A HISTORY OF NORFOLK up in Carrow Prior)'. In the poem Jane laments the untimely fate of her pet sparrow, killed by Gilbert or Gib, the priory cat. Jane in her wrath thus excommunicates pussy : — That vengeaunce I aske and cry By w.iy of exclamation, On al the whole nacion Of cattes vvilde and tame God send them sorrow and shame ; That Cat specially That slew so cruelly My litle prety Sparow That I brought up at Carow. ' The county Suppression Commissioners reported that they found eight religious persons in the priory ' of very good name by report of the country, four of whom desired dispensations and four preferred to continue in religion.' There were seventeen other persons who had their living at the house, two being priests, seven hinds for the husbandry, and eight women servants. The house was in very good repair ; the bells and lead worth ;^I45, and the movable goods £4.0 i6s. id. The site and revenues were granted in 1538 to Sir John Shelton.' Prioress Suffield obtained a pension of ;^8, which she was still enjoying in 1553. Prioresses of Carrow Maud le Strange,' occurs 1 1 96 Agnes de Monte Gavisio,^ occurs 1224 Magdalen,* occurs 1264 Petronel,* died 1289 Amabel de UfFord,' died 1290 Katherine de Wendling,* elected 1290 Beatrice de Hulm,' elected 1 3 10 Agnes de Carleton,*" elected 1324 Agnes de Lenn, elected 1328 Cicely de Plumstede,'- elected 1341 Alice de Hedersete,*' elected 1349 Margery Cat," elected 1365 Margery Engys,'* elected 1369 Edith Wilton,'* elected 1395 Alice Waryn, elected 1430 Mary Pygot,'^ elected 1444 Joan Spalding," elected 1472 Margaret Palmer,'" occurs 1485 Katherine Segryme,-' elected 1 49 1 Isabel Wygan,^- elected 1503 Cecily Stafford alias Suffield,-' last prioress,! 535 ' Skelton, Works (1736), 223. ' L. and P. Hen. Fill, xiii (2), 407. ' Blomefield, Hist. o/Norf. iv. 525. * Ibid. ' Ibid. ' Ibid. ' Ihid. ' Ibid. ' Norw. Epis. Reg. i, 39. " Ibid, i, 1 1 1. "Ibid, ii, 22. " Ibid, iii, 44. "Ibid, iv, 91. " Ibid. V, 67. 'Mbid. 143. •" Ibid, vi, 205. " Ibid, ix, 40. '» Ibid, xi, 55. " Norw. Epis. Reg. xii, 27. '" Hisi. MSS. Com. Rep. cxv (Lothian MSS.). -' Norw. Epis. Reg. xii, 101.
- ' Ibid, xiii, 29. » Falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.).
The first twelfth-century seal (3f by i^ in.) represents the crowned Virgin in profile seated with Holy Child on left knee, &nd Jieur-de-/is in right hand. Legend : — s' SANCTE MARIE lUXTA NORWICU "* The second seal, thirteenth-century (2i^ by I fin.) also bears the seated Virgin with Holy Child; but on the left is the prioress kneeling in adora- tion, holding a scroll bearing the words Mater D'Afem. Over the scroll is a crescent and a star. Over the Virgin's head a hand of blessing. Legend : — •i< SIGILLUM SANCTE MARIE DE KAROWE *' 14. THE NUNNERY OF ST. GEORGE, THETFORD There was an old religious house on the Suf- folk side of Thetford founded by Uvius, the first abbot of Bury St. Edmunds, in the days of Cnut. It was said to have been founded in memory of the English and Danes who fell in a great battle near by between King Edmund and the Danish leaders Ulba and Ingwar. It was served by canons who officiated in the church of St. George as a cell of St. Edmunds. About the year 1 160, in the days of Abbot Hugh, Toleard and An- drew, the two surviving religious of this cell, depressed with poverty, visited the abbot and ex- pressed their strong desire to withdraw. At their suggestion, the abbot and convent of St. Edmunds resolved to admit to the Thetford house certain Benedictine nuns who were then living at Ling, Norfolk. The bishop of Nor- wich, the archdeacon of Canterbury, and the sheriffs of Norfolk and Suffolk gave these ladies and their prioress Cecilia an excellent character, and the change was solemnly effected. The abbot assigned to these nuns, at the time of the transfer, the Thetford parish churches of St. Benedict and All Saints, his rights in Favertin Fields, and whatever else belonged to the abbey of Bury within the limits of Thetford. As an ac- knowledgement of this, the nuns were to pay yearly 4;. to the abbey infirmary. The prioress undertook to be in all respects faithful and obe- dient to the abbot.'* Maud, countess of Norfolk and Warenne, gave to these nuns in her widowhood a rent of tliree marks out of her mill at Cesterford, Essex, to- wards their clothing.-' Pope Nicholas' taxation gave the annual value of the temporalities of this house as £72 9J. 4d. " B.M. Ixxxiii, 38 ; Brit. Arch. Ann. Joum. xxxviii, .76. '■' B.M. XXXV, 248 ; Dugdale, Mon. iv, pi. xxi.
- Dugdale, Mon. iv, 477-8, where the original ac-
count of the foundation is set forth at length, from Harl. MS. 743, fol. 219. " Maddox, Hist, of Essex, 33. " Taxatio (Rec. Com.), 109. 354
