SELBY ABBEY AND ITS BUILDERS. 
4 1 
field, or shepherds watching their flocks, or wheelwrights, carpen¬ 
ters, and masons, all plying their trades. Then as the bell of the 
Monastery sounding the hours of prayer, summoning the brother¬ 
hood to join in the spirit, if not in person, in the sacred offices of 
the Church. 
Around the Monastic workshops might be seen the belt of 
cultivated land, and further beyond, perhaps, workmen toiling in 
the making of a road or draining the marshes, or herds grazing 
in the fields, or perhaps the harvest being reaped—all this under 
the shelter of ecclesiastical privileges which were in those days 
regarded with respect. 
Abbot Hugh, in his great zeal for the Abbey at Selby, did not 
overlook the religious wants of the surrounding villages. He was 
a devout architect. He devoted himself to the building of the 
Abbey Church and other buildings with the greatest ardour, 
“laying out not only his own property, but the offerings of the 
faithful, prudently and to the best advantage ; since it was for the 
glory of God’s House and not his own, which would have been 
sacrilege and robbery.” Every day, clothed in a workman’s dress, 
he was accustomed to carry to the wall mortar, stones, and what¬ 
ever was necessary like the rest of the labourers, at the close of the 
week receiving his wages like them, which he distributed to the 
poor on the Sunday. He ruled over the Monastery for nearly 26 
years, during the reigns of William Rufus and Henry I. He 
resigned his office through failing health, and, after visiting various 
Monasteries, returned to his beloved Selby, where he settled at a 
farm in the neighbourhood. He was allowed to end his days in 
the house he loved so well and which he had helped to rear, and 
was laid to rest in the Chapter House. 
Many grants were made by the Crown to the Abbey, but these 
grants were not always of a voluntary nature. It very frequently 
happened then as now, privileges had to be paid for, and in the 
time of King John we find the Abbot of St. Mary’s, at York paid 
£100 for a similar privilege—a big sum in those days. 
Herbertus—1123—1127—the third Abbot, had not the business 
capacity of his predecessor. He lacked the qualities necessary to 
administer the affairs of a large Monastery, and the secular matters 
were much neglected. His special qualifications were those of a 
retired monk, and he was told by the Pope’s Legate to retire into 
private life. 
