Abbot of Rievaulx

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The Abbot of Rievaulx was the head of the Cistercian monastic community of Rievaulx Abbey, founded in 1131 by Walter l'Espec in North Yorkshire, northern England. The Abbots of Rievaulx were amongst the most powerful Christian leaders in northern England until the dissolution of the monastery by Henry VIII of England in 1538.

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List of Abbots of Rievaulx

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Melrose Abbey

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Abbot of Melrose

The Abbot and then Commendator of Melrose was the head of the monastic community of Melrose Abbey, in Melrose in the Borders region of Scotland. The abbots of the earlier Northumbrian foundation from Lindisfarne are not included here. The second abbey was founded in 1136 on the patronage of David I, King of Scots, by Cistercian monks from Rievaulx Abbey, Yorkshire. Control of the abbey was secularized in the 16th century and after the accession of James Stewart, the abbey was held by commendators. The last commendator, James Douglas of Lochleven, resigned the abbacy to William Douglas, 6th Earl of Morton in December 1606, and the abbey itself to the king in 1608. The abbey was then erected into a secular lordship for viscount Haddington, John Ramsay, who in 1609 was created "Lord Melrose". Lochleven however resumed the title of commendator in 1613 until his death in 1620.

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Robert de Keldeleth was a 13th-century Benedictine and then Cistercian abbot. He started his senior career as Abbot of Dunfermline (1240–52), becoming Chancellor of Scotland later in the 1240s. He took a prominent role as a supporter of Alan Durward during the minority of Alexander III of Scotland, and appears to have lost the Chancellorship as result. Following his resignation of the abbacy of Dunfermline, he became a Cistercian monk at Newbattle Abbey while continuing a comparatively less active role on the wider stage. In 1269 he became Abbot of Melrose (1269–1273), Newbattle's mother house, and held this position for the last four years of his life.

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Walter Espec was a prominent military and judicial figure of the reign of Henry I of England.

Relatio de Standardo, or De bello standardii, is a text composed probably in 1153 or 1154 by the Cistercian monk Aelred of Rievaulx, describing the Battle of the Standard, fought near Northallerton in 1138 between David I, King of Scotland, and a Norman army fighting in support of King Stephen of England.

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