11. THE PRIORY OF MICHELHAM (fn. 1)
The priory of the Holy Trinity at Michelham
was founded in 1229 by Gilbert of Laigle, lord
of the honour of Pevensey, who in that year
gave to the prior and convent of the Holy
Trinity at Hastings 80 acres of land at Michelham, with other lands, that they might establish
a religious house there. Although Michelham
was thus founded under the auspices of Hastings,
it was apparently from the first an independent
house; indeed, it is only from the royal licence
for its foundation that we learn of its connexion
with Hastings. The founder endowed it with
the rectories of Laughton and Hailsham, with
lands and rights of pasture in the same parishes
and in Willingdon, and his park of 'Peverse'—
afterwards Michelham Park. He subsequently
added the manor of Chinting in Seaford, and
his brother-in-law, the Earl Warenne, gave the
manor of Northease. Lands in Arlington were
obtained from John de la Haye and William
de Bracklesham, dean of Chichester; William
Montague gave a chapel at Jevington with its
appurtenances, and Hugh Baudefar eight virgates
in Brighton. There were other grants of lands
in the neighbourhood of the priory and a few
in Hartfield and Cowden in Kent. In 1280
Richard de Pagham, chancellor of Chichester,
gave 50 acres of land at Horsey, but no further
additions to the endowment were made before
the Taxation of 1291, when the priory's estate
was valued at £81. The fourteenth century
brought considerable accessions in the form of
numerous small grants, mostly in the neighbourhood of Pevensey Level. Two extensive grants
in 1377 and 1395 by Roger Gosselyn and others
completed the temporalities of the priory, except
for a grant by the prior of Lewes of Highlands
in Hailsham in 1376, and a lease from the same
of the manor of Sutton by Seaford in 1392. At
the time of its dissolution the estate of Michelham Priory was valued at £191 19s. 4d. gross,
or £160 12s. 6d. clear.
In spiritualities this house was never rich.
We have seen that the founder gave the rectories of Laughton and Hailsham. The former
of these remained in the priory's hands till the
dissolution, but that of Hailsham was the cause
of a long and fierce struggle with the Premonstratensian abbey of Bayham, to which it was
finally ceded in 1288. An account of this dispute will be found in the notice of Bayham. In
1365 negotiations were apparently opened with
Lewes for the church of Ripe, as the prior of
Lewes that year obtained the royal licence to
grant the advowson of that church to Michelham. (fn. 2) This, however, evidently came to nothing,
as the church continued in the hands of Lewes
Priory till its suppression; but in 1398 Prior
John Leem, pleading the poverty of his house,
brought about by decay of buildings, inundations
of the sea, and expenses of hospitality, obtained
from the bishop of Chichester (fn. 3) and Richard II (fn. 4)
—with further confirmation from Henry IV (fn. 5) —
licence to appropriate the churches of Alfriston
and Fletching.
With the exception of the dispute with Bayham concerning the church of Hailsham, the
early history of Michelham was quite uneventful,
and the first incident that calls for notice is the
visit of Archbishop Peckham in June, 1283.
The state of the house seems to have been not
altogether satisfactory, as the archbishop subsequently empowered the archdeacon of Lewes to
levy fines imposed on the convents of Michelham
and Hastings for non-residence and other causes.
While he was here John de Kyrkeby, bishopelect of Rochester, appeared before him and
renounced his claims to the bishopric, Peckham
having refused him consecration as a notorious
pluralist. Twenty years later, on 14 September, 1302, Edward I spent a night at the priory
on his way from Lewes to Battle.
About this time other visitors, less honourable
but more permanent, began to appear; thus, in
1317 Robert Henry, 'who served the late king,'
was sent to the priory, to be maintained, (fn. 6) but
was refused by the prior, who, when summoned
for this contempt of the royal mandate, pleaded
that he held in frankalmoign. (fn. 7) The failure of
this plea is evident, as in 1327 William Alvered,
usher of the king's kitchen, was quartered on
the convent. (fn. 8)
The fearful ravages of the Black Death in
1350 seem to have been felt here as elsewhere,
and three years later the priory was still suffering
from its effects, as we read that—
the prior of Michelham holds of the Queen (as lady
of the honour of Pevensey) by service of finding
thirteen canons to celebrate divine rites for the souls
of Gilbert de Aquila, his ancestors and his heirs for
ever; and of these canons eight are now lacking. (fn. 9)
The monks would seem also to have suffered
from the lawlessness which was one of the
results of the plague, as in 1351 the bailiff of
Pevensey by threats and violence extorted an
annuity of 30s. from the prior. (fn. 10)
A later instance of outside interference occurred
in 1437 when Sir Roger Fiennes, the builder of
Herstmonceux Castle, ejected the prior and seized
the common seal and all the goods of the house. (fn. 11)
The commissioners appointed to inquire into
the matter replaced the prior and restored the
seal and property to him, (fn. 12) though before the end
of the next year he had been deposed and a
successor elected. (fn. 13)
As important landowners in the Saltmarsh
district of Pevensey Level the priors of Michelham were frequently appointed on commissions
of sewers for the coast of Eastern Sussex, the
earliest instance being in 1290 (fn. 14) and the latest
in 1534. (fn. 15) Thus in 1402 the prior of Michelham
with John Pelham and William Makenade drew
up the statutes of Pevensey Marsh. (fn. 16) The prior
at this date was John Leem, who held the office
of receiver of the honour of Aquila in the duchy
of Lancaster from 1377 to 1382, (fn. 17) and again in
1408; he was also on a commission of array in
1415, (fn. 18) and acted as collector of the clerical subsidies in 1380, 1402, and 1410. (fn. 19) An earlier
prior, in 1335, is found in a commission for the
examination of Queen Philippa's manors and
parks in the honour of Aquila; (fn. 20) in 1340 the
prior of Michelham was one of the four assessors
first appointed for Sussex to draw up the returns
of the ninth of lambs, sheaves, and fleeces. (fn. 21) The
priors also appear as contributing towards all
the usual aids, loans, and grants squeezed from the
clergy by the different kings.
Of the inner life of this house previous to the
fifteenth century we have no details, and the
first appearance of what we may call the personal note is in 1423, when, at a provincial
chapter of the Augustinian Order at Northampton (fn. 22) —
there was read a long letter rhetorically written by
the prior of Michelham . . . directed against the
new abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury; but
because it appeared most certain that it had not
sprung from the root of charity, but on the contrary
had been designed with no small degree of malice to
the disparagement of the said venerable father; therefore the lords-president ordered that it should be
'buried with those that sleep.'
A visitation was held in September, 1441,
when Laurence Wynchelse was prior; a subprior, precentor, cellarer, and four canons are
mentioned, and the first of the bishop's injunctions ordered the immediate addition of three
more canons. They were further commanded
that the canons should keep silence and not frequent the tavern outside the priory gate; that
the prior should go over the accounts regularly,
should repair the buildings, and provide a literate
man to teach the younger canons; also that he
should sell no corrodies, and should limit his
personal household to one chaplain, one squire,
one chamberer, one cook, one valet, and one
page of the kitchen, and be content with four
horses in his stables. The disorders implied in
these injunctions are set forth in detail in a
further visitation in January, 1442—by which
date two more canons had been admitted. It
was then found that the prior was acting in all
things without consulting the canons, whom he
kept ill-supplied with money and food; he had
run the house into debt to the amount of nearly
£70, and had permitted dilapidations which
could not be repaired under £100. Also he
had sold, without consulting the chapter, timber,
millstones, building material, cattle, and other
things; had granted corrodies and gifts to many
persons—including Sir Roger Fiennes, Sir Thomas
Echingham, and John Devenish; and had
alienated many books, amongst which are
mentioned 'a book called Apocalipsis' and 'the
Chronicles of England.' In spite, however, of
his 'standing condemned of perjury and
disobedience' Laurence does not seem to have
been deprived of his office, as he was still prior
in 1447.
On the occasion of the next visitation, in
1478, Edward Marley was prior and there were
six canons, including a cellarer, but no subprior
or sacrist, for lack of whom the vestments and
ornaments of the church had fallen into great
decay. The whole moral tone of the convent
was very low; silence was not kept, and even
the services were disturbed by talking, they did
not eat together in the refectory, but frequented
the tavern, and two at least of the canons were
incontinent. Three of them had at different
times left the convent without leave, one was
still wandering apostate and another was absent
for fifteen years, 'and afterwards returning
poisoned the whole convent with his strange and
evil arguments.' One of the canons petitioned
the bishop to send a certain worthy canon of
Tortington—Ellis by name—to be their subprior, which he accordingly did. As the result
of another visitation in 1481, Edward Marley
resigned his office on the plea of old age and
infirmity.
On 13 September, 1482, Ellis Parker the
sub-prior, with seven other canons and one novice
met to elect a successor to Edward Marley and
chose, almost unanimously, John West, who
after many protestations accepted the office.
Three visitations were made during the priorship of Thomas Holbeme; at each the only
thing that was wrong was the ruinous condition
of the house; in 1521 the officers were prior,
sub-prior, sacrist, precentor, and master of the
novices, four of these latter completing the
convent. In 1524 the numbers were eight
altogether, as one of the canons was acting as
vicar of Alfriston, but in 1527 there were
besides the five officers three brethren and two
novices, and at the time of its dissolution eight
priests and one novice. (fn. 23)
The gross value of the priory being only
£191 19s. 4d. it was dissolved with the other
lesser houses in 1536; the prior, Thomas
Holbeme, receiving a pension of £20. (fn. 24) A
preliminary survey (fn. 25) mentions twenty-nine
servants—eleven being labourers and eighteen
domestic; values the movables at £55 13s. 4d.,
the bells and lead at £30, debts owing to the
house £9 15s. 2d., against £26 11s. 1d. owed
by them. A more detailed return (fn. 26) shows 203
ounces of silver and silver-gilt valued at
£27 0s. 4½d., church ornaments including the
paving stones sold for £15 13s. 2d., five bells
weighing 40 cwt. worth £26 13s. 4d., and
other items yielding a total of £162 0s. 0½d.
Out of this the canons received for a quarter's
salary £13 13s. 4d., and of the king's great
charity—their beds. The site and property of
the priory was granted to Cromwell. (fn. 27)
Priors of Michelham (fn. 28)
Roger, first prior, occurs 1236 (fn. 29)
Peter, c. 1239, occurs 1256 (fn. 30)
Roger, occurs 1260, (fn. 31) 1262 (fn. 32)
William, occurs 1273
Roger, occurs 1277 (fn. 33) -90 (fn. 34)
William de Shelvestrode, occurs c. 1322-34
John de Worth, died c. 1350 (fn. 35)
John Leem, occurs 1376-1415
William London, occurs 1434, resigned 1438
Laurence Wynchelse, elected 1438, occurs
1447
Edward Marley, before 1458, resigned 1482
John West, elected 1482, occurs 1509
Thomas Holbeme, occurs 1518, last prior
The only known seal is attached to a deed by
Prior John Leem in 1376, and is imperfect. It
shows Christ seated, right hand raised in blessing,
in the left hand a book, in the field A and ω;
legend destroyed. Counterseal, an angel facing
towards the left. Legend:—
+ M'SI'VIS'AMARI'AMA.