19. LAY PATRONAGE: FOUNDING MONASTIC HOUSES (1204)
INTRODUCTION
The founding of monasteries and nunneries was one of the most common and most visible expressions of piety among the elites of medieval Europe. Such foundations, and the support of new monastic orders as they grew in popularity, symbolized both Christian notions of charity and secular notions of power and authority. Founding monasteries was a very expensive business that benefited not only the donor’s soul but also the souls of all his or her family members and provided significant benefits to local communities. Founding a monastic house also meant that the patron or donor dominated the political and economic landscape in a particular region and felt comfortable about giving up a substantial portion of that power in order to attain the prestige inherent in monastic patronage.
The Cistercians were one of the most wealthy and influential monastic orders of the Middle Ages. Founded in 1098 in the town of Cîteaux (hence the name “Cistercian” after the first monastic house) by a group of reforming Benedictine monks under the leadership of Abbot Robert of Molesme, the Cistercians were not subject to the discipline of the local bishop, and were answerable only to the pope and the General Chapter of the Cistercian Order. ST. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX was one of the early leaders of the movement. Lay elites founded dozens of Cistercian houses throughout Europe, especially in areas that were considered “wilderness” or lay outside the usual parish/village/town/urban boundaries.
The founding of the abbey of Duiske in 1204, also known as Graiguenamanagh (in Irish, the Grange of the Monks), by Earl William Marshal and his wife, Countess Isabella de Clare, on land in Ireland which Isabella had inherited from her mother, Aiofe daughter of Diarmid Mac Murchada, former king of Leinster, represents only one of many acts of religious patronage effected by the couple. It was also designed to provide a foothold of Anglo-Norman Cistercian authority in an area of Ireland that was dominated by houses founded by Irish princes and chiefs, among them the Cistercian abbeys of Mellifont and Jerpoint.
KEEP IN MIND AS YOU READ
This charter of foundation is both typical of Cistercian foundation charters, in that it directs that the abbey should be independent of local control and exempt from local obligations, customs, and dues, and unique to Irish foundations, in that the obligations mentioned form a clear hybrid of custom between Irish, Norse/Danish, and Anglo-Norman practices.
Document 1: Foundation Charter of the Cistercian Abbey of Duiske [Graiguenamanagh], 1204
Charter of Foundation, by William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, of the monastery of St. Saviour, in honour of God and of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for Cistercian monks and Duiske:
Granting them, for the good of his soul and that of his wife Isabella, [and others] the land of Duiske, eleven carucates at Annamult, ten carucates held by Stephen de Valle near Kilkenny, a burgage in Kilkenny, one in Wexford, and one in the Island; and confirming to the abbey all that it may hereafter acquire by donation or purchase. All the foregoing [are] to be held with the churches and chapels and all liberties and free customs, … with freedom in land and water. The monks [are to be] exempt, themselves, their men and servants, from geld, Danegeld, fines, payment of cows for heads of outlaws, and various specified exactions, aids and contributions.
The Abbey and its tenants [are] not to be subject to forest regulations, and the monks are to have all forfeitures of their own men, with jurisdiction of life and limb to be retained by the Founder [William Marshal] and his heirs, although throughout all the forests in the region they are to have free pasture for their hogs, and materials for building and firing.
Those who molest or aggrieve the monks to incur a fine of 10 marks, and the malediction of God and the Founder.
Witnesses: Lord Albinus, bishop of Ferns, and Hugh [de Rous] bishop of Ossory, John Marshal, John de Erley, William de Londres, Ralph de Bendeville, Milo son of the bishop, Philip Prendergast, Thomas fitzAnthony, Walter Procell, William de St Léger, Thomas de Dummer, Maurice de Londres, Andrew Avenel, William de Cantington, John de Penriz, Eustace de Bertrimont, Terry de Niver, Thomas Russel, and many others.
Source: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: The Charters of the Abbey of Duiske. Vol. XXXV, Sect C, No. 1. Edited by Constance Mary Butler and John Henry Bernard. Dublin, 1918. Pp. 18–19. Translated by editor.
AFTERMATH
The foundation of Duiske, which was quite close to a number of Irish-founded Cistercian houses, was controversial on the island and caused a great deal of conflict between it and the “native” houses in central Ireland, especially Mellifont, Baltinglass, Killenny, and Jerpoint. That Duiske was the wealthiest of all of the mid-Ireland Cistercian houses was yet another sore point for the Irish monks, who were not permitted to join houses that had been founded by Anglo-Norman donors. When Killenny, an Irish house that struggled with its economic viability, was joined to Duiske because of its impoverishment, Jerpoint protested, and conducted a 70-year suit against Duiske before the General Chapter. Other conflicts between Cistercian houses in the thirteenth century are outlined in the next reading.
ASK YOURSELF
Why would a nobleman found a monastery?
Why would donors to monasteries prefer Cistercians over other monastic orders?
How would the founding of a monastery change the local culture in the surrounding area?
TOPICS TO CONSIDER
Compare the grant made by King Cnut and that made by William Marshal.
Consider the impact of Cistercian monasticism in Ireland, where native monastic systems were very different.
Further Information
Flanagan, Marie Therese. “Saint Malachy and the Introduction of Cistercian Monasticism to the Irish Church: Some Suggestive Evidence from Newry Abbey.” Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society 22, no. 2 (2009): 8–24.
Watt, John. The Church in Medieval Ireland, 2nd ed. Dublin: University College Press, 1998.