Rievaulx Abbey. Community, Architecture, Memory (review)

Abstract

Rievaulx Abbey. Community, Architecture, Memory. By Peter Fergusson and Stuart Harrison. With contributions by Glyn Coppack. (New Haven: Yale University Press. Published for The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. 1999. Pp. xii, 282. illus: 189 b/w + 35 color. $85.00.) The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) described Cistercian abbey of Rievaulx, twenty miles north of York in Rye valley of as the most celebrated monastery in England, presumably referring to its extensive architectural ruins. But there has been no modern study of those ruins. The spiritual writings of Aelred, third abbot of Rievaulx (1147-1167), probably most distinguished twelfth-century English churchman outside episcopate, have been studied, but his role in Rievaulx's expansion and renovation has not been. This splendidly illustrated and elegantly written volume seeks to fill this lacuna. Using recovered fragmentary plans and surviving stonework as texts, authors explore Rievaulx's development during four stages: first buildings under founding abbot William (I 132-1146)-church and chapter house; expansion and renovation of above and construction of new facilities under Aelred, including abbot's house, refectory, infirmary, and latrine block for a monastic community numbering in 1150's and 1160's possibly 600; further renovations during fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in consequence of end of grange system and decline of numbers during Black Death; and, last, fate of buildings after Suppression. Henry VIII sold Rievaulx to Thomas Manners, Earl of Rutland, ironically a lineal descendant of Walter Espec, who had given original land for foundation of Rievaulx. Official documentation shows how Rutland stripped monastic buildings of everything from nails in church's roof down to floor tiles, and turned lands and buildings to industrial exploitation, specifically iron manufacture. Later chapters of book trace Rievaulx's ownership in seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when it went From Wreck to Ruin, and into twentieth century when it passed into Guardianship of Office of Works (now English Heritage). Today, the bare ruined choirs where late sweet birds sang are a popular tourist attraction: 100,000 visitors went to Rievaulx in 1996. Appendix A by John R. Senior discusses stonework and six quarries from which building materials were extracted; Appendix B by J. Stopford treats tile pavements and floor decorations; Appendix C gives a list of thirty-eight abbots; and Appendix D provides Suppression documents. Aelred's tenure as abbot witnessed most important period of architectural change when style shifted from Romanesque to early Gothic. The authors show how Aelred, descended from a long line of married priests with powerful social connections in northern England and at Scottish royal court, acquired, before his election as abbot, broad experience from travel, diplomatic missions, and monastic administration. He also secured friendship of prominent people who became Rievaulx's benefactors. …