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Soulseat Abbey

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	Topics Soulseat Abbey Topic Home Saulseat or Soulseat Abbey was a Premonstratensian monastic community located in WigtownshireWigtownshire The County of Wigtown, or Wigtownshire is a registration county in the south west of Scotland.... , GallowayGalloway Galloway today refers to the former counties of Wigtownshire and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright in southwest Scotland, but h... , in the Gaelic-speakingGalwegian Gaelic Galwegian Gaelic is an extinct Goidelic dialect formerly spoken in South West Scotland.... south-west of ScotlandScotland Summary Scotland is a nation in northwest Europe and one of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom.... . It was regarded as the first and the senior Premonstratensian house in the Kingdom of ScotlandKingdom of Scotland The Kingdom of Scotland was a state located in Western Europe, in the northern third of the island of Great Britain.... . There is some evidence that Soulseat Abbey is Viride Stagnum ("green loch"), that is, the CistercianCistercians The Order of Cistercians , otherwise White Monks is a Roman Catholic order of enclosed monks.... monastery founded by St Malachy somewhere in Galloway in 1148. The name comes from the Gaelic word Sabhal, a word with many religious and monastic connotations. Perhaps because of Anglophone folk etymologyFolk etymology Folk etymology or popular etymology is a linguistic term for a category of false etymology which has grown up in popul... , the name came to imply a connection to both SaulSaul Summary Saul is:1. In name of individuals in the Bible:... and the soulSoul The soul, according to many religious and philosophical traditions, is a self-aware ethereal substance* particular to a u... , taking the Latin form Sedes Animarum ("Seat of the Spirit"). The site of Soulseat Abbey (now a mound with five 16th century gravestones thereon) is situated on the promontary of a loch with a very narrow isthmus, thus perhaps fitting the description. The Premonstratensian establishment certainly occurred before the death of King Fergus of GallowayFergus of Galloway Fergus of Galloway was King, or Lord, of Galloway from an unknown date, until his death in 1161.... , which took place in 1161. The Obituary of Prémontré lists both King Fergus and ChristianChristian of Whithorn Christian of Whithorn was Bishop of Whithorn, the second incumbent of that Episcopal See since it had been resurrected by Ki... , bishop of GallowayBishop of Galloway The Bishop of Galloway, also called the Bishop of Whithorn, was the eccesiastical head of the Diocese of Galloway... , as joint founders. Probably because of the abbey's cultural isolation from Lowland Scotland, almost none of the abbots are known by name before the fifteenth century. It is known though that the abbey suffered devastation from wars in the fourteenth century. Control of the abbey became secularized in the fifteenth century, and even more so after the Scottish Reformation. In 1630 it was taken over by the parsonage of PortpatrickPortpatrick Portpatrick is a village hanging on to the extreme south-westerly tip of mainland Scotland, cut into a cleft in steep cliffs... . Bibliography Anderson, A.O.Alan Orr Anderson Overview Alan Orr Anderson was a Scottish historian and compiler.... , Early Sources for Scottish History, 2 vols., vol. ii, pp. 208-9 (quoting St Bernard's Vita Sancti Malachaiae) Cowan, Ian B. & Easson, David E., Medieval Religious Houses: Scotland With an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man, Second Edition, (London, 1976), pp. 78-9, 102-3 Watt, D.E.R. & Shead, N.F. (eds.), The Heads of Religious Houses in Scotland from the 12th to the 16th Centuries, The Scottish Records Society, New Series, Volume 24, (Edinburgh, 2001), pp. 204-6 T. Alistair Findlay, Chronological History of Soulseat Abbey, Scotland (accessed 26 January 2008): http://www.premontre.org/subpages/loci/imagines/imsoulseat/Soulseat%20Chronological%20History.htm See also Abbot of SoulseatFacts About Abbot of Soulseat The Abbot of Soulseat was the head of the Premonstratensian monastic community of Soulseat Abbey in Galloway.... , for a list of abbots and commendators