RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



in Hawhby Church. The monks condoned 

 the nuns in regard to all dams, inclosures for 

 animals, the rough words of their men, and 

 other irregularities ; while Muriel, the prioress, 

 and the nuns conceded to Byland free transit 

 and passage for the abbot and convent's carriages 

 over the lands of the nuns ; and both parties 

 agreed never more to urge any cause against the 

 other in court, but to amend any wrongs which 

 the one might do to the other in a friendly 

 manner between themselves/ 



Nothing further is heard of Arden till October 

 1302,* when Archbishop Corbridge committed 

 the care of the temporalities of the house to 

 brother Robert de Colville, canon of Newburgh. 

 In 1304' Juliana, the prioress, wrote to the 

 dean and chapter [sede vacante), asking to be 

 relieved of her ofEce as she had been stricken by 

 paralysis, and was incapable of ruling the house. 

 Accordingly the dean and chapter issued a man- 

 date on 21 November 1304 to the Archdeacon 

 of Cleveland to install the new prioress.* 



In 1306,' Archbishop Greenfield, in conse- 

 quence of a visitation of Arden, wrote to the 

 prioress and convent that for the good of their 

 house and other causes he had absolved Brother 

 Robert de Dent, conversus of Arden, from his 

 vow and profession of obedience, and that Dent 

 had made oath on 'the archbishop's pectoral cross 

 that he would urge no claim against the house of 

 Arden. The archbishop was sending him to 

 Furness, and had written to the abbot to receive 

 him, and as Dent had done much for the nuns 

 of Arden, he charged them 40^. for some new 

 clothes for him, and half a mark for his expenses 

 to Furness. The archbishop also dealt with the 

 case of Joan de Punchardon,^" one of the nuns, 

 who had become a mother. She was recalled by 

 the archbishop to Arden, and was there to under- 

 go salutary penance till she manifested signs of 

 contrition. The nuns were for the future to 

 have as confessors two brothers of the order of 

 Friars Minor, approved by the archbishop for 

 hearing confessions and imposing penances. 

 There were not to be more than two, and their 

 names were to be submitted to the archbishop 

 speedily. The nuns were to provide a master 

 or guardian of their goods, and specially one to 

 look after their husbandry. 



This letter was followed by a decretum^^ 

 in which orders were made for the general 

 regulation of the nunnery. The rule of St. 

 Benedict was to be observed in all its articles. 

 Those convicted of faults were humbly to sub- 

 mit to correction. When the prioress kept her 



' The monks of Byland first settled at Hood Grange 

 near Arden, and retained till the Dissolution a large 

 portion of the lands at Hood. 



° York Archiepis. Reg. Corbridge, fol. z6b. 



' Ibid. sed. vac. fol. 43. ' Ibid. fol. 44. 



' York Archiepis. Reg. Greenfield, i, fol. 863. 



" Ibid. " Ibid. 



chamber she was to have a nun with her, not 

 always the same, but now one, then another, so 

 that no sinister suspicion of levity could arise. 

 The infirmary was to be properly managed. 

 No one was to be received as nun hy compact, 

 as that involved the guilt of simony, but a nun 

 was only to be received from the promptings of 

 love. No girls or boarders were to be taken, 

 nor any nuns or sisters, nor was any man to be 

 received as a conversus without the special licence 

 of the archbishop or his successors. Within 

 eight days from the receipt of the decretum, all 

 secular girls staying in the house without 

 authority were to be removed, as well as every 

 useless servant who was a burden to the house : 

 also all dogs and puppies, so that the straitened 

 revenues of the house might be devoted to the 

 poor. None of the nuns' wood was to be sold, 

 more particularly large trees, without licence, 

 and no corrodies were to be granted. The 

 officers of the house were to render proper 

 accounts, twice, or at least once a year, and all 

 the buildings, especially the church, refectory, 

 and chapter-house, which needed repair, were to 

 be attended to. 



On 28 August, 1311,^^ Archbishop Greenfield 

 wrote to the prioress and convent that Clarice 

 de Speton, one of their nuns, who had been 

 guilty of incest with Geoffrey de Eston, bailiff 

 of Bulmershire, had appeared before him in a 

 contrite mind, that he had granted her absolution, 

 and he enjoined the nuns to receive her kindly, 

 and impose on her the proper penance. 



In January 1314^' Archbishop Greenfield 

 confirmed the election of Beatrice de Cotton as 

 prioress, and directed that an inventory of all 

 the goods of the house should be made. On 

 13 November 1320 ^* Archbishop Melton issued 

 a proclamation that Margaret de Punchardon, 

 nun of Arden, had asked that she might be 

 inclosed in a proper and worthy place, so that 

 she might serve God more strictly hj leading the 

 solitary life. The archbishop had made inquiry 

 as to her past life, and found her worthy, and in 

 May following '^ he ordered her inclusion in the 

 house of St. Nicholas, Beverley, oh frugem meliorh 

 vite in company with Agnes Migregose, already 

 a recluse there. 



In January 1323-4^' Archbishop Melton 

 appointed Thomas Fox, rector of Gilling, and 

 John de Speton custodians of the affairs of the 

 nuns; and in February 1328-9" he issued a. 

 commission touching the election of a prioress in 

 place of Isabella ' Couvel ' (Colville) who had 

 resigned. A short time afterwards ^* Beatrice de 

 Holm, nun professed of the house, was elected 



"Ibid. fol. 100. 



" Ibid, ii, fol. 104(5, 105. 



" Ibid. Melton, fol. 234^. 



" Ibid. fol. 282^. 



" Ibid. fol. 2433. 



Ibid. fol. 251. 



Ibid. 



113 



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