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Received: Thu, 31 May 2012 04:23:44 PM EDT
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Subject: TMR 12.05.24 Greatrex, The English Benedictine Cathedral Priories
(Kerr)
Greatrex, Joan. <i>The English Benedictine Cathedral Priories: Rule
and Practice, c. 1270-c.1420</i>. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2011. Pp. 416. $150. ISBN: 978-0-19-925073-8.
Reviewed by Julie Kerr
University of St Andrews
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This comparative study of the nine cathedral priories in England is
intended as a sequel to the author's <i>Biographical Register of the
English Cathedral Priories of the Province of Canterbury</i> (1997),
but includes Durham which was the only cathedral priory in the
archdiocese of York. Greatrex seeks to follow the monk of the
cathedral priory from his entrance as a postulant to his death,
tracing his path of instruction, study and ordination, and his share
in the administration of the house. The analysis covers a long
fourteenth century and ends in 1421 when Henry V called a meeting at
Westminster to reform the Benedictine houses. This timescale is
determined by the nature and availability of sources and the study
draws extensively on the abundance of account rolls, episcopal and
archiepiscopal registers, as well as on library catalogues and
surviving books.
The book comprises six chapters and two appendices, and includes plans
of six of the nine cathedral priories. Chapter One takes the form of
an introduction. It sets the cathedral priories in their historical
context and then discusses their location and the layout of the
various precincts. Greatrex considers the monasteries' dependencies,
including their halls and hostels in Oxford and Cambridge which she
explores further in Chapter Three in a discussion of university
education. Greatrex looks briefly at the monks' family backgrounds
and also relationships between communities and their bishop or
archbishop. Chapters Two to Six trace the monk's journey and begin
with his application and admission to the monastery and his subsequent
profession. Admission was by no means guaranteed and the postulant
was interviewed to test his aptitude and suitability for the cloister;
entrance might be deferred if his singing, grammar or reading was not
up to standard. Chapter Three considers the junior monk and examines
the training he received, his ordination, and learning both in the
cloister and at the university. Each monastery was required to send
one monk to the university for every twenty in the community but
Greatrex explains that the cathedral priories surpassed this quota.
Yet, relatively few stayed on to finish their degrees and often
returned to the cloister once they were equipped with the tools to
preach in their monastery. Chapter Four discusses the senior office
holders, the obedientiaries, who were responsible for the
administration of the house and its dependent cells. Evidence is
drawn largely from monastic account rolls and is supplemented by
statutes and injunctions that were issued following visitation.
Analysis highlights how the nature of the obedientiary's tasks might
vary from house to house; the numbers and names of the offices also
differed. For instance, not every cathedral priory had a feretrar
whose duties were frequently taken on by the sacrist; at Worcester the
cellarer was equivalent to a bursar or treasurer and at Winchester he
was tied to the curtarian. Chapter Five breaks away from the
chronology of the monk's life to take a selective look at "salient
features" (236) that marked the liturgical year and at the monk's
priestly functions; the chapter ends with a short and insightful
section on bloodletting and <i>recreatio</i> which provided time out
from the monastic regime. Chapter Six considers the closing years of
the monk's life when he might suffer from infirmity and illness, and
his eventual death and commemoration. Episcopal injunctions and
chapter ordinances can shed considerable light on the care of the sick
and reveal, for example, that meals might be prepared for them
according to their individual needs; doctors were often in attendance
and some were granted a corrody from the house. A number of monks
continued in office until they died; one prior of Christ Church,
Canterbury was over ninety and fully functioning at the time of his
death in 1331. Others retired in their late sixties or seventies and
perhaps joined the <i>stacionarii</i> in the infirmary. Monastic
accounts offer a vivid insight into provision for the dying and
deceased. For instance, we learn that payments were made to folk--
evidently outsiders--who kept watch at the dying monk's bedside and
might assist the infirmarer to anoint the sick; and to messengers
hired on an annual basis to dispatch death notices to monasteries and
request prayers for the deceased. Alms were often distributed to the
poor on behalf of the dead monk and the toll of the monastery bell
might draw a crowd of the needy to the priory gate, hoping for alms.
This is a meticulous study that provides a wealth of information
although some interesting details that would have enhanced the
narrative are rather lost in the footnotes. Examples include an
allusion to memory loss in old age at Ely, c. 1300, where elderly
monks who had forgotten the words were allowed to have candles and
books at Compline (71 n. 113); and the employment of a woman to make
wax for the monks of Durham in 1385/6 (203 n. 259). The book benefits
tremendously from the author's extensive knowledge of the library
collections and of learning in the cloister, and from her close
analysis of the accounts. It is an extremely detailed comparative
examination of the nine cathedral priories in England but would
perhaps have benefitted from greater reference to other Benedictine
houses such as Abingdon, Bury, St Albans and Westminster, to set the
cathedral priories in their wider context and to show if they were in
any way unique. Comparison with these houses may have been useful
when discussing the obedientiaries and the nature of their duties:
Greatrex mentions the difficulties in defining the role of the
curtarian at St Swithun's (164-5) who seems to have had some
responsibilities for the prior's household (165 n. 21); reference to
the monk curtar of Abingdon, who was a member of the abbot's household
and whose role is outlined in the <i>De Obedientiariis</i> (c. 1220)
of Abingdon, may have been helpful.
The study makes no claims to be exhaustive and as Greatrex states, it
is a "slice" of history (322). The author clearly cannot cover every
aspect of the monk's life and has to be selective, but she might have
discussed the novice's instruction in sign language in Chapter Two,
given that this was an important part of the newcomer's training.
Indeed Henry of Kirkstead, a fourteenth-century novice-master at Bury
St Edmunds, compiled a sign manual specifically for the novices of his
house. Evidence for instruction in signing may be scarce or missing
for the fourteenth-century cathedral priories but a later list of
signs survives for Ely--and is indeed mentioned by Greatrex (67, n.
94)--and earlier lists survive for Canterbury. Another area that
might have been explored is the abandonment of the monastic life or
instances where the monk was plagued by doubts, insecurities and
anxieties and considered leaving the cloister. Greatrex takes a
rather linear look at the monk's life charting his progression from
entry until death but says little about the stresses and worries that
may have troubled monks, causing them to question their vocation; or
the strains of administration which perhaps led priors and
obedientiaries to resign from office, seeking to return to the
quietude of the cloister. Greatrex explains that when the newly-
ordained monk priest celebrated his first mass his family and friends
would attend (98). Further discussion of the monk's relationship with
his family and also with his fellow brethren would have been
interesting and widened the focus of the narrative. But perhaps, in
contrast to the twelfth- and thirteenth-century sources, the
fourteenth-century evidence does not permit analyses of this nature,
especially given the paucity of miracle and exempla collections at
this time and the rather fragmentary nature of surviving customaries.
The author is to be congratulated for an impressive and meticulous
study that will greatly enhance research in this area and stimulate
further analysis.
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