Collections, &c. ST. NICHOLAS' PRIORY, EXETER. THE Priory of St. Nicholas can boast of high antiquity. It is clearly the foundation of William the Conqueror, and, with the small church of St. Olave,* was made dependent on Battle Abbey,† in Sussex. Gunterus, a Monk of Battle, was first deputed to take charge of this infant establishment. After a short residence, he was appointed Abbot of Thorney, in Cambridgeshire. Cono, who was named his successor, is recorded to have interested himself, most warmly and most effectually, to promote the welfare of this religious foundation. Under the patronage of the founder's son, William Rufus, he succeeded in building a new church and monastery, which he dedicated to St. Nicholas; he procured a colony of Monks from Battle Abbey, and obtained of the parent house a renunciation of all claim to the church of St. Olave and its appurtenances, and to * This Saint was King of Norway, and was martyred by his infidel subjects A. D. 1028. See his acts (a) in the Appendix. † See vol. 1. Dugd. Monastic. p. 315; also Domesday, Devenscire, Art. Labatailge. This Saint was the Archbishop of Myra, the capital of the province of Lycia, in Asia Minor. He died in 342. His memory has been held in particular veneration by the western churches, since the year 1087, when his relics were brought from Lycia to Bari, a seaport in the kingdom of Naples. certain lands in Collumpton, with the five prebends of Uppetona, Colebroche, Hineland, Waevre, and Esse, on condition that the Priory of St. Nicholas should pay an acknowledgment of sixty shillings per annum.* From a letter addressed by the Primate, St.. Anselm, to Osbern, the Bishop of Exeter, A. D. 1103, it appears that these new religious were not a little molested by some of the secular Clergy of Exeter, and that even the Bishop had forbidden them to ring their bells agreeably to the custom of the Benedictine Order. St. Anselm mildly rebukes the indiscretion of both, inculcates the obligation of charity, and feelingly recommends the religious to the confidence and protection of the venerable Bishop.t King Henry I. befriended this royal foundation. His donation of the land of Relisdon, then valued at twenty-five shillings per annum, is given in the Monasticon. But King John honoured this priory with such particular marks of favor and distinction, as to deserve the name of a second founder. He gave it the estate of Bradeham, then worth fifty shillings per annum; he granted them a moiety of the profits of Lammas Fair, in Exeter, and I believe the whole profits of St. Nicholas' Fair. In the fifth year of his reign, when the effects of famine were severely felt in Exeter, he addressed a brief to the Sheriff of Devon, "that by the oversight of the Priour of St. Nicholas, of Exceter, & IIII Liege men of the same Town be fed CCC poore people from the IId of Maie till the daie of the Assumption of our Ladie, so that everie one of them have dailie one lofe (foure loaves shall be worth a penny) and so much potage made of the meale and herbes, while herbes may be founde; and when the cannot be gotten, of beanes or of peason, wherebie they may be susteined that they perishe not. And it shall be allowed you at our Exchequer." * I am credibly informed that this acknowledgment partly continued to be paid to the Crown, from the time of the dissolution of the priory, until the year 1780, when the late Sir Robert Palk procured its redemption in favor of Nathaniel Cosseratt, Esq. † (b) Appendix. In fol. 91-2. of Bishop Bronescombe's Register, three records are extracted from the ancient book called "The Leger Prioratûs Sci Nicholai Exon"a book that seems to have perished in 1731 (Oct. 23,) at the fire in the Cotton Library.* The first is an amicable composition between the Dean and Chapter of St. Peter's, Exeter, and the Prior and Monks of St. Nicholas, respecting certain tithes issuing from two mills, and the fishery of the river Exe, near St. Clement's Chapel, de Piscariâ super aqua que dicitur Exe prope Capellam Si Clementis.† The Chapter resigns all claim and pretension to the said tithes, on condition that the Prior and Convent pay them forty-pence sterling, viz. twenty-pence at Michaelmas, and twenty-pence at Easter. This composition was made whilst Simon de Apulia was Bishop, consequently between 1214 and 1224. The second refers to a taxation, soon after, by Richard Blondy, Chancellor to Bishop Brewer, for the better support of the Vicar of Cadbury. The Prior. of St. Nicholas is directed to allow the Vicar certain houses on the north-side of the church, four acres of land, and a part of the tithes. The third is an agreement between the Prior and Julian, Rector of Thorverton, respecting the tithes of the mill of Cadbury. The Prior agrees to pay him six-pence in lieu of tithes. Bishop Brewer, who succeeded Simon de Apuliâ in the See of Exeter, was a benefactor to this establishment. We are informed by Bishop Grandisson, fol. 12. vol. 2. of his Register, that he appropriated to it the parish church of Poughill, in this county, for the purpose of furnishing the conventual church with lights, during the celebration of divine service. The Abbots of Battle invariably presented the Priors of St. Nicholas, who were generally religious of that great monastery. Before we offer to the reader the succession of the Priors that we have been able to recover, we think it necessary to expose * These three records are transcribed by Wm. Jermyns, the Registrar temp. Reginæ Elizab. The site of this chapel is still called "St. Clement's Meadow," and the road leading to it, "Chapel Lane.” and refute the current and received opinion, that Alexander Necham was one of these Priors. The fact is, that he was not even a member of the Benedictine Order,--he was even refused admission amongst the Benedictines, at St. Albans; and in consequence of this unreasonable rejection, he entered the Augustine Order. In 1213 his singular merits raised him to the dignity of Abbot of Cirencester, in Gloucestershire. After having governed this Abbey, with credit to himself, and to the satisfaction of the community, for the space of three years, he retired to Worcester, and was buried either in the cloisters or in the presbytery of that cathedral.-See Leland's Collectanea, vol. 4, p. 158 -Leland's Itinerary, p. 116. vol. 8-Browne Willis' History of Mitred Abbeys, Art. Cirencester--the learned Dr. Milner's History of Winchester, vol. 1, p. 217. (PRIORS OF ST. NICHOLAS.) The 1st that I meet with after Gunterus and Cono, who have been already noticed, is Peter, ad ann. See the Custumale of Otterton Priory, penes Rev. Duke Yonge, Rectorem de Cornwood 2. Robert de Cumbwell, who resigned in 3. Robert de Rye succeeded 29th June, 4. Roger, who was elected Abbot of the mitred monastery of Battle, in the summer of the year 5. William de Burn succeeded Roger, Aug. 28, 1318, and resigned soon after. A. D. 1212 1258 1258 1318 6. Robert, alias Laurentius de Suing was appointed William's successor, on the 14th of 2,1319 January, N. B. Whilst he was Prior, A. D. 1321, the belfry of his conventual church fell suddenly to the ground. John Drokensford, Bishop of Bath and Wells, granted an indulgence of twenty days to all who should contribute to its re-building. 7. John de Gordon, who resigned in N. B. This Prior appears, from Bishop Grandisson's Register, to have been a man of business, and a most respectable character. 1320 1334 |
