The French Connection: Yorkshire abbeys and their links to Burgundy
Peter Lewis
- Region:
- Yorkshire & Humber
- Notice Period:
- Short (maybe less than one month's notice)
- Type:
- Professional
- Fee:
- Paid: £60, including expenses
- Category:
- History
- Updated:
- 25th January 2026
- Tagged:
- 1066 Norman Conquest | 12Th And 13Th Centuries | Yorkshire | Abbeys
After the Norman Conquest, the first new Benedictine Abbey in the north was established at Selby by a monk from Auxerre (in Burgundy). Sixty-two years later, two monastic orders, headquartered in Burgundy, established priories and abbeys in Yorkshire: the Cluniacs (at Pontefract and Monk Bretton) and the Cistercians (at Rievaulx, Roche, Fountains, Sawley, Kirkstall and Meaux). Moreover, the Cistercians' ownership of Rotherham Minster financed their prestigious college in Paris. Peter's talk looks at how these connections came about, their early history and their impact upon the Yorkshire economy.
Views: 1463 | Enquiries: 5About Peter Lewis
Since retiring in 2015 as a specialist in career change, Peter has volunteered as a guide at Fountains Abbey. He has also presented a radio programme - 'A History of the World Special' - about his Uncle Bryn's five years as a POW (from 1940-45) in Poland and Czechoslovakia, which included six months in Auschwitz and four months in the small fort in Terezin.
Peter's talks reflect his interest in the history of Yorkshire, especially its numerous 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 between Burgundy and Yorkshire, which include Selby, Rotherham and Scarborough. He also has a talk entitled "It's not just about Vampires" - about the literary links of Yorkshire's abbeys.
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