A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



the office of prior ; and then soon after this, 

 through the combined pressure of the king and 

 the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, he was 

 unwillingly made Abbot (not prior) of Whitby. 

 The founder, William de Percy, seeing the im- 

 provements made in the place, repented of his 

 foundation gift, and persecuted the monks, 

 who were also greatly troubled by pirates and 

 robbers, so that they appealed to the king, who 

 granted them the old monastery of Lastingham, 

 and they began to build there. While they were 

 still at Whitby he (Stephen) went to Lasting- 

 ham, and received episcopal benediction as abbot 

 of that place as well. William de Percy, ac- 

 cording to this account, still continued to per- 

 secute Stephen and the monks of Whitby, till 

 eventually he drove them away to Lastingham, 

 where they remained a few years, and then, by 

 the gift of Earl Alan, they moved to St. Olave's, 

 York, and eventually formed the nucleus of St. 

 Mary's Abbey. 



There is undoubtedly a substratum of truth 

 in the story, and the probability is that (as Dr. 

 Atkinson suggests) " Stephen conceived himself, 

 and was conceived by a not insignificant party of 

 the brethren, a suitable successor to Reinfrid, on 

 the latter's death. The Percys preferred that 

 one of themselves, Serlo de Percy, should succeed, 

 and therefore brought pressure to bear which 

 made Stephen with certain of his followers mi- 

 grate to Lastingham, and very soon afterwards to 

 York. The ' Memorial ' is quite definite in its 

 statement that Serlo succeeded Reinfrid, and 

 makes no mention whatever of Stephen. It 

 should be noted, too, that Serlo de Percy became 

 Prior (not abbot) of Whitby. 



From William Rufus the monastery of Whit- 

 by received the gift of the church of All Saints, 

 Fishergate, "^'ork.'^ How the monastery was 

 raised from a priory to an abbey has not been 

 explained ; but it seems quite certain that Serlo, 

 as prior, retired to the cell of All Saints, Fisher- 

 gate, and that his successor in the superiorship of 

 the monastery of Whitby was his nephew Wil- 

 liam de Percy, who is mentioned by name as abbot 

 in a document dated 1109.^' He was succeeded 

 by Nicholas, whose name occurs in a charter of 

 Pope Honorius who died in 1 1 30. The next abbot 

 was Benedict, who in consequence of troubles in 

 the monastery resigned about 1 148 or 1 149** and 

 retired to the cell of All Saint's, Fishergate. The 

 monks consulted Archbishop Murdac, who refused 

 to confirm Benedict's resignation unless one of 

 three persons nominated by himself was elected 

 abbot. These three were Thomas Grammaticus, 

 monk of St. Albans, Richard, Prior of Peterborough, 

 and German, Prior of Tynemouth." The 

 Prior of Peterborough was elected because he was 

 deemed the most prudent and of noble lineage. 



" ll'hitby Chartul. i, p. Ixxxv. 



" Ibid. '329 (no. 382). 



" Afterwards Abbot of Selby. 



" Ibid. 5. 



'* Ibid. 8 (no. 3.) 



Walter, the Prior of Whitby, and one of the 

 monks named ^L^rtin, were sent to Peterborough. 

 The monks of Peterborough eventually consented, 

 and Martin, Abbot of Peterborough, sent him to 

 King Stephen, then at York. The king re- 

 ceived his homage as abbot, and Richard entered 

 the monastery on the Sunday after the octave of 

 Pentecost. There were thirty-six monks in the 

 monastery. Abbot Richard of Peterborough 

 ruled the house as a loving father for more than 

 twenty-six years, and died early in the morning 

 of I January 1175. He was buried in the 

 chapter-house (which he had built) by the side 

 of Abbot William. Duiing his abbacy a raid 

 was made by the King of Norway, who laid 

 hands on all that he could carry off, and wasted 

 the rest. 



In the second year after the death of Abbot 

 Richard I, Richard de Waterville, a monk of 

 St. Nicholas, Angers, and Prior of Monks Kirby, 

 was elected Abbot of Whitby. He entered the 

 monastery as abbot on 29 June 1 176 when 

 there were thirty-eight monks, who received 

 him with honour. Abbot Richard de Water- 

 ville and his convent granted the town of 

 Whitby a charter erecting it into a free borough ; 

 but this charter was rendered void in the time 

 of his successor. Abbot Peter, who gave 100 

 marks fine that the burgesses should not make use 

 of the liberties granted in the charter until it 

 had been decided in the king's court whether 

 the abbot and convent had power to make the 

 grant.'' The burgesses of Whitby proffered 

 four score marks that they might have a con- 

 firmation," but eventually King John refused to 

 confirm it, and it became null and void. Abbot 

 Peter died in I2H, and the kingdom being 

 under an interdict the revenues of the abbey 

 were seized by the king, who appointed an abbey 

 warden. '* At the end of three years Nicholas, 

 the papal legate, appointed John de Evesham 

 abbot." He held office till 1222, when Roger 

 de Scardeburg succeeded. During his time the 

 abbey ' received a great accession of territory and 

 wealth, and was at the zenith of its grandeur.' ^^ 



The only visitation recorded was held by Arch- 

 bishop Melton in person on 4 October 1320,'* 

 and six months later he sent his decretum^ con- 

 taining a series of injunctions, many of which 

 are in what may be termed the ' common form ' 

 of such documents. The archbishop found the 

 monastery heavily in debt, and all possible mod- 



" Burton, Mon. Ebor. 80 n. 



" Dugdale, Mon. Angl. \, 407. 



" Young, Hist, of Whitby, 265 n. 



" Ibid. 264. » Ibid. 265. 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Melton, fol. 235. It should 

 be mentioned, however, to Whitby's credit, that 

 Archbishop Wickwane visited the monastery in 1280, 

 but issued no decretum, because there was no fault 

 revealed on that occasion. York Archiepis. Reg. Wick- 

 vfane, fol. 135. 



102 



