RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



' St. Bege monastery, with the rectory of 

 Kyrkeby Beycoke and chapels of Lowse- 

 water, Ennerdale, Eshedale and Wasedale.' 



PRIORS OF ST. BEES 



Robert l 



Deodatus, 2 late twelfth century 

 Richard 3 



Waleran, 4 circa 1197 

 Robert, 5 1202 

 John, 8 circa 1207 

 Daniel, 7 circa 1210 

 Ralf, circa I22O 

 Guy, 8 circa 1235 

 John de Lestingham, circa 1254 

 William de Rothewel, circa 1256 

 Nicholas de Langeton, 9 circa 1258-82 

 Benedict, circa 12826 

 Absalon, 10 circa 1287 

 William de Dereby, circa 1288-94 

 Hugh de Cumpton, circa 1301 

 Alan de Nesse, 11 1313, transferred to 

 St. Mary's, York 



1 Leland, Collectanea, i. 25. 



J He was prior when Abbot C[lement] of York 

 conferred the chapel of Clifton on Waltheof son 

 of Thomas, clerk of Dene. Among his co-wit- 

 nesses was William, prior of Wetheral. 



3 He was the first witness to the grant of 

 Beckermet by William de Esseby and Hectreda 

 his wife to the abbey of Calder. The gift was 

 made for the souls of William, Earl of Albemarle, 

 and of his wife Cecily and of Ingelram, the earl's 

 brother (Arch. JEllana [old ser.], ii. 388). 



4 He was afterwards prior of Neddrum in 

 Strangford Lough, an affiliation of St. Bees, while 

 Thomas O'Conor and Eugene MacGillivider filled 

 the primacy of Ireland, that is, for the latter part 

 of the period between 1185 and 1216 (Dugdale, 

 Man. iii. 574 ; Reeves, Antiq. of Down, 192-3). 



5 He was prior when Richard de Lucy founded 

 the borough of Egremont. The charter has been 

 printed in facsimile in the Cumb. and Westmld. 

 Arch. Sue. Trans, i. 281-5 (see ante, i. 329). He 

 was also engaged in a plea with Richard, son of 

 Peter, in 1202, about land in Whitehaven (Feet of 

 F.,Cumb. 1195-1214 [Rec. Com.] 5). His name 

 occurs often in the chartulary about this date. 



6 Walter of Coventry (Rolls Ser.), ii. 199, with 

 chartulary. 



7 Compare Itin. of K. John (Rec. Com.) with 

 chartulary. 



8 He was a contemporary with Ralf, prior of 

 Carlisle, and William Rundel, prior of Wetheral 

 (Reg. of Wetheral [Cumb. and Westmld. Arch. Soc.], 



345- 



8 Many of his acts have been registered in the 



chartulary of the priory at various dates between 

 1258 and 1282. 

 10 Anct. D., L. 282. 



William de Seynesbury, 13 1360 



Thomas de Brignol, circa 1370 



Thomas de Cotingham, 13 circa 1379 



Nicholas de Warthill, circa 1387 



Roger Kirkeby, 14 1434-6 



Dr. Stanlaw, 16 circa 1465 



John Warde, circa 1474 



Roger Armyn, circa 1485 



Edmund Smyth or Thornton, 18 circa 1496 



Edmund (Whalley ?), 17 circa 1516 



Robert Alanby, 18 circa 1523 



John Matthew, 1533 



John Poule, 1535 



Robert Paddy, 1536-8 



There is an indistinct cast of a seal 19 at the 

 British Museum, showing what appears to be 

 an ornamented cross, the legend of which is 

 defaced. 



An impression of the seal of Prior Absalon, 

 circa 1287, exists. 30 It is a pointed oval, and 

 shows the Lamb of God. The legend is 

 SIGILL' KRIS' ABSALON' PRIORIS DE BIGEE. 



11 Dugdale, Man. iii. 538 ; Pat. 7 Edw. II. pt. i, 

 mm. 20, 15. 



11 Cal. of Papal Petitions, i. 315-6, 357-8. 



13 The name of this prior is found often in 

 leases of that date. His grave-cover is still in 

 existence, though in a sadly mutilated condition. 

 It is a fine example of an incised stone bearing the 

 figure of a monk. Around the edge of the slab 

 runs the legend : me JACET [BONE MEMO] RIE 



PRATER THOMAS DE COTYNGHAM QUONDAM PRIOR 



HUJUS ECCLESIE QUI OBIIT ANNO DNI MCCC 



CUJUS A?E PPl' DE'. 



14 Jefferson, Leath Ward, p. 495 ; Dugdale, 

 Man. iii. 539. 



15 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. x. App. pt. iv. 227 

 (Lord Muncaster's MSS.) 



18 In 1496 William Senhouse, Bishop of Carlisle, 

 was called in to settle a dispute between the prior 

 of the cell of St. Bees and Christopher Sandes 

 about falcons on St. Bees Head (fro falconibus in 

 lez berghe). The priory was vacant or the prior 

 was absent in 1498, for in that year William son 

 of Christopher Sandes entered into an agreement 

 with Thomas Barwyke, custos of the cell of St. 

 Bees, about the bounds of the land of Rottington. 



17 L. and P. Hen. VIII. iv. 2216 ; Dugdale, 

 Man. iii. 539. As Edmund Whalley succeeded 

 Edmund Thornton as abbot of St. Mary's,York,in 

 1521, it is probable that both of them had been 

 previously priors of St. Bees. 



18 He was late prior of Wetheral and St. Mary's, 

 York. During his priorate, in 1523, there was a 

 threatened invasion by the Duke of Albany, and 

 there are interesting letters between the prior and 

 Lord Dacre, Warden of the Marches, in Add. 

 MS. 24,965, ff. 96, 99. 



19 B.M. Seals, 3953. 20 Anct. D.,L. 2 82. 



I8 3 



