Graham, Rose, 'The Great Schism and the English Monasteries of the Cistercian Order', The English Historical Review 44 (1929), 373-387

Quick Summary

Cistercian monasteries in England were no longer able to look to their ‘mother-houses’ in France for leadership because of the papal schism

  • The Cistercian Order suffered the fate of a ‘house divided against itself’ during the papal schism, 1378-1409
  • Pope Urban VI released Cistercians from their obedience to ‘mother-houses’ in France
  • In 1392 the Cistercians in England were excommunicating for failing to pay a tax to the pope
Key Conclusion

Graham explores the experience of the Cistercian monks in England during the papal schism between 1378 and 1409. Graham concludes that during the schism the Cistercian Order ‘suffered the fate of a house divided against itself’ (p. 373): Cistercian monasteries in France were loyal to Pope Clement VII at Avignon, while the monasteries located in Italy (with the exception of Naples), Germany, Hungary, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, as well as England, Wales and Ireland, were loyal to Pope Urban VI at Rome. This split-loyalty caused problems because ‘daughter-houses’ (subordinate monasteries) in countries loyal to Urban VI were no longer able to look towards their ‘mother-houses’ in France for leadership.

Content Overview

In England, twenty out of the seventy Cistercian monasteries were the daughter-houses of mother-houses in France. Pope Urban VI issued papal bulls (edicts) releasing Cistercians from their obedience to mother-houses in France, and appointed a Cistercian abbot as vicar-general of the Cistercian Order to replace the abbot of Cîteaux, which was the mother-house of the entire Cistercian order. This meant that daughter-houses in countries loyal to Urban VI were ordered to look towards the vicar-general for leadership and direction, rather than their mother-house of Cîteaux. Four-fifths out of almost eight hundred of the Cistercian houses in Europe were daughter-houses of Clairvaux and Morimond in France, and were released by Pope Urban VI from their obedience.

Further Findings

Urban VI died on 18 October 1389 and was succeeded by Boniface IX. The schism continued, and in 1390 a general chapter (meeting) of Cistercian abbots met in Rome and pledged to give a ‘charitable subsidy’ (tax) to the pope to aid papal finances. The Cistercians in England probably wanted to pay this tax, but were unable to do so because English law forbade monasteries from paying ‘tallages’ (taxes) to the pope. Boniface IX refused to accept this, and on 6 January 1392 all Cistercian abbots in England were placed under sentence of excommunication. Negotiations continued, but in 1394 Richard II issued a strict order to all Cistercian abbots forbidding them from sending money out of the realm.

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