Black Abbey

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The monastery seen from the southeast with the south transept on the left, the tower and the choir window on the right.

Black Abbey ( Irish At Mhainistir Dhubh ) is a 1225 founded by William Marshall the younger Priory of Dominicans in Kilkenny that the Holy Trinity was dedicated. It is the only Dominican monastery in Ireland founded in the Middle Ages that still exists today. The name Black Abbey , taken from the colloquial language, results from the black order of the Dominicans, who are also called the "black brothers" or in English the blackfriars .

Geographical location

Extract from a 1758 city map of Kilkenny with North on the right. In the middle of the map, the Bregagh can be seen as a vertical line. In the center of the upper half of the map section is Black Abbey, directly south and thus to the left of the Bregagh. In the middle of the right edge of the map, the Saint Canice Cathedral is drawn.

At the beginning of the 13th century, the city of Kilkenny was divided into two parts. The Irish-dominated part of the city, called Irishtown , lay north of the river Bregagh around Saint Cainnech Cathedral . To the south of it was the fortified settlement of the English invaders. The Dominicans chose a place for the monastery south of the Bregagh, which was outside the two sub-towns. On the one hand, they documented the openness towards both sides, and on the other hand, it also corresponded to their preference to settle outside the city walls. The proximity to the Bregagh exposed the monastery to the risk of flooding. In order to counter this danger, an elaborate drainage system was constructed, the renovation of which has led to a series of very damaging floods in the church and adjacent monastery complexes since 1800. In principle, it is unusual that such a threatening situation was even selected. There is the widely accepted view that an existing tower seemed attractive enough to the founders to choose this place anyway.

history

William Marshall the Younger, Earl of Pembroke , who founded the monastery in 1225, died in 1231. Although he was the founder, he was not buried in Black Abbey but in London . But his brother Richard, who died of a war wound in 1234, was buried in the choir . Even after its founding, the monastery received numerous other donations, which are documented for the years 1244, 1251, 1274, 1353, 1395, 1437 and 1519. The large Pestpandemie fell on March 6, 1348 six brothers victim.

In 1540 the monastery was dissolved as part of the Reformation . The Dominicans had to leave the monastery first, but were during the reign of I. Maria back. At the time of the first appraisal, the monastery included a church, a bell tower, a small castle next to the church, a dormitory above the chapter house , the King's Chamber with a turret, a granary with two cellars, a farm with associated land, the room of the Priors , Will Dowlaghe's Chamber , a tower over a gate, 33 residences and land, over 180 acres of land, a castle at Tullaghpissane and a mill on the River Nore . The entire possessions were valued at 12 pounds and 4 shillings . The following year, on January 4, 1541, the entire property was valued at only 7 pounds and 9 shillings due to the armed conflict. The monastery building together with a house for lepers fell to the city in 1543, which the church used as a courtroom.

Even after the Reformation, Kilkenny remained largely Catholic despite the high proportion of the population of English descent. After the death of the Queen of England and Ireland, Elizabeth I , there was hope for a turnaround again in 1603, as before with Mary I. Three Dominicans took the opportunity and stormed the church, threw out the furniture for the court sessions and erected an altar for it the holy mass . However, the hopes placed in James I were not fulfilled, so that the Dominicans had to leave the monastery one more time.

In the period from 1642 to 1649 Kilkenny became the capital of the Irish Confederation , which opposed the English influence. This enabled the Dominicans again to take possession of the monastery and to open a school of theology. In 1643 a provincial chapter of the Irish Dominicans took place in Kilkenny.

After the Confederation's defeat by Oliver Cromwell , Kilkenny was hit by the harshness of the terror that followed. Across Ireland, more than 70 Dominicans managed to survive underground during this period. Beginning with the reign of Charles II , the situation eased somewhat so that Dominicans could return to Kilkenny, but with no possibility of returning to the monastery, so that they lived in the private houses of the parishioners and held their masses.

At the end of the 17th century, however, the order was given that all Catholic bishops and monks had to leave the country or otherwise be imprisoned. From May 1, 1698, returnees faced the penalty for high treason . This resulted in over 700 monks leaving Ireland, including at least 118 Dominicans. They mostly traveled to France and Spain ; almost no one returned. About seventy or eighty Dominicans remained in Ireland, not a few of whom spent the rest of their lives in prison. Priests were allowed to stay in Ireland provided they registered. This regulation was enacted in the hope that the number of priests would decrease over time. However, efforts were made to bring new priests back from the continent and in 1712 the city of Kilkenny was looking for a total of 13 priests. In this way, some Dominicans came back to Kilkenny, but they were still unable to move into the former monastery. Instead, they lived in a building in Irishtown .

The south window of the south transept, dating from the 14th century.

In 1776 the monastery was hardly used anymore, the roof over the nave, the south transept and the choir had collapsed. The walls of the aisles were in poor condition, the north wall of the nave was completely missing. The pillars of the arcades largely sank into the rubble. During this time, a young Dominican named Michael Vincent Meade came to Kilkenny who leased the ruins for four pounds a year. Since he had neither building materials nor a building site, he tore down the choir, which dates back to the 13th century, in order to use the stones obtained in this way to erect a two-story building in which the Dominicans would live in Kilkenny for 120 years.

All attempts to restore and consecrate the church failed due to the framework conditions, u. a. also to the responsible bishops. It was not until 1816 that prior Patrick Moore received permission and the mandate to reopen the monastery. The restoration work concentrated on the south transept, and on September 25, 1816 the first public mass was celebrated in a long time. Shortly thereafter, the bishop ordered the closure again. Nevertheless, restoration work continued in 1859 under the direction of Irish architect JJ McCarthy . After many obstacles, the restoration of the nave was successful, so that it was consecrated again on May 22, 1864 by the bishop.

literature

  • Aubrey Gwynn and R. Neville Hadcock: Medieval Religious Houses Ireland . Longman, London 1970, ISBN 0-582-11229-X .
  • Hugh Fenning: The Black Abbey: The Kilkenny Dominicans 1225-1996 . Kilkenny 1996.

Web links

Commons : Black Abbey  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b See Gwynn and Hadcock, p. 226.
  2. ↑ a b c Cf. Fenning, p. 6.
  3. ↑ See Fenning, p. 16.
  4. ↑ a b cf. Fenning, p. 18.
  5. ↑ See Fenning, pp. 20 and 21.
  6. ↑ See Fenning, pp. 23 and 24.
  7. ↑ See Fenning, pp. 26 and 27.
  8. ↑ See Fenning, pp. 28 and 29; Jeanne Sheehy: JJ McCarthy and the Gothic Revival in Ireland . Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1977, pp. 51 .

Coordinates: 52 ° 39 ′ 14.4 "  N , 7 ° 15 ′ 27.1"  W.