Buttevant Monastery

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Northwest view of the ruins of the monastery with the surrounding cemetery

The Buttevant Monastery ( Irish Mainistir Chill na Mallach , English Buttevant Friary ) was founded by David de Barry before his death in 1279 as the house of the Franciscans in Buttevant in the Diocese of Cloyne in Ireland . The monastery was closed in the course of the Reformation in 1540 , but was able to re-establish itself for a short time afterwards. At the beginning of the 17th century, the monastery joined the Observants . The monastery existed until 1822 when the last Franciscan died.

history

There are different details at the time of foundation. The only thing that is certain is that David de Barry is the founder and therefore the establishment must have taken place during his lifetime. According to James Ware , the founding took place during the reign of Edward I , which limits the period to 1272 to 1279. Canice Moony, who researched the history of the Franciscans, further narrowed the period down to 1276-1279. However , according to the annals of the four masters , the monastery was founded as early as 1251. Richard Brash, Harold Leask and Denis Power join in, taking into account the timing of the three-part east window. The founder was the grandson of Philip de Barry, who founded the nearby Ballybeg Monastery . And this in turn was a grandson of Robert de Barry, who was involved in the first English invasion in 1169 and thus laid the foundation for the family's land ownership.

Since the invasion of 1169 there have been monasteries in Ireland that were founded by the invaders and those that went back to the founding of the original Irish ruling families. While this led to considerable tensions among the Cistercians between the monasteries with different loyalties, this did not happen at the beginning with the Franciscans and Dominicans in Ireland, which was certainly due to the ideals of the mendicant movement and the fate of the first two Franciscan Provincials . Buttevant was exemplary here, as the monastery had both English and Irish brothers. The invasion of Edward Bruce , who came from Scotland in May 1315 and who sought to unite the Scots and the Irish against England, led to increasing polarization, which did not leave the Mendicant Orders untouched when some Irish Franciscans supported the invaders and the English Franciscan monastery in Dundalk was pillaged by the Scottish troops. Although came Edward Bruce in October 1318 the Battle of Faughart order, but the added made distrust still remained, u. a. because the Dominican John Pembridge saw in the subsequent famine a just punishment for the crimes committed during the invasion. It came to a through John XXII. arranged investigation and visitation, as a result of which the English side prevailed. The consequence of this was that the General Chapter in Lyon transferred the monastery in Buttevant, which was then under Irish leadership, to the English, the Irish lecturer had to change monastery and Buttevant was subordinated to a newly established custody in Cork .

Drawing by Anthony Chearnley from 1750 showing the tower, intact at the time, which collapsed in 1819.

In the course of the Reformation , the monastery was formally abolished in 1540, but remained under the protection of the de Barry family, not least because the monastery served as the family's burial place. In 1541 the monastery was appraised, with an acre and a half of land with a water mill found and the entire monastery valued at just over 26 shillings . Buttevant was one of the monasteries in 1568 which, at the instigation of Elizabeth I , was offered to Viscount Barrymore from the de Barry family as a fief . When the Franciscans were persecuted during this period, some managed to escape from Buttevant while others were thrown in prison. Parts of the complex increasingly fell into disrepair, only the church remained intact until repairs were carried out in 1604. The latter led to a complaint in a parliamentary report in 1613 that Buttevant was one of the monasteries under English rule in which the monasteries were maintained and whose brothers preached publicly. The protection of the de Barrys in Buttevant went so far that the Franciscans could openly wear their habit . By 1750 a large part of the monastery fell into disrepair, but some outbuildings were still usable. In 1819 the tower collapsed. The Franciscans remained in Buttevant, but, like elsewhere in Ireland, their numbers steadily decreased until the last Franciscan in Buttevant died in 1822.

In the immediate vicinity of the monastery, the Marienkirche was built from 1831 to 1837, into which an isolated medieval tower belonging to the monastery was integrated. When Richard Brash visited the monastery in 1851, he saw the numerous ruins of the tower that used to separate the nave, which, in his view, threatened to destroy the vault below the choir due to their weight. He then had the rubble collected in cooperation with the pastor and thus rebuilt the north wall, which had largely been destroyed in the middle, integrating numerous hewn stones from the former cloister corridor so that they can be seen on the inside.

architecture

Floor plan of the monastery published by Brash in 1852

The monastery was built in three phases. The nave was built in the middle of the 13th century. This is justified with the lancet windows , which were only used in a few cases, such as St. Cainnech's Cathedral in Kilkenny , around 1350. It is possible that familiarity with lancet windows in the canons' monastery in Ballybeg, which was previously founded by the same family, was a motivation to hold on to them. During the second phase at the end of the 13th century, the choir area was separated with the tower in the middle of the nave and a south transept was added, creating the structure typical of the Mendicants in Ireland. In the third phase in the 15th and beginning of the 16th century, extensive repairs and changes were made, including a. the lancet windows in the east and west gables were shortened, provided with a vertical subdivision and closed at the top with keel arches . Some of the windows on the south side of the nave have even been bricked up.

literature

  • Richard R. Brash: The Local Antiquities of Buttevant . In: Transactions of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society . tape 2 , no. 1 . Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 1852, p. 83-96 .
  • Harold G. Leask: Irish Churches and Monastic Buildings II . Gothic Architecture to AD 1400. Dundalgan Press, Dundalk 1960, pp. 110-111 .
  • Aubrey Gwynn , R. Neville Hadcock: Medieval Religious Houses in Ireland . Longman, London 1970, ISBN 0-582-11229-X , pp. 243 .
  • Denis Power, Sheila Lane: Archaeological Inventory of County Cork . Vol. IV - North Cork, Part 2. Dúchas The Heritage Service, Dublin 2000, ISBN 0-7076-6483-7 , pp. 548-550 .
  • Edel Bhreathnach, Joseph MacMahon, John McCafferty (Eds.): The Irish Franciscans 1534–1990 . Four Courts Press, Dublin 2009, ISBN 978-1-84682-210-0 .
  • Colmán Ó Clabaigh: The Friars in Ireland 1224-1540 . Four Courts Press, Dublin 2012, ISBN 978-1-84682-225-4 .

Web links

Commons : Buttevant Friary  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Gwynn, p. 243, Ó Clabaigh, p. 14.
  2. ↑ a b Patrick Colan: Reforming and seeking an identity, 1829-1918 , p. 104. From: Edel Bhreathnach et al.
  3. ↑ Entry M1251.3
  4. ↑ Brash, pp. 87-88; Leask, p. 110; Power et al., Pp. 548,550.
  5. ↑ For the family tree see Richard Roche: The Norman Invasion of Ireland . Anvil Books, 1995, ISBN 0-947962-81-6 , pp. 106-107 .
  6. ↑ Ó Clabaigh, p. 31.
  7. ↑ a b c Gwynn, p. 243.
  8. ↑ Ó Clabaigh, p. 35.
  9. ↑ Ó Clabaigh, pp. 37-39, 275. Bernadette Williams (Ed.): The Annals of Ireland by Friar John Clyn . Four Courts Press, Dublin 2007, ISBN 978-1-84682-034-2 , pp. 182 .
  10. ↑ Colm Lennon: The dissolution to the foundation of St. Anthony's College Louvain , p. 7. From: Edel Bhreathnach et al.
  11. ^ Michael O'Neill: Irish Franciscan friary architecture , p. 322. From: Edel Bhreathnach et al.
  12. ↑ Raymond Gillespie: The Irish Franciscans, 1600-1700 , p. 46. From: Edel Bhreathnach et al.
  13. ↑ Power et al., P. 550
  14. ^ Brash, p. 89; Leask, p. 110.
  15. ↑ Power et al., P. 617.
  16. ↑ Brash, pp. 95-96.
  17. ^ Brash, p. 88.
  18. ^ Leask, p. 110; Power et al., P. 548.
  19. ↑ Power et al., P. 549.

Coordinates: 52 ° 13 ′ 53.5 ″  N , 8 ° 40 ′ 8.7 ″  W.