ST. EDMUND'S COLLEGE
MUSEUM
NOT TO BE TAKEN AWAY.
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
D. MAURUS M. SERAFINI, Ordinis S. Benedicti
Abbas Generalis
Congregationis Cassimnsis a Primceva Observantia
Cum duo Censores pro revisendis libris deputati exaniinaverint
Volumen Secundum Operis, cui titulus : Records of the English
Canonesses Regular of St Augustine: a R. P. D. Adamo
Hamilton, Provincia nostra; Galliccs elaboratum^ nihilque in eo fidei
aut bonis moribus contrarium deprehenderint, Nos ui typis evulgetur
permittimus, si iis ad quos spectat ita videbitur.
RomcE, ex cedibus S. Ambrosii, Die i^ Decembris 1905.
D. MAURUS M. SERAFINI,
Abb. Geti.
Franciscus Aveling, S.T.D.,
Censor Depiitatus.
imprimi potest.
Gulielmus PR.EPOSITUS Johnson,
Vicarius Generalis.
WF.8TMONA8TBRI1,
Dit 19 Ainilii, I'JOO.
/ protest my complete submission to the decrees of the Holy See
wherever hi this volume I have given the praise of sanctity or martyr-
dom^ or related any occurrerwe that tnight appear to be supernatural.
The Chronicle of the English
AUGUSTINIAN CaNONESSES REGULAR
OF THE LaTERAN, AT St MONICA'S
IN LOUVAIN
(NOW AT ST AUGITSTINF;S priory, NEWTON ABBOT, DEVON)
A CONTINUATION
1625 to I 644
EDITED, WITH NOTES AND ADDITIONS
BY DOM ADAM HAMILTON, O.S.B.
WITH MANY RARE ILLUSTRATIONS AND PEDIGREES
SANDS & CO.
EDINBURGH: 21 HANOVER STREET
LONDON: 23 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND
1906
^K
Zo tbe Ibonour of
BLESSED THOMAS MORE, CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND ; BLESSED MARGARET
PLANTAGENET, COUNTESS OF SALISBURY ; BLESSED HUMPHREY
MIDDLEMORE, CARTHUSIAN ; BLESSED ADRIAN FORTESCUE
KNIGHT OF ST JOHN ; BLESSED JOHN FELTON
MARTYRS FOR THE CATHOLIC FAITH
BnD to tbe /iRemorg ot
YEN. ROBERT SOUTHWELL, SJ. ; YEN. THOMAS GARNET, S.J. ; YEN. GEORGE
HAYDOCK, PRIEST; YEN. JOSEPH LAMBTON, PRIEST; YEN. PHILIP HOWARD
EARL OF ARUNDEL ; YEN. WILLIAM HOWARD, YISCOUNT STAFFORD
YEN. MARGARET CLITHEROE ; JAMES RADCLIFFE, EARL OF
DERWENTWATER ; WALTER COLEMAN, O.S.F. ; HENRY
GARNET, S.J. ; JAMES LAYBURNE, AND OTHERS
KNOWN TO PUBLIC FAME AS HAYING LAID
DOWN THEIR LIYES FOR THE
SAME HOLY CAUSE
WHO WERE UNITED BY TIES OF KINDRED TO NUNS OF
ST MONICA'S COMMUNITY
THIS YOLUME OF ST MONICA'S CHRONICLE IS REVERENTLY DEDICATED
BY THE EDITOR
1501922
PREFACE TO THE SECOND VOLUME
The portion of the Chronicle of St Monica's, published in
this second volume, gives the annals of the community
during a period of nineteen years, closing with the visit
made to our Canonesses in 1644 by a future martyr, the
Ven. William Howard, Viscount Stafford.
Like the earlier part of the Chronicle of which it is the
continuation, it consists largely of sketches of Catholic
home life in England during that troubled period, the
aggravation of the sufferings of Catholics by the Civil War
being severely felt by the community, reduced to the direst
poverty by the failure of remittances from England. The
history of our old Catholic families, which the good
Chronicler, according to her own avowed intention, has
sought to illustrate, furnishes many a charming page in
this portion of the Chronicle, in most instances of deep
historical interest. The families of Musgrave, Berney,
Fermor, Draycote, Thimelby, Philpot, Jerningham,
Gillibrand, Tempest, Pole, and many others, are brought
before us, while those of Clifford, Bedingfeld, Throck-
morton, and others, which we met with in our former
volume, come again on the scene. It is almost startling
to find among the Sisters of St Monica's a daughter of
Lord Monteagle, of Gunpowder Plot renown ; and the
Worthington records made it necessary to include from
the manuscripts preserved at Newton Abbot a letter of
Charles Towneley of Towneley. The foundation of
Bruges Priory, a filiation from St Monica's, the siege of
Louvain in 1625, and the plague in the Low Countries, are
vll
viii PREFACE TO THE SECOND VOLUME
stirring episodes in this portion of the annals of St
Monica's.
There is ample material for a third volume of the
Chronicle, though after the year 1660, the finished copy of
the narrative being lost, it will have to be compiled from
several detached manuscripts, full of precious records for
the historian of the Catholic Church in England. But
the writer of this Preface cannot with confidence promise
himself the pleasure of completing the work.
The first volume was well received by the reviewers.
By one or two critics, whose opinion is entitled to the
highest respect, some exception was taken to the length of
the editor's prefaces, but the contrary opinion was ex-
pressed by so many, that after considerable hesitation he
decided to edit the second volume to a great extent on the
same lines. In doing so, he has only aimed at carrying
out more fully the purpose of the Chronicler, occasionally
inserting notes from the obit-book and other inedited
records, preserved by the communities of Newton Abbot,
Teignmouth, and Chudleigh, or from other sources not
easily accessible. To the same course of action he was
finally determined by the wish of the Prioress and
community of St Augustine's at Newton Abbot, to whom
he is indebted for the best part of the historical additions
contained in the prefaces.
It was also their earnest desire that the volume should
include some notice of the last of our English martyrs, James
Radcliffe, Earl of Derwentwater, their devoted friend
and benefactor. His wife and son were buried in their
church at Louvain ; the two Sisters Radcliffe of their
community were his near relatives, and the Derwentwater
chasuble, with the Radcliffe arms embroidered on it, is one
of the treasures of the sacristy in their church at Newton
Abbot. To gratify their wish, I have added a chapter at the
end of the volume, much of which is due to Mr R. D. Rad-
cliffe of Liverpool, to whom I am also indebted for portraits
and illustrations regarding the martyr and his family.
PKEFACE TO THE SECOND VOLUME ix
To the kindness of Lord Clifford I owe the beautiful
illustrations from the paintings at Ugbrooke ; to the
Plowdens of Plowden Hall, the portrait of Edward Plowden,
the illustrious Elizabethan lawyer, and some others ; to the
Reverend Mother Prioress of St Augustine's, Newton
Abbot, several views of their Convent, and a plan of St
Monica's at Louvain, besides others of antiquarian interest ;
Lady Petre and Mr Radcliffe contribute the Derwentwater
portraits, and Mr Gillow's valuable illustrations will be found
in the volume duly acknowledged. The chapter on the
history of the Gifford family has been in great part supplied
by Major-General the Hon. George Wrottesley. Mr R. D.
Radcliffe has furnished the history of the lords of Derwent-
water and other historical details ; Mr Joseph Gillow has
revised all the pedigrees, besides supplying many other
historical details. To Mr Leonard Lindsay and the Hon.
Mrs Stapleton I am also much indebted, as also to Mr
J. S. Hansom and to Mrs Tempest of Broughton.
The records of our ancient religious communities have
thrown much light on the history of St Monica's, for
which my warmest thanks are due to the Lady Abbess of
Teignmouth, the Lady Abbess of Syon, the Reverend
Mother Prioress of Lanherne, and the Dominican com-
munity of Stone. To the labours of the Society of Jesus
(especially have I to thank Pere Villaert, S.J.), the
Oratorians, and others mentioned in the Preface to the
former volume, is owing the possibility of undertaking a
work of this kind. Above all my gratitude is due to the
Reverend Mother Prioress of St Augustine's, and to the
indefatigable labour and research of a religious of the
community.
The portrait of the venerable martyr, William Howard,
Viscount Stafford, which served as frontispiece to our
former volume, and the two letters which he wrote to his
daughter, Sister Ursula, likewise reproduced in the same, are
not the only treasures which have come into the possession
a 2
X PEEFACE TO THE SECOND VOLUME
of our Canonesses through their connection with the martyr.
This volume, as I have already said, ends with his visit to
St Monica's. Although Sister Ursula's profession does
not come within the period covered by this portion of the
Chronicle, yet the wish of the community that some notes
on the Venerable William Howard and his cloistered
daughter should now be published, is one with which I
most willingly comply. For want of a more appropriate
place in the book, the remainder of this Preface may
worthily be devoted to that purpose. From the Louvain
manuscripts I have taken the following extracts : —
"Upon the fourth of September 1663, was clothed for
a nun Mrs [Miss] Ursula Howard, daughter to the Viscount
Stafford, whose father, mother, and eldest brother, and one
of her sisters were present at it, with a train of ten
servants. She had a rich cloth of silver gown and petti-
coat. The church was hung round, and all things ac-
cordingly, in great state, befitting her quality. The Arch-
priest performed the Office, and the ghostly Father
preached."
"Upon the 22nd day of September 1664, was
professed Sister Ursula Stafford or Howard, it being
the Feast of St Mauritius and his companions, whose
relics are enclosed in our High Altar. At her profession
were used vestments, cope, dalmatics, tunics, veils, etc.,
of cloth of silver, with a rich gold and silver lace of the
same, as her clothing-gown and petticoat were, of which
also were the antependiums of the three altars, with
vestments and veils for the two low altars. Before her
profession, she gave a jewel of diamond worth £50.
She gave also two pendents worth ^10, to adorn the
Monstrance of the Blessed Sacrament. Her portion was
;/^400 ready paid, and ;^30 yearly for her life."
" 1720. This year died Sister Ursula Stafford,
14th September." (Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy
Cross.) The "diamond jewel " pendent still adorns the
Monstrance used on high festivals at St Augustine's
PREFACE TO THE SECOND VOLUME xi
Priory, and the vestments of cloth of silver are still in
use there.
Venerable William Howard, Sister Ursula's father,
was the third son of Thomas, Earl of Arundel and
Surrey, and of Alathea Talbot, daughter of Gilbert,
seventh Earl of Shrewsbury. He was the grandson of
another holy martyr. Venerable Philip Howard, Earl of
Arundel, one of the noblest of Elizabeth's victims.
Viscount Stafford's integrity of life, his gentleness and
piety, and his unswerving faith and loyalty, were
crowned by a glorious martyrdom. The account of his
execution is given in Challoner. On his sixty-ninth
birthday he was arraigned before the House of Lords ;
on the Feast of St Thomas of Canterbury, the 29th of
December 1680, he sealed his faith with his blood on
Tower Hill.
Sir Francis Winnlngton began his opening speech
for the prosecution with the ominous words : " My Lords,
I look upon the cause of this day to be the cause of the
Protestant Religion." These words are the key to what
would otherwise be inexplicable in the judicial murder of
a blameless nobleman, on evidence which many of those
who voted him guilty did certainly believe to be false.
Winnington's threats alone deterred Lloyd, Protestant
Bishop of St Asaph's, from coming forward in favour of
the accused. While Lord Stafford was speaking in his
defence, Lord Lovelace rose and said : "I think I see
one of the impudentest things that ever was done in a
court of justice ; while we are trying a person for a
popish plot, I do see a professed papist standing in the
body of your house, and that is Sir Bernard Gascoigne ; "
who thereupon went out of the court.
Against this torrent, it was useless for the noble
prisoner to stand up for justice. " I defy any creature
in the world," he said, "to say that I ever used
one disobedient or disloyal word of the king, or did any
such act. I waited on the king that now is, in the un-
xii PREFACE TO THE SECOND VOLUME
happy war that is passed, when I was in a low condition
enough as to fortune, and my wife and family were
thereby reduced to great straits, for my wife and children
lived some five or six years [in the Low Countries] upon
some plate and jewels that we had, whereas, if I would
have come and been at London and joined with that
party, I could have saved my estate and lived quietly as
others did." His manly and generous defence made no
impression. To die he feared not. The brief and calm
letters written to his daughter, whereof our Canonesses
possess the originals, only exhort her to patience and
resignation since he "doubted not to obtain everlasting
happiness." But, he pleaded, it was his duty to defend
himself. He owed it to the memory of Charles I., who
had made him a peer ; to the honour of his parents ; to
his family, " for I would not have it said after my death,
my wife was the widow of a traitor." All was in vain.
In the mind of every man present was the thought :
" The cause of this day is the cause of the Protestant
Religion," and on this the speeches of the accusers,
without exception, did not fail to insist.
His letters, with an account of his martyrdom, his
last speech, and his last prayer : " Sweet Jesus, receive
my soul ; into Thy hands I commend my spirit," were
despatched at once to Louvain. If they were tidings
of sorrow, they were also news of gladness for the
martyr's triumph. Only three years before, his daughter
Mary, a younger sister of our Sister Ursula, had made
her profession as a nun at " Het Spellekens Huis,"
Brussels, and from the Dominican records I take the
following beautiful passage : " It is handed down in the
community that Sister Mary Delphina [the martyr's
daughter] happened to be reader in the refectory the
week of her father's execution, and Mother Prioress
Barbara Boyle, wishing to have the account of it read
at table to the religious, appointed another reader for the
occasion. Sister Delphina begged so earnestly to be
I
PREFACE TO THE SECOND VOLUME xiii
permitted to read it herself, that our Mother could not
find in her heart to withstand her. With wonderful,
almost supernatural, composure, she read the whole of it
through without betraying the least discomposure, but
next morning it was found that her hair had become
perfectly white. She was about twenty-two years old."
Concerning this heroic nun, I may as well add the rest
of the account in the Dominican records of the Spellekens
Convent at Brussels.
"Sister Mary Delphina Howard was the fifth daughter
of Right Honourable William Howard, Lord Viscount
Stafford, who was unjustly put to death on Tower Hill,
29th of December, St Thomas of Canterbury's day 1680,
Old Style, and of the Honble. Mary Stafford, Baroness
and Viscountess, his lawful wife. Sister Delphina Stafford
Howard had 3500 guilders (of dowry) which is all on the
land of her mother, the Viscountess Stafford, for which she
paid us yearly 240 guilders, which was due the 25th of
September, the which was continued by her son the Right
Honourable Henry, Earl of Stafford, until his death.
Sister Mary Delphina was an excellent painter and
miniaturist. The offices she held in the Convent are not
given."
It adds to the interest of the above extracts that they
were copied for this work in May 1901, by a descendant
of the martyr, a Dominican nun at Stone. From her
statement that Sister Mary Delphina was "an excellent
painter and miniaturist," I suspect that she executed the
miniature portrait of her father, preserved at St
Augustine's, which forms the frontispiece to our first
volume of St Monica's Chronicle.
Sister Delphina at first tried her vocation at St
Monica's, and in the records of our Canonesses is the
following entry : " Upon the fifteenth of September,
the Octave of our Lady's Nativity, entered the monastery
for a trial to be a scholar for the Order, Mrs [Miss] Mary
Stafford, with that condition that if she took not the
xiv PREFACE TO THE SECOND VOLUME
scholar's habit within three weeks she was to go forth
again. . . . Mrs Mary Stafford above mentioned,
having provided a scholar's coat and kerchief [the postu-
lants' habit], at the three weeks' end she had no mind
to put 'em on, but departed to Brussels and entered
among the English Dominicanesses, begun by his
Eminence the Cardinal of Norfolk, whose cousin-german
she was, and also his god-daughter."
On the other children of the martyr a few words will
be enough. His eldest son, Henry, Earl of Stafford, made
an unhappy marriage with the Countess de Grammont.
Among the legacies in his will are, " a hanging of green
velvet wrought by Mary, Queen of Scots," and "my
carpet, wrought in silk by our great-grandmother of
blessed memory, Anne, wife of Philip Arundel, Earl of
Surrey." Alethea, sister to Sisters Ursula and Delphina,
was an Augustinian nun at Paris, in the community now at
Neuilly. Their sister, Anastasia, married George Holman
of Warkworth Castle. Both were renowned for their
charities, and their stately home served as a refuge for
persecuted priests. John Stafford Howard, the martyr's
second son, married Mary, daughter of Sir John Southcote.
Their son, William, was the second Earl of Stafford. His
daughter was a Conceptionist nun at Paris. How the title
passed from Howard to Jerningham, I have told elsewhere.
It has been the lot of this illustrious community to have
been closely connected with our English martyrs from
blessed Thomas More to the martyred Earl of Derwent-
water. The editor cannot but account it his own good
fortune to have been permitted to publish their Chronicle.
To bring before the minds of Englishmen the deeds and
sufferings of their heroic forefathers in the long struggle
for the Catholic Faith is one of the most effectual means
for the return of our country to the inheritance of which it
has been despoiled.
BuCKFAST Abbey,
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross^ I905'
CONTENTS
PREFACE TO CHAPTER THE FIRST
PAGE
The story of a Warwickshire manor. Sister Lioba Morgan. Colonel
Thomas Morgan, the Cavalier, and his Carmelite daughter. An
extract from the Lanherne Chronicle. Portrait of Ann Preston,
Lady Clifford, at Ugbrooke. Markhams of Ollerton. A London rake
in the days of James L Sir Drew Drury, Queen Mary's jailer at
Fotheringay. Did he die a Catholic ? Extract from Abbess
Neville in Teignmouth Chronicle ..... i
CHAPTER I
From the death of Sister Mary Best to the profession of Sister Frances
Smith and Clementia Skinner, 1625 . . . . .13
PREFACE TO CHAPTER THE SECOND
The Lords of Ashby Folville. The Powder Plot and Lord Monteagle.
Draycote of Painsley. Cossey Hall. Jerninghams, Plowdens, and
Staffords. Abbess Jerningham of the Franciscan Convent at
Taunton. Laura Mary Stafford-Jerningham . . . .26
CHAPTER H
From Sister Helen Draycott's profession to that of Sister Paula Hubert.
The daughter of a Powder Plot conspirator. A nocturnal search for
a martyr's body at Tyburn. A wedded maid among our canonesses.
1626-27 ......... 35
xvi CONTENTS
PREFACE TO CHAPTER THE THIRD
The Anglican Bishop of Bath and Wells relates some strange occurrences
in Wells Cathedral. The Worthingtons of Blainscoe. Glorious
confession of Faith by four boys of the Worthington family. A
pursuivant hoaxed. The Worthington letters. Dr Francis Worth-
ington, and Thomas Tildesley, the Cavalier. Catholic home life at
opening of the eighteenth century. Extracts from the Dominican
archives .........
CHAPTER HI
From the death of Sister Bridget Wiseman to the foundation at Bruges.
A Protestant converted by the strange occurrences in Wells
Cathedral. Sir Thomas Leeds at Louvain. Death of Lady Lovel.
1627-1629 ........ 58
PREFACE TO CHAPTER THE FOURTH
Story of the Gififords. The tomb of Sir Alexander Gifford, the Crusader.
The Devonshire Gififords. Abbot Gifford of Buckfast. The Stafford-
shire Gififords. William Gifford, O.S.B., Archbishop of Rheims.
Gilbert Gififord, the traitor. Bishop Bonaventure Gififord. Gififords
among the nuns of the Louvain, Antwerp, and Pontoise communi-
ties ......... 70
CHAPTER IV
From the departure of the Sisters to form the Bruges Community to
the profession of Sister Dorothy Musgrave. The first prioress of
Bruges. Death of the sister of Father Henry Garnet, martyr, S.J.
John Musgrave's fight with pursuivants. 1629-1632 . . .79
PREFACE TO CHAPTER THE FIFTH
A romance of the " North Countree." The warlike Musgraves of Eden-
hall. The Catholic manor-houses of Norfolk. Pastons, Tyrwhitts,
and Berneys. Our Lady of Walsingham. The lament of Walsing-
ham. Hazlewood and the Vavasours. The chapel where Mass has
never ceased to be said. Sufferings for their faith and their king.
"The Good Lady Stourton" and Sir Edward Vavasour . . 91
CONTENTS xvii
CHAPTER V
From the profession of Sister Mary Berney to the death of Sister Grace
Babthorpe (Lady Babthorpe). The pursuivants at Mr Paston's
house. Death of Prioress Wiseman. Election of Prioress Throck-
morton. Sister Ann Vavasour. Death of the first Prioress of
Bruges. 1632-1635 .......
PREFACE TO CHAPTER THE SIXTH
Sister Mary Pole and her relatives. The family of Blessed Margaret
Pole. Sisters Anne Pole and Margaret Windsor of Syon. The
Termors. Richard Fermor, Confessor of the Faith. An account of
his sufferings from the Teignmouth Chronicle. Arabella Fermor.
" The Rape of the Lock " . . . . . .114
CHAPTER VI
From the departure of Sister Mary Pole to assume the Government of
the Bruges community to the end of the siege of Louvain. Louvain
besieged by the Prince of Orange. Flight of a portion of the com-
munity. Events of the siege. State of St Monica's. The siege
raised by the arrival of the imperialists under Piccolomini. 1635
PREFACE TO CHAPTER THE SEVENTH
"Our good friend, Mr Clififord," of Antwerp. Catherine Tempest, his
wife. The Tempest family. Their sufferings for the Faith. The
Teresians of Antwerp. Sister Anne Worsley, Carmelite Prioress.
The Belsons. The Barons Clifford of Holland . . .134
CHAPTER VII
How the Sisters, who had fled from Louvain, fared at Bruges. The
Rector of the Jesuits at Bruges. The Abbess of St Benedict's at
Brussels. Dominicans and Carmelites. "Our good friend, Mr
Clifford." 139
PREFACE TO CHAPTER THE EIGHTH
The plague. Sister Winefred Thimelby, "the best loved of all our
Reverend Mothers." The Tixall Letters. The Westons, Earls of
Portland. Lady Mary Weston. The Astons. A bride's dress in
the reign of Charles IL The Philpots of Compton. Sister Benedict
Coleman and her brother, Walter Coleman, O.S.F., martyr in
prison ......... 149
xviii CONTENTS
CHAPTER VIII
PAGK
From the profession of Sister Winefred Thimelby to the resignation of
the office of sub-prioress by Sister Elizabeth Shirley. Mr Richard
Thimelby's career. Imprisoned in the Tower. Sister Grace Bed-
ingfeld. The plague at Louvain. Death of Sister Mary Worthing-
ton of plague. Sister Frances Burrows. Singular events of her
childhood. An apparition in a Leicestershire country-house.
1635-1637 ........ 153
PREFACE TO CHAPTER THE NINTH
Lancashire Catholics. The Towneleys of Towneley. John Towneley,
the invincible champion of the Faith. Charles Towneley, the
Cavalier. Richard Towneley, the Carthusian Prior. Sister Chris-
tina of St Monica's. The Jacobite Rising of 17 15. With Prince
Charles Edward in 1745. Trial and execution of Francis Towneley
in 1746 ......... 170
CHAPTER IX
From the death of Sister Anne Bromfield to the visit to St Monica's of
William Howard, Viscount Stafford, afterwards martyred. Prioress
Throckmorton confirmed in her office for life. Death of the
Reverend John Bolt. Sister Mary Roper and the Roper family. A
succession of holy deaths. The Gillibrands. Arrest of a priest
when driving through London in the Spanish ambassador's coach .
APPENDIX
St Monica's and the last of the English martyrs. The Earls of Derwent-
water. Sisters Katharine and Elizabeth Radcliffe. History of the
Radcliffe family. James, Earl of Derwentwater. His trial and
execution. Dies for his adherence to the Catholic Faith. His wife
and son buried at St Monica's ......
Index
Pedigrees . . . . . . • . .at end
Crathorne — Tunstall — Coleman — Stafford — Bartlett — Thimelby and
Clifford — Vaughan — Haydock — Roper — Radcliffe
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
The Family of Blessed Thomas More. Engraved about 1730
from the painting by Holbein. Kindly lent by Leonard
Longstafif, Esq. ....... Facing title
WORTHINGTON Hall, LANCASHIRE. The Home of several
Nuns of St Monica's . . . . . . „ A i
Anne, Lady Clifford, Daughter of Sir Thomas Preston, Wife
of Hugh, Second Baron Clififord of Chudleigh. Died, 1734.
From portrait at Ugbrooke •••••„ 5
St Monica's Convent, Louvain. . . . . „ 13
Margaret Wake, afterwards Mother Margaret of the
Angels. Discalced Carmelite, Seventh Prioress of Antwerp.
Died, 1678. From portrait at Lanherne . . . „ 20
Anna Maria Barbara, Lady Petre, Daughter of the Martyred
Earl of Derwentwater. From a portrait at Thorndon . „ 26
Edmund Plowden, Barrister of the Middle Temple. Died, 1585.
From portrait at Plowden Hall . , . . • » 32
Eleanor, Lady Clifford, Daughter of Henry, Eighth Lord
Arundell of Wardour, and Wife of Charles, Sixth Baron
Clifford of Chudleigh. Died at the Convent of the Canonesses
at Spetisbury, November 24, 1835. F'rom portrait at Ugbrooke „ 35
Mother Margaret Clement's Mug and Dutch Beer Jug.
Preserved at St Augustine's Priory . . . . „ 45
Margaret, Countess of Cumberland, Daughter of Francis
Russell, Earl of Bedford, and Wife of George Clifford, Third
Earl of Cumberland. From portrait at Ugbrooke . . „ 48
Principal Entrance to Worthington Hall, Lancashire „ 54
Anna Maria, Countess of Derwentwater, Daughter of Sir
John Webb, Bart. Died, August 30, 1723 ; buried in the
Church of St Monica's, Louvain. From an old print, said to
be unique, in possession of Mr R. D. Radcliffe . • »> 58
Lanherne, the Seat of the Arundell Family, now a
Carmelite Convent ....... 70
XX
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Right Reverend Bonaventure Gifford, Bishop of Madaura,
Vicar-Apostolic in England. Died, March 12, 1794. From
an old print, engraved from portrait at Douay College
The Crucifixion and the Sacrifice of Abraham. Repre-
sented on a Silver Altar-Bread Box presented by Prioress
Throckmorton to St Monica's, now at St Augustine's Priory.
Date, 1537 .......
George Clifford, Third Earl of Cumberland, Born, 1558;
died, 1605. From portrait at Ugbrooke
An English Discalced Carmelite (Name unknown). Seven-
teenth Century. From portrait at Lanherne .
Thomas, First Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, Lord High
Treasurer of England. Born, 1630 ; died, 1673. From
portrait at Ugbrooke ......
Mother Anne of the Ascension (Ann Worsley). Discalced
Carmelite, First Prioress of Antwerp (now Lanherne). Wel-
comed St Monica's Canonesses during Siege of Louvain,
1635. Died, 1644. From portrait at Lanherne
Father Christopher of St Clare (Walter Coleman),
O.S.F. Sentenced to Death for his Priesthood. Died in
Newgate, 1645. His Sister was a Nun at St Monica's. From
an old print ......
Venerable Thomas Tunstal, Priest. Martyred at Norwich
July 13, 1616. From portrait at Stonyhurst
Right Reverend William Vaughan, Bishop of Plymouth
Died October 25, 1902 ; buried at St Augustine's Priory
Our Lord after the Flagellation. A painting of the
Flemish School, formerly at St Monica's, Louvain, now at
St Augustine's Priory ......
Anna Maria Barbara, Lady Petre, Daughter of James
Radcliffe, Third Earl of Derwentwater. From painting at
Thorndon .......
James Radcliffe, Earl of Derwentwater. Beheaded on
Tower Hill, February 24, 17 16. From engraving by Vertue
after portrait by Kneller at Thorndon ....
Cradle of the Earls of Derwentwater. With cypher E.R.,
that of the Second Earl, the property of Mr R. D. Radcliffe.
Deposited in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Facing p. 75
79
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138
146
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151
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195
20S
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
PREFACE TO CHAPTER THE FIRST
The story of a Warwickshire manor. Sister Lioba Morgan. Colonel
Thomas Morgan the Cavalier, and his Carmelite daughter. An extract from
the Lanherne Chronicle. Portrait of Ann Preston, Lady Clifford, at Ugbrooke.
Markhams of Ollerton. A London rake in the days of James L Sir Drew
Drury, Queen Mary's jailer at Fotheringay. Did he die a Catholic ? Extract
from Abbess Neville in Teignmouth Chronicle.
Three miles from the Benedictine Priory of Princethorpe in
Warwickshire is the little village of Weston-under-Wetherly,
with its old church, whose monuments, especially that of the
Morgans of Weston, are of interest to the historian of Catholic
England. Moreover, the chequered history of the manor of
Weston, now the property of Lord Clifford of Chudleigh, in a
singular manner connects our Louvain Cannonesses, first with
the Morgans of Llantarnam in Monmouthshire and then with
the Cliffords of Ugbrooke, besides other names illustrious for
loyalty to the Faith in the days of persecution under Elizabeth
and the Stuarts.
The first chapter of this volume of our Louvain Chronicle
tells us of the profession on the loth of August 1625 of Sister Lioba
Morgan, whose parents lie buried in the little Warwickshire
village, and a Morgan, a descendant of theirs, was professed in
the same community as late as 1867. The story of these Morgans
of Llantarnam and Weston reads almost like a romance, but I can
only give it here in outline.
At the opening of Queen Mary's reign the manor of Weston
was in the possession of the crown. How this came about is
not known. It formed no part of the confiscated abbey lands ;
from the days of the Saxon franklin Ulf, down to Sir Thomas
Newnham, who held it in the reign of Edward VI., the list of
1 A
2 CHKONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
lay owners is continuous. Anyhow, in the fourth year of Queen
Mary, she made a grant of Weston to Sir Edward Saunders,
Knt, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and to his son-in-law, one
Thomas Morgan of Heyford or Hefford in Northamptonshire,
the son of Francis Morgan, Esquire. This Thomas Morgan had
married Sir Edward's daughter, Mary, and both were staunch
Catholics. They had their share of suffering ; their two little girls,
Margaret and Mary, died in infancy (a touching inscription in
Weston church tells us how the two little ones and their mother
lie buried there in one grave) ; and they had to bear the brunt
of persecution. As late as 1607, when poor Mary Morgan was
an aged and childless widow, we find among the State Papers a
" Warrant for a grant to Richard Harris, gentleman usher, of
the recusancy of Mary Morgan of Weston " ; one example among
many of the way in which the upstart hangers-on of the court
fattened on the fines wrung from the devoted Catholics.
After his children's death, Thomas Morgan, anxious to per-
petuate at Weston his lineage and name, made his will, leaving
the estates to his niece, Bridget, daughter to his brother, Anthony,
of Heyford. Bridget Morgan's anniversary, by the way, is still
religiously kept in the suffrages of the community at Newton
Abbot. The will included a condition, that the said Bridget
must marry a Morgan wherever she could find one, or forfeit the
property. Morgans of gentle blood there were none in Warwick-
shire, nor perhaps in Northamptonshire. But in Wales, then as
now, any number of Morgans could be had for the asking.
Anthony Morgan of Llantarnam Abbey, perhaps a cousin, avowed
himself perfectly willing to take over the lands in Warwickshire
and wed the niece of old Thomas Morgan, even though she was
a popish recusant, and he, according to our Chronicle, was not
at that time a Catholic. Their union was singularly blessed, but
at this point we must follow Dame Bridget's example, and betake
ourselves to Llantarnam.
Llantarnam Abbey, a small Cistercian house, built in a forest,
about 2 miles from Caerleon in Monmouthshire, had been
suppressed in 1538. Fifteen years later it was purchased by
William Morgan, a cadet of the noble house of Tredegar and
Pencoed. The Welshman seems to have prospered in this world,
for when he died in 1582, the description of his estates filled eight
pages of abbreviated Latin. He was succeeded by his son
Edward, who certainly conformed under Elizabeth, and sat in
Parliament in the reign of that queen, but atoned for the sin of
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 3
his apostacy by his devout loyalty to the Faith under her
successor, till his death at the age of 89, in the year
1633. His daughter Sylvia became Dame Anastasia, O.S.B., at
Brussels, where she professed in 1608 and died in 1646, For
many a long year did Edward Morgan pay his fine of ;^20 a
month for recusancy, but the oddest event in his career is that
he coolly offered King James a present of a ^1000 to
purchase an exemption from taking the oath of allegiance, and
that the offer was accepted and a royal order made out that it
should never be tendered to him. All the papers relating to
this unconstitutional transaction are in the British Museum.
According to his own statement he was then (in 161 2) aged
about 63 ; had had by his first wife four sons, and had " six
small children" by his second. The royal grant was made 6th
July 1612, and though he speaks of his infirmities, whereby"!
account myself half covered in my grave," he survived for twenty-
five years. Anthony Morgan of Llantarnam, the husband of
Bridget, was of course his near relative, but in what degree I
cannot say. I find some discrepancies in the pedigree at this point
which I do not venture to solve, my own sources of informa-
tion being Dugdale's Warwickshire, and Camden's Visitation of
Warwickshire in 16 19. William Morgan, the son of Edward,
died a few months before his father.
This William Morgan won the heart and hand of the Lady
Frances Somerset, daughter to the Earl of Worcester. She
was one of the fair " daughters of Raglan," so called from their
father's residence. The whole family were converted to the
Faith by the saintly Father Jones, S.J., and William and Lady
Frances Morgan became the founders of the Jesuit mission in
Wales. A report from the High Sheriff of Monmouthshire in
1607 concerns " Mr Morgan the younger, of Llantarnam, with
whom the said Jones, the Jesuit, is very often, sometimes] for a
month together " ; and our Louvain records have the following
entry, "Anno Domini 1672, 21st January, departed this life in
the Father's (chaplain's) house, the Lord John Somerset, son,
brother, and uncle to three Marquisses '^of Worcester, respectively,
having received Viaticum and Extreme Unction. He was buried
in our church." Now we return to Bridget Morgan of Weston
and her husband.
Anthony and Bridget had several children. The only son of
whom I have found mention was the gallant Cavalier, recorded
in Bishop Challoner's memoirs. Colonel Thomas Morgan of
4 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
Weston. At his own expense, he raised a troop of horse at the
breaking out of the Civil War. But in the first battle of
Newbury, where the Roundhead pikemen inflicted fearful slaughter
on the royal horse, who had got entangled among the lanes and
hedges, the brave colonel was among the slain. His wife's name
was Jane Fermor ; his daughter Mary became a nun at Antwerp
in the glorious community of Carmelite nuns now at Lanherne,
founded by the Venerable Anne of St Bartholomew. Mary is
recorded among the benefactors of St Monica's, and in the
Lanherne records is thus referred to : " Sister Mary of Jesus
made her profession the 9th of October 165 1, at the age of 20.
She was native of Warwick in England {i.e., born at Weston in
Warwickshire), in the world called Mary Morgan, her father an
Esquire."
By the kindness of the Rev. Mother Prioress of Lanherne I
am permitted to insert here, a little abridged from the account
in their archives, the notice of Sister Mary Morgan.
" In the year of our Lord, 1655, deceased our most dear Sister
Mary of Jesus, in the world Morgan, of the most noble family of
the Herberts. She was heiress to the large and ample possessions
of her father, and as well for that as for the perfections and graces
of her person, was asked in marriage by the greatest Earl of the
kingdom, who proceeded so far as to interpose the mediation of
the king and queen, and afterwards turning entreaties into violence,
beset the house where she was, so that this noble young lady,
whom our Lord had designed for Himself, found no other way to
escape but by a disguise in which she quitted also the kingdom.
Her vocation to our Order was very admirable. She knew that
our observances must cut off and shorten her life, but that
knowledge she kept to herself, and with an unvaried fervour,
persevered in them till her last sickness, which was but three
days before her happy death, so that she died without breaking
the fast of the Order. Her obedience was most exemplary, joined
with an incomparable sweetness. In her resolution to endow our
community she had to overcome the solicitations of her mother in
favour of the baronet her nephew. She lived in religion only five
years, yet the examples of her virtue are never to be forgotten in
this community."
Such was the daughter of the gallant Cavalier who fell at
Newbury. His sister Elizabeth became Sister Lioba among our
white-robed Canonesses ; another sister, Mary, married Mr
Richard Middlemore, and after her husband's death, became a
Anne, Lady Clifford,
Daughter of Sir Thomas Preston, Wife of Hugh, Second Baron Clifford of Chudleigh. Died, 1734.
From Portrait at Ughrooke.
[Face page 5.
CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 5
Benedictine nun at Ghent ; Bridget, a third, married Mr Ralph
Sheldon.
All the heroic family are still yearly commemorated and prayed
for by the nuns at Newton Abbot. Another daughter of the
colonel married Sir John Preston of Furness in Lancashire, to
whom she brought the Warwickshire estates.
Now comes the end of this long story. Sir John and Lady
Preston had no surviving children, and at the death of Sir John,
his estates passed to his brother Sir Thomas Preston, Bart Of
Sir Thomas' two daughters, one married Lord Powis, the other,
Ann, became the wife of Hugh, second Baron Clifford, of Ugbrooke,
and the ancestress of the present Lord Clifford. The venerable
baronet quitted the world for the lowliest station he could find
among the servants of God in religion, and died a Jesuit lay
brother at Watten. A beautiful portrait of Ann Preston, Lady
Clifford, is preserved at Ugbrooke, and, by permission of Lord
Clifford, has been reproduced for this volume. In the Fermor
Chapel of Somerton church, Colonel Thomas Morgan, the brave
and saintly Cavalier, lies buried.
Widely different were the influences that surrounded the child-
hood of Sister dementia Skinner who, with her cousin, Sister
Frances Smith, was professed at St Monica's only a fortnight after
Sister Lioba Morgan. The mothers of Sisters Frances and
Clementia were sisters of the unfortunate Sir Griffin Markham.
London, in the reign of James I., with its undisguised and
shameless vice, its ordinaries, gambling-houses, Alsatian bullies,
and its streets disgraced by hourly brawls and frequent murders,
exhibited a disorganised state of society that has been truthfully
depicted by Sir Walter Scott in the " Fortunes of Nigel." Above all,
it was noted for the squandering to the last penny of many a
goodly inheritance. Among these reckless spendthrifts was one.
Sir John Skinner, whose father had been Lord Mayor of London,
an Essex man, married to a sister of the hapless Sir Griffin
Markham. Sir John seems to have tried to earn money by
volunteering his services to the Privy Council as a government spy
in the last year of Queen Elizabeth's reign, and to have been
distrusted by the Council. He was a Protestant, but intimate
with an unhappy priest, named Barwis, who was in some favour
with the Government, and employed by the Council in some
doubtful negotiations.
Lady Skinner's life was a sorely tried one. She had been
forced to marry an unprincipled rake, yet managed to be received
6 CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
into the Catholic Church, and eventually to bring up her children
Catholics. The story in the present instalment of our Chronicles,
of her heroic patience and charity, of her visiting the sufferers
in Bedlam disguised " in petticoat and waistcoat," and of her
daughter's early career, till her profession as Sister Clementia at
St Monica's, when taken with what we know of her London
surroundings, forms one of the strange contrasts of those strange
times. Further than this I have not been able to trace Lady
Skinner's connections. Gee's Foot out of the Snare mentions a
Jesuit and a Benedictine of that name as living in London about
1624. About 1580 the Rev. Mr Skinner, a priest, was cruelly
racked in the Tower. Dom Basil and Dom Placid Skinner,
O.S.B. of Douay, died towards the end of the seventeenth
century ; Dom Placid's sister, Dame Mary Anne, was a Benedic-
tine nun at Dunkirk (now Teignmouth). Whether these were
related to the saintly widow, I leave it to others to decide.
Memories of days long gone, of peaceful cloistered lives, deeds
of heroism on the battlefield, and tragic suffering, are called up in
crowds by a Latin inscription on a set of altar-candlesticks in the
possession of our Canonesses at Newton Abbot. The inscription
simply tells us that they are the gift of the noble Lady, Ann
Markham, wife of Sir Francis Smith, knight and baronet, equitis et
baronetti. A long line of holy daughters of the house of Markham,
from Henry V. to George IV., adorns the annals of our English
communities.
" Ollerton in Nottinghamshire, in the Forest of Sherwood,"
writes Abbess Neville of Pontoise, was their ancestral home ; but
at Cottam, Sedgebrooke, and elsewhere in that county, dwelt
branches of the family, the cradle of the race being the village of
Markham, between Ollerton and Cottam, whereof old Camden
says that " it gave name to the Markhams, a family very famous
both for antiquity and valour." Robin Hood and his outlaws
roamed through the glades of merry Sherwood in days when
Nottinghamshire was already ruled by Markhams, for in the reign
of Henry HI., Sir Alexander de Markham was Constable of
Nottingham Castle. But as I find Sir Alexander's grandson, John
de Markham, an eminent lawyer in the days of Henry HI., and
his descendant, Sir John Markham, a Justice of the Common Pleas
under Richard H. and Henry IV,, and again Edward the Fourth's
Lord Chief Justice Markham in immediate succession to Sir John
Fortescue — " The two Chief Justices of Chief Justices for their
singular integrity," writes Fuller — it is clear that they were as
CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 7
renowned for intellect as for valour. All I need add from pre-
Reformation times is that among the nuns of Syon, under the rule
of Abbess North, in 1428, I find Sister Margaret Markham, her
place of profession being between Sisters Agnes Wirsall and
Philippa Arundell. Only seven years before had the children of
St Bridget been settled in their home on the banks of the
Thames.
Sad it is to find, at the outbreak of the Protestant heresy, not a
few of the family drifting with the tide, like that Sir John Mark-
ham employed by Cromwell to persuade the Carthusians of
Beauvale to take the oath of supremacy. Thomas Markham of
Ollerton, apparently his grandson, standard-bearer to Elizabeth's
band of Pensioners, had by his wife, Mary Griffin, of the Griffins of
Dingley, eleven children. The eldest was Sir Griffin Markham, of
whom the iniquity of the times made a conspirator and exile. His
career throws light on the Catholic history of those days, else I
should not dwell on it.
In 1594, and the two following years, Griffin Markham,
described at that time as " a very discreet and wise young gentle-
man," was in Italy, staying in turns at Rome, Perugia, and Venice,
and closely watched by English spies. It was the unhappy time
of the revolts at the English College in Rome against the Jesuit
Superiors, and Sir Griffin's brother, a student of the College, was
one of the more active among the mutineers, so that it is likely
that at this date began that hostility to the Society, which, accord-
ing to his own avowal, was the chief source of the disasters of his
life. An odd story is told by Birch, of his falling ill in Perugia,
refusing to see a priest, and being in consequence arrested on
suspicion of heresy by the Inquisition. On his return from his
Italian travels, he was at once arrested by the English Government,
and for a time detained a prisoner in his own lodgings.
About the time of King James's accession we find him in close
intimacy with our old friend Anthony Copley, and with the priest
Watson. There is no need to dwell on the history of the
conspiracy which Sir Griffin avowed he joined " out of spleen
against the Jesuits." Copley at once accused his associate, who
was soon arrested, and condemned to death. Then followed the
grim scene of the respite on the scaffold at Winchester, con-
fiscation, and exile till death. His banishment was embittered by
the crimes of his wife Ann Roos. Lady Markham's correspondence
with Cecil, wherein she offers to betray Father Gerard into his
hands, has been published by Father Morris. She herself affirmed
8 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
that the Council had promised her husband's pardon if she could
inveigle Gerard to her house. Warned by Rutland Molyneux, the
noble confessor of the Faith escaped the snare, and the baffled
woman sought to hunt Molyneux to death. Four years later, in
1609, we find her charging him with recusancy, on which occasion
Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury, in a letter to Cecil, calls her "the
most pragmatical-headed lady in these parts of England." The
climax came in 161 8 when, as we read in a paper of Lord Carew's,
Lady Markham, wife of Sir Griffin Markham, did penance in a
white sheet at St Paul's Cross for marrying one of her servants,
her husband being still alive, and was to repeat the penance else-
where, besides being fined ^1000.
Sir Griffin seems to have lain under suspicion with his fellow-
exiles, of betraying their secrets to the English Government.
During his stay in the Low Countries, he chanced to meet Sir
Edmund Baynham, who had been in Father Garnet's confidence,
and his messenger to the nuncio at Brussels, and had thence gone
on to Rome. Fierce words ensued between them, their conversation
naturally turning on the Powder Plot, and they fought a duel, in
which Sir Griffin was at first reported to have been slain.
From this sad tale, only given as a vivid illustration of the
times, we turn to the glorious records of this heroic family, and
must say one word on the devout lady whose name is inscribed on
her gift to our Canonesses, Ann Markham, Sir Griffin's sister,
married to Sir Francis Smith of Wotton. Their daughter was
professed at St Monica's in 1625, and seven of her descendants
took the Canonesses' white robe, while others were religious of
other orders. Of the noble house of Smith-Carrington, who
resumed their ancient name of Carrington when Ann Markham's
son was created Lord Carrington, I shall speak hereafter. I come
now to a singular episode in the history of the Markhams of
Cottam, descendants of Sir John Markham, Griffin Markham's
grandfather.
In a letter of Mary, Queen of Scots, written at Fotheringay,
occurs a remark concerning Sir Drew Drury, Paulet's assistant in
the custody of the Scottish queen, whom she calls "far more
modest and gracious " than his stern colleague. Sir Drew survived
the tragedy of Fotheringay thirty-two years, and died in his looth
year, 16 18. As he lay on his deathbed, Lady Winifred Markham,
daughter to Robert Thorold, and wife of Sir Robert Markham of
Cottam, " a fatal unthrift who dissipated the family estates," was
in the house as the guest of Lady Drury. There was also present
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 9
one Captain le Gris, a bitter Protestant. Shortly after he brought
a charge against Lady Drury and Lady Markham before the
Council. According to this account, Lady Markham urged and
obtained from Lady Drury that one Mr Jones, should be allowed
to sit up with the dying man. Le Gris did his best, but in vain, to
prevent it, as he knew Jones to be a busy Catholic, and that his object
was to win over Sir Drury to that faith ; and he added that in his
anger at not succeeding, he reproached Lady Markham as a
Catholic, with the Powder Plot, that she replied it was a pity it
did not succeed. All the accused were examined ; Lady Markham
denied she had urged that Mr Jones should visit Sir Drew, and of
course denied all about the Plot. Lady Drury said Mr Jones was
a friend and really saw Sir Drew, but when he was past con-
sciousness. She did not think he was a priest, and did not think
Lady Markham was a recusant. William Jones, a Catholic, ad-
mitted going to Sir Drew Drury's a little before his death with
Lady Markham, but said she never urged him to persuade him to
change his religion, nor was there any talk of religion. He, as well
as two other witnesses, John Chard and Edmund Jerningham,
joined in exculpating Lady Markham.
Now it is impossible to attach any importance whatever to
these denials. As Father Morris says in the Life of Father John
Gerard, many Catholics in those days "considered themselves
justified, when their own lives, or those of innocent persons, were
at stake, in the use of assertions that were simple falsehoods in
the ordinary sense of the words employed," and gives many
examples. It was the usual practice before their tyrants, and
they looked on it as we do on the plea of " Not Guilty." My
own strong suspicion is that Lady Markham brought a priest
with her to Sir Drew's bedside at his own desire, else Lady
Drury would not have connived. For it was not denied that
Mr Jones was really left alone with the dying man, despite the
furious opposition of Captain le Gris. Was this a grace obtained
for him by the intercession of the martyred queen, in requital
for his kindness towards her ?
Among the Catholics whose estates were registered in I7I5»
we find the Markhams of Ollerton, and for two centuries Lincoln-
shire Catholics heard Mass, and hunted priests were sheltered
in Claxby manor-house, under the protection of the Markham
family,
Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Markham, eldest son of Thomas
and Judith Markham, was slain in the royal cause at Winceby,
10 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
near Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, on the 12th October 1643,
leaving a young widow, Ursula Clopton, whose four sisters were
professed together at St Monica's on the 29th of August 1622.
Major Gilbert Markham, the colonel's brother, was made prisoner,
already mortally wounded, in the disastrous rout of the Cavaliers
who fought under Sir Marmaduke Langdale at Chester, and died
in prison shortly after. Their brother, George, of Worksop Lodge
in Nottinghamshire, who died in 1670, had married Elizabeth,
daughter of Marmaduke Tunstall of Wycliffe in Yorkshire. The
remaining children of George and Judith Markham were Dames
Margaret and Elizabeth Markham, O.S.B., professed at Ghent.
By the kindness of the Lady Abbess of Teignmouth, I am
able to give from the records preserved in their community,
some details of Dame Margaret's career. According to one
account, she was aged 95 at her death in 17 17, though another
MS. makes her 100, and her own Abbess 105, in that year. I
have, as usual, modernised the spelling. First comes Abbess
Neville's MS. written thirty years before Dame Margaret's death.
" Dame Margaret Markham was daughter to George Markham,
Esquire, of Ollerton in Nottinghamshire, in the Forest of Sherwood.
There was another house called Querbre, belonging to their family,
which was subtracted from (them) for being Roman Catholics,
for which they underwent, upon false and unjust accusations, many
heavy penalties and banishment. Her mother was Mrs Judith
Witherwick Fitzwilliams, inheritrix of Claxby and Normanby,
and many other fair tenements."
In 1687 James IL ordered the Earl of Tyrconnell to obtain
from the Abbess of the Irish Benedictine nuns at Ypres, the
transfer of her community to Dublin. Lady Abbess Butler, a
near relative of the Duke of Ormond, left Ypres with some nun?,
and in Dublin met Dame Margaret and others from Pontoise.
At Whitehall, Abbess Butler and her nuns in their habits, visited
the queen. On their arrival at Dublin, the nuns were lodged in
Big Sleep Street. After the battle of the Boyne, their monastery
was sacked by King William's soldiers. Fortunately the abbess
and nuns had removed in time, and Dame Margaret returned to
Pontoise. Pontoise is now represented by St Scholastica's Abbey,
Teignmouth. We resume Abbess Neville's narrative.
" Dame Markham, in the year 1687, was one of those four that
went for Ireland to meet my Lady Butler and Dame Philpot from
Ypres there, some of ours from this community being desired by
the Lord Tyrconnell's lady, the Viceroy of Ireland, and that in so
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 11
obliging a manner as could not be refused, the desire being so
much for God's glory and good of religion as obliged us to send
some that might be of advantage for such a work, . . . Dame
Markham being our first ancient, and who had been several times
chosen Prioress, and many other chief offices, and discharged
them with zeal and satisfaction to all, was indeed more proper
for an assistant in this great enterprise, and accordingly was
dismissed with 3 more as Superior in their journey, and then to
surrender herself and them as humble subjects at the feet of my
Lady Butler, when she should meet them in Ireland ; which
obedience Dame Markham undertook with great humility and
alacrity, and on the 29th of July 1687, with abundance of tears on
both sides, took leave of the community, and began their journey
in a disguise for Rouen, there to take ship for Ireland, and all
things succeeding there prosperously, encourageth us to confide
that Almighty God and our Blessed Lady, with the glorious
St Patrick, and all the Holy Angels, will assist them happily, to
complete the great undertaking for which we daily pray.
" Since, having had a letter from Dame Markham of their kind
reception by both their Excellencies, and all the others, with very
promising hopes of a most happy settlement ; in the journey,
which was a very hard one, and of two months' voyage, most of it
by sea, in great danger and terrible storms, which cast them into
several havens ; and in that of Milford, poor Dame Anne Neville,
by a fall, got her death, and was buried there, dying most happily."
Dame Margaret Markham went in 1700 for two years to
Ypres. She outlived Abbess Neville and her two next successors,
and died under Lady Abbess Widdrington who writes as follows
in the Teignmouth MS. : —
"Anno Domini 1717, the 25th of July in this our Monastery of
Grace, Dieu of Pontoise, of the holy Order of St Benedict,
dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, Mother of God is happily deceased . . . our most dear and
saintly mother. Rev. Dame Margaret Markham, in the 105th year
of her age, of her religious profession TJ. . . ."
My space forbids me to add more than a few lines on the
remaining descendants of George and Judith Markham. Three
of their grandchildren were Canonesses at Bruges ; the Rev.
Gregory Markham was Professor of Philosophy at Douay College
in 1730; Robert Markham took the student's oath there in 1726,
and Dame Mary Frances Markham, O.S.B., died at Hammersmith
(now Teignmouth) in 1824. Her sister, Mary Markham of
12 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
Claxby, who married Marmaduke Tunstall of Wyclifife, and died
in 1825, introduced into England the Visitation nuns, who
afterwards settled at Westbury-on-Trym. Their parents were
George Markham of Claxby, and Mary, daughter of Bryan Salvin
of Croxdale, Durham. Mrs Tunstall had no children, and with
these two holy ladies ends this noble Catholic line. In the Church
of the English Benedictines at Ghent may be read the Latin
epitaph of the last Markham of Claxby, placed there by his wife
who calls herself " Mary of Croxdale."
\l -
1
i
i
i
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iu^^^
CHAPTER I
From the death of Sister Mary Best to the profession of Sister
Frances Smith and Clementia Skinner, 1625.
In the year 1625, the ist day of March, died Sister
Mary Best the elder, who came with Sister Margaret
Offspring the year after our cloister was established and
our Reverend Mother confirmed in her office and dignity
of Prioress. She was a good and virtuous religious, very
fervent in devotion even from her first conversion, and
when she was a Protestant she was devout in that religion.
Our Lord led her by the way of sweetness most part of her
life, having the gift of tears and a great zeal in the Divine
Office, insomuch that even in her later years she obtained
leave never to sleep after Matins. She spent most part of
the day in prayer, and had leave also to stay from recrea-
tion in her later years ; which solitude it seems our Lord
afforded her for a preparation to her happy death. He
Himself also made her daily more fit for Him by reason
that having so many years had comfort and consolation,
now in these few later years she suffered oftentimes great
dryness. But she remained constant to serve God so
diligently, and gave herself as much to prayer as before,
not doing like some who, when our Lord withdraweth
sensible consolation, leave their former prayer. Yet some-
times she would complain, saying that she feared that our
Lord withdrew His sensible grace for her misdeserts, and
would be so glad when she saw or perceived others to have
devotion, saying that she willingly afforded them that
which she wanted herself. Besides this. Almighty God
13
14 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
sent her almost continually some corporal pain, being in a
kind of consumption, which though it were not very great,
yet served to make her exercise patience very frequently.
She was very kind and loving to the younger ; nevertheless
would tell them of their faults, but after so good a manner
that they could not but be edified to see her zeal in the
holy Order, and take her reprehensions well. For she was
very exact in religious observances, and would fain have
others to be so too, exhorting them to go softly and carry
themselves irreprehensible ; saying that the exterior modesty
and recollection did help much the interior. In the choir
she was very vigilant that no neglect should be committed
in the Divine service, and if anybody forgot her duty there,
she was still ready to put them in mind of it. She had
such a zeal to put out her voice and spend her strength
in God's service that oftentimes we could have wished she
would not have sung so loud, because she drowned our
voices. Notwithstanding, if she chanced to be absent, we
felt the want of her for the help of the choir. Finally,
about a week before her death, our Lord it seems would
give her some relish of her future approaching happiness ;
for one night the young sister that helped her in her cell
expected her coming for to go to bed as she used to do,
and seeing that she came not out of the choir a long time,
went to her prayers wondering much why she stayed so
lonof. At lencrth in she comes, then kneeled down to ask
her keeper pardon for having made her stay so long, and
afterwards told her that she was in such inward prayer
with God that she knew not what time it was, nor how it
passed away.
After that she fell sick, so that one night at Te Deum
beine forced to sfo from Matins, within a week after she
was dead, taken with so violent a sickness as no remedy
availed to help her, but that she happily rendered her soul
to God, whom she had so fervently served, having been
professed almost thirty-two years, for she was the eldest
nun in profession that came from St Ursula's.
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 15
Upon the 7th of March, six days after her, died
Sister Mary Skidmore (Scudamore), a worthy religious of
many virtues and good parts, who had performed divers
offices very diligently and substantially, first being sick-
mistress (infirmarian), and after that procuratrix. She was
very strict and hard to herself, scarcely allowing anything
that was good to her body. She had a most sweet and
happy death, dying of a consumption which forced her to
desire release of her office of procuratrix, and obtained it,
because she was more fit for the sick-house than anything
else. There she continued some months, until she made
a most happy and blessed end. Her death was of great
edification ; lying long in her agony, she was noted to do
nothing else but make aspirations unto God. Being not
very old, she left the community with a great desire to
have preserved her life if it pleased God, being so profitable
a member, humble in conversation and charitable, unto all.
We had no other organist but only she, till Mr Johnson
came. She was twenty-nine years professed.
In the same year, the ist day of April, were professed
two nuns. Sister Mary Bendloes and Sister Margaret
Ployden (Plowden). The first was daughter of Mr Andrew
Bendloes of Burnthall (Brent Hall) in Essex, whose father
and grandfather were both judges, but he was a good
Catholic. Her mother was daughter to Mr Gage of
Bentley, a famous Catholic, whose good works of charity
and relieving of priests are so notorious as needs not
further declaration here. This daug-hter of theirs havino^
a mind to be a religious, she was sent over and directed to
this house by one Mr Hains, who loved much our
monastery, being one whom we had taken into our con-
fraternity. But she chanced to be brought over with one
who would fain have carried her to the Third Order of
St Francis, if the Providence of God had not ordained
that his desire was frustrated, and she received against
his will, and finally now professed. The other was
daughter to Francis Plowden of Plowden in Shropshire,
16 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
Esquire, whose father was the famous lawyer and a
Catholic, as also his son followed the law. Her mother
was sister to Sir Richard Farmer, and both of them good
Catholics, and kept always priests. This daughter was
her mother's darling, as being the youngest of her children.
It happened upon some occasion that she made a promise
unto God that if one of her daughters should be a religious,
she would willingly give her to God, especially this
daughter because she loved her best. Wherefore Almighty
God calling the child unto His service, the good mother
brought her over herself, being but 12 years of age,
and presented her unto God in this cloister where she had
some kindred, as the sub-prioress, and the procuratrix.
Sister Mary Skidmore (Scudamore). Notwithstanding
that this gift of hers was voluntary, yet nature played her
part on both sides, with abundant weeping at the parting
of mother and daughter, which moved much the standers
by who saw it. And so leaving her in the cloister, she
went back to England, having made this journey to visit
our Lady of Sichem, and to offer to our Lord her dearest
child, who continued a scholar about four years, and at the
age of 17 made her profession with the other.
In August the same year, 1625, upon St Lawrence's
day, were professed four nuns. Sister Grace Constable,
Sister Mary Gifford, Sister Lioba Morgan, and Sister
Ursula Gifford. The first was grandchild to the
Lady Babthorpe, her daughter's daughter, and was
received with her when she entered into the cloister, being
then but a child, and so lived in the monastery a scholar
until the time came that she was to be clothed and
professed.
The second, Mary Gifford, was niece to the two fore-
named Giffords, daughter of their brother, Peter Gifford of
Chillington in Staffordshire, Esquire, and also had entered
young into the cloister, and lived here till she was pro-
fessed. But of the parents of these two we omit to speak
farther, because they were of those that afterwards were
I
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 17
sent to begin the new monastery at Bruges, wherefore we
refer the same to their own Chronicle,
The third, Sister Lioba Morgan, was daughter to
Anthony Morgan of Lanterum (Llantarnam) in Wales,
Esquire, who was no Catholic, nor is it known whether he
died one or no, but her mother was one, being also a
Morgan, in Hefford of Northamptonshire. These her
parents died when she was very young, so that she was
brought up by an aunt of hers, her father's sister, named
Mrs Saunders, who was a Catholic, but living in London,
brought up her niece according to the world, being very
kind to her. Nevertheless, it seems Almighty God would
needs have her for Himself, and therefore ordained such
means that even in a manner against her own mind she
should come to religion. For, being about 15 years of
age, she had a great desire to come over seas to see an
aunt of hers who lived among the English gentlewomen,
which they then called Jesuitesses ; and she had a mind to
come to her only to learn qualities, but of religion she had
no thought at all. So with much ado she obtained leave
of her aunt Saunders to come over, and Mr Musket, a
famous priest, prisoner in Newgate, assisted her to come
over by one named Francis, a poor old man, in the com-
pany of other gentlewomen, among whom was Mrs Mary
Gifford, of whom we have newly (a little while ago) spoken,
and who was professed afterwards with her, as is said. In
this voyage they were twice crossed, once by the ship's de-
parture leaving them behind, and the second time by
danger of being taken at Gravesend ; but secretly advertised
by the fellow himself that had discovered them to the
searchers, he having a scruple of conscience, they came all
back again to London, and so got over safely. This
gentlewoman, named at that time Elizabeth Morgan,
thinking to go directly where she intended to her aunt
among the Jesuitesses, she was frustrated of her purpose
through the Providence of God, by reason that the fore-
named priest, her ghostly father, had secretly charged old
18 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
Francis to bring her directly to this monastery, being a
great friend of our house ; which doubtless he did through
the instinct of God, who had chosen her for this place. So
that when she least imagined she was brought unto our
cloister, and finding here Sister Mary Skidmore, who was
her cousin, and at the time procuratrix, she was content to
come with Mrs Mary Gifford, only to learn, but not intend-
ing to be a religious. Nevertheless, Almighty God, who
ever compelleth some to enter into His marriage (wedding-
feast), gave her at times such fervour as made her desire to
be a religious, but the difficulties which according to
nature she felt in the monastery made her twice to fall off
from her good purpose and say flatly she would go out ;
once when she was a scholar, and that temptation being
overcome, in her novice year it took such hold again that
she fully intended to go forth, but the Supreme Goodness,
who would have her for His spouse, ordained such means
that she wholly overcame the temptation and remained
constant. So she was professed, changing her name from
Elizabeth to Lioba, for the devotion which she had to that
saint, who was of our English nation.
The fourth, Ursula Gifford, being before named Joyce,
changed her name when she received the Sacrament of
Confirmation. She was daughter to Richard Gifford of
Costford in Staffordshire, Esquire ; her father and mother
were both Catholics, and suffered the ordinary persecution.
Her mother, being married before to one husband who was
not a Catholic, came afterwards into trouble by reason that
her husband at his death left her with a child, and she was
much molested about the christening of it, was put in
prison, and lost the third part of her jointure. Wherefore,
to be assisted in her troubles, she married Mr Gifford.
And here we will not omit to declare further the virtue of
this worthy woman ; she used always to sit up till ten or
eleven of the clock in the night at her prayers, and none of
her husbands could break her of this custom ; which one
time was apparently manifested to be pleasing to God,
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 19
for thereby they escaped the danger of being all murdered.
It happened that lying in a lodging or inn, one that was
a thief had gotten into the chamber where they were to
lie, and crept under the bed, expecting as it seems, when
they were asleep, to come forth and rob or murder them.
But she sitting so long up at her prayers, he was frustrated
of his expectation, and made to do hard penance lying so
long grovelling on the ground. By good fortune God would
have it that she setting the candle on the ground, he thought
she had espied him and came forth. She had before heard
his companions in the night call or make a noise, perhaps
for him to let them in, but he was fain to keep silence and
lie still, for it was not time to answer them so long as she
was up. Wherefore now seeing him come forth, she
thought at first it was some of her men that being drunk
had laid himself down there. He indeed, rubbing his eyes,
said he was overtaken with drink and so had fallen asleep,
but she saw it was not her own man, yet believed him, and
he presently going forth, she lighted him down stairs,
supposing he was some man of the house. But the best
was, that the goodwife of the house chanced upon some
occasion to be also up, and seeing him come down stairs,
asked who he was. She thinking to take the candle and
see, he soon got to the door, which he opened and speedily
departed away, and she knew then it was none of the house.
Another day she saw him in a place and knew him, where-
upon inquiring, they found him to be an arrant thief So
did Almighty God then preserve this good gentlewoman
from so great a danger, having respect to her prayers,
which she so long and devoutly made to Him.
Besides this, she was exceeding charitable to the poor
and all needy persons. She was never well but when
relieving some poor body or other, or doing some good
deed, so that she could never be at quiet longer than she
was dealing forth either bread or meat unto the needy ; yea,
she would not stay till they asked it of her, but when she
met with a poor child would ask it : " Whose child art
20 CHKONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
thou ? " and if she understood that it was some poor man's
child, she would soon give it something or other. It was
therefore impossible she should ever be very rich, for she
could not hold her hand from still giving of alms and reliev-
ing others. Neither did she spare herself, oftentimes rising in
the night when it was most bitter cold to go to some poor
woman's labour. Though it were the poorest creature, she
went willingly and without delay ; and having some little
skill in surgery, she refused not to dress most loathsome
sores of the poorest beggarly persons which came unto
her.
She had prayed unto Almighty God that she might have
one daughter a religious and one son a priest, which petition
was granted her, for this daughter of which we are now
speaking (became a nun), and one son entered into the
Society of Jesus and became a worthy man and good
preacher among them. Another also of her sons being at
Room (Rome) undertook a kind of religious course, for he
was made Knight of Malta, which are tied to perpetual
chastity and to defend the Church in the wars in their own
persons whensoever the highest Bishop shall require. Of
which honourable order was at present none of olir nation
but he, for both the Prior and other Knights of that order
in E norland in former times were then dead, so that it seems
our Lord would in him renew it again.
These were the fruits of that worthy matron's prayers
besides her virtuous life. For so fervent was she in her
devotions as to spend a good part of the day therein, be-
sides, what is said of the night, and did so accustom herself
to long kneeling that her clothes were still to be patched
within at the knees for to make them last. Now then this
daughter of theirs it pleased our Lord to call unto religion
by giving her a wearisomeness of worldly pleasures, and by
consideration what a fine thing it was to be a nun, whereof
she had heard something, and being virtuous, she had the
good luck to entice two or three persons to become
Catholics. Being so well disposed and not so much plunged
Margaret Wake, afterwards Mother Margaret of the Angels,
Discalced Carmeiite, Seventh Piioress of Antwerp. Died, 1678.
From Portrait at Lanlurnc.
[Face page 20.
CHKONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 21
in the world as others, nevertheless the small taste she had
of it made her to loathe it, and to desire of her mother and
friends they would help her to come over seas. Her
mother being so virtuous was well content, but she had
some difficulty about getting her portion with the executors
of her father's will, by reason that he being dead, she was
to have her portion out of their hands. Nevertheless, for
all that she came away, and Mr Standford (Stanford),
Sister Mary Standford's father, directed her, and writing
for her obtained the place in this house which Almighty
God also furthered by ordaining it should be so, for al-
though she was extremely persuaded to another cloister,
notwithstanding she remained firm in her resolution, and so
was brought directly hither by the forenamed old Francis,
who used to bring over gentlewomen for religious. She
was then received here, and at the age of 20 years made
her profession with the foresaid three nuns.
Upon St Bartholomew's day the same month and year
(1625), were professed two nuns more, Sister Frances
Smith and Sister dementia Skinner, cousins-german.
The first was daughter to Sir Francis Smith of Ashby-
follows (Ashby Folville) in Leicestershire, who was a
worthy gentleman, very pious and charitable. In his
house he ever kept a priest, as also entertained others
when they came. Those of his household were kept in
such good order that every one knew at all times of the
day what they had to do, as it were by obedience.
Sir Francis Smith married Mr Markham's daughter of
Sidebrook in Nottinghamshire. They brought up their
children very orderly and religiously. This daughter of
theirs had a long time a mind to be a religious, till one
time that she was asked whether she would be a religious
(when) she answered, " Very willingly." So she was sent
over by her parents, who were very glad of her calling,
with her cousin, Elizabeth Skinner, daughter to Sir John
Skinner of Comcastle in Essex, whose father being an
alderman of London, died while he was Lord Mayor.
22 CHKONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
Her mother was daughter to the forenamed Mr Markham
and sister to the Lady Smith, and married against
her will by her parents unto this Lord Mayor's son,
by reason of his great wealth, having ;!^3000 a year.
This estate of his had been lost through a suit in law
which the Earl of Westmoreland made against him, if the
said Mr Markham had not saved it, and thereupon got
this marriage concluded for his daughter. They both of
them (Sir John and Lady Skinner), were no Catholics ;
but she having been always well inclined (through her
mother's bringing up, who was a Catholic), endured such
a corisine (corrosion ?) of mind, that she could have no
rest until she got means to be reconciled, which neverthe-
less happened not before she had three or four children.
After that she was never free from great suffering, being,
as it seems, a choice soul and most dear to God. For by
reason that Sir John Skinner continued a rank heretic, he
would not permit any of the children to be Catholics, and
moreover was such a great spendthrift as, to say the plain
truth, he spent all his estate and left both his wife and
children not worth a penny, in great poverty.
All this was a great occasion to exercise the good
lady's virtue ; especially it grieved her that she could not
make her children Catholics, and this daughter of hers,
Elizabeth, being the youngest, she had especial desire
should be good. Wherefore, when her father (Sir John)
had made her eat flesh on fasting days or go to the
church, which she then willingly followed, she would after-
wards make her do penance for it when she had her alone
out of his sight, giving her also Catholic books and beads,
and making her say her prayers. At length it pleased
God (as it seems for the good of the children) to let him
die, and then three of them became Catholics, among
whom was this daughter of hers, which Almighty God also
called by His secret instinct. For one night she dreamed
that she was brought to judgment, and that she should
have been damned, which did very much affright her.
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 23
Nevertheless, she had a great aversion from beino- a
religious, but lived with her aunt Smith, because her
mother was in such extreme poverty that, joining devotion
thereunto, she was content to live by the work of her
hands, and after her husband's death led a most strict
life, tying herself by obedience to her ghostly father, a
Carmelite, who caused her to clothe herself from the neck
to the feet in hair-cloth, as also exercised her in other
mortifications. He hath made her to stand waiting with
her hands together like a young girl, three hours, all which
she did most gladly undergo, and had the said father in
high esteem.
Together with her poverty, obedience, and continency,
she practised the works of charity towards her neighbour
in most base and humble offices, going about to the sick
disguised, and serving them in a most humble manner for
the love of God, and going also sometimes even to Bedlam
among the mad folks in a petticoat and waistcoat for to
see what good could be done there. It happened that a
citizen's wife there being brought in time to her wits, was
by her brought also to the Catholic religion, and so this
worthy lady gained a soul there unto God. Besides these
many sufferings and contempts, she never wanted them of
her own friends and kindred, all which she bore with
invincible patience. Although she was naturally choleric,
yet scarce did she ever show herself to be moved, so great
profit had she made in virtue. Finally, amidst these
crosses, having had the joy to see her daughter come over
to be a religious, which she had so much desired, some few
years after in the time of a plague, going about in London
to serve the sick according to her custom, she got the
same disease, and after a life so rich of merits, she arrived
unto a blessed and happy death. Her body lay three
days unburied by reason that they durst not approach to
her for the danger of the disease, until it chanced that a
good man whom she had formerly assisted when he was in
great misery, having a son with him who was a priest,
24 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
undertook this business of charity, and buried her between
them, about which time it is reported that one whom she
had desired to convert had a glorious vision of her and
was thereupon converted to the Catholic religion, but in
respect that we have not full authentical testimony of the
said vision, we omit the declaration of it.
And now to return unto her daughter. She continued
for some years with intention to marry, and hearing of one
of her aunt Smith's daughters that she used daily to say a
pair of beads unto our Blessed Lady to the end that she
would choose a husband for her, she thought to imitate her
therein, but thinking a pair of beads daily too long, she
said the seven words of our Saviour hanging on the Cross
that He would ordain for her one according to His will.
Our Blessed Saviour vouchsafed Himself to choose her for
His spouse, giving her a mind to religion, which happened
after this manner.
There was offered her by her friends an old widower,
but a mighty rich man, who desired to marry her, and she
was also content, thinking surely that this was the will of
God because her friends were so well content therewith.
But she had a dream one night wherein it seemed to her
that the said old widower took her with him in great kind-
ness and led her forth into a green meadow, where there
was a pit digged, and that he without any more ado put
her therein. Whereupon awaking, she conjectured straight
how that was a foretoken he should bury her as he had
done three wives before, and therefore would by no means
have him, and then settled her mind to religion.
When she was fully resolved, she desired a Jesuit,
which lived at her aunt Smith's, to choose a cloister for her
which he thought fittest, for she had no desire more to one
place than to another, but was wholly indifferent. He
thereupon told her that he thought this house the best for
her, having known our monastery when he lived here at
the College, that was then at St John. So her coming
over was agreed upon, and my Lady Smith understanding
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 25
of her niece's determination was very desirous to send one
of her daughters over with her, which was the forenamed
Frances.
They came directly hither, but a little after they were
entered, this Elizabeth Skinner had a sister married to one
that was captain-major in the army, who being with child
of her first, desired very earnestly her sister might come to
Brussels to help her and for her comfort, which by means
of Dr Clement she obtained. So she, being then a
scholar, was fain to remain at Brussels a quarter of a year,
in which time Dr Clement took a great affection unto her,
and at her confirmation was her godfather, and caused her
to change her name to dementia which she did for his
sake.
But here happened a thing which we will not omit,
because it showed the great piety of the most noble
Infanta of happy memory ; it was ordained by Dr Clement
that she should have the Sacrament of Confirmation in the
bishop's chapel privately, and the Infanta also understand-
ing how she was entered into the cloister at Louvain and
came forth for the comfort of her sister, sent her word that
she should make haste to return to her cloister. The
archbishop likewise said the same, for knowing that at
that time Brussels was full of gallants, they feared she
might be enticed to marriage. But the truth was, she
lived very privately with her sister, and kept herself out of
company. So after the birth of her sister's son, she returned
again to our monastery, and was professed with her
cousin Frances Smith, then 26 years of age, and Dr
Clement was here to their profession, as also he had come
before to their clothing, and lived himself scarce a year
after, as shall be further declared.
PREFACE TO CHAPTER THE SECOND
The Lords of Ashby Folville. The Powder Plot and Lord Monteagle.
Draycote of Painsley. Cossey Hall. Jerninghams, Plowdens, and Staffords.
Abbess Jerningham of the Franciscan Convent at Taunton. Laura Mary
Stafford-Jemingham.
Six miles south-west of Melton Mowbray, there is a small
Leicestershire village, numbering scarce a hundred souls, called
Ashby Folville, It is a place of interest to Catholics, for its
manor-house was long a place of refuge for priests, under the
protection of the lords of the manor, a family known at different
periods of their career, now as Smith, now as Carrington. In the
manor-house was born Sister Frances Smith, professed at St
Monica's in 1625, and from Sir Francis Smith of Ashby Folville,
her father, are descended the four Sisters Hungate, the two Sisters
Anderton, the two Sisters Thwaites, among our canonesses, beside
several Benedictine nuns of Pontoise and Ghent, and others of the
Sepulchrine Order, while more than one of this devout family
appear in the lists of priests in the persecuting times. The family
vicissitudes deserve a passing notice.
In the formidable conspiracy of the " Lords appellants," shortly
after the accession of Henry IV., besides the chief actors, well
known to history, a great number of men of lesser rank were
compromised. Among these was John Carrington, a Leicestershire
gentleman, who, to escape the danger of losing his head, changed
his name to Smyth, which name his descendants at Ashby Folville
retained for the next two centuries and a half, of which line of
Smiths of Ashby Folville Sir Francis above mentioned was the
last. But in 1643, Charles the First created Charles Smith of
Ashby Folville, Baron Carrington of Wotton. He was the eldest
brother of our Sister Frances, and another of her gallant brothers,
Sir John, was killed in the royal cause at the battle of Alresford in
1644. His death must have sent a thrill of loyal emotion through
his sister's heart, but it was for her a terrible trial to receive in
20
S u
< -5
S
CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 27
1665 the news of Lord Carrington's murder. He was living at
Pontoise, his daughter, Dame Frances, O.S.B., being a nun in the
Benedictine Convent of that town, and was stabbed to death as he
lay in bed by his French valet de chambre for the sake of his money.
The murderer was taken and executed. Lord Carrington was
buried in the church of St Maclou, his monument being opposite
the second pillar on the right-hand side, the inscription recording
his firmness in the Catholic faith. His son John was a Jesuit ;
one of his daughters a Benedictine nun, another a Sepulchrine ;
a third died a convictrix at St Monica's, and the youngest was
married to Sir Francis Hungate. The second and third Barons
Carrington died at Ashby Folville, and with the death of the latter,
the title became extinct in 1706.
We shall meet hereafter with other descendants of the family
in the pages of our Chronicle. Here we need only mention our
canoness's sister Lucy, married to John Thwaites, whose two
daughters were professed at St Monica's, and whose son, the
Reverend Francis Thwaites, was a secular priest.
A strange childhood in its surroundings must have been that of
Sister Frances Parker, professed at St Monica's on the 14th of
June 1626. Her father, the fourth Baron Monteagle and eleventh
Baron Morley, is best known as the Lord Monteagle to whom the
mysterious letter was delivered on the eve of the execution of the
Gunpowder Plot, a letter which it is more than probable was no
mystery to him, but a prearranged incident to give colour to the
account of the affair already concocted by the Government. His
title of Lord Monteagle was inherited from his mother, the only
child of the third Baron Monteagle, a branch of the Stanleys, who
were seated at Hornby Castle in Lancashire. By her marriage
with Edward Parker, Lord Morley, the two titles were united.
Where Sister Frances was born or spent her childhood, our
chronicler does not say, but it was probably at the ancestral home
of the Morleys, Hengham in Norfolk. Infirm in body as was
Sister Frances, yet there was an inexpressible charm in her
conversation and sweetness of disposition that endeared her to the
community. For the last eighteen years of her life she was
bedridden, and must have offered up many and fervent prayers
for her father's soul. On his career we may add a few words, for
if ever the intricacies of the Powder Plot are to be unravelled, the
clue to them v/ill be found in the part played by Lord Monteagle.
His parents had conformed to the Protestant establishment in
Elizabeth's reign, but in his youth he seems to have been a
28 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
sincere Catholic. That he had joined the Powder Plot conspirators,
scarcely admits of a doubt, though at an early period of their
negotiations he had decided not to run himself into danger, and
his only mode of escape was by betraying them to the Government.
To make assurance doubly sure he renounced his faith, and wrote
to King James his desire to be a Protestant, a design which he
carried out in the year of the Plot. We find him on one occasion
with Catesby and Francis Tresham, his brother-in-law. As Father
Garnett was present, there could of course be no mention of
Gunpowder Plots, which none would have dared to allude to in the
Jesuit's presence, but there was talk about a rising of Catholics in
defence of liberty of conscience, which Garnett strongly dissuaded.
In course of conversation, as Catesby was vainly urging that the
Pope should be asked to approve, Father Garnett questioned
Monteagle, as if for the Pope's information, if he thought
Catholics had any chance of making a stand against the king.
Monteagle's reply : " If ever they were, they are able now, the
king is so odious to all sorts. . . . What ! will not Spain
help us? It is a shame;" shows how he was then
affected.
But one need only run through existing documents as they
are catalogued in the Calendar of State Papers, to see his con-
nexion with the conspirators. In February 1605, Thomas Winter
writes to John Grant, both being of the number of the Plotters,
that he has attached himself to Lord Monteagle, is going with
him into Lancashire (perhaps to Hornby Castle), and that
his lordship will receive Grant's brother ; in Winter's confession
he speaks of a message relative to the Plot, sent him by Catesby,
Tresham, and Monteagle, Monteagle's name being half scratched
out, half pasted over with paper ; Tresham's confession mentions
a former connexion between Monteagle and Catesby, in which
document the name of the former is again pasted over ; an over-
heard conversation in the Tower between Guy Faukes and Robert
Winter is reported where they express their hopes that Lord
Monteagle would beg for some of them. So likewise, Fr. Garnett
in the Tower is overheard saying that he knows the Lords wish
to save Monteagle, who had written letters by Sir Edward
Baynham, the messenger sent to consult the nuncio in Flanders.
Above all, Salisbury writes to Sir Edward Coke, directing him
to exonerate and praise Monteagle at the trial, because he was
suspected to have a hand in the plot, which he certainly had.
Then we have the conduct of Francis Tresham, Monteagle's
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 29
brother-in-law, always more than suspected of having betrayed
his fellow-conspirators.
I have no doubt that Lord Monteagle, by his apostacy and
his giving up his fellow-conspirators, earned the rich rewards
granted him by King James, and that he worked upon Tresham
to the same end. Tresham's sister was the mother of our Sister
Frances; she was a iirm and devoted Catholic, like the rest of
her family, to whom our chronicler awards in this respect a
just meed of praise. Sister Frances was born the year after the
Powder Plot and her father's apostacy. Her mother's influence
saved her from the corruption of her unhappy surroundings, and
her father, whose defection had been induced by the desire to
save his life, does not seem to have interfered with the Catholic
education of his children. The name and title became extinct
two generations later, in 1696. The Earls of Morley, since the
creation of that title in 1815, are a Devonshire family, the Parkers
of Whiteway near Chudleigh. Henry, Lord Morley, Sister Frances's
brother, figures among the Catholic peers in the reign of Charles
I. The widely-differing connexions of those who found their
vocation in St Monica's, is one of the most striking features in
its history.
The profession of Sister Helen Draycote, or Draycott, recorded
in this same chapter, serves to recall the memory of a devout
and long-suffering race, the name of which has passed away,
though its descendants are to be found in the Catholic houses
of Stourton and Mostyn.
Of Sister Helen, our chronicler writes that, " being a gentle-
woman by birth, yet having but small means and a strong body,
she was well content to be a work-sister. She was the daughter
of Alban Draycote, of Pensley in Staffordshire," not far from
Cheadle. Draycott-in-the-moors, now a village of no less than 400
inhabitants, is worthy of pilgrimage, by reasons of the long line
of heroic confessors that have dwelt there. In its venerable
parish church is the mortuary chapel of the Draycote family
with altar-tombs, a figure of a knight in chain-armour, an alabaster
tomb with recumbent effigies on the top and twelve children
sculptured in front, besides a monumental brass of William
Draycote, priest, who was rector of the parish in 1500. Camden
gives a sombre description of this " rugged, foul, and cold " moor-
land ; and in a note I read that the Blythe, on which river the
village is situated, "has Draycote, which gives a surname to a
family of great antiquity."
30 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
Like the Thimelbys of whom we have spoken elsewhere, the
Draycotes seem to have lived a quiet and secluded life in those
stormy times, to which the situation of their home may have
contributed. At the accession of Elizabeth, Dr Anthony Draycote,
chancellor of the diocese of Coventry and Lichfield, was im-
prisoned in the fleet, " and suffered much on account of religion,"
says Wood. Bridgwater says that he died in prison, but it
seems that a little before his death he was allowed to return to
Draycott where he ended his days, 20th January 1570. He was
brother to Sir Philip Draycote, who married Elizabeth Fitzherbert.
The hand of the persecutor weighed heavily on this devoted
house. Richard, Sir Philip's eldest son, was driven into exile,
and his son John is said by our chronicler to have passed twenty
years in various prisons. This John, by his wife, Elizabeth
Hosyer, had several children, one of whom, Alban, underwent a
long and harassing persecution. He was the father of our holy
lay sister, Helen Draycote. Her two nieces, Bridget and Elizabeth,
were Benedictine nuns at Brussels (now East Bergholt).
The name of this heroic family has long been extinct. The
heiress to the name and estates, Frances, daughter of Richard
Draycote, Lord of the manors of Draycott, Painsley, and Consall,
gave her hand to Marmaduke, Lord Langdale. Her grand-daughter
Apollonia married Hugh, Lord Clifford of Chudleigh who died in
1795, but as they had no children, Lord Stourton now represents
the ancient house of Draycote.
Brother Foley gives the name of Peter and Thomas Draycote,
temporal coadjutors, S.J., born respectively in 1620 and 162 1.
How they were related to our Sister Helen, I do not know.
But there were at least two other descendants of the heroic
Alban Draycote among our Louvain nuns. Philip Draycote,
Sister Helen's brother, had two daughters, Anne and Ellen. The
latter married for her second husband Sir Edward Mostyn
of Talacre. Anne married Sampson Coyney of Weston Coyney,
and their daughter Mary was professed at St Monica's in 1667.
There was also a sister of our Sister Helen who married, according
to our Louvain MS., one Mr Curtis, of whom the Chronicle
says : " Being a constant Catholic, for more safety he became the
Queen's pewterer, being before of that trade, which in these
disastrous times (of the Civil War) became his greater trouble,
for he was soon plundered by the Parliament, and was fain to buy
his goods again." A graphic account of his children's sufferings,
one of the most striking episodes in the Chronicle, will be given
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 31
in its proper place. He lived in Tower Street. His daughter
Catharine was professed as a lay sister in 1653. The Curtis family-
deserve notice. Thomas Curtis of Enborne, near Newberry in
Berkshire, had four sons in the Society of Jesus, namely, Fathers
Thomas and John, and Brothers Edmund and Henry Curtis,
laybrothers. A fifth brother was the Reverend Peter Curtis,
President of Lisbon College, who died in 1673. A sixth was the
father of our Sister Catharine. A sister of the four Jesuits was a
nun among the Poor Clares at Rouen. The trade of pewterer
seems to have been hereditary in the Curtis family. Sir Thomas
Curtis, pewterer, living in Broad Street, was, in 1557, Lord Mayor
of London.
Cossey Hall in Norfolk, the seat of Lord Stafford, and since
Queen Mary's reign the principal residence of the Jerninghams, is
associated with a crowd of memories dear to Catholics. Sister
Christina Jerningham of St Monica's is but one of a great number
of children of that ancient family, who during the last three
centuries have sought the peace of the cloister. Six of these were
canonesses in the Bruges Convent, the eldest daughter of St
Monica's, so that a few notes on the family history of the
Jerninghams must find a place in these records.
Their earlier history need not detain us. Suffice it to say that
Jernegan was the name of a certain Danish chief among the
invaders of East Anglia, and that we meet his descendants among
the Suffolk families of note in the twelfth century. On Corpus
Christi day in 1458, we find* John Jernegan, who was serving on
the Earl of Warwick's fleet, writing from Calais to his cousin,
Margaret Paston, praying her to send him word " how the matter
doth between Mrs Blanche Wychynham and me, and if ye suppose
it (the wedding) shall be brought about or no ; " then, as a matter
of minor consequence, he gives his cousin, "if it please you for to
hear such tidings as we have here," an account of the battle
fought on the previous Sunday with a fleet of twenty-eight Spanish
vessels, when he was made prisoner, " and forsooth," he concludes,
" we were well and truly beat."
A descendant of this gallant warrior was Sir Henry, the first
Jerningham of Cossey Hall (otherwise Costessy), and the loyal
supporter of Queen Mary. At the death of Edward VI., Mary
started from Hunsdon to London, but on reaching Hoddesden
(where the latest offshoot from St Augustine's Priory of Newton
Abbot forms the Community of St Monica's), she turned aside,
* Paston Letters.
32 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
and rode for Kenninghall in Norfolk, where she was joined by
Sir William Drury, Sir Henry Bedingfeld, Sir Henry Jerningham,
and other loyal Norfolk gentlemen, and two days later was at the
head of 30,000 armed men. Jerningham boarded the ships of the
rebel fleet off Yarmouth, and won them all to their allegiance.
" The mariners asked Mr Jerningham what he would have, and
whether he would have their captains, or no, and he said : ' Yea,
marry ? ' Said they : ' Ye shall have them, or else we shall throw
them to the bottom of the sea.' " Mary made Sir Henry a member
of her Privy Council, Vice-Chancellor and Captain of the Guard,
and gave him the manor of Costessy with several others.
Under Elizabeth he was less fortunate. The family remained
loyal to the Catholic religion despite some occasional lapses. In
1577 Bishop Freke writes to the Council, sending list of Norfolk
recusants, with a statement that Lady Jerningham, " being often
troubled with certain melancholy passions," has service in English
in her own house. She was probably Sir Henry's widow, Frances
Baynham. So likewise about 1645, according to Father F.
Sankey, S.J., a father of the Society was sent for to Mr
Jerningham of Norfolk (whom he presently describes as a knight)
lying in danger of death, and " reconciled that knight unto the
Catholic faith, who formerly for many years had lain in schism,
and frequented Protestant churches." He may have been Sir
Thomas, knighted in 1627, great-grandson of Sir Henry of Queen
Mary's reign, to whom we must now return.
His son Henry, by his wife Eleanor, daughter of William, Lord
Dacre of Gillesland, became the father of the two saintly youths,
whose cruel sufferings for the faith are so graphically told by our
chronicler. They were amply rewarded in their posterity. George,
the younger, himself a glorious confessor of Christ, took to wife
Helen Philpott, who rivalled him in the heroism of sanctity. One
of their children was our Sister Christina, three others were
Franciscan nuns at the Brussels Convent, now continued at Taunton.
His elder brother, Henry, the first Baronet of Cossey Hall, was the
father of Abbess Jerningham of the Franciscan " Blue Nuns " of
Paris, in which community one of her sisters was likewise
professed.
Our latest chapter in the Jerningham family history begins with
Sir George, whose wife Mary Plowden, was a grand-daughter of
the venerable martyr William Howard, Viscount Stafford. From
the date of this auspicious union the family has been singularly
blessed. One of Sir William's brothers was professed in the
Edmund Plowden,
Barrister of the Middle Temple. Died, 1585.
From Portrait at Plowden Hall.
[Facts pagt 82.
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 33
Society of Jesus, two of his sisters were Augustinian canonesses at
Bruges, and his niece, Mary Henrietta, was a Benedictine nun at
Pontoise. Three other of his nieces were among the Bruges
canonesses, and a nephew was a Franciscan at Douay.
From the time of Sir George's marriage with Mary Plowden
the family seem to have looked forward to succeeding to the title
of her martyred grandfather, and the happy accomplishment of
this desire has given us at the ancient Hall of Cossy a Catholic
Baron Stafford, descended from the Venerable William Howard.
Sir George William Jerningham was grandson to the above-
mentioned baronet. His claim to the title was recognised by the
House of Lords in 1825. Among his near relatives was the late
venerable Abbess of the Franciscan Convent at Taunton. Of his
living relatives it would be too long to speak ; both in the world
and the cloister they worthily uphold the ancestral tradition of
Catholic piety. But in Mr Gillow's Si Thomas's Priory may be
read an account of Lord Stafford's attempt to build the ancient
Castle of Stafford, where the foundations had been unearthed by
his father. What was built is a conspicuous feature in the land-
scape ; but the enormous cost of reconstructing a huge baronial
fortress of the days of the conqueror caused the work to be
abandoned in 181 5. The work was done, Mr Gillow informs us,
in exact conformity with the original design, " with a total disregard
of domestic comfort and modern requirements." It should be my
task to defend an antiquarian's enthusiasm, but like other good
things, it may sometimes go too far.
From the Pontoise MSS. the following note has been sent
me from Teignmouth; Dame Mary Henrietta Jerningham, a
daughter of the third baronet, was born in London, 23rd November
1736, and professed 29th May 1759. "On the 12th of June 1786,
at 8 o'clock A.M., the King's notaries at Pontoise found Dame
M. Henrietta Jerningham depositary at the Convent, who declared
to them that all the Dames and Converse sisters had just departed
to join the Communities to which their obedience from the
Archbishop of Rouen directed them, and that she herself by virtue
of the same obedience, was preparing to join the royal priory and
hospital of St Nicholas in the town of Pontoise."
With Laura Mary Stafford-Jerningham, afterwards the Hon.
Mrs Edward Petre, and in religion, Sister Mary of St Francis,
whose life, by A. M. Clarke, was published in 1899, I must close my
notes on the family. Concerning this holy religious, I may here quote
a passage from Lord Clifford's Preface, which faithfully expresses
C
34 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
what was a leading feature in her spiritual life. " The lives of men
and women with a kind of double vocation for the world and the
cloister, have always a peculiar charm. It is not always easy to
determine from whence it comes. But there is one gift which such
characters nearly always possess. It is the power of taking up
and doing the work that lies at their feet" Laura Mary Stafford-
Jerningham was born at Cossey Hall, 15th January 181 1, and
baptised in the domestic chapel, her god-parents being Lord
Clifford and Lady Knatchbull.
Eleanor, Lady Clifford,
Daughter of Heniy, Eighth Lord Arundell of Wardour, and Wife of Charles,
Sixth Baron Clifford of Chudleigh-
Died at the Convent of the Canonesses at Spetisbury, November 24, 1835.
From Portrait at Vghrooke.
[Face page 35.
CHAPTER II
From Sister Helen Draycott's profession to that of Sister Paula
Hubert. The daughter of a Powder Plot conspirator. A
nocturnal search for a martyr's body at Tyburn. A wedded
MAID AMONG OUR CANONESSES. 1625-1627.
Upon the nth day of October in the same year 1625 was
professed Sister Helen Draycott, lay sister, who being a
gentlewoman by birth, yet having but small means and a
strong body, was well content to be a work-sister. She
was daughter of Alban Draycott of Pensley (Painsley) in
Staffordshire, but a younger brother, whose father had
suffered much for his conscience, and was about twenty
years continually prisoner in divers prisons of England,
and at such time as this son was born he was prisoner at
St Alban's, and therefore had that saint's name given him.
Yet the imprisonment of that worthy man was not always
so strict, but he had leave by whiles to go home if he
would, so long as he returned again ; but finding such
molestations at home he was as well content to stay away.
His son Alban married a Catholic gentlewoman, and
suffered also very much for his religion, so that he was
fain to fly from his house and keep himself away for three
years, till the fury of that exaction ceased, in which time
his wife died and he but half a year after, when this their
daughter was but 3 years old, so that she was left to be
brought up by a cousin-german of hers (Mr Paston), who
was also a Catholic, and so she had good education ; which
gentleman at length sent her with one of his daughters to
St Benedict's at Brussels for to be a religious. Upon
which occasion this cousin of hers, being in the house,
85
36 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
would often talk of a religious life ; from the which notwith-
standing she had a very great aversion by reason they
reported to her such strange things of religious life as were
nothing true, making it seem such a miserable state as
though they had no good day in it, but passed continual
hardness and austerities. Wherefore, she began to pray to
God that she might never be a religious, for she feared
still to have a calling thereunto. At length another of her
cousins was to come over, also to St Benedict's, who never-
theless showed wavering. About which time one day as
she was thinking with herself of religion with as great aver-
sion as she used to have, suddenly there came a thought
into her mind that although religious life were never so hard,
and that she were to suffer misery all her life, yet what
matter was it, so long as after that she should go to
heaven ; and thereupon proposed resolutely to become a
religious whatsoever she suffered, for she supposed that
religious persons were sure to go to heaven.
Thus doth Almighty God, when He pleaseth to call a
soul to His service by His holy inspiration, sweetly allure
a mind though never so repugnant, and change it in an
instant if she will but consent to His divine call. After
this she was somewhat ashamed to discover her intention
unto her friends, because she had always showed such
aversion for a religious life. Nevertheless, she made her
mind known to that cousin of hers who was to come over ;
who thereupon was much confirmed in her own vocation,
and so it was agreed with their friends that they should
both come over together. Arriving at Brussels, the other
entered in at St Benedict's, but this one, by reason that
she had too small a portion to be a nun, they would not
admit ; (nor) as a lay sister, in respect that being akin to
the Lady Abbess, they thought it unfit to give her no
better place, and so refused her. Whereupon she thought
to have entered into the Third Order of St Francis, where
she hoped to be received for a nun, but the Lady Abbess
of St Benedict's, her kinswoman, was very much against
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 37
her going into that cloister. So she stayed in suspense
what course to take about some two months at Brussels,
till at length the Lady Abbess would needs have her to
come and see this monastery, and wrote for her to our
Reverend Mother for her admittance to be a lay sister ;
thus she came hither against her own mind, for she fully
purposed to return again and enter into the Third Order of
St Francis. But that sovereign providence, which or-
daineth all things as is best and most profitable unto each
one, had, as it seems, kept her for this place, and so coming
hither she was admitted upon the Lady Abbess's request,
having also good portion for a lay sister, being 2*100,
and she herself showing a desire of entering here ;
for she was by the grace of God moved contrary to her
former determination and otherwise had good contentment,
and made her profession at the age of two or three-and-
twenty years.
In the year 1626, upon St Basil, the 14th of June,
was professed a nun, Sister Frances Parker, daughter to
William Lord Morley and Baron of Monteagle. Her
mother was daughter of Sir Thomas Tresham, a good
Catholic, and one who was charitable and entertained priests,
so that she brought up her children in the Catholic religion,
although my lord their father was none ; who, notwithstand-
ing, at length after much ado gave his consent that this his
daughter Frances should come to religion, in respect that
she was crooked, and therefore not so fit for the world.
Which the Divine Goodness ordained as a means to make
her His spouse most happily for her greater good and more
honourable fortune than the noblest and richest marriage
could have afforded her. She had some desire to be a
religious from the age of 12 years, as also an especial
devotion to St Augustine, having most mind to be of his
Order ; but her mother and friends would needs have her
go to St Benedict's at Brussels out of kind affection,
because she being weak of body, they judged according to
human reason that she should have better cherishment
38 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
there. The said cloister was in greatest esteem for fare
and honour. So when her father had consented to give
her portion — ;^iooo — she was sent over to St Benedict's.
But it happened through God's ordinance that there
came over in her company two gentlewomen for this place,
to wit Sister Clare Copley and Sister Elizabeth Godwin ;
which did anew whet her former desire to St Augustine's
Order, yet notwithstanding for to content her friends, she
entered into St Benedict's cloister. But to show that
where God calleth souls they should be permitted to go,
and that He will not prosper any work that is not accord-
ino- to His will, it happened that she never had health in
that monastery, nor was able to undertake the Order or
perform the duties there, for all that could be done, and
although she forced herself to try. Insomuch as after
having lived there two years and a half, she was constrained
to come forth again. And yet she would not go into
England, but lived in these countries a twelvemonth,
deliberatinof with herself what course of life to undertake.
And it pleased God that although she might well be
daunted and fearful to undertake religious life, having so
feelingly experienced her weakness of body in a place where
most corporal cherishment could be given her, yet notwith-
standing by the help of divine grace she again resolved
courageously to try in this place, and so desired to be
received here, which was soon granted by reason of her
good portion, of which only ^loo was spent and all the
rest remained.
Now it happened at the time she was to come hither,
there lived with her a young maid, whom we had before
refused as she seemed unfit, who now it pleased God
should enter here upon this occasion. For when she was
presented again to be received with this lord's daughter,
we did not refuse her, so they entered in both together.
But they were not professed together, for the other was to
be but a converse or white sister, of whom we shall speak
more in her due place. Now, therefore, Sister Frances
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 39
Parker at the age of 20 years made her holy profession
upon St Basil's day, and Dr Clement came here to her
profession with other English, her relations, and this was
the last time that we saw our good friend the vicar-
general, for he died soon after, leaving to our church plate
and various things.
Upon the 4th of October in the same year 1626 were
professed three nuns more. Sister Margaret Lutnar
(Lewkenor), Sister Elizabeth Brereton, and Sister Christina
Jerningham. The first was daughter unto George
Lutnar [szc] of an ancient noble house, but a younger
brother. He undertook the course of law and was Doctor
of the Civil Law, but finding in time that he could not
well live thereby in England, being a Catholic, he was
content to become a doctor of physic, and so lived virtu-
ously, and brought up his children in the fear of God,
suffering the ordinary molestations of the Catholic religion,
and entertained priests with great charity. This daughter
of his, when she was a child began to have some desires to
religion, by this means. There lived in the house with her
a youth, heir to a great estate, and she loved him very
well after the manner of children, and would always say
that if she had not him for her husband she would have
none, but be a religious. When therefore they came to be
of more age, seeing plainly the impossibility to have him,
by reason that although she were of as good a house yet
her small means were not comparable to his estate, she
fully resolved to be a religious ; want of riches being often-
times the means for to make souls attain the greater
happiness both in this life and the next by undertaking a
religious course. But to make it more plainly apparent
that this was a soul chosen by God, it happened that
having one sister of hers that waited upon the Countess of
Rutland, which lady was a Catholic, as also the earl, she
therefore seeing it to be a good place, procured such means
as brought her sister also into that lady's service. So that
she lived there eight years in all, during which time neither
40 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
the haunting of the court nor the frequent sight of all worldly
vanities, could remove her desire to religion insomuch that
there was a gentleman who, when he understood her mind
to religion, being a worthy man and good Catholic,
became as it were a father unto her, and her own father
dying about that time, he of his free will gave her a portion
for religion, she having nothing of her own. At length
she came over and made her holy profession with two
companions at the age of 28 years.
The second was Sister Elizabeth Brereton, but of her
parents we omit to speak here, because afterwards she was
sent with the others to Bruges for to begin the new monas-
tery there. So we remit the same unto their own Chronicle.
The third was Sister Christina Jerningham, daughter
unto George Jerningham in Norfolk, of a good house, but
a younger brother. He suffered much for Catholic religion,
being very zealous, and even in his childhood gave a mani-
fest proof thereof, when being sent to Oxford to school
with a brother of his, older than himself, they had the
occasion in that place to suffer a kind of martyrdom for
Catholic religion, through the hard and cruel usage which
they there endured. For the masters and scholars of that
university are commonly most hot heretics. They, then»
perceived them not to be of their religion because they
refused to go unto their church and to eat flesh upon Fridays
and fasting days. Although they must not starve them on
those days for fear of their friends, nevertheless they would
before their faces put the ladle of their flesh-pots into their
porridge, and for other hard dealing, they were three times
a week sorely whipped for to make them forsake their
religion. They had such blows given them on the head
that his brother became deaf thereby, and himself doth
even to this day bear in his head the scars of the wounds
and dashes made therein for their constancy in religion.
All this they suffered willingly for Christ's sake ; having
read what the martyrs had suffered, they would not complain
to their father of this entertainment, but bore it out with
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 41
patience, until the bunches and gashes on their heads
discovered the same, whereupon their father took them
away from thence, and he suffered this, being but about
lo years old. Afterwards coming to the age, he married
Sir George Philpott's daughter, a worthy gentlewoman, na
less zealous and fervent in religion than himself, insomuch
that she once ventured in person with some other
companions to go to Tyborne in the night and dig up a
martyr's body that had been newly executed, and being
come into the city again they were taken by the watch ;
but she made an excuse that she had been at a woman's
labour. They would not believe her unless she showed
them the house where she had been, whereupon she said
it was sufficient if they sent one of their men with her. So
they were content, and when she had the man she gave
him a piece of gold to go and say all was well ; so by this
she escaped that danger.
This worthy woman did other memorable deeds in the
conversion of souls. One was a very rich gentlewoman, a
friend of hers and a great Puritan, with whom she conferred
so effectually of Catholic religion, that in the end she was
wholly converted, having been before so repugnant that
she said plainly to her : " Mrs Jerningham, I know not what
the reason is ; I had rather see the devil than see you, and
yet I cannot forbear still to confer with you, although me-
thinks I would myself make a better religion than either
you or I have."
But so did Almighty God concur in this business, to
make her, for all that aversion, at length to embrace the
truth, and afterwards she became a very good and devout
Catholic ; for, being exceeding wealthy, and having but
one child, she did great almsdeeds and works of charity,
sending good relief to the prisoners in Newgate, and to
priests. Her own father also she brought to resolve upon
his reconciliation to the Church, having before lived a
schismatic, which happened thus :
When this worthy woman had passed her days in pious
42 CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
works and borne ten children, it pleased our Lord by one
week's sickness to call her unto Himself, and at that time her
father coming in to see her, she, omitting all other worldly
matters whereof she might well have spoken, said thus
unto him : " O father, remember your soul " ; which words
did so strike him to the heart, that after that he could not
be at quiet until he got a priest and was reconciled, it being
then high time, for he lived only half a year after.- She
lying then on her deathbed, desired her husband for her
last petition, that although divers offered to take his
children in England, yet after her death he would come over
seas and carry with him all his children, leaving only a
little one in England, who was too young to go. For she
doubted not, God would provide for them all, although they
had small means, as indeed He did ; and so foretelling she
should die such an hour, made a blessed end.
But to return again to her husband : he being a zealous
Catholic did oftentimes send over gentlewomen to be
religious, and other good deeds, whereby he came to be so
watched of the persecutors and pursuivants, that they
sought for him as they did for priests, and when they came
to search his house he was fain to hide himself or else fly
from home aforehand. But one time upon a Sunday
morning, he got the pursuivants before anybody was aware,
and as their manner is, first went up to the higher rooms
where they suppose the priest or Mass commonly to be ; by
the way locking up the rooms which stood aside. It
chanced that the priest was at his meditation, and Mr
Jerningham then also at home in a room at his prayers,
where he heard the pursuivants go up by him. Being
much afeared and thinking surely to be taken, he com-
mendeth himself to God, and there came a thought into
his mind, that he should unlock the door while they were
gone up and get away. He did so, it being a spring lock
which might be opened on the inside, which the pursuivants
thought not of, and so he went directly out of the house
and escaped their hands. The priest also was saved, for
CHEOXICLE OF ST MONICAS 43
while the pursui\-ants were busy to look and search for the
master of the house, he made shift to go into his secret
place ; and so they lost their labour and found nothing.
At another time also it chanced that the pursuivants
came, and found the altar ready dressed, and the priest had
put off his band for to vest himself to say Mass. Where-
upon they took him away and brought him before the
Bishop of Canterbury, where evidence was given by the
pursuivants that they found all things ready, and the
priest wanted nothing but his band to say Mass, which
they would have him swear was true. Whereupon he
swore it was false, as he might well do. For indeed he
was not further ready to say Mass but that his band was
off, being quite contrary to that which they said ; and so
behaved himself with such wisdom and dexterity that he
was dismissed, and the household escaped that danger.
Thus did Almighty God preser\'e and keep His ser\-ants
from the snares o( their enemies, through His careful
providence and goodness.
Now his wife beinsj dead, this oood o-entleman was
desirous to perform her will, and therefore came over seas,
and brought with him four daughters and two sons, and so
well did our Lord provide, that they were almost all placed
in religion or in colleges. One o{ his daughters was
admitted here, where she lived a year a scholar, and after
had a mind to the Third Order of St Francis, where two of
her sisters were placed, and so went thither to them. In
the meantime, this Mr Jerningham taking upon himself to
be our agent for England, and to labour in our aft;iirs
there, our Reverend Mother was desirous to please him.
and to take another of his daughters in place ot her that
was gone forth, wherefore she sent for this one who then
lived at Brussels, who, having more mind to the Third
Order of St Francis, where her sisters were, was at first
unwillincr to come. But afterwards she had a groat
scruple of conscience, because it seemed unto her that she
resisted God, Who of Himself without any desire of hers
44 CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
called her unto this Order. Herein she was also furthered
by going to the church at Brussels of our Order, named
Jericho, where Almighty God had given her many good
inspirations. Wherefore she fully resolved to come hither
if she might be admitted, and so wrote very earnest letters
to our Mother and obtained her request by showing how
sorry she was that she had not taken her first offer. So
about the age of 17 years she made her holy profession
upon St Francis's day, changing her name against her
own mind, to conform herself to the will of others, who
were loth to have so many of the same name in the house,
so she took Christina.
The same year 1626 died most happily Sister Bridget
Gifford, who was one singularly chosen by Almighty God,
as we may truly say, in a little time to run a great course
of fervent acts, and consequently to gain an inestimable
heap of merits in endless glory ; for, as we have before
touched, being in the world she was given sometimes to
vanity, but our Lord had such a care of her as to assist
her still with His holy inspirations. Having been so far
overseen as to marry a fine gentleman, though a younger
son that had nothing, without the knowledge of her
friends, Almighty God ordained such occasions that, for
fear of her father, they durst not without his consent con-
summate the marriage, and our Lord sent her also a
great sickness which brought her unto death's door,
whereby she fully resolved to become a religious ; and she
lived after this marriage two years before she came over
seas with purpose to be a religious, so that he could
never prevail to make her change her mind, nor durst he
openly claim her. She got a desire to our house upon
this motive, because she heard that it began only with five
shillings. She thought that because Almighty God had
erected so great a work with so small human means, it
must needs prosper well.
After her entry into this monastery, having, as it is
said, refused the monastery of Brussels, although she was
Mother Margaret Clement's Mug and Dutch Beer Jug,
Preserved at St Augustine's Prioiy.
(" Their beer exceeding svaaM."— Chronicle, Vol. I., p. 35.)
[ Face page 45
CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 45
sent thither by some that favoured most that place, she
settled herself here presently unto an extraordinary course
of mortification. For in everything she sought to do
what went against her, insomuch, that if obedience had
not restrained her, she would have passed the bounds of
discretion. She was one of those novices of whom St
Bernard speaketh. This course she continued, still doino-
all that might make her to be contemned and despised, so
that when anybody chid her or gave her a chapter, that
was it which she would have. Wherefore, oftentimes the
sisters would forbear to chide, because they knew that she
loved it so well ; although we must not think but that
according to nature she truly felt it, as the colour rising in
her face manifested well when she did such mortifications
to be evil thought of. In her diet there was no limit to
her mortifications but only obedience.
Nevertheless, she had so many inventions to mortify
herself, that it was impossible her superiors could restrain
her sufficiently for her health. Yea, God Almighty
ordained that she was permitted some things which were
apparently hard enough to nature. She got a little pot to
drink in, which was so small as it scarcely held one good
draught, and would not take more at a meal than that,
though she were never so dry. In the winter-time she never
came near the fire if that obedience had not forced her, and
although she warmed herself awhile sometimes, yet she
found means enough to suffer cold besides. In the night,
when it was bitter frost, the sister that came to wake (to)
Matins, found her presently rising so soon as she heard
her coming in, and without any more ado, out of her bed
upon the ground. Having once heard that one at the
grate had said something in her commendation, she
devised with herself a means how she might seem con-
temptible enough. Presently to her mistress she goes,
and would needs have leave to go to the grate so earnestly,
that her mistress, knowing she was never willing to go
there, wondered. Whereupon she began to mistrust some
46 CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
mortification was in the wind, and finding out what it was,
she would not let her go by any means.
It were impossible to declare all the inventions she had to
mortify herself; but we must be content to say briefly once
for all, that there are few to be found like her in this.
Although some condemned her for it, yet they may well
confess their own frailty, being unable to imitate her.
Wherefore, to come to some conclusion where I scarce
find any : at length, having borne out a lingering sickness
a loner time with secresy, for fear of having relaxation in
anything else, although by whiles it was noted she was not
well, yet she bore it out again with a courage, until at last,
upon the eve of our Lady's presentation, she could no
more, but went in great haste out (of choir) as one ready
to give up the ghost. And it seems herself thought she
was come to the last, for she cried aloud being out of the
choir. In manus tuas, D online ; and thus she was led
presently into the infirmary, and the advice of a doctor
besides our own was had about her, who said that her
vital spirits were spent and that she would die, as indeed it
proved true. Neither in the time of her last sickness did
she omit to mortify herself, for she was so accustomed
thereto that she could not be brought from it. It seems
that was the way she was to run for to gain in a short
time great glory. Oftentimes being through the vehe-
mency of her pains, very thirsty, she would not ask for
drink until she could not possibly suffer more, and we
marked that as soon as she had taken drink she was
better. Besides this and suchlike mortifications and
suffering which she made to herself. Almighty God did
also concur of His part to give her suffering, permitting
her to be tempted and tried with inward temptations and
afflictions but assisted her through all, so that after about
three weeks of this her lying sick to bed, she made a
happy and blessed end, and said a little before her end
that the devil threatened her she should be damned, but
our Blessed Lady said she should go to heaven without
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 47
purgatory, and so died happily, when she had been only
five years professed, in the 29th year of her age.
In the year of our Lord, 1627, was professed a white
sister or converse named Paula Hubert, daughter unto
James Hubert in Norfolk, who was his father's second
son, so had no inheritance but what an uncle of his left
him. This gentleman was no Catholic, his grandfather,
Sir James Hubert, was a Catholic, and left behind him the
fame to have built churches. But to return to this
forenamed grandchild of his (he suffered much for his
conscience, being many years kept in hold, and finally died
in prison). This his daughter came over and was received
here, but finding herself very weak, and not apt to learn
Latin, she would not undertake any more than to be a
white sister, and after two years' probation she made her
profession upon St Romuald's day, changing her name
from Elizabeth to Paula (for the devotion she had to St
Paul the Apostle) at 27 years of age.
PREFACE TO CHAPTER THE THIRD
The Anglican Bishop of Bath and Wells relates some strange occurrences in
Wells Cathedral. The Worthingtons of Blainscoe. Glorious confession of
Faith by four boys of the Worthington family. A pursuivant hoaxed. The
Worthington letters. Dr Francis Worthington and Thomas Tildesley, the
Cavalier. Catholic home life at the opening of the eighteenth century. Extract
from the Dominican archives.
The ensuing chapter of our Chronicle contains the narrative
by a Catholic eye-witness of a very singular occurrence in Wells
Cathedral, which occasioned the conversion of Mrs More our
Sister Anne More's mother. Sister More was professed in 1628.
The strange circumstance was that while a preacher was declaim-
ing against the Blessed Virgin in such a way as to call forth a
rebuke from a Protestant bishop then present, the church was
struck by lightning, and all those present found themselves with
singular marks on their bodies. The chronicler had the story
from Mrs More's daughter.
Now the same event is described by a Protestant contem-
porary, though he naturally says nothing about the blasphemous
sermon, and we subjoin his account. Isaac Casaubon came to
England in 1610 and was made prebendary of Canterbury in
161 1. About this date he wrote his Adversaria, from which
Bishop Warburton in his Julian gives the following extract: —
" This day the Lord Bishop of Ely (Andrewes) a prelate of
great piety and holiness, related to me a wonderful thing. He
said he had received the account from many hands, but chiefly
from the Lord Bishop of Wells (Still) lately dead, who was
succeeded by the Lord Montacute, that in the city of Wells about
fifteen years ago, one summer's day, while the people were at
divine service in the Cathedral church, they heard as it thundered
two or three claps above measure dreadful, so that the whole
congregation affected alike, threw themselves on their knees at
this terrifying sound. It appeared the lightning fell at the same
time, but without harm to anyone. So far, then, there was
48
Margaret, Countess of Cumberland,
Daughter of Francis Russell,' Earl of Bedford, and Wife of George Clifford,
Third Earl of Cumberland.
From Portrait at I'ghrooke.
[Face page 4S.
n
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 49
nothing but what is common in the like cases. The wonderful
part was this, which afterwards was taken notice of by many,
that the marks of a cross were found to have been imprinted on
the bodies of those who were then present at divine service in
the Cathedral. The Bishop of Wells told my Lord of Ely that
his wife, a woman of uncommon probity, came to him and in-
formed him, as of a great miracle, that she had then the mark
of a cross impressed upon her body. Which tale, when the
Bishop treated as absurd, she exposed the part and gave him
ocular proof. He afterwards observed that he had himself, on
his arm as I take it, the plainest mark of a *^. Others had it
on the shoulder, the breast, the back, or other parts. This
account that great man my Lord of Ely gave me in such a
manner as forbade me even to doubt of its truth." (See Azotes
and Queries, 21st September 1867, over the signature of E.H.A.)
Dr John Still, who became Protestant Bishop of Bath and Wells in
1593 and died in 1608, was probably the bishop who checked
the fanatical minister. He was M.A. of Christ's College, and
Master of St John's College, Cambridge, and by the above account,
the occurrence was probably in the summer of 1606.
It is interesting to compare the above version of the story
with that contained in the Chronicle.
The ancient Lancashire family of Worthington, from among
whose daughters no less than seven took the veil at St Monica's,
was originally seated at Worthington in the parish of Standish,
some 3 miles north of Wigan. At some date in the fifteenth
century, one Adam Blainscoe of Blainscoe (or Blainscough) the
last male descendant of his race and name, left Blainscoe Hall
and estates to his only daughter, the wife of Henry Worthington,
a younger son, and with Henry the line of Worthingtons of
Blainscoe begins, whose sufferings for the Faith are among the
glories of Catholic Lancashire, till in 1732 their ancestral hall
was sold. Thenceforward they became Worthingtons of Wigan,
and seem for several generations to have exercised in that town
the medical profession. The first of the family to profess among
our canonesses was Sister Anne Worthington, on the Feast of
St Matthew, 161 5 ; the latest was Sister Jane Worthington who
took her vows on the eve of St Luke, 17 17.
Our interest in the family begins with Dr Thomas Worthington,
President of Douay, in the seventh generation from that Henry
who married the Blainscoe heiress. His youngest brother was
also a priest, and another, Richard, ended his days in prison, a
D
50 CHKONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
confessor of the Faith, 25th September 1590. Their unhappy
father apostatised, and was a noted persecutor of Catholics. Dr
Thomas Worthington, arrested in 1584, was for six months
imprisoned in the Tower, and treated with unusual cruelty, and
then banished. From 1599 to 1613 he was President of Douay.
In 1626 he died at Biddulph Hall in Staffordshire, in the sixth
month of his noviceship in the Society of Jesus. Before his
imprisonment he was concerned in the events of the glorious
confession of Faith by the four Worthington boys, his nephews.
The four boys were the children of his brother Richard.
Their names were, Thomas, Robert, Richard, and John. They
were staying with their uncle, Dr Thomas Worthington, at the
house of Mr Sankey, of Great Sankey (Yepez amusingly gives
this gentleman's name as Sancho Sanchez) near Warrington,
when information was furnished of the priest's whereabouts to
Sir Edmund Trafford, Sheriff of Lancashire. At three in the
morning, 12th February 1584, the house was surrounded by
twenty men, at whose head was the under-sheriff. Dr Worthing-
ton escaped for the time, but the four boys, of whom the eldest
was not over 16 years of age and the youngest under 12,
were made prisoners. The story of their splendid confession of
the Faith has been given from Bridgwater's Concertatio by
Yepez and Foley ; we are reluctantly compelled to abridge it.
After vainly searching the town for the priest, the captors
took the two elder Worthingtons before the Earl of Derby and
the Protestant Bishop Chaderton of Chester, who were holding
a meeting at Warrington with their fellow-commissioners for
the coercion of Catholic recusants. On the 14th of the
month, all the four boys were taken to Preston where they had
to appear again before the commissioners. The examination
began with the youngest, a child of only 1 1 years of age. After
keeping him a whole day without food, they gave him wine before
bringing him into court : " They had willed to deprive me of
my reason by drunkenness," pleaded the child, "which by the
goodness of God I still retain, although from pain of body I am
not in a fit state to appear before your honours as I should do."
Heeding not his excuse, they began to question him about his
father and uncle, but were forced by his sickness to desist, to
their own great shame. The Earl of Derby next with many
promises strove to prevail on the eldest of the brothers to attend
a Protestant sermon. Modestly but firmly the boy refused, nor
could Chaderton's threats make him swerve from his holy purpose.
CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 51
The remaining two boys showed equal firmness, protesting that
they would rather beg their bread as Catholics, than be defiled
with the guilt of schism. As the Catholics gained heart from
their example, and the Protestants complained of the effect of
their constancy, all the four were sent to Manchester.
At Manchester the same threats and cajolery, especially by
Protestant ministers, were again fruitlessly employed to shake the
heroism of our youthful confessors. The Protestant bishop, in
whom hatred of Catholics was more conspicuous than in his lay
fellow-commissioners, now employed the services of one Bull, a
brutal fellow, to bend them to his evil will by torture. Entering their
sleeping-room in the morning with four or five long and thin rods,
he savagely dragged the eldest from his bed, and gave him upwards
of twenty cruel strokes on his back. Finding his constancy
immovable, he inflicted the same torture on the second. Unable
to intimidate the two youngest, he had to report his failure to
Chaderton, who had savagely urged him to show no mercy. Next
day they were taken to a Protestant school, that their firmness
might be overcome by the jeers and ill-treatment of the boys and
their master. Their gentle and noble demeanour ere long won a
number of the scholars to their side. Their keepers were changed,
and John, the youngest, was taken to the Episcopal palace, and for
a while treated leniently.
By this time the Protestant bishop began to weary of his task.
Nothing could induce John to eat flesh meat in Lent. More than
this, he frankly treated the bishop to his mind, and when Chaderton
was ill, told him of his danger of going to hell, at which his
lordship took fright so that he even came to be in danger of his
life, and promptly sent the boy out of his house. Unfortunately
two of the brothers, being told they were to be dragged to church,
thought it right to walk thither. This was construed as an act
of yielding, which they soon found means to contradict in writing,
and resolved never to go again unless dragged by force and
violence.
Soon after this, Thomas and John escaped. Their keeper, a
Dutch Calvinist, seems to have disliked the work of the commis-
sioners, and took little or no care for their safe-keeping, letting
them go freely about the town, where they soon met some Catholic
friends. To free themselves from their cruelly unjust and dangerous
detention, it was settled that their friends should lie in waiting for
them in a wood a mile and a half out of the town ; and that when
all was ready, a Catholic, disguised as a beggar, should knock, as
52 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
if for alms, at the doors of the houses where the brothers were
severally confined. To the dismay of Thomas and John, on
arriving at the assigned place, they saw no sign of the other two.
Delay would have availed nothing, and was full of risk. By secret
paths, the two boys were led to the house of a Catholic friend, who
gave them food and money and sent them forward to the house
where their mother was in hiding. With transports of joy, she
embraced her children, and a consultation was held for sending
them secretly beyond seas. Their joy was damped by a hurried
messenger with news that their flight was discovered and a third
brother, Robert, was to be sent for greater security to Chester
Castle.
Most imprudently, the commissioners let him start off
accompanied only by one constable, both being on foot. They had
not gone far, when they were overtaken by a single horseman, who
slackened his pace, and entered into conversation with the pursuivant
and asked the boy's name. After beguiling the way with pleasant
chat, he begged the man to let Robert ride for a short space
behind him, to which the pursuivant made no objection, being
pleased to oblige the courteous gentleman. No sooner was
Robert on horseback than the stranger began to quicken his pace,
and suddenly turning round called out to the constable : " Good-bye,
good sir ; I will ease you of your charge ; tell your master I am
going straight to London ; " then clapping spurs to his horse he
galloped off as hard as he could.
The luckless pursuivant raced after him, shouting, " Stop
Papist ! " and calling on the labourers he met in the fields to
assist him. The Lancashire peasants grinned, but would not
stir, while another horseman coming up with six companions,
inquired what was wrong, and undertook to give chase to the
fugitives with every appearance of eagerness. When they saw
that Robert and his deliverer were out of danger, one of the seven
advised the constable not to kill himself with running, and taking
leave of him, hastened to rejoin his Catholic friends and fellow-
conspirators who were enjoying the success of their enterprise.
All Lancashire enjoyed the joke, and rejoiced at the outwitting of
the pursuivant.
We next find our fugitives in the house of a Staffordshire
gentleman, whose name is not given. A spy betrayed them, and
the house was beset by pursuivants. They were in search of
Thomas Worthington, the priest, who really was in the house at
the time of their arrival. Not being able to find him, they were
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 53
prevailed upon by the lady of the house to let the others go free.
But as Dr Thomas Worthington was journeying with three of his
nephews to London, he chanced to meet a spy, whom he only knew
as a Catholic, and who told him he was seeking to go to Douay
College. The spy sacrilegiously went to confession and received
Holy Communion from Dr Worthington, robbed him of his money,
and betrayed him. The priest and his nephew Thomas were
seized before daylight at an inn in Islington with two others,
Thomas Brown, a priest, and Humphrey Maxfield, a student.'
Dr Worthington was sent to the Tower, and thrown into a subter-
ranean dungeon, while his nephew Thomas was confined in the
Gatehouse prison. The two younger boys escaped. As Yepez
adds some particulars not known to Bridgwater, I insert here a
passage translated from his Spanish narrative, which begins a
little further back. Dr Thomas Worthington, after a cruel
imprisonment, was sent into exile. Concerning his nephew,
Thomas, Yepez writes : —
" The fourth (Thomas, the eldest of the brothers), regained his
liberty a little later, letting himself down from a window, while a
horse to carry him was kept in readiness near the house, and so he
escaped. Being taken by his guide to where his three brothers
were waiting for him, order was taken for the instant departure of
all four from England for the seminary at Rheims ; the three
younger brothers succeeded, though with many sufferings and
dangers in their journey, which for brevity I omit. Three times
were they captured and released, not without God's special
providence. Who was pleased that the eldest should be made
prisoner again in London. Five years he lay in prison ever
unshaken in the Catholic faith, and is now in Flanders, in the
service of our Lord the King (of Spain). The second and third
died while students at Rheims College. The youngest came
afterwards to Spain, and studied in the seminaries of Valladolid
and Seville, whence with eight others he was sent to Rome in the
year 1596, where he has since been ordained priest, and he is now
preparing to return to his own country and labour there." He
entered the Society as we have said, and in the benefactor's book
of St Monica's we read this undated entry : " Father Worthington,
at his entrance into the Society of Jesus, left our monastery his
mother's jewels, which she had bequeathed to him at her death."
This " sister " may have been his sister-in-law, Mrs Worthington
nee Allen, who died in the sixth year of her widowhood, and was
buried at St Monica's. In 1635 he gave the nuns another alms.
54 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
Before Thomas Worthington was released from prison, Robert and
Richard, the boy confessors, aged respectively 17 and 16, had
gone to receive the eternal recompense of their loyalty to Christ.
The eldest brother was of the number of those faithful English
gentlemen who went in exile to Flanders, esteeming their faith
above their native land. Like many others, he took service in the
Spanish army. At Louvain, he made his home till his death ; there
his children were born, and were educated in the company of other
noble English ladies, exiled for their religion, and Richard
Worthington, his son, became the confessor of our community
where his sisters, Anne and Mary, were professed. The valiant
soldier of Christ was buried in the cloister of St Monica's with his
wife, Mary Allen. To be laid to rest among these, the best and
noblest of England's daughters, in whose prayers they would be
daily remembered, was for them as if they slept in their native
land. The old manor-house in Lancashire was still their own, but
they would not dwell where they might not live according to their
conscience. Their eldest son, William, lived at Louvain, and was
buried in the quiet Flemish cloister. He had married Anne
Biddulph, at whose ancestral home in Staffordshire, his great-uncle,
Dr Thomas Worthington, had found a peaceful end to his career,
dying a Jesuit novice.
But it is with William's grand-children that our Chronicle is
more especially concerned. Their parents were Thomas
Worthington and Jane Plumpton, both still living in 1698. Four
of their children. Sisters Mary, Dorothy, Anne Perpetua, and
Agnes, were professed at St Monica's. By this time the fury of
persecution had relaxed in England ; hopes, long to be deferred in
their fulfilment, had begun to revive ; and the batch of letters,
yellow with age, still preserved by the nuns at Newton Abbot, are
dated from the dear old home at Blainscoe. Here I can only
transcribe some passages. The reticence concerning religious
difficulties is characteristic of Catholic correspondence in those
days.
The first letter is undated, but seems to have been written
about 1690, at the beginning of the reign of William HI. It is
written in the names of Thomas and Jane Worthington, by the
latter to their daughter. Sister Mary of St Monica's. They write
from Blainscoe, and address the letter to " Mrs Marie Worthington
chez les Dames Anglaises, a Louvain. Recommended to Mr
Thomas Brockholds [sic] and to be left with Mrs Bannaste, at Mrs
Wirth's over against ye Cock in Brownlow Street in Drury Lane,
Pkincipal Entrance to Worthington Hall, Lancashire,
[Face page 54
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 55
London." It gives as date 24th September, but not the year.
After referring to a letter enclosed from a widow lady, Mrs Lucy
Janion, who wishes to send her daughter to be educated in St
Monica's, but is unable to pay more than ;!^i5 a year, Mrs
Worthington says that the good widow's mother was a Thorold of
Lincolnshire, and that her maternal aunt married Mr Thimbleby
of Snydal, and so forth. Then she continues (spelling modernised) :
" The six little ones are very hearty and healthful. You know
your dear father and I cannot say so much in that kind altogether
as you and your dear sisters so much desire we could. But
Almighty God His holy Will be done, for that all's welcome, and
we daily rejoice in all your health and happiness ; your dear
brother Thomas joined (in religious vocation) with four nuns ;
we hope all daily remember us, who though our lameness is [sic]
expected to increase with ill sight, etc. Yet (we) can love you all
as affectionately as ever, and think and speak as others do. How
good God has been to us in you all. Your father, brother, and
sister intend, and I intend, when dear son Thomas is with you, to
make amends for our long silence. Sweet Jesu be thanked, he
escaped this last danger you speak of, and send him well with
you."
The Dominican archives have supplied us with details of the
career of this " dear son Thomas." We transcribe their brief
summary. "Born March 23, 167 1 ; professed December 2,
1692 at Bornhem. Studied at Rome, ordained 1695. Sent from
SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Rome, into Belgium, November 16, 1697,
making with Dryden the surrender of that Convent. Professor
of Theology, Philosophy, and Scripture at Louvain. Installed
Prior of Bornhem, March lO, 1705, re-elected March 12,
1708; instituted Provincial, April 1709. Left Bornhem August
26, 1709. Went to Blainscoe, made a Pilgrimage to St Winefride's
Well, and visited the Stations of his Province ; settled in London
1709, for nine years." Then he returned to Bornhem, was twice
elected Prior, and made Vicar Provincial for Belgium. In company
with Bishop Dominic Williams, O.P., he went to England in
March 1727. Times were hard for Catholics; Bishop Williams
had to hide himself for a long time to escape the fury of the
Protestant Archbishop of York, on account of the conversion of an
Anglican clergyman. Father Worthington usually lived in London,
regularly visiting the missions served by his Order, and in 1730,
revived the English Provincial Chapters, "with the election of
Provincials, instead of institution by the Master-General." In the
56 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
same year he began to reside, about Easter, as permanent chaplain
at Middleton Hall, near Leeds, the seat of Ralph Brandlin, Esq.
There he died, 25th February 1754, at the age of 85, in the 62nd
year of his religious profession and the 59th of his priesthood.
He published " An Introduction to the Catholic Faith, by an
English Dominican, L . . . 1709." Truly a worthy son of St
Dominic.
Very cautiously worded, so as to be utterly unintelligible to the
uninitiated, is Mrs Worthington's next letter, giving his parents'
consent to Thomas's entering the Dominican Order. The names
of Lancashire Catholics, Aylmer, Price, Banister, etc., give a clue
to a number of family histories, and it is full of little domestic
details, though I confess myself to be a little mystified by " the
six cannel salts in a small box." It is characteristic of the times
to read that " our nearest neighbour's chapel is to be con : on 8th
September," and that she has just been called thither to pray {i.e.,
to hear Mass). More than once she records the names of those
who are going to St Winifred's Well or have just come back from
their pilgrimage.
There is a circumlocution in these letters, when dealing with
Catholic matters, for the long ostracism of Catholics, " fairly hunted
into holes and corners," and anxious for concealment, had begun.
We cannot now print more at length from these letters. It is
delightful to read Richard Worthington, writing to his cloistered
sisters how his son, " little Willy, can ride on his little galloway
24 miles on a day, and is now in the great Lives of the Saints, and
can read pretty well ; he is not eight years old yet, but looks as
grave as a judge ; he'll not give an answer till he hath considered
what to say : " and then says he resolves " to make a step to Rome
on foot and be there at the opening of the grand Jubilee upon
Christmas, 1699 ; (he writes in 1698) .... After several years
spent not as I ought to have done, I hope it not unreasonable
... to allow myself half a year in which I may wholly apply
myself to that only necessary business, and thereby make in some
sort satisfaction for my former mistakes, and that I may commit
no more." Catholic families lived in very intimate intercourse
with each other ; at Blainscoe we find on constant visits. Sir
Rowland Stanley, the Townleys, Tempests, Houghtons, etc.
In a very few words we must close our notes on the
Worthington family. Ruinous fines for their religion, combined
with social ostracism, brought down many an ancient Catholic
race from its high estate in the evil days that followed the downfall
CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 57
of the Stuart dynasty, and the house of Worthington was one of
these. The dear old home at Blainscoe was sold by Thomas, the
son of Richard Worthington and Margaret Alcock, 19th June 1732,
to Robert Holt, Esq., of Wigan. Three years before, 14th August
1729, he had been compelled to sell the Thornton estates, inherited
from the family of Cardinal Allen. It is a mournful, but oft
repeated story in our Catholic annals. This Thomas Worthington,
born in 1694, survived the loss of his ancestral estate ten years,
and died at Hooton in Cheshire, 3rd October 1742. The
Worthingtons of Lancashire are now extinct in the male line.
But there was an offshoot of the family living at Wigan, down
to the middle of the eighteenth century, and we find for four
generations at least one member engaged in the profession of
medicine. Dr Thomas Worthington of Wigan, in 1679, when the
excitement of Oates's plot was at its height, had to fly to the
Continent to escape an indictment. His son, Thomas Worthington,
M.D., brought his daughter to St Monica's in 1700 ; she pronounced
her vows on the 1st of January 1702, and died in 1749. Her
three brothers, Francis, John, and Gerard, all followed the medical
profession. Francis was the favourite medical adviser of that
roystering cavalier and famous physic taker, Thomas Tildesley the
Diarist. One extract from his Diary I may here insert. " 17 14,
Febr. 10. Dr Francis Worthington left us. Gave him 20s. which
he, as always, took very thankful, though too little per half, but a
right worthy and griping-free man." Tildesley had physicked
himself to death before the year was out, in time to escape a more
violent ending, for at this time he was furbishing up his arms to be
in readiness for the Jacobite rising. John Worthington, by his
marriage with Catharine Ford of Wigan, had two sons ; John,
whom in 1745 I find at " Sherfield co. Southampton," and Thomas,
a surgeon, of Standish Gate, Wigan. Thenceforward the ancient
line disappears.
CHAPTER III
From the death of Sister Bridget Wiseman to the foundation at
Bruges. A Protestant converted by the strange occurrences
in Wells Cathedral. Sir Thomas Leeds at Louvain. Death
of Lady Lovel. 1627- 1629.
The same year 1627 on the 24th of July was professed on
her deathbed Sister Margaret Robison, of whom we have
made mention before, relating how she entered in here with
the Lord Morley's daughter, Sister Frances Parker. She
was a very good soul, tractable and humble, and suffered
much in her short time of life by difficulties in getting
into religion by reason of her infirmity of body and unable-
ness to do any great service to the Order. This made
her pass much contradiction and delay in her going for-
ward, obtaining only admittance to be a white sister,
although she desired much to be a nun.
At length it pleased God to call her unto His heavenly
marriage and make His spouse, sending her such a sickness
as brought her to an end ; so upon her desire we admitted
her to holy profession, the convent going all into the
infirmary, as the manner is in such cases ; where in the
presence of our Reverend Father and our Reverend Mother
and all the rest, she made her vows for a converse if she
had lived, and gave to our house ^340. This her pro-
fession she made at the age of 20 years, and after that
prepared herself for a blessed death, suffering with great
patience her sickness, which was very violent, until the ist
of August, on St Peter of Vincula's day, she was happily
delivered from the bond of mortality to go unto the joyful
celebration of her eternal espousals in heaven, to laud and
An^na Makia, Countess of Derwentwater,
Daughter of Sir John Webb, Bart. Died August 30, 1723 ;
Buried in the Church of St Monica's, Louvain.
From an old Print, miil to. he unique, in pos/ession oj Mr R. 1). Radci.ikfk
[Faxx page iS
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 59
bless Him for ever who had so loving and favourably-
taken her to Himself, ordaining that even by a short life
she should gain a great everlasting glory.
The same year 1627 died Sister Bridget Wiseman, our
Reverend Mother's sister. She was a substantial religious,
and had the charge of the youngers, being mistress both
of the scholars and novices as long as her health lasted,
instructing them in true religious observance with all care
and diligence, according as their nature and disposition
required, being mild and compassionate towards them, and
those that she saw fervent she furthered in spirit with all
discretion. Concerning herself, she had passed many
difficulties at St Ursula's, and was led most by the way of
desolation, therefore had good experience to help others.
It pleased God at length to exercise her patience by a long
sickness of many years, lying for the most part in bed, by
reason that her head was so ill she could not rise till
afternoon, and then was fain to sit in the dark. The
pains of her head made the light molestious to her. There
she sat daily in her corner saying her beads, for she was
very devout to our Blessed Lady, and after supper she
recreated, and could speak with those that came to her,
having kept silence all the day before.
She led this life for ten years' space with great resigna-
tion and contentment of mind, as she affirmed oftentimes
that she never had such comfort before, being troubled
with desolation when she was in health. At length upon
the Eve of our Blessed Lady's Conception, she made a
blessed end. She made a very sweet and quiet death,
having received all the rites of holy church ; being a profit-
able member in the community, of an affable and peaceful
disposition, and careful in the offices imposed to her charge,
as also very charitable, and strict in the observances of
the holy Order, much given to watching and penance so
far as her health would permit her, but she was often
infirm, both at St Ursula's and here, before her last great
sickness.
60 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
In the year of her Lord, 1628, upon the last day of
February, were professed three sisters — Sister Anne More,
Sister Ann Handford, and Sister Mary Leeds. The first
was daughter of Mr WilHam More, who lived in the city of
Wells in Somersetshire. Her mother lived a good Catholic
for many years, for even in her childhood by reading in
books found out the true religion, but was hindered from
embracing it by her friends, who, being themselves heretics,
married her to such. This husband was not Mr More,
but one she had before him, which hindered her from being
a Catholic, until that a strange accident happened in the
ofreat church at Wells. It was this : —
A wicked minister, being a preaching there, railed out
of measure against our Blessed Lady, and called her a
saffron bag — the Blessed Mother of God, whom he was not
worthy to name with his blasphemous mouth — whereupon
there was raised on a sudden such a terrible tempest as
frightened them all, and three persons in the church were
cast down to the ground, and all of them marked in their
bodies, some with half moons and some with stars. The
vile minister, notwithstanding, ceased not to rail, until at
such time as even an heretical bishop that was there
present, bade him come down from the pulpit or he would
make him. There being also present two usurers, they
alone and no other saw the devil visibly stand by the
pulpit in most ugly form, who made mouths at the preacher
as applauding his sermon, and afterwards went out on the
top of the church and broke down a pinnacle thereof,
as also at that time the leads of the clock were all melted
with the heat of the tempest and lightning. The minister
went out of the town with shame, and, as they say, came
to great misery, as also his children prospered not.
Hereupon this said gentlewoman would stay no longer
out of the church, but was reconciled, and suffered very
much for her religion, both of her husband and by the
persecution of the realm, insomuch that she lived long in
prison at the king's Bench in Southwark. But when that
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 61
husband of hers was dead, this Mr More took great
affection unto her, and promised if she would have him he
would become a Catholic ; whereupon she married him,
and had only this daughter, and a son that died young.
This her second husband was reconciled on his deathbed
and made a very happy end, which showed the mercy of
God towards him. He offered up this his little daughter
to be a religious, if God should give her a mind to it.
After his death, this worthy woman came over seas and
brought with her this daughter, who lived at St Omer's a
year, and then she, remembering her husband's will, pro-
cured that her daughter might come to be brought up in
our monastery, hoping that thereby she would in time get
a mind to religion ; and so having obtained our Reverend
Mother's consent for her admittance, she sent her hither,
being then only between 7 and 8 years of age. So she
was brought up here until she was of years to undertake
the state of religion. About which time the devil was
busy to hinder her from it, and what by means of tempta-
tions and dislike of some here towards her, the matter
came so far that we wrote to her mother, who was then in
England, that her daughter had no mind to religion, there-
fore desired (her) to send for her home.
Whereupon, the good mother said that though she
should be glad if her daughter had a mind to be a religious,
yet if God did not call her thereunto she would by no
means force her, but let her have her freedom wholly ;
therefore desired us to send her into England with a lady
who was returning from hence. Upon this answer we did
so, and she went out with that lady. No sooner was she
gone from the house but such an extreme sadness took her
for having left the cloister that she could not eat anything,
and was in such a plight as made those amazed that saw
her. They offered at the Third Order (Franciscan) to
take her if she would come to them, but the motion of her
mind enticed her hither again, in such wise as it seemed to
her she should never be saved if she returned not again to
62 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
this place. Whereupon, she resolved to come back, though
it were all alone in the waggon, and to beg most earnestly
for to be admitted again. So she got of the lady so much
money as would pay for her journey hither, and gave the
waggonman, and came all alone among a company of
strangers, though she had no language but English. For
her inward trouble of mind was so great that she feared no
exterior accident that might befall her, and being arrived
hither, we were astonished at her return. Seeing how
much she was troubled, and how earnestly she desired
to be admitted, we had compassion of her in respect
that she affirmed it was most strangely intimated unto
her mind that here was her salvation to be and nowhere
else. And so we received her again to her great joy and
contentment, having no quiet before, and at convenient
age made her profession upon the Translation of our holy
Father, St Augustine, in February, being 17 years old.
It seems plainly to be the will of God she should be
St Augustine's child, for her first entering into the
monastery at 7 years of age happened upon St Monica's
Eve, and her second admittance, when she came from
Brussels, was on his feast day, and now her profession
upon the day of his Translation.
The second. Sister Ann Handford, was daughter to
John Handford, Esquire, of Woolshall in Worcestershire ;
her mother also a good Catholic, and excessively beloved
for her good housekeeping and charitable assistance to the
poor neighbours either in sickness or in any other necessity.
After the death of her husband, this good woman was very
desirous that some of her daughters should be religious,
and to see if God would give them a calling she sent them
over, leaving them, notwithstanding, free to their own liking,
whether they would enter presently into some monastery,
or else board in the town until they got a mind to be
religious ; and this house was particularly commended to
them by some friends of ours, who also writ for them to us
to obtain the place. So that, three of them coming hither.
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 63
they were admitted, being willing to enter in presently ;
but the elder went forth again after some small time, and
the younger about a year after, and this who was the
middlemost, remained constant. For she it was whom our
Lord had chosen to be the honour of her kindred and joy
of her mother ; who made her profession on the day afore-
said with the others, being 17 years of age.
The third, Sister Mary Leeds, was the daughter of Sir
Thomas Leeds of Wappingthorn in the county of Sussex,
whose father, Sir John Leeds, came over to this side of the
seas in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign, and lost
his estate for his conscience upon the statute of fugacy.
His son. Sir Thomas, was for some years no Catholic, but
a great courtier, and followed the world, haunting the
company of noblemen ; but he married a good Catholic
gentlewoman, and in track of time, they both agreed to
come over into these parts. For Almighty God sendinor
him crosses in the world, his heart was touched to remember
the good of his soul, having lived a schismatic as has been
said. Therefore leaving his estate unto his son, he passed
over to come to dwell here in Louvain, brinorine over this
his daughter and another, who were both children. But
she on seeing our monastery begged the place, even when
she was a child taking a liking to our cloister, and desired
to be a religious, which desire was accomplished when she
came to fit years ; for then we received her, and after the
time of probation, she made her holy profession on the
Feast of our holy Father, St Augustine's, Translation.
Sir Thomas Leeds continued still to live in this town,
making a worthy change of life, for after his former pomp
and bravery he lived a virtuous private life, and suffered
misery and discommodities with great patience and resigna-
tion to the will of God.
Upon the 7th of May in this same year was professed
a lay sister of the Dutch nation, named Jane Steenberck,
living a league and a half out of the town of Brussels, in a
village called Ruisbroock. She had a desire to be a
64 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
religious, and endeavoured by friends to get into a
monastery, but failed of her purpose, for the Poor Clares
could not take her because their number was up. So she
came to live at Brussels, and, as occasion happened, to
solicit the matter herself. For if she might enter a
monastery, she cared nor had respect to nothing but
to serve God ; and it happened that she lighted into
an Englishman's service, one Mr Kinsman. When he
broke up house he preferred her to Dr Clement, so she
lived in his service four years, and when he came to
know her mind to religion, he spoke to have her received
in our monastery, to the which we were not willing because
she was a stranger and might go to her own nation. But
he said she was a good servant and a virtuous soul, where-
fore he being so great a friend we could not refuse to take
her for his sake. And it happened, just whilst Dr Clement
was here procuring of her place, that an aunt of hers coming
unto her said she would help her to a Dutch monastery
where the Lady Abbess would take her for nothing to serve
her. But it was God's will she should be here, and that
enticement did nothing move her, for she answered she
would be here, although we were of a strange nation ; it
was all one to her ; so she might serve God among us, she
cared for no more.
So it was agreed she should come here, which apparently
was her calling from God, for here she found so great con-
tentment that it seemed all were of her acquaintance,
becoming presently free among the lay sisters. The English
language she had learned before in her two services in
English houses ; we also liking her well, after a good time
of probation, she made her profession at the age of 27
years.
The same year upon the 4th of December was pro-
fessed Sister Cornelia Farmer (Fermor), daughter to Sir
Richard Farmer of Somerton in Oxfordshire, a Catholic,
who, having bestowed one daughter well in the world,
desired to have this be a religious, although she was always
CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 65
a very weak child, and had had many crosses from her
very infancy.
Upon the day of our Blessed Lady's Conception in the
same year, died in the night Sister Dorothy Lawson,
having had a consumption of the lungs with a cough ever
since her coming to the cloister, although it was not much
perceived till more lately ; and yet we always marked a
cough in her and shortness of breath, so that she ever had
a very poor voice in the choir ; but she was a good soul,
obedient and tractable, as also a strict observer of the
Order, and of a kind nature. Wherefore, the youngers
were some of them very fond of her, because she was
affable, and a good fellow among them. Our Lord took
her away from them to accompany her with heavenly
citizens, as we may piously hope, and in the time of her
being confined to bed, which was a good while, she
showed great patience and conformity with God's blessed
will, and gave good edification and made a blessed end.
After her death, our superiors being desirous to know the
cause of her so untimely decease in the flower of her age,
seeming to have a healthy body, they caused her to be
opened, and it was found that her lungs were grown fast
to her sides so that there was no opening for her vital
spirits, which occasioned her death, she being otherwise
very well, strong of body, and healthful.
In the same year (1628) upon the 21st of November
was professed Sister Mary Worthington, sister of Anne
Worthington, of whose parents we have spoken sufficiently
before, Mr Thomas Worthington, our good friend, and
her mother, Mrs Allen's daughter.
This child of theirs was born after this cloister had
been begun some two or three years, and having no more
daughters with them, yet the mother, who remained a
widow as we have said since the year 16 16, was content to
give her unto the service of God, as well as her other
daughters, long before. The child being born in this
town, she carried her with her into England, having
E
66 CHKONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
occasion to go thither, when she was but 2 years old ;
and she came over again about 7 years of age, and
lived in this town with her mother. It pleased God to call
her unto religion, being about 10 years old, by seeing
a gentlewoman, who had a very untoward husband.
Whereupon, although she was a friend of theirs then so
young, yet marking what misery her friend and neighbour,
whom she loved, had to suffer with that man, she
purposed with herself never to marry, but become a
religious with her sister here. This purpose continued,
until at length she told her mother thereof, who was
content, seeing that our Lord called both her daughters,
to cfive them unto Him. Wherefore, when the child was
o
almost 14 years old, having occasion to go again into
England, she placed this her daughter here to be a scholar
for religion, and we received her willingly as being of good
disposition, and her parents so dear friends to us, who also
gave well with their child to the house. She continued
scholar and novice, so as she made her profession at the
age of 17 years, upon the day of our Blessed Lady's
Presentation.
In the year 1629, upon the 7th of January, was
professed a lay sister. Sister Mary Reding. Her father,
David Reding, was a good, virtuous, honest man. He
came over the sea with one Mr Clark, who came to live at
St Omer's, where he served him until such time his master
found a good marriage for him of a young and rich widow,
also very virtuous. So this couple lived at St Omer's and
set up house for to board the English who came to that
town, who were very well entertained there ; and he had
this good custom, daily to hear Mass before he did go
about anything. His wife was very charitable to help
poor folks that were sick, and having some skill in surgery,
she did much good, as also would for charity upon holy-days
take some religious men with her home to dinner ; and
she was so reasonable to her boarders, that sometimes they
would wonder how she could treat them so well for so little.
CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 67
Thus they lived for some years, having three daughters
and one son, and whilst she lay in of that son, the husband
died of an ague, and the wife within a month after died
too. It was said by some that the man died through the
great joy that he took to have a son, having so loner
desired it, and the woman, through the grief of her
husband's death. But whether this were so or no, it was
certain they died after each other as it (has been) said,
leaving their children well provided for, and good friends
took care of them, so as the boy dying young, the three
sisters became in time all three lay sisters of our Order,
two here, and one at Bruges, as shall be declared in
due time. But now to speak of the eldest daughter Mary :
they placed her in a French house of devotes which the
bishop had erected at St Omer's for bringing up of
children, where she remained two years, then my Lady
Lovel, having a mind to her for the cloister of Bernardines
which she was about to set up, got her from thence, but
she liked not to dwell with her. Nevertheless in that time
she served her, and the lady, coming to visit our Blessed
Lady of Sichem, lay by the way here at our monastery.
There she, finding here Sister Elizabeth Lumberd, who
was of old acquaintance at St Omer's, was very glad, and
found then a calling to be a religious here, insomuch as
whatever her nature contradicted or apprehended, yet it
seemed to her that this was the place where she must be.
Therefore she made such good means that she obtained
our Reverend Mother's goodwill to receive her for a lay
sister, and after that went back to St Omer's and dis-
charged herself out of the lady's service, and took order to
get what was left her by her parents, and then returned
hither, where she was admitted, and after her time of
probation, made her profession.
It happened that the foresaid Lady Lovel departed out
of this life without accomplishing the erection of the
monastery, which she had so long laboured to set up.
Having erected the cloister of English Teresians at
68 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
Antwerp, she was very desirous to set up also a monastery
of St Bernard's Order, and for that purpose, had bought a
house in the town of Bruges in Flanders, and for superior
or abbess had procured an ancient English nun, named
Margaret Lin, of St Bernard's Order, that lived in a
monastery of Walloons. But it seems that Almighty God
would not have this work go forward, for He took away
the said Lady Lovel just at the upshot of the business,
whereby all was dashed, and she left by her will the house
of Bruges to the English Fathers of the Society of Jesus,
as also the English Bernardine nun died soon after.
About which time, we here finding our monastery so
burthened with persons that we had not convenient room
to receive many more, agreed in our Counsel and yearly
consultation to seek for to amplify our Order by setting up
of another monastery, whereby sending there ten nuns we
should make room here to receive more persons. And
hearing that the English Jesuits were willing to sell the
house at Bruges, which my Lady Lovel had left them, we
agreed to buy the same for to make our cloister there, with
the money of some rents of ours that were then laid up at
Gaunt (Ghent) at the Mount of Piety, if the house were
fit for our purpose. Whereupon, our Reverend Father
Barnes, who was very desirous to have us increase to more
convents, went thither to see it and liked it well, by reason
that though it were but little, yet it was commodious to
make a cloister. So then he spoke with the English
Jesuits, who were desirous to sell the house because it was
not fit for them ; and one of them. Father Edward
Silisdon, being then Rector of the College in Gaunt, came
here and spoke with our Reverend Mother about the
matter, so that we concluded, and bought it, giving the
same price which my Lady Lovel had given when she
bought it. After that, we consulted here to send ten nuns,
giving them ^lo a head every year, which amounted to
^loo yearly. But when we came to get the town's good-
will of Bruges, and licence of the bishop there, it was
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 69
thought too little in respect of the dear time, so that the
town would not consent (to receive them) unless we
allowed every one /15 apiece yearly, fearing lest otherwise
they might become burthensome unto their town, which
we were forced to yield unto or else they could not be
admitted, although we had procured the Infanta's licence
(of happy memory), who then lived. With this all was
concluded, and our Reverend Father went divers times to
accommodate the house, being put in possession by the
Fathers of the Society of Jesus.
PREFACE TO CHAPTER THE FOURTH
Story of the Giffords. The tomb of Sir Alexander Gifford, the Crusader.
The Devonshire Giffords. Abbot Gifford of Buckfast. The Staffordshire
Giffords. William Gifford, O.S.B., Archbishop of Rheims. Gilbert Gifford,
the traitor. Bishop Bonaventure Gifford. Giffords among the nuns of the
Louvain, Antwerp, and Pontoise communities.
One of the first sisters at Bruges was Sister Mary Gifford.
Giffords have so often figured in the pages of our Chronicle, and
will so frequently appear again, that I may as well give their
story here as elsewhere.
On the banks of the Wylie, which gives name to Wilton
and Wiltshire, some 7 miles from Warminster, a little off the
Salisbury Road, is the village of Boyton, with its beautiful
church of St Mary. On its south side is the mortuary chapel
of the Giffard or Gifford family, and upon an altar-tomb in this
chapel the effigy of a knight, recumbent in chain armour, cross-
legged, the feet resting on a lion, his right hand on the hilt of
his sword, and the point of the scabbard in the lion's mouth.
The figure represents a man in the flower of his age, and on
his sharp-pointed thirteenth-century shield are the three lions
passant and two fleurs-de-lis, the armorial bearings of the noble
knight who lies buried beneath, Sir Alexander Giffard, the
Crusader.
His noble ancestor, Elias Giffard,* often called the Boy
Giffard, to distinguish him from Elias Giffard his father, had
founded the church of Boyton, and given it to the monks of
Gloucester in the time of Abbot Hamelin (1148-1179) "for the
good of his soul and for the soul of his wife Bertha." This most
pious knight renounced the world in his old age, and made his
profession as a monk of St Benedict in the Abbey of Gloucester,
where he died in 11 59. His descendant, Hugh Giffard of Boyton,
* In earlier records the name is more frequently spelt Giffard.
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 71
had several children, of whom Walter was Archbishop of York
(1266-1279), Godfrey, Bishop of Worcester (1268-1301), and
Alexander, the youngest, was our Crusader.
He followed William Longsword, second Earl of Salisbury, to
the sixth crusade under St Louis of France. The rashness of
the Count of Artois led to the fatal attack on Mansoura, and in
an old contemporary poem, preserved in the Cottonian Collection
of MSS., we read how the earl, with Sir Alexander and four
other knights, fought against the infidel host. Then said Sir
Alexander Gififard to his lord, " Sir, for the love of God, what is
your counsel regarding this host of Saracens, which now come
against us, shall we remain here, or fly ? " And the earl answered,
with steadfast voice : " Here each of us must show his prowess,
but you, Sir Alexander Giffard, who are my knight, if you escape,
distribute my treasure among my people. . . . Sir Alexander
Giffard has well escaped with the gold and silver which was
entrusted to him ; he got the horses together and took the
road to Damietta, and leaped into the deep and wide river. The
heathens cast Greek fire upon them."
Now I cannot enter into the genealogy of the Gififards from
the days of the Conquest, which General Wrottesley has ably
worked out through all its branches in " The Giffards " ; to whose
learned work I owe much of the present article. But from the
valiant lords of Brimsfield, according to some, or at least from
their common ancestor, Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham,
are descended the Giffards of Chillington in Staffordshire,
whose story is so interwoven with that of St Monica's and
with our Chronicle. Seven at least of the Louvain
canonesses were descendants of that noble confessor of Christ,
John Giffard of Chillington. From the accession of Elizabeth
to the eighteenth century, their sufferings for the Catholic Faith
were incredible.
With the many Devonshire branches of the Gififards, of
whom General Wrottesley gives a detailed account, I am not
immediately concerned. William Giffard of Buckfast, in 1333,
was perhaps the son of William Gififard of Awliscombe,
and a younger brother of that Matthew Gififard with whom the
Awliscombe Gififards, who held land at Totnes and Berry Pomeroy,
within a few miles of the abbey, came to an end. There is a
sad story connected with the Gififards of Landcross in Devon,
lords of the manor. The last of the family, Honora Gififard, is
said in a local history " to have been a Catholic lady, who, having
72 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
ruined herself by supporting a failing religion, at last received
parochial relief." She was buried 15th September 1729. But
we must return to the story of the Giffards of Chillington.
With Peter Giffard, who received a grant of Chillington about
1 178 from his aunt's husband Peter Corbuson, the race of the
Giffards or GifTords of Chillington begins. Passing over many
generations, we come to Sir Thomas Giffard, son and heir of
Sir John, to whom he succeeded in 1556, and died in 1560. He
was M.P. for Lichfield in Queen Mary's reign. He married
Ursula, daughter of Sir Robert Throckmorton of Coughton, a
circumstance that explains the relationship between his unhappy
grandson, Gilbert Gifford, and Dr William Gifford, Archbishop
of Rheims. The archbishop was the son of John Gifford of
Weston-under-Edge in Gloucestershire and of Elizabeth, daughter
of Sir George Throckmorton of Coughton. Under Sir Thomas,
a devout Catholic, the family reached the height of its prosperity,
and he completed the splendid mansion, of which Sir Amias
Paulet wrote to Walsingham that it could well accommodate
the retinue of forty-eight persons belonging to the captive Queen
Mary, as well as his own. From the time of Sir Thomas's death,
as the temporal prosperity of the family declines, so " the elements
of romance, loyalty and devotion, throw a bright radiance on the
story of the Giffords."
John Gifford, who succeeded his father in 1560, was the grand-
father of three of our Louvain sisters. Until 1575 he seems to
have been left in comparative tranquillity. But in that year
Queen Elizabeth made her celebrated progress through the
Midlands. From the 12th to the 28th of July, she was splen-
didly entertained by the Earl of Leicester at Kenilworth.
From Kenilworth she journeyed to Lichfield, and thence to
Stafford Castle. On her way from Stafford to Sudeley Castle,
between the, 8th and the 12th of August, she halted for a night at
Chillington.
How much her visits were dreaded even by those who had no
reason to apprehend her displeasure, is well known, and may be
seen, for example, in the Loseley papers. For a Catholic recusant
such an occasion could only inspire terror, which in this instance
as in others was but too well justified. The queen showed
herself gracious, thanked Gifford for his noble hospitality, and
called him her " Gentle Gifford." She had not gone 4 miles from
his house when he was brutally arrested and hurried away to
prison, at the same time as several other Catholic gentlemen,
CHEONICLE or ST MONICA'S 73
among them Brian Fowler, John Draycote, Erasmus Wolseley,
Thomas Peshall, and William Maxfield. Arraigned at Worcester
on the 17th of August before the Lord Chamberlain, the Earls of
Warwick and Leicester, and others of the Council, " being charged
that they went not to church, and confessing the same, and alledging
their consciences and the examples of their forefathers who taught
them so ; " they were told they would not be allowed to return
home unless they would obey the law. John Gifford, Erasmus
Wolseley, and John Draycote were committed to the custody of
the Bishop of Rochester for a short time " to answer and remove
their scruples." All stood firm, though Gifford at first showed
some vacillation, but recovered himself. In 1580, we find him
a prisoner in the Marshalsea for his conscience, and he was still a
prisoner in 1586, though at intervals he was allowed to dwell
outside the prison. To Mary, Queen of Scots, her agent, Thomas
Morgan, writes in October 1585, recommending to her Majesty his
son Gilbert : " His father is for the present a prisoner for our
religion in London, and hath been a long time." John Gifford
was buried at Brewood, 24th August 161 3, and his monument, an
altar-tomb, with his effigy in armour, and that of his wife, may be
seen in Brewood church.
A deeper cause for sorrow than his long imprisonment
embittered the life of John Gifford, in the fearful depravity of his
son Gilbert, which was such as to fill with loathing even Elizabeth's
unprincipled agents who employed him.
This unhappy youth entered the English College at Rheims
in January 1577, was sent to the English College in Rome in
1579, whence he was expelled, but remained in Rome, and was
persuaded by one Solomon Aldred, a spy of Walsingham's, to join
in the same career of infamy and crime. Disguising his evil
intent, he returned to Rheims in 1582 to teach logic in the College.
In 1585 he was ordained subdeacon and deacon at Rheims. In
October of that year he left the College. He had not resided
there continuously, and during the two years before his departure,
had been a spy of Walsingham, and had become the secretary's
chief agent in the plot that was framed for the judicial murder of
Mary, Queen of Scots, and which brought her to the scaffold. To
effect this, Gilbert Gifford, feigning himself one of those misguided
Catholics who could see no hope for their co-religionists save in
compassing Elizabeth's death, won the confidence of Mary's agents
in France, Thomas Morgan and Charles Paget ; prevailed on some
desperate characters to undertake Elizabeth's assassination ;
74 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
obtained a recommendation from Morgan to Mary, whose letters,
passing through his hands, were placed in those of Walsingham,
with a view to implicating the captive queen in the killing of
Elizabeth. Father Morris's work. The Letters of Sir Amias
Poulet, a true masterpiece of historical research, has brought into
the light of noonday the mysteries of these transactions. When
this work of blood was done, Gififord returned to France and got
him.self ordained priest. Arrested for scandalous conduct by the
Bishop of Paris, he remained in prison till his death in 1590. Well
might his father write, " I have written to my unfortunate son.
I would to God he had never been born. I may well say : Happy
is the barren that hath no child."
The career of Gilbert Gififord was a tissue of sacrilege, treachery,
and crime of the darkest dye.
In other members of his family, John Gifford had motive for
abundant consolation. His sister Cassandra, wife of Erasmus
Wolseley, died a prisoner for her religion in Stafford jail, as did
also her husband who had been seized while hearing Mass,
celebrated by the venerable martyr, Robert Sutton, on which
occasion William Maxfield and his wife were condemned to
death, but died in prison. Their son Thomas, born in prison, was
afterwards a glorious martyr.
On 27th July 1587, Venerable Robert Sutton was, for his faith
and priesthood, drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution
outside the town, and there butchered in the usual way. When
brought a few days previously before Sir Walter Aston, that
inhuman magistrate had felled the priest to the ground with his
staff. The night before his martyrdom, his prison cell was seen
shining with a brilliant light, and the martyr heard in converse
with celestial visitors. " He was put off the ladder and cut down
very lively," writes a contemporary, " for he stood upon his feet,
was taken by great violence and dismembered, as he spoke these
words : ' O thou bloody butcher ! God forgive thee ! ' So calling
upon Jesus and Mary, he gave up his spirit."
John Gififord had eight sons and six daughters by his
wife, Joyce Levison. Walter, the eldest, who conformed for a
time, succeeded him, and died in 1632. Richard was the
second son.
A wedded wife, but so secretly, that her husband's name has
never been divulged. Sister Bridget, daughter of Walter Gififord,
passed, as it were, from the altar to the cloister, and was the first of
at least seven descendants of the noble confessor of Christ, John
Right Reverend Bonaventure Gifford,
Bishop of Madaura, Vicar-Apostolic in England. Died, March 12, 1794.
From an Old Print, Engraved from Portrait at Dovaxj College.
[Face page 75..
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 75
Gifford of ChilHngton, who professed and died among our
canonesses. Her husband never claimed his virgin bride, and of
course such a marriage was dissolved by her solemn vows of
religion. After five years of a religious life that astonished by its
fervour even such a fervent community as St Monica's, she gave
up her soul to God, comforted in her last moments by an assurance
from our Blessed Lady that she should not pass through purgatory.
Sister Anne Gifford, her sister, was professed with her ; a third
sister was Abbess of the Poor Clares at Rouen. Of the other six
descendants among our nuns, space does not allow me to write in
detail here. One of them was Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas
Vavasour of Hazlewood.
Fighting in the royal cause, Andrew Gifford, brother to our
Sister Bridget and Anne, was slain near Wolverhampton at the
outbreak of the Civil War. His three sons, Andrew, Augustine,
and Bonaventure, were sent as boys to Douay ; Augustine was
the priest at Chillington in 1717 ; Andrew was appointed Vicar-
Apostolic and Bishop of Centuriae zVz /rt;'//(5z^.f in 1705, but refused
the dignity; Bonaventure was consecrated Bishop in 1688, being
one of the four vicars-apostolic appointed for England in the
reign of James H., by whom he was made President of Magdalen
College, Oxford. Dispossessed and imprisoned at the Revolution,
his long episcopate of forty-six years was spent in constant flying
from place to place to escape the priest-catchers, especially the
two miserable apostates, Mottram and Barker. " I have had no
quiet," writes the bishop, "have had to change my lodgings
fourteen times (in five months), and but once have lain in my own
lodging. I have endeavoured to procure a little lodging in the
house of some public minister, where I could be secure from the
attempts of these wretches, but could not effect it. My poor
brother (Andrew Gifford) though much indisposed was forced to
retire into the country, which so increased his fever, that in seven
days he died. ... In one prison I lay on the floor a considerable
time ; in Newgate almost two years ; afterwards in Hertford jail ;
and now daily expect a fourth prison to end my days in. I have
always envied the glory of martyrs." The venerable bishop was
then 72, but had yet many years of toil and suffering before the
prayer was heard, with which he closes his letter : " God grant me
eternal rest." In 1716, he tried to be allowed to attend the good
Earl of Derwentwater to execution (or martyrdom), but could
only write to him. At the age of 92, he died at Hammersmith on .
the 1 2th of March, Feast of St Gregory the Great, 1734, and was
76 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
buried by the side of his brother Andrew, in the old churchyard of
St Pancras.
This holy bishop's uncle, Peter Gifford of Chillington, had a
daughter, Mary, professed at St Monica's in 1625. Her father, the
eldest brother of our two Sisters Gifford mentioned above, " in his
extended and chequered life, saw the entire downfall and perfect
restoration of his family." His estates were confiscated, and
himself imprisoned for his loyalty. Giffords fought for Charles
n. at the battle of Worcester, and Charles Gifford, the son
(Burke says nephew) of Peter of Chillington, with the help of the
Pendrells, family retainers of the house of Gifford, saved the
king's life after his defeat. The estates were recovered at the
Restoration.
Richard, Walter's brother, is identified by General Wrottesley
with a well-known buccaneer of those days, who was captured by
the Spaniards. This seems uncertain, though the profession was
held an honourable one in Elizabeth's reign. He married Elizabeth,
daughter of Thomas Levison, and was the father of our Sister
Ursula.
Passing to members of the family outside the descendants of
John Gifford of Chillington, his cousin William first claims our
notice. William Gabriel Gifford, O.S.B., studied at Lincoln
College, Oxford, under the care of Dr Bridgwater, took his M.A.
at Louvain, studied divinity at the English College of Rheims, and
then in Rome, where he was ordained priest in March 1582, and
in the same year began to teach theology at Rheims. Gifted with
a mild and amiable disposition, dear to St Charles Borromeo,
whose chaplain he was for a time, to St Francis of Sales, and to
Clement VHI., he was, on the Pope's recommendation, made
Dean of Lille. He leaned more to France than to Spain in the
political agitation among Catholics in those days, and his gentle-
ness of nature was such that we find his unprincipled nephew,
Gilbert Gifford, writing to Walsingham : " Dr Gifford coming over
would colour me much, as also I can know his whole thoughts."
But his loyalty was unshaken. He had always loved Benedictines,
and had much to do with the foundation of Dieulouard (now
Ampleforth) where he made his profession in 1608. After being
prior of that monastery and of another at St Malo, he was in
1 61 7 elected first President of the English Benedictine Congrega-
tion, and subsequently coadjutor and finally Archbishop of Rheims.
As archbishop, Bennet Weldon writes that " he held to his
monastical condition, wearing constantly his religious habit,
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 77
keeping the regular fasts of his congregation, rising in the night to
pray, and using such severe disciplines that those around him
thought it piety to hide those instruments of penance from him."
A little before he died, he uttered in Latin these words to our
Blessed Lady, whom he had always tenderly loved : " Help me as
thou hast promised me." It was his wont to preach or catechise,
often seven or eight times a day, in the villages of his diocese.
This great and holy prelate died loth April 1629. In a letter
written to the Provost of Lille he says : "In England they have
sentenced me to the gallows ; kinsmen of mine have been cruelly
executed and their heads set on London Bridge, and my family
has undergone ruin and wrongs innumerable,"
Edward, son of Humphrey Gifford, and nephew of John Gifford
of Chillington, entered the Benedictine Order in 1603, The
Chronicles of Pontoise (Teignmouth) contain the names of Dames
Maura and Xaveria Gifford, O.S,B. They were the daughters of
Sir Henry Gifford, Bart., of Burstall in Leicestershire, whose
younger brother, Father Maurice Gifford, O.P., was professed a
Dominican at Antwerp, was sent on the English mission, narrowly
escaped arrest at the time of Oates's plot, and died in London
in 1699. Sir Henry's parents were Thomas Gifford, Esq., of
London, and Anne Brookesby, He married Mary Vaughan of
Ruarden of Gloucestershire, the mother of the two Pontoise nuns.
She died before her husband, and Sir Henry himself only lived to
his thirty-first year, dying at Paris in 1664, and was buried at
St Edmunds, " He expired amidst the prayers of Benedictines,
whom he always loved," says his epitaph. His two daughters
were professed together at Pontoise, 13th September 1676.
Dame Anne Xaveria, who possessed "in a little body an
active spirit," received her solemn blessing as Abbess of Pontoise
from the Bishop of Waterford at the Abbey of Maubuisson, 7th
March 1710, and the deed of attestation is signed by Thomas Eyre,
Francis Plowden, and E, Tennel. Her sister. Dame Maura, died in
1 69 1 , " a mirror of patient suffering and cheerfulness." (Teignmouth
MSS.)
Sister Mary of the martyrs (Mary Gifford), Discalced Carmelite,
professed 8th April 1 681, at the age of 42, in the community of
the English Teresians at Antwerp (now at Lanherne), brought with
her the beautiful miniature portraits of Fathers Morse, Corby,
Holland, S.J., and others, now preserved at Lanherne. They were
painted by Mr Gifford, her father, whom we have not yet been able
to identify, but who was a Staffordshire Gifford, while he was
78 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
a fellow-prisoner with the martyrs aforesaid. The Lanherne
account adds that Mr Gifford had previously no knowledge of
painting, but executed his work under the impulse of veneration
for the martyrs. Brother Foley gives the names of the Giffords
who entered the Society of Jesus.
H :?
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b '^ ^
D iJ 5
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CHAPTER IV
From the departure of the Sisters to form the Bruges Community
to the profession of sister dorothy musgrave. the first
Prioress of Bruges. Death of the sister of Father Henry
Garnet, martyr, SJ. John Musgrave's fight with pursuivants.
1 629- 1 632.
Now it remained to be determined which of our sisters
should be sent thither (to Bruges) to begin the new
monastery, whereupon our Reverend Mother sent, for
Superior and Prioress, Sister Frances Standford, judging
her to be a fit woman, because she was wise and discreet,
a peaceful person, and well-beloved. For Superioress she
appointed Sister Ann Tremain, one of our old sisters that
came from St Ursula's in the later company, and for
Procuratrix, Sister Mary Best, the younger, who had well
the Dutch language, and was handsome in exterior things,
and charitable, being here a long time our Refectrice, and
served the sisters with great care and kindness. Next was
chosen Sister Mary Altham, a good devout sister and
very strict in regular observance, who was at that time
Mistress of the scholars here, and going with them was
there Mistress of the novices also. Another appointed to
go was Sister Elizabeth Lovel, who had the Dutch
language, and having a good voice, she was made their
chantress. These five were sent away upon the nth of
September, within the Octave of our Blessed Lady's
Nativity. We had, the night before, recreation in the
Refectory, and the next day in the morning after the first
Mass a coach came to fetch them away. At their parting,
was weeping on both sides, as necessarily it must be at
79
80 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
the parting of sisters. They were all provided of clothes
and such household stuff as was profitable, which filled
up a waggon. With them also went one scholar from hence,
named Ursula Palmes, grandchild to the Lady Babthorpe
by one of her daughters that married Sir George Palmes,
a good Catholic ; and one of our lay sisters, whom they
desired. Sister Alexia Hobdy. But she returned home
again when they had taken their lay sisters to do their
work.
They had with them a Dutch Canon Regular, named
Father Peter, who daily used to say Mass in our church,
and a worldly (secular) English gentleman, Mr Ferfex
(Fairfax) who studied in this town. Our Reverend
Father Barnes was at Bruges, expecting them, having
gone thither before with two of our lay sisters, to accom-
modate the house, visiting by the way the English nuns
at Gaunt (Ghent). When they arrived at Bruges they
surrendered themselves under the obedience of the bishop,
and that see being at the time vacant, unto the Arch-
deacon of the Bishopric who supplied his place, as the
manner is. Presently thereupon, they made their election
of a prioress, and choose Sister Frances Standford, as had
been appointed here, Sister Ann Tremain, sub-prioress,
and the rest as hath been before declared. Some time
after, our Reverend Father Barnes returned home again
with the two lay sisters that went to dress up the house as
is (has been) said. But he returned again to Bruges with
the next company of five nuns that went thither, which
were appointed by our Reverend Mother out of the
younger sort, parting them. Of the four sisters Clapton,
which were professed here together, the two middlemost
were sent away, Sister Barbara and Sister Lidwin Clapton,
the eldest and youngest, remaining here. Then also was
sent Sister Grace Constable, grand-daughter to the Lady
Babthorpe, whom she brought into the cloister with her.
Next to her was Sister Mary Gifford, niece unto Sister
Anne Gifford, being her eldest brother's daughter. The
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 81
fifth was Sister Elizabeth Brereton, who being a good
housewifely woman and of great experience in the world,
was judged fit to do them good service. These five were
sent away in such wise as the others before, upon the i ith
of October, our holy Father St Augustine's Translation ;
and coming to their monastery, they made their obedience
to the Mother at Bruges as the manner is, and then were
placed in divers ofiices.
So was their cloister begun and furnished with persons
dedicated in the honour of our Blessed Lady's Nativity,
because it first began within her Octave. It hath since,
God be thanked, increased with the receipt (reception) of
many gentlewomen that came out of England unto them.
But Sister Mary Best being, before she went hence, entered
into a consumption, after one year that she had been
procuratrix there, fell deep into her infirmity, and dying,
made a happy end.
Our Reverend Father Barnes was forced still by whiles
to go thither, and in his absence, they went to confession
to one Dr Weston, an English priest that lived at Bruges,
until such time as they procured a ghostly father out of
the College at Douay, a priest named Mr Bourd, a good
scholar and devout man, who serveth them still when this
was written.
In the same year died an old lay sister, Margaret
Offspring, who came from St Ursula's an Englishwoman.
She tended old Father Fenn in his decrepit age, being
then the sister in the Father's house. After his death, she
grew herself lame, so as she could do nothing but pray and
spin, going some years with crutches, which lameness is
thought proceeded from the great labour she did at St
Ursula's, being well in years when she came to religion.
She was a devout, simple sister, of a good nature, obedient
and laborious, and now died of old age, making a happy
end.
Upon the 3rd of the same month and year, two days
after her, died Sister Mary Bendlos, who was professed in
82 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
the year 1625. Having a defect of stammering, she could
only read and sing in common in the choir but not alone,
but what she could not do in the choir she fulfilled in
other things, being exceedingly charitable, and never well
but when she was doing some good turn or service unto
others. Wherefore, seeing her fervour herein, she was
always taken to help where need was, either in tending
the weak or sick or such like thing, and scarce one week
before she died she was most busily serving the sub-prioress
who was then taking physic, little thinking that (she)
herself was so near her end, for at this time the measles
were gotten into the house and she happened to take it,
and with a burning fever it brought her to a happy
end.
In the year of our Lord 1630, upon the 3rd of January,
died in this town the Lady Leedes, Sister Mary Leedes'
mother, and was buried in our church as Sir Thomas
Leedes desired, where never any had been buried before,
nor since as yet.
Upon the 22nd of February in the same year (1630)
died Sister Margaret Garnet, one of the first that came
from St Ursula's, sister to Father Henry Garnet, the
martyr, and Superior of the Jesuits in England. It was
through his means that she came to be a Catholic, as
also to be sent over to be a religious, for both which good
turns she was to him obliged, being of herself a simple
moral woman, and living in the world.
Almighty God ordained her eternal good and high
calling to religion through the wise industry of her good
brother, without herself scarce thinking thereon, but only
conforming herself to his mind ; and (she) found that
true contentment in religion, which she could not have
imagined, being a good sister, strict in the Order, and
laborious in outward works. She was a long while the
Refectrice at St Ursula's, and served the religious with
great charity, taking much pains. Afterwards coming
hither, she was made upper chantress, having a very
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 83
good voice. It pleased God after some four years of her
coming hither to send her the falling sickness, which was
a great cross to her nature, being desirous to live in the
company of others, and this disease making her to be
excluded out of the community and to live in her cell,
or to walk in the garden with one or two that used to
assist her ; by reason that her fits were very fearful when
they happened in public, as they did sometimes in the
choir and refectory. Our Reverend Mother was forced
to make her keep away, because the sisters could not bear
it; especially the youngers got such apprehensions as
might hurt them much. Therefore, whether she would
or no, she was forced to make a virtue of necessity, and
to resign herself unto the will of God for the space of
many years, till at length upon the Feast of St Peter's
Chairing [su] at Antioch, about Prime, she was heard by
her neighbours to fall into a fit in her cell. Whereupon,
they calling help to her, because she made her accustomed
cry, which was a kind of roaring, when they came to help
her as they used, that she might lie so as not to have
hurt when she returned to herself again, they found her
stark dead. It seems this was her last hour ordained by
God who disposeth all for the best unto His elect in such
wise, that although their death be sometimes sudden, yet
not unprovided ; because living always well, when death
comes though never so unawares, they are found in good
case, as we may and ought to hope that this good sister was,
who frequented so often the holy Sacraments, and lived
a religious life in holy obedience ; observing her duties in
what she was able, and bearing her cross inflicted by God,
though nature was mortified.
(This year we obtained leave to keep the Feast of our
Lady's Conception first class with an Octave ; it fell
this year on the second Sunday in Advent, and took place
of the Sunday, but the next Sunday took place of the
Octave-day, and the Octave had only a commemoration at
Evensong and Lauds.)
84 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
In the same year about the 21st of April died Sister
Perpetua Best, of whom much mention is made before.
Being a good innocent religious, she gave good example
of padence, lying very quietly and still amidst her pains,
as having been well used to suffering.
In the year of our Lord 1630, upon the 29th of May,
came hither a reverend priest from the College of Douay
(whom) we had long desired to be our confessor when our
Reverend Father Barnes should come to decease, and in
the meantime to be his help in hearing confessions ; who
also desired him, by reason that our community being so
great, we had need of more help than one priest. Having
before till that time been assisted by the Fathers of the
Society (of the English College), when they in the year
1624 broke up house in this town and went to live at
Lieo-e in a fair college which they had builded there, we
had a good and worthy Irish Father to assist us in their
place sometimes, named Father Peter Wadding, the which
now also we were deprived of by reason that he was sent
into Germany by his superiors. Wherefore, this confessor
came now in good time. His name was Father Richard
Johnson, alias White, who was by the President, Dr
Kellison, judged fit for this place, as indeed he proved,
and gave great contentment unto all, living also in great
peace and straight friendship with our Reverend Father
Barnes, so as with his consent and liking many of the
nuns depended wholly on him and found as full content-
ment and satisfaction of him, as they did before of any
Father of the Society ; as also he assisted us much in our
temporal affairs, and in our troublesome suit with the
Abbot, as shall be declared hereafter.
Upon the 21st of July in the same year died Sister
Mary Magdalene Foscue (Fortescue), a white sister, of a
consumption. She was a very devout and good soul, much
given to mortification and penance ; wise and modest, and
wholly addicted to prayer ; for by reason that her sight
became so bad as to make her almost blind, she could not
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 85
well see to work, therefore with leave spent most of the
day in prayer.
In the same year upon the 2nd day of December were
professed two lay sisters, taking the white rochet in the
church ; which the lay sisters before used not to do, but
were professed in a black coat like our scholars' coat.
They wore this habit upon Sundays and the white rochet
only upon working days. But now it was agreed upon by
consultation and ordained, that from thenceforward our lay
sisters always should wear the white rochet upon their black,
which they also had much desired, to be the more like unto
the nuns, as well in habit as they lived in order and com-
munity ; which we also judged more convenient, although
we had hitherto followed the custom of St Ursula's cloister
concerning the lay sisters. These were the first professed
according to the new ordination. One was Sister Eliza-
beth Miller and the other Sister Agnes Watson.
Of the year 1632 (? 1631) we have little to write, by
reason that through the wars and losing the town of
Bolduck (Bois-le-duc) we being in danger of the enemies,
who hunted still about Brabant, we were not willing to
increase our house with more than those we had received.
Only this year in the month of August our Reverend
Father hallowed us a new bell : the old one was broken with
being ill placed in our new church.
The same year (1632) upon the 26th of January were
professed three nuns ; Sister Anne Evans, Sister Dorothy
Musgrave, and Sister Mary Barney. The first was
daughter to Mr Matthias Evans, brother to him that put
into our monastery Sister Susan Brook. These two
brothers, when their father died, with the means that was
left them employed it according to their best liking.
The elder Mr Evans employed his money so in mer-
chandise that he became very rich. This younger brother
was more given to study, as also practised physic some-
times to help his friends, but he was no Catholic, nor his
wife. But it pleased God that in his last sickness he was
86 CHKONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
reconciled. So he died in a good state, through the great
mercy of God. His wife then being in London, busy-
about the fulfilling of his will and settling of matters, the
Plague at that time beginning extremely to rage, she took
the disease and died thereof, as also her children, all except
this, who though she was infected likewise with the plague,
yet through the goodness of Almighty God who had
chosen her for Himself, she alone with a maid-servant
were left alive. About which time this maid had a dream
that she saw a vine which became wholly withered and
dead except only one little branch, which remained living
and flourished most fair and green ; which she told to this
her mistress's daughter, who then lay sick of the infection.
It gave her great comfort, hoping she should not die (as
indeed she did not), but our Lord would have her to
flourish green not only in the Catholic truth, but also in
holy religion.
Upon this accident her aunt, Mrs Harris, who had
brought her up, sent for her again into Shropshire, where
she lived with her some time, until her uncle Mr Evans
took care of her soul, as also looked to the goods which her
father had left, and agreed with his nephew, Mrs Harris's
son, who was a Catholic, that she should be gotten away
from her aunt to come and live with him. Although she
was unwilling to let her go, yet they wrought so with her
that she was content, and then her said uncle placed her
with Catholics, being himself a widower, and keeping no
house ; and she was so well instructed as to be reconciled,
as also some time after was moved to become a religious,
by conferring often with one Agnes Watson, who, as we
have said at her profession, came to live in the same house,
serving a gentlewoman that lodged there. Their chamber
being right over against hers, often they met together,
and she got her to read good books.
So that at length she (Anne Evans) fully resolved to
come over with her, knowing that she was then expecting
means to go ; wherefore, speaking to her uncle who indeed
CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 87
was very desirous she should be a religious, he wrote for
them both, and obtained the place here. So (he) sent them
over, and they were received, and after a good time of pro-
bation she made her profession at the age of about i8 years,
and four of having been a Catholic. Some time after this
she sent a letter to her aunt Harris who brought her up,
and was well minded but exceeding fearful, and therefore
lived long out of the Church ; but now at length Almighty
God drew her to Him with His forcible grace, so as she
was reconciled and became a Catholic, which was a great
comfort unto this her niece.
The second professed. Sister Dorothy Musgrave, was
daughter to Mr John Musgrave, a younger brother of a
very ancient house. For it was about eight hundred years
past that his ancestors the Musgraves conquered to the
King of England a part of Ireland, and gained for them-
selves an earldom therein, which they yet retain, and a
castle is there named Musgrave Castle, which by the
abruption of Irish language is not rightly pronounced.
The Musgraves also in the last rebellion of the northern
parts were the chiefest that defended the Queen Elizabeth's
right, wherefore they obtained the government of the
country some time, until that a certain nobleman opposed
against them.
This gentleman, being, as it has been said, a younger
brother, had nothing to live upon, wherefore he went over
seas in his youth and served for a soldier in Italy under the
King of Spain. Afterwards coming back into England, he
chanced to serve the Lady Copley, wife of the foremen-
tioned Lord Thomas Copley, for her chief gentleman, and,
living there, her youngest daughter named Mary fell in
love with him and married him secretly without the know-
ledge of her friends.
After some time was passed, that her friends were
pacified, seeing no remedy of what she had done, they
delivered unto him the portion which her father had left
her, and he then took her away with him into the North
88 CHKONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
Countrie, where his elder brother also gave him a house
and some little land belonging thereunto. So he made a
shift to live and was a very constant Catholic, insomuch as
one Justice, a friend of his, called him once, saying that he
would tender him the oath, but that he knew it was to no
purpose, for he was sure he would not take it.
He answered that it was true indeed ; he would not
take it. "Why," replied the other, "you shall see others
not refuse to take it " ; and thereupon called for a poor
man, who, seeing that the oath was to be offered him, stood
quaking for fear, and durst not refuse it, for fear of losing
his o-oods. This gentleman then heartened him not to take
it, but all that he could say sufficed not ; he was so fearful
that he took it, whereas the other for his courage and con-
stancy escaped to have it once tendered him.
Also, upon a time, the searchers, one Tarbox and the
other mates, came and searched his house, but finding
nothing, by reason that having noticed they had hidden
the things of danger, they, for not to go away empty, were
not ashamed to steal openly, and took away with them a
basin and ewer of silver which was there standing. But at
his return home, finding what they had done, he resolved
to go and make them restore it, either by fair or foul
means ; so he went to the place where he understood they
resided, for they were not yet departed out of the town,
named Exam (Hexham) in Northumberland, and claimed
his goods. But they withstanding him with words, and
fearing he would come to blows, one of them, before he was
aware, tripped his feet and laid him along, whereupon he
presently drew out his dagger. Then they all fell upon
him and sought by main violence to wring the dagger out
of his hand, but whatever they could do he held it so fast
that they could not at all prevail ; and yet the villains took
their knives and between the hilt cut and lashed (slashed)
his fingers to make him leave his hold, but he cared not
for that.
In the meantime this his daughter, being then a little
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 89
child, passed by that way as she was going to school, and,
hearing a noise, knowing her father was there with the
pursuivants, went in to see what the matter was. Seeing
her father lie along and they upon him, she went forth
instantly and called for help. Whereupon a man that loved
him and others came in speedily and rescued him out of
their hands ; but so soon as he was gotten on his feet none
could resist him, but he made them perforce deliver the
silver which they had stolen, and moreover to pay for the
surgery of his fingers which they had so slashed as he ever
afterwards remained lame and benumbed of them.
Thus he lived many years in the North Countrie, and
then, what for the troubles sustained about religion, and
other losses, he could not well maintain his family there
longer, having had many children (but only three living).
He came back with them and his wife unto her brother,
Mr William Copley, and leaving her and two of them there,
himself with his eldest son went over seas to be again a
soldier, and served in the Low Countries at the siege of
Groll {.'*) after that he went again into England, and fetched
his wife away to come over seas with him. Her brother
allowed her yearly maintenance. So then leaving her at
Brussels he went into the siege of Breda, where being in
the camp he took a great sickness and therein his son
showed his dutiful service, which is worth the writing down.
For when the camp was to remove from one place to
another, and his father, through the weakness of his disease,
could not well go he would carry him upon his shoulders,
until he died very happily, with the rites of the Church.
Then his son, coming back to Brussels where his mother
was, chanced to meet there with a good fortune of a rich
widow whom he married, and so went to Namur where her
inheritance lay. His mother boarded there with them
until after some time she died very happily.
Now this her daucrhter lived all this time with her uncle
Copley, and was brought up in his house by her aunt, bemg
but 8 years when she came thither with her mother out of
90 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
the North Countrie, and being now of fit years, her uncle
was willing to bestow her in some religious cloister, and
therefore sent her over at i8 years of age. It happened
that by the way and in these countries she had great
enticements to marriage, but our Lord, who had chosen
her for Himself, made that either she liked them not or
else the design was crossed by accidents that happened.
Coming here she was delayed of entering in, by reason that
her uncle did not offer a sufificient portion for our house,
until at length such means and endeavour was made to
him by some here that he was content to give her as much
as she might be admitted for, and so we received her and
defrauded all her wooers of their expectation. For she
was a woman of good parts, and handsome, and therefore
so much soucfht after. But it was more fit that all that
should be employed in God's service than in the world ;
and having a very great and good voice, she was a fit person
to honour God in our choir. Wherefore, after a long time
of probation she made her holy profession at the age of
2 1 years.
PREFACE TO CHAPTER THE FIFTH
A romance of the " North Countree." The warlike Musgraves of Edenhall.
The Catholic manor-houses of Norfolk. Pastons, Tyrwhitts, and Berneys.
Our Lady of Walsingham. The lament of Walsingham. Hazlewood and
the Vavasours. The chapel where Mass has never ceased to be said.
Suu'erings for their Faith and their king. "The good Lady Stourton" and Sir
Edward Vavasour.
Sisters Musgrave and Berney were professed together, 29th
January 1632, so that in this preface some notes on these two
families will find their appropriate place.
A delightful tale is told by our good chronicler in the account
given above of the parents of Sister Dorothy Musgrave, professed
on St Polycarp's day, 26th January 1632. It wants none of the
elements of romance. The knightly youth is beloved in his
lowly fortune by the lady in whose family he was but a
retainer ; then follows the secret wedding, and at last he takes
her to his home in the "North Countree." Only, he was one
of the chivalrous adherents of the ancient Faith, and as in youth,
like the Monk of St Mary's aisle,
" He had been a warrior bold
And had fought in Spain and Italy,"
so in his old age, to win his bread he had to gird on his sword
again and serve as a soldiei in a foreign land.
The chronicler would have done us a favour if she had given
the Christian name of John Musgrave's elder brother, Sister
Dorothy's uncle. She contents herself with saying that those of
his ancient family defended Queen Elizabeth's rights in the
northern rebellion, for which absolutely correct information she
was no doubt indebted to Mr John Musgrave himself Simon
Musgrave served in the army of the Earl of Sussex by whom he
was knighted with Robert Stapleton and others, 28th August 1569,
Sussex, being the queen's lieutenant-general in the North. That
92 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
Musgrave and Stapleton should have cast in their lot together
was but natural, for the families were closely allied, and Edenhall,
then as now the principal seat of the Musgraves, came to them
through the marriage of Sir Thomas Musgrave with Mary,
daughter of Sir William de Stapleton of Edenhall.
The account given in the Chronicle of John Musgrave's
dauntless courage shows him a worthy descendant of " the warlike
race of the Musgraves," as Camden styles them. Many Catholic
gentlemen of the North, out of loyalty to the queen, followed the
banner of Sussex against the insurgents, though they still adhered
to the Faith, and afterwards suffered grievously for it. From
Father Green's MSS. (Foley's Records) we learn that (with others)
" Mr Robert Musgrave, gentleman, born in the North," took ship
near Newcastle to escape to the Continent from persecution, was
driven back by contrary winds to Shields, apprehended on landing,
and committed close prisoner to Newcastle jail. He was
examined before the Council of the North at York, 24th May
1 591, and removed to York Castle. He remained in prison till
the last day of the year, when he was released on bond for his
appearance. Other members of the family seem to have con-
formed about this time, and we read of a Catholic prisoner that
" he was removed from Hull to be prisoner in Mr Thomas
Musgrave's house, and there fell." Six years before Sister
Dorothy's profession, Dom Placid Musgrave (or Hilton), born at
Carlisle, who had been ordained a secular priest at Rheims in
1609, but entered the Benedictine Order at Dieulouard very soon
after, died in Middlesex, 20th February 1626, after labouring for
seven years on the English mission. The actual representative of
the family is Sir Richard Musgrave, Bart, of Edenhall.
The old manor-houses of Norfolk were the early homes of a
considerable number of our canonesses. Mother Margaret
Clement herself, the very foundation-stone of the illustrious
community, was the daughter of that noble heroine, Margaret
Giggs of Burnham in Norfolk, no doubt a descendant of that
John Gygges of Burnham to whose widow William Paston
commits his plate in safe keeping in a Bill dated 7th July 1479.
The Norfolk houses of Rookwood, Felton, Paston, I3erney,
Bedingfeld, and others, appear over and over again in the names
of our canonesses or of their relations. With the families of
Berney (which our chronicler spells Barney, according to the
pronunciation of the time) and of Paston, the present chapter is
chiefly concerned. The subjoined portion of the Chronicle
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 93
(enlivened by the story of the battle between the Orthodox cat
and the Protestant bloodhound), requires some few words of
comment for its elucidation.
Sister Mary Berney, one of those professed on the 26th of
January 1632, was, the chronicler tells us, daughter to Mr Henry
Berney of Haddockston, not far from Ripon in Yorkshire. Of her
mother she only adds that she was a good Catholic. This lady we
know to have been a daughter of the house of Tyrwhitt of
Kettleby, a relative, and probably a very near one, of that noble
youth, who died of ill-usage in prison for the Faith, " bringing," as
Bridgwater writes, " undying honour to the family of Tyrwhitt"
He was imprisoned for having heard Mass at his sister's wedding,
and about the same time (1580) William Tyrwhitt, Elizabeth his
wife, Robert, John, Marmaduke, and Nicholas Tyrwhitt were
indicted for hearing Mass.
Henry Berney, Sister Mary's father, was a younger brother of
Sir Thomas Berney of Reedham, in Norfolk, whose descendant,
Sir Henry Berney of Reedham, Bart, is the actual representative
of the family. It was Sister Mary's grandfather, Henry Berney,
who built the splendid seat of Park Hall, Reedham, to which he
removed from the old house near Reedham church. Sir Thomas's
sister, Margaret, married Edmund Paston of Appleton in Norfolk.
She is the aunt of whom our chronicler speaks, to whose care Mary
Berney, at the age of 11 years, was entrusted by her father.
As for Sir Thomas himself, as he was Sheriff of Norfolk, in 7th
James I. it is to be feared he had already conformed, and it was
once more the oft-repeated story of the younger brother who
braved persecution for the Faith of his fathers. But finding his
estate ruined by fines, he had sought to bring up his daughter
under the care of a more powerful and wealthier Catholic relative,
where she could have the consolations of daily Mass and spiritual
guidance.
Sister Mary was the fourth of the nine children of Henry
Berney and his wife, nee Tyrwhitt. Whether their descendants
adhered to the Faith, I cannot say ; the Protestant branches
flourished in worldly matters exceedingly, but with them we are
not concerned. The Berneys had been settled in Norfolk from
the days of the Northmen, and during their long career we find
them forming alliances with the families of Southwell, Bedingfield,
and Paston. Berney, the earliest seat of the Berneys, was near
Walsingham. Very often, in those days of sadness and oppression,
must the oppressed Catholics of Norfolk have visited by stealth
94 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
the ruins of our Lady's glorious sanctuary, with thoughts like those
of a poet whose name is unknown to us, but was perhaps known to
them, in the touching lines :
" Weep, weep, O Walsingham
Whose days are nights ;
Blessings turned to blasphemies
Holy deeds to despites ;
Sin is where our Lady sate :
Heaven turned into hell ;
Satan sits where our Lord did sway
Walsingham, oh farewell."
Doubtless, in her quiet Flemish cloister Mary Berney would
sometimes speak of Walsingham, the greatest of our English
sanctuaries of Mary, and wish that her sisters in some future
generation might be the means of restoring its ancient splendour.
We now come to a name that in our Catholic annals shines
with a lustre all its own, that of the Vavasours of Hazlewood.
On a commanding eminence to the south-west of Tadcaster
stands the noble castle of Hazlewood. From its roof may be
seen, as Camden did not forget to note, the towers of the two
cathedrals of Lincoln and York, though 60 miles apart. On the
memorable Palm Sunday of 146 1, when the hopes of the house
of Lancaster were for ever laid low by the slaughter of their
followers at the battle of Towton, the course of the fight was
witnessed from the battlements of Hazlewood Castle by the
ladies of the house of Vavasour. Its earthly renown is as
nothing to the glory of being one of the few houses in England
where the light of the sanctuary has never been quenched, for
even in the fiercest times of Elizabethan persecution and through
the long night that followed them, the undying Sacrifice of the
Mass has never ceased to be offered in the chapel at Hazle-
wood.
Hazlewood was in all probability the birthplace of Sister Anne
Vavasour, professed at St Monica's on the 6th of November 1638,
for she was one of the nine children of Sir Thomas Vavasour of
Hazlewood, by his wife Ursula Gifford, whose two sisters. Sister
Anne's aunts, were canonesses at Louvain. With the period
of the secular greatness of this family I must deal briefly.
Mauger the Norman, who received from William de Percy,
whose mesne-tenant he was, the bosky manor of Hazlewood, was
called Le Vavasor. There is an ugly association connected
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 95
with the name of Mauger in the family. The list of Yorkshire
recusants in 1604 contains several names of the heroic Catholic
Vavasours; but one of the two justices who certify the list of
recusants for " Pattebrigges cum Bushopside" is Sir Mauger
Vavasour of Weston, an apostate branch of this loyal house.
The Vavasours of pre-Reformation times were munificent
benefactors to the Church. Of York Cathedral, Camden writes :
"It was brought to that stately pitch we now see it, by the
archbishops with the contributions, especially of the Percies
and Vavasours, as the arms of their families in the church, and
their portraitures in the gate, do shew. The Percies are cut out
with a piece of timber, and the Vavasours with a stone in their
hands, in memory of the one having contributed stone, and the
other timber, to this new fabric." This refers to the grant of a
quarry made by the pious Robert le Vavasor and Juliana his
wife for the building of the Minster. He was Sheriff of York
in 12 17. His example was followed by his descendant, Sir
William Vavasour, called to Parliament as a baron in 1299. He
seems to have been the most powerful of his race, and by
obtaining a licence to embattle Hazlewood altered it from a
thane's hall to a baron's castle. Cadet branches of the family
about this time began to establish themselves, but without
attaining great influence, and the power of the Vavasours never
again reached the height in which it stood in Sir William's
days.
Towards 1300 their chapel of St Leonard was restored, and the
devout Vavasours obtained indulgences from the Holy See for the
faithful who should visit it, and the lords of Hazlewood were
laid to rest within its walls. Sir Henry, who died towards the
end of the fifteenth century, directs in his will " in every Easter
week my chamber priests and other priests and clerks that happen
to be there in the said Easter Week to come unto my grave,
standing about my said grave, singing the Psalm called In cxitu
Israel de Aegypto" It reminds one that this was the psalm put by
Dante in the mouths of the faithful departed when they reach the
mount of Purgatory. On 9th December 1526, a commission was
issued to Matthew, Bishop of Chalcedon, to veil Anne, widow of
John Vavasour of Hazlewood. William Vavasour was guardian
of the Franciscan house of studies at Oxford in the reign of
Henry VII.
Their sufferings for the Faith began in the reign of Edward VI.,
when Thomas Vavasour, M.D., son of Sir Peter Vavasour of
96 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
Spaldington, was driven into exile through the agency of Cheke,
the king's schoolmaster, well-known for his bitter invectives
against Catholics. Dr Vavasour returned in Mary's reign. He
and his wife Dorothy Kent underwent a long and cruel imprison-
ment in Elizabeth's reign, both dying in prison, Mrs Vavasour in
the Kidcote of York, 26th October 1587, her husband in Hull
Castle, T?th May 1585. Dr Vavasour's house at the time of his
first arrest, was so unmercifully plundered by Asquith, the
Sheriff of York, that his wife could not even find a pillow or
cushion on which to lay her infant child. On another occasion,
the house being beset by the Lord President's men, who were in
search of her husband, she went out of her mind from terror and
exhaustion. But as she was saying the ofiice of our Blessed Lady
on a feast of the Blessed Virgin with her husband, she was
suddenly restored to her senses, after which " she being the chief
matron and mother of all the good wives in York," harbouring
priests and relieving the poor, she herself was arrested on
Assumption Day, 1578.
Both husband and wife perished from the pestilential air and
close confinement of their prisons, and may justly be counted as
martyrs.
Concerning the glorious confessor of the Faith, William
Vavasour, Lord of Hazlewood, our chronicler gives some touching
details, hitherto unknown, of his life after he had made over
Hazlewood to his son Sir Thomas, and to his holy life we may
well attribute the piety of his children and his grand-daughter's
vocation to St Monica's. He is referred to in two letters of Sir
Julius Caesar, Chancellor of the Exchequer, addressed to James I.,
and dated respectively 14th August and 15th August 1612. In
the former, Vavasour is named among those " whom the law hath
taken hold of by a legal conviction." In the latter, he writes, " The
process gone out against the lands and goods of the Lord Vaux
and his mother. Sir Henry James, and William Vavasour, will not
be returnable till Michaelmas term next : but the Lord Vaux and
his mother by their tenants offer ;^2000 in money and William
Vavasour ;^700 if it may be accepted for their pardons in lieu of
all forfeitures and imprisonment Others not yet convented have
been sent for but cannot yet be found ; only two of them, William
Middleton, Esq., of Yorkshire, and Richard Towneley, Esq., of
Lancashire, offer ;C500 apiece not to be put to their oaths." Br.
Foley, S.J., gives from the Landsdowne MSS. in the British
Museum a letter written by the same holy confessor, then a
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 97
prisoner in Newgate, 19th June 161 2, containing the offer to
which Sir Julius refers. In the subjoined extract from the same I
have modernised the spelling. " Being convicted in the Premunire
and committed to Newgate where I have continued long in great
misery and with no small peril of my health ; and being sincerely
desirous to give his most excellent Majesty all humble satisfaction
of obedience to his highness's laws, yet enforced by the eminent
danger of sickness if I should continue much longer in so pestilent
a place. ... I do most humbly entreat you to present unto his
most royal Majesty my voluntary offer of ^700 to be
disposed at his pleasure out of my poor estate. The which
sum of money as it is the utmost I can possibly pay or perform in
regard of the small portion of lands left me for my life by my
lately deceased ancestor, who was not my father but my uncle ;
also in respect of my great debts and extraordinary charge of
children, etc."
In one of the letters of Sir Julius Caesar to James I., he gives
the king a list of names of Catholic recusant families, most of
whom belonged to the county of Lancashire. We may as well
here transcribe this roll of honour : Middleton, Gascoigne, Cholmeley,
Dolman, Preston, Towneley, Wiseman, Tregian, Plowden, Gifford,
Biddulph, Gage, Digby, Arundel, Throckmorton, Tichbourne,
Carew, Meynell, Catterick, Ingleby, and Witham, in addition to
Vaux and Vavasour whom he had already mentioned. This was
in 161 2. The royal plunderer must have gloated over the harvest
of money to be squeezed from these noble families to enrich his
unclean swarm of favourites.
From their connection with the Vavasours, we may here add
a word on the Dolmans of Pocklington, the two families having
been more than once allied by marriage. Philip Dolman of
Pocklington married Frances Vavasour, our Sister Anne's aunt,
and their daughter Helen, under the name of Mother Marina,
was for many years the Reverend Mother of the Sepulchrines
of Liege (New Hall). Thomas Dolman, Justice of Peace
in 1584, who had probably conformed, married Elizabeth
Vavasour of Spaldington who appears among the recusants of
1604.
Their grandson Marmaduke in 1648 headed a desperate band
of royalists determined to rescue the king, forcibly released the
felons confined in Lincoln Castle to augment his forces, and
reached Gainsborough on 31st July. At Bingham, seven miles
from Nottingham, the cavaliers were overtaken by some of the
G
98 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
troops of the Parliament and routed after a stubborn fight, in
which many Catholics were made prisoners.
A few years after Sister Anne Vavasour's profession, began
a period of intensely painful anxiety for our Louvain canonesses.
Every post and messenger from England was eagerly looked
for, since there were few in the community who had not a father
or a brother fighting for King Charles I., and among the families
of our nuns the list of the slain was a long one. Sir Thomas
Vavasour met the king at York, with a gift of ^^300 towards
the expenses of the war. Sister Anne's three gallant brothers,
Walter, William, and Thomas, were among the first of the
Yorkshire gentlemen to draw the sword for the king, generously
unmindful of what they had suffered for the Faith. Walter, the
eldest, raised a troop of horse at his own charges ; Thomas fell
fighting under the Earl of Newcastle at Marston Moor. It is
not clear if William is to be identified with the Colonel Vavasour
slain at Tewkesbury after having distinguished himself at the
sieg:e of Gloucester. Sister Anne lived to hear news of the
Restoration.
We have before noted that it has always been the glory of
our old English Catholic families to give their sons and daughters
to the Church. Among the descendants of Sir Thomas Vavasour
the number of these chosen souls has been very great. I find
here some slight discrepancies in the pedigrees : Fr. Morris says
that of Sir Thomas Vavasour's thirteen children Henry became
a priest, John a Jesuit lay brother, Francis a Franciscan, Mary a
nun at Brussels, Margaret and Catherine Benedictine nuns
at Cambray. James Vavasour died a priest at Rheims in
1 591. Abbess Mary Vavasour of the Benedictine Convent at
Brussels, died in 1676. Father William Vavasour, S.J., died at
Nieuport in 1683, and Father Walter Vavasour, S.J., at Preston in
1746.
Among the Poor Clares were five Vavasours whose place in
the family line has not been identified. To the world all this
means little ; but it indicates a copious blessing from above
granted to the posterity of a holy confessor of the Faith, as a
reward for his fidelity to his Master.
When in 1826 Sir Thomas, the seventh baronet, died unmarried,
the Hazlewood estates passed by his will to his cousin and godson
Edward, the second son of Charles Lord Stourton, who placed
his mansion of Holme Hall at the disposal of the Sepulchrine
nuns when expelled from France by the Revolution, and whose
CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 99
wife, "the good Lady Stourton," was a daughter of the last
Catholic Lord Langdale, and the type of a noble and devout
Catholic lady, whose presence created around her an atmosphere
of happiness and goodness. She was above all an ardent lover
of the poor of Christ. Her son Edward assumed the name of
Vavasour and was created a baronet in 1828, the two hundredth
year from that in which the title had been created in the person
of his ancestor Sir Thomas.
Thenceforward, Hazlewood was to revive even the memories
of its holiest days under the elder line. Sir Edward was one of
those who live in the world but are not of it. Every Sunday he
would teach the children of the poor schools their Catechism.
He joyed in the thought that the chapel at Hazlewood had been
a home of the Blessed Sacrament in the dark days of persecution.
Every day the family were gathered together at Mass, every day
they visited the Blessed Sacrament and assembled for the
evening Rosary; to which in Lent were added the Seven
Penitential Psalms and the Litany of the Saints. His wife Marcia,
daughter of James Lane-Fox of Bramham Park, was won over
to the Faith by his example and that of his mother, the good
Lady Stourton. His almsgiving was incessant, till at times his
servant had to tell him he had no more clothes left to give
away. His son Philip became a priest, and Canon of Beverley ;
one of his daughters became a nun at Nottingham and another
at Loughborough. His son William, who died in i860, married
a daughter of Lord Clifford of Chudleigh. Sir Edward's daughter
Marcia became the wife of Lord Herries, and we have seen
elsewhere how many of their children consecrated themselves to
God in religion, two of them among our canonesses of Newton
Abbot.
As Sir Edward Vavasour felt the approach of old age, he felt
himself weary of the world he had never loved, and his one
longing desire was to end his days in the cell of a religious. But
he would first visit Rome, and throw himself at the feet of the
Vicar of Christ to ask his blessing.
As he was journeying through France, the diligence halted at
the foot of a hill not far from Lyons, and the passengers dis-
mounted. Sir Edward, who suffered much from climbing hills,
reached the top with difficulty, begged pardon of his companions
for the delay he had caused them, and fell back dead. Similar
deaths will occur to our mind in the case of other great servants of
God. They buried him in the neighbouring parish church of
100 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
Chanceau. Twenty-nine years later the body was brought back to
England and laid in the family vault at Hazlewood.
Note. — To what has been said above of the Musgraves, I may
add from the " Martyrdom of the Ven. John Boste," in Vol. I.,
published by the Catholic Record Association : " A minister stand-
ing by accused him [the martyr] of ill-behaviour, which a gentleman,
whom I take to be Edward Musgrave of Allstone Moor, having
said to the minister, ' My friend, say not so, for Mr Boste has
behaved himself marvelous well.' . . . Edward Musgrave, hearing
the minister revile the blessed martyr, took him a sound knock
upon the breast, saying : ' Is it not sufficient to condemn him, but
thus to revile him also ? ' "
As late as 1868 the connection of our community with the
Musgraves was revived by the profession at Newton Abbot of
Sister Aloysia Augustine (Augusta Petre), whose mother was a
Musgrave of Edenhall. She died 29th December 1870, on the
anniversary of the martyrdom of her ancestor, Ven. William
Howard.
CHAPTER V
From the profession of Sister Mary Berney to the death of Sister
Grace Babthorpe (Lady Babthorpe). The pursuivants at Mr
Paston's house. Death of Prioress Wiseman. Election of
Prioress Throckmorton. Sister Ann Vavasour. Death of the
first Prioress of Bruges. 1632-1635.
The third, Sister Mary Barney (Berney), was daughter
to Mr Henry Barney of Haddockston, near to Ripon in
Yorkshire, a good Catholic, as also her mother. They
suffered the ordinary persecution of the realm against
Catholics, and this their daughter, when she was at the
age of II years, was sent to dwell with her father's
sister, Mrs Paston, of whom we have made mention before,
speaking of Sister Helen Draycote, lay sister. With this
aunt of hers she lived till she came over and got a desire
to be a religious by hearing how her cousins were going
over to St Benedict's. But the chief cause that moved
her was God's calling, who gave her a dislike and weari-
someness of the world, wherefore she made her desire
known to the priest of the house.
But here it shall not be amiss to relate two things
which happened while she lived with her aunt. The said
Mr Paston had a house about half a mile of that she lived
in, which stood alone in a wood, and being moated about,
this house was ordained to entertain priests, and one was
kept there to receive them.
First, a Catholic gentleman lived there ; afterwards,
one of Mr Paston's own servants, who was married in his
house. The foresaid gentleman living there, it happened
that once the pursuivants came on a sudden. The
101
102 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
portress, seeing them at the door, went up to call her
master down to them, who, coming, bade them show their
commission, and kept them in talk some time, whilst that
the priest and church stuff were put up safe into the secret
place, so that coming in they found nothing. But they
brouo-ht with them a dog, which, as it seems, was a blood-
hound. He stood snuffing about the secret place where
the priest was ; but before the searchers espied him, comes
a great cat and fell a fighting with the dog, never leaving
him until he departed from thence ; which seemed an
admirable thing that the poor cat was not afeard to set
upon the dog. So would our Lord deliver them by this
means.
The other thing which happened was this. There
came a woman a-begging to the door when Mr Paston's
servant lived there, and told the man's daughter that if she
would give her something, she would teach her strange
tricks. But the wench going in told what the woman had
said to her ; whereupon they, doubting that she was a
witch, bade her put holy water into the meat which she
gave her, and doing so, when she came to the door the
woman was gone, and searching after her by all the ways
and paths, as also inquiring of others if they had not seen
such a woman, no news was ever heard of her, which made
them think that she came not in God's name.
This house, as is (has been) said, was a receptacle for
all priests that came and served the Catholics of the
country there, for their souls' good. But to return to our
young gentlewoman : her mother, understanding of her
mind to religion, was very glad that any of her children
would take so blessed a course, especially this daughter,
who was her parent's darling, and soon after the good
mother died happily. Her daughter came to this place,
by reason that being acquainted with Mr Dennis Brittan,
Sister Helen Brittan's brother, he writ hither for her, and
obtained her place to be granted. So coming she was
received, and after the time of probation made her holy
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 103
profession with the former two, at the age of 20 years,
upon St Polycarp's day.
The same year (1632) upon the ist day of February
were professed two lay sisters, Ann Reding and Mary
Stonehouse. The first was sister to Mary Reding, of
whom and of their parents we have lately made mention.
It remains now only to say that after the death of the
foresaid good man, David Reding, and his wife, this their
daughter and another sister named Francis (Frances) were
taken care of by their father's executors, which were one
Mr Heigham living then at St Omer's and another man ;
so they let out the house which was now the children's,
and these two sisters were placed in the house of Devotes
which brought up young maidens, called our Lady's Vine.
She came from thence hither, having a mind to be a
religious, and desired Mr Heigham to get her into some
monastery ; who writ for her hither where her sister was,
and our Reverend Mother granted her the place. So she
was sent by the said executors, and after her time of pro-
bation made her profession at the age of 26 years.
The other was sister to Anne Stonehouse, of whose
parents we have made large mention before, so remains
now only to show that Almighty God of His goodness
drew her to religion without herself scarce knowing what
she did. For, living with her parents after that her father
died, her brother, who was then a priest, took care of her
and asked her if she would be a religious, that then he
would seek to get her a place. She answered. Yes,
although she knew not what religion was. He then writ
to our Reverend Mother, and by the mediation of friends,
obtained her place here. Thereupon he sent her over, but
when she came to Bruges she understood that she could
not be received because we had enough. She thereupon,
without any great trouble, resolved to go into Antwerp to
serve Mr Clifford, who, it seems, wanted a servant ;
whereby appears plainly the Providence of God that He
would have her in this place, for she being at Antwerp it
104 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
chanced that two of our lay sisters were sent thither to Mr
Clifford, he being very ill of the stone, and meeting with
her there, liked her so well, knowing also whose sister she
was, and had sought for the place here, that they brought
her home with them. So she was admitted, and after a
good time of trial made her holy profession with the other
at the age of 25 years.
In this year (1633) upon the 8th day of July died most
blessedly our worthy Mother Prioress (Wiseman) after
many years of continual weakness, and sometimes great
pains and torments of the stone or such like, especially the
last year of her life. Being scarce able to go out of her
chamber, she obtained leave of the Landeacon that Mass
might be said in our little chapel above, which in the
beginnine of the cloister was our church, and there she
made shift to hear Mass upon Sundays and holy-days
almost one year. She was a woman of great spirit and
great courage, resembling well her mother, Mrs Wiseman,
of whom we have made large mention. She had her Latin
tongue perfect, and hath left us many homilies and
sermons of the holy fathers translated into English, which
she did with great facility, whilst some small respite of
health permitted her. For she was sickly almost all the
time of her government, which was a great cross to us all.
Nevertheless such was her wisdom and prudence, that she
guided us with great peace and tranquillity, which peace
she left established in the cloister after her death, having
brought up all the persons before rehearsed. She passed
in her beginnings at St Ursula's many temptations and
inward troubles, until that Almighty God through her
great devotion to St Augustine wholly settled her. She
was exceedingly addicted to mortification and corporal
penance, especially in the time of her temptation, using
much fasting and extraordinary watching, in such wise
that afterwards our Lord poured His Spirit abundantly
into her, both for herself and others.
Sometimes she (Prioress Wiseman) spent most part of
CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 105
the night in prayer, until that her many infirmities daily
waxing more upon her, hindered her former corporal
penances with exchange of greater pains. Being never-
theless still hard and austere to herself, but mild and
favourable to others, those whom she saw to be favoured
by God she would with discretion permit to do more than
others, as also mortify them well when occasion was, with
great love and tender care over them in their infirmities.
The frail and imperfect she sustained and bore withal, but
to the proud and rebellious she was at times severe.
Finally, she governed our convent with great wisdom and
mildness, and in her last sickness left us a worthy example
of her solid virtue, enduring extreme torments and sharp
pains, with such a courage and admirable patience, as
showed well the fervour of her heart and great love to God,
continually making aspirations to Him amid the grievous
gripes of her pains ; and between whiles, when she had any
small respite, giving herself to mental prayer and inward
recollection of mind, wherein it seems she earnestly recom-
mended to God the state of this convent.
At length she said that now she died with comfort
because God would provide a fit superior. It was also
noted that she then made great esteem of Sister Magdalen
Throckmorton, for she desired still to have her come by
her, and would be very glad of her company. She also
gave unto those that were about her many good documents,
and exhorted them to virtue. The nearer she drew toward
her end the more did she bestow her holy admonitions,
even to the lay sisters, showing her great humility in
esteeming every one better than herself, and showing the
same in words.
She had ever been very devout to our Blessed Lady
and to our holy Father, St Augustine, as appeared by her
exhortations in the chapter, wherein she had such a
singular grace in speaking of God and good things, that
the religious said they had rather hear one of her chapters
than any sermon, and some almost never heard her without
106 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
tears. So now in her last sickness she did frequently
exhort those about her to virtue, and would tell them
heartily of their imperfections, but notwithstanding would
say that we ought not to love another the worse for the
imperfections we see in them, for, she said, if a venial sin
can be dashed out with one act of contrition or the taking
of holy water, how much more are imperfections dashed
and purified with sorrow for them? Her desire of suffering
was ever very great, wherefore in her vehement pains,
when others should have comforted her, she would rather
comfort them who grieved to see her suffer so much, and
would say commonly : Regnum ccelorum vimpatitur. (The
Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence), and what should
we expect other than suffering in this life ?
She would not have any to desire of God to take away
her pains, but that He would give her patience to bear
them, and made a full resolution to be content to suffer
those pains even to the day of judgment, if it were the
will of God. She received the Sacrament of Extreme
Unction in the morning, the same day that she died, with
great devotion, and acknowledged her fault with hearty
humility, and also said that she hoped to meet us all in
heaven. After she had been annoiled, she lay still in
recollection even to her end, for the rattling of her throat
stopped her speech, but before it failed she said that the
vehemency of her pains was ceased, so that she felt them
gone, but lay drawing towards her end with thick and
short fetching of her breath.
Finally, while the choir was singing Salve Regina after
Compline, she sweetly yielded her soul to God, with great
tranquillity and stillness, upon a Friday, which happened
then to be the month-day of our holy Father, St
Augustine ; so as it seems our Lord with a loving
providence ordained she should make a blessed end upon
the day of her Father and great Patron, as also on a
Friday, for having been very devout to our Lord's Passion
and likewise upon the evening (eve) of Saturday for her
CHRONICLE or ST MONICA'S 107
dear and tender love unto our Blessed Lady, whose name
she took at her profession, being before named Jane.
After her death we solemnised her funeral with all
solemnity beseeming so worthy a superior, and then we
sent word to the bishop desiring that he would send his
vicarious (vicar) hither for our election of a new prioress ;
which he delayed awhile, as it seems through the Provi-
dence of God, to the end that she whom He had chosen
to succeed her, might be installed upon the day of her dear
Patroness, St Mary Magdalen. So we then remained
without a superior almost a fortnight, for it chanced to
fall out that our three days' fast was ended before St
Mary Magdalen's Eve ; and then on her Eve we made
our election, and the next day, on her feast, the visitor
came into the Chapter-house accompanied with the
Landeacon, and our Reverend Father Barnes then
declared that Sister Magdalen Throckmorton was chosen
prioress, and demanded, as the occasion is, if any had
anything to say against it. But there was very little
contradiction ; only some two or three spoke a little in
secret to him, which he answered, and then announced
openly that her election was to be ratified for good, in
respect that she had not only the most voices, but had
alone more voices than all that were chosen besides her if
they were put together. And so the most part giving
willingly their consent to have her for superior, she was
called in again, and then installed only for three years at
first till the bishop could see how she proceeded in govern-
ment. She thereupon made her vow of obedience unto the
vicar in the archbishop's place.
After that he made her sit down in a chair by him, and
we came all one by one and made our vow of obedience unto
her, as the manner is. After that we went all to the choir,
and she was installed in her place there, and we did the
Office and sung Te Deum Laudamus ; then our new-
Mother went about the house with the visitor and the
others till supper-time, wherein we had but some short
108 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
recreation, because it was Friday, just the day fortnight
that our old Mother died. The Sunday after, we had the
solemn feast and recreation for our Reverend Mother's
installing. She gave the most part contentment, being a
wise, discreet woman, and one who, having her health, was
still about the house, looking into all things with great
care and diligence, which was no small comfort unto us,
having long had the cross of a sickly superior, who was
not able to go about the house, so that if her great virtue
and prudence had not supplied, it had been impossible to
have kept the house in such good order, and persons to
show so quiet a disposition in this change of superior as
they did ; all things going on with great peace and
tranquillity and without any discord or dissension, which
showed that the Spirit of God was among us.
Our new Mother kept her first chapter upon the Eve
of our Lady's Assumption ; although at first she found
great difficulty in speaking, yet after that first time she did
very well, not only in her admonitions to virtue but also
in rebuking of faults and reprehending what was amiss,
with great courage and prudence. She gained the love of
our convent by her affability, wisdom, and other virtues.
This year it chanced that our second Father, Mr
Richard White, was called into England by his friends.
Nevertheless, he promised us faithfully to come again as
soon as he could, which indeed he performed, and in the
meantime our Reverend Mother sent to Douayjfor a priest
to supply his place. They sent us one Mr George
Poolewiel (Polwhele), a good sincere man, but we needed
him not long, for in November the same year our foresaid
Father returned out of England, having gone away about
the Feast of our Lady's Assumption. His affection was
such unto us as made him to make haste, and so returned
home to our great joy and comfort. In the time of his
absence our bell broke, by reason that it had not been
well placed, so we exchanged it for another new bought,
and hallowed it, placing it better in the steeple.
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 109
Upon the 6th day of November this same year, was
professed Sister Ann Vavissor (Vavasour), for a converse
or white Sister. She was niece to Sister Ann Gifford,
being her sister's daughter, and her father was Sir Thomas
Vavasour, a good Catholic, son to Mr William Vavasour,
a most zealous and constant Catholic, who suffered very
much for his conscience, being kept in prison for refusing
the oath, as also had a priest taken in his house, being
absent from home. But for money and the help of good
friends he got himself released, and was nevertheless
confined to live in a paltry house in Yorkshire, having
made over his estate unto his son, the foresaid Sir Thomas
Vavasour of Hazlewood in Yorkshire, and lived according
to his old manner very devoutly, keeping a priest in his
house, and entertaining those that came, as also his son
did. This daughter got a desire to become a religious,
but her mother feared she would not be able to go through
with a religious life ; nevertheless, seeing that she
persevered three years in her desire, it was concluded that
she should come over with an aunt of hers, her father's
sister, who went to the Third Order of St Francis at
Brussels, because the old man, Mr William Vavasour, was
much devoted to St Francis, and the Provincial of the
Franciscan Friars brought them both over. He had such
a strict care they should not be taken anywhere else, that
he would not permit her to come here to Louvain to see
her aunt.
But what God hath determined shall be, whatever men
intend. She was then clothed in the Third Order of St
Francis, but became so sickly she could not go through
with that Order, so that before the year was out her uncle,
Mr Henry Vavasour, a priest, came hither and obtained
her place and took her out of that Order ; they also being
willing to part with her, seeing she had not her health.
Having made a good time of probation here, of more
than two years, she made her holy profession within the
Octave of All Saints, at the age of about 19 years, for
110 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
a Converse, because she had not fit talents for the
choir.
Upon the i8th day of November in the same year
died Sister Mary Leeds of a long, Hngering disease, for
she had been always sickly ever since her profession,
bearine the same with great patience and conformity to
God's "will. She was a very virtuous and good soul, much
addicted to recollection, so as seldom did she speak but
what was just necessary, and suffered contempt and other
crosses with great mildness, without show of being moved.
She o-ave good edification herein even to her last, and
made a most sweet and blessed end. For, having received
the Sacrament of Extreme Unction and our Lord in the
Blessed Sacrament, she soon after died like a lamb, and
went out of this life to her Beloved ; Mr Richard White
assisting her, being come out of England but a little
before. Father Barnes was then fallen sick of a pleurisy,
whereof he had died if so be that great care had not been
taken, so as he recovered.
In the year 1634 upon the 9th day of January died
Sister Frances Herbert, being one that had long been
distracted, but showed much devotion at the hour of her
death. This year upon St Mary Magdalen's day was
professed Sister Mary Wiseman, being daughter to
Sir Thomas Wiseman of a place in Essex, who himself
following the time, it happened that his lady (being a
Roper, cousin-german to Mr Anthony Roper) became a
Catholic some three or four years before her death. This
being her youngest child and but 7 years of age, she
entreated her husband of all love at her death that this
their daughter might be brought up a Catholic, and that
he would send her to Mr Anthony Roper, which desire of
hers he faithfully performed. So, coming to live with
Mr Roper, although she was a very fine, pretty child, yet
Mrs Roper was so cross unto her, that Mr Anthony,
seeing his wife did not love the child, determined to send
her over to her cousins here, our Reverend Mother and her
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 111
Sister Bridget, who yet lived, and did so. For Almighty
God of His goodness ordained this means, that the said
gentlewoman should be so cross to the child that she
might be sent hither to be brought up in virtue and
religious life even from her tender infancy, that He mio-ht
afterwards have her His innocent spouse, not havino-
tested the world nor so much as known the wickedness
thereof.
She was admitted here then at 8 years of age, and very
well liked of, being a fine, staid child and well-bred, of a good
nature and fine disposition, very grave for her years ; thus
she lived in our monastery among the scholars about eight
years or more, so as reckoning her novice year added
thereunto, she made her profession at the age of 1 7 years.
Her cousin, our Reverend Mother, had not in this life the
comfort to see her professed but only clothed the year
before (her death) when she was so sick and full of pain
that we had much ado to lead her down to the clothine,
as the manner is that the Mother must be present ; whom
we led back in a chair to her chamber full of pain. She
had been named at her christening in England Penelope,
but at her first coming hither at Confirmation changed
this name to Mary ; so our Lord provided that when our
Reverend Mother died we should have another Mary
Wiseman in the cloister now settled, to her own and our
great comfort.
This year in our new monastery at Bruges upon St
Martin's day in November died Sister Elizabeth Lovel of
the plague ; their Father's house being infected a month
or two before by the young Lady Babthorpe, who, while
sojourning with their Father Confessor, got the plague,
which was very hot in the town, and died there of it ; she
was Sister Frances Babthorpe's mother, who was come
over the seas to her husband. Sir William Babthorpe, he
being made a captain, having lived some years in the place
only of a common soldier.
After her death two of the lay sisters that had been
112 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
about her got the plague too, and lying very sick in the
Father's house, Sister Elizabeth Lovel was so fervent in
charity that she got leave of the Mother with much
entreaty to go out and serve them. After that she took
leave of the nuns within, as one going to her end, and
continued well one week's space, serving them very dili-
gently, but after that fell sick herself, and died most happily
with great devotion and much contentment, having long
before desired to die. The two lay sisters recovered.
In the year 1635 died Sister Grace Babthorpe, who, as
is (has been) said, was the widow of Sir Ralph Babthorpe,
and professed with her grandchild here. She lived in
religion devoutly and gave especial example of humility,
nothing regarding what she had been before, but submitted
herself willingly to all religious discipline and honoured the
nuns, though much younger than herself in years. By
reason of her age she grew contracted in her breast, so as
she stooped always with her head in her bosom, which
brought her at length to her end. For having been for
some time in the sick-house, and finding herself very ill,
she was removed to a room apart where they tended her,
although we knew not of any danger of death she was in.
It happened that being cold weather, one morning as she
came from the fire, upon a sudden, going towards her bed
her breath was stopped and she died outright, though
they came to her and used all means to bring her to herself.
It was in vain, for the long contraction of her breast did
then as it seems stifle her. Wherefore she could not have
the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, for Confession and
Communion she had a day or two before ; so as although
she died suddenly yet not unprovided, but ended this life
happily by such means as the Divine Goodness had
ordained as best and fittest for her. She had been about
thirteen years of her profession in religious life, wherein she
lived only with edification to others but also with great con-
tentment to herself, taking much pains in the reading of her
great Office. By reason of her years, she was dispensed
CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 113
from reading and singing with the choir; therefore she
kneeled by, and performed the divine service by herself
being bound to the Breviary in respect that she was pro-
fessed a veiled nun. So much reading apart was very
painful to her aged sight, which notwithstanding she
performed with great care and diligence for the love of
God, as also bore patiently such things as happened to her
contrary to her nature and former breeding, not complain-
ing thereof, though she felt it sometimes hard.
This year upon St Thomas Aquinas' day in Lent died
the Prioress of our monastery at Bruges, Sister Frances
Stanford, having been but sickly all the time of her govern-
ment, and the last year of her life very ill with a lingering
ague that consumed her. She made a very blessed end,
having governed that cloister about eight years with good
edification, wisdom, and mildness, laudably performing her
office of superior, though it was against her will and mind,
for she loved rather to obey than command.*
* The word "landeacon," which occurs more than once in this chapter,
seems to be equivalent to the title of rural dean.
PREFACE TO CHAPTER THE SIXTH
Sister Mary Pole and her relatives. The family of Blessed Margaret Pole.
Sisters Anne Pole and Margaret Windsor of Syon. The Fermors. Richard
Fermor, Confessor of the Faith. An account of his sufferings from the
Teignmouth Chronicle. Arabella Fermor. " The Rape of the Lock."
The election of Sister Mary Pole to be Prioress of Bruges, with
which our chronicler opens the present chapter, calls for some
notice of the Pole family, which I was compelled to omit in the
first volume of the Chronicle. But before doing so, I have two
remarks to make. Our chronicler spells Pole Pool^ and Rome
Room. That such was the way of pronouncing the names in
those days, is known from Shakespeare's play on words in King
John, where Constance wishes it were lawful " that I have room
with Rome" etc.
My second remark concerns an act of literary restitution to be
made for a totally innocent and unintentional spoliation. Brother
Foley, in his Records, S.J., Vol. III., p. 790, and after him Father
Morris in the Month for April 1889, have ascribed a passage
given in this number of the Chronicle to a totally different hand.
It was a pure mistake, in which nobody was in fault, nor is it
worth while discussing it further. Later on, Father Morris had the
use of the MS. before me, in which he has left some useful pencil
notes. Besides he has made ample amends by the fresh light he
has thrown on the story of Sir Geoffrey Pole in the aforesaid
admirable article in the Month, of which I am about to avail
myself.
Sister Mary Pole, professed 19th June 1622, was the daughter
of Geoffrey Pole, and grand-daughter of Sir Geoffrey Pole, whose
mother and brother. Blessed Margaret of Salisbury and Lord
Montague, were among the noblest of the victims of Henry VIII.
It is with these two Geoffreys that Father Morris's article is
114
CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 115
concerned, and before going further I shall epitomise part of his
observations, beginning with his vindication of Sir Geoffrey, Sister
Mary's grandfather. Lingard sums up the common verdict of
historians against him in these words : " Geoffrey Pole saved his
life, as it was supposed, by revealing the secrets of his companions
in misfortune ; the rest were beheaded," among them his own
brother. Lord Montague. A very different account is given in the
text of our Chronicle, which, though Father Morris was not aware
of it, was furnished to the chronicler by Sir Geoffrey's grand-
daughter. Sir Geoffrey's reputation is further vindicated by the
Spaniard Garcias, who was in England at the time, and whose
"Chronicle of Henry VIII." has been translated and edited by
Major Martin Sharp Hume. It is the work of an unlettered man,
but an eye-witness of many of the scenes which he describes, and
despite its blunders gives much light on events of the time. Garcias
explains how Sir Geoffrey, never dreaming he was injuring his
brothers, was entrapped by Cromwell into an admission that Lord
Montague had sought absolution from Rome for taking the oath of
supremacy, on which admission he was executed, and may not
unjustly be regarded as a martyr, if we could fully trust Garcias'
narrative. " He (Sir Geoffrey) went about for two years like one
terror-stricken, and as he lived four miles from Chichester, he saw
one day in Chichester a Flemish ship, into which he resolved to get,
and with her he passed over to Flanders, leaving his wife and
children. Thence he found his way to Rome, and throwing himself
at the feet of his brother, the Cardinal, he said : ' My Lord, I do
not deserve to call myself your brother, for I have been the cause
of our brother's death.' The Cardinal, seeing he had sinned
through ignorance, pardoned him, and brought him to the feet of
the Pope, and procured forgiveness and absolution for his sin.
Then the Cardinal sent him to Flanders with letters to the
Bishop of Liege, who has him to this day, treating him with all
honour, and allowing him a ducat a day, and food for himself, two
attendants, and a horse."
Concerning Geoffrey Pole, the younger. Sister Mary's father.
Father Morris adds much original information. He lived at
Lordington, the "house four miles from Chichester," in Racton
parish, and here probably Sister Mary Pole was born. The house
was the property of Constance Lady Pole, Sir Geoffrey's wife, of
the family of Pakenham in Suffolk (not Paginham), who passed to
Lordington about 1420. Geoffrey Pole was a worthy descendant
of Blessed Margaret, and showed his zeal for the Faith in many
116 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
ways, besides "beating hansomely" Elizabeth's catch-polls and
making them eat their writs. Father Morris gives a letter
written from Rheims by Cardinal Allen to Father Agazzarri,
Rector of the English College at Rome, from which I transcribe
a portion.
" He who will give you this is the nephew of a man of holy
memory among us, Cardinal Pole's brother's son, who is not only
avoiding the common persecution against Catholics, but fearing
the deadly enemies of his name and royal blood, is obliged to quit
his country and leave his property, his wife and children, bringing
with him into exile only his eldest son, a boy of seven. In pro-
portion to his means there was no one in all England more liberal
to afflicted Catholics and especially to priests. To his house
as to a safe harbour priests have always gone. He supported
four or five, often more. Of this Father Leonard Hide, once
a student of yours, can be an eye-witness and an example, and
he can tell you how much he has done and borne for the Faith,
and other priests write to me to the same effect from
England."
Another Louvain MS. says that " having an aunt of his married
unto an heretical bishop, he would play them such merry tricks in
contempt of that heretical dignity, as when he chanced to ride by
the house sometimes, he would blow a horn and shoot off a pistol,
for to give them a mock."
The Diary of the English College at Rome relates his arrival
there in 1582 with his son Arthur, "an engaging child of eight
years," and records that in his Sussex mansion he kept two
oratories with three altars. A mystery hangs over the fate of
Sister Mary's brother Arthur. He was placed by the Pope to be
educated in the Palazzo of Cardinal Farnese with the son of the
Prince of Parma. In a pedigree contained in a Life of Cardinal
Pole, published in 1767, whereof a copy is in the library of
our canonesses, his name appears ^with the words, "slain in
Rome." His brother Geoffrey (the 3rd), writes Father Morris,
" is said to be the ancestor of Sir James Pole, of Wire-
hall " in Cheshire. Their sister, our Sister Mary, became Prioress
of Bruges.
One of the sisters of Geoffrey (Sister Mary's father) was
Margaret, married to Walter, brother of Lord Windsor. I suspect
she is the mother of Sister Margaret Windsor of Syon, who died
in 1643. She would not be the first of the daughters of the house
of Pole among the children of St Bridget. Anne Pole, seventh
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 117
Prioress (not Abbess) of Syon, died in 1501. She was a near
relative of Edward IV. of England, a daughter of the king's sister
Elizabeth, who married John de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk. Cicely,
Duchess of York, King Edward's mother, leaves in her will, " To
roy daughter Anne, Prioress of Syon, a book of Bonaventure."
The will is dated 1st April 1495. (Nicholas' Testamenta Vetusta,
Vol. I., pp. 422-23.)
Of the other children of Constance Lady Pole I have little to
say. Her son Thomas inherited Lordington House; Catherine
married Sir Anthony Fortescue ; Elizabeth became the wife of
William Nevill, a Lincolnshire squire, and Mary married William
Cufifaud. By Mr Gillow's kindness I have been favoured with a
pedigree of the Cuffauds of Cuffaud in Hampshire. Two of them,
descendants of Blessed Margaret, entered the Society of Jesus.
Constance, the daughter of William Cuffaud and Mary Pole, by her
marriage with Richard Lambton, became the ancestress of an
illustrious posterity in our Catholic annals. The name sometimes
appears as Lambe, but another of Mr Gillow's MS. pedigrees
places the identity beyond a doubt. Among these descendants
are : Fr. Anthony Lambton, S.J., who died in 1668, and his
sister, Sister Mary Lambton, Canoness at Louvain ; Sister Teresa
Lambe or Lambton, also of St Monica's. Of the same family was
Venerable Joseph Lambton, martyred at Newcastle-on-Tyne 23rd
July 1593, in the presence of his relatives under circumstances of
unusual atrocity. John Lambton, whose grandson Richard
married Sister Mary Pole's niece, was the ancestor of the present
Lord Durham. Sister Mary had four sisters, Jane, Constance,
Catherine, and Martha ; her mother's maiden name was Catherine
Dutton. Writing in Devonshire, I ought not to omit all mention
of the Poles of Devon, now represented by Sir Edmund Reginald
de la Pole, and General Sir Reginald Pole-Carew, as it is from a
branch of these Devonshire Poles that Reginald Cardinal Pole was
descended. Sir William Pole is the best of our Devon historians,
and they have left their name all over the county, though originally
of Tiverton. It is amusing to read in Prince's Worthies of Devon,
of Sir Nicholas owning the North Pole and South Pole, near
Kingsbridge. Reginald and Arthur were always favourite names
in the family.
Among the charges on which Blessed Margaret Pole was sent
to the scaffold, one was the possession of a banner on which the
Five Wounds of Our Lord were painted (which was taken to be
the standard of the Pilgrimage of Grace). This gives a meaning
118 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
to what our chronicler tells us of the action of her daughter-
in-law, the wife of Sir Geoffrey Pole, in having five Masses
said for him in honour of the Five Wounds, as related in the
Louvain MS.
To what has been said, I may here add that " Constance Pole of
the house of Cardinal Pole," married to one Captain Gaddilt (?),
died at Brussels, and was buried in the church of our canonesses at
Louvain in November 1658. She was probably a sister of Sister
Mary Pole.
Although it is not my purpose to give the biographies of the nuns
of the Bruges community whose Chronicle is to be published under
abler editorship than mine, yet I may be allowed to follow the
example of our Louvain chronicler, and add a few lines on one or
two of those who went from Louvain to Bruges, beginning with the
first prioress of that community. Sister Frances Stanford. She
was the daughter of Edmund Stanford of Perry Hall in Stafford-
shire, by his wife Mary, daughter of Thomas Shelley of
Mapledurham in Hampshire by a daughter of Sir John Luttrell.
Both the parents of Sister Frances were good Catholics. It seems
that Father Robert Stanford, who entered the English College
in Rome in 1613, was professed S.J. in 1628, and died in 1659,
was a brother of our Sister Stanford, and that Anne Stan-
ford, Poor Clare, professed at Gravelines (16 19) at the age of
28, was her sister, while Dorothy Stanford, professed at Gravelines,
aged 20, in 1649 (died 1679), is like to have been their
niece.
I may also be allowed at this stage of our work to insert a
notice, for which I could not find convenient room elsewhere, of a
dear old Catholic family, that of Fermor (originally Farmer),
which serves as a connecting link for the families of Morgan,
Markham, Throckmorton, Plowden, Towneley, Tempest, and
many others that figure in the pages of St Monica's Chronicle.
Sister Cornelia, daughter of Sir Richard Fermor of Somerton in
Oxfordshire, a cousin of Sister Margaret Plowden, was professed in
1628, and Sister Anne Fermor in 1657. The only way in which
we can show our gratitude to those whose patient sufferings
saved the Faith from extinction among us, is to rescue, as far
as in us lies, their memory from oblivion ; and so we here
subjoin some brief notes on these Fermors of Somerton and
Tusmore.
With Richard Fermor, merchant of the staple at Calais, begins
the long history of their sufferings for the Catholic religion. Of
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 119
this heroic confessor Stow writes : " 1540, May 26, was sent to the
Tower Dr Wilson and Dr Sampson, Bishop of Chichester, for
relieving certain prisoners which had denied to subscribe to the
King's supremacy ; for the same offence Richard Farmer, grocer,
of London, a rich and wealthy citizen, was committed to the
Marshalsea, and after arraigned and attainted in the premunire and
lost all his goods ; his wife and children thrust out of doors. Also
the Keeper of Newgate was sent to the Marshalsea for allowing Mr
Powell and Dr Abel, his prisoners, to go under bail." As Bishop
Sampson was imprisoned for succouring the holy martyr, Blessed
Thomas Abel, Fermor (the name was formerly spelt Farmer) may
have been in the same case. But if so, it was not his only offence,
for in the annals of the Benedictine nuns of Teignmouth I
read:
" An ancestor of our Lady Abbess Fermor was Richard Fermor,
elder brother of William Fermor, Lord ofSomerton, who died 1552.
Having made a large fortune as merchant at Calais, he settled
himself at Eaton Weston in Northamptonshire, which as well as
many other fair lands, he had purchased. He lived at this his seat
with great splendour and hospitality for many years ; but being a
very zealous Catholic, and not complying with the various changes
in religion, he changed his hospitality into charity for those of his
faith. He fell under the king's heavy displeasure for conveying
relief to one Nicholas Thayne, formerly his confessor, who was at
that time a close prisoner in the jail of Buckingham. Although
nothing was ever proved against him but that he had sent him
eightpence and a couple of shirts, yet his own great wealth and
his false friend Cromwell, the king's vicar-general, were the
cause of his ruin. Hall, a contemporary historian, tells us that in
1540, he was committed to the Marshalsea for relieving certain
traitorous persons who denied the king's supremacy (this fully
proving him to be a confessor of the Faith), that, being arraigned in
Westminster Hall, he was attainted in a praemunire, that is, his
whole estate, real and personal, was seized for the king's use : and
this was executed with such severity and strictness that nothing
was left him or his family. The good old man retired to the village
of Wappenham, in sight of his former habitation, and lived in the
parsonage house, the advowson of which being in his gift the
incumbent thereof had been presented by him. There he lived
most holily for several years,
" In the time of his prosperity he had a jester. Will Somers, who
afterwards served the king in the same capacity. This man,
120 CHKONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
entertaining a grateful remembrance of his first master, and
having admission to the king at all times, especially when sick
and melancholy and near his end, let fall some lucky words
which caused the king to give orders towards a restitution. But
his death prevented this, and it was only in 1550 that his
property was restored to him by the king's patents. However,
through different grants and sales which had been made by the
crown during the long interval, it did not amount to one-third
of what he had had. He now returned to his manor at Eaton,
and about three years after, having some foreknowledge of his
death, he visited many of his friends, took leave of them,
retired to his devotions, and was found dead in that posture
on 17th January iS53, and was buried in the parish
church of Eaton, under a gray marble stone. His wife, who
survived him, was daughter of Sir William Browne, Lord Mayor
of London, and died in 1580, leaving three sons and five
daughters."
The manor of Somerton was inherited by his son Thomas
from his uncle William. Richard's eldest son. Sir John, became
the ancestor of the Earls of Pomfret, and with his line we have
nothing to do. The fidelity of Richard Fermor was amply
rewarded in his descendants, but we have left ourselves only
space to indicate the crowd of holy vocations among them and
the existing Catholic families in which his posterity still continues.
One of Sir Richard's daughters by his wife, Cornelia Cornwallis,
was our Sister Cornelia Fermor, nun at St Monica's, of whom
our chronicler writes that " she was dying, we may say for thirty
years. , . . Modest, prudent, silent, mild, and affable, and never
heard to complain." Her brother, Father Thomas Fermor, S.J.,
was living in 1682. Her sister Lucy married William, a younger
son of William, Lord Petre, and her half-sister Mary, by her
marriage with Thomas Morgan of Weston in Warwickshire,
became the mother of Sister Mary Morgan, Teresian nun at
Antwerp, now Lanherne. Among the children of Sister Cornelia's
eldest brother, Henry, we have Sister Anne, nun at St Monica's,
"a fair, sweet creature," as she is described in a manuscript at
St Augustine's, while the graver chronicler calls her " a quiet,
good-humoured, fervorous religious." Mr Gillow says in his
History of St Thomas's Priory^ Stafford, that the holy secular
priest, who died a prisoner for the Faith under the name of
Farmer in Stafford jail in 1685, "has been thought to be one of
the six younger sons of Henry Fermor." Henry married Ursula,
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 121
daughter of Sir Peter Middleton of Middleton in Yorkshire.
Henry Fermor was succeeded by his son Richard, our Sister
Anne's brother.
As we shall have later on to say very much on the illustrious
Catholic family of Towneley, I need only here record that Ursula^
daughter of the last named, married Charles Towneley of Towneley,
and that their daughter was Sister Ursula Towneley, canoness at
St Monica's. But it is the next generation that claims our
special attention. It counted two sons and nine daughters, of
whom five were nuns. One of these was Abbess Fermor, O.S.B.,
of Dunkerque, now Teignmouth, whose sister was a nun in the
same community. But while Winefred and Mary Fermor
(Dames Placida and Frances), were living their cloistered life at
Dunkerque, their sister Arabella became the heroine, most
unwillingly, of the amusing romance immortalised in Pope's
Rape of the Lock. The Fermors were on a visit to their great
friend, John, titular Baron Caryll, at West Grinstead (seven of
the Carylls of West Grinstead were nuns at Dunkerque) on
which occasion the young Lord Petre for a wager surreptitiously
cut off a lock of Arabella's hair, and refused to restore it. This
created a serious breach between the families of Petre and
Fermor, and Caryll, hoping to reconcile them, prevailed on
Pope, who was staying at West Grinstead, to write his mock-
heroic poem on the event, which after all only made things
worse.
The present writer, while sitting under " Pope's Oak " at
West Grinstead, where Pope is said to have written his Rape of
the Lock, could not help reflecting how well the charming scenery
around him, in its tame and cultivated character, suited the muse
of Alexander Pope. Lord Petre died in the following year.
Arabella Fermor married Francis Perkins of Ufton Court in Berk-
shire, a house that served for centuries as a home for hunted priests.
Of the family of Perkins of Ufton Court we may have occasion to
write hereafter.
Of the descendants of that valiant confessor of the Faith,
Richard Fermor, commemorated in the Teignmouth Chronicle,
some twenty or upwards were priests or nuns. One of the
family, Robert Fermor, settled at Rome, where he died in iSio,
having married an Italian lady. One of his sons was a Dominican,
another a canon of St Peter's, and two of his daughters were
nuns at Perugia. The family name is extinct ; their descendants
must be looked for among the families of Towneley, Plowden,
122 CHKONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
Petre, Throckmorton, etc. Of these alliances the most interesting
to our community is that with More of Kirklington. Cecily More
was for twenty-two years prioress of St Monica's, dying in 1755,
and her brother John More of Kirklington, co. Notts, was buried
in the convent church.
They were descendants of Sir Edward More of Kirklington,
mortally wounded at the battle of Marston Moor.
CHAPTER VI
From the departure of Sister Mary Pole to assume the Govern-
ment OF THE Bruges community to the end of the siege of
LouvAiN. Louvain besieged by the Prince of Orange. Flight
of a portion of the community. Events of the siege. State of
St Monica's. The siege raised by the arrival of the imperialists
UNDER PICCOLOMINI. 1 63 5.
After the death (of Prioress Stanford) they (the Bruges
community) remained a good while without a new superior,
by reason they could not well determine upon the election.
For first they had chosen Sister Grace Constable, then
procuratrix, as the most fit among them for government.
But the bishop would not accept of her by reason that she
was much too young, but desired them to choose a
superior from hence, whereupon they agreed together and
elected Sister Mary Pool (Pole) for their superior and
hither sent for her their servant. But she refused to
accept of the charge until they agreed to some things
which she required, so he was fain to go back for that time
without her, until they sent him again with satisfaction of
what things she demanded.
In all which doings time passed away, and it was
already the month of May ; and upon the 8th day of the
said month she departed hence, being dismissed with the
good liking and consent both of our convent and theirs as
judged fit for the purpose. She was a wise, prudent, and
virtuous woman, and of good sufficiency for such a charge.
but somewhat aged. Our Reverend Father Barnes went
123
124 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
with her, and a lay sister who was to return home again
with our Father. She went thither by Antwerp, because
our good friend Mr Clifford desired to see and confer with
her about business (for he used to assist both our houses),
as also being there she was most kindly and costly enter-
tained by the English Teresians who loved our house
much. So after that she arrived at Bruges and was
very welcome to them, especially the bishop there
being very glad they had chosen a superior that
could speak the language, for she had the French
tongue perfect, having lived some years in France before
her entry into religion. So she was installed in her office
with the liking and joy of them who had so long wanted a
superior.
Soon after her departure hence came on us that great
tribulation memorable to prosperity, for the Hollanders by
the King of France assisted, gathered a mighty army of
Frenchmen besides their own, and got entry into this
Province, being let in by those of Liege, who were in
league both with them and our prince. These Hollanders,
then under the conduct of the Prince of Orange, having
much secret confederacy with many chief men of this
country, intended fully to have overrun and vanquished the
whole country and abolish the Catholic religion, bringing
in heresy. But Almighty God ordained that the King of
Spain had sent here at that time his own brother, a
virtuous and innocent prince, to govern the country after
the Infanta's death (who was deceased), and he obtaining
help from the emperor at length saved the country. But
first the enemies made a foul havoc ; for having obtained in
a skirmish the victory of our men through the treacherous
proceedings of our horsemen, Prince Ferdinando was fain
to retire himself hither to fortify this town, and left
Tirlemont where before he lay with a good garrison of
soldiers therein. Upon his departure presently the enemy
set upon the town, and by violence took it, although com-
position was in hand between the town and the Prince of
CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 125
Orange. Nevertheless, they got in with such fury and
used such violence and abominations for the space of three
days as is sufficiently known, and therefore needeth here
no further declaration, but only to show how we hearino-
the news thereof upon the Sunday within the Octave of
Corpus Christi it struck a cold fear into those of
this town. Insomuch that the religious women deter-
mined to fly hence in time, and many worldly
women also upon the reports of the horrible violences
at Tirlemont, for it was most terrible and fearful to
hear of.
We thus being in great perplexity, our Reverend
Mother consulted with our Fathers what was the best to be
done ; and at first they thought we must all have fled, the
danger being so imminent ; but afterwards it was agreed
that first only they that were most fearful and timorous
should go, and the rest to stay with our Mother till this
town was in more danger, for as yet the prince lay here with
his army. Hereupon we were all called together into the
Chapter-house, and then our Reverend Mother with a
heavy heart gave leave unto all that would to fly,
and she provided means for them, as also ordained
that our second Father, Mr White, shall have care of
them : the rest that would stay with her behind till
more danger, had also freedom to do as liked them
best.
Then did half the convent choose to fly, and the
other half chose to stay, and all things were ordered in the
best manner we could, though with most bitter aftlictions
in our hearts. Within a day or two waggons were pro-
vided, and thirty-five persons went away upon St Anthony
of Padua's day, as also almost all the worldly (secular)
women of this town fled. We then remained here in great
fear and suspense what would happen, for the wicked
enemies, after these their vile and base ransack having set
on fire the town of Tirlemont, came directly to this city, but
by reason that the prince was here then with a great army
126 CHKONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
they durst not besiege it, only by hovering here about a
week, and then at length by a trick of treachery that
removed our prince and army hence. For agreeing with
some spies they got secretly in that they should cast wild
fire about in the night to set this town afire, they did so,
and thought to have set it afire in four quarters of the city,
as they afterwards confessed that were taken, but the
wild fire did not take more than in one quarter which was
near the place where the prince lodged, who seeing the
town on fire commanded presently the soldiers should go
to keep the walls while others where quenching it, as
fearing some treachery. The fire consumed some houses
before it could be stayed, and in the meantime the crafty
enemy got on this side the town, not setting upon the
walls as was imagined, but got further into the country
where before he could not come. So our prince with his
army was forced to make away to defend other places,
leaving here a strong garrison of 5000 men, and got
himself into Brussels not without great danger of his
person.
We were then here in a pitiful case, hearing the
enemy had taken hold of the waters, and no succour
could come to us that way, so as we were then caged in,
and all safe means of flying barred. Then did we cast
ourselves into the Providence of God with resignation
to suffer whatever He- should permit, knowing that
nothing could befall us without his permission. Never-
theless, the fear of being abused by those soldiers
and cruel villains was most terrible, and made us to
live in great fear with heavy hearts, praying and calling
upon God to defend us, and on our Blessed Lady,
Queen of Virgins. For the loss of our lives we
counted nothing in comparison of that other misery and
danger.
The enemy then made a bravado before the town of
Brussels, but yet at length retired and only wasted the
country and killed many of the clowns, taking their wives
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 127
and daughters, and murdering children so that loo infants
were found slain by them and laid in a church. After
this they determined to return hither, and take first our
town into their hands, which they thought to do with
small difficulty. Therefore, upon midsummer day, being
then Sunday, their whole army approached hither, and
if Almighty God had not blinded the enemy not to
see what was best for them, they might easily have
taken the town at their first coming. But lingerino-
about awhile in thinking, and saying the town should
be their breakfast next day, we had time to fortify
ourselves.
After dinner on St John's day we perceived a great
fire near the town, and sending out to know what it was
we understood that our men did burn some houses that
stood near the town, to the end that the enemies should
not shelter themselves there and molest the town. We
then went up into the high garret over the Church where
we saw the fire, and perceived also the enemies upon the
hills near the town riding fast up and down. At night
also that day of midsummer we saw a little village near
the city on fire, which was likewise done by our own folks,
who made fortifications and half moons beyond the walls
on the outside for to keep off the enemy's near approach.
The Prince of Orange sent a trumpeter (as the manner is)
to bid the town yield, or else threatened to batter it
apieces, but our own good prince had placed here a stout
and worthy man for governor, one who before had been
Governor of Bois-le-duc, and held it out bravely until the
last, and when it must needs yield, yet brought the enemy
to good conditions. This man then, wisely taking the
letters and messages of the Prince of Orange, answered
him as he thought best, and never made the citizens
acquainted therewith at the present, as knowing well their
fearful minds which would have yielded the town upon such
threats. Then our men, day and night, filled the walls
and fortifications, shooting almost continually. So as our
128 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
cannons, beginning then to roar, made us learn to bear
the noise and tumult of war, which continued of our
side two or three days, for seeing the enemies labouring
to set up their artillery against us, our men killed them
still as they were working. Yet, notwithstanding, they
continued their work (as the manner is) until they had
set up (some say) thirty pieces of artillery and great cannons
wherewith they intended indeed to batter the town wholly.
And all this while our men and artillery did shoot at them
that we could not sleep in the night with the noise, only we
had yet the comfort that the great shooting was of our
side until Wednesday morning (being then 27th June and
day fortnight after our Sisters' departure), after our Prime
was over, there came news to us in the choir that they
thought our cloister to be on fire, for some of the first
shot lighted full upon the cloister, and pierced through
two thick walls of a low room, as also above battered down
a cell where one of our lay sisters took up a ball of 40-lbs.
weight and brought it in her lap by the choir to show
us ; but otherwise our house was not on fire, only the
fury of the shot made folks to think so at first. So as
our neighbours came to give us warning thereof, ringing
so long a peal at the gate as struck us to the heart, fearing
some ill news, which proved to be this. Then did our
Reverend Father come in, and we all flocked about him,
and our Reverend Mother, consulting what to do, whether
we should go further into the town, for some had offered
us their houses, or whether we should stay here in danger
of our lives, and our Father thought it best we should stay
here, remaining on this side of the house, and in the new
building, where the cannon had not yet lighted, as also to
stay only in the low rooms, as in the Church vestry, and
the places thereabout, the grate and our Mother's low
chamber ; for that if we should go into the town we might
be in as much and more danger than here. We therefore
resolved to stay, only we removed our things to this side
of the house. Our Office we said in the Church below, and
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 129
the grate was our refectory ; but being so little a room
the lay sisters did eat without in the gallery. Our beds
were brought down, and some lay in our Mother's
chamber, some in the infirmary, and some in the other low
places, insomuch as one or two beds were laid in the
vestry of the Church, and one or two at the grate. Our
kitchen was in the warm-chamber, and we were also
forced to bring down our clothes and other things out of
the cells and high rooms, by reason a commandment came
from the town that nothing should be left in the high
rooms that might take fire, because they feared the
casting of wild fire with the shot. But Almighty God,
out of His favourable providence and care of us, ordained
so that the enemy removed his cannon and set it higher,
some say because one mocked him, saying that it would
do the town no harm so low, and then all his shooting
after that, for seven days and seven nights together, flew
over our monastery, and did us no harm ; excepting one
ball which pierced our orchard wall, and one broke into
our long gallery and falling down, not passing along, but
that was but i6-lbs. weight in iron; and some small shot
hurt and mained one of our hogs, and a hen or two which
we were fain to kill and eat. From further hurt God
preserved us. But the first night of our lying below on
the ground we were called up with a great fright, by reason
that some of us heard them cry out in the street, " Arms !
arms ! " Whereupon, we feared the enemy had broken
into the town, and so went all into Church with heavy
hearts, not knowing what would become of us, committing
ourselves into the hands of God, and heartily desiring His
divine assistance, where we continued in prayer for two
or three hours. We understood afterwards that it was
not the enemy, but that our Irish soldiers in the night
shooting at the enemy as they lay in their trenches
without the town, and wanting powder, called to the
citizens on the wall for some, which they not having so
ready at hand to give them, raised up a commotion in the
I
130 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
street till they got it. We then went again to take some
rest, if the noise of the cannons would permit us, which
was most terrible and fearful for the first twenty-five hours,
without scarce any relaxation ; but God guided the balls
to lio-ht so as they did very little harm. This seemed
almost a miracle, for of 1 500 great balls that were found
shot in and brought to the town-house, only six or seven
persons were killed, two of which were spies of the enemy
sent into the town, which showed well the great goodness
of God towards us, and how He did not despise the
humble prayers and pitiful cries of His people. For in the
time of the siege, whilst the men were day and night
labouring in shootino- at the enemies from the walls, the
women went barefoot in pilgrimage to the Church, and our
Blessed Lady's picture of miracle at St Peter's was dressed
in the best manner, where women with their little children
made their recourse for help in this distress, some also
praying with their arms across. It was an admirable
thing to see, that although the enemy laboured with all
his might to ruin the town, yet he could not prevail : but
our men had still courage enough to hold out ten days, it
seeming at first impossible to have held out and resisted
an army of 60,000 men above two or three days. But
God was on our side, and their wickedness deserved
revenge. Upon St Peter and Paul's Day, our troop ot
Irish soldiers (for ' Colonel Preston was here among the
garrison with his company) went secretly forth after dinner,
getting through a place where they could break in suddenly
into the enemy's trenches without being espied aforehand,
and coming suddenly upon them killed about 200 of them.
So as they took also a good spoil, and returned in again
to the town as they saw help approach. By venturing
thus desperately, they gained much honour and a good
booty, being young, courageous soldiers, without thinking
or reflecting in what danger they put themselves, as others
more experienced would have done. At which time, we
being at Evensong heard them shoot off their muskets so
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 131
thick and fast that we knew they were in a hot battle,
which made us pray most heartily, till we heard the good
news of their victory.
This happened then on Friday, and the Sunday night
after we were again frightened by hearing most terrible
fight on the walls, insomuch that at the darkest time of the
night, which perhaps was twelve, for no clocks went then
in the night, but only in the daytime, we could see the
walls like flames of fire with their continual shootino-.
Whereupon, we went altogether again into the Church and
commended ourselves heartily unto God. Being thus pray-
ing, we heard as it were cries in the street, to our seeming
of shrieking, but our Reverend Father went up into a high
place to hearken better, and understood that it was rather
a shouting of joy for some good luck our men had, and so
came down again and told it us to our comfort. After
that, about daybreak, we went again to take some rest, as
the noise of cannon shot should permit us, and heard good
news that all went well on our side, for commonly about
daybreak some or other came from the walls to bring us
news, we having then in our orchard two Irish soldiers, or
some others who watched continually, for else all our
things would have been stolen by the garrison of soldiers ;
but our Reverend Mother hired two to keep them, as also
for our comfort and safe-guard in the night which time was
always most fearful and terrible. We then said daily
besides our Office, two or three Litanies and sometimes
one Litany of the Passion, which was half an hour long, as
also those two nights that we were frighted up we said
many prayers and Litanies in common. After this about
our Blessed Lady's Visitation, we had good news, that
that night succour was come into the town of much gun-
powder and horsemen, which were let in by a gate on the
other side, had come many leagues about for to get in safe
on that part. This was a good comfort to us ; yet again
we were in fear the night after by reason the rumour went
they would give an assault to the town. But God of His
132 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
goodness turned their design by the arrival of Piccolomini
with an army of Croates, sent from the emperor, which
had been long expected, so that night which we most
feared became most quiet, with far less shooting than
before, for the enemy's courage was quelled by understand-
ing that Piccolomini arriving at Liege, had been the cause
that 200 waggons, which they had sent thither for munition,
came back empty, and could get nothing, by reason that
the emperor threatened to fire their country of Liege it
they assisted our enemies any more. Upon this, the
Prince of Orange was much daunted (his army being
ready to starve if he continued longer here) sat in Council
with the French, what was best to be done, and on
Tuesday, next day after our Blessed Lady's Visitation,
we heard little shooting on the enemy's side ; but a false
rumour went that they were undermining to get in
upon us, and indeed some say they tried, but that way
could not succeed because the earth was so dry, we having
there in a long time had no rain, that it fell down upon
them as they digged. Nevertheless, we were here in
great fear upon this rumour, but God of His goodness
freed us soon of all danger, for the conclusion of their fore-
said Council was to raise the siege and make away with all
speed, fearing much the incursion of them of Piccolomini
and the German- forces which were arrived. Also having
no victuals to live, necessity forced their departure, so as
the night before Wednesday they got away secretly, and in
the morning news came to us they were gone, which gave
us great comfort ; nevertheless, we were not secure, fearing
still it was some politic trick of theirs to get the town by
feigning a flight.
Yet by little and little we were more secured, and the
Friday after, passage was free again for the post to pass,
so we received from Bruges a great packet of letters from
our Sisters that went forth, which could not before come
to our hands. Then was our joy redoubled in hearing
how wonderfully Almighty God had also assisted and
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 133
provided for them by moving many to show them charity •
msomuch as, havmg now recounted the happy end of our
doleful siege, and the great favour that our Lord did us in
so admirably defending this town in such a manifest
danger, we will now declare how our Sisters fared after
their departure hence.
PREFACE TO CHAPTER THE SEVENTH
" Our good friend, Mr Clifford," of Antwerp. Catherine Tempest, his wife.
The Tempest family. Their sufferings for the Faith. The Teresians of
Antwerp. Sister Anne Worsley, Carmelite Prioress. The Belsons. The
Barons Clifford of Holland.
The siege of Louvain, narrated by our chronicler in the last
and the present chapter, was an incident in the war between
Spain and Holland, the Prince of Orange referred to in the
Chronicle being Frederic Henry, grandfather of William HI. of
England. Louvain was besieged, but not taken, in 1635. In
the flight of part of our community to Bruges, they experienced
great kindness from all, and especially from " our good friend,
Mr Clifford," and the Teresian nuns at Antwerp.
In the recently published volume of St Monica's Chronicle
I had occasion to speak of the Clifford family, and to point out
that this Mr Henry Clifford of Antwerp was the son of Henry
Clifford of Brackenbury, and of a daughter of the house of
Thimelby, who died a nun at St Monica's. I lamented that I had
not succeeded in discovering the name of the lady whom Henry
Clifford of Antwerp married. By the kindness of the Tempest
family of Broughton this doubt has been cleared up.
In a portion of the Tempest pedigree, which has been kindly
forwarded me, I read concerning Catherine Tempest, daughter
of Thomas Tempest, and grand-daughter of Robert Tempest of
Holmeside, County Durham, that she married Henry Clifford,
younger son of Henry Clifford of Brackenbury in Lincolnshire.
Her brother Robert Tempest leaves her in his will of i8th
November 1643, the rent of ;^200 for her life; also "my gold
ring with death's head, which my brother Clifford gave me when
I came from him last," Her will, as " Catherine Tempest, widow,
late wife of Henry Clifford, gentleman," is dated at Antwerp, 20th
August 1649. She is to be buried in the parish church of St
Andrew in Antwerp, " near my dear husband, with a gravestone
134
George Clifford, Third Earl of Cumberland.
Bom, 1558; died, 1605.
From Portrait at Ughrooke.
[face pagt I8I
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 135
and inscription to be laid upon us," and in the will names " my
servant, Robert Carre, the three sons of my cousin (? uncle)
Augustine Belson " ; to the children of cousin Thomas Tempest
the money due from him under her brother Robert's will. She
also names William Roper, and Henry East, servant to cousin
Augustine Belson. Executors : her kinsman, Anthony Belson,
John Chamberlain of Sherborne, Esq., and Mr Edward Smith,
son of George Smith of Ashe, co. Durham. The will was proved
20th August 1654 (Cant. Reg.).
Her brother Robert is described as of Lintz Green in the
parish of Lanchester, and mentions her in his will as his sister
Clifford.
The name of John Chamberlain of Sherborne Castle in
Oxfordshire, reminds us of a Catholic family whose memory
should not be allowed to perish. Sir Leonard Chamberlain,
Governor of Guernsey, who, according to Wood, died in the
second year of Queen Elizabeth, was the father of George
Chamberlain, an exile for the Faith in the Low Countries. This
George Chamberlain married Mary Bring, the daughter of a
worthy burgher of Ghent. Their son George embraced the
ecclesiastical state, and by his eminent virtue and learning, rose
to be Dean of St Bavon's, and in 1626 was consecrated Bishop
of Ipres. His cousin Elizabeth, daughter of John Chamberlain
of Sherborne, married John, tenth Lord Bergavenny, brother to
Abbess Neville of Pontoise (now Teignmouth), whose beautiful
manuscript Chronicle, with the Neville arms on the binding, is
one of the treasures of the Benedictine nuns of St Scholastica's
Abbey at Teignmouth. Bishop Chamberlain undertook a journey
to England to make a renunciation of his estates in his cousin's
favour. He died at Ipres, 19th December 1634, universally
beloved and esteemed. Wood says he was able to preach fluently
in five languages.
A notice of the long-tried family of the Tempests, which was
connected with not a few of those houses whose daughters were
professed at Louvain, will be in its right place here.
There is a striking scene to be found related in the second
volume of Abbot Gasquet's work on the Suppression of the
Monasteries, from the narrative of one of Thomas Cromwell's
agents. It was at the time of the Northern Rising in the reign
of Henry VIII. The royal commissioners chanced to be sitting
at Colchester, and the Abbot of St John's had invited them to
dine with him. As they were at dinner, a number of uninvited
136 CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
guests with one Marmaduke Nevell at their head, entered the
guest-house hall. To a discourteous remark from a commissioner,
Nevell returned a haughty answer, adding : " I am sure my
Lord Abbot will make me good cheer, for all the abbeys in
Englands be beholden to us, for we have set up all the abbeys
again in our country, and though it were never so late they sang
Matins the same night. We are plain fellows in the north : you
of the south (he could hardly have reflected on the quality
of the abbot's guests) though you think as much, durst not utter
it." The traveller was no doubt at the head of a sufficient armed
force.
His vaunt of the superior resolution of the northerners was not
an idle one. And among the Northern insurgents there was no
stouter champion than Nicholas Tempest of Bracewell, who carried
his zeal so far that on his own confession he forced his way
into Whalley Abbey with 300 horsemen, and compelled the
abbot and eight of his brethren to take the insurgents' oath.
Nicholas Tempest was executed at Tyburn, according to
Wriothesley's Chronicle, on 25 th May, being the Friday in
Whitsunweek, 1537, with the Abbot of Fountains and others of his
allies.
This first rash but heroic defence of the ancient Faith stamped
its mark on the various branches of the house of Tempest, a mark
retained to the present day. I have only space to indicate a few
instances of their loyalty and piety, more particularly among
those connected with our Louvain Sisters.
Among those who followed the banner of Blessed Thomas
Percy in the Northern Rising of 1569, was the grandfather of
Catherine Tempest (daughter-in-law of our Sister Clifford),
Robert Tempest of Holmeside in Durham, who had been High
Sheriff of Durham in 1561. With his gallant son and heir
Michael, he took the field under the two great earls, and though he
escaped the slaughter that followed on defeat, and found refuge in
Scotland with Lord Hume of Fernyhurst, yet his estates were
confiscated, and father and son lived for the rest of their days in
exile as pensioners of the court of Spain. Michael and his wife
Dorothy, daughter of Sir Edward Dymoke of Scrivelsby, lived
much at Brussels, but I find them in 1572 at Louvain and Antwerp.
Michael's brother Robert, a priest, was papal envoy to Scotland in
1 598, and a younger brother William, repurchased some portion of
the paternal estates and figures as a recusant at Somerton m
Oxfordshire, as late as 1625. Three or four of Robert Tempest's
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 137
grandchildren were priests on the English mission, and prisoners
for the Faith.
No branch of the family has excelled the Tempests of
Broughton during the last three centuries for the ardour of their
faith as shown in love of the ecclesiastical and religious state. In
the fifteenth and the earlier part of the sixteenth century, I find
them much connected with the Cliffords of Cumberland, partly
through marriage, for Stephen Tempest, Esquire to Henry Clifford,
Earl of Cumberland, in 1527, was a grandson of a Lady Margaret
Clifford. To give anything like a history of the priests, monks,
and nuns of the family, would be out of the question. The English
Benedictine Congregation claims Abbot Tempest of Lambspring,
who died in 1579, and a number of Tempests became monks or
nuns in Benedictine and other communities. Several entered the
Society of Jesus, and the same instinct of piety distinguished the
family throughout the nineteenth century. Sir Charles Tempest
of Broughton, Bart, died unmarried in 1865, when the title became
extinct, leaving his estates to his nephew, Major Arthur Cecil
Tempest, of Broughton, and of Coleby in Lincolnshire.
Catherine Clifford, nee Tempest, must have given a kindly
welcome to our canonesses, as they halted at her Antwerp home
on their return to St Monica's after their flight from Louvain, as
related in the portion of the Chronicle on which we are now
engaged. The union between the Catholic exiles was hallowed
by their sufferings for the Faith. Still more pleasant it is to see
how through their alliance with Cliffords and Belsons the
Tempests were connected with St Monica's community. One
would also be glad to know who were the " brother Nicholas
Hedley " and " aunt Hedley," referred to in the will of Robert
Tempest, Catherine Clifford's brother.
Among her executors of her will in 1654 I find Mr William
Roper, who was the brother of our Sisters Mary and Margaret
Roper, professed at St Monica's, respectively, in 1642 and 1658,
daughters of Thomas Roper, and lineal descendants of her
*' Who clasped in her last trance
Her murdered fatber's head."
The fragrance that surrounds the memory of Blessed Thomas
More seems ever to haunt the community that owes its origin to
Margaret Clement.
Nor is it possible at this point to forget that the Teresian
convent at Antwerp was founded by a relative of our two Sisters
138 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
Roper, Lady Lovel, daughter of John Roper first Lord Teynham
(whose three nieces were Benedictine nuns at Pontoise), and widow
of Sir Nicholas Lovel. The charming account of the hospitable
welcome given by the Prioress of Antwerp to our canonesses, and
the affectionate relations between the two communities is enhanced
by our knowledge that the said prioress was Sister Ann Worsley,
the first of the prioresses of the community now at Lanherne. It
is no wonder that the two communities were in such intimate
relation, for we read in a document signed by the Archbishop of
Mechlin in those times that the English nuns of Antwerp " lead
a life more angelic than human, a mirror of religious life, and an
example of edification to all the faithful." Among the nuns then
at Antwerp we read the names of several related to some of our
canonesses of St Monica's, such as Gifford, Leveson, Bedingfeld,
and others.
Mrs Clifford mentions a " cousin Belson." He is probably the
same Augustine Belson who left a legacy to his niece, Sister
Constantia Belson, a canoness at St Monica's. The Belsons were
great sufferers for the Faith. Leonard Belson, priest, was a
prisoner of the Marshalsea in 1579; Thomas Belson, gentleman,
of Brill of Oxfordshire, suffered a glorious martyrdom in 1589 ;
Augustine Belson, a recusant in 1605, was among those given "to
make profit of" to Lady Walsingham. Robert Belson married
Anne, daughter of Robert Tempest, living in 1581.
Note. — Baron Clifford of the Hague, in the Dutch peerage, is
a descendant of the Cliffords of Borscombe in Wiltshire, and is
consequently allied to the noble house of the Cliffords of Ugbrooke.
His ancestor Henry Clifford, was a younger brother of Anthony
Clifford, who died 12th September 1580, and is buried in Exeter
Cathedral. This Anthony married Anne, daughter of Sir Peter
Courtenay of Ugbrooke.
In 181 5 Henry Maurice Clifford was created a Baron. He
married Anne Frederica, Countess van Limburg-Sirum.
An English Discalced ( akmelite (Xanu unknown). Seventeenth Century
From Ftr'rait at Lanherne.
IFaa ,'iiO' ISS.
CHAPTER VII
How THE Sisters, who had fled from Louvain, fared at Bruges.
The Rector of the Jesuits at Bruges. The Abbess of St
Benedict's at Brussels. Dominicans and Carmelites. "Our
good friend, Mr Clifford."
Their departure, as we have said, was on the 13th day of
June, at which they went out in danger, and we remained
here also with heavy hearts, not knowing what would befall
or happen to this town. They, then, being gone forth, the
Providence of God began over them even at first, for a
lieutenant, which was in the army here then, and of kin to
Sister Anne Mortimer, the lay sister, gave us waggons to
carry them hence unto Brussels, which was a great pleasure
at that time, when waggons were very dear and hard to be
had. The third waggon was hired, and being on the way
to Brussels, word came to them that their entertainment
was provided for at Brussels, by reason that Father Port,
who was resident there, a good friend of our house, under-
standing of our flight and great necessity, when almost all
the religious women also fled, had taken order our Sisters
should have a good entertainment. So that when they
came to Brussels, going in their waggons to the English
Monastery of St Benedict's, Madame Barlemont, having
her cloister close by their door, wouldneeds entertain the
English nuns, and therefore stood ready there, and called
out of the window to stay them at her monastery house,
for she offered Father Port to take twenty-five, but there
went to her only eighteen, and the rest went to St Bene-
dict's. They were in both places entertained very kindly,
and at Madame Barlemont's she caused two of her gentle-
140 CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
men to carry in chairs the two eldest of our Sisters from
their waggon to her chamber. Then she came herself and
bade them heartily welcome, showed them her chapel, and
lent them books to say their Office.
After that they had a good supper, and were lodged,
some upon pallets on the ground, for they had not bed-
steads for all. At St Benedict's also our sick Sisters were
lodged with the rest, and entertained very kindly in the
infirmary, and the next day they heard Mass there, as also
the others that lodged at Madame Barlemont's, and so
took their waggons for Ghent, about seven of the clock
in the morning, and one or two of the Fathers also
accompanied them, and had sent word beforehand to the
Lady Abbess of the English Monastery at Ghent for to
entertain them in her cloister, and she had gotten leave of the
bishop to have them all in except the scholars, who lodged
without. Our Sisters, then having baited and taken their
dinner at Alost, in the midway, arrived at Ghent late, and
were all received into the English Monastery there and
kindly entertained, insomuch that the nuns there let our
Sisters have their beds for that night, and sat up themselves,
we being as many and more than they. They supped them
in their refectory, and the Lady Abbess sat at table with
them. The next morning, they stayed there until eleven
of the clock, and Father Rector of the English College of
Ghent, with other Fathers, came to see our Sisters, and
speak with them at the grate. My Lady Abbess also pro-
vided a coach to carry them unto the waterside, which was
a great way off, where they were to take boat for Bruges,
and the rest went on foot. Our Father, Mr White, sent
word aforehand to Bruges, unto Mr Bourd, the Father of
our monastery there, to provide coaches to be ready for
our Sisters (it being about a mile from the waterside to
our cloister, named Nazareth). And so all was ordered
very well, for he and William Craft, their servant, was
ready there attending for them, and at their arrival, which
was late, they went so many as could In the coaches, and
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 141
the rest on foot, and so arrived to our monastery at nine
of the clock at night, where Mother Mary Pole kindly
received them, though with a heavy heart to see the great
distress our convent was put unto. The house there being
so little could scarce hold them all, but with great difficulty
they made a shift for a day or two. Arriving there on
Friday night, they staid Saturday, and upon Sunday our
Father Mr White went to seek out a house for our Sisters
to live in, for it was impossible to remain in our cloister,
they being so many.
Then began Almighty God to show His liberal good-
ness towards them, for the Fathers of Ghent having sent
word to the Dutch Fathers at Bruges of the distress the
nuns of Louvain were in, being forced to fly thither, the
Rector there being one that had before lived here at
Louvain, took such compassion that he not only was ready
to assist our Sisters in what he could, but also caused his
Fathers to preach and exhort the townspeople for to relieve
with their charity the English nuns, which were fled thither
in that distress ; which sermons took such good effect that
many were excited to show their charity. So that one
canon of the great church there met with Mr White as he
was looking for a house, and offered him a house of his for
nothing, all the time they should remain there, as also gave
them freely of his own cost two barrels of beer, one very
strong and the other small. With this good help, our
Sisters removed to that house on Monday, except five that
were sickly, and one lay sister to attend them, and still God
provided that they were assisted with almost all things
necessary of charity, for three or four cloisters undertook
to help them. The cloister of the Rich Clares lent them
other things, and the cloister of the Dominican women
gave them also large alms and other things. The fore-
mentioned Rector of the Jesuits lent them church stuff, and
made them a fair altar, in one of the rooms, which served
for their church and choir, as also to entertain strangers,
for the house had but three rooms below, two above, and
142 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
a garret over them. So in the one room below they made,
as is said, their chapel ; the other served for their refectory
to eat in, and the third was their kitchen to dress the meat ;
they had also a cellar underneath which did them great
pleasure to keep things. In the rooms overhead they
lodged, but for the most part they had no other beds than
of straw, and their bolsters were faggots. They said their
office in the chapel, all except Matins, which they read
by themselves, and kept some order, but could not as
they should, by reason that, living most upon the charity
of good folks, they were continually visited by them who
would come and see what they wanted to provide for
them.
Especially a good woman, named Laurentia, took them
so to heart, that being but poor herself, she would still go
about unto rich folks and beg for the nuns of Louvain,
daily coming to their house to see what they wanted, and
brought them acquainted with four Sisters who were rich and
lived unmarried, one of which was a Devote, and the others
lived a virtuous life with their mother that was a widow ;
as also three other Sisters of the like sort, who being rich
assisted our religious, together with the former and other
worldly persons. There was also a Knight, named Mon-
sieur Nicolas Scketere, who being a widower and a devout
man, gave them large alms, commonly 12s. at a time.
But to show somewhat particularly these charities. At
their first coming to the aforesaid new house, they were
unprovided almost of all things, for they found in it but
little furniture, yet after one day they were sufficiently
assisted by the charity of others, for the Rich Clares sent
them two hundred eggs, a great charger of custard, five
great loaves of household bread, seven pounds of French
butter, sweetmeats for the sick, and many other little
necessary things, two wheelbarrows of wood, and lent them
household stuff, with the promise of more help still, heartily
desiring our Sisters to ask but what they wanted and they
should have it. The cloister of the Annunciates sent their
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 143
ghostly Father, who brought under his habit a basket of
eggs, and made unto our Sisters a comfortable speech,
bidding them to be of comfort, for that all would be better
than they expected, and promised they should want nothing.
That very day also, being the second of their remove to
that house, worldly gentlemen gave them ten loaves of
household bread, a pot of butter, and other little thino-s,
desiring them but to make a bill of what they wanted, and
they would come again the next morning and bring more.
It happened that after three days, on the Wednesday, that
one of our Novices, Sister Grace Bedingfeld, fell most
grievously sick of a fever, which was feared to be the
plague, and put them to great trouble ; but sending for the
doctor, it was found to be only a pestilent fever, and he
ministered unto her physic, and came almost daily to visit
her, with so great a care and love as was admirable, and
would take nothing for his pains ; as also the apothecary
gave all for nothing : such was their charity. They laid
then the Novice in the garret above, and Sister Clementina
was left with her to tend her, who had been formerly here
sick-mistress, and very fit to look unto sick persons. Of
the rest they came not to her ; but kept in the other rooms
for a fortnight, till the danger was past.
After this their charity never ceased all the time our
Sisters remained there. The cloister of Dominican
women being very rich, assisted them also much ; and not
content with all this, those cloisters of this Order and the
Rich Clares did sometimes invite them to dinner, and
made them great cheer with plenty of wine in their speak-
house ; and some of our Sisters that taught them curious
works did sometimes eat there a week together or more.
It was admirable to see how Almighty God did move the
hearts of good people to show them charity. One canon
came and gave them 3 pounds sterling at once, besides
lesser alms, as patacons, were ordinary ; yea oftentimes
even the poor that wrought for their living would come
and bring them 10 or 20 stivers. One poor woman at the
144 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
week's end came and gave them 13 stivers in honour of
our Blessed Saviour and the 1 2 apostles ; and once when
a carrier brought some wood to the house, and was asking
money for his pains, a poor man passing by out with his
purse and paid him for the carriage. A woman that sold
corn brought them a sack of wheat, saying she was moved
to do this charity, hoping she could not fare the worst of it.
The whole town it seems was willing to relieve them, for
from the townhouse by common consent was sent them 3
loads of wood, and also beer they had from thence. An
hospital gave them two barrels of beer. The forementioned
devout sisters came almost daily to their house, and
brought them still necessaries, in so much that, having so
good relief, our Father Mr White, who had the charge of
our Sisters, for our Reverend Mother had put them under
his obedience at their parting thence, resolved to send for
the sickly persons that had remained at our cloister at
Nazareth, and they came away the day after our Blessed
Lady's Visitation. One of them, being very sick, found
far better keeping there by their charity than she could
have had here at home, having continually wine, sugar, and
other sweetmeats given her plentifully. It seems God
Himself was become their Provisor, for oftentimes having
almost no provisions in the house left, before the next day
they were well provided. Sometimes gentlewomen would
come and dine with them, and bring with all a good
dinner ; yea, very good cheer sometimes was given them ;
2 great tarts on St Anne's Day by Monsieur Scketere
aforenamed.
Now in this time, because some must bear the place of
superior, our forenamed Father appointed one of the elders
that went forth, Sister Anne Bromfield, to be called
Mother, and the other officers he appointed to be as they
were here, the grate- Sister, Sacristan, Refectrice, and
Procuratrix ; but for the cellaress and the sick-mistress,
which remained there, he appointed others of those that
went forth. Their order was then, at six in the morning
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 145
they read together Prime and Tierce, and upon holidays
had then a first Mass by a friend of theirs that came there,
afterwards the other Hours and Mass before dinner, and
our Lady's Litanies that we used here for the wars before
Mass, were there said for their benefactors awhile. In the
afternoon at convenient time they read Evensong and
Compline, and afterwards at night, before they went to
bed, they said the Litanies of the Saints for their
benefactors. Their Matins they always said apart by
themselves, and continued this order all the while they
remained at Bruges. Upon St Alexius Day they were
invited all to dinner at the cloister of Dominican women,
and they provided a coach and waggon, which went and
came so as to fetch them all, for it was a great way from
their house. The Rich Clares and the Annunciates were
their neighbours, but these not ; wherefore it being not fit
for nuns to walk the streets, they provided always very
decently a coach for them. And being there at good
cheer, with store of wine, Mr Bourd, the Father of
Nazareth, came and brought letters to Mr White and then
from our Reverend Mother, who sent for them home, not
all together because it was too troublesome, but with a
competent company at once, it being left to the discretion
of Mr White, to order all as he saw to be most convenient.
Hereupon their joy began to make a true feast, seeing now
the coast clear for them to return home.
For although once before they had news from us of
our delivery from the enemies, yet our Reverend Mother
would not so suddenly send for them till all was secure.
With this they began to strive who should go first, but it
was appointed that eleven persons (eight nuns, two white
sisters, and one of the novices) should go. They stayed
then one day, to take leave of their friends there, and then
came away very carefully provided for by the way, by their
Father, Mr White ; and William Craft, the servant of our
cloister of Nazareth at Bruges, came along to serve them.
So they arrived here upon St Mary Magdalen's Eve, with
K
146 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
great joy, both to themselves and to us, who feared much
we should never have seen each other more. Then Mr
White stayed here St Mary Magdalen's Day, and so
returned back with William Craft, to fetch another
company home. But here we must not omit how the
good people at Bruges continued still, as before, their
charity to our Sisters that remained. Yea, they were so
careful that some of them came thither still to see what
they wanted, and provided from one house or other
necessaries, and also good cherishing for the sick. They
also grew acquainted with the cloister of Bernardine
women, who relieved them what they could.
It was then ordained that this second company should
come home by Antwerp because Mr Clifford, our good
friend, desired very earnestly to entertain them in his
house. They did so, and arrived here upon the 6th day of
August; seven nuns, another novice, and one lay sister
and scholar which only of all the scholars returned again,
for her sister Ao-atha Brook remained at our cloister at
Bruges, and another, Frances Thimelby, sister to this
novice that now came home, being in a great sickness and
weakness, went into England for her health, with the
intention to come again to us, but the other two, thinking
to return into England, for the present were stayed by
some, and in the end went unto other cloister, not much
against our will for they were not so fit for us. After that,
Mr White returned again to fetch all that remained, and it
was a wonderful thing to see the kindness of the people at
Bruges, who were still sorry when our Sisters were to come
home, although they were then at their charges. They
had taken so great a love unto them as some of them wept
bitterly to part, especially when the last were to come
away, they did weep pitifully, grieving so that they must
leave them, and many gave them money. They then gave
up the house again with great thanks unto the canon, and
restored the household stuff to those that had lent it them,
and upon the day of our Blessed Lady's Assumption
Thomas, First Baron Clifford of Cuudleigh,
Lord High Treasurer of England. Bom, 1630 ; died, i673-
From Portrait at Ughrooke.
[Fact pagt 140.
Mother Anne of the Ascension (Ann Worsley),
Discalced Camielite, First Prioress of Antwerp (now Lanherne). Welcomed St Monica's
Canonesses during Siege of Louvain, 1635. Died, 1644.
From Piirtraii at Lanherne.
[Face page 147.
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 147
remained at Nazareth, our cloister there, and the next day-
after took their journey homeward. But the nuns of St
Dominic's Order, being near the waterside where they had
to take boat for Ghent, invited them to breakfast, as they
had done the other company before, very kindly. They
could not then come home directly, by reason that our
Reverend Mother sent them word, the prioress of the
English Teresians at Antwerp desired very earnestly they
might also come by that way as the former had done, for
she had gotten leave of the bishop to entertain them,
within her cloister. They did so then, and were exceeding
much made of by the good religious and kind Mother,
insomuch that she made them great cheer, and showed
them all the kindness she could. It seemed to her she
never did enough. She kept them some days, it being
impossible to get away, for between that monastery and
ours had always been good correspondence.
So then our Sisters at last came all home on the 23rd
of August, St Bartholomew's Eve, and in this the last
company, seven nuns, two lay sisters, and the other
novice which had been so sick at Bruges, and was now
almost recovered.
So now were returned home thirty-one, for four
scholars stayed away as is said. We were then exceeding
glad that Almighty God had so admirably preserved us
here, and assisted them there with such favourable
providence, and finally gathered us all together again;
wherefore, upon a fit and convenient day after the
Feast of our holy Father St Augustine, on the . . . day of
September, we sung here a solemn Mass of the Most
Blessed Trinity, for to give the divine Majesty hearty
thanks for these great benefits, and the Tc Dcum
Laudamus after the Mass.
We had also another day for recreation, to be merry
together and rejoice one with another, and with our good
Fathers who sufi"ered so much with us and had taken such
pains. Upon the 30th of September, this same year, St
148 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
Jerome's Day, were professed two of the forementioned
novices that went forth. The third, Sister Mary Philpot,
was fain to stay longer by reason that her portion was not
ready, and her friends, being much in debt, were not to be
trusted for payment ; wherefore, both to her grief and ours,
she was enforced to stay for the good of our community,
being much beloved and brought up here of a child as we
shall declare more largely in due time.
PREFACE TO CHAPTER THE EIGHTH
The plague. Sister Winefred Thimelby, " the best loved of all our Reverend
Mothers." The Tixall Letters. The Westons, Earls of Portland. Lady
Mary Weston. The Astons. A bride's dress in the reign of Charles II. The
Philpots of Compton, Sister Benedict Coleman and her brother, Walter
Coleman, O.S.F., martyr in prison.
The terrors of war were succeeded at St Monica's by the
horrors of pestilence. The quiet firmness displayed by the
Sisters during the siege was equalled by their tranquil confidence,
while the plague was ravaging the Low Countries and had
invaded their cloister.
From the Chronicle we learn that this terrible scourge had
not been unknown to some of them while in England. Those
who had once recovered from the disease possessed an immunity
from it which enabled them with safety to wait on their stricken
Sisters.
A few notes only on some families mentioned in the present
chapter will be needed in this placa
Winefred, daughter of Richard Thimelby of Irnham, was
professed on the 30th September 1635. In our former volume,
the profession of Sister Elizabeth Clifford, her aunt, called for
some account, which it is needless to repeat, of the Clifford,
Thimelby, and Aston families. The name of Thimelby has
passed away, but the houses of Arundell of Wardour and Clifford
of Chudleigh represent their ancient race. A few words on
Sister Winefred, " the best loved of all our Reverend Mothers,"
are all I need add to what I have written elsewhere.
Her natural gifts were in full harmony with the spirit of the
community of St Monica's, and during her twenty-three years
of office she fostered and strengthened that spirit, which the
Sisters had received from their first beginning, and have pre-
served, as the writer can testify, down to the present day, with
all its charm of cheerful austerity and frank simplicity. The
correspondence of Prioress Thimelby, published by Arthur
150 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
Clifford in the Tixall Letters * is full of an affectionate playful-
ness, which enhances the gracefulness of her religious fervour.
To her brother-in-law, the Hon. Herbert Aston, she writes :
" Do not suppose me a well-mortified nun, dead to the world,
for, alas ! it is not so ; I am alive, and as nearly concerned for
those I love, as if I had never left them, and must share in all
their fortunes, whether good or bad." To her sister, Mrs Herbert
Aston : " I am one of the happiest persons living, though still,
methinks, I should be happier dying." Her desire that her
sister-in-law, Gertrude, " Gatt " as she calls her, daughter of Lord
Aston, should take the veil at St Monica's, was at length gratified.
To "Gatt" she writes: "My Lord (Portland) in his plain, but
cordial way, says : ' Remember me to poor Gatt ; would she be
a nun ? Faith, if she knew the world half as well as I, she
would make haste out of it' Your mistress worries me with
her oft kind whispers : ' Is there no hope of Gatt's return ? '
Sisters Clayton, Lamb, King, Musgrave, Constable, Clarke,
Stafford, Aurelia, all and every one ask the same." In the last
of her published letters, she says: "Age summons me quickly
to the grave, and I thank God I feel no unwillingness to die.
But whilst I live, I must love ; God forbid my love should die
with life."
Among her friends was Lady Mary Weston, daughter of the
first Earl of Portland, by his second wife, Frances Waldegrave.
This devout lady lived in the convent, where she built for herself
" those rooms beyond the chancel of the church in the orchard,
where she made also an entry to pass into our choir for the
divine service." Her brother Thomas was the Lord Portland,
fourth Earl, referred to above, and he seems to have for a time
boarded in the chaplain's house.
Their father, Richard Weston, Earl of Portland, Lord Treasurer
of England, is said by Clarendon to have incurred public jealousy
for " the suspicion of his religion. His wife and all his daughters
were declared of the Roman religion ; and though he himself
and his sons sometimes went to church, yet he was never thought
to have any zeal for it. His dependents with whom only he
had entire freedom, were all known papists." The " Note-book
of John Southcote, D.D.," published in their first volume by the
Catholic Record Association, says that he died 13th March 1635,
catolicamente.
* The originals were sold by Messrs Sotheby in 1899, with the library of the
late Sir F. Constable of Aston Hall.
Father Christopher of St Clare (Walter Coleman), O.S.F.
Sentenced to Death for his Priesthood. Died in Newgate, 1645.
His Sister was a Nun at St iMonica's.
From an Old Print.
[Face page 151.
CHUONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 151
Another of his daughters, half-sister to the one just mentioned,
also named Mary, was married to Lord Aston. When Gertrude
Thimelby was clothed, we read that " Lord and Lady Aston gave
her dowry." According to custom, to symbolise their bidding
adieu to the world, novices appeared before the altar in their
bridal dress, which they were to exchange for the white robe of
a canoness. What follows is worthy of the days of Charles II.
" She [Gertrude Thimelby] had a clothing gown of cloth of
silver, which cost £4.0, and she gave i^20 more to make it into
church stuff. She gave also another vestment, and an ante-
pendium of cloth of gold, and a petticoat of cloth of silver, which
she gave her niece. Sister Catharine Aston," professed at St
Monica's ten years later. Francesca, the Prioress's youngest
sister, was professed conditionally in 1644, on her deathbed.
From the obit-book I take the following entries : " May. — The Right
Honourable Thomas Weston, Earl of Portland, a singular bene-
factor and dear friend to this monastery. July.— My Lady Mary
Weston, sister to Lord Portland, who lived many years here, and
was a benefactress to this monastery."
Sister Mary Philpot was professed in July 1536. Her pro-
fession connects our community with the Arundells of Wardour.
Her mother was a daughter of Thomas Lord Arundell of
Wardour. The head of the Philpots of Com.pton held the office of
Vice-Comes of Southampton. Dames Barbara and Mary Philpot
were Benedictine nuns at Pontoise (now Teignmouth), and an
aunt of Sister Mary, the wife of George Jerningham, was the
mother of one of our Louvain canonesses. A great uncle of John
Philpot, Sister Mary's father, suffered death for heresy in Queen
Mary's reign.
How it fared with Leicestershire Catholics in Elizabeth's reign
is graphically described by our chronicler in her beautiful story
of the childhood of Sister Frances Burrows. Sister Frances is a
link connecting the families of Vaux, Roper, Brookcsby,
Thimelby, and Wiseman.
Here I may supply an omission in our preceding volume.
Sister Benedict (Elizabeth Coleman) professed at St Monica's
in 1618, was the daughter of Walter Coleman of Cannock in
Staffordshire by his wife Elizabeth Whitgreave of Burton Manor
in the same county, of whom our Louvain MS. says that "she
died very blessedly." But what recent research has brought to
light for the first time is that Walter Coleman, O.S.F., a glorious
confessor of the Faith, if not martyr, called in religion Christopher
152 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
a Sancta Clara, was her brother or at least half-brother, as his
mother may have been Dorothy Comberford. His father married
twice, and the order of the marriages is uncertain. The martyr's
parentage was hitherto not accurately known. His life is to be
found in Mrs Hope's Franciscan Martyrs in England. On the
8th December 1641, he was sentenced to death for his priesthood
at the old Bailey, but reprieved, and after bearing much cruel
usage, died in Newgate in 1645.
CHAPTER VIII
From the profession of Sister Winefred Thimelby to the resignation
OF THE OFFICE OF SUB-PRIORESS BY SiSTER ELIZABETH SHIRLEY. Mr
Richard Thimelby's career. Imprisoned in the Tower. Sister
Grace Bedingfeld. The plague at Louvain. Death of Sister
Mary Worthington of plague. Sister Frances Burrows.
Singular events of her childhood. An apparition in a
Leicestershire country house. 1635-1637.
The first of these professed, Sister Winefred Thimelby, was
daughter to Richard Thimelby of Irnham in Lincolnshire
of an ancient house. He was brother to Sister Elizabeth
Clifford, widow, of whom we made mention, and her
mother was daughter of Mrs Brookesby, Mrs Anne
Vaux's sister, all very good and constant Catholics, who
kept Father Garnet, the worthy martyr, in their house,
the chief of the Jesuits. This Mr Richard Thimelby
suffered much for the Catholic Faith, and being but yet
a youth, he was taken from his parents, to be brought up
a heretic with the Earl of Lincoln ; but for all what they
could do, he remained firm and constant in his religion.
Afterwards, upon a false accusation of some, he was put
in prison, suspecting he had intelligence beyond seas
about state matters, and it was only for having gotten
into his hands a letter which Father Parsons had written
wherein he proved he had never been against the King of
Scots, but if he were a Catholic, he would prefer him
above all others, and that he had assisted him with many
ducats upon such an occasion. This some hearing him
read, made such a matter of suspicion, that he was put
153
154 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
first in the country in prison, and afterwards in the Tower
of London. It was said he should be executed, but by
the earnest labour and suit of good friends, he got himself at
length cleared of that imputation, after almost a year's im-
prisonment. Divers times he sustained losses in the perse-
cution of those times. He was always a harbourer of
priests and religious men, keeping one of residence in his
house, besides the entertainment of strangers, and
Almighty God preserved them, so that among so many
searchings as they had, never any was taken. Once
the searchers came running up where the priest was
at Mass, having entered suddenly the house, but there-
upon Mrs Thimelby found a device to call them down
to her about some question, and God turned their
minds so, that they got a strong conceit nothing was
to be found, for that they supposed they had had
warning of their coming and so departed away, without
more ado.
This good gentleman (Mr Richard Thimelby), had
many children, and this was the thirteenth child, who
when a little one, heard her father say unto her mother,
that it would be an exceeding great joy to him if any of
his children would take a religious course, whereupon she
began to get some mind thereunto. But her father
dying when she was but 5 years old, she soon left off
this good desire. Nevertheless, the priest of the house,
who was a Jesuit, would still be inciting her to become a
religious, especially in this house, but prevailed not with
her herein, until he obtained it, as it seems, after his death,
for her mother dying also when she was about 10 years
of age, and the said priest dying also some time after, she
presently upon his death got a full mind to become a
religious, and made it known to her eldest brother, unto
whose charge all the children were left, who liked well
thereof, and sent her hither together with another sister
of theirs, named Frances, younger than she, who had also
a mind to be a religious, and coming here were both
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 155
received, she being then 12 years old, and lived here
a scholar with her sister until fit time, then was clothed,
and fain to fly (as we have said) in the time of distress
with her sisters, for we sent away then all our novices and
scholars, as reason was, to make them out of danger, that
were free ; her sister Frances then we sent home into
England, by reason that she had long been sick of a
lingering weakness which hindered her clothing and put
her life in danger, hoping that with change of air and
country she might recover her health, being of good
disposition and very desirous of religion ; but this her
sister having passed her whole year of noviceship before
the trouble of flying began, was now professed to her
great contentment at the age of 16 years, her brother Sir
John Thimelby, showing himself very kind and beneficial
both to her and to us.
The other was Sister Grace Bedingfeld, daughter of
Mr Francis Bedingfeld of Redlingfield in Suffolk, of whom
we have made mention before when we spake of his
daughter's profession, Sister Augustine Bedingfeld, in the
year 1622, therefore we shall not need to say much in this
place, but only that of ten daughters, this was the youngest
and had always a desire to be a religious from a little child,
her parents also furthering her much therein, who sent
wilHngly almost all their daughters into divers religious
houses, and they were very desirous that this should come
hither, they therefore got means to have her received, being
but 13 years old, who lived here a scholar with the rest until
she was clothed with the former. At her going forth unto
Bruges, Almighty God tried her with a severe sickness,
but she was pretty well recovered at her return home and
so made now her holy profession at the age of 17, they
both having kept their novice-year before going out to
Bruges.
About this time 1635, the plague raged much in the
town, and among others it happened that Mrs Mary Green,
who lived by our cloister, had her maid sick on the sudden,
156 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
but thought it was something else and not the plague.
Presently after, she herself fell sick, and then desired for
charity of our Reverend Mother that one of our lay sisters
might come there to tend her in respect that her maid also
lay very sick. Hereupon our Reverend Mother, not know-
ing that it was the plague, nevertheless for fear of the
worst, she would not command, but only asked one of the
lay sisters if she would be content to go, and the Dutch
Sister, Jannecken, who, as is said, had been Dr Clement's
servant, undertook this charity and went to Mrs Green,
serving and looking both to her and the maid carefully.
But Mrs Green soon died, being an old woman of almost
80 years. The infection soon made an end of her, though
yet none knew it was the plague, but we thought she died
of age, and therefore she was buried in our church as she
had desired, for she left all that she had to our monastery,
and having as she said lived all her life a maid in the world,
she would have that virgins should be her heirs and rest
among us. She had been always a good virtuous woman,
and did good works and charity abroad. She had lived
fifty years out of England in these parts, for she would not
marry, but came over to try if she could be a religious ;
but it seems it was not God's will she should undertake a
religious life, for she was always crossed therein, having
offered herself to religious houses divers times ; wherefore
she settled herself to live virtuously in the world, and so
continued many years at Brussels, and going in the habit
of a Devote or Jesuitress, but not tying herself to any
thing. And after St Monica's cloister was begun, she
came here to this town, and continued to live here ever
after, being about the space of twenty-six years, and
in her old age she grew blind, which was a great
cross, because after that she could not help herself to
devotion with reading of good things as before, yet
she bore her cross with great patience and contentment
in the will of God, and came daily to our church, spend-
ing most of the morning at her prayers, and often saying
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 157
her beads in the day, because she could not see to do
anything.
Thus it pleased God at length to take her out of this
painful life, having seen and felt the distress of this town
in the siege, she remaining here all that time, and so by a ,
short and easy death most happily rendered her soul to her
Creator, She left well to our house, for she had of a long
time kept for us in store about ^80 in money, passing her-
self many an ill and hard meal for not to break the said
sum from us. But out of that her maid should have had
jCio and some of her goods, if she had lived, which now
came all to us by reason that soon after Mrs Green's death,
the maid growing worse, it was discovered she had the
plague, and then was carried into the hospital that she
might not die in the house. Soon after she died, and we
permitted not our lay sister that tended her to come home
again to us but procured her a chamber, in the hospital,
and to live there, until we should see whether she had taken
any infection or no, for as yet she was well in health ; but
not long after her being there, she grew indeed sick of the
plague, which showed that she had taken it before. She
was carefully tended and due remedies given her, the Sister
of the hospital being very kind to her, so as it pleased God
that she recovered and came home again in due time, with
all Mrs Green's goods, which had been well aired, washed
and cleansed. Nevertheless, we know not upon what
occasion, it happened soon after that another of our young
lay sisters sickened. Sister Anne Reading ; and having
been ill all night, in the morning we sent for the doctor, to
know what she had, who liked her not, but desired our
Reverend Mother to sever her from the community for fear
of the worst. Whereupon she was sent out into new
buildings for the entertainment of strangers, and she was
put into the chambers where Mrs Margaret Stan ten had
lived before, who, after Dr Clement's death, desired to board
with us in the Father's house for some years ; but at length
we, finding inconvenience of boarders, had procured her to
158 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
be dismissed hence by the bishop's appointment. Which
happened now well for us that room to be free where our
Sister was kept, for it proved indeed that she had the
plague, and the other Sister lately recovered and come
home was sent now to serve and to look to her. We
also procured the hospital Sisters to come daily and
minister to her all remedies for that disease, as also a
good Franciscan, who used to go unto all infected
persons of the plague, came very carefully to assist
her, she having well the French language, so as this
Sister also recovered, and our cloister was free for this
year.
In the year 1636, about the end of May, the servant of
our cloister, Giles, being abroad in the town, got the plague
which then continued still, and came home very sick, but
kept himself close in his chamber for a day or two, think-
ing with rest to put away what he felt ; but at length we
were fain to send for the doctor, who doubted he had the
plague, whereupon we sent also for the Pest-Father and
hospital Sisters, who applied all remedies to him possible,
but nothing availed, for they found he was infected with
the worst kind of plague called the peppercorn, so as
within three or four days he was come to be past hope of
life.
Then did our Reverend Mother get the Pest-Father, a
good Franciscan, to come and hear his confession, who also
made his will for him, and he left us a legacy to our cloister,
and disposed of other things as he pleased, leaving the most
he had to his only sister ; and after that the brothers came
and carried him to the hospital, as the manner is in this
town commonly to go and die there for to infect their
own houses the less, and so upon the 2nd day of June
he made a happy end in the hospital as we may well
believe, being a very honest and good man, who had
served us faithfully about four or five years, and he
had been servant to Dr Clement, after whose death
he served some time the English Benedictines at Brussels,
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 159
and after that came to us. He was a good-natured man,
simple and innocent, and bore great affection to our
cloister.
After his death, which happened on the Monday, the
Friday after, one of our nuns was taken with the placrue,
Sister Mary Worthington, who at the time attended 'our
Reverend Mother, and she was well to our seeming the day
before ; yet it appeared afterv/ards the infection was in her
body before, but how she took it none can truly affirm, only
we suspected some cause. It happened that on the Friday
night, she felt sick all the night, and in the morning at four
of the clock got up and felt a swelling risen in her flank
where the plague sore useth to be, whereupon before Prime
she went and looked about for Sister dementia, who hav-
ing had the plague in England, she thought could best
discern what she had, and having been in the choir to look
for her, at last she found her and told her in what case she
was, and how she had been very sick that night. She
hearing this thing, and looking also on the swellino-,
affirmed presently she had the plague, thereupon carried
the news to the Reverend Mother, w^ho, being thereat
stricken with extreme grief, presently took order to have
her severed from the community, and so sent her forth to
that outward building, where our lay sister had been laid
the year before, which is not out of the inclosure ; and the
two lay sisters which had tended Giles and were as yet
there without, took her in charge to look to her with all
diligence. Then were the hospital Sisters sent for, who
seeing her, said she was very sorely infected, yet all remedies
that could be devised, were applied unto her, so that she
remained five days alive, and we in suspense what would
become of her. Then was the Pest-Father also sent for
to come to her, for having the language very well, he could
assist her, who also said that some little before, he had in
his sleep dreamt that St Monica's cloister called for him,
because the plague was gotten there, which proved soon
most true. He was a holy and fervent man, who assisted
160 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
her with exceeding care and charity, even to the last, and
she was very well content with him, but nevertheless our
Reverend Father could not be satisfied till he wrote a letter
to her for to know if there were any need, and if that she
desired him he would willingly go to help her. She sent
him word again, and assured him that she had nothing that
troubled her conscience, but that for confession or anything
else, she could speak as freely to that good Father, though
at first she was a little troubled that she must die so
without the company of our Sisters and our Reverend
Mother, whom she loved most dearly, yet, notwithstanding,
she resigned herself unto the will of God, and was
content.
The Franciscan Father had great compassion that so
young and able a person for God's service must die in, the
flower of her age, but yet he animated her so that, after all
the remedies applied nothing availing to save her life, upon
St Barnabas Day late at night after Compline, she entered
into her mortal agony, and seeing there was no hope of
remedy, but that she must die, desired the two lay sisters that
tended her to carry her down by any means into the little
garden, which joined to those rooms, that she might die
in the air, and not so much infect the house, as they used
to do in this town. They yielded to her request, and
made her a shelter in the garden, and a bed and bedstead
was set up thereunder, where being brought, the good
Father assisted her with prayers and holy admoni-
tions, even to the last, and would not depart from her
when she gave up the ghost, but yet caused the lay
sisters to go aside, as she herself also desired them by
sign to do. It was a pitiful thing for both our Fathers
to hear her groan in her last pains, and the Fran-
ciscan read so loud the commendations as they could hear
him, yea, some that were in the choir at that time
heard him.
She happily rendered her soul to God after ten of the
clock at night, and we were in great sorrow when we knew
Venkrablk Thomas Tunstal, Priest.
Martyred at Nonvich, July 13, 1616.
From Portrait at Stonyhurst.
[Fact page lili).
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 161
of her death, especially our Reverend Mother felt this cross
extremely, by reason that she loved her much and had
long been her mistress, and brought her up in religion and
assisted her in matters of spirit. She was a very virtuous
religious, and always both in the world and in the cloister,
of an innocent life, so as it was thought that she never
committed a mortal sin, for she was always of a set and
womanly carriage, not wild or given much to play and
sport as commonly young people are. Her mother also
brought her up very carefully in virtue and the fear of God,
and coming so young to the monastery, as hath been
heretofore declared, and her life here so laudable and
virtuous in all her conversations, we hoped she soon
got to heaven, only it was pity to lose so young a
person, and who was like to prove a very profitable
member in holy religion, for she was healthy and of a
sweet and wise carriage, fit to be put to anything,
a great lover of the choir and laborious in outward
things, fervent to do God service. She had been but
eight years professed, and we were compelled to bury
her in our orchard, having hallowed some ground there ;
and the said Father buried her with the assistance of
the two lay sisters, for our fear was too great to bury
her within.
After that we kept close for six weeks, not writing abroad
to any, and we had a relaxation from work, as the manner
is at such times, for to erect their minds out of fear, and
leave to speak, but some turned that time of freedom to
spend it more recollected, and give themselves to God,
praying heartily for the good of our house. We also
took generally every morning a kind of preservative
against the plague, and burned every morning pitch to
smoke the house all over, and did not rise at midnight
to Matins because the doctor counselled us so, but
we read our Compline after the grace of supper, and
began the Matins at seven of the clock, when before we
used to go to Compline. But this manner we found more
L
162 CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
painful than to rise at midnight, and were glad afterwards
to come again to our old custom. We also sang daily to
our Blessed Lady, after the High Mass, the Antiphon
Stella Coeli, and for a while read our Lady's Litanies
after Evensong, and it pleased Almighty God, of His
goodness, to cease the infection so as none else took it ;
but after this we were wholly free of further plague and
danger.
This danger being past, upon St James the Apostle's
Day, and the Feast of St Anne, the visitor sat here to
hear what the convent had to say, by reason that the
three years were out of our Reverend Mother's installing,
being then confirmed for no more time.
We were now to know the bishop's will concerning her
further government. Wherefore, when after all were heard,
and the disposition of their minds towards her well mani-
fested to the visitor, we were fain to expect a long while
to know his mind and will, for he still delayed this time
and left us in suspense, by reason as we understood
afterwards, that he sent to Mechlin to consult with his
vicarious (vicar), who had made the former visitation,
and installed our prioress according to the election,
for he that now visited us was only our new land-
deken (rural dean), a wise and good man, the former
landdeken that accompanied the vicarious before, being
this year dead of the plague. So after due consul-
tation of all that was delivered up in this visita-
tion, he sent hither the landdeken that now visited
us, and confirmed our Reverend Mother for three years
more.
In this time of suspense, upon the Octave of St Law-
rence, the 17th of August, was professed Sister Mary
Philpot, the first of our three novices, who, as has been said,
could not be professed with the other two, by reason that
her portion was not ready till now. She was daughter to
Sir John Philpot of Compton in Hampshire, and her
mother was grand-daughter to the Earl of Southampton,
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 163
whose only daughter married Count Arundel, and her
daughter, the Lady Mary, married Sir John Philpot, but
died when this child was yet at nurse, and the other
very young. They were both Catholics, but further
particulars we could not learn, by reason that she came
so young to the cloister as not to know the world or
her friends ; for her father sent her over to us when she
was a little one of 6 or 7 years old, with a sister of hers
who after a some time went out and married. But
this one always desired to be a religious, for Almighty
God drew her sweetly to Him from her very infancy,
to have always a great love to our cloister and
religious life. Therefore at fit years she was clothed
with the two that were last professed, being then the
eldest.
Therefore now after her profession we gave her the
same place above the other two, because she had stayed,
as is aforesaid, only for the good of our house, and
not for any fault of her own, as also being a good
humble soul. For that is a privilege which it is in the
convent's will either to grant or deny, unless the
profession hath been stayed behind others of their
fellow-novices, wherein commonly they proceed accord-
ing to the disposition of the party, as is thought to
be best.
Now at this time we had no more novices, nor yet
scholars, but only Sister Dorothy Brook, Sir Basil Brook's
daughter, whom we intended, upon assurance of her means
by her father, to make her secured to the house in that
state of life, because she was not thought fit to undertake
any vows, but being a good simple soul she might live
so a virtuous life in the cloister. Her sister, as is said,
remained at our monastery at Bruges, because at her
going out in the time of the siege she liked that place and
would stay there, whom they received as a white Sister ;
but we here had resolved to receive no more white Sisters
two or three years before.
164 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
In the year 1637, upon the 3rd day of March, died
Sister Frances Burrows, one of the elders that came from
St Ursula's in the second company. She had been sickly
all her life long, and weak. She was very tractable,
obedient to all her superiors, and suffered much, because
she had some little defects, which, though she laboured
hard to subdue, she could not so wholly overcome them,
but that sometimes a hasty word came from her, which
nevertheless was presently amended with humbly speaking
her fault. So it may well be hoped she hath gained a
good crown in heaven for the continual labour she took
here in overcoming herself, although for her humiliations
some small defects still seemed to remain, which, perhaps,
were not so displeasing to God as to creatures ; also for
her great patience and humility, which showed most in
divers occasions, especially at her going forth to Bruges
with the rest at the time of our distress, when she
gave great edification, as also by her sweet and blessed
death.
And in respect that we have not hitherto particularly
spoken of her parents and her coming to religion, we will
now set it down here, as it was noted down in a paper
apart by our Reverend Father. She was born at Burrow-
on-the-hill in Leicestershire, her father a gentleman but a
younger brother ; his name was Anthony Burrows. Her
mother, called Maud, was daughter to Lord Vaux, Baron
of Harrowden in Northamptonshire. This daughter of
theirs was first brought up in her father's house, her
mother dying when she was but 5 years of age, in whose
infancy this happened worthy of note, and might be
accounted a sign of God's graces which she was afterwards
to receive. Her father, being a man who then in his
religion followed the time and frequented the churches of
heretics, was wont on Sundays and holy-days to go with
his family to their services. Frances, being very young,
was carried thither also in the maid's arms, but so soon as
she was within the church she fell fast asleep, not waking
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 165
till she was out of the church again, and this continued
with her after she could go alone, and was so observed in
her, that they thought it bootless to lead her into the
church, but would leave her in the churchyard to play
during the time of service.
Soon after her mother's death, she was taken from her
father's care, and assumed by a kinswoman of hers, one
Mrs Brooksby, a young widow, daughter to Lord Vaux,
who brought her up as her own daughter, for the most
part at Harrowden House, where her cousin lived. When
this child came first to the said widow, she took her in her
arms with tears and said : "I will have Frances, I will
have Frances " ; having before intended to have taken
another of the sisters who was her god-daughter. "For
to this child," quoth she, "God will give a blessing which
none of the rest shall have " ; which proved true, for she
became a religious, and none of the rest so much as
Catholic. Being committed to this her cousin's care, she
was first taught to say her prayers, then instructed in the
Catholic religion and admitted to be present at the
exercises thereof, for this was a very Catholic house. As
she grew in years, so did she in the constant profession of
her religion.
She showed great courage when the pursuivants and
other officers came to the house to search for priests,
church stuff, or Catholic books, which was there often to
do, the rest hiding them in secret places made in the
house for that purpose. But she was always let out to go
up and down to answer the ofiBcers, because her courage
was such as she never seemed to be daunted or feared of
anything. It happened, when she was but 1 1 years of
age, a priest being at Mass in the chamber above, and
another present, a great noise was heard in the house
below ; and fearing it to be as indeed it was, the priest
desired the gentlewoman of the house to go down and the
girl with her to see what the matter was. They went, and
in tJie hall found, through negligence of the doorkeeper.
166 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
the pursuivants and constables, entered with many swords
drawn; which the child seeing, cried out, "Oh! put up
your swords, or else my mother will die, for she cannot
endure to see a naked sword." The officers perceiving the
gentlewoman's countenance to change, believed her and put
up their swords. But Frances runneth back again, pre-
tendincr to fetch some wine for her mother, shut the doors,
gave warning to the priests, helped to hide them, and then
came back again to the pursuivants, having frustrated
them of their expectation, for they could find no priest.
Such was her present will, not disturbed in time of
dano'er.
Another time, a pursuivant thinking with terror to
make her disclose the secret places of the house, caught
her by the arm, and holding his naked dagger at her
breast, threatened that if she would not tell him where the
priests were, he would stab her in the heart. She,
undaunted, as not apprehending anything of death, bade
him if he durst, and with courage said, " If you do, it
shall be the hottest blood that ever thou sheddest in thy
life." The pursuivant, perceiving that death could not
fright her, offered a ;^ioo to have her, for to make
a present to the Lord Bishop of London, saying it was
pity a maid of her courage should be spoiled with
papistry. Being now come to years of discretion and
some ripeness of judgment, conversing daily with priests
and hearing many good things (and sometimes her cousin
talked of a sister of hers, called Elizabeth, who was a nun
at Rouen in France of St Clare's Order), she got thereupon
a great love unto that kind of life, although she could
not imagine what it was to be a nun. Being ashamed
to ask, she contented herself that surely it was a fine
thing, but wavering in her mind, sometimes she would
be a nun, sometimes not ; thus she continued working
with her mind some ten years. Once in an evening, about
twilight, having left her company and being alone with
thoughts of being a nun, she felt in her soul great and
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 167
strong inspirations from God in which she took very
much delight, yet understood not what she felt, but
resolutely resolved to remain a virgin all her life. In the
summer after this, being in a Catholic gentleman's house
where for some time she remained, it happened on a
Sunday after dinner, as she was alone in a little garden
with great comfort of mind, thinking of being a nun, she
suddenly heard one to knock at the back door of the
said garden, where none could come except those of the
house, and knowing that the servants were at dinner, she
thought it might be some of the children. She went and
opened the door, and saw there a man clothed in woollen
cloth, all in white. His garments were very long, but
neatly tucked up, and such as she had never seen before.
He looked cheerfully on her, and spoke unto her, but she
understood him not, and so she told him. Then he made
signs to her, as she thought, for to have something to
eat. Wherefore presently she runs to the butler to ask
something for a poor man. He gave her a good piece of
bread and meat, and whilst that he went to fetch her
also a pot of strong beer, she cut a piece of pie that was
there, and conveyed it out at the window that the butler
might not see it, and so went with haste to the man,
fearing he might be departed, but he was not gone. She
gave it to him, who took it graciously, ate the bread and
meat, and drank the beer to her seeming, but the pie he took
up in the tuck of his garment. She perceiving him about
to do it, said to him " Oh ! you will spoil your white
coat," at which he smiled, but yet put it in. All this
while she stood, as it were forgetful of herself, earnestly
viewing and beholding him, never having seen any man
in the like attire before ; who, when he had eaten, and
drunk, lifting up his hand, with his two forefingers gave
her a long blessing and went away. But she forgetting
still herself, would not so leave him, but followed him a
good way, till coming to a stile, remembering where she
was and that alone, forthwith ran back in all haste home.
168 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
and told the gentleman of the house and the priest who
was there what she had seen. They went presently with
all speed to fetch him but never could see or spy him. She
made inquiry of the neighbours, who all said they had seen
no such man, and they never would hear more of him.
Neither could she imagine what he might be until, three
years after, coming to Louvain to be a religious, and
visiting the church of Augustine Friars before she entered
(who serve the church in white) she saw theirs to be the
same habit which the man wore whom she had seen before,
and it was now a great motive to settle her in her vocation ;
counting this as a means wherewith Almighty God had
called her. She was sent over by Father Garnet the
elder, martyr, who was Superior of the Jesuits in England,
being about 19 years of age, and was professed on
the 13th of July, two years after, having been one year
scholar and one year novice. She made a blessed end
by a quiet and sweet death, after some time of sharp
sickness, having had a lingering weakness, with which she
was daily troubled, for to make her crown of patience in
heaven. She bore the office of Sacristan at St Ursula's,
and had taken good pains therein, and here she was often
employed in divers things by obedience, and was still ready
to do willingly what she could in the service of the convents,
as looking to the workmen or such like employments
having but a weak voice for the choir.
On the 5th day of February in this year, we chose a
new sub-prioress, by reason that the other, Sister Elizabeth
Shirley, who had set up this monastery (as is aforesaid)
and continued about twenty-eight years in that office, was
now by reason of great age grown so infirm as she could not
follow more the order in coming either to the refectory or
choir, but only with great difficulty, and therefore had long
desired to be released of her office, which now at length
was granted her. So the convent chose Sister Mary
Copley to that office, who before had been Arcaria thirteen
years, since the death of Sister Mary Welch, unto whpm
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 169
succeeded Sister Mary Scudamore for some two or three
months, having given up her office of procuratrix because
she was sick, and died soon as has been aforesaid. Now,
therefore, Sister Augustine Bedingfeld was chosen Arcaria.
And the old sub-prioress after that, with great contentment,
lived to herself, being tended in a chamber apart as her
weakness required, and gave good example of humility and
true virtue.
PREFACE TO CHAPTER THE NINTH
Lancashire Catholics. The Towneleys of Towneley. John Towneley, the
invincible champion of the Faith. Charles Towneley, the Cavalier. Richard
Towneley, the Carthusian Prior. Sister Christina of St Monica's. The
Jacobite Rising of 1715. With Prince Charles Edward in 1745. Trial and
execution of Francis Towneley in 1746.
The last chapter of this second volume is largely taken up with
the holy deaths of Sisters of St Monica's, of whom we have already
given an account elsewhere. But it brings before us a devout
Lancashire family, the Gillibrands of Chorley, and records the
remarkable incident of a priest, the Reverend Richard Worth-
ington, being taken out of the Spanish ambassador's coach in
the streets of London, and carried at once to prison. He was
a native of Louvain, and two of his sisters were professed at St
Monica's.
The occurrence of these two names of Worthington and
Gillibrand suggests the addition in this preface of some further
notes on Catholic families from Lancashire, represented among
our canonesses. I may be allowed to make a further extract
from the letter of Richard Worthington, written from Blainscough,
14th September 1698, to his four sisters, canonesses at Louvain,
from which we have already quoted. " Doctor Worthington told
me he gave you an account of good Mr Oliver Tootel's death.
He died the fifth of May last, and as always he showed himself a
true friend to us, so at his death, made Cousin Gillibrand and me
executors. ... I read part of Sister Mary's letter which concerned
Mr Hervis to Cousin Charles Towneley. Sir Rowland Stanley and
his three daughters w^e at Blainscoe this summer, going and
coming from Towneley. They were much satisfied with their visit
to Towneley, and meeting also my cousin Markham, he and his
lady with her aunt Catharine Towneley out of Nottinghamshire,
Mr Tempest and his lady from Broughton."
Right Reverend William Vauguan,
Bishop of Plymouth. Died, October 25, 1902 ; buried at St Augustine's Priory.
[Face i^agt 170.
CHKONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 171
The profession of Sister Christina (Ursula) Towneley does not
fall within the part of the Chronicle comprised in the present
volume. But the connection of the Townelcys with the families
of Worthington and Tempest is a sufficient excuse, if any were
needed, for giving a notice of the Towneleys of Towneley before
we close our series of family histories.
Sister Ursula Towneley of St Monica's was the daughter of
Charles Towneley and his wife Ursula Fermor ; and her two aunts,
Margaret and Cecily Towneley, were Augustinian canonesses at
Paris.
The Towneleys' race is run now ; the name became extinct
from failure in the male line in our own days, and their ancestral
home from Saxon days knows them no more. We are only
concerned with their sufferings in the days of persecution, which
are indelibly written in the records of our glorious confessors, and
which the author of " Lydiate Hall " justly describes as inconceiv-
able, adding that in consequence of their staunch adherence to an
obnoxious creed, the family had remained without preferment,
so 'that Charles Towneley of Towneley, its representative in
1876, although perhaps the greatest commoner in Lancashire,
held no higher rank than his ancestor in the days of Queen
Elizabeth.
The first to arrest our attention among these heroes of Christ
is John Towneley, son of Charles, and grandson of Sir John
Towneley, Kt.
Under a portrait of this unconquerable confessor of Christ,
formerly at Towneley, was the following inscription : " This John,
about the sixth or seventh year of her Majesty's reign that now is,
for professing the Apostolic Roman Catholic Faith, was imprisoned
first at Chester Castle ; then sent to Marshalsea ; then to York
Castle ; then to the Blockhouses in Hull ; then to the Gatehouse
in Westminster; then to Manchester; then to Broughton in
Oxfordshire ; then twice to Ely in Cambridgeshire ; and so now,
seventy-three years old, and blind, is bound to appear and keep
within five miles of Towneley, his house. Who hath, since the
statute of the twenty-third, paid into the Exchequer twenty pounds
a month, and doth still ; so that there is paid already above five
thousand pounds. A.D. one thousand six hundred and one.
John Towneley of Towneley in Lancashire." Five thousand
pounds in those days would probably be equivalent to ;^50,ooo,
nowadays. John Towneley died in 1607. The invincible
champion of Christ was the father of thirteen children.
172 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
In his examination, being accused of harbouring priests, he
confessed that one Henry Crane, clerk, had lived in his house for
six years, and that James Hargreaves, clerk, had stayed a night in
his house. James Hargreaves had been Vicar of Blackburn, and
was one of the priests in prison at Manchester in 1584. In
Father Knox's Letters and Memorials of Cardinal Allen may be
read the warrant issued for his arrest, as well as for that of Allen,
Lawrence Vaux, and others.
One of the effects on our old Catholic families of the long and
cruel persecution was to transform whatever was excessive in
their pride of race. This became softened down till it resem-
bled the heroic sentiment of the holy Eleazar, who would not
even feign to violate the law given to his fathers by God's
ordinance, reflecting, as the inspired writer has it, on "the
dignity of his age and his ancient years, and the honour of
his grey head." There was nothing unworthy in adding to
the supernatural principles of the Catholic Faith the thought
of the honour of a noble and ancient house to assist them in
the conflict.
Of the imperious spirit that would sometimes tarnish true
nobility we have an amusing instance in Baines's Lancashire.
Fellows, Lancaster Herald, relates his experience with Sir John
Towneley, the grandfather of the holy confessor of the Faith.
To his petition to be allowed to draw up the family pedigree, Sir
John replied, " that he would have no note taken of him ; " " that
there were no more gentlemen in Lancashire than my Lord Derby
and Monteagle. I sought him," adds Fellows, " all the day, riding
in the wild country, and his reward was eleven shillings, which
the guide had the most part, and I had as evil a journey as ever I
had."
Less than fifty years afterwards, when the holy Canon Regular,
Laurence Vaux, was arraigned with his friend Gilbert Tichbourne
before the cruel Bishop Aylmer, on his expressing a hope that a
bishop would not deal with him more harshly than the soldiers in
whose power he had been in the Low Countries, Aylmer replied :
" I have committed to jail lately two men of great wealth, and
illustrious birth, Throckmorton and another (Towneley) whose
annual income amounts to £\OM, and dost thou hope I will let a
papist such as thou art, go free." Then he at once committed
him to the Gatehouse, where amid every kind of squalor and
suffering, he found a multitude of priests, laymen, and women " of
whom," says the letter in the Douay Diaries, " Towneley, a gentle-
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 173
man of gentle birth, holds the first place ; and next Mrs Heath
and her daughter " (relatives of Archbishop Heath). No doubt
the company of men like Laurence Vaux was of great consolation
to our holy confessor. Still more would he have rejoiced if he
could have foreseen that as a reward of his cruel trials the house of
Towneley should never swerve from the Faith until the name
should be extinct.
John Towneley was succeeded by his son Richard ; of the
children of the latter the third was Charles, who inherited his
father's estates on the death of his brothers, John and Richard.
In his 14th year he was sent to St Omer's College, where he spent
two years, returning to England till his 19th year. He tried
his vocation at the English College, Rome, but not finding him-
self called to the priesthood, returned home. He married Mar}',
daughter of Sir Francis Trappes-Byrnand. At the outbreak of
the Civil War he drew the sword for his king and fell fighting at
the battle of Marston Moor. The two young ladies of the house
of Towneley, who about 1620 are said (Gee's Foot 07it the Snai'c)
to have gone abroad to a nunnery, presumably for their educa-
tion, were perhaps his sisters ; and at the same time a priest
named Towneley is said to be " lodging about the Strand " in
London.
With the softening of the rigour of persecution after the death
of King James, such Catholic families as were noted for intellectual
gifts and manliness of character, being by their faith debarred from
political life, sought in various channels an outlet for their energies.
Richard Towneley, the next in the line, who died at York in 1707,
was a distinguished mathematician and astronomer. He married
Mary, the daughter of Clement Paston ofBarmingham in Norfolk.
He was singularly blessed in his children. Richard his son was
the Carthusian Prior of Sheen Anglorum at Nieuport from 1714
to 1722, when he resigned. He died there in 1729. Before his
profession as a Carthusian at Bourg-Fontaine, he had sought
admission among the Trappists. His two sisters, Cecily and
Margaret, were professed among the Canonesses Regular at Paris,
and his brother John appears in the pedigree as a monk, without
further indication. Of the other children of Richard Towneley,
Dorothy became the wife of Francis Howard of Corby Castle, and
Frances was married to Cuthbert Kennct, Esq. Their father
died in 1707. Charles, his son and heir, who married Ursula,
daughter of Richard Fermor of Tusmore, only survived ^ him
till 171 1. These were the parents of our Sister Christina
174 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
(Ursula) Tovvneley, professed at St Monica's in 17 12, where she
died in 1771.
Evil times were now at hand. The Jacobite Rising of 17 15
had involved numbers of Catholics. Its wisdom may well be
questioned, but the purity of the motives of the insurgents
is beyond question. For them it was in defence not only of
loyalty, but of religion, of which we shall see more in the history
of James, Earl of Derwentwater. How far it affected the house
of Towneley is our present concern. Many Catholic estates were
forfeited, and after the suppression of the insurrection, such as
refused to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy were
compelled to register their estates. For what follows we are
indebted to Mr Orlebar Payne's volumes on the Catholic non-
jurors of 1715-
Richard, the son and heir of Charles Towneley, was now in a
difficult position. He had married Mary, the sister of William,
fourth and last Lord Widdrington. The Widdringtons were
fervent Catholics and ardent Jacobites. His lordship joined the
insurgents at Warkworth, marched with them to Preston, where he
was taken prisoner with his two brothers, and afterwards con-
demned to death. Though his life was spared, he was not
restored to his honours or estates. He was offered a sufficient
provision for the maintenance of his children if he would agree
to their being educated as Protestants. His answer to the
commissioner was, "that they might proceed to sell the said
estate." His daughter Apollonia went beyond the seas and
became a nun.
It seems beyond doubt that Richard Towneley followed his
brother-in-law's example and joined the Jacobite army. William
Baines of Preston deposed before the royal commissioners that
" he saw Richard Towneley of Towneley with a cockade in his hat
with twelve or fourteen men with him, all with cockades, swords,
pistols, and guns, on Sunday morning, marching among the said
rebels to oppose the king's forces." How he escaped the conse-
quences is not clear. A bitter enemy of the Jacobites writes :
" If Mr Tildesley and Mr Towneley were acquitted for want of
evidence, it was not because sufficient evidence could not be had,
for there are depositions against them so direct and plain that had
these persons been produced as witnesses it must have made a
jury, even of Jacobites, ashamed to have acquitted them." But for
a time he was in the utmost alarm, and we find him writing to his
London agent, Richard Starky of Furnival's Inn, to acquaint the
CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 175
commissioners that his house had been forcibly entered and two
bailiffs put in possession. "They threaten," he adds, "to sell the
small goods I have procured for the poor children, and throw them
out of doors within a few days." This was on 12th February 1716.
However, matters were happily composed, and Richard Towneley
was left in peace until his death in 1735. His wife, the Hon. Mary
Widdrington, died in 173 1.
Sister Christina had been three years professed among the
white-robed Sisters of St Monica's when messengers from England
brought her tidings of the Jacobite Rising and the tragedies that
followed it, the execution of Lord Derwentwater and others on
Tower Hill and at Tyburn. She was thirty years later to receive
news that would bring her far more bitter affliction. Her two
brothers, John and Francis, wearied and harassed with the sad
state of England under the first sovereign of the House of
Hanover, had gone beyond the seas and entered the army of
France. Both served with distinction, and fought at the siege
of Philipsburg. John translated Butler's Hudibras into French,
a congenial occupation for a descendant of the cavaliers, whose
ancestor had fallen at Marston. But in the fatal year of 1745,
the call of Prince Charles Edward for volunteers to risk their
all for the restoration of the Stuarts to their throne was
irresistible.
Prince Charles Edward landed on the coast of Lochabcr in
Scotland on the i6th July 1745, and his standard was immediately
joined by a large body of Highlanders. Edinburgh was speedily
taken, and the English army under General Cope was defeated
at Prestonpans. Marching southward, the prince invested Carlisle,
thence continuing his march to Derby, whence he was forced
to retreat from the refusal of the Highland clans to advance
further. In his expectations of active help from the Catholic
families in the north of England he was largely disappointed.
But the two gallant brothers, John and Francis Townele)', joined
him at Manchester, and shared his fortunes till the last. Trained
to arms in the French service, they were among the most
valuable of the Prince's officers, and their high principles of
loyality and religion would not allow them to desert the cause
of the Stuarts. John was to accompany the prince during his
retreat into Scotland, and to share in the victory of Falkirk,
escaping to France after the disastrous defeat at CuUoden. His
brother Francis, who took a more prominent part in the war,
was less fortunate. He was Governor of Carlisle at the time of
176 CHKONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
its surrender to the Duke of Cumberland ; was made prisoner
there, and the hero suffered a Jacobite traitor's doom. We suId-
join the details of his trial and execution from the official reports.
It is but just that we should view the tragedy from the standpoint
of the sufferers. No doubt of the justice of their cause tarnished
the heroism of their sacrifice, and they offered that sacrifice as
much out of fidelity to their religion as from loyalty to the king,
so that it is no wonder if their descendants often cherish their
memory, almost as that of martyrs to their loyality and to their
Faith. They usually died with sentiments of the most devoted
piety.
The GentlemarCs Magazine of 1746 gives from the London
Gazette the list of officers in the Manchester Regiment at Carlisle,
commanded by Col. Francis Towneley. From Lancashire :
Francis Towneley, Peter Moss, Thomas Deacon, John Berwick,
Robert Deacon, John Holker, Charles Deacon, Charles Gaylor,
James Wilding, John Betts, William Bradshaw, Thomas Syddell.
From Northumberland : John Saunderson, John Hurter. From
Yorkshire : Andrew Blood. From Staffordshire : Thomas Chad-
wick. From Cheshire: Thomas Funival and Samuel Maddock.
From the same source I have abridged the account of the trial
of Francis Towneley.
He was arraigned 3rd July 1746, and a true Bill found against
him, before the Lord Chief Justice Lee, the Lord Chief Justice
Willes, and others.
On the 15th, the court met again, " and proceeded to the trial of
Francis Towneley, gentleman. Colonel of the Manchester regiment
and Governor of Carlisle. The indictment was read, setting forth
that the prisoner levied war, and appeared in arms against the
king in several places, and especially that the loth of November
last he appeared in a hostile manner at Carlisle in the county
of Cumberland with upwards of 3000 persons, and took possession
of the city and citadel of Carlisle aforesaid, being the city and
citadel of our Lord the King, and the same by means of a cruel
slaughter of his Majesty's subjects, did keep and defend." The
witnesses were then called. Roger Macdonald deposed to
having seen the prisoner at Derby and elsewhere, wearing the
white cockade and tartan plaid, and marching as colonel at the
head of his regiment. The regimental banners bore on one
side the inscription : " Liberty and Property ; " on the other,
" Church and King." Samuel Maddock (who had turned kind's
evidence) deposed that some of the regiment always mounted
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
/ /
guard at Col. Towneley's quarters; that at Derby they beat up
for volunteers to serve under Colonel Towneley ; that the
colonel was made by the prince governor of Carlisle, where he
mounted guns and so forth ; that he passionately rebuked Colonel
Hamilton for surrendering the citadel, saying "it was better
to die with arms in our hands, than be taken by these d d
Hanoverians."
Austin Coleman confirmed the above evidence. Captains
Vere and Carey of the Royal Army gave evidence as to terms
of surrender. The prisoner's counsel pleaded that about the year
1728, he was, by some family misfortunes, obliged to retire to
France where he received a commission from the French kin^r,
and served under the Duke of Berwick at the siege of Philipsburg ;
that on his return to England he had lived privately till the
breaking out of these troubles, when he received a colonel's
commission from the King of France, in whose service he had
been for sixteen years, and ought therefore to be considered as a
French officer. Captain Carpenter proved the granting of the
commission. To this it was answered that being a natural born
British subject all proof of his entering into the service of France
made against him, and after the evidence had been summed
up by the Lord Chief Justice Lee, the jury consulted in court,
but not agreeing withdrew, and in ten minutes found the prisoner
guilty.
The Gentleman's Magazine for 1746 gives the following account
of his execution (page 383).
"Wednesday 30th (July), about 11 o'clock were, pursuant to
their sentences conveyed on three hurdles from the New Gaol,
Southwark, to Kennington Gallows, attended by a strong party
of soldiers, Francis Towneley, George Fletcher, Thomas Chadwick,
James Dawson, Thomas Deacon, John Berwick, Andrew Blood,
Thomas Siddal, and Thomas David Morgan. A pile of faggots
and a block were placed near the gallows ; and while the
prisoners were removing from the sledges into a cart drawn
under the tree for that purpose, the faggots were set on fire, and
the guards formed a circle round the place of execution. When
they had spent near an hour in their devotions, though not
attended by any clergyman, they severally delivered papers to
the sheriff and were soon turned off. When they had hung
about five minutes, Mr Towneley was cut down. His body, not
being quite dead, was stripped and laid on the block. The
hangman with a cleaver severed his head from his body, which
M
178 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
were put into a coffin ; then taking out the bowels and heart,
threw them into the fire ; he then proceeded to the next. . . .
When the heart of the last was put into the fire, the executioner
cried out, ' God save King George ' ; at which the multitude of
spectators gave a great shout. The heads and bodies were con-
veyed back in coffins to the prison from whence they came.
They behaved in a manner suitable to their unhappy circum-
stances, all of them seeming calm and comforted though none
shed tears. Three of their heads are to be set up, viz., Morgan's
upon Temple Bar, Towneley's at Carlisle, and Siddal's at
Manchester." The writer was, of course, ignorant of the source
of their tranquil firmness, and knew nothing of the grace of the
sacraments they had received in prison. In a letter signed
A. Home, published in the General Evening Post, September
1746, we read, " Walking very lately by the Romish chapel near
Lincoln's Inn Fields, I entered . . . and turning myself towards
the right hand, my eye was catched by sundry pieces of paper
both written and printed, stuck against the wall. My curiosity
induced me to read a part of them. I found them to be requests
for departed souls. Among these requests for prayers there were
two I particularly remarked ; one was for Mr Francis Towneley,
and the other for Mr Andrew Blood, who, as the labels mentioned,
died on the 30th day of July 1746. I was struck with indignation
at the sight and left the place, reflecting how by such acts true
religion was perverted and scandalised, and our government
insulted." He goes on to say, "he is surprised any can offer
up prayers for the departed souls of men executed for a rebellion."
Such was Protestant England in the eighteenth century.
Deep was the mourning among the Catholics of Lanca-
shire over the fate of the gallant Colonel Towneley, but
greatest of all must have been the sorrow of Sister Christina at
St Monica's.
I have left myself no space to detail the later history of his
family. The next successor to the estates was Charles Towneley,
whose magnificent collection of clanical works of art forms one
of the treasures of the British Museum. Only in very late
years, after more than 130 generations from the first Lord of
Towneley, did this illustrious race become extinct in the male
line. Mabel, daughter of Colonel John Towneley, its last repre-
sentative, who, through her parents unites in herself the ancient
family of Towneley and Tichbourne, is the present Lady Clifford
of Chudleigh.
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 179
Note.— Among the MSS. preserved at Newton Abbot is the
following letter, dated from Towneley 17th March 1692. It is
written by Charles Towneley to his cousin Sister Mary Genevieve
Worthington, professed at St Monica's in 1674, and afterwards
prioress for seven years. She died 20th November 1734.
"Dear Cousin,
"After the kind reprimand you give me for not
writing last year, I cannot again be guilty of the same fault. I
thought the iniquity of the times might have been an excuse, but
since you think otherwise, I acquiesce.
" We are all very glad to hear that you, your sisters and family •
are well. The best return I can make is the like news of us
and ours.
" My mother, now in her 91st year, is perfectly worn out, yet
enjoys her health ; but we have reason to fear that the least blast
will take her off. My brother Towneley 's eyes are as well as
usually couched eyes are. My nephew, your humble servant his
wife,-f gives us frequent hopes of a new increase to the two boys
and a girl they already have. My niece Kennet and niece
Constable are in the North with my niece Howard, who at last
has brought an heir to that family. Besides services from all here
to all with you, my brother sends a blessing to his goddaughter.
My niece Cecily, though not perfectly free from all symptoms of
her distemper, yet is so far advancing in the cure that she does
not question but to find it on this side the seas. Mrs Aylmer
may here find my service.
" I shall continue my endeavour to serve good Mrs Horrds.
Times here are bad, and taxes lie heavily on all, so that it is hard to
find such as have anything left for charity. However, be pleased,
as you shall see occasions, to let her have 20s. I will see if I can
make it more ; so much I shall answer, and that and more (if
gotten) shall be put into your father's hands. I hope ere long to
see them, in the meantime have sent this open to Blainscoe that
your relations there may add to it what they please, and then
seal and send it forward. We are here much satisfied that you
have some correspondence with my niece Margaret.
* I.e., the community of St Monica's. Catholics were in danger from the
penal laws, hence the cautious expression,
t /.e., my nephew's wife.
180 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
" I beg you would be pleased to remember us all here when you
are to improve your remembrances into more than barren
compliments.*
" I am, dear Cousin, your affectionate kinsman and Servant,
•' Charles Towneley.
" Charles Wilkinson returns you his most humble service."
* I.e., at times of prayer.
CHAPTER IX
From the death of Sister Anne Brumfield to the visit to
St Monica's of William Howard, Viscount Stafford, after-
wards martyred. Prioress Throckmorton confirmed in her
office for life. Death of the Reverend John Bolt. Sister
Mary Roper and the Roper family. A succession of holy
deaths. The Gillibrands. Arrest of a priest when driving
through London in the Spanish Ambassador's coach.
Upon the i6th of April 1638, died Sister Anne Brumfield,
one of the elders that, as we have lately declared, went
forth to Bruges in the time of the siege, at which time she
was also very sickly as she had been some years, by the
cough of a wasting consumption and other pains which at
length brought her to her end. But to say something of
her life in religion : we have at first related how by mere
affliction of mind in the world our Lord brought her to be
o
a Catholic, and after that to religion, wherein expecting to
find comfort, Almighty God, who, in His Divine Wisdom,
knoweth best what is best for everyone, denied it her all
the time of her life, but gave her instead thereof a fervent
will to serve Him, and grace to go through her desolation
of mind, affliction, and divers temptations for the space of
forty years that she lived therein ; and trying all the help
she could of divers learned men, by no means could she get
quit of her internal afflictions ; for she was indeed therein
in earnest, and for many years sought too much the free-
dom of her sufferings and inward troubles, and did not
rather, as she ought, settle herself to bear all quietly and
patiently, but thought it was fit to hope and expect help
181
182 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
therein. Some four or five years before her death she wholly
settled herself to expect no help during her life but resigned
herself in all to the Divine Will, who pleased to lead her by
such a dry and desolate way that she might be a comfort
and example to others.
She gave good edification to all, and left behind her
worthily the name of a most strict observer of the Order
and a lover of prayer ; for though she had no sensible
comfort therein, yet of the great desire she had to enjoy
God, she esteemed most of that act which is nearest
Him, and had yet less delight in exterior recreation than
in prayer, out of the fervour of her will, insomuch as
many thought she did enjoy much devotion, seeing her
so much addicted to prayer, and to spend much time
therein. In her later years she commonly stayed all the
mornine in the choir, in which time she could not meditate
nor yet discourse quietly with her understanding any long
time, but only now and then for some short space make
an aspiration of the will, which was presently dashed
again with her importunate thoughts, temptations, and
afflictions.
Therefore, usually she spent all the time in vocal
prayer — as, her beads after divers manners, dirges, and other
vocal prayers — for thereby she better kept down the working
of imagination, so as to overcome temptation, especially
those against Faith, which commonly haunted her. She per-
formed the office of chantress or sub-chantress above twenty
years, and was also some years custos and schoolmistress,
all which offices she performed carefully and well, for all
her internal afflictions ; as also while she had her health
was very sharp in penance to herself, taking sometimes
very hard disciplines, and at St Ursula's sometimes wore
haircloth, and all her life she was given to abstinence.
Her failing in strict observance of order and practice of
virtue was so seldom as came scarce to be exteriorly noted,
but known only to one to whom she was free, and whom she
had access unto with leave and approbation of her superiors
CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 183
and ghostly fathers. This Sister also prayed for her
frequently, for the space of sixteen years, until she came to be
wholly resigned. That Sister was much younger than
herself, yet loving her dearly, she stuck not to subject
herself to her by a secret obedience by the appointment
of her superior, who condescended to her desire herein.
The other also loving her most cordially in our Lord, as
one who had cost her many prayers and tears, exercised
this power with great humility and modesty, rather to
comfort and assist her than any way to afflict her. In
her last sickness, which continued from Christmas until
April that she died, she still helped her, by reason
that her desolation of mind through the tediousness
of sickness began to grow upon her very much before
her end.
Wherefore, it pleased our merciful Lord to take her
away by a sudden but not unprovided death, being ten
days before reasonably quiet and well disposed to suffer.
In one night, about three o'clock in the morning, the Sister
that lay by her heard her cough in the throat, and going
to her found her a-dying, so as before our Reverend
Mother or the Fathers could come she had given up the
ghost.
In the year 1639, Sister Augustine Bedingfeld went
from hence to our monastery of Bruges upon the earnest
entreaty of the prioress there. Mother Mary Pole, who had
long laboured with our archbishop to have her hence,
because they imagined by her coming to get some friends,
so as that house might prosper better and they might
receive more company ; and at length, after some
difficulties, our convent here consented to it for the
good of that cloister, although she was much beloved
here.
This same year, the archbishop confirmed by patents
(letters patent), our Reverend Mother Prioress in her office,
Mother Magdalen Throckmorton, who was twice before
confirmed only for three years, but now the third time.
184 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
having still the most voices in the election, which had been
also made before at the three years' end, she was now
established in the place so long as the bishop should
please.
Upon the 3rd of August 1640, after midnight, died our
reverend good priest, Mr John Bolt, alias Johnson, very
happily although suddenly, for to such a virtuous and
blessed life could not but succeed a happy death. He had
about seven years or more before his death been taken
with the gout, insomuch that for four or five years he was
wholly lame therewith, and we were forced to have our lay
sisters to bring him up unto the organ upon great feasts,
when he was to play and govern the music. He lived all
this time very recollected, lying upon his bed in his
chamber alone, passing the time with God in prayer. He
had one Sister to tend him. Sister Martha, the second pro-
fessed in this cloister, with- whose help and looking to, he
passed his great pains of the gout and other infirmities.
He grew still weaker and weaker towards his end, yet at
great feasts, when he was carried up into the organ-house,
and our Sisters came there to him, the musicianers and
others, he would speak so well of good things unto them
as showed his fervent spirit. He would also sing to the
organ sometimes with great devotion ; but being now very
old, although he looked young and fresh, it pleased our
Lord to take him by a sudden but not unprovided death.
For finding himself very ill, he said he had a great pain at
his heart, and our Reverend Mother sent him two lay
sisters to watch with him in the night, unto whom he
spoke fervently of good spiritual things as his custom was,
saying he was well but felt his heart as it were oppressed.
He said many litanies with them, for he could not sleep,
till about two o'clock in the morning he would needs have
them to go to bed, for he also would give himself to sleep,
and bade them put out the light. The Sister then, who
always tended him. Sister Martha Holman, took the light
away, and would have carried it out of the room, to have it
Our Lord after the Flagellation.
A Painting of the Flemish School, fonnerly at St Monica's.
Louvain, now at St Augustine's Priory.
(faff ;"iv< IM
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 185
ready whatever need should be, but he would not let her
do so, saying, "Put it out; do as you are bidden." It
seems he found himself well. She did so, and though he
would have them to go to bed, yet they remained "there
about him ; and presently upon a sudden, one of them.
Sister Alexia Hobdy, heard him to rattle, whereupon she
suddenly went to him, and speaking, he gave no answer.
Then she said to Sister Martha, " He is dying." With
that they were in poor case, the light being out, only it
was a glimpse of day at that time of thg year. Then
Sister Martha ran in all haste to call our Fathers, and Mr
Richard White was more quick, only slipped on his
cassock and came to him. But it was as it seems too
late ; for with one short breath, he gave up the ghost, and
died as we hoped most blessedly, as he had lived. He
used to confess and communicate every week, having not
for some years been able to say Mass for his lameness of
the gout, and so dying at the beginning of the week, about
Tuesday, we may suppose he was ready prepared. He
had always loved holy poverty, and served us here in
the music, and teaching our Sisters twenty-eight years,
without taking any pension, contenting himself with only
meat and drink and such clothes as we gave him. After
his death, our Reverend Mother found that he had yet by
him the ;^io which she gave him at her profession, which
she took now for his burial and to get prayers for his soul.
Thus did this good priest end his happy days, having so
well contemned the world as we have declared heretofore.
He left after his death our Sisters so expert in music by
his teaching, as they were able to keep up the same with-
out any other master or help for many years. Sister
Anne Evans was then our organist, who, having learnt in
the world to play upon the virginals, was since become so
skilful upon the organ by his teaching, she was able to
keep up the music as before. And Sister Lioba Morgan
was also very skilful in prick-song, so as with the help also
of others, they kept up the music to the honour of God,
186 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
and the devotion of strangers who came to our church and
heard them.
The same year, the ist of September, died Sister
Ursula Whitsal, a lay sister, of a long consumption. She
could never speak loud, but after a hoarse manner, which
showed something of her lungs was perished. She had
been long sickly about the house, but upon St Lawrence
Eve, having had a great fit in the night of vomiting and
great pain, she was brought into the infirmary, and there
continued so drawing to her end that all the physician's
help could not avail her. But upon this said day she
yielded her soul unto our Lord with a still and quiet death,
having: received all the sacraments, and the convent
praying about her, with two or three gasps she departed
this life. She was a good Sister, obedient, and very
laborious in all that she was able to do ; and had
for some time served without in the Father's house,
and carried herself very well, being of a good nature.
We buried her in a new churchyard, which we had
made for the lay sisters, because in our cloisters might
be more room for to bury the nuns, and this was
also hallowed ground, the court within the square
cloisters.
This year (1640) the stirs increasing in England, so as
our means also were likely to fail, we intended to lay out
of our stock both of portions and other moneys that we
could get in from rents upon life pensions in these
countries. This proved afterwards our best help, when
indeed all our rents in England failed by reason of the
Civil War that molested the whole kingdom for some years
following ; Mr Gifford, also foreseeing what was like to
happen, sent us our moneys which he had to rent in his
hands.
In the beginning of the next year (1641) upon the ist
of September died our Reverend Sub-prioress, Sister
Elizabeth Shirley, who, as hath been said, resigned up
her office in the year 1637, and after that kept her chamber,
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 187
which was allowed her for her sick-house. By reason of
her great weakness and infirmity, she had a lay sister to
attend her, Sister Agnes Watson. She gave very o-ood
example by living so contented, though she was abfe to
do nothing almost to the Order, conforming herself
therein to the will of God, for she had before said that
she wished not to live any longer than she should be
able to keep the Order. Yet, Almighty God ordained
otherwise to prepare her the better for a good and
happy end by patient suffering of her infirmity and weak-
ness. For this last year of her life she was as it were
drawing on towards her end, and would oftentimes when
she did go or stir, pant for breath that it would pity one
to hear her.
On the Friday, therefore, before her death, she had all
the day stood crossing of her arms and panting for breath
in a low room wherein she remained by day in the summer-
time, being more cool than above, and at night when she
was to go up she became so heavy that they had much
ado to get her up. Her senses also then failed her from
that time till her death, so as she scarce knew anybody, but
lay like an innocent, and spoke kindly unto those that
came to her. Yet she seemed to know our Reverend
Mother, and would speak kindly unto her, saying : "Good
Mother, go to bed." The doctor upon Saturday came
to her, who perceived she would die, and bade us to
annoile (anoint) her ; so she received the Sacrament
of Extreme Unction, and upon Sunday morning she
rendered up her soul unto God, being forty-six years
professed.
She was a woman very zealous in the keeping up of
holy religion, a strict observer of the Order, and the
foundress of this monastery, as hath been aforesaid, endued
with many virtues of a plain and sincere proceeding.
She often would say, towards her last end, that she felt
a comfort in herself that neither for fair or foul had she
ever omitted to speak what she thought was for God's
188 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
honour and the good of holy religion. Nevertheless, when
she had done her part and spoken what she thought fit,
she ever conformed herself unto the good liking of her
superiors, for she would never be contrary unto what
they thought best, though she herself was often of another
opinion in the ordering of things. And although she had
not any great liking to have this Mother (Throckmorton)
chosen, as not knowing nor understanding what virtue
was in her, yet when she saw her elected, so that God had
ordained her for the place, she submitted herself unto her
like a child, and was ever after very kind and loving unto
her, and liked well of her proceedings.
She was an humble woman, which always makes one
happy, and showed it on divers occasions. In the chapter
she would always, at such times as she was permitted,
speak her fault heartily, repeating often her defects and
imperfections. Besides, every week on Saturday night,
she spake her fault to the lay sister that tended her of all
her troublesomeness, in such wise that the Sister was
ashamed and would fain have hindered her from it. But she
answered her again thus: "Good Sister, let me alone to
do my duty " ; and always continued that custom for these
later years. She was very deaf, which was a greater
cross unto others than to herself, for the elders could not
so well speak to her of matters, and ask her counsel
in things as they would fain have done, because
she could not hear unless she spoke so loud that others
were like to hear it ; but she herself was not sorry,
saying that she lived thereby the more quietly and free
from knowing of things which perhaps would but
trouble her.
In the year 1642, upon St Margaret's Day, the 20th
of July, was professed Sister Mary Roper, being the first
that our Reverend Mother Magdalen Throckmorton had
received in her time of government, and was her cousin-
german once removed, for her father, Mr Thomas Roper,
was Sir William Roper's son, and this was his eldest child.
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 189
and much beloved of him. Her mother was daughter
unto one Mr Winchscam, a very virtuous good woman,
who would fain have been a religious, but being so very
weak and sickly, it was judged by her ghostly father
that she could not go through with a religious life ;
and so she married this Mr Roper, who loved her most
dearly, and by whom she had many children, but was
always very sickly, and at length as she lay in childbed of
one child she had a vision of something that appeared
unto her.
The particulars are not known, but only that she there-
upon foretold she should die in her next childbed, which
proved indeed accordingly. She was brought to bed upon a
fright of her child's mishap, as she thought ; for her eldest
son being at play, and going to reach something for his
playfellow under a heap of billets that lay loose, the billets
fell upon him, which his mother chancing to espy ran
speedily unto him, and the boy fearing he should be
whipped for it, would not speak, which made her fear he
was dead. They found after he had no harm at all, yet
she with this fright fell in labour, ten weeks before her time.
The child lived awhile, and was christened Francis before
he died. She herself remained for about three weeks, yet
still said she should die, and so indeed it proved. She
then made a blessed end, having always the priest about
her, who caused all the children to come three times unto
her for to receive her last blessincr. This her daughter
Mary was then but 8 years old and the eldest of five
children, to whom she gave these good instructions : first,
that she should be obedient and dutiful to her father ; next,
that she be good unto the poor. To that end she left
her 5s. in single pence for to give unto the poor.
The like she left also to her other children, in all 25s. in
single pence, that when they came to use of reason they
might know what she had left them was that they shouki
show charity to the poor. So she died happily, leaving
her husband much afflicted, who loved her most dearly and
190 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
tenderly, and a most loving father to all his children, and
a worthy gentleman, much esteemed of Catholics for his
worth and good experience in worldly affairs.
He also suffered persecution, and had once a priest
taken in his house, with many books, and was carried to
prison with the priest ; but it is not known what it cost
him, and what shift he made to escape the law and to get
home again safe.
This his daughter Mary he placed with Catholics his
friends, where she was well used, and when she was 14
years old he placed her with his own sister, Mrs Constable,
yet so as she should not use her sharply, she being very
severe to her own children. Yet she would often molest
her upon suspicion that she was in love with a fine gentle-
man in the house, which was nothing so ; yet she was
troublesome to her, fearing she would have cast herself
away upon that man.
She would sometimes shame her before strangers, which
made her get such an aversion from creatures that
Almighty God drew her insensibly to have a mind to
religion. It happened that, indeed, she fell in love with
another gentleman (not him whom her aunt suspected), yet
it was always with such an innocence and reservation that
when he often wrote to her, always ending, "Yours more
than his own," she still answered him, " Neither yours nor
my own, but God's alone." Afterwards, when her father
intended out of hand to marry her, that he might come and
live with her, she at a fit time made the priest to discover
unto him that she had a mind to become a religious, which
he according to nature was very sensible of and wept most
bitterly, yet by no means would hinder her ; and when he
understood that she would come hither to her cousin, our
Reverend Mother, he was better content with this than any
other place.
She had often heard, being at her aunt Constable's, of
our Reverend Mother, by reason that they wrote some-
times to each other, Ann Roper, who now was Mrs
CHROXICLE OF ST MONICA'S I9i
Constable, and our Reverend Mother, having lived together
in the world. A fit opportunity occurring of Mr Worth-
ington being willing to send his daughter once to see her
aunt, his sister here (our procuratrix), Mr Thomas Roper
sent this his daughter over ; so they came both here, she
to be a religious, but the other not. Mr Richard Worth-
ington, the priest, brought them over, so then Mistress
(Miss) Roper was received here, having the place given
her before, and her father gave her a fair clothing
gown.
^ This year (1642) on the 3rd of September, died Sister
Elizabeth Clifford, white Sister, and a widow, of whom
we spoke at large at her profession in the year 161 5. She
lived in religion a virtuous life, and gave good edification
by her humility and other virtues, having been in the
world a housekeeper,^ and had good experience in the
ordering of things, yet here in religion was content to
bear the mortification of not having things according to
her mind. She was a pious, worthy woman, and God did
choose her out of the world to serve Him so many years
in religion, even after she was 50 years old. And now
before her death a niece of hers. Sister Frances Thimelby,
who, for her sickliness, would not go forward with her sister
Winefred, was clothed upon trial if she could have better
health, and even in the Bride-week upon Wednesday,
Sister Elizabeth Clifford, her aunt, died happily at the age
of y^ years and twenty-eight of her profession.
This year we had more moneys laid off, of our rents in
England, both by Mr George Gifford and Mr Thomas
Roper, of our Sisters' portions, which they had laid at rent
there, and we put the said moneys presently out unto rent
here at the Mount of Piety for life pensions, which was a
great help when in the ensuing years of war in England
all our rents there failed. This year also Mr Gillibrand
sent us aforehand half of his two daughters' portion,
* That is to say, a lady who had the management of her family and house-
hold.
192 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
j^400. They were then novices, and according to our
agreement we were to have some upon rent there till he
should pay in the full portion, which was ;^400 more. But
this rent failed afterwards like the rest for some twelve years
till times were more quiet ; he paid in the rest in the year
1655-
In the year 1643 upon the loth of February were
professed two nuns, Sister Elizabeth and Sister Margaret
Gillibrand, two natural sisters, daughters of Mr Thomas
Gillibrand of Chorley in Lancashire, and their mother was
Sister Winefred Blundell's own sister, named Ann Blundell.
She was always brought up a good Catholic, but her
husband, Mr Gillibrand, was no Catholic. When he sued
to her for marriage she told him plainly that he should
never look to have her unless he would become a Catholic.
He, then, God's grace concurring, being perhaps well-minded
before, became a Catholic, so as they were married by a
priest, and he continued ever after a most good and con-
stant Catholic. They had divers children, and among the
rest it pleased Almighty God to call these two daughters
unto religion, giving unto each of them a dislike of the
world ; the elder, upon divers motives which drew her to
desire religion, and the young had still in the midst of
worldly pleasures a dislike of them, so as when she was at
dancing or music so felt herself inwardly so grave and sad
she could hardly refrain from weeping.
Neither of them said anything of their mind to religion
but only to the priest for a long time, until at length the
elder sister, one day at her prayers, desired so earnestly of
Almighty God that if it were His will she should be a
religious. He would please that day to give her some occa-
sion for to discover her mind. It happened just that very
same day, as they both sat at work with their mother, she
began to discourse with them of religion, which was very
unusual, for both she and their father would always shun to
speak thereof for not to entice them in any sort thereunto.
Now therefore seeing that our Lord presented her this
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 193
good occasion, according to her prayer, she thought with
herself that now she must speak, and therewith burst forth
into a weeping, and told her mother that she had a desire
to be a religious. The younger sister upon this occasion
also declared that she had the same mind, for indeed she
had had a vocation two years before. The mother here-
upon was very glad, but yet for tenderness of nature and
devotion she also wept, and when their father, her husband,
came home she told him of it.
He called them unto him, and examined them divers
times, whether their desire proceeded not of some discon-
tent or other cause than from God ; if it did, that they
should tell him freely of it, and he would seek for remedy
thereunto. But when they assured him that their desire
to religion proceeded not of any discontent, then he very
lovingly promised to assist therein, yea, although that he
himself should chance to fare the worse for it. Their
desire also was to come hither to this monastery where
their aunt was, for they might have gone to Graveling
(Gravelines) where their uncle's two daughters were gone
not long before, and there they might have been received
for much less than here. But they had no mind at all
to that place, and so their good father spoke to Mr
Worthington, who was his neighbour, and lived but two
miles off, who wrote hither to our Reverend Mother, and
agreed with us about their portion which was to be /i400
apiece, half whereof he was to pay at their profession, and
the other half was to run upon rent there until such time
as he should pay in the principal.
Upon this agreement with us, Mr Worthington came
with them to London, and there his brother, Mr Richard
Worthington, the priest, took charge of them, and brought
them over himself hither. Having passed their scholarship
and novice year, we, hearing their father would not be able
to pay us the rent, our Reverend Mother told the younger
that she must stay, being young enough, till we saw further
how things went there with her father. But the good soul
N
194 CHKONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
did weep so bitterly at the great desire she had to be pro-
fessed, that we accepted of her, having half their portions
in our hands, which was to be laid out upon rent here in
these parts, and would make a competent rent to maintain
them yearly without burthen to our house, though their
other rent in England should fail. So they were both now
professed upon St Scholastica's day, when our monastery
first began, the younger being but 17 years of age and her
sister about 22.
After this, it happened that their parents were extremely
plundered, as others at that same miserable time of war in
England, and were fain to leave their house, which was
taken from them, as also they lost their estate, and Mr
Gillibrand was forced to fly into Wales. There he lived
in poverty, yet content to suffer for God. Their mother
went and lived with her daughter, who was then newly
married, also in poverty, but with content to suffer for her
conscience, being a Catholic.
This year (1643) upon the 22nd of November, died
happily Sister Teresa Goulding, having been for many
years sickly of a kind of consumption, which proceeded
chiefly from want of sleep, because she had such a defect
in her head that she could scarcely sleep in a whole night
but very little, sometimes suffering very much by this
accident unto which no remedy nor medicine availed her.
She was a good religious, humble and patient, and strict
in the Order as long as she was able to keep it ; and after-
wards, when she was fain to live in the infirmary, she bore
all with great patience. If she chanced sometimes to want
what she needed, or when she saw others more cherished
than she was, she complained not, but offered all to God,
and finished her life blessedly, twenty-three years of her
profession.
About this time we began to take in the Father's
house boarders. And first came out of England Mr
Richard Worthington, priest. Living in the Spanish
ambassador's house in London, he was sent by him upon
Anna Maria Barbara, Lady Petre,
Daughter of James Radcliffe, Third Earl of Derwentwater.
From Painting at Tliorndon.
[Face page 195
CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 195
the day of our Lady's Assumption unto the Lady Tresham
for to minister the holy sacraments unto her, she being
then sick. At his return home in the ambassador's coach
he was taken in the street by some that it seems had
intelligence that he was a priest, and brought before most
malicious officers ; he pleaded for himself that he was a
stranger born, as indeed he was born here at Louvain.
Yet they threatened him that should not avail him ; but
the ambassador got him freed, promising to send him over ;
and so he came and boarded here above a year, being our
good friend, ever ready to assist us, as his father before
had been.
Upon the 27th of February this year 1644, died Sister
Frances Blase, our Dutch lay sister, of whom we have before
related how she got leave of the bishop to come to this
monastery with our English Sisters, the second company
that came. She came for love to the English, also
because she did not affect the Dutch Mother at St
Ursula's, and, as she was wont to say afterwards, she was
sick of a dangerous disease, not to love her superior. But
here she did very well, was a good obedient religious, and
very laborious, and in her appeared the force of God's
grace, for she was of a most fierce and choleric nature, and
would chide out of all reason when she was moved. But
afterwards, when the passion was over, none more ready
than she to come to those whom she had offended and
speak her fault with great humility and sorrow. Before
her death, towards the latter end of her days, her nature
became so well broken that she even said of herself she
was become like a lamb, so as every one of her fellow-
sisters might now govern her. She went a long time
sickly about the house and laboured in the garden, till at
length she was forced to come into the infirmary, where
she prepared herself well to make a happy end.
The day before her death she seemed to be reasonably
well, and went to the grate unto her niece who came to see
her, but in the morning she felt herself so very ill that she
196 CHRONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
could not well endure to He in her bed but would needs get
up. The infirmarian, seeing her so sick, would have her
to lie still and not rise. Wherefore, she desired our
Reverend Mother to bid her lie still ; who came to her and
said : " Sister Frances, you have always been obedient,
now therefore, in honour of our Blessed Saviour's Passion,
be content to lie in your bed, and do not rise now." She
answered: "Well, Mother"; and so lying down quietly,
upon a sudden, with one little turn in her bed, she gave
up the ghost, and died most happily in the practice of holy
obedience. We were then all at chapter, and our
Reverend Mother was hastily called away to come unto
her. She died suddenly but not unprovided, for she had
well prepared herself with great resignation and willingness
to die, being forty years professed and about 63 years of
age.
This year (1644), upon the 6th of March, being then
Easter Eve, died Sister Margaret Lewkenor. She was a
humble and mild religious, of a good nature, and very
obedient. She had for many years had a secret infirmity,
v/hich she would not discover out of bashfulness, and so in
the end it was past recovery, and brought her with great
pains unto her end. She then received the sacraments
with devotion and resignation unto God's will. But it
seems Almighty God would purify this good soul in this
life, and therefore gave her a very hard death. All Good
Friday she lay as it were in her agony, and about three of
the clock the next morning, at her last passage, we
thought she saw the enemy, for upon a sudden she
opened her eyes so wide and stared more than a creature
useth to do, and shutting her teeth fast together, she only
drew breath at her nostrils, and made inwardlv such a
doleful cry as if she would say, "Will nobody help me?"
Our Reverend Mother and the sick-mistress and others
that were present fell all most heartily to their prayers for
her, and sprinkled her with holy water until that fright
was over, and she then quietly rendered her soul unto
CHKONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 197
God, at the age of 46 years and eighteen of her
profession.
Upon the 22nd of May 1644, died Sister Ann
Handford very sweetly and quietly, having been some
years sickly, and inclined to a consumption and dropsy.
She was always a mild soul, of a good nature, and very
charitable. She would ever be doing some good deed or
other, and would take our Sisters' foul candlesticks to make
them clean, and thus bring them to their cells. She was
before her death in the infirmary, but went about, and
even when she was come to the last they had much ado to
get her to bed ; yet when she was abed and felt how truly
she needed it, she was very glad to be there, but still
desired the curtains open to give her breath. She was
very willing to die, for when a lay sister was fallen sick,
and some told her that she might chance to die before her,
she answered : '' I should be very happy to have her die
before me " ; and this she repeated twice or thrice. She
had an agreement with the sick-mistress that when she
should be in her agony she would pray for her, and she
would in will join with her. Having then been anointed
in due time, not long after they that then watched with
her, did not think she had been so near her end, and
therefore in the morning went away to take their rest, but
first told the sick-mistress that all that night she had
desired to have the curtains close, contrary to her former
custom, which was always to desire air, and to have them
open. The sick-mistress then in the morning drew the
curtains and found her in a cold sweat, whereupon she
went instantly to call our Reverend Father, and sent one
to call our Reverend Mother. Then she returned herself
and said to the sick nun, "Jesus!" She answered,
leisurely, " Jesus ! " and made a sign to her, taking her by
the hand. Whereupon, the sick-mistress, imagining she
would take something, went about to get it, but seeing
that was not her meaning, bethought herself of the agree-
ment that perhaps she would have them to pray for her,
198 CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S
and thereupon asked her if she meant that, who made a
sign she did, which showed in what a good disposition she
was who could so well remember that which concerned her
soul's good. Our Reverend Father and Mother, with
others, being present, she sweetly yielded up her soul to
God. The passing bell went for her about six of the
clock, when this convent rose, and so they all knew that
she was dead, wondering much thereat, not thinking she
would have died so soon. She was a very fair corpse and
sweet countenance, so as it seemed a pity to put so fine a
creature into the grave ; but she was kept above ground
two days, and was buried the next morning after Trinity
Sunday ; sixteen years of her profession.
This year (1644), about our Blessed Lady's Assump-
tion, came hither to visit our Reverend Mother the Lady
Stafford, who, being sole heir of the Lord Stafford, had
married the Earl of Arundel's second son, whom the king
had made then Lord Stafford ; and he also came hither
with his lady, and her mother, Mrs Stafford, who was no
lady, by reason that her husband died before his father,
and before the lordship had fallen to him. She was our
Reverend Mother's cousin-german, her father being old
Mr Wilford's son, of whom we spoke before. Sister
Barbara Wilford's father. The lady and her mother, with
a waiting-gentlewoman, had leave to come into our
cloister, and so they saw our orchard, dormitory, and
some cells, and looked into the Refectory when we sat at
table, without tablecloths at supper, with an egg and
bread and butter, or some other small thing, as we had
tried to do that year. But at the year's end, finding that
we had saved nothing by leaving off our supper, we
returned again to our former custom of two meals a day,
and our Lord provided such means as through His
goodness we never wanted necessaries. We also about
this time had begun to take boarders in our Father's
house; gendemen, who came out of England, to escape
the troubles of the time, and so their board being well
CHEONICLE OF ST MONICA'S 199
paid, assisted us something. Also sometime before, when
the wars began in England, our good friend, Mr George
Gifford, who had put out most of our means there, got the
moneys in, so as he sent them over to us, and we laid the
same here upon liferents, which somewhat increased them,
and assisted us for the present to be able to live. But yet
all was not sufficient for our competent maintenance, if
Almighty God had not wonderfully assisted us, as shall be
declared in the ensuing year, 1645.
James Radcliffe, Earl of Derwentwater.
Beheaded on Tower Hill, Febmaiy 24, 17 16.
Frum Engraving hy Vertue, after Portrait by Kneller, at Thorndon.
[Face page 201 .
APPENDIX
St Monica's and the last of the English martyrs. The Earls of
Derwentwater. Sisters Katharine and Elizabeth Radcliffe.
History of the Radcliffe family. James, Earl of Derwent-
water. His trial and execution. Dies for his adherence to
the Catholic Faith. His wife and son buried at St Monica's.
"In the year 1688, July 12th, were professed Sisters Katharine
and Elizabeth Radcliffe, daughters to the Earl of Derwentwater,
who proved great benefactresses, and towards the decline of life,
consented for the temporal benefit of the community to go from
Louvain to London, where they were detained nearly one year,
and safely returned, to the community's great joy. Their sister,
Lady Mary Radcliffe, gave them ;^I50 for their use in England,
and after Sister Elizabeth died in 1723, their brother Arthur
dying without a will. Sister Katharine's share came to ;^IC)00."
From the later and more fragmentary portion of the Chronicle
compiled by the nuns from such documents as were saved at the
time of their flight from Louvain, I have copied this brief notice
of the two Sisters Radcliffe. Sister Katharine survived till 1744,
and another fragment of the Louvain records describes the two
sisters as being noted for their humility and fervour. Their
father, Francis, first Earl of Derwentwater, besides many other
gifts to the monastery, allowed them an annuity of ;i^ioo a }-car,
and the wealth of the family was freely bestowed to assist other
gentlewomen whose dowry was insuflicent for their admission to
the cloister. In our former volume we have given a picture of the
Derwentwater vestments, presented by the earl, and still in use at
St Augustine's, as well as a portrait of Lady Margaret Radch'ffc.
and several other Radcliffe pictures, through the kindness of Mr
R. D. Radcliffe, help to adorn the present volume. The greatest
glory of the house of Derwentwater, now represented by Lord
Petre, is of course James, the third Earl, the latest of the long line
201
202 APPENDIX
of English martyrs, whose undoubted claim to that title we shall
make good in this chapter.
For the brief family history, which serves to preface what we
have to say of Earl James, and for the pedigree at the end of the
book, I am indebted to Mr Radcliffe, while the details of the
earl's life and martyrdom are taken from the beautiful little
work of Father Charles Bowden of the Oratory. The Ladies,
Katharine and Elizabeth Radcliffe, figure in Mr Orlebar Payne's
Catholic Nonjurors of 171 5, and in his Records of English
Catholics he inserts their joint petition, in which they " being in
years and very infirm," ask the commissioners for the forfeited
estates that the annuity settled on them by their father may be
continued, and to appoint a day for hearing their claims. In the
reports of the commission, their sister, the Lady Mary, is described
" as a great bigot, and therefore not a fit person to be entrusted
with a disposal of legacies left by nuncupative wills for super-
stitious uses, such as ' the maintenance of priests, popish seminaries,
and monasteries.'" It is directed that she be examined "and
Mr Jenison, her priest." Now to our sketch of the family
history.
It is a remarkable story, and worthy of being given at some length.
Despite some vicissitudes of fortune at the time of Cromwellian
usurpation, and after the flight of James II., the Radcliffes of
Derwentwater seem to have been at the highest point of wealtk
and temporal prosperity when on the eve of their fall, and this in
spite of their unswerving fidelity to the Catholic Faith. The
final ruin could have been averted, as we shall see, if the martyr-
earl would have agreed to sacrifice his conscience to his earthly
interests. The daughters of the house of Derwentwater, who, in
the days of persecution fled from the world to the cloister, were
numerous, and it was owing to their holy prayers that the end of
the earthly greatness of their race was hallowed by the martyr's
crown.
At Radcliffe Tower on the Irwell, near Bury in Lancashire, we
find the cradle of the race. In 1195 William of Radcliffe Tower
was Sheriff of Lancashire. Burscough Priory was founded foilf
years later, and Henry Radcliffe witnessed its foundation charter.
Richard Radcliffe endowed it with lands in Merton. These
early benefactors to monasteries had usually a prosperous line of
descendants, and in the sixth generation from William the Sheriff,
Thomas Radcliffe, a younger son of Richard Radcliffe and Isabella
Pleasington, and an esquire of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster,
APPENDIX 203
held lands at Clitheroe and Wymersley, and from him the
Derwentwater branch of the family descends through Sir
Nicholas, his second son.
Sir John de Derwentwater of Castlerigg and Derwent Isle in
Cumberland, left his daughter Elizabeth sole heir to his estates,
so that by her marriage with Sir Nicholas this branch of the
family became Radcliffes of Derwentwater. "The Dcr^vent "
writes Banks, " runs among the mountains called Derwent Fells,
and spreads itself into a spacious lake, wherein are three islands :
one, the seat of the family of Radcliffe, Kt. temp. Henry V., who
married Margaret (Elizabeth), daughter and heir of Sir John
de Derwentwater, Kt." Their son. Sir Thomas, mated with
Margaret, daughter of Sir William Parr of Kendal Castle, by
whom he had a numerous family. Two of his younger sons were
priests ; his eldest. Sir John, was disinherited ; his second. Sir
Richard, K.G., fell at Bosworth field, so that the succession fell to
his third. Sir Edward, knight banneret, with whom the Radclifics
of Derwentwater were to become Radcliffes of Dilston, a name for
ever sacred and dear to Catholics.
By his marriage, shortly before the year 1494, with Anne, only
daughter of John Cartington of Cartington Tower, Northumber-
land, Sir Edward Radcliffe became Lord of Dilston (Dyvelstone)
in Northumberland and Hawthorne in Durham, which Anne
Cartington inherited through her mother, Joanna Claxton.
Dilston Castle, lying east of the abbey and town of Hexham,
and overlooking the valley of the Tyne, amid beautiful scenery
and surroundings, rich in historical memories of old Northumbrian
saints, the centre of a princely inheritance, became henceforward
the residence of the Radcliffes. It is a ruin now, but the chapel
and the sepulchral vault of the Lords of Dilston still remain.
Sir Cuthbert, eldest son of Sir Edward Radcliffe, married on
6th January 15 14, Margaret, the daughter of Henry, Lord Clifford,
and his son Sir George took to wife Katharine, daughter of
Sir William Mallory of Studley in Yorkshire, the brave old
C'atholic knight, of whom the Chronicle of St Monica's relates
how he stood with drawn sword at the church door, and drove
away the officers who came there to establish the Protestant
worship. For now the house of Radcliffe had to show itself as
loyal and faithful in days of adversity and strife as it had been
in peaceful and happy times. To Sir George succeeded his son
Sir Francis, who married Isabel, daughter of Sir Ralph Grey of
Chillingham, on 19th July 1576; was created a baronet in 1619,
204 APPENDIX
and died 23rd December 1622. He lies buried in Corbridge
parish church. In the Domestic State Papers for the year 1616,
is a letter stating that " Mr RadclifFe (afterwards Sir Francis)
has sent over into a religious house beyond the seas two of
his daughters, who are still there." In fact his daughter Margaret,
Sister Margaret of St Paul, was professed among the Poor
Clares of Gravelines four years before, 3rd July 161 2. She died
Abbess of the Poor Clares at Aire. Her sister, Elizabeth, in
religion Sister Barbara Colet, was then in her novitiate, and
professed 15th January 1617. Two other daughters of Sir
Francis, Dorothy, Sister Frances of St Bruno, and Anne, Sister
Clare Benedict, were professed together on the 22nd July 1619.
Their father stood in need of the prayers of his cloistered
daughters in 1616. In that year a determined attempt to ruin
him was made on account of his, religion, and he was arrested
on a false charge of having been a dozen years before concerned
in the Powder Plot. The informer, Thomas Fenwick, stated
that he was at the time in the service of Percy, the conspirator,
and had to convey £soo or £600 to London, but on Percy's
arrest had to convey it back to Francis Radcliffe of Dilston.
The accused frankly acknowledged that he knew Percy, and was
in London to compound for his recusancy at the time of the
Powder Plot, but denied the charge. This examination was held
1 8th November, and exactly a month previously we find a letter
to Winwood from John Smaithwaite of Elsdon in Riddesdale,
telling him of meetings in the North among those of the popish
factions, and collections of money to bribe some great man for
the liberation of Roger Wodrington (Widdrington) and Francis
Radcliffe. However, he weathered the storm.
Concerning the younger children of Sir Francis, I need only
add that his son Cuthbert died fighting for his king at Newcastle,
and that his daughter, Mary, married Roger Widdrington.
Sir Edward, his eldest son, succeeded him in 1620, enlarged the
estates partly by purchases and partly by his marriage with
Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Barton of Whenby in Yorkshire,
and died in 1663. For his loyalty and his faith, his estates
were sequestered by the Parliament, and he himself reduced
almost to beggary, nor did he recover them till the Restoration.
The loyal baronet and his wife were buried in the vault of
Dilston. Two of their daughters, Clare and Ursula, were pro-
fessed as Dames Bridget and Thecla* among the Benedictine
* Otherwise Ursula.
APPENDIX 205
nuns of Cambrai. Their sister Mary, the wife of William Tunstall
of Wycliffe, was the mother of Sisters Christina and Margaret
Tunstall, Bridgettines at Syon. His only surviving son, Francis
succeeded him. ' '
With Sir Francis Radcliffe, created by James II. Baron
Tynedale, Viscount Langley, and first Earl of Derwentwater, we
enter upon the last stage of this long family history. He, too,
had to suffer for his religion, being often presented for 'non-
attendance at church, and he was a short time under arrest and
in danger on account of Gates' plot. He married Katharine,
daughter of Sir William Fenwick of Meldon, and widow of
Henry Lawson of Brough, slain in the royal cause at Melton
Mowbray in 1644. For a complete account of his family I refer
my readers to the pedigree. His son, William, died at his house
in the Lingaria at Rome, and two of his daughters were our
two Sisters Radcliffe of St Monica's, while a third, Margaret,
became the wife of Sir Philip Constable of Everingham. The
error of his life was his ambitious design of marrying his eldest
son, Edward, to a daughter of Charles II., by the Duchess of
Cleveland, with the condition that his son should be Earl of
Sussex, which he never obtained, though in the end his son
married Lady Mary Tudor, another natural daughter of the king,
on condition that she should remain a Protestant. He died in
1696, and was succeeded by his son Edward.
The life of Edward, second Earl of Derwentwater, was rendered
unhappy by his ill-omened marriage. In the year 1700 he was
separated by deed from the countess, and he died in 1705.
His eldest son, James, third Earl of Derwentwater, and a
martyr for the Catholic Faith, succeeded to his titles and his
splendid estates. He was born at the London house of the famil>-
in Arlington Street, but his boyhood was spent at the Court of St
Germain's, and on the death of James II., he took the oath of
allegiance to his son. In 1708 he returned to England, being then
20 years of age, " slender and delicate in figure, but of active
habits ; of middle height, with fair hair, blue or rather grey eyes,
and a particularly noble and pleasing countenance ; a most amiable
youth, brave, generous, and hospitable;" brilliant in conversation,
and an accomplished musician, with a sweet and powerful voice,
he used often to accompany himself on the guitar. He was fond
of the chase, universally beloved by his neighbours and dependents,
and delighted in succouring the poor, for whose benefit he would
every Thursday empty the larder of all the meat and game it
206 APPENDIX
contained. His piety was deep and sincere, but unostentatious.
On loth July, 17 12 he married Anna Maria, daughter of Sir John
Webb of Canford in Dorset, Bart.
By this marriage, a singularly happy one, he had two children,
John, Viscount Radcliffe, who died in London unmarried in 173 1,
and Anna Maria, who became the wife of the eighth Lord Petre.
John was buried in the church of St Monica's Convent, whither his
remains were conveyed by his grandfather. Sir John Webb. But
of the further relations of the family with our canonesses, we shall
have more to say in the sequel.
The earl's life passed very happily amid its stately and
romantic surroundings, and he and his countess spent their time
on their estates, daily visiting the cottages of the poor, and living
more for others than for themselves, bringing happiness to all
around them. It is true that his thoughts and prayers were ever
with his exiled king. The lot of the exiled Stuarts cast a shadow
over his life, and he even allowed himself to join the association,
half convivial, half political, known as the "Corporation of the
ancient Borough of Walton le Dale," which was a centre of
Jacobite activity. But he was not formed for a conspirator, being
fully aware of the danger of any attempt to restore by force of
arms the Stuart dynasty, and was only at last prevailed upon to
join in the rising by force of circumstances, and by the determined
influence of his countess.
On the fateful i6th of August 17 15,* the royal standard of the
House of Stuart was unfurled in Scotland by the Earl of Mar.
The ministry ordered the arrest of the Earl of Derwentwater.
For seven weeks he kept in hiding. On the 6th of October, with
his brother Charles and an armed force, he left Dilston. With
drawn swords they rode through Corbridge. Lord Widdrington
joined them the next day at Warkworth, and by sound of trumpet
proclaimed King James HI. Seventy Scottish borderers joined
them at Morpeth, Lord Kenmure at Rothbury. In Scotland they
were reinforced by Mackintosh with his Highlanders. Returning
into England, scarce 1000 in number, the mere terror of their
appearance put to flight near Penrith the militia under the Earl of
Carlisle, though they numbered, according to some, 25,000.
Towneley, Anderton, Butler, and many another gallant gentleman
joined them on the march.
Under the incompetent General Foster, they made a brave
* Burton, in his History of Scotland, gives the date of raising of the standard
by Mar at Braemar as 6th September 17 15.
APPENDIX 207
stand at Preston. But for the incapacity of the general it would
have been a victory. Against the advice of the earl Foster sur
rendered to General Carpenter, the earl and Brigadier Macintosh
voluntarily giving themselves up as hostages during a temporary
cessation of arms. The prisoners were treated with disgraceful
cruelty. Two hundred, including Lord Derwentwater and his
brother, were sent to London, where the noblemen were sent to
the Tower. Lady Derwentwater, on receiving the news, left
Dilston at once, and rode to London through roads covered 'with
snow that often reached to the horse's girths. Till the 19th of
January she shared her lord's captivity in the Tower.
Referring my readers to Father Bowden's admirable work for
a complete account of the last days of the earl's life, I must now
hasten to the closing scene. The impeachment in the House of
Lords of the seven peers, Derwentwater, Nithsdale, Widdrington,
Carnwath, Wintoun, Kenmure, and Nairn, was made on 9th January
1716, and the prisoners were heard in court on the 19th. Sentence
was pronounced on the 9th of February, the Lord High Steward
informing the earl that no mitigation of the sentence would be
granted, but that he would be executed " in the same manner as
the meanest offender."
Immense efforts were made to obtain mercy for the prisoners.
The young Countess of Derwentwater, accompanied by other
noble ladies, vainly implored on her knees the king's pardon for
her husband. An address to the king on behalf of Lord Derwent-
water was carried in the House of Lords, and it is said that an offer
of ;^6o,ooo was made to the Government with the same object.
The others being respited, the Lords Derwentwater, Kenmure, and
Nithsdale were ordered for execution ; the last named escaped
from the Tower through the heroic courage of his countess, whose
sister was Prioress of the canonesses at Bruges.
Meanwhile, the earl calmly prepared himself for death, and for
the last fortnight of his life had the constant attendance and help
of the Reverend George Pippard, S.J., to whom he made his con-
fession, and from whom he twice received Holy Communion.
The last time was the day before his execution, when Mass was
said in his prison cell. He was always cheerful and pleasant, and
Bishop Giffard, who was not allowed to visit him, wrote him a
most consoling letter. His own affectionate letters to his
wife and relatives may be seen in Father Bowden's work, as well
as Father Pippard's account of his last days and death. From
that account I transcribe the following passages, as proving the
208 APPENDIX
justice of the title of martyr, which I do not hesitate to give
him.
" When on the Monday before he died his Hfe was offered him
if he would change his religion * he told it me with the greatest
transports of joy, and that, having refused his life upon such terms,
he hoped it was not now making a virtue of necessity, and that
had he a thousand lives, he would sooner part with them than
renounce his faith, and with tears of joy in his eyes he humbly
thanked God. From that time forward I took him to be another
man. The Holy Ghost visibly had taken possession of his heart
The Tuesday following some others came to him, advising him to
send for some minister of the Church of England, according to
my Lord Chancellor's advice, with whom he might talk on
indifferent things, as he did not intend to change his religion, and
on the strength of that they would at least get a reprieve for him,
and that, this once got, his life was safe. He thanked them, but
would not give any handle for people to think he had any doubt in
his religion. The Wednesday, he was prayed to read a Protestant
prayer-book for much the same motives, and he made the same
answer as the day before."
One of these misguided messengers was the unhappy Lord
Waldegrave, the first of his family to forsake his religion. The
holy martyr did what he could to convert him, but without
success.
His execution was on the 24th of February, Feast of St
Matthias, on Tower Hill, in the sight of many thousands of
spectators. The earl was dressed in black velvet, and a small gold
crucifix was suspended from his neck. He prayed in silence for a
quarter of an hour, and then from the rails of the scaffold
addressed the people, reading his speech from a paper in his hand.
He asked pardon from those whom he might have scandalised by
pleading guilty at his trial, though he had done it by advice,
adding : " But I am sensible that in this I have made bold with
my loyalty, having never any other but King James the Third for
my rightful and lawful sovereign." He said he had rejected
proposals made to him for saving his life, which he found incon-
sistent with his honour and conscience, and that he died a Roman
Catholic. He then prayed aloud, reciting some of the penitential
psalms. On the sheriff saying : " God save the King ! " the earl
answered, " God save King James." Then the executioner, weep-
* This offer was made on behalf of the Government by Viscount Sydney
and the Duke of Roxburgh, who visited him on the 20th.
The Cradle of the Eakls of Dekwkntwatek,
With cypher E. R., that of the Second Earl, the property of Mr R. I). R;idcliffc.
Deposiied in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
From Photo contributed by H. D. HAnrLiKKE, E8(i.
[Fact pafftiOS.
APPENDIX 209
ing, asked his forgiveness. The end will best be given in Father
Bowden's words,
"Turning his head to the executioner, he added: 'After the
third time I cry Sweet Jesus, strike then, and do what is most
convenient to you.' The silence all around was intense and
unbroken ; then his voice was heard, ' Sweet Jesus, receive my
spirit' Again, after a momentary delay, 'Sweet Jesus, be
merciful to me ' ; then louder still, ' Sweet Jesus '—but at ' this
instant came a bright flash of steel, and Dcrwentwater was no
more— no more on earth, but a martyr added to the white-robed
army above."
The body was embalmed, and at dead of night conveyed to
the young countess at Dagenham Park in Essex. Then his
friends bore it to his home at Dilston, resting by day and
travelling by night. On 6th March, it was met by the priest at
Sunderland Bridge, two miles from Durham, when, as an eye-
witness relates, " A most beautiful glory appeared over the hearse,
sending forth resplendent streams of all sorts of colours to the
east and west." Miracles were wrought at his tomb. We must
not forestall the judgment of the Apostolic See, but may well and
piously hope that the martyr's name will one day be enrolled
among the blessed. His heart, which remained incorrupt, was
taken first to the Benedictine nuns at Pontoise and then to the
Augustinian canonesses at Paris. It was carried away by the
communists in 1871. In 1874, the body was removed by Lord
Petre, his descendant, to the Chantry Chapel at Thorndon HalL
The estates were conferred on Greenwich Hospital.
The widowed Countess of Derwentwater went over to the Low
Countries. She died of small-pox at Brussels, 30th August 1723 ;
her body was brought to Louvain, and buried in St Monica's
Church. Seven years later, on the 31st of December 173 1, her
only son, John, followed her to the grave, dying at his grand-
father's house in Great Marlborough Street, London. Sir John
Webb conveyed his body to Louvain, and it was buried beside his
mother's in St Monica's Church. The martyr-earl's brother,
Charles, who had escaped from prison in 17 16, on his nephew's
death, assumed the title of Earl of Derwentwater; sailed from
France with his son to join the Stuart Rising in 1745, was captured
at sea, and executed at Tyburn in virtue of his former sentence,
8th December 1746. He had married Charlotte Mary Lcving-
stone, Countess of Newburgh, by whom he had several children
born abroad, most of them in Rome. His son, James Bartholomew
O
210 APPENDIX
Radcliffe, born at Vincennes, succeeded to the titles of Earl of
Newburgh, Viscount Kinnaird, and Baron Levingstone, which
were inherited by his only son, Anthony James Radcliffe, who
died without issue 28th November 1 8 14, the last male descendant
of the first Earl of Derwentwater.
INDEX
Abel, Dr, 119
Adversaria (Casaubon), 48
Agazzarri, Father, 116
Alcock, Margaret, 57
Aldred, Solomon, 73
Allen, Cardinal, 116, 172
Mary, 54
Altham, Mary, 79
Ampleforth, 76
Anastasia, Dame (Sylvia Morgan), 3
Anderton, Sisters, 26
Anne, Ven., of St Bartholomew, 4
Antwerp, English Teresians at, 67, 'j']^
137, 138, 147
Arundel (Arundell), family, 97, 151
Count, 163
Philip Howard, Earl of, xi
Philippa, 7
Ashby Folville, 26
Asquith, Sheriff of York, 96
Aston family, 149
Hon. Herbert and Mrs, 150
Sir Walter, 74
Babthorpe, Frances, 1 1 1
Grace, 112
Lady, 16, 80, iii
Sir Ralph, 112
Sir William, 11 1
Baines, William, 174
Barker ("priest-catcher"), 75
Barlemont, Madame, 139
Barnes, Father, 68, 80, 81, 84, iio^
123
Barney (Berney), family, 92-94
Henry, loi
Mary, 85, 91, loi
Barton, Elizabeth, 204
Thomas, 204
Barwis (a priest), 5
Baynham, Sir Edmund, 8, 28
Frances, 32
Bedingfeld family, 138, 155
Augustine, 155, 169, 183
Grace, 143, 155
Sir Henry, 32
Bedlam, 6, 23
Belson family, 137-138
Anthony, 135
Augustine, 135, 13S
Bendloes, Andrew, 1 5
Mary, 15, 81
Bergavenny, John, Lord, 135
Berney (see r>arney)
Berwick, John, execution of, 177
Best, Mary, 13, 14
Mary, the younger, 79, Si
Perpetua, 84
Biddulph family, 97
Blainscoe (Blainscough), Adam, 49
Blase, Frances, 195
Blood, Andrew, execution of, 177
"Blue Nuns" of Paris, 32
Blundell, Ann, 192
Winifred, 192
Bolt, John, organist (alias Johnson,j^.T'.)
Bourd, Father, 81, 140, 145
Bowden, Father Charles, 202, 207
Boyle, Barbara, xii
Boyne, battle of the, 10
Brandlen, Ralph, 56
Breda, siege of, 89
Brereton, Elizabeth, 39, 40. 81
Bridgwater, Dr, 76
212
INDEX
British Museum, 3, 178
Brittan, Denis, 102
Helen, 102
Bromfield, Anne, 144
Brook, Agatha, 146
Sir Basil, 163
Dorothy, 163
Susan, 85
Brookesby family, 1 5 1
Anne, "jy
Brown, Thomas, 53
Sir William, 120
Bruges, ir, 17, 31, 33, 40, 67, 70, 80,
III, 113, 1 14, 116, 118
Establishment of new monastery,
68, 79- 8 1 ; death of prioress, 113;
appointment of successor, 123^
124
Brumfield, Anne, 181
Brussels, 25, 35, 36, 37, 43, 44
Burrows family, 164-168
Frances, 151 ; death of, 164
Butler, Lady Abbess, 10
C/ESAR, Sir Julius, 96, 97
Carew family, 97
Lord, 8
Carpenter, General, 207
Carrington family, 8
Baron, 26 ; murder of, 27
Carthusians of Beauvale, 7
Cartington, Ann, 203
John, 203
Caryll, Baron, 121
Casaubon, Isaac, 48
Catesby, Robert, 28
Catholic Record Association, 150
Catterick family, 97
Cecil, Robert, 7
Chaderton, Bishop, 50
Chadwick, Thomas, execution of, 177
Challoner, Bishop, 3
Chamberlain family, 135
John, 135
Chard, John, 9
Charles I., 98
IL, 205
Charles Edward, Prince, landing at
Lochaber, and subsequent defeat,
175
Cheke, the king's schoolmaster, 96
Cholmeley family, 97
Chronicle of Henry VIII. (Garcia),
"5
Clapton, Sisters, 80
Claxby manor-house, 9, 10
Claxton, Joanna, 203
Clement, Dr, 25, 39, 64, 156, 158
Mother Margaret, 92, 137
Cleveland, Duchess of, 205
Clifford family, i, 5, 137, 138, 149
Baron, of Ugbrooke, 5
Elizabeth, 149, 152 ; death of, 191
Henry, of Antwerp, 103, 104, 124,
134, 146
Henry, of Brackenbury, 134
Lady (Ann Preston), 5
Lady, of Chudleigh, 178
Lord, 34
Lord, of Chudleigh, i, 30, 99
Chffords of Cumberland, 137, 138
of Ugbrooke, i, 5
Clopton, George, 10
Ursula, 10
Coke, Sir Edward, 28
Coleman, Elizabeth, 151
Walter, 151
Colet, Barbara, 204
Comberford, Dorothy, 152
Concertatio (Bridgwater), 50
Constable, Grace, i6j 80, 123
Mrs, 190
Sir Philip, 205
Copley, Anthony, 7
Clare, 38
Lord and Lady Thomas, 87
Mary, 87
Mary, sub-prioress at St Monica's,
168
William, 89
Cornwallis, Cornelia, 120
Cossey Hall, 31
Courtenay, Sir Peter, 138
Coyney, Mary, 30
Sampson, 30
Craft, William, 140, 145, 146
Crane, Henry, 172
Cromwell, Oliver, 7, 115
Thomas, 119, 135
Cuffaud, William, 117
INDEX
213
Cumberland, Henry Clifford, Earl of,
137
Curtis family, 31
Mr, 30
Dawson, James, execution of, 177
Deacon, Thomas, execution of, 177
Derby, Earl of, 50
Derwentwater, Earl of, 75, 174, 175
20 r, 205-209 ; trial and execution
207-209 ; (see Radcliffe family)
Dieulouard, 76, 92
Digby family, 97
Dolman family, 97
Douay, 11, 33, 49^ 5°, 7S, 81, 84, 108
Draycote (Draycott) family, 29, 30, 35
Helen, 29, 30, 35, loi
John, 73
Drury, Sir Drew, 8
Sir William, 32
Dublin, Ypres nuns move to, 10
Dunkirk, 6
Durham, Lord, 117
Dutton, Catherine, 117
Dymoke, Sir Edward, 136
East Bergholt, 30
Elizabeth, Queen, 5, 72
English College in Rheims, 76
College in Rome, 7, 116, 118, 173
English Teresians at Antwerp, 67, 77,
124
Evans, Anne, 85-87, 185
Matthias, 85
Eyre, Thomas, 77
Farmer, Richard, grocer, iig; (see
Fermor)
Farnese, Cardinal, 116
Fawkes, Guy, 28 ; (see Gunpowder
Plot)
Fenn, Father, 81
Fenwick, Katharine, 205
Thomas, the informer, 204
Sir William, 205
Ferfex (Fairfax), Mr, 80
Fermor (Farmer) family, 118-121
Abbess, 121
Cornelia, 64
Jane, 4
Fermor family, Richard, of Tusmore
173
Sir Richard, 16, 64
Ursula, 171, 173
Fermor Chapel (see Somerton Church)
Fitzherbert, Elizabeth, 30
Fitzwilliams, Mrs Judith Witherwick,
10
Fletcher, George, execution of, 177
Foley, Brother, 30, 78, 96
Foo^ out of the Snare (Gee), 6, 173
Fortescue, Sir Anthony, 117
Sir John, 6
Fortunes of Nigel (Scott), 5
Foscue (Fortescue), Mary Magdalene,
84
Foster, General, surrender at Preston,
206
Fotheringay, 8
Fowler, Brian, 73
Franciscan Martyrs in England
(Hope), 152
Freke, Bishop, 32
Gaddilt (?), Captain, 118
Gage family, 97
Gage, Mr, of Bentley, 15
Garnet, Father, 8, 28, 82, 153, 168
Margaret, 82
Gascoigne family, 97
Sir Bernard, xi
Gasquet, Abbot, 135
General Evening Post, 178
Gentle7nan's Magazine, 1 76, 1 77
Gerard, Father, 7
Ghent, 12, 26 ; fugitive nuns lodged
at, 140
Giffard, Bishop, 207
Gifford family, 70-78, 97, 138
Ann, 80, 109
Bridget, 44-46
George, 191, 199
Joyce (called Ursula), 16, 18
Mary, 16-18, 76, 80
Peter, 16
Richard, 18
Ursula, 94
Giggs, Margaret, 92
Gillow, Mr, 117
Gillibrand family, 170, 19-. '94
214
INDEX
Godwin, Elizabeth, 38
Goulding, Teresa, 194
Grant, John, 28
Green, Mrs Mary, 155; dies of plague,
156
Grey, Isabel, 203
Sir Francis, 203
Griffin, Mary, 7
Gunpowder Plot, 8, 9, 27-29, 204
Hains, Mr, 15
Hammersmith, 11
Handford, Ann, 60, 62 ; death of, 197
Hargreaves, James, 172
Harris, Mrs, 86, 87
Richard, 2
Hazlewood Castle, 94
Heath, Mrs, 173
Heigham, Mr, 103
Henry VIII., 114, i35
Herbert, Frances, no
Herries, Lord, 99
Hertford jail, 75
Hervis, Mr, 170
Hide, Father Leonard, 116
Hobdy, Alexia, 80, 185
Holman, George, xiv
Martha, 184
Holt, Robert, 57
Hood, Robin, 6
Hornby Castle, 27
Hosyer, Elizabeth, 30
Howard, Francis, 173
Mary Delphina, xii, xiii
William (see Stafford, Viscount)
Ursula, X
Hubert, James, 47
Paula (Elizabeth), 47
Hull Castle, 96
Hume, Lord, of Femyhurst, 136
Major Martin Sharp, 115
Hungate, Sir Francis, 27
Sisters, 26
INGLEBY family, 97
Inquisition, 7
James I., 3, 5, 97
IL, 10
James, Sir Henry, 96
Janion, Mrs Lucy, 55
Jannecken, 156; attacked by plague,
but recovers, 157
Jerningham family, 31-34
Christina, 31, 39, 40-44
Edmund, 9
George, 40-43, ^51
Sir Henry, 32
Johnson, Mr (organist), 15 ; death of,
184
Father (see White)
Jones, Father, 3
Mr and Sir Drew Drury, 9
William, 9
KelliSON, Dr, 84
Kenmure, Lord, 206
Kennet, Cuthbert, 173
Kent, Dorothy, 96
Kinsman, Mr, 64
Knatchbull, Lady, 34
Knights of Malta, 20
LambTON family, 117
Lancashire (Baines), 172
Lancaster Herald (Fellows), 172
Landeacon, 113
Lane-Fox, James, 99
Langdale, Lord, 30, 99
Sir Marmaduke, 10
Lanherne, 4, 77, 138
Rev. Mother, Prioress of, 4
Lawson, Dorothy, 65
Henry, 205
Le Gris, Captain, 9
Leed(e)s, Sir John, 63
Lady, 82
Mary, 60, 63, 82 ; death of, 1 10
Sir Thomas, 63, 82
Letters of Sir Aniias Poulef {Morx\s\
74
Leveson (Levison) family, 138
Levison, Joyce, 74
Lewkenor (see Lutnar)
Li^ge, 84, 97, 124
Bishop of, 115
Life of Cardinal Pole, 116
Life of Father fohn Gerard (Morris),
9
Lille, Dean of, 76
INDEX
215
Lin, Margaret, 68
Lincoln Castle, 97
College, Oxford, 76
Lisbon College, 31
Llantarnam Abbey, 2
London under James L, 5
" Lords appellants " conspiracy, 26
Louvain, siege of, 124-134 ; succeeded
by plague, I49) ^55
Lovel, Elizabeth, 79, iii, 112
Lady, 67, 68, 138
Sir Nicholas, 138
Lumbard, Elizabeth, 67
Lutnar, George, 39
Margaret, 39 ; death of, 196
Luttrell, Sir John, 118
Mackintosh, Colonel, 206
Magdalen College, Oxford, 75
Mallory, Katharine, 203
Sir William, 203
Manchester Regiment, list of officers,
176
Mar, Earl of, 206
Markham family, 6-12, 118
Lady Ann, 6, 8
Sir Griffin, 5, 7
Dame Margaret, 10, 11
Charge against Lady Winifred, 9
Mary, Queen, 2, 31, 32
Mary, Queen of Scots, 8, 73, 74
" Mary of Croxdale," 12
Maxfield, Humphrey, 53
William, 73, 74
Meynell family, 97
Middlemore, Richard, 4
Middleton family, 97
Sir Peter, 121
William, 96
Miller, Elizabeth, 85
Molyneux, Rutland, 8
Monteagle, Lord, 27, 37
Month, 114
More, Anne, 48, 60
Cecily, 122
Sir Edward, 137
John, 122
Mrs, 48
Thomas, 137
William, 60
Morgan, Thomas David, execution of;
177
Moiigan family (of Llantarnam and
Weston), 1-5, 17, 118 ; estates, 2
Edward, fine for recusancy, 3 ; ex-
emption from oath of allegi-
ance, 3
Lioba (Elizabeth), 5, 16, 17, 185
Mary, obituary note from Lanherne
archives, 4
Thomas (of Heyford), 2, 120
Morgan, Thomas, Mary, Queen of
Scots' agent, Ti, 74
Morley, Lord, 27, 37
Morris, Father, 7, 98, 114, 115, 116
Mortification, extraordinary course of,
45
Mortimer, Anne, 139
Mostyn, Sir Edward, 30
Mottram ("priest-catcher"), 75
Musgrave family, 91, 92, 100
Dorothy, 85, 87, 91
John, 87
Sir Richard, 92
Musket, Mr, 17
Nevell, Marmaduke, 136
Nevill, William, 117
Neville, Abbess of Pontoise, 6, 10, 135
Dame Anne, death of, 1 1
Newburgh, Charlotte Mary Lcvington,
Countess of, 209
Newbury, battle of, 4
Newgate, 41, 75.97, ii9, '5-
Newnham, Sir Thomas, i
Newton Abbot, 2, 5, 6, 54, 99
Normanby, 10
North, Abbess, of Syon, 7
Notes and Queries, 49
Nottingham Castle, 6
Gates' plot, 57, 11^ 205
Officers, list of, Manchester Regiment,
176
Offspring, Margaret, 13, 81
Orange, Prince of, invasion by, 124-1 33
Ormond, Duke of, 10
Oxford University, persecution at, 40
Paget, Charles, 73
216
INDEX
Pakenham family, 1 1 5
Palmes, Sir George, 80
Ursula, 80
Parker, Frances, 27, 29, 37, 39
Parr, Sir William, 203
Parsons, Father, 153
Paston, Clement, 173
Edmund, 93
Margaret, 31
Mary, 173
Mr, 35
Mrs, loi
William, 92
Paston Letters, 31
Paulet, Sir Amias, 72
Payne, Orlebar, 174, 202
Pedigrees —
Barlett, at end
Clifford, 5,
Coleman, „
Crathome, ,,
Haydock, „
Radcliffe, „
Roper, „
Stafford, „
Thimelby, „
Tunstall, „
Vaughan „
Penance of Lady Markham, 8
Perkins, Francis, 121
Peshall, Thomas, 73
Petre family, 122
Hon. Mrs Edward, 33
Lord, 121, 201, 209
Philpot family, 151, 162
Dame, 10
Mary, 148, 151, 162
Philpott, Sir George, 41
Pippard, Rev. George, 207
Plague in London, 23, 86
in Louvain, 149, 155
Plowden (Ployden) family, 97, 118,
121
Francis, 15, 'j']
Margaret, 15
Mary, 32, 33
Plumpton, Jane, 54
Pole family, 114-118
Mary, 114, 123, 141, 183
Sir E. R. de la, 117
Pole-Carew, Sir Reginald, 117
Pontoise, 10, 26, 33, "]"]
Pool (see Pole)
Poolewiel (Polwhele), George, 108
Poor Clares, the, 31, 64, 75, 98, 118,
204
"Pope's Oak," 121
Port, Father, 139
Portland, Earl of, 150
Powell, Dr, 119
Powis, Lord, 5
Preston family, 97
Ann (see Lady CHfford)
Colonel, 130
Sir John, 5
Sir Thomas, 5
Prestonpans, English defeated at, 175
Princethorpe, i
Pring, Mary, 135
QUERBRE, 10
Radcliffe family, 201
Katharine, 201
Elizabeth, 201
Rape of the Lock (Pope), 121
Records (Foley), 92, 114
Reding (Reading), Ann, 103 ; attacked
by plague, 157
David, 66, 103
Frances, 103
Mary, 66, 103
Revolts at English College at Rome, 7
Rheims College, 53
Rich Clares, the, 141, 142, 143
Robison, Margaret, 38, 58
Roos, Ann, 7
Roper family, 151, 188- 191
Anthony, no
John, 138
Margaret, 137, 138
Mary, 137, 138, 188
Mrs, no
Thomas, 137, 188, 191
William, 137
Rutland, Countess of, 39
St Benedict's, 35, 36, 37, 38, loi,
139
St Bridget, children of, 7
INDEX
217
St Monica's, 4, 5, 6 ; extension, 68 ;
death of prioress (Mother Wise-
man), 104 ; election of new
prioress, 107 ; Prioress More, 122
during siege of Louvain, 127
attacked by plague, 156-162
Giles the servant dies of the
plague, 158; new sub-prioress
chosen, 168 ; death of the foun-
dress, sub-prioress Sister Shirley,
186; visit of Lord and Lady
Stafford, 198
St Omer's, 61, 66, 173
St Scholastica's Abbey, 10, 135 ; (see
Teignmouth)
St Thomas's Priory, History of
(Gillow), 33, 120
St Ursula's, 14, 79, 104
St Winifred's Well, 55, 56
Salvin, Bryan, 12
Sampson, Dr, Bishop of Chichester,
119
Sankey, Father F., 32
Mr, of Great Sankey, 50
Saunders, Sir Edward, 2
Mary, 2 ; her children, Margaret
and Mary, 2
Mrs, 17
Scketere, Nicholas, 142, 144
Scudamore (see Skidmore)
Sepulchrine Order, 26
Sheldon, Ralph, 5
Shelley, Thomas, 118
Shirley, Elizabeth, 168 ; death of,
186
Shrewsbury, Gilbert, Earl of, 8
Siddal, Thomas, execution of, 177
Siege of Louvain, 124-133, 134
Skidmore, Mary, 15, 16, 18, 169
Skinner family, 6
dementia (Elizabeth), 5, 6, 21, 25
Sir John, 5, 21, 22
Lady, 22
Smaithwaite, John, 204
Smith, Edward, 135
Frances, 5, 21, 25, 26
Sir Francis, 6, 8, 21, 25
George, 135
Smith-Carrington (see Carrington)
Somers, Will, jester, 119
Somerset, Lady Frances, 3
Lord John, 3
Somerton Church, 5
Stafford, William Howard, Viscount,
31, 32, 33
and Lady, visit St Monica's, 198
Stanford (Standford) family, 118
Frances, 79, 80, 113, 118, 123
Mary, 21
Mr, 21
Stanley, Sir Rowland, 56, 170
Stanten, Mrs Margaret, 157
Stapleton, Robert, 91
Starkey, Richard, of Furnival's Inn,
174
Steenberck, Jane, 63
Still, Dr John, 49
Stonehouse, Anne, 103
Mary, 103
Stourton, Lady, 99
Lord, 30, 98
Stow, the historian, 119
Sussex, Earl of, 91
Sutton, Robert, 74
Syon, 7, 116, 117
Talbot, Alathea, xi
Tarbox, a searcher, 88
Taunton, Franciscan convent at, 33
Teignmouth, 6, 10, 33, 77, 119, 121
Lady Abbess at, 10, 119
Tempest family, 118, 134-138, 170, 171
Nicholas, execution of, 136
Stephen, 137
Tennel, E., 'J^
Testamenta F<;'/Kj/d (Nicholas), 117
Teynham, Lord, 13S
Thayne, Nicholas, 119
Thimbleby, Mr, of Snydal, 55
Thimelby family, 149, 151, 152-155
Frances, 146, 191
Gertrude, 151
Winifred, 149, 153, 191
Thorold, Robert, 8
Throckmorton family, 97, 118, 122, 172
Sir George, 72
Magdalen, 105, iS8; elected
prioress of St Monica's, 107-
108 ; appointment confirmed
for third time, 1S3
218
INDEX
Thwaites, Francis, 27
John, 27
Sisters, 26
Tichbourne family, 97, 178
Gilbert, 172
Tildesley, Thomas, the diarist, 57
Tirlemont sacked by Prince of Orange,
125
Tootel, Oliver, 170
Tower of London, 6, 28, 50, 53, 154,
207
Towneley family, 97, nS, 121, 170-
180
Charles, 170
Francis, trial and execution, 176-
178
Richard, 96, 121
Trafford, Sir Edmund, 50
Trappes-Byrnand, Sir Francis, 173
Tregian family, 97
Tremain, Ann, 79, 80
Tresham, Francis, 28
Lady, 195
Sir Thomas, 37
Tudor, Lady Mary, 205
Tunstall family, 205
Tunstall, Elizabeth, 10
Marmaduke, 10, 12
Tyborne (Tyburn), 41, 136, I75)
209
Tyrconnell, Earl of, 10
Tyrvvhitt family, 93
Ulf, I
Van Limburg-Sirum, Ann Frederica,
Countess, 138
Vaughan, Mary, ']^
Vaux family, 97, 151, 152
Lawrence, 172, 173
Lord, 96
Vavasour (Vavissor) family, 94-100,
109
Ann, 109
Henry, 109
Sir Thomas, 75, 94, 109
William, 109
Visitation of Warwickshire (Camden),
3
Visitation nuns, the, 12
Wadding, Father Peter, 84
Waldegrave, Frances, 150
Lord, 208
Walsingham, Francis, 73, 74
Lady, 138
Warwickshire (Dugdale), 3
Waterford, Bishop of, ^^
Watson (a priest), 7
Agnes, 85, 86, 187
Watten, 5
Webb, Anna Maria, 206
Sir John, 206, 209
Welch, Mary, 168
Wells Cathedral, singular occurrence
in, 48-49, 60
Westmoreland, Earl of, 22
Weston family, 1 49-1 51
Dr, 81
Lady Mary, 150
WTiite, Father Richard, 84, 108, no,
125, 140, 141, 144) 145? 146,
185
Whitgreave, Elizabeth, 151
Whitsal, Ursula, 186
Widdrington, Lady Abbess, 1 1
Hon. Mary, 175
Lord, 174, 206
Roger, 204
Wilford, Barbara, 198
Wilkinson, Charles, 180
William III., 11
Williams, Bishop Dominic, 55
Wilson, Dr, 119
Winchscam, Mr, 189
Windsor, Margaret, 116
Winnington, Sir Francis, xi
Winter, Thomas, 28
Wirsall, Agnes, 7
Wiseman family, 97, 151
Bridget, 59, 1 1 1
Rev. Mother, prioress, death of, 104-
107
Mary Penelope, no, in
Sir Thomas, no
Witham family, 97
Wolseley, Erasmus, 73, 74
Worcester, Earl of, 3
Worsley, Ann, prioress at Antwerp,
138
Worthies of Devon (Prince), 117
Worthington family, 49-57, 65, 171
Anne, 49, 65
Jane, 49
Mary, 65 ; dies of plague, 159-
160
Mary Genevieve, 179
Persecution of Thomas, Robert,
Richard, and John, 50-54
Rev. Richard, 170, 191, 193, 195
INDEX
Wrottesley, General, 71, 76
219
Xaveria, Anne, 77
Maura, 77
York Castle, 92, 171
Cathedral, 95
Kidcote, 96
Ypres, Irish Benedictine nuns at, 10, 1 1
PRINTED BY OUVER AND BOYD, EDINDUUOH.
Cresi.—
f Sir Roger
gham.
Bridget, dj
adm. Eng.
at Seville,
lission in Yor
1,
a.
■ of Wm. Tur
WyclifiFe, C.
ister of Sir
ig. 1667 ;
took Ms
5orbonne,
I'f (/ Oc? lt<:
I I I I
WlLLIA
James "
John
James
Charl]
Douai
Eliza)
only dai
4. Geoi
Apr
assi
igtl
dlis,
the
EO. FlESCI
of Haintor
E
Keage.
PEDIGREE OF CRATHORNE, OF CRATHORNE, IN CLIVELAND, CO. YORK
: EVERILDA, daughter of Sir Roger Constable,
Ralph Crathorne, of Crj
of Cnithome, -
set. 2 in 1584; slain in the Royal
e during the Civil Wars, at Uphaven.
Katherine, daughter and co-hciress of
Edm. Richers, of Swannington, Ca Nor-
folk, Esq.
4. John, Priest, SJ., bom 1590;
6th July 1608 ; entered Society
Louvain and Li^ge ; died on the B
idm. Eng. Col., Valladolid,
Francis Cratuorn
and Ness, act. 4:
dated 1714-15.
Anne, daughter of Nich. Girlington, Ca
, of Crathorne = FRANCES, daughter of Chas. Thimelby, of
1665. Will I Snydale, Co. York (slain at Worcester, 1651),
by Anne Poulton, of Oesborough.
2) Margaret, daughter of Robert Thornton,
■ of East Newton, Co. York, Esq., and Dorothy,
daughter of Thomas Mettara, of Mettam,
Esq.
t Oouay, 1621 ; died on the Mission, Wamick, 19th Ap. 1667.
Dorothy, wife of
Sir Henry Swale,
of Swale,
Thomas Crathorne, of Cra-
thorne and Ness,
a^t. 3, 1665.
: Elizabeth, daughter of Chas.
Cockayne, Viscount Cullen,
by Maty, daughter of Henry
O'Brien, sth Earl of
Thomond.
EVERILDA, a Nun, 1
at St Monica's, Louvai
1674-5 ; died 170a.
Thomas, O.S.B., D.D., last Abbot of
Cismar, bora at Ness Hall ; prof. .w.
Lantbspring, 1703 ; took degree (
4th March 1746-7-
" vife of Thos. Pulleinb,
of Carleton Hall, Ca York ; Master
of the Stud to William HI.; High
Sheriff of Yorks, 1696-1703. His
only son, Heniy, was Governor of the
Bermudas.
Ralph, Priest, bom i8th Aug. 1667 ;
1694; died-, en -the Misaen-,- mh-
Mnrrh Tytft.V-^f > W^TUj'f (I Bit \\o^
3. William. Priest, attai \AXLWi .and Austin
Shefherd, bom 1670 ; ordained 1697 ;
reuined at the College as Professor till 1706;
when he came on the Mission, resided at
Hammersmith; died nth March 1739-40.
Author of many works.
Catherine, daughter and heiress
of John Killingbeck, of Chapel
Alierton, Co. York, Esq., by
Frances, daughter of — Dolman,
of Pockiington.
Byniand,
of Nidd Hall, Co. York, Esq.,
by Elizabeth, daughter and
co-heiress of Thos. Appleton,
Esq.
Thomas Crathorne, of Cra-
thorne and Ness, Esq. ;
succeeded his Uncle, Ralph ;
Isabel, daughter of Sir John
Swinburne, of Capheaton,
Northum., Bart, by Mary,
daughter of Sir Hy. Bed-
ingfield, of Oxburgh, Bart. ;
living 1780.
. Henry Crathorne, of Crathome and Ness,
Esq. ; bora 1st Jan. 1757 ; Lord of the Manor
of Crathome, East Ness, etc 1 died Dec 1797.
3. Thomas, = Catherine, daughter of Rev.
bom 1760 ; Thos. Coates, Rector of
died 1815. Goldsboro'.
at St Monica's ;
prof. 1701 ;
died 1763;
Prioress 7 years.
: Douay, 1697 ; died there (
I St Monica's, Louvain; pro
I I I
Francis.
Catherine, v
C?) Francis Crathorne, of Scarborough.
Francis, Priest, bom 21st Ocl 1762; was at
Sedgley Park in 1769 ; subsequently went to
ValladoUd, was ordained Priest. He was Chap,
at Broughton Hall, Yorks, from 1789 to 1795;
was later on transferred to Garswood, Lane
Chap, to the Gerards in 1819 ; was drowned with
Mr Gerard at Southport, 23rd May 182a.
George Crathorne, bom 33rd =
April 1761 (twin with Isabel);
assumed name of Tasburgh ; died
19th Aug. iSaj.
Barbara, daughter of Thos. Fitzherbert, of
Swynnerton, Co. Staffs., Esq., and relict of
George Tasburgh, of Bodney, Ca Norf.,
Esq.; died 1805.
^^ Michael Anne, of Burghwaliis,
I Co. York, Esq. ; assumed the
name of Tasburgh.
George Anne,
Mary Barbara, :=: Charles Gregory Fairfax,
daughter of Gilling Castle,
and co-heiress. Co. York.
: Geo. Fieschi Heneage,
of Hainton, Co. Line.,
Esq.
Barbara, i^ Wm. Hen. Charlton,
married I of Hisley Side,
.839. /L - ■• ■ -
Co. Nonhum., Esq.
TUNSTALL
Thurland Castle
In the broad vale of Lune, some 12 miles above Lancaster, stands Thurland
Castle. The founders of the castle— the Tunstall family— had held lands in
Lonsdale from the time of Edward II.; but it was not until the rei^'n of
Henry IV. that the representative of the Tunstalls obtained a licence to fortify
his house at Thurland.
Sir Thomas Tunstall, to whom this licence was granted, had fought in the
French wars ; had been present at Agincourt, and received the town of
Ponthieu as a reward for his services. His son, Richard, was a Knight of the
Garter, and held the Castle of Harlech for Henry VI. long after the other
fortresses of that unfortunate monarch had surrendered. Sir Richard's estates
were forfeited, but in 1473 were restored to him. His sons dying without
issue, Thurland Castle passed to his nephew, Bryan Tunstall, "the stainless
knight of Flodden." Who does not remember the lines which Sir W.altcr
Scott places in the mouth of Lord Surrey as he describes to the haughty Lord
of Marmion the disposition of the English forces before the memorable battle
of Flodden ? —
" The good Lord Marmion, by my life !
Welcome to danger's hour !
Short greeting serves in time of strife —
Thus have I ranged my power ;
Myself will rule this central host,
Stout Stanley fronts their right,
My sons command the vaward post
With Bryan Tunstall, stainless knight."
\^Old Halls 0/ lane, Tunstall Castle.
by W. O. RoPFK, Esq.].
PEDIGREE OF TUNSTALL, OF THURLAND CASTLE, CO. LANC, AND WYCLIFFE, CO. YORK
RiCHAHD TUNSTALL, K.G.,
died 1 491.
Thomas Tunstall, of ThurlaDd, = Alice, daughter of
after the death of his r
Lord Gea Nevill.
Alice, wife of John Ayscough.
Margaret,
wife of
Sir Ralph Pudsey,
of Bolton, Ca York,
Agnes. ^ — Kn
AuCB, daughter and co-heircss of Sir Rob. Scargill,
of Scargill, Ca York.
(3) Anne, daughter of Wm. Bold,
of Bold Hall, Co. Lane
Eliza. = Sir John Dawney, of Sezzay,
Anne. = George Middlbton, of Leightoi
Marmaduke Tunstall, = Katherine, daughter and
of Scirgill and Wycliffe, I heiress of Wm. Wycliffe,
married 1606; of Wycliffe, Co. York,
died 1657.
WiLLUM Tunstall, of Scargill .-= Mary, eldest ■
Francis Radcliffe, of Dilston,
Ca Northum., Knu and
Bart.
ELIZABETH WRAY. a Nun,
MAGDALENE WRAY, a Nu
" Recusant "
Lawrence aiias Scargill,
(?) Francis Tunstall.
Michael Tunstall, of Durham, Esq., =
: Wm. LascELLES, of Brackenbury.
Four of their sons became Priests
— l.acscelles — aiias Bold.
Katberine, ^^ Thomas Ch
Elizabeth, daughter of Ursula Chol-
meley and Robert Willoughby, of Rad forth ;
piof. at St Monica's, 1716 ; died 1756, agtd 60.
Cecily Constable, daughter of John,
: Henrt Liddell.
CHRISTINA, Bridgettine Nun at Lisbon, died 1731.
MARGARET, Bridgeitin
/h
,..'\ ,
,.';>
(i)_AMV,daughterof Hugh,3rd Lord Clifford, of Chud- = CuTHBERT TuNSTAlL. On the death of his uncle, Wm., last Vist
'ar, in 1718, he succeeded to the Burton Constable est
led the name of Constable ; died 27th March 1746-7.
: (2) Elizabeth, daughter of Gea
Heneage, of Hainton Hall,
Co. Lincoln, Esq.
CATHERINE, Nun at St Monica's,
Louvain ; prof. i6g6 ; died 1738,
MARY, Nun at St Monica's,
Louvain; prof. 1701 ;
died 1770, aged 88.
William,
died young.
(ur.' D«i*^
William Constable of Burton Constable, Esq. :
Succeeded his half-brother, Marmaduke, in 1 790 ;
died i8lh March 1791, S.P., when his estates
sively to his nephews, Edward and
(O.s.) 1747; diedc/r. 1752,
Edward Sheldon, of Winchester, Esq., 2nd son of Wm. Sheldon, of
Beoley, by Anastasia, his 2nd wife, daughter of Bartholomew Smith, of
Winchester. Her two sisters were Nuns at St Monica's.
1743. Succeeded his uncle,
duke Tunstall in 1760; resumed the
name of Tunstall ; died 1790, S.P.
CECILY, Nun ;it St Mor
Louvain ; prof. 1704 ;
died 177s, aged 88.
Co. Notts; died 1835. Her sister
was a Nun, O.S.B., at Dunkirk,
and died nt Hammersmith in 1834.
Edward Sheldon, of Winchester,
Esq., assumed the name of Con-
stable ; died uomar. 33rd Feb. 1803.
RANcis Sheldon Constable, of Bmton
Constable, died 12th Feb. 1821, and was
succeeded by Sir Thos. ClifiFord, Bart.
A Daughter, died young.
C) r
o.
,EMAN,
I
Alice,
ock, =
I. Walte?
New
1641;
Lond(
of C
subse(
Esq.
g staffs.).
Nun ; <
1646, aj
'•i
IRD, sis1
1640 Ba
as interr
igenet, E
I. Henry
1st Earl
Jac. II.)
mains - a
1694; (j
1719. 1
MA
at
di
Willi
3rd
1 Blue 1
Paris ;
3 ; died
Paris ;
:d 1798.
jghter o
married I
er and c
Co. Suf
wellis G
t Lord C
FTE St^
HAM,
died 9t'
PEDIGREE OF COLEMAN, CO. STAFFORD
SIMON COLEMAN, of Canke, Yeoman, who was defendant in a suit, 33 Hen. VI. (1454)-
WILLIAM COLEMAN, of Canke, the principal person in Cannock in the muster of 1539. He hnd hone and harness for himself.
Alicb, manied circa 140a = Mr Bate, of Langton.
John Coleman, of Cannock, Gent. =
Walter Coleman, of Cannock, Anniger, 1583. =
(2) Elizabeth (Isabel), daughter of Humphrey Whitgreaves,
of Burton Manor, Co. Staffs., Esq.
. Walter Coleman (Christopher i Sia. Clara, O.S.F.). died :i prisoner in
Neweate in 1645, having been condemned to death for being a Priest, in
1641 ; author of " La dance Machabre,"' or " Death's Duell," by W. C,
London, 1628 and 1633. He arrived at Douay College under the alias
of Combe or Comberford, zoth June 1585, and left 28th Nov. 1586;
subsequently he returned lo Douay, and became a Franciscan.
, John Coleman, == Dorothy = Thomas Chetwtnd, of Rugeley, Co. Staffs., Esq.
of Cannock. COLBMAN. I (3rd son of John Chetwynd, of Ingrestre, Co. Staffs.).
3. Thomas Colleman, of =
Alice = Robert Fleetwood, 5th son of Sir Richard
Coleman. I Fleetwood, of Calwich, Staffs., ist Bart.
PEDIGREE OF STAFFORD
IIR WILLIAM HOWARD, K.B., Viscount Stafford, 8th son of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel and Surrey, === MARY STAFFORD, sifter of Henry, Jth and last Baron Staffoid, after whose death Wm. Howard and his wife
by Alathea Talbot, daughter and eventually heiress of Gilbert, 7th Ear! of Shrewsbuiy, bom 30th Nov. 1614 ; ) were created in 1640 Baron and_ Baroness Stafford ; created Countess of Stafford for_life, 5lh Oct. 1688 ; died
created Baron SufTord, I2th Sept., and advanced to the Viscounty of Stafford, llth Nov. 1640 ; attainted
and beheaded on Tower Hill, 29th Dec i68a
t the tomb of her a
ir de Bohun, wife of
:. Henry Stafford, created :
m Earl of Sufford in 4lh
Jac II.; married at St Ger-
mains-en-Laye. 3rd April
1694 ; died S.F., 19th April
1719.
Sir Georpe Hamilton,
(i) Mary, daughter =
Sir John Southcote,
of Mesham,
Co. Surrey.
2. John Paul ^
Stafford-
Howard,
: (3) Teresa, daughter Helena,
prof. 1681 ; died 1684.
URSULA, Nun; can.
reg. at St Monica's
Convent, Louvain ;
= George Holuan,
I °^
^Varkworth Castle,
Co. Northampton,
died 1698.
3. Fkancis Stafford- =
Howard,
died at Paris, 1693.
: Eleanor, daughter of Henry
Stanford, of New Inn,
Staffs., Esq.
died 2ist May 1725.
loHN Paul Stafford-Howard. = Elizabeth, daughter of
4th Earl of Stafford, married in — Ewen, Esq., of the
1738 ; died 2nd April 1762. Ca Somerset.
LOUISA, a Blue Nun ;
BEATRIX, a Blue Nun
at Paris ;
prof. 172J ; died 1770.
Mary, died at Paris, = Kr
.f Plowden,
I. Salop, Esq.
William Mathus Stafford-Howard, = Henrietta, daughter of
3rd Eari, died 20th Feb. 1750-r, S.P. ; Richard Cantillon,
buried at Notre Dame, P.iris. Esq.
ANASTASIA, Baroness Stafford, a Blue
Nun at Paris; professed 1740; died
1807, aged 85.
Mary, wife of Comte de Chabot de
Rohan-Chabot. She died in London,
i6th May 1769, set. 48.
Francis, a Priest,
"Abb^de Plowden,"
lived and died in Fmnce.
Louisa 1
lived and died
Mary Plowden,
married in 1734 ;
died 1785.
, daughter of Barth. Berkeley,
of Spetcneley, Co. Worcester.
George Jerninghah, of Cosiessey Hal
Co. Norfolk, Sth Bart,, bom :68o ;
died 1774.
Sir WiLLUM J
died 18.
■- Henry Valentine Staffc
bom 1802 ; died
heir to the Barony of
Fitzherbert
: Dorothy Hilda, daughter of
Albert Worthington, of Maple
Hayes, Lich&eld, Esq.
FlTZOSBERT EDW. STAPFORD-
llth Baion Stafford,
bom 1833. (li.tl \C^\h
Stafford- = Basil Fitzherbert, of Norbury and = (3) Lady Emma Stafford,
I Swynnerton Park, Co. Staffs., relict of
married Oct. 1858 ; died 9th Nov. Esq. 9th Lord Stafford.
Edward
Stafford,
bom 1S64.
Beatrix,
Lady Chichele
Plowden.
Alice Magdalen, married
Rich. Trappes-Lomax,
Esq., of Clayton Hall,
Maud Mary Jos.
^^
Nash's Worcet
Payne's J?ec. q
Harl. Soc. Vis
End), CO. WORCE5
I. Thomas
of Senl
Co. G
of
4. John,
06. s.p.
Eleanor,
wife of
Roger Trewen.
3. J<
LETT, S.J., ordained Priest
h College, Rome, 6th April
previously been at Douay
red imprisonment and banish-
it Rennes, 22nd Feb. 1645,
El
Iary.
Rowland Bartlett. =
ITT. = Jane, daughter of
Rob. Killoway,
of Lillington,
Co. Dorset, Esq.
I I I
Francis.
Henry.
Charles.
Mabell
Edwar
of Eye,
John Bartlett. Probably father to C
professed at St Gregory's, Douay,
Castle, Co. York, 1717 ; subseque
Standish Hall in 1728 ; died in Lan
Rowland Bartlett, of Hill End = Anne, <
and of Castle Morton ; buried at
Castle Morton, 12th May 1720.
of Be
buried
Sept
EFRED, a Nun
St Monica's
Convent ;
ofessed 1731 ;
1778, aged 76.
I
4. William. =
Bridget, d
Robert Ho
of Haniey
Esq
died 1;
PEDIGREE OF BARTLETT, OF CASTLE MORTON (of Hill End), CO. WORCESTER
Nash's Wi>ruiler, Vol. 11., p.
Payne's /^^e. of Eng. Cath.
HaiL Sot Visit. GIou., 1623.
THOMELYN BARTLETT. = -
Thomas Bartlett.
MI. — Quarterly, per fess indented arg.,
and gu. four crescents countercbanged.
'St. — A pheasant proper.
, Edmund Bartlett,:^ Agnes, daughter <
of Castle Morton, I Richard Clarke.
Co. Worcester.
Thos. Brooke.
EUZABBTH,
wife of
Rob. Cokes.
Isabel,
wife of
Ric. Crowe.
3. John Bartlett. = Tomasine, daughter of
of Northampton.
Sir Hbnrv Bartlett, =
Richard Bartlett, S.J., ordained Priest
at the English College, Rome, 6th April
161 1, having previously been at Douay
College ; suffered imprisonment and banish-
ment; died at Rennes, 22nd Feb. 1645,
aged about 68.
John.
RICHAR
i. Sir Thomas Bartlett, =
of Senbury,
Knl.
= Mary, daughter of ANTHONY. AMY.
Sir John Daunfsey,
KnL,
of Lavineton Episcopi,
Co. Wiltsf
Ellen. Mary.
Rowland Bartlett. =
Jane, daughter of
Rob. Killoway,
of Liliington,
Co. Dorset, Esq.
1
Amy,
died young.
Elizabeth. = (1) Sir Rich. Cave, Knt. Catherine. = Sir Allen Butler,
= (2) Thos. Yates. 1 KnL
Henry Cave. Edwin. Lettice.
John Bartlett. =
Mabelle, dauehter of
Edward Goulding,
of Eye, Co. Suffolk.
. BAsa Bartlett, = Bridget, daughter of
of I Wm. Fitzherbert,
Castle Morton. of Norbury,
Co. Derby, Esq.
MAISEY, a Nun at St Moi
Convent. Louvain, bom i
professed 1657.
Bartholomew.
Rowland Bartlett, of Hill End = Anne, daughter of John Tasburgh,
and of Castle Morton ; buried at | of Bodney Hall, Co. Norfolk j
Castle Morton, 12th May 1730. - ■ . ^ . .. .
Francis.
Henry.
Charles.
St Monica's
Convent,
CATHERINE, a Nun
died 1780, aged 84,
Basil Bartlett,
Chaplain to Sir Edw. Blount, Bart., fc
years. In 1752 he became Chaplain ;
Monica's Convent, Louvain, first as S
to Rev. Mr Stanley ; died there, 28lh
Lewis- =
Rowland
Bartlett.
Mary, daughter
John Vaughan,
of Courtfield,
Co. Hereford,
bom 1699 ;
died 1727.
Nun
WINEFRED,
at St Moni.
Convent ;
professed 1731 ;
died 1778, aged 76.
4. William. ^ BRiocEr, daughter of
Robert Homj'hold,
of Hanley Castle,
!. Felix Joseph Bartlett, Priest,
S.J., bom gth March 1705. Sold
Castle Morton to Baron Perrott.
He was Chaplain at Hanley Castle
some years, served Hill End, and
finally Worcester ; died 14th May
1777, aged 70.
:.IN
;s of Sir (
ss of Sir /
£or. to his
1550.
(i) Katherine, daugli->. -pv 1-
Tyrwhitt, Knt, Q^ Jxi
Co. Lincc
RD, of Bi
er authori
(I) I\
Rich
Sir Th(
Thoma;
Edward Thimelbv,
Camerarius '
Prepositus
Scti. Gaugerici,
oh. 1676.
mgh, =
daughter (
igby,
iffenham,
Lut.
John Thimelby,
of Irnham, Esq.,
born 1603 ;
died at his house
in Red Lion Square,
London, 1712 ;
both he and his
wife buried at
Imham.
JLA, half !
ng " a R{
VLL,
Mary Thimelby,
aged 95, s.P. 5
relative, Benedict
PEDIGREE OF THIMELBY, CO. LINCOLN
Thouas Thimelbv, Clerk, Lord of the Manors of Poolara, Teiford, <
Rector of Tetford, 1495-1526. Ing. p. m. 1st Edw. Vi.
(i) Katherine, daughter of Sir Robert =; Sir Richard Thimelby, Knt, of Iniham, = fz) Elizabeth, daughter of
Tyrwhltt, Knt., of Ketileby, I Lord of the Manor of East Bredgeford, Thomas Moore.
Co. Lincoln. Ca Notts, died 1590.
CLIFFORD OF BRAKENBOROUGH, CO. LINCOLN
(i) Mary, daughter of Geo. St Paul, == John Thimelby, of Imham, presented = (2) Magdalen, daughter
' " . . I to the Church of East Bredgeford, Andrew Billesbry,
1571 ; died 1635-6. /I\ ofBiIIesby.
of Snarford : buried
at Toby Mathew's house =
1 St Andrew's, 3nd Feb.
: Mary, daughter of Edward Brookesby, {
Co. Leicester, Esq., by Eleanor, !
granddaughter of Lord Vaux.
1
Edward Thimelby
Richard Thimelby,
Robert,
1
Sir John Thimelby, -
- Elizabeth, daughter of
Cameranus *
Priest, S.J.,
died at
bom 1603 ;
Thomas Savage,
Prepositus
Scti. Gaugerici,
oA. 1676.
bom 1614 ;
St Ome.'s
knighted at Belvoir,
Viscount Savage,
died at St Omer's,
College.
1624;
of Rock Savage,
1679-80.
died l6th Dec 1661 ;
by Elizabeth, daughter
and co-heiress of
St Andrew's, Holbom.
Thos. Darcy, Earl Rivers.
John Thimelby, =
= Dorothy, daughter of
Robert,
Elizabeth, = Francis
HenrieTTA-
of Imham, Esq.,
Robert,
bom 1603 ;
2nd Lord Petre ;
Bristol, 1643 ; Esq.
died at his house
married 1657-8 ;
3 widow in
n Red Lion Square,
died 1720, aged 86.
1676.
London, 1712 ;
both he and bis
wife buried at
Imham.
I
(2) ELIZABETH, daughter of John = 1
Thimelby, of Imham ; married at
Wallham, 25th SepL 1581. After
the death of her husband, she be-
came a Nun at St Monica's Con-
died 1642, aged ;
have been " a remarkably fine and
well-infomied woman." She used
facetiously (in the Convent) to call
the Rev. Wm. Clifford " our son,"
an expression which often caused a
smile among the nuns.
(i) Ursula, daughter of = George Clifford, ^= (2) Mary, 4th daughter
James Digby, | of Br^kenborough, of Fmnds Daniel,
of North Lunenham, baptised at Fotherby, of Acton ;
Co. Rut. 1586 ; died 1639. living in 1653,
William Clifford, Henry Clifford, = Catherine,
a Priest, 2nd son, daughter of
baptised at Louth, lived nt Antiverp ; Thos. Tempest,
loih Nov. 1594 ; died there, by — Ogle,
died at Paris, and was buried in and sister to
30th April 1670. St Andrew's Church, Robert Tempest,
dr. 1644, S.P. of Lintz Green,
vife of — Blithe.
Mary,
- Hammond.
Jamb,
baptised 1593 ;
died 1594.
95, s.r. ane setuea tne imnam estate on
ve, Benedict Conquest, Esq., and his posterity.
GERTRUDE, daughter of Walter
Privy Chamber to
Lady of the = RICHARD CONQUEST,
o ---" Conquest,
Co. Bedford,
St Monica's Convent
I
WINEFRED, bom 1618 ;
Nun at St Monica's
Convent ;
prof. 1634 ; died 1690 ;
Prioress 23 years.
Catherine, baptised a
Chelsea, 1614 ;
buried at Colton,
Ca Staff. 1689-90.
= Herbert Aston,
2nd son of Walter,
of Forfar.
' Conquest. ==
7 r»
:oi
leiress of
■ead, Knt
)f Cillwct
cknor, Cc
ress of R
married
born i6o;
_ 1622 ; o
[the Eng
(J., 1652
married [rv, born
171J1727 in c
John Vpmman
born ibollege
Nov. :iland.
born 2
Prie
li\
HERBERJ
eldestj
Priest
28th
minst^
Priest
buried
)haklb:,ice.
Capt.
merly
servec
Cham
Pius
Rl
b(
2th Nov.
883.
PEDIGREE OF VAUGHAN, OF COURTFIELD
THOMAS, 4th E
- MAUD, daughter and co-heiress of Sir John Morley, of
After several generations
Jambs Vachan, of Llangattock, =
(l) Bridget, daughter of John Wigmore,
of Lucton, Co. Hereford, and Anne,
daughter of Sir John Throckmorton ;
Richard Vaughan, of Courtfield,
born i6co ; died 1697. Will
proved ijlh March 1697-8,
daughter of John Beringtoi
(OMAHV.daughter:
ind Ruardean, Co.
Glou., bom 1648 ;
married 1661 ; died
: John Vaughai
the Elder,
of Huntsham,
born 1633 ;
: (2) Marv Green,
Teresa Griffin, a Tere
Edgbasion, died 1695-6.
John, ordained Priest 3
Lisbon, 1639 ; Chaplai
at Raglan Castle-
Will proved 1683.
Thomas, born 1605-6 ; entered Douay
College, 1622 ; ordained Priest, 1637;
sent on the English Mission, 1628;
joined S.J., 1652 ; died 1675,
IHN Jones, eldest s
Sir Charles Jones,
of Dingestow.
Margaret, = Will. Brydges,
died l6s5, of Upleadon,
aged 80 ; buried Co. Hereford.
Mary, born 1632 ; a Teresian
Nun ; professed ai Lierre 1649 ;
died 1709.
Clare, born 1638; a Nun O.S.B.
at Pontoise ; professed 1657 ; died
John Vaughan, of Courtfield and Clyro,
born 1707 ; died 1780. Will dated 3ist
Nov. 1770.
: Catherine, daughter of James Cornewall,
of Buckland, Co. Hereford, bom 1728 ;
died 1778; S.P.
W.U.TER, born 167: ;
educated at St Omer's
and Eng. Coll., Rome ;
died in Paris, Oct
Richard, born 1673; Priest; entered
SJ. in 1690 ; renounced all rights in
1 692 to more than £iQ a year ; Rector
of the College ; died at Ghent, 1727.
CO Catherine, daughter of Sir =
John Curzon, of Waterperry, Co.
Oxon.; born 1678; died 1699 in
child-bed.
John Vaughan, ihe =
Younger, of Courtfield,
born 1676 ; died 1754.
On the death of John V.,
the Elder, succeeded to
Ciyro, Ruardean.and
Over Rosse.
Llanarth, and Anne,
daughter of
Anthony Bassett,
of Kamain,
bom 1681 ; mar. 1705
died 1757.
ANNE, bom 1680 ; a Nun ; Can.
Reg. at Bruges; died 1714.
TERESA, born 1681 ; a Nun;
Can. Reg. ai Bruges ; died 1731.
(?) MARY, bornctr. 1671 ; a
Nun ; Can. Reg. at Bruges;
died 169:.
died 1734.
William, bom 1716; fought at Culloden ;
attainted ; became General in Spanish
Theresa, =
bom 1713; died 1754.
(and wife.)
Edward Weld, of Lulworth Cas
Mary, a Poor Cl
Will dated 29th July 1790.
: Frances, daughter of John Turner.
' 'lampstead ; married 1767 ;
died 1807.
Ti — Frances,
of Ham
Elizabeth. ^= Count of Kilmallock,
Colonel in the Spanish
; William M. T. J. Vaughan. of Courtfield and Clyro, onl'
son and heir, bom 1781 ; Lord of the Manor of Welsf
Bicknor, J. P., D.L.. High Sheriff; died i86r.
died 1840, aged 53.
^ces ^ Thos. Watkins Davis, Major R. Mon. Mil
Cordelia, died unmarried, area 1867.
(l) LOUJSA ELI2A,
daughter of John Rolls,
of the Hendre,
died 1853,
lERiiERT Alf. Jos. Vaughan, of Courtfield,
eldest son, bom 15th April 1832 ; ordained
Priest, i8th Nov. 1854 ; cons. Bp. of Salford,
28th Oct. 1872 ; trans, to Archbp. West-
minster. 8th April 1893; created Cardinal
Priest, l6thjan. 1893; died 19th June 1903 ;
buried at Mill Hill.
Charles Jerome, born 30th Sept. 1873 ;
Capt. Royal Monmouth Militia, for-
merly Lieut. 7th Dragoon Guards,
served in South African War ; Private
Chamber lain to his Holiness Pope
Pius X.
William Vaughan, born in London.
Feb. 1814; ordained Priest, 1838; (
of Plymouth, 1855; died
Charles and Eliza, ob. infancy.
Richard,
bom 7th Nov. 1836 ;
Priest, SJ. ;
died 19th Mar. 1899.
Edmund,
bom 26th Nov. 182
Priest, C.SS.R.;
living in 1906.
Frances Mary, born 1805 ; a
1 I
.Mary, born 1810; a Nun TERtSA MaRv, born 1818 ; married 1S39
of Order of the Visitation ; Thos. Weld-Blundell, of Ince Blun-
professed 1834 ; dell, Co. Lane, 3nd son of Joseph WeM,
died 1841. of Lulworth Castle. She died 1889; he
died 1887.
Roger Wili.u,m, bora
1834; Monk O.S.B.;
cons. Archbp. of Sid-
ney; died 17th Aug.
Kenelm John,
bom 1837 i
died 1837.
Monk O.S.B., 1861 ;
Prior of Fort
Augustus ;
died 9ih Sept. 1896.
married 23rd Jan. 1903.
Francis Baynham Vaughan,=
of Courtfield, born l8th March
1844; J.P., D.L., Co. Mon-
mouth ; Colonel Royal Mon-
XMI. and Pius X.
Caroline O'Fallon,
of St Louis.
U.S.A.
Bernard, bom
20th Sept. 1847 ;
joined S.J., 1866 ;
Co. Monmouth.
of John Shanahan,
of Victoria,
Australia,
died 1894.
John Stephen, bom 24th
Jan. 1853 ; ordained
Priest. 4tb July 1876;
Domestic Prelate to
Popes Leo XHI. and
Pius X.
GwLADYs Teresa,
bora 1838 ;
a Nun of the Order
of the Visitation ;
professed 1858 ;
William.
born 4lh Sept.
1883.
Joseph,
bom 19th Jan.;
died 18S5.
Teresa, bom 1839; Sister of Charity ; died i860.
Clare, bom 1843; a Poor Clare at Amiens;
died 1 861.
.MARY, bom 33rd Nov, 1845; a Nun, Can. Reg.
St Augustine's Priory. Newton Abbot ;
- - ■ ■ ■ "' •• ■ " 'i Dec. 1884 ;
[Prioress.
Julia, born 15th Mar.
1S81 ; a PoorClarein
Netting Hill, London.
ARR
D (
qu£_
SirGlLl
Co. J
Chad
ofWi
atCll
Haydthe Duel
warre f^^ Pre
end 0
Shire, ij
ENRY I
vix. I
Evan
vix
ARMS OF HAYDOCK OF HAYDOCK.
Arg., a cross m., on ihe dexter chief
quarter a fleur-de-lis of the second.
PEDIGREE OF HAYDOCK, OF HAYDOCK AND COTTAM, CO. LANCASTER
HUGH DE HAYDOCK,, Lord of Haydock,
ARMS OF HAYDOCK OF COTTAM.
Arg., three sparrow-hawks, close, gu.
Crtst, — A sparrow-hawk, close, gu.
-I/o/w.— "Tristitia vesira vertetur in gaudium."
■ ALICIA, daughter of Matthew Bold de Bol
to whom her father gave land in Bold
in frank marriage.
Henry de Haydock.
of
Asbton and Cottam.
Haydock de Haydock, = ■
;st son and heir, I
vil temp. Edw. I.
iOBERT DE Haydock, M.P., Co. Lane.,
1299, 10 whom Wra. de Lea granted
half the Manor of Ashton, ag Edw. I.,
r of Ashton, = Elfna, daughter of Adam de Hoghtonde Hoghton. Her
M.P. for I brother, Sir Richard, married Sibyl, sister and heir
I of Sir Henry de Lea, of Lea, a cadet of the first
incasters, primitively Barons of
KS
sir Gilbert db Haydock _
Co. Lane I3I9-34- 'n '330 founded
Chantry of the Holy Trinity '
of Winwick. and "* "~
at Chester in 134
Haydock
D0CK,M.P.,=
lunded the t
the parish
er Chantry |
Johanna, married Wm.
Blundell de Ince
Blundell.
344, and 3 giant of free
idley. He died before the
Matthew de
AYDOCK, eldest s
ob. i2th Dec. 1387.
Wm. le Boteler,
>ir Henry he Haydock, First Chancellor of the Duchy of
Lancaster; M.P. Co. Lane, 1338-30 ; M.P. for Preston,
1330; for Lane, 1331; and again Knt. of the Shire, 1334-7.
Maud, married
Richard Torhoc
DE Torbock.
t CoTTAM, =p Margaret,
Henry de Haydock.
ington. Great Sankey, Burton Wood, 1
Clementia, daughter and heir of Sir Robt. Banastre, Baron of Newton and Walton -le-Dale.
Alice, married Robert Downes, Esq.,
of Shrigley and Worth, Co. Cast.
Other daughters and
Gilbert de Haydock^ Isabel, daughter of Sir William deHoghtonde Hoghton; married by special licence from
DE Cottam, Rome, being related in the 4th degree, i6lh Feb. 1422-3. After her husband's death
-. 1459. I she becajne a Nun, and was "veiled" by the Abbot of Cockcrsand by commission, dated
Gilbert Haydocb
Lord of Cottam.
: Alice, daughter of Robt. Clifton, of Clifton and Westby, by Margaret,
daughter of Nicholas Butler, of Bewsey ; marriage settlement, 9 Hen.
VH., 1493-4-
: Frances, daughter of Wm. Browne, of Ribbleton,
by Eliz., daughter and heir of John Etheleston,
of Ribbleton.
Steward of Preston Guild, 1542.
Gilbert
Havdock.
Gent., 1542.
Richard Haydock, of Brc
Will dated 1556.
Bridget,
1 Bridgettine Nun
of Syon,
oh. 26th July
Ellen, married
— Osbaldestoh,
of Osbaldeston.
Evan (Vivian) Havdock, of Cottam Hall, Esq. About twenty years = Ellen, daughter of Wm. Westby, of Westby,
after the death of his wife, he went over in 1573 to the English College I Co. York, and of Mowbreck Hall. Co.
at Douay ; matriculated at the University, was ordained Priest, and left Lane., Esq. ; marriage settlement, 38 Hen.
Douay for the English Mission, 3ist Nov. 1575. In 1581 Cardinal Alien VHL, 1546-7. Her sister Eliz. was the
appomled him Procurator for the College in England. He died some ' wife of George Allen, Esq., of Rossall,
years later, and was buried under the Chapel at Cottam Hall. t eldest broiher of Cardinal Alien.
Henry "]
Cut H BERT I
Richard j"
Edmund J
William Have
-, daughter of Sir Richard
For continuation^ .
was ordained Priest, 23rd March 1577. Sent to Rome to establish the
English College there in the beginning of 1578, and appears second on the
list of the alumni, 23rd April 1579; returned lo the English College at
George Haydock, Priest, martyr, probably went to Douay with
his father in 1573; in 1578 sent to Rome to colonize the English
College; returned to the English College at Rbeims, and was
ordained Priest on 3i5t Dec. 15S1. Sent to the English Mission
in Jan. 1582, was seized in London, and martyred at Tyburn,
12th Feb. 1584, aged about 27.
Faith in Salford Gaol i
r
'o. Lc
HTON.
! Roger
Wolfall,
Iy, daughter c
)T of Wm. Ti
otbersall, of ]
William |
Hall, LRT Haydock
tarn ; dii Leach Hall,
at Prestc bom
dated 25 March 1692.
t/ans.
lil 1726 ; mai
nt.
I
t Haydock,
I Plumpton,
• 1755;
i 1794.
RET,
34.
W
R^
died at B' ANNE,
bpr.
D Michael
Pedigree of Haydock, of Haydock and Cottam, Co. l^anccister^confznued.
WILLIAM HAYDOCK = BRIDGET HOGHTON.
Evan Haydock, of
Hall.
Robert Havdock,
ei. 8th Feb. 1650.
Cotum :
O.S.B,,
Marv, daughter of Thomas Clifton, <
Hall, Es ■ '
CuthbcTt Clifton, Kni.
Gilbert Havdock. Geobge Haydock.
Richard Havd
Evan Haydock,
. = (3) Margery, daughter of James Wall, of Moor Hall, Esq. (by Isabel,
s. P. daughter of Wm. Travers. of Nateby Hall, Esq.), and relict of
John Hothersall, of Hothersall Hall. Esq.
. of Leach Hall, =
: (i1 Jane, daughter of Hugh Anderton, Esq., of Euxton Hall, by
Margaret, daughter of Roger Kirkby, of Kirkby, Esq.
^■- (j) Sarah, oA. ttneproU.
Jennet, married Mr Cottam.
Anne, married Mr Haighton. She w
and a widow, of Woodplumpton, in i;
William Haydock, Esq.. ofCoiiam
Hail, Lord of ihc Manor of Cot-
tam ; died unmarried ; and buried
at Preston, and March 1717. Will
dated asthMay 1713.
mprisoned in Lancuit
1716 for being a PrJcst ; died Chaplain
at St Monica's, Louvain, 32nd Sept.
AYDOCK, Priest, baptised
at Preston, 34th March 1683-4 ; or-
dained Priest at Douay in 1714; died
Chaplain 10 the Duke of Norfolk at
Worksop Manor, nth Jan. 1763. He
was Archdeacon of the Chapter,
Hugh Haydock, ^= Anne.
born aist July 1689
at Cottam Hal'
Park, Co. Nol
Eliz., daughter of Mr Ecdes,
o( Wood Plumpton, lath
Mayl?!?. She married andly
Robert Havdock, =- Alice, daughter
of Leach Hail, [ Robert Smith,
baptised Larbreck.
:, baptised 22nd Nov. 1718, ob. tn/am.
rr, baptised 34th Aug. 1720; married
' 1739. Ralph Fidler, of Lea.
, baptised 7tb April 1723, ofi. m/ans.
(l) Margaret, daugbte
of Thos. Holme,
died aist Aug. 1758.
Robert haydock,
of Leach Hall,
baptised
lOth Nov. 1749 ;
: Mary, his cousin, daughter of Ralph
Fidler, of Lea ; buried at New-
house Chapel, ijih Aug. 1808,
aged 69.
Eccles, of Wood Plumptoi
hia wife, Anne Bilsborough), and
sister of Mrs Wm. Haydock.
1st Nov!
n Chapel.
William Smith, of Clock House, Lea,
and of Forion, Gent., born 26th Aug.
1770; died 1st July 183I ; buried at
Alice.
married Thomas Edsforth,
of Myerscough.
Thomas HaydockI
George Haydock \
Oliver Haydock I
Janb, born 35th Feb. 180S ; married :
at Cottam, 14th Feb. 1830 ; died
at Ribby, 19th July 1871, aged
Joseph Gillow, of Prest
Ribby, Esq.. J.P., died at
29th Aug. 1872, aped 72.
, Rev. Geo. Leo Haydock,
at Penrith ; Canon of Hexham and
Newcastle; died 7th Feb. 1879,
aged 67.
WiLUAU, Priest, bom gih May 1818 ;
educated at Ushaw ; served Lawk-
land ; died at Broughton, 26tb
June 1892, aged 74; buried at
Cuthbert Havdock,
baptised 9th Aug. 1696;
buried 19th May 1697,
Gilbert Haydock,
baptised 7th Feb. 1699 ;
bis godfather being
Wra. Haydock,
William Haydoc
of Lower Bartell.
Will dated aiBt March
1746.
= (I) Eliz., daughter of
James Eccles. of Wood
Plumpton, Gent, and
sister and heir of Richard
^^ \i) Jane, daughter of
Mr Ingham.
Wood Plumpton,
of the family
of Green,
of Bowers Houae.
Mary, daughter of Oliver Hatch,
of Hatch Mill, whose mother,
Mary, wife of James Hatch, of
: daughter of Jas.
: George Havd
Cottam. Gem
1721 ; died 26th Feb. 1783. j jist Feb. 1760- died i7th April i8'33;
qa ; buried at Newhouse. Co-heircis to
^1 brothers.
I I I I I I
James Havdock, Priest, bom 1765 j educated at Douay College, and ordained
Priest at Arras in 1792; died at Lea, asth April 1809, aged 45, buried
at Newhouse.
Thomas Havdock, eminent Catholic publisher, born aist Feb. 1773; died at
Preston, 35th Aug. 1859, aged 87 ; buried at Newhouse.
George Leo Haydock, 'Priest, Biblical annotator. born illh April 1774;
educated at Douay College ; ordained Priest at Crook Hall, 2and Sept.
1798; resided much at The Tagg ; died at Penrith, agih Nov. 1849, aged 75.
Elizabeth, spr., of The Tagg, Cottam, died lath Sept. 1827, aged 67.
Mary, born 1763 ; died 4th March 177a.
MARGARET STANISLAUS HAYDOCK, O.S.A.. torn at The Tagg,
Cottam ; professed at St Monica's, Louvain ; died at Spetisbury House,
nth April 1854, .iged 87, the last survivor of St Monica's Convent. Louvain.
lOHN, Priest, bom 3rd Jan. 188O ; educated at
Ushaw and Rome, where ordained Priest in
Sept. 1844; succeeded his uncle, Thomas, at
Crozdale in i8ji ■ and died there, ajth May
1897, aged 77, uncle and nephew having served
ihat Mission for 95 years.
Rev. John Gillow,
died at Bruges, 30th Nov. 1881,
aged 48.
Rev. WiLLUM Gillow,
d at Berwick, 30th Nov. 1880,
aged 45-
Rev. Henry Gillow,
Canon of Hexham and Newcastle,
Joseph Gillow, Esq., author of "The ^
Bibliographical Dictionary of the EDglish
r:it>ini;«" "The Hnvrlnric PnnPTS '"^i-tr.
"The Haydock Papers,
Ella, daughter and heir of John
M'Kenna, Esq., of Woodlands,
Dunham Massey, Cheshire.
Jane, married Alex, Constantine
Rossi, Esq. ; died 18th April 1901,
Allen M. Gillow. Hbnrv Paulvn Gillow.
William Michael Gillow.
Joseph Leo Gillow.
Richard Michael Gillow,
Marie isa
ob. 14th Juni
Chairman of Lanchestcr Sessions, High Sheriff
of Durham, 1881, who died 9th May 1691,
aged 75,
n
VI,
Km., CI
ler, Eliz.
lerfield, I
Chancell
itan's CI
I
Tho\?mund, 2
of Hartc
ofEsq., Co.
di
(i) Mary, dn7th Nov.
Will. Ge* April i6
of Trent, Co. 1630.
I \
Margaret, buried igti
1683, at St Dunstan'g
1
Edward,
at/
Deering
di
StC
Deering.
A. B. =
= Will
ba
ar
iGARET
ev. Geo. I
ure Love
m at St Ni
Thomas, eldest son, borrii
1654, died same mc;
Mr Thos. Lower and L:v
godparents.
PEDIGREE OF ROPER, OF ELTHAM, CO. KENT
Thouas Ropsr, = Lucy, daughter of
Esq., Anthony Browne,
of Bltham, VUcount Montagu,
died 1597. died 1603.
AJier many generaliotis.
JOHN ROPER, of Eltham, Ca K«n, = JANE, daughter of Sir John Fineaux. KnL, Chief Justice
Attomey-GcDeral, died 1524.^ England, and co-heiress of her mother, Elis., daughter
and heiress of Wm, Appulderfield, Esq.
William Roper, of Eltham, eldest s
bom 1405 ; died 1577 ; buried in
St Dunitan's, Canterbury.
'ith her father's head id her a
ANTHONY Roper, ^= Anns, daughte
Henry. = Philippa Zouchb.
Sir William Roper, of Eltham, == Anns, daughter of
died at Rochester, and August Sir John Cotton, jun.
1638 ; buried in St Dunstan's, (Collins),
"DAME MARY" ROPER,
O.S.B., at Pontoise,
professed 1659 ; died 1690.
Edmund, and son, = Anne, daughter and
of HartcUffe, co-heiress of
Esq.. Co. KenL Henry Noble.
'DAME PLACIDA" ROPER,
O.S.B., at Pontoise,
professed [66a ; died 1709.
of Teynham, Ca Kent.
•DAME CATHERINE" ROPER.
O.S.B., at Pontoise,
professed 1669; died 1700.
: (2) Dorothy, daughter of
Thos. Hotte, of Ashton,
Co. Warwick, Esq.
Thomas, boro 17th Nov. 1585 ;
married 14th April [6ji ;
living (630.
^ [3) , daughter of Henry
Edward Roper, = Katherine, daughter of
of Well Hall, James Butler,
Esq. of Co. Sussex, Esq. ;
buried I7l5at St Dunstan's.
A.NNE, died I732,
Leonard,
died S.P.
Lord Mayor of London.
Katherine. = Wm. Strickland.
Sir Edward Deering,
Bart.,
of Surender Deering.
: Susan, daughter of John Winschombe,
of Henwick, Co. Berks, died ijih
Sepu 1630; buried in St Andrew's
Churchyard, Holbom.
: Edward Bsntlbv,
of Bentley House,
Co. Derl^.
Francis, Priest, S.J., bom ijSj.
Henry, Priest, S.J., bom 1583.
Edward. Priest, S.J., bom 1588
John, Priest, S.J., bom 1590.
Bentley godparents ; died
Francis, twin with Willia
bom 1633 ;
died same day.
MARY, eldest daughter, bom 21st May 1622
Mr Ant Roper and Mrs Malory, god
parents ; Nun at St Monict's ; prolesscd ii
1643.
Thomas, bom at Fleete Street, London,
20th May 1625 ; Or John More and
Mrs Ann. Winschombe, godparents.
MARGARET, bom i8th June 1627 ; Mr Musk
(Rev. Geo. Muskettvcre Fisher) and Margerie
Drure Lovett (daughter of Sir), godparents ;
Nun at St Monica's ; professed 1658.
George, bom and July 1619 ; baptised on 6th
by Mr South (Rev. John Soulhcote, D.D.) ;
Geo. MuEk[ett] and Sir Chas. Somerset's
lady, godparents.
Frances, bom a4th May 1630,
Thomas, eldest son, bom 3ISC Aut
i6j4, died s:imc month ;
Mr Thos. Lower and Lady Gage,
Henrv, bom i8th Aug. 1655: died
17th Oct same year; Mr Henry
Roper, of Famingham, and Mn
Caryll, of Goodwood, godparents.
stable and Lady Abergavenny, Lady Drummond, godparents.
Edward, bom inx Jan. 1659;
Maurice,
Charles, bom 5th Dec 1662;
Anthony, bom 37th July 1664 ;
Mr Edward Roper and
Mrs Bendlowes-Blotmt,
bora 1660 ;
Cot. Charles Trevanion and
Mr Anthony Kempe,
died 1664.
Lady Drummond, godparents.
godfather.
godparents.
Margaret Lowe or Lower, only daughter, bom
I8th Nov. 1667; Sir Marmaduke Constable and
Mrs Tressam, godparents ; died fir. 1683^ ;
buncd in St flunsun's.
r^
I. -NOTE ON ANTHONY JAMES KADCLIFFE'S SUCCESSORS. Etc.
On the death of Anthony James Radcliffe, Earl of Ncwburgh, «- • ,-
May 1588 ,t was beheved by Mr Surtees (mr. Durham^. 30. x^^
extinct and the male representation of the honour of Radcl.ffc, of Der^
water devo ved on the issue of Anthony Radcliffe. of CartmKTon C^sUc,
Northumberland, younger brother of the said Sir Gcor.r R-..dcl.ffc 1-he l.ite
of Newburgh borne by the Earl as heir of his gr. ,^^^ ,„ ,.,;,*
Oiustmiani, of Rome, but was claimed by Francis 1. .sop Co Derby
Esq^, who never, however, prosecuted his claim, but assumed the' title, a, did
h.s descendants until the death in 1853 of the last of the family, Dorothea, bora
Eyre, wife of Colonel Leslie. In 1858 the House of Lords declared Cecilia.
Princess Gmstiniani, Dowager- Marchioness IJandini, to be entitled lo (be
Earldoni of Newburgh, as heir of her great-great-grandmother. Charlotte
Maria, Countess of Newburgh, by her first marriage with Thomas Chfford,
Charles Radcliffe, the ancestor of Mr Eyre, being her second h\ishind.
IL-NOTE AS TO DESCENDANTS OF LADY NEWBURGH AND
THOMAS CLIFFORD.
By her first marriage Lady Newburgh had two daughters, the elder of whom,
Frances Clifford, died unmarried ; the younger, Anne, married at Paris in 1739
Count James Joseph Mahony, by whom she had an only daughter, Cecilia, who
in 1757 became the wife of Benedict, Prince Giustiniani, to whom she bore
three sons, two of whom, the Chevalier Laurence Giustiniani and J*n»e»
Giustiniani, Cardinal Bishop of Albano, died without issue ; and two daughter*,
married to Prince Ruspoli and Prince Odescalchi respectively. Her eldest son.
Vincent, Prince Giustiniani, who rightly succeeded to the Earldom of New-
burgh on 28th November 1814, married the only daughter and heir of the Duke
of Mondragone, and died in 1826, leaving an only child, Cecilia, Pnncess
Giustiniani, heir to her father and uncles, bom in 1796, and married in 1815
Charles, Marquess Bandini, by whom she had one son and four dau^-htcrs. In
1857 she was naturalized as a British subject by private Act of Parliament, and
in the following year her claim to the Earldom of Newburgh, etc, was allowed
by the House of Lords. She died at Rome in 1877, and was succeeded by her
only son, Sigismund, Prince Giustiniani, Marquess Bandini and Duke of
Mondragone, Earl of Newburgh, etc., a naturalized British subject, who married
(1848) Maria Sophia Angelica, daughter and co-heir of the ChcN-alicr Massani, by
whom he had Charles, Viscount Kynnaird, a British subject, bom iWi;, niamed
1885 Maria, daughter of the Prince of Trabia, when In I the title of
Duke of Mondragone, by whom he is the father of a son, . Uim i.SS^»,
of another son born 1892, and of two daughters. Of Prime Cuvtinum's eight
daughters, all naturalized by private Act of Parliament, C;u«ilina i> wife ol
Count Coleoni, Elena is married to Prince Rospi^liosi, Nuhoictt.i to the
Duke of Giazioli, Christina is a Nun, Isabella married in 1S7S, Ksmr William
Howard, M.V.O., 4th son of the late Henry Howard, of Grcystokc Ca»(k, Co.
Cumberland, Esq., and Cecilia and Anna Maria arc unmarried.
PEDIGREE OF RADCLIFFE, OF DILSTON AND DERWENTWATER
1 ItADCUrr>,barni4tl>P>b.iS»-7:
a RAOCtiwi, bora llh Sepi. 1J90 : di
(AKLIFPt. of CoFbridge, Gmt. l->m
Engliih College 1
, MARGARET RADCLIFFE "Si.t.rM.rr^^ =f S. P .„ ■ , ,k n .. ,^ -J. DOROTHY RADCLIPFB, ■•S««r?n«c. «r S. Bm^o." ot
pi^CW« « Aire in Lob, ol-hJ^X ™ O^rA. tit. JHh^ J^t^ U ANnV R«JCUR?^'- it.',2; ^. r..« IW«I,=." „. .h. n .
" - " il;6); UtXtiOiirii pHnp
iikJitm.Tym,; liS.CtllnitmttSlUar^i
. rj..';Ms.cXZ
.hfyfn.
.L^.^.:
•t WftliOt. Co. Vork, Etq., I
« RADCurra, <f>td umumed ii Dllitui, la ihe |
^ <S''fe'ff'!«!l?:"ry7:*^^B!;^^^ r^
rorcuoJ. 165s; UM, )eiJiOct,ieKf,tlCu]ln<,
!DWA.ofe«Kl.lF.l.lMM.r D;™c.n™i.,. m, .U..i™IJ>ovM»RVT»Dl»,n.lu™ld.|a,lim.lCh«l=ll, Fiurai ftxocUFrl, ind «.. »r, J.h A.,., Tl!0«»! h.KUrFl W .0., bonislb Julj WllUA. RADCUni. 4lh K.. tor. lilh Nm. »•;«..« ll.Wt.r.^sU, .00, bora loU. F.I.. . J"" M.IOA.IT R.DCimi, .». .r IMTIURINE BADCLIPPE, . M«.. lUt«lirFl, ll.rf .. k., I..,, I. OIJ ELIZAMtJ BAlld IE»« » c
Sfc^l'""''""''""""'"'"'""""'"'"'"' 1 sSS..""'"' '" ■ °" '" '"°° ""' v'' - l..^.'=I.°uii.'i;i"c*lBoto3. ™i"""p".il.lL.S«,|'.6V?.lrt"' "■" "■ -M7M,.«ll«.,.d,h,„. £S. ".fib m'ViVA ("' RraHSl''
[».«., H..1.,,.]
NRADCLim,(ann)m)1;ca
kbciim, jrd Md Mar/ P""™ Cuouhma Radcutfi, — P»*noii Pvbf. 4.h ,»r, af Th«m« Pfrt. of Hump,
■., ijij oh.Tel«o iDuncnl tfilld, l»m Id Piim dl I", n.il.y, ,,,,.1 (;..i„rll, i ,. UiK.itr, Em,. S
■^"MiHOimrn W^. Rm., HI Aug, ind bipUMd >b | - • ' - iWriVwrA
>d|^ b. fdUlJ.)
UhI,. [S»A'»,/.„W.1
SVS.:
^J^P,'!; .'*!,'' *,'*'' **''• M»«h 1I03, >«d fi Our Udy of Mmj, Bermoodiey, pntmtd Driibion, «hcreihedJedunmtni«il,iiBlJT died unmarried ■! bet m<
Lold^*' Ml 'i I""'ch h" *"*" 'jj"!*?"' '"41; died ijih und buried id yon; buried in the Ciiholic Ctiurdi, Moor- Rue Cutigliooe, P»rii. tfiih April iSjt,
;wX«w15;l"c^^«t
'lAug.folliwtni.""'"'"" *' "^ lljS". *" ^' " ° *""' '*' ''
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