The Keldholme Priory election dispute occurred in Yorkshire, England, in 1308. After a series of resignations by its prioresses, the establishment was in a state of turmoil, and the Archbishop of York, William Greenfield, appointed one of the nuns to lead the house. His candidate, Emma de Ebor' (Emma of York), was deemed unacceptable by many nuns, who undermined her from the start to the extent that she resigned three months later. The archbishop, forced to find another candidate, claimed that he was unable to do so from within the priory and appointed Joan de Pykering from nearby Rosedale Priory. It is likely that Keldholme saw de Pykering as an intruder, and it seems to have reacted against her in much the same way as to her predecessor.
In response, the archbishop attempted to quash the nuns' rebelliousness. Individuals identified by him and his officials were exiled to surrounding priories, while at one point Keldholme itself was placed under interdict and the nuns threatened with excommunication. The convent was not deterred: the campaign against de Pykering continued until eventually Greenfield allowed the prioress to resign and the nuns to elect one of their number again. They re-elected Emma de Stapleton, who had previously resigned the position in 1301, but she also seems to have become unpopular with the nuns. Archbishop Greenfield died in 1315, and within two months, de Stapleton had also resigned, supposedly because of ill health and age. The nuns of Keldholme re-elected Emma de Ebor', the election dispute evaporated and little more was heard of the priory until its dissolution in 1536.
Background
St Mary of Keldholme Priory, founded during the reign of King Henry I, was a small Cistercian nunnery situated a couple of miles east of Kirkbymoorside, Yorkshire. Few of the prioresses names have been recorded, and the Victoria County History (VCH) comments that "there is remarkably little known of the history of the house" until the 14th century, when a disputed election for a prioress led to some years of turmoil.
Religious houses in Yorkshire were prone to internal disorder in the early 14th century. This was the second disputed election for a Yorkshire prioress in 15 years; in 1290, John le Romeyn, Greenfield's predecessor, had appointed Josiana de Anlaby Prioress of Swine Priory and a similar crisis of leadership had occurred. Keldholme itself had suffered two recent resignations of its Prioresses in 1294 and 1301, by Beatrice of Grendale and Emma de Stapleton respectively. The priory's reputation was further damaged by suspicions that the Sheriff of Cleveland, Geoffrey of Eston, was engaging in sexual activities with nuns in both Keldholme and Arden priories.
De Stapleton's 1301 resignation was probably directly related to Archbishop Melton's episcopal visitation of the same year, in the course of which he discovered malpractice. As a result, the priory was without a prioress for the following seven years. On 17 April 1308, the Archbishop of York, William Greenfield, issued an official inquiry regarding the current vacancy. This commission was required to establish three things: when the vacancy had begun, how long Keldholme had lacked the necessary leadership, and whether this had lasted more than six months. The final criterion was significant because a vacancy of over six months allowed the archbishop to bypass the nuns' right to appoint their own prioress, and install a candidate of his choosing. The commission was headed by two local rectors, who were instructed that, if it was discovered that the nuns' right to elect a prioress had not lapsed they were to do so within one month. The rectors' task did not take long, and although they were equivocal regarding the precise length of the vacancy, they reported that the appointment was now the archbishop's responsibility on account of the lapse of time. Three days later, the Archbishop—probably on the recommendation of his commission—appointed Emma de Ebor' as prioress, believing her the best-qualified candidate from among the nuns.