Beauvale Priory (also known as Beauvale Charterhouse) was a

Carthusian The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians (), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its own rule, called th ...

monastery in Beauvale, Nottinghamshire.

History

The priory was founded in 1343 by Nicholas de Cantelupe (d.1355), in honour of the Blessed Trinity. The priory was originally built to be home to a prior and twelve monks. It was the third of nine houses of the Carthusian order established in England. The two earlier houses were established in Witham Friary and Hinton in Somerset. The others were

London Charterhouse The London Charterhouse is a historic complex of buildings in Clerkenwell, London, dating to the 14th century. It occupies land to the north of Charterhouse Square, and lies within the London Borough of Islington. It was originally built (and ...

, St. Anne's near

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually shortened to Hull, is a historic maritime city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Est ...

and Mount Grace in Yorkshire, Epworth and Shene. The

Valor Ecclesiasticus The ''Valor Ecclesiasticus'' (Latin: "church valuation") was a survey of the finances of the church in England, Wales and English controlled parts of Ireland made in 1535 on the orders of Henry VIII. It was colloquially called the Kings books, ...

of 1534 lists the priory as having an annual income of £227 8s., of which £196 6s. was left after expenses. At this time the priory was in control of the

advowson Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, a ...

s of the churches of Greasley and Selston in Nottinghamshire; Bonby in Lincolnshire; and Farnham in Yorkshire.

Role in late-medieval English mysticism

Although concrete evidence remains scant, several claims have been made for Beauvale's role in shaping late medieval English spirituality: John P.H. Clark suggests that the author of the seminal mystical text The Cloud of Unknowing was probably a Carthusian of Beauvale Priory. and Jonathan Hughes posits that Beauvale may have been an important centre for the study of English mystic

Richard Rolle Richard Rolle ( – 30 September 1349) was an English hermit, mystic, and religious writer. He is also known as Richard Rolle of Hampole or de Hampole, since at the end of his life he lived near a Cistercian nunnery in Hampole, now in S ...

.Hughes, Jonathan. ''Pastors and Visionaries: Religion and Secular Life in Late Medieval Yorkshire''. Boydell & Brewer, 1988.

Dissolution and martyrdom

Following England’s break from Rome, the Carthusians refused to accept

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement w ...

's supremacy over the church. Robert Lawrence, Prior of Beauvale, travelled to London in 1535 to see

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; – 28 July 1540) was an English statesman and lawyer who served as List of English chief ministers, chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false cha ...

in person in the hope of stopping the dissolution of his priory. Cromwell never saw Lawrence and he, along with two other Carthusian Priors who had made similar journeys, were imprisoned in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...

as traitors. One of these was John Houghton, Lawrence's predecessor as Prior at Beauvale. Prior Lawrence was interrogated on 20 April but declared he could "not take our sovereign lord to be supreme head of the Church, but him that is by God the head of the Church, that is the bishop of Rome, as Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine teach". The three Carthusians and a Brigittine monk from

Syon Abbey Syon Abbey , also called simply Syon, was a dual monastery of men and women of the Bridgettines, Bridgettine Order, although it only ever had abbesses during its existence. It was founded in 1415 and stood, until its demolition in the 16th cent ...

were all tried on 28 April and charged with "verbal treason" for claiming King Henry was not the supreme head of the Church of England. The jury refused to find the four guilty as they felt "they did not act maliciously"; Cromwell, however, violently threatened the jury until they returned a guilty verdict. Prior Lawrence became one of a group known as the Carthusian Martyrs. He and his fellow prisoners were sentenced to death (to be

hanged, drawn and quartered To be hanged, drawn and quartered was a method of torture, torturous capital punishment used principally to execute men convicted of High treason in the United Kingdom, high treason in medieval and early modern Britain and Ireland. The convi ...

) and returned to the Tower until 4 May when they were taken to Tyburn for execution. The execution was made deliberately more "ghastly and revolting" to show the King's power and deter others. Prior Lawrence was executed wearing his monk's habit. The rope used to hang him was larger than usual to avoid fatally strangling him; thus ensuring he was still alive when he was butchered and mutilated, before finally being "quartered" (chopped into 4 pieces). Lawrence was created a saint by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

in 1970 as one of the

Forty Martyrs of England and Wales The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales or Cuthbert Mayne and Thirty-Nine Companion Martyrs are a group of Catholic Church, Catholic, lay and religious, men and women, executed between 1535 and 1679 for treason and related offences under variou ...

. The annual value of this monastery was just under £200, the limit for the suppression of the lesser monasteries; but by paying the heavy fine of £166 13s. 4d. the monks were able to postpone dissolution. This bargain was effected on 2 January 1537/38. Beauvale Priory was finally surrendered for dissolution on 18 July 1539. The surrender document was signed by the Prior, Thomas Woodcock, and seven other monks: John Langdale, William Welles, Alexander Lowthe, Edmund Garner, Robert Gowton (proctor), Thomas Leyghton, and Thomas Wallis. Prior Woodcock was awarded an annual pension of £26 13s. 4d. The priory and most of its possessions were granted in 1541 to Sir William Huse of London. The manor of

Etwall Etwall is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, southwest of Derby on the A50 road, A50. The population at the 2011 Census was 2,906. Geography Etwall is located between the A516 road, A516 bypass an ...

, previously held by the priory, was granted to Sir John Porte in 1540.House of Carthusian monks: The priory of Beauvale
''A History of the County of Nottingham: Volume 2'' (1910), pp. 105–109. Date accessed: 28 June 2013

List of priors

* William, occurs 1404 * Richard de Burton, occurs 1422, 1426 * Thomas Metheley, occurs 1468 * John Swift, occurs 1478 * Thomas Wydder, occurs 1482 * Nicholas Wartre, occurs 1486 * John Houghton 1531. * Robert Lawrence, executed 1535. * Thomas Woodcock, 16 December 1537 – surrender 1539

Remains

Some tiles and fragments of stained glass are now in St. Mary's Church,

Greasley Greasley is a civil parish north west of Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England. Although it is thought there was once a village called Greasley, there is no settlement of that name today as it was destroyed by the Earl of Rutland. The built up ...

. Two manuscripts associated with the library at Beauvale are also extant: Cambridge MS Mm 5.37, a copy of

's ''Incendium Amoris'', and Bodleian Library MS Douce 114, a collection of

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

translations of the vitae of Elizabeth of Spalbeek, Marie of Oignies, and Christina the Astonishing, a letter concerning

Catherine of Siena Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa (25 March 1347 – 29 April 1380), known as Catherine of Siena, was an Italian mystic and pious laywoman who engaged in papal and Italian politics through extensive letter-writing and advocacy. Canonized in 1461, ...

, and

Henry Suso Henry Suso, OP (also called Amandus, a name adopted in his writings, and Heinrich Seuse or Heinrich von Berg in German; 21 March 1295 – 25 January 1366) was a German Dominican friar and the most popular vernacular writer of the fourteenth c ...

's ''Horologium Sapientiae''. There are still substantial remains of the buildings, and the whole site has been designated as a

scheduled ancient monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

, because of the range of features that survive, and their rarity value, for Beauvale was one of only nine Carthusian houses to be built in England. The monks were well respected, because they maintained their austere standards until the Dissolution. The site was one of the first to receive scheduled monument protection, on 10 April 1915, and the individual buildings were granted

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

status in 1952. The remains of the Priory Church are

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

, while the Gatehouse and parts of the boundary wall are separately listed as Grade II buildings. The site also includes the Abbey Farmhouse, which was built in the 16th century and extended in the 18th and 19th centuries, using material which was largely quarried from the priory.

In literature

The ruin of Beauvale Priory was the setting for D.H. Lawrence's historical short story, "A Fragment of Stained Glass.""Beauvale Priory." ''The Oxford Guide to Literary Britain & Ireland''. OUP, 2008.

References

External links

*
Website of the Beauvale Society
{{Authority control Archaeological sites in Nottinghamshire Buildings and structures in Nottinghamshire Carthusian monasteries in England Christian monasteries established in the 1340s Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation History of Catholicism in England Houses in Nottinghamshire Monasteries in Nottinghamshire Places in the Borough of Broxtowe Religiously motivated violence in England Ruined abbeys and monasteries Ruins in Nottinghamshire 1343 establishments in England 1539 disestablishments in England