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.
