Balmerino Abbey

Last updated

Balmerino Abbey
Monastery information
Order Cistercian
Established1229
Disestablished1603
Mother house Melrose Abbey
Diocese Diocese of St Andrews
Controlled churchesBalmerino; Barry; Cultrain; Logie-Murdoch
People
Founder(s) Ermengarde de Beaumont

Balmerino Abbey, or St Edward's Abbey, in Balmerino, Fife, Scotland, was a Cistercian monastic community which has been ruinous since the 16th century.

Contents

History

The cloisters of Balmerino Abbey The cloisters of Balmerino Abbey.jpg
The cloisters of Balmerino Abbey

It was founded from 1227 to 1229 by monks from Melrose Abbey with the patronage of Ermengarde de Beaumont and King Alexander II of Scotland. It remained a daughter house of Melrose. It had approximately 20 monks at the beginning of the sixteenth century, but declined in that century. In December 1547 it was burned by an English force, and allegedly damaged again in 1559 by Scottish Protestants as part of the Reformation's destruction of perceived idolatrous structures.

In combination with several centuries of plundering for building stone the entire main abbey is absent and only the smaller support structures to the north survive, most notable of which are the fan-vaulted cloisters.

In 1606–07 its name was revived as a secular lordship for James Elphinstone, 1st Lord Balmerino.

Current condition

Window and door details at Balmerino Abbey Window and door details at Balmerino Abbey.jpg
Window and door details at Balmerino Abbey
Balmerino Abbey as seen in 2012 2012 Balmerino Abbey.jpg
Balmerino Abbey as seen in 2012

In 1910 the landowner employed Francis William Deas to survey the building and execute a program of repairs and consolidation.

The abbey is now under the stewardship of the National Trust for Scotland, and a small entrance fee is requested at an honesty box, with no ticket booth or staffed presence on-site. The ruin consists of a substantial section of the east wall of the main church. More substantial ruins of some of the associated buildings exist to the side of this but access is currently prohibited due to their poor state of repair.

As of summer 2007, a sign on-site states that entrance fees will be used to contribute towards a possible future stabilization of these ruins to improve safety for visitors to enter once again.

The ruins are designated a scheduled monument. [1]

Burials

See also

Notes

  1. Historic Environment Scotland. "Balmerino Abbey (SM827)" . Retrieved 24 February 2019.

Bibliography

56°24′33″N3°02′28″W / 56.40917°N 3.04111°W / 56.40917; -3.04111

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cîteaux Abbey</span> Abbey located in Côte-dOr, in France

Cîteaux Abbey is a Catholic abbey located in Saint-Nicolas-lès-Cîteaux, south of Dijon, France. It is notable for being the original house of the Order of Cistercians. Today, it belongs to the Trappists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cistercians</span> Catholic religious order

The Cistercians, officially the Order of Cistercians, are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contributions of the highly-influential Bernard of Clairvaux, known as the Latin Rule. They are also known as Bernardines, after Saint Bernard himself, or as White Monks, in reference to the colour of the "cuculla" or cowl worn by the Cistercians over their habits, as opposed to the black cowl worn by Benedictines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melrose Abbey</span>

St Mary's Abbey, Melrose is a partly ruined monastery of the Cistercian order in Melrose, Roxburghshire, in the Scottish Borders. It was founded in 1136 by Cistercian monks at the request of King David I of Scotland and was the chief house of that order in the country until the Reformation. It was headed by the abbot or commendator of Melrose. Today the abbey is maintained by Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument.

Adam of Perseigne was a French Cistercian, abbot of Perseigne Abbey in the Diocese of Le Mans.

Ermengarde de Beaumont was Queen of Scotland as the wife of King William I. She is reported to have exerted influence over the affairs of state as queen, though the information on her is lacking in detail. Her paternal grandmother was Constance FitzRoy, illegitimate daughter of Henry I of England.

Monastic sign languages have been used in Europe from at least the 10th century by Christian monks, and some, such as Cistercian and Trappist sign, are still in use today—not only in Europe, but also in Japan, China and the USA. Unlike deaf sign languages, they are better understood as forms of symbolic gestural communication rather than languages, and some writers have preferred to describe them as sign lexicons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abbot of Melrose</span>

The Abbot and then Commendator of Melrose was the head of the monastic community of Melrose Abbey, in Melrose in the Borders region of Scotland. The abbots of the earlier Northumbrian foundation from Lindisfarne are not included here. The second abbey was founded in 1136 on the patronage of David I, King of Scots, by Cistercian monks from Rievaulx Abbey, Yorkshire. Control of the abbey was secularized in the 16th century and after the accession of James Stewart, the abbey was held by commendators. The last commendator, James Douglas of Lochleven, resigned the abbacy to William Douglas, 6th Earl of Morton in December 1606, and the abbey itself to the king in 1608. The abbey was then erected into a secular lordship for viscount Haddington, John Ramsay, who in 1609 was created "Lord Melrose". Lochleven however resumed the title of commendator in 1613 until his death in 1620.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerpoint Abbey</span> Ruined Cistercian abbey in Kilkenny, Ireland

Jerpoint Abbey is a ruined Cistercian abbey, founded in the second half of the 12th century in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located 2.5 km south west of Thomastown on the R448 regional road. There is a visitor centre with an exhibition. It has been declared a national monument and has been in the care of the Office of Public Works since 1880.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jocelin of Glasgow</span> Scottish Cistercian monk and cleric

Jocelin was a twelfth-century Cistercian monk and cleric who became the fourth Abbot of Melrose before becoming Bishop of Glasgow, Scotland. He was probably born in the 1130s, and in his teenage years became a monk of Melrose Abbey. He rose in the service of Abbot Waltheof, and by the time of the short abbacy of Waltheof's successor Abbot William, Jocelin had become prior. Then in 1170 Jocelin himself became abbot, a position he held for four years. Jocelin was responsible for promoting the cult of the emerging Saint Waltheof, and in this had the support of Enguerrand, Bishop of Glasgow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abbot of Culross</span>

The Abbot and then Commendator of Culross was the head of the monastic community of Culross Abbey, Fife, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1218 on the patronage of Maol Choluim I, Earl of Fife by Cistercian monks from Kinloss Abbey, Moray. Control of the abbey was secularized in the 16th century and after the accession of James Stewart, the abbey was held by commendators. The number of monks under the abbot had also declined by the 16th century, there being only 15 monks by 1557.

The Abbot of Balmerino was the head of the Cistercian monastic community and lands of Balmerino Abbey, Fife, founded in 1227 x 1229 by monks from Melrose Abbey with the patronage of Ermengarde de Beaumont and King Alexander II of Scotland. The following are a list of abbots and commendators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Balmerino</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Balmerino is a small village and former monastic centre in Fife, Scotland. It is the home of Balmerino Abbey and the former abbots of Balmerino who were great regional landlords. It became a secular lordship in 1605 when the abbey's lands were transferred into a Barony and the title of Lord Balmerino was created. The already fire-damaged abbey was allowed to fall into ruin as it no longer had a function. The Abbey ruins and grounds are managed by the National Trust for Scotland and are famed for the ancient sweet chestnut tree and the display of aconites which flower in February.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cañas, La Rioja</span> Municipality in La Rioja, Spain

Cañas is a municipality of La Rioja, Spain. It was the birthplace of Saint Dominic of Silos (1000-1073).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cistercian nuns</span>

Cistercian nuns are female members of the Cistercian Order, a religious order belonging to the Roman Catholic branch of the Catholic Church.

Gerald of Sales was a French monastic reformer from Salles, Lot-et-Garonne near Bergerac, Dordogne in the south-west of France. His feast day is on April 20.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaux-de-Cernay Abbey</span>

Vaux-de-Cernay Abbey was a Cistercian monastery in northern France (Île-de-France), situated in Cernay-la-Ville, in the Diocese of Versailles, Yvelines.

Conrad of Eberbach was a Cistercian monk, and later abbot, of Eberbach Abbey, Germany, and historian of the early Cistercian Order.

Wauthier-Braine Abbey was a Cistercian nunnery situated in Wallonia at Wauthier-Braine in Walloon Brabant, Belgium.

Chrysogonus Waddell was an American Roman Catholic convert and theologian. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, he was an accomplished organist, liturgist, historian, and a scholar of chant and Cistercian liturgy.