleged miraculous interposition about the 

 middle of the thirteenth century had considerable 

 effect upon the fortunes of the priory. The 

 following is an abstract of the remarkable story, 

 as told by Brame in the fifteenth century.^ An 

 artisan of Thetford, suffering from an incurable 

 complaint, dreamt three times that the Blessed 

 V^irgin appeared, and told him that if he would 

 regain his health he must persuade the prior 

 to build a Lady Chapel on the north side of the 

 church. When the prior heard the revelation he 

 began to build a chapel of timber ; but the man 

 persisted that the Virgin should be honoured 



' Ca/. Papal Reg. i, 192. 



' Pat. 5 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 15. 



' Duckett, Chart, and Rec. of Cluni, ii, 201. 



* Chron. Majora (Rolls Ser.), v, 32. 

 ' Assize R. 564, m. 13. 



* Brame's MSS. Corpus Christi Coll. Camb. ; 

 Martin, Hlit. of Thtford, App. xviii. 



with a fair building of stone. After some 

 further revelations the prior set to work in 

 earnest, and then a new marvel occurred. In 

 their old monastery on the other side of the 

 water there had been, in the frater, a wooden 

 image of the Virgin which the monks had 

 brought with them to their new church ; but in 

 the course of time it had been removed to make 

 way for one of greater beauty, and placed in a 

 dusty corner. The thrifty prior thought that 

 this old image would suffice for the new chapel, 

 and it was handed over to the painter to be 

 beautified. On removing the old paint from 

 the head a silver plate came to light, and on its 

 removal a hollow was disclosed wherein, wrapped 

 in lead, were a variety of precious relics, with 

 their names engraved on wrappers of lead. 

 The more important of the contents were relics 

 of the robe of our Lord, of the girdle of our 

 Lady, of our Lord's sepulchre, of the rock of 

 Calvar)', of our Lady's sepulchre, of our Lord's 

 manger, of the sepulchre of St. John, and relics 

 of SS. George, Agnes, Barbara, Vincent, Leger, 

 Gregory, Leonard, Jerome, Edmund, Etheldreda, 

 and parts of the grave-clothes of Lazarus. A 

 letter was also found, addressed to Stephen the 

 second prior by William, minister of the church 

 at Merlesham, who sent these relics, transmitted 

 from the church of the Holy Sepulchre at 

 Jerusalem, at the request of Hugh Bigod and a 

 monk named Ralph. When the relic-bearing 

 image had been honourably replaced, the priory 

 became the scene of miraculous cures. Brame 

 gives the particulars of three, one of recovery of 

 speech, and two of the restoration to life of 

 children apparently dead. Pilgrims flocked to 

 the priory, and as a result of their offerings a 

 fine Lady Chapel was built on the north of the 

 quire, the quire was itself extended forty feet, 

 the frater was rebuilt on a larger scale, and five 

 monks were added to the establishment. 



Martin says that in 1236 the abbot of Cluni 

 complained to Henry III that Earl Roger would 

 not suffer him to visit this monastery, although it 

 was a daughter of his church of Cluni, and one 

 to which he claimed to appoint the prior ; but 

 that, after a suit,' the visitation was adjudged to 

 the prior and the patronage to the earl.* Never- 

 theless, as is proved from the many subsequent 

 Cluni visitations, this decision must have been 

 speedily upset. 



The report of the visitors from Cluni in 1262 

 sets forth that they made inquiries in London 

 through Henry, sub-prior ofThetford, and Thomas 

 the chamberlain, as to the condition of their house, 

 and they stated that all divine offices and spiritual 

 duties were properly carried out. The prior 

 was prevented from coming in person, being 

 hindered by bodily infirmities. The debts of 

 the house amounted to 610 marks, the prior 



' Albrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 106. 

 ' Martin, Hist, of thetford, 1 19. 



364 



