22. THE ABBEY OF SWINESHEAD
The abbey of Swineshead was founded by
Robert de Gresley about the year 1148. (fn. 1) The
monks who first settled there were a colony from
Furness Abbey. (fn. 2) The founder and his son
Albert endowed the monastery with 240 acres
of demesne land (fn. 3) and other gifts. Other benefactors were Stephen earl of Brittany, Robert
d'Arcy, Alan de Croun, Gilbert of Ghent,
Henry de Longchamp, Simon earl of Montfort,
and many of less note. (fn. 4) Extremely little is
known of the history of this house, and yet it
must have been a fairly large and important one
in early days, as even at the dissolution the bells
and lead were worth £274 3s. (fn. 5) King John
spent a short time there after that disastrous passage of the Wash when he lost the crown jewels. (fn. 6)
A late tradition also represents him as dying
within the precincts of the monastery. (fn. 7) There
are but few suits recorded of this house, and none
of them are important. In 1338 Henry de
Beaumont, earl of Bohun, complained that the
abbot and others had committed divers trespasses
on his free warren, fisheries, and pastures, at
Folkingham and elsewhere. (fn. 8)
The revenue of Swineshead Abbey in 1534
was less than £200; it therefore fell under the
first Act of Suppression. The abbot, John
Haddingham, received a pension of £24 a year.
The monks, ten in number, were paid off in the
usual way, with 20s apiece and ' capacities.' (fn. 9)
The interior history of Swineshead is as
difficult to recover as the exterior. One of its
earliest abbots attained considerable literary fame;
this was Gilbert of Hoyland, who had evidently
been an intimate friend and disciple of St.
Bernard. He had the honour of continuing (not
unworthily, as they say who are best able to
judge) his master's beautiful commentary on the
Song of Songs. St. Bernard carried the work
nearly to the end of the second chapter. Gilbert
went on with it till he also was interrupted by
death, before he had reached the end of the
fourth chapter. (fn. 10) Under his rule we may well believe that the primitive simplicity of the Cistercian
ideal was maintained at Swineshead, and his
good influence extended beyond the walls of his
own monastery. (fn. 11) We know that the standard
of the whole order became lower afterwards
with the increase of its wealth; but there is no
evidence that it was conspicuously low in this
abbey. The absence of records tells rather in
the opposite direction. There were three monks
who left the house in 1329, (fn. 12) and carried away
some of its goods, and another apostate was
absolved in 1341: (fn. 13) such cases prove very little.
The monastery was doubtless visited from time
to time, according to the custom of the order, by
the abbot of Furness; we hear of one such
visitation in 1401. A certain Ralf de Byker
was at that time accused of having laid violent
hands upon a former abbot, and of having stolen
goods belonging to the monastery; as he failed
to clear himself the visitor ordered him to be
imprisoned. The discipline of the order seems
to have been severe at the time, for Ralf de Byker
was so afraid of it that he fled the house early
the next morning; but a little later, wearying of
the secular habit, he entered the abbey of St.
Mary Graces in London, went through a new
novitiate there, and was professed a second time.
When the facts came to light a little later, he
had to get a dispensation from the pope to stay
in London instead of returning, as he ought to
have done, to the house of his original profession.
He was then formally absolved and released from
his obedience by the abbot of Swineshead. (fn. 14)
No complaint is recorded against the house at
the time of suppression. It was dissolved simply
because its revenue was less than £200 a year.
The original endowment of Swineshead Abbey
consisted of 240 acres in the same vill, with certain
mills and fisheries, and a moiety of the church of
Cotgrave, Nottinghamshire. (fn. 15) The temporalities
of the house were worth £121 16s. 10d. per
annum in 1291. (fn. 16) The abbot was returned
in 1303 and 1346 as holding half a knight's
fee of William son of Robert in Casthorpe. (fn. 17)
In 1534 the income of Swineshead Abbey
was £167 15s. 3½d. clear. (fn. 18) At the dissolution
the crown bailiff's report gives a total of
£184 17s. 8½ d., including the rectory of Cotgrave and the manors of Gosberton and
Quadryng, Great and Little Hale, Cotgrave, and
Hardwick Grange. (fn. 19)
Abbots Of Swineshead
Gilbert of Hoyland, (fn. 20) occurs before 1202
William, (fn. 21) occurs 1202 and 1208
Robert Denton, (fn. 22) occurs 1203
Geoffrey, (fn. 23) occurs 1240
Lambert, (fn. 24) occurs 1298
John, (fn. 25) elected 1308, occurs 1338
William, (fn. 26) occurs 1401
John Haddingham (fn. 27) (or Addingham), last abbot,
occurs 1529.
The pointed oval fourteenth-century seal (fn. 28)
represents an abbot full length, in the right hand
a pastoral staff, in the left hand a book, with
three monks on each side, under a carved cinquefoiled arch or canopy, crocketed. Above an
embattled parapet, in a niche with carved ogee
arch, having a flying buttress at each side, the
Virgin, with crown, seated, the Child on the
left knee. In the field, three estoiles; in base,
a boar's head.
. . . BATIS ET CONVENTUS DE LOCO BEATE
MARIE DE SWYNESHEVED IN HOLAND
The seal of Abbot Jordan (fn. 29) is also pointed
oval, representing the abbot standing on a corbel,
in the right hand a pastoral staff, in the left hand
a book.
SIGILLI ABBATIS DE SWINESHEVED