RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



those accustomed to be worn by religious, and 

 no unprofessed sister was to wear the black 

 veil. 



The prioress and sub-prioress were ordered 

 ' not to allow puppies to enter the quire or church, 

 which would impede the service and hinder the 

 devotion of the nuns. Those nuns who were 

 allowed out to visit their parents or friends 

 were to return within fifteen days, and no 

 corrodies were to be granted, or boarders, &c., 

 received without the archbishop's special licence. 



On 17 May 1321 ' Archbishop Melton 

 wrote to the Prioress and convent of Handale, 

 that he was sending to them Isabella Dayvill, 

 nun of the house of Rosedale, vestri ordinis, who, 

 contary to the honesty of religion, had apostatized. 

 She was to undergo her appointed penance in 

 their house, was to be last in the convent, was 

 to talk to no one, secular or religious, and not to 

 go out of the precincts of the monastery. Every 

 Friday she was to fast on bread and water, and 

 every Wednesday to abstain from fish, and on 

 each of those days was to receive a discipline in 

 chapter from the hands of the president. 



On 21 November 1322,^" owing to the 

 ravages of the Scots, the monastery of Rosedale 

 suffered so severely that the nuns were dispersed, 

 and the archbishop wrote to Nunburnholme to 

 receive Alice de Rippinghale, to Sinningthwaite 

 to receive Avelina de Brus, to Thicket to receive 

 Margaret de Langtoft, and to Wykeham on 

 behalf of Joan Crouel, nuns of Rosedale ; and it 

 is noted that another nun, Eleanor Dayvill, 

 entered the house of Hampole, with letters from 

 the queen. If Isabella Dayvill was still at 

 Handale this would account for six nuns, and 

 as there is no mention of the prioress it is probable 

 that she, and probably another nun to keep her 

 company, were able to remain at Rosedale. 

 This would bring up the number to eight, and 

 it appears that another nun, Joan de Dalton, 

 had been previously sent away, for the arch- 

 bishop (3 June 1323)^^ ordered that she should 

 be re-admitted. This would account for nine nuns 

 belonging to Rosedale, and that is believed to 

 have been the number usually forming the 

 convent. From the date of Joan de Dalton's 

 re-admission it is evident that the dispersion of 

 the nuns did not extend beyond six months. 



In 1326^^ Brother Adam, late a conversus of 

 this house, with tears and prayers, kneeling 

 before the prioress and convent in the presence 

 of witnesses, asked forgiveness for his many 

 ofiFences against the convent and sought release 

 from his vows and profession. They released 

 him from the profession of obedience he had 

 made in their house to God, Blessed Mary, 



' York Archiepis. Reg. Melton, fol. 238. 



" Ibid. fol. 240. 



" Ibid. fol. 241. 



" Ibid, slip between fol. 244 and 245. 



and Blessed Lawrence, he on his part renouncing 

 all right he had in the house of Rosedale, and 

 this they notified to the archbishop. 



In a taxation of Rosedale in 1378-9," eight 

 nuns are named, including Joan Colvyle the 

 prioress. On i September 1534 Archbishop 

 Lee dealt with the case of Joan Fletcher," who 

 had been professed as a nun at Rosedale and was 

 subsequently appointed prioress of the neigh- 

 bouring nunnery of Basedale. That office she 

 had resigned to avoid deposition, and she was 

 sent back to Rosedale by the archbishop to 

 undergo the penance he had imposed upon her. 

 But as she had shown no sign of repentance 

 the archbishop wrote to the Prioress and convent 

 of Rosedale to send her to Basedale again, which 

 house she once ruled as prioress, that where she 

 was not ashamed to sin, there she might lament 

 her misdeeds. The archbishop speaks of Base- 

 dale and Rosedale as houses of the order of 

 St. Benedict, and the question has been mooted 

 as to whether Rosedale was a Cistercian or a 

 simple Benedictine house. In at least three 

 places in the Registers Rosedale is definitely 

 stated to be Cistercian,^* and in one instance, 

 indeed, as of the order of St. Augustine.^^ This 

 may be compared with the description of Hampole 

 in the Suppression Papers," ' prioratus sive domus 

 monialium beate marie de Hampall ordinis sancti 

 Augustini et de regula sancti Benedict! Cister- 

 ciensis,' and of Kirklees as ' ordinis sancti 

 Barnardi et de regula sancti Benedicti Cister- 

 ciensis,^' and Arthington as ' domus monialium 

 Cluniencis ordinis sancti Benedicti.' ^' 



At the time of the suppression there were 

 eight nuns besides the prioress. The house 

 was supervised on 7 June and suppressed on 

 17 August 1535. The nuns, at the time of 

 the suppression, employed twelve men and boys. 

 There were two small bells in the ' campanile,' 

 valued together at lO^., of gilt plate a chalice 

 and three maser bands are reckoned, weighing 

 24 oz., and of plate parcel-gilt there was a 

 chalice and a goblet with a [? cover] weighing 



2i|oz." 



" Subs. R. 63, no. II. In I 29 1 the old taxation vs^as 

 j^22, the new ^5 = Pope'N'uh. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 325. 

 In 1527 the clear annual value was ^^25 os. i,d. 

 (Subs. R. 64, no. 303), and according to Valor Eccl. 



(v, 144). £37 12^- I'i- 



" York. Arch. Journ. xvi, 431. 



" York. Archiepis. Reg. Geo. Nevill, fol. 102^ ; 

 Wolsey, fol. 62, %6b. On 29 Sept. 1290 Arch- 

 bishop Romanus sent Elizabeth Rue, nun of Swine, 

 to Rosedale vestri ordinis. 



'« Ibid. Thoresby, fol. I34<5. 



" Suppression P. ii, fol. 176. 



" Ibid. fol. 189. 



" Ibid. fol. 227. In all cases the Benedictine rule 

 was that professed with certain ' reforms.' Cistercian 

 abbots in their oaths of canonical obedience used the 

 phrase ' secundum regulam sancti Benedict!.' 



'" K.R. Aug. Views of Accts. bdle. 1 7. 



175 



