King's Langley Priory
Encyclopedia
King's Langley Priory was a Dominican
priory in Kings Langley
, Hertfordshire
, England
.
in fulfilment of a vow made when in peril. On 1 December the king made the friars a grant of £100 a year until further orders; on 20 December he gave them his garden near the church and land there for building, and the next day assigned to them as a dwelling until the priory could be built a place called 'Little London.' The first prior was John de Warefeld, who had for some time belonged to Edward's household, and in August 1315 became his confessor.
The king in March 1312 gave the brothers 700 marks for building expenses, and in the summer of that year the conventual church was dedicated and a cemetery consecrated. Possibly, however, the church was not yet finished, for the body of Piers Gaveston
, who was killed about this time, was not buried there until the end of 1314, when the ceremony took place with much state, the Archbishop of Canterbury
and four bishops as well as many other ecclesiastics taking part in the funeral rites.
In October 1311 the king increased the annual income of the house to £150 to provide for fifteen friars added since the foundation, so that his grant in September 1312 of 500 marks during pleasure may have been intended for building purposes. He gave the friars in June 1315 a house with closes in his manor of Langley and leave to take wood for fuel and other necessaries from Chipperfield Wood. During some years of scarcity he also supplied them with corn.
The king, however, felt that this state of dependence on the Exchequer
was unsatisfactory, and wished to endow them permanently. To overcome the difficulty that friars-preachers could not own property he proposed to found a house of Dominican nuns, who were to hold lands in trust for the brothers, and in 1318 he sent two friars to the pope for his authorization. Robert de Duffeld, the second Prior of King's Langley and the king's confessor, had been dispatched in October 1316 to the master of the order, apparently on the same errand, but nothing was done in the matter for years.
The drawback to allowances is shown in the complaint of the friars to Edward III
in 1345 that owing to the irregularity of the payments from the Exchequer they had not wherewith to live, carry on the works they had begun, and pay their debts. On this occasion, at their request, the money due to the king from the alien priory
of Harmondsworth was assigned to them in part payment.
Edward III seems to have been as much interested in the house as his father had been. In 1346 he granted the friars part of a quarry in Shotover for their works, and in 1347 gave them leave to enlarge the ditch round their close 3 ft. in breadth and 2,000 ft. in length. He gave them in April 1358 the fishery of his water of King's Langley with permission to have a weir in that water, and free entrance and exit to and from the weir through his park; also the head of a stream in Abbots Langley
with leave to dig up his land in making an aqueduct underground to their house. In January 1361-2 he gave them, moreover, £20 a year during pleasure to their new work. Personal feeling seems to have prompted his grant in 1358 of 4 tuns of wine a year, and the gift in 1377 of forty mazers
, one of which was called the Edward. The wish of Edward II was at last carried out in 1349, and a house of Dominican sisters founded, which, although at Dartford
in Kent
, was regarded as the complement of Langley priory; and in December 1356 the prioress and nuns had licence to acquire in mortmain
property to the value of £300 for the sustenance of themselves and the friars of King's Langley. Here the brothers possibly owed something to the influence of John Woderowe, the king's confessor, who in June 1356 is mentioned as their prior.
Still, the foundation of Dartford for some time did not change materially the financial position of Langley. The king in October 1363 granted to the convent of twenty brothers 200 marks a year of his alms and in March 1371 ordered that the money should be paid to them from the issues of the alien priory of Burstall.
But the appropriation of the church of Langley in 1374 to the nuns of Dartford is the beginning of a new arrangement. In October 1376 Edward III made over to John Duke of Lancaster
, Simon Sudbury
, Archbishop of Canterbury, and others in trust for the convent at Langley, the hundred and manor of Preston and the manors of Overland in Ash, Elmstone, Wadling in Ripple, Packmanstone in Newchurch, Harrietsham, 'Godmeston', Beaurepaire, Waldeslade in Chatham, Ham and Westgate in the Isle of Thanet, Kent, and these were granted to the friars from Easter 1382 for forty years, with the idea that during this term they might be secured to them in frankalmoin
The convent let them to Simon de Burley
, who shortly afterwards received a grant of them in fee simple
from Richard II
. The brothers in 1383-4 represented to the king that the rent was much in arrears, and begged that King Edward's intention might be fulfilled and the lands given to them in mortmain; but this was not done, for in September 1386 the king assigned to them the farm of the alien priory of Ware instead of the manors held by Burley. After Burley's execution and forfeiture in 1388 the friars were allowed possession of the property pending inquiry into the king's right, but complained that they and their sureties were harassed by the Exchequer, while large sums due from Burley were still owing. The desired Letters patent
were not, however, granted until 24 April 1399, when the king considering that the house of King's Langley 'was not yet sufficiently built and endowed, and as the foundation required', gave the manors to the nuns of Dartford in frankalmoign to hold for the friars. Five years earlier they had acquired in the same way from Richard II the advowson
of Willian, Hertfordshire, and from John Waltham
, Bishop of Salisbury
, and Warin Waldegrave that of Great Gaddesden
, with leave in both cases to appropriate the churches to their own uses.
When Richard died in February 1400 he was at first buried at Langley priory; afterwards, however, his body was removed by order of Henry V
to Westminster Abbey
. But the conventual church of Langley still retained a sign of the priory's connexion with the royal family in the tomb of Edmund of Langley
, Duke of York
, interred here in 1402 beside his wife, Isabella
, the daughter of Peter, King of Castile.
Henry IV
in 1399 and Henry V in 1413 confirmed the grants made to the friars, who therefore could easily prove their title to the Kentish manors, when the escheator
seized them in 1420 on the expiration of the term for which they had originally been given. The experience showed the expediency of royal confirmations, and the prior and convent obtained the ratification of their charters from Henry VI in 1424, Edward IV
in 1466, Henry VII
in 1486, and in 1510 from Henry VIII
.
worth £40. After his death his executors sued the prior and convent for some of his property — a silver ewer and holy water stock, a counterpane and a dozen napkins. The friars declared that they belonged to the house, and the bishop had them in pledge, and asked that the trial of the case in Worcestershire
might be stopped as detrimental to their interests. The friars may have been wronged, but it must be owned that their tale is not very plausible, for it is unlikely that they would pawn goods to a person in their debt.
, the prior, on 16 December sent him a present of apples, and thanked him for his help and counsel to the provincial superior
, John Hilsey
, by which he himself was enabled to serve God quietly and keep his study and office without trouble. Verney several months later was still causing the convent annoyance and loss, but the prior would not take steps against him without Cromwell's leave. Yngworth's attitude here expresses his policy, which was complete subservience to Cromwell, naturally for his own advancement. In April 1534 he went on a visitation
to the eastern counties to secure the acknowledgement by the friars of the king's claim to be supreme head of the English Church, and later made himself useful to Hilsey elsewhere in the same business. The convent at Langley, needless to say, made the formal declaration required.
Yngworth's labours were not unnoticed. When Hilsey was made Bishop of Rochester
, Thomas Bedell wrote to Cromwell recommending that the Prior of Langley, 'who had taken great pains in the king's matters,' should have the office of provincial; Russell also urged his appointment. The post, however, was not vacant, and Yngworth had to wait for preferment until December 1537, being then made Suffragan
Bishop of Dover
. Probably he ceased to be Prior of King's Langley from that time. He was commissioned by the king in February 1538 to visit all friaries in England, and in May he was ordered to put their goods into safe custody and take inventories of them, evidently in preparation for suppression. Langley was surrendered towards the end of that year. Many of the friars were very old and poor, but it is doubtful whether any provision was made for them. Yngworth begged for the house immediately, and in February 1540 it was granted to him with most of its lands, to be held until he obtained ecclesiastical benefices worth £100 a year. The priory was reckoned in the Valor
of 1535 as worth £122 4s. a year clear, a fairly accurate estimate, to judge from the statement at the Dissolution
. Its gross annual value was then said to be £130 16s. 8d., but to this must be added £11 13s. 4d. for the obits of Sir John Cheyne and Sir Ralph Verney, so that its net income after the deduction of £18 6s. 8d. for salaries and other payments was £124 3s. 4d.
It is impossible to ascertain the size of the convent at any period. Edward II intended the house to hold a hundred, but there is no proof that it ever did. His allowance of £50 extra for fifteen brothers in 1311 implies that there were then forty-five here. Edward III in 1356 gave licence to the nuns of Dartford to acquire land sufficient to maintain forty sisters and sixty friars, but the number he actually provided for at Langley from the Exchequer did not exceed twenty, apparently increased by twenty under his will.
and Mary
in June 1557 as a house of Dominican sisters, at the request, and for the benefit of seven nuns, formerly at Dartford. The prioress and convent were declared a corporate body, having perpetual succession and power to acquire property and to sue and be sued at law. They were given the house and site of the late friary, the land called 'le Courte Wike' in King's Langley which had belonged to the priory, and a house and buildings within 'the old manor' lying near the pales of the royal park.
On 8 September 1558 the king and queen granted to the Prioress and convent of Langley the reversion of certain tenements in Dartford, formerly demesne
lands of the nuns of that place, and until the expiration of the lease, the rent of £30 7s. 7d. They gave also, besides other demesne lands, the house of the late nunnery with the property in Dartford assigned after its suppression to Anne of Cleves
, and it has been supposed that the nuns now returned to Dartford. In any case, the convent's existence was very short. Queen Mary died in November of that year, and by an Act passed in Elizabeth's
first Parliament all restorations or foundations of monasteries since the death of Edward VI were made void, and their possessions given to the Crown.
in a niche of very elaborate design, below which the royal founder kneels in prayer. On either side of him is a shield not of the arms of Edward II, but of France and England. Of the legend only two letters survive.
A later seal, also a pointed oval, represents the Christian God
in majesty. In the base, under a carved four-centred arch, is the king as in the earlier seal. The inner border is engrailed. Legend: SIGILLUM : COVUNE : FRATRUM : PREDIB : DE : LANGELEYE.
A 16th-century seal, of the same shape but slightly larger, shows the coronation of the Virgin
in a niche with two-arched canopy. On each side there is a smaller canopied niche; the one on the left containing St. Margaret, crowned, standing on the dragon, which she pierces with a long cross, and holding in her right hand a book; in that on the right is an archbishop with mitre and crozier. Below is the founder on his knees under a carved roundheaded arch; he holds a church and in front of him on the ground is his crown. Legend: . . . . VENT . MONAST'II DE LAN . . Y. The counterseal shows two impressions of a shield-shaped signet with arms, a bend engrailed between six fleurs de lis with three crosslets fitchy on the bend, the ownership of which is unknown.
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
priory in Kings Langley
Kings Langley
Kings Langley is a historic English village and civil parish northwest of central London on the southern edge of the Chiltern Hills and now part of the London commuter belt. The major western portion lies in the borough of Dacorum and the east is in the Three Rivers district, both in the county of...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
History
Langley was founded in 1308 by Edward IIEdward II of England
Edward II , called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed by his wife Isabella in January 1327. He was the sixth Plantagenet king, in a line that began with the reign of Henry II...
in fulfilment of a vow made when in peril. On 1 December the king made the friars a grant of £100 a year until further orders; on 20 December he gave them his garden near the church and land there for building, and the next day assigned to them as a dwelling until the priory could be built a place called 'Little London.' The first prior was John de Warefeld, who had for some time belonged to Edward's household, and in August 1315 became his confessor.
The king in March 1312 gave the brothers 700 marks for building expenses, and in the summer of that year the conventual church was dedicated and a cemetery consecrated. Possibly, however, the church was not yet finished, for the body of Piers Gaveston
Piers Gaveston
Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall was an English nobleman of Gascon origin, and the favourite of King Edward II of England. At a young age he made a good impression on King Edward I of England, and was assigned to the household of the King's son, Edward of Carnarvon...
, who was killed about this time, was not buried there until the end of 1314, when the ceremony took place with much state, the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
and four bishops as well as many other ecclesiastics taking part in the funeral rites.
In October 1311 the king increased the annual income of the house to £150 to provide for fifteen friars added since the foundation, so that his grant in September 1312 of 500 marks during pleasure may have been intended for building purposes. He gave the friars in June 1315 a house with closes in his manor of Langley and leave to take wood for fuel and other necessaries from Chipperfield Wood. During some years of scarcity he also supplied them with corn.
The king, however, felt that this state of dependence on the Exchequer
Exchequer
The Exchequer is a government department of the United Kingdom responsible for the management and collection of taxation and other government revenues. The historical Exchequer developed judicial roles...
was unsatisfactory, and wished to endow them permanently. To overcome the difficulty that friars-preachers could not own property he proposed to found a house of Dominican nuns, who were to hold lands in trust for the brothers, and in 1318 he sent two friars to the pope for his authorization. Robert de Duffeld, the second Prior of King's Langley and the king's confessor, had been dispatched in October 1316 to the master of the order, apparently on the same errand, but nothing was done in the matter for years.
The drawback to allowances is shown in the complaint of the friars to Edward III
Edward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
in 1345 that owing to the irregularity of the payments from the Exchequer they had not wherewith to live, carry on the works they had begun, and pay their debts. On this occasion, at their request, the money due to the king from the alien priory
Alien priory
Alien priories were religious establishments in England, such as a monastery or convent, which were under the control of another religious house outside of England...
of Harmondsworth was assigned to them in part payment.
Edward III seems to have been as much interested in the house as his father had been. In 1346 he granted the friars part of a quarry in Shotover for their works, and in 1347 gave them leave to enlarge the ditch round their close 3 ft. in breadth and 2,000 ft. in length. He gave them in April 1358 the fishery of his water of King's Langley with permission to have a weir in that water, and free entrance and exit to and from the weir through his park; also the head of a stream in Abbots Langley
Abbots Langley
Abbots Langley is a large village and civil parish in the English county of Hertfordshire. It is an old settlement and is mentioned in the Domesday Book. Economically the village is closely linked to Watford and was formerly part of the Watford Rural District...
with leave to dig up his land in making an aqueduct underground to their house. In January 1361-2 he gave them, moreover, £20 a year during pleasure to their new work. Personal feeling seems to have prompted his grant in 1358 of 4 tuns of wine a year, and the gift in 1377 of forty mazers
Mazer (drinking vessel)
In the Germanic tradition, a mazer is a special type of drinking vessel, properly made of maple wood, and so-called from the spotted or birdseye marking on the wood In the Germanic tradition, a mazer is a special type of drinking vessel, properly made of maple wood, and so-called from the spotted...
, one of which was called the Edward. The wish of Edward II was at last carried out in 1349, and a house of Dominican sisters founded, which, although at Dartford
Dartford
Dartford is the principal town in the borough of Dartford. It is situated in the northwest corner of Kent, England, east south-east of central London....
in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, was regarded as the complement of Langley priory; and in December 1356 the prioress and nuns had licence to acquire in mortmain
Mortmain
Mortmain is a legal term that means ownership of real estate by a corporation or legal institution that can be transferred or sold in perpetuity; the term is usually used in the context of its prohibition...
property to the value of £300 for the sustenance of themselves and the friars of King's Langley. Here the brothers possibly owed something to the influence of John Woderowe, the king's confessor, who in June 1356 is mentioned as their prior.
Still, the foundation of Dartford for some time did not change materially the financial position of Langley. The king in October 1363 granted to the convent of twenty brothers 200 marks a year of his alms and in March 1371 ordered that the money should be paid to them from the issues of the alien priory of Burstall.
But the appropriation of the church of Langley in 1374 to the nuns of Dartford is the beginning of a new arrangement. In October 1376 Edward III made over to John Duke of Lancaster
John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster
John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster , KG was a member of the House of Plantagenet, the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault...
, Simon Sudbury
Simon Sudbury
Simon Sudbury, also called Simon Theobald of Sudbury and Simon of Sudbury was Bishop of London from 1361 to 1375, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1375 until his death, and in the last year of his life Lord Chancellor of England....
, Archbishop of Canterbury, and others in trust for the convent at Langley, the hundred and manor of Preston and the manors of Overland in Ash, Elmstone, Wadling in Ripple, Packmanstone in Newchurch, Harrietsham, 'Godmeston', Beaurepaire, Waldeslade in Chatham, Ham and Westgate in the Isle of Thanet, Kent, and these were granted to the friars from Easter 1382 for forty years, with the idea that during this term they might be secured to them in frankalmoin
Frankalmoin
Frankalmoin or frankalmoigne was one of the feudal land tenures in feudal England. Its literal meaning is "free pity/mercy", from Norman French fraunch aumoyne, “free alms”, from Late Latin eleemosyna, from Greek ἐλεημοσύνη , "pity, alms", from ἐλεήμων "merciful", from ἔλεος , "pity"...
The convent let them to Simon de Burley
Simon de Burley
Sir Simon de Burley, KG was holder of the offices of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle between 1384-88, and was a Knight of the Garter....
, who shortly afterwards received a grant of them in fee simple
Fee simple
In English law, a fee simple is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. It is the most common way that real estate is owned in common law countries, and is ordinarily the most complete ownership interest that can be had in real property short of allodial title, which is often reserved...
from Richard II
Richard II of England
Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...
. The brothers in 1383-4 represented to the king that the rent was much in arrears, and begged that King Edward's intention might be fulfilled and the lands given to them in mortmain; but this was not done, for in September 1386 the king assigned to them the farm of the alien priory of Ware instead of the manors held by Burley. After Burley's execution and forfeiture in 1388 the friars were allowed possession of the property pending inquiry into the king's right, but complained that they and their sureties were harassed by the Exchequer, while large sums due from Burley were still owing. The desired Letters patent
Letters patent
Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...
were not, however, granted until 24 April 1399, when the king considering that the house of King's Langley 'was not yet sufficiently built and endowed, and as the foundation required', gave the manors to the nuns of Dartford in frankalmoign to hold for the friars. Five years earlier they had acquired in the same way from Richard II the advowson
Advowson
Advowson is the right in English law of a patron to present or appoint a nominee to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, a process known as presentation. In effect this means the right to nominate a person to hold a church office in a parish...
of Willian, Hertfordshire, and from John Waltham
John Waltham
John Waltham , Bishop of Salisbury was Lord High Treasurer and Lord Privy Seal of England, in the reign of Richard II.-Life:...
, Bishop of Salisbury
Bishop of Salisbury
The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset...
, and Warin Waldegrave that of Great Gaddesden
Great Gaddesden
Great Gaddesden is a village and civil parish in Dacorum Hundred in Hertfordshire, England. It is located in the Chiltern Hills, north of Hemel Hempstead. The parish borders to Flamstead, Hemel Hempstead, Nettleden and Little Gaddesden and also to Studham in Bedfordshire.The Church St. John the...
, with leave in both cases to appropriate the churches to their own uses.
When Richard died in February 1400 he was at first buried at Langley priory; afterwards, however, his body was removed by order of Henry V
Henry V of England
Henry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....
to Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
. But the conventual church of Langley still retained a sign of the priory's connexion with the royal family in the tomb of Edmund of Langley
Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York
Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, 1st Earl of Cambridge, KG was a younger son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault, the fourth of the five sons who lived to adulthood, of this Royal couple. Like so many medieval princes, Edmund gained his identifying nickname from his...
, Duke of York
Duke of York
The Duke of York is a title of nobility in the British peerage. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of the British monarch. The title has been created a remarkable eleven times, eight as "Duke of York" and three as the double-barreled "Duke of York and...
, interred here in 1402 beside his wife, Isabella
Isabella of Castile, Duchess of York
Infanta Isabella of Castile, Duchess of York was a daughter ofKing Peter of Castile and María de Padilla. She was a younger sister of Constance, Duchess of Lancaster....
, the daughter of Peter, King of Castile.
Henry IV
Henry IV of England
Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
in 1399 and Henry V in 1413 confirmed the grants made to the friars, who therefore could easily prove their title to the Kentish manors, when the escheator
Escheat
Escheat is a common law doctrine which transfers the property of a person who dies without heirs to the crown or state. It serves to ensure that property is not left in limbo without recognised ownership...
seized them in 1420 on the expiration of the term for which they had originally been given. The experience showed the expediency of royal confirmations, and the prior and convent obtained the ratification of their charters from Henry VI in 1424, Edward IV
Edward IV of England
Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England...
in 1466, Henry VII
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
in 1486, and in 1510 from Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
.
Richard Wycherley
The house seems to have been now provided with an income, not only assured but sufficient. The certain livelihood it offered is said to have been the reason why Richard Wycherley, a former prior promoted to be Bishop of 'Olivence', asked to be appointed prior again about 1497, and this time for life. He promised that he would live under the obedience of the provincial, enrich the house with his own possessions, require only the same living as priors usually had, and render due account of the revenues of the priory. The post was given to him, but according to the story of his successor the appointment was not to the convent's benefit: after four years of office he was £64 in debt to the house. In his last illness he desired that the sum should be paid, and in further recompense of charges on the priory caused by his episcopal dignity he bequeathed to the convent his crozier and mitreMitre
The mitre , also spelled miter, is a type of headwear now known as the traditional, ceremonial head-dress of bishops and certain abbots in the Roman Catholic Church, as well as in the Anglican Communion, some Lutheran churches, and also bishops and certain other clergy in the Eastern Orthodox...
worth £40. After his death his executors sued the prior and convent for some of his property — a silver ewer and holy water stock, a counterpane and a dozen napkins. The friars declared that they belonged to the house, and the bishop had them in pledge, and asked that the trial of the case in Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
might be stopped as detrimental to their interests. The friars may have been wronged, but it must be owned that their tale is not very plausible, for it is unlikely that they would pawn goods to a person in their debt.
Richard Yngworth
The house was subjected to an attack on its rights and property in 1533 by one Verney, when Thomas Cromwell showed himself disposed in their favour. Richard YngworthRichard Yngworth
Richard Ingworth or Richard Yngworth, prior of Langley, was appointed Bishop of Dover under the provisions of the Suffragan Bishops Act 1534 in 1537, a post he held until his death eight years later.-References:...
, the prior, on 16 December sent him a present of apples, and thanked him for his help and counsel to the provincial superior
Provincial superior
A Provincial Superior is a major superior of a religious order acting under the order's Superior General and exercising a general supervision over all the members of that order in a territorial division of the order called a province--similar to but not to be confused with an ecclesiastical...
, John Hilsey
John Hilsey
John Hilsey was an English Dominican, prior provincial of his order, then an agent of Henry VIII and his church reformation, and Bishop of Rochester.-Life:...
, by which he himself was enabled to serve God quietly and keep his study and office without trouble. Verney several months later was still causing the convent annoyance and loss, but the prior would not take steps against him without Cromwell's leave. Yngworth's attitude here expresses his policy, which was complete subservience to Cromwell, naturally for his own advancement. In April 1534 he went on a visitation
Canonical Visitation
A canonical visitation is the act of an ecclesiastical superior who in the discharge of his office visits persons or places with a view of maintaining faith and discipline, and of correcting abuses by the application of proper remedies.-Catholic usage:...
to the eastern counties to secure the acknowledgement by the friars of the king's claim to be supreme head of the English Church, and later made himself useful to Hilsey elsewhere in the same business. The convent at Langley, needless to say, made the formal declaration required.
Yngworth's labours were not unnoticed. When Hilsey was made Bishop of Rochester
Bishop of Rochester
The Bishop of Rochester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers the west of the county of Kent and is centred in the city of Rochester where the bishop's seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin...
, Thomas Bedell wrote to Cromwell recommending that the Prior of Langley, 'who had taken great pains in the king's matters,' should have the office of provincial; Russell also urged his appointment. The post, however, was not vacant, and Yngworth had to wait for preferment until December 1537, being then made Suffragan
Suffragan bishop
A suffragan bishop is a bishop subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop. He or she may be assigned to an area which does not have a cathedral of its own.-Anglican Communion:...
Bishop of Dover
Bishop of Dover
The Bishop of Dover is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after the town of Dover in Kent...
. Probably he ceased to be Prior of King's Langley from that time. He was commissioned by the king in February 1538 to visit all friaries in England, and in May he was ordered to put their goods into safe custody and take inventories of them, evidently in preparation for suppression. Langley was surrendered towards the end of that year. Many of the friars were very old and poor, but it is doubtful whether any provision was made for them. Yngworth begged for the house immediately, and in February 1540 it was granted to him with most of its lands, to be held until he obtained ecclesiastical benefices worth £100 a year. The priory was reckoned in the Valor
Valor Ecclesiasticus
The Valor Ecclesiasticus was a survey of the finances of the church in England, Wales and English controlled parts of Ireland made in 1535 on the orders of Henry VIII....
of 1535 as worth £122 4s. a year clear, a fairly accurate estimate, to judge from the statement at the Dissolution
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
. Its gross annual value was then said to be £130 16s. 8d., but to this must be added £11 13s. 4d. for the obits of Sir John Cheyne and Sir Ralph Verney, so that its net income after the deduction of £18 6s. 8d. for salaries and other payments was £124 3s. 4d.
It is impossible to ascertain the size of the convent at any period. Edward II intended the house to hold a hundred, but there is no proof that it ever did. His allowance of £50 extra for fifteen brothers in 1311 implies that there were then forty-five here. Edward III in 1356 gave licence to the nuns of Dartford to acquire land sufficient to maintain forty sisters and sixty friars, but the number he actually provided for at Langley from the Exchequer did not exceed twenty, apparently increased by twenty under his will.
Refounded
The priory of King's Langley was refounded by PhilipPhilip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
and Mary
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
in June 1557 as a house of Dominican sisters, at the request, and for the benefit of seven nuns, formerly at Dartford. The prioress and convent were declared a corporate body, having perpetual succession and power to acquire property and to sue and be sued at law. They were given the house and site of the late friary, the land called 'le Courte Wike' in King's Langley which had belonged to the priory, and a house and buildings within 'the old manor' lying near the pales of the royal park.
On 8 September 1558 the king and queen granted to the Prioress and convent of Langley the reversion of certain tenements in Dartford, formerly demesne
Demesne
In the feudal system the demesne was all the land, not necessarily all contiguous to the manor house, which was retained by a lord of the manor for his own use and support, under his own management, as distinguished from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants...
lands of the nuns of that place, and until the expiration of the lease, the rent of £30 7s. 7d. They gave also, besides other demesne lands, the house of the late nunnery with the property in Dartford assigned after its suppression to Anne of Cleves
Anne of Cleves
Anne of Cleves was a German noblewoman and the fourth wife of Henry VIII of England and as such she was Queen of England from 6 January 1540 to 9 July 1540. The marriage was never consummated, and she was not crowned queen consort...
, and it has been supposed that the nuns now returned to Dartford. In any case, the convent's existence was very short. Queen Mary died in November of that year, and by an Act passed in Elizabeth's
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
first Parliament all restorations or foundations of monasteries since the death of Edward VI were made void, and their possessions given to the Crown.
Priors of King's Langley
Elizabeth Cressener was the only prioress of Langley. Priors of King's Langley were:- John de Warefeld, 1308-15
- Robert de Duffeld, appointed 1315, occurs October 1316 and 1319
- Roger de Woderowe, occurs 1329 and 1340
- John de Dunstable, died c. 1343
- John Woderowe, occurs 9 June 1356
- Thomas Walsh, occurs 1374
- John, occurs October 1384
- William Syward, occurs January 1394-5
- Philip Boydon, occurs 1426
- John Henle, removed before May 1427
- John de Hunden, D.D., resigned in 1458 on becoming Bishop of Llandaff
- William Wignale, S.T.D., occurs 16 July 1458
- Thomas Welles, occurs 14 July 1466
- Richard Wycherley, resigned on becoming Bishop of 'Olivence '
- Thomas Powel or Poynes, occurs 1494 c. 1498
- Richard Wycherley, Bishop of 'Olivence,' appointed 1498-9, died c. 1502-3
- Robert, occurs c. 1502-3
- Thomas Cowper, S.T.B., occurs 1519
- Robert Mylys or Miles, occurs 1522
- Richard Yngworth, S.T.P., occurs 1530 and December 1537
Common seals
A 15th-century seal of the house, in shape a pointed oval, bears a representation of the AnnunciationAnnunciation
The Annunciation, also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary or Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to Virgin Mary, that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus the Son of God. Gabriel told Mary to name her...
in a niche of very elaborate design, below which the royal founder kneels in prayer. On either side of him is a shield not of the arms of Edward II, but of France and England. Of the legend only two letters survive.
A later seal, also a pointed oval, represents the Christian God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
in majesty. In the base, under a carved four-centred arch, is the king as in the earlier seal. The inner border is engrailed. Legend: SIGILLUM : COVUNE : FRATRUM : PREDIB : DE : LANGELEYE.
A 16th-century seal, of the same shape but slightly larger, shows the coronation of the Virgin
Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic)
Roman Catholic veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary is based on Holy Scripture: In the fullness of time, God sent his son, born of a virgin. The mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God through Mary thus signifies her honour as Mother of God...
in a niche with two-arched canopy. On each side there is a smaller canopied niche; the one on the left containing St. Margaret, crowned, standing on the dragon, which she pierces with a long cross, and holding in her right hand a book; in that on the right is an archbishop with mitre and crozier. Below is the founder on his knees under a carved roundheaded arch; he holds a church and in front of him on the ground is his crown. Legend: . . . . VENT . MONAST'II DE LAN . . Y. The counterseal shows two impressions of a shield-shaped signet with arms, a bend engrailed between six fleurs de lis with three crosslets fitchy on the bend, the ownership of which is unknown.