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{{GNCN|Nortish religious houses|Kloster_Maulbronn_2344.jpg|Camevole Abbey in Bissex is a Royal Cistercian convent.}}
{{GNCN|Colleges in the Church of Nortend|Kloster_Maulbronn_2344.jpg|Camevole Abbey in Bissex is a Royal College.}}
A '''religious house''' in the [[Church of Nortend]] is any religious corporation where members take {{wp|religious vows}} and live in common under a rule. [[Great Nortend]] has a long and unbroken history of monkhood and religious life which dates back to Sulthey Abbey founded in the 8th century by St. Laurence in 751, two years after the foundation of the church and See of Sulthey.  
'''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.  


The different kinds of religious houses include abbeys, priories, minsters, nunneries, colleges &c. which denote the sundry places where monks, minchens, friars, sisters, canons and nuns live. 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.<ref>''Telling Roll'', ''His Majesty's Exchequery'', 17 Alex. II.</ref>
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.


==History==
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]].
[[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.]]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 [[Monarchy_of_Great_Nortend#House_of_Anthord_pre.E2.80.93Oln|Alexander I]] as head of the Church,<ref>''Statute of Limmes'', 10 Alex. I.</ref><ref>''Statute of Supremacy'', 11 Alex. I.</ref> the religious houses went into a period of decline,<ref name="Layland">E. T. Layland, vol. 3, Historia Ecclesiæ in Erbonica, 1942, Aldes., ad c. VI. p. 344.</ref> 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 [[Subjectship of Great Nortend|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.<ref>Id. c. VIII. p. 493.</ref>
==To-day==
 
[[File:Abbey_School,_Battle_(2030).jpg|thumb|250px|right|Cireford School is run by the canons of Cireford College.]]
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, [[Monarchy_of_Great_Nortend#House_of_Anthord_pre.E2.80.93Oln|William III]] acceded to the throne with a far stricter policy. Staithway Abbey, as well as its daughter houses at Rundelset and Eyock were dissolved almost immediately. 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.<ref>Id.</ref>
 
After the suppression and execution of the Six Heretics in 1670, numerous houses very quickly „voluntarily” chose to recognise William and take the Oath.<ref>Id.</ref>
 
===Suppression===
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 orders had been often ignored. The 13th Duke of Cardenbridge, now [[Ministry of Great Nortend|King’s Clerk]], aggresively advocated for the suppression and dissolution of the monasteries as he believed they would always bear allegiance to the Pope, and thus posed a dangerous subversive presence. 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.<ref>C. A. Smithowe, ''Gulielmian Politics of Dissolution'', vol. 4 in 1973, ''Journal of Ecclesiastical History''.</ref> Several smaller and indebted houses were indeed dissolved starting in 1675. The first and only big change came when the Carmelites were dissolved and dispersed in 1676. However, after the most perilous houses had been dissolved, the remaining houses were forced to abolish or alter their practices. Professions declined drastically after the Schism, and the population of religious dwindled in number.
 
===''Quia solliciti''===
Even so, reform was urgently needed, as the structure of religious life faltered and steadily decayed, and began to threaten the stability of the countryside. The canon ''Quia solliciti'' was enacted by [[Monarchy of Great Nortend#House_of_Anthord_pre.E2.80.93Oln|Edmund VI]] in 1711 which, ''inter alia'', provided for reform of the monastic orders. Cardinal Mier, Archbishop of Sulthey, revised the Rules of Saint Benedict and Saint Augustine, for use by religious houses. Notably, rules of cloister, stability and communication were reformed, and sections obsolete for centuries updated. Another canon requiring that clergymen and religious dress only in black and white, unless „of dignity” led to the modern black and white habits.


Furthermore, ''all'' convents were required to use the 1710 Book of Masses and 1706 Book of Hours in English. Importantly, the new [[Nortish Rite#Book of Hours|Book of Hours]] cut the number of hours in the daily service to four — Mattins, Prime, Vespers and Compline. Each hour was also simplified, reducing the number of psalms sung to five or three, which at Mattins and Vespers were said consecutively through the month, whilst at Prime and Compline the psalms were fixed. The hours were to be said at „convenient times according to their nature” and not at „stubborn hours in the night tide”.<ref>''Quia solliciti'', 7 Edm. VI.</ref>
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''.


===''De mendicis ordinibus''===
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).
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.
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.


===Akeeper Settlement===
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]].  
Since the Schism in the subsequent reformist atmosphere, there had been a marked decline in the number of religious professions, slightly improved by official recognition and reform in the 18th century. Despite the growing influence of the Akeeper faction, Mary's courtiers tended strongly Lutheran. Convinced by the Lord High Treasurer, she issued the canon ''In reformatione'' which suspended initiations and professions into religious life.<ref>''In reformatione'', 2 Mary.</ref> However, after her wedding to the Earl of Scode and the success of the [[Company of Scodeliers]], political life turned sharply in the Akeepers favour, termed the Akeeper Settlement. Under the new Lord High Treasurer, the Earl of Lockon, ''In reformatione'' was revoked, prompting a flurry of donations and bequests to religious houses, followed by a dramatic increase in novices.<ref>Layland, op. cit. sup.</ref>


==To-day==
===Endowments===
[[File:Bassum_Die_Stiftsmühle_in_Bassum.jpg|thumb|250px|The abbey mill at Bassham Abbey.]]
[[File:Bassum_Die_Stiftsmühle_in_Bassum.jpg|thumb|250px|The abbey mill at Bassham Abbey.]]
Since the Akeepian Settlement, when popular mood shifted back in favour of religious houses, religious houses grew steadily until stabilising in the mid-20th century to about the current level, when the „Steady State Policy” was implemented by the [[Henry de Foide|Foide]] ministry. Under the [[law of Great Nortend]], religious houses have the legal status of [[Erbonian company law|corporations]] aggregate with religious almond-shaped common seals. Religious houses are free from taxes and tithes.
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>
 
In return, religious houses are required to be mostly self-sufficient. Most monasteries and canonries are endowed with enough land to produce a sufficient income for the sustenance of the abbey or priory through tithes and rents. An average abbey holds approximately 15,000 acres of land, roughly equivalent to around 8 to 9 medium-sized manors. Their properties usually include mills, cornhouses and tithe barns. The monasteries and canonries in total own 3,845 manors which make up roughly 15% of the total land of Great Nortend, although around half are owned by the fifty largest abbeys.  
 
Although mendiant houses traditionally relied upon begging, nowadays they rely on parochial tithes in addition to alms and government funding for their public services. It also remains common to bequeath money to religious houses for the endowment of a chauntry or regular mass 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>
 
===Monastic houses===
[[File:GNNun2.jpg|thumb|250px|Hedghew Prior is home to a large convent of Black Minchens.]]
There are 324 monastic houses under the Church of Nortend, which follow the Rule of Saint Benedict as reformed by Cardinal Miers. The black monks and black minchens, or Benedictines, wear entirely black habits whilst the white monks and black minchens, or Cistercians, wear entirely white habits.<ref>Many of the pre-Reform Cistercians already wore the white scapular, stemming from a stricter reform movement in the 13th cntury. The white scapular was ordered for all Cistercians in the 18th century.</ref>
 
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. There are four royal Cistercian abbeys, two male and the two female. The [[Monarchy of Great Nortend|Sovereign]] is the commendatory abbot of these abbeys. Most abbeys which are also the seat of a bishop become cathedral priories (with the notable exception of the Cathedral Abbey of Sulthey), as the bishop becomes the ''de jure'' abbot, with the religious commonship headed by a prior.


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 „Dean”.<ref>Likely a conflation of the title „''Decanus''” or „Dean” used in the Rule of St. Benedict for monks under the Prior and Abbot, each in charge of ten subordinates, with the title „Dan” or „Dane”, from the Latin „''Dominus''”; ''cf.'' „Don” or the modern Roman title „Dom”.</ref> 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.
==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>


===Mendiant houses===
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>
[[File:Abbey_School,_Battle_(2030).jpg|thumb|250px|right|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 111 Dominican houses and 137 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.<ref>Dominicans outside of Quire wear a purely white habit.</ref> The Franciscans are dedicated to healing and serving the poor, providing healthcare and assistance to the poor. Most of the dispersed Carmelites entered Franciscan houses, which adopted the white cloak formally in 1734. Franciscans thus wear a black habit with a white cloak, and are known as White Friars.<ref>Franciscans out of Quire wear a purely black habit.</ref>  
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.


Members of the mediant houses are called „Father”, if in priests' orders, or „Brother”, if not. Female members are termed „Mother” and „Sisters”, depending on their position in the convent. 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.
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.


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. The Constitutions of the Dominicans and Franciscans were reformed by each order's hierarchies, and approved by the Archbishop of Sulthey in 1730 and 1731 respectively.
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.


===Canonical houses===
==See also==
[[File:Pandhof_Utrecht_Cathedral.JPG|thumb|right|250px|The cloister garth at the Norbertine Handingham Priory.]]
* [[Lendert Cathedral|Lendert Cathedral Priory]], a cathedral college in [[Lendert-with-Cadell]]
The 51 canonical houses follow the Rule of Saint Augustine as reformed by Cardinal Miers. They too are separated into the 42 Austin and the 9 Norbertine houses, known respectively as the black canons and nuns, and white canons and nuns for the colour of their habits. The principal difference beween the two are that the white canons are stricter in rule than the black. Canons and nuns live in common, bound to sing divine service daily. They also undertake pastoral work.
* [[Allord School]], a school attached to Allord Abbey.


==References==
==References==

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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