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Varieties of Monastic Discipline in Southern Italy During the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

G. A. Loud
G. A. Loud*
Affiliation:
University of Leeds
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Extract

The conquest of southern Italy by the Normans during the eleventh century incorporated what had hitherto been a peripheral region more fully within the mainstream of Western Europe. However, notwithstanding this, in a number of respects the development of the Church in Norman Italy followed its own idiosyncratic pattern, rather different from the trends that prevailed in other parts of contemporary Latin Christendom. This distinctive evolution can be clearly observed in south Italian monasticism during the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 43: Discipline and Diversity , 2007 , pp. 144 - 158
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 2007

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References

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10 Ibid., 269–77, no. 95. The donor was Ioannocarus son of Balsamus (Balsamon); the latter being also the name of his son.

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12 Thus Hugh of Chiaromonte (probably the grandson of the original donor) and his brothers made a donation in a Greek charter in 1112, in which the prior was named as William, but donors could also include a Greek judge, in 1113: Trinchera, F., Syllabus Graecarum Membranarum (Naples, 1865), 96–8 Google Scholar, nos 74–5. The prior of Kyrozosimi still issued a Greek charter as late as 1200, ibid., 339–40, no. 250.

13 Houben, Die Abtei Venosa, 193.

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15 Chronica Monasterii Casinensis, ed. H. Hoffmann, MGH SS 34 (Hannover, 1980) [hereafter: Chron. Cos.], lib. II c. 17, 201. Sansterre, ‘Saint Nil’, 372–3.

16 For a previous, and cautionary, discussion, Loud, G. A., ‘Montecassino and Byzantium in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries’, in Mullet, M. and Kirby, A., eds, The Theotokos Evergetis and Eleventh-Century Monasticism (Belfast 1994), 30–58 Google Scholar, esp. 50–1 [reprinted in G. A. Loud, Montecassino and Benevento: Essays in South Italian Church History (Aldershot, 2000), no. II].

17 Codicum Casinensium Manuscriptorum Catalogus, ed. M. Inguanez, 3 vols (Montecassino, 1915–41), 3:63-8.

18 Chron. Cas. II. 30, 221–3

19 Cod. Dipl. Tremiti, 2: 211–13, no. 69, at 213.

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22 Thus the nunnery of St George at Salerno was in existence by 993, and that of SS. Michael and Stephen by 1054, Galante, M., ed., Nuove Pergamene del monastero femminile di S. Giorgio di Salerno, 1 : (993–1256) (Altavilla Silentina, 1984), 1–2 Google Scholar, no. 1; 12–15, no. 5. For non-enclosed ‘nuns’, G. Vitolo, ‘Prima appunti per una storia dei penitenti nel Salernitano’, Archivio storico per le provinde napoletane, ser. 3, 17 (1978), 393–405, esp. 394–5. For the will of a nun, monacha domi degens, in September 1122, Cava, Archivo della badia di S. Trinità, Arca xxi.76.

23 For example, Codex Diplomatics Cavensis, ed. M. Morcaldi et al, 8 vols (Milan-Naples, 1873–93), 7: 33–4. no. 1077 (1047).

24 Engelbert, P., ‘Regeltext und Romverehrung: zur Frage der Verbreitung der Regula Benedicti im Frühmittelalter’, in Avagliano, F., ed, Montecassino dalla prima alla seconda distruzione: momenti e aspetti di storia cassinese (secc. VI-IX), Miscellenea Cassinese 55 (Montecassino, 1987), 133–62 Google Scholar, esp. 153–6.

25 Le Pergamene di Conversano i (901–1263), ed. Coniglio, G., Codice diplomatico pugliese 20 (Bari, 1975), 122–4, no. 53 Google Scholar. This house was founded shortly before 957.

26 A church given to it in 1040 was to be ruled secundum regulam Sancti Benedicti, Cod. Dipl. Tremiti 2: 89, no. 28, and the rule was expressly mentioned in Leo IX’s confirmation of the abbey’s property in 1053, ibid, 2: 156–8, no. 49.

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28 Borsari, Monachesimo bizantino, 49, and above n. 11.

29 Chron. Cos. II. 20, 203–4. More generally, Sansterre, J.-M., ‘Recherches sur les ermites de Mont-Cassin et l’eremetisme dans l’hagiographie cassinienne’, Hagiographica 2 (1995), 57–92.Google Scholar

30 Die Brief e des Petrus Damiani, ed. Reindel, K., MGH Die Briefe der Deutschen Kaiserzeit 4, 4 vols (Munich, 1983–90), 2: 184–5, no. 57.Google Scholar

31 ‘Dissertano de antiquitate, ditione, viribus varieque fortuna abbatiae S. Salvatoris ad Montem Magellae’, in Collectio Bullarum SS. Basilicae Vaticanae, 3 vols (Rome, 1747–52), 1: vi.

32 Vitae Quatuor Priorum Abbatum Cavensium, ed. L. Mattei-Cerasoli, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, ns: vol. 6, pt 5.1 (Bologna, 1941) [hereafter: VQPA], 7 (twelve monks only), 8 (Alferius retires to his cell to die), 12 (Leo’s cell). The Rule of St Benedict was, however, observed at the subordinate monastery of St Nicholas de Palma, that Leo founded, S. Leone and G. Vitolo, eds, Codex Diplomatics Cavensis, ix (Cava, 1984), 328–32, no. 103 (1071), and presumably therefore by the mother house as well by this date, and perhaps before St Nich olas was founded in 1062. Cava itself was founded between 1016 and 1025, S. Leone, ‘La Data di fondazione della badia di Cava’, Benedictina 22 (1975), 335–46 [reprinted in Leone and Vitolo, Minima Cauensia, 45–59].

33 For example, the foundation charters of the monastery of St Andrew of Brindisi in 1059: Faciatis exinde secundum testum regule Sancti Benedicti docet, Codice Diplomatico Brindisiano i (492–1290), ed. G. M. Monti (Trani, 1940), 7–9, no. 4; Holy Trinity, Mileto, in 1080, L.-R. Ménager, ‘L’Abbaye bénédictine de la Trinité de Mileto en Calabre à l’époque normande’, Bullettino del archivio paleografico italiano, ns 4–5 (1958/9), 41–3, no. 13; and in a donation by the founder to the nunnery of St John the Evangelist at Lecce in 1133, Pastore, M., ed., Le Pergamene di San Giovanni Evangelista in Lecce, (Lecce, 1970), 1–3, no. 1.Google Scholar

34 Howe, J., Church Reform and Social Change in Eleventh-Century Italy: Dominic of Sora and his Patrons (Philadephia, PA, 1997), 123–48.Google Scholar

35 Gattula, E., Accessiones ad Historiam Abbatiae Casinensis (Venice, 1734), 713–14 Google Scholar. Le Colonie Cassinesi in Capitanata ii: Gargano, ed. T. Leccisotti, Miscellanea Cassinese 15 (1938), 42–3, no. 6.

36 Recueil des Actes des ducs normands d’Italie (1046–1127), i : Les Premiers Ducs (1046–1087), ed. L.-R. Ménager (Bari, 1981), 101–4, no.31.

37 Petri Diaconi: Ortus et Vita Iustorum Cenobii Casinensis, ed. R. H. Rodgers (Berkeley, CA, 1972), 75. Regesto della antica badia di S. Matteo de Castello o Servorum Dei, ed. M. Inguanez (Montecassino, 1914), 2–5, nos 2–3. Sansterre, ‘Recherches sur les ermites du Mont-Cassin’, 68.

38 Vita, ce. 12–13, ActaSS Iun. 7 (Paris, 1867), 101–2. The Life has also been edited by G. Mongelli, ‘Legenda de Vita et Obitu S. Guilielmi Confessons et Heremite’, Samnium 24 (1961), 144–72; 25 (1962). 48–73.

39 Ibid., c. 16, at 103.

40 Codice diplomatico verginiano, ed. P. M. Tropeano, 13 vols (Montevergine, 1977–2000), 2: 199–203, no. 148.

41 Vita c. 24; ActaSS Iun. 7, 105–6.

42 Codice diplomatico verginiano, 2: 382–4, no. 191. Houben, Die Abtei Venosa, 70–1. Vitolo, G., ‘Vecchio e nuovo monachesimo nel regno svevo di Sicilia’, in Esch, A. and Kamp, N., eds, Friedrich II: Tagung des Deutschen Historischen Institut in Rom im Gedenkjahr 1994 (Tubingen, 1996), 182–200, at 190Google Scholar.

43 Vita Iohannis, cc. 5–6, ActaSS Iun. 5 (Paris, 1867), 37–8.

44 Ibid., cc. 26–7, ActaSS Iun. 5, 43. Manual labour, ibid., cc. 35, 37, at 44–5. For the date and models of composition, Panarelli, F., Dal Gargano alla Toscana: il Monachesimo riformato latino dei Pulsanesi (secoli XII-XIV) (Rome, 1997), 279–86 Google Scholar.

45 Vita Iohannis, c. 102, at 50. Vita Guilielmi, c. 39, at 109, giving his regulations for his foundation at Goleto: ‘there was no one who, even in sickness, had acquaintance with wine. They considered meat, cheese and an egg a sin even to name’. See Panarelli, Dal Gargano, 90. For north European comparisons, cf. Leyser, Hermits and the New Monasticism, 53, 66–7.

46 Vita Iohannis, cc. 49–50; ActaSS Iun. 5, 49–50.

47 Stated in the first surviving papal bull for Pulsano, Panarelli, Dal Gargano, 291–3.

48 Italia Pontificia, ed. P. F. Kehr, 10 vols (Berlin, 1905–75), ix; Samnium-Apulia-Lucania, ed. W. Holtzmann (Berlin, 1962), 109, no. 1.

49 Leyser, Hermits and the New Monasticism, 86–96, points to a general tendency of eremitic monks towards adoption of a conventual lifestyle: in southern Italy, however, the model was specifically Benedictine.

50 ‘The prior of the hermits of Majella’ received a grant from the Bishop-elect of Chieti in 1141, and the community was still described as one of hermits in a bull of Alexander III in 1175, although at some point between 1164 and 1175 its head had become an abbot, Collectio Bullarum Vaticanae, 1: xxi, 62–4.

51 The Ecclesiastical History of Ordene Vitalis, ed. and trans. M. Chibnall, 6 vols (Oxford, 1969–81), 2: 98–103. L.-R. Ménager, ‘Les foundations monastiques de Robert Guiscard, duc de Pouille et de Calabre’, Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken 39 (1959). 1–116; Houben, Die Abtei Venosa, 138–47.

52 VQPA, 17–18. These events took place in the late 1060s, during the lifetime of his predecessor Leo, while Peter was acting as the latter’s deputy. They did not prevent him succeeding Leo as abbot in 1079.

53 G. Vitolo, ‘Cava e Cluny’, in Leone and Vitolo, Minima Cavensia, 19–44. The death of Abbot Peter in 1123 was presaged by a vision of three of the holy abbots of Cluny, VQPA, 26.

54 Die Êltere Wormser Briefsammlungen, ed. W. Bulst, MGH Die Briefe der Deutschen Kaiserzeit 3 (Weimar, 1949), 13–16, no. 1. Chron. Cas. III.51, 433–4.

55 L. T. White, Latin Monasticism in Norman Sicily (Cambridge, MA, 1938), 149–51. H. Houben, ‘Il monachesimo cluniacense e i monasteri normanni dell’Italia meridionale’, Benedictina 39 (1992), 341–61, at 354–7 [reprinted in idem, Mezzogiorno normanno-svevo: monasteri e castelli, ebrei e musulmani (Naples, 1996), 7–22, at 17–20], suggests tentatively that the impetus for this foundation may have come from Roger II of Sicily’s Spanish wife Elvira, whose father Alfonso VI of Castile was one of Cluny’s greatest patrons.

56 White, Latin Monasticism, 184.

57 Cartulaire general de l’ordre des Hospitaliers de St. Jean de Jérusalem (1100—1310), ed. J. Delaville Le Roulx, 4 vols (Paris, 1894–1906), 1: 29–30, no. 30. A. Luttrell, ‘Gli Ospedalierinel Mezzogiorno’, in G. Musca ed., Il Mezzogiorno normanno-svevo e le Crociale, Atti delle quattordicesime giornate normanno-sveve, 2000 (Bari, 2002), 290–1.

58 Regesto di San Leonardo di Siponto, ed. F. Camobreco, Regesta Chartarum Italiae io (Rome, 1913), esp. 8–9, no. 10, 15–16, no. 23 (the first reference to canons). A bull of Alexander III in 1167, ibid., 45, no. 70, listed 9 dependant churches. For the takeover by the Teutonic Order, ibid., 129–33, nos 194–7. See also, H. Houben, ‘Iuxta stratum perigrinorum: la canonica di S. Leonardo di Siponto’, Rivista di storia della chiesa in Italia 56 (2002), 323–45, esp. 328–31.

59 Fuiano, M., Napoli nel Medioevo (Naples, 1972), 120.Google Scholar

60 See n. 48 above.

61 White, Latin Monasticism, 189–204. According to the papal taxation lists of the early fourteenth century Cefalù had an annual income of 350 unciae, compared with 600 for the archbishopric of Palermo, but only 150 for the nearby see of Patti, Rationes Decimarum Italiae-Sicilia, ed. P. Sella, Studi e Testi 112 (Vatican City, 1944), 15,30,37.

62 For the date, L-R. Ménager, ‘Lanfranco, notaio pontificio (1091–3), la diplomatica ducale Italo-normanna e la certosa di S. Stefano del Bosco’, Studi storici meridionali 3 (1983), 1–37. There is no satisfactory study of the Calabrian Carthusians, and the documentation has been seriously corrupted by early modern forgeries.

63 Trinchera, Syllabus, 69–71, no. 53. F. Ughelli, Italia Sacra, 2nd edn by N. Colletti, 10 vols (Venice, 1717–21), 9: 425.

64 PL 163, 395, no. 452, also found in Italia Pontificia, vol. 10: Calabria-Insulae, ed. D. Girgensohn (Berlin, 1975), 72, no. 14. H. Houben, ‘Le Istituzioni monastiche dell’Italia meridionale all’epoca di S. Bernardo di Clairvaux’, in Houben, H. and Vetere, B., eds, I Cistercensi nel Mezzogiorno medioevale (Lecce, 1994), 73–89, at 80.Google Scholar

65 Its first charter dates from 1145, Carte latine di abbazie calabresi provenienti dall’Archivio Aldobrandini, ed. Pratesi, A., Studi e Testi 197 (Vatican City, 1958), 41–2, no. 14 Google Scholar. For its subsequent history, and the identity between the original foundation and the later Sambucina, De Leo, P., ‘L’insediamento dei Cistercensi nel “Regnum Siciliae”: I Primi monasteri Cistercensi calabresi’, in Houben, and Vetere, , I Cistercensi nel Mezzogiorno medioevale, 317–37 Google Scholar.

66 Sancti Bernardi Opera, ed. J. Leclerq and H. M. Rochais, 8 vols (Rome, 1977), 8: 67–9, nos 208–9. [English trans, in B. Scott James, The Letters of St. Bernard of Clairvaux (London, 1953). 349–50. nos 277–8].

67 White, Latin Monasticism, 166.

68 Houben and Vetere, I Cistercensi nel Mezzogiorno medioevale, 189–90, 194–5, 206–10, 270–1, 293, 339, 346. White, Latin Monasticism, 168–79.

69 Kamp, N., ‘The Bishops of Southern Italy in the Norman and Staufen Periods’, in Loud, G. A. and Metcalfe, A., eds, The Society of Norman Italy (Leiden, 2002), 185–209, at 205Google Scholar.

70 Panarelli, Dal Gargano, 93.

71 Ibid., 137–236. For one of its Tuscan dependencies, Osheim, D., A Tuscan Monastery and its Social World: San Michele of Guamo (1156–1348) (Rome, 1989)Google Scholar.

72 Panarelli, Dal Gargano, 240–4.