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 A HISTORY OF NORFOLK The visitation of six years later, when Margaret Studefeld was prioress, was in every way satis- factory ; there was nothing to report.^ The Valor of 1535 gave the clear annual value of the house at £^0 6s. 2d. A stipend of £$ 6s. 8(/. was paid to the chaplain for officiating in the church. In the winter of 1 535-6 the religious houses of Norfolk were exposed to the visitors of Crom- well's appointment, John ap Rice and Dr. Legh. It is fortunate, so far as this small nunnery is concerned, that by all the laws of evidence and of ordinary probability, there is not the slightest reason to give credence to their astounding charges. They actually wrote down that the prioress had given birth to one child, two of the other nuns had children by single men, and another two children, one by a priest and one by a layman ! ^ But on the heels of these vile informers came the county commis- sioners, who made a long and thorough inquiry into the conditions of this house. These gentle- men had no object whatever in anything but a truthful report ; they did not hesitate to give credence to scandal in three out of all the many religious houses of the diocese. Of this priory, however, they reported of the four religious persons found there that ' ther name is goode,' and still more definitely, on the actual deposition of the prioress they wrote, Bonti fama et conversatio. They reported that there were four women servants and two hinds that had their living at the house ; that the lead and bells were worth £^^0 4^., and the house in requisite repair ; and that the goods were worth ;^I5 51. '&d. ; and that the house was not in debt, and had no debts owing to it.* On the day of the suppression the three nuns received 265. 8^. each as 'rewards,' that is, sums of ready money until pensions were arranged, Margaret Studefeld, the prioress, had no reward assigned her.* The commissioners certified on 16 February, 1537, to the sale to Henry Webbe of all the goods and chattels of this house, except the plate, for £c). The plate in Richard Southwell's keej)- ing was valued at 1 15^. Prioresses of Crabhouse Catherine ^ Cecilia,^ 1249 Christian de Tilney,* c, 1 2 70 Agnes de Methelwold,' elected 1315 Margaret Costayn de Lenn,^" elected 1342 Olive de SwafFham,^' elected 1344 Cecilia de Welle,^^ elected 1 35 1 Cecilia Beaupre,^' elected and died 1395 Matilda Talbot," elected 1395 Joan Wiggenhall,^' elected 1420 Margaret Dawbeny,^^ elected 1445 Etheldreda Wulmer,^' elected 1469. Elizabeth Bredon,'^ occurs c 1500, 1514 Margaret Studefeld, occurs 1520, last prioress There is a cast of an imperfect impression of a thirteenth-century seal of this nunnery at the British Museum. It is a pointed oval (2X li in.) of an eagle displayed. Legend : — ^ s' SANCTI. lOHANNIS. EWANGELISTE " HOUSE OF TRINITARIAN CANONS 40. THE PRIORY OF INGHAM A small priory of the Order of the Holy Trinity for the Redemption of Captives was founded at Ingham by Sir Miles Stapleton of Bedale, Yorkshire, in the reign of Edward III. The founder was lord of this town through marriage with Joan daughter and heiress of Sir Oliver de Ingham. This Order of Trini- tarians, as they were usually termed, was founded in 1 1 98. Their possessions were to be divided into three parts : one portion for the redemption of captives, according to the rule of St. Victor; another part for the relief of the poor ; and the remaining third for their own subsistence. There were twelve houses of the order in England, of which Ingham was the last to be founded.' ' Jessopp, T^orw. Visit. (Camd. Soc), io8-io, 168. ^ L.andP. Hen. Fill, -x, 144. ^ The Trinitarians had at one time upwards of 250 houses throughout Christendom. It was esti- mated in the seventeenth centurj- that since its foun- dation the order had rescued 30,720 Christian captives from the infidels. In March, 1355, Innocent VI issued his mandate to the bishop of Norwich to grant licence to Miles de Stapleton, knight, lord of the town of Ingham, to rebuild and enlarge the church of Ingham, of the value of 26 marks, in his patronage, and to elect therein a college, in honour of the Holy Trinity and All Saints, of thirteen religious, one of whom was to be the prior or warden and another the sacrist, making it a conventual church with due statutes and ordinances, the rights of the bishop and archdeacon being preserved.'" ' Chant. Cert. Norf. No. 90. « Add. MS. 4731. ' Ibid ; occurs same year in Assize R. 560, m. 30 a', where Catherine is called her predecessor. « Add. MS. 4731. ' Norw. Epis. Reg. i, 63. "Ibid, ill, 61. " Ibid, iv, lOI. " Ibid. 133. " Ibid, vi, 219. "Ibid. "Add. MS. 4731, fol. 51. " Norw. Epis. Reg. x, 60. " Ibid, xi, 172. " Jessopp, h'or-u<. Fisit. (Camd. Soc), 108. " B.M. kix, 15. «> Cal. Papal Reg. iii, 56. 410
 * Suppression Papers (P.R.O.) ^^