Fountains Abbey
Some
folktales of Robin Hood tell of how, one hot summer's day in Sherwood, his men were
practising their swordsmanship and archery. Through the checkerwork of leaves, dancing
spangles were flung down by the sun, glinting off swords and flashing arrowheads.
Above the grunts and groans of the outlaws was the clashing
of steel on steel, the whiz and twang of arrows. A wild-eyed doe beat a hasty retreat
through the shimmering foliage, and a squawking blackbird fluttered up from the bushes to
the safety of a high tree.
At the end of one contest, won by the giant but sprightly
Little John, Robin remarked: "I would ride my horse a hundred miles to find thy
match!"
Upon hearing that, Will Scarlet began to laugh heartily.
"There lies a certain curtal friar in Fountains Abbey," he explained, "who
methinks could outdo all of us with the sword and the long bow."
Robin
stared at him in wonder, then laughingly replied: "You speak in jest, I've no doubt.
For I'd just been thinking that there were not such skilful fighting men as mine in all
England. But if what thou sayest be true, Will, then I will neither eat nor drink until I
have seen this friar."
~
Versions differ about the circumstances of the meeting between Robin Hood and the curtal
friar, better known as Friar Tuck. But all agree that he came from Fountains Abbey in
North Yorkshire. It is, however, hard to reconcile the popular image of the plump, jovial
Tuck with the abbey's reputation for harshness and austerity.
For it is told of how the abbey was founded in 1132 by
thirteen monks from St. Mary's, York, who thought their Benedictine brothers were too
slack in keeping the Rule. The brethren there lived too comfortably, not keeping to the
strict observances of dress and diet. "How can we serve God properly when we do not
keep St. Benedict's Rule," they said.
The leader of the dissidents, Prior Richard, had been
persuaded to talk to Abbot Godfrey about this slackness. But being an old man and
preferring his comfortable life, the abbot of St. Mary's was not.
In any case, it appears that a dreadful row ensued when the
archbishop and his officials arrived at St. Mary's to speak to the abbot. For Godfrey had
surrounded himself with his supporters, including representatives from other Benedictine
abbeys, equally guilty of neglecting the Rule. And the story is that they tried to
physically prevent the archbishop from gaining his interview with the abbot.
Consequently, Archbishop Thurstan placed the abbey under an
interdict and shepherded the dissenting monks - originally six, now thirteen - into the
church, barring the door for fear of violence. He then took them to his bishop's palace
for further protection.
They later accompanied him to his collegiate church of Ripon for Christmas, and
from there he took them to some waste land three miles to the west in the narrow valley of
the River Skell. There he presided over the establishment of a new and independent convent
with Prior Richard as the new abbot. And because there were springs of fresh water
bubbling from the hillside, they chose to call their new abbey 'Fountains'.
Tradition tells of how, not long afterwards, a ragged
traveller came begging for food to the gate of Fountains. In those early days, the abbey
consisted of just wooden huts thatched with heather and surrounded by a simple makeshift
fence. The traveller begged so piteously that the porter went to see Abbot Richard, who
called the brother in charge of the bread, a gift from Archbishop Thurstan. It was made
from coarse flour, which was customary for most in the 12th-century.
Anyway, this brother said that he had only two and a half
loaves remaining, and these he was saving for the carpenter-monks who were building them a
wooden chapel.
"Then do thou give one loaf to the poor man,"
ordered the abbot, "and keep what is left for the carpenters. For the rest of us, the
Lord will provide something."
So the porter did as he was bade and gave one loaf to
the starving traveller. As he was about to shut the gate, he noticed two men approaching,
dragging a cart. And as they came closer he saw, to his utter amazement, that the cart was
loaded with many loaves made from fine white flour.
"This is a present from our master," said one of
the men. "He heard how you brothers of Skeldale were starving, and gave orders for us
to bring these loaves."
By this time, other monks had joined the porter at
the gate. They clasped their hands and gazed heavenwards in gratitude. "Truly, God is
good," they said. "For in return for one coarse loaf, He has sent us many of
fine white flour." |
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Fountains rejected the decadent Benedictine Order in favour of the more austere Cistercian
one, the abbey being accepted as a daughter-house by Clairvaux in Burgundy. And so from
its impoverished beginnings, the convent soon saw an upturn in its fortunes. The number of
monks rapidly increased, local lords made extensive land grants, and the wooden dwellings
were replaced by an impressive stone structure. In fact, Fountains was to become one of
the richest and most extensive abbeys in England. And it is nowadays considered by many to
be the greatest monastic ruin in this country. |
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