45. THE PRIORY OF ST. CATHERINE OUTSIDE LINCOLN
The Gilbertine priory of St. Catherine, outside
Lincoln, was founded by Robert de Chesney,
bishop of Lincoln, probably soon after the confirmation of the order of Sempringham by
Eugenius III in 1148. (fn. 1) The bishop endowed it
with the prebend of Canwick, the mother church
of Newark, and the chapel in Newark Castle,
houses and lands and a tenth of the toll of the
borough except during fairs, and the churches of
Norton Disney, Marton, Newton on Trent, and
Bracebridge. (fn. 2) There was therefore some justice
in the charge of Giraldus Cambrensis that he
favoured the regulars at the expense of his see. (fn. 3)
He also handed over to the canons the custody
of the hospital of St. Sepulchre at Lincoln and its
property. (fn. 4)
This hospital was an older endowment founded
by Robert Bloet, bishop of Lincoln (1094-1123).
Baldwin Wake (circa 1205-13) granted certain
parcels of land to the brethren and poor of the
hospital. The hundred rolls show that the lay
brethren held separate estates. (fn. 5)
The priory was founded as a house for canons,
but it seems probable that lay sisters were soon
introduced to undertake the care of the sick.
St. Gilbert limited the number of women in the
house to twenty, while there might be sixteen
men. (fn. 6) It is unlikely that there were nuns at
this house to bear rule over the lay sisters,
although in 1314 Edward II requested the
prior and convent to grant to Eleanor Darcy
the allowance of a canoness of that house for
life, having sent her to them at the instance of
Henry de Beaumont. (fn. 7) The lay sisters appear
to have been continuous. In 1319 Edward II
sent Christiana de Hauville, whose husband and
three sons Were slain by the Scotch rebels, to
have her maintenance among the sisters of that
house until she was able to live of her own
again, her lands and goods having been laid
waste and utterly destroyed. (fn. 8) The lay sisters
were remembered in a will of 1392, (fn. 9) and five of
them served the hospital at the dissolution. (fn. 10)
Compared with other houses of the order, the
endowment and later benefactions were considerable. In 1254 the spiritualities were assessed at £91 13s. 4d., the temporalities
at £180 12s. 4d. (fn. 11) At the, beginning of the
fourteenth century the profits of the wool trade
were very large, for the sales then averaged 35
sacks a year. (fn. 12) However, the claims of the poor
and sick were obviously unlimited, and in the
fourteenth century it was the custom of the
canons to send out collectors. In 1309 Bishop
Dalderby notified to the archdeacons of the
diocese that divers persons were fraudulently
seeking alms, whereas the prior had only sent
out three collectors. (fn. 13) A few years later he
granted an indulgence to all who should contribute to the fabric of the hospital or the
maintenance of the sick. (fn. 14) In 1328 Edward III
issued a mandate for five years to sheriffs, bailiffs,
and others to arrest unauthorized persons who
were converting the contributions to their own
use. (fn. 15)
There is evidence of considerable activity at
the end of the thirteenth century. In 1285 the
prior and convent got a licence to build a
windmill on the east of the priory gate. (fn. 16) A
few years afterwards the first of the Eleanor
crosses was erected on Swines Green, opposite
the gates, as the body of the queen rested at the
priory in November, 1290, on the first night of
the journey from Harby to London. (fn. 17) In 1291
the prior and convent obtained a papal indulgence
for visitors on the feasts of St. Catherine, St.
Gilbert, and St. James. (fn. 18) In 1294 they were
allowed to enclose a plot of land for the
enlargement of the priory, (fn. 19) and twelve years
later to build an aqueduct for a water supply. (fn. 20)
In 1306 they paid as much as 60 marks for a
royal licence to appropriate in mortmain Stapleford church by Norton Disney. (fn. 21) In 1308 they
appropriated the church of Newark. (fn. 22) In 1316
they obtained a further licence to appropriate
lands in mortmain to the value of £40 a year, (fn. 23)
but too late to prevent them from being fined
five marks for receiving twenty-one small benefactions without licence. (fn. 24)
The result of somewhat reckless speculation
in lands and wool was apparent early in the
reign of Edward III. In 1330 the house
owed to one merchant of Genoa £408 6s. 1d., (fn. 25)
and two years later no less than £956 to
several Italian merchants. (fn. 26) However the obligations were met, and the bonds subsequently
cancelled. (fn. 27)
The house suffered from serious assaults
resulting in considerable damage and loss to
property. In 1316 the prior complained that
nineteen persons entered his close at Scopwick,
assaulted his men and servants, drove away his
cattle, impounded 500 sheep and detained them
so long that most of them died of hunger. (fn. 28) In
1333 the abbot of Kirkstead, two of his monks
and others, took away four ships worth £40
from the prior's ferry at Timberland, and ten
nets from his fishery. (fn. 29) However not a month
later a commission of oyer and terminer was
appointed on the complaint of the abbot of Kirkstead, who charged the prior of St. Catherine's
with poaching on his fisheries and trampling
down his corn at Canwick. (fn. 30)
In 1303 the prior held a knight's fee in
Houghton and Walton, half a fee in Toft, half
in Pointon, one-third in Syston, a quarter in
Friskney, a quarter in Harmston, a quarter in
Fulletby and Oxcombe, a quarter in Bracebridge,
a quarter and one-eighth in Stapleford, one-fifth
of half a fee in Navenby, one-tenth in Hagworthingham, one-twelfth in Boothby, onetwentieth in Toft Newton, one-twentieth in
East Hykeham, one-twentieth and one-twelfth
and one-thirty-second in Haddington, one-fortieth in Timberland, one-fortieth and one twohundredth in Boultham. In 1346 he also held
half a fee in Welby, a half in Pointon, a quarter in Foston and Bennington, and one-twentieth
in Claxby. (fn. 31)
The Black Death affected the fortunes of the
house very severely. Even in 1348 the prior
urged that the possessions of the house were not
sufficient for its burdens, (fn. 32) and in 1391 the house
was poor and in debt, labour was scarce, wages
high and taxation heavy, while hospitality and
the care of the sick were serious charges. (fn. 33) Bishop
Bokyngham accordingly allowed the prior and
convent to appropriate the church of Mere. (fn. 34)
They were favoured just at that time by Lincoln
citizens and county knights, and acquired several
benefactions on the condition of services and
masses. (fn. 35) In 1393 they added another five marks
to their revenues by appropriating the church
of Harmston. (fn. 36)
In 1390 the prior was released from the
obligation of collecting the tenths of the clergy
in the diocese, (fn. 37) an office very frequently held by
his predecessors. (fn. 38)
Attempts to economize at the expense of the
secular clergy and their parishioners brought the
convent into conflict with the bishops in the
fifteenth century. (fn. 39) In 1463 the prior had
neglected to provide a chaplain at Saxby. (fn. 40) Four
years later he was compelled to increase the
stipend of the vicar of Alford by six marks
a year. (fn. 41) Papal intervention enabled him to set
aside ordinations of vicarages and to send canons
whom he could recall at will to serve the
churches of Newark and Mere. (fn. 42)
Just before the dissolution the house was
unfortunate in its priors. Robert Holgate, who
afterwards became the last and most unworthy
master of the order, robbed it of a chalice and a
pair of censers of some value, and was cited
by his successor, William Griffiths, to answer
the charge before the king's commissioners. (fn. 43)
Griffiths was a turbulent person. He was said
to have been deprived for promoting the rebellion
in Lincolnshire in 1536, and for dissipating the
goods of his house. (fn. 44) He entered the priory by
force, expelled the new prior, and maintained
his position until the surrender, when in spite of
his conduct he secured a pension of £40. (fn. 45)
The priory was surrendered on 14 July, 1538, (fn. 46)
two months before the other Gilbertine houses
in the county. The thirteen canons were pensioned, (fn. 47) but the lay sisters got nothing.
In 1535 the clear yearly value of the property
was £202 5s. 0½d. (fn. 48) It included the granges
or manors of Harmston, Wellingore, North
Hykeham, Stapleford, Long Bennington, Belchford, Cherry Willingham, and Saxby; in Nottinghamshire, Coddington, and in Yorkshire
Brampton, lands and rents in many other places
in Lincolnshire, and the rectories of Stapleford,
Alford with Rigsby Chapel, Marton, Bracebridge, Canwick, Hackthorn, Mere, Friskney,
Harmston, North Hykeham and Saxby. Granges
and rectories alike were let, and the canons
lived on their rents. The cost of the maintenance and education of some orphans in the
hospital, of five lay sisters to look after them and
the sick amounted to only £21 13s. 4d. a year.
Four years later in the hands of the crown
bailiff the property brought in £209 5s. 9d. (fn. 49)
Priors of St. Catherine without Lincoln
Adam, (fn. 50) occurs 1164
Gilbert, (fn. 51) occurs 1202
William, (fn. 52) occurs 1218
Vivian, (fn. 53) occurs 1225
Hugh, (fn. 54) occurs 1232
Roger, (fn. 55) occurs 1236
Ralph, (fn. 56) 1245
Henry, (fn. 57) 1269
Gilbert, (fn. 58) occurs 1323
William, (fn. 59) occurs 1333
Richard de Stretton, (fn. 60)
ob. 1334
Walter de Shireburn, (fn. 61) 1334
Robert de Navenby, (fn. 62) occurs 1340
William, (fn. 63) occurs 1344
Roger de Houton, (fn. 64) occurs 1348
Hamo, (fn. 65) occurs 1390
Walter Iklyngham, (fn. 66) occurs 1428 and 1435
Richard Misyn, (fn. 67) 1435
John Busseby, (fn. 68) occurs 1447
Robert, (fn. 69) occurs 1511
John Jonson, (fn. 70) occurs 1522
Robert Holgate, (fn. 71) occurs 1529
William Griffiths, (fn. 72) occurs 1538
Several seals of the thirteenth century are attached to deeds in the British Museum. (fn. 73) In shape
they are pointed ovals. One represents St. Catherine seated on a throne with a nimbus, in her right
hand a sceptre, in her left hand a book. (fn. 74) Overhead is a small round-headed arched canopy.
The legend is SIGILL' ECCLESIE BEATE KATERINE
VIRGINIS LINCOLIE. Another represents St. Catherine standing on a platform with crown and
nimbus, in her right hand a sword, in her left
hand a book, and at the right side a wheel. (fn. 75)
The legend is . . . OR ET CONVENTOS . . .
S. STE KATRINE LI . . . A seal ad causas
represents St. Catherine crowned standing slightly
turned to the right on a corbel, in her right
hand a book, in her left a wheel, is in the style
of the fourteenth century and of the date 1522. (fn. 76)