Sele Priory was a medieval monastic house in

Upper Beeding Upper Beeding is a village and civil parish in the Horsham (district), Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the northern end of the River Adur gap in the South Downs, north of Shoreham-by-Sea and has a land area of . The s ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

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. It was a

Benedictine Order The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly Christian mysticism, contemplative Christian monasticism, monastic Religious order (Catholic), order of the Catholic Church for men and f ...

priory founded before 1126 and was dedicated to

St Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the early Christian Church. He appears repe ...

. It was a dependent priory of the abbey of St Florent in

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, France, and 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 ...

.Knowles, et al. ''Heads of Religious Houses'' p. 108 The house was associated with the Braose family from its foundation, and continued to receive gifts from members of the family, including the founder of the family, William de Braose, his son

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, and their descendants John de Braose and

William de Braose, 1st Baron Braose William de Braose, (''alias'' Breuse, Brewes, Brehuse, Briouze, Brewose etc.; –1291) was the first Baron Braose, as well as Lordship of Gower, Lord of Gower and Bramber, Lord of Bramber.Cokayne ''Complete Peerage'' Volume II p. 302 Fam ...

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Houses of Benedictine monks: Priory of Sele
''A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 2'' In 1396 the priory was allowed to become a native religious house, losing all ties to Saumur except an annual payment of 11

marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks A collective trademark, collective trade mark, or collective mark is a trademark owned by an organization (such ...

. In 1459 William Waynflete, the

Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' the offic ...

acquired the patronage of the priory. He then incorporated the priory into his new foundation of

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

, although the actual dissolution of the priory did not take place until 1480, when the last monk was pensioned. A Grade II listed house called The Priory now stands on the site of the original Priory of Sele. It probably contains material from the medieval building, but most of it dates from 1792.

Burials

Citations

References

* * Monasteries in West Sussex {{England-hist-stub