Elizabeth Montagu, Prioress of Halliwell

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_de_Montfort

Elizabeth Montfort married firstly, about 1292, William Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu,[2] by whom she had four sons and seven daughters:[3]

Elizabeth Montagu, Prioress of Halliwell.[15][19][14]

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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holywell_Priory

Elizabeth Montacute (in office 1337 to 1357)

A Particular Case: Prioress Elizabeth Montacute

Elizabeth Montacute also Montagu, originally de Mont Aigu (of the sharp mountain) and Latinised to de Monte Acuto,[11] seems to have served as Prioress of Holywell at least in the years 1340-1357.

Apart from these family connections, the historical record mentions two incidents connected with Elizabeth de Montagu's life as a nun. The first is more personal. When exactly Elizabeth entered the priory of Holywell as a nun, is not clear. In 1334 a Westminster Abbey made a grant to Holywell Priory of a yearly pension of 100 shillings to cover Elizabeth's food and clothing, alleging four considerations: that Elizabeth had no personal means from which to provide for her own sustenance; that Holywell Priory had insufficient funds to cover the expense; that the abbey had received many benefactions from her family, especially from her brother Simon, Bishop of Worcester, and that the abbey had formerly paid the same amount to the bishop. Odd as this sounds,[17] it is true that Elizabeth's father had died in 1319, her mother had married again before 8 June 1322 and was widowed a second time before 18 April 1332. It is possible that there may have been a technical requirement for the payment of a dowry for a nun entering the Priory community, which her brother, as a churchman, arranged to be paid in some roundabout fashion. It sounds likely that at this juncture she had only recently entered the monastery.[18] The prioress and nuns gave permission for Elizabeth to receive the pension and dispose of it herself. Moreover, the following year it was confirmed by both the Bishop of London and the King, and records show it being paid not only in 1335 but also in 1351.[19]

In any case, Elizabeth's situation was not so precarious as the matter of the pension might make it sound, for by Michaelmas 1340 she is mentioned as Prioress of Holywell in a lawsuit. It is as Prioress, too, that she was present at the blessing of her sister, Maud, as Abbess of Barking, on 29 April 1341, along with her brother Bishop Simon.[20]

Finally, perhaps the intricate interconnections between social and economic status, dynastic marriages and convent life explain why, in response to a complain lodged by "Elizabeth, prioress of Halewell", King Edward III on 26 January 1357 ordered an investigation into an incident when a group of men broke violently into the Priory and abducted Joan, the daughter of John of Coggeshall (or Coggeshale), who had been committed to the Prioress's safekeeping by Henry Galeys, Elizabeth having pledged to restore Joan unmarried. It appears that the intruders had caused the woman to undergo a form of marriage.[21] The case may not be concerned so much with romantic elopement as with sordid exploitation of a woman in order to secure economic gain.[22] The names John of Coggeshall (or Coggeshale) and Henry Galeys (or Waleys) seems to lead us into the trade and financial dealings of the medieval city of London. Anyhow, this appears to be the last mention of Elizabeth in the surviving historical records.