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Byland Abbey: History
Byland Abbey: Buildings
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Byland in the thirteenth century
The complexity of administering the abbey’s lands and resources in the thirteenth century meant an increase in disputes and litigation. In 1202 Byland lodged a number of complaints against John, son of Harding, including allegations of violence against Brother Richard of Studley, a member of the Byland community. The matter was brought to the royal and archiepiscopal courts, and an agreement was drawn up whereby John quitclaimed land to the monks in Osmundfiniac.(50) In 1239 the abbot of Byland sued Peter de Brus for eight thousand haddocks. Peter, it seems, had agreed to pay the abbot one thousand haddocks a year, but was eight years in arrears.(51) There were allegations made against the community too. In 1244 the knight, Nicholas de Boteby, complained that the abbot of Byland had carried away the timber and bush he had cut in his wood at Boteby; the case was brought to court.(52) Byland also engaged in disputes with other religious, including its fellow Cistercians at Fountains. The two communities had rival interests in Nidderdale, which each had been given by the great magnate, Roger de Mowbray.(53) Conflict here began in the late twelfth century and continued until c. 1260.(54) In the 1220s the two communities came to blows over their respective rights to mines in Nidderdale. The General Chapter denounced this bickering as a disgrace to the Order, and nominated Abbot Roger of Rievaulx and the abbots of Furness and Beaulieu to settle this dispute.(55) In 1278-81, Byland claimed the right to hold
its own assize court
in its manor house at Clifton, just outside York. Crimes committed
within the monks’ liberty were heard at Clifton, and surviving
rolls suggest that these were mostly petty offences, such as the
theft of a silver
spoon from Ampleforth and of opportunists who stole goods amounting
to twenty shillings during the Scots invasion of 1322.(56) The
manor house at
Clifton was evidently a remarkable building, both in size and function.
The great hall was the equal of any episcopal residence, and the
house seems to have accommodated the royal household, including
Edward II (1307-1327),
and was the setting for a secret rendez-vous. |
