ABBEYSHRULE was founded in 1200 by the O’Ferralls, the Irish chieftains of the district. The abbey was situated on the side of the river Inny, four and a half miles east north-east of Ballymahon, on the borders of Longford and Westmeath. The official Latin name was derived from the location of the abbey: ‘Flumen Dei’, the river of the god. By the later Middles Ages the abbey was completely under the control of the Ferrall family. When Abbot Gilbert died in 1430 Kenan O’Ferrall unlawfully took possession of the abbey and was to be removed. However, Kenan was still abbot in 1455 when he was accused of misrule by a monk of St. Anastasius. There are no surviving sources concerning the revenue of the abbey, but it is reasonable to assume that Abbeyshrule was never prosperous.
In 1476 it was recorded that the abbey had been burnt by English forces, although we do not know the extent of the damage. In 1540-1 it was reported that ‘long before the dissolution’ the goods and of the monastery had been carried off and consumed by the O’Ferralls. It is thought that, even if monastic life had survived until 1540, it is unlikely that it continued beyond this date. In 1569 the site and possessions were granted to Robert Dillon and the abbey was officially suppressed by Queen Elizabeth in 1592.
The mother house of ABBEYSHRULE is MELLIFONT near DROGHEDA at Louth. Mellifont was the first Cistercian abbey to be founded in Ireland. In 1139 St. Malachy O’Morgair, former archbishop of Armagh and then Bishop of Down, set out on a pilgrimage to Rome. On his way he stayed in the Cistercian abbey of Clairvaux and was so impressed with life at the monastery that he decided to become a Cistercian monk himself. In Rome Malachy appealed to the pope to absolve him of his priestly duties but his request was refused and so he returned to Ireland to fulfil his pastoral responsibilities. On his return journey Malachy stayed at Clairvaux for another two months, and left four of his companions at the abbey when he continued to Ireland. Christian O’Conarchy (Gilla Crist O’Connairche) was made father of the Irish monks. In the meantime Malachy had found a suitable site for the new abbey, a secluded spot near Drogheda on the River Mattock, a tributary of the Boyne. The site had been granted by Donough O’Carroll, king of Oriel, who was a strong supporter of the ecclesiastical reform movement.
The Latin name of the abbey, ‘Fons Mellis’ or the fount of honey, alludes to the purity and sweetness of Cistercian life. When all the Irishmen had been professed they returned to their homeland, accompanied by a group of French monks. One of the French monks, called Robert, was to direct the construction of the abbey based on the design of Cîteaux. The monks arrived in 1142 and they settled at Mellifont. The French monks, however, did not mix well with the Irish and most of them returned to Clairvaux. In 1151 Abbot Christian was made bishop of Lismore and soon after became papal legate. After his death (in 1186) his name was inscribed in the calendar of the saints, and he has long been venerated as one of the most powerful protectors of Ireland. The church was consecrated in 1152. The ceremony was conducted by Gillamacliag mac Ruadhri, archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland, and was attended by seventeen bishops, together with Muircheartach Ua Lochlainn, King of Ireland, Devorgilla, wife of the king of Meath and several other Irish kings.
SWEETHEART abbey was founded in 1273 by Lady Devorgilla MacDougal of Galloway. It was the last Cistercian abbey to be founded in Scotland. The abbey was founded in memory of her late husband, John Balliol (d. 1268). John Balliol was a generous benefactor himself. During his lifetime he founded Balliol College in Oxford, which Devorgilla continued to endow after his death. Devorgilla MacDougal is best known as the mother of John Balliol (d. 1313) who was set on the Scottish throne in 1292 at the behest of King Edward I. He was deposed four years later by Edward when he failed to toe the line. Towards the end of the fourteenth century the abbey found a powerful patron in Archibald, earl of Douglas, known as ‘Archibald the Grim’ or ‘Black Archibald’. He was said to have done so much for the abbey that he was regarded as Sweetheart’s second founder. To the north and north-west of the church is a long stretch of the outer precinct wall, which is the most extensive survival of a precinct wall of any Scottish Cistercian abbey. Another point of interest is the arms of ‘Archibald the Grim’ which can still be seen above the doorway of the west range.
The size of the community increased rapidly and Mellifont had established six daughter houses within ten years of its foundation: Bective (1146); Boyle (1148); Monasterenanagh (1148); Baltinglass (1148); Shrule (1150); and Newry (1153). By 1170 the abbey was said to contain 100 monks and 300 lay-brothers. The Irish monks resented this interference from Clairvaux and when the visitors arrived at Mellifont the gates of the monastery were shut in their faces. The trouble soon spread to the other Irish Cistercian monasteries; the visitors were blocked from entry and their presence was greeted with riot. The rebellion soon became known as the ‘conspiracy of Mellifont’ and in 1217 the Cistercian General Chapter deposed Thomas, the abbot of Mellifont. In 1227 the abbot of Clairvaux sent two French monks to address the problems but they were able to remove no more than six abbots from office and they appointed the Anglo-Norman abbot of Owney to act in their stead. In 1228 a new visitor was appointed: Stephen of Lexington, abbot of Stanley, in Wiltshire. He introduced a radical programme of reform. He broke up the Mellifont affiliation and new mother houses – Margam, Buildwas, Furness, Fountains and Clairvaux – were appointed to the Irish houses. In 1228 Jocelin, the prior, was elected abbot of Mellifont; twelve repentant monks and sixteen lay-brothers who were involved in the conspiracy were received back; forty others, who had fled were reconciled and sent to French or English abbeys.
In 1566 the property was granted to Edward Moore, chief of the family Drogheda, who built a fortified house within the monastery. Several of the monks stayed on at the abbey and in 1623 the title of abbot of Mellifont was granted to Patrick Barnewell and again in 1648 to John Devreux. When war broke out in 1641 the Cistercians began to disperse and in 1718 the last abbot of Mellifont was succeeded by a secular priest. The only parts of the abbey to have survived are the lavabo (c. 1200), the chapter-house (c. 1220) and the late medieval gatehouse.