The Cistercian Monastery News Headlines 1142 AD French

The Cistercian Monastery News Headlines 1142 AD ‘French monks arrive in Ireland’ Theme 1, Unit 2, Lesson 2

Slide 2 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Who Are These Monks? • The Cistercians: a new monastic order founded in France in 1098 • Aim: to follow The Rule of St Benedict in the strictest sense • Their monasteries spread rapidly through France and Western Europe

Slide 3 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Why Did They Come to Ireland? • Archbishop Malachy of Armagh invited them • He was impressed by their abbeys in France • Cistercians were eager to develop new monasteries throughout Europe

Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 How Are the New Monasteries Different From the Traditional Irish Model? Unlike the informal arrangement of an Early Christian Irish monastery with mostly wooden buildings, Cistercian monasteries were a formally planned grouping of stone buildings Slide 4

Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Slide 5 What Did the Cistercians Need to Set up a New Monastery? • Land- Donations from rich landowners • Money- Benefices; burial rights; farming skills • Support- Ecclesiastical and political supporters • Labour Force- Lay brothers

Slide 6 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Formal Plan of Cistercian Abbey North Church Cloister Garth Chapter House East Range West Range South Range

Slide 7 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 What Does This Building Tell Us?

Slide 8 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 The Cloister

Slide 9 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 North Screen Altar Lay Brothers Monk’s Choir East Window Night Stairs

Slide 10 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Altar

Slide 11 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Slide 11 East Window Altar Piscina Sedilia Night Stairs, Holy Cross Abbey, Co. Tipperary

Slide 12 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Chapter House Rib Vaulting Monk Reading Chapter From Rule of St Benedict

Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Extract From Rule of St Benedict: CHAPTER IV: The Instruments of Good Works • (13) To love fasting • (20) To hold one's self aloof from worldly ways • (21) To prefer nothing to the love of Christ • (37) Not to be drowsy • (53) Not to love much speaking • (54) Not to provoke laughter Slide 13

Slide 14 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Chapter House, St. Mary’s Abbey, Dublin

Slide 15 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 East Range Sacristy Chapter House Parlour

Slide 16 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 South Range Refectory Kitchen Calefactory Monks Eating in Silence at Long Benches Monk Reading Religious Text During Meal

Slide 17 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Poblet Abbey, Spain Mellifont, Co. Louth

Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 The Rooms of Necessity ‘domus necessarii’ Slide 18

Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 The West Range Cellars and Stores Lay Brothers Dormitory and Refectory on First Floor Main Entrance to Monastery Slide 19

Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Other Monastery Buildings Slide 20 Columbarium (Dovecote) • Guest House • Infirmary • Scriptorium • Abbot’s Lodging • Farm Buildings: stables, barns, mills and workshops Nesting Boxes

Slide 21 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Cistercian Monasteries in Ireland • In 1170 AD Mellifont Abbey had 100 monks and 300 lay brothers • In 1228 AD Mellifont Abbey had 50 monks and 60 lay brothers • In 1228 AD Jerpoint Abbey had 36 monks and 50 lay brothers

Slide 22 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 A Monk’s Life 'Our food is scant, our garments rough, our drink is from streams and our sleep often upon books. Under our tired limbs there is a hard mat, when sleep is sweetest, we must rise at bell’s bidding. Self will have Ailred of Revaulx no place, there is no idleness or dissipation’

Slide 23 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Roles in the Monastery Abbot- Head of monastery Sacrist – Maintained buildings, took care of books, vestments and holy vessels Prior – Deputy of the abbot Almoner – Dispensed alms to the poor and sick Barber/ Surgeon – Shaved heads and faces of monks and performed blood letting Cantor – Lead the choir Cellarer – Supervised provisioning of monastery Infirmarian – In charge of the infirmary Lector – Read lessons in church

Slide 24 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Times of Communal Prayers (Offices) in Church Matins 2 am Lauds 5 am Prime 6 am Terce 9 am Sext Noon Nones 3 pm Vespers 4 – 5 pm Compline 6 pm

Slide 25 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Lay Brothers (Conversi) • Illiterate and uneducated • Separate accommodation to choir monks • Separate prayer area – only required to pray in morning and evening • Did most of the hard work- farm labourers, millers, smiths, tailors, carpenters, masons, cooks, etc. • Key to Cistercian success: Large, unpaid, obedient work force

Slide 26 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 A Huge Success • Mellifont founded in 1142 • By 1150 five daughter houses founded • By 1270 there were 36 Cistercian monasteries in Ireland – 20 now in ruins – 2 restored as parish churches – 14 have no standing remains

Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Cistercian Monasteries in Medieval Ireland Slide 27

Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Cistercian Monasteries in Europe Between 1150 - 1250 the Cistercians had founded 650 monasteries throughout Europe Slide 28

Slide 29 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Tintern, Co. Wexford Mellifont, Co. Louth Boyle, Co. Roscommon Holycross, Co. Tipperary

Slide 30 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Stone Carvings Carved Capitals at Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon Owl Carving, Holycross Abbey, Co. Tipperary

Slide 31 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Cistercian Artefacts Foot of Monstrance Seal, Boyle Abbey Silver Chalice Cross, Candlestick and Communion Bell

Slide 32 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Other Monastic Orders in Medieval Ireland • Augustinians- founded in 11 th century based on Rule of St Augustine • Franciscans- founded by St Francis of Assisi in 1209 • Dominicans- founded by St Dominic of Guzman (11701221) Franciscan Friary, Kilcrea, Co. Cork Dominican Priory, Kilmallock, Co. Limerick

Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Slide 33 Decline of Cistercian Monasteries in Ireland • Number of monks and lay brothers joining declines by late 13 th century • Black Death (1348 AD) kills many monks and brothers • Economic depression and political turmoil in 14 th century • Dissolution of monasteries by Henry VIII (1539 AD)

Slide 34 Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Cistercian Monasteries in Ireland Today Cistercians returned to Ireland set up a monastery in Mount Melleray in County Waterford in 1832. This was the first Cistercian monastery founded in Ireland since the Reformation and is now one of the larger abbeys of the Cistercian Order Four other Cistercian monasteries established since -Roscrea -Bolton -Mellifont -Glencarin

Theme 1, Unit 2, LESSON 2 Slide 35