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The arrival of the Cistercians in Yorkshire
(1/1)
In 1131 Bernard
of Clairvaux sent a letter to
Henry I telling him of his intention to found Clairvaux’s first
daughter-house in Britain. He wished to establish an abbey in the
North of England, where the wild, desolate landscape was well-suited
to Cistercian expansion. Bernard’s choice of location was probably
also influenced by his familiarity with this area, for he had contacts
in the North, and several of his key monks at Clairvaux came from
Yorkshire. Bernard’s letter to
King Henry is characteristically dynamic and fused with military
imagery. He presents the venture as a carefully orchestrated military
campaign: monks of Clairvaux were to suss out the area and report
back; he would then send an army of monks to occupy the outpost,
and from there infiltrate the country.
The first colony from Clairvaux
arrived at Rievaulx,
Yorkshire, in 1132. On their way to Rievaulx they
passed through York, where they made a deep impression on a group
of Benedictine monks of St Mary's, York, who were dissatisfied
with the state of monastic life in their abbey. The sight of
the Cistercians inspired them actively to seek the reform of
their
house. This led to a dramatic confrontation between the reforming
party and the abbot, which led to the group's hasty departure
from the abbey, and the eventual foundation of a new Cistercian
community
at Fountains.
The foundation of Rievaulx was a carefully planned
operation: the location was vetted by Bernard’s monks; Walter
Espec,
the founder, provided a site and endowment; a group of monks from
Clairvaux colonised the house. Under the direction of Abbot
William (1132-44), Bernard’s former secretary, the abbey flourished.
It attracted a number of recruits and donors, and within three
years was ready to expand and found its first daughter-house at Warden,
Bedfordshire.
Such was the appeal of Rievaulx that following
his visit to the abbey, David of Scotland’s steward, Aelred, exchanged
his life at the royal court for the Cistercian habit. Others
were
equally drawn to the monastic life at Rievaulx, and some abandoned
Benedictine or Augustinian houses in the region to join the Cistercian
community. Numbers soared and by the end of William’s abbacy,
in 1144, they had risen from twenty-five to three hundred. Rievaulx
remained a prominent house until the Dissolution, and founded
a
total of eleven daughter-houses. |