The administration of the abbey’s estates brought an increase
in litigation throughout the Middle Ages, and Byland was involved
in a number of lawsuits over trespass, theft and even assault.(26) In
1250, the abbot of Byland complained that John le Rutur of Engelby
and other offenders, had mowed his corn at Lemingthorp and then
removed it. In 1282 Hugh de Lewynthorp was amongst those accused
of cutting the abbot’s trees at Woldendene.(27) The
abbot brought a case against Roger de Kelde of Kereby in 1371,
who he claimed
had dug turves to the value of £10 at his turbary at Cam.
In 1377 he complained of trespassers digging turves at Deepdale,
near Scarborough.(28) The abbot’s
attempts to protect his pastures at Rillington from flooding in
1342 evidently railed the neighbours,
for William of Wintringham and other armed men from the locality
forcibly broke down the embankment that the abbot had constructed
along the banks of the Derwent. Accordingly, the pastures flooded
once again, prompting the abbot to demand £10 compensation
for his loss of profits.(29)
Cistercian magpies
The Byland community was also accused of misdemeanours, and
in 1244 the knight, Nicholas de Boteby, brought a case against
the abbot whom, he claimed, had carried away the timber and
bush he had cut in his wood at Boteby.
[Notes on the Religious and Secular Houses of Yorkshire I,
ed. Baildon, p. 28, no. 3]
There are several recorded instances of brutality
against the Byland community. In 1202 the monks lodged a number
of complaints against
John, son of Harding, including allegations of violence against
their own Brother Richard of Studley. 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.(30) William
of Briestwistle’s (Lower Whitley) grant of land and
wood to Byland in the early thirteenth century was evidently intended
as a peace offering of sorts, for his charter states that this
was given ‘for the love of God’ and also a quitclaim
of the complaints which the community had against him and his men,
regarding injuries done to them. William acknowledged that he had
been constrained by ecclesiastical censure to make peace with Byland.(31) In
the thirteenth century the monks brought a lawsuit against the
great-grandson and namesake of their founder, Roger
de Mowbray,
whom, they claimed, was responsible for assaults on lay-brothers and
servants of the house. They also accused him of violently seizing
their cattle for his own table. The case was decided in the monks’ favour
and the terms of the treaty enabled Byland to extend its interests
in Nidderdale. This included shared hunting rights and, most importantly,
the right to assart, plough and build.(32)
