by Shona » Fri Jan 25, 2013 4:06 pm
Saddell Abbey was established by Irish monks from Mellifort in Armagh in Ireland.
Given the history of Mellifort and its daughter church in Saddell, Joan of Arc would have given Saddell a very wide birth.
Set up on the orders of St Malachy, Bishop of Armagh, by the beginning of the 15th century, Mellifort had amassed 48,000 acres of land thanks to favours by the English monarchy. Rather than adhering to the original Cistercian rule of manual labour, field work and self-sufficiency, Mellifort was living on the revenues from its huge estates. The abbot had a seat in the House of Lords.
Saddell Abbey was already in disrepair by the end of the 15th century and letters reveal that there hadn't been a monastic order there for some time. The abbey's stones were robbed away and many were used to build Saddell Castle.
The notion that John of Arc was 'trained' at Saddell seems to come from the website Roseline Da Vinci (Dan Brown has a lot to answer for). Setting aside the 'theories' for the time being, there are just so many errors on the website.
The site says Saddell was set up by monks from the Isle of Man. Second, the site states that because the majority of the carved grave slabs have swords: 'There can be no doubt as to what was the main topic of vesper studies at the abbey.' From this they make the assumption that the monks taught combat strategy. This is at odds with the philosophy of