The Judicial Activities of the General Chapters: I

Jane Sayers

doi:10.1017/S002204690006139X

The Judicial Activities of the General Chapters: I

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011

Jane Sayers

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Within the papacy's jurisdiction of Western Christendom, the general chapter of each religious order replaced the Curia Romana, as the central legislative and judicial assembly. The text of the Promulgatio Chartae Charitatis elaborates this right of self-government and compares the hierarchy of the Cistercian order with that of the Roman Church:

‘… sicut Christus Ecclesiam suam condidit sub Romano Pontifice, per quatuor Patriarchas, Archiepiscopos multos, sed plures ad hue Episcopos regendam; sic Cisterciensis ordo sub abbate Cistercii supremo capite, pro Episcopis abbates filios habeat, pro Archiepiscopis abbates quos patres vocant, pro Patriarchis primos illos quatuor, per quos in charitate radicatus, ac mutuis inter se officiis devinctus, sine alius interventu regeretur …’.

Type: Articles
Information: The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , April 1964 , pp. 18 - 32

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S002204690006139X [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1964

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References

^{page 18 note 1} Statuta Capitulorum Generalium Ordinis Cisterciensis, ed. J.-M. Canivez, Bibliothèque la Revue d'Histoire Ecclésiastique, fasc. 9 (1933), i. 2; (hereafter cited as Statuta). The text of the CC, which Canivez used, is the one now called CC. Posterior and attributed to the end of the twelfth century.

^{page 18 note 2} Cf. J. Turk, ‘Charta Caritatis Prior’, Analecta Sacri Ordinis Cisterciensis (hereafter referred to as A.S.O.C), Annus I (1945), 11, and Lefèvre, J.-A., ‘A propos d'un nouveau textede la “Carta Caritatis Prior” dans le MS. Metz 1247’, Revue Bénédictine (hereafter referred to as R.B.), lxv (1955), 90CrossRef Google Scholar.

^{page 18 note 3} ‘Charta Caritatis Prior’, op. cit., 53–6: the whole MS. has been edited by Noschitzka, Canisius, ‘Codex manuscriptus 31 Bibliothecae Universitatis Labacensis’, A.S.O.C., Annus VI (1950), 1–124Google Scholar.

^{page 18 note 4} ‘Charta Caritatis Prior’, op. cit., 11–61. These views are summarised by J.-A. Lefèvre in R.B., lxv, 90.

^{page 19 note 1} ‘Charta Caritatis Prior’, op. cit., 54, and ‘Codex manuscriptus 31 Bibliothecae Universitatis Labacensis’, A.S.O.C., VI, 18–19 (vii).

^{page 19 note 2} ‘Charta Caritatis Prior’, op. cit., 59, nos. 15 and 16; also printed in Statuia, i. pp. xxviii–xxix, XVIII and XIX.

^{page 19 note 3} ‘Charta Caritatis Prior’, op. cit., 31, 34, 50.

^{page 19 note 4} J.-A. Lefèvre, op. cit., 93.

^{page 19 note 5} Ibid., 91.

^{page 19 note 6} Lefèvre, J.-A., ‘La véritable constitution cistercienne de 1119’, Collectanea Ordinis Cisterciensium Reformatorum (hereafter referred to as Coll. O.C.R.), Annus XVI (1954), 85–6Google Scholar.

^{page 20 note 1} P.L. clxiii, col. 1147 BC; Regesta Pontificum Romanorum, ed. P. Jaffé revised by S. Loewenfeld, 2nd ed., i, Leipzig 1885, no. 6795.

^{page 20 note 2} Lefèvre, J.-A., ‘La véritable CC. Primitive et son évolution’, Coll. O.C.R., Annus XVI (1954), 19Google Scholar, 29, and ‘La véritable constitution, ibid., 93.

^{page 20 note 3} Lefèvre, J.-A., ‘Le vrai récit primitif des origines de Cîteaux est-il l'Exordium Parvum?’, Le Moyen Age, lxi (1955), 79–120Google Scholar.

^{page 20 note 4} Lefèvre, J.-A., ‘A propos de la composition des Instituta Generalis Capituli apud Cistercium’, Coll. O.C.R., Annus XVI (1954), 157–82Google Scholar, especially 157–8, 164.

^{page 20 note 5} Lefèvre, J.-A., ‘Pour une datation nouvelle des Instituta Generalis Capituli’, Coll. O.C.R., Annus XVI (1954), 241–66Google Scholar.

^{page 20 note 6} van Damme, J.-B., ‘La constitution cistercienne de 1165’, A.S.O.C., Annus XIX (1963), 84Google Scholar.

^{page 21 note 1} ‘Cistercii Statuta Antiquissima’, ed. Turk, J., A.S.O.C, Annus IV (1948), 21Google Scholar; ‘Codex manuscriptus 31 Bibliothecae Universitatis Labacensis’, A.S.O.C, VI, 28; Statuta 1134, 30. There are slight variations between the texts.

^{page 21 note 2} ‘Cistercii Statuta Antiquissima’, ed. J. Turk, 26; ‘Codex manuscriptus 31 Bibliothecae Universitatis Labacensis’, op. cit., 36; Statuta 1134, 70.

^{page 21 note 3} Edited in A.S.O.C, Annus IV (1948), 122–8, especially 123, 126, and in P.L., clxxx, col. 1542 CD, where the text is slightly different.

^{page 21 note 4} See above p. 19.

^{page 21 note 5} Lefèvre, J.-A. and Lucet, B., ‘Les codifications cisterciennes aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles d'après les traditions manuscrites’, A.S.O.C, Annus XV (1959), 13, 22Google Scholar.

^{page 21 note 6} J.-A. Lefèvre, ‘La véritable constitution’, Coll. O.C.R., XVI, 88.

^{page 22 note 1} Winandy, J., ‘Les origines de Cîteaux et les travaux de M. Lefèvre’, R.B., lxvii (1957), 49–76Google Scholar.

^{page 22 note 2} van Damme, Jean-Baptiste, ‘Autour des origines cisterciennes’, Coll. O.C.R., Annus XX (1958), 37–60Google Scholar, 153–68, and continued in Annus XXI (1959), 70–86, 137–56.

^{page 22 note 3} de Beaufort, G., ‘La Charte de Charité cistercienne et son évolution’, Revue d'Histoire Ecclésiastique, xlix (1954), 433Google Scholar n.1.- G. de Beaufort is the pseudonym of P. J. Bouton, a Trappist monk.

^{page 22 note 4} Cf. Hourlier, Jacques, Le Chapitre Général jusqu'au moment du Grand Schisme, Paris 1936, 48Google Scholar.

^{page 22 note 5} Calendar of Documents preserved in France, ed. Round, J. H., i, London 1899, 353–4Google Scholar, cited by Knowles, D., The Monastic Order in England, Cambridge 1950Google Scholar, 202 n.2.

^{page 23 note 1} D. Knowles, op. cit, 202; Auvry, C., Histoire de la Congrégation de Savigny, i, Rouen 1896, 179Google Scholar, 201.

^{page 23 note 2} Dereine, C., ‘Le premier Ordo de Prémontré’, R.B., lviii (1948), 90Google Scholar, 92 n.i. The close connexion between the Premonstratensian statutes and the Cistercian legislative texts has been shown by Mahn, J.-B. in L'Ordre Cistercien, Paris 1951Google Scholar.

^{page 23 note 3} See ‘Les premiers statuts de l'ordre de Prémontré’, ed. van Waefelghem, R., Analectes de l'Ordre de Prénontré, ix (1913), 1–74Google Scholar. This text is referred to as PW.

^{page 23 note 4} Ibid., 14, and Lefèvre, J.-A., ‘La véritable constitution’, Coll. O.C.R., Annus XVI (1954), 92Google Scholar.

^{page 23 note 5} van Dyck, Leo, ‘Essai sur les sources du droit Prémontré primitif concernant les pouvoirs du Dominus Praemonstratensis’, Analecta Praemonstratensia, xxviii (1952), 87Google Scholar, and J.-A. Lefèvre, ‘La véritable constitution’, op. cit., 92.

^{page 23 note 6} L. van Dyck, op. cit., 134–5.

^{page 23 note 7} L. van Dyck, ibid., and Lefèvre, J.-A., ‘A propos des sources de la législation primitive de Prémontré’, Analecta Praemonstratensia, xxx (1954), 13Google Scholar.

^{page 23 note 8} J.-A. Lefèvre, ibid., 12–19.

^{page 23 note 9} Dickinson, J. C., The Origins of the Austin Canons and their Introduction into England, London 1950, 84Google Scholar. This document does not seem to have been noticed by van Dyck or Lefevre.

^{page 24 note 1} P.L. clxxix, cols. 204C–206B, and L. van Dyck, op. cit., 119–20. Another bull however, issued on the same day (the ‘Proprium est ecclesiasticae’), makes no allusion to the general chapter. Upon this apparent contradiction much of van Dyck's argument is based: he thinks that the ‘Sacer Ordo vester’ is a forgery.

^{page 24 note 2} L. van Dyck, op. cit., 130–1.

^{page 24 note 3} Colvin, H. M., The While Canons in England, Oxford 1951, 14Google Scholar, and L. van Dyck, op. cit., 127.

^{page 24 note 4} Much of the controversy about the date of the establishment of a general chapter with the Premonstratensians centres round the use of the words ‘colloquium’ and ‘capitulum generale’: see H. M. Colvin, op. cit., 13–15.

^{page 24 note 5} J. C. Dickinson, op. cit., 82, 88.

^{page 24 note 6} Ibid., 85; Graham, R., English Ecclesiastical Studies, London 1929, 16Google Scholar, and J. Hourlier, Le Chapitre Général jusqu'au moment du Grand Schisms, 118–20.

^{page 24 note 7} Bonnard, F., Histoire de l'Abbaye royale et de l'Ordre des Chanoines Réguliers de St.-Victor de Paris, i, Paris 1904, 147Google Scholar.

^{page 24 note 8} Ibid., 148 n.4 (contd). The whole letter is printed in 147–8 n.4.

^{page 24 note 9} J. C. Dickinson, op. cit., 86.

^{page 25 note 1} Ibid., and J. Hourlier, op. cit., 120.

^{page 25 note 2} J. C. Dickinson, op. cit., 86–7 n.6 (Cartulary of St. Nicholas Arrouaise, Bibliotheque Municipale of Amiens MS. 1077, fol. 5^v).

^{page 25 note 3} J. C. Dickinson, op. cit., 86.

^{page 25 note 4} J. Hourlier, op. cit., 167.

^{page 25 note 5} Published at Lille in 1786. This is a very rare book and I have not been able to consult it. See J. C. Dickinson, op. cit., 87, and 77, and Lefèvre, J.-A., ‘La véritable constitution cistercienne de 1119’, Coll. O.C.R., Annus XVI (1954), 79Google Scholar, 81–2, 89, 90–2, and Vermeer, P., ‘De invloed van de CC. van Citeaux op de statuten van Arrouaise’, Studia Catholica, xxviii (1953), 105–14Google Scholar. Vermeer favours the date 1130 for the Arrouaisian statutes.

^{page 25 note 6} Chapters of the Augustinian Canons, ed. H. E. Salter, London 1922, xliv–xlv: this is printed on p. xlv. The italics are mine. See also Knowles, D. and Hadcock, R. Neville, Medieval Religious Houses, London 1953, 132Google Scholar.

^{page 25 note 7} P.L. cliii, col. 1125: Acta Primi Capituli Ordinis Carthusiensis: Statuta Antiqua; and Annales Ordinis Cartusiensis, ed. C. Le Couteulx, ii, Monstrolii 1888, 5–6.

^{page 26 note 1} Thompson, E. Margaret, The Carthusian Order in England, London 1930, 86Google Scholar, 88: Dom Longin Ray, ‘Chartreux’, Dictionnaire de Droit Canonique, iii, col. 635: J. Hourlier, op. cit., 107—he says that the second general chapter was held in 1143.

^{page 26 note 2} E. M. Thompson, op. cit., 88.

^{page 26 note 3} Ibid., 109–10. The customs of prior Guigo were confirmed by Innocent II (p. 93).

^{page 26 note 4} Ibid., 87.

^{page 26 note 5} J. Hourlier, Le Chapitre Général jusqu'au moment du Grande Schisme, 112.

^{page 26 note 6} Ibid.

^{page 26 note 7} R. Graham, English Ecclesiastical Studies, 215, citing J. Levesque, Annales Ordinis Grandimontis, Trecis 1662, 118–21; cf. P.L., cciv, cols. 1037, 1160. Miss Graham says (op. cit., 230) that the correctors were bound to attend the general chapters frequently, if not every year. In 1182 Henry II was at Grandmont at the time of the convocation of the general chapter: R. Graham, op. cit., 217.

^{page 26 note 8} Cartulaires de l'Abbaye de Molesme, ed. J. Laurent, i, Paris 1907, 171, and R. Graham, op. cit., 21.

^{page 26 note 9} Cartulaires de l'Abbaye de Molesme, ed. J. Laurent, i. 267.

^{page 26 note 10} Ibid., i. 268, and ii (1911), no. 658.

^{page 26 note 11} Ibid., i. 268.

^{page 26 note 12} R. Graham, English Ecclesiastical Studies, 21. No Cistercian abbess had the right to attend the general chapter, but there is evidence to show that in France and in Spain the Cistercian nunneries sent women representatives to attend a general chapter at the head nunnery of the province (ibid., 21–2).

^{page 26 note 13} D. Knowles, The Monastic Order in England, 204.

^{page 27 note 1} Graham, R., S. Gilbert of Sempringham and the Gilbertines, London 1901, 12–13Google Scholar, 96, and SirDugdale, William, Monastkon Anglicanum, ed. Caley, , Ellis, and Bandinel, , vi. 2, London 1846, viii–xxiiGoogle Scholar, (p. xi—‘Quod commissum est ei a Domino Papa Regimen Ordinis sui’). See also J. C. Dickinson, op. cit., 78, and Williams, Watkin, S. Bernard of Clairvaux, Manchester 1935, 240–1Google Scholar.

^{page 27 note 2} R. Graham, op. cit., 49

^{page 27 note 3} R. Graham, op. cit., 50, and Monasticon, vi. 2, lvii.

^{page 27 note 4} Vermeer, Pascalis, ‘Cîteaux—Val-des-Choux’, Coll. O.C.R., Annus XVI (1954), 35–44Google Scholar.

^{page 27 note 5} J. Hourlier, op. cit., 111.

^{page 27 note 6} Ibid., 82.

^{page 27 note 7} Ibid.

^{page 27 note 8} Ibid., 83.

^{page 28 note 1} Galbraith, G. R., The Constitution of the Dominican Order 1216–1360, Manchester 1925, 36, 85Google Scholar.

^{page 28 note 2} G. R. Galbraith, op. cit., 36.

^{page 28 note 3} Ibid., 104.

^{page 28 note 4} Ibid., 74–5; ‘Die Constitutionen des Prediger-Ordens vom Jahre 1228’, ed. Denifle, P. H., Archiv für Litteratur- und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters, i, Berlin 1885, 220Google Scholar.

^{page 28 note 5} G. R. Galbraith, op. cit., 69 n.3.

^{page 28 note 6} J. Hourlier, Le Chapitre Général jusqu'au moment du Grande Schisme, 144–8.

^{page 28 note 7} Ibid., 149.

^{page 28 note 8} Ibid., 154.

^{page 28 note 9} Ibid., 151–2.

^{page 29 note 1} Ibid., 81.

^{page 29 note 2} Ibid., 79; Mittarelli, J. B. and Costadoni, A., Annales Camaldulenses Ordinis Sancti Benedict:, iv, Venice 1759, 344Google Scholar.

^{page 29 note 3} J. Hourlier, op. cit., 79.

^{page 29 note 4} Besse, J.-M., ‘L'Ordre de Cluny et son gouvernement’, Revue Mabillon, i (1905), 98Google Scholar.

^{page 29 note 5} P.L., clxxxviii, col. 935.

^{page 29 note 6} J.-M. Besse, op. cit., 98, and Recueil des Chartes de Cluny, ed. A. Bernard and A. Bruel, v, Paris 1894, 656; J. Hourlier, op. cit., 73.

^{page 29 note 7} J.-M. Besse, op. cit., 98 n.4. R. Graham, English Ecclesiastical Studies, 23, and P.L. ccix, cols. 882–96. Hourlier says that the general chapter was established in 1202 (op. cit., 73), but he gives no authority for this.

^{page 29 note 8} R. Graham, op. cit., 24, citing Recueil des Chartes de Cluny, vi, Paris 1903, 5–13Google Scholar.

^{page 29 note 9} P.L., ccxvi, col. 791, and Berlière, U., ‘Innocent III et la réorganisation des monastères bénédictins’, R.B., xxxii (1920), 146Google Scholar.

^{page 29 note 10} J. Hourlier, op. cit., 74; Bruel, A., ‘Les chapitres généraux de l'ordre de Cluny depuis le XIIIe jusqu'au XVIIe siècle’, Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes, xxxiv (1873), 544Google Scholar, 549, 556; Regesta Pontificum Romanorum 1198 ad 1304, ed. A. Potthast, i, Berlin 1874, no. 9072. Hourlier gives 12 January, which seems to be a mistake.

^{page 29 note 11} J. Hourlier, op. cit., 75–6; A. Bruel, op. cit., 549.

^{page 30 note 1} R. Graham, English Ecclesiastical Studies, 22; Watkin Williams, op. cit., 227; Pantin, W. A., ‘The General and Provincial Chapters of the English Black Monks, 1215–1540’, T.R.H.S. 4th series, x (1927), 204Google Scholar; and see P.L., clxxxii, col. 222.

^{page 30 note 2} Quoted by Berlière, U., ‘Les chapitres généraux de l'ordre de S. Benoît’, R.B., xviii (1901), 369 n.3Google Scholar.

^{page 30 note 3} J.-M. Besse, op. cit., Revue Mabillon, i (1905), 97.

^{page 30 note 4} Watkin Williams, op. cit., 228.

^{page 30 note 5} J. Hourlier, op. cit., 71.

^{page 30 note 6} Ibid., and P.L., clxxxii, cols. 713–14.

^{page 30 note 7} J. Hourlier, op. cit., 117.

^{page 30 note 8} J. C. Dickinson, op. cit., 81–2.

^{page 30 note 9} Berlière, U., ‘Innocent III et la réorganisation des monasteres bénédictins’, R.B., xxxii (1920), 157Google Scholar; Reg. Pont. Rom., ed. A. Potthast, i, no. 1843.

^{page 31 note 1} U. Berlière, op. cit., R.B., xxxii (1920), 158; Reg. Pont. Rom., ed. A. Potthast, i, no. 3045.

^{page 31 note 2} J. Hourlier, op. cit., 87.

^{page 31 note 3} U. Berlière, op. cit., R.B., xxxii (1920), 158; P.L., ccxvi, col. 312; J. Hourlier, op. cit., 88.

^{page 31 note 4} Corpus jur. can. III tit. xxxv—De statu monachorum, c. 7. It is also printed in Documents …of the English Black Monks, ed. Pantin, W. A., Camden 3rd series, xlv (1931), i. 273–4Google Scholar; Leclercq, C.-J. Hefele-H., Histoire des Conciles, v. 2, Paris 1913, 1342–4Google Scholar.

^{page 31 note 5} W. A. Pantin, op. cit., T.R.H.S. 4th series, x (1927), 244.

^{page 31 note 6} J. Hourlier, op. cit., 101. Sometimes, however, they were held more frequently than triennially.

^{page 31 note 7} W. A. Pantin, op. cit., T.R.H.S. 4th series, x (1927), 227. In 1222, one president (the abbot of Gloucester) did not appear (Knowles, D., The Religious Orders in England, i, Cambridge 1948, 11Google Scholar). The power of the presidents of provincial chapters attracted the attention of canonists. Innocent IV said that the presidents did not possess an ordinary jurisdiction: they acted by virtue of a papal delegation of power (see J. Hourlier, op. cit., 183–4).

^{page 31 note 8} Documents … of the English Black Monks, 86, and see also 64, 85, and W. A. Pantin, op. cit., T.R.H.S. 4th series, x (1927), 230.

^{page 31 note 9} J. C. Dickinson, op. cit., 79.

^{page 32 note 1} Chapters of the Augustinian Canons, ed. H. E. Salter, ix.

^{page 32 note 2} Ibid., xi.

^{page 32 note 3} J. C. Dickinson, op. cit., 89.

^{page 32 note 4} Statuta 1134, 30; H. M. Colvin, op. cit., 197; A. Bruel, op. cit., 544 n.5, and G. R. Galbraith, op. cit., 75.

^{page 32 note 5} J. Hourlier, op. cit., 164.

^{page 32 note 6} It was, however, becoming a trouble with the Cistercians. With the Benedictines, attendance was poor (see Pantin, W. A., op. cit., T.R.H.S. 4th series, x (1927), 219Google Scholar).

^{page 32 note 7} Since this article went to press, two important pieces of work on the Premonstratensian texts have appeared in print (see above, 23–4). I. J. van de Westelaken, (‘Premonstratenzer Wetgeving 1120–1165,’ Analecta Praemonstratensia, xxxviii (1962), 7–42)Google Scholar, considers that there were at least three codifications of Premonstratensian law, PX, the first, of before 1131, PW, the second, of 1140–65 (ed. R. van Waefelghem in 1913), and PM, the third, compiled between 1161 and 1165 (ed. E. Martène from Bibl. Na', MS. latin 14,762). H. Marton (‘Initia capituli generalis in fontibus historicis ordinis’ and ‘Status iuridicus monasteriorum Ordinis Praemonstratensis primitivus’, ibid., 43–69’ and 191–265), has seen a gradual development with no supreme and all powerful central authority from the very first, 1124–28.

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