A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



be too rigid nor too gentle, but was to mingle 

 oil with wine in making corrections. The 

 usual injunctions were given as to limiting exeats 

 to fifteen days, and not selling corrodies, &c., or 

 taking boarders without special licence. Richard 

 de Breuse, kt., who through his wife Alice 

 had become patron, conceded to the nuns the 

 right to choose a prioress upon each vacancy, 

 who was to be presented to the patron for the 

 time being, and also to the archbishop, and he 

 and his wife renounced all personal claim in the 

 choice of a prioress.^* 



In 1494 Innocent IV granted the prioress and 

 convent the right of electing a discreet priest to 

 be their confessor.^^ 



Two entries only occur in the Taxation in 

 1 291, the temporalities of the house in the arch- 

 deaconry of Cleveland {£^5 ^^^- 2<^-), and the 

 church of Yedingham {£6 131. 4^.).'° On 

 29 July 1456" Archbishop Booth granted an 

 indulgence of forty days to all penitents who 

 contributed to the reparation of the conventual 

 church and of the buildings of the priory of 

 Yedingham, which on account of the notorious 

 poverty of the house were ruinous : some had 

 actually fallen, and others threatened. 



A grant was made 14 July 1530 to Thomas 

 Stokall, priest, of the ' parish priestshipp ' of Sin- 

 nington, and in December 1538 the reversion 

 of the same was granted to Thomas Hew, priest, 

 immediately after Sir Robert Stokall, who then 

 held the same. The latter, it may be added, 

 still held the post in 33 Henry VIII, and in the 

 account of John Beckwith, receiver, the rent 

 of the rectory of Sinnington is set down at 

 j^5 1 8/. 4^., besides ^^4 the stipend of Robert 

 Stokall, curate.'' It is evident from these grants 

 that Sinnington must have been a donative in 

 the absolute gift of the house of Yedingham. 



There are a great many other leases and grants, 

 dating from about 1350 to the Dissolution, 

 belonging to Yedingham among the Conventual 

 Leases at the Record Office ; one especially, dated 

 in the chapter -house of Yedingham 12 May 

 1352," is of interest. It is a grant made from 

 Alice Pykering, prioress, and the convent of 

 Yedingham of a yearly corrodium mon'iale^ given 

 in return for an unspecified sum of money to 

 Emma daughter of Nicholas Hert of Westerdale. 

 She was to receive, among other benefits, each 

 week seven conventual loaves of wheat, 3 J lagenas 

 of the convent ale, and to be provided with flesh, 

 fish and cheese from the kitchen, like a nun of 

 the house, and was to share in all small pittances 



" Dugdale, Mon. Angl. iv, 275, no. iv ; Burton, Mon. 

 Ebor. 286. 



" Burton, Mon. Ebor. 286. 



" Dugdale, Mon. Angl. iv, 274. 



" Conventual Leases (P.R.O.), Yorks. no. 1096. 



'* Dugdale, Mon. Angl. iv, 278. 



"Conventual Leases (P.R.O.), Yorks. no. 1075, 

 1079. 



like a nun. Further, she was to have ten sheep, 

 and ten ewes with lambs till the time of their 

 separation, at the convent's charge and in their 

 pasturage. A certain building called ' le chese- 

 house,' with solar and cellar, was assigned her 

 to dwell in, and in return she promised to work 

 faithfully as long as she could, ' circa lacticinia ** 

 infra dictam domum del' chesehouse,' according 

 to the orders of the prioress and cellaress. When, 

 however, 'amplius laborare non poterit causa 

 senectutis vel infirmitatis,' then the convent was 

 to grant Emma Hert an honest place for her bed 

 and other belongings in their house que vacatur le 

 sisterhouse, for the rest of her life. 



At the Dissolution ^' there were nine nuns 

 besides Agnes Bradrigge, aged forty-one, the 

 prioress, who received a yearly pension of 

 £6 13^. 4^/. ; two of them received yearly 

 pensions of 40^., and the others of 26f. 8^. 

 They are described as 'all of good maner of 

 liiFyng,' and against each name, except one, the 

 word ' religion ' is written in the margin, indi- 

 cating an intention to remain in their vows. 



When an inquiry was made as to the payment 

 of pensions, the return (7 Edward VI) ^^ for the 

 North Riding says Agnes ' Braddreges' and Agnes 

 Butterfield ' appeared not,' Joan ' Horton ' ap 

 peared with her patent, Anne Paycok appeared 

 not, Elizabeth Ferman appeared with her patent, 

 and Jaine Foster appeared with her patent, ' and 

 is behynde for a holle yere at Michelmas last past.' 



Prioresses of Yedingham 



Sibil,'' 1219 



Beatrix ^ 



Emma de Humbleton, 1241 '" 



Gundred, 1280 '« 



Margaret Scard,''' 1290'* 



Alice," 13002" 



Alice, 1335^^ 



Joan Percehay, 1348'' 



Margaret de Lutton,'' died 1345 



Alice de Pickering, elected 1352'* 



Gundreda '' 



'° Lacticinia, milk foods, cheese, &c. 



" Suppression P. (P.R.O.), ii, 76, 81. 



" Exch. Accts. bdle. 76, no. 24. 



" Baildon, Mon. Notes, i, 229. 



" Guisborough Ckartul. ii, 306. 



" Dugdale, Mon. Angl. iv, 275. 



»« Fine R. Trin. 8 Edw. I, fol. 60-110. 



" Burton, Mon. Ebor. 287. 



'' Baildon, ut supra. 



" Dugdale, Mon. Angl. iv, 275. 



" Baildon, ut supra. 



" Conventual Leases, Yorks. no. 1063. Dugdale 

 says (Mon. Angl. iv, 275) that Alice died in I 33 1. If 

 so, the next prioress bore the same name. 



" Test. Ebor. i, 53. " Burton, ut supra. 



** Dugdale, Mon. Angl. iv, 274. Alice was prioress 

 in 1358 ; Conventual Leases, Yorks. no. io8o. 



" Burton, ut supra, possibly the same as Gundred, 

 misplaced here. 



128 



