What is "alien priory"

Priory \Pri"o*ry\, n.; pl. Priories. [Cf. LL. prioria. See Prior, n.] A religious house presided over by a prior or prioress; -- sometimes an offshoot of, an subordinate to, an abbey, and called also cell, and obedience. See Cell, 2.

Note: Of such houses there were two sorts: one where the prior was chosen by the inmates, and governed as independently as an abbot in an abbey; the other where the priory was subordinate to an abbey, and the prior was placed or displaced at the will of the abbot.

Alien priory, a small religious house dependent on a large monastery in some other country.

Syn: See Cloister.

n. A small religious house dependent on a large monastery in some other country.

Alien priories were religious establishments in England, such as a monastery or convent, which were under the control of another religious house outside England. Usually the mother-house was located in France.