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Cistercian Abbeys: MELROSE Name: MELROSE Location: Melrose
Town County: Scottish borders
The first religious house at Melrose was said to have been founded by St. Aidan c. 660. Its second prior was St. Cuthbert, the apostle of the borders, who dwelt there until he became prior of Lindesfarne in 664. The house at Melrose later became one of the resting places of his body before it was taken to the place where Durham Cathedral was founded. Although the house was destroyed in 839, by Kenneth King of Scots, there was still a church there in the twelfth century. In 1136 King David I (1124-1153), possibly under the influence of his friend St. Aelred, invited a group of monks from Rievaulx to settle at the old site at Melrose. A few years later the monks moved to the present site, only two miles up the River Tweed from the old monastery. It was the earliest Cistercian monastery to be founded in Scotland and in turn became the mother-house of four other Scottish abbeys, as well as Holmcultram in northern England. The abbey took less than ten years to complete and the church was dedicated on 28 July 1146. The abbey was extremely well endowed, not only by its royal founder, but by succeeding sovereigns and countless benefactors. Melrose was so rich in lands and possessions that its annual revenue converts as approximately £100 000 of present money value. An example of the application of these revenues is revealed in twelfth-century records. These state that during a time of famine four thousand starving people were fed by the monastery for three months. It was thought that the community at Melrose once numbered two hundred monks and still contained one hundred and thirty at the beginning of the sixteenth century. The house was not only famed for
its wealth, for many of its abbots were men of distinction and
honour. St. Waltheof, stepson
of King David and at one time prior of Kirkham, was abbot of Melrose
from 1148-1159, and in future destined to become a
saint.
He was a friend of St. Aelred and had previously been proposed
for the see of York, but had been prevented from becoming archbishop
by King Stephen of England (1135-54). He endowed Melrose with a
reputation for sanctity and learning which placed it on a par
with
houses such as Fountains and
Rievaulx and made it the premier abbey in Scotland. The tomb of
St. Waltheof, in the chapter house, was
later to become the focus of pilgrimage. The greatest damage was incurred during the earl of Hertford’s invasion in September 1545, and it seems Melrose never recovered from this blow. In any case the abbey had already fallen under the control of lay lords who involved the abbey in a series of disputes. The period between 1486 and 1507 was characterized by protracted litigation over the abbacy. The dispute was resolved in 1507 when William Turnbull, abbot of Melrose, was transferred to Coupar Angus and replaced by Robert Beaton, abbot of Glenluce. Following Beaton’s death another dispute arose between John Maxwell and Andrew Dury, the latter receiving the abbacy in 1525. Dury retained the position until he was appointed bishop of Galloway in 1541. From 1541 the abbacy was held by a series of commendators. The first to receive the post was James Stewart, eldest son of King James V, who held the position until 1557. In 1609 the abbey was erected into a temporal lordship for John Ramsey, Viscount Haddington, who then took the title Lord of Melrose. It seems that the abbey thereafter fell to ruin, despite the continued use of the presbytery as the parish church for some time. The lordship of Melrose remained with the Haddington family until the late seventeenth century when it was bought by Anne, Duchess of Buccleugh. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Sir Walter Scott was appointed Sheriff-Depute of Roxburghshire. Scott was a man who had a great love of the Scottish border county and a love of Scottish history in general. In 1822, with the financial assistance of the duke of Buccleugh, Sir Walter personally supervised the extensive repair work that was to preserve these ruins for future generations. In 1918 the duke of Buccleugh gave the ruins to the state, by which time the abbey had undergone further restoration and repair. The ruins at this site are thought to be the
most spectacular in Scotland and among the finest in Britain.
The
fifteenth-century Gothic church, built after the attack of 1385,
is the central feature: its remains are unrivalled by any other
church in Scotland. Much of the church still stands to roof height
at the east end and the stonework is heavily influenced by both
French and northern designs. The rest of the complex is represented
by low walling and foundation masonry: the cloister ranges show
clearly the extent and layout of the monastic buildings. The tomb
of St. Waltheof was excavated in the 1920s and is displayed in
the
Commendator’s house, now the abbey museum. It has always been
believed that the heart of Robert the Bruce rests within the walls
of Melrose Abbey. When the king was dying, it was said of leprosy,
he asked his friend Sir James Douglas to have his heart cut out
and taken to the Holy Land. Sir James followed his wish and, with
Bruce’s heart encased within a casket, set off for the Holy
Land. Bruce’s body was afterwards taken to Dunfermline Abbey
and there laid to rest. Sadly, Sir James died in Spain whilst
fighting
the Moors so the casket was returned to Scotland and taken to Melrose
Abbey. In 1997 a casket was uncovered from beneath the chapter-house
floor and was given to Historic Scotland for examination. In the
absence of any comparable DNA with which to compare the contents
of the casket, it was decided not to open it. During a private
ceremony
in 1998 the casket was replaced, undisturbed, to rest once more
within the walls of Melrose Abbey. The site is now owned by Historic
Scotland and is open to the public at regular times throughout
the
year. |
