The History of the Carmelite Priory at Lossenham, Newenden, c.1243-1538

148 The History of the Carmelite priory at Lossenham, Newenden, c.1243-1538 richard copsey The first group of hermits from Mount Carmel arrived in England, early in 1242. They were brought back from the Holy Land by two English knights, William de Vescy who provided them with a site at Hulne three miles north of Alnwick in Northumberland and Richard de Grey of Codnor who gave them a place just outside the village of Aylesford in Kent. Of the two, the foundation at Hulne would appear to have been made first and that at Aylesford shortly afterwards.1 Within the next five years, two more foundations were made, one at Lossenham and the other at Burnham Norton in Norfolk. These two houses were in existence by 1247 but the exact dates of their foundation are unknown. The medieval lists of the houses in the English Province, arranged in order of seniority, indicate that the first to be established was Lossenham, 25 miles south of Aylesford (in Newenden parish). According to an early founders’ list recorded by the sixteenth century Carmelite John Bale, Lossenham was founded by Thomas Aucher (Alcher, Fitz-Aucher, Albuger) in 1241. Thomas Albuger, knight, of noble blood, was the first founder of the convent of Newenden in the year 1241. His body is buried in the choir of t he said convent.2 However, the date in this list is a little early and should possibly be towards the end of 1242 or in 1243. If this is accepted (rather than a later date such as 1246-47), then the members of the first community in Lossenham probably accompanied the other hermits on the journey from the Holy Land. If so, it is likely that they made their way to Lossenham after a brief stay in Aylesford. Allowing that around 5-6 hermits were needed to make a foundation, including at least one or two priests then the overall total of hermits who came to England in the first migration could have numbered around 15-20 individuals. Lossenham was a small hamlet comprising the manor house of the Aucher family3 and a few surrounding cottages, just under a mile east of the town of Newenden and its parish church of St Peter. The Carmelites were offered a site for their new priory on the open ground on the east side of the moated manor house. At this time, Newenden was a flourishing town with a fair, one of only two in Kent that dated back to Anglo-Saxon period (the other was in Faversham). It was also a busy port which served the sea-going barges which sailed or were towed up the Rother river which runs eastwards below the ridge linking Newenden and Lossenham (until the 16th century the river was called the Limen). These barges would enter the THE HISTORY OF THE CARMELITE PRIORY AT LOSSENHAM, NEWENDEN, c.1243-1538 149 mouth of the Limen at the port of New Romney and then make their way up the river around the north side of the Isle of Oxney past Small Hythe which served as a port for Tenterden and then westwards to Newenden, some of them going as far as Bodiam Castle, a further 4 miles west. These boats would collect timber cut from the large forest west of Newenden and also iron made from the furnaces in the Weald. The population of Newenden parish at this time was around 150+ but, as late as the 16th century there were 16 public houses serving the needs of the inhabitants, those working in the port and the crews of the barges.4 On arrival at the site for their new priory, the small group of hermits would have begun to raise the funds for building a suitable priory which included a chapel, cloister, accommodation for the community and kitchen facilities, etc. However, any new religious foundation needed to have formal approval from the local bishop. In this respect, the Carmelite hermits were at a disadvantage, not only were they unknown in the West but they arrived wearing a striped cloak which aroused some amusement among the faithful. They were popularly known as the striped or ‘pied friars’. Episcopal approval was needed if Carmelite chapels were to be open to the public. Chapels belonging to a religious order had to have a bell-tower, which would summon the faithful to mass, and a cemetery where they could bury any of the faithful who so desired. The Carmelite house at Aylesford was kept waiting until January 1247 before the bishop of Rochester granted permission for the community to be formally recognised and to open their chapel to the public. Fortunately, at the same time, he granted an indulgence of 30 days to all the faithful who contributed towards the cost of the new buildings. There is no evidence as to when the archbishop of Canterbury granted a similar permission to the new priory at Lossenham, but it is unlikely to have occurred much before that granted to Aylesford. Apart from the English foundations, the hermits from Mount Carmel quickly established an increasing number of communities outside the Holy Land, in Cyprus, Sicily, France and Italy. As a consequence, a general chapter was convened in Aylesford in 1247, probably around Pentecost.5 King, Henry III gave a small grant: The king sends greetings to the vice-constable of Kent. We order that you shall give two marks from the revenue of your county as a gift from us to the brothers of mount Carmel dwelling at Aylesford as a pittance for the day on which they will celebrate their chapter.6 A major reason for convening this chapter was that the hermits foresaw the need for a more formal papal approval of the Rule which the hermits had received from the Albert, the patriarch of Jerusalem, around 1212 with permission for some modifications.7 The move to the West had led to more pastoral involvement by the rapidly growing Order. Even in the Holy Land, the Carmelites from Mount Carmel had heard the confessions of the Templars in the nearby fortress of Athlit and after arriving in Europe, they continued to serve any nearby Templar houses. Also, they were active in collecting funds for the support and defence of the Holy Land.8 In the West, there was a need for a more flexible Rule which allowed for the founding of new communities in urban areas. So, the chapter delegates assembled in Aylesford commissioned two English friars, Reginald and Peter Folsham, to go to the papal curia at Lyons and to request a formal approval and modification of the Carmelite Rule by the Pope Innocent IV. RICHARD COPSEY 150 In addition, as the Order was now distributed throughout the Holy Land and Europe, there was a need for a new structure with the creation of provinces to link together the houses in each geographical area. The provinces formed in 1247, in order of seniority, were: 1) The Holy Land and Cyprus, 2) Sicily, 3) England and 4) France. These came under the direction of the first prior general to be elected, Godfrey.9 It is likely that the delegates also approved a set of Constitutions designed to supplement the short Carmelite Rule and containing the procedure to be followed in accepting new vocations, the pattern of community life, the offices in a community, punishments, etc. None of these documents nor the acts of the early general chapters survive. They appear to have been lost when a later prior general, Nicholas the Frenchman, died whilst visiting Cyprus in 1271. It seems likely that, soon after the general chapter, the delegates from the four houses in the newly formed English province met to elect a provincial prior and to plan future developments. From surviving records, it is known that provincial chapters were held regularly each year, normally meeting for a week around the Feast of the Assumption on 15 August. One of the major decisions at the first provincial chapter held late in 1247 would have been to approve the establishment of two new foundations, the first in London and the second in Cambridge (which offered the opportunity to seek vocations among the students there). The revised Rule, approved by Pope Innocent IV, had been signed on 1 October 1247, included permission for the Order to make foundations in urban areas. The establishment of a house in London, on a site between Fleet Street and the Thames, provided by Sir Richard de Grey (who had given the site for the house in Aylesford), must have been already under consideration and appears to have been put into effect as soon as a copy of the revised Rule reached England. This was followed later in the year by a foundation at Cambridge. The third (and last) Carmelite foundation in Kent at Sandwich did not occur until 1268 and this raised the number of houses in the province up to sixteen. An early contemporary reference to the presence of the Carmelites in Lossenham comes in the 48th year of King Henry III (Oct 1263-Oct 1264) when the king is recorded as having given a donation: ‘... to the Carmelite friars of Newendene, 3s. 4d’.10 Assuming that the king’s gift was made at the usual rate of 4d. per day per friar, this would indicate a community of ten friars. The building of the new chapel and priory would have been well under way at this time as, on the 16 July 1271, the king granted six oak trees with their branches from the forest clearings around Rolvenden for the building of their priory and church. The following year, the king made a further gift of five good oaks with their branches.11 Sadly the construction of the priory and its chapel was brought to an abrupt halt in 1275 when there is a record of the king giving a commission to: Master R. de Freningham to enquire into the trespass committed by persons unknown in burning the church and houses of the Carmelite friars at Lessenham, near Newenden, and the sheriffs of Sussex and Kent are to provide a jury. Freningham conducted his enquiries quickly and there is a record on 4 January 1276 of an inquisition held in Newenden when it was stated that : James, rector of the church of Werehorne, procured the burning of the houses of the friars of the order of Mount Carmel of Lossenham. William the clerk, his servant, THE HISTORY OF THE CARMELITE PRIORY AT LOSSENHAM, NEWENDEN, c.1243-1538 151 was at the burning by his procurement; afterwards the said rector harboured the said William, and retained him in his household; the damage done is estimated at £80.12 The estimated cost of the damages suffered by the Lossenham community would seem to indicate that building of the new priory was well advanced. However, this was not the end of the matter as at a later hearing before the Justices held in Canterbury in 1279, James the rector of Warehorne and his clerk William together with ‘the aforesaid brother Richard’ surrendered themselves, were tried and acquitted.13 This ‘aforesaid brother Richard’ appears to be the Carmelite Richard of Oxford who was named in a previous entry in the court rolls. He stood accused of having had a fight with another brother Thomas of Newenden in the priory cloister which led to the death of Thomas. Richard fled the priory secretly and was declared an outlaw but, being a friar, he left no possessions to be seized by the magistrates.14 The burning of the priory could have been associated with the fact that, at this time, the whole Carmelite Order was going through a difficult period. In 1274, Pope Gregory X had summoned a general church council to meet in Lyons, France. The major item on the agenda was the possibility of a union between the Roman Catholic and the Greek Orthodox churches but a second item for discussion was the concern felt by the bishops over the proliferation of new religious orders. In 1215 the 4th Council of the Lateran had forbidden any new orders to be founded unless they adopted one of the existing approved religious rules. However, this edict had fallen into abeyance and over the years a large number of new orders had emerged which created problems for the bishops and the parochial clergy. Many of the new orders were mendicant orders, that is they lived on alms gathered from the people which detracted from the offerings given to the local parish churches. During the 2nd Council of Lyons, the council fathers decided to take a firm stance and ordered the suppression of all new orders founded since 1215. Only the Franciscan and Dominican Orders were to be spared due to their ‘usefulness to the church’. In theory, the Carmelites were exempt from suppression as they had been founded before 1215 but their foundation was only approved by the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem and they did not receive specific papal approval until 1247.15 However, the council fathers postponed making any final decision on the Carmelite Order and, together with the Augustinian Friars, the two Orders were allowed to continue ‘in their present state’ until it was decided otherwise.16 This decision of the 2nd Council of Lyons acted like a wake-up call for the Carmelites and very quickly steps were taken to ensure the long-term future of the Order. There was an overhaul of the formation programme for young Carmelites which included a new studium generale in Paris and the promotion of suitable young friars to study for the doctorate in theology. The first Carmelite to gain a doctorate in England was Humphrey Necton at Cambridge in 1292 and shortly afterwards Peter Swanyngton incepted in Oxford. There are no surviving records of the rebuilding of the priory after in 1276 but the fire does not seem to have had any lasting effect on the community and its ability to attract new vocations. Lossenham benefited from the new academic emphasis in the Order which included to the establishment of a studium generale for philosophy in London which offered advanced courses in philosophy. Apart from talented English students, the studium generale attracted many foreign RICHARD COPSEY 152 students and there are records of a number of student friars from the Lossenham community studying there. One other change at that time which would have been particularly noticeable to those living near Lossenham and the other Carmelite houses was the change in the habit worn by the friars. The original striped cloaks which had been worn on Mount Carmel were replaced, with papal approval, by a plain white cloak in 1287. This led to the Carmelites being known as the ‘White Friars’ which was a much more acceptable title. A different sort of event to disturb the Lossenham community was due to the weather rather than any human intervention. From the time that the priory was established, the Romney Marsh area had been struck by a series of fierce storms, notably in 1250, 1252 and 1271. The most disastrous, though, was the storm of 1287 which changed the whole coastline and the course of the river Rother which ran just below Lossenham. The Rother had been steadily silting up for many years but the effects of the 1287 storm were cataclysmic. New Romney, the port where sea-going ships entered the Rother was silted up and the whole coastline facing the Romney Marsh changed. For some time, the course of the river Rother had been changing and now it made its way south before passing the Isle of Oxney, turning Rye into a major port as the river made its way to the sea.17 The local landowners were keen to ensure that the Rother continued to go round the north of the Isle of Oxney so that Small Hythe could continue to serve as the port for Tenterden and they gained permission to block the new channel bypassing the Isle of Oxney and a dam was built to force the Rother to return to its original northern course (Fig. 1). Lossenham priory, being situated on the rising land above the Rother, was not directly affected by these changes, but the overall result was a slow silting up of the Rother and a loss of navigability for sea-going ships. Barges continued to use the river up to the port of Newenden until the early 16th century but, although the bridge at Newenden remained important as the lowest place to cross the river, the town itself steadily decreased in importance. So Lossenham priory remained well away from any urban centre and consequently rather small and is olated. The earliest ordination of a Carmelite at Newenden in the surviving records is that of Roger Berdefeld who was ordained priest in the parish church on 14 March 1321 by the archbishop of Canterbury, Walter Reynolds. However, Berdefeld was listed as a member of the Sandwich community. The earliest ordinations of friars from the Lossenham house occur in 1359 in the chapel of the Archbishop Simon Islip’s manor in Mayfield when John Scot was ordained acolyte and John Waltham ordained priest on 15 June, and Adam Dereham and John Newenden were ordained subdeacon on 21 December, the same year. Clearly there must have been earlier ordinations, but the registers have not survived.18 Many of those who joined the Order in Lossenham would only be 14-16 years of age and they would spend their first years as novices, learning the pattern of life in a religious community. If they hoped to become priests – as the majority did – there would be an emphasis on improving their education, especially in acquiring a good knowledge of Latin as the daily office and all their theological studies were conducted in that language. After their novitiate, the brighter students might be sent to other houses which had more teaching resources. A number of friars from Lossenham were sent to the study house for the London distinction THE HISTORY OF THE CARMELITE PRIORY AT LOSSENHAM, NEWENDEN, c.1243-1538 153 Fig. 1 Extract from Symonson’s map of Kent (1596) showing the post-1287 course of the Rother around the Isle of Oxney with Newenden at the extrem e left. Lossenham Priory lay a short distance north-east of Newenden Church. RICHARD COPSEY 154 (or region) in Maldon, Essex, and some seem to have gone also to Sandwich. The best students, though, would be sent to the studium generale in London where they could do the basic course of studies for the priesthood and, if talented, they could follow an advanced theology course for the licentiate which would qualify them to teach. Only the very brightest students were selected for university studies for a baccalaureate or doctorate in theology at Oxford or Cambridge. Attendance at these universities was very expensive and took many years. Anyone contemplating going to a university would stand a better chance if they had a benefactor or family resources to help pay for their studies. For most students, the course for a doctor in theology would last around 9-10 years after ordination, although, as all students were priests, not all this time would be spent at the university. The Carmelites, like the other mendicant orders, were only allowed to present one student a year for a doctorate in theology at each university so only the most talented candidates would be put forward. There is a record of only one friar from Lossenham being awarded a doctorate. This was William Sternefeld who lived during the 14th century and studied at Oxford University. He seems to have been the prior in Lossenham for a number of years and died there around 1390. He is noted for having written a history of the priory in Lossenham entitled A Tract on the Beginnings of the Convent of Lossenham or Newenden. The book began: “Since, according to the Philosopher’ (i.e. Aristotle) in his first book of Metaphysics, ‘it is the nature of all men to desire to know’”; and in the first [chapter] of Proverbs, ‘The wise man listens and grows wiser’. The Carmelite John Bale saw this book in the early 16th century but no copy seems to have survived.19 The names of four other priors of the house have been preserved. The earliest was Thomas Dover who was prior on 22 May 1350 when, together with brother Thomas of Thanet, he was given permission to hear confessions in the diocese of Canterbury until the Feast of the Purification next (2 February 1351).20 A second prior recorded is John of Makeseye who was a signatory to a legal agreement before the commissary of the archbishop of Canterbury. The Carmelites of Lossenham had brought an action against Robert, the vicar of Ticehurst (Sussex), a village five miles away. Apparently, the vicar had denied the right of the Carmelites to bury any of the parishioners from his parish. However, the commissary issued a judgement supporting the right of the Carmelites to allow burial in their cemetery to any who requested it.21 In 1391/2, the name of ‘Henry, prior of the Carmelites at Lossenham’ is found in the Dover Plea Rolls.22 Finally, on 2 February 1477, Agnes Igolynden, daughter of Richard Igolynden of Benenden, left a bequest in her will: ‘To Richard, prior of Lossenham, 12d’.23 Inevitably the arrival of the Black Death in 1348 would have had repercussions on the Lossenham community. With a national death rate approaching 60 per cent, there would have been a significant number of deaths in the community and, even when the plague had passed, the number of young people seeking entry into the Order would have seriously diminished. However, there is evidence that the friars recovered their numbers quicker than the older monastic orders. Sadly, there are no records on what happened in Lossenham. The bishops’ registers for this period record that an increased number of friars were enrolled as confessors etc., in order to bring spiritual comfort to those who were suffering and that frequently these THE HISTORY OF THE CARMELITE PRIORY AT LOSSENHAM, NEWENDEN, c.1243-1538 155 needed to be replaced, probably due to their predecessors having also died from the plague. From the surviving records, the priory in Lossenham appears to have attracted a low but steady flow of bequests.24 These can be summarised as follows: Period No. of bequests Value 1368-1400 5 £2 16s. 8d. 1400-1449 8 £3 3s. 6d. 1450-1500 10 £19 2s. 0d. 1500-1538 2 £3 1s. 8d. These bequests come from wills which were proved in the diocesan court and hence from persons of some substance. Smaller gifts from the faithful who were less well-endowed are not recorded. Most bequests in wills are to the priory but, occasionally there are bequests to individuals, such as that to the prior in 1477 (see above) and, in 1434, instead of a financial bequest, John Kesham left to the friars of Lossenham, ‘a gold ring with a sapphire which is good and healthy for curing the eye’. Another important source of support for the friars would have come from the Aucher or Fitzaucher family who had provided for the initial foundation of the priory. Thomas Aucher who was head of the family in 1242, was said to have been buried in the Carmelite chapel when he died c.1260. Although the records are scanty, it seems probable that later members of the family would have continued to support the priory as it was an honourable title to be listed as the founder, or a descendant of the founder, of a religious house. The chapel of the priory would have been a logical place for them to be buried. Certainly, Henry Aucher of Lossenham was buried there at the end of the 15th century as his only daughter Anne, who married Walter Colepeper, asked in her will, dated 4 September 1532: ‘... If I happen to dye at Canterbury then I wyll my body to be buryed at the frears there, and yf I happen to dye at Cranbroke then I wyll my body to be buryed at the frears of Lossenham besyde my ffather there buryed ...’25 Over the years, the priory buildings had doubtless increased and improved. One result was that a provincial chapter was held in Lossenham in 1517. Commonly such meetings lasted a week around the feast of the Assumption (15 August). Although the numbers of friars had begun to diminish, with 39 houses and the prior and one or two delegates per house, plus the provincial, his socius and all friars with doctorates in theology, the total attending a chapter would have been 80-100 friars. Provincial chapters would have been presided over by the prior general if he was in the country on visitation but, more commonly, he would appoint a vicar-general. In the chapter held in Lossenham, it seems that the provincial, John Bird, presided himself.26 At a provincial chapter, appointments would be made, and decisions taken on matters affecting the whole province. Each day, at the high mass, one of the doctors of theology present would give a sermo n. RICHARD COPSEY 156 Sadly, a few years later, on the orders of King Henry VIII, all the houses of the Order were suppressed. Lossenham’s turn came in July 1538, when the bishop of Dover, Richard Ingworth, an ex-Dominican, made his was to Newenden after closing the Carmelite house in Aylesford. In a letter written to Thomas Cromwell on 25 July, Ingworth notes: ‘... went from thence to Lossenham, where he had been before. There be honest men. The stuff is priced at 6l. 10s., with the bell and chalice. The house is poor in building and no lead, but tile, and much of it ready to fall. It is to be let, with the orchard, garden, and land, at 5 mks. a year, and the rent paid till Christmas. There was a lease out for 40s. a year but he has it in again ... ’.27 The inventory of goods which was compiled at the suppression survives and is given in the Appendix (translated into modern English).28 The dispersal of the community was not without its problems, as the bishop of Dover wrote in a letter to Thomas Cromwell after he had suppressed the house: ... Lossenham, the Black friars of Winchelsea, Seylle, the Black, Grey and Austin Friars of Winchester, and the White Friars of Marlborough, are all at the King’s pleasure and Cromwell’s ... Wishes to know what to do with the friars that give up their houses, for their is so much penury that other houses are not able to keep them. In ten houses there are not two able to continue a year. Many that he has passed are ready to give up. In many houses, is obliged to pay all his costs and receive never a penny. It were a charitable deed that capacities were cheaper, so that the friars might make good shift to have them, for none can get them but priors who sell the convent’s goods, or ‘lemytors’ who purchase them with their ‘lemytacions’.29 The capacities mentioned by the bishop were official permissions for a priest in a religious order to go and seek a position in a parish or other appointment. Limiters were the friars who went sent out to collect alms on behalf of the priory. They were given an area to cover (their limits) which ensured that their activities did not clash or overlap with friars from other houses of the same Order. Lossenham priory would have had an agreement with other Carmelite houses nearby, i.e. Aylesford and Shoreham in Sussex, as to the areas in which they would see k alms. Following the suppression of the community, the priory and its lands were let to William Colepeper, son of Anne Colepeper, for a yearly sum of 46s. 8d. The property was then sold by the king to Richard Lake in 1558 but some time afterwards it was purchased by the Colepeper family who held it and the mansion in Lossenham until 1628 when it was sold to Adrian More who built a new manor house. The priory building was still standing in 1725 when it was drawn by John Warburton (Fig. 2). Around 1790, some foundations were dug up south of the manor house and a few years later, a stone coffin was dug up, ‘composed of four flat stones, perforated with several holes to let the moisture through’. Portions of the walls remained until 1800 but now there are no visible rema ins.30 THE HISTORY OF THE CARMELITE PRIORY AT LOSSENHAM, NEWENDEN, c.1243-1538 157 Appendix Inventory made at the dissolution of St. Mary’s, Lossenham, Carmelite friary. This stuff belonged to the house of the White Friars of Lossenham valued by sir John Wells, parson of Newington and John Twysden, a farmer there, Harry Loys, Thomas Julyan and John Hope. Fig. 2 Drawing made in 1725 of the remains of Lossenham Priory by John Warburton, part of a page of drawings which belonged to Edward H asted. (Reproduced courtesy of the British Library; BL ADD MS 5480, fo. 90.) Item a white vestment single 5s. Item a blue vestment 7s. 8d. Item another vestment with a chasuble 3s. 4d. Item 2 chasubles 12d. Item other old hangings and rags 8d. Item a chalice of 14 ounces 49s. Item 6 small cushions for the altar 8d. Item one other cushion 8d. Item 2 old mattresses 8d. Item 5 old sheets 2s. 8d. Item a cross with the attachments 3s. 4d. Item 4 candlesticks 6s. 8d. Item a little bell 20d. Item 2 latten (copper/zinc alloy) basins and pitcher 12d. Item 2 candlesticks and a socket 8d. Item 2 chests 2s. RICHARD COPSEY 158 Memorandum: the pasture and orchard are let for 6s. 8d. until Christmas. Memorandum: Receipt for the land due at Michaelmas next 10s. and it is to be recorded that the farmer has delivered his lease and will occupy the ground until Christmas without any more payment. This is the whole Inventory and reckoning of Lossenham and all this stuff rests in the hands of John Twysden except a chalice and such receipts as be crossed before in both indentures the witnesses: Sr. John Wells person there Henry Loys signed John Twysden Item 2 old worthless pans, small 12d. Item a small brass pot 20d. Item a broken frying pan 4d. Item 13 platters and two dishes 6s. 8d. Item a spit 8d. Item an old brewing pan 2s. 6d. Item the bell in the steeple 10s. Item an old coverlet 12d. Item 2 old altar cloths 4d. Item 2 candlesticks upon them 6d. Item the curtains in the hall 4d. Item an yearyn [rattle?] 2d. Item an old cope 6s. 8d. Item old canopy stained and altar cloth with stained frontal 2s. Item a holy water stoup 8d. Item 2 old featherbeds with a bolster nowte [useless?] 6s. 8d. Item certain old clothes 12d. Item a cupboard 12d. Item a book: Catholicon 4d. Item an old chair 1d. Received for hay 16d. Item received for timber from a tree 16d. Item received for the land at midsummer 20s. This money spent for a priest and expenses 15s. Item received for the land at midsummer 20s. This money spent for a priest and expenses 15s. THE HISTORY OF THE CARMELITE PRIORY AT LOSSENHAM, NEWENDEN, c.1243-1538 159 endnotes 1 For a brief scholarly account of the early history of the Carmelites in England, see Keith Egan, ‘An Essay towards a Historiography of the Origin of the Carmelite Province in England’, Carmelus 19:1 (1972), 67-100. 2 Translated from John Bale’s notebook, Brit. Libr., Ms. Cotton Titus D. X., fo. 127. 3 ‘Thomas filius Aukeri’ or ‘Thomas filius Aucheri’ occurs twice in The Book of Fees, Part II, 1242-93 (London, 1923), 658, 681. 4 Åke Nilson, Essays on Early Newenden (Newenden 2013), 20, 49. Newenden today comprises one public house, The White Hart, and a total population of just over 200 persons. 5 The first Carmelite community to be established was at Fortamia, in the hills above Kyrenia in Cyprus around 1238, followed shortly afterwards by a foundation at Messina in Sicily. In France a community was established Les Aygalades just outside Marseilles around 1244. The exact date when the chapter met in 1247 is unknown but later general chapters adopted the practice of meeting around the Feast of Pentecost. 6 `Calendar of Liberate Rolls, III (1245-1251), 163. 7 For the reasons behind this later date for the receipt of the Rule from Albert, see Pat Mullins, The Life of St Albert of Jerusalem. A Documentary Biography, Part 2 (Rome: Edizioni Carmelitane, 2017), chapter 24, especially pp. 482-484, and the present writer’s forthcoming A History of the Carmelite Holy Land Province 1200-1572. 8 See the letter written by the Grand Masters of the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller in support of the Carmelites in R. Copsey, ‘Two Letters from the Holy Land written in support of the Carmelite Order’, in idem, The Hermits from Mount Carmel, Carmel in Britain, vol. 3 (St. Albert’s Press, 2004), 29-50. The transcripts during the interrogations of the Templars during their trial give many illustrations of Templars going to the Carmelites for confession and of the special relationship between the two Orders; see The Proceedings against the Templars in the British Isles, ed. Helen J. Nicholson (Farnham: Ashgate, 2011), 2 vols. 9 Earlier histories of the Carmelites mention St Simon Stock as being elected but this is an error and Simon does not become the general until the late 1250s. 10 Calendar of Liberate Rolls, 1267-1272 (London, 1964), vi, 122. 11 Calendar of Close Rolls, 1268-72 (London, 1938), 361, 455. 12 Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1272-1281 (London, 1901), 173; Calendar of Inquisitions Miscellaneous (Chancery), vol. 1 (London, 1916), no. 1039 (p. 318). 13 National Archives, Edward I, 1279: JUST 1/369 (AALT IMG0697). [AALT is Anglo-American Legal Tradition, see website, aalt.law.uk.edu] 14 Ibid. 15 Pope Honorius III did give approval of their rule in a papal bull, Ut vivendi normam, on 30 January 1226 but this was evidently not considered sufficient, G. Wessels O.Carm., Analecta Ordinis Carmelitarum, 3 (1914-1916), 218. 16 Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, ed. Norman Tanner S.J., Vol. I: Nicaea to Lateran V. (London, 1990), 326-327. 17 Tim Tatton-Brown has argued that the change in the course of the River Rother had begun many years earlier; ‘The Topography of the Walland Marsh area between the eleventh and thirteenth century’, in Jill Eddison and Christopher Green, eds, Romney Marsh: Evolution, Occupation, Reclamation (Oxford University Committee for Archaeology, 1988), chap. 9. 18 Reg. Reynolds, Canterbury, fo. 183v: Reg. Islip, Canterbury, fo. 317v, 318. 19 Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ms. Bodley 73, fo. 5v. Later Bale adds a second work Lectures and Sermons but this is a common generic title (Bale, Catalogus, ii, 82). 20 Reg. Islip, Canterbury, fo. 19. 21 Keith Egan, ‘The Aylesford Cartulary’, Carmelus 47 (2000), 226-227. 22 Brit. Libr., Ms. Additional 33883, facing page 79. 23 Archdeaconry of Canterbury, vol. 3, fo. 4. 24 These have been extracted from the transcripts of wills by the KAS RICHARD COPSEY 160 25 http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/sussex/4-wigsell.htm (accessed online 16 March 2019). 26 Oxford, Bodl. Libr. Ms. Bodley 73, fo. 82v. 27 Letters and Papers of Henry VIII (London, 1892), xiii, (1), 1456 (p. 538). 28 W. Robertson, 1882, ‘Inventory made at the dissolution of St. Mary’s, Lossenham, Carmelite Friary’, Archaeologia Cantiana, xiv, 311-312. 29 Letters & Papers of Henry VIII (London, 1892), xiii (i), 1457 (p. 539). 30 E. Hasted, ‘The Township and Parish of Newenden’, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, vol. 7 (1798), 163-172.