Hedingham 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 ...

nunnery A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican C ...

Castle Hedingham Castle Hedingham is a village in northern Essex, England, located four miles west of Halstead and 3 miles southeast of Great Yeldham in the Colne Valley on the ancient road from Colchester, Essex, to Cambridge. It developed around Hedingham Cas ...

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 G ...

, founded in or before 1190 by

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 ...

, perhaps in partnership with his third wife, Agnes of Essex. It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, St. James, and the Holy Cross.

History

The convent's first prioress was Lucy (or Lucia), named in a well-preserved, early thirteenth-century

bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

in which she is called the foundress of the priory, leading to much confusion, as it was assumed that she was a wife of the founder or a member of the Vere family. The convent was torched by the men of the founder's son and heir late in 1190 or early in 1191, and in punishment Aubrey IV was fined 100 marcs by the king and in atonement donated additional property to the priory in February 1191. The small priory was one of 16 nunneries exclusively for women founded between 1165 and 1215 in southern England. By 1535, at the time of its dissolution, it was valued at only £29 12s. 10d, with a little over in small parcels in 23 manors, two churches and three

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, ...

s. The king granted it to

John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford, Lord Great Chamberlain KG PC (c. 1482 – 21 March 1540). was an English peer and courtier. Career John de Vere, born about 1482, was the son of John de Vere and Alice Kilrington (alias Colbroke), and the gr ...

, with all its possessions in 1536.''VCH, Essex'', 123. No cartulary is known to have survived, only individual charters.

References

{{Authority control History of Essex Monasteries in Essex Benedictine nunneries in England 12th-century establishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 12th century 1535 disestablishments in England