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32 - Monastic Canon Law in the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Centuries

from Part II - The Carolingians to the Eleventh Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2020

By
Christof Rolker
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

At least from the twelfth century on, Western monastic life was conceived as inseparable from rules, and especially the Rule of St. Benedict (RB). The RB, which refers to itself as “law” (RB 58.10, 15), contains both penalties for those violating this “law” and procedural norms, and in this sense can be seen as a law book for monastic communities. In the high Middle Ages, monastic orders perceived their own consuetudines as legal norms, and they established their own courts and appeal stages. At the same time, monastic houses were governed by the law of the Church at large, canon law. They were, at least in theory, under the firm control of the local bishop, who consecrated churches, acted as ordinary judge, and (nominally) controlled all monastic property, to name only some episcopal rights found in canon law from very early on.

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Chapter
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The Cambridge History of Medieval Monasticism in the Latin West , pp. 618 - 630
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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