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: 232 | Enquiries: 0Since 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. The programme focusses on an object belonging to his Uncle Bryn - an oil painting of Bryn's wife. Peggy - which was painted in Auschwitz by a Jewish prisoner while Bryn, a POW at Stalag VIIIB, was there on a 6 month working party
Peter's talks reflect his interest in the history of Yorkshire, especially the Cistercian abbeys, founded from Burgundy. Their monks were instrumental in rebuilding the county after the devastation of the Harrying of the North. This has led him to explore other Burgundian links with Selby, Rotherham and Pontefract as well as writers inspired by Yorkshire's abbeys.
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