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
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