IMC 2007: Sessions
Session 1316: City and Monastery, II: Urban Deserts? Monasteries in Medieval Cities, ii
Wednesday 11 July 2007, 16.30-18.00
| Organisers: | Hildo van Engen, Streekarchief Land van Heusden en Altena Gerrit Verhoeven, Independent Scholar, Delft |
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| Moderator/Chair: | Frances Andrews, Department of Mediaeval History, University of St Andrews |
| Respondent: | Frances Andrews, Department of Mediaeval History, University of St Andrews |
| Paper 1316-a | The Fatherly Patron of Us All: Social Relations between Carthusians and Modern Devout in the Early 15th Century (Language: English) Index terms: Monasticism, Religious Life |
| Paper 1316-b | Accounting and Connecting: The Nunnery of St Gertrud and its Relationship to the Town of Osnabrück (Language: English) Index terms: Monasticism, Religious Life |
| Paper 1316-c | A Thin Line between Love and Hate: The Relationship between the Monasteries and the City of Delft (Language: English) Index terms: Monasticism, Religious Life |
| Abstract | Nowhere was the relationship between religion and society more intense than in the medieval town. Some towns originated as a kind of 'suburb' of an early, renowned monastery. Others invited religious orders to found a settlement within or near their walls. Town councils met in monasteries or received and lodged their most important guests there. Almost every citizen had a son, a sister, an uncle, or a niece in a religious house. Many bequeathed sums of money to one or more monasteries and religious orders in their wills. Friars and sisters were common in the streets, as were the long, uninterrupted walls of enclosed communities. Monasteries owned vast estates in the heart of cities and were economically active on a scale that did not go uncriticised. These intense relations led to strains between towns and monasteries, with their corresponding and conflicting interests. It is these tensions which will be studied in this session. |