A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



visitors were to be kindly received, men by the 

 brothers, women by the nuns and sisters, who 

 must never allow secular persons to eat in the 

 private rooms, such as the dormitory ; the 

 prioress was to see that the nuns slept in their 

 beds in one house and the sisters in another ; 

 no brother or sister must go out of the house to 

 roam about ^' or talk to friends or enter a town 

 without leave of the master and consent of the 

 archdeacon ; obedience to the master was 

 enjoined on the brothers and obedience to the 

 prioress on the sisters and nuns. 



The division of the inmates into nuns and 

 sisters holding an inferior position seems not to 

 have been contemplated by Abbot Warin, who 

 intended the house apparently for thirteen 

 sisters, but the mention of a prioress in 1255 

 proves that the two classes existed soon after 

 the foundation.*' Of the proportion of sisters 

 to nuns there is no information, but in 1 341-2 

 there were four sisters,*" in 1 342-3 five,^ and in 

 1352-3 eight nuns besides the prioress.^ As 

 leprosy died out and the house became less of 

 a hospital,''* the distinction was found unsatis- 

 factory, and Abbot Thomas de la Mare (i 349-96) 

 provided that no more sisters were to be 

 received and those there then might become 

 nuns if they wished.^ At the same time he 

 insisted on a higher standard of education. 

 Most of the nuns were so unlettered that they 

 could only repeat one or two prayers,^ but the 

 abbot now required them to learn the service and 

 say it daily, and because they had no books 

 gave them some from St. Albans.*' In the 

 interests of discipline he ordained also that all 

 entering the house in future must profess the 

 rule of St. Benedict in writing and take the vows 

 before the Archdeacon of St. Albans." He did 

 not forget their temporal welfare, but had what 

 was due to them from the monastery noted in 

 a register to prevent its withdrawal at any 

 time.^* 



^' The passage is headed ' Le defence de passir hors 

 de la porte en perigrinage alir.' 



IS W. Page, ' The Hist, of Mon. of St. Mary de 

 Prd, Si. Al'cdns and Herts. Archit. and Arch. Soc. Trans. 

 (New Ser.), i, 12. 



^o Mins. Accts. bdle. 867, no. 21. 



" Ibid. no. 22. 



*- Ibid. no. 25. 



^ In the 13 th century it was generally called a 

 hospital, and represented officially by the master 

 (Feet of F. Herts. 32 Hen. Ill, no. 344 ; 7 Edw. I, 

 no. 97 ; Lay Subs. R. 19 & 24 Edw. I, bdle. 120, 

 no. I and 5). In one instance the prioress and nuns 

 figure with the master and brothers (Add. Chart. 

 19279). 



^* Gesta Abbat. ii, 401. 



2' They said the Lord's Prayer and the ' Hail 

 Mary ' instead of the service. 



2^ Gesta Abbat. ii, 402. 



" Ibid. 



58 Ibid. 401. 



The accounts of the wardens 1341-57 »» 

 provide much information as to buildings,** 

 food " and domestic economy generally. Among 

 the receipts are one or two interesting items : 

 40j^. paid at the entrance of the abbot's sister 

 in 1342-3 ; 15.?. id., paid to Sister Isabella 

 Rutheresfeld for her a]e» in 1350-I ; j^io 

 received from John Kyrkely on becoming a 

 brother of the house in 1352-3.** Every ex- 

 pense is noted, the lock for the larder, thread 

 and pack-needles, wax and cotton for candles 

 and payment to a man making them, the 

 stipend of a brewer for four days and payment 

 to a barber. The servants in 1 350-1 numbered 

 fifteen and comprised three tenatores, appa- 

 rently farmers, a huntsman, cowherd, shep- 

 herd, swineherd, four ploughmen, a maidservant 

 of the kitchen, the nuns' maid, the master's 

 servant, and a man collecting bread and ale for 

 the nuns at St. Albans. The income in 1 341-2 

 was about ^55, the expenses ^{46 ; both were 

 much the same in 1342-3; in 1 350-1 the re- 

 ceipts were ^^63 13J. ^\d., expenses ^75 3^. ()\d., 

 but in 1352-3 the balance was ^£15 on the right 

 side ; so on the whole the management must 

 have been good.** 



Early in the 15th century the nuns received 

 an important addition to their property, 

 Henry V in 141 6 granting them the reversion, 

 after the death of Queen Joan, of the alien 

 priory of Wing, co. Bucks.*^ He also exempted 

 the estate from payment of all subsidies, 

 though owing to an omission in the wording of 

 the grant the convent's claim in this respect 

 was not acknowledged- until 1440.*' On the 

 accession of Edward IV the convent obtained 

 a fresh patent, which mentioned the parish 

 church and its advowson as well as the manor." 



2^ Mins. Accts. bdle. 867, no. 21-6. 



'" Besides the church there is mention of the hall, 

 almshouse and bakehouse, all tiled, the chamber of 

 the brothers, that of the nuns and sisters, the refectory, 

 laundry-house and cowhouse outside the gates. 



^' Their purchases included salt for the larder and 

 white salt for the household, spice, meat, olive oil, 

 milk, cheese, butter and eggs ; in 1350-1 100 fish, 

 called Middelwoxefich ; in 1356-7 1,000 herrings, 

 2 salmon for 4f., 6 salt fish 8/. ; on feast of Nativity 

 of B. V. Mary ox-meat 3/. and 4 geese zod. In 

 1352-3 at each of the six principal feasts the nuns 

 received 60 flagons of ale, and a memorandum was 

 made that they ought to have 100 flagons (ibid, 

 no. 25). 



'^ Ibid. no. 23. 



'' Ibid. no. 25. He was warden of the house in 

 1356 (ibid. no. 26). 



^ \hiA. passim. 



" Cal. Pat. 1416-22, p. 38. It was in his hand* 

 in 1420, and he then gave them the issues (ibid, 

 p. 276). 



'^ Ibid. 1436-41, p. 469. 



" Ibid. 1461-7, p. 53. It cost the convent 

 £() 17/. 6d. (Mins. Accts. bdle. 867, no. 30). 



4.30 



