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: 619 | Enquiries: 1Since retiring in 2015 as a specialist in career change, Peter has volunteered as a guide at Fountains Abbey (which receives the fees for these talks). He has also presented a radio programme - 'A History of the World Special' - about his Uncle Bryn, whose 5 years as a POW included six months in Auschwitz. While he was there, a Jewish prisoner painted a portrait of Bryn's wife. Peggy from a Red Cross postcard.
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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