Sempringham Priory

Sempringham Priory was a priory in Lincolnshire, England, located in the medieval hamlet of Sempringham, to the northwest of Pointon. Today, all that remains of the priory is a marking on the ground where the walls stood and a square, which are identifiable only in aerial photos of the vicinity. However, the parish church of St Andrew's, built around 1100 AD, is witness to the priory standing alone in a field away from the main road.

The priory was built by Gilbert of Sempringham, the only English saint to have founded a monastic order. The priory's religious accentuation as an important religious pilgrimage site began when St Gilbert established the Gilbertine Order in 1131 by inducting "seven maidens" who were his pupils. Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, helped in establishing the religious buildings to the north of St Andrew's Church as a protected area.

St Gilbert died at Sempringham in 1189 and was buried in the priory church. He was canonised on 13 October 1202, for the many miracles noted at his tomb in the priory. His name is prefixed to the Sempringham Priori, which is known as "St Gilbert Sempringham Priory," and is thus a well-visited pilgrimage centre.

The priory, which functioned as a dual community made up of canons and nuns, was dissolved in 1538. The Clinton family, who took possession of the priory, demolished it completely without leaving any trace of it on the ground. They built a mansion from the building material they extracted from the demolished structure.

Geography

Sempringham Priory was spread over an area of of undulating topography located below the ruins of a major Tudor house skirting the Lincolnshire Fens, which is limestone country. The land of the priory was used for cultivation. It was not known as a former monastery until some archaeological excavations conducted in 1939 by the Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire revealed a layout of the buried presence of the medieval monastery and the housing complex surrounded by gardens. The priory measured lengthwise, and was inferred to have had within its space buildings for monks and nuns built around the 12th century. At the time of its demolition during the reign of Henry VIII, it was said to be the size of Westminster Abbey.

History

12th century

The Order of Sempringham originated in 1131.Page, William, 'Houses of the Gilbertine order: The priory of Sempringham', A History of the County of Lincoln: Volume 2 (1906), pp. 179–187, (Public domain text), accessed vi
British History online
/ref> In or about that year, Gilbert of Sempringham left the household of Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, and returned to serve the parish church of Sempringham, of which he was rector. He found there seven maidens, who had learned the way of holiness from him as children, and longed to live a strict religious life. Gilbert, having inherited lands and possessions in Sempringham from his father, resolved to give such wealth as he had for the use of those maidens.

With the help and advice of Alexander, he set up buildings and a cloister for them against the north wall of the church, which stood on his own land at Sempringham. He gave them a rule of life, enjoining upon them chastity, humility, obedience, and charity. Their daily necessities were passed to them through a window by some girls chosen by Gilbert from among his people. His friends warned him that his nuns ought not to speak with secular women, who by their gossip might rekindle in them an interest in the world which they had renounced. On the advice of William, Abbot of Rievaulx, he decided to yield to the request of the serving maids, who begged that they, too, might have a dress and rule of life. Soon afterwards, he took men as lay brothers to work on the land, giving them, too, a uniform and rules.

The little community grew in numbers, and amongst its earliest benefactors was Brian of Pointon. In 1139, Gilbert accepted three carucates of land in Sempringham from Gilbert of Ghent, his feudal lord. His first building had proved too small, and Sempringham Priory, with its double church, cloisters and buildings, was erected on the new site given by Gilbert of Ghent, not far from the parish church, and dedicated to the Virgin. Because of his gift, Gilbert of Ghent was held to be the founder.

In 1147, Gilbert went to the general chapter at Citeaux to ask the abbots to bear rule over his nuns, but they refused. However, at Citeaux, he met Bernard of Clairvaux, and Pope Eugene III, the latter of whom conferred on him the care of the order. Bernard invited him to Clairvaux, and helped him to draw up the Institutes of the Order of Sempringham, which were afterwards confirmed by Eugene III. Gilbert returned to England in 1148 and completed the order by appointing canons to serve his community as priests and to help him in administrative work.

Gilbert gave to the canons the Augustinian rule, and added many statutes from the customs of Augustinian and Premonstratensian canons. The chief officers were the prior, sub-prior, cellarer, precentor, and sacrist. In a double house, the number of canons varied from seven to 30, but at Sempringham they were increased to 40. The lay brothers followed the rule of the Cistercian lay brothers. The nuns of the order kept the rule of Saint Benedict, and followed in every way the customs of the canons.

Each house was under three prioresses who presided in the frater and visited the sick. The other officers were the sub-prioress, cellaress, subcellaress, sacrist, and precentrix. The lay sisters were bound to serve and obey the nuns. They cooked for the whole community under the supervision of a nun, who served for a week at a time. They also brewed ale, sewed, washed, made thread for the cobblers, and wove wool. All the clothes, except the shirts and breeches of the men, were cut out and made by the women.

The general administration of the property of the house was in the hands of a council of four proctors, consisting of the prior, cellarer, and two lay brothers. The expenditure was controlled by the nuns. The treasury was in their building, and the keepers were three mature and discreet nuns, who each had charge of a different key. Communications about business, food, and other matters were made at the window-house, which was constructed in such a way that the speakers could not see each other.

The supreme ruler of the order was the master, who, subject to good behaviour and health, was elected for life at a general chapter by representatives of nuns and canons from all the houses. The privilege of freedom of election was granted by Henry II, and confirmed in 1189 by Richard I. The custody of the order, its houses, granges, and churches, was legally vested in the priors during the vacancy, which, in fact, lasted only a few days. The master was not attached to any house, but continually went from one to the other on his visitation. He appointed the chief officers and admitted novices. According to the rule, his consent was necessary for all sales and purchases of lands, woods, and everything above the value of three marks, and his seal was affixed to all charters, but these provisions were later modified in practice. He had no benefices or other property set aside for the expenses of his visitations and other duties which might devolve on him. In the middle of the 13th century, the houses of the order were contributing to the communa magistri in proportion to their means, and in 1535, a fixed payment to the master "of ancient custom" is mentioned in the outgoings of each house. The general chapter met each year at Sempringham on the Rogation Days, and was attended by the prior, cellarer, and two prioresses from each house, the scrutators general, and the scrutators of the cloister.

While Gilbert was master, there were two serious crises in the history of Sempringham and the other houses of the order. Early in 1165, Gilbert and all the priors were summoned to Westminster to answer a charge of having sent money abroad to Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, and of having helped him to escape from England, the penalty for which was exile. The accusation, however, was false, though Gilbert scrupled to swear to his innocence. Meanwhile, messengers arrived from Henry II to say that he would judge the case on his return from Normandy, and that Gilbert and his priors could go in peace.

In 1170, a rebellion took place among the lay brothers, who complained of the harshness of the rule, and insisted on more food and less work. Two of them went to Rome with ill-gotten gains and slandered Gilbert and the canons to Pope Alexander III, who intervened on their behalf. As Gilbert's cause was warmly espoused by Henry II and several of the bishops, the pope was convinced that he had been deceived. When the lay brothers found that they had failed to move Gilbert by violence, they asked for pardon and humbly entreated him to relax the rule for them. Accordingly, certain changes in their food and dress were solemnly made about 1187, in the presence of Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, with the consent of the general chapter of Sempringham.

On 4 February 1189, Gilbert died at Sempringham, and was buried on the 7th in the presence of a large group of people. His tomb was placed between the altars of St Mary and St Andrew, in the priory church, and could be seen on either side of the wall which divided the men from the women. Many miracles of healing were reported to have been worked at the tomb in the next few years, and in 1200, Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, set about obtaining his canonisation. After an inquisition into the truth of the alleged miracles, canonisation was decreed by Innocent III. The translation of St Gilbert took place on 13 October 1202, in the presence of many, an indulgence of 40 days to pilgrims to his shrine being granted by the archbishop of Canterbury, and 110 days by several other bishops.

The convent of Sempringham at first suffered poverty, but several benefactors had compassion on the nuns. In 1189, the possessions of the priory included the whole township of Sempringham, with the parish church and the chapel of Pointon, the granges of Kirkby, Marham, Cranwell, Fulbeck, Thorpe, Bramcote, Walcote, Thurstanton, the hermitage of Hoyland, a mill in Birthorpe, half a knight's fee in Laughton (Locton), the mills of Folkingham, and the churches of Billingborough, Stowe with the chapel of Birthorpe, Hanington, Aslackby, Buxton

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