Bridgettine Sisters
UK HISTORY
The first trace of the Order in the UK can in fact be shown to be from a little earlier than 1415. It is known that Henry, Lord FitzHugh, Constable of England and Chamberlain to King Henry V, had visited the monastery of Vadstena in Sweden in 1406. He had travelled to Sweden to accompany the daughter of King Henry IV, Phillipa, who was betrothed to the King of Sweden, Eric XIII of Pomerania.
Whilst in Sweden he was sufficiently impressed by what he had seen at Vadstena to volunteer to help with a similar foundation in England. He promised a gift of a manor at Cherry Hinton, Cambridge. Although the foundation did not occur here, two Bridgettine brothers (for the monastery also had a 'double' section for males) came to England in 1408 to prepare for the eventual Syon foundation a few years later in 1415. |