RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



once augmented by the addition of seven clerks 

 and ten novices.^^ 



Great suflFering lay before the infant commu- 

 nity, however. A famine arose, and so scarce 

 was food that they had to cook for themselves 

 herbs and leaves, and the famous elm under 

 which they sheltered ' conferred on them a two- 

 fold blessing, affording protection in winter and 

 providing food in summer.' ^^ But after two years 

 of this privation, the brethren felt that they must 

 seek relief, and the abbot repaired to St. Bernard, 

 asking that he and his community might be re- 

 ceived at Clairvaux. To this request the saint 

 acceded, oneoftheClairvaux granges being destined 

 for their use.^' But just at this time, during Abbot 

 Richard's absence, the Dean of York, Hugh, 

 resigned his deanery and retired to Fountains, 

 carrying with him his great wealth,^* and a 

 collection of scriptural works, and the contem- 

 plated migration to France was abandoned.^' 



The charter of foundation, which still exists 

 at Studley, is undated, but as William the dean 

 was a witness,^^ it was not drawn up, evidently, 

 until Hugh the dean had retired to the abbey. 

 Before Fountains reached her majority ^^ she was 

 the mother abbey of seven Cistercian establish- 

 ments — Newminster,^* founded 1 1 38; Kirk- 

 stead,^ 1 139 i Woburn,^" 1145 ; Lisa,'' 1 146 ; 

 Vaudey,'^ 1 147 ; Kirkstall,^^ 1 147 ; and Meaux,^^ 

 1 1 50. Thirteen was the regulation number of 

 monks, according to the Cistercian Consuetudines, 

 for commencing a new abbey of that order, and 

 these various emigrations from the parent house 

 would be a drain upon the monks ; but the abbey 

 of Fountains suffered no diminution of vigour, 

 and with the passage of the years the supply of 

 brethren seemed to increase. In 1147 there was 

 a great contention about William Fitz Herbert's 

 deposition from the northern primacy. The 

 Cistercians had opposed his election, and the 

 Abbot of Fountains, Murdac, led the opposition. 

 When William was suspended his partisans 

 rushed to Fountains to seize the abbot, but 

 though he was in the church, prostrate in adora- 

 tion before the altar, he was missed ; the church 

 was set on fire, and the abbey sacked. '^ Abbot 

 Murdac became archbishop in William's stead, 

 and the fabric rose ' far more beautiful than it 



" Surt. Sac. Publ. xlii, p. xxxvi. Burton in Mon. 

 Ebor. 142, says ' ten priests and laymen.' 



" Hospitium in hyeme, in aestate pulmentum {Surt. Soc. 

 Publ. xlii, 49). 



" Burton, Mon. Ebor. 142. 



" Drake, Eboracum (small ed.), v, 158. 



" Surt. Soc. Publ. xlii, p. xxxvii. '^ Ibid. 1 56. 



" Fasti Ebor. 214. '» Surt. Soc. Publ. xlii, 58. 



" Ibid. pp. xl, xli. '° Torks.Arch. Journ. xv, 273. 



" In Norway, Surt. Soc. Publ. xlii, 8 9 . " Ibid. 9 3 . 



" Burton, Mon. Ebor. 287. 



'* Surt. Soc. Publ, xlii, 94. Meaux was ' novissima 

 iiliarum quas genuit mater nostra, et cessavit iterum 

 parere ' (Dugdale, Mon. Angl. v, 302). 



^^ Fasti Ebor. 216. 



had been before.' '^ Before the end of the 

 century the conventual buildings were well 

 advanced, and in 1204 Abbot John of York 

 began the work of enlarging the church east- 

 wards. The church was finished in 1245 by 

 Abbot John de Cantia,'' who built and finished 

 the nine altars, the cloister, infirmary, pavement, 

 and guest-house for poor and rich.'" 



Near the end of the 12th century, during an 

 outbreak of the plague, the poor crowded to 

 the abbey in such numbers that the ordinary 

 accommodation was inadequate, and improvised 

 tents were fitted up. Nurses and priests were 

 provided for their temporal and spiritual needs, 

 and whilst in many places ordinary Christian 

 burial was dispensed with, at Fountains those 

 who succumbed to the plague were buried with 

 the full rites of the Church.'^ 



During the 13th and 14th centuries, but 

 specially during the 13th, there was scarcely a 

 year that was not characterized by some con- 

 siderable grant or donation to the abbot and 

 convent. A long list, consisting of 61 folio 

 pages, of these various gifts is supplied by 

 Dr. Burton.*" 



But, notwithstanding all these riches lavished 

 upon the abbey, there was still need for economy 

 and care, and towards the end of the 1 3th cen- 

 tury the monks were found to be in great poverty. 

 This was partly due to the great expenses that 

 had been incurred in the costly building," and 

 partly because of internal laxity,*^ the archbishop 

 at that time writing to the Cistercian houses in 

 England that the monks at Fountains had 

 become the diversion of all men.*' 



In their financial troubles the convent, it 

 seems, had gone for relief to the Jews, and in 

 1274 we find Philip de Wylgheby appointed 

 abbey custodian because the house was in debt 

 to the king, by reason of a loan in the king's 

 Jewry, and also owing money to divers creditors." 

 In the same year, on 9 November, a grant was 

 made to Anthony Bek, clerk of the household, 

 of all debts, &c., wherein the abbot and convent 

 are bound to Jews." On 24 June 1275 Edward I 

 acquitted the abbey of ;^900 owed by them to 

 Joces and Bonamies, Jews of York, which the 

 king gave to Antony Bek, to whom the money 

 had been paid by the abbot and convent.*^ The 

 debt on the abbey had been £,^-,ZlZi ^"* '" 

 1290 this liability had been reduced tOj^i,293.*' 

 In the following year, 1291, John de Berewin, 



" Yorks. Arch. "Journ. xv, 276. 

 " Lawton, Relig. Houses, 55 ; Burton, Mon. Ebor. 

 142. 



'» Surt. Soc. Publ. xlii, 136. " Ibid. 61. 



" Mon. Ebor. 148-209. 



" Ibid. 142. " Ibid. 



*' York Archiepis. Reg. Romanus, fol. 98. 



" Pat. 2 Edw. I, m. 7. « Ibid. m. 2. 



" Ibid. 3 Edw. I, m. 17. 



" Surt. Soc. Publ. Ixvii, p. vi. 



35 



