Rievaulx Abbey: Community, Architecture, Memory [Anglais] [Relié]

Home to 650 Cistercian monks for 400 years and then deserted in the 16th century, Rievaulx Abbey, or rather its haunting remains, stand framed by trees in North York, England. Despite its former glory and the condition of the abbey remains, it has not been the subject of a monographic study. Nevertheless, Fergusson (art, Wellesley Coll.) and Harrison, an independent archaeological researcher in England, have undertaken a definitive study of this long-overlooked English abbey. Starting with Abbot William, who founded the abbey in 1132, they give a chronology of the abbots and their influence on the abbey is given until the church became crown property under Henry VIII. This fascinating history is well told. Glorious color photos show off the ruins of Rievaulx from different angles, focusing on various features of the complex, the details of construction and architecture, backed up by numerous architectural drawings and reconstruction illustrations, are dissected so finely as to make this book of interest only to the specialist.
-Karen Ellis, Nicholson Memorial Lib. Syst., Garland, TX
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This 800-year history is both an architectural study of Rievaulx and a survey of the surrounding 92-acre walled precinct. Discussions range from shrines in the monastic choir to the baths allowed to the sick, from provision for the washing of the monk's clothes, to the quarries that provided the stone at different stages in Rievaulx's development. Tracing the history of the church and claustral buildings from foundation to the present, the text deals not just with the abbey but with broader social, economic and institutional issues of the lives of its past communities. A 32-page color section showing the abbey as it is today, set in the spectacular North Yorkshire countryside.

Review
'the combined talents of the two authors have produced an account of Rievaulx from its beginnings to modern times, demonstrating how much an intelligent mixture of structural analysis, archaeology and historical enquiry can yield...Its informative clarity, elucidating the highly complicated evidence, will appeal to a non-specialist readership as well as to scholars.' - Nicola Coldstream - Burlington Magazine