A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



trouble ' in the house, for the archbishop issued 

 a commission to inquire into the defects alleged 

 in St. Clement's, and the prioress resigned. 



Isabella de Stodley, who had been admitted a 

 nun on 2 November 13 15, by permission of 

 Archbishop Greenfield, had been guilty of 

 apostasy and iuper lapsu carnis, besides other 

 excesses. She had been sent by Archbishop 

 Melton to Yedingham, to undergo a penance 

 imposed upon her, and on 30 August 1331 ^^ 

 he directed that she was to return to St. Clement's, 

 adding that if she were disobedient to the prioress 

 or quarrelsome with her sisters, or indulged in 

 blasphemy, he would transfer her to some other 

 house to remain there permanently. 



St. Clement's Church, which served for the 

 nuns, was also the church of the parish, and 

 on 12 July 1464 " Archbishop William Booth 

 transferred the feast of the dedication, which 

 fell on St. William's day (when the church was 

 deserted on account of the parishioners attending 

 the metropolitical church, where St. William's 

 body and relics were preserved), to the Sunday 

 after the festival of St. Peter and St. Paul each 

 year. It seems from the frequent allusions to 

 the anchorite of St. Clement's that it was a 

 permanent position formerly attached to the 

 church. In 1467 it was held by Alice Derby." 



In 1 39 1 " Pope Boniface IX granted a re- 

 laxation of enjoined penance to penitents who on 

 the feast of St. Clement visited and gave alms 

 for the conservation of the Benedictine priory of 

 St. Clement without the walls of York. The 

 will of a lady, who was probably a boarder in the 

 house in the middle of the next century, contains 

 a little information of interest. Elizabeth Med- 

 lay, of the house of St. Clement's in Clementhorpc, 

 in the suburbs of York, directed in her will dated 

 6 January 1470" that her body was to be buried 

 in the conventual church of St. Clement before 

 the altar of St. Katherine. To the high altar 

 she bequeathed her best coat, to the prioress i6d., 

 and to each nun I2(/., and appointed the Lady 

 Margaret Delaryver, the prioress, an executor. 



St. Clement's does not appear at any time to 

 have had more than ten or a dozen nuns, and its 

 revenues when the Fa/or Ecc/esiasticus was com- 

 piled only show a clear annual value of 

 ;^55 IIS. gd}' 



The nunnery was supervised by the com- 

 missioners on 13 June 1536," and suppressed on 



' On 1 1 Aug. 1 3 1 8 Archbishop Melton directed 

 the (rural) dean of Beverley that Johanna de Ledes, 

 who had apostatized from St Clement's, York, was to 

 be sent back to her convent. York Archiepis. Reg, 

 Melton, fol. 270^. 



'" York Archiepis. Reg. Melton, fol. 187,5. 



" Ibid. W. Booth, fol. 222. 



" York Reg. of Wills, iv, fol. loo3. 



" Ca/. of Papal Letters, v, 373. 



" York Reg. of Wills, iv, fol. i6o3. 



" Vahr Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 2. 



" Aug. Off. Views of Accts. bdle. i 7. 



31 August following. There were eight nuns 

 and nine servants. In the account of Leonard 

 Beckwith three bells in the campanile are valued 

 at i-ji. ; there was also a chalice (12 oz.) valued 

 at 441. ; a silver cup (5 oz.) valued at lbs. 8d. and 

 ' ij birral glasses cum reliquijs inclus' in argento,' 

 valued at fx. Drs. Lay ton and Legh reported 

 that the nuns had at St. Clement's, as it was be- 

 lieved, some of the milk of the Blessed Virgin in 

 veneration, and that pilgrimages were made there 

 ad sanctam Sytham. 



The report as to the payment of pensions in 

 6 Edward VI for the city of York is as follows : 

 Clementhorpe." — Isabell Warde [the late prioress] 

 £6 iT,s. ifd. (56 years old), alive and paid ; Agnes 

 Snaynton 6oj. (56 years), alive ; Agnes Ardyngton 

 46J. id. (60 years), alive ; Agnes Symson 461. bd. 

 (60 years), paid ; Jane Gower 40;. (50 years), 

 alive ; Jane Watson 40^. (three score years), behind 

 for one year ; Margaret Carter 40^., died 6 August 

 4 Edward VI ; Matild' Kilborn 40J. (60 years), 

 alive ; Agnes Archer 40J. (38 years) behind for 

 one whole year ; Dorothe Mawe 4OJ. (46 years), 

 alive, behind for a year ; Margaret Elton, ' not 

 herde of ; Agnes Johnson 40J. (40 years), alive ; 

 Jane Fairfax 34;. 4^^. (40 years), alive ; Elizabeth 

 Parker 34J. ^d., ' dyed three yeresagone' ; Elene 

 Bayne 34.(. ^d. (30 years), alive ; Agnes Asleby 

 34J ^d. (40 years), alive. 



Prioresses of St. Clement, York 



Alice, occurs 1 192 '* 



Alcelina, occurs 1221 " 



Agnes, occurs 1235,^° 1245^''* 



Margaret, occurs 1268^' 



Agnes de Wyten, occurs 1279,^^ 1280 *' 



Alice, occurs 1299^^ 



Custance Basy, confirmed 28 August 1315" 



Agnes de Methelay, appointed 1316,'° re- 

 signed 1324 " 



Alice de Pakenham, died 1396 ^' 



Beatrice de Remington, confirmed 1396^* 



Margaret Holtby, resigned 1456'° 



Margaret Delaryver, occurs 1470," died 

 1489=2 



Christabella Longcastre, confirmed 1489" 



" Exch. K.R. Accts. bdle. 78, no. 85. 



" Drake, Eboracum, 248. 



" Feet of F. Mich. 5 Hen. Ill, file 16, no. 14 



" Baildon, Mon. Notes, i, 235. 



'"'Assize R. 1045, m. 44 d. 



" Feet of F. Trin. 52 Hen. Ill, file 51, no. 67. 



" Baildon, Mon. Notes, i, 235. 



" Dugdale, Mon. Angl. iv, 324. 



" Baildon, Mon. Notes, i, 235. 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Greenfield, ii, fol. 88*. 



" Ibid. sed. vac. fol. 85. 



" Ibid. Melton, fol. 162*. " Ibid. sed. vac. 



" Ibid. Arundel, fol. 60. »» Ibid. W. Booth, fol. 8. 



»■ York Reg. of Wills, iv, fol. i6ob. 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Rotherham, i, fol. 6lb. 



" Ibid. 



130 



