A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



which is in common form. Special features are 

 that the nuns were not to linger in the hostilaria 

 or elsewhere for amusement with outsiders after 

 compline, and that they were not to wear red, 

 or unsuitable clothes, nor supertunics too long, 

 like secular women, as some had begun to do. 



The doors of the church, dormitory, and those 

 round the cloister were to be closed at the proper 

 time. At the election which followed the 

 resignation of Emma de Waltringham in 13 lO* 

 the names of the nuns are given : Emma de 

 Waltringham, the late prioress, comes first, and it 

 is said ' consentit in dominam Margaretam de 

 Alta Ripa, et eligit earn,' Beatrice de Neuton, 

 the sub-prioress, comes next ; then follow in order 

 Matildis Gurneys, Matildis Dine, Alicia Vghtred, 

 sacrista, Maria de Preston, Margareta Chauncy, 

 celeraria, Hawisia de Barton, Isolda Cayvill, 

 cantrix, Elena Gra, alia sacrista, Helewis de 

 Langtoft, senex domina, Matildis de Wyktoft, 

 Lucia de Collurn, hostelaria, Margareta de 

 Brampton, alia celeraria, Agnes Dareyns, Juliana 

 Darreyns, Isabella de Milington, Agnes de 

 Lutton, and Johanna de Portington ; nineteen, 

 who all voted for Margaret Dawtrey. From 

 this it appears that there were then twenty nuns, 

 and it is added, ' nee sunt plures moniales in 

 domo predicta.' 



In 1312 ' one of them, Agnes de Lutton, got 

 into trouble, and Archbishop Greenfield imposed 

 the usual penance for immorality. 



A commission was issued in 1319^" for the 

 election of a prioress, but no names are mentioned. 



In 1348" Archbishop Zouch wrote to Isabella 

 Spynys, the prioress, commending her for her 

 good government, and granting her, if she decided 

 to resign, to occupy for life certain buildings 

 adjoining the common cellar. These had been 

 constructed by contributions from her relations 

 and friends. 



In 1397 the house was in a bad financial state, 

 and the Chapter of York (both see and deanery 

 being vacant) issued a letter ^^ on behalf of the 

 nuns, whose revenues had become so small that 

 they were insufficient for their sustenance. In 

 1409 '' Archbishop Bowett issued a commission 

 to inquire respecting the excesses and defects of 

 Eleanor Dakyrs, the prioress. 



Little is known of the subsequent history of 

 the nunnery. In 1526 its clear annual value 



' The account of the election- occurs on three slips 

 of parchment, inscribed between folio 118 and folio 

 1 1 9 of Archbishop Greenfield's register. 



' York Archiepis. Reg. Greenfield, ii, fol. 94^. 



"Ibid. Melton, fol. 276. 



" Ibid. Zouch, fol. 193. 



" Ibid. sed. vac. fol. 217. Pope Boniface IX had 

 also granted, on 20 Dec. 1 389, a relaxation of penance 

 to penitents who on the feast of the dedication visited 

 and gave alms towards the conservation of the church 

 of the Benedictine priory of Wilberfoss ; Cal. of Papa! 

 Letters, iv, 393. 



" Dugdale, Men. Angl. iv, 354. 



was returned as only ^^12, the smallest of any 

 monastery in the East Riding except Nunburn- 

 holme." There were at the Dissolution eleven 

 nuns " including Elizabeth Lord, the prioress, 

 ' all of good conversation.' Against all the 

 names, except that of the prioress and the three 

 younger nuns whose names come last, is written 

 the word ' religion,' indicating that they desired 

 to keep their vows. The prioress received a 

 yearly pension of ;^8, the others either 331. i,d. 

 or 2i>s. 8d., two however only receiving 20s. 



Prioresses of Wilberfoss 



Christiana, occurs 1231 to 1235'° 



Letitia, occurs 1240" 



Isabella, living 1276 '^ 



Emma, occurs 1298" (de Waltringham), 



resigned 1310^° 

 Margaret Dawtrey, elected 1310^^ 

 [Name unknown] elected 1319^^ 

 Isabella de Spynys, occurs 1348 ^' 

 Agnes, occurs 1396 ^^ 

 Eleanor Dakyrs, occurs 1409 "^ 

 Emmota Farethorpe, occurs 1438^^ 

 Elizabeth, occurs 1464^' 

 Anne Kirkby, confirmed 1475,^^ resigned 



1479'' 

 Margaret Easingwald, confirmed 1479,'° died 



1512 



31 



Elizabeth Lord, confirmed 1512,'^ last 

 prioress 



" S.P. Dom. 1526 (Return made by Brian 

 Higdon). 



" Suppression P. (P.R.O.), ii, 64. 



"B2Mon,Mon. Notes, i, 2z6. "Ibid. "Ibid. 



" Coram Rege R. 155, m. 26. 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Greenfield, fol. 1 19. 



" Ibid. " Ibid. Melton, fol. 276. 



"Ibid. Zouch, fol. 193. 



" Baildon's MS. Notes. 



" Dugdale, Moti. Angl. iv, 354. 



" Reg. of Wills, York, iii, fol. 542. John Appilby 

 of Wilberfoss by will (17 Sept. 1438) bequeathed 

 ' domine Emmote Farethorpe priorisse de Wilberfosse 

 unum lectum ad electionem suam propriam,' and 

 named her his executrix. 



" Mentioned in charter of confirmation ; Dugdale, 

 Mon. Angl. iv, 356, no. v. 



" York Archiepis. Reg. G. Nevill, fol. 175. 



" Ibid. L. Booth, fol. 1 11. "> Ibid. 



" Ibid. Bainbridge, fol. 42^. Her gravestone was 

 moved to Pocklington Church, where it still remains j 

 Arch. Joum. v, 337. 



" Ibid. Elizabeth Lord after the Dissolution went 

 to live at York, where her sister had married George 

 Gale, goldsmith and Lord Mayor of the city in 1534 

 and 1549. Elizabeth Lord died in I 550-1. In her 

 will (^Test. Ebor. vi, 307) she directed that her body 

 was to be ' buried in the grownde within the churche 

 of the Holie Trinitie in Gotheromgate, in the ladie 

 quere, nyghe unto my broder's stall in the said 

 churche.' In 1553 the site of the priory of Wil- 

 berfoss was granted to her brother-in-law, George 

 Gale ; Reg. of Corpus Christi Guild, York, i 74 n. 

 26 



