Prior de Cowyk optinet ecclesiam de per annum. XII marcarum Idem optinet de Sprayton val per an... Cs ..... ....... ..... pr an Idem optinet ecclà de Ochampton val pr an X marc. XII lib. Idem percipit portionem val annuatim ... Ecclâ de Whymple Courtenay... II marc Cleaveland, in his history above quoted, informs us, p. 135, that the chapels of Halstock, Kenne and Sticklepath, were also subject to the priory of Cowic. ST. CATHARINE'S PRIORY, AT POLSLO.* THE HE Benedictine nunnery of Polslo was founded in honor of St. Catharine, by William Lord Brewer, the father and founder of the religious houses of Tor and Dunkeswell. Leland asserts, in his Collectanea, that this nobleman was uncle, by his mother's side, (Avunculus) to King John. Matthew of Paris, (in Maj. Hist. Angl.) informs us, that he was a great counsellor of state during the reigns of Richard I. and of John; and that William Brewer, who was consecrated Bishop of Exeter, 1224, was a grandson of his (nepos). The sameness of the name has induced several writers to ascribe the honor of this foundation to the Bishop. It is not unlikely that he was a great benefactor. The Bishops of Exeter were the patrons of this eonvent, and they appear to have discharged their trust with great zeal and tenderness. The commu nity comprehended about sixteen persons at least; the names of so many appear at the election of the Prioress Juliana de Bruton, A. D. 1347. As the convent was poor, I find it was generally exempted from paying the King's tenths; † and yet, notwithstanding their poverty, Queen Philippa wished to charge them with the maintenance of Jane Turbeville, a secular lady. In the answer of the convent, to be seen in * Bore Gules a sword between three Catharine wheels Argt. †The nunneries of Cornwood and Canonlegh, as also St. John's Hospital in Exeter, were generally exempted.. the appendix (e) they represent to her Majesty, that it would be a dreadful hardship to support others, when their finances were barely sufficient to afford themselves the common necessaries of life. However, the resources of the community were considerably improved and augmented before the dissolution of religious houses. From the registers so often quoted, and from other authentic documents, I am enabled to offer the reader the following succession of the Prioresses :- 1. Margaret de Morchard, instituted on the 25th of Dec. Bishop Bronescombe dispensed with the defectus natalium quem patiebatur. A. D. 1267 1308 2. Margaret de Syndon, elected 26th June, She died Prioress 25th June, 1321 3. Marcella Bloyhon succeeded her in the following July. 4. Margaret de Wydepole, who died on the 14th of April, 1347 1347 1404 5. Juliana de Bruton succeeded in July, 6. Christina de Seton, who died June 4, 7. Mathildis Talbot, confirmed as her successor on the 3d of the following July. She died Prioress, Dec. 16, N. B. Bishop Lacy, 17. May, 1439, granted an indulgence of forty days to all such as should say a Pater & Ave, for the repose of the soul of this Prioress and the souls of all the faithful departed. 8. Isabella Burghe, admitted Prioress on the 3d of the following January. 1438 9. Isabella Trewtronk, who died in Jan. 1508-9 10. Cecilia Millaton, or Millington, succeeded Feb. 10th, of the same year. She died early in N. B. After a long and expensive suit, between this Prioress and the Vicar of Budleigh, Bishop Oldham decided, on the 30th Dec. 1513, that the Vicar and his successors should pay 40s. per ann. to the convent, instead of tithes. Vid. fol. 49. Reg. ad finem. 1530 A. D. 11. Margaret Trowe succeeded 13th April, 1530 12. Eleanor Sydnam, who surrendered her convent to Henry VIII. on 19th Feb. 1538. Vid. p. 65, vol. 2. Browne Willis' Hist. of Abbies. Pensions, granted May 1, Anno 31, Henrici 81. £. s. d. To Eleanor Sydnam, the Prioress 30 0 0 568 4 0 0 4 0 0 4 0 0 4 0 0 4 0.0 4 0 0 ....... 3 6 8 The scite of this convent was granted, 1. Feb. 32. Hen. VIII. to Sir George Carewe, and Mary, his wife, for the term of their natural lives. append. Vid. (f) In the 3d year of Edward VI. the Crown disposed of this estate to John, Earl of Warwick. It afterwards passed, into the hands of the Champernoun family; then, by exchange, into the Ailworths, and is now the property of the Parkers, of Whiteway. Priorissa de Polslo apud Polslo tax ad De redd ibidem & perquis...... Apud Cockespute .......... Apud Berstok .... Apud Donewaldesham & Bradeford de redd 0 13 Apud Sigadon & Lynador & Hechfeld .... 0 15 0 Apud Cloxton de redd & perquis.......... Item ibidem que taxatur ad In Civitate Exon de redd ...... 2 6 8 0 Percipit in ecclà de Aserton(Ayshton) in ecclâ de Esse-waut This community, as it appears from many leases that I have seen, possessed the whole manor of Polslo. In the parish of Heavitree they had some property, styled Dyere Lands, Frog-Marshe, and Botham. In Clyst they had a messuage, called Crosse Park. In Payhembry they possessed the manor of Cockyspitt; and in Exeter they had certain tenements adjoining the Guildhall. In a lease, bearing date 1. Oct. 15. Hen. VIII. I observe the Prioress Cecilia, "for the ffyne of £10 sterling, and one peace of Dowlasse," leased out to Henry Hamlyn, "Cytesen and Merchaunte of the Cytye of Excett," two meadows in the barton of Polslo, one called Southwood, and the other the Horse Mede "lying in the west part of the Grett mede of the convent." In another lease, mention is made of a barn lately built near our lady's chapel of Mynchin-Lake, (the name of the stream running by Polslo,) "juxta capellam Beate Marie de Mynchinlake." Dr. Tanner, in his Notitia Monastica, makes mention of a nunnery of St. Catharine, near Exeter, which he distinguishes from the convent at Polslo; and he adds, that Sir William Tracy was a considerable benefactor to it. For the following reasons, I am led to conclude that this nunnery, and the one at Polslo, are precisely the same convent. 1st. The Patron Saint is the same in both cases, and indeed the convent at Polslo is generally styled the house or priory of St. Catharine. 2nd. Both are acknowledged to be in the immediate vicinity of Exeter-3d. The registers of the See of Exeter are perfectly silent as to the existence of any female community in the neighbourhood, besides the one at Polslo. If any other had existed, surely some notice would have been taken See the Taxatio above quoted. |
