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Poisoning of Abbot Greenwell

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Around June 1447, the Abbot of Fountains Abbey, John Greenwell, was poisoned by a monk, William Downom (also Downam[1]). Downom poisoned a dish of pottage which he then attempted to feed the abbot while the latter was sick. Greenwell survived, and the case became notorious. Although it took over a year and discussions with Fountains' motherhouse of Cîteaux Abbey, Downom—who may already have been an apostate—was eventually expelled. The affair was one of a series of crises to hit the abbey in the first half of the 15th century, following a disputed election in the first decade, which had violent repercussions. Greenwell himself remained controversial and was both accused and accuser in local lawsuits, as well as later incurring the distrust of King Edward IV. Greenwell eventually resigned in 1471; Downom had stayed a monk after being expelled from Fountains and had joined Kirkstead Abbey in Lincolnshire, following which he disappears from the record.

Turbulent recent history

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2005 colour photograph of now-ruined Fountains Abbey
Fountains Abbey, ruined since the its dissolution in 1539, viewed in 2005

The fifteenth century was a period of turbulence and discord within Fountains Abbey. Trouble began with a severely disputed abbatial election in 1410.[2] The death of Abbot Robert Burley led to violent argument over his successor; accusations of a rigged election, climaxing in the physical eviction of the incumbent, necessitated the intervention of the abbots of Jervaulx and Rievaulx.[3][4] Frequent, if sporadic, outbreaks of dissension among the monks continued for the next 20 years.[5]

John Greenwell had been elected Abbot of Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire, in October 1442. He made his profession of obedience to George Neville, Archbishop of York, in January the following year. Although described by the historian Michael Spence as an "outstanding personality" of the period,[6] Greenwell's abbacy, his biographer at the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography has argued, "was not without difficulties". In 1445, the archbishop was forced to issue edicts forbidding the molestation of either Fountains or its residents by local people.[7] By the 15th century, Fountains was the richest and most important Cistercian abbey in the country.[8] Its abbot was therefore an important local figure and political officer in his own right. It is on this account that Greenwell was a regular visitor to Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury's caput, Middleham Castle and to Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, at Topcliffe Castle. Greenwell also entertained Richard, Duke of York at the monastic house of Swanley Grange.[9] Notwithstanding Fountains' wealth and importance, apart from Greenwell and Downom, it only possessed 33 other monks at the time of the poisoning.[10]

The monk accused of attacking Greenwell, one William Downom—Poisonings within enclosed religious communities were rare. They account for 6% of all poisonings recorded in the 400 years between 1200 and 1600, and among monks, they are even scarcer.[11] On the other hand, 20% of recorded poisonings within enclosed communities were committed by nuns, who were, though, still only 2.4% of all criminal nuns.[11] This was not the first attack on an abbot with poison this century; in 1405 and 1440, the superiors of Beeleigh and Norton also died by poison, presumed to have been administered by one of their brethren.[12] It was also not to be the last attempt known of. In January 1493, following an investigation, the abbots of Stratford Langthorne and Woburn reported an attempt with poison on the life of Abbot John Bright at Wardon Abbey.[1][13]

Poisoning

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Charge against Downom

The aforesaid brother William Downom prepared and offered to the abbot a certain English potage called candell. And being commanded by obedience by the abbot of the accused, he refused to taste it. Wherefore the abbot himself, being frightened and justly moved by the suspicion of the matter and the previous bad reputation of the said Downom, also abstained from tasting this kind of potage, which thing reminded many of the suspicion of evil.

C. H. Talbot, Letters from the English Abbots to the Chapter at Cîteaux, 1442–1521, p.30

Although the crises that had wracked Fountains early in the century appeared to have died down, in 1447, an even greater crisis broke out. A monk, William Downom, was accused of trying to poison Greenwell shortly before 11 June, the date on which he was charged.[7][14] Downom was a veteran of his House,[15] having been ordained an acolyte in June 1425.[16] He likely held a senior position within the abbatial hierarchy, as he later faced further accusations of failing to file accounts for his offices over several years.[7]

Greenwell had been ill. During his sickness, Downom made him a bowl of soup or pottage unprompted.[17][7] However, when it was requested that he taste the dish first, he refused to do so.[7] The Earl of Salisbury was then in London on royal council business. When the news reached him, he despatched one of his surgeons, Henry Welles of Middleham, to Fountains to attend the abbot.[7] Greenwell survived;[18] Downom confessed to his crime.[15] The reason he gave for refusing to taste the food was that he, personally, did not like the flavour.[7]

Although Downom's motives for poisoning Greenwell are unknown—none was suggested by contemporaries[15]—his biographer John Walker speculates that there may have been a pre-existing enmity between the two men. Downom was alleged to have been responsible for the abbey accruing massive debts, debts that were reduced by 1000 marks under Greenwell.[7] The debts may well have been the result of Downom appropriating abbey funds, suggests Spence, while he also seems to have challenged his Order on occasion, both in its authority and doctrine.[15]

The medievalist Julie Kerr suggests that Downom's may have been an extreme response to the often claustrophobic atmosphere of monasteries, which, she argues, could at times be "a hothouse of emotions".[19] While abbots were able to leave the cloister freely—thus escaping the source, if need be, of their affront—ordinary monks had less opportunity for such self-management, despite being expected to avoid anger and extreme emotion. It may be, says Kerr, that Downham was sufficiently angered by Greenwell's refusal to eat his soup that he took an immediate, possibly unthinking revenge.[19]

It is also possible that this was not the first time Downom had been suspected of such activities. He appears to have had similar trouble on a previous occasion, although whether for anything as serious as poisoning is unknown.[15] Apostasy is another possibility, as he appears to have left Fountains only to repent before the abbots of Newminster and Kirkstead on 11 May 1448.[20] One of the monks who later witnessed the official accusation against Downom qualified his signature with the comment conscius de primis erroribus in ultima rebellione. This was considered relevant enough to remain on the record, in the knowledge that it would be seen by the motherhouse, Cîteaux, to whom Downom was being reported.[15][note 1]

Another of those to sign the accusation against Downom was the physician who had attended Greenwell, Henry Welles.[21] However, it is also likely that Downom's condemnation did not meet with universal agreement among the brethren, as the names of several monks known to be resident at the time—including that of Thomas Swynton, Greenwell's eventual successor as abbot—are missing as signatories.[15]

Letters to Cîteaux

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Statement of Henry Welles, physician

Since it is just and meritorious to bear witness to the truth so that both the righteous are praised and sinners are restrained, I Master Henry Welles notify all who will inspect this present writing that when the venerable Lord John Grenewell, Abbot of Fontains, professed of sacred theology, was suffering serious illness, by order of my illustrious lord the Earl of Salisbury, he had a physician to provide him with medical care. A certain Brother William, then a monk of the said monastery, brought over a certain secular vagabond ignorant of medicine, to inspect my medicines ordered for the said Abbot and touching his clothes, claimed that he knew how to foretell many things about a man's future life and death. Hence he wished to predict the day of the abbot's death and to foreshadow certain future abbots: hence, after being captured in Middleburgh [Middleham] Castle, and having been sent to the Lord Earl for examination on the aforesaid acts, and having confessed to the aforesaid, he secretly withdrew and thus escaped the punishment due to him.

C. H. Talbot, Letters from the English Abbots to the Chapter at Cîteaux, 1442–1521, p.30

The principal source for historians' knowledge of these events is a collection of letters and depositions[1] sent from Fountains to the Abbot of Cîteaux, which thoroughly documented the poisoning and Downom's subsequent expulsion.[7][note 2] These were legally notarised documents[15] and comprised a complaint drawn up by the Chapter House and another signed and sealed by a convocation of 18 Cistercian abbots which met in Leicester in July 1448.[15] The compilation as eventually received at Cîteaux was probably finalised by 28 December 1448, although the documents themselves range between then and 11 June 1447.[1] At some point not long after, the affair became public knowledge and a notorious scandal for the Cistercian Order in England.[17][1] Downom seems to have temporarily escaped the abbey—apostasising himself again—as a record shows that Greenwell ordered his recapture on 2 June 1449.[20]

Later events

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The same day as the abbey's despatch to Cîteaux, 28 December 1449, his condemnation being complete, Downom was formally expelled from Fountains.[7][23] The protracted period between the poisoning and Downom's leaving, says Talbot, indicates "the trouble, expense and complicated legal processes which one disgruntled member of a community could bring upon his abbey".[24]

Greenwell's abbacy also continued to be involved in frequent controversy. He was unpopular locally, and in 1451 he was forced, says the writ, to provide securities for his good behaviour "toward all the people".[7] Greenwell's spirited defence of his House's tithes appears to have been a particular source of contention.[25] The same year, as part of increasing ill-feeling between the major local families of Percy and Neville, Fountains was attacked by Salsbury's son, John.[26][note 3] With the outbreak of civil war in 1459, Greenwell was an adherent of Lancaster, and when the Yorkist claimant won the throne in 1461 as Edward IV, Greenwell was taken to London and placed under a bond of £2000 to keep the King's Peace.[7]

Greenwell survived until at least 1470, when his application to the Pope to resign as abbot was granted.[7] Perhaps indicative of lingering resentment, no mention of Greenwell's abbacy was made in the record of Swynton's election as abbot in 1471, even though it was customary to honour a new abbot's predecessor by doing so.[28] Little is known of Downom after his expulsion from Fountains, although he appears to have subsequently joined Kirkstead Abbey at some point.[29]

Notes

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  1. ^ The monk who qualified his statement also found himself in trouble in the late 1450s, notes Spence: He "was described as an apostate who had issued a writ causing the cellarer to be imprisoned, albeit briefly".[15]
  2. ^ These letters, in Latin, have been collected and transcribed by C. H. Talbot. Taken from the surving archives of Cîteaux Abbey, they comprise "the sole material we have for judging the state of the Cistercians in England during the fifteenth century".[22]
  3. ^ Resistance to the organised church, if not yet outright anticlericalism, was a common feature of the period; the historian Ralph A. Griffiths has commented that "the religious were fair game in an age which, however much respect it might show for individual piety, was still critical of the more obvious temporal aspects of the institutionalised church".[27]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Baker 1977, p. 198 n.24.
  2. ^ Spence 2020, p. 18.
  3. ^ Kerr 2009, p. 164.
  4. ^ Baker 1997, pp. 74–75.
  5. ^ Spence 2020, pp. 18, 51.
  6. ^ Spence 2020, p. 17.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Walker 2015.
  8. ^ Coppack 2004, pp. 88, 104.
  9. ^ Burton & Kerr 2011, p. 174.
  10. ^ Dobson 1973, p. 54.
  11. ^ a b Lett 2018, p. 230.
  12. ^ Heale 2016, p. 67 n.55.
  13. ^ Smith 2008, pp. 346–347.
  14. ^ Talbot 1967, p. 26.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Spence 2020, p. 49.
  16. ^ Spence 2020, p. 49 n.57.
  17. ^ a b Kerr 2008, p. 13.
  18. ^ Kerr 2009, p. 137.
  19. ^ a b Kerr 2009, pp. 136–137.
  20. ^ a b Logan 1996, p. 213.
  21. ^ Talbot & Hammond 1965, pp. 85–86.
  22. ^ Talbot 1967, pp. 6–7.
  23. ^ Talbot 1967, p. 22.
  24. ^ Talbot 1967, p. 7.
  25. ^ Payne 1993, pp. 26–27.
  26. ^ Wilcock 2004, p. 47.
  27. ^ Griffiths 1981, p. 568.
  28. ^ Spence 2020, p. 51.
  29. ^ Thornton 2019, pp. 91–92.

Bibliography

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  • Baker, D. (1977). "Old Wine in New Bottles: Attitudes to Reform in Fifteenth-century England". Studies in Church History. 14: 193–211. doi:10.1017/S042420840000694X. ISSN 0424-2084.
  • Baker, D. (1997). "A Faith for All Seasons: The White Monks at the Waning of the Middle Ages". In van Deusen, N. (ed.). Tradition and Ecstasy: The Agony of the Fourteenth Century. Ottawa: Institute of Mediaeval Music. pp. 69–98. ISBN 978-1-89692-601-8.
  • Burton, J. E.; Kerr, J. (2011). The Cistercians in the Middle Ages. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1-84383-667-4.
  • Coppack, G. (2004). Fountains Abbey: The Cistercians in Northern England. London: Tempus. ISBN 978-0-75242-546-7.
  • Dobson, R. (1973). Durham Priory: 1400–1450. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-52120-140-7.
  • Griffiths, R. A. (1981). The Reign of Henry VI. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-04372-5.
  • Heale, M. (2016). The Abbots and Priors of Late Medieval and Reformation England. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19870-253-5.
  • Kerr, J. (2008). "Health and Safety in the Medieval Monasteries of Britain". History. 93 (1): 3–19. ISSN 0018-2648. OCLC 466923053.
  • Kerr, J. (2009). Life in the Medieval Cloister. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-84725-161-9.
  • Lett, D. (2018). Crimes, genre et châtiments: Hommes et femmes face à la justice au Moyen Âge (in French). Armand Colin. ISBN 978-2-20063-914-3.
  • Logan, F. D. (1996). Runaway Religious in Medieval England, c.1240–1540. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-52152-022-5.
  • Payne, S. (1993). Fountains Abbey in the Fifteenth Century. North Eastern History. Vol. IV. University of Teesside. OCLC 30916914.
  • Smith, D. M. (2008). The Heads of Religious Houses: England and Wales. Vol. III: 1377–1540. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-52186-508-1.
  • Spence, M. (2020). The Late Medieval Cistercian Monastery of Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire: Monastic Administration, Economy, and Archival Memory. Turnhout: Brepols. ISBN 978-2-503-56771-6.
  • Talbot, C. H. (1967). Letters from the English Abbots to the Chapter at Cîteaux, 1442–1521. London: Camden Society. ISBN 978-0-90105-064-9.
  • Talbot, C. H.; Hammond, E. A. (1965). The Medical Practitioners in Medieval England: A Biographical Register. London: Wellcome Historical Medical Library.
  • Thornton, D. E. (2019). "Stability or Mobility? Movement between Cistercian Houses in Late Medieval and Early Tudor England and Wales". Citeaux. 70: 87–113. ISSN 0009-7497. OCLC 614748885.
  • Walker, J. (2015). "Greenwell, John (d. in or after 1471)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/107119. Archived from the original on 8 June 2025. Retrieved 8 June 2025.
  • Wilcock, R. (2004). "Local Disorder in the Honour of Knaresborough, c. 1438–1461 and The National Context". Northern History. 41. OCLC 474760681.

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