Bernakd — The Foundation of Tin tern Ahhey, Co. Wexford. 529 



The name of the Abbey of which we are in search is, however, not 

 doubtful. It was the Cistercian Abbey of Tintern Minor, or " de Voto " in 

 the county of Wexford. 



In the manuscript Annals of St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin,' there is a brief 

 memorandum under the year 1200, "Fundata est Abbatia de Voto"; and 

 this is explained by a fuller entry in another volume of Latin Annals of 

 Ireland,' preserved in the Bodleian Library, which I transcribe: — 



A.D. 1200. "Fundatum monasterium de Voto, id est, Tynterne, per 

 Willelmum Mareschallum, comitem Mareschallum et Pembrochie, , . . quia 

 predictus Willelmus . . fuit in maximo periculo in mari die nocteque votum 

 vovebat domino Jesu Christo, quod si liberaretur a tempestate, et veniret 

 ad terram, faceret monasterium Christo et Marie matri eius, et sic factum 

 est cum pervenisset secure ad Weysford, fecit monasterium de Tynterne ex 

 voto, et vocatur monasterium de Voto." 



The date at which the foundation charter of Tintern was granted by 

 William Marshall cannot be prior to the year 1207, as Mr. Orpen has 

 shown ;^ but the story of the Annals is that he had made a vow that he 

 would establish a Cistercian House, if delivered from shipwreck, in the year 

 1200. It will be seen that the Letters Patent which are here printed cor- 

 roborate the Annals very remarkably. We lose sight of Earl William, as 

 Mr. Orpen points out, from September ord, 1200, when he was with the 

 King's court, to March, 1201, when he appears again at the court ; and it is 

 plain that he set out for Ireland in the late autumn of 1200, and was in 

 danger of shipwreck off the coast. On reaching safety, he immediately 

 took steps to redeem his vow, and not only executed a Will leaving a large 

 tract of land to the monastery which was to be his thankoffering, but got 

 his Will confirmed by the King's Letters ' Patent on December ord. It is 

 not without interest to find so complete a confirmation of the accuracy 

 (which has been questioned) of these Irish Annals as to the date on which 

 William Marshall first visited Ireland, and the circumstances in which he 

 founded the Abbey of Tintern Minor, so called because it was first occupied 

 by monks from the great house of Tintern in Monmouthshire. 



1 MS. E. 3. 10, Trinity College, Dublin ; see Gilbert's Ghartularies of St. Mary's 

 Abbey, ii, 278. 



2 MS. Laud. 610 ; see Gilbert's Ghartularies, &c., ii, 307. 

 ' Ireland under the Normans, ii, 207. 



R.I.A. PKOC, VOL. XXXni, SECT. c. [75] 



