A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



2. THE PRIORY OF LANERCOST 



On the banks of the Irthing close to the 

 Roman wall, in the country which we now 

 associate with the genius of Sir Walter Scott, 

 Robert de Vaux son of Hubert de Vaux, 

 lord of Gillesland, founded the priory of 

 Lanercost for regular canons of the Order of 

 St. Augustine. Tradition places the founda- 

 tion in 1169, which agrees with the evidence 

 of the earliest charter of the house. 1 The 

 church was entitled in the name of St. 

 Mary Magdalene, a dedication of singular 

 rarity in Cumberland and Westmorland. 

 Early in the seventeenth century John Denton 

 mentioned, but seems to have rejected, the 

 legend which ascribed the foundation to the 

 remorse felt by the noble founder for having 

 slain Gille son of Boet who owned the fief 

 before it was given to Hubert his father. 

 The story, however, has found its way into 

 some of the editions of Camden, and been 

 often repeated on his authority. Denton 

 rightly appealed to Robert's charter of founda- 

 tion, which states that the benefaction was made 

 for the sake of Henry II., who had enfeoffed 

 his father with the barony and confirmed it to 

 himself, and for the health of the souls of 

 his father Hubert and his mother Grace. 



Before Robert de Vaux granted the charter, 

 the scheme must have reached almost to 

 the verge of completion, so full and com- 

 prehensive are its terms and references and 

 differing so conspicuously from the successive 

 charters which marked the various stages. in 

 the foundation of Wetheral and St. Bees. The 

 grantor assigned to God and St. Mary Mag- 

 dalene of Lanercost and to the regular canons 

 there the lawn (landa) of Lanercost between 

 the ancient wall and the Irthing and between 

 Burth and Poltros, the vill of Walton by 

 stated bounds, the church of that vill with 

 the chapel of 'Treverman,' the churches of 

 Irthington, Brampton, Carlaton and Farlam, 

 certain lawns by bounds as ' Gille son of 

 Bueth ' held them, besides numerous immun- 

 ities and privileges throughout the whole 

 barony. The tenor of the charter a betokens 



1 Reg. of Lanercost, MS. i. I. In 1761 George 

 Story, vicar of Lanercost, erected a stone tablet in 

 the church to the memory of Robert de Vaux, 

 founder of the priory, and of his wife Ada Engaine, 

 on which he inscribed 1 1 1 6 as the year of foun- 

 dation. The vicar evidently took his date from 

 a note in the register of the priory on the foun- 

 dations of the religious houses in the diocese of 

 Carlisle (ibid. f. 267). Story's error has been 

 often repeated. 



' Reg. of Lanercost, MS. i. I. It is scarcely 



a generous disposition and a liberal hand in 

 the multiplication of gifts for the start of the 

 new institution, and the concourse of wit- 

 nesses, who assembled to subscribe their names 

 to the deed of endowment, is a striking 

 evidence that the occasion was regarded as 

 one of unusual dignity and importance. In 

 addition to many tenants and clergy of Gilles- 

 land, the foundation charter was witnessed by 

 Christian, Bishop of Whithern in Galloway, 

 suffragan to York during the vacancy at 

 Carlisle, Walter prior of Carlisle, and Robert 

 archdeacon of the same place, as representative 

 of the ecclesiastical authority at that date. The 

 marginal note in the register of the house 

 which states that the church was dedicated by 

 Bernard, Bishop of Carlisle, in 1169, the 

 sixteenth year of Henry II. and the twelfth 

 of his pontificate, is not worthy of credit, for 

 though the year of foundation must be ap- 

 proximately correct, it is not true that 

 Bernard was Bishop of Carlisle in 1169. 

 The note belongs to a class of legends 

 about Bishop Bernard that arose at an early 

 period. 



The liberality of the founder was not con- 

 fined to the endowments granted in the first 

 charter. The register of the priory contains 

 many other deeds of gift and confirmation 

 extending over his long tenure of the barony. 

 In several of these charters, when he had 

 occasion to refer to his territorial title, he 

 reverted to the old phrase 3 employed by 

 Henry II. in the original enfeoffment of his 

 family and repeated by himself in his founda- 

 tion charter, ' infra baronian quam dominus 

 rex Henricus Anglic dedit patri meo et mihi 

 in terra que fuit Gille filii Bueth.' Few of 

 the religious houses founded by subjects in the 

 northern counties can point to a patron more 

 distinguished in personal qualities than Laner- 

 cost, for Robert de Vaux, immortalized by 

 Jordan Fantosme,* his contemporary, was 

 a valiant soldier, a great judge, a prudent 

 statesman, and a munificent benefactor of 

 his church and country. The example 



necessary to call attention to the distinction be- 

 tween the Register or Chartulary of Lanercost and 

 the Chronicon de Lanercost or Chronicle of Laner- 

 cost. The Register is a collection of deeds of the 

 usual character belonging to a religious house and 

 still remains in manuscript, a copy of which is in 

 the custody of the dean and chapter of Carlisle. 

 The Chronicon belongs to the class of medieval 

 chronicles and has been printed by the Maitland 

 and Bannatyne Clubs. 



s Ibid. i. 13, viii. 17. 



4 Chron. of the War between the English and 

 the Scots in 1173 and 1 174 (Surtees Soc. No. 1 1), 

 1370-1460, etc. 



152 



