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The consolidation and administration
of Kirkstall’s estates
(4/15)
The Kirkstall community was not solely reliant on the benefactions
of the de Lacy family and its connections. Other notable donors
included the Paynell family and its tenants, whose main lands were
in Adel
(Cookridge, Brearey and Burdon), and the Bramhope family, whose
lands were in the Percy fee. In addition, those who joined the
abbey as
recruits generally brought with them gifts, which often included
gifts of land, and their family might subsequently become benefactors
of the abbey. Many of Kirkstall’s recruits came from neighbouring
places such as York, Leeds, Bracewell and Otley, which meant that
the abbey extended its holdings in these areas. The community might
also secure donations from those who had no direct links with the
monastery, but were impressed by the sanctity of the monks and
sought spiritual benefits in return for their generosity. These
might include
prayers, masses or burial rights. For example, Ralph of Adwick,
granted the community land within the court of the grange of Bessacar
in
return for burial in the house; Nigel of Horsforth granted the
monks his body and land in Horsforth. (6)
Land for spurs
An interesting grant made to the community was of four bovates of land
at Horton, near Bradford. This came with spur service, which meant that
whoever held the land of the abbey was to deliver a pair of ‘white
spurs’ each year; these were probably coated with tin.
[Coucher Book, p. xviii, and fn. 3; see too no. cclxx, p. 191]. |
Whilst the monks received many of their lands and possessions
as gifts, they also acquired holdings through exchange, purchase
or
coercion. For example, the monks swapped two bovates of land in
Estburn that they had received from Adam of Milburn, for land in
Riddlesden
belonging to Elias of Steeton. In the late fourteenth century Kirkstall’s
patron, John of Gaunt, helped negotiate the community’s purchase
of the cell of Birstell from the Benedictine abbey of Aumale in
Normandy (NE Rouen), along with many of its possessions.(7) There
could thus be considerable wheeling and dealing between the monks
and their
neighbours, to consolidate their holdings, concentrate their interests
in specific areas and therefore create a more efficient system
of estate management. Indeed, many of Kirkstall’s former
estates are now civil parishes.
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