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THE
PUBLICATIONS
OF THE
SURTEES SOCIETY,
ESTABLISHED IN THB YEAR M.DCCC.XXXIV.
VOL. LXXXIII. FOR THE YEAR M.DCCC.LXXXVII.
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-r
i '
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The Conventual Seal or Hievaulx. Appended to two Deeds belonging to Lord Bolton.
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CARTULARIUM
ABBATHI^ DE RIEVALLE
OBDINIS CIST£ItCIENSIS
FUNDAT^ ANNO MOXXXII.
Sttbludieb fot iht ^ociti^
BY ANDREWS & CO., DURHAM ;
LONDON : WHITTAKER & CO., 2 WHITE HART STREET,
PATERN08TER SQUARE; BERNARD QUARITCH, 16 PICCADILLY.
WILLLAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH.
1889.
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At a Meeting of the Coungil of the Surtees Sogikty, held in Durham Caatle, on Tuesday, December 7, 1880, Mr. CuNDiLL in the Chair,
"It was Ordered that the Chartulary of Rievaulx ehould be edited for the Society by the Rev. J. C. Atkinson."
JAMES RAINE,
Secrelary.
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INTRODUCTION.
" The origin of many religious houses has been the operation of domestic grief on superstition. About the middle of the reign of Henry i. a great Norman baron of this neighbourhood, Walter UEspec, had a son of the same Christian name, who was extravagantly addicted to swift horses and hard riding. This impetuous and spirited young man, impelling his steed near Frithby with his usual violence, the animal fell down and broke his rider's neck. By this calamity his father was left without any consolation but that of religion. In the first distress of an afflicted parent, he had recourse to his uncle William, rector of Garton, who, having great influence over his conscience, eamestly recommended to him the foundation of three monasteries endowed with part of his possessions, which was successively accomplished inthe houses of Eirkham, a.d. 1122, and of Rivaulx, A.I). 1131, both in this county, and of Wardon, A.I). 1136. The vast possessions of this ancient baron may be estimated, partly from the cir- cumstance of his having endowed these houses suc- cessively with a portion only of his lands, and partly from his having devoted to the endowment of Kirkham alone a revenue estimated in the earlier part of the twelfth century at the annual sum of 1300 marks.^ At
^ The incredible abBurdity of this a '^historical " Btatement, is dealt astoimding statement, conaidered as with at a future page.
h
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X INTRODUCmON.
an early period in the history of this house, the ancient monastery of Augustinian canons, the eldest founda- tion of WalterL'Espec, which seems to have been placed at a distance inconveniently near for both houses, was removed by consent of the parties, Kirkham and Rivaulx, and an exchange of their respective estates made for the accommodation of each." ^
This is the way in which what is called '^history^' is written when dealing with such matters as come under review, the subject being the foundation of an ancient monastic establishment, an old family, a time- hallowed usage Or custom, or a hoary memorial of the elder ages. Although Kirkham stands where Kirkham stood when its first buildings were reared, still — so this w^riter alleges — it was "removed by consent of the parties," and although the several endowments of the two Houses never changed hands till the dissolution fell upon the owners, still **an exchange of their re- spective estates was made for the accommodation of each," as though such an exchange would have remedied the ** inconvenient neamess " of the two monasteries ! I
But I cite this careless misreading or misunder- standing of the historical documents referred to by the writer of the recited passage, as a more than possible illustration of earlier misreadings, misunderstandings, or possible (though maybe unintentional) falsifications of the elder sources of information. For myself, I feel no sort of certainty that the story of the younger Walter Espec, of the catastrophe which resulted in his alleged premature death, and of his father's seeking, in con-
' Ahheys and Casties o/ Yarbihire : Mackenzie and Whitaker.
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INTRODUCTION. XI
sequence, and finding " religious consolation" in the fonnding and endowing of the three monasteries named, is in any respect one to be depended upon* When we turn to the second and final so-called Endowment or Foundation Charter of Kirkham, we find the souls of the fathers and mothers of the Founder^s nephews men- tioned, as also those of all their fore-elders and benefac- tors, and those of all the faithful dead, mentioned, but no reference to the son of whom he had been bereaved. Should we examine the corresponding clause of the so- called Foundation Charter of Rievaulx, what we meet with is thought of the salvation of the dead King William, of the living King Henry, and of all their ancestors ; of that of the Founder's father and mother, of Hugh de Wildecher, of that of his wife's father and mother, and of all their fore-elders and ancestors in common, but no hint even — not even so much as that in the phrase " all the faithful dead " in the Kirkham deed — of a lost and lamented child, grief for whose removal had inspired and led to both the one foundation and the other.
I know, of course, that this is not a conclusive consideration, and that, if dwelt upon too much, it might prove a very broken reed indeed to rest upon. But what is to me much more conclusive is that in the earliest and, undoubtedly, most authentic statements relative to Walter Espec we have, no mention is made of an heir that had been, but was gone, no possible or even latent suggestion that he had ever been a father. The account referred to is printed in the Monasticon (vi 209), and is headed, " E Libello Akedi Rievallensis Abbatis, de Bello Standardico (Lelandi Collect, vol. ii.
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XU INTRODUCnON.
p. 312)/' and it runs as follows : — " Adfuit etiam Wal- terus Espec, vir senex et plenus dierum ; acer ingenio, in consiliis prudens, in pace modestus, in bello providus ; amicitiam sociis, fidem semper regibus servans. Erat ei statura ingens, membra omnia tantaB magnitudinis ut modum excederent, et tantse proceritati congraerent ; capilli nigri, barba prolixa, frons patens et libera, oculi grandes et perspicaces, facies amplissima, tracticia^ tamen ; vox tubse similis, facundiam qusa ei facilis erat quadam soni majestate componens. Erat prseterea nobilis came, sed Christiana pietate nobilior : nempe cum liberis careret hseredibus, licet ei strenui nepotes non deessent, de optimis tamen quibusque possessionibus suis Christum fecit haBredem. Nam in loco amoenissimo, Kircham nomine, monasterium regularium condidit cleri- corum, multis illud denariis omans et ditans possessi- onibus."
Such is the picturesque description given by a con- temporary, and one evidently as able to convey by his words that which he meant to deliver — even had we
^ The word that is printed here without apparent reason. It may
in the Monasticon Ib "tracticia/' a further be inddentally mentioned
word aa to which some doubt is in connection with this description
allowable. Certainly the adjective of Walter Espec^s personal charac-
traeticiua ib employed by Aurelius teristics, and as besides illustratiye
Victor, and ia applied by him de- of what I have spoken of in the text
floriptively of the dead body of aa "careless misreading or misap-
Heliogabalus, which was ignomini- prehension," that in H^e Mirror
onsly dragged along the streets and of LiUrcUure, Amusement, and In-
thrown into the Tiber ; and it is of struction of Sept 30, 1826, in a
conrse apparent that, however far- notice of Rievaulx Abbey, we read
fetched the idea may be, the sense of Walter Espec^s son as followB : —
of the word, as applied to qualify a " This youth is described by Aelred,
man's face, might be ** lengthened," the third Abbot, as being tall and
"elongated," from forehead to chin, graoeful, with a voice like a tnim-
that Ib. Mr. Walbran translates pet, yet sweeter with the charm of
the word by " well-featured," but eloquence"!!
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INTRODUCTION. Xui
not his other writings to appeal to for confirmation of our view — ^as any of his compeers well skilled in the arts of description. And while, on the one hand, we draw the inevitable inference that he spoke of a man ehildless by no mere casualty, there is, on the other, the distinct statement that he made Christ his heir, not because he had lost a son, but because he had no heir after the flesh.^
For the story itsdf, as usually told, this is what Mr. Walbran {Mem. o/FountainSy ii. 178) has to say : — "The facts of the incident were first published in the Monasticon Anglicanvm^ from a volume of collections, now preserved among the Cotton mss. in the British Museum, where it is marked Vitellius, F. 4. It records with considerable minuteness that, in the reign of King Henry i., Walter L^Espec was the lord of Kirkham and other large estates in Yorkshire and Northumberland — the rewards of uncommon bravery in the wars of the period ; and that by Adeline his wife he had an only son, who bore his father's Christian name, and was dis-
' Other ancient writers also, while locns erat horroriB et vastas solitu-
making mentioii of Walter Eapec^s dinis, manBionem acceperant, pr»-
action in fonnding Rievaulx, are to- fato viro tradente, et Venerabili
tally silent as to any motive of his, Turstino episcopalem, cum affectn
founded on, or springing from, such patemo, favorem prsebente." So
a oonsideration aa religious conso- too Walter of Hemingburgh thus
lation, or desire to aasuage the grief speaks of the " Fundatio Rieval-
oocanoned by the losa of an only son. lis " : — " Sane paulo ante (funda-
Thus, WiUiam of Newburgh, under tionem Abbathi» de Fontibus) a
date A.D. 1131, writes : — '* Sane nobili viro Waltero Eapec fnndata
paulo (ante fnndationem Abbathi» fuit domns Ryevallis, consiBtente
de Fontibas) a nobili viro Waltero Thurstino Archiepiscopo, et assen-
Espec invitati, et a felicis memori» sum prsebente, ubi Monachi Olare-
Benuurdo Abbate directi, monachi vallenses, felicis memorin Abbate
Ckurevallenses in Eboracensem pro- Bemardo directi, sempitemam aoce-
Tindam venerant, et in loco qui perunt mansionem." nunc dicttur Rievallis, tunc autem
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Xiv INTRODUCTION.
tinguished by the same mental qualifications and noble form ; " and then comes the story of the foundering horse and the fatal casualty to the rider. But we cannot but notice that no name is cited as that of the author of the story, no authority of any kind quoted, no hint even of its date, its local origin or connection, or, in short, of any claims that are recognisable on our atten- tion even, and much more our acceptance.
To a thoughtful and attentive mind, considering and pondering the circumstances of the case and the times, there would seem to be a much simpler, and at the same time a much nobler, explanation of Espec^s action than any suggested by the sentiment of the story as it is told. Aelred describes his friend as a great man and a good man, in the best sense of either word. Surely the man, with the experience of many years stored up in his brain, who was a wise and sagacious counsellor, energetic by nature, foresighted and farsighted, pru- dently ready even in the sudden emergencies of the actual battle, would not lose either the possession of, or the power of using, such faculties as these, when able at last to lay aside the sword, and, if not de facto trans- form it into a reaping-hook, yet still attend to the wants, necessities, emergencies of his vast possessions, and of those who dragged on a miserable, uncared-for, ahnost midnight-dark existence upon them. I cannot bring myself to believe that Espec ** cared for none of these things ; " that he was blind alike to the exigencies and the possibilities of the case — the exigencies taking being and form in the necessity for the presence and operation of some purifying, enlightening, humanising
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INTRODUCTION.
XV
eneigy in those wilds of Torkshire ; the possibilities in actiye leaven for good already experimentally known to be obtainable by means of a monastic settlement in the district needing to be influenced for the better and higher. Let us not forget that there lay a motive, an object, a pnrpose, a principle at the very foot of the great movement of which the fonnding and raising of religious houses at the time we have to think of was but only an outward token or symboL^ No doubt it
1 Let me here ask attention to the foUowing sentences, which were not aeen by me, and, indeed, I believe were not published, until aeveral montha after the above para- graphs bad been written, and which, while (as perhaps might have been anticipated) ignoring the reKgious principle, yet in all other respects more than indorse the view taken in the text. They are £rom Mrs. 6reen'8 Henry the Second, pp. 39,40-43. . . . <*The restoration of ontward order" — by the young kug, that is— "had not been diffi- colt. . . . But the new ruler of England had to begin his work of adminiBtration not only amid the temporary difficulties of a general diaoTganisation, bnt amid the more pennanent difficulties of a time of tnuisition, when society was seeking to order itself anew in its paasage from the medisBval to the modem world. . . . We see everywhere, in fact, signs of the great contest which in one form or another rnns through the whole of the twelfth century, aad gives ite main interest in our eyes to the English history of the time — the struggle between the iron oiganiflation of mediaeval feudaliam and thoee nascent f orces of modem dvilisation which were fated in the end to ahatter and supersede it. . . .
It is stiU plain that even through the terrible yeara of Stephen's reign Enghmd had its share in the univer- sal movement by which the squalor and misery of the Middle Ages were giving place to a larger activity and a better order of things. A class un- known before was fast growing into power — the middle class of burghers and traders. . . . Merchant and cultivator and wool-grower found better work ready to their hand than fighting, and the appearance of mercenary soldiers marked every- where the development of peaceful industries. Amid all the conf usion of dvil war the industrial activities of the country had developed with a bewildering rapidity ; while knights and barons led their foreign hire- lings to mutual slaughter, monks and canons were raising their re- ligions houses in aU the waste pl^^es of the hind, and silently laying the foundations of English enterprise and English commeroe. To the great body of the Benedictines and the Cluniacs were added in the middle of the twelfth century the Gister- cians, who founded their houses among the desolate moorlands of Yorkshire, in solitary plaoes whioh had known no inhabitants since the Conqueror*s ravages, or among the swamps of Lincohiahire. A hun-
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XVI
INTRODUCTION.
is easy to speak of the " various and conflicting motives that originated the foundation of religious houses/' and to suggest " conscience-stricken pangs that were com- fortably to be stifled by the bestowal of a superfluity which cost the giver nothing," the " death-bed conces- sions that were to charter a seat in heaven by a foregone inheritance in earth," * ** the operation of domestic grief on superstition," and the like : but the question really is whether such suggestion is very much better than a species of clap-trap. 1 prefcr the tone and spirit of the man who, although he is not an enthusiastic apostle of the religion of Christ, yet recognises in the life of Bemard of Clarevallis **the greatness of the place he
dred and fifteen monasteries were bnilt doring the nineteen years of Stephen'8 reign, more than had been founded in the whole previons century; a hondred and thirteen were added to these during the reign of Henry. In half-a-century nxty-four religions houses were built in Yorkshire and LincobiBhire alone. Monastery and priory . . . towered above the wretched mud-hoTelB in which the whole of the population below the class of barons crowded. . . . We may gain some faint idea of the amazing stir and industry which the founding of theee monas- teries implied, by following in our modem fanns and pasture-landB the traoes which may even now be seen of the toil of these great preachers of labour. The whole water-supply of a countryside for miles round was gathered up by vast drainage works ; stagnant pools were transformed into running waters dosed in by embank- ments, which still serve as ditches to the modem farmer ; swamps were reolaimed that are only now pre- served for cultivation by maintain-
ing the dykes and channels first cat by medissval monks; mills rose on the banks of the newly-created streams ; roads were made by which the com of the surrounding villages might be carried to the central miH, and the produce of the land brought to the central storehouse. The new settlers showed a measnreless oun- ning and industry in redaiming soil hitherto worthless. " As the soberly arrived-at oonclusions of one of the most competent historical inquiren of our day, all this is surely WeU worthy of attention. But, may we not ask, were the results thus stated alike unintended and unanticipated both by founder a>nd [donor, and scarcely even forecasted by the monkish settlers themselves? For something approaching to that would be the condusion we should be foroed upon if we accept the customary claptrap sentimentalism about the prevailing motives, as aasumed, of the great originators of many or most of our moet famous religious houses. * Mtm, o/FountainSf iL 177.
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INTEODUCTION. XVll
holds in the history of civilisation/' and who, besides reminding ns that his (Bemard's) ^' monastery was built and estabUshed, that its influence spread, that iadustry and cultivation prospered through its example, that its abbot was the symbol of order and the source of protection and of comfort for the distressed/' adds this expressive sentence : — " Civilisation, moral and material, radiated from it through that dark tract as from a centre of light and warmth/'^ and I no more doubt that the monks of Clairvaux, invited by Walter Espec to found and build up the House of Kievalles, and directed by the saintly Bemard, were so invited and directed with those selfsame ends and objects and purposes in view as Bemard^s own at Clairvaux, than I doubt the existence of the wonderful proof of their energy, wisdom, systematised purpose, and performance which appeals to our higher and better judgment in the stately rain of their great work, raised, as it was, in the fulfilment of one part only of their magnificent inten- tion and aim.
On the whole, then, while discrediting, so far as my own personal convictions and persuasions go, the story, legend, or myth touching Walter Espec's supposed son, his death, and the manner of it, and its assumed influence on the father's mind and action, I see a far more tban merely equivalent or countervailing motive and intent in purposes and objects which could not but have been suggested in St. Bemard's times, and which we do our thoughtfulness and candour but little credit in not assuming to have been present and potential in
' See Harri80ii'8 Ckoiee o/ Books, p. 315.
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XVm INTRODUCnOK.
such a mind as that of Aelred's Walter Espec must have been.^
Perhaps before proceeding to deal with the details of the Foundation of Rievaulx, it may be expedient to direct attention to a matter which, though at first sight it may not appear to belong to a notice of the Cistercian establishment which is our especial topic, is yet found to be so much entangled with the early history of that house that it is impossible to treat of the one without adverting to the other. What I mean is the early relations of Eievaulx with Kirkham, the negotiations which went on between the two houses — originating, it may be, though I hardly think so, in the practically inconvenientpropinquityof the several estab- lishments and their possessions — and the conditional agreement to remove from the original site entered into by the elder of the sister foundations. As we have seen, Dr. Whitaker, with a comprehensive and accom- modating oblivion of the facts as they were, as well as of the facts that still are, writes of the cession as made valid and eflFective, and the removal as an accomplished fact ; while in other quarters a degree of misapprehen- sion, and misapprehension of a kind which it is hard to comprehend, exists, and which a priori we should
^ In writing thus, I do not wish to vaulx, Kirkham, Fountains, Byland,
be underatood as intending to ignore and the scores of others like, only
the possible existence in the minds the desultoty action of inferior
of many founders of, and donors motives, alike undirected by purpose
to, Beligious Houses, of such f eelings and foresight, and uninfluenced by
and motives as remorse, repentance, any of the worthier aspirations
sorrow, or what we call superstition, which in other eflPorts of self-denial,
or the like, or their potentiality in energy, and resolute perseveranoe —
instigating, in some cases, the grant such as building a hospital, or for-
or the donation. Only I am unable warding Missionary enterprise — we
to see in such Foundations as Rie- are ready enough to allow for.
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INTRODUCTION. XIX
hardly have anticipated. Thus, in Dodsworth, No. ix. fo. 161, is copy of the document which finds a place twice in the Cartularium, and is printed hereafter as No. ocxvL, with the heading — " Ex chartulario Eievallis in Com. Ebor. in Bibliotheca Cott. remanente, Id. Jun., 1622. Secunda fundatio de Kirkham. Transcriptum Fundationis Prioratus de Kirkham." The superscrip- tionbythat erainent collector, "Secunda fundatio,* is sufficient to show what was the thought present in his mind, however far mistaken he was even as to the rektive date of the record he was engaged with ; while more recently a paper on Kirkham Priory has been re- pubhshed, of which I can only think that had its able and most painstaking author had the opportunity of revising it, with the added knowledge and investigation of the subsequent years of his diligent life, it would have been recast as to the greater part of its historical matter. But I would not for a moment have it under- stood that, because I find myself unable to accept some of Mr. Walbran's conclusions touching this " indenture or agreement between the monks of Rivaulx and the canons of Kirkham,'' or even in some instances to indorse his statement of facts, it is my wish or my purpose to derogate from his well-eamed reputation for careful and intelligent research, or undervalue the extent and the results of his unexampled diligence and devo- tion. Any thought or intention of that kind would be put to silence and to shame at once, by the merest reference to the singularly full, instructive, and interest- ing volume of Memorials of Fountains^ for which the Surtees Society is indebted to his brain and his pen.
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XX INTRODUCTION.
Without counting the duplicate just now referred to, there are in the Rieyaulx Chartulary itself five principal documents connected with Kirkham. There are the two Fundationes, the indenture or agreement, and two shorter pieces headed " Carta de Kirkeham de decimis/' and "* Carta de Kirkaham secunda ; '' ^ and it is from these documents that such inductions must be made as are reasonably possible.
In the first place, I would remark that neither of the documents ticketed with the label " Fundatio *' can in any true sense be regarded as the original foundation deed at all.* For although they differ in date, and perhaps by from five to seven, or even eight years, yet the earlier of the two postdates the foundation of Rievaulx. For in the said earlier of the two Fundatio documents there stands this decisive sentence: — "Et pro decima quinque carucatarum de Tillestona, et pro decima quatuor carucatarum de Grif, et pro omnibus qu3d Canonicis pertinebant, qtUB modo habent Abhas et mondchi Rievcdlenses, donavi eis meum purprestum de Kircham, et domos meas, et molendinum, et prata mea.,
^ There are, beBides, rehearaals while the indentare or agreement
or recapitnlations of some of these (No. cxlix.) is noted as " Cyro-
pieooB, but I wish to be nnderstood graphum inter noe et Kirkehun. **
as apeaking only of the original What is in reality the final settle*
deeds. ment of endowment by Walter
Espec is derived from Dodflworth
' It may be remarked that in the (ix. fo. 157), and is headed "Fon-
Cartularinm itself greater retioence datio Monaaterii de Kirkham in
or cantion in the deecription of the 0>m. Eboracensi," but whether that
deeds mentioned is very obeenrable. heading is a part of the documetit
Thns the first of the two oopies (Na iteelf , or merely a title prefixed
ocxvi.) of what is labelled by Dods- by the oopyist, there is no means
worth as "Secunda fundatio de of deciding, any more than there
Kirkham," is simply headed with is of determining from what souroe
** Transcriptum cartaB de Elircham," the said copyist obtained it.
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INTBODUCTION. XXI
et omnia quse habui inter boscum et aquam, et pisca- tionem de aqua de Kircham et de Husum." ^ If, then, we accept the usually received and accredited dates of the several foundations of the one house and the other — namely, 1122 for that of Kirkham, and 1131, 1132, or 1133 * for tbat of Rievaulx — and, so far as appears, there is no valid reason, if any at all, alleged for reject- ing them, it is absolutely clear that this so-called Foun- dation Charter is from ten to twelve or fourteen years, at the least, later than the actual foundation of the Priory itself.
But it will be well to show that the allegation, that the charter under special notice is the later of the two, does not rest upon a mere ipse dixit. There is no question, I think, that at the dissolution the Priory of Kirkham was defacto owner of Kirkham in its entirety, that the whole township^ of that name was in the hands of the monastery. In No. ccxvi., however, Walter Espec grants as follows : — " Ecclesiam de Kir- cham, cum una carucata terrse, et omnibus eidem ecclesiae pertinentibus ; . . • et in Kircham viginti quatuor acras terrse qu» sunt inter boscum et aquam de Derewenta, et meum novum gardinum, et mansuram quam Radulfus Presbyter ibi habuit. Etiam proprii porci canonicorum ibunt in boscum meum de Kircham
' I have qnoted thia in full, be- in question, and pos&ibly an ex-
caose there are other things in the planation of the apparent discrep-
paasage besidee the means it gives ancy may be found when we come
ns of fixing tbe date of the charter to deal more specially with that par-
as absolutely later than the founda- ticular question. tian of Rievaulx, and which wiU have to be thought of in the aequel. * The Domesday entry is " In
' Each of these three years ia Chercam, yiii carucatse ad geldum
Qimed as the year of the foundation . , . Eoclesia et presbiter ibi eat."
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XXli INTRODUCTION.
siDe pannagio, cum suo Butrimento ; et segetem suum ad molendinum meum molent sine molitura, et decimam denarionim habebunt de firma molendini." I have been precise in quoting the whole passage that we may be the better enabled to compare it with the countervail- ing extract from No. cccxLVii., or what I have spoken of above as the second and final Endowment Charter. What we find there is as is here given : " Sciatis nos concessifise et dedisse . . . totum manerium de Kirk- ham, in bosco et plano, in terris et aquis, in pratis et pascuis, in piscinis et molendinis, et omnibus eidem loco pertinentibus, et ecclesiam parochialem de Eirk- ham, una cum carucata terrse, et omnibus eidem ecclesiae pertinentibus.'* The very merest, most super- ficial inspection — comparison or contrast is hardly called for — of these extracts firom these two charters is aboundingly sufficient to show not only that one of them is later than the other, but that, as regards Kirk- ham, the second of the two is the latest and the final one. But we may go a step further yet. The first of the two charters dates itself, as we have seen, subse- quently to 1131, perhaps even after 1133; but the second, as addressed to Archbishop Thurstan and Bishop Geoflrey of Durham, who were contemporaries in their several dignities only from 1133 to 1140, must take date within that interval of six or seven years, and probably towards the latter limit of it.
At this stage it may not be out of place to note a little in detail the Yorkshire part of the endowment of Kirkham as given in this second or final charter. In the first place, we note the fuU grant of the Kirkham
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INTRODUCTION. XXIU
maneriuiQ, as well as the church or benefice with its endowment-caracate of land and other rights. Then the church of Helmsley with its church-carucate and three tofts. Next the churches of Kirkby Grindalyth and Garton, each with its carucatc, and the latter with a specified caTopus^ or large open field besides. Yet further, the entire vill of Westow, with seven carucates of land there ; the whole vill of Whitwell with nine carucates of ]and there; and in Thixendale eight carucates of land, besides tithes of annual money-payments made to Espec, of all his manors, and especially of the vill and mill of Howsham, with the right of fishery in the Der- went, his Tork houses and the tithes of his Linton demesne. Now if we check ofi* these various items of endowment one after another, comparing them with those specified in the earlier Fundatio, and allowing for the divergency, abeady noticed, between the Kirkham grants in the one case and in the other, we find that the several grants at Hehnsley, Kirkby Grindalyth, Garton, Westow, and Whitwell are entirely coincident, and that the variation as to Thixendale is marked by the use, in the earlier deed, of the sentence " et in Sex- tendale quatuor carucatas terrse, et, post decessum meum, alias quatuor carucatas quas habeo in manu mea, de octo quse sunt in eadem villa, nisi in vita mea eis dedero; et hoc cum toto instauramento quod ibi erit in illa die," in place of " et in Sextendala octo carucatas terrse, cum omnibus eidem terrae pertinentibus " in the later. We find the same total number of carucates stated in either case, four of them bestowed in the first instance, and with a prospective possibility of grant of
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Xxiv INTRODUCTION.
the other four durmg the Grantor's Ufetime, failiiig which, a certainty after his death. In the second or final deed the four previously reserved carucates are seen to have been bestowed, and by the still living Grantor of the first charter.
We are now in a position to notice, and with some attentive scrutiny, the cyrograph or agreement between the Abbey and the Priory. And, in the first place, I would draw attention to the terms employed in speak- ing of what the Priory was to cede at Thixendale. The words are " et quatuor carucatas terras in Sextendala quas advocatus noster adhuc tenet in manu sua," This last expression is entirely decisive as to the relative date of the document in question. Mr. Walbran writes, **There is no date to this very singular document, but some intemal evidence appears to refer it to an early period in the thirteenth century," while he also defines ** advocatus noster " as the " common patron of the two houses, Lord de Ros, who, some people probably sus- pected, looked upon sweet Kirkham's lawn as a kind of Naboth's vineyard from his dreary moorland castle at Hehnsley."
No one, I think, who takes the trouble to collate the passage just cited from the cyrograph of exchange with the contrasted extracts from the two Fundationes will be disposed to indorse Mr. Walbran's views, either as to the identity of the common patron, his motive, or the date of the " singular document " itself. No one save Walter Espec himself can fiU the character of ** advo- catus noster " under the circumstances alleged, and the date of the deed must not only lie within his lifetime,
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INTRODUCTION. XXV
but it must, by however short a period, antedate that of the drawing and ratifying of the later deed of endow- ment, and that, as we have seen, could not be later than 1139.
The deed is well described by Mr. Walbran as a "singular document/' That an exchange in a certain sense — though not with the Convent of Rievaulx — and a cession in a very real sense, and a cession to Rievaulx withal, were not only contemplated, but actually, albeit conditionally, arranged, is patent to the most desultory inquirer, Why or wherefore, it is not easy by any process of reading between the lines to conjecture, apart from the motives avowed and put in the fore- front of the agreement, namely, " for the love of God and the salvation of our souls, and for the establishing of our mutual fellowship, for peace' sake and to the honour of our Prior, and at the wish and desire of our patron (advocati nostri)." Probably the motives ex- pressed in this last clause will be held amply sufficient to illustrate, if not explain, the practical ''why and because '* of the entire transaction. What Espec's mo- tive or object may have been is another, and a deeper, question. It may have been that he saw danger of con- flicting interests and jarring feelings, objects, and com- munications ; but I cannot think that that could have been a very potential factor in the formation of the wish or the purpose to facilitate the removal of the earlier foundation. It is true, there were what may be spoken of as rival interests, perhaps even clashing interests, in the Helmsley locale, and the property of the two Houses in Bilsdale marched, and there were serious eventual
c
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diflfereDces tliere ; but the distance between the Abbey and the Priory was considerable — at least four times that which lay between Byland and Rievaulx, and if, with only the Rye between the one and the other, these two found a modus vivendi in peace and general harmony — as it is evident they did upon the whole — it seems strange that it should have been deemed impos- sible, or even unlikely, that it should be so likewise between the two foundations of the same patron. Not that considerations of the supposed kind may not have weighed ; but the more likely conclusion is tbat they could hardly have been the chief or the most influential of the reasonings and decisions which led to the adop- tion of the contemplated measure.
But there is another motive or consideration enume- rated in the extract from the preamble to the cyrograph which was just now cited, and which, while associated with the words "pro pace/' is of such a nature, especially when collated with other like words in the body of the document, as to make an evident demand on our attention. What I refer to is the clause "pro honore Prioris nostri"; and the other clauses which should be coUated with it are these : " Et Prior noster et sui auxiliares aedificabunt nobis Ecclesiam, Capitu- lum,'' etc., and " Hoc quoque sciendum est, quod nec a loco nostro voluimus discedere, nec Priorem nostrum amittere, donec ea qu83 inter nos constituta sunt ad debitum finem producta fuerunt.'' It will be observed not only that the Prior is mentioned three several times, but that he is mentioned in a way to direct special observation upon him. The proposed cession was to
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redound to his honour ; he was not only a party con- senting to and furthering the matter in hand, but he was not alone in what was contemplated and would have to be undertaken; he hadhelpers (" auxiliarii ") who were willing and able to undertake the task — no light one surely — of building a new church of adequate materials and of adequate dimensions, with Chapter- house, Infirmary, Frater, of the same material, besides all the necessary offices for a complete conventual establishment in less durable style; who, besides this, were to be at the trouble and cost of all the necessary charters and confirmations of what they retained, and of what they were to get in lieu of what they resigned, and who were even to approach the Apostolical chair and obtain the necessary Papal sanc- tion to the whole transaction. And, eminent above all the rest, there is the final clause : " Nor will we part with our honoured and influential Prior until all these stipulations have been fulfilled to the letter/'
Surely this is a consideration that should not be lightly passed by, or put on one side altogether. To me it suggests that here may possibly be contained the pith of the matter. We may not be able to pierce through all its surroundings of mystery or uncertainty, and to penetrate unfalteringly to it ; but at all events we ought not to leave it without some attempt to obtain any possible enlightenment. And the first, because the most natural, question, would seem to be, Who was the Prior at the time 1
If we refer to Burton's Monasticon, or to Dugdale either, or to Tanner, or any other such like authority,
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XXVUl
INTRODUCTION.
we find a singular meagreness of detail in the matter we are desiring to obtain information about. Take Burton, for instance : " 1 1 2 2 . 1 . William, rector of Garton, uncle to Walt Espec, the founder, was the first prior. 2. Between a.d. 1190 .. • William occurs. 3. About 1195 and 1199 Drogo occurs. 4. Andreas occurs." Fortunately the present Chartulary enables us to supplement this unsatisfactory array, at all events as f ar as foUows : — 1. William, 1122. 2.^ 0. or D.^ before 1135, 3. Wallevus ; before 1140, and, I conclude, affcer 1145.* 4. Drogo.* 5. William de Muscamp, between 1190 and 1227.*
^ Bj the insertion of these nume- raLs, it must not be understood that it is intended to assert that the Priors, bef ore whose names they are set, actually occUrred in that precise order ; but only that they occur in this relative order, and that one or more names of early Priors may still be wanting. I am, for instance, un- certain if this Prior of doubtful name was in reality the second prior. He may have been the third. If Prior William of Qarton only lived a year or two after his eleva- tion to the Priorate (aa is believed), the present Prior may well have been the third in succession.
* See No. ccxxxrv. Whenengaged with the transcription of the oontents of the Cartularium in the British Museum, I read this initial as O. It did 'not seem to be perf ectily clear that it was O, but I did think it was more likely to be O than any other letter. In Dodsworth'8 transcript (IX. 162^.) the initial is written D. The date given in the text is so given because the document is addressed to King Henry i. (ob. 1135), and Archbishop Thurstan.
• See No. cxjxxxv. As to the first of the dates given, Walbran, in a note on p. 180 of the paper on Kirk-
ham, more than once referred to above, writes : "In 1139, on the feast of St. Hilary, the Earl of Albemarle, who has been styled *'pr(Bclaru8 comes et eonnUus moneu- teriorum /undatory^* founded the Priory of Thomton in Lincolnshire ; and in the f oUowing year, and on the same feast, Waltheof — ^his kinsman, and Prior of Kirkham — went to Thomton, taking with him twelve Canons of Kirkham, whom he estab- lished in the new monastery, consti- tuting one of them, named Richard, the first Prior." Mr. Walbran does notquote his authority : butthere is no doubt on the subject. As to the second of the two dates, as the charter cited mentions the Rievaulz part of Bilsdale as now in the pos- session of the Convent, and as there is no reason to discredit the state- ment as Espec^s grant of Bilsdale, and the date of it, made in Ko. cccLXViii., we may regard the said date as assured.
* There is ample space f or Burton'8 Prior Drogo here. But so far, I have met with no confirmation of such a position in the list. No doubt he was Prior, but when is unoertain.
B He was oontemporary with Robert de Ros ii., and his name
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INTRODUCTION.
XXIX
The name of the Prior who stands third in the list thus supplied of course answers the question, Who was the Prior at the time 1 and Wallevus (or Waldevus) is but another and Latinised form of Waltheof, the name of one who was kinsman to the earl of Albemarle ^ as well as prior of Kirkham. And as such he stands forth a man honourable by consanguinity, able besides— and for the selfsame reason — to command the aid of competent and important auxiliaries in any "church- extension " work— as it was understood then — ^well and wisely organised, as it was sure to be in such hands.
And now the question arises, Was this scheme, of the reality as well as the nature of which we are assured by this cyrograph or agreement of cession between the two Houses of Rievaulx and Kirkham, nuUified or frus- trated by the action of Prior Waltheof in taking the part he did in heading ^ the colony of canons who went to occupy the new Priory at Thomton ?
This is^an inquiry which would be less complicated, and involved in less obscurity, if we had clearer and more definite information as to the circumstances of the arrangement between the monks of Rievaulx and the canons of Kirkham ; if we knew exactly not only what
wHl be seen in several plAces among thoBe of the Testes to chartera of that period. He is, no donbt, the Williain to whoae name is prefixed the number 2 in Barton'8 liat, with the incomplete <*Betwixt 1190 _^— — — . "
^ See note ' in previons page.
' I rme the word " heading " ad- visedly. The statement is that Prior Waltheof took with him ** twelve canons of Kirkham." But
twelve canons, withont himself, on snoh a mission, would have been an imperfect number. The inference, therefore, certainly iB,that on leaving Eir kham he purpoeed becoming him- Belf the first head of Thomton, and that his making Richard the first Prior dmply implies that he changed his mind and returned to Kirkham, where, we have no reason to doubt, he remained Prior f or several years, bIx or Beven at least.
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XXX INTRODUCTION.
the latter agreed to cede, but what they were to receive as its equivalent But that is what we do not know, and the endeavour to ascertain is beset with di£5culties, uncertainties, and doubts, As to what the canous stipulated to give and grant to the monks, there is no uncertainty. They were to surrender Kirkham with their church and buildings, together with their gardens, orchards and mill, and everything else situate and being there, except one bam, which they meant to carry away with them. They were also to give up Whitwell (containing nine carucates according to the documents previously under notice), Westow (seven carucates), and the four Thixendale carucates, not those which they al- ready had in actual possession, but those which, although promised to them as to be theirs eventually, were as yet in Walter Espec's own hands. Deducting these four carucates, the number to be resigned was sixteen, ex- clusively of the Kirkham lands, estimated in Domesday as amounting to a total of eight carucates. The actual extent of the surrender, then, in carucates, is represented by the number 24. What they were to receive in compensation was the whole of Linton and Hwersletorp, with all things to the said vills appertaining, quif^and free from all services whatsoever.
This all seems clear and simple enough until we begin to inquire, not only where and what this Linton is, but, what is more indefinite and obscure still, what and where Hwersletorp was. It is true, Mr. Walbran makes no diflSculty over the matter, for he simply transliterates — if I may so apply the word — Hwersletorp into Weaverthorp. But that identification is not only
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INTRODUCTION. XXxi
gratuitous, it is discredited by the facts of the case. For Weaverthorpe, in the Domesday spelling Wifretorp, comprising eighteen carucates, was at the time of the snrvey among the possessions of the Archbishop of York, and there are divers references to it as still belonging to his fee two hundred years afterwards, in the Kirkby's Inquest volume. Walter Espec could not grant what belonged to the Archbishop. And there is not the slightest reason for supposing even that Espec was sub- infeuded to the Archbishop : in which case, moreover, he could not have alienated the Archbishop's fee, or any part of it, save, of course, with the Archbishop'8 acquiescence.
It seems suflficiently clear, then, that Weaverthorpe is not the place intended to be designated by Hwersletorp. Neither is the matter simplified when we turn to Linton and tiy to ascertain what place is meant under that designation. So far as I am aware, there are but four places in Yorkshire bearing that name, two in the West Biding, one in the East, and one in the North. The two West Riding Lintons, Linton in Stainclifie, and Linton in Garo, seem both to be out of the question, while the Linton in the parish of Winteringham, East Riding, is altogether too insignificant, amounting to but one farm at the present day. The other, or Linton on Ouse, besides other claims on our attention, has this, that at the date of the " Knight's Fees " and " Nomina Villarum,'' it was part of the fee of Ros of Helmesley. Still, although there are other reasons for thinkiug it more than possible that this Linton came into the hands of Walter Espec (though through what channel or means
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XXXU INTRODUCTION.
cannot be so much as surmised), the evidence that the Linton of our cyrograph lay here is so very unsufl&cin^ that, with the identity of Hwersletorp itself, it must be left an open question. AU that can be further said about the latter place is that the Domesday spelling of what is now Wikthorpe, namely, Wiulestorp, Wiflestorp, comes nearer to the name as given in the cyrograph than any other known Yorkshire name-form,
But scanty and indistinct as is our knowledge — even if it can be called knowledge at all — of what and where Hwersletorp and Linton were, all that such want or imperfection of knowledge amounts to is the disappoint- ment of our curiosity as to what it was that Kirkham was to have received in lieu of that which she consented to forego under given circumstances. It does not affect the fact that the surrender was contemplated, was for- mulated, was actually agreed to by both, or rather by all, the contracting parties ; and, keeping this steadily in view, it is seen clearly enough that there are other considerations yet to be entertained, and other specula- tions to claim a measure of thoughtful attention and careful discussion. And in order to lead on to some- thing of this kind, I would ask attention to the final clause of the cyrograph of agreement. It is this : " Sciendum quoque quod omnes canonici et fratres de Kirkeham qui in prsesenti vivunt, tantum habebunt in Capitulo et Ordine Cisterciensi quantum ejusdem Or- dinis monachi." What is the meaning, what the appli- cation of this clause ? It is not the less important, and surely it is not the less significant, because Mr. Walbran and other writers who advert to the mystery involving
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INTRODUCTION. XXXUl
the motives whicli led to the formation of this plan of surrender on the part of Kirkham, and to the arrange- ment of the terms on which it was to be carried into effect, have passed it by entirely without notice. All the canons and brethren of Kirkham were to have — of course after the arrangement agreed upon had taken effect — the same status in Chapter and in the Cistercian Order, as any monk whatever belonging to the said Order. But the canons of Kirkham were Augustinians. How could they come to have any standing at all either in Cistercian Chapter or Cistercian Order, without joining the Order ? And what is the explanation of the fact that some of the said canons and brethren were wiUing to have it so— for it is utterly apparent that such willingness existed, or no such clause as this final one could have been imagined, and much more formulated.
Now here I would draw attention to the circumstance that this cyrograph does not begin like the deeds, Nos. ccxxxiv. and ccxxxv. : "0. Prior et totus Conventus. . . de Kirkaham " ; or, " Wallevus, Prior, et Capitulum Ecclesise Kirkhamensis," but with " Hsec sunt illa quse concessimus . . . monachis de Rievalle " ; and further, that the party conceding, the " We" of the "concessimus," are a party apart from the Prior ; for towards the end of the document we find them — these same *' We" — in set terms declaring not only that they will not remove from Kirkham, but that they will not part with their Prior until all the conditions stated shall have been fully complied with and satisfied in all points : " Non voluimus amittere Priorem nostrum."
There seems to me to be but one solutiou to the ques-
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XXXIV 1NTROD0CTION.
tion raised by this consideration, but one explanation of the views and intentions so distinctly expressed in the terms we are considering, and that solution, that ex- planation depend on the existence of two variant parties in .the Convent. In other words, this contemplated arrangement found its origin in no question of " peace " between Rievaulx and Kirkham, but in a question of peace within the Priory itself. The Prior and some of the canons were on one side, the rest of the canons and brethren were on the other. These latter were will- ing to conform to the Cistercian Order, and to become incorporated in it as members, the canons among them as monks. The other party, and, as it would seem, with the Prior at its head, were not so willing.^
All this seems fairly plain sailing. But may we not advance a step further, and call in the help of a surmise as to what might have been an additional feature of the case ? Admitting that there were two parties in the Convent, and that one of them evidenced a willingness, or more than a willingness, to join the Cistercian Order,
^ This 18 a conclusion which appa- be no doubt that, at the probable
rently commends itself as perfectly date of this convention or agree-
logioal, and one that flowa, aa of ment^ he was still an AuguBtinian,
necessity, from the facts lUleged. and more than that, that he was
And yet it is by no means withoat its practically, in all but the material
difficulties. For not only is it known endowment and construction of the
that at a date some few years subse- Convent, the founder and practical
quent to that of the matters now originator of the Thornton establish-
under notice the Prior's proclivities ment, which also was Augustinian,
were distinotly towards the Cister- Up to 1140, then, we cannot look
cian Order, but it is alleged (although upon Prior Waltheof as belonging to
most mistakenly, as will be evident thatsectionoftheKirkhamcommau-
in the sequel) that he became not ity which, it is evident, looked upon
only a member of the Order, but adhesion to the Cistercian Order as
even Abbot of Rievaulx and of Mel- desirable. rose Buccessively. Still there can
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INTRODUCTION. XXXV
was it poasible to call in the mediation of " Advocatus noster/' and wasit not possible that he^ when hefound he could not heal the breach, might take the next best step in his power, and, in conjunction with Prior Waltheof and the influential fnends and allies of the latter, countenance, further, and support an agreement, in virtue of which peace might be restored to the Convent by the removal of one of the dissentient bodies ? And this is an hypo- thesis which may possibly explain the departure taken by Prior Waltheof, and the fact that the Priory of Kirk- ham remained in its old place and continued to be an Augustinian Priory as well. It is quite possible that some among the body might join the Cistercian Order, but the inference from all we know, and can legitimately infer, is that peace was restored to the Convent, and it was enabled to persevere in the old tracks.^
One consideration must have presented itself to the mind, and perhaps more than once, duriDg the course of the preceding discussion — I mean that, although both of the charters, which we have had to notice more or less in detail, are spoken of or described as Charters of Foundation — it is essentially necessary to bear in mind that such a description must be considerably qualified before it becomes applicable to such documents as they in reality are. Our conclusions as to their several dates are such that they can neither be qualified nor gainsaid. It is indisputable that the earlier of the two postdates
^ It mnst not be forgotten, in Cistercian Cloifiter and not to the
making or accepting thia suggeetion, Angostinian. The snpposition that
that Walter Espec, in the issue, him- he might, in his heart, favour the
Belf manifested a decided leaning to supposedCistercian movement in the
the CiBtercian Order. When he re- Priory is quite within the range of
tind from the world it was to the reason and probability.
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XXXVl INTRODUCnON.
the foundation of Rievaulx, and that is equivalent to saying that its date is at least ten years — and it might easily be eleven or twelve years — subsequent to the actual or initial " foundation " of the Priory. Not that this is a very important matter in itself, or that it haB any great significance in any way. The probability is that, had we the means of exact information, this might prove to be the normal condition in the foundation of many, if not most, of our early Eeligious Houses. Cer- tainly it was with Rievaulx. On careful and compara- tive examination and analysis it will appear that there is ample reason for concluding that the so-called Foun- dation Charter cannot date earlier than 1145, and that most likely its actual date must be assigned to that year, or very shortly after, at the latest But, as will be immediately called to mind, the Abbey was technically " founded," in one sense, as early as 1131, and in a fuller sense in 1132.
What I specially refer to is as foUows. There is a certain document printed by Dugdale as Num. v., among the documents connected with the Abbey of Rievaulx, and given in the present volume as No. cccLXViii., and headed as "Ex Registro Abbatiae de Rievaulx in Bibl. Cott sub effigie Julii D. L, fo. 15a, a.d. M c** tricesimo primo." There seems to be no reason for impugning either the authenticity or the accuracy of this record. On the contrary, the general tenor and bearing of the earUer charters in the collection, with the occajsionaJ and casual coincidences and suggestions met with in a careful consideration and analysis of their con- tents, all lead distinctly on to a general confirmation of
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INTRODUCTION. XXXVll
the statements conveyed in the record referred to. And the first statement in it is this : *^ In principio dat^e sunt ix carucatsB terrsa B. Bernardo, Abbati Clare* vallensi, scil., Grif et Tillestona, ad construendam ibi Abbatiam, a.d. mcxxxi" The terms are precise : at the outset so much was given, and no more — Griff and Tilston only. And then the next paragraph but one adds: " a.d. mcxlv. dedit nobis Walterus Espec Bildes- dale, cum pertinenciis suis." . . . The grant of Bilsdale then was made fourteen years later than that of Griff and Tilston; and, consequently, inasmuch as Walter Espec^s charter, described as the Foundation Charter, is as carefully and definitely precise in delineating the boundaries of north-east Bilsdale as it is in marking out those of Griff and Tilston, there can be no question that as a formal and authoritative conveyance of the former, as well as of the latter, it must, at the most, be con- temporaneous with the grant of Bilsdale in 1145.
I am quite aware that in writing thus I am writing what will be possibly looked upon as heresy by some, and that the view that the ^' charter of endowment was placed in the hands of the Abbot William" in '*the year 1131," is the view that ought to prevaiL But let us take the whole paragraph to which reference is made in these extracts, and see if no mode of reconciling the apparently discordant or conflicting views presents itselt " It would appear probable," says Mr. Walbran, Memorials of FountainSy Preface, p. xxiv, "that the mission sent by St. Bemard from Clairvaux was directed immediately into Yorkshire. Turstin was personally acquaiDted with St. Bemard, and may have suggested
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XXXVlll
INTRODUCnON.
the mission. Certain it is that when they amved there he effectually promoted their object. Espec was still undivorced from his sorrow, and when Turstin coun- selled him to befriend them, he settled them on the banks of the Rie, not far from his castle of Helmsley, where Rievaux now stands in hallowed beauty. The King not only sanctioned but advised the application of the gift, and Pope Innocent confirmed the whole proceeding by his pontifical authority. When the charter of endowment was placed in the hands of the Abbot William, there were present Thomas, Provost of Beverley, whom St. Bemard anxiously wished to draw into the Order ; Eustace Fitz John,^ of Knaresborough Castle, who became the founder of the Priories of Malton, Watton, and Alnwick; five brethren of the Priory of Wartre ; ^ but none of the parochial clergy, unless comprehended among three Chaplains who are named.* The solemn importance of the occasion is, however, indicated by a recital, in that instrument, of the assent of several members of the founder's family interested in his estate, and of the advice of eleven of his sub-infeudatories, who, with many of his friends and
' This 18 a mlBtake. Eustace Fitz Clemente fratribus ejuB : " Geoffirey*8
John himself was not preaent, onlj hii chaplain : *' Waltero, Capellano Eostachii filii JohanniB."
* I think this is open to quefltion. At least, if that is the meaning of the terms employed, it is an unusaal application of the terms, and one which did not suggest itBelf to me until I read the paBsage here ex- tracted. The terms are " Gaufrido, Clerioo (not Canonico) de Wartra, Ivone, Pagano, Hugone, WiUelmo,
brothera, not ** brethren of Wartre," as it seemB to me.
' Emald, Priest of Beverley, ia named next after Proyost ThomaB ; and the three chaplains specified are the chaplain of Eustace Fits John (already noted), Godfrey, chaplain to Henry de Munford, and Walter EBpec'B own chaplain, Robert, of whom subeequent men- tion iB more than once made.
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INTRODUCTION. XXxix
neighbours, were then assembled. The endowment consisted of nine carucates, or about a thousand acres of land, and the abbey was founded in the year 1131/'
Before offering any comment on any part or particu- lar of this extract, I would dcsire to draw attcntion to the circumstances : first, that at the outset the grantor states that by the permission (concessu) of the reigning king, and by the advice of his wife, he gives and grants in legal and formal possession (in manu Willelmi Abbatis) to the Abbot and monks there serving God, such and such lands, etc. ; second, that at the very end of the deed is appended the foUowing historical statement : — " Hanc Abbatiam Rievallensem fundavi ego, Walterus Espec, consilio et concessu Turstini, Archiepiscopi Ebor., concessu etiam et consilio Henrici, Regis Anglorum, Domino Papa Innocentio auctoritate Apostolica haec omnia confirmante.^'
To me it appears that this somewhat unusual appendix to a charter of the nature of the present one receives no small amount of explanatory illustration if considered as an historical recollection of the circumstances under which the Abbey had been in the first instance set on foot and defacto founded, and that, as viewed in this light, it adds a kind of formal and solemn sanction to all that had been put forward in the earlier part of the deed. It seems to say : " I took the step of founding this Abbey years ago by the advice of the great and good Archbishop Thurstan, and with the full assent and advice of my King, the Pope himself encouraging and supporting me, and now I confirm and establish all
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Xl INTRODUCTION.
that I did then, adding to and enlarging the means for good I devoted to the purpose at the outset/'^
It will have, no doubt, been observed that three successive years are named as the years of the founda- tion of Rievaulx Abbey, 1131, 1132, and 1133. The latter is the date quoted in the genealogy of Ros, which is found on the fourth parchment leaf in the Cottonian Cartularium (the substance of which is printed below in the Appendix), where the statement stands — " Walterus Especke, miles strenuus Conquestoris, tria fundavit monasteria, L de Kirkham, a.d. 1122; IL de Rievall, 1133 ; IIL de Wardon, 1136." As regards the other two years named, the following extract from the Hexham Book (S. S., p. 108) will serve as well as any other that can be adduced to bring the matter fairly before us — " Anno Mcxxxii., Walterus Espec, vir magnus et potens in conspectu regis et totius regni, monachos Cisterciensis Observantiae, directos a Bemardo, Abbate Clarae-vallis, recepit et posuit in solitudine Blackhoumor,
^ It is quite true this view is not difficulties must be balanced. So
without its difficulties. The most far as the witnesses are concerned,
apparent is the way in which King while some of thoee named were
Henry is mentioned in the preamble. certainly still living in 1145, I do
The obviouB inference seems to be not know of any who can be ident-i-
that both the King and his wife are fied as having passed away. And
living as well as consenting parties. although it was the last year of
Certainly it is stated that the Abbot Williani*s life, still he lived
latter survived her husband, but to the 4th nones of August in it,
the Eong died in 1135, and in 1145 and there is something not unattrac-
Stephen was king. But while it is tive, nor without its tinge of pa-
quite competent to us to accept the thetic sentiment, in the thought that
''concessuHenriciRegis Anglorum" Espec*s confirmation of his first
in its historical sense only, it must grant, and furtber benefaction of so
also be remembered tbat by taking important a character as the graut
it in the other sense we ignore the of Bilsdale, was made to his old
direct statement in the MSS. quoted friend on the eve of his approaching
to the effect that Bildesdale was departure to another and higher
given in 1145, and not before. These sphere of duty and service.
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INTRODUCTION. xli
secus aquam Rie, a qua coenobium eorum Rievallis dicitur. Cum quibus missus est Willelmus, primus Abbas eorum, vir consummatse virtutis, et excellentis memorise apud posteros;" while to this mention of Rievaulx is subjoined in a note — "Rievaux was the earliest Cistercian house in the north of England, and Prior John of Hexham could not pass over the founda- tion of a monastery which was' the mother of Mekose, and was presided over by the famous Aelred, who was a native of Hexham, a place which had good reason to remember him." And further, "Anno 1132, tertio nonas Martii, facta est Abbatia Sanctsd Mariae de Rei-valle, die Sabbati," says the historian of Mebose (Chron. ed. Bann. Club, 69), "and this is the date usually given. The donation, however, which brought the monks to that place had been made in 1131, when L'Bspec gave Grif et Tilestona to St. Bemard for the construction of an Abbey (Chart. de Rievaux, mss. Cotton., Julius D.). The Chronicle of Sigebert correctly ascribes the beginning of Rievaux to this year (German. rerum Chronographi, ed. 1566, 138^).''
In these notes then we have the three years in question each brought under notice, and two of them in such clear and easy connection that the reasonableness of what is advanced cannot but recommend itself to our regard. Perhaps, too, there may be something in the sentences involving the naming of the later date, which suggests something in the way of question or inquiry. The description given of Espec is, to say the least, a little startUng. "Miles strenuus Conquestoris." It supposes him to be a man past the first flush of youth,
d
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Xlii INTBODUGITON.
not to employ more forcible words, more than sixty years before the BatUe of the Standard, at which Aehred describes him as achieving a memorable renown. It is an utter impossibility, on the face of it, and it eflFectually discredits the statement of the Genealogy. But when we try to pass beyond merely negative allegations, such as this, we do not find much to advance in addition to what is said by Aebred. Brave, able, foreseeing, prudent, wise, good, and eager to do good — we see that he was all this and more; but as to particulars of his parentage, up-bringing, training, service, or as to the way in which he became enfeoffed at all, and much more so largely enfeoffed, who was the donor, or to whom he was successor, only a few hints can be found of such a nature as to suggest that perhaps inquiry might be rewarded by something in the way of discovery or acquisition. We undoubtedly find him the occupant of large estates ; but there is a something, so to speak, elusory, almost verging on the mysterious, in the very mention of these estates. He must, like the Brus, like more than one or two of the Barons named in connection with some or other of the grants recorded in the present Chartulary, have been lord of manors by the score. And yet when we try to realise the extent and the locale of these abounding lands and territories, we find ourselves baffled almost at the outset. We know that he held lands and lordships in Northumberland and in Bedfordshire, that Hehnsley, Bilsdale, Kirkham, with Westow, Wiitwell, Thixendale, Garton, and with those indefinitely localised places, Hwersletorp and Linton, were his ; we infer, with a precision amounting
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INTRODUCTION.
xliii
to certainty, that Sproxton, Haruiu, Stonegrave (or at least parts of the vills so named), and the lands held by the Surdevals, Lenveisets, Luvels, and others, his " homines/' mentioned in this charter of endowment, or, more casually, in other deeds, were certainly appendages of his great fief. But even in saying as much as this, elements of uncertainty are already introduced, and our only resource still left is to try and puzzle out painfully and doubtingly what may have belonged to him, inasmuch as we hear of it as a part of the possessions of the heirs of his sisters, which may possibly, perhaps sometimes probably, have come to them from their great ancestor Walter Espec^
^ It wonld Bcaroely be expedient, and it is surely mmeoessary to occupy spaoe in a chapter of the pre- aent kindwith an inqoiry and investi- gation of the natnre thus indicated. Bnt it may not be altogether inad- miBsible to advert in a note to Bome of the resultB of a very brief and imperfeot attempt of the kind in qaeation. In aa few words as can be conveniently employed, and in- clusive of the nnmber of camcateB Bpecified as extant in the two donbt- fnl placeB, it may be Btated that the extent of the fees in the poBBession of Walter Espec in the places in BQch parts of the coonty of York- shire as are immediately concemed by his grants, or by the Bubfees of his "men," or the direct inheritance of his deecendants (limiting the period to the end of the thirteenth centniy), most have reached to 135 camcates at the least. And another Btatement that may be ventured is tbat, of this very considerable area, a very oonsiderable proportion again had, at the time of the Sarvey,
been in the hands of the King him- self, or of his thanes, or, and most largely, the Earl of Mortain. Thus, in the vills of Sproxton and Griff the King held six camcates; in Tilston, Helmsley, and Hamm the King and the Earl held between them fif teen caracateB ; inKirkham, Thixendale, Howsham, Whitwell, Garton, Stonegrave, Pockley and Beadlam, the Earl had no less than forty-five camcates, while this enumeration does not indude Westow, in dependencies of which the King held six camcates, if not eight, and Barthorpe in Acklam, where the Earl had six camcates more. And the importance of not omitting these places in such an enumeration is seen very distinctly from the following entry in Kirkby^s InqueBt, p. 71 : '* Robertus de Ros tenet de rege in capite tria feoda militis in Husum, Wyuestou, Leuen- ing, et Barkethorp." It may occur to some to recal to mind as a parallel case, that, as regards the first grant to Robert de Brus, made quite
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INTRODUCnON.
Constrained as I have felt myself by the circum- stances of the case to speak with the caution or reaerve qualifying the preceding paragraph^ it is not without diffidence that I proceed to ofifer the following facts and considerations for a measure of attention. I have noticed in a brief note on page 16 that throughout the Museum ms. Cartularium the Founder's name is invari- ably written Espec, and without the prefixed L ; and I might have added that the same rule prevails in all the authentic early writings in which he is named. As to precisely when the form L'Espec was introduced, or why, I am not in a position to make any assertion ; but my impression is that the earliest instance of what I look upon as an innovation on the old mode of spelling the name is certainly later by more than a century, perhaps much more than a century, than the date of the foundation of Rievaulx Abbey. The original form is certainly Espec and not L'Espec. Now, here let me draw attention to the circumstance that King Stephen in 1135, in the presence of Walter Espec himsel^ GeojBfrey de Trailli, and all Walter's other nephews still living, confirms Espec^s foundation grant to Wardon Abbey in the foUowing terms : — " Scitote me
towards the end of the CoDqueror'8 reign, and recorded, not in its proper place, but altogether at the end in the Yorkshire part of the Bomesday Book, almost all the constituents therein were withdrawn from the Terra Regis of the earlier pages of the same volume; and that again when very large acceasions to the original grant were made by King Heniy, and, it is likely, within the Rrst decade of his reign, the aaid
acceasions were made, in many and striking instances, at the ezpense of the Earl of Mortain'8 fee, and some two or three others which were in the 8ame predicament with it, viz., forfeited by reason of the revolt of their late owners. And in the same two wajrs, but eapecially the latter, a great part of Walter Espeo^s Yorkshire estates would seem to have been made up.
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concessisse Deo et EcclesiaB S. MariaB de Essartis et monachis . . . qui de Abbatia Rievallis exierunt, ut ibi abbatiam faciant, totam essartam de Wardona et de Sudgivela, et totum illud boscum de illis duabus villis, per illas divisas et metas quas Walterus Espec, qui hsec eis donavit, illis fecit et statuit.'' On tuming to the Bedfordshire Domesday we find under the head- ing " XXV. Tebra Willelmi Spech," and among the half dozen manors, with sundry other lands, amounting in all to more than sixty hides, specified as held in capite by Spech, the manors of Wardone and Sudgiv- ele mentioned as comprising, the one of them nine hides and the other five and half a yardland, together with a variety of interesting details as to the nature of the property and its value. But the fact of special interest is that William Spech, at the date of the retum in question, or 1087, is the feudal occupant of the lands and rights granted forty-eight years afterwards by Walter Espec to the nascent monastery of Wardon. This can scarcely be a fortuitous coincidence ; for there is the absolute identity of the manors specified and the practical or defctcto identity of the name of the tenant in capite of 1087 with that of the grantor of 1131. The inference that Walter Espec was, not simply the heir, but the son— or at least the nephew on the father's side — of William Spech is unavoidable, for anything we can see to the contrary. And there is no apparent reason for not accepting the inference that he was son rather than nephew, and this decides the form of the name.
But this is a conclusion which, so far as it is valid,
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xlvi INTRODUCTION.
eflFectually disposes of the genealogy statement or assumption — already discredited by its inherent in- credibility, not to say absurdity, that Walter Espec was "miles strenuus Con^uestoris." That was the r61e enacted by Walter's presumptive father. That Walter Espec also was a " miles strenuus" there can be no doubt, as it would seem : only it would be in the service of King Henry ; and, we surmise with ahnos equal certainty, in the wars occasioned by the rcvolt of Robert Curthose, the issue of which was snch as to place the large forfeited estates of Mortain and other well-feoffed barons at the King's disposal, wherewith to acknowledge the services of the captains who had fought faithfully and bravely for him.
This may be as suitable a place as any other in which to notice another somewhat hjrperbolical and much misunderstood expression employed by the later chroniclers who deal with Walter Espec^s good deeds as exemplified in his foundation of the three Houses of Kirkham, Rievaulx, and Wardon. With a species of exaggeration which is intelligible, and perhaps under the circumstances pardonable, but which is exaggera- tion all the same, he is described as having, under the influence of his sorrow, " made Christ his heir," and of a portion of his lands so great that very exaggerated language is employed in detailing the munificence of his gifts. In the extract given at the commencement of this Introduction it would be observed that the endowment of Kirkham alone is estimated at 1300 marks of annual income. In the notice of Walter Espec prefixed to the Genealogy the terms employed are —
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''MonaBterio autem de Eirkham dedit jus patronatus Beptem ecclesiaram per ipsum appropriatarum in pro- prios usus habendum, et possessiones Mc marcarum in Comitatu Northumbrise : plus multo Bivalli, ut per iUius Monasterii Begistrum patet." The utter extra- vagance of such statements is exposed by the least consideration or inquiry. The total annual value of the estates belonging to Eirkham, at the valuation made 26 Henry viil amounted to £300, 168. 6d., which of course would indude all later donations as well as that of the Founder ; and yet we are gravely told that the Founder's endowment alone produced on annual revenue of £865, 13s. 4d. t And then comes in the still more preposterous allegation as to his giving "multo plus" to Rievaulx. His giffc to Rievaulx, so far as ''is patent in the register," was anything but "munificent." There were nine carucates of the original grant, and a given portion of land, mostly unreclaimed, in Bikdale, of the secondary grant. And the endowment of Wardon was more meagre still. What is specified in King Stephen^s confirmation is not by any means the entire manors of Wardon and Sudgiv- ele, but of certain essarts there to be found, and of not altogether insignificant forest rights in each of the said manors. And on the whole tbere can be but little doubt that, in these records of the Founder's " muni- ficence," with which we have to do, there is much more of rhetorical description than of sober history. The compiler of the legend might have perfectly good and sufficient reasons for magnifying the subject of his tale, and such embellishments might not be held as out of
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xlviii INTKODUCTION.
place, or in bad taate, by those on whom some reflected credit was thereby bestowed.
But to revert to the subject we had in hand before making this digression. Looking, then, upon the first grant towards the raising and sustentation of the nascent Abbey as made in 1131, and the actual con- summation of conmienced and direct action as mark- ing the foUowing year, we are — what is not the case with the early stages of foundation-work at Fountains, only a year or two after — left to our own surmises as to the progress of events in the weeks and months that followed. With the fairly substantial initiatory grant of nine carucates of land, and that land in itself of no inferior quality, and with the countenance and, doubtless, active sympathy of their first founder and benefactor, we can hardly think of the monkish colony as experiencing one tithe of the difl&culties, and hardly any of the stem hardships, which fell to the lot of their brethren on the banks of the Skell. Not that it would be all plain sailing, beyond all question. They would have their toils, their perplexities, their perils. For we can scarcely set down such descriptions of the place as "locus horroris et vastse solitudinis," ^ "a
^ "A nobili viro Waltero Espeo the brethren who were sent from
invitati . . . monachi Clarevallenses Citeaux to fonnd the Abbey of
. . . in loco qui nunc dicitur Bie- Clairvall, ' In loco horroris et vastae
vallis, tunc autem locus erat horroris solitudinis consederunt viri illi vir-
etvastsB solitudinis, mansionem ac- tutis facturi de spelunca latronum
ceperant" (Will. of Newburgh, L templum Dei et domum orationis.'
41). No donbt this is aratherhack- It is used also by the chronider of
neyed passage. Mr. Walbran (Mem. Kirkstead in describing the foonda-
of Fountains, 2, n. 5) writes, ** This tion of that house, and is similarly
description was naturally suggested applied by other Cistercian writers. "
by a passage in the Life of St. But still there must have been a
Bemard, where it is said of him and great amonnt of desoriptive foroe in
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xlix
solitary place in Blakemor, surrounded by steep hills and covered with wood and ling " ^ as due to nothing else than the rhetorical fancy of the limners, and when we call to mind the yivid picture drawn in Bemard de Baliors yet later charter of grant in Westerdale ^ — a place of no greater " solitudo " or " horror '' than Rievaulx must then have been — no other conclusion is possible save that the pioneers of the monastic work and Ufe in the dales of the Bie had a time of rough and not quite dangerless experience to pass through. Bie- vaulx may now "stand in hallowed beauty" — and would that its beauty were regarded more in the spirit and sense of the epithet' — but then the descriptive adjectives must have qualified tracts of an unreclaimed,
it aa applied to a totally unreclaiined place in the wilds of the vast, track- len, deaolate Blackhow Moor. Of a part of the same diatrict, not thirty yeara ago, a man who had roughed it all over the world nearly, and waa then Profeaaor of Phyaiology in a Qneen*8 College in Ireland, de* scrihed his ideaa of it, after paaaing OTer a limited and road-traveraed portion of the aame, by the applica- tion of the terma " a waate howling wUdemeaa."
^ ''A aolitary place in Blake- more, near Hehnaley, aurrotmded by ateep hiUa and coyered etc." (Dngdale, ▼. 274.)
' See No. ocxv.: *'£t paatorea eorom Hbere utentur comubua in ^em paatoria propter beatiaa et latronea." . . . There can be no mere figure of apeech or rhetorical utifioe in the aober, matter-of-faot terma employed in an ordinary oharter of benefaction orgrant.
' When laat at Bievaulx (in No- vember 1887) I waa glad to aee that
the ivy which waa alowly but aurely aapping the atabillty of the ezterior of the aonth end of the choir had been removed, and that the aame precautionary meaaurea were being pursued elaewhere. But at the aame time I aaw but too many evidencea of the alow but aure procesaea of decay and ruin operating unchecked in other parta of the venerable f abric. In one place there had been a recent fall involving deatruction of featurea of intereat, and in another a large maaa, the fall of which would carry away many tona of material, and cauae the utter deatruction of the openinga of two windowa, waa only kept from falling by the application of ligaturea and ahorea, which, at the utmoat, could be effectual in averting the threatened min and loaa but for a few daya — it might even be howcs : and I could not leam that any ordera for the effectual averting of the threatened cata- atrophe had been or were likely to be iaaued.
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wild, waste, and inhospitable district. And these new- comers^ strangers and foreigners— not so much we may, as we mtist infer — ^had a great^ a toilsome, and a difficult work before them : — ^how difficult^ in one way, few suspect, except they be old enough and with suffi- cient experience to realise what the clannish feeling of the true old uncultured, uninformed natiye of the York- shire wilds was, even down to the present century.
It is not that the work of constructing a shelter for their heads and a material oratory for their devotions — under the circumstances, that is, which we assume to have been theirs — would be likely to prove very arduous QT very intricate. We read, with a sort of uncompre- hending, or rather unawakened intelligence that lacks practical application, of those poor famished refugees, starved with cold as well as hunger-pinched, at Foun- tains, plaiting their mats and wattling their " fleaks," wherewith their oratory was to be fashioned forth, and we fail to realise that in such days and such under- takings as these of the first third of the twelfth century, hewn stone and squared timbers were scarcely likely to accommodate themselves to the actual working founders' hands. All that must be the work of other labourers and later days. We noticed a while since, in speaking of the exodus of canons from Kirkham to Thomton, that it was in one year the powerful Earl began to construct, and that in the next the canons just men- tioned entered upon that which had been constructed. Put up, made susceptible of occupation, and occupied within the limits of twelve months ! But what about the nature, the quality, the proposed durability of such
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constructions ? I can liken them to nothing so sug- gestingly as to the sheds and cabins " run up " for the workmen's occupation and use in the near vicinity of some great structure or engineering eflfort, which, it is known, will occupy architect and builder for months, perhaps years, before the last sound of the workman's tool can be heard.
And so it was beyond reasonable doubt with those whose lot it was to initiate the great work at Rievaubc, They must have laboured at first, not so much with the expectation, or the hope even, as the intention that what they were doing should be but for a time, should be swept away to make room for, at least to be super- seded by, something better, higher, worthier. And in reality that something nobler and worthier could scarcely have been begun until some sensible space later.^ At
^ As a practical, and, at the time when these sentencea in the text were written, unlooked for, illnstra- tion if not confirmation of the views embodied in them, let me adduce the two following extractB from the Chronica de Mailroe : — " Anno Mcxzxvi.: facta est Abbatia S. Mariie de Mailros, feria secunda PaschsB, et Ricardus primus Abbas MehroB." The second, on the fol- lowing page, la "Anno hcxlyi: Ecclesia S. Marias de Mailros dedi- cata eet, v kalendas Angnsti, in die Dominica." Here, then, an interval of ten years and a half intervenes between the constitution of the Abbey founded bythe first of the oolonies sent out from the parent honae of Bievaulx, and the formal setting apart of their first church for the purpoBes for which it had been erectiBd. From every point of view
the drcumBtance iB noteworthy, and the question of a temporary or make- shift plaee in which to worship in the interim, is one which answers itself the moment it is raised. But a further and still more practical illustration of the same matter is found in the notioes given in the Ghronica de MeUa of the initiatory ateps taken in the establishment of that Gonvent in the selected place. The entries in their tmadomed sim- plicity and directness are as foUows. Under date 1150 to 1160, Adam, the first Abbot, "fecit eedificari quan- dam magnam domum, licet ex vili cemate [?wicker or wattled work] . . . in qua Conventus adventurus, donec providentius ordinaretur, habi- taret. Fecit etiam quandam capellam juxta domum pnedictam . . . ubi monachi omnes in inferiori solario postea decubabant, et in superiori
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INTRODCCTION.
least, such seems to be the testimony of that which we are still permitted to behold, and to look upon as the earliest part of the work which was intended to endure, Doubtless there was an early choir : a short one, almost certainly, as was the Cistercian use, as well as like so many other early Norman choirs, and perhaps with apsidal termination. Perhaps thc transepts were built on to that, and the great Norman navc continued, in its unusual direction, to be raised year after year, section after section, as at Whitby, until at last the great com- prehensive plan began to assume a measure of complete- ness, and fairer visions of a gracefuller style began to dawn on the designers' mental perception.
But we may well pause here for a space. There are
diyina officia devotius persolvebant." Then, obtaining the gift of certain planks and beams, reserved f rom the diBmantling of de Stuteville's wooden castle of Montferat, "plures mona- sterii aedificataB fuerunt officinss." Nezt, the record prooeeds ''Capella, de qua superius fiebat mentio, qusB tuno oratorium et dormitorium mona- chorum exstiterat, nimis arcta erat, ubi tot monachiet psallerent et pausa- rent. Abbas ipse Adam et monachi aedificaverunt magnam illam domum, ubi nunc brasium nostrum conficitur, de tabulis quse de ipso castro ligneo exstiterunt, cujus partem superiorem pro oratorio, inf eriorem vero pro dor- mitorio, diutius habuerunt." This is the sum of the building processes during the first ten years. The second Abbot, between 1160 and 1182, '* opus lapideum incepit in monasterio, ecclesiam, scilicet, et dormitorium monachorum, et quidem dormitorium et necessaria perfecit : " from which it would appear that, up to 1182, the church itself was only in
an incipient state. Between 1182 and 1197 the frater of stone was begun and finished, but by eztra- neous assistance. The convent oocu- pied themselves with the calefactory, and with repairs and rebuildings of granges and premises, and a new church was begun, the older build- ing being inadequate and unseemly. This commenced church, however, was superseded under the fourth Abbot, or between 1197 and 1210, when the ''refectorium oonverao- rum" was completed, their dorter oommenoed; the cloister in stone also, and many other of the offices. And it was not till Palm Sunday in the year 1207 that the first stone of the church which was destined to stand was actually laid. Comment- ary upon all this in connection vdth the slow progress of conventual building assumed in the text is surely needless. I am indebted to Mr. W. H. St. John Hope for briuging this parallel to my notice.
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liii
other matters calling for a measure of our attention and thought before we set ourselves tb contemplate the means at the command of, and the methods, or some of them, actually adopted by the builders of the Abbey such as we see it in part, and in part strive to reconstruct it in thought, and by deduction from what yet remains to be seen. It was not simply that, as Mr. Walbran writes {Menhorials^ 4, n. 2), the **house of Rievauz in the lifetime of its first Abbot^ and the celebrated Aebed, sent out colonies of monks who established the Cister- cian Abbeys of Mekose in Scotland, and the first of the Order in that kingdom ; Revesby in Lincolnshire ; and Wardon in Bedfordshire " ; ^ but there were other open-
1 Ab it is hardly part of my pur- pose to occupy space uunecessarily by giving details of matters that are sufficiently well known already, inatead of inserting remarka of my own touching on the facts of these three f oundations as emanating from Rievaulx, I prefer appending the continuation of Mr. Walbran*8 note, from whtch the eztract in the tezt is derived. Of Melrose he proceeds to aay, "The former was founded in 1196, by King Bayid i. (Ghron. de Mailroe: Hist. Ang. Script., ed. Oale) ; Reveeby, in 1 142, by William de Ronuura, Eu^I of Lincohi, William his Bon, and Hawisehis wife. ' Sciatis nosy* tiiey record in the charter of foundation (Mon. Ang. voL L p. 822), ' oonceasiMe et dedisse Deo et Sanct» Marin et monachis de Rie- valle, in manu Willielmi abbatis, ad conatitnendam abbatiam de Ordine Cistercii, etc. * Stillaorrowing piously . . . Espec founded the monasteiy of Wardon. Aocording to the an- cient narrative, Cott. ms., ViteU. F. 4, which is a mutilated collection
of extracts from ancient reoords, and the Annals of Norwich, quoted in the Monasticon (voL i. p. 784), this circumstanoe took place in the year II36. This date, however, is erroneous; since the confirmation of the Foundation Charter by King Stephen (Mon. Ang. iU mipra) is witnessed by Turstin, Archbishop of York, Alexander, Bishop of Lin- coln — who colonised his Abbey of Louth Park from Fountains—and among others, by Walter Espec, and all his nephews and heirs then liv- ing, apud Eboracum, ' anno Incama- tionis Dominicffi millesimo centesimo tricesimo quinto, et regni mei primo in Christo perfecto feliciter.* In this charter the King confirms, ' Deo et eccIesisB S. MariiB de Essartis et monachis ibidem Deo servientibus, qui de Abbatia Rievallis exierunt, ut ibi abbatiam f aoiant, totum essar- tum de Wardona et de Sudgivela, et totum illud boscnm de illis duabus villis, per illas divisas et metas quas Walterus Espec, quihoc eis donavit, illis f ecit et statuit et sicut carta sua
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ings of a similar nature, or it may even have been invitations or requests, backed by the oflfer or the gift of lands for sites, and the like, which are less well known, and as mentioned at all, mentioned so as to show manifestly they were misunderstood. Such was the gift of land by Olaf, King of Man, and of other land by Walter de Gant, at Stainton, and in either instance with the distinct statement that the donation was made ** ad abbatiam constituendam " or " construendam/'
As to the first-named of these two cases, in the Cronicon Mannise, under the date Mcxxxrv., there is the entry, •*01a\nis Kex dedit Yvoni, Abbati de Fumes, partem terrae suse in Mannia ad abbatiam constituen- dam in loco qui vocatur Kussin." There is, besides, among the Duchy Charters at the Public Record Office, one numbered 256 in the Public Records Report of 1875, which is thus described by the editor : — *' Letter from King Olaf of Man, wherein he directs that the Bishops of Man and the Isles shall be chosen in the Church of St. Mary of Furness, and he confirms his gift of a piece of land to construct an abbey." The date of this document is, by the compiler of the Report, made to lie between 1134 and 1139. But, as I have remarked in the Introductory Chapter to the Fumess Coucher Book (Chetham Society, p. xxx), "there is another matter, in the same connection, remaining to be noticed, and that is the previous grant by Olaf to Rievaulx of the aforesaid land in or near to Russyn. The state-
confinnaTit.' From a confirmatory Ang. yoL i. p. 866), it appean that charter of Eing Henry n. to the the Abbey, which was founded in monks of Sibton in Korfolk (Mon. 1160, was a daughter of Wardon.*'
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ment made concernmg this previous grant at p. 11, is as follows : — ' Certa terra in Mannia data fuit AbbathiaB de Bievalle ad conBtniendam abbatiam de Russia. Postea, tamen, data fait Abbatiae de Furnesio, ad con- Btituendam eam de Ordine Cisterciensi, ubi modo situata est, et sic, non de Rievalle sed de Fumesio exivit' Beck's comment upon this is — *the ground had been previously granted to the Abbey of Rievaux for the purpose of building a monastery there. But the monks of that House not availing themselves of the donation, it was transferred to Fumess.' " Mr. Beck adds, in a note, that "the notices of this occurrence are involved in confusion," but much of the confusion is of his own creation, and originates partly in the circumstance that he ignores, or else is ignorant of, the fact that Rievaulx was a house of the Cistercian Order from the beginning, as Fumess was eventually. For the facts as stated are clear enough. " The grant in question was first made to Rievaulx. That Abbey, however, was not founded till 1131, and possibly not tUl a year or two later, . . . and one thing is fairly clear, namely, that, taking the later date as the practical one, the only just nascent Abbey was not in a very good position for undertaking, at Olafs desire, 'abbatiam constituere' in the Tsle of Man, or anywhere else; for the monks would have their hands full with their own home building opera- tions."
Probably the general tenor of these extracts, taken with what has been advanced in some nearly preced- ing paragraphs, will be regarded as a sufficient notice of the circumstance under consideration. Or, at least, the
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only other commentary there seems to be any occasion to offer on the matter is, that^ however unexpected it may seem, at first sight, that such a donation, accom- panied by such a grant» should have been made to Bievaulx at such a very early date in the period of its own exist^nce, still a good deal of the aspect of strange- ness will be removed by the recollection that none of these things were done in a comer. The pioneer colony of Cistercian monks, "directed by St. Bernard," had been in the country now for five or six years. The mission would be known, the arrival heard of, wherever there was not merely a zeal for the great and holy work like unto Espec's, but wherever there was a latent desire, a nascent disposition to engage in the same in the hundreds of places calling for an exertion of the like missionary efforts. And then, I think, we may allow a little for the motive involved in the more modem phrase that it was " becoming the fashion '' to build monasteries. It seems simply impossible to doubt that King Olaf must have heard of what St. Bemard was doing for North England in general, and at Walter Espec^s instance in particular ; and then, what more natural than that he should apply for the aid he wanted at what would, to him, of necessity, appear to be the fountain-head ?
The other instance of the same kind adverted to a little above, is thus introduced by Mr. Walbran in his paper on Kirkham, aJready spoken of (and more than once) in the course of the present remarks: — ^'^The motive," he says, " of the meditated surrender of their house and property by the canons of Kirkham to the
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monks of Rievaux, is no more apparent to us than that which induced the monks of Rievaux to meditate a translation of their house in 1158 — five years after the death of their founder — to Stainton near the sea, mid- way between Whitby and Scarborough — a fact not generally known." In the absence of any notes or memoranda by Mr. Walbran which might serve to throw light upon the matter, it is hard to account for what appears to be a series of gratuitous slips and misapprehensions. In the first place, the Abbey actu- ally parted with the Stainton grant to the King in the year alleged as that of the ^' meditated translation " : **Anno ab Incamatione Domini Mclviii, dedit nobis Rex Henricus n^ vastum subtus Pikering, in escambio pro Steintona, quam nobis dedit Walterus de Gant ad abbatiam construendam.'' (See below, p. 261.) In the second place, the Stainton in question was not the ** Stainton by the sea " — in other words Staintondale — " between Whitby and Scarborough." That Stainton appears to have been a part of the Terra Regis of Domesday, and to have remained attached to the Honour of Pickering Castle as long as it remained in Royal or quasi-Royal tenure, and so could not have been in the hands of the alleged donor of the land which was given "ad construendam abbatiam." And again, in the third place, as given by Walter de Gant (see No. ccclxviii.), it must be looked for within the limits of the fee of that donor. And, as it appears, he waa lord of Folkingham, in Lincolnshire, and, on his marriage with Matilda, daughter of Stephen, Earl of Lin- coln, he received aa her dowry the whole of Swaledale ;
e
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and thus we are led on to the identification of Stainton, a township in Downholme parish, about eix miles west of Eichmond, and no great way from. EUerton Abbey, as the Stainton which the said Walter de Gant, who died in 1138, gave to Eievaulx " ab abbatiam constraendam ibL" And we may further notice that it was this Walter's son, Gilbert, who married Hawyse, daughter of William de Eomara (named just above as the founder of Eevesby Abbey), whose name is found among those of the early benefactors of Eievaulx Abbey. He died indeed, in 1156.
But quite independently of the mistake as to the site of Stainton, there seems to be absolutely no reason dis- cernible for the representationthat the monks of Eievaulx either meditated, or had a motive for meditating, the removal of their house in the year 1158, or indeed in any other year, and either to Stainton or any where else. They may have meditated sending a draft of monks thither, as it appears they did to Mekose, to Eevesby, to Wardon ; but we have nothing on which to rest the positive statement that they ever really devised any such plan as that of removal from Eievaulx. Indeed, when we consider the drain upon their resources in men that must have been occasioned by furnishing these daughters of the house with the number of monks required, and the further fact that the grant by the King of Man, probably contemporaneous, or nearly con- temporaneous, with their own foundation, was, and no doubt necessarily, suffered to go by default, the pre- sumption that they could not have contemplated any such step as even this modified project involves, at the
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date of or soon after Walter de Gant'8 benefaction, is enforced upon us. Only, and perhaps by reason of the donor^s death, which must have followed somewhat elosely on the donation, the grant was not withdrawn, as, in the case of the King of Man and the Isles, it was. On the whole, while I think that Mr. Walbran read the historical passage on which he must have founded his representation of motive and object as entertained by the Kievaulx monks very hastily, and without giving himself time for consideration, and much more for in- quiiy, I feel bound, as editing this Chartulary, to state that, having gone through the whole again and again, and having examined all the records to me available, I have never met with a single word or expression that has led me to suspect that such an idea as that of removal from Rievaulx had ever presented itself to the energetic and ably directed monastic community there established. They had their difficulties and their discouragements, and grievous enough some of them were, as will be more fully noticed at a fature page. But, so far as is apparent, they did not lose heart in the darkest and most discouraging period, when things seemed to be going most against them, but sought such remedy as was open to them, and proceeded steadfastly on their way while yet the result of their appeal was uncertain.
The interest of the narrative would be absorbing if we were permitted, as in the case of the sister house of Fountains, to read the — so to speak — daily entries in the joumal of their early experiences in such uphill labour as no little of theirs must necessarily have been. For it will be observed that, apart from any active sym-
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pathy and co-operation they may have met with on the part of the Founder, they seem to have been thrown very much upon their own resources, so far as help or countenance from any other extemal quarter is involved. There seems to be a sort of unintended pathos in the few words of the record that tell us this. The Founder gives them Grif and Tilston to start them on their laborious course ; and then, some years afterwards, no one interfering on their behalf in the slow toilsome interval, a neighbour steps in and bestows upon them a not very important donation at Hesketh, the total value of which, with the additions afterwards made to it, only amounted, at the time of the Dissolution, to £4, 13s. 4d. a year. And then they have to wait until 1145 for Walter Espec's supplementary grant of Bildes- dale, which, eventually at least, constituted a valuable addition to their worldly means.
Perhaps it may suggest itself to some among the readers of these lines that, in employing terms and a tone such as those of the preceding paragraph, a false impression may possibly be conveyed ; that something like a suppression of facts may be involved. But I hardly think so. There seems to be but little even to suggest the possibility that extraneous assistance to any noticeable extent flowed in upon the monks during the initial years of the existence of their establishment. For, to what sources are we to look upon them as likely to be indebted ? There was no wealthy or well-to-do middle class, even if a middle class at all ; and the villeins, cottars, grassmen, in a district that, scarcely forty years before, had been mainly retumed as " waste," and that
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still admitted of such description as that noticed a while since in the records left by the Chroniclers of the circum- stances of the foundation, could scarcely be looked upon as likely to be eflScient helpers where money or money's worth was urgently needed. From the lords of the soil, in their several degrees, and from the lords of the soil only, could the material aid that was needed be expected; and, as we have noticed, their aid came in slowly, and, as it were, reluctantly. If we scruti- nise the catalogue of grants tabulated in No. cooLXix. (derived from the same source as its predecessor), we find the total amount of gifts, made and accepted within the first fif ty years or so of the Convenfs being, summed up in the number of fifty carucates.
Moreover, in this same connection, another considera- tion is that the Foundation grant— nay, that the ulti- mate whole .of Espec's grant — ^is not of an overwhelming nature. It might be possible, with a certain allowance, to write touching the endowment of Kirkham : " The bounty of the founder was dealt out with no niggard or parsimonious hand. . . . He bestowed upon his Priory those most magnificent gifts," lands and tithes in Nor- thumberland, the advowsons of seven churches, divers considerable vills or manors in Yorkshire, so that it might all be summed up — **He (the founder) devoted to the endowment of Kirkham alone a revenue esti- mated in the earlier part of the twelfth century at the aonual sum of 1300 marks." ^ But it was widely other- wise with Rievaulx. Four carucates at Griff and five at
^ The entire and apparent absardity of snch an estimate has been noticed at a pTevions page.
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Tilstx)n — scarcely more, if more, than the equivalent of the Eirkham manor only — without the seven churches, without the lands and manors in Northumberland, with- out the vills and carucates of Westow, Whitwell, Thix- endale, without the fisheries and mills, without the tithes here and there— this was all the endowment with which to aid her eflforts Rievaulx had to begin with, and to depend upon for the first few years, or until Odo de Boltby came to the rescue, and then was foUowed by the Founder with the fiirther, but again not overwhelm- ingly liberal, grant of Bilsdale. As compared with the •^bounty" displayed towards Kirkham, there can be, looking at the transaction as we are looking at it, but small reserve about the application of the antithetical word quoted above to the dimensions of the " founda- tion'' grant to Rievaulx. And yet it was, and no long time first, like to the grain of mustard seed. Take the date of Espec's Bildesdale grant, or 1145 — ^approxi- mately also the date, as it would seem, of Stephen do MeinU^s grant of the lost vill of Stainton, and of two or three other and earlier benefactions — and pause for a moment to reflect that that is the approximate date also of the earliest portions of the mason-work still standing to greet our eyes and challenge our admiration in the stately ruin of the conventual Church. Who can tell where the means came from, or how it was that such a mighty zeal, as is attested by the great block of work, which we see for ourselves was actually carried out, was inspired ? Who were the helpers, and in what form or forms was the help given? Pondering on these questions, it is of course open to us to conclude, and I cannot but
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feel convinced myself that, by the very contrast drawn jnst now between the endowments of Earkham and of Rievaulx, the conclusion is forced upon us, that the "Founder" now became a founder indeed, and in another and foller sense than any we have yet realised, when once the works that were intended to stand and become " an house exceeding magnifical unto the Lord " were fairly and fully designed and initiated. Why should not he too, like a greater than he in the old, old time, " make preparation for the house that was to be builded,'' and prepare " abundantly before his death " ? For had not he too " set his aflfection to the house of his Grod, and given to the house of his God over and above all that he had prepared " ?
For my own part, considering the extent of work that was completed at the early period we are contemplating, and the character of the same, it seems utterly impossi- ble, allowing for the slenderness of the as yet existing means of the Convent, to account for the fact that it was eflFected, on any other ground save some such as that now Buggested. The effort, and the results alike, were so obviously beyond the means and the unassisted power of the Convent, and the assistant must have been one alike munificent and abounding in wealth.
But there is yet another matter to which attention must be called, a little consideration of which may pos- sibly serve to set what has now been suggested in even a clearer light. That great architectural knowledge and experience were brought to bear on the rising struc- ture it is simply superfluous to say. And I suppose that in saying as much as that, there is further assumed the
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presence of engineering ability, and such as to render available all extant resources for facilitating the under- taking in hand. But it would appear probable, or indeed more than probable, that at Rievaulx a more striking, and, I think it may be added, a much more interesting illustration than usual of this position is afforded hy the very circumstances of the case as they seem to be presented to us.
"We bear in mind that in or about 1145, the Convent has been, speaking roughly, in existence about a dozen years ; that, according to the custom of the Cistercians, the site had been selected in a lonely or remote place ; that, according to the history we have, it was more than merely lonely or remote, — it was desolate, wild, even savage ; that, according to all analogy, the labours and hardships, and even perils, of the first settlers must have been arduous and real ; that until they could succeed in getting their Grif and Tilston land, or part of it, into some sort of regular cultivation — which could not be done oflf-hand — they would have no regular supplies; that save wood and water, with stone if they were in a position to use it, there was little else available for employment in their intended or projected works ; that, in short, they had much the same sort of task before them as a colonist party of our own time would have as set down in a rough new country, with scanty stores taken out from home. And they had to provide them- selves not only — and, in one sense, hardly as their first object — with shelter for their bodies, mere cabins or huts at first (but to be as soon as possible replaced by dwell- ings of a more or less conventual form), but above all
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Ixv
with a place to worship in, an oratory, however plain, however rough even, from the haste with which it had to be run up. And then we picture to ourselves, per- haps, the nature of the buildings, if " buildings " we can call tbem, that were run up within the year for the reception of the Prior and his twelve canons from Kirk- ham at their settlement in Lincobishire. Or, perhaps, we tum our pondering thought to the cyrograph between Rievaulx and Kirkham, and reflect that if perchance the various buildings specified therein were actually completed within the year from the ratifying of the agreement — a contingency absolutely contemplated in one of the conditions specified toward the end of the document — those several buildings, so precisely cata- logued, could by no possibility have been what we understand by the term " substantial," and could never, in any sense or in any part, have been the buildings designed to stand for good, and designed accordingly.^
' I am quiteaware that in writing thns, I am laying myself open to a chaige of inoonsistency, for that in the notes to the cyrograph adverted to in the text, the idea that the material to be employed in the con- Btmction of the propoaed Church, cbapter-house, dorter, and frater, was in reality squared stone or ashlar ia mentioned and by no means diacarded as untenable. Bnt the truth ia that Bince that note not only waa written, but printed, further inquiry and consideration have led me to give it up as involv- ing too many difficulties. It will be observed, that the material to be employed in the construction of the aforesaid parts of the conventnal
whole is termed "apuor." With no dissentient voice sptior is taken by those who have dealt with the deed in question, and by others with whom I have conversed or oorre- sponded on the subject, to mean or designate hewn or squared stone, or ashlar. The difficulties in the way of adopting this conclusion appear to me after maturer thought and consideration to be twofold: — (1.) those arising from philological in- quiry and research ; (2.) those aris- ing out of the very nature of the conditions and circumstances stated. 1. There seems to be no possible or supposable connection for the word "spuor,'' taken in the suggested sense. No glossary, ancient or
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INTRODUCTION.
But with all these musings and pondenngs, we allow for the erection of a choir of stone, however short, and
modeni, so f ar as I am aware, gives any word the least like "spaor," either in form or suggestion, taking stone, squared, or in any f orm, as the 8igni£cation intended ; and it is sel- dom indeed that a word is met with 80 utterly isolated as that comes to. But again, 2. Four important parts of the conventual establishment (besidea the seven others specified " of some other material ") are to be oonstructed in ''spuor," and more than only poesibly within the year. To build a church — and allowing only f or the choir — for thirteen pro- fesBed brethren,besidea oonversi, and allowing for the influx of so many new-comers as are implied in the sending out of so many drafts to fumish new Abbeys elsewhere — and chapter-house, dorter, and frater, on the same scale, in hewn stone, is simply impossible. The con- struction on that wise of a small parish church, under the existing circumstances of a still only growing oommunity— say, such as is pre- sented to our view and appreciation in the almost contemporary choir at Lastingham — oould not have been effectually completed within such limits of time. Taking these diifi- culties into consideration, I feel my- self constrained to differ in view with the authorities mentioned above as to the probable meaning of *'spuor," and in preference to adopt the theory that the word in question may be a connection — possibly disguised by scribe or oopyisfs mistake — of the old word which has come down to us in the form "spar." ** Fyr sperris," "sparrys de quercu," "sperris de abiete," arefamiliar mediaeval terms,
and it is a matter equally familiar that houses, churches, even castles, were whoUy or in part built of tim- ber. ' * The use of wood f or domestic architecture long after this time," — the eleventh century — says Profes- sor Freeman {Norm, Con, ii. 606), " need not be dwelt upon, and there is abundant evidence of the use of wood in fortification at this time and later. • . . Stone was at this time fast coming into use for do- mestio, as well as for military and ecc2e«ia«(i(»/ buildings." Previously then the material in use must have been wood, or modifications depend- ing on the use of wood. As an illustration simply, let me advert to Greensted church, constructed, as there seems no reason to doubt, in or about the year 1013, to receive the body of St. Edmund. The entry in a record preserved in the Monastioon is ''Idem apud Aungre (Ongar; Greensted having been formerly parcel of Ongar) hospitabatur, ubi in ejus memoria lignea capella per« manet usque hodie." In my Essex boyhood this chapel of wood was stillthe parish church of Greensted. and this is the description : — "The nave is f ormed of the half trunks of oaks, about a foot aud a half In diameter, split, and roughly hewxi at each end, to let them into a sill at the bottom, and into a plank at the top, where they are fastened with wooden pegs. It is 29 feet 9 inches long, 14 feet wide, and 5 feet 6 inches high on the sides which supported the primitive roof. On the south side there are sixteen trunks and two door-posts ; on the north twenty-one, and two vacancies filled up with plaster. The weet
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Ixvii
whether apsidal or not, before the early Norman work ^ we see in the lower parts of the transepts could possibly have been put together. And as we raise our eyes from those lower and earlier courses to those which are super- incumbent, another thought besides that of the difference of date, betokened by the difference in style, suggests itself to our deliberate consideration : I mean the strikingly evident, rather than simply apparent, dif- ference between the building-stone towards the base and the buUding-stone in the higher courses. And the next thought naturally is that the several portions of the building-materials thus differenced must of necessity have come from different quarries. And this fact, depending on observation rather than mere inference
end 18 bailt agamst by a boarded tower. . . . On the south side there iBawooden porch." RememberiDg the application of the word, in old daya and even yet, to denote beams, ■qnared trees even, long logs, and aUowing for the possibility of a clerical error in the form ''spuor/' — the forms were divers: sparre,. sper, Old E. sperrOf 0. N. gparriy etc., — ^there ia at least a connection saggested for tiie word, and the application propoaed acconmiodateB itBelf to our intelligence as much as the meaning " hewn stone or ashlar " aetB ns upon doubting and question- ing. One other remark, not alto- gether irrelevant, may be made, and that in the way of drawing atten- tion to an entry— one among others like — in Domeaday, in which the ezistence of a church built of wood in the close vicinity of Rievaulx, is attested as actually standing at the time of the survey : <' In Begeland (Byland) habnit Aschil etc. Kunc habet Robertus (Malet) ibi i caru-
catam, et vii villanos cum ii carucis. Ibi presbiter et eecleaia lignea"
^ Professor Freeman {Engliah Towns and DUtridSy p. 31 1), speaking of Walter Espec's "Abbey of Rie- vaux," says that there <' in the tran« septs tho work of the founder himself remains, ingeniously preserved and adapted in the enlargement of the building in the next century." Doubtless the choir assumed in the text was, in the same sense, " pre- served and adapted," by the work spoken of by the historian as "the work of the founder himself." It may, perhape, be a question whether the great writer here qnoted in- tended these words to bear the full and coQsidered meaning I have sought to convey on the preceding paragraphs of this Introduction, but the measure of coincidence between the view I have taken and this expression of Dr. Freeman*s is at least worth a passing note. It had escaped my notice until a day or two since.
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or deduction, is one which involves circumstances and considerations of no ordinary interest.
There are charters, or rather a sequence of charters, which, per se, are in many respects almost unintelli- gible. They speak of a dike {fosscUum) or dikes, of apparently small but mysterious grants in connection therewith, of a guteria, of an insula, where no " insula '' exists now, and where not one inquiring visitor in a thousand would ever suspect, or, it may be said, has ever suspected, the being of an " insula," or island, in any sense. And yet the fossata, the guteria, and the site of the "insula" — an "insula" no longer — ^not only exist, but, while explaining these otherwise mysterious documents, hang themselves on to the history of the contrasted kinds of building-stone noticed a few sen- tences above. One of these charters, from the identity of the grantor no less than from the names of the wit- nesses, would, under any circumstances, date itself approximately about the middle of the twelfth century. This is No. Lxxv. But there is another which is more specific still, as being granted not only in the time of King Stephen, but during the lifetime of William, the first Abbot of Eievaulx, by the Abbot and Convent of Byland, conceding to Rievaulx the privilege of mak- ing their fossatum below what was then called Mons Escheberch and now Ashberry Hill, as well as the right of ownership of the slip or slips of land which might be enclosed between the fossatum and the river. The charter in question is printed as No. ccxLiv. This dates the guteria as ante 1145. Other two, Nos. ccc. and ccciv. are fixed as to date between 1193 and 1203,
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by the fact that they are both by the same grantor, and one of them is attested by Archbishop Hubert Walter of Canterbury and Abbot Ralph Haget of Fountains. And all three of them speak of an artificial channel as made, or to be made, and made, moreover, at as high alevel as can be (*'quam propius montem poterint''), and of conducting the water from the river Rye along it^ or by means of it. And it is evident that the charters deal with the said guteria^ or quasi-aqueduct, as requiring and receiving concessions from the said grantors, Hugh Malbis and his nephew Richard, the owners on the Byland side of the river, in two different localities, the one to the north or north-west of the Abbey, and the other distinctly to the south. The first speaks of the grant of all the land lying between the hill called Brocksholes and the Rye from Oswald- enges as far as the " guteria/' and all the adjacent island within the " guteria '' on the Helmsley side, and the others of the entire holm at Hangingbridge (or Hemgerdebridge in one of them) in the Scawton territory, between the Rye and Aldentofts (now An- tofts) ; and in two of them we find the expression " terraque quse ex parte eorum deinde contigerit illis perpetuo remanebit ^ — " and the land which shall thus accrue to them shall continue theirs for ever/'
It is worth while to pause over this last clause for a brief space. Any one who has the opportunity, I wlU not say of looking at a plan of the Helmsley estate, but of consulting the six-inch Ordnance Survey, will observe that in a variety of places the boundary betwcen the township of Rievaulx and the townships
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Ixx
INTRODUCTION.
on the other side of the Rye is not coincident with the mid-stream line^ as is the almost invariable rule in such cases, but deviates therefrom, and, so to say, encroaches on the Byland side. These "encroach- ment«*' in reality constitute the land accruing to the Abbey in virtue of the concessions made by the By- land community, confirmed by the Malbis uncle and nephew, in furtherance of the monks' scheme of the " guteria," conduit or canal. And the unmistake- able traces of the canal — indeed the very course and bed of the canal itself, as well as these encroach- ments — remain to explain the charters, as the charters are endowed with a power to explain the deviations and the long deep canal-bed, in a way and with a cleamess that could in no a prtori way have been foreseen.^
^ I am indebted in no small degree to the observation and practical knowledge of Mr. Henry Bye, late clerk of the works on the Duncombe Parkestate, for this mntnal explana- tion of the charters by the aaid features referred to, and the featnres by the charters, to a f ar fnller and xnore conclusive degree than other- wise could have been looked f or. I was greatly perplexed with the con- ditions and circumstances involved in the deeds, and sent written inquiries for local information, if attainable, asto "guteria," '*insula," etc. Unable myself to give any definite idea of what was meant by ''guteria,'* and having no definite idea of any '* insula '' beyond what might have been in the possibly less restricted river-bed of seven hundred years ago, my inquiries seemed to elicit nothing really helpful, or to
the point. But it transpired that Mr. Bye had formed definite views as to the quarries, and their Beveral positions, from which the two kinds of bnilding-stone already notioed were obtained, and, besides that, of the mode by which the said stone, in either cajBe, had been conveyed to the actual site of tbe abbey. He was convinced that the stone had been conveyed by water, and that the deep wide ditch or dike referred to had been the bed of a canal suffi- cient for the purpose. On finding myself shortly afterwards enabled to arrange a personal visit to the locality, I traversed the whole length of the inferred canal, and found it carried as close to the foot of the hill as it possibly could be, the requisite water-level having been obtained by the construction of a great weir or dam at a certain point
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INTRODUCTION.
Ixxi
The grant was not altogether gratuitous on the part of Hugh Malbis, as will be observed on inspection of No. Lxxv., the phrase being "ut autem hanc elemosinam libcDtius facerem dederunt mihi monachi xx s. pro cari- tate." It was " elemosina," but elemosina for which a coDsideration had to be given.
in the direction in which I was qnite aware the Hangendebridge must be looked for. But of course a dam of thecharacterinquefltion, sufficiently high and strong to head back the water of Rye, so that it might actoally flov back to the foot of Rieranlx site— and hence the neces- sity for that which was oontempkted in the phrase "quam propiue montem potnerant " — could not be made effectnal for its intended purpose if auy low, weak, or broken placea presented themaelveB in either bank between the dam and the building- site. And it is hardly necessary to obeerve that, while the monks could do what waa necessary in the way of embankment, or what not, on their own side, on ihe other they were powerless, apart from the special permission of the possessor, and the priTllege accorded by him of ndsing the necessary embank- ments, wherever needed, on his side also. And hence originated the being as well as the occasion for the aforesaid encroachments, each of which can have been nothing else originally than the site of an em- bankment designed to keep the water of the river from escaping there, and ao defeating the very end and object of the dam, besides over- flowing and wasting all the low- lying or holmland adjacent. But even this is not all. in the oourse of the second day of these investiga- tions Mr. Rye remarked, as the party was passing a given point, and
d propos of a piece of river-side meadow-land — '^ThiB field is still named The Island." The meaning and the application of the name was now a matter of easy deduction. When the canal, wide enough and deep enough to permit the passage of stone-laden lighters or barges, had been in existenoe, all the low* lying or river-side land between the Rye and the "guteria" had been practically an island ; and as I had already seen in the course of the earlier part of the morning, when I had had the opportunity — Uisting only about half an hour, unluckily^ of looking at some of the earlier entries in an old survey of the Dun- combe Park estate, a very consider- able number of what were designated '* beast-gates " were then — a century and half before, at least,— lotted out in " the Island." I would only add further here, that this **guteria" or canal was that which was de- signed and oonstructed in conneo- tion with the transport of the stone which was used in the second or Uter building epoch of the two under comment. Thc quarry worked for the stone in question had become available to the monks in virtue of the grant printed as Ko. lxxiy., and the expansion of that end of the '* gnteria,** amounting in reality to a kind of basin f or the reception of the flats or lighters employed in the transport, is still perf ectly and easily traceable.
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Ixxii INTRODUOTION.
Still, with all this mutual illustration between ancient document and existing features of the locahty, I am unable to consider that all the ezplanation needed has been supplied. There is a degree of obscurity affecting the earlier charter still remaining. There can be no doubt, I think, that the canal system adopted at Rie- vaulz was not one and single, or undivided : on the contrary, transient observation seems to be sufficient for creating the conviction that it was made up of two members or divisions ; the one member or division, by the aid of a still traceable dam abutting on the south- west angle of the Abbey buildings, complete in itself, and the other beginning at a point about one-third of a mile north-west of the Abbey, just above a small island lying in the bed of the stream, at a place where remains of the stonework of another strong dam may yet be seen, and aiming past the mill almost directly for the north-west angle of the buildings aforesaid. Within stone's-throw of this assumed dam lies the quarry from which the stone used in the existing Norman work of the Abbey Church was obtained. Indeed it is the presence of the lower strata of the said deposit of stone in the river-bed which alike recommended and facili- tated the construction of the dam just named exactly there. At first I assumed that the "proxima insula" named in No. lxxv. was the island just now mentioned as lying in the bed of the river just below the site of the dam by the quarry. Nor was I sure for some time that it was not so. But the balance of probability seemed always to incline the other way. And one thing, too, was clear, namely, that very little indeed in the way of
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INTBODUOTION. Ixxiii
concession corresponding to what was imperatively needful in the lower member or section of the canal system would be requisite in this higher or upper section. And it is worth observing that the boundary hne, after passing along the middle of the little island specified aboye, does not begin to deviate from mid- stream, or encroach on the Byland side, until a point in the river-bed nearly due west of the transept of the Abbey Church is reached, after which a narrow slip of some length is included as within the limits of Rievaulz township. It was of course possible that this was what was contemplated in the first charter. But all uncer- tainty is cleared away by the charter of concession from Byland, to which special attention was called above, and which, as dating before Abbot William's death, so decisively settles the date of the earlier mem- ber of the canal system.
Of the progress of the building work after what we may speak of as its resumption, about 1145-50, it would seem that there is no record whatever, any more than there appears to be about the, at least equally great, effort inaugurated when the rebuilding of the Choir on the scale and in the fashion which that which is still left of it sufficiently attests. But that aU had not gone smoothly with the Convent in the interval between their patron's death and the completion of the work begun during his lifetime, there is quite sufficient evi- dence to show. Precisely when the trouble intimated took its rise, there is nothing to indicate, nor yet is there any information as to the motives or the manner in which it originated. All we know is that, however
/
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Ixxiv INTBODtJCTION.
serenely or even prosperously matters may have pro- ceeded with the Convent from the time at which Walter Espec took upon him the character of Founder for the second time, and in such energetic wise, moreover, until some little time (most likely) after his departure from this life (within the retirement of the cloister he had had so much to do with from the first), still, no very long time afterwards, but between 1160 and 1180 — and, it is almost certain, nearer the former date than the latter — they were forcibly bereft of no insignificant section of what had been bestowed upon them, and not so very long before. According to the record to which we have been indebted, more than once already, for the date, as well as the specification, of this or that dona- tion, the tide of endowment began to flow steadily in after the time of the Founder's second intervention and its accomplished results. Odo de Ness and Gilbert de Gant and their giffcs are named ; and then come the grants by the bishops of Durham, William and Hugh, the date of the former being fixed in the year 1162. Then, and specifically in 1154, foUows the large and important grant by Roger de Moubray, involving in all no less than eight carucates in Welbum and four in Houeton. After this a succession of gifts, among the donors of which figure men of family, bearing the names Bulmer, Lascells, Engelram, Fitz Ivo, Alverstain, Malbis, Cumin, Tunstal, and others, many of them making great oblations, and none of these seemingly postdating 1160 by very many years. But some of these very men, and notably De Moubray and his eldest son, with others not specified in the above list, and yet well known as early
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INTRODUCnON. IxXV
and important benefactors — among them the third Robert de Stuteville and his son William, Everard de Ros, nephew of the founder, Robert Fitz Emisius (whose name is met with again and again associated with that of the baron last named), the two brothers De Vado, and Alan de Bowforth, are found to be the objects of Papal displeasure, set forth in no measured terms, as plunderers of the Convent in regard of the lands they themselves, or their immediate predecessors in race and ownership, had bestowed. The document referred to is printed as No. ocLXiii., and is a rescript from Pope Alexander iii., and is addressed to the Bishop of Exeter, the Abbot of St. Mary's at York, and the Dean there. The two Stute- villes are singled out first by name, and charged with the acts of plunder complained of by the Rievaulx com- munity, and then i^sues the mandate that, within thirty days of the receipt of the rescript, they are to be com- pelled to disgorge, under penalty of excommunication, of having their lands laid under interdict, and of depri- vation of Christian burial if they die before the sentence is remitted. And next foUow the names of the other offenders in the same way to the number of seven more, with the two Moubrays, father and son, at their head. We have nothing more of a documentary nature to tell 118 of the result of this sentence : but there can be no doubt otherwise, inasmuch as the lands in question were the property of the Abbey up to the time of the Diflsolution.
It is almost impossible to decline some kind or measure of spectdation as to the precise circumstances and, at least, approximate date, at and under which
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Ixxvi INTRODUCTION.
the facts just glanced at actually occurrecL They seem to be too marked not to have some comiection with the circumstances of the times. " Between 1160 and 1180, and nearer the former date than the latter," is the in- ferential conjecture ventured a little above as to the time, and ventured solely on intemal evidencc. Between 1160 and 1167 Aebred was Abbot, and nezt in succes- sion to him comes Sylvanus, of whom we have no dis- tinct mention antedating 1170. Alexander was Pope and Henry ii. King. And the period is that embrac- ing the dispute with Becket, and his murder. There can be no doubt as to the fact that much spolia- tion of Church property, as well as of secular owner- ships, had taken place in the troublous times of Stephen's reign, when might was right in the case of so many barons, over whose actions there was no restraining in- fluence, whether emanating from King or from the exercise of justice ; and such expressions, even in such histories of the time as can hardly be styled ** popular " merely, as that **Archbishop Thomas alienated the whole party of the barons by pressing his demands for the recovery of lands belonging to his see," are not only not uncommon, but are indices besides to the multi- tudinous plunderings of many another ecclesiastical holder besides the See of Canterbury, But, at the period when these plunderings were rife, flievaulx could not have been affected save in a negative kind of way, It is indeed possible that the lawlessness of the times induced Espec to hold his hand, in the way of further endowment, from llSlto 1145; but that is the utmost extent to which that lawlessness could have affeoted
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INTRODUCTION. Ixxvii
the nascent Abbey. And, as subsequent to Stephen^s reign, or during the strong reign of Henry, it is more than merely difficult to think of such spoliation as Rie- vaulx unquestionably was exposed to as taking place in entire disregard, or even defiance, of the will and power of the King. And this consideration is entirely imsuggested by, and independent of, the further con- aideration that, in tho case under notice, the appeal for jnstice is made to the Pope and not to the King. The fact is certainly significant, and it may possibly be looked upon as a suggestion towards an attempt to read between the lines, and thereby decipher an appeal to the Apo- stolical See, as to a court of last resort, against the King, as well as against the injurious barons and other donors, or their representatives. And this recalls to our recol- lection that there was a time in Henry^s history when precisely such an appeal, and an appeal, moregver, in which the interests of Rievaulx Abbey might be vitally affected, might very well have been made. Thus, at the Council of Northampton, many charges were brought against the Archbishop (Becket) ; his life was even said to be in danger ; he was condemned in a large sum for alleged mismanagement of the King's treasure while yet Chancellor: he not only announced his intention of appealing to the Pope, but left Northampton by night (October 13, 1164), and left in disguise. After a brief stay in Kent, he proceeded, by way of Grave- lines, to Pontigny, a Cistercian House in France, where he found an asylum, and from whence he conducted the earlier part of the struggle with the King, of which the Chronicles are so full for the next half dozen years.
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Ixxviii INTRODUCTION.
Henry not only drove the Archbishop's friends from England, but " but confiscated the lands of the CisteT' cian Order until the monks of Pontigny should refuse Thomas a home" (Green, p. 104). And this "perse- cution of the Cistercians is continued until he quits Pontigny " in November 1166. Now, it may not admit of actual demonstration that the " confiscation " of the estates (or some of them) of the Cistercian House of Rievaulx, which is now under our notice, is a part of the measures notoriously taken by Henry against Becket, or even that it is connected with them. But certainly the coincidence of probable date, the fact of the spolia- tion, the appeal to the Pope, to the pointed exclusion of the King, as the source of justice, seem to do more than merely indicate a possible explanation of the cir- •cumstance that the Stutevilles, Mowbrays, and other important members of the northern aristocracy did act in the way this Papal rescript discloses them to us as having acted. The Primate had, in Mrs. Green's words, abready quoted, " alienated the whole party of the barons," and there is no great difficulty in the assumption that they would have no great reluctance, especially such of them as wished to stand well with the King, about playing into the said King's hand in such a matter as the withdrawal of their (or their fore- fathers') previous gifts to the monastery. It is true that only a few years later the baronage was opposed to the King, and that one of the very nobles who are thus supposed to have acted in furtherance of the King's proceedings against Becket and his supporters put him- self at the head of a very formidable revolt against
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INTRODUCTION. Ixxix
Heniy^s authority in the north of England. But it hardly seems that this fact militates in any sensible way against the theory suggested ; while again, as regards the appeal to the Pope, its profoable date, and the suc- cess with which it was attended, it may not be amiss to remind ourselves that, as occurring during the life- time of Abbot Aehred, and backed, as of course it would be, with all the commanding influence he is known to have wielded, there is but little occasion for surprise, either at the ready issuing of the rescript itself, or at the peremptory tone of the mandate it conveys.^
I have now touched upon nearly every matter origin- ally intended to be dealt with in these introductory pages. It is not that there are not many more topics inviting, ahnost calling for, notice : for there are multi- tudes. But, even were space less scanty than it is, the difference between a mere introductory sketch and a detailed history is too great to be lost sight of. It is true that the history of Rievaulx Abbey craves to be written, and the materials exist ; and that, so far, it has never even been attempted. But it were a worthy thing either for private patron or competent and enter- prising author to take in hand. In this place I must content myself with a very brief and unsufficing notice of one or two topics suggested by one or more of the
^ Ko assistance in coming to a cxcvii., cxcviii., oc., ccn. probably,
definite oonolosion as to the matter cciii., ccv., ccvi., poesibly ccvn.,
under notice in the preceding para- ccviii. and ccxii. , all date before
grapht, is to be obtained by a refer- the Chancellor was created Aroh-
ence to thelong eeriee of charten of buBhop. And cxcix., cci., cciv. and
Gonfirmation, etc., granted to Rie- ccx. are all four later than 1170.
▼anlxby KingHenry II. Noe. cxcii. The two or three not included
and cxcvn. to ocxiil both incln- among theae are quite uncommuni-
live emanate from him, and of theee cative.
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IXXX IKTRODUOnON.
documents contained in the pages which foUow this Introduction, and with a somewhat detailed attempt to show the grounds on which the list of Abbots given below depends for its support.
One matter, space for dealing adequately with which I could have wished to find in this place, I have spoken about as foUows, in my Handhook to Whithy Ahbey : — " Another case of deliberate villainy is brought home to him" — Nicholas de Meinill, Baron of Whorlton, who during William le Latimer'3 absence in the Scottish wars, abducted his wife from Danby Castle — " in an assize trial, the records of which still exist. The house of a John de Mowbray of Tampton is beset by night]; he himself is slain, his wife is slain, his brother and daughter are slain, and others of the household, and then the house itself is set on fire, and the bodies of the victims are consumed in the flames. This ferocious crime — in the execution of which there were some dozen or so of persons concemed, several of whom were hanged, and others fled the country, and found refuge in hostile Scotland — was clearly brought home to de Meinill as having been not only instigated and promoted by him, but actually planned in several of its details. . . . And what has to be noted, as directly connected with our sub- ject, is that it appears, in the course of the proceedings, that one or more of the monks of Rievaulx were acces- sories to the fact, both before and after the murder and the incendiary sequel to it, one of them being among the refugees in Scotland, and the Abbot himself xmder- lying grave suspicion of not being altogether clean- handed in the matter.'' I have most unfortimately
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INTRODUCTION. Ixxxi
mislaid my copy of the proceedings in the case ; but as a trace for two years was made with the Scots at the end of 1319, and de Meinill died in 1322, it would seem that the transaction we are noticing must have antedated the first-named year. Thomas ii. was Abbot in 1315 ; William V. in 1318.
As touching what is sometimes spoken of as the battle of Byland, and what is alleged or supposed to have occurred as a sequel thereto, a few words only can be written. The document which is printed in the Appendix, the last but one in the series, will be seen at once to be absolutely unconnected with the incident in question. That document is dated in 1318 : the battle of Byland happened, I believe, in 1322. Abeady at the former date, the ravages committed by the Scots, aknost throughout the North of England, had been repeated as well as pitiless ; but in the year last named, after the defeat and execution of Lancaster, the King invades Scotland, is baffled in his attempts, his army reduced in strength by famine, and retreat is forced npon him. He is greatiy harassed in his retreat, and the Scots make further and fearful raids into North- umberland and Yorkshire, advancing as far as North- allerton, which town is bumt by them. So far all is clear. But authorities, or rather, accounts, differ as to the place at which the King was surprised by the sudden advance of the foe, while at his dinner. Thus, Gill (p. 221) says that Edward " came to Byland Abbey, and encamped there ; that he was surprised while at dinner ; made his escape from the Abbey with great haste, crossing the country by way of Bridling-
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IxXXii INTRODUOTION.
ton (I) to York, and his safety is attributed to the swiftness of his horse.'' The compiler named had previously given eztracts from Leland and Hollings- head, in which Byland Abbey is mentioned certainly, but simply in the connection of being in the vicinity of the field of battle; while more than one of the Chronicles, on the other side, expressly mention Rie- vaulx as the scene of the surprise. But to notice first Lambarde's account : he says " King Edward ii. gathered together a great armye, and passed a little way into Scotlande ; but for want of good forsight he was con- strajmed by famine to retyre, before he had done any notable exploicte. Now whiie he and his nobilitie in their retome refreshed themselves at this Abbay (Rie- vaux or Eyvers) newes was brought that the Scottes came after in great power, and no less hast. The Kynge and his nobles, myndinge more their meate then eyther the savetye of their subjectes or their owne honour, neglected the message ; but the Scottes pur- suinge egerly their attempte, came sodaynly in sighte, and compelled to shamefull flight the Kinge and his men, which never ceased till they had recovered Yorke for their succour. Some ascribe the hole fault to Sir Andrew Barkley [Harcla or Harclay], then Earle of Carliel, which, having charge of 20,000 men for the Kinge's defence, converted their forces to pillage and robberie." Now this is entirely consistent with the record of the Chronicler of Lanercost, wherein, after mention made of the entry of the King of Scotland into England at Solewath on Sept. 30, the narrative con- tinues : ** Et per v dies jacuit ibi ad tria miliaria juxta
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iNTRODUcmoN. Ixxxiii
Earleolum, apud Beaumound ; et interim misit majorem partem exercitus. sui ad destruendam patriam circum- quaque, et postea processit in Angliam versus Blake- houmor ; quia propter difficultatem accessus, nunquam ibi prius venerat, nec partes illas destruxerat : tum quia certitudinaliter didicerat Begem AngUae ibi esse. . . . Andreae, autem, Bex adventum ejus scripsit, novo Comiti Earleoli, ut omnes boriales de Comitatu suo et LoncastrisB» equites et pedites, qui possent ad bellum procedere, congregaret, et veniret sibi in auxilium contra Scotos : quod et fecit, juncto sibi Comitatu Loncastriae, ita quod habuit xxx miUia hominum paratorum ad proe- lium. Et quia Scoti erant in parte orientali, duxit suos per partes occidentales, ut veniret ad Begem. Scoti vero villas et maneria in Blakehoumor incenderunt, et quantum poterant omnia vastaverunt, et homines captivos et spolia et prsadas animaUum abduxerunt. Comes autem Bichmundiae, Dominus Johannes de Brit- annia, missus cum suis ex parte Begis Anglise ad ex- plorandum Scottorum exercitum, de quodam monte inter Abbatiam de Bievalli[bu]s, ipsis subito occurren- tibus et ex insperato supervenientibus, nitebatur cum suis, per lapides projectos, impedire ascensum eorum per quandam viam arctam et strictam in monte. Sed Scottis ferociter et intrepide ascendentibus super eos, multi Anglici per fugam evaserunt, et multi capti sunt, cum Comite supradicto. . . . Quod cum Begi Anglise, qui tunc erat in Abbatia de Bivallis, innotuit, ipse, qui semper fuerat cordis pavidi et infortunatus in bellis, et qui fugerat ab eis prse timore in Scotia, jam fugam iniit in Anglia, vasa sua argentea et magnum
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Ixxxiv INTRODUCTION.
thesaurum, prsa festinatione, in Monasterio derelinquens, et cum suis usque Eboracum successit. Scotti autem cito postea supervenientes, illa omnia. abstulerunt, et Monasterium spoliaverunt : et postea usque le Wald, ducentes secum Comitem, suntprofecti, et illam patriam destruxerunt fere usque villam Beverlaci ; qusB redempta fuit, ne ab eis incenderetur, sicut villae aliae vastarentur/' It was at Hievaulx Abbey,^ then, that the King was surprised, and once again the wastings and plunderings of such a war, so carried on, befell the hapless district, the monastery, its buildings and belongings.
It is impossible to pause over even a part of what is suggested by the series of extracts from the Public Records, printed mainly in the Appendix, or the various and most interesting, as well as detailed, Royal confir' mations given in a later as well as in the earlier part of the volume, and of which it is little enough to say that they are not paralleled in the existing known records of any other abbey of the same grade, with scarcely any notable exception. But a very small amount only of examination and comparison is found to be sufficient to show, rather than merely to indicate, that there was a period — and probably under an energetic,
^ Mr. Walbran deals with this the balance of evidence seems de-
qaestion, MemoriaU of FourUainSf cidedly in favour of Rievaulx. Mr.
ii. pp. 198, 199. He does not, how- Walbran fixes the date as on or
ever, appear to decide between the about the 14th of October ; having
relative claims of Byland and Rie- ascertained from the Close RoUs of
vaulx for the distinction of having 16 Edward ii., that the king was at
entertained the King on the disas- Forcet three days after leaving
trous day in question. He quotes Bamard Castle, and that on the
Elnighton (Decem Scriptores) as 8th and llth of October he waa at
stating that Edward was not sur- Yarm. Knighton'8 date is "circa
prised at Rievaulx, but while dining festum S. Luc«e," and that is Ooto-
in Byland Abbey. On the whole, ber 18th.
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INTBODUCTION. IXXXV
popular, and buainess-like abbot, as was notoriously the case at Whitby — of acquisition, dosely foUowed, if not almost accompanied by, a period of consolidation, duringwhich the temporal means of the Abbey were added to, enlarged, improved, and secured, That there were epochs of dispute and litigation in which the right was, and obviously, by no means always on the Monastery^s side, of course is to be assumed. But, unquestionably, in the majority of the cases of appeal to the law, in whatever Court, of which we have memoranda in the foUowing pages, the suits recorded were rather of what may be described in the more modem phrase of "friendly suits," than instances of the working of a simply litigious spirit. Again, when cases of dispute had arisen, once and again we find them referred to arbitration ; and more than one of the cases of this kind afford reports which involve matters of a singularly interesting nature, and such as to excite adistinct desire to bestow critical investigation upon most or all the subjects contained in the case reported, together with aU the side-issues or topics of discussion found to be directly or coUateraUy suggested. Of this nature, for instance, is the arrangement between the two houses of Byland and Rievaulz which is detaUed in
No. OCXLHI.
It remains now but to deal with the Ust of Abbots who are ascertained to have presided over the affairs of the Cionvent from its inception in 1132 to its dissolution in 1538. The subjoined catalogue wiU be found to vary very greatly from what may be termed the commonly accepted or accredited list. The latter, as given in
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Ixxxvi INTBODUCTION.
Dugdale and Burton, comprises thirty-one Abbots, who are indicated in the subjoined list by the Romau numerals in the second column. The numerals (Arabic) in the fiist column indicate the number of the Abbots who may be regarded as having actually presided over the affairs of the Convent, and the succession in which they came. Three names in the list, it wLll be observed, are printed in italics. The first of these, Waltheof, has no number of either kind prefized to the name ; for he does not appear in any of tbe accredited lists, and I am unable myself to see any reason whatever, even the slightest, for admitting Mr. Walbran's supposition that he was successively Abbot of Rievaulx and Mekose. The other two, Roger and Bemard, have the numerals rv. and v. prefixed to their names, because they find corresponding places in all the existing catalogues of the Abbots of Rievaulx. But they have no numbers pre- fixed in the first column, because I am not only unable to satisfy myself that they ever actually reigned, but I have (as I think) satisfied myself that no such Abbots could have possibly existed at the time alleged. It may further be remarked that Gill ( VcUlis Ehor.) gives a list of thirty-two Abbots, the explanation being that after No. XXI. in the accepted list (Wilham v. in our list) he inserts the name of William de Langton, No. 23 in our list, but (equally with his predecessor, John i.) omitted by Dugdale and Burton. Thus it will be seen that, even allowing for the exclusion of Walbran's Abbot Waltheof, and the two who stand fourth and fifth in the accepted catalogues, the total number of thirty-six authenticated Abbots still remains. At leafit, if there
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may be assumed to be any doubt about either of them, it can only be in connection with Abbot Henry n., and probably it will be conBidered that the evidence in his cafie is scarcely such as to be passed over as utterly unsubstantial.
LIST OF ABBOTS. ^^™ ^^ ^^'^ ^"^ ^" "^^
2. U. MauriCE, . .1145.
WcUtheo/.
3. in.AELBED. . . {''tli, ''''-' "'*' **•
IV. Boger. V. Bemard.
6. IX. WiLLiAM II. (Punchard), In 120^; 6b. 1203.
7. VIL GoDPREY, or,more than ) ^
possibly, Gboffrby, / ^'^^**
8. X. GUARINUS, . . In 1208; 6b. 1211.
{Eesigned in 1215 ; elected Abbot of Melrose in 1216.
9. XI. Heltas,
10. xn. Henryl, .
11. xm. WiLLiAM m.,
12. XIV. KOGER,
!
1216; oJ. 1216.
1216; 6b. 1223.
1224; 1226; 123^; 1233; 1234; 1235; resigned
1239.
13. XV. LEONIUS, Leokus, . 1239; db. 1240.
. _. r 1240; 1241; 1243; 1246;
14. XVI. Adam DE Tilletai, -^ ^251 ; 1252 ; 1267 ; 1260.
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LIST OP ABBOTS. ^^™ "x^^^o^^ """^
Txr /1268; 1275; 12if; 1281;
16. xvn. WlLLlAMiv., . I 1285 (No. CCCLvm.).
16. 3cvin. Thomas l,
17. Henry n.,
18. XIX. KOBERT,
19. XX. Peter, .
20. Thomas n.,
23.
1286; 1287; 1291.
1301.
1303 (?).
1307.
1315.
21. XXL WiLLLOf V. (EDerbeck), 1318.
22. JOHNL, • . . 1327.
WiLLiAMVi.(de LangO ^33^
ton), . / '
24. XXIL ElCHARD, . 1349.
26. WlLLlAMvn., . 1369; 1372; 1380.
26. xxiiL WnxiAMVin., . 1409.
27. XXIV. WiLLiAM IX. (Bromley), 1419.
28. XXV. JOHN II., . . .1421.
29. xxvr. Henry m. (Burton), . 1423; 1429.
30. xxvn. WiLLLLM X. (Spenser), . 1436; 1443; 1449.
31. xxviiL JoHN m. (Inkeley), . 1449.
32. WiLLlAM XL (Spenser), 1471 ; 1487.
33. XXIX JOHN IV. (Burton), . 1489; 1506; 1508.
34. XXX. WlLLiAMXiL(Helmsley), 1513; 1524; 1526; 1528.
35. Edward, . . 1530; 1531; 1532; 1533.
1533; 1534; 1535; 1537; 1538.
36.
XXXI. ROWLAND, . I
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FlVE OfFICIAL SeALS IJ8ED BY ABB0T8 OF RlEVAULX.
No. 1. Seal of Abbot William, died 1223.
No. 2. Seal ased by Abbot SilTanus, appended to a Dced in connection with G<
S^^i^SS-^^t^-gle
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INTRODUCTION. Ixxxix
NOTES TO LIST OF ABBOTS.
1, WiLLiAM I. — Abbot at the date of the Foundation ; he is named in No. ocxxxiv., which is addressed to Henry i., and therefore antedates 1135. He is also named in No. xlil, which we bave seen reason for thinking (see above, p. xxxvii.) must be dated in 1145. William died 2d August 1145 (Chron. Mailros, p. 72), as quoted by Burton. The entry stands " A^ MGXLV. obiit Willelmus, Abbas Bievallis, cui successit Mauri- cius," on p. 166 of the copy I have coUated.
2. Matjrice. — See the extract at the close of the last entry and add: — "Prsefuit pro eo (Willelmo) Mauritius, a puero educatus in claustro Dunelmensi monachus, et ad disciplinam rigoris Cisterciensis, voto perfectionis, se transferens. Quo, post modicum, oGQcio abbatis eodem fervore perfectionis renun- tiante, substitutus est pro eo Ethelredus Abbas, prse(e)minen- tem gratiam in sermone sapientiae adeptus a Domino" (Hexham Book, p. 149 : sub anno Mcxlv.). There is a matter which presents itself for notice here, and calls for a measure of attention. In MemoriaU of Fountains Abbet/, p. 4 n., Mr. Walbran writes: "The house (Rievaulx Abbey) occupied a dignified position until the period of its dissolution ; and in the lifetime of its first Abbot, William, the friend of St Bemard, who was succeeded by Waltheof, another friend of that illus- trious man (Henriquez Fascic. S. Ordinis Cist., Lib. ii. p. 298), and the celebrated Aelred, sent out the colonies of monks etc." And again, at p. 94 n., speaking of William, Earl of Albe- marle, be says : ** His kinsman, Waltheof, Prior of Kirkham, who had advised him to found the Abbey of Thomton, became indeed so much imbued with the Bemardine spirit as ulti- mately to join that body, and was successively Abbot of Rivaux and Melrose; but five years before Vaudey was founded, when the Earl entered the Chapter-House at York, as bearer of King Stephen's command that Fitz-Herbert should be elected Archbishop of that See, he found Prior Waltheof and the assembled Cistercians among the opponents, for whom be had so little respect as to capture and confine certain of them shortly after, in his castle of Bitham." As on the pre- ceding page it is stated that Yaudey was founded in 1147, the dateof the transaction thus recorded is 1142, atwhich time Waltheof was still Prior of Kirkham. There can also be little doubt that in 1145^ and for some little time afber — ^though for
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how long there is nothing to show — he continued to be Prior thera But inasmuch as Abbot William did not die until August 1145, and Ailred or Etheldred was Abbot before De- cember 1147, it is obvious that Waltheofs occupancy of the abbatial chair, if he ever did occupy it, must have been of . the briefest character. For it seems hardly possible to throw over entirely the statement of the Melrose Chronicler given above as to the fact that Maurice was Abbot for at least some short time, in succession to William. And, even so, we would have to ignore the equally precise statement of the same authority as to the immediate succession of Aelred to Maurice. But whether we admit or reject the allegation that Waltheof, late Prior of Kirkham, was for a time, however short, Abbot of Eievaulx, it is hardly possible to be blind to the possible illus- tration herein found, of that remarkable phrase in the cyro- graph between Kirkham and Eievaulx, on which comment has been made at a previous page (pp. xxvi, xxvii) : " Hoc quoque sciendum est quod nec a loco nostro voluimus discedere, nec Priorem nostrum amittere, donec ea quse inter nos constituta sunt ad debitum finem producta f uerint," to say nothing of the final clause of the same document, which stipulates that the seced- ing Kirkham canons and brethren should have the same stand- ing in the Ohapter and Order of Cisteaux as any monk of the said Order. If the approximate date assigned to this cyro- graph be correct (see above, pp. xxiv, xxv), it was too early by four or five years at least to think of losing their Prior in con- sequence of his " secession " to become Abbot of Eievaulx.
Waltheof. — See preceding note.
3. Aelred, Ailred, Ethelred. — In Feodarium Prior. Dundm,, Preface, p. Ix, he is specially named in a deed dated 1 Kal. December, 1147, as, together with Eobert, Abbot of Newminster, acting as assessor to Bishop William de St. Bar- bara ; and again, in another document, assigned to about the same date by the Editor, he is again expressly named in asso- ciation with Abbot Eobert of Newminster, and Priors Cuthbert of Gisburne, Eichard of Hexham, and Germanus of Tynmouth. He is mentioned by name in the Privilegium Alexandri Pap» m. de Eievalle (see p. 185), which is dated in 1160 ; he is also a co-signatory to No. ccxlvl, dated in 1164. " Aelred diedin 1167 {Chron. de Mailros, p. 81), his obit being observed in the church of Durham on January 8th {Liber Vita^, p. 141). We learn from Eeginald that Aelred was at Kirkcudbright in 1164 (p, 178), and there seems to be no reason to question the
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date assigned for his death by the Melrose Chronicler " (Hex- ham Book, i. p. 193 n.). The entry in the Chranica stejids : " A** Mclxvii., obiit piae memorije Aldredus, iii. Abbas Eievallis, cui successit Silvanus, Abbas de Dundraynan." It is impos- sible to overlook the distinctly precise statement that Aelred was the third Abbot of Rievaulx, which admitted, Waltheof s daim to be reckoned among the Abbots quite disappears. 6ut over and above this, there are other considerations which I do not think ought to be ignored, as bearing upon Mr. Walbran's notion that Frior Waltheof of Kirkham became successively Abbot of Rievaulx and of Melrose. Mr. Walbran, as already noted (p. xxviii n.), states that Prior Waltheof was a kinsman of the Earl of Albemarle, and that it was through his (Waltheof s) influence that the latter founded the Beligious House at Thomton. Assuming that identification to be ascertained, the Mailros Chronicler aJTords us abundant means of identifying tbe Abbot of Melrose who was distinguished by the same name. At p. 167 is the foUowing entry: — ^"Anno Mcxlvi., Walthevus, frater Henrici, Comitis Northimbrorum, et Simonis, Comitis Northumptonse, factus est Abbas de Mailros," and on the following page " A** Mclix. obiit piae memoriae Waldevus, Abbas secundus de Mailros, iii non. Augusti, qui fuit avun- culus Eegis M[alcolmi], et Willelmus, ejusdem ecclesiaB mona- chus, ei successit." Dugdale, it is true, does not mention Henry, here described as " Comes Northimbrorum," but he names Simon, Eaii of Northampton, and Waltheof, Abbot of Melrose, and names them as sons of Earl Simon St. liz by Maud, daughter of Waltheof, late Earl of Northumbria, who, for her second husband, had King David of Scotland. He was succeeded on the throne of Scotland by his grandson, Mal- colm rv., son of Henry of Huntingdon, who was thus half- brother of Abbot Waltheof. Hence the descriptive " avunculus B^is M." There can therefore be no reasonable doubt who Abbot Waltheof of Melrose really was, and that he was an utt«rly diflferent person from Prior Waltheof of Kirkham.
4. Sylvanus. — After Aelred in Burton^s " Catalogue of the Abbots of Rieval,'* as fourth Abbot is named Roger, with the date 1175 prefixed to his name; and as fifth, Bemard, with the date 1180 affixed; and» as authority, is quoted ''Willis's Hist of Abbies, v. 2, p. 282 ; Lib. Eieval. p. 83 ; Johnston's Mss. V. K. i. p. 83." I have been so far unable to consult either of the authorities cited, but there would seem to be con- aiderable difficulties in the way of accepting either the Abbots themselves, or the dates alleged as the dates at which they
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presided over the Abbey. For the document which is printed as No* CGXLiii. contains passages and dates such that the only reasonable construction which can be put upou them, so f ar as I am able to see, warrants the conclusion that Sylvanus waa Abbot as early as 1170 ; and if that is so, it is unnecessaty to dwell upon the certainty that the two Abbots inserted in the list here could have had no existence at the dates alleged. The document in question is headed, "Cyrographum pacis inter nos et Bellandenses," and in the preamble speaks of an arrangement made between the two convents through the provident caution of the Abbots Aelred of Bievaulx and Soger of Byland. It then proceeds to notice in detail divers matters which had been subjects of controversy between the two houses, but were amicably settled by the Abbots named, with a variety of conditions of a prospective nature, and connecting themselves with diflFerent and widely separated portions of the possessions belonging to the several communities in places where they chanced to have a common interest, many of which are alike interesting and instructive when the subject for con- sideration is the history of either of the two establishments named. After this the document proceeds thus: — *'Cum autem hsec conventio pluribus annis ab utroque in multis con- servata fuisset, A** ab Incamatione Domini Mclxx, ne tepes- ceret caritas mutua, iterato replicata et arctius est roborata, additis quibusdam quaein priore conventione non continebantur, et hoc praecipue etc," going on to specify certain claims by either party (which wei-e to be finally dropped from that day forward), and to provide a mode of mutual arbitration for any occasions of dispute which might arise in the future. ThiiB done, and the penalties for infraction of the rules laid down provided, the document concludes thus : — " Haec carta lecta est in utroque Capitulo, praesentibus Abbatibus, Domino Silvano Bievallense et Bogero Bellandensi, et tam ab ipsis quam utroque Capitulo in perpetuum confirmata." After long and patient consideration I find myself unable to dissever between the date thus given and this public reading over and common ratification by the two Chapters of the Conventio or agree- ment. And if so, our conclusion is that Svlvanus was Abbot as early as 1170. And admittiug this, while on the one hand the two dates quoted by Burton in connection with the alleged Abbots, Boger and Bemard, are effectually set aside, the interval during which either of them, or both, could have pre- sided, is narrowed to the period occurring between Aelred's death in 1167, and the accession of Sylvanus, certainly before 1170. Burton gives 1189 as the year of his death, and as his
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INTRODUCTION. XCUl
authority cit«s " Chrori. de Mailros, p. 178," adding that "he was buried at Byland." There are two entries relevant to hini in the authority quoted, which are as follows : — " Anno Mcbcxxviii : Silvanus, Abbas quartus Eievallis, villicationem suam Deo humiliter ac simpliciter resignavit, apud Dundren- nan." Immediately in succession to this comes the entry : — '' Anno Mclxxxix, Emaldus, Abbas de Mehros, electus est ad curam animarum de Rievalle, vi non. Martii, feria quinta." And then a third entry foUows, touching the death of Silvanus — "Anno Mclxxxi obiit piae memoriae Silvanus, quondam Abbas Bievallis, vii idus Octobris, apud Bellelande, ibique honorifice sepultus est." And there are three points to be noted here : first that Silvanus is specifically mentioned as the fourth in the succession of Abbots ; second, that he resigned his overseership to God in the year preceding that of his death ; third, that on his resignation he appears to have retired to Byland, where he died, and was honourably buried. His enumeration as fourth Abbot formally excludes Waltheof, Eoger, and Bemard from the corrected list. Of the Abbot who succeeded Silvanus nothing seems to be known but his name, and for that Burton quotes Willis, as before in the case of Roger and Bernard.
5. Ernald. — At this point I find myself compelled to deviate from the succession of Abbots as given in both Dugdale and Burton, not to mention other and less authoritative com- pilers. Thus Burton^s list runs: — 1. William; 2. Maurice; 3. Aelredus ; 4. Eoger ; 5. Bemard ; 6. Sylvan ; 7. Godfrey ; 8. Emaldus; 9. William Punchard. On first dealing with tUs succession, I had writt^n touching Godfrey: "Of the Abbot who succeeded Sylvanus nothing seems to be known but his name ; and for that Burton quotes Willis, as before, in the case of Soger and Bemard." But it becomes necessary to modify this statement, inasmuch as at p. 181 of the Chronica de Mailros the following precise statement is found : — " Anno Mcciv, Dominus Gaufridus administrationem Bievallis sus- cepit." If this stood by itself its significance might not be so great But it does not so stand. On the conti*ary, on the same authority, at p. 181, occurs the foUowing entry : — " Anno Mcxcix, Dominus Emaldus cessit curae pastorali, cui successit Dominus Willelmus de Punchard," the next entry after which is, "Anno Mcciii, obiit Willelmus, Abbas Eievallis." It is clear, then, that Emald, having been elected Abbot in 1189, and very shortly after the resignation of his predecessor, Sylvanus, continued Abbot up to 1199, when he resigned, and
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XCIV INTRODUCnON.
was succeeded by William de Punchard, who dies from three to four years later. There is no room, therefore, for Abbot Godfrey, if there were an Abbot so named, until some time in 1203 ; and in 1204, according to the extract from the Melrose ** Chronica " given a little above, it is stated that an Abbot uamed Gaufridus (or Geoffrey) became the ecclesiastic-al head of the House. Clearly then it must be assumed, not only that it is out of the question to insert an Abbot Godfrey between Sylvanus and Ernald, or between Emald and William de Punchard, but that the only possible supposition is that the Abbot called Godfrey in the accredited lists of Abbots of Kievaulx must be identical with the Abbot called Gaufridus by the Melrose Chronicler, and that his proper placc in the catalogue is immediately in succession to William Punchard. But to retum to Abbot Emald. He begins his rule as Abbot 2d Mcurch 1189 ; and in the next place, in his catalogue of th& Priors of Wartre, Burton mentions Yvo as the fourth (with the date 1132 printed by mistake for 1192), and in his note thereto adds, — "Ivo de Wartre occurs Prior in A.D. 1192, being cotemporary with Ernald, Abbot of Eieval, and William, Prior of Kirkham, in the first year of the pontificate of Pope Celestine the Third." Abbot Ernald's name occurs also among those of the witnesses to a charter by Bishop Pudsey, together with that of Abbot William of Newminster (Archbishop 6ray'8 Segister, S.S. p. 39 n.). For 1199 as the date of his resigna- tion of the office of Abbot, and for the fact of the resignation itself, Burton quotes Chron, de Afaiiros, p. 181. But there is in the same record another entry which contains what is unquestionably a reference to Abbot Ernald, which is not altogether free from obscurity. It is on p. 180, and runs thus: — "Anno Mcxciv, Dominus E[einerius], viL Abbas de Melros, curam pastoralem sigillo suo Abbati E[maldo] de Rievalle humiliter assignavit, scil.,xv Kal. Octobris, i.e. Sabbato; cui successit Radulphus, Abbas de Kinlos." From the date, there can be no hesitation about completing the name, the initial of which only is given ; and the inference appeara to be that the Abbot of Eievaulx was the person specially deputed to receive the formal resignation of the retiring prelate.
6. WlLLiAM II. (Punchard). — For his accession, or, rather, the date of it, see last note. "Hsec est finalis concordia etc., coram Simone de PateshuUe, Eustachio de Faukenberg, Sadulfo de Stokes', Justiciariis etc, inter Ricardum Malebyse, petentem, et Willelmum, Abbatem Rievallis, etc, de divisis inter Halmby et Laueschales, etc." (Feet of Fines, 120^). For the state-
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INTRODUCTION. XCV
ment that he died in 1203 Barton cites Chron, de Mailros, ut supia.
7. GoDFBEY (more than possibly Geoffrey). — See last notice but one.
8. GUARmus. — "KteG est finalis concordia etc., corara Ada de Port, Simone de Pateshulle, Godefrido de Insula, Henrico de Nor[hamton], Henrico Filio Herveii, Eadulfo Hareng, Ro- berto de Perci, Alexandro de Point, Justiciariis etc., inter Emmam, quondam uxorem Gilberti de Sauteby, etc., et Guar- inum, Abbatem Bievallis, etc, de tertia parte duarum bova- tarum, etc., in Stitlum, etc. (Feet of Fines, 1208). "Obiit circiter 1211 " (Burton, who refers to Mon. Ang., vol. ii. p. 19). But the Melrose Chronicler is more precise, the entry at p. 184 being " Anno Mccxi, obiit Dominus Warinus, Abbas Rievallis. Cui successit Dominus Helias, Celerarius ejusdem Domus."
9. Helyas. — Of this prelate, whom he gives as the eleventh Abbot, Burton says simply nothing, save that he resigned the Abbacy, for which statement he cites Chron. de Mailros, pp. 188, 194. The two entries thus referred to are these: — ** Anno Mccxv, Dominus Helyas, Abbas Bievallis, suo cessit officio: cui successit Dominus Henricus, Abbas de Wardonia, vi idus Aprilis" (p. 188); and "electus est Dominus Helyas, quondam Abbas Rievallis, in Abbatem de Eevesby, mense Decembris " (p. 194). There is no note as to the date of his election to Bievaulx.
10. Henry I. — Of Abbot Henry, who is described as having been previously Abbot of Wardon, Burton says besides, in a note, that he died in 1216 at Ruchford, and was there buried, citing the Chronicle just iiamed, p. 191 ; the entry quoted, under date 1216, being as foUows : — " Obiit Dominus Henricus, Abbas Rievallis, apud Ruhford, ibidemque sepultus est: cui successit in regimine Dominus Willelmus, Abbas de Melros, ii kal. Septembris."
11. WiLLiAM III. — Burton describes him as previously Abbot of Melrose, and adds that he died in 1223; resting the state- ment again on the Melrose Chronicle as previously cited. The extract in the preceding notice makes it evident that he be- came Abbot in 1216.
12. ROGER. — Previously Abbot of Wardon. In Burton'8
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catalogue the date 1224 is prefixed to his number and name, his predecessor having died in 1223. "Haec est finalis con- cordia etc., inter Rogerum, Abbatem Bievallis, querentem, et Ricardum de Sproxtona, deforciantem, etc." (Feet of Fines, 1226). No. ccxvii. is a similar document, dated Januaty 1232, between Abbot Eoger and William de Eos; No. cccxiL, dated Fentecost 1233, is a lease of the Poketo Mill to New- borough, bearing this Abbofs name; in 1234 there is a Finalis concordia between Abbot Boger and Bobert le Buliir, with Amabel his wife ; and yet again, there is another arrangement of the same kind, dated in 1235, between the same Abbot and Bobert de Everingham and Isabella his wife, with interesting details as to the property involved in the case, the document being printed in the Appendix ; and lastly, in the Coram B^e Pleas, Easter, 23 Henr. iii. (123^), Abbot Boger sues William de Bos for warranty of the Grif and Tilston lands, and other particulars of £spec's original grant He resigned in 1239 \Chr. de Mailros),
13. Leonias (Leonius). — " Leonias de Dundraynon, a monk of Melros" is the entry in the Monasticon, with the date 1238 prefixed to the name, but without the usual citation of autho- rity. The last note will suffice to show that the statement is one made, partly at least, in error. The Chronica entry touching his accession to the Abbacy is "Anno Mccxxxix, Dominus Bogerus, Abbas Bievallis, suo cessit officio, et Dominus Leonius de Dundraynan, et monachus de Melros, successit." According to the same authority (p. 203), he had been appointed Abbot of Dundrennan in 1236, the day before the feast of the Ascen- sion ; and, on the same page as stands the notice of his succes- sion to the Abbot*s stall at Bievaulx, is also the notice of his death: "Anno Mccxl, obiit venerabilis Leonius, Abbas Bie- vallis, vi idus Januarii ; cui successit, post Pascha, Dominus Adam de Tilletai, Abbas."
14. Adam de Tilletai. — Burton correctly (see last note) prefixes the date 1240 to his mention of this Abbot The same date stands in No. CCLXXvn.; while in Fines dated in that year, and the foUowing years, noted in the list, his name appears ten times at the least No. cccxxiii. is a fine dating in 1257, wherein Abbot Adam is the plaintiff, and William de Moubray the defendant; and finally, No. cccxiv., dated in 1260, gives up his name as entering into a composition with the personage — Simon de Vere — who was in reality one of the principals
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INTRODUCTION. XCvii
mentioued in the last reference. In his case, agaiu, Burton makes reference to the Chrouicle of Melrose.
15. WiLLiAM IV. — In a Fiue levied in 1268, before Peter de Bms, aud the other Justices then itiuerant, William, Abbot of Kievaulx, was oue of the parties, aud Robert de Teesdale, with his wife Guudreda, the other. For his date, 2 Kal. Aug. 1275, Burton quotes Torr^s MSS.; according to Placita Ebor., 1279-1281, he was summoned by TVilliam, Prior of Kirkham, to show cause why he should not permit the latter to have the pasturage in Bilsdale of which he had been dispossessed by Abbot Adam; and No. CCXLIX. is a Fine, dated in 1281, in which he is one of the principals, aud Johu de Staingrave the other. But there is yet oue matter which, in connectiou with this Abbot, remains to be glanced at. Burton's date aud refer- ence have already been quoted, and the question arises whether the 2 KaL Aug., as alleged on the authority of Torr's Mss., may not be a mistake for 12 Kal. Aug. iu the same year, wheu, from the foUowiug minute in Archbishop Gifford^s Begister, it is apparent he made his professiou of obedience : — " Obedieutia fratris Willelmi, Abbatis Ryevallis, facta apud Cawod sub datum xii KaL Augusti, A.D. Mcclxx quiuto, sub hiis verbis : Ego frater Willelmus, Abbas Eyevallis, subjectionem, reveren- tiam et obedieutiam a sauctis patribus constitutam, secundum r^ulam S. Benedicti, tibi, Pater Archiepiscope, tuisque suc- cessoribus canonice substitueudis, et Sauctae Sedi Ebor., salvo Ordine nostro, perpetuo me exhibiturum promitto." Such au entiy admits of no doubt as to the fact and date stated. But on this admission depends the consequence that having been Abbot since 1268 — aud how much before that we do not know — he had allowed so mauy years to elapse previously to layiug this obligatiou upon himself. Of course there is the hjrpo- thetical alteruative that auother Abbot of the same name had been interposed between him aud Abbot Adam. A like post- pouement of profession occurs in the case of one or more of the Abbots of Fumess, and the preseut, it may be, is not the only case of the kind amoug the Abbots of Bievaulx.
16. Thomas l — This Abbot stands 18th in the Monasiicon Gatalogue, aud set before his name is the date Non. Dec. 1286, while the note of reference below is " Keg. William Grenefeld, archiep. Ebor., pt. Ist, p. 31." As Grenfeld was not Archbishop until 1306, there is obviously some confusion or mistake involved. Abbot Thomas made his profession at Wilton, iv Non, Februarii, in the first year of the Pontificate of Arch-
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bishop Bomanus (Reg. fo. xxx**). This date must of necessity be Feb. 2d in 1287; for the Archbishop was consecrated at Eome on the lOth of February in 1286, and thus he could scarcely have been at Wilton on the 2d, and at Rome on the lOth, allowing for all the difficulties of so long a joumey. But there is no doubt that Thomas had become Abbot in, or probably before, 1286; for, among the "Pedes finium. Ebor., 13-26 Edw. I." is one dated "in crastino Ascensionis Domini 14 Edw. I.," between Abbot Thomas of Rievaulx and William de la Hay, acting on behalf of his wife, in re certain lands in Little Busby, etc. ; and, inasmuch as this Fine has been acci- dentally omitted in the Appendix, I subjoin the foUowing very brief abstract : — " Heec est finalis etc. coram Thoma de Wey- laund, Joh. de Luvetot, Will. de Brunton, Rog. de Leycestre, et Elia de Belingham, Justiciariis, etc., Inter Fi-atrem Thomam, Abbatem Rivallis, per Ric. de Perk, etc, et Will. de la Hay et Elenam uxorem ejus, etc, de uno mesuagio, etc, in Par\^a Buskeby," and other tenements in Staynburghe, Pyllaye, and Cuthworthe, In No. CLXXViii. (printed in the Appendix) his name is found mentioned as Abbot in September 1291.
17. Henry II. — This Abbofs name does not appear in Burton's list, or in any other with which I am acquainted. Still, there seems to be suflBcient reason for inserting it iu the present list. The authority depended on is an extract from the Clairvaux Chartulary given by Longstaffe in the Appendix to his " Darlington," pp. Ixi, Ixii, which runs as follows : — " 6 Kal. Apr. 1301. Henry, Abbot, and the Convent of Ryevall, in public Chapter, . . . established three monks of their House to celebrate three masses for ever f or the health and prosperity of life of their beloved in Christ, Master Simon de Clervaux, Rector of Lith, from that date, at three altars in their church, viz., at the altar of S. Matthew, where a mass of the Blessed Virgin is celebrated; at the altar of S. Martin the Bishop, where one for all tlie faithful departed is celebrated daily ; and at the altar of the Blessed Thomas the Martyr, a mass; so that the three monks at the three altars, while Master Simon lived, should say a collect for his special health, viz., Deus, qui caritatis dona, etc, in a convenient place ; and at a mass at S. Martin's altar aforesaid, to be daily celebrated for the soul of Sir Thomas de Clervaux, his brother, a special collect in like manner daily should be said, viz., Deus, cui proprium est, etc, in the same place, or other convenient place : but when Master Simon, whose prosperous Kfe might the Highest prolong, should die, at the three masses celebrated
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at the tliree altars, a coUect etc., Deus, cui propriuiu est, for the health of both the souls aforesaid/'
18. RoBERT. — "In 1301 Robert occurs," is the Monastican notice of this Abbot, and the reference is to "Addenda to Tanner's notitia, by Willis." This doubtless depends on an entry in Archbishop Corbridge's Register, fo. xxvi. ; but the entry is made on a loose, or rather on an inserted, slip, and it finds its place on the fo. dealing with the acts of the third year of the Pontificate. This brings the profession of Abbot Eobert into the year 1303 instead of 1301. The profession is made in the usual form.
19. Pffer. — Prefixed to this Abbot's name in the Monasticon is"February 1307," with a reference to Archbishop Grenfield's Register, p. 86. I have met with no other meution of Abbot Peter.
20. Thomas II. — ^The name of this Abbot has not been met with in any of the lists of Abbots of Rievaulx hitherto com- piled. But there is no room for doubt as to the fact that he was Abbot *'le utisme jour Daverille, lan du regne le Roy Edward fiths le Roy Edward utisme." (See No. cxlv^) This is one of the charters in Lord Bolton's most interesting collec- tion, and, by its own date, it dates also the next in the series as printed, or No. cxlv^, in which the name of the same Abbot occurs again. On March 26, 1315, the transaction referred to ia both these deeds was ratified by the other party to it, or Sir Henry le Scrope, and confirmed by the then Bishop of Durham. Five days later the Prior and Convent of Durham add their confirmation to the exchange specified; and there is also a contirmation by the King, dated March 10, 1315 (Pat Rolls, Edw. IL, pt. 2, m. 27). See No. 103 in the Appendix.
21. WiLLiAM V. — Twenty-first in Burton's list stands Abbot William, and before his name is the date " June 1318." As authority for this an entry in Archbishop Melton's Register is cited, p. 228. My own reference is to fo. ccxxvii^ The entry is in the usual form, but subjoined is the following memoran- dum: — "Factae fuerunt istte professiones et benedictiones in Capella de Burtona prope Beverlacum, die Dominica proximo post festum S. Johannis Baptistaj, A. Gr. Mccc decimo octavo, et Pontificatus Domini Willelmi de Melton primo." This same Abbot William is a party to the Conventio with William de la Broc and his wife, Elena, which is the subject of the original
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deed belonging to the Bev. H. G. Holmes, of Birkby, and by him allowed to be printed in the present volume, No. ccclviil There is also an eutry in Dodsworth, Ixiii., fo. 68, to the eflfect that Abbots Alred of Rievaulx and Roger of Byland were contemporaries, as also Abbot Silvanus of the former with the same Abbot of the latter. The entry then proceeds: "Wil- lehnus Ellerbec, Abbas Bievallis, et Adam de Hustwait, Abbas Bellandensis, eodem tempore." Now the only Abbot of Byland named Adam appears to have been the Abbot who, according to the Ust given in Gill's Vallis Ebor^uensis, " had the King's letters of protection, Sept. 21, 1315." This entry then is of interest as giving the personal name of the preseut Abbot.
22. JoHN L — In Patent RoUs, 4 Rich. n., pt. 2, m. 20, is an Inspeximus of a Confirmation by Edw. iil, dated "vicesimo octavo die Junii, auno regni uostri primo" (1327), in which " Johannes nunc Abbas" is named. And on this authority the name of Abbot John is added to the previously existing list The document cited is printed below. (See No. 99.)
23. William vl — In the list of Abbots of Rievaux given in Giirs Vallis Bboracensis, William de Langton stands as the twenty-second, and with the date 1334 prefixed to his name. No other mformation, however, is given. The voluminous and very interesting confirmation printed below as No. ccCLXxn., and which is derived from the Patent Rolls, 6 Edw. iil, pt. 2, m. 23, was granted to " Willelmus nunc Abbas " on the 28th June in that year (1332). This was during Archbishop Melton's time, and his profession is found in that prelate's Register at fo. 260, where a note to the following efFect occurs : — ^At Cawod, nones of Jan"^, 1334-5, the Archbishop issued a commission to Henry, Bishop of Lincoln, to give the " munus benedictionis " to William de Langton, Abbot elect of Rievaulx. William de Langeton's name is not found in Burton's Cata- logue.
24. RiCHARD. — The profession of " Ricardus electus Abbas Monasterii Ryevallensis " is seen in Archbishop Zouch^s Register, fo. clxii^ in the usual form, with the following Mem. appended: — "Et memor. quod primo die mensis Novembris, A.D. Mcccxlix., in Capella manerii sui de Cawode, Venerabilis pater, Willelmus la Zouche, Ebor. Archiepiscopus, etc., dictum Abbatem benedixit, qui quidem Abbas juravit obedientiam in forma suprascripta." I have met with no other instance in which Abbot Richard is mentioned.
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25. WiLLiAM viL— 1369. Patent Eolls, 43 Edw. iir., pt. 1, m. 33. Exemplification touching the Pickering Manors. See App. No. 98. " 1372. Add. MSS. 4937, fo. 52. Sigillum Willelmi et Couventus Eyevallensis cuidam scripto appensum dato apud Hamelak, die Veneris in crastino Nativitatis B. Johannis Baptistse. Apud Belveir 19 August, 1732." His name is also met with in Patent Eolls, 3 Eich. IL, pt. 2, m. 20, as Willelmus nunc Abbas, xx die Februarii (1380). See No. CCCLXXUL, p. 310.
26. WiLLiAM viiL — The date 1409 is inserted in the Monr- astieon before the name of the twenty-third Abbot, William, and the authority quoted is " Addenda to Tanner's Notitia, by WiUis,"
27. WiLLiAM IX. — Archbishop Bowefs Eegister, pt. 2, p. 138, qnoted by Burton; the date given being 18th Oct. 1419. Bromley is given as this Abbofs personal name.
28. JoHN II. — ^Willis' History of Ahleys, vol. ii. p. 28, is the authority cited for this Abbot, whose name is found, as well as that of his predecessor, in all the accredited lists.
29. Henry iil — "Henry Burton, a monk of Sallay," is the accustomed way of noticing this Abbot, and the date, lOth Nov. 1423, is the date assigned, which depends upon an entry in the Eegister at York, "Sede vacante," p. 321. Also see No. cccvni., a document dated the Feast of AU Saints, 1429, in which Henry is named as the then Abbot.
30. WiLLiAM X. — Among the Conventual Leases, No. 876 is an agreement between William, Abbot of Eivaulx, and Thomas, Prior of Mount Grace, touching Morton Grange in East Harlsey. The date is Michaelmas 1436. " Occurs in 1443 " is Burton's note touching this Abbot, and he gives a reference to Arch- bishop Kemp*s Eegister, p. 421. The entry there (my note is p. 420^) is to the efifect that John Inghelay was elected Abbot of Eievaulx, on the resignation of William Spenser, in 1449. This, while on the one hand it verifies the precise date at which Abbot William ceased (by resignation) to be Abbot, verifies also the fact that his personal name was Spenser. This is a circumstance calling for specific remark, for, as will be noticed more fuUy presently, the name of the Abbot who succeeded John Inkeley or Inghelay was likewise William Spenser.
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31. JoHN iii. — "5 April, 1449," stands prefixed to this Abbofs name in Mon. Ebor., and with the same reference to Kemp's Register as in the case of his predecessor, which we have just noticed. His personal name was Inkeley, Ingelay (in Giirs VcUlis Ehorac,\ or Inghelay.
32. WiLLiAM XI. — In No. 101, which is an extract from the Close Rolls, temp, Edward iv., and which bears date July 31, 1471, William Spenser is distinctly named as the then Abbot of Rievaulx, and as assigning to John, Lord Scrope of Bolton, William, Lord Hastynges, and others, West Newton Grange, etc. The Abbofs name is mentioned in full in two places, and the document is precisely dated, as already named, so that there can be no doubt as to the fact, either as to name or time. And as Archbishop Kemp's Register is equally precise, it is abundantly clear that Abbot John Inghelay intervened between two Abbots, each of whom bore the same name. Of course, as the first of these vacated the Abbofs chair by resignation, the suggestion that the two Abbots Spenser were in reality one and the same person — the former Abbot having been re-elected on Inghelay's removal — may be made. But the supposition involves the iraprobability, as it will appear to many, that the man who had become Abbot by or before the year 1436 should have been so tenacious of life and vigour as to be able to endure the toils and anxieties of the abbatial position down to the year 1489 (or, from first to last, up- wards of fifty-three years), when Abbot Burton assumed the govemment of the Convent The last absolute mention of this Abbot occurs in 1487, on the 7th November, in which year he granted the lease numbered 880, involving the Con- ventual property in Teesdcde.
33. JOHN IV. — Burton assigns the date 29th January, 1489, to this Abbot, naming him John Burton, and quoting Arch- bishop Rotherham's Register, p. 63, as authority. In Con- ventual Leases, No. 897, he is nientioned as granting a lease of lands in Harlsey to Prior Henry Egglyston (or Ecclestou) of Mount Grace, and in No. 898 the date named is 1509.
34. WiLLL^M xii. — In the Monasticon William Helmesley is given as the thirtieth Abbot, with the date 16th November, 1513, and a reference to theRegister of Archbishop Bainbridge. In Conventual Leases, No. 895, dated 26th March 1526, he grants a certain corrody, the particulars of which are of some interest, having previously in 1524, according to No. 892,
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granted a lease of lands in Pickering Marrishes to Eobert Hunter. In No. 873, much of which is illegible, he is recorded as having leased to William, Prior of Bridlington, certain lands called Campe and Twillynge, otherwise Twyndill.
35. Edwakd. — This Abbofs name is not mentioned by Bur- ton, and therefore by none of his copyists. His name is found, together with that of Brian Higdon, appended to the Status Monasterii de Fontibus, printed in MerruyriaXs qf Fountains, at p. 288 et seq. ; and in the note on p. 296, Mr. Walbran states that he had not been able to ascertain how long or when the Abbot Edward presided." He is, however, repeatedly named in the Conventual Leases, beginning with No. 872% which is dated 20th January, 1530. No. 889 is another lease by the same Abbot, granted in 1531. No. 896 is a grant by him to one George Coottes of the ofiice of Conventual swineherd, dated in 1532 ; and No. 883, dated May 24, 1503, is a lease granted by him of land in the Marrishes. But there is much more than this to be said touching this Abbot, this being, perhaps, the most appropriate place for taking up a subject which, as I think it will be seen, connects itself most closely with him, standing, as he does, the thirty-fifth in our list I hardly need ad- vert to the current tradition — for at present, in some of its aspects, it is little more — ^that an Abbot of Rievaulx, no name being speeified, was concerned in the Pilgrimage of Grace, and was in consequence executed for high treason. As an instance of the way in which this matter is dealt with by those who compile what they call " history " of what is styled the " local" sort, without taking the slightest trouble about authenticating the statements they make or repeat, I quote the foUowing from Gill's Vallis Hboracenais, p. 312: "In 1536 an insurrection broke out in the northern counties, which was headed by the Archbishop of York and several of the nobles. This move- ment was called the * Pilgrimage of Grace,' the banners of the insurgents being painted with the image of Christ crucified, and the chalice and host, the emblems of their faith. The rebellion, though somewhat formidable, was soon put down ; and the-leaders of the insurgents, among whom was the Abbot of Kievaulx, were apprehended and executed for high treason." The insurrection in question took place early in 1537, when Bowland Blyton, who lived to surrender the Abbey in the f ollo w- ing y ear, was Abbot. Giirs statement is theref ore a manifest mis- statement. I think also that the same may be said about the all^ed leadership of the alleged Abbot of Eievaulx. But let that pass. That there was an Abbot of Rievaulx condenmed
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and executed for complicity in the Pilgrimage of Grace is pro- bably certain ; but that it was not the Abbot regnant at the time is more than equally certain. As to the former of these two allegations, Mr. Walbran (Memoriais of Fountains, p. 273) writes: "Henriquez, in his Menologium Cisterdense, p. 185, says * Nonis Junii, Londini in Anglia, passio beatorum Guil- lebni Trust' [for Thirsk] 'Abbatis Fontanensis, et Abbatis Eiveriensis, Ordinis Cisterc, qui propter fidem etc.'" And in the f ollowing paragraph is added, '* Gulielmus Trust, Abbas Monast. Fontanensis [et] Abbas Siveriensis ambo suspensi et in quatuor divisi partes." There seems to be no real doubt that this is the record of an actual fact. And I think that the reasons are quite equally valid for assuming that the Abbas Riveriensis thus spoken of was ex-Abbot Edward, or Blyton'8 predecessor, or (as he is described in writings of the time), guondam Abbas, There is, I think, no difficulty in the way of establishing the fact that there was such a person — that Blyton's predecessor vacated the office of Abbot by cession, and not by death. Mr. Walbran (Memorials, p. 260) publishes " A letter from Thomas Legh to Cromwell, respecting the con- duct of William Thirsk, Abbot of Fountains, and the Abbot of Rievaulx," obtained from the Cott. mss. Cleop. E. iv. I have copy of the same from Dodsworth, xxvi. 10, headed: — "A breefe from Dalton \sic'] Lee to Cromwell, 1 Sept." Mr. Wal- bran's note upon this letter — the bearing of which on the question now before us will be dealt with presently — is : " It appears from this letter, which was probably written in the autumn of the year 1536" — a date which I am inclined to think is fully two years too late — '*when the first general visitation of the monasteries commenced, that the visitors had found occasion to depose the Abbot of Eievaulx, and that the king had commanded the Abbot of Fountains, who was then the Visitor-General of the Cistercian Order, to confirm or con- summate their act [This is misstated. The said Abbot was really, as will be seen below, one of the commissioners origin- ally and specially employed.] His reluctance to underteke this and contingent duties mentioned in the two succeeding letters in the text was, no doubt, dictated by a strong sym- pathetic feeling with the offender, exemplified not only in the reports of their characters generally, but by the fact that they soon after joined the Pilgrimage of Grace, and died for that cause on the scaffold." Much of the pertinency of no incon- siderable part of this depends upon the date, which, as noted above, may be demurred to. For, in the first place, in 1535 £owland Blyton was Abbot (see Conventual Leases,^a«9im), and
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had been so f i-om at least the very beginning of the previous year, and there was no question touching hia deposition ; and in the second place there is an abstract of the first of '' the two succeeding letters " referred to by Walbran, in the " Calen- dar of State Papers," Henry viii., voL vi., and numbered 1408, with the date 1533 appended. At the end appears the further note as to date, " London, 8th November " ; and it will be seen, on comparison of the contents of these two letters, one written in September, and the other in November, that they are en- tirely consistent with one another, and with the other facts of the case, one, and the most important of which, as to our in- quiiy, is that Abbot Edward was still Abbot up to the middle of 1533 (see Conventual Leases, p. 362, No. 883). With these preliminary remarks we may proceed to a more special notice of the letters given in the Memoriais qf Fountaim, the first of which opens as follows : — " Pleasithe it your mastershyp to be advartesyd that, according unto your commandement, with most diligence I hawe deliverd your letter, also at tymes most con- venient referryd unto the kyng*s commyssionars at Riwax siche credance as yowr pleisar and equite wolde, whyche uppon the abbott of Funtans partt was butt lyghtly regardyd, and playnly expressyd of the same, that suche letter as I deliveryd and credance relatyd was from Mr. Crumwell onley, and nott from the Kinges hyghnesse, wheropon, . . . affcer evidence piove by wyttnessys, and the abbott of Rywax confession pub- hshyde, the said abbot " (of Fountains, namely) " amonge other exceptions did laye this excepcion, Qiiod vigore literanm nvlla eommissionariis nec illorum alicui competit aut competere potest jurisdictio contra prcefatum abbatem de Riwalle,pro eo, videlicet, et ex €0 quod didce litterce regice fuertmt et sunt dolose, sfur- reptUicque, tacita veritate et eospressa falsitate, per dolum et fraudem, ac hujusmodi serenissimi principis nostri circumven- tione, impetratce; who in hys obstinacie aud parwarse mynde adheryng to the rulles of hys religion, as he said, departyd from Riwax, and wolde nott, accordingli unto your letters, thare remayne for the accumplyshment of the kinges com- maundement • . . whyche rebelliouse mjrnde at this tyme is soe radicate, not only in hym, butt also in money of that reli- gion, as in the abbott of Rywax wryting this letter here in- closyde to the slaundare of the kinges heygnes, and afber the kinges lettars receivyd, dyd imprison and otharways punyche divers of hys brethern whyche ware ayenst him and hys dis- solute liwing ; also dyd take from one of the same, being a wery agyd man all hys money , . . that as persons almost nothing regarding God and veri lityll owr grett maister the
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king, imder the pretence of the rwlles of there religion lywythe as persones soluH ab omni lege sm obedientia et Deo et regi debita. . . All the cuntre maykythe exclamations of this abbot of Eywax, uppon hys abhomynable liwing and extortions by hym commyttyd, also </