RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



{convivia) in her chamber. She frequently wore 

 a surplice {superpeUitio) without a mantle, in 

 quire and elsewhere, contrary to the manner of 

 the dress of nuns and the ancient custom of the 

 priory. The nuns who had lapsed into the sin 

 of fornication she reinstated far too easily. She 

 allowed nuns to receive presents from their 

 friends for their maintenance. John Monkton, 

 by whom the house had suffered scandal, fre- 

 quently played ad tabulas with the prioress in 

 her chamber, and she supplied him with drink. 



Peremptory injunctions were issued to the 

 prioress and nuns on 8 July 1397 that John 

 Monkton alias Alanson, Don William Aschby, 

 chaplain, William Snowe, and Thomas Pape 

 were not to have conversation or companionship 

 [comitivam) with them, or with any nun of the 

 house, except in the presence of two of the older 

 and honest nuns, under pain of excommunica- 

 tion. The nuns were not to allow clerks to fre- 

 quent their priory without a reasonable cause. 



Nuns who were ill were to be compelled to go 

 to the infirmitorlum and were to be supplied there 

 with necessaries from the revenues of the church 

 of Askham. None were to use silk clothes, es- 

 pecially not silken veils nor valuable furs, nor 

 rings on their fingers, nor tunics pleated [laque- 

 atis), or with brooches {fibulatis), nor any juph, 

 anglic6 ' gounes,' after the fashion of secular 

 women. Nor for the future were the commem- 

 orations of souls to be in any way omitted, under 

 the pain for two whole weeks carentiae camisarum 

 juarumcunquej 



The little nunnery of Monkton affords two 

 instances of the expenses incurred in the ' mak- 

 ing ' of a nun. 



In 1429-30,^ Richard Fayrfax ' scwyer, on 

 tyme lorde of Walton,' made arrangements that 

 his daughter ' Elan ' should be made a nun of Nun 

 Monkton, and with that object he enfeoffed his 

 nephew, Mr. Brian Fayrfax, clerk, and his brothers 

 Guy, John, and Thomas and a certain Edmund 

 Woodcok in the manors of Walton and Folifayt 

 (Follifoot) of an annual rent of 5 marks ' gangyng 

 out of ye milne of Thorpparch,' and other pro- 

 perty, willing ' yat my doghtir Elan be made nun 

 in ye house of Nun Monkton, and yat my saydes 

 feffis graunt a nanuel rent of fourty schilyngs 

 gangyng out ye maners of Folifayt and Acaster 

 Malbis . . . terme of ye lyffe of ye sayd Elan 

 to ye tym be at sche be a nun.' His feoffees 

 were to pay 19 marks 'foryemakyng of ye sayd 

 Elan Nun.' He naively added that ' if sche will 

 be no nun ' his wife and feoffees were to marry 

 her at their discretion. She became a nun, how- 

 ever, and as ' dompna Elena Fayrefaxe ' was 

 admitted to the Corpus Christi Guild, York, in 

 1445.' The other instance is headed, 'Expensae 

 factae super et pro Elizabetha Sywardby facta 



' Dugdale, Mon. Angl. iv, 1 94. 



«Add. Chart. 1782. 



' Reg. Corpus Christi Guild, 44. 



moniali in Munkton,' " and is part of the inven- 

 tory of the effects of Elizabeth widow of William 

 Sywardby (or Sewerby as the name is now spelt.) 

 She had bequeathed to her niece Elizabeth, 

 daughter of John Sewerby, a considerable sum to 

 enable her to become a nun of Nun Monkton, 

 The sums expended were ,^3, which the prioress 

 and convent of Nun Monkton claimed by custom 

 to have as their fee ; £1 ^ V- 7 i^- f°'' Elizabeth 

 Sewerby's habit, and other ' bodily utensils,' as 

 well as a 'competent' bed; ^^3 lU. 4^. ex- 

 penses on Sunday next after the feast of the 

 Nativity ofthe Blessed Virgin Mary (7 September) 

 1470, spent on the prioress and convent and 

 the friends of Elizabeth Sewerby ; and 2s. to 

 brother John Hamylton for preaching on the 

 occasion. 



A copy of a survey (29 Henry VIII) of the 

 demesnes of Nun Monkton Priory after its disso- 

 lution is printed in the Monasticon^^ but there 

 is an earlier survey for 27—8 Henry VIII. ^^ 



Prioresses of Nun Monkton 



Maud de Arches (first prioress), temp. 



Stephen ^' 

 Agnes, occurs 1224-7 ^* 

 Amabel, occurs 1240^' 

 Avice, occurs 1251,-'° 1268^' 

 Mary, occurs 1278^' 

 Mariota, occurs 1278-9-'' 

 Alice de Thorp,^" died before 1346 

 Margaret Willesthorpe,^^ confirmed 1365, 



died 1376 

 Isabel Neville, elected 1376^^ 

 Margaret Fayrfax, occurs 1393 ^' 

 Margaret Cotam,^* occurs 1404 

 Maud de Goldesburgh, elected 1421,^* 



occurs 1429^' 

 Margaret Watir, occurs 1473^' 

 Margaret, occurs 1514^^ 

 Joan, occurs 1535^' 



'"'Test. Ebor.ni, 168. In both instances a pay- 

 ment had to be made prior to the admission of 

 the new nun. This was a simoniacal transaction 

 frequently denounced by the archbishops in visitation 

 decreta. A voluntary offering might be made, but the 

 claim to receive ^3 at Nun Monkton according to 

 custom was an infringement of the rule. 



" Dugdale, Mon, Angl. iv, 195. 



"Mins. Accts. Yorks. 27-8 Hen. VIII, no. 119. 



" See above. " Baildon, Mon. 'Notes, i, 165. 



"Ibid. 'Mbid. 



" Dugdale, Mon. Angl. iv, 193. 



"Add. Chart. 17962 (i). 



"Assize R. 1055, m. 46. ='» Test. Ebor. i, 31. 



" Dugdale, Mon. Angl. iv, 193. 



"Burton, Mow. Ebor. 88. 



^' Test. Ebor. i, 1 89. ^* Baildon's MS. Notes. 



" Burton, Mon. Ebor. 88. '" Baildon's MS. Notes. 



"i?<f. Corpus Christi Guild, York, 92. 



*' Willis, Mitred Abb'ies, ii, 280. 



"' Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 255. 



123 



