Brief Account of the Origins of the Cistercian Order
Ideals of the Cistercian Order
The Crisis at St. Mary's Abbey, and the exodus of the thirteen founders of Fountains Abbey
Foundation and History of Fountains
The Decline and Revival of Fountains
References for further study
Images of Fountains Today

Foundation of Fountains Abbey After spending Christmas at his quarters in Ripon, on December 27th they left and relocated on a plot of land given to them by the Archbishop three miles away on the River Skell. Cistercians made very creative use of water power from the rivers on which they settled, and became the leaders of a wave of technological development in the Central Middle Ages. In the beginning, life was almost unbearably hard for the monks. The place archbishop Thurston had given them was "more fit for wild beasts than men to inhabit, " and the monks endured great hardships and near starvation. The monks elected Prior Richard abbot, but by 1133 they were forced to look for outside help in order to survive. They turned, naturally enough, to the source of their inspiration, the Cistercian Order, and specifically, to Bernard of Clairvaux. in 1135, the abbey was admitted to the Order, and eventually gained the patronage of wealthy nobles in the area. It grew from an impoverished community, to one of the wealthiest houses in England.

The River Skell as it flows through the grounds of Fountains Abbey.

Close-up of the River Skell

The introduction of the Cistercian conversi , or lay brothers, enabled the monastery to develop its herds of sheep and holdings beyond what the monks could manage. The lay brothers were people from lower classes who wished to participate in monastic life, but who were illiterate, and so could not participate in the Cistercian liturgy. They separated from the monks in the choir by a screen, and had separate quarters in the monastery. The lay brothers were also able to manage fields and herds at a great distance from the abbey, which the monks themselves were unable to work because of the prohibition against traveling further from the monastery than one could return in a day in the Rule of Benedict. The lay brothers developed the holdings of Fountains to the point where buyers for the wool they produced came from Flanders and as far away as Italy. The Abbey also mined lead and quarried stone, raised horses and cattle, and worked in iron. Return to Index

Decline and Revival The fourteenth century was an era of tremendous chaos. Harvests were affected by the drop in overall temperature, as well as an abundance of rain, which led to flooding in parts of northern Europe. The population was also twice as large as it had been in the previous century, leading to an outbreak of famine. When the Black Death arrived in England during the fourteenth century, it quickly overcame an already weakened population, and by the end of the century, approximately 30 percent of Europe's population had succumbed to the plague. The fourteenth century also saw conflict between the Scots and the English monarchy, as well as between the English and the French in the Hundred Years' War, and raids on the frontiers which left the countryside devastated. You may further explore fourteenth century England through the The Georgetown Labyrinth . The chaos in society as a whole inevitably affected the monastic life at Fountains. Eventually the monastery began to lease out its granges, and to move away from the system of lay brothers. A revival occurred when Marmaduke Huby became abbot in 1495, and instigated a series of reforms. Abbot Huby, as did other abbots of his period, sat in Parliament. There were 52 monks at Fountains during his tenure as abbot. The Great Perpendicular Tower at the Abbey is a testament to his achievements, and to the last great age of Cistercian monasticism in England. Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries brought an end to monastic life at Fountains in 1539. The history of Fountains did not end with the Dissolution. In 1540, the abbey and much of its property was sold to Sir Richard Gresham, and later resold to Stephen Proctor, who built Fountains Hall partly out of stone from the Abbey's ruins. In 1768 Fountains Hall, along with the ruins of the Abbey, were sold to William Aislabie. The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were characterized by, among other things, the belief in natural law and, consequently, a romanticized view of nature. Often, these beliefs transformed the countryside, from a wild, irratic place into a vision of orderliness. Wealthy nobles sought to create this idealistic vision of nature as regular and orderly by incorporating Greco-Roman antiquities into beautiful landscapes. The haunting, majestic ruins of Fountains Abbey became one of the elements in the landscaping of Fountains Hall. Their role as decor for the new Fountains Hall and grounds, however, does not diminish the importance and legacy of the life once lived here. The extravagantly beautiful grounds present today still recall a more simple vision of nature and the once vital life exemplified here. Through the ruins of Fountains, set in an idyllic setting nestled among the forest and River Skell, the monks who once lived, worked, and prayed here still speak to us today through the majestic, soaring nave and vast expanse of its ruins. The presence of these Cistercian monks reworked the English economy, and inspired in the medieval period a renewed love of God through their life of work, study, and prayer. For those who have visited Fountains and have walked through its ruins, the presence of these monks is still alive today, and still serves as a testament to the balanced life of Ora et Labora .

Return to Index

References

The following sources, although old, are still standard references and provide good general overviews of this material:

F.A. Gasquet, D.D. Henry VIII and The Dissolution of the Monasteries . vol. I and II. London: John Hodges, 1893.

Dom David Knowles. The Monastic Order in England: a History of Its Development from the Time of St. Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council 943-1216 . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1941.

Bede Lackner. The Eleventh-Century Background to Cîteaux . Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1972.

Louis Lekai. The White Monks: A History of the Cistercian Order . Okaucheee, Wis: Cistercian Fathers Series, 1953.

Return to Index

Images of Fountains Abbey

The Abbey ruins, nestled in the woods looking towards the nave
The Abbey ruins, seen from the back of the nave
The famous nave of the Abbey
The lay brothers range on the west end
The monastery grounds, looking out on the guest houses
A typical room in the monastery
The Warming Room
The cloister the center of the monastery
Fountains Abbey, Tower

Return to Index