Medieval

Cistercian

To find out about the origin of the word Cistercian and ... click on the triangle and play the recording.

Why Newbattle?  Battle?

No, Battle is a corruption of an old Saxon word – BOTTLE – which meant RESIDENCE;  the origin, therefore, is NEW RESIDENCE.

An abbey had been established at Melrose a few years earlier.  When it became overcrowded, there was a need for an ‘overspill’.  Accordingly, a monk, called Ralph, was commissioned to find a convenient site.  The Cistercian monks were inclined to settle on a low, secluded level, close to a river.  The one at Newbattle suited the requirements.  A building was designed to accommodate 80 priests and 70 lay persons.  The monks wore a white cassock, black hood, black leather girdle and shoes. 

Newbattle was at the centre of a thriving commercial enterprise, which included coal mining, salt production (at Prestonpans) and sheep farming.  However, the proximity of the Abbey to Edinburgh meant that Newbattle suffered greatly in the Scottish wars with England. The Abbey was severely burned by the English army during the campaign of Richard II in 1385 and was attacked during the invasion of the earl of Hertford in 1544 and again in 1548. There were twenty-four monks and an abbot in the community in 1528 but the numbers had decreased to about fifteen by the time of the Reformation.

Newbattle Abbey also accommodated famous visitors.  In March 1320 a "Great Council of Earls, Barons and Freeholders" foregathered at Newbattle Abbey, Dalkeith. Directly following the solemn considerations at Newbattle, Bernard de Linton - Abbot of Arbroath and Chancellor of Scotland - wrote a declaration, on 6th April 1320 on behalf of the " Community of the Realm of Scotland". The declaration is known as "The Declaration of Arbroath". The declaration is widely regarded as the noblest statement of Scottish national sentiment ever penned. It was written in an eloquent, scholarly, yet heart-stirring vigorous mediaeval Latin prose.  It was an emotional outpouring of a nation's pride and dignity. and its claim to freedom. It was the first time in European history that power and rights were declared by "the people". It is also interesting that the declaration made clear and plain to King Robert I (the Bruce), in his presence, that he had the loyalty of the nation for so long as he returned that loyalty. He was King of Scots - not King of Scotland.

Over time, there have been many royal visits to Newbattle, Dalkeith.  One in particular, was Mary de Couci wife of Alexander II of Scotland who had visited the Abbey in 1241.  Mary was the daughter of Baron Enguerand de Couci of Picardy a well respected French Knight.  In late August 1241, Mary de Couci, Queen of Scots made arrangements for her body to be interred at Newbattle Abbey and provided a small pittance for St Bartholomew’s Day and the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, a day of importance to the Cistercian Monks of the Abbey.  Mary was buried in Newbattle Abbey under a monument with six lions below a weeping reclining figure, all in magnificent marble.  Sadly the invading English armies continually raided the Abbey so much that by the advent of the Reformation little was left standing.  Catherine Mortimer, a ‘beloved of Davie Bruise’, mistress of King David II, was buried in the walls of the Abbey – standing upright!  In 1360, she was stabbed to death at Soutra by a varlet called Richard Hulle, as she was travelling from London.  David II was besotted with her and Catherine’s influence over him was great.

In 1503 Princess Margaret, the daughter of Henry the Seventh, was welcomed by the monks at Newbattle before meeting her husband-to-be, King James IV.  With 500 soldiers, she crossed the South Esk over what is now known as the Maiden’s Bridge.  The monks of Newbattle welcomed the visit of King James V on 22 April 1526 as he granted them the right to make a harbour at Preston Grange where they shipped their coal.

In 1547 the last abbot, James Haswell, resigned in favour of Mark Ker.

ABBOTS OF NEWBATTLE ABBEY 

Artists impression of Medieval Newbattle Abbey	Ground plan of the Abbey.