145-475: Newbattle Abbey was a Cistercian monastery near the village of Newbattle in Midlothian , Scotland, which subsequently become a stately home and then an educational institution. It was founded in 1140 by monks from Melrose Abbey . The patron was King David I of Scotland (with his son Henry). Its church was dedicated in 1234. The abbey was burned by English royal forces in 1385 and once more in 1544. It became
290-464: A world federation as the best way to stop war, saying the division of the world into "absolutely separate sovereign states" was the "mechanical cause" of war. Kerr called for "the rule of law" to replace "the existing reign of violence" in world politics. Starting in 1923, Lothian came to feel that Germany had been "sinned against" with the Treaty of Versailles, and the entire treaty needed to be revised to
435-489: A "world state", saying the present international condition was "like that of the Western states of America in the early days...So long as independent behave like independent sovereign individuals, from time to time they will massacre each other in defense of what they believe to be their rights. And they will not cease from doing so until they agree to draw up laws which secure justice for all, to obey those laws themselves, and until
580-422: A Christian Scientist he impressed all who knew him by his deeply religious outlook and the spirituality of his character. As a young man Philip Kerr's appearance was usually untidy, to the despair of his friends, but it was redeemed by his boyish good looks and a lack of self-consciousness, typified by his arrival at Westminster Abbey, with his ermine, for the coronation of George V in a tiny Austin 7. Although he
725-589: A First in Modern History in 1904, subsequent to which, in 1904, he tried unsuccessfully for a Prize Fellowship of All Souls College, Oxford . As an undergraduate, Kerr was known for his "androgynous" good looks and by critics for being narcissistic, leading him to be given their nickname "Narcissus" at Oxford. At Oxford, Kerr acquired a life-long love of golf, and a reputation as a charming intellectual who knew how to make appealing arguments. Kerr seemed to have had no interest in romantic relationships with women, and
870-517: A century the US had practically no external problems and its primary focus was on settling and developing its vast territory. The class system virtually disappeared in the process. Lothian believed that there was a reason Britain had lagged behind in universal education and why Britain had been so much slower than the US to extend the franchise to the whole population. The higher educational system in Britain before
1015-609: A disaster not only for the Cistercians. Some historians believe that the suppression of the English monasteries may have stamped out an industrial revolution. The reformed Congregation of the Feuillants spread widely in France and Italy in the 16th century. The French congregation of Sept-Fontaines (1654) also deserves mention. In 1663 Jean de Rancé reformed La Trappe (see Trappists ). In
1160-548: A distraction from piety, and the builders of the Cistercian monasteries had to adopt a style that observed the numerous rules inspired by his austere aesthetics. However, the order itself was receptive to the technical improvements of Gothic principles of construction and played an important role in its spread across Europe. Cistercian architecture embodied the ideals of the order, and was in theory at least utilitarian and without ornamentation. The same "rational, integrated scheme"
1305-407: A former Cluniac monk, ordered him to return. The remaining monks of Cîteaux elected Alberic as their abbot, under whose leadership the abbey would find its grounding. Robert had been the idealist of the order, and Alberic was their builder. Upon assuming the role of abbot, Alberic moved the site of the fledgling community near a brook a short distance away from the original site. Alberic discontinued
1450-591: A future Abbot of Clairvaux (to be appointed in 1243), Stephen was one of the outstanding figures in 13th-century Cistercian history, having founded the College of St. Bernard in Paris in 1244. He found his life threatened as a result of the Irish visitations: his representatives were attacked and his party harassed, while the three key houses of Mellifont, Suir and Maigue had been fortified by monks to hold out against him. However, with
1595-516: A journal called The States that was published in both English and Afrikaans that urged for the federation of the four colonies and Dominion status. Kerr defined the purpose of The States as allowing "...for the South Africans to join in a state and became a nation". However, the Afrikaners would not accept a federation and instead preferred an unitary state as the greater number of Afrikaners vs.
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#17330861205911740-418: A keen inquiring mind; informal in manner, unprejudiced and unconventional, courageously determined to follow his own line, he was always, as his friend Lionel Curtis put it, breaking new ground. Though not easy to know intimately, owing to an ingrained detachment and elusiveness, he was remarkable for his unselfish kindness and his loyalty in friendship. Whether in his early years as a Catholic or later years as
1885-699: A large number of men from knightly families, and when King Alfonso VII began looking for a military order to defend the Calatrava , which had been recovered from the Moors a decade before, the Cistercian Abbot Raymond of Fitero offered his help. Lay brothers were to be employed as "soldiers of the Cross" to defend Calatrava. The initial successes of the new order in the Spanish Reconquista were convincing, and
2030-595: A major role in the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920) . After succeeding a cousin in the marquessate in 1930, he held junior ministerial offices in the Lords from 1931 to 1932 in the National Government , headed by Ramsay MacDonald . In the 1930s, Lothian promoted entente with Germany, and was considered by critics as a leading advocate of appeasement of Germany but his role was more complex than that. He felt
2175-644: A meeting in London in January 1910, Kerr called for "an organic union to be brought about by the establishment of an imperial government constitutionally responsible to all the electors of the Empire, and with the power to act directly on individual citizens". In November 1910, after Kerr became the first editor of The Round Table Journal , it attracted much attention with its plans to turn the empire into an imperial federation. In his article After Four Months of War that appeared in
2320-678: A military alliance with Britain and the United States. However, the American Senate failed to ratify the alliance, which became moot as a result. Besides for the Rhineland issue, Kerr was highly concerned that the United States would not join the League of Nations as several senators felt the covenant of the league would threaten American sovereignty. To ensure the American Senate would vote to join
2465-578: A new era when he entered the monastery in the early 1110s with 30 companions. By the end of the 12th century, the order had spread throughout most of Europe. The keynote of Cistercian life was a return to literal observance of the Benedictine Rule. The reform-minded monks tried to live monastic life as they thought it had been in Benedict 's time; at various points they went beyond it in austerity. They returned to manual labour, especially agricultural work in
2610-535: A pair of large octagonal 17th century sundials. The main abbey remains lie buried to the west and north of the original house. King George IV visited during his Scottish tour of 1822 and the King's Gate was built in his honour. Newbattle Abbey remained the home of the Marquesses of Lothian until being given to the nation in 1937 by Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian , to be used as a College of Education. The college
2755-622: A pariah in Europe". Though Lothian wrote in 1933 "like most Liberals, I loathe the Nazi regime", but also felt that "the first condition to reform it is that we should be willing to do justice to Germany". In a speech delivered in Nottingham on Armistice Day 1933 Lothian declared that "in part, at any rate, that [Nazi] regime is the product of our own conduct". Lothian claimed that Nazi Germany did not want to "incorporate other races into itself.... [Nazism
2900-502: A plot of marshland just south of Dijon called Cîteaux ( Latin: "Cistercium". Cisteaux means reeds in Old French ), given to them expressly for the purpose of founding their Novum Monasterium . During the first year, the monks set about constructing malodging areas and farming the lands of Cîteaux, making use of a nearby chapel for Mass . In Robert's absence from Molesme, however, the abbey had gone into decline, and Pope Urban II ,
3045-437: A private citizen who found much that was admirable about Nazi Germany. Speaking on 24 June 1933, at Gresham's School , Lothian said, "There probably never was a time of more uncertainty in the world than today. Every kind of political and economic philosophy is seeking approbation, and there is every kind of uncertainty about social and personal habits". Lothian as part of his anti-Versailles lobbying had come into contact in
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#17330861205913190-491: A secular lordship for the last commendator, Mark Kerr (Ker) in 1587. Newbattle Abbey was a filiation of Melrose Abbey (itself a daughter of Rievaulx Abbey ) and was situated, according to Cistercian usages, in a beautiful valley along the River South Esk . Rudolph, its first abbot, a strict and severe observer of the rule, devoted himself energetically to the erection of proper buildings. The church, cruciform in shape,
3335-826: A simpler lifestyle began in 17th-century France at La Trappe Abbey , and became known as the Trappists . They were eventually consolidated in 1892 into a new order called the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance , abbreviated as OCSO. The Cistercians who remained within the Order of Cistercians are called the Cistercians of the Common Observance (OCist). In 1098, a Benedictine abbot , Robert of Molesme , left Molesme Abbey in Burgundy with around 20 supporters, who felt that
3480-682: A tract of wild, afforested land known as a refuge for robbers, forty miles east of Troyes , to the order. Bernard, 25 years old at the time, led twelve other monks there, and they founded the Abbey of Clairvaux . The abbey soon attracted zealous young men. At this point, Cîteaux had four daughter houses: Pontigny , Morimond , La Ferté and Clairvaux. In the 1130s and 1140s, the Cistercians expanded into "an order of immense size" by incorporating independent religious communities. The most foundations made by any Cistercian monastery came from Clairvaux. Rein Abbey
3625-479: A vast tide of strongly individual pioneers. It needed to prepare them for the great expansion and development within the US borders, not only those who originated primarily from the Eastern States but the enormous numbers coming from Europe, and for a civilised life – roads, railways, automobiles, factories, law courts, churches and so on. He thought that it was their vigour that propelled the nation to greatness. For
3770-420: A wasteland. In an attempt to secure more reparations for Britain, Lloyd George demanded that German reparations also go to paying for all the pensions of the veterans, widows and orphans for the entire British empire, a demand that caused the breakdown on any sort of agreement on reparations. The draft version of the Treaty of Versailles, which Kerr drafted, spoke of compensation for German "invasions"; Kerr had
3915-520: A weekend to the Hotel d'Angleterre in the Paris suburb of Fontainebleau together with Kerr and his closest advisers to discuss what peace terms should be sought with the main fear being of driving Germany towards Soviet Russia. In March 1919, Kerr was then the man who wrote the Fontainebleau Memorandum setting out more moderate British goals at the peace conference. Kerr always regretted that
4060-514: Is a] national movement against internal disunity". He also claimed that the Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance was encircling Germany and that, deprived of an alliance with Austria-Hungary, the Polish corridor and many of its pre-1914 fortresses, Germany was weakened strategically and had good reason to pursue rearmament. Nazi repression of domestic enemies, Jews and Social Democrats ,
4205-571: The Round Table Journal , which he continued to edit until 1916 and thereafter remained on its Moot (editorial board). It became a highly influential international quarterly during the inter-war years. After Lothian inherited Blickling Hall in Norfolk in 1930, the members of the Moot would often meet as his guests there with their wives for a few days or a weekend to agree on the editorial content. At
4350-456: The Black Monks . Cistercian influence more than kept pace with the material expansion. St. Bernard had become mentor to popes and kings, and in 1145, King Louis VII 's brother, Henry of France , entered Clairvaux. That same year, Bernard saw one of his monks elected pope as Pope Eugene III . Eugene was an Italian of humble background, who had first been drawn to monasticism at Clairvaux by
4495-683: The Boleyn and Hobart families (where Anne Boleyn , mother of Queen Elizabeth I , was thought to have been born) it had come into the possession of the Kerrs by marriage. In May of the following year he was made a Deputy lieutenant of Midlothian . After the formation of the National Government in August 1931, Lothian was appointed in the Lords as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster by Ramsay MacDonald . In November of
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4640-569: The Cluniac communities had abandoned the rigours and simplicity of the Rule of St. Benedict . Chief among Robert's followers included Alberic , a former hermit from the nearby forest of Colan, and Stephen Harding , a young monk from England. Stephen had experienced the monastic traditions of the Camaldolese and Vallombrosians before joining Molesme Abbey. On 21 March 1098, Robert's small group acquired
4785-454: The Commonwealth countries , including Canada, Australia, South Africa and a host of other countries intimately, including the United States and India, and therefore had more first-hand knowledge and understanding of them all than almost certainly any man alive at the time. He spent nearly as much time away from Britain as in it for many years (travel then being by ship between continents before
4930-506: The Cârța Monastery . By the end of the 13th century, the Cistercian houses numbered 500. In this period, the monks performed pastoral tasks in and outside of the monastery and began preaching and teaching, even though their movement originally forbade schools and parishes. At the order's height in the 15th century, it would have nearly 750 houses. It often happened that the number of lay brothers became excessive and out of proportion to
5075-599: The Milner's Kindergarten , Kerr rejected the original British plan for the cultural genocide of the Afrikaners by forcing them to speak English regardless if they wanted to or not. Instead, he advocated reconciliation with the moderate Afrikaner nationalists led by Jan Smuts and Louis Botha . Kerr envisioned the new nation of South Africa as a federation where the Anglos (South African whites of British descent) would share power with
5220-598: The Order of Cistercians ( Latin : (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis , abbreviated as OCist or SOCist ), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict , as well as the contributions of the highly-influential Bernard of Clairvaux , known as the Latin Rule . They are also known as Bernardines , after Saint Bernard, or as White Monks , in reference to
5365-550: The Zbraslav abbey (Latin: Aula Regia , "Royal Hall"), founded in 1292 by the King of Bohemia and Poland , Wenceslas II . The order also played the main role in the early Gothic art of Bohemia; one of the outstanding pieces of Cistercian architecture is the Alt-neu Shul , Prague. The first abbey in the present day Romania was founded on 1179, at Igris (Egres) , and the second on 1204,
5510-534: The transepts for private prayer, and an aisled nave that was divided roughly in the middle by a screen to separate the monks from the lay brothers. The building projects of the Church in the High Middle Ages showed that the era encourage colossal architecture, with vast amounts of stone being quarried; the same was true of the Cistercian projects. Foigny Abbey was 98 metres (322 ft) long, and Vaucelles Abbey
5655-420: The "second Foreign Office", Henry Wilson called Kerr a "poisonous" influence on Lloyd George while Maurice Hankey described Kerr as Lloyd George's "watch dog". The historians Michael Dockrill and John Turner wrote: It is difficult to determine precisely the impact of Kerr's advice on the course of British policy. But from the testimony of contemporaries, from Lloyd George's replies to Kerr's letters, and from
5800-592: The 11th Marquess of Lothian and thus entered the House of Lords . On hearing that his succession was imminent, when he had much other work in hand connected with politics and the Rhodes Trust, his first remark was that life was just one damned thing after another. He felt no vocation for the management of several large estates in different parts of Britain and a peerage had little appeal to him as he felt it would adversely differentiate him from his fellow men in his work and it
5945-432: The 16th century shows monks working alongside other craftsmen at Schönau Abbey . Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian Philip Henry Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian , KT , CH , PC , DL (18 April 1882 – 12 December 1940) was a British politician, diplomat and newspaper editor. He was private secretary to Prime Minister David Lloyd George between 1916 and 1921 and as such played
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6090-437: The 17th century another great effort at a general reform was made, promoted by the pope and the king of France; the general chapter elected Richelieu to be (commendatory) abbot of Cîteaux, thinking he would protect them from the threatened reform. In this they were disappointed, for he threw himself wholly on the side of reform. A formidable battle ensued, making it clear that Italian and Central European abbeys did not want to go
6235-570: The 18th–19th centuries. The first Cistercian abbey in Bohemia was founded in Sedlec near Kutná Hora in 1142. In the late 13th century and early 14th century, the Cistercian order played an essential role in the politics and diplomacy of the late Přemyslid and early Luxembourg state, as reflected in the Chronicon Aulae Regiae . This chronicle was written by Otto and Peter of Zittau , abbots of
6380-604: The 1920s with Dr. Margarete Gartner of the Rheinische Frauenliga . Gartner was one of the leading promoters of the " Black Horror on the Rhine " story, which was intended to discredit both the Treaty of Versailles and France in particular. The "Black Horror on the Rhine" allegations – despite being mostly false – had done much to shift British sympathies away from France, which was accused of letting Senegalese soldiers engage in gross sexual violence against German women in
6525-544: The Afrikaners. The black and Asian populations of South Africa were completely excluded from the political progress-the moderate Afrikaner nationalists were prepared to allow " coloureds " (the South African term for mixed race people) the right to vote, a concession opposed by the more extreme Afrikaner nationalists. Inspired by The Federalist Papers that led to the modern American constitution , Kerr founded in December 1908
6670-569: The Anglo-Norman invasion gives a rather gloomy impression. Absenteeism among Irish abbots at the General Chapter became a persistent and much criticised problem in the 13th century, and escalated into the conspiratio Mellifontis , a "rebellion" by the abbeys of the Mellifont filiation. Visitors were appointed to reform Mellifont on account of the multa enormia that had arisen there, but in 1217
6815-637: The Anglos would ensure the former would dominate South Africa rather than the latter. On 31 May 1910, the Cape Colony, Natal, the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal were merged into the new nation of South Africa, which was granted Dominion status. In September 1909, Kerr took part in the conference at Plas Newydd that led to the Round Table movement . He returned to England in 1910 to found and edit
6960-511: The Axis states for a variety of reasons, many quite pragmatic, and the enthusiasts for Nazi Germany, which he described a group of upper-class individuals who acting on their own as private citizens sought better relations with the Third Reich, usually for ideological reasons. Griffins defined Lothian as an enthusiast for Nazi Germany rather than an appeaser, noting his actions were undertaken as those of
7105-505: The Cistercian white mantle with the scarlet cross fleurdelisée . Calatrava was not subject to Cîteaux, but to Fitero's mother-house, the Abbey of Morimond in Burgundy. By the end of the 13th century, the knights had become a major autonomous power within the Castilian state, subject only to Morimond and the pope. They had abundant resources of men and wealth, lands and castles scattered along
7250-684: The Cistercians and founded a new order, named the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance. The Cistercians that remained within the original order thus came to be known as the "Common Observance". Cistercian architecture has made an important contribution to European civilisation. Cistercian foundations were primarily constructed in Romanesque and Gothic architecture during the Middle Ages; although later abbeys were also constructed in Renaissance and Baroque . St. Bernard saw church decoration as
7395-523: The December 1914 edition of The Round Table , Kerr called for "the voluntary federation of all free civilised states" as the best way to end war forever. In September 1915 edition of The Round Table in an article entitled The End of War , Kerr again called for a "world state" that would be "a responsible and representative political authority" for the entire world as the best way to end the war. In June 1916 edition of The Round Table , Kerr in his article The principle of Peace , Kerr repeated his call for
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#17330861205917540-413: The Elbe. They developed grants of territories of 180,000 acres where they would drain land, build monasteries and plan villages. Many towns near Berlin owe their origins to this order, including Heiligengrabe and Chorin ; its Chorin Abbey was the first brick-built monastery in the area. By this time, however, "the Cistercian order as a whole had experienced a gradual decline and its central organisation
7685-412: The English improved the standing of the Cistercian Order in Ireland with nine foundations: Dunbrody Abbey , Inch Abbey , Grey Abbey , Comber Abbey , Duiske Abbey , Abington, Abbeylara and Tracton . This last abbey was founded in 1225 from Whitland Abbey in Wales, and at least in its earliest years, its monks were Welsh-speaking . By this time, another ten abbeys had been founded by Irishmen since
7830-434: The First World War had largely been confined to the possessing classes because of Britain's focus on its overseas territories. These amounted to one quarter of the world at the time. Because of this, British governments had believed that training people for overseas duties was their priority. Also, that the electorate was expected to be educated if it was to come to reasonably sensible judgements about these external problems and
7975-425: The Foreign Office wherever he could and used his own staff of bright young men. The bureaucrats particularly resented his private secretary, the high minded, religious and arrogant Philip Kerr. Because Lloyd George hated reading memos, he delegated the task to Kerr, who then discussed whatever information he thought pertinent with the prime minister. Kerr came to be Lloyd George's "gatekeeper", deciding what information
8120-437: The French plans to separate the Rhineland from the Reich as "unreasonable", writing in a letter to Lloyd George on 3 March 1919 he favoured peace "terms which gave the German people some hope and some independence". Ultimately, the French accepted the Rhineland would remain part of Germany in exchange for keeping the Rhineland demilitarised , under Allied occupation for 15 years (though the occupation actually ended in 1930) and
8265-510: The Irish-establishment of Abbeyknockmoy in County Galway was founded by King of Connacht , Cathal Crobhdearg Ua Conchobair , who died a Cistercian monk and was buried there in 1224. By 1152, there were 54 Cistercian monasteries in England, few of which had been founded directly from the Continent. Overall, there were 333 Cistercian abbeys in Europe, so many that a halt was put to this expansion. Nearly half of these houses had been founded, directly or indirectly, from Clairvaux, so great
8410-572: The League of Nations, Kerr favoured changing the covenant to address the concerns of the Senate, advice that was not followed and led to the Senate rejecting joining the League. In March 1919, the proclamation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic led by Bela Kun in response to the Vix Note shocked the British delegation, which became very concerned that harsh peace terms might led to the German Communists taking power. The British delegation saw Soviet Russia as its principal concern, which governed their attitude towards Germany. Lloyd George retired for
8555-459: The National Trust known as the Country Houses Scheme. In 1937, three years before his death, Lothian gave Newbattle Abbey to the nation to be used as a College of Adult Education. On his death Lothian bequeathed his Norfolk country home Blickling Hall to the National Trust. Lothian believed that Germany had been treated unfairly by the Treaty of Versailles and regretted that reparations had been set too harshly. Lothian had always regretted that
8700-460: The Peace Pact; but it was desirable to revise the Covenant and the Lucarno treaties ' (these treaties were essentially an attempt to guarantee the European nations' borders as agreed in the Treaty of Versailles ). In December 1916, Kerr was appointed David Lloyd George 's private secretary and was active in the Paris Peace Conference . As the right-hand man to Lloyd George, Kerr became well known in his own right. In Paris, Lloyd George ignored
8845-442: The Peace settlement, he thought was a great mistake and gave rise to an enormous festering resentment in Germany. Hitler was later able to exploit this to the hilt in his rise to power. Lothian therefor became a steadfast advocate of revising the Treaty in Germany's favour throughout the 1920s until March 1939, a policy often now known as appeasement . Claud Cockburn , the communist journalist and Stalin propagandist, claimed Lothian
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#17330861205918990-475: The Rhineland, and towards Germany. Gartner continued to serve the new regime in Germany and in late 1933 she set up an Anglo-German Study Group, whose chairman was Lord Allen and which Lothian was a founding member. Through the study group, Lothian met Philip Conwell-Evans, a "rather shadowy" British historian who was to serve as his main contact with the Nazi regime. Lothian was close to the South African politician Jan Christian Smuts , and like Smuts he thought
9135-436: The Rhineland. On one occasion the abbot of La Trinité at Vendôme loaned a monk named John to the Bishop of Le Mans , Hildebert de Lavardin , for the building of a cathedral; after the project was completed, John refused to return to his monastery. However, the monks did not construct their edifices alone. As early as 1133, St. Bernard was hiring workers to help the monks erect new buildings at Clairvaux. An illustration from
9280-412: The Rhodes Trust, multiplied as time went on...but he was always accessible and he had the gift of concentrating into a few hours work which would have taken most people as many days.' Lothian held a profound admiration for the democratic foundations upon which the United States was built which had led to a society of opportunity. He felt, like Gladstone, and indeed Churchill, that the US Constitution
9425-433: The Rule of St. Benedict and never required a vow of silence . In the year of 1113, a charismatic young Burgundinian nobleman named Bernard arrived at Cîteaux with 35 of his relatives and friends to join the monastery. As Bernard's fame grew, the Cistercian movement grew with it. A supremely eloquent, strong-willed mystic, Bernard was to become the most admired churchman of his age. In 1115, Count Hugh of Champagne gave
9570-481: The Treaty of Versailles was amoral because it was based on the "lie" that Germany started the war in 1914, which Kerr claimed was the work of many states. In 1925 Kerr was appointed General Secretary of the Rhodes Trust . He admired Rhodes ideal to promote 'the union of the English speaking peoples' to render war impossible and to achieve these purposes by providing a liberal education for young men of promise – and at Oxford – such ends and such means were entirely after
9715-409: The Treaty of Versailles was too harsh while also tending to think in terms of the British empire rather than Britain. Like Smuts, Lothian was mainly concerned about the possibility of a German-Japanese alliance, which might bring down the British empire, leading Lothian to write: " We must prevent a Japanese-German combination, which will be fatal. And this can only be done by ceasing to treat Germany as
9860-403: The United States.' Kerr was born in London as the eldest son of Major-General Lord Ralph Kerr, who was the third son of John Kerr, 7th Marquess of Lothian . His mother was Lady Anne Fitzalan-Howard, the daughter of Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 14th Duke of Norfolk , by the Honourable Augusta Mary Minna Catherine Lyons , the daughter of Vice-Admiral Edmund Lyons, 1st Baron Lyons . Kerr
10005-454: The Welsh stock-rearing economy. In Yorkshire , Rievaulx Abbey was founded from Clairvaux in 1131, on a small, isolated property donated by Walter Espec , with the support of Thurstan , Archbishop of York . By 1143, three hundred monks had entered Rievaulx, including the famous St Ælred . It was from Rievaulx that a foundation was made at Melrose , which became the earliest Cistercian monastery in Scotland . Located in Roxburghshire , it
10150-431: The abbot refused their admission and had lay brothers bar the abbey gates. There was also trouble at Jerpoint, and alarmingly, the abbots of Baltinglass, Killenny, Kilbeggan and Bective supported the actions of the "revolt". In 1228, the General Chapter sent the Abbot of Stanley in Wiltshire , Stephen of Lexington , on a well-documented visitation to reform the Irish houses. A graduate of both Oxford and Paris , and
10295-438: The age of air travel). His colleagues universally praised his Rhodes tenure on his leaving his post on his appointment as British Ambassador in Washington Sir Carleton Allen , the Oxford Warden of the Rhodes Trust, gave an interesting insight into Lothian. He said of him 'I have known few men who possessed, besides great charm of character and sympathy, a quicker grasp of essentials. His interests and responsibilities outside
10440-514: The amount of war reparations that were imposed on Germany after the Great War had not been more generously set during the Paris Peace conference itself in 1919 when he and the world leaders were still there. Their severity was left to be decided afterwards by a separate international commission. The onerousness of these terms, when they were finally set, combined with the loss of German territories under
10585-408: The amount of war reparations that were imposed on Germany after the Great War had not been more generously set during the Paris Peace conference itself in 1919 when he and the world leaders were still there. Their severity was left to be decided afterwards by a separate international commission. The onerousness of these terms, which he thought was a great mistake when they were finally set, combined with
10730-507: The arrangement was approved by the General Chapter at Cîteaux and successive popes; the Knights of Calatrava were given a definitive rule in 1187, modeled upon the Cistercian rule for lay brothers, which included the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience ; specific rules of silence; abstinence on four days a week; the recitation of a fixed number of Pater Nosters daily; to sleep in their armour ; and to wear, as their full dress,
10875-520: The book Science and Health with the Key to the Scriptures , Kerr converted to Christian Science . Kerr had contradictory impulses, combining what he considered to a "rational" approach to politics with a strong reverence for science together with a mystical, transcendent side of his personality that longed for something spiritual; the religion of Christian Science allowed him to combine his mysticism and belief in
11020-489: The borders of Castile, and feudal lordship over thousands of peasants and vassals. On more than one occasion, the Order of Calatrava brought to the field a force of 1200 to 2000 knights – considerable in medieval terms. Over time, as the Reconquista neared completion, the canonical bond between Calatrava and Morimond relaxed more and more, and the knights of the order became virtually secularized, finally undergoing dissolution in
11165-443: The chapel and cloisters and some associated buildings, is now a designated scheduled monument . Part of the abbey was converted into a house which survives at the core of the current building. The house incorporates part of the south end of the monastic range, with the dorter undercroft intact. The house was modified and rebuilt successively by John Mylne in 1650, William Burn in 1836 and David Bryce in 1858. The drawing room
11310-449: The college to survive. [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). " Newbattle ". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company. 55°52′58″N 3°04′02″W / 55.88278°N 3.06722°W / 55.88278; -3.06722 Cistercians The Cistercians ( / s ɪ ˈ s t ɜːr ʃ ən z / ), officially
11455-477: The colour of their cowl , as opposed to the black cowl worn by Benedictines. The term Cistercian derives from Cistercium, the Latin name for the locale of Cîteaux, near Dijon in eastern France. It was here that a group of Benedictine monks from the monastery of Molesme founded Cîteaux Abbey in 1098. The first three abbots were Robert of Molesme , Alberic of Cîteaux and Stephen Harding . Bernard helped launch
11600-636: The editor of The Daily Chronicle , a newspaper that Lloyd George had purchased in 1918. As editor, Kerr favoured the Liberals in his leaders (editorials). Kerr was a director of United Newspapers from 1921 to 1922. In August 1922, Kerr delivered three lectures at the Institute for Politics in Williamstown, Massachusetts entitled On the Prevention of War . In his lectures, Kerr repeated his favourite theme of
11745-445: The end they prospered. Already by 1152, Fountains had many offshoots, including Newminster Abbey (1137) and Meaux Abbey (1151). In the spring of 1140, Saint Malachy , the archbishop of Armagh, visited Clairvaux, becoming a personal friend of Abbot Bernard and an admirer of Cistercian life. He left four of his companions to be trained as Cistercians, and returned to Ireland to introduce Cistercian monasticism there. Mellifont Abbey
11890-418: The fields. The Cistercians made major contributions to culture and technology: Cistercian architecture has been recognized as a notable form of medieval architecture , and the Cistercians were the main force of technological diffusion in fields such as agriculture and hydraulic engineering . Over the centuries, education and scholarship came to dominate the life of many monasteries. A reform movement seeking
12035-560: The final version speak of German "aggression" as part of the British bid to secure more reparations at the expense of France. On 18 February 1919, Kerr advised Lloyd George that the only way to persuade the French to drop their demand for severing the Rhineland from Germany would be for an Anglo-American commitment to defend France against renewed German aggression. Kerr was very strongly opposed to
12180-567: The franchise had thus been limited. Basically, this small island's development was all overseas and throughout the British Empire whereas the United States’ great expansion and development had been within its own borders by homesteaders and entrepreneurs. Things began to change in Britain as its wealth and overseas power began to wane. After the First War higher education was extended. Earlier when
12325-423: The full observance of the Cistercian way of life, safeguard monastic properties, initiate a regime of benign paternalism to train a new generation of religious, isolate trouble-makers and institute an effective visitation system." The arrangement lasted almost half a century, and in 1274, the filiation of Mellifont was reconstituted. In Germany the Cistercians were instrumental in the spread of Christianity east of
12470-431: The future course of western monachism . From one point of view, it may be regarded as a compromise between the primitive Benedictine system, in which each abbey was autonomous and isolated, and the centralization of Cluny . The Cistercians maintained the independence of individual houses: each abbey had its own abbot, elected by its own monks, and its own property and finances administered without outside interference. On
12615-557: The general secretary of the Rhodes Trust, where he met Philip Conwell-Evans, a pro-Nazi British historian who lectured on German history at the University of Königsberg in Königsberg (modern Kaliningrad, Russia). Conwell-Evans was an associate of Joachim von Ribbentrop , the special Ambassador-At-Large, and through him Lothian met Ribbentrop. Through Ribbentrop, Lothian was able to meet Hitler on 19 January 1935 with Conwell-Evans serving as
12760-486: The harshness of the ultimate German reparations in the Treaty of Versailles had been a great mistake. He also emphasised the dangers of Stalin 's communism . He changed his mind about Hitler's intentions on reading a English translation of Mien Kampf . He then felt war was inevitable and it was vital that Britain speed up re-armament as their armed forces were not a match for Hitler's at the time. From 1939 to his death, he
12905-490: The help of his assistants, the core of obedient Irish monks and the aid of both English and Irish secular powers, he was able to envisage the reconstruction of the Cistercian province in Ireland. Stephen dissolved the Mellifont filiation altogether, and subjected 15 monasteries to houses outside Ireland. In breadth and depth, his instructions constituted a radical reform programme: "They were intended to put an end to abuses, restore
13050-410: The initiative passed to the mendicant orders , in Ireland, Wales and elsewhere. Relaxations were gradually introduced into Cistercian life with regard to diet and simplicity of life. Also, they began accepting the traditional sources of income that monks in comparable orders used: like rents, tolls, and benefices. The agricultural operations were blessed by success. Wealth and splendour characterized
13195-569: The invasion, bringing the total number of Cistercian houses in Ireland to 31. This was almost half the number of those in England, but it was about thrice the number in each of Scotland and Wales. Most of these monasteries enjoyed either noble, episcopal or royal patronage. In 1269, the Archbishop of Cashel joined the order and established a Cistercian house at the foot of the Rock of Cashel in 1272. Similarly,
13340-531: The loss of German territories under the Peace settlement, gave rise to a festering resentment in Germany. Hitler was able to exploit this to the hilt in his rise to power. At the Paris peace conference, Kerr befriended and got to know many delegates. He developed lasting friendships and influence with most of the world leaders; not just British; going back to Woodrow Wilson , Georges Clemenceau and Jan Smuts and many of
13485-454: The magnetism of Bernard. At the time of his election, he was Abbot of Saints Vincenzo and Anastasio outside Rome. A considerable reinforcement to the Order was the merger of the Savigniac houses with the Cistercians, at the insistence of Eugene III . Thirteen English abbeys, of which the most famous were Furness Abbey and Jervaulx Abbey , thus adopted the Cistercian formula. In Dublin ,
13630-460: The monasteries, so that by 1300, the standard of living in most abbeys was comparable, if not higher, than the standards middling nobles enjoyed. Two important papal bulls tried to introduce reforms: Clement IV's Parvus fons and Benedict XII's Fulgens sicut stella matutina . The General Chapter continued to battle against abuses. In Ireland, the information on the Cistercian Order after
13775-594: The monastery was again destroyed by the Earl of Hertford, but the destruction seems to have been chiefly confined to the church. At the time of the Reformation but few of the monks remained, and these were pensioned by the commendator , Mark Kerr. Kerr made a timely conversion to Protestantism and was able to retain the lands around the abbey. His son, also Mark , became Lord Newbattle in 1596 and Earl of Lothian in 1606. The monastery site, including burial grounds, traces of
13920-464: The nations of the earth are willing to be united into a World State". In a June 1933 article in the Round Table Lothian had urged that nations should be on their guard ' for history warns us that dictatorships and brutality and worship of force at home tend in due time express themselves also in foreign affairs. ' For the moment the essential thing was to support the League of Nations and
14065-787: The new Secretary's heart. He remained Secretary until his departure for Washington as Ambassador in 1939. As such he travelled widely in expanding the Rhodes Scholarships .The added international contact during the many years he headed up the Rhodes Trust from 1925 to 1939 gave him unparalleled familiarity with leading individuals in his travels throughout the world (mostly on behalf of the Rhodes Scholarship scheme and its expansion). The former Rhodes scholars in their own nations were an important source to Lothian and almost all doors were opened to him. This experience resulted in wide international contacts and insight. He therefore got to know all
14210-464: The order accepted developed land and relocated the serfs elsewhere. The outlines of the Cistercian reform were adumbrated by Alberic, but it received its final form in the Carta caritatis ( Charter of Charity ), which was the defining guide on how the reform was to be lived. This document governed the relations between the various houses of the Cistercian order, and exercised a great influence also upon
14355-753: The original vertical descent of authority produced "a system of centralized national control" much closer to that of the Premonstratensians or mendicants . The first Cistercian house to be established in Britain, a monastery at Waverley Abbey , Surrey, was founded by William Gifford, Bishop of Winchester in 1128. It was founded with 12 monks and an abbot from L'Aumône Abbey , in the South of France. By 1187 there were 70 monks and 120 lay brothers in residence. Thirteen Cistercian monasteries, all in remote locations, were founded in Wales between 1131 and 1226. The first of these
14500-787: The other delegates. One in particular a member of the American delegation, the Assistant Navy Secretary and a rising star in the Democratic Party, Franklin D. Roosevelt , later became an important factor in his career when Roosevelt was elected president in 1932. After the Peace Conference, Kerr was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in March 1920. In March 1921, Kerr left Lloyd George's service to become
14645-459: The other hand, all the abbeys were subjected to the General Chapter , the constitutional body which exercised vigilance over the order. Made up of all the abbots, the General Chapter met annually in mid-September at Cîteaux . Attendance was compulsory, with the abbot of Cîteaux presiding. He was to enforce conformity to Cîteaux in all details of monastic observance, liturgy, and customs. Cîteaux
14790-438: The political party system took hold, the parties had taken on, in their own interest, the responsibility of educating the electorate on matters of policy. So, the franchise was extended. In October 1911, Kerr suffered a nervous breakdown. During a visit to India in 1912, Kerr intensely studied the religions of the sub-continent such as Hinduism , which reflected his increasing disenchantment with Catholicism . After reading
14935-476: The principal sources of income was the coal mines in its possession, for these monks were among the first, if not the first, coal miners in Scotland. The earliest mention of coal in Scotland is to be found in a charter of an Earl of Winchester , granting to them a coal mine. In 1526 King James V granted them a petition to build a harbour at Morrison's Haven , and it is from this date that Aitchison's Haven Lodge
15080-478: The resources of the monasteries, there being sometimes as many as 200, or even 300, in a single abbey. On the other hand, in some countries, the system of lay brothers in course of time worked itself out; thus in England by the close of the 14th century it had shrunk to relatively small proportions, and in the 15th century the regimen of the English Cistercian houses tended to approximate more and more to that of
15225-440: The rivalry with the famous Benedictine abbey of Cluny, where wealth and excess were said to have set in. Harding acquired land for the abbey to develop to ensure its survival and ethic. As to grants of land, the order would normally accept only undeveloped land, which the monks then developed by their own labour. For this they developed over time a very large component of uneducated lay brothers known as conversi . In some cases,
15370-423: The same year he became Under-Secretary of State for India , a post he held until 1932, when he was replaced by Rab Butler . When he was Under-Secretary of State for India, he went to see Gandhi in that vastly populated nation. He slept on the ground under the stars as Gandhi's guest at his compound while they discussed the future of democracy for that land, with its many religions and diverse population. Lothian
15515-515: The save the peace of the world. Kerr's moralism led him to become "obsessed" with the notion of Germany as a victim. On 30 October 1929, in a speech entitled Democracy, nationality and international unity that he delivered in Hamburg at the Institut für Außenpolitik , Kerr declared: "The wartime thesis that one nation was solely responsible for the war is clearly untrue". In the same speech, Kerr claimed
15660-650: The scene of violence and destabilization following Martin Luther 's efforts to gain independence from the Vatican. Many abbeys lost scores of monks, as these left religious life in order to marry. Monastic property was confiscated by nobles who saw an opportunity to proift from the chaos. During the English Reformation , Henry VIII 's Dissolution of the Monasteries saw the confiscation of evey single monastery in that country,
15805-487: The strength of the order which derived from this uniformity declined. Wars, amon them the Hundred Years' War , and a lack of leadership did damage. Many of the monasteries were controlled by dynasties who appointed their relatives to leadership positions, and pocketed the abbeys' profits. The system of placing abbeys in commendam was widespread and led to the spiritual and material decline of many abbeys. Germany became
15950-567: The supernatural together with his rationality and belief in science. The Kerr family had been brought up in the Roman Catholic Church : his grandmother was a noted convert. Kerr himself considered becoming a priest or monastic at times, but in adulthood he became disillusioned with the faith. His close friendship with Nancy Astor led to their converting to the Church of Christ, Scientist together. In March 1930 he succeeded his cousin as
16095-591: The translator. Both Ribbentrop and the Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess were also present at the Lothian-Hitler meeting, but as was usually the case, both men said little, content to allow der Führer to do most of the talking. Lothian came away from meeting Hitler deeply impressed and stayed in close contact with both Ribbentrop and Conwell-Evans thereafter. On returning to Britain after the first meeting, Lothian proclaimed: "Germany does not want war and
16240-481: The two Savigniac houses of Erenagh and St Mary's became Cistercian. It was in the latter case that medieval Dublin acquired a Cistercian monastery in the very unusual suburban location of Oxmantown , with its own private harbour called The Pill. For a hundred years, until the first quarter of the 13th century, the Cistercians supplanted Cluny as the most powerful order and the chief religious influence in western Europe. But then in turn their influence began to wane, as
16385-531: The use of Benedictine black garments in the abbey and clothed the monks in white habits of undyed wool. Alberic forged an alliance with the Dukes of Burgundy , working out a deal with Duke Odo I of Burgundy concerning the donation of a vineyard ( Meursault ) as well as materials for building the abbey church, which was consecrated on 16 November 1106 by the Bishop of Chalon sur Saône . On 26 January 1108, Alberic died and
16530-521: The way of the Trappists. Civic politics also played a role in the conflict. The Protestant Reformation , the ecclesiastical policy of Emperor Joseph II , the French Revolution , and the revolutions of the 18th century almost wholly destroyed the Cistercians. But some survived, and from the beginning of the last half of the 19th century there was a considerable recovery. In 1892, the Trappists left
16675-444: The way that Kerr's recommendations found their way into policy documents and decisions, there can be no doubt that the prime minister listened carefully to Kerr's suggestions. Kerr played a prominent role in the reparations demands on Germany. Initially, it was agreed that reparations would only go for direct war damages, which would have ensured the majority of reparations would go to France as most of northern France had turned into
16820-430: The world. In 1133, Heiligenkreuz Abbey was founded near Vienna by Morimond monks; it is (as of 2024) the largest men's abbey in Europe. The order entrusted the oversight of the English, Welsh and (intermittently) Irish abbeys to two or more abbots-commissary, thereby abrogating the famous Cistercian system of filiation: not the mother abbeys, but the abbots-commisary had full powers of visitation. This variation on
16965-610: Was Ambassador to the United States . As such he probably did more than any individual, other than Churchill , to get a neutral United States finally involved in the Second World War and he proved highly successful in winning America's support for the British war effort, especially the Lend-Lease Act , which passed Congress after his death. On his premature death as British Ambassador to Washington, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill described him as 'Our greatest ambassador to
17110-479: Was Tintern Abbey , which was sited in a remote river valley, and depended largely on its agricultural and pastoral activities for survival. Other abbeys, such as at Neath , Strata Florida , Conwy and Valle Crucis became among the most hallowed names in the history of religion in medieval Wales. Their austere discipline seemed to echo the ideals of the Celtic saints , and the emphasis on pastoral farming fit well into
17255-416: Was ‘the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man’ . The US for him was a great example of democracy for the world to build on. He admired the way the US had led the world with their remarkable development in universal education and the extension of the voting franchise. He believed it had done so because the main task of the United States had been to create and equip
17400-454: Was 132 metres (433 ft) long. Monastic buildings came to be constructed entirely of stone, right down to the most humble of buildings. In the 12th and 13th centuries, even Cistercian barns consisted had stone exteriors. The Cistercians acquired a reputation as masters in administering ecclesial construction projects. St. Bernard's own brother, Achard , is known to have supervised the construction of many abbeys, such as Himmerod Abbey in
17545-428: Was 240 feet in length, and the other buildings in proportion; at one period the community numbered as many as 80 monks and 70 lay-brothers. The abbey soon became prosperous and famous for the regularity of its members, several of whom became well-known bishops. It was especially dear to the kings of Scotland, scarcely one of whom failed to visit it from time-to-time, and they were always its generous benefactors. One of
17690-411: Was St Bernard's influence and prestige. He later came popularly to be regarded as the founder of the Cistercians, who have often been called Bernardines. Bernard died in 1153, one month after his pupil Eugene III. In 1153, the first King of Portugal, D. Afonso Henriques (Afonso, I), founded Alcobaça Monastery . The original church was replaced by the present construction from 1178. The abbey's church
17835-591: Was a key driving force behind the National Trust Act of 1937, using his position in the House of Lords to argue in favour of amendments to the Trust. He advocated permitting individuals to bequest country homes and estates to the Trust allowing descendants to pass them on to the charity without death duties and thus preserve historic national assets for the nation. This led to a huge expansion of country homes being obtained by
17980-611: Was a member of what became called " Milner's Kindergarten ", a group of colonial officers who deemed themselves reformist rather than an actual political faction. They believed the colonies should have more say in the Commonwealth . By the standards of the era, they were liberal: most of them had an interest in elevating the status of white colonials, rejected independence, and had a paternalistic view of nonwhites. Kerr became more liberal on these issues than his counterparts by admiring Gandhi and trying, if not entirely succeeding, to be more progressive than they were on racial issues. Kerr
18125-622: Was a nephew of Edmund FitzAlan-Howard, 1st Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent , and a great-nephew of Richard Lyons, 1st Viscount Lyons . Via his descent from the Lyons family , Kerr was a relative of Maine Swete Osmond Walrond (1870–1927), who was the Private Secretary to the Private Secretary to Lord Milner and a fellow member of Milner's Kindergarten . Kerr was educated at The Oratory School , Birmingham, Cardinal Newman's foundation, from 1892 to 1900, and at New College, Oxford , where he took
18270-404: Was always to be the model to which all the other houses had to conform. Cistercian monks and nuns have a reputation of cultivating solitude and silence; the great monastics have explained silence as "the language of liberation, enlightenment, or union with God." Some observers deduced, incorrectly, that Cistercians take a vow of silence. Watching over one's tongue is, however, a general theme in
18415-759: Was based in Johannesburg , where he served on the Inter-Colonial Council where he specialised in the running of the railroads. Kerr helped write the Selborne Memorandum of 1907 calling for the four colonies of the Transvaal , the Orange River Colony , Natal and the Cape Colony to be united into one and granted Dominion status as the new country of South Africa . In common with the other members of
18560-497: Was built in 1136 by King David I of Scotland , and completed in less than ten years. Another important offshoot of Rievaulx was Revesby Abbey in Lincolnshire . Fountains Abbey was founded in 1132 by discontented Benedictine monks from St. Mary's Abbey, York , who desired a return to the austere Rule of St Benedict. After many struggles and great hardships, St Bernard agreed to send a monk from Clairvaux to instruct them, and in
18705-578: Was consecrated in 1223. Two further building phases followed in order to complete the nave, leading to the final consecration of the medieval church building in 1252. As a consequence of the wars between the Christians and Moors on the Iberian Peninsula , the Cistercians established a military branch of the order in Castile in 1157: the Order of Calatrava . Membership of the Cistercian Order had included
18850-404: Was decorated by Thomas Bonnar around 1870. The 19th century chapel was created in a vaulted undercroft that may date from the original abbey buildings. The chapel includes a 16th-century font and a fine parquet floor, made using wood from the estate, in the style of original tile-work. The library is oak-lined and features a 17th-century moulded ceiling. The garden to the rear of the house includes
18995-620: Was established as a stonemason's lodge. In 1531, the Abbot of Newbattle agreed with the Abbot of Dunfermline to work his coalmine at Prestongrange so that it would drain water from the neighbouring mines (which belonged to Dunfermline Abbey ) to the sea. Newbattle suffered much from English incursions at various times, particularly in 1385 when the monastery and church were burned, and the religious either carried away or forced to flee to other monasteries; it required 40 years to repair these losses. A part of
19140-540: Was established under trustees from the four ancient Scottish Universities specifically for adults returning to education. New residential building was added in the 1960s and funding came through the Scottish Education Department . In 1987 the Secretary of State for Scotland announced the intention to withdraw funding, threatening the college with closure. However, new forms of financial support have enabled
19285-855: Was founded in County Louth in 1142 and from it daughter houses of Bective Abbey in County Meath (1147), Inislounaght Abbey in County Tipperary (1147–1148), Baltinglass in County Wicklow (1148), Monasteranenagh in County Limerick (1148), Kilbeggan in County Westmeath (1150) and Boyle Abbey in County Roscommon (1161). Following the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in the 1170s,
19430-561: Was founded in 1129 from Ebrach Abbey in Bavaria, which had been founded from Morimond Abbey in France. In 1129 Margrave Leopold the Strong of Styria granted the Bavarian monks an area of land just north of what is today the provincial capital Graz , where they founded Rein Abbey . At the time, it was the 38th Cistercian monastery founded; as of 2024, it is the oldest surviving Cistercian house in
19575-523: Was generally assumed by those who knew him to be a repressed homosexual. The historian Michael Bloch wrote that it was very unlikely that the deeply religious Kerr ever engaged in homosexual relationships, but noted that he never married. His biographer, Sir James Butler , formerly Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge described Kerr rather differently as his friends knew him: Athletic and strikingly good-looking in youth, [Kerr] possessed great charm and great ability, with
19720-659: Was in Lothian's view "largely the reflex of the external persecution to which Germans have been subjected since the war". He favoured a meeting between Hitler and the British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin and for British policy to be less pro-French, and he claimed that the League of Nations could not be restored unless Germany was given "a square deal in Central Europe". In January 1935, he went to Germany as
19865-486: Was interested in the views of any person he met regardless of his or her station. Winston Churchill wrote of him: In all the years I had known him he had given me the impression of high intellectual and aristocratic detachment from vulgar affairs. Airy, viewy, aloof, dignified, censorious, yet in a light and gay manner, he had always been good company. Kerr served in the South African government from 1905 to 1910 and
20010-406: Was normally renowned for his very fast driving of his Bentleys in which he sped around the country for his engagements and would plan for Winter, his chauffeur-valet to meet him with one whenever possible. He was also a truly classless British aristocrat - terribly unusual at the time - which was part of why he loved and so admired the democratic example that the United States had given the world. He
20155-459: Was noticeably weakened." In 1335, the French cardinal Jacques Fournier, a Cistercian monk, was elected and consecrated Pope Benedict XII . He was devoted to reducing the culture of nepotism at the Vatican. He promulgated a series of regulations to restore the spirit of reform in the Cistercian Order. By the 15th century, however, the Cistercians had fallen on dark days. The General Chapter lost virtually all its power to enforce its decrees, and
20300-566: Was now at Monteviot just south and the other side of Jedburgh . Also the twelve century Cisterian Newbattle Abbey on the bank of the South Esk (the Newbattle lands had been worked for coal since the Middle Ages and with it came ownership the mineral rights and a large part of the Lothian Coal company). Of his English properties Blickling Hall was the most important. Formerly in the possession of
20445-422: Was part of what he called the Cliveden set of so called appeasers, and cartoonist David Low drew him as one of the "Shiver Sisters" dancing to Adolf Hitler 's tune. For his commitment to appeasement, some later referred to him as "Lord Loathsome." The Anglo-Dutch historian Richard Griffiths made a distinction between appeasers, a term that he reserved for government officials who believed in appeasement of
20590-403: Was passed on to the prime minister and who was allowed to see him, making him into a man of much power. The professional diplomats muttered among themselves, and Lord Curzon, who had been left behind in London to mind the shop while Balfour, the foreign secretary, and Lloyd George, the prime minister, were in Paris, was pained. The prime minister paid no attention. Lord Curzon referred to Kerr as
20735-606: Was succeeded by Stephen Harding, the man responsible for carrying the order into its crucial phase. Harding framed the original version of the Cistercian constitution, soon to be called the Carta Caritatis ( Charter of Charity ). Although it was revised on several occasions to meet contemporary needs, from the outset it emphasised a simple life of work, love, prayer and self-denial. The Cistercians soon came to distinguish themselves from Benedictines by wearing white or grey tunics instead of black; white habits are common for reform movements. Much of Cistercian reform took place against
20880-412: Was then not possible to renounce a peerage. As he wrote to one of the Rhodes Trustees, that this elevation, if such it were, had not come of his own seeking and he must make the best of it. His estates lay in both Scotland and England. In Scotland the Kerrs had been established on the Border since medieval times. Ferniehirst Castle overlooking the Jed was still in their possession but the family abode
21025-410: Was used across Europe to meet the largely homogeneous needs of the order. Various buildings, including the chapter-house to the east and the dormitories above, were grouped around a cloister , and were sometimes linked to the transept of the church itself by a night stair. Usually Cistercian churches were cruciform, with a short presbytery to meet the liturgical needs of the brethren, small chapels in
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