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Kirkstall Abbey: the sources (1)
(1/3)
Kirkstall is relatively well represented by
a wide range of surviving sources. The Foundation of the Abbey
of Kirkstall,(2) dates from
the early thirteenth century and survives only in an early fifteenth-century
copy now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.(3)
The first part of this is a key source for the early history of
the abbey, as it contains a full account of the foundation of
the
house and the first five abbots; this covers the period from 1147
to 1210. This section was probably written by Hugh of Kirkstall,
who became a monk of Kirkstall c. 1183-4, and also wrote the Foundation
of Fountains Abbey. The second part of The Foundation of
the Abbey of Kirkstall simply lists the nine abbots who presided
over the abbey from 1210-84. The third and final section includes
important details concerning the history of the abbey in the late
thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. It contains a miscellany
of information relating to the financial plight of the house at
this time, a list of their possessions in 1284 and 1301, grants
of royal protection and Abbot Hughs lengthy letter to his
community from Gascony, reporting on his meeting with the king.
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