Hatfield Regis Priory

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[edit] Hatfield Regis/Broadoak Priory

Founded by Aubrey de Vere II in or before 1135, this Benedictine priory was a daughter house of the Breton monastery of St. Melanie in Rennes. Hatfield Broadoak, Essex, lay next to Hatfield Regis, and "Broadoak" was often replaced with "Regis" in reference to the priory. The confusion was enhanced by a dispute over tithes from the royal manor of Hatfield granted to the Augustinian canons of St. Botolph, Colchester, by King Henry I. The dispute was settled in 1194.^[1]

Another dispute arose over the appointment of the prior. The de Vere earls of Oxford and the abbot of St. Melaine both claimed the right, resulting in a series of unpleasant episodes in 1235. The matter was appealed to Rome, and in 1236 Pope Gregory IX ordered commissioners to hear the matter. A final settlement was reached eighteen years later. On the death of the prior, the Hatfield monks were to ask permission of the earl of Oxford to hold an election. The new prior would be presented to the earl, who would request his confirmation by the bishop of London. The prior was to notify the abbot and convent of Rennes of the death of his predecessor and of his own election and confirmation.^[2] This is an example of an assertion of practical independence by an English cell of a foreign monastery. The priory was dissolved in 1536. The tomb effigy of Robert de Vere, 3rd Earl of Oxford was moved from the priory chapel to the parish church at Hatfield.