RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



HOUSE OF CLUNIAC NUNS 



42. THE PRIORY OF ARTHINGTON 



The priory of Arthington, the only house of 

 Cluniac nuns in the county,^ was founded by 

 Peter de Arthington, either at the end of the 

 reign of Stephen, or at the beginning of that of 

 Henry H, as appears from an award made about 

 Michaelmas, 26 Henry VI (1447), in a dispute 

 between John Arthington and the prioress and 

 convent.' Peter de Arthington gave the nuns 

 * the place the whilk the said abby is byggyd on, 

 with all the appurtenaunces.' Peter de Arthing- 

 ton's son, Serlo, confirmed and added to his 

 father's gift. Serlo de Arthington's son, another 

 Peter, again confirmed the gifts of his father and 

 grandfather, and added ' one acre of land in 

 Tebecroft, and allso all the watyre that thai may 

 lede to make yam a milne with, and to thair 

 other usez necessarez.' 



Alice de Romeli gave a moiety of * Helth- 

 wait,' and pannage for forty hogs in her wood of 

 Swinden, and common of pasture for the nuns' 

 cattle in the same wood.' These latter gifts 

 were confirmed by Warin Fitz Gerald,* the king's 

 chamberlain, and William de Curcy,' her son, 

 the king's steward, subject to the condition that 

 each of them, and their heirs, should have the 

 right to nominate a nun in the house of Arthing- 

 ton. There is a grant by Edward I, dated 

 6 December 1 306,* to Master Andrew de Tange 

 (for the time it remained in the king's hands, by 

 reason of the minority of Robert, the son and 

 heir of Warin de Insula) of the right of present- 

 ing a girl as a nun of Arthington, a vacancy 

 having occurred there by the death of a nun who 

 was last placed there by the ancestors of the said 

 Robert. 



The church of Maltby, near Doncaster, was 

 given to Arthington, and formally appropriated 

 to it by Archbishop Alexander Nevill in 1377-8.' 

 The nunnery also received other grants of land 

 in the neighbourhood, which are enumerated by 

 Burton in his account of the house,* but it was 

 always a small house. 



' It is included among the Benedictine houses in 

 the Monastkon {vol iv, 518), and Mr. Baildon (Man. 

 Notes, i, 3) heads the list of prioresses ' Benedictine 

 Nuns.' But the Archiepiscopal Registers constantly, 

 with few exceptions, allude to it as of the Cluniac 

 Order, as does the list of nuns in the Suppression 

 Papers at the Record Office (vol. ii, 227). 



'Dugdale, Mojt. Jngl. iv, 518. 



'Ibid. 519. <lbid. 520, no. ii. 



' Ibid. no. iii. 



'Pat. 35 Edw. I,m. 42. 



'Dugdale, Mon. Angl. iv, 519. 



' Burton, Mon. Ebor. 88 



A commission was issued on 20 July 1286 * 

 by Archbishop Romanus, to R. de Pickering, 

 H. Sampson, and R. de la Ford, to visit the 

 house, and this was followed by a letter from the 

 archbishop to the nuns, stating that the visitation 

 had revealed their condition to be so poor and 

 depressed that the income of the house scarcely 

 sufficed for their maintenance. He enjoined 

 them therefore, in virtue of their obedience, not 

 to alienate any land without his special licence. 

 Seven years later (perhaps matters had not im- 

 proved) the same archbishop, on 16 June 1293,'* 

 appointed Adam de Potrington, rector of Kippax, 

 curator and guardian of the temporalities and 

 spiritualities of the nuns of Arthington. On 

 20 January 1299-1300^1 the chapter {iede 

 vacante) granted licence to the sub-prioress and 

 convent to elect a successor to Maud de 

 Kesewik, deceased, and on 27 February ^^ 

 directed William de YafFord, chaplain, to 

 ' superintend ' all the movable goods belonging 

 to the monastery of Arthington at the time of the 

 death of Maud de Kesewik. 



In 1303" Archbishop Corbridge wrote to the 

 Dean of Pontefract regarding the miserable con- 

 dition of Custance de Daneport of Pontefract, 

 who some time previously, deceived by the 

 blandishments of the world, had left her house of 

 Arthington, in which for many years she had 

 been a nun, and had apostatized. She was to be 

 received back and undergo the proper penance 

 prescribed by their rule. 



On 9 June 1307 1* a visitation of Arthington 

 was held, and Archbishop Greenfield at once 

 wrote to the prioress and convent concerning 

 four of the nuns, two of whom, Dionisia de 

 Heuensdale and Ellen de Castleford, were (pend- 

 ing the issue of general injunctions resulting 

 from the visitation) forbidden to go outside the 

 convent precincts. Two others, Agnes de 

 Screvyn (who had resigned being prioress in 

 1303) and Isabella Couvel, appear to have 

 asserted that certain animals and goods belonging 

 to the monastery were their private property. 

 These they were to be monished to resign wirhin 

 three days to lawful and honest uses, according 

 to the judgement of the prioress. 



There must have been discontent in the house 

 rather later, as on 13 March 1311-12^^ the 

 sub-prioress and convent were ordered to render 

 due obedience to Isabella de Berghby, their 



' York Archiepis. Reg. Romanus, fol. 27. 

 "Ibid. fol. 42^. " Ibid. sed. vac. fol. 27. 



"Ibid. fol. 27;^. "Ibid. Corbridge, fol. IC)L 



"Ibid. Greenfield, fol. 63^. 

 "Ibid, ii, fol. 55^ 



187 



