medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Brenda and others,
I shared the original question with a colleague who is a specialist in
Cistercians, and he tells me that the question is a very complex one, that
cannot be answered in a short email message, but requires a book length
answer to get it right. He's not prepared to write a long answer (busy
writing several books).
The best thing to do would be to do some research in Cistercian sources and
books on Cistercian practices, to get a better sense of the question. A
search in the ATLA Religion database for "Cistercians" and "history"
produces 40 articles about the Cistercians; there is also a new "Cambridge
Companion to the Cistercian Order," ed. Mette Birkedal Bruun, that was
published in January (according the CUP Press website). I am not myself
familiar with Louis Lekai's "The Cistercians: Ideals and Reality," (Kent
State UP 1977), nor with "Studiosorum speculum" [festschrift for Lekai]
(Kalamazoo 1993). But these could be good starting points.
For surveys on topics I know only little about I usually begin with the
Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd ed. revised, OUP 2005). This
TinyURL should lead to the entry on OUP's website:
http://tinyurl.com/cistercians
Bill Schipper
-----Original Message-----
From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious
culture [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Christopher
Crockett
Sent: Friday, April 19, 2013 8:49 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] Cistercian elections
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: Ms B M Cook <[log in to unmask]>
> As I understand it, If any [Cistercian] monastery is unable to elect
> an
abbot from among their number, the monks are obliged to put the matter in
the hands of their Mother House:
> Charter of Charity, Chapter 8
> "If any monastery of our Order be without an abbot, the abbot of its
mother-house shall take the charge of it until the election of a new abbot.
"
"
i was reading around in Odo Rigaud's Regestrum the other day and came across
his mentioning an abbey (i can't remember whether it was Benedictine or of
canons regular --but it wasn't Cistercian) which couldn't decide on it's
abbot, so Archbishop Odo installed one of his own choice (at the request of
the house).
his candidate was a member of the community, but he made it clear that the
fellow was only an "interim" abbot.
seems like going to an immediate superior in the event of a deadlocked
election would be a logical thing to do --and maybe even one called for in
canon law?-- but since the C.'s were largely exempt from episcopal
authority, any given abbey's immediate superior would be, i suppose, the
Mother House.
Brenda, are you quoting from a published translation of the C of C, or is
that your own?
*is* there an English translation available?
> Can anyone tell me how a Cistercian abbot might have been elected in
> the
12th Century?
> Was it a simple show of hands in Chapter ?
> Was it a simple majority or did an election need a 2/3 majority ?
> Could the Lay Brothers vote ?
this isn't covered in the C of C?
surely it's in Bennie's Rule, isn't it?
> I am assuming that the abbot of the Mother House could himself elect
> the
abbot for the daughter house, ie impose his candidate - a monk from the
mother house itself or from one of the filiations - upon the defaulting
daughter house.
how is a hung election a "default"?
i should think (without being encumbered by any actual knowledge of the
matter) that factionalism in the inherently Hothouse environments of these
institutions would have been a rather common occurrence --which, in a
certain percentage of extreme cases, would have manifested itself in hung
elections.
one of the remarkable things to me in Odo's account was that he chose
someone as interim abbot who was from the institution itself (at least
that's my dim memory of the situation), which might have been a rather Dicey
proposition, since it could well have intensified whatever (already serious)
factionalism there was within the house.
c
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