|
You are here:
Crimes and misdemeanours
(7/7)
Life at Kirkstall and on its granges was not
always peaceful and the communitys behaviour was at times
far from pious - and even violent. In 1356 the abbot of Kirkstall
was accused of leading a hitsquad of five monks and a lay-brother
of the abbey, as well as four laymen, to besiege Thomas Sergeants
house at Thorpe, near Knaresborough. The group allegedly damaged
the building, stole Thomas goods and imprisoned him at Wetherby.(39)
Ten years later the abbot was once again at the forefront of local
thuggery when he and a lay-brother of Kirkstall, along with two
widows, were said to have attacked the archbishop of Yorks
official, the vicar of Sandal, in an attempt to prevent Robert of
Baghills widow, Margaret, from being summoned to appear before
the archbishop. The vicars servant was killed in the brawl,
but the lay-brother accused received royal pardon in 1371.(40)
In 1377 Abbot John of Thornberg was brought before royal commissioners
and charged with numerous offences that he and a certain merchant
had allegedly committed. The crimes listed included entering houses
and lands in York and elsewhere, attacking servants, destroying
trees and hunting game.(41) Granges
were frequently the centre of trouble and Kirkstalls granges
were no exception. At Micklethwaite,
Adam the granger and others were accused of murder; at Barnoldswick
Peter the granger cut off the ear of one of the serving boys who
had stolen two loaves of bread.(42)
The community was also reproached for transgressions
of a less violent nature. In 1280 the Kirkstall monks were reported
to the General Chapter
for rebelling against their father abbot of Fountains,
and accused of conspiring amongst themselves.(43)
The precise cause of this is not known, but may have been related
to the economic situation at this time or the deposition of Abbot
Gilbert of Kirkstall, who had neglected to pay off their debts to
Cardinal Jordan and the Jews.(44)
Archbishop Greenfield admonished the community in 1314 for admitting
parishioners of Leeds to sacraments in the chapel above their gatehouse,
and receiving others for burial within the abbey grounds;(45)
the latter presumably referred to burial within the church, although
this is not stated explicitly in the document.
<back>
<new section>
|