Unlike their English and Welsh monastic confreres, whose history has benefited from almost continual published scholarly examination, studies exploring the Scottish Benedictine monks, in contrast, have been almost conspicuous by their absence. In this regard Thomas McInally’s study of the Scottish Benedictine monasteries in German lands, 1575–1862 is most welcome. McInally’s work presents a broad study of the history of the Scottish Benedictine houses in Germany, known collectively as the Schottenklöster. This is focused largely, but not exclusively, on the post-Reformation period, concluding in 1862, when St James’ at Ratisbon, the last of the Scots’ houses in Germany, was officially dissolved by papal brief.

McInally follows a loosely chronological approach throughout this study, which is divided into four parts, each part then subdivided into chapters. Omitting a conventional introduction, the author instead opts to present in chapter one a history of the pre-Reformation Scottish monks in continental Europe, stretching as far back to the exploits of St Columbanus (540–615), who founded the famed monastery at Bobbio, Italy in 615. The chapter outlines how the Scots found their way to Germany, establishing Schottenklösters (Scottish monasteries) in a number of German cities. This first chapter has the very important effect of re-emphasising the point that Catholic religious expatriate life, from a British and Irish perspective, was not an exclusively ‘forced’ post-Reformation phenomenon, but rather a process that had considerably more ancient beginnings. In chapter two the author begins his analysis of Scottish Benedictines in the post-Reformation period. Although the Schottenklöster, as Scottish run institutions, had long ceased to exist, Scottish Catholics were forced to look to the Continent in light of the successes of the Protestant Reformation at home, with a small band of monks embarking on a process of attempting to regain their old monastic houses. The Benedictines subsequently went on to assume a position of great importance amongst the body of Scottish clergy, the Scottish Dominican and Franciscan provinces having been subsumed into their respective Irish provinces. Successfully regained by the Scots monks, the Schottenklöster, along with the secular Scots Colleges, contributed ‘hugely to the survival of the Catholic community in Scotland’ (p. 41).

In chapters six and seven, McInally essentially provides a biography of one of the Schottenklöster’s most influential figures, Placid Fleming (1642–1720). Fleming, the abbot of St James’ at Regensburg, transformed its college into a centre for the education of missionary priests, and helped promote a regime of discipline and asceticism unknown amongst their German brethren; one of their more unusual methods of discipline were public floggings for claustral misdemeanours. Fleming’s abbacy coincided with a rejuvenation in the Schottenklöster, for which we are told there were no shortages of candidates for admittance. The author leads readers from Fleming to ‘The Mission in Scotland’, the focus of chapter eight, in which, with varying degrees of success, he illustrates the missionary activities of the monks in their native land.

Part Four, on the Aufklärung (Enlightenment) is where this study is at its most interesting and coherent. Drawing somewhat on the example of Ulrich Lehner’s pioneering work, Enlightened Monks: the German Benedictines 1740–1803 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), McInally brings to light a number of the Scottish monks’ notable interactions with Enlightenment thought. In ‘Monks of the Scottish Enlightenment’ (chapter ten), the little-known career of Alexander Stuart is wonderfully brought to life. Stuart, a pioneer in the science of electricity, taught mathematics at the University of Salzburg, before being asked by the prince-bishop to take up the position of director of public works, responsible for an innovative programme of land drainage in the city. This chapter is followed by ‘The Bavarian Electoral Academy of Science’, which is again largely biographical, examining the career of Ildephonsus Kennedy, a member of the same institution, whose scholarly works included a famed survey of monasteries in German speaking lands. Kennedy’s death in Munich in 1804 brings readers into the twelfth and final chapter, ‘Dignified Endings’, which illustrates the steady decline of the Schottenklöster throughout the nineteenth century, and its ultimate suppression in 1862, with the closure of the only functioning Scottish monastery, at Regensburg.

While this study sets out to examine the history of the vastly under-explored Scottish Benedictines, and does so with varying degrees of success, it might have benefited from a more traditional structure. The addition of an introduction and conclusion, as well as more clearly defined research objectives would have given the study a more unified and cohesive feel, something which at times it unfortunately appears to lack. The chapters examining the relationship between the monks and the Enlightenment are important; well-written, they emphasise the engagement of Catholic exiles with new philosophical and scientific ways of thought and are part of a new wave of current scholarship exploring Catholic interactions with the Enlightenment. However, the author might have, for example, commented on the effects of Enlightenment thought on monastic life to a much greater extent, following Lehner’s example, but whether or not the sources allowed for this is unknown. Overall, McInally provides a fascinating and comprehensive overview of the long and often tumultuous history of the Schottenklöster. This work should unquestionably appeal to all those with an interest in British exile in the early modern period. The hope now is that other historians will follow McInally’s example in exploring the history of early modern Scottish Catholicism, a topic for which the need is great.