The election of a superior was a complicated business, as may be gathered from the list of seventeen documents relating to the election of Alice de la Flagge as Prioress of Whiston in 1308, and enrolled in the _Sede Vacante_ Register of Worcester diocese[154]. Indeed there were so many formalities to be fulfilled that the nuns seem often to have found great difficulty in making a canonical election, and there are frequent notices in the episcopal registers that their election has been quashed by the Bishop on account of some technical fault; in such cases, however, the Bishop's action was merely formal and he almost always reappointed the candidate of their choice[155]. An election was, moreover, not only complicated but expensive; it began with a journey to the patron to ask for his _conge d'elire_ and it ended with more journeys, to the patron and to the Bishop, to ask for confirmation, so that the cost of travel and the cost of paying a clerk to draw up the necessary documents were sometimes considerable; moreover a fee was payable to the Bishop's official for the installation of the new head. The account of Margaret Ratclyff, Prioress of Swaffham Bulbeck in 1482, contains notice of payments "to the official of the lord bishop, at the installation of the said prioress for his fee i. li." and to one Bridone "for the transcript of the decree of election of the prioress v. s."[156]. An account roll of St Michael's Stamford for the year 1375-6 illustrates the process in greater detail; under the heading of "expenses de nostre Elit" are the following items: Paid for the hire of horses with expenses going to the abbot of Peterborough [the patron] to get licence to elect our choice 9-1/2_d._ Paid for the hire of horses going to the bishop of Lincoln and to the abbot of Peterborough and for their expenses at our election 4_s._ 8-1/2_d._ Paid for bread, ale and meat for our election on the election day 2_s._ 11-1/2_d._ Paid for a letter to the abbot of Peterborough for a licence to elect 3_d._ Paid for the installation of our elect, 10_s._[157] Total 18_s._ 8-1/2_d._[158] The only necessary qualifications for the head of a house were that she should be above the age of twenty-one[159], born in wedlock and of good reputation; a special dispensation had to be obtained for the election of a woman who was under age or illegitimate. [Illustration: PLATE II ABBESS RECEIVING THE PASTORAL STAFF FROM A BISHOP BENEDICTION OF AN ABBESS BY A BISHOP] As a rule the nuns possessed the right of free election, subject to the _conge d'elire_ of their patron and to the confirmation of the bishop, and they secured without very much difficulty the leader of their choice. Often enough it must have been clear, especially in small communities, that one of the nuns was better fitted to rule than her sisters, and, as at Whiston, they