Lewes Priory: Financial crisis

Text Box: Financial crisis The extent of the financial crisis which engulfed Lewes Priory from the 1290s to the middle of the 14th century is well documented, although the reasons for it are less well understood. Although Lewes was exempt from episcopal visitation, from the mid-13th century there were regular biennial visitations of the English monasteries, including Lewes, by visitors (usually two senior priors) appointed at the General Chapters. A series of visitation reports amongst the archives of Cluny reveal that all was apparently well in the 1260s, when there were 55 monks and there were no outstanding debts. But in 1279 the prior, John de Tyenges (1276-85) reported that he had inherited debts of 4,000 marks (£2666.13s 4d, one mark being 13s 4d) from his predecessor, which he had reduced to 2,800 marks, leaving only 250 for the restoration of the church and 250 for other purposes. The number of monks had fallen to 50, the plate was pledged as security and there were animal and crop shortages. By 1288, when there were 39 monks, these debts had apparently been cleared and all was reported to be well, although 3 years later in 1291 the visitors noted that many goods had been alienated and there were outstanding tithes owed to the priory from Earl de Warenne’s lands. By 1293 debts had risen to the point where ruin was feared and in 1294 although the buildings were in good order, there were outstanding debts of 8,560 marks (the prior had reported to the last Chapter-General at Cluny debts of 9,000 marks and £40 owing on the 1/20th due to the crown. There were still 40 monks at this stage, but “massive and unknown debts” had overtaken the monastery by 1299 resulting in a further reduction in the number of monks and to hospitality and almsgiving. In 1301 the extent of these debts becomes clear when the visitors reported debts in wool and money of 22,000 marks. By 1306 the number of monks had fallen to 33 and the prior was enjoined by the visitors to seek to increase this number. By 1314 much of the debt had been cleared and the prior, John de Monte Martini (1307-24) had managed to rebuild some of the buildings and to retrieve some rents from Earl de Warenne, but he was still owed £2000 from debts of 4,000 marks inherited from his predecessor and he was

Text Box: urged to do more. In 1317 the visitors reported that the priory was burdened with large but unspecified debts and many pensions from which it should seek to rid itself. Debts were evidently rising again and in 1331 the prior, Peter de Jocellis (c.1329-44) reported that he had inherited debts of £7840 9s 1d from his predecessor and although he had reduced these, he still owed £5422. Some buildings needed repair and more had to be done to recover alienated goods. By 1335 these debts had been further reduced to £1856 (although the visitors now reported that the debt inherited by the prior had been £10755 1s 6d, much larger than previously recorded). None of the later visitations give actual figures for debts, but in 1349 some buildings were in an urgent state of repair and in 1368 19 monks had not yet been advanced to the priesthood, ruined buildings would cost at least 1000 marks to repair and the priory was burdened with various debts as well as with pensions, procurations and daily prebends to the value of £50 a year. The dearth of later visitation records makes it hard to assess the extent of recovery, but in 1429 it was alleged that the priory was in a terrible state, although there are no actual details. What is clear, however, is that any recovery was only partial and never again did Lewes Priory enjoy the levels of wealth and prosperity of the pre-crisis years.

Text Box: Lewes was not alone in suffering a financial crisis in these years. Christ Church Canterbury owed £2236 in 1252 rising to £4925 in 1285. A century later, in 1376 it was in debt again, owing £1500, which was eventually cleared by 1400, although in 1459 the cathedral priory again owed £1159. Amongst Cistercian houses Rievaulx owed £3300 in 1288 when it was effectively bankrupt; Fountains owed £6473 in 1291, although it managed to reduce this to £3534 by 1294; and Kirkstall owed £5249 and 59 wool sacks in 1284. All had been hit hard by a combination of sheep murrain and the increasing demands of royal taxation which could lead to debts of often more than twice annual income. Nevertheless most monasteries quickly recovered, as did Lewes itself both in the early 14th century and again a hundred years later, when debts of 3200 marks in 1412 were entirely cleared within 5 years, despite interest rates of between 10 and 15 per cent. Lewes, as the visitation reports show, in common with other religious houses, clearly suffered from both the effects of increasing taxation of the church as well as the general agricultural crises which periodically hit incomes of all the great monastic houses. However Lewes Priory suffered additionally from its alien status, as a daughter house of Cluny, in Burgundy, regarded by the Crown as a French possession. From 1290 onwards, this caused Lewes particular difficulties in times of war with France, not suffered by the Cistercians, since although they were also a part of a foreign order whose headquarters were in France, as abbeys they were not technically regarded as foreign dependencies. Its geographical location on the south coast additionally made it vulnerable to French coastal raids, leading in 1377 to the burning of its crops and church at Rottingdean and the capture and ransoming of its prior for 7000 nobles (£2333 6s 8d). The combination of these factors and in particular its alien status placed additional burdens on Lewes not experienced by any of the other great monasteries, making it a prey to predatory barons and resulting in a permanent loss of income, as Lewes was forced to sacrifice several of its most valuable parish churches in exchange for its denization by Edward III in 1350. Each of these factors will be considered more fully in succeeding pages.

Top: Coombes church chancel arch— atlas figure struggling under the weight of the vault of heaven mid-12th C

Right: Langney Manor