Rushen Abbey Ballasalla Isle Of Man

Rushen Abbey was a Cistercian monastery founded in 1134 and suppressed in 1540. It was the most important religious institution on the Isle of Man wielding significant secular power as well as ecclesiastical authority. This book aims to provide a synthesis of all the available evidence for Rushen Abbey under one cover.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1857.

The archipelagic kingdoms of Man and the Isles that flourished from the last quarter of the eleventh century down to the middle of the thirteenth century represent two forgotten kingdoms of the medieval British Isles. They were ruled by powerful individuals, with unquestionably regnal status, who interacted in a variety of ways with rulers of surrounding lands and who left their footprint on a wide range of written documents and upon the very landscapes and seascapes of the islands they ruled. Yet British history has tended to overlook these Late Norse maritime empires, which thrived for two centuries on the Atlantic frontiers of Britain. This book represents the first ever overview of both Manx and Hebridean dynasties that dominated Man and the Isles from the late eleventh to the mid-thirteenth centuries. Coverage is broad and is not restricted to politics and warfare. An introductory chapter examines the maritime context of the kingdoms in light of recent work in the field of maritime history, while subsequent chronological and narrative chapters trace the history of the kingdoms from their origins through their maturity to their demise in the thirteenth century. Separate chapters examine the economy and society, church and religion, power and architecture.

Volume 6 comprises the three southerly parishes of Kirk Malew (including the town and former capital Castletown and the large village of Ballasalla), Kirk Arbory, and Kirk Christ Rushen (including the Calf of Man island). The material appears in alphabetical form with discussion of any problems of interpretation, and a listing of the various elements making up the names. This volume yields name-forms and elements not found in Manx literature or dictionaries. In addition, reinterpretation of some of the names now places them in the Early Christian period of Manx history (6th-7th centuries), thus adding them to the small list of names predating the Scandinavian period (9th-13th centuries). As documentary material from that time to the 16th century is largely absent, the testimony of placenames is important for the distribution of name elements reflecting the topography and patterns of settlement, and for the development of Manx Gaelic during that period. It also helps to contribute towards comparative placename study in adjacent areas, particularly Ireland, southwest Scotland and northwest England.

This book is a study of communities that drew their identity and livelihood from their relationships with water during a pivotal time in the creation of the social, economic and political landscapes of northern Europe. It focuses on the Baltic, North and Irish Seas in the Viking Age (ad 1050–1200), with a few later examples (such as the Scottish Lordship of the Isles) included to help illuminate less well-documented earlier centuries. Individual chapters introduce maritime worlds ranging from the Isle of Man to Gotland — while also touching on the relationships between estate centres, towns, landing places and the sea in the more terrestrially oriented societies that surrounded northern Europe’s main spheres of maritime interaction. It is predominately an archaeological project, but draws no arbitrary lines between the fields of historical archaeology, history and literature. The volume explores the complex relationships between long-range interconnections and distinctive regional identities that are characteristic of maritime societies, seeking to understand communities that were brought into being by their relationships with the sea and who set waves in motion that altered distant shores.