From Aachen to the Augustinians: Houses of Canons and Reform, Ninth-Twelfth Centuries
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Special Session
Organizer Name
Anna Trumbore Jones
Organizer Affiliation
Lake Forest College
Presider Name
John S. Ott
Presider Affiliation
Portland State Univ.
Paper Title 1
Figuring the Secular Cleric in the Tenth-Century Benedictine Reform
Presenter 1 Name
Rebecca Stephenson
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Univ. of Louisiana-Monroe
Paper Title 2
"The most blessed Hilary held an estate": Property, Reform, and the Canonical Life in Tenth-Century Aquitaine
Presenter 2 Name
Anna Trumbore Jones
Paper Title 3
Transforming the Canonical Landscape: The Success and the Limits of the Canonical Reform Movement in the County of Flanders (ca. 1070-ca.1155)
Presenter 3 Name
Brigitte Meijns
Presenter 3 Affiliation
KU Leuven
Start Date
8-5-2014 1:30 PM
Session Location
Valley I Hadley 102
Description
The ninth to twelfth centuries saw two large-scale attempts to reform the religious observance at houses of canons. The Carolingian council at Aachen in 816 attempted to define and regulate canonical life and to distinguish it from that of monks. More than two hundred years later, the Lateran Council of 1059 rejected much of the model for canonical life outlined at Aachen in favor of a new vision of reformed communities leading a stricter life; over the next century this impulse led to the development of the movement of Augustinian canons. This panel seeks to bring together papers that address ideas of reform at houses of canons in these centuries. We hope to examine several facets of reform in this period: first, when houses were reformed in line with the ideals presented by the council at Aachen or by the eleventh-century initiatives for a stricter canonical lifestyle, how did that reform manifest itself at specific communities? How was the decision to reform made at a particular house? How was reform implemented? What support was found among local bishops, patrons, and lay rulers? Second, we seek to understand whether other concerns--not drawn from these normative texts--drove independent reform efforts in certain communities. In areas or at times when the visions of reform articulated at Aachen and the Lateran were not influential, what ideals drove canons to make changes in their practice? Finally, how were canons used as foils in reform movements by other types of religious communities? This panel should be of interest to those working on communities of canons and to those interested in church reform more broadly.
Anna T. Jones
From Aachen to the Augustinians: Houses of Canons and Reform, Ninth-Twelfth Centuries
Valley I Hadley 102
The ninth to twelfth centuries saw two large-scale attempts to reform the religious observance at houses of canons. The Carolingian council at Aachen in 816 attempted to define and regulate canonical life and to distinguish it from that of monks. More than two hundred years later, the Lateran Council of 1059 rejected much of the model for canonical life outlined at Aachen in favor of a new vision of reformed communities leading a stricter life; over the next century this impulse led to the development of the movement of Augustinian canons. This panel seeks to bring together papers that address ideas of reform at houses of canons in these centuries. We hope to examine several facets of reform in this period: first, when houses were reformed in line with the ideals presented by the council at Aachen or by the eleventh-century initiatives for a stricter canonical lifestyle, how did that reform manifest itself at specific communities? How was the decision to reform made at a particular house? How was reform implemented? What support was found among local bishops, patrons, and lay rulers? Second, we seek to understand whether other concerns--not drawn from these normative texts--drove independent reform efforts in certain communities. In areas or at times when the visions of reform articulated at Aachen and the Lateran were not influential, what ideals drove canons to make changes in their practice? Finally, how were canons used as foils in reform movements by other types of religious communities? This panel should be of interest to those working on communities of canons and to those interested in church reform more broadly.
Anna T. Jones