External affairs: duties to the Order

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Running costs
The Cistercians in England had to contribute to the running costs of the Order, and paid an annual tax to Cîteaux. In 1465 the abbot of Cîteaux made the abbots of Rievaulx, Woburn and Beaulieu responsible for collecting this money from all the Cistercian houses in England. This was not an easy task with abbeys facing economic hardships and royal mandates forbidding that money be sent out of the kingdom.

As part of the Cistercian family, the Rievaulx community had obligations to the Order. The abbot was expected to attend the annual General Chapter at Cîteaux and was reprimanded for his absence. In 1195 Richard I wrote to the Chapter apologising that the abbot of Rievaulx would be unable to attend that year, as he was occupied with royal affairs, yet the abbot was reprimanded for his absence the following year; he received the ‘light punishment’ of six days on bread and water.(31) The abbot of Rievaulx was frequently called upon to arbitrate in disputes between other Cistercian communities. Thus, in 1251 the abbots of Rievaulx and Rufford were sent as commissioners to heal a rift between the abbots of Fountains and Sawley over their rights at Lonsdale Road.(32) The abbot of Rievaulx was occasionally asked to conduct a visitation of one of Clairvaux’s daughter-houses on its behalf. In 1307, for example, the abbot of Rievaulx visited Clairvaux’s foundation at Margam. (33) Obligations of this kind were not new but became increasingly onerous, given the increased complexity in administering the abbey and its estates, and the growing number of duties relating to the Church, the State and the region.