In 1113 David youngest son of St Margaret of Scotland founded a colony from St Bernard of Abbeville’s abbey of Thiron-Gardais at Selkirk in the Scottish Borders. This community was the first of any of the reformed Benedictine or Augustinian monastic orders to be founded in the British Isles. The arrival of these continental monks heralded an era of profound religious, political, cultural, social and economic transformation in the lands along the northern rim of Christendom from Scotland and Ireland in the west, through England, Scandinavia and north Germany, to Poland and Estonia in the east.
To celebrate the 900th anniversary of this event, the University of Stirling, supported by Historic Scotland, is hosting a multi-disciplinary conference (9-12 July 2013) which will bring together scholars from across Europe and North America to explore the monastic impact on the culture and society of northern Europe from the 12th to 16th centuries and its modern legacies.
