HOUSE OF CISTERCIAN MONKS
4. THE ABBEY OF RUFFORD
Rufford Abbey was founded towards the end of
the reign of Stephen by Gilbert de Gaunt, Earl of
Lincoln. (fn. 1) It was dedicated to the honour of the
Blessed Virgin, and colonized from Rievaulx
Abbey with Cistercian monks. By the foundation
charter, the house was at first endowed with all
the founder's lands and appurtenances at Rufford,
with thirty acres on the banks of the Trent, and
also with lands at 'Cratel,' Barton, and Willoughby. A short subsequent charter of Robert
de Gaunt, brother of the founder, testifies to the
justices, sheriff, and other officials of the king
that his brother had given to the abbey the whole
of his lordship of Eakring. (fn. 2)
Harleian MS. 1063 is a full transcript of the
chartulary or register compiled by John, Abbot
of Rufford, in the year 1471, from the various
charters and muniments of the monastery; it
covers 188 paper folios and is clearly written.
It begins with charters of confirmation of
Stephen, (fn. 3) Henry II, and later kings.
An inspeximus confirmation charter granted
to the abbey in 1462 by Edward IV supplies a
comprehensive survey of the more important
Rufford charters. They were as follows:—(1)
two charters of Stephen; (2) a charter of Henry II
confirming the original grants of Earl Gilbert;
(3) a charter of the same king exonerating them
from toll, passage, and pontage; (4) a charter of
Richard I, exonerating them from toll; (5) letters
patent of John, licensing them to erect a dyke
between their wood of Beskhall and the town of
Wellow (Welhagh), and to build keepers' lodges;
(6) two confirmatory charters of Henry III; (7)
two charters of Edward I confirming grants of
Rotherham; (8) a demise of 1278 by Abbot Bono
and the convent of Clairvaux to Rufford of a
moiety of the church of Rotherham, of the gift
of John de Lexinton at a rent of £20; (9) the
record of a forest inquisition, 15 Edward I, whereby it was found that the men of Clipston and
Edwinstowe ought to take nothing in the woods
of the abbot and convent within Sherwood
Forest; (10) grants by Robert de Waddesley and
Edmund de Dacre to Elias, then abbot; (11) a
charter of free warren grants, 13 Edward I; (12)
two letters patent of Edward I granting special
wood rights; and (13) letters patent 28 Edward III as to the acquisitions in mortmain. (fn. 4)
There are a large number of original grants,
charters, bulls, and agreements pertaining to this
abbey among both the Harleian and Cotton
charters of the British Museum. Most of these
are either of minor importance or are also referred
to in the patent rolls or chartulary. Among the
bulls, however, is one of the English Pope
Adrian IV, of the year 1156, confirming all the
donations and privileges of Rufford; (fn. 5) and
another of his successor Alexander III, dated
1161, whereby it was declared that no tithes
were to be paid on lands brought into cultivation
by the monks of Rufford with their own hands
or at their own expense. (fn. 6)
In the year 1159 an agreement was entered
into between the Abbot of Rufford and Thomas
Paul, Canon of York, in the presence of Roger,
Archbishop of York, and Ailred, Abbot of
Rievaulx, that the church of Rufford as a mother
church should pay no more tithes after the death
of the said Thomas. The abbot paid Canon
Thomas ten marks for the tithes of the past ten
years, and covenanted to pay a mark of silver
yearly during his life. (fn. 7)
A grant was made by Henry III in 1233 to
the Abbot and monks of Rufford, confirmatory
of the gift of Ralph son of Nicholas of all his land
in 'Werkenefeld,' (fn. 8) accompanied by licence to
inclose the said land with a dyke and hedge, so
that beasts of the chase might have free entry
and exit, and to cultivate the said land, build on it,
or dispose of it as they will. (fn. 9)
In the same year the king licensed the abbot
and monks to enlarge the courts of their house
by taking in an acre of the king's wood, without
any interference from the forest ministers. (fn. 10)
In 1251 Henry III granted a charter confirming
the abbey in numerous additional benefactions,
particularly of lands at Morton near Bothamsall, Eakring, Hockerton, Kirton, Willoughby,
Walesby, Besthorpe, Maplebeck, and Kelham,
Nottinghamshire, and Abney and Brackenfield
(Britterithe), Derbyshire. By the same charter
there were also confirmed to the monks the rights
in Sherwood Forest granted them by Henry II,
and approved by Geoffrey de Langley, forest
justice, namely licence to take green or growing
wood throughout the forest so far as it was
necessary for their own use, and estovers for all
their granges both within and without the forest,
and to have their own forester to guard their own
wood, who was to render fealty to the king's
foresters and verderers. (fn. 11)
The Abbot of Rufford in 1275 maintained his
right to all manner of chartered privileges for his
house and its tenants on their Nottinghamshire
lands, including freedom from every form of
secular exactions on all that they bought or sold
and on all that was conveyed to them, whencesoever it came, whether by land or water. The
right of free warren in all their lordships was also
upheld. (fn. 12)
Four years later the abbot was equally successful in maintaining his full manorial rights at
Rotherham, including assize of bread and ale,
tumbrel, pillory, standard measure and gallows,
as well as free warren at Rotherham and Carlecotes. (fn. 13)
Reference has already been made to Archbishop Wickwane's action in ordering the release
in 1280 of two conversi of this house from the
civil prison of Nottingham and their transference
to canonical confinement. (fn. 14)
Early in the reign of Edward I John de Vescy
granted to Thomas de Stayngreve, Abbot of
Rufford, and to his monks eight bovates of land
at Rotherham, together with the manor of the
same, the advowson of the mediety of the church,
the fair, market, mills, ovens, courts, and other
appurtenances. (fn. 15)
In August 1288 Henry, Abbot of Rufford,
obtained a licence to cross the seas to attend the
general chapter of his order, and to be absent
until a fortnight after Easter. (fn. 16) Edward I spent
September 1290 in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and Northamptonshire; on the 18th he was
at Rufford Abbey, where he sealed a variety of
documents. (fn. 17)
Licence was granted to the abbot in 1291,
after an inquisition ad quod damnum by John
de Vescy, justice of the forest, to fell and sell the
wood growing on 40 acres of his wood within
Sherwood Forest. (fn. 18)
In 1292 the Abbot of Rufford again obtained
royal licence to leave the kingdom, from May
until All Saints tide, to attend a general Cistercian chapter. (fn. 19) In 1300 the abbot was allowed
to cross the seas from July until Christmas for a
like cause. (fn. 20)
The Taxation Roll of 1291 gives the annual
income of the temporalities from the three
counties of Nottingham, Lincoln, and Derby as
£118 4s.; by far the largest part of this
(£110 5s.) came from the county in which the
abbey was situated. (fn. 21) The valuable church of
Rotherham is entered in the text of the MS. as
subdivided without any mention of Rufford, but
a variant reading states that it was appropriated
to the Abbot of Rufford in totum. (fn. 22)
References to the woods by which the abbey
was surrounded occur with some frequency in
the rolls. Thus in 1300 the abbot and convent
obtained licence to sell the cablish or windfalls in
their woods, although they were within the metes
of the forest of Sherwood. (fn. 23) In 1323 the abbot
was licensed by Edward II to grant to Henry le
Scrop twelve oaks fit for timber in his wood
within the king's forest of Sherwood, and for
the same Henry to fell them and carry them
away. (fn. 24) Again, in 1328 Edward III licensed
the abbot to give twelve oaks from his wood to
John de Roos, who might fell them and take
them to his manor of Eakring. (fn. 25) In 1334 the
king licensed the same John de Roos to fell
and take away whither he will twelve living oaks
and twelve old oaks not bearing leaves given
him by the Abbot and convent of Rufford. An
indemnity was given so that they might not
hereafter be charged by the ministers of the forest
in respect of the same. (fn. 26) John de Horton, who
had served the late king well and faithfully, was
sent by Edward II in 1307 to Rufford Abbey,
there to receive sustenance. (fn. 27) William le
Lound, king's clerk, was licensed in the same
year to fell three oaks in the woods of the Abbot
of Rufford, and two in the woods of the Prior of
Newstead, respectively given him by the two
houses, and to take them wherever he will. (fn. 28)
It would be tedious to continue enumerating
many like entries during the 14th century, but
perhaps an exception may be made in mentioning that in 1336 the abbot was licensed to
grant to Henry de Edwinstowe, king's clerk,
trees out of his woods within the forest of
Sherwood, sufficient to make a hundred quarters
of charcoal. (fn. 29)
The references to the rorest woods are fairly
frequent in the chartulary. The Abbot and
monks of Rufford claimed to cut and take green
wood in their wood within the regard of Sher
wood Forest for whatever was necessary for their
own use and for the use of all their granges both
within and without the forest, in return for warding the wood. (fn. 30)
In 1359 the abbot was charged with having
completely laid waste the wood of Beskhall,
cutting down and selling the oaks over 20 acres
and 3 roods of land. It was pleaded that the
charters of Kings Edward I and Edward II sanctioned this action, and the abbot obtained licence
to fell and sell to the extent of 40 acres. The
total receipts from the wood sale of 40 acres
amounted to just over £400, and the expenses to
£31. (fn. 31)
An apparent outrage was participated in by
two of the monks of this house in 1317, as to
which we have only the statement of complaint.
On 10 December 1317 a commission was
appointed to inquire into the charge made against
Andrew le Botiller, Richard de Balderton, John
de Rodes, Thomas de Rodes, together with
Brother William Sausemer and Brother Thomas
de Nonyngton, monks of the house of Rufford,
of gathering to them a multitude of men and
seizing Thomas de Holme, as he was passing
between the abbey of Rufford and the grange of
Roewood (Rohagh), robbing him of his goods,
and taking him to some unknown place and
there detaining him until he should satisfy them
with a ransom of £200. (fn. 32)
Edward III in 1328 confirmed a grant of
Henry, former Abbot of Rufford, whereby Henry
de Shirley for life, at a rose rent, obtained their
grange of Brackenfield (Brithrichfeld), Derbyshire, with the houses there, and the moiety of
the town of Brackenfield belonging to the grange
and certain common of pasture. (fn. 33)
In 1331 a curious case from this abbey was
reserved to the pope. John XXII issued his
mandate to the Abbot of Rufford to grant a dispensation to Thomas de Nonington, one of his
monks, touching the irregularity he had contracted by having pointed out to a bailiff a thief,
who was taken and executed. The monk had
been appointed guardian of a manor and a town
belonging to the monastery; one day, two years
before, being hailed 'master,' on entering the
town, a bailiff said that a thief, whom he was
following, had escaped him, and on the thief's
clothes being described the monk identified him. (fn. 34)
Licence was granted in mortmain in 1349,
at the request of the king's yeoman John Braye,
for the abbey of Rufford to charge their lands
in the county of Nottingham with 12 marks
yearly for two chaplains, to wit 6 marks for one
in the parish church of Upton by Southwell, and
6 marks to another in the parish church of
Newark, to celebrate divine service daily, as they
shall be ordained. (fn. 35)
In 1331 licence was obtained at the request
of Henry de Edwinstowe, king's clerk, for the
abbot and convent to appropriate a moiety of
the church of Rotherham which was of their
advowson. (fn. 36)
Notification was made on the Patent Rolls on
5 June 1343, at the request of the Abbot of
Rufford, that by a certificate of the treasurer and
barons of the Exchequer it is shown that the farm
of the mediety of the church of Rotherham, of
which he was bound to pay yearly to the alien
Abbot of Clairvaux £20, was taken into the
king's hands on 16 July 11 Edward III on
account of the war with France, and that the
abbot has since paid the farm at the Exchequer. (fn. 37)
In November of the same year there is an entry
to the effect that although the king had lately
presented Richard de Wombewell, king's clerk,
to a mediety of the church of Rotherham, believing the same to be void and in his gift, yet
because it has been found by inquisition that the
Abbot of Rufford long before the statute of mortmain acquired from the Abbot of Clairvaux a
mediety of the church at a rent of £20, and
that the Abbot of Clairvaux previously held it
appropriated, the advowson of the same does not
belong to the king, and he has seen fit to revoke
the presentation. (fn. 38)
Henry Beaumont, king's esquire, obtained a
royal grant in August 1438, for the joint duration of his life and of the war with France, of
the annuity of £20 which the Abbot and Convent of Rufford paid to the house of Clairvaux
in Burgundy; previously granted to Richard
Crecy, deceased, and then at the king's disposal. (fn. 39)
In the following October Beaumont obtained a
renewed grant of this annuity, as the previous
one was invalid on account of errors; this sum
of £20 a year was a payment made by the Abbot
of Rufford to the king for the keeping of a
mediety of the church of Rotherham belonging
to the alien Abbot of Clairvaux. (fn. 40) In 1440
peace was made between England and France,
but the grant of this annuity was renewed
jointly to Beaumont and to two clerks his
nominees, buildings and divine service to be
maintained by the grantor; in this third grant
it is asserted that the grant of 1438 was incorrect, as it did not belong to the Abbot of
Clairvaux. (fn. 41)
A grant for life of £10 a year was made by
the Abbot and Convent of Rufford in 1461 to
one William Spencer, out of the church of
Rotherham. (fn. 42) A second reference to this pension shows that it was in reality a grant by the
Crown out of the £20 paid by the abbey. (fn. 43)
The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1534 gives the
gross income of the abbey as £254 6s. 8d. and
the clear annual value as £176 11s. 6d. The
temporalities were spread over a large area, viz.
at Ompton, Babworth, Besthorpe, Bothamsall,
Boughton, Coddington, Eakring, East Retford,
Holme, Kelham, Kersall, Kirklington, Kirton,
Littleborough, Maplebeck, Nottingham, Rufford, Southwell, Staythorpe, Walesby, Warsop,
Welham, Willoughby, and Winkburn, Notts.;
Abney, Brampton, Brackenfield, Chesterfield,
Palterton, and Shirebrook, Derbyshire; Alkborough and Barton upon Humber, Lincolnshire; and Rotherham (£76 13s. 11d. clear) and
Penistone, Yorkshire. The only spirituality was
the rectory of Rotherham, of the annual value of
£67 13s. 4d.; but from this there were very
large deductions, the heaviest of which was a
pension of £36 13s. 4d. to the dean and canons
of Windsor, bringing it down to the net income
of £23 6s. 8d.
The monks had at this time granges at Kirkton, at Parkleys in Kelham parish, at Babworth,
at Foxholes, at Roewood in Winkburn parish,
at Maplebeck, and at Abney in Derbyshire. (fn. 44)
The abbey was visited in 1536 by those
notorious royal commissioners, Legh and Layton, who reported that there were six monks
guilty of disgraceful offences, and the abbot had
been incontinent with two married and four
single women. They further stated that six of
the monks desired exemption from their vows.
Under the head of Superstitio it is recorded that
the abbey claimed to possess some of the Virgin's
milk. The annual value was declared to be
£100 and the debts £20. (fn. 45)
Abbot Doncaster obtained a pension on the
dissolution of the house among the lesser monasteries, of £25 a year; but it was voided on his
speedy appointment to the rectory of Rotherham
on 2 July 1536. (fn. 46) It is therefore absolutely
impossible to believe that any attention was
given to the slander of Legh and Layton.
George, Earl of Shrewsbury, in October 1537
obtained a grant in fee of the site, &c. of the
late abbey, with all the lordships, manors, messuages, &c. in the counties of Nottingham,
York, and Derby, whereof Thomas Doncaster,
the late abbot, was seised in right of his monastery. (fn. 47)
There is a sulphur cast of a fine impression in
the British Museum of a 13th-century seal of an
Abbot of Rufford. The abbot stands on a platform, with pastoral staff in the right hand and
book in the left. Legend:—
+ SIGILLUM : ABBATIS : RUFFORDIE (fn. 48)
Another abbot's seal, c. 1260-70, bears an
eagle rising:—
+ AVE MARIA GRACI (fn. 49)
A third abbot's seal, of the year 1349, bears
the Virgin and Child, with an abbot kneeling,
holding up a flowering branch:—
+ MATER DEI MISERERE MEI (fn. 50)
A counterseal of the year 1323, bearing a
dexter hand and vested arm holding a pastoral
staff; in the field, on the left a crescent, on the
right a star.
SIGILL' RUDFOIRD . . . (fn. 51)
Abbots of Rufford
Philip de Kyme, temp. Stephen (fn. 52)
Edward, occurs 1203 (fn. 53)
Geoffrey, occurs temp. John, 1218, &c. (fn. 54)
Thomas (fn. 55)
Simon, occurs 1232 (fn. 56)
G—, occurs 1239 (fn. 57)
Geoffrey, occurs 1252 (fn. 58)
William, occurs 1259 (fn. 59)
Henry, 1278 (fn. 59a)
Thomas de Stayngreve, occurs 1283 (fn. 60)
Henry, occurs 1288 (fn. 61)
Henry de Tring, occurs 1315 (fn. 62)
Elias, occurs 1332 (fn. 63)
Robert de Mapelbek, 1352 (fn. 64)
Thomas, 1366 (fn. 65)
John de Harlesay, 1372 (fn. 66)
John de Farnsfeld, 1394 (fn. 67)
Thomas Sewally, occurs 1400 (fn. 68)
Robert de Welles, 1421 (fn. 69)
Robert Warthill, died 1456 (fn. 70)
William Cresswell, 1456 (fn. 71)
John Pomfrat, died 1462 (fn. 72)
John Lilly, 1462 (fn. 73)
John Greyne, 1465 (fn. 74)
Roland Bliton, 1516 (fn. 75)
Thomas Doncaster, last abbot (fn. 76)