A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



panied by Brian Lewty, notary, Dan Robert 

 Harom, Prior of Byland, and Dan Thomas 

 Wenesley 'my chapleyn,' he had visited Rievaulx, 

 ' and did procure by all the lawful! means and 

 wayes I couth the convent of the same to pro- 

 ceed to the election of a new abbcte, and theym 

 beyng in nombre xxiij"" secretly and oon by oon, 

 did call before me, the abbote beyng absent, and 

 then examynyng by inquisicion according to the 

 statutes of my religion, exortyd, aduertysed, and 

 induced as byfore to proceed to election according 

 to the tenor and effect of youre sayd grace is 

 commission, soo that none of theym did know 

 what was the answer of the other.' Only seven 

 of the twenty-three monks would consent to a 

 fresh election or admit that Abbot Kirkby had 

 been duly deprived. The detailed answers of 

 each of the monks are given in the Abbot of 

 Byland's report,^' and they evince the courage 

 and constancy of monks. 



Abbot Kirkby, without admitting the validity 

 of his deprivation, appears to have acquiesced 

 in his forcible removal, and even went so far as 

 to precent the Te Deum at the installation of 

 Robert Blyton, Abbot of Rufford, as Abbot of 

 Rievaulx.^ This forcible intrusion of Abbot 

 Blyton was only effected after a further letter 

 had been sent to the Abbots of Fountains and 

 Byl.-ind ordering them to procure the election of 

 a new Abbot of Rievaulx at once.^^ 



A yearly pension of ^^44 was confirmed to 

 Abbot Kirkby by the convent on 7 May 1534, 

 but from two letters written by him to Crom- 

 well ^° it appears that Abbot Blyton refused to 

 pay the pension, and endeavoured to excuse the 

 convent from an obligation to pay more than 

 half the promised sum. In these letters Abbot 

 Kirkby speaks of himself as ' Abbott of Rievall ' 

 (one indeed being signed 'Edward Abbott oi 

 Rievall '), and of Blyton as ' the Incumbent Abbott 

 at Rievall.' Inclosed in the second letter is a tran- 

 script of a letter which Cromwell had previously 

 written to Blyton, and which Abbot Kirkby 

 asked him to enforce. In this letter Cromwell 

 is made to say that if Blyton continued to with- 

 hold the appointed pension, ' and handle your 

 saide predecessour after such extreme fascion 

 then vpon hys forther complaint to the Kynge 

 and hys cowncell of his iniuryes and wronges 

 end also iniuste depriving from hys saide Abbaye 

 I assure )'oue I can no less doo of good conscience 

 and equitie then to fynde some meanes to 

 restore hym to hys abbaye agayne like as I have 

 heretofore written to youe in that behalfe.' It 

 has been commonly believed that Abbot Kirkby 



" Torks Star Chamb. Proc. (Ycrks. Rec. S:r.), 49-5 1. 



" R'u-z'aulx Chartul. (Surt. See), Introd. pp. ciii-ix 



" Ibid. 



" Misc. Letters, temp. Henry VIII (Ser. 2), xxxv, 

 76-8. The letters are undated and are placed in the 

 Calendar under the year 1534, but must have been 

 written a year or two later. 



suffered death at Tyburn for complicity in the 

 Pilgrimasje of Grace, and it is pleasant to find 

 that thisVas not the case. His later history is 

 unknown. 



The value of the temporalities in 1291 was 

 ^^241 lOs.," and in 1535^* the gross income 

 amounted to £zS'^ ^4^- ^^•' ^^^ ^^^^"^ annual 

 value being £,2"]^ ioj. id. The house was 

 surrendered on 3 December 1538.^° At the 

 suppression there were twenty-one monks in 

 addition to the abbot who received yearly pen- 

 sions, varying from £"] 13J. ^d. to £^, the 

 abbot's pension being 100 marks.'" At the 

 inquiry '^ as to the payment of pensions in the 

 North Riding thirteen names are entered. Of 

 one (Richard Jenkynson) it is said ' is dead, how 

 long of goo it is to be inquired, he died at 

 London ut dicitur.' Three others appeared with 

 their patents and were seriously behind, 'and 

 did axe it and cold not gett it.' Six others 

 appeared, and three did not. 



Although there is no record of any indult to 

 the Abbots of Rievaulx to wear the mitre, there 

 is an indication that they possessed this privilege. 

 In an account of the plate possessed by the 

 abbey at the Dissolution is included not only a 

 'crouche' of silver, but also a 'mitour of paest 

 set with perles.' '^ 



Abbots of Rievaulx '' 



William I, 113 1, died 1145 



Maurice, 1 145 



[Waltheof ] 31 



Aelred, 1 147, 1 160, 1 1 64, died 1 167 



Sylvanus,'^ occurs 1 170 



Ernald, 1192, resigned 1 199 



William Punchard, occurs 1 201-2, died 1203 



Geoffrey (or perhaps Godfrey), 1204 



Warin, occurs 1208, died 121 1 



Helyas, resigned 121 5 (Abbot of Melrose 1 216) 



Henry, 121 5, died 12 16 



William III, 1216, died 1223 



Roger, 1224 to 1235, resigned 1239 



Lconias, 1239, died 1240 



Adam de Tilletai, 1240-60. 



"Dugdale, Mofi. Jngl. v, 277. 



'" Valor Eccl. v, 144. 



" L. and P. Hen Fill, xiii (2), 983. 



^° Ibid, xiv (I), 67. 



" Exch. K.R. Accts. bdle. 76, no. 24. The return 

 for the North Riding is dated 20 Feb. 1553. 



" L. and P. Hen. Fill, xiii (2), 1172. 



" This list is that compiled by Dr. Atkinson, 

 Rievaulx Chartul. (Surt. Soc.) pp. Ixxxvii, cix. Any 

 alteration is indicated in the notes. 



" Dr. Atkinson throws considerable doubt on the 

 statement that Waltheof could ever have been Abbot 

 of Rievaulx. Ibid. p. Ixxxix. 



" After Aelred, and before Sylvanus, the lists of abbot* 

 usually include a Roger and a Bernard, both of whom 

 Dr. Atkinson seems rightly to reject. Ibid. p. xci. 



152 



