 |
 |
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture thanks for the info. i've been interested in these situations for a while. in the dunster case, the parishioners, according to a star court petition, stole the bell ropes so the monks couldn't ring the bells. no doubt the parishioners responded, they are our bell ropes, we built the tower.(the contract survives in a modern copy). i wonder in the rochester case if the parishioners behaved more "piously" than some of their counterparts in other parishes as church attendance was a way to aggravate the monks. in the dunster case, the bishop tries to mediate between the two groups over the course of a couple hundred years (obviously not the same bishop), and the liturgy and architecture are implicated in attempts to smooth out relations--the two groups still fight however up until the ref. when the monks are kicked out. but your are right, there are great court cases about this. kit At 11:47 AM 5/22/2004 -0500, you wrote: >medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > > In > > Dorset, Sherborne Minster the canons and parishioners fought about the > > arrangement. according to Leland's Itinerary someone shot a flaming arrow > > into the top of the roof. the resulting fire burned the church and melted > > the bells. reportedly there are flaming arrows in some of the roof bosses, > > but i can't vouch for that personally. there are also churches that are > > both monastic and parochial, but not minsters--ie. Dunster, in also > > Somerset, had Benedictines. > >Dear Kit, >I did quite a bit of work on this for my MA thesis. There were many >Benedictine >monasteries in England with parishes attached to them. Some believe that this >relationship dates back at least to the 10th-century monastic revival in >England, but >I believe that it received much impetus from the Gregorian reforms of the >late 11th >and erly 12th centuries which made it improper for lay persons to collect >church >tithes. Many "Eigenkirche" that provided care of souls thus formed the >nucleus of a >monastic foundation. In some small houses -- Easebourne, Hurley, >Wilmington -- >the monks shared their church with parishioners right until the >Reformation, the >parish using the nave, the monks the east end. These relationships were >not always >entirely felicitous, however, and it was thus not uncommon for separate parish >churches to be built within the monastic precinct. Perhaps the most apparent >example of this now is St Margaret's Church, right next to Westminster >Abbey. But >even this arrangement did not always proceed smoothly. In 1312 an agreement >was made between the prior and convent of Rochester cathedral priory on >the one >hand and the parishioners on the other stipulating that if at any time the >monks >would build them a separate church outside the cathedral, the parishioners >should >move to it and resign all claims to an altar in the cathedral. Such a >church had >actually been started in the 13th century but had come to naught; another was >begun in the early 15th century -- but by the parishioners, not by the >monks. This >went slowly, however, because the monks kept raising various objections. The >parishioners had good reason to want their own church. As early as 1283 >Archbishop Pecham ruled that, since the people of the city had no parish >church >except the cathedral, from which they were debarred at night by the >closing of the >priory gate, they should henceforth either have access to it at all times >or a parish >church should be built for them. There was never a great deal of cooperation, >however, on the part of the convent. The monks, disliking the >arrangement, tried by >a variety of means to prevent the parishioners from using the church: they >shut the >doors at night, refused the sacrament to the sick, denied services, and in >1327 they >locked the doors of the nave. By the intervention of the bishop, a compromise >solution was adopted to satisfy the parishioners. An oratory was built in >the north >nave aisle by screening off the three westernmost bays from the rest of >the nave, >probably with wooden screens. The parishioners had access to the oratory >even at >night. Undoubtedly this must have entailed night access into the priory, >a situation >which no doubt rankled with the monks and which may have affected the >layout of >the precinct. However, it did keep the parish church and its fees inside >the priory >church, so the monks also benefitted from the compromise. Similar >solutions were >adopted elsewhere. Ely cathedral priory had a parochial chapel attached >to the >north side of the nave, for example. There are some really weird court >cases from >the later Middle Ages dividing churches up between a parish and convent. >Sorry to go on for so long. I meant to fill in details about >Sherborne! Oops! >Cheers, >Jim Bugslag > >********************************************************************** >To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME >to: [log in to unmask] >To send a message to the list, address it to: >[log in to unmask] >To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion >to: [log in to unmask] >In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: >[log in to unmask] >For further information, visit our web site: >http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html