HOUSE OF CARTHUSIAN MONKS
12. THE PRIORY OF ST. ANNE, COVENTRY
William, lord Zouch, of Harringworth, having
a desire in 1381 to found a house of Carthusians
near Coventry, obtained from Sir Baldwin
Freville 14 acres of land at Shortley, in the
suburbs of the city. Death, however, prevented
him from personally accomplishing his object,
but, when dying, he desired his heirs to pay 100
marks per annum for that object until they had
procured as much in churches appropriated to the
house. Lord Zouch procured three monks from
the Charterhouse, London, to begin the new
foundation, Robert Palmer, John Netherby, and
Edmund Dalling. These three arrived at Coventry on the eve of St. Andrew, 1381, and associated with themselves three monks from the
monastery of Beauvale, Nottinghamshire, and four
more who were then newly professed of this order.
They took up their abode in the hermitage of
St. Anne, and there tarried for seven years. (fn. 1)
Lord Zouch died in Lent, 1382, but his good
work was promptly taken up by some of the
citizens. Richard Luff, who had been mayor
1380-1, in conjunction with John Botoner, his
fellow citizen, made the handsome gift of 400
marks towards the building of the church and
cloisters and three cells on the east side of the
cloister next the chapter-house. John Holmeton, of Sleaford, gave £180 towards the structure
of the quire. Margaret Byri, of Newark, gave
£20 for building the fourth cell on the east side
of the cloister, and also presented the house with
the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah with glosses.
The money for the fifth cell, being the utmost
on the east side, was found by Lady Margery
Tilney, who also gave £10 for the east window
of the quire. The sixth cell, being the first on
the south side, was built by John Bokyngham,
bishop of Lincoln; and the seventh, next to it
on the same side, by Thomas Beauchamp, earl of
Warwick. (fn. 2)
One of the main principles of the Carthusian
order was that each monk lived apart by himself
in a cell or chamber of two or three rooms.
There each one lived severally, his victuals being
supplied him through a hatch by a lay-brother.
The convent only met in quire and chapter.
On 18 March, 1382, Richard II granted in
mortmain to John de Netherby, appointed prior
of a house of the Carthusian order to be
founded in a field called 'Shortleyfeld,' within
the liberty of Coventry, and to the monks there,
14 acres of land in that field, extending from a
footpath towards London on the east, to a stream
called Shirebourn on the west, and from a ditch
on the south to a mill called 'Burstall milne' on
the north. (fn. 3)
The king granted licence on 18 November,
1382, to the newly founded Carthusian priory,
which had no possessions besides the plot of land
they inhabited, to hold appropriations of churches
of the clear annual value of £100 beyond the
portions assigned to the vicars. (fn. 4)
On 24 November, 1384, grant in free alms
was made to the prior and convent of St. Anne,
Coventry, of the advowson of the church of
Walton-upon-Trent, Derbyshire. This grant
was, however, surrendered and cancelled, because
the king granted them licence to acquire from the
abbot and convent of Aunay, Normandy, the alien
priory of Limber (Lincolnshire) with the advowson of the vicarages of Limber and Kirtlington
(Oxfordshire), and Mears Ashby (Northamptonshire), and the other possessions of the priory at the
yearly rent of 25 marks, during the continuance
of the war. These possessions were finally sold
to the Carthusians by the abbey of Aunay in
1393. (fn. 5)
Richard II, returning from Scotland in September, 1385, tarried at Coventry. At the
special instance of his consort, Queen Anne, the
king, with his own hands, laid the foundation
stone of the church in honour of St. Anne
at the east end of the quire, stating publicly in
the presence of his magnates and of the mayor
and citizens of Coventry that he would be the
founder of it and bring it to perfection.
Thereupon others were fired to continue the
work. The eighth cell, being the third on the
south side, was constructed with £20 bequeathed
as a legacy by Adam Botoner, who had been
mayor of Coventry in 1374, 1378, and 1385.
The ninth, next to it, was the work of Sir Nigel
Loryng, by the procurement of Robert Braybrook, bishop of London. The tenth, being the
first in the west corner, was constructed with
£20 out of the goods of William Tilney, assigned for that purpose by John Holmeton, his
executor. The eleventh was the gift of John
Morton, canon of Lichfield. (fn. 6)
In November, 1386, the crown granted licence
to the Carthusians of Coventry to hold the appropriation of the church of Ecclesfield, Yorkshire, which had been recovered in the late reign
from the abbot and convent of St. Wandregisil,
in Normandy. (fn. 7) Further licence was granted by
the crown in March, 1387, to the prior and
convent to hold advowsons and other spiritual
possessions of religious aliens in England to the
clear annual value of £50, in addition to the
£100 of yearly value already granted, which
sum had proved insufficient to maintain the
monks and their servants; so that the full
number of a prior and twelve monks of that order
might be supported at Coventry to pray for ever
for the good estate of the king and for his soul,
and those of his ancestors after death. (fn. 8)
In 1391 Richard II granted them the manor
of Edith Weston, Rutland, formerly held by the
abbey of St. George's, Bosherville, Normandy. (fn. 9)
In 1393 they had licence to purchase from the
abbot of SS. Sergius and Bachus, Normandy, the
manors of Swavesey, and Dry Drayton, Cambridgeshire, with the advowson of the church of
Swavesey, excepting 65 marks annually due to
the wardens and scholars of King's Hall, Cambridge. (fn. 10) In 1397 the Carthusians of Coventry
had leave to purchase of the monks of St. Pierre
sur Dive, Normandy, the priory of Wolston,
Warwickshire, and from the abbey of St. Severus,
Normandy, their cell in Lincolnshire, termed the
priory of Haugham. (fn. 11) The king in 1398 granted
them full protection, and the privileges in the
election of priors and all other particulars enjoyed
by the Charterhouse of London, together with
complete exemption from taxation. (fn. 12) Finally, in
1399, Richard II still further showered his benefactions on this house. He released them from
the payment of 65 marks yearly to the scholars
of Cambridge, upon condition of providing for
twelve poor scholars within their precincts, between the ages of seven and seventeen. He
granted also to them the alien priories of Wootton Wawen, Warwickshire; Loders, Dorsetshire; and Long Bennington, Lincolnshire. (fn. 13)
But most of this last three-fold grant was resumed
by the crown on the accession of Henry IV. (fn. 14)
Henry VII was also a benefactor. In 1494
he licensed the appropriation to these Carthusians
of the Northamptonshire rectory of Potterspury,
and that of Eymond in Shropshire, on condition
of daily prayer for the good estate of the king,
his queen, their children, and his mother, and
celebrating a weekly mass of the Holy Ghost
during the king's life, and a solemn yearly obit
for his soul after his departure. (fn. 15)
The Carthusians generally were disposed to
stand out in 1534 against the king's supremacy.
The priors of four of the Charterhouses, Coventry, Richmond, Hull, and Mount Grace went to
Edward Lee, archbishop of York, for counsel;
he managed to persuade them all to submit,
although the last two, as the archbishop said in a
letter to the king of January, 1526, were 'sore
bent rather to die than to yield to this your royal
style.' (fn. 16)
The Valor of 1535, when John Bocher was
prior, gave the annual value of the ten appropriated churches held by the Carthusians and
pensions from three others as £229 15s. 4d.
These were the rectories of Ecclesfield and Sheffield, Yorkshire; Limber Magna and Haugham,
Lincolnshire; Edith Weston, Rutlandshire;
Mears Ashby and Potterspury, Northamptonshire;
Kirtlington, Oxfordshire; and Swavesey, Cambridgeshire. There were, however, many outgoing pensions; the support of the twelve poor
scholars cost £30 a year, and other alms
£14 10s., so that the clear annual value was
reduced to £131 6s. 4d. (fn. 17)
The commissioners of 1536 returned the
annual value of the priory as £201 7s. 6¼d.
They found twelve religious with the prior, all
priests, 'in virtue, contemplation, and religion
excellent'; all desired, if the house was dissolved,
to be sent to other houses of their religion.
There were twenty-one dependants, namely,
three 'converses' (lay-brothers), six yeomen servants, and twelve children brought up gratuitously in virtue and learning. The lead, bells,
and buildings were worth £89 7s. 6¾d., the
house being in very good repair. The stocks and
stores and movable goods were worth £31 18s. 5d.,
and there were 7½ acres of wood. The debts
amounted to £90 5s. 5d., of which £60 was
owing to the king for first-fruits. (fn. 18)
The priory of St. Anne obtained, however,
an exemption from the first suppression of houses
under £200, under letters patent dated 6 July,
1537, and John Bochard was re-appointed prior. (fn. 19)
In the accounts of the Court of Augmentations
for 1537-8 appears the payment to the crown
of the sum of £20 from the Carthusians of
Coventry for the continuance of their monastery. (fn. 20)
In January, 1537, the Carthusians got into
trouble for having sheltered for a time Thomas
Kendall, vicar of Louth, accused of complicity
in the Lincolnshire rising. He came to them,
stating he was from Oxford, and beneficed near
Colchester, and sought to be received into their
religion. They declined to receive him, but he
remained for a time in Coventry practising physic,
sometimes lodging in their house, and sometimes
in the city. He sent letters to Louth without
their knowledge, and this led to his arrest on the
night of Christmas Eve when they were at rest.
Ten of the monks set their hands to a declaration
of their entire innocency in a statement forwarded
to Cromwell, and Kendall, in his examination at
the Tower, supported their statement, alleging
his belief that the Carthusians would not have
received him had he said he came from
Louth. (fn. 21)
The Charterhouse of Coventry stood on 14
acres of ground, for which the monks paid a rent
to Coventry Priory of 14 groats. They had no
other possessions save the appropriated churches.
They were true to their rule, for 'outward they
had no commodities.' London, writing to Cromwell in January, 1539, said that he found but
twenty nobles' worth of goods in the whole house
at his taking an inventory; but that God had so
exposed their crafty dealing that he was able out
of that which he eventually recovered to give
each brother 40s. for clothing, pay the servants'
wages, give each brother 'his whole cell, saving
the house and a vestment,' pay all debts, and
yet have 200 ounces of plate over, whereas at his
coming he found less than 40 ounces. In another
letter he claimed to have reformed 'the good
father of the Charter-house' for his crafty and
double dealing in spoiling his house before the
visitor's arrival, and asked that his pension might
be confirmed, as he had so completely got the
better of him. On January 16 the surrender
was taken, signed by John Bochard, prior,
William Abel, vicar, and six others. Prior
Bochard had a pension of £40; John Todde,
who was blind and old, and Robert Bolde, who
was very old and infirm, had each £6 13s. 4d.
To two others were assigned pensions of £6, and
to five others £5 6s. 8d. There was one other
friar, Richard Wall, who had written certain
'dangerous letters' which had been forwarded to
Cromwell; him London imprisoned at Coventry
and reserved his pension until he had further instructions. (fn. 22)
The site was granted by the crown in 1543
to Richard Andrews and Leonard Chamberleyn. (fn. 23)
Priors of St. Anne, Coventry
John de Netherbury, appointed 1381 (fn. 24)
Robert, 1392 (fn. 25)
William, occurs 1436 (fn. 26)
Robert, 1459 (fn. 25)
Thomas, c. 1497-1504 (fn. 25)
John Bocher (Bochard), occurs 1535, (fn. 27) reappointed 1537, (fn. 28) surrendered 1539
The seal of this house is a pointed oval: on
the left the Virgin, standing crowned, the Child
on the right arm, in the left hand a sceptre;
on the right St. Anne, a book in the right
hand, in a carved niche with trefoiled canopy,
crocketed, and pinnacled, with tabernacle work
at the sides; the corbel or bracket ornamented
with a string-course, enriched with ball-flowers
and foliage.
S': COE: DOM': S[BE: ANNE: CO] UĒTR: ORDĪS:
CARTUSIĒR (fn. 29)