24. THE PRIORY OF HEYNINGS
The priory of Heynings or Heveninges was
founded by Rayner de Evermue, probably early
in the reign of Stephen, (fn. 1) and the patronage of
the house remained with the lords of Knaith
through most of its history.
The endowment of the priory was meagre—
'notoriously insufficient,' it was alleged in 1348
—on account of the death of the founder before
its completion (fn. 2) ; and the scanty notices of it
which occur from time to time usually refer to
its poverty. In 1331 the nuns were discharged
of part of the tithe due to the king, because their
house was ' impoverished by divers misfortunes,' (fn. 3)
and again in 1347. (fn. 4) In this latter year Master
Simon of Islip and Nicholas of Buckland granted
them an acre of land and the advowson of Womersley church for the relief of their necessities, (fn. 5)
and in 1349 Sir John Darcy, then patron of the
house, gave them the advowson of Knaith. (fn. 6) The
land of Leadenham Braylond was also granted to
them in 1377, (fn. 7) and in 1397 they were again
absolved from payment of tenths. (fn. 8) But in 1401
a petition to. the pope repeated the complaint
made in 1348 of poverty caused by barrenness
of lands, multiplication of guests and corrodies,
and burdens laid on all religious houses, which
had compelled them to mortgage all their possessions for a long time. (fn. 9)
Being small and poor, the priory of Heynings
might have been dissolved in 1536, but for some
reason it was spared, and continued until 11 July,
1539, when it was surrendered by the prioress,
Jane Sanford, and eleven nuns. (fn. 10) The prioress
received a pension of £6 13s. 4d., two aged nuns
33s. 44 d., and nine ' young women ' 30s. a year. (fn. 11)
Heynings, like Stixwould, was founded for
' brethren and sisters,' (fn. 12) but the brethren are only
mentioned in the foundation charter. By the
end of the thirteenth century it was ruled by a
prioress alone, with a warden or master who
might be a secular priest or a religious of some
other order. (fn. 13) The earliest recorded visitation is
one of Bishop Gynwell in 1347. He drew
attention to certain matters requiring reform,
and said the 'rule of St. Benedict with the
observances of St. Bernard,' in which they were
founded, was not well kept. The divine office
had not been carefully attended, and there had
been negligence as to rules of silence, as to the
visits of friends, and the admission of children
and seculars to the cloister and dormitory. A
special injunction was added, that Dame Margaret Darcy was not on any account to pass
beyond the cloistral precincts or to speak to any
stranger; her offence, however, is not mentioned. (fn. 14)
Later in the same century we meet the
common difficulty which arose from the admission of lady boarders to the monasteries. A few
were allowed by special licence of the bishop, (fn. 15)
but the practice was generally to be avoided; an
injunction continually repeated, but almost always
evaded under the pressure of poverty. In 1393
Bishop Bokyngham held a visitation at Heynings. He ordered that any sister absent from
the divine office should be deprived of food the
next day; all breaches of discipline were to be
punished by fasting on bread and water for
periods varying from a day to a week. The
children of the convent school were not to sleep
in the dormitory, accounts were to be duly
rendered, and the common seal carefully kept.
The sisters were exhorted to behave with affection one towards the other. These injunctions
were repeated constantly in visitations of all
nunneries, and are usually considered to be a
matter of formal routine when there was nothing special to correct. No nun was to have a
room to herself except Dame Margaret Darcy,
on account of her nobility; and she was to have
no further privilege beyond the rest. (fn. 16)
Bishop Alnwick visited in 1440. There were
no serious complaints, and nearly all answered
omnia bene. The house was in debt, but then
it had been recently repaired at great cost. One
nun complained that the prioress was not impartial in her dealings with the sisters, and that she
spoiled her servants. A lay sister complained
that secular boarders occupied the infirmary, so
that the sisters had nowhere to go when they
were bled, and that servants of the house slept
in the dormitory.
The bishop ordered that the number of nuns
was not to be increased without his permission;
the rest of his injunctions were merely forma,
and he had the good sense not to make much
of complaints that seemed dictated by mere
discontent. (fn. 17)
Bishop Atwater visited in 1519, but left no
injunctions; there can have been nothing much
to notice. (fn. 18)
At the time of surrender Dr. London alleged of
this house, as well as of Irford, Fosse, and others,
that many of the nuns had been professed very
young and had since lived in imperfect chastity,
so that now they were delighted to think that
they might return to the world and marry. Of
Heynings in particular he only stated that there
had been ' much waste in the woods.' (fn. 19) The
value of this report is lessened by the fact that
there were at this time twelve nuns and a prioress
in this house, living on an income of less than
£50, which could not have supported them in
great luxury; and they might have surrendered
three years before under the first Act of Suppression, if they had really been so weary of their
habit. Moreover six of them lived on till 1553,
and were then still unmarried. (fn. 20)
The original endowment of the priory consisted mainly of the demesne land, with the
church of Upton. (fn. 21) In 1348 the church of
Womersley, Yorks., was appropriated to the
nuns, (fn. 22) and in 1349 they were granted the advowson of Knaith (fn. 23) ; in 1377 the manor of
Lerdenham Braylond was added to their possessions. (fn. 24) In 1303 the prioress was returned as
holding part of half a knight's fee in Ingleby. (fn. 25)
The income of the priory in 1534 was
£49 5s. 2d. clear (fn. 26) ; at the surrender the
Ministers' Accounts show a total of £74 11s. 7d., (fn. 27)
including the manor of Heynings and the farm
of the rectories of Upton in Lincolnshire and
Womersley in Yorkshire.
Prioresses Of Heynings
Margery Pocklington, (fn. 28) resigned 1300
Margery of Marton, (fn. 29) elected 1300
Margaret Swalecliffe, (fn. 30) resigned 1315
Joan of Cottingham, (fn. 31) elected 1315, resigned
1319
Margaret Cause, (fn. 32) elected 1319, resigned
1347
Eleanor Joyce, (fn. 33) elected 1347, resigned 1352
Alice of Cuxwold, (fn. 34) elected 1352
Joan Humberstone, (fn. 35) occurs 1419
Joan Stanford, (fn. 36) last prioress, surrendered 1539
The thirteenth - century common seal (fn. 37) is
pointed oval, representing the Virgin seated upon
a carved and trefoiled canopy supported on slender
shafts, with a crown, in the left hand the Child
with nimbus; her feet rest on a carved corbel.
In the field below the canopy, a sun, a crescent
enclosing an estoile, two cinquefoils, a quatrefoil,
and a crescent. Above the canopy, two angels
holding censers.
S': SANCTE: MARIE: ET: CP: UENTUS:
D'HEYNINGE
Letters A: R of Marie and E: N of Conventus
are conjoined.