For the clash between Rievaulx and Byland bell systems, see Dugdale's
Monasticon,
1849 edition vol 5 page 343: the small Byland community moved to Old Byland
which is near Rievaulx (very) in 1143, and to the present Byland site in
1147: so they must have stuck the cacophony - if such it was - for four
years.. Dugdale does not mention his source. There is a History of Byland
but I haven't put my hand to it recently
The former High Altar stone of Byland is in one of our side chapels, about
10 metres from where I sit in the choir. It came to us from the family who
acquired it in about 1873. And for most of the nineteenth century we owned
the nucleus of the Byland estate (but not the ruin itself): it was sold in
1904 to pay for St Benet's Hall in Oxford, which was a good enough use, as
it is still going (even though like Byland) it has moved.
But we wander from time . . .
Anselm Cramer OSB
Ampleforth Abbey, York
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-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Landes <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 23 December 1998 08:00
Subject: Re: Time
>At 11:13 AM 12/22/98 GMT, you wrote:
>>
>>>Modern humans think there is a problem because we have so many
timepieces.
>>>Medieval people hadn't noticed that there was anything to solve, so they
>>>didn't.
>>
>>Exactly so. It doesn't really matter (so it seems to me, a secular) what
>>time monks do things, so long as they all do them at the same time. So
long
>>as one monk has the responsibility for ringing the bell for vespers,
>>everyone will come to vespers when he rings.
>
>said as a secular, which our monks were not. A huge amount of energy went
>into getting it "right", and, when possible, getting it right everywhere
>(Benedict of Aniane and Louis Pious). the need for an alarm clock for the
>ringer, experienced in a northern clime where freezing water made time
>clocks unreliable, led to the development of the mechanical clock. note
>the slippage in the translation of frere Jacques into english: in the
>french, the alarm is to awaken the ringer. (D.S.Landes, *Revolution in
Time).
>
>>The difficulty arises when two
>>monasteries, like Rievaulx and Old Byland, are within earshot of each
other;
>>then the confusion arises. The monks couldn't look at their wrist-watches
>>to check if that was their bell ringing, or the other firm's.
>
>that's fascinating. do the sources discuss or allude to any differences?
>This, on a small scale is what provoked the fights over easter -- when the
>king and his wife celebrated it on different days.
>
>rlandes
>
>Richard Landes
>Department of History Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University
>Boston University Boston University
>226 Bay State Road 704 Commonwealth Ave. Suite 205
>Boston MA 02215 Boston MA 02215
>617-353-2558 (of) 617-358-0226 (tel)
>617-353-2781 (fax) 617-358-0225 (fax)
>[log in to unmask] [log in to unmask]
> http://www.mille.org
>
>"Every millennium has the Apocalypse it deserves." -- Umberto Eco in
>Keynote Address to the "Apocalyptic Year 1000" Conference (11-96)
>"Every generation gets the millennium it deserves." -- Richard Landes
>remembering Umberto Eco's address (8-98)
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