HOUSES OF BENEDICTINE NUNS
4. THE ABBEY OF POLESWORTH
There is an interesting legendary account of
the founding of this abbey, copied by Dugdale in
1640 from an old roll in the possession of John
Ferrers of Tamworth Castle. (fn. 1) According to
this story King Egbert had an only son, Arnulph,
who was a leper. Hearing from an Irish bishop
that a king of Connaught had a daughter Modwen, a nun, who possessed marvellous powers of
healing, he sent his son into Ireland, where he
was cured by that holy woman. Thereupon
Egbert invited St. Modwen to come to England,
promising to found a monastery for her and her
convent. At that time one of the petty Irish
wars had brought about the burning of her religious house in Ireland, so that the saint was glad
to accept of the offer, and brought over with her
two of her fellow nuns. Thereupon the king
assigned her a dwelling called Trensall, in the
Forest of Arden, and recommended his daughter
Edith to join her so as to be instructed in religion
after the rule of St. Benedict. Thence they
moved together with St. Lyne and St. Osyth to
a monastery founded for them at Polesworth, on
the bank of the Anker, of which house the king's
daughter Edith shortly became abbess.
According to Matthew Paris (fn. 2) this nunnery
would seem to have been honoured by the residence of another saintly lady of royal birth about
925, the sister of Ethelstan, and repudiated wife
of Sihtric, king of Northumbria, who ended her
days here.
Another account, that of John of Tynemouth,
ascribes the foundation of Polesworth to Ettenwolf, son of King Edgar, whose son Alfred was
healed of some incurable complaint.
At the time of the Conquest, according to
Dugdale's account, Sir Robert Marmion expelled
the nuns from Polesworth, when they retired to
Oldbury, a cell of their house, but within a
twelvemonth, after feasting at Tamworth Castle,
Sir Robert had a vision of St. Edith, who reproached him for the wrong done to her nuns,
whereupon they were restored to Polesworth.
Whatever may be the truth of the vision of
St. Edith, which took a most detailed form, there
seems no doubt that Sir Robert Marmion and
Millicent his wife did bring the prioress, Osanna,
and her nuns from Oldbury and established them
at Polesworth under the patronage of St. Edith (fn. 3) ;
for Dugdale cites a charter to that effect, and their
donation of the town of Polesworth and their
whole demesne in Waverton. (fn. 4)
Among their numerous early benefactors were
Walter de Hastings, who gave them Oldbury;
Robert Marmion, son of Robert and Millicent,
the church of Quinton, Gloucestershire; Robert
Fitzwalter, a mill at Kingsbury, with meadows
and lands; Alice de Harcourt, a mill at Hurley;
Picot Archer (temp. Henry II), land at Drayton,
Leicestershire; William de Hardreshull, the
church of Ansley (temp. John); Erneburga, the
mother of William de Hastings, the church of
Barwell, Leicestershire; William Savage, his
ground in Pooley Wood, where the chapel above
St. Edith's Well was built; Ralph, Lord Basset,
an annual rent of a mark of silver, for augmenting their diet on the day of St. John Baptist; and
Robert de Grendon, the chapel of Hoo and lands
there, on condition of the nuns finding two
priests to celebrate there for his soul and those
of his family. (fn. 5)
Henry III granted the abbey in 1242 a
weekly market at Polesworth, and a three days'
fair at the festival of St Margaret. (fn. 6)
According to the Taxatio of 1291 the temporalities of the abbey in the deanery of Arden
were of the annual value of £20 2s. 11d., (fn. 7) and
they also held temporalities in the archdeaconry
of Leicester of the annual value of £9 6s. 11d. (fn. 8)
The church of Polesworth, appropriated to the
convent, was of the yearly value of £14 13s. 4d.,
and that of Ansley, similarly appropriated,
£4. (fn. 9) There was also a pension from the
church of Quinton, Gloucestershire, of 40s., (fn. 10)
which church was subsequently appropriated, in
1398. (fn. 11)
Pope John XXII, in September, 1327, issued his
mandate to the bishop of Hereford, to do justice
between the rector of Eyton and the abbess and
convent of Polesworth. Roger, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, had unreasonably ordered the
rector to pay two-thirds of his small income to
the abbess, by way of pension, although the convent was already well provided, and the rector
was obliged to take an oath to do this. But
when Thomas the rector took possession of his
rectory he found that a third portion did not
suffice for his support, whereupon the pope
ordered the archdeacon of Salop and two other
members of the Lichfield chapter to absolve him
from his oath. Pending the cause, the convent
were ordered to do nothing, but they brought
the matter before the secular courts, on the
ground that the pension was a charge on the
rectory, and that Bishop Walter de Langton had
sequestrated the funds. The rector had recourse
to the archdeacon and his colleagues, but they
refused to take further cognizance of the dispute.
The rector then appealed to the pope, whereupon
the abbess and convent deprived him of the
rectory, and presented it to William de Ippeston.
The rector prayed the pope for a remedy, declaring that he feared to summon the convent within
the diocese of Lichfield. (fn. 12)
The convent was visited by Bishop Northburgh
in 1352. The consequent decree, written in
French, as was usual when sent to nuns, dealt
merely after the general fashion with small
matters of ritual, silence, and the exclusion of
secular women. (fn. 13)
After the death of Abbess Agnes de Somerville, a return of the temporalities of Polesworth
was made by John de Windsor, the king's
escheator for Warwickshire, on 7 January, 1362.
From this it appears that there was then at Polesworth a dove-cote of the annual value of 2s.,
3 carucates of land, 30s.; 13 acres of meadow,
16s.; two water-mills, 2 marks; 5 virgates of
land, yielding 30s. rents; seven cottars, paying
20s. rents, four tenants at Bromcote, paying
20s. 8d. rents; pleas and perquisites of the court
of Polesworth half a mark, and two views of
frankpledge a year 10s. (fn. 14)
Matilda Botetourt, elected on 8 March, 1362,
had to obtain an episcopal dispensation to hold
office, being under 20 years of age. (fn. 15) This
early promotion was not the only mark of favour
that this prioress obtained, for in 1399 the pope
granted her exemption from the jurisdiction of
the archbishop, or the bishop of Lichfield. (fn. 16)
Certain discords arose as to the election by
the convent of a successor to the Abbess Katherine in 1414. For the avoidance of dispute the
nomination of the new abbess was assigned by
the chapter with the king's assent to Henry
Chicheley, archbishop of Canterbury, and his
choice fell upon Benedicta, one of the Polesworth nuns. (fn. 17)
The abbey was visited by Bishop Boulers in
1456, when various irregularities were brought
to light. The result was that decrees were
issued in September of that year forbidding the
residence of secular men and women within the
precincts, and ordering their removal by the following February, and prohibiting the granting of
corrodies or liveries. All the nuns were to take
their meals in the refectory, and to be served by
the nuns and not by seculars; they were to
sleep in the one dormitory and in single beds;
silence was to be observed in refectory and
dormitory as well as in cloister; and no one
was to leave the precincts without the express
sanction of the abbess. The common seal was
to be kept in an iron chest with three keys, there
was to be no alienation of property or goods
without the consent of the whole convent, and
there was to be an annual presentment of accounts. (fn. 18)
The Valor of 1535 gave the clear annual
value of the abbey as £87 16s. 3d. The
definite alms to the poor included a yearly distribution of 26s. 8d. on Maundy Thursday, and
a yearly charge of 26s. for rye bread distributed
weekly to the poor at the monastery gate. (fn. 19)
The official report of the mixed commission
of June 1536 stated the clear annual value of
the house of the Black Nuns of St. Benedict of
Polesworth to be £110 6s. 2d. The number
of religious was fourteen with the abbess and
'one ancress,' . . . they are described as being
of 'a very religious sorte and living and in vertue
very excellent oon of theym beyng upon the
poynt of a c yeres olde.' All of them desired to
continue in their religion there, or to be transferred to other houses. The number of dependants that had their living of the house was 38,
namely 3 priests, 8 yeomen, 17 hinds, 9 women
servants, and one very old and impotent creature,
sometime cook of the house, who had her living
there by promise. The value of the lead and
bells £52; the house in good and convenient
repair; the value of stocks, stores, and movable
goods £127 13s. 8d.; one hundred and eight
acres of great woods, about 100 years old,
£114 10s.; and debts owing by the house
£27 3s. 4d. (fn. 20)
The Commissioners wrote to Cromwell on
28 July, 1536, from Maxstoke, describing their
survey of Polesworth at greater length than in
their formal report. The abbess, Dame Alice
Fitzherbert, sixty years old, was a very discreet
religious woman, and had ruled there for twentyseven years. There were twelve virtuous nuns
under her of good repute in the county, and
none of them would leave their habit. They
advised Cromwell to mediate with the king so
that the house might escape suppression. Thirty
or forty gentlemen's children were often brought
up in the house. They thought that the town
would be ruined if the nunnery was abolished. (fn. 21)
The result of this appeal was, that on the payment of £50, made in January 1537, Polesworth was granted royal letters patent to remain
undissolved. (fn. 22)
The abbey was, however, 'surrendered,' notwithstanding its recent purchase of exemption,
on 31 January, 1539, by Alice Fitzherbert, the
abbess; but there are no signatures to the document. (fn. 23) Dr. London assigned to the abbess a
pension of £26 13s. 4d., to Joan Penge, the
prioress, and to Margaret Todye, who were aged,
53s. 4d. each, and 40s. to each of the twelve
other nuns. In a letter to the Chancellor of the
Augmentations, asking for confirmation of these
sums, London wrote of the abbess as a lady of
virtuous reputation and great age, and well
deserving of this pension, as she had lately at
great cost purchased the continuance of her
house, and yet left it in a good state. (fn. 24)
Henry VIII sold the site and demesnes of the
abbey in 1544 to Francis Goodyear. (fn. 25)
ABBESSES OF POLESWORTH
Edith, ? temp. Egbert
Osanna, occurs temp. Henry I
Muriel, occurs temp. John
Cicely, elected 1234 (fn. 26)
Margaret de Appleby, elected 1237, (fn. 27) died
1269
Sara or Sarra de Mancestre, elected 1269, (fn. 28)
died 1276
Albreda de Canvill, elected 1277, (fn. 29) occurs
1285 (fn. 30)
Katherine de Appleby, elected 1291, (fn. 31) died
1301
Erneberga de Herdeshull, elected 1301, (fn. 32) died
1322
Maud de Pipe, elected 1322 (fn. 33)
Letitia de Hexstall, elected 1348, (fn. 34) died
1349
Agnes de Somerville, elected 1349, (fn. 35) died
1362
Maud Botetourt, elected 1362, (fn. 36) resigned
1400 (fn. 37)
Katherine de Wyrley, elected 1400, (fn. 38) died
1414
Benedicta Pryde, elected 1414, (fn. 39) died 1469
Margaret Ruskyn, elected 1469 (fn. 40)
Elizabeth Bradfield, elected 1501, (fn. 41) died
1505
Elizabeth Fitzherbert, elected 1505, (fn. 42) died
1513
Alice Fitzherbert, elected 1513, (fn. 43) surrendered
1539
The first seal was a pointed oval: the abbess,
or perhaps St. Edith, standing, with a long cloak,
holding up in the left hand an object, probably
a pastoral staff. Legend:—
. . . . VM SANC . . . . (fn. 44)
The second seal, of the fourteenth century, is
a pointed oval: the Virgin with crown, standing
in a heavily canopied niche, on the right arm
the Child, in the left hand a sceptre. On each
side a smaller but similar niche, containing on
the left St. John the Evangelist holding a cup;
on the right St. Edith, in the right hand a book,
in the left hand a pastoral staff. In base, under
a round-headed arch, carved and trefoiled, a
shield of arms: a fesse double cotised, between
six crosslets. Legend:—
SIGILLU[M] : COIE : ABBĪSSE : ET: . . . VĒT':
MONI[Z] : DE : POLLESWORTH. (fn. 45)