Marmaduke Bradley

Marmaduke Bradley was the last abbot of Fountains, who surrendered the abbey and its estates to the royal commissioners in 1539. Bradley, it seems, manipulated his election to the abbacy, wheeling and dealing with the royal commissioners to ensure the removal of Abbot William Thirsk and secure his own appointment. As abbot of Fountains, Bradley enjoyed a high standard of living and continued to do so after the Dissolution, receiving the largest pension of any Cistercian abbot in the country.