A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



The convent had by that time dwindled to four," 

 of whom the prioress, Margery Hill, received 

 an annual pension of is,** th«= o^^"" ^^^^ ^^^^ 

 a small gift. 



It is not unlikely that poverty prompted 

 their early surrender. As the lead on the 

 church was only worth ^2,*^ it looks as if the 

 building was in ruins." The debts, too, were 

 ^8 9J-. Sd.," while the net income was only 

 ^13 io.f.*' 



Prioresses of Cheshunt 



Isabel,*' occurs c. 1227-74 



Cassandra, occurs 30 September 1250 ^^ 



Dionisia, occurs 1256-7 ^^ 



Alice '2 



Agnes ^ 



Mary, occurs 20 February 1298 ^* 



Helen, resigned 1 309 '' 



Emma de Haddestoke, elected April 1309, 



but the election annulled ^° 

 Alice de Somery, occurs 24 August 1 3 1 1 ^^ and 



28 May 1315 ^' 



•" Paid to three nuns and eight servants of the late 

 priory of Cheshunt ^4 '9^- 4"^- (Mins. Accts. 

 Hen. VIII, no. 1606 [28 & 29 Hen. VIII]). 



*^ L. and P. Hen. VIII, xiii (i), 1520. She was 

 still receiving the pension in 1555 (Add. MS. 8102, 

 m. 9). 



" Mins. Accts. Hen. VIII, no. 1606. The two 

 bells were priced at 60s. Goods and church orna- 

 ments were worth XS' '8/. 42'. The inventory of 

 the articles on 28 May 1536 in the church, hall, 

 dormitory, maidens' chamber, priest's room, buttery, 

 &c. . . . and of the store (K.R. Church Goods, ^) 

 is printed in Cussans, Hist, of Herts. Hertford Hund. 

 267, App. ii. The goods in the chancel, quire and 

 belfry were reclconed at j^8 7/. id., those in the 

 dormitory, including most of the vestments, at 

 [/] \\s. \d. The plate, valued then at [^\ 18/. 4^/., 

 a little later at ^^8 I \s. \d., consisted of two chalices, 

 a salt with cover, a small cross and six spoons (Aug. 

 Off. Misc. Bks. ccclxi, fol. 71). 



*^ The house seems to have needed repairs in 

 '475 (w'U °f Thomas Prowett, clerk, P.C.C. 23 

 Wattys). 



*'' Transcript of Land Rev. Rec. bdle. 66, no. 3. 



<8 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 452. 



*' She was prioress at the time of Humphrey de 

 Bohun's grant, made between William de Mandeville's 

 death in 1227 and his own in I 274. If the charter 

 of Henry III to the nuns was a confirmation of the 

 grant, Isabella must have been prioress c. 1227-40. 



^ Feet of F. 34 Hen. Ill, file 75, no. 1037. 



'1 Hardy and Page, London and Middlesex Fines, 



i, 37- 



'2 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, App. i, 26a. 

 ''Predecessor of Mary [Cal. Pat. 1292-1301, 



P- 376). 



" Ibid. 



" Reg. of Ralph Baldoei (Cant, and York Soc), 

 106-7. 



^ Ibid. 



" Anct. D. (P.R.O.), C 2433. 



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



Tiphania Chaumberleyn, occurs May 1352," 



diedc. 1382-1405 •» 

 Agnes Amys, Tiphania's successor," occurs 



3 December 1415 "* 

 CeciUa Gyfiard, occurs I August 145 1 " 

 Isabel Forest, occurs 8 February 1470 •* 

 Isabel, occurs December 1474, 1475, 1476- 



8265 



Alice Clerk, occurs 1483-8 " 



Margaret Chawry, occurs 30 September 1507," 



30 September 15 11,** 1524 '» and 1532 '" 

 Margery Hill, the last prioress " 



The first seal is a pointed oval of the 12th 

 century,'^ showing the Virgin seated on a throne 

 adorned with animals' heads and feet ; the Child 

 sits on her lap, and she holds a ball in either 

 hand, that in her left having a lily issuing from 

 it. Legend : . . . llvm . c. . . . 



Another seal attached to a document of 1474 '' 

 is a very small pointed oval, on which is shown 

 the Virgin, crowned and enthroned, holding 

 the Child on her right arm and in her left hand 

 a sceptre. 



7. ST. MARY DE PRfi PRIORY, 

 ST. .ALBANS 



The foundation of the nunnery of St. Mary 

 de Pre in 1 194 by Warin, Abbot of St. Albans, 

 was the outcome of a vision. St. Amphibalus 

 appeared in a dream to a man of Walden, and 

 ordered him to tell the abbot to honour the 

 place where the rehcs of himself and his com- 

 panions on their way to the abbey had met the 

 shrine of St. Alban,^ for the spot was very dear 

 to God and those martyrs.* 



In obedience to this direction Warin built 

 there a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary 

 and houses for leprous women,' who were to 

 be veiled and live under a rule. The endow- 



'■' Cal. Papal Letters, iii, 472. 



*" While Robert Braybrook was Bishop of London 

 (Lond. Epis. Reg. Braybrook, fol. 312 d.). 



61 Ibid. 



°^ Cal. Pat. 141 3-16, p. 374. 



" Sharpe, op. cit. ii, 556. 



" Cal. Pat. 1467-77, p. 188. 



«5 Harl. Chart. 44 C 2-10. Probably Isabel 

 Forest. 



86 Ibid. 44 C 11-15, 18-25. 



" Cart. Misc. (Aug. Off.), vol. vii, no. 11. 



6' Dugdale, Mon. iv, 330, no. iii. 



«» L. and P. Hen. VIII, iv, 368. 



'"Ibid, viii, 612. 



" Ibid, xiii (i), 1520. 



" B.M. Seals, Ixiv, 61. 



" Harl. Chart. 44 C 2. 



^ For the imporunce of this encounter see 

 St. Albans. 



^ Gesta Abbat. i, 199-200. 



' Ibid. 201. 



4.28 



