Scotland.  Day 3, 1st July.

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The ruin of Kinloss Abbey is beside a road about 20 kilometres west of Elgin.  It was founded in 1150 by the Cistercians and abandoned during the Reformation in 1560.  There is little left because in 1652 Cromwell’s army used much of the stone to construct a citadel at Inverness.

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In the 14th and 15th centuries there was a series of scandals concerning immoral behaviour by the Abbot and his monks.  The Cistercian headquarters at Citeaux in Burgundy sent out an envoy to settle these matters.  I didn’t find a reference to exactly what these scandals were.  On another occasion, a monk killed a boy in the church in a fit of anger and was sent to Rome for punishment.  He was never heard from again.

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