26 Amesbury Church. Reasons for thinking that it 



From this, it appears that it was in the power of the Abbess of 

 Fontevraud, to change the Prior, although the office was not vacant. 



Canon Jackson notes 1 that it appears, from a letter printed in 

 the New Monasticon, that there were some "brethren," attached to 

 the Monastery, who, as well as the sisterhood, were placed under 

 the control of the Prioress. He appears to miss the significance of 

 this, as he says they were " probably a staff of chaplains." The 

 document is given by Sir Richard Hoare, in full. What he prints 

 is an inspeximus by King Edward I., dated at Clarendon, 6th 

 March, 25th of his reign (1294), of letters patent, in Norman 

 French, of Margaret, Abbess of Fontevraud, addressed to the King, 

 stating that, in accordance with his will and commandment, she is 

 sending as Prioress to Ambresbury, sister Johanne de (xennes, 2 nun 

 of Fontevraud, a wise and vigorous woman, in whose ability to 

 govern the convent she has great confidence. The Abbess begs the 

 King to order the nuns and the brethren, to receive the said sister, 

 as Prioress, and to render her the same obedience as to the Abbess 

 herself. 



There were, therefore, besides the Prioress and the nuns, brethren 

 mentioned in 1294, and a Prior, mentioned about 1316. Can the 

 Prior and the brethren have had a particular connection with the 

 parish Church ? That is the suggestion that I have to offer, as a 

 possible explanation of its monastic appearance. The plan of the 

 Church strikes me as, to a certain extent, resembling Dunster, which 

 was a Priory, a cell to Bath Abbey, that is to say, the door into the 

 north transept is in the same position, and at Dunster, some buildings 

 of the Priory remain, adjoining the north-west angle of the nave, so 

 that the way from them to the choir would be along the north side 



1 Wilts Arch. Mag., vol. x., page 61. 

 ' 2 Canon Jackson's notice is most confused and misleading. He says correctly 

 that, in 1177, the house was reformed and a fresh Prioress was introduced 

 from Fontevraud. In the very next line he calls her Abbess, and confuses 

 her with the much later Prioress, Johanne de Gennes. I could make nothing 

 of all this, until I consulted Hoare's work, when I found it all quite plain. 

 The fact is that Canon Jackson must have misread his notes, from Hoare or 

 some other source. 



