House of Benedictine monks: The priory of Blyth

HOUSE OF BENEDICTINE MONKS

1. THE PRIORY OF BLYTH

The priory of Blyth was founded for Benedictine monks in the year 1088 by Roger de Builli, the first Norman lord of the honour of Tickhill, who crossed the seas with the Conqueror. Roger de Builli became the largest landed proprietor in Nottinghamshire, owning the greater part of the north of the county, as well as a large number of neighbouring manors in the counties of York and Derby. (fn. 1) He derived his name from Builli or Busli, near Rouen, and hence it is not surprising that he so ordered his foundation at Blyth that it was but an alien priory, the appointment of whose prior was vested in the abbot of the Holy Trinity of Rouen, to which abbey Roger had granted the tithes of Builli about 1060. (fn. 2)

The foundation charter of the priory states that Roger, in conjunction with his wife Muriel, for the stability of William the king and the soul of Matilda the queen, and for the health of the donors' souls, gave to God and St. Mary of Blyth, and to the monks there serving God, the church and all the township of Blyth, with every kind of appurtenance; toll and passage from Radford to the Thorne (fn. 3) and from 'Frodestan' (fn. 4) to the Idle; a fair, and full manorial rights, including gallows and market at Blyth; the vill of Elton, also Beighton (Derbyshire), and land in Barnby (Moor); together with the tithes of a great number of his demesne lands in various manors. The charter concludes by setting out that these benefactions were made for the purpose of building the priory, and for the food and clothing of the monks who there served God and His Mother, saving that there was yearly to be given to the church of Holy Trinity, Rouen, 40s. of English money. (fn. 5)

Confirmation charters of Kings Henry II, John, and Edward I, together with other benefactions, are cited from the chartulary in the Monasticon. (fn. 6)

Roger the founder died in 1098; he left a son who died without issue in 1102, and was succeeded by his brother Arnold, who was one of the witnesses of the foundation charter. Arnold's son John, weary of the world, entered his uncle's priory as a monk, giving at the same time a gift of land. On the day of his burial Richard, his eldest son, laid his father's grant upon the altar, and confirmed it by attaching his own seal. (fn. 7)

This Richard de Builli was one of the joint founders of the neighbouring Yorkshire Abbey of Roche. John de Builli his son built the two chapels or churches of Bawtry and Austerfield in Blyth parish, giving them to the monks of the priory. Idonea his daughter, who married, in the reign of John, Robert de Vipont, a great lord in Westmorland, confirmed this gift in the time of her widowhood. She died in 1235, and with her ended the family of de Builli. (fn. 8)

It may be noted here that the cathedral church of St. Mary of Rouen became possessed, in the course of the 12th century, of an interest in the neighbourhood of Blyth, which at first sight seems inconsistent with the dependence of the priory upon the abbey of the Holy Trinity. In 1174 Henry II granted to his clerk Walter of Coutances 'the chapelry of Blyth' with its appurtenances. After Henry's death his son John, as Count of Mortain, confirmed this gift to the cathedral church of Rouen and to Walter of Coutances, then archbishop of that see. (fn. 9) In an original charter issued by Count John between 1191 and 1193, the 'chapelry of Blyth' is defined as 'the church of Harworth with the chapels of Serlby and Martin.' (fn. 10) It is clear that this grant was never intended to convey any rights over the priory of Blyth, and the history of the churches comprised within the chapelry is well ascertained, and is quite distinct from that of the priory.

In the time of Henry III and Edward I this priory is several times referred to as subject to the abbey of St. Katharine of Rouen, and occasionally at that period and later to the Abbot of Holy Trinity, Rouen. These two titles refer to one and the same place. This Benedictine abbey, on a hill-side near Rouen, was originally dedicated in honour of the Holy Trinity, being consecrated by the Archbishop of Rouen in 1130. At a later date, early in the 13th century, the religious of St. Katharine were transferred here by Simon, monk of Mount Sinai, and hence the abbey was more frequently known as St. Katharine of the Mount. (fn. 11)

The alien priories are generally divided into two kinds, dative or conventual. The majority were of the former style, and mostly quite small houses whose priors and monks were removable at will by the superior and convent of the foreign houses to whom they owed allegiance, and for whom they chiefly acted as stewards of their English possessions. The second or conventual class acknowledged the supremacy of the mother house, paying an annual apport or tribute, but possessing their own English property and usually electing their own superior. Under this latter head came the Cluniac monks of England, and to some extent the Cistercian monks and the Premonstratensian canons. Blyth occupied an intermediate position between the two, as will be seen from the following extracts from the archiepiscopal registers at York. Various archbishops successfully maintained certain powers which were but rarely exercised by diocesans over alien houses; but at the same time the Abbot of Rouen claimed the right to remove both the prior and any member of his flock at pleasure.

This claim of the Abbot of Holy Trinity was, however, contested at an early date. Pope Lucius in the 12th century issued a bull to the Prior of Blyth, strictly forbidding anyone from removing him from his office or appropriating the possessions of his church. (fn. 12)

Again, Archbishop Godfrey in 1260 issued a peremptory mandate to Theobald, Prior of Blyth, who had been recalled by his abbot to Rouen, forbidding him under pain of excommunication to cross the seas without his (the archbishop's) permission, for Theobald had been instituted as perpetual prior by the archbishop's predecessor. (fn. 13)

Blyth was situated on an important early high road, which led from Newark through East Retford to Rotherham and the further north. In 1249 Archbishop Gray assigned to Blyth an annual pension of 5 marks out of the church of Weston, stating that he was moved to grant this in order to assist the prior and convent in their laudable and heavy work of providing hospitality for wayfarers and guests. (fn. 14)

In December 1270 a grant was made to the priory of Blyth by Archbishop Giffard of the toll of his town of Scrooby. (fn. 15)

Earlier in the same year the archbishop sent his mandate to the Dean of Retford to warn the convent of Blyth to pay the tithes due to the abbot and convent of Vaudey, or to appear at his court. (fn. 16)

An agreement was entered into in 1276 between the convent of Blyth and Sir William de Cressy as to a long dispute that had been waged in the York court and in various civil courts as to certain tithes and oblations. Through the mediation of Archbishop Giffard, it was covenanted that Sir William would neither by himself nor others molest or hinder the priory in the collection of tithes (in kind), or in the carriage of them through field, park, meadow, or elsewhere, wherever they had been in the habit of gathering or carrying them without damage to Sir William. Sir William de Cressy also undertook for the future to see that all his tenants, both free and serf, made all their oblations at the church of Blyth, as well for the dead as for purifications and other customary offerings; and further to restore to the church if possible any dues of which they had been deprived during the controversy. Both parties agreed to withdraw from any litigations then in progress, save in the matter then before the king's court concerning the right of Sir William de Cressy to raise gallows in the hay of 'Emmeslouwe.' (fn. 17)

A list of the rents paid to the priory of Blyth for the year 1273 is fully set forth in the chartulary; they amounted to £24 9s. 3½d. (fn. 18)

In the Hundred Rolls of Nottinghamshire in 1276 the jury of Retford complained that the prior and his bailiffs took 4d. toll for every sack of wool passing through Blyth, whereas they used only to demand 2d. for every cart-load, and so with regard to other merchandise, to the great injury of the merchants. But from the Quo Warranto returns of about the same date we find that the prior's attorney sets forth with minuteness the tolls claimed and the boundaries within which they were levied from time immemorial and by chartered right. The western boundary extended from Radford to Shireoaks, and thence to 'Austan' and 'Frodestan'; the northern from 'Frodestan' to Laughton, and thence successively to Field, Malpas, Rossington, and the Thorne; the eastern from the Thorne to Bawtry, Scrooby, Mattersey, Sutton, West Retford, and the Idle; and the southern from the Idle to Ordsall, Twyford Bridge, Normanton by Bothamsall and Radford. Within these limits the convent levied tolls on every cart-load of timber or bread (for sale), ½d.; for every cart-load of any other article for sale, 2d.; for every horse-load of salmon, 1d.; for every horse-load of any other article, ½d.; for every back-load or pack of merchandise, ¼d.; for every horse or cow (for sale), ½d.; for every sheep and pig (for sale), ¼d.; and for every sack of wool packed and sold at Blyth, 4d. All these tolls and boundaries were held to be established. (fn. 19)

At a somewhat later date the citizens of Lincoln claimed their own chartered privileges. They took proceedings in the Exchequer against the priory for having levied tolls on them; but a compromise was arrived at whereby the convent ceded all future demands on condition of the citizens waiving all claim to damages for past demands. (fn. 20)

A remarkable entry on the Hundred Rolls must not be overlooked. Peter de Parkes, the steward of Tickhill Honour, took a cutpurse, caught by the Blyth bailiffs in that market, out of their hands and conveyed him to Tickhill. The prior claimed that the thief should be tried in his court, and the Tickhill bailiffs consented to surrender him on payment of 5s.; on the prior's refusal to pay, the culprit was immediately hanged at Tickhill. (fn. 21)

The Taxation Roll of 1291 enters the temporalities of the priory in Nottinghamshire as producing an income of £43 15s. 10d., with the addition of 6s. 8d. in the Yarburgh deanery of Lincoln. The spiritualities included £50 for the rectory of Blyth (the vicarage was worth £10), and portions of the churches of Weston, Bingham, Elton, and Wheatley, £9 6s. 8d. (fn. 22)

An inquisition of 1379, made at Nottingham before one of the barons of the Exchequer and the county escheator, declared the total average income of the alien priory of Blyth to be £140 3s. 4d. The church of Blyth was valued at £66 13s. 4d.; the toll, markets, pleas, and perquisites of market and other courts, £62 6s. 8d.; and one hundred and twenty days' work in harvest from customary tenants in gathering the prior's crops, 20s. The remainder was made up of a pension of £3 6s. 8d. from the church of Weston, and a variety of small accounts for lands and rents in different parishes of the county. (fn. 23)

A highly interesting return was at the same time made as to the exact state of the priory's revenue and outgoings, with a view of enabling the Crown to determine at what rent this convent, with other alien priories, should be permitted to hold its estates. The jury stated that there was in the priory a foreign monk, the late prior, who had resigned through old age and infirmities, but was allowed for meat and drink as much as two monks, amounting to £12 17s. 9d. a year. He was also granted for fire and candle and other necessaries and for a servant's allowance a further sum of £2 6s. 8d. Two chaplains serving the church, with table and clothing, £8; a clerk for the church, with food and clothing, 20s.; the vicar (besides his vicarage dues), in money and a quarter of wheat (worth 4s.) with places for himself and chaplain at the prior's table at twenty-four festivals in the year valued at 12s., what is estimated to be worth £1 16s. a year; a clerk serving the prior and his house, including the value of table and a robe, £3 16s. 8d.; a steward and his clerk £4, and a serjeant at arms 13s. 4d. There were nine secular persons in receipt of corrodies, worth about £2 13s. 4d. each. (fn. 24) Other servants included a cook for the prior and guests, whose board and wages came to £2 10s.; a baker with servant, £5 14s. 3d.; a butler, £2 10s.; and a servant who attended the prior on his business on horseback, £1 3s. 4d. The yearly expenses of hospitality were estimated at £10. A yearly sum of £27 10s. was expended in the sustentation of the prior, his servants, horses, and other necessaries, in addition to a sum of £16 for his expenses in travelling to and from London and other places on the priory's business. The repairs of the chancel of Blyth Church with the books, ornaments, &c., of the building of the priory and its granges, and of Blyth Bridge (in return for tolls), averaged £17 a year.

The jury finally declared that the surplus income of Blyth Priory after paying all the abovecited and other small charges only amounted to 46s. 6½d. (fn. 25) It will be noted, too, that nothing is entered in these accounts for the sustenance of the monks; they would be in the main supported from the farms of the estate.

The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1534 shows a reduction in the value of the priory; it had been much harassed during the various times that it was in the hands of the Crown as an alien priory during the wars with France. The gross annual income was set down as £126 8s. 2½d., and the clear value as £113 0s. 8½d. The total of the temporalities in the county of Nottingham, from the demesne lands and rents, lands and tenements at Blyth, Elton, Barnby, Elkesley, and Styrrup (Nottinghamshire), Beighton (Derbyshire), and Firbeck and Billingley in Yorkshire, were valued at £65 14s. 6½d. The rest of the income came chiefly from the rectory of Blyth (£47 17s.), and from pensions from the Nottinghamshire churches of Marnham, Grassthorpe, Elton, and Weston, from the Yorkshire churches of Billingley and Laughton in le Morthen, and from the Lincolnshire priories of Thornham and Elsham. Among the deductions was £3 6s. 8d. distributed in alms yearly in memory of the founder. (fn. 26)

A composition was entered into before the archbishop in 1287, between the Prior and convent of Blyth and William the perpetual vicar of Blyth concerning the tithes of a certain place called Wetcroft in the township of Blyth, and of two outlying members of the manor of Hodsock called Hillertrewong and Le Comynger, the tithes of which three places were worth 16s. a year, and also concerning a certain close called Stubbing valued at 2s. a year, and a place called Northewaye worth 24s. a year. These tithes had long been the subject of contentions, but for the sake of peace it was agreed that the vicar would waive all claim to them, on condition that the vicar of Blyth and his successors, together with his parochial chaplains for the time being, were to have the right of taking their places, suitably vested, in quire with the convent on twenty-four solemn days of the year. The vicar and his successors were also to receive from the convent a quarter of rye at Michaelmas and pasturage for four cows wherever the convent cows might be pasturing. At the same time the prior and convent gave their unanimous and willing consent to the following ordination for the vicarage—the tithes of hay, lambs, and wool in the township of Blyth, except in Northway; the oblations and blessed bread in the parish church and chapel; all incomings of the chapelries of Bawtry and Austerfield, except the tithes of grain and the mortuaries; and the offerings at marriages and purifications throughout the whole parish. They excepted, however, from the vicar's portion the offerings on the five principal feasts, namely Easter, the Assumption, All Saints, Christmas, and Purification, and the offering that might be made at the altars of the monastery within the cloister on the days of the saints in whose honour they were dedicated, and the mass pence offered to the canons out of devotion.

It was further determined that the vicar was to receive the bread called 'Maynport' throughout the whole parish, the wax cess and the offerings made at the baptism of children, with their chrysoms. Also the tithes of young pigs, goslings, calves, dovecotes, orchards, and of corn and hay in closes, save of the places already named. Also tithes of markets and of flax and hemp and all minute tithes. The vicar was to have the use of the manse which had been customarily assigned him. He was to serve the church of Blyth personally, and to find and support another fit assistant priest, as well as two other fit priests to serve the chapels of Bawtry and Austerfield. The vicar was further to provide the prior yearly, within eight days before Easter, with a robe worth 20s. or with 20s. in money. (fn. 27)

Blyth Priory was personally visited by Archbishop Wickwane in 1280, with the result that on 28 June the following corrections were forwarded to the house, prefaced by the statement that although the reformation of the religious belonged to the diocesan, he was willing to approve of the statutes of the Abbot of St. Katharine's, Rouen. The general rule of St. Benedict was, however, also to be followed; silence was to be kept at the usual times and in the usual places; no drinkings after compline; only the genuinely sick to be accommodated in the farmery; food and drink not to be thrown away, but reserved for the poor; no money to be received for furs or clothing; the prior to direct his own household more sternly; small gifts and money offered at mass to go to the common fund; the carols and chests of the monks to be opened twice a year; the prior always to be present in dorter, frater, quire, chapter, and collations; the church, houses, and defences of the monastery to be repaired in the roofs and whenever necessary. (fn. 28)

Archbishop Romayne held a visitation of Blyth Priory in their chapter-house on 20 December 1286. On the following day he sent his mandate to the prior and convent stating that at his recent visitation he had found Thomas Russel, one of their monks, so intolerable in his conduct that, for his own good and that of their house, he ordered that he should be sent back to the chief abbey of their order, whence he came, there to do penance; the journey was to be undertaken on that side of the Epiphany. (fn. 29)

The conduct of this monk must have been singularly bad to evoke so immediate a mandate. The archbishop, having relieved his mind as to this bad blot on the fair fame of the priory, took a considerable time before he forwarded any general injunctions consequent on his visitation. It was not indeed until almost a twelvemonth after his visit, namely on 6 December 1287, that his rulings were sent out to the priory. The decrees of former archbishops were to be observed; approval was given to the injunctions of the Abbot of Holy Trinity, Rouen, which were to be read in chapter once a month; the convent was to obey the prior reverently, without murmur or reluctance, and the prior was to treat the convent with kindly consideration; the prior was to take yearly a faithful inventory of the goods of the monastery and to render an account twice in the year; the custom of feeding in the misericorde, where flesh was permissible, instead of in the frater was condemned, but it was allowed that whilst two parts of the convent dined in the frater, the third part, according to the disposition of the president, might have the solace of dining in the chamber termed misericorde; enjoined penances were always to be performed for the cleansing of the soul. (fn. 30)

In July 1289 the archbishop had occasion to write a kindly letter to the Abbot of St. Katharine (Holy Trinity), Rouen, on behalf of John Belleville, a monk of Blyth, of good conversation according to the testimony of prior and convent, and asking that he might be allowed to return to Rouen, as he was suffering from the climate, which did not agree with him. (fn. 31)

Subsequent letters from the archbishop to the abbot, as entered in the former's register, were of a different character. In April 1291 he ordered the French abbot not to keep his monks at Blyth for more than four or five years. From the wording of this letter it is clear that the monks of Blyth for the most part regarded their sojourn there as a kind of banishment, and looked forward with eagerness to the prospect of a return to their native land. (fn. 32) Four months later the archbishop wrote, sending back to Rouen Robert de Aungerville, one of the monks, for unruly conduct, and besought the abbot to send no more monks to Blyth of that character. In the following February, John de Belleville (the same monk whose removal had formerly been sought on the score of ill health) was sent back to Rouen by the archbishop on account of intolerable conduct, and as the cause of quarrels and discords. In terms of some dignity and severity, the archbishop repeated his request that only well-behaved monks should be sent to Blyth in the future. (fn. 33)

In April 1291 the archbishop again wrote to the abbot, but on this occasion in quite a different strain, for it was a letter of protest against the recall to Rouen of Nicholas de Bretteville, as he was of inestimable value to the priory of Blyth. It would almost seem as if the abbot was determined to pay out the archbishop for sending back evilly disposed monks, by recalling those who were most essential to good order, for in the following October the archbishop wrote yet another letter entreating him not to recall the prior, whom his diocesan described as his dear son, whose probity and religious and honourable life he had noted, nor Nicholas de Bretteville, both of whom were so necessary to the good government of the priory. The archbishop pressed this all the more, as he was going to the Roman court. (fn. 34)

Archbishop Greenfield wrote to the Abbot of St. Katharine's in 1310 asking that his convent would nominate some fit person to be prior of Blyth between that date and Michaelmas, for he found that the prior was very old and weak. The archbishop commended two of the monks of the best repute to him, namely Ralph de la Campayne the sub-prior and Laurence Sennale. (fn. 35)

Nicholas de Bretteville resigned his office as prior on St. Bartholomew's Day 1310, and the archbishop admitted Robert Clyvill, a monk from Rouen, as prior. Provision was made for the old prior during his life. (fn. 36)

On the death of Prior Nicholas English in 1409, the king claimed the presentation in consequence of the war with France, and William Ouston was instituted in succession. (fn. 37) Prior John Halum died in 1420, and on 30 October Robert Clifforth was elected in his place. But the king claimed to be the true patron, and soon afterwards presented John Gaynesbury to the priory; he was admitted on 5 May 1421. (fn. 38) King Henry VI again presented on 23 November 1431; the new prior was John Cotyngham, a monk of St. Mary's Abbey, York. (fn. 39)

There was a royal presentation in 1465, when another monk of St. Mary's York, Robert Scotis, was instituted prior. (fn. 40) Edward IV in 1472 presented William Massam, a monk of Durham, to whom his own house were greatly attached; he was granted the privilege of wearing the Durham frock, like any other brother of the house, whenever he came on a visit. (fn. 41) Henry VII presented in 1496 and again in 1507, when Thomas Gardiner, a monk of Westminster, was made prior; on this last occasion the presentation is entered in the register as having been made by the king as Duke of Lancaster. (fn. 42) The institution of the last prior in 1534 is also registered as being done under the seal of the Duchy of Lancaster. (fn. 43)

The special commissioners of 1536, Legh and Layton, visited this priory and affected to have found four monks guilty of disgraceful offences and one of adultery. They declared the annual value to be £180. (fn. 44)

On 25 March 1536 Prior Dalton wrote to Cromwell saying that he was visited with sickness and could not go up to show Cromwell his muniments, regal and papal, in accordance with his injunctions, but he was forwarding him all the evidence concerning royal grants and the Bishop of Frome's confirmations. (fn. 45) The modest pension of 20 marks was granted to George Dalton, the dispossessed prior, on 2 July 1536.

Sir Gervase Clyfton obtained a grant from the Crown of the site of the monastery, together with Blyth rectory, on 10 July 1538. (fn. 46)

There is an imperfect impression of the seal of this priory at the British Museum, attached to a charter of 1420. The Virgin is seated on a carved throne, with the Holy Child in her lap, lifting up His right hand in benediction, and having a flower in the left. The legend is wanting; the matrix was of 13th-century date. (fn. 47)

Priors of Blyth

R. de Pauliaco, 1188 (fn. 48)

William Wastell, 12— (fn. 49)

Gilbert, occurs 1224 (fn. 50)

Theobald, occurs 1260 (fn. 51)

William Burdon, 1273, resigned 1303 (fn. 52)

Nicholas de Bretteville, elected 1303 (fn. 53)

Robert de Clyvill, 1310 (fn. 54)

Ralph de Toto, 1328 (fn. 55)

Peter Meslier, resigned 1344 (fn. 56)

Peter Textor, 1344 (fn. 57)

Gilbert, occurs 1365 (fn. 58)

Thomas de Vymond, resigned 1376 (fn. 59)

Nicholas English, 1376 (fn. 60)

William Ouston, 1409 (fn. 61)

John Halum, died 1420 (fn. 62)

Robert Clifforth, 1420 (fn. 63)

John Gaynesbury, 1421 (fn. 64)

Robert Toppeclyff, 1429 (fn. 65)

John Cotyngham, 1431 (fn. 66)

Nicholas Halle, 1438 (fn. 67)

Thomas Bolton, 1448 (fn. 68)

William West, 1451-8 (fn. 69)

Robert Bubwith, 1458 (fn. 70)

Robert Scotis, 1465 (fn. 71)

William Massam, died 1472 (fn. 72)

Robert Gwyllam, 1496 (fn. 73)

Thomas Gardiner, 1507 (fn. 74)

John Baynebrig, 1511 (fn. 75)

George Dalton, 1534 (fn. 76)