21. THE ABBEY OF VAUDEY
The abbey of Vaudey, or Vallis Dei, was
founded in 1147 by William earl of Albemarle;
like Kirkstead and Louth Park, it was a daughter
house of Fountains Abbey. (fn. 1) The chronicler of
Fountains relates that the first settlement was
made at Bytham; but the monks finding the place
in some ways unsuitable moved to a new site in
the parish of Edenham, with the permission of
Geoffrey de Brachecourt, a tenant of Gilbert of
Ghent, whose land it was. (fn. 2) Geoffrey gave them
all his lands and goods in exchange for corrodies
for himself, his wife, and two servants: he and
his wife were to have such food as the monks
had, and his servants were to fare as their servants. (fn. 3) Gilbert of Ghent granted to the monks
certain woods and pastures: Robert of Ghent,
Adam de Amundeville, Baldwin Fitz Gilbert,
Hugh Wake and other benefactors added further
gifts. (fn. 4) The profits of their wool for a while
brought to the monks of Vaudey a considerable
income, which in 1291 was over £200, (fn. 5) and
the house seems in the thirteenth century to
have been of some importance: an abbot of
Vaudey was sent in 1229 in the king's name to
bear messages to Llewellyn, prince of Wales. (fn. 6)
The monastery was at this time also involved in
an interesting suit with Maurice of Ghent as to
a right of way. It was found in an inquisition
taken in 1230 that the abbot used habitually to
send horses and carts to Irnham through a wood
and headland which had belonged to Richard of
Langton; sometimes they were seized and sometimes not. The wood had now passed to
Maurice of Ghent, who objected to the abbot's
carts driving through. It was decided, however,
that the abbot had established his right of way
before Maurice came into possession, and he was
consequently allowed to retain it. (fn. 7) He had,
however, to forfeit through default 140 acres in
Irnham, to which Maurice had laid claim: he
did not appear on the day appointed to try the
case—possibly because he knew he could not
maintain his position. (fn. 8)
The prosperity of the house seems to have
declined rapidly in the thirteenth century. As
early as 1292 it was taken under the king's
protection in terms that suggest that its creditors
were becoming importunate: (fn. 9) and between 1321
and 1338 the Close Rolls contain a great many
acknowledgements of debt to certain merchants
of Genoa, Lucca, and Florence, as well as to the
bishop of Ely and others. (fn. 10) In 1323 the abbot
was obliged to demise his manor of Sewstern
(Leics.) to the chaplains of Kirkby Sellers for a
term of eighty years, and for the sake of getting
a little ready money accepted a fixed sum in
commutation of the rent for the entire period. (fn. 11)
In 1331 he acknowledged debts to the value of
£322, (fn. 12) others in 1335 amounting to £160, (fn. 13) in
1336 to £150, (fn. 14) and in 1338 to £260. (fn. 15) In
1347 he was accused of yielding to the very
natural temptation of concealing and appropriating buried treasure, which the monks had
found in the fields of Vaudey. (fn. 16) Nevertheless in
the same year he received a remission of tenths
for two years, granted by the king out of compassion for the state of the abbey, which ' by
unwonted adversities' was brought so low that
its goods scarcely sufficed for the sustenance of
the monks. (fn. 17) The king also promised to repay a
small sum of money lent him for the French
war. (fn. 18) The great pestilence following immediately must have added to the difficulties of the
house: and in 1382 it was for a while seized
into the king's hands as an alien abbey, and lost
the right of presentation to its appropriate
churches. (fn. 19) The revenue of the monastery in
1534 was considerably lower than it had been
in 1291. It was dissolved under the first Act
of Suppression in 1536, the last abbot receiving
a pension of £20, and his ten monks, after
arrears of ' wages' were paid, 20s. apiece to
provide for all future necessities. (fn. 20)
In the days of its prosperity during the thirteenth century the abbey of Vaudey seems to
have been in good standing in the order. One
of its abbots in 1280 was empowered to arrest
all vagabond Cistercians, monks or lay brethren,
by the help of the secular arm, and to inflict
punishment upon them according to the needs of
the case. (fn. 21) Nothing further is known of the
interior history of the house until the sixteenth
century, though it was doubtless visited regularly
by the abbot of Fountains. An important visitation is recorded in 1532. Abbot Henry Saxton
had been accused of neglect of divine service and
other ' misgovernances,' and a joint visitation was
made by the abbots of Fountains, Woburn, and
Pipewell. At its close he was requested to resign,
with a suitable pension; whereupon he wrote to
Cromwell (whose friendship for him is not
necessarily an evidence in his favour), and
begged him to use his influence to reverse the
sentence. He stated that he had found his
house £480 in debt, and had paid off every
penny, increasing its income by £13 6s. 8d., in
spite of the falling down of the nave of his church
and the loss of 1,000 sheep by the rot; and he
hinted at the same time that the real reason for
his deposition was the desire of the abbot of
Woburn to promote his own cellarer to the
vacant post, A ' poor token' was sent with
this letter to speed iron its way. (fn. 22) Cromwell in
consequence wrote to the abbot of Woburn and
accused him of ' inward grudge' against the
abbot of Vaudey, and of desire to promote his
own cellarer. 'I pray you,' he proceeded, ' use
yourself to my friend according to your religion,
for he is a good religious man, and has got his
house out of great debt,' further suggesting that a
certain monk of Vaudey, then at Woburn,
should be instructed ' so fruitfully that he shall
not need to be further reconciled to amend his
living.' (fn. 23) The answer of the abbot of Woburn
was quiet and dignified. He was sorry that
Cromwell had such an ill opinion of him; but
he had only done his duty. Accusations had
been fully proved against the abbot of Vaudey as
to misgovernance of himself and his brethren,
and neglect of divine service, which there was no
need to describe in detail; they were sufficient
to justify the sentence passed. However, in
consideration of Cromwell's letter, and others
who had interceded on behalf of the offending
abbot, the visitors were ready to abate somewhat
of the rigour of justice, and had urged him to
avoid the disgrace of deposition by resigning of
his own accord on a pension of £20 a year. He
had indeed already offered to resign, and was 'not
only well content, but had reason to be so.' (fn. 24)
The last abbot's term of office was short, as
the house was dissolved in 1536. Three at
least of the monks of Vaudey were glad to take
refuge at Kirkstead Abbey rather than return to
the world, and these were singled out for execution when that abbey was attainted, after the
rising in which they had willingly or unwillingly
played a part. (fn. 25)
The original endowment of the abbey of
Vaudey consisted of the site, with twelve carucates and seven bovates of land given by Gilbert
of Ghent. (fn. 26) Ralf de Bruer granted his demesne
land in the manor of Edenham. (fn. 27) In 1227 the
abbot had several granges—North and South
Grange, Ropsley, Lavington, Burton, Saitby,
Sewstern, Thorpe, with mills and smaller
parcels of land in the counties of Lincoln and
Leicester. (fn. 28) In 1291 his temporalities were
assessed at £231 14s. 7d. (fn. 29) In 1303 the abbot
held half a fee in Edenham and in Swinstead,
one-quarter in Broughton, one-quarter and onethird in Heydor and Oisby. In 1428 he held
in addition one fee in Welby, one-eighth in
Ingoldsby, Corby and Easton, and smaller portions in Londonthorpe, Scottlethorpe and Hanbeck. (fn. 30) In 1534 the clear revenue of the abbey
was only £124 5s. 11½d. (fn. 31) The Ministers' Accounts give a total of £194 3s. 8¼d., including
the manors of Swinstead, Edenham, Scottlethorpe, Morton, Ingoldsby, Burton Lazars, Dalby
and Saitby, Welby, Creton and Cowthorpe,
Manthorpe and Burton. (fn. 32)
Abbots Of Vaudey
Warin, (fn. 33) first abbot, 1147
Richard, (fn. 34) occurs 1204
William, (fn. 35) occurs 1219
Nicholas, (fn. 36) occurs 1227 to 1232
Godfrey, (fn. 37) occurs 1245
Henry, (fn. 38) occurs 1254
Simon, (fn. 39) elected 1313
Walter, (fn. 40) occurs 1323 and 1325
John, (fn. 41) occurs 1331 to 1338
Thomas Cleseby, (fn. 42) elected 1459
Henry Saxton, (fn. 43) occurs 1529, resigned 1532
William Stile, (fn. 44) last abbot, elected 1532
A thirteenth-century seal (fn. 45) shows an ornamental tree of three branches, on each side
branch a bird regardant, and in its beak a sprig
of foliage. At the side of the trunk two small
birds.
SIG . . . NT' . SA . . . E . . .
A pointed oval seal of a thirteenth-century
abbot (fn. 46) shows the abbot standing on a platform,
in the right hand a pastoral staff, in the left hand
a book.
SIG ... M ' ABBAT . . . DE ' VA . . . DEI.