For two hundred and fifty years—from the time of Abbot John of Kent, whose day ended in 1247, to the time of Abbot John, called Darnton, whose day began in 1479—no notable additions were made to the fabric1 of the Abbey. The energies of the brethren were directed to the diligent2 living of their daily life.
In Craven, the Abbey owned a hundred square miles within a ring fence; in the neighbourhood of Ripon, their lands ran in one direction for thirty uninterrupted miles. The monks5 of the daughter house of Kirkstead had farms in Lincolnshire, forty thousand acres of pasture land in Wildmore Fen3, and property in Boston, Lincoln and London. They had tithes6 of the{118} deer in Kirkstead Chase and the swans on Witham river. They sold wool in Flanders. They maintained several large mills and an iron works. And Fountains was much richer than Kirkstead. These possessions brought heavy responsibilities, and made a great demand on the monks’ time. There were tenants7 and title-deeds to be looked after, collections to be made, markets to be considered, with buying and selling, and the care of sheep and cattle.
In addition to these cares, the abbot was the official visitor of eleven other abbeys—the eight daughter houses, with three which had grown out of the first—and went about among them on journeys of inspection8 and encouragement and counsel. Also, as late as the fourteenth century, he had a seat in Parliament, where he wore his mitre and discussed the affairs of the wide world. Early in the fifteenth century he attended the Council of Constance,{119} where he heard Wyclif condemned9 and saw Hus burned. Late in the same century, when Henry VII., the last of the medi?val kings, kept St. George’s Day in state at York, it was the Abbot of Fountains who read the epistle at high mass in the Minster.
This abbot was John Darnton, who resumed again the old enthusiasm for making the Abbey beautiful. He put new windows in the place of the plain old ones, in the west end of the nave10, and in the chapel11 of the nine altars, east and north and south. After him, on the very eve of the Suppression, looking forward to centuries more of prosperity and peace. Abbot Marmaduke Huby built the noble tower.
About this time the Abbey bought a map—“a paper map of the world”—for which the bursar paid eight pence. There it hung upon the parlour wall, that all the monks might see what sort of place they lived in—a small world,{120} whose centre was at the altar of St. Peter’s Church in Rome. But while the new glass was being put in the big new windows the tidings came that a new world had been found across the sea; and to this expansion it soon became necessary to readjust the horizons both of maps and of ideas. In the process of this readjustment the Abbey came to an end.
When the Reformation began, the abbeys were all against it. To the men of the cloister12, living by rule and wonted to silence, the bold ideas of the robust13 prophets of the new time had a harsh and forbidding sound. Rumours15 of the current sayings and doings found their way into the Abbey—the farmer made report to the cellarer when he brought in his beets16 and onions—and the brethren shuddered17 to hear them, as men shake and shiver upon whom the cold wind blows around the corner after a day spent by the warm fire. In the quick{121}ening contention18 between the old learning and the new the monks held with the past.
Thus it was also in the increasingly embittered19 politics of the time. At Jervaulx Abbey, on a July Sunday in 1536, a monk4 sharply interrupted the preacher who was maintaining that the king was the head of the Church. The monk said that he neither would nor could take the king’s highness for to be the only and supreme20 head of the Church of England. He affirmed that the Pope was the head of the Church, and not the king. And his brethren agreed with him. That was what they held at Fountains. On one side were the king and the bishops21, on the other side were the Pope and the monks. The contrast between abbey and cathedral—between the monks’ church and the bishops’ church,—is of like significance with the contrast between the castles of Kenilworth and Warwick. The two castles took differ{122}ent sides in a great national division; and Kenilworth, which chose the side of Charles, and lost, is a battered22 ruin, while Warwick, which chose the side of Cromwell, and won, is a stately inhabited mansion23. The abbey and the cathedral made their choice in an earlier division. It needs but a glance to tell which chose the side that was defeated.
Fountains, like the other monasteries24, was ill prepared for the heavy storm. The convent had decreased in numbers. One of the fire-places in the warming-house, one of the ovens in the refectory kitchen, had been blocked up as being no longer needed. The partitions down the rows of pillars in the nave had been removed, for there were no lay brothers to sit in the long lines of stalls. Men were asking menacing questions as to the practical value of these vast establishments which were withdrawing from the general life of the nation so much wealth and strength. Parliament sup{123}pressed nearly four hundred of the lesser25 monasteries, partly on the ground that they were places of evil living, partly on the ground that their revenues were needed for the better benefit of the people; and there were few complaints. Though the greater abbeys were expressly exempted26 at that time from the accusations27 of immoral28 conduct, even they could not escape the charge of rendering29 but a scanty30 and uncertain service to the community.
It was the misfortune of Fountains, at this critical time, to have an incompetent31 and unworthy abbot; though even a saint could not have saved the place from the hand of the spoiler. In 1530, the Earl of Northumberland appealed to Cardinal32 Wolsey, in behalf of the brethren of Fountains, to remove the abbot. Abbot Thirsk, he said, doth not endeavour himself like a discreet33 father towards the convent and the profit of the house, but hath, against the same,{124} as well sold and wasted the great part or all of their store in cattle, as also their woods in divers34 countries, neither does he maintain the service of God like to the ancient custom there. The King’s commissioners35, Layton and Legh, said worse things about him. They declared that he was defamed a toto populo. They complained that there was no truth in him, one day denying and the next confessing various sins laid to his charge. They were especially indignant because one night he took secretly out of the sacristy or treasure room a gold cross adorned36 with stones, and in company with a jeweller, who had come from London, whom he took into his lodgings38, did abstract from the cross an emerald and a ruby39, which the London jeweller bought of him, cheating the abbot badly. It is plain that the poor man was at his wit’s end, sorely badgered by these insistent40 visitors, seeing the ruin of his holy house, and trying, if possible,{125} to save something out of it. Finally, he resigned his office into the hands of the commissioners, who assigned him a scanty pension. He took refuge in the Abbey of Jervaulx, where he became involved in the revolutionary proceedings41 of the Pilgrimage of Grace, and atoned42 for such misdeeds as he may have committed by being hanged at Tyburn.
Abbot Thirsk’s successor, Marmaduke Bradley, was selected by the commissioners. They said that he was the wisest monk in England; and he showed that he was even as wise, as the Bible says, as a serpent, by doing what his masters bade him. In 1539, at their demand, he surrendered the Abbey to the King.
The commissioners came down from London, late in the November of that year, and called a meeting, probably in the chapter house. There they assembled the abbot and the convent and the chief people of the neighbourhood, to{126} whom they duly declared “the godly determination of the King’s majesty43 to alter and change that house, with many others, from an unchristian life to a trade of virtuous44 and honest living.” The thirty-two brethren were promised proper pensions. They were accordingly advised “to submit themselves to his Majesty’s clemency45 and goodness, and by way of surrender to yield up into his Grace’s hands their monastery46, with all the lands, possessions, jewels, plate, ornaments47, and other things belonging to the same.” The commissioners then took possession of the convent seal, with all the keys, and made an inventory48. Thus politely, and even piously49, was this royal robbery effected.
The abbot betook himself to Ripon, where he held a prebendal stall. The prior and his thirty brethren were turned briskly out of doors to face the approaching winter. Despoiled50 of their own garments they were given suits of citizen’s{127} clothes, and were set outside the gates of their fair paradise to make their way, as best they could, over the strange roads of the cold world.
The gold and silver of the rich altars, with all things of value such as could be moved, were put in waggons51 and sent to the king. Distant though the Abbey was from any town, the rumour14 of these proceedings would attract a crowd. And the crowd stole what they could. The servants of the commissioners, who had a better chance, stole more, according to their opportunity. They rode about in those days, from the wreck52 of one abbey to the ruin of another, with rich copes for travelling cloaks and chasubles for saddle cloths. The master thief was abroad, and it was a pity if the little thieves could not have a share.
Then the windows were taken out, so carefully that but a handful of the precious glass remained in all the ruins, and were disposed of, nobody knows how or{128} where. The bells were taken down and carried off; one to be hung, tradition says, in the cathedral tower at Ripon. Finally, the roofs were pulled off, and the lead brought into the dismantled53 church; and there between the great pillars, betwixt the broken altars of St. Mary and St. Bernard, in a fire whose fuel was the carved work of the choir54 stalls, it was melted into convenient shape for the market.
An eye-witness has left a description of the spoiling of the dependent house of Roche Abbey. “The sudden spoil fell,” he says, “the same day of their departure from the house.... The church was the first thing that was put to the spoil, then the abbot’s lodging37, dorter and frater [i.e., dormitory and refectory] with the cloister and all the buildings thereabout within the abbey walls.... The persons that cast the lead into fodders55 plucked up all the seats in the choir where the monks sat when they said service, which were like to seats in minsters, and burned them and melted the lead therewith, although there was wood plenty within a flight-shot of them, for the abbey stood among the woods.” Everybody was busy, he says, pilfering56 what he could and hiding it among the rocks, “so that it seemeth that every person bent57 himself to filch58 and spoil what he could.” At Fountains, the ashes of such fires remained until the last century, amidst the general wreck.
The place was sold within a few months to Richard Gresham, a gentleman of London, who paid seven thousand pounds for it. In 1597, the heirs of Gresham sold it to Stephen Procter, a courtier of Elizabeth, who pulled down some of the buildings outside the cloister that he might get materials for his fine new Fountains Hall, near the west gate. His affairs falling into great confusion the place was again sold, and thereafter passed from hand to hand until,{130} in the middle of the eighteenth century, it came into the possession of William Aislabie, the owner of the neighbouring estate of Studley Royal. From whose granddaughter, Miss Lawrence, it passed by will to the Earl de Grey, the uncle of the present owner, the Marquess of Ripon.
Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.
London & Edinburgh
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1
fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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2
diligent
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| adj.勤勉的，勤奋的 | |
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3
fen
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| n.沼泽，沼池 | |
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monk
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| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
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monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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6
tithes
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| n.（宗教捐税）什一税，什一的教区税，小部分( tithe的名词复数 ) | |
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7
tenants
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| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
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8
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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9
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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10
nave
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| n.教堂的中部；本堂 | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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cloister
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| n.修道院；v.隐退，使与世隔绝 | |
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13
robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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14
rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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rumours
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| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
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16
beets
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| 甜菜( beet的名词复数 )； 甜菜根； （因愤怒、难堪或觉得热而）脸红 | |
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17
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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contention
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| n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张 | |
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embittered
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| v.使怨恨，激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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21
bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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22
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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23
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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monasteries
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| 修道院( monastery的名词复数 ) | |
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lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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exempted
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| 使免除[豁免]( exempt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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accusations
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| n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名 | |
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immoral
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| adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的 | |
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29
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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30
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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31
incompetent
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| adj.无能力的，不能胜任的 | |
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cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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divers
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| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
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commissioners
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| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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37
lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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39
ruby
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| n.红宝石，红宝石色 | |
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40
insistent
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| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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42
atoned
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| v.补偿，赎（罪）( atone的过去式和过去分词 )；补偿，弥补，赎回 | |
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43
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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44
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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45
clemency
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| n.温和，仁慈，宽厚 | |
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46
monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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47
ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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48
inventory
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| n.详细目录，存货清单 | |
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49
piously
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| adv.虔诚地 | |
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50
despoiled
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| v.掠夺，抢劫( despoil的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
waggons
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| 四轮的运货马车( waggon的名词复数 )； 铁路货车； 小手推车 | |
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52
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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53
dismantled
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| 拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消 | |
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54
choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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55
fodders
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| v.用饲料喂（fodder的第三人称单数形式） | |
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56
pilfering
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| v.偷窃（小东西），小偷( pilfer的现在分词 )；偷窃（一般指小偷小摸） | |
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57
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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58
filch
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| v.偷窃 | |
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