Chapter I: Introduction

In the following pages an attempt is made to describe the ruins of Mellifont as they now appear, and to explain the uses, or probable uses, that the buildings yet remaining must have served when the monks dwelt there. Obviously, some important structural alterations were made when changing the venerable Abbey into a fortified residence; nevertheless the ruins exhibit, on the whole, the characteristics of the primitive plan and style in which Mellifont, as well as all the Cistercian monasteries both in this country and on the Continent, were built. The explanation is founded on reliable authority, being gleaned from most authentic sources, such as, _Les Monuments Primitifs de La Regle Cistercienne_, which is a copy of the Rule drawn up by the Founders of the Order; the _Monasticon Cisterciense_; _Violet Le Duc_; _Jubainville, Etudes sur l'Etat interieur des Abbayes Cisterciennes au XII. et au XIII. siecle_; _Meglinger, Iter Cisterciense_; _La Vie de Saint Bernard_, by Vacandard, etc.

As no Records, or Chronicles of Mellifont now exist, the historical part of the compilation has been derived from different sources, chiefly from our old Annals--_The Annals of the Four Masters_; those of _Boyle_, of _St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin_; _Clyn and Dowling's_; and of _Clonmacnois_; Ware's _Bishops_, etc.; _the Miscellany of the Archaeological Society_; Ussher's _Sylloge_; Morrin's _Calendars of Patent Rolls_, etc. The part relating to disciplinary subjects was drawn principally from Martene's _Thesaurus Anecdotorum_, Vol. IV., which contains the Decrees of the General Chapter of the Cistercian Order, also, from the _Constitutiones et Privilegia, Menologium_, and the _Fasiculus Sanctorum Ordinis Cisterciensis_, by Henriquez; _Originum Cisterciensium_, tom. I, Janauschek; _l'Histoire de La Trappe_, Gaillardin, etc. The vindication of monks in general, from the aspersions cast on them by their enemies, and the facts appertaining to the Rebellion of 1641, are borrowed exclusively from Protestant sources,--Dugdale's _Monasticon Anglicanum_, Tanner's _Notitia Monastica_, Maitland's _Dark Ages_, Leland's _History of Ireland_, Temple's _History of the Insurrection_, 1641, Tichborne's _History of the Siege of Drogheda_, Carte's _Ormond_, etc.

These by no means exhaust the list of authors consulted and utilised, but they show how far apart the pieces lay which have been stitched together to form a consecutive narrative. The compiler has endeavoured to compress the matter into the smallest possible space in order to make the little book accessible to all at a moderate price; and he has preferred to allow others to speak rather than to thrust his own opinions on the reader. Finally, he has borne in mind throughout, the trite saying, _Magna est Veritas et praevalebit_.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

CHAPTER I.

THE RUINS 1

CHAPTER II.

ST. MALACHY FOUNDS MELLIFONT 33

CHAPTER III.

AN EPITOME OF THE RULE OBSERVED AT MELLIFONT AT ITS
FOUNDATION, AND FOR ABOUT A CENTURY AND A HALF
AFTERWARDS 41

CHAPTER IV.

MELLIFONT TAKES ROOT AND FOUNDS NEW HOUSES OF THE
ORDER 50

CHAPTER V.

MELLIFONT CONTINUES TO FLOURISH UNDER SUCCESSIVE
EMINENT SUPERIORS 58

CHAPTER VI.

MELLIFONT IN TROUBLOUS TIMES 67

CHAPTER VII.

THE SUPPRESSION OF MELLIFONT 85

CHAPTER VIII.

MELLIFONT BECOMES THE HOME OF A NOBLE FAMILY--IS
SOLD, AND IS DELIVERED UP TO RUIN AND DECAY 101

APPENDIX.

I.--LIST OF ABBOTS OF MELLIFONT 128

II.--CHARTER OF NEWRY 129

III.--INVENTORY OF ESTATES OF MELLIFONT 131

List of Illustrations.

GENERAL VIEW OF MELLIFONT _Frontispiece_

PLAN OF CLAIRVAUX _At_ p. 4

PLAN OF MELLIFONT ABBEY 5

GATEWAY (PORTER'S LODGE) 15

NORTH WINDOW OF CHAPTER-HOUSE 19

DOORWAY OF CHAPTER-HOUSE 23

INTERIOR OF CHAPTER-HOUSE 35

INTERIOR OF LAVABO (OCTAGON) 43

ARCH OF LAVABO (OCTAGON) 47

SOUTH WALL OF LECTORIUM 63

MELLIFONT ABBEY, CO. LOUTH:

Its Ruins and Associations.