The significance of the developments described in this book needs no particular urging. In a little over a century and a half the monastic order had transformed the county of Yorkshire. By 1215 its landscape was graced by the presence of monastic buildings, some modest enough, others in the forefront of European fashion and architectural sophistication. These, in turn, influenced and enriched the building of non-monastic ecclesiastical establishments. The traveller through the county could now find hospitality in the guest houses of monasteries and nunneries. The poor could receive alms, and the sick care, at their gates. Meanwhile a not inconsiderable proportion of the landed wealth of the shire had passed into monastic hands as, in varying degrees, their houses became urban landlords, lords of the manor, and patrons and corporate rectors of parish churches. The White Monks in particular were in the forefront of the reorganization of agrarian estates into the consolidated granges characteristic of their order; and in this were soon emulated by others. The impact on the landscape, through clearance of scrub and forest, the drainage of marsh, and the construction of ditches and waterways, has made an even more lasting impression. Such developments were not achieved in isolation, but often alongside – in cooperation with and not in opposition to – local people. Above all, the revival of monasticism offered the opportunity to men and women to live a life of prayer, devotion, and contemplation in their own locality. The monastic order became an integral part of society, by its prayers and intercessions fighting the vicarious battles of humankind, and by providing special services for their founders and patrons.