A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



Agnes Croke, elected 15 17," occurs 1530,*" 

 and at the dissolution of the house, March 



1537" 



9. ROWNEY PRIORY, GREAT MUNDEN 



A small priory for Benedictine nuns was 

 founded in honour of St. John Baptist c. 1164^ 

 by Conan Duke of Brittany and Eari of Rich- 

 mond, at Rowney in the parish of Great 

 Munden, and endowed by him and later owners 

 of property in the neighbourhood with tene- 

 ments there of the annual value of 10 marks.^ 

 Among these benefactors were Richard son of 

 Gilbert de Munden, John son of William de 

 Munden, Stephen, Andrew and Richard de 

 Scales,^ Richard and Gerard de Furnival,* Guy 

 DelaviUe and Reginald de Tanet,* the grant of 

 the last in ' Chelsea,' * with that of Stephen de 

 Scales in Munden receiving the confirmation of 

 Pope Alexander.' The lords of the manor of 

 Great Munden were as such patrons of Rowney,* 

 which meant that at the election of a prioress 

 their consent had to be obtained.* 



It has been said that during the 14th century 

 the priory was comparatively wealthy,^' but 

 for this idea there seems little or no ground. 

 The advowson of the priory in 1302 was worth 

 nothing, because of the poverty of the house,'^ 

 the regular income of which according to a 



*' Line. Epis. Reg. Wolsey and Atwater, Inst, 

 fol. 47. 



'" Doc. of Bp. of Lincoln at Exchequer Gate, Visit, 

 of Bp. Longland. She also occurs several times 

 between March 1521 and June 1 534 (Aug. Off. 

 Convent. Leases, iv, no. 114, 115, 119, 1 20-30, 



133. '34)- 



'• Mins. Accts. Hen. VIII, no. 1606. 



* Dugdale, Man. iv, 342. 



* Pat. 37 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 1 5, printed in Dugdale, 

 Mon. iv, 343. The wording of the document implies 

 that the benefactors therein mentioned were owners 

 of the lordship of Munden, but apparently this was 

 not true of all. 



' Stephen de Scales, who lived in the time of 

 Henry II, and Richard, who died 1230, held the 

 manor of Little Munden ; Andrew de Scales was 

 instituted rector of that place in 12 19 (Cussans, Hist. 

 0/ Herts. Broadwater Hund. 148, 155). 



^ Two of this name were owners of Great Munden, 

 the second dying in 1 2 19 (Chauncy, Hist, jintiq. of 

 Herts. 341). 



* Perhaps Reginald de Tany, who occurs in the 

 reien of Henry II (Red Bk. of Exch. [Rolls Ser.], 



346, 379)- 



'' Possibly Chelsing in Bengeo, not far &om Rowney. 



' Dugdale, Mon. iv, 344, no. iii. In all proba- 

 bility Pope Alexander III, 11 59-81. 



* Feet of F. Herts. 1 3 Edw. I, no. 1 57 ; 32 Edw. I, 

 no. 388 ; 26 Hen. VI, no. 138. 



' Line. Epis. Reg. Lexington RoUs (Huntingdon 

 Archd. anno 4). 



'" Cussans, op. cit. Broadwater Hund. 140. 

 ^1 Chan. Inq. p.m. 30 Edw. I, no. 31. 



rental of c. 1336-7 was ij \s. 4J<f.," and there 

 is no proof that the convent received any con- 

 siderable gifts afterwards. 



Luke, rector of Throcking, was made master 

 of the nunnery in March 1302," Richard 

 Punchard of Willian chaplain in 1318 at the 

 request of the prioress," while in February 

 1327-8 the administration of the house was 

 committed to Ralph, rector of Great Munden." 

 John Prior of Wymondley in 1 302 was appointed 

 confessor to the nuns.*' One of the convent in 

 December 1350 received a papal indult to 

 choose a confessor who might give her plenary 

 remission at the hour of death.^' 



Out of the scanty information extant about 

 Rowney a large proportion is discreditable to 

 the nuns. From the Court Rolls of Munden 

 Furnival in 1375 " it appears that the prioress 

 had then been guilty of a hand-to-hand scuffle 

 with a chaplain called Alexander of Great 

 Munden, each being fined for drawing blood 

 from the other, and the lady having also to pay 

 for raising hue and cry unjustly on her opponent. 



An order was issued in 1401 for the arrest of 

 one of the nuns, Joan Adilesley, who was wander- 

 ing about in secular dress"; and a visitation 

 of the house in 141 8 *" was followed by the de- 

 privation of the prioress, Catherine Grenefeld.^ 



It is perhaps unfair to form an opinion from 

 isolated cases separated by such long intervals 

 of time, yet the suspicion is unavoidable that 

 the place was not altogether what it ought to 

 have been. It should, however, be remembered 

 that life at Rowney may have been very hard. 

 The revenues, always small and certainly not 

 increased after the Black Death, could have 

 supplied only the barest necessaries. Early 

 in the 15th century the chaHces, books and 

 ornaments were stolen by robbers, and the 

 nuns were left without the means of performing 

 the divine offices. On this occasion the Bishop 

 of Ely helped the convent by offering an 

 indulgence in 1408 to those who assisted them.^ 



The nuns on one occasion petitioned the 

 chancellor,^ saying that their church and other 

 buildings were Ukely to fall down for lack of 



^^ Rentals and Surv. R. 293. 



15 Line. Epis. Reg. Dalderby, Memo- fol. 44. 



" Ibid. fol. 366. 



1' Ibid. Burghersh, Memo. fol. 176. 



1* Ibid. Dalderby, Memo. fol. 44. 



1' Cal. of Papal Letters, iii, 372. 



1* Ct. R. (Gen. Sen), portf. 178, no. 9, m. 6 d. 



1' Cal. Pat. 1399-1401, p. 418. The prioress 

 notified Joan's apostasy to the secular authorities 

 12 Nov. 1400 and again in March 1401 (Chancery 

 Warrants [Ser. i], file 1759, no. 29, 30). 



*" The bishop's commission was issued on 1 2 J une 

 (Line. Epis. Reg. Repingdon, Memo. fol. 1 76). 



21 Ibid. fol. 185. 



^ Gibbons, Cal. Ely Epis. Rec. 406. 



" Anct. Pet. (P.R.O.), no. 1 5063. 



434 



