Lewes Priory: Crisis years 1294 - 1351 (1)

Text Box: An alien priory The outbreak of war between England and France in 1294 came at a time when Lewes Priory was already heavily in debt, owing over 8,500 marks, mostly to Baroncino Gualteri and his company, with whom the priory had a long-term relationship through the wool trade. The English monasteries of the Cluniac order were now classed as enemy aliens and were taken under the King’s protection, being allowed to continue in possession of their property in exchange for a moiety of their annual income, based on the recent taxation of Pope Nicholas, in the case of Lewes Priory, £530 a year. During the four years the war lasted, and subsequently, Lewes’s debt to the royal exchequer rose rapidly, from £179 3s 4d outstanding in the first year, to £884 10s in 1296, £1522 6s 4d in 1298, £2120 19s in 1301, falling to £1301 5s 8d a year later, after which the debt was paid off in full. This may explain the transfer, apparently dated 1299 of an outstanding debt by the priory to the exchequer of 2000 marks to a Bayonne merchant, at terms of interest to be agreed between the priory and its new creditor in part payment of royal debts. Although this sum was apparently discharged early the following year, possibly as a result of a recourse to other loans, these were difficult years for the Lewes monks who clearly struggled to pay their debts and in 1299 a gold chalice and paten from the priory church was distrained by a London merchant for non-payment. Whilst subsequent years saw an improvement in the priory’s finances, a triennial clerical tenth imposed by Boniface VIII in 1305 and a royal demand for the loan of victuals for the Scottish expedition of 1310 added further burdens. In 1316 the priory leased its Yorkshire properties for 5 years to John de Triple, with whom, at this date they were engaged in the wool trade and Albertinus Rogerii of Pistoia in return for an unspecified sum. In 1321 the lease was renewed for 1000 marks, of which 800 was paid in advance. In 1324 the priory’s Norfolk lands were also leased, this time for a period of 8 years for £2384, of which £1600 was paid in advance, the residue to be paid at £98 a year, either to the prior and convent or, in view of the imminent outbreak of war, to the royal Exchequer, should the priory be in the king’s hands. When war actually began the priory’s property was again taken into the king’s hands, being granted almost immediately to

Text Box: John de Warenne as patron, the king nevertheless retaining the right of presentation to benefices which had already fallen vacant prior to the grant to the earl. The earl appears then to have granted the custody back to the prior. Whilst Lewes Priory escaped the fate of cells such as Monks Horton and Stanesgate, where keepers were appointed and the prior and monks allowed a mere 3s or 1s 6d each a week respectively on which to live, nevertheless the immediate loss of revenue and patronage further weakened its financial position and its standing within the communities where it held property. When the war ended the following year and the priory resumed its possessions, it seems to have little choice but to lease Langney manor at £20 a year for life to Ralph de Cobham and his wife. Several creditors were circling and over the next two years the priory became embroiled in a series of legal actions over non-payment of debts amounting to over £500. Its difficulties were compounded when in October 1326 it was ordered to pay the arrears owing to the king as a result of the French war. In May 1327 the prior entered into a series of recognisances totalling £2,240 to various London merchants, which were only finally discharged in 1332. Meanwhile Lewes had lost a number of presentations to its livings to the crown, including Glenfield (Leicester), West Walton (Norfolk), Fishlake (Yorkshire) and Meeching (Sussex). Whilst the restoration of peace meant its independence was no longer under immediate threat, the priory was of course liable for any other royal demands on the clergy. In 1332 came the request for

Text Box: a subsidy towards the marriage of Edward III’s sister and in March 1333 the renewal of the Scottish wars led to requests to the monasteries to contribute towards the transport of supplies for the army. Lewes Priory was required to deliver one cart and five horses to the expeditionary force at Durham by the day after the Feast of the Ascension. On 3rd August 1337, the war with France having been renewed, the priory was again taken into the king’s hands, being granted back to the prior for 500 marks a year plus a one-off payment of 250 marks for the custody. The prior appealed this decision and appeared before Edward III and his council to argue against payment of the latter charge (now listed as 280 marks) on the basis that during the previous war the late king had restored the lands seized to him because the priory had been founded by the current Earl John de Warenne’s predecessors and had never made apportion out of the realm beyond the 100s a year pension due to the Abbot of Cluny. Following precedent custody was again granted to de Warenne who in turn granted it back to the prior, however retaining for himself the patronage of the priory’s rectories. Prior to this grant, however, the king took the opportunity to make presentments of two of the priory’s livings, Little Canfield (Essex) and St John by the gate of the Priory of Lewes itself. The charge for the custody was subsequently reduced on a provisional basis to £20, which was further respited in March 1338 at the request of the earl, together with 500 marks still owing from the previous year. Further respites followed in 1339 and 1340 whilst the arrears of the yearly farm of the custody due to the crown mounted up. It is by no means clear what was still owing when, in December 1341, the priors of alien houses were summoned to Westminster to bring the tallies and other memoranda to show what had actually been paid. On top of these exactions the prior was also assessed in November 1342 for a loan towards the king’s Brittany campaign. When Parliament was summoned in February 1343 to agree the terms of the truce between the kings of England and France, arranged by the Pope, Lewes Priory was again in considerable debt, causing the prior to lease the manor and rectory of Melton Mowbray for 7 years to William Prest, who had recently lent the priory 2,000 marks.

Top: St Helen’s church, Sandal Magna. The wealthiest of the advowsons lost to the Crown in return for denization in 1351

Right: Langney Manor