A majestic building founded by David I in 1138
for Augustinian canons, right at the edge of his frontier with England. The
church is mostly in the Romanesque and early Gothic styles and is remarkably
complete, given the rough treatment it received over the centuries at the hands
of a succession of English invasion forces. The history of the site goes further
back than King David however. It is presumed a Christian site from the earliest
times and in 850, Bishop Ecgred of Lindisfarne
built a church hereabouts, which at some time held a shrine of importance,
according to the fine Celtic scrollwork carvings on surviving fragments of
stonework.
In the eleventh century, there is record of a church at
'Geddewerde' where
the leader of the assassins of Bishop Walcher of Durham was killed and buried.
Another glimpse of the history of the church are the finds of the 1984
excavation, now on display in the visitor centre. A beautifully carved ivory
comb, dated about 1100, together with other personal effects, were discovered
with the upper torso of a man in a sewage ditch eastwards of the Chapter house.
By King David's time, the power of the Church together with the power of the
Crown, meant an opportunity to revive the religious life in this part of his
kingdom as well as a chance to display his own wealth, piety and status. In his
travels, David had seen how in England and Europe, the two powers could
co-operate and it was also his aim to loosen the power of the Archbishop of York
over the church in Scotland. David was a genuinely religious man and founded
many other abbeys throughout his kingdom, not only Augustinian, but also
Tironensian at Selkirk and Cistercian at Melrose. In addition to the King's generous endowment at
Jedburgh, local
landowners added to the wealth and standing of the new priory, among them Ranulf
de Soules, the builder of the first stone castle at nearby Hermitage.
English noblemen across the border also donated land and parishes so that
eventually, Jedburgh possessed about twenty churches. This meant that not only
was income guaranteed, but that the Augustinian prior controlled what was
preached in the surrounding area. By the mid-twelfth century, Jedburgh's status
had been raised to that of an abbey, with dependent priories elsewhere. The
nature of the Augustinian order meant that although the brothers took the usual
monastic vows, they were not bound to the contemplative life, but went about
serving the religious needs of the community.
In 1285, Alexander III married his second wife, Yolande de
Dreux, at Jedburgh.
Before they could produce an heir however, Alexander died and Scotland was
plunged into uncertainty and before long, war. The Anglo-Scottish wars of the
late thirteenth and early fourteen centuries took a heavy toll on Jedburgh,
sited on the disputed border as it was. In 1296, Edward I of England stayed at
the abbey and appointed a pro-English abbot. However, the roof lead was stripped
in 1305 for English weaponry and the precarious political situation for the
canons meant that they fled to their lands in Yorkshire in 1312.
Once peace had been more firmly established during the
later fourteenth century, rebuilding took place at Jedburgh, in common with many
of the abbeys and castles in the north. The change in architectural style from
Romanesque round arches and zigzag carving to gothic pointed arches and delicate
tracery can be seen in the surviving church fabric. The chapter house was
enlarged, as was the cloister, but damage was done again in the early fifteenth century. The castle at Jedburgh
was destroyed in 1409 and the successive repairs around the abbey continued
until the early sixteenth century.
In 1523, the abbey was burned by the Earl of Surrey's
army and the roofs were lowered and the church's size reduced by inserting
walls. In 1544, Henry VIII's army was sent north to try to force the marriage of
the infant Queen Mary with the future Edward VI. The castle was yet again
attacked the following year and was occupied by the English in 1547. The
following year it was fortified by a French army, but by the Reformation in
1560, not much was left of the once magnificent abbey. The local parishioners
continued to use the little church within the crossing up until the end of the
nineteenth century. The north transept was walled off by the Kerr family in 1681
and used as their family burial place, a practice also visible at Dryburgh
abbey, not far away.
Jedburgh now stands overlooking, but also surrounded by
the town of Jedburgh. Unlike many abbeys, it was never a remote centre of
contemplative prayer, but had always served as the local parish church. It is
fitting that now it is the centre of attraction for tourists to the town, whose
modern quest is not for religious guidance and succour, but for the fading
history of our forebears.
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