A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



who on 8 June gave to friars of that order a 

 messuage there which he had of the grant of 

 Adam le Rous, that they might build a church 

 and house.'i In February 1 35 1 John de Cobham 

 received the king's permission to assign to the 

 convent two messuages, two cottages, and 6 

 acres of land to enlarge their dwelling-place.'' 

 Cobham seems to have taken some time to 

 complete his gift : in fact, half an acre of the 

 land was made over to them as late as 1375, 

 and was in consequence seized by the escheator 

 in 1392 as acquired without the royal licence, 

 the friars not recovering it until 1395.'* 



Beyond a few references in wills *• nothing is 

 heard of the house during the 15th century. 



Henry \'III in September 1530 made the 

 friars a gift of 405.** The royal supremacy was 

 acknowledged by the prior for the convent on 

 5 May 1534," and the house lasted four years 

 longer. Then the king, finding, so he said, that 

 it was ' in such a state that it was neither used 

 to the honour of God nor to the benefit of the 

 commonwealth,' directed Sir William Coffyn 

 and Henry Cnvche to obtain its surrender from 

 the prior, allotting him what portion of the 

 goods they thought fit." The surrender was 

 made 17 October 1538 by the prior and four 

 friars.** The plate and ornaments were sold, 

 and the church, of which the steeple was 

 knocked down, was stripped of its bells, lead, 

 glass and stone, and soon fell into ruins.^' 



The property of the convent, valued in 1535 

 at j^4 gj-. /^.d. a year net,*" lay in or near 

 Hitchin." 



^^ Cal. Pat. 1313-17, p. 662; Tanner, Notit. 

 Mon. Chauncy says (Hist, of Herts. 390) that John 

 Blomvill, Adam Rous and John Cobham founded 

 the priory which was dedicated to the honour of our 

 Saviour and Blessed Virgin Mary, and Edward II 

 merely confirmed the grant. Adam Rous may have 

 given the land to the icing for the site of the house, 

 and John Cobham later was a great benefactor, but 

 as the editors of Dugdale point out {Mon. vi, 1571) 

 the coats of arms of Edward II and Edward III on 

 the priory seal show that the house was considered a 

 royal foundation. With regard to the dedication, 

 Chauncy seems to have confused this with the 

 Gilbertine priory, for it is unlikely that both were 

 called St. Saviour's. 



'= Inq. a.q.d. file 303, no. 12 ; Cal. Pat. 1350-4, 

 p. 48. 



33 Memo. R. (Eich. L.T.R.), East. 18 Ric. II, 

 rot. 3 ; Mich. 19 Ric. II, rot. 6. 



'* Herts. Gen. and Antiq. i, 234, 236-7 ; ii, 90, 

 190, 276 ; iii, 238 ; Add. Chart. 35245. 



" L. and P. Hen. VI II, v, p. 751. 



36 Ibid, vii, 665 (2). 



^ Clutterbuck, Hist, and AnAq. of Herts, iii, 20. 



** Ibid. The house was dissolved the next day 

 (Rentals and Surv. [Gen. Ser.], portf. 8, no. 29). 



3' Rentals and Surv. (Gen. Ser.), portf. 8, no. 29. 

 Report on the property in 1546. 



« Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 276. 



*' Rentals and Surv. (Gen. Ser.), portf. 8, no. 29. 



Priors of Hitchin Friary 



John, occurs October 1395 *^ 

 John Butler, occurs 5 May 1534** and 17 

 October 1538 " 



The priory seal of the i6th century *' shows 

 the Virgin seated with the Child standing on her 

 knee ; in the field on each side of her is a 

 flowering branch. Right and left are two shields, 

 the former bearing the arms of Edward HI, the 

 latter those of Edward II, and beneath each is a 

 kneeling friar. Legend : s' cSitatis fra' car 

 malitar' de hvche. 



18. THE TRINITARIAN FRIARS OF 

 HERTFORD 



Who founded the hospital of St. Mary 

 Magdalene outside Hertford, afterwards a Trini- 

 tarian Friary, is not known, but it was in all 

 probability one of the earlier owners of Herting- 

 fordbury Manor,** possibly one of the Valognes, 

 whose heiress Christina wife of Peter de Maule 

 or Maune*' held the advowson ** in 1247 and 

 sold it then to Henry de Neketon. The master 

 of the hospital at one time was accustomed to 

 receive a rent of zos. from Christina de Valognes's 

 water-mill in Hertingfordbury,** presumably 

 the gift of a former lord of the manor. It is 

 also noticeable that the hospital among its 

 small amount of property held in 1263 a rent 

 of ()s. from land in Roydon, co. Essex,*" where 

 Robert Fitzwalter, the husband of Gunnora de 

 Valognes, Christina de Maule's predecessor at 

 Hertingfordbury, had had a manor.*^ 



In 1248 Simon de Cokham, a citizen of 

 London, complained that the master and 

 brothers of the hospital had dispossessed him 

 of 80 acres of land in Stanstead which they 

 had let to him for eight years from February 

 1247 at an annual rent of 12 marks." The 



« Memo. R. (Exch. L.T.R.), Mich. 19 Ric. II, 

 rot. 6. 



« L. and P. Hen. VIII, vii, p. 751. 



■** Clutterbuck, op. cit. iii, 20. He was living in 

 I 546 (Rentals and Surv. [Gen. Ser.], portf. 8, no. 29). 



^^ Arch, xviii, 447. 



** Ralph Baynard held it at the Domesday Survey 

 {V.C.H. Herts. \, 326). 



*' An arrangement was made in 1 238 about their 

 fine for the barony which had belonged to Gunnora 

 de Valognes {Excerpta e Rot. Fin. [Rec. Com.], i, 

 317)- 



** Feet of F. Herts. 31 Hen. Ill, no. 332 ; Assize 

 R. 320, m. 12. When Hertingfordbury was made 

 over to Edward III, the patronage of the hospiul or 

 priory of Hertford, as it was sometimes called, was 

 specially excepted {Cal. Pat. 1345-8, p. 123). 



*' Christina bought the rent of him shortly before 

 Nov. 1279 (Chan. Inq. Misc. file 37, no. 6). 



» Cal. lnq.p.m. Hen. Ill, 163. 



" Ibid. 2. 



»' Assize R. 3 1 8, m. 2 d. 



452 



