Pontefract Priory was a Cluniac monastery dedicated to St. John the Evangelist

John the Evangelist

Saint John the Evangelist is the conventional name for the author of the Gospel of John...

, founded about 1090 by Robert de Lacy, and located in Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

, England. It existed until the dissolution of the monasteries

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...

. The Church and buildings have been completely destroyed, but the site is still indicated by the name of Monk-hill.

History

It was a dependency of the Abbey of la Charité-sur-Loire, which supplied the first monks. Two charters of the founder are given in William Dugdale

William Dugdale

Sir William Dugdale was an English antiquary and herald. As a scholar he was influential in the development of medieval history as an academic subject.-Life:...

. In a charter of Henry de Lacy, son of Robert, the church is spoken of as dedicated to St. Mary and St. John. These donations were finally confirmed to the monastery by a Bull of Pope Celestine (whether II

Pope Celestine II

Pope Celestine II , born Guido di Castello, was pope from 1143 to 1144.-Early life:Guido di Castello, possibly the son of a local noble, Niccolo di Castello, was born either in Città di Castello, situated in Paterna Santa Felicita upon the Apennines, or at Macerata in the March of Ancona.Guido had...

 or III

Pope Celestine III

Pope Celestine III , born Giacinto Bobone, was elected Pope on March 21, 1191, and reigned until his death. He was born into the noble Orsini family in Rome, though he was only a cardinal deacon before becoming Pope...

 is uncertain), which also conferred certain ecclesiastical privileges on the priory.

In the Visitation Records it had 16 monks in 1262, and 27 in 1279. At the latter date a prior of exceptional ability was in charge of the house, and he is commended for his zeal during the twelve years of his rule, which had resulted in a reduction of the monastery's debts from 3200 marks to 350. A later, undated, visitation return gives the average number of monks at 20. Duckett prints a letter from Stephen, Prior of Pontefract in 1323, to Pierre, Abbot of Cluny, explaining that he had been prevented from making a visitation of the English Cluniac houses, owing to the presence of the king and court at Pontefract

Pontefract

Pontefract is an historic market town in West Yorkshire, England. Traditionally in the West Riding, near the A1 , the M62 motorway and Castleford. It is one of the five towns in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield and has a population of 28,250...

, which prevented his leaving home. In the previous year (1322) Thomas, Earl of Lancaster had been beheaded at Pontefract, and his body buried in the priory church "on the right hand of the high altar". Rumour declared that miracles had been wrought at the tomb. This attempt to regard the earl as a martyr aroused the anger of Edward II of England

Edward II of England

Edward II , called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed by his wife Isabella in January 1327. He was the sixth Plantagenet king, in a line that began with the reign of Henry II...

, who impounded the offerings (Rymer, Foedera, II, ii, 726). However, not long after, a chantry

Chantry

Chantry is the English term for a fund established to pay for a priest to celebrate sung Masses for a specified purpose, generally for the soul of the deceased donor. Chantries were endowed with lands given by donors, the income from which maintained the chantry priest...

 dedicated to St. Thomas

Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...

 was built on the site of the execution and, in 1343, license was given to the prior and Convent of Pontefract "to allow Masses and other Divine Services" to be celebrated there.

Dissolution

In the valor ecclesiasticus of 26 Henry VIII, the yearly revenue of the priory is entered as £472 16s. 10½d. gross, and £337 14s. 8½d. clear value. The last prior, James Thwayts, with seven brethren and one novice surrendered the monastery to the 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...

, 23 November 1540, the prior being assigned a pension of fifty pounds per annum.