2. THE PRIORY OF EARL'S COLNE (fn. 1)
Colne Priory was founded (fn. 2) as a cell to the
abbey of Abingdon in Berkshire. Godfrey de
Vere, the eldest son of Aubrey de Vere and
Beatrice his wife, had been cured of an illness by
Faritius, abbot of Abingdon, and when later he
died of another illness he was buried in the
abbey. On his deathbed he granted to the
monks the church of Kensington in Middlesex,
and his parents confirmed this; but, on account
of the distance of Abingdon from Essex, they
determined, instead of making further grants, to
found a monastery on their own land of Colne,
to be subject to Abingdon. The consent of the
king and of Maurice, bishop of London, was
obtained, and the foundation was confirmed by a
charter of the king in 1111. (fn. 3) Faritius became
abbot in 1101 and Maurice died in 1107, and
so the date of the priory can be placed between
fairly narrow limits.
Abbot Faritius placed six monks at Colne
originally, and afterwards increased (fn. 4) the number
to twelve. The founder himself became a
monk in the priory and was buried there, as
were also his youngest son William and a large
number of his successors and their relatives, including thirteen earls of Oxford. The patronage
of the priory remained with the de Veres
through the whole of its history.
A transcript (fn. 5) of a small chartulary is preserved
at the British Museum, by which the early pos
sessions of the priory can be traced. The founder
granted the church of St. Andrew and lands in
Earl's Colne, the churches of Dovercourt, Great
Bentley, Belchamp Walter and Camps (Cambridgeshire), and various lands and tithes. The
church of Camps, however, afterwards belonged
to Abingdon, while the church of Great Bentley appears to have come back to the de Veres,
for the prior and convent had licence (fn. 6) in 1320 to
acquire the advowson from the earl of Oxford
and to appropriate it. (fn. 7) The church of Edwardstone in Suffolk was granted to Abingdon by
Hubert de Monte Caniso in 1115, Abbot Faritius
placing two monks there to pray for his soul;
but later Abbot Walchelin (1159-1164) transferred them to Colne, and Hugh de Monte Caniso,
the son of Hubert, granted the church to the
priory. Colne also owned the churches of White
Colne and Messing in Essex and Waldingfield in
Suffolk, and tithes in Halstead, Castle Hedingham,
Sible Hedingham, Stansted, Maplestead, Beauchamp Roding and Aythorpe Roding in Essex,
Aldham, Bures and Lavenham in Suffolk, and
Wadenhoe in Northamptonshire. The churches
of Wilbraham in Cambridgeshire and Lamarsh
were granted to it, but the grants do not appear
to have taken effect. The temporalities of the
priory amounted in 1291 to £49 4s. 9d. yearly,
of which £10 17s. 6d. came from White Colne,
£10 12s. 7½d. from Monk's Colne, sums of over
£1 from Great Bentley, Halstead, Aythorpe
Roding, Sudbury, Ashingdon, Aldham, Beauchamp William, Alphamstone, Great Tey and
Sible Hedingham, and the remainder from nearly
twenty other places.
The prior and convent had licence (fn. 8) on 4 July,
1354, to acquire land and rent in Little Colne,
White Colne, Earl's Colne and Alphamstone;
and on 26 November, 1361, to acquire the advowson of the church of Wickham in Cambridgeshire from the earl of Oxford and to
appropriate it. (fn. 9)
The priory church was dedicated (fn. 10) to St. Mary
and St. John the Evangelist in 1148 by Robert,
bishop of London, who invoked a long and
detailed curse on all who should rob it of its possessions, while indulgences of relaxation from
penance were promised (fn. 11) by successive bishops of
London to persons who should visit it on the
day of dedication.
The doings of Prior William, early in the
thirteenth century, were thought worthy of
special mention (fn. 12) in the Abingdon Chronicle.
The churches of Edwardstone, Waldingfield and
Messing were appropriated in his time. He
made a conduit and lavatory, and afterwards
repaired it when broken, surrounded the whole
court with a wall, covered the church with
shingles, instituted the monks' chamber, renewed
the organs, and built the tower. All the unfruitful land he improved with a composition of
marl. He caused the feasts of St. Gregory in
Lent and St. Augustine to be celebrated with
greater solemnity. The chronicler appears, however, to have considered that his greatest achievement was the increase of allowances of food and
wine to the convent.
Disputes arose after a time between Colne and
Abingdon, because the abbot and convent used to
recall learned monks from Colne to the abbey at
their pleasure and send ignorant ones of their
own in their stead, and lay the charges of their
journey on the priory although the abbey had
lands assigned to this purpose. This was rectified at last by Robert Winchelsey, archbishop of
Canterbury, in his metropolitical visitation (fn. 13) in
1303. But disputes on this and other points
still continued until an agreement was come to
in 1311 by the mediation of the earl of Oxford.
It was settled that the prior and convent should
receive into the monastic habit what clerks they
pleased without consulting the abbot, and for
the future none of the convent of Abingdon
should be sent to Colne to be admitted as monks,
and such as were there at present might within
three years return to the abbey if they pleased
and be there admitted, and the monks at Colne
should be professed by the prior. On the vacancy
of the priory the convent might elect one of
their fellow monks, to be named and sent to the
abbot and the patron, to be presented if fit to the
bishop, or if not fit to be sent back for another to be
elected. The right of visiting the priory and
receiving procurations for the same was reserved
to the abbot, and the prior renounced all claim
to the church of Kensington and all interference
in the election of the abbot. This agreement
was confirmed (fn. 14) by the king on 7 September,
1321.
At the end of the fourteenth century there
was a dispute about the priorship. Henry Colne
or Kebell had been elected by the monks, but
Maud, countess of Oxford, the patron, objected
to the election; and the king on 26 March,
1394, ordered the bishop to survey the house
and its possessions and make order for its custody. (fn. 15)
Henry on 16 December placed his resignation in
the hands of the bishop, who on 1 February
ordered the convent to proceed to a fresh
election, and on their omission to do so appointed Henry as prior on 6 May, 1395. (fn. 16)
But William Courtenay, archbishop of Canterbury, conferred the priory upon John Preston
by metropolitical authority; and although Henry
made divers appeals to the court of Rome, John
recovered it by a judgement (fn. 17) in that court,
and on 7 April, 1399, obtained a ratification (fn. 18)
from Richard II. He also had the support of
the countess. Meanwhile Henry appears to
have been in possession and to have brought
the case before the bishop, whose delegate,
Robert Wytton, decided (fn. 19) in favour of Henry,
but the adherents of John refused to accept
his decision. Henry IV on 12 October, 1400,
ordered (fn. 20) a serjeant-at-arms to arrest the rival
claimants and bring them before the council;
and on 10 November issued a commission (fn. 21) of
oyer and terminer, on complaint by Prior Henry
that the countess and Preston and others had
trespassed on the possessions of the priory, breaking in by night and carrying him off 'shamefully
clad,' and imprisoned him until he had sworn on
the Host never to disturb Preston in his claim
or divulge the fact that he had taken the oath
under compulsion. On 19 November the justices of the peace were ordered to go to the
priory and arrest the adherents of Preston. But
after this things went the other way. The
countess obtained a commission (fn. 22) of oyer and
terminer on 27 May, 1401, complaining of trespass by Henry Kebell and John Sudbury, monks,
and others. Kebell was charged before the
justices of the Common Bench with having
obtained a provision to the priory from Rome
and failed to appear, and though he afterwards
surrendered' it is probable that Preston was left
in possession.
Richard II dated letters patent at the priory
on 22 November, 1395; (fn. 23) which was probably
the day of the funeral of his favourite Robert de
Vere, duke of Ireland, who had died in exile at
Louvain three years before. The king is said
to have attended the funeral in the company of
the duke's mother and many bishops, and to have
been much affected. (fn. 24)
On 12 March, 1449, in consideration of their
alleged poverty, the prior and convent were
exempted (fn. 25) from being made collectors of tenths,
etc. On 7 February, 1489, at the instance of
their patron, the earl of Oxford, they were
granted licence (fn. 26) to acquire property in mortmain to the value of £40 yearly. It is not
known how much use was made of this licence.
The oath of supremacy was taken (fn. 27) on 3 July,
1534, by Robert Abell, prior, John London,
sub-prior, John Bery alias Colne, John Bylston,
William Thorpe, John Attylborow, Robert
Wyttam, John Maldon, Reginald Maldon, John
Bockyng and John Sonne.
The net value of the priory was returned in
the Valor as £156 12s. 4½d. yearly; the gross
value (fn. 28) being £175 14s. 8¾d. It thus came
under the operation of the Act of 1536 and was
dissolved, the prior receiving a pension (fn. 29) of £20
yearly. The site of the priory and most of its
possessions, including the manors of Colne Priory
in Earl's Colne, Barwyke in White Colne,
Ingesthorpe and Ingeston (Cambridgeshire), the
rectories and advowsons of Earl's Colne, Great
Bentley, Belchamp Walter, Dovercourt, Harwich, Messing and White Colne in Essex, and
Wickham in Cambridgeshire, and various tithes
and lands, were granted (fn. 30) in tail to John de Vere,
earl of Oxford, on 20 July, 1536.
An inventory (fn. 31) was taken on 10 June, 1536,
of the goods in the various chambers and buildings of the priory. These were valued at
£89 1s. 4d., the cattle at £6 9s. 4d., and the
corn at £17 18s. 4d. The debts due to the
house amounted to £2, and those due by it to
£15 13s. 9d. The whole of the stuff—goods,
corn and cattle—in the priory was sold to the
earl of Oxford for £69 11s., exclusive of the plate,
which reached the large amount of 307 ounces
and was valued at £58 16s. 8d.
Priors of Colne
Reginald. (fn. 32)
Mainard. (fn. 32)
Hugh. (fn. 33)
Anchetil, (fn. 34) occurs circa 1185.
Osbert. (fn. 35)
William, (fn. 36) occurs 1209, 1224.
Richard, (fn. 37) occurs 1227, 1236.
Henry, (fn. 38) occurs 1255, 1262.
John de Campeden, occurs 1321. (fn. 39)
Richard de Sudbury, died 1371. (fn. 40)
Elias de Bello Campo, elected 1371. (fn. 41)
Thomas Maldon, died 1390. (fn. 42)
Adam de Fornham, elected 1390, (fn. 43) died 1394. (fn. 44)
Henry Colne or Kebell, (fn. 45) elected 1394.
John Preston. (fn. 45)
John Occle, died 1426. (fn. 46)
John Wickham, elected 1427, (fn. 47) died 1430. (fn. 48)
John Colchester, elected 1430. (fn. 49)
John Horkesley, elected 1434, (fn. 50) resigned
1438. (fn. 51)
William Thaxstede, occurs 1454. (fn. 52)
William Aldham, occurs 1464. (fn. 53)
John Holme, occurs 1490. (fn. 54)
John Eyer, occurs 1503, (fn. 55) died 1513. (fn. 56)
Thomas Cheltenham, collated 1514, (fn. 57) died
1526. (fn. 58)
Robert Abell, elected 1526, (fn. 59) the last prior. (fn. 60)
The seal of the priory attached to the acknowledgement of supremacy (fn. 61) is a pointed oval
of red wax measuring about 15/8 by 11/8 inches
when complete. It represents the Virgin seated
in a canopied niche with tabernacle work at the
sides, crowned, holding the infant Jesus on her
right arm and a sceptre in her left hand.
Legend:—
. . LU COMUNE PRIOR . . . NVENTUS DE . .