Syon Abbey
Encyclopedia
Syon Monastery (or Sion), was a monastery
of the Bridgettine Order
founded in 1415 which stood until its demolition in the 16th c. on the left (northern) bank of the River Thames
within the parish of Isleworth
, in the county of Middlesex
on or near the site of the present Georgian mansion of Syon House
. It was named after the Biblical Holy “City of David which is Zion” (1 King's 8:1), built on the eponymous Mount Zion
(or Sion Syon etc.). Although always referred to in early documents as a Monastery
, it has in modern times come to be referred to , somewhat incorrectly therefore, as an Abbey
, due to its having been presided over by an Abbess. The present article proposes for correctness to adopt the ancient terminology of Monastery, thereby following the usage of the standard reference on Syon by George James Aungier, published in 1840 (see Sources below).
(renamed Richmond Palace in 1501). The royal manor of Sheen lay on the right (south), Surrey, bank of the River Thames, opposite the parish of Twickenham
and the royal manor of Isleworth on the left, Middlesex, bank. Sheen had been a favourite residence of the last Plantagenet
king Richard II
(1377–1399) and his beloved wife Anne of Bohemia
. When Anne died there of plague in 1394, Richard cursed the place where they had found great happiness and razed the palace to the ground. His throne was usurped by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, who ruled as Henry IV(1399–1413). Henry IV had been involved in the murder of Richard in 1400, and in that of Archbishop Richard le Scrope
, and made a vow to expiate his guilt by founding 3 monasteries, which vow he died before fulfilling. Whilst Henry IV had shown little interest in the ruined Sheen, his son Henry V(1413–1422) saw its reconstruction as a means of emphasising the dynastic link between his own House of Lancaster
and that of Plantagenet, of unquestioned legitimacy, and decided at the same time to found the 3 monasteries pledged by his father all within one great building scheme, known as “The King's Great Work”. Thus the “Great Work” commenced in the winter of 1413-14, comprising the new Sheen Palace, and nearby the following 3 monasteries:
, Bishop of London. It was not until 9 days later on 3 March 1415 that the King's founding charter was signed at Westminster. The exact location of this original plot is unknown, but it was certainly in the parish of Twickenham, the most northerly river frontage of which lies directly west across the Thames from Sheen Palace. Aungier states it is said to have been in the meadows which at the time of his publication in 1840 were the property of the
Marquis of Ailsa
, “formerly called Isleworth Park or Twickenham Park”. The dimensions however of the plot were specified in the charter, and seem to comprise a trapezoid
the longest side of which fronted the river:
was the citadel of Jerusalem, which David
captured from the Jebusite
s c. 1000 BC, as is clear from II Samuel, 5:7 David took the stronghold of Zion: the same is the city of David. It was there that David, 2nd King of Israel, established the capital of his kingdom of Israel, and upon which citadel it was that his son Solomon
built the Temple
, in which he placed the Ark of the Covenant
, which was the dwelling place of God (II Samuel 7:6). It is thus the holiest site of Judaism and highly revered by Christians. Psalm 87:2 states The Lord loveth the gates of Zion; Joel 3:17 states I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion my holy mountain. The Romans razed the Jewish Temple to the ground in 70 AD and following the rise of Islam from 622, and the muslim capture of the Holy Land in 636, the Muslims built on Mount Zion their Muslim shrine The Dome of the Rock
, which still stands today. The Crusaders recaptured Jerusalem for the Christians in 1099 and the Knights Templar
built a round church near the site of the old Jewish Temple. Following the Muslim recapture of Jerusalem a century later, the site has been unavailable for formal Jewish or Christian prayer.
was a visionary, and is supposed to have seen the Risen Christ, displaying his wounds. The Bridgettine order was a modified order of St Augustine, with particular devotions to the Passion of Christ and the honour of The Virgin Mary. The Bridgettines had first been brought to England from Wastein in Sweden by Henry Lord Fitz-Hugh
, who suggested to Henry V that he should grant the order one of his planned 3 new monastic foundations.
and Confession
. Men were also required to assist with houshold duties requiring virile strength.
The full complement was as follows:
Women (60):
Men (25):
The different sexes were “to dwell in separate habitations, to wit the said abbess and sisters within one court by themselves and the said confessor and brothers in a separate court by themselves, within the same monastery”. The legal corporate entity was “The Abbess and Convent” which could transact business by affixing its single corporate
seal. The Convent
(from Latin con-venio, to come together) consisted of the Abbess and nuns together with the Confessor and all the religious men. Clearly the Abbess was the overall presiding officer.
from King Henry VI (1422–1461), the son of the founder and who was particularly favourable to Syon, having made it several grants and confirmations in rapid succession, to move the monastery to a new site of their own choosing some mile and a half downstream to a riverbank site within Isleworth parish. The land in question moved to had been in the monastery's ownership since 1422, in which last year of the life of Henry V that king had by Act of Parliament separated the manor of Isleworth from the Duchy of Cornwall
and given it to Syon. The reason for the move was to gain more space, as is made clear from the letters patent:
It seems that this building, apparently living quarters or “mansion” must have been started several years before 1431 to have been described as “completed” in the letters of patent issued before 1431
There was however another building, possibly the new Church-building itself, which still had not been completed 11 years later, by 1442, when Henry VI issued further letters patent granting the Abbess and Convent special privileges for the transport of building materials from the King's warren in the royal manor of Sheen across the river to Isleworth:
The new site of the church building itself is now believed, after recent archaeological work, to lie partly underneath and to the east of the present Georgian mansion of Syon House. (see below: Archaeological Excavations).
, the King's chief opponent in his assumption of Supreme Governorship
, and Elizabeth Barton
, the mystic “Holy Maid of Kent” at which More was fuelled with supposed divine revelations further supporting his opposition. Thomas Cromwell, the King's minister in effecting the Dissolution, had visited Syon in person to obtain expressions of acceptance of supremacy from the inmates, but seems to have met an antagonistic reception from one of the monks at the front-door grate. He left 2 of his agents, Thomas Bedyll and Master Leightone, to obtain the required acceptances from the nuns and monks of the King's new status. Bedyll reported that “the bretherne stand stif in thaire obstinacy as you left thaim”. Two were sent to the Bishop of London, within whose diocese Syon lay, apparently for a course of conversion, whilst 2 Church of England clerics were brought in to convert another two Syon monks who were particularly obstinate, Whitford and Little. On the following day the King himself sent 4 different Church of England clerics to Syon for the same purpose, again without success. The agent Bedyll then took the recalcitrant Whitford for a walk in the monastery garden to further persuade him “both with faire wordes and with foule” to convert. He then resorted to what appears a classic use of blackmail, accusing Whitford of having “used bawdy wordes to diverse ladys at the tymes of thaire confession”, which would bring him “to the greate shame of the world”. Still he did not convert, having “a brasyn forehead which shameth at no thing”. Whitford and Little were also reported, whilst hearing confessions through a hole in the wall of persons external to the monastery, to have denounced the King's new title as Supreme Governor, and his divorce and remarriage, for which reason it was proposed to Cromwell that the confessional grille be bricked-up. The nuns were more easily won over however, and were sat down together in the chapter house of Syon in the presence of the Bishop of London and their own male confessor. All who accepted the King's new title ware asked to remain seated, whilst those opposed were asked to leave the chamber. All remained seated, signifying their acceptance, no doubt reluctantly. The nuns thereupon in resignation to their new status sent a special request to Cromwell that he should “be a good maister unto thaim and to thaire house, as thaire special trust is in you”. It seems they were then confident in the continuation of their monastery. One nun however named Agnes Smythe “a sturdy dame and a wylful” made a show of some resistance in persuading her sister nuns not to hand over the convent seal, which had been required by Cromwell's agents to seal a declaration of conversion to be signed by the abbess and nuns.
On 4 May 1535 brother Richard Reynolds was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn for denying the King's supremacy, which martyrdom gained him his canonisation
from Rome. The monastery finally surrendered to the King's commissioners in 1539 and the community was expelled. The annual net revenues were then reported to be £1,731. A very large pension of £200 was given to the abess Agnes Jordan and one of £6 each to the junior nuns. The male Confessor-General received a pension of £15, the junior monks receiving £6 to £8 each.
(1553–1558) in 1553. The buildings had remained intact during the interval. On the accession of Queen Elizabeth
(1558–1603) in 1558 an Act of Parliament was passed annexing and re-dissolving certain religious houses, including Syon, whereupon the nuns obtained royal license to leave England, eventually settling in Lisbon
, Portugal, where they arrived in 1594, after having experienced many troubles and afflictions in travels through France and Spain.
, Dorset
, moving in 1887 to Chudleigh
, Devon
and then in 1925 to its current (2010) location near South Brent
, Devon
. The religious community, or Convent, of Syon has the distinction of being the only English one that survived the reformation
in unbroken form to the present day (2010). In 2004, the remaining mediæval books in the convent's collection were deposited for safe-keeping with the University of Exeter
Library. A large piece of sculptured stonework from the monastery's remains was recently returned to them ceremoniously by the Duke of Northumberland, owner of Syon House.
, Lord Protector
to the young Edward VI
, who started work on building the first Syon House in the Italian Renaissance style, apparently incorporating the west end of the monastery church. Following the Duke's execution for treason in 1552, it was confiscated for the crown under Queen Mary, who briefly re-established the community there during 1557 to 1558. Her successor Queen Elizabeth I granted in 1594 a lease of the manor to Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland
on his marriage to Dorothy Devereux the younger daughter of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex
, who later received a grant of the freehold from King James I in 1604. The square house seen today is a Georgian remodelling of the first house by Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland
(1714–1786), in about 1760. The first Duke was born Hugh Smithson, and married Lady Elizabeth Seymour (daughter and heiress of Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset(d.1750), a direct descendant of Protector Somerset), whose grandmother Lady Elizabeth Percy(d.1722) was the heiress of the 15th and last Percy Earl of Northumberland, from whom Syon House thus devolved onto the first Duke of Northumberland. In 1750, 10 years after his marriage, he adopted the name Percy in lieu of his patronymic.
. Twelve years before in 1535 a Franciscan
friar named Peto had preached before the King at Greenwich “that God's judgements were ready to fall upon his head and that dogs would lick his blood, as they had done to Ahab
”.
The phrophecy was said to have been fulfilled during this night at Syon, when some “corrupted matter of a bloody colour” fell from the coffin to the floor.
remains in 2010 the London seat of the Dukes of Northumberland. Foundations of the Monastery Church lying to the immediate east of Syon House were partially uncovered in excavations starting in summer 2003, made by Channel 4
's Time Team
programme, broadcast on 4 January 2004. The programme highlighted mediaeval masonry blocks in the foundation wall of the north Wing as evidence that the west end of the church may have been incorporated into the current house built by Protector Somerset. However, subsequent sweeping of the floor demonstrated that the Tudor floor surface continued underneath the wall, suggesting that the mediaeval blocks were simply reused when this wing was rebuilt in 1820. So far there is no evidence on the exact length of the Church or whether it does actually extend under Syon House. Further excavations by Birkbeck, University of London
have continued from 2004-2011.
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
of the Bridgettine Order
Bridgettines
The Bridgettine or Birgittine Order is a monastic religious order of Augustinian nuns, Religious Sisters and monks founded by Saint Birgitta of Sweden in approximately 1350, and approved by Pope Urban V in 1370...
founded in 1415 which stood until its demolition in the 16th c. on the left (northern) bank of the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
within the parish of Isleworth
Isleworth
Isleworth is a small town of Saxon origin sited within the London Borough of Hounslow in west London, England. It lies immediately east of the town of Hounslow and west of the River Thames and its tributary the River Crane. Isleworth's original area of settlement, alongside the Thames, is known as...
, in the county of Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
on or near the site of the present Georgian mansion of Syon House
Syon House
Syon House, with its 200-acre park, is situated in west London, England. It belongs to the Duke of Northumberland and is now his family's London residence...
. It was named after the Biblical Holy “City of David which is Zion” (1 King's 8:1), built on the eponymous Mount Zion
Mount Zion
Mount Zion is a place name for a site in Jerusalem, the location of which has shifted several times in history. According to the Hebrew Bible's Book of Samuel, it was the site of the Jebusite fortress called the "stronghold of Zion" that was conquered by King David, becoming his palace in the City...
(or Sion Syon etc.). Although always referred to in early documents as a Monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
, it has in modern times come to be referred to , somewhat incorrectly therefore, as an Abbey
Abbey
An abbey is a Catholic monastery or convent, under the authority of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves as the spiritual father or mother of the community.The term can also refer to an establishment which has long ceased to function as an abbey,...
, due to its having been presided over by an Abbess. The present article proposes for correctness to adopt the ancient terminology of Monastery, thereby following the usage of the standard reference on Syon by George James Aungier, published in 1840 (see Sources below).
Background
Syon Monastery was built as part of King Henry V's “The King's Great Work” centred on Sheen PalaceRichmond Palace
Richmond Palace was a Thameside royal residence on the right bank of the river, upstream of the Palace of Westminster, to which it lay 9 miles SW of as the crow flies. It it was erected c. 1501 within the royal manor of Sheen, by Henry VII of England, formerly known by his title Earl of Richmond,...
(renamed Richmond Palace in 1501). The royal manor of Sheen lay on the right (south), Surrey, bank of the River Thames, opposite the parish of Twickenham
Twickenham
Twickenham is a large suburban town southwest of central London. It is the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and one of the locally important district centres identified in the London Plan...
and the royal manor of Isleworth on the left, Middlesex, bank. Sheen had been a favourite residence of the last Plantagenet
House of Plantagenet
The House of Plantagenet , a branch of the Angevins, was a royal house founded by Geoffrey V of Anjou, father of Henry II of England. Plantagenet kings first ruled the Kingdom of England in the 12th century. Their paternal ancestors originated in the French province of Gâtinais and gained the...
king 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...
(1377–1399) and his beloved wife Anne of Bohemia
Anne of Bohemia
Anne of Bohemia was Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II. A member of the House of Luxembourg, she was the eldest daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, and Elizabeth of Pomerania....
. When Anne died there of plague in 1394, Richard cursed the place where they had found great happiness and razed the palace to the ground. His throne was usurped by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, who ruled as Henry IV(1399–1413). Henry IV had been involved in the murder of Richard in 1400, and in that of Archbishop Richard le Scrope
Richard le Scrope
Richard le Scrope was Bishop of Lichfield then Archbishop of York.Scrope earned a Doctorate in canon law. He was provided to the see of Coventry and Lichfield on 18 August 1386, and consecrated on 19 August 1386. He was given the temporalities of the see on 15 November 1386. He was consecrated at...
, and made a vow to expiate his guilt by founding 3 monasteries, which vow he died before fulfilling. Whilst Henry IV had shown little interest in the ruined Sheen, his son Henry V(1413–1422) saw its reconstruction as a means of emphasising the dynastic link between his own House of Lancaster
House of Lancaster
The House of Lancaster was a branch of the royal House of Plantagenet. It was one of the opposing factions involved in the Wars of the Roses, an intermittent civil war which affected England and Wales during the 15th century...
and that of Plantagenet, of unquestioned legitimacy, and decided at the same time to found the 3 monasteries pledged by his father all within one great building scheme, known as “The King's Great Work”. Thus the “Great Work” commenced in the winter of 1413-14, comprising the new Sheen Palace, and nearby the following 3 monasteries:
- A Monastery of the Celestine Order. Established probably in Isleworth Manor. This monastery was of French monks, who refused to pray for Henry V following his warring with France, probably at AgincourtBattle of AgincourtThe Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory against a numerically superior French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday, 25 October 1415 , near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France...
in 1415, and was therefore dissolved by the King almost immediately after its foundation. This monastery probably occupied the site in Isleworth to which Syon Monastery moved in 1431. - The House of Jesus of Bethlehem of Sheen, of the Order of CarthusianCarthusianThe Carthusian Order, also called the Order of St. Bruno, is a Roman Catholic religious order of enclosed monastics. The order was founded by Saint Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns...
s (1414) Sheen PriorySheen PriorySheen Priory in Sheen, now Richmond, London was a former Carthusian monastery founded in 1414 within the royal manor of Sheen, on the south bank of the Thames, upstream and approximately 9 miles southwest of the Palace of Westminster...
. Built within Sheen Manor, to the north of the new palace. - The Monastery of St Saviour and St Bridget of Syon, of the Order of St AugustineAugustiniansThe term Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , applies to two separate and unrelated types of Catholic religious orders:...
(1415) Syon Monastery, the subject of this article . The first and original site of this monastery was probably almost due west of Sheen Palace, across the river, on the left bank of the Thames in Twickenham Parish.
Foundation
The first stone of Syon Monastery was laid by King Henry V himself on 22 February 1415, in the prescence of Richard CliffordRichard Clifford
Richard Clifford was a Bishop-elect of Bath and Wells, Bishop of Worcester and Bishop of London as well as Lord Privy Seal.Clifford was appointed Lord Privy Seal on 14 November 1387, and resigned on 4 November 1401....
, Bishop of London. It was not until 9 days later on 3 March 1415 that the King's founding charter was signed at Westminster. The exact location of this original plot is unknown, but it was certainly in the parish of Twickenham, the most northerly river frontage of which lies directly west across the Thames from Sheen Palace. Aungier states it is said to have been in the meadows which at the time of his publication in 1840 were the property of the
Marquis of Ailsa
Archibald Kennedy, 1st Marquess of Ailsa
Archibald Kennedy, 1st Marquess of Ailsa KT, FRS , styled Lord Kennedy between 1792 and 1794 and known as The Earl of Cassilis between 1794 and 1831, was a Scottish peer.-Background:...
, “formerly called Isleworth Park or Twickenham Park”. The dimensions however of the plot were specified in the charter, and seem to comprise a trapezoid
Trapezoid
In Euclidean geometry, a convex quadrilateral with one pair of parallel sides is referred to as a trapezoid in American English and as a trapezium in English outside North America. A trapezoid with vertices ABCD is denoted...
the longest side of which fronted the river:
“..in a certain parcel of land of our demsene of our manor of Isleworth within the parish of Twickenham in the county of Middlesex, containing namely in length near the field towards Twickenham from a stone placed on the north side unto another stone placed on the south side 1938 ft. and in breadth towards the south from that stone placed on the south side unto the water of Thames, 960 ft. And in length by the bank of the Thames, from a stone likewise placed by the aforesaid bank at the north side to another like stone placed on the south side by the bank aforesaid, 2820 ft. And in breadth from the north side from the aforesaid stone placed on the north side from the aforesaid stone placed on the north side unto the water of the Thames, 980 ft.”
Nomenclature
The foundation charter states: We we will and decree that it shall be called “The Monastery of St Saviour and St Bridget of Syon, of the Order of St Augustine” through all successive ages. (Monasterium in the original Latin). It is interesting to note that this name was quoted slightly differently by the Abbess and Convent in their petition of 1431 as “' The Monastery of St Saviour and the Saints Mary the Virgin and Bridget of Syon of the Order of St Augustine and of St Saviour”. The funerary brass of Agnes Jordan, Syon's last pre-reformation Abbess, describes her as “Sometyme abbesse of the monasterye of Syon”.Biblical Sion
There are numerous references to Sion in the Latin Bible, called Zion in the English Authorised Version, almost all of which are in the Old Testament. Mount ZionMount Zion
Mount Zion is a place name for a site in Jerusalem, the location of which has shifted several times in history. According to the Hebrew Bible's Book of Samuel, it was the site of the Jebusite fortress called the "stronghold of Zion" that was conquered by King David, becoming his palace in the City...
was the citadel of Jerusalem, which David
David
David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
captured from the Jebusite
Jebusite
According to the Hebrew Bible, the Jebusites were a Canaanite tribe who inhabited and built Jerusalem prior to its conquest by King David; the Books of Kings state that Jerusalem was known as Jebus prior to this event...
s c. 1000 BC, as is clear from II Samuel, 5:7 David took the stronghold of Zion: the same is the city of David. It was there that David, 2nd King of Israel, established the capital of his kingdom of Israel, and upon which citadel it was that his son Solomon
Solomon
Solomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...
built the Temple
Solomon's Temple
Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple, was the main temple in ancient Jerusalem, on the Temple Mount , before its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar II after the Siege of Jerusalem of 587 BCE....
, in which he placed the Ark of the Covenant
Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant , also known as the Ark of the Testimony, is a chest described in Book of Exodus as solely containing the Tablets of Stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed...
, which was the dwelling place of God (II Samuel 7:6). It is thus the holiest site of Judaism and highly revered by Christians. Psalm 87:2 states The Lord loveth the gates of Zion; Joel 3:17 states I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion my holy mountain. The Romans razed the Jewish Temple to the ground in 70 AD and following the rise of Islam from 622, and the muslim capture of the Holy Land in 636, the Muslims built on Mount Zion their Muslim shrine The Dome of the Rock
Dome of the Rock
The Dome of the Rock is a shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. The structure has been refurbished many times since its initial completion in 691 CE at the order of Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik...
, which still stands today. The Crusaders recaptured Jerusalem for the Christians in 1099 and the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
built a round church near the site of the old Jewish Temple. Following the Muslim recapture of Jerusalem a century later, the site has been unavailable for formal Jewish or Christian prayer.
Order
The monastery was founded “of the order of St Augustine, called St Saviour... ...according to the regular institutes (i.e. regulations/rule) of the religious order by the aforesaid Bridget of Heaven inspired, founded and instituted...” The charter previously stated the foundation to be “Especially in honour of the most holy St Bridget, who as is acknowledged by sufficient evidence, by divine inspiration founded a religious order under her name and obtained from Heaven that in whatsoever kingdom a monastery of the same religious order should be founded there peace and tranquility by the mediation of the same, should be perpetually established”. St BridgetBridget of Sweden
Bridget of Sweden Bridget of Sweden Bridget of Sweden (1303 – 23 July 1373; also Birgitta of Vadstena, Saint Birgitta , was a mystic and saint, and founder of the Bridgettines nuns and monks after the death of her husband of twenty years...
was a visionary, and is supposed to have seen the Risen Christ, displaying his wounds. The Bridgettine order was a modified order of St Augustine, with particular devotions to the Passion of Christ and the honour of The Virgin Mary. The Bridgettines had first been brought to England from Wastein in Sweden by Henry Lord Fitz-Hugh
Baron FitzHugh
The title Baron FitzHugh of Ravensworth was created in the Peerage of England in 1321, for Henry FitzHugh. The title passed through the male line until the death of the seventh baron in 1513 when it became abeyant between his great-aunts Alice, Lady Fiennes and Elizabeth, Lady Parr, and their...
, who suggested to Henry V that he should grant the order one of his planned 3 new monastic foundations.
Personnel
The King's original foundation consisted of 85 persons, which no doubt ideally would all have been women were there not practical need of men to perform holy sacraments for the nuns, who were barred by the Catholic Church from the performance of such sacraments as Holy CommunionEucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
and Confession
Confession
This article is for the religious practice of confessing one's sins.Confession is the acknowledgment of sin or wrongs...
. Men were also required to assist with houshold duties requiring virile strength.
The full complement was as follows:
Women (60):
- 1 Abbess
- 59 Nuns
Men (25):
- 1 Confessor General
- 12 Priests
- 4 Deacons
- 8 Lay Brethren
The different sexes were “to dwell in separate habitations, to wit the said abbess and sisters within one court by themselves and the said confessor and brothers in a separate court by themselves, within the same monastery”. The legal corporate entity was “The Abbess and Convent” which could transact business by affixing its single corporate
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
seal. The Convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
(from Latin con-venio, to come together) consisted of the Abbess and nuns together with the Confessor and all the religious men. Clearly the Abbess was the overall presiding officer.
Expansion and Relocation
Sometime before 1431 the Abbess and Convent received permission by letters patentLetters 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...
from King Henry VI (1422–1461), the son of the founder and who was particularly favourable to Syon, having made it several grants and confirmations in rapid succession, to move the monastery to a new site of their own choosing some mile and a half downstream to a riverbank site within Isleworth parish. The land in question moved to had been in the monastery's ownership since 1422, in which last year of the life of Henry V that king had by Act of Parliament separated the manor of Isleworth from the Duchy of Cornwall
Duchy of Cornwall
The Duchy of Cornwall is one of two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Lancaster. The eldest son of the reigning British monarch inherits the duchy and title of Duke of Cornwall at the time of his birth, or of his parent's succession to the throne. If the monarch has no son, the...
and given it to Syon. The reason for the move was to gain more space, as is made clear from the letters patent:
The danger of the situation referred to may have been due to proximity to the river, or possibly even spiritual danger to the inmates due to a too close intermingling of the sexes.
“The said Abbess and Convent had presented their humble petition setting forth that their aforesaid monastery was so small and confined in its dimensions that the numerous persons therein... were not only incommodiously but dangerously situated...that in consequence thereof the said abbess and convent had chosen out a spot in the neighbourhood of their said priory within the said lordship of Isleworth, more meet healthful and salubrious for them to inhabit.”
New Building
The letters patent authorising the move, which were ratified by a grant by the King dated 1431, make clear that some of the new buildings had already been started and indeed completed:
“The Abbess and convent...had begun and with great cost completed the erection of a certain edifice more spacious and convenient as well for the habitation of themselves as of the said religious brethren, which monastery so built anew and enlarged they have earnestly requested licence of us ...to consecrate and set apart as a habitation for them the said abbess and nuns and men of religion...Know ye we therefore of our pity have...permitted them...to the said mansion so chosen and by the said abbess and convent erected edified built and enlarged as aforesaid...to remove immediateley...”
It seems that this building, apparently living quarters or “mansion” must have been started several years before 1431 to have been described as “completed” in the letters of patent issued before 1431
There was however another building, possibly the new Church-building itself, which still had not been completed 11 years later, by 1442, when Henry VI issued further letters patent granting the Abbess and Convent special privileges for the transport of building materials from the King's warren in the royal manor of Sheen across the river to Isleworth:
That none of the masons, carpenters and tilers or any of their workmen or any of their materials to be employed towards the construction of the new Monastery of Syon, should be taken away by any his officers against their will.
The new site of the church building itself is now believed, after recent archaeological work, to lie partly underneath and to the east of the present Georgian mansion of Syon House. (see below: Archaeological Excavations).
Dissolution
Following Henry VIII's decision in 1534 to throw off the papal yoke, many of the inmates of Syon expressed themselves favourable to Henry' s supremacy over the English Church, and even converted recalcitrant monks from other monasteries to do likewise. Many however refused to acknowledge the King's new title. Due to the actions of one Syon monk named Richard Reynolds, an eminent doctor in divinity later canonised, the King made Syon an object of special vengeance. Reynolds had facilitated a meeting at Syon between Sir Thomas MoreThomas More
Sir Thomas More , also known by Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was an important councillor to Henry VIII of England and, for three years toward the end of his life, Lord Chancellor...
, the King's chief opponent in his assumption of Supreme Governorship
Supreme Governor of the Church of England
The Supreme Governor of the Church of England is a title held by the British monarchs which signifies their titular leadership over the Church of England. Although the monarch's authority over the Church of England is not strong, the position is still very relevant to the church and is mostly...
, and Elizabeth Barton
Elizabeth Barton
Sr. Elizabeth Barton was an English Catholic nun...
, the mystic “Holy Maid of Kent” at which More was fuelled with supposed divine revelations further supporting his opposition. Thomas Cromwell, the King's minister in effecting the Dissolution, had visited Syon in person to obtain expressions of acceptance of supremacy from the inmates, but seems to have met an antagonistic reception from one of the monks at the front-door grate. He left 2 of his agents, Thomas Bedyll and Master Leightone, to obtain the required acceptances from the nuns and monks of the King's new status. Bedyll reported that “the bretherne stand stif in thaire obstinacy as you left thaim”. Two were sent to the Bishop of London, within whose diocese Syon lay, apparently for a course of conversion, whilst 2 Church of England clerics were brought in to convert another two Syon monks who were particularly obstinate, Whitford and Little. On the following day the King himself sent 4 different Church of England clerics to Syon for the same purpose, again without success. The agent Bedyll then took the recalcitrant Whitford for a walk in the monastery garden to further persuade him “both with faire wordes and with foule” to convert. He then resorted to what appears a classic use of blackmail, accusing Whitford of having “used bawdy wordes to diverse ladys at the tymes of thaire confession”, which would bring him “to the greate shame of the world”. Still he did not convert, having “a brasyn forehead which shameth at no thing”. Whitford and Little were also reported, whilst hearing confessions through a hole in the wall of persons external to the monastery, to have denounced the King's new title as Supreme Governor, and his divorce and remarriage, for which reason it was proposed to Cromwell that the confessional grille be bricked-up. The nuns were more easily won over however, and were sat down together in the chapter house of Syon in the presence of the Bishop of London and their own male confessor. All who accepted the King's new title ware asked to remain seated, whilst those opposed were asked to leave the chamber. All remained seated, signifying their acceptance, no doubt reluctantly. The nuns thereupon in resignation to their new status sent a special request to Cromwell that he should “be a good maister unto thaim and to thaire house, as thaire special trust is in you”. It seems they were then confident in the continuation of their monastery. One nun however named Agnes Smythe “a sturdy dame and a wylful” made a show of some resistance in persuading her sister nuns not to hand over the convent seal, which had been required by Cromwell's agents to seal a declaration of conversion to be signed by the abbess and nuns.
On 4 May 1535 brother Richard Reynolds was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn for denying the King's supremacy, which martyrdom gained him his canonisation
Canonization
Canonization is the act by which a Christian church declares a deceased person to be a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints. Originally, individuals were recognized as saints without any formal process...
from Rome. The monastery finally surrendered to the King's commissioners in 1539 and the community was expelled. The annual net revenues were then reported to be £1,731. A very large pension of £200 was given to the abess Agnes Jordan and one of £6 each to the junior nuns. The male Confessor-General received a pension of £15, the junior monks receiving £6 to £8 each.
Peregrination
The expelled community unlike many others did not disband and separate, but exiled itself to the Netherlands, from where they were recalled briefly to Syon following the accession of the catholic Queen MaryMary 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...
(1553–1558) in 1553. The buildings had remained intact during the interval. On the accession of Queen Elizabeth
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...
(1558–1603) in 1558 an Act of Parliament was passed annexing and re-dissolving certain religious houses, including Syon, whereupon the nuns obtained royal license to leave England, eventually settling in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, Portugal, where they arrived in 1594, after having experienced many troubles and afflictions in travels through France and Spain.
Return to England
The Lisbon community returned to England in 1861, settling first in SpetisburySpetisbury
Spetisbury is a village in north Dorset, England, situated on the River Stour and the A350 road, four miles south east of Blandford Forum. The village has a population of 542 . It is notable for being a very linear settlement, with mostly only one line of buildings adjacent to the A350 road...
, Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, moving in 1887 to Chudleigh
Chudleigh
Chudleigh is a small town in Devon, England located between the towns of Newton Abbot and Exeter.Chudleigh is very close to the edge of Dartmoor and bypassed by the A38 road in 1972. It began life as a small wool market town, though the nearby Castle Dyke is an Iron Age Hill Fort which demonstrates...
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
and then in 1925 to its current (2010) location near South Brent
South Brent
South Brent is a large village on the southern edge of Dartmoor, England, in the valley of the River Avon, population 2998 , 8 km north-east of Ivybridge, and next to the Devon Expressway which connects Exeter to the north-east and Plymouth to the west.-History:It was originally a woollen...
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
. The religious community, or Convent, of Syon has the distinction of being the only English one that survived the reformation
Reformation
- Movements :* Protestant Reformation, an attempt by Martin Luther to reform the Roman Catholic Church that resulted in a schism, and grew into a wider movement...
in unbroken form to the present day (2010). In 2004, the remaining mediæval books in the convent's collection were deposited for safe-keeping with the University of Exeter
University of Exeter
The University of Exeter is a public university in South West England. It belongs to the 1994 Group, an association of 19 of the United Kingdom's smaller research-intensive universities....
Library. A large piece of sculptured stonework from the monastery's remains was recently returned to them ceremoniously by the Duke of Northumberland, owner of Syon House.
Replacement by Mansion of Syon House
After dissolution, the estate came into the possession of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of SomersetEdward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp of Hache, KG, Earl Marshal was Lord Protector of England in the period between the death of Henry VIII in 1547 and his own indictment in 1549....
, Lord Protector
Lord Protector
Lord Protector is a title used in British constitutional law for certain heads of state at different periods of history. It is also a particular title for the British Heads of State in respect to the established church...
to the young Edward VI
Edward VI of England
Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
, who started work on building the first Syon House in the Italian Renaissance style, apparently incorporating the west end of the monastery church. Following the Duke's execution for treason in 1552, it was confiscated for the crown under Queen Mary, who briefly re-established the community there during 1557 to 1558. Her successor Queen Elizabeth I granted in 1594 a lease of the manor to Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland
Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland
Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland KG was an English aristocrat. He was a grandee and one of the wealthiest peers of the court of Elizabeth I. Under James I, Henry was a long-term prisoner in the Tower of London. He is known for the circles he moved in as well as for his own achievements...
on his marriage to Dorothy Devereux the younger daughter of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex
Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex
Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, KG , an English nobleman and general. From 1573 until his death he fought in Ireland in connection with the Plantation of Ulster, where he ordered the massacre of Rathlin Island...
, who later received a grant of the freehold from King James I in 1604. The square house seen today is a Georgian remodelling of the first house by Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland
Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland
Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, KG, PC was an Engish peer, landowner and art patron.He was born Hugh Smithson, the son of Langdale Smithson and grandson of Sir Hugh Smithson, 3rd Baronet from whom he inherited the baronetcy in 1733...
(1714–1786), in about 1760. The first Duke was born Hugh Smithson, and married Lady Elizabeth Seymour (daughter and heiress of Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset(d.1750), a direct descendant of Protector Somerset), whose grandmother Lady Elizabeth Percy(d.1722) was the heiress of the 15th and last Percy Earl of Northumberland, from whom Syon House thus devolved onto the first Duke of Northumberland. In 1750, 10 years after his marriage, he adopted the name Percy in lieu of his patronymic.
Resting place for coffin of Henry VIII
On 14 February 1547 the coffin of Henry VIII lay overnight at Syon, en-route from Westminster for burial at WindsorWindsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
. Twelve years before in 1535 a Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
friar named Peto had preached before the King at Greenwich “that God's judgements were ready to fall upon his head and that dogs would lick his blood, as they had done to Ahab
Ahab
Ahab or Ach'av or Achab in Douay-Rheims was king of Israel and the son and successor of Omri according to the Hebrew Bible. His wife was Jezebel....
”.
The phrophecy was said to have been fulfilled during this night at Syon, when some “corrupted matter of a bloody colour” fell from the coffin to the floor.
Archaeological excavations
Syon HouseSyon House
Syon House, with its 200-acre park, is situated in west London, England. It belongs to the Duke of Northumberland and is now his family's London residence...
remains in 2010 the London seat of the Dukes of Northumberland. Foundations of the Monastery Church lying to the immediate east of Syon House were partially uncovered in excavations starting in summer 2003, made by Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's Time Team
Time Team
Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on Channel 4 since 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode features a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining...
programme, broadcast on 4 January 2004. The programme highlighted mediaeval masonry blocks in the foundation wall of the north Wing as evidence that the west end of the church may have been incorporated into the current house built by Protector Somerset. However, subsequent sweeping of the floor demonstrated that the Tudor floor surface continued underneath the wall, suggesting that the mediaeval blocks were simply reused when this wing was rebuilt in 1820. So far there is no evidence on the exact length of the Church or whether it does actually extend under Syon House. Further excavations by Birkbeck, University of London
Birkbeck, University of London
Birkbeck, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It offers many Master's and Bachelor's degree programmes that can be studied either part-time or full-time, though nearly all teaching is...
have continued from 2004-2011.
Sources
- Aungier, George James. The History and Antiquities of Syon Monastery, the Parish of Isleworth and the Chapel of Hounslow; Compiled from Public Records, Ancient Manuscripts, Ecclesiastical and Other Authentic Documents. London, 1840.
- Cloake, John. Richmond Palace, its History and its Plan. London, 2001
