A HISTORY OF NORFOLK of your advancement,' he adds, 'I should be sorry to use myself unbecomingly.' ^ The county commissioners for suppression reported of Horsham, in 1536, that it was* a hede howse of thordre of seynt Benett' ; that the clear annual value was ^^163 13J. ; that there were only four religious, all priests, ' whereof the priour hath a dyspensacion and ys a suffrican and bysshoppe of Thetford and the residue requyre dispensaciones ' ; that the neighbours' report of them was all to their credit ; that there were eighteen dependent on the house besides the monks, one of whom was a priest, six waiting servants, and eleven hinds who had wages, clothes, and ' levynges of the howse ' ; that the buildings, with lead and bells, were worth ;^250, and the church and cloister were in good repair ; that the movable goods and cattle and corn were worth ^^69 15X. lid.; that ^15 6s. 8d. was owing to the house, and ^^35 4.S. owed by the house ; and that there were 100 acres of wood worth ^200.^ On 18 August, 1536, Richard Southwell wrote to Cromwell as to 'the house of Saint Feythe now viewed and at a point to be dis- solved.' He specially wrote in favour of the prior there, who being a suffragan bishop had neither house nor living, and prayed that he might receive an adequate pension and some other preferment.' On 23 September Cromwell wrote to the prior that the king intended to reform the houses of religion in Norwich diocese ; for the abuse of religion and excess of living certain were to be deposed, of which St. Faith's had been billed and named to be one. However, through the labour of the prior's friends and his (Cromwell's) own diligence, his house had been taken out of the king's books, and was now free from danger till the return of his chaplain, the bearer of the letter, whom he was to receive and treat well.* According to a certificate of the four Norfolk commissioners, dated 27 January, 1537, all the goods and chattels of the house were sold for j^27 Js. li., and the plate, valued at ^^37 2s. 2d,, reserved in the custody of Richard Southwell. The debts of the house amounted to ^35 4.S. Sd.^ Immediately after its suppression the priory, with its demesne lands, the manors of Horsham and West Rudham, and the rectories of Hor- sham and Tibenham were granted on lease, to Richard Southwell, one of the suppression commissioners.' ^ L. and P. Hen. Fill, ix, 271, 284, 291, 849, «65. ' Chant. Cert. Norf. No. 90. » L. and P. Hen. Fill, xi, 1 34.
- Ibid. 197. There seems some doubt as to the
■genuineness of this letter ; it is neither in Cromwell's Land nor in that of his clerk. ' Suppression Papers (P.R.O.), &^. ^ Aug. Off. Misc. Bks. ccix, fol. loSb ; ccx, fol. 75. Prior Sarisbury, or Salisbury, was made dean of Norwich, and in 1570 bishop of Man. Priors of St. Faith, Horsham Austorgius,' occurs c. 1125 Savernius,' occurs in 1 1 30 Bertrand,' occurs c. 11 45 Bernard,^" occurs 11 63 Deodate,'^ occurs 12 10 Eustace,^" occurs 1227 Berengar,^' occurs 1246 Carbunel, occurs 1268 Reymund,^^ occurs 1 281 William,'^ occurs 1303 Hugh Targe,*' elected 1313 Pontius de Severa,** elected 1338 Hugh de Pardinos," elected 1349 Gerard Sencoll,^ elected 1349 Berengar Nathas,^* elected 1356 Thomas de Berthelet,-^ elected 1389 Geoffrey Langele,^' elected 1401 Nicholas,-* occurs 1452 Ralf Norwich,^* 1462 John Risley,-' 1469, 1492 William Castleton,^' occurs 1524 John Stokes,^^ occurs 1525 Lancelot Wharton,-' occurs 1532 John Sarisbury,^" occurs 1534 An impression in red wax of the interesting early thirteenth-century seal of this priory is attached to the deed of acknowledgement of supremacy." It is oval (2^ X if in.), and is divided into two parts ; the upper shows under a simple canopy, a figure '" seated, with a sword, or sceptre, in right hand, and an open book in the left, on either side is a monk kneeling under a pinnacled canopy, above which are two angels censing the central figure ; at the top is shown a cruciform church with central tower. The ' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. (Lothian MSS.), 10. ^ Blomefield, Hisl. of Norf. x, 440. ' Hii/. MSS. Com. Rej>. (Lothian MSS.), 12. '» Ibid. " Ibid. " Ibid. Ibid. ; called ' Belengar Carbunel ' in that year ; Assize R. 560, m. 47. " Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. (Lothian MSS.), 7. '* Blomefield, loc. cit. " Pat. 31 Edw. I, m. 28. " Norvv. Epis. Reg. i, 54. "Ibid, iii, 12. "Ibid, iv, 115. " Ibid. " Ibid, v, 17. " Ibid, vi, 139. " Ibid. 267. -' Blomefield, Hist, of Norf. x, 440. ^- Ibid. Ibid. " Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. (Lothian MSS.), 20. " Ibid. " Ibid. "• Dep. Keeper's Rep. vii, App. No. 94. " Ackn. of Supr. (P.R.O.), No. 94. " The figure is apparently female but is much like that of Christ as shown on the early seals of the bishops of Chichester ; there seems, however, to no nimbus. be 348
