A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



Letitia," occurs 29 September 1418,"* 

 10 October 1419,*' 1434 and 29 September 

 1435 «« 

 Eleanor, occurs 4 November 1465 " 

 Joan Chapel, removed March 1480-1 *' 

 Elizabeth Webbe, appointed March 148 1,*' 



occurs 1500 or 1501 ** 

 Agnes Wakefield, occurs November 1528 °' 

 Joan Pygot, occurs 2 March 1537"° 



6. CHESHUNT PRIORY 



Nothing is known about the foundation of 

 the priory of St. Mary, Cheshunt,^for Benedictine 

 nuns except that it took place before 1 8 Decem- 

 ber 1 183, for Pope Lucius III then issued a bull 

 in its favour.^ By this its property was taken 

 under the papal protection, the celebration of 

 service was allowed there during an interdict, 

 the nuns were to have their own chaplain to 

 minister in their church, and a cemetery in which 

 they and others who so desired could be buried ; 

 the election of the prioress was to belong to the 

 convent and to be free ; archbishops and 

 bishops were not to levy undue contributions 

 from them ; and none was to molest them or 

 carry off their possessions. 



Henry II in 1 186 made the nuns a gift 

 from the issues of Winchester.* In 1229 

 Henry III ordered that they should have 

 peaceful possession of a virgate of land in 

 Feltham, co. Middlesex, given them by William 

 de Rivers,^ and in 1240 gave them all the lands 

 and tenements formerly held by the canons 

 of Cathale.^ Possibly this charter merely 

 confirmed the grant of Humphrey de Bohun, 

 Earl of Hereford and Essex,' by which the 



^' Letitia Wyttenham in Cott. MS. Nero, D vii, 

 fol. 148 d. 



«2 Ct. R. (Gen. Ser.), portf. 178, no. 32. 



'^ Ibid. no. 31. 



'* Ibid. no. 32. It has been supposed that Dame 

 Juliana Bernes, Barnes, or Berners, author of The 

 Book of sports and Heraldry, was a Prioress of Sopwell 

 in the 1 5th century, but no evidence has come to 

 light in support of the story, though its truth is not 

 impossible, as can be seen from the present list. It is 

 perhaps more probable, if she was connected with the 

 priory, that she was a lady boarder in it. 



" Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A 2491. 



" Reg. of St. Albans, ii, 239. " Ibid. 



•* Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 245, no. 28. No 

 surname is given. 



^' Aug. Off. Convent. Leases, iv, no. 140. 



" L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xii (l), 571 (i). 



^ Also called St. Mary of Swetmannescrofte, see 

 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xi, 519 (12). 



^ Transcript made March 1 459-60. London 

 Epis. Reg. Fitz James, fol. 35. 



^ Pipe R. 32 Hen. II, m. 12 d. 



* Cal. Close, 1227-31, p. 149. 



' Cal. Chart. R. 1226-57, P- 253. 



' Dugdale, Mon. iv, 329, no. ii. 



convent received all the land given to the 

 brothers of Cathale by Humphrey's uncle, 

 William de Mandeville, viz., that which lay 

 between the priory's estate and the bounds of 

 Enfield Park, pasture for 15 horses, 60 oxen, 

 and 100 sheep, and pannage for pigs in the 

 park, and a special entrance into the park for 

 them and their carts ; in return they were to 

 find a chaplain to celebrate for ever for the souls 

 of William de Mandeville, Humphrey and his 

 wife Maud. 



The nuns in 1 290 petitioned the king for help in 

 distress caused by a fire, and although nothing 

 was done then,' in 1297 they were excused 

 from payment of the eleventh out of compassion 

 for their poverty.* Not many years passed 

 before the same misfortune again befell the 

 priory. An undated petition from the nuns to 

 the king and council,* begging for a renewal of 

 their charters destroyed by fire, says that their 

 house, church and goods have been twice burned, 

 to the great impoverishment of the convent ; 

 from their lands and rents they have an income 

 of only £26 on which to support thirteen ladies, 

 two chaplains and other ministers and servants, 

 and they therefore ask that they may acquire 

 more property in mortmain. To their first 

 request assent was made, and the exemplifica- 

 tion in 1315^" of the charter of 1240 seems to 

 have been the result. 



It was doubtless the priory's special need that 

 moved the Bishop of Lincoln in 1312 to offer 

 an indulgence of thirty days to those con- 

 tributing to the fabric of the conventual church, 

 dormitory and other places of the house, or to 

 the maintenance of the ' poor handmaids of 

 Christ ' themselves.*^ The poverty of the 

 convent was evidently considered by Ralph 

 Bishop of London, their diocesan, in dealing 

 with a case there in April 1 309." The nuns had 

 elected a prioress whom the bishop refused to 

 confirm as unfit for the post ; he thought, 

 however, that the difficulties of the house might 

 perhaps be more quickly overcome by one of 

 the convent than if a stranger were appointed ; 

 he therefore allowed them to elect a second time. 

 The sale of their Feltham property in 1 3 1 1 " 

 may have been forced on them by necessity. 



Protection to the prioress for two years was 

 granted in 1323,** 1325" and 1331" by the 

 king. 



' Pari. R. i, 53J. 

 * Cal. Close, 1296-1302, p. 115. 

 ' Anct. Pet. no. 1886, file 38. 

 ^^ Cal. Pat. 1313-17, p. 292. 

 ^' Line. Epis. Reg. Memo. Dalderby, fol. 237. 

 12 Reg. of Ralph Baldock (Cant, and York Soc), 

 106-7. 

 " Anct. D. (P.R.O.), C2433. 

 ^* Cal. Pat. I 321-4, p. 323. 

 1' Ibid. 1324-7, p. 191. 

 1° Ibid. 1330-4, p. 108. 



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