A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



Priors of Royston 



Simon, occurs April 1184 ™ 



W., occurs October 1229 '* 



Osbert, occurs 28 October 1254 " 



Richard, occurs 1290 "and 1294"; Richard 



de Leccinton died c. 1297 " 

 Thomas, occurs May 1 302 '' 

 Geoffrey, occurs 1313,^ resigned 1 3 14 " 

 John de Broome,'^ elected 1314*^ 

 John de Beauchamp, occurs 1339" 

 Thomas, occurs 1346^ 

 John de Arneburgh, occurs 1354,** ^3^^ " ^^^ 



1362,** and died 25 July 1369 *' 

 John West, elected 9 August 1 369 '" ; John 



occurs 25 November 1383*1 

 John Adam, died 10 March 1398-9 ** 

 WiUiam de Pynchbek, elected 21 March 



1398-9,*^ occurs October 1401 '* 

 Walter (Adam), occurs 15 October 141 3 " 

 Richard, occurs 24 October 1427," 1434,'' 



February 1439,'* died 24 December 1441 •' 

 George Wright, elected 23 February 1441-2 "° 

 John Borough, occurs 30 November 1451,* 



died 26 April 1484 - 



" Cotton MS. Aug. ii, fol. I 24. 



" Ca/. Close, 1227-31, p. 225. 



'' Cal. Pat. 1247-58, p. 378. He was prior 

 when Alice de Scales transferred the patronage of 

 the priory to the Earl of Gloucester (Harl. MS. 

 7041, fol. 8). 



'6 Memo. R. (L.T.R.), Mich. 18 & 19 Edw. I, 

 m. 6 d. 



" Feet of F. Suffolk, 22 Edw. I, no. 25. 



'^ Cal. Pat. 1292-1301, p. 377. 



" Cal. Close, 1 296-1 302, p. 553. 



^ Baldock's Reg. (Cant, and York Soc), 175. 



" Here called Geoffrey Hakoun (Cal. Pat. 1 3 1 3- 

 17, p. 195). 



'^ He was a canon of St. Botolph's, Colchester. 



^ Royal assent given 4 Dec. {Cal. Pat. 1313-17, 

 p. 202). 



«^ Add. Chart. 44502. «* Feud. Aids, v, S3- 



8« Add. MS. 5843, p. 247. 



" Cal. Pat. I 361-4, p. 40. 



*' Cal. Close, 1360-4, p. 408. 



" Lond. Epis. Reg. Sudbury, fol. 144. 



»» Ibid. 



'1 Cal Pat. 1 38 1-5, p. 330. This may be John 

 Adam. 



" Lond. Epis. Reg. Braybrook, fol. 306. 



»3 Ibid. 



'^ Ibid. fol. 350. In Nov. 1414 he was made 

 chaplain of a hermitage in Norfolk [Cal. Pat. 1413-16, 

 p. 254). 



'* Cal. Pat. 141 3-16, p. 1 36. Walter Adam occurs 

 as prior in the time of Henry IV (ibid. 1422-9, 

 p. 370). ^ Ibid. p. 427. 



" Memo. R. (L.T.R.), Hil. 12 Hen. VI, m. 18. 

 Here called Richard Hugh. 



58 Cal. Chart, in Bodleian Lib. 89. Here called 

 Richard Higham. 



«3 Dugdale, Mon. vi, 405. "» Ibid. 



1 Aug. Off. Leases, iv, no. 136. 



' Add. MS. 5820, fol. 24 d. 



John Kyrkeby, occurs temp. Henry VII » 

 Robert White, occurs 1517.* September 1521,* 



August 1532,* died i April 1534' 

 Richard Bretten, elected 1534,* surrendered 



March 1537 * 



The seal of this priory, of 15th-century date,'" 

 is vesica-shaped, with a design of two niches 

 with elaborate canopies and having tabernacle 

 work at the sides ; in the one on the right stands 

 St. Thomas of Canterbury with mitre and 

 crozier, blessing with his right hand ; in that 

 on the left is another saint, presumably St. John 

 Baptist. Below under the round-headed arch 

 supporting the niches is a little figure of a prior 

 praying. Legend : sigillu • commune • porat 



. . . DOMUS . . . a ■ THOME ' DE ' RO . . . 



II. WYMONDLEY PRIORY 



The hospital ^ or priory of Austin canons at 

 Little Wymondley, dedicated to the honour of 

 St. Mary,* was founded by Richard de Argen- 

 tein,' the lord of the manor, apparently at the 

 beginning of the reign of Henry III, but of the 

 endowment nothing is known except that it 

 included land in Wymondley * and the church 

 of Little Wymondley, of which the master of 

 the hospital was put in possession in 1218 on 

 the resignation of the parson and vicar.^ The 

 patron's rights did not include a voice in the 

 selection of the head of the house, for although 



' Aug. Off. Leases, iv, no. 139. 



'' Lond. Epis. Reg. Fitzjames, fol. 117 d. 



'Add. MS. 5820, fol. 26 d. 



* Without the surname (Aug. Off. Leases, iv, 

 no. 135). 



'Add. MS. 5820, fol. 26 d. 



* L. and P. Hen. VUl, vii, 922 (26). 

 » Ibid, xii (i), 571 (2). 



10 B.M. Seals, Ixiv, 71. 



1 During the 1 3th century it was often styled 

 ' hospital ' {Rolls of Hugh de Welles [Cant, and York 

 Soc], i, 141 ; iii, 43 ; Cal. Close, 1 23 1-4, p. 84 ; 

 Cal. Pat. 1281-92, p. 195 ; Pipe R. 19 Edw. I), 

 but apparently not afterwards. 



^ The house seems generally to have been called 

 the priory or hospital of St. Mary in the i 3th and 

 15th centuries {Rot. Lit. Claus. [Rec. Com.], ii, 88 ; 

 Cal Close, 1226-57, P- 159; (^"l- P"'- 1281-92, 

 p. 195 ; B.M. Seals, Ixiv, 74), but Tanner {Notit. 

 Mon.) says it was dedicated to St. Lawrence. Possibly 

 it had a double dedication, for the two altars in the 

 church mentioned by name at the dissolution of the 

 priory were those of St. Lawrence and our Lady 

 (K.R. Church Goods, ^). 



' Visit, of Bp. Alnwick, 1 442 (Doc. of Bp. of Line 

 at Exchequer Gate). 



< Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 183. 



' Rolls of Hugh de WeUes (Cant, and York Soc), i, 

 141. The prior and brothers presented a vicar in 

 1223 (ibid, iii, 43), so they evidently did not at 

 first serve the church themselves. 



440 



