38. THE PRIORY OF SWAVESEY
Before the Conquest the vill of Swavesey belonged to Edith the Fair, and, like so much of her
property, it was given by William I to Alan of
Brittany, who granted to the Benedictine Abbey
of SS. Sergius and Bacchus at Angers the church
of Swavesey with all its offerings free of every
kind of episcopal due, except sixpence at Easter
for the chrism, and with it the tithes of his other
villages, Barham, Papworth, Wimpole, Toft, and
Landbeach, except that the priests of these villages
were to have one field each of wheat and oats, and
all Alan's property in Dry Drayton. (fn. 1) This grant
was made before 1086, when the 3 hides in Dry
Drayton were duly recorded as held of the count
by the monks of Swavesey. (fn. 2)
Count Alan laid down that a monk from
Swavesey was to attend on one day of the Archdeacon's Synod, not of prescribed custom, but out
of respect for the archdeacon and the bishop, and
that the monks' cattle were to be allowed to feed
with his own on the Swavesey pastures. Alan's
successor, his brother (or, more probably, nephew) (fn. 3)
Stephen, confirmed all these gifts, and at the
request of Abbot Walter of SS. Sergius and
Bacchus gave to his abbey the piece of land before
the gate of Swavesey Priory, with the tithes of his
fishery there and of his mill at Newnham outside
Cambridge. In return Count Stephen was
received into the early form of fraternity granted
by Benedictine houses whereby the convent undertook to pray for the benefactor-brother after his
death in all things as though he were a professed
monk of their house. (fn. 4)
Disputes that had arisen between the Abbot of
Angers and the Abbot of Savigny about the tithes
of Bennington in Lincolnshire were settled by a
compromise (confirmed between 1150 and 1153
by St. Bernard as Abbot of Clairvaux) which
directed that the prior and monks of Swavesey as
representatives of the Angers house should receive
32s. of English money every Michaelmas. (fn. 5)
In 1198 Benedict, Prior of Swavesey, 'and the
monks of the same place', bought the advowson of
Fen Drayton of a certain Ansell and Ingrith his
wife for 2 marks and 1½ virgates of land; (fn. 6) and
in 1200 there was suit between the same prior
and Ives de Cambridge and his son Simon. The
prior 'with the consent of his brethren' agreed to
the terms made by the arbitrators appointed by the
Pope, who were the Abbot of Sawtrey and the
Priors of Royston and St. Ives. 'R. formerly Prior'
is mentioned in this agreement. (fn. 7)
John was prior in 1232, when Simon of Wendy
granted to the church of St. Andrew of Swavesey
and the monks there serving God a messuage in
Swavesey with a croft called Fissecroft for the
maintenance of a light before the Lady Altar at
mass and at all canonical hours. Simon rehearses
that his brother John had bound the same messuage to the church for this same purpose in Prior
Benedict's time. (fn. 8) In the same year Roger la
Zouche, who was the heir of the Counts of
Brittany in the Honor of Richmond, granted to
John, Prior of Swavesey, the half of a holding
there consisting of a messuage, certain lands, the
meadow of Gosholme, 3s. rent and the toll of
Swavesey bridge. (fn. 9)
In 1249 the Pope commissioned the Prior of
Swavesey to deal with a dispute in which the
rector of Cottenham was involved. (fn. 10) This may
have been Prior Roger, who in 1257 received
papal approbation of a composition which he had
made with Carlin 'Scriba', merchant of Florence, (fn. 11)
but no details are given in Cole's transcript of the
document.
Roger resigned in 1272 and was succeeded by
Geoffrey de Brynkeley, who, in spite of his local
name, is specifically described in Bishop Fordham's
register as 'monk of SS. Sergius and Bacchus,' (fn. 12)
presumably being one of the small convent at
Swavesey. He made an agreement with Andrew
Scot, his man, by which Andrew gave the prior a
messuage with a croft and 2 roods of land, in
return for which he should have food and drink
at the servants' table and 6s. for clothing yearly. (fn. 13)
The document is said to have had 'part of the seal
of the Priory' attached to it, but the seal of a
religious might easily have been mistaken for a
conventual seal. If there was such a seal this is the
only record of its existence. There seems to be no
further mention of a 'convent' at Swavesey or of
'monks serving God there'. It seems possible that
whereas a priory at Swavesey in any real sense
had always had a precarious existence, some
attempt to colonize it with monks from Angers
and to say the choir offices in community—even if
only a community of two or three—may have
been made until the Treaty of Paris in 1259 and
the abandonment by the King of England to all
claim to sovereignty in Anjou severed a link
between the Angevin abbey and its English cell and
increased the difficulty of effective control. It may
be observed that the first prior appointed after
this event was apparently a Cambridgeshire man;
nothing is said of the consent of any brethren to
his taking 'his man' into the 'house of the Priory'.
Nor, in his dispute about the tithes of Arrington
with the Prioress and Convent of Ickleton (q.v.),
is there any hint of a convent or brethren. The
'priory' was a rich living and early in the next
century a vicar of Swavesey is heard of for the
first time. It seems clear that from the second half
of the 13th century onwards, at all events, no
attempt to support a religious community at
Swavesey was made, although the right of the
Abbot and Convent of SS. Sergius and Bacchus to
administer the cell by one of their own monks
went unquestioned for some time longer.
An Assize Roll of 1285 shows that the prior
had been overstocking the hide of land which he
held in Dry Drayton to a very large amount and
was feeding there a herd of 120 cattle and 600
sheep. (fn. 14)
John de Seys, or Ponteseye, the next prior,
acquired from Alan de la Zouche an acre of land
in the field of Swavesey in exchange for land which
had been used for making a ditch, (fn. 15) and a rood of
ground for enlarging the churchyard. He received the royal pardon in 1306 for obtaining this
last in mortmain without licence. (fn. 16)
John de Ponteseye resigned in 1311 and was
succeeded in March of that year by another monk
of S. Sergius, Oliver 'Britonis' of Fougères, (fn. 17) who
died before August 1314. In 1313 a suit was
brought in the Court of King's Bench to decide
whether he as Prior and parson of the church of
Swavesey was the sole owner of 3 messuages in
Swavesey or whether they were of the lay fee of
Pelagice, the daughter of William Legg, Roger,
vicar of Swavesey, and others. The prior's attorney
claimed that Geoffrey the former prior had been
seised of the property. (fn. 18) On his death Richard
Burgeris, a monk of St. Sergius, was presented by
Alan la Zouche. (fn. 19)
In 1325, with the rebellion of the queen and
Mortimer, the alien priories which were 'in the
power of the King of France', Isabelle's brother,
were temporarily taken into the king's hand, but
on this occasion the Priory of Swavesey was among
those exempted from seizure, (fn. 20) Prior Richard
having in the previous year received a grant of the
king's protection, at the special request of the Earl
of Richmond. (fn. 21) Some years later this prior was
kidnapped by Nicholas Medifray and others, who
also stole some silver vessels belonging to him.
For this offence Nicholas and one of his assistants
obtained the king's pardon by serving in the forces
overseas in 1339. (fn. 22) In the following year Prior
Richard obtained licence from the Bishop of Ely
to be absent from his rectory for 2 years. (fn. 23)
In 1343 Stephen Guyntrand, a monk of
another alien priory, was petitioning the Pope,
Clement VI, for provision to the priory of Swavesey. In his petition (fn. 24) he sets forth that he is a
monk of Conques in the diocese of Rodez of which
house the priory of St. Faith at Horsham in the
diocese of Norwich was a cell, and declares that
he has for 25 years discharged the office of Custos
at Horsham and at personal risk defended the
rights of the monastery, whose convent is unable
to assign him a benefice. The mandate issued by
the Pope at Avignon in November 1343 in answer
to this petition states that the priory of Swavesey
is vacant by the death of Oliver 'Britonis' of Fougères who died (in 1314) at Carpentras, 2 days
journey from the papal court, and that it is now
occupied by Richard 'Bozionis'. (fn. 25) Accordingly
on 15 January 1345, Richard apparently having
not returned from his 2 years' leave of absence,
Stephen Guyntrand was admitted prior under
the Pope's mandate. (fn. 26) In 1346 the Bishop of
Ely, making a return of all aliens beneficed in his
diocese, gives Brother Stephen, Prior and Rector
of Swavesey, as resident and his benefice as worth
100 marks a year. (fn. 27) In 1347 Stephen Guyntrand
obtained leave of absence for 2 years. (fn. 28)
In 1361 the alien priories, including Swavesey,
were ordered to be 'restored to their priors and
proctors to hold as before the war without any
farm to be rendered'. (fn. 29) Probably by reason of this
John Walkelyn, a Benedictine monk of Westminster, was collated by the Bishop of Ely to
Swavesey, through lapse, on 31 August 1362. (fn. 30) In
the following year he successfully petitioned the
Pope to be allowed to keep the priory, although he
was not a monk of Angers. (fn. 31) In October 1369, in
which year the alien priories were again seized
into the king's hand, (fn. 32) the estates of Swavesey
were made over to Richard Downham, clerk, the
prior's proctor, to hold at a rent of 50 marks. (fn. 33)
This was a favourable valuation, as early in the
same year Prior Walkelyn leased the manor of
Dry Drayton and the other priory lands to
Aumary, rector of Boxworth, for 3 years on a
repairing lease at a rent of £100. (fn. 34) An interesting
clause in the lease stipulates that if any monk or
monks are sent by the abbot of the mother convent
'to abide as fellows of the said prior' their expenses
shall be borne by the prior's agents and not by the
lessee. This lease probably did not take effect, as
Walkelyn left England for the papal court shortly
after it was drawn up (fn. 35) and had ceased to be prior
by 22 January 1370, when John Goldale, a
monk of Selby, was presented to the priory by Sir
Hugh le Zouche. (fn. 36) The king, however, as holding the possession of aliens, nominated Laurence
Russell, a monk of St. George 'de Hulso', to Sir
Hugh for presentation and he was duly admitted
by the bishop on 6 December 1370. (fn. 37)
It is difficult to assess the real value of the
priory's possessions. The rectory of Swavesey
with its tithes was valued in 1291 at £33 6s. 8d.
(50 marks) and the temporalities of the priory at
£14 15s., (fn. 38) and in 1325 the temporalities estimated at £27 15s. 8d., of which £20 was the
value of fishing rights. (fn. 39) In 1340 a more detailed
inventory (fn. 40) which was made before handing the
priory over to William Fraunk, one of the king's
creditors, (fn. 41) shows at Swavesey £13 13s. 4d. from
tithes, £2 14s. 4d. from rents and services, and
no less than £113 11s. 7d. in stock, live and dead;
at Dry Drayton the lands and tenements produced
£7 4s. 10½d. and there was stock worth £21 8s. 6d.
The farm of 50 marks fixed in 1369 was still
rendered in 1379, when it was assigned to the
Duke of Gloucester, (fn. 42) but in 1384 the Bishop of
Durham and Henry Englyssh thought it worth
while bidding an extra £20 and obtained custody
at 80 marks. (fn. 43)
In November 1393 Richard II licensed the
Abbot of SS. Sergius and Bacchus to alienate
the manors of Swavesey and Dry Drayton and
the advowson of the church of Swavesey to the
Carthusian Priory of St. Anne at Coventry,
recently founded by William, Lord Zouche of
Haringworth, saving the farm of 65 marks which
the king had assigned from the priory estates to
King's Hall, Cambridge. (fn. 44) The payment of this
farm was not to begin until 6 years after this date,
and in May 1399 King Richard released the
Carthusians from its payment, provided that they
maintained twelve poor young clerks from the
age of 7 to 17 who should pray for his soul and the
soul of the late Queen Anne. (fn. 45) Meanwhile John
Thorndon, the Prior of Swavesey, released his
rights in the priory estates to St. Anne's in return
for a pension of £10. (fn. 46) In February 1400 Henry
IV confirmed his predecessor's grants, (fn. 47) but in
1401 John Judde, D.D., was presented to the
priory of Swavesey by John Knightley and others,
who claimed to be patrons; and subsequently he
effected a forcible entry, seizing the goods and
chattels found in the house and on the estates. (fn. 48)
Restitution was ordered, and presumably Judde
lost or resigned his title to the priory; but in 1407
William Penreth was presented in the name of the
Prior and Convent of St. Anne, but fraudulently
and without the knowledge of the brethren, so
that in 1411, on 27 May, the presentation was
annulled and the priory or church of Swavesey
was appropriated to the Carthusians. (fn. 49) In their
hands it remained until the suppression of their
house in 1539. (fn. 50)
Priors of Swavesey (fn. 51)
R., before 1198
Benedict, occurs 1198
John, occurs 1232
Roger, occurs 1257, resigned 1272
Geoffrey de Brynkeley, appointed 10 Dec. 1272
John de Seys, or Ponteseye, occurs 1298, (fn. 52)
resigned 1311
Oliver Briton of Fougères, appointed 16 Feb.
1312, died 1314
Richard Burgeris (Burgensis), appointed July
1314
Stephen Guyntrand, appointed Jan. 1345
John Wittleseye, monk of Thorney, appointed
21 June 1355
John Walkelyn, monk of Westminster, collated 31 Aug. 1362
John Goldale, monk of Selby, appointed
22 Jan. 1370
Laurence Russell, monk of St. George 'de
Hulso', appointed 6 Dec 1370, resigned
1389
John de Thorndon, monk of Ely, appointed
6 Sept. 1389
John Judde, D.D., appointed 28 May 1401
[William Penreth, fraudulently presented
2 Mar. 1408]