robbers, to whom it offered a secure refuge. Adam proposed the king give the land to the abbey, offering in return three hundred marks. The king, unfamiliar with the area wanted more information; whereupon the abbot bribed a soldier of Hereford serving with the king, Ralph of Arden, to support him. The king, suitably reassured, granted the land.' (Jenkins p.118–9)
Abbot Adam then proceeded to purchase another 200 acres, with a stream suitable for a mill described as 'the finest piece of land in all the royal forests' [Jenkins]. In fact 'a 1213 survey shows how large a holding Adam had purchased and established – some 1,200 acres of the 2,000 acres' [Hillaby] of Trivel. Gerald of Wales criticised the monks for their wholesale clearance of the timber saying they had reduced 'an oak wood into a wheat field' and acidly commentated that 'when sold in Hereford for building purposes brought back the 300 marks more than three times over.' John was clearly made aware of the situation and evidently was incensed that one of his favourite hunting grounds, and royal chase, had been sold so cheaply. As soon as he succeeded as king he repossessed the forest.
However, John was pragmatic and if he saw an opportunity to influence a baron who was a patron of a monastic house he took it. This even applied to the Cistercians who generally suffered most under King John's monetary system. They had attempted to safeguard rights they saw as immutable and so angered John. One such baron was William de Braose while he was in favour with John. De Braose was a patron of Dore Abbey from where he attempted to found a daughter house in 1204. From 1203 to 1208 he was governing Glamorgan for the king and the Abbey of Margam was within his jurisdiction. The chapter houses of Dore and Margam are similar. The Annals of Dore, bound in a copy of Bede belonging to the abbey, actually records when William de Braose 'father and son' fled to Ireland showing that he was a person of note for the monks of Dore. It is suggested, therefore, that the grant to Dore abbey of 15th September 1202 was connected with the patronage of William de Braose and he was a witness to it. In fact this grant was part of a package of favours that remitted de Braose's debts and granted him further castles.
Once the immediate crisis abated King John reverted to his dislike of Abbot Adam and Dore Abbey. Dore evidently had a very difficult time under the Interdict. No wonder the Annals of Dore carefully recorded on, 2nd July 1214, that the exact length of the Interdict had 'lasted six years, three months and seventeen days'. 'However, on reaching an accommodation with the Pope in August 1213, John was obliged to return Dore's part of Treville. But the monks had to pay, and pay heavily – they received no indemnification for John's financial depredations during those years, and in 1215 he levied a fine of £400 for a charter confirming the possession of the lands Adam has acquired between Dore and Treville brooks.' [Hillaby]. It was partly due to Abbot Adam and partly to King John's policies and rapaciousness that Dore Abbey suffered financially. Despite both Adam and John dying in 1216, Dore's financial difficulties continued. The architectural improvements were delayed and in 1226 Dore had to pay £433 for another charter to confirm their ownership of their lands in Treville.
©Ruth E. Richardson 2015
References:
- David H. Williams, chapter III, and Joe Hillaby, chapter X, in 'A Definitive History of Dore Abbey', edited by Ron Shoesmith and Ruth E. Richardson, 1997, Logaston Press.
- James Hadyn Jenkins, 'King John and the Cistercians in Wales', PhD. thesis Cardiff University 2012. Both chapters and thesis are well researched with primary references.
- 'Herefordshire Field-Name Survey', ed. Ruth E. Richardson, Extra Parochials, Treville etc.
- Biographies of King John and William Marshal.