RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



their communities dwelling in the same abbey. 

 Others have assigned a more sordid motive to 

 the monks of Furness. We need not follow 

 the wanderings of the monks of Calder till, 

 under the protection of Archbishop Thurstin 

 and by his mediation, they were established 

 at Byland. One cart drawn by a team of 

 eight oxen was sufficient to convey all their 

 books and household stuff as they set out from 

 Calder never to return. As soon as Abbot 

 Gerold had found a resting place and begun 

 to increase in this world's goods, fearing lest 

 the abbot of Furness would exercise a patronal 

 jurisdiction over him, he set out to Normandy 

 and laid the whole truth of his departure 

 from Calder before Serle, abbot of Savigny. 

 On the feast of St. John the Baptist, 1142, 

 a chapter general of the Order was held and 

 he was released from his allegiance to Furness. 

 Returning to England in haste, he repaired 

 to York, where he died on 24 February 

 following. Roger, who had come from Fur- 

 ness with him and was sub-cellarer at Calder, 

 was chosen abbot in his place. When the 

 news of these proceedings was noised abroad, 

 the abbot and convent of Furness, perceiving 

 that they had been outwitted by the deceased 

 Gerold, and that the monks who were driven 

 from their gates had submitted themselves and 

 their successors to the church of Savigny and 

 were settled elsewhere with no intention of 

 returning, ordained Hardred, one of their 

 monks, and sent him out, in or about 1143, 

 at the head of another community to occupy 

 the deserted house of Calder. Thus was the 

 succession resumed and the original founda- 

 tion revived. 



The confusion arising from disputed juris- 

 diction did not end with Gerold's renunciation 

 of Furness. Abbot Hardred of Calder set up 

 a claim to jurisdiction over Byland on the 

 ground of affiliation, as the monks had de- 

 parted from his house and the church of 

 Savigny had unjustly obtained their allegiance. 

 Roger, then abbot of Byland, answered with 

 becoming dignity that no such claim could be 

 entertained, and reminded Hardred of their 

 rebuff from the gates of Furness. Ultimately 

 a friendly arrangement was made and the 

 claims of Calder were abandoned. On the 

 other hand the convent of Furness challenged 

 jurisdiction over Byland by similar arguments, 

 but at a general chapter in the presence of 

 many abbots and priors of the northern 

 counties, with the famous JElred of Rievaulx 

 as referee, the claims of Furness were dis- 

 allowed. 



It is needless to say that the successors 

 of Ranulf Meschin in the barony of Coup- 

 land, including William son of Duncan, his 



brother-in-law, who had previously ravaged 

 the district, continued to befriend the abbey 

 and augment its possessions. Cecily, Countess 

 of Albemarle and lady of Coupland, con- 

 firmed the monks in all their lands, for the 

 souls of her father and mother and of King 

 Henry, to which Master Robert the constable, 

 Isaac de Scheftling, Simon de Scheftling, 

 William Chirtelig, William de Scheftling and 

 Thomas, chaplain of the countess, were wit- 

 nesses. The example of the founder's suc- 

 cessors was followed by the landowners in the 

 vicinity. William de Esseby and Hectred 

 his wife, benefactors of St. Bees, gave Becker- 

 met and the mill of that place in memory of 

 William, Earl of Albemarle, and Cecily the 

 countess, and of Ingelram the earl's brother, 

 as the donor had received it from the earl. 

 The witnesses of this deed were Richard, 

 prior of St. Bees, Robert priest (presblter) of 

 Ponsonby, Roger priest of Egremont, Jurdan 

 parson of Goseford, Richard son of Osbert of 

 St. Brigid, Richard vicar of the same church, 

 and Ketel son of Ulf. Beatrice de Molle be- 

 stowed on the monks 5 oxgangs of land in 

 Little Gilcrux (Gillecruch) and the fourth 

 part of the mill in Great Gilcrux. The land 

 had been previously confirmed to Beatrice by 

 Adam son of Uhtred, her uncle, as the gift 

 of William, his nephew, as the charter of the 

 said William son of Liolf de Molle testified. 

 Richard de Boisville gave 10 acres of land in 

 his part of Culdreton with common of pasture 

 pertaining thereto. 



The lords of Millom. were also benefactors 

 of Calder. By a charter given at ' Milnam ' 

 in the month of April, 1287, John de Hud- 

 leston bestowed on the abbey pasture for six 

 cows, four horses and forty sheep with their 

 following on the common of Millom, saving 

 to the monks the other privileges granted by 

 his ancestors. At a later date in 1291, John 

 son of John de ' Hideleston ' gave William 

 son of Richard de Loftscales his ' native ' and 

 all his belongings, quit of all villenage as far 

 as the donor was concerned. 1 The abbot 

 paid a fine in 1300 for the alienation in 

 mortmain to his convent by John de Hudles- 

 ton of 8 acres of land, i acre of meadow 



1 The six charters, of which a summary is given 

 above, were copied by the Rev. John Hodgson in 

 1830 'from the originals in possession of W. J. 

 Charlton of Hesleyside, Esq., which came into his 

 family in 1680 by the marriage of his great-great- 

 grandfather with Mary, daughter of Francis Sal- 

 keld of Whitehall, in the parish of All-hallows, 

 Cumberland,' and were printed in full by him in 

 Arch. &Iiana, ii. 387-90. S. Jefferson has given 

 a good account of these charters in Allerdale Ward, 

 3H-7- 



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