No description available.

The Augustinian canons have never enjoyed the level of scholarly attention afforded to the monastic and mendicant movements of the central middle ages. This disparity has been particularly acute in the British Isles, despite being its most prolific religious movement. Scholars working in England, Ireland, and Wales have begun to correct this historiographical lacuna. In Scotland, the regular canons have also received comparatively scant attention, and, indeed, have largely been understood on the basis of imported paradigms. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to address a deficiency in Scottish historiography and make a contribution to the growing scholarship on the regular canons in the British Isles. The regular canonical movement is examined within the kingdom of Scotland over the course of roughly a century. Eleven non-congregational houses of regular canons are considered, namely Scone, Holyrood, Jedburgh, St. Andrews, Cambuskenneth, and Inchcolm and the dependencies of Loch Tay, Loch Leven, Restenneth, Canonbie, and St. Mary’s Isle. The kingdom of Scotland provides both a common context, and a diverse milieu, in which to consider the foundation and development of these institutions and the movement as a whole. The chronological parameters have been determined by the foundation of the first house of regular canons in Scotland in c. 1120 and the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, which had the effect of artificially creating the Order of St Augustine. By examining individual houses separately, as well as in unison, this study seeks to present an integrated picture of the regular canonical movement in the kingdom of Scotland during the period of its organic development from c. 1120 to 1215. The fundamental question concerning the regular canons is the nature of their vocation and their societal function. It has increasingly been recognised that a spectrum of different interpretations of canonical life existed ranging from the active – pastoral, practical, and outward looking – to the contemplative – ascetic, quasi-eremitical, and inward looking – which were all part of the same decentralised religious movement. This thesis attempts to situate the Scottish Augustinians, as far as possible, within this spectrum. It argues that a unique manifestation of the regular canonical movement emerged in the kingdom of Scotland as the result of a range of factors – including shared patrons, leadership, and episcopal support – which had the effect of creating a group identity, and, thereby, a collective understanding of their vocation and role in society. The subject institutions have been particularly fortunate in terms of the quality and variety of the surviving source material. The evidence is comprised principally of charter material, but also includes chronicles and foundation narratives produced by Scottish Augustinians, and these provide an essential supplement. This thesis sheds light on an important group of religious houses in Scotland and on a complex religious movement that is only beginning to be fully understood, and, thus, it is hoped that this study will lay the groundwork for future research.

No description available.

No description available.

The house of canons regular in Roudnice nad Labem was founded 1333 by John IV of Dražice after his return from Avignon. It was a very important and richly supported monastery, which is demonstrated besides other things by the younger fragment of necrologium, dated 1458-1464 (State Regional Archive in Třeboň, fond Velkostatek Třeboň, registratura IA 3K β 28e). The thesis deals with the Bohemian illuminated manuscripts from the 2nd third of the 14th century from the library from Roudnice, which is quite unique between all the Bohemian houses of regular canons for the high percentage of illuminated manuscripts. The Missale of John of Dražice ( KNM XIII B 9) is an excellent example of some high quality manuscript in the time around 1340 in Bohemia. The ornamental initials show parallels to the recent Western European style. One of them, VD initial on the folio 57r, is filled by the coat-of-arms of the Dražice family, gold wine sprig with three leafs in the red field. But the most interesting is the canon leaf (65r), a classical representative of Central European linear style. The leaf was glued to its place. The same praxis we see in the slightly younger Missale of Chotěšov Monastery (NK XIV C 3). The canon leaf from Chotěšov (185v) is more delicate in its colors and forms, distinctly knowledgeable of...

The aim of this diploma thesis is to describe the library of Augustinan canons in Roudnice nad Labem (Raudnitz in German) and assess its place in late medieval culture in Bohemia. The first chapter surveys the history of the monastery. It was founded by the bishop of Prague, Jan IV. from Dražice, in 1333. The monastery flourished and was supported by the highest ecclesiastical officials, but it was destroyed in 1421 during the Hussite wars; the canons escaped to Germany (Erfurt) and to Poland (Wroclaw, Żagań/Sagan). There is substantial evidence on the history of the monastery in Roudnice; several important documents of the monastery have survived, especially monastic statutes, the necrologium of the monastery and also its cartulary. Then the monastic library is explored. In addition to the manuscripts themselves, there are notes on the books in the necrologium of the monastery and several other indirect sources. Unfortunately it is impossible to reconstruct the entire content of the library of the Augustian canons in Roudnice; nevertheless, over one hundred manuscripts that used to be kept in the library have been identified. These manuscripts are today deposited mainly in the Library of the National Museum and in the National Library of the Czech Republic in Prague. The library of the monastery...

The diploma work deals with the history of the male Augustinian order in Bohemia and Moravia, i.e. both canons and eremites. The main concern of the first part is the personality of St. Augustin and general history of the order in Europe. The history of the order in Bohemia and Moravia follows and at the end the history of individual Bohemian and Moravian cloisters is elaborated.

This dissertation studies a local manifestation of ecclesiastical reform in the medieval county of Savoy: the twelfth-century transformation of secular canons into Augustinian regular canons at the church of Sts. Peter and Ursus in the alpine town of Aosta (now Italy). I argue that textual sources, material culture, and the practice of place together express how the newly reformed canons established their identity, shaped their material environment, and managed their relationship with the unreformed secular canons at the cathedral. The pattern of regularization in Aosta—instigated by a new bishop influenced by ideas of canonical reform—is only one among several models for implementing reform in medieval Savoy. This study asserts the importance of this medieval county as a center for reforming efforts among a regional network of churchmen, laymen, and noblemen, including the count of Savoy, Amadeus III (d. 1148). After a prologue and introduction, chapter 1 draws on traditional textual evidence to recount the history of reform in medieval Savoy. Chapters 2 through 4 focus on the twelfth-century sculpted capitals in the cloister built to accommodate the common life of the new regular canons. Several of the historiated capitals portray the biblical siblings, Martha and Mary, and Leah and Rachel, as material metaphors that reflect and reinforce the active and contemplative lives of the Augustinian canons. Other capitals represent the regular canons’ assertion of their precedence over the cathedral canons and suggest tensions between the two communities. The final chapter examines thirteenth-century conflicts over bell-ringing and ecclesiastical processions in the urban topography of Aosta to illustrate how the regular and secular canons continued to negotiate their relationship. Appendices include an English translation of a vita of St. Ursus (BHL 8453). The dissertation as a whole reconstructs the places and material culture of medieval Aosta to convey the complexities of religious and institutional life during a time of reform and beyond. / text