Abbot Peter

The Murder of Abbot Peter

This is a story of a struggle between the monks of Vale Royal Abbey and the local inhabitants.

The beginnings and growth of the Abbey

Vale Royal Abbey was huge, bigger than Westminster Abbey.  Edward I paid for it to be built as thank you to God for saving him as he crossed the sea during a storm (1263/64)  If you walk along Vale Royal drive to the golf club you can see all that remains of the Abbey and much of this has been rebuilt.

In 1270 a charter was granted to allow an Abbey to be built in Darnall however it was later decided to move it to Vale Royal.  King Edward I and Queen Eleanor had a vision to create the largest Cistercian abbey in Christendom and laid the foundation stone on August 13^th 1227.  The King gave part of the “True Cross” and other holy relics together with coins which traditionally were laid under the foundations.  (These were found at a later date) Building work progressed. As the original land allocated was deemed insufficient to support the living of 100 plus monks the abbots acquired more and more land from the locals.

By the end of the 13^th century money dried up as the King was diverted by war with the Welsh using his wealth to build castles on the Welsh border, the Abbey like many others in the country struggled with funding.

Life of the locals

The local population lived in a typical medieval society, most of the population were peasants (known as Villeins and Freemen)  Richer people were the Lords of and Barons.

Villeins were peasants who were legally tied to land owned by a local lord. If they wanted to move, or even get married, they needed the permission from the lord first. In return for being allowed to farm the land they lived on, villeins had to give some of the food or belongings (known as a tithe) each year to the lord of the manor and to the church.

Other peasants were Freemen who paid tithes to the church.

The villagers had the right to use certain land in the village, it might be for collecting wood, for feeding pigs in the local woods or cows on a common or for fishing in the lakes.  These rights were very important to them because crops often failed and starvation was a real threat, especially in the winter months.

The locals became increasingly annoyed with the Abbey and vented their anger on the Abbots

When Vale Royal Abbey was built the Cistercian monks were given land and woods to provide for the monks and their guests.  The problem was that these lands had been traditionally used by the both rich and poor locals and without them life was hazardous.

The Leger Book of Vale Royal records dissention amongst the locals and John de Budworth one of the Abbots servants was killed in Darnhall, his head being used as a football by his attackers! A similar fate may have befallen to Brother John Lewis, the abbot’s cellerar.

Appeals were made to the king by poor people and the lords but the king sided with the abbot time after time and the locals were forced to pay goods and submit to the mercy of the abbot as a penance.  The people from the village began to show their anger by setting fire to monastery buildings and crops and letting out the animals. This was not just a local occurrence as people in other parts of the country were suffering at the heavy hand of the monasteries.

In 1340 feelings were running high men burnt the abbot’s house in Chester and destroyed crops on the abbey land and stole many processions and animals belonging to the abbey. Abbot Peter was murdered in the local fields together with his sword carrying companion monk Walter le Walche

Incidents between the locals continued even when the murdered Abbot Peter was replaced and in 1395/6 an inquisition was held into the mismanagement of the abbey’s affairs and found that Abbot Stephen was incapable of management.

Later in 1437 Abbot Henry suffered a violent death at the hands of a band of local men led by a George Weaver of Weaverham and the vicar of Over.  The abbey was taken into Royal protection but disorder was taking place both outside and inside.

The life of the abbey came to an end when in Henry V broke with Rome and the Act of Supremacy was passed in 1534 declaring that the King was the Head of the Church of England rather than the Pope.  Thomas Holcroft was given the position of closing the abbey, even that was not without controversy. Finally in 1538 the abbey ceased to be a monastic institution.  The abbey buildings were quickly pulled down by Thomas Holcroft with some of the building materials used to convert the south and west cloisters to build Vale Royal house, which remains today.

References

Vale Royal Abbey and the Cistercians 1277-1538 Tony Bostock and Stuart Hogg

A Cestrian Song Eli Lewis-Lycett