Strade Monastery

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Strade Abbey is particularly known for its ornate Gothic sculptures from the mid-15th century.

The Strade Monastery ( Irish Mainistir na Sráide , English Strade Friary ) was founded by Jordan de Exeter or his son Stephen as a priory of the Dominicans and consecrated to the Holy Cross . It is located in the Diocese of Achonry in what is now County Mayo . The Dominicans began to settle in 1253, the year of foundation is given as 1254. The monastery was closed during the Reformation and left to James Garvey in 1578.

history

It was founded at a request from Basilia, wife of Stephen de Exeter and daughter of Miler de Bermingham. The area chosen for the monastery was initially used by Franciscans , as recorded by the Achonry diocese. The Dominican priory in Athenry was founded in 1241 by the de Bermingham family, and Basilia insisted that the Dominicans come to Strade as well. It is said that she got her way through when she declared at a banquet that she would refrain from eating and drinking until her husband Stephen de Exeter gave in. Stephen de Exeter, born in 1246, apparently a son of the husband of the same name from Basilia, adopted the Dominican habit in 1263.

In 1254 the monastery was burned down. In 1434 the community received permission to restore the monastery.

After the abolition of the monastery as part of the Reformation , the monastery probably had between six and nine monks. In 1578 the monastery was given to James Garvey and in 1588 to Patrick Barnwell. In 1595 some lands belonging to the monastery were given to Edmond Barrett. But the monastery was apparently already orphaned even before it was released because it was mentioned in a list of desecrated or dilapidated houses in a 1558 report by David Brown, Provincial of the Dominicans in Ireland, for the General Chapter in Rome . A list of ecclesiastical properties in the Diocese of Achonry, which was made sometime during the tenure of Bishop Eugene O'Hart (1562-1603), lists four lands in the vicinity of Strade and one in Ballinamore for Strade .

architecture

A relief of a pelican created between 1440 and 1450 below the corbel that supports the northern section of the arch between the nave and the choir.

The choir, dating from the 13th century, with its six narrow raised windows in the north wall is one of the oldest surviving parts of the monastery. The nave and the particularly skillful sculptures and stone carvings are attributable to the construction period beginning in 1434.

Particularly noteworthy is a grave niche in the south wall of the choir. At the bottom there are eight panels, the boundaries of which taper towards each other in a curved shape and are provided with leaf ornaments above. Of the figures shown, four are crowned. One of them is Jesus , who can be recognized by his five wounds. In the seventh table is Simon Peter with his key.

The arch below the no longer preserved tower, which separates the choir from the nave, ends with its two pillars on two corbels, each of which is finished with an artistic relief. On the north side you can see a pelican preening its plumage and on the south side an eagle about to prey on a snake . Because of the unusual similarity to work at the Holy Cross Abbey of the Cistercians , it is assumed that the same artist worked in both cases or that a student of the master of the Holy Cross Abbey was active in Strade. The motif of the eagle and the serpent at the entrance to the choir may have reminded the monks of Christ's sacrifice and his resurrection in the Eucharist .

literature

  • Harold G. Leask: Irish Churches and Monastic Buildings: Volume Three . Dundalgan Press, Dundalk 1960.
  • Aubrey Gwynn and R. Neville Hadcock: Medieval Religious Houses Ireland . Longman, London 1970, ISBN 0-582-11229-X .
  • Peter Harbison : Guide to National and Historic Monuments of Ireland . Gill and Macmillan, Dublin 1992, ISBN 0-7171-1956-4 .
  • Thomas S. Flynn: The Irish Dominicans: 1536-1641 . Four Courts Press, Dublin 1993, ISBN 1-85182-122-8 .
  • Colum Hourihane: Gothic Art in Ireland 1169-1550 . Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-09435-3

Web links

Commons : Strade Friary  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b c d Cf. Gwynn and Hadcock, p. 230.
  2. ↑ a b c See Hourihane, pp. 108-109.
  3. ↑ See Flynn, p. 81.
  4. ↑ See Flynn, p. 44.
  5. ↑ See Flynn, p. 51.
  6. ↑ See Harbison, p. 253; Hourihane, p. 109.
  7. ↑ See Leask, p. 168.

Coordinates: 53 ° 55 '17 "  N , 9 ° 7' 44"  W.