Littlemore Priory scandals

Littlemore Priory scandals.
The Littlemore Priory scandals of 1517 and 1518 involved accusations of sexual immorality and brutal violence. The Benedictine priory in Oxfordshire, England, was very small and poor and had a history of troubled relations with its bishop. Katherine Wells, the prioress of Littlemore, was accused of putting nuns in the stocks for extended periods and physically assaulting them. She entertained men in her parlour, had a baby by the priory's chaplain and pawned the priory's jewels to pay for the child's upbringing; at least one other nun also had a child. On one occasion several nuns broke out of the priory through a window and escaped into the surrounding villages. The bishop launched an investigation, and in 1525 the priory was closed. It was one of the priories that Cardinal Wolsey suppressed during the 1520s. The house became a farmstead and was gradually pulled down; only one original building survived into the 21st century.