#abroath abbey

[clancarruthers]

THE MONASTERIES OF SCOTLAND - CLAN CARRUTHERS CCIS

  THE MONASTERIES OF SCOTLAND   PREFACE   Many years ago I became fascinated by the re-introduction of the monastic life in the Church of England having in 1956 read a book by Peter Anson entitled “The Call of the Cloister”. Anson had been a novice in the community of Anglican Benedictines which had been founded in 1896 by one Aelred Carlisle as an attempt to once again establish the Benedictine…

[weavingthetapestry]

Places to Go: Arbroath Abbey, Angus

Once one of the richest religious houses in Scotland, the red sandstone ruins of Arbroath Abbey have weathered the centuries a little better than certain other Scottish monasteries. Though it is still much smaller than it once would have been, the abbey is still well worth a visit, both for its history and its architecture.

Arbroath Abbey was officially founded in 1178 by King William I, who dedicated the abbey to St Thomas and settled it with Tironensian monks from Kelso. This notable example of the cult of Thomas Becket in Scotland was established only eight years after the unfortunate archbishop’s murder (an event in which a son of the constable of Scotland was coincidentally involved), and the foundation stemmed from the personal experiences- or anxieties- of the king. During the revolt of 1173-74, when several of Henry II of England’s sons rebelled against their father, along with their mother Eleanor of Aquitaine and supported by the king of France among others, William the Lion had decided to invade the north of England, technically in support of the rebels, but also in order to reestablish Scottish suzerainty over the northern counties. Unfortunately for William, he was captured during the Battle of Alnwick, and was only to be released after agreeing to a humiliating treaty in which he surrendered several castles to Henry II and acknowledged the king of England’s sovereignty. Being captured in such a way stayed with the Scottish king, especially since it was said that he was captured at the very same hour that Henry II did penance for his role in Thomas Becket’s death. William may have met Becket during his youth, and it is often argued that this personal experience of the late archbishop, as well as fear at the saint’s displeasure, which had already (in William’s eyes at least) landed him in captivity, resulted in the king of Scots’ increased devotion to the cult of St Thomas for the rest of his reign. As well as this though, the murder of Becket could be seen as a stain on the reputation of the Plantagenets (an argument the Scots would certainly later use to taunt the English), and perhaps William was attempting to one up Henry II in the act of doing penance. Whatever the case, Arbroath Abbey was the result: the abbey was dedicated to St Thomas upon its consecration in 1197, and this association remained important through the Middle Ages.

William I lavished favour on his new foundation, granting it special trading privileges across Scotland, and during the late twelfth century his plans seem to have ballooned from the foundation of a small monastery to laying the foundations of the impressive building we see today. Arbroath became the largest Tironensian house in Scotland, outstripping Kelso, and, unusually, much of what we see today may have been in place by the middle of the thirteenth century, requiring little further alteration in the centuries afterwards. It took sixty years to reach that point however, with the church finally being considered ‘finished’ in 1233, though a ferocious storm in 1272 damaged part of the west side of the church. Briefly, the Abbey may also have been home to the the Monymusk Reliquary, custody of which William is also supposed to have granted to Arbroath, though whether this casket really held the bones of the much-revered Columba, or relics of some other saint, is unclear. However the level of William’s interest in his foundation of Arbroath is most obviously indicated by his own burial there in 1214, rather than somewhere like Dunfermline, which was at that point the more traditional resting place of the ruling house. A modern plaque, embedded in the grass near the site of the high altar, roughly marks the spot where his tomb would have been situated, whilst the heritage centre next to the abbey houses fragments of a carved effigy which may have been added to his tomb during the fourteenth century.

A settlement at Arbroath- or Aberbrothock, as it was known in the Middle Ages- already existed prior to the foundation of the abbey, the area having been inhabited since the stone age and people of both the Bronze Age and Iron Age,as well as the Picts, have left their mark on the town. Meanwhile, most of the mediaeval inhabitants of the parish of Arbroath worshipped at St Vigeans Church, about a mile from the abbey- which may itself have formerly been a monastery- where Pictish stones were recovered during the nineteenth century, and which also, by the Early Modern period, was rumoured to have been constructed with the help of a kelpie. However, the foundation of such an important monastic house certainly accelerated Arbroath’s growth, not least because of the vast trading privileges the abbey had been granted across Britain. It was also a major landowner and the name of the thirteenth century square tower (second row, right-hand photograph) next to the Abbey gatehouse- the ‘Regality Tower’- recalls the purpose of the buildings in that range as a centre for the administration of the abbey’s extensive estates. Perhaps one of the most important contributions made by the abbey to the town’s growth, however, was the construction of the harbour in 1394, a joint effort between Arbroath Abbey and the burgh inhabitants. This harbour made trade by sea and fishing far more profitable, and the sea played no small part in Arbroath’s subsequent history. The abbey did not just help to provide a safe haven for sea-farers, however, as it seems likely that the round window in the southern range- the ‘O’ (seen in the fourth and particularly the seventh pictures)- was used as a navigational aid by sailors and it remains a familiar landmark for the town’s inhabitants.

Of course, Arbroath Abbey is probably most famous in Scottish history for the ‘Declaration of Arbroath’- a highly important diplomatic document which was sent to the pope in April 1320, by the Scottish nobility. The Declaration of Arbroath is the only surviving document of three sent to Avignon that year, which were intended to persuade the pope to recognise the independence of the realm of Scotland against the claims to overlordship made by the kings of England, and also to remove the sentence of excommunication against King Robert I. Generally thought to have been composed by Bernard, Abbot of Arbroath and Chancellor of Scotland, it contains some of the most famous words in Scottish history, a translation of which is quoted below:

“But from these countless evils we have been set free, by the help of Him who though He afflicts yet heals and restores, by our most tireless prince, King and lord, the lord Robert. 

(...)

Yet if he should give up what he has begun, seeking to make us or our kingdom subject to the King of England or the English, we should exert ourselves at once to drive him out as our enemy and a subverter of his own right and ours, and make some other man who was well able to defend us our King; for, as long as a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be subjected to the lordship of the English. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.” (source)

This powerful piece of rhetoric (sincerity aside) was sealed by many prominent members of the Scottish nobility (including several who, only a few months later, would be executed for plotting against Robert I). Whether or not this Declaration alone swayed the pope, he was certainly convinced enough by successive Scottish diplomatic efforts to attempt work for peace between England and Scotland. It has even been argued that the American Declaration of Independence was inspired by the document, a theory officially recognised by the US senate in 1997, but still a matter for debate.

During the Later Middle Ages Arbroath, like most religious institutions in Scotland, was affected by the many problems which beset the Church, not least corruption and the growing complacency of monastic houses. Certain responsibilities and honourable positions were increasingly farmed out to members of the lay community as well, and this included that of the baillie of the regality, who oversaw administration of Arbroath Abbey’s lands and property. In 1445, two local families- the Ogilvies and the Lindsays- quarreled violently over this position. A battle took place outside the gates of the Abbey itself- it is said that David Lindsay, the Earl of Crawford, attempting to prevent the battle, rode between the two armies, but the enemy interpreted this as the beginning of an assault, and so fighting broke out. The Lindsays under the Master of Crawford- the future so-called ‘Tiger Earl- won the day, but only after great loss of life on both sides, and the highborn among the dead were buried in the abbey afterwards. 

Though one of its abbots was imprisoned by the Bishop of St Andrews for resisting unorthodox demands for money, Arbroath Abbey’s decay was becoming obvious by the sixteenth century, when, like many religious houses in Scotland, it came under the control of a Crown-appointed commendator. After the Reformation it was the last of these commendators who was to inherit much of the abbey’s lands. Some of the monks were allowed to continue living there until their deaths, but essentially monastic life at the abbey had come to an end, and much of the building was allowed to decay. Certain parts remained in use- the fantastically preserved Abbot’s House (see second last picture), the earliest parts of which date to around 1200, still stands largely complete in the grounds, an especially rare sight in Scotland. One of its most famous residents was the murdered Cardinal Beaton, who was Abbot of Arbroath even before he became Archbishop of St Andrews. The old Sacristy also remained largely intact, with the small chamber leading off it being used to contain lunatics until the eighteenth century- it acquired the name ‘Jenny Batter’s Hole’ from the last of its inmates. Nonetheless, for the most part the abbey was left to rot until the nineteenth century, when restoration attempts finally began. Its most recent contribution to Scottish history was as the spot where, several months after the daring theft of the Stone of Scone from Westminster Abbey by four Scottish students on Christmas Day of 1950, the stone eventually resurfaced, having been left at the abbey altar. Nowadays Arbroath Abbey stands as a remarkable monument to both local and national history, as well as a beautiful example of High Medieval architecture.