The Cistercian Abbeys of Tipperary by Colmcille Ó Conbhuidhe, OCSO (review)

316BOOK REVIEWS The Cistercian Abbeys ofTipperary. By Colmcille Ó Conbhuidhe, OCSO. Edited by Finbarr Donovan. (Dublin: Four Courts Press; Portland, Oregon: ISBS. 1999. Pp. 335. $55.00 cloth; $24.95 paper.) Irish Cistercian historiography is alive and well. Asplin's bibliography, Medieval Ireland (Royal Irish Academy, 1971), while enumerating twenty-one secondary studies on the story of the Irish White Monks published between 1901 and 1970, did not include a number of contributions bearing on that story by Canon W P. Burke, Canon Patrick Power, W H. Grattan Flood, Aubrey Gwynn, S.J., and others. H. G. Leask, Roger Stalley and E. C. Rae of the University of Illinois have devoted much attention to the Cistercian abbeys and their tombs, while Géraldine Carville has written extensively on the monks' management of their estates. Meanwhile, the long-lived (1902-1992), prolific, and meticulous scholar, Father Colmcille, had added to his Story ofMellifont (1958) with many learned papers on the history of his order. In 1998 Finbarr Donovan edited from the journals Ctteaux and Collectanea Cisterciensia a collection of these under the title, Studies in Cistercian History, or to be precise, Irish Cistercian history. Now for the same press he has edited the present volume from Father Colmcille's work, unpublished as well as published. The result is a substantial volume, made up of a lengthy introductory survey of Irish Cistercian history,followed by what might be termed four case histories of medieval abbeys. These four are Inishlounaght (Suir), Holy Cross, Kilcooly, and Hore (Cashel). Owney (Abington), which lay within the county palatine of Tipperary, is not included. A goodly part of the introduction has appeared already. What is particularly useful here is the statistical information, based on historical surveys, maps, and taxation assessments, on the holdings of the Cistercians , who were great landlords, and on the economic value of abbeys. The list of archbishops of Cashel omits the famous Michael Scot (he is mentioned in the text), who was provided if not consecrated, and Archbishop Michael, O.F.M. Irish Cistercian history raises a number of issues of general interest: the mutual incomprehension of French and native monks; the disruptive effects of the Anglo-Norman invasion; the feudalization (to which the Black Death contributed ) of the monasteries, which in turn was partly, if not wholly, responsible for grave breaches of monastic discipline; the disastrous effect of papal provision of abbots; and the limited influence—architecture and sculpture aside—of Cistercians on Irish culture. The White Monks brought Gothic architecture to Ireland but, partly because of their reform inspiration and partly because of the thirteenth-century troubles, did not carry on the tradition of secular learning in Irish monasteries. All these matters receive fair treatment here. Tipperary is fortunate in that the Ormond deeds record the grants by which certain parishes became impropriated to abbeys. The question of the relationship of monks and nuns in monasteries has been raised before, but still needs, as is here pointed out, thorough examination. Donovan has shown himself eminently capable of undertaking a full-scale history of Irish Cistercianism. BOOK REVIEWS317 Unfortunately, this scholarly volume has not received the editing that it deserves . John J. Silke Portnablagh, Co. Donegal Italia fudaica: GIi Ebrei nello Stato Pontificio fino al Ghetto (1555). Atti del VI Convegno internazionale, Tel Aviv, 18-22 giugno 1995. [Pubblicazioni degli Archivi di Stato, Saggi 47.] (Rome: Ministero per i Beni Culturali e Ambientali , Ufficio Centrale per i Beni Archivistici. 1998. Pp. 307. Paperback.) This volume contains the proceedings of an international conference held at Tel Aviv under the joint auspices of the Italian government's Ministero per i Beni culturali e ambientali and the Universities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The present installment of Italiafudaica, concerned with Jews in the Papal States until the establishment of the Roman ghetto in 1555, is the sixth in a series that dates back to the first congress held at Bari in May, 1981. Fifteen papers were presented at the conference in Tel Aviv, but two, by Mich èle Luzzati onJews in Bologna and by A. Toaff on the Jewish bank in Umbría, are not included. English and Italian are the official languages of the volume...