The Abbey of Santa Maria a Mare was a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

on the island of San Nicola in the

Tremiti Islands The Tremiti Islands (, ), also literarily known as Isole Diomedee (" Diomedean Islands", from Greek ), are an archipelago in the Adriatic Sea, some offshore to the north of the Gargano Peninsula. They constitute a of Italy's Province of Foggi ...

off the northern coast of the

Gargano Peninsula The Apulia Carbonate Platform in Apulia, Italy, was a major palaeogeographic element of the southern margin of the Mesozoic Tethys Ocean. It is one of the so-called peri-Adriatic platforms, which are comparable to the Bahama Banks in their carbona ...

in Italy from the 9th century until 1782.

Founding and early history

According to Cardinal Leo Marsicanus, the 11th-century historian of the

Abbey of Monte Cassino The Abbey of Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a Catholic, Benedictine monastery on a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley. Located on the site of the ancient Roman town of Casinum, it is the first house ...

, a monk of Monte Cassino named Monecaus served as provost in a "cell" (''cella'') dedicated to Saint James in the Tremiti Islands during the abbacy of Bertharius (856–83). Leo reports that in his day many charters from the time of Monecaus were still in the archives of Monte Cassino. For some reason, Leo later erased this information from his chronicle. None of the charters he mentions survive. In 883, a band of

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

sacked Monte Cassino and the monks went into exile for over half a century. This period must have severed relations between it and its provostries, including Tremiti.Herbert Bloch, ''Monte Cassino in the Middle Ages'', Vol. 1 (Harvard University Press, 1986), pp. 689–94. For a list of abbots and priors, see Armando Petrucci, ''Codice diplomatico del monastero benedettino di S. Maria di Tremiti, 1005–1237'', 3 vols. (Rome, 1960), pp. CXXXVIII–CXLIV. Originally the abbey was dedicated to

James the Greater James the Great (Koine Greek, Koinē Greek: Ἰάκωβος, romanized: ''Iákōbos''; Syriac language, Aramaic: ܝܥܩܘܒ, romanized: ''Yaʿqōḇ''; died AD 44) was one of the Apostles in the New Testament, Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Accordi ...

and its associated with the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

developed gradually in the early 11th century. The earliest document referring to the abbey on San Nicola is a record of a land-grant of Bishop Landenulf of Lucera dated to November 1005. In it the abbey is called the "monastery of the Blessed James the Apostle which is in Tremiti island". Mary was associated with the abbey for the first time in a document of 1014, where it is called the "church of Saint Mary and Saint James the Apostle which are constructed in the place that is called Tremiti". This dual association with James and Mary is a constant in the documentation from 1026 until 1059, although reference to James was dropped in a charter dated to 1023. After 1059 there is no further reference to Saint James.

Threats to independence

Abbot

Desiderius Desiderius, also known as Daufer or Dauferius (born – died ), was king of the Lombards in northern Italy, ruling from 756 to 774. The Frankish king of renown, Charlemagne, married Desiderius's daughter and subsequently conquered his realm. De ...

of Monte Cassino, supported by Duke

Robert Guiscard Robert Guiscard ( , ; – 17 July 1085), also referred to as Robert de Hauteville, was a Normans, Norman adventurer remembered for his Norman conquest of southern Italy, conquest of southern Italy and Sicily in the 11th century. Robert was born ...

of Apulia, tried to enforce his abbey's old rights over Santa Maria, but in a dramatic series of events in 1071–73 was forced to back down. In 1081 he formally admitted his sin and acknowledged Santa Maria's independence. The abbot he tried to remove, Ferrus, outlived him and the abbot whose election he engineered, Ungrellus, is never heard of again. Nevertheless, papal privileges continued to list the monastery of Tremiti as a Cassinese possession down to the time of

Anastasius IV Pope Anastasius IV ( – 3 December 1154), born Corrado Demetri della Suburra, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 July 1153 to his death in 1154. He is the most recent pope to take the name "Anastasius" upon his ...

(1153/4), and an imperial privilege of

Lothair II Lothair II (835 – 8 August 869) was a Carolingian king and ruler of northern parts of Middle Francia, that came to be known as Lotharingia, reigning there from 855 until his death in 869. He also ruled over Burgundy, holding from 855 just th ...

in 1137 did likewise.

Decline

By the thirteenth century, the abbey of Santa Maria a Mare was in decline. In 1237 it was granted to the

Cistercian Order The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

. Sometime between 1334 and 1343 it was reduced to commendatory status. The

Canons Regular of the Lateran The Canons Regular of the Lateran (CRL, Canonici Regulares Lateranenses), formally titled the Canons Regular of St. Augustine of the Congregation of the Most Holy Savior at the Lateran, is an international congregation of canons regular, comprisin ...

took over in 1412 and put it under a prior, who was raised to an abbot again in 1482. In the sixteenth century the monastery was renovated, but in the following century it again went into decline. In 1674 the Tremiti Islands were occupied by the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples (; ; ), officially the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was established by the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302). Until ...

Suppression

The islands became part of the

royal domain Crown land, also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. Today, in Commonwealth realm ...

in 1737 and the monastery was suppressed by royal decree in 1782. The monastic archives were transferred to the Archivio Grande in Naples. They were lost to fire in 1943 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The medieval

cartulary A cartulary or chartulary (; Latin: ''cartularium'' or ''chartularium''), also called ''pancarta'' or ''codex diplomaticus'', is a medieval manuscript volume or roll ('' rotulus'') containing transcriptions of original documents relating to the fo ...

, however, survives and was published in 1960.

Footnotes

References

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