A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



by William Percy of Dunsley, in the parish of 

 Loftus-in-CIevelafid. 



The advowson of the priory was granted in 

 the reign of King John by Richard Percy to 

 Richard Malebisse and his heirs who were to 

 pay yearly to the convent I lb. of incense in 

 lieu of all services.' 



The earliest allusion in the Archiepiscopal 

 Registers appears to be the appointment by 

 Archbishop GiiFard of William de Bardenay, 

 monk of Whitby, as guardian of Handale and 

 Basedale nunneries, in 1267-8.' Just twenty 

 years later. Archbishop Romanus^ wrote to the 

 Master of Sherburn Hospital near Durham ask- 

 ing him to admit Basilia de Cotum, one of the 

 nuns of Handale, who was stricken with leprosy, 

 and who for fear of contagion could not dwell 

 among healthy women. 



On the Saturday after the feast of St. Michael 

 131 5 ' Archbishop Greenfield held a visitation 

 of the house, and the short series of injunctions 

 which he then issued are the only injunctions in 

 the Registers, as issued to Handale, and they are 

 in general terms almost identical with those 

 sent to Basedale at the same time. 



On 13 May 1318° Archbishop Melton 

 issued a commission to Thomas [deMydelsburg], 

 rector of Loftus, to administer the temporal goods 

 of the Prioress and convent of Handale, to 

 receive the account of the servants, and to sub- 

 stitute more capable ones for those who were 

 useless, and to do whatever appeared to him to 

 be for the benefit of the house. On 12 January 

 1388 ' the dean and chapter, sede vacant e, issued 

 a letter on behalf of Handale, suffering from its 

 poverty, but with the exception of notices of 

 the election of prioresses, there is nothing of 

 importance in the Registers. Two of the records 

 of the election of prioresses (Joan Scott in 

 1504' and Anne Lutton in 1532°) are signifi- 

 cant as they expressly describe Handale as 

 belonging to the Cistercian order. 



Of the external affairs of the house almost the 

 only item of interest that is known is a suit in 

 1301,^° when John de Aslakeby and John 

 Etwatre of Yarm had to answer a complaint 

 made by Ivetta, Prioress of Handale, that they, 

 with certain other persons who are named, had 

 seized and imprisoned her at Yarm, and com- 

 mitted other misdeeds for which she claimed £^0 



' Dugdale, Mon. Angl. iv, 74. 



' Archbp. Giff.ird's Reg. (Surt. See), 54. 



* York Archiepis. Reg. Romanus, fol. 30^. 



' Ibid. Greenfield, ii, fol. 108. 



' Ibid. Melton, fol. 228^. 



' Ibid. Arundel (sed. vac), fol. 9. In 1390 Boni- 

 face IX granted indulgences to those who on the 

 feast of the dedication visited and gave alqis for the 

 conservation of the church and priory of Handale, 

 Cal. of Papal Letters, iv, 393. 



' Ibid. Savage, fol 63. ' Ibid, see fol. 38. 



'" Baildon, Mon. Notes, i, 86. 



as damages. It was not till I July 1303 that 

 the jury found for the defendants, and decided 

 that they had made no trespass on the prioress, 

 as she had alleged. 



At the time of the Suppression " there were 

 ten nuns. It is noted that ' they all be of good 

 liffyng,' and against six of the names ' religion ' 

 is written in the margin, indicating their desire 

 to continue in their vows. Joan Scott, the 

 late prioress, is second in the list, and after her 

 name is added 'aet. got blynd.' At a subse. 

 quent period her name has been struck through 

 with a pen, and the word ' obijt ' written in the 

 margin. Anne Lutton the prioress was assigned 

 a yearly pension of £(> iT,s. ^.d. Three of the 

 senior nuns received pensions of 33/. ^d., and 

 the five juniors 265. 8d. each. 



Handale is not included in the taxation of 

 Pope Nicholas. In 1527" its clear annual 

 value was returned at ;^20, and in the f^a/or 

 Ecclesiasticus^^ at ^13 19/. only. The alms 

 distributed weekly for the soul of Robert Percy, 

 who is called the founder, were two measures 

 (modios) of corn, and 31;/. in money, amounting to 

 £4. gs. 2d. 



When a return was made in 1553 " as to the 

 payment of the pensions to ex-religious, it was 

 stated that, as regarded Handale, Alice Bromp- 

 ton ( 1 6s. 8d.) mortua ut dicitur ; Margaret Lowd- 

 ham (33J. 4fl?.), Isabell Norman and Cecille 

 Watson (each 26^. 8d.) appeared with their 

 patents. 



Prioresses of Handale 



Beleisur, occurs 1208^^ 



Bella,'' occurs 1240 



Avice, occurs 1262,'^ 1269'' 



Ivetta, occurs 1287,'° 1305^° 



Cecilia de Irton, confirmed 7 June 1313," 

 resigned 4 May 1314^^ 



Mariota de Herle, succeeded 1314,^' re- 

 signed 1318^ 



Alice de Hoton, elected 1318,^" resigned 

 1320^' 



Agnes, elected 1320 *' 



Katherine de Gilling, occurs 1413,'' 1417^' 



" Suppression P. ii, fol. I. " Subs. R. 64, no 303. 



" Falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 87. 



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



" Torks. Fines, John (Surt. Soc), 149. 



" Baildon, Mon. Notes, i, 86. 



" Guisborough Chartul. (Surt. Soc), ii, 201. 



"Ibid. 223. "Ibid. 154. 



" Balldon's MS. Notes. 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Greenfield ii, fol. 96 i. 



" Ibid. fol. 108. Both dates as to confirmation 

 and cession of Cecilia de Irton in the Monasticon 

 (M(!«. Angl. iv, 74) are wrong. 



" Dugdale, Mon. Angl iv, 74. 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Melton, fol. 2 2 83. 



"Ibid. " Ibid. fol. 2343. "Ibid. 



" Baildon, Mon. Notes, i, 86. 



" Baildon's MS. Notes. 



166 



