[260] See the account in the Reg. of Crabhouse Nunnery, ed. Mary Bateson (Norfolk Archaeology, XI, pp. 59-63). Also a charming account of Crabhouse (founded largely on this register) in Jessopp, Ups and Downs of an Old Nunnery (Frivola, 1896, pp. 28 ff.). The English portion of the register was written some time after 1470.
[261] Reliquiae Antiquae, I, p. 314. See also a little further on in the Crabhouse Register: “And xx mark we hadde of the gifte of Edmunde Peris persoun of Watlington before seyde sekatoure to the same Roger wiche was nought payed tyl xvj yere aftyr his day.” Compare the complaint at Rusper in 1478: “Item dicit quod Johannes Wood erat executor domini Ricardi Hormer ... qui fuit a retro in solucione pensionis vs. per xxx annos priorisse et conventui de Rushper.” But this may mean that the late Richard (a rector) had failed to pay. Sussex Archaeol. Coll. V, p. 255.
[262] With this account of the building of Crabhouse church it is interesting to compare the costs incurred in building the “newe chirch” of Syon Abbey in 1479-80. Two small schedules of accounts dealing with this work are preserved in the Public Record Office. The first is particularly interesting for its list of workmen employed: “Summa of the wages of Werkmen wirchyng as well opon and wyane the newe chirch of the monastery of Syun, as opon parte of the newe byldyng of the Brether Cloyster, chapitirhous and library, that is to sey fr. the xth day of October in the xixth yere of the reigne of kyng E. the iiijth vnto the vijth day of October in the xxth yere of the reigne of the same kyng, as it is declared partelly in ij jurnalles of work thereof examyned. It. ffremasons ccxlv li. xij s. xj d. It. harde-hewers xxx li. xj s. vij d. ob. It. Brekeleyers xvj li. xvj s. ij d. It. chalk-hewers xlj s. iij d. It. Carpenters and joynours xlvj s. ix d. It. Tawyers ix li. xvj s. iiij d. It. Smythes xliiij li. xix s. x d. It. Laborers xxxvj li. xix s. vij d. It. Paied to James Powle Brekeman for makyng of breks lxxvj li. viij s. iiij d. Summa tol, cccclxvij li. viij s. iij d. ob.” (P.R.O. Mins. Accts. 1261/2). The other schedule gives further details: “Expenses vpon our newe churche. The makyng of the rof wt tymber and cariage and workmanship ixclxv li. xviij s. iij d. qa, lede castyng, jynyng, leyyng sawdir with diuers cariage vcxxxv li. x s. x d. Iron bought with cariage, weyng and whirvage lxxiij li. xvi s. x d. Ragstone, assheler ffreston with cariage, masons and labourers for the vantyng and ffurryng of the pilers and purvyaunes vnto the xxvij of maii mlmlvcxlix li. xj s. j d. ob. Summa total for the church mlmlmlmlcxxxiiij li. xvij s. ob. qa. Expenses of the cloystor and dortour vnto the xxvij day of maii vjciiijxxxviij li. ix s. x d. Summa tol. mlmlmlmlviijcxxxiij li. vj s. x d. ob. qa.” (Ib. 1261/3.)
[263] Mr Coulton suggests the reading ‘a mason hewande,’ i.e. a hard-hewer or rough hewer, as opposed to the better freemason.
[264] The Valor Ecclesiasticus was published in six volumes by the Record Commission (1810-34). It is the subject of a detailed study by Professor Alexander Savine, “English Monasteries on the Eve of the Suppression,” in Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History, ed. Vinogradoff, vol. I (1909). For this reason, and also because of their greater interest, I have preferred to base my study of nunnery finance on the account rolls of the nuns. The Valor as it affects nunneries has been largely drawn upon in an unpublished thesis by Miss H. T. Jacka, The Dissolution of the English Nunneries, Thesis submitted for the Degree of M.A. in the University of London (Dec. 1917). It is a pity that this useful little work is not published. I have been able to consult it and have made use (as will be seen from footnotes to this chapter) of the admirable chapter II on “The Property of the Nunneries”; for my quotations from the Valor I have invariably used her analysis. Anyone wishing for an intensive study of the Dissolution from the point of view of monastic houses for women cannot do better than consult this thesis, which is far more detailed, exact and judicial in tone than any other modern account.
[265] P.R.O. Mins. Accts. 1260.
[266] The wardens’ accounts are in P.R.O. Mins. Accts. 867/21-6 and the prioress’s accounts, ib. 867/30, 32, 33-36. and Hen. VII, no. 274. They are briefly described in V.C.H. Herts. IV, pp. 430-1 (notes 30, 31, 39). An excellent prioress’s account for 2-4 Hen. VII is printed by Dugdale, Mon. III, pp. 358-61, the prioress being Christian Bassett.
[267] P.R.O. Mins. Accts. 1257/10. See Gasquet, Eng. Monastic Life, pp. 158-176.
[268] A. Gray, Priory of St Radegund’s, Cambridge, pp. 145-85.
[269] Baker, Hist. and Antiq. of Northants. I, pp. 278-83. Compare P.R.O. Mins. Accts. 1257/1 for a Catesby account roll for 11-14 Hen. IV.