Like many other religious houses, they profited by the embarrassment of lesser barons and knights, and in 1232 were able to purchase the greater part of the manor of Alvingham from John de Melsa, his father and mother, by paying off their debt of 871*2 marks to certain Jews. Their claim to two parts of the church of St. Andrew, Market Stainton, involved them in a struggle with Robert Grosteste, bishop of Lincoln, in the reign of Henry III. He revoked the appropriation made by his predecessor, but in 1245 the priory's appeal to Pope Innocent IV was finally successful.
Robert Grosteste
Henry III