Medieval France
MONASTIC RULES AND CUSTOMARIES
. The first monks lived either as solitaries or under the direct supervision of an abba (‘father’). This seems to have been the case with the first known European monastic house, Marmoutier, established in 361 by Martin of Tours. As monasticism developed into a permanent institution, the charisma of a spiritual master was supplemented by written legislation regulating the common life in the monastery. As de Vogüé has shown, the earliest sources of such monastic guidelines (Pachomius, Basil, Augustine), all written ca. 400, exercised a decisive influence on the subsequent tradition. Quotations from them appear in later monastic rules, which also borrow among themselves to a striking degree. This reflects the eclectic nature of monastic establishments until the triumph of the Rule of St. Benedict in the 9th century.
About 300 monastic rules were written between the end of the 4th century and last half of the 7th. The majority provide no more than the barest suggestions for the regulation of life within the monastery. They vary considerably in length and detail, from the succinct De ordine monasterii (by Augustine, or from his circle) to the enormous Rule of the Master, whose ninety-five chapters legislate on every conceivable aspect of monastic discipline. (Benedict’s Rule is little more than one-third the length of the Master’s.) The Rule for Virgins (ca. 534) by Caesarius of Arles is the first rule written for female religious. Its prescriptions for the Divine Office are thought to reflect the lost tradition of Lérins, an island monastery off the coast of Provence near Cannes, founded ca. 410 by Honoratus.
The origin of the monastic customaries coincides with the activity of Carolingian reformers, led by Benedict of Aniane (d.
821), to impose the Rule of St. Benedict everywhere in the Frankish empire. The customaries make specific, detailed applications of the Rule to the circumstances present in a single monastery or a group of monasteries. They not only interpret and supplement the directives of the Rule but can actually alter Benedict’s careful equilibrium, as happened with the large quantity of liturgical obligations required by the customs in force at Cluny. A common customary imposed the influence of the great monasteries like Cluny, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, and Cîteaux on daughter houses. The monastic customaries can profitably be studied as a source of information on contemporary social and cultural life.
Joseph H.Dyer
[See also: BENEDICT, RULE OF ST.; BENEDICT OF ANIANE; CISTERCIAN ORDER; CLUNY; LÉRINS; MONASTICISM]
Desprez, Vincent, ed. Règles monastiques d’Occident (IVe-VIe siècle): d’Augustin a Ferréol. Begrolles-en-Mauges: Abbaye de Bellefontaine, 1980.
Franklin, Carmela, et al., eds. Early Monastic Rules: The Rules of the Fathers and the Regula Orientalis. Collegeville: Liturgical, 1982.
Hallinger, Kassius, et al., eds. Corpus consuetudinum monasticarum. 12 vols. to date. Siegeburg: Schmitt, 1963–.
de Vogüé, Adalbert. “The Cenobitic Rules of the West.” Cistercian Studies 12(1977):175–83.
——. Les règles monastiques anciennes (400–700). Turnhout: Brepols, 1985.
Hallinger, Kassius. “Consuetudo, Begriff, Formen, Forschungsgeschichte.” Untersuchungen zu Kloster und Stift. Max-Planck-Institut far Geschichte, Veröffentlichungen 68 (1980):140–66.
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