On Mon, 16 Sep 1996, stephen hayes wrote: > Make that "murderers of their sick." This is in reference to the > Carthusian practice of not providing flesh even to those monks ill and > _in extremis_. That I'm aware of, very little has been done on this > topic since Thompson's book _The Carthusian Order in England_. dear stephen has anyone drawn comparison here with the Cathar practice of the "endura"? (that is, not feeding people who have received the purifying rite of the consolamentum on their deathbed; and thus hastening their deaths). The historiography around the endura has been limited to anti-Cathars [J.M.Vidal etc] saying "yuk! how morbid and suicidal. obviously a bad lot"; and pro-Cathars [Brenon etc] saying "I'm not sure it ever really existed". perhaps drawing comparison with Carthusians would be a more interesting line to take ...? cheers john arnold Centre for Medieval Studies Kings Manor Exhibition Square York YO1 2EP ENGLAND (01904) 433948 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%