The Holy Trinity Priory was a priory

Priory

A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...

 of Austin

Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...

 canons

Canon (priest)

A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....

 founded around 1108 by Queen Matilda of England, wife of King Henry I

Henry I of England

Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...

 near Aldgate

Aldgate

Aldgate was the eastern most gateway through London Wall leading from the City of London to Whitechapel and the east end of London. Aldgate gives its name to a ward of the City...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. The queen received advice and help in the foundation from Anselm of Canterbury

Anselm of Canterbury

Anselm of Canterbury , also called of Aosta for his birthplace, and of Bec for his home monastery, was a Benedictine monk, a philosopher, and a prelate of the church who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109...

, the Archbishop of Canterbury

Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...

. It was founded with clergy from Colchester, and the first prior was Norman, who was the queen's confessor. By 1115 the entire soke, or liberty

Liberty (division)

Originating in the Middle Ages, a liberty was traditionally defined as an area in which regalian rights were revoked and where land was held by a mesne lord...

 of East Smithfield

East Smithfield

East Smithfield is the name of a road in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in east London, part of the A1203 road. It was historically an alternative name for the liberty and parish of St Botolph without Aldgate....

 (including the ward of Portsoken

Portsoken

Portsoken is a historical district in the City of London, located outside the former London Wall, on the eastern part of the City, near Aldgate. It is one of the 25 wards of the City....

) was given by the Knighten Guilde

Knighten Guilde

The Knighten Guilde, also known as Portsoken Ward, was an obscure Medieval guild of the City of London, according to A Survey of London by John Stow in origin an order of chivalry founded by Saxon King Edgar for loyal knights...

to the church of Holy Trinity within Aldgate. The prior of the abbey was then to sit as an ex officio Alderman

Alderman

An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...

 of London.

Matilda of Boulogne

Matilda of Boulogne

Matilda I was suo jure Countess of Boulogne. She was also queen consort of England as the wife of King Stephen.-Biography:...

 continued the close relationship between queenship and the priory. Two of her children were buried here and she took the prior as her confessor. In the 12th century the priory had a reputation as a centre of learning under Peter of Cornwall

Peter of Cornwall

Peter of Cornwall was a medieval scholar and prior of Holy Trinity, Aldgate.He was born near Launceston, Cornwall, the son of Jordan of Trecarrel . He studied in London under Master Henry of Northhampton, a canon of St Paul's...

, who was the prior.

The priory was dissolved

Dissolution of the Monasteries

The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...

 in February 1532 when it was given back to King Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

. The buildings and land associated with the priory were given, or sold, to prominent courtiers and City merchants. None of the buildings survive today except for some pointed arches within the office building on the corner of Aldgate and Mitre Street. Mitre Street itself follows roughly the line of the nave of the priory church, while Mitre Square

Mitre Square

Mitre Square is a small square in the City of London. It measures about by and is connected via three passages with Mitre Street to the SW, to Creechurch Place to the NW and, via St James's Passage , to Duke's Place to the NE....

 corresponds roughly with the former cloister.

The door, dating to the Norman period, is now believed to be the one used for Ingram House

Ingram House

Ingram House is a historic building in the district of Bootham, York, England. It was built as an almshouse for ten poor widows between 1630 and 1640 by real estate developer and politician Sir Arthur Ingram and was originally known as Ingram's Hospital. It was damaged during the Siege of York and...

 in York

York

York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

.

Priors

The priors of this house include:

• Norman d. 1147- a student of Anselm of Canterbury
  Anselm of Canterbury
  Anselm of Canterbury , also called of Aosta for his birthplace, and of Bec for his home monastery, was a Benedictine monk, a philosopher, and a prelate of the church who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109...
  
  
• Ralph d. 1167
• William
• Peter de Cornwall
• Richard de Temple
• John de Toking
• Eustace prior from 1264 to 1280
• William Aygnel
• Nicholas Hancocke