liKRNAKD — 7%^ Charters of the Ahben of Diiiske. 25 



as belonging to the diocese of Leighlin. But throughout its history, the abbey of 



Duisko, as distinct from the parish which grew up around it, was counted as in 

 Ossory diocese. This appears explicitly in the year 1245 ;' in 1254 ;'- in 130G, when 

 the abbey is described in Charter 97 as of the diocese of Ossory, and when (as also 

 in 1318) it was taxed with that diocese f in 13G2,' 1440,' 1460," 1475,' andl490,« 

 tlie abbey being indicated in each of these years as " Ossoriensis diocesis." So it 

 is described also in 1513, in the title of the Extracts from the Register which we 

 call E.' Indeed as early as 1228, the Bishop of Leighlin formally renounced'" all 

 claims against the abbey of Duiske, arising out of its absorption of Killenny, which 

 was in his diocese. It was probably on account of the difficulties arising from the 

 circumstance that the abbey and the parish of Graigue were not in the same diocese, 

 that an instrument of date 1401 setting forth the boundaries of Leighlin was entered 

 in the Duiske Registers." 



The description of the site of Duiske Abbey as " a place of horror and of a vast 

 solitude, a cave of robbers, and the lair of those who lie in wait for blood" reads 

 strangely to those who know it now as a beautiful and smiling valley. But it has 

 always to be remembered, to the credit of the monks, here and elsewhere, that they 

 did a great work in reclaiming and cultivating wild tracts of country. Many of the 

 grants of land set out in subsequent charters were grants of bare moor and bog 

 and mountain ; it was by the labours of the community at Duiske that they became 

 valuable. 



The opening words of the certificate of Albin, bishop of Ferns, '= allude to the 

 rule requiring all Cistercian abbots to attend annual chapters at Citeaux. This was 

 modified for the Irish houses, the presence of three only of the Irish abbots being 

 required, and the abbot of Mellifout being made responsible for their compliance 

 with the regulation. '^ 



That it was necessary to obtain the consent of the neighbouring abbeys of 

 Jerpoiut and Killenny, before a new establishment could be set up, was natural ; 

 and the disputes between Duiske and these convents which continued for centuries 

 show how far from a mere formality this consent was. There was really not room 

 for three Cistercian houses in the same county, and this became plain very soon. 



The language of the consent by the abbots of Jerpoint and Killenny shows that 

 in 1204 the abbey of Duislce had not yet been built. " Ut in terra Ua Duuiskir 

 suam construant abbatiam " were the terms of their concession to their new 

 neighbours and rivals." 



The date of Bishop Hugh's Letters Testimonial cannot be determined with 

 precision, but it was probably later than that of William Marshal's Foundation 

 Charter, which we ascribed, tentatively, to 1207. 



' Charter 53. - See p. Sfi. 3 gee p. 131. < Charter 99. 



'■• Charter 101. " Charter 103. ' Charter 104. -^ Charter 105. 



" See p. 154. '" Charter 28. 



" It is almost illegible, but its tenor is unmistakable. It i.s found both in E and in F. 

 '- See p. 23. '" Staiuta Ord. Cisl. 1105, no. .56 (Martene, Tliesaurns iv, 12Sli)- 



" The local tradition is tliat the masons wont to Graiguenamanagh, as soon as thoy had 

 completed the building at Jerpoint Abbey (Carrigan, iv, 294). 



R.I. A. PROC, VOL. XXXV, SECT. C. [4] 



