RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



sub-prioress. 17 In the following month the 

 bishop visited Easebourne and found matter 

 enough for reformation. 18 Silence was ill-kept, 

 and the prioress was lax in enforcing the statutes; 

 moreover her kinsmen constantly stayed for 

 weeks in the house enjoying the best of every- 

 thing, while the nuns had to put up with the 

 worst. A certain ' brother William Cotnall,' 

 who appears to have had control of the priory's 

 affairs and the common seal, had used the latter 

 for the advantage of his friends and had also dis- 

 posed of certain jewels for his own benefit ; he 

 further admitted having had improper relations 

 with Philippa King, one of the nuns, who had since 

 absconded with another sister, Joan Portesmouth, 

 in company with a chaplain and one of the earl 

 of Arundel's retainers. One of the sisters attri- 

 buted the apostasy of these two nuns to the ill- 

 discipline of their superior, coupled with the fact 

 that they had each had one or more children 

 long before their withdrawal. Another sister 

 said that she had heard that the prioress herself 

 had had one or two children many years before. 

 It would almost seem that this remote priory 

 served as a kind of reformatory for young women 

 of good family who had strayed from the path of 

 virtue. 19 Xhe bishop's injunctions following on 

 this visitation are not preserved. 



A visitation held in August, 1521, shows a 

 better state of affairs ; the cloisters required re- 

 pair, but the prioress had already bought the 

 necessary materials, and the only other complaint 

 was that the prioress, Margaret Sackville, did 

 not pay her sisters their annual allowance of 

 13*. 4^. for clothing. As no accounts were 

 produced for examination the visitor adjourned 

 the visitation to 1 7 October. 20 The community 

 at this time consisted of the prioress, four pro- 

 fessed nuns, and one novice, Joan Sackville, but 

 in 1524 there were seven sisters besides the 

 prioress ; of these, however, one is noted as 

 twelve years old and another as ideota. On 

 this occasion 21 the chief complaint made by the 

 nuns was that the sub-prioress was too strict ; 

 she, however, retorted by complaining of their 

 disobedience, and the visitor contented himself 

 with ordering her to behave well to her sisters. 

 No very serious matter was brought forward, 



17 Suss. Arch. Coll. ix, .14, from Chich. Epis. Reg. 

 Story, fol. 42. 



18 Ibid. fol. 23. 



19 For an example of a married woman guilty of 

 adultery who retired to the small Norfolk nunnery of 

 Crabhouse, see Norf. Arch. Sac. xiii (3), 352. 



10 Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 104. 

 81 Ibid. pt. ii, fol. 95. 



though the sub-prioress mentioned that Ralph 

 Pratt, farmer of the church of Easebourne and 

 apparently receiver of the priory, some twelve 

 years before had led astray Joan Covert, then a 

 sister of the house. Orders were given for the 

 prioress to render account yearly, and for the 

 door leading into the church from the cloister to 

 be kept locked. The privacy of the nuns in 

 their portion of the church of Easebourne was 

 further provided for by Sir David Owen, who 

 had succeeded to the patronage, when he made 

 his will in 1529, giving instructions for the 

 building of a covered wooden passage from the 

 nuns' dorter to the choir. 22 Sir David also left 

 to the priory many ornaments and rich vest- 

 ments, but his pious care was in vain, for he out- 

 lived the nunnery, dying only in 1542, whereas 

 the priory being only of the clear value of 

 29 i6s. "]d. n was suppressed in 1536, and 

 granted to Lord Treasurer FitzWilliam. 2 * 



PRIORESSES OF EASEBOURNE 



Alice, before 1279 25 

 Isabel de Montfort, occurs I3O2 26 

 Edith, occurs 1313 27 

 Beatrice, occurs 1327 23 

 Mary, occurs 1339 29 

 Margaret Wyvile, occurs 1^62^ 

 Margery, occurs 141 1 31 

 Elizabeth, occurs 1440 32 

 Agnes Tawke, occurs 1478 33 

 Margaret Sackville, occurs 1 52 1, 34 surrendered 

 i 53 6 35 



The seal 36 is not now known, but was oval, 

 with the Virgin and Child under a carved 

 canopy ; in base a man handing a book to a 

 seated nun (?). Legend : 



SIGILLUM DOMUS SANCTE MARIE DE ESEBORNA. 



" Suss. Arch. Coll. vii, 29. 

 " Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 323. 

 14 L. and P. Hen. nil, xi, 202 (37). 

 K Pat. 12 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 2. 



18 Rot Par/. (Rec. Com.), i, 147. 



27 Epis. Reg. Dioc. Exeter, Bp. Stapeldon, 387. 

 88 Suss. Arch. Coll. ix, 4. 



19 Pat. 12 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 2. 

 30 Suss. Arch. Coll. ix, 6. 



51 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 47. 



38 Ibid. Praty, fol. 94. 3S Ibid. Story, fol. 23. 



14 Ibid. Sherborn, fol. 103. 



L. and P. Hen. nil, xi, 202 (37). 



* Dallaway, Hist, of Rape of Chich. i, 238. 



