Richard Poore, 1217—1229. 251 



says that it amounted to more than 40,000 marks {quadraginta millia 

 marcarum) — with which his immediate predecessor, Richard de 

 Marisco, had loaded the Church. 



Of one work however, which he carried out after he became Bishop 

 of Durham, I must say a few words, because it is, so to speak, blended 

 with the closing scenes of the life of this really holy Bishop. He 

 became the second founder of a religious house at Tarrant in Dorset, 

 which, no long time afterwards, became incorporated with the order of 

 the Cistercians.' Originally established in the time of Richard I. by 

 Ralph de Kaynes, it was considerably enlarged and also en- 

 dowed by Richard Poore, who was a native of the place, and to 

 whom William Kaynes, great-grandson of the first founder, had been 

 given in ward during his minority. The whole society consisted in 

 his time only of three ladies of good family, with their domestic 

 servants or lay-sisters, who — without being attached to any of the 

 recognized orders — retired from the world for the purpose of engaging 

 in good and charitable works, at the same time employing 

 themselves without let or hindrance in pious exercises and devout 

 meditations — " If any ignorant person ask you of what order ye are, 

 say that ye are of the order of St. James. If such answer seem 

 strange, ask him what is order, and where he can find it in Holy 

 Scripture more plainly described than by St. James. He tells us 

 what is true religion, and what is right order. Pure religion and 

 without stain, are his words, is to visit and help widows and orphans, 

 and to keep himself pure and unstained from the world. This is 

 what St. James calls religion and order." 



The words just quoted are from the " Ancren Riwle," or " Rule 

 for Anchoresses," a treatise on the rules and duties of monastic life, 

 which was addressed to these " sisters " at Tarrant. And there is 

 every reason for believing that this remarkable treatise was the work 

 of Bishop Richard Poore * Certainly his great learning, his active 



> Rot. Itin., 50 H. 3. m. 8. 

 * This treatise, under the title of " The Ancren Riwle," was published by the 

 Camden Society, in 1853. The editor. Canon Morton, Vicar of Holbeach, gives, 

 as it seems to me, conclusive reasons for believing it to have been the work of 



