17. THE PRIORY OF BRICETT
Ralph FitzBrian and Emma his wife, about
the year 1110, founded a priory for Austin
canons at Bricett, which was dedicated to the
honour of St. Leonard. The foundation charter
endowed the priory with the tithes of Bricett
and of 'Losa' with its chapel, a moiety of the
church of 'Stepla,' and the church of Stangate,
Essex, in addition to various plots of land in the
vicinity. The founder also gave to the canons
a large garden on the south of the monastery
and a smaller one on the east, and he ordained
that whenever he was in Suffolk the canons were
to act as his chaplains and to receive a tithe of
his bread and beer. (fn. 1)
These gifts, with slight additions, were confirmed to the canons both by the son and
grandson of the founder and by Sir Almaric
Peche, who married the great granddaughter
and heiress. In 1250, Walter bishop of Norwich, with the assent of the prior and convent,
licensed a chantry in the chapel of Sir Almaric
and his lady, within the court of their house, on
condition that the chantry chaplain, at his first
coming, should swear, in the presence of the
prior, to restore to the mother church of Bricett
every kind of offering made in the chapel,
without any deduction, on the day or the day
after the offering was made; and also that no
parishioner should be admitted to the sacrament
of penance or any other sacrament by the chaplain, save in peril of death. It was also stipulated
that Almaric and his wife and household and
their heirs should attend the mother church at
Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, the Assumption,
and St. Leonard's Day, and make the accustomed
offerings at high mass. (fn. 2)
Although the founder had enjoined that the
canons of this house were to be under the special
protection of the Bishop of Norwich, and that
the prior was to have the power of appointing
and removing canons, the priory of Bricett was
claimed, early in the thirteenth century, as
pertaining to the monastery of Nobiliac, in the
diocese of Limoges and the duchy of Berry. (fn. 3)
This claim was resisted, but in 1295 an agreement was arrived at favourable to the foreign
house, whereby Bricett became an alien priory;
this composition was renewed and confirmed by
the Bishop of Norwich in the chapter-house of
Bricett, on 16 July, 1310. (fn. 4)
The taxation roll of 1291 gives the annual
value of the temporalities of Bricett priory in
various Suffolk parishes and in Pentlow, Essex,
as £13 18s. 0½d. Under spiritualities there was
the church of Wattisham with an income of
£5 6s. 8d. and portions from Castle Acre of
£1 13s. 4d., and from Wenham of 6s. (fn. 5)
In a long list of royal protections to religious
houses in 1295, in return for bestowing on the
king a tithe of their income, the priory of Bricett
is described as a cell to the priory of 'Noblac in
Lymoches.' (fn. 6)
In 1325 Thomas Durant and Margaret his
wife obtained licence to enfeoff John de Bohun
of a fourth part of the manor of Great Bricett,
together with the advowson of the priory of
St. Leonard of the same town. (fn. 7)
Licence was granted in 1331 for the alienation by Thomas le Archer, rector of Elmsett,
and Richard his brother, to the prior and canons
of Bricett of three parts of the manor of Great
Bricett, of the yearly value of £7. (fn. 8) The fourth
part of the manor of Great Bricett of the annual
value of 36s. 8d. was assigned to the priory in
1346 by Richard Hacoun and Anne his wife. (fn. 9)
In the same year John Bardoun and Isabel his
wife released to the prior and canons of
St. Leonard's all their right and claim in the
manor of Great Bricett. (fn. 10)
The prior, with a great number of other
priors of alien houses and cells, was summoned
to appear before the council at Westminster, on
the morrow of Midsummer, 1346, 'to speak
with them on things that shall be set forth to
them,' upon pain of forfeiture and the loss of
the priory, lands, and goods. (fn. 11)
On the general suppression of the alien
priories, Bricett came into the hands of the
crown. In 1444 Henry VI granted the whole
of the possessions to the college of SS. Mary
and Nicholas (afterwards King's), Cambridge. (fn. 12)
This grant was confirmed by the same king in
1452, (fn. 13) and it was again renewed by Edward IV
in the first year of his reign, namely on 24 February, 1462. (fn. 14)
In a book of surveys of the University of
Cambridge, 1545-6, the annual value of the
priory or manor of Bricett is set down under the
possessions of King's College at £33 11s. 8d. (fn. 15)
Priors of Bricett
William Randulf, appointed 1312 (fn. 16)
John de Essex, appointed 1337 (fn. 17)
Alan de Codenham, appointed 1372 (fn. 18)
Nicholas Barne, appointed 1399 (fn. 19)