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[[File:Pluscarden_Abbey.jpg|thumb|right|Canevole Abbey in Bissex is a Camuvalian foundation.]]The [[Church of Nortend]] has a long and unbroken history of foundations of religious communities of men and women, dating back to the first monastery founded in the 8th century by St Laurence in 751, two years after the foundation of Sulthey Cathedral. There are presently 623 religious foundations in [[Great Nortend]] under the auspices of the Church of Nortend, with a total of approximately 13,000 monks, brothers, nuns and sisters.
{{GNCN|Colleges in the Church of Nortend|Kloster_Maulbronn_2344.jpg|Camevole Abbey in Bissex is a Royal College.}}
'''Colleges in the [[Church of Nortend]]''' are ecclesiastical corporate foundations where clerks<ref>The term „clerk” is used in this article to refer both to men and women.</ref> either in holy orders or lay, maintain a common life for the purpose ''inter alia'' of [[Nortish Rite|divine service]]. [[Great Nortend]] has a long and unbroken history of ecclesiastical common life which dates back to Sulthey Abbey founded in the 8th century by St. Laurence in 751.  


==History==
Historically, common life was classified into religious or secular life, the former encompassing the houses of the various religious orders—monasteries, friaries and regular canonries—and the latter being independent colleges. During the Reformation, religious life in particular was attacked by some reformers as being corrupt and their vows vain and elevated into a supererogatory good or good ''in se''. Over a period of several decades, the secularisation of religious houses slowly occurred piecemeal until the reformed body of canon law issued in 1597 by the Great Convocation significantly reformed common life, establishing all houses as colleges of secular clerks.
After the Acts of Cleaving which separated the Church of Nortend from the Roman hierarchy, the Monastic Reformation preserved the religious foundations in Great Nortend, unlike in many other countries where similar reformations resulted in the dissolution of monasteries and religious houses.


As with the secular clergy, monastics and mendicants were required to renounce the authority of the Pope and take the Vow of Supremacy, an altered form of the Oath of Supremacy designed to bind professed religious. Those foundations who refused to take the vow forfeited their lands to the Crown, who appointed a Steward to administer it. Despite the threat of eviction, many foundations refused to voluntarily take new vows and recognise Alexander as head of the Church.
There are currently as of 2020, 623 colleges in [[Great Nortend]] under the auspices of the Church of Nortend, with a total of approximately 10,000 clerks living in community, excluding in these numbers the numerous other members „living out”.<ref>''Telling Roll'', ''His Majesty's Exchequery'', 17 Alex. II.</ref> Many colleges have hospitals, almshouses or schools attached to them, including the collegiate houses of the [[University of Lendert]].


Finally, in 1668, the 12th Duke of Cardenbridge, a notable reformer, was captured and hanged by the Abbot and monks of Staithway Abbey on Cardoby. Alexander I had opposed the criminalisation of Roman Catholicism but unfortunately for those more obstinate foundations, William came onto the throne with a far stricter view after Alexander's death at the end of 1668. Statute was quickly passed which resulted in the immediately criminalisation of Roman Catholicism and thenceforth, the penalty for recusancy was death. After the suppression and execution of the Six Heretics, very quickly numerous foundations 'voluntarily' chose to recognise William and take the Vow of Supremacy.  
==To-day==
[[File:Abbey_School,_Battle_(2030).jpg|thumb|250px|right|Cireford School is run by the canons of Cireford College.]]


During the reign of Henry V, the monasteries in particular were reformed drastically. The luxurious excesses of the abbeys and priories of the Middle Ages were swiftly eradicated. Concerns over the interpretations and variants of the Rules of St Benedict and St Edmund which had accumulated over time led to the promulgation the Book of Rules in 1706 and regular visitations by the diocesan bishop. In 1709 a standardised form of the Book of Mass was promulgated for use throughout the Church of Nortend, and in 1710 the Book of Offices, which replaced the various forms of the Liturgy of the Hours which had been in use by the various orders. Additionally, monasteries were forbidden to collect both great tithes and rent from their tenants unless it was truly needed, and henceforth all of the tithes went to the local parish vestries.
Common, corporate life in the Church of Nortend continues to be characterised by modesty, piety, chastity, canonical obedience and above all, divine service in common, as well as, to a varying extent, common residence and common dining. Under the ''Canons-General'',<Ref>Canon LVII, ''Canons General'' of 1597.</ref> colleges are „secular houses” living under Statutes where there is maintained a corporate life with a purpose of maintaining daily Divine Service ''for the corporation''.


The mendicant orders did not escape reformation either. Owing to the ease with which superstitious people were fooled by the preaching of unlearned friars, Henry commanded that friars would be required to reside at a university and gain a degree before they would be permitted to preach. The necessity of preaching in order to survive was mostly abated by creating new parishes around the 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 and friaries unless ordered to move by their superior.  
Cathedral churches are notable instances of a college formed by the chapter. Other collegiate churches include the great abbeys, priories and minsters as well as the university colleges and chauntry colleges. The head of a college may be accorded the prelatial titles of „abbot” or „prior”  (or the female equivalent, „abbess” or „prioress”), elevating the college to an abbey or priory respectively.<ref>Most abbeys and priories were originally monastic foundations or houses of Austin canons or canonesses.</ref> Lesser „minster” or „chauntry” colleges are typically headed by a „dean”, „provost”, „master”, „warden”, „archpriest” or „rector” (in the case of appropriated parochial churches).


In this way, a Cardican tradition arose which accepted and embraced professed religious in a way which the Protestant reformers did not. Though in the 17th and 18th centuries there was a gradual decline in the number of monastic religious, the number of mendicants remained steady and by the 20th century, numerous foundations began to expand with a growing number of monks and nuns entering the foundations.
The daily life of a college varies according to its particular statutes. Most require that the resident clerks, or their vicars, sing daily Mattins and Vespers, as well as a daily service of Holy Communion. Colleges generally provide rooms for their members and require that they dine together regularly, although accommodation differs between individual houses for prebendaries to dormitories shared by multiple clerks. While nearly all colleges employ  servants for the upkeep and sustenance of the college, colleges also usually require their members to attend to non-religious duties for the support of the community, such as gardening, light farming and the like, as well as the production of manuscripts, paintings, candles and other ornaments for religious purposes, depending on the particular traditions of the college.


==Types==
Colleges use the Latin Services but where a parish church has been appropriated, English services must be said for the parish. Larger colleges often have various chapels with dedicated daily or weekly services, e.g. in honour of the Virgin Mary or in memory of the dead. Choral music forms an important part of worship in most colleges, and the corpus of Nortish collegiate music is significant, being composed in Latin for a reformed liturgy. As part of their works of Christian charity, colleges also play an important pastoral role for the local population, often including almshouses or hospitals associated with its foundation. Colleges often have schools for the education of the youth. A large number of the common schools of Great Nortend are part of collegiate foundations, in addition to the university colleges of the [[University of Lendert]].  
Religious communities are split between cloistered or eremitical monastic communities, mendicant orders and canons regular. Many communities which were previously male in the 17th and 18th centuries became female, leading to the present-day situation where around only a quarter of all monastics or mendicants are male.


Of the first category of cloistered or eremitical monastics, communities may be described as {{wp|Benedictines}}, {{wp|Cistercians}}, {{wp|Carthusians}} and Camuvalians, commonly known as the Black Monks, Pied Monks, White Monks and Red Monks respectively. Of the four, the Camuvalians are a uniquely Erbonian type, originating at Camevole Abbey.
===Endowments===
[[File:Bassum_Die_Stiftsmühle_in_Bassum.jpg|thumb|250px|The abbey mill at Bassham Abbey.]]
Colleges are endowed with land, called the „stight”, to produce a sufficient income for the sustenance of the house through tithes and rents or the sale of produce. An average abbey holds a stight of 15,000 acres of land, roughly equivalent to around 8 to 9 medium-sized manors. Stights usually include mills, cornhouses and tithe barns. The colleges in total own roughly 15% of the land of Great Nortend. Colleges rely on a stight in addition to alms and government funding for their public services. It also relatively common for testators to bequeath money to houses for the endowment of a chauntry or for regular services for a certain number of years, although new perpetual chauntries or endowment with land in frankalmoign is forbidden by law without a licence.<ref>''Endowments and Chantries Act'', 10 Edm. VI.</ref>


Of mendicant orders, there are four, being the {{wp|Dominicans}}, {{wp|Franciscans}} and {{wp|Carmelites}}, commonly known as the Black Friars, Grey Friars and White Friars respectively. There are a small number of Augustinian friaries as well, who are known as Austin Friars, although they are not usually considered distinct from the Augustinian Canons.
==Reformation==
[[File:Cleeve_gate.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The gatehouse at Rundelset Priory which was a daughter house of Staithway Abbey. It was dissolved in 1668. The house was refounded at the same site in 1822 by Edmund VII, the first new foundation in centuries.]]At the time of the promulgation of the ''Statute of Supremacy'' in 1569 which formally severed the [[Church of Nortend]] from the papal authority and placed [[Monarchy_of_Great_Nortend#House_of_Anthord_pre.E2.80.93Oln|Alexander I]] as head of the Church,<ref>''Statute of Supremacy'', 3 Alex. I.</ref> the religious houses were in a general period of decline and corruption in life, morals and faith.<ref name="Layland">E. T. Layland, vol. 3, Historia Ecclesiæ in Erbonica, 1942, Aldes., ad c. VI. p. 344.</ref>


Canons regular may be broadly classified into the Augustinian Canons and Norbertine Canons, commonly known as the Black Canons and the White Canons respectively.
Under the 1572 ''Statute for the Obedience of Clerks'', as with other clerks, members of colleges, priories and abbeys were required to renounce allegiance to the Pope by taking the [[Subjectship of Great Nortend|Oath of Obedience]]. Those foundations whose members refused to take the oath forfeited their lands to the Crown, who appointed an official to administer them, although the members were usually allowed to stay. 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.<ref>Id. c. VIII. p. 493.</ref>


===Monastic foundations===
After the suppression and execution of the Six Heretics in 1575, numerous houses very quickly „voluntarily” chose to recognise William and take the Oath of Obedience.<ref>Id.</ref> The same year, the first step was taken in reform with the dissolution of the order of Franciscans, and the secularisation of their friaries. Even so, the corruption of the remaining religious houses continued to cause controversy, especially between peasants and their monastic landlords.<ref>C. A. Smithowe, ''Gulielmian Politics of Dissolution'', vol. 4 in 1973, ''Journal of Ecclesiastical History''.</ref> In 1582, the Dominicans were ordered to reform their preaching, secured by a requirement that friars take degrees at the reformed Faculty of Divinity at the [[University of Lendert]], while choir monks were similarly ordered to be examined in their learning.  
[[File:Cleeve_gate.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The gatehouse at Rundelset Priory.]]Great Nortend has a large number of monastic foundations scattered across the countryside for both males and females. Whilst most of the 433 cloistered monastic foundations are in the {{wp|Benedictines|Benedictine}} or {{wp|Cistercians|Cistercian}} tradition, following the Rule of St Benedict, a sizeable number are {{wp|Carthusians}}, following the Carthusian statutes, or Camuvalians, following the Rule of St Edmund.


Despite these distinct traditions, there are no formal orders ''per se'' insofar as there is no hierarchy over all individual foundations in a particular tradition. Apart from the eremitic Carthusian monasteries which only have priories, there is a more localised hierarchy where abbeys have dependent priories which are under the abbey's control. These priories may in time be elevated to abbatial status and becoming independent once the canonical requirement of twelve choir monks or nuns has been reached.
In 1585, the Great Annulment was issued by the Archbishop of Lendert, which annulled all religious vows, although this did not generally result in significant change in daily life in the religious houses. That same year, the Visitation of the houses was completed and the King beaun dissolutions of houses in significant debt. The entire order of Carmelites were dissolved the next year with their friaries completely dispersed on account of the theological objection taken to their „mystical” spirituality. Several religious houses saw that continuation as monastic or mendicant houses would soon not be possible under the reforms of Cardinal Frympell and Alexander I. Several houses had already secularised after the forced secularisations of the Greyfriars in 1575, seeing it as a way of maintaining their communities with the least disruption.


There is a national Abbots' and Abbess' Convocation, where the abbots and abbesses of all abbeys (thus excluding the Carthusians) meet to discuss matters.
In  1597, the Great Convocation issued the new, reformed ''Canons-General'' which effectively put an end to the piecemeal reforms of houses by immediately secularising all existing religious houses, monastic or mendicant, and founding them as colleges of secular canons, ordering that new, reformed statutes be issued for each foundation by the Chancery and that they adopt the reformed books of Divine Service.


====Grades====
==See also==
[[File:Pandhof_Utrecht_Cathedral.JPG|thumb|right|250px|The cloister garth at Handingham Abbey.]]Within a monastery, there are often two types of member—lay and choir. Lay brothers or sisters have a more secular role, spending their time in work, manual labour, daily chores and the like.  
* [[Lendert Cathedral|Lendert Cathedral Priory]], a cathedral college in [[Lendert-with-Cadell]]
* [[Allord School]], a school attached to Allord Abbey.


Choir monks and nuns, on the other hand, have their main role of praying in choir, illuminating books and are generally forbidden to leave the cloister without good reason. Choir monks are often ordained and receive the honorific 'Dom'. Choir nuns, whilst not ordained, receive the title 'Dame'.
==References==
{{Reflist}}


Though historically the lay monastics were considered inferior to the choir monastics, nowadays they are generally considered equal and both choir monastics and lay monastics partake in chores and labour. Indeed, it is sometimes considered that the life of a lay monastic is easier than that of a choir monastic, owing to the advances in technology.
{{GNC}}[[Category:Religion in Astyria]]
 
===Mendicant houses===
[[File:Abbey_School,_Battle_(2030).jpg|thumb|250px|left|St Martin's School is run by the brothers of Dominican Cireford Priory.]]The Dominicans, Franciscans and Carmelites are considered to be the mendicant orders of Great Nortend. The friars are often ordained clerics and engage in works in the community such as preaching, ministry, education, pastoral work and health-care, based in small priories usually located in or near population centres.
 
There are also convents, abbeys or priories of choir nuns and lay sisters in the Dominican and Franciscan orders, known as the Dominicanesses and Minoresses. Though historically the convents of the mendicant orders were cloistered as monastic foundations, in the 19th and 20th centuries the lay sisters of the Dominicans generally began to undertake apostolic works in the community like the friars, usually the education of girls or nursing, with the choir nuns performing administrative and sacred duties. The Minoresses remain a fully contemplative cloistered order; however, in common with monastic foundations, convents still operate almonries and almshouses for the poor, aged and infirm.
 
Unlike the monastic foundations, each of the mendicant orders have a national hierarchy, headed by a Prior General. The friars and lay sisters do not take vows of stability, are may move between individual priories or convents.
 
==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 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.
 
{{GNC}}

Latest revision as of 12:23, 25 October 2024

Colleges in the Church of Nortend
Kloster Maulbronn 2344.jpg
Camevole Abbey in Bissex is a Royal College.
Part of a series on the
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Colleges in the Church of Nortend are ecclesiastical corporate foundations where clerks[1] either in holy orders or lay, maintain a common life for the purpose inter alia of divine service. Great Nortend has a long and unbroken history of ecclesiastical common life which dates back to Sulthey Abbey founded in the 8th century by St. Laurence in 751.

Historically, common life was classified into religious or secular life, the former encompassing the houses of the various religious orders—monasteries, friaries and regular canonries—and the latter being independent colleges. During the Reformation, religious life in particular was attacked by some reformers as being corrupt and their vows vain and elevated into a supererogatory good or good in se. Over a period of several decades, the secularisation of religious houses slowly occurred piecemeal until the reformed body of canon law issued in 1597 by the Great Convocation significantly reformed common life, establishing all houses as colleges of secular clerks.

There are currently as of 2020, 623 colleges in Great Nortend under the auspices of the Church of Nortend, with a total of approximately 10,000 clerks living in community, excluding in these numbers the numerous other members „living out”.[2] Many colleges have hospitals, almshouses or schools attached to them, including the collegiate houses of the University of Lendert.

To-day

Cireford School is run by the canons of Cireford College.

Common, corporate life in the Church of Nortend continues to be characterised by modesty, piety, chastity, canonical obedience and above all, divine service in common, as well as, to a varying extent, common residence and common dining. Under the Canons-General,[3] colleges are „secular houses” living under Statutes where there is maintained a corporate life with a purpose of maintaining daily Divine Service for the corporation.

Cathedral churches are notable instances of a college formed by the chapter. Other collegiate churches include the great abbeys, priories and minsters as well as the university colleges and chauntry colleges. The head of a college may be accorded the prelatial titles of „abbot” or „prior” (or the female equivalent, „abbess” or „prioress”), elevating the college to an abbey or priory respectively.[4] Lesser „minster” or „chauntry” colleges are typically headed by a „dean”, „provost”, „master”, „warden”, „archpriest” or „rector” (in the case of appropriated parochial churches).

The daily life of a college varies according to its particular statutes. Most require that the resident clerks, or their vicars, sing daily Mattins and Vespers, as well as a daily service of Holy Communion. Colleges generally provide rooms for their members and require that they dine together regularly, although accommodation differs between individual houses for prebendaries to dormitories shared by multiple clerks. While nearly all colleges employ servants for the upkeep and sustenance of the college, colleges also usually require their members to attend to non-religious duties for the support of the community, such as gardening, light farming and the like, as well as the production of manuscripts, paintings, candles and other ornaments for religious purposes, depending on the particular traditions of the college.

Colleges use the Latin Services but where a parish church has been appropriated, English services must be said for the parish. Larger colleges often have various chapels with dedicated daily or weekly services, e.g. in honour of the Virgin Mary or in memory of the dead. Choral music forms an important part of worship in most colleges, and the corpus of Nortish collegiate music is significant, being composed in Latin for a reformed liturgy. As part of their works of Christian charity, colleges also play an important pastoral role for the local population, often including almshouses or hospitals associated with its foundation. Colleges often have schools for the education of the youth. A large number of the common schools of Great Nortend are part of collegiate foundations, in addition to the university colleges of the University of Lendert.

Endowments

The abbey mill at Bassham Abbey.

Colleges are endowed with land, called the „stight”, to produce a sufficient income for the sustenance of the house through tithes and rents or the sale of produce. An average abbey holds a stight of 15,000 acres of land, roughly equivalent to around 8 to 9 medium-sized manors. Stights usually include mills, cornhouses and tithe barns. The colleges in total own roughly 15% of the land of Great Nortend. Colleges rely on a stight in addition to alms and government funding for their public services. It also relatively common for testators to bequeath money to houses for the endowment of a chauntry or for regular services for a certain number of years, although new perpetual chauntries or endowment with land in frankalmoign is forbidden by law without a licence.[5]

Reformation

The gatehouse at Rundelset Priory which was a daughter house of Staithway Abbey. It was dissolved in 1668. The house was refounded at the same site in 1822 by Edmund VII, the first new foundation in centuries.

At the time of the promulgation of the Statute of Supremacy in 1569 which formally severed the Church of Nortend from the papal authority and placed Alexander I as head of the Church,[6] the religious houses were in a general period of decline and corruption in life, morals and faith.[7]

Under the 1572 Statute for the Obedience of Clerks, as with other clerks, members of colleges, priories and abbeys were required to renounce allegiance to the Pope by taking the Oath of Obedience. Those foundations whose members refused to take the oath forfeited their lands to the Crown, who appointed an official to administer them, although the members were usually allowed to stay. 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.[8]

After the suppression and execution of the Six Heretics in 1575, numerous houses very quickly „voluntarily” chose to recognise William and take the Oath of Obedience.[9] The same year, the first step was taken in reform with the dissolution of the order of Franciscans, and the secularisation of their friaries. Even so, the corruption of the remaining religious houses continued to cause controversy, especially between peasants and their monastic landlords.[10] In 1582, the Dominicans were ordered to reform their preaching, secured by a requirement that friars take degrees at the reformed Faculty of Divinity at the University of Lendert, while choir monks were similarly ordered to be examined in their learning.

In 1585, the Great Annulment was issued by the Archbishop of Lendert, which annulled all religious vows, although this did not generally result in significant change in daily life in the religious houses. That same year, the Visitation of the houses was completed and the King beaun dissolutions of houses in significant debt. The entire order of Carmelites were dissolved the next year with their friaries completely dispersed on account of the theological objection taken to their „mystical” spirituality. Several religious houses saw that continuation as monastic or mendicant houses would soon not be possible under the reforms of Cardinal Frympell and Alexander I. Several houses had already secularised after the forced secularisations of the Greyfriars in 1575, seeing it as a way of maintaining their communities with the least disruption.

In 1597, the Great Convocation issued the new, reformed Canons-General which effectively put an end to the piecemeal reforms of houses by immediately secularising all existing religious houses, monastic or mendicant, and founding them as colleges of secular canons, ordering that new, reformed statutes be issued for each foundation by the Chancery and that they adopt the reformed books of Divine Service.

See also

References

  1. ↑ The term „clerk” is used in this article to refer both to men and women.
  2. ↑ Telling Roll, His Majesty's Exchequery, 17 Alex. II.
  3. ↑ Canon LVII, Canons General of 1597.
  4. ↑ Most abbeys and priories were originally monastic foundations or houses of Austin canons or canonesses.
  5. ↑ Endowments and Chantries Act, 10 Edm. VI.
  6. ↑ Statute of Supremacy, 3 Alex. I.
  7. ↑ E. T. Layland, vol. 3, Historia Ecclesiæ in Erbonica, 1942, Aldes., ad c. VI. p. 344.
  8. ↑ Id. c. VIII. p. 493.
  9. ↑ Id.
  10. ↑ C. A. Smithowe, Gulielmian Politics of Dissolution, vol. 4 in 1973, Journal of Ecclesiastical History.

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