Markyate Priory was a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

priory in

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

, England. It was established in 1145 and disestablished in 1537.

History

The priory of Markyate was founded in 1145, in a wood which was then part of the parish of

Caddington Caddington () is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It is between the Luton/Dunstable urban area (to the north), and Hertfordshire (to the south). The western border of the parish is Watlin ...

, and belonged to the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral,

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. Ralf de Langford, who was dean at the time, granted the site at a rent of 3s. annually; adding to it afterwards another portion at a rent of 6s. As the house was built under the patronage of

Geoffrey de Gorham Geoffrey de Gorham (Goreham, Gorron), sometimes called Geoffrey of Dunstable or of Le Mans (died at St Albans, 26 February 1146), was a Norman scholar who became Abbot of St Albans Abbey, 1119 to 1146.St. Alban's, and endowed by him (though not with the goodwill of his convent) with tithes from Cashio and

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

, it has sometimes been called a cell of that abbey; but this is scarcely a correct description of it, as the patronage remained always with the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, and the nuns were never exempt from episcopal jurisdiction. There can however be no doubt that in its early days the priory was closely connected with St. Alban's, though the history of its origin is somewhat involved in legend.

Foundation

It is said that a monk called Roger went out from the abbey some time during the reign of

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, with the consent of his abbot, to seek a place for a hermitage, and was guided to choose a spot in the woods near Caddington, not far from

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main ...

. This Roger, is likely to have been Roger d'Aubigny, a sub-deacon of St Albans Abbey, and brother of Richard d'Aubigny (1087–1119), fifteenth abbot of St Albans. There he lived for some time in such solitude as he desired, until a young woman came and placed herself under his direction, believing that she had a similar vocation. Her aunt, Alveva, was the mistress of

Ranulf Flambard Ranulf Flambard ( c. 1060 – 5 September 1128) was a medieval Norman Bishop of Durham and an influential government minister of King William Rufus of England. Ranulf was the son of a priest of Bayeux, Normandy, and his nickname Flambard ...

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, who, himself, had designs on the young woman. A hermit name Eadwine, with the blessing of the Archbishop of Canterbury, helped her to escape an arranged marriage disguised in men's clothes. He took her to stay with an anchoress at

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named Alfwen, who hid her from her family. There she changed her name from Theodora to Christina. In 1118 Christina moved to a hermitage at Markyate, where the elderly recluse Roger protected and instructed her. He enclosed her in a shed close by his own hermitage. She became an anchoress, spending her time in prayer. A skilled needlewoman, she supported herself by sewing. When Roger died and was buried at St. Albans, Christina remained at the hermitage; other women, including her sister Margaret, joined her there. It was natural enough that the abbot of St. Albans should take Christina and her associates under his special protection and patronage.Page, William; Doubleday, Herbert Arthur
''The Victoria History of the County of Bedford: Volume 1''
1904, p.358-60 Christina took her vows at St Albans in 1131. In 1145, Markyate Priory was established by Geoffrey, successor to Abbot Richard d'Aubigny. It was dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and the name most commonly given to it was 'Holy Trinity in the Wood.' It seems to have been destroyed by fire almost as soon as built; for

Matthew Paris Matthew Paris, also known as Matthew of Paris ( la, Matthæus Parisiensis, lit=Matthew the Parisian; c. 1200 – 1259), was an English Benedictine monk, chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey ...

asserts that Abbot Geoffrey built the house twice from the foundation. The later story says that Christine had great influence with the abbot, and often gave him good advice. There is happily no doubt of her real existence, as her name appears on the foundation charter and other documents; and an entry on the Pipe Roll of 1156 gives some evidence of the fame to which she attained.

Endowments

The first endowment of the priory consisted of the demesne lands, granted by the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, with another portion of land in the neighbourhood, at a total rent of 9s. annually; and tithes from Cashio and Watford, Herts, granted by the abbot of St. Alban's. During the lifetime of the first prioress some other small parcels of land in Oxfordshire were acquired; and during the thirteenth century the tithes of Sundon, Streatley, Higham Gobion and Buckby, Northants. There were certainly four churches belonging to it in the thirteenth century, and possibly more. At the dissolution the Crown bailiff found the house possessed of the manors of Burcester, Oxon; Livesey; and Stokesby, Norfolk; with parcels of lands in Herts, Hunts, Northants, Cambs ; and the tithes of Sundon, Streatley, Watford (Herts), Kingsbury, Coleshill, Bickenhill and three chapels besides in Warwickshire; besides pensions from Higham Gobion, Buckby (Northants), Bushey (Herts), Eversden Parva (Cambs) and Pakinton, amounting altogether to £155 5s. 10¾d. This is in excess of the amount given in the Valor Ecclesiasticus, which is only £114. 16s. 1d. It was never a wealthy house. In 1259, when the

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came to

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, the prioress of Markyate, Agnes Gobion, sent them a certain number of loaves every day for their dinner—'out of pure charity,' says the chronicler, because they were then building their church. But her kindness was ill requited, for when the immediate necessity was past, the friars would not allow her to withdraw the

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; they sent to Rome and had it confirmed to them for ever. This grant would not probably be in itself a heavy burden to the priory; but there is no doubt that the nuns had some difficulty in maintaining themselves during the second half of the thirteenth century. Debts began to press heavily; and in 1290 they sent a petition to Parliament to say that if they were to pay all that they owed (more than two hundred marks) they could not possibly live. The relief they asked was not granted, but perhaps they found some other way out of their troubles, for the priory continued to exist. But its poverty was noticed by the

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Henry Burghersh Henry Burghersh (1292 – 4 December 1340), was Bishop of Lincoln (1320-1340) and served as Lord Chancellor of England (1328–1330). He was a younger son of Robert de Burghersh, 1st Baron Burghersh (died 1306), and a nephew of Bartholomew de ...

, in 1332. The priory had a warden or master in 1323, like many other nunneries at that time. The number of nuns in 1406 was twelve, and in 1433 there were a prioress, subprioress and nine nuns; it is probable that the revenue would never have supported more.

Visitations

There are records of several visitations of this house in the episcopal registers. In 1297 it came under the notice of

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. He had heard that the

apparitor In ancient Rome, an ''apparitor'' (also spelled apparator in English, or shortened to paritor) was a civil servant whose salary was paid from the public treasury. The ''apparitores'' assisted the magistrates. There were four occupational gra ...

of Dunstable had cited 'certain persons of both sexes living in the priory of Markyate' for immorality, whereby these persons had been defamed, and the house had incurred scandal. Evidently the bishop thought the evidence against them insufficient, for he ordered the archdeacon to see that they were not further molested. It seems improbable from the description that the persons alluded to were religious: they were perhaps boarders taken in during the great necessity of the house. At about the same time the prioress and convent were ordered to repair the chancel of one of their appropriate churches. In 1300 Bishop Dalderby visited the monastery in person to explain the statute of

Boniface VIII Pope Boniface VIII ( la, Bonifatius PP. VIII; born Benedetto Caetani, c. 1230 – 11 October 1303) was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 December 1294 to his death in 1303. The Caetani family was of baronial ...

, ''De Claustura Monialium'', and found the nuns at first ready to accept it; but when he had concluded his visit, and turned to go, four of them broke away from the rest and followed him to the outer gate, declaring that they would not observe it. Like a wise man, he did not stop then to argue the matter, and went on his way to Dunstable; but the next day he returned to Markyate, inquired the names of the four refractory nuns, and put the whole convent under penance on their account, threatening to excommunicate them if the statute were not observed. But this was not the only house where the bishop had difficulties in enforcing this statute. In 1323 a visitation by the warden and the vicar of Kensworth was ordered by Bishop Burghersh, but its results are not recorded; probably there was nothing striking to record, as the house was still in much poverty. In 1333 it was noted that Katherine Tisbury had lefy, but the Episcopal visitor directed that should she return, she was to be received with kindness. A scandal was revealed by the visitation of 1434, undertaken by a commission from Bishop Grey. The prioress of the house, Denise Lovelich, was accused of having broken her vow of chastity, to the very evil example of her sisters. She was called upon to purge herself of the charge, but preferred to confess it, and resigned her office in the presence of the assembled convent and the vicar of

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. She was, however, reinstated shortly thereafter, possibly through the influence of her brother, John Lovelich, rector of St. Alphege's in Canterbury After a subsequent visitation in 1442, Bishop Alnwick directed the nuns to take meals together in one house, either in the refectory, infirmary or the Prioress’s hall or chamber, and that during mealtimes scripture or saints’ lives be read aloud to them."Injunctions relating to Markyate Priory (1442)", ''Visitations of Religious Houses Vol III, A.D. 1436-1449'', University of Nottingham
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Dissolution

Joan Zouche was the last prioress and appears to have run the priory well, with no infractions reported during visitations. The house was surrendered under the

Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries Act The Suppression of Religious Houses Act 1535 ( 27 Hen 8 c 28; 1536 in modern dating), also referred to as the Act for the Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries and as the Dissolution of Lesser Monasteries Act, was an Act of the Parliament of ...

, as its income was less than £200 a year, and there may not have been by this time as many as twelve nuns. The exact date of the surrender is not known, but it must have been some time before 10 February 1537, when the prioress, Joan Zouche, received for the first time her pension of 20 marks. A manor house, Markyate Cell, was built on the site of the priory. One resident of that house was

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, an alleged highwaywoman.

Prioresses of Markyate

The Prioresses of Markyate were: *

Christina of Markyate Christina of Markyate was born with the name Theodora in Huntingdon, England, about 1096–1098 and died about 1155. She was an anchoress, who came from a wealthy English family trying to accommodate with the Normans at that time. She later beca ...

, prioress 1145 *Isabel *Joan, occurs 1212, 1238 *Agnes Gobion, occurs 1259, died 1274 *Isabel Gobion, elected 1274, resigned 1280 *Alice de Basseville, elected 1280, died 1284 *Lora de Kantia, elected 1284, died 1291 *Maud of Luton, elected 1291 *Bennet or Benedicta of Whitacre, elected 1332 *Joan Power, died 1349 *Alice Spigurnel, elected 1349 *Isabel of Ashby, resigned 1350 *Joan of Stanbridge, elected 1350 *Sibyl Attelburgh, died 1406 *Benington, elected 1406 *Denise Lewelyck, occurs 1431 *Joan Wyrell, elected 1448 *Agnes Stephens, elected 1508, died 1508 * Joan Zouche, elected 1508, surrendered 1536

Common seals

There is a very early seal of the priory attached to a charter of the first prioress, of a light-brown colour, pointed oval, representing our Lord, with cruciform nimbus, seated on a throne, with rainbow behind it, the right hand raised in benediction, the left resting on a book on the left knee. The inscription is illegible, and very little of it remains. The ordinary chapter seal was a representation of the Holy Trinity, pointed oval: a figure seated upon a throne, holding a crucifix; a crescent on the left and a star on the right. Legend: ..... MUNE C ..... M ..... There is another similar to this, only the figure is under a triple canopy with pinnacles, and has a shield of arms below. Legend: SIGILL' . . . ANCTE TRINITATIS DE . . . .

References

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