medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
"Ms Brenda M. Cook" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>On the other hand I have come across in several necrologies...
references to people who became Religious "ad succurrendum", that is, they
joined the Order at the end of their life, or when in mortal sickness, in
order to die with the benefits of being professed.
i believe that virtually any monastic necrology which survives with its
11th-12th (at least) century entries in tact would offer quite a number of
these --certainly those of the Chartrain houses (Benedictine & collegiate)
do.
and, in the cartularies, you will find quite a few gifts made "in caritatis"
with the donor receiving in "return" a specific statement that he shall have
the right to be received by that house as a member, when the Time comes (on
Death or Retirement).
judging --in a very unscientific fashion, as usual-- by the charters i've
seen, the practice was very popular in the 11th and earlier 12th cc., and
seems to have become somewhat less common (or, at least, is not specifically
stated quite as often) as the 12th c. progressed.
i doubt if it ever actually died out, however, but just is no longer recorded,
for some reason.
sometimes these charters open with lengthy _harrangae_ (*is* that the word?)
which go into some detail about the bright and hot and painful fires of
Gehenna and how wise it is to do whatever one can to avoid them.
related phenomena are :
--folks being brought to monasteries when very ill (or, in at least one
instance i came across, of a wounded soldier being brought to a nearby abbey
by one of his buddies after a battle, both for treatment and, as it turned
out, for habit-taking before dying of his wounds --and, after making a gift
which was later disputed by his wife and family);
--or of monks with healing skills [e.g., the resident Brother Cadfael of the
house] being called to the _castrum_ of the dying man, who, as a matter of
course, getting his his affairs in order, might be somehow persuaded to take
advantage of the opportunity to make a gift to the monastery and to
commemorate it with a written charter;
--knights, perhaps aging but otherwise in good health, actually
"retiring" into monasteries and taking the habit [Brother C., again].
Marmoutier seems to have been very well established in this latter practice,
and more than one Viscount of Chartres/Lord of LePuiset is known to have done
this, as well as at least one very interesting guy, _Bernardus Flagellus_, who
may have been one of the members of the LePuiset crew and who took the habit
at MM, then became _Panetarius_ ["Almsman"?] of the abbey, and seems to have
Flailed his former collegues unmercifully, soliciting gifts from them for his
house (recorded in charters from the published "Dunois" cartulary of MM).
--the female equivelent of this practice can also be seen, esp. in places like
the Cluniac convent of Marcigny-sur-Loire
(http://fsc.cluny.free.fr/sites/marcigny1.htm ), which boasted quite a few
known retired noble women among its members at the beginning of the 12th c.,
including at least one Lady of the house of LePuiset and the Most Noble
Countess of Blois/Chartres herself, Adela, daughter of the Most Noble King of
the English, William (I). (there is a fairly recent German dissertation on
this convent which goes into this matter in some detail, as i recall:
Wischermann, Else Maria: Marcigny-sur-Loire. Gründungs- und Frühgeschichte des
ersten Cluniacenserinnenpriorates
(1055-1150) (Bestandteil des Quellenwerkes Societas et Fraternitas)
(Münstersche Mittelalter-Schriften 42) München 1986).
--folks making gifts "in caritate" and being assured of themselves or their
family members being mentioned in the monks' prayers and inscribed in their
"Book of Life" (the institution's liturgical service book
--the "necrology"-- recording those who are to be specifically mentioned on a
given day).
at the top of this last heap were the (occasionally lavish)
foundations/endowments of "anniversary" masses.
the fanciest one of these i've come across is in a charter issued by Abbot Udo
of St. Peter's of Chartres (1130-115) laying out in some detail his wish that
there be a special meal provided for the brothers on his own (as it were)
"feast day" and how it is to be paid for:
http://www.ariadne.org/centrechartraine/abbeys/st-peter/CSP391-2.htm
(rough draft, corrections invited)
interesting to see that the main means he proposes to pay for his own,
personal, anniversary feast is by using the rent on a piece of property which
he was instrumental in having his uncle give to the abbey just before he
became abbot (see the second charter, at the bottom of that page).
*and,* for purposes of this present string, that his uncle, who was a canon of
the Cathedral, came to St. Peter's to die as a monk.
that's pretty much Miller Time ["It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This"
--a beer commercial], as far as interlocking surviving charters go, at this
period, and there's quite a lot that can be read between the lines in those
charters, i believe.
>He - and his son & heir - also made a fat donation to the monastery to cover
the expenses of his life there.
"entry" gifts were frequently given as a matter of course, well or ill.
>Maybe it depended on rank and cash,
i see no question whatever about it: the 97% of the population that were tied
to and worked the land to feed the other 3% who owned it don't show up in the
11-12th cc. documents at all, except as chattle property who go with the land
when it is transfered.
very few exceptions (i.e., i can't think of a singe case), and they are
certainly not identifiable as full-fledged Monks --the Aristocratic minority
of a community which usually included a much larger population of "hangers
on."
for example, it is sometimes said that Suger was "of humble origns" (or
somesuchlike phrase), but there is no question that this means that he was
from the "lower" "nobility," *not* that he was from a peasant/servile family.
>I would also suspect that there was less long-term disability in the Middle
Ages. The less than hardy tended to die young and everybody had a much shorter
expectation of life.
works both ways, though --*if* you survived childhood, and *if* you were well
enough off to get something to eat every day or so, and *if* you weren't in a
particularly hazardous profession like soldiering or birthing, then you might
very well expect to live out your four score and ten, more or less.
i've got quite a few documentable instances of folks living at least into
their 70s.
of course, all the folks that appear in the charters in any detail are from
the Well-Fed classes, and by no means representative of the population as a
whole.
looks like i've rattled on, again.
best to any who've stayed awake,
christopher
**********************************************************************
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
|
