Munkeby Abbey

Munkeby Abbey

View of the ruins
Location within Nord-Trøndelag
Monastery information
Other Names	Norwegian: Munkeby kloster
Order	Cistercian
Established	12th century
Disestablished	13th century
Mother house	Tautra Abbey
Dedicated to	Saint Brettiva
People
Site
Location	Okkenhaug, Levanger, Norway
Coordinates	63°43′49″N 11°23′08″E / 63.7304°N 11.3855°E / 63.7304; 11.3855
Visible Remains	Church foundation and walls
Public Access	Yes

Coordinates: 63°43′49″N 11°23′07″E / 63.73028°N 11.38528°E / 63.73028; 11.38528

Munkeby Abbey was a Cistercian monastery near the village of Okkenhaug in the municipality of Levanger in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) east of the town of Levanger. The name "Munkeby" in Norwegian means Place of the Monks.

History

The abbey was founded sometime between 1150 and 1180, and was the most northerly Cistercian foundation in the world. Possibly, like Hovedøya Abbey and Lyse Abbey, Munkeby's foundation was carried out by English monks. In 1207, Tautra Abbey was founded, and, either then or at some later point in the 13th century the community and assets of Munkeby were transferred to the new foundation, of which Munkeby then became a grange.^[1]

An attempt to re-establish it as an independent house in the 1470s failed. The church however continued in use as a parish church until 1587.

Local tradition had always maintained that Okkenhaug Chapel had once belonged to a monastery; for centuries historians dismissed this, until in 1906 a letter dated 1475 from Pope Sixtus IV to Abbot Stephen of Trugge was discovered in the Vatican archives referring to the request for the restoration of the site as a functioning monastery.^[2][3]

It has sometimes been asserted that the church here was the same as that dedicated to the local Saint Brettiva in Skogn, but this has not found general acceptance.

Norway accepted the Protestant Reformation and officially became a Luteran kingdom in 1537. All Catholic religious houses were then seized and declared to be Crown property. This was true of of Munkeby.

Site

There are substantial remains of the simple church, built of stone, although it was used as a quarry, but the monastic buildings, built of wood, apparently succumbed to fire in 1567. The site was acquired by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments (Fortidsminneforeningen) in 1967. No full archaeological investigation of the site has been carried out, but many partial excavations have taken place, including test excavations in 2000, none of which able to discover significant remains of the monastic buildings, although there is no doubt that they were located on the south side of the church.

New monastery

In 2007, the now-Trappist Abbey of Cîteaux in France decided to establish a new Cistercian monastery at Munkeby, the first new foundation directly from the very first house of the Order in 500 years. A monastery was built and four monks took residence there in 2009. The new monastery is situated about 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) from the medieval ruins. They now form a companion community to the Trappistine nuns who have re-settled the site of the former Tautra Abbey. The name of the modern house is simply Munkeby Mariakloster.

References

1. ^ Store norske leksikon. "Munkeby kloster" (in Norwegian). http://www.snl.no/Munkeby_kloster. Retrieved 2011-05-31. 
2. ^ "Munkeby Monastery Ruins". Fortidsminneforeningen. http://www.fortidsminneforeningen.no/properties/59/119. Retrieved 2011-05-31. 
3. ^ "Letter of Pope Sixtus IV to abbot Stephanus de Trugge". Diplomatarium Norvegicum. http://www.dokpro.uio.no/perl/middelalder/diplom_vise_tekst.prl?b=15168&s=n&str=. 

Sources

• Barton, K.; Stenvik, L.; Binns, R.; Eide, E; Kimo, I.M. (7 March 2007). "Geophysical Surveys at Munkeby Kloster, Levanger, Trøndelag, Norway". IT Sligo. Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Institute of Technology, Sligo. 
• Bugge, Alexander (1909). "Et ukjendt kloster nordenfjelds" (in Norwegian). Historisk tidsskrift XX. 
• Brand & Helland A.S. (in Norwegian). Munkeby klosterruin: en tilstandsrapport med forslag til fremtidig vedlikehold. http://nabo.nb.no/bok?_t=0&_b=SAMBOK&_r=1526872762&_h=sambok2. 
• Ekroll, Ø. (in Norwegian). Munkeby-Tautra. Cisterciensermunkenes klosterruiner i Trøndelag. http://nabo.nb.no/bok?_t=0&_b=SAMBOK&_r=1728182672&_h=sambok2. 
• Foosnæs, Kristin (2006) (in Norwegian). Quod superest monasterii hic quondam fundati: en bygningsarkeologisk undersøkelse av Munkeby kloster (MA in Archaeology thesis). NTNU. 
• Foosnæs, Kristin (2005). "'Quod superest monasterii hic quondam fundati' Munkeby kloster" (in Norwegian). Spor (Trondheim: NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet) 2005 (2). 
• Hallan, Nils. "Skogn Historie" (in Norwegian). http://nabo.nb.no/bok?_t=0&_b=SAMBOK&_r=536895456&_h=sambok2. 
• Klüwer, Lorentz Diderich. "Norske Mindesmerker" (in Norwegian). http://nabo.nb.no/bok?_h=sambok2&_B=SAMBOK&-I=F&-V=&-B=AND&-I=TI&-V=Norske+Mindesmerker&-B=AND&-I=D&-V=&-B=AND&-I=I&-V=&_lang=&_aar1=&_aar2=&_q=25. 
• Krüger, S; Smestad, I (1993). "Kulturminner i Stjørdal, Frosta, Levanger, Verdal, Inderøy, Steinkjer" (in Norwegian). http://nabo.nb.no/bok?_t=0&_b=SAMBOK&_r=1560308780&_h=sambok2. 
• Liden, H-E. "Munkeby kloster ved Levanger" (in Norwegian). Foreningen til norske fortidsminnesmerkers bevaling. Årbok 1969. 
• McGregor, Michael. "Cistercienserklosteret på Munkeby" (in Norwegian). Spor 2000 (2). 
• Geologiske kart. NGU. 
• Nils. "Munkeby klosterruin" (in Norwegian). Årbok 1955 (Trondhjems Turistforening). http://nabo.nb.no/bok?_t=0&_b=SAMBOK&_r=922805690&_h=sambok2. 
• Raaen, P; Skevik, O. "Helligdom og verdier ved to årtusenskifter: foredrag fra flere seminarer ved årtusenskiftet samt populærforedrag under olsokdagene på Stiklestad" (in Norwegian). http://nabo.nb.no/bok?_t=0&_b=SAMBOK&_r=1744950192&_h=sambok2. 
• Ryjord, Nils (in Norwegian). Indberetning om de avsluttende utgravinger av Munkeby klosterkirkes ruiner 1910. Fortidsminnesmerkeforeningens årsberetning 1910. 
• Ryjord, Nils; Rygh, Karl (in Norwegian). Munkeby kirke ved Levanger. Fortidsminnesmerkersforeningens årsberetning 1906. 
• Schøning, G (in Norwegian). Reise giennom en Del af Norge i de år 1773, 1774, 1775. 

See also

• Tautra Abbey
• Cistercians
• Trappists
• Citeaux Abbey

External links

• Katolsk.no: Munkeby (Norwegian)
• Fortidsminneforeningen: Munkeby (Norwegian)
• Homepage of the new Munkeby Cistercian Monastery