St Osyth's Priory Gatehouse, south upper

St Osyth's Abbey (originally and still commonly known as St Osyth's Priory) was a house of

Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

s in the parish of St Osyth (then named Chich) in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in use from the 12th to 16th centuries. Founded by Richard de Belmeis, Bishop of London, , it became one of the largest religious houses in Essex. It was dedicated to Saints

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

and

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

as well as St Osyth (Osith), a royal saint and virgin martyr.J. C. Dickinson, ''The Origins of the Austin Canons and their introduction into England'' (1950), 112-113. Bishop Richard obtained the arm bone of St Osyth from Aylesbury for the monastic church and granted the canons the parish church of St Osyth. The foundation began as a

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of ...

, probably populated first by canons from Holy Trinity, Aldgate. The first prior of St Osyth's was

William de Corbeil William de Corbeil or William of Corbeil (21 November 1136) was a medieval Archbishop of Canterbury. Very little is known of William's early life or his family, except that he was born at Corbeil, south of Paris, and that he had two brothers. E ...

, who was elected archbishop of Canterbury in 1123 and who crowned King Stephen in 1135. The priory was converted into an

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The con ...

in the mid-12th century. In '' Gesta pontificum Anglorum'',

William of Malmesbury William of Malmesbury ( la, Willelmus Malmesbiriensis; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as " ...

spoke in praise of the piety and learning of the canons at St Osyth's in the twelfth century. One of the second generation of canons there was

William de Vere William de Vere (died 1198) was Bishop of Hereford and an Augustinian canon. Biography The son of Aubrey de Vere II and Adeliza of Clare, probably the fourth of five sons,Barrow "Vere, William de" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' and b ...

, later bishop of Hereford, who wrote a Latin ''Life of St Osyth'', in which he mentions that his mother Adeliza, daughter of

Gilbert fitz Richard Gilbert Fitz Richard (–), 2nd feudal baron of Clare in Suffolk, and styled "de Tonbridge", was a powerful Anglo-Norman baron who was granted the Lordship of Cardigan, in Wales . Life Gilbert, born before 1066, was the second son and an heir ...

of Clare, had been a corrodian at the abbey for twenty years of her widowhood. A charter of King Henry II confirmed the right of the canons of St Osyth's to elect their abbot and to hold a market every Sunday at Chich in the later 12th century. John Depyng, prior of St. Botolph's was made abbot of St Osyth's in 1434, and took with him goods of considerable value belonging to the priory. He never returned these, and after his death St Botolph's brought an apparently unsuccessful lawsuit in Chancery against St Osyth's for their recovery. During the Suppression of the Monasteries, the religious group was dissolved by King Henry VIII in 1539, at which time there were a prior and sixteen canons. The king granted it to his minister

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false char ...

, but on his fall from favour, the abbey and its estates were returned to crown possession. In the reign of

King Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

they were sold to Sir Thomas Darcy for just under £400.''Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales,'' 218-219. The gatehouse, dating from the late 15th century, is the most significant remnant of the original monastic structures still standing. The exterior is a fine example of decorative flint work. It stood in for St Anselm's theological college in the BBC's miniseries adaptation of

P. D. James Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, (3 August 1920 – 27 November 2014), known professionally as P. D. James, was an English novelist and life peer. Her rise to fame came with her series of detective novels featuring th ...

' ''

Death in Holy Orders ''Death in Holy Orders'' is a 2001 detective novel in the Adam Dalgliesh series by P. D. James. Setting The novel is mainly set in and around an Anglo-Catholic theological college, Saint Anselm's, on the windswept coast of East Anglia. It pr ...

'' in 2003. Five parts of the priory are Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Burials

* Richard de Belmeis I *Adeliza de Clare de Vere, mother of

Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford ( – 26 December 1194) was an English noble involved in the succession conflict between King Stephen and Empress Matilda in the mid-twelfth century. He was the son of Aubrey de Vere, Lord Great Chamberlain ...

*Lucy Young Rochford, wife of William Nassau de Zuylestein, 4th Earl of Rochford

References

External links

Picturesque England
*B/W Drawing of the gateway: (from the magazine ''Once A Week'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Osyths Priory Monasteries in Essex 1120s establishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 12th century 1539 disestablishments in England Augustinian monasteries in England Grade I listed churches in Essex Grade I listed monasteries Grade II listed parks and gardens in Essex St Osyth