Buckfast Abbey
| Buckfast Abbey | |
|---|---|
 1937 completed the monastery church in the Norman and early Gothic style |
|
| location |
 United Kingdom England Devon |
| Coordinates: | 50 ° 29 '33 " N , 3 ° 46' 33" W |
| Serial number according to Janauschek |
259 |
| founding year | 1018 by Benedictines |
| Cistercian since | 1147 |
| Year of dissolution / annulment |
1539 |
| Year of repopulation | 1882 by Benedictines |
| Mother monastery | Savigny Monastery |
| Primary Abbey | Clairvaux Monastery |
Buckfast Abbey in Buckfastleigh , a town in the English county of Devon , is a Benedictine abbey and at the same time one of the still active monasteries in Great Britain.
history
The monastery was founded in 1018 by Lord Aylward in the Valley of the Dart. Little is known about the early days of the monastery. In 1136 it joined a congregation with the Savigny Monastery and then belonged to the Cistercian Order : from 1147 to 1539 the monastery was a Cistercian abbey. The church and buildings were destroyed in the course of the dissolution of the English monasteries under King Henry VIII , and the abbey remained in ruins for more than 300 years. In 1882 it was rented from the St. Augustines Priory in Ramsgate by Benedictines exiled from France and later bought for £ 4,700.
Abbots
The first abbot , Boniface Natter , died in a shipwreck in 1906. His successor Anscar Vonier tackled the long-planned reconstruction of the abbey. The third abbot, Bruno Fehrenbacher , came from Upper Swabia like his predecessors.
- Boniface Natter : elected November 19, 1902; † August 4, 1906
- Anscar Vonier : elected September 14, 1906; † December 26, 1938
- Bruno Fehrenbacher : elected January 10, 1939; Resignation 1956
- Placid Hooper : elected January 5, 1957
- Leo Smith : elected January 30, 1976
- David Charlesworth : elected January 3, 1992
- Sebastian Wolff : appointed in January 2000
- Philip Manahan : elected December 10, 2003
- Richard Yeo : Appointed February 2007
- David Charlesworth : elected January 27, 2009
Economic situation
During the Anglo-Saxon period, Buckfast Abbey was not economically successful. At the time of the Domesday Survey of 1086, the monastery owned thirteen farms in the area of the Dartmoor. It did not develop into one of the richest abbeys in south-west England until the 13th century. This wealth lies less in the possessions, which had not expanded significantly since the early Benedictine period. Significant new acquisitions included a house in Kingsbridge . In 1219 the Abbot of Buckfast was given the right to hold a weekly market here, at which he also marketed its fishing and sheep-raising products, and since 1460 to hold a fair. In addition, the monastery owned 17 farms in Devon, a town yard in Exeter and fishing rights on the Dart and Avon.
Today the abbey is economically self-sustaining: sources of income are growing vegetables, keeping bees, and raising pigs and cattle. The monks sell honey and beeswax in their monastery shop. However, there is particular demand for Buckfast Tonic Wine , which the monks have been making according to an old French recipe since 1890.
The other mainstay of the abbey's economic existence consists of a conference and seminar center including a guest house and a restaurant.
See also
- the Buckfast bee ( bred by Brother Adam )
Buildings and plant
After the dissolution of the monastery, the buildings were destroyed and served as a quarry, leaving only ruins. In 1800 the site was acquired by Samuel Berry, what was still visible from the monastery church above ground, was completely demolished and leveled. On the west side of the enclosure he built a gothic country house reinforced with battlements.
The walled medieval complex bordered the bank of the Dart in the east. Only the remains of a square tower from the 14th-15th centuries have survived from it. And a cellar vault from the 11th-12th centuries Century, both integrated into today's cloister buildings, as well as remains of the northern and southern gate preserved.
In 1882 and the following years, the entire floor plan of the medieval enclosure and monastery church were exposed by the new monks themselves. More recent excavations led to the discovery of the guest house to the west of the enclosure, which was directly adjacent to the walls surrounding the inner monastery area.
In 1907 construction began on the monastery church and enclosure based on a design by Frederick A. Walters. This new building was carried out as far as possible on the medieval foundations by a small group of monks. In 1937 the church building in the Norman and early Gothic style was finally completed. The altar and baptismal font of the church are copies from German domes and mostly made by the Aachen goldsmith Bernhard Witte .
Individual evidence
- ^ Open Domesday. - The first free online copy of Domesday Book. Retrieved April 18, 2014.
- ↑ Devon. , in: Samantha Letters, in: Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516 (2005). Retrieved April 18, 2014.
- ↑ Past Cape - Buckfast Abbey . Retrieved April 18, 2014.
- ↑ Past Cape - Northgate . Retrieved April 18, 2014.
- ↑ Past Cape - South Gate . Retrieved April 18, 2014.
- ^ Buckfast Abbey, Guest House - English Heritage NMR Excavation Index for England, No. 636954 - Retrieved April 18, 2014.
- ^ Medieval Guesthouse - Kitchen - Stewart Brown Associates, Archaeological Evaluation on the site of the Kitchen of the Medieval Guesthouse, Buckfast Abbey, Devon. Gray Literature Report September 2013. - Retrieved April 18, 2014.
- ↑ Buckfast Abbey - The Corona Lucis (Engl.)
literature
- David Robinson (ed.), The Cistercian Abbeys of Britain. Far from the Concourse of Men. Batsford, London 1997, ISBN 0-7134-8392-X , pp. 75f.
Web links
- Buckfast Abbey website , multilingual