Charterhouse, Coventry in the Sixteenth Century

A Carthusian monastery and after the dissolution of the monasteries, the home of Robert Dudley, and then the property of Sampson Baker and later Humphrey Baker

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The Carthusian Order, known in England for their monasteries called Charterhouses, represented the most austere, solitary, and strictly contemplative form of monastic life in medieval Britain. Unlike communal orders, such as the Benedictines or Cistercians, Carthusians lived as hermits in individual cells, breaking their silence only for specific liturgical offices and rare communal meals. Out of only nine Carthusian monasteries established in medieval England, the Charterhouse in Coventry (the Priory of St Anne) and Mount Grace Priory in North Yorkshire still provide a feel for the austere lifestyles. Mount Grace is the most complete footprint of a charterhouse layout in Europe, and hints at what Coventry’s Charterhouse once looked like, upon which the impressionistic representation in the title has been imagined.

Carthusian monasticism arrived in England in 1178 but saw a significant surge in popularity during the late fourteenth century following the Black Death. Wealthy patrons and royalty grew deeply anxious about the afterlife, and the absolute, unyielding piety of the Carthusians made them the most sought-after intercessors to pray for souls.

At Coventry's Charterhouse, archaeologists have excavated the timber-framed foundations of its cells, suggesting that they mirrored the layout seen at Mount Grace.

Carthusian Monastery

1381

The Carthusian Order was elite and exclusive. Only nine charterhouses were ever successfully established in medieval England. Founded in 1381 with the foundation stone laid personally by Richard II in 1385, Coventry's Charterhouse (St. Anne's) was a prestigious institution.

The monastery was founded by William la Zouche, Lord Zouche of Harringworth. He obtained 14 acres of land at Shortley, south-east of the Coventry city walls along the River Sherbourne, from Sir Baldwin Freville.

The project faced four years of political uncertainty and land ownership disputes, which delayed major construction. Despite this, early benefactors funded the initial planning of seven individual monks' cells.

1382

On 18 March 1382 an order confirmed the arrangement at Westminster. To Baldwin Frevylle knight, Richard Dodenale mayor of Coventre Westminster, and Richard Luff. Order to give brother John de Netherbury of the Carthusian order, appointed prior of the house of that order to be founded in ' Shorteleyfeld ' within the liberty of Coventre, and the monks there, livery of 14 acres of land in the said field which the king had by feoffment of the said Baldwin, extending from a footpath towards London on the east to a brook called Shirbourne and from the highway to Warrewyk on the south to ' Busshele milne,' according to the king's letters patent giving the same for a dwelling to the said prior and monks and to their successors, the statute of mortmain notwithstanding. (Close Rolls of the reign of Richard II, 1381 to 1385, pages 65, 66).

1385

On 6 September 1385 Richard II and Queen Anne of Bohemia visited Coventry and officially laid the foundation stone for the monastery’s church at the east end of the choir. Richard II declared himself the principalis fundator (principal founder), sparking a wave of high-profile financial backing from wealthy citizens and nobility.

Late 1380s

Prominent locals endowed further cells. Adam Botoner, a multi-term Mayor of Coventry, bequeathed £20 for the eighth cell. Sir Nigel Loryng and the Bishop of London procured the ninth, while other local figures funded the tenth and eleventh cells.

1390

On 21 October 1390 there was a Grant of special grace to the prior and convent of the house of the Carthusian order, Coventre, of two woods called ' Gravenhowe ' and ' Billagwode,' to hold the same to them and their successors for thirty years, rendering at the Exchequer a yearly farm of 4s, as Richard Wyghtebrigg used to render for the same ; provided always that no prejudice or damage be done to any other person, and that no trees be cut down in the wood (Fine Rolls of the reign of Richard II, 1383 to 1391, page 336).

1396

Following the Norman Conquest, many French monastic houses were gifted lands, estates, and churches in England. These dependencies were known as alien priories. Swavesey Priory in Cambridgeshire was a Benedictine cell belonging to the French Abbey of Saints Sergius and Bacchus in Angers. Whenever war broke out with France, the English Crown routinely confiscated the revenues and administration of these alien priories to prevent wealth and intelligence from being sent to enemy territory. The Crown would then lease the priory properties to English administrators, noblemen, or other local religious houses in exchange for an annual fee paid directly to the Royal Exchequer.

The Priory of St Anne, the Coventry Charterhouse, was recently founded, and a favoured Carthusian house strongly supported by Richard II. In 1393, the king granted them a licence to permanently acquire Swavesey's assets from its French motherhouse.

On 23 June 1396, Commitment to the prior of the Carthusian house of St. Anne by Coventre and Thomas Yokflete, clerk, — by mainprise of Hugh Dalby of the county of Warwick, William atte Welle of Mildenhale of the county of Suffolk, and Roger Barre of the same county, — of the keeping of the alien priory of Swavesey and all its lands, rents and possessions, to hold the same from Michaelmas last for as long as the war with France shall endure, rendering 43Z. Qs. Sd. yearly at the Exchequer by equal portions at Easter and Michaelmas, paying tenths and other quotas with the clergy, and finding the divine services anciently ordained in the priory ; with clause touching maintenance of buildings and support of charges (Fine Rolls of the reign of Richard II, 1391 to 1399, page 182). See also Fine Rolls of the reign of Henry IV, 1399 to 1405, page 26.

1399

On 21 May 1399 at Haverford was a Grant, of special grace, to the prior and convent of the prior and convent of the house of St. Anne of the Carthusian order by Coventry, that they and their successors shall have and hold all their manors, lands, tenements, rents and possessions well and in peace with all their liberties and customs, as well touching the election of prior as touching the other customs which the house of Chartreuse has, and quit of gelds, danegelds, hidages, scutages, works of castles, bridges, parks, dikes and houses, of toll, passage, payage, pontage, lestage, all service and custom, and all payments (questu pecuniario) to the king (Calendar of Charter Rolls, Volume 5, Edward III to Henry V, 1341 to 1417 page 382). In May 1399, Richard II, the Charterhouse’s major benefactor, was in Wales (during the turbulent final months of his reign before his overthrow by Henry IV later that year. The grant freed the monastery from archaic royal taxes and feudal dues, such as danegelds, hidages, and scutages, as well as local tolls and services, allowing the isolated contemplative monks to manage their properties and internal elections independently like the mother house of Chartreuse.

In September 1399, Henry IV (Henry Bolingbroke) deposed his cousin, Richard II, to seize the English crown. Because his claim to the throne was legally and dynastically fragile, Henry IV spent his early reign systematically reviewing, renewing, and confirming royal grants made by his predecessor.

1400

On 4 December 1400 Henry IV granted Inspeximus and confirmation, with clause licet, in favour of the prior and convent of St. Anne of the Carthusian Order by Coventry 17 of a charter dated at Hereford, 21 May 1399 (See above) (Calendar of Charter Rolls, Volume 5, Edward III to Henry V, 1341 to 1417 page 406). By issuing an Inspeximus, literally we have inspected, a legal document verifying and renewing an older charter, Henry IV was assuring the Carthusian monks that despite the dramatic regime change, their institutional rights, land holdings, and privileges remained safe under the new Lancastrian dynasty. The inclusion of the clause licet ("although") was a technical legal mechanism of value to the monks. In medieval English law, if a religious house failed to fully use or exercise the specific liberties, markets, or exemptions granted in an earlier royal charter, those rights could technically be forfeited to the Crown under the assumption of neglect. A confirmation with the clause licet explicitly decreed that although the monks may not have fully used or practiced their granted privileges in the past, they were legally permitted to exercise them fully going forward without fear of royal prosecution or loss of rights.

Because the priory was deeply associated with the deposed Richard II, obtaining an explicit confirmation from Henry IV will have been a relief for the prior and convent.

1404

There was a contract between Robert Palmer (the Prior) and the convent of the Carthusian House of St. Anne near Coventry on one side, and Roger Flore of Oakham on the other. The Carthusian monks initially acknowledged a massive debt of £560 to Roger Flore in the Court of Chancery. This contract cancelled the £560 penalty on the condition that the monks pay a lesser total sum of £280. The £280 required to be paid in instalments of £20 four times a year (at Christmas, Easter, Midsummer, and Michaelmas) at Oakham, repeating every year until the debt was cleared. Both parties formally acknowledged the agreement in the Chancery at Coventry on 31 October 1404.

Robert Palmer prior of the house of St. Anne of the Carthusian order by Coventre and the convent of the one part and Roger Flore of Okeham of the other part. Indenture of defeasance of a recognisance for £560 by the prior and convent made in chancery, upon condition that they pay to the said Roger or his executors at Okeham £20 at Christmas next, £20 at Easter following, £20 at Midsummer, £20 at Michaelmas, and so year by year until £280 be fully paid. Dated Coventre, 27 October 6 Henry IV. Memorandum of acknowledgment by the parties in chancery at Coventre, 31 October. (Close Rolls of the reign of Henry IV, 1402 to 1405, pages 472, 473).

1410

Construction was largely completed. The final layout consisted of a church, a chapter house, a refectory, the Prior's house, and the Great Cloister surrounded by 12 self-contained, two-storey monks' cells, each equipped with its own private walled garden.

1414

An illegal, early attempt at a trade union, a journeymen's guild, was suppressed by the Crown to protect the established merchant elites and the King's own interests. Because the organisation of labour and striking were strictly illegal under English law, following the post-Black Death Statutes of Labourers, the Coventry journeymen used a common medieval loophole. They attempted to form a religious fraternity (a lay guild) dedicated to St. Anne. This was a deliberate political and religious calculation by the workers. The Carthusian monastery of St Anne had been founded relatively recently. By naming their labour union after St Anne, the journeymen were leveraging a highly prestigious, crown-approved local institution. They hoped that by adopting the same patron saint as the city's newest, highest-profile royal monastery, their fraternity would appear legitimate, making it much harder for local magistrates to disband it on religious grounds.

The Carthusians were a strictly silent, contemplative, and cloistered order. Monks lived solitary lives in isolated cells to escape the chaos of the world. Yet, right outside their cloister walls, perhaps within their public outer precincts, hundreds of angry textile workers and day-labourers were holding boisterous clandestine union meetings to plot against the King and the city masters.

To the mayor and bailiffs of the city of Coventre. Strict order to cause proclamation to be made,, that none shall at their peril make unlawful assemblies within the priory of Coventre, the houses of the friars there or elsewhere contrary to the laws and customs of the realm, nor there nominate, elect or appoint masters, clerks or officers whatsoever, and order to arrest and put in safe custody all whom after that proclamation they may find doing or attempting aught contrary thereto until they shall have the king's command for their deliverance, certifying under seal of the mayor the names of the principals who shall make such assemblies and do other mischief after the proclamation, that by advice of the council the king may take order for their punishment, and to avoid the hurt and peril which is like to happen; as by report of credible persons it is shewn the king that a number of young men of that city, servants of tailors and other craftsmen, and labourers travailing for daily wages called ‘journeymen,’ have assembled and confederated together, and are making such assemblies within the priory and the houses of the friars, purposing to make a fraternity, to name it the fraternity of St. Anne, to support the same by set contributions among them made, to the end that every one shall bear aid to another and maintain another's quarrel, and to have a great number of men ever ready in haste to fulfil their heady* wills, and are minded to elect and nominate masters, clerks and other officers and ministers within the city which, if suffered, would tend not only to contempt and prejudice of the king but to impair and it is like to ruin the fraternity of the Trinity and Corpus Christi therein, and to the disturbance of the commonalty of the city; and the king is aware that the said fraternity is founded of old time, and his will is therefore to make provision against such mischief, especially inasmuch as he is a brother thereof. (Close Rolls of the reign of Henry V, 1413 to 1419, page 117).

c 1417

A monumental, high-quality wall painting of the Crucifixion featuring the Virgin Mary and St Anne was created within the monastery. This became the only surviving medieval Carthusian wall painting in England.

1438

A 1437 indenture allowed a critical financial restructuring between the Coventry Charterhouse (the Carthusian Priory of St Anne) and the Hospital of St John the Evangelist and St Anne in Oakham of the debt arrangement made in 1404. The Carthusian prior, William, and the Oakham hospital's warden, William Baxter, and the patron, Thomas Flore, agreed to reduce the priory's annual obligation from two rents of £20 each (totaling £40 or 60 marks) by 20 marks. The reduction was granted due to daily increasing trouble and hurt to the Carthusian house, which threatened the mutual advantage of both institutions. William Baxter warden of the hospital of St. John the Evangelist and St. Anne Ocham and Thomas Flore patron thereof of the one part and William prior of the house of St. Anne of the Carthusian order by Coventre and the convent of the other part. Indenture reciting that by two writings under their seal the prior and convent are bound to pay yearly to the warden and his successors two rents, each of £20, and in consideration of daily increasing trouble and hurt to the Carthusian house, so that the advantage of either house would be lost if a remedy were not provided, and witnessing a defeasance of 20 marks of the said rents from Easter day next, by counsel between the parties of men learned in the law, reserving to the warden and his successors 40 marks thereof remaining, and the pains in the said writings contained, with power to the warden and his successors, and to the patron, his heirs and assigns to distrain for the same; and agreement that after the decease or removal of any of the poor of the hospital another poor man shall be nominated by the patron, his heirs and assigns, and shall be by the warden admitted, and that no decrease of the pension of 40 marks shall hereafter be made. Dated the feast of St. Gregory the Pope 15 Henry VI. (Close Rolls of the reign of Henry VI, 1435 to 1441, page 231).

The Coventry Charterhouse was living beyond its means. It was an ambitious, prestigious project backed by Richard II, but private donations ran out quickly. The priory was in deep financial distress as early as 1393. By 1403, the monks were so impoverished by massive debt obligations that Henry IV had to step in, seize the priory, and manage its affairs directly to save it from collapse. Carrying a massive annual liability of £40 (60 marks) to the Oakham hospital, imposed by the 1404 arrangement, was an unsustainable drain on an institution already on life support.

The 1430s was a period of significant capital expenditure at the priory site. Archaeological and architectural records show that during this decade, the monks were forced to install a complex, expensive subterranean water supply and drainage system across their grounds. Simultaneously, they were trying to finish secondary service buildings. The combination of building maintenance and declining rental incomes meant that continuing to pay the full 60 marks threatened to completely bankrupt the house.

15th Century

The Charterhouse established an educational presence by housing 12 schoolboys on its premises, operating alongside the resident Prior, monks, and manual lay brethren. Future monarchs, including Henry VI and Henry VII, stepped in as royal benefactors to support the monastery.

1493

Material aid was provided to the monastery, and in return, the monks promised eternal spiritual rewards and prayers. A formal spiritual contract, a letter of fraternity or confraternity, was issued on 26 July 1493, by Brother Thomas, the leader (prior) of the Carthusian monastery of St. Anne near Coventry. Brother Thomas prior of the house of St. Anne by Coventry of the Carthusian order and the convent: grant, in consideration of benefits conferred, of fraternity and participation in all spiritual goods, viz. masses, prayers, vigils, fasts, abstinences, alms, disciplines and other spiritual exercises; yearly obits for his soul and his father's. Dated in the chapter-house, St. Anne's day [26 July], 1493. (Close Rolls of the reign of Henry VII, 1500 to 1509, Folio 197 (ii)).

1506

Henry VII was deeply concerned with both the afterlife and the spiritual legitimacy of his lineage, having claimed the crown by right of conquest at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. To anchor his family's legacy, he became a major benefactor of the church, famously constructing the Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey. As part of this sweeping devotional program, he established agreements with elite monastic orders across England. The Carthusians, known for their rigid asceticism, strict solitude, and uncompromised spiritual devotion, were viewed as the ultimate intercessors. Their prayers were considered exceptionally powerful and spiritually efficacious.

Letters patent were granted containing grants to the king (Christianissimo illustrissimoque principi domino nostro supremo domino Henrico hujus nominis septimo Anglie et Francie regi invictissimo ac domino Hibernie serenissimo, To the most Christian and most illustrious prince, our lord, the supreme lord Henry the Seventh of that name, the most unconquered King of England and France, and the most serene Lord of Ireland) of prayers and other spiritual benefits by a list of religious institutions including the Prior and convent of Coventry of the Carthusian Order (Close Rolls of the reign of Henry VII, 1500 to 1509, Folio 647 (xxxvii)).

How things were about to change.

1535

The Dissolution of the Monasteries

Henry VIII established the Act of Supremacy. Eighteen Carthusian monks across England were executed for refusing to acknowledge the King as the Supreme Head of the Church. While the Coventry monks escaped immediate execution, pressure mounted heavily on the priory.

In Henry VIII’s records, there was a reference to eight letters of uncertain years addressed to the Prior of Charterhouse, London, including one by the Prior of Charterhouse beside Coventry dated 22 October (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 8, Folio 611). The context was a moment of political tension amongst the Carthusian Order, just before the full-scale suppression of their houses. In 1535, the Carthusians were at the epicentre of King Henry VIII’s religious reformation. The year before, the Act of Supremacy 1534 had declared the King to be the Supreme Head of the Church of England. The monks of the London Charterhouse famously refused to swear the Oath of Supremacy. In response, Henry VIII launched a campaign of brutal terror. In May and June of 1535, the Prior of the London Charterhouse, John Houghton, along with other leading Carthusians, was executed by being hanged, drawn, and quartered. The letter dated 22 October 1535 from the Prior of the Charterhouse beside Coventry to his counterpart in London was communication during this period of crackdown. Crown officials like Thomas Cromwell intercepted these networks of letters to check for signs of organised, treasonous, Catholic resistance or to pressure localised priors into submission before the royal commissioners arrived.

The letter evidences that Coventry was tightly integrated into the national network of spiritual and political power, keeping direct lines open with London.

While the London Carthusians chose martyrdom, the Coventry house attempted to navigate the political storm. Ultimately, compliance bought them only a little time. A few years after this correspondence, on 16 January 1539, the last Prior of Coventry (Prior Bochard) was forced to formally surrender the monastery to the Crown. The church was demolished, and 55 tons of lead were stripped from the roof and melted down. The Prior’s House and refectory survived because they were sold into private hands as a secular mansion. It was later owned by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, and then by Sampson Baker (BAK00008).

1536

The Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries Act was passed. Although the Coventry Charterhouse survived the first wave of closures targeted at smaller institutions, its operations entered their final, highly restricted phase under the looming shadow of total suppression by the Crown.

Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries hit Coventry exceptionally hard. As a major ecclesiastical centre, the city was stripped of its wealth, and its influential religious institutions, including Whitefriars, Greyfriars, and the Benedictine Priory of St. Mary's, were dissolved and looted.

Charterhouse, Coventry, along with three other northern Carthusian houses (Richmond, Hull, and Mount Grace), turned to the Archbishop for urgent guidance as the Crown began enforcing the royal supremacy over the Church. The Carthusian monks were deeply traditional and historically resistant to breaking away from Rome. Confused and terrified by the demands of Henry VIII’s royal visitors, the Coventry monks travelled to Edward Lee, the Archbishop of York looking for a theological or legal loophole to save their monastery or their consciences. The Archbishop gave evidence to the King that he did not encourage them to resist, but pressured the monks to capitulate, take the necessary oaths, and to accept Henry VIII as the Supreme Head of the Church, assuring them that many great learned men had already done so. On 14 January 1536 Archbishop Lee wrote to Henry VIII, When Drs. Layton and Leghe were with me as your visitors on Jan 13, they very straitly examined me concerning words that I was supposed to have spoken to the general confessor of Syon or to one sent by him, viz, that I would stand against your title of Supreme Head even to the death, if I thought that I might prevail. Never spake with the said confessor, nor sent any counsel to him, nor received any messenger from him or any one at Syon in matters concerning your Highness. Have had nothing to do with any from Syon since coming to my diocese. Four charterhouses, Richmond, Coventry, Hull, and Mount Grace, have come to me for counsel. I have always said to them " What counsel shall I give you but to do as I have done myself, and as many other have done, both great learned men, and taken for good men, and that they might not think that such men would do but that they might avow (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 10, Folio 99).

Then came a report, as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries programme, on the value of the Carthusian priory nigh to Coventry, £161 6s 8d, (2) £201 7s. 6d (3) Twelve with the Prior; all priests; in virtue and religion excellent; desiring, if the house be dissolved, to be sent to other houses; (4) Twenty-one, " whereof converses' professed 3 yeomen servants 6, children brought up in virtue and learning found there of alms 12.", (5) £89 7s 6d; the house in very good repair; (6) £31 18s 5d; (7) 7 ½ acres, of which 6 are woods of 7 years' growth, &c; no parks, forests, or commons; (8) £90 5s 5d of which £60 are owing to the King for part of the first-fruits. (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 10, Folio 1191 (2)).

This report detailed the evaluation and impending dissolution of the Carthusian Priory near Coventry.

Financial Breakdown. Annual Income / Valuation was divided into two assessments: £161 6s 8d and £201 7s 6d. Moveable Goods & Assets were valued at £89 7s 6d. Regarding Outstanding Debts, the priory owed £90 5s 5d, which includes £60 owed directly to the King for first-fruits (ecclesiastical taxes). The priory was owed £31 18s 5d by others.

Community & Inhabitants. Monks: 13 total (12 monks plus the Prior). All were ordained priests described as excellent in virtue and religion. If the house was dissolved, they requested transfer to other Carthusian houses. Lay Residents & Servants: 21 total, consisting of 3 Converses or Lay brothers who have taken vows; 6 Yeomen Servants, being domestic staff and 12 children, housed and educated in virtue and learning, supported entirely by the priory's alms.

Property & Land. The priory buildings were in very good repair. The landholding comprised minimal land totalling 7½ acres, which included 6 acres of woods (7 years' growth). The property contained no parks, forests, or common lands.

Charterhouse in Warwickshire (ie Coventry’s Charterhouse) was listed in a list of monasteries in England of less yearly value than £200 in 1238 (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 10, Folio 1238).

In the immediate aftermath of the Lincolnshire Rising, a major regional rebellion against the religious reforms of King Henry VIII, it was reported that Thomas Kendall, Vicar of Louth was at Charterhouse, Coventry in 1536, where he made labour to be admitted a brother (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 11, Folio 970 (page 394)). On Sunday 1 October 1536, Thomas Kendall delivered a fiery sermon at St. James' Church in Louth. He warned his congregation that royal commissioners were on their way to enforce the Act of Suppression, dissolve local monasteries, and seize the parish’s prized silver, jewels, and treasures. His words ignited the Lincolnshire Rising. The very next morning, locals, led by a shoemaker named Nicholas Melton, known as Captain Cobbler, seized the Bishop of Lincoln's registrar, burned his books, and mobilised tens of thousands of armed protesters. However, the movement collapsed quickly when faced with the king's forces under the Duke of Suffolk by mid-October. Knowing he was a marked man for inciting treason, Kendall fled Lincolnshire to evade capture. He arrived at the Carthusian monastery of Charterhouse, Coventry, seeking sanctuary and attempting to be admitted as a monastic brother. The Carthusian monks ultimately declined to admit him into their order as a full brother. However, they did permit him to stay in Coventry under the guise of practicing medicine , physic, and he occasionally lodged with them. Unbeknownst to the monks, Kendall used his time in Coventry to secretly smuggle letters back to his sympathizers in Louth. Royal agents tracked these letters, leading to a midnight raid on Christmas Eve 1536, where Kendall was hunted down and arrested. He was taken to the Tower of London, convicted of high treason, and executed via being hung, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn on 25 March 1537. Ten of the Coventry Charterhouse monks were forced to write to Thomas Cromwell declaring their absolute innocence, explaining they had no idea who Kendall truly was when he knocked on their doors.

1537

On 4 January 1537, a letter from the Monks of the Charterhouse near Coventry to Thomas Cromwell. They wrote Touching a priest named Sir Thomas Kendall, who came to them saying that he came from Oxford, and was beneficed within three miles of Colchester, and desired to be received into their religion. They communicated with the prior, who was then at London, and declined to receive him, but he remained using physic within the city and in the country, sometimes lodging in their house, and sometimes in the city. He sent writings without our knowledge to certain men of Lowth by a messenger of ours, which were shown to the Duke's deputy at Lincoln, who sent men to our house on Christmas Eve, and took the priest while we were at rest. Protest their entire innocence. The Charterhouse next Coventry. (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 12 – Part 1, Folio 19).

On 12 January 1537, the questions for the interrogation of the Vicar of Louth were prepared. (1.) Where and when had you the first communication of the insurrection in Lincolnshire, and with whom, and how devised you to set the said insurrection forward, and by whose aid, comfort, and counsel ? (2.) What was done day by day ? (3.) For what cause and to what end made you it ? Who were their sugges[ters] and surmisers to stir the people to follow you ? (4.) Who conveyed them from place to place so shortly, and by what means ? (5.) What fashion used you to cause this ? (6.) By whose study and diligence was that done? (7.) Who were the greatest stirrers ? (8.) How they met ? (9.) How were they harnessed, victualled, and by whose help ? (10.) Who were their aiders and counsellors by word or writing ? (11.) Whose counsel used you most to keep you together, and " what intend you then to cloy ?" (12.) " What caused them to goy home after the proclamation," and who opposed this ? (13.) How was it so many gentlemen and others were taken, as they pretended, against their will, and no stroke stricken ? (14.) Why told you not your parishioners, when they assembled first, that their rumours and tales was untrue, and their pretence and doings contrary to the laws of God and nature, and this realm, and to their fidelity and oath of obedience to their prince ? (15.) " What caused you to smite your parishioners of Lowth of the back, bidding them to go forward justly, for they should have goods and riches plenty at London ? (16.) What moved you to go to the Charterhouse, and for what intent?" . In answer to the last question, a chorist of Louth gave evidence that Neither the prior nor any of the convent of Coventry knew he was vicar of Lowthe, for he told them he came from Oxford and was beneficed beside Colchester. (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 12 – Part 1 Folio 69 (p. 33), 70 i).

Perhaps following their cooperation over the trial of Thomas Kendall, there was a short lived exemption from suppression of the Carthusian priory of St Anne near Coventre, where John Boucheard was to be the prior (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 12 – Part 2, Folio 411 (23)).

1538

In 1538, Humfrey Reynoldes of Coventry, a yeoman of the Crown, submitted a reform proposal to reorganise the lands and revenues of abbeys, using the Black Monks (Benedictines) of Coventry as a blueprint. He argued that despite holding some of the most profitable lands in the realm, religious houses were heavily in debt. The Coventry monks had a revenue of nearly £1,000 but were in debt for almost the same amount, partly because the bishop held £300 of their best lands. The monasteries force tenants to overbid for convent leases, causing local disputes and variance. The ill living and conversation of the monks, and their failure to live according to their vows, was cited as a primary reason for the dissolution (pulling down) of abbeys. Monks spend over £40 per individual, yet failed to maintain their full numbers or upkeep their houses. Reynoldes proposed capping the total expenditure at roughly £1,000 yearly by restructuring the monastery into a combined religious and secular military/administrative estate. The revenue would support 20 monk-priests. The Abbot or Prior's role would be restricted to spiritual guidance over his brethren, stripping him of control over temporal (financial/worldly) matters. The Prior would receive 40s annually, the subprior 20s, and each monk 6s 8d, with each monk also supporting a student scholar in the almonry until they become priests. The abbey's wealth would instead fund a structured hierarchy of secular officials, gentlemen, and soldiers who would receive fees, clothing liveries, housing, and meals. Leadership would be provided by a Head Captain/Justice of the Peace (£40 fee) and a Petty Captain (£20 fee); administration by an attorney/controller, steward, receiver, marshal, and a physician; with a Garrison/Retinue of 15 gentlemen, 15 yeomen, 15 grooms, and 15 pages—all required to provide their own horse, harness, and weapon, and share a bed between two.

City and Monastery of Coventry

Scheme for utilising the lands of abbeys by [Humfrey Reynoldes] of Coventry, who has admitted yeoman of the Crown at [the suit of Sir Fras.] Bryan, at the King's last being at Ampthill.

Religious houses have as goodly and profitable lands as are within the realm, and yet few keep themselves out of debt or maintain their houses, and by making men overbid one another for convent leases, they set men at variance. Their ill living and conversation was partly the cause of the pulling down of abbeys, and few or none live after their profession. Houses of religion and especially Black monks may spend 40l. and above for every mo[nk] and yet have not their full number.

Proposes a scheme for reform at Coventry, which might be applied to other places. The Black Monks there can spend little less than 1,000l. in rents, and yet the bishop has 300l. of their best lands. Few men are maintained and they owe near 1,000l. Proposes that the revenue should be spent in supporting 20 monks, priests; the abbot to meddle only with his brethren and not with temporalities. The abbot or prior to have 40s. in ready money yearly, the subprior 20s., and every monk 6s. 8d. Every monk should have his scholar found in the “ambre,” (almonry) till he be priest. There should be a head captain, a justice of the peace with 40l. fee from the abbey and 6l. 13s. 4d. for his livery; a petty captain with 20l. and 4l.; an attorney and controller, 20 mks. and 5 mks.; a steward 20 mks and 5 mks.; a receiver, 10l. and 35s.; a marshal, 5l. and 35s.; a physician, 4l. and 35s.; 15 gentlemen, 4 mks. and 7 yds. cloth at 5s.; 15 yeomen, 40s. and 7 yds. cloth at 4s.; 15 grooms, 26s. 8d. and 7 yds. cloth at 3s. 4d.; 15 pages, 20s. and 7 yds. cloth at 3s. 4d.; all these to have meat, drink, horsemeat and man's meat in the abbey, and horse, harness and weapon of his own, and every two a bed. Including necessary servants and artificers, this would cost about 1,000l. yearly. The necessary hay, corn, &c., might be provided by saving in the monk's commons, for which 4l. yearly is allowed, but there is now no priest in these parts that is above 3l. commons if there be a company together. Complains of the monks enhancing their seals. They sometimes get 100l. for the seal of 10l. fee; and how should younger brethren and yeomen live, having neither land nor fee, if gentlemen and merchants give such large fines? The King's yeomen are sure to have little or nothing, except by promotion of the King's own land, and even then, knights or gentlemen will give a fine to take farms or bailiwicks out of their hands.

The house has divers hospitals, chauntries, and other benefices, which are used contrary to the founder's will. Proposes that the head captain should be justice of the peace where his fee is.

There must be a remedy found for the decay of cities and corporate towns. The decay of Coventry and all other parts of the realm is for lack of learned men to be on their councils, and administer justice, and there is no city or good town without an abbey near it, in which the justices might sit. The mayor being appointed for one year, “driveth forth his time, what for affection and foolish pity,” so that men go unpunished. Some men may think that this would be against their liberties, but it is not so, for these men shall be citizens and townsmen. They shall not come into the council house with the mayor and his brethren unless summoned. They must have houses within the city, which will be glad to have substantial learned men among them, “and the poor husbandmen will be best content that they be so far from them, whereby they may occupy their pastures and closings to their best use. For if they dwelled nigh them, if there were other (either) profit or pleasure in them, they would have them from them.” The justice shall go in general processions next the mayor with the recorder, and the attorney and steward with the councillors of the city. Trade is decayed. There is little “made ware” but what comes from beyond sea, so that if the commons would work, they could not sell. Acts are made to punish vagabonds, but it were expedient to find means to set them to work. Acts have been made to reform part of these made wares, but no man takes pain therein. Unlawful games are used, so that the artillery is decayed. Has seen 10 or 12 companies going shooting, but now a man should seek through the city or he could get one company to shoot “half take pence.” The should be reformed, for unlawful games make men sit at the alehouse, when they have a penny to spend, and they care not what inventions they imagine. Refers to the insurrection in the city after the death of Mr. Swillington, the recorder, who, while he lived, kept the people well in awe. Of the four men who sued to the King for the commission by which the offenders were punished, one only remains in the city. He is both loved and dreaded for his humanity, and if ought come to him but good, they would neither set by mayor nor recorder nor by one another. The charges of holding office are so great that when a man has got his living, he sues to an abbey for a convent seal or else goes to farm in the country. Some sue for licences to exempt them from offices. The writer, “with other which come of the younger brethren,” has no fee nor wages nor occupation; if his wife died he would lose part of his lands, and then he should be taken into office of the city and in two or three years spend all that his friends have gotten for him. And therefore he sued to his master to put him to the King's service, that he might avoid the said offices which every man seeks to avoid. Begs the King to maintain the cities so that honest and wise men may be glad of the offices.

When the city and monastery are set in order, the captain and council shall ride and view the tenants and farmers. Rents should not be raised by them nor fines taken; but to find men with horse and harness and wages for a month or two. Sales of wood must be at a reasonable price, so that the buyer may have a living. If lords and great men would live on their lands, and leave farms and merchandise, priests live on their benefices, and merchants and craftsmen live by their occupations in cities and towns, and let the poor husband[man] live by his husbandry, then the realm would prosper. This the captain and council will help to do.

(Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 13 – Part 2, Folio 1198 (page 505))

While this provides a historical snapshot of the early 1530s, the Crown ultimately went in a different, perhaps more radical direction. Reynolds' reform plan was heavily motivated by personal frustration. He was an ambitious local man who had been repeatedly outbid by wealthy merchants when trying to lease lands from the wealthy Coventry Priory. His petition was essentially an attempt to get Henry VIII to strip the monks of their financial power so that local men like himself could benefit. The monks of Coventry Priory actually held an emergency chapter meeting around 1533 specifically to plan their defence and appeal against Reynolds' hostile proposals.

Henry VIII and his chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, chose not to reform or repurpose the monasteries into administrative military estates as Reynolds envisioned. Instead, they opted for complete Dissolution.

In 1539, just a few years after this proposal, Coventry Priory was fully suppressed and surrendered to the Crown. Rather than being turned into a secular administrative house with captains and pages, the monastic buildings were dismantled, the cathedral church was defaced and ruined, and the vast lands were sold off or granted to wealthy royal favourites and the city's civic elite.

On 11 February 1538, the abbeys of Kenellworthe and Combe, prior of Coventry, charterhouse of Coventry, were on a list of the larger monasteries (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 13 – Part 1 Folio 254).

On 29 September 1538, in the augmentation accounts there were fines recorded for toleration and continuance of monasteries, including £20 in respect of St Anne’s beside Coventry (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 13 – Parts 2 Folio 457 I (3)).

On 6 November 1538 Dr London reported that when he was at Charter house of Coventry, Colme is within three miles. (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 13 – Part 2 Folio 767). Dr. John London was a prominent English cleric, legal scholar, and civil servant. He served as the Warden of New College, Oxford and became one of the most notoriously energetic royal commissioners deployed by Thomas Cromwell during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Dr London was at the Charterhouse of Coventry in his capacity as a royal commissioner. His mission was to suppress the city's religious houses, seize their valuables for the Crown, and force the monks to sign deeds of surrender. Coventry was heavily targeted during this period; its Whitefriars monastery was suppressed around October 1538, and Dr. London was systematically moving through the remaining houses, including the Charterhouse and the massive St. Mary’s Benedictine Priory. Colme referred to Coombe Abbey, a wealthy Cistercian monastery located just over three miles east of Coventry.

Dr. London noted that the monks at these institutions knew their closure was imminent. They were actively trying to secure their personal futures by quickly selling off timber woods, granting cheap long-term land leases, and hiding or melting down their valuable silver plate. By highlighting how close Colme was, London was urging Cromwell to let him seize it immediately while at the best before the abbot and monks could dilute its financial value. Coombe Abbey was ultimately surrendered to the Crown shortly afterwards.

On 28 December 1538, in a letter to Thomas Cromwell he Sends a poor token with good wishes for the new year. Sends also Cromwell's half-year's fee from him and his house. Will now execute Cromwell's commission in places where he has not been yet. He Has also received the unwise letters written by the monks of the Charter House in Coventry. Trusts to accomplish Cromwell's pleasure there and at the priory. As Colme is so nigh to Coventry, and the abbot and all his friends at Cromwell's command, would be glad to go through with that house also. All the sort of them look daily for their departing and make their hands by leases, sales of wood, and of their plate. Supposes this abbot will leave his house and lands like an honest man, and Cromwell had better take the house while at the best. (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 13 – Part 2 Folio 1153).

1539

Prior Bochard was forced to surrender the monastery to the Crown in January 1539.. The monks were evicted, the church demolished, and the site systematically looted. Around 55 tons of lead were stripped from the roofs and melted down. Only the stone Prior’s House and the refectory range were spared to be sold as real estate.

The question of the amount to be paid in pension to the monk was discussed in 1539 and on 18 January 1529 Dr John London wrote to Thomas Cromwell, Mr. Sheriff of Coventry, this bearer, the King's servant, assisted me in preventing spoil of the goods of this monastery and of the Charterhouse, and informed me of things which I have willed him to declare to you. “It is hard trusting those whose coats and hoods be sewn together;” I thought little the abbot would have been such a conveyer, and, it is told me, he labours to have his house continue longer. If what the bearer says be true he little deserves such favour. I beg you to thank the bearer, he can tell you of my conference with the good father of the Charterhouse, and of their honest behaviour, The Charterhouse contains but 14 acres and pays the prior of Coventry 14 groats a year for it; outward they have no commodities. (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 14 - Part 1, Folios 3, 83).

On 21 January 1539, Dr John London wrote again to Cromwell. I have, with much ado, dispatched the priory of Black Monks at Coventry, the Charterhouse, and Combe abbey. The priory was in debt before “he” came and he has made me an account. I have left the church and house unspoiled and undefaced as yet. At the Charterhouse I found 20 nobles' worth of goods to dispatch the whole house; howbeit God has so disclosed their crafty dealing that I have given each brother 40s for apparel, paid the servants wages, given each brother “his whole cell saving the house and a vestment,” paid all debts within £10, and shall yet have 200 oz. of plate over, where at his coming he found not 40 oz. At Combe I left the house with the implements unspoiled. Harford, now sheriff of Coventry, informed me that the abbot of Combe had £500 in a feather-bed at his brother's house. I searched the bed and found but £25, which the abbot readily confessed was to pay certain debts at Candlemas, and was put there because he could ill trust any servant he had. He surrendered the house the same day twelve month he was made master and left it, everything considered, in a competent state. I found there 15 monks and 68 servants. To stay spoil and for the safeguard of evidences, let the surveyors come as speedily after me as may be. I have followed your pleasure for your servant Mr. Whalley at Polesworth, and beg you will remember Mr. Cheyney at Beau Vale Charterhouse by Nottingham. I have from these three houses over 860 oz. of plate which I will bring with me at my coming to London. My servant shall deliver you such ornaments as I have sent up. (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 14 - Part 1, Folio 113). The following day he wrote I have been so let by snows and storms, and by the dissimulation of the good father of the Charterhouse, who spoiled his house before my coming. Howbeit I am even with him, and have set forth his double and crafty dealing. Now I beg your favour to him in his pension, for I have done sufficiently for the reformation of his doubleness. (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 14 - Part 1, Folio 121). On 27 January, he wrote to Cromwell, The bearer, Mr. Over, is the man who helped me most when taking the surrender of the friars' houses there, and now at my being in Coventry for the Charterhouse and Black Monks. He was this last year sheriff of Coventry. He has always had the custody and conveyance to London of such plate as I have had in these parts to the King's use. Moreover, he does more to receive the King's servants and commissioners than most of his neighbours. I beg your favour in his suits to your Lordship. He is a “lively politic man,” wherefore I have chiefly trusted him in the custody of houses suppressed here, to stay the unruly poor people from the spoil of the same. I beg he may have preferment, for his money, before others that do not take such pains for the King's affairs. (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 14 - Part 1, Folio 150).

Then on 29 January 1539 from Coventry, Dr London wrote to the Chancellor of the Augmentations Certifying that he has taken the surrender of the Charterhouse beside Coventry and (considering that they lately were at great cost to obtain the King's charter of continuance and that the house is little in debt) assigned them the pensions following, which he begs may be ratified to encourage others to make like surrender. (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 14 - Part 1, Folio 161).

The Court of Augmentations was established by Henry VIII in 1536 to administer the lands, property, pensions and revenues that came into the Crown's hands following the dissolution of monasteries. The court had its own Chancellor, Treasurer, lawyers, auditors and receivers. Sir Richard Rich served as Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations from its foundation in the mid-1530s and was one of Thomas Cromwell's principal administrators in handling former monastic property and revenues.

Mr Wygiston was described as dwelling in the parsonage of Wolston ‘improperyd’ to the late Charterhouse beside Coventry only a few weeks later. The surrender of the cathedral church in Coventry was recorded and that the prior of the Charterhouse besides Coventry had conveyed into divers men’s hands, and part he hid in the earth, of the substance of the house. Which he found by the help of Mr Morloo of Coventry. (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 14 - Part 1, Folios 182-3).

1541

The accounts of Charterhouse continued to feature in the Accounts of Augmentation and in July 1541 there was a grant to Thomas, Earl of Rutland and Robert Turwitt various benefits including the yearly rent of 12s which belonged to the Carthusian priory near Coventry issuing from lands of the late priory of Stainfelde alias Staynfelde Line and in November a grant to Francis, earl of Shrewsbury for the advowson of the vicarage or church of Eglesfeld, Yorks, which belonged to the Carthusian monastery of St Anne near Coventre (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 16, Folios 92, 745 (f 7, 11), 1056(78), 1391(54)). This marked the systematic dismantling and redistribution of monastic wealth during the final years of the English Reformation. When the Crown dissolved both Stainfield and Coventry Charterhouse, it inherited the financial cross-obligations between them. Henry VIII routinely packaged these minor rents together with grander property grants to reward high-ranking Tudor aristocrats, courtiers, and loyal military commanders like Thomas Manners (the 1st Earl of Rutland) and the courtier Robert Tyrwhitt. The parish church of Eglesfeld (Ecclesfield in South Yorkshire) originally belonged to the Coventry Charterhouse. By granting this advowson to Francis Talbot (the 5th Earl of Shrewsbury, a powerhouse noble in the North), Henry VIII shifted local religious and financial patronage out of monastic hands and directly into the hands of the secular nobility who supported the Tudor regime.

There was accounting for Charterhouse assets in the Augmentation Books in 1543 (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 18 – Part 1 Folios 436 (f.45), page 550 982 (107), 981 (20-1, 56)); 1544 (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 19 – Parts 1 Folio 368 (f31), and 2 Folios 166 (61), 527(3)); 1545 (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 20 – Part 1 Folios 557 (f28), 465(99), 1335(12, page 660), and 2 Folios 496(34), 910(39), 1068(19, page 537)); and 1546 (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 21 - Parts 1 Folios 643 (f34), 1249(2), page 775, 1383(89), and 2 Folios 775(f49), 476 page 245).

1542

The era of private ownership

There was further accounting in The Books of Augmentation and in June 1542 a grant to Richard Andrewys and Leonard Chamberleyne of Woodstock, Oxfordshire of monastic lands including a messuage, 9 cottages, &c., tenant Eliz. Warton, widow, in Gosford Yatestrete, without Coventry, Charterhouse near Coventry, annual value 13s 4d and the house and site of the late Carthusian priory beside Coventry, with the church and buildings, &c., and 2 ½ acres of meadow beside Bynley Bridge in Bynley, Warw., value 46s 10 ½ d (Public Records of the reign of Henry VIII, Volume 17, Folios 258 (ff. 5, 6, 14), 443 (39 sections 14, 50)). Andrews and Chamberleyne were notorious land jobbers or real estate speculators of the Tudor era. They routinely bought up massive packages of dissolved monastic lands all over England from the Court of Augmentations, only to rapidly subdivide and flip them for a quick profit. Their grant focused primarily on the peripheral income-generating assets of the Charterhouse. This included 9 rental cottages in Gosford Yatestrete (Gosford Street, just outside the city walls), existing tenancies (like widow Elizabeth Warton's), and outlying agricultural assets like the 2½ acres of meadow near Binley Bridge.

Later in 1542, the Crown sold the core of the property to Henry Over, a wealthy Coventry mercer and the Sheriff of Coventry, beginning the site's era of private secular ownership. Over was a powerful local merchant who had initially been directed by the Crown to protect the site from local looters who were stripping the church of lead and stone. Over acquired the remaining central block of the property, most notably the surviving Prior's House and the Monks' Refectory. The Over family executed a radical architectural conversion that transformed a severe, communal monastic space into a prestigious, multi-level private Tudor manor house (Charterhouse, Historic Coventry Trust). The most significant structural alteration was the insertion of an upper timber floor directly into the high-ceilinged monks' refectory. Originally, the refectory was a vast, double-height hall where the monks ate in silence on rare communal feast days. The Over family ran a floor straight through the middle of this open space, converting it into a two-storey structure. This effectively doubled the usable footprint of the central block, creating ground-floor living areas and upper-floor private chambers/bedrooms. This structural split came at an immense artistic cost. The upper wall of the refectory featured a monumental, early 15th-century fresco of the Crucifixion, which towered over the original dining hall. When the Over family drove beams across the room and punched out new doorways and passages, they mutilated and obscured the middle section of this nationally important painting. The top half of Christ on the cross was left stranded in the newly created upper bedrooms, while the bottom half remained on the ground floor.

Carthusian architecture deliberately restricted movement between zones to enforce silence and isolation. The Over family knocked through thick medieval stone precinct and internal walls to insert standard Tudor doorways, corridors, and domestic staircases. This knitted the disjointed monastic western range (the Prior's reception rooms and the refectory) into a cohesive, fluid private country estate.

The new residential structure reimagined

1553

While Queen Mary (1553 to 1558) was a devout Catholic determined to undo the English Reformation, reunite with Rome, and restore the monastic system, her administration had to make a pragmatic compromise. To legally reverse Henry VIII’s break with Rome, Mary required the cooperation of Parliament. However, the House of Commons and House of Lords were heavily populated by the gentry and nobility who had purchased or been granted dissolved monastic property over the previous two decades. These landowners refused to pass Mary's religious legislation or reinstate ancient heresy laws unless their property rights were guaranteed. Recognising that demanding the return of Church lands would trigger a massive political rebellion, Mary’s administration and the newly arrived Papal Legate, Cardinal Reginald Pole, chose to compromise. In 1554, Pole issued a formal papal dispensation on behalf of Pope Julius III. This decree officially waived the Vatican's legal and spiritual claims to former monastic lands currently in secular hands, ensuring that private owners would not face excommunication or property confiscation.

During Mary’s reign, Henry Over’s ownership of the Coventry Charterhouse therefore continued. Under the protection of Mary’s Second Act of Repeal and Cardinal Pole’s papal dispensation, the Over family would not have faced legal threats of confiscation, eviction, or forced recovery of monastic lands from the Crown. The physical destruction of the site under Henry VIII made it nearly impossible to revive old priories without massive investment.

The Overs continued to hold wider lands formerly belonging to the Carthusian monastery, for instance alienating lands in Binley, Warwickshire which were late of the priory of Carthusians by Coventry in 1582 (Patent Rolls of the reign of Elizabeth I, Volume 9, 1580 to 1582, Folio 1134).

The Robert Dudley Era

1568

Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, and favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, acquired the estate in late 1568. Dudley held the property for a short time (about two and a half years) during the Elizabethan period. On 20 November 1568 Richard Waver (also known as Richard Over) was granted official license to transfer the historic Charterhouse estate to Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester. A licence for alienation was allowed for Richard Waver alias Over to alienate the house and site of the Charterhouse by Coventry to Robert, Earl of Leicester, Councillor (Patent Rolls of the reign of Elizabeth I, Volume 4, 1566 to 1569, Folio 2512).

Dudley is said to have initiated extensive remodelling of the austere monastic block into a luxurious, secular manor house suitable for high-society entertaining. He was credited with commissioning grand Renaissance-style wall paintings within the building. The interpretation of the black and white wall painting, in particular, as being related to Dudley and Queen Elizabeth is disputed. It is understood that the claim that Dudley did the conversion of the property was disproved by the tree ring dating during the recent renovations, which placed the conversion during Henry Over's ownership. There is also some evidence that the Queen was unhappy about her lodgings at Kenilworth in 1568, causing Dudley to change his plans and embark on a building project there. His ownership of the Charterhouse coincides with when he was building Leicester's Building at Kenilworth Castle, and it has been suggested, by an architectural historian, that the Charterhouse should be considered as a source of the stone for that building (Morris, Richard K (2009), I was never more in love with an olde howse nor never newe worke coulde be better bestowed’: The Earl of Leicester’s remodelling of Kenilworth Castle for Queen Elizabeth I in the Antiquaries Journal). 

There is no direct evidence that Dudley ever stayed at Charterhouse.

Unlikelihood of Elizabeth I connection

Queen Elizabeth I did not stay at the Coventry Charterhouse. There have been suggestions of a connection between Elizabeth and the Charterhouse, but these are difficult to reconcile.

Elizabeth I made only one official royal visit to the city of Coventry. This took place over a single weekend from 17 to 19 August 1566 (see also Cole, Mary Hill, The portable queen: Elizabeth I and the politics of ceremony, pages 116 to 117). This was before Dudley’s purchase of the property. During this progress, she did not stay at Charterhouse. She lodged nearby at Whitefriars (the converted Carmelite friary) as the guest of John Hales.

There was a visit to Kenilworth in 1568. Unlike the highly choreographed 19-day progress and festival of 1575, the 1568 visit was a shorter, impromptu stop lasting six days (14 to 19 August 1568) during one of the Queen's summer regional progresses. At the time of this unannounced visit, Kenilworth Castle was in an ongoing phase of transformation. Dudley had received the castle in 1563 and was actively turning the medieval fortress into a magnificent Renaissance palace fit for a queen, preceding his major architectural additions like Leicester's Building and Gatehouse. Local and household administrators were caught somewhat off guard, requiring swift local provisioning and gift-giving to honour the monarch (Knowles EH (1872), Kenilworth Handbook for Visitors).

Elizabeth I went on a 19 day summer progress to visit Dudley at his principal seat, Kenilworth Castle in July 1575. This was after Dudley’s interest in Charterhouse. She travelled with a large royal entourage of several hundred courtiers, guards, and servants. Despite Dudley expanding Kenilworth with a massive dedicated tower for the Queen, it simply could not physically sleep everyone. Local history and architectural records have suggested that Dudley used his newly acquired Charterhouse as a luxury overspill lodge to house the Queen’s closest courtiers and retinue during these famous visits. However, this was after he had disposed of the property to Sampson Baker. This therefore seems unlikely. Furthermore since Charterhouse was outside the walls and Whitefriars within the city walls, it seems unlikely that Charterhouse would have been used as overspill accommodation.

John Nichols's The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth I, makes no reference to Charterhouse. See also The Elizabethan Court Day by Day.

While the state papers don't record an official public visit, local lore has occasionally suggested the Queen or her innermost circle may have visited the site more casually. Dudley was her childhood friend, Master of the Horse, and rumoured lover. However there is no evidence that Elizabeth was in the area at the relevant time. See also Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, The National Archives.

The sale to Dudley was confirmed by Final Concord in January 1569 (The National Archives, Court of Common Pleas: Feet of Fines, Series II, CP 25/2, January 1569 (Hilary Term, 11 Elizabeth I).

It is understood that even in January 1570, when Dudley was given permission to be away from the Queen, in order to meet with Ambrose after he'd dealt with the Rising of the North, Dudley stayed in Kenilworth Castle, rather than in the Charterhouse, despite the ongoing building work at Kenilworth when he wrote to the Queen that he is staying in your old ill lodging here. (The National Archives SP 15/17/15b (or item 31), State Papers Domestic).

It is also understood that in the month before that, when there was talk of moving Mary, Queen of Scots, from a pub in Coventry, where she was being held, to somewhere more suitable, the Charterhouse was described as in a fortnight or three weeks may well be prepared, strong enough it is, and good for the solitariness of it, which implies the Charterhouse possibly wasn't in a liveable state. In the end, Mary was moved elsewhere, within the city, instead. (Letter written by George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury to Sir William Cecil, Queen Elizabeth I’s chief advisor, dated in December 1569 during Mary’s abrupt, heavily guarded transfer to Coventry, The Cecil Papers, British History Online, especially 9 December 1569).

1571

Robert Dudley disposed of the Coventry Charterhouse in 1571, after owning the estate for only two and a half years (from about November 1568 to about May 1571). It is understood that by May 1571, when Dudley sold the Charterhouse, there was a tenant with rights to it. It is understood that when Dudley relinquished the property in 1571, the conveyance paperwork explicitly accounted for the rights and presence of the sitting tenant, ensuring that the transfer of the estate's reversionary interest did not immediately evict the occupant.

1572

On 10 October 1572 a licence was granted for Thomas Andrew to alienate the house and site of the Charterhouse by Coventry, to Thomas Ryley for 33s 4d (Patent Rolls of the reign of Elizabeth I, Volume 5, 1569 to 1572, Folio 2478).

I have been told that Thomas Andrews was a Northamptonshire gentleman, who twice served as sheriff of Northamptonshire, and that Thomas Riley or Ryley was a Coventry draper, who served twice as mayor of the city.

Sampson Baker's Ownership

1575

The property passed into the hands of Sampson Baker (BAK00008), a prominent local gentleman formally styled in contemporary records as being of le Charterhouse by Coventry.

Sampson Baker and his family may have been Church Papists. These were individuals who outwardly conformed to Anglican services to protect their estates from devastating government fines but privately maintained traditional Catholic beliefs and domestic worship. The Coventry Charterhouse was a highly spiritual site of the Carthusian order. For a family quietly holding onto the old faith, purchasing and living in a dissolved monastery may have served as a deliberate act of preservation or reflected a nostalgic attachment to England's Catholic past. Sampson Baker’s recusant butler, John Cradock, might support this hypothesis (see BAK00008).

In 1575 Sampson Baker formally purchased the Coventry Charterhouse. Since this was previously a Carthusian Monastery, permission was required beforehand for the sale and on the 8 December 1575, the legal agents, Thomas Ryley was given permission to sell the Coventry Charterhouse to Sampson.

On 8 December 1575 there was granted Licence for Thomas Ryley to alienate the house and site of the Carthusian priory by Coventry to Sampson Baker. For 33s 4d (Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Elizabeth I, Volume 7, Folio 1187, Page 157). In other words, this was Thomas Ryley transferring the property to Sampson Baker after completing the legal formalities.

Sampson Baker expanded on Dudley's artistic works by commissioning a series of prominent, high-quality black and white wall paintings that prominently featured the Baker family coat of arms.

1577 and 1578

Sampson Baker was a prominent resident of Warwickshire formerly designed as living at the Charterhouse.

Humphrey Baker and Financial Strife

1584

Sampson Baker died. The Charterhouse was inherited by his nephew and legal executor, Humphrey Baker (BAK00010A).

1585

Humphrey Baker inherited a series of compounding legal troubles. He was sued in Chancery court by an attorney named Roland Durant, who attempted to recover outstanding debts linked to Sampson Baker’s estate.

Bibliography

Alcock, Dr Nat, The Coventry Charterhouse: monastic refectory to gentry house in the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Transactions, Volume 126, pages 81 to 99.

Berger, R (1993), The Most Necessary Luxuries: The Mercer’s Company of Coventry, 1550–1680, University Park: Penn State University Press, pages 59–81.

Hulton, M (1979), Coventry and its People in the 1520s, Stratford upon Avon: The Dugdale Society.

McGrory, David (2004), A History of Coventry, The History Press.

Phythian-Adams, C (1979), Desolation of a City: Coventry and the Urban Crisis of the Late Middle Ages, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rose, James, An interpretation of the black and white wall painting and inscription in the Coventry Charterhouse, in the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Transactions, Volume 125; see also Interpreting the Mural (2021) and Unlocking the Mysteries of the Charterhouse Mural.

Woodhouse, Frederic W (1909), The Churches of Coventry.

The City of Coventry: Crafts and industries, Modern industry and trade in A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 8, the City of Coventry and Borough of Warwick. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1969.

Charterhouse, Historic Coventry Trust.

Charterhouse past, present and future in Heritage Park Times (2021), Historic Coventry Trust.

Friends of the Charterhouse Facebook page.