User:Grimhelm/Conspiracy of Mellifont

Conspiracy of Mellifont

The now-ruined Mellifont Abbey, the centre of medieval Irish Cistercianism and the "Mellifont rebellion"

In Ireland, the information on the Cistercian Order after the Anglo-Norman invasion gives a rather gloomy impression. From 1190-1195, the rules were amended so that Irish abbots were only obliged to attend the General Chapter every four years, and only three abbots to come annually, selected by the Abbot of Mellifont. Absenteeism remained a problem, and escalated into the conspiratio Mellifontis, a "rebellion" by the abbeys of the Mellifont filiation. Visitors were appointed to reform Mellifont in its head and members on account of the multa enormia that had arisen there, but in 1217 the abbot refused their admission and barred the abbey gate with a crowd of lay brothers. There was also trouble at Jerpoint, and alarmingly, the abbots of Baltinglass, Killenny, Kilbeggan and Bective supported the actions of the "revolt".

The General Chapter sent visitors annually to Ireland to correct the abuses, which included the same stories of "destruction, wasting of properties, conspiracies, rebellions and frequent plottings of death". Pope Gregory IX was informed that the observance of Cistercian discipline in Ireland did not extend beyond "the wearing of the habit", and that there was "neither observance of choir service nor of silence in the cloister nor of the discipline of the chapter meeting… according to the manner of our order". Many of the Irish abbots were deposed and steps were taken against other abbeys. In 1227, however, the Irish monks of Baltinglass pulled their newly arrived English abbot from his horse and forcibly ejected him. When the abbot returned with armed men, the monks fortified the abbey against him and were besieged until they acknowledged him.

In 1228, the Abbot of Stanley in Wiltshire, Stephen of Lexington, made a well-documented visitation to reform the Irish houses. A graduate of both Oxford and Paris, and a future Abbot of Clairvaux (to be appointed in 1243), Stephen was one of the outstanding figures in 13th century Cistercian history. He found his life threatened, his representatives attacked and his party harassed, while the three key houses of Mellifont, Suir and Maigue had been fortified by their monks in preparation for siege. With the help of his assistants, the core of obedient Irish monks and the aid of secular powers of "both nations", English and Gaelic, he was able to envisage the reconstruction of the Cistercian province in Ireland.

Stephen dissolved the Mellifont filiation altogether, and subjected 15 monasteries to houses outside Ireland. While Stephen "rightly reestablished the internationalism of the order", it has been questioned whether there were any ethnic, anti-Irish motives, or "national discrimination", involved in his work. What is certain is that in breadth and depth, his instructions constituted a radical reform programme:

"They were intended to put an end to abuses, restore the full observance of the Cistercian way of life, safeguard monastic properties, initiate a regime of benign paternalism to train a new generation of religious, isolate trouble-makers and institute an effective visitation system".

The arrangement lasted almost half a century, and in 1274, the filiation of Mellifont was reconstituted. By this time, however, "the Cistercian order as a whole had experienced a gradual decline and its central organisation was noticeably weakened."

Notes

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)