Cistercian Houses Research Articles

The Early Years of Netley Abbey

It was in broken health that Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester (1205–38), returned for the last time to England, about Michaelmas 1236. On 31 October 1236, at Rochester, he made his last testament; this was given royal acceptance and confirmation at Windsor on 4 November, in the presence of some of the executors: Ralph de Nevill, bishop of Chichester (1222–44) and chancellor (1226–44), P. archdeacon of Winchester, Luke des Roches, archdeacon (by 1228–44) of Surrey, and the versatile architect and administrator Mr. Elias de Derham (c. 1167–d. 1245). Bishop Peter rallied, to take some part in national affairs, as well as in his diocese, during die next two years. He died at his episcopal castle of Farnham on 9 June 1238 and his body was buried in his cathedral; but his heart was buried at die Cistercian abbey of Waverley, a few miles soudi-west of Farnham. In 1237 he had petitioned the Cistercian chapter general for leave to have a Cistercian monk and two lay brodiers living with him. This, the heart burial, and the notices accorded him by Waverley's annalist, reflect die private preoccupations of his last years: die founding of Cistercian houses in his native country and in his English diocese. The arrangements, unfinished at his deadi, were left to be completed by his executors, who notified die Order's chapter general at its usual mid-September meeting in 1238, when die investigating commissioners for die new foundations were appointed.

The Monastic Patronage of Bishop Alexander of Lincoln

In a particularly active, if sadly undocumented, period in the history of the English Church, Alexander, third bishop of Lincoln (1123–1148), stands out as a prelate of unusual energy and achievement. Beyond his intermittent involvement in national affairs, he was responsible in the twenty-five years of his episcopate for the establishment of at least nine prebends in the Lincoln chapter; the acquisition of substantial assets for his see—including the right of market and fair in two towns; the setting up of an additional and final, archdeaconry; extensive structural and decorative innovations at his cathedral; the founding of at least one leper hospital; the erection of two, and very probably three, castles; and the establishment of four religious houses. The last of the activities in this impressive curriculum, the founding of the Cistercian houses of Thame and Louth, the Arrouaisian house of Dorchester and the Gilbertine house of Haverholm, all in the brief period 1139–41, represents an achievement approached at that time only by the three foundations of bishop Warelwast of Exeter (1107–37) at Plympton, Launceston and Bodmin. If, moreover, Alexander was not the formal founder of the Gilbertine house of Sempringham some years earlier, it is at least clear that he played a decisive role there, as, indeed, there is good reason for supposing that he made a more positive and critical contribution to the early development of this, the only indigenous English monastic order, than has previously been allowed.

Scissors and paste: Corpus Christi, Cambridge, MS 139 again

Amongst the manuscripts bequeathed to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, by Matthew Parker in 1575 is one of the most important surviving collections of sources for the history of the north of England in the twelfth century. Manuscript 139, as it now is, contains, amongst other items, unique, or almost unique, copies of the so-called Historia Regum, which had been ascribed to Symeon of Durham before the end of the twelfth century, its continuation by John of Hexham, and the History of Richard of Hexham. It was a prime, and in part a unique, source of Twysden’s pioneering edition of 1652, and its value is in no way diminished today. This apart, the manuscript is of great interest as a manuscript, and the problems of its date, provenance and composition are still the subject of debate. The most recent and definitive account of the manuscript was given by Peter Hunter Blair in a fifty-five page article contributed to the volume of essays edited by Nora Chadwick under the title Celt and Saxon. His conclusions, which supersede all earlier views, were that the manuscript was compiled in the period c 1165–70 at the cistercian house of Sawley in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and the subsequent discovery of an erased Sawley ex libris, now visible only in ultra-violet light, and dated by Ker to the late twelfth/early thirteenth century, reinforced his view. Yet there still remain problems and uncertainties, and my purpose here is first to sketch in a little of the history of the manuscript in its present form, and secondly, by further examination of particular aspects of its to supplement and qualify Blair’s conclusions.

The Late Twelfth-Century Rebuilding at Dundrennan Abbey

SummaryA study of the surviving remains of the Cistercian abbey church of Dundrennan, Kirkcudbright, reveals that the monks undertook a massive remodelling of the eastern portions in the late twelfth century. It was largely confined to the east walls of the transepts, the transept chapels, and the crossing, and was intended to give greater height and space by the addition of a third storey. The inspiration for the new ideas was evidently derived from Cistercian houses in the north of England such as Kirkstead, Roche and Byland.

Cattle on the Estates of Medieual Cistercian Monasteries in England and Wales

In I237 the monks and converse of English Cistercian houses were forbidden to trade in wool and hides.1 There is, however, little if any direct evidence of their actually marketing hides at this time. The only possible shred to come to light is of much later date: a note among the records of the borough of Nottingham under the year I397 showing that, in an action for debt, the abbot of Rufford had been 'attached by a cart with tanned leather to answer'.2 On the other hand it is quite clear from surveys, references to tanneries and vaccaries, and grants of pasture and rights of way that cattle commonly occupied an important place in Cistercian economy, notwithstanding the well-known interest of the Order as a whole and certain houses in particular in the great wool trade. Sheep were not everywhere and at all times second to none among the monks' farm animals and perhaps only stood well to the fore during the middle period of Cistercian activity from ca. I I75 to I350.

The Cistercians in the Latin Empire of Constantinople and Greece, 1204–1276

With the fall of Constantinople to Crusaders from the West the Cistercian Order found a new area for development. Cistercians had taken an active part in the Fourth Crusade and they were ready to share in the process of settlement which followed hard on the conquest of the Empire and Greece. The fortunes of the Cistercians in the East waxed and waned with great rapidity, paralleling the course of the Latin Empire itself: between 1204 and 1276 the Order acquired at least twelve houses and lost at least nine of these. The interesting but unspectacular history of the Cistercian Order in the Latin Empire and Greece has received little attention, either from historians of the Order itself or from those scholars who have treated the history of the Latin conquest and occupation. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the foundation, development and final abandonment of the Cistercian houses in the Empire and Greece, to explore the activities of Cistercian abbots and priors in the affairs of the Empire, and to examine the contacts between Cistercians of East and West. But since the interest of the Cistercians in Constantinople and Greece began with their participation in the Fourth Crusade, consideration will first be given to their activity as Crusaders.

Cistercian Houses: Regulation of distance

Cistercian Houses: Regulation of distance

Two Relic-holders from Altars in the Nave of Rievaulx Abbey, Yorkshire

The Cistercian Abbey of Rievaulx owes its foundation to a mission from Clairvaux, sent to England under the direction of St. Bernard in 1131. Waverley Abbey in Surrey, and Tintern in Monmouthshire, daughter houses of L'Aumône, were already in existence, having been founded in 1128 and 1131, the first Cistercian houses in England. A beginning having thus been made in the South, it was no doubt a matter of policy that the order should be planted in the North also, and Rievaulx came into existence, the first of that splendid company of Yorkshire Cistercian houses which numbers Byland, Fountains, Jervaulx, Kirkstall, and Roche among its members. A benefactor was found in Walter le Spech or l'Espec, who gave in his charter of foundation nine carucates of land in Griff and Tilstone, and with this endowment the monastery was started, receiving no considerable increase of revenue till 1145, when the founder added Bilsdale to their lands. In spite of this Rievaulx must have grown quickly, for colonies went from it to inaugurate new monasteries at Melrose in 1136, Warden in the same year, Dundrennan in 1142, and Revesby in 1143. But a grant of a site at Rushen, given by Olaf, King of Man, could not be accepted for lack of any one to send to take possession.