You Want to Go Where?
And You Want me to Pay?

You want to go where? And you want me to pay? This father-daughter conversation repeats itself through the centuries. But we have only a snippet of evidence about the conversation when Walter and his two daughters had it.

225. Gift by Walter de Boynton to Watton priory of 4 bovates of land in Burnby, the nuns having received his two daughters into their society as nuns. [c. 1168-1175]

The where was Watton priory, and the pay was 4 bovates of land in Burnby. The conversation occurred between 1168 and 1175; at least that is the best dating that could be done with the document, which is published in the Early Yorkshire Charters (Clay, 1963).

The Boyntons were a properous Yorkshire family with a religious bent. In addition to the two daughters becoming nuns, Walter became the business manager of St. Mary's Abbey, and served in that position for decades. Walter could afford to pay, and only had to be persuaded.

"Explain yourselves," Walter might have said.

Well, it's not very far away; so, we'll be close to home. And they had this terrific scandal and miracle. Just think -- the priory just opened and they already have a miracle.

It was close to home. Both Boynton and Watton are in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Boynton is a small village a few miles from Bridlington, which is on the east coast. Watton was an even smaller village between Drilling and Beverley. They are about 15 miles apart. Even in the twelfth century that was close to home.

Watton was established as a Gilbertine priory about 1150, and between 1160 and 1165 had its first scandal and miracle. Frederick Ross gives a fully embellished version of the story in Legendary Yorkshire, and the documentary evidence for the story was carefully assessed by the historian Brian Golding in Gilbert of Sempringham and the Gilbertine Order. Golding concluded that this story attributed to Alured, a twelfth century Abbat, was accurately attributed to him.

Watton priory was unusual in hosting both male and female penitents. The story is about a young girl who grew up in the priory. As she grew in age she grew to love one of the male members of the priory, and they broke one of the cardinal rules of monastic life. A baby was on the way. That was the scandal. It must have been Gilbert's constant nightmare as he went about setting up mixed sex priories. Watton, only 15 years old, and the scandal already -- sigh.The nuns punished the girl and trapped the boy, who had fled the monastery, and punished him. As they were preparing for the expected birth a miracle happened. An archbishop, who had died 15 years earlier, appeared to the girl in a dream and delivered her of the baby. The next day she was whole, and the baby was no where to be found.

It was not immaculate conception. It was a miracle of immaculate delivery.

That was not exactly a miracle to warm a father's heart.

However, Walter knew some things his daughters might not have known. Life in a Yorkshire nunnery was exceedingly hard. The nunneries were very small; there would be no more than 20 nuns in a nunnery (Burton, 1979). And they were very poor. Monasteries [for men] had about four times as much wealth as the nunneries [for women] (Tillotson, 1989). Women who took up the religious life suffered much more than did the men who took up religious life.

That made Watton attractive as a place for one's daughters. In the 12th century men controlled most of the wealth, and they were willing to put their wealth into religious institutions for men. Watton, with both male and female members, became rich -- even by monastic standards. Since wealth was measured in land, the 4 bovates Walter contributed helped make it richer. The vows of poverty of women at Watton were much easier to bear than in most of the Yorkshire nunneries. Walter's daughters would be well cared for.

Watton was a priory of the Gilbertine Order. The Gilbertine Order was England's only native religious order. Walter and his daughters would be in on the beginning of a new religious order. That would make you feel good about what you were doing.

And that was all the convincing Walter needed. His daughters were received into the society and Walter contributed the four bovates of land.

...

Janet E. Burton (1979) The Yorkshire Nunneries in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries, Borthwick Papers no. 56, University of York.

Charles Clay (1963) Early Yorkshire Charters,  The Percy fee, vol. XI, Yorkshire Record Series, p. 296.

Brian Golding (1995) Gilbert of Sempringham and the Gilbertine Order c. 1130-c. 1300, Clarendon Press, Oxford.

John Tillotson (1989) Marrick Priory: A Nunnery in Late Medieval Yorkshire, Borthwick Paper no. 75, University of York.