A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE Nicholas of Arrouaise.' * The priory has some distinguished names amongst its earlier bene- factors. Sampson le Fort's charter was probably confirmed first by David I. of Scot- land and his son Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, 3 and certainly afterwards by Malcolm IV., 3 William the Lion, 4 Simon, Earl of Northamp- ton, 5 and Robert Bruce 6 ; while Baldwin des Ardres, Count of Guisnes, granted to the nuns the church of Stevington before 1153, 7 and the name of Roger de Quincy, 8 constable of Scotland, appears later. Before the year 1 1 8 1 however the prior and canons had ceased to exist, and the nuns were making efforts to free themselves from immediate subjection to the abbot of Arrouaise ; and after appeals from both parties to Pope Alexander III. the matter was finally referred to the arbitration of St. Hugh of Lincoln. Robert of Bedford, the precentor of the cathedral, was sent to treat with the abbot of Missenden, who was acting as proctor to the abbot of Arrouaise ; and the result of his negotiations was that Gervase set the nuns free for ever from subjection to the parent abbey, and yielded to them the two churches of Harrold and Brayfield, with all the other gifts of Sampson le Fort, on con- dition that they paid half a mark yearly to the abbot of Missenden. 9 Thenceforward until the dissolution the convent was ruled by a prioress, 10 having sometimes a warden or master, 11 like other small houses of nuns, and at one time a few lay brothers. 18 Of the • The charter of Malcolm IV. (Lansd. MS. 391, f. 6) speaks of lands held in the time of his father and grandfather.
- Ibid. 3 Ibid.
♦ Ibid. f. 5. 6 Ibid. 5b. « Ibid. f. 4. This was Robert de Bruce, son of Payn de Bruce, who held lands in Bedfordshire in 1 131 {Pipe R. [Rec. Com.], 103). 7 Lansd. MS. 391, f. nb ; it was confirmed by ' Eustace the king's son,' which must be before 1153. « Ibid. f. 13. 8 The whole of this transaction is found in Lansd. MS. 391, ff. 18b, 19 ; but it is dated quite clearly 1288: which is manifestly impossible. It may perhaps be a mistake for 1 1 88, which would do quite well for St. Hugh and Robert of Bedford. At the same time it seems extraordinary that Gervase, who was made abbot of Arrouaise in 1 124 (Helyot and Bullot, Hist, de Ordres Mon. ii. 107), should still be abbot in 1 1 88. Gervase's name also appears on the foundation charter of Bourne, 1 1 38. 10 A prioress is first mentioned in connection with Harrold early in the thirteenth century (see list of prioresses). 11 Line. Epis. Reg.. Memo. Sutton, 14. 11 Ibid. Memo. Dalderby, 31, 'To the prioress and convent of Harewold, to receive back a brother who being professed returned to secular life.' number of the nuns there is no indication until the very end, when there were only six at the outside. Nor is it easy to discover whether in giving up their direct connection with the abbey of Arrouaise, they ceased at once to observe the Arrouasian rule and to wear the habit of that order ; or whether, as seems more likely, the change was later. 13 At the dissolution they were reckoned as ordinary Austin canonesses. 14 The house has very little history of any kind. The chartulary in the British Museum, 16 which contains an abstract of the charters in the possession of the priory in the reign of Henry V., shows various small grants of lands and tenements in Bed- fordshire,and a few suits concerning churches. 1 * The latest item of importance is an account of the impropriation of the church of Shaker- stone in 141 6. 17 Early in the thirteenth cen- tury the advowson of the priory was probably held by Ralf Morin of Harrold and his son John, 18 and in 1279 certainly by Sir John de 13 Most of the other Arrouasian houses lost their distinctive features and became Augustinian be- fore the dissolution, except Nutley and St. Peter's, Dorchester. There was probably never much distinction. The order of St. Nicholas of Arrouaise in Artois was founded by Heldemar of Tournay and his hermit companions in 1090 (Helyot and Bullot, Hist, des Ordres Mon. ii. 107), about the same time that the Augustinian order was being reformed or re-organised on the basis of the rule taken from St. Augustine's letter to certain reli- gious women (No. 211, ed. Migne), and quite independently ; but afterwards it was looked upon as merely a branch of the Augustinian order, so much so that the abbot of St. Peter's, Dorchester, was fined for not appearing at the last great chapter of the order, though he pleaded that his house was Arrouasian, and that he was not therefore bound to come (Cott. MS. Vesp. D i. f. 64). The Arrou- asian canons originally wore a white habit and no linen ; they ate no meat, and kept a strict rule of silence {Hist, des Ordres Mon. ii. 107). >* Leland — quoted Dugdale, Mon. vi. 330. " Lansd. MS. 391.
- " Stevington was claimed by the son of Baldwin
des Ardres, but finally quitclaimed (ibid. f. 12b), and confirmed by John to the nuns of Harrold {Chart. R. 7 John, m. 1). The same church was again claimed in 1405 by Philip de Cornewayle, lord of Stevington, by right of his wife Constance, Countess of Huntingdon ; but awarded to the prioress by Bishop Repingdon (Lansd. MS. 391, f. 13b). The church of Brayfield was also disputed at one time (ibid. f. 15b). n Ibid. f. 18 (dated 1416) and 58b ; also Pat. 7 Henry V. pt. 2, m. 39 ; and Line. Epis. Reg. Mem. Repingdon, I28d, 129. is There are several charters between Ralf and John Morin and the prioress (Lansd. MS. 391, ff. 7b, 8) ; and Ralf Morin in 1 203 accused the 388
