THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA

The Spirituality of the Bridgettine Sisters of Syon in the Context of the Spirituality of English Women of the Late 15th and 16th Centuries

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to the Faculty of the

School of Theology and Religious Studies

Of The Catholic University of America

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

©

Copyright

By

Tyanna Lee Yonkers

Washington, D.C.

2014 The Spirituality of the Bridgettine Sisters of in the Context of the Spirituality of English Women of the Late 15th and 16th Centuries

Tyanna Lee Yonkers, Ph.D.

Director: Regis J. Armstrong, O.F.M.Cap., Ph.D.

In 1415, King Henry V established the of Savior, Saint Mary, and Saint

Bridget of Syon in , . Syon Abbey, as it was more commonly known, was a of women from prominent families and well-educated men who together followed The rewyl of Seynt Austyn and The Rewyll of Seynt Sauioure. These legislative materials, coupled with their Additions, enabled this monastic house to embrace a pattern of life dedicated to cultivating contemplative prayer and devotional study. Syon developed a reputation as a citadel of people committed to a passion for learning undergirded by their love for and devotion to Mary. By the time of the dissolution, Syon was known for both its wealth, its physical and spiritual benefits to the community, and its libraries which were unequaled by any other English monastery of the day.

At question is the influence of Syon’s spirituality over the women faithful of England in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Bridgettine Syon Abbey was a matriarchal centered house designated in Bridget’s Rewyll as founded by Christ “first and principally by women” for the “worship” of Mary. Syon was under the leadership of an , who was responsible for the supreme governance of the entire monastery. A general, who was responsible for only the spiritual wellbeing of the professed, aided her. Also exerting a feminine spirituality influence was The Orcherd of Syon, a paraphrase of ’s Il Dialogo, written specifically for Syon. Using an interdisciplinary methodology, this study explores the spirituality of Syon and its influence on the spirituality of the aristocratic and gentry women of England who were in some way connected with the abbey as evidenced by the books they owned, published, and/or willed to others. It reveals how Syon empowered them, or at least gave them “permission” to study and eventually to take up their pens and write. The study concludes with examination of a symbol that arises from Syon exemplifying the abbey’s spiritual influence on the women of

England of this era.

This dissertation by Tyanna Lee Yonkers fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in Spirituality approved by Regis J. Armstrong, O.F.M.Cap., Ph.D., as Director, and by Raymond Studzinski, O.S.B., Ph.D., and Anne O’Donnell, S.N.D., Ph.D. as Readers.

______Regis J. Armstrong, O.F.M.Cap., Ph.D., Director

______Raymond Studzinski, O.S.B., Ph.D.,

______Anne O’Donnell, S.N.D., Ph.D., Reader

ii

To John and Caleb

My Husband and My Son

The most important people in my life

iii

Contents

Introduction 1

Part I: Historical Survey

Chapter 1. Background: Western and England 11 The Church of the Fourteenth through Early Fifteenth Centuries (1309-1417) 11 England in the Fourteenth through Early Fifteenth Centuries (1337-1429) 15 England: The Last Half of the Fifteenth Century (1455-1485) 19 House of Tudor and the English (1502-1558) 20

Chapter 2. Foreground: History of Syon Abbey 26 Syon Abbey’s Conception and Birth (1406-1422) 27 Syon’s Early Growth and Popularity (1422-1488) 35 Syon and the Dissolution (1534-1539) 39 Peregrinations (1539-1594) 44 and Home (1594-1861) 51

Part II: The Rule and Spirit of Life at Syon

Chapter 3. The Rule of Life at Syon 54 Typical Day of Life at Syon 55 Background on the Rule, Regula, and Additions 63 Rule of St. Austin and Rule of St. Saviour 65 The Additions for the Sisters of Syon 73

Chapter 4. Life in the Spirit of Reforming Women and Contemplative Reading 81 Devotion to Mary 82 The Myroure of oure Ladye 87 The Spirituality of Bridget of (1303-1373) via the Myroure 96 The Spirituality of Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) via The Orcherd of Syon 104

Part III: Syon’s Influence on English Women

Chapter 5. Lives Touched by Syon 121 Spiritual and Physical Benefits from Syon 122 Prosopographical Examinations 125 Connections 126 House of York Connections 128

iv

House of Tudor Connections 130 Tudor Connections: The Wives and Daughters of Henry VIII 135 Gentry Class Connections 143 Merchant and Working Classes Connections 147 Lay Women as Book Owners and Donors 152 Syon Sisters and the Book Trade 153

Chapter 6. Conclusion: The Heartbeat of Syon -- Its Spirituality in Symbol 168

Appendix A Bridget Woodcut 1 185

Appendix B Bridget Woodcut 2 186

Appendix C Syon Seal 187

Glossary of Select Middle English Words 188

Bibliography Primary Sources 190 Secondary Sources 192

v

Introduction

Dotting the English countryside in the early sixteenth century was a virtual tapestry of over 800 active monastic houses. A century later, the scene altered drastically. An era of convoluted political and theological challenges gave rise to the . Central to this season of change was the Dissolution during which no monastic house was spared scrutiny and ultimate closure. The Dissolution commenced from the Act of Supremacy and its corresponding required Oath of Supremacy instituted by Parliament in 1534. Between 1536 and

1541, historical and religious losses were profound as the religious scattered. They concealed and took with them as many of their monastic artifacts as possible. Anything left behind, including the buildings in which they resided, were often destroyed. that were not destroyed were taken over by the or turned over to aristocratic families, as was the case with Syon. It is astonishing that any monastic community could survive such devastating destruction. Yet through flexibility, tenacity, and endurance, one foundation did survive. The Monastery of Saint Savior, Saint Mary and Saint Bridget of Syon, a Bridgettine1 house, survived not one but two exiles. Both of these exiles were fraught with periods of religious and political persecutions, natural disasters, health-challenging living conditions, and abject poverty. The tenured tenacity of this unique community saw them though until they returned to their native English soil on August 28, 1861.

1 “Bridgettine” is also spelled “Brigettine.” This work will utilize the spelling “Bridgettine” unless a quoted source uses the alternative spelling. 1

2 It is the purpose of this research to examine the spirituality of these Bridgettine sisters of

Syon monastery in England and their possible influences on the spirituality of the English women in fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Accomplishing this purpose necessarily calls for an interdisciplinary methodology viewed through historical-contextual, theological, anthropological, and literary lenses with an eye continually turned toward a hermeneutical analysis.2

The term “spirituality” has navigated numerous shifts in the history of Christendom, not to mention its varied usage in the larger religious context. Therefore, before proceeding further, it is necessary to define spirituality as it is used in this dissertation. Spirituality is understood both dialectically and existentially. Dialectically, it is the accepted beliefs and values regarding

God, self, and humanity in the entirety of one’s life at a specific moment in time. Existentially it is the life practices and rhythmic rituals, in which one intentionally engages as one journeys toward self-transcendence.3

Specifically for the sisters of Syon, dialectically spirituality is their specific beliefs as explicitly articulated in the Rule, the Additions, and their primary literature regarding God, self, and humanity. It is the characteristic virtues the sisters valued and sought to interiorize and embody both individually and collectively as a community from the monastery’s inception in

1415 through its second Dissolution in 1559. Existentially it is the life practices and regular

2 For this methodological approach I am indebted to the writings of Sandra M. Schneiders, Bernard McGinn, Walter Principe, and Philip Sheldrake. See their respective articles in Elizabeth A. Dreyer, and Mark S. Burrows, eds., Minding the Spirit: The Study of Christian Spirituality (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005). See also Philip Sheldrake, SJ, Spirituality & History, new ed. (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1995).

3 For a more extended discussion defining spirituality see Schneiders, “The Study of Christian Spirituality,” in Dreyer and Burrows, 5-7; McGinn, “The Letter and the Spirit,” in Dreyer and Burrows, 29-30.

3 religious rituals in which they consistently engaged in the process of growing toward self- transcendence.

It is insufficient to impose on the Syon sisters a generic Bridgettine spirituality. Bridget’s

Rule prescribed the primary way of life for every Bridgettine house. Additions were added to that Rule, written in ways that, at a minimum, nuanced variations to the original Bridgettine spirituality as expressed at the motherhouse in Vadstena, Sweden. Additionally, shaping Syon’s spirituality were a myriad of English people, literature, and religious practices. So too were they impacted by the primary socio-economic classes from which the professed came, even as they were affected by the uniqueness of their historical-contextual setting. Understanding this breadth of influences reinforces the necessity of an interdisciplinary study in order to view more clearly the panoramic vision of their spirituality. To lay the foundation for this study, it is first necessary to express in this introduction a brief version of the monastery itself, and its historical, theological, anthropological, and literary contexts.

Syon Abbey, as it became known, was a double monastery of women from prominent families, and well-educated men who together followed the and the Rule of Saint . The majority of its professed members were women who embraced a pattern of life dedicated to cultivating contemplative prayer and devotional study under the leadership of an abbess, who was responsible for the supreme governance of the entire monastery.4 The professed men were also under her authority. The only exception to her

4 Bridget’s Rule designated the composition of each house to be no more than eighty-five members, sixty women and twenty-five men. A more detailed explanation of this is in Chapter 3.

4 authority was the community’s spiritual wellbeing, which was the responsibility of a confessor general, or a -priest appointed by him for that work.

A life of contemplative prayer and a “Bridgettine” version of the Divine Office,5 the

Bridgettine , were at the heart of Bridget’s Rule. This text was a modified form of the

Common of the Blessed Virgin, similar to the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin that had been adopted by other religious communities in England, e.g., the .6 While emphasizing the recitation of this Office, Bridget’s Rule also valued and emphasized the importance of study and reflective or inwardly spiritual reading signified by the Rule’s provision for the sisters to have as many books as they desired for study. Study and learning were so important to women of this community that written for them by one of the priest-brothers was the The Myroure of oure

Ladye,7 a work written to explain the rudiments of inward spiritual reading, offer guidelines for choosing literature appropriate for such reading, and to provide a translation and commentary of the community’s Divine Office.

Three English texts most frequently used for study by the of Syon were St. Bridget’s

Revelations, St. Catherine’s The Orcherd of Syon,8 and the Myroure. The Abbey published these three books over a thirty-eight year period, 1492, 1519, and 1530, respectively, at the desire of who seemingly hungered to possess sound devotional texts. The Orcherd of Syon and the

Myroure were among some of England’s most popular vernacular devotional texts.

5 Bridget’s Rule uses the terminology “Divine Office.” The Additions and The Myroure of oure Ladye uses the terminology “Divine Service.” 6 The Bridgettine Divine Office will be discussed further in Chapter 4. 7 Hereafter Myroure. 8 The Orcherd of Syon is actually a Middle English translation of Catherine’s Il Dialogo. It will be discussed in Chapter 4.

5 Syon quickly developed a reputation as a citadel of scholarship in England as it became known for its libraries, which were unequaled by any other English monastery of the day.

Curiously, while there remains an extensive catalogue of the brothers’ medieval library, no such record exists for the sisters’ library, though evidence confirms they had one. Books were the only permissible possession for the professed at Syon. About twenty percent of the sisters at Syon brought manuscripts or books with them when they entered the community. Sisters also had books willed to them. They in turn willed their books to others. The genres of the books studied at the monastery included homiletic, liturgical, theological, devotional, and sixteenth century humanistic writings. Evidence also reveals knowledge of , English, and French among both the women and men of the community.

Out of this unassuming bastion of scholarship, newly discovered manuscripts are emerging. Three manuscripts of a devotional genre are attributed possibly either to a sister of

Syon or to women who had close connections with the monastery. Additionally, women from the royal houses of Lancaster, York, and Tudor, with unquestioned connection to Syon, also seem to have exercised their writing and translating skills. One wonders if this writing emerged as a result of at least the implicit influences out of their interacting with Syon through various means.

In this light, the influence of prayer, contemplation, and study at Syon may well have influenced the culture of England and specifically the women of the aristocratic and gentry classes during a time of religio-political instability when people seemed to be anxious for sound spiritual wisdom.

To understand Syon and its sisters’ spirituality more fully, Chapter 1 will begin with the history of the Western Church and England throughout the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. Ecclesial issues in these three centuries were challenging with the Church facing the

6 long Avignon Papacy and the consequent divisive Great Schism. Further, Pre-Reformation and

Reformation issues demanded the attention of not less than fifteen . On a more positive side, the continued inspiration of the fourteenth century English mystics certainly had an influence, especially when noting the presence of the writings of Walter Hilton and Richard

Rolle among the acquisitions in the Syon libraries. England found itself in flux throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Society was also recovering from the era of the Black Death and its devastation of the English population. Politically, ten monarchs from three houses

(Lancaster, York, and Tudor) ascended the English throne and each one faced varying fiscal challenges. Turmoil between these families gave rise to the thirty-year .

Culturally, the country was migrating from the end of the into the English

Renaissance era. All of these issues were swirling in this English cauldron of change and they each had varying impacts on Syon.

Chapter 2 will examine the founding and historical development of Syon Abbey from

1415 through its second dissolution in 1559. During its first hundred years, Syon experienced steady growth and development gaining its reputation as a community of lovers of learning who fervently desired devotion to God. From the last quarter of the fifteenth century through the first third of the sixteenth, the Abbey turned to commissioning the printing of its Syon focused literature signifying an increasing following among the English people who desired devotional literature to nourish their hungry spirits. Concluding this chapter will be a glimpse of Syon’s tenacity of spirit as their peregrinations, settlement in Lisbon, and ultimate return to English soil are briefly reviewed.

7 The focus in Chapter 3 is the rule and spirit of life at Syon. The chapter begins with an imaginative journey through a typical day of life at Syon. The chapter then examines the English translations of the Rule under which the were founded, The rewle of Seynt Austyn, their constitutions which was Bridget’s Rule known as The Rewyll of Seynt Sauioure, and The

Syon Additions for the Sisters. The purpose of this examination is not an exhaustive study of their legislative material; rather, it is a survey of the material searching for glimpses of the spirituality of the Bridgettines of Syon.

Chapter 4 explores the three women and two books automatically associated with Syon.

Using The Myroure of oure Lady as a basis, the chapter opens with an examination of Syon’s

Marian devotion, especially as it comes through their unique lessons read each day at Matins, the

Sermo angelicus. It moves next to explore the The Myroure of oure Lady’s instructions to the sisters regarding various aspects of contemplative reading and study. Understanding the contents of this book is key to grasping the fullness of the Syon sister’s spirituality. This chapter concludes with a look at the spiritual lives of Bridget of Sweden and Catherine of Siena since together they model the spirituality the sisters sought to embody. Catherine of Siena’s spirituality will be explored through the lens of The Orcherd of Syon, a work created specifically for the sisters of Syon. This examination will reveal further anthropological and sociological dimensions to the research. The fullness of Chapter 4 will shed light on the Syon sisters’ spirituality as their virtues, certain life practices, and religious rituals will be uncovered including places where their life practices differ from other Bridgettines, most particularly from Vadstena.

Chapter 5 will explore a cross-section of women connected with Syon. This exploration will also serve to further enhance and enlighten the historical context under study. Records

8 reveal Syon maintained connections with women from Aristocratic, Gentry, and Middle Classes.

These women were either monastic benefactors and/or they were book owners or donors. Syon was also not beyond the reach of the Working Class as will be seen in the life of Elizabeth

Barton, Maid of Kent, who visited Syon and received advice from the priest-brothers. Such a cross-section will shed light on the spirituality of the English women and their personal religious practices and readings as influenced by the spiritual life practices of Syon.

Chapter 6 will conclude this research presenting analyses on the findings of this interdisciplinary study of the spirituality of Syon Abbey. After a brief introduction to the recent research in spirituality, the chapter will turn to identifying the essence of the spirituality of the

Bridgettine sisters of Syon. Emerging from the historical-contextual, theological, anthropological, and literary research is a three pronged spiritualty into which the sisters lived and out of which they were able to survive challenges, especially throughout the tumultuous sixteenth century.

With the essence of the spirituality of the Syon sisters in mind, the chapter will conclude with a hermeneutical analysis via an exploration of a possible symbol which exemplies the sisters’ spirituality. Syon had associated with it numerous symbols and images with which the sisters and the community would have been familiar. These symbols and images will be examined to ascertain which one most clearly represents the sisters of Syon as women of deep faith who loved God with the fullness of their beings. They expressed this through their adoration and devotion to Mary. Likewise, the sisters loved learning and devotedly engaged in the practice of contemplative reading. These two loves enabled them to embrace the reforming spirit of the exemplars of their Order. Though numerous symbols and images will be identified,

9 one will become primary as a means of understanding the depths and dynamics of the spirituality of the Syon sisters in the context of the spirituality of women in fifteenth and sixteenth century

England. Reflection on key symbols and metaphors opens windows to the discovery of deeper insight into the persons or group which a symbol represents. Including the dimension of symbol to the hermeneutical analysis of this research will enable the reader to gain a greater understanding of the essence of Syon Abbey and what it was that enabled them to become the monastic powerhouse of influence in England in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

In the process of this research, many questions have emerged. This is not surprising given that until the last twenty years, Syon was largely overlooked. The research that has been done to this point has been discipline specific. Out of the questions that emerged from this interdisciplinary research come recommendatoins for further research. These recommendations are woven throughout this final chapter.

There is much to learn from England’s Monastery of Saint Savior, Saint Mary and Saint

Bridget of Syon. Syon reveals the effectiveness of a communtiy who has learned to embrace a love of God and a love of learning for the benefit of those who come to be associated with it. To this interdisciplinary research we now turn.

PART I

HISTORICAL SURVEY

10

Chapter 1

Background: Western Church and England

Life emerges and grows within a web of complex and interrelated connections. This is true whether one speaks of individual human lives or the life of an organization. It is an accepted fact that nothing emerges or develops in a vacuum. The emergence and development of the

Monastery of St. Saviour and Sts. Mary the Virgin and Bridget of Syon, of the order of St.

Augustine and of St. Saviour is evidence of this fact. Understanding Syon’s essence and the spirituality it embodied and radiated requires its historical contextualization in both religious and socio-political spheres. What follows, therefore, is the contextualization of Syon Abby from five decades preceding its 1415 foundation through its historical development and post-Dissolution peregrinations. This contextualization requires an understanding of life in the land of England and more specifically its monarchy. The English religious context into which Syon was born and ultimately developed also demands attention. This multidimensional contextualization of Syon will prepare the reader for an exploration into the birth and development of the monastery on

English soil.

The Church of the Fourteenth through Early Fifteenth Centuries (1309-1417)

Emerging in the fourteenth century Church were three matters of conflict and challenge: the Avignon Papacy (1309-1417), the increasing impact of women mystics, and Lollardy. Each of these matters had some measure of influence on the foundation and development of

Bridgettine Syon Abbey.

11

12 The first thirteen hundred years of the Church, saw as the only residence for the and his papal offices. That all changed in 1309 when French Pope Clement V (pope, 1305-

1314) took up residence in Avignon, beginning what Church history would identify as the

Avignon Papacy.1 Avignon as the new place of residence was not universally welcomed. and Scotland sided with France in favor of Avignon, but England and Sweden stood with the

Italian clerics, favoring a return to Rome. This return to Rome became a temporary reality when in January 1377, Gregory XI (pope, 1370-78) left Avignon and returned to Rome. In 1378,

Italian born Urban VI (pope. 1378-89) was chosen by Roman cardinals. Following his election,

Urban did not return the to Avignon as the French cardinals expected, an act they declared treacherous. The French cardinals proceeded to choose Clement VII (anti-pope, 1378-94). The two “popes” anathematized each other beginning what became known as the Great Western

Schism.2 From 1378 to 1417, the papacy had first two and then three persons simultaneously claiming the title of Pope since they all believed they had been properly elected. The Schism finally concluded in 1417 at the Council of Constance when Church Cardinals in attendance deposed the three claimants to the papacy and elected their own Martin V (pope, 1417-31).

Understanding the Avignon Papacy and the Great Western Schism is important since they occurred during the lifetime of St. Bridget of Sweden, founder of the Bridgettine Order. Bridget first sought approval of her Regula Saluatoris during the Avignon Papacy. Avignon Urban V

(pope, 1362-70) approved her Rule in August 1370 as an appendage to the Rule of St. Augustine.

1 This time is also known as the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, a designation taken from Martin Luther’s 1520 treatise attacking the papacy, On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church. Luther chose this name as an allusion to the Old Testament’s description of Israel’s Babylonian Captivity. This treatise attacked the papacy because Luther believed the pope to be the antichrist, holding the Church captive through the sacramental system. 2 Or simply, the Schism.

13 Since Urban V was a legitimate but Avignon residing pope, the Rule had to be reconfirmed again in December1378, this time by Rome residing, though still schismatic Urban VI. The end of the

Great Western Schism demanded an legitimization of Bridget’s Rule which occurred in

1417 by Martin V, the first pope elected following the end of the Schism by the Council of

Constance.

It is also important to understand the dynamics behind the Great Western Schism since it was during this time that King Henry V was establishing Syon, a Bridgettine religious house in

England. The charter was signed in 1415 just to the end of the Schism demanding an official post-Schism papal confirmation for this Bridgettine house. Martin V granted confirmation in 1418.

The second Church matter affecting the people of England in the fourteenth century was mysticism, women mystics in particular, since they raised for the Church a question of authority.

This problem actually began in the eleventh century when anxiety arose over holy women and lay religious groups not explicitly connected to the authority of the Church. At issue was what

Henry of Ghent (†1293) identified as the auctoritas ex beneficio as opposed to auctoritas ex officio.3 Women were to be under the male clerics whose authority came by virtue of their office.

However, women were supposedly receiving revelations from God, the highest authority. Out of these revelations the women influenced the in the development of their sermons. Women mystics were also granted the ability to discern even the secret sins of the clergy, implicitly increasing their authority over the men. The end result from the female mystical experience was

3 Bernard McGinn, The Flowering of Mysticism: Men and Women in the New Mysticism (1200-1350), vol. 3 of The Presence of God: A History of Western (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1998), 21.

14 the perception that women held a higher authority than men because of their direct revelations from God.

Anxiety over women’s voice and ex beneficio authority culminated in the Clementine decree of 1311, Cum de quibusdam mulieribus, which served to curtail the writing opportunities for women. Though this decree was largely targeted to semi-religious women, the Beguines in particular, women as a whole were no longer to write without the permission of their confessor.

Fortunately, this decree did not stop all women from continuing their work, including St.

Bridget. However, the decree was apparently strong enough to do significant damage to the female voice. Janette Dillon points out that decrees of the Church from popes and select religious

Orders reveal “the fear and hostility of the orthodox church … [and indicate] pressure on … to prove that the women under their guidance were both exceptional … and orthodox.” 4

A third matter facing the Church emerged in mid-fourteenth century England. Lollardy, as it became known, was a movement stemming from the ideas and practices of Pre-Reformation theologian John Wyclif (Wycliffe) (†1384) and his followers, the Lollards. They espoused the importance of reading the Bible in the vernacular. Lollardy was also highly critical of the

Church, and Lollard teachings challenged traditional religious life. These and other Lollard doctrines engendered an anti-Catholic sentiment among the English people of their time.

Such was the context of the Church, most particularly as it affected England. It is evident that the fourteenth century was a difficult time for the Church hierarchy as well as the women

4 Janette Dillon, “Holy Women and their Confessors or Confessors and their Holy Women? Margery Kempe and Continental Tradition,” in Prophets Abroad, ed. Rosalynn Voaden (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1996), 120.

15 faithful. The political environment and the reciprocal effects of the state on the Church and vice versa was also a challenge. Therefore, an examination of English politics in Syon’s pre- foundation era need examined with an ear to understanding the English attraction to Bridget and

King Henry V’s ultimate selection of a house of her Order as his chosen royal foundation.

England in the Fourteenth through Early Fifteenth Centuries (1337-1429)

Wars marked fourteenth century England. The wars of Edward I and II with France,

Scotland, and Wales strained the nation’s resources. However, of all wars the most devastating was the so called Hundred Years War (1337-1429).5 This war began in 1337 when England’s

Edward III (king, 1327-77) laid claim to the French throne through the lineage of his mother,

Queen Isabella who was daughter of France’s Philip IV (king, 1285-1314).6 St. Bridget received two revelations from Christ regarding this war between England and France. The first revelation came to her in the thirty-ninth year of the Avignon Papacy, advocating Edward III’s right to rule both kingdoms. In the second revelation Christ instructed Bridget to direct Avignon Clement VI

(pope, 1342-52) to help England and France bring an end to this war by ceasing his preferential treatment of the King of France and returning to Rome.7 Such revelations would have opened an endearment for Bridget among the English.

5 The name “Hundred Years War” is an oversimplified term for a series of conflicts between England and France over control of the French throne. The conflicts occurred between 1337 and 1453 and they varied in intensity depending upon the desire of the reigning English monarch for control of both countries. 6 Isabella became Queen consort of England in 1307 upon her marriage to Edward II of England whom she deposed in January 1327. Their fourteen year old son, Edward III, succeeded his father as King of England. 7 Neil Beckett, “St. Bridget, Henry V and Syon Abbey,” in Studies in St. Birgitta and the Brigittine Order, vol. 2 of Analecta Cartusiana 35.2, Spiritualität Heute und Gestern, ed. by James Hogg (Salzburg: Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik Universität Salzburg, 1993), 126. Bridget’s revelations are found in Book IV, chapters 103-105, and 136 of her Revelations.

16 Forty years into the war, Edward died leaving the throne to his ten-year-old grandson,

Richard II (king, 1377-99). Richard’s uncle, , served as regent, and along with councils ran the government. Richard’s reign was fraught with conflict from the poor working class rebelling over burdensome taxes to challenges from political leaders for control of the government. In 1387 the Lords Appellant attempted to take control of the government. Among the Lords Appellant was exiled Henry of Bolingbroke, son of Richard’s regent, John of Gaunt.

Richard was able to quell the coup d’état and remain in control until Henry returned for revenge in 1399. Richard was then deposed, and Henry made himself the next king of England, the first of the Lancastrian kings. Henry sent Richard into captivity and in the following year saw to his murder.

For complicity in the murder of Richard and for involvement in a later murder of

Archbishop Scrope of York,8 Henry IV found himself out of favor with the papacy. In an effort to bring Henry back into the graces of the papacy, a Bill of Absolution was issued by Gregory

XII (pope, 1406-15). This bill ordered Henry to “found three religious houses as part of his penance.”9 However, due to a lack of financial resources, Henry IV’s vow to establish even one of the three houses during his reign never became a reality. Though he never established a religious house, he was granted a request in 1408 to be the “special friend and protector”10 of the

Bridgettine Order. It is also interesting to note that Sweden’s Queen Philippa was Henry IV’s daughter. Philippa had a lady-in-waiting who was a granddaughter of Bridget. It is not unrealistic

8 Scrope led a rebellion against Henry in 1405. The rebellion failed and Scrope and his compatriots were executed. 9 John Rory Fletcher, The Story of the English Bridgettines of Syon Abbey (South Brent, : Syon Abbey, 1933), 18. 10 M.B.Tait, “The Bridgittine Monastery of Syon (Middlesex) with Special Reference to its Monastic Uses” (DPhil. Thesis, University of Oxford, 1975), text-fiche, 54; see also Beckett, 127.

17 to consider that the relationship between Philippa and her lady-in-waiting may have inspired

Philippa to become a benefactor of the Bridgettine motherhouse at Vadstena. Philippa became so close to the Bridgettines at Vadstena that she requested and was granted burial in a Bridgettine habit in the Bridgettine Church.11 It is equally conceivable to conclude that Philippa, daughter of Henry IV and sister of Henry V, inspired and/or increased their affinity to Bridget and her Order.

Henry IV’s reign was fraught with repeated challenges to his power. Fighting these uprisings brought further strain to the nation’s resources. Fortunately, though these matters challenged the nation, at least this time saw a relative peace within the war with France. That peace ended when the war was resumed by Henry’s son, Henry V, but not before he established two religious houses.

After ascending the throne, Henry V (king, 1413-22) established two religious houses, both on the banks of the Thames. The first one was a Carthusian house, Sheen , founded in

1414 and the second a Bridgettine house, Syon Abbey, in February 1415. The motive for the establishment of these houses, especially as the earliest of his royal acts, cannot be known with certainty. Some suggest it was part of an English royal custom calling for monarchs to establish new religious houses and Henry was therefore embarking on a “campaign to create a network of

‘ecclesiastical satellites’ around the royal manor at Sheen.”12 Others claim it was the reminder from Gregory XII of the failure of Henry’s father to fulfill his vow to establish three monastic houses in expiation for the deaths of Scrope and Richard II. Shakespeare popularized

11 Philippa’s request indicates her deep affinity for, and/or close ties to the Bridgettines. See Dillon, 117. 12 Vincent Gillespie, ed. Syon Abbey, with The Libraries of the , ed. A.I. Doyle (London: The British Library in association with The British Academy, 2001), xxx.

18 this idea in the prayer offered by King Henry V on the eve of the which took place on October 24, 1415.

O God of battles! steel my soldiers’ hearts; Possess them not with fear; take from them now The sense of reckoning, if the opposed numbers Pluck their hearts from them. Not to-day, O Lord, O, not to-day, think not upon the fault My father made in compassing the crown! I Richard’s body have interred anew; And on it have bestow’d more contrite tears Than from it issued forced drops of blood: Five hundred poor I have in yearly pay, Who twice a-day their wither’d hands hold up Toward heaven, to pardon blood; and I have built Two chantries, where the sad and solemn priests Still sing for Richard’s soul. More will I do; Though all that I can do is nothing worth, Since that my penitence comes after all, Imploring pardon.13

These “two chantries” (ll.353-55) are Syon and the Carthusian Priory of Bethlehem at Sheen.

M.B. Tait denies what Shakespeare implied in this prayer. Tait argues that Henry did not establish the two houses as an attempt to expiate his father’s involvement in the death of

Archbishop Scrope. Tait points out that the charter issued by Henry V “makes no reference to such an agreement, to any set of expiation or even to Richard II or Archbishop Scrope.” Rather, based on the prayers prescribed for the monarchy in the foundation charter, “Syon is…conceived of in terms of a gigantic powerhouse of prayer for the members of the House of Lancaster, living

13 Shakespeare, “The Life of King Henry the Fifth,” Act 4, Scene I, The English Camp at Agincourt. King Henry V, lines 342-358.

19 or departed,” an act of vital necessity “at a time when Henry V was proposing to re-open hostilities with France.”14

While it is clear from the documents that Henry V was completing his father’s desires, it is also clear that he identified himself as the primitivus fundator of the house which he had begun de novo. Jeremy Catto adds that the establishment and support of Sheen and Syon “placed the seal of ecclesiastical approval upon independent lay spirituality.”15 While the initial desire for a

Bridgettine settlement may have been altruistic and spiritually motivated, one cannot deny at least a partial drive to establish these monastic houses could have been motivated by Henry V’s desire to gain victory in the longstanding war with France, a war to which he turned after establishing these houses.

England: The Last Half of the Fifteenth Century (1455-1485)

Consuming the last half of the fifteenth century was the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485), a power struggle of the English upper classes whose effects at least minimally affected Syon since it was a royal foundation.16 The Wars of the Roses were a series of military coup-like wars, carried out by small armies among the noble family contenders for the throne. Each family claimed a legitimate heir and each was vying for ultimate monarchial control. After thirty years of skirmishes and exchanges of leadership, peace ultimately came to the English monarchy when

Lancaster Henry Tudor married Elizabeth of York, daughter of York Edward IV and niece of

14 Tait, 55. 15 Jeremy Catto, “Religious Change Under Henry V,” in Henry V: The Practice of Kingship, ed. G. L. Harriss (Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press, 1985), 111. 16 The name “Wars of the Roses” derives from the family emblems of two involved families, the Lancaster Red Rose and the York White Rose.

20 Richard III, effectively uniting the two families.17 What emerged out of this union was not only monarchial peace but also a new reigning house, the House of Tudor.18 The Tudors would rule

England for the next 117 years.

House of Tudor and the English Reformation (1502-1558)

Henry VII’s reign was largely peaceful and his leadership skills led to a restoration of the monarchy’s wealth and a stabilization of the nation’s economy. Henry accomplished this financial feat with heavy tax burdens on the noble classes. While Henry VII’s reign was largely uneventful with regard to its effect on the history of Syon Abbey, there was one particular event that ultimately proved fateful for religious houses and ultimately set the stage for the English

Reformation. That one event occurred in 1502 following the unexpected death of Henry’s first son, Arthur.

A mere four months prior to his death, Arthur married . After

Arthur’s death, Julius II (pope, 1503-13) issued a dispensation so that Arthur’s brother, heir apparent Henry, Duke of York, could marry Catherine. The dispensation was granted in 1503, but it was not until the death of Henry VII in 1509, that Henry VIII agreed to marry Catherine since that was his father’s dying wish.19 The couple quietly married—an act which ultimately set the stage for Henry’s soap opera-like series of marriages with not one wife but six.

Henry VIII entered his kingship with the nation largely at peace, financially sound, and religiously Roman Catholic. The peace can be credited to the effective governance of his father

17 Edward IV reigned from 1461-70 and 1471-83. Richard III reigned from 1483-85. 18 Signifying the union was the Tudor Rose emblem which combined the Red Rose of the House of Lancaster and the White Rose of the House of York. 19 For details of the dispensation see J.J. Scarisbricke, Henry VIII (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968), 192-195.

21 including the national alliance he arranged through marriage. As the husband of Catherine of

Aragon, Henry was related to Spain’s King Ferdinand of Aragon (Catherine’s father) and to the

Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (Catherine’s nephew). The excess in financial resources in the monarchy’s treasury is attributed to Henry’s father’s fiduciary effectiveness. The nation was

Catholic, though not without challenges, as the Protestant Reformation sat like a simmering pot on the verge of boiling over. Henry was unquestionably Catholic in his faith. However, ironically, it would be the actions of the second half of his reign that would ignite the English

Reformation and create the Church of England.

To varying degrees, primarily three people were complicit with Henry in the Dissolution of the monasteries in England: Thomas Wolsey, , and Simon Fish. To leave for himself a legacy, Wolsey (1473-1530) set out to establish a college at Oxford and a grammar school in Ipswich. These endeavors required significant financial resources. Wolsey secured permission from both the monarchy and the papacy to suppress twenty-nine religious houses.

Assisting him in this undertaking was Thomas Cromwell (c. 1485-1540), first Earl of Essex and

Henry’s chief minister. In 1525 and again in 1528 inquires were made to determine which houses were failing to live up to their Rules and hence required closing. This act of securing funds through the closing of religious houses set precedence for what would develop later as the

Dissolution.

Anti-Catholic sentiment which had taken root with Wycliffe and the Lollards over a century earlier was exacerbated by Simon Fish (†1531), a Protestant reformer and propagandist

22 who published an anti-clerical pamphlet titled “A Supplycacion for the Beggars.”20 Fish’s polemical writings accused the Roman of, among other things, owning too much English land. His writing contributed to idea of confiscation of monastic lands by the government.

The first break with the Church came after Parliament issued the First Act of Supremacy

(1534). This Act ultimately resulted in Henry’s excommunication from the Roman Catholic

Church in 1538. With the Act of Supremacy in place, Parliament authorized the visitation and investigation of monastic settlements, an act mimicking the precedent setting events of the previous decade when religious houses were investigated and many dissolved.

In January 1535, Cromwell sent a commission of enquiry to monastic settlements for the purpose of determining the moral character and properly observed practice of each settlement.

An ulterior motive in these examinations was to determine the financial worth of each house with an eye toward closing those found guilty of any hint of either moral laxity or failure to live faithfully their Rule.21 The monetary gains from the closings would then be put into the king’s coffers in an effort to restore financial stability. This initial enquiry took only six months; its product, the Valor Ecclesiasticus (1535) contained evidence sufficient to warrant the closing of the lesser monasteries.22 This gave rise to the Act for the Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries, the preamble of which stated the reason for closing the houses as the “manifest sin, vicious,

20 In answer to Fish’s pamphlet “A Supplication for the Beggars” (c. Feb. 1529), wrote “The Supplication of the Souls” (c. Oct. 1529). Fish’s challenge (412-22) and More’s answer (111-228) are both included in The Complete Works of St. Thomas More, vol. 7 (New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1990). 21 Geoffrey Moorhouse, The Last Divine Office: Henry VIII and the Dissolution of the Monasteries (Katonah, NY: BlueBridge, 2009), 122-123. The visitors were to ask a series of eighty-six questions of every religious in each house visited. 22 Lesser Monasteries were those with fewer than twelve inhabitants but greater than £200 per annum.

23 carnal, and abominable living, is daily used and committed amongst the little and small abbeys, , and other religious houses….”23 While the Valor was the official report, it must be noted that there were conflicts with reports from episcopal visitations. Both reports found indiscretions, but the episcopal reports did not find as many and certainly not in every lesser monastery.24 From 1535-37 a total of 327 smaller houses were dissolved. Their estates were transferred to the monarchy and the professed were pensioned off, many of whom signed the

Oath only out of fear.

Yet this was not the end of the matter. In November 1537, the question of dissolution reemerged, this time with indications that the true plan was the closure of all remaining houses.

However, to accomplish total dissolution required a new approach. Passage of The Suppression of Religious Houses Act (1539) made the closure of houses “the unchallengeable right of a

King,” easing and accelerating the process.25 By March 23, 1541, no monastic house was in official existence. In the end, the monarchy gained about £1.5 million from the closures.

As part of the Dissolution, large numbers of monastic buildings and the contents therein were destroyed. Some, as was the case with Syon, were granted to the possession of the families of the aristocracy and nobles for continued use. Initially remained in the King’s hands with John Gates, Esq. appointed as keeper. In 1547, on its way to Windsor, Henry VIII’s dead body rested at Syon. During the night, Henry’s coffin burst and dogs licked his blood fulfilling a prophecy made by a Franciscan five years earlier. Thus ended the life story of

Henry VIII, an intelligent and talented man whose legacy was largely defined by the last half of

23 Quoted in Moorhouse, 128. 24 G.W.O. Woodward, The Dissolution of the Monasteries (New York: Walker and Company, 1966), 30-42. 25 Moorhouse, 170. On this change in policy, see also Woodward, 107-115.

24 his reign. The irony of his life is that for selfish and self-serving reasons he enabled the demise of the Church in England and permitted the very faith he disavowed, Protestantism, to become the faith of England.

Henry was succeeded by his only surviving son, Edward VI (king,1547-53), son of Jane

Seymour, Henry’s third wife. Since Edward ascended the throne as a child and died before reaching his sixteenth birthday, his reign was governed by a Regency Council which made additional moves toward Protestantism. Following Edward’s death, Mary I (queen,1553-58),

Henry’s daughter by his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, assumed the throne. Mary worked to restore England to Catholicism. A part of that restoration involved the re-founding of six monasteries. In 1555, Cardinal Pole, on his journey as from Rome to England

“petitioned Philip and Mary for the restoration of the two monasteries of Syon and Sheen”26 which of course they granted. Unfortunately, the re-establishment was brief because Mary’s death in November of 1558 led the way to the rise of , who as daughter of Anne

Boleyn was staunchly Protestant. Therefore, she quickly returned the nation back to

Protestantism and again dissolved the monasteries.

The historical contextualization of England in the fourteenth through the early sixteenth centuries reveals a country with internal and external challenges in both its church and its governance. It reveals a nation whose government was inextricably connected to the Church. The drive from both the Church and the nation for ultimate control set up a tenuous situation into which Syon Abbey was born. With this historical contextualization set in place, it is now time to

26 Syon Abbey, Five Centuries, Record of the English Bridgettines of Syon Abbey: 1420-1920 (Rochdale, UK: Orphans’ Press, 1920), 7.

25 turn to the actual founding and development of Syon Abbey. It will be noted, at least through its first dissolution, Syon seemed to set as a balance point on the fulcrum between the church and nation, charting a via media enabling it to survive and impact the lives of many.

Chapter 2

Foreground: History of Syon Abbey

The Monastery of Saint Savior, Saint Mary and Saint Bridget of Syon, England’s only

Bridgettine monastery was founded in 1415. Its first century of existence experienced the favor of royal patronage. Yet that favor did not survive the religio-political turmoil of the early decades of the sixteenth century. In November 1539, the monastery was officially dissolved. Except for a brief return during the reign of Mary in 1557, the members of Syon lived in various locations in the until they finally took up residence in Lisbon, Portugal in 1594. There they remained until they were finally able to return to England in 1861. What follows is the story of

Syon. The information provided will prepare the reader for an exploration into the spirituality of

Syon and the impact it had upon specific women associated with the monastery in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

A survey of English monasteries prior to the foundation of Syon in 1415 reveals it was customary of English monarchs to establish new religious houses. This practice began as early as the seventh century, peaking between the reigns of Norman Henry I (king, 1100-35) and

Plantagenet Edward I (king, 1272-1307). Following Edward I the practice waned but did not cease until the era of the Dissolution in the sixteenth century. The benefits of royal foundations were numerous, including the guarantee of perpetual prayer for the founders and their families, visibly tangible acts of a king’s penance and piety, and the conveyance to the community that the reigning monarch was a person of integrity and moral worth. While these benefits were significant for a monarch, the founding of royal houses was financially burdensome. It may be

26

27 for the reason of costliness, that between 1377 and 1415, no monastic house for women was established.1 Recall also that besides the cost of establishing new monasteries, this period was one of great turmoil in the Western Church because of the Great Schism (1378-1417) and in

England because of the troubled reigns of Richard II (king, 1377-99) and Henry IV (king, 1399-

1413). It must also be acknowledged that there may have been larger Church issues preventing the establishment of monasteries in this historical era.

Syon Abbey’s Conception and Birth (1406-1422)

The remote cause of Syon’s beginnings emerged in 1406 when Sir Henry Fitzhugh,

Baron of Ravensworth,2 accompanied Henry IV’s daughter Philippa to Sweden for her marriage to King Eric XIII.3 During this trip, Fitzhugh visited the Bridgettine motherhouse at Vadstena.4

He “was so deeply impressed by the spirit of peace and holiness reigning there, that he declared before the assembled, his intention of making a foundation of the Order in England.”5

Through a charter dated November 28, 1406, Fitzhugh granted his Cherry Hinton manor, near

Cambridge, to the Bridgettines, should the king of England choose to establish a house of the

Order in England.6 Upon his return to England, he impressed upon the king his perception of the

1 Lina Eckenstein, Woman Under : Chapters on Saint-Lore and Convent Life Between A.D. 500 and 1500 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1896), 365. 2 Fitzhugh’s (1363-1425) name is spelled variously including Fitz-Hugh, Fitzshugh, and FitzHugh. 3 More precisely, Erik was King of Denmark, Sweden and . He ruled Denmark from 1396-1439, Sweden from 1396-1439 and Norway from 1389-1442. In Sweden he is also known as Eric of Pomerania. King Eric married Princess Philippa on October 26, 1406. 4 Also referred to using the spelling Wadstena. 5 Syon Abbey, Five Centuries, Record of the English Bridgettines of Syon Abbey: 1420-1920 (Rochdale, UK: Orphans’ Press, 1920), 2; see also John Rory Fletcher, The Story of the English Bridgettines of Syon Abbey (South Brent, Devon: Syon Abbey, 1933), 16-17. 6 Fletcher, Story, 16-17; J.R. Fletcher, “State Papers &c Connected with Syon: AD 1406-1506, 1528, 1557-8” (South Brent, Devon: Syon Abbey, nd), , Special Collections FLE/1, vol. 1, 23-26; see also Neil

28 Order and the benefit it could be to England with its spirit of peace and holiness. It is likely that

Fitzhugh also capitalized on Pope Gregory’s Bill of Absolution issued to Henry IV to establish three monastic settlements by recommending that one of the monasteries be Bridgettine. This was not likely a difficult argument given royal documents revealing a personal affinity for

Bridget. The challenge to establishing a Bridgettine house would ultimately be a financial one.

In 1407, one of the Vadstena Bridgettine brothers journeyed to Fitzhugh’s Cherry Hinton manor to examine it for its suitability as a Bridgettine monastery; however, the brother died before he could return to report his findings. Early in 1408, two Bridgettine brothers moved from the motherhouse in Vadstena to Cambridgeshire, England with the intentions of arranging the foundation of an English Bridgettine house. They soon discovered that Fitzhugh’s Cherry Hinton manor was merely a moated farm house and consequently unsuited for the type of facility required for a Bridgettine house. That discovery, coupled with Parliament’s 1408 moratorium against the establishment of new alien priories on English soil, prevented a settlement at this time.7

Though Henry IV desired to establish an English Bridgettine house, insufficient financial resources made it prohibitive for him to do so. However, his son, Henry V took up the mandate and established two houses, one of which was Bridgettine and would become known as Syon

Abbey. Jeremy Catto regards this endeavor of Henry V as “by far the most ambitious monastic

Beckett, “St. Bridget, Henry V and Syon Abbey,” in Studies in St. Birgitta and the Brigittine Order, vol. 2 of Analecta Cartusiana, ed. by James Hogg (Salzburg: Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik Universität Salzburg, 1993), 126-7. 7 Fletcher, Story, 16-17; see also E.A. Jones and Alexandra Walsham, Introduction to Syon Abbey and its Books: Reading, Writing and Religion c. 1400-1700, eds., Jones and Walsham (Woodbridge, Suffolk and Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2010), 4-5.

29 foundation attempted by an English king, and one designated to place the monarchy at the spiritual centre of English life.”8

On the feast In Cathedre Antiochena St. Petri, February 22, 1415, Henry V laid the foundation stone for Syon.9 Attendees for the stone laying included Richard Clifford, of

London, who presided as Prelate. The foundation charter, which should have been established before the stone laying, was issued a week and a half later on March 3, 1415. Henry’s charter stated that the monastery was to celebrate Divine Office for the purpose of the health of the living monarch as well as offering regular prayers for the souls of the monarch’s family, particularly his parents Henry IV and Mary de Bohun. Others identified for prayers included his grandparents, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and Blanche of Lancaster, “and of other progenitors, and of all the faithful departed.”10 The charter specified the name of the monastery as “the Monastery of Saint Saviour and Saint Bridget of Syon,” a name it was to bear

“forever.”11

In May 1415, two months after the Charter of the Foundation was written, four professed sisters and three were commissioned at the motherhouse at Vadstena to begin the

8 Jeremy Catto, “Religious Change Under Henry V,” in Henry V: The Practice of Kingship, ed. G. L. Harriss (Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press, 1985), 110. 9 Sources conflict over the beginning of Syon at least until April 21, 1420 when the Order became official through the taking of vows of its first sisters and brothers. During this time Henry V also established a Charterhouse for forty Carthusian called House of of Bethlehem at Sheen. This house would have some connection to Syon at least until the Dissolution in 1539. See A. Jefferies Collins, ed., Introduction to The Bridgettine Breviary of Syon Abbey: From the MS. with English Rubrics F.4.II at Magdalene College Cambridge (Worchester, England: Stanbrook Abbey Press, 1969). 10 Syon Abbey, Five Centuries, 3. 11 F.R. Johnston, “Joan North, First Abbess of Syon, 1420-33,” Birgittiana 1 (1996), 47-68. Signers of the charter included: Bishop of Winchester, Bishop of London, Bishop of Norwich, Thomas, Duke of Clarence, John, Duke of Bedford, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Thomas, Earl of Arundel, Richard, Earl of Warwick, Sir Richard Grey, Sir Gilbert Talbot, Sir Henry Fitzhugh, and Sir Thomas Arpyngham.

30 English house in in Middlesex, England. The sisters were Kristina Finvidsdotter,

Ragnild Tidesdotter, Anna Esbjörnsdotter, and Kristina Esbjörnsdotter. The names of the novices are not available. These seven women would remain members of Syon until their deaths.

Accompanying the women were two brothers, Johannes from Kalmar and Magnus

Hemmingsson. On the second day of Pentecost, May 20, 1415, Archbishop of Lund, three from Sweden, and one from Norway led these nine individuals out of their Vadstena enclosure in the “most ceremonious of all the many exits to new foundations.”12 On August 26, upon their arrival at Twickenham, they began living together as a community.13

Henry had written to Vadstena seeking assistance for Syon’s facility design since St.

Bridget provided detailed specifications for the proper physical structure of each Bridgettine house. Assistance for the design was not received until the Vadstena commissioned retinue arrived on August 26, 1415. Even then, Henry did not follow correct procedures or regulations in completing Syon’s first dwelling at Twickenham. Beckett notes that “At both foundations [Sheen and Syon] work was begun before negotiations with the appropriate authorities had been undertaken – still less successfully concluded.”14

The foundation charter identified the first abbess as Matilda Newton, and William

Alnwick as the first confessor general.15 It quickly became apparent that cooperation between

12 Sr. Patricia O.SS.S., “The Growth and Expansion of the Order,” in Hogg, Studies in St. Birgitta and the Brigittine Order, 32. See also Syon Abbey, Five Centuries, 4. 13 Fletcher, Story, 22. 14 Beckett, 133. 15 Henry also identified these names and positions in his supplica. However, the Syon Martiloge identifies Joan North and Thomas Fishbourne as first abbess and general confessor, respectively. It does not even mention Newton nor Alnwick. This could be because neither were ever professed as Bridgettines; rather, Newton was a Benedictine from and Alnwick was a secular priest. A description of both the Bridgettine abbess and confessor general will be presented in Chapter Three.

31 Newton and Alnwick could not be resolved resulting in a January 1416 conference with theologians from the Benedictine and Cistercian Orders. The conflict surrounded issues of authority within the Syon house. Papal approval for Regula Salvatoris gave the abbess authority in temporal matters only. Henry gave her “overall authority tam in spiritualibus quam in temporalibus.”16 Henry’s decision brought the English Bridgettines in line with Bridget’s intentions in her original Rule. Years earlier, around the time when Bridget was first establishing her Rule, Pope Urban V “disapproved of the ‘subordination of the men to the women.’

Consequently, he insisted on revisions which redefined the role of the abbess, diminishing her power over the male religious of the community.”17

At this 1416 conference called to settle the conflicts between Newton and Alnwick, it was decided to bring the “abbess’ sphere of authority” in line with Urban V’s Regula revisions, returning the authority of the abbess to only temporal matters.18 Henry eventually “dismissed”

Newton when it was apparent that she “did not possess sufficient tact to guide the community in its struggle to perfect its own organization.”19 This conflict may have been averted had Henry properly sought approval for the establishment of the house from the pope prior to issuing the charter and setting the stone per Bridget’s instructions in the Rule.

16 Beckett, 134. See also M. Deanesly, ed. Introduction to The Incendium Amoris of Richard Rolle of Hampole (Manchester, 1915; rpt. Folcroft, 1974), 110-1; Knowles, Religious Orders in England, vol. II The End of the Middle Ages (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1955, 1961), 178. 17 Nancy Bradley Warren, Spiritual Economies (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001), 11; see also M.B.Tait, “The Bridgittine Monastery of Syon (Middlesex) with Special Reference to its Monastic Uses” (DPhil. Thesis, University of Oxford, 1975), text-fiche, 34-35. 18 Warren, Spiritual Economies, 11; see also Roger Ellis, Viderunt Eam Filie Syon: The Spirituality of the English House of a Medieval Contemplative Order from its Beginnings to the Present Day (Salzburg: Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik Universität Salzburg, 1984), 32. 19 Beckett, 134; see also Deanesly, 113-16.

32 The exact date when Henry sought Pope Martin V’s confirmation of Syon is not recorded. It is interesting to note that he petitioned for confirmation of, not permission for, this religious house. The formalization took place in 1418.20 Why there was a delay in seeking this confirmation and why the document is undated are not entirely known. It may be related to the fact that at the time when the house was being established, the Church was embroiled in the

Western Schism. When the Schism finally ended with the election of Martin V in November

1417, it was to him that Henry petitioned for the approval of Syon. It may also be possible that this delay could have been what today might be called a passive-aggressive attempt to challenge the authority of the papacy especially given its weakened state from decades of Schism and given the long history of power struggles between monarchs and popes.

In August of 1418, Pope Martin V issued from Geneva three bulls for Syon. On August

18, 1418 he issued the first two. The first was to King Henry V, Eximie devocionis. This document stated that the purpose of the monastery was, “for the perpetual serving of God, in praise of the omnipotent God, increase of divine worship, and the propagation of religion, and for the health of the souls of thee and thy progenitors of divine memory, Kings of England; also, thou proposest, God favouring thee, to found and endow some other monasteries and places of the same order.”21 Additionally, the bull appropriated to Syon the churches of Yeovil (Somerset) and Croston (Lancashire).22 The second bull, Integre devocionis, was issued to the Archbishop of

20 Collins, iii, and iii n. 7; Beckett, 133. 21 Fletcher, Story, 50-51. 22 F.R. Johnston “Syon Abbey,” in A History of the County of Middlesex: Vol. 1, Physique, Archaeology, Domesday, Ecclesiastical Organization, The Jews, Religious Houses, Education of Working Classes to 1870, Private Education from Sixteenth Century J.S. Cockburn, H.P.F. King, and K.G.T. McDonnell, eds. (London: Boydell & Brewer, Ltd., 1969), under “Religious Houses – House of Bridgettines,” accessed June 28, 2009, http://www.british- history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22119, cited William Dugdale, “Dugdale's Monasticon Volume 6 Part 2” in

33 Canterbury, the Bishop of London, and the of St. Albans. It authorized the amending of

“any error in the foundation of Syon” and the admission “to regular profession those who wished to enter the monastery so that an abbess and confessor could be elected.”23 Permission was further granted for entrance to Syon to any member of another Order whose Rules were less strict than Syon. A year and a half later on January 28, 1420, the Bishop of London ordered the publication of this second bull.24

Around this same time, Martin V also issued Sane sicut exhibita. Though the specific date is not definitively known, this time frame is assumed “since some of its provisions were embodied in the Additions to the Rule drawn up for Syon about this time.”25 The purpose of this bull was to put “the abbey and all its possessions…under the protection of the ….”

Additionally, Syon was “to be free from all sentences of excommunication, suspension, and except by special mandate of the Pope.”26 Remaining intact was a provision in the Rule granting the designation of “visitor” to the bishop of the for the purposes of confirming the elections of and confessor generals.

After the arrival of the Vadstena commissioned Bridgettines in August of 1514, increasingly joined them in house; however, they were not able to make their professions until April 21, 1420, after the foundation became official. Among the first group to

Monasticon Anglicanum: a History of the Abbies and other Monasteries, Hospitals, Frieries, and Cathedral and Collegiate Churches, with their Dependencies, in England and Wales (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, 1817-1830), 544. 23 Johnston, “Syon Abbey.” 24 Syon Abbey, Five Centuries, 4. 25 Johnston, “Syon Abbey.” 26 Johnston, “Syon Abbey.”

34 profess vows at Syon were twenty-seven sisters, five priests, two , and four lay brothers, less than half of the designated eighty-five total members as set forth in Bridget’s Rule.27 One year later, on May 5, 1421,28 nearly six years to the day of the first sisters setting out from

Vadstena, the first official “canonically-elected” abbess and confessor general, Joan (Johanna)

North and Thomas Fishbourne (Fyshburne) respectively, were confirmed and blessed by Bishop

Clifford of London. Fishbourne was Clifford’s cousin.

Though Syon had a slow start, it quickly became successful and popular with postulants who were coming in increasing numbers seeking admission to this unique monastery. There was also a strong lay attraction to Syon coming from a cross-section of the English people, “from the poor and needy, who were daily tended and fed at the monastery ‘wheel,’ to the greatest and noblest of the land, all represented by some holy member, either living or dead, of the House of royal foundation.”29

There is a requirement in Bridget’s Rule stating that every year prior to the Feast of All

Saints, an assessment is to be made regarding the needs of the monastery in the coming year.

After said account is made, “whatever is over and above from the present year, either money or foodstuffs,”30 is to be shared with the poor on All Souls Day. This practice, along with the

27 Fletcher, Story, 13; G.J. Aungier, The History and Antiquities of Syon Monastery, the of and the Chapelry of Hounslow (London: Hounslow Heath, 1840), 21. 28 Collins gives the date as May 4. The Abbey marks May 5, 1421 as the day of its true foundation. See Syon Abbey, Five Centuries, 4-5. 29 Syon Abbey, Five Centuries, 5-6. 30 Adam Hamilton, The Order of St. Saviour in England under Yorkists and Tudors, volume containing articles by Adam Hamilton originally published in “The poor souls’ friend,” 1907-08, with MS notes by J.R. Fletcher (April 1907 to Dec 1908) University of Exeter, Special Collections MS 95/FLE 22, 1.

35 general genuine piety of the professed members, made Syon quite popular among all classes of people, effectually extending the abbey’s influence throughout the English countryside.

By 1422, Syon Abbey “was endowed with manors and spiritualities, scattered over the land from Kent to the Lake District, which were chiefly appropriated from the possessions of alien priories.”31 The closure of various alien priories around England later became recognized as the first steps of what would become the total Dissolution of monasteries in England under

Henry VIII a century later.

Syon’s Early Growth and Popularity (1422-1488)

Over the next seven years both state and church legislative changes served to foster and deepen Syon independence from both the English monarchy and the Bridgettine Order. On

February 2, 1422 Thomas Fishbourne sought and received a Bull of Privileges for Syon from

Pope Martin V. This bull, Mare Magnum Anglicanum, made Syon independent from other

Bridgettine houses. Three years later, 1425, the bull was taken one step further and issued as

Mare Anglicanum, essentially severing Syon from Vadstena, the motherhouse of the Bridgettine

Order. This bull also severed Syon “from the general chapter of the order”32 making it an independent house. Along with Mare Magnum Anglicanum, Martin V also issued the Bulla

Reformatoria. This bull freed the sisters to write their own Additions to the Rule. They included the bull in Syon’s now official Additions for the Sisters which “begins by confirming Episcopal jurisdiction over Bridgettine houses in terms that stress a gendered, hierarchical, familial

31 Eckenstein, 386. 32 Collins, xxxi; see also Ulla Sander Olsen, “Work and Work Ethics in the Nunnery of Syon Abbey in the Fifteenth Century,” in The Medieval Mystical Tradition England: Exeter Symposium V, ed. Marion Glasscoe (Cambridge, England: D.S. Brewer, 1992), 133; Vincent Gillespie, ed. Syon Abbey, with The Libraries of the Carthusians, ed. A.I. Doyle (London: The British Library in association with The British Academy, 2001), xxxi.

36 relationship between the nuns and the visitors.”33 According to the bull, English bishops, in addition to the ordinary discharge of their offices, are also to be “faders and iuges in al cases and causes, that toche the sustres or brethren, and also visitours and proctours of the seyd monasteryes.”34

By 1426 the monastery had grown so significantly that its quarters at Twickenham were deemed inadequate prompting Syon to seek permission to construct new buildings at another, more desirable location since their current location was too damp and of insufficient size. Some scholars believe the actual reason for the move was because the first structure did not follow

Bridget’s specifications.35 Regents for the four-year-old King Henry VI acted quickly upon the

Abbey’s request, deciding that new buildings would be constructed at Isleworth, a location to the west of Twickenham.36 This site was situated on the banks of the Thames across from the

Carthusian house at Sheen, a house originally chartered less than a year before Syon.

Unlike the first structure, advice was sought from the Bridgettine motherhouse in

Vadstena for proper specifications of this new facility prior to starting construction. The stone

33 Warren, Spiritual Economies, 21-22. 34James Hogg, ed., The Rewyll of Seynt Sauioure, vol. 4, The Syon Additions for the Sisters from the British Library MS. Arundel 146 (Salzburg: Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik Universität Salzburg, 1978), 47, f.25a. Hereafter Additions referenced parenthetically. For direct quotes, line numbers will follow the page number. At times, chapters in the Additions are designated with Roman numerals (e.g. Capitulum xxviii). However, for the sake of consistency Arabic numerals will be used throughout. Middle English will be provided in the text and Americanized English will be given in the footnotes when necessary to assist translation. 35 Beckett, 133; see also Tait, 61-2. 36 The new location is presently owned by the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland and the facilities on these grounds, though not the original building, use the name Syon. In this particular source, the spelling “Sion” was used. See also Johnston, “Syon Abbey.”

37 for Syon’s new chapel was laid on February 5, 1426 by John, Duke of Bedford, and Cardinal

Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, both regents for Henry VI who was only four years old. 37

Five years later, but still before construction of the entire facility was completed, Syon sought and was granted permission to move to the new Isleworth location. The move occurred on the Feast of Saint Martin of Tours, November 11, 1431. Henry Chichele, Archbishop of

Canterbury, re-enclosed the professed on that same day and presented to them the ceremonial . It was in this new home where “the convent became renowned for a piety at once fervent and enlightened, and for an unflinching austerity practiced in the strictest seclusion.”38

Over the next three decades, construction continued on their new domicile. Acquisition of additional lands from bequests by their aristocratic supporters, and grants from the monarchy provided assistance for the completion of the facility. The abbey also granted to anyone contributing to or helping with the construction of the new facility. On November 12,

1443, one of the first acts of Syon’s second abbess, Maud Muston (abbess, 1443-47), was the securing of “letters patent granting her freedom for ten years from molestation by the king's purveyors, who were not to remove building materials on the site or interfere with them on the highways.”39 Abbess Muston secured these letters to ensure the successful completion of the building program. The vastness of Syon’s monastic construction is evidenced by the fact that

37 Cardinal Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester (†1447), Henry’s V’s paternal half-uncle. 38 Collins, iv; Johnston, “Syon Abbey.” 39 Johnston, “Syon Abbey”; Aungier, 57.

38 between 1461 and 1479 over £6,226 was spent on the church, cloister, dormitory, chapter-house, and smithy.40

On August 20, 1488, sixty-two years after construction commenced, the new structure was finally complete. Unlike Syon’s first facility, this second facility properly followed the basic architecture prescribed in Bridget’s Rule.41 Similar to the facilities of other double monasteries,

Syon was a single facility with the men and the women residing in separate ends of the building, a design intentionally limiting both visual and verbal interaction between the two professed groups. Syon’s men occupied the southwest side of the facility and the women the north side.

Two chapels, separate yet connected, sat between their respective residences. The men’s chapel was located on the ground floor and the sisters’ was above it, set in such a way to enable the sisters to “see the sacmentys & here the office.”42 Collins explains that the sisters were able to see “the ceremonies performed at the High-,”43 not merely see the elevation of the host and the cup after the . In order to say the Mass at the sister’s altar, designated priests, accompanied by the abbess and prioress or other designee, would unlock a grate or “grille” which served to ensure the secure separation of the men and women. This grate also served as

40 Fletcher, Story, 28; Johnston, “Syon Abbey.” In 2010, £6,226 from 1479 is worth 3,620,000 using the retail price index and 37,400,000 using average earnings. Source: Lawrence H. Officer, and Samuel H. Williamson, “Purchasing Power of Money in the United States from 1774 to 2010,” MeasuringWorth, 2013. Accessed July 5, 2013. www.measuringworth.com/ppowerus/. 41 Nothing remains today of the facility “except part of an exquisitely carved gate post used to display the martyred remains of St. in 1535.” Archaeological excavations have uncovered the “enormous scale of the monastic church, a rival to England’s greatest contemporary buildings.” See Virginia Bainbridge, “The Bridgettines and Major Trends in Religious Devotion c 1400-1600: with reference to Syon Abbey, Mariatroon and Marienbaum,” Birgittiana 19 (2005), 231. 42 James Hogg, ed., The Rewyll of Seynt Sauioure and Other Middle English Brigittine Legislative Texts, vol. 2 The MSS. Cambridge University Library Ff. 6. 33. and St. John’s College Cambridge 11 (Salzburg: Salzburger Studien zur Anglistek und Amerikanistik, 1978), Tenth chapter, 33 [f. 54v]. Hereafter Rewyll X, 33 [f. 54v] referenced parenthetically. 43 Collins, xiv.

39 the place for hearing confessions, and the entranceway for the visitation of the bishop or the admittance of a .44

The first half century of Syon’s existence were years of quiet steady growth and prosperity in spite of the political upheaval within the monarchy. As Syon strengthened, it became a powerful monastic community, unassumingly exerting its influence on the spirituality of the English countryside through literacy, education, and the devotional life of men and women alike. However, this state of constant growth and prosperity was not to continue because of the dismantling work of Henry VIII’s Dissolution.

Syon and the Dissolution (1534-1539)

Syon remained strong through the early years of Thomas Wolsey’s pre-dissolution examinations.45 The tenacity of the faith of the English Bridgettines became increasingly evident during this difficult period, reflecting the very faith and determination of their foundress, St.

Bridget. When Wolsey first visited Syon in 1523, he found no irregularities. On the contrary, he discovered that the lives of the Bridgettines were commendable. Despite the pristine findings of their investigation, Abbess Jordan was still required “to submit to an exaction of £333 6s. 8d.,” an act revealing the ulterior motives behind the visitations of the monasteries.46

After Archbishop Cranmer’s annulment of Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon and the king’s subsequent excommunication from the Roman Church, Parliament enacted the 1534

Oath of Supremacy. Reaction to the Oath among the religious was mixed. Most of the London

44 Note: Additions sometimes refers to the grate as the sisters’ ‘dore.’ Chapter Three will contain a more detailed discussion of the specifics of these matters as presented in the Rewyll and Syon Additions. 45 cf. Supra, p. 21. 46 Fletcher, Story, 31.

40 Carthusians, Observant , and Cistercians resisted taking this oath to the king.47 With regard to Syon, F.R. Johnston reported that prior to the incident with Elizabeth Barton, “the intellectual atmosphere seems to have been tolerant and the community ready to follow the official policy over the king’s matrimonial troubles.”48 However, over time, this early tolerance deteriorated into strife within the abbey.

The earliest letter from Thomas Bedyll to Cromwell, dated August 28, 1534, opened with a declaration that the confessor general, having already mentioned the king’s title in two sermons, is “bothe tractable and conformable.” David Curson likewise used the king’s title in two sermons, though appended the phrase “mea culpa” on one of those occasions. In contrast, Fr.

Richard Whitford failed to mention the king’s title in his sermon. The day after Whitford preached, Saint Bartholomew’s Day, Fr. Robert Ricote (Rygote) preached and during his sermon affirmed the king’s title as head of the church, but then indicated that the one who ordered him to make the affirmation forced him to go against his conscience. After Ricote made his statement, nine brothers walked out of the service. Whether they were in opposition to Ricote using the king’s title, or his chastisement of the person who required him to use the title is not clear since at least three of this group, John Copynger, Richard Lache, and Bisshop, eventually conformed to royal supremacy. Because of the adamant opposition openly voiced by Whitford and Lache, it was advised that they would no longer be permitted to preach at Syon. The letter summarizes the situation at Syon by stating:

47 Fletcher, Story, 34. David L. Edwards, Christian England: Its Story to the Reformation (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1983), 296; Susan Doran and Christopher Durston, Princes, and People: The Church and Religion in England, 1500-1700, 2nd ed. (London & New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 1991 & 2003), 150. 48 Johnston, “Syon Abbey.” See also Fletcher, Story, 32-33. As a result of her proclamations, she was executed on April 20, 1534. Barton’s story will be discussed in more detail in the second chapter of this dissertation.

41 The Confessor there [John Fewterer], and som other of the wisest of his brethren, the Abbas [Agnes Jordan], and al her religious susters, like good, wise, and feythful ladyes to our soveraine Lord, be wel contented with the Kinges Grace said title, and wolbe redy to declare their consentes to the same, when so ever they shalbe required.49

The following spring, the visitations intensified beginning with the April 20, 1535 arrest and imprisonment of Richard Reynolds, the “Angel of Syon.” On May 4, 1535, he became the first of two known Bridgettine . Martyred with him that day at Tyburn were four other religious.50

A correspondence dated July 28, 1535 from Bedyll to Cromwell shows continued disunity at Syon over the matter of the Oath. This letter describes the abbess and the sisters as

“conformable in euery thing” and states with assurance that the confessor general and Father

Curson will mention the king’s title in their upcoming sermons. The letter also reports two brothers, not specifically named, who may need to be removed from the house because of their efforts in speaking against the Oath.51

By December of 1535, visits to the abbey by , Bedyll, and Cromwell revealed continued conflict over the issue of the Oath between the brothers and shifting attitudes within the ranks of the sisters. While some sisters refused submission, others conformed. It is unclear whether or not Abbess Jordan ever accepted the king’s supremacy over the church in

England.52

49 State Papers, temp. Hen. VIII. Vol. I. pt. ii. p. 422 in Aungier, 435-37. 50 The second Bridgettine martyred for refusing the Oath was Thomas Brownal, discussed below. cf. Infra p. 42-44. 51 Cotton. MS. Cleop. E. vi. Fol. 168, quoted in Aungier, 428-429. See also Peter Cunich, “The Brothers of Syon, 1420-1695,” in Jones and Walsham, 39. 52 Fletcher, Story, 34-35; see also Tait, 76-80.

42 A letter from Layton dated December 12, 1535 reports that Fr. Bisshop (Bisshope)53 preached to a full church at Syon and used the king’s title as head of the church. When Bisshop used the title, lay brother Thomas Brownal “openly called hym fals knave.” The letter further identifies misbehavior of Bisshop and two unnamed lay brethren including going out at night, bringing in women, and having an affair with an unidentified nun for whom he was confessor.

Layton claimed to have seen letters written by the nun to Bisshop about their “folisshenes and unthrifftynes.” He also identified sexual misconduct between the abbess and Bisshop, about which he merely remarked, “I supose is trewe.” The truth of these allegations has not been confirmed, though it is known that both Bisshop and Robert Ricote were ultimately released from their vows.54 Further, Layton claimed he had talked with the brothers and “many of them wolde gladly depart hens, and be ryght wery of ther habite.”55

A letter five days later, December 17, 1535, from Thomas Bedyll to Cromwell identifies the brothers of Syon who are standing “stif in thaire obstinancy” and the attempts made to convert them to the Oath. The letter explains that because of their obstinacy with the Oath,

Richard Whitford and Anthony Little (Litelle) were prevented from hearing the sisters’ confessions and advised that they also be prohibited from hearing confession from those in the community. Matthew, a lay brother was identified as converted. 56

Bedyll’s letter moves next to discuss efforts in dealing with the sisters. He reports that when given the option to remain in the charter house as a sign they consented to the Oath or

53 Bisshop’s first name is not recorded. He is only referenced as Fr. Bisshop or Bisshop. 54 Cunich, 67. 55 Cott. MS. Cleop. E. IV. fol. 125 quoted in Aungier, 85-86. Aungier does not provide the year. The year 1535 is provided by Tait, 78, and Cunich, 64. 56 Cotton MSS. Cleop. E. IV. fol. 169 quoted in Aungier, 87.

43 leave if they refused, “none among thaim…departed.” However, Agnes Smith, reportedly worked to prevent Bedyll and Layton from removing the convent seal, an act which would have declared submission of the house. The letter concludes with a plea from the sisters that Cromwell

“be good maister unto thaim and to thaire house,” and to not allow the “mysbehavor of one person” to be the cause of the house’s closure. There is also a request from the sisters that

“Bisshop and Parker might be discharged from the house” of Syon. Apparently, Fr. Bisshop and

Richard Parker are in favor of being discharged.57 No explanation is given for the sisters’ request, though it is likely that sexual misconduct issues brought to light concerning Bisshop and

Parker in the letter dated December 12 may be the reason.

In the spring of 1536, under the influence of , Bishop of London, priests

John Copynger and Richard Lache both submitted to the Oath. After their submission, Copynger and Lache set out to convince the London Carthusians of what they now believed to be the necessity and rightness of submission to the Oath of Supremacy. Copynger was later elected as

Syon’s confessor general and may have exerted significant influence over the Syon sisters and brothers towards submission. That not all members of Syon were conformable is evident in

Thomas Brownal who on October 21, 1537, refused the Oath and was sent to Newgate Prison where he later died. Richard Whitford (Whytford) (†1552), prolific Syon author who wore the self-designation of “Wretch of Syon,” was another among the Syon brothers who refused to take the Oath.58 Whitford, however, was spared martyrdom. He spent his final years living at the

London home of Baron Mountjoy and receiving the King’s monastic pension.

57 Cotton MSS. Cleop. E. IV. fol. 169 quoted in Aungier, 88. 58 Tait, 77-80; Cunich, 67.

44 From the visitation reports sent to Cromwell, it becomes evident that even as late as

1537, there lacked unanimity among the professed of Syon regarding the Oath of Supremacy.

Never the less, Syon was still able to hold on as a cohesive community until the Second Act of

Dissolution resulting in the Dissolution of 1539. Because Syon refused to surrender completely to the King, another means of taking its possessions had to be devised. The means used to dissolve Syon was a writ of praemunire dated May 29, 1539, against John Stokesly, Bishop of

London for invoking the authority of the Bishop of Rome in taking the professions of five men as brothers of Syon. These professions were taken between February 5, 1537 and March 4, 1538.

Syon’s abbess, the confessor general, one sister and one brother were named as accessories to these acts.59 On November 25, 1539, pensions were “assigned by the commissioners at the dissolution of Syon monastery, to be paid quarterly” beginning “at Christmas.”60 Interestingly, there is no known deed of surrender.

Peregrinations (1539-1594)

At its dissolution, gross annual revenues were 1944l. 11s. 5¼d. Net income was £1735, ranking Syon as the tenth richest monastic house in England.61 An inventory of the monastery dated 1539-40 records only vestments, candlesticks, lamps, bells, and other furnishings.62 An

59 “Henry VIII: May 1538, 26-31,” Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 13 Part 1: January-July 1538, accessed July 8, 2013, British History Online, http://www.british- history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=75775. 60 “Letters and Papers: November 1539, 21-25,” Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 14 Part 2: August-December, 1539, British History Online, accessed July 8, 2013, http://www.british- history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=75900. 61 Aungier, 89; Collins, v; Eileen Power, Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275-1535 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922), 3. 62 Christopher de Hamel, Syon Abbey, the Library of the Bridgettine Nuns and their Peregrinations after the Reformation (London: Roxburghe Club, 1991), 112.

45 item strikingly absent from the inventory was books. Since it is a known fact that libraries existed at Syon, presumably the members took the books with them as they journeyed to various locations, an act exemplifying the importance of learning and study to both the Bridgettine women and men. While some monasteries were totally destroyed, at least portions of this facility were spared and utilized by the monarchy.

There were seventy-three persons among the professed at the time of its dissolution in

November 1539: fifty-two nuns, four lay-sisters, twelve priests, and five lay-brothers.63 It was their desire to continue to live out their Rule in at least a modified form; therefore, initially they dispersed in nine groups to a variety of locations. In time, some of the groups merged.

Unfortunately, specific details of most of the groups are limited.64

Some members stayed in homes owned or rented by leaders of the abbey.65 Abbess

Agnes Jordan and nine others settled in a farmhouse near Denham, Bucks.66 Early historical reports indicate that Sir Edmund Peckham owned the house and rented it to Jordan’s group.67

However, recent research reveals that it is more likely that Jordan herself owned the house.68

63 de Hamel, 112; Syon Abbey, Five Centuries, 6; Aungier, incorrectly reports that there were fifty-one sisters, 89- 90; Fletcher, Story, 35; Collins reports, “The undated list of pensions assigned by the commissioners at the dissolution (P.R.O., E.315/245, fol. 94) is ascribed to the same day in Letters & Papers, Hen. VIII, xiv, pt. ii, no. 581 (fifty-two choir sisters, including the abbess, and also four lay sisters, received pensions). No deed of surrender is known.” v. n.1. 64 Cunich, 70. Earliest research on the peregrinations of Syon identify only four groups. However, there are currently seven documented groups. 65 Jo Ann McNamara, Sisters in Arms: Catholic Nuns Through Two Millennia (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996), 448. 66 The nine included six sisters, a secular priest and two lay brothers. 67 Syon Abbey, Five Centuries, 6; Fletcher, Story, 38-39. 68 J.S. Adams, “A Short Illustrated Guide to the Stay of Dame Agnes Jordan, and the Bridgettine Nuns of Syon Abbey, Middlesex, at Southlands in Denham, Buckinghamshire in the Post Dissolution Period 1539 to 1546,” SARA (June 2012), 7, accessed 12/12/12, http://syonabbeysociety.wordpress.com/sara-bibliography/; Cunich, 70.

46 After Jordan’s death in 1546, this group joined with Sr. Katherine Palmer’s group at Falcon

Convent in Antwerp who were living with the of St. Augustine.69 Due to unfavorable living conditions at Falcon Convent, the Palmer group moved to the Bridgettine Abbey of Maria

Troon in Termonde, Flanders. While in exile in Flanders, the sisters sought and received support from, Philip II of Spain, and Pope Paul IV.70

Prioress Margaret Windsor (Wyndors) returned to her home with three sisters and -brother Thomas Precious. Sr. Bridget Fitzherbert took with her five sisters,

Syon priest-brother John Stewkyn, and Syon brother John Massey. Unfortunately, there is no knowledge of where they settled or why they remained together for less than one year. Records reveal that lay brother Massey eventually joined the Dely sisters’ group (see below) and Fr. John

Stewkyn moved to an unknown location until Queen Mary reestablished Syon.71

The remaining five groups found refuge in the homes of prominent families who had supported Syon over the years. The first group stayed with James and Mary Fettiplace

(“Fettyplace”) Yate, of Buckland, Berkshire. They harbored nine Syon Bridgettines including the

Yate’s daughter and aunt, Elizabeth Yate and Eleanor Fettiplace, respectively. This was the only group that was not accompanied by a Syon priest or brother.72 The second group of five sisters journeyed to the home of Srs. Margaret and Audrey Dely. Br. John Millet joined them in 1542 and three years later this group merged with Sr. Rose Paget and Br. Anthony Sutton who had

69 Fletcher Story, 38, 39. 70 McNamara, 448; Cunich, 70; Adams, 7; Aungier, 97; Collins, v. 71 Cunich, 70-71; Aungier, 99. 72 Collins, v; more will be said about this family in Chapter 5.

47 gathered in the John Green house.73 The fourth group of three sisters and a lay brother convened at the household of Lord Mountjoy where Richard Whitford had been staying. Whitford served as their spiritual advisor until 1541 when he united with Abbess Jordan’s group until his death the following year. The fifth group stayed with the family of Thomas Bettenham of Sheerland in

Puckley, Kent. This group consisted of seven sisters including Thomas’ daughters Alice and

Dorothy.74

Without the assistance of prominent English families, the Syon professed would have struggled greatly to survive. Thanks to these brave souls and others like them not only did Syon survive the first dissolution, but at least a few books from the Syon library survived this destructive time.75

A restoration for Syon was hopeful when on March 1, 1557, Queen Mary I signed a charter for the reestablishment of Syon Abbey. Five months later, on August 1, 1557, sixteen of the Syon sisters and brothers returned to their monastery on the banks of the .76

The nuns were enclosed by Bishop Bonner of London and Abbot Feckenham of Westminster. Sir

Francis Englefield rebuilt two sides of the monastery which had been destroyed after their dissolution.77 Following Queen Mary’s premature death on November 17, 1558, Syon was dissolved yet again by Queen Elizabeth I (queen, 1558-1603). On May 25, 1559, with the aid of

73 Cunich, 70-71. 74 Fletcher, Story, 38-39. 75 More information on the books and lives of the sisters during the Dissolution exile will be uncovered in Chapter 5. 76 Collins, v; Paul Lee, Nunneries, Learning and Spirituality in Late Medieval English Society (Rochester: Boydell & Brewer Ltd., 2001), 119. Aungier identifies seventeen sisters plus Abbess Palmer and three brothers, 97. 77 Syon Abbey, Five Centuries, 7; Aungier, 98.

48 the Duke of Feria, Syon left England for Antwerp, Flanders to face what would be many challenges to their life as a monastic community.78

While in Flanders, Syon was again given its own quarters at the Bridgettine Abbey of

Maria Troon in Termonde where the two communities lived together yet separate. Syon subsisted “on alms transmitted to them by their friends in England,” and an ordinary pension granted to them by Philip II of Spain.79 During their tenure in Flanders, new postulants from

England continued to join Syon.

In a few short years, the experience of two communities living in the same facility under the leadership of two abbesses became untenable. Therefore, in 1563 Syon moved to the vacant monastery Zierikzee (Zürich Zee in earlier sources) in Zeeland. Duchess of Parma, Regent of

Flanders, made this move possible. During this time, they continued receiving a pension from

Philip II but their income from supporters in England was slowly diminishing.80 Compounding upon this growing financial challenge, which forced the sisters to endure, at times, extreme poverty, was the fact that Zierikzee was not a healthy place to live. Zierikzee was constructed over marshy lands creating an unhealthy physical environment resulting in frequent illnesses and even death for many of the sisters. Such living conditions necessitated yet another move.

In 1568 Abbess Palmer, with the assistance of Nicholas Sander, brother of Srs. Elizabeth and Margaret Sander, 81 bought a house and church at Mishagen, near Antwerp. However,

78 Fletcher, records the date of their departure as May 25, 1559. Lee reports their arrival in Antwerp as July 1, 1559. See Fletcher, The Story, 43; and Lee, 128. On the ship with them were the Dominican nuns of Dartford. 79 Syon Abbey, Five Centuries, 8; see also Fletcher, Story, 43-44; and Aungier, 100. 80 Claire Walker, “Continuity and Isolation: The Bridgettines of Syon in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,” in Jones and Walsham, 158. 81 Spelled variously, Sander, Sanders, Saunders.

49 persecution by Calvinists became so great that in 1571 they were forced to flee to Antwerp where they rejoined the group of Augustinian Canonesses at Falcon Convent with whom a few of Syon members had resided during the first dissolution.82

While in Antwerp, Syon faced inadequate accommodations and challenges from both

Lutherans and Calvinists.83 It was common for some of Antwerp’s townspeople to break into the monastery. Wishing to be free from these challenges and threats, Syon moved again, sometime between late 1572 and early 1573. This time, Sir Francis Englefield, former Counselor to Philip and Mary, assisted them. He secured for them a house at Mechelen, near Brussels. Englefield and other exiled English Catholics supported the sisters until their patrons were forced to return to England in 1575. This loss of support for the sisters presented yet another challenge.84

In 1576 a mob of Calvinists pillaged their residence in Mechelen, leaving the sisters destitute once again. Some scholars speculate that the emotional devastation of this attack caused the death of Abbess Katherine Palmer on December 19, 1576.85 Continued attacks by their

Protestant opponents, and the ever diminishing financial support, exacted a dire situation upon the sisters.86 In 1578 Abbess Rook made the difficult decision to send eleven of the younger sisters back to England in hopes of securing financial resources from friends and family. Though accompanied by English officers, about whom little is known, not all of the sisters arrived at their hoped for destination without incident. Eight sisters were arrested and imprisoned upon

82 McNamara, 448; Cunich, 158-159. 83 Fletcher indicates persecution came from both Lutherans and Calvinists, but primarily the later. The source by Syon Abbey, Five Centuries, mentions more frequently persecution by Lutherans. 84 Syon Abbey, Five Centuries, 9. 85 Fletcher, Story, 48-49; Syon Abbey, Five Centuries, 9. 86 Syon Abbey, Five Centuries, 9.

50 arrival at their respective destinations, five in Dover and three in Colchester. Srs. Ann Stapleton and Elizabeth Sander arrived safely at Fulham, and Sr. Mary Champney made it safely to Lyford

Grange, home of Francis Yate. Champney was later joined by the five sisters who went to

Dover.87 During this time in England away from the community, Sr. Elizabeth Sander worked tirelessly to ensure the survival of her beloved Syon. For a time, her relentless activities even caused her own imprisonment in Winchester Castle (November 18, 1580). In 1587 she was able to successfully reunite with the sisters who by this time had moved to Rouen.88

The final Low Country move for the sisters was precipitated after an attack by a mob riled up by Lutheran preaching. The Lutherans claimed the sisters had “a supply of munitions concealed in their convent.”89 English officers came to their rescue and escorted the sisters out of

Mechelen and back to Antwerp.

From the beginning of the second exile, the sisters faced a constant barrage of tribulations. Syon was forced to move no less than six times throughout the Low Countries. It is amazing that they were able to survive such unparalleled challenges. Yet it was apparently a tenacity of spirit that pressed them to remain together and continue the practices of their Rule in a community life which they held dear. Renewed hope and a season of stability came to them in

1580 when they made the decision to depart from Flanders.

Then they moved Rouen, where they lived for the next fourteen years. Most of their time at “Three Mallets” house in Rouen was lived peaceably as they garnered much support from the laity in the community. At last, however, persecution by the Huguenots forced yet another move.

87 Fletcher, Story, 55-58; McNamara, 448. Mary Champney died in London on April 27, 1580. 88 Walker, 172-173. 89 Syon Abbey, Five Centuries, 9; Aungier, 102.

51 This moved faced them with the question of whether to attempt a return to Flanders or move to

Portugal.90 A process of discernment led them to migrate to the Iberian Peninsula. On Good

Friday, April 8, 1594 they set sail down the Seine River, much to the regret of the people of

Rouen who had become quite fond of them.91

Lisbon and Home (1594-1861)

Soon after their settlement in Lisbon, Syon received a continual flow of postulants from their English homeland. Their tenure in Lisbon, while spanning two hundred sixty-seven years, was secure but not without its crises including a devastating fire in 1651, an earthquake in 1755, and the Spanish Revolution of the 1820s. Through all of these varied challenges, Syon continued to live vibrantly as an English settlement in an alien land. On August 28, 1861 the sisters were finally able to make an official return home. They first settled in Spettisbury, and then on

June 23, 1887 they moved to , Devon where they resided until November 10, 1925 when they moved to South Brent, Devon. There they resettled becoming the only English monastery to survive continuously since the Dissolution. Sadly, in 2011 Syon Abbey closed by necessity because only three nuns remained and their ages and health prevented them from continuing to live as a strictly enclosed monastic community.92

90 The monarch of Spain governed Portugal from 1580-1640. Therefore, when sources refer to their flight for refuge in Spain, it is a synonymous reference to Portugal. 91 Collins, vi; Syon Abbey, Five Centuries, 10, 14, 16; Aungier, 103-105. 92 Richard Collins, comment, August 1, 2011 (13:50 GMT), on “St Bridget of Sweden and Syon Abbey,” Once I Was a Clever Boy, (blog), Once I Was a Clever Boy, July 23, 2011, accessed July 5, 2013, http://onceiwasacleverboy.blogspot.com/2011/07/st-bridget-of-sweden-and-syon-abbey.html.

52 Conclusion

This overview of the establishment and development of the Bridgettine settlement known as The Monastery of Saint Savior, Saint Mary and Saint Bridget of Syon,93 reveals a collective group of English women whose tenacious spirit of survival transcends time. Nearly every century of this monastery’s life involved the facing and overcoming of seemingly insurmountable odds. From challenges to its Additions upon its foundation in England to the inquisitions of the Dissolution commissioners during the reign of Henry VIII, from a double dissolution and a double season of peregrinations to external attacks and devastating natural events, through its final resettlement, Syon Abbey holds the unique distinction of being the only

English monastery to survive continuously from its establishment in the late middle ages until today. This examination leads to a need to understand the spirit of life at Syon. What were their influences and life practices that engendered in them such a tenacious spirit? How was their love of learning held in harmonious tension with their desire for loving and serving God and others?

This will be the topic of examination in the next chapter.

93 Though Henry V declared the name of the monastery the “Monastery of Saint Saviour and Saint Bridget of Syon,” in a 1447 Charter of Liberties of Syon, Henry VI identified the name as the “Monastery of St Saviour and Sts Mary the Virgin and Bridget of Syon, of the order of St. Augustine and of St. Saviour.” See Augnier, 60.

PART II

THE RULE AND SPIRIT OF LIFE AT SYON

53

Chapter 3

The Rule of Life at Syon

Examination of the founding and historical development of Syon Monastery revealed a tenacious community determined to live out their rule of life even in the face of sometimes seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Exploration of the lives touched by Syon, both within and outside of the monastic enclosure, revealed a diverse group of women with two commonalities: a love of God and a love of learning. This chapter will examine the daily life practices, and the organizational and administrative structures of Syon as outlined primarily in the The rewle of

Seynt Austyn, The Rewyll of Seynt Sauioure, and The Additions for the Sisters adapted to the needs of each Bridgettine house.1

What follows is an imaginative discourse drawn primarily from the Rewyll to piece together what a Feria day may have looked like at Syon in the late fifteenth century. To enable the reader to more freely enter into the story, when quoting from the Middle English texts, an

Americanized modern English translation will be used. The chapters of the Rewyll and Additions, from which the information comes, will be indicated parenthetically. Following this “Day in the

Life” discourse will be a more specific examination of the components of Syon’s English translations of the The rewle of Seynt Austyn and Bridget’s Rewyll followed by a survey of

1 James Hogg, ed., The Rewyll of Seynt Sauioure and Other Middle English Brigittine Legislative Texts, vol. 2 The MSS. Cambridge University Library Ff. 6. 33. and St. John’s College Cambridge 11 and vol. 4, The Syon Additions for the Sisters from the British Library MS. Arundel 146, Salzburger Studien zur Anglistik und Amerikanistik, no. 6 (Salzburger Studien zur Anglistek und Amerikanistik: Salzburg, 1978). Hereafter Rewyll or Additions with pages noted parenthetically. When quoting from these MSS, an Americanized English translation will be provided in a footnote if necessary for clarity. 54 55 Syon’s Additions with an eye toward those elements that may have offered specific formative influences on women who associated with Syon.

A Typical Day of Life at Syon2

Though for the average person it was the middle of the night, the liturgical day begins. It was yet another day for the sisters of Syon Abbey to live their vocation in imitation of the

Theotokos as they bear God to the world. The structure of their days enabled them to live into this holy life as they, like Mary, praise God with their mouths through the singing of their Divine

Office, serve God with their hands as they study and carry out the monastic obligations of their respective offices and, at day’s end, rest their bodies in reverence for God. Living in this way, they follow a foundational directive of their Rewyll which explains that Mary devoted all her time to three things. She “praised God with her mouth . . . served him with her hands . . . [and] having compassion to the weakness of the body gave it the rest it needed (Rewyll, XX).

From the Great Silence into which the Sisters entered the previous evening following

Compline (Rewyll, VI), they lift their heads from a “pillow covered with linen cloth,” and slip from between two coarse wool blankets one of which covers their beds of straw (Rewyll, II).

Immediately, they dress for the day wearing gowns of grey coarse wool over white smocks. A bound together at the breast with a wooden button, drapes over their shoulders. On their heads they crown themselves with a wimple which wraps around the face so that only a small part of the face shows. Over the wimple is a veil of black cloth and over the veil is a crown of white linen on which is “sewed five small red round circles,” reminding them of the drops of

2 Inspiration for this section of the chapter came through reading Geoffrey Moorhouse’s The Last Divine Office: Henry VIII and the Dissolution of the Monasteries (Katonah, NY: BlueBridge, 2009).

56 blood from the wounds of Christ. The five drops actually form a cross over the head (Rewyll,

III).

Bridgettine and some sisters with copies of The Myroure of oure Ladye in hand, they organize two by two for their procession to the choir to sing Matins, the first hour of the day. The brothers began the “Night Office according to the use of the Sarum” at midnight.

The sisters followed at 2:00 a.m., singing Matins and .3 As they walk to the church, they remember the admonition in the first chapter of the Bridgettine version of the female version of the Rewyl of Seynt Austyn. “As you dwell in one home, the first thing for which you are gathered together in one is to be of one will, one soul, one heart in Our Lord.”4 As they near the Church, they hear the Bridgettine men concluding their Night Office as prescribed in the traditional

Sarum rite.5 The details of their rituals differ, but their hearts unite in praise to God in these services of prayer and praise.

From the North wall, the Sisters enter the upper Church, the space specifically reserved for them. The sound of unseen chanting Brothers reverberates throughout the church. The sisters process over the bridge arching the north aisle and assume their assigned positions in the choir.6

They see only two of Bridget’s prescribed thirteen church . To the West rests the High

3 Jefferies Collins, ed., Introduction to The Bridgettine Breviary of Syon Abbey: From the MS. with English Rubrics F.4.II at Magdalene College Cambridge (Worchester, England: Stanbrook Abbey Press, 1963, 1969), xv.

4 I was unable to secure a copy of the Middle English translation of the Rule of St Augustine modified for the Bridgettines. However, a 1914 translation of this Rule was available. It is from this source that this quote came. Rule of Our Most Holy Saviour and the Additions of The Monastery of Saint Saviour and St. Bridget of Syon (Printed from the Mss. Of the XVth Century, in the Library of the British Museum and the Library of St. Paul’s Cathedral, for the Same Monastery of Syon, 1914), Chapter I, http://archive.org/stream/ruleofourmosthol00briduoft#page/ n3/mode/2up (accessed July 5, 2013). 5 Richard Pfaff, The Liturgy in Medieval England, a History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 531. 6 Collins, xiii.

57 Altar adorned with two chalices, two pairs of cruets, two candlesticks, a cross, a thurible and a pyx for the Body of Christ” (Rewyll, XVIII). To the East, they gaze upon the Altar of Our Lady one of thirteen. Gold, silver, and jewels are not allowed for sacred vessels but they may be used in moderation for reliquaries (Rewyll, XVIII).

After the Brothers conclude Lauds, the Sisters begin Matins. The pattern is similar to the

Matins of other orders with an invitatory, psalms, anthems, versicles, responses, and blessings.

Yet when the lessons are read, a difference is immediately noted. These lessons are unique to the

Bridgettine Sisters. Every Matins, a designated sister carefully and lovingly reads from Bridget’s

Sermo Angelicus, the Word or Sermon of the Angel. She reads three per day of the twenty-one lessons.

The Sermo Angelicus tells each day part of Mary’s “eternal story of Motherhood and virginity interceding in any salvific events that surround us.”7 The lessons explain God’s eternal plan for Mary in salvation history (Sunday). They explain that angels and humans alike foreknew her nearness to God and her exultation for which they praised God even as they praised God for

Mary’s obedience and perfection of all virtues (Monday). Adam, the Patriarchs, and the prophets, had foreknowledge of Mary’s coming including her miraculous conception (Tuesday).

By mid-week the lessons unveil Mary’s conception, birth, and early life (Wednesday), the visitation of the angel to Mary, and the conception and incarnation of the Word (Thursday). The lessons conclude each week with the Passion of Christ and Mary’s consummate participation in

7 Tore S. Nyberg, “Introduction,” in Birgitta of Sweden: Life and Selected Revelations, edited with a preface by Marguerite Tjader Harris, and translation and notes by Albert Ryle Kezel, Classics of Western Spirituality (Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1990), 29.

58 and sharing of his Passion (Friday), and her post-resurrection roles among the apostles and disciples, and finally her bodily assumption (Saturday).

The Sermo was unique for its day since during this time the Marian office used by nuns,

Officium parvum Beatae Mariae Virginis, repeated the same prayer each day. The Sermo contains different prayers each day. The Sermo also differed in that it was both read and sung using a Gregorian chant adaptation composed by Prior Peter Olafsson (Master Peter of

Skenninge), one of Bridget’s confessors. He made this adaptation as instructed by Bridget specifically for use by her Order.8

The three lessons are followed by the Te Deum, an Ave Maria and a collect designated in the fourth chapter of the Rewyll. After Matins the Sisters sing Lauds. Then the men return to their choir, chant the hour of Prime and Terse. Between these hours is the public Mass of our

Lady. The Sisters receive Communion only on Saturdays and specified festival days.9 A sister may receive more frequently, provided God has inspired more devotion in her and she asks for it with fervent desire (Rewyll, XIV).

The Great Silence officially ends with the closing of the Lady Mass. From the time they leave church until breakfast, the Sisters engage in quiet reflections on the lessons of Matins.

Absent from the exchanges are vein or idle words. Frivolous chatter is also muted (Rewyll, V).

Silence ensues again as they enter the where breakfast awaits.

8 The Sermo angelicus will be discussed in greater detail later in this chapter (cf. Infra p. 86-89). 9 Festival days designated for Holy Communion are: Easter Day, Ascension, Pentecost, and the Nativity of Our Lord. Syon nuns may receive Communion on Easter Sunday, Ascension, Pentecost, Nativity of Our Lord, feasts with Vigils & Eves kept with , and Holy Thursday.

59 Equal amounts of food are set at each place, sufficient for morning nourishment. The portions of this and every meal are the same (Rewyll, XXI). Had they been an Augustinian

Order, discrepancies in food amounts would be permitted (Rewyl St. Austyn, Chapter I). Bridget, however, took the stricter route requiring everyone to be treated equally. The Sisters say grace before, during, and after breakfast. Following the Rewyl St. Austyn, there is a spiritual reading from either Scripture or another holy book so that as they feed their body with food, their spirit feeds on the Word of God (Rewyl St. Austyn, Chapter IV).

Each week the Sisters read both the Rewyl St. Austyn and the Rewyll in their entirety

(Rewyl St. Austyn, IX; Additions, 50). They also hear portions of the Additions read each day so there can be no mistake about how to live within this community. This day the sisters hear from the Rewyll words that encourage and empower:

You have all things, and when you love me perfectly, all things of the world shall be as bitter as venom to you. … Christ set apart this religion principally to the worship of his holy mother and composed the Rule with his own blessed mouth, of humility, chastity and poverty (Rewyll, Prologue).

Breakfast over, the day moves forward. The sisters work with their hands when they are not chanting the Office or reading in the library (Additions, 13). Following the examples of

Mary, Christ, and the apostles, they labor for the worship of God and the profit of the poor. It is never for personal gain or any vanity of the world (Rewyll, XX; Rewyl St. Austyn, VI).Those who occupy an office of the monastery, busy themselves with the work of their respective responsibilities: the chantress caring for the abbey’s books, the sacristan attending to the sisters’ chapel, the treasuress keeping her books, etc. Sisters without assigned offices attend to the work of reading, study, translating or manuscript copying, or even personal writing (Rewyll, XVIII).

60 Novices go for instruction including Latin lessons so that they may better comprehend the Divine

Office and Masses. A few sisters engage in needlework (Rewyll, I).

At noon the Sisters gather again for the Hour of Sext and remain in their choir to participate in High Mass. The public silently files into the holy sanctuary awaiting the procession of the thirteen priests to the High Altar. The number of priests reminds them of the thirteen

Apostles counting Matthias, Judas Iscariot’s replacement, and Paul (Rewyll, X). The Mass follows the Sarum Missal with one exception per Bridget’s directive. The designated priest, having dedicated the last three days to its preparation, delivers the sermon in matra lingua, the language of the people, to better ensure their understanding of the words. Hopefully they will have their faith stirred and challenged (Rewyll, XIII). After Mass, the Sisters leave the choir to work until it is their Hour of None. Some Sisters, whose work is complete, remain in the choir to continue in prayer as the Brothers chant their Hour of None.

Mid-day dinner is served in the refectory. Unlike conversation of today’s church fellowship hall gatherings, the hallmarks of the refectory are silence with “decorum, devotion, and obedience.”10 Graces punctuate the start and conclusion of mealtime. There is also one said after each “conventual drinking” (Additions, 26). Three times during the meal, the sisters pause and proclaim a (Additions, 50). The Sisters sit in silence as they eat and listen to yet another reading. While they listen, they personally consider whether or not they are bringing honor to Mary (Myroure, 68).

From the end of dinner until Evensong the sisters engage in their work. One sister receives permission from the Abbess to visit another sister in the Infirmary (Additions, XXXII).

10 Ellis, Viderunt, 114.

61 Another sister practices reading the lesson for the next day. Yet another sister retreats to the

Library, where silence is always observed, so she may engage in spiritual reading (Additions,

14). One of the younger sisters secretly wishes it were Sunday or a Great Feast day, so that she could visit with her mother at the designated window. She believes as she increases her learning and her love for God, one day she will be able to visit without seeing or being seen (Rewyll,VII).

On mid-afternoon, the priests chant Evensong. The sisters prepare for Evensong by reciting the Pater Noster and the Ave Maria (Additions, 25). Then each side profoundly bows to the other and sings the Indulgete:

Forgive us for the love of God and his most compassionate Mother Mary if we have offended you in word or deed, by sign or token; likewise, if there be any default in you against us, we gladly forgive it completely (Rewyll, IV).

Forgiveness offered and received, the sisters are now ready to sing Evensong. They turn to the East and bow to the Lady Altar, as they did in previous Hours. Evensong ends when the

Abbess offers this prayer: “Animae fundatorum nostrorum et animae famulorum famularum que tuarum, et omnium fidelium defunctorum, per misericordiam Jesu Christi in pace requiescant”

(Additions, 24).11 Together, the sisters spontaneously respond, “Amen.” Evensong complete, they are dismissed to return to the Refectory for supper.

Rituals at supper are the same as those at dinner. Following supper, at the second peal of the bell, the sisters gather in the Chapter house. Since no one died that day, they do not need to say the De Profundis. They move on to announcements or business. Following this, the President says “Noctem quietam et vitam beatam tribuat nobis omnipotens Pater, pius et misericors

11 May the souls of our founders and the souls of your household, male and female, and of all the faithful departed through the mercy of Jesus Christ rest in peace.

62 Dominus,” and the Sisters respond with “Amen.”12 The Sisters listen to another reading for spiritual understandings, assigned this time by the President.

The reading ends and the entire gathered community rises for , the final Hour of the day. The Sisters proceed two by two, this time youngest to the oldest, a reverse of earlier processionals. Except for its ending, Compine is similar to Matins. The sisters end with the

Antiphon of Our Lady appropriate to each day of the week.

After the Collect, the Great Silence begins again The Sisters kneel and quietly say fifteen

Aves. They depart, two by two, eldest first, another reversal. As they pass the President, she blesses them with Holy Water to remind them of their holy baptism (Additions, 24). Finally, they return to their Dormatory.

And so it is, every day at Syon, a holy ordinary day, yet sometimes not so ordinary on

Feast Days. But still every day the Sisters sing their Divine Office, and read their lessons in reverence “of the Virgin Mary” (Rewyll, IV) their highest calling in life, helping them to learn deeper truths of God even as they, day by day, love God and all of God’s creation more deeply.

Prior to examining Syon’s rule of life through the Rewyll and Additions, it is necessary to review briefly the background of how the Bridgettines came to be an approved Order and the

Rule under which they were approved, the Rule of St. Augustine.13 This initial discussion will necessitate understanding the relationship between Augustine’s Rule and Bridget’s Regula Sancti

12 Almighty Father, grant to us a quiet night and a blessed life, compassionate and merciful Lord. Amen.

13 A copy of the Middle English translation of the Rule of St. Augustine modified for the Bridgettines was not available. However, a 1914 translation of this Rule was available. It is from this source that this quote came. Rule of Our Most Holy Saviour and the Additions of The Monastery of Saint Saviour and St. Bridget of Syon (Printed from the Mss. Of the XVth Century, in the Library of the British Museum and the Library of St. Paul’s Cathedral, for the Same Monastery of Syon, 1914), accessed July 5, 2013, http://archive.org/stream/ruleofourmosthol00briduoft#page/ n3/mode/2up.

63 Salvatoris. It is also necessary to examine the provisions the Regula made for the establishment of Additions, which were to be written and adapted to the needs of each Bridgettine house.

Background on the Rule, Regula, and Additions

When Bridget of Sweden sought approval for her Rule in the late-fourteenth century, there was a moratorium on establishing new Orders under a new Rule.14 This moratorium necessitated the appending of Bridget’s Regula Sancti Salvatoris to an already established Rule.

In 1370, it was the decision of Pope Urban V and his advisors that the Rule of St. Augustine was most suited to Bridget’s Regula. Appending her Regula as Constitutions to the female version of

St. Augustine’s Rule enabled Urban to approve her Rule, but only as Constitutions to the Rule of

St. Augustine, not as a self-standing Rule of its own. This made hers an Augustinian Order with

Bridgettine Constitutions, not Bridget’s envisioned Bridgettine Order.15

Eight years later Pope Urban VI issued his 1378 bull super confirmatione Regulae Sancti

Salvatoris. This Bull “ratified Bridget’s Rule and confirmed the foundation of her Order” declaring its name, “Order of Our Most Holy Savior.” 16 With Urban VI’s decree, Bridget’s

Order became Bridgettine rather than Augustinian; however, the Rule of St. Augustine remained in place as the Order’s Rule and Bridget’s Regula as the Order’s Constitutions. That meant that

Bridgettines would still promise obedience to the Rule of St. Augustine, but their Constitutions,

14 After the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), the Rule of St. Augustine was one of four ancient Rules upon which all future orders or congregations could be founded. The other three were the Rule of St. Basil, the Rule of St. Benedict, and the Rule of St. Francis of Assisi. The specific details of the life of St Bridget and the reception of her Rule in a vision from Christ will be discussed in the second half of this chapter. 15 Johannes Jørgensen, Saint Bridget of Sweden, vol. 2, 1349-1373 (London: Longmans Green and Co., 1954), 220. 16 Helen Redpath, God’s Ambassadress: St. Bridget of Sweden (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing, 1947), 154, 204 n.12; M. B. Tait, “The Bridgittine Monastery of Syon (Middlesex) with Special Reference to its Monastic Uses” (D.Phil. Thesis, University of Oxford, 1975), text-fiche, 32.

64 from Bridget’s Regula, gave them a uniquely Bridgettine structure for the rule of life under which they would live. It is interesting to note that after the issuance of Urban VI’s bull, even though technically approved not as a Rule but still as Constitutions to the Rule of St. Augustine,

Bridget’s Regula was almost exclusively referenced as either the “Rule of St. Saviour,” or the

“Rule of St. Bridget” instead of the “Constitutions of St. Bridget.”

Lacking in the Constitutions were the essential directions for a house’s daily living.

Recognizing this, in her Regula Bridget required that each Bridgettine house have written for it

“Additions” which would designate the routine of its daily life. They were to be written uniquely for each house to provide what was needed for the residents to live in healthy, life-giving relationships with each other. They also provided directions for the ritual practices that enabled the necessary life-giving, transformational exchanges between individuals and God, and between the community and God. The Additions identified expected behaviors of the residents and consequences one faced for attempts to live outside of their professed monastic Rule and accompanying Constitutions. The Additions also informed the offices and the duties necessary for the sustainability of each house. Cistercian Prior of Alvastrâ Petrus Olavi (Peter Olafsson),

Bridget’s confessor, wrote the very first Additions for the motherhouse at Vadstena. He wrote them under Bridget’s instruction using her Revelationes as his primary source.17

Subsequently, each new Bridgettine house used Peter’s Additions as a template for its own

Additions by which the house would live.

17 Prior Petrus of Alvastrâ was the person who translated into Latin all of Bridget’s revelations. Revelationes Extrvagantes was the ninth and final book of Bridget’s revelations.

65 Rule of St. Austin and Rule of St. Saviour

Because of Bridget’s emphasis on use of the vernacular, each Bridgettine foundation translated the Regula sancti augustini, and Regula Sancti Salvatoris, into its respective vernacular. For Syon, the translations became, The rewle of Seynt Austyn, and The Rewyll of

Seynt Sauioure, respectively.18 Using Prior Peter’s Vadstena Additions as a template,

Benedictine and Cistercian brothers wrote Additions for both the Syon sisters and brothers.19 The

Syon Additions for the Sisters and the Syon Additions for the Brothers were identical except in matters where the men and women differed in their respective roles and responsibilities within the monastery. Since Bridgettines strictly observed silence, The Boke of Sygnes was written for

Syon providing a type of sign language the professed could use when circumstances required communication during designated times of silence.

Syon’s rewle of Seynt Austyn contained just over 3,000 words in nine brief chapters, providing basic but essential guidelines for monastic living. The rewle of Seynt Austyn was written for a female audience, a fact clearly indicated in the title of Chapter I which began,

“Most Dear Sisters, ….” At its core, the rewle of Seynt Austyn was a Rule of love for God embodied in love for every person in the community. Modeled after the first Christian community in , the monastery held all things in common because all members were equal.20 The virtues of unity, humility, moderation, repentance, forgiveness, and obedience were

18 Note: It was not uncommon in the late Middle Ages for the same word to have variant spellings. Such is the case with rewle of Seynt Austyn and Rewyll of Seynt Sauioure. 19 See Rewyll, Chapter XXIII. 20 Cf. Acts 2:42-47. See rewle of Seynt Austyn, Chapter I.

66 essential for everyone. The Rule’s disciplines of prayer, fasting, and acts of mercy, were the keys to a transformed life (Chapters III, IV, VII, respectively).

The final chapter of the rewle of Seynt Austyn succinctly summarized its goal of monastic living, requesting that God would enable the sisters to observe the Rule “as lovers of spiritual beauty” so that they may be “filled with the good aroma of Christ…as free children under grace.” The sisters were to read the Rule weekly, using it as a “mirror” through which they looked at themselves to be certain that they were living according to the Rule’s requirements

(Chapter IX).

If the sisters of Syon lived under the rewle of Seynt Austyn exclusively, their house would be Augustinian, not Bridgettine. Though strikingly similar, the Rewyll of Seynt Sauioure was considerably more detailed than the rewle of Seynt Austyn evidenced alone by the fact that it was fifteen chapters longer. Observing the Order’s Constitutions, known to Syon as the Rewyll of

Seynt Sauioure,21 brought Syon’s Bridgettine distinctives to life. Undergirding these distinctions and governing their rule of life was Bridget’s reforming spirit.

Bridget’s Rule has been referred to as a rule of reform. Living during a time when the

Church was in the throes of the Schism, coupled with her grief over the brokenness of the

Church stirred in Bridget a desire for hers to be a rule of reform. While the issue of reforming the

Church was not explicitly addressed in either her Rule or Divine Office, those who were either part of her Order or familiar with her corpus of writings would have known that it was her desire and perceived vocation to reform the Church from within. Such knowledge could have

21 Hereafter Rewyll.

67 influenced the actions of those familiar with Syon and may have contributed to their tenacity of spirit to keep alive their life practices even into their dissolution exile.

Reform cannot happen apart from attentive living. Attentive living is possible only through engaging in the solitude of contemplative prayer. The opening of the Rewyll explained that during one of Bridget’s times of deep inward prayer, Christ revealed his desire for her to write a Rule. Subsequent revelations of the Rule came only after she attended inwardly to prayer.

Intentionally practicing inward attention enabled her to “see, hyre, speke, and fele gostly thyngs” that otherwise would have been unattainable (Rewyll, Prologue, 1-2, [f. 38v – 39r]). These experiences of seeing, hearing, speaking, and feeling spiritual things often times seized her, revealing a multitude of things in spiritual and intellectual images. One such image was the one recorded in the Preface to the Rewyll, a vineyard parable. A fitting metaphor for the Order, the parable explained that there were old vineyards in the kingdom of God. At one time, these vineyards were flourishing and vibrant; now, however, they were languishing and nearly barren.

Because of the conditions of the old vineyards, Christ revealed his intent to plant a new vineyard

(Rewyll, Prologue, 8 [f. 42r]). This new vineyard, which was referred to later as “this religion,” was actually a reference to Bridget’s Order. Not only would Christ plant this new vineyard, but he would also fertilize and protect it himself so that it would remain safe from harmful invaders, and be able to produce succulent fruit for the finest of wines. This new vineyard would be so great that it would even renew the old vineyards that had fallen into near ruin. Those who would become a part of this new vineyard were instructed to love Christ with the fullness of their

68 hearts, flee from all forms of pride, and turn to meekness (Rewyll, Prologue, 7 [f. 41v]).22 When

God was loved perfectly, everything outside of God would taste bitter and be undesirable.

Therefore, the professed were to give the fullness of their being to the worship of God and to complete obedience to everything that was contained in the Rule.

A second place where a spirit of reform is noted is in the Rule’s demographics for each

Bridgettine monastery. No Bridgettine house could have more than eighty-five members, a number symbolic of the early church including Mary, the thirteen apostles, the Four Great

Doctors of the Western Church, and the laity. Thirteen scholar-priests represented the thirteen

Apostles counting Matthias who wasJudas Iscariot’s replacement, and Paul. Their duties were to sing the Mass and the Divine Office, hear confession, and preach for the sisters and the community. The “foure pɀincipall doctours Ambɀose. Austyn. Gregoɀy & Jerom” were represented by “foure dekenes whiche may be pɀecstys also if they wyll” (Rewyll, X, 33 [f.54v]).

The remaining lay brothers represented the laity whose duty it was to serve the brother-priests as needed.23

The third place where a spirit of reform is in evidence is in the encouragement and provisions for the sisters to read and study. The reform at work here is the reform of the

Church’s approach to the roles and work of women. Traditionally, women were not formally educated for theological reading and study. Bridget effectually changed that with these reading and study provisions in her Rule. The sisters were to engage in continual studying, devout

22 The Rewyll states, “Therefore stonde youe sekerly and love me wt all thyn herte. fle all mane pryde and take the to very mekenes.” 23 On another level of symbolism, the Rule declared that the eighty-five members represent the thirteen apostles and first seventy-two disciples whom Christ sent out on mission, two by two (cf. Luke 10:1-20). Some Lukan MSS state there were seventy disciples sent out, not seventy-two.

69 praying, and godly praises. To accomplish this activity of study the Rewyll made an exception to their vow of poverty by stipulating that they were to “haue as many as they wyll in whiche ys to lerne or to studye” (Rewyll XVIII, 50 [f. 63r]). Coupling the provision in the Rewyll for the sister to have as many books as necessary to do Divine Office, and as many others as they desired to use for learning or study exudes an air of reform, especially for the fifteenth and sixteenth century women of England. It is little wonder, then, that the English women who read the

Rewyll, would have noted this significant exception to a spirituality of poverty and would have realized the importance of reading for wisdom and spiritual growth.

Built into the spirit and purpose of the Rewyll of Seynt Sauioure, are five primary

Bridgettine distinctions including the role of the abbess, the sisters’ primary spiritual practices, the discipline of silence, the one exception to its rule of poverty, and a focused devotion to Mary.

Exploring these distinctions will reveal more explicitly the spirituality of the Rewyll and hence a glimpse at the spirituality of the sisters of Syon.

The first Bridgettine distinction was that the abbess was “hedde & ladye” of the monastery, just as the “blessid virgyn marie” to whom this order was hallowed was “hedde and quene of the apostelis & disciples of cryste” after his ascension (Rewyll, XII, 36 [f. 56r]). Serving in this way made the abbess a living representation of the Virgin Mary, much as the pope was the

Vicar of Christ. The sisters alone chose the abbess from among their number and she was then

“confermyd of the bisshope.” This differed from the confessor general who was chosen by both the sisters and brothers from among the thirteen priest-brothers. The confessor general was not

70 permitted to take any actions beyond what was commanded in the Rewyll “wtoute councett of the

Abbes”24 since she was “hedde of the monasterye” (Rewyll XII, 37 [f. 56v]).25

Not surprising, the Rewyll gave most attention to the sisters’ spiritual practices, the second of the Rewyll’s distinctions. Their primary spiritual practices were the singing of their

Marian focused Hours of Divine Office and the discipline of silence (Rewyll IV and V, respectively), both of which received further elaboration in the Additions. The Rewyll also devoted one chapter to the daily visitation to an open grave, and recitation of Psalm 129, the “De

Profundis” (Rewyll XXIV). Other spiritual practices regularly entered into were fasting (Rewyll

VIII), confession (Rewyll XIII, XX), communicating (Rewyll XIV), and daily labor (Rewyll XX).

These practices were rooted in the Bridgettine virtues of “mekenes and pure chastite, and wylfulll pouerte.”26 These virtues were subsequently reinforced throughout the Rule. They were actually the vows that were taken by the sisters when they made their profession into the Order

(Rewyll, IX, 19-31). This profession was a promise to live the spirituality of both Bridget and

Mary. As a would-be sister began her profession ritual, she processed into Syon following a red banner. One side of the banner portrayed Mary’s image and the other side Christ’s suffering body. Upon looking at the body of the Savior the candidate was told, “lerne pancns & pouerte.”

As the banner was turned for her to behold the image of the Virgin Mother she was told, “lerne

24 The word transcribed “councett” is not clearly legible in the manuscript. A 1914 translation from a 15th century manuscript translates this word as “consent.” See Bridgettines, Rule of Our Most Holy Saviour: and the Additions of the Monastery of Saint Saviour and St. Bridget of Syon, Under “Chapter XII,” Openlibrary.org, accessed April 22, 2014, https://archive.org/details/ruleofourmosthol00briduoft. PDF. 25 The Additions delineated further differences between the roles of the abbess and confessor general. These differences will be discussed below. 26 “true humility, pure chastity, and voluntary poverty” (Rewyll, I.8 [f. 42r]).

71 chastite & mekenes” (Rewyll, IX, 22 [f. 49r).27 Hence, held up for the was the spirituality she was expected to embody for the remainder of her life. Chastity and meekness were further reinforced in the Rewyll’s description of the daily singing of the Ave Maria along with the prayers offered to Mary at the conclusion of the saying of the Hours. The Collect recited following the Ave Maria addressed God as the one who chose “to be boɀne of the most chast virgyn” (Rewyll, IV, 13 [f. 44v]). The final petition of the Ave Maria asked God to make them serve God “wyth chast body, and to plese the wyth meke hert” (Rewyll, IV, 13 [f. 44v]). This petition was followed with a plea to Mary saying, “most piteful virgyn marie qwene of the woɀlde and of angellys: Þat Þoue gete refresshyng to hem: whom the fyre of purgatorɀy examynyth to synnerys foɀȝeuenes to ryȝhtwys perseuance in goodnesse: and defende vs frele from thys psent parelles…” (Rewyll, IV, 13 [f. 44v]).28 Intentional engaging in spiritual practices was essential if one hoped to grow in love for God and love for others.

Most noteworthy in these spiritual practices is the third of the Bridgettine distinctions, the discipline of silence. While the rewle of Seynt Austyn briefly addressed this discipline, the Rewyll accentuated its importance. Bridgettines observed strict but not total silence. There were times and places where silence was expected, and times and places when silence could be broken. The

Rewyll designated times for keeping silence including from the beginning of Collation at the close of each day “vnto afte mess sunge of the blessid virgyn” the following day, and again from the beginning of Evensong until the reading of “gracys aftyr soper” (Rewyll V, 14 [f. 45r] and

27 Additions, 18 [104.17]. See also Additions, 15 [81.16]. 28 “All mighty everlasting God who for us emptied yourself to be born of the most chaste Virgin: we pray for you to make us to serve you with a chaste body, and to please you with humble heart. We pray to you also, most compassionate Virgin Mary Queen of the world and of angels: pour great refreshing upon those whom the fire of purgatory examines and to sinners for forgiveness. Help us to correctly persevere in goodness, and defend us freely from the present perils that surround us. Through Christ our Lord”

72 Rewyll V, 15 [f. 45v], respectively). During times when speaking was permitted, the sisters were allowed to discuss only spiritual matters and observances of the Order (Rewyll, V, 14 [f. 45r]).

They were never to use “veyne. & ydel woɀdis” (Rewyll, V, 14 [f. 45r]).

The fourth distinction in the Rewyll necessitated an exception to the rule of no possessions. Though the Rewyll strictly forbid possessions of any kind, including gifts from family members or friends, the sisters were permitted to have as many books as were “necessary to doo dyvyne office” and “as many as they wyll in whiche ys to lerne oɀ to studye” (Rewyll,

XVIII, 49-50 [f.62v-63r]). This is a striking exception since the sisters were not permitted to even touch gold or silver without permission from the abbess (see Rewyll, I, and XV-XVII). This one exception made “contynuell studyes” possible for the sisters (Rewyll, XVIII, 49 [f. 62v]), an unusual spiritual practice among women monastics. More will be said about the importance of books for studying later in this chapter.29

The final and most notable Bridgettine distinctive was Syon’s focus on the Virgin Mary.

In the Prologue to her Rewyll Bridget declared that Christ ordained the Bridgettine Order “first & prinpally by women to the woɀshippe of my most dere be/loued modir. whose oɀdir and statutyes shall declare most fully wt myn owne mowthe.”30 In the next sentence, Bridget reiterated this point declaring Christ had ordained her Order “pɀyncipally to the worship of his holy moder”

(Rewyll, Prologue, 8 [f. 42r]). Mary was the focus of the sisters’ adoration, reverence, and praise.

29 cf. Infra p. 88ff. 30 “I will set this religion before you, ordained first and principally by women to the worship of my most dear Beloved Mother, whose order and statutes I shall declare most fully with my own mouth. Christ set apart this religion principally to the worship of his Holy Mother and composed the Rule with his own blessed mouth, a Rule of meekness, chastity, and poverty.”

73 As such, she became the focus of the sisters’ Hours of Divine Office.31 Obedience to the singing of their Divine Office was enjoined throughout the day, ritually alternating the Hours with the men. Participation was mandatory for the reverence of the Virgin Mary (see Rewyll, IV. 12; and

VIII.16-19 [f.46v- 47v]).

Bridgettine scholar Tory Nyberg likened Bridget’s Rule to a skeleton of a rule since it was “composed of so few basic elements,” and because it paid “little attention to all the practical needs of a monastic community.”32 However, compared to the Rule of St. Augustine, Bridget’s was clearly more than a rule of “so few basic elements.” With twenty-four chapters of nearly

7800 words, it was more than double that of Augustine’s. However, Nyberg is correct that

Bridget’s Rule lacked attention to the “practical needs of a monastic community” which was precisely why Bridget made provisions for each house to write its own Additions, the topic to which this chapter now turns.

The Additions for the Sisters of Syon

The twenty-third chapter of the Rewyll called for the house to add all things necessary to regular observance of monastic living. Syon’s Additions contained fifty-nine chapters of additional details for the rule of life under which the sisters lived within the abbey. The Additions addressed several matters demanding further exploration since these matters granted insight to both the uniqueness of England’s Syon and the sisters’ spirituality. A few components included in Syon’s Additions were unique to England. The Additions also shed light on why Syon may

31 Elements of the Bridegettine Divine Office pertinent to this study will be discussed in greater depth below. 32 Tory Nyberg, “Introduction,” Birgitta of Sweden: Life and Selected Revelations, ed. by Marguierite Tjader Harris, trans. by Albert Ryle Kezel, with a preface by Marguierite Tjader Harris, Classics of Western Spirituality (New York: Paulist Press, 1990), 32.

74 have been a formative influence on the emerging scribal voice of women in fifteenth and sixteenth century England.

Of particular interest to this present study were the unique aspects of the offices of chantress and sub-chantress, and the office of sacristan. The chantress and sub-chantress were to

“be cunning and perfyte, in redyng and syngynge . . .” (Additions, 45 [147.11]). While their primary duty was the proper leading of Divine Office, care of books for Divine Office was also in the charge of the chantress. She was also responsible for books used in the “chapter, and freytour.”33 She was to see that corrections to the books were properly made and “wiÞoute her knowlage, nothyng” was to “be corrected in any of Þe seyd bokes, nor chaunged in the ordynal.”

She was further charged with correcting the errors of those who read aloud (Additions, 45

[149.21-24]).34 The work of the chantress required the ability to read and write in both the vernacular and in Latin. This ability was even more evident when noting that it was the chantress’s responsibility to keep the registry for professions and for the obituaries up-to-date in the Martiloge (Additions, 45 [149.3-18]).

The work of the sacristan primarily involved the care and upkeep of the sisters’ chapel, including the altar ornaments and the elements used for illumination of the Church during Divine

Office. However, in the Additions it stated that a sextan, or sacristan, was to provide for the sisters, “penners, pennes, ynke, ynke hornes, tables, and suche other, as the abbesse assygneth her” (Additions, 48 [155.14-16]). Ulla Sander Olsen, interpreted this provision in the Additions to

33 The “freytour” is the refectory or dining room. 34 The Additions state: “Also it is in her charge to haue alle the bokes in kepyng that longe to dyuyne seruyse, chapter, and freytour, and to se Þat they be corrected, and made of one accorde and also to correcte the reders, so that wiÞoute her knowlage, nothyng be corrected in any of Þe seyd bokes, nor chaunged in the ordynal….”

75 indicate that the job of the sacristan was similar to that of a librarian. She noted, “Syon- ’ accounts . . . show expenses for materials which obviously could be used for embroider, maybe even for writing and illuminating manuscripts within the convent.”35 Though there is evidence that the Syon sisters had a librarian her identity has not been ascertained for the sisters’ collection.36 It is certainly possible to anticipate that the provision of pens, ink and inkhorns, and tables indicated that the sisters very well could have engaged in writing of some sort.

A second component unique for this English Bridgettine house was the roles of the abbess and confessor general. As noted previously, the Rewyll identified the abbess as the earthly representation of the Virgin Mary, and as such, she was the head of the entire house. The rewle of Seynt Austyn referenced the abbess as either “Sovereign Abbess,” or simply “Sovereign”

(Chapters I and V). The Additions picked up this designation and used the title of ‘Sovereign’ for the abbess at least forty times. What is interesting to note is that the Additions for the Sisters never used the title of Sovereign in reference to the confessor general except when used in plural form and included the abbess along with the confessor general and/or any others in authority over the sisters such as the .

Also distinctive in the roles of the abbess and confessor general was that the abbess was responsible for the overall governance of the abbey. Nothing was to be done without her consent.

The confessor general was responsible only for the spiritual welfare of the sisters and brothers.

35 Ulla Sander Olsen, “Work and Work Ethics in the Nunnery of Syon Abbey in the Fifteenth Century,” in The Medieval Mystical Tradition England: Exeter Symposium V, ed. Marion Glasscoe (Cambridge, England: D.S. Brewer, 1992), 137. 36 Ann M. Hutchison, “Devotional Reading in the Monastery and in the Late Medieval Household,” in De Cella in Seculum, ed. Michael G. Sargent (Cambridge, England: D.S. Brewer, 1989), 218.

76 He was granted by the bishop “fulle power and auctorite / to bynde and vnbynde, correcte and reforme…” (Additions, 12 [64.10-11]). However, as noted in the previous section, he carried out these actions under the consent of the abbess.37 Beyond the spiritual welfare of the members of the abbey, the confessor general was only in charge of the brethren’s discipline and their Divine

Office.

The female supremacy of Syon Abbey was even more evident in the election of the abbess when compared to the election of the confessor general. The sisters alone participated in the election of the abbess, which had to be completed within three days of a vacancy. In the event of simultaneous vacancies of both the abbess and confessor general, the abbess was the

“fyrst to be chosen and confermed,” followed by the election of the confessor general (Additions,

12 [64.19-20]). The Additions permitted the men only to observe the election of the abbess. They were not allowed to vote or make their opinions known in the election process (Additions, 12

[57.21-22]). The confessor general and two other brothers were limited to witnessing the election and assisting as directed. The bishop of the London diocese later consecrated the abbess’ election followed by her ceremonial installation.38

Election of the confessor general followed precisely the same procedure used for the election of the abbess with three significant exceptions. First, both the sisters and brothers participated in his election. Second, if the election moved to the way of scrutiny, two sisters and

37 See also, Rewyll, XII, 37 [f. 56r-v]; Additions, 11 [54.14-17]. 38 See Rewyll, XII, 36 [f. 56r]; Additions, 11 [50.12 – 53.17].

77 two brother-priests equally presided over the election.39 These four representatives were to

“serche and here the voyces of al the sustres and breathren,” in order to determine the person for whom the entire house would vote (Additions, 12 [63.21-24]).

The third difference between the election of the confessor general and the abbess had to do with the role of the bishop in the consecration and installation process. Whereas the bishop had to be physically present for the consecration and installation of the abbess, it would suffice for the bishop merely to send the confessor general a letter confirming his election and granting him authority to carry out his position. In the letter, the bishop could authorize “and also committe fulle power to one of the brethren a preste, for to salle hym and dette hym in hys dewe place, both in the chirch and in the chapter hows.” (Additions, 12 [64.12-14]). If the bishop chose to participate in the consecration and installation, it was up to his discretion as to the procedure he would follow.40 For the abbess, on the other hand, the consecration and installation were explicitly prescribed, possibly indicating her office held a greater importance.

Though the abbess was given authority over the entire monastery, it is interesting that only the sisters were required to profess obedience to her at her installation. The brothers, accompanied by the confessor general, were required only to visit her on the morning following her installation so that they could wish that she might “longe contynewe in her office in helth and prsperite, to Þe worschyp of god and wele of al the monasterye” (Additions, 11 [53.15-17]).

39 If the first nominee was unanimously elected, the election was deemed “the way of the Holy Spirit” (Additions, 12 [58.7]). If the vote was not unanimous, the election proceeded in “the way of scrutiny which is the ordinary way” (Additions, 12 [59.14-15]). Ballots would be cast until “the majority of them” prevailed (Additions, 12 [60.6]). 40 The full account of the election, installation, and consecration of the abbess and confessor general is found in Additions Chapter XI, “For what cases the buschop, or any oÞer persone, schal entre into the monastery,” [50.12- 54.17], and Chapter XII, “Of the forme of chesynge of the abbes and general confessor,” [55-64].

78 The rewle of Seynt Austyn, the Rewyll of Seynt Sauioure, and the Additions for the Sisters leave little doubt that the abbess of Syon was responsible for running the entire abbey, a depth of responsibility that was unique among the double monasteries of England. Repeated references to the abbess as “head,” “lady,” and “sovereign,” and her identity as the earthy representation of the

Virgin Mary further revealed an unaccustomed role for a woman of this era, especially in mixed monastic life. At least for those who knew of and interacted with Syon, it was quite possible that they experienced a silent model of the empowerment of women in the Church through this monastic community as they witnessed a woman holding a role with such depth and breadth of authority.

A third area indicating the uniqueness of Syon and giving insight into Syon’s spirituality had to do with matters addressed in the Syon Additions regarding the sisters’ work when they were not engaged in the Divine Office, Mass, or other prayers or study. Recall that Syon’s

Additions largely followed those written for the motherhouse at Vadstena. The Vadstena additions detailed domestic work for the sisters; however, Syon’s Additions detailed no such work. Though there was mention of needlework in both the Rewyll and Additions, some abbey records indicate that the sisters “did not spin and weave themselves, but had it done for them.”41

The omission of domestic chores was a radical step when one recognizes that domestic chores were nearly the only work availed to women in this era. On the other hand, recall that a majority of the professed women at Syon came from the aristocratic and gentry social classes.

These women would not have been accustomed to physical labor, even in the household, since servants in their birth homes did such menial labor. Not having to do domestic chores or menial

41 Olsen, 135. For references to needlework, see Additions chapter 56 and Rewyll chapter I.

79 labor freed the women to engage in reading and likely study in their homes, a practice they most likely desired to continue after their profession at Syon.

Knowing it was a requirement for the sisters to labor when not at Divine Office or reading, and that their labors apparently did not include domestic chores, leads one to speculate possible alternative options for laboring. Recognizing that there were not enough offices to go around for sixty sisters raises speculation regarding the kind of work the sisters did if they were not assigned to an office.

Recall that the Rewyll allowed the sisters as many books as they needed for reading and study (See Rewyll, XVIII). Other books and manuscripts important to Syon (i.e. The Myroure of oure Lady and The Orcherd of Syon) emphasized the practice and process of inward reading and study. Additionally, the extensive libraries and attraction of priest-brothers from Cambridge and

Oxford reveal a general pervasive emphasis at Syon on learning and education. Combined together, these factors support the supposition that study and possibly even writing were counted among the valid “work” options for the sisters. Olsen speculates that release from domestic chores freed the sisters to “adapt to changing times and places.”42 What could also be operating here was not just the freedom to adapt, but a tenacious determination inherited from their founder, Bridget, to be freed from the stereotypes of their society so that they might engage in the work of study and consequently be more fully educated. Educated people were in turn able to pass on their learning to others. Maybe it was just such freedom, education, and determination that enabled this house to survive to the twenty-first century, despite the persecutions endured during and after the English Reformation.

42 Olsen, 140.

80 The courage within Syon’s rule of life to both reform and chart new ways could be tied to the empowerment of women living in a matriarchal centered double house founded by a woman and led “first and principally by women” residing in a patriarchal society. In such situations, the power to study and read as one’s daily labor may have been the first step in the struggle for women to engage in theological reflections and ultimately pick up the pen and write their own thoughts. Guiding this perception may have been the very image of Bridget receiving and writing down the revelation of her Rule, a woodcut image that appeared in several Bridgettine works.43

Such legislative, written, and pictorial driven messages cannot be underestimated.

The daily life of a Bridgettine nun at Syon was ordered according to the rewle of Seynt

Austyn, St. Bridget’s Constitutions or Rewyll of Seynt Sauioure, and the Additions of the Sisters, written expressly for Syon’s sisters. These documents provided for them a rule or form of life.

Yet there was more to Syon than ritually living this form of life. Syon lived into a spirituality of loving God and loving learning. This spirituality was rooted in the lives of three women and two books. The women were Mary, St. Bridget, and St. Catherine. The books were The Myroure of oure Ladye and The Orcherd of Syon. The spirituality of these women and these books will be the topics in the next chapter.

43 See Appendices A and B.

Chapter 4

Life in the Spirit of Reforming Women and Contemplative Reading

As a community of faith, Syon embodied its own distinctive ethos of an English

Bridgettine spirituality. The sisters, along with the brothers and others from the community, united in a quest to love God with the fullness of their beings and to engage in their love of learning. They did this, as prescribed in their Rule, through daily rhythmic Bridgettine expressions of devotion to Mary, whose life taught them how to live spiritually. In her they undoubtedly saw a woman filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit. Mary was their example, but she was far more than an example or role model. She was the Mother of God who, better than any other human being, lived into the fullness of her humanity through her undying love, obedience, and devotion to God. At the heart of their form of life was the continual devotion they expressed inwardly and outwardly to Mary. There were three means which guided and assisted the sisters in this devotion. The first two were by following the examples of the lives of St.

Bridget of Sweden and St. Catherine of Siena, who became for the Syon sisters a mirror through which they could more clearly see the possibilities of how to live into their spirituality. In

Bridget and Catherine they saw reflections of Mary and they became the primary role models for the Syon women. The third means guiding them was their two primary literary sources that served as life manuals for how to love God through a love of contemplative reading and devoted study. The first book was the Myroure of oure Lady, initially written expressly for the sisters of

Syon to aid them in the fullness of understanding and practicing their disciplines of Marian devotion, and contemplative reading. The second book was The Orcherd of Syon, a Middle

81 82 English paraphrase of Catherine’s book, Il Dialogue. When enjoined properly, the reading practices outlined in these books would enable them to better love God, love others, and love the

Church. This chapter will explore the sisters’ devotion to Mary, the spirituality of their role models, and the books that became guides on their journey. Devotion to Mary, their primary work, will lay the foundation for this chapter.

Devotion to Mary

At the very heart of the spirit of life at Syon was the Bridgettine devotion to Mary. As previously noted, the Prologue to the Rewyll declared that Christ ordained the Bridgettine Order first and principally by women to the worship his most dear beloved mother, Mary. In the rhythm of the sisters’ daily lives they practiced this devotion as they performed their Divine Office and participated in the daily Lady Mass. Nearly fifty percent of the chapters in the Syon Additions were dedicated to elaboration and elucidation of the varied aspects of observing the Marian focused Divine Office and other liturgical observances. Such attention accentuates the importance the Bridgettines gave to reverencing and honoring the Virgin Mary. This attention also highlights a spirituality that expresses love for God through worship of God and devotion to

Mary.

The Myroure of oure Ladye, a book written expressly to assist the sisters in learning at the deepest possible levels, reinforced the importance of the sisters’ devotion to Mary.1 More will be said about this work later in this chapter; however, at this point it is necessary to consider what the author said in relation to the sisters’ Marian devotion.

1 John Henry Blunt, ed., The Myroure of oure Ladye (1873; repr., Millwood, NY: Kraus Reprint Co., 1975). Hereafter, Myroure.

83 The author explained to the Syon sisters that they had “seen” Mary and they had showed her most blessed. In other words, within the spirit of their lives, the Syon Sisters meditated on

Mary’s life and imitated her spirit. The sisters praised Mary for three reasons. First, they praised her for who they were, daughters of Syon. Second, they praised her because she had been specially revealed to them; they had “seen” her. Third, they praised her so they could show her most blessed or reveal her to others. The sisters praised God for Mary because God had given

Mary so much worship, excellence, and power. In her excellence, she exceeded all other creatures. God had called the Syon sisters to Mary’s service and God had given the sisters open knowledge of her most high and excellent worthiness.2

The author presented the centrality of the sisters’ devotion to Mary through two metaphors. Whether they were collectively participating in the Office or reading privately, these metaphors were beneficial for the sisters to consider. The first metaphor, a mirror, was the very basis of the book as indicated by its title, The Myroure of oure Ladye. Just as a person used a mirror to look at themselves, the sisters were to “loke and study” at the Myroure’s contents so that they might “se and vnderstonde” Mary and her holy service to God (Myroure, 4). This act would in turn enable them to emulate Mary more effectively. In this way, the book became a mirror of “the praysynges and worthines of oure moste excellente lady….” It also became a tool that sharpened the sisters’ praising of and devotion to Mary, both with their mouths and in their hearts, until they saw Mary “face to face wythouten eny myroure” (Myroure, 4).3

2 See Myroure, 1-7. 3 It is interesting to note that the image of a mirror was a commonly used metaphor for inward reflection throughout the Middle Ages.

84 The second metaphor the author used was actually one the angel gave to Bridget. This metaphor was the sewing of a coat for Mary. The angel told Bridget that he had “shapen a cote to the quiene of heuen the mother of God” (Myroure, 19). This coat was called the Sermo angelicus de Virginis excellentia or Sermon of the Angel. This “sermon” was the lessons the sisters read each day at Matins (Myroure, 19).4 When the sisters recited the lessons and sang the Office, it was as though they were sewing the coat together for Mary. The sisters were to give great diligence and devotion to the making of this coat because the Mother of God deserved only the best of one’s efforts and work. With true and untiring devotion, the sisters would then be more open to the means of grace whose fruit was deep and abiding inward comfort. If the sisters would keep Mary upmost in their mind, seeing Mary as in a mirror, and, metaphorically, lovingly sewing a coat for her in the performance of their Office, then they would find themselves in ever- increasing love and devotion to God, which was their ultimate goal.

At this point, it may be informative to understand the origin of the Sermo angelicus. Over a period of non-consecutive days in 1352 and 1353, while St. Bridget was residing in the house of Cardinal Hugo of Beaufort5 with a community of friends and family awaiting the opportunity to appeal to the Pope for the approval of her Rule, she received these lessons. Each day, Bridget positioned herself at a desk beside a window opening to the church of San Lorenzo in Damaso, a basilica in central Rome. From the window, she could gaze upon the High Altar on which rested

4 Hereafter Sermo angelicus. Sermo angelicus which is contained in St. Bridget’s Revelations, was used heavily as it contained daily Matins lessons as revealed to Bridget. This liturgy is found in Books IV and VIII, chapters 104-105 and 127-28 respectively, and became the most well known of Bridget’s Revelationes among the English. See Neil Beckett, “St Bridget, Henry V and Syon Abbey,” in Studies in St. Birgitta and the Brigittine Order vol 2, ed. by Hogg, James (Salzburg: Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik Universität Salzburg, 1993), 137.

5 Cardinal Hugo was the brother of Pope Clement VI. See Jefferies Collins, ed., The Bridgettine Breviary of Syon Abbey (Worchester, England: Stanbrook Abbey Press, 1969), xvii.

85 the Consecrated Host. On unspecified days, as she maintained she was promised by Christ, an angel would appear and while gazing with Bridget upon the Sacred Host, the angel would dictate to Bridget, in her native Swedish, one of an eventual twenty-one lessons.6 Later in the day,

Bridget would show the day’s lesson to Master Peter of Skänninge, her confessor at the time, who then, with proper permission from Christ through Bridget, translated it into Latin. Bridget later reviewed his translation for final approval. Following Bridget’s direction, Master Peter also wrote specific prayers, responses, collects, and twenty-nine of the thirty-five hymns that were complimentary to the Marian focused lessons.7 All of this material was later woven together with the revealed lessons and other existing Marian liturgical elements, into the Cantus Sororum, the

Bridgettine Divine Office.

Some have referred to the Bridgettine Divine Office as a shortened version of the Little

Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Officium parvum Beatae Mariae Virginis)8 which was in frequent use throughout the Middle Ages. Bridgettine nun Helen Redpath notes that this is a mistaken designation.9 The Bridgettine Divine Office was notably different from the Little

Office in at least four significant ways. First, in the Little Office, the prayers said before the start and at the conclusion of the hours were the same each day. The hours of Bridget’s Office began and ended each hour with different prayers that reinforced the day’s lessons. Second, Bridgettine

6 Myroure, 18, 26; Jefferies Collins, ed., Introduction to The Bridgettine Breviary of Syon Abbey: From the MS. with English Rubrics F.4.II at Magdalene College Cambridge (Worchester, England: Stanbrook Abbey Press, 1969), xvii. 7 In the text of volume 2, Jørgensen states “no fewer than nineteen were written and set to music” by Peter (105). In a footnote in Vol. 1, Jørgensen states Peter wrote twenty-nine hymns (290 note 28). Collins confirms the number twenty-nine and adds that they are located in G.E. Klemming’s Latinska sånger fordom anvånda I Svenska kyrkor, ii, (1-151). 8 This Divine Office is also referred to as the Little Office of Our Lady or simply Little Office. 9 Helen Redpath, God’s Ambassadress: St. Bridget of Sweden (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing, 1947), 71.

86 Sisters observed their Divine Office using an adaptation of Gregorian chant composed by Master

Peter. He made this adaptation as instructed by Bridget specifically for use by her Order. The third difference was in the weekly recitation of the Psalms. The Bridgettine Office recited all of the Psalms each week while the Little Office was limited to the recitation of less than a quarter of the Psalter each week. The fourth and most distinctive difference between the Little Office and

Bridget’s Office was the inclusion of the lessons from Sermo angelicus at Matins.10 It is from these unique Bridgettine lessons that one can most clearly discern their Marian spirituality.

Recalling again that spirituality is a lived experience, learning about the entirety of a person’s life enables that person’s spirituality to emerge. Every day, the Sisters of Syon recited the Hours of the Bridgettine Divine Office, which included three lessons from the Sermo angelicus. Lesson by lesson, the “eternal story” of Mary successively unfolded for the participants.11 Not one of the twenty-one lessons failed to add something about the life of Mary, revealing something of her very being and essence. Each lesson accentuated, to some degree,

Mary’s election, uniqueness, obedience, and perpetual virginity. This Marian spirituality was absorbed not only through the lessons of the Sermo angelicus, but also through the Marian focused Bridgettine responses, antiphons, and hymns which complimented the lessons. For example, in the Myroure’s translation of Tuesday’s Mass, the sisters learned the lyrics of one

10 For a detailed examination of the Sermo angelicus see Sten Eklund, “Introduction,” in Sancta Birgitta, Sermo Angelicus (Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksells, 1972); and Saint Birgitta of Sweden, The Word of the Angel, translated and edited with notes by John Halborg (Toronto: Peregrina Publishing Co., 1996). 11 Nyberg, 29.

87 verse of Ave virgo virginum. In this verse they sang, “Mediatrix, Menesse of men, and wassher of synnes, heyle kyngly virgin” (Myroure, 306).12

The Myroure was essential for helping the sisters understand their Divine Office and especially their Marian focused Matins lessons so that they could give greater devotion to Mary.

It also provided essential instruction in the process of spiritual reading to assist them in continual reading, studying, and praying.

It is worth noting that the purpose for the sisters’ proper praising of Mary was not only for themselves. It was also for others, “that other folke may vnderstonde” the sisters’ praising of

Mary for their own “edyfycacyon” (Myroure, 6). Observers experienced the sisters “openly,”

“meekly,” and “devoutly” praising Mary, revealing deeper truths of the faith to them. In this way, the sisters pointed beyond themselves to Mary who ultimately pointed them to Christ, exacting an influence on the laity of England who by the early sixteenth century were familiar with this writing and other practices of the Syon sisters. By the sixteenth century, the laity of

England could learn about the Bridgettine devotion to Mary not only by visiting Syon, but also through the purchase of the Myroure. An examination of the Myroure is instructive in further understanding the spirit of life at Syon.

The Myroure of oure Ladye

Already noted is that reading and study were an integral part of the sisters’ daily activities at Syon whether it occurred during the celebration of the Hours, the Masses, mealtimes, or at other permissible times of the day. Reading was considered a virtuous act of devotion through

12 “Mediatrix, Mediator of men, and washer of sins, hail kingly virgin.” Italics in the original. In addition to this place, the word “medyatryce” is used. “Hec de penis, Thys medyatryce ledyth vs oute from paynes. & bryngeth vs vnto hye ioys” (311). Italics in the original.

88 which God might speak to the reader; therefore, the way one read was as important as the material selected for reading since. The Myroure of oure Ladye reinforced this spirit of reading and study. To gain a greater appreciation of the impact of this work, it will be helpful to understand a bit of its history.

The author of the Myroure was unknown. Even the earliest extant manuscripts of the

Myroure failed to conclusively identify a possible author. John Henry Blunt, editor of a 1530 publicly printed edition of the Myroure, attributed the original authorship to Thomas Gascoigne of Merton College, Oxford. Blunt based his conclusion on references made in the Myroure to an

English translation of a life of Bridget made by Gascoigne expressly for the sisters of Syon.13

Recent scholarship, however, revealed that one of the priest-brothers of Syon most likely wrote the Myroure within the first decade of the house’s establishment. Internal textual evidence led to the speculation that the identity of this priest-brother was either Thomas Fishbourne, the first confessor general, or Brother Simon Wynter.14

The Myroure was divided into three parts preceded by a preface containing a basic rendition of Bridget’s life. Part I opened with two prologues, both of which explained the purpose of the book and requested that the sisters pray heartily “for oure right poure & full wretched soulle” that the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ might cleanse and heal them and grant them joy and “delyte in loue of hym, and of hys mooste worthy mother, and in nothing else.”

(Myroure, 7). The longest section of Part I was divided into twenty-four chapters. These chapters addressed various aspects of the Bridgettine “Divine Office” including how and why the sisters

13 Blunt, ix. No date is provided for the referenced Life of Bridget. 14 Ann Hutchison, “Devotional Reading in the Monastery and the Late Medieval Household,” in De Cella in Seculum, ed. Michael G. Sargent (Cambridge, England: D.S. Brewer, 1989), 220.

89 prayed and sang their Office.15 The author explained to the sisters how Christ gave the Rule to

Bridget and how an angel revealed to her the Office lessons, Sermo angelicus. He further explained how Master Peter, Bridget’s confessor, assisted her in translating the revelation into

Latin from Bridget’s native Swedish, the language which the angel used to reveal the Sermo angelicus to her. This section of the Myroure concluded with a detailed explanation of how and why the sisters were to say their Divine Office giving attention to both their inward and outward postures while saying the Office.

Part II of the Myroure opened with a treatise carefully explaining the significance of the practice of spiritual reading which he described as the “deuoute reading of holy books” which was “one of the partes of contemplacyon …” (Myroure, 65). Reading devoutly was serious work and the sister who engaged her reading with diligence, reverence, and humility would gain true understanding and wisdom both for knowledge and for virtuous living. Though the Myroure author did not use the terminology, he was actually teaching the sisters about lectio divina, or prayerful reading of scripture. Following the treatise on contemplative reading, was a careful

Middle English translation of the sisters’ Office, Masses, and special feasts accompanied by “the ancient tradition of scholastic glossing” to explain the meaning and purpose of each component of these liturgical works.16 Because the Myroure was published for public consumption in 1530 the author’s instructions on contemplative reading could have influenced the spirituality of the women of England. Therefore, it will be instructive to explore what the author said regarding contemplative reading.

15 Note: The Sisters prayed an Office based on that of the Church but according to the rite established by St. Bridget. 16 Elizabeth Psakis Armstrong, “Informing the Mind and Stirring Up the Heart: Katherine of Siena at Syon,” in Hogg, Studies in St. Birgitta and the Brigittine Order, 174-175.

90 The Myroure’s author discussed contemplative reading in both Parts I and II of the book.

Discussing contemplative reading twice served to accentuate its importance to the readers. The author carefully delineated the different purposes for which books were read including to

“enformeth” the understanding of rightful living, or to “quyken and sturre vp the affeccyons of the soule” (Myroure, 68-69). He also emphasized the importance of choosing books that were most beneficial for the specific needs of the person at the time of the reading (Myroure, 69).17

The Myroure identified three levels on which one understood the liturgy. This differed from the medieval quadriga, the commonly understood classical four-fold means of understanding scripture: literal, allegorical (typological), tropological (moral), and anagogical

(heavenly or spiritual). Though the Myroure author’s terminology differed from the medieval quadriga, some similarities in description may be noted. The first level identified in the Myroure was more of a pre-level since it failed to even render a literal understanding. The Myroure identified this level as the way of “symple soulles” who kept “the mynde vpon the selfe wordes without eny vnderstande” (Myroure, 49). At this level, a sister could phonetically pronounce the words, but she yielded no understanding of the words her mouth was forming let alone the meaning of the text.

The second level of understanding was for the sisters to attend to the “lytterall vnderstondynge” or meaning of a text. This level was equivalent to the first level of the medieval quadriga, the literal interpretation. At this level the person understood the words collectively but with only a literal and cursory meaning. Remaining at this level would yield to the participant a

17 The Myroure stated, “yt is expediente that eche persone vse to rede. and to study in this maner of bokes, suche matters. as be moste conuenyente to hym for the tyme.”

91 basic knowledge of what the text said. However, it would fail to enable the reader to mine for deeper truths that would ultimately yield spiritual growth. Therefore, a deeper level of understanding was desirable. This deeper level was the third and highest level that strived for

“inwarde gostly vnderstondynge of the wordes that ar syd or songe” (Myroure, 49). This was similar to the quadriga’s third and fourth levels of understanding a text’s tropological and anagogical meaning, respectively. The author’s description of this level reflected the tropological or moral sense of a passage since the end desire was to influence and ultimately transform the life one lived. It also involved the anagogical interpretation since it directed the sister’s attention to heaven, her ultimate goal.

To aid in the process of contemplative reading, the author identified five guidelines of which the sisters were to be mindful as they both chose and read their books. He guided them on the types of books they were permitted to read, the inner approach they were to take in reading, how they were to read to strive for proper understanding of the texts, reading to become well- informed, and the discretion they were to use in choosing books since books were written for various purposes (Myroure, 66-69).

The Myroure noted that there were books that addressed a breadth of human experiences and affections. One book might stir up feelings of dread, while another feelings of sorrow for or personal loathing against sin. Still others might stir up love for God, hope in God, or the joys of heaven. A sister was to read books according to her current life needs in order to assist her in knowing the appropriate means to respond to the readings both inwardly and outwardly

92 (Myroure, 69).18 The author drew support for this advice from a story in Vitae Patrum about a holy man who had been tempted for a long time by demons. The demons became exasperated because the holy man was able to overcome them because of his attention to books that stirred up the affections.

The Myroure never specified books or even authors for the sisters to read. While the author did not identify specific books to read, throughout the Myroure he did in fact quote numerous spiritual writers. For example, the author made three references to Mechtild of

Hackeborn,19 noting that she received her revelations while performing the Divine Office and therefore was a good example for how to perform the Divine Office and how to receive the

Eucharist (see Myroure, 33, 38).20 Much later in the Myroure, the author commended to the sisters the “short lesson” Jesus taught Mechtild, so that they, like her, could be more informed in the performing of their Offices and engaging in their readings (see Myroure, 276). Of course the

Myroure referenced and quoted from various teachings of Bridget. These references were from her three books, Liber celestis, Extravagentes, and her Vita. Though these books, like

Mechtild’s, were not identified by title, there is little questioning that Bridgettine nuns would recognize the references and understand them as excellent sources to choose for formative reading. It is possible that the Myroure’s quoting and/or commentary from the lives of various

18 The Myroure states it this way: “of the sorowes & dredes of dethe. & of dome. & of paynes. to sturre vp the affeccyons odrede. & of sorow for synne…. to sturre vp oure affeccyons of loue. and of hope in to hym…. of ioye to desyre thyderwarde.” 19 In the Myroure Mechtild’s name is spelled Mawdes, Maudes, and Maute. Her book is The Book of Gostlye Grace which is the Middle English translation of Liber specialis gratiae. It appears that the sisters must have been quite familiar with this book since the author never specifically provides the book’s title. 20 The Myroure uses the ME word “howslyng” which means the administering or receiving of the .

93 spiritual women could have served to elevate the status and authoritative voice of women, even if that voice was auctoritas ex beneficio.21

Among male theological/spiritual writers named throughout the Myroure were

Athanasius, Hilary, , , , , Augustine, Benedict of Nursia, Isidore, Bede, and Bernard of Clairvaux. It seems safe to assume that a book or treatise written by one of these persons would be considered acceptable for devotional reading.

However, this list of theologians was certainly not exhaustive.

Specific books quite likely considered appropriate for inwardly spiritual reading would have been the Revelations of St. Bridget and St. Catherine’s Orcherd of Syon. Since Richard

Rolle was specifically named in the Myroure in reference to his English translation of the Psalter, it was most likely that his Incendium Amoris and Commentary on the Song of Songs would have been appropriate spiritual reading, especially when one recognizes that several of the sisters owned copies of Rolle’s writings.22 To this list could be added books composed specifically for the sisters of Syon such as Richard Whitford’s Pipe or Tune of the Life of Perfection, Daily

Exercise and Experience of Death, or William Bond’s Devout Treatise for they that are

Timorous and Fearful in Conscience. It was also probable that readings could have come from books owned by the sisters that were ultimately published. Included in that list was Thomas

Betson’s A Right Profitable Treatise23 (c. 1491, 1500), The Directory of Conscience (1527,

1534), The Pomander of Prayer (1528), Whitford’s A Work for Householders (1530,1532,

21 Auctoritas ex beneficio is a phrase designating authority to a work based on the personal spiritual benefit derived from the work. 22 In the Myroure, Rolle is specifically identified as “Rycharde hampoules,” 3. 23 Contains translated works from Jerome and Bernard of Clairvaux, and the Ars moriendi.

94 1533), Bond’s Pilgrimage of Perfection (1531), John Fewterer’s Mirror or Glass of Christ’s

Passion24 (1534), and The Following of Christ25 (1556). A final option for spiritual reading was from books known to have been owned by more than one person at Syon including The

Chastising of God’s Children, and The Tree and Twelve Fruits of the Holy Ghost.

The sisters had a depth and breadth of books and treatises from which to draw for reading. If they followed the reading guidelines provided in the Myroure, they were sure to grow and mature in their love of God, even as they engaged and grew in their love of learning. The fruit of such lived tension was better preparation for the performance of the Divine Office. There would also be an increase in the ability to attend more purposefully to the words of the text whether they were spoken or sung, since these inwardly spiritual works helped “to gather to gyther the scaterynges of the mynde. From all oute warde thynges” (Myroure, 165).

As previously noted, the practice of contemplative reading as set forth by the Myroure enabled a greater understanding and devotion to Mary. It was the purpose of the Myroure to aid the sisters to “loke and study” the contents of the Myroure and other spiritual texts “not lyghtely but contynually, not hastynge to rede moche atones.” Instead, they were to work to understand what they were reading so that they might better perceive and comprehend their “holy seruce” to

Mary and their worship of God even as they grew in a life of meekness, wisdom, and love

(Myroure, 4). Such reading and study would prepare the sisters to serve Mary in ways that enabled their reverence and praising of her to descend from their mouths to their hearts, opening them to “more holy and heuenly medytacyons.” Engaging in this deeper contemplation

24 Contains translated works by Ludolf of Saxony and Jordan of Quedlinburg. 25 This was Richard Whytford’s English translation of Imitatio Christi by Thomas à Kempis.

95 throughout the week would grant them to see on each Sunday “the glory of the blessyd endeles

Trinite in onehed of substaunce and of Godhede” (Myroure, 4). This in turn, on each weekday, would enable them to perceive new insights, unveiling the grand heilsgeschichte, from creation and the stories of the patriarchs and matriarchs, through the prophets, and to the Passion of the

Christ. More specifically, through all of these events, the various aspects of Mary’s life would be exemplified and more deeply understood consequently engendering a higher devotion to Mary and all that she was for them.

The author noted that the Myroure was also “Very necessary for all relygyous persones and other good deuoute people” (Myroure, 290-291). Syon offered indulgences to the laity for attendance at various feast day services. One requirement to receiving the indulgences was to attend to the services with serious devotion, an act possibly hampered by an ignorance of the services’ Latin. Translations of the services in the Myroure enabled participants to gain an understanding of the service and opened opportunities for attendees to give greater attention and devotion to the service. The end result was not just receipt of an . It also had the potential of gaining participants spiritual growth through the understanding this book afforded.

It was the goal of the Myroure’s author to help the sisters understand their Office and

Masses. For maximum benefit, the sisters were to read the Myroure regularly, and use it as a companion to their Latin Breviary. Having this English translation in front of them as they sang their Latin Offices, Masses, and special feasts opened the sisters to a greater understanding of their divine work. Understanding their Office and Masses would enable them to sing, read, and say them “more deuoutely” and hence offer greater “worschyp” to Mary (Myroure, 2-3). It

96 would engneder learning at the deepest levels resulting in “more sprytuall loue, & inward delyte and deuocyon, in thys holy seruyce…” (Myroure, 3).

The Spirituality of Bridget26 of Sweden (1303-1373) via the Myroure

After Mary, the most notable and obvious influence on Syon was the founder of the

Bridgettine Order, Bridget of Sweden. Bridget represented a woman who, after the death of her husband, dedicated her life to the foundation of a double monastic order and gave to the sisters a means for offering praise and adoration to Christ through the vehicle of the Office in honor of his mother. From the Rewyll of Seynt Sauiour, and the preface to The Myroure of oure Ladye, they learned of Bridget’s eagerness to emulate Mary’s example.

Bridget of Sweden is the most celebrated saint of the Northern European kingdoms and is more specifically the patron saint of Sweden.27 She was the first woman in the Western Church to found a that was not a corollary to an already established order for men.

Sven Silén, a Lutheran bishop speaking at the celebration of Bridget’s six hundredth

Jubilee, described Bridget “as having five spiritual qualities: humility, patience or waiting for

God, devotion to the humanity of Christ, love for the Virgin Mary, and concern for the condition of the world.”28 While these very qualities permeate the life and work of Bridget, and consequently encapsulate her spirituality, it would be anachronistic to assume that this is how fifteenth and sixteenth century English women associated with Syon understood her. To gain an

26 Bridget is known variously including: Bride (since she wrote of herself as Christ’s bride or sponsa), Byrgitt, Seynte Byrgitte, Saynt Birgytt (the name closest to her Swedish name), Brigida. For the sake of consistency, this work will use the Anglicized version Bridget. 27 Marguierite Tjader Harris, “Preface,” in Birgitta of Sweden: Life and Selected Revelations (New York: Paulist Press, 1990), 1-2. Note: In 1999 Pope John Paul II named Bridget of Sweden the patron saint of , along with Catherine of Siena and Edith Stein. 28 Harris, “Preface,” 10.

97 understanding of their perspective of the spirituality of Bridget and the influences her spirituality held over them, it is necessary to rely largely upon the vernacular literature available to these

English women as their primary source of information and understanding of who Bridget was.

Two vitas of Bridget were available to the women, one in the preface to the Myroure and the other in the preface to the Rewyll.29 Though a mere brief encapsulation of the life of Bridget, they truly highlight Bridget’s spirituality. The key aspects of Bridget’s spirituality are further reinforced throughout the Rewyll proper. This presentation of Bridget will come from the Preface to the Myroure, the more extensive of the two vitas.

The Myroure was readily available and in frequent use by sixteenth century aristocratic and gentry women of England who associated with Syon. Emanating from her vita in the

Myroure is Bridget’s feminine mystical ascetic spirituality of election, obedience, meekness, chastity, and poverty. The “lyfe of seynt Birgette,”30 found in the first preface to the Myroure, relays three stories of how God chose Bridget for special works. The first two stories are pre- birth stories. The first story relayed the chastisement of a nun who had ridiculed Bridget’s grandmother for what the nun perceived in her to be great pride. A person of “meruaylous beaute” appeared to the nun and declared that her criticism of Bridget’s grandmother was untrue.

The nun was told that God had chosen from this woman’s progeny a child who would grow up to

“do great dedys in the worlde.” This child would be filled with God’s “great grace” and all people would marvel at her life and works (Myroure, xlvii).

29 Though there was a vernacular version of Bridget’s Liber Celestis, dating to the early fifteenth century, based on extant manuscripts and reviews of available wills, it apparently was not widely read among the aristocratic or gentry families. Therefore, it will not be used in consideration of the spirituality of Bridget. For more information see Roger Ellis, ed. The Liber Celestis of St Bridget of Sweden, vol. 1 Text (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987). 30 “Life of St Bridget.” Hereafter, Life.

98 The second story of election in the Myroure’s Life was an experience Bridget’s mother had during her pregnancy. After surviving a storm at sea, a divine being appeared to her mother and told her that her life was preserved because the child within her [Bridget] was given to her because “of the especyall goodnes of almyghty god.” Bridget’s mother was then charged to raise the child with utmost tenderness and care in moral living (Myroure, xlvii).

The third story of Bridget’s election involved a local parish priest, who later became

Bishop of Åbo.31 On the day of Bridget’s birth, while the priest was in prayer, a divine being appeared and revealed that a daughter had been born to Birger Persson of Finsta. The priest was told that this child’s “meruaylous voyce” would one day be heard “thorugh all the worlde.” Hers would be a voice of “gladnes and helth in the tabernacles of ryghtwyse” persons (Myroure, xlvii).

Evidence of Bridget’s spirituality of election continued throughout her life and was most notable in the visions and revelations she regularly received. Her first vision came to her at age seven. The Virgin Mary appeared to her and in Mary’s hand was a crown which she offered to

Bridget asking, “wylt thou nat haue this crowne”? With a display of “mylde countenaunce”

Bridget assented: her first willful act of obedience (Myroure, xlviii). The Virgin then placed the crown on Bridget’s head and from that moment Bridget dedicated herself to a lifelong devotion to Mary, a devotion that became central to the life of those who professed as a Bridgettine nun.

Bridget’s second vision came to her at age ten after hearing a sermon on the Passion of

Christ. In this vision, the crucified Christ made his first appearance to her. He said to her, “loo

Birget howe I am woundyd.” She asked him who had wounded him and he replied, “they that do

31 According to Jørgensen, the priest’s name was Master Bengt, 21.

99 contmepne me, and forgette my charyte.” From that moment on, she added to her spiritual practices not only devotion to Mary, which she had begun three years earlier, but now dedication to remembering the Passion of Christ. In this practice of remembering, she also embraced a spirituality of tears. Each time she recalled Christ’s Passion she wept for his suffering (Myroure, xlviii).

The third childhood vision came to her at age twelve. In the middle of the night, her aunt came into Bridget’s room. She saw Bridget kneeling beside the bed. Suspecting some kind of misbehavior, the aunt requested someone to bring her a “rod” to punish Bridget. When the aunt laid the rod upon Bridget’s back, it “breke all in small pecys.” Astonished, the aunt then inquired of Bridget what she had been doing. Bridget answered through her tears, “I rose out of my bed to laude and prayse hym that is euer wonte to helpe me ….our lorde Crucyfyed that I sawe of late”

(Myroure, xlviii).

The Myroure’s rendition of Bridget’s life continued to illustrate a spirituality of election as it relayed stories of regular visions and revelations throughout her life. On a regular basis,

Christ, Mary, and various and angels appeared to her. They came to her with messages about the lives of various priests, popes, kings, and even her children. At times, these messages were given to her for understanding. Other times they were granted with the instruction to pass on the message, through either verbal or written communication, to a specified person so that the person “myght the soner be conuerteyd fro theyr synnes” (Myroure, liv).

100 In addition to revelations about the lives of specific persons, Bridget also received revelations on various Church dogmas.32 Some of the dogmas had already been officially established in the Church, such as the doctrine of Purgatory and the doctrine of Christ (Myroure, liv and lv, respectively). However, she also received revelations on doctrines that had not yet been declared as official by the Church including the Immaculate Conception and the Bodily

Assumption into Heaven.33

Bridget’s final vision came to her five days prior to her death. Christ “apperyd vnto hyr before an Aulter that was in hyr Chaumber” (Myroure, lvi). He told her that her time had come and, as he promised years before, he would now clothe and “consecrate her as a nun” so that she would forever be known as his spouse and Mother in Vadstena. Christ also told her that she would die in Rome after having “receyuyd the Sacramentys of the Chyrche.” Christ reiterated that every promise he had made to her would be fulfilled (Myroure, lvii). All of these events as revealed by Christ were realized in five days time. Exemplifying her dedication to Christ and his

Passion, before she took her last breath, she recited the final words of Christ on the Cross, “In manus tuas domine commendo spiritum meum / whiche is to seye Lorde into thy handys I commyt my spirite” (Myroure, lvii).34

From the “Life of St Bridget” in the Myroure the women of England would have learned that Bridget diligently wrote down the visions and revelations in her native tongue and Prior

Peter, her confessor, then translated them into Latin and divided them into eight books. These

32 The Life stated that the angel “appered vnto seynt Birget / and amonge many other thynges that he shewyd hir of the excellencye of our blessyd Lady.” 33 Recall the Matins lessons on Wednesday and Saturday respectively discussed above in the section on devotion to Mary. cf. Supra, p. 58-59. 34 Italics not in the original.

101 revelations included the lessons Bridget was given for her sisters to use in expressing highest devotion to Mary, the Rule, the directive to found the Monastery at Vadstena, a four chapter book of prayers, and a group of revelations that became known as the Extravagantes (Myroure, liv).35

Beyond the visions and revelations received by Bridget, which conveyed a spirituality of election, the very life essence that Bridget embodied exemplified a spirituality of virtuous living, rooted in her deep love for God, the Church, and all of humankind. As the women of England read the Life of Bridget in the Myroure, they would have quickly become aware of a spirituality marked by obedience, meekness, chastity, and poverty. The Life declared that Bridget “obeyed in all vertue as mekely as a very meke monke is wont to obey his prelate…” It was a “perfyte humylyte obedyens” that stirred Bridget to subjugate her own will to that of God alone

(Myroure, lii). It was, like Mary’s, a spirituality of a continual obedient ‘yes’ to God’s good pleasure for her life. Her obedient ‘yes’ enabled her to become a blessing to others. Saying ‘yes’ to God mirrored Mary’s obedience and exemplified Bridget’s love for God, the Church and others.

Bridget’s obedient ‘yes’ was seen in the totality of her life. She obediently and faithfully received the sacraments of Penance, and the Eucharist. While her husband Ulf lived, she confessed every Friday and after his death she confessed every day (Myroure, liii). After the

35 The Myroure states: “seynt Birget wrote in hir owne naturall tonge / and the sayd Pryour of Albastra hir fader espirituell by the commaundement of almyghty god translated theym into Latyn / and deuyded theym into .viii. bokes bysyde a especiall reuelacion that she had of the praysynges and excellencye of our blessyd Lady whiche he appoynted for the Legends of the susters / and bysyde many other Reuelacyons that she hadde for the Rule and foundacyon of hir sayd Monasterye of Watzstenes / & foure goodly chappytours for prayers / with certeyn reuelacyons called the extrauagants”

102 death of her husband, she promised to privately “abyde in the lyfe of penaunce” (Myroure, li) as a way of showing her love to God through “symplenes of herte and clennes of spyrit” (Myroure, liii). This obedient ‘yes’ continued in her observance of the Eucharist. Every Sunday, she received “with great deuocion and humylyte…the holy body of our lord” (Myroure, liii).

Bridget exercised her obedient ‘yes’ in the pilgrimages upon which she embarked and the founding of what became known after her death as the Order of Saint Savior or more commonly, the Bridgettine Order. Bridget made no pilgrimages unless she was specifically commanded by

God to make the journey. At God’s command she visited “dylygentlye with great deuocyon” specific holy sites in Jerusalem. The sites she visited related specifically to Mary’s life and/or to the Passion of Christ (Myroure, lvi). Bridget was also commanded to make holy pilgrimages to sites connected with saints of God in Sweden, “Fraunce, Italye, Spayne, Napuls, & many other placys” (Myroure, lvi). Of course, under God’s direction she also made her home in Rome as she patiently awaited approval of her revealed Rule.

The qualities of chastity and meekness in Bridget’s spirituality were woven throughout her life. Though she desired to live “all hir lyfe in virginite,” at the age of thirteen, it was by the

“puruyaunce of almyghty god” and the “counceyll of hyr Fader” that she married Ulf

Gudmarsson who was a “noble yonge knyght” (Myroure, xlvii). The first two years of their marriage they lived together as virgins and then practiced abstinence except for the purpose of having children. The Life recorded that their marriage produced, “by God’s pleasure,” four sons and four daughters. After the birth of their last child, Bridget “induced hir husbande to lyfe in contynens many yeres” until his death in 1344 (Myroure, li; see also lv). Following Ulf’s death,

Bridget desired to please God alone and therefore completely conformed her will to God’s will.

103 She also chose, “with the assystaunce and grace” of Christ, “to lyue in chaste wydowhed” for the remainder of her “lyfe” (Myroure, li).

Equal to the prominence of Bridget’s chastity was her meekness. The Myroure’s Life described her meekness as “grete & meruaylous” and “hygh” (Myroure, lii, and liii). Bridget’s exemplary meekness permeated every aspect of her life. With patience and meekness, she blessed God in all things, including the adversities she faced in her life.36 The embodiment of meekness was paramount to Bridget’s spirituality and it kept her on a search for wisdom.

The Life noted that Bridget had a “hygh wysedome & discretion that fro hir youth vnto hir laste houre” (Myroure, liii). She exercised this high wisdom in the way she related to everyone from the poor to the privileged, from laity to religious, and from townspersons to political leaders. She evidenced it in the Church doctrines that emanated from her writings including purgatory, Christology, the Trinity, and Marian spirituality. The wisdom evidenced in her writings earned them the designation “Heuenly reuelacyons” (Myroure, lix). After her death her writings were examined for heresy, but none were found.

One final aspect that may have served to influence and empower women to embrace a life of loving God and learning is the images of Bridget printed in several Bridgettine books.

These images variously portrayed Bridget sitting at a desk, receiving and writing down the revelation of her Rule. In these images, Mary, Christ, and at least one angel often surrounded

Bridget. More attention will be given to these images in final chapter of this dissertation.

As rich as Bridget’s spirituality was, those associated with Syon and its vernacular literature had yet another stellar example of a reforming spiritual woman living into a rich

36 See Myroure, liii.

104 vibrant spirituality. This example was found in their second role model, Catherine of Siena. It is to her spirituality that this chapter now turns.

The Spirituality of Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) via The Orcherd of Syon

After Mary and Bridget of Sweden, the third greatest influence on Syon was Catherine of

Siena. Catherine, a member of the of St. Domnic, became a model virginal woman who embodied a poured out love for God, the Church, others, and herself. Catherine taught the importance of self-knowledge and the knowledge of God which led to truth and deeper love for

God. She emphasized the importance of learning and study in the journey toward Divine Union.

From The Orcherd of Syon they learned of Catherine’s extraordinary devotion to the Church. In the process of declaring Catherine a “Doctor of the Church,” Pope Paul VI (pope, 1963-1978) identified Catherine’s writings as “lucid, profound, inebriating absorptions of the Divine

Mystery.”37 While this observation was made four centuries beyond the period of this current research, it is nevertheless, helpful in understanding the depth and breadth of Catherine’s writings. It also enhances the teasing out of her spirituality from the pages of her book. Finally, it aids in assessing the potential impact of Catherine’s writings on her female English readers in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Given the sisters’ access to and use of the Orcherd of Syon, the spirituality of Catherine of Siena would have had influence on the English women associated with Syon. Written specifically for the sisters of Syon in the first decades of the house’s existence, The Orcherd of

37 Pope Paul VI as quoted in Mary O’Driscoll, “Catherine the Theologian,” Spirituality Today 40, no. 1 (Spring 1988): 4-17, Spirituality Today, accessed, May 12, 2012, http://www.spiritualitytoday.org/spir2day /884011odriscoll.html. Catherine was canonized in 1461 by Pius II who was also from Siena.

105 Syon was the English paraphrase of Catherie’s Il Dialogo.38 The Orcherd failed to identify its translator; the best speculation is that he had a connection with Barking Abbey, a leading book- owning English nunnery that “prefigured Syon itself in the encouragement of learning.”39 One wonders whether the anonymity of the translator set a precedent or even an implicit model for any writings the sisters may have considered or even attempted. This question is worthy of consideration when recalling that the author of the Myroure also was anonymous.

Both the selected title, The Orcherd of Syon, and its internal divisions served as an allegorical pun on Catherine’s Il Dialogo. Its purpose was to provide for the sisters “small portions of doctrinal food for contemplation and .”40 As was the case with the

Myroure (1530), the Orcherd (1519) was printed for the benefit of deepening the spirituality of both religious and laywomen. By the time of their printing, these two works had been in use by the Syon sisters for nearly a century. Revealing the purpose for its printing, the colophon of the

Orcherd stated that the book was printed “that many relygyous and deuoute soules might be releued and haue conforte therby.”41 The intent was for the spiritual sustenance and enrichment of the lives of those who loved God and who sought to live faithfully into that love.

The Orcherd contained two brief prologues, and a Kalendar (Table of Contents), material the translator specifically included with Catherine’s book for the sisters at Syon. The first and

38 Phyllis Hodgson, and Gabriel M. Liegey, eds., “Preface,” in Catherine of Siena, The Orcherd of Syon, vol.1, Text (London: Oxford University Press, 1966), vii. 39 Phyllis Hodgson, “The Orcherd of Syon and the English Mystical Tradition,” in British Academy, vol. L 1964 (London: Oxford University Press, 1965), 235. The Orcherd appears to be based on Cristofano Guidini’s Latin translation of Catherine’s original Italian “with comparatively rare abridgment.” Guidini was a disciple of Catherine present at its original dictation to Catherine. See Hodgson and Liegey, vii. 40 Denise L. Despres, “Ecstatic Reading and Missionary Mysticism: The Orcherd of Syon,” in Prophets Abroad, ed. Rosalyn Vooden (Suffolk, GB: Boydell & Brewer, 1996), 155. 41 Hodgson and Liegey, v.

106 longer prologue preceded the Kalendar and a second followed it. Though this material was not from the hand of Catherine, its inclusion in the Orcherd, could have easily been attributed to

Catherine’s spirituality since it was in her book and it served to prepare the reader for the reading of her work.

The translator organized his paraphrase of Catherine’s book into seven sections containing five chapters each.42 This was the translator’s own division and not that of

Catherine’s original text. Scholars have not identified any symbolism in the translator’s choice of thirty-five chapters. However, Hodgson and Liegey observed that “The mystical significance of the sevenfold and fivefold divisions and the double meaning of The Orcherd of Syon would escape no medieval reader.”43 This knowledge was based primarily on the long Judeo-Christian tradition of number symbols in the Bible. Theologians, beginning particularly with Augustine, employed the use of the mystical significance of numbers. By the time of the printing of the

Orcherd, a significant interest in numerology was in full flower.44

Choosing an orchard as an allegory for instructing how the Syon sisters were to read

Catherine’s work was likely no mere coincidence. Not only did Bridget preface her Rule with a vineyard allegory, but also throughout the Bible are vineyard parables including those in Isaiah, and those taught by Jesus. Most notable of the vineyard parables are Jesus’ Parable of the

Vineyard and the Parable of the Weeds in the Wheat.45 The juxtaposition of these allegories in

42 The Middle English refers to the sections of Catherine’s books as “Pars.” 43 Hodgson, and Liegey, vii. 44 For more information, see Caroline Eckhardt, ed., Essays in the Numerical Criticism of Medieval Literature (Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1980). 45 For biblical parables of orchards see Isaiah 5:1-7. For the Parable of the Vineyard see Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; and Luke 20:9-19. For the Parable of the Weeds in the Wheat see Matthew 13:24-30.

107 the Orcherd, Bridget’s Rule, and the Bible, reinforced the idea of Syon as a place where God could enact a work of reform, Bridget’s hoped for outcome of her Rule and Order.46

The orchard presented in the prologues was actually an allegorical reference to the book itself. In this orchard, the “Religyous modir & deuoute sustren” were “clepid & chosen bisily to laboure at the hous of Syon, in the blessid vyneʒerd of oure holy Saueour” (Orcherd, 1). The second prologue continued this thought of election stating, the Orcherd was given to the sisters by “Ihesu Crist for his loue” for the purposes of his worship and their “gostly lernynge,” and

“confortable recreacion” (Orcherd, 16-17). Unlike the Myroure’s use of allegories with a Marian focus, which enabled the sisters to practice their reading with proper diligence and devotion, the focus of the Orcherd’s allegory was on Jesus the Christ with its setting in his “blessid vyneʒerd”.

In this blessed orchard, Christ was held as the central figure. However, the translator did acknowledge that the sisters were still “vndir þe gouernaunce of” Mary, and as such they were to

“rede and to synge as hir special seruauntis and douȝtren….” The Orcherd reinforced the central idea that Mary was the sisters’ “moost souereyne lady and cheef abbess” of their monastery

(Orcherd, 1).

With Catherine’s focus on Christ, the use of the Orcherd at Syon offered a balance to the sisters’ prominent devotion to Mary. Quite possibly the juxtaposition of these two allegories from these two primary reading texts for the women associated with Syon offered a gendered balance to any possible conceptualizing of spirituality. This was especially true when one recalls the role of high honor held by Mary in the Myroure’s explanation of the Sermo angelicus.47

46 cf. Supra, p. 64. 47 cf. Supra, p. 85-88.

108 The Orcherd’s prologues invited the sisters to walk in the book’s spiritual orchard of words and ideas for their spiritual comfort. Comfort would come as they used their mind and reason to walk through one of the thirty-five alleys of their individual choice. Of course, the

“aleyes” were the chapters through which the reader was invited to explore. The alleys were filled with fruit and herbs for the readers’ tasting and enjoyment. The reader was invited to traverse all of the alleys, searching the whole orchard for nourishment. The reader was invited to

“walke aboute” wherever they chose with their “mynde & resound” through the pages of the

Orcherd.48

Walking through the orchard, the sisters were to “taste of sich fruyt and herbis” according to their present needs. After choosing what to them was best, they were to “chewe it wel & ete

þereof for heelþe” of their souls (Orcherd, 1). The Orcherd’s second prologue returned to the orchard allegory adding to it a caution. The sisters would not only discover delightful fruit and herbs to taste in Catherine’s “goostly orcherd”. They would also find weeds among the good fruit. These weeds were “Bittir & soure” to taste. By tasting the weeds, the sisters would gain knowledge of “eny gostli enemye” (Orcherd, 16). Of course the weeds served as an allegory for heretical teachings. Given the church’s concern and consequent legislation to guard against the possibility of heresy, one could conclude that it was important for the sisters to have this caution printed in their books to guard them against facing charges of heresy. Clearly, this admonition to walk through the orchard, tasting of the fruit and herbs, and then chewing on it was an allegory

48 A Kalendar was provided at the start of the Orchard, quite likely as a means for the reader to scan more easily the book’s contents so she could choose the parts to read which she deemed most beneficial for her at the time of her reading.

109 for lectio divina, a concept with which the women associated with Syon would have been familiar since its approach to reading was carefully discussed in the Myroure.

The explicit emphasis on reading, learning, and study in the prologues also added a dimension of leisure to Syon’s spirituality. One can also understand leisure as sabbath when sabbath is defined as the rest and re-creation in which one participated as a prelude to work. In the Middle Ages, among the aristocracy and gentry classes, reading was considered a recreational activity, especially for women.49 Given that most of the professed and laywomen of

Syon came from the aristocratic and gentry classes, engaging in reading as leisure would have been quite appropriate and readily understood by the readers of the Orcherd. Annette Grisé confirms that it was “clear that the structural allegory” of the Orcherd provided “an aristocratic, leisured model for reading the text.”50

Ultimately, these prologues in the Orcherd elevated the importance of study and prayer for the sisters of Syon. This work, especially when understood in connection with the vineyard parable at the beginning of the Rewyll, served not only to permit and encourage but also to admonish and empower women to take up the task of study. The Orcherd stated that whenever a sister listened within her “soule wiþ trewe felynge and clere siзt,” reading and studying in “þis gostli orchard” pleased God. Indeed, for the love of his mother, Jesus Christ deemed this reading and study as “worchip” and as “gostly lernynge, and confortable recreacion” (Orcherd, 16-17).

Herein a further spirituality of wisdom and learning was reinforced for the women associated

49 Hunting, poetry readings, listening to music, dancing, and banqueting were also considered recreational activity in the Middle Ages. 50 C. Annette Grisé, “In the Blessid VyneЗerd of Oure Holy Saueour: Female Religious Readers and Textual Reception in the Myroure of Oure Ladye and the Orcherd of Syon,” in The Medieval Mystical Tradition England, Ireland and Wales: Exeter Symposium VI, ed. Marion Glasscoe (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1999), 205.

110 with Syon. The orchard of Syon was an orchard of reading and learning from a theologically engaged self-taught woman writing orthodox Church doctrine in her own way.

Though the work does not contain a life of Catherine, through its unfolding dialogue with

God, a reader could have implicitly learned of the person and spirituality of Catherine. In this dialogue, one discovers an intellectual feminine spirituality that is concerned with aiding those who love God and who are seeking to serve God in this life. The dialogue also reinforces the importance of learning through contemplative reading of the text.

Catherine’s book, which she identified as “my book,” was not a systematic presentation of theology. Rather, using metaphors, images, visions, and ecstatic prayers vividly reflective of the mystical tradition, she imparted a decidedly orthodox theology. Catherine addressed a breadth of doctrines including but not limited to, God, the Trinity, creation, the Church, forgiveness, and truth. However, her theological perspectives were not easy to unravel, as

Catherine’s style was a tapestry of “layer on layer of interwoven development: No thread [was] ever let go of or left unrelated to every other thread.”51 As she laid down each layer of thought,

Catherine circled around the ideas, moving simultaneously inward and upward, adding additional thoughts along the way. Eventually, she returned in each doctrine to her beginning point with renewed understanding and insight.

In contrast to the traditional quaestio and disputatio scholastic genre of her day,

Catherine wrote using her own form of quaestio. She opened her work seeking the answers to four multilayered questions apropos of herself, the Church, the world, and an assurance of God’s

51 Suzanne Noffke, “Introduction,” The Dialogue, by Catherine of Siena, with a preface by Giuliana Cavallini (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1980), 9-10.

111 providential care, especially in a situation on which Catherine remained vague. She then proceeded to organize her book around these four questions, seeking their answers, desiring love, and loving through the responses received. There was a repeated pattern of petition, response, summary, and thanksgiving. Through this pattern, she spiraled upward and circled back again, filling each rotation with more love. God assured her that a soul loves with a love equal to that which she had received. Catherine desired love and God poured out love which Catherine then poured out to the world. Using her own form of quaestio made her writings in no way inferior to the male scholastics of her day. In fact, one could argue that her writings were even more impressive since Catherine was not afforded the opportunity of a formal education like that available to the males in her era and social class. Not only did Catherine learn to read, but there is indication in her letters and other writings intimating “that she was able to write, at least to some degree.”52 Evidence of her theological learning, whether by listening to the theology emerging from vernacular preaching or by reading, is apparent in her writings. Reflections of the thoughts of Augustine, John Cassian, the Rule of St. Benedict, Gregory the Great, Anselm of

Canterbury, Thomas Aquinas, and Holy Scripture, particularly the gospels, are sprinkled throughout her writings.53

Catherine’s questions reflected the core of her spirituality, revealing someone deeply burdened for the condition of not only individual persons and humankind collectively, but also over the broken state of the Church. Catherine was equally concerned with the three primary

52 Bernard McGinn, The Varieties of Vernacular Mysticism: 1305-1550, vol. 5 of The Presence of God: A History of Western Christian Mysticism (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2012), 206, 216. 53 See McGinn, Varities, 216-217; Giuliana Cavallini, Catherine of Siena (New York: Continuum, 2005), 17-18; Thomas McDermott, Catherine of Siena: Spiritual Development in Her Life and Teaching (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2008), 94, 114, 148; and Caroline T. Marshall, “Catherine of Siena,” Christian History 30, accessed April 17, 2014, https://www.christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/catherine-of-siena/.

112 virtues of knowledge, truth, and love, none of which could be separated if one was to purposely journey toward union with the Divine.54 In a cyclical process, rather than a unidirectional linear progression, these virtues were visited and revisited repeatedly as she attempted to lead her readers toward Mystical Union with the Divine.

A “seamless thread” wove together all of her ideas throughout the book.55 This seamless thread was the thread of one’s very self, who had begun the dual journey to self-knowledge and to the knowledge of God, a simultaneous journey that was essential if one hoped to grow in the virtues of knowledge, love, and truth. This journey occurred across a “bridge,” Jesus Christ. God instructed Catherine to “Open now ƿin iʒen of ƿin intellect” and she would see the “ƿe brigge of

[God’s] Son” which “streccheƿ fro ƿe heʒt of heauene down to ƿe erƿe” (Orcherd, 62; see also

69). In other words, the bridge, Christ, stretches from God’s divinity to humankind’s humanity.

Christ, the bridge, would lead those who freely chose to journey on the bridge to perfection in love, which itself was the perfection of the human being, a state known only in and through the love of God (Orcherd, 176). This love of God was not unidimensional; rather, it was a variegated multidimensional love: love of self, love of neighbor, and love of God (Orcherd, 143). This multidimensional love was rooted in Jesus’ teachings on the Greatest Commandment.56 One love was impossible without the other two. Catherine expressed her most poignant example of this

54 Noffke, 8. 55 Mary Ellen Waithe, ed., A History of Women Philosophers, vol. II Medieval, Renaissance, and Enlightenment Women Philosophers A.D. 500-1600 (Dordrecht, : Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1989), 240. 56 “…and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets’” (Matthew 22:35-40, NRSV). See also Luke 10:25-28, and Mark 12:28-31.

113 variegated multidimensional love about midway through her book. God said to Catherine, “For

Þe charyte of neiʒboreheed is taken of my charite, Þat is, of Þat charite of Þe which a soule knowith herself…and my goodnesse in hersilf” (Orcherd, 196).57 In this statement, Catherine expressed an outcome of full union with God which was the ultimate goal for humanity. The source of one’s love for others was God’s love which was discovered in self-knowledge. Found in self-knowledge was God’s goodness in and for one’s very self. For Catherine, knowing and loving oneself was never separated from knowing and loving God any more than loving others could be separated from loving God and one’s self.

Though expressed variously, the knowledge of one’s self was Catherine’s starting point and God responded to Catherine repeatedly admonishing her, and consequently her readers, to abide or dwell in “Þi celle of knoweche.” Such abiding would lead to knowledge of God and greater love of self, others, and God. Few pages actually pass in the Orcherd without an admonition from God to “neuere go out fro Þe weye of Þe knowynge of Þisilf” (Orcherd, 23).58

Entering the cell of self-knowledge enabled a person not only to love, but also to come to know truth. Knowledge of God led to love, which led to a greater desire for God, which required entry again into the cell of self-knowledge. Self-knowledge also led to truth, which stirred one not only to a greater desire for God, but also increased the love of God within one’s heart.

While Catherine presented doctrines with great care and amazing theological depth, none was quite as representative of her work as her unveiling of knowledge, both self-knowledge and

57 Translation: “For the love of your neighbor comes from my love, that is, the love which comes when a soul knows herself…and my goodness in herself.” 58 Translation: “never go way from the way of knowing yourself.” At the conclusion of the book, this phrase is expressed as, “neuere go out of Þi celle of knoweche,” translated, “never go out of your cell of self-knowledge.” 417-418.

114 the knowledge of God, a doctrinal theme especially relevant to the influencing of English women’s spirituality in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In Catherine’s writings, a woman could hear the teachings of St. Augustine as Catherine wrote that the heart was to be

“drawe by desier of loue wiÞ alle Þe myztis of Þe soule; Þat is to seye, with mynde, intellect and wil” (Orcherd, 70).59 Like Augustine, Catherine called the mind (eg. memory), the intellect, and the will the three “myʒtis of Þe soule” (Orcherd, 125).60 Catherine admonished her readers to faith and love, which necessitated self-knowledge which led to the light of reason which was the knowledge of God. That a woman could attain this knowledge herself through reflective meditative reading could certainly have been significant to women seeking to find their voice in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This Augustinian connection was an important one to make since it was under the Rule of St. Augustine that the Syon sisters lived. Of course, Thomas

Aquinas also influenced Catherine, especially given that Dominican scholars who would have known and taught Aquinas’ teachings surrounded her. Bernard McGinn assesses Catherine’s debt to Aquinas as follows: “Catherine’s solidly traditionally doctrinal basis means that she is rarely in disagreement with Thomas; but over-zealous attempts to make her hew to a Thomistic line miss the point about the nature of her theology.”61

Catherine frequently connected this love for self and for God with being made in God’s image. Certainly sharing with women the idea that they too were made in God’s image must have been encouraging since a prevailing teaching by leading scholars in the Church of that day

59 Recall also the writings of Augustine: “No one comes unless drawn,” and “faith must precede reason and cleanse the heart so that it can receive and bear the great light of reason. 60 “myʒtis” (mights) of the soul may be understood as the “powers” of the soul. 61 McGinn, Varities of Vernacular Mysticism, 217.

115 was the idea that women were a secondary creation or, worse yet, a human deformity, a defect, or an incomplete creation. Conversely, God told Catherine that in the soul’s knowing of

“herself,” she would better know God, “feelynge wel Þe goodnes of God in hir.” As the soul perceived herself in the mirror, which was God, she would see herself as formed and made in

“Þe ymage of God” (Orcherd, 47). Note again the use of the metaphor of a mirror. Seeing this used in the Orcherd as well as the Rewyll reinforced its impact, just as the repetition of the vineyard allegory reinforced its meaning and message.62

Knowing one’s self brought the light of understanding, perceived through the “iʒe of intellecte" (Orcherd, 191).63 However, Catherine acknowledged the insufficiency of self- knowledge in and of itself. Self-knowledge must be seasoned and joined with the knowledge of

God which was within oneself as one created in the imago dei. Learning and knowing spread light on the path of one’s spiritual pilgrimage. God taught Catherine that the one who knew much, “myche loueÞ” and those who love much received “moore resceyueÞ”(Orcherd, 308).

The connections Catherine made between God and humankind, specifically that humankind was created in the imago dei, were woven throughout the Orcherd. It is possible that women reading this text began to perceive themselves differently. They may even have begun to perceive themselves, at least subconsciously, as equal to men since it was clear in Catherine’s writings that all people were created in the imago dei, not only men. Such an idea of women being equal to men ran contrary to the prevailing ideas of their era which taught of women’s intellectual inferiority. It also unraveled the more scathing belief that women were a defect since

62 cf. Supra p. 68-69, for a discussion of the Rewyll’s vineyard/orchard allegory. 63 Though only one page is referenced, this phrase is used frequently throughout the Orcherd.

116 they were not created as male. As the women read and meditated about being created in the imago dei, a transformation certainly must have been begun to stir within them. Quite possibly, it enabled them to see themselves in a new light and maybe even embrace themselves as a full human person of worth in God’s eyes. This is not to gloss over the issue of sinfulness, for

Catherine also addressed that. However, in Catherine’s book, women were cast in a light of beings whose access to God was equal to their male counterparts. They were put in the place of

Moses, a place which certainly must have been empowering. This would be further emphasized through the repeated use of the phrase, “daughter” or to the reference to the soul as “she.” On this matter Elizabeth Paskis Armstrong commented, “If Katherine’s optimism does not stretch that far, she certainly sees the incarnation as the ultimate source of the harmony of mind and heart which enables humans to be baptized into the light of intelligence.”64 To this, I emphasize the enabling of women, the primary audience of the Orcherd, to be “baptized into the light of intelligence,” an empowering notion to be sure.

How appropriate and encouraging it was that women in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries would have continually read of the importance of self-knowledge and learning. Such constant reading would serve to reinforce a spirituality of learning and study for those both within the monastic enclosure and for those connected externally to Syon without letting go of an emphasis on one’s growing love for God.

The writing of St. Catherine of Siena unveiled an intellectual feminine mystic spirituality that embraced a variegated multidimensional love concerned with assisting others on the journey of self-knowledge, which led to a knowledge of God, which led to truth. Like a seven layer cake,

64 Armstrong, 187.

117 Catherine added layer after layer, metaphor after metaphor, to help the reader receive the understandings that had been given to her by God. She sought to help others enter the cell of self-knowledge so they might know themselves and God, which would lead them to love, and lead them again to self-knowledge. At the core of her spirituality was a poured out love with a dual pronged burning desire for redemption of humankind’s broken condition and the reform a

Church in the throes of schism. Also found in Catherine was a spirituality of contemplative learning and study which reinforced her spirituality of knowledge and love of self, others, and

God. The Orcherd presented Church doctrine from the mind and hand of a virtuous woman in a way that engaged the mind, stirred the heart, and preserved the orthodoxy of their thought. The preservation of orthodoxy was important if the sisters were to avoid an accusation of violating

Arundel’s Constitutions.65 The Orcherd served to further reinforce the life and spirituality modeled by Bridget for women associated with Syon. Its allegory was complimentary to

Bridget’s visions conveyed to the English women in both the Myroure and Rewyll.66

Annette Grisé argued that “The Syon nuns symbolized a view of monasticism and the religious life that was conservative (and also had upper-class and continental associations) yet

65 In 1408 the clergy in England, under the direction of Thomas Arundel, Chancellor of England and Archbishop of Canterbury, drew up and implemented “Constitutions of Oxford.” This document, commonly known as Arundel’s Constitutions, specifically condemned writings connected in any way with Wycliffe making it illegal, under threat of trial for heresy, to either read or translate the Bible into English without explicit authoritative oversight and approval. Addressing the act of unauthorized reading and/or translating covered both those who were learned and those who were simple Wycliffite followers. 66 It is noteworthy that the translators of both the Myroure and the Orcherd made subtle changes to the original works in the process of translation. However, since the purpose of this dissertation is to assess the possible influence of the Middle English texts available to women associated with Syon, and to speculate how these vernacular sources may have affected women’s spirituality and ultimately may have prompted them to write, a comparison of these translations with their original texts is beyond the scope of this research. A comparison, however, is a certainly an issue deserving of more attention and examination. See Roger Ellis, “‘Flores ad Fabricandam...Coronam’: an Investigation into the Uses of Revelations of St Bridget of Sweden in Fifteenth-Century England,” Medium Aevum 52 (1983), 175; and Despres, 154.

118 still conveyed the potential for change and reform: a view that still had adherents in Henry VIII’s reign.”67 One could call into question the appropriateness of Gricé’s use of the word

“conservative” since her use of this term is anachronistic. While their vows and core virtues were traditional, their life practices and focus on reading and study for women and the fact that they lived in a double community with a woman as head and lady over all was anything but traditional or conservative.

Gricé’s insight that the Syon nuns “conveyed the potential for change and reform” is, on the other hand, accurate. A more intuitive reading of these works that provided the structure for the form of life at Syon examined in this chapter revealed a possible subtle, maybe even subconscious, subversive political activity among the sisters of Syon and other women who supported the abbey. Maybe this is what made the abbey so attractive to the women of England.

Maybe in Syon they saw the possibility that they too, like their male counterparts, could love

God more deeply and engage daily in a love of learning. A love of learning coupled with a love of God certainly opened greater possibilities to realize the directive in the Rule of Augustine that called them to be “lovers of spiritual beauty so that they might be “filled with the good aroma of

Christ…as free children under grace.” The form of life set forth in the documents and lived out in the abbey aided the sisters in their journey toward an embodied love for every person in the community. Likewise, the spirituality of Bridget of Sweden and Catherine of Siena, as received via the primary reading materials for the Syon sisters modeled two strong reforming women who not only taught but also embodied a love of learning and a love for God which found form in reforming the lives of others.

67Grisé, “Blessid Vyneȝerd,” 210.

119 The impact of the rule and spirit of life at Syon was no more evident than in the women of England who participated in its life and read its literature. Who were the people, women in particular, influenced the most by Syon and its ministries? What kind of influence was exerted and how may have that influence impacted the spirituality of these English women? It is to an examination of these women and the books they read that this study now turns.

PART III

SYON’S INFLUENCE ON ENGLISH WOMEN

120

Chapter 5

Lives Touched by Syon

At the dawn of a new era, Syon Abbey rested on the banks of the River Thames living into the rhythm of its rule of life. Unassumingly this indefatigable community of learned contemplatives sat, silently sending out a subversive message on the English people. Nowhere was this message ultimately more life changing than on the spirituality of the women into whose lives it seeped. There seem to be few documents, practices, or even fragments of reading materials deemed important to and for Syon residents that failed to serve as fodder for female empowerment, delayed though it was. The rewle of Seynt Austyn and The Rewyll of Seynt

Sauioure serving as their foundation for life, granted them permission to be lovers of contemplative learning. The Additions for the sisters, unlike those of other houses for female monastics, contained no directives for attention to daily household chores, effectually enabling them to move beyond stereotypical constructs for women of the period. The Bridgettine Divine

Office, and frequently read literary sources gave witness to strong reforming women who stood as templates for the sisters to live by. Individually, the elements of the Divine Office and reading materials would have had little effect of empowerment. However, taken together with their legislative documents, they conjured an implicit message that sailed on a river of change into the

Elizabethan era and beyond. Ultimately, this implicit message encouraged women to claim their voices, take up their pens, and write.

Though it is unlikely that the explicit intent of this abbey was to change women, an examination of some of the key women whose lives it touched and the books they possessed and passed on reveals that this is what actually happened. While the most lasting effects came from

121 122 the dissemination of its books, the monastery also offered a few venues beyond printed materials which touched the lives of English women and men. It is necessary begin with a brief review of these venues to reveal the broad reach of this abbey.

Spiritual and Physical Benefits from Syon

One of the most well known venues of influence was the various indulgences and pardons offered to patrons and visitors at Syon. Granted by Church authorities, indulgences serve to remit temporal punishment resulting from sin already committed and properly absolved.

Prayers said in Syon chapel offered participants indulgences. Nearly every feast day at Syon provided an opportunity for receipt of indulgences to attendees who attentively participated in the service. Offering prayers in the chapel on Mid-Lent Sunday and donations made to the construction and repair of the monastery also provided indulgences.

There were two very important indulgence days. The Feast of St. Peter ad vincula or St.

Peter in Chains (August 1) was held on the popular English holiday of Lammas or first harvest

(wheat). It became known as the Pardon of Syon.1 Participation in the Feast of St. Peter ad vincula granted a pardon of 140 days for every Pater Noster and every pence given. This was an

Octave feast and when completed through daily participation, granted plenary remission of a sin’s temporal punishment. The Feast of St. Bridget (October 8)2 granted complete remission of

1 John Rory Fletcher, The Story of the English Bridgettines of Syon Abbey (South Brent, Devon: Syon Abbey, 1933), 28. 2 Bridget’s original feast day was October 8, the day after her date of in 1391. In 1969, after Vatican II, her feast day was changed to July 23, the anniversary of her death.

123 temporal punishment of one’s sin. Other indulgences could remove from as few as 100 days penance up to the total remission of temporal punishment.3

As one might expect, opportunities to receive such indulgences not only attracted large numbers for Mass on feast days, but also became opportunities for public preaching by the brother priests.4 St. Bridget’s Rule departed from the Church norm by requiring priests to preach in maternal lingua on Sundays and on feast days, the very days most attended by laity. Preaching in the vernacular was for the express purpose of benefitting both professed members and the laity in attendance. Vernacular preaching was attractive to English laity and served as a means of religious education. The task of preaching was so important that the priest scheduled to preach was given three days out of the choir to prepare for and write his sermon.5

The work of educational influence at Syon went beyond the worship liturgy and sermon.

In addition to teaching through the Divine Office, the Mass of our Lady, and the Hour of

“Teer,”6 the people were also taught through the ritual observances of the liturgical church year.

Another means of teaching occurred through a sixty-three bead apparently devised by St.

Bridget in reverence for the sixty-three earthly years of the Virgin Mother’s life. These beads were made at Syon and then sold to pilgrim visitors at the abbey.

3 “Indulgencia monasterrii de Syon,” MS. Ashmol. 750. fol. 140. in Bibl. Bodl. Oxon.; Harl. MS. 955. fol. 72, reproducted in Aungier, The History and Antiquities of Syon Monastery, the Parish of Isleworth and the Chapelry of Hounslow (London: Hounslow Heath, 1840), Appendix VII, 421-26. 4 Vincent Gillespie, ed. Syon Abbey, with The Libraries of the Carthusians, ed. A.I. Doyle (London: The British Library in association with The British Academy, 2001), xxxii. 5 See Vincent Gillespie, “Syon and the New Learning,” in Religious Orders in Pre-Reformation England, ed. James G. Clark (Woodbridge, Suffolk and Rochester, NY: The Boydell Press, 2002), 81; and Neil Beckett, “St. Bridget, Henry V and Syon Abbey,” in Studies in St. Birgitta and the Brigittine Order, vol. 2 of Analecta Cartusiana 35.2, Spiritualität Heute und Gestern, ed. by James Hogg (Salzburg: Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik Universität Salzburg, 1993), 129. 6 The “Hour of Teer” is the Hour of Terce. It is during this time each day that Syon observes its De Profundis service at an open grave. See Rewyll, XXIV, and Additions, 16, and 18.

124 The sisters also made and sold what became known as pardon beads which even when bought provided its owner with an indulgence. When using the string of five colored beads, a specific thirty-three word prayer summarizing Jesus’s life and his salvific work was to be said.

Each of the first five lines corresponded with a bead of a specific color. The prayer with its corresponding bead was as follows:

White = Jesus for your holy name Red = And for your bitter passion Black = Save us from sin and shame Black = And from endless damnation White = And bring us to the bliss Which never shall miss Sweet Jesus amen.7

These and other non-written forms of education were used by the Church in an era when literacy was low, especially among women, to teach and stir the faith in its members.8

According to Five Centuries Record of the English Bridgettines of Syon Abbey: 1420-

1920, aristocratic or gentry families were not the only ones attracted to Syon. The monastery benefited lower classes of the English people by providing physical nourishment for “the poor and needy, who were daily tended and fed at the monastery ‘wheel’.”9 Unfortunately, Syon’s influence on the poor and needy in England ended with their dissolution in 1539.

7 The prayer in Middle English was supplied in J.T. Rhodes, “Syon Abbey and its Religious Publications in the Sixteenth Century,” Journal of Ecclesiastical History 44, no. 1 (January 1993): 13. The prayer can be found in Bodl. Lib., MS Douce 54, fo.35. 8 Virginia Bainbridge, “The Bridgettines and Major Trends in Religious Devotion c 1400-1600: with reference to Syon Abbey, Mariatroon and Marienbaum,” Birgittiana 19 (2005), 31. 9 Syon Abbey, Five Centuries Record of the English Bridgettines of Syon Abbey: 1420-1920 (Rochdale, UK: Orphans’ Press, 1920), 5-6.

125 Prosopographical Examinations

From its inception, Syon’s tendrils of influence extended widely, influencing the royal, aristocratic, and gentry elite of England as well as the middle and working classes. There is little questioning that Syon served as “both a model and a sign of English vitality and aspiration.”10

With such far-reaching tendrils, numerous scholars acknowledge the need for prosopographical studies of both Syon’s cloistered and uncloistered individuals who were touched by the monastery’s charisms. Prosopographical studies grant unique insight into individual lives and may even reveal influences on the spirituality of laity who availed themselves to the work of the monastery including its Masses, Divine Office, and religious study, including the books used, written, translated and/or published by Syon.11 In an effort to begin such studies, this chapter will offer sketches first of key laywomen and the connections they had with Syon. The presentation will organize the women according to their social classes, presenting them chronologically within each class beginning with the royals and concluding with the working class. The lineage of influence must often be traced at least a generation to witness the bearing of its virgin fruit.

The second half of the chapter will turn and focus on the book trade among the Syon sisters. This examination is challenging since monastic scholars identify the era during which Syon resided in

England prior to the dissolution as among the least well documented.12

10 Catherine Dunn, “The Myroure of Oure Ladye: Syon Abbey’s Role in the Continuity of English Prose,” in Diakonia: Studies in Honor of Robert T. Meyer, ed. Thomas Halton and Joseph P. Williman (Washington, DC: Catholic University Press, 1986), 113. 11 Joan Greatrex, “After Knowles: Recent Perspectives in Monastic History,” in Clark Religious Orders, 43. See also James Clark, “The Religious Orders in Pre-Reformation England,” in Clark, 5; Mary Erler, “Syon Abbey’s Care for Books: Its Sacristan’s Account Rolls, 1506/7-1535/6” Scriptorium 39 (1985): 293-307; and Ann Hutchison, “What the Nuns Read: Literary Evidence from the English Bridgettine House, Syon Abbey,” Medieval Studies 57 (1995): 205-22. 12 Clark, “Religious Orders,” 5.

126 House of Lancaster Connections

Since 1415, Syon sat as a light on a city’s hillside beckoning women and men alike to come, worship, and learn. Just over a century after its founding, Syon’s light tenaciously burned as the English culture was being hurled into darkness thanks to an increasing instability within the monarchy. Syon’s life began in the early fifteenth century as a Royal foundation of the House of Lancaster. Throughout the years, Syon remained connected with the royal family, court circle, and with other aristocratic households, many of which in some way or another had ties with the ruling royal family.

Commencing with Queen Catherine of Valois (d.1437), Henry V’s wife, women in the royal families were involved in the life of Syon. Catherine of Valois “was among the first and best beloved of Syon’s princely benefactors.”13After Henry’s death, Catherine became a donor of property and money to Syon.14 An example of this patronage is in MS 187, a Book of Hours belonging to a male Syon scribe. This manuscript contains “two prayers in female form (fols. 47r and 104r) and three commemorations for the soul of Henry V, ‘fundatoris nostri’ (fols. 46v, 54v-

55r and 85r).”15 It is unknown if this manuscript was completed within the abbey or if commissioned by a to an artisan outside the enclosure. Christopher de Hamel claims “it cannot have been a nun,” but fails to offer any explanation for this claim other than that she would have been enclosed and under a vow of silence. This seems a rather weak argument given

13 Adam Hamilton, The Order of St. Saviour in England under Yorkists and Tudors originally published in “The Poor Souls’ Friend,” 1907-08 with MS notes by Fletcher, University of Exeter Special Collections FLE 22, 8 (118 in original). 14 Gillespie, Syon Abbey, xliii-xliv. 15 Christopher de Hamel, Syon Abbey: The Library of the Bridgettine Nuns and Their Peregrinations After the Reformation (London: Roxburghe Club, 1991), 68-69.

127 that the abbess could temporarily release a sister from her vow of silence (Additions, XIV).

Could not a monk have taken the manuscript to a London bookshop after the sister completed it?

It is known that Syon abbesses commissioned the publication of the key texts used by the nuns at

Syon.16 These two prayers “in female form” warrant further attention to the possibilities of the source of this manuscript.

A second Lancastrian association with Syon was through Henry’s sister-in-law Margaret

Holland, Duchess of Clarence (d. 1439). Margaret was married to Henry’s brother, Thomas of

Lancaster, first Duke of Clarence (d.1421). She connected with Syon through book ownership, patronage, and bequests. In either 1428 or1429, about seven years after Thomas’ death, Margaret petitioned Pope Martin V and received permission to live as a vowess of Syon. The priest- brothers, serving as her , traveled on a regular basis to her nearby residence to administer to her the Lord’s Supper.17 One of her spiritual directors from Syon was Symon

Wynter from whom she received a copy of his translation of a Life of St. Jerome. Symon encouraged Margaret “to read it and, if she liked it, ‘to doo copye hit’ and let others ‘rede hit and

16 cf. Infra p. 157-161.

17 de Hamel, 59; Paul Lee, Nunneries, Learning and Spirituality in Late Medieval English Society (Rochester, NY: Boydell & Brewer Ltd., 2001), 145-146. Vowesses were laywomen connected with an abbey but not necessarily permanent residents. They were generally free to travel and would pay room and board during their stays. They may or may not live with the nuns and they may or may not be married. A vowess receives council from the professed members of the given order, and often extends financial aid to the monastery. See Mary Erler, “The Books and Lives of Three Tudor Women,” in Privileging Gender in Early Modern England, ed. Jean R. Brink (Kirksville, MO: Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, Inc., 1993).

128 copye hit whoso wyl’.”18 Margaret donated to Syon at least six books from her library including a Sanctilogium Saluatoris and a Bible.19

House of York Connections

By the time the House of York procured the throne, laity with notable connections to

Syon moved from being only donors to becoming disciples, donors, and book recipients. Of most interest among this group were three persons from within the York family, one of whom was a royal who became a Syon disciple and a book donor. The other two were book recipients and they both became nuns.

The first York family connection significantly influenced by and involved with Syon was

Cecily Neville, Duchess of York (d. 1495). Cecily was the mother of Edward IV (king, 1461-83) and Richard III (king, 1483-85), first and third York kings, respectively. Cecily’s daily religious rituals reveal her as a disciple of Syon. Each morning, her chaplain read for her the Matins of the day, and the Matins from Syon’s version of the Bridgettine Little Office of Our Lady. He would also say other services with her throughout the day. During dinner, he read to her devotional readings, most of which were among authors commonly read by the sisters of Syon including

Walter Hilton, Bonaventure, Mechthild of Hackeborn, Catherine of Siena and of course, Bridget.

Later in the evening Cecily’s dinner readings served as the context for conversation with whoever was present as she shared with them content from what was read to her hours earlier.20

18 de Hamel, 65; Gillespie, Syon Abbey, xxxiii; Gillespie, “Syon and the New Learning,” 77. (to copy it ... read it and let anyone copy it who likes). 19 The Sanctilogium Salvatoris is now in Karlsruhe in (Badische Landesbibliothek Skt Georgen in Villingen cod.12). The Bible was second-hand, de Hamel, 64. See also Gillespie, Syon Abbey, xli. 20 Ann M. Hutchison, “Devotional Reading in the Monastery and in the Late Medieval Household,” in De Cella in Seculum, ed. Michael G. Sargent (Cambridge, England: D.S. Brewer, 1989), 225; Denise L. Despres, “Ecstatic Reading and Missionary Mysticism: the Orcherd of Syon,” in Prophets Abroad, ed. Rosalyn Voaden (Suffolk, GB:

129 The closeness and probable influence of Cecily with Syon become more evident in the obituary readings in Syon’s Martiloge where she is mentioned specifically by name. The seventh obituary listed in the Paschal season is “for alle their frendis and benefactours of our foundres that hathe bene or shalbe, and specialli for the duke Richard, and Cecilie his spouse, parenters unto Kynge Edward the iiijth.”21 Though she is mentioned in conjunction with the names of both her husband and son, the very fact that she too was named indicates her involvement with the monastery is note worthy.

The fruit of such Bridgettine influences in Cecily’s life apparently took root and found life in two of Cecily’s granddaughters. The first was King Edward IV’s youngest daughter for whom Cecily stood as godmother at her christening in 1480. The child was christened with the name Bridget in honor of Cecily’s affection for the Swedish saint. Princess Bridget of York

(1480-1517) became a nun at Dartford Priory, the only Dominican convent for women in

England.22 Cecily’s 1495 will designates for Princess Bridget “the boke of Legenda Aurea in velem, a boke of the life of Sainte Kateryn of Sene, a bok of Saint Matilde.”23 Two of these books, the Life of Catherine of Siena and the book of Saint Matilda, were in frequent use at

Syon.

The second granddaughter of Cecily actually made her at Syon.

Anne de la Pole (c. 1481-1501) was born to John de la Pole and Elizabeth of Plantagenet,

Boydell & Brewer Ltd., 1996), 149; and Felicity Riddy, “Women Talking about the Things of God,” in Women and Literature in Britain 1150-1500, ed. Carol M. Meale (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 110. 21 Aungier, 529. 22 Cecily was also a benefactor of Dartford. 23 J.G. Nichols and J. Bruce, eds., Wills from Doctors’ Commons, Camden Society original series 83 (1863), 2-3. Note, though she referred to her as “doughter,” this was in actuality her granddaughter.

130 Cecily’s daughter. Anne not only professed as a Syon nun, she also served as the abbey’s seventh prioress.24 Cecily willed to Anne “a boke of Bonaventure and Hilton in the same in Englishe, and a boke of the Revelacioins of Saint Burgitte,”25 all three of which were formative readings for the sisters of Syon. The books of “Bonaventure and Hilton” were actually Nicholas Love’s

Mirror of the Blessed Life of Christ and the Mixed Life, respectively.

House of Tudor Connections

As the House of Tudor assumed its position of prominence in England at the end of the fifteenth century, another tier of literary activity by women connected with Syon was added. To the categories of donors, disciples, and book recipients were added translating, letter writing, and patron of printing. Most noteworthy in this work was (1443-1509),

Countess of Richmond and Derby.26 In fact, Lady Margaret was arguably one of the most intimately connected women to Syon whose sphere of consequent influence reached farther than any other laywoman.

Lady Margaret married Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond (d. November, 1456). His half- brother was Henry VI, the last of the Lancastrian kings. In January 1457, Lady Margaret gave birth to her only child, Henry Tudor, the future Henry VII (king, 1485-1509), first of the Tudor kings.

24 She was prioress from 1492-1501. Fletcher (FLE 14) lists her name in the Martiloge as Anna Poole, the Obituarium as Anne Poole, with a noted name correction to “Pole,” a variant spelling of Poole in the early sixteenth century. 25 Nichols and Bruce, 3. In this same will Cecily gave to Syon “two of the best coopes of crymyson clothe of gold” (2). See also David Bell, What Nuns Read (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1995), 209, and FLE 22. 26 Lady Margaret was one of the two of the early female translators from England. The second, Gentry woman Dame Eleanor Hull (d. 1460), has no known connection to Syon.

131 It is not known precisely when Lady Margaret began visiting Syon. However, records indicate that she made frequent visits to Syon and became one of the abbey’s primary aristocratic patrons.27 The potential influence of Syon on her life and work becomes even more poignant when noting that in 1488, she had several rooms built where she could overlook the abbey church. These rooms enabled her and other members of the royal court to participate in the daily services. Permission was also granted for her to meet with the nuns.28 It is also interesting that

Lady Margaret’s primary literary, educational contributions and accomplishments began in the decade following the building of these rooms. The magnitude of these contributions and accomplishment is amazing. From 1494 through her death in 1509, Lady Margaret became patron of printed works, translator of French devotional works, and founder of educational institutions.

As a patron of printed works for William Caxton and Wynkyn de Worde, Margaret

Beaufort fostered a “complicated meeting-point between women’s production of texts and the textual production of women in early English print culture.”29 Two books significant to Lady

Margaret’s association with Syon bear mentioning. The first is a primer printed by Wynkyn de

Word in 1494 at the request of Lady Margaret. Two of this book’s four extant copies are associated with Syon, the Lambeth Palace copy, and the Bodleian copy. The second book associated with both Margaret Beaufort and Syon is Hilton’s Scale of Perfection. Like the

27 de Hamel, 94; Riddy, 122. 28 E.A. Jones, and Alexandra Walsham, Introduction to Syon Abbey and its Books (Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press, 2010); Virginia Bainbridge, “Women and Learning c. 1415-1600,” in Jones, and Walsham, 15, 88. 29 Jennifer Summit, “William Caxton, Margaret Beaufort and the Romance of Female Patronage,” in Women, the Book and the Worldly, eds. Lesley Smithy, and Jan H.M. Taylor (Rochester, NY: Boydell & Brewer, Inc., 1995), 165.

132 primer, printing of this book was commissioned by Lady Margaret and of the seventeen extant copies of this 1494 edition, two were owned by sisters at Syon (Katherine Palmer and Joan

Swell). Women who formed a reading community within the royal court, Margaret Beaufort,

Elizabeth of York and Mary Roos, owned three copies.30

Margaret had in her possession books in French which she would regularly use for reflective prayerful reading, a practice most likely influenced by her experiences with the nuns at

Syon. Her confessor and spiritual advisor, John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, expressed deep admiration for her practices of prayer and devotional reading.31 While neither translating nor letter writing is deemed equivalent to the writing of original works, it still marks an important transition in the movement toward women writing theological and devotional materials. In 1504

Margaret translated Book 4 of L’imitation de Jésus-Christ, the French translation of Thomas á

Kempis’ De Imitatio Christi, a work known to have been owned and read by some of the sisters at Syon. A couple of years later Margaret translated a French translation of James of

Gruytroede’s Specula omnis status humanae vitae. It was printed by Richard Pynson in 1506 as

The Miroure of Golde for the Sinful Soul translated out of laten in to frensshe, and nowe of late in to Englisshe.32 Vernacular translations such as these were increasingly preferred, leading to a

30 Mary Erler, Women, Reading, and Piety in Late Medieval England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 118-122. 31 See John Fisher, “Mornynge Remembraunce had at the Moneth Mynde of the Noble Prynces Margarete Countesse of Rychemonde and Darbye,” in The English Works of John Fisher: 289-310 (London: EETS, 1876). 32 Alexandra Barratt, ed., Women’s Writing in Middle English, Longman Annotated Texts (Essex, England: Longman Group UK Limited, 1992), 302; Jonathan Gibson, “Katherine Parr, Princess Elizabeth and the Crucified Christ,” in Early Modern Women’s Manuscript Writing, eds. Victoria E. Burke and Jonathan Gibson (Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2004), 35.

133 call for their publication. Only persons of means could make this happen, as we see in Lady

Margaret Beaufort.

A third area of work for Lady Margaret that could have been influenced by Syon was her dedication to the education of the English people, clergy and lay, male and female. Beginning in

1497 she set out to build a school in Wimborne, Dorset. Though the school was not completed until after her death, Wimbourne Grammar School was established as a place where boys in the general public could receive a free education. More importantly, Lady Margaret also established professorships in Divinity at both Oxford and Cambridge (1497 & 1498). She founded two colleges at Cambridge, Christ’s College in 1505, and St. John’s College in 1511, two years after her death. These acts again come as little surprise when one recalls that many of the professed men at Syon were retirees from teaching positions at Oxford and Cambridge.

Elizabeth of York and Mary Roos, both mentioned above in connection with Lady

Margaret, also held connections to Syon. Elizabeth of York (d. 1503) became Margaret’s daughter-in-law upon her marriage to Henry VII. Elizabeth could have come to the royal household with a fondness for Syon out of the influence of her grandmother Cecily, Duchess of

York. Elizabeth became a frequent visitor to Syon and records indicate that the abbess regularly sent gifts of “quails, rabbits, and the like” to her.33 Specifically regarding book production and printing, together Margaret and Elizabeth called for the writing and publication of the Fifteen

Oes, a prayer in the English Bridgettine liturgy. This act certainly must have been influenced by

33 Hamilton, FLE 22, 8 (144 in Original). See also page 9 (145 in the Original).

134 their exposure to these prayers while visiting Syon.34 This endeavor served to solidify Margaret and Elizabeth as patrons of women’s learning.

Mary Roos (d. after 1540) was lady in waiting for both Margaret Beaufort and Elizabeth of York. She has already been mentioned in conjunction with Wynkyn de Worde’s 1494 publication of Hilton’s Scale of Perfection, the printing of which was made possible by

Margaret. A copy of this book was presented to Mary by both Margaret and Elizabeth with an inscription from each requesting prayer from Mary and promising to pray for her. This inscription leads scholars to conclude that these women had formed a reading community and

Hilton’s Scale was one of the books they read together, quite possibly inspired by their experiences at Syon.35 Noteworthy also is that Mary Roos’ first husband, Hugh Denys, bequeathed property to Syon.36 In return, Hugh wrote in his will that the professed of Syon “shall singe ther and sey masses dayly if they be disposed in the seid chapell, and specially pray for the soll of … Hugh Denis and Mary my wyfe, there kynsfolkes and auncetours sowles of the seid

Hugh Denys and Mary, alle christen sowles.”37

Before proceeding to an examination of the women of Henry VIII who had associations with Syon, it would be appropriate to explore yet another York-Tudor connection. Lady

Margaret Douglas (1515-78), was granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth of York through

34 Martha Driver, “Nuns as Patrons, Artists, Readers: Bridgettine Woodcuts in Printed Books Produced for the English Market,” in Art into Life: Collected Papers from the Kresge Art Museum Medieval Symposia, eds. Carol Garrett Fisher, and Kathleen L. Scott (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1995), 257. Elizabeth of York was the daughter of the first Yorkist king, Edward IV (king, 1461-83). She married the first Tudor king Henry VII (king, 1485-1509) effectually combining the houses of York and Tudor. She was the mother of Henry VIII. 35 Riddy, 108-109, Carol Meale, “Laywomen and their Books in Late Medieval England,” in Meale, 144. 36 Aungier, 46-466, 471. 37 “Indenture Relative to All Angels’ Chapel, Appendix XIV. p. 222,” Harl. MS. No. 4640. In Brit. Mus. Copied in Aungier, 467.

135 Elizabeth’s daughter Margaret Tudor, Queen Dowager of Scotland (d. 1541) and her second husband Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus.38 In November 1536, Abbess Agnes Jordan wrote to Lord Cromwell regarding an impending visit of Margaret to Syon. In the letter, Abbess Jordan stated that she “schalebe redye and glad to receive her to sutche lodging, walkes, and commodyetyes, as be or maye be to her comfort and our princes pleasure, in our prcyncte.”39

Margaret lived at Syon from 1536 to its first dissolution.40 Whether Margaret’s interest in Syon was influenced by her grandmother, Elizabeth of York, her time at Tudor Court, or her friendship with her cousin Princess Mary remains unknown. That she visited Syon and received their hospitality is a fact. It is interesting to note that Margaret became a writer of poetry. Whether this was influenced by her connection with Syon awaits determination.

Tudor Connections: The Wives and Daughters of Henry VIII

Continuing with the Tudor connections to Syon is the family of Henry VIII (king, 1509-

1547). Four of Henry’s six wives had known connections with Syon, Catherine of Aragon (d.

1536), (d.1536), Katherine Howard (d. 1542), and Katherine Parr (d. 1548). Each of them had their turns as ladies in waiting and may have received at least secondary influences from others in Court who were connected in some way with Syon.

Syon was a favorite location for the well-educated Catherine of Aragon, Henry’s first wife. In 1524 she visited Syon with Juan Luis Vives, who tutored her daughter, Princess Mary.

38 Margaret Tudor was first married to James IV, King of Scots. After his death in 1513, she married Archibald. 39 State Papers, Volume 5, “6 Nov. A.D. 1536,” page 62, recorded in Aungier, Appendix, 533-34; John Rory Fletcher, “From calendar of state papers, acts of Privy Council &c: Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, Elizabeth, James I [concerning Syon Abbey]” University of Exeter, Special Collections MS FLE 2, 98 from Vol 11. §994 (6 Nov, 1536). 40 Hamilton, FLE 22, 4 (70 in original).

136 Vives advocated women’s education for the purpose of intellectual dialogues with their husbands. However, he was against teaching them so that they could engage in any kind of theological or philosophical scholarship.

Later, in the tumultuous years when Henry was seeking an annulment from Catherine of

Aragon, she often “sought spiritual solace at Syon to which she had every access from the palace of Richmond.”41 Her gravitation to Syon is not surprising given the humanist leanings of some of the professed brothers and the agenda of her pen. It was Catherine’s practice to address, through treatises, humanist inspired thoughts on the need for women’s education.42 Though Catherine of

Aragon was probably more influenced by the education she received while growing up in Spain and through humanists Thomas More, , and Vives, one could speculate that the literary culture of Syon’s women at least encouraged Catherine. It is also possible that Catherine was influenced by the work of her mother-in-law, Elizabeth of York, during Catherine’s first marriage to Prince Arthur, Henry’s older brother, as they would have been at Court together from the time of Catherine’s arrival in England in 1501 until Elizabeth’s death in 1503.

Henry’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, is another royal woman who received both primary and secondary influences from Syon. Anne’s life in Henry’s Court began in 1521 as she served as one of Queen Catherine’s ladies in waiting. Records by William Latymer indicate a visit of

Anne to Syon in 1534, a report which de Hamel claims to be biased. Latymer indicates that the

41 Peter Cunich, ‘The Brothers of Syon, 1420-1695,” and Introduction to Jones and Walsham, 60, 15; M.B.Tait, “The Bridgittine Monastery of Syon (Middlesex) with Special Reference to its Monastic Uses” (DPhil. Thesis, University of Oxford, 1975), text-fiche, 340. 42 Juan Luis Vives wrote De institutione feminae christianae (1523) for Princess Mary and dedicated it to Catherine. Catherine commissioned Richard Hyrde to translate the work in the English. Erasmus wrote Institutio matrimonii christiani (1526) for Catherine. See also Julia Boffey “Women Authors and Women’s Literacy,” in Meale, 173.

137 nuns refused to receive her. As she entered their cloister, the sisters were lying prostrate in prayer. Latymer records that Boleyn chastised them, “for their ‘ygnorante praying upon their

Laten Prymars.’”43 Anne reportedly then offered them English prayer books which they supposedly refused as invalid and profane. Latymer’s report concludes indicating that “at the laste,” Anne was admitted into the choir and they ultimately accepted her English prayer books.44

If the sisters refused the prayer books initially, it certainly was not because they were written in English given Bridget’s preference for sermons delivered in the vernacular and the reading of other writings, including the Myroure of oure Ladye, in the vernacular. If there was a rejection, it was likely motivated by something else. It is entirely possible that the sisters were reticent about receiving Anne given their aversion to Henry for separating from the Catholic

Church in 1533 after Archbishop Cranmer, independently from Rome, declared the marriage of

Henry and Catherine null and void, enabling Henry to marry Anne, who was already pregnant. It is also possible that Anne’s strong leanings toward the growing Protestant movement may have also caused the sisters to resist openly welcoming her to the choir. Still, it must be noted that

Anne had at least minimal connection to Syon. This, coupled with the fact that Boleyn’s family was among Syon’s female royal donors “of property and money,”45 continues recognition of the influence of the Syon Sisters over women’s spirituality in England in this era regardless of whether or not they held all views, political and theological, in common.

43 de Hamel, 99; See also Tait, 74. 44 Alexandra da Costa, Reforming Printing: Syon Abbey’s Defense of Orthodoxy: 1525-1534 (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2012), 114. 45 Gillespie, Syon Abbey, xliii-xliv.

138 Katherine Howard, Henry’s fifth wife, was connected to Syon, though not likely in a way that would have influenced others after her. When it became known that Katherine was engaging in extramarital affairs with younger men, she was removed from Hampton Court, and taken to

Syon House, albeit by this time the Dissolution had scattered the Syon monastics. A letter dated

November 11, 1541from the Privy Council to Cranmer, et al. stated that Katherine was to be sent from Hampton Court to Syon, “and there lodged moderately, as her life has deserved, without any cloth of estate, with a chamber for Mr. Baynton and the rest to dine in, and two for her own use, and with a mean number of servants, as in a book herewith.”46 Howard remained at Syon until February 12, 1542 when she was removed to the Tower and beheaded the next day.47

Finally, and possibly the most significant among the queens who associated in some way with Syon was Katherine Parr (c. 1512-1548). The Court was a familiar and comfortable place for her since it had been her home from the time she was four until her first marriage to Sir

Edward Borough of Gainsborough in 1529.48 Katherine had returned to Court following the

46 Henry VIII: November 1541, 11-20, Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 16: 1540- 1541, edited by James Gairdner and R. H. Brodie, in British History Online, accessed April 17, 2014, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=76264&strquery=. See also Aungier, 536.

47 Henry VIII: February 1542, 1-15, Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 17: 1542, Gairdner and Brodie, eds, in British History Online, accessed April 17, 2014, http://www.british- history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=76641. 48 Katherine’s father, Thomas Parr, Master of the Wards and Controller of the Household of Henry VIII, died in 1517 leaving behind a wife, Lady Parr and three children, Katherine age four, Anne age two, and William his infant son. Katherine’s mother never remarried choosing instead to reside with her children at Court as Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Catherine of Aragon. See Minna F. Weinstein, “Queen’s Power: The Case of Katherine Parr,” History Today 26 no.12 (December 1976): 788-789; Anthony Martienssen, Queen Katherine Parr (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1973).

139 death of her second husband, John Neville, Lord Latimer, in 1543 and later that year married

Henry VIII to whom she remained married until his death in 1547.49

Katherine’s life experiences reveal influence from a breadth of scholars, both Catholic and Protestant. Thanks to the influence of her mother, Maud Green, Katherine was educated at

Tudor Court along with Princess Mary. Juan Luis Vives tutored the Court children in Greek,

Latin, French and Italian. Reports indicate that every day Katherine read her New Testament from the Greek. She also adeptly translated both French and Italian works into English. In addition to languages, the children were also schooled in mathematics and philosophy.

During her schooling years, Katherine was exposed to, and no doubt read Lady Margaret

Beaufort’s 1507 English translation of Dionysius Carthusianus’ Speculum aureum anime peccatricia a quodam cartusiense (1480).50 This work was translated into English and published anonymously under the title The Mirror of God to the Sinful Soul. Andrew Hiscock points out that the book’s theme of “the sinner trying to transcend the burdens of a world full of vanities” is reflected in Parr’s later writing.51

During her nine-year marriage to John Neville, Katherine’s learning opportunities broadened. In these years, 1534-1543, she was increasingly exposed to Protestant ideas from the

Continent. Parr’s writings reveal influences from the ideas of Erasmus, Bishop John Fisher,

William Tyndale, , Hugh Latimer, and St. John Chrysostom. Especially

49 Katherine was married four times: Edward Borough (m.1529-33), John Neville (m. 1534-43), Henry VIII (1543- 1547), and Thomas Seymour (1547-48). 50 Lady Margaret Beaufort was Henry’s grandmother. She translated Dionysius’ Speculum arum anime peccatricia a quodam cartusiense (1480) from the French into English. The work was anonymously published. See Andrew Hiscock, “A supernal liuely fayth”: Katherine Parr and the Authoring of Devotion,” Women’s Writing 9, no. 2 (2002), 179. 51 Hiscock, 184.

140 influential was Syon’s own Richard Whytford and his translation of De Imitatio Christi (The

Folwynge of Christ (1530/1)). Recall that a generation earlier, Margaret Beaufort translated a portion of this work from the French. Court connections would most likely have made this work available to Katherine early in her life. Parallels to chapters fifteen through fifty of this work are particularly evident in Parr’s Prayers or Medytacions (1545). An extended version of Parr’s writing was published in November of that same year. In December 1545, Princess Elizabeth presented to her father a copy of the work after having translated it into Latin, French, and

Italian. This book was published fourteen times between 1545-1640. Lamentations of a Sinner

(November 1547) was Parr’s second work which she had published eleven months after the death of HenryVIII. The writings of Erasmus, Fisher, Tyndale, Cranmer, Latimer, and

Chrysostom are woven into the text of Lamentations.52

Parr’s personal library included works by Erasmus, Bishop Hooper, Sir Thomas Elyot,

Thomas Lupset, several versions of the New Testament in English and French, a book of Psalms, among several others. She also owned a copy of the previously mentioned 1494 primer published by Wynkn de Worde via the patronage of Margaret Beaufort. This list of books finds easy parallels to books connected to Syon.53After her marriage to Henry VIII, it was commonplace for

Queen Katherine to meet with the Court women to discuss scripture and listen to “learned disputations on theology,” a practice noted earlier in this chapter that was begun with Cecily

Duchess of York.54 At one point, Katherine nearly lost her life for the rumored belief that she was in possession of “heretical books” and was espousing Protestant beliefs in conflict with

52 Weinstein, 790-791. 53 Hiscock, 196, FN [40]; Erler, Women, Reading and Piety, 119. See also Bell, 171-210. 54 Weinstein, 794; cf. Supra, p. 130-131.

141 Henry’s Six Articles of 1539. Though the rumor in actuality was true, she craftily pleaded her case before Henry, appealing to her biblical submission to him as one of his female subjects and as his wife. Henry ceased the inquisition on her and all charges were dismissed.

As Henry’s last Queen, and one who exerted significant influence at least on the Tudor

Court, there is little doubt that the English laity would have read her published works. While these works contain within them influences from works with roots at Syon Abbey, the Protestant influences introduced at Court by Katherine cannot be overlooked. In July 1544, one year following their marriage, Henry went off to war with France. During his three months absence,

Katherine was named Regent of England. As Queen Regent, Katherine revised the Court school, adding to the educational curriculum a diversity of Protestant scholars including Lutherans and

Calvinists, all of whom were “outstanding scholars in the mode of the New Learning.”55 One scholar argues Katherine Parr was adept at holding in tension the reformation doctrine with “the

Erasmian ideal of peace, unity, and understanding” in a community on the precipice of dissolve.56 Edward, age seven, and Elizabeth, age twelve, were benefactors of this educational concoction.57

While combinations of Catholic and Protestant spiritualities are evident in Katherine’s life and work, the possible influence of Syon on her life and its ripple effects to the people of

England through her leadership and pen, cannot be summarily dismissed. From an early age, this

55 Weinstein, 792. 56 William P. Haugaard, “Katherine Parr: the Religious Convictions of a Renaissance Queen,” RenQ 22 (Winter 1969): 359 as quoted in Elaine V. Beilin, Redeeming Eve (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987), 301 n. 28. 57 Betty S. Travitsky, “The Possibilities of Prose,” in Women and Literature in Britain 1500-1700, ed. Helen Wilcox (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 238-239.

142 influence was embedded within her and it can be argued that at a minimum there were residual effects which continued to be evident in her later life.

This overview of women of Henry VIII cannot be concluded without an examination of his daughters and the possible connections they may have had with Syon. Records reveal an unquestionable connection of Princess Mary with Syon, a woman who was decidedly Catholic and who held high interest in restoring England to the Catholic Church. During the years when her mother was dealing with the stress and challenges of an unwanted annulment (1526-33),

Mary would frequently visit Syon with her mother. Records indicate that as early as 1520 she began offering Syon financial support, an act in which one would not engage without interest and appreciation for an institution’s work.58 Records also indicate instances of receiving gifts from

Syon. For example, in 1536 she was sent puddings from the abbess.59 In 1557, Syon was one of the first monastic settlements reestablished by Mary after her ascent to the English throne. In her will dated 1558, she makes a bequest of 500 pounds, plus another 100 pounds per annum to “the howse of Sion and to ther Successors, Mannours, londs, tenements and hereditaments sometime parcel of the possessions of the said howse of Sion and remaining in our hands at the tyme of our decesse or of some other late Spirituall possessions….”60 Mary’s will further requested regular prayer for her soul and the souls of her husband and mother “and for the Soulles of all other our

Progenitours, and namely the said Kynge Hen. 5. as they were bounden by the ancyente Statuts

58 FLE 2, 20. 59 Erler, Women, Reading, and Piety, 18. 60 “Appendix-No. IV. [MS. Harl. 6949, F. 29*.] A Copy of Queen Mary’s Will from the Originall in Mr. Hale’s hands, at Alderley, in Gloucestershire,” in Privy purse expenses of the Princess Mary, daughter of King Henry the Eighth, afterwards Queen Mary, with a memoir of the princess, and notes by Frederick Madden (London: W. Pickering, 1831), clxxxvii-clxxxviii; see also clxviii; and Aungier, 538.

143 and ordyenances of thr severall foundacyons.”61 The bequest and pledge of continued support along with the trusting of the souls of her dearly departed indicate the esteem and trust with which Mary held the professed at Syon.

Possibly an even more important investigation to make is any connection Princess

Elizabeth may have had with Syon. It is well known that at the time of her ascendancy to the throne in 1558 following the death of her sister Queen Mary, one of her first actions was to close the abbeys and monasteries her sister had reopened; Syon was among the closures. Given that

Princess Elizabeth was only six years old when Syon was officially dissolved, there is little hope that the abbey would have had first hand influence on her life. However, it is not out of the question to consider residual effects. If Syon did indeed influence the women in Court in earlier generations, many of whom were an influence on Elizabeth including Katherine Parr, it is not so unreasonable to speculate at least a minimal influence. However, without further examination and extensive research, such definitive conclusions cannot be made.

Gentry Class Connections

The tentacles of Syon’s influence also reached to England’s Gentry class families. It was not unusual for Gentry families to become benefactors of monastic communities. Those with means to assist monasteries benefited in two primary ways. The family’s social status was enhanced and the family was given spiritual support including the assurance of prayers from the monastic community for generations beyond their death. It was not unusual for a member of the family to unite in some way with the monastery either as an alternative to marriage or after one entered widowhood.

61 Queen Mary’s Will, in Augnier, clxxxviii.

144 The Bessilles, Fettiplace, Yate62 family serves as an excellent example of how Syon’s influence continued from one generation to the next within the Gentry class. It seems the initial connection took root in Dame Alice Harcourt Bessiles (1450-1526), a wealthy widow whose name appears in Syon library record books from 1520-21 and again in 1523-24. Dame Alice was married to William Bessilles and together they had one child, Elizabeth. Sometime after

William’s death in 1515, Alice became a Syon vowess. In her 1526 will, she requested burial at either Syon, with her husband at Oxford, or at her manor, depending upon where she was at her death. Erler reports that Dame Alice is only “one of a very few women whom the catalogue of

Syon’s great library records as book donors.”63 The book she donated was a folio edition of a

Latin dictionary by Ambrogio Calepino, an Italian lexicographer.

The Syon connection continued with three of Dame Alice’s granddaughters64 and two great-granddaughters. Her first granddaughter Dorothy Fettiplace Codryngton65 (d. 1586) entered religious life at Syon as a nun after the death of her husband, John. Her will, made upon her enclosure at Syon, contained a £3 provisions for the purchase of books including those necessary for saying the Divine Office and other English books for her personal devotional reading. Her younger sister, Susan Fettiplace Kyngeston, was charged with obtaining and delivering these books for her. Only one printed book, the Tree & xij frutes of the holy goost, has been recovered

62 Last name spelling variations include: Fettyplace, Besseles, or Bessiles.

63 Erler, Women, Reading, and Piety, 7. I am indebted to the research of Mary C. Erler on the Beselles, Fettyplace, Yates family in her work Women, Reading, and Piety, and in her article, “The Books and Lives,” 5-18. 64 Alice’s daughter Elizabeth Besselles married Richard Fettiplace and together they had twelve children, seven daughters and five sons. Four of the daughters entered monastic life. 65 This name is spelled variously, Coderington, Codrington, Codryngton, Coderynton, Cutryngton, Goodryngton, Goodrington. See Bell, 176, no.3.

145 with Dorothy’s name in it. The work evidences Dorothy’s textual criticism practices with annotations and corrections made based on a Latin MS of this book.66

The second granddaughter, Lady Susan Fettiplace Kyngeston (d. 1540), followed her grandmother’s example, becoming a vowess in 1514 after her husband died. Cellaress accounts record Lady Kyngeston visiting Syon with her servants and her sister, Elizabeth Nelson. Such visits of multiple persons to the abbey, effectually extends the spheres of influence to an even larger English community.67 Lady Susan’s half-brother, Sir Thomas Elyot, dedicated to her the sermon, A Swete and Deuoute Sermon of Holy Saynt Ciprian of Mortalitie of Man. She was to share the sermon with her sisters. Susan’s passion for education of the larger population, possibly reinforced through her association with Syon, is evident in her bequest of eighty marks for the founding of a school in Shalston, Buckinghamshire. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that her request was ever carried out.68

Dame Alice’s third granddaughter, Eleanor Fettiplace (d. 1565), entered Syon as a celibate nun. Eleanor was bequeathed forty pounds from the will of Sir Richard Elyot (d. 1522), her stepfather, who was one time Attorney General to Queen consort Elizabeth of York. The money must have enabled her to purchase four books known to have belonged to her including a

Bridgettine breviary with Latin rubrics, a late fifteenth-century psalter, a copy of Syon Brother

Richard Whytford’s The Pype, or Tonne, of the Life of Perfection, and a 1555 Sarum missal.69

66 Bell, 83 n. 29. 67 Lina Eckenstein, Woman Under Monasticism: Chapters on Saint-Lore and Convent Life Between A.D. 500 and 1500 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1896), 393. 68 Erler, “Books and Lives,” 10. 69 Bell, 176, 194, 196; de Hamel, 55; Hutchison, “What the Nuns Read,” 216-217; Erler, “Books and Lives,” 14-15; Aungier, 535; and John Rory Fletcher, “A catalogue of the dead, both brothers and sisters, in ye monastery of Syon

146 Eleanor took her missal into exile after the dissolution. The missal was eventually given to the

Buckland parish church. This church was likely the parish church near the home of the Yates, the family with whom several sisters stayed during the first dissolution. While the other books contain only her name, this missal contains a note pasted inside the front cover that reads, “Of your charyte pray for the sowle of dame Elyzabethe ffetyplace her suster, relygious in Syon, at whose charges thys boke was bought & geven to thys churche of Bocklond, anno domini

1556.”70

The influence of Syon on this family continued to Dame Alice’s great-granddaughters,

Susan Purefeye and Elizabeth Yate. Both of these women became professed nuns at Syon and both participated in Syon’s peregrinations. Susan Purefeye (Purferaye, Purefey, Purfrey) was the daughter of Anne Fettiplace and Edward Purefeye. She made her profession in 1534 and remained with Syon until her death in 1570. She owned Caxton’s 1490 edition of Nicholas

Love’s The Myrroure of the Blessed Lyf of Ihesu Cryste (Speculum vitae Christi) which is a translation of pseudo-Bonaventure’s Meditationes vitae Christi. On the first leaf Purefeye wrote,

“Susan Purefeye owethe thys booke.”71

Elizabeth Yate,72 the second great-granddaughter of Dame Alice, was the daughter of

Mary Fettiplace and James Yate. It was to her family’s home in Buckland, Berkshire that she and eight other sisters, including her aunt Eleanor Fettiplace, found respite during the first dissolution

of the Holy Order of Saint Birgit from the first foundation in England in ye yeare of our Lord 1415 to this present year 1923,” University of Exeter, Special Collections MS 95/14, FLE 14. 70 Quoted in Erler, “Books and Lives,” 14. 71 Bell, 190. See also Erler, Women, Reading and Piety, 124; and Aungier, 89, 97, 99. 72 Elizabeth Yate was born in 1521. Her date of death is unknown.

147 in 1539.73 Both were among the re-enclosed under the briefly lived Marian restoration. Elizabeth was the owner of a 1522 psalter that was a combined manuscript and printed book. Likely the sisters used it at least during their first exile.74

The probable influences of Syon on this Besilles, Fettiplace, Yate family are clear. From the evidence of patronage, book ownership, and monastic living, Syon’s spiritual presence spread. Like the roots of a tree, Dame Alice’s connection to Syon served to anchor her family in the faith even as she reached out with nourishment from Syon’s spiritual sustenance to the women in her family. The spiritual resolve becomes further evident in the risks taken by the

Yates family to become a place of cloistered protection in the years of Syon’s first exile.

Unfortunately, explicit connections beyond genealogy cannot be presently traced and therefore remain mere speculation.

Merchant and Working Classes Connections

As the search for spiritual influences on women in England continues, the names of several other English women emerge. In a series of articles published in the magazine The Poor

Souls’ Friend, Adam Hamilton identifies four couples who were Syon benefactors between 1470 and 1490: Richard and Joan Fowler, William and Cecily Englefield Fowler, Edward and Joan

Danvers Fowler, and Sir John and Margaret Teynham. The only additional information he provides about these couples is the father’s names for two of the women and one death date as recorded in the Martiloge. He also adds that Edward and Joan lived at Twickenham by

73 Jefferies Collins, ed., Introduction to The Bridgettine Breviary of Syon Abbey: From the MS. with English Rubrics F.4.II at Magdalene College Cambridge (Worchester, England: Stanbrook Abbey Press, 1969), v; Fletcher, Story of the English Bridgettines (Worchester, England: Stanbrook Abbey Press, 1963, 1969), 37. 74 Bell, 197, de Hamel, 46.

148 Richmond.75 This is significant observation since Hamilton did not always list the names of benefactors’ wives. Therefore, it leads one to conclude that these women had some kind of personal connection with Syon. Further prosopographical work is needed to determine the depth of this connection.

The connections of two women of more significance and about which more is known are

Margery Kemp and Elizabeth Barton. Though neither are identified as benefactors, both Kempe and Barton were visitors to Syon. The extensive traveling and notoriety connected with their life journeys could have enabled them to share with others their encounters with Syon.

Margery Kempe, (c.1373-after 1438) was author of The Book of Margery Kempe, the first woman’s autobiography in English. Margery came from a wealthy merchant family involved in the government of the town of King’s Lynn. Her father was five times mayor of Lynn and at least six times Member of Parliament. He was also a chamberlain, coroner, justice of the peace, and alderman of the Trinity Guild. At age twenty, Margery married burgess John Kempe who was a chamberlain in 1394. After the birth of her fourteenth child, around age forty, she responded to a perceived request from God by bargaining with her husband to take a mutual vow of chastity. The couple chose to live apart so that people would know their vow was not just empty words. This vow of chastity, coupled with their separate living arrangements, freed

Margery totally to commit herself to a growing relationship with God.76

75 The Order of St. Saviour in England under Yorkists and Tudors by Adam Hamilton, Volume containing articles by Adam Hamilton published in “The poor souls’ friend, 1907-08, with MS notes by J.R. Fletcher. Hamilton’s was published after Aungier and corrected some of his errors; Syon Abbey FLE/22, April 1907 to Dec 1908, 9. Identified by Fletcher as 145-146 in original. Note: Cecily was the daughter of Nicholas Englefield, and Joan Danvers was the daughter of Sir John Danvers of Colthorpe. Joan (Richard Fowler) deceased March 13, 1505. 76 Margery Kempe, The Book of Margery Kempe, trans. by B.A. Windeatt (New York: Penguin Books, 1994), Book One, Chapter 11.

149 In her autobiography, Margery Kempe wrote of visiting Sheen, which was across the river from Syon. Though she calls the place she visited, Sheen, it was more likely that she was visiting Syon since she wrote of having gone there three days before Lammas Day to purchase her Pardon. This was the day when Syon granted to worshipers the Pardon of Syon.77 Kempe received permission to live near Syon. This permission included the opportunity for the brothers to visit her when she invited them. She actually owned a MS that was prepared for her by Syon’s brother Symon Wynter. This MS contained two of Bridget’s visions along with additional materials. Not only did she have permission to associate in these ways with Syon, but she was also allowed to enter women’s monasteries if so permitted by the abbey’s superiors.78 Whether or not Margery may have first visited Syon prior to or after this is not known for certain; however, it is clear that she most likely had pre-associations with Syon. First, Alan of Lynn, a priest who was close to Margery, worked on Bridget’s Revelations.79 Second, in Book One chapters 17, 20, 58 and 62, Margery reveals a familiarity with the writings of Hilton, Rolle,

Bridget, and Bonaventure, all of which were in frequent use at Syon. Bridget alone is referenced in five chapters, more than any other saint, indicating at the very least some type of influence on

Margery.

Beginning around age twenty and continuing to the end of her life, Margery had visions.

The visions were often connected with Christ’s Passion, yet she also had visions of Mary, Ann,

77 Kempe, 290. On the Pardon of Syon cf. Supra p. 124-125. 78 Nancy Bradley Warren, Spiritual Economies: Female Monasticism in Later Medieval England (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001), 107. 79 Janette Dillon, “Holy Women and their Confessors or Confessors and their Holy Women? Margery Kempe and Continental Tradition,” in Voaden, 116-117.

150 and Mary Magdalene.80 It is entirely possible that her association with Bridget and Syon brought consolation and reinforcement to the authenticity of her visions, strengthening her in her resolve to live out the mission to which God had called her. Over twenty chapters in her book are dedicated to relaying events regarding her pilgrimages, which began after taking the vow of celibacy. She made pilgrimages throughout England as well as to the Holy Land, Assisi, Rome,

Santiago de Compostela. Late in life she visited Germany with her daughter-in-law.81 During these travels, she visited numerous Bridgettine houses.82 It is possible that these Bridgettine and

Syon related influences could have been shared by Margery in her extensive pilgrimages, extending the influence of Syon throughout England and the Continental regions.

Unquestionable connections are made to Syon in the life of Elizabeth Barton (1506-

1534). The Holy Maid of Kent or the Nun of Kent, as she was commonly known, Barton was a young female well known in England for her prophecies against Henry VIII’s desire for and ultimate securing of the annulment from Catherine of Aragon.83 Elizabeth relayed the contents of her prophecies to numerous people associated with Syon, including Abbess Agnes

Jordan, Confessor General John Fewterer, scholar priest Richard Reynolds, other Syon sisters

80 Early contemplative tradition identifies Mary Magdalene with Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus. 81 For references to writers Margery’s journeys see Kempe, Book I, Chapters 15, 24-56, 60, 84 and Book II, Chapters 2-10. 82 Warren, Spiritual Economies, 93. 83 Scholarly consensus is lacking on the authenticity of Barton’s visions. Some argue that she was a highly influential unstable young woman who was expressing the convictions of her religious influences. Others claim the authenticity of the visions. Some claim she confessed to her deceptive actions while others argue that her confession was forced out of her.

151 and brothers as well as Lady Kyngeston and Thomas More, both of whom were known to visit

Syon.84

Though many openly received Barton, at least some of the Syon brothers were suspicious of her.85 In 1533, the brothers conferred with Thomas More regarding Barton.86 Sometime after that discussion, More met with Barton “in a little chapel” at Syon. In a March 1534 correspondence to Thomas Cromwell, More confided that he had advised Barton to limit herself to devotional topics and not concern herself with political matters, specifically the Kings “Great

Matter.”87 It is possible that the sufferings from the persecution that Barton endured because of her purported visionary experiences were eased due to her connection with a community of strong women whose primary female models were women of mystical experiences. The connections Barton made at both Syon and Sheen “may also have played no small part in her spiritual development.”88

84 Henry VIII, The Letters and Papers Foreign and Domestic of Henry VIII, arranged and catalogued James Gairdner (London: HMSO; reprint New York: Kraus, 1665), vol.6, no. 1468 cites the following women as recipients of Barton’s prophecies: “Sr. Laureeuee, Princess Dowager, Lady Mary, my Lady of Salisbury, Lord & Lady Hussee, the lady Margaret of Exeter, lady Derby, Mr. Nele & his wife, Hugh Fawkner & his wife, Mr Memer & his wife, Sr Vicar, Tomas Goold & his wife, abbess of Burnam Lady Bellingham, Mr Hath (or Kath.) Champner, his brothers wife.” 85 Diane Watt, “The Prophet at Home: Elizabeth Barton and the Influence of Bridget of Sweden and Catherine of Siena,” in Voaden, 168. 86 J.S. Cockburn, H.P.F. King, and K.G.T. McDonnell, eds., A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 1: Physique, Archaeology, Domesday, Ecclesiastical Organization, The Jews, Religious Houses, Education of Working Classes to 1870, Private Education from Sixteenth Century (London: Boydell & Brewer, Ltd., 1969), under “Religious Houses – House of Bridgettines,” accessed April 17, 2014, http://www.british- history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22119. 87 See Thomas More, The Correspondence of Sir Thomas More, edited by Elizabeth Francis Rogers, 1947 (Reprint, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1970), 484, 486. 88 Diane Watt, Secretaries of God (Rochester, NY: Boydell & Brewer Ltd., 1997) 66, NetLibrary. See also Warren, Women of God in Arms, 158.

152 Some scholars have suggested that the mystical experiences of both Kempe and Barton are part of an English tradition of female spirituality including mysticism and prophecy which drew inspiration from Bridget and Catherine of Siena. Syon Abbey served to reinforce this emerging tradition in a culture where until this time the spiritual voice of women remained largely in the shadows of secrecy.89

Lay Women as Book Owners and Donors

The research of Christopher de Hamel, David Bell, and Mary Carpenter Erler provides a significant and growing list of book owners and donors connected to Syon, revealing even more women who were not only influenced by Syon, but many of whom extended Syon’s spiritual influences through the book trade, whether by purchase, publication sponsorship, or will. Book benefactors of Syon included a vast retinue of mothers, sisters, and daughters across the economic classes. A brief survey of these women reveal persons such as Margery Pensax (d. ca.

1417), one of the first female donors to Syon who was an anchoress at St. Botolph’s at

Bishopsgate in London from 1399 through at least 1413.90 Pensax donated a MS of Hilton’s

Scale of Perfection (BL MS Harley 2387) which may have originally been given to her by

Thomas Fishbourne before he became Syon’s first Confessor General.

The aristocrat Margaret, Lady Hungerford and Bottreaux (d. 1478) was the owner of numerous books including a Syon service book, probably the Myroure of our Ladye. She resided at Syon from spring through October of 1470, where her granddaughter Frideswide Hungerford was a nun. During this time Margaret participated in the sisters’ services. Upon returning home

89 Watt, Secretaries of God, 158. 90 de Hamel, 58.

153 she “adapted elements of the Syon office of compline in her own mortuary chapel.”91 She also became a benefactor of Syon prompting her name to be recorded in the Martiloge. Her affinity for Syon led her to request burial at Syon.

Also in the final decades of the fifteenth century is Anne Harling (c. 1426-1498), resident of Norfolk who was “a devout book-owning gentlewoman of East Harling in East Anglia.”

Heiress of a knight and the wife of John Scrope, fifth Lord Scrope of Bolton, Anne became an of Syon and at least four other monasteries. She owned a combined MS of Syon’s The

Myroure of oure Ladye and Speculum devotorium (BL MS Harley 4012). Speculum devotorium is a meditative compilation written by a Carthusian monk sometime between 1420-40, which serves as a perfect complement to the Myroure since it contains excerpts from Bridget,

Catherine, and Mechtild of Hackeborn, all of whom fit the category of “approved women” for devotional reading as explained in the Myroure. It is possible that this MS was created specifically for her sometime between 1460-1470. Harling’s 1498 will makes bequests to Syon, but also to Norfolk, and Suffolk.92

Syon Sisters and the Book Trade

From 1415-1630, book ownership and/or a humanist education was the life experience of at least thirteen percent of the professed nuns at Syon. This percentage is likely very low since most of the books documented are from the last quarter of the fifteenth century through the first half of the sixteenth century.93 Books dated earlier were likely lost during the era of the

91 M.A. Hicks, Richard III and His Rivals: Magnates and their Motives in the Wars of the Roses (London: Hambledon Press, 1991), 106, eBook Collection EBSCOhost. See also FLE/22. 92 Lee, 147-48; Voaden, “The Company She Keeps,” in Voaden, 55-58; John and Anne Scrope were married for eight years, 1490-98. 93 Bainbridge, “Women and Learning,” in Jones, and Walsham, 84.

154 dissolution, the sisters’ peregrinations, and the devastating fire and earthquake in Lisbon.

Records to date reveal only three sisters from the fifteenth century have been confidently identified as book owners, Anna de Suecia, Elizabeth Skynnard and Anne de la Pole. At least twenty-four names are written in different books associated with Syon, all dating to post 1500.94

Following is a survey of Syon sisters involved in the book trade of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Anna de Suecia (Anna of Sweden—Anna Kaarlsdottir/Anne Charles or Karlsdottir) was among the original Vadstena group who came to Syon in 1415. Attributed to her ownership is a prayer book written in both Swedish and Latin. Christopher de Hamel has identified early fifteenth century style London English blue and red penwork in the “historiated initial of the

Virgin and Child” on folio page 33. Based on this penwork, he identifies Sr. Anna as the first female Syon scribe.95 She also copied two of Richard Rolle’s works and subsequently gave them to the brothers.96

Elizabeth Skynnard (d. 1476) who made her profession in 1444 was another book owning sister in the fifteenth century. She was enabled to purchase this book, a Bridgettine service book and a processional, through her profession dowry of forty marks.97

From the middle of the fifteenth century, one begins to see documentation of the intentional work of Syon’s abbesses in the preservation and sponsored publication of books. In

1482, Syon’s fourth abbess Elizabeth Muston (abbess, 1456-97) entered into a contract with

94 de Hamel, 97. 95 de Hamel, 56-7. 96 Bainbridge “Women and Learning,” 85. 97 Bainbridge “Women and Learning,” 84. Note 17 cites the following: Guildhall Library, London, MS 9171/4, fols 153 v., 159r; Exeter UL, MS 95 vol 12. 50.

155 Thomas Raile for the upkeep of books revealing the seriousness with which the sisters took their books.98 It also reveals that the sisters no doubt had a library. The costliness of this kind of care for books would only be tolerated by those who highly value books, reading, and learning.

Not only was upkeep a concern, but so was the dissemination of books for public consumption which one begins to see with the 1491 Caxton publication of A Ryght profitable

Treatyse. This work was written by Thomas Betson, librarian for the brothers. It contains work from Jerome, Bernard and the Ars moriendi. With the authorization of this text, Muston became the first Syon Abbess to approve the publication of works written by the brothers of Syon and/or the works in frequent use by the sisters. Publication for purchase by the laity opened vast venues for the abbey’s influence. This practice of authorizing publication would continue with subsequent abbesses to the dissolution and beyond.

Additional efforts by Muston served to further the visibility and influence of Syon. About

Muston, Hamilton writes, “She was almost on as familiar a footing with Kings and statesmen as with her own nuns, or with those who sought her charity at the monastery gate.”99 He attributes this largely to the maneuvers in which she engaged to regain territory for her monastery that had been taken by Henry VI. She “obtained several royal charters and the passing of an Act of

Parliament” during the reign of Edward IV and when Henry VI was briefly restored “won a confirmation of these” charters and Acts.100 These notes document the potential influences Syon had from the common people to the monarchy.

98 Bell, 44; de Hamel, 92. 99 Hamilton, FLE 22, 5 (100 in original). 100 Hamilton, FLE 22, 5 (100 in original).

156 With the fifth abbess, Elizabeth Gibbs (Gibber/Gibbes) (abbess, 1497-1518) scholars see requests for the production of books, both original works and translations of Latin works. One of the first English translations of Thomas á Kempis’ Musica ecclesiastica, the first three chapters of De imitatio Christi, was completed by Sheen brother Master William Darker, at the request of

Abbess Gibbs. In return, she promised him prayer by all Syon members.101 Syon brother Richard

Whytford wrote for Abbess Gibbs Daily Exercise and Experience of Death. Gibbs and her parents are commemorated in the Martiloge.102

Both Gibbs and the sixth abbess, Constance Browne (abbess, 1518-20) continued the authorization of book publication begun under the leadership of Abbess Muston. In 1500 Gibbs authorized a second publication of Betson’s Ryght profitable Treatyse, this time by Wynkyn de

Worde. In 1519 Abbess Browne approved Wynkyn de Worde’s publication of Orcherd of Syon, the English paraphrase of Catherine of Siena’s Il Dialogo, written for and frequently read by the

Syon sisters. Browne was also a book owner. She is listed with Sr. Dorothe Slyght in a Syon sisters’ processional with music. Their names appear in two different locations in the MS.103

Under the leadership of Agnes Jordan (abbess, 1520-45), Syon experienced an explosion of book publication. Could it be that sensing the unraveling of the religious institutional fabric,

Syon fought to form the mind and souls of the religious and laity alike through a significant corpus of religious texts? This is certainly a possibility when one realizes that Abbess Jordan was at the helm of Syon during the era of Henry VIII’s “Great Matter” and she, likely in concert with

101 Bell, 39, 74, 186; de Hamel, 97; Hutchison, “Devotional Reading,” 216. 102 FLE, 14 “Catalogue of the Dead.” 103 G.J. Aungier, The History and Antiquities of Syon Monastery, the Parish of Isleworth and the Chapelry of Hounslow (London: Hounslow Heath, 1840), 81, 533; Bell, 199 no. 45.

157 Confessor Generals John Trowell (confessor general, 1513-1523) and John Fewterer (confessor general,1523-1536), saw book publication as a means of grounding the Catholic faith within

England’s faithful. Between 1526 and 1534, Jordan approved the publication of no less than nine works including Syon’s Martiloge (1526) translated in English by Syon’s Richard Whytford, and the sisters’ Myrroure of oure Ladye (1530).104 If this was not her motive, it is none-the-less clear that there was a hunger among the English laity for religious devotional texts to guide them along their spiritual journeys. Syon clearly capitalized on this, no doubt desiring to influence

English spirituality for the good.

Agnes Jordan was held as an accessory in the 1538 charge of praemunire against Bishop

John Stokesley (d. 1539) for permitting the 1537 admission of five new brothers. As was noted in Chapter 1, at the house’s surrender in November of 1539, one group of Syon faithful traveled with Jordan to her home in “Southlands” in Denham, Buckinghamshire until Jordan’s death in

1546.105

A hiatus in Syon book publication was experienced between 1534 and 1555. This hiatus is certainly attributable to the religious and political tensions in England as the dissolution of the monastic houses was complete and most Catholic religious were living in exile. However, the eighth abbess, Katherine Palmer (abbess, 1545-1576) took advantage of Catholic Queen Mary I’s rise to the throne and in 1556 authorized the printing of The Following of Christ, and English translation of Imitatio Christi by Thomas à Kempis. Abbess Palmer was also a book owner. She

104 Publications also included: The Directory of Conscience (1527, repr. 1534), The Pomander of Prayer (1528), Whytford’s A Werke for Householders, rev. (1530, 1532, 1533), William Bond’s Pylgrimage of Perfection (1531), and John Fweterer’s Mirror or Glass of Christ’s Passion (1534). 105 Bainbridge, “Women and Learning,” 70.

158 received an inscribed copy of Chastysing of Goddes Chyldern (1492/3) from Sr. Edit Morepath

(d. 1536).106 She was also the owner of the Complete Works of Johannes Tauler (1548).107

English vernacular works emerged in the fifteenth century. Over two-thirds of extant non-liturgical works in English are connected to women’s monastic communities. These vernacular works enabled the conveyance of “English spirituality” to the people. Bell notes that

“it was the nuns, not the monks, who stood at the fore-front of English spirituality.”108 Syon was pivotal, though not exclusive, in this endeavor. Thanks to the advocacy of the abbesses, the first half of the sixteenth century saw Syon Abbey have more books printed than any other English monastery. The motives for this vast endeavor are various ranging from a desire to spread

Catholic theology and influence the spirituality of the English faithful, to the raising of revenues for the abbey during a difficult time, or even as a response to the desires of the laity for theologically solid devotional texts. It could also have come from the printers who knew that works connected with Syon were sure to sell to the English people.109

While only abbesses had the authority to enable the printing of books, many of Syon’s sisters owned books that they obtained in one of three ways. They either brought books with them upon their profession, purchased from their profession dowry, or received them from someone’s will. That they owned books is not surprising given the provision in Syon’s Rule for the sisters to have as many books as they desired for study (Rewyll, XXI). What follows, therefore, is a necessary sketch of book owing sisters of Syon.

106 Erler, Women, Reading, and Piety, 125; Bell, 187. 107 Bainbridge, “Women and Learning,” 89. 108 Bell, 75-76. 109 Bell, 74-75; de Hamel, 101.

159 Margaret Windsor (Windesor/Wyndesore), Syon prioress from 1518 until at least the dissolution, was a sister who headed a group in exile. Her books would have found later ownership among the laity enabling these books to become a means of influence upon female

English spirituality. Windsor owned a prayer book willed to her by her aunt Anne Andrew

Sulyard.110 The book she owned that is most relevant to influence of the laity is a Psalter by Lord

Plymouth containing the Bridgettine liturgy. Margaret’s brother, Lord Andrew Windsor, had the

MS illuminated for her. Her name, “Margareta[m] Wyndesou[r],” is written in the margins beside Psalm 68. de Hamel notes that these words are “parallel with the words of the psalmist,” giving a double meaning to the phrase Salvum me fac. de Hamel’s conclusion is confirmed knowing that Andrew left to Margaret an annuity of £80:6:8 with the request to pray for his soul along with the souls of their parents. In this same manuscript, inscribed at the conclusion of

Psalm 1, is “Orate pro anima Andree Wyndesore militis” along with the family’s coat of arms.111

A second book owned by Margaret and in common use at Syon was A Deuout Treatyse

Called the Tree & XII. Frutes of the Holy Ghost (1534-5). In the fly leaf of this book she wrote,

“Mart Windesor, domina de Syon.”112 This book is printed in two parts by Copland 1534, and Copland and Fawkes1534, respectively.

The third book owned by Windsor likely had little influence on the spirituality of the

English women since it was written in French. Though aristocratic and gentry women could read

110 Bainbridge, “Women and Learning,” 89. Bainbridge notes that Andrew was Anne’s maiden name. She also indicates that she could have been a Bourgchier. Her source is C. Richmond, “The Sulyard Papers: The Rewards of a Small Family Archive,” in England in the Fifteenth Century, ed. D. Williams (Woodbridge, 1987), 199-228. 111 Aungier, 81, note 3; Bell, 193 no. 33; de Hamel, 94. 112 Bell 183 no. 14, see also de Hamel, 97. Tree & vij frutes of the holy ghost, 1534-35 (STC 13608). Cambridge, Trinity College 0.7.12.

160 French, few women among the general population were able to read a language other than

English. It does, however, illustrate the breadth of learning possessed by some of the professed sisters at Syon. The book, Giovanni Boccaccio’s De la ruine des nobles hommes et femmes,

Lyons, 1483, was given to Margaret by Henry Parker, a priest of Syon. The book is inscribed twice by her. First, “Cest lyuere partient a moy Henry Parker”, and a page later “Cest liure apertient a moy Marguerete Wyndesore.” She follows this second inscription with her monogram.113

Alys (Alicia) Rade (d. 1530) and Alys (Alicia) Hastyngs (d. 1527) shared a MS containing a psalter, “Canticles, Litanies, Vigilia mortuorum, on the Virgin, … collections of quotations from the Psalms,” and a few Latin prayers, two of which contain

English rubrics. The Latin prayers were added later in an “inferior hand.”114 This is identified as a “straightforward Sarum Psalter,” that was never modified for the liturgy of the Syon sisters.115

It is quite probably that these sisters processed together for the singing of the Divine Office and the Mass explaining its dual ownership. The inscription of the request, “Of your charyte pray for yowr sester Alys Hastyngs,” also gives indication that the manuscript would be passed on either to other sisters after the original owners’ deaths or to laity, benefactors, or family members.

A scribal note in a copy of Walter Hilton’s Eight Chapters: A Treatise of the Discretion of Spirits gives explicit insight into the ways books were shared and passed on to subsequent generations. On fols. 38r-v, of this work, the scribe explains that a book is owned by a person for life. It notes that if the book is not being used, it may be loaned to another for use. Books are

113 Quoted in Bell, 192 no. 31. 114 Bell, 184, no. 15. 115 de Hamel, 75.

161 “delivered & committid from persoone to persoone man or woman as longe as ye book endurith.”116 This scribal note is of particular interest since the book was owned by Syon Sister

Anne Colvylle (Colville) (d. 1531). Ann’s name appears in the flyleaves in three places. Sister

Ann resided at Syon in the early decades of the sixteenth century. In addition to this manuscript,

Sr. Anne also owned Cursor Mundi and Parliament of Fowles (1459).117

Agnes Regent’s (d. 1524) book reveals how book may have been shared by family members and friends. In the margins of her copy of Vitas Patrum printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1495, are notes exchanged between Joan Regent and Katherine Pole. Joan was Agnes’s mother and Katherine was a family friend.118

An example of a book shared between a professed sister and brother is found in Latin scholar Joan (Joanna) Sewell (d. 1532). Sister Joan was professed in 1500. She owned copies of

Richard Rolle’s Incendium Amoris and Emendatio vitae. She compared the long and short texts of Incendium and noted differences in the copy belonging to her.119 This MS also includes other works by pseudo-Bernard of Clairvaux, pseudo-Augustine and pseudo-Bonaventure.120

Unfortunately, Joan was imprisoned in Syon “for the unacceptably intimate textual community” that she and the Carthusian James Grenehalgh shared with each other.121

116 British Library Harley 993, quoted in de Hamel, 74. 117 Erler, Women, Reading and Piety, 145; Bell, 190 no. 25 & 195 no. 35. 118 Erler, Women, Reading and Piety, 141. Vitas Patrum was the title Caxton gave to Vitae Patrum when he translated it from French. See Erler, 125-126. 119 Bell, 83 n. 28. 120 Bell, 187-8, n. 21. 121 Jones, and Walsham, Introduction, 28.

162 Yet another example of the passing on of books, this time to laity, is found in a book owned by Sr. Elyzabeth Stryckland (Strickland) (d. 1542). She was the original owner of one of three copies of the Orcherd of Syon, a book which she took with her into exile. This copy of the

Orcherd is documented as the first Syon book “to have passed into secular hands after the dissolution.”122 The executor of her will, Richard Asheton, gave the book to his wife. Later the book was owned by a Katherine Sacheverell.123

A sister’s book ownership has even been known to be shared with a brother. Mary Nevell

(Maria Nevel) (d.1557 or 58) possibly a chantress seems to have shared a processional with music, originally written for the sisters of Syon.124 The inscription in this processional says,

“Syster Mare Neuel, Sister Thomysyn Grove, and Brother James Stock.” Thomysyn may be

Thomesina who died on October 27, 1566. Like Alys Rade and Alys Hastyngs mentioned above, the sisters may have walked together in procession. The reason for the inclusion of the name of

Brother James Stock is not known. Mary also owned a MS of The Chastysing of Goddes

Chyldern and the Tretyse of Love. Inscribed in a note to Awdry Dely (Audrey Delbyl) are the words, “the gyfte of Syster Mary Nevell. God reward her in heven for yt.”125 A second inscription,“Thys boke ys myne, S Awdry Dely, of the gyfte of Syster Mary Nevell” clearly indicates that this book was given by Sister Mary Nevell to Sister Awdry (Etheldreda)

Dely (d. 1579).

122 de Hamel, 112. 123 Despres, 152; Driver, 213-32. 124 Bell, 187 no. 20, 197 no. 40; Erler, Women, Reading and Piety, 125. 125 Jones and Walsham, Introduction, 26-27; Bell 187, 191-2, nos. 20, 29.

163 Far and above any other sister, the one whose book ownership surpassed all others was

Latin scholar Clementia Tressham (d. 1567). Clementia was the sole owner of at least four books or manuscripts. One manuscript was a compilation of six works including the writings of

Chaucer, Lydgate, John Clifton and Peter Idley.126 This is a work showing the breadth of learning in which some Syon sisters engaged. Written in the flyleaf of this manuscript was “Of your charyte prey for Sustyr Clemens Trysburght,”127 an indication that she intended to will the book to someone at her death. Clementia owned the “printed folio edition of Thomas à

Kempis,” Opera Thomae a Campis cognomento Malleoli, (1523),128 a 1533 Sarum Primer,129 and a Latin copy of The Sawter of Mercy by John Cressener. This work also contains Latin prayers with English rubrics. Also contained in this MS is an English version of the popular devotional Meditations of the Life and Christ. This is from the Latin text by

Jordan of Quedlinburg, Meditationes de passion Christi/Articuli lxv de passion Domini cum theorematibus et documentis.130 Finally, Clementia owned a psalter that previously belonged to her aunt Rose Tresham.131

A series of book trade interactions is found with Sr. Magdalene Boeria (d. 1539).

Magdalene’s name and initials are printed in a copy of John Fewterer’s Myrrour of Christes

Passion (STC 14553). Her name is on the “last leaf of the first gathering (+6v)” and her initials

126 Bell, 195, no. 35; Bainbridge “Women and Learning,” 86, 88-89. 127 Quoted in Bell, 195. 128 Bell, 185 no. 17; de Hamel 126. 129 Erler, Women, Reading, and Piety, 142. 130 Bell, 184 no. 16. 131 Gillispie in Syon Abbey, 109, n.19.

164 are inscribed on the book’s fore-edge.132 In 1557 she requested Dominican William Peryn to translate Nicholas van Esch’s Exercitia theologiae mysticae.133 During the exile at Mishagen in

Flanders, she commissioned the recopying of Henry of Herph’s Directyorium aureum contemplativorium as a means of dealing with the loss of books resulting from the second dissolution. 134 On what authority she made these requests or commissions is not presently known.

More could be said of book owning and donor sisters like Dorothe Slyght

(Slyghte/Slighte/Sleight), Elizabeth Woodford (d. 1523), Anne Dyngue & Anne Amersham (d.

1533), and Joan Spycer (Spicer) (d. 1534) and other book owning sisters. No doubt as research continues into the book trade, more names will be identified and further influences will be learned.

A final work of note that needs more attention is a devotional treatise that appears to have been written by a female religious, quite possibly a nun at Syon. The Feitis and the Passion of

Oure Lord Ihesu Crist, “contains a unique sequence of prayers and meditations composed by a religious woman.” The work was apparently written for another woman religious. In the work is the plea to “Make me a good woman.”135

Christopher de Hamel observes that “the survival rate of the liturgical manuscripts is unique among English monasteries.” He believes this is “because of the huddles of nuns who

132 Erler, Women, Reading and Piety, 141. 133 Jones and Walsham, Introduction, 35. 134 Caroline Bowden, “Books and Reading at Syon,” in Jones and Walsham, 178. 135 Erler, Women, Reading, and Piety, 143.

165 kept up their uninterrupted round of liturgy” while in exile.136 Though the level of book ownership is encouraging, sadly, even given the priority to reading, study, and meditation within the abbey, apparently “no nun of Syon produced visionary, devotional”137 works as did their founder Bridget and one of their primary role models, Catherine of Siena whose book Il Dialogo was translated for specific use at Syon. As previously noted, key books of Syon were printed for public consumption, particularly The Myroure of oure Ladye and The Orcherd of Syon. These two books illustrate “ideals suitable for emulation by other readers” outside the abbey. They provide a source for “devotional practices,” especially in the vernacular in an era when the demand for devotional literature was growing.138

Educational research reveals that in any institution there are three operative curricula through which people learn, the explicit, the implicit, and the null.139 The explicit is that which is taught through the spoken or written word. It is what an institution says it is largely through its legislation and statements of belief. The implicit is that which is implied by the actions taken within a given context. It is what an institution teaches by being who it is. The null is that which is ignored. Of the three curricula, the one that teaches the most profoundly is the implicit. The conclusion can be drawn that Syon had an impact upon the surrounding culture. Syon

136 de Hamel, 126. 137 Despres, 147. 138 C. Annette Grisé, “In the Blessid VyneЗerd of Oure Holy Saueour: Female Religious Readers and Textual Reception in the Myroure of Oure Ladye and the Orcherd of Syon,” in The Medieval Mystical Tradition England, Ireland and Wales: Exeter Symposium VI, ed. Marion Glasscoe (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1999), 199. 139 Elliot W. Eisner, The Educational Imagination: On the Design and Evaluation of School Programs, 2nd ed. (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1985) see chapter 5. Maria Harris gives application to Eisner’s work in her books, Fashion Me a People: Curriculum in the Church (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1989), 68-70; and Teaching and Religious Imagination: An Essay in the Theology of Teaching (New York: HarperCollins, 1991), 100-101.

166 Bridgettines cast light on the characteristics of persons of faith and provided for them instruction and role models for how to live the faith.

Though the Church taught, explicitly, that women were subordinate to men, and had no valid voice, a different message is implicitly conveyed through living out the Rewyll and the

Additions of the Order of St Bridget at Syon. It is quite possible that the practices coupled with these legislative materials, teach implicitly an equality and at times a superiority of women to men. The centrality of the Virgin Mary to the Order, the reverence of their founder, St. Bridget, and the model of St. Catherine all conveyed to pilgrims to Syon a powerful implicit message. As women across social strata experienced the practices, as they read these works from the libraries of Syon, subsequent generations may have become empowered to take up their own pens and claim their voices. The women of Syon may not have written their own works, but their very way of being in the English countryside began at least the seed of conversion of thought for and about women and women’s empowerment. The light beckoned to the women of England and shined upon them, changing them and their daughters after them. Syon’s light was one that was inextinguishable and life changing.

This chapter has begun to reveal the depth and breadth of the influences of Syon across the social strata of the English people, particularly upon the women. The information contained herein has hinted at an impact on the English spirituality of the women of fifteenth and sixteenth century England. This research has pointed to an abbey that by it very self is symbolic of the spirituality of an England ripped apart by Henry VIII and ravaged by the reign of Elizabeth I, yet who tenaciously remained faithful through flexibility and ingenuity. Beyond the books and lives of the women associated with Syon, there are symbols that speak deeply to and from the women

167 of Syon that aided in the emergence and empowerment of women in the centuries of Syon’s existence and beyond. This will be the focus of the final chapter of this dissertation.

Chapter 6

Conclusion

The Heartbeat of Syon -- Its Spirituality in Symbol

Since the emergence of the academic study of spirituality, theologians have been divided over both the approach to its study including whether it should be taught in an academic setting.

Recent studies of those in favor of the academic study of spirituality have advocated a more interdisciplinary approach.1 Therefore, this dissertation has proceeded from historical-contextual, theological, and anthropological perspectives. Beginning with its pre-foundation story, this dissertation examined Syon’s establishment and subsequent growth and development through its dissolutions and peregrinations. Syon’s Rule of life was explored next as a means of discerning its uniqueness and spiritual practices. To understand a greater depth of its spirituality, Syon’s devotion to Mary was investigated as well as the female role models of Bridget of Sweden and

Catherine of Siena as they would have been known from the primary literature in use at Syon, the Myroure of oure Ladye, and The Orcherd of Syon. From the Myroure and the Orcherd the sisters learned the practice of contemplative reading and study, a practice that gave further shape to the sisters’ spirituality. Finally, attention was given to the people who supported and/or frequented Syon, those who were influenced by it, and those who provided its greatest

1 For an overview of their work in this area see Sandra Schneider, “Spirituality in the Academy,” Theological Studies 50 (1989): 676-697; and Schneider, “A Hermeneutical Approach to the Study of Christian Spirituality,” Christian Spirituality Bulletin: Journal of the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality 2, no. 1 (1994): 9-14; Bernard McGinn, “The Letter and the Spirit: Spirituality as an Academic Discipline,” Christian Spirituality Bulletin: Journal of the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality 1, no. 2 (1993): 1-10. Also of interest are the works of Walter Principe, “Broadening the Focus: Context as a Corrective Lens in Reading Historical Works in Spirituality,” Christian Spirituality Bulletin 2:1 (1994): 1-3; and Philip Sheldrake, “Some Continuing Questions: The Relationship Between Spirituality and Theology,” Christian Spirituality Bulletin 2:1 (1994): 15-17.

168 169 inspiration. Emerging from this interdisciplinary research is the essence of the spirituality of the

Bridgettine sisters of Syon and the impact that spirituality had on the Syon sisters and the women of fifteenth and sixteenth century England.

Recurring throughout the historical-contextual, theological, and anthropological aspects of this study are a three-pronged spirituality that contributed to the uniqueness of Syon and energized its influence on the women of England. The first prong was a contemplative spirituality integral to the sisters’ form of life. It was what they, as a community, intentionally practiced out of their love for God and their devotion to Mary in the rhythm of each day through the singing of their Marian focused Bridgettine Divine Office. A second prong was a spirituality of reading that permitted and even encouraged them to engage the mind in their love of learning.

The third prong was what might be called a reformative spirituality that was modeled for them in the life and literature of Bridget and Catherine. When this three-pronged spirituality was woven together, it created within the women a tenacious spirit with a resilient resolve to thrive, even when caught in the vortex of socio-political and religious challenges. To understand the essence of Syon’s spirituality more fully it is important to recall from where each of these three prongs came.

The first prong, the love of God, was explicitly stated in their Rule. The rewle of Seynt

Austyn declared that the goal of their monastic life was for God to make them “lovers of spiritual beauty.” This would fill them with the “good aroma of Christ.” Reinforcing this idea was the

Rewyll of Seynt Saviour whose prefatory vineyard parable explained that the sisters were to love

Christ with the fullness of their hearts and flee from all forms of pride so that they could turn to true meekness. The sisters would become lovers of spiritual beauty through heartfelt engagement

170 in their Divine Office. Living fully into their spiritual practices would help them to grow their love for God. It would also engender in them a love for others and the Church.

The second prong of Syon’s spirituality, the love of learning, was exemplified in the approach to reading and study they were taught. There is no doubt that the spiritual life of the women at Syon was a contemplative one where their “work” or “labor” was defined as what they did with their heart and minds, as well as their mouths. Their labor was first engaging in the work of liturgy (leitourgia). Following the sense of the word’s etymology, “the work of the people,” the sisters embodied their craft. One of their primary books, The Myroure of oure

Ladye, was written specifically for the sisters with the purpose of opening the eye of their understanding to their Divine Office, as well as certain feasts and Masses. Opening the eye of understanding to what they were saying, singing, and praying enabled the sisters to engage in their work of praising Mary for whom the Order was founded, and worshipping Christ with the fullness of intensity and devotion that can only be possible when one understands the words they speak and sing in worship. In a daily rhythm, they offered up the work of their words, songs, and prayers through the performance of their Divine Office, their Masses, and Feast Day observances.

The sisters’ labor also occurred in their daily reading and study, a labor nestled in the practice of lectio divina. In this labor it was discovered that, ironically, work was leisure even as leisure was work. The importance of this work was permitted and even encouraged in the Rewyll through its provision for the sisters to have as many books as they desired for reading and study and in the Additions which fell silent regarding designation of any physical labor in which the sisters were to engage. The “labor” of reading was also given careful emphasis and instruction in

171 key works written for the sisters, the Myrroure and the Orcherd. Reading these works leaves one with no doubt of the gravity of this labor in holding in tension their love of learning and their love for God.

In their life and labor, the sisters became “ideal exemplars of the religious life, on which other vernacular readers were urged to model themselves.”2 With the exception of the

Carthusians, it was the female religious, especially the sisters of Syon who primarily influenced

English spirituality. Based on her study of the Myroure, Elizabeth Schirmer argues that the sisters of Syon assisted in pressing the “distinctive insular culture of reading” that was developing in England. She further claims that their very reading aided in “shaping the …

[and] determining the direction devotional writing in English would take when it emerged again into a more general view– largely through Syon efforts and via Syon texts – toward the end of the fifteenth century.” 3

The third prong of Syon’s spirituality was its hope for reform of the Church. This reforming prong was rooted in the life models of Bridget and Catherine, and exemplified in the vineyard parables in the Rewyll and the Orcherd. Every week as the Rewyll was read, the sisters heard that Bridget was told by Christ that she was to establish an Order, a “new religion,” that would be a vineyard that would work to reform not only other “religions” (Orders), but also the

2 C. Annette Grisé, “In the Blessid VyneЗerd of Oure Holy Saueour: Female Religious Readers and Textual Reception in the Myroure of Oure Ladye and the Orcherd of Syon,” in The Medieval Mystical Tradition England, Ireland and Wales: Exeter Symposium VI, ed. Marion Glasscoe (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1999), 195. 3 Elizabeth Schirmer, “Reading Lessons at Syon Abbey: The Myroure of Oure Ladye and the Mandates of Vernacular Theology,” in Voices in Dialogue: Reading Women in the Middle Ages, eds. Linda Olson and Kathryn Kerby-Fulton (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2005), 348. David Bell makes a similar argument in What Nuns Read: Books and Libraries in Medieval English Nunneries (Kalamazoo, MI, and Spencer, MA: Cistercian Publications, 1995), 75-76.

172 Church Universal.4 The two Lives of Bridget to which the sisters had regular access painted for them the picture of a woman of deep faith who worked for reform of the Church in the midst of its Schism. She modeled for them a woman who was wrapped in grief over the brokenness of the

Church yet who, till her dying breath, worked to see not only the establishment of her Order, the success of which Syon sisters were now living witnesses, but also reform of the Church.

Regarding the work of reform, one wonders if the sisters intuited the shifting religio- political times in the early decades of the sixteenth century. This is quite possible given their encounters with Catherine of Aragon when she retreated to Syon as a place of solace during the difficult years when Henry was maneuvering for an annulment of their marriage. Also, the fact that their scholar-priest brothers would have been very aware of theological shifts and the rising wave of Protestantism on the Continent may have informed Syon’s decision to have published no less than ten books between 1519-1534, including the Orcherd (1519), the Rewyll (1519), and the Myroure (1530). Though more research is necessary to make this conclusion, it is possible that they saw the publication of books as a means of reform.

Since the Orcherd was a paraphrase of Catherine of Siena’s Il Dialogo, a survey of

Catherine’s life and spirituality as possibly understood by English women in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries became necessary since she rose as a spiritual model for them. Specifically what they knew about the life and work of Catherine is not known with certainty since the

Orcherd does not contain even a condensed rendition of her life. What they knew is what they would have deduced from the Orcherd’s text, or what they may have heard in a sermon or been taught otherwise. The second of the four requests Catherine makes in her book is for the reform

4 See Rewyll, The Rewyll of Seynt Sauioure and Other Middle English Brigittine Legislative Texts, vol. 2, edited by James Hogg (Salzburg: Salzburger Studien zur Anglistek und Amerikanistik, 1978), Prologue, 3-8, [f. 39v-42r].

173 of the Church. Catherine declares that the sisters are “alle laboreris” sent from God “to labore in

Þe vyneʒeerd” of the Holy Church.5 Coupled with her emphasis on obedience in the last section of the book, the message to the sisters was one that encouraged them to persevere in spite of the external challenges hailing upon them. They were to prevail out of their love for God for the sake of the Church.

Given what the women of Syon knew about their exemplars, it is not surprising that when challenges came upon them, they were able to persevere and survive. Like Bridget and Catherine before them, the sisters of Syon stood firm in the face of opposition, continuing to influence the people of faith. The reforming spirit running through their spiritual veins encouraged and empowered them. This was no more evident than in the last half of the reign of Henry VIII through the ascension of Elizabeth I. Arguably these were their most challenging days with the political pressures to subscribe to the Oath of Supremacy, the martyrdom of two of their own, and the Protestant persecutions during their peregrinations. Not only were they able to endure whatever the religio-socio-political environment threw at them, but they were able to endear the hearts of the people into whose communities they settled even if they were there for only for a brief time.

Another aspect contributing to this tenacity of spirit in Syon’s spirituality is the Order’s embracing of the suffering of Jesus. Recall the banner after which the postulant processed on her day of profession. The image reflected to them was one of the suffering Jesus. To that image, add the headpiece the sisters wore. It was like a crown with five red circles positioned over the head in the form of a cross. The five red circles represented the blood and wounds of Christ. Further

5 Catherine of Siena, The Orcherd of Syon, Phyllis Hodgson, and Gabriel M. Liegey, eds. (London: Oxford University Press, 1966), 63. Italics in original.

174 emphasizing Christ’s suffering was the story of his Passion at Friday’s Matins lessons. These lessons also relayed the story of how Mary suffered with him nearly to the point of death herself.

These daily and weekly reminders of the persecution and suffering of their beloved Savior and his Mother not only served to deepen their love for God but also enabled them to identify with the sufferings of their Savior in the midst of their own challenges.

Such tenacity of spirit would not be possible without their three-pronged spirituality of love of God, love of learning, and a reforming spirit. Jean Leclercq, in his now classic study of monastic culture, accentuates the importance of the union of the love of God with the love of learning. He explains that once a monastic has “demonstrated that prayer and humility are necessary conditions for any religious knowledge that purports to be a lived theology, a theology to live, they can indulge as much as others in speculation.”6 This means that monastics who engage fully in contemplation are then able to “call as if spontaneously upon the testimony of the conscience.”7 Living out of one’s conscience and the inner convictions arising from hard interior work, empowers a person to follow their conscience even in the midst of great persecution and for some even the threat of death. This was the experience of Syon throughout most of the sixteenth century and it was their three pronged spirituality that enabled them to persevere.

The sisters of Syon embodied a spirituality that wove together the rhythm of their hearts

(their love for God), with the energy of their minds (their love for learning), with a reforming spirit, (emulating the life models Bridget and Catherine). They wove as a unified whole this three-fold spirituality. They wove it into the fullness of their lives yielding a spirit that enabled them to face, endure, and ultimately overcome even life’s greatest challenges.

6 Orcherd of Syon, 222. 7 Orcherd of Syon, 223.

175 But still unanswered is the question of the fruit of writing about their theological reflections by the women of Syon. Except for the possibility of one manuscript from a Syon sister (The Feitis and the Passion of Oure Lord Ihesu Crist), the pen lay dormant. Even absent from the known extant manuscripts associated in some way with Syon are personal journals in which the sisters might have written down their meditative thoughts. Since the discovery of meaning in spiritual texts leads to transformation and self-formation, the question arises as to why a community of people engaging in such formative processes would not desire to write down their experiences and thoughts, at least for later personal reflection. Syon was known for its humble piety. The abbey’s amazing ability to remain free from scandal and heresy points to a community growing in their faith and devotion to God. Yet the voices of both men and women from Syon are strangely silent. The possibility exists that the sisters did in fact write, as

Bridgettine sisters in other places have done, yet due to the dissolutions and decades of peregrinations, destruction of “popish” property by militant Protestants, and the natural disasters of fires and earthquakes during their tenure in Lisbon, anything written may have been destroyed or lost.

One must also acknowledge an additional element reinforcing the absence of writing among the sisters. That issue was one of control. Numerous decrees issued by papacy, most notably the Clementine decree of 1311, served to curtail the writing possibilities of women. After this decree, women were no longer allowed to write without the permission of their confessor.

Though this decree did not stop all women, including Bridget and Catherine, it still served to limit the voice of women which had begun among the Beguines, and other thirteenth and fourteenth century mystics.

176 Whether Syon’s confessors engaged in acts of curtailing women’s writing is not known.

Hauntingly, what is known is that this group of English Bridgettine women whose very founder was a writer, did not engage in the work writing, at least according to extant manuscripts.

However, it must be acknowledged that reform was occurring through their work of education, implicitly and explicitly, to the community. One must recall that though the women took the vows of humility, chastity, and poverty, the laywomen who associated themselves with the Order did not take these vows. Neither were the visitors and patrons of Syon required to read the

Rewyll, and Additions once per week as the sisters did. Rather, the messages they received were through the powerfully implicit curriculum in the works published for public consumption, the

Myroure and the Orcherd. To the message of these writings were the experiences of the visitors to Syon, the experience of a community of strong, tenacious women who loved God and loved learning. From the books and the visits emanated an implicit message that may very well have encouraged community women to pick up their pens and at the very least engage in the work of translating.

It is interesting to recall some of the aristocratic women associated with Syon who eventually took up a pen and began to write. Among these included Lady Margaret Beaufort,

Countess of Richmond and Derby, translator and letter writer. The connection and influence of

Syon on women in the Royal lineage of England beginning with Lady Margaret cannot be underestimated, though more research needs to be exerted in this area. It must be acknowledged that Renaissance humanism and Protestantism which began during the reign of Henry VIII and flourished under Elizabeth I, were two major influences upon the emergence of women writers in sixteenth century England. However, connections for at least some women writers can be traced

177 back to people whose families were once connected with Syon. Further exploration on these connections is needed especially with reference to other English on the continent in these centuries.

So this was Syon and its influence on at least the English women associated with it in in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Still calling for examination in the research of Syon and a search for its unique voice is an emergent symbol. Was there a symbol that stood out for Syon and represented who Syon was from its inception through its dissolution in November 1539?

Ewert Cousins points out that historically, the use of symbol and metaphor was pushed aside during the scholastic period. Prior to this time, the medieval period was rich with symbols which communicated the faith or spirituality of a community. These symbols, often taken from scripture, were developed, written about, and contemplated for centuries only to be rejected, taking second place to the scholastic approach of studying theology. However, as Cousins explains, identification of a symbol is not a second way of understanding spirituality.8 It is actually through symbol that one discovers deeper realities, the deeper truths. It is what enables conclusions to be drawn regarding the spirituality of a particular faith community.

Symbols often express the inexpressible. Paul Tillich explains that symbols open to humans “dimensions and elements of reality which otherwise would remain unapproachable” and enable those who reflect on them to unlock “dimensions and elements of our soul which correspond to the dimensions and elements of reality”9 These dimensions of which we cannot become aware except through symbols operate within our subconscious mind. Symbols can

8 Ewert Cousins, “Myth and Symbol in Bonaventure,” Proceedings of The American Catholic Philosophical Association 45 (1971): 86-87.

9 Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith (New York: Harper Collins, 1957), 42-43.

178 unlock the subconscious mind and serve “to extend our vision, to stimulate our imagination and to deepen our understanding”10 of things and experiences that once were foreign to us. In this way, according to Mercia Eliade, symbols can play a “decisive part in the religious life of humanity; it is through symbols that the world becomes transparent, is able to show transcendence.”11 This truth is even more evident when realizing that a symbol can speak equally to a person’s intellect, affect, and being. Paul Ricoeur noted that symbol contains a “double intentionality.” The first intention is the literal and obvious meaning conveyed by the symbol. It is what it stands for. The second intention is the deeper and underlying meaning that contains sometimes unfathomable truths that are best expressed without words. Because of this, Ricoeur advocates engaging in the three stage process of “creative interpretation.” His third stage in this process calls for reflection on the symbol to enable its evocative power within.12

Symbols are not merely a reflection of a community’s explicit theology or spirituality, however. They speak, opening recipients to the power of the implicit message within it. Recall that the implicit message is the most powerful of the three curricula by which we learn.

Therefore, addressing symbols within any spirituality under study is essential. Belden Lane calls for the use of both symbol and myth to examine “the way a particular spirituality moves from symbolic meaning to community practice.”13 This being the case, let us consider the symbols that emerge for Syon.

10 F.W. Dillistone, The Power of Symbols in Religion and Culture (New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1986), 13.

11 Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1959), 130.

12 Paul Ricoeur, The Conflict of Interpretations (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1974), 289-298.

13 Belden Lane, “Spider as Metaphor,” in Dreyer and Burrows, 112.

179 The first and most evident symbol might be Syon itself. Syon was a citadel of people who have committed their lives to a love for God and a passion for learning. Yet those who were not privy to the abbey’s history, its inner workings and purpose, would likely miss the nuances of the abbey itself as a symbol. While its tenacity of spirit and its efforts to navigate the tumultuous waters of political and theological change could be a source of strength and encouragement to others, there is more to Syon than its survivor spirit. While Syon itself is symbolic of an outward expression of an inward experience, it seems a more inclusive symbol is necessary. A symbol is needed that would speak to itself as well as to the community of fifteenth and sixteenth century

England. It needs to be a symbol that touches on even the nuances of Syon’s spirituality and influence.

A second symbol to consider, therefore, is an easy and rather obvious one. That would be the symbol exemplifying the role and authority of Mary. This is especially true in England where devotion to her is significant and even profound.14 The importance of England’s Marian cult found significant support in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries thanks in large part to the writings of Anselm of Canterbury († 1109) and historian and , Eadmer († ca. 1126).

Their writings likely contributed to the emergence of a daily Mass for the Virgin Mary, said for both the health and political prosperity of King Henry I (king, 1100-1135).

By the thirteenth century, monks in various monastic communities said the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, sang the Ave Maria, and chanted Marian hymns in the Mass of the

14 Mary Clayton, The Cult of the Virgin Mary in Anglo-Saxon England (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 136. See also Richard Kieckhefer, “Major Currents in Late Medieval Devotion,” in Christian Spirituality: High Middle Ages and Reformation, 75-108, ed. by Jill Raitt in collaoration with Bernard McGinn and John Meyendorff (New York: Crossroad, 1988), 90.

180 Virgin Mary as part of their daily prayer and worship.15 It was also common throughout England to observe a Marian feast day, celebrate a votive Mass, and say an Office for Mary on

Saturdays.16 By the late Middle Ages, the development of English Marian “poetry, drama, art, and pilgrimage sites” reinforced and entrenched the cult of Marian devotion throughout the country.17 Nowhere was this more evident than the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham which, like Syon, benefitted from Royal patronage and became a place of pilgrimages to honor the

Virgin Mary.18

The spirit of Mary was ever present at Syon. The Order was founded to praise and honor her. The abbess reflects Mary’s role among the apostles and early church. Her role is expressed in the words spoken in the liturgy of their Divine Office, the lessons read at Matins and in the services of profession. The symbol of Mary, the Virgin, is presented in physical form in the banner that goes before a postulant as she processes into the service of profession. This two sided red banner depicts Christ on one side and Mary on the other. The banner precedes the postulant in the procession to the service reminding her of her spouse’s suffering on the cross. As she looks at her spouse’s suffering body she is told to learn patience and poverty. As she looks at her primary female exemplar, the Virgin Mary, she is told to learn chastity and meekness. Regarding

15 Robert Bartlett, England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings, 1075-1225 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 479. 16 Bartlett, 478-9; Kieckhefer, 89-90. There were two possible reasons for choosing Saturday for these observances. The first is that Saturday was the Sabbath and hence God’s day of rest. Mary’s womb was the resting place for Christ. The second reason is because of Mary’s embrace of Christ’s divinity even as he lay entombed on the Saturday after his crucifixion. 17 Ruben Espinosa, Masculinity and Marian Efficacy in Shakespeare’s England (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2011), 11- 14. 18 William Page, ed., “Houses of Austin canons: The Priory of Walsingham,” A History of the County of Norfolk: Vol. 2, British History Online, accessed April 22, 2014, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid =38291.

181 this practice, Nancy Bradley Warren observes that “Mary and Christ, … are portrayed as two sides of the same coin … providing equally important models for identity formation.”19 When this symbol, the Virgin Mary, is coupled with the profession ritual, as a symbol, it serves to

“shape the spiritual consciousness” of the community.20 No doubt, this is a powerful symbol and it addresses the community’s desire for God, but it leaves unaddressed the compelling transformative component of Syon’s love of learning.

Another option for a symbol might be a seal from Syon which dates possibly as early as

1426.21 The seal contains an image of Mary, who is wearing a crown. Her right hand is embracing the child Jesus, who is on her lap. In her left hand she is holding a scepter. Beneath the base on which Mary and Jesus sit are two people, one standing and the other kneeling.

Presumably, the figure standing is Bridget, and she is supporting a king who is kneeling. The king could be Syon’s founder, Henry V or any other representative English monarch given Syon was a royal foundation and regularly offered prayer for the monarchial family. Such a symbol could certainly fit the life and work of Syon. However, again, the aspect of books and learning is absent. Likewise, it is not likely that this seal was used widely, therefore limiting its sphere of exposure and consequent influence.

It seems, to search for a symbol for Syon is to look for something that incorporates the totality of Syon as a community who embraces a love of God and a love of learning with a reforming spirit while being rooted in its historical context. The ideal symbol would reflect the historical-contextual, theological, and anthropological aspects of the Order’s spirituality.

19 Nancy Bradley Warren, Spiritual Economies: Female Monasticism in Later Medieval England (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001), 12. 20 Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (London: Hutchinson, 1973), 91. 21 See Appendix C.

182 Interestingly, such a series of images are available. They are found in various woodcuts imprinted in no less than ten different fourteenth and fifteenth century books, all of which were central to Syon including the Myroure.22 While the images vary, they share commonalities including Bridget engaged in either reading or writing as the central figure, surrounded by images of one or more persons of the Trinity, Mary, and angels. Christ is usually portrayed either as Crucified or as an infant.

The woodcut most relevant as a symbol for Syon may be found in Appendix A.

Historically, this image portrays Bridget receiving a revelation from an angel, probably representing her reception of the Sermo angelicus. On the far right hand side of the woodcut are the images of a king’s crown and a shield. Theologically, in the upper left-hand corner is the

Trinity, portrayed as , holding in his arms the crucified Son, with the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove hovering beneath them. On the opposite corner, Mary is portrayed in a stable kneeling prayerfully, gazing upon her infant son, Jesus. Kneeling at the feet of Bridget are a Bridgettine nun and monk. Anthropologically, the woodcut depicts Bridget, sitting at her desk, pen in hand, writing down the revelation as it is conveyed to her with an angel peering over her shoulder. The pilgrim’s hat, bag, and staff could represent those outside of the Order who made pilgrimages to Syon. The images would have offered a visual representation of a reforming female saint for whom books and study were of utmost importance. The images also hold central a symbol of a woman receiving from an angel a revelation from God which she wrote down and passed on to others for spiritual benefit. In these woodcuts, Syon’s spirituality of love of God

22 See Martha W. Driver, “Nuns as Patrons, Artists, Readers: Bridgettine Woodcuts in Printed Books Produced for the English Market,” in Art into Life: Collected Papers from the Kresge Art Museum Medieval Symposia, edited by Carol Garrett Fisher and Kathleen L. Scott, 237-268 (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1995). See Appendix A and B for two examples of these woodcut images printed in the Myroure.

183 expressed in honor and devotion to Mary, united with a love of learning and a reforming spirituality portray a life-giving symbiotic relationship into which the sisters lived each day.

The fullness of a symbol’s possibility requires comfort with abstract thought and with the ambiguity of multiple meanings, not to mention multiple levels of meanings that could be seemingly contradictory or paradoxical. It is also a common knowledge that there is no perfect symbol for any given spirituality and even those that seem most apropos will eventually break down. These truths acknowledged, the woodcuts of Bridget in Syon’s books come the closest to representing the spirituality of the Bridgettine nuns at Syon who, following the spirit of their founder Bridget, honored Mary, embraced a love of learning, and fervently sought to love God with their full beings. Though no conclusive proof is provided, given what is known about symbols, one can conclude that these ever-present images had an impact upon those who held these books in their hands to read, study, and contemplate.

The light shines in the darkness but the darkness does not overcome it. The light cannot be extinguished. The light that shined in the darkness of the end of the Middle Ages was a mere glowing ember that needed only a little fanning to burst into a full flame. The light of Syon flickered throughout the first one hundred years of its existence and even when a political worked to douse the ember, it refused to be extinguished. From miles away in a foreign land it glowed and beckoned back to its beloved England. In the meantime, pieces of the ember that had touched other coals set them to glowing. The fans of time blew and eventually the scattered embers inside and outside of Syon burned brighter with every touch of a pen to parchment. By the time the sisters returned, their tiny ember had flamed into a great light for the women of the world and for the healing and wholeness of the Church. Now the voices of all may

184 be heard and if one listens closely enough, the harmonies of the men and women together will draw us to the light and warmth of the glowing inextinguishable light of the medieval monastic house formally called the Monastery of Saint Savior, Saint Mary, and Saint Bridget of Syon.

Appendix A

Bridget Woodcut 11

1 Image from John Henry Blunt, ed., The Myroure of oure Ladye (1873; repr., Millwood, NY: Kraus Reprint Co., 1975), lxii. 185

Appendix B

Bridgettine Woodcut 22

2 Image from John Henry Blunt, ed., The Myroure of oure Ladye (1873; repr., Millwood, NY: Kraus Reprint Co., 1975), lxi. 186

Appendix C

Seal of Syon3

3 Image is orignially from G.J. Aungier, The History and Antiquities of Syon Monastery, the Parish of Isleworth and the Chapelry of Hounslow (London: Hounslow Heath, 1840), unnumbered page between pages 106-107. Image was copied from this website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SyonSealNo1.jpg. 187

Glossary

Select Middle English Words

Special Middle English lettering ʒ = g or j ɀ = r Þ = th affeccyons: affections heʒt: height atones: at once here: hear auctorite: authority herte: heart auncetours: ancestors heyle: hail hows: house boɀne: born hyre: hear clennes: cleanliness, purity ioys: joys clepid: called iuges: judges committee: commit iʒe or iʒen: eyes contynewe : continue contynens: continence, abstinence knoweche: knowledge conuerteyd: converted counceyll: council, advice loo: look cunning = competent loueÞ: loves dedys: deeds medyatryce: mediatrix dekenes: deacons menesse: mediator dere: dear meruaylous: marvelous desier: desire mess: Mass dette: set/put moche: much myche: much erƿe: earth myʒtis: mights fele: feel nothyng: nothing freytour: refectory or dining room obedyens: obedience gostly: spiritual onehed: oneness, unity ordynal: ordinal hastynge: rushing oɀ: or heelþe: health oɀdir: order hens: immediately owethe: owns 188

pancns: patience pecys: pieces perfyte: perfect praysynges: praising pɀecstys: priests prcyncte: precinct proctors: regent puruyaunce/ purviaunce: providence releued: relieved resceyueÞ: receives ryghtwyse: righteous sale: install schalebe: shall be sextan: sacristan or librarian shapen: shape, create, make siзt: sight soper: supper, dinner streccheƿ: stretches sutche: such symplenes: simplicity thaim: them

Þe: the Þereof: thereof, from that Þi: thy, your Þin: thine, your Þisilf: thyself, oneself veyne: vain vnbynde: unbind wery: weary wolbe: will be xij: 12 ydel: idle ys: is

189

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