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59 - Bishops, Canon Law, and the Religious, c. 1140–1350

from Part IV - Forms of Monasticism in the Late Middle Ages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2020

By
Tristan Sharp
Edited by
Alison I. Beach  and
Isabelle Cochelin
Alison I. Beach
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
Isabelle Cochelin
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Summary

“The power of bishops is harmful to the monastic way of life (regimini religiosorum).” So the Cistercian abbot Jacques de Thérines (d. 1321) summed up the relationship between bishops and monks around the year 1300. Whether or not the abbot was correct about the effect of episcopal power, most scholars have agreed that tension, if not outright conflict, was a normal part of this relationship. To some extent this was inevitable. Tightly knit communities with a strong sense of vocation and heritage rarely welcome outside interventions, even if they are well-meaning. Nonetheless, there was also a happier aspect to monastic–episcopal relations. Bishops could act as patrons, providing monasteries with resources and defending their interests, while preventing serious internal abuses. Monasteries, for their part, could serve an important role for bishops’ flocks as pilgrimage sites, and centers for networks of devotion and learning.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of Medieval Monasticism in the Latin West , pp. 1093 - 1108
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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