Hatfield Broad Oak Priory, or Hatfield Regis Priory, is a former

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. They were created by the Catholic Church. Priories may be monastic houses of monks or nuns (such as the Benedictines, the Cistercians, or t ...

Hatfield Broad Oak Hatfield Broad Oak (also known as Hatfield Regis) is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. The village is approximately south-east of Bishop's Stortford. Near the church of St Mary the Virgin is former Benedi ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, England. Founded by 1139, it was dissolved in 1536 as part of Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries.

History

The large settlement of Hatfield was well established by the time of the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

, and the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

lists the presence of a Saxon church. At one time a royal manor of

Harold I Harold Harefoot or Harold I (died 17 March 1040) was regent of England from 1035 to 1037 and King of the English from 1037 to 1040. Harold's nickname "Harefoot" is first recorded as "Harefoh" or "Harefah" in the twelfth century in the history ...

, it fell into the possession of

William I William I may refer to: Kings * William the Conqueror (–1087), also known as William I, King of England * William I of Sicily (died 1166) * William I of Scotland (died 1214), known as William the Lion * William I of the Netherlands and Luxembour ...

at the Norman Conquest. Popular for hunting in the neighbouring forest, the royal estate came to be known as Hatfield Regis (Latin for the king's Hatfield)."The Monastery of Hatfield Regis", Rev. Alan Jones. Displayed in Hatfield Broad Oak church The Benedictine monastery itself was founded in or before 1139, one of the five religious communities of that order to be founded in Essex. The priory was a daughter house of the

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally **Breton people **Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Gale ...

monastery of ''Notre-Dame-en-Saint-Melaine de Rennes'' in

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

, and was dedicated to "God,

St Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. ...

, and St. Melanius Redonensis". It was thus considered an "

alien priory Alien priories were religious establishments in England, such as monasteries and convents, which were under the control of another religious house outside England. Usually the Motherhouse, mother-house was in France.Coredon ''Dictionary of Mediev ...

" as it was subordinate to a monastery outside England. In around 1230 a fire destroyed part of the priory church, for whose repairs Henry III granted ten oaks each from the forests of Hatfield and Wristle.

John Lydgate John Lydgate of Bury () was an English monk and poet, born in Lidgate, near Haverhill, Suffolk, Haverhill, Suffolk, England. Lydgate's poetic output is prodigious, amounting, at a conservative count, to about 145,000 lines. He explored and estab ...

, the poet, was elected prior in 1423 but resigned the office a few years later to concentrate on his travels and writing.

Disputes

A dispute over tithes from the royal manor of Hatfield granted to the Augustinian canons of St. Botolph,

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

, by King

Henry I Henry I or Henri I may refer to: :''In chronological order'' * Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936) * Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955) * Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018) * Henry I of France (1008–1060) * Henry ...

continued for decades. A compromise was established by two clerical commissioners appointed by the pope in 1194, but the issue was not entirely resolved for several more years. Another dispute arose over the appointment of the prior. Patronage of the priory always belonged to the de Veres, earls of Oxford. The de Vere earls of Oxford and the abbot of St. Melanie both claimed the right, resulting in a series of unpleasant episodes in 1235. The matter was appealed to Rome, and in 1236 Pope Gregory IX ordered commissioners to hear the matter. A final settlement was reached eighteen years later. On the death of the prior, the Hatfield monks were to ask permission of the earl of Oxford to hold an election. The new prior would be presented to the earl, who would request his confirmation by the bishop of London. The prior was to notify the abbot and convent of Rennes of the death of his predecessor and of his own election and confirmation. This is an example of an assertion of practical independence by an English cell of a foreign monastery. The conventual church was built, or rebuilt, in the first part of the fourteenth century. The priory reached its peak in the first half of the fourteenth century with its great church, 230 feet in length, dominating the local countryside. Roger de Wautham, canon of St. Paul's, London, donated precious vessels for the use of the abbey and of the parish church."Houses of Benedictine monks: Priory of Hatfield Regis or Broadoak.''A History of the County of Essex'' Volume 2. (Eds. William Page, and J Horace Round). London: Victoria County History, 1907. 107-110. British History Online. Web. 5 September 2022
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Dissolution

The priory was dissolved in 1536 by

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

's Dissolution of the Monasteries. At the time only the prior and four monks lived there, though had thirty servants to attend to their needs. The tithes and patronage were initially granted to

Barking Abbey The Abbey of St Mary and St Ethelburga, founded in the 7th-century and commonly known as Barking Abbey, is a former Roman Catholic, royal monastery located in Barking, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It has been described as havi ...

but after Barking was dissolved they were given to Trinity College, Cambridge, by Henry VIII in 1546. The tomb effigy of

Robert de Vere, 3rd Earl of Oxford __NOTOC__ Robert de Vere (after c. 1165 – before 25 October 1221), hereditary Master Chamberlain of England, was the son of Aubrey de Vere III, Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford, and Agnes of Essex. He succeeded his brother as the third ...

was reportedly moved from the priory chapel to the parish church at Hatfield. Some parts of the priory church remain as part of St Mary's parish church. The remaining buildings were dismantled and no trace remains of them above ground where they stood in the field to the north of the church.

History

Disputes

Dissolution

See also

References

Further reading