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FOUNTAINS ABBEY.
^998. 6s. yd. The heads of houses of much less
annual value received similar pensions. At Whitby,
out of a revenue of ;^437 Selby, out of
; ^729
Gisborough, out of ;^628 ; St. Leonard's Hospital,
York, out of ^362—the respective heads had ;^ioo
a year reserved to them. In some cases, where the
estates of the monastery brought in less than ;^3oo,
the pension assigned was ^1^50. Lesser amounts
were given in some cases. The Abbot of Coverham
had only ;^24, but the income of the house was only
^160. The Abbot of Kirkstall got less still
J[\,\(>. 13s. 4d., out of a revenue of ^^329. Probably
his absolute refusal to quit the place, and his determination
to live in the gate-house rather than do so,
had something to do with the slender annuity allotted
to him.
. Fountains Abbey may be regarded as a typical
example of those great monastic foundations which
were scattered, not very sparsely, over the whole of
England. Their possessions were great, and their
influence in their respective neighbourhoods was proportionate.
Tlie mitred Abbot of Fountains or of
Selby ranked with the peers of the realm, and sat in
the same House of Assembly with them at Westminster
; and when he was at home within the walls
of his monastery his state and retinue were princely,
his hospitality unbounded. Some idea of the style in
which a great abbot lived may be formed by a glance
at the lists of the plate which fell into the king's
hands at the Dissolution. Exclusive of the various
articles used in the services of the Church,—chalices,
patens, crosses, censers, images, and reliquaries.