Yedingham Priory

Last updated

Yedingham Priory was a Benedictine priory in North Yorkshire, England dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. [1] It was home to Benedictine nuns from 1163 to 1539. [2]

The priory, also known as Little Mareis, was co founded by Helewise de Clere and Roger II de Clere. [3] There were originally eight or nine nuns, but in time there were twelve with a prioress. [4]

In about 1512, a fourteen year old girl called Elizabeth Lutton became a Benedictiine nun. For twelve years the convent's authorities thought her situation was fine although it was said that she privately complained that she had become a nun despite her wishes. [5]

In 1526 Agnes Brayerdricke succeeded Dame Elizabeth White as head of the convent and Brayerdricke soon discovered that Elizabeth Lutton was pregnant. Brayerdricke had her separated from the other nuns until the child was born and she was then allowed to resume her place as a nun. [5]

Robert Constable of Flamborough visited Yedingham Priory where he learned about Elizabeth Lutton. After she was taken back into the priory Constable encouraged Thomas Scaseby to elope with Elizabeth Lutton in 1531. Scaseby may have been the father of the child and he married Lutton. Constable's motives for getting involved was that Elizabeth was a potential heiress and the marriage was to Constable's advantage in his own territorial disputes. [6]

Robert Constable was executed at Hull for sundry crimes on 6 July 1537 being hanged in chains over Beverley gate at Hull. [7]

The priory was suppressed in 1539. One wall, believed to be the south wall of the church, survives as part of the Old Abbey, Yedingham. [4] [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaftesbury Abbey</span> Abbey in Shaftesbury, Dorset

Shaftesbury Abbey was an abbey that housed nuns in Shaftesbury, Dorset. It was founded in about 888, and dissolved in 1539 during the English Reformation by the order of Thomas Cromwell, minister to King Henry VIII. At the time it was the second-wealthiest nunnery in England, behind only Syon Abbey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilton Abbey</span> Benedictine convent in Wiltshire, England

Wilton Abbey was a Benedictine convent in Wiltshire, England, three miles west of Salisbury, probably on the site now occupied by Wilton House. It was active from the early tenth century until 1539.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanbrook Abbey</span> Monastery in North Yorkshire, England

Stanbrook Abbey is a Catholic contemplative Benedictine Monastery with the status of an abbey, located at Wass, North Yorkshire, England.

Sir Robert Constable was a member of the English Tudor gentry. He helped Henry VII to defeat the Cornish rebels at the Battle of Blackheath in 1497. In 1536, when the rising known as the Pilgrimage of Grace broke out in the north of England, Constable was one of the insurgent leaders, but towards the close of the year, he submitted at Doncaster and was pardoned. He did not share in the renewal of the rising, Bigod's rebellion, which took place in January 1537; but he refused the king's invitation to proceed to London, and was arrested, tried for treason, and hanged at Hull in the following June.

Wilberfoss Priory was a priory in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellerton Priory (Swaledale)</span> Ruin of a cistercian nunnery

Ellerton Priory was a priory of Cistercian nuns in Swaledale in North Yorkshire, England. Its ruins lie in the civil parish of Ellerton Abbey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marrick Priory</span> Former priory in Marrick, North Yorkshire, England

Marrick Priory was a Benedictine nunnery in Richmondshire, North Yorkshire, England, established between 1140 and 1160 by Roger de Aske. The parish Church of the Virgin Mary and St. Andrew and 400 acres of local land also belonged to the priory, which thrived until the 16th century, in spite of the depredations of marauding Scots.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Constable (died 1558)</span> English soldier

Sir Robert Constable, of Everingham, Yorkshire, was an English soldier who fought against the Scots for Henry VIII in the 1540s, Member of Parliament and Sheriff. He was the grandfather of the poet, Henry Constable.

Mary Percy (1570–1642) was an English noblewoman who founded an English Benedictine Monastery in Brussels and served as its abbess.

Elizabeth Knatchbull religious name Lucy was the founding English abbess of the Convent of the Immaculate Conception in Ghent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Clement (prior)</span> English prioress

Margaret Clement was an English prioress of St Ursula's convent in Leuven.

Mary Lovel born Jane Roper and aka Mary Roper and Lady Lovel was the founder of the English Carmelite convent in Antwerp.

Joanne Berkeley was an English abbess of the Convent of the Assumption of Our Blessed Lady, Brussels which was established by and for English Catholic women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Gascoigne</span>

Catherine Gascoigne was the English abbess of Cambrai from 1624 to 1673.

Elizabeth Lorde was an English prioress of Wilberfoss. During the Dissolution of the Monasteries she surrendered Wilberfoss Priory as required by law and accepted a pension.

Christabel Cowper was an English Benedictine nun who was the last prioress of Marrick Priory before the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Elizabeth Cressener was an English prioress of the Dominican Dartford Priory in Kent. One of her nuns was a Princess, daughter of Edward IV. She lived to see the start of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Margaret Pygot was an English prioress of Carrow Abbey. She put the Abbey on a firm financial footing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pudentiana Deacon</span> British nun 1576–1645

Pudentiana Deacon was a Benedictine nun now known for her translation of Les vrais entretiens spirituels by Francis de Sales (1557–1662).

Elizabeth Lutton or Elizabeth Sutton or "Mrs Thomas Scaseby" was an English Benedictine nun who became pregnant. She was abducted and married. The marriage was "contrary to the laws of God", and she was returned to Yedingham Priory.

References

  1. Rhea, Nicholas (1985). Portrait of the North York Moors.
  2. Spence, Joan and Bill (1981). Mediaeval Monasteries of Yorkshire. Ambo Publications.
  3. Burton, Janet (1999). The Monastic Order in Yorkshire. Cambridge University Press.
  4. 1 2 "Heritage Gateway - Results". www.heritagegateway.org.uk. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  5. 1 2 Cross, Claire (23 September 2004). Lutton, Elizabeth (b. c. 1498, d. in or before 1553), Benedictine nun. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/74103.
  6. Cross, Claire (23 September 2004). Lutton, Elizabeth (b. c. 1498, d. in or before 1553), Benedictine nun. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/74103.
  7. Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004), "Robert Constable, rebel, in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. ref:odnb/6110, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/6110 , retrieved 18 April 2023
  8. Yedingham Priory (PDF). Beverley: Ed Dennison Architectural Services. 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2024.

54°12′24″N0°37′42″W / 54.206767°N 0.628267°W / 54.206767; -0.628267