Huby is perhaps the best-known abbot of Fountains
and, indeed, he made an enormous impact on the community and the
Order. Huby entered the Cistercian life at Fountains. c.1463,
and played a leading role in the administration of the abbey; he
was indispensable to Abbot John Darnton who
regarded him as his right-hand man. Huby was the obvious choice
of successor when Darnton
died in 1495.
Huby enjoyed a long and successful abbacy at Fountains; numbers
blossomed, the abbey’s reputation soared, and it was largely
owing to him that the building and provisioning of the Cistercian
studium at Oxford
(St Bernard’s) was completed. Yet, Huby’s
abbacy was not trouble-free and there was even a conspiracy plotting
his removal, several years before his death. It is not now known
where Huby was buried, but his great tower – Huby’s
tower – is a memorial to his life and achievements.
