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Byland abbey has nearly disappeared; the only perfect remains are the west end, a fine specimen of Saxon and Gothic, and a small portion of the choir. The church, its transepts, north and south aisles, and chancel, are gone; and the dormitory, refectory, cloisters, &c. have scarcely left any trace of their gorgeous existence.
In October 1322 Bruce utterly routed the English at Byland Abbey, in the heart of Yorkshire, and chased Edward II. into York. In March 1324 a son was born to Bruce named David; on May 4, 1328, by the Treaty of Northampton, the independence of Scotland was recognised. In July the infant David married Joanna, daughter of Edward II.
The western position of the altar, however, is against placing the work as late as the episcopate of Eadhead. The suggestion is Mr. Micklethwaite's. Altare would, of course, mean the high altar in the presbytery above. It is curious that the same story should be told of Roger de Mowbray, founder of Byland Abbey in this same county.
On the way to it we passed the ruins of another of these grand structures of that religious age, called Byland Abbey, where Robert Bruce came within an ace of capturing King Edward on his retreat from Scotland, after the Battle of Bannockburn.
After the Byland surprise, Harclay, the new Earl of Carlisle, the victor of Boroughbridge, and the warden of the marches, dismissed his troops, sought out Bruce at Lochmaben, and made an arrangement with him, by which it was resolved that a committee of six English and six Scottish magnates should be empowered to conclude peace between the two countries on the basis of recognising him as King of Scots.
Sometimes our weary feet were relieved from the rough stones and briars by an intervening lawn; and at others we were entirely shrouded from "day's garish eye" by entwining trees. Our rugged pilgrimage was rendered more endurable by the anticipation of shortly seeing Byland abbey; but still my romantic spirit was loitering in the pillared aisles of Rievaulx.
A sloping wood on each side of us opened into a wider expanse, and the turrets of Byland abbey appeared in the distance. At this moment we forgot the toil of threading harassing woods and crossing wide heaths. After refreshing ourselves we proceeded to view the ruin. Byland abbey was founded in 1177, by the famous Roger de Mowbray, who amply endowed it, and was buried here.
To the right of our path lay the solitary and frail memorials of the monastery of Hode, founded by Roger de Mowbray, and afterwards attached to the abbey of Byland.
But to conclude our peregrination the glory of Hode, Rievaulx, and Byland abbeys has departed their founders, ecclesiastics and patrons, have become dust the crumbling arch and tottering pillar alone record "the whereabouts" of the rendezvous of heroes and kings and rooks construct their dwellings where the silver crucifix once reared its massy form, before crowds of adoring monks the hoarse croak of the raven is now heard through that valley where pealed the vesper bell; and the melancholy music of the lonely river succeeds the solemn chant of mass; laugh and jest resound where monkish praise quivered through the Gothic space the helmet and coronet of blood and birth are fallen from their wearers and the genius and eccentricity of Sterne, and the wit of Wharton, are for ever extinct: "And fortress, fane and wealthy peer Along the tide of time are borne.
To such a pass had England been reduced that those who honestly desired that the farmers of 'Cumberland should once more till their fields in peace, saw no other means of gaining their end than by communication with the enemies of their country. The disgrace of Byland and the tragedy of Carlisle showed that it was idle to pretend to fight the Scots any longer.
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