RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



other monks had begun an abbey in his lordship, 

 not far from his castle of Richmond, and he 

 gave the abbey, then it is said rather planned 

 than in being, to the abbot, who accepted it but 

 unwillingly, not being favourably disposed to the 

 scheme. 



Peter, the zealous promoter of this new plan- 

 tation wrote to the Abbot of Savigny asking him 

 to send an abbot and convent to inhabit the new 

 monastery. The Abbot of Savigny, however, 

 remembering the dangers, labours and injury 

 which his monks had sustained who had been 

 sent to different places in England to construct 

 abbeys, wrote to Brother Peter that he had acted 

 most foolishly in beginning the abbey without 

 the advice of the house of Savigny.' 



In 1146^ Abbot Roger of By land set out to 

 attend a general chapter at Savigny, and Brother 

 Peter begged him to take a letter to the abbot 

 and bring back a reply. 



The matter was brought before the chapter 

 general, at which, besides Abbot Roger, the only 

 abbots present from England were those of 

 Quarr and Neath, and the question was discussed 

 by the fifteen abbots present. 



Eventually .the Abbot of Savigny, to whom 

 Jervaulx had been confirmed by Conan, Alan's 

 heir and successor, decided not to send an abbot 

 and convent of monks from Savigny. The 

 chapter general decided, however, that the new 

 abbey should be subjected to Byland, the nearest 

 house of the order to it. As Abbot Roger 

 could not stay longer, he constituted the Abbot 

 of Quarr his proxy. When the chapter was 

 over, Serlo, the Abbot of Savigny, delivered to 

 the Abbot of Quarr the charter of the gift of 

 Jervaulx to Byland, and enjoined the abbot 

 to visit all the order in England that year, 

 and if he found that a convent could be main- 

 tained at Fors, then he was to deliver the charter 

 to the Abbot of Byland and put him in full 

 possession of Fors. If, however, he found that 

 Fors could not maintain a convent, then he 

 was to retain the charter and tell Brother Peter 

 to take good care of Fors and develop it for the 

 proper use of the Abbey of Savigny. At the 

 following Easter the Abbot of Quarr visited By- 

 land, accompanied by a monk of Savigny named 

 Matthew. When the formal visitation was 

 over, Brother Peter conducted the Abbots of 

 Quarr and Byland to Jervaulx, and there the 

 Abbot of Quarr gave Brother Peter the sealed 

 letters of the Abbot of Savigny and told him 

 that the new plantatio had been committed to 

 Byland. 



Brother Peter addressed the Abbot of Quarr, 

 telling him that he and his two associates to 

 whom the site had been given in the first in- 

 stance had toiled there much, and that, blessed 

 be the Most High, they had 5 ploughs at work. 



'Dugdale, Mon. Angl. no. v. 



'Ibid. 



40 cows with their young, 16 mares with their 

 foals given by the earl, 5 sows with their young, 

 300 sheep, and 30 skins in tan, and wax and oil 

 for two years, and they were confident that 

 they could find bread, ale, cheese and butter for 

 the first year, and they believed that an abbot 

 and convent could begin with what there was in 

 the place till it should please God to provide 

 more bountifully for them. He added that if 

 the Abbot of Byland promised to send an abbot 

 and convent with perpetual succession, they 

 would hand over the place with all its substance. 

 This the Abbot of Byland promised to do. 

 Upon this the charter of Serlo was read by the 

 Abbot of Quarr. 



Brother Peter then handed all over to the 

 Abbot of Byland, and with his two fellow monks 

 and a converse made profession to him. Another 

 conversus refused this profession and returned to 

 Savigny with the monk Matthew. The Abbot 

 of Byland then entrusted Brother Peter with the 

 care of the place, which he often visited, and he 

 appointed one monk to the office of the hostelry 

 and a conversus as tanner. 



On his way to a general chapter of the Cister- 

 cian order in 1147 Abbot Roger of Byland 

 went to Savigny, and was told that if he wished 

 to fulfil his engagement with the Abbot of Quarr 

 and Peter de Quinciaco no obstacle would be 

 raised. He then promised that shortly after his 

 return home he would fulfil his engagement. 



On the third day of the general chapter at 

 Citeaux, the Abbot of Citeaux, according to 

 rule, ordered that the names of the abbeys 

 founded during the year should be entered in the 

 Cistercian Table, and at the suggestion of St. 

 Bernard and of the Abbot of Savigny, the name 

 of the abbey of Jervaulx was inscribed in the 

 table of Citeaux. When Abbot Roger returned 

 home to Byland he ordered the cellarer to convey 

 the better bell of the parish church of Old 

 Byland, on a wagon, to the abbey of Jervaulx. 

 This was speedily done, and after the feast of 

 the Circumcision (i January) Abbot Roger went 

 to Jervaulx and stayed there till the Purification 

 (2 February), arranging the external and in- 

 ternal affairs of the place. Then, leaving, he 

 ordered Brother Peter and his two associate 

 monks to be at Byland on the first Sunday 

 in Lent. When that Sunday arrived, Abbot 

 Roger said that he had delayed completing 

 his promise in order to do it better and more 

 securely, and now invoking the divine grace 

 he ordained and constituted in the name of 

 the several persons of the Holy Trinity 

 Brother John de Kinstan abbot. Upon this 

 nomination all rose at once, and lifting John de 

 Kinstan on their arms, bore him to the high 

 altar, exclaiming ' Tu es abbas Jorevallis.' John de 

 Kinstan was one of those who left Calder with 

 Abbot Gerald and began the Abbey of By- 

 land. 



139 



