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Fountains Abbey: History
Fountains Abbey: Buildings
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Domestic strife: Fountains in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries (24/26)
The Papal Schism of 1378-1409 divided Europe and had a direct impact on the English Cistercians, for they were instructed to break all contact with the abbot of Cîteaux, who supported a rival pope and was therefore declared a schismatic and pretender. This meant that the abbots of England and Wales were not allowed to attend the General Chapter in France, and were instead to hold their own independent meetings in England to deal with organisational and disciplinary matters. This heralded the birth of the English chapter, which outlived the schism and became part of the administrative fabric. Its existence enabled the abbots of Fountains to play a more active role in the administration of the Order; abbots John Darnton and Marmaduke Huby were particularly influential and frequently officiated as commissioners. However, the existence of and independent chapter and the breach with Cîteaux opened the way to a greater number of abbatial disputes. These could be tedious, expensive and violent, not to mention damaging to the abbey and Order. Fountains was directly involved in two such explosive dramas: one concerned the election to the abbacy of its daughter-house of Meaux; the other was a heated dispute over the abbacy of Fountains.(89) |
