Hatfield Broad Oak Priory, or Hatfield Regis Priory, is a former Benedictine priory in Hatfield Broad Oak, Essex, England. Founded by 1139, it was dissolved in 1536 as part of Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries.
Hatfield Broad Oak Priory, or Hatfield Regis Priory, is a former Benedictine priory in Hatfield Broad Oak, Essex, England. Founded by 1139, it was dissolved in 1536 as part of Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries.
The large settlement of Hatfield was well established by the time of the Norman Conquest, and the Domesday Book lists the presence of a Saxon church. At one time a royal manor of Harold I, it fell into the possession of William I at the Norman Conquest. Popular for hunting in the neighbouring forest, the royal estate came to be known as Hatfield Regis (Latin for the king's Hatfield). [1]
The Benedictine monastery itself was founded in or before 1139, one of the five religious communities of that order to be founded in Essex. The priory was a daughter house of the Breton monastery of St. Melanius in Rennes, and was dedicated to "God, St Mary, and St. Melanius Redonensis". It was thus considered an "alien priory" as it was subordinate to a monastery outside England. [2]
In around 1230 a fire destroyed part of the priory church, for whose repairs Henry III granted ten oaks each from the forests of Hatfield and Wristle.
John Lydgate, the poet, was elected prior in 1423 but resigned the office a few years later to concentrate on his travels and writing.
A dispute over tithes from the royal manor of Hatfield granted to the Augustinian canons of St. Botolph, Colchester, by King Henry I continued for decades. A compromise was established by two clerical commissioners appointed by the pope in 1194, but the issue was not entirely resolved for several more years. [3]
Another dispute arose over the appointment of the prior. The de Vere earls of Oxford and the abbot of St. Melanie both claimed the right, resulting in a series of unpleasant episodes in 1235. The matter was appealed to Rome, and in 1236 Pope Gregory IX ordered commissioners to hear the matter. A final settlement was reached eighteen years later. On the death of the prior, the Hatfield monks were to ask permission of the earl of Oxford to hold an election. The new prior would be presented to the earl, who would request his confirmation by the bishop of London. The prior was to notify the abbot and convent of Rennes of the death of his predecessor and of his own election and confirmation. [4] This is an example of an assertion of practical independence by an English cell of a foreign monastery.
The priory reached its peak in the first half of the fourteenth century with its great church, 230 feet in length, dominating the local countryside.
The priory was dissolved in 1536 by Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries. At the time only the prior and four monks lived there, though had thirty servants to attend to their needs. The tithes and patronage were initially granted to Barking Abbey but after Barking was dissolved they were given to Trinity College, Cambridge, by Henry VIII in 1546. [1] [5] The tomb effigy of Robert de Vere, 3rd Earl of Oxford was reportedly moved from the priory chapel to the parish church at Hatfield.
Some parts of the priory church remain as part of St Mary's parish church. The remaining buildings were dismantled and no trace remains of them above ground where they stood in the field to the north of the church.
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, occasionally referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries, in England, Wales and Ireland, expropriated their income, disposed of their assets, and provided for their former personnel and functions. Although the policy was originally envisaged as increasing the regular income of the Crown, much former monastic property was sold off to fund Henry's military campaigns in the 1540s. He was given the authority to do this in England and Wales by the Act of Supremacy, passed by Parliament in 1534, which made him Supreme Head of the Church in England, thus separating England from papal authority, and by the First Suppression Act (1535) and the Second Suppression Act (1539).
Osgyth was an English saint. She is primarily commemorated in the village of Saint Osyth, Essex, near Colchester. Alternative spellings of her name include Sythe, Othith and Ositha. Born of a noble family, she founded a priory near Chich which was later named after her.
The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular uprising that began in Yorkshire in October 1536, before spreading to other parts of Northern England including Cumberland, Northumberland, and north Lancashire, under the leadership of lawyer Robert Aske. The "most serious of all Tudor rebellions", it was a protest against Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church, the dissolution of the lesser monasteries, and the policies of the King's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, as well as other specific political, social, and economic grievances.
Aubrey de Vere — also known as "Alberic[us] de Ver" and "Albericus regis camerarius" — was the second of that name in England after the Norman Conquest, being the eldest surviving son of Aubrey de Vere and his wife Beatrice.
St. Botolph's Priory was a medieval house of Augustinian canons in Colchester, Essex, founded c. 1093. The priory had the distinction of being the first and leading Augustinian convent in England until its dissolution in 1536.
Earls Colne is a village in Essex, England named after the River Colne, on which it stands, and the Earls of Oxford who held the manor of Earls Colne from before 1086 to 1703.
St John's Abbey, also called Colchester Abbey, was a Benedictine monastic institution in Colchester, Essex, founded in 1095. It was dissolved in 1539.
Events from the 1530s in England.
The Priory Church of St Peter with its monastery was founded in 1132 by Henry I for Augustinian Canons in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England. St Peter's today is only the nave of what remains of an originally much larger Augustinian priory church. The monastic buildings consisted of a dormitory for the monks, an infirmary, stables, workshops, bakehouse, brewhouse and buttery. There was also a hostel for pilgrims and travellers, the remains of which is known today as Priory House. Opposite the Priory was one of the royal palaces belonging to Henry I, known as Kingsbury.
Colne Priory at Earls Colne, Essex was a Benedictine priory, initially a dependent cell of Abingdon Abbey, Berkshire. It was founded by Aubrey de Vere I and his wife Beatrice in or before 1111. Their eldest son Geoffrey had died at Abingdon about seven or eight years earlier and was buried there. On his deathbed, Geoffrey had bequeathed to Abingdon the church and lands at Kensington, Middlesex, and his parents and brothers had confirmed that grant, as had King Henry I.
Hatfield Broad Oak is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. The village is approximately 5 miles (8 km) south-east of Bishop's Stortford. Near the church of St Mary the Virgin is former Benedictine priory Hatfield Regis Priory.
Dunster Priory was established as a Benedictine monastery around 1100 in Dunster, Somerset, England.
Ickleton Priory was a Benedictine priory of nuns at Ickleton, Cambridgeshire, England. It was established in the middle of the 12th century and suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536.
St Osyth's Abbey was a house of Augustinian canons in the parish of St Osyth in Essex, England in use from the 12th to 16th centuries. Founded by Richard de Belmeis, Bishop of London, c. 1121, it became one of the largest religious houses in Essex. It was dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul as well as St Osyth (Osith), a royal saint and virgin martyr. Bishop Richard obtained the arm bone of St Osyth from Aylesbury for the monastic church and granted the canons the parish church of St Osyth.
Walden Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Saffron Walden, Essex, England founded by Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex between 1136 and 1143. Originally a priory, it was elevated to the status of an abbey in 1190.
Blyth Priory was a priory in Nottinghamshire, England, dedicated to St Mary the Virgin.
Monks Kirby Priory was a priory, at first Benedictine and later Carthusian, in Monks Kirby, Warwickshire, England.
St John's Church was the parish church for Abergavenny, Monmouthshire until the Dissolution of the Monasteries when the priory church of St Mary's Priory became the parish church. The church then became a grammar school and is now part of a masonic lodge. The only parts of the church that still remain are the tower and part of the nave.
St Leonard's Priory was a Benedictine nunnery in what is now east London, which gave its name to Bromley-St Leonards (better known as Bromley-by-Bow.
Coordinates: 51°49′40″N0°14′34″E / 51.82781°N 0.24271°E
