Nortish religious houses

Camevole Abbey in Bissex is a Cistercian convent in the Camuvalian tradition.

A convent in the Church of Nortend is any religious corporation where members take religious vows and live in common under a rule.

Great Nortend has a long and unbroken history of religious foundations which dates back to Sulthey Abbey founded in the 8th century by St. Laurence in 751, two years after the foundation of Sulthey Cathedral. There are currently as of 2020, 623 religious houses in Great Nortend under the auspices of the Church of Nortend, with a total of approximately 10,000 religious.

History

Alexander I severed the Church of Nortend from papal authority.

After the promulgation of the Statute of Limmes and Statute of Supremacy which formally severed the Church of Nortend from the papal authority and placed Alexander I as head of the Church, the religious houses went into a period of decline, although there was no intention of their dissolution at the time.

As with secular clergy, members of religious houses were required to renounce allegiance to the Pope by taking the Oath of Supremacy. Those foundations who refused to take the oath forfeited their lands to the Crown, who appointed a Steward to administer them, though the members were usually allowed to stay on. Despite the threat of loss of income, many houses refused to take the oath and recognise Alexander as head of the Church. This led to the confiscation of nearly 100 houses before 1670.

In 1668, the 12th Duke of Cardenbridge, a well-known reformer, was captured and hanged by the Abbot and monks of Staithway Abbey on Cardoby. Alexander I had opposed the criminalisation of papal allegiance but upon his death at the end of 1668, William III acceded to the throne with a far stricter policy. Statutes were quickly passed which resulted in the immediately criminalisation of Roman papal allegiance and thenceforth, the penalty for such recusancy was to be death.

After the suppression and execution of the Six Heretics in 1670, numerous houses very quickly 'voluntarily' chose to recognise William and take the Oath.

Suppression

The gatehouse at the Benedictine Rundelset Priory which was dissolved after being confiscated in 1664. The house was re-established at the same site during the reign of Edmund VI.

Even so, the perceived excesses of religious houses continued to cause controversy, especially between peasants and their monastic landlords. For centuries, the strict rules of the houses had been often ignored. The 13th Duke of Cardenbridge, now King's Clerk, aggresively advocated for the suppression and dissolution of the monasteries as he believed they would always bear allegiance to the Pope despite their recognition of William's supremacy. It is likely that his father's hanging by the monks of Staithway influenced this zeal in this matter, despite his otherwise via media theology. Several smaller and indebted houses were indeed voluntarily dissolved starting in 1675; however, increasing Exponential Catholic influence in Court meant that the Duke lost favour with William, halting the dissolutions.

Quia solliciti

Even so, reform was urgently needed, as the structure of religious life faltered and steadily decayed. The canon Quia solliciti was enacted by Edmund VI in 1711 which, inter alia, provided for reform of the monastic orders. Two sets of rules written by Cardinal Mier, Archbishop of Sulthey, were formulated, based on the Rule of St. Benedict. Rules of enclosure and communication were relaxed to allow for annual excursions and visits by family.

Furthermore, all convents were required to use the 1709 Book of Masses and 1710 Book of Offices, although minor variations were permitted. The new books cut the number of daily offices to four. Each office was also simplified, reducing the number of psalms sung to five or three, which would be mostly fixed depending on the date in the month. The offices were to be said at “convenient times according to their nature” and not at “stubborn hours in the night time”, and together with the offices of the parochial communities.

De mendicis ordinibus

The mendicant orders did not escape reform either. Already in 1676, the Carmelite convents had been dispersed owing to their deemed inappropriate “mystical” spirituality. In 1678, an order was given to the effect that owing to the ease with which superstitious people were fooled by the preaching of unlearned friars, all friars would be required to gain a degree in divinity before they would be permitted to preach. In 1729, Edmund further promulgated De mendicis ordinibus to reform the remaining friars, culling their numbers to two orders.

The continual financial pressure on the struggling convents was mostly abated by carving out new parishes around friary churches and thus allowing friars to collect tithes, with the proviso that the vicar be provided by the house. Furthermore, friars were forbidden from wandering from town to town, begging, but rather enjoined to stay and reside at their convents unless ordered to move.

Later history

From the 18th century there was a marked decline in the number of monastic religious. Mary had acceded to the throne in an atmosphere of increased Protestantism. Convinced by the Lord High Treasurer, she issued the canon In reformatione which suspended initiations and professions into religious life. However, after her wedding to the more traditional Earl of Scode, this was revoked.

In the 19th century, with the increased education of the masses in the numerous schools owned by the religious houses, religious houses began to increase in size, stabilising in the 20th century to the current level.

Types

Religious houses are split between six different types, which include monastic, canonical, and mendiant houses.

Monastic houses

The Black Minchens of Hedghew Priory.

There are 333 monastic houses under the Church of Nortend, which follow the Rule of Saint Benedict as reformed by Cardinal Miers. The black monks and minchens, or Benedictines, wear black choir habits whilst the white monks and minchens, or Cistercians, wear white choir habits.

Houses under both rules have a simple hierarchy of dependent daughter priories under a mother abbey. Benedictine and Cistercian priories may be elevated to abbatial status by the Crown and become independent once the canonical requirement of twelve choir monks or minchens has been met. An abbey which has declined in size may also fall back into a priory.

Within a monastery, there are two types of religious — lay and choir. Choir monks and minchens are devoted to study and craftwork. Choir monks often are in holy orders and are titled “Dan”. Choir minchens, who are clearly cannot be ordained, are titled “Dame”. Lay brothers and sisters support the choir monks and minchens in their duties through manual labour, chores and study. Since the 18th century reforms, lay novices begin as lay brothers and sisters, and may progress to choir over time and with experience.

Mendiant houses

St. Martin's School is run by the Black Friars of Cireford Priory.

The Dominicans and Franciscans are the two remaining mendiant orders of the Church of Nortend since 1726, the other orders having been dissolved or absorbed thereinto. There are 137 Dominican houses and 111 Franciscan houses.

The Dominicans are dedicated to preaching and education, and are known for their many schools. The Augustinians were merged with the Dominicans. Dominicans wear a white habit with a black cloak, whence the name of Black Friars.

The Franciscans are dedicated to healing and serving the poor, providing healthcare and social services. They wear a black habit with a white cloak, and hence are known as White Friars. Most of the dissolved Carmelite priories were replaced by Franciscan houses.

After the Reform, the nuns and sisters of both the Dominicans and the Franciscans began to undertake apostolic works in the community like the friars, the Dominicanesses mainly in the care and education of young children and girls, and the Minoresses in nursing and midwifery.

Both orders have a national hierarchy, headed by a Prior General and Minister General respectively. The friars and sisters do not take vows of stability, and often move between individual convents.

Canonical houses

The cloister garth at the Norbertine Handingham Priory.

The 42 canonical houses follow the Rule of Augustine as reformed by Cardinal Miers. They too are separated into the Austin and the Norbertine houses, known respectively as the black canons and nuns, and white canons and nuns for the colour of their habits. The principal difference between the two are that the black canons are stricter in rule than the white. Canons and nuns live in common, bound to sing divine service daily.

Sufficiency

Religious foundations are generally expected to be self-sufficient. Monastic foundations are normally endowed with enough land to have a sufficient income for the sustenance of the abbey or priory. An average abbey holds approximately 15,000 acres of land, roughly equivalent to around 8 to 9 medium-sized manors. The monasteries in total own 3,845 manors which make up roughly 15% of the total land-mass of Erbonia, although around half are owned by the fifty largest abbeys in the country.

Although mendicant houses traditionally relied upon begging, nowadays actual begging for subsistence is no longer common. Mendicant houses nowadays rely on tithes from their parish in addition to charitable donations and government funding for their public services.

Legal status

Under the law of Great Nortend, religious houses have the legal status of corporations aggregate with their own common seal in the traditional almond shape for religious bodies. Religious houses are exempt from taxes and tithes.