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Concept
Clonard Abbey
Summary
Clonard Abbey (Irish, Cluain Eraird, or Cluain Iraird, "Erard's Meadow") was an early medieval monastery situated on the River Boyne in Clonard, County Meath, Ireland.
The monastery was founded in about 520 by Saint Finnian, who initially constructed a single cell at the site. The original site may have been at nearby Ard Relec. According to medieval chronicles, Finnian was led to the site by an angel who told him that it would be the place of his resurrection. He was well-travelled, and based his monastery on the training he received at Tours and Llancarfan. Finnian was buried on the site after his death in about 549. During the sixth century, some of the most significant names in the history of Irish Christianity (who would go on to be known as the Twelve Apostles of Ireland) studied at the monastery.
Clonard was situated on the Esker Riada, Ireland's main east-west road in early medieval times, adding to its prominence. However, it was also on the boundary between the kingdoms of Leinster and Meath that were occasionally at war.
From the eighth century onwards, Clonard came under the control of various rival political dynasties, and by the mid-ninth century, it was the leading church of the Irish midlands. The abbot of Clonard led the clergy of the midlands in the same fashion that the abbot of Armagh led those in the north. During its heyday, a hymn written in Finnian's honour claimed that the monastery's school housed 3,000 pupils receiving religious instruction at any given time.
A great part of the abbey erected by St. Finian was burnt in 764. Like many monastic sites in Ireland, Clonard suffered heavy losses under the Viking raids of the ninth through eleventh centuries. In the year 838 the Danes destroyed it and put the clergy to the sword. They returned again in 888. In 939, Ceallachan, King of Cashel, assisted by the Danes of Waterford, plundered the abbey. In 970, Donell, son of Murcha, pillaged and burnt Clonard.
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