RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



St. Giles in his first year (i September 1298),^' 

 and from a part of the injunctions which he gave 

 on that occasion, which are legible, it appears that 

 silence was to be more properly observed, and the 

 doors more diligently guarded ; the nuns were 

 not to use large collars, barred girdles, or laced 

 shoes {zolariis longis, zonis barratis et sotularibus 

 laqueatis). 



Archbishop Corbridge issued a commission on 

 <) April 1303 " to Roger de Mar, succentor of 

 York, to correct the matters discovered at the 

 visitation of Swine, and to inquire into the tem- 

 poral and spiritual condition of the house, and to 

 confirm, if needed, the election of a new prioress. 

 There does not, however, appear to be any record 

 of the visitation itself. 



In 1306 "a letter was addressed by Archbishop 

 Greenfield to the rural dean of Beverley, as to a 

 case promoted against John, the son of Thomas 

 the Smith of Swine, for fornication committed 

 with AHce Martel, nun of Swine. On 2 Feb- 

 ruary 1308'' the archbishop wrote to Joan 

 de Moubray, the prioress, and the convent, for- 

 bidding them to make any alienations or new 

 leases of their lands or rents or other property, 

 to the injury of the house, and on 21 April ^° 

 following he forbade them to take boarders, &c. 

 Whether these two letters directly led to her 

 resignation or not does not appear, but a little 

 afterwards'' the archbishop directed the nuns to 

 make due provision for Joan de Moubray, their 

 late prioress. Once again we hear of a case 

 of immorality in a letter addressed in 13 10'* 

 to Roger de DriflSeld [quondam abbati) of Meaux 

 concerning Brothers Robert de Mcrflet and 

 Stephen de Ulram his fellow monks, who had 

 been guilty of incontinence and incest with Eliza- 

 beth de Ruda, nun of Swine. 



On 26 January 1 3 1 8 '' Archbishop Melton 

 issued a commission to Richard de Melton, rector 

 of Brandesburton, to inquire into the excesses of 

 the nuns of Swine, and on 20 February ^ he sent 

 the nuns a long list of injunctions, in which he 

 enjoined the prioress and sub-prioress to keep 

 convent, and ordered that his predecessor's in- 

 junctions were to be observed. The prioress 

 for the time being was to see that the house 

 was reasonably served with bread, ale and 

 other necessaries. The prioress and convent, 

 according to their rule, were to say matins 

 with the other canonical hours each day of the 

 year with note, unless lawfully prevented. The 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Newark, fol. 6, and on 

 15 Sept. 1298 he created Dominus W. Derains, rector 

 of Londesborough, Master of Swine. Ibid. 



"Ibid. Corbridge, fol. 38. 



" Ibid. Greenfield, fol. 34^. 



"Ibid. fol. 112. ^Mbid. fol. 113. 



"Ibid. fol. 118. 



" Ibid, slip between fol. 121 and 122. 



" Ibid. Melton, fol. 273^. 



" Ibid. fol. 274. 



prioress and all who had administration of the 

 goods of the house were without delay to have 

 the dormitory covered, so that the nuns might 

 quietly and in silence be received in it, without 

 annoyance from storms, and they were to have 

 the roofs of other buildings repaired as soon as 

 might be. No nun able to be present at divine 

 offices was to be excused from them on account 

 of any external occupation, unless the great neea 

 of the house demanded it, and as to that the 

 archbishop charged the conscience of the prioress 

 as she would answer to the Most High. The 

 prioress was to make both old and young nuns 

 keep to the cloister at due times, and especially 

 the young ones who had not yet rendered their 

 service. All the nuns, not being sick, were to 

 sleep in the dormitory, and not in different places, 

 causing scandal to arise against them. No bro- 

 thers or other guests were to be received inside 

 the inner door, to eat, drink, or pass the night 

 under any condition. No nun was to presume, 

 under pain of the greater excommunication, to 

 use supertunics, barred girdles, in one combina- 

 tion of garment, outwardly or inwardly cut, or 

 ornamented in a curious fashion. 



On 2 January 131 9-20 *^ the archbishop wrote 

 to the prioress and convent to receive Symon 

 called Chapeleyne and Geoffrey Palmer in fratres 

 vestros et conversoi — an interesting fact, as bearing 

 further on the existence of conversi attached to 

 houses of nuns. 



In September 1320*' the prioress, Josiana de 

 Anlaghby, resigned on account of old age, and 

 the archbishop directed the nuns to make due 

 provision for her, who for a long period had 

 laudably performed her duty. 



In 1335*' William Bomour, conversus of the 

 house of the nuns of Swine, on account of his 

 excesses, which had been found out at a recent 

 visitation, was transferred for a time to the monas- 

 tery of Sawley at the cost of the house of Swine. 

 In 1358" Archbishop Thoresby ordered the 

 nuns to receive back one of their number, Anne 

 de Cawode, who had twice broken her vow and 

 left their house, but no very bad record seems 

 to be charged against her, except the bare fact of 

 her apostasy. 



In 1410," at the request of the Prioress and 

 convent of Swine and the vicar and inhabitants 

 of the parish. Archbishop Bowett transferred the 

 feast of the dedication of the church of Swine 

 from 7 August to the Sunday next before the 

 feast of St. Margaret each year, so as not to 

 interfere with the ingathering. 



The house, here said to be ' of the order of 

 St. Bernard,' although well under the ;^200 limit, 

 was exempted from suppression on i October 



" Ibid. fol. 278. 



" Ibid. fol. 2 79-J. 



" Ibid. 323. 



" Ibid. Thoresby, fol. 198^. 



" Ibid. Bowett, fol. 175. 



181 



