From the life of
Aelred of Rievaulx by Walter Daniel
Well, then, as I
have said, these most holy men, trained overseas in their spiritual
wrestling-school, landed safely on English soil and built their
huts near Helmsley, the principal manor of their eminent patron,
the lord Walter Espec, one of the foremost barons of King Henry.
They sited them on the banks of the Rie, a turbulent stream which
flows through a broad valley, and site and settlement took their
name from that of the stream joined to the word 'valley', hence
Rievaulx. High hills surround the valley, encircling it like a
crown. With their motley mantle of trees they offer pleasant
retreats and ensure the seclusion of the vale, their wooded
delights affording the monks a kind of second Eden. Spring waters
come tumbling down from the highest rocks to the valley below, and,
threading their way down narrow clefts and gullies, they widen out
to rivulets and rills, uniting the murmur of their softly purling
voices in a sweet concert of harmonious sound. And when the
branches of the lovely trees clash and part with a rhythmical
soughing as the leaves flutter gently to the ground, the blissful
listener enjoys a wealth of jubilant harmony and his receptive ears
are charmed by so sweet a blending of tumultuous sound, where each
of the myriad different notes is yet musically equal to the
rest.
