A HISTORY OF NORFOLK already in their patronage, a due portion being reserved for their vicarage.* The revenues of this priory increased so considerably during the thirteenth century that at the taxation of 1 29 1 it held the appropriation of six Norfolk churches and portions of the rectory of eighteen other churches in the same county, as well as four in Suffolk. The total annual value of its tem- poralities and spiritualities was then reckoned at;^i23 I2J. 5^/. The Valor of 1535 gives the clear annual value of this wealthy priory at
- ^3I2 14J. 4.hd. ; the gross value was ^^4 18 6;. 3^.
In 1 33 1 John de VVarenne, earl of Surrey, obtained licence for alienation in mortmain of the advowson and appropriation of the church of Gersham to the priory of Thetford.^ If the first Prior Stephen thus worked for the good of his house, the second prior of that name was equally thorough in working evil. He was appointed some time before 1240, in which year he wrote to Cluni excusing himself from attending the general chapter,^ and was a native of Savoy, a connexion (or at least a compatriot) of the queen. Presuming on the influence of his royal protectress, he turned the priory of Thetford into a house of debauchery, carousing night and day with his brothers Bernard, a knight, and Guiscard, whom Matthew Paris* describes as ' clericus monstruosus . . . cujus venter quasi uter in pruina, cujus quoque cadaver plaustrum oneraret.' At last in 1248 he engaged in a quarrel with one of his brethren, a hot-blooded Welsh monk Stephen de Charun by name,' whom he wished to send back to Cluni, whence he had only lately come ; angered at his prior's abusive language the monk drew his knife and stabbed him that he died before the great door of the church. The murderer was arrested and handed over to the bishop of Norwich, from whom the king, urged by the queen's desire for vengeance, claimed him, casting him into the prison of Norwich Castle, where he died. An alleged miraculous interposition about the middle of the thirteenth century had considerable effect upon the fortunes of the priory. The following is an abstract of the remarkable story, as told by Brame in the fifteenth century.^ An artisan of Thetford, suffering from an incurable complaint, dreamt three times that the Blessed V^irgin appeared, and told him that if he would regain his health he must persuade the prior to build a Lady Chapel on the north side of the church. When the prior heard the revelation he began to build a chapel of timber ; but the man persisted that the Virgin should be honoured ' Ca/. Papal Reg. i, 192. ' Pat. 5 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 15. ' Duckett, Chart, and Rec. of Cluni, ii, 201.
- Chron. Majora (Rolls Ser.), v, 32.
' Assize R. 564, m. 13.
- Brame's MSS. Corpus Christi Coll. Camb. ;
Martin, Hlit. of Thtford, App. xviii. with a fair building of stone. After some further revelations the prior set to work in earnest, and then a new marvel occurred. In their old monastery on the other side of the water there had been, in the frater, a wooden image of the Virgin which the monks had brought with them to their new church ; but in the course of time it had been removed to make way for one of greater beauty, and placed in a dusty corner. The thrifty prior thought that this old image would suffice for the new chapel, and it was handed over to the painter to be beautified. On removing the old paint from the head a silver plate came to light, and on its removal a hollow was disclosed wherein, wrapped in lead, were a variety of precious relics, with their names engraved on wrappers of lead. The more important of the contents were relics of the robe of our Lord, of the girdle of our Lady, of our Lord's sepulchre, of the rock of Calvar)', of our Lady's sepulchre, of our Lord's manger, of the sepulchre of St. John, and relics of SS. George, Agnes, Barbara, Vincent, Leger, Gregory, Leonard, Jerome, Edmund, Etheldreda, and parts of the grave-clothes of Lazarus. A letter was also found, addressed to Stephen the second prior by William, minister of the church at Merlesham, who sent these relics, transmitted from the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, at the request of Hugh Bigod and a monk named Ralph. When the relic-bearing image had been honourably replaced, the priory became the scene of miraculous cures. Brame gives the particulars of three, one of recovery of speech, and two of the restoration to life of children apparently dead. Pilgrims flocked to the priory, and as a result of their offerings a fine Lady Chapel was built on the north of the quire, the quire was itself extended forty feet, the frater was rebuilt on a larger scale, and five monks were added to the establishment. Martin says that in 1236 the abbot of Cluni complained to Henry III that Earl Roger would not suffer him to visit this monastery, although it was a daughter of his church of Cluni, and one to which he claimed to appoint the prior ; but that, after a suit,' the visitation was adjudged to the prior and the patronage to the earl.* Never- theless, as is proved from the many subsequent Cluni visitations, this decision must have been speedily upset. The report of the visitors from Cluni in 1262 sets forth that they made inquiries in London through Henry, sub-prior ofThetford, and Thomas the chamberlain, as to the condition of their house, and they stated that all divine offices and spiritual duties were properly carried out. The prior was prevented from coming in person, being hindered by bodily infirmities. The debts of the house amounted to 610 marks, the prior ' Albrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 106. ' Martin, Hist, of thetford, 1 19. 364
