A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



Agnes de Ryther," occurs temp. Henry VI 

 Joan de Ryther," pardoned 1454, occurs 



I459>" 1470" 

 Maud Tailbusse,^* confirmed 1489, died 



1506 



Anne Langley,'' appointed by lapse 1506 



The 13th-century seal ^ is a vesica, 2f in. by 

 1 1 in., showing a full-length figure of the Blessed 

 Virgin holding cross and book. The legend 

 runs — 



ijt SIGILLV SANCTE MARIE SANCTI lOHANNIS 

 DE APELt' 



37. THE PRIORY OF ROSEDALE 



The priory of Rosedale was founded in the 

 reign of Richard I by Robert, the son of 

 Nicholas de Stuteville, and was under the invo- 

 cation of St. Mary and St. Lawrence.^ 



An inspeximus by Edward II of King John's 

 charter confirming the founder's grant ^ and 

 enumerating a number of other donations is set 

 out by Burton.' 



On 17 October 1306,* in consequence of a 

 visitation. Archbishop Greenfield issued injunc- 

 tions to the prioress and convent. Most were 

 of the usual character, as to the due observance 

 of the rules of the order. Charity was to be 

 cultivated, corrections made in chapter without 

 favour, the nuns not to quarrel, the infirmary to 

 be kept from the going to and fro of seculars, 

 and confessors were not to be indiscriminately 

 chosen by the nuns, but two brothers of the 

 order of Friars Minor were to be chosen, and 

 their names submitted to the archbishop. 



On 22 August 1310° Archbishop Greenfield 

 ordered an inquiry as to certain unspecified 



" Burton, Mon. Ebor. 279. Her grave-slab, 

 charged with a shield impaled, ' dexter three crescents 

 for Ryther, sinister blank, semy of quarterfoils, 

 probably the arms of the nunnery,' was taken from 

 the nunner}' chapel, and for many years served to stop 

 water at a mill, till it was placed in Bolton Percy 

 Church by Mr. T. Lamplough, the rector. The inscrip- 

 tion on it, according to Drake is, or was, ' -)- Orate 

 pro anima Agnetis de Ryther quondam priorisse hujus 

 monasterii . . . xxxiii que obiit prime die mensis 

 Martii MCCCC . . cujus anime propitietur Deus. 

 Amen.' Drake, Eboracum, 386. 



" Baildon, Mm. Notes, i, i 59. 



" Burton, Mon. Ebor. 279. 



" Test. Ebor. iii, 175, 178. 



'^ Burton, Mon. Ebor. 279. 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Savage, fol. 48,5. She is 

 called Langton in Conventual Leases and elsewhere. 



"' Cat. of Seals, B.M. 2661 ; Harl. Chart. 44 A. 5; 

 44 H. 2. 



' Dugdale, Mon. Angl. iv, 3 1 6. 



' Ibid. 317, no. i. 



' Burton, Mon. Ebor. 378, 379. 



* York Archiepis. Reg. Greenfield, i, fol. 87. 



'Ibid. fol. 100^ 



articles urged against the prioress. The nuns 

 and convent were to be sworn and examined 

 privately, all secular persons being removed from 

 their presence. The accounts of the prioress, 

 from the time of her administration, as well as 

 those of the bailiffs and other officials and 

 servants bound to render accounts were to be 

 examined, and the prioress was ordered to render 

 to the commissioners full and complete accounts 

 from the time of her promotion, as well as a 

 statement of the then position of the house, and 

 a further letter was sent by the archbishop to 

 the sub-prioress and nuns, telling them to render 

 an account of the house to the commissioners, 

 as it was when the prioress took office and as it 

 was at the time he wrote. Evidently the charge 

 was one of maladministration. Whether the 

 charges proved against her were those of wilful 

 wrongdoing or merely of incompetent manage- 

 ment, Mary de Ros resigned the office of 

 prioress sent'tens se impotens, and on 30 September* 

 the archbishop directed the sub- prioress and 

 convent to elect ' aliam idoneam et honestam de 

 vestri monasterii gremio monialem in priorissam,' 

 but before any election was made Mary de Ros 

 died, and on I January 131 1 the king, as 

 patron during the minority of Thomas Wake, 

 granted the nuns leave to elect a new prioress.' 



Another visitation of the house was held on 

 Saturday, 28 September 1315,* as a result of 

 which Archbishop Greenfield issued another set 

 of injunctions. A certified statement, showing 

 the credit and debit accounts of the house, was 

 to be sent to the archbishop before the feast of 

 St. Nicholas. The prioress was to see that the 

 defects in the roof of the cloister and other 

 buildings were repaired, alms were to be only 

 given to the poor as the means of the house 

 allowed. An elderly nun of good fame and 

 honest conversation was to have charge of the 

 cloister keys, the sick were to be duly tended, 

 and any nun disobedient and rebellious in re- 

 ceiving correction was for each offence to receive 

 a discipline from the president in chapter and 

 say the seven penitential psalms with the litany, 

 and if still rebellious, the archbishop would 

 impose a more severe penance. 



The archbishop forbade all to accept presents 

 from anybody, or give any, except with the 

 consent of the prioress. Under pain of the 

 greater excommunication no nun was to cause a 

 girl or boy to sleep, under any consideration, in 

 the dormitory, and if any nun broke this com- 

 mand the prioress, under pain of deposition 

 from office, was to signify her name to the 

 archbishop without delay. All nuns of the 

 house were forbidden to wear mantles or other 

 garments of a colour or shade different from 



174 



Mbid. fol. 1 01. 



' Ca/. Pat. 1307-13, p. 301. 



' York Archiepis. Reg. Greenfield, i, fol. 107^. 



