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Rise and Fall I: Kirkstall from the late
twelfth century to the mid-thirteenth century
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Alexander
(1147-82) achieved what was required of a founding abbot and established
a solid framework for the development of monastic life upon which
his successors could expand. He secured papal protection of the
abbey and royal confirmation of their lands and possessions. The
period until c. 1210 was one of general growth and during this time
the community received about 138 grants; 128 of these were gifts
of land, others included cash payments,(9)
buildings, rights of way, and even a grant of twenty cart-loads
of hay.(10) After 1210, benefactions
to Kirkstall, as indeed to other Cistercian abbeys, waned.
This process of expansion and consolidation was
not always easy and Alexanders immediate successors, Ralph
and Lambert, faced particular problems over the abbeys lands.
When Ralph Haget (1182-c. 1190), a former monk of Fountains,
became abbot Kirkstall was not a wealthy house, but at least it
had no debts. Ralph, however, soon had to deal with external quarrels,
loss of herds, the failure of produce, and the loss of the abbeys
grange at Micklethwaite, which was Kirkstalls
greatest source of support.This had a devastating impact, causing
the community to disband for a short period and seek refuge at neighbouring
Cistercian houses.
The ‘Foundation History’ of the
house describes Ralph as ‘a man of piety and noteworthy for
all
holiness, a lover of justice and most ardent in rivalry
for
the good of the Order’ .
[Foundation
of Kirkstall, pp. 181-2.]
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In an attempt to recover their lands at Micklethwaite,
Ralph presented the king with precious gifts which included a
golden
chalice and a manuscript of the Gospel, to win his favour. His
efforts were, alas, in vain and Ralph was reproached by some members
of
the community for sacrificing the abbeys treasures. Kirkstall
did not actually recover their lands at Micklethwaite until Helias
abbacy, during the reign of King John (1199-1216). Ralphs
successor, Lambert (c. 1190-3), a man of supreme innocence
and singleness of mind,(11)
was embroiled in a tussle over the abbeys grange of Cliviger,
but was otherwise credited by the chronicler of the house with
establishing
peace and sufficiency.
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