Editing Rievaulx Abbey

{{Short description|Ruined mediaeval abbey in Yorkshire, England}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox monastery
|name= Rievaulx Abbey
|image= RievaulxAbbey-wyrdlight-24588.jpg
|order= [[Cistercian]]
|founder= [[Walter l'Espec]] and [[Thurstan]], [[Archbishop of York]]
|established= 1132
|mother=[[Clairvaux Abbey]]
|disestablished= 1538
|diocese= [[Diocese of York]]
|churches=
|people= [[Aelred of Rievaulx]]
|location= [[Rievaulx]], [[North Yorkshire]], England
|coordinates= {{coord|54|15|27|N|1|7|0|W|region:GB_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
|map_type= North Yorkshire
|remains= substantial
|public_access= yes
}}

'''Rievaulx Abbey''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|r|iː|v|oʊ}} {{respell|REE|voh}}) was a [[Cistercians|Cistercian]] [[abbey]] in [[Rievaulx]], near [[Helmsley]], in the [[North York Moors National Park]], [[North Yorkshire]], England. It was one of the great abbeys in England until it was seized in 1538 under [[Henry VIII]] during the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]]. The wider site was awarded [[Scheduled monument|Scheduled Ancient Monument]] status in 1915 and the abbey was brought into the care of the then [[Ministry of Works (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Works]] in 1917.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|last=Pearson|first=T.|year=2019|title=Rievaulx Abbey, Helmsley, North Yorkshire: Archaeological Survey and Investigation of the Precinct. Historic England Research Report 7/2019|url=https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=16224&ru=/Results.aspx?p=1&n=10&rn=7&ry=2019&ns=1|access-date=9 June 2020|website=research.historicengland.org.uk}}</ref> The ruins of its main buildings are today a tourist attraction, owned and maintained by [[English Heritage]].

==Foundation==

Rievaulx Abbey was the first Cistercian monastery in the north of England,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Horsfield |title=Rievaulx Abbey : update on a long-term landscape conversation |journal=Bulletin |date=2015–2016 |issue=20 |page=22 |publisher=Teesside Archaeological Society. |location=Hartlepool |issn=2058-5144}}</ref> founded in 1132 by twelve [[monk]]s from [[Clairvaux Abbey]].<ref name=Coppack>{{cite book
|last = Coppack
|first = Glyn
|title = Fountains Abbey
|publisher = Amberley
|date = 2009
|isbn = 978-1-84868-418-8
| page=19
}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jamroziak |first1=Emilia |title=Rievaulx Abbey As a Wool Producer in the Late Thirteenth Century: Cistercians, Sheep, and Debts |journal=Northern History |date=September 2003 |volume=40 |issue=2 |page=197 |doi=10.1179/nhi.2003.40.2.197|s2cid=162222660 }}</ref>

Its remote location was well suited to the order's ideal of a strict life of prayer and self-sufficiency with little contact with the outside world. The abbey's patron, [[Walter Espec]], also founded another Cistercian community, that of [[Wardon Abbey]] in [[Bedfordshire]], on unprofitable wasteland on one of his inherited estates.<ref>{{cite ODNB|first=Paul|last=Dalton|title=Walter Espec|id=8885|date=23 September 2004}}</ref>

William I, the first [[abbot of Rievaulx]], started construction in the 1130s. The second abbot, Saint [[Aelred of Rievaulx]], expanded the buildings and otherwise consolidated the existence of what in time became one of the great Cistercian abbeys of Yorkshire,  with [[Fountains Abbey]] the second only Cistercian house to be built in Yorkshire.<ref>{{cite news |title=Retracing the steps of Fountains Abbey founders |url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/17320446.retracing-steps-fountains-abbey-founders/ |access-date=29 October 2021 |work=The Northern Echo |date=26 December 2018}}</ref> Under Aelred the abbey is said to have grown to some 140 monks and 500 [[lay brothers]].<ref>Walteri Danielis Vita Ailredi Abbatis Rievall, ed. FM Powicke, (London, 1959), ca. 30.</ref> By the end of his tenure Rievaulx had five daughter houses in England and Scotland.<ref>cf. Walter Daniel records a visitation that Aelred made to [[Dundrennan Abbey|Dundrennan]]. Aelred Squire, OP, ''Aelred of Rievaulx: A Study'' (London: SPCK, 1969), p. 65</ref>

==Financial prosperity==
The abbey lies in a wooded dale by the [[River Rye, Yorkshire|River Rye]], sheltered by hills.{{sfn|Gasquet|1908|p=221}}<ref>{{cite news |last1=Herbert |first1=Ian |title=Spartan monks liked a touch of pink |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/spartan-monks-liked-a-touch-of-pink-1128328.html |access-date=29 October 2021 |work=The Independent |date=23 October 2011}}</ref> The monks diverted part of the river several yards to the west in order to have enough flat land to build on. They altered the course of the river twice more during the 12th&nbsp;century. The old course is visible in the grounds of the abbey. This is an illustration of the technical ingenuity of the monks, who over time built up a profitable business mining lead and iron ore, rearing sheep and selling wool to buyers from all over Europe. Rievaulx Abbey became one of the greatest and wealthiest in England, with 140 monks and many more [[lay brother]]s. It received grants of land totalling {{convert|6000|acre|ha}} and established daughter houses in England and Scotland.

By the end of the 13th&nbsp;century the abbey had incurred debts on its building projects and lost revenue owing to an epidemic of [[sheep scab]] (psoroptic [[mange]]). The ill fortune was compounded by raiders from Scotland in the early 14th&nbsp;century. The great reduction in population caused by the [[Black Death]] in the mid-14th&nbsp;century made it difficult to recruit new lay brothers for manual labour. As a result the abbey was forced to lease much of its land. By 1381 there were only fourteen [[choir monk]]s, three lay brothers and the [[abbot]] left at Rievaulx, and some buildings were reduced in size.

By the 15th&nbsp;century the Cistercian practices of strict observance according to the [[Rule of Saint Benedict]] had been abandoned in favour of a more comfortable lifestyle. The monks were permitted to eat meat, more private living accommodation was created for them and the abbot had a substantial private household in what had once been the infirmary.

==Dissolution==
{{See also|List of monasteries dissolved by Henry VIII of England}}
The abbey was a troubling one for the authorities. Edward Cowper led the monks beginning in 1530, but the monks objected to his style. He was ejected in 1533 and initially the monks refused a replacement.<ref>{{cite ODNB|title=Cowper [known as Kirkby], Edward (d. 1557), abbot of Rievaulx|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-107205|access-date=27 February 2021| year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/107205| isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}</ref>

At the time of its dissolution in 1538 the abbey was said to consist of 72 buildings occupied by the abbot and 21 monks, with 102 lay employees and an income of £351 a year. The abbey owned a prototype blast furnace at [[Laskill]], producing [[cast iron]] as efficiently as a modern [[blast furnace]].

As was standard procedure, the confiscated monastic buildings were rendered uninhabitable and stripped of valuables such as lead. The site was granted to [[Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland]], one of Henry's advisers, until it passed to the Duncombe family.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hill |first1=Bennett D. |title=Rievaulx Abbey: Community, Architecture, Memory (review) |journal=The Catholic Historical Review |date=2001 |volume=87 |issue=1 |page=92 |doi=10.1353/cat.2001.0018|s2cid=159705299 }}</ref>

== Post-monastic era ==
In the later 16th and 17th&nbsp;centuries Rievaulx was an important iron-manufacturing site.<ref name=":0" />

In the 1750s the then owner, [[Thomas Duncombe (died 1779)|Thomas Duncombe III]], beautified his estate by building a terraced walk along the valley top overlooking the abbey from where the picturesque qualities of the ruins and the wider landscape could be enjoyed. It features two [[Rievaulx Terrace & Temples|Grecian-style temples]]. They are in the care of the [[National Trust]]. The abbey ruins are in the care of [[English Heritage]].

In the 1920s, the then-owner of the abbey donated lead, which had been stripped from its windows after the Dissolution and stored away, for the restoration of [[York Minster]]'s [[Five Sisters window]], which had been removed for safety during the First World War.<ref>{{cite magazine |date= 4 July 1925	|author=<!--Not stated-->   |title=Women's War Memorial |magazine=The British Medical Journal |location=London, UK |edition=Vol. 2 No. 3366 |publisher=BMJ |page=25}}</ref>

In the 20th&nbsp;century the abbey became a historic monument in the care of the State and is now managed by English Heritage.

In 2015 [[Historic England]] commissioned an [[Survey (archaeology)|archaeological survey]] and investigation of the abbey precinct using low-level aerial photography to make a digital surface model and an earthwork plan. This was followed by a ground-based survey in 2018. The aim of the project was to develop a better understanding of the landscape surrounding the abbey and was published in 2019.<ref name=":0" />

When awarded a [[life peerage]] in 1983, former [[prime minister]] [[Harold Wilson]], a Yorkshireman, adopted the title Baron Wilson of Rievaulx.

==Burials==
*[[Aelred of Rievaulx]]
*[[Thomas de Ros, 4th Baron de Ros]]
*[[John de Ros, 5th Baron de Ros]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
RievaulxAbbey.jpg|Rievaulx Abbey
File:Rievaulx Abbey from Rievaulx Terrace.jpg|Rievaulx Abbey viewed from Rievaulx Terrace (NT)
File:Aerial shot of Rievaulx Abbey in winter - geograph.org.uk - 654091.jpg|Rievaulx Abbey
File:RievaulxAbbey-Je11-wyrdlight.jpg|Rievaulx Abbey showing Presbytery (R), South Transept, Chapter House foundations & wall of Infirmary (L)
File:Rievaulx Abbey Nave.jpg|View looking south-southeast through the nave of the abbey church
File:Cotman, Ruins of Rievaulx Abbey.jpg|Ruins of Rievaulx Abbey, 1803, by [[John Sell Cotman]]
File:Rievaulx Abbey MET DP107964.jpg|Ruins of Rievaulx Abbey nave, 1854, by [[Roger Fenton]]
File:Rievaulx Abbey, the High Altar MET DP107965.jpg|Ruins of Rievaulx Abbey high altar, 1854, by Roger Fenton
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Abbot of Rievaulx]]
*[[List of monastic houses in North Yorkshire]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
*{{cite book|last1=Caroe and Partners|title=A Second Paradise of Wooded Delight: Rievaulx Abbey Conservation Plan Volume 2| year=2001|publisher=English Heritage}}
*{{cite book|last1=Fergusson|first1=Peter |last2=Harrison|first2=Stuart |title=Rievaulx Abbey. Community, Architecture, Memory|year=2000|publisher=Yale University Press}}
*{{cite book |last1=Gasquet |first1=Francis Aidan |title=The greater abbeys of England |date=1908 |publisher=Chatto & Windus|oclc=781133028}}
*{{cite book|last=Woods|first=Thomas|author-link=Thomas Woods|title=How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization|year=2005|publisher=Regnery History |isbn=0-89526-038-7|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/howcatholicchurc0000wood}}
*{{cite news|title=Henry 'Stamped Out Industrial Revolution'|last=Derbyshire|first=David|date=21 June 2002|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|access-date=30 June 2014|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1397905/Henry-stamped-out-Industrial-Revolution.html}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Rievaulx Abbey}}

*[https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/rievaulx-abbey/ Official English Heritage site]
*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13054b.htm Catholic Encyclopedia article]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Christian monasteries established in the 1130s]]
[[Category:Churches in North Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Cistercian monasteries in England]]
[[Category:English Heritage sites in North Yorkshire]]
[[Category:History of North Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Monasteries in North Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Ruins in North Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in North Yorkshire]]
[[Category:1132 establishments in England]]
[[Category:1538 disestablishments in England]]
[[Category:Ruined abbeys and monasteries]]
[[Category:Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation]]
[[Category:Scheduled monuments in North Yorkshire]]