A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



The notorious visitors Legh and Leyton were 

 here early in 1536, and alleged that they obtained 

 confession of theft from one monk, and of un- 

 cleanness from another,adding that they suspected 

 confederacy, as so little evil had been confessed 

 although they were seventeen in number.' 



On 26 March, 1537, Prior William wrote to 

 Cromwell, in answer to his application for the 

 preferment of his servant, John Myllsent, to 

 their farm of Lynford. They begged to be 

 excused, as their founder (patron), the Duke of 

 Norfolk, had the custody of their convent scal.^ 



The Duke of Norfolk, the powerful patron of 

 Thetford Priory, naturally looked with dismay 

 upon the approaching destruction of this house 

 and of the church, where not only his remote 

 but more immediate ancestors had been honour- 

 ably interred. His father. Sir Thomas Howard, 

 earl of Surrey and duke of Norfolk, who died on 

 21 May, 1524, was buried before the high altar 

 of the conventual church, where a costly monu- 

 ment to himself and Agnes his wife had been 

 erected; whilst still more recently, in 1536, 

 Henry Fitzroy, duke of Somerset, had been 

 buried in the same place. As a means of pre- 

 serving the church and establishment, the duke 

 proposed to convert the priory into a church of 

 secular canons, with a dean and chapter. In 

 1539 he petitioned the king to that effect, stating 

 that there lay buried in that church the bodies of 

 the Duke of Richmond, the king's natural son ; 

 the duke's late wife. Lady Anne, aunt to his 

 highness; the late Duke of Norfolk and other of 

 his ancestors ; and that he was setting up tombs 

 for himself and the duke of Richmond which 

 would cost ^^400. He also promised to make it 

 ' a very honest parish church.' At first the king 

 gave ear to the proposal, and Thetford was 

 included in a list with five others, of ' collegiate 

 churches newly to be made and erected by the 

 king.' Whereupon the duke had articles of a 

 thorough scheme drawn up for insertion in the 

 expected letters patent, whereby the monastery 

 was to be translated into a dean and chapter. 

 The dean was to be Prior William,' and the six 

 prebendaries and eight secular canons were to be 

 the monks of the former house, whose names are 

 set forth in detail. The nomination of the dean 

 was to rest with the duke and his heirs. The 

 scheme included the appointment by the dean 

 and chapter of a doctor or bachelor of divinity 

 as preacher in the house, with a stipend of 



But the capricious king changed his mind, 

 and insisted on the absolute dissolution of the 

 priory. The duke found that further resistance 

 was hopeless, and on 16 February, 1540, Prior 

 William and thirteen monks signed a deed of 



' L. and P. Hen. Vlll, x, 144. 

 '' Ibid, xli (i), 325. 



' Styled William Burden, which was probably an 

 oRas for Ixvvorth. 



* L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiv (2), 152, 356. 



surrender.' Two months later the site and the 

 whole possessions of the priory passed to the 

 Duke of Norfolk for j^ 1,000, and by the service 

 of a knight's fee and an annual rental of 

 j^59 5j. \d. The bones of Henry's natural son, 

 and of the late Duke of Norfolk and others, 

 together with their tombs, were removed to a 

 newly erected chancel of the Suffolk church of 

 Framingham, and the grand church of St. 

 Mary of Thetford speedily went to decay. 



Priors of Thetford 



Malgod,' appointed 11 04 



Stephen,' appointed 1 107 



Constantine,* occurs 1131 



Martin,' occurs 1 189 



Peter Vincent,'" occurs 1202 



Richard,'' occurs 1226, died c. 1236'' 



Stephen II," occurs 1240, killed 1248 '* 



William I," occurs 1262 



Vincent,'^ occurs 1279, died c. 1300" 



Reginald de Montargi " al'iai de Eye, elected 



f. 1300 

 Ralph de Frezenfeld," appointed 1302 

 Thomas Bigod,^" appointed 1304 

 William de Ventodoro,^' appointed 1 308 

 Martin de Rinhiaco,"' appointed 131 1 

 Peter de Bosco,"' appointed 1316 

 James de Cusancia,"* occurs 1336 

 Geoffrey de Rochario,^' occurs 1355 

 Roger de Berton,^^ occurs 1370 

 John de Fordham," occurs 1372, 1395 

 John Ixworth,^* appointed c. 1400 

 Nicholas,^' appointed 1430 

 John Vesey,^° appointed 1438 

 Robert Weting,'' appointed 1480 

 Roger BaldrydeBermingham,'^ appointed 1 503 

 William Ixworth,'' appointed 1 5 18, last prior. 



' Martin, Hist, of Thetford, App. xvii. 

 ' Ibid. App. xxix, xxxii. 

 " Ibid. 



' Duckett, Chart. Rec. of Clun'i, ii, 201. 

 ' Ibid. " Ibid. " Ibid. 



" Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 106. 

 " Duckett, op. cit. 



" Matth. Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.), v, 32. 

 " Duckett, op. cit, il, 122-3. 

 '« Ibid. 142. 



" Ca/. Papal Reg. i, 594-5. " Ibid, 



" M.irtin, Hist, of Thetford, 158. 

 ™ Pat. 33 Edw. I, pt. 2, m. 10. 

 " Ibid. I Edw. II, pt. I, m. 18. 

 " Ibid. 5 Edw. II, pt. I, m. 5. 

 " Close, ii, Edw. II, m. l d, \d. 

 " Ibid. 10 Edw. Ill, m. 30 d. 

 '^ Martin, Hist, of Thetford, App. ix. 

 ** Norw. Epis. Reg. Huydon, 10, 5-167. 

 '" Blomefield, Hist, of Norf ii, 108 ; Bp. of 

 Durham, 1381, Ely, I 338. 



'^ Ibid. " Ibid. 



'" Ibid. ; Pat. 18 Edw. IV, pt. I, m. 28. 

 " Pat. 20 Edw. IV, pt. 2, m. 21. 

 ^ Martin, Hist, of Thetford, 159. 

 » Ibid. 



368 



