{{Use British English|date=July 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox monastery | name = Belvoir Priory | image = | alt = | caption = | full = | order = [[Benedictine]] | established = 1076 | disestablished = 1539 | mother = [[St Albans Abbey]] | dedication = | diocese = [[Diocese of Lincoln]] | churches = *[[Redmile]], Leicestershire *[[Woolsthorpe-by-Belvoir]], Lincolnshire | founder = [[Robert de Todeni]] | abbot = | prior = | people = | location = Belvoir, Leicestershire, England | map_type = Leicestershire | coordinates = {{coord|52.898541|-0.781701|region:GB|display=inline,title}} | oscoor = | remains = | public_access = | other_info = }}
'''Belvoir Priory''' (pronounced ''Beaver'') was a [[Benedictine]] priory near to [[Belvoir Castle]].<ref name=vch>{{cite book|series=Victoria County History|title=A History of the County of Lincoln|volume=2|editor-first=William|editor-last=Page|year=1906|pages=124–127 'Houses of Benedictine monks: The priory of Belvoir'|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=37996|access-date=6 February 2011}}</ref> Although once described as within [[Lincolnshire]], it is currently located in [[Leicestershire]],<ref name=ps>{{Cite web|url=https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=323855&resourceID=19191|title=Heritage Gateway - Results|website=www.heritagegateway.org.uk|accessdate=21 February 2024}}</ref> near the present Belvoir Lodge.<ref name=os>{{cite map |publisher=OSGB |series=OS Explorer Map |title=247 Grantham: Bottesford & Colsterworth |scale=1:25 000 |isbn=978-0-319-23833-2 |url=http://leisure.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/products/paper-maps/paper-maps-ordnance-survey-great-britain/paper-maps-ordnance-survey-great-britain-os-explorer-map/grantham/pid-9780319238332 |access-date=6 February 2011 |archive-date=28 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110228083428/http://leisure.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/products/paper-maps/paper-maps-ordnance-survey-great-britain/paper-maps-ordnance-survey-great-britain-os-explorer-map/grantham/pid-9780319238332 |url-status=dead }} {{Gbmappingsmall|SK820341}}</ref>
==History==
The priory was established in 1076 by [[Robert de Todeni]], Lord of Belvoir, on land near to the castle. Unable to complete the building work due to his "secular employments", following the advice of [[Lanfranc]], [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], he handed the priory to the Abbot of [[St Albans Abbey]]. Belvoir priory was then developed as a cell (a small establishment dependent upon a [[motherhouse]]) for the abbey. In return for his gift, Robert de Todeni was buried within the priory's chapter house and the monks were to pray for his soul.<ref name=vch/>
[[File:St Peters Redmile.JPG|thumb|left|[[Redmile]] church, formerly controlled by the priory]] The priory was fairly small, housing only four monks. It did, however, attract gifts and patronage; many of those making donations were, similar to its founder, buried within the priory's church or chapter house. Among these gifts were the [[advowson]]s of the churches at [[Redmile]], gifted by [[William d'Aubigny (rebel)|William d'Albini]]; and of [[Woolsthorpe-by-Belvoir|Woolsthorpe]], gifted in 1308 by [[William de Ros, 1st Baron de Ros]].<ref name=vch/>
The priory's small size meant it struggled to support itself and was frequently in debt and facing poverty. As the dissolution approached the priory was no longer in debt but did not have the revenues to support any monks; the prior lived alone, visited intermittently by monks from [[St Albans Abbey]].<ref name=vch/>
At the [[dissolution of the monasteries]], Belvoir Priory was dissolved with its [[motherhouse]] in 1539.<ref name=vch/> [[Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland]] preserved "the monumental remains of his ancestors, by transferring them chiefly to [[St Mary the Virgin's Church, Bottesford|Bottesford]]", from Belvoir and [[Croxton Abbey]].<ref name="eller">{{Cite book |title=The History of Belvoir Castle |first=Irvin |last=Eller |year=1841 |publisher=R. Tyas |ol=6590343M|pp=41,44}}</ref>{{Clear}}
==Other burials== *[[William d'Aubigny (Brito)]] *[[Robert de Todeni]] *[[William de Ros, 6th Baron de Ros]] and his wife Lady Margaret Arundel Roos *[[John de Ros, 7th Baron de Ros]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Monasteries in Leicestershire |state=collapsed}}
[[Category:Monasteries in Leicestershire]] [[Category:1076 establishments in England]] [[Category:1539 disestablishments in England]] [[Category:Christian monasteries established in the 1070s]] [[Category:Benedictine monasteries in England]] [[Category:Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation]]