19. THE MINORESSES WITHOUT ALDGATE
The house of the Grace of the Blessed Mary
was founded outside Aldgate in the parish of
St. Botolph in 1293 (fn. 1) by the brother of Edward I,
Edmund earl of Lancaster, for inclosed nuns of
the order of St. Clare. (fn. 2) The first members of
the convent were brought to England by the
earl's wife Blanche, queen of Navarre, in all
probability from France, since the rule prescribed
for their observance by Pope Boniface VIII was
that followed in the nunnery of the Humility of
the Blessed Mary at Saint Cloud. (fn. 3) The original
endowment consisted of lands and tenements in
the suburbs of London and £30 rent in St. Lawrence Lane, Cordwainer Street, and Dowgate; (fn. 4)
but in 1295 the earl made a further grant of
land in the field of Hartington, co. Derby,
and the advowson of the church there, (fn. 5) and in
the Taxatio of Pope Nicholas, Hartington and
'Northburgh' churches both are said to be appropriated to the nuns. (fn. 6) Some more property
in London was soon acquired from Henry le
Galeys, who endowed a chantry in the chapel of
St. Mary built by him in the conventual church
where he was buried. (fn. 7)
From the earliest foundation the house enjoyed
important privileges. The king exempted them
in 1294 from summonses before the justices in
eyre for common pleas and pleas of the forest. (fn. 8)
The pope, Boniface VIII, ordered that nothing
should be exacted from them for the consecration
of church and altars, or for sacred oil or sacraments, but that the bishop of the diocese should
perform these offices free of charge; that in a
general interdict they might celebrate service
with closed doors; that sentences of excommunication and interdict promulgated against them
by bishops or rectors should be of no effect, (fn. 9) and
he declared them free from all jurisdiction of the
archbishop of Canterbury and of the bishop of
London, (fn. 10) and acquitted them of payment of
tenths (fn. 11) to the pope.
The house indeed seems to have been at first
richer in privileges than in revenue: in 1316
the nuns were exempted by the king from tallage
on their land in London on account of their
poverty; (fn. 12) in 1334 they petitioned the king that
according to the papal bulls to them they might
be quit of all papal impositions on the clergy or
grants to the king, saying that otherwise they
could not live; (fn. 13) and in 1338 (fn. 14) and 1345 (fn. 15)
they were pardoned from contributing both to
tenths and fifteenths out of pity for their straitened condition. At length in 1347 (fn. 16) the king
granted that they should henceforth be quit
of all tallages, explaining in 1353 (fn. 17) that the
grant exempted them from payment of both lay
and clerical subsidies.
It is possible that in these exemptions may be
seen a sign not only of the nuns' poverty, but
also of powerful influence exerted on their behalf, since the house always had a particular
attraction for persons of rank. (fn. 18) Queen Isabella
gave the nuns in 1346 the advowsons of the
churches of Kessingland and Framsden, co.
Suffolk, and Walton-on-Trent, co. Derby, with
licence to appropriate them, so that they would
pray for the soul of King Edward II, (fn. 19) and
showed herself their friend in other ways. (fn. 20)
She was not the only patron of the Grey
Friars to extend her benefactions to the sisters of
the order: Elizabeth de Burgh Lady Clare
bequeathed in 1355 £20, ornaments, and furniture to the house, £20 to the abbess Katherine
de Ingham, and 13s. 4d. to each of the sisters, (fn. 21)
and Margaret countess of Norfolk granted to
the convent in 1382 a rent of 20 marks from
the Brokenwharf, London, for the term of the
life of William de Wydford, a friar. (fn. 22) William
Ferrers, lord of Groby, left to his daughter Elizabeth, a nun at the Minories, £20, and to the
abbess and nuns 10 marks; (fn. 23) John of Gaunt in
1397 bequeathed £100 to be paid among the
sisters; (fn. 24) and Joan Lady Clinton left to them
by will in 1457 £45 to keep her anniversary. (fn. 25)
Margaret de Badlesmere, who was living in
the nunnery in 1323, (fn. 26) was not the only widow
of her position to find a retreat from the world
there; for Margaret Beauchamp, after the death
of her husband, the earl of Warwick, had an
indult from the pope in 1398 to reside there
with three matrons as long as she pleased, (fn. 27) and
two of the abbesses had taken the veil after
widowhood, Katherine wife of John de Ingham, (fn. 28) and Eleanor Lady Scrope, daughter of
Ralph de Neville. (fn. 29) Henry earl of Lancaster in
1349, (fn. 30) and Matilda Lady de Lisle in 1353, (fn. 31)
received leave from the pope to visit the convent
with a limited number of attendants. The
relations between the nunnery and the family of
Thomas de Woodstock, duke of Gloucester,
appear to have been of the closest kind. It was
the duke who obtained for the nuns in 1394 the
advowson of Potton church from the prior and
convent of St. Andrew, Northampton, and
arranged for its appropriation without expense to
the abbey. (fn. 32) His house adjoined the conventual
church, and the abbess and sisters allowed him
to make a door between the two buildings so
that he could enter the church as he pleased, a
privilege they were not prepared to extend to
the lady who took the house after the duke's
death. (fn. 33) The duchess died in the nunnery, (fn. 34)
and one of the daughters, Isabel, who had been
placed in the nunnery at a very youthful age, (fn. 35)
though she had permission from the pope to leave
if she would, chose to remain, (fn. 36) and in the end
became abbess. (fn. 37) All the nuns could not have
been as contented with their lot, for in 1385 the
king had ordered his serjeant-at-arms to arrest an
apostate minoress, Mary de Felton, and deliver
her to the abbess for punishment. (fn. 38)
This connexion with the Gloucester family
would in itself be sufficient to account for the
favour shown to the minoresses by Henry IV,
who almost immediately after his accession gave
them the custody of the alien priory or manor of
Appuldurcomb during the war with France, with
permission to acquire it in mortmain from the
abbey of Montebourg in Normandy, (fn. 39) and in
1401, in a confirmation of privileges granted to
them by his predecessors, added another, that no
justice, mayor, or other officer should have any
jurisdiction within the precinct of the house
except in the case of treason or felonies touching the crown. (fn. 40) The nuns did not succeed in
purchasing Appuldurcomb, (fn. 41) and they had the
custody (fn. 42) only until in 1461 Edward IV granted
them the manor in mortmain. (fn. 43) He did so 'on
account of their poverty,' though during the
preceding century they must have acquired a
good deal of property by bequests (fn. 44) and in other
ways. (fn. 45) Either therefore the house must have
had special difficulties at that time, or, as is more
probable, its income was always rather small for
the number it supported. In 1515 twentyseven of the nuns died of some infectious complaint, (fn. 46) so that there could hardly have been less
than thirty or thirty-five before the outbreak.
The sum expended there on food (fn. 47) in 1532 was
very little less than had been spent on the food
of convent and guests at Holy Trinity Priory.
It must have been shortly after the outbreak
of plague that the convent buildings were destroyed by fire. The mayor, aldermen, and
citizens of London contributed 200 marks
besides the benefactions of private persons, but at
the special request of Cardinal Wolsey to the
Court of Common Council, it was decided in
1520 to give 100 marks more to complete the
building. (fn. 48)
The king also gave £200 at this time. (fn. 49)
The abbey was surrendered in March, 1539, (fn. 50)
and the terms granted to the nuns were not disadvantageous when compared with those given
to others. To the abbess, Elizabeth Salvage,
was assigned a life pension of £40 a year, four
nuns received life pensions of £3 3s. 8d. each,
ten £2 13s. 4d., nine £2, and a novice
£1 6s. 8d.; (fn. 51) no provision appears to have been
made for the six lay sisters. (fn. 52)
Stow estimated the house to be worth
£418 8s. 5d. per annum, (fn. 53) but according to the
Valor its income amounted to £342 5s. 10½d.
gross, and £318 8s. 5d. net. (fn. 54) Its possessions
included rents and ferms in London (fn. 55) parishes:
St. Mary-le-Bow, (fn. 56) Allhallows Thames Street, (fn. 57)
St. Michael Crooked Lane, (fn. 58) St. Botolph without Aldgate, (fn. 59) St. Magnus, (fn. 60) St. Martin Vintry, (fn. 61)
St. Nicholas Shambles, (fn. 62) St. Andrew Undershaft; (fn. 63)
messuages and shops in Whitechapel, (fn. 64) co. Middlesex; the manor of Appuldurcomb in the Isle
of Wight; the manor of Woodley, co. Berks.; (fn. 65)
lands called 'Brekenox' in Cheshunt, co. Herts.; (fn. 66)
messuages in Ringwould, co. Kent, and
Marchington, co. Stafford; the rectories and
tithes of Hartington, (fn. 67) co. Derby, Potton, co.
Beds., (fn. 68) Kessingland and Framsden, co. Suffolk;
tithes in Wrestlingworth, co. Beds., and 'Quenton,' co. Bucks., (fn. 69) and a pension from the church
of Leake, co. Notts., (fn. 70) one of the earliest grants
to the abbey, (fn. 71) as it is mentioned in the
Taxatio.
Abbesses of the Minories
Margaret, occurs 1294 (fn. 72)
Juliana, occurs 1301 (fn. 73)
Alice de Sherstede, occurs 1313 (fn. 74)
Katharine de Ingham, occurs 1355 (fn. 75)
Isabella de Lisle, occurs 1397 (fn. 76)
Eleanor Scrope, (fn. 77) died 1398 (fn. 78)
Margaret Helmystede, occurs 1400 (fn. 79)
Isabella of Gloucester, occurs 1421–2 (fn. 80)
Margaret, occurs 1441 (fn. 81)
Joan Barton, occurs 1479 (fn. 81a) and 1480 (fn. 82)
Alice Fitz Lewes, occurs 1501 (fn. 83)
Dorothy Cumberford, occurs 1524, (fn. 84) 1526, (fn. 85)
and 1529 (fn. 86)
Elizabeth Salvage, surrendered the house
1539 (fn. 87)
A seal used by Dorothy Cumberford, the
abbess, in 1526, (fn. 88) is a pointed oval. It represents
the Coronation of the Virgin, and in the base on
the left the abbess kneeling in prayer under a
carved arch. Another seal of the same abbess (fn. 89)
represents a female saint, full length, holding
in her right hand a pair of pincers and in her
left a book. Legend:—
SIGILLVM ORD' MINORIS