RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Sir William Babthorpe and his fellow-com- 

 missioners on 23 May 1540 gave the valuation 

 of the ' sell or parsonage of Snaythe,' over and 

 above the stipends of two parish priests and one 

 •chantry priest, as ^^12 2s. per annum. 



Priors 



John Selby, occurs 1439 ^^ 



James Laye, occurs 1539, '^^^^ Prior'" 



4. THE ABBEY OF WHITBY 



While the history of the monastery of Streones- 

 halch, so intimately associated with the Abbess 

 Hilda, forms an important chapter in the early 

 history of Christianity in the north of England, 

 that of the Benedictine house, which after a lapse 

 of two centuries was founded on its site, is devoid 

 of exceptional interest or importance. 



The story of the re-founding of the monastery 

 by William de Percy is not very clear, for there 

 are extant three accounts, practically contem- 

 porary with one another, which differ as to many 

 of the facts related. These three accounts are : 

 one given in the ' Abbot's Book ' of Whitby, 

 another by Symeon of Durham, and the third by 

 Stephen, the first Abbot of St. Mary's, York.^ 

 The latter differs greatly from the two former, 

 which agree well in the main lines of the 

 story. The comparison and criticism of the 

 three has been very thoroughly made by Dr. At- 

 kinson.^ 



A certain Reinfrid, who had been a most 

 valiant soldier of William the Conqueror, moved 

 by sorrow at the wasted holy places at Whitby 

 and elsewhere in the north, entered the monastery 

 of Evesham with the intention of becoming a 

 monk capable of repairing some of the mischief. 

 After some time spent there, he returned to the 

 north and journeyed to Streoneshalch, otherwise 

 called Prestebi and Hwitebi.^ He approached 

 William de Percy, from whom he received the 

 ruined monastery of St. Peter, with 2 carucates 

 of land, and there he set to work to resuscitate 

 the monastic life. He was joined by many, 

 including Serlo de Percy, the founder's brother, 

 and numerous other gifts were made to the 

 revived house, which followed the Benedictine 

 rule. From the description of the old monastery 

 when it was given to Reinfrid it comprised 

 about forty roofless and ruined monasteria vel 



" Baildon, Mon. Notes. 



" Morrell, Selby, 113 ; Priory and Peculiar, 35. 



' For the first see Whitby Chartul. i-io. For 

 Symeon of Durham's account see Introd. chap, ii of 

 the same vol., p. xxxii, and for Stephen's story, ibid, 

 p. xxxiv. 



' Whitby Chartul. introd. chap. ii. 



' According to Domesday held by William de 

 Percy of Hugh, Earl of Chester. 



oratorio* which calls to mind some of the Irish 

 monastic ruins at the present day with their 

 numerous chapels and cells. 



The original gift of William de Percy ' in- 

 cluded the monastery of St. Peter at Whitby (or 

 Streoneshalch), the town and port of Whitby, 

 the parish church of St. Mary there, and its six 

 dependent chapels of Filing, Hawsker, Sneaton, 

 Ugglebarnby, Dunsley, and Aislaby (to follow 

 the modern spelling), five mills (including that of 

 Ruswarp, still existing), the town of Hackness 

 with its two mills, and the parish church of 

 St. Mary there, and the church of St. Peter at 

 Hackness * where our monks served God, died, 

 and were buried,' and various other gifts enumer- 

 ated in the ' Memorial ' in the abbot's book. 

 The latter authority relates that Prior Reinfrid, 

 having ruled the monastery many years, was 

 accidentally killed at Ormesbridge by a piece of 

 timber falling upon him, and that he was buried 

 in the cemetery of St. Peter at Hackness, when 

 he was succeeded by Serlo de Percy as prior.' 



From William the Conqueror the monastery 

 received two undoubted charters. One^ granted 

 to the church of Whitby and Serlo the prior 

 and the monks all the liberties over their lands 

 and men which by royal power he was able to 

 grant to any church. He also conceded and 

 confirmed to them and their men buying or 

 selling, freedom from the customs and demands 

 of kings, earls, and barons, and their bailiffs. No 

 man was to meddle with their lands, men, forests, 

 or game within their boundaries, nor with their 

 waters of the port of Whitby, or elsewhere, or 

 other possessions. 



By the other charter,* addressed to Thomas 

 (de Bayeux), Archbishop (of York, 1070-1100), 

 Earl Alan, and Ralph Paynel, the king granted 

 to the church of St. Peter of Presteby and of 

 Whitby, and to Prior Serlo and the monks there, 

 that their church should have the same laws and 

 customs as the churches of St. John of Beverley, 

 Ripon, and St. Peter of York. The witnesses to 

 this deed, granted at York, were Lanfranc, 

 Archbishop (of Canterbury 1070-89), Osmund, 

 bishop,' and William de Percy. 



The story of the re-founding of the monastery 

 which goes by the name of Stephen of Whitby,^" 

 Abbot of St. Mary's, York, and was evidently 

 intended for the glorification of Abbot Stephen, 

 says that he joined the re-founded abbey under 

 Prior Reinfrid in 1078, and that a few days 

 afterwards Reinfrid and the rest of the community 

 compelled him, by urgent solicitations, to assume 



» Ibid. = Ibid. 



Ibid. 495 (no. 555). 



* Whitby Chartul. 2. 



' Ibid. 147 (no. 184). 



° Dr. Atkinson, Whitby Chartul. 496 n. adds ' Bishop 

 of Winchester.' There was no Bishop of Winchester 

 of that name. It was no doubt Osmund, Bishop of 

 Salisbury (c. 1078-99). 



'" Dugdale, Mon. Angl. iii, 529. The account is 

 also printed in Whitby Chartul. i, p. xxxiv. 



101 



