Note 42 — TINTERNE ABBEY.
Reading edition
They became so powerful at last, that they were said to “govern all Christendom;” but, if they did not govern, they had at least an influence in every government and kingdom of Europe. Cardinal de Vetri says, they neither wore skins nor shirts; never ate flesh, except in sickness; and abstained from fish, eggs, milk, and cheese; lay on straw-beds in tunics or cowls; rose at midnight to prayer; spent the day in labour, reading, and prayer; and in all they did, exercised a continual silence.—See Monast. Angl.