medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: Ms B M Cook <[log in to unmask]>
> Can anyone who is clued up in medieaval economics tell me how prebends were
funded,
the comments by Jon and John are a good beginning but, as they noted, are (or
may be) peculiar to England.
i'll try and add some thoughts concerning France (Chartres specifically), what
little i know on that subject.
>or rather tell me if I am remembering correctly or have got the whole thing
screwed up.
well...
> As I believe, prebends were incomes provided for Cathedral Canons who lived
in houses and not a quasi monastic common life.
attempts were made, in the late 11th and, particularly, the early 12th c. to
"reform" the cathedral chapters of France --esp. those in the "Royal Domain"--
which would have meant the "regularisation" of the living conditions of their
canons but, as far as i am aware, the Cure didn't Take, anywhere, and things
went on pretty much as usual.
ocassionally individual bishops of a Reforming Bent could, with difficulty,
enforce some Canonical dictates --Ivo of Chartres seems to have been able to
discipline at least one married canon, for example-- but there was
considerable opposition from the King, Louis VI and his Queen even going so
far as to take a solemn oath in the cathedral of Paris that they would never,
ever, allow the chapter of that church to be reformed in their lifetime.
otOh, Fat Louis was a patron of the new (regular) collegial of St. Victor
(just outside then-Paris), including the granting a prebend --or at least the
"annates" to vacant prebends-- in various secular chapters/collegials to the
Victorines.
i have long been puzzled by this seeming contradiction in royal policy, but
have about decided that it was a question of what was thought to be an
appropriate venue for "regularisation" --new, reform chapters (e.g. the
Victorines) were O.K., but the reform of pre-existing institutions (esp. the
cathedral chapters of Paris and Orleans and the "royal abbeys", the collegials
of Etampes, Poissy, Corbeil, etc.) was to be resisted, even to the point of
violence.
in the case of Orleans, the Sub-Dean of the the cathedral was murdered; in
Paris, the Prior of St. Victor's was set upon by thugs related to an
Archdeacon and died in the arms of the reforming Bishop, Stephen of Senlis
--these guys were, clearly, Playing Hard Ball.
and, a lot more was at stake than just the question of whether the canons
lived and played together well --these powerful, wealthy ecclesiastical
institutions were, at the same time, vehicles for the projection of Royal
Power and for the dispensation of Royal Patronage (a not-inconsiderable factor
in the "First Among Equals" nature of the monarchy at this time).
> All parish churches in a diocese had to pay tithes.
yes, theoretically.
however, (in N. France) in the course of the late 9th and 10th cc. many, many
churches "fell into lay hands," and the tithes (and lands) went with them.
in particular, the *vast* estates (the "villas," which eventually developed
into "villages") of the ancient major monasteries (St. Denis, Fleury, St.
Martin of Tours, St. Germain of Auxerre, etc.) were largely dismantled, their
incomes doled out to the new aristocracy (like the Capetians themselves) and,
through subinfudation, provided the financial infrastructure necessary to keep
Europe's head above water during this period of great chaos.
what we see in the documents, increasingly, in the course of the 11th and 12th
c. is the return of these tithes and lands to the church --and not always to
the specific ecclesiastical institution which originally owned them.
circumstances were, obviously, different in different locales.
in the Chartres diocese, it appears (from the *surviving* documents) that the
"Lands of St. Mary" (i.e., of the cathedral), largely, remained intact (though
they were subject to the rapine of various local hoodlums, like the Viscounts
of Chartres and of Chateaudun, cf. the letters of Bishops Fulbert and Ivo).
most --or at least it *seems* like most-- of the charters we have from the
later 11th and early 12th c. from the monastic chapters of the region deal
with the restoration of property (including tithes) to ecclesiastical hands
--though not to the cathedral chapter(s).
in other words, though there were 943 parishes in the diocese of Chartres (the
largest in France, i believe) in the 13th c., the tithes from many (most?) of
them were in the hands of either institutions other than the cathdral or (in
some cases at least) still in lay hands.
>This tithe was divided into 3 equal parts. Part 1 went to pay the stipend of
the incumbent and keep the church in good repair; Part 2 went on charitable
works in the parish. Part 3 went to the diocese for the support of the Bishop
and the Cathedral.
logical though this speculation may seem, i know not your source for it.
the "cathedral's" (Bishop's and chapter's) income also consisted --perhaps
even primarily consisted-- of vast estates which it owned and administered
*directly*: "The Lands of St. Mary" in Fulbert and Ivo's letters.
> In certain cases, the tithe income from certain churches was earmarked for
the support of a particular named canon - this was his prebend;
perhaps.
at Chartres (as best i can make out) particular estates seem to have been
speicfically dedicated to the support of particular "Personae", the
"Dignataries"/ executive officers who actually ran the whole operation: the
Dean, Sub-Dean, Chanter, Archdeacons, Provosts, etc.
from some (usually post-12th c.) entries in the cathedral necrology i've seen,
it appears that some holders of these offices made various "improvements" (or
acquistitions) in the prebendary estates which supported his Dignity --often
for the purpose of establishing an income which was to be used (in part) to
pay for the clebration of his own "anniversary."
i'm not at all sure that "the tithe income from certain churches was earmarked
for
the support of a particular named canon" and that "this was his prebend."
this *may* have been true.
or not.
the *impression* i have is that the ordinary (i.e, the non-Personae) canons'
prebends came out of the Central Slush Fund (i forget the Latin), which came
(i assume) from both the tithes as well as from income from the Lands of St.
Mary.
the latter were administered/overseen by the Dignataries of the chapter called
Provosts (there were 5 or so, in the dio. of Chartres).
apparently, this post was noted for it's great potential for Abuse; there was
an attempt at the reform of their offices under (i think) Ivo, and again at
the end of the 12th c., when the chapter was in great need of funds to pay for
the building of the present structure after the great fire of 1194.
>of course, he could be assigned the income from more than one parish church.
In these cases, the said canon had some responsibility of oversight for the
church or churches which supported him. Was he technically the parish priest
himself and appointed a deputy - a vicar - to have the pastoral care of the
parish.
again, sounds perfectly logical, but i know not whether specific parishes were
assigned to specific canons --much less whether or not *canons* served as
parish priests, either directly or through "vicars."
certainly, i don't think i've ever come across such a phenomenon extant in the
Chartres chapter/diocese in cc. 11-13.
but, that doesn't mean that it wasn't the case.
i do know that the appointment of the parish priest --like the tithes owed and
the land (if any) belonging directly to the parish church-- was in the hands
of the "owner," whether that owner be the Bishop, the Chapter of the
cathedral, or the Abbot of a monastery or collegial.
*those* were the guys who had the right of "cure" (appointment).
(of course, the Middlevils would say, first of all, that it was the *Saint*
which was the "owner" of the land, the ecclesiastical institution only acting
as servants of their patron.)
> Is this true, and was it true for most of Christendon during most of the
Middle Ages ?
who nose?
> Any useful references ?
you might look at the lengthy introduction to the Chartres cathedral
cartulary.
it was the work of Lucein Merlet, the Archiviste of the Eure-et-Loir archives
and one of the most thoroughly knowlegable historians ever to work on the
diocese.
it is available here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=APQEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA158&dq=inauthor:lucien+inauthor:merlet&as_brr=1#PPP7,M1
the older ed. of the Paris cathedral cartulary will have a lengthy
introduction by Benjamin Guerard (Merlet's teacher, i believe) which might
also be of help, if you can get aholt of it (it's not yet on either Google or
the BN's Gallic site http://gallica.bnf.fr).
ditto, any other cathedral cartularies which follow Guerard's Ecole des
Chartes pattern for editing them.
anyway, read Merlet's introduction and let me know what it says.
c
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