Page:Medieval English nunneries c. 1275 to 1535.djvu/66

 I usually happened that the head of a nunnery was a of some social standing in her own right. All nuns were brides, but an earthly father in the neighbourhood, with  acres and loose purse strings, was not to be despised. great lady retired to a nunnery she was very like to end as head; Barking Abbey in Essex had a long line of well- abbesses, including three queens and two princesses; and  Katherine de la Pole (the youngest daughter of that  Suffolk who was slain at Agincourt) is found holding the  of abbess at the tender age of twenty-two, it is an  inference that her birth was a factor in the choice. The in having a woman of local influence and rich connections  prioress is illustrated in the history of Crabhouse nunnery  Joan Wiggenhall ; how she worked and built "be the