Levelling up in the 12th Century: How the Cistercians rebuilt Yorkshire after the Harrying

Peter Lewis SpeakerNet Sponsor


Region:
Yorkshire & Humber
Notice Period:
Short (maybe less than one month's notice)
Type:
Professional
Fee:
Expensed
Category:
History
Updated:
11th September 2024

How the Cistercians monks rebuilt the Yorkshire economy after the devastation caused by William the Conqueror's Harrying of the North. By using their skills in sheep farming, lead mining and iron working they transformed the economy - and also introduced cheese-making to Wensleydale.

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About Peter Lewis

Since retiring in 2015 as a specialist in career change, Peter has volunteered as a guide at Fountains Abbey (which receives part of the fee for these talks). He has also presented a radio programme - 'A History of the World Special' - about his Uncle Bryn, whose five years as a POW in Stalag VIIIB included 6 months on a working party in Auschwitz. While he was there, a Jewish prisoner painted a portrait in oils of Bryn's wife. Peggy from a Red Cross postcard. Bryn kept the portrait tied around his waist until the end of the war and it became the subject of the Special when the BBC asked listeners to the programme 'A History of the World in 100 Objects' to submit their own object with an interesting story.

Peter's talks reflect his interest in the history of Yorkshire, especially its abbeys. The monks of the eight Cistercian abbeys were instrumental in rebuilding the county after the devastation of the Harrying of the North. This has led him to explore other links with Selby, Rotherham and Pontefract as well the numerous literary links of Yorkshire's abbeys - beyond Bram Stoker's Dracula.


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