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Women as benefactors (3/5)
Gerald of Wales, an archdeacon and satirist who wrote in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, was often scathing of the Cistercian Order and criticised its greed for land. His remarks should not be taken too seriously or, at least, taken with a good handful of salt. According to Gerald the White Monks were so eager to accumulate land that they would visit old women on the throes of death, making them promises of salvation should they bestow their generosity upon the abbey. He maintained that one community - which has been identified as Abbey Dore, Herefordshire – was so intent to benefit from the death of a wealthy lady at Ewias Harold, that its monks visited the dying woman and would not leave until she had taken the Cistercian habit and received the tonsure.(7) This is not the only example that Gerald recites. He recounts several cases of noblewomen who were visited by the White Monks when nearing their death, and duly persuaded by the monks’ promises of salvation to make generous donations to their abbeys. In return for their wealth, the women were received as Cistercians. This process, known as ad succurrendum, was forbidden by the General Chapter, but the prohibition was not always observed. Whilst there is some truth to Gerald’s claims, his assertions need to be set in context, and it has been noted that all the women he cites were, in fact, in some way associated with a leading patron of the abbey in question. The lady of Ewias Harold, mentioned above, was most probably a member of Robert of Ewias’ family. At Strata Florida, Matilda de Braose, wife of Gruffudd ap Rhys, patron of the abbey, was buried next to her husband in the abbey church; Matilda had previously received the Cistercian habit at Llanbadarn Fawr.(8) |
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