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| Monastery information | |
|---|---|
| Order | Cistercian |
| Established | 1229 |
| Disestablished | 1603 |
| Mother house | Melrose Abbey |
| Diocese | Diocese of St Andrews |
| Controlled churches | Balmerino; Barry; Cultrain; Logie-Murdoch |
| People | |
| Founder(s) | Ermengarde de Beaumont |
Balmerino Abbey, or St Edward's Abbey, in Balmerino, Fife, Scotland, was a Cistercian monastery which has been ruinous since the 16th century.
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. By 1233 the church was sufficiently complete for Ermengarde to be buried in it. [1] 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. The community appears to have died out shortly afterwards, with the estate being made into a temporal lordship in 1603 (other sources give 1605 or 1606-7) for Sir James Elphistone, who became 1st Lord Balmerino. [2]
In 1561 John Hay became the lay commendator and converted some of the abbey buildings for use as a house, [1] with superfluous buildings like the church being dismantled for stone. Eventually the house itself fell into ruin.
Due to growing interest in the middle ages, in 1896 the ruins were archaeologically excavated, uncovering the plan of the church. [1] 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.
Meagre remains stand of the 66m long cruciform abbey church (mostly the north wall of the nave). The misalignment of the piers in the south arcade with the shafts in the north wall suggests that the single nave aisle was a later addition. [1] The eastern range of the claustral buildings survives better, due to its conversion to a house after the Reformation. Immediately north of the church is the vaulted sacristy. [3] This room became the house's kitchen, with a staircase added to its west. The original chapter house is the best survival of 13th century buildings, with the eastern three of its six bays of quadripartite vaulting still standing. The day stair rises through the thickness of its north wall. In the 15th century, a new and larger chapter house was added, with four bays of high vaulting round a central pier (as can still be seen at Glasgow Cathedral or Glenluce Abbey). This vaulting was destroyed when new floors and large windows were inserted in the residential conversion. [2] Completing the range to the north is the slype or parlour, and then two further barrel-vaulted cells under the reredorter. [1] The dormitory that stood over all these rooms has vanished, as have the cloister itself (which was unusually to the north of the church) and the north and west ranges containing the refectory, stores and guest rooms.
Access to the ruins is currently restricted due to their poor state of repair.[ citation needed ] 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. [4]
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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.
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, or as White Monks, in reference to the colour of their cowl, as opposed to the black cowl worn by Benedictines.
Villers Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey located in the town of Villers-la-Ville, Walloon Brabant, Belgium. Founded in 1146, the abbey was abandoned in 1796. Most of the site has since fallen into ruins. These ruins now belong to the Walloon Region and are classified as part of Wallonia's Major Heritage.
Cistercian architecture is a style of architecture associated with the churches, monasteries and abbeys of the Roman Catholic Cistercian Order. It was heavily influenced by Bernard of Clairvaux, who believed that churches should avoid superfluous ornamentation so as not to distract from prayer. Although a few images of religious subjects were allowed, such as the crucifix, elaborate figures common in medieval churches were prohibited. Later abbeys were constructed in Renaissance and Baroque styles, which were more ornate by nature.
Morimond Abbey is a religious complex in Parnoy-en-Bassigny, Haute-Marne department, in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France. It was the fourth of the four great daughter abbeys of Cîteaux Abbey, of primary importance in the spread of the Cistercian Order, along with La Ferté to the south, Pontigny to the west and Clairvaux to the north.
Ermengarde de Beaumont was Queen of Alba as the consort of William the Lion. 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 tenth 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 US. 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.
The Abbey of Fontenay is a former Cistercian abbey located in the commune of Marmagne, near Montbard, in the département of Côte-d'Or in France. It was founded by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in 1118, and built in the Romanesque style. It is one of the oldest and most complete Cistercian abbeys in Europe, and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981. Of the original complex comprising church, dormitory, cloister, chapter house, caldarium, refectory, dovecote and forge, all remain intact except the refectory and are well maintained. The Abbey of Fontenay, along with other Cistercian abbeys, forms a connecting link between Romanesque and Gothic architecture.
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.
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.
Cañas is a municipality of La Rioja, Spain. It was the birthplace of Saint Dominic of Silos (1000-1073).
Cistercian nuns are female members of the Cistercian Order, a religious order of the Catholic Church.
Bindon Abbey (Bindonium) was a Cistercian monastery, of which only ruins remain, on the River Frome about half a mile east of Wool in the Purbeck District, Dorset, England.
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.
Gauldry, locally sometimes The Gauldry, is a village in Fife, Scotland. It is located 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) southwest of Newport on Tay, 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south-east of Balmerino, and 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) south of Bottomcraig.
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.
Burchard of Bellevaux was a Cistercian monk and author who was known for his work Apologia de barbis. A student of the Cistercian reformer Bernard of Clairvaux, in 1136, he became abbot of the monastery of Balerne, a Benedictine monastery that adopted the Cistercian reforms. After 22 years there, he became the abbot of Bellevaux, where he composed the Apologia de barbis sometime before his death around 1165.
