The life of a Medieval English royal nun

I recently came upon an interesting, and indeed entertaining, account of the life of Mary, one of the daughters of King Edward I, who lived most of her life as a member of the community of nuns at Amesbury Priory in Wiltshire - although she travelled extensively and was not bound by rules of enclosure.

The Church of St Mary and St Melor

Amesbury

Image:visitwiltshire.co.uk

Amesbury was  house of nuns that was re-founded in 1177 by King Henry II . Legend had it that after the death of King Arthur Queen Guinevere had lived in retirement at the nunnery at Amesbury. Whatever the truth of that at a time when the Arthurian cycle was so popular and gaining extra dimensions in its retellings, not least around the court of the Angevin king, establishing a house for nuns, often of royal or aristocratic birth , and belonging to the Order of Fontevraud must have seemed very appropriate.

Angevin family patronage was directed towards the mother house at Fontevraud, which became the burial place of King Henry II and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, their second son King Richard I, their daughter-in-law Queen Isabella and their daughter Joanna Queen of Sicily and later Countess of Toulouse as well as, almost a century later, of the heart of King Henry III.

It was the widow of the  last-named monarch Queen Eleanor of Provence elected to live a life of pious retirement at Amesbury alongside the community, and accompanied by two of her granddaughters, of whom Mary was one. 

The article I initially saw was from ArcheoHistories on X and can be read at ArchaeoHistories

Wikipedia has a detailed account of the medieval priory and several of its royal and aristocratic members at Amesbury_Priory

This gives more about Mary’s life, and that of her relatives whilst at Amesbury or the mother house of Fontevraud.

There is also a Wikipedia article about the parish church, whose relationship to the monastic buildings remains unclear, in that it may have been both the church for the townspeople and also served as the chapel for the clerical community who also served the altar in the monastery. This article can be found at Church_of_St_Mary_and_St_Melor,_Amesbury

The church at Amesbury 

This is from the side where the vanished monastic buildings stood

Image:stannesgate.com

I have only visited Amesbury once, but my sense on that occasion, was very much that this was more than a typical parochial structure and that it gave the impression of having served as a monastic church.

Murray and Blue has an article about the monastery at THE LOST PRIORY OF AMESBURY

The History Jar also has an article, with illustrations, about the history of the surviving church which can be seen at Amesbury Abbey and Priory