Radulf (died 1220) was a 13th-century

Scoto-Norman The term Scoto-Norman (also Franco-Scottish or Franco-Gaelic) is used to describe people, families, institutions and archaeological artifacts that are partly Scottish (in some sense) and partly Anglo-Norman (in some sense). It is used to refer to ...

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (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 ...

monk and

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

. Most details about Radulf's career and all details about his early life are not known. His earliest certain occurrence in history is his appearance as

Abbot of Kinloss The Abbot of Kinloss (later Commendator of Kinloss) was the head of the property and Cistercian monastic community of Kinloss Abbey, Moray, founded by King David I of Scotland around 1151 by monks from Melrose Abbey. The abbey was transformed in ...

in a Melrose

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

datable to between 1202 and 1207. It is not known for certain when he became abbot of

Kinloss Abbey Kinloss Abbey is a Cistercian abbey at Kinloss in the county of Moray, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1150 by King David I and was first colonised by monks from Melrose Abbey. It received its Papal Bull from Pope Alexander III in 1174, and ...

, but the last known abbot of Kinloss, also called Radulf, left Kinloss in 1194 to become

abbot of Melrose The Abbot and then Commendator of Melrose was the head of the monastic community of Melrose Abbey, in Melrose in the Borders region of Scotland. The abbots of the earlier Northumbrian foundation from Lindisfarne are not included here. The seco ...

, putting Radulf II's succession somewhere between 1194 and 1207. Written in the margins next to Radulf's obituary is the assertion that he was the 4th Abbot of Kinloss, and if these are accurate, Radulf II would have succeeded not long after Radulf I's departure to

Melrose Abbey St Mary's Abbey, Melrose is a partly ruined monastery of the Cistercian order in Melrose, Roxburghshire, in the Scottish Borders. It was founded in 1136 by Cistercian monks at the request of King David I of Scotland and was the chief house of ...

in 1194. Radulf is given centre role in a passage by the 15th-century historian

Walter Bower Walter Bower (or Bowmaker; 24 December 1449) was a Scottish canon regular and abbot of Inchcolm Abbey in the Firth of Forth, who is noted as a chronicler of his era. He was born about 1385 at Haddington, East Lothian, in the Kingdom of Scotlan ...

Abbot of Inchcolm The Abbot of Inchcolm, or until 1235, the Prior of Inchcolm, was the head of the Augustinian monastic community of Inchcolm (''Innse Choluim''; Latin ''Insula Columbae''; Lowland Scots: ''St Comb's Isle''). List of position holders Priors of Inc ...

. Bower related that in 1214 it was the turn of Radulf to go the meeting of the general chapter of the Cistercian Order. The Cistercian order in Scotland was obliged to attend the general Cistercian chapter at Cîteaux every four years. While on the journey in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, a

lay brother Lay brother is a largely extinct term referring to religious brothers, particularly in the Catholic Church, who focused upon manual service and secular matters, and were distinguished from choir monks or friars in that they did not pray in choir, ...

who was serving as the cook of the various abbots had the tasking of purchasing and preparing a meal for the travel party. According to Bower, he served the abbots fish and the others meat, but used the

fat In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers spec ...

from the meat on the fish, pretending it to be

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment ...

. All the abbots, forbidden to eat animal meat, believed that it was butter, and consumed the fat drenched fish. After the meal, all of the abbots save Radulf (who was meditating) fell asleep. In Bower's story, a spirit (sent by the

Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...

) in the form of a black man (''Ethiops'') came through a high window, and went around the sleeping abbots laughing at them; when the black man came to the lay brother, he embraced him, kissed him and applauded him. This prompted Abbot Radulf to interrogate the lay brother, who confessed his transgression and received penance. Bower's source for this story is not known. Radulf's abbacy witnessed the foundation of

Deer Abbey Deer Abbey was a Cistercian monastery in Buchan, Scotland. It was founded by 1219 under the patronage William Comyn, jure uxoris Earl of Buchan, who is also buried there. History There was an earlier community of Scottish monks or priests, nev ...

as a daughter house of Kinloss. According to the ''

Chronicle of Melrose The ''Chronicle of Melrose'' is a medieval chronicle from the Cottonian Manuscript, Faustina B. ix within the British Museum. It was written by unknown authors, though evidence in the writing shows that it most likely was written by the monks a ...

'', Abbot Radulf died on 2 November 1220. The ''Chronicle'' reported his death as follows:

''Dominus Radulphus'', the abbot of Kinloss, full of good days, in holy old age migrated, as we believe, from earth to heaven.

He was succeeded by the

Abbot of Deer The Abbot of Deer (later Commendator of Deer), was the head of the Cistercian monastic community of Deer Abbey in Buchan. It was founded in 1219 by William Comyn, jure uxoris Earl of Buchan. There was an earlier community of Scottish monks or prie ...

, Robert.Watt & Shead, ''Heads of Religious Houses'', p. 131.

Notes

References

* Anderson, Alan Orr ''et al.'' (eds.), ''The Chronicle of Melrose'', (London, 1936) * Anderson, Alan Orr, ''Early Sources of Scottish History'', 2 vols, (Edinburgh, 1922) * Cowan, Ian B. & Easson, David E., ''Medieval Religious Houses: Scotland With an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man'', Second Edition, (London, 1976) * Innes, Cosmo, ''Liber Sancte Marie de Melros: Munimenta vetustiora monasterii Cisterciensis de Melros'', 2 vols (Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh, 1837) * Taylor, Simon, & Watt, D. E. R. (eds.), ''Scotichronicon by Walter Bower in Latin and English'', vol. 5, (Aberdeen, 1990) * Watt, D. E. R. & Shead, N. F., ''The Heads of Religious Houses in Scotland from the 12th to the 16th Centuries'', The Scottish Records Society, New Series, Volume 24, (Edinburgh, 2001) {{DEFAULTSORT:Radulf 12th-century births 1220 deaths Scottish Cistercians 13th-century Scottish Roman Catholic priests Scottish abbots Scoto-Normans