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Old wine in new bottles: attitudes to reform in fifteenth-century England
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
Extract
Wherever one turns in the pages of those who have written about the later medieval church there are reminiscences of Eliot’s ‘Hollow Men’:
- Shape without form, shade without colour
- Paralysed force, gesture without motion
As Knowles put it, ‘by and large the whole body ecclesiastic was lukewarm’, adding of monasticism in particular that ‘it had little warmth to spare for others’. It was, he commented elsewhere, ‘an age of waning fervour’ - ‘the rhythm of life becomes universally slower, and scarcely any new feature appears until the abrupt end’. To other less compelling and considered writers it has been all too easy to characterise these waning medieval years simply as ones of ‘inevitable decline’, the retreat of the spiritual tide proceeding unchecked by the vain efforts of even the most able and dedicated men of the period to halt its recession - ‘it was his misfortune’, it has been said of Marmaduke Huby, one of the major English monastic figures of the period, ‘to be born at a time when ideals were at a low ebb, when the spirit of monasticism had grown languid and when material preoccupations demanded far too much attention’. There is little to be gained from such generalised speculation, which, if the subject of the passage was not known, could readily be ascribed, with equal non-validity, to almost any period in monastic history. Nonetheless, it remains true that the particular circumstances of church and society in the fifteenth century placed massive obstacles in the way of men like Huby, and there is ample evidence of the difficulties with which they had to contend.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Studies in Church History , Volume 14: Renaissance and Renewal in Christian History , 1977 , pp. 193 - 211
- Copyright
- Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1977
References
1 Eliot, T. S., ‘The Hollow Men’, lines 11-12, Collected Poems 1909-35 (London 1936) p 87 Google Scholar.
2 RO 3 (1959) p 466.
3 MRHS p xiii.
4 Talbot, C. H., ‘Marmaduke Huby, abbot of Fountains (1495-1526)’, ASOC 20, fasc 3/4 (1964) pp 165-84Google Scholar at p 165.
5 Dobson, [R. B.], [Durham Priory 1400-1450], Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, 3 series, 6 (Cambridge 1973)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
6 Ibid p 10.
7 [The Utter-Book of Robert] Joseph, [ed Aveling, H. and Pantin, W. A.), OHS, ns 19 (1967) no 63, pp 89–90 Google Scholar.
8 Letters [from the English abbots to the chapter at Cîteaux 1442-1521, ed Talbot, C. H.], CSer, 4 series 4 (1967) no 127, pp 246-7Google Scholar, =D[ijon, Archives départmentales de la Côte d’Or, Fonds 11 H 19], 8. For the Cistercian archives in general see Repertoire Numerique des Archives Départmentales antérieurs à 1790, Côte d’Or, Archives Ecclésiastiques, Série H, clergé régulier, 11 H, Abbaye de Citeaux, ed Richard, J. (Dijon 1950), pp 48 Google Scholar. Earlier lists and catalogues are still of some use and value, given the disordered and dilapidated nature of the collection, upon which Talbot and earlier commentators have remarked. Talbot’s edition is not altogether satisfactory, nor always wholly accurate. A new edition, with translation and commentary is in progress.
9 ...pro redintegracione ordinis nostri, ibidem pene lapsi per destructores, per invasores seculares, lupos graves, qui lac et lanam querunt, qui sua coliigunt et non Jhesu Christi, qui vere mercenarii, ymmo multo peiores sunt, raptores gregis sicut lupi graves, socii furum, multas valde sustinuit oppressiones et iniurias, ymmo quodammodo carceres ab huiusmodi monasteriorum invasoribus. Et iam considerans se nichill posse in medio huius nacionis prave et perverse proficere . . . arbitratur fore sanctius et utilius in domo habitare quam cum strucionibus in eorum medio conversari.
10 Letters no 129, pp 249-53, dated 8 August 1517, =D 6.
11 Abbatem de Morgan [Margam] suo officio spoliavit, et timore mortis et terrore tantorum armatorum cedere compulit, et monachum suum pene illiteratum loco alterius intrusit, p 251.
12 Ibid p 252.
13 See Letters no 101, pp 204-9, dated 21 August 1497, =D 15.
14 Duo quoque fratres erant eiusdem monasterii, videlicet, cellerarius et alter Scolaris quidam sacre theologie bachalarius, qui adeo symoniace et ambiciose alter adversus alterum pro abbaciatu illius monasterii optinendo contendebant, ut quidem nec preci nac precio parcere decreverunt, ut baculum illius lucrifacerent. Contraxerant namque et illexerant plerisque sponsionibus et promissis totani insulam ad sui favorem, ille principes, alter magnates, ille nobiles, alter milites, ille clerum, alter vulgum, in sue cause defensionem suscitabat, pp 205-6.
15 . . . invenimus totum monasterium militibus et armigeris ac numerosa wulgi multitudine, qui pro partibus advenerant supradictis, constipatum. Nos vero inter medias turbarum acies regiam viam incedentes, omnes favorabiliter cum lenitate verborum salutantes promisimus nos fide bona et indifferenti animo secundum statuta religionis in actu futuro processuros, ita tamen ut quiete discederent nec nos inquietarent neque monasterium superfluis sumptibus aggraverent, sed post biduum, si qui vellent, revenirent et qualem suum abbatem et pastorem princeps pastorum Christus dignaretur providere aspicerent. Sicque tandem gravem et formidabilem multitudinem abire fecimus, non absque maxima difficultate et instancia, p 206.
16 . . . optimum et spectabileiri iuvenem, etatis tamen triginta annorum, preclaro ingenio imbutum, sciencia, litteratura, experiencia, pudicicia ac multis virtutibus insignitum, Alexandrum nomine, eiusdem monasterii saccrdotem et commonachum denominavimus, providimus et prefecimus in abbacialem dignitatem illius monasterii, p 207. The most recent, and extended, account of Banke’s career is to be found in Haigh, [Christopher], [The Last Days of the Lancashire Monasteries and the Pilgrimage of Grace], Chetham Society, 3 series 17 (Manchester 1969) pp 14–20 Google Scholar. There is, however, little about his origins and background, though it would appear that he had relatives within the community, and was well-connected: sec, for example, the prohibition of any member of the abbot’s ‘fee, kin or allied’ from service on the jury when Banke was cited to the duchy court in 1516 (Haigh p 58), and Letters no 128, pp 247-9, dated 29 April 1517, =D 81, at p 249 for a reference to Banke’s relative John Clapham.
17 Banke’s election was not, however, entirely unopposed. John Dalton, probably one of discarded candidates in 1497, and Banke’s successor in 1514 (below n 18), intrigued unsuccessfully against him, and at the general chapter of the order in 1500 Banke was absolved from ‘incontinence, irregularity, simony and other proven crimes’. See Canivez 6, p 237, no 23; 6, p 238 no 25; Haigh pp 14-15.
18 See RO 3 (1959) p 33; Letters no 128, pp 247-9, dated 29 April 1517, =D 81. The letter was addressed to the abbot of Cîteaux by Banke’s unfortunate successor, John Dalton, and sent from the Fleet prison, where Banke had had Dalton consigned. For Furness and the Lancastrian houses generally see Haigh and my ‘Scienter nescius, [sapienter indoctus: English scholar-monks and the monastic life]’, forthcoming.
19 It should, however, be noted that this dispute appears to have begun in 1514, and it is possible that Huby was involved in it in the years before 1517, for which no correspondence survives, though the tone of Dalton’s letter (above n 17) does not seem to suggest such an involvement. No letters from English abbots to Cîteaux now survive at Dijon for the years between 1500 and 1517. The texts included by Talbot for this period (nos 111-20, 122-4) are not letters from England, and, for the most part, not letters at all, nor from the same liasse as the bulk of the correspondence.
20 See, for example, RO 3 (1959) p 34—‘in a class by itself’.
21 See Letters no 101, p 205.
22 For Huby’s own account of the growth of Fountains under his rule sec Letters no 131, pp 258-9, dated 1520, =D 10.
23 See Baker, ‘Scienter nescius’; Goodman, A.E., The Loyal Conspiracy (London 1971) pp 75–7 Google Scholar.
24 See Letters no 2, pp 22-39, =D 27. This is in fact a dossier of letters and depositions concerned with the protracted and notorious case of William Downam, former monk of Fountains. Though the final compilation may be dated, as by Talbot, to 28 December 1449 the constituent documents are variously dated between 11 June 1447 and the terminal date. It must be said that of all the items in Talbot’s collection the transcription of this important dossier is the least satisfactory: indeed, in some respects it is difficult to accept that it can have been made directly from the manuscript. For Wardon see Letters nos 78-82, pp 154-66, dated 19 June 1492-10 May 1493, =D 33, 54, 94, 97.
25 See Baker, ‘Scienter nescius’, and below. In a letter written on 19 April 1517 (no 126, pp 242-6, = D 7, at pp 244-5) Huby complained of the intrusion of an unworthy provisor for the Oxford house of studies by the abbot of Ford, but his comments in this particular instance are more widely significant of attitudes with regard to Cistercian scholar monks—Aliud eciam restat pro militate scolarium et ibidem studencium providendum, quia provisor eiusdem collega, contra voluntatem maioris et sanioris partis studencium per Venerabilem patrem dominum Abbatem de fforda institutus, proprie voluntatis et affeccionis arbitrio, nullo alio commissariorum secum coassistente, pocius quam discreta racione, monachus sibi professus, necdum in sacerdotali ordine constituais, iuvenis tam moribus quam sciencia, spretis multis aliis maturioribus tam moribus quam sciencia, non tam assumptus quam intrusus esse videbatur. Sigillum commune illius collegii substractum aut perditum fore publice declaratur, et ob has consideraciones maior pars patrum Anglie, has videntes enormitates, scolares suos ad dictum collegium Oxonie dedignantur transmitiere, sed pocius ad parisiense studium intendunt eos dirigere. Plures utique Anglie patres, presertim borealium parcium, ubi religio et ordinis ceremonie conservante, cum nutrierunt iuniores fratres in croceis studii claustralis et regularis observancie, ac sic direxerunt hiis diebus suos scolares ad studium, qui debent esse electi ex milibus, necgligencia ac torpore provisoris incumbentis, viri utique pertinacis animi, ut piane et vere fateamur, ineffrenata libertate vagantur foras, et neclecto studio amplexantur vanitates et unusquisque agit pro libitu absque debite cohercionis remedio. Cumque defectu bone provisiotiis patres viderint filios suos ire per abruta talium semitarum obliquarum retrahunt desidiose studentes et nequaquam proficientes ad monasteria sua multo deteriores quam prius fuerant in virtutibus. Talia sunt ibidem iam infeuda tempora nostra. Adest, ut dicunt, in presenti aut nuper affuit vobiscum, dictus provisor, et si hec ex nostra relacione eidem pro sua correccione dixeritis, uti nichil in occulto agamus, contenti erimus. Bonus utique et religiosus provisor multa bona ac utilia conferre poterit, non solum studentibus, sed eciam omnibus Anglie patribus et eorum monasteriis, si bene et religiose scolares sui educati et eruditi fuerint in studio. Sic econverso malus et negligens ac improvidus provisor plura dampna procurare poterit.
Compare the complaint of the abbots of Fountains and St Mary Graces seventeen years earlier (Letters no 109, dated 20 August 1500, p 222): . . . Sed non solum hec et huiusmodi illi faceré conantur contra sacrum ordinem qui in claustris conversantur, sed et illi de quorum mentibus presumere videbamur, qui scolasticis deputantur disciplinis, mox cum ad bachalariatus gradum, licet non ad condignum, sciencia salutari que edificat, sed illa que inflat, debreati fuerint, immediate spiritu extollencie et elacionis contra suos superiores eriguntur, vendicantes sibi iura et quedara insignia abbacialia non ex gracia sed ex debito, videlicet proximum stallum post abbatem, publicum birreti usum, impudenter se dicentes secundos post abbates esse, non humillia, sed alta sapientes, ambulantesque in mirabilibus supra se, putantes se scire omnia, cum nichil noverint, presertim cum ipsum non noverint, qui omnia novit. Pro premissis quoque privilegiis defensandis iuraque ordinis protegendis curialibusque monachis et contra patres suos abbates pervalidas conspiraciones suscitantibus, freno correccionis reprimendis aliisque insolenciis, ac novarum rerum molitoribus et inventoribus cohercendis et corrigendis, si nequaquam consultissime fuissent Reformatores, cum habundantissima superiorum potestate ordinati et suffulti tanquam coadiutores dei, qui predictis pestiferis malis et incommodis viriliter resistendo obviarent, profecto ut magistra omnium rerum experiencia cognoscimus, ordo ipse totus cum suis legibus et privilegiis verteretur in citissimum ac profundissimum precipicii laberinthum . . . See also Letters no 95, pp 191-3, dated 28 August 1496, = D 5, at p 193; no 137, pp 265-6, dated 1521, = D 124.
26 Letters no 64, pp 128-30, dated November/December 1490, = D 18: ‘Ut quid’, inquit, ‘pro introitu domini Cisterciensis tanto tempore desudatis? Hic, si venerit, nichill nobis proficiet sed sua queret, brigas et dissensiones inter patres faciet, et in peiori statu ordinem dimittet quam reperiet. Propter hoc obstruxi vias eius spinis ne veniret’, p 129.
27 Letters no 109, pp 220-5, dated 20 August 1500, = D 9, and see above n 24.
28 Letters no 131, pp 258-60, dated 1520, = D 10. The final paragraph is in Huby’s own hand.
29 Ibid p 259. For a hint that Huby’s advancing years had already, in 1517, become a matter for comment see Letters no 125, pp 239-41, dated 17 April 1517, = D 80, at p 241.
30 See ibid no 127, dated 23 April 1517, = D 8, . . . per fratri nostri Marmaduci bursarii nostri . . ., p 246. This is possibly the same man as the Marmaduke referred to as an emissary of the abbot of Fountains in 1510/11, . . . per manus fratri Marmaduci . . . : see ibid no 117, p 232. The report of Layton and Legh to Thomas Cromwell on the resignation of William Thirsk, abbot of Fountains, referred to Marmaduke Bradley as ‘xxti yeires officer and rewler of all that howse’, see [The Memorials of] Fountains [Abbey], 1, [ed Walbran, J. R.], SS 42 (1863) p 266 Google Scholar.
31 Ibid no 139, pp 267-8, dated by Talbot 1517-21. Adating of 1520/1 might be preferable in the light of the trouble at Fountains reported by Huby (above n 28) and the possible involvement of Bradley in it.
32 See Fountains 1 pp 250-76. The episcopal commission for Thirsk’s benediction as abbot was issued on 22 October 1526, ibid p 268 n 2. For further comment about Thirsk see Baker, ‘Scienter nescius’.
33 Fountains 1 p 266, Layton and Legh to Thomas Cromwell 20 January 1536.
34 Ibid pp 266-7.
35 Ibid pp 260-4; Haigh p 19.
36 MRHS p xiii.
37 RO 3 (1959) p 466.
38 Above n 26. See also Graham, Rose, ‘The Great Schism and the English Monasteries of the Cistercian Order’, EHR 44 (1929) pp 373-87CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For attempts to undermine the exemption of the English houses of the order, and the authority of the abbot of Cîteaux and his commissaries, see Letters no 59, pp 120-2, dated 8 August 1489, =D 42; nos 65-6, pp 130-7, dated 20 November 1490, = D 46; no 129, pp 249-53, dated 8 August 1517, = D 6. For a comment on the isolation of the English houses see Huby’s letter regtetting the death of the abbot of Cîteaux, James of Pontaille, in 1516 (Letters no 126, pp 242-6, dated 19 April 1517, = D 7, at p 242): Ante vero relacionem suam [Thomas Fassington] huius rei nullam habuimus cognicionem utpote in remotioribus huius regni Anglie partibus constituti.
39 In the course of a letter to Lord Dacre, dated 18 July 1523/4, Huby remarked ‘I have beyn professyd in this Monastery of Fontaynes by the spaice of iiixx yeres’, Fountains 1 p 241.
40 On 19 April 1517, after the departure of James of Pontaille, abbot of Cîteaux (20 November 1501-25 October 1516, resigned, 1-2 November 1516, died) Huby wrote to his short-lived successor Blaise Larget (1516-10 September 1517), asking for the renewal of his powers as commissary, and emphasising his long period of service— Nam per triginta sex annos in negociis ordinis, viz. viginti et tres in abbaciali regimine, et residuum annorum eorumdem sub duobus predecessoribus nostris [Thomas Swinton, abbot of Fountains 1471-8, John Darnton, 1478-95] et Reverendissimis patribus ct dominis Hymberto, Johanne et Jacobo, predecessoribus vestris, utcumque militavimus, eorum fulsiti [sic] auctoritate, et nunc in vestro obsequio diem claudere extremum cupimus. Letters no 126, pp 242-3, =D 7. If Huby’s claim to have served Swinton (1471-8) and Humbert de Losne (abbot of Cîteaux 1462-76) in negociis ordinis is accepted then his thirty-six years of service cannot have been continuous. His claim implies that he was active in the interests of the order before 1476. For further testimony to the trust placed in Huby before he became abbot see the letter of John Haryngton (no 66, pp 131-7, dated 20 November 1490, = D 46, at pp 132, 136). For Huby as bursar of Fountains see no 64, pp 128-30, dated November/December 1490, = D 18.
41 See Talbot p 167; Letters no 86, pp 172-4, dated 12 August 1495, = D 92.
42 See Davis, G. R. C., Medieval Cartularies of Great Britain (London 1958) pp 47-8, nos 414-19Google Scholar.
43 Resigned 1501, died 27 December 1503.
44 Letters no 86, p 173, dated 12 August 1495
45 Ibid: ab ineunte aetate in litteris assidue educatus, nutritus, in sacraque scriptura non mediocriter edoctus, immo ut ita dixerim doctissimus. Compare the descriptions of the abbot of Stratford Langthorne, qui eiusdem studii [Oxford] alumpnus erat (ibid no 95, dated 28 August 1496, = D 5, p 193), and the abbot of Rievaulx in Huby’s letter of 19 April 1517 (no 126, pp 242-6, = D 7): . . . venerabilem et religiosissimum virum dominum Willelmum abbatem Rievallensem, virum vestre Reverencie cognitum, litteris, sciencia et multis virtutibus insignitum, qui primo apud Oxonie studium et eciam postea una vobiscum in Collegio Sancti Bernardi religiosam et honestam vitam ducere studuit, p 243.
46 See, for example, Huby’s memoranda of 1495 (Letters no 89, pp 181-3, = D 19) and August 1496 (ibid no 94, pp 189-91, = D 106) and above n 25.
47 Letters no 129, pp 249-53, dated 8 August 1517, =D 6, at p 252.
48 For brief accounts see RO 3 (1959) pp 35-6; Talbot p 167. Knowles’ references to the letters in Talbot’s edition are unfortunately consistently inaccurate, and probably reflect the prepublication order and numeration of the transcripts supplied by Talbot, see RO 3 p 28 n 1. Writing in the context of the complaint lodged against Huby by the abbot of Stratford Langthorne, as a result of Huby’s intervention at Furness in 1497 (see above nn 13-15), the abbot of St Mary Graces recorded—Habet insuper idem dominus abbas de ffontibus (non obstante predicta querimonia omnibus iustis causis suis) cum omni gracia dominum regem faventissimum (Letters no 100, pp 202-4, dated 16 August 1497, = D 50, at p 204). For Huby’s ensuing discussion with the king see below. For his experiences at the royal court while still bursar of Fountains see Letters no 64, pp 128-30, dated November/December 1490, = D 18. For his relationships with the king’s mother see Letters no 66, p 137: Placeat Reverendissime paternitati vestre harum latori litteras vestras cum graciarum accionibus pro amore suo ostenso et ostendendo venerabili viro magistro Thome Burwel, in decretis Bacallario, secretario nobilissime principisse Margarete comitisse Richemundie et Derbie, ac domini nostri Regis Henrici septimi matris, . . . una cum litteris suffragia ordinis nimirum coenobiorum vestrorum continentibus, tam dicte principisse, mulieri devotissime, cuius ope in Wallia Marmaducus suffultus est, quam eidem secretario concedendum. For Huby’s relationship with Wolsey see an addition to a letter of 8 August 1517 (no 129, pp 249-54, = D 6, at p 254) in which Huby advised the abbot of Cîteaux: Consulimus, si sic placuerit, ut littera suffragialis de confraternitate sapienter, pulchro dictamine ornata ac formosa manu scripta, fiat . . . The object, as Huby said, was to secure especially favourable treatment for the order from Wolsey. Huby’s praise of Wolsey might seem fulsome—. . . virum sapientissimum regni, post regiam maiestatem moderatorem maximum, insignem iusticie cultorem, pauperum et oppressorum relevatorem precipuum—but it is clear that he was well-acquainted with the cardinal: the archbishop of York was, as Huby recalled, huius monasterii de ffontibus fundatorem et defensorem egregium, and he promised, if such a letter of confraternity was sent from Cîteaux, eandem litteram manibus nostris propriis sue Reverencie offerre, and, at the same time, to seek all possible benefit for the order from the legate. Earlier in the same year (17 April 1517) the abbot of Rievaulx had stressed Huby’s influence over Wolsey—dominus cardinalis dominum abbatem eiusdem loci [Fountains] singulari favore prosequitur, qui, ut a pluribus estimatur, per influenciam ipsius abbatis non sinistra sed pocius prospera procurabit, Letters no 125, pp 239-41, = D 80, at p 241.
49 Ibid: Certi enim sumus, quod nullus in regno nostro Anglie tantam experienciam habet, neque cum magnatibus regni nostri tani familiaris et notus.
50 Ibid no 80, pp 159-62, dated 26 September 1492, = D 33, at p 159: Et quia summa uniformitas in ordine debet observari, statuimus et ordinamus ut in canta, gestu, habitu et tonsura, in leccione, oracione, ceterisque ceremoniis ordinis secundum formam a sanctis patribus nobis relictam, omnes huius domus professi vivere et se conformare studeant, . . .
51 Ibid no 101, dated 21 August 1497, pp 204-9, = D 15. at p 208.
52 Fuimus namque cum Regia celsitudine circa finem aprilis, et tribus vicibus de plerisque rebus coram sua maiestate conferentes, de statu ordinis reformando viisque et mediis sue assistencie, presertim partium Walliarum, qui multum digrcssi sunt a semitis sancte religionis, tam in habitu et tonsura quam in ceteris ceremoniis. Similiter et de Hibernensibus et de ecclesia de Scardeburgh, et invenimus suam magestatem tam in causis istis quam in nostris nobis semper faventissimum, sicut adhuc in presenti graciose perseverat, et ex mera mente sua asseruit sub proprio signeto suo in nostrum favorem suas Regales litteras vestre dirigere reverencie, quas per fratrem nostrum presencium baiulum recipietis: cui, si placet, fidem indubiam adhibere dignimini [sic] in multis aliis que scribere non valui. Inter alia multum admiratur princeps clarissimus quod conversos fratres in Anglia non habemus, qui soient ordini antiquitus esse tanquam ad utilitatem et profectum, tanquam christi pia iumenta. Pro sex vel octo huiusmodi conversis honestis et in diversis artibus practicatis dixit se suas graciosas litteras directurum in futurum, quibus et honestam provisionem procuraret in potioribus nostri ordinis monasteriis, ut horum exemplo alii devoti laici ad fervorem religionis excitati religionis habitum assumere nullatenus erubescerent. Namque nullus hic conversus apud nos reperitur in presenti, qui faceret ut omnes mirarentur.
53 See Dobson p 10.
54 For the association of Huby and Grene, and the high opinion in which they were held, see Letters no 59, pp 120-2, dated 8 August 1489, = D 42, at p 121, . . . quibus similes in hac re non visurum me spero unquam, doleo, . . .; no 66, pp 131-7, dated 20 November 1490, = D 46, at pp 132, 134, 136—Meliores aut certe (pensata locorum et personarum qualitate) illis pares vel consimiles saltem duos dumtaxat in Regno invenietis hac ctate nullos; no 77, pp 152-4, dated 7 December 1491, = D 66, at p 153. For separate references to Grene see ibid pp 66, 196, 198.
55 See Canivez 1, p 61, no 16, referring to the statute of 1157. Fountains was not alone in acquiring a tower: ‘in the years before the Reformation a new West Tower of magnificent proportions was added at Furness’, Haigh p 56, and n 3.
56 See the comments of Knowles, RO 3 (1959) p 28.
57 Galbriath, V.H., Historical Research in Medieval England (London 1951) p 30 Google Scholar.
58 Ibid p 36.
59 Letters no 126, pp 242-6, dated 19 April 1517, = D 7, at p 244.
60 For an insight into Huby’s attitude see his last recorded letter, to Lord Dacre on 16 July 1523/4 (Fountains 1, pp 239-42). For the renewed interest in the history of Fountains in the later fifteenth century see Baker, Derek, ‘The Genesis of English Cistercian Chronicles: the Foundation History of Fountains Abbey’, Analecta Cisterciensia, 25 1 (1969) pp 14–411 Google Scholar; 31, 2 (1975) pp 179-212, and forthcoming.
61 Letters no 89, pp 181-3, = D 19, at pp 181-2. A later memorandum (ibid no 94, pp 189-91, dated August 1496, = D 106, at p 190) requested permission for a further enhanced observance, on the pattern of that accorded to St Edmund, claiming: nullus ordo, nulla religio, nullusve sexus videtur diem nathalicii sui debitis preterire laudibus et exequiis, excepto nostro dumtaxat ordine Cisterciensi, qui quamquam plures eiusdem gloriosi martiris habet, ut predicitur, exuvias, . . . Both letters refer to the relics at Fountains, but there is no mention of them at the dissolution. See Fountains 1, p 150 for a reference to devotion to St Wilfrid.
62 See Fountains 1 p 152 for the archiepiscopal indulgence, dated 13 February 1502-3.
63 Ibid, quoting Leland’s Itinerary.
64 Letters no 131, pp 258-60, = D 10.
65 See, for example, the involvement of John Greenwell (abbot of Fountains 1442-71) in the settlement of local disputes, Fountains 1 p 148 n, and the making of Thomas Swinton (Abbot 1471-8) and the abbot of Jervaulx brothers of the York Corpus Christi guild in 1471, ibid p 150 n. For a passing reference to local opinion of Cistercians, at Scarborough, see Letters no 103, pp 210-13, dated 10 August 1498, = D 17, at p 212. More generally see the newly-published Borthwick Paper no 50— Vale, M. G. A., Piety, Charity and Literacy among the Yorkshire Gentry, 1370-1480 (York 1976)Google Scholar.
66 Expositio venerabilis Aelredi abbatis de Rievalle de evangelica lectione cum factus esset Jesus annorum duodecim, edited with critical introduction and French translation by Hoste, A., ‘Quand Jesus eut douze ans . . .’, SCR 60 (1958)Google Scholar; English translation in The Works of Aelred of Rievaulx 1, Treatises, The Pastoral Prayer, Cistercian Fathers Series, 2 (Spencer, Mass., 1971), translation by Theodore Berkeley. Brief extracts from the treatise also occur in translation in Squire’s study (below). Hoste’s introduction to his edition provides an excellent sketch of the literary and spiritual context of the treatise. See also Constable, Giles, ‘Twelfth-century spirituality and the later Middle Ages’, in Medieval and Renaissance Studies, ed Hardison, O.B. Jr. (Chapel Hill, N. Carolina, 1971)Google Scholar; Squire, Aelred, Aelred of Rievaulx, a Study (London 1973) particularly pp 67–70 Google Scholar.
67 For another monastic revival of interest in the past outside the ranks of the white monks see the comments of Robert Dunning, ‘Revival at Glastonbury 1530-9’, below pp 213-22.
68 See, for example, Tangl, M., Die Briefe des heiligen Bonifatius und Lullus, MGH Epp Sel 1 (1916) no 50 Google Scholar.
69 Shakespeare, sonnet 73.