A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



date for the founding of a house of any of the 

 mendicant orders. The church of St. Mary- 

 the-Great of Thetford, on the Suffolk side of the 

 town, which was for a time the cathedral church 

 of East Anglia, had remained desolate, with its 

 unfinished Cluniac cloister, for two centuries, 

 when Henry earl of Lancaster gave the site of 

 the church and convent to the Dominicans. 

 The king confirmed this grant to the friars on 

 20 July, 1335.' Three years later the Earl of 

 Surrey gave them a plot of land 300 ft. by 30 ft. 

 to enlarge their homestead.- In 1347 Henry 

 earl of Lancaster, the son of the founder, granted 

 the site of the Domus Dei, which stood between 

 their cloister and the High Street, which they 

 were to maintain, and hence this friars' house was 

 often termed the priory of the Maison-Dieu or 

 God's House, or else the priory of the Old 

 House.' 



By an exceptional arrangement the priors of 

 the Thetford Dominicans were always nominated 

 by the lords of Thetford ; in 1359 the advowson 

 was definitely settled by fine thus to pass with 

 the domain.* 



A plot of land 300 ft. by 1 6 ft. was given to 

 the friars by Thomas Franceys for the further 

 extension of their premises, and on his death in 

 1 369 they were called to account for having 

 occupied it without licence ; however, the royal 

 pardon for this irregularity was soon forthcoming.' 



A fire in this house, in the year 1410, 

 destroyed the original deed of grant of Henry 

 earl of Lancaster, but the grant was renewed by 

 his grandson, Henry IV. ^ 



On 6 November, 1386, Richard II granted 

 royal confirmation of the privilege that no other 

 order of mendicant friars should have houses 

 founded or built within 300 cannae (about a 

 third of a mile) of their house.' The reason of 

 the Dominicans moving in this matter was the 

 knowledge that John of Gaunt, their own patron, 

 was a great friend of the Austin Friars, and they 

 dreaded lest he should establish them near by and 

 thus interfere with the alms of passengers enter- 

 ing the town by the London road.^ In the 

 following year the duke did introduce the 

 Augustinians, but placed them as far as possible 

 from the Dominicans on the opposite side of the 

 town. 



Boniface IX, on 4 February, 1393, granted to 

 all devout visitors to the Friars Preachers of the 

 Holy Trinity, Thetford, on the principal feasts, 



' Pat. 9 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 26. 



' Ibid. 12 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 7. 



' Ibid. 22 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 33. See the subse- 

 quent account under the hospitals of Thetford. 



* Blomefield, Hist. o/Norf. ii, 84. 



^ Pat. 43 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 17. 



° Grants of Duchy of Lane, xiv, fol. 45. 



' Pat. ID Ric. II, pt. i, m. 3 ; canna is a cloth- 

 yard. 



^Reliquary (new. ser.), i, 199; Blomefield, Hist. 

 .o/Norf. ii, 85. 



who assisted in its maintenance, an indulgence of 

 two years and two quarantines.' 



In 1424 the friars granted to William Curteys, 

 prior of Bury St. Edmunds, and his brethren the 

 use of the best chamber of this house, called the 

 ' common recreatory,' which was henceforth to 

 be termed St. Edmund's House ; they were to 

 occupy it as they liked, but not to grant or 

 alienate it without the consent of the friars. 

 This must have been a great convenience to the 

 abbey of St. Edmunds, a.s it held the patronage 

 and was responsible for the lands of the adjacent 

 nunnery of St. George.'" 



Father Palmer gives a long list of bequests to 

 these Dominicans, and of those who found burial 

 within its church, extending from 1347 to 



I553-" 



This religious house was destroyed in 1538, 



but the month and the day in the deed of 



surrender are left blank. The surrender was 



signed by Richard Cley, prior, and five other 



friars." 



Priors of the Dominican Friars of 

 Thetford '' 



Robert de Berton, occurs 137 1 

 John Wauney, occurs 1386 

 Peter Oldman, occurs 1475 

 Master Dryver, occurs 1505 

 Richard Cley, occurs 1535 



61. THE AUSTIN FRIARS OF 

 THETFORD 



The Austin Friars were brought to Thetford 

 about 1387 by John of Gaunt, duke of Lan- 

 caster, who was a great patron of the order. 

 The founder built for them, on Castle Hill, at 

 the entrance to the town, a church with conven- 

 tual buildings on the south side. In addition to 

 the site he gave them the old church or chapel 

 of St. John on the western side of the town, 

 which they repaired and used as a chapel for the 

 leper hospital there, under the rule of one of 

 their brethren. They also held, by the founder's 

 gift, thirty-six acres of land in Thetford and 

 Barsham, and the profit of the fair of St. John 

 Baptist." 



They had a small grant of lands and tene- 

 ments in Hengham, Aldeby, and other Norfolk 

 townships, in 1389, from Sir Thomas de Morle 

 and other donors. In 1392 a tenement in 

 Thetford that paid izd. a year to the gild of 

 St. Mary's was annexed to the friars.^' 



' Cal. Papal Reg. iv, 450. 

 '" Cott. MS. Claud. A. I 2. 

 " Reliquary (new ser.), 200-2. 

 " Dep. Keeper's Rep. viii, App. 2, 34. 

 " Reliquary (new ser.), 203-4. 



" Martin, Hist, of Thetford (1779), 195-202 ; 

 Blomefield, Hist, of Norf. ii, 87 ; Dugdale, Mon. vi, 



'595- 

 '* Pat. 13 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 16. 



434 



