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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
If you were a religious of the i ith or 12th centuries choosing the order in which you were to find your vocation, how did you distinguish order from order, monk from canon? How did you determine gradations of the ascetic life? If you were a founder or benefactor, planning to found a new religious house, how did you determine which order to favour? At a time when asceticism and the religious orders flourished as never before, choice must have been bewildering. There is a copious contemporary literature arguing the relative merits of this mode and that; and modern scholars have offered a remarkably wide variety of advice. Some have proceeded on the assumption that there must have been a fundamental difference and have pursued it as best they might; others, disappointed in the chase, have doubted if any true difference existed. Some have seen all such differences engulfed in the deeper stream of new impulses and modes which affected every approach to the religious life in this age; others have said that to lose track of such differences is to take a very superficial view of the meaning of the rules of St Augustine and St Benedict. It is very easy indeed to take an entirely sceptical view; and I propose to start by stating the case for saying there was no difference visible to all in every part of Europe – that no general statement of the difference stands up to close inspection. But to rest the matter there, I am sure, would be superficial and mistaken – and so in the second part of this paper I embark on the much more hazardous path of determining where the difference lay. I shall try not to add another definition to the scrap heap, but to show by looking at a number of local situations how it might have appeared both externally to a founder and at a deeper level to an educated man with some discernment of different approaches to the ascetic life and religious spirituality. Yet the ultimate abiding impression is of the strangeness of the central fact: at a time when men were seeking their own religious vocation in numbers never before approached in medieval Europe – and patrons lavishing resources on an unparalleled variety of new religious houses – it is especially difficult for us to observe in many cases where the differences lay.
1 From the immense literature I select the following which are particularly helpful: Giles Constable’s reprinted studies, Religious Life and Thought (11th-12th centuries) and Cluniac Studies (Variorum Reprints, London 1979–80) and his Medieval Monasticism: a select bibliography (Toronto 1976); Bynum, Caroline W., Docere verbo et exemplo: an aspect of 12th century spirituality (Harvard Theological Studies 31, Missoula 1979 Google Scholar) mdjesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages (Berkeley etc 1982) – cited as Bynum 1979 and Bynum 1982; the work of J.C. Dickinson cited at nn 7 and 41 below; and the volumes of the Atti delle Settimane internazionali di studio Mendola = Miscellanea del Centro di Studi Medioevali 3–6, Milan 1962–71: La Vita Comune del clero nei secoli XI e XII (3, 2 vols 1962), L’eremitismo in Occidente nei secoli XI e XII (4, 1965), I laici nella ‘Societas Christiana’ dei secoli XI e XII (5, 1968), Il monachesimo e la riforma ecclesiastica (1049-1122) (6, 1971) – cited as La Mendola 3–6.
2 Cf. for what follows Brooke, [C] and Swaan, [W.] [, The Monastic World (London 1974 Google Scholar)] cap 8; the view there expressed of the Rule of St Augustine has been severely criticised as too negative. For the rules themselves, see esp Le règle de S. Benoît edd Vogue, A. de and Neufville, J. (SCR 181–6, Paris 1971-2 Google Scholar); Verheijen, L., La règle de S. Augustin (2 vols Paris 1967 Google Scholar).
3 Chaucer, , Canterbury Tales, Prologue, lines 165–88 ed Robinson, F.N. (Oxford 12974) PP. 18–19 Google Scholar.
4 Manly, J.M., Some new light on Chaucer (London 1926) esp pp. 78–81; on the monk, p. 262 Google Scholar.
5 Knowles, D., Religious Orders in England 2 (Cambridge 1955) pp. 365–6 Google Scholar.
6 MRHS pp. 66, 68–9, 72, 74–7, 88–93, 101 (some doubt attaches to Dundrennan, and he was not sole founder of them all); cf. Brooke in La Mendola 6, p. 143.
7 Dickinson[, [J.C.], The Origins of the Austin Canons and their introduction into England (London 1950)] p. 123 Google Scholar.
8 For current research see Kloczowski, J., ‘Polonia’ in Dizionario degli Istituti di perfezione 7 (Rome 1983) cols 45–68, 75–7 Google Scholar; and idem, ‘Die Zistercienser in Klein-Polen und das Problem ihrer Tatigkeit als Missionare und Seelsorger’ in Die Zistercienser: Ordensleben zwischen Ideal und Wirklichkeit, Ergänzungshand edd Elm, K. and Joerissen, P. (Cologne 1983) pp. 71–8 Google Scholar.
9 Ibid. 1 am much indebted for help in this passage tojerzy Kfoczowski and Urszula Borkowska; and to discussions with my former pupil Nicholas Coulson.
10 MRHEW pp. 110–28; MRHS pp. 72–7; MRHI pp. 114–44.
11 Canivez, p. 45 Google Scholar.
12 MRHEW pp. 112–28; for the general picture in the Order, Janauschek, L., Originum Cisterciensium Tomus 1 (Vienna 1877) pp. 131–282 Google Scholar.
13 MRHEW pp. 183–93; Colvin, H.M., The White Canons in England (Oxford 1951 Google Scholar); and see next note.
14 See Mortimer, in Leiston Abbey Cartulary and Butley Priory Charters, (Suffolk Rec S, Suffolk Charters, Ipswich 1979) esp pp. 1–5 Google Scholar; see also Mortimer, in BIHR 54 (1981) 1–16 Google Scholar, on Ranulf of Glanville and his family and their foundations.
15 On the Gilbertines see Rose, Graham, S. Gilbert of Sempringham and the Cilbertines (London 1901 Google Scholar); Foreville, R., Le Livre de S. Gilbert de Sempringham (Paris 1943 Google Scholar – a new ed, as The Book of St Gilbert, by Foreville, R. and Keir, G. Google Scholar will be published in OMT); and the forthcoming general study by B. Golding.
16 Vita S. Gilberti cap 17 (in The Book of St Gilbert forthcoming; see meanwhile MA 6, 2, Insertion on ‘The Order of Sempringham’ p. xii).
17 See Sally Thompson’s London PhD Thesis on ‘English Nunneries: a study of the post-Conquest Foundations c. 1095-c. 1250’ (1984).
18 Vita S Gilberti cap 13–14, MA 6, 2, Insertion pp. xi*-xii*.
19 It has now been admirably clarified by Sally Thompson, ‘The problem of the Cistercian nuns in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries’, Medieval Women, ed D. Baker (SCH Subsidia 1 1978) pp. 227–52.
20 In an unpublished lecture ‘Cloister and College: aspects of religious life and planning in the late middle ages’ delivered at Westfield College, London, in February and Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia before the Medieval Academy of America in March 1984.
21 See Horn, W. and Born, E., The Plan of St Gall (3 vols Berkeley etc 1979) esp 1 pp. 241–309 and 2 pp. 315–59 Google Scholar (CM. Malone and W. Horn on the influence of the plan).
22 See The History of the King’s Works, ed Colvin, H.M. 1 (London 1963 Google Scholar) cap 4 pt 4 and cap 12.
23 See Jackson, G. Stops in New College Oxford 1379–1979 Google Scholar, ed Buxton, J. and Williams, P. (Oxford 1979) pp. 155–6, 175–7 Google Scholar; Harvey, J. in Winchester College, Sixth Centenary Essays, ed Custance, R. (Oxford 1982) cap 3, esp p. 81 Google Scholar.
24 See n 20; Willis, R. and Clark, J.W., The Architectural History of the University of Cambridge and of the Colleges of Cambridge and Eton (4 vols Cambridge 1886 Google Scholar) and the RCHM (England) vols on City of Oxford and City of Cambridge (1939, 1959).
25 See ( Knowles, D.] and St Joseph, [J.K.S.], [Monastic Sites from the Air (Cambridge 1952)] esp p. xix Google Scholar; Aubert, M., L’architecture cistercienne en France (2 ed 2 vols Paris 1947) 1 p. 317 Google Scholar for lay brothers’ choirs, 2 cap 4 for lay brothers’ quarters; see Brooke, C., Medieval Church and Society (London 1971) p. 166 Google Scholar n – but further consideration of the evidence e.g. of the choir screen at Maulbronn (Brooke and | Swaan, plate 243) makes probable that Aubert was right that lay brothers could not normally see the high altar.
26 Knowles, and St Joseph, pp. xxii–xxiii, 150–83 Google Scholar.
27 Examples are Cartmel ( Dickinson, J.C. in Trans. Cumberland and Westmorland Antiqu. and Arch. Soc. 45 (1946) p. 57 Google Scholar); Hexham, (plan in Taylor, W.T., Hexham Priory, ed of 1970 at end); Bolton (Thompson, [A. Hamilton], [History and Architectural Description of the priory of St Mary,] Bolton[-in-Wharfedale (Thoresby Soc 30, 1928)] p. 146 Google Scholar).
28 OMT (1972), here cited as Libellus.
29 This is reflected in Bernard’s correspondence with him: Opera S. Bernardi edd Leclercq, J., Talbot, C.H. and Rochais, H.M. (Rome 1957-78) 7–8, Epp 147–9. 228, 265, 267, 364, 387–9, 521-esp 228 Google Scholar.
30 Letters and Charters of Gilbert Foliot …, edd Morey, Adrian and Brooke, C.N.L. (Cambridge 1967), no 108 pp. 146–9 Google Scholar; cf. Morey, A. and Brooke, C.N.L., Gilbert Foliot and his Letters (Cambridge 1965) p. 77 Google Scholar.
31 Fratris Thomae … de Eccleston, Tractatus de adventu Fratrum Minorum in Angliam, ed Little, A.G. (edn of Manchester 1951) p. 82 Google Scholar.
32 Libellus pp. 2–3, cf. p. xv.
33 Ibid pp. 10–11; cf. John 6:15.
34 Ibid pp. 12–13.
35 Ibid pp. 40–3.
36 E.g. Dereine, Charles, art ‘Chanoines’ in DHGE 12 (Paris 1953) cols 353–405 Google Scholar; and arts in RHE 41 (1946) pp. 365–406, 42 (1947) PP. 352–78, 46 (1951) PP. 534–65; cf. Bynum 1982, pp. 26–7 nn; Leclercq, J. in La Mendola 3, 1 pp. 117–41 Google Scholar; Constable, G., Trevelyan Lectures forthcoming, and see above n 1 meanwhile. Bynum 1982 pp. 25–6 Google Scholar notes scholars who see sharper differences, most notably (and with great subtlety) Sir Southern, Richard, Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages (Harmondsworth 1970) pp. 241–50 Google Scholar.
37 Bynum 1979; Bynum 1982 cap 1.
38 Peter of Celle’s De disciplina claustrali (PL 202 cols 1097–1146) is discussed in Bynum 1979 pp. 157–60; Bynum 1982 p. 37.
39 See esp Thomson, R.M. in Speculum 56 (1981) pp. 598–601 Google Scholar, a very perceptive critique, though perhaps not doing full justice to the penetration and subtlety of Caroline Bynum’s analyses.
40 See esp Classen, P. in La Mendola 3, 1 pp. 304–48 Google Scholar and references; Backmund, N., Monastican Praemonstratense 1, 2 pts (2 ed 1983 CrossRefGoogle Scholar); above n 9.
41 See Dickinson passim, and many individual studies, most recently on St Augustine’s Bristol: Essays in Bristol and Gloucestershire History, ed McGrath, P. and Cannon, J. (Bristol 1976) pp. 109–126 Google Scholar.
42 See Cartulary of the Priory of St Gregory, Canterbury, ed Woodcock, Audrey M. (Camden Third Series 88 1956) esp pp. ix–xi Google Scholar.
43 There are examples noted in MRHEW pp. 15 5–80 – Cold Norton, Conishead etc; the most remarkable case is St Bartholomew’s London which was founded in 1123 as both priory and hospital, though the hospital may well have been embarked on first; but the hospital was separated from the priory later in the 12th century Brooke, ([C] and Keir, [G.], [London 800–1216, the Shaping of a City (London 1975)], pp. 325–8 Google Scholar; see Kerling, N. in Guildhall Miscellany 4, 3 (1972) pp. 137–48 Google Scholar. See MRHEW p. 311 for the numerous hospitals served by canons or brothers under the rule of St Augustine without forming regular priories.
44 Brooke and Keir pp. 314–28; chronicle of Holy Trinity Aldgate in The Cartulary of Holy Trinity Aldgate, ed Hodgett, G.A.J. (London RecS 7 1971) pp. 223–33 Google Scholar; The Book of the Foundation of St Bartholomew’s Church in London ed Moore, N. (EETS 163 1923 Google Scholar); also modern English translation by King, H.H. and Barnard, W., ed Webb, E.A. (London 1923 Google Scholar).
45 Cartulary of Holy Trinity Aldgate pp. 223–4; Brooke and Keir pp. 318–19.
46 See n 44.
47 Thompson, A. Hamilton, The Abbey of St Mary of the Meadows, Leicester (Leicester 1949 Google Scholar) cap 1.
48 On the churches of Northampton see Franklin, Michael, ‘Minster and Parishes: Northamptonshire Studies’ (Cambridge PhD Thesis 1982) cap 2, esp pp. 86–98 Google Scholar -cited by kind permission of Franklin, Dr Google Scholar; and studies by Franklin, M. and others in Northamptonshire 5, RCHM England (1984)Google Scholar.
49 See n 48.
50 See Brooke, [C], ‘The Churches of Medieval Cambridge’[, in History, Society and the Churches, edd Beales, D. and Best, G. (Cambridge 1985)] pp. 49–76 Google Scholar.
51 Liber Memorandorum ecclesie de Bemewelle, ed Clark, J. W. (Cambridge 1907) esp pp. 38–42 Google Scholar.
52 Ibid pp. 41–2.
53 Brooke, ‘The Churches of Medieval Cambridge’ n 50.
54 Sikes, J.G. and Jones, Freda in VCH Cambridgeshire 2 pp. 218–9 Google Scholar; Gray, A., The Priory of St Radegund, Cambridge (Cambridge Antiquarian Soc 1898 Google Scholar); The Atlas of Historic Towns 2, edd Lobel, M.D. and Johns, W.H. (London 1975 Google Scholar), Cambridge (separately paginated).
55 Brooke, ‘The Churches of Medieval Cambridge’ n 50; Gervers, M. in Actes du XXIIe Congrès International d’histoire de l’Art (Budapest 1969 publ 1972) p. 363 Google Scholar.
56 MA 6, 1 pp. 129–31. The chronicle in BL MS Cotton Julius D x, fols 30v-50v and has never been printed in full: for the various extracts in print, see HRH p. 172.
57 Dickinson esp pp. 111–12 and nn; see refs in n 56.
58 See refs in n 56.
59 HRH pp. 172–3; for its library see Ker, N.R., Medieval Libraries of Great Britain (2 ed London 1964) pp. 108–12 Google Scholar.
60 See VCH Yorkshire 3 pp. 195–9 (Bolton), 231–5 (Nostell), ; VCH Cumberland 2 p. 152 Google Scholar (Lanercost), ; Dickinson pp. 120–1 Google Scholar Thompson, (Nostell), Bolton; Sir Charles Clay in EYC 7 passim, esp no. 2 and n (Bolton Google Scholar).
61 Bynum 1979 passim.
62 Bynum 1979 p. 100; cf. pp. 101–4. On changing views of the authenticity of the letters of Abelard and Heloise, see refs in Benton’s, J.F. article in Renaissance and Renewal in the twelfth century, edd Benson, R.F. and Constable, G., with Lanham, C.D. (Cambridge, Mass. and Oxford, 1982-3) p. 266 Google Scholar n 12.
63 Ep 5, ed Muckle, J.T. in Mediaeval Studies 17 (1955) pp. 241–53 Google Scholar at p. 242; for what follows Epp 6 and 7 (the Rule), ed Muckle, ibid pp. 253–81 Google Scholar and ed McLaughlin, T.P. in Mediaeval Studies 18 (1956) pp. 241–92 Google Scholar.
64 Bynum 1979 pp. 134–7, 188–9.
65 Daniel, Walter, The Life of Ailred of Rievaulx ed Powicke, F.M. (NMT 1950) p. 23 Google Scholar.
