The Mystery of the Abbot's Stone

The wonderful St Laurence Priory is the jewel in the crown of the East Riding market town of Snaith.  Dating in parts to the early part of the 12th century, it is a treasure house of early features and has a fascinating history.

One feature that has always intrigued us is the large black tombstone which is located close to the altar.  It bears clear indications of a previous brass plate - the prise marks are still visible on the top of the stone.  The imprint on the stone suggests a connection to a Bishop or Abbot, but the identity of this person has largely remained a mystery.

Reverend Charles Best Robinson, M.A., writes in his book, "History of the Priory and Peculiar of Snaith", dated 1861:

"Inside the altar-rails is a splendid slab of black marble, measuring ten feet by five, and a foot thick.  The figure is of a mitred abbot, with a pastoral staff in his left hand, the crook turned outwards, under a triple canopy of decorated finials; there has been a coat of arms on either side of the head; and emblems at each corner and middle point of three incised lines of the inscription.  I am aware that, as a rule, mitred abbots who hold the pastoral staff in their left hand, hold the crook turned inwards, and bishops outwards.  If no exception to the rule can exist, we have here a Suffragan Bishop.  Had the brass been spared, it would have been finer than any now remaining at Selby; where is still a slab incised with the name of William Snayth.

It is not unusual for the Prior of a convent, who had grown weary of the intrigues and quarrels which pervailed in all monastic establishments ... to retire to one of the dependent cells, on the understanding that that he should not be disturbed or removed; and no doubt the insignia of his former office would be represented on his tomb.  Or this may be the effigy of a native of Snaith, who died Abbot of some monastery other than that of Selby ...

The question is, could it be an Abbot of Selby at all? ... "

That is the question which we sought to answer.  We're not suggesting that we are the first or only people to work out who is commemorated by this stone - although we haven't come across many other theories presented in such detail.

Our best, informed guess is that the stone is a memorial to Abbot Robert Rogers, who was not only an Abbot of Selby, but the final Abbot, who was in post at the time of the dissolution of the monastery!

It seems likely that Robert Rogers was born sometime during the 1480’s, probably in the district of Selby.  Traditionally, it seems that recruitment to Yorkshire monasteries at this time was local, with young men sometimes substituting their place of birth for their family name on entering the profession.  As Robert’s name was recorded as Robert Selby at the time of his election as Abbot of Selby, it seems probable that he was following this tradition.  To date, we have been unable to discover anything about his family or background, although by this time, it does not seem that monks were, in the main, of noble birth.  He probably came from a reasonably prosperous, if not affluent, family within the middle ranks of society, and would have achieved a relatively high academic standard.  This is borne out by the fact that in 1524, shortly before becoming Abbot, he achieved the award of Bachelor of Divinity at Cambridge.  This may possibly have been at the Benedictine establishment, Buckingham College.  This was a hostel for Benedictine student monks and was sited north of the River Cam, at a distance from the temptations of the town!  The college existed between 1428 and 1542, was dissolved by Henry VIII, and later reformed as Magdalene College.

Robert was ordained sub deacon at York on 23rd December 1503.  He was then made deacon on 2nd March 1503/4 and priest on 19th December 1506.  At this time, the rate of progress through the orders was influenced largely by age.  However, during this period, there was an urgent need for monastic communities to gather new priests as soon as the novices reached the permissible age.  This would seem to be around twenty two years old.

Robert served as a monk at Selby Abbey, being listed in the Account Rolls of Obedientaries as Prior, Sacristan and Fabric Keeper by 1523-4, until, in August 1526, the Archbishop of York confirmed his election as Abbot.  He would probably have been in his mid-forties by this time.  Nine years after his election, he was faced with the daunting task of presenting a sworn testimony to government commissioners as to the entire wealth of his monastery.

The Benedictine Abbey at Selby, had existed for nearly 500 years by now but, as in the case of many abbeys, over the past 200 years its influence for good had been declining.  Its estates were decreasing, idleness and luxury were increasing and the conduct of its monks had become questionable.

In 1535, King Henry VIII ordered that a countrywide survey of church finances be made.  This was called the Valor Ecclesiasticus (Latin for “church valuation”).  As newly, self-made, supreme head of the church, one of Henry’s first actions was to impose taxes on the clergy.  Taxes previously paid to the Pope were now to be given to the King, together with a new annual tax of 10% on the income from all church lands and offices.  In order to properly assess the new tax, a survey of all church property and revenues had to be made, so in January 1535, the government appointed commissioners throughout the country to conduct the survey. All clergymen, parish priests, heads of monasteries, colleges, hospitals and other institutions under church auspices were commanded to give sworn testimony before their local commissioners as to their income, the lands their establishments owned and the revenues they received from all other sources. The commissioners were to examine documents and account books and from these, and the testimony, provide a full financial statement for every religious institution. The work of collecting the information was ordered to be completed by 30 May 1535 and the results sent in to the Exchequer in London. The commissioners were unpaid and untrained, mostly local gentry, mayors, magistrates, bishops and sheriffs, but they approached the vast task with speed and, by the summer of 1535, the government had in its hands a detailed account of the property and wealth of the church. The Valor gave the government for the first time a solid understanding of the scale of the wealth of the church as a whole and particularly of the monasteries. It was not long before King Henry began planning ways of seizing much of these riches for himself, starting with the smaller religious houses.

Robert Selby, alias Rogers, was thus the last Abbot of Selby and he surrendered the Abbey to King Henry VIII on 6th December 1539.  At this time, the abbey was valued at £729.12s. 101/4d. and was granted on 26th August 1541 to Sir Ralph Sadler, Knight, for a sum of £736, plus £3.10s.8d. per annum.  This was probably in recognition of his part, alongside the Duke of Norfolk, in defeating the second insurrection against the dissolution, which broke out in 1537.  Later in 1541, Sadler was given permission by the King to transfer ownership of the site, plus a 10 acre park, together with the manor of Selby and the properties therein, to Leonard Beckwith and his heirs.  This was probably Sir Leonard Beckwith of Selby, High Sheriff of Yorkshire.

Following the dissolution, Robert was granted an annual pension of £100.  At the time of the surrender, there were 23 monks at the abbey, in addition to the Abbot.  This number included Robert Mydley the Prior, and James Laye, Prior of Snaith.   These monks were also granted pensions, £8 per annum being allowed for the Priors and from £6.6s.8d to £2.13s.4d. for the monks.  The amounts of these pensions – particularly that awarded to Robert Rogers – are representative of the sums paid at the time to those Abbots who surrendered their abbeys without any resistance.  It is therefore unlikely that Robert took part in rebellions against the dissolution of religious houses, such as the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536.  Those Abbots who did suffered severe penalties and most certainly did not receive such a pension!

It is also interesting to note that, when summoned to Parliament on 13th July 1530 by Henry VIII, Robert Rogers, as Robertus abbas de Selby, was one of approximately 84 signatories to the petition in favour of Henry’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon, made by the Spiritual and Temporal Lords of England to Pope Clement VII.

Reports of Robert’s actions following the surrender vary across sources.  It is recorded that, as a member of the House of Lords, he sat alongside the other mitred Abbot of Yorkshire, that of St Mary’s of York, when Parliament opened on 28th April 1539.  Unsurprisingly, they were two amongst very few remaining ecclesiastics.  However, following this, it is suggested that he may have travelled (some reports state “fled”) to France, taking with him all the valuables and documents from Selby Abbey which he could safely convey.  This is somewhat borne out by the fact that a medieval manuscript of Historia Selebiensis Monasterii, an account of the early history of the monastery, written by a young monk of Selby in 1174, was apparently discovered in the French monastery of Auxerre.   It does seem quite possible, therefore, that Robert may have taken some items to the Abbey of St Germain in Auxerre for safe-keeping, as this is claimed to be the place from which the founder-monk of Selby came.  

What is certain is that, by 20th March 1540, Robert was back in this country as, on this date, he was granted a dispensation to hold a benefice with a complete change of habit and was ordained as a secular priest.  In 1541, he was one of the collectors for the subsidy in the archdeaconry of York and, on 27th July 1543, he was recorded as living “at his house in Gowthorpe, in Selby”, according to a note within the Coucher Book of Selby.  One of his monks, George Goode, was living with him and serving as his Chaplain.  Gowthorpe still remains and is the main street leading from the abbey, through Selby town centre.  Excavations have confirmed that there were early houses situated at the abbey end of this street – it seems quite possible that one of these may have been the site of Robert’s house.

He would have been sad, though, to have seen the demise of his abbey at this time.  The church remained, but was bereft of its “treasures” and, without any revenue, a state of decay soon set in.  For some time, the building remained unused, a small building on Church Hill doing duty as the Parish Church.  However, in 1618, during the reign of James I, the Abbey Church became the Parish Church, although it suffered much destruction during the course of the Commonwealth period.

By June 1546, Robert had obviously become a man of means, as he apparently made a loan of £60 to the King.  Some records suggest that eleven years later, on 7th March 1557, he went on to receive from the crown the rectory of St Nicholas, Cole Abbey, London.  However, whilst a Robert Rogers certainly was presented with this appointment on that date, the fact that he was also listed in the same post on an unrecorded date in 1559, brings our Robert’s identity into question, as this would be close to, or even after, his death in January 1558/9.

Robert made his will on 20th November 1558, in the name of Robert Rogers of Rawcliffe.  In this document, he left a chalice and vestments to Selby church, gave 20s to the poor of Selby, 13s.4d. to the poor of Rawcliffe and 10s. to the Snaith and Cowick poor.  He also made many bequests to the Middleton family (their connection with Robert is as yet unknown) and asked to be buried in Selby “high church”.  Unfortunately, this final request could not be fulfilled.

The fact that, at the time of his death, Robert was living in Rawcliffe may seem surprising.  However, since soon after the Norman Conquest, Selby Abbey had owned land within the village.  Several references to land in Rawcliffe belonging to the Abbots of Selby occur in the Coucher Books, and to a chapel there which was licensed for mass as early as 1078.  By 1254, the Abbots appear to have a manor house surrounded by parkland where, according to one record, the Bishop of Durham was entertained in the 14th century.  The early chapel was rebuilt in the time of Edward III when John, Abbot of Selby, granted licence to the inhabitants of Rawcliffe, “that they should have in their Chapel, newly built, a baptismal font but without prejudice to the Mother Church of Snaith”.

In the 1540’s the Chantry Certificates, drawn up soon after the dissolution of the monasteries, state that “The Chapel of Roecliff in the parish of Snayth … is allowed to be continued as a chapel of ease because of the distance from the parish church to the intent the parishioners should christen and have all manner of sacraments ministered there, saving burying, by reason of the wetness of the ground and grete inundations of water”.

So, Robert’s wish to be buried in Selby could not be granted, as the Church was not being used at the time.  He could not be buried in what had become his hometown, Rawcliffe, as the chapel was not able to accept burials.  So a decision was made that the Priory Church in Snaith should become his last resting place.  It is not possible to know the form that this ceremony would have taken but, judging by his large, elaborate, memorial stone, it would have been a grand occasion, as Robert Rogers was a man who was held in high esteem – and rightly so, when considering the status, importance and amazing experiences of this incredible man.

The death of Robert Rogers marked the end of an era for Rawcliffe, as the manor then passed out of the hands of the Church and into the secular ownership of the Boynton family who, ironically, are also memorialised within their own, Boynton Chapel in Snaith Priory.

Robert Rogers, Clerk of the Church, was buried in Snaith Priory on the 26th January 1558/9.  At this time, he would have been aged in his 70’s.  The entry in the parish burial records (Bishop’s Transcripts) states:

Jan. itm xxvjth day, Robert Rogers Clark, Rocliff, who was Lait abbot of Selby.