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The acquisition of lands and possessions
(2/7)
Let it be known to all who
see or hear this charter that I, Richard FitzTurgis, with
the
consent of my wife and heirs, have given to God and St Mary,
and to the monks of the Rock (Roche), for the salvation
of
my soul...
[Read more from Richard
FitzTurgis foundation
charter 30 July 1147]
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The two founders of Roche, Richard de Busli and
Richard Fitz Turgis, granted the monks an initial endowment of lands
with appurtenant
rights, namely, a site for the abbey, arable land to farm and
grow crops, pasture for their livestock, woodland for building resources,
fuel and pannage. It was
probably in response to the monks request for additional help
that Richard de Busli supplemented his initial endowment with the
grant of Eilrichetorpe and North Wood, common pasture
in Maltby for three hundred sheep and other animals that went out
from the grange at Eilrichetorpe, and timber for the
community to complete and maintain their buildings and fences.
The founders endowment provided the monks
with the necessary resources to establish monastic life at Roche,
but additional possessions were required to enable them to support
and sustain a growing community. It fell to the successors of Abbot
Durand (c. 1147-59) to expand Roches holdings. During
the abbacies of Denis (c. 1159-71) and Roger
of Tickhill (c. 1171-9) Roche secured patronage from local men
and women, as well as from high-profile benefactors such as Henry
II (1154-89), who gave one hundred acres of land in Lindrick (now
known as Kings Wood), some four miles from Tickhill
Castle. With the exception of Hugh
of Wadworths abbacy (c. 1179-84) the twelfth century was
a time of increasing prosperity for the abbey. Hughs ambitious
designs to expand Roches holdings at Roxby landed the community
in considerable debt, for the abbot borrowed extensively from the
Jews of York about £1300 to secure Roxby grange,
Lincolnshire (now in Humberside). Financial stability was restored
by Hughs successor, Osmund
(c. 1184-1213), who attained relief of their payment to the Jews
from Richard I (1188-99), and secured papal and royal confirmation
of the abbeys possessions.
The thirteenth century heralded a period of general
economic decline; during Adam
of Giggleswicks abbacy the situation was so dire that
the community complained of their plight to the pope. Their financial
worries were briefly allayed in 1345 when Earl John of Warenne,
admiring the beauty of the abbey and taking pity on the plight of
the monks, gave the patronage and advowson
of the church of Hatfield and all pertaining to it. John intended
that his grant should augment the worship at Roche by supporting
an additional thirteen honest and literate men, and
his considerable gift, valued at seventy marks p.a., brought immediate
relief to the monks. Their good fortune was, unfortunately, short-lived
for upon Johns death his lands reverted to the Crown and thereafter
to Edmund of Langley.(1)
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