RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Thomas Westwode, occurs i6 January 1452 " 



and 25 February 1465** 

 Thomas Albon, occurs 5 August 1476,^" 30 June 



1480 ^ and June 1492 ^* 



3. HERTFORD PRIORY 



The Benedictine priory of St. Mary of Hert- 

 ford, a cell of St. Albans Abbey, was built about 

 the end of the nth century ^ by Ralph de Limesi 

 for six monks who were to be sent from St. 

 Albans.* Ralph gave as endowment a good 

 hide of land at Hertford, the church of Pirton 

 with tithe of his land and that of his men and 

 2J hides of land,^ the mill, pasture for the oxen 

 of the monks' ploughs with his own and feed for 

 their pigs in his woods ; a carucate of land in 

 Itchington (co. Warw.) and certain tithes there 

 and in Ulverley in Solihull (co. Warw.),* 

 Cavendish (co. Suffolk), Bibbesworth in Kimpton 

 (co. Herts.), Epperstone (co. Notts.), and ' Torp.' 



The charter was confirmed between 1108 and 

 1123^ by Henry I, who granted the priory sac 

 and soc, tol and team, infangthef and its own 

 court. The monks received from Ralph later 

 the church of AmweU with tithe,* and from his 

 wife Avice land of her dower in Bradwell, on 

 condition that she had three corrodies ' from the 

 priory while she lived, and that after her death 

 another monk was added to the convent. 

 Several other members of the Limesi family 

 figure as protectors and benefactors. Alan, 

 Ralph's son, besides confirming his father's gifts 

 to the monks, granted the church of Itchington^; 

 Gerard, his son,* gave them land in Cavendish 

 and Itchington and forbade interference with 

 their jurisdiction in places owned by them " ; 

 John son of Gerard de Limesi^ acquitted their 



*^ Reg. of St. Albans (Rolls Ser.), i, 1 2. 



" Ibid, ii, 30. so Ibid. 145. 



" Ibid. 228-31. "=' Add. Chart. 34350. 



^ It is said to have been founded in the time 

 of Abbot Paul (1077-93) {Gesta Abbat. \, 56-7). 

 Ralph died apparently in 11 30 (Hunter, Gt. Roll oj 

 the Pipe 3 1 Hen. I [Rec. Com.], 60). 



»Lansd. MS. 863, fol. 157 d. 



' The land in Hertfordshire was reckoned at ^30. 

 See charter of confirmation by Henry I (ibid. fol. 

 lS9d.). 



^ See F.C.H. Warws. \, 340, n. 8. 



« When Ranulf was chancellor (Lansd. MS. 863, 

 fol. I59d.). 



' Alan de Limesi's charter of confirmation (ibid, 

 fol. 158). 



' She was to have three * prebendas ' when she 

 chose (ibid.). 



8 Lansd. MS. 863, fol. 158. 



'He occurs in 11 61-2 (Red Bk. of Exch. [Rolls 

 Ser.], 29). 1" Lansd. MS. 863, fol. 158 d. 



"John de Limesi occurs in 1 196-7 and 1199- 

 1200 {RedBk. of Exch. [Rolls Ser.], no, 126). He 

 died in 121 2 or 1 21 3 {Rot. de Oblat. et Fin. 1199- 

 1216 [Rec. Com.], 507). 



41 



tenements within his fee of scutage and made 

 over to them the church of Cavendish," while 

 from his sister Amabel de Limesi they acquired 

 land in Bibbesworth.^* 



Their possession of the benefits granted was 

 not always left unquestioned. In the reign 

 of John they had to prove by their charters 

 their exemption from services demanded of 

 them in Amwell by Ralph de Limesi." About 

 the same time Wiscard Ledet, owner of the 

 chapel of Ramerick in Ickleford, disputed their 

 right to the sum of 5^. payable apparently as 

 tithe from the mill there. The monks, how- 

 ever, agreed to supply a chaplain to celebrate 

 mass four days a week in Wiscard's chapel ^^ 

 and were allowed the 5^. and 2oi. more. 



The question whether the Abbot of St. Albans 

 or the Bishop of Lincoln ought to have juris- 

 diction over the priory was settled in 1219,^' 

 when it was decided that the prior must be 

 presented to the bishop and do canonical obedi- 

 ence to him for benefices in his diocese, but that 

 he was to be appointed by the abbot, who 

 also had the right to select and remove the rest 

 of the convent and to check abuses there. 



Gilbert, Earl Marshal, after the accident 

 in the tournament at Ware, June 1241, was 

 carried to Hertford Priory, where he died 

 and his viscera were buried.^' Contrary to 

 expectation, the occurrence was the reverse of 

 profitable to the house : the earl's brother 

 Walter at the time promised the convent a 

 rent of 60s., but afterwards refused to fulfil his 

 obhgation, and subjected the prior to some 

 persecution into the bargain.^* 



Small gifts were occasionally made to the 

 monks for special purposes. Thus Richard de 

 Puteo c. 1200 gave them 12 acres of land in 

 Bibbesworth for their kitchen," and in 1258, at 

 the instance of Abbot John,*" once Prior of 

 Hertford,^ a rent of 2J-. was assigned to 

 maintain the ornaments and hghts of an altar, 

 probably that of St. Mary, in their church.** 



The indulgence of ten days granted by the 

 Bishop of Lincoln in 1302 to those going to 

 the altar of St. Theobald in the priory and 



12 Lansd. MS. 863, fol. 159. 



" Charter of David de Lindsey (ibid. fol. I59d.), 

 who was one of the Limesi heirs (Dugdale, Hist, oj 

 Warwickshire, 343 ; V.C.H. Herts, iii, 46). 



1* Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 95. 



15 Add. Chart. 1 5470. 



1* Gesta Abbat. i, 275-7. 



1' Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj. iv, 136. 



18 Ibid. 495. 



" B.M. Chart. L. F. C. x, 12. He held the land 

 of John de Limesi. 



2» Ibid, vi, I. 



21 Gesta Abbat. i, 312. 



22 B.M. Chart. L. F. C. vii, 6. Some of the 

 work of Richard the Painter, 1240-50, was done 

 here (Matt. Paris, op. cit. vi, 202). 



