Meaux Abbey is fortunate in having a faithful and authentic record of its history from its establishment to the reign of Henry VI. This folio volume, written in Latin at the end of the 15th century, is preserved in the British Museum and records many marvellous events. Superstition or faith—who shall say which?—must have inspired narrations such as the following:—“About the first hour there appeared in the sky three circles and two suns; and a dragon of immense size was seen in St Osyth (Osey Island, Essex) sailing the air so close to the earth, that divers houses were burnt by the heat which proceeded from him.” This alarming manifestation is said to have occurred “in the tenth year of Henry II.,” while previously, in the reign of Stephen, “a certain soldier, by name Oswey, chanced to have obtained admission into St Patrick’s Purgatory; and upon his return he gave an account of the joys and pains which he had witnessed there.”
The community at Meaux Abbey was severely stricken by the plague in 1349—only ten of the thirty-two monks being left. The same year, a great earthquake “threw the monks so violently from their stalls that they all laid prostrate on the ground.” About the year 1360 the monastery lost large tracts of land, owing to the encroachments of the sea. It would seem as if Meaux escaped the depredations and attacks of marauders and enemies only to fall prey to every possible form of the ravages of nature.
CHAPTER IV
YORKSHIRE (WEST RIDING)
FOUNTAINS: BOLTON: KIRKSTALL
[FOUNTAINS (Cistercian)]
1132, Thirteen monks leave the Abbey of St Mary’s, York, and found a monastery of the Cistercian Order in Skeldale—1134, Hugh, Dean of York, bequeaths his wealth to the Brotherhood—1137, Serlo and Tosti, Canons of York, become benefactors to the abbey. In the following years kings and popes endow it with various privileges—1140, The house consumed by fire—1204, Restorations are commenced and the foundations of the church laid—1247, The church completed by Abbot John of Kent—In the 13th and 14th centuries members of the House of Percy become patrons of, and benefactors to, the abbey—1540, Abbot Bradley surrenders the abbey and receives a pension of £100 per annum. Annual revenue, £998, 6s. 8d.—After being sold by Henry VIII. to Sir Richard Gresham and passing through the hands of various families, the Abbey purchased by William Aislabie, Esq., of Studley Royal, who annexes the ruins to his own estate, both being now in the possession of the Marquis of Ripon.