Now I proceed to dig into noble ground and reveal the root of such great
goodness, that they who are willing to see may see the outshining sanctity
of him who begot me to the life of St Benedict through the Gospel of God
and showed himself a father to the brethren, and that his great glory may
not be hid in the earth and be concealed from those who, thirsting in spirit,
are wont to embrace examples of the good.
[From Walter Daniel’s prologue to his Life of Aelred]
Walter, who may originally have come from Cleveland,
became a Cistercian monk, c. 1150, joining the community at Rievaulx where
his father was already a member. Walter was at that time about
twenty-five years of age. References to Walter as ‘Magister’ (master)
suggest that he had received an education in the schools,
perhaps at Oxford or Paris; it seems that he officiated as infirmarer
at Rievaulx and indeed he refers to himself as ‘medicus’ (meaning
doctor).(1) Whilst Walter
was a prolific writer, and a number of his works survive, he is
now
best
remembered for his biography
of Aelred,
the third abbot of Rievaulx. This gives an intimate account of
Aelred but also provides an insight to monastic life at the abbey
in the mid-twelfth century.