Page:Englishhistorica36londuoft.djvu/31

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1921 MAURICE OF RIEVAULX 23 that the second abbot of Rievaulx had been a monk of Durham before he joined the Cistercians, that he was a scholar and a person of considerable reputation. It is safe to identify him with the Maurice who went for a few weeks to Fountains and with the author of the writings mentioned in the Rievaulx catalogue. It is highly probable that the ' Translation of Saint . Cuthbert ' there mentioned is the well-known anonymous tract so entitled. And finally it is difficult to imagine that any other brother M. of Rievaulx could have excited the special interest of Archbishop Thomas. This evidence brings us to the year 1162. Two other documents show that, before this date, but after his resignation, he took some part in the administrative business of the abbey. In 1151 he was present at the large gathering of abbots and monks in which Ailred gave judgement in the dispute between Savigny and Furness about the control of By land Abbey. The Byland narrative says ' affuerunt etiam Thurstinus prior Ryevallis, Mauricius, Galo, Daniel, monachi Ryevallis ', &C. 1 The second document is the ratification by Bertram of Bulmer, at that time sheriff of Yorkshire, of an exchange of land : ' Hoc escambium feci, Testibus Aschetillo filio meo qui illud escambium concessit ; et Domino Ailredo abbate Rievallis et Domino Mauricio et Roberto de Buissei et Serlone.' 2 The date of this deed is earlier than the ratification by King Henry of the possessions of Rievaulx, including a carucate of land at Wellburn which is in question in the exchange. This ratification is earlier than 1160. 3 At this point we leave sure or fairly safe ground, and enter the region of hypothesis. Maurice, as we have seen, is mentioned in Walter Daniel's life of St. Ailred. This life — which must be distinguished from a preliminary letter — cannot have been written very long after Ailred's death early in 1167. The note of the opening chapter is one of grief for the recent loss of a beloved master. 4 Now it would certainly seem from Walter's reference 1 Delisle, Journal of British Archaeological Association, vi. 423-4 (1851), from the Archives Nationales ; Round, Cal. of Documents preserved in France, p. 297 „ no. 819 ; Monasticon, v. 353, from the so-called Register of Byland which gives 1151 as the date. 2 Cartularium Rievallense, p. 155, no. cxiv. 3 Ibid. pp. 141-4, no. cxcvii. Bernard of Bulmer had exchanged eleven bovates of land in Flaxton, near York, in the wapentake of Bulmer, for a carucate in Wellburn, near Kirkdale. He gave this carucate to Rievaulx, and it is included in the royal confirmation. One of the witnesses to the latter is Walter, bishop of Chester, who died in 1159 or 1160. 4 Jesus College, Cambridge, MS. Q. B. 7, fo. 63 b ' Uirorum dulcissimo abbati H. suus W. Daniel laborem et salutem. Quum quidem pater noster obiit et quasi lux matutina euanuit e terra nostra et multorum animo insidet ut radius tanti luminis refundatur ad memoriam et illuminationem futurorum, immo eciam et quorundam presencium quibus et ipsum lumen emicuit in fulgore suo, non possum, fateor tibi, in hac re sensus mei rationem et scientiam denegare, cuius debeo pro viribus parere