l*Ti r&rlJl pfSI rrl ■Mil RUINED ABBEYS OF BRITAIN. THE RUIN ED ABBEYS OF BRITAIN. FREDERICK ROSS, F. R. H. S. ILLUSTRATED WITH COLOURED PLATES AND WOOD ENGRAVINGS FROM DRAWINGS BY A. F. LYDON. LONDON: WILLIAM MACKENZIE, 69, LUDGATE HILL. EDINBURGH AND DUBLIN. J< IRKSTALL IN 1769, FF^OM AN OLD j^RINT. Ebr Ctetrrrian 3bbrp of lu'iltStaU. MONGST the followers of the Norman Duke William for the subjugation of England were two kinsmen, probably brothers, Walter and Hildebert (or Ilbert) de Laci, of Pontfrete, in Normandy. They were both notable warriors, and contributed to the great victory of Senlac, for which services they were rewarded with vast territories out of the confiscated lands of the dispossessed Saxons, the former in counties Hereford, Gloucester, Berks, Worcester, and Salop, the latter in counties York, Lincoln, and Notts. Walter was slain in Wales in 1084; Roger, his son, was banished for supporting Prince Robert against William Rufus, and was succeeded by his brother Hugh, who founded the Priory of Llanthony, with whom the male line termi¬ nated, his estates passing to his sisters and coheiresses, one of whom died issueless, and the son of the other assumed the name of De Laci, but this line also terminated on the death of Walter, the last male, in 1241. Ilbert had a grant of not less than one hundred and fifty manors in Yorkshire, ten in Nottinghamshire, and four in Lincolnshire. Amongst his Yorkshire manors was Kirkby, formerly belonging to Alric the Saxon ; and standing on an eminence was the keep, and a few other buildings of a Saxon castle, which he considerably enlarged by the erection of walls, outworks, and entrenchments; made it his residence and caput baronium , and changed I RUINED ABBEYS. the name to Pontfrete, from his native town in Normandy, since modernized into Pontefract and Pomfret. He was also Lord of the Manor of Leeds, which was held of the Lacies by the Paganel family, from the Domesday Book to the time of Stephen, when it was confiscated. The Pagan els are supposed to have been the builders of the castle of Leeds, which was besieged and taken by King Stephen, and afterwards dismantled, no traces of it remaining temp. Henry VIII. Ilbert founded the collegiate church of St. Clement, within the walls of his castle; married Ilawisea, daughter of -, by whom he had issue two sons, Robert and Hugh, and died early in the twelfth century. Robert, his son and heir, had issue by his wife Matilda two sons, Ilbert and Henry. He acquired the lordship of Blackburnshire, county Lancaster, by purchase from Roger de Buisli and Albert de Greslet, and built the castle of Clitheroe. He founded also a Cluniac Priory at Pontefract for the repose of the souls of his parents. For supporting the cause of Prince Robert, he and his son Ilbert were banished, and the estates confiscated, which were given to Henry de Traverse, and afterwards to Guy de la Val, who held them until the reign of Stephen. He died about the close of the reign of Llenry I. Ilbert, his eldest son, obtained a restitution of the barony from King Stephen, and fought for him against the empress. He was also one of the chief commanders at the Battle of the Standard, 1138, when King David of Scotland sustained so signal a defeat. He married Alice, daughter of Gilbert de Gant, but died without issue. Henry, his brother, succeeded, and notwithstanding the support Ilbert had given to Stephen, was received into favour by the Empress Maud and her son, Henry II., from whom he had a charter of confirmation of the restitution of the Honour of Pontefract, and the patrimonial estates in England and Normandy. He was the builder of Kirkstall Abbey, after which he went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where he is supposed to have died towards the end of the reign of Henry II. By his wife Albreda, daughter of William de Vesci, he left a son, Robert, his widow marrying, secondly, Eudo de Lisours, to whom she bore a daughter, Albreda, who succeeded to the Laci honours and estates, although she had not a drop of Laci blood in her veins. Robert, his son, a man of great piety, who loaded the Abbey of Kirkstall with benefactions, was the last of the Laci line, dying s.p. in 1193, when he was buried in Kirkstall Abbey. Thus ended the line of the true Lacies, when Albreda de Lisours, uterine sister of Robert, took possession of the domains under pretence of a reversionary grant from Henry de Laci to her mother, and transmitted them to her son (by Richard Fitz Eustace) John, who assumed the name of De Laci, from whom descended the pseudo Lacys, Earls of Lincoln, which title became extinct in 1348. Henry de Laci, fourth Baron of Pontfrete, was attacked by a serious illness in 1147, which, in accordance with the superstitious notions then prevalent, he attributed, at the insti¬ gation probably of his spiritual advisers, to a chastisement for his manifold sins, made a solemn vow that if it should please God to restore him to health, he would in return build a house in honour of the Blessed Virgin, and for the glory of God. Such compacts or bargains with Heaven were then common enough; half or three fourths of the monasteries and churches having been erected in payment for temporal benefits, or to procure an eternal recompense in the future world. He did recover, and fearful of a relapse, immediately set about the fulfilment of his side of the compact. The Cistercian, a reformed offshoot of the Benedictine order, had been established towards the end of the previous century, and had been introduced into England, at Waverley, in Surrey, so recently as 1129, and about three years afterwards the abbeys of Tintern, in Monmouthshire, and Rievaulx and Fountains, in Yorkshire, were founded; and of this order he determined his monastery should be, as he had observed that the brethren were more devout and stricter in the observance of their rules than the KIRKSTALL ABBEY. 151 Benedictines, amongst whom many corruptions had grown up. He therefore took counsel with the Abbot of Fountains, who applauded his resolution, and promised to aid him by sending a colony of monks to inhabit his house when it should be in a fit state to receive them. The consideration now was where to build the monastery. The monks professed to be careless of ease and self-indulgence, and to prefer mortification of the flesh; to live in spots where they would have to labour, and toil hard to gain the means of living, as being a wholesome discipline for the soul; and De Laci, keeping this in view, cast his eye over his domains to select a suitable place. At length he thought of the village of Bernoldswic, near Gisburn, towards the border of Lancashire, which he held in fee of Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, the Lord Paramount, a bleak, barren place, which he thought well suited for spiritual discipline, and here he determined to establish his abbey. He communicated his decision to the Abbot of Fountains, who sent a deputation, whom he met at Bernoldswic, conducted them round the boundaries, and made a formal grant to them of the village, with the church and the appurtenant lands, to be held of the Lord Paramount, by payment of a rent of five marks per annum. Hugh Bigod was the grandson of Roger Bigod, who came to England with the Conqueror. He was steward to King Henry I., as had been his father before him. On the death of that monarch he was instrumental in raising Stephen to the throne, for which service he was created Earl of the East Angles, but was commonly called Earl of Norfolk, and he remained faithful to his master, defending, in his name, the castle of Ipswich. In the twelfth of Henry II. he certified his. knight’s fee to be one hundred and twenty-five de veteri feeojfamento and thirty-five de novo , of which probably Bernoldswic would be one. He afterwards took up arms for the king’s sons in their rebellion against their father, for which he was fined one thousand marks, and had to surrender some of his castles; after which he embarked in a crusade to the Holy Land, and died in 1177. The title became extinct on the death s.p. of Roger, the fifth Earl, in 1302. In the reign of Henry the Eighth there was a branch of the family seated at Mulgrave Castle, near Whitby, and at Settrington, on the Yorkshire Wolds, of whom Sir Francis, Knight, was a leader in the second insurrection of the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1537, for which he was executed at Tyburn, London. The charter of donation having been formally drawn, signed, and witnessed, the pioneers sent from Fountains commenced operations in laying out the grounds, planting trees and vegetables, building a temporary church, and running up a range of habitations, with other necessary offices, all probably of wood cut from the forests of Craven; and by June of the same year the buildings of Mount St. Mary, as the monastery was designated, were ready for the reception of the brethren. Accordingly, Alexander, Prior of Fountains, with twelve monks and ten conversi, or lay brethren, came and took possession of their domicile. Although the Cistercians were established as a reformed branch of the Benedictines, a revival of the simple primitive rule of St. Benedict, with its devout observance of religious exercises; its austerity and self-abnegation; its community of living and equality of poverty; its recognition of the principle “ laborare est orare as displayed in their agricultural pursuits, and tending of sheep for the purpose of wool-growing, which afterwards developed into a great branch of commerce, especially on the moorlands of Yorkshire, which was purchased by the Florentine and Flemish merchants; its attention to the spiritual wants of the people; and its charity to the poor; still were they not indifferent to the comforts, pleasures, and amenities of life, and had a keen perception of the beauties of nature, with which they loved to surround themselves. They ever chose for their home some secluded valley of fertile land, garnished with picturesque surroundings of wood-clothed hills, glens rich in vegetation, water¬ falls if possible, and a river or never-failing streamlet meandering through the midst, and these lands they laid out tastefully in gardens, orchards, and meadows, cultivating in them all sorts of fruits and vegetables. In the way of architecture, too, they had an equally keen RUINED ABBEYS. 152 perception of the majestic and grand, and loved to dwell in noble halls, with clustered pillars, groined roofs, tesselated pavements, traceried windows, with limnings of scripture stories, saintly legends, and figures of holy personages in stained glass, and to have a noble tower rising from their church, which should stand out as the great architectural feature of their valley, many of which still remain, imparting a picturesque charm to many an English landscape. The buildings of the monastery were erected on the margin of a brook to the west of the village, fragments of which are occasionally turned up. The monks have now settled themselves in their new abode, and Henry de Laci has assigned to them the town and church of Bernoldswic for their maintenance, which was confirmed by Henry de Murdac, Archbishop of York, formerly Abbot of Fountains. The church was the parish church of seven villages, pf^OM THE JTOF^TH - WEST. from two of which the inhabitants were ejected to make room for the monastery; but the rector persisted in performing Divine Service, and the people to come, contending that it was their parish church, to which they had a right, although it was assigned to the abbot and monks, which seems to have displeased the new comers; at any rate a quarrel arose between the ejected parishioners and the abbey, and to settle the matter effectually, Alexander, who had been chosen abbot, pulled it down. The rector and parishioners upon this cited him before the Metropolitan, when Murdac, who would naturally have leaned towards his friends from Fountains, would seem to have decided that it was an unjust act, thus displaying his rectitude in not allowing friendship to interfere with justice; for Alexander appealed to Rome, and the Pope, after hearing the case, declared in favour of the abbey, saying that, “To pull a church down to establish a monastery was a good and pious act; for a lesser should always give way to a greater good, and that side should prevail, in disputes of this nature, which would be most prolific of piety. Undoubtedly a monastery, being a shelter and nursery of holy men, was much better than a mere church, where a single priest preached to the unlettered people, for the brethren would be not one solitary spiritual guide, but a KIRKS TAL L ABBE ) 153 number of teachers, who would instruct the ignorant much more effectually than a single secular priest, and the abbey would become a centre of piety, whence spiritual light would radiate all round.” Six years passed over the heads of the fraternity of Mons Sanctre Marite, but they were years of incessant struggle with hardships and suffering, combined with the hostility of their ill-treated neighbours, whom they had deprived of home and church. The seasons were unusually inclement, and the fierce winter winds penetrated through the interstices of their wooden walls, causing them to shiver with cold, and their voices to quaver at their religious exercises; the rains of the summer were such as to prevent the ripening of their crops, and but for the benefactions of their patron they would have starved for want of food; moreover, they were exposed to continual raids from the Scots, who swept down from their mountains, through Cumberland, and carried off their cattle and sheep, and whatever else they could lay THE j^OU TH - EAST. their hands upon. If they chanced to garner some small portion of grain, it was either taken or set fire to by the northern marauders, and they constantly regretted having left the smiling valley of the Shell for the bleak, exposed upland of Bernoldswic. The monks soon began to find that the spot in which they were located did not suit them, and many an animated discussion took place in the chapter relative to a removal to some more favoured place. Bernoldswic might be adapted to the Benedictines, but not to the Cistercians,— “St. Bernard loved the valley, And Benedict the hill and they finally resolved upon looking out for some sequestered valley where they might establish their home, remote from the turmoil of the world; sheltered, in comfort, from the north-eastern blasts which sweep over Yorkshire with such fury; out of the way taken by the Scottish marauders; and where the fertility of the soil promised to supply them with the necessaries of existence; moreover, where they could build their monastery in the midst of natural scenery such as was delightful to their sense of the picturesque. L 54 RUIXED ABBEYS. Amongst the monks who accompanied Alexander to Bernoldswic was one styled “Serlo the Grammarian,” brother to Ralph, the learned Abbot of Pershore. He was a man ot considerable erudition and literary accomplishments, was formerly a canon of York Cathedral, and embraced the monastic life at Fountains, whither it is said he returned and was elected superior of the abbey, although his name does not appear in the list of abbots, and is represented as having been “great in body, mind, and worth. He was author of the following works:—“Of the war between the King of Scotland and the Barons of England, in Latin verse; “Of the Difference of Words;” “Of the Death of Somerledy, King of Man;” “On the Lord’s Prayer;” “Of Dissyllables;” “Of Equivocal Words;” “On Words that have but one Meaning.” He composed also a very meagre history of his abbey during its sojourn at Bernoldswic, in which he speaks of Henry de Laci as “vir magnorum rerum et inter proceres regni notissimus,” which was continued by other hands in the Kirkstall chronicle. Two relics of the Bernoldswic establishment have been found in modern times on turning up the earth where it stood,—a wooden tankard with a copper rim, gilt and chased, and a jar made of bell metal. Whenever Abbot Alexander went abroad on business of the monastery, he kept a sharp look-out for some more desirable spot whereon to replant the abbey. On one occasion he came to the banks of the river Aire, to the spot where he recollected that five hundred years previously, Penda, the Pagan King of Mercia, who had sworn to extirpate the Chris¬ tianity of Northumbria, had fallen in a battle with Oswy, King of the Northumbrians, which was the last dying struggle of Paganism against the religion of Christ, the latter becoming from that time the established religion of the Saxon Lleptarchy; and it occurred to him that if he could find a suitable, secluded valley in the neighbourhood, it would be fitting and appropriate there to build the abbey, as symbolical of that great triumph of the true religion over the worship of Odin, from whose walls prayers and songs of praise should for all time ascend to Heaven. Close by where the battle had been fought was the ancient agricultural village of Ledes, a very different place from the modern Leeds, with its thousand lofty chimneys belching forth clouds of black smoke, with the rush of traffic in its streets, and the never-ceasing din of its steam-driven machinery. At the time of the Domesday Survey, the manor of Leeds consisted of eleven to twelve hundred acres, with twenty-seven villeins and four sokemen, fourteen ploughs, a church, and a mill. There was arable land enough to employ six ploughs, eleven acres of pasture, and the remainder occupied by forest trees, roads, the homesteads of the farms, and the rude huts of the labourers. As the survey had only been made sixty years previously, we may presume it had not undergone much alteration when the abbot visited it, especially as Leland, four hundred years subsequently, describes it merely as a “praty town,” but not so “quik” as Bradford. The principal new feature would be a castle, built by the Lacies or the Paganels, which would give an air of importance to the village, and of which there is a tradition that the unfortunate Richard II. was temporarily confined within its walls, previously to his barbarous murder in Pontefract Castle. It is supposed to have stood on what is now called Mill Hill, but not a vestige of it is left. The manor was part of the extensive possessions of the Lacies, but was held under Henry de Laci now as Lord Paramount, by the Paganels. The abbot, ruminating on the past, when Oswy and Penda met in mortal conflict, and indulging in day-dreams of the glorious future of his projected abbey, with its Heaven-aspiring towers and pinnacles, wandered along the left bank of the river, then flowing along towards the estuary of the Humber with crystal purity, when suddenly he came to a valley of singular beauty, walled in by rising uplands, and overspread by luxuriant groves of trees, and it struck him that this was the very spot for his abbey. As he passed along, he fancied he heard the accents of devotion, and presently he came upon a community of hermits who had taken up their residence there, lived in separate cells, and subsisted frugally on roots of the earth, KIRKSTALL ABBEY. 1 55 fruit of the trees, and water of the river. They were pale and macerated in figure and aspect, with flowing beards, and were garbed in long robes of coarse texture. As he approached, a venerable, white-bearded man, who appeared to be leader of the devotions, came forward, and in the conversation which ensued, he informed the abbot that his name was Seleth, and that he had come from the south of England, having been directed by a voice in the darkness of the night, when he lay on his couch, saying, “Arise, Seleth; go forth into the province of Northumbria, and there seek out a valley called Airedale, for there shalt thou provide a habitation for me and my son, that shall be called Christall;” that on enquiring from whom the voice proceeded, he had the reply, “I am Mary, and my son is Jesus of Nazareth.” He added that, obedient to the injunction, he traversed England, en¬ countering many difficulties and privations; at length entered Northumbria, and by the aid of some shepherds found the valley of Airedale; that he had constructed a hut from boughs of trees, and had been joined by other pious-minded men, who desired to seclude themselves from the world, and devote their lives to mortification and prayer, and that now they lived together according to the rules of the brethren of Lerath, having all things in common, and subsisting on the spontaneous fruits of the earth, or by the labours of their hands. The abbot represented to him that as laymen they were as sheep without a shepherd, that they obeyed no authorized rules, and that their souls were in peril through not having made their vows in orthodox fashion; pointing out how necessary it was, if they wished to secure the salvation of their souls, to subject themselves to some regularly ordained superior. He further told him that he himself was the abbot of a community of Cistercian monks, who were seeking for a place on which to build a new monastery, and as this appeared to be a suitable locality, he suggested that they should establish themselves here, and that Seleth and his brother anchorites should associate themselves as monks with them, and thus become members of a properly constituted community. Seleth, who appeared to coincide with the views expressed by the abbot, consulted with the other hermits, the majority of whom were of opinion that it would be a desirable and salutary arrangement. The abbot lost no time in repairing to his patron, Henry de Laci, representing the unsuitability of Bernoldswic, in respect to its exposed situation, its infertility, and its dangerous position in regard to the Scottish marauders, and painting in lively colours the eligibility of the valley of the Aire, shewing that it was surrounded on the north and east by sheltering hills, clothed with forest trees for fuel, that it abounded with stone for the erection of the buildings, and with iron ore, from which could be obtained any quantity of that necessary metal, and that through the valley there ran a silvery stream with abundance of fish, all which things Bernoldswic lacked. De Laci expressed himself perfectly willing to the transfer, but unfortunately the valley did not belong to him, being in the Lordship of William de Poictou; nevertheless he promised to use his influence with the owner, in obtaining the valley for them. Soon after he paid a visit to De Poictou, who readily consented, and made a grant of the valley to the abbot and monks in consideration of the payment of five marks per annum. In 1152 they commenced operations by laying the foundations of the church, which was built entirely at the cost of Laci. The valley was then in a state of nature, but Alexander, who was an able designer, made plans for laying the grounds out, and in a very few years, by thinning the forest trees, planting orchards and gardens, digging fish-ponds, constructing terraces for flowers, and by other works of use and ornament it became a perfect paradise. The abbot also designed and planned the whole of the buildings, with, however, no great amount of inventive genius, excepting in the architectural details, as they were erected according to the usual Cistercian arrangement of the monastic offices. “The architecture of Kirkstall Abbey lies open to much and original observation. The great merit of this structure, as a study for those who are desirous of assigning, by internal evidence, a proper date to every RUINED ABBEYS. than clustered. The capitals are Norman ; the intercolumniations, though narrow, yet nearly one third wider than those of the most massy Saxon. The arches which surmount them are grooved and moulded, with an evident relation to the columns.” The monastery lay on the left bank of the Aire, the church forming the northern side of the group, southward of which were all the other buildings, the whole forming a sort of oblong of four hundred and forty-five feet by three hundred and forty feet. Between them and the river were two fishponds. The entire area of the abbey close comprehended about thirty acres, which was surrounded by a wall, supposed to have been battlemented, with the principal entrance gateway at the north-west angle. In the northern portion of the enclosure were the orchard, garden, and burial-ground, comprising six acres; a meadow called Brewhouse Croft of five acres; a pasture of half an acre called Pentes Close, and another of two acres KIRKSTALL ABBEY. i57 The church was cruciform, with nave and side aisles, chancel and transepts, with three chapels in each on the eastern sides; the entire length being two hundred and forty-four feet. At the intersection was a square tower, which originally did not reach much above the roof of the nave, but was raised considerably in the reign of Henry VII., which imparted to the grouping of the buildings a much more majestic aspect. Southward, extending the whole length of the nave, was the cloister quadrangle, one hundred and forty-three feet by one hundred and fifteen, which was so placed in Cistercian houses, in order that the church might shelter it from the north wind, and that it might enjoy to the full extent the benefit of the )VeST ff^OMT. sun’s warmth. The central area was used as a cemetery for the monks, and on the western side were the double-arched cloisters, with the dormitory of the lay-brethren above, whilst projecting from the southern end, to the west, was what is supposed to have been the Elymo- sinarium and the chapel for wayfarers. Running southward of the transept was a range of buildings, some of which are suppositions, but doubtless tolerably correct in their designation as corresponding with the usual arrangement of such offices in abbeys of the Cistercian order. They were the archivum, where the records, plate, and other valuables were deposited; the chapter house; the study where the novices were taught; the refectory, above which was the monks’ dormitory; the abbot’s kitchen, and extending eastward therefrom the abbot’s house. South of the quadrangle were, on the west, the library and the scriptorium, over which it is supposed was the infirmary, which however seems improbable, as it was generally placed at a RUINED ABBEYS. distance from the other buildings, and to the north of the church; and on the east the cellarer’s offices, such as the larder, the brewhouse, the bakery, etc.; south of these were the locutorium and the reception room, the great kitchen, and the refectory for strangers. During the abbacy of Alexander, the architect, which lasted until 1182, there were com¬ pleted the church, the cloisters, the chapter-house, the refectory, the dormitories for the monks and the lay-brethren, and most of the other offices, a rapidity of progress most unusual, and speaking much for the energy of the abbot, and for the munificence of the founder in the prompt supply of funds. The monastery was at first, and for some time, called Headingly Abbey, being situated in that township, but afterwards the name of Christall, subsequently modified to Kirkstall, was adopted, being that mentioned to Seleth in his supernatural visitation. The name of Christall still lingers in the neighbourhood, although it is only known as Kirkstall to strangers. Seleth and some of the hermits joined the fraternity, but others who preferred a more solitary life, as being more conducive to their souls’ health, left and fixed their abodes in grottoes or cells in more remote and secluded spots. Henry de Laci supplied the community with provisions, until their lands became sufficiently productive to furnish them with food. Very soon after 1152, when the buildings were sufficiently advanced, the monks left Bernoldswic and took possession of them, converting their former home into a grange. Whitaker says, “The first thing that strikes us is the excellence of the mason work. The stone and the style of architecture were plainly selected with a view to durability and little consideration for expense. The former is a species of bastard granite, capable of receiving a fine surface, and impregnable to the weather. Of the high polish which the artizans of the twelfth century could bestow on this rough material, a few satisfactory specimens have been found in the cylindrical pillars that till last year supported the arches of the refectory, and were themselves thus protected from the edacity of time and atmosphere. These relics of ancient skill even now almost shine after the hand that finished them seven hundred years back, and exhibit evidence of having been wrought to a greater perfection than is perceptible in any modern cuttings of the same sort of stone.” anti ?Uot of £fbbot£k Unfortunately, owing to the destruction and dispersion of the records of the abbey at the dissolution, it has little or no history, such of its annals as have come down to us consisting chiefly of disputes about land rights, struggles with ecclesiastical authorities, the acquisition of landed possessions, and chartered privileges and immunities. The Cistercians, in intellectual power, were very inferior to the Benedictines, the latter furnishing a succession of eminently learned men, who, amongst other works of culture and genius, have left detailed histories of their monasteries, as have also the Augustines; whilst the Cistercians, more devout perhaps, troubled themselves not with literary pursuits, deeming their time best spent in attending to their religious exercises, and in promoting the temporal well-being of their monasteries. Hence the annals of Kirkstall are meagre in the extreme, for long periods nothing being known save the names of the successive abbots, particularly during the last three centuries, from the time of King John to the Dissolution. It may be that the years passed along so evenly, and with so eventless a flow, that they had no history to make record of; yet there must have occurred, during those three centuries, circumstances in connection with the house that we should now be glad to know something of. 1. Alexander, 1147—1182. Alexander was not only the first, but the greatest of the line of abbots—“a true abbot, not only in name, but in reality.” But for him, we should have had no Kirkstall Abbey, no majestic ruin, mirroring itself in the waters of the Aire, the charm of every passer-by. He was a man of dauntless energy, persistent KIRKSTALL ABBEY. l 59 perseverance, diplomatic skill, great artistic genius, and fervent piety. It was he who when young had been elevated to the Priorship of Fountains; that was selected as the leader of the colony of monks to Bernoldswic, to establish a new abbey there; it was he who struggled so manfully with the difficulties, trials, and privations which beset the community during its five years’ residence there; it was he who sought out the valley of the Aire, negociated with the hermits, and diplomatized with Henry de Laci and William of Poictou; it was he who laid out the grounds, designed the buildings, and superintended their erection; and it was he who for thirty-five years governed the abbey with wisdom and discretion, and left it established on a firm foundation, with a prospect of becoming a powerful and useful institution. Had a less wise and judicious leader been sent with the monks of Fountains, we might have had an obscure and small monastery, but wc should not have had a Kirkstall. Boothroyd, in his History of Pontefract, says that Alexander and his patron, Henry de Laci, died about the same time, and were both buried in the newly founded abbey. De Laci, shortly before his death, gave half a silver mark per annum, out of his Clitheroe estates, for a lamp to be hung before the high altar of Kirkstall, to be kept burning perpetually; and a mark of silver per annum for vestments for the abbot, to be paid by his bailiffs punctually at the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin. In 1156, Pope Adrian, formerly a monk of St. Albans, granted the abbot and monks a charter of confirmation of all gifts and of all tithe compositions, with some new privileges, took them under his own protection, and cursed all who should disturb them in any way, or rob them of their possessions. 2. Ralph Hageth, 1182—1191, formerly a monk and Prior of Fountains. “A religious man, renowned for his sanctity; a lover of justice, and most zealous for his order.” On entering upon his office, he found the abbey, although not rich, still free from encumbrances; and, desirous of maintaining the dignity of the house, he launched out into a more extravagant expenditure than the revenues warranted. In doing this he relied upon the munificence of Robert de Laci, who had succeeded his father, the founder, and who inherited his piety, and to some extent his beneficence. He granted a charter of confirmation of all gifts to the abbey, and added thereto a grant of the manor and park of Accrington, in Lancashire, and of some lands at Roundhay, near Leeds, with exemption from all kinds of toll in every part of his domains. But these did not come up to the sanguine expectations of the abbot, and he soon found himself involved in financial difficulties, for not only had he lavished the revenue with extravagance, but other mischances, such as a murrain amongst the cattle, the seizure of their possessions, etc., befell the house. The greatest loss was that of the valuable grange of Micklethwaite, which had been granted by Roger de Mowbray, who falling under the displeasure of Henry II., the king seized it, turned out the monks, and gave it to Adam de Brus in exchange for the castle of Danby. In short, “Many evils came upon him; contentions abroad, apprehensions at home, mortality among the cattle, tearing away of his possessions, want of necessaries, and scarcity of victuals.” This condition caused much talk and consternation in the house, the whole of the troubles being laid at the abbot’s door, who was certainly blameable in his reckless expenditure of the revenue; but he certainly was not responsible for the loss of the grange, which the monks charged him with. Further, they accused him of robbery, inasmuch as he had given a gold chalice and a MS. text of the Gospels to the king to propitiate him for the restoration of the grange, but got back neither the one nor the other. It is said that “the abbot bore all these murmurs, reproaches, and charges with great patience;” but still this did not lessen the poverty, which became so great that several of the monks were distributed in other houses. This was done partly to excite the compassion of the king, as a proof of the great straits to which they were reduced, who, although profuse in promises, did nothing, and died without making any restitution. The abbot put on the best face he could in the matter, called a special chapter to consult on the best mode of retrieving their affairs, and so managed the finances as to keep the expen¬ diture within the income, but never succeeded in wholly extricating the abbey from its difficulties. At length, after nine years’ struggle with poverty and misfortune, he was translated to the Abbacy of Fountains, and died circa 1203. 3. Lambert, 1191—1193- “A man of extraordinary innocency and simplicity,” who had been a monk forty-two years, and was one of the original settlers at Bernoldswic. He had never before held any office, “but leading the life of the cloister, sat with Mary at the feet of our Lord;” consequently he was altogether unfitted for the government of the house. He was totally ignorant of temporal matters, and allowed the monks to exercise their offices without any supervision, “but committed all to God, and the Lord was with him.” Fortunately by this time the affairs of the house had improved; there was plenty of victuals, and peace and concord prevailed amongst the brethren, whose only emulation was in piety and good works. But it was not all sunshine with the abbey. One Richard de Eland claimed the grange of Clivacher, which had been bestowed by Robert de Laci, and the abbot, perceiving the claim to be just, surrendered it, and in compensation was given the village of Accrington by De Laci. Without any ceremony, the abbot caused the villagers to be summarily ejected, their houses pulled down, a grange built on the site, and a farm laid out round the house. The evicted people naturally objected to these unjust proceedings, murmured and protested, and at length, “instigated by the devil,” as the monkish chronicler states, burnt down the grange, with all its furniture, and murdered the three lay brethren who had charge of it. The abbot was “sore grieved at this unlucky accident, but commended the souls of the deceased to God, and committed their bodies to the grave.” The abbot then laid a complaint before Robert de Laci, who, “provoked by such great presumption,” took the matter in hand, and banished not only the perpetrators of the deed, but all their relatives as well. Upon the issuing of this edict, the people, finding that they had gone a little too far in the defence of their rights, came to the abbot and threw themselves at his feet, imploring pardon, which was granted only on condition of giving full satisfaction to the church “for so enormous a sin.” This they agreed to, assigning formally to God and the monks all their rights in connection with the land and village, and giving a sum of money for the restoration of the grange, upon which they were permitted to remain in the neighbourhood of their desolated homes. This, and the destruction of Bernoldswic church, are instances of the grasping and unscru¬ pulous covetousness which was placed to the credit of the Cistercians, a characteristic which caused King Richard I. to bequeath “his pride to the Templars and Hospitallers, his lechery to the priests and prelates, and his covetousness i6o RUINED ABBEYS. to the White Monks of Cisteaux, for they covet the devil and all.” “The abbot, having fitly finished all things, also finished his course at a good old age, and in the third year of his stewardship.” In the same year (1193) died Robert de Laci, the last of his race, and was buried in the abbey, his estates passing, without legal right, to his half sister, the daughter of his mother by her second husband, Eudo de Lizours, whose descendants assumed the name of Lacy, and became Earls of Lincoln. 4. Turgesius, who held the abbacy nine years, was originally a monk of Fountains, to which abbey he retired to die. He was a man of great austerity, mortifying the flesh in every way. He clothed himself in sackcloth, and wore the same single garment during the heat of summer and the severity of winter cold. “He would thus stand at the night watches, when we, having double garments, were almost frozen stiff, as if he felt no uneasiness, and J F^ANSEFT, LOOKING J'toi^TH. we say that he repelled the cold with the ardour of the inner man.” He never tasted wine or flesh; “fish he allowed to be placed before him for the sake of those who were with him, but for himself it was only to look at, not to eat.” He could never speak without weeping, especially when celebrating mass, “shedding so great a flood of tears that he did not seem to weep, but to rain down tears.” 5. Helias, a monk of Roche Abbey, occurs in 1209. It is not clear when he succeeded Turgesius, who is said to have been appointed at the death of Lambert, which is said to have occurred in x 193, and that he held the office nine years, which would bring the time of his retirement to Fountains to 1202; yet we find it recorded that William Mustel, “ when Helias was abbot,” gave the town of Adle, with the advowson of the church, etc., to Kirk- stall, and that in 1198, an agreement was made that the monks should pay to the church of Adle twenty shillings per annum, in lieu of the tithes; from which it is evident that Helias was abbot before the year 1198, and the probability is that Turgesius only held the abbacy three or four years, instead of nine. Fie is represented as having been a good manager of temporals, and to have placed the abbey eventually in a good financial position; “but,” adds the monkish chronicler, “he had enough to do to gather what had been scattered, and to preserve what had been gathered, but the Lord was with him.” A pseudo Laci was now Lord of Pontefract, and patron of Kirkstall; the genuine Lacies, a race of pious men, had passed away, and the wide-spread domains were held by Roger de Laci (which name he assumed), grandson of Richard Fitz Eustace and Albreda de Lisours. He was a very different man from the original Lacies; cruel in his wars; domineering in demeanour; impious and a scorner of what he KIRKS TALL ABBEY. 161 termed the superstitions of priests and monks. He took a great dislike to Helias on his appointment, would neither admit him to his presence nor hold any communication with him, and thwarting him in every way he could, which was a cause of much tribulation to the abbot, who, however, eventually by his meekness and patient endurance of the wrongs inflicted on him, softened even the hard heart of Roger de Laci, who afterwards became friendly and intimate with him. King Henry, who had reft from the abbey the grange of Micklethwaite, being now dead, the abbot thought he might obtain a restitution of it from his successor, King John. He was introduced to the Court by Roger de Laci, who warmly seconded his appeal; but John, who was of a grasping nature, and not particularly scrupulous in matters of justice and right, refused to restore it, excepting on condition that with it the abbey should take the two manors of Collingham and Bardsey, at a fee-farm rent of /'go per annum, which was an enormous sum according to the value of money then, but the abbot was constrained to agree to the terms. Soon afterwards the king, at that time reckless of ecclesiastical censures or papal curses, robbed the abbey of the grange of Heton and some land at Thorpe, to bestow them on one Lawrence, Clerk of Witon. PloISTEI^ PoUF^T. From this time the annals of the abbey are very scanty; of the personal history and characters of the abbots we know little or nothing; even their chronological succession is imperfect, many of the dates given being probably incorrect, and some names lost altogether. Consequently the following list must be looked upon as only approximative, and the marginal successive numbers as referring to those whose names are known. 6. Ralph of Newcastle succeeded, and died temp. Henry III. 7. Walter. Died 1221-2. 8. Maurice, 1222—1249. 9. Adam, 1249—1259. 10. Hugh Mikelay, 1259—1262. King Henry III., in the forty-fifth of his reign, during the abbacy of Hugh, granted his special protection to the abbot and monks, and charged all his subjects to carry out his views in respect to all the lands, rents, tithes, and other possessions. 11. Simon, 1262—1269. From this time the revenues, ample as they were, were found to be insufficient to meet the improvident and reckless expenditure that began to be indulged in. Money was borrowed on the security of the rents and tithes, and as the debts gradually increased, greater amounts had to be abstracted from the revenues to pay the interest, leaving a diminishing balance for the maintenance of the house, and involving the necessity of further burrowing to make up the deficiency, as no ideas of retrenching the expenses appear to have entered the heads of the abbots and their official managers of the temporalities. 12. William de Leedes, 1269—1275. 162 RUINED ABBEYS. 13. Gilbert de Cortles, 1275, deposed 1278, re-elected the same year, and held the office until 1280. 14. Henry Kerr, 1280—1284. 15. Hugh Grimston, 1284—1304. By this time the affairs of the abbey had come to a crisis. The standing debt was found, under an inquisition made at his accession, to amount to ^"5,248 15J. 7 d., and fifty-seven sacks of wool, upon which usurious interest had to be paid, which was not always forthcoming, and the creditors were becoming very clamorous for payment. The brethren had been living on their stock, which was now found to be reduced to sixteen draught oxen, eighty-four cows, sixteen yearling and young bullocks, twenty-one asses, and as for sheep, they had entirely disappeared. Under these circumstances the abbot resolved upon soliciting the inter¬ cession of Henry, the third and last Earl of Lincoln, the patron of the abbey, with King Edward I., to assist them “in the suspension of the claims upon the monastery, and save them and it from utter destruction,” he being a personal friend of the king. De Lacy was at this time with the king in Gascony, and the abbot journeyed thither, as he stated in a letter, “on an uncertain errand, and with a bitter and heavy heart.” The journey was long and difficult, “through thickets rather than along highways,” in the course of which he was stricken down by a fever, “but blessed be the heavenly Physician, nothing more than a trifling remnant now hangs about us.” At length he came up with the king at St. Sever, and explained the case to the earl, “who was touched with pity at the representation,” and brought the matter before the king, with whom the abbot had many interviews. “The king was not inclined to interfere with the debt due to the Cardinal, or to Tokes the Jew, or with the wool; yet by the grace of God, obtained through the mediation of your prayers, and by the mediocrity of our own understanding, reflecting that if either of these debts remained undischarged, it would be productive of great inconvenience to the house, we hit upon a remedy which is like to be effectual.” The abbot then describes the arrangement he has entered into for the sale of certain lands, for a sum down, to be appropriated to the payment of the debts, and a yearly payment out of the exchequer of Pontefract of twenty-four marks for ever. Priest-like, the wily abbot, who is writing to an official of the house, adds, “But we require you that ye labour night and day, to the utmost of your ability, that everything belonging to you (excepting the crops on the ground, which cannot be removed without being destroyed,) may be entirely taken away before the earl’s messenger, whom we purposely detain here, with his horse and groom, shall arrive to take livery and seizing of the lands, and whatever is incapable of being removed, abandon peaceably.” He adds further, “It will not be prudent to shew these letters to anyone; but until you have all safe, keep your own counsel secret from everyone out of the bosom of the chapter.” Whilst looking after the interests of the house he seems not to have been neglectful of his own, for he continues, “Send me some money by the same hand, however you come by it, even though it be taken from the sacred oblations, that we may at least be able to purchase necessaries while we are labouring in your vineyard. In this we earnestly entreat you not to fail, for in truth we were never so destitute before. Farewell, my beloved! Peace be with you. Amen.—From Castle Reginald, on the morrow of St. Martin, A.D. 1287.” Abbot Grimston was certainly a clever manager of temporalities, whatever he may have been as the spiritual father of his flock, and had he lived in modern times would have made his mark on the Stock Exchange or in a city warehouse. This is further shewn at the stock-taking of the abbey fourteen years afterwards, in 1301, when it appears that the monastery was in a much more prosperous state than on his accession, being then in possession of two hundred and sixteen draught oxen, one hundred and sixty cows, one hundred and fifty-two yearlings and bullocks, one hundred and fifty-two calves, and four thousand sheep and lambs, whilst the debts amounted to not more than £ 160. The great number of sheep in their folds is a sure indication of their improved condition, as the Cistercians were the greatest wool-growers of England, and it was one of the chief sources of their income, the wool being sold to the manufacturers of Flanders and the merchants of Italy. 16. John de Bridsall, 1304 —circa 1313. It would appear that all the difficulties of the abbey had not been entirely removed, as the abbot was necessitated to undertake a journey to have an interview with the king on some perplexing business. He writes a letter from Canterbury “to his reverend brethren the Prior and Convent of Kirk- stall,” giving an account of his progress, although he does not mention the special business on which he went. He says, “On the morrow of St. Lawrence we were met by letters from the king, in a very threatening style;” that “we were apprized of robbers, who lay wait for us in the woods, under a rock;” and that “we were bound under the penalty of forfeiting all our goods, to abide the king’s pleasure. However, having been at length dismissed from his presence with honour, we proceeded on our way; and notwithstanding the delay in London, arrived at Canterbury on Monday evening, our servants and horses being all well. We are not without hope, therefore, that our feeble beginning will be followed by better fortune. On Wednesday morning, the wind blowing fair, we put our horses on board a ship.” At this juncture the letter was written, and from the circumstance of taking ship to cross the sea, it seems as if he were going to Rome as well, as he speaks of some doubt as to the time of his return, and commends his bodily safety to the prayers of the brethren, adding, “But pray especially for the salvation of our soul, for we are not greatly solicitous if this earthly part of us be delivered into the hand of the wicked one, so that the spirit be saved in the day of the Lord; yet we would wish, if it be the will of God, to be committed to the earth, by your hands, wherever you shall dispose.” He adds that “the entanglement of worldly occupations,” in which he has been long engaged, is not without danger to the soul, but trusts that as they are for the good of the abbey he will suffer no declension of holiness. He provides for the annual sermon at the Nativity, which they must on no account neglect, and exhorts them to avoid even the appearance of evil. “Written at Canterbury with many tears.” 17. Walter, 1313—1341. 18. William, 1341—1349. The town of Bracewell, in Craven, had been granted to the abbey by the founder, Henry de Laci; and in 1347, Zouch, Archbishop of York, appropriated to the abbot and convent the church, reserving for himself and successors the annual payment of ten shillings, and for the Chapter of York five shillings KIRKSTALL ABBEY. per annum; the abbot to provide a vicar, with a stipend of seven marks yearly, and to build for him “a competent house.” 19. Roger de Leedes succeeded in 134.9. zo. John Thronberg occurs in 1378. 21. John de Bardsey occurs in 1396 and 1399. Stephen, Earl of Albemarle and Lord of Holderness, in 1115, founded an alien cell at Burstwick, in Holderness, for the Benedictine monks of St. Martin de Alecio, near Albemarle, in Normandy, with a prior and monks to take charge of the churches and tithes he had bestowed on that abbey, in Holderness. At this period during the French wars many of these alien cells were siezed by the English monarchs, and were all suppressed in 1414; when the monks of St. Martin, foreseeing their fate, took the wise precaution, in 1 395 > selling the Holderness possessions to the abbot and convent of Kirkstall. 22. William Grayson, 1399—1468. (?) At this time the Cistercians, although they seceded from the Benedictines, iu consequence of the loose lives of the latter, seem to have lapsed into depths of profligacy as great as those their founders protested against, and seem to have been especially unmindful of their vows of chastity, which called forth the following decree from the Abbot of Fountains, who appears to have exercised a spiritual jurisdiction, of a paternal character, over the abbot and monks of Kirkstall. Thus runs the rescript, which is dated 1401, and is addressed to “Brother Robert, Abbot of the monastery of Kirkstall,” from which it would seem that William Grayson was not the successor of John Bardsey, but that a Robert, and perhaps one or two others, intervened, which explains the evident error of Grayson having held the abbacy sixty-nine years.—“Though by the institutes of our order, the admission of women is prohibited, under heavy penalties, within the precincts of Cistercian abbeys; we, nevertheless, being desirous of the salvation of souls, which, undoubtedly, will be obtained, as well by women as by men, who, on certain days of the year, happen to visit the church of the said monastery of Kirkstall, and which visits, moreover, are clearly allowed in some indulgences granted by Pope Boniface the Ninth, we hereby tolerate, pro tempore, on the above- mentioned days, the admission of women to the said church solely; provided, notwithstanding, that such females be not introduced into any other apartment within the confines of the said monastery, neither by the abbot nor by any of the monks, under the penalties awarded by the aforesaid ordinance; which penalties, we, by these presents, decree, and without remission enforce, as well against the abbot as the monks of the aforesaid monastery, if they shall be found to transgress what is permitted them.” 23. Thomas Wymbersley was instituted on the death of Grayson in 1468. 24. Robert Kelynbeck, 1499—1501. 25. William Stockdale, 1501 —1509. 26. William Marshall, 1509—1528. 27. John Ripley, or Browne, 1528, who surrendered the abbey in 1540, and was granted a pension of £66 13^. 4 i CccBw CM tx^.. #fR‘ ’ . r * hi CI)f Cfetmtan of iTrtlei), HE picturesque ruins of Netley, environed by natural scenery of exquisite beauty, is one of the best known of our abbey ruins, the annual resort ot thousands of holiday makers, as well as of multitudes who visit them from motives of veneration for the past, and for the purpose of making note of their architectural features. Indeed the abbey is much better known now than it was when it flourished in all the vigour of monastic life. Like the modest violet, it concealed itself in a valley hidden in the recesses of a forest, amid lofty trees of patriarchal age, whose foliaged branches sheltered its walls from the tempest in winter and the fervent heat of the sun in summer, and at the same time screened its inmates from the outer world; the cries of the four-footed denizens of the forest, and the cheering songs of the birds over¬ head, being much more familiar to the ears of the brethren than the sounds of strange human voices. The monks seem not to have interfered with outer-world concerns, never seem to have had quarrels and lawsuits with their neighbours, nor ever to have produced an abbot who made his name known beyond the convent walls, or a single monk who distinguished himself in learning, literature, or science. Its domains appear never to have been trodden by the feet of armed foes, nor have its courts been subjected to the desolating ravages of fire, both conspicuous incidents in the annals of many religious houses, especially such as lay in the RUINED ABBEYS. way of foreign invaders; and, as Howitt says, “It seems to have slumbered on in a dream¬ like poetical quiet, through the days of its prosperity.” Hence Netley has no history, excepting that of its foundation, dissolution, and after career as a ruin. If it kept a register of daily events, that register is lost; the names of not more than about half a dozen of its abbots are known, and nothing of their personal histories or characters; and it lay so secluded from the world, that the name of the abbey even is scarcely ever mentioned in the annals of other religious houses. It only once appears in the annals of Waverley, the mother Cistercian Abbey of England, where are recorded, seemingly with pride, the foundations and other details of subsequently founded houses of the same order, which she claimed as her children. Waverley Abbey was founded in 1128-9, Netley a hundred and ten years later. The tract of country in which Netley lies is in the south-eastern portion of Hampshire, forming a sort of peninsula bounded on the north and south by the rivers Itchen and Hamble, and on the west was Southampton Water, the abbey being situated in close proximity to the beach of the latter, and about three miles south of Southampton, on the opposite side of the Itchen. About four miles to the north-east is the village of Bittern, the Clausentum of the Roman ages, where remains of the old defensive earthworks may still be seen. Netley Heath, where there are several tumuli, is supposed to have been the Roman burial-place, and in the neighbourhood coins and other relics of that people have been found. As Clausentum decayed, Hampton, more favourably situated at the outfall of the Itchen, grew into impor¬ tance, but was frequently overrun and devastated by the Danes, who almost entirely destroyed it in 980. Afterwards it was called Southampton, to distinguish it from other Hamptons. Romancers tell us that here Gwydyr, a British king, defeated the Emperor Claudius, but that in a second battle one Ham went in disguise into Gwydyr’s camp, and murdered him in his tent, thinking that he had thus ensured victory; but the king’s brother, Aviragus, a bold and skilful soldier, assumed the command, and drove the Romans back to their ships. Ham, however, was too late, and fled into the woods for concealment, but was pursued, captured, and put to death. A town sprung up afterwards on the spot where he fell, and in memory of the event was called Ham’s town, or Ilamton, now Southampton. The site of Netley appears to have belonged to King Edward the Confessor, as appears from the following extract from the Domesday Book: —“Latelie, in Manesbridge Hundred, held by Richard Puingiant, had been held of the Confessor by one Aylward, with right of alienation. In his day it was rated as 3 hides, and valued at 605.; afterwards it was worth only 405. In 1084 it was rated as 1 hide, and valued at 1005. It contained 5 ploughlands, one of them in demesne; 9 villeins, 2 bordmen with two ploughlands, a little church, 2 staves, 4 acres of meadow, and wood for 40 hogs.” Camden tells us of a British king called Nata, or Natan, king of a considerable portion of Hampshire, chiefly, if not entirely, on the western side of Southampton Water, which was called Natanleod, or Nazanleod—the place of Natan—and that he was defeated by the Saxon Cerdic, who added Natanleod to his conquests, thinking it possible that Netley may be a survival of the name of this British king. But under the Romans the site of Netley was termed Lmtus Locis—pleasant place, which was modified by the Saxons into Letley, the suffix signifying pasture—pleasant pasture or meadow—and the probability is that Netley is nothing more than a corruption of Letley. It was also called Edwardstow, i.e. Edward’s place. In Henry the Third’s charter it is referred to as Letley, and “Ecclesiae Sanctrn Mariae de Loco Sancti Edwardi.” The abbey is sometimes said to have been dedicated to St. Mary and St. Edward, but this seems to be an error; the church is only spoken of in Henry’s charter as that of St. Mary, in the place of St. Edward. It is not improbable that King Edward may have established a small religious house of some kind here, and that the subse¬ quent abbey was a renewal of the foundation on an enlarged basis, in the same way as King Henry refounded the same monarch’s abbey of Westminster. NETLEY ABBEY. 173 Respecting the founder of Netley Abbey there exists some doubt. Dugdale and Tanner say that it was established by King Henry III.; Leland and Godwin, by Peter de la Roche, Bishop of Winchester. The former base their opinion on a passage which occurs in the charter of confirmation granted by the king in 1251, viz:—“Ecclesiae Sanctee Maria: de loco Sancti Edwardi, quam nos fundavimus in Suthamptescir;” but that was a very common form of expression made use of by eminent early benefactors, who were frequently termed “secondary founders.” The truth appears to be that the bishop had contemplated the establishment of this abbey; but dying before he could carry out his project, he bequeathed funds for the purpose, in trust to his executors, and that King Henry, out of affection for his favourite saint, King Edward, took it in hand and amply endowed the bishop’s foundation. This view is confirmed by an entry in the Annales de Waver ley. under the date of 1239,—“Peter de Rupibus, Wintonensis Episcopus, habuit in proposito adhuc vivens fundare duas abbaties ordinis Cister- ciensis; sed morte prteventus propositum suam nequaquam mancipavit effectui. Veruntamen ante mortem suam assignavit non modicam quantitatem pecuniae, quae ad illarum fundationem et alia necessaria juxta considerationem rationis posset sufificere. Denique post mortem ipsius; viz. hoc anno procurantibus ejusdem Episcopi executoribus fundate sunt, una in Anglia, et vocati est locus Sancti /Edwardi, venit que conventus ibi primum de Bello Loco Regis in die Sancti Jacobi Apostoli; altera in partibus transmarinis qua: Claritas Dei nominatur.” From this, which was written immediately after the death of the bishop, it is clear that he left money in the hands of his executors for the foundation of the abbey “in the place of Saint Edward,” and that the part which the king took in the establishment was a further endowment of lands, and the confirmation of Bishop Peter’s bequest. The other abbey was that of “Clarte Dieu, in Indre et Loire, France.” Peter de la Roche, or de Rupibus, was a native of Poictiers, and was born in the latter half of the twelfth century. In early life he was a soldier of fortune and served in Palestine under Richard Cceur de Lion, by whom he was knighted for bravery. After the crusade he appears to have come to England, probably during the reign of his patron Richard, and to have entered the church. After the death of that king he exercised great influence over his successor, John, counselled him in the adoption of oppressive and arbitrary measures, and is said to have been the suggestor of the obnoxious acts which drove the barons to take up arms, and compel the signature of Magna Charta. In 1214 he had been constituted Chief Justice of England, whilst several other foreigners were appointed to high offices in the state, which, combined with his well-known evil counsel to the king, rendered him very unpopular with the people. Nevertheless he maintained his position, and on the death of John was appointed guardian of the boy-king, Henry III., and Regent of the Kingdom, from which period, for ten years, his biography is a history of the kingdom. The young king became much attached to his instructor and minister, and was guided in all things by his advice; but his intrigues and unconstitutional measures entailed on him the hatred of the people, which became at length so intensified, that in 1227 he went into voluntary exile, and made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, whence he returned in 1231. The years 1234—6 he spent in Rome, and he died in 1238. He was presented, at the instance of the king, to the Bishopric of Winchester in 1204, was consecrated at Rome, and held the see thirty-five years. Although a statesman of evil repute, he appears to have been imbued with a certain description of piety, and to have been an opponent of the encroachments of the Papacy over the monarchs of Christendom. Godwin says that “He with two other bishops animated King John to withstand the Pope’s excommunication, but they were all fain to cry peccavi at last.” He was zealous in the extension of monachism: the same writer adds, “Now of the religious houses he built, and, being built, enriched with reuenewes for their maintenance, these be the names; Hales, of the order of Premonstratenses; Tickford, of the same order; Saleburne, of the order of St. Augustine, viz: Canons Regular; and a goodly hospitall at Portsmouth. Again, he 174 RUINED A REE VS. reneued the Church of St. Thomas the Martyr, in the Holy Land, from a very vnfit place vnto a more conuenient one.” He founded also a Dominican convent at Winchester, and, according to Weaver and Speed, the Priory of Edwardstow,' Suffolk. He bequeathed his body to be buried at Winchester, and his heart in the Cistercian Abbey of Waverley. We may presume that the bishop indicated the spot—the place of St. Edward—where he wished his abbey to be built, and a more suitable locality for a Cistercian abbey could not be desired. Although in near proximity to the throng and bustle of the even then important town of Southampton, it lay as secluded as if it were far away from “the busy haunts of men.” The district was thickly covered with umbrageous trees, and in the midst was a lovely little valley, sloping down gently to the beach, with rising grounds behind serving for shelter and shade. Gray the poet writes, “There may be richer and greater houses of religion, but Interior, looking West. the abbot is content with his situation. See there at the top of that hanging meadow, under the shade of those old trees that bend into a half circle. About it he is walking slowly (goodman), and bidding his beads for the souls of his benefactors, interred in the venerable pile that lies beneath him. Beyond it (the meadow still descending) nods a thicket of oaks, that mask the building, and have excluded a view too garish and luxuriant for a holy eye; only on either hand they leave an opening to the blue glittering sea. Did you not observe how, as that white sail shot by and was lost, he turned and crossed himself, to drive the tempter from him, that had thrown that distraction in his way?” The spot was already looked upon as sacred ground, hallowed as it was by its connection with the pious Edward, who was more fitted for the cloister than the throne. Whether, as tradition reports, a small religious establishment, the foundation of the Confessor, stood here, cannot be asserted with certainty; but it seems not improbable, from the circumstance of its obtaining the emphatic designation of Edwardstow—the place of St. Edward—and the mention of a church in Domesday Book. We may assume that the bishop’s executors lost no time in carrying out the instructions of the testator, and that the walls of the church and the habitations of the monks would soon begin to appear in the depths of the forest; and NETLEY ABBEY. 175 as doubtless sufficient funds were left for the purpose, the buildings were completed without any extraneous aid. When King Henry first took the matter in hand we know not, but it would be at an early period, probably even from the laying of the foundation stone. He would be prompted thereto by two motives—the first his veneration for St. Edward, and the second his affection for the instructor of his youth, and esteem for the sage counsellor of his early manhood as king. He seems to have granted a charter immediately on the com¬ pletion of the abbey, endowing it with lands, and confirming the bishop’s bequest, but this is not known to exist, nor have we any record of its tenor, excepting that, under the date of 1240, he granted to the “Domus Sancti Edwardi” the manors of Letteley, Farley, Milde- hall (Suffolk), Henset, and La Rigge. In 1250 he granted a charter for a market at Hound and a fair at Wellow, with free warren over all the demesnes of the abbey, and the following year one for a weekly market at Wellow. Henry continued to be the steady patron of the abbey to the end of his life. In 1251 he made a grant of a general charter of confirmation (probably his sixth charter), which runs as follows: — “Carta Regis Henrici tertii Donatorum concessiones, recitans et confirmans. “Henricus, Dei gratia Rex Angliae, Dominus Hiberniae, Dux Normanniae, et Comes Andeg.ari.T-, Archiepiscopus &c. salutem. “Sciatis nos pro salute animm nostra et animarum antecessorum et successorum nostrum, concessisse et hoc carta nostra confirmasse Deo et Ecclesiae Sancte Marie de loco Sancti Edwardi, quam nos fundavimus in Suthamptescir, et Abbati et Monachis ibidem, Deo serven- tibus et servituris ipsum locum in quo Abbatia corum sita est, cum omnibus pertinentiis suis, et cum omnibus terris subscriptis, videlicet, de Letteleye, de Hune, de Welewe, de Totinton, de Gumelculne, de Nordley, de Deverell-Kingston, de Waddon, de Ayeley, de Lacton, cum omnibus pertinentiis earum, et cum redditibus de Cherleton, de Suthampton, et de Suthwerk, cum pertinentiis, et C. acras terra in manerio de Schire, cum advocatione Ecclesia: ejusdem manerii. Concessimus eciam eisdem monachis, et confirmavimus omnes rationabiles donationes terrarum, hominum et elemosinarum eis vel in pnesenti a nobis collatus, vel in futuro a 176 RUINED ABBEYS. Regibus, vel ex alianorum liberalitate conferendas, tam in Ecclesiis quam in rebus et posses- sionibus mundanis, sicut carte donatorum quas inde habent ratiozabiliter testantur. Quare volumus, &c. Datum per manum nostram apud Westmonsterium, septimo die Martii, anno regni nostri tricesimo quinto.” The abbey was so far completed as to be ready for the reception of its inmates by the year 1240, about which time it was peopled by a colony of monks from the abbey of Beaulieu, or Bello-Loco (so called from the picturesque beauty of its situation), which had been founded in the year 1204, by King John, in consequence, as the monkish legends tell us, of a super¬ natural visitation. John had been a severe and tyrannical oppressor of the Cistercians, plundering them without mercy, and otherwise ill-treating them. One day he summoned a meeting of the abbots of the order, and as they did not shew a ready compliance with his wishes, he gave directions that they should be trodden to death by horses; but on the following night he dreamed that he was standing at the bar, on the Day of Judgment, and that standing by the Judge were a company of Cistercian Abbots, with thongs and rods in their hands, who were commanded to scourge him for his tyranny to their order whilst on earth, which they did so effectually, that when he awoke his entire body was smarting and aching from the infliction. His superstition was awakened by this, which he deemed a prevision of what awaited him, unless he made reparation, and he implored pardon of the monks, adding that God had been very merciful to him in thus revealing what would be the result of his impious conduct if persisted in. Further, he established this abbey for the Cistercians, in the precincts of the New Forest, amply endowed it, and granted to the abbot and monks a charter of privileges and immunities, to which was afterwards added the right of sanctuary. The following is a list of the chief benefactors, subsequent to the primary endowment by King Henry:— Roger de Clere, or Clare, a member of the Clare family who held the Farldoms of Hertford, Gloucester, and Pembroke, and descended from Geoffrey, the natural son of Richard I., Duke of Normandy, whose grandson, Richard Fitz Gilbert, afterwards called Richard de Tonbridge, accompanied his kinsman, Duke William, to England, and had a grant of thirty-six lordships in Surrey, besides others in counties Essex, Cambridge, Wilts, Devon, and Suffolk, whose grandson, Walter, was the founder of Tintern Abbey. This Roger, in 1243, made a grant from the family domains in Surrey, of all the tilled and pasture land lying between the abbey manor of Gumesulre (Gomshall) and the hayrew de Schyre (the hedgerow of Shere), and the advowson of the church of Schyre, which was confirmed in 1250, by John de Warren (Plan- tagenet), Earl of Surrey, son and heir of William de Warren, Earl of Warren and Surrey. This, however, seems to have been more of the nature of a sale than a gift, as De Clare received in return a present of three hundred marks, and the earl, for the deed of confirmation, pocketed twenty more. Edmund Plantagenet, nephew of Henry III., and son of Richard, Earl of Poictou and Cornwall, who was elected King of the Romans in 1256, was a benefactor, but his grants are not recorded. He succeeded to the Earldom of Cornwall, married Margaret, daughter of Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, but having no issue, the Earldom became extinct at his death. In most histories of the abbey this benefactor is spoken of as “Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, second son of the founder;” but the second son of Henry was Edmund, created Earl of Chester in 1253, which was transferred to his brother Edward, afterwards King Edward I., and he, in exchange, created, in 1264, Earl of Lancaster. Possibly both of them may have been benefactors, which may have given rise to the confusion of title and affinity to the king. Robert de Ver, another benefactor, would probably be Robert, sixth Earl of Oxford and seventh Lord Great Chamberlain, who married Margaret, daughter of Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, and died s.p. in 1331; or it may have been his father, Robert, who died in 1296. Walter de Burgh made a grant of lands in Lincolnshire, who would most likely be a NETLEY ABBEY. i 77 member of the family of De Burgh, Barons Burgh or Borough, of Gainsborough, descended from a younger son of Hubert de Burgh, the famous Earl of Kent temp . John and Henry III., and remotely descended from the Emperor Charlemagne. The lands he gave were held by him of the king in capita, by the tenure of presenting him with a head-piece lined with fine linen, and a pair of gilt spurs. Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester 1502—28, is supposed to have been one of the latest benefactors. He was a prominent man in church and state temp. Henry VII. and VIII., who promoted the elevation of Wolsey, but afterwards retired from the court in disgust at wit¬ nessing the growing pomp and arrogance of that ambitious prelate, and died in 1528. In addition to his former donations, King Henry, in 1270, at the close of his reign, made a grant to the abbey of a tun of prisage wine annually, for sacramental purposes, to be delivered “per manus captornum vinorum Regis.” King Richard II. granted an ample charter of confirmation of lands, liberties, and exemptions, “held by the Abbot of St. Edwardstowe.” At this time only one charter of King Idenry could be found, that of 1240, the others having disappeared altogether. King Henry IV., in the beginning of the fifteenth century, granted a charter to the Abbey “Loci S. Edwardii alias Lettele,” in full confirmation of all their manors, lands, and liberties. At this time one of the abbey’s manors—that of Townhill—was held by the service of keeping the bridge of Mansbridge in repair. Another estate mentioned consists of three ploughlands of a hundred acres each, in the New Forest, with certain forestal privileges. King Edward IV., at the commencement of his reign, 1461, also granted a charter of confirmation, in which reference is made to six charters of King Henry III., granted by him “to the Abbot of Saint Edwardstow or Letley. de Loci S. Edwardi, alias de Letlelegh.” The materials for a history of Netley are exceedingly scanty. No doubt a register of occurrences was kept, but this has been lost, and nothing of sufficient importance transpired to be deemed worthy of notice by other annalists. The name even of the first abbot, who would doubtless be one of the monks of Beaulieu, who migrated hither, is not known, and those of but few of his successors have come down to us, with merely approximative dates. The only known names of the abbots are the following:— Robert occurs in 1255. Walter occurs 1290. Henry de Inglesham, elected 1371. John Stelhard occurs in 1374. Philip dr Cornhampton, elected 387. John de Gloucester occurs post 1396. Richard de Middletone occurs 1400. Thomas Stevens occurs 1527, when (by proxy) he signed in favour of the divorce of Henry VIII. and Catharim- of Aragon, and probably it was he who surrendered the abbey in 1536. Abbots of Leteley were summoned to the parliaments of 1295, 1296, 1300, and 1302. • Almost the only known incident of the transactions of the abbey is an entry in the Corporation Book of Southampton ,—“£2 3s. 4 d. paid to the Abbot of Netteley for a grove of wood, bought by the Maire, for to make piles and pegges by the sea-syde.” This was for fortifying the coast against French marauders, whose incursions were, at that time, a constant source of annoyance to the Southampton burghers. Not a single abbot or monk of the abbey appears to have been canonized for piety, nor is there one whose name is remembered for literary work; indeed they do not appear to have studied much beyond their. mass-books, for Leland, when he visited the abbey, found only one solitary book in the library, which was a copy of the Rheiorica Ciceronis. The abbey was insignificant in size and importance, as compared with the magnificent establishments of St. Albans, Glastonbury, Fountains, etc., consisting of but an abbot and twelve monks. It made no mark in the monastic history of England, but slumbered on, A r 7 8 RUINED ABBEYS. during the three hundred years of its existence, in its woodland valley, scarcely known to the outer world. At length the eighth Henry, animated by avarice and a pique against the then head of the Church of Christ, determined upon the destruction of the monasteries. Professedly his object was to lop off the corrupt and decayed branches, and restore the church to its pristine health and vigour; but as Bishop Fisher said, when the question was in agitation, “It is not the good but the goods of the church which men are looking after.” The bishop did not live to see the fulfilment of his assertion, for the king took care to have his head chopped off before he commenced the spoliation. The revenue of Netley was estimated as follows:— £ i o 8 3^ 8 14 2 560 o 1 6 3 00 o 6 1 3 '7 s o 25 3 00 I o o 7 11 3 7 9 + 1 o o 6 00 2 00 1 o o 2 140 8199 8 00 0 11 8 £l 1 21 V Which, with other sources of income, brought up the gross revenue to ^160 2s. 9^/., from which was deducted the expenditure in alms, fees, etc., amounting to ^59 10s. ih/., leaving the net annual balance of y^ioo 12s. 8 d. for the maintenance of the house. Being thus one of the lesser monasteries, with an income of less than £ 200 per annum, it fell under the first confiscation act of 1536, and was, most probably, surrendered by Thomas Stevens, who would presumably be awarded a pension, partly as a reward for his signature on the divorce question. “Fall’ll pile! I ask not what has been thy fate; But when the winds slow wafted from the main, Through each rent arch, like spirits that complain, Come hollow to my ear, I meditate On this world’s passing pageant, and the lot Of those who once majestic in their prime Stood smiling at decay, till bowed by time Or injury, their early boast forgot, They may have fall’n like thee! Pale and forlorn, Their brow, besprent with thin hairs, white as snow, They lift, still unsubdued, as they would scorn This short-lived scene of vanity and woe; Whilst on their sad looks smilingly they bear The trace of creeping age and the pale hue of care.” Netley Abbey , by IV. L. Bmules. The site of the abbev was granted in 1537 to Sir William Paulet, a tavourite of King Henry, descended from Hercules, Lord of Tournou, in Picardy, who came to England with Geoffrey Plantagenet, Earl of Anjou, third son of King Henry II. Fuller says of him:— Wellow: Assized rents “ Rents of customary tenants “ Manor-farm and tithes “ Court-dues “ Rectory-farm Totton: Assized rents “ Rents of customary tenants “ Court-dues and pannage Southampton: Tenements Netley: Abbey-close, valued at “ Assized rents “ Grange and farm . “ Water-mill Hound: Assized rents “ Windmill “ Court-dues Sliding: Farm-rents Shamelhurst: Assized rents “ Manor-farm . “ Court-dues . NETLEY ABBEY. 179 “’Tis said that coming to court upon trust, he prospered more than any other subject since the Conquest; living in the harvest of estates, viz: the dissolution of the abbeys. He was servant to Henry VII., and for thirty years Treasurer to Henry VIII., Edward VI., Oueen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth.” In 1539 he was created Baron St. John of Basing, in 1549 Earl of Wiltshire, and in 1551 Marquis of Winchester. He was the builder of the magnificent mansion, Basing House, which underwent the memorable siege and sack during the Civil War, and died in 1572, at the age of ninety-seven, having lived to see one hundred and three descendants sprung from his loins. ^(JCHES IN JbOUTH Jf^ANSEPT. Netley does not appear to have remained long in the hands of the Paulets, but passed, probably by purchase, to the Seymours, and would seem to have been held by the Protector, Edward, Earl of Hertford and Duke of Somerset, who was beheaded in 1552, temp. Edward VI., when his titles were forfeited and his lands confiscated; but Elizabeth, on her accession, restored Netley and other possessions to his son Edward, and created him Baron Beauchamp and Earl of Hertford. He made Netley one of his residences, living in a castellated fort on the shore, which had been erected by Henry VIII. for the defence of the coast, and was called Netley Castle, where Queen Elizabeth paid him a visit in 1560. There is a tradition that he made the chancel of the church into a private chapel for Divine Service, whilst he converted the nave into a tennis court, stabled his horses in the refectory, and made the chapter house into a kitchen. He afterwards incurred the displeasure of the queen by a clandestine marriage with the Lady Catherine Grey, for which he was subjected to a fine of RUINED ABBEYS. 180 ^15,000, and imprisoned nine years in the Tower. He died in 1621, and was succeeded by his grandson, William, who, like his grandfather, incurred the displeasure of the monarch (James I.) by marrying a member of the royal race—the Lady Arabella Stuart, for which he also was confined to the Tower, but effected his escape to France. In 1640 he was created Marquis of Hertford, adhered to Charles I. during the Civil War, and at the Restoration was by Special Act of Parliament restored to the family ducal title of Somerset. Francis, Lord Seymour, his brother, appears to have resided at Netley, as there his son Charles, who succeeded him as second Baron Seymour of Trowbridge, was born, and was baptized in Netley Church Chancel, whose son, Francis, third Baron Trowbridge, succeeded as fifth Duke of Somerset. In 1700 Netley was held by Sir Berkeley Lucy, third and last baronet, descended from Sir Thomas Lucy, Knight, of Charlecote, Shakespeare’s “Justice Shallow,” whose son, Sir Thomas, Knight, had married, secondly, Constance, daughter and heiress of Sir Richard Ivingsmill, of Plighclere, Hampshire, from whom, possibly, Netley may have been inherited. He it was who sold the abbey, as old materials, to Taylor of Southampton (q.v. infra). The next possessor of the abbey appears to have been Theophilus, ninth Earl of Huntingdon, (not Marquis, as he is frequently styled in Guide Books,) who resided here with his countess, the famous Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, founder of a sect of Calvinistic Methodists, and the college at Trevecca. Afterwards it became the property of Mr. H. Clift, who sold it to a Mr. Dummer, from whom it passed, by bequest, to Mr. W. Chamberlayne, by whose family it is still held. The abbey buildings were arranged on the usual Cistercian plan, with the church on the north, and the business offices and residential quarters on the south. The enclosure was environed by a moat, and was entered by a large gate on the south from the beach, which opened upon the quadrangle. Beyond the moat on the east were two fishponds, and on the south one of sea-water, with sluice gates, to serve as a reservoir for salt-water fish. The church was cruciform, with nave, chancel, and transepts. South of the nave was the quadrangle or fountain court, with cloisters and dormitories. South of the chancel, and extending considerably beyond it, was the garden court, with the abbot’s house at the north-eastern corner. Between the two quadrangles were two ranges of continuous buildings, extending southward from the transept, the two blocks separated by a vaulted passage leading from the fountain court to the garden. The northern block consisted of the sacristy, the confessional, the chapter house, and probably the library; the southern block contained the refectory, the buttery, the kitchen, and perhaps other domestic offices. Westward of the quadrangle, and northward of the church, are ruins, the former probably those of the hospitium and elymosynarium, and the latter of the infirmarium, which was always placed apart and at a distance from the residential buildings. The church, or chapel as it was usually called, was cruciform, in the Early English style of Gothic then prevalent, an elegant but not highly ornamented structure. It was two hundred feet in length by sixty in breadth, and the transept was one hundred and twenty in length. There were nave, chancel, and transept aisles, with pillars and arches supporting the clerestory, without the intervention of a triforium, with staircases of ascent on each side of the great eastern window. There is no indication of a central tower, but it is probable that there was one, and that when it fell it crushed the north transept into the complete ruin in which it lies. The windows were of two lights, with central shaft, and circular foliated light above. The great windows were at the eastern and western ends and in the transepts, the latter of three lancet lights. The side windows were double and triple lancets, the former with one, the latter with two trefoil heads. The great western door was a recessed arch flanked by buttresses, with corner buttresses as well, and double lancet windows between. The Lady Chapel is supposed to have been the eastern aisle of the south transept, which is the most NETLEY ABBEY. 181 beautiful and highly finished part of the church. In the same transept were steps leading into a mortuary chapel, entered by a beautiful canopied niche in the south wall. It had an altar which stood on a pavement of encaustic tiles, and was elevated above the floor of the chapel. The roof of the church was groined, and appears to have been ornamented with heraldic sculptures, one of which was the arms of Edward the Confessor, since found amongst the debris. The south transept was the burial-place of benefactors and others, whose sepulchres were in arched recesses, where stones emblazoned with arms have been found. The sacristy and confessional formed one long building, separated by an inner wall; the former was a low vaulted room, almost like a crypt, with a door communicating with the south transept of the church. Round the walls were arched recesses, in which were deposited the sacred vessels, service-books, vestments, money, and other valuables. These were in the charge of the sacristan, who was thus an important and responsible officer, and the more so as he had to receive and account for all oblations, legacies, donations, rents, tithes, etc. The confessional was entered by a door from the sacristy, and had another communicating with the chapter, so that, if a penitent required flagellation, he might be at once taken before the brethren, and then and there subjected to the wholesome punishment. The chapter house, which adjoined the above building, was thirty-six feet square, and richly decorated with clustered columns, elegantly proportioned arches, and groined roof. There were three arches on each side, making twelve in all, with seats in them for the twelve monks; the centre arch on the western side had a doorway forming the entrance from the quadrangle. It was lighted on the eastern side by three windows, one in each arch, with more elaborate and ornamental tracery than that of the windows of the other buildings. The south wall abutted on the passage, which separated the offices of a spiritual and intellectual character from those devoted to the more sensual purposes of eating and drinking. The library would probably be over the sacristy or confessional. Beyond the passage was the monks’ parlour, with a fireplace, where they assembled for conversation in winter or inclement weather. Adjoining was the refectory, forty-five feet in length and twenty-four in width, one of the largest rooms in the abbey. It was lighted by a large eastern window, and at the western end was a large arch, now walled up, but what purpose it served is not known. The kitchen and buttery lay southward of and adjoining the refectory, extending eastward considerably beyond the other buildings. The former was forty-eight feet by eighteen, with a vaulted roof, and possessed great pretensions to architectural beauty. On one side is a large and curious fire-place, but seemingly of more modern construction, built probably after the Dissolution, when the abbey was occup’ed as a residence by its subsequent owners. The buttery was a much smaller room with two apertures, one in the eastern wall communicating with the kitchen, the other in the northern communicating with the refectory, made use of most probably for passing dishes of victuals from the kitchen to the dining-room. Beneath the kitchen were vaults for the storage of provisions, wine, beer, and fuel, and a subterranean passage extending to a field beyond the abbey close, which served perhaps as a sewer, the roof of which is now broken in at the outer extremity. The abbot’s house, which stood at the extreme east of the garden court, appears from the ruins to have been a large structure, but nothing is known of its plan or architecture. From a view taken in 1760, the ruins covered a much greater space than they do now. The fountain court, on the west, was so called from a fountain which occupied the centre of the quadrangle. On the eastern, western, and southern sides were cloisters and dormitories above, which were destroyed in the sixteenth century. On the eastern side were four door¬ ways, communicating respectively with the church transept, the chapter house, the confessional, and the passage which led to the garden court. The eastern court, or abbey garden, was planted with trees, and from what remains RUINED ABBEYS. t8 2 appears to have had cloisters and dormitories on three of the sides. It had a postern com¬ municating - with the forest, supposed to have been used by the abbot and his private friends, who might thus come and go without the cognizance of the monks. The kitchen, although adjoining, was separated from it by a small court. Of the guest house, the almonry, the infirmary, the library, the scriptorium, if there was one, which is doubtful, and other appendages of the abbey, we know nothing, as they have disappeared entirely, or lie as heaps of rubbish, and there are no records to tell us what or where they were. It was usual at the dissolution of the abbeys to dismantle them, strip off the lead, take down the woodwork, and dispose of these materials; but this was not done in the case of pLOISTEF^S AND pHAPTEH floUSE, Netley. It was converted into dwellings for some of the owners and their domestics, and in many places alterations have been made, and decayed parts patched up with brickwork; yet, if we may believe tradition, it has been subjected at various times to cruel treatment, as indeed is evident from the complete prostration of many portions, which are now mere heaps of rubbish, and which with a little attention, or indeed if left alone, would have been still standing more or less decayed under the action of atmospheric influence. There are many tales current of the ravages wrought upon the venerable pile by the hand of man, and of the judgments which befel the sacrilegious despoilers. There are various versions of these legends, which have no doubt a basement of truth, but have been coloured by the narrators, according to the bias of their religious opinions. The earliest tradition dates from the reign of James I., when it is said that a person holding Puritanical notions, and viewing the church as a relic of a corrupt and superstitious faith, purposed pulling it down to the foundations, and that he even commenced operations, but had not proceeded far, when as he was standing in the church a mass of stone-work became detached and fell upon him, crushing him to death, and burying him at the same time; moreover that his body could not NETLEY ABBEY. 183 be extricated, but lies there still, and for a long time the heap of stones was pointed out under which he lay. About the year 1700 Sir Berkeley Lucy sold the church to one Taylor, a Southampton builder, to take it down and cart away the materials. The friends of Taylor implored him not to commit so sacrilegious an act, but he had made a good bargain, and obstinately persisted in going on with the work of demolition. He then had a dream that he was killed by a stone falling from the east window, and his brains scattered about the floor, but this did not deter him, he went on with the work, and the dream was repeated. Upon this he began to reflect, and consulted the father of Dr. Watts, who was a schoolmaster in South¬ ampton, and his brother, Enoch Watts, who counselled him to desist, as this was assuredly a warning from Heaven, and if he went on with the work some disaster would befall him. Taylor, on receiving this advice, hesitated, but eventually the love of gain prompted him to proceed with his work. He blew up a portion of the building with gunpowder, and was hacking and hewing at the shattered walls, when a large stone fell and fractured his skull, but not mortally; but the surgeon, when probing the wound, penetrated the brain with his instrument, causing instant death. The anonymous author of a blank-verse poem on “The Ruins of Netley Abbey,” pub¬ lished in 1763, refers to this and other interesting matters relating to the abbey in the preface. He says:—“That the west end of the church might be converted into offices, is not improbable, as there now remain several ovens pretty entire; but whether the kitchen was on that spot seems rather a dubious point, as on the south side of the ruin there is a room of great size, and arched in the side of which there is a very large chimney, that could, I think, be applied to no other use; and that so large a one was highly necessary is certain from an account two very old men, now alive, give of a family that once inhabited it, which family was Lord Hertford’s, and consisted of a hundred and twenty persons: they South Ji^ansept. RUINED ABBEYS. 184 baked, and for their private use expended, a load of wheat every week, and however extra¬ ordinary this may seem, they were men of undoubted veracity, and their fathers were day labourers there in Lord Hertford’s time. “The church was blown up with a view of the materials being - disposed of. A man whose name was Taylor bought them, and sold them again to build St. Mary’s Church, which stands on the other side of the water, about half a mile from the shore, and about a mile distant from the town of Southampton. Taylor afterwards endeavouring to pull down the roof, walls, etc., that remained, was crushed to death by part of the west wall.” He adds also another instance of retributive Providence:—“A man of Downton, in Wiltshire (his name I cannot learn), bought the lead with which the abbey was covered, but reaped very little advantage from his purchase, he being destroyed by falling into the vessel where they were melting it. The common people idly imagine it was a judgment upon them, and tell a long story of a dream Taylor had the night before, warning him of it; but such nonsense as that is from the present purpose, and at no time indeed is it worth relating. Thus I have cleared up a mistake under which many people lay, who fancied it was time only that had decayed this noble edifice.” Another legend informs us that a person was told in a dream that if he dug in a certain place in the sacristry he would find a rich reward for his labour. In compliance with the direction, he made an excavation in secret, and found a treasure chest of immense value, which he conveyed to his home. He was not able, however, to keep the secret to himself, and could not help boasting of his newly-acquired riches, and it came to the ears of the Lord of the Manor, who compelled him to give it all up. Horace Walpole, in a letter to Bentley, about the middle of the eighteenth century, thus describes the ruins as he saw them :—“The ruins are vast, and retain fragments of a beautifully fretted roof, pendant in the air, with all variety of Gothic pattern windows, wrapped round and round with ivy. Many trees are sprouted up among the walls, and only want to be increased with cypresses. A hill rises above the valley, encircled with wood. The fort, in which we would build a tower for habitation, remains, with two small platforms. The little castle is buried from the abbey in a wood, in the very centre, on the edge of the hill. On each side breaks in the view of the Southampton sea, deep blue, glittering with silver and vessels, on one side terminated by Southampton, on the other by Calshot Castle and the Isle of Wight, rising above the opposite hills. In short they are not the ruins of Netley, but of Paradise. Oh, the purple abbots! what a spot had they chose to slumber in! The scene is so beautilully tranquil, yet so lively, that they seem only to have retired into the world.” Grose, in his Antiquities of England , gives three views of the ruins as they appeared in i 77 4.—!. A general view taken from the south-east, shewing the range of offices and domestic apartments, the abbot’s house with walls and windows, and the wall of the garden-court, but almost altogether destitute of trees. 2. The east end of the church, shewing the tracery of the circular light of the great window. 3. The interior of the abbot’s kitchen, as it is termed, with the groining of the roof. Gray, the churchyard poet, visited Netley ten years later, and describes it in a letter to the Rev. James Brown:—“My ferryman (for one passes over a little arm of the sea, about half a mile,) assured me that he would not go near it (Netley Abbey) in the night time for all the world, though he knew much money had been found there. The sun was all too glaring and too full of gauds for such a scene, which ought to be visited only in the dusk of the evening. It stands in a quiet little valley, which gradually rises behind the ruins into a half circle, crowned with thick wood. Before it, on a descent, is a thicket of oaks, that serves to veil it from broad day and from profane eyes, only leaving a peep on both sides, where the sea appears glittering through the shade, and vessels with their white sails that glide across and are lost again. Concealed behind the thicket stands a little castle (also in ruins), imme- NETLEY ABBEY. diately on the shore, that commands a view over an expanse of sea, clear and smooth as glass (when I saw it), with Southampton and several villages, three miles off, to the right, Calshot Castle, at seven miles distant, and the highlands of the Isle of Wight to the left, and in front the deep shades of the New Forest distinctly seen, because the water is not more than three miles over. The abbey was never large; the shell of the church is almost entire, but the pillars of the aisles are gone, and the roof has tumbled in; yet some little of it is left in the transept, where the ivy has forced its way through, and hangs flaunting down among the fretted ornaments' and escutcheons of the benefactors. Much of the lodgings and offices are also standing, but all is overgrown with trees and bushes, and mantled here and there with ivy, that mounts over the battlements.” Gilpin, who paid a visit to Netley, describes the ruins in more detail in his Obsej'vations on the Western Parts of England, Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty , 1798. He gives a view of the abbey from the east, with what appears like the lower part of a square tower at the intersection of the church. He writes:—“At Southampton we took boat to see the ruins of Netley Abbey, which lie about three miles below on the bay. As we approached, nothing could be seen from the water: the bank is high and woody, and screens everything beyond it. Having landed, and walked up the meadows about a quarter of a mile, we entered a circular valley, which seems to be a mile in circumference, and is screened with wood on every side (but I believe much of the wood is now cut down), except that which opens to a part of the river, which has probably once been wooded also. In a dip near the centre of the valley stands Netley Abbey. As you approach it, you see buildings only of the most ordinary species—gable ends and square walls, without any ornaments except a few heavy buttresses. You enter a large square, formerly known by the name of the Fountain Court. The side on which you enter seems to have been chambered and divided into several offices. Such also was the left side of the court, where the bakery and ovens may still be traced. But in general, whatever the rooms may have been which occupied these two sides, the traces of them are very obscure. On the third side, opposite to the entrance, the court is bounded by the south wall of the great church; and along the fourth side range different apartments, which are the most perfect of any that remain in this whole mass of ruin. “The first you enter seems to have been the dining-hall. It is twenty-five paces long and nine broad, and has been vaulted and chambered above. Adjoining it, on the right, are the pantry and kitchen. You still see, in the former, the aperture, or buttery-hatch, through which victuals were conveyed to the hall. The kitchen of Netley Abbey is inferior to that of Glastonbury, but is a spacious and lofty vaulted room, and, what is peculiar, from one side of it leads a subterraneous passage to the river, which some imagine to have been a common sewer, but it is too ample, I should suppose, to have been intended for that purpose. At the other end of the dining-hall you pass through a small vaulted room into the chapter house, which is ten paces square. This room is beautifully proportioned, and adorned on each side by three arches, which, uniting at the top in ribs, support a vaulted roof. To this adjoin three smaller rooms, from whence there is an entrance to the great church by the cross aisle. “The great church has been a very elegant piece of Gothic architecture, and is almost the only part of the whole ruin which is picturesque. All traces of the pillars and aisles are lost, but the walls are entire, except half the cross aisle, which is gone. The east and west windows remain; the former has not yet lost all its ornaments, and both are very beautiful, without as well as within.In that part of the cross aisle at Netley Abbey which remains, a small part of the stone roof is still left, and is a very curious specimen of Gothic antiquity. More of this roof might still have remained if the warnings of Heaven (as that renowned antiquarian—Brown Willis—informs us) had taken effect. From him we have an anecdote, which, he assures us, is founded on fact, of a carpenter who once trafficked with the owner 2 B RUINED ABBEYS. 186 of Netley for this elegant roof, which he meant to pull down and convert into gain. As he retired to rest his slumbers were disturbed with frightful dreams. These having no effect, the next night visions appeared of venerable old men in monkish habits, with frowning faces and threatening hands. Still he pursued his wicked purpose. But the next night, he had scarce fallen asleep when a monstrous coping stone fell plump upon his head. He started with horror, and was hardly at length persuaded that it was a dream. All this having only a momentary effect, in the morning he went to work on the execution of his design. He had scarce mounted a ladder, when a coping-stone fell in earnest from the roof, and put him to instant death.” (This is another and different version of the tradition of the judgment on Taylor, the Southampton builder.) “Others, however, have been found, notwithstanding this example, who have pursued the design, for a mere fragment of the roof only now remains. “The present possessor pursues an opposite extreme. The whole body of the church is now so choked with ruin and overgrown with thickets and ivy-bushes, that the greatest part of the building is invisible. A degree of all these would no doubt be ornamental, but like other garments, when they are too profusely scattered, they offend. These ruins are as much obstructed on the outside as they are within. We walked round them, and could only find two places—the two end windows—where we could possibly take a view. Every other approach is excluded, except on the side we entered, which least deserves to be exposed. This part is so very ordinary that it raises a prejudice at first sight against the whole, and the ruins would be shewn to much more advantage if this side were blocked up with wood, and the approach made either by the east or west window of the church. Beyond the ruins are the remains of large stew-ponds, which were formerly appendages of the abbey.” In the forest depths of Central America ruined cities are found, originally the magnificent abodes of the civilized aborigines, who, with their civilization, religion, temples, and palaces, were exterminated by their Spanish conquerors, and which since then have been so overgrown by the luxuriant vegetation of tropical America, that they have lain concealed from observation, and it is only by chance that they are occasionally discovered, crumbling to dust under the action of the roots of trees and parasitic plants, which force their way through the interstices, and between the stones of the walls. The ruins of Netley present an example of the gradual process of destruction which those cities have undergone, and but for the hand of man, in thinning the forest, and clearing away the parasitic growth of ivy, would ere this have been almost as completely buried in a grave of vegetation as are the cities of the Aztecs. Howitt says, “There is a forest air about it still, the trees are wonderfully lofty and fine, and many of them have sprung up in the interior of the once fair building, whilst masses of luxuriant ivy clamber up the lofty walls, and depend in rich prodigality from their crumbling summits, adding a fuller grace to the scene. The visitor, seated on a fallen stone, still feels a forest silence around him, and the neighbourhood of the Southampton Water seems to complete the feeling of the monastic tranquillity which for ages brooded over the spot.” The best general view of the ruins is from the hill on the north, which rises almost from their base, whence a bird’s-eye view is obtained of the exterior and interior of the abbey, as it lies on the declivity sloping down to the beach, with the trees growing out of the walls and from the debris covering the floor, and the ivy clustering on the walls and round the framework of the windows, whilst around it may be seen the picturesque groupings of trees; at the foot the shimmer of Southampton Water, with masses of foliage beyond, indicative of the New Forest, and in the distance, across the Solent, the fairy-land-like Isle of Wight rising in beauty out of the glittering silver sea. The abbey was at one time much more completely covered with ivy, but a great portion was destroyed by some French emigres, who resided here during the French Revolution, and a great deal more was afterwards removed by Lady Holland, the then proprietress, under the impression that it would loosen the stones, and hasten the decay of the building. NETLEY ABBEY. 187 The other most effective views are from the west, with the great window rising above the trees with picturesque effect, and from the east, with the great chancel window and the great pile of rubbish that was once the abbot’s house. The view from the south is concealed to some extent by interposing trees, but originally, when the abbey was complete, without the brick repairs of the offices, and when the foreground was kept clear of trees, it must have presented a noble appearance from the water. The great entrance gateway was on this side, which presents indications of its having been built with a tower, which would give additional dignity to the aspect from this point of view. Remains of the moat may still be seen, and portions of the wall of the enclosure, which was built in modern times. The fishponds on the east are exceedingly picturesque, bordered y/EST }VlNDOW. with underwood and aquatic plants, and surrounded by flourishing oaks, the upper pond more so than the other, from the circumstance of the oak trees overhanging it, and mirroring them¬ selves in the water. The western quadrangle, or Fountain Court, is still surrounded by walls, with ruined heaps on the western and southern sides, the remains doubtless of the cloisters and the dormitories above, amongst which is a mingling of modern brick-work, which was made use of for dividing the dormitory into smaller chambers for the accommodation of the domestics of the more recent proprietors. Within the enclosure are many fine well-grown trees, casting a delightful shade in the summer time, when on Mondays during that season many merry pic-nic parties resort hither from Southampton to dance, and romp, and flirt, in strange contrast to the scenes presented four or five hundred years ago, of long-robed monks, seated on the cloister seats, or strolling around the fountain, telling their beads, and repeating Aves and Paternosters. The eastern quadrangle, or abbey garden, also presents a clustering of trees, and is frequented by pleasure parties. It appears to have been formerly a regular well-tended garden, with flowers and fruit trees, and was used chiefly, probably, as the abbot’s pleasure-ground, as his house stood at the north-eastern corner. On three sides are RUINED ADEEVS. 188 the remains of a raised terrace, which is presumed to have formed the floor of surrounding cloisters. The windows of the chapter house, refectory, and other offices of the range of buildings, extending southward from the transept, look into this quadrangle. Although the church has no aspiring tower,—a feature which gives so dignified an aspect to many another ruin,—it still is a picturesque object, and the only portion of the abbey that can lay claim to that characteristic. The shell is tolerably entire, the chancel and south transept approaching the nearest to their original perfection. The north transept has fallen to complete ruin, crushed down, possibly, by the fall of the tower. The walls of the south transept and the south walls of the nave and chancel are nearly perfect, whilst the north wall with its buttresses is more ruined; the east and west ends also remain, with their great windows, that of the former with its central shaft and the frame of its circular light complete, whilst both are lost from the latter, the outer frame only remaining: these windows were originally filled with stained glass. The vaulted aisles of the south transept are perfect, but in the nave there is only left the springing of the arches of the groined roof, which has disappeared with its heraldic sculptures. From the sides of the east window were stairs to the clerestory, which is still so complete that there is a practicable pathway half round the church. The south end of the transept is very fine; over two large arches is the clerestory arch, with two smaller windows than that beneath, and above, a triple lancet overgrown with ivy. Opening out of this transept is the mortuary chapel, with remains of the encaustic tiles, the piscina and the ambry, marking the position of the altar. The ivy, which in the last century was so ruthlessly torn down, is now recovering its luxuriance, and climbing up the walls and about the windows, and in various parts of the walls and floors trees have taken root and sprung up, adding a new feature of beauty. The fallen debris has recently, to some extent, been cleared away, rendering the interior aspect less interesting in a picturesque point of view, but better adapted for an architectural study of the remains. The roof of the chapter house has fallen, but some of the clustered pillars and the gracefully shaped arches from which the ribs of groining sprung, remain. The refectory is in a tolerable state of preservation, as also is the adjoining buttery and the kitchen beyond, which is sometimes called the abbot’s kitchen, evidently an error, as from its proximity to the monk’s refectory it was intended to supply the victuals for their tables; and the abbot’s kitchen would unquestionably form part of, or be near to, the abbot’s house. The apartment is vaulted, and has a large, curiously-constructed fireplace in one of the arches. The sub¬ terranean passage still exists, but is broken in at the outer end. It has been explored, but no relics of any consequence have been discovered. The remaining apartments in the same range of buildings are all more or less ruined, but chiefly in respect to the roofs and upper stories, the walls of all of them being sufficiently perfect to show their sizes and proportions, and indicate the purposes for which they were used. The other buildings, such as the abbot’s house, the cloisters of both quadrangles, etc., are mere heaps of rubbish; whilst some, such as the guest house, the infirmary, the wayfarers’ chapel (if there were one), and other offices which were the usual appendages of Cistercian abbeys, have entirely disappeared. I hail at last these shades, this well-known wood, That skirts, with verdant slope, the barren strand, Where Netley’s ruins, bordering on the flood, Forlorn in melancholy greatness stand. How changed, alas! from that revered abode, Graced by proud majesty in ancient days, Where monks recluse these sacred pavements trod, And taught the unlettered world its Maker’s praise. NETLEY ABBEY. 189 Now sunk, deserted, and with weeds o’ergrown, Yon prostrate walls their harder fate bewail; Low on the ground their topmost spires are thrown, Once friendly marks to guide the wandering sail. No more shall charity, with sparkling eyes, And smiles of welcome, wide unfold the door, Where pity, listening still to Nature’s cries, Befriends the wretched, and relieves the poor. No more these hoary wilds, these darkening groves, To vocal bands return the note of praise, Whose chiefs (as slow the long procession moves,) On the rear’d cross with adoration gaze. Mute is the matin bell, whose early call Warn’d the grey fathers from their humble beds; No midnight taper gleams along the wall, Or, round the sculptur’d saint, its radiance sheds. No martyr’s shrine its high-wrought gold displays To bid the wandering zealot hither roam; No relic here the pilgrim’s toil o’erpays, And cheers his footsteps to a distant home.” Keats. A few, not many, relics of the abbey have been found among the debris. One of the most interesting was a fine old brass, richly chased, nineteen inches square, and weighing ten pounds. It had been found by some one who placed no value on antiquities of this des¬ cription, and was afterwards discovered doing duty as the back of a fire-grate in a peasant’s cottage. It represents a bare-headed knight and his lady, kneeling on a tesselated pavement, with hands uplifted in prayer. Labels issue from their mouths, inscribed in Latin, of which the following are translations:—The knight’s: “This one thing I will ask of the Lord, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord.”—(Psalm xxvii. 4.) The lady’s: “My heart said unto me, Thy face will I seek.”—(Psalm xxvii. 8.) On the background are flaming beacons, four times repeated, with a twining label attached to each of them, with the legend, “So have I cause;” and the interspaces are filled with scrollwork and thistles or pine-apples. The flaming beacon was the crest of the Comptons, as it still is of their descendants, the Marquises of Northampton. Sir William Compton, Knight, was a court favourite temp. Henry VII., who made him page to his son Henry, afterwards Henry VIII., and subsequently was appointed Constable of Sudeley and Gloucester Castles, 1510-11; Usher of the Black Rod, 1513; Chancellor of Ireland (performed by deputy), and Knight of the Body, 1513; and afterwards Bursifer Regis, or Keeper of the Privy Purse, and Ranger of Windsor Park. He married Werburga, daughter and heiress of Sir John Brereton, and relict of Sir Francis Cheneys, and died in 1528, possessed of manors in twenty counties. It may be he and his wife who are here represented; or more probably his grandson, Henry, first Baron Compton, son of Peter Compton, who died v.p. He married Frances, daughter of Francis Hastings, second Earl of Huntingdon, and died 1589, leaving issue William, created Earl of Northampton, famous for his elopement with Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Spencer, Lord Mayor of London, called “Rich Spencer” on account of his wealth, the lady escaping from her father’s house in a baker’s basket. An engraving of the brass is given in the Archaologia, vol. xv., p. 302. A brass medallion also has been found, with an “Ecce Homo” on one side and a “Mater doloroso” on the other. The matrix of the abbey seal was discovered in a house in Old Bond Street, London, in 1797. It is circular in form, and rather larger than a shilling, with the device of a priest igo RUINED ABBEYS. praying to the Virgin Mary, and the legend,—“ s. beate marie de stowe sci. edward.” It is supposed that the figure robed in priest’s vestments represents King Edward the Confessor. There are also two seals extant, pendant from a deed temp. Edward III. in the Harleian collection of manuscripts: one an abbot’s seal, representing the full-length figure of an abbot, with his crozier in one hand and a book in the other, and the legend,—“s . abbis . loci sci . edwardi.” The other, which is much mutilated, represents an abbot and four monks, two on each side, and fragments of the legend, — “. commvne abb edwardi de LETTLVE .” The motto of the abbey was a quotation from St. Bernard, and was usually adopted by abbeys of the Cistercian Order:—“Bonum est nos hie esse, quia homo vivit purius, cadit rarius, surgit velocius, incedit caulus, quiescit securius, moritur felicius, purgator citius, prmmiatur copiosus.” It has been translated into a sonnet by Wordsworth. QL\)t CtStmi'an Sbbcp of jfurnrss. TEPHEN, third son of Stephen, Comte de Blois, of Blois on the Loire, in the Province of Orleanois, by Adele, daughter of William the Conqueror, was born in the year 1105. At an early age he was brought to England by his uncle, King Henry I., with whom he became a great favourite. His uncle bestowed on him large estates, both in Normandy and England, including lands in North Lancashire; he also negociated for him a marriage with Maud, daughter of Eustace, third Comte de Boulogne, who was a younger brother of Godfrey de Bouillon, one of the most famous of the heroes of the Crusades. By his uncle he was created Earl of Mortagne, a place in the Province of Orme, on the borders of Normandy, and on the death of his father-in-law, in 1125, he succeeded, jure uxoris, as Earl of Boulogne. King Henry having lost his only son William in the wreck of the Blanche Nef, called a council in London, in 1127, to settle the succession on his surviving child Maud, who was married to the Emperor Henry V., when Stephen, along with other dignitaries of the realm, lay and ecclesiastical, took the oath of fealty to the empress, who shortly afterwards married her second husband Geoffrey Plantagenet of Anjou, and had issue a son, afterwards Henry II., and first of the line of Plantagenet kings. RUINED ABBEYS. 192 At that time in the little town of Savigny, in the neighbourhood or perhaps upon the lands of the house of Blois, there had been established an abbey of the Benedictine Order, but on reformed principles; and anxious to extend their particular rule, the abbots and convent sent detachments of monks in various directions to plant offshoots of the mother house. Stephen was doubtless acquainted with the fathers of this monastery, and being now a wealthy noble, and desirous of promoting the welfare of his soul by means of his wealth, undertook to erect and endow an abbey in England, in affiliation with Savigny. In the year 1124, therefore, Evanus, as abbot, and twelve monks, left the walls of the monastery, and were received in England by Earl Stephen, who located them, temporarily it would seem, until an abbey could be built, in an ancient monastic hospital at Tulket, in Amounderness, central Lancashire, being the fourth colony sent out by Savigny since 1112, when it was founded. Part of the chapel of this old establishment was remaining in the middle of the last century. The abbot, who was a man of great sagacity and judgment, and well fitted for the superintendence of a monastic establishment, lost no time in exploring the country in search of a suitable spot for the new abbey, and found one in the valley of Bekansgill, or Glen of the Deadly Nightshade. “Hasc vallis tenuit olim sibi nomen ad herba Bekan, qua viruit, dulcis nunc, tunc acerba Inde domus nomen,—Bekansgill, claruit ante.” Stell, a Pod of Furness Abbey. The valley was overgrown with abundance of the Solanum lethale , whence its name of the Glen of the Deadly Nightshade. It is frequently said that the name Bekansgill is derived from this circumstance, Bekan having been the name of the plant, which is not the fact, and it is probable that it was so named from the “Beck,” or “Gill,” a streamlet which meandered through the valley. The valley lay towards the southern end of Furness, and was selected by Abbot Evanus for several reasons. It was a secluded spot in the midst of forest trees, remote from the highways of traffic, and admirably adapted for religious meditation; the soil was exceedingly fertile, and productive of fruits and vegetables of the finest quality; the district was well protected from marauders by the wooded fells of High Furness, with its difficult roads, dense woods, and the lake of Windermere; on the west by Morecambe Bay and its dangerous sands; on the east by the Duddon sands, and on the south by the sea and some outlying islands. The valley was watered by a never-failing rivulet, with convenient places for fish¬ ponds and mills; and finally there was abundance of material—a firm, hard, red sandstone in the rocks; iron ore and lead in abundance, obtainable by very slight labour, and plenty of timber in the surrounding forests—materials of such a quality as to enable them to erect a sanctuary sufficiently stable as almost to defy the corroding hand of time. The precise spot selected was half a mile down the valley, and about a mile distant from the little town of Dalton, then the capital of the district, which in the late Saxon period was one of the twenty- four townships of the manor of Hougon, belonging to Tosti, Earl of Northumbria, and brother of King Harold. The district of Furness, of which the abbot became the supreme lord, with almost sovereign power, is the most northern portion of Lancashire, constituting what is called “Lonsdale north of the sands,” which, with “Lonsdale south of the sands,” form the Hundred of Lonsdale. At the time of Domesday Book , Furness, with the whole of North Lancashire, South Westmoreland, and a part of Cumberland formed a portion of the West Riding of Yorkshire. At that time it was in a state of high cultivation, employing sixty-six ploughs, besides those belonging to the lords of the manors. The district is divided into High Furness, or Furness Fells, and Low Furness. The former consists of hills, uplands, and valleys, being the commencement of the lake and mountain FURNESS ABBEY. i 93 country of Cumberland and Westmoreland, highly picturesque, with the beautiful lake of Windermere separating it on the east from Westmoreland. The fells at one time were the boundary between England and Scotland. Low Furness is a peninsula formed by two arms of the sea running inland, Morecambe Bay separating it from Cartmel and other portions of North Lancashire, and Duddon Sands separating it from Cumberland, and terminating on the extreme south with a naze, or ness, a promontorial projection into the sea, which doubtless gave the name to the district. Fore-naze, or Fur-ness, like many others, as Holderness— Hollow-deira-ness—the lowlands at the nose of Deira; Walton-on-the-Naze, Orford-ness, Foul¬ ness, etc., and was the “Promontorium Anterius” of the Romans. This portion is level and low-lying, but well wooded and fertile, and abounding in mineral wealth, which latter has given rise to the modern town of Barrow, with its huge chimneys, roaring furnaces, and ponderous steam-engines, which has sprung up like a mushroom, and however prosperous and wealth¬ making it may be in a commercial point of view, it seems with its griminess and the clouds of black smoke which pollute the air, to desecrate the hallowed precincts of the abbey. The whole of Furness is about twenty-five miles in length, the upper portion varying from fourteen to ten miles in width, whilst in the peninsula it ranges in width from six miles to a point. Off the coast on the south and west is the large island of Walney, between which and the mainland is a natural harbour on which the town of Barrow stands, besides which there are several smaller islands, on one of which—Fouldrey—are the remains of the old castle of Piel of Fouldrey, and near by is the modern port and watering place of Fleetwood, with its lines of steamers to the Isle of Man and Ireland. The scenery of Upper Furness is on a much grander scale than the peninsular portion. Arthur Young, in 1771, gives a picture of it as he then saw it, which in its main features would serve for it as it appeared during the time when it formed part of the abbey demesne, only probably it would then have a wilder aspect, with fewer roads, habitations, and church spires in the prospect. “Standing on an eminence,” he says, “you look down upon a noble winding valley, of about twelve miles in length, everywhere enclosed with grounds which rise in a very bold and various manner; in some places bulging into mountains, abrupt, wild, and uncultivated, and in others breaking into rocks, craggy, pointed, and irregular; here rising into hills covered with the noblest woods, presenting a gloomy brownness of shade, almost from the clouds to the reflection of the trees in the limpid water of the lake they so beautifully skirt; there waving in glorious slopes of cultivated enclosures, adorned in the sweetest manner with every object that can give variety to art or elegance to nature; trees, woods, villages, houses, and farms scattered with picturesque confusion, and waving to the eye in the most romantic landscape that nature can exhibit. “This valley, so beautifully enclosed, is floated by the lake (Windermere), which spreads forth to the right and left, in one vast but irregular expanse of transparent water; a more noble object can hardly be imagined. Its immediate shore is traced in every variety of line that fancy can imagine, sometimes contracting the lake into the appearance of a noble winding river; at others retiring from it and opening into large bays, as if for navies to anchor in; promontories spread with woods, or scattered with trees and enclosures, projecting into the water in the most picturesque style imaginable; rocky points breaking the shore, and rearing their bold heads above the water; in a word, a variety that amazes the beholder. But what finishes the scene with an elegance too delicious to be imagined, is this beautiful sheet of water being dotted with no less than ten islands distinctly comprehended by the eye, all of the most bewitching beauty,” etc. Such was the domain selected by Abbot Evanus in which to plant his new monastery, and he would have had to have gone far before he found another equally lovely in its scenery, and equally well fitted for the requirements of a monastic institution. Soon after the Conquest the Saxon landowners were dispossessed, and Furness given to Roger of Poitou, one of the 2 c 194 RUINED si BUEVS. followers of the Conqueror, but he did not hold it long - , as at the time of Domesday it was in the hands of the Crown, having been confiscated in consequence of the defection of Roger, and soon after that King Henry bestowed it on his nephew Stephen, who, when Evanus selected it as the seat of the abbey, made over the whole of it to the abbot and convent, with the exception of the lands held by Michael le Fleming. 1 he abbot proceeded with such vigour in the erection of the abbey, that the chancel of the church for the celebration of Divine Service, the chapter house for business and deliberative purposes, and the habitations of the monks, with necessary household offices, were completed by 1127, when the fraternity migrated from Tulket, and took up their residence in their new home, Earl Stephen in the same vear giving them the following charter of Foundation, in confirmation of his gift. fF^OM the South-west. “In the name of the Blessed Trinity, and in honour of St. Mary of Furness, I, Stephen, Earl of Bologne and Montagne, consulting God, and providing for the safety of my own soul, the soul of my wife, the Countess Matilda, the soul of my uncle Henry., King of England and Duke of Normandy, and for the souls of the faithful, living as well as dead, in the year of Our Lord 1127, of the Roman indiction the 5th. and 18th. of the epact: “Considering every day the uncertainty of life, that roses and flowers of kings, emperors, and dukes, and the crowns and palms of all the great wither and decay; and that all things, with an uninterrupted course, tend to dissolution and death; I, therefore, return, give, and grant to God and St. Mary of Furness, all Furness and Walney, with the privilege of hunting; with Dalton and all my lordship in ‘Frudernesiam,’ with the men and everything thereto belonging, that is, in woods and in open grounds, in lands and in water; with Ulverston, and Roger Braithwaite, with all that belongs to him; my fisheries at Lancaster and Little Guorum, with all the land thereof, with sac and soc, toll and team, ingfantheof, and every¬ thing in Furness, except the lands of Michael le Fleming; with this view and upon this condition, that in Furness an order of regular monks be, by. Divine permission, established; which gift and offering, I, by supreme authority, appoint to be for ever observed; and that it may remain firm and inviolate for ever, I subscribe this charter with my. hand, and confirm it with the sign of the Holy’ Cross. FURNESS ABBEY. J 95 “Attested by Henry, King of England and Duke of Normandy; Thurstan, Archbishop of York; Audin and Boces, Bishops; Robert, Keeper of the Great Seal; and Robert, Earl of Gloucester.” The privileges included in this grant by the terms sac and soc, etc., comprehended the right and authority to levy fines in the lordship; of administering justice between man and man; of levying tolls and dues on merchandise bought or sold; of holding a sovereign power over their villein tenants, their wives, children, and goods, with the right of disposing of them at pleasure; and of holding courts of justice relative to thefts within the lordship. Amongst the archives of the Duchy of Lancaster there is preserved— CARMINA HISTORICA DE FUNDATIONE FURNESCIENSIS CCENOBIS. “Anno milieus conteno bis duodeno Fournes fundatum primb fuit, et situatum, Primus ei fundus Tulket fuit, haud dubitantur, Quo jam fundatur est Bekanesgillque secundus Annis namque tribus transactis, totque diebus. Tolliter A fundo primo struiturque secundb Agmungdernesiam qua primb florunt cedes Hcec, teneas patriam qua Tulket erat sibi sedes. Annos 4 fundo si vis numerare secundo Illius cetatis capi versibus hie subaratis.” It was in the same year of signing the Furness Charter that Stephen took the oath of fealty to his cousin the Empress Matilda, who a few months after married Geoffrey of Anjou, and subsequently gave birth to a son, Henry, afterwards Henry II., King of England. In the year 1135, Stephen stood by the deathbed of his uncle King Henry, in Normandy, and as soon as the breath was out of the old king’s body, despite his oath, he hurried across sea to London, where his pleasing amiability, handsome person, and gallant and royal bearing had secured him a host of friends; seized the sceptre, and was crowned amid the acclamations of the people at Westminster, his usurpation being confirmed by a bull of Pope Innocent II. But the empress and her son had also some zealous partizans, and the nineteen years of Stephen’s reign was a period of continual civil war. On one occasion he was captured and imprisoned, loaded with chains in the Castle of Bristol, and Maud proclaimed queen by her party; but she proved to be “altogether so fiery, insolent, and exasperating a female,” so tyrannical and rapacious, that her rule becoming intolerable, she was displaced, and Stephen restored. Afterwards a compromise was made that he should retain the sceptre during the term of his natural life, and that Prince Henry Plantagenet should succeed him, to the exclusion of the sons of Stephen. He died at Dover in 1154, when the Plantagenet dynasty commenced its rule over the realm. The monks had now got settled in their new home, and were busily engaged in completing the monastic buildings, laying out their grounds, arranging terms with their tenants, dictating duties to their serfs, and entering into amicable relations with their neighbours. They had not, however, been there long before they began to hear reports of the marauding propensities of the Scots across the border, who were wont to swoop down upon the lands of Furness, carry off the cattle, burn the houses of the peasants, massacre the inhabitants, and plunder the churches. These reports disquieted them, and they felt, although in some degree they were protected by their natural defences—the dangerous sands of Duddon, and the tangled, roadless fells of Upper Furness—they were not sufficiently secure against the attacks of these ferocious freebooters, and they deemed it necessary to provide for the means of defence. At the southern extremity of the isle of Walney is a much smaller island called Fouldry, com¬ manding the entrance to the natural harbour between the former island and the mainland, and here they erected a fortress, at first small in size, called Le Pele de Foddray, at first as much for the collection of dues on shipping as for defence, which is sometimes said to 196 RUINED ABBEYS. have been built in 1328, but from the evidence of deeds was in existence in the reign of Stephen. It was afterwards, perhaps in 1328, considerably enlarged and strengthened, so as not only to serve as a fortress of defence, but to afford a refuge for the whole body of monks, when compelled to fly from the abbey. It consisted of three divisions—the outer court or bailey, the inner court, and central donjon—and was surrounded by a moat with drawbridge, and a surrounding wall with bastions and towers, massive gates, and portcullis, whilst within were soldiers’ barracks and stables, and a chapel. It is now a somewhat gloomy looking ruin, but is seated in the midst of great natural beauty. In 1588 we find “Pylle” described as “an olde decayd castell of the Douchie of Lancaster in Furness Felles, wher one Frustone (a Papyshe Atheist) is depute Steward and commanders the manrede and lands ther which wer sometime membre appertayninge to the Abbaye of Furness.” Two miles northward lay the little capital of Furness, Dalton. It had been a Roman station with a castellum, and on the site of this fort the abbots built a castle of considerable strength, and kept it garrisoned with men at arms. The town stands on a gentle declivity, with a main street, and side streets branching out of it; the main street, as it ascends the rise, widens into a market place, and on the summit was the castle built, which commanded the town and dominated the country around. The keep, a large and strongly-built square tower, still remains, and gives an air of dignity to the town. Besides these measures of precaution, every tenant on the Furness estates was bound to find a man and horse for the abbot’s military service in times of peril; so that ample provision was made for defence; and further to render these means more effective, three beacons were erected within sight of each other, one on the fells in the north, a second on an eminence opposite the abbey, and the third at Rampside, on the coast opposite Piel Castle, so that in a very short space of time information could be sent from end to end of Furness of an invasion. In another spot also, out of the range of the flaming beacons, a watch-tower was built, in which a man was constantly on the look-out for any indications of the approach of the enemy. The castle at Dalton is supposed to have been erected about the time of Edward III., but it seems probable that there would be some protective building at an earlier period. The abbey at Tulket and at Furness, until the abbacy of Philip de Baiacis, followed the rule of St. Benedict, from 1124 to 1148 or 1149, when it became Cistercian, and the buildings were erected according to the Benedictine plan; but we may presume that either they were mere temporary erections, or were destroyed, as they have entirely disappeared, none of the existing ruins giving indications of an earlier date than the abbacy of John Cauncefield, j! cj2_1175, the Transition period. The first buildings would be in the Norman style, which extended from 1046 to 1145, of which no fragments are to be seen. As the monks would be amply supplied with funds by their wealthy patron, Earl Stephen, they would unquestionably be of a substantial character, not makeshifts to be replaced by better buildings afterwards; therefore we may conclude that the Norman monastery was destroyed by the Scots during their irruption in 1138, when they laid the whole district waste and desolate, and razed the castle of Piel of Foulrey to its foundations. The re-edification of the abbey was commenced during the abbacy of John de Cauncefield, according to the plans of the Cistercians, as minutely specified, and this, with some after additions and alterations, in subsequent styles, was the monastery whose picturesque ruins still adorn the valley of Bekansgill. Besides Earl Stephen, the founder, the abbey found many successive friends and benefactors, so that it waxed in wealth until it became among the Cistercian abbeys second only to Fountains. One of the first was Michael le Fleming, a considerable landowner in Furness, who, in 1153, granted the estate of Fordboc, or Fordbottle, a place of which no traces now remain. The De Lancasters, Barons of Kendal, were continual benefactors, and had a sepulchral chapel in the abbey. Their lands were in Westmoreland and Ryedale, which joined the abbey lands, besides others in other counties. FURNESS ABBEY. 197 The feudal Barons of Kendal deduced their ancestry from Ivo Tailboys, brother of Fulk, Earl of Anjou. William de Tailboys, his great grandson, was Governor of Lancaster Castle, from which circumstance he assumed the surname of Lancaster. William de Lancaster, his grandson, was Steward to King Henry II. He was the last of the male line, having married Helewise de Stuteville, and leaving an only daughter, Helewise, who married Gilbert Fitz Rheinfride, who had a grant of the Honour of Lancaster for life, and was Sheriff of Lanca¬ shire from the 7th. to the 17th. of John. Notwithstanding these favours he took up arms with the barons against the king, but was compelled to sue for pardon after the capture of his son and the king’s success at Rochester, which he only obtained by the payment of a fine of twelve thousand marks, the surrender of some of his castles, and giving hostages for his future good conduct. He died in 1219, leaving issue, William, his heir, and Helewise, who married Peter de Brus, whose eldest daughter, Margaret, married Robert de Ros, whose descendant and heiress, Elizabeth, married Sir William Parr, and was mother of Queen Catherine Parr. William de Lancaster, his son, called the eighth Baron of Kendal, was the most generous benefactor of the family. He had custody of the Honour of Lancaster, and was Sheriff of the county from the 18th. to the 30th. Henry III., and died s.p. about the year 1246, with whom terminated the legitimate line of the family, his estates passing to the representatives of his two sisters and coheiresses. But he had an illegitimate brother Roger, who was Lord of the Manor of Barton, in Westmoreland, who served the office of Sheriff of Lancashire, and who died in 1290, leaving a son, John de Lancaster, who, having distinguished himself in the Scottish war, was summoned to Parliament, by writ, as Baron de Lancaster, from December 1299 to December 1309, but dying issueless in 1334, the barony became extinct. William de Lancaster, supra, eighth Baron of Kendal, and called third Baron of Lancaster, in 1240 bequeathed his body for burial in the abbey church, and with it certain lands and fisheries. The deed of grant runs as follows:— “To all the faithful in Christ, William de Lancaster, greeting. “Be it known unto you, that for the health of my own soul, the soul of Agnes my spouse, and the souls of all my predecessors and successors, I have given and granted to the Lord Abbot of Furness and to the Monks there serving God, certain lands which I held of them; that is, all Scathwaite and Egton, with all their members and appurtenances, the which lands I bequeath to them with my body; also a boat, sufficient to carry necessaries in Thurstan water, and another small boat for fishing on the same water, whenever they please, with twenty nets for the use of the aforesaid monks; also on Windermere, one boat sufficient to carry mainement (building materials) and other necessaries, and another small boat for fishing, with twenty nets, without any opposition from me or my heirs; but if any servant belonging to the monks, who shall have the care of their boats on the said waters, commit trespass in my forests, he shall be punished at my discretion; and if any such servant refuse to give and make reasonable satisfaction, he shall be dismissed, with the loss of his wages, by the monks from their service. Moreover, by these presents, I will, command, and testa- mentarily confirm that my corpse shall be interred in that place which I have made choice of within the aforesaid monastery, and which is in the presbytery, near to the body of my grandfather, William de Lancaster, of happy memory. And the said monks shall have what I have charitably bequeathed as aforesaid, and possess the same in peace as a perpetual alms; and I, the said William, and my heirs, will for ever warrant, quit claim, and defend the said alms against all men. “In presence of these witnesses to this my gift and legacy:—Lady Agnes, my spouse; John, Prior of Coningsheved; my brother Roger; Robert de Laybourne; and Laurence, my Knight; Rowland, my Seneschal; Gilbert de Lancaster; my High Constable of Kirby; Robert le Taylor; Gilbert Bo vile. “Given at Kirby, in Kendal, 6 Nov., 1240.” RUINED ABBEYS. 19S After her husband’s death Agnes confirmed the above grant, and added to it by quit claiming her right of dower in the said lands. In 1242 Adam de Grefholme bequeathed “all my land of Grefholme and Drilen, and 65 acres I had of Ranulph de Bolton (le Sands).” Besides these, they had grants and bequests from nearly all the neighbouring families—the Broughtons, the Kirkbys, the Penningtons, the Huddlestones, etc. At every demise they had a charter of confirmation from the succeeding heads of the families, and general charters of confirmation from each successive king, as well yoOKINC INTO THE pHAPTEI^ j-JoUSE. as bulls of confirmation and protection from Popes Alexander III., Urban III., Celestine III., and others; the leaden seal of the bull of the last mentioned was found in the ruins in 1840. The various charters of Henry I. and II., Richard I., John, and Henry III., enumerate the following as their chief territorial possessionsStaplethorne, Furneis Forest, Isle of Wagney with the chase, Dalton town, Wynterboume, Fordbotle, Crinelton, Rose, Bordesley, Sellesee, Newby, etc. Amongst their rights and privileges:—Sheriff’s turn, assize of bread and beer, wreck of the sea, waifs, sac and soc, tol and team, infantheof, a market, fair, and gallows at Dalton; to make summons and attachment by bailiff in Furness; free warren over their lands in Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Cumberland, etc.; with exemption from fines and amercements, county suits and wapentakes; the abbot from personal appearance in any court of justice in the realm, with license to prosecute and defend all causes in the courts, both within and without the county, by his attorneys, appointed under the seal of the abbot and convent of Furness. The abbot in fact ruled over Furness as a district palatine, held manorial FURNESS ABBEY. 199 and feudal rights, appointed a sheriff, coroner, and constable; had a court of criminal juris¬ diction ; the patronage of all the churches excepting one; all emoluments of wardship, with the power of fining heiresses who married without his permission, and of driving off any outside bailiff who intruded on his territories. He had a mansion in York, and another at Boston in Lincolnshire; a harbour capable of accommodating the largest ships of the time in all states of the tide; and four iron mines, which, however, were only worked for home use, not for exportation, and maintained a little army for protection; Abbot Pele, the last Transepts. of the series, having one thousand two hundred and fifty-eight men armed with coats of mail, spears, and bows and arrows, always ready for service, four hundred of whom were mounted. The alms of the abbey were on a grand scale. On the anniversary of St. Crispin, there were distributed to the poor at the porter’s lodge, the dismembered portions of two oxen, two cows, and one bull, and at the same place, every Monday and Friday, ninety-nine shillings worth of bread and six maze of fresh herrings, worth forty shillings. There were maintained, from the foundation to the last, thirteen poor men, with a yearly allowance to each of thirty-three shillings and fourpence; eight widows with same pension; and to both five flagons of ale weekly; and two schools for the gratuitous education of the children of the tenants. In a lawsuit after the dissolution, in the year 1582, between the tenants of Lowness, who held leases granted by the abbot, and John Brograve, Attorney General of the Duchy of Lancaster, a very old man appeared as a witness, who stated that he had many times seen 200 RUINED ABBEYS. the tenants resort to the monastery on tunning-days, sometimes with twenty, sometimes with thirty horses, and had delivered unto every one of them barrels of beer, containing from ten to twelve gallons, worth then io d. or i id. a barrel, and twelve loaves of bread delivered to every one "that had a barrel of beer. Another witness stated that the children and servants of the tenants went from their labour in the field to dinner and supper at the abbey, and were encouraged to come to the abbey school to be taught. There was an office connected with the abbey, that of the Sergeantry or Stewardship ot Furness, which shews the dignity and importance to which it attained. This office was eagerly sought for by men of rank, who considered that it added to their own dignity to be entrusted with it. In 1340 it was held by Sir Robert de Holand, of an old Lancashire family, second Baron Holand, whose father lost his head in connection with the rebellion of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, and whose brother Thomas was created Earl of Kent, and was grandfather of Thomas de Holland, Duke of Surrey; and there is a letter extant from Abbot Rawlinson, it is said, but doubtfully, to Cardinal Wolsey, in which he states, that in compliance with his request, the convent would grant the Stewardship to the Earl of Derby, if they might have returned to them a grant “made and sealyd wyth oure convent seale and delyured vnto the late Earle of Derby, by John Dalton, fortensid Abbot, in ye time of his intrusion;” adding, “I was comying to youre Grase by the space of xl. miles and more, whereas I had knowledge how the term was adiorned (adjourned), and the great plague renyng (reigning), wherefore I adornved to my mon’stry.” Furness threw out several offshoots, becoming the parent of many flourishing abbeys. The first was at Calder, in Cumberland, in 1134, whither Gerold was sent with twelve monks, but they had not been there more than four years, when their lands were laid waste and their buildings destroyed by the Scots. Upon which Gerold and his monks took to flight, made their way over the fells, and presented themselves at the gates of Furness; but the abbot, instead of commiserating and sheltering them, taunted them with cowardice, and shut the door against them. Destitute of food, and without the means of procuring it, they wandered forth into Yorkshire, and were fortunate enough, when footsore and half-starved, to meet with Gundrede, the widowed mother of Roger de Mowbray, who took compassion on them, enter¬ tained them at her castle of Thirsk, and subsequently induced her son to found an abbey, which grew into the magnificent monastery of Byland. At first they were subject to burness, but Abbot Gerold went to Savigny to procure exemption from that subjection, in which he succeeded, but on his return died at York, and was succeeded by Roger, the sub-cellarer, one of the monks who had come from Furness. The second was Rushen, or Russin, in the Isle of Man, founded by King Olaf in 1134. bestowing on it one third of the tithes of the island for the purposes of education and charity. He made it a cell dependant on Furness, with the right of electing the abbot, and it is said that of appointing the Bishops of Man. Several kings, bishops, and other illustrious persons were interred within its walls. There now remains of it two square ruined towers and a small arched structure, supposed to cover the entrance to a vault. The third was Swinehead, near Boston, Lincolnshire. It was founded by Robert de Greslei in 1134, but is said in the chronicles of Furness to have been colonised by Furness monks in 1148,—a slight discrepancy, as it does not seem probable that it would remain fourteen years from the foundation without inhabitants. It was to this abbey that King John went after the loss of his baggage and munitions of war in the Wash, during his contest with the Dauphin, and it was here that he was stricken with the fever, caused by vexation and irritation at his loss, which carried him off a few days afterwards at Newark. In Ireland the abbey planted an offshoot in 1183 in the Diocese of Down, called I nos, or De Insula; and five years later, one, previously settled at Nether Wyersdale, Lancashire, at Wotheney, County Limerick, on land given by Theobald Walter, hour other Irish abbeys FURA'ESS ABBEY. 201 were in 1249 placed under the control of the abbey of Furness, viz., Fermoy, or De Castro Dei, founded in 1170; Wethirlagaan, or Holy Cross, in the Diocese of Cashel, founded in 1183; Corkonrouth, or De Petra fertili, founded in 1197; and Yneselughenaught, or De Surio, in County Tipperary, founded in 1249. Abbots of jftirneSS* The list of abbots is perplexing and incomplete; the names, the order of succession, and the dates, arising out of a strange custom prevalent in the abbey, and not known elsewhere, of inserting in the register the names of such abbots only as had held office ten years or more, and died in office; so that an abbot before he had accomplished his ten years, or if after that he were translated to another abbey, promoted to a bishopric, had resigned, or were deposed, his name was altogether omitted. Thus very few of them appear in that record, and the remainder can only be arrived at from incidental notices in other documents, and sometimes with only approximate dates. As nearly as can be ascertained the following is a list; and the dates, where not otherwise specified, those of their occurrence in connection with certain acts and deeds. Evanus, or Ivo de Abrincis: “magnre scientitire et non minoris sanctitatis vir,” (Register) 1124. Eudo de Sourdevalle, “cui Honorius Papa secundus scribit privilegium speciale,” (Register) circa 1130. Michael de Lancaster. Not in the Mortuary Register. Peter de Eboraco (in the Register Serlo), the last Benedictine abbot. Abdicated 1148. Philip, or Richard de Baiacos (Bayeux). John de Cauncefield, 1152—1175, during whose abbacy the abbey was rebuilt. William de Millum, 1175—1180. JOCELYNE DE PEYNTON (PENNINGTON), I I 8 I. CONON DE BaRDOULE. Wilhelmus Niger. Translated from Swineshead. Giraldus Bristaldum, or Brishalton (Birstall). Michael de Dalton, ist. Richard I. Richard de St. Quintune, 1191. Ralph de Fleetham. John de Newby. Steven de Ulverston. Nicholas de Meaux, Bishop of Man, 1203—1217, originally a canon at Warter, near Pocklington, afterwards a monk at Meaux, or Melsa, near Beverley, then monk and abbot at Furness. Robert de Denton. Translated from Swineshead. Lawrence de Acclom. William de Midleton, temp. Henry III. Hugh le Bron. William de Cockerham: “cujus corpus jacet sub longo colosso marmoreo in capitulo sine epitaphia” (Register). Hugh Skyller, or de Dalton. Deposed 1297. John de Cockerham, 1303—1340. Alexander de Walton, 1342—1347. John de Bolton, 1381. Wilhelmus de Dalton, 1405—1416: “modernus qui diu vivat in gratia et honorse” (Register). Robert, 2nd. Henry VI. Thomas, 1424 and 1432. William Woodward, 1443. John Turner, elected 1443. Robert, or Lawrence, elected 1461. Thomas, elected 1491. John Dalton, temp. Henry VIII.; doubtful. Alexander de Rawlinson, or Bankes, or Bauch, 1508—1532. Roger Pyle, or Peil. Surrendered the abbey, 1537. There are only ten abbots mentioned in the mortuary book of the abbey in two hundred and seventy-seven years. The Abbots of Furness were frequently summoned to Parliament, but not after 1230, when writs were not issued to other ecclesiastics excepting bishops and abbots holding of the king in capite per Baronium; but we have no record of any of the Abbots of Furness 2 D 202 RUINED ABBEYS. answering to the summons, arising perhaps out of the distance they would have to travel, and the perilous nature of the roads across the sands out of Furness. In 1204, the Abbot of Furness was one of twenty Cistercian abbots who were summoned. The Cistercian monasteries produced very few men of literary eminence, compared with the Benedictines. In connection with Furness we only know of one, John Stell, a poet, one of the monks. His only known work is a poetical preface to the chartulary of the abbey, a beautifully illuminated folio sixteen inches by ten and a half, engrossed in monkish black letter by John Stell and Richard Esk, monks, compiled in 1442, under the abbacy of William Dalton, and was written, as is stated in the preface, with a silver pen. It is on the authority of this poetical preface that it has been stated by repeated historians of Furness and the abbey, that Bekansgill is the ancient name of the plant the deadly nightshade. This char¬ tulary is the only known relic of the scriptorium; it is preserved in the office of the Duchy of Lancaster. Jocelyn de Furnesio, a monk of the end of the twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth centuries, author of a Life of St. Patrick and some other early British saints, is supposed to have been of Furness, although it is thought by some that he was a monk of Ferns, in Ireland. gititalg of jftirnrSS As we have seen, the Benedictine monks of Savigny determined to establish a colony, affiliated to their house, in England; and under the patronage of Earl Stephen the offshoot was planted, most probably temporarily, at Tulket, near Preston, and that three years after¬ wards the community removed to their permanent home in Furness. They were not long before they began to throw off colonies themselves,—at Calder, in Cumberland, and at Rushen, in the Isle of Man ; the latter on land given by King Olaf, who, it is said, at the same time ordained that the future Bishops of Man should be elected by and from the monks of Furness. In 1138 they suffered severely from an irruption of the Scots, who destroyed their buildings, laid the country waste, and dismantled the Castle of Piel, on the Isle of Fouldrey. A few years before the foundation of Furness, St. Bernard, of Clairvaux, the second founder of the Cistercian Order, or reformed Benedictines, had been so successful in propa¬ gating the new rule, that he had, during the thirty-eight years that he was abbot, been instrumental in founding not less than one hundred and sixty Cistercian abbeys, whilst within fifty years three hundred were established. The fathers of Savigny, through the influence of Pope Eugenius III., with their thirty affiliated abbeys, were induced to adopt the Cistercian rule, and subject themselves to St. Bernard. This was carried out in the year 1148; but the monks of Furness, with their abbot, Peter de Eboraco, did not care to be thus handed over to Clairvaux. They were satisfied with the rules of the Savignian Order, did not think those of Clairvaux in any respect superior, and in full chapter protested against the transference. But it was of no avail; the chapter of Savigny told them that the matter had been decided, and that Furness, as a mere branch of the parent stem, was bound to submit to the decision. Thereupon the monks again met to discuss the question in chapter, and the result was that they sent their abbot, Peter, to Rome, to obtain permission from the Pope to remain in their original order, without any alteration of their rule. The abbot was successful in his appeal, and set out on his return home, but, unfortunately, in passing through France he had the indiscretion to call at Savigny, perchance with the view of exulting over the head chapter in his triumph. However that may be, he was not received very graciously; he was reproached with disobedience, handled with rough treatment, deposed from his abbacy, and kept in close confinement, until he consented, under alternate threats and promises, to become Cistercian. He was not, however, permitted to return to Furness, but was enrolled as a monk of Savigny, and was eventually promoted to the abbacy of Ouamore. At this time there was in the FURNESS ABBEY. 203 abbey of Furness a monk who had come from Savigny, Richard of Bayeux, a man of con¬ siderable learning, who had won the esteem of the brethren by his piety and ability; and when the news of the deposition of their abbot, Peter of York, reached them, they met in chapter, and almost unanimously elected the Norman as his successor. The new abbot was favourable to the Cistercians, and by his persuasive eloquence he brought over the brethren to reconsider their opposition to the change of rules, and they eventually, seeing it to be the best policy to coincide with their Savignian brethren, passed a resolution to adopt the Cistercian Order. Richard of Bayeux does not appear to have held the office long, perhaps only sufficiently so to induce the monks to agree to the change of rule, for it was his successor, John de Jransepts, ff^om the J'Jave. Cauncefield, who obtained, from Pope Eugenius, a bull of reconciliation of himself and the monks to the mother Abbey of Savigny. It was not long after this, that a dispute broke out with the Abbey of Waverley, in Surrey, on the question of precedence. Waverley was the first Cistercian abbey established in England, which took place in 1129, and it claimed priority over all other abbeys of the order in the realm: but Furness contended that as their house was founded in 1124 the right of precedence belonged to them. “But,” replied Waverley, “you were Benedictines until 1148, and can only claim precedence from that year, which would place you not only behind us, but behind Rievaulx, Fountains, and Tintern as well, which were all founded before you became Cistercian.” The dispute lingered on, and was not settled until 1232, when it was decided that “The Abbot of Furness should have precedence through all the Houses of Elemosyne in England, but that the Abbot of Waverley should have precedence in the chapters of the abbots throughout England, with a superiority over the whole order.” The dispute is only once mentioned in the “Annales de Waverleia” under date 1232, where this record occurs,—“Questio prioratus inter Abbatem de Waurleia et Abbatem de Furnesio, terminatur in hoc modo; vidilicet, quod Abbas de Furnesio habeat prioratum in tota Elemosinse in Anglia, et in generatione Savinciaci in Anglia tantum. Abbas autem Waurleia habeat prioratum 204 RUINED ABBEYS. ubique tam in congregationibus Abbatum, quse fuerint per Angliam quam alias per ordinem universum.” Pope Eugenius III., who had been a pupil and was a great friend of St. Bernard, partly, perhaps, as a reward for their compliance with his desire of their affiliation with Clairvaux, granted the abbey, in 1152, a bull in confirmation of all their lands and privileges, and more¬ over of exemption from the payment of tithes of lands cultivated by themselves, and cursing all who should presume to molest them. About this time, the Grandorges, one of whom lies buried in the abbey, gave the abbot and monks estates at Winterbourne, Flasby, and Eshton near Gargrave; and in 1153 Michael le Fleming gave them Fardeboc, now lost, supposed to have been at a ford over a part of Morcambe Bay, marked in the chartulary under Roos. Early in the reign of Henry II., a question arose as to the line of boundary between the lands of the abbey in Furness Fells, and those of William de Lancaster in his Barony of Kendal, which was settled by a jury of thirty sworn men, whose decision was confirmed by the king in a charter of ratification. In 1175, Pope Alexander III. granted a bull to the newly elected Abbot Walton, in confirmation of all the possessions of the abbey, and taking it specially under his protection. Plonorius, Archdeacon of Richmond, (although what authority he had to do so does not appear), granted, circa 1200, permission to the abbey to celebrate mass with wax candles during an interdict, and at the same time bestowed on it the chapel of Hawkshead, in Upper Furness, and a bovate of land with four tofts in Dalton. In the reign of King John, the abbot got into trouble about the forest laws, and was fined five hundred marks and two palfreys, but was allowed to compound for two hundred marks, and excused the palfreys. The same king in 1208 made a demand of one thirteenth of all their moveables from his subjects in Furness, and as they were remiss in payment, he seized the lands of the abbey at Stalmire and Stapleterne, and distrained upon them. In the vicinity of Ulverston, romantically situated, stood the small Augustinian Priory of Conishead, which had been founded by a Pennington of Pennington, ancestor of the extant Barons Muncaster. With this prior}' the abbot and convent had a lawsuit in 1208, they claiming the churches of Ulverston and Pennington, which they contended were mere chapels to their church of Urswick, and that consequently the patronage belonged to them, and further that the priory was built on land belonging to them, without their consent. Eventually the canons were allowed to retain the land, but to pay annually fifty shillings “pro bono pads,” and afterwards rented some other land of Furness Abbey, at Bardsee, at seventy shillings per annum. What was the decision relative to the patronage of the churches does not appear. In 1212, or 1213, the abbot obtained permission from the king to import corn, malt, and other provisions from Ireland. King John appears to have sent certain valuables to the abbey for safety, during his troubles with his barons, for we find that, immediately after the signature of Magna Charta (1215), he sent for his silver and gold plate, to be sent “by two of y r monks and others of y r people who you can well trust.” He afterwards confirmed the grant of Borrowdale, by Alice de Romeli, of Skipton Castle, who translated the canons of Embsay, in Wharfedale, to Bolton, in remembrance of her son, the Boy of Egremont, who was drowned in the Strid; but charged the abbey fifty marks and twenty palfreys for the charter. In the following reign (Henry III.) the abbot took advantage of the king’s necessities to get the whole of Furness under his sway. He applied for a confirmation of Stephen’s charter, and, without consulting the persons most interested, added the following clause, “and to have homage and service of Michael le Fleming, for all the land he held of the king for ^10 yearly.” As the application was accompanied by a bribe of four hundred marks, the charter was signed at once, and a precept was sent to Fleming to yield homage and service to the Abbot of Furness, the sheriff directing him to give seisin of the said homage and service. FURNESS ABBEY. 205 But Michael did not at all approve of being turned over in this way, from being a tenant in capite of the crown to become a vassal of his neighbour the abbot, who, he considered, was proud and powerful enough, and ought rather to be curbed in his grasping greed after power and influence. He therefore protested against it to the king, who issued a writ of enquiry to the sheriff, “because we have been given to understand that we have been deceived in the concession we have made to the Abbot of Furness of the homage and service of Michael Flandressis.” The sheriff summoned a jury, who gave it as their opinion, “that if the trans¬ action be confirmed, it will be to the detriment of the king.” The abbot, however, succeeded in getting complete confirmation, but it cost him the then enormous sum of ^1,500, and he had to concede several valuable privileges and immunities to his powerful feudatory. Never¬ theless it was well worth the cost, as from this time the Abbot of Furness became lord paramount of the whole of the peninsula, which greatly increased his dignity and importance. The charter is dated 1227. One of the manorial rights was the disposal of the hand and fortune of the widows of vassals in marriage, in which predicament the Flemings, much to their annoyance and irritation, no doubt, found themselves in 1277. In the valor of 1291 the whole possessions of the abbey were assessed at /Too 115. o\d ., immensely below their value, says Whitaker. King Edward I., in 1292, issued a quo warranto to the abbot, to shew his title to certain enumerated privileges. The enquiry came off at Lancaster, when it appeared that “no sheriff had made a tourn in Lancashire before Henry III., when Matthew de Redeman, sheriff in 1245, began to hold a sheriff’s tourn twice a year, according to the custom of the realm at that time. That the coroner of Furneys began to hold a tourn twice a year in Furneys, commanded the abbot’s bailiff to summon juries before him, delivered articles, brought in the rolls, and made the tourn as the sheriff does in a geldable country, without special warrant, receiving the issues and profits for the king’s use. The abbot was at length amerced for a false claim, with respect to exemption from common fines and amercements, but was discharged sine die as to the other privileges, which were subsequently confirmed, on condition of paying 6s. Sd. annually to Henry, Earl of Lancaster.” The Scots under Robert Bruce invaded Furness in 1316, in which the abbey suffered so greatly that the king conceded a reduction of forty marks on the next year’s assessment, the amount paid being little more than one fourth of the return of thirty years previously. Six years after, the Scots again made their appearance, and ravaged the territory in a still more violent and barbarous manner, leaving the crops destroyed, the houses and churches plundered and burnt, the people massacred, and the country altogether desolate. It was in consequence of these repeated invasions that the abbot built the strong castle of Piel on the Isle of Fouldrey, partly as a coast protection, and partly as a place of refuge on the approach of the foe. King Edward III. made the abbot a grant of free warren over all the abbey lands in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cumberland; gave him a patent to empark Ramshead, Sowersby, Ronhead, Greenscogh, Hagg, and Millwood, in Low Furness, and Claiffe and other parts of the fells, and confirmed the grant of coroner and sheriff’s tourn once a year, which had been made by Henry, Earl of Lancaster, in 1292. For the next hundred years the annals of the abbey present few details of interest or importance. “Further acquisitions of lands, forced loans to needy princes, and quarrels with their larger feudatories, especially with the Lords of Aldingham, who were constantly disputing the claims of the abbots to seignorial privileges and powers over them, make up the records of the house for a couple of generations.” Secluded although the abbot and his monks were from the world in their narrow valley, their life was not one of absolute ease and freedom from trouble, as appears from a petition presented by the abbot and convent to the parliament in 1413 (13th. Henry IV.), which gives also a graphic picture of the state of the country, and the difficulties of travelling at that time. 206 RUINED ABBEYS. “To the Supreme Court of Parliament, your humble petitioners, the Abbot and Convent of Furness of the Cistercian Order. “Whereas the said Abbey is situated in an island in the county of Lancaster, and hath lands, tenements, rents, and possessions within the wapentakes of Staincliffe and Friendless, in Craven, in the county of York, belonging to the foundation of the said Abbey, at the distance of forty miles, and two dangerous arms of the sea of twelve miles in breadth intervene, and in which frequently many persons perish and are drowned ; and that of late several evil-disposed persons, forming to themselves a design to destroy the said Abbey, to the prejudice of Divine Service, have invented and do invent in the said wapentakes, against the said Abbey, several trespasses, debts, and other contracts, very injurious to the said Abbey; so that the said Abbot cannot appear at the said wapentakes without danger to his person; and for his non-appearance, the Steward, his bailiffs and ministers, amerce the said Abbot with grievous fines, which they increase daily; and levy by distress on his tenants, to the great prejudice of the said house and Divine Service; unless the same be remedied in the present Parliament; and pray that our Lord the King may grant, by authority of Parliament, that the said Abbot and his successors may, by their Attorneys appointed under the seal of the Abbot for the time being, be allowed to put in their answers, or prosecute in the courts of the said wapentakes; and that the Attorneys, or any one of them, when all cannot be present, may be received in the said courts for the said Abbey and causes; and that neither the said Abbot nor his successors may be amerced in the said courts, otherwise than other seculars, on any plea whatever, for God’s sake and in honour of charity.” Reply:— “The King, at the request of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and at the request of the Commons, in the present Parliament, hath granted this Petition at the instance of the said Abbot, and adjudgeth the same to be exemplified. “Witness: The King, at Westminster, the first day of February, in the 13th. year of his reign.” In the Rolls of Parliament, 1423, there is a petition from the merchants of Calais, complaining that Robert, Abbot of Furness, has been guilty of smuggling wool out of the kingdom, without payment of the custom or subsidy, and stating that a ship of two hundred tons burden had in June last come from Peele de Foddray to Conemuthe, in Zeland, laden with wool that had thus evaded the payment of the customary duties; from which it is evident that even holy abbots, pious and honest as they are presumed to have been, could not resist the temptation of running a cargo and defrauding the revenue, when they thought they could do so without being detected. During this, the fifteenth century, occurred the wars of the roses, but they do not appear to have affected Furness, although in the adjoining county of Yorkshire the two memorable battles of Wakefield and Towton were fought. But the abbey did not escape the suspicion of being implicated negatively if not positively in an insurrection arising out of that war, the rising in favour of the imposter Lambert Simnel. King Henry VII. had confined Edward, Earl of Warwick, son of the Duke of Clarence, and only male descendant remaining of Richard, Duke of York, who fell at Wakefield, and who, after the daughters of Edward IV., was heir to the crown of England, the Earl of Richmond having no legitimate claim whatever, excepting those of the sword and the will of the people. Henry had scarcely been seated on the throne twelve months, when there appeared at Dublin, Simon, a priest of Oxford, who was accompanied by a boy who he asserted was the young Earl of Warwick who had escaped from the Tower. The people of Ireland were attached to the House ot York, and with the Earl of Kildare at their head, accepted the assertion as a fact, proclaimed him in Dublin as King Edward VI., and crowned him in Dublin Cathedral, with a crown taken from a statue of the Virgin Mary. Having received the homage of his people, the “king,” with Kildare and a not numerous following, crossed the channel for the invasion of England. “They came on shoare,” says Speed, “in Lancashire, at a place called the Pile of Fowdray, where they joyne with their assured confedrate Sir Thomas Broughton and his sequel, and after some refreshments in these parts march with erected courages against King Henry.” Laurentius was abbot at that time, and the castle was well fortified and garrisoned, to say nothing of the body of men at arms maintained inland by the abbey, and it is quite evident that the landing might have been prevented; but instead of any opposition, the invaders were allowed to land without molestation under the very walls of the castle, and were permitted to remain there or on the mainland, enlisting recruits, for some days, and where EUENESS ABBEY. 207 they were joined by the Earl of Lincoln and several Lancashire magnates, who together marched across Yorkshire in the direction of Nottinghamshire, with an army of eight thousand men. They were met by the king’s army at Stoke, near Newark, and defeated, Lincoln being amongst the slain, and Simon and Simnel captured, the former dying in prison, whilst the latter was made a scullion in the king’s kitchen. It seems to be tolerably clear that Laurentius and his monks did not view the landing with an unfavourable eye; the Lancashire people generally were in his favour, and took up arms for him, and we may presume that the abbey would entertain similar feelings; at any rate they made no opposition, and were perhaps too wary to implicate themselves by any overt act, which might be construed into rebellion; J-OOK INC J'JORTH. so they sat still, allowing the invaders to land, gather forces, and march away, without even a word of protest, but possibly with prayers for their success. It was perhaps with prescient instinctiveness that the monks gave a preference to the Plantagenets over the Tudors; they might have had ominous forebodings of dangers to the conventual system under the latter, which had flourished so vigorously under the former race of kings. From the early part of the sixteenth century clouds began to gather over the monasteries, betokening trouble, but not yet indicating the hurricane a quarter of a century hence, which was to sweep them away entirely from the face of England. Amidst these signs of the times we find the vassals and tenants of the abbatial lords of manors grew bolder and bolder in their encroachments upon and resistance to the manorial rights, which were rigidly insisted on, and held with tenacious grasp by the cowled lords. In 1509, the Abbot of Furness laid a complaint that the tenants on the fells had been making enclosures, “more largelie than they had a righte to doe,” which resulted in a compromise, saving the lord’s rights, but practically leaving matters much as they were, excepting the payment of small yearly sums by the tenants, and the drawing up of a document entitled-— “The Custome of Low Fournes,” to which “the abbot, his monks, and twelve of the saide tenants haith sett their seales.” 208 RUINED ABBEYS. Rumours of danger to the monasteries began now to spread abroad, and the abbot and convent deemed it advisable to make friends at court. They therefore granted an annuity of £\o to Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and another of ^5 to Sir William Fitzwilliam, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and with obsequious compliance to the wish of Wolsey, constituted the Earl of Derby their High Steward. In 1531, William Tunstalle laid information “that the Abbot of Furnace haythe desayved the Kynge’s Grace of the last subsydye, the somme of two hunderythe poundys and ffifty, and was guilty of other illegal exactions and withholdyngs.” A murder was committed in Furness by one Roland Tayllour, at the instigation, it was asserted, of Abbot Bankes. The murderer received the king’s pardon, and the matter dropped; but it was taken up by Thomas Kendall, a London leather seller, who prayed that the abbot might be indicted as the instigator of the deed. Bankes was brought up for examination, and met the charge with explicit denial, but it was thought fortunate that he died (1532) before the matter was decided. Cbf Dissolution* Roger Pyle, the last abbot, found the throne of Furness undermined and tottering on its foundation when he ascended it in 1532. Even before it fell he found it to be no Sybaritic bed of roses. He was required to send periodical reports to Cromwell, in one of which he complains that the monks will not obey him; “one,” he says, “I was constrayned of werey equite to putt hym in presone; howbeit yer are diverse of his frendis that saith they woll have hym out of presone.” In another letter to Cromwell he thanks him for his “loving letter;” states that he was elected by the last convocation at York to receive the second part of the king’s subsidy, granted by Act of Parliament, within the diocese of Richmond. Has many times since sent to Master Seyton, now Farmer of the Church of Aldyngham in Furness, to pay his assessment, which he has heretofore refused, unless the abbot will take much less than he is charged with. He caused him, therefore, to be cited to York, and Seyton has since railed against him, and said he would complain of him to Cromwell and other of his friends. He begs Cromwell, therefore, to command him to pay the subsidy, and to make any complaints in writing, that he, the abbot, may answer them. In another letter he states that the king has demanded from the abbey the presentation of Hawkshead, and solicits “the excusyng offices of my synguler good master,” sending along with it a bribe of ten “Royalles” (gold nobles). In 1535 the visitation of Furness, preparatory to the dissolution, took place, and in the Report the following are the only irregularities reported:—“Incontinentici, Rogerus Pele, abbas, cum duabus solutis; Johannes Groyn, cum soluta; Thomas Hornby, cum quinque feminis; Thom. Settle cum soluta.” In order to make out a case against the abbey, the following frivolous charges were trumped up:— “Robert Legatt, freer, accusyth the Abbot of Furness of falshode at the time of the visitation, in causing his monks to be foresworne. “The Abbot caused the monks of Salley that were appointed to that monastery at the time of the (first) sup¬ pression to repair home again, to rebell against the King, insomuch he discharged oon of them of his chamber, because he would not goe, as other of his felowes did. “The Abbot conceled the treason of Henry Salley, monk, who said, ‘no secular knave should be hed of the church,’ which Abbot also made suit to his brethren to hold with him in al things that shuld be laid to his charge, promysing to be for the same good unto them. “The Vicar of Dalton accuseth the Abbot for not keping of his injunctions. “The Abbot did know of the prophecies (of the Holy Maid of Kent), as John Brompton, monk, deposethe. “The Baylief of Dalton deposethe that th’ Abbot shuld send a Inc to his monks from Lethum, bidding them be of good chere, for he was sure on both sides, both for the King and the Comens. “Christopher Mersh deposeth that th’ Abbot, at his going to Lethum, bed his brethren doo the best they could to the Comens, which words the Abbot in his confession doth flaut deny. “The Prior of Furness, and John Greur, monk, caused ther tents t’ appear befor the captaine of ther domens FURNESS ABBEY. 209 on Alhsloen even, and the saide John Greur said the King shuld make no mo’ Abs ther, but thei wuld chuse them themselves. “John Herington and John Broughton, monks, have published a prophesie that the decorate rese shuld be slain in his mother’s belye. “One Xtofer Rodde saith, that oon of the monks said in the time of th’ insurrection, that the King was not right heer to the crowne, for his father cam in by no true lyne, but by the sword. “John Broughton, the monk, said the Bishop of Rome was unjustly put down, and shull be restored again in thre yeres. “Henry Salley, monk, said that no secular knave shuld be hed of the church.” £edi L .a. The year 1535 saw the fall of the lesser monastic houses—those with incomes of less than £200 per annum, The monks and nuns were driven out; some to find refuge in the larger houses still standing, others with small pensions, and a vast number to join the ranks of labourers and beggars. The gates were shut where unstinted alms had been dispensed to the poor, some of whom lived entirely on what they obtained in wandering about from abbey to abbey, and now they were compelled either to work or steal, many preferring the latter mode of getting a livelihood to the former. Great discontent prevailed throughout the land, not only amongst the dislodged monks and the beggars, but amongst the rich and the noble, who disapproved of Henry’s wholesale destruction of the religious houses which their ancestors had founded and endowed, and within whose walls so many of their progenitors lay. In the following year the discontent blazed up into insurrection in Lincolnshire, sixty thousand men 2 E 2 JO RUINED ABBEYS. ranging themselves under Friar Makarel, who assumed the name of Captain Cobbler, and Nicholas Melton, of Louth, but was suppressed, and the leaders executed. It assumed, however, a much more formidable shape in East Yorkshire, under the captainship of Aske, of Aughton, near Howden. The insurgents, who called themselves “The Pilgrims of Grace,” raised their banner painted with the five wounds of Christ, and proclaimed their objects to be: i. The restoration of the religious houses; 2. Remission of the recently made subsidy; 3. Exemption of the clergy from the payment of first-fruits and tenths to the crown; 4. The removal of villein blood from the Privy Council; and 5. The deposition and punishment of Bishops Cranmer, Latimer, Hilsey, Brown, and Longlands. They gained possession of the important towns of York, Hull, Beverley, Pontefract, and Scarborough, but not of Scarborough Castle. They were abetted and aided by Edward, Archbishop of York, Lord D’Arcy, and many other noblemen and gentlemen of Yorkshire, and marched southward; but when they came to Doncaster, they were unable to pass, on account of the swollen state of the river, whilst on the other side lay the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Shrewsbury, with an army sent by the king to suppress the rebellion. Thus passed several days, with repeated parleys, and in the end Aske’s followers, under promise of pardons and a redress of grievances, melted away. The next year, the king not having kept his promises, a second rising was organized at Settrington, on the Yorkshire Wolds, but it was a madly-conceived and unskilfully-conducted scheme, and was soon put down, and the leaders hung in various towns and cities. Amongst the adherents of the Pilgrims of Grace were the heads of most of the great northern monasteries, either as silent approvers or active participators. The Abbots of Foun¬ tains and Rievaulx, the Prior of Bridlington, a monk of Jervaulx, and the Abbot of Whalley (a near neighbour of Furness), were all hung for the part they took in the rebellion. The Abbot of Furness was also implicated to some extent, and was sent with two of his monks to Lancaster Castle by the Earl of Sussex, but escaped the halter. He was cited to Whalley Abbey, perhaps taken thither from prison to undergo a second examination, after Paslew, the Abbot of Whalley, had suffered, where he underwent a rigorous interrogation, was bullied, cajoled, and threatened, with the usual result—a promise of a formal surrender of the abbey into the king’s hands—and a few days afterwards was compelled to execute the following humiliating Deed of Surrender:— “To all Christian people, to whom these presents shall come, I, Roger, by Divine Providence, Abbot of the Monastery of St. Mary of Furness, in the county of Lancaster, and the Convent of the said Monastery send greeting: “Know ye, that we, the said Abbot and Convent, by our unanimous and full assent and consent, divers special considerations moving us interiorly therein, as also for the use and defence of this kingdom, and for the good and safe government of these extreme parts of the said kingdom, have freely given, granted, and surrendered up into the hands of the lord the King that now is, Henry VIII., by the Grace of God, King of England, &c., our Monastery of Furness, aforesaid; as also the site and foundation of the same; and all goods and chattels, jewels and church ornaments, belonging to the said Monastery; and all dues, actions, and other things whatsoever appertaining, belonging, or due to us or any of us, or to the said Monastery; and also all manner of demesnes, castles, manors, lands, tenements, advowsons of churches and chantries; knights’ fees, rents, reversions, liberties, and services, with all and all manner of our inheritances in Yorkshire, Lancashire, or elsewhere within the kingdom of England, in Ireland, or the Isle of Man; to have and to hold all and singular the said Monastery’s demesnes, castles, &c., and all other our hereditaments and premises whatsoever, to our said lord the King, and his heirs, Kings of England for ever, in augmentation and increase of the honour of his Royal Majesty, and of his heirs, &c., and for the use and defence of this kingdom, against its enemies and rebels. And moreover we will and desire and unanimously give full consent and grant by these presents, that this our present act, may be enrolled as well in the Court of Chancery of the Duchy of Lancaster, of our said lord the King, and in his own Court held before his Justices in the county of Lancaster, as in the Court of Chancery of the said lord the King, held at Westminster, in the county of Middlesex, before the said lord the King, and before his Justices there. “In witness whereof we have, of our unanimous and full assent and consent to these presents, affixed our common seal. Given in our Chapter House of the said Monastery, the ninth of April, in the twenty-eighth year of our said lord the King, and in the year of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ one thousand five hundred and thirty-seven. “By me, Roger, Abbot of Furness. By me, Briand Garner, Prior. Here follow the signatures of twenty-eight monks. “Sealed and delivered in presence of us, the day and year above specified.—Robert Sussex, Anthony I-itzherbert, Thomas Boteler, Thomas Langton, Rye. Hoghton, John Byron, John Claydon (Priest), Marmaduke Tunstall. FURNESS ABBEY. 2 I I The estimated annual value of the revenues of the abbey amounted to £805 16s. yJ. gross, or £y66 7 s. to d. net, which was exclusive of the woods, pastures, meadows, and fisheries cultivated by the convent, and the mills, mines, and salt-works belonging to and worked by the abbey. The abbot and monks were granted pensions out of the estates, of which £y$ were payable sixteen years afterwards. There were in the house at the dissolution thirty-three monks and one hundred and forty converts and servants. Abbot Pyle was also presented to the Rectory of Dalton, value ^33 6s. gd. per annum, but it appears that he was not allowed to enjoy even this small pittance without attempts at extortion, to be averted by bribery, as is shown in a letter he addressed to Cromwell.— “Advertysing you,” he writes, ‘‘that I have receyved your honourable letter, dated the 31st. day of December, last past, to me addressed, for one lease of the parsonage of Dalton, to be made unto John Bothe, servant to the Kyng’s ITighnes, wherin I most humbly besech your good Lordshipe to be my good Lorde, and to have me excused, and to consider that I have nothing ellse for my hoole lyvinge; and I have sent unto your Lordshipe for a small token forty shillings in golde; and that it may please your goodness that I may have your favourable, letters to be in quiet and peas with my saul benefice without further suite for the same to be made, I shall send unto your Lordshipe, at Easter, of such profites as shall grow due to me then, for a small rewarde, after my power four pounds, as knoweth Almighty Jhesu, who ever have your good Lordshipe in his blessed tuycione.” No sooner were the monks cleared out than the commissioners at once dismantled the abbey, sold all the chattels, living and dead, both at home and at the granges, cattle, timber, lead from the roofs, bells, and indeed everything that could be carried away, and then left the abbey buildings and church to plunder and destruction, human and elemental. It is recorded that a Cumberland knight, Sir Thomas Curwen, having pleased King Henry by his feats in archery, the king said to him: “Curwen, why doth thee beg none of these Abbeys? I would gratifie thee some way.” Quoth the other: “Thank yow,” and after¬ wards said “he would desire of him th’ abbei of Ffurneis (nye unto him) for 20ty one years.” Says the king, “Take it for ever.” Quoth the other: “It’s long enough, for youle set them up again in that time.” So he had a grant of the abbey for twenty-one years, and at the expiration of the period, as the abbeys had not been “set up again,” he sent a Mr. Preston, who had married his daughter, to get a renewal of the lease, who craftily had the lease made out in his own name instead of that of his father-in-law. The Prestons were an ancient knightly family seated at Preston Richard and Preston Patrick, in Westmoreland, from time immemorial, the former of which passed from the Preston family by the marriage of a coheiress of Sir Richard de Preston, whilst Preston Patrick passed to his brother Sir John. Sir Thomas, his great grandson, who died in 1523, purchased estates in Furness of the value of £3,000 per annum. He married Ann, daughter of William Thornhaugh, fifteenth in descent from William the .Conqueror, and had, with other issue, the above-mentioned John Preston, of Preston Patrick, of Under Levins Hall, and Furness Abbey, which he obtained as stated above, having married (his first wife) Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Curwen, of Workington, Cumberland. He built a manor-house upon the site of the abbot’s house, the abbey supplying the materials, and there took up his residence. He was Sheriff of Lancashire in 1569, and died leaving three sons and one daughter. His great grandson, John, an adherent to King Charles in the Civil War, was by that monarch created, 1644, a Baronet, by the style and title of Sir John Preston, of the Manor of Furness, and died a few years after in consequence of a wound he received in battle. His second son, Sir Thomas, succeeded his brother, who died cocl., as third baronet. He was a Catholic priest, but obtained a dispensation to allow him to marry, which he did, and had issue a son, who died young, and two daughters. In 1673, on the death of his wife, he settled his West¬ moreland and Northamptonshire estates upon his daughter, and the manor and abbey of 2 12 RUINED ABBEYS. Furness upon the Jesuits, and retired to a monastery in Flanders, where he died circa 1710, and the baronetcy became extinct. The legality of the grant to the Jesuits being disputed, a lawsuit ensued, when the grant was pronounced to be illegal, and it was adjudged that the estate became forfeited to the crown. It was then granted on a long lease to the Prestons of Holker, another branch of the family, who had been instrumental in proving the illegality of the transfer. Catherine, daughter and heiress of Thomas Preston, of Holker, married Sir William Lowther, created a Baronet 1697, and died 1704, to whom succeeded his son, Sir Thomas, who married the Lady Elizabeth, daughter of William Cavendish, second Duke of Devonshire, and died in 1745. The lease of Furness Abbey having expired, and fallen in to the crown, King George I. made a grant of it to Sir Thomas. He was followed by his son, Sir William, third baronet, who dying ccel. the baronetcy became extinct. He bequeathed the abbey and his estates in Furness and Cartmel to his cousin Lord George Augustus Cavendish, from whom they passed to his brother Lord Frederick, and from him to his nephev, Lord George Augustus Henry Cavendish, who was created Earl of Burlington. The liberty and lordship remained in the hands of the crown until the Restoration, and were then (in 1662) granted by Charles II., to Monk, Duke of Albermarle, for his services in the restoration of monarchy, carrying with them all the rights, privileges, and jurisdiction of the monastic Lords. George Monk had an only son Christopher, second Duke, who married the Lady Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, and died issueless, when the dukedom became extinct. His widow married secondly, Ralph Montagu, Duke of Montagu, as his second wife, but had no issue, but the lordship seems to have devolved, through her, upon her stepson, John Montagu, second Duke, who died without male issue, when the title became extinct; but he left two daughters, coheiresses, the younger of whom, the Lady Mary, married George Brudenell, fourth Earl of Cardigan, who was created Duke of Montagu, but dying without surviving male issue, the dukedom again became extinct. His only surviving daughter and heiress, Elizabeth, in 1769 married Henry Scott, third Duke of Buccleuch, in whose family the lordship is still vested. The seal pendant from the deed of surrender in the British Museum, is slightly oval in shape, with a figure of the Virgin Mary and the infant Saviour in her arms, beneath a canopy of three compartments, the centre with a background of stars, and the other of sprigs of the deadly nightshade, holding in suspension two shields, each charged with three lions passant gardant. The head of the Virgin is surrounded by an aureole, and she holds in her hand a globe, typical of her queenship of the world. Below, and supporting the shields, are two monks, and before each sprigs of nightshade, and underneath a wyvern, which latter device is supposed to have been assumed in honour of Thomas Plantagenet, second Earl of Lancaster. Around the rim runs the legend— “sigillum . commune . domus . beate . marie . de . furnesio.” Ok Rums of tfjr 3I)bn>. Edward, now Sir Edward, Baines, of Leeds, in his Companion io the Lakes , thus describes the ruins as he saw them in 1S29. “I turned from the high road into a lane shaded by oaks, running down a narrow valley or glen, called the Glen of the Deadly Nightshade, and at the bottom of the glen, under the solemn shade of majestic forest trees, I came upon the ruins of the famous Abbey of Furness. I beheld it standing with a grassy area in front, and enclosed on each side by noble groves of plane-trees, ash and elm. Though much shattered, and having lost the central tower, it is still magnificent and extensive. Lofty walls and arches, clustered columns, and longdrawn aisles remain; and the fine symmetry and noble proportions of the arches, contrast most picturesquely with the rifts and fissures of the pile. The former extent of the building may, in some degree, be judged of when I state that what remains measures five hundred feet from north to south, and three hundred FURNESS A EE BY. 2 1 o feet from east to west. The abbey lies in a nook, apparently so secluded, that it might be deemed the utmost corner of the earth; but you have only to ascend the hills on either side, and you look ahead on the wide world embracing all the extent of sea and land visible from the shore, and of the Bay of Morecambe. The college and school-house are the most complete apartments remaining; the former has an arched roof still quite perfect, its tall, narrow windows have no arch, but terminate upward in the shape of a pediment. The school-house is equally perfect, but is smaller and less ornamental. In the wall at the right of the window, in the chancel, are four stalls, .with a fretted canopy, where the priests sat at intervals during the service of mass, and both its rows of pillars are gone; their bases, which remain, shew that the pillars were alternately round and clustered. Four statues of admirable workmanship. pUEST flOUSE pHAPEI., two of marble and two of stone, are shewn to the visitor; one is in chain armour; two others are also in armour, and the fourth is a lady; they are in the recumbent posture, and have lain upon sepulchral monuments. Near the central tower are three chapels, with pavements of ornamental brick-work, and traces of altars. At the western end of the church is a winding staircase, still perfect, ascending to the top of the buildings, from whence you have an interesting view of the ruin. The head of Stephen, the founder of the abbey, and that of Maud, his queen, both crowned, are seen on the outside of the eastern window.” At the time when Baines was penning these lines, there was a mighty work in course of construction in another part of Lancashire, which was destined, in its results, entirely to destroy that remote and happy seclusion which he describes as a special characteristic of the abbey. That work was the bridging over of Chat Moss, by George Stephenson, to unite Liverpool and Manchester by means of a railroad. Payne, in his history of the abbey, writes, “What William Wordsworth groundlessly feared for the Lake District, happened a few years ago in all its horror to Furness Abbey. A railway was made to violate the slumberous repose of the Valley of Nightshade, and that with every circumstance of Gothic ferocity to enhance the crime; its sleepers were laid down within a few feet of the spot where the mailed Barons of Kendal had hoped to find an undisturbed resting-place; its engines were made to RUINED ADEEVS. 2 14 whirl by in sight of the high altar, and its whistle to shriek where echo for many centuries had only returned the triumphant notes of the Jubilate, or the solemn requiem for the dead; while the beacon, which had been wont to flash its signal-fire"all over the lordship from the Langdale to the sea, was ruthlessly cut through; and the very abbot’s house itself transformed in an hotel upon a railway.” This is very true, but the exigences of commerce necessitated a railway, for the purpose of connecting the great iron-smelting town of Barrow, which has sprung up in modern times with such marvellous rapidity, with the outer world, and it became indispensable that senti¬ mentality should give way to the requirements of industrial progress. It must be admitted, too, that the railway company, in the erection of the “Furness Abbey Station,” and the adjoining hotel, have displayed great good taste in making them correspond architecturally with the ruins. They are rich in oak carvings and sculptured decorations. In the sitting- room of the hotel there are two sculptured bas-reliefs from the abbey, representing Mary wiping the feet of our Saviour, and the woman with the issue of blood touching his garment; and John the Baptist and John the Beloved Disciple, with Latin inscriptions; and in the coffee-room there is a very rude and antique sculpture in red freestone, delineating the making of Eve out of one of the ribs of Adam. The ruins are of vast extent, in one place covering the entire breadth of the abbey, and yielding only to Fountains of the English Cistercian houses. They are luxuriantly covered with ivy, “which clings everywhere to the mouldering walls, above the chapter house, along the broken height of the refectory, and in and out the vacant windows of the church and dormitory. From the crannies of the chancel walls, and from niches that were once tenanted, perhaps, by effigies of saints and kings, droops the feathery fern; upon the stony tombs of knights and abbots spread the moss and lichen; while round about the ruined bases grows the herb of evil omen from which the valley takes its name. Nature has set her carpet over all, of green grass, and only in one or two spots, alas! in the whole building is found any roof but hers; while in the blue sky or the grey, in sunshine or in mist, a colony of chattering rooks are ever wheeling above the ruined choir.” What was the plan and style of the first buildings erected in the third decade of the twelfth century we know not, as they have entirely disappeared; but they would be Norman in style, or what it is now becoming the fashion to call Romanesque, as that style prevailed from 1066 to 1145, when it gave way to the Transitional. The plan, arrangement of buildings, and architectural details would follow those of the Benedictines, who made great use of sculptured figures and grotesque heads, whilst the Cistercians were much more simple, depending upon the curvature of their lines, the symmetry of their proportions, and the elegance of their mouldings for a tout ensemble of beauty and grace, rejecting almost altogether, in their early days, sculptured ornaments. In the former the tower was lofty and majestic; in the latter low and stunted, generally consisting of one story above the roof of the church. The existing buildings were commenced under the abbacy of John de Cauncefield (1152—H 75 )> and are an almost perfect example of the Transitional style which prevailed from 1145 to 1190, but they exhibit also specimens of the Early English, the Geometrical, and the Rectilinear, in additions made afterwards. Although the roof, and the greater portion of the arches, walls, and piers have been destroyed, yet such fragments as remain are sufficient to indicate what they were, and we are enabled, by analogy, to restore the entire design with the exception of the eastern and western fronts; the western tower having obliterated the latter, and the prolongation of the choir the former. The style altogether was simple and plain, but dignified, not florid or decorated. The masonry was exceedingly good; the superstructure of the western tower, which fell, being of such strongly-cemented materials that it was necessary to use gunpowder to reduce it to fragments for the purpose of removal. The boundary wall of the abbey precincts enclosed an area of sixty-five acres, with the FURNESS ABBEY. 2>5 church as its centre, around which were grouped the residential, administrative, elemosynary, reception, and other customary buildings of a large monastic establishment; whilst on the margin stood the guest house; beyond the stream, the infirmary; and in the more remote portions, the mills, kilns, ovens, and fishponds, the latter being still traceable on the south, although filled up with rubbish. The arrangement of the building was in accordance with rules laid down for the Cistercian Order. South of the nave of the church was the cloister court; running southward from the transept was the great block of buildings constituting the chapter house, refectory, etc., and still further south the guest house, or, as it is sometimes called, the college and school. The kitchens lie eastward of the refectory, stretching to the brook for the purpose of water supply, and a means of disposing of kitchen refuse; whilst beyond, on the other side of the brook, but quite apart from it, was the infirmary. There are indications of buildings like an extension of the west wing of the cloisters as far as the boundary, and to the west of this the novitiate. The abbot’s house appears to have been on the north-west, it is conjectured on the spot now occupied by the railway hotel, and near it is what is called the abbot’s chapel. On the north was the principal entrance and porter’s lodge, and besides this there were other gateways leading to the sea, the beacon, etc. The cemetery also lay north of the church. The church was built in the usual Cistercian style of a Latin cross, with a central tower of one story. The main portions are purely Transitional of the twelfth century, but there are other parts of after styles, chiefly Rectilinear, added early in the sixteenth century, when it appears that the east end and parts of the transepts were rebuilt, the former extended, and the north and south ends of the transept ornamented with elaborately decorated windows; a belfry was also built at the west end, apparently to ease the central tower of the weight of the bells. The central tower was supported on four magnificent arches, resting on three clustered and one plain pillar, one of which is still (1835) standing. The western tower was a massive structure, with walls eleven feet in thickness, and supported by six-staged buttresses eight feet broad. It had a rectilinear window thirty-three feet in height, of which only the opening remains, and handsome and lofty side windows. The extreme length of the church was three hundred and four feet; that of the choir sixty feet by twenty-eight in width; the transepts one hundred and thirty feet in length by twenty-eight in width; the nave and side aisles seventy-eight feet wide, and the walls fifty-four feet in height. The nave has two side aisles of eight bays, with formerly a ninth which was absorbed in the belfry. The pillars of the nave are alternately circular and eight-clustered, those of the transept are all clustered. The four tower arches, the pier arches of the nave and transept, the vaulting of the side aisles of the nave and of the transeptal chapels are all pointed; whilst the triforium arches are rounded, as are also the clerestory windows above. The two western pillars of the towers are supported by more recently built buttresses, for the purpose of strengthening them. The south wall of the nave alone is standing, with a doorway into the quadrangle. In the northern aisle is a platform, presumably the floor of a chapel, and at the west end the remains of a spiral stair leading to the belfry. The bases of the pillars remain, but nothing more. The north wall was four feet in thickness, with nine round-headed windows, with intervening external buttresses. The aisles were groined with stone, but the roof of the nave itself was of timber. A diagonal moulding in the transept shows the slope of the roof of the aisles, which were twenty-six feet in height from the bottom to the top of the vaulting. The chancel walls were five feet thick and sixty feet high. It was lighted by a great eastern window of seven lights, forty-seven feet in height by twenty-three feet and a half in breadth, and filled with painted glass, representing the Crucifixion, with the Virgin on one side and the Beloved Disciple on the other, and filled up with other scriptural subjects and the coats of arms of benefactors. The greater portion of the glass is now in one of the RUINED ABBEYS. 2 16 windows of Bovvness Church. Outside the window, under an arched festoon, are the crowned heads of King Stephen and Queen Maud, and some grotesque corbels. In front stood the high altar, with a circumambulatory of six feet in breadth. In the south wall were four sedilia, richly canopied, delicately groined, and profusely ornamented with crockets and finials, for the priests’ use during the celebration of mass, with another larger niche which held the piscina, and two smaller ones to hold napkins for use after ablution. The floor was decorated with encaustic tiles, and the altar stood on a platform raised from the floor, twelve feet and a half in length by four feet in breadth. Midway in the transept was the choir, with screens north and south, whose bases may still be seen. At each end were five windows, the northern thirty feet by seventeen and a half, and beneath it the principal entrance to the church, but not placed centrally, which gives the front a deformed aspect. The window, as well as that at the south end, is in the perpendicular style, but the entrance is semicircular-headed, and once had a porch, fragments of which are left. It is lighted by six other windows, two pairs one above the other in the western wall, and one pair in the eastern clerestory. Near the pulpit at the intersection are some finely sculptured panels, which, when found, were gilded. There were five chapels on the eastern side, three in the south, and two in the north, entered under pointed arches, of which little more than the foundations remain; they were raised two steps from the transept, and had each an altar and piscina. Those in the northern belonged to the Barons of Kendal, and had richly ornamented doorways. That adjoining the chancel in the south, which is fifty feet by sixteen feet six inches, was converted into the sacristy and vestiarium. At the southern end are steps leading to the dormitories and the scriptorium, and in the north-west corner a staircase communicating with the tower and the triforium. There was also another door on the east side of the south transept, which led to the orchard lying between it and the brook, but now without trees. The font is now in Dalton Church. The sepulchral remains of Furness are numerous and interesting. It was the burial- place of the De Lancasters, Barons of Kendal, the Le Flemings, the Lords of Aldingham, and other notable Furness families, who reposed in the church, in the privileged cemetery eastward of the church, and in the general cemetery to the north, whilst several of the monkish fraternity sleep in the cloister quadrangle. In the middle space of the church over the Kendal vault is an effigy of a cross-legged knight, supposed to be that of the crusader, the third William de Lancaster, eighth Baron of Kendal, who died in 1246. There are two others in quilted armour, with triangular shields and barred helmets; one supposed to be that of Reginald, King of Man, slain in battle in 1228, another of a lady in fourteenth century costume; a mutilated figure of a deacon, in surplice; two weather-worn figures of knights in thirteenth century armour; one of Richard, Bishop of Sodor and Man; and many ridged slabs with variously shaped crosses, some of which have inscriptions more or less obliterated, among which are “Domina Xtina secunda; Adam de Griholm; Rogerus de Hoylandia; . jacet Godith; Hie jacet Ana...t Flandren . ; .nus Robertus de .s Furnessi quint; Hie jacet Wile’us Graindeorge;” etc. In the northern cemetery have been found gravestones and fragments in abundance, and some twenty stone coffins. The cloister court, south of the church nave, was quadrangular in form, the cloisters forming an arcade of pillared arches running entirely round it. On the east side were three fine Norman archways, the central one opening into the chapter house, and the others forming vaulted recesses. It was used as a graveyard for the monks, with all the slabs laid flat, so that the monks might not be impeded in walking over the remains of their predecessors, and meditating on the future when they themselves should lie there. It is in a state of complete ruin. The chapter house, an oblong of sixty feet by forty-five feet six inches, was the only building in the abbey marked by any great elegance of Gothic architecture. It had a vaulted FURNESS ABBEY. 217 roof of twelve ribbed arches supported by six pillars in two rows, with clustered shafts. It is transitional in style, with the walls wrought into compartments, and pierced by lancet windows, three on the east, two on the south, and one on the north. The entrance vestibule from the cloister court is still standing, with a round-headed archway beautified with a deep cornice, and a portico on each side. The roof fell in about the middle of the last century', but the debris on the floor shews the beautiful lines of which it was composed. Adjoining the chapter house is the penitential cell, to which the refractory brethren were sent after examination before the chapter. The refectory was a noble apartment, two hundred feet long, and thirty-one feet broad, with a vaulted roof, supported by a central row of ten octagonal pillars. At the north end is a low wall separating a small portion of the room, supposed to have been a dais which the abbot occupied when he dined with the monks. Eastward it communicated with the kitchen, buttery, larders, etc. On the walls was inscribed the usual quotation from St. Bernard, “Bonum est nos sic esse, etc.” Over the refectory was the principal dormitory, with a timber roof and lancet windows, but altogether destitute of ornament. Another dormitory was over the cloisters, and one for secular servants over the kitchen. The entrance to the monks’ dormitories was by steps from the south-western corner of the quadrangle. The library and scriptorium were over the chapter house and vestibule, entered by steps from the church transept. They formed a long, low room, with broad lancet windows, and without adornment. In the extreme south was a fine building, consisting of a magnificent hall, one hundred and thirty-nine feet by fifty, and forty feet high, which has now disappeared, and a chapel, forty-three feet by twenty-five, with a vestibule entrance, and a circular staircase, lighted by semicircular openings, with sculptured sills, leading to a series of upper rooms, which seem to have been sleeping chambers. The chapel and vestibule remain—the only portion of the ruins with an entire roof. The former is lighted by an eastern window with depressed arch, a transitional step to the Tudoresque, and three others of remarkable design with acute angle heads, met with nowhere else excepting in Hereford Cathedral. The vaulting springs from slender shafts, and has slabs of slate stone between the ribs. Round the wall a stone seat runs, fourteen inches broad. This building has generally been denominated the guest house, which it most probably was, but some recent excavations, on the extreme west of the enclosure, have laid bare the foundations of a building with a row of columns down the centre, which has led some antiquaries to suppose that this was the guest-hall, and that the former building was the collegiate school of the abbey. The infirmary and chapel, of the geometrical period, lie eastward of the brook, and are in a tolerable state of preservation. North of the church is a chapel of the early Geometrical style, with an eastern opening, where was a large window and two side windows of lancets and foliated circles. It is usually called the abbot’s chapel, but more probably was the chapel for wayfarers. Southward and westward are heaps of undistinguishable ruins, which doubtless are those of the fratry, the novitiate, the locutorium, and other invariable appendages of a Cistercian abbey. Professor Wilson (“Christopher North,” of Blackwood's Magazine,) resided for some time on the shore of Windermere, and was reckoned at one time as one of the group of Lake poets, was a frequent wanderer amongst the Fells of Furness and in the precincts of the abbey, delighting in the picturesque scenery of the district and in the associations of the past history of the peninsula, which inspired him with a theme for one of his beautiful poems. In it he depicted the affecting story of May, “The Flower of Furness,” and of Le Fleming, the Crusading Knight, who fell in the war of the Roses, fighting on the Lancastrian side, the scene of which is partly laid in the abbey and its neighbourhood, and whose sister, the RUINED ABBEYS. Lady Blanche, caused his effigy to be sculptured and placed over his tomb in the choir of the abbey church. “O, sight forlorn and yet so fair In ruin, that transfixed there, I gazed, until I seemed to stand Upon a strange unearthly land, Between the dying and the dead! So many centuries o’er my head Their solemn shade in silence spread, So ample was the drear around, The desolation was profound.” A. West Entrance. B. The Water Tower. C. Nave. D. Chancel. E. North and South Tra: F. Chapter House. G. Porter’s Lodge. H. Refectory, etc. I. Western Wing. J. Novitiate. K. Kitchens. L. Infirmary. M. Brook. N. Mill. O. Oven. P. Guest House Chapel. Q. Guest House. R. Cloister Court. ABBE mi Jlfdl €l)t Memhictint dbbry of SffilOtttip, Cl>f Columban Slbtirp of ^titonrsbalf). HE history of the original abbey of Whitby, or Streoneshalh, is so intimately interwoven with that of the establishment of Christianity in that portion of England lying north of the Humber, that it will be necessary, for the full understanding thereof, to give a preliminary sketch of that event. Eadwin was the son of Ai 11 a, the founder of the Saxon kingdom of Deira, or South Northumbria, the contemporary of Ida, founder of that of Bernicia, or North Northumbria. He was but three years of age at his father’s death, when Ethelfrid, King of Bernicia, his brother-in-law, usurped the throne of Deira, and became sole King of Northumbria. He sought also to destroy the young prince, who was secretly carried away by his friends, and was a wandering fugitive for many years. At length he excited the compassion of Redwald, King of the East Angles, who overthrew and slew Ethelfrid in battle, and placed Eadwin on the united throne of Northumbria, where he proved himself to be an able and vigorous monarch, and eventually became Bretwalda of the Heptarchy. He married HIthelburga, a Christian princess, daughter 220 RUINED ABBEYS. of /Ethelbert, King of Kent. There was some reluctance on the part of the Kentish court to ally the princess with a pagan king; but “hee was so farre ouergone and ravished with the virgin’s beauty, that hee condescended shee should, with her place, retaine her owne Christian profession.” She brought along with her to the north Paulinus, a Romish missionary priest, who married her to Eadwin, the Pope sending her as a marriage present a silver mirror and a gilt ivory comb, the latter of which was found in 1872 in a field near Whitby, having probably come into the possession of the Abbess Hilda. Eadwin had many conversations with Paulinus and his queen, and at length said:—“It your God will grant me a victory over Cuichhelm of Wessex, whose realm I am about to invade, I will take the matter into serious consideration.” He was victorious, and immediately after his return summoned a Witanagemot at York, or more probably at Londesborough, over which he presided. Not far distant, at Goodmandingham, was a magnificent temple of Odin, with a gigantic statue of the god, of which Coiffi was high priest. This Coiffi was the chief speaker at the assembly. “I have long been of opinion, O king! said he, “that our gods are worthless, and I now perceive that He of whom Paulinus tells us is the only true God, the creator of the world,” etc. The king acquiesced in his remarks, and the nobles, taking their cue from these leaders of thought, gave in their assent; and it was decided that the great temple should be desecrated. “But who will dare to do it?” enquired the king. “I,” replied Coiffi; “I have spent my life hitherto at the altar of that false god, and it is fitting that I should overturn his altar.” A day was fixed for the deposition of Odin, when the king, with Paulinus, Coiffi, and a following of nobles repaired to Goodmandingham, where they found a crowd of trembling peasants gathered together to witness some terrible judgment of Odin on the perpetrators of the sacrilegious act. Coiffi was mounted on a stallion, spear in hand (the priests of Odin being permitted to ride mares only, and not to carry arms under any pretence). The sun was shining brightly, and all nature wore a serene aspect, as Coiffi rode boldly into the temple and hurled his spear at the idol, where it remained quivering in his side, whilst the awe-stricken crowd momentarily expected some terrific vengeance from the insulted god; but the skies did not blacken with thunder-clouds, nor did the earth open to swallow up the perpetrators of the impious deed. The sun shone on as usual, the wooden god made no sign, and the people dispersed, saying amongst themselves, “surely Odin cannot be a god if he is unable to defend himself;” and shortly after thousands of their class submitted to the rite of baptism. This occurred in the year 627, and soon afterwards the king and court, including a little princess named Hilda, whom we shall meet with again, were baptized. Paulinus was constituted Archbishop of York, and a wooden church was extemporised, followed by one of stone, to serve as the cathedral, which was commenced by Eadwin and completed by Oswald. At this time there reigned in the neighbouring kingdom of Mercia, Penda, a bigoted and ferocious pagan, who was exasperated to fury by the desecration of the temple of his god at Goodmandingham, and, jealous perhaps of Eadwin’s supremacy as Bretwalda, made a vow to slay the Northumbrian king, and extirpate the new and false religion. He allied himself with Cadwallon, a Welsh prince, who wished lor vengeance against Eadwin for invading his territories and subduing them to his supremacy, and against the Northumbrians generally for their slaughter of the Bangor monks under /Ethelfrid; and together they invaded Northumbria, met Eadwin at Heath field (Hatfield), near Doncaster, and in the battle which ensued the latter was defeated and slain. Paulinus and the queen and royal family fled to Kent, Christianity was trampled out, and a period of chaos ensued, during which Cadwallon ruled the country with oppressive tyranny. Osric and Eanfrid were, by the Saxons, proclaimed kings, the former of Bernicia, the latter of Deira, both of whom renounced Christianity, but were put to death by Cadwallon. In 635 Oswald, brother to Eanfrid, and nephew to Eadwin, who had been in exile WHITBY ABBEY 22 I among the Scots, and had imbibed the principles of Christianity from the Culdees of Iona, came to Northumbria, raised an army, slew Cadwallon at the battle of Denisbourn, and ascended the Northumbrian throne. He, who was a man of great piety, and sainted after death, found the Northumbrians had apostatized and reverted to paganism; and sent to Iona for missionaries to re-evangelize his kingdom, when Aidan and a body of monks were sent, and the former made Bishop of the newly constituted see of Lindisfarne. This was an im¬ portant event, as leading to the great synod held in the abbey of Streoneshalh. The missionaries from Iona were successful in re-establishing Christianity in Northumbria, but of a different type to that of Paulinus. It was based on the primitive Christianity of the Britons, as received from the hands of wandering apostles, before the now dominant Church of Rome had assumed its supremacy over Christendom. Churches were erected and monasteries established after the fashion of that of Iona, and it seemed as if Christianity had become the national religion. But Penda was still living, and he, hearing of this revival of Christianity across the border, again began to assemble an army to crush it at once and for ever. Oswald, however, was not to be intimidated, and, gathering his forces together, he marched into Mercia, to anticipate the pagans’ invasion. He met the army of Penda at Oswestry (which derives its name from Oswald), or, as some say, in Lancashire, and was defeated and slain, Penda again offering up thanksgivings to Odin for giving him the victory over the foes of his faith. On the death of St. Oswald, his half brother Oswy, an illegitimate son of Hffhelfrid, succeeded to the throne of Northumbria; but Oswin, son of Osric, the apostate King of Deira, disputed his right to the throne on the ground of illegitimacy, and being backed by a numerous body of friends, Oswy agreed to a compromise, he taking Bernicia and Oswin Deira; but seven years after, Oswy caused Oswin to be murdered, and annexed Deira. He proved himself to be an able monarch, regulated the distracted affairs of his kingdom, was a great warrior, extending the boundaries of his kingdom, and a liberal patron of monks and eccle¬ siastics. The hoary old pagan of Mercia, however, could not stand by and witness this frustration of his hopes of extirpating the nascent Christianity of Northumbria, and he prepared a large army, with which he entered Northumbria. Oswy also made preparations to meet him, but with a very inferior force; and perceiving how vastly the chances, in a human point of view, were against him, he appealed to heaven for aid, and made a vow that if God would give him the victory he would erect twelve religious houses, and devote his infant daughter, Hilfleda, to perpetual chastity and the service of God. In 655 the armies met at Winwinfield, near Leeds, where Oswy obtained a decisive victory, and Penda was slain, this battle being the last fought in England between the upholders of the rival faiths. It is said that in per¬ formance of his vow he founded twelve monastic houses and the cathedral of Lichfield, and jointly with Wulfhere, King of Mercia ani son of Penda, established the Abbey of Mede- hampstede (Peterborough); the first of these being the abbey of Streoneshalh. Streoneshalh lay at the outfall of the Esk into the German Ocean, and at this time was a small village, probably a mere clustering of a few fishermen’s huts, which, judging from the name, had sprung up in the Saxon age, and was not known to the Romans, but about three miles north-westward was Dunsley Bay—the Dunum sinus of Ptolemy, whence a Roman road ran across the moor to York. It was flanked on the south by a lofty cliff, which then extended about a mile further into the sea than it does at present, and was backed by extensive moors. The lands about Streoneshalh were a demesne of the crown, and there upon the cliff King Eadwin, about the year 630, built a church for the use of the fishermen in the valley below, which was dedicated to St. Peter, as was the cathedral he had commenced building at York, in which church his body was buried, and his head in the unfinished cathedral. On the extremity of the cliff there had been a watch-tower from the earliest times of the Saxons, to keep a look out for the approach of foes, and at night, perhaps, to serve as a pharos for seamen. RUINED ABBEYS. In the neighbourhood of this church of St. Peter, in 657, he commenced the erection of his monastery of St. Peter, constituted the Princess Hilda first abbess, and made over to her the whole of the demesne of Streoneshalh for the maintenance of the house. The Princess Hilda is popularly called St. Hilda, but however deserving of the title, she was never canonized. She was of the royal race of PElla, the daughter of Hereric (who was seated at Streoneshalh), by his wife, the amiable and virtuous Lady Breguswith; was born in the year 614, and died in 680. Who Hereric was does not clearly appear; sometimes he is said to be the brother, sometimes the nephew, and sometimes the grandson of King Eadwin. That he was the latter is manifestly absurd, as Eadwin was but three years of age on the death of his father in 588, and it is scarcely probable that his grandson would have a daughter born in 614; the probability is that he was a younger brother of Eadwin, or possibly a cousin. He had another daughter, the elder sister of Hilda, who married Ethelric, King of the East Angles. It appears that he was obliged to fly into exile when his wife was pregnant with Hilda, to avoid King Hithelfrid, who sought to destroy the whole race of PElla, but was pursued by the agents of the king, and put to death by poison. Hilda was born in exile, and it is stated by Bede that previous to her birth, her mother had a vision in which she happened to pull aside her garment, and discovered beneath a jewel of such marvellous lustre, that by degrees it diffused its brilliancy over the entire island. “Nor,” adds the narrator, “was this any deception, for she was soon afterwards delivered of a daughter called Hilda, whose life was a light of example, not only to herself, but also to all who desired to live well.” She was converted by the preaching of Paulinus, and baptized by him, and when still a girl she devoted herself to a religious life. What became of her during the troubles of the period between the death of Eadwin and that of Penda at the hands of Oswy we know not, but she appears to have undergone much affliction and persecution, which tended to deepen her faith, and caused her to cling more closely to the Cross of Christ. In 647, at the age of thirty-three, she resolved upon devoting herself more formally to the service of God, and with this view went to East Anglia, where her nephew Hereswid reigned, her intention being to pass over the sea to join her sister Hereswide, the dowager queen, at Chelles, in France, where she had entered a nunnery; but after remaining in East Anglia twelve months without finding an opportunity of crossing, she returned to Northumbria, chiefly at the solicitation of Bishop Aidan, her spiritual instructor and guide. On her return King Oswy made her a grant of land on the north bank of the river Wear, where she built a small house, collected ten nuns as her companions, and had the little Princess /Elfleda committed to her care by her father. When she had been there about a year, Hern, Abbess of Heorthen, resigned, and went to found a new nunnery at Kalcaceaster (Tadcaster), and Hilda was elected to the vacant office at Heorthen (Hartlepool). She set about her work with assiduous zeal, in the way of regulating the discipline, making new and wholesome rules, and enforcing a strict observance of religious duty, in which she was assisted by the counsels of her friend Bishop Aidan; and her fame for piety, charity, purity of life, and vigorous rule, spread abroad over Northumbria. King Oswy lost no time in carrying out his vow. Immediately after his victory he called his council together to consider where the abbey should be situated, and who should be abbess to superintend the spiritual education of the young princess. Their deliberations were not prolonged, for their unanimous decision was that the abbey should be built on the crown lands of Streoneshalh, near the church of St. Peter, built by King Eadwin, and where his sainted relics reposed; and that the one person most specially fitted to take the superintendence was the Lady Hilda, Abbess of Hartlepool, she “being one of the greatest ornaments of North¬ umbria, and famed all over the island of Britain, not only for her extraordinary knowledge and learning, but also for her charity, meekness, and humility.” It was after this expression of opinion that Oswy sent the princess to Hartlepool, to remain there until the abbey should be built. WHITBY ABBEY. 223 The cathedral of York, commenced by Eadwin, and completed by Oswald, had now been finished fifteen years, and was looked upon as a masterpiece of architecture; therefore Oswy resolved to model his abbey church in the same style, and sending for the architect and workmen who had built it, set them to work upon his abbey, who commenced operations in the year 656. What the church was like we know not, but Bede says that the church was square, so that we may presume it was similar to the Roman Basilicas, which were converted into churches, and that Oswy’s church would be of that character. It was built of stone, with wooden roof and unglazed windows, glass not having been introduced until the archbishopric of Wilfrid, who repaired York Cathedral, “put a new roof on, and covered it with lead, and glazed the )Vest £nd. windows to preserve it from injuries of the weather, and prevent the birds from defiling it.” We may form some appproximate idea of it from Prior Richard’s description of the church of Hexham, built about twenty years after Streoneshalh, by Wilfrid, when he held that see. “The walls were of great length and immense height, and divided into three stories, supported by square and various other kinds of well-polished columns. Also the walls, the capitals of the columns which supported them, and the arch of the sanctuary, he decorated with historical representations, imagery, and various figures in relief, carved in stone, and painted with a most agreeable variety of colours. The body of the church he compassed about with pentices and porticoes, which, both above and below, he divided with great and inexpressible art by partition walls and winding stairs. Within the staircases, and above them, he caused flights of steps and galleries of stone, and several passages leading from them, both ascending and descending, so artfully disposed, that multitudes of people might be there, and go quite round the church without being seen by any one below in the nave. Moreover, in the several divisions of the porticoes, or aisles, both above and below, he erected many most beautiful and private oratories of exquisite workmanship.some of which remaining to this day (twelfth century) appear like so many turrets and fortified places.” 224 RUINED ABBEYS. The Lady Hilda was constantly on the spot during the building, as chief director of the works, “and great was her pleasure to see a fabric rising and advancing regularly, in which she was to spend the remainder of her days, where she could enjoy her native soil, live retired from the world, and be instrumental towards the salvation of her ignorant neighbours.” The abbey was a double community of men and women, who lived apart in separate houses, and was under the rule of St. Columba of Iona, one abbess or abbot governing both sexes. It was dedicated to St. Peter, and was afterwards called St. Hilda’s, although never formally dedicated to her. Oswy endowed the abbey with the whole of the crown lands, “containing,” says Bede, “six lordships or manors, consisting each of ten families, having given the other six comprehended in his vow to Hartlepool.” Charlton, in his History of Whitby , says, “I cannot help differing from our venerable author, for, notwithstanding what he might give to Hartlepool, it is certain that Whitby Strand, which was his donation, contains neither less nor more than twelve manors.” In 658 Hilda inherited, through the death of her mother, the lordship of Aislaby, near Streoneshalh, where she had been born, which would come into the possession of the com¬ munity, as none of the members were permitted to hold any personal property, but to make over to the abbey any property that might accrue to them. When the buildings were in a sufficiently forward state to be habitable, Hilda, with Hilfleda and the ten nuns of Hartlepool, took up their residence in them, and were joined by other ladies of rank, “pleased with the company of so pious a mistress, and allured by the prospect of an eternal throne.” When they took possession of their new habitation, “the cliff was greatly infested by serpents, that lurked in the shrogs and bushes about, to the great terror of the abbess and her nuns; upon which she prayed to God that He would cause them to crawl down the cliff and be converted into those stones found on this coast, and called to this day by the country people, for this supposed miracle, St. Hilda’s stones, having the appearance of serpents or snakes rolled up or in their coil, but without heads, called by the naturalists ammonitse.” “And how of thousand snakes, each one Was changed into a coil of stone When holy Hilda prayed ; Themselves, within their holy bound, Their stony folds had often found.” These petrifactions of the cornu ammonis are found in great numbers on the Whitby coast, and it would be difficult to disabuse the natives of the idea that they are the result of St. Hilda’s miracle. Hilda conducted the abbey with such discretion and good judgment that not only ordinary persons, but kings, nobles, and ecclesiastics of all grades sought her counsel and advice. “Thus,” says Bede, “this servant of Christ, whom all that knew her called ‘mother’ for her singular piety and grace, was not only an example of good life to those that lived in her monastery, but afforded occasion of amendment and salvation to many who lived at a distance, to whom the fame was brought of her industry and virtue.” And Fuller,—“I behold her as the most learned female before the Conquest, and may call her the She-Gamaliel, at whose feet many learned men had their education.” Under Hilda the abbey became a great school of learning, where many eminent men received their education, not less than five persons who afterwards attained the mitre having studied at her feet, besides others who achieved distinction as scholars, or became lights of the world as preachers and teachers. The most eminent of these were :•— St. John of Beverley, born at Ilarpham-on-the-Wolds, about the middle of the seventh century; died at Beverley 721. He received his preliminary education at Streoneshalh, under Hilda, pursued his studies further under Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, and completed them at Oxford, where he took the degrees of M.A. and D.D., having been, it is supposed, the first student upon whom the former degree was conferred. In his youth he was WHITBY ABBEY. 225 esteemed for his piety and assiduity in learning, and in his old age was venerated for his devotion to the duties of his office, his amiable character, and his extensive knowledge. He was chosen Bishop of Hagulstad (Hexham) in 688, and whilst there had Bede as one of his pupils. He was translated to York in 705, holding the bishopric until 718, when he retired to a monastery he had founded at Beverley, and there died and was buried three years after¬ wards. He was canonized by Pope Benedict IX. His shrine in the afterwards Collegiate Church became a very popular resort for pilgrims, and was so adorned with gifts, that it became “a very blaze of gold and precious stones.” His life has been written several times; one of which was by Bede, of which Fuller says, “He was tutor to the Venerable Bede, who wrote his life, which he hath so spiced with miracles, that it is of the hottest for a discreet man to digest into his belief.” Bosa. In 678 Wilfrid I. held the Archbishopric of York, or Northumbria, when Archbishop Theodore divided the see, and Wilfrid went to Rome to protest against the division, Bosa being appointed to the see in his absence. Wilfrid remained abroad some time, not returning until 685, when Bosa resigned the see into his hands, but was re-elected on the expulsion of Wilfrid in 698, and held the office until his death in 705. Not much is known of him, but Florence of Worcester refers to him as “multae sanctitatis et humilitatis.” Wilfrid II., Chaplain to Archbishop St. John, whom he succeeded in 718, resigning the see in 732. He was also Dominus of the Monastery of York; furnished the altar of his cathedral with a splendid set of sacred vessels, and was a munificent benefactor to other churches and monasteries. Heada, born in Yorkshire, it is supposed at Headingley, near Leeds, became a monk at and some say Abbot of Glastonbury, and was appointed Bishop of the West Saxons, Bede says in 673, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 676, and died in 705. He removed the seat of the bishopric from Dorchester, County Oxon, to Winchester. He was a holy and virtuous man, had miracles attributed to him, and was a clear-headed statesman, assisting King Ina in framing his code of good and wholesome laws. Oftfor, a supposed native of Yorkshire, who went to Rome to complete his studies. He was elevated to the Bishopric of Worcester in 697, having been for a short period coadjutor to his predecessor Boselus, and died in 692, “having afforded,” Bede says, “a pattern to all who saw or heard him.” The great literary glory of Streoneshalh was its having nurtured the father of Anglo-Saxon poetry, Caedmon, and the only writer of the British Saxon language of the period anterior to the Danish invasion of whom any remains are extant. He was born at or near Whitby, of humble parentage, early in the seventh century, and died circa 680. His occupation was that of cowherd and horse-keeper, sleeping with his charges in the stable, and although living under the shadow of St. Hilda’s school, he had received no education whatever. It was customary then for the labouring classes, when their day’s work was over, and they had finished their supper, to pass the harp round and sing in turn, and Casdmon, out of modest diffidence and supposed incapacity, always retired before the harp reached him. One night, as a monkish legend informs us, he had thus stolen away from his companions, and had fallen asleep upon the hay, when a stranger of celestial mien appeared before him, and asked him to sing. “That I cannot,” said Ctedmon. “Thou canst if thou wilt,” continued his visitor. “If so,” asked the cowboy, “what shall I sing?” “The creation,” was the response. Upon which he felt ideas welling up in his mind, and words where¬ with to clothe them rushing to his lips, and he sang a song of creation, which seemed to give satisfaction to his celestial visitant, who then departed. Curiously enough this vision of the earliest English poet is paralleled by one vouchsafed to Hesiod, the earliest of the Greek poets, who, in his Theogotiy, narrates how he had a vision of the Muses, who in similar style bade him sing “a voice imbreathed Divine that I might utter forth in song.” It would seem that Czedmon was cattle-keeper to the abbey, for in the morning he spake of his vision to his superior, the bailiff, who, struck with its significance, and sagaciously sniffing a miracle, communicated it to the Abbess Hilda, who also perceived in it the hand of God, and sent for the young rustic to question him herself. With timid steps and bashful mien he presented himself before the venerated mother of the monastery and a conclave of monks and nuns, but acquitted himself with so much modesty, and gave so clear an account of the visitation, besides singing what he had received by inspiration, that they were fully persuaded he had received the Divine gift of poesy from heaven, and he was at once admitted into the monastery, where he was educated, and in due course assumed the cowl. Nothing much is known of his after career, excepting that he spent the remainder of his life within the walls of the abbey, in devout and literary pursuits. It has been suggested that Cjedmon was an assumed or conferred name, from the circumstance that Cied is the initial word in the Book of Genesis in the Chaldaic paraphrase, or Targum of Onkelos. He produced a vast quantity of religious verse, a small portion only of which has come down to us. Bede says, “The most sublime strains of poesy were so natural, that he dreamed in verse, and composed the most admirable poems in sleep, which he repeated as soon as he woke.” A portion of his writings is given in King Alfred’s Saxon version of Bede, and Sharon Turner, in his Anglo-Saxon History , gives specimens in the original, with translations. The following is a specimen of his poem on Creation, from an early English translation of the original Saxon:— “There had not here as yet Save cavern shades, Aught existed, But this wide abyss Stood deep and dim, Strange to its Lord, Utile and useless, On which look’d, with his eyes, The King, firm of mood, And beheld the places Devoid of joys. He saw the dark cloud Lour in endless night, Swart under the heavens, Dusky and desert. The earth was yet Not green with grass, But ocean covered, Dark, in endless night, Far and wide,” &c. The most important event in the annals of the abbey of Streoneshalh was the synod G 226 RUINED ABBEYS. held within its walls, to settle the disputes between the Romish and the British Churches relative to the time for the celebration of the festival of Easter, and the form of tonsure. We have seen that the abbey was a child of Iona, and was regulated by the rule of St. Columba. These ancient British, Scottish, and Irish Christians had derived their religion, ceremonials, and forms from wandering apostles coming direct from Jerusalem, and their rites and ceremonials corresponded with those of the Eastern or Greek Church, and were at variance, in some respects, with that of Rome. Amongst other variances, they celebrated the festival of Easter on the day of the first full moon after the vernal equinox, basing it on the authority of St. John, the beloved disciple. The Roman or Western Church kept it, as prescribed at the Council of Nice, not on the day of the full moon, but on the first following Sunday, citing as their authorities St. Peter and St. Paul. With respect to the tonsure, the Romanists shaved the head in a circle, to represent the crown of thorns, whilst the British shaved only the forehead from ear to ear. Had not Penda, the Mercian king, stamped out the Christian Church founded by Paulinus under the auspices of King Eadwin, the dispute would never have arisen; but Oswald resuscitated Christianity in Northumbria by means of missionaries from Iona, and thus the rites and ceremonials of the old British Church became those of that kingdom. The origin of the dispute is attributable to a remarkable man, Wilfrid, a Ripon monk, afterwards Archbishop of York, a man of great intellectual power, and a great stickler for the rights of the Church of Rome, who had been educated under Romish instructors, and who became a Saxon a Becket in upholding the claims of the church in opposition to secular authority. He held many controversies with the clergy and monks of the Northumbrian church, in which he asserted that they were altogether wrong as to the proper time of the Easter festival; and the disputes became so warm that Oswy determined to have the question settled once and for all by a synod of prelates and abbots, to be held in his new abbey of Streoneshalh. WHITBY ABBEY. 227 The synod assembled, and was presided over by the king, who inclined to the British side, as he had been educated by the monks of Iona, whilst his queen Eanfleda (a daughter of King Eadwin) and his son Alchfrid held Romanist views. Thus there were ranged on the British or Scottish side the Abbess Hilda; Colman, Bishop of Lindisfarne; Cedd, Bishop of the East Saxons; and a host of priests and monks from Lindisfarne and Iona: and on the Romanist side Wilfrid, Abbot of Ripon; Agilbert, Bishop of Paris, formerly of the West Saxons; Romanus, a Kentish priest; James the Deacon; Queen Eanfleda; Prince Alchfrid; and several priests and monks who had been educated by Italians. The king opened the assembly by observing, that as they all expected the same heaven, it behoved them not to differ in the celebration of the Divine mysteries on earth; but as differences did exist, especially as to the proper time for the festival of Easter, he had called together this synod to discuss the matter temperately, and in a brotherly spirit, so that the pF^OM THE )VEST. celebration of the festival and the other disputed forms and ceremonials might for the future be uniform. He then called upon Bishop Colman to open the debate, by stating what was the custom of his church, and on whose authority it was based. Colman then rose and said:—“The Easter which I keep I received from my elders, who sent me bishop hither. All our forefathers, men beloved of God, are known to have kept it in the same manner; and that the same may not seem to any contemptible, or worthy to be rejected, it is the same which St. John the Evangelist, the Disciple beloved of Our Lord, with all the churches over which he presided, is recorded to have observed.” The king then called Bishop Agilbert to state his case, in reply, who desired, as he himself did not speak the English language, that Wilfrid, with whose views he entirely concurred, should speak in his stead, so as not to need an interpreter. Wilfrid, who was a very eloquent speaker, and well versed in ecclesiastical lore, upon this rose, and with great argumentative force said:—“The Easter which we observe we saw celebrated by all at Rome, where the blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul, taught, suffered, and were buried; we saw the same done in Italy and in France, when we travelled through RUINED ABBEYS. 228 those countries for pilgrimage and prayer; we found the same practised in Africa, Asia, Egypt, and Greece, and all the world, wherever the Church of Christ is spread abroad, through several nations and tongues, at one and the same time; except only these and their accomplices in obstinacy: I mean the Piets and the Britons, who foolishly, in these two remote islands of the world, and only in part even of them, oppose all the rest of the universe.” Colman here interrupted him with,—“It is strange that you will call our labours foolish, wherein we follow the example of so great an Apostle, who was thought worthy to lay his head on Our Lord’s bosom.” Wilfrid replied,—“Far be it from me to charge John with folly, for he literally observed the precepts of the Jewish law whilst the Church still Judaized in many points, and the Apostles were not able to cast off, at once, all the observances of the law which had been instituted by God; in which way it is necessary that all who come to the faith should for¬ sake the idols which were invented by devils, that they might not give scandal to the Jews that were among the Gentiles. For this reason it was that Paul circumcised Timothy, that he offered sacrifice in the Temple, that he shaved his head with Aquila and Priscilla at Corinth, for no other advantage than to avoid giving scandal to the Jews.But when Peter preached at Rome, being mindful that Our Lord rose from the dead and gave the world the hopes of resurrection on the first day after the Sabbath, he understood that Easter ought to be observed, so as always to stay till the rising of the moon on the fourteenth day of the first moon in the evening, according to the precept of the law, even as John did. And when that came, if the Lord’s Day, then called the first day after the Sabbath, was the next day, he began that very evening to keep Easter, as we do at this day. But if the Lord’s Day did not fall the next morning after the fourteenth moon, but on the sixteenth, or seventeenth, or any other moon till the twenty-first, he waited for that, and on the Saturday before, in the evening, began to observe the holy solemnity of Easter.” After some further arguments, he told Colman that he followed neither the example of John, as he imagined, nor that of Peter, whose traditions he knowingly contradicted. Colman referred to Anatolius, who had written on the time of the celebration; to “our venerable and most reverend Father Columba, and to other holy men of the church of Iona;” but Wilfrid said that at the last day many will say to the Lord that they had prophesied and worked wonders in His name, to whom it will be said, “Begone, I know you not.” Not that he would apply this to Columba, and the others who had worshipped God with rustic simplicity, and concluded with,—“And if that Columba of yours was a holy man, and powerful in miracles, yet could he be preferred before the most blessed Prince of Apostles, to whom Our Lord said, ‘Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and to thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of Heaven?’ ” At this juncture the king said, “We have some very able arguments on both sides of the question, and have been told one most important fact, so that I think we need not discuss the matter any further, but proceed at once to a decision. It has been stated that St. Peter is the door-keeper of Heaven; do you of the Scottish faith recognize this fact?” “Most assuredly,” was the reply from Colman. “Can you shew any such power given to your Columba?” “Not any.” “Then,” continued the king, “you all, on both sides, agree that St. Peter holds the keys of Heaven?” “We do,” was the unanimous response. “Then,” concluded the king, “it appears to me that it would be an act of wisdom on our part to abandon our ancient practice and adopt that of St. Peter, lest he should close the gate against us as schismatics.” And the proposition was agreed to by all excepting Colman and his clergy from Lindisfarne, who still protested against the alteration as being adverse to the teaching of the Apostolic Fathers from whom they derived their faith, and soon after they left Northumbria and returned to Iona. Hilda established some cells or minor convents subordinate to Streoneshalh, one of which WHITBY ABBEY. 229 was at Hackness, in a lovely valley enclosed by foliaged hills, to which she frequently, in old age, retreated for meditation and prayer, and to escape from the constant demands on her time from visitors who resorted to her for counsel, sometimes on trivial matters; and it is supposed that she died there after a lingering illness, which prostrated her for six years, “during which she never failed to return thanks to her Maker, or publicly and privately to instruct her flock, admonishing them to serve God in health, and thank Him for adversity or bodily infirmity.” Bede, however, says that she died in her abbey, and narrates the following legend in connection with her death. He says that her favourite nun was Bega, afterwards St. Bega, the foundress of St. Bees, in Cumberland, who usually was her companion when in retreat at Hackness. One night she lay on her couch at Hackness, a few days after Hilda had gone to the abbey, when suddenly she seemed to hear the death-bell of the abbey ring out the summons for the sisters to assemble and pray for a passing soul; and immediately after the ceiling of her room appeared to open and reveal the starry sky. Presently she beheld a vision of the abbess ascending to Heaven, escorted by a convoy of angels, who sang in ravishing strains anthems of praise as they winged their way upward, and when the vision was lost in the depth of space, the ceiling resumed its ordinary appearance. In the morning she related what she had seen to the mother superior, and in the course of the day news arrived from Streoneshalh that the venerable Hilda had passed away from earth to heaven at the precise hour that Bega had witnessed the vision. Leland speaks of a Life of St. Hilda , by an unknown hand, which he saw in the library of Whitby Abbey, when he visited it, temp. Henry VIII., but which is now lost. An effigy of Hilda has in modern times been placed in one of the windows of the church of the Oratorian Fathers at Alton Towers. King Oswy died in the year 670, and was buried in the church of St. Peter, Streoneshalh, when his widow, Eanfleda, became an inmate of the abbey, and spent the remainder of her days in spiritual communion with Hilda and her daughter. Hilfleda, daughter of Oswy, who had been consecrated to God by her father, succeeded Hilda in the abbacy, and was assisted in her government by her mother, Eanfleda, who had then been ten years in the convent. In the year 684, when her brother Ecgfrid, King of Northumbria, was slain by the Piets, she gave shelter in the monastery to Trumwine, Bishop of the Piets, who had been compelled to fly at the time of Ecgfrid’s death, “who there for several years led a life in all monastical severity, not only to his own but to the benefit of many, with a few of his own people, and dying there, was buried in the church of St. Peter the Apostle, with the honour due to his life and rank. The royal virgin Elfleda presided over the monastery, but when the bishop came thither, this devout woman found in him extraordinary assistance in governing, and comfort to herself.” Hilfleda died in 714, at the age of sixty, and was buried in the church of St. Peter, beside her father and mother. Although the abbey continued to flourish for a century and a half after FElfleda’s death, we only know the name of one succeeding superior, that of Titus, the last abbot. In 758, Eadbert, King of Northumbria, resigned his crown to his son Oswulf, and entering the monas¬ tery, “received St. Peter’s tonsure for the love of God, and to gain the heavenly country by violence.” Hitherto, under the pious and vigorous government of Hilda and FElfleda, the abbey stood out conspicuously for the well-ordered and virtuous lives of its inmates, and that character it maintained in some measure until the death of Eadbert, who acted as a check upon the corruption and irregularity which was perceptibly creeping in. It had stood as a beacon of spiritual light, casting its beneficent rays in every direction, and had been a nursery of bishops, and abbots, and scholars; but now the former was become dim, and the school became rather secular than spiritual. “The piety and religion which till then prevailed in Streoneshalh began to decay; the zeal of many became lukewarm, and even monks and nuns reposed their hope of salvation, not in the practice of good works, but in making auricular 230 RUINED ABBEYS. confession, and in obtaining absolution from Rome, believing that however corrupt their lives might be, the pope had absolute power to forgive their sins, and ensure their entrance into heaven.” Throughout the land the monks and nuns at this time had sunk in the most gross vices, and great multitudes, “especially from Northumbria,” amongst whom would be several from Streoneshalh, went on pilgrimage to Rome, to get thoroughly absolved, but on their journey they gave occasion to great scandal. The Archbishop of Metz, writing to the Arch¬ bishop of Canterbury, said, “The English nuns wandering in pilgrimage to Rome, under shew of devotion, live in wanton dalliance, and have filled all France and Lombardy with their fornications.” We have no annals of the abbey during this century and a half, but Northumbria was then in a distracted state, through the contests of rivals for the crown, frequent assassinations, raids by the Piets, and ravages of the coast by the Vikings, so that a regularly written register of events could scarcely be expected. Towards the end of the century the Danish Vikings became bolder, and in 794 landed on Holy Island, destroyed the cathedral and abbey of Lindisfarne, and carried off much plunder to their ships. This encouraged others to come and ravage the land, until they were checked by King Redwald, after which Northumbria had a period of repose, the Vikings going further south. The end of Streoneshalh was now rapidly approaching. Osbert, the King of Northumbria, had violated the wife of Earl Bruen Brocard, who vowed to have his vengeance in tearing him from his throne, and with this view went to Denmark to invite Hinguar and Hubba to fit out a fleet for the conquest of Northumbria. They lent a willing ear, not merely from motives of ambition, but of vengeance as well, for the death of their father, Regnar Lodbrog, who had been cast into a dungeon, infested with snakes, in Creyke Castle, by JE 11 a, King of Bernicia. The invaders landed in two divisions, one, commanded by Hinguar, at Peak, seven miles off Streoneshalh, and the other, under Hubba, at Dunsley Bay, both planting the Danish standard—the Raven—on neighbouring eminences, which are still called Ravenhill. They marched upon York, met successively Osbert and Hilla, both of whom were defeated and slain, after which Hinguar assumed the kingship of Northumbria, and made York his capital. Previously to this, however, “the pagan host, like a whirlwind, spread desolation over all the country, destroying everything that came in their way, violating the women, murdering the men, and exercising every other act of barbarity they could invent, sparing neither age, sex, nor rank.” The town and abbey of Streoneshalh, lying so near their places of debarkation, were amongst the first to feel the effects of their ferocity. The town in the valley below was plundered and burnt, and the inhabitants killed or dispersed. They then ascended the cliff, and attacked the abbey; the monks who fell into their hands were murdered, and the nuns deflowered, and afterwards put to death. They broke open the doors of the abbey, sacked and then set fire to it, razing also to the ground the watch-tower, which had stood on the cliff four hundred years. “In short everything was so entirely demolished and destroyed, that the very name of Streoneshalh was lost in the ruins, and that place never more had any existence in the kingdom of Northumbria, but continued a heap of rubbish, desolate and unin¬ habited, until near the time of the Conquest, when a few huts or sorry cottages were built, which were called Presteby, from the priests and monks formerly resident there.” When the black raven was seen fluttering its wings off the coast, Titus, the abbot, with three or four of his monks, took up the relics of St. Hilda, packed up as many of the valuables as they could carry, and fled with them to Glastonbury. Thus the abbey of Streoneshalh, with all its glorious associations, and the great names which were connected with it, after two centuries of existence,—one of eminent usefulness, religious and intellectual, the other of decadence and corruption,—lay prostrate in the dust; and so it lay for another couple of centuries, during a period when Northumbria was torn WHITBY ABBEY. 231 by civil wars, fierce fights between the Saxons and the Danes, and ruthlessly desolated by the Norman Conqueror, after the repeated attempts of the Northumbrians to preserve or regain their independence. Cf)e Borman Senttoutme Qbhri) of Mbitbp* The monastic houses north of the Humber, which had escaped destruction at the hands of the Danes, perished in the terrible vengeance of William the Conqueror, after the great Gospatric insurrection of 1070, in which he devastated and laid waste sixty miles of country, from York to Durham, leaving nothing but burnt crops, the ruins of houses, churches, and monasteries, and thousands of corpses rotting by the waysides and in the fields. This utter extinction of the religious houses excited the compassion of the southern monasteries, par¬ ticularly that of Evesham, which sent forth Regenfrith, a lay brother who had fought at fl^OM THE {SOUTH. Hastings, and with him another lay brother, and one from Winchcombe, to attempt the resto¬ ration of some of the old and famous abbeys of Northumbria. They came to York, and had an interview with Hugh the Bailiff, who furnished them with a guide to Monkchester (Newcastle). On the road they came to Jarrow, where they repaired the church, and built a dwelling for the minister. The bishop, who witnessed their pious zeal, made a grant to the priory of the lordship of Jarrow, and Hilfric of Winchcombe was left as prior. After assisting in other restorations north of the Tees, Regenfrith returned to Whitby, where, in concert with William de Perci, who held the site of Streoneshalh, and who furnished funds for the purpose, he refounded the house as a priory, and was constituted first prior. The illustrious family of Percy, for centuries the wealthiest in the north of England, and one of the most potent in the realm, traces its descent from Mainfred, a Danish chieftain who assisted Rollo in his conquest of Normandy. William de Perci, fourth in descent from Mainfred, came to England at the Conquest, as has generally been stated, and was rewarded for his services at Hastings with eighty-six manors in Yorkshire, situated chiefly near Whitby, Beverley, and Thirsk. But modern research has thrown some doubt upon the statement that he was one of the heroes of Senlac, and it is now supposed that he came over with King William on his return from Normandy in 1067, when he obtained the above grant. Whitby RUINED ABBEYS. 232 town, and the lordship of Whitby Strand, were not included in the grant. They had belonged to Earl Gospatric at the Conquest, but were forfeited after his insurrection, and bestowed on Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, who not being pleased with the wild unfertile moorland, dis¬ posed of it to his friend, William de Perci, who erected upon it two seats—one at Hackness, the other at Sneton. He married Emma de Port, or de Skarburgh, daughter of Earl Gospatric, and Lady of Scarborough and Seamer, in discharge, as he said, ‘‘of his conscience, she being very heire.” From him descended, through female heiresses, the ancient Earls and the modern Dukes of Northumberland. He endowed the priory with the town and church of Whitby, the church of Sneton, lands in thirty-three townships, two-thirds of the tithes of Nafferton, and the tithes of sundry places in Lincolnshire. Regenfrith, who was a lay brother, went back to Evesham, took the vows of the Bene¬ dictines, and then returned and assumed the priorship. He was an illiterate man, and scarcely fitted for the office; but in 1078, one Stephen, called Stephen de Whitby, made his profession, a man of considerable learning, and author of a work in MS. relating to the foundation of the abbey, now in the Bodleian Library, to whom Regenfrith assigned the management. In this MS. Stephen states that “Renfrid” yielded up the entire management to him, who, “though unwilling, and long resisting, was at last persuaded to assume the office.” He continues,—“When I was elected abbot, being desirous, through the Lord’s assistance, to restore the place to its ancient honour and dignity, which, being yet in its infancy, was endowed with no worldly revenue; and many unforeseen adversities rose up against me, which hindered the completing of my desires. For one of the king’s barons, William de Perci, who had given us the place when it was a desert, seeing how we had improved it for the better, repented of the good action he had done, so that both he and those under him used us very injuriously, trying by all means that could be devised to drive us away from the place; while in the mean time pirates from the sea and robbers from the country, of which there was then great abundance, running up and down everywhere, offered us violence, and carried away all they could lay hands upon. At last, after confederating together one night, they attacked us, and putting us to flight, took everything we had, and even led away several of us captives into foreign lands; for which reason, being filled with deadly sorrow, and desiring by all the ways we could to avoid the danger that threatened us, we determined to represent our grievances to the king, who, being of merciful disposition, was much moved with our sufferings, and shewed himself willing to help us.” He then narrates how the king (Rufus) gave them the ruins of the old monastery of Lastingham, and how they began to put it in order. “The time now approached for my reception of the bishop’s hand and the abbot’s benediction, when it came into my mind to go to Lastingham and be consecrated abbot of that place also, which was carried out to the liking of all. Howbeit the said William continually disturbed us, and endeavoured by all the ways he could to expel us from the manor, where we yet had our conventicle.” He then went to the king in Normandy, where De Perci also was, “and besought the king to prescribe what we were peaceably to enjoy, and having his chirograph, returned to our fraternity; but the rage and malice of William was much more vehement against us; and at last they were driven out, and Perci repossessed himself of Whitby. They remained for awhile at Lastingham, with scarcely sufficient means of subsistence, but were eventually befriended by Alan, Earl of Richmond and Bretagne, who granted them a church and four acres of land at York, which afterwards developed into the magnificent abbey of St. Mary. It is thought that this is a partial and biassed narrative, and that Stephen was a quarrelsome person, who was as much or more to blame than Perci, as the latter immediately after Stephen’s departure reconciled himself to the church, and with Prior Regenfrith applied himself zealously to the restoration. The re-erection was commenced in 1083, and in 1096 the buildings were covered in, and rendered habitable, but it was many years before it was completely finished; WHITBY ABBEY. 233 but in after years the additions were chiefly ornamental, or reconstructions of portions in better styles. The Benedictine rule was observed in the new abbey, which was dedicated to St. Peter and St. Hilda, and the parish church of St. Peter was dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin. Regenfrith, who had gone on a journey to Ormesbridge, found some workmen employed in building a bridge over the Derwent, when he alighted from his horse to assist them in placing a piece of timber, which by some accident fell upon him and killed him. He was buried in Hackness Church, in front of the altar. Serlo de Perci, brother of William, who had become a monk, was appointed his successor, who suffered similar troubles and tribulations to those complained of by Stephen, and obtained land at Hackness from his brother, on which he raised some buildings, and retired thither with his monks, as being a less exposed place. He also had a dispute with his brother, who seized some lands which he had given at Saxby and Everly, but obtained restitution of them, and when affairs had become a little more peaceable he returned to the abbey, leaving a few monks at Hackness, as a subordinate cell. In 1096, the year that the buildings were ready to receive the inmates, William de Perci went on a crusade to the Holy Land, and never returned. He died at Mountjoie, near Jeru¬ salem, whence his body was brought to England, and buried in the chapter house of the priory. JJrtors cinXj Abbots of OTbttbp* Regenfrith, or Reinfrid, of Evesham, first prior. Stephen of Whitby, is mentioned by Dugdale, but not by Burton. He was elected abbot in 1078, but can scarcely be said to have governed Whitby, as he retired to Lastingham. Serlo de Perci, brother to William de Perci, the founder, second prior; died circa 1102, after holding the office about twenty years. ABBOTS. 1. William de Perci, nephew of Serlo, 1109—1127. He was previously a monk in the house, and in consider¬ ation of his rank, and the former dignity of the house, the priory was made an abbey, which was confirmed by Gerard, Archbishop of York, King Henry I., and Pope Honorius II. In his time the abbey was completed, and having purchased some land at Filingdales, from Tankred, a Fleming, he built a church there, and another at Sneton, both of which he assigned to the abbey. 2. Nicholas, an intimate friend of Archbishop Thurstan; died 1139. He built the church of Ugglebarlby, and obtained from Pope Honorius II. a charter in confirmation of the lands and liberties of the abbey. 3. Benedict; deposed 1148. He was very unpopular, partially for being a foreigner, but chiefly for his nepotism, reckless management, and squandering of the revenues. A complaint was laid before Archbishop Murdac, of his misgovernment, who summoned him and his accusors to appear before a special chapter at Beverley, when he resigned, or was deposed, and spent the remainder of his life at the church in Fishergate, York, which belonged to the abbey. 4. Richard, Prior of Peterborough; died 1175, after holding the abbacy twenty-six years and seven months. On the deposition of Benedict, Archbishop Murdac refused to allow a successor to be appointed whilst he lived, unless one of three whom he named were chosen. From the three they elected Richard, “as he was known to be a prudent man, and of noble lineage,” which proved to be a wise selection. “Nor is it in our power to relate how well he spent his life, and how much he increased the glory of our abbey in buildings, in revenue, in churches, and in large possessions; neither can it be expressed how bountiful and yet how humble; how generous and yet how discreet and pitiful he was.” He built the chapter house anew; beautified the church, and erected chapels at Dunsley and Aislaby. During his abbacy a catalogue was made of the books in the library, which consisted of eighty-six volumes, several of which were on grammar, the titles of which are given in Charlton’s history. At the time of his death there were thirty-eight monks in the abbey. He was buried in the chapter house. 5. Richard de Waterville, Prior of Kirckeby, formerly a monk in the monastery of St. Nicholas, Angiers. He granted a charter of great privileges to the burgesses of Whitby. 6 . Peter, 1189—1211, paid a fine of one hundred marks that the burgesses should not be permitted to make use of the privileges granted by Richard until it had been determined, in the king’s court, whether the abbot and convent had authority to make such grant, and it was rendered null and void by King John’s refusal to confirm the grant. He died in 1211. 7. John of Evesham, whose name is omitted by Burton, 1214—1222. He was appointed by Nicholas, Bishop of Tusculum, the Pope’s Legate, who was sent to remove the interdict under which the kingdom lay, temp. John; 2 H 234 RUINED ADEEVS. to this duty was superadded authority to make a visitation of all vacant bishoprics, abbeys, and benefices, all which he filled up at his own will, without consulting either king or primate. 8. Roger of Scarborough, 1222—1244. For several years he had been resident in a cell of Whitby, at Middlesborough. He was a man of eminent ability, but suffered a great deal of trouble in a dispute with the Bishop of Carlisle, relative to the church of Crosby Ravensworth, and arising out of divers lawsuits with the priory of Bridlington, the convent of Basedale, and the Rector of Stokesley. “No Abbot of Whitby ever equalled or so much advanced the interests of the monastery.Although he was never called to Parliament as a lord, yet no nobleman in England was more revered and respected. During the twenty-two years of his reign he raised the monaster}' to the full zenith of its glory, for never did it make so illustrious a figure as when governed by him, nor even after his death did it gain any considerable additions, either of riches or power.” He was one of the witnesses to the signature of Magna Charta. 9. John de Steyngrave, or Sangreve, 1244—1258. Formerly sub-prior; resigned after a government of four¬ teen years. 10. William de Briniston, 1258—1265. During his abbacy the abbey suffered a great reverse of fortune, and became involved in debt through having to pay the costs of the struggle with Robert, Bishop of Carlisle, for the church of Ravensworth, which, after a prolonged contest at Rome, was decided adversely. He is said to have died of a broken heart, “without ever being reconciled to his enemies, or shewing any desire for having their excommu¬ nication taken off before he made his exit.” 11. Robert de Langtoft, 1265—1278; was summoned to Parliament as a spiritual lord, 46 Henry III. 12. William de Kirkham, 1278—1304; summoned to Parliament throughout a great part of the reign of Edward I. In 1280, Robert, Bishop of Carlisle, the violent persecutor and scourge of Whitby, died, and was succeeded by Ralf Irton, a native of Seamer, who reversed all his predecessor had done, and granted to the abbot a charter, confirming him and the convent in the possession of Ravensworth Church. 13. Thomas of Malton, 1304, resigned 1322, when he again became an ordinary monk in the house. He was summoned to Parliament temp. Edwards I. and II. 14. Thomas de Haukesgarth, 1322; held the office thirty years, and resigned in 1352, descending again to the ranks. After him the abbacy lay vacant three years. 15. William de Burton, a monk of Whitby, 1355; died 1374. 16. John de Richmond, a monk of the house, 1374; died 1393. 17. Peter of Hartlepool, a Whitby monk, 1393; died 1394. 18. Thomas de Bolton, 1394; died 1413. On his accession an inventory of the effects of the abbey was taken, when it was found that there were at the various granges and farms three hundred and ninety-four oxen, steers, cows, and calves, valued at £ 1S2 3j. ; two thousand two hundred five score and nine sheep, valued at £171 y. sixty-three horses and mares, valued at £26 y. 4 d.\ swine, valued at £5.] fourteen goats, valued at 12 s. 6 Hackness. Abbot Serlo being much annoyed by the Danish sea rovers, begged of his brother, William de Perci, some more secure place of residence and refuge, who gave him the church of Hackness and some adjoining land, where he and his monks dwelt some time. But the donor attempted to recover the land and drive the monks away, when Serlo appealed to King Rufus, who granted his protection to the brethren, and with it six carucates of land, two at Hackness and four at Northlield. Richard I. gave the cell a charter of exemption from the tax of Danegeld. Middlesborough. Robert de Brus and Agnes, his wife, temp. Henry I., or Stephen, gave the abbot and convent the church of Middlesborough, and with it two carucates and two oxgangs of land, for the support of one or more monks for the performance of Divine Service. Middlesborough, however, was a chapel to the mother church of Stainton, which De Brus had given to the canons of Guisborough, who were the impropriators, and a dispute arose between the two convents respecting the tithes and mortuaries of twelve carucates of lands, which were claimed by both. It was referred to the donor, who assigned six carucates to each, and gave other tithes to Guisborough, to indemnify them for their loss; he also decreed that for the future Middlesborough should be emancipated from Stainton, and be constituted a mother church. York. All Saints Church, Fishergate, granted with provision for the maintenance of Divine Service. Archbishop Thurstan, King Henry II., and Pope Honorius III. confirmed the charter, and added that it should enjoy the same privileges as St. John’s at Beverley, and St. Wilfrid’s at Ripon. At the dissolution the church and cell were so completely destroyed, that even the site is not known with certainty. Eskdale. A cell where some monks were always resident. Goadland, near Pickering, given by King Henry II. to Osmund, the priest, and the brethren, in 1117* f° r the health of the soul of Matilda his wife. Hermitages at Mulgrave, Westcroft on the Derwent, and at Hode, which last they exchanged with Roger de Mowbray and Gundreda his mother, for a mansion at Fossbridge. Churches and Chapels.—Ayton Magna; Burniston; Carlton in Cleveland; Crosby-Ravensworth; Eskdale; Fyling- dale; Hackness; Harlsey-East; Hawkesgarth; Hoton in Pickering-Lythe; Ingleby-Greenhow; Kirkeby in Cleveland; Newton in Hornebeck; Rowal; Seamer; Skirpenbeck; Slingsby; Snetun; Sutton-on-Derwent; Ugglebarlby; and St. Mary, or All Saints, Fishergate, York. Cbc Dissolution. The suppression of the smaller monasteries, and the confiscation of their possessions, took place in 1536, which provoked a widely spread feeling of indignation throughout the northern counties, especially in Yorkshire, and gave rise to the famous insurrection of the Pilgrimage of Grace, in which many of the abbots and monks participated, and with which all, with very few exceptions, sympathized. The second rising of 1537 was organized at Settrington, near Malton, not many miles distant from Whitby, and it is far from improbable that Abbot Topcliffe, alias Hexham, or some of his monks, were implicated in it. However that may be, they were suspected; the king seized the revenues, and the abbot deemed it prudent to resign. He had been sounded by the visitors on the question of surrendering the abbey, but did not seem to fall in with their views; and seeing that the fall of the abbey was inevitable, he chose rather to resign than to violate his conscience and his oath by surrendering the trust that had been placed in his hands, and giving up what belonged to God and the Church into secular hands. Henry de Vail, the prior, a more pliable and less conscientious man, was elected in his place, perhaps at the instance of Cromwell or the visitors, who saw that he was more suited to their purpose than the ex-abbot, and the temporalities were restored. It was but for a short time, however, as he was elected in 1538, and on December 15th., 1540, he and his monks signed the deed of surrender, and sealed it with the chapter seal, making one only condition—that they should be accorded small pensions out of the revenue. At the survey the estimated gross revenue was ^505 9s. id., or net ^437 IJ - °^- The following pensions were awarded:—John Hexham, £26', Robert Woods, £8; Peter Thompson, £ 6; William Nicholsoune, Thomas Thorpe, Thomas Hewite, and Henry Barker, £5 6s. 8 d. WHITBY ABBEY. 239 each; John Watsoune, William Froste, William Newtoune, and Robert Ledley, ^5 each. Why the unyielding Hexham should be given the above pension, and the name of the more compliant De Vail is not mentioned in the list, does not appear. The site and certain manors were given, 4th. Edward VI., to John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, who the following year obtained licence to alienate the manors of Whitby, Laynepole, Ulathes, Stanesley, Carr, and Hawkesgarth, with other messuages to John York and his heirs; and in the 1st. and 2nd. Philip and Mary, Sir John York, Knight, was granted licence to alienate the manor of Whitby Lathes to Sir Richard Cholmley, who had previously,. 37th. Henry VIII., been given the manors of Ugglebarlby, Eskdale Hall, and sundry lands and messuages in Whitby, to be held de Rege in capite. The Cholmley family are still Lords of the Manor of Whitby and owners of the abbey ruins, having a mansion built on the site of abbot’s house. €I)C ftltUtSu The situation of the abbey, built on the table-land of a cliff rising nearly three hundred feet above the level of the sea, is a striking instance of the proverbial love of St. Benedict for an elevated position as compared with that of St. Bernard for the secluded valley. It was built further inland than the original Saxon abbey, the sea having, in the interval between the destruction of the one and the erection of the other, eaten away a considerable breadth of the cliff, a process that has since then and is now continually going on. Burton ( Monast. Ebor .) says, “Its situation is upon a high cliff, from the gradual wasting of which it is thought that at its foundation the church was built more than a mile southward of the main cliff, whereas now, A.D. 1757, the distance is scarce a furlong. The foundation of the convent and of the offices are all on the land side of the cliff, which declines gently to the south-west, as warmth and to be covered from winds was ever regarded as a material article in the situation of religious houses. The sea is to the south and north-eastward, and a large tract of wild moors to the west and south, probably much more rugged and unfrequented heretofore than now, made the choice of the place a very proper one for such as meant or pretended to retreat from the world, and was doubtless what determined it.” He adds, “ There remains only now the skeleton or walls of part of the church (owing in all probability to the hardness of the cement), which shew it to have been when complete a very large and magnificent one.” As usual the monastic buildings, including the cloistered quadrangle, the dormitories, the refectory and kitchens, the chapter house, library, and scriptorium, with other offices, lay to the south of the church, but of their disposition we know nothing excepting by analogy, the foundations being covered by masses of debris, the removal of which would be very costly. The cemetery was on the north side, away from the residential buildings, and the site of the abbot’s house and of the eleemosynarium are known to have been—the former where now stands the mansion of the Cholmleys, and the latter where the stables are situated. The entrance gate to the abbey close was on the south-east, opposite the parish church, and fronting it is now placed the weather-beaten and mutilated cross, which formerly stood in the burial-ground. The shaft is octangular, and the arms which were perforated are much broken; it stands on a flight of steps, and is twenty feet in height, including the basement steps. Originally the church must have been a magnificent building, cruciform in shape, with a nave of eight bays, a choir of six, and a Ladye Chapel of two, the whole three hundred feet in length, and of the same breadth, with side aisles running throughout. The transept was one hundred and fifty feet long, with eastern aisle only, in which were shrines and altars, the remains of one dedicated to the Virgin Mary still remaining, with portions of a partially obliterated inscription. At the intersection rose a square tower, one hundred and four feet in height, supported on four sixteen-clustered columns and arches, whose span corresponded with the central aisle of the nave and choir, and with the western portion of the transept. Each arm of the cross, RUINED ABBEYS. 240 north, south, east, and west, was terminated by a three-storied gable, and flanked by buttresses at the corners, whence rose elegantly-shaped octagonal spirelets. A beautifully-arched triforium ran round beneath the clerestory windows, forming a passage entirely round the church, with winding stairs of ascent. There are three styles distinctly perceptible in the church. The choir and Lady Chapel form the oldest, the early pointed, with its three stages at the east end, each of triple lancet windows, without mullions or transoms, the second ranges being loftier than the others, and the lights separated by cylindrical shafts, and the arches and mouldings presenting a profusion of the dog-tooth ornament. The geometrical and decorated in the transepts and part of the nave; the windows with mullions, transoms, and tracery, carved mouldings and capitals, and corbels of grotesque heads and flowers, ranges of niches within and without for statuary, and a catharine-wheel window in the transept; and at the west end the rectilinear or perpendicular, with vertical mullions and horizontal transoms; arches and buttresses niched for statues, crocketted finials, and panelling on the walls. The great western entrance, reached by a flight of steps, was recessed with clustered columns, the arches and capitals ornamented with sculpturings of foliage, and above it was a noble window, now bereft of its tracery. Francis Gibson, writing in the Archaologia , x. 123, 1790, says, “On a close inspection into the frag¬ ments of the outward wall and west end of the church, it plainly appears that the nave, built in the reign of Rufus, had been taken down, and an edifice raised upon its foundations, which by the lightness and elegance of the styles, I am of opinion, hath been erected near the time when Gothic or British architecture was rapidly advancing to its perfection of beauty and regularity, under Edward III. The choir exhibits a range of bi-formed windows immediately over the lower arches, and above those a corresponding row equal in number, but of smaller dimensions, similar to those seen in the south transept of the cathedral at York; whereas in the nave, from the points of the lower arches, a single line of large and elegant windows continued to the upper cornice, I mean that supporting the roof. Each window was divided into three parts, and finished with beautiful ramifications, in the manner of those in the nave of York Minster, which (excepting the choir) is the most modern part of that fabric. The keystones of these upper arches are of large dimensions, measuring near a ton and a half each. On examination as they lay on the ground, I was surprised to see in the crown of each a cavity, in many respects similar to those cut into large blocks of stone for the purpose of raising them by means of a machine commonly called a Lewis. This machine is supposed to WHITBY ABBEY. 241 have been the invention of a French mechanic, employed on the public works of Louis XIV., and had its name given in compliment to that monarch.” He adds that a similar machine was then used for raising stones of six to ten tons weight at the piers of the port, and that there could be no doubt but that a similar machine was used in building the abbey, five hundred years before the age of Louis XIV. He gives a drawing of the machine then in use, and of the position of the holes then cut, and of those in the keystones, which are very similar. At the dissolution of the abbey the church was stripped of its timber and lead, the latter being partially used for covering the roof of the parish church, which had hitherto been thatched. The bells, a fine and musical peal, were taken down and placed on shipboard to be conveyed to London, but, according to tradition, the vessel was wrecked a few furlongs from the mouth of the harbour, went down, and that there the bells still lie. It appears that the glass of the windows, both plain and painted, was left, but gradually disappeared after¬ wards, either being broken through mischief, or removed to be otherwise appropriated. Charlton (1779) speaks of old persons then living who remembered fragments remaining in the windows. There are two interesting discs of painted glass from the abbey still preserved in the window of a house in Whitby. One has in the centre a pierced heart, and round it the crown of thorns and three nails, and surrounding this grouping a circlet of beads and roses, and on the latter the pierced hands and feet. Round the rim runs a Latin inscription, thus translated, “Hail! most holy Mary, who art a red rose, and clothed with the garments of Divine love above every other creature.” The other represents the Holy Family at home, Mary seated weaving at a loom, and the child Jesus holding the ball of thread; whilst Joseph is entering at the door with an armful of sticks for fuel, and a pail of water. It is inscribed “Most Holy Mother, who with much care hath brought me up, as the most tender of parents, by the labour of thy hands.” The tombstones of benefactors, abbots, and monks, were very numerous in the church, the chapter house, and the cemetery, which at the dissolution were removed to the church and graveyard of the adjoining parish church, which were nearly filled by them. A few of these still remain in the church, but of those in the burial-ground, “in 1736, the clergyman finding that they greatly obstructed him and the ordinary at York from getting money by erecting new tombstones, caused them all, as opportunity offered, to be broken in pieces and demolished as relics of popery, so that in ten or fifteen years’ time not one of them was left remaining.” Service was performed in the parish church after the fall of the abbey by one or other of the dispossessed monks until the death of the last, which occurred in 1570. In 1743, the Rev. Mr. Garwood, Vicar of Whitby, “observed several shields of arms of the Percys, the Neviles, and others, with several devices of crescents, swans, snakes, doves, ducal coronets, anchors, etc., cut out upon the stone shields, but they were fixed so high on the wall within the nave of the church as not to be distinguished well without the help of a good glass.” Grose (1776) gives two views of the ruins; one from the north-west shewing the north wall of the nave, the opening of the west window, and the northern spirelet; the north transept almost complete, with its three stages of triplet windows, and its two flanking octagonal buttresses and spirelets; also the tower apparently complete, excepting the roof and the glass of the windows, but shewing the tracery. The other is from the south-east, shewing the lower part of the south wall of the nave, with four traceried windows; the chancel with its wall presenting three stages of windows, the gable and spirelets; and the south transept in ruins, with a small portion of the wall only remaining. Charlton (1779) writes, “Our abbey keeps continually mouldering away, and has within these fifty years past gone greatly to decay, but never did it receive so rude a shock as from a storm of wind which happened on the night of December 2nd., 1763, when the whole western 2 1 242 RUINED ABED VS. wing was overset, and tumbled down to the very foundations, though supported by at least twenty strong pillars and arches, nothing being left standing therein but the north wall of the cloisters and a part of the west end wall. Enough of the abbey yet remains to make it an excellent sea-mark; but it will not continue so for many ages, the whole being in so ruinous a condition that in another hundred years it must be entirely reduced to a heap of rubbish.” Happily this prophecy has not been fulfilled, although since then the tower has met the same fate, which fell in 1833. Gibson, referring to the same storm, which he places in 1762, says, “The body or nave of the church resting on sixteen well-proportioned pillars, unable to resist the violence of a storm blowing full upon it from the north, fell to the ground; yet such hath been the excellence of the cement, that the pillars and arches (hardly disjointed) remain prostrate in nearly the pristine forms.” The existing remains now are the three-storied east end of the Lady Chapel; six bays of the south wall of the choir and chapel; the north transept, with its windows, gable, and spirelets; five bays of the north aisle of the nave, with the arcaded triforium and clerestory windows, and the lower part of the western front, with the recessed entrance door and noble window above, but denuded of its mullions and tracery, and the northern spirelet. P^OUKD Plan of )Vhitby /sbey. A. West Entrance. B. Xave. C. North Ais’e. D. South Aisle. E. Tower. i T. South Transept. F. Choir. .T. Aisle. O. Lady Chapel. K. Monastic Buildings. H. North Transept. JEDBURGH ABBEY. - ff^OM the South-east. Ci)r Slugusftmuui 3t>l)ri> of Jirttnirglj. HE Border Lands of Scotland and England, stretching across the island from sea to sea, constitute a district characteristically wild and romantic in its scenery, with all the essential features of rugged mountains, pastoral valleys, serpentining rivers, desolate moors, unpassable morasses, tangled forest land, fells, tarns, projecting masses of rock ; and in former times was inhabited by a rough, warlike, and barbarous people, whose hands were ever on their sword-hilts, who preferred the plunder of a warlike expe¬ dition to the honest fruits of industry and agricultural toil. In the Roman times, the Welsh minstrels tell us, many a conflict there was between that people and the Celtic Britons, and it was to impede the incursions of the latter people that the walls of Hadrian and Severus were built. After the Anglo-Saxons had become dominant in England, the Border Lands witnessed many a terrible battle between the aboriginal Celts and the intrusive Teutons. The Saxons, however, were never able to subdue Scotland, although Edwin, King of Northumbria, extended the limits of his kingdom to the Forth, and built there a fort, called Edwin’s Fort, modernized in Edinburgh: and the Danes and Norsemen made successful landings at times, chiefly on the western coast, but 244 RUINED ABBEYS. effected no permanent settlement, “the land of the mountain and the flood remaining in the hands of the Celtic race to this day; excepting the lowlands, where there has been so great an infusion of the Saxon element into the population that the English has superseded the old British tongue. After the Norman conquest of England, particularly during the Plantagenet era, when the monarchs of that race strove so energetically to reduce Scotland to subjection to the English crown, the Borders became the great battle-field of the two nations, and burning, plundering, and massacring might be considered the normal state of affairs; a condition aptly exemplified in what was called “Jeddart justice,” which meant hanging first and trying afterwards. Trained from their youth in exploits of daring, the Borderers were a warlike and ferocious race, and when England and Scotland were at peace they indulged in internal quarrels between the various clans, leading to much bloodshed; and even in these periods of peace, despite existing truces, the Armstrongs and Elliots, and other restless tribes, would cross over into England, and commit wanton depredations upon the Borderers of Northumberland and Cumberland, setting the kings of both countries at defiance, becoming, in fact, banditti and outlaws. Sir Walter Scott says;—“Repeated complaints were made by the English residents of the devastations of the Elliots, Scotts, and Armstrongs, connived at and encouraged by Maxwell, Buccleuch, and Fairnihurst.At a convention of Border Commissioners it was agreed that the King of England, in case the excesses of the Liddesdale freebooters were not duly redressed, should be at liberty to issue letters of reprisal to his injured subjects, granting ‘power to invade the said inhabitants of Liddesdale, to their slaughters, burning, herships, robbing, reifing, despoiling, destruction, etc., till the attempts of the inhabitants were fully atoned for.’ This impolitic expedient, by which the Scottish prince (James V.), unable to execute justice on his turbulent subjects, committed to a rival sovereign the power of unlimited chastisement, was a principal cause of the savage state of the Borders. For the inhabitants, finding that the sword of revenge was substituted for that of justice, were loosened from their attachment to Scotland, and boldly threatened to carry on their depre¬ dations in spite of the efforts of both kingdoms.” When Angus and other Border chiefs paraded the same king through the country for the purpose of punishing thieves and traitors, “none were found greater,” says Pitscottie, “than were in his own company. The most powerful of the Scottish Border chiefs were the Douglasses, who have figured in many a memorable exploit, whilst on the English side the Earls of Northumberland—the Percies—were the greatest and most formidable. In the infancy of nations, and when the people are in a rude and barbarous condition, minstrels abound, and are patronized by warlike chieftains to sing their exploits in battle, at the festivals and carouses of the warriors, and the vehicle of verse is made use of, as metrical compositions are more easily committed to memory, and the valorous achievements of heroes thereby passed down from generation to generation, than through the medium of prose narra¬ tives. The Borderers may be assumed to have been in this condition until the cessation of rivalry, jealousy, and hostility between the two countries; war, rapine, and slaughter being their incessant occupation, with episodes of ungoverned sexual love, abductions of daring character, and ruthless violations of chastity. Hence the Border Lands and their history became the very home of romance and poetry, with a continuous outpouring of ballad lore. Bishop Percy remarks,—“The English ballads are generally of the north of England, the Scottish are of the south of Scotland, and of consequence the country of ballad-singers was sometimes subject to one crown and sometimes to the other, and most frequently to neither. Most of the finest old Scotch songs have the scene laid within twenty miles of England; which is indeed all poetic ground, green hills, remains of woods, clear brooks. The pastoral scenes remain: of the rude chivalry of former ages happily nothing remains but the ruins of the castles where the more daring and successful robbers resided.” The most famous of these JEDBURGH ABBEY. 245 Border ballads is Chevy Chase , the ballad which “stirred the heart” of Sir Philip Sydney “as the sound of a trumpet,” illustrating the Battle of Otterbourne, between Percy and Douglas, when “The Pers£ out of Northomberlande, And a vowe to God mayd he That he wolde hunte in the mountayns Off Chyviot within dayes thre, In the maugre of doughty Dogles, And all that ever with him be.” Sir Walter Scott, a Border man by descent, was inspired by the ballad minstrelsy of the Border, imbibed in his childhood and youth, which resulted in the splendid legacy he has left to the world of The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border , and a long succession of metrical and prose romances, such as the world has never seen either before or since. The Borderers did not consider stealing their neighbours’ cattle on the other side the Border in the nature of a theft, but simply as a reprisal for the loss of their own cattle, or as plunder in legitimate warfare. Thus Satchells, who lived when this idea was prevalent, wrote “On that Border was the Armstrongs, able men; Somewhat unruly, and very ill to tame. I would have none think that I call them thieves, For if I did, it would be arrant lees.” Northward of the Cheviot Hills and southward of the Tweed is the famous Vale of Teviot, a pass between England and southern Scotland, through which many an army and a multitude of marauders have passed to inflict rapine or vengeance on the enemy’s lands. It is a valley of diversified and romantic scenery, and has scattered over its surface, perched on commanding eminences, the ruins of some once formidable fortresses, the strongholds of active and powerful chieftains. Within its bounds, too, may be seen the remains of four abbeys,—those of Dryburgh, Melrose, Kelso, and Jedburgh,—all magnificent structures, often plundered and desolated, and immortalized in many a strain of ballad poetry; the two former especially, in connection with the writings and with the life and death of the greatest of all the Borderers, Sir Walter Scott. Within this vale is another—that of the Jed—in which stands what is left of Jedburgh Abbey. The river Jed rises in the Cheviots, fourteen miles above the town of Jedburgh, and falls into the Teviot two miles and a half below, receiving in its course a few tributaries, and “rushing through a rocky channel, betwixt woody banks and lofty scars, fringed with shrubs and crowned with the oak, the beech, and the weeping birch, presenting in its course a succession of highly picturesque and romantic scenery.” Another writer says,—“The Vale of Jed is not spacious: it therefore presents no such view as that of the Tweed at Kelso, but as it is serpentine and irregular, its views are much more varied, infinite, and even picturesque. At every step one takes along the banks of the stream, he discovers a novel and striking variety in the general tone of the landscape.If better authority be wanting, reference may be made to Burns, who speaks of ‘Eden scenes in crystal Jed.’ ” The Parish of Jedburgh consists of two detached portions, the southern bordering on Northumberland, five miles in length by four in breadth, in which stood Old Jedburgh; the other lower down the river, to the north, seven miles in length by an average of five in breadth, in which stands Jedburgh, Jedburgh Abbey, and Fernihirst Castle. It is diversified by hill and dale, lofty perpendicular rocks, with shrubs growing out of the side, forest trees above, and caverns and ravines below, formerly places of refuge from enemies. The sides of the valley rise by a gradual ascent to a height of three hundred feet above the level; the highest hill near Jedburgh is Dunian, one thousand one hundred and twenty feet above the 2+6 RUINED ABBEYS. level of the sea; there are several other beautiful conical-shaped hills, upwards of eleven hundred feet high; whilst in the distance may be seen, in the Cheviot range, Carter Hill, two thousand and twenty feet in height, at whose foot the Jed rises. “The magnificence of its ecclesiastical establishment, the fastnesses of its forest, which was frequently the rendezvous of armies, its castles, and the number of its fortified houses, rendered the parish of much more consequence formerly than since the Reformation. From its proximity to the border, it was the continual scene of war and lawless violence, from the time when Donald V. here defeated the confederate Princes of Northumberland and Cumberland to the year 1575, when the ‘Raid of Reid Swire,’ which took place in its south boundary, terminated the hostile feuds between the two countries.” The two towns of Jed worth, as originally called, now corrupted into Jethart by the natives, were built by Egred, or Ezred, a man of noble birth, and Bishop of Lindisfarne 830—845, the district being in his diocese, who gave them to the Columban Monastery of Lindisfarne. In Old Jedburgh there are still the remains of a chapel, in the midst of a clump of trees in a field by the river side, which was founded by the bishop. A royal castle was built in the town, which became the favourite residence of Malcolm IV., within whose walls he died. It was often inhabited by William the Lion and Alexander II., and was the birthplace of Prince Alexander, son of King Alexander III., after whose death the king celebrated here his second spousals, accompanied by great pomp and festivity, with Jolande, daughter of the Count de Dreux. The castle was in possession of the English from the battle of Durham until 1409, when it was recaptured and demolished. A portion of the walls was standing in the present century. After the demolition of the castle, the town was defended by six towers or peles, of which there are now no remains. The house which was occupied by Oueen Mary is still entire: a large building, with massive walls and small windows; a broad stone stair leads to the second storey, and a winding stair to the queen’s room on the third, which was hung with tapestry still in a good state of preservation. At the foot of Canongate is a curious and very ancient stone bridge, with three semicircular ribbed arches; and in Bongate a portion of an obelisk, with some almost obliterated sculptures of animals and characters, which is supposed to be what remains of the ancient Bongate Cross. There was formerly a Carmelite Friary and a Maison Dieu in the town, but these have disappeared entirely. Jedburgh was made a royal burgh by King David I., the founder of the abbey. The burghers of Jedburgh and the forest dwellers around were a sturdy, stalwart race, and were especially noted for their prowess with the “Jeddart axe” and the “Jeddart staff,” two formidable weapons, the latter a long, stout stake, shod with four feet of sharpened iron, with which they have put to flight many a body of English intruders into their valley. It has been the birthplace or residence of many eminent men: St. Kennock; Friar Adam Bell, author of a History of Scotla?id; John and Samuel Rutherford, and Andrew Young, of collegiate celebrity; Dr. Macknight; Dr. Somerville; the poet Thomson; Mrs. Somerville, famous for her scientific works; and Sir David Brewster. The principal family in the immediate neighbourhood of Jedburgh, who played most important parts in the Border warfare, and were connected in many respects with the abbey, was that of Ker, of which there were two branches, one, the elder, seated at Fernihirst, the other at Cessford. They were of Anglo-Norman descent, from two brothers, Ralph and John, who settled in Teviotdale in the fourteenth century. From Ralph, the elder, descended Sir Andrew, of Fernihirst, who had two sons: John, whose grandson, Andrew, was created Baron Jedburgh in 1622; and Robert, of infamous notoriety, the favourite of James I. of England, and created Earl of Somerset; and Robert, of Ancrum, whose grandson Robert was created Earl of Ancrum in 1633, whose son William was created Earl of Lothian in 1631, whose son Robert was advanced in the peerage to the Marquisate of Lothian, a title still extant. JEDBURGH ABBEY. 247 From John, the younger of the two brothers, descended Sir Robert, eleventh in descent, who was created Earl of Roxburgh in 1616, from whom was John, fifth Earl, who was created, in 1707, Duke of Roxburgh, a title also still extant. Fernihirst Castle, the seat of the elder branch, on the eastern side of the Jed, two miles from Jedburgh, was a stronghold built on a steep bank overhanging the river, built by Sir Thomas Ker, of Kershaugh, in 1499. In 1523 it was taken by the Earl of Surrey, but recovered by the Scots assisted by their French auxiliaries, after a desperate conflict, in JVave, from |5outh ^isle. 1549. In 1569 it became the place of refuge of the Earl of Westmoreland, after his un¬ successful insurrection—“the Rising in the North”—in favour of Queen Mary; and the following year it was taken and demolished by the Earl of Sussex, in vengeance for the raid into Northumberland of Ker, the then owner. It was rebuilt in 1598, and there still remains the keep, a tall square tower in good preservation, “its grey turrets still peering over the tall venerable trees that surround it.” The outbuildings, in a half ruined state, surround the courtyard, one portion being converted into a farm-house. At the Reformation the burghers of Jedburgh espoused the cause of the Reformers, whilst Ker of Fernihirst, their powerful neighbour, upheld that of Queen Mary and the old faith. A pursuivant was sent to Jedburgh from the queen and Ker, to proclaim all null and void that had been done in state matters during her captivity; but the Jedburghers treated it with contempt, compelled the herald to eat his missive, and then, as Bannatyne RUINED A REEFS. 248 informs us, “loosed down his points and gave his wages, with a bridle, on his bare posterior, telling him that if he dared to show his face there again with such a message, it would be at the peril of his life.” For this insult Ker hanged ten of the townsmen, and destroyed all the provisions they had laid up for the coming winter. CI)e King David I.,—or as he is sometimes termed, “St. David,”—the founder of the abbey, was the youngest of the six sons of King Malcolm Ceanmohr, by his second wife, Margaret, the beautiful and pious princess of the Anglo-Saxon race, mother of Eadgar the Atheling, and who was so instrumental by influence, precept, and example, in civilizing, humanizing, and christianizing the barbaric northern court. He was born about the year 1080, and in the commotions which succeeded his father’s death in 1093 he took refuge with his mother and his sister Eadyth, afterwards the queen (Matilda) of Henry I., at the English court, where he remained several years, learning the accomplishments of the age, and becoming thoroughly imbued with the spirit of religion. When his brother, Alexander I., ascended the throne, David became Prince of Cumbria, which then included the county of Roxburgh, during which period he restored the fallen Bishopric of Glasgow, brought a colony of Benedictine monks from France, and planted them at Stirling, and it is supposed that he then founded the establishment at Jedburgh as a priory. He succeeded to the throne in 1124, and for nearly twenty years was almost constantly at war, in the earlier portion with the representatives of the old Celtic dynasties, pretenders to his crown; afterwards, in opposition to Stephen of England, in support of the claims of his niece, Matilda, the Empress, to the throne of her father, Henry I. He married Matilda, daughter of the famous Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria, Northampton, and Huntingdon, through whom the latter earldom came to the royal race of Scotland. “The rest of his reign was devoted to the accomplishment of the great revolution which had been begun by Malcolm his father, and St. Margaret his mother—the establishment in Scotland of the civilization which obtained in England. By building castles he procured the peace and safety of the country; by erecting burghs—of which Jedburgh was one he promoted its trade, shipping, and manufactures, and laid the foundation of its freedom; by endowing bishoprics and monasteries he provided homes for the only men of learning and enlightenment known in his time.” He died at Carlisle in 1153, and although never canonized, is esteemed a saint by the Scots. The exact date of the foundation of Jedburgh Abbey is uncertain. Andrew de Wintoun says 1118, which is probably correct: Fordun gives 1147, the probability being that the latter date is when it was changed from a priory to an abbey, or when the buildings were completed. King David determined that the fraternity should be canons of the Order of St. Augustine, an order less severe in its rules than the Benedictines, but more strict and monastic than the canons of the church, and sent to Beauvais (Bellovacum), in France, for a colony of canons from the Monastery of St. Quentin, which had been founded by Yvo Carnulensis, afterwards Bishop of Chartres. There was already one Augustinian Abbey in Scotland, at Scone, which had been planted there in the reign of Alexander I. by Atelwophus, Prior of Nostel in Yorkshire, who afterwards became Bishop of Carlisle. Eventually there were twenty-eight monasteries of the order in Scotland. King David, after building the house, granted and confirmed to the canons, by charter, the following properties:— 1. The Monastery of Jedworthe, with everything appertaining thereto. 2. The tithes of the two Jedworthes, Langton, Nesbyt, and Creling, the town of Earl Gospatric, and in the same town a ploughgate and half, and three acres of land and two houses; of the other Creling, the town of Orm, and of Scranesburghe. JEDBURGH ABBEY. 249 3. The chapels of Ulfstown near Jedworthe, Alnecliffe, Crumsethe, Reperlaw, and the chapel in the forest opposite Herwingeslaw. 4. One tenth part of the game taken in hunting in Teviotdale. 5. The multure of the miln at Jedworthe, where all the people ground their corn. 6. Pasture for their cattle in the king’s forest. 7. Wood and timber for the use of the monastery, excepting from Quikege. 8. The villages of Rule Hervey and Eadswordisley. 9. The saltworks near Strivelire. 10. A residential house at Roxburghe, and another at Berwick. 11. A fishery in the Tweed, opposite the isle of Tunmidship. King Malcolm IV. (“The Maiden”), grandson and successor of King David, supplemented his grandfather’s foundation endowment by a grant of the churches of Grendon and Barton, in Northamptonshire; a toft and seven acres of land at Jedworth; fishing above the bridge at Berwick; and exemption from duty on wine at Berwick. He died at Jedburgh of a lingering disease in 1165, at the early age of twenty-four years. Other grants of lands, churches, and houses were subsequently made to the abbey by Waltheof, son of Gospatric; David Olifard; Richard English; Gamel; Margaret, wife of Thomas de Loudon; Ralf, son of Donegal and Bethoa his wife; Christina, wife of Gervas Ridel; Gaufrid de Perci; Turgot de Rossendale; Guido de Rossendale; Gervas Lidal; Ranulph de Sulas; and William de Veteripont, or Vipont. There were three cells and an hospital appendant on the abbey: — The cell of Restinot, or Restnote, in the shire of Angus, established ante 1162, in which year (1162) Robert the Prior, formerly a canon of Jedburgh, was elected Prior of Scone, and in 1205 Hugh the Prior was elected Prior of Jedburgh. King Robert I. granted to the priory, and “the Abbot of Jedworth byding there,” “the tiends (tenths) of the king’s horses and studs, and the third of the hay of the Forest of Plater, and when the king was in Forfar, every day two loaves of bread called Sunday-bread, four loaves of second-bread, and six loaves of the bread called hagmans, two stoups of the best ale, two stoups of second ale, and two pair of dishes of each of the three services from the kitchen. The cell of Canonby, Dumfriesshire, between the Esk and the Liddel, was founded temp. Osbert, Prior of Jedburgh. The cell of Blantyre was situated in Clydesdale. King Robert III. made a grant of the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene, at Rutherford, in 1377, on condition that a chaplain, properly qualified, should be maintained there, to perform Divine Service, and to pray for his soul and those of his ancestors. priors anti Abbots of Slebburcjb. The list of the heads of the house is far from complete. The constant state of war in the Border, with the plunderings, burnings, and devastations to which the abbey was subjected, would interfere with the maintenance of a regular consecutive record of the succession of abbots, their elections to and cessations of office, and many of the fragmentary records would undoubtedly be destroyed in the course of the military inroads of the English, and at times the abbey would be left without a head. The following is as accurate a list (drawn from various sources) as can be ascertained:— Daniel, “Prior de Geddwrda,” occurs in King David’s charter, 1139. Osbert, “Prior de Gedworda,” occurs frequently temp. David I. He is said to have been “a man of singular integrity and unaffected pietydrew up rules for the monastery, registered the acts of the chapter, and wrote a treatise on the foundation of the priory, which he presented to the king. He was prior in 1150, after which he was styled abbot. In the chronicle of Melrose his death is recorded in 1174, as “primus Abbas de Jedwood.” Richard, the cellarer, succeeded him, and died in 1192. Ralph, a canon of the house, was his successor, and died in 1205. He was esteemed as a prophet, and gifted with second sight, but no account remains of his revelations. He is said to have been of engaging manners and disposition, and to have been much regretted at his death. Hugh, Prior of the subordinate Cell of Restinot, near Forfar, was elected his successor in 1205. Henry, the next that occurs, resigned his office in 1239, on account of the infirmities of age. Philip, a canon of the house, 1239 till death—1249. Robert de Gyseborn, a canon of the house, “a man whose very appearance inspired devotion,” succeeded him, and died the same year, 1249. 2 K 2 5 O RUINED ABBEYS. Nicholas, a canon of Jedburgh, 1249 — 1278, when he retired in consequence of old age, “bearing the character of a man of wisdom and prudence,” wise also in state matters. John Morel, canon of Jedburgh, 1275. William, possibly his successor, was witness to a charter granted to the abbey of Melrose between 1314 and 1328, the other witnesses being William, Abbot of Kelso, who was elected in 1314, and William de Lambeton, Bishop of St. Andrews, who died in 1328. John, circa 1338, was witness to a grant by William de Felton, the English Governor of Roxburgh Castle, and Sheriff of Teviotdale, to the abbey of Dryburgh. In 1348 he witnessed a confirmatory charter of King David Bruce to Kelso Abbey; and in 1354 a similar deed of King Edward III. to the church of St. James, Roxburgh. Robert, supposed to have been abbot in 1356. Walter, occurs in 1444, when his signature, along with those of the Abbots of Melrose, Dryburgh, and Kelso, was appended to an agreement relative to the tithes of Lessuden. Robert occurs in connection with the conclusion of a treaty of peace, 1473. John Hall, appointed by King James III., 1478. Thomas occurs in 1494, in connection with the arrangement of truce with England. Henry; his name occurs as a witness to charters in 1507, 1508, and 1511. John Home, one of the Spiritual Lords who sat in the Parliament of Perth in 1513. He was a younger son of Alexander, second Lord Home, and brother of Alexander, third Lord, and Lord Chamberlain of the Kingdom, who was beheaded on a false charge of treason, in a struggle for power, and the abbot banished beyond the Tay. Andrew Home, son of George, fourth Lord Home, and nephew of Abbot John, supra , held the abbacy at the Reformation in 1559, when the revenues were annexed to the crown. He was, however, in receipt of a certain portion of the revenue until his death in 1578. Dempster, in his Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, speaks of St. Kennoch as Abbot of Jedburgh in the early period of the annals, “a pious man who by his unceasing prayers and entreaties, prevailed on the kings of England and Scotland to maintain peace for a period of ten years, at a time when they were ready to rush at each other’s throats;” adding, “from him has been a long line of abbots, many of whom, from being employed in important state affairs, appear to have been men of distinguished learning and prudence.” Situate. Unlike monasteries more happily situated in their secluded valleys, remote from the turmoil of war, where the inhabitants could perform their devotions in peace and security, cultivate their lands with the certainty of reaping their harvests, and devote their leisure to the pursuits of literature in their libraries and scriptoriums, without the risk of having their literary treasures scattered to the winds or burned at the hands of rude and barbarous marauders, the abbey of Jedburgh, placed as it was between two rival monarchies who were ever at war, presents, in its annals, a series of disastrous calamities, such as plunderings, burnings, dispossessions, and murders, in which it was intimately associated with the Border history of Teviotdale, rendering it necessary, in narrating the annals of the abbey, to inter¬ weave with it a sketch of that history during its existence. Sir Walter Scott says,—“The abbeys which were planted upon the Border, neither seem to have been much respected by the English nor by the Scottish barons. They were repeatedly burned by the former in the course of the Border wars, and by the latter they seem to have been regarded chiefly as the means of endowing a needy relation, or the subject of occasional plunder.” King David appears to have planned his abbey, situated as it was near by a royal town and palace, on a magnificent scale, as is indicated by the existing ruins of the church. Of the progress of the erection we have no account, but we may presume that the buildings were commenced by him in 1118, when he was Prince of Cumbria, and completed in 1147, when the hitherto priory was dignified with an abbot. Little or nothing is known of its annals for the first hundred years of its existence; but early in the following century a dispute arose between the abbot and canons and the Bishop of Glasgow, relative to certain of their respective rights and privileges, which crossed and interfered with each other. The matter was referred to five arbitrators, who met at Nesbit, who, after hearing both sides, gave JEDBURGH ABBEY. 251 their decision “that the abbot and canons should obey the bishop or his official in all canonical matters, in a canonical manner, saving; their mutual privileges; that the chaplain of the parish church of Jedburgh yield fit obedience to the bishop or his officials, when they should come to perform episcopal offices in the church. The abbot, according to ancient custom, to attend in person, or by his procurator, at the festival of the dedication of the church of Glasgow; when summoned, not to omit attendance on synods; the canons to provide in the churches under their care and patronage meet accommodation for the bishop when performing his visitations, excepting where the vicarage was worth only ten marks;” and directions on some minor points of the dispute. Abbot Nicholas, in 1265, was sent on a mission, with three others, from King Alexander III. to his father-in-law, Henry III. of England, when a prisoner of Montfort’s, after the battle of Lewes. pF^OM J'lOF^TH-WEST. Jedburgh was a favourite residence of King Alexander III., on account of its beautiful scenery, and he chose it as the place of the celebration of his nuptials with the beautiful Jolande, daughter of the Count de Dreux. Within the walls of the castle were assembled all of the highest ranks of the Scottish nobility, with several nobles and ladies from the court of France. At the banquet all was mirth and hilarity, jesting and flirting; and during its progress a masque entered and passed along the centre, the revellers being seated at tables at the sides. First came a band of minstrels followed by splendid pageants, after whom came a company of dancers “with a variety of movements and gesticulations.” When these had passed through, a spectre glided into the hall, which was at first thought to be a part of the spectacle, although of ghastly aspect, but the spectators were soon undeceived, as it did not appear to touch the floor, nor to be of flesh and blood, but had the appearance of an unsubstantial phantom, with grisly features and a cloud-like robe. It glided along the centre of the hall, and when it came opposite the king, who was seated on the dais, at the upper end, it cast a look upon him and suddenly vanished, as if it sank into the floor. So RUINED ABBEYS. 25 2 tradition tells, and it is said that all the merriment of the feast at once subsided, as every one concluded that it betokened the king’s early death, which in fact took place in the fol¬ lowing March, by which the kingdom was thrown into confusion, and led to war with England, in respect to the disputed succession. The king’s heiress was his grand-daughter Margaret, “The Maid of Norway,” whom Edward I. of England wished to match with Edward, Prince of Wales, so as to unite the two crowns, but Margaret died before the negociations could be effected, and hence the subsequent competition for the crown of Scotland. On her death thirteen competitors started up as claimants, but those of two, John Baliol and Robert Bruce, were recognized as superior to the claims of the others, they being descendants of David, a younger brother of William the Lion, the former being grandson of his elder, and the latter a son of his second daughter. Edward I. of England claimed the right of interference, on the ground that William the Lion, when the prisoner of Henry II., had acknowledged himself a vassal of the English Crown, and asserting that Richard I. had no right to sell the vassalage, as it was not his property, but that of the sovereignty of England. The Parliament of Scone, although not recognizing the vassalage, agreed to submit the matter to his arbitration, and sent three commissioners, one of whom was John, Abbot of Jedburgh, to the English king, who was then in Gascony. They found him at Saintonge, and brought back his answer that he declined, for the present, giving his opinion, doubtless in order to consider in what way he might turn the crisis to his advantage, and in the same year he directs his Forester at Selkirk to send six fat bucks as a present to the Abbot of Jedburgh, one of a series of conciliatory gifts or bribes. Eventually Edward arbitrated in favour of John Baliol, on condition of his doing homage to him for his crown, which he did at Newcastle, December 26th., 1292, in presence of John, Abbot of Jedburgh, and other official persons. In virtue of this, King Edward assumed the feudal Lordship of Scotland, and demanded the submission and homage of the people. The abbot and convent of Jedburgh at once swore fealty, constrained thereto probably by their dangerous position on the Border, when the king confirmed to them their land in counties Roxburgh and Berwick; but he seems to have doubted their loyalty, as in September of the same year he sent thither one John de Byrdeleye, clerk, with a letter requesting his admission into their fraternity, presumedly as a spy upon them, and to take note of any movements tending towards revolt, the adjoining forest being a frequent and convenient place for the rendezvous of the disaffected. Jedburgh Castle, one of the strongest fortresses on the border, had been placed in Edward’s hands by the rival claimants, who thus risked the safety and defence of the nation to curry favour with him, which he placed under the hands successively of John Comyn, Lawrence Seymour, and Brian Fitz Alan, stating that he held it temporarily, that through it he might deliver up peaceable possession of the kingdom to the claimant whom he might select, but there can be no doubt he held it with a view to the complete subjugation of the kingdom. He gave it up to Baliol, on his accession, but only on condition that the towns of Jedburgh, Roxburgh, and Berwick be given into his hands, to hold as a pledge of his not making war on England, whilst he (Edward) was at war with France. This was declined, and at length Baliol, weary of interferences and indignities to which he was subjected by his feudal Lord, made a treaty with France of mutual aid and defence, which resulted in the invasion of Scotland by Edward, and the defeat and dethronement of the king. The strong places on the Border were reduced, and the castle and forest of Jedburgh committed to the charge of Thomas de Burnham, afterwards to Hugh de Eyland. Whilst under the protection of England, the canons of Jedburgh lived in peace and security, but during the struggle with Wallace, the protection accorded by King Edward was either revoked or was not sufficient to curb the insatiate thirst for plunder of the soldiers, on both sides, who robbed and devastated religious houses without scruple. JEDBURGH ABBEY. 253 Jedburgh did not escape; its cattle and grain were appropriated, the conventual buildings were destroyed, and even the lead of the church roof was stripped off, by Sir Richard Hastings, who refused to restore it even at the command of the king. The canons were reduced to a most deplorable condition, without a home to shelter them, with a roofless church in which to celebrate their devotional exercises, and brought to the point of starvation by the loss of their means of subsistence. So pitiable, indeed, was their position that King Edward compassionated them, and caused them to be distributed among other houses of the order in the north of England, with strict injunctions that they should be hospitably entertained until their house could be restored. The writ is still extant, assigning Ingelram de Colonia to the priory of Bridlington. The dependant cell of Restinot was also impoverished and ruined, and its tithes and other revenues appropriated by the king’s officers; but upon the petition of the Abbot of Jedburgh they were restored, and twenty oaks out of the forest of Platir granted to the brotherhood for the repairs of the church and other buildings. When, under Bruce, in 1314, Scotland recovered its independence at Bannockburn, the Borders were not so fortunate as to participate, as Jedburgh and other strong fortresses were still held by the English, who not only exacted pecuniary contributions, but carried off their cattle and goods, and when resistance was made, burned down the buildings, in which the abbey was not exempt. Sir James Douglas, surnamed the Good, was circa 1317 the chief protector of Teviotdale, who with his forces lay concealed in the forest of Jed, to cut off marauders from the English marches. Sir Thomas Richmont came over the Border with ten thousand men, supplied with woodmen’s axes, to cut down the forest, but was surprised in a defile by Douglas with a small band of Teviotsdale men, defeated, and slain. As a reward for this valorous exploit Sir James had a grant from King Robert of the lordship of the town, castle, and forest of Jedburgh. Soon after the castle surrendered to the Scots; the precise time is not recorded, but as Berwick, the last to surrender, was recovered in 1318, it would be shortly previous to that date. During these distracted times we have no record of the abbey; in fact it was non-existent, the residential buildings were demolished, the church was a ruin, and the canons were dispersed; and this lasted for a considerable period. When the retreating army of Edward II. crossed the Borders they burnt the abbeys of Melrose and Dryburgh, but do not appear to have visited Jedburgh, in consequence, doubtless, of its desolated condition. By the treaty of peace in 1328 it was stipulated that the lands and revenues in England belonging to the abbeys of Jedburgh, Melrose, and Kelso, should be restored, and the orders for restoration of those of Jedburgh were addressed to the Abbess de Pratis, Northampton¬ shire, the Parson of Abbotslie, in Huntingdonshire, John de Bolynbroke, the king’s Escheator, and Thomas de Featherstonhalgh. King Edward III. formally renounced the overlordship of Scotland, but when circumstances were more favourable, resumed it. In 1329 King Robert Bruce died, and was succeeded by David II., at the age of six, when Edward Baliol invaded the country, supported by many powerful English nobles, was crowned after the battle of Duplin in 1322, but had to fly from the people, after having consented to hold his crown as a vassal of the English king. Edward offered to support David on the same condition, which was indignantly rejected; upon which, in 1333, he marched into Scotland with a formidable force, and reinstated his vassal, Baliol, after the battle of Halidon Hill, who the following year ceded to him lands and rents on the Borders, of the value of ^2,000 per annum, in consideration of his aid. This concession included the town, castle, and forest of Jedburgh, and thus the abbey fell again under English rule. In the same year King Edward made an exchange of Annandale with Lord Henry Percy for the above and two other towns, which he bestowed on Edward de Bohun. But the RUINED ABBEYS. 254 Scottish people objected to the rendition of so extensive a tract of their most fertile lands, and the people of Jedburgh and the forest absolutely refused to become subjects of the English king, in consequence of which the gifts and the exchange became a dead letter. Edward Baliol, 29th. Jan., 1356, made a formal cession at Roxburgh Castle of his kingdom and personal estate to Edward III., for five hundred marks and an annual pension of ^2,000, on which occasion there were present, as witnesses of the act, the Abbot of Jedburgh, and those of the other Teviotdale convents. Two years after, Robert, Abbot of Jedburgh, was sent with a letter of safety into England, on business of importance to King David, soon after his release from captivity, which he procured by paying a ransom of one hundred thousand marks. During this period of struggle and contention, the canons of Jedburgh had a difficult and critical part to play, lying, as they did, between the opposing powers, now subject to one and then to the other, alternately, and being obliged to maintain an outward show of friendship with both; but even this politic course was not sufficient to save them from pre¬ dator}- visits and maltreatment from both sides. They appear to have returned to their house after their dispersion, to have patched up their church, and reconstructed in some rude fashion their dwellings; but of these events we have no records. In 1373 the affairs of the abbey seem to have been in a better and more prosperous condition, when the canons had become exporters of wool, the growth of their own sheep; as in that year we find King Edward III. issuing an order to his officers of the customs at Berwick, forbidding them to exact more than half a mark of duty per sack of wool of the growth of Scotland, to the number of fourscore sacks, that should be exported by the abbeys of Jedburgh, Melrose, Dryburgh, and Kelso. He granted also, in the same year, letters of protection for three years on behalf of the abbots, monks, servants, and property of the same four monasteries. Still, notwithstanding these letters of protection, the country was in so lawless a state that it was unsafe to travel unless well armed, or with an escort. On one occasion, JEDBURGH ABBEY. 2 55 about this period, some monks of Jedburgh and Dryburgh were sent into England, armed with such letters, to seek the recovery of some property, who were waylaid, robbed, and murdered. England still held the chief places of strength, but they were subjected to incessant attacks from the dispossessed landowners, hostile chiefs, and the ferocious peasantry and foresters around them, who in their guerilla mode of warfare cut off many of the English, with little danger to themselves. William, Earl of Douglas, was Warden of the March on one side, and the Earl of Northumberland on the other, who made constant raids on each other’s territories, with an accompaniment of valorous deeds and romantic episodes, the themes of many an old ballad that stirred the souls of the Borderers as they listened to them from the JNoi^th-east. lips of the minstrel in the hall of the castle or at gatherings of the people. The most famous of them was the battle of Otterbourne, or Chevy Chase, when “Yt felle abowht the Lammas tide, Whan husbands wynn ther haye, The dowghtie Dowglasse bowynd hym to ryde Yn Ynglond to take a praye.” In the course of which he fell in with the Earl of Northumberland and his son Henry Hotspur, and a fiercely contested battle, or rather skirmish, took place, when Douglas and the Earl of Murray were slain, and Hotspur, with his brother, Ralph Percy, captured by the Scots. This occurred in 1388, but four years before, by the persevering efforts of Douglas, the intruders were driven out of Teviotdale, and never again permanently occupied it; excepting only the garrisons of Jedburgh and Roxburgh, which were still held by the English, but in a state of siege, excepting during truces. The former was held by the English from the battle of Durham in 1346, until 1409, when it was wrested from them by the peasantry of Teviotdale. The castle stood on the brow of a hill, and the garrison had levied contri¬ butions upon the town with great oppression and cruelty, and when captured it was resolved to demolish it to prevent its falling again into the hands of the enemy. It was, however. 2 5 6 RUINED ABBEYS. so massively built that this became a work of great difficulty and cost, and the States of the Realm, at Perth, laid a tax of twopence on every hearth through the kingdom to defray that cost, but the Duke of Albany, the regent, abrogated the order, and gave directions for the money to be paid out of the crown revenues. The Earl of Northumberland and his son Hotspur, having fought successfully against the Scots at Homildon, in 1402, and having been instrumental in placing the usurper, Henry IV., on the throne, that monarch, in gratitude for their services and appreciation of their valour, made a grant (merely nominal, in reality,) to the Earl, of Teviotdale and all the Douglas lands; but the following year they rebelled, in consequence of a supposed indignity respecting the Scottish captives, were defeated at the battle of Shrewsbury, and Hotspur slain. The earl was pardoned, but deprived of the wardenship of the marches, and his Scottish grant abrogated, the castle and forest of Jedworth to be delivered up to Robert Swinowe, with all the rights of regality, the advowson of abbeys, priories, churches, and hospitals; from which it appears that the canons had lost their right of electing their abbot, as here¬ tofore, and that it now lay in the hands of the lay patrons. The earl again broke out in rebellion against King Henry, and was slain at Bramham Moor in 1408. In 1410 a naval expedition sailed up the Firth, under Sir Robert Umfraville, Vice Admiral of England, and Governor of Berwick, who made an inroad into Teviotdale, burned the town of Jedburgh, and ravaged the country along the banks of the river; and when it was rising from its ashes it was again destroyed by Richard Nevil, Earl of Warwick, as a punishment to the Borderers for having given assistance to Queen Margaret of Anjou. Robert, Abbot of Jedburgh, was one of the commissioners sent by King James III. to meet those of England at Alnwick for settling the conditions of peace; and in 1494, Abbot Thomas went on a similar mission to Coldstream, for arranging the terms of a truce, and for a redress of grievances, one of these being trespasses by the English on the lands of Canonby, a priory subordinate to Jedburgh. During this period of tribulation for Teviotdale and Jedburgh we have no record of the abbey’s history, saving the above two references to the abbots, from which it would appear that it continued to exist, although it would doubtless suffer considerably in the successive raids of the English. By this time, the Abbey of Jedburgh, along with almost all others, had undergone a transformation from their primitive simplicity, devotional piety, and comparative purity. It had become to a great extent secularised, and although the forms and ceremonials of religion were observed, the canons were nothing more than lay men in the monastic garb, living lives of ease and retirement, of literary leisure, and it is to be feared too often of luxurious habits and dissolute sensuality, whilst the headship became the appanage of some neighbouring aristocratic family. Thus in 1513 the abbacy of Jedburgh was held by John, a younger son of Lord Home, whose family had a feud with the regent, the Duke of Albany, who, in 1516, under the frivolous pretence of being accessory to the death of King James IV., at Flodden, caused William Lord Home, brother of the abbot, to be beheaded, and the abbot himself to be deprived and banished. In the year 1513 the citizens of Jedburgh founded a convent of Franciscan Friars of the Observantine Order, otherwise the Mendicant or Begging Friars. Their rules were exceedingly severe; they were to possess no land, excepting the site on which their house stood; to subsist only on alms, the friars going about with a wallet on the shoulder, for the reception of broken victuals which they begged; and to go barefooted, wearing only a woollen robe, girt with a rope, and having a cowl for the head. Adam Abel, or Bell, a canon of Inchaffy, the author of Rota Temporum , the Wheel of Time, a work beginning at the creation and ending at 1585, written in Latin, and printed at Rome, changed his order, and became an inmate of the Jedburgh Friary, where he ended his days. JEDBURGH ABBEY. 257 Until the Battle of Flodden, in 1513, the Borders enjoyed for a time a period of repose, after which “the mountain passes of the Cheviots and the glens of Teviotdale again re-echoed the harsh clang and barbarous uproar of hereditary warfare.” Thomas, Baron Dacre, Warden of the Middlemarch, thus describes, in a letter to the Bishop of Durham, a raid he made into Teviotdale in 1513:—“ Ascertayning yr Lordship, that sens I mett the Chamberlayne, on Setterday was sevin-night, I caused iij roods to be made in Tevidale; oone to the toure of Howpaslet and there brynt, tooke and brought away xxxiij score sheep, with insight and goodes; another rood to Carlanrig, made be the inhabi¬ tants of Tynedale and Riddesdale, to the castle of Ancram, and brynt the town of the same, and toke and brought awey lx prisoners, with much goodes, cattle, and insight; and thre roods in Annandale, wher as gret destruction was, both of brynning and taking of goodes; and over that I entend Tividale shal be kept waking whils I deale with them myselfe.” Then in a letter to King Henry he describes how he dealt with them:—“Opon Thuresday,” he writes, “I asembled yr Grace’s subjects in Northomberland, to the nombre of 1,000 horsemen, and rode in at Gamellespeth, and so to the watter of Kale ij mile within Scotland, and ther sett furth ij forages; my brother, Philip Dacre, with ccc men, which brynt and destroyed the town of Rowcastell, with al the cornes in the same and thereabouts, and wan ij townes in it, and brent bothe roffe and flores; and Sir Roger Fenwicke with ccc men brynt the towne of Langton, and destroyed all the cornes therein ; which townes are in the hert of the countrie, ij myles beyond Jedworth, upon the watter of the Chevyot; and I come with a stale to a place called Dungyon, a mile frae Jedworth, and so went to the Sclaterford and the watter of Howset, and there the Scots perseued us right sore. Thei bekered with us, and gave us hard stroks. There was come to Standers to bak theym, that is to say, Dauid Karre of Fernhirst, and the Laird of Bondgeworth, opon the oone syd, and the Sheref of Tevidale on the other syd, to the nombre of dccc men or mo. The Ld. of Walghope was hert ther with an arrowe, and his hors slane; Mark Trumbill was stricken with a spere, and the hede left in him.Sir John Ratcliffe came to a toure ful of men, and thei layed corne and strawe to the dore, and brynt it, both rofe and flore, and so smoked them out. They brynt the townes of Sowdon and Lurches, bothe with a toure in yt; also the towne of Hyndhalghede, West Fawsyde, and East Fawsyde, with a pele of lyme and stane in it,” etc. The Borderers of Teviotdale not being able, in consequence of the constant passing to and fro of warlike plunderers, to cultivate their lands or protect their cattle, merged into a nest of bandits and outlaws. They had at this time five years of peace from external foes, but what with the jealousies and feuds of rival chiefs and families, rapine, disorder, and fighting became the normal state of things amongst themselves. In the struggle for power between the Regent and the Homes, supra, Sir Andrew Kerr, of Fernihirst, Seneschal or Bailiff of Jedburgh Abbey, was apprehended as an accomplice of the Homes, in one of the charges brought against him, that of encouraging and abetting the Teviotdale peasantry and foresters in their acts of brigandage, but he escaped death either by acquittal or by favour of the regent. As bailiff of the abbey he claimed, in 1519, jurisdiction over Jed Forest, as part of the lordship of the abbey, which was disputed by the Earl of Angus, the owner, and which ended, as was usual in those rough days, with broken heads and slaughtered men. Kerr of Cessford, Warden of the Middlemarch, sided with the earl, and proceeding towards Kelso, met Sir James Hamilton, with a company of Mersemen and forty outlaws, going to join the bailiff, and a skirmish took place. At the onset thirty of the Mersemen deserted; Hamilton and thirty horsemen were captured, and eight men slain. The bailiff upon this conceded the point, and for the future held the forest court as the baillie of the Earl of Angus. In April, 1522, war broke out again with England; the English warden entered Teviot¬ dale with two thousand men; “and came to Leynton Tower, and sett upon it with speres and shields, and in conclusion or it was past none, wan it and brant it clene down to the bare 2 L RUINED ABBEYS. 258 stanes and walles.” In July, the Earl of Surrey entered the dale with an army when the corn was ripening, with a view of destroying the crops. He was accompanied by Lords Dacre and Ross, who advanced as far as Kelso, and burnt it. But by this time the beacons had been set blazing on the hill tops, and the men of Teviotdale responding to the summons, gathered together and drove the invaders back across the Border, taking many prisoners. In this expedition eighteen fortified places were demolished. In the following year the Earl of Surrey entered Teviotdale, burnt some twenty towns and villages, and returned “with their botie, which was iiij hede of nete” (cattle). In Sep¬ tember he crossed the Border again, for the purpose of destroying Jedburgh, then a much J'JEW goUTH POOP^WAY, more important place than now, defended by six strong forts, and houses for lodging a thousand troops. He had six thousand men under his command, with the Earl of West¬ moreland, Lord Dacre, and other sub-commanders. Although gallantly defended by fifteen hundred to two thousand men, the town having no walls, was soon taken. In his letter to King Henry VIII., referring to this event, he says, “Pleisith your Grace to be advertised that upon Fridaye, at x a clok at nyght, I returned to this towne and all the garnysons to their places assigned, the bishopricke men, my Lorde of Westmoreland and my Lord Dacre, in likewise, every man home with their companys, without loss of any men, thanked be God; saving viii or x slayne, and dyvers hurt, at skyrmishes and saults of the town of Gedworth and the forterisis; which towne is soo surely brent that no garnysons ner none other shal JEDBURGH ABBEY. 259 be lodged there unto the time it bee newe builded; the brennyng wherof I commytted to twoo sure men, Sir William Bulmer and Thomas Tempeste. The town was much better than I went [weened or supposed] it had beene, for there was twoo tymys moo houses therein then in Berwicke, and well builded, with many honest and fair houses therein.which towne and towers be clenely destroyed, brent, and throwen down.” Leaving, as he states, Bulmer and Tempest to complete the work of destruction at Jedburgh, the earl himself went with a detachment to attack the abbey, which occupied him “until two hours after nightfall,” when it was taken, pillaged, and burnt, and from which it never recovered. j'JOF^MAN ^(\CHES IN JVaVE. The next day he sent Lord Dacre, with Sir Charles, his brother, to attack Fernihirst Castle, then held by Sir Andrew Kerr, a man of great courage and abilities in Border warfare, and distinguished as much in state affairs as in the field, who died in 1545. The castle was situated on an eminence in the forest, and exceedingly difficult of access. They had with them eight hundred men, who had to drag their cannon up an acclivity, through thick and entangled brushwood, and to fight every step of the way against ambushed foes, but by perseverance and valour they “gat forthe th’ ordynance within the howse, and threwe downe the same. At which skyrmyshe my seid Lord Dacre and his brother, Sir Cristofer, Sir Arthure, and Sir Marmaduke did marvellously hardly, and found the best resistance that hath been seene with my comyng to their parties, and above xxxii Scottis sleyne and not passing iij Englishmen, but above xl hurt.” Sir Andrew was taken prisoner, but ransomed soon after. 260 RUINED ABBEYS. The victors returned to Jedburgh, and encamped, raising a rampart of waggons around. Lord Dacre, who had lingered on the road, came in and encamped outside; and during the night the devil got amongst his horses, and produced so much confusion that the English imagined the Scots were upon them, and shot away a hundred sheaves of arrows before they discovered their mistake, which is thus narrated by Surrey in his letter to the king:— “And he (Lord Dacre) being with me at souper about viii a clok, the horses of his company brak lowse, and sodenly ran owt of his feld in such nombre, that it caused a marvellous alarome in our feld; and our standing watche being sett, the horses cam rounyng alonge the campe, at whome we shot above one hundred shief of arrowes and dyvers gonnys, thinking that they had been Scots that wold have saulted the campe; fynally the horses were so madde that they ran like wilde dere into the feld, above xvc at the leest, in dyvers companys, and in one place above 1 felle downe a grete rok and slew thymself, and above ijc ran into the towne, being on fire, and by the women taken and carried awaye right evill brent. I think there is lost above viiic horses.I dare not write the wondres that my Lord Dacre and all his company doo saye they sawe that nyght vj tyms of spirits and fereful sights, and unyversally all their company saye playnly, the devil was that nyght among theym vi tymys, which mysfortune hath blemyshed the best journey that was made in Scotland many yeres.” Unfortunate Teviotdale continued to be ravaged and desolated until, as Lord Dacre said, “Little or nothing was left upon the frontiers of Scotland, without it be parte of old houses, whereof the thak and covering are taken away, by reason whereof they cannot be brint.” The people were reduced to such distress, that in order to live they were compelled perforce to become robbers of the English across the Border, despite any existing truce, saying that what had been taken from them by force they had a right to recover by force. The Bishop of Glasgow excommunicated them, but they regarded it not; and the regent, the Earl of Angus, came into the district in 1529, apprehended and put to death several of the leaders, which produced so good an effect that “thereafter there was great peace and rest a long time.” During the twenty years that had elapsed since the destruction of Jedburgh by the Earl of Surrey, the town had risen up from its ashes, had become populous, and was defended by new towers of great strength; but a breach with England occurred again in 1542, when Sir Robert Bowes, accompanied by the exiled Douglasses, entered Teviotdale with three thousand horse, with a view of again destroying the town, but they were defeated at Haddenrig by Lords Huntly and Home, and compelled to retreat. In the same year the Earl of Surrey (now Duke of Norfolk) again crossed the Border, burnt Kelso, but was obliged to retire through lack of provisions. Negociations had been set on foot for the marriage of Prince Edward of England with the Princess Mary of Scotland, an alliance which the king heartily desired, as it would unite the two crowns of the island in the person of their offspring; but the match was broken off, and “the wrath of the disappointed monarch discharged itself in a wide-wasting and furious invasion of the East Marches, conducted by the Earl of Hertford,” brother to Lady Jane Seymour, afterwards Duke of Somerset, who wrote to the king that there should be “a warden’s rode made into Jedworth,” not doubting but with the Grace of God they would be able to win the town and also the church or abbey, which was thought a house of some strength, and might be made a good fortress; from which it would appear that it had been repaired, and to some extent rebuilt. Lord Eure and his son Sir Ralph soon after advanced upon the town and demanded its surrender. The Provost asked time until noon to decide, but Eure thinking this a pretext to obtain assistance from the country, rushed into the town on three sides, captured and then burnt it with the towers and the Franciscan convent, carried off their seven cannon, and loaded five hundred horses with pillage. “They laid waste the whole vale of Teviot, with a JEDBURGH ABBEY. 261 ferocity of devastation hitherto unheard of.” In Hayne’s State Papers, is given a list of places destroyed in these forays, consisting of ‘‘ seven monasteries and freerhouses; sixteen castles, toures, and peles; five market townes; two hundred and forty-three villages; thirteen mylns; and three spytells and hospitals.” In the following August Teviotdale had another visit from Lord Eure, when he killed eighty Scots, took thirty prisoners, destroyed the growing crops, and carried off two hundred and twenty oxen and four hundred sheep. In the succeeding spring, along with Sir Brian Laiton, at the head of fifteen hundred English Borderers and three thousand mercenaries, he again occupied Jedburgh with a view of completely subjugating Teviotdale to English rule. The Earls of Arran and Angus advanced against them with three hundred horse, hoping for reinforcements on the road. They reached Melrose without much addition to their force, when, hearing of the proximity of the English, they retired to await the arrival of their supports. The English came to Melrose, when, finding themselves thwarted, they spoiled the town, and were returning to Jedburgh with their booty, when the Earls, having been joined by Lesley and Sir Walter Scott of Buccleugh, fell upon them at Ancram, with a much inferior force, completely defeated them, and took Eure and Laiton, with eight hundred of their men prisoners. This battle put an end to all hopes of permanent conquest, although the defeat was avenged in September, by the Earl of Hertford, who again laid Teviotdale waste, and more completely destroyed what remained of the monastic buildings. As Jedburgh Abbey had been burnt the previous year, what was destroyed now could only have been the temporary habitations of the monks, as there could not have been time for any substantial repairs of the church. The wars, however, were not yet over; whilst Eure and Laiton were ravaging Teviotdale, the Earls of Home and Bothwell, and the Abbots of Jedburgh and Dryburgh, with three thousand men, Scottish and French, made a retaliatory raid into Northumberland, where they burnt some towns and villages, but were driven back by the Governor of Norham, with the loss of two hundred men slain or drowned, and sixty made prisoners. In 1547, was fought the disastrous battle of Pinkie, in which the Earl of Arran was defeated by the Earl of Hertford, with the loss of ten thousand men; and, “the Borderers saw with dread and detestation the ruinous fortress of Roxburgh once more receive an English garrison, and the widow of Lord Home driven from his baronial castle, to make room for the ‘Southern Reivers.’” Desse, the commander of the French auxiliaries, was sent to dislodge the English. At the request of Ker, the Laird of Fernihirst, he went to retake the castle, which was held by sixty to eighty English. He gained the base court by means of long poles, with which he scaled the walls, and then got into the keep by mining, under an incessant shower of missiles from the battlements. The commander surrendered, and implored that his life might be spared. “Immediately, however, one of the Scotsmen, recognising in him the ravisher of his wife, came suddenly behind and struck off his head, with so dexterous a blow that it leaped four or five paces from his body; and then the Borderers, with savage ferocity, vied with each other in mangling and insulting the carcass, and in tearing out the eyes of the prisoners, and inflicting other torments before putting them to death.” Beauge, a French general who was present, gives this narrative in his Campagnes de Beauge , and adds, “The English, during the three or four months they held the castle, committed such barbarous atrocities that, although he disapproved of the cruelty of the Scots, he could not but think that it was a fair retaliation.” Desse took up his quarters in Jedburgh, but on the approach of the Earl of Rutland, with eight thousand men, he retired. The peace of 1550 made little difference to the Borderers on both sides, who went on as usual, marauding and murdering each other, which brought Mary of Guise, the Regent 262 RUINED ABBEYS. Queen Dowager, to Jedburgh, in 1552, to hold a court of justice, when she knighted some of the chiefs who were not guilty of these practices, and compelled others to deposit pledges for their future good conduct. Nine years afterwards, her daughter, Queen Mary, held a similar court there, and caused many of the culprits to be punished; and in 1566 she was at another court there, when she committed the fatal error of going to visit Bothwell, who had been wounded by some Liddesdale outlaws, and nearly lost her life in a morass on her return. At length, in 1575, at a meeting of the Wardens of the Middle Marches, Sir John Carmichael on the Scottish side, and Sir John Forster on the English, for a redress of grievances, a sudden quarrel broke out, and a conflict took place at Reidswire, or as it was then called, Reidsquhair, at the foot of Carter Hill, in the Cheviots, about ten miles from Jedburgh, which resulted in the defeat of the English, and was, happily, the concluding Border fight, the two countries a quarter of a century afterwards becoming united under one monarch. (TI)f -Reformation, anti tljr Ehs's'olution of Sbtm Although the seeds of the Reformation of Religion had long been germinating in the Scottish soil, their fructification did not take place until some time after those of England. In the latter country Wyclif had prepared the way for throwing off the yoke of Rome, but it is probable that the Reformation would have been delayed for several years but for the lustful, avaricious, and ambitious desires of the eighth Henry. He quarrelled with the Pope about the divorce of Catherine of Aragon, having become enamoured of Anne Boleyn; he desired to be spiritual as well as temporal King of England: hence he renounced the Papal supremacy, and caused himself to be proclaimed Head of the Anglican Church; and in order to fill his own coffers, and attach more firmly to his throne the nobles of the land, he adopted the bold expedient of suppressing the monasteries, and appropriating their revenues for his own use and that of his friends. In Scotland it was different. There the monarchs who occupied the throne remained attached to the old faith, until the accession of James VI., and even he, although he sanctioned the establishment of Presbyterianism, disliked it, and afterwards endeavoured to overthrow it. Lollardism had penetrated into Scotland at an early period, James Reresby, a disciple of Wyclif, being burnt for heresy in 1406 or 1407. In the following century Lutheranism was extensively propagated, and Patrick Hamilton sent to the stake in 1528, for preaching those doctrines, as were several others; and many fled to England to avoid persecution. About this time the country was divided between two parties, one headed by the bishops, who resisted all change, the other the Reformers, consisting of many of the clergy and the burghers of the towns, who in 1546 came into deadly conflict, George Wishart, the most eloquent of the Reformed preachers, being condemned to death by an ecclesiastical court, over which Cardinal Beaton presided, who, in retaliation, was murdered by the Reformers. The struggle continued during the regency of the Earl of Arran and the Dowager Queen Mary, until 1559, when the Reformers felt themselves strong enough to set them at defiance, their leader being John Knox, recently come from Geneva, where he had imbibed the principles of Calvin. So great was their ascendancy, that in the Parliament of 1560 they succeeded in getting acts passed abolishing the jurisdiction of the Pope, proscribing the mass, and establishing a Confession of Faith, drawn up by Knox and his associates, the form of worship being modelled on that of Geneva. The abbey ceased to exist as a spiritual establishment in 1560, after a duration of nearly four and a half centuries of remarkable vicissitudes, and the brethren who then occupied it (not very spiritually-minded men, it is to be feared,) were turned adrift into the highways, with no knowledge of handicraft, to become beggars, moss-troopers, soldiers, or what not. Two years JEDBURGH ABBEY. 263 afterwards, an estimate was made of the property belonging to the abbey, and was found to consist of the following items, including the subordinate priories of Restenot and Canonby:— ^"1,274 ioj. Scots money. Two chalders and two bolls of wheat. Twenty-three chalders of barley. Thirty-six chalders, thirteen bolls, one firlot, and one peck of meal. Landed property.—The Baronies of Ulfstown, Ancrum, Windington, Belshes, Reperlaw, and Abbotrule. Spiritual possessions.—The kirks of Jedburgh, Eckford, Hownam, Langenewton, Dalmeny, Oxnam, Selbie, Wanchope, Castletoun, Crailing, Nesbit, Plenderleith, Hopkirk, Forfar, Drunyvald, and Aberlemno. In 1569, King James VI. made a grant to the provost, magistrates, and community of Jedburgh, of all the property and revenues of the abbey that lay within the parish, for the purpose of maintaining hospitals for the sick, almshouses for the aged poor, schools for poor children, etc., which was ratified by the Parliament; “but no infeftment appears to have J'Iave, LOOKING y/EST. been taken upon it, and there is no trace of any particular subject having been taken pos¬ session of, under it.” The revenues were annexed to the crown, with a pension payable thereout to the surrendering abbot, George, a younger son of the fourth Lord Home. At the time of the dissolution the bailiery of the convent estates, as well as that of the forest of Jedburgh, was held by the Laird of Fernihirst, but whether he retained the office in respect to the former is uncertain, as in 1587, Sir Andrew Kerr was either confirmed in the office or had a restoration of it from the hands of James VI. In 1622, the lands and baronies held by the canons of Jedburgh, were erected into a temporal lordship, and granted to Sir Andrew Kerr, with the title of Baron Jedburgh, with remainder to his heirs male. He died s.p. in 1631, and was succeeded by his half brother James, as second Baron, whose son Robert, failing issue, obtained an extension of the entail to William Kerr, his kinsman, son and heir of Robert, fourth Earl and first Marquis of Lothian, and to be held as a distinct peerage by the eldest son of the Earl of Lothian for the time being, for ever, as it still continues. Respecting the contrast of Teviotdale, in the good old times of rapine, murder, and war, before the fall of the abbey, with what it became in more recent times of security, order. 264 RUINED ABBEYS. and good government, with more fastidious sentiments on the rights of mcum et tuam. Pennant, who visited the dale in 1772, writes,—“From what I can collect, the country is greatly depopulated. In the reign of James VI., or a little before the union, it is said that this country could send out fifteen thousand fighting men; at present it could not raise three thousand. But plundering in those times was the trade of the Borderers , which might occasion the multitude of inhabitants .” Since then, however, Teviotdale has prospered and become the seat of pastoral and agricultural industry, with smiling cornfields and meadows, and of a contented and happy community, who can reap their harvests, and leave their cattle untended without the least dread of an inroad of reivers or ferocious soldiery, or of seeing their houses and barns burnt over their heads.