RELIGIOUS HOUSES Nicholas, when they were declared of the Henry III granted the priory, in 1229, a fair annual value of ^^6 os. lod. At the Valor of on Holy Cross Day and two days after, and a Monday market" Henry VIII, Normansburgh was included under the priory of Castle Acre. Simon (1166) and Roger (f. 1190) were priors before the house -was handed over to the Cluniac monks.' Hugh occurs as prior in 1204, and Simon II in 1227. A visitation of the English Cluniac founda- tion, made in 1390, states that the community of Normansburgh comprised a prior and two monks, and was a cell directly subject to the priory of Castle Acre.^ This priory and its possessions passed with those of Castle Acre to the Duke of Norfolk at the dissolution. 17. THE CELL OF SLEVESHOLM The small priory of Slevesholm, dedicated to the honour of the Blessed Virgin and St. Giles, in the parish of Methwold, was founded by William de Warenne, third earl of Surrey, in the reign of Stephen. The founder gave to Paul and his brother monks the island of Sieves- holm in the fen of Methwold, providing that after Paul's death a prior should be elected from the monks of Castle Acre, who was to be presented to and admitted by the Earl of Warenne and his heirs. In 1309, John, earl of Warenne, con- iirmed the gifts of his ancestor.' In 1 29 1 the annual value of this small cell was merely ^^i 10;. "j^d. ; in the Valor of 1535 it was included with Castle Acre. A visitation of the English Cluniac founda- tions, undertaken in 1390, mentions Slevesholm •or Slevsham as a cell of Castle Acre, consistin» of a prior and one monk. There was a daily •celebration. Blomefield mentions four priors of this cell — Paul; Thomas; Thomas II, 141 5; and Stephen, I4I9- 18. THE PRIORY OF BROMHOLM The priory of Bromholm, dedicated to the honour of St. Andrew, was founded in 1 1 1 3 by William de Glanvill, and was made subordinate to the Cluniac house of Castle Acre. Bartholo- mew de Glanvill, son of the founder, confirmed and increased his father's endowments. The charter enumerates the lands of Stanard, the priest of Keswick together with the church, the churches of Bromholm, Dilham, and Paston, with the tithes of many neighbouring estates. He also bequeathed to the priory, after his death, ■Gristcombe and all he possessed in the fields there, with his villeins.' ' Harl. MS. 2 1 10, fol. 76b. ' Dtickett, Chart, and Rec. ofClunl, ii, 213. ' Harl. MS. 21 10, fols. 7, 14.
- Blomefield, Hist. ofNorf. ii, 210.
' Dugdale, Mon. v, 63 ; cited from Register of Castle Acre, fol. 62. The same king m 1234 granted them rights of tumbrel and pillory, and relieved them of various tolls and duties.' An indult was granted to the prior and convent of Bromholm in 1239 to hold to their uses the church of Haninges, value under 20 marks, the patronage of which they already possessed. This grant was to take effect on the next void- ance of the rectory, and a vicar's portion was to be reserved.' The taxation of 1 291 shows that this priory was then valued at ^^109 15J. wd.., and owned property in fifty-six Norfolk and sixteen Suffolk parishes. Pope Celestine in 1295 confirmed to the priory the appropriated churches of Bacton, Keswick, Paston, Witton, and Dilham.' The Valor of 1535 estimated the clear annual value at ;^I00 51. id. The endowment at that time comprised the impropriation of seven Nor- folk and two Suffolk churches, and the manors, pensions, lands or interests in fifty-eight parishes. The offerings at the cross of Bromholm amounted that year to ^^5 I2i. 9^. As early as 1 195 Bromholm was relieved by Pope Celestine of most of its subjection to Castle Acre.*" In 1225 a dispute arose between the priories of Bromholm and Castle Acre as to the right of the latter to impose a prior on the former, and next year Pope Honorius III issued his mandate to commissioners with power to sum- mon both parties and to adjudicate in the dispute between the two priories. Castle Acre asserted that Bromholm was subject to them, and that they had in the past obtained papal letters with regard to the election of a prior of Bromholm, when it was decided that the prior of Acre should nominate three monks of Acre, one of whom was to be chosen prior. The convent of Bromholm had, however, petitioned the pope to allow them on the death of their present prior to have a free election notwithstanding the previous composition." The dispute now became further complicated by the interference of the prior of Lewes, of which house Castle Acre was in its turn a cell. In 1229 Gregory IX referred tiie matter to the judgement of the abbot of Olveston and the deans of Stamford and Rutland, with the result that the prior of Castle Acre was for the future, on a vacancy arising, to nominate six monks, three of Acre and three of Bromholm,
- Chart. 13 Hen. Ill, pt. i, m. 12.
' Ibid. fols. I, lb. ' Cal. Papal Reg. i, 183. ' Chartul. fol. 9. '" Ibid. fol. 59^. There is a small chartulary of Bromholm in the University Library, Cambridge Dugdale, Mon. ii, 20), consisting of 9 I folios, in a hand of the first half of the fourteenth century ; the first two charters are illegible. For an analysis of this chartulary see Catalogue of Camb. University Library MSS. iv, 144-72. " Cal. Papal Reg. i, 108. 359
