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| Brief History of Mellifont
Abbey The Arrival of the Anglo-Normans Decline in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries The Cistercians Return to Ireland: Revival in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Pictorial Tour
Mellifont Abbey is an Irish Cistercian monastery. For background on the Cistercians, viewers may read the introduction to Dr. Vess's Virtual Tour of Fountains Abbey. It is noteworthy for the conflict between the Irish and Anglo-Normans which occurred in Ireland in the wake of the Norman conquest of Ireland starting on May 1, 1169. Mellifont abbey was one of many Irish Cistercian abbeys that rebelled not only against Anglo-Norman rule, but eventually against the Cistercian Order itself. Mellifont is an intersection chapter in medieval history. Brief History of Mellifont AbbeyIn 1140 Malachy, former archbishop of Armagh and then Bishop of Down, set out on pilgrimage to Rome with some disciples. On the way to Rome, he visited Clairvaux, and was so touched by St. Bernard and the life at Clairvaux that he was converted to the monastic life. When he arrived in Rome, the pope refused to absolve him of his priestly duties, and so he returned to Ireland to fulfill his pastoral responsibilities. Nevertheless, on his return trip, he stopped again at Clairvaux, this time leaving four disciples behind. When he arrived back in Ireland, he asked Bernard to send two of the disciplines back as soon as possible in order to bring the Cistercian reform to Ireland. Bernard refused, and in a letter to Malachy he wrote that, "it would not be well for them to be separated from us, until Christ is more fully formed in them, until they are better equipped to fight for the Lord." In the meantime, Bernard asked Malachy to find a place such as Clairvaux which would be suitable for he foundation of a Cistercian community. Malachy later sent a second group Irishmen to Clairvaux, and went in search of a site for the new monastery. Malachy found a secluded place near Drogheda on the River Mattock, a tributary of the Boyne. It was a very desolate location, which was within the territory of King Donnchadh Ó Cearbhaill of Airghialla, a strong supporter of the ecclesiastical reform movement. He gave the land to the Cistercian Order and also supplied materials for the construction of the new monastery. The first monks from Clairvaux arrived in 1142. Among them were the Irish disciplines Malachy had left behind, and some French monks. A second group of Irish monks came later. Some dispute arose between the Irish monks and their French brethren, and the French monks eventually left the new foundation. One of these monks was Robert, who was evidently the architect responsible for much of the work on the monastery. His departure caused all work to cease, and Malachy had to write to Bernard and beg for his return. He returned along with an Irish monk, Giolla Críost, who had come with the first group of Irishmen but returned for more instruction when Robert left. He became the first abbot of Mellifont. Building began again, and in 1152, the monastery was host to the Synod of Drogheda. Giolla Críost was by that time Bishop of Lismore, and returned to the community as a papal legate. In 1157 he also presided over the consecration of the abbey church by Gillamacliag mac Ruadhrí, archbishop of Armagh and primate of Ireland. Seventeen bishops were present that day. Muircheartach Ua Lochlainn, King of Ireland, was also present, as were other Irish kings. Before the church was even consecrated, Mellifont had begun to establish daughter-houses. It was already attracting so many recruits that it could not house them; in 1145, they founded Beatido Die in the territory of King Ua Maeleachlainn of Meath, who would donate a gold chalice to the abbey on its consecration in 1157. Within a mere ten years, the abbey founded six daughter-houses: Boyle, Baltinglass, Maigue, and Inishlounaght (Suir) in 1148, Kilbeggan in 1150, and Newry in 1153. There is some confusion about whether Inishlounaght (Suir) was a daughter-house of Maigue, an opinion confirmed by the Cistercian sources themselves, despite the fact that St. Bernard referred to it in the Vita Malachaie as one of the original five houses. These discrepancies suggest that Suir must have been transferred to Maigue early on. In 1154 Maigue founded a daughter-house, Abbey Dorney in Kerry. By the end of the century, Mellifont had given rise to twenty-three houses. When the Normans arrived in Ireland in 1169, they also began to found houses. They founded their last Cistercian house in 1125 at Tracton, and from that point until 1272 there were no new foundations in Ireland. In 1272, Hore Abbey, or St. Patrick's Rock, was founded by archbishop David Mac Cearbhaill; this was Mellifont's last daughter house and it would be the last Cistercian monastery founded in Ireland until the nineteenth century. The Arrival of the Normans and Racial Conflict in Cistercian HousesThe arrival of the Anglo-Normans on May 1, 1169, created conflicts in the Irish Cistercian houses. For a primary source account of the Norman Conquest of Ireland, consult Gerald of Wales's Conquest of Ireland, Book I, and another section of the same work translated by Archibald Lewis Several abbots of Mellifont supported Anglo-Norman control as the best way to achieve reform. The Normans had reformed the English church, and many Irish thought the reform would be supported in Ireland as well. The first abbot of Mellifont, Giolla Críost, who later became Bishop of Lismore, very much welcomed the arrival of the Normans. Another Cistercian who became archbishop of Cashel, Muirgheas Ua hEnna, also supported the Normans as did many other prelates. The controversy became heated when the pro-Norman Gregory mac Giolla na nAingeal, abbot of Mellifont, was ousted by the monks. Gregory had attempted to have a candidate supported by the English king elected to the see of Armagh; the clergy in Ulster, however, banded together and elected an Irishman to the post.
Gregory's successor as abbot at Mellifont allowed the discipline of the community to decline. The Chapter General statutes include several references to Mellifont, and by 1216 had ordered several things to be corrected. The abbot of Clairvaux himself took responsibility for reforming the monastery; shockingly, abbot Thomas, Gregory's successor, apparently ordered the conversi to shut the doors of the monastery to prohibit the visitors from entering. In 1217 the Chapter General deposed Thomas. Troubles soon spread to other Irish Cistercian monasteries, Cistercian visitations were blocked, and in Cistercian circles on the continent, the "rebellion" became known as the "Mellifont conspiracy." In 1227, the abbot of Clairvaux sent two abbots from French Cistercian monasteries to address the problems, and they removed no less than six abbots from office. They appointed the Anglo-Norman abbot of Owney to act in their stead. The Irish monks bitterly resented him, and were accused of stealing horses, maiming his cattle, and even killing servants. The Chapter General consequently authorized another series of visitations, led by Stephen de Lexinton, abbot of Stanley in Whitshire, who initiated a radical series of reforms. Among other things, he stripped Mellifont of her daughter-houses, which would in turn lose their daughter-houses. These houses were to be placed under houses in England and France. He also placed groups of Anglo-Norman monks in the Irish houses, while at the same time removing Irish monks accused of rebellion. Stephen also removed more abbots, appointing some twelve abbots himself. Further, he ordered that no one was to be received into the order unless he could confess in both French and Latin. The chapter was to held in French or in Latin, and the Rule explained only in French. No Irish-speaking monk was to be elected abbot for at least three years. After 1228, Stephen's regulations forbade the reception of nuns onto Irish houses, due to the shameful state of affairs that existed in them. The only two Irish Cistercian nunneries were Derry and Down. These reforms created a great deal of bitterness among the monks at Mellifont. In 1274 the Chapter General annulled the decree of the earlier Chapter which had stripped Mellifont of its daughter houses, and they once again were united to the abbey. David Mac Caerbhaill, archbishop of Cashel and a Cistercian, was largely responsible for the restoration of the daughter houses. Those English houses which had taken the Mellifont daughters protested vigorously, and the Justiciar of Ireland, Robert de Ufford, argued to the English king that David Mac Caerbhaill meant to subject all the houses to the Irish-speaking community at Mellifont. Further, since 1217, the Norman policy was to exclude Irishmen from all ecclesiastical positions. Stephen de Lexinton's reform had actually supported this, removing, as it were, several Irishmen from the office of abbot. The restoration of the daughter-houses, in some minds, went against official Norman policy. In 1310, a parliament at Kilkenny decreed that no Irish were to be received into any houses in "the land of peace," or England. Anyone who went against this decree would be punished under the law, but also excommunicated. In 1366 another parliament at Kilkenny reinforced this law, but also forbade the Irish to speak Irish in England, and the English to speak Irish in Ireland. Irish were also ordered to abide by English customs of dress and other items. Forfeiture of land and other punishments for offenses were proscribed. Clergy were ordered to learn English, or be deprived of their benefices. Excommunication was the price paid for breaking these regulations. Again, the parliament excluded Irish from entering houses in English territory. Meanwhile, the Cistercian Chapter General had already issued a proclamation in 1274 condemning the practice of excluding anyone from a religious house on the basis of race. This occurred immediately after the repeal of Stephen de Lexinton's reforms. Again in 1321, the Chapter General again condemned this practice, and ordered the Irish houses specifically to cease admitting people on the basis of race. Surprisingly enough, this was not due to the English statutes excluding Irishmen, but rather to a complaint by the English King Edward II that Irish monasteries would not admit Englishmen. This is an excellent indication, as one would expect, that the English statutes were not universally nor easily accepted; it also indicates that the hostility and bigotry towards mixing of cultures was not simply on the side of the English as expressed in the statutes, but also existed on the part of the Irish. Such practices eventually transformed the abbey from an Irish community into an Anglo-Norman community. By the end of the fourteenth century, Irish names no longer appear on abbatial lists. Increasingly, royal patronage tied the monastery to the English royal line, and the abbot of Mellifont sat in Parliament as the senior abbot. This state of affairs prompted dissent and often outright rebellion among the daughter-houses. The Chapter General gave Irish abbots permission to hold their annual visitations of daughter-houses on neutral ground and, eventually, the abbot of Mellifont ceased to visit his daughter houses; they, in turn, ceased to visit the mother house. The great hostility toward the Norman-supported abbot of Mellifont in the daughter houses had ruptured the very structure of the Cistercian Order in Ireland. Traces of the racial divisions continued during the Great Schism 1378-1414. The Irish houses in Ireland sided with the Avignon papacy, while the Irish houses in English territories sided with Rome. Consequently, the Chapter General exempted the Irish Cistercians from the control of the abbot of Cîteaux. The Great Schism not only cut off the Irish houses from the order, but succeeded in heightening the cultural tensions already present between the Irish and the Anglo-Normans. Decline in the Fifteenth CenturyMore decline followed in the fifteenth century. In 1471, the Chapter General again took action against Mellifont. The house was on the verge of ruin. The abbot John Troy initiated another sweeping series of reforms, yet his successor Thomas Hervey did nothing to continue the reform. His successor never had a chance to continue John Troy's work, as Mellifont, like other monasteries, fell victim to the English Reformation and was dissolved in 1539 by Henry VIII. A small group of monks is said to have remained in that area; although there is no evidence of this, there is evidence that the title of "abbot of Mellifont" continued to be used for many years after the dissolution. In the seventeenth century, one of these titular abbots established a community in Drogheda, and began once again to receive novices. When war broke out in 1641, the Cistercians began to disperse. In 1718, the last Cistercian abbot of Mellifont died and was succeeded by a secular priest. The Cistercians Return to Ireland: Revival in the Nineteenth and Twentieth CenturiesThe Cistercians returned to Ireland in 1831. In the wake of the French Revolution of 1830, the government had expelled all British subjects from France. In the monastery of Melleray, most of those British subjects were Irish. When they arrived back in Ireland, they eventually relocated to Waterford county. In 1833, they established a new home, known as New Melleray abbey. In 1938, the Cistercians of New Melleray purchased the estate of Oriel Temple, which contained 1,000 acres of the old Mellifont abbey's land. On November 22, 1938, the monks of New Melleray founded a new monastery on these lands and, in 1945, the monastery became an abbey. Today, the abbey is once again known as Mellifont Abbey. Time only will tell what the future holds for this revived community, whose past contains so many tragic examples of dissent and division. Pictorial Tour of Mellifont Abbey
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A view of the ruins
showing the lavabo in the back and the transept of the abbey church
in the foreground. 