the year 1536, or in six months from the passing of the act of dissolution, large sums had been paid into the treasury of the court of Augmentations, and a considerable number of monasteries had been desolated. In many instances the actual process of suppression occupied many weeks. Thus, at Clementhorpe convent, in the city of York, the commissioners first arrived on June 13th, and it was not till August 31st that the final steps were taken, and the nuns turned out of their house. During that period Isabel Ward, the prioress, had been obliged to provide for her household, consisting of nine nuns, an equal number of servants and a lady, Alice Tocotts, who, with her servant, had a corrody in the house. Besides this, here, no doubt, as elsewhere, provision had to be found for the servants of the commissioners who were left to carry out the work. To meet these expenses the prioress was forced to sell a silver chalice and cup, together with some reliquaries.* In the same way Isabel Savage, the prioress of St. | Michael's convent, Stamford, was obliged to sell various pieces of plate to keep up the hospitality of the convent and to support the nuns from May 31, when the dissolution commenced, to July 18, when the work was completed.+ And, from numerous examples, which might be cited from the "Ministers' R. O. Exch Augt. Off. Mins. Acct. 27-28 Hen. VIII., No. 178, m. 14d. t Ibid., No. 173, m. 5. Accounts," it is probable that from six weeks to ten weeks were usually occupied in the work of dissolving these religious houses. To many of the religious thus rendered homeless the hardship must have been more than would readily be believed. Many were of great age, or suffering from disease. Thus, to Elizabeth Johnson, a nun of Arden, a small pittance is allowed for her support, "because she is helpless and deaf and is said to be over 80 years of age.” * In the same way to William Coventry, a religious of Wombridge priory, the sum of £6 8s. 4d. is given, upon his being turned out of his home, "because he is sick and decrepid," + but such consideration was apparently only on rare occasions extended to the inmates of the dissolved houses. Of Esholt, a convent in Yorkshire marked out for dissolution at this time, it is said that two nuns, disabled by infirmities, were passed on to their friends. Dame Elizabeth Pudsey prioress," the entry runs, aged 70 years, infirm and unable to ride or walk -gone to her friends." Also, "Dame Johanna Hallynrakes, aged 54 years, decrepid; she is not able to be carried for she is lame; (to) continue in her habit and be with her friends." ‡ The returns made by the mixed royal commissions at this time are of great interest and importance. The different estimate these gentlemen formed of * Ibid., 178, m. 14d. † Ibid., 165, m. 3. R. O. Exch. Q. R. Suppress. Papers, 832. the state of the religious houses in England, to that pictured in the comperta of Layton, Legh and their fellow inquisitors, has already been pointed out,* and it is unfortunate that comparatively few of these documents are known to exist. As an example of the interesting particulars given in these returns, the first in the report of the commissioners for Warwickshire may be here given. The abbey of Pollesworth is stated to be a convent of "Black nuns of St. Benedict's Order." The valuation made at the last visitation of their clear annual income. was £87 16s. 3d., and the visitors now assess it at 110 6s. 2d. The nuns are stated to have been fourteen in number, "with an abbess and one 'ancress,' of a very religious sort, one close upon a hundred years old; all desire to keep out' their religion there or be transferred to other houses. The number of servants and others attached to the abbey was thirty-eight, namely, three priests, eight yeomen, seventeen hinds, nine women servants, and of "persons having living by promise one very old and impotent creature sometime cook of the house." The lead, bells and buildings were estimated to produce £52 when sold, and the house was declared to be "in good repair." The value of all moveable goods, stocks, stores, and debts owing • Vol. i., p. 356. + See Calendar, x., pp. 495-500. It is curious to find that in almost every instance the new valuation was higher than that returned by the commissioners for the Valor Ecclesiasticus the year before. VOL. II. C to the house was calculated at £127 13s. 8d., besides which there were 108 acres planted with trees, "whereof great woods about the age of 100 years" were priced at £114 10s., and a great common with 60 acres of wood.* In dealing with the lesser religious houses, those which claimed to be cells or dependencies of the greater monasteries, proved a difficulty. This had been foreseen, and the commissioners were instructed in the case of a cell "to deliver a privy seal to the governor, to appear before the chancellor and council of the Augmentations and not meddle with the same cell till the king's pleasure be known."+ Accordingly, in Warwickshire, the royal visitors gave privy seals to the prior of Avecourte, Warwick, who alleged his house to be a cell of Great Malvern, and to Charles Bradewaye, prior of Alcester, who claimed exemption from the act of dissolution, as a dependent of the abbey of Evesham, ordering them to appear before the court in London within 15 days. Into these cases strict inquiry was made. In the case of Malpas, for example, which claimed to be a cell of Montacute, in Somerset, a commission was ordered to sit at that priory, on November 27, 1536, and to require all deeds and evidences of the claim, and to examine the prior and John Montague, prior of Malpas. As might be expected, these claims * Calendar, X., 1191 (2). + Calendar, x., 721. V., p. 173. for exemption from the operation of the act of dissolution appear to have failed. In the three cases given above the priors of the cells seem to have returned to their monasteries, where two years later they are found in the list of those pensioned on the final dissolution of the mother houses.* One curious fact about the dissolution of these smaller monasteries deserves special notice. No sooner had the king obtained possession of them than he commenced to refound some in perpetuity under a new charter. In this way no fewer than fifty-two religious houses in various parts of England gained a temporary respite from extinction. The cost, * R. O. Aug. Off. Misc. Bk. 245, ff. 72, 102, 187. + Canon Dixon says (Vol. i., p. 365): "Three hundred and seventy-six of the smaller monasteries came under the new act, and were dissolved. Out of which thirty-one were refounded for ever in August of this year, and continued a year or two longer." In this he follows Burnet so far as the number is concerned, who states that they were "in all thirty-one houses" thus restored. The names of the fifty-two will be found in the Appendix to this volume. The treasurer of the court of Augmentations acknowledges sums of money received as "fines" from 33 houses, and 19 more, not including Bisham, are enrolled on the Patent Rolls. The dates of the grants will show that they were not all refounded in August. Stevens has, moreover (“Monasticon "ii., Appendix 17-19), published an original document containing the names of the lesser monasteries which escaped immediate destruction, specifying the individuals to whom the king had previously granted, and distinguishing those houses which had been actually refounded when the paper/ was drawn up. From this it appears that the whole number respited was 123. Forty-six had already been refounded, five werey still doubtful; and of these 51 no less than 33 had been previously promised to different private persons. |