A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



The visitation of six years later, when Margaret 

 Studefeld was prioress, was in every way satis- 

 factory ; there was nothing to report.^ 



The Valor of 1535 gave the clear annual 

 value of the house at £^0 6s. 2d. A stipend of 

 £$ 6s. 8(/. was paid to the chaplain for officiating 

 in the church. 



In the winter of 1 535-6 the religious houses 

 of Norfolk were exposed to the visitors of Crom- 

 well's appointment, John ap Rice and Dr. 

 Legh. It is fortunate, so far as this small 

 nunnery is concerned, that by all the laws of 

 evidence and of ordinary probability, there is not 

 the slightest reason to give credence to their 

 astounding charges. They actually wrote down 

 that the prioress had given birth to one child, 

 two of the other nuns had children by single 

 men, and another two children, one by a priest 

 and one by a layman ! ^ But on the heels of 

 these vile informers came the county commis- 

 sioners, who made a long and thorough inquiry 

 into the conditions of this house. These gentle- 

 men had no object whatever in anything but a 

 truthful report ; they did not hesitate to give 

 credence to scandal in three out of all the many 

 religious houses of the diocese. Of this priory, 

 however, they reported of the four religious persons 

 found there that ' ther name is goode,' and still 

 more definitely, on the actual deposition of the 

 prioress they wrote, Bonti fama et conversatio. 

 They reported that there were four women 

 servants and two hinds that had their living at the 

 house ; that the lead and bells were worth £^^0 4^., 

 and the house in requisite repair ; and that the goods 



were worth ;^I5 51. '&d. ; and that the house was 

 not in debt, and had no debts owing to it.* 



On the day of the suppression the three nuns 

 received 265. 8^. each as 'rewards,' that is, sums 

 of ready money until pensions were arranged, 

 Margaret Studefeld, the prioress, had no reward 

 assigned her.* 



The commissioners certified on 16 February, 

 1537, to the sale to Henry Webbe of all the 

 goods and chattels of this house, except the plate, 

 for £c). The plate in Richard Southwell's keej)- 

 ing was valued at 1 15^. 



Prioresses of Crabhouse 



Catherine ^ 



Cecilia,^ 1249 



Christian de Tilney,* c, 1 2 70 



Agnes de Methelwold,' elected 1315 



Margaret Costayn de Lenn,^" elected 1342 



Olive de SwafFham,^' elected 1344 



Cecilia de Welle,^^ elected 1 35 1 



Cecilia Beaupre,^' elected and died 1395 



Matilda Talbot," elected 1395 



Joan Wiggenhall,^' elected 1420 



Margaret Dawbeny,^^ elected 1445 



Etheldreda Wulmer,^' elected 1469. 



Elizabeth Bredon,'^ occurs c 1500, 1514 



Margaret Studefeld, occurs 1520, last prioress 



There is a cast of an imperfect impression of 

 a thirteenth-century seal of this nunnery at 

 the British Museum. It is a pointed oval 

 (2X li in.) of an eagle displayed. Legend : — 



^ s' SANCTI . lOHANNIS . EWANGELISTE " 



HOUSE OF TRINITARIAN CANONS 



40. THE PRIORY OF INGHAM 



A small priory of the Order of the Holy 

 Trinity for the Redemption of Captives was 

 founded at Ingham by Sir Miles Stapleton of 

 Bedale, Yorkshire, in the reign of Edward III. 

 The founder was lord of this town through 

 marriage with Joan daughter and heiress of 

 Sir Oliver de Ingham. This Order of Trini- 

 tarians, as they were usually termed, was founded 

 in 1 1 98. Their possessions were to be divided 

 into three parts : one portion for the redemption 

 of captives, according to the rule of St. Victor; 

 another part for the relief of the poor ; and the 

 remaining third for their own subsistence. There 

 were twelve houses of the order in England, of 

 which Ingham was the last to be founded.' 



' Jessopp, T^orw. Visit. (Camd. Soc), io8-io, 168. 



^ L.andP. Hen. Fill, -x, 144. 



^ The Trinitarians had at one time upwards of 

 250 houses throughout Christendom. It was esti- 

 mated in the seventeenth centurj- that since its foun- 

 dation the order had rescued 30,720 Christian captives 

 from the infidels. 



In March, 1355, Innocent VI issued his 

 mandate to the bishop of Norwich to grant 

 licence to Miles de Stapleton, knight, lord of the 

 town of Ingham, to rebuild and enlarge the 

 church of Ingham, of the value of 26 marks, in 

 his patronage, and to elect therein a college, 

 in honour of the Holy Trinity and All Saints, 

 of thirteen religious, one of whom was to be 

 the prior or warden and another the sacrist, 

 making it a conventual church with due statutes 

 and ordinances, the rights of the bishop and 

 archdeacon being preserved.'" 



' Chant. Cert. Norf. No. 90. 

 * Suppression Papers (P.R.O.) ^^ 

 « Add. MS. 4731. 



' Ibid ; occurs same year in Assize R. 560, m. 30 a', 

 where Catherine is called her predecessor. 



« Add. MS. 4731. ' Norw. Epis. Reg. i, 63. 



"Ibid, ill, 61. " Ibid, iv, lOI. 



" Ibid. 133. " Ibid, vi, 219. 



"Ibid. "Add. MS. 4731, fol. 51. 



" Norw. Epis. Reg. x, 60. " Ibid, xi, 172. 



" Jessopp, h'or-u<. Fisit. (Camd. Soc), 108. 



" B.M. kix, 15. «> Cal. Papal Reg. iii, 56. 



410 



