Pontefract Priory

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Pontefract Priory was the evangelist John consecrated cluniazenisches monastery, which in 1090 by Robert de Lacy , 2nd Baron of Pontefract in Pontefract , Yorkshire , was founded. It existed until the English monasteries were dissolved . The monastery church and buildings have been completely destroyed, only the place name Monk-hill reminds of them .

history

The priory was dependent on the Abbey of La Charité-sur-Loire , from which the first monks came. The priory's copy book has been preserved and is a primary source for its history. Two documents from the founder are cited in a story by William Dugdale . A charter from Henry de Lacy, 4th Baron of Pontefract, son of Robert, states that the Church of St. Mary and St. Dedicated to John. These donations were finally confirmed to the monastery by a bull from Pope Celestine (whether Celestine II or Celestine III is unclear), which also gave the priory certain ecclesiastical privileges.

According to the visitation reports , there were 16 monks in 1262 and 27 monks in 1279. The house was recently run by an exceptional prior, he was praised for his diligence during the twelve years of his leadership, followed by a reduction in the monastery's debts from 3,200 marks to 350. A later undated visit mentions 20 as the mean number of monks. Duckett prints a 1323 letter from Prior Stephen of Pontefract to Abbot Pierre II de Chastelux of Cluny, stating that he was prevented from closing his monastery due to a visit from the English King and Court to Pontefract leave and make the visitation of the English Cluniac monasteries. In the previous year (1323) Thomas of Lancaster, 2nd Earl of Lancaster at Pontefract Castle was beheaded and buried "on the right side of the high altar". Rumor has it that miracles were performed on the tomb. This attempt to view the count as a martyr aroused the wrath of King Edward II , who confiscated the offerings. Not long afterwards, a chapel dedicated to Thomas Aquinas was built on the site of the execution and in 1343 the prior and convent of Pontefract were given permission to "allow masses and other worship services there".

Burials

resolution

In the Valor ecclesiasticus the priory's annual income is £ 472 16s. 10½d. gross and £ 337 14s. 8½d. stated net. The last prior, James Thwayts, gave the monastery with seven brothers and a novice to King Henry VIII on November 23, 1540 , he received a pension of fifty pounds a year.

literature

  • Gilbert Roger Hudleston, Pontefract Priory , in: Charles Hebermann (Ed.), Catholic Encyclopedia , 1913 ( Wikisource )
  • Benjamin Boothtroyd, The History of the Ancient Borough of Pontefract , 1807 ( online )
  • George Fox, The History of Pontefract in Yorkshire , 1827 ( online )

Remarks

  1. ^ 'Houses of Cluniac monks: Priory of Pontefract', in William Page (Ed.), A History of the County of York Volume 3 (VCH, London 1974), pp. 184-86 (British History Online, accessed November 14, 2017).
  2. ^ Richard Sharpe, David X. Carpenter, 'Pontefract Priory' (Wordpress, 19pp, 2013) , Charters of William II and Henry I Project .
  3. ^ 'Priory of Pontefract, in Yorkshire', in Wîlliam Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum: A History of the Abbies and other Monasteries, etc. , New edition, Vol. 5 (James Bohn, London 1846), pp. 118-31 . (Google)
  4. ↑ George Floyd Duckett, Monasticon Cluniacense: Charters and Records among the Archives of the Ancient Abbey of Cluni, from 1077 to 1534 , 2 volumes (Private Subscription, 1888), II, pp. 150-54 .
  5. ↑ Thomas Rymer, Foedera , II, ii, 726.


Coordinates: 53 ° 42 ′ 6 "  N , 1 ° 18 ′ 27"  W.