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MANX NATIONAL HERITAGE EDUCATION SERVICESSHIRVEISH YNSEE EIRAGHT ASHOONAGH VANNIN

A Teachers’ Guide toRushen Abbey in the 16th Century

Ogher da Fir-ynsee Abb Rosien ’sy 16oo Cheead

Manx National Heritage

The Manx Museum, Douglas, Isle of Man IM1 3LY

Telephone: (01624) 648000 Fax: (01624) 648001

E-mail: education@mnh.gov.im

Eiraght Ashoonagh Vannin

Thie Tashtee Vannin, Doolish, Ellan Vannin IM1 3LY

Chellvane: (01624) 648000 Facs: (01624) 648001

Post-L: education@mnh.gov.im

CONTENTS & INFORMATION

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Contents

Introduction 3

The Foundation 4

The Buildings 5

The Brothers 6

The Land Holdings 7

The Kings of Mann and 8

Rushen Abbey

Religious Change in Tudor England 9

to 1540

Religious Change in Mann to 1540 10

Rushen Abbey Records: 11

before and after 1540

Glossary 12

Preliminary visitsIt is strongly recommended that teachers intending tomake general visits with a Manx school group toRushen Abbey should make a preliminary visitthemselves beforehand. By using this guide during apreliminary visit a working knowledge of the site canbe gained.

If you wish to make a preliminary visit, simply indicatethis on your permit application form for your classgeneral visit.

Education ActivitiesRushen Abbey has a set of Activity Packs which can bepre-booked by Manx schools and set out on tables onthe tented activity area outside for class group use.Please tick the relevant box on the General VisitPermit Application form if you wish to use them.

These activities are not specific to the 16th

century.Theoutdoor activities are weather dependent.

RUSHEN ABBEY IN THE 16TH CENTURY

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IntroductionBy the 16th century Rushen Abbey was a shadow of itsformer self in that, at the time of the Dissolution in1540, there were six monks and the Abbot, while theNunnery at Douglas retained only its Prioress and twonuns. Rushen Abbey’s power and status as the centre ofmonasticism in Mann was already much reduced, butits privileges and properties meant that it retainedgreat wealth, particularly in terms of land holdings.

RUSHEN ABBEY IN THE 16TH CENTURY

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Rushen Abbey was a daughter house of the Abbey ofSt. Mary at Furness in Cumbria, a Savignian abbeyfounded in 1124 by Stephen, who became King ofEngland eleven years later. Furness was moved to itspresent site in 1127, and became Cistercian in 1147.Asa daughter house, Rushen Abbey, dedicated to St. Maryas were all Savignian foundations, also becameCistercian.

The Abbey of Rushen was established in 1134 by KingOlaf I of Mann, son of Godred Crovan, whose reignestablished the Island as a strong Kingdom and gavethe Irish Sea area political stability. Olaf had lived at thecourt of King Henry I of England as a boy andunderstood the affairs of both Church and State,managing, during his forty year reign, to keep on goodterms with the rulers of the surrounding kingdoms. Hewished for a Diocese of Man and the Isles to beestablished, writing to the Archbishop of York askinghim to consecrate a new Bishop, whose appointmentwas to be made with the guidance of Abbot Ivo ofFurness.

His Charter set out as follows:‘that the Christian religion in my kingdom shall bepreserved entire under its own bishop rather thanbe rendered desolate under strangers, and as itwere mercenaries who seek their own end and not

the Lord’s advantage....I have committed andgranted the Church of St. Mary of Furness, onaccount of the proximity of the place, yea, and forthe excellent life of the inhabitants the honour ofthe said episcopal election, and the observance ofmy whole Christian law saving always thereverence due to the Apostolic See....And, in order that it may be more perfect andmore strictly observed, I have decreed a portion ofmy land for the erection of an Abbey for the saidChurch.’

The original gifts of King Olaf to Furness and Rushenwere generous.The Abbey had a demesne in the parishof Malew which extended for over a mile to its southand west, as well as other farms which took up mostof the rest of the parish (including the parish churchsite), while it also had turbary rights in some of thehigher parts of the parish.There were also rights tofishing and wrecks on a stretch of shore in CastletownBay, which, in the mid-fourteenth century, came toinclude the sheltered anchorage at Ronaldsway,together with the mining rights granted to Furness.When the lands held subsequently by the Abbey inLonan and Lezayre are taken into consideration,together with the rights to one third of the annualtithes paid to the Church, it makes an agriculturalholding much larger than any other in the Island.

The Foundation

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Monks were sent from Furness to begin constructionon what may already have been a religious site, amonastery dedicated to St. Leoc, whose lands werelisted with those of Rushen in Eugenius III’s papalconfirmation to Furness.There were certainly someform of religious centre there, confirmed bydiscoveries of Christian lintel graves pre-dating theAbbey’s foundation.The Abbey itself was on a sitewhich was good from a Savigian and Cistercianviewpoint - fertile land by the Silverburn river,sheltered from northerly and westerly winds, with aquarry for limestone for the buildings and isolatedenough for the brothers to lead a life of self sufficiency.

Cistercian abbeys tended to be built to a commonpattern, with the Church in the North Range being themost important building where monks attended thedaily services.The dressed blocks of local limestone ofthe later cruciform structure were plastered andadorned with imported sandstone details on thearches, doorways and windows. Patterned glass wasinserted in the windows, while patterned tiles werelaid for the floors.

The Buildings

A later mid fifteenth century addition to the Churchwas the Tower, which still survives, constructed in theNorth Transept. In the East Range was the ChapterHouse and the monks’ living quarters, with the kitchenand refectory areas in the South Range.As theCistercian Order had Lay Brothers, their quarters layin the West Range. Central to all the buildings was theCloister, sheltered from the world outside.The Abbot’slodgings were later built separately on the east closeto the river, while, spanning the river, the Monks’Bridge, again constructed from limestone blocks,enabled access to the road leading to the Abbey’sother lands in Malew.

The scale of the Abbey Church at Rushen is small incomparison with Furness, its length at some 105ft. longbeing less than half the 230ft. of Furness’ CistercianChurch, while its Cloister is the smallest known of anyCistercian house at some 30ft. square.

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Cistercian Abbeys were purposely located ‘far fromthe concourse of men’ with enough land around toachieve self sufficiency through farming.When theorder was founded in 1098 it rejected the blackclothing of the Benedictines in favour of unbleachedand un-dyed woollen habits, except for a blackscapular, and its Rule was strict, remaining based on theoriginal Rule of St. Benedict.The brothers would havebeen recruited locally in the Isle of Man, as the Abbeyprovided a free teaching service for boys who showedenough promise to join the novices, who then had ayear or more to decide whether to take their fullvows.

The choir monks attended eight Church services daily,with times varying slightly to suit the seasons of theyear, and listened to the Abbot every morning readinga chapter from the Rule in the Chapter House.Time

was set aside for daily reading of the scriptures andmeditation, while manual labour might consist ofgardening, helping on the Abbey farm, copying outmanuscripts, or assisting in the infirmary or guesthouse.

The Rule insisted on hard manual labour, and in timethis led to problems with the strict religiousobservances also expected in the Rule, so thatuneducated men joined the Abbey as lay brothers, witha different timetable of more manual labour andshorter, simpler Church services, although they tookthe same vows as the choir monks.

The Abbot was a powerful figure, being not only incharge of the whole Abbey community, but also comingto wield political and economic influence as DeputyGovernor of the Island.

The Brothers

ABBEY LANDS

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Like other similar Abbeys, Rushen Abbey became richfrom donations of lands and privileges.The outlyingfarms or granges were usually initially worked by thelay brothers. By the fourteenth century, such farms,including some in Malew, were often tenanted,providing the Abbey with an income.

A sizeable donation of land near Sulby in Lezayre,originally intended by Godred II for another EnglishAbbey, came into the possession of Rushen. North ofthe Laxey river lies Skinscoe in Lonan, with a goodharbour, together with fishing and mineral rights whichalso came to the Abbey. Placenames like Abbeylands inOnchan, the Grangee farm in Lezayre, or Ballagraingeynear St. Marks remain to give us an idea of theirpast owner.The lands belonging to theNunnery, mainly where South Douglasnow lies, were eventually merged withthose of the Abbey.

As well as the actual land holdings,the privileges conferred on theAbbey, such as the eventual title toall minerals in the Island, as well asfishing rights, turbary and grazingrights, meant that the monks wereable to benefit from a mixedeconomy.

The monks at Furness, whohad expert knowledge ofiron working, may havesent iron smelters towork the ores foundin Maughold, whilelead was alsoextracted above Laxey,and a store existed on their land at Ronaldsway.

During the thirteenth century the Abbot of Rushenhad around a hundred quarterland farms in his care,with a good number of mills which again providedadditional income for the Abbey. Grazing rights forsheep meant that there was always a surplus of woolwhich was sold to provide the means forimprovements in the Abbey buildings.There is evidencethat cattle and horses were also kept by the Abbey.

The Land Holdings

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The Abbey was a royal foundation and its links withthe Kings of Mann were always close. Medieval kingsgave land and privileges to the Abbey, knowing that themonks would pray for their souls, and, on a practicalbasis, would provide free accommodation for them,while refusing sanctuary to their enemies.The monksalso provided a body of literate men who were able tokeep written records, both for the Abbey and for theKings.

Several of Mann’s thirteenth century Norse Kings lieburied at the Abbey, including King Magnus, who stayedat Castle Rushen prior to his death in 1265. It wasnoted in the ‘Chronicles’ under the date 1228 thatthe monks of Rushen took the body of King Reginald Ito be buried at Furness, as royal links with the motherAbbey also remained close, and he had indicated hiswish to be buried there.

The Abbot continued to offer advice on the election ofBishops, and actually controlled the appointment ofvicars in Malew and Arbory, together with a later rightto provide the chaplain for StMary’s, Castletown (now theOld Grammar School). FurnessAbbey also appointed vicars inMaughold and Michael, whichwould normally have beenappointments of the Bishop.

In his land holdings or baronies,the Abbot held courts of law forhis tenants - the road from theMonks’ Bridge actually led tothe Abbot’s gallows on the BlackHill, Ballasalla, while there werealso gallows close to CronkSumark, Sulby, for the AbbeyGrange in Lezayre.The originalNorse Charter allowed a BaronCourt where ‘they may holdcourt of life and limb…and ofpunishment by gibbet upon their lands.’

The wars of the early fourteenth century were asdifficult for the Abbey as they were for all Mann’spopulation - the Abbey was sacked by Richard deMandeville in 1316.The last entry in the ‘Chroniclesof the Kings of Man and the Isles’ records, ‘Afterthat they came to the Abbey of Russyn anddespoiled it of its furniture, its oxen and sheep,leaving nothing at all.’

There were other problems in the fourteenth centurytoo as it was such an unstable period in Mann’s history,but with the accession of the Stanley family as Kings ofMann in 1405, the Abbey recovered its formerprosperity, although the Stanley family aimed to reducethe powers of the Abbot. By 1422, for example, it wasdecreed that the sanctuary of the Abbey could not beclaimed by traitors to the King, and the Abbot had toswear fealty to Sir John Stanley, prove his claims to hisland holdings and privileges, and accept restrictions onhis powers.

Once the Island passed to Stanley rule, anyone foundguilty of a capital offence by the Abbot’s Baron Courtcould no longer be punished until the Lord’s Courtconfirmed the death sentence.There could then be apolitical arrangement as to who gained possession ofthe criminal’s goods.This was part of a general strategyto reduce the independence of the Church, whileensuring that the secular government gained strength,wealth and stability.The Baron Courts, however,continued to be held twice a year in parishes with

Abbey lands, resolving boundarydisputes and fining lesser crimes,with the proceeds being paidalong with the tenants’ rents.Even around the end of thesixteenth century Baron Courts(with a Deemster in charge)were still held in a building onthe Rushen Abbey site, beforethey were moved into DeemsterCharles Moore’s house, nowRushen Abbey Hotel.

In spite of such political setbacks,the Abbey retained its wealth,and by 1500, for example, one ofthe monks was sent to ChesterAbbey to learn choir singing andplaying the organ, so that hecould teach his brothers on his

return.The severe lifestyle of the early Abbeys hadrelaxed, not only in Mann, but elsewhere too, givingrise to complaints that the monks did little to earnwhat had become an easy life.

John Farker, the Abbot of Rushen who advised ThomasStanley, second Earl of Derby, about his traditionalrights and dues on his visit to Mann in 1507, was still afigure of great influence in the life of the Island, holdingthe position of Deputy Governor.

The Kings of Mann and Rushen Abbey

John Farker (left) and Thomas StanleyCastle Rushen

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RUSHEN ABBEY IN THE 16TH CENTURY

King Henry VIII of England was the prime mover forreligious change in sixteenth century England, but notat the beginning of his reign. Even in 1521, thanks to hisauthorship of ‘The Defence of the Seven Sacraments’,Pope Leo X gave him the title ‘Defender of the Faith’.

Although much is sometimes made of Henry’smatrimonial affairs, the prime reason for his interest inthe monasteries was financial. He was a big spender,notably dissimilar to his father, with not onlyextravagant tastes, but also a warlike disposition,spending large sums on his navy in particular. Chronicshortages of money led to a policy of raising cash fromany convenient source - the monasteries, with theirincreasingly relaxed and wealthy lifestyle were to beprime targets.A general trend during the period of theReformation was towards increasingly independentsecular authority of rulers and a downturn in theauthority of the Pope (to whom the Abbeys weredirectly responsible) in some parts of Europe alsospurred on changes within the structure of religiousorganisations.

Two of Henry’s advisors, Cardinal Wolsey andparticularly his secretary,Thomas Cromwell, playedmajor roles in the dissolution of the monasteries.Asearly as 1524 Thomas Cromwell was responsible forthe dissolution of twenty nine small localmonasteries to fund two new Cardinal Collegesat Ipswich and Oxford for his employer.Thissuccessful experience, which was not opposedby the local communities involved, spurredCromwell on in his later work from 1533 aschief minister for Henry VIII to organise asurvey of all ecclesiastical lands and assets inEngland and Wales, the ‘Valor Ecclesiasticus’,completed in 1535.This body of knowledgeenabled Henry, now Head of the Church by theAct of Supremacy, to authorise in 1536 thedissolution of small monasteries with net incomesof less than £200 a year.All monks were to be paid apension and all proper out-goings were still paid fromthe income from rents.A ‘Court of Augmentation’was set up to oversee the dissolution, with Cromwellas its Chief Commissioner.

The Pilgrimage of Grace of 1536 which demonstratedwidespread opposition to the dissolution ofmonasteries, particularly in areas of the north ofEngland, was put down by Henry. Its leaders, includingfour Abbots, were executed.

Robert Aske, who led insurgents into York, declared:‘In all parts of the realm men’s hearts muchgrudged with the suppression of abbeys, and thefirst fruits, by reason the same would be thedestruction of the whole religion of England.Andtheir especial great grudge is against the lordCromwell.’ Robert Aske: ‘Narrative to the King’.

Following these events there were a number of largermonasteries whose Abbots decided on voluntarydissolution, including Furness in 1537.Abbot Robert ofFurness ‘with complete consent and assentconceded and surrendered the Monastery ofFurness and all its inheritance in the Isle of Man toHenry VIII’.

RUSHEN ABBEY IN THE 16TH CENTURY

Religious Change in Tudor England to 1540

King Henry VIII

RUSHEN ABBEY IN THE 16TH CENTURY

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Religious Change in the Isle of Man to 1540

Edward Stanley - 3rd Earl of Derby

Edward Stanley had succeeded to his father Thomas’stitles in 1522, after a failed claim by his widowedmother that she had a right to the Isle of Man. Becausehe was only thirteen, his guardian was Cardinal Wolsey,appointed by Henry VIII.

In 1537, as Earl of Derby, he was one of theCommissioners of the Court of Augmentationappointed to supervise the dissolution of FurnessAbbey.The Abbey itself still had the titles to theincomes of Kirk Maughold and Kirk Michael, whichbecame the property of the Court of Augmentation.Rushen Abbey was now an obvious target for HenryVIII and Earl Edward attempted, eventuallyunsuccessfully, to take it over for himself as Lord ofMann.

On 24th June 1540 Edward officially dissolved RushenAbbey and the Nunnery.The Abbot was to receive £10pounds a year as a pension, while the six monks

received £1.6s.8d. each per year.The Abbess of theDouglas Nunnery, Elena Calcotte, received £3.6s.8d.and her two nuns received the same pension as themonks.

When the Abbey at Furness came to a voluntary endin 1537, the monks at Rushen prepared a Manx versionof the Valor Ecclesiasticus, usually known as theComputus. It was this document which the Court ofAugmentation used when it took over Rushen Abbey’slands in 1540 after Edward Stanley’s dissolution andrented them out to one individual tenant, Sir ThomasHungate, in 1543 for 21 years. Queen Elizabeth I andthen James I continued to lease out the Abbey landsuntil in 1646 the lands went to James, Earl of Derby,Lord of Mann, after the last lease had expired.

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RUSHEN ABBEY IN THE 16TH CENTURY

Rushen Abbey was always a small monastery innumbers terms, and the Abbot was well aware before1540 that dissolution was probably inevitable.The factthat the Computus was written, based on its Englishmodel, is evidence of this.

The Computus describes the Abbey home farm asbeing 445 acres, with named enclosures of its demesnelands, and the Abbey site itself having one and a halfacres, together with buildings, granges, stables, gardensand orchards, valued at 4/- (shillings).The home farmfields were not rented out at all and their value waslow, with fields valued at only 6d (pence) an acre.

Lists of Abbey tenants are shown, including mills andcottages, and estimates of the income of the parishchurches owned by the Abbey, together with anestimated total value of rental income.

There was also a Manorial Roll of 1540, written bythe Lord’s Clerk of the Rolls just before the officialdissolution, with some additional highly detailedinformation about the Abbey lands, which must havecome from the Abbey records, showing Treens withquarter divisions and even sub-tenants.This shows insome, but not all, cases that there were rent increasescompared to those in the earlier Computus.Thelatter was the record used by the Court ofAugmentation when they took over theAbbey’s possessions and in turn leased thelands to a tenant for a fixed amount.

Additional income from Customs,Suits and Services had also beenpaid to the Abbey lands, butthere is no record of these until1607, when church tithes wereshown, with fixed prices foranimals and grain.

Some of the Abbey’s customaryexpenses seem to have been takenover by the Lord after theDissolution. It had been customary, anddocumented in England at Furness, formonastic alms payments to the poor to beallowed as ‘expenses’ and the Island’s Castle Book ofCharges in 1575 shows an annual fee payable by theLord to an almsman whose duty was to provide forthe distribution of alms.

Similarly, there was a school in 1523 in a room next tothe Chapel of the Blessed Mary at Castletown costing7d a year to run, probably by a monk from Rushen. By1575 the Lord’s payments to a schoolmaster there arerecorded.

All the assets of the Abbey were sold off, includinglivestock and foodstuffs.The Church building itself wassystematically stripped of its stonework, with some ofit going to build the nearby home of the site’s newowner, Deemster Charles Moore. Lead, glass, timber,tiles, slates - in short, anything saleable - were quicklystripped from the buildings.

Edward Stanley bought the religious objects fromHenry VIII at a cost of £37.8s.8d.; ‘Four chalices, onechrouche or abbot’s pastoral staff, one censer,one cross, two small headless crosses, one ship orincense box, one hand, one Bysshope hede orreliquaries, four cruets for sacramental wine orwater, eleven spoons, two standing cups, twocovered polulc or small ale cups, one flat pece ordrinking cup, one salt, two masrs or silver mounteddrinking vessels, and one silver pix or box for thesacrament.’ (J.G. Cumming).

Rushen Abbey Records: before and after 1540

Further ReadingRushen Abbey: Souvenir Booklet and Site GuideManx National Heritage.

Rushen Abbey:A History and GuideGordon Kniveton,The Manx Experience.

Furness Abbey and Daughter Houses:A Study in IrishSea Relations 1134-1278Fiona Edmonds (Oxford 2001) MNH Library Ref. MS10442.

Grateful thanks to J. R. Roscow for his kind permissionto use material from his unpublished talk to theN.H.A.S. (2000) on the Dissolution of Rushen Abbey.

Produced by:Manx National Heritage Education Services

Text: Fiona McArdle

Illustrations: Brian Byron

Picture credits: Copyright: Manx National Heritage 2004

‘Henry VIII’ courtesy of the Public Record Office.

May be reproduced for free educational use only.

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GLOSSARY & FURTHER READING

Savignian: pertaining to the Abbey of Savigny, foundedin 1112 after confirmation of grants of land originallymade to Vital de Mortain, who built a hermitage atSavigny in 1105.The Order followed the Rule of St.Benedict.

Tithes: annual payments in kind or cash to theecclesiastical authorities of 10% of tenants’ crops andanimals.

Demesne: land possessed or occupied by the owner,and not rented out to a tenant.

Turbary: the right, usually in common law, to collectturf for fuel.

Range: a row, line or series of buildings or parts ofthese.A continuous stretch of buildings.

Scapular (Ecc.): a short cloak covering the shoulders,

prescribed by the Rule of St. Benedict when monkswere engaged in manual labour Adopted by someother religious orders.

Quarterland: see treen (below).

Grange: an establishment where farming is carried out.

Barony: land held by barons, spiritual or temporal,who paid fealty to the King (or Lord) of Mann.

Clerk of the Rolls: a position in the Lord’shousehold, usually combined with that of Comptroller.He wrote the Records (an annual audit), wrote minutesfor the civil and criminal courts of the Lord and thebarons, and, together with the Receiver managed theLord’s household.

Treen: a Manx land division also known as balla,usually split into four quarterland farms.

Glossary