36. THE PRIORY OF ANDOVER
Among the various English gifts that the
Conqueror bestowed on the Benedictine abbey
of St. Florent, Saumur, was the church of
Andover, with a hide and 14 acres of land,
tithes of all the demesne lands in the parish,
and extensive pasture rights, with wood for
fuel, for fencing and for building purposes. (fn. 5)
In 1100 William Rufus renewed the gift to
St. Florent of the church of Andover, with its
tithes and all its appurtenances, and directed,
with characteristic fierceness, that all churches
built under the mother church of Andover
should be utterly destroyed, or should be held
by the monks of St. Florent. (fn. 6) In 1146 Pope
Eugenius III. confirmed to the abbey the
church of St. Mary of Andover, with the
chapel of Foxcote, and this confirmation was
repeated ten years later by Pope Adrian IV.,
and by Pope Urban III. in 1186. (fn. 7)
The abbey of St. Florent placed a colony
of monks at Andover, and established there a
priory or cell directly after the church was
given them. The homes of the monks are
described as being juxta ecclesiam. In the
present large churchyard, a little to the north
of the parish church, a piece of trim ivycovered walling is still standing, which is said
to be the only remnant of the old priory.
Between 1160 and 1173 an agreement
was made and confirmed at Andover between
the monks of St. Florent and Philip Croch,
in the presence of Froger, abbot of St.
Florent, concerning three virgates and two
acres of land held by the church of Andover
at Easton, of the fee of Matthew Croch.
Philip was to pay the prior of Andover half a
mark of silver annually for that land as long
as he lived. The prior was to do no service
to the king nor any one, but Philip was to
acquit it in everything. On the day of
Philip's death the monks were to have the
land freely. Philip swore, with his hand on
the four gospels, that he would never seek
directly nor indirectly to deprive the priory of
that land or rent. (fn. 8)
In the time of Pope Urban IV. there is a
curious instance of papal interference, when
the prior of Andover was Master Berard of
Naples, papal subdeacon and notary. On
29 May, 1264, a papal letter was addressed
to him, reciting that by custom he had, as
prior of Andover, the right to present a fit
person for the perpetual vicarage of St. Mary,
Andover, to the abbot of St. Florent, to which
the priory was subject, to be by him presented
to the bishop; but that as the vicarage had been
long void, and as on account of the disturbance of the realm the prior (who was nonresident and an Italian) had had no notice of
the voidance, so that neither he nor the abbot
could present, the said prior and abbot were
licensed to present a fit person within six
months from the time that the prior was
aware of the voidance of the vicarage; any
collation, provision or investiture of any
ordinary notwithstanding. (fn. 1)
In 1294, when the priory of Andover was
seized by Edward I., it was found that the
prior's messuage and dovecot within the precincts were worth 5s. a year, and 48 acres of
lands 24s., and 12 acres of meadow 12d.
Rents from diverse tenements realized 68s.,
and the tithes of the church £66 13s. 4d.
The total annual value came to £71 18s. 4d. (fn. 2)
On 22 October, 1305, Robert de Combor,
a monk of St. Florent, was instituted to this
priory by Bishop Woodlock. In the previous
year there had been a great dispute between
John de St. John, prior of Andover, and
Robert de Combor as to the latter's violent
intrusion into the priory. During the
vacancy of the see of Winchester the matter
was referred to the Archbishop of Canterbury,
and immediately on Bishop Woodlock's appointment, the primate issued his mandate to
the bishop to execute speedy justice in this
quarrel. The bishop appointed the rural dean
of Andover to report, with the result that
Robert submitted, renounced all rights, and
was absolved. However, he was shortly
afterwards formally instituted, probably on
the resignation of Prior John. (fn. 3)
Prior John de Pomariis is mentioned in the
Close Rolls of 1331, where his name appears
in conjunction with the parson of Horncastle
as owing 200 marks to two merchants of
Florence. The amount was to be levied, in
default of payment, on their lands and chattels
in Hampshire. (fn. 4) In the following year Prior
John de Pomariis and his brother ecclesiastic
were in a yet more serious pecuniary dilemma,
for they owed on bonds the large sums of
£130 to Bartholomew Richo, merchant of
Kerio, and £113 6s. 8d. to Asselinus Simonetti, merchant of Lucca, and Bindus Gile of
Florence; these debts were ordered to be
levied in default of payment on their lands,
chattels and ecclesiastical goods in the
county. (fn. 5) In 1334 the amounts due to the
merchant of Kerio were still unpaid, for in
that year Bartholomew Richo put in his
place William de Newenham, clerk, to
prosecute the execution of a recognisance for
£81 made to him in Chancery by John de
Pomariis, prior of Andover, and Master Peter
de Galiciano, parson of Horncastle church, in
the diocese of Lincoln, and of another recognizance for £50 made to Bartholomew by the
same prior and Peter. (fn. 6)
Andover was another of the alien houses
expected to keep at least one royal pensioner.
In November, 1333, John de Baddeley,
yeoman of the king's napery, by reason of his
good and long service, was sent to the prior
and convent of Andover to receive such
maintenance from that house for life as
Richard le Naper, deceased, had received at
the request of Edward II.
On 1 October, 1337, pardon was granted
to Prior John de Pomariis of his outlawry in
Hampshire for non-appearance before William de Shareshull and his fellow justices of
oyer arid terminer to answer touching a trespass against the king at Winchester. (fn. 7)
The Patent Rolls of 1341 have a long
entry relative to the priory of Andover, which
is of much interest as illustrating the intricacy
of the dealing with alien houses. John de
Pomariis, the late prior, had been removed by
his superior, the abbot of St. Florent, to the
priory of Sele, Sussex, which was another cell
of this great house of Anjou. Prior John, in
a petition to the king, recited that he had held
the priory of Andover as well in the time of
Edward II. as of the present king, when the
alien priories were taken into the Crown's
hands through the war with France, without
fine or farm, because he was born of the
duchy of Acquitaine, and was not of affinity
or confederacy with the king's enemies; he
therefore asked that as he had been removed
to Sele the king would order him to be discharged of the farm of fifty marks which the
last prior of Sele, because he was born of the
power of the king's enemies, was held to
render. The king, because John had been
born of his duchy and was his liege man, and
because the priory of Andover had come into
the hands of an alien of the power of the
king's enemies, and had on that account been
taken into his hands and would remain in
them during the war with France, granted
that John should hold the priory of Sele without fine or farm, and commanded the sheriff
of Hampshire to take Andover priory into his
hands and to account for the true value thereof
from the date of the removal of Prior John. (fn. 1)
On 23 October, 1399, Nicholas Gwyn,
on the death of Prior Denys, was instituted
to the priory of Andover by Bishop Wykeham at the king's presentation. Nicholas was
an English Benedictine monk, and he held
the priory under the condition of paying the
apport of forty marks to Henry IV. and his
successors, so long as the war with France
continued, and in addition maintain sundry
English monks, chaplains and officials. At
the general dissolution of the alien priories in
1414, Gwyn was permitted to alienate the
priory to Winchester College. The college
however could not have gained any profit
from the transaction for some time, as the
possessions of Andover priory were held by
them subject to a yearly pension of forty-five
marks to the Crown, of twenty marks yearly
to Queen Joan, the widow of Henry IV., as
part of her dower, and of a life pension of
fifty-two marks to the ex-prior, Gwyn. (fn. 2) The
college tried its best to get released from the
pension to Queen Joan, but without effect;
she did not die until 1437. Gwyn enjoyed
his pension for twenty years.
This grant to the warden and scholars of
Wykeham's college was confirmed by Edward IV. in 1461, (fn. 3) in consequence of an
attempt that was made that year to refound
the priory of Andover by a Bill in Parliament.
In 1535 the Winchester accounts returned
the Andover priory property at £31 a year,
but there were probably some arrears or
special deductions for that year, as in 1548 it
produced £81. (fn. 4)
Priors Of Andover
Berard of Naples, about 1264
John de St. John, 1304
Robert de Combor, (fn. 5) 1305
Helias de Combor, (fn. 6) 1307
Ralph de Combor, 1316
Helias de Combor, (fn. 7) 1320
John de Pomariis, (fn. 8) 1331, 1341
Philip Maghe, 1341
Denys Canoun, 1363-99
Nicholas Gwyn, 1399-1414