In contempt of the King, the Order and religion … they
shut the gates and with ambushes set making a fortress of the abbey
of Meaux and did wantonly resist and drive away the abbot of the
monastery of Roche
who was their visitor and reformer.(90)
In 1396 Fountains’ daughter-house
of Meaux, in Holderness, was split
over the election of its nineteenth abbot. Whereas some, perhaps
fearing reform, supported the appointment of their prior, William Wendover,
others backed Thomas Burton, who, indeed, was the choice of Abbot Robert
Burley of Fountains. As Father
Abbot of Meaux, Burley ratified Burton’s election.
However, he was accused of rigging the election by Wendover’s supporters,
who brought their complaint to the English General Chapter at St
Mary Graces, London, and claimed that Burton was an ‘intrusor’.
In other words, they declared that Burton’s appointment had been orchestrated
by their Father Abbot, Robert Burley of Fountains, and their patron,
the earl of Gloucester (lord of Holderness), who had threatened
any who refused
to submit with imprisonment at Hebden.
The Chapter responded by
sending the abbots of Furness and Roche to
investigate the case. Upon their arrival
at Meaux, the delegates were confronted with a scene of insurrection
- the gates of the abbey were shut and patrolled by a group of
armed men, who
had been stationed there by Abbot Robert of Fountains. They brandished
bows, arrows and other warlike weapons. As Father Abbot of Meaux,
Burley considered
this visitation - and any similar ventures -an encroachment on
his authority, and had therefore secured papal annulment of this
and any other commission.
The delegation was therefore unable to gain access to the abbey,
but a later visitation made by the abbots of Roche and Garendon was
more successful.
At a meeting held in the monastery’s guest-house, Thomas Burton’s
election was validated and it was agreed that all who had opposed
Burton should seek his forgiveness and bestow the kiss of peace.
The story did
not end here, for the abbot of Fountains, who had not been involved
in the arbitration, refused to abide by the terms of reconciliation.
He sought
to punish the offenders who in turn took their case to Rome and
instigated legal proceedings. It was ostensibly to spare his community
colossal legal
expenses that Burton resigned from the abbacy of Meaux in 1399.
He retired to Fountains and received a pension of 40s from Abbot
Burley and a spot
in the infirmary. It was here that Burton compiled the first book
of the chronicle of Meaux, which is preserved in the British Library.
Burton lived
here until his death in 1437. His tomb slab reads ‘T.B., ninth
abbot of Meaux, d. 4 Nones, October 1437. May his soul rest in
peace’ and
shows a figure holding a broken crozier, since he resigned from
the abbacy before his death.(91)