A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



finally ceded in 1288. An account of this dis- 

 pute will be found in the notice of Bayham. In 

 1365 negotiations were apparently opened with 

 Lewes for the church of Ripe, as the prior of 

 Lewes that year obtained the royal licence to 

 grant the advowson of that church to Michel- 

 ham. 86 This, however, evidently came to nothing, 

 as the church continued in the hands of Lewes 

 Priory till its suppression ; but in 1398 Prior 

 John Leem, pleading the poverty of his house, 

 brought about by decay of buildings, inundations 

 of the sea, and expenses of hospitality, obtained 

 from the bishop of Chichester 87 and Richard II 88 

 with further confirmation from Henry IV 89 

 licence to appropriate the churches of Alfriston 

 and Fletching. 



With the exception of the dispute with Bay- 

 ham concerning the church of Hailsham, the 

 early history of Michelham was quite uneventful, 

 and the first incident that calls for notice is the 

 visit of Archbishop Peckham in June, 1283. 

 The state of the house seems to have been not 

 altogether satisfactory, as the archbishop subse- 

 quently empowered the archdeacon of Lewes to 

 levy fines imposed on the convents of Michelham 

 and Hastings for non-residence and other causes. 

 While he was here John de Kyrkeby, bishop- 

 elect of Rochester, appeared before him and 

 renounced his claims to the bishopric, Peckham 

 having refused him consecration as a notorious 

 pluralist. Twenty years later, on 14 Septem- 

 ber, 1302, Edward I spent a night at the priory 

 on his way from Lewes to Battle. 



About this time other visitors, less honourable 

 but more permanent, began to appear ; thus, in 

 1317 Robert Henry, 'who served the late king,' 

 was sent to the priory, to be maintained, 90 but 

 was refused by the prior, who, when summoned 

 for this contempt of the royal mandate, pleaded 

 that he held in frankalmoign. 91 The failure of 

 this plea is evident, as in 1327 William Alvered, 

 usher of the king's kitchen, was quartered on 

 the convent. 92 



The fearful ravages of the Black Death in 

 1350 seem to have been felt here as elsewhere, 

 and three years later the priory was still suffering 

 from its effects, as we read that 



the prior of Michelham holds of the Queen (as lady 

 of the honour of Pevensey) by service of finding 

 thirteen canons to celebrate divine rites for the souls 

 of Gilbert de Aquila, his ancestors and his heirs for 

 ever ; and of these canons eight are now lacking." 



The monks would seem also to have suffered 

 from the lawlessness which was one of the 



86 Pat. 39 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 28. 



87 Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 68. 



88 Pat. 21 Ric. II, m. 32. 

 "Pat. I Hen. IV, m. u. 

 "Close, 10 Edw. II, m. 5 d. 



" Coram Reg. 1 1 Edw. II, Pasch. 

 91 Close, i Edw. Ill, m. 1 1 d. 

 91 Assize Roll, 941. 



results of the plague, as in 1351 the bailiff of 

 Pevensey by threats and violence extorted an 

 annuity of 30*. from the prior. 94 



A later instance of outside interference occurred 

 in 1437 when Sir Roger Fiennes, the builder of 

 Herstmonceux Castle, ejected the prior and seized 

 the common seal and all the goods of the house. 96 



The commissioners appointed to inquire into 

 the matter replaced the prior and restored the 

 seal and property to him, 96 though before the end 

 of the next year he had been deposed and a 

 successor elected. 97 



As important landowners in the Saltmarsh 

 district of Pevensey Level the priors of Michel- 

 ham were frequently appointed on commissions 

 of sewers for the coast of Eastern Sussex, the 

 earliest instance being in I29O 98 and the latest 

 in 1534." Thus in 1402 the prior of Michelham 

 with John Pelham and William Makenade drew 

 up the statutes of Pevensey Marsh. 100 The prior 

 at this date was John Leem, who held the office 

 of receiver of the honour of Aquila in the duchy 

 of Lancaster from 1377 to I382, 101 and again in 

 1408 ; he was also on a commission of array in 

 141 5, 103 and acted as collector of the clerical sub- 

 sidies in 1380, 1402, and I4io. 103 An earlier 

 prior, in 1335, is found in a commission for the 

 examination of Queen Philippa's manors and 

 parks in the honour of Aquila; 104 in 1340 the 

 prior of Michelham was one of the four assessors 

 first appointed for Sussex to draw up the returns 

 of the ninth of lambs, sheaves, and fleeces. 105 The 

 priors also appear as contributing towards all 

 the usual aids, loans, and grants squeezed from the 

 clergy by the different kings. 



Of the inner life of this house previous to the 

 fifteenth century we have no details, and the 

 first appearance of what we may call the per- 

 sonal note is in 1423, when, at a provincial 

 chapter of the Augustinian Order at North- 

 ampton 106 



there was read a long letter rhetorically written by 

 the prior of Michelham . . . directed against the 

 new abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury ; but 

 because it appeared most certain that it had not 

 sprung from the root of charity, but on the contrary 

 had been designed with no small degree of malice to 

 the disparagement of the said venerable father; there- 

 fore the lords-president ordered that it should be 

 ' buried with those that sleep.' 



A visitation was held in September, 1441, 

 when Laurence Wynchelse was prior ; a sub- 



94 Ibid. K Jctso/P.C.v,6o. 



96 Duchy of Lane. Inq. i, 48. 



97 Ct. R. (P.R.O.), 206, No. 5. 

 "Pat. 1 8 Edw. I, m. 16 d. 



m L. and P. Hen. Vlll, vii, 1498 (22). 



100 Printed in Saw. Arch. CoU. xviii. 



101 Mins. Accts. 441, No. 7081. 



101 Rymer, Feod. '<" Cler. Subs. *-, ft, & 



104 Pat. 9, Edw. Ill, pt. ii. m. 27 d. 



106 Pat. 14 Edw. Ill, m. 42. 



"* Reyner, Hist. Ord. Bened. 175. 



