RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



torn off and cast down into the Church, and the 

 tombs in the Church all broken (for in most abbeys 

 were divers noble men and women, yea and in some 

 Abbeys, Kings, whose tombs were regarded no more 

 than the tombs of all other inferior persons : for to 

 what end should they stand, when the Church over 

 them was not spared for their cause), and all things 

 of price either spoiled, caryed away, or defaced to the 

 uttermost. 



The persons that cast the lead into the fodders, 

 plucked up all the seats in the choir, wherein the 

 monks sat when they said service, which were like to 

 the seats in minsters, and burned them and melted 

 the lead therewith all : although there was wood 

 plenty within a flight shot of them ; for the Abbey 

 stood among the woods and the rocks of stone : in 

 which rocks was pewter vessels that was conveyed 

 away and there hid ; that it seemeth that every per- 

 son bent himself to filch and spoil what he could : 

 yea, even such persons were content to spoil them, 

 that seemed not two days before to allow their 

 religion and do great worship and reverence at their 

 Mattins, Masses, and other Service, and all other 

 their doings : which is a strange thing to say, that 

 they that could this day think it to be the House of 

 God, and the next day the House of the Devil ; or 

 else they would not have been so ready to have spoiled 

 it. For the better proof of my saying, I demanded of 

 my father, thirty years after the Suppression, which 

 had bought part of the timber of the Church, and all 

 the timber in the steeple, with the bell-frame, with 

 others his partners therein (in the which steeple hung 

 viii, yea ix bells ; whereof the least but one could not 

 be bought at this day for xx'', which bells I did see 

 hang there myself more than a year after the Suppres- 

 sion), whether he thought well of the Religious 

 persons and of the Religion then used ? And he told 

 me. Yea : for, said he, I did see no cause to the con- 

 trary. Well, said I, then how came it to pass that 

 you was so ready to destroy and spoil the thing that 

 you thought well of? What should I do ? said he. 

 Might I not as well as others have some profit of the 

 spoil of the Abbey ? for I did see all would away ; and 

 therefore I did as others did. 



Abbots of Roche 



Durand (first abbot), 30 July 1147, ruled 



twelve years 

 Denis (1159), ruled twelve years 

 Roger de Tickhill (1171), ruled eight years 

 Hugh de Wad worth (i 179), ruled five years 

 Osmund (1184), ruled twenty-nine (?) years 

 Reynold (12 13 ?), occurs 1223,^^ ruled fifteen 



years 

 Richard (1228 ?), occurs 1229, 1240-1, 



ruled sixteen years 

 Walter (1244 ?), occurs 1246-7, ruled four- 

 teen years 

 Alan (1258?) 

 - Jordan 



Philip, occurs 1276-7" 



" Lines. Fines, 165. 



" Pat. 5 Edw. I, m. 18 d. All the preceding 

 names are derived from the ' Successlo Abbatum,' 

 printed from the copy in St. Mary's Tower (Dugdale, 



Robert," occurs 1 280-1, 1282 



Thomas," confirmed 1286 



Stephen,'* confirmed 3 November 1286, occurs 

 1293"" 



Robert,^' confirmed 18 December 1299 



John," confirmed 30 May 1300 



William,^' confirmed 9 December 1324 



Adam de Gykeleswyk,'"' confirmed 4 Novem- 

 ber 1330 



John,^'^ occurs 1 34 1 



Adam,''^ confirmed 1347 (.'') 



Simon de Bankwell,^^ confirmed 25 October 



1349 

 John de Aston,^* confi med 1358 



John de Dunelmia,^* occurs 1364 



Robert^" de Kesseburg,^^ elected 1396, occurs 



1404^8 



William,^' occurs 141 3, 1438 



John Wakefield,^'' confirmed 1438 



Mon. Angl. v, 505, no. xiv). A thirty-nine years' rule 

 is assigned to Abbot Osmund, which would bring the 

 date of the accession of Reynold (who ruled fifteen 

 years) to 1223, and the accession of Richard, the 

 immediate successor of Reynold, to the year 1238. 

 It is known, however, that Abbot Richard was in 

 office in 1229 (Cal. Pat. 1225-32, p. 305). Pro- 

 bably xxxix is an error for xxix, as the number of 

 years during which Abbot Osmund was abbot. This- 

 seems to bring all into order, and is therefore followed. 

 This document also states that in the abbacy of Hugh 

 de Waddeworth the house became heavily indebted 

 to the Jews, and that in the time of Osmund the 

 fifth abbot, who had been cellarer of Fountains, King 

 Richard released to the house 1,300 marks owed to 

 the Jews. 



" Baildon, Mon. Notes, i, 183. 



" Dugdale, Mon. Angl. v, 501. 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Romanus, fol. II, 29. 



"^ Cal Close, 1288-96, p. 323. 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Corbridge, fol. 8. 



'» Ibid. fol. 42. 



" Ibid. Melton, slip between fol. 162 and 163. 



"' Ibid, slip between fol. 187 and 188. 



" Baildon, Mon. Notes, i, 184. 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Zouch, slip between foL 

 1 18 and 1 19. 



'' Ibid. fol. 13. 



" Dugdale, Mon. Angl. v, 501. 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Thoresby, fol. 131. There 

 appears to have been a sentence of the papal court 

 (not here recorded) in a case of John de Dunelmia, 

 ' se asserens abbatem monasterii de Rupe,' against 

 a certain brother John de Retford, ' pro monacho 

 dicti monasterii se gerentem.' It looks as if John 

 de Retford had done harm to the goods of the 

 monastery and its abbatial dignity, besides molesting 

 John de Dunelmia. It may have been a dispute as 

 to the priorship, but the entry in the Register does 

 not say. The archbishop was one of the commis- 

 sioners delegated to pronounce the sentence of the 

 court. 



^* Dugdale, Mon. Angl. v, 501. 



" Test. Ebor. i, 213. 



'* Cal. of Papal Letters, v, 626. 



" Baildon, Mon. Notes, i, 183. 



'° York Archiepis. Reg. Kemp, fol. 392. 



iSS 



