Historic collections, relating to the monasteries in Devon

ST. ANDREW's PRIORY,

AT COWIC.*

IN the second vol. of Dugdale's Monasticon, a charter is given of Henry II. specifying and confirm⚫ing the estates, in England, then belonging to the celebrated abbey of Bec,† in Normandy.

In this charter, the manors of Cuwic and Exewic are mentioned as the donations of William, the son of Baldwin. Gough, in his edition of Camden's Britannia, asserts, that this William was the founder of Cowic Priory, during the reign of the above-mentioned Sovereign. The first mention that I have found of this priory, in authentic records, is in the inquisition taken after the death of John Lord Courtenay, who succeeded his father, Robert, in his honors and estates, on the 26th July, A.D. 1242. In this inquisition, Cowic Priory is expressly stated to be under his patronage. The religious of this house, who were of the Benedictine Order, were a filiation from Bec, as King Henry VI. informs us, in a letter addressed to Bishop Lacy;§ and its Priors were regularly appointed by the Abbots of that great monastery. Of these Priors I have collected the following suecession:

1. Thomas, who resigned in the year 2. N. de Columbers,who resigned in

* Arms-3 Cows passant sable, collared Or, eyed Gules.

A. D. 1263 1275

†This abbey was founded by the venerable Hellouin, on his own estate, at Bec, circiter A. 1040. See an account of the abbey in Ducarel's Anglo Norman Antiquities, p. 86, vid. III. Appendix.

Article "Devonshire," p. 56; but on what authority?

§ See fol. 206 of Bp. Lacy's Register.

Probably the initial in the register for Nicholas.

3. Adam de Bours, confirmed successor to the above, on the 16th of August,

4. William de Porta, admitted Prior by Bishop Bytten, between the years 1292 & 1307.

5. Eustachius occurs Prior in the year 6. Thomas de Leonibus resigned in

7. Alexander de Rothis, confirmed Thomas's successor on the 22d of August, 1334, and resigned his office in

1275

1317

1334

1352

8. Durandus de Sancto Stephano succeeded, and was Prior for 9 years.

9. John de Ponte Episcopi, admitted Prior on the 15th of May, A. D.

1361

10. Robert de Glanvillá, died Prior in 11. William de Estrepeny succeeded Robert on the 2d of August, and resigned 16 years after. 12. John de Bourgeanyll, confirmed William's successor, May 29th,

1382

1398

13. Peter, who died Prior in the year 14.* William Dounebant, admitted Prior Nov. 20, that year.

1420

N. B. He died early in 1447.

15. Robert de Rouen, alias Becdenne, confirmed his successor 22d April,

1447

N. B. This Prior resigned his office on the 22d Nov.

†1451

This being an alien priory, it was frequently seized upon during the wars between England and France. King Henry V. in the 8th year of his reign, leased it out for a term of twenty years; but on the petition of William Dounebant, the Prior, addressed to King Henry VI. representing the impoverished state of his convent, and the serious injury that it had recently sustained, from the inundations of the river Exe, his Majesty was graciously pleased to restore to the house its property and privileges, and exonerate it from the annual charge of twenty-four marks, which had been payable to the Crown.‡

Scarcely had the priory begun to breathe from the

Dugdale mistakes, when he asserts that this priory was suppressed in the Parliament held at Leicester, A. D. 1414.

+ Vid. appendix (d).

Vid. fol. 206, Lacy's Reg.

pressure of misfortune, when it was visited by a dreadful calamity. Bishop Lacy, in his letter to the Barons of the Exchequer, dated March 19, A.D. 1444-5, (which is preserved in fol. 256, of his Register,) states, that it accidentally took fire on Palm Sunday, that year, and that its loss, in buildings, moveables, and cattle, was computed at £177 12s. 4d. a very considerable sum in those days.

It seems that the convent could not recover itself from this misfortune; and probably the distressed state of the times and the increasing difficulty of procuring religious subjects from the mother-house, at Bec, induced the Prior, Robert de Rouen, to resign his office, and to surrender his convent. His deed of resignation and surrender was made at Eton College, in the Provost's chambers, on the 22d day of Nov. 1451.* In adopting this measure, he might have been influenced by the advice of Thomas, Earl of Devon, the patron of Cowyk, who had proved himself a generous benefactor to the new college of Eton, then recently founded by King Henry VI.

On the final resignation by Robert de Rouen, Henry V1. applied the revenues of this priory and its right of patronage to Eton College; but, thirteen years after, King Edward IV. transferred this donation to his favourite abbey of Tavistock. Until the general dissolution of religious houses, it continued in the possession of this great abbey, when it was granted to John Lord Russell, 4th July, 31. Henry VIII.†

After its union with Tavistock, I apprehend that a few Monks were settled in the house, not under the government of a perpetual Prior, as formerly, but of a Superior, that was removeable at the discretion of the Abbot. Browne Willis, in p. 7. of the appendix to vol. 2. of his History of Abbies, asserts indeed, that "John Carter was last Prior to Cowic, a cell to Tavistock;" but the registers of the See of Exeter are perfectly silent as to the induction of any Priors subsequent to Robert of Rouen.-In Pope Leo X. Bull,

* Vid. Append. (d).

Francis, Earl of Bedford, and William Lord Russell, his son and heir apparent, sold much of their property in St. Thomas's parish, comprising Barley and Franklyn, about the year 1641.

addressed to the Abbot of Tavistock, dated Sept. 14, A. D. 1517, the priory of Cowyk, as parcel of the possession of the said abbey, is expressly exempted from the jurisdiction, visitation and superiority of the Diocesan and Metropolitan, and is taken under the immediate possession of the Holy See. Vid. fol. 41. vol. 2. Reg. Bp. Veysey.

Many of the Courtenay family chose the conventual church of St. Andrew for their place of interment. Hugh Lord Courtenay, Baron of Oakhampton, who died in 1291, was buried here; as also Hugh Lord Courtenay, who died in 1340 -Vid. Cleaveland's Hist. of the Courtenays. Dugdale, p. 791. vol. 1. Monast. makes mention of Agnes Courtenay, Countess of Devon, who died at Tiverton on the 11th of June, A. D. 1340, and was solemnly interred at Cowyk, on the 27th of the same month.

It is singular, that the scite of this priory can no longer be traced with any degree of satisfaction. It is clear, however, from Bishop Stafford's Register, (2. vol. p. 287) that it was situated at the further extremity of St. Thomas' parish, in ultimis finibus parochie; and again, that it must have stood on the low grounds bordering on the Exe: as it appears from the mandate already mentioned of King Henry VI. that it was exposed to the inundations of this river, and had suffered considerable damage in consequence.*

From fol. 22. of Bishop Bronescombe's Register, we learn, that in Oct. 1261, a Vicar was first appointed to take charge of the parishioners of Cowic. The Prior was then directed to provide the Vicar with a suitable dwelling-house, and to pay him an annual stipend of five marks of silver, at the four principal terms of the year. Their parochial chapel, dedicated to St. Thomas,t the Archbishop of Canterbury, and dependent on the conventual church of St. Andrew, was situated at the extremity of Exeter bridge→

"Magna pars possessionum prioratus cuidam magne Riparie vocate Exe convicina existit ac de ingentibus fluctibus qui ibidem annis nuperimis evenerunt extitit inundata: ac Ecclesia & Claustrum Prioratûs maximaque pars domorum illius loci, adeo debilia & putrida existunt, quod magna pars inde ad terram verosimiliter est casura, nisi custubus non modicis cicius adjuvetur & relevetur."

† See Bp. Stafford's Reg. vol. 2, p. 287,

"ad finem Pontis civitatis Exon super ripam fluminis de Exe." To this chapel all parochial privileges were annexed, excepting the right of burial, "sepultura duntaxat exceptâ;" the place of interment for the parish being the cemitery of St. Michael's Chapel, situated without the priory gate, "in Cemiterio Capelle Sci Michaelis extra Portam Prioratus de Cowyk situato." This chapel of St. Thomas had recently been swept away by an inundation of the river Exe, "vi fluminis de Exe nuper funditus eversa & irrecuperabiliter collapsa." In consequence of this calamity, the Prior, John de Bourgeanyll, gave a spot of ground, commonly called Pyryhay, or Pirihay, sufficiently large for a church and a cemitery. This spot is described as being at a considerable distance from the river, "à dicto flumine & ejus inundatione longè distante ;" and as lying in the centre of the parish; and "in medio parochie situata." By the joint exertions of the Prior and of the parishioners, funds sufficient for the erection of the present parish church were collected; and on the 4th Oct. A. D. 1412, Bishop Stafford consecrated this sacred edifice; and, on the following day, the burial ground, under the title of St. Thomas the Martyr. In the grant to Lord Russell, A. D. 1540, it is styled "Parochia Thome Bekket.'