19. THE PRIORY OF YEDINGHAM
The priory of Yedingham, sometimes called
that of Little Mareis, (fn. 1) from the site on which
the house was built, was founded before 1163 (fn. 2)
by Helewise de Clere.
In 1239 (fn. 3) a compact was entered into between
John, Prior of Guisborough, and Emma, Prioress
of Yedingham, and their respective convents,
that Guisborough should give the nuns 4 oxgangs
of land in Sinriington, with tofts, crofts, &c., the
nuns paying the canons yearly 15s. at Sherburn,
and undertaking to support the chapel of St.
Michael at Sinnington, and other buildings for
the better entertaining the canons when there,
with clean litter, candles, and fuel; and to have
mass celebrated in St. Michael's chapel thrice a
week. This was not the parish church, but a
chapel north of it.
On 16 August 1241 (fn. 4) the church of Yedingham was consecrated by Gilbert, Bishop of
Whithern, suffragan of Archbishop Gray, in
honour of the most blessed Virgin Mary, at the
instance of Emma de Humbleton, the prioress,
and the convent. The bishop granted an
indulgence of 100 days to those present, and
directed that the anniversary should be kept as a
perpetual festival, with an indulgence of forty
days to those who came to it. It is not quite
clear whether this was the church of the monastery, or the parish church.
On 1 March 1279-80 (fn. 5) Archbishop Wickwane appointed Robert de Brus of Pickering to
the custody of the house of the nuns of Yedingham and its temporalities, hoping that he might
by his diligence, God helping, be able to supply
the defects of the poor servants of Christ serving
God there.
Monitions forbidding nuns of different houses
to take anyone to their habit without special
licence from the archbishop are commonly met
with in the injunctions issued after visitations.
Records of the granting of any such licences are
very rare, but on 23 March 1309-10 (fn. 6) Archbishop Greenfield wrote to Yedingham about
one Agnes de Daneby, whose honest conversation
he approved, and he permitted the prioress and
convent to receive her ad habitum et velum. Her
age is not given, but she is alluded to as puella.
At his visitation of Arthington Archbishop
Greenfield dealt with the case of Isabella de
Berghby, which is fully described in the account
of that house. There is nothing said there as
to sending her away from her house, but on
28 September 1312 (fn. 7) the archbishop wrote to
the nuns of Yedingham that at his recent visitation of the house of Arthington, of their order, (fn. 8)
he had found Isabella de Berghby had acted
contrary to the honesty of religion, and he therefore sent her to them for a season, to undergo
penance.
In 1314 (fn. 9) Archbishop Greenfield allowed the
prioress and convent to receive Alice daughter
of Roger de Wyghton to the habit of the
conversae in their monastery; at the same time
very strictly enjoining them that no sister conversa
was, on any account, to be allowed to wear the
black veil on her head, but was to use a white
veil. In this entry the lay sisters are called
conversae, and sorores conversae, whereas elsewhere
they are usually called sorores
(fn. 10) only, in contradistinction to the nuns (designated dominae or
moniales) on the one hand, and the conversi, or
lay brothers, on the other. The conversi seem
to have been attached to most of the nunneries. (fn. 11)
In 1314 Archbishop Greenfield held a visitation of Yedingham, (fn. 12) and issued a series of
injunctions to the nuns. No nun was to be
absent from service ' propter occupacionem operis
de serico.' Going to and from the kitchen through
the cloister, by secular men and women, was on
no account to be allowed. The prioress was to
depute a mature and honest nun to shut the
doors round the cloister at proper hours, and if
that nun was negligent, she was to correct and
chastise her. The parlour of the house was on
no account in future to be used by lay people.
The prioress was to be careful that none pf the
nuns made themselves conspicuous as to their
girdles, or other ornaments. Rebellious nuns
were to be openly corrected before the convent
and not secretly, for that was agreeable with
divine and human law. The sick were to be
tended according to their needs, and as the means
of the house allowed. (fn. 13) The prioress was not to
be too rigid nor too gentle, but was to mingle
oil with wine in making corrections. The
usual injunctions were, given as to limiting exeats
to fifteen days, and not selling corrodies, &c., or
taking boarders without special licence. Richard
de Breuse, kt., who through his wife Alice
had become patron, conceded to the nuns the
right to choose a prioress upon each vacancy,
who was to be presented to the patron for the
time being, and also to the archbishop, and he
and his wife renounced all personal claim in the
choice of a prioress. (fn. 14)
In 1494 Innocent IV granted the prioress and
convent the right of electing a discreet priest to
be their confessor. (fn. 15)
Two entries only occur in the Taxation in
1291, the temporalities of the house in the archdeaconry of Cleveland (£35 18s. 2d.) and the
church of Yedingham (£6 13s. 4d.). (fn. 16) On
29 July 1456 (fn. 17) Archbishop Booth granted an
indulgence of forty days to all penitents who
contributed to the reparation of the conventual
church and of the buildings of the priory of
Yedingham, which on account of the notorious
poverty of the house were ruinous: some had
actually fallen, and others threatened.
A grant was made 14 July 1530 to Thomas
Stokall, priest, of the ' parish priestshipp' of Sinnington, and in December 1538 the reversion
of the same was granted to Thomas Hew, priest,
immediately after Sir Robert Stokall, who then
held the same. The latter, it may be added,
still held the post in 33 Henry VIII, and in the
account of John Beckwith, receiver, the rent
of the rectory of Sinnington is set down at
£5 18s. 4d., besides £4 the stipend of Robert
Stokall, curate. (fn. 18) It is evident from these grants
that Sinnington must have been a donative in
the absolute gift of the house of Yedingham.
There are a great many other leases and grants,
dating from about 1350 to the Dissolution,
belonging to Yedingham among the Conventual
Leases at the Record Office; one especially, dated
in the chapter - house of Yedingham 12 May
1352, (fn. 19) is of interest. It is a grant made from
Alice Pykering, prioress, and the convent of
Yedingham of a yearly corrodium moniale, given
in return for an unspecified sum of money to
Emma daughter of Nicholas Hert of Westerdale.
She was to receive, among other benefits, each
week seven conventual loaves of wheat, 3½ lagenas
of the convent ale, and to be provided with flesh,
fish and cheese from the kitchen, like a nun of
the house, and was to share in all small pittances
like a nun. Further, she was to have ten sheep,
and ten ewes with lambs till the time of their
separation, at the convent's charge and in their
pasturage. A certain building called ' le chesehouse,' with solar and cellar, was assigned her
to dwell in, and in return she promised to work
faithfully as long as she could, ' circa lacticinia (fn. 20)
infra dictam domum del' chesehouse,' according
to the orders of the prioress and cellaress. When,
however, ' amplius laborare non poterit causa
senectutis vel infirmitatis,' then the convent was
to grant Emma Hert an honest place for her bed
and other belongings in their house que vocatur le
sisterhouse, for the rest of her life.
At the Dissolution (fn. 21) there were nine nuns
besides Agnes Bradrigge, aged forty-one, the
prioress, who received a yearly pension of
£6 13s. 4d.; two of them received yearly
pensions of 40s., and the others of 26s. 8d.
They are described as 'all of good maner of
liffyng,' and against each name, except one, the
word ' religion' is written in the margin, indicating an intention to remain in their vows.
When an inquiry was made as to the payment
of pensions, the return {7 Edward VI) (fn. 22) for the
North Riding says Agnes 'Braddreges' and Agnes
Butterfield ' appeared not,' Joan ' Horton ' ap
peared with her patent, Anne Paycok appeared
not, Elizabeth Ferman appeared with her patent,
and Jaine Foster appeared with her patent, ' and
is behynde for a holle yere at Michelmas last past.'
Prioresses of Yedingham
Sibil, (fn. 23) 1219
Beatrix (fn. 24)
Emma de Humbleton, 1241 (fn. 25)
Gundred, 1280 (fn. 26)
Margaret Scard, (fn. 27) 1290 (fn. 28)
Alice, (fn. 29) 1300 (fn. 30)
Alice, 1335 (fn. 31)
Joan Percehay, 1348 (fn. 32)
Margaret de Lutton, (fn. 33) died 1345
Alice de Pickering, elected 1352 (fn. 34)
Gundreda (fn. 35)
Margaret de Ulram, resigned 1405 (fn. 36)
Margaret, 1439 (fn. 37)
Idonia, 1445 (fn. 38)
Isabella Heslerton, (fn. 39) 1457, died 1499
Cecilia Dew, confirmed 27 March 1499 (fn. 40)
Joan Tonnstale, confirmed 1507 (fn. 41)
Elizabeth Whitehead, (fn. 42) confirmed 1521
Agnes Bradrigge, confirmed 16 February
1525 (the last prioress) (fn. 43)
The circular 12th-century seal, (fn. 44) 15/8 in. in
diameter, shows our Lady standing and crowned,
and holding a fleur de lis and a book: of the
legend only . . . . E SBE M remains.