A HISTORY OF 
Burghersh, but its results are not recorded ; 
probably there was nothing striking to record, 
as the house was still in much poverty. In 
13367 an apostate nun was received back 
again and absolved ; three others sought ab- 
solution at the same time, for having aided 
and abetted her in her escape. 
A terrible scandal was revealed by the 
visitation of 1434,7 undertaken by a com- 
mission from Bishop Grey. The prioress of 
the house, Denise Lewelyck, was accused 
of having broken her vow of chastity, to the 
very evil example of her sisters. She was 
called upon to purge herself of the charge, 
but preferred to confess it, and submit herselr 
to the ordinance of the bishop ; and resigned 
her office in the presence of the assembled 
convent and the vicar of Kensworth. It was 
objected against her at the same time that she 
had not kept the rule, and that she and others 
had concealed certain things at the visitation ; 
also that she had allowed one of the sisters to 
withdraw from the monastery. The house 
was evidently in a most unsatisfactory con- 
dition at the time; and the resignation of 
Denise was followed by a long interregnum, 
her successor not being appointed till 1448.° 
No further visitations are recorded. 
The house was surrendered under the Act 
of 1536,! as its income was less than £200 
year, and there may not have been by this 
time as many as twelve nuns. ‘The exact 
date of the surrender is not known, but it 
must have been some time before 10 February 
1537,° when the prioress, Joan Zouche, re- 
ceived for the first time her pension of 20 
marks. 
The first endowment of the priory con- 
sisted of the’ demesne lands, granted by the 
Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s, with another 
portion of land in the neighbourhood, at a 
total rent of gs. annually ;° and tithes from 
Cashio and Watford, Herts, granted by the 
abbot of St. Alban’s.? During the lifetime 
of the first prioress some other small parcels 
of land in Oxfordshire were acquired ; ° 
and during the thirteenth century the tithes 
of Sundon, Streatley, Higham Gobion and 
1 Linc. Epis. Reg., Memo. Burghersh, 353d. 
2 Ibid. Memo. Grey, 89, 149. 
3 Ibid. Inst. Alnwick, 186d. 
4 L. and P. Hen. VIII. x. 1238. 
5 [bid. xiii. (1), 1520. = 
6 Hist. MSS. Com. ix. 66; Dugdale, Mon. iii. 
68. ; 
: 7 Matth. Paris, Gesta Abbatum (Rolls Series), 
"Boot. Ch. xi, 36, xxi g: it was land at 
Deddington, leased by Christine, and alienated by 
the next prioress Isabel for 30 marks of silver. 
BEDFORDSHIRE 
Buckby, Northants. At the dissolution the 
Crown bailiff found the house possessed of 
the manors of Burcester, Oxon; Livesey ; 
and Stokesby, Norfolk ; with parcels of lands 
in Herts, Hunts, Northants, Cambs ; and the 
tithes of Sundon, Streatley, Watford (Herts), 
Kingsbury, Coleshill, Bickenhill and three 
chapels besides in Warwickshire; besides pen- 
sions from Higham Gobion, Buckby (North- 
ants), Bushey (Herts), Eversden Parva (Cambs) 
and Pakinton, amounting altogether to £155 
5s. 1024.° This is in excess of the amount 
given in the Valor Ecclesiasticus, which is only 
L114 165, 1d. 
Prioressrs OF MarKYATE 
Christine," prioress 1145 
Isabel *? 
Joan,!* occurs 1212, 1238 
Agnes Gobion,'* occurs 1259, died 1274 
Isabel Gobion,!® elected 1274, resigned 
1280 
Alice de Basseville,!® elected 1280, died 
1284 
Lora de Kantia,!” elected 1284, died 1291 
Maud of Luton,'® elected 1291 
Bennet or Benedicta of Whitacre,'® elected 
1332 
Joan Power,” died 1349 
Alice Spigurnel, elected 1349 ™ 
Isabel of Ashby,”? resigned 1350 
Joan of Stanbridge,” elected 1350 
Sibyl Attelburgh,™* died 1406 
Elizabeth Benington,”® elected 1406 
Denise Lewelyck,”® occurs 1431, resigned 
1434 (14 April 1433) 
® The Linc. Epis. Reg. shows these churches 
in the gift of the priory from the first. 
10 Dugdale, Mon. iii. 368. 
11 Cott. Ch. xi. 36, etc. 
12 Tbid. xxi. 5 (undated). 
13 Joan, 1212, is in Dugdale, Mon. iii. 368 ; and 
Joan de Fyret occurs 1238 in Linc. Epis. Reg. 
14 Matth. Paris, Gesta Abbatum (Rolls Series), 
i. 387; and Linc. Epis. Reg., Rolls of Gravesend. 
18 Ibid. 
16 [bid. Inst. Sutton. 
17 Tbid. (called Loretta in the next institution). 
18 Ibid. 96. 
19 Ibid. Memo. Burghersh, 242d. 
2 Ibid. Inst. Gynwell, 379. 
2 Tbid. 
22 Tbid. 384. 
23 Ibid. These changes in 1349-50 are probably 
due to the great pestilence. 
24 Tbid. Inst. Repingdon, 290. 
a5 Ibid. 288. Margaret Fawkeswell was elected 
on the death of Sibyl Attelburgh, but not insti- 
tuted (ibid.) 
28 Ibid. Memo. Grey, 89, 149. 
360 
