38 



into the hands of Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, by his 

 marriage with Maud, his daughter, and it was his grandson, 

 Roger Bigod, who erected the present structure, as mentioned 

 by William of Worcester. From a charter, dated August 4th, 

 1301, we learn he too had some qualms of conscience for his 

 past misdeeds, for he says, "Be it known to your community 

 that I, in the sight of God, and for the health of my own soul, 

 and the souls of my ancestors and heirs, have confirmed to 

 you divers lands and possessions," which are then enumerated. 



A story is told of this nobleman, very characteristic of the 

 bold and insolent demeanour of the Norman nobles of that day. 

 With another baron he had the temerity to refuse to go to the 

 wars without the presence of his sovereign, alleging that his 

 duty was to attend only on the king's person. An angry 

 altercation ensued, in which the King, Edward First, swearing 

 by his Maker, cried out he should either " go or hang," to which 

 the other, repeating the oath, replied, Sir King, " I shall neither 

 go nor hang." 



The order of White Friars or Cistercian, for whom the Abbey 

 was founded, opened in England about 1128. They professed 

 to follow the stern simplicity of the rules of St. Benedict, only 

 that some of the hours devoted to studies by the Benedictines 

 were by them appropriated to manual labor. As they be- 

 came possessed of immense revenues, and rose to power and 

 eminence, a taste for luxury was cultivated, and in their splen- 

 did abbeys, where they lived like princes, the severity of their 

 discipline became relaxed, until at last the stern, rigid, and 

 professedly abstemious Cistercians became notorious for their 

 depravity. 



When the Abbey of Tintern was suppressed at the dissolution, 

 there were only thirteen inmates, and the revenues were estimated 

 by Dugdale at £192 Is. 4|d. per annum, and by Speed at 

 £256 lis. 6d. It was granted by Henry Eighth, to Henry, second 

 Earl of Worcester, and is now the property of his descendant, 

 the Duke of Beaufort, with all the granges and other valuable 

 property originally belonging to the Abbey. 



The legend of the first foundation of the Abbey, by De Clare, 

 was then given. The story runs that, actuated by remorse, 



