Pluscarden Abbey () is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

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 ...

in the

glen A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. The word is Goidelic in origin: ''gleann'' in Irish and Scottish Gaelic, ''glion'' in Manx. ...

of the Black Burn, southwest of

Elgin, Moray Elgin ( ; ; ) is a historic town (former cathedral city) and formerly a royal burgh in Moray, Scotland. It is the administrative and commercial centre for Moray. The town originated to the south of the River Lossie on the higher ground above th ...

, Scotland. It was founded in 1230 by Alexander II for the

Valliscaulian Order The Valliscaulian Order was a religious order of the Catholic Church. It was named after ''Vallis Caulium'' or ''Val-des-Choux'', its first monastery, located in Burgundy. The order was founded at the end of the twelfth century and lasted until i ...

. In 1454, following a merger with the

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. They were created by the Catholic Church. Priories may be monastic houses of monks or nuns (such as the Benedictines, the Cistercians, or t ...

of Urquhart, Pluscarden Priory became a

house. The

Scottish Reformation The Scottish Reformation was the process whereby Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland broke away from the Catholic Church, and established the Protestant Church of Scotland. It forms part of the wider European 16th-century Protestant Reformation. Fr ...

saw the decline of the priory, and by 1680 it was in a ruinous condition. Some work to arrest decay took place in the late 19th century. In 1948, the priory became a house of the

Subiaco Cassinese Congregation The Subiaco Cassinese Congregation is an international union of Benedictine houses (abbeys and priories) within the Benedictine Confederation. It developed from the Subiaco Congregation, which was formed in 1867 through the initiative of Dom Pietro ...

of Benedictines, and restoration began at the hands of monks from

Prinknash Abbey Prinknash Abbey (pronounced locally variously as "Prinidge/Prinnish") (International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ) is a Catholic Church in England and Wales, Roman Catholic monastery in the Vale of Gloucester in the Diocese of Clifton, near the vill ...

in Gloucestershire. In 1966, the priory received its independence from the mother-house; it was elevated to abbatial status in 1974.

History

Etymology

The name ''Pluscarden'', of which the earliest attestations were ''Pluscardyn'' in 1226 and ''Ploschardin'' 1233, is "problematic" in its origin. ''Pluscarden'' regularly appears in discussions of the possible

Pictish Pictish is an extinct Brittonic Celtic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from late antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geog ...

or Brittonic element ''*carden'', perhaps meaning "an enclosure", which may be the second element. The first element seems to be Brittonic, but its identity is less apparent. It may be equivalent to the Cornish ''plos'', apparently "filthy". The most phonetically plausible solution is that the first element is either

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

''plaosg'', "integument, nutshell, eggshell" or its Pictish cognate ''*plusc'' (cf. Welsh ''plisc'',

Middle Breton Breton (, , ; or in Morbihan) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language group spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albeit as a member of ...

''plusk''). A word related to Welsh ''plas'', "a place", has been suggested but is unlikely given the word is loaned from

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th From the suggestion that ''plaosc'' or ''*plusc'' is the first element arises the possibility that the second part of the name is derived from Gaelic ''árd'', or the Pictish equivalent of Welsh ''ardd'', both meaning "height".

Valliscaulian priory

The Valliscaulian priory of Pluscarden was founded by Alexander II of Scotland">King Alexander II. The now-defunct

was small compared to the great medieval religious houses and emerged at a time when austere monasticism had spread across Europe c. 1075–1200.McCormick, Finbar: Excavations at Pluscarden Priory, Moray, Proc Soc Antiq Scot,), p 391 The founder of the Order was Viard who trained as a lay cleric at the , Leuglay. The founding priory was Val des Choux around 20 km from Châtillon-sur-Seine in Burgundy. Viard, who drew up the ascetic rules governing the Order, received consent from Pope Innocent III in 1205–6; a copy of this bull was preserved in the Chartulary of Moray. The consequential legal charter, the ''Ordinale'', provided the exact details of the liturgy, the obligations of office bearers and the conduct of the Order. The ''Ordinale'' contains rules that show close resemblances to Cistercian Order, Cistercian and, to a lesser degree,

Carthusian The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians (), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its own rule, called th ...

practices. The most obvious difference in approach from the Cistercian practices would have been the separate cells for the monks – most likely a partitioned dormitory as practised by the

Grandmontines Grandmontines were the monks of the Order of Grandmont, a religious order founded by Saint Stephen of Thiers, towards the end of the 11th century. The order was named after its motherhouse, Grandmont Abbey in the eponymous village, now part of t ...

– and the vegetable plots where the brothers were allowed to tend their private gardens in the afternoons when not engaged in official priory duties. Another Carthusian rule adopted by the Valliscaulians was that the priory should have no more than 20 monks. This meant that with the small size of the community, survival would be difficult without wealthy patrons. The Valliscaulians only had 21 houses in total, according to JAP Mignard, the Order's 19th-century historian and three of these were in Scotland, namely Pluscarden,

Beauly Beauly ( ; ; ) is a village in Scotland's Highland (council area), Highland area, on the River Beauly, west of Inverness by the Far North Line, Far North railway line. The town is historically within Kilmorack Parish of the County of Inverness. ...

Ross-shire Ross-shire (; ), or the County of Ross, was a county in the Scottish Highlands. It bordered Sutherland to the north and Inverness-shire to the south, as well as having a complex border with Cromartyshire, a county consisting of numerous enc ...

and

Ardchattan Ardchattan and Muckairn is a civil parish within Argyll and Bute in Scotland. It lies north of Oban, bordering Loch Etive and includes Glen Ure, Glen Creran, Barcaldine, Benderloch, Connel, Bonawe and Glen Etive. At the 2001 census, Ardch ...

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle; , ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county of western Scotland. The county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975 and most of the area ...

. Although Valliscaulians were closer to the Cistercians, the main outward aspects of the Order caused

Walter Bower Walter Bower (or Bowmaker; 24 December 1449) was a Scottish canon regular and abbot of Inchcolm Abbey in the Firth of Forth, who is noted as a chronicler of his era. He was born about 1385 at Haddington, East Lothian, in the Kingdom of Scotl ...

, Abbot of Inchcolm, to have taken the three Valliscaulian houses for that of the Carthusians. He recorded this in his Scotichronicon of 1437 and so must have been aware of their customs so soon after the establishment of the only Scottish Carthusian monastery in Perth in 1429. Alexander II granted the Order extensive lowland estates between the rivers

Ness Ness or NESS may refer to: Places Australia * Ness, Wapengo, a heritage-listed natural coastal area in New South Wales United Kingdom * Ness, Cheshire, England, a village * Ness, Lewis, the most northerly area on Lewis, Scotland, UK * Cuspate ...

and Spey. He also gave the priory the earnings of mills in Pluscarden, Elgin, Dunkinedir, Molen,

Forres Forres (; ) is a town and former royal burgh in the north of Scotland on the County of Moray, Moray coast, approximately northeast of Inverness and west of Elgin, Moray, Elgin. Forres has been a winner of the Scotland in Bloom award on several ...

and Dulpoten and salmon fishing rights in both the Findhorn and Spey.McCormick, Finbar: Excavations at Pluscarden Priory, Moray, Proc Soc Antiq Scot,), p 392 The priory was also granted a

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...

on all the iron mined in the forests of

Pluscarden Pluscarden Abbey () is a Catholic Benedictine monastery in the glen of the Black Burn, southwest of Elgin, Moray, Scotland. It was founded in 1230 by Alexander II for the Valliscaulian Order. In 1454, following a merger with the priory of U ...

. All of these taken together meant that Pluscarden prospered. Contemporary chronicles from the priory do not exist however the ''Liber Pluscardensis'' is a history of Scotland which borrows heavily from the writings in the Scotichronicon and Fordun and was penned in Pluscarden in 1461 at the behest of the Abbot of Dunfermline. The document was written by a secular cleric called Maurice Buchanan but he gives no information originating from the priory's monastic establishment.McCormick, Finbar: Excavations at Pluscarden Priory, Moray, Proc Soc Antiq Scot,), p 393 It has traditionally been held that there were two 14th century fires at the priory. The first was ascribed to

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 ...

in 1303 and the second, in 1390, to Alexander Stewart, 1st Earl of Buchan, and called the Wolf of Badenoch. Certainly, the physical evidence confirms that there was a significant fire and that the damage caused to the transepts was never restored points to dwindling resources. In 1398 Prior Thomas Fullonis resigned having served for 21 years. He wrote to the

Bishop of Moray The Bishop of Moray or Bishop of Elgin was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Moray in northern Scotland, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics. If the foundation charter of the monastery at Scone is reliable, then the Bishopric of Mor ...

informing him of the hard times at the priory but that Prior Alexander (1398 – c.1417) had been elected and had been tasked with repairing the deteriorating church and living areas. The state of the house, both physically and politically, had by the 15th century, become serious with regular arguments breaking out over who should be prior. Falling income and disjointed contact with France due to the Hundred Year War (1337–1453) exacerbated the situation. The Scottish houses were given an exemption from attending the yearly General Chapter at Val de Choux.

Benedictine priory

In 1453, John Bonally, the Prior of Urquhart formally requested from the Pope that his monastery and Pluscarden be merged. At that time, Urquhart had only two monks and Pluscarden had six. A Papal Bull was issued by

Nicholas V Pope Nicholas V (; ; 15 November 1397 – 24 March 1455), born Tommaso Parentucelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 March 1447 until his death in March 1455. Pope Eugene IV made him a cardinal in 1446 afte ...

on 12 March 1453 joining the priories and from then on Pluscarden became a daughter house of the Benedictine

Dunfermline Abbey Dunfermline Abbey is a Church of Scotland parish church in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. The church occupies the site of the ancient chancel and transepts of a large medieval Benedictine abbey, which was confiscated and sacked in 1560 during the S ...

. Pluscarden was chosen over Urquhart for the priory location as the buildings were more spacious and thought easier to restore and Bonally was appointed as its first Benedictine prior. However, the Abbot of Dunfermline's representative informed him that he found the priory in need of much renovation; the consequence of nearly 60 years of neglect was that vaulted roofs of the choir and crossing were in danger of collapsing. About the time of John Bonally irregularities had become commonplace in the Priory of Pluscarden as well as before that at Urquhart and the priors of both places were accused of much sinfulness. Following a commission held into the alleged abuses, Bonally resigned and was succeeded by William Boyce who was the sacrist at Dunfermline Abbey. William Boyce, the second Benedictine Prior of Pluscarden, was given responsibility for the maintenance of the church fabric of Dunfermline Abbey from Abbot Richard de Bothwell (1445–70) at the time that the west end of the abbey's nave was restored. The inference has been made that it was during this prior's tenure that some major improvements were carried out at Pluscarden. Indeed, by 1506, King James IV was able to stay at the priory and was noted as giving the masons working on the building a sum of 15 shillings for buying drink. The 16th-century complement at Pluscarden as shown by their signatures on charters shows that there were seven monks in 1500, nine in 1508, thirteen in 1524 and also in 1548, and eleven in 1558. After the Reformation, the rental of the priory in 1561 gives details of the inhabitants – five monks, a chamberlain with two servants, a master-cook, master-baker, porter and a gardener. George Learmonth (1509–29) and Alexander Dunbar (1529–60) were the last two priors before the Reformation who, although they were secular clerics, both wore the Benedictine habit. Dunbar, in a similar manner to his contemporary Bishop Patrick Hepburn at Elgin, carried out large-scale alienation of the priory property – in Dunbar's case, to his own family. Dunbar died in 1560 and the community was made the responsibility of a succession of lay commendatory priors who saw to the monastic revenues and the welfare of those monks that remained. The Countess of Northumberland, a Catholic exiled from England at the

Rising of the North The Rising of the North of 1569, also called the Revolt of the Northern Earls, Northern Rebellion or the Rebellion of the Earls, was an unsuccessful attempt by Catholicism, Catholic nobles from Northern England to depose Queen Elizabeth I of En ...

, stayed at Pluscarden as a guest of

Lord Seton Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are e ...

in July 1570. The last monk recorded at Pluscarden was Thomas Ross who along with the commendatory prior, Alexander Seton (later to become the 1st Earl of Dunfermline), both witnessed a grant of fishings in 1586. After the priory ceased to have a monastic community, the estates were administered by lay priors. During the 17th century, the priory became ruinous and was used as a quarry for the rebuilding of St Giles Kirk, in Elgin. The payments made to hauliers imply that the pulling down of the building must have been on a large scale. The lands at Pluscarden came into the ownership of the Earls of Fife and the 4th Earl arrested further deterioration when he converted the east range into a shooting lodge. The property was then bought by John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute in 1897 who commenced restoration of the church but was halted in 1900 upon his death.

Benedictine abbey

Lord Colum Crichton-Stuart Lord Colum Edmund Crichton-Stuart (KM, MP) was born on 3 April 1886 and died 18 August 1957, aged 71. Lord Colum Edmund Crichton-Stuart, who was baptised as Columba, was the fourth child of John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of the County ...

who now owned the buildings at Pluscarden gave the priory and its land to the Benedictine

in 1943.A Tertiary of Saint Francis eter Anson 'The Story of Pluscarden Priory.' (Pluscarden Priory, 1948.) p.6. The community arrived in 1948 and within seven years the church's bell tower had been roofed. Restoration work continued and in 1966 the priory obtained its independence from Prinknash, achieving abbey status in 1974. Scotia_Depicta_-_Pluscardine_Abbey_-Plate-

Scotia_Depicta_-_Pluscardine_Abbey_-Plate-

In 1987, Pluscarden accepted the request of St. Mary's Monastery, Petersham, US, to attain canonical status as a dependency of Pluscarden. In 1990, Dom Anselm Atkinson of Pluscarden was appointed Superior of St. Mary's by Abbot Alfred Spencer. He remained in this office at Petersham until elected Abbot of Pluscarden on 9 August 2011. His abbatial blessing took place at Pluscarden on 3 October 2011. The abbey welcomes guests and occasionally conducts formal retreats. Silence is generally observed in the church, refectory and other monastic areas. Guests often help with the manual work of the abbey.

Priors and abbots of Pluscarden

* The exact tenure of the prior is unknown

Notes

Bibliography

* Anson, P. F.: ''A Monastery in Moray'', London, 1959 * Birch, W. De Gray ''Ordinale Conventus Vallis Caulium''. London, 1900 * Bower, W. ''

Scotichronicon The ''Scotichronicon'' is a 15th-century chronicle by the Scottish historian Walter Bower. It is a continuation of historian-priest John of Fordun's earlier work '' Chronica Gentis Scotorum'' beginning with the founding of Ireland and thereby ...

'', Watt, D. E. R. (ed.) Aberdeen, 1987, vol. 8 * Hannah, I. C. '"Screens and lofts in Scottish churches", ''Proc Soc Antiq Scot'' * ''Historia Gentis Scotorum'', ed. Skene, W. F. (Historians of Scotland; vols. 1 & 4), Edinburgh, 1871–2 * Macphail, S. R. ''History of the Religious House of Pluscardyn''. Edinburgh, 1881 * McCormick, Finbar "Excavations at Pluscarden Priory, Moray'", ''Proc Soc Antiq Scot'' * Webster, J. ''Dunfermline Abbey''. Dunfermline, 1948

External links

Pluscarden Abbey siteSt. Mary's Monastery, Petersham sitePluscarden Charters

John Rylands Library The John Rylands Research Institute and Library is a Victorian era, late-Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, neo-Gothic building on Deansgate in Manchester, England. It is part of the University of Manchester. The library, which opened to t ...

, Manchester. {{Authority control Christian monasteries established in the 1230s 13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Category A listed buildings in Moray Listed monasteries in Scotland Benedictine monasteries in Scotland Valliscaulian monasteries Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes