62 



Ambresbury Monastery. 



I. Eleanor of Britany, a Nun of this House She was i 

 daughter of GcofFry Plantagcnet (3rd son of Henry II.) and sister 1 

 of Prince Arthur. After being imprisoned at Bristol, and (on her i 

 brother's death) at Corfe Castle, she lived here but appears to have 

 died at St. James's Priory, Bristol, as Tanner (p. 479) mentions anj 

 order, in 1240, for the removal of her body from St. James's to 

 Ambresbury. 



II. Eleanor Queen Dowager of King Henry III. She was 

 the second daughter and coheiress of Raymond Berenger, count of 

 Provence. In 1287, fifteen years after her husband's death, she 

 took the veil here about the time of the Feast of St. John the ; 

 Baptist (24th June), her dower being confirmed to her, and her 

 profession being dated 1286. 



In M.A.Everett Wood's "Letters of Poyal and Illustrious Ladies," 

 1846, is the following notice of her connexion with Ambresbury. 1 



" A contemporaneous chronicler gives an interesting account of 

 her conventual habits. He tells us that she filled her hands with 

 good works ; that she spent her whole time in orisons, vigils, andj 

 works of piety; that she was a mother to the neighbouring poor,; 

 especially to the orphans, widows and monks ; and that her praise 

 ought to resound above that of all other women. Besides other 

 large charities, she distributed every Friday £5 in silver — a large 

 sum in those days — to the neighbouring poor. When she ex- 

 changed the crown for the veil — the proud title of Queen of 

 England for that touchingly simple one of 'humble nun ofFon-f 

 tevrand,' Eleanor seems indeed to have laid aside the 'pomps and 

 vanities' of the world, and to have devoted herself, with the zealous 

 energy that characterised her ardent temperament, to works of 

 religion. The present letter is in favour of the abbess of Fon-j 

 tevrand, who naturally looked for and found a powerful advocatej 

 in her royal votaress. The subsequent one appeals too forcibly to 

 the feelings of do&estic life to need comment. They were both! 

 written between 1286 and 1291, the year of Eleanora's death.! 

 Much of the correspondence of this queen, scattered over many 



1 Mr. Edward Kite of Devizes was so good as to supply the information con- 

 tained in the work referred to. 



