Introduction

The ruined abbeys which dot both the urban and the rural landscape of the county of Yorkshire are amongst the most lavish in the country, and some of their names are known worldwide.  All were destroyed during the Reformation of the mid 16^th century; their lands confiscated and sold off by the Crown; their fabric robbed for more Earthy purposes.  All that now remains are a collection of highly evocative, some might say, romantic piles of masonry, often in astonishingly beautiful settings.  Their origins however belong back in the early medieval times, when they acquired large tracts of land, usually from bequests made by nobles and gentry hoping for a 'fast-track' to heaven when their time came.  The monks employed large numbers of lay brothers who by their toil built up huge wealth for the abbeys, usually in the form of sheep and their fleeces, but any and many other means of industrial enterprise were similarly engaged in to further bolster the monastic finances.  Most were established by orders of monks from mainland Europe, France in particular; a few however had their origins in the old Celtic Christian tradition, such as that at Whitby, where there had been a monastic house from long before the Conquest.   Others such as the Carthusian house at Hull were relative latecomers, being amongst the last to be established in the county. 

The end for these places was as sudden as it was dramatic.  Many can be said to be the reasons for Henry VIII and his severance from the Catholic church of Rome, greed, lust, the need for a male heir, the advent of Protestantism, one can take one's pick, but the end result was for the abbeys, the same.  Their wealth was needed for the royal exchequer, and their lands to appease loyal servants of the Crown, and to raise further funds by the sale of monastic assets.  The sudden loss of the established Church, called the 'Dissolution of the Monasteries' especially in the north, and Yorkshire in particular was an affront to many if not most of the population.  The consequential revolt known as the 'Pilgrimage of Grace' was an attempt to redress their grievances, and re-establish the Roman church, and the status quo.  Henry was in no mood to listen, nor to compromise, so the revolt was put down without mercy.  One particularly valuable asset stripped from the abbeys were the lead roofs, this left the buildings open to wind and weather, which resulted in their rapid collapse and quick decay.   It has only been recently that most have been stabilised, and made safe for the massive ingress if day-trippers and tourists, who delight (mainly) to attempt to visualise the devotion, splendour, and opulence of what once was.

The present day location will be herein provided to aid any wishing to visit the ruins.  A brief history of each house is also provided together with a list of abbots where these are known.  Only monochromatic images have been included, firstly to provide 'atmosphere' and secondly, so as not to spoil any pleasant surprises, should any of them be subsequently visited.  It would be all too easy to provide wonderfully exotic and carefully re-mastered imagery to any readers, but this article is not about photography, it is about the buildings them selves, and in this vein it is, I feel, unnecessary to over emphasise them with glossy and filtered images.  After all the scriptorium brothers did not have access to computers to aid them in making and copying their books and manuscripts, all such work was done by hand, for the glory of their God.  At this point I wish to thank Tami Peck of Camas County, Idaho, U.S.A. for her masterly rendition of the title image for this article.  Tami's contribution was originally much, much larger, and I have done her original image little honour by reducing it so dramatically. 

It might seem to some that the county of Yorkshire is endowed with more than its fair share of these magnificent edifices of times gone past, perhaps this is so, but in the period in which they were founded and built, the county was a wild and greatly forested place, with I believe, wolves still roaming the forest fringes.  [.records clearly indicate its presence in England at least until the 14th century where encounters with humans (i.e. hunting) became more rare, habitat loss in the form of deforestation being the main cause in its decline. The last wolf south of the Scottish border was believed to have been killed sometime in the 1480's (Delibes, 1990).]   Not only were there natural predators to consider.  During the early 14^th century, as an example, the northern counties of England were prone to visitations from Scottish raiders and erstwhile invaders, who were not always as respectful of the Church as they might have been.  These were then not the romantic and idyllic places they seem today.  They were frontier islands of agriculture, industry, and contemplation.  In their heyday, each foundation was a hive of production and husbandry, with much of their revenue in several cases being based on the harvesting of wool.  It was monastic wool, and the sale thereof that sponsored the release of king Richard the Lion Hearted from his capture and imprisonment by Leopold of Austria, (1192-1193), ] much of it passing through the then little known port of Wyke super Myton, known today as the city of Kingston upon Hull.  The lands, to which these abbeys were titled, were for the most part initially uncultivated and untamed, such areas were more common in the northern counties than they were in the more 'civilised' southern counties of England.  This may go some way to explaining why there is such a predominance of them in Yorkshire.  It is no cynicism to suggest a north-south divide; incidentally such views were and might yet be held by some people of the southern counties, safe to say, their loss!  

The Oxford English Dictionary is for once particularly vague about the definition of an abbey, simply stating that an abbey is/was "an establishment occupied by a community of monks or nuns."  An Abbot however is defined as "a man who is the head of an abbey of monks." From the two definitions, it might be safe to say that an abbey was a community of monks, whose head, was an abbot.  This in distinction to establishments under a Prior, called quite obviously, priories.  Sometimes there is little distinction between an abbey and a priory, therefore, in order not to omit any of the abbeys, I might have included by way of safety, the occasional priory, but rather that in my opinion than be remiss.  There were also copious other smaller establishments and houses, with lesser and lesser monks in attendance.  The list below is alphabetical, both by way of the order of monks, and thence by the houses thereof for ease of finding.   So, to select one of the abbeys listed, simply click on it, and a new window will open to that specific establishment. 

In order to glean some understanding of the philosophy of what it meant to be a monk, one of the best sources is the Rule of St. Benedict.  While such strictures were meant primarily for the Benedictine order of monks who adopted them long after the sainted Benedict had died, they would have been, one suspects, the standard by which many monks were instructed.  Here then is an indication of the rules by which monks were meant to live by, although not always successfully it has to be said.

CHAPTER IV

The Instruments of Good Works

(1) In the first place to love the Lord God with the whole heart, the whole soul, the whole strength...
(2) Then, one's neighbour as one's self (cf Mt 22:37-39; Mk 12:30-31; Lk 10:27).
(3) Then, not to kill...
(4) Not to commit adultery...
(5) Not to steal...
(6) Not to covet (cf Rom 13:9).
(7) Not to bear false witness (cf Mt 19:18; Mk 10:19; Lk 18:20).
(8) To honour all men (cf 1 Pt 2:17).
(9) And what one would not have done to himself, not to do to another (cf Tob 4:16; Mt 7:12; Lk 6:31).
(10) To deny one's self in order to follow Christ (cf Mt 16:24; Lk 9:23).
(11) To chastise the body (cf 1 Cor 9:27).
(12) Not to seek after pleasures.
(13) To love fasting.
(14) To relieve the poor.
(15) To clothe the naked...
(16) To visit the sick (cf Mt 25:36).
(17) To bury the dead.
(18) To help in trouble.
(19) To console the sorrowing.
(20) To hold one's self aloof from worldly ways.
(21) To prefer nothing to the love of Christ.
(22) Not to give way to anger.
(23) Not to foster a desire for revenge.
(24) Not to entertain deceit in the heart.
(25) Not to make a false peace.
(26) Not to forsake charity.
(27) Not to swear, lest perchance one swear falsely.
(28) To speak the truth with heart and tongue.
(29) Not to return evil for evil (cf 1 Thes 5:15; 1 Pt 3:9).
(30) To do no injury, yea, even patiently to bear the injury done us.
(31) To love one's enemies (cf Mt 5:44; Lk 6:27).
(32) Not to curse them that curse us, but rather to bless them.
(33) To bear persecution for justice sake (cf Mt 5:10).
(34) Not to be proud...
(35) Not to be given to wine (cf Ti 1:7; 1 Tm 3:3).
(36) Not to be a great eater.
(37) Not to be drowsy.
(38) Not to be slothful (cf Rom 12:11).
(39) Not to be a murmurer [gossip].
(40) Not to be a detractor.
(41) To put one's trust in God.
(42) To refer what good one sees in himself, not to self, but to God.
(43) But as to any evil in himself, let him be convinced that it is his own and charge it to himself.
(44) To fear the Day of Judgment.
(45) To be in dread of hell.
(46) To desire eternal life with all spiritual longing.
(47) To keep death before one's eyes daily.
(48) To keep a constant watch over the actions of our life.
(49) To hold as certain that God sees us everywhere.
(50) To dash at once against Christ the evil thoughts which rise in one's heart.
(51) And to disclose them to our spiritual father.
(52) To guard one's tongue against bad and wicked speech.
(53) Not to love much speaking.
(54) Not to speak useless words and such as provoke laughter.
(55) Not to love much or boisterous laughter.
(56) To listen willingly to holy reading.
(57) To apply one's self often to prayer.
(58) To confess one's past sins to God daily in prayer with sighs and tears, and to amend them for the future.
(59) Not to fulfil the desires of the flesh (cf Gal 5:16).
(60) To hate one's own will.
(61) To obey the commands of the Abbot in all things, even though he himself (which Heaven forbid) act otherwise, mindful of that precept of the Lord: "What they say, do ye; what they do, do ye not" (Mt 23:3).
(62) Not to desire to be called holy before one is; but to be holy first, that one may be truly so called.
(63) To fulfil daily the commandments of God by works.
(64) To love chastity.
(65) To hate no one.
(66) Not to be jealous; not to entertain envy.
(67) Not to love strife.
(68) Not to love pride.
(69) To honour the aged.
(70) To love the younger.
(71) To pray for one's enemies in the love of Christ.
(72) To make peace with an adversary before the setting of the sun.
(73) And never to despair of God's mercy.  

Behold, these are the instruments of the spiritual art, which, if they have been applied without ceasing day and night and approved on judgment day, will merit for us from the Lord that reward which He hath promised: "The eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him" (1 Cor 2:9). But the workshop in which we perform all these works with diligence is the enclosure of the monastery, and stability in the community.

[ http://www.kansasmonks.org/RuleOfStBenedict.html#ch4 ]

Here briefly are the distinctions between monastic orders; each will be examined in great detail at the appropriate time.  My sincere thanks go to Sandy Colby for this contribution.

Benedictine

Followed the rule of St. Benedict, all worshipping God in the same way. The emphasis was on monasteries supporting themselves and being self-sufficient. There was insistence on obedience and the monks lived and died in the monastery. The monastery usually had towns around them. Bede was a Benedictine monk 

Cistercian

Break away group from the Benedictines. Founder of the order was a Stephen Harding and they were sort of halfway between Benedictines and Cluniacs. Monasteries were usually in isolated sites and they used plain architecture. The monks lived austere lives, were very industrious and modified the landscape in order to support themselves. The sites were given to the monks so were generally on poor land. Cistercians were called white monks because of the colour of their habits. The preference for isolated areas was so that they could be 'the world forgetting, but the world forgot' (Aston 2000). They became skilled at drainage and other engineering skills in order to improve the state of the land and at one time there was something like 15000 sheep at Fountains.  

Cluniacs

Monasteries are isolated and were completely independent and the only person over them was the pope. The rule of silence was strictly observed. Devotion to the religious side only and they employed lay brothers who did the agricultural work etc. to support the monastery and main monks. The Priors at Cluniac monasteries had to go to Cluny each year.

Carthusians

Communal living but individual within the monastery, an austere and strict order. Monks each had a cell which had a small garden to grow vegetables and the monks were expected to look after this and also have a trade which could be of use to the monastery. This was carried out in a workshop under the cell. There was a separate house away from the main monastery for lay brothers. Meals were taken in the refectory only on feast days. They came out of their cells for night vigils and offices.

Premonstratensians

Order of canons based on Cistercians but they did a bit more extramural preaching outside of the monastery. Their monasteries were located on isolated sites.

[Aston, M. (2000) 'Monasteries in the Landscape'. ISBN: 0752419013. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.]

The Abbeys of Yorkshire

In this section will be listed not only the abbeys of Yorkshire, but also the priories, preceptories, friaries, colleges, and hospitals.  All were religious houses, all operated by monks and/or nuns, and while the abbeys were the pinnacle of the monastic system, the lower houses more perhaps provided for the people of Yorkshire both rural and urban as is best demonstrated by the quantity and locations of the hospitals.  In most cases, the only formal education available was gained from the monastic collegiate churches.  These are quite long lists, but essential to provide an idea of the county-wide coverage in pre-Dissolution times, times that had lasted unchallenged for some 500 years.  The sudden removal of each and every one of them in the space of 4 years was nothing short of a disaster.

BENEDICTINE

St. Benedict did not, strictly speaking, found an order; we have no evidence that he ever contemplated the spread of his Rule to any monasteries besides those which he had himself established. Subiaco was his original foundation and the cradle of the institute. From St. Gregory we learn that twelve other monasteries in the vicinity of Subiaco also owed their origin to him, and that when he was obliged to leave that neighbourhood he founded the celebrated Abbey of Monte Cassino, which eventually become the centre whence his Rule and institute spread. These fourteen are the only monasteries of which there is any reliable evidence of having been founded during St. Benedict's lifetime. The tradition of St. Placid's mission to Sicily in 534, which first gained general credence in the eleventh century, though accepted as genuine by such writers as Mabillon and Ruinart, is now generally admitted to be mere romance. Very little more can be said in favour of the supposed introduction of the Benedictine Rule into Gaul by St. Maurus in 543, though it also has been strenuously upheld by many responsible writers. At any rate, evidences for it are so extremely doubtful that it cannot be seriously regarded as historical. There is reason for believing that it was the third Abbot of Monte Cassino who began to spread a knowledge of the Rule beyond the circle of St. Benedict's own foundations. It is at least certain that when Monte Cassino was sacked by the Lombards about the year 580, the monks fled to Rome, where they were housed by Pope Pelagius II in a monastery adjoining the Lateran Basilica. There, in the very centre of the ecclesiastical world, they remained for upwards of a hundred and forty years, and it seems highly probable that this residence in so prominent a position constituted an important factor in the diffusion of a knowledge of Benedictine monasticism. It is generally agreed also that when Gregory the Great embraced the monastic state and converted his family palace on Apostle, it was the Benedictine form of monasticism that he adopted there.

St. Augustine and his monks established the first English Benedictine monastery at Canterbury soon after their arrival in 597. Other foundations quickly followed as the Benedictine missionaries carried the light of the Gospel with them throughout the length and breadth of the land. It was said that St. Benedict seemed to have taken possession of the country as his own, and the history of his order in England is the history of the English Church. Nowhere did the order link itself so intimately with people and institutions, secular as well as religious, as in England. Through the influence of saintly men, Wilfrid, Benedict Biscop, and Dunstan, the Benedictine Rule spread with extraordinary rapidity, and in the North, when once the Easter controversy had been settled and the Roman supremacy acknowledged (Synod of Whitby, 664), it was adopted in most of the monasteries that had been founded by the Celtic missionaries from Iona. Many of the Episcopal sees of England were founded and governed by the Benedictines, and no less than nine of the old cathedrals were served by the black monks of the priories attached to them. Even when the bishop was not himself a monk, he held the place of titular abbot, and the community formed his chapter.

[ http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02443a.htm ]

ABBEY OF SAINT MARY, YORK  

LOCATION:
Present day access: Museum Street, York. Tel 629745; OPEN: Generally 8am-dusk;
Entrances to the gardens are on Museum Street at the junction of Lendal Bridge; at the side of King's Manor; Marygate (off Bootham); and from the riverside walk. The ruins of St Mary's Abbey, for many years the backdrop and stage to York's famous Mystery Plays, are impressive.   The grounds of the Yorkshire Museum also hold the massive archaeological remains of the Hospital of St. Leonard's.  Ordnance grid Ref: SE 599 52

HISTORY:
Originally the monasterium of St. Olave, the land was given over to Alan the Red (Rufus) Count of Bretagne by king William I.  Alan then granted it to a monk called Stephen from Whitby for the building of a Benedictine abbey, but the Archbishop of York, Thomas de Bayeux, was unsettled by the infringement of the Benedictines so close to the Minster church of St. Peter.  A legal dispute was only settled by the king, who provided the Minster with additional grants.  William II visited York and St. Mary's in 1088 and granted further lands to the abbey, and the following year he laid the foundation stone for the new buildings.  At the same time, the new abbey was re-dedicated to the Virgin, superseding the dedication to St. Olave.
The abbey, at the time of the Dissolution was valued at £2,085/01s/05¾d, and was surrendered by Abbot Dent on the 26^th November 1539, at which time there were 50 monks and the abbot resident.

ABBOTS OF ST. MARY'S, YORK

One of the surviving seals (housed in the British Museum) is that of Abbot Robert de Longchamp (1197 - 1239); it being a vesica 2¾ inches by 1⅝ inches, and shows the abbot standing and holding a crosier and book with the legend "SIGILL' ROBERTI DEI GRACIA ABBIS SCE MARIE EBOR"

 ABBEY OF ST. MARY AND ST. GERMAIN OF SELBY

LOCATION:
Selby Abbey can be found in the centre of the town of Selby, Ordnance Survey grid ref: SE 615 325.  For further information see: http://www.selbyabbey.org.uk/
And
http://www.selbynet.co.uk/selbylife/

HISTORY:
Established in 1068 when Benedict, a monk of Auxerre in France, founded a hermitage at the site after he had received a vision.  He carried with him a finger of the saint as a holy relic, and upon hearing of the monk, king William I made a grant of land for the building of a monastery.  The charter of foundation was dated 1070, and is the earliest in England after the Norman Conquest.  It is by reputation, the birthplace in 1068, of king Henry I, son of William I and Matilda.
Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 valued the abbey and its assets at £719/2s/6¼d.  The abbey surrendered on the 6^th December 1539, with the surrender being enrolled on the 6^th February 1540.  At that time there were 23 monks plus the abbot, Robert Selby.
Rarely, this abbey church has survived in tact, becoming the parish church

ABBOTS OF SELBY

 A surviving seal from the 11^th century in the shape of a vesica measuring 2¾ inches by 2 inches has a figure of St. Germain, seated and blessing, holding a crosier; the seal bares the legend SIGILLV SCI GERMANI SELBIENSIS ECLESIE.

The fabric of the abbey church at Selby survived the destruction of the Dissolution in tact, but a fire in October 1906 did severe damage.  An ongoing regime of restoration and preservation has given this outstanding and rare building a new lease of life, which will hopefully last for many more centuries.

Some claim is made that the medieval heraldic stained glass window, which is dated to the 14^th century, is one of the oldest, if not the oldest representation of the arms of the Washington family, who's son George became the first President of the United States of America.  It is said that George Washington lent the red stripes from his own family coat of arms to the flag of the new nation, where they have remained, although increased, ever since.  The existence of the Washington window at Selby could be a memorial to some long lost bequeath made by the family to the abbey, the full reason may never be resolved.

Present day access: go to http://www.selbynet.co.uk/selbylife/

ABBEY OF ST. PETER, WHITBY  

LOCATION:
Present day access: On cliff top E of Whitby (OS Map 94; ref NZ 904115)
Local Tourist Information Whitby 01947 602674) - for further information go to: http://accessibility.english-heritage.org.uk/filestore/visitsevents/asp/visits/Details.asp?Property_Id=393

HISTORY:
The early Christian monastery of Streoneshalch, associated with abbess Hilda, was not the same institution as the Benedictine abbey of two centuries later.  However, William de Percy established the re-founded abbey of St. Peter, on the same site at its predecessor.  The real origin of the Benedictine abbey is clouded by the existence of three differing accounts; consequently the exact date of the foundation of the abbey can only be attributed to the year's immediately post Norman conquest.
Valor Ecclesiasticus states that Whitby was surrendered on the 14^th December 1539, and was valued at £437/2s/9d.

ABBOTS OF WHITBY

ABBOTS OF WHITBY

The abbey was acquired after the Dissolution by Richard Cholmley, who robbed much of the fabric to build a family mansion.  The nave of the church however, survived until 1762, in which year it collapsed, the central tower and western font also collapsed by the end of the 18^th century.

A 13^th century circular seal 2 inches in diameter shows St. Hilda standing beneath a canopy, holding a crosier and book between two alters each with a priest before it consecrating the chalice, above each priest a dove with a wafer in their beaks and over all the sun and moon, with the legend "SVBENIAT FAMVL' NOBIL' HILDA SVIS".

Houses of Benedictine monks
Priory of Monk Bretton
Priory of St. Lawrence, Snaith
Priory of St. Hilda, Middlesbrough, a cell of Whitby
Priory of All Saints, Fishergate, York, a cell of Whitby
Priory of St. Martin, Richmond, a cell of St. Mary's, York  
Priory of monks, Burstall in Holdernes

Houses of Benedictine nuns
Priory of St. Andrew, Arden
Priory of St. Stephen, Foukeholm
Priory of  St. Mary (and St. Andrew) Marrick
Priory of Nunburnholme
Priory of Nunkeeling
Priory of St.'s Mary and Maud, Nun Monkton
Priory of Wilberfoss
Priory of 'Little Mareis', Yedingham
Priory of St. Clement, York

CISTERCIAN
The origins of the Cistercian Order lie in Burgundy. In 1098 Abbot Robert and a group of his monks from Molesme, who were dissatisfied with contemporary monasticism, sought solitude and seclusion in woods south of Dijon. They wished to follow a harsher and more disciplined way of life, according to a literal interpretation of the Rule of St Benedict. The Cistercians were often referred to as the White Monks for they wore habits of un-dyed wool that appeared grey or white, and not the customary Benedictine black habit. They were renowned for the severity and simplicity of their clothing, diet, architecture and liturgy (prayer and worship). The Cistercians were also noted for their emphasis on manual work, which they made once more an central part of the monastic day as St Bernard had prescribed.

The White Monks built their abbeys in remote, uncultivated areas, far from human habitation. Each abbey was a self-sufficient unit. The monks rejected income from churches, tithes and manorial rents, and sought to live by the labour of their own hands, as recommended in the Rule of St Benedict. They worked their lands directly through a series of granges that were managed and farmed by lay brothers, or conversi. All Cistercian churches were dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and were free from decoration, ostentation and luxury. Visually, they were quite distinct from the richly adorned Benedictine churches, with their sculptures, lavish furnishings and jewels.

The Cistercians did not see themselves as starting a new system of monastic life but rather as restoring the pure form of the Benedictine life. Their system of organisation was, however, quite original. Cistercian Houses were joined in a familial relationship, linked through unity and charity. Each abbey was visited yearly by its mother-house to ensure that standards were maintained. A General Chapter of abbots met annually at Cîteaux to discuss discipline and legislation. Cistercian administration was highly efficient and had a considerable influence on later monastic orders.

Of the new religious orders that emerged in twelfth-century Europe, the Cistercians alone secured a firm hold in Britain. They made a phenomenal impact in Yorkshire, where the eight houses established between 1131 and 1150 acted as a seed bed for subsequent foundations in Britain. By the mid-twelfth century the White Monks had spread throughout England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. They were new, attractive, and had widespread appeal. Those dissatisfied with the state of contemporary Benedictine monasticism were drawn to the simplicity of Cistercian life. Donors, who sought the best spiritual return for their gifts, were impressed by their holiness, poverty and austere life style; the Cistercians' incorporation of lay-brothers - professed members of the community who engaged in manual work - opened the monastic life in Britain to an area of society previously excluded from organised religion.

In 1131 Bernard of Clairvaux sent a letter to Henry I telling him of his intention to found Clairvaux's first daughter-house in Britain. He wished to establish an abbey in the North of England, where the wild, desolate landscape was well-suited to Cistercian expansion. Bernard's choice of location was probably also influenced by his familiarity with this area, for he had contacts in the North, and several of his key monks at Clairvaux came from Yorkshire. Bernard's letter to King Henry is characteristically dynamic and fused with military imagery. He presents the venture as a carefully orchestrated military campaign: monks of Clairvaux were to suss out the area and report back; he would then send an army of monks to occupy the outpost, and from there infiltrate the country.

[ http://cistercians.shef.ac.uk/order ]

THE ABBEY OF SAINT MARY BYLAND  

LOCATION:
Six miles north of Easingwold, in North Yorkshire, Byland Abbey is only two miles south of  another Cistercian abbey, that at Rievaulx.   Ordnance Survey grid ref for Byland Abbey: SE 549 789.

For full details visit:
http://cistercians.shef.ac.uk/byland/location/
and
http://www.york-tourism.co.uk/Visitors/visitors_dynamictemplate.cfm?ContentType=WhatToDo&AttractionId=138

HISTORY
Founded in 1134 as a Savigniac house, it was incorporated into the Cistercian Order in 1147.  A very chequered early history resulted in this house eventually being established at Whiteker, and to which the Cistercian monks added the name of their house - Bellalanda, from which Byland derives.  An original grant of land was made to the monks of Furness by a young Roger de Mowbray in c1140.  It was not until 1177 that the tribulations that had surrounded the establishment of the house had been largely overcome.  Henry II granted the monks of Byland the privilege of being free in all cities, boroughs, markets, fairs, bridges, and ports throughout England and Normandy.  Little has come down to us other than the election of some of the abbots. 
At the dissolution there were 7 bells, 100 fodder of lead, 516 oz. Of plate, and the gross annual value was set at £295 5s 4d.; and at the surrender there were 23 monks and the abbot.

ABBOTS OF BYLAND

The seal, small and semi-circular, ¾in. in diameter, has a half-length figure of our Lady with the Child, and the legend AVE [MARIA]

An abbot sealed c1186 with a little vesica, 1½in. by 1in., showing the standing figure of himself holding staff and book.  Abbot Walter (?) in or about 1210 used a seal of similar design.  Both of these have the same legend:
SIGILLVM ABBATIS DE BELLELANDA

Another abbot's seal, used in 1186, has a design of a hand and arm, holding a crozier, with the legend: SIGILLVM ABBATIS BELLELANDRE            

THE ABBEY OF FOUNTAINS   

LOCATION:
The abbey ruins are situated 4 miles west or Ripon and can be access from the A1 trunk road via the A61 junction.  Alternatively, follow the brown tourist signs out of Ripon.
For fuller details access: http://www.fountainsabbey.org.uk/
Ordnance Survey grid Ref. SE 274 684

HISTORY
The first grant of land was made in 1132 to twelve monks from St. Mary's Abbey, York, and one from Whitby, all of whom were dissatisfied with their respective abbeys.  Consequently land was granted 3 miles from Ripon, on the banks of the River Skell.  The monks continued dissatisfaction led them to exchange orders to the Cistercians after consultation with St. Bernard.  The new abbey was soon attracting vast gifts, a long list of which consisting of 61 folio pages has survived.  The extensive building programme soon accounted for much of the wealth of Fountains, leaving it by the end of the 13^th century in great poverty.
Abbot Thirsk, was it seems very unpopular in certain quarters, with the Earl of Northumberland complaining to Cardinal Wolsey of his bad rule.  His participation in the Pilgrimage of Grace ensured his fate when he was hanged at Tyburn in 1537.  Commissioners Layton and Legh, who had accused Thirsk of incontinence [meaning he lacked fiaith] and theft, and they termed him an 'idiot'
The value of Fountains Abbey at the time of closure was quoted thus: Plate £900, with that in the church alone valued at £519 15s. 5d.  The number of horned cattle was listed as 2,356, of sheep 1,326, horses 86, swine 79.  the total annual revenue from various rents was calculated at £1,239 6s. 3½d., with the outgoing at £123 8s. 1½d. leaving a remainder of £1,115 18s. 2d.  The surrender of the abbey was made on the 26^th November 1539 by Abbot Marmaduke Bradley, the prior, and 30, brethren, all listed as priests.  

ABBOTS OF FOUNTAINS ABBEY

The seal of an abbot of the beginning of the 13^th century is a vesca, 1⅝ in. by 1 in.  It has a figure of the abbot standing and holding a staff and book, with the legend: "SIGILLVM ABBA .. ONTANIS"

The 16^th century seal of the court is circular, ⅞ in. in diameter, with a design of our Lady holding the Child.  The legend is: "CVRIA B. MARIǼ DE FONTIBVS"

THE ABBEY OF SAINT MARY JERVAULX  

LOCATION
The abbey ruins of Jervaulx [pronounced Jervoh] can be discovered between Masham and Middleham, along the A6108 by East Witton at Ordnance Survey grid ref. SE 171 857, North Yorkshire.  The ruins of Jervaulx are privately owned supported by English Heritage, for more information see: http://www.jervaulxabbey.com/

HISTORY
Hawes is the home of a factory or creamery which makes the famous Wensleydale Cheese. It is said that cheese making was brought to Wensleydale by French monks who settled at Fors near Aysgarth further down the dale in 1145. The monks later moved to a new site in Wensleydale at Jervaulx, but they took their cheese making skills with them. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII, cheese making skills passed into the hands of local farmers and was eventually inherited by the present factory at Hawes in the nineteenth century.

A community relocating from an inhospitable house at Fors in Wensleydale founded Jervaulx in 1156. Over the years, the Abbey became famous for its skilled horse breeding, which was considered a major loss when Jervaulx was suppressed by the Dissolution in the sixteenth century. Another skill that was not lost is cheese making - the monks of Jervaulx are credited with introducing cheese making into Wensleydale.

Jervaulx was founded in 1156, by John de Kinstan, the first abbot, who, whilst travelling between Byland and Fors abbeys with twelve companions became lost, it is said, and upon being saved by the Virgin Mary, who guided them to a place of safety in some woods, then declared ""Ye are late of Byland but now of Yorevale".   Curious to note the name, Yorevale, or Urevale after the name of the river hard by, the Ure, and that in the Conpendium Compertorum of 1536, it was called Joryvall, but was altered to the more fashionable French spelling by a former Marchioness of Ailesbury.

The last abbot, Adam Sedbergh, joined the Pilgrimage of Grace, and suffered death by hanging at Tyburn in June 1537, when the-monastic property was forfeited to the king.

The letter of Richard Bcllycis, written on 14 November 1538  to Thomas Cromwell, may well conclude this account of Jervaulx. He writes:
"I have taken down all the lead of Jervaux, and made it into pecys of half fodders, which lead amounteth to the number of eighteen score and five fodders, with thirty and four fodders and a half that were there before: and the said lead cannot be conveit [conveyed] nor carried until the next sombre, for the ways in that countre are so foul and deep, that no caryage can pass in wyntre. And as concerninge the raising and taking down of the House, if it be your lordship's pleasure, I am minded to let it stand to the next spring of the year, by reason of the days are now so short, it would be double charges to do it now. And as concerninge the selling of the bells, I cannot sell them above fifteen shillings the hundred [weight]; wherein I wolde gladly know your lordship's pleasure, whether I sholde sell them after that price, or send them up to London; and if they be sent up surely the caryage will be costly from that place to the water."

From: 'Houses of Cistercian monks: Jervaulx', A History of the County of York: Volume 3 (1974), pp. 138-42. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=36237

The lordship of East Witton, with the site of the abbey, was granted by Henry VIII. to Matthew Stuart, earl of Lennox,* and Margaret, his wife, the king's niece, and after passing through various hands, the property came into the possession of the Bruce family, one of whom was created Earl of Ailesbury in 1805. The estate was purchased from the trustees of Ernest Augustus Charles, 3rd marquis, in 1887, by S. Cunliffe Lister, Esq., of Swinton Park, for £310,000. Here we may observe that whilst many changes have taken place in the proprietorship of the estate, the family of Croft has never ceased to be represented on the tenant roll for the past five hundred years.

THE ABBOTS OF JERVAULX ABBEY

SEALS

The 14^th Century seal is a vesca, 2½ in. by 1½ in., showing the abbot standing in a canopied niche holding staff and book.  On his right is a shield of St. Quentin - three chevrons with a chief vair, and on his left another shield charged with a saltire.  The legend is broken away.

A second seal, somewhat similar but more elaborate in design, has an additional shield in the base which appears to be barry.

Jervaulx Abbey was the final resting place of the Lords FitzHugh.  Among those known to have been interred there were:
Akarius, the original founder of the small abbey at Fors, who died 1161
Randolph FitzHenry, died 1262
Albreda, his daughter-in-law, wife of Hugh FitzHenry.
Henry FitzHenry, died 1352.
Henry FitzHugh, his second son, died 1386.
His son, Henry Lord FitzHugh, faught against the Turks and married a daughter of Marmion of Tanfield. 
Of any others who were without doubt buried here, there remains no trace.

Some remnants of the once powerful abbey of Jervaulx can still be seen other than the evocative ruins.  The painted rood screen[1] from the abbey church was brought away, and installed into St. Andrew's church, Aysgarth, where its magnificent carving and painting can still be viewed.  Attempts to provide a good enough photographic image of this item have failed, therefore I invite anyone who is willing to share such an image to email me via the link provided on my Home page.  

[1]          Rood screen: The rood screen was a common feature in the late medieval English church, dividing the chancel from the nave - its function being to separate the clergy from the laity. The word is derived from the Saxon word roda , meaning a cross.

THE ABBEY OF ST. MARY, KIRKSTALL  

Location
West side of the city of Leeds, overlooking the river Aire, and the A65 road at OS grid Ref: SE 258 363.

Access
By rail to Leeds City Station and then either:
By bus numbers 33 or 33A from Central Bus Station via Park Row and Wellington Street, direct to Kirkstall Abbey.
By car on the A65, 3 miles west of Leeds city centre

HISTORY: see Kirkstall Abbey web site at: http://www.leeds.gov.uk/kirkstallabbey/kirk_intro.html

The monastery was surrendered by John Ripley, abbot, and the convent on 22 November 1540.

ABBOTS OF KIRKSTALL

 From: 'Houses of Cistercian monks: Kirkstall', A History of the County of York: Volume III (1974), pp. 142-46. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=36238  Date accessed: 29 May 2005.

Note: the Valor Ecclesiasticus is missing for this part of Yorkshire.

The 14th-century seal (Footnote 68) [VCH] is circular, 2¼ in. in diameter, showing our Lady crowned and seated with the Child, and the legend:- SIGILLVM COMMVNE DE KYRKESTAL

A 13th-century abbot's seal, (Footnote 69) a vesica 2? in. by 1? in., shows the abbot standing between two heads of saints with this legend:- . . . BATIS DE KIRKESTALL

The seal of Abbot John de Birdsall (1304-11) is a small vesica 1¼ in. by ¾ in. with a design of a naked arm, the hand holding a crozier between two suns and as many moons.

THE ABBEY OF MEAUX [or Melsa]

Location
East of Beverley, and north of Hull, archaeological remains only at OS Grid Ref : TA 092 394

History
Meaux was founded in 1150, by William le Gros, earl of Aumarl, Lord of Holderness in lieu of a pilgrimage to the Holy-land, who invited Adam, a monk from Fountains to choose a site for the proposed abbey.  In 1182-97, a new stone built church was begun, replacing an original timber, and subsequent stone building, with other offices following, until in 1249-69 the belfry was erected and the great bell ' Benedict ' hung in it.   The fourteenth abbot (1310-39) and one of the monks, John of Ulram, decorated the high altar with paintings, and a chapel was commenced over the abbey gateway; William, the eighteenth abbot (1346-69), made numerous alterations and improvements and founded the great 'Jesus' bell; and in 1396-9 three bells were added.
On the Friday before Passion Sunday 1349, as the monks were singing ' He hath put down the mighty from their seat' they were flung to the ground by an earthquake shock, and the meaning of the portent was seen later in the year when on 12 August Abbot Hugh and five monks died of the Black Death, which in that one month carried off twenty-two monks and six lay brethren, and at its departure left only ten survivors out of a congregation of fifty.
Meaux had a splendid library and a wonderful collection of relics, a list of books and treasures being given in the Chronica.
The abbey was surrendered on 11 December 1539 by the last abbot, Richard Stopes, who received a pension of £40. (Footnote 46) The prior, George Throstyl, received a pension of £6, fourteen of the twenty-three monk's pensions of £6, and the remaining nine pensions of £5 each, all being in priests' orders.
The gross value at the Dissolution was £445 10s. 5½d, while the net £298 6s. 4½d.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=36239#n45

ABBOTS OF MEAUX

 An abbot's seal (Footnote 52) has an abbot with his crozier. Legend- SIGILLUM ABBATIS DE MELSA  

The early 14th-century seal is circular, 2 in. in diameter, having the Virgin enthroned in a niche with trefoiled pointed arch, crocketed and supported on slender shafts; the Child, with nimbus, on the left knee. In the field on each side a lion, and above them on the right a crescent, on the left a sun. Legend - + VIRGO PVDICA PIA NOSTRI MISERERE MARIA http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=36239

THE ABBEY OF RIEVAULX    

LOCATION
Three miles northwest of Helmsley, the site is run by English Heritage. There is an entry fee, though Free admission to members.
Rievaulx, Helmsley, North Yorkshire, YO6 5LB
Tel: (01439) 798228
An audio tour and exhibition are available at Rievaulx Abbey, the unforgettable ruin situated amidst a timbered valley. Opening Times: 1April-30 September 10am-6pm daily (9.30am - 7.00pm July and August) 1-31 October 10am-5pm daily, 1 November - 31 March 10am-4pm daily. Admission; Adult £3, Concession £2.30, Child £1.50.. Parking, Public toilets and facilities for the disabled available. Dogs admitted on lead.

HISTORY
The abbey of Rievaulx was founded as the first Cistercian outpost in the North, and was to be a centre for White Monks to reform and colonise the North of England and Scotland. Its foundation was instigated by Bernard of Clairvaux and planned with military precision. The abbey attracted-profile benefactors such as Henry I and David of Scotland, and a number of recruits from the locality and further afield. The most prominent recruit was Aelred of Rievaulx, who was abbot from 1147 until 1167.

The value of the temporalities in 1291 was £241 10s., (Footnote 27) and in 1535 (Footnote 28) the gross income amounted to £351 14s. 6d., the clear annual value being £278 10s. 2d. The house was surrendered on 3 December 1538. (Footnote 29) At the suppression there were twenty-one monks in addition to the abbot who received yearly pensions, varying from £7 13s. 4d. to £4, the abbot's pension being 100 marks.  At the inquiry as to the payment of pensions in the North Riding thirteen names are entered. Of one (Richard Jenkynson) it is said ' is dead, how long of goo(?) it is to be inquired, he died at London ut dicitur.' Three others appeared with their patents and were seriously behind, ' and did axe it and cold not gett it.' Six others appeared, and three did not.

 Although there is no record of any indult to the Abbots of Rievaulx to wear the mitre, there is an indication that they possessed this privilege. In an account of the plate possessed by the abbey at the Dissolution is included not only a 'crouche' of silver, but also a 'mitour of paest set with perles.'

ABBOTS OF RIEVAULX

The 12th-century seal is a vesica with the abbot seated receiving a confession from one of his monks. Of the legend there only remains:

?. . . N . . ERTI A TEGO . . . . . CLAVSA REVELO

An abbot's seal (Footnote 54) in use at the end of the 12th century is a vesica, 1½ in. by 1 in., with the abbot seated reading at a lectern and holding his crozier. The legend is:

? SIGNVM ABBATIS RIEVALLIS

A 13th-century abbot's seal has a full length figure of the abbot holding his crozier and a book. The legend is:

? SIGILLVM ABBATIS DE RIEVALLE

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=36240

THE ABBEY OF ROCHE  

Location
Roche Abbey is situated in the valley of the Maltby Beck, around nine miles from Doncaster and thirteen miles from modern Sheffield. The site was enclosed by steep limestone cliffs and bordered on Bruneswald, later known as Sherwood Forest. This was a choice location for the monks: it provided privacy and solitude, as well as vital natural resources - water, woodland and stone. Whilst the setting was solitary, it was not remote.

History
The abbey of Roche derived its name ' de Rupe ' from a supposed miraculous sculpture of a crucifix, found by one of the monks on a rock, adjacent to which the monastery was afterwards built. It was the joint foundation of Richard de Buili and Richard Fitz Turgis, who gave two adjoining sites, divided by a small stream, agreeing with each other that both should be accounted founders, irrespective of the position selected for the abbey buildings.
The site actually selected was that granted by Richard de Buili on the Maltby side of the stream, and the monks who colonized it came from Newminster, the abbot of which, in consequence, became the pater abbas of Roche.
Drs. Layton and Legh reported in 1536 that pilgrimage was made to the image of the crucifix discovered (as it was believed) in the rock, and that it was held in veneration. Charges of gross immorality, as usual, were brought against five of the monks, and another monk, John Robynson, suspected of treason, was imprisoned at York, but his signature is appended to the deed of surrender with those of the other seventeen monks, who with their abbot were supposed to have signed the document in the chapter-house on 23 June 1538.
The abbot was assigned £33 6s. 8d. as his yearly pension, and was to have his books, the fourth part of the plate, the cattle and household stuff, a chalice and vestment and £30 in money at his departure. The sub-prior (Thomas Twell) received a pension of £6 14s. 8d. and the bursar (John Dodesworth), one of the monks charged with gross misconduct in the notorious comperta, £6. Eleven other monks who were priests received £5 each; and four novices 66s. 8d. each. 

ABBOTS OF ROCHE

The 15th-century seal is a vesica, 2 in. by 1¼ in. It is much damaged. The device appears to be a figure of our Lady, the patron saint. The legend cannot be read.

A seal of a 13th-century abbot is a vesica, 1? in. by 1? in., with a full length figure of him, holding crozier and book, between on either side a crescent and two stars. The legend is:
? SIGILLVM ABBATIS DE RVPE

From: 'Houses of Cistercian monks: Roche', A History of the County of York: Volume 3 (1974), pp. 153-56.
URL:             http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=36241&strquery=roche%20abbey 

THE ABBEY OF ST. MARY, SAWLEY  

LOCATION
Now residing in the county of Lancashire, near the town of Clitheroe are the remains of Sawley Abbey, once belonging to the Cistercians.  For further information see:
Clitheroe
12-14 Market Place
Clitheroe
Tel. 01200 425566

HISTORY
Sawley Abbey was founded by William Percy II, son of Alan Percy the Great (Footnote 1) on 6 January 1147-8, when Abbot Benedict with twelve monks and ten conversi came from Newminster.
Dr. Whitaker, however, has printed a charter from the Towneley MSS. (which is not free from certain difficulties), according to which Swain the son of Swain had sold to Robert Abbot of Newminster 11 carucates in 'Sallaia' and land and wood beyond Suaneside and Cliderow, for the foundation of an abbey of the Cistercian order.
In the foundation charter William de Percy states that he has given to God and the church of St. Mary, and to Benedict the abbot and the monks of the abbey of Mount St. Andrew, which he had built, Sawley and 'Dudelant,' and ' Helwinesthorp ' and all their appurtenances, as well as a carucate in Rimington, which Norman the son of Huchtred had given them, and two bovates in ' Hilleclaia,' given by Robert his steward, which two latter gifts he confirmed.

There is no full account of the possessions of Sawley in the Valor Ecclesiasticus, merely a statement that the clear annual value, in spiritualities and temporalities, reached the sum of £147 3s. 10d. (Footnote 22) A rather earlier return, made in 1522-3, (Footnote 23) gives the clear annual value at £159 16s. 7d. Sawley Abbey, therefore, came within purview of the earlier Act, 27 Henry VIII, cap. 28, which dissolved all the monasteries whose annual revenue was below £200. In 1536 (Footnote 24) Thomas Bolton was abbot, but William Trafford must have succeeded him in that year, for he took part as abbot (with his prior) in the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536. (Footnote 25) There is no record of his election in the York Registers, and it was possibly never formally confirmed. On 10 March 1537 (Footnote 26) he was hanged at Lancaster for high treason. Abbot Trafford (Footnote 27) belonged to an old Lancashire family, and was the second son of Sir John Trafford of Trafford, by Elizabeth daughter of Sir Thomas Assheton of Ashton-under-Lyne.
Among the Suppression Papers one records the 'goodes praysed at Sawlaye and gyven by the Kinges highnes unto Sir Arthur Darcy Knight' as follows: ' Belles, lead, vestymentes and copes, and other necessaries praysed unto' £109 10s. 11d. 'Item. Corne in the garners, and in the ffeldes' £62 15s. 4d.; total £172 6s. 3d. In another paper, much of which is lost, (Footnote 29) the total of the stock and goods reaches the sum of £300 12s. 7d.

ABBOTS OF SAWLEY

Among the Suppression Papers one records the 'goodes praysed at Sawlaye and gyven by the Kinges highnes unto Sir Arthur Darcy Knight' as follows: ' Belles, lead, vestymentes and copes, and other necessaries praysed unto' £109 10s. 11d. 'Item. Corne in the garners, and in the ffeldes' £62 15s. 4d.; total £172 6s. 3d. In another paper, much of which is lost, the total of the stock and goods reaches the sum of £300 12s. 7d.

A 12th-century seal (Footnote 69) of the abbot is a small vesica, 1? in. by 1 in., showing his figure at full length holding crozier and book. The legend-
? SIGILLVM ABBATIS DE SALLIA
is carelessly cut, the two last words being reversed.

From: 'Houses of Cistercian monks: Sawley', A History of the County of York: Volume 3 (1974), pp. 156-58. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=36242&strquery=SAWLEY%20ABBEY

Houses of Cistercian nuns

Priory of Basedale
Priory of Ellerton in Swaledale
Priory of Esholt
Priory of Hampole
Priory of The Blessed Virgin, Handale, otherwise Grendale
Priory of St. Mary, Keldholme
Priory of Kirklees
Priory of God, St. Mary, and St. John the Evangelist, Nun Appleton
Priory of Rosedale
Priory of Sinningthwaite
Priory of St. Mary, Swine [in Holderness]
Priory of St. Mary, Wykeham

CLUNIAC

The order of Cluny is a Benedictine offshoot founded at a time when reformist ideas were gaining momentum within the Church. Widely regarded as the ultimate expression of the monastic ideal in the tenth and eleventh centuries, it became immensely popular, only to be superseded in the twelfth by newer orders such as the Cistercians. Though Cluny's spiritual authority has been undermined to some extent, the order still wields tremendous influence. Member houses, numbering in the hundreds, are spread over much of Europe. These communities' vast land holdings afford the order the status of a powerful temporal magnate. The Cluniac way of life emphasizes the celebration of Mass and Divine Office in the most elaborate manner possible. The order is known for its splendour, its lengthy and embellished liturgy, its richly decorated churches, and its great wealth.

The Cluniac order is Benedictine, in that its religious live according to the Rule of St. Benedict. To avoid confusion, however, the term "Benedictine" is used below only to describe those religious and houses that are not part of any order, including that of Cluny. Such a clear delineation between Cluniacs on the one hand and unaffiliated Benedictines on the other does not exist in reality. Indeed, Cluniacs are more akin to the black monks and nuns than are the religious of any other order, and they are often referred to by the same appellations.
The oldest of the reformist orders, Cluny was established as a Benedictine monastery in the Burgundian region of France at the beginning of the tenth century. The community was no ordinary religious house, however. Its founder, Duke William of Aquitaine, granted Cluny perpetual freedom from military service and other temporal obligations, declaring his foundation to be dependent solely upon the papacy. This was a radical departure from the usual practice, as tenth century patrons always expected to interfere in the affairs of supported monastic communities. William's grant meant that the monks of Cluny were to be free from such meddling for all time. Furthermore, because the new foundation was beholden only to the pope, it was exempt from diocesan control as well [4].

The monks of the newly-founded house followed a more rigid interpretation of the Rule of St. Benedict than did many of their contemporaries. Western Europe had been subject to barbarian incursions for many years, and religious communities were forced to endure such trials alongside the laity. In many of the monasteries that survived these ordeals, discipline had suffered grievously. The papacy realized that Cluny's strict observance of the Rule, combined with its direct link with Rome and freedom from secular and Episcopal interference, made it an ideal instrument of monastic revival. Within a few years of its founding, Cluny was tasked with reforming various religious houses, first in Rome itself, then in France, then elsewhere. Thanks in part to a succession of capable abbots, the house's efforts were immensely successful. Though at times Cluny's monks met with opposition from stubborn houses that did not wish to be reformed, Cluniac revitalization was actively sought by many religious communities as the reformist fervour swept through the regular clergy [5].

By the close of the tenth century, many older houses had been reformed to varying degrees along Cluniac lines, and the monastery had overseen the founding of a number of daughter priories as well. Cluny's position with regard to exemption from Episcopal and secular control was confirmed and strengthened by successive authorities. The house's possessions had grown in step with its popularity and responsibilities, as eager benefactors showered it with gifts of land, privileges, and goods. All this transformed Cluny from an austere and humble house to a wealthy community, one possessing both temporal and spiritual power in abundance

[ http://www.aedificium.org/MonasticLife/CluniacOrder.html ]

House of Cluniac Monks

Priory of St. John, Pontefract

House of Cluniac nuns

Priory of Arthington

CARTHUSIAN
Among the religious families, there are those, like the Benedictines and Cistercians, who live more in community. Others live in greater solitude. Camaldulites and Carthusians belong to the latter. The Carthusians, monks and nuns who, separately in their own monasteries, share a same rule and follow a unique model in the person of their common founding Father: St Bruno.

The Carthusian does not live alone as the Carthusian monastery is a community. Nevertheless, he will pass the greater part of his life in his cell where he prays, works, takes his meals and sleeps. During the course of the week, he only leaves three times a days for offices and communal mass: in the middle of the night, the Night Office, the morning Eucharist and Vespers towards the night.

The Carthusian can be a cloistered monk or a brother, two different ways of living the same vocation of solitude.

This solitude is not lived for its own sake, but as a privileged means of attaining intimacy with God.

No one can follow this path if not called by God. The discernment of this call (vocation) asks that we make a retreat of two weeks at the monastery. Other than this, Carthusians never receive retreatants.

Almost all our homes were built along the same basic principles: a grouping of hermitages (or "cells") linked to one another by a cloister which ends at the communal grounds: church, refectory, and the Chapter, separated by the entrance door by the workshops and the lodging of the monk in charge of the day to day running of the house. There are the "Main" homes (like La Grande Chartreuse, with over 30 cells) and the "Lesser" homes (like Portes, in the French region of Ain, which retains many primitive aspects of a charterhouse)
[ http://www.chartreux.org/en/who.htm ]

It has been pointed out that one religious order that has never needed reforming in its history is the Carthusians, which still exists as an order today.  St. Bruno founded the Carthusians (The Poor Brothers of God of the Charterhouse) as an ascetic order in 1084, probably in reaction to the excessive riches of the Cluniacs.    The order, founded in Grande Chartreuse, France (near Grenoble) stressed poverty, penance, silence, and manual work.

Rather than basing their order on the Rule of Benedict, the Carthusians used the more ascetic desert monks as their role models.  Unlike most monastic communities, the Carthusian monks lived in individual cells, and only met communally for vespers and matins (and for feast days, funerals, etc.)  Carthusian monks fasted often, and never ate meat and rarely drank wine.  During Lent, they flagellated themselves once a day (!) 

Interestingly enough, the Carthusians were introduced in England (1178) by Henry II as part of his penance for the death of Saint Thomas Becket.  In England, the Chartreuse Houses were referred to as "Charter Houses". [ http://www.sundayschoolcourses.com/monastic/monastic.htm#_Toc476569438 ]

Houses of Carthusian monks

Priory of Kingston upon Hull, (Charterhouse)
Priory of Mount Grace

GRANDIMONTINES

Priory of monks at Grosmont

PREMONSTRATENSIAN

(CANONICI REGULARES PRÆMONSTRATENSES).

Founded in 1120 by St. Norbert at Prémontré, near Laon, France. At first they were not bound by any fixed rule, charity being the bond of their union, and the example of their founder their rule of life. After a while Norbert unfolded his mind to his disciples on the special regulations which they should adopt. He told them that he had already consulted learned bishops and holy abbots; that by some he was advised to lead an eremitical life, by others a monastic life, or else to join the Cistercian Order. He added that, if he had to follow his own inclinations, he preferred the canonical life of the Apostles, but that, before all, they must pray to know and do the will of God. It was then that St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, appeared to him and gave him his rule, saying: "I am Augustine, Bishop of Hippo; behold here the rule which I have written; if your fellow-brethren, my sons, shall have observed it well, they shall stand without fear in the presence of Christ on the terrible day of the last judgment". As all agreed to the choice of a canonical institute, Norbert composed a formulary of their profession, which they pronounced on the Feast of Christmas, 1121. To this formulary St. Norbert added fastings, abstinence, and other works of mortification, together with some pious customs and practices peculiar to monastic orders, whereby his order became, as it were, monastico-canonical.

The five particular ends of the Norbertine Order are: Laus Dei in choro (the singing of the Divine Office); Zelus animarum (zeal for the salvation of souls); Spiritus jugis po;nitentiæ (the spirit of habitual penance); Cultus Eucharisticus (a special devotion to the Holy Eucharist); Cultus Marianus (a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin, mostly to her Immaculate Conception). The two first arise from the nature of a canonical order, which is both contemplative and active. The third is taken from monastic orders. The fourth and fifth are characteristic of the Norbertine Order, to which these special devotions were bequeathed by the founder. The title of the first chapter of the "Statuta", "De tremendo altaris Sacramento", seems to indicate that devotion to the Holy Eucharist as a sacrifice and sacrament would have the first place in the heart of a son of St. Norbert. St. Norbert wrote an Office in honour of the Immaculate Conception which contained these words: "Ave, Virgo quæ Spiritu Sancto præservante, de tanto primi parentis peccato triumphasti innoxia!" The third chapter of the "Statuta" begins with these words: "Horæ Deiparæ Virginis Mariæ, candidi ordinis nostri patronæ singularis, etc." Guerenus writes in his commentaries on the Canticle of Canticles: "St. Norbert, with his holy Order, was raised up by Divine Providence to render conspicuous in his day two mysteries, the Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady".
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12387b.htm

THE ABBEY OF COVERHAM      

LOCATION
Coverham Abbey Gatehouse, south-west of Middleham, is located in the village centre, off Coverham Lane. 13 miles north-east of Alston on the A686.  The site is visible from a public footpath which passes the abbey from Coverham Lane.  Car parking is by the side of the road.
For more information on the abbey, go to http://www.brigantesnation.com/SiteResearch/EarlyChristian/CoverhamAbbey/CoverhamAbbey.htm

HISTORY
Towards the end of the reign of Henry II, Helewise, daughter and heiress of Ranulph de Glanville, chief justice of England, founded a monastery of Premonstratensian canons at Swainby in the parish of Pickhill, (Footnote 1) with the consent of her son and heir, Waleran, then living. She died in 1195 and was buried at Swainby, but afterwards her remains were removed to Coverham and buried in the chapter house. The first foundation at Swainby is said to have been in the year 1190, but there is evidently an error in the date in the account of the foundation of the house, printed by Dugdale from a roll in St. Mary's Tower, York, (Footnote 2) for Henry II, who confirmed the gifts made to the canons of Swainby, died in July 1189. There is, however, no reason to doubt the other statements in the account. The roll goes on to relate that Ralph the son of Robert, lord of Middleham, removed the canons to Coverham, (Footnote 3) and granted them the church of Coverham, and many lands and tenements by fine in the king's court in 14 John (1212-13). The charter of Henry II is set out in full in an inspeximus of 22 Edward III (Footnote 4) (1338-9), by which it appears that Henry II confirmed the gifts described as those of Waleran (Helewise's son) to the church of St. Mary of ' Sweinesby ' and the canons there. These were the church of Coverham, the land of Swainby, 16 acres in Kettlewell, with pasturage there for 1,000 sheep and 40 beasts, with tithes and lands elsewhere, all of which his mother had given to the canons.

In the Minister's Accounts of Christopher Mansell for the year 27-8 Henry VIII, (Footnote 27) the demesne lands of Coverham were valued at £13 19s;. 10d.; they included a close called 'Cristecrosse' and a water-mill. The temporalities, which were derived from lands in a number of parishes, mostly in Richmondshire or the neighbourhood, realized £81 5s. 7d., while the spiritualities, comprising the rectories of Coverham (£26), of Sedbergh (£50), of Downholme (£7 16s. 8d.) of Kettle well (£ 10 9s. 4d.), and Seaham (£14 13s. 4d.), reached £108 19s. 4d.
There were reprises, £6 to the chaplain of Redmire, 100s. to the chaplain of Thoralby, and the same to the chaplains of Downholme and Coverham, the latter being also styled parish curate. It is said that nothing was paid to the chaplain celebrating in the chapel of St. Botolph, called Horsehouse, beyond 3s. 4d. paid by the inhabitants of Coverdale of the 26s. 8d. annually due, according to the agreement between them and the abbot and convent, because the Prior of Coverham had paid it.

ABBOTS OF COVERHAM

From: 'Premonstratensian houses: Abbey of Coverham', A History of the County of York: Volume 3 (1974), pp. 243-45. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=36274&strquery=PREMONSTRATENSIAN

 THE ABBEY OF ST. AGATHA, EASBY

 LOCATION
Ordnance Survey grid ref: NZ1800 : Easby Abbey
near to Easby and  just south-east of Richmond

HISTORY
The abbey of St. Agatha, Easby, was founded by Roald, Constable of Richmond Castle, in 1152.  Another generous benefactor was Thorphin son of Robert de Burgo, whose daughters, Maud and Agnes, gave the churches of Manfield and Warcop (Westmorland).

In the year 1284 a complaint was made by John de Hellebeck arid John de Bellerby that the abbot, John, and his fellow canons had deprived them of the use of a mill at Bolton-on-Swale. The abbot claimed an annual rental of 2s. from the mill, which he had as a gift from Robert de Hellebeck. The jury found that the abbot's servants had stripped off the iron and other instruments of the mill, so rendering it useless. The verdict was given against the abbot, and the damages were assessed at 10s.  On 28 September 1294 the abbot, with the heads of a number of other religious houses, received a grant of protection for one year, which was renewed on 10 December 1295, the grant being made to these persons because they had given a tenth to the king.

 The date of the dissolution of St. Agatha's is variously given. Clarkson says it took place in 1535, being surrendered by ' Robert Bampton, last abbot, and seventeen canons.'  The house appears in the list of ' Monasteries under £200 ' in 1536. The Dissolution had practically taken place before 22 September 1536, for on that date Chr. Lasselles offered to the Treasurer and Court of Augmentations the fine of £600 'for S. Agathes, let to Lord Scrope for £300.'
The canons at St. Agatha's did not take the Dissolution without resistance, however. On 22 February 1537 Henry VIII wrote to the Duke of Norfolk that he was to 'see to the lands and goods of such as shall be now attainted, that we may have them in safety, to be given, if we be so disposed, to those who have truly served us. ... As these troubles have been promoted by the monks and canons of these parts, at your repair to .... S. Agatha's and such places as have made resistance, ..... you shall without pity or circumstance, now that our banner is displayed, cause the monks to be tied up without further delay or ceremony.' 
In the Augmentation Office for 1538 there are the following St. Agatha items among the treasurer's accounts: a vestment or ' albe' of cloth of gold and red velvet; a suit of copes and vestments of red silk adorned with archers; two tunicles and a cope adorned with kings and bishops, vestments with albes and a cape of crimson velvet upon velvet adorned with ' strykes ' of gold.
The value of the various properties belonging to the abbey at the Dissolution was £188 16s. 2d.  The deductions in pensions, charges, alms, &c., amounted to £76 18s. 3d., leaving a clear balance of £111 17s. 11d. The charges include payments to chaplains celebrating at St. Saviour's, York, for the soul of Richard Walter; at Wensley for Richard Scrope; at Middleham for Richard Cartmell and Richard late Earl of Salisbury; at Kirkby Lonsdale for William Middleton; at Melsonby for Master Alan de Melsamby; in St. Silvester's chapel in Skirpenbeck for John Romayn, archdeacon of Richmond. There is no mention of the chaplain whom they were bound to maintain at St. James, Stapleton, for the soul of Nicholas de Stapleton.  There were seventeen canons, besides the abbot, and there would be the usual poor dependants and servants. The abbot, Robert Bampton, received a pension of 40 marks.

ABBOTS OF ST. AGATHA

The late 12th-century seal, 2½ in. by 1½ in. is a pointed oval, showing St. Agatha standing on a carved corbel under a canopy with trefoiled arch and turrets, supported on slender columns, in the right hand a book, in the left hand a palm branch. (Footnote 91) Legend:-
SIGILLVM EC[C]LESIE: SANCTE: AGATHE (Footnote 92)
A later 14th-century seal, 2? in. by 1? in., is also a pointed oval, apparently a copy of previous seal. Legend:-
S' COE ABBIS MONASTERII + SB E + AGATE (Footnote 93)
Several of the letters are inverted.
An abbot's seal of late 12th-century, about 1? in. by 1? in., is a pointed oval. The abbot seated, in the right hand a pastoral staff, in the left a book. Legend:-

. . . GILLVM .A ..... SANCTE . AGATHE (Footnote 94)

From: 'Premonstratensian houses: Abbey of St Agatha, Easby', A History of the County of York: Volume 3 (1974), pp. 245-49. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=36275&strquery=PREMONSTRATENSIAN

THE ABBEY OF ST. JOHN, EGGLESTONE

LOCATION
One mile southeast of Barnard Castle

HISTORY
The Praemonstratensian abbey of St. John the Baptist of Egglestone lay in the parish of Rokeby on the extreme northern edge of the ancient earldom of Richmond. Documentary and structural evidence points to the years 1195 to 1198 as a probable date, and a member of the Multon family was in all likelihood the original donor. Camden says Conan IV, Duke of Britanny and Earl of Richmond, founded this house, but as he died in 1171 this is not probable. The first document relating to Egglestone is a fine, dated 1198, between Ralph Multon and his overlord Ralph Lenham on account of the former having alienated all the lands which he held of him at Egglestone without his sanction to the abbot and convent there. This Ralph Multon was probably the founder. (Footnote 2) Ralph Lenham confirmed Multon's gift to the abbot, to be held of him in perpetuity for the annual payment of 6 marks of silver for the sixth part of one knight's fee for all services; for this concession Ralph Multon gave 15 marks. (Footnote 3) About 1200 Gilbert Lee conveyed to the abbey the manor of Kilvington, for the support of nine canons in addition to those already there (probably three). We find, in consequence, that in 1478 the abbey was said to have been founded in 1200 by Gilbert de Leya. (Footnote 4) This gift led to a serious dispute in 1248, when Philip son of Gilbert claimed that the nine canons should be of his presentation, and produced a charter to that effect from Abbot Nicholas, complaining that owing to the refusal of his nominees he had suffered damage to the extent of 40 marks. The jury found that the charter of Nicholas had not been signed with the common seal, but nevertheless in 1251 Philip's claims were recognized and a compromise arrived at, and the abbot paid £5 for all arrears and damages incurred by the loss of service due from the knight's fee. Robert Stichill, Bishop of Durham (1260-74), confirmed Gilbert's grant of Kilvington, reserving to the church of Thornton-le-Street in fee farm the sum of 5 marks a year. In 1272 John of Britanny, Earl of Richmond, founded a chantry for six chaplains, to be supplied from Egglestone, to celebrate divine service daily in the chapel of Richmond Castle. For its maintenance he gave property in M

The abbey was exempted at the suppression of 1535 and re-founded in 1537, but finally surrendered in 1540. A pension of £13 6s. 8d, was granted to the abbot, and smaller sums, in all amounting to £30 13s. 4d., to the sub-prior, six priests, and one sub-deacon.

ABBOTS OF EGGLESTONE

From: 'Premonstratensian houses: Egglestone Abbey', A History of the County of York: Volume 3 (1974), pp. 249-51. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=36276&strquery=PREMONSTRATENSIAN

AUSTIN CANONS

Houses of Austin Canons

Priory of Bolton
Priory of St. Mary, Bridlington
Priory of St. Nicholas, Drax
Priory of St. Mary, Guisborough
Priory of St. Mary the Virgin and the Holy Cross, Haltemprice
Priory of St. John, Healaugh Park
Priory of the Holy Trinity, Kirkham
Priory of St. Mary, Marton
Priory of St. Mary, Newburgh
Priory of St. Oswald, Nostell
Priory of Warter  

House of Austin nuns

Priory of Moxby

AUSTIN CANONS OF THE ORDER OF THE TEMPLE

Priory of St. Mary (formerly a Knights' Templar Preceptory), North Ferriby

GILBERTINES

Priory of God, Blessed Mary and the Order of Sempringham, Ellerton on Spalding Moor
Priory of St. Mary, Malton
Priory of nuns and monks, to St. Mary, Watton
Priory of St. Andrew, York

HOUSES OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR

Preceptory of Copmanthorpe, with the Castle mills, York
Preceptory of Faxfleet
Preceptory of Foulbridge
Preceptory of Penhill
Preceptory of Ribston and Wetherby
Preceptory of Temple Cowton
Preceptory of Temple Hirst
Preceptory of Temple Newsam
Preceptory of Westerdale
Preceptory of Whitley

HOUSES OF THE KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS

Preceptory of Beverley
Preceptory of Mount St. John
Preceptory of Newland
Preceptory of Ribston and Wetherby

FRIARIES

Friary of Black Friars, Beverley
Friary of Grey Friars, Beverley
Friary of Grey Friars, Doncaster
Friary of White Friars, Doncaster
Friary of White Friars, Hull
Friary of Austin Friars, Hull
Friary of Crutched Friars, Kildale
Friary of White Friars, Northallerton
Friary of Black Friars, Pontefract
Friary of Grey Friars, Richmond
Friary of Grey Friars, Scarborough
Friary of Black Friars, Scarborough
Friary of White Friars, Scarborough
Friary of Austin Friars, Tickhill
Friary of Black Friars, Yarm
Friary of Black Friars, York
Friary of Grey Friars, York
Friary of White Friars, York
Friary of the Friars of the Sack, York
Friary of Trinitarian Friars, Knaresborough

HOSPITALS

Hospital of Bagby
Hospital of St. Giles, Beverley
Hospital of St. Nicholas, Beverley
Trinity hospital, Beverley
Hospital of St. Mary without the North Bar, Beverley
Hospital of St. John, Lairgate, Beverley
Hospital of Boroughbridge
Hospital of St. Helen, Braceford
Hospital of St. Mary, Bridlington
Hospital of St. Giles, by Brompton Bridge
Hospital of Crayke
Hospital of St. James, Doncaster
Hospital of St. Nicholas, Doncaster
Hospital of Herford
Hospital of St. James, Hessle
Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene, Killingwoldgraves
Hospital of St. Mary and St. Andrew, Flixton
Hospital of Fangfoss
Hospital of St Mary Magdalene, Newton Garth, Hedon
Hospital of St. Sepulchre, Hedon
Hospital of the Gild of the Holy Cross, Hedon
Charterhouse hospital of Hull
Gregg's hospital, Hull
Riplingham's hospital, Hull
Selby's hospital, Hull
Trinity Maison Dieu, Hull
Trinity House hospital, Hull
Hospital of St. Leonard, Lowcross
Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene, Malton
Wheelgate hospital, Malton
Hospital of St. Nicholas, Norton
Hospital of Jesus, Middleham
Hospital of Mitton [or Myton, outside Hull]
Hospital of St. James, near Northallerton
Maison Dieu, Northallerton
Hospital of St. Nicholas, Pickering
Knolles Almshouse, Pontefract
Hospital of St. Nicholas, Pontefract
Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene, Pontefract
Hospital of St. Mary the Virgin, Pontefract
Hospital of the Rerecross, or the Spital on Stainmoor
Hospital of St. Nicholas, Richmond
Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene, Ripon
Hospital of St. John the Baptist, Ripon
Hospital of St. Anne, or the Maison Deiu, Ripon
Hospital of St. Nicholas, Scarborough
Hospital of St. Thomas the Martyr, Scarborough
Hospital of Seamer
Hospital of St. Leonard, Sheffield
Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene, Sherburn-in-Elmet
Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene, Skipton
Hospital of St. Edmund, Spotbrough
Hospital of Snaith
Hospital of St. Mary, Staxton
Hospital in the Marsh, Tickhill
Maison Deiu, Tickhill
Hospital of St. Lawrence, Upsall-in Cleveland
Hospital of St. Michael, Well
Wentbridge Leper house
Hospital of St. Michael, Whitby
Hospital of St. Nicholas, Yarm
Hospital of St. Leonard, York
Hospital of St. Mary, Bootham, York
Hospital of St. Nicholas, York
Hospital of St. Thomas the Martyr, outside Micklegate, York
Trinity hospital, Fossgate, York
Hospital of St. Anthony, in Peaseholm, York
Monk Bridge Maison Deiu, York
North Street Maison Deiu, York
Ousebridge Maison Deiu, York
Peter Lane Little Maison Deiu, York
Layerthorpe hospital, York
Whitefriars Lane Mainson Deiu, York.

COLLEGIATE CHURCHES

Collegiate Church of St. John the Evangelist, Beverley
Collegiate Church of Hemingbrough
College of Ancaster
College of Howden
Collegiate Church of All Saints, Kirkby Overblow
Collegiate Chapel of Lazenby
Collegiate Church, Lowthorpe
Collegiate Chapel of St. Clement, Pontefract
Collegiate Church of St. Peter and St. Wilfrid, Ripon
College of Jesus, Rotherham
Collegiate Church of St. James, Sutton-in-Holderness
Cathedral Church of St. Peter, York
Collegiate Church of St. Mary and the Holy Angels alias St. Sepulchre's, York  

To complete this list, it is necessary to include those houses call Alien Houses.  Of these there were but few in the county, they were:

Priory of Allerton Mauleverer
Priory of Birstall
Priory of Ecclesfield
Priory of the Holy Trinity, York
Priory of Hedley
Priory of Begar, near Richmond

For those who are not familiar with monastic planning with regard to their houses, a visit to
http://vrcoll.fa.pitt.edu/medart/image/England/fountains/fountains-map-1-s.jpg
will provide a plan of Fountains Abbey, but while this was one of the biggest, and richest of Yorkshire's religious houses, the same plan, somewhat reduced in scale perhaps was used for most houses.  Each order had perhaps their own way of doing things, and this might have been reflected in their designs for their own houses, but so small were the differences of design in point of fact - each had a church, a cloister, a refectory, a hospital, and other offices for example that only minor changes of positioning of those offices in relation to the church itself can be said to identify one order from another.  Another way orders presented them selves by way of their buildings was the amount of decoration.  Some were opulently decorated, while others maintained their air of austerity by a complete lack of any ornamentation, even on the buildings themselves.
No narrative concerning its self with a description of the monasteries and abbeys of Yorkshire, let alone England can fail to provide a suitable conclusion.  So rapid was their termination that a social vacuum resulted, which has ever since, right up to today, been the cause of social stigma and civil unrest.  So vast is this as a topic, it has been decided to separate it off (an ironic decision in its own way, I suspect) from that part concerning its self with the existence of the abbeys, consequently it is necessary for readers to click the button provided in order to move to the second section.

Richard Hayton © 2005