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The Modern Devotion (1968)

The Modern Devotion

(1968)–R.R. Post–rechtenstatus Auteursrechtelijk beschermd

Confrontation with Reformation and Humanism


Vorige Volgende

Chapter Seven
The Monastery and the Chapter of Windesheim

Beginning of the Observance Movement. From 1387 to 1424

Preoccupied as he was with the reformation of the monasteries, it was to be expected that Geert Groote would found a model monastery which would serve, at the same time, as help and protection for the Brothers. His unexpected and early death prevented him from carrying out his wish or, one might rather say, from bringing his projected plan to completion. The Brothers in fact set to work so soon after Groote's death, that they were evidently fulfilling the wish of their dead father. The Brother Rudolf Dier quite simply says: ‘Three years after the death of Master Groote, Master Florens and his companions began to build the monastery in Windesheim (1387) and some of the disciples of Master Florens moved to Windesheim with his permission. Certain others remained in Deventer with Florens’.1 In his opinion thus the monastery of Windesheim is quite simply a foundation of the Brethren. This is essentially true, but the first inmates were not restricted to Brethren of the Common Life.2 There was, for the rest, nothing spectacular in the way the monastery came into being. The Brethren sought for a suitable spot and found this in the first place in Hattem, in the land of Gelre. Bishop Florens of Wefelinkhoven, however, directed them to his own territory at the other side of the IJssel. There, in 1386, they received a plot of land from Bartholdus ten Hove, who had already entered the monastery of Eemsteyn under Geert Groote, and now transferred to Windesheim. This was in accordance with mediaeval ideas regarding the law governing particular monasteries. Following that law the founder entered the monastery he had founded and assumed direction. Barthold,3 however, was an exception. He did not come from the Florens' house in Deventer. This was in contrast to four of the first

five Windesheimers, Henry Clingebijl, Werner Keinkamp, John of Kempen, Henry Wilde and Henry of Wilsum. All these - except Henry of Wilsum - came from Deventer, but they did not all follow the same route. We are already acquainted with Henry Clingebijl of Höxter, as the secular priest to whom Groote wrote a letter. He was a brother of John of Clingebijl from Höxter, Brother of the Common Life. According to J. Busch he became a Brother in Deventer before entering Windesheim.1 He was made the first prior of the new monastery (1387-1388). The same is true of Werner Keinkamp whom we know as a friend of Groote and a teacher in Kampen. J. Busch even mentions him as rector of the school. He had also previously joined the Brethren in Deventer (adhesit)2. He became the second prior of Windesheim, until he relinquished this office in 1391, from excess of scruples. It is also clearly stated that John of Kempen was first a Brother.3 Henry Wilde was indeed a member of the Fraternity, but he was still young when he left for Windesheim. Henry of Wilsem on the other hand was a magistrate in Kampen when he decided to become a canon in Windesheim. He was also a merchant and captain of the bailiwick of Salland. He was very well-to-do and made over all his possessions to Windesheim.4 Like Barthold ten Hove he entered a monastery which was for the greater part founded from his money, and like his colleague he was not given any administrative position. It might be possible to view the time spent by several of these men in the Florens' house in Deventer as a sort of novitiate. In any case, events proceeded rapidly in Windesheim. On July 30th 1386 Bishop Florens of Wefelinkhoven took the abbey under his protection in advance, and transformed any subsequent gifts into church property.5 The fraters began to build the church and the provisional living quarters in March 1387, and everything was ready for consecration on October 17th of the same year. On the day of consecration the six men already mentioned made their profession after a very short period of instruction and practice in the monastic life at Eemsteijn. This remarkable haste can only be explained by assuming that the new canons had spent their trial period in Deventer. The bishop raised no objection. He confirmed the foundation by charter on 13th December 1387, conferring upon it the promised ecclesiastical liberty, whereby the monastery's property became church property with the privileges

which ensued.1 In addition he regulated various matters: free choice of the prior, to be confirmed by the bishop; his authority; appointment of the procurator who was obliged to render an annual account; the right of burial and the right to administer the sacraments.2

These last were rights and privileges denied to the Brothers. For the present their goods were not church goods; their superior had no authority; they had no burial rights. Their deceased brethren were buried in the church of St. Lebuin. They subsequently received permission from the parish priest to exercise pastoral cure among the schoolboys. For the rest the monastery resembled the Brotherhouse in many respects. Apart from the habit and the singing of the choir service, the canons lived much as the Brothers did. By meditation and the repeated renewal of their intent, they tried to link inward and outward devotion. They worked with their hands, copied books for the choir and the library; they were solitaries, however, and thus undertook no pastoral duties such as preaching or administering the sacraments among the parishioners, or among the schoolboys, or indeed at this time among the Sisters. They certainly retained, however, the zeal, the punctiliousness, the humility, the obedience, the communal life and rejected all personal possessions. In this they were acting only as they had been taught. There is no sign that in this respect they immediately initiated a ‘reformation’ or, which amounts to the same thing, that they gave rise to the observance-movement. Originally the situation was just as unpromising as with the Brothers: a fairly respectable church, the beginnings of a cloister, but wretched living quarters. There was not much concourse either in the beginning. In 1398 two persons made their profession, John Vos of Heusden and Henry Balveren, both sent by the Brothers of Deventer. The second rector, Werner Keinkamp, was an exceedingly scrupulous man and displayed little initiative. He resigned his position as rector and was succeeded by John Vos on November 30th 1391. This change seemed to infuse new life into the monastery. Novices appeared, and in the first years two were professed per year. Building was continually going on, so that the monastery took on an imposing appearance. Numerous benefactors gave goods or money. A monastery was evidently more highly esteemed than a Brotherhouse. None the less it was the Brethren who originally provided the motive force. Not only

did the Deventer Brethren, and later also those of Zwolle, continue to send novices, they also persevered with the building of monasteries. Scarcely had the monastery at Windesheim begun to flourish, than the fraters took preparatory measures for founding a new monastery, at Marienborn in Arnhem in 1392.1 They had provided the labourers for Windesheim, and in Marienborn they took care of the finances. They were in a position to do this since they had received a considerable sum from the newly entered John Kessel. The first canons came from Windesheim and from the Florens' house in Deventer. In the same year (1392) the fraters from Deventer collaborated with the local Devotionalists, the priests Gerard of Horn and Paul of Medemblik, friends of Geert Groote, in founding the monastery of Nieuwlicht, near Hoorn. Both monasteries immediately proceeded to flourish.

After remaining at a standstill for so many years, the founding of three monasteries for Regular Canons in so short a space of time signified a renewed enthusiasm for the monastic life, evidently under influence of the Modern Devotionalists. Of much greater import, however, than the setting up of the above-mentioned monasteries, was the joining together of these three new foundations with Eemsteijn in 1394 or 1395 to form a close-knit monastic union. To use the current terminology, they formed a congregation or chapter. All four monasteries would follow similar customs and usages and continue to help each other to maintain their aims and austerity. To this end they instituted a central authority which would make regulations, supervise all four monasteries, determine the actual situation by an annual visitation of each monastery separately and take appropriate measures. Such were the modest beginnings of the later great and famous congregation of Windesheim, originally called simply the chapter of Windesheim. Up to the death of the third rector of this monastery, John Vos of Heusden (ob. 1424), four aspects of the history of this monastery demand our attention: the remarkably rapid growth of the monastic union, with the associated activity and exertions by the members of the main monastery (choirbooks, Bibles), the setting up of the administrative body for the entire congregation, and the theory and practice of the devotion.

The expansion was brought about in two ways, either by founding new monasteries or by incorporating existing monasteries into the

union. The initiative to found new monasteries must usually have been taken by prosperous and pious persons who possessed land suitable for this purpose. The Windesheim canons and members of associated monasteries had then to foster the religious life in the new and usually extremely small foundation by providing leaders, young canons, novices and laymen. They had to provide the furnishings and fit up the chapel or church, notably by supplying suitable choir-books which they wrote themselves.1 They were enabled to do this by the flourishing material position of the head monastery and the fortunate influx of new members there.

Although the leadership of the first two priors, Henry Clingebijl of Höxter (1387-1388) and Werner Keinkamp of Lochem (1388-1391), known to us from the life of Geert Groote, may not have been particularly fruitful, they prepared the growth which came to full flower under the leadership of John Vos of Heusden (1391-1424). This man, who had joined the Brothers in the Florens' house from the school in Deventer, proved extremely well fitted for this post, which was so important for the history of Windesheim.2 During his priorate he invested 32 persons as canons of the monastery, an average of one per year. This helped to increase the population of the monastery, as did a group of laymen who, like the future priests, ‘despised the world’ and wished to live and work in the monastery.3 These included four who received the habit of the donati.

The first four monasteries were followed by the Regular monastery of St. John the Evangelist in Amsterdam (1394-1395). Co-founders included Gijsbert Dou, John Goldsmit and Paul of Borselen. The second may have been the brother of Hugo Goldsmit, the friend of Geert Groote. The Windesheimer John Ottonis of Soest became the first prior here and held this office for twelve years.

The transition from a Brotherhouse to a monastery is seen in the founding of the monastery of Frenswegen, near Northorn, with the approval of the church authorities. The founders were two priests, Everhard of Esa, parish priest of Almelo, whom we know already as a physician in physica baccalaureus, and Henry, priest in Scuttorp around 1394. The first inmates were four priest-brothers from the presbytery of Almelo. In 1400 it was incorporated into the Windesheim congregation and placed under prior Henry Loeder (or Loder), an energetic

person, who overcame the monastery's initial poverty and collaborated in the expansion of the congregation in Germany.1 This foundation was followed three years later (1398) by the monastery on the St. Agnietenberg near Zwolle, which developed from a small community of individuals, now placed under the direction of Windesheim. Their first prior was from the same monastery, John Hemerken of Kempen, the elder brother of Thomas Hemerken of Kempen (a Kempis) who was later to follow him. John Hemerken remained prior for nine years and during the first years had to contend with lack of income and vocations. His successor, William Vornken, again a canon from the mother-monastery, succeeded in overcoming the first difficulties in a priorate lasting seventeen years. He must have seen the young Thomas of Kempen who had entered under his predecessor, grow to maturity and must also have allowed him time to write. What was later called the first book of the Imitation, was completed around the end of this priorate.2 The monastery of Engelendaal in Leiderdorp, founded in 1400 by Peter van der Poel, a Regular Canon, was incorporated in the congregation in 1403 and placed under the direction of the Windesheimer William Vornken. It was his task to introduce the newly entered Regular Canons to the discipline of Windesheim. This venture, however, failed completely. The prior scarcely lasted a year. His successor, John Broekhuizen of Soest was able, by great austerity, to mould the canons to the pattern of Windesheim, but after four years the general chapter decided to recall him.3 The monastery must have functioned fairly normally after this, but we hear of fresh difficulties, late in the sixteenth century (1569). A new foundation, the monastery of St. Elizabeth near Brielle, started by Hugo of Heenvliet in 1400, semes to have been intended first as a small chapter attached to a church. A desire was then felt, however, to transform this small institution into a monastery by giving it three prebends and associating it with Windesheim. The remaining three canons would then do pastoral work in the parish. As usual the chapter-general first made an investigation on the spot, to determine among other things the material position. We hear now that one of the chapter's requirements for the adoption of a monastery into the union was that there must be a sum of 200 guilders available for the new foundation.4 Otherwise it was not considered viable. Somewhat later Busch expressed this in other terms which seem to me to amount

to the same thing. The chapter insisted that there must be a yearly income of 100 old French écus in the chapter church, and also 150 old écus to build a house.1 The first prior was John of Bochold, who remained for two years. Hugo Goldsmit, Groote's disciple, was also evidently more attracted to the monastery than to the Fraternity. Around 1400 he commenced a monastery of the Visitation near Haarlem and requested that it should be admitted to the Windesheim congregation. The congregation sent the scrupulous Werner Keinkamp, at that time prior of the monastery of Nieuwlicht in Hoorn, to make an inspection in Haarlem. He considered that the time was not yet ripe and suggested a delay of seven years, until the financial situation should be regulated. The monastery was admitted in 1406. Two members of the chapter were sent to Haarlem to introduce the canons already there to the Windesheim customs and to admit new members. John of Kempen became the first prior in 1407.2

At about the same time a similar event had taken place near Sneek. Rienick Bockema, a Johannite of Sneek, desired a monastery to be founded on his own property. He appeared personally at the chaptergeneral in Windesheim and offered them the ground. The usual inspection followed and was repeated after an improvement in the financial situation. Around 1407 St. Salvator in Thabor was associated with the chapter of Windesheim. Apart from three successive priors, it also received fraters from Windesheim. The founder himself was admitted to the monastery of Windesheim as a ‘redditus’ or ‘donatus’ and as such was also sent to Thabor.3 The next foundation of Pieterswiel near Zaltbommel and later in the town itself had a similar origin. A noblewoman, Lady van Brakel, offered the chapter a building with ground. It was accepted after inspection (1407), but at first had few inmates. Two or three fraters would be placed there without a prior. A prior would be appointed when the possessions had increased and he was in a position to accept novices. It was not long, however, before Windesheim sent men, and Northorn a few brothers. The monastery continued to struggle on until a canon from Utrecht and one from Deventer placed the foundation on a sounder financial basis.4

This foundation completed the first dozen, twenty years after the foundation of Windesheim. The monastic union expanded twice as rapidly as the Fraternity and the end was not yet in sight. Up to this

these were virtually all new foundations, except for the nucleus existing here and there. Now followed a group of Brabantines who already possessed links with each other and had a history of half a century behind them. They included the foundation of Groenendaal which had become celebrated through John Ruusbroec and the cook John van Leeuwen. According to Busch they put the observance first and foremost, and it was precisely because they esteemed the ‘reformation’ of the Windesheim monastery so highly that they asked to be admitted to the union. This came about in 1413, after the Brabantines had thoroughly investigated their customs and methods. They immediately changed the title of provost to that of rector and, which is rather more important, subjected themselves in all things to the general chapter. The foundations in question were Groenendaal, Rooklooster, Zevenborn, Korsendonk, Bethlehem near Louvain, O.L. Vrouw ten Troon near Grobbendonk and the convent of Barberendaal at Tienen.1

It may appear strange that Henricus Wilhelmi, formerly a Brother in Deventer and founder of the Brotherhouse in Amersfoort, the soul and originator of the Utrecht chapter of Tertiaries - the union of Tertiaries and monasteries of the Third Order - should have wished in 1417 for his monastery at Amersfoort to be incorporated in the Windesheim chapter. The Windesheimers approved after some hesitation. This was the monastery of Marienhof or Birket near, and later in, Amersfoort.2 Even stranger is the fact that his friend Werembold de Boscoop, with him promoter of the Third Order among the Sisters of the Common Life, and on very good terms with Florens Radewijns, imposed the habit and customs of Windesheim on the monastery of Vredendaal (Vallis Pacis) near Utrecht, which was first populated by fraters of the Third Order, and joined up with the chapter.3 The process of growth continued and the new monasteries were increasingly distant from the central point. The Lord of Creyenhorn founded a monastery in Elzingen near Oudenaarde in Flanders. The inspection took place in 1417 and it was made clear to the canons that the monastery could only be admitted if an annual sum of two hundred guilders was available for the upkeep of the brothers, likewise two hundred

guilders for the building.1 The chapter accepted this monastery two years later, after the Eggert family of Amsterdam had contributed a great deal of money, including a sum to Windesheim itself.2 Then followed the new monastery of Dumo or Marienhage near Eindhoven, which was admitted without difficulty in 1320.3 Next came Esens in East Friesland, an existing but sparsely populated Benedictine convent, which was offered to the chapter by a Friesian ‘hooftling’ (capitanus). The Windesheimers were quite agreeable and sent Henry Loder from Northorn to look into the matter. He soon succeeded in persuading the Benedictine sisters to leave and sent Arnold Huls from his own monastery as prior, together with a number of fraters and laymen. Existence proved difficult at first but by 1460 the monastery and grangia together comprised about 200 brothers and laymen.4

The foundation of the following monastery is an example of the power of the princes over church property, with the permission of the pope. There was, in Böddingen, a chapel of pilgrimage containing a much venerated statue of Our Lady. Many offerings were thus received, a portion of which was used for the maintenance of the four priests who sang the canonical hours there and said Mass in turn. Duke Adolf van Berg, seeing that the offerings grew and that the four canons did not agree either with each other or with the parish priests, conceived the idea of founding a monastery with the income from the chapel and maintaining the monastics, in this case, the Canons Regular of Windesheim. An embassy to Rome safeguarded the Duke from that quarter, and the Windesheim chapter was quite prepared to accept the suggestion. Windesheim contributed two fraters, Theodore Lyma van Goch and John Busch, and Northorn also sent two, Arnold Huls and William Keppel. Arnold Huls became the first prior. There was no scrimping and Busch lists all that Windesheim contributed to the new monastery: two missals, an antiphonal, a gradual, a psalterium and other good books. They also provided a double set of clothing for two fraters (all listed), together with four double eiderdowns which John Busch left behind, with the permission of the Windesheim fathers, when he returned to his own monastery four

years later. Busch notes that, altogether, this makes 24 monasteries at the death of John Vos of Heusden († 1424).1

To these must now be added the five convents, which Busch lists elsewhere, and primarily the convent of the old nuns of Amsterdam, founded in 1384. Like the Regular monasteries the transition of this convent was principally the work of Gijsbert Dou, Gerard Groote's confessor. This convent, ‘The old nuns of Amsterdam’, was the first nunnery to join the Windesheim chapter. This, not unnaturally, gave rise to certain problems.2

The convent at Tienen, already mentioned3, was followed by the famous convent of Diepenveen, founded by John Brinckerinck in 1400 with the financial and moral support of the Sisters of Deventer, and admitted to the Windesheim chapter in 1408.4 Around 1460 the community of this convent comprised 90 sisters, 27 conversae and 15 other girls who had not yet received the habit - all these were enclosed. There were in addition 10 non-enclosed sisters and twenty lay sisters, together with a rector and two priests.5 This approached the large number living in the house of the Sisters of the Common Life in 's-Hertogenbosch.

An old foundation, already in existence at the time of Geert Groote, was the company of women at Bronopia, near Kampen. Around 1412 these women adopted the rule of St. Augustine and were incorporated in the chapter of Windesheim. They began with twelve Sisters but by Busch's time they had increased ten-fold, to a hundred and twenty.6 There were, finally two more convents: the convent of Jerusalem near Utrecht, founded by Master Bruno with Agatha Ernesti who is here called The Mother of all Religious, notably of the Canons Regular but also of the Tertiaries. She attracted many girls to the convent. This Jerusalem convent was incorporated in 1424, together with the new convent of Our Lady at Tongeren.7 At the death of John Vos of

Heusden, the Windesheim chapter consisted of twenty-four monasteries and five convents.

This was a much more rapid growth than that of the Brethren, although not than that of the Sisters of the Common Life. But since several of the Sisterhouses developed into convents from as early as 1398, it must be concluded that the Modern Devotion evolved strongly in the monastic spirit. It is interesting to note that those of Groote's friends and disciples who lived in the provinces of Holland and Utrecht all became supporters of monastic organisations. Not one of them founded a Brotherhouse. For these never developed in Amsterdam, Haarlem, Alkmaar, Leiden, existed for only a brief period in Hoorn and came very late to Utrecht, while the house in Amersfoort declined precisely because its members had become monastics. The expansion of the monasteries also covered a wider terrain than that of the Brothers in 1424, stretching further to the south, east and north. Despite the difficulties of the early years, several of the monasteries also seem to have attracted more candidates than the Brotherhouses. They differed completely from the Fraternities in one particular: most of the houses were founded in the country or near the cities; it was only later that the cities expanded to embrace them. The first four monasteries of Windesheim, Eemsteyn, Marienborn and Nieuwlicht, were situated in the country, although two of them were close to a town. Other rural foundations were St. Agnietenberg near Zwolle, Leidedorp, Elizabeth near Brielle, Thabor near Sneek and St. Pieterswiel near Zaltbommel, the monasteries of Brabant, The Visitation of Mary near Haarlem, Vredendaal near Utrecht and similarly Elzingen, Dumo, Esens and Böddingen. This was quite natural, since the Windesheimers performed no pastoral duties outside the monastic community. Their usual source of income was tillage and cattle rearing, of which there was no question among the Brothers. An unsuccessful attempt at agriculture was made at Doesburg, and Albergen soon developed into a monastery. Hulsbergen near Hattem may have been an exception.

Since most of these monasteries were new, the question arises of how it was possible to populate them all. In this connection it must of course be remembered that most of them grew from small beginnings. The new foundation generally started with four persons, borrowed from the old. They the put foundation on its feet and then

withdrew when enough local candidates had made their appearance. In the case of existing foundations, two people were usually sent to the newly admitted monastery in order to teach the new recruits the customs of Windesheim. The prior generally came from Windesheim or from one of the first monasteries to join the union. In this work John Vos seems to have been faithfully assisted by Northorn under Henry Loeder. The success of this undertaking shows that Windesheim and the first monasteries of the congregation must have been able to call on a number of most exceptional men who were possessed of a sense of sacrifice, devotion to their task, conviction and sufficient tact to carry out their onerous work in all parts of the country, and always, in the beginning, in comparatively straitened circumstances. This alone is proof of the excellent spirit animating this section of the Devotionalists. It was only sensible that they should require a reasonable, materially viable basis for a new foundation. Although this may have reduced the risk for the mother house in setting up new foundations, John Busch's testimony concerning the outfits of the Fraters going to Böddingen, including Busch himself, shows that Windesheim did not stint herself on such occasions.

 

This satisfyingly rapid development of the congregation demanded considerable effort of Windesheim in yet another direction. They were obliged to produce choir books, Bibles and texts of the Fathers, not only for their own use and for their own library, but also for the brothers of the other houses. The strong emphasis on unity of custom and manner of life in the various monasteries required the use of identical texts. Any divergence in texts, and especially any difference in indicating how a particular text should be sung, and where the pauses should come, gave rise to great confusion in the singing. This is also true, to a certain extent, of the Bible and the writings of the Fathers, for portions of these were also sung aloud in the choir. The Windesheim canons thus embarked upon a remarkable project in creating a uniform text of the choir books, the Bible and the Fathers.1 This desire for unity, principally in the ordinary, manual and calendar, was revealed in the assembly of the chapter and not alone in the monastery of Windesheim. The intention was to achieve uniform song and ceremonies. To this end the canons collected together the ordinaria of the various monastic orders and dioceses and found that they differed widely from each other. By dint of comparison and study and by

consulting knowledgeable people, they were able to draw up their own distinct calendar, ordinary and handbook which were approved by the Holy See and which would be adopted by all the monasteries of the chapter. This, however, was only the beginning. The books used in singing the hours had to be corrected so that no variation of melody would occur in the singing of the Divine Office. This great work required much patience and devotion. The men appointed to the task collected various copies of missals, graduals, antiphonaria, lectionaria, capitularia and collectaria from other Windesheim monasteries and since they had to correspond, they examined them, compared them with each other and brought them into harmony with the ordinary and calendar and with each other. Nor did they stop at this unification. They dispensed with new, less authentic histories, legends, hymns and sequences which presented rather the frivolity of man than the seriousness of the Holy Church.1 When the task was completed they had their work approved by the church authorities so that, when the chapter extended over the entire world, these books could be used everywhere.

When the choir books were finished, these same Windesheim brothers proceeded to further activities of general use (ad ulteriora communis utilitatis exercitia).2 ‘They attempted to reduce all the “original”3 books of the Old and New Testaments to the text as translated by St. Jerome from Hebrew into Latin, using the best models obtainable.’4 This is thus an attempt to revise the current vulgate texts in order to arrive at the original text of the Vulgate as compiled by St. Jerome. This was a most remarkable plan which has since been projected time and again and which at the present time is occupying the attention of an extremely competent commission. The method they established was also remarkable. ‘They collected several codices from various libraries and dioceses’ and examined them painstakingly, finding, as Busch says, almost as many important variants of the meaning and word of the Bible, as there were codices. Animated therefore by a burning zeal to examine the truth in these, they searched the entire district and finally assembled three or four immensely large volumina, written formerly in very old characters. One of these was from Paris, one from the monastery of Bethlehem near Doetichem,

and one from the Knights of St. John, commonly called Op de Loe, and from other churches. In the one from the Knights of St. John found written in the margin: ‘This library was compiled from the library of Jerome,’1 namely this manuscript was compiled from that of Jerome. They took this text to mean that this Bible conformed with the text of the Bible of St. Jerome, the first to translate the Bible from Hebrew into Latin, and that it was therefore pure. They zealously perused this very ancient text a couple of times, considered it on its own merits, coordinated the various statements and compared them. When they had finally reached complete agreement, they began to correct ‘our Bible’ in Windesheim. They devoted years to this work, corrected a host of Hebrew expressions and adapted the entire body of the Old and New Testaments to the early copies, esteeming the old witnesses more than the new. Thus they arrived at a Bible, of all the books of both Testaments, well written and brilliantly corrected, with every smallest detail punctuated and emended for themselves and for the entire chapter. It proved acceptable to the body of the congregation, who ordered that everyone should employ this text but that no changes must be made in it, even as the choir books were not allowed to be altered.

This was a remarkable example of medieval monastic academic practice, a mixture of scholarly sense and naivety.2

The first thing worthy of note is the existence of libraries in dioceses and monasteries, libraries which contained manuscripts of the Bible which they were prepared to lend out to reliable institutions. Windesheim was not even so well known at this time. This might be understandable in the case of monasteries, but one text came all the way from Paris. One can scarcely begin to imagine the problems involved in transporting such a Bible in this period. The comparison with other texts is a good scholarly method which is still employed today. Only the number of manuscripts was much too small, as was the case a hundred years later with the Greek edition of the New Testament by Erasmus. The monks, however, were also too naive. They had no scholarly training at all, either in theology or in history or in paleo-

graphy. They were well able to read the peculiar abbreviated script of their time and may perhaps have been capable of detecting that one manuscript was older than another. They possessed, however, absolutely no knowledge of the history of writing, hence their complete acceptance of the marginal statement in the Knights of St. John library. They did not inquire when or by whom, or with what intention this statement was made. Just imagine if it had been inserted by some ‘oriental’ after the Crusades in order to raise the selling price to the Knights of St. John! They did not ask themselves either what exactly the library ‘Sancti Hieronymi’ was. It may have had nothing to do with the Bible translation at all, but have referred to some monastery of St. Jerome. They accepted the remark in perfect trust and proceeded to adapt the text of their Bible to this text. For them this was the end of the affair. They had the correct Vulgate text in their possession and they had copied it. From henceforth it was forbidden to the fathers to alter one jot or tittle of the text, not even in the choir books, if these conflicted with the emended text. In this way they brought scholarly investigation to a halt. The matter was now concluded. The highest ideal had been attained! No more study in this field was necessary.

In my opinion the only explanation of this lies in the aim of this seemingly scholarly biblical work. They were not interested in the correct text of the Bible or in its meaning, but in uniformity at the choir service and in reading aloud. It was for this reason that Busch termed this text, compiled by the fraters: ‘diligentissime punctuatum.’1 This does not mean that the punctuation marks are in the correct places, but that by writing dots above the texts it can be recited as traditionally desired. The text served not as the basis for a scholarly study of the Bible, but ensured that the tone adopted in reading aloud should be the same in the various houses. The Canons Regular employed the same methods of comparison and correction to obtain their own text of the four great church Fathers and of other orthodox Fathers; of the sermons, homilies, books and treatises. They also achieved their optimum text by comparison with the best models. They never reveal, however, just why a particular model is considered superior. These pieces too will have been read aloud in the choir service and in the refectory. Yet no matter how slight the academic value of the result of their labours and despite the fact that practical considerations outweighed the scholarly, this entire undertaking and

the multiplication of these texts for their own monastery, and for various recently founded houses of the same chapter, was an enormous achievement and as such commands respect. Busch rightly exults: ‘They have corrected all the books of the divine office, the entire Bible and numerous volumina of the first-rate scholars, and have written them in various sorts of script, punctuated them, accented them according to the spelling, and bound and annotated the choir books.’ ‘All this they have brought to a good end, labouring for the honour and love of God, for the communal good of the brothers (Canons) and for the harmonious uniformity of the entire chapter.’1 The Canons wrote more than 35 large volumes for the religious services and these were still completely spotless around 1460. They also copied more then 100 codices of the Fathers on good quality parchment for the library of Windesheim, not counting what was sent elsewhere. ‘When we consider all this,’ says Busch, ‘then it is no wonder that we complain today of the neglectful and lukewarm spirit of the present times.’

 

The organization of the central authority of this Windesheim chapter, regulated by the statutes and by papal letters, is not of any great interest for our purpose. Unlike the colloquium of Münster and Zwolle the Windesheim chapter had a monastic authority. The members of the administrative college were priors of the monasteries in the union. They met once a year in Windesheim, at first on the second and later on the third Sunday after Easter, and sometimes convened elsewhere in times of war and interdict. After a period of rest and religious ceremonies, the delegates gradually appointed, by successive elections, twelve definitores, on the understanding that the prior of Windesheim, who was the prior superior of the entire chapter, was always a definitor by virtue of his office. These twelve thus took the lead in the deliberations. They examined the reports supplied by the various visitatores and appointed new men to this office. They also dealt with the dismissal and reappointment of the various priors who had all to vacate their seats. They were usually immediately re-elected, but if complaints had been received, the definitors decided whether they should be re-appointed or not. If dismissal followed, a new prior was chosen in the usual manner in the house where the place was left vacant. The assembly also dealt with requests to join the society. These

were only granted after an investigation on the spot. Every matter which concerned the chapter as a whole was discussed.1

 

The spiritual life of the Canons Regular of the Windesheim chapter was essentially the same as that of the fraters. Had not the latter formed and trained the first Regulars? With the Canons too, the main emphasis was laid upon communal possession and the associated personal poverty. They also stressed the strict obedience to the superior who, in later times at least, was more subject than the rector of the fraters to the regulations, the authority, and the supervision of the general chapter. Much value was also attached to humility and the accompanying humiliation throught the wearing of old, worn or patched clothes, through humiliating punishments (eating from the ground, being struck in the face) and through the performance of humble tasks. Although the fraters also sang part of the hours as a community, the Windesheimers devoted more time to communal choir singing which was considered one of their principal duties. They also attached great value to manual work, which for them as for the Brothers, consisted mostly in writing. Work on the land, however, occupied a greater place in their life than it did with the Brethren, since their monasteries were mostly founded in rural districts. The division of their day was scarcely different from that in the Brotherhouses. They too tried, by pious meditation, to elevate each new act or ceremony to a higher plane and thus maintain a constant link between inner piety and external religious activity. For them this consisted of meditation which, as among the Brothers, was usually based upon Christ's life and Passion and the four last things. A different aspect of Christ's life and Passion was reserved for each day of the week. The intention was that the Canons, like the fraters, should dwell the entire day on the subject offered for meditation and not devote to it only the isolated hour or half-hour. Such at least was the original intention. To what extent this practice was adhered to in subsequent periods will be dealt with later. As we have already mentioned, the pastoral work of the Canons was confined to the inmates of their own monastery. There is no mention of any activity among the schoolboys. This is the main point on which they differ from the fraters. The Canons Regular were, in

addition, monastics, bound to the monastery by vows. Any monk who did leave was a profugus or an apostate and could be sent back with the help of the temporal authorities and shut up in a dungeon. No such dungeon existed among the Brethren.

Certain of the Canons aspired to a higher degree of mysticism. This will become apparent later when we are discussing the works.

 

It may be wondered whether the concluding of an agreement between the first four monasteries could be described as the beginning of the reformation of the monasteries or the propaganda for the observance for which the Windesheim congregation became so renowned. It is known that the popes of the fourteenth century already encouraged this trend and that in the Franciscan order especially a struggle was waged over the application of the rule and the use of the privileges. It was among the Franciscans that the words reformation and subsequently ‘observance’ first became current. There can be no doubt that Geert Groote was aware of this struggle. Did he not, around 1380, advise the school rector John (Cele) against entering the Franciscan order, since none of their monasteries in the region were ‘reformed.’ This technical term means that there were no institutions of the observance in the Netherlands at this time, as there were in France. Although Ruusbroec spoke of inobservance in monasteries, he retired to Groenendaal, wrote his books there, but took no action to reform other monasteries. Geert Groote, on the other hand did, and can thus be situated within the concept of the observance movement. The foundation of Windesheim was not yet a sign that his followers wished to continue the work of the master on this point. Bishop Floris of Wefelinkhoven made no mention of a stricter observance or of propaganda for this aim in either the charter of July 13th 1386 or in that of December 13th 1387, which respectively gave approval and confirmation to the monastery.1 It was not immediately perceived that a force for expansion lay dormant in the monastic foundations established by followers of Geert Groote, but evidence of this was not long in coming. The uniting of four monasteries (Windesheim, Marienborn, Nieuwlicht and Eemsteyn) in 1394 and 1395 to form the congregation of Windesheim, was of more significance than at first appeared. According to a petition to the pope, granted on the 16th of May 1395, they joined together since they knew

that several monasteries from all parts of the church had failed noticeably in the progress of the religious life and in the proper application of the rule, because they had lacked the fraternal visitation. It was precisely in order to maintain the observance that they had decided to hold an annual chapter which would have the authority to act against abuses. There is no notion yet of expansion, or of apostolic work in other monasteries, but the formation of such chapters was characteristic of the observants. Henry Pomerius, who between 1414 and 1421 wrote his chronicle on the origin of the monastery of Groenendaal and his Life of John Ruusbroec1 was aware that his order, i.e. of the Canons Regular, belonged to the ‘reformed,’ in other words, to the observants. He expressed this opinion on the occasion of the uniting of Groenendaal, Rooklooster, Korsendonk and Zeven Bronnen near Brussels in 1402. Bethlehem of Louvain and Barberendaal of Tienen became members in 1410. The Canons Regular, he says, in recent times reformed in newness of spirit, preserve the severity of the order under the observance of one chapter. The admission of the already mentioned observant Brabantine monasteries to the congregation of Windesheim resulted from the desire for expansion, but also from the longing to lead other monasteries to the observance. Their previous successes provided a great incentive. It may thus be said that observantism began in 1400 in the order of the Canons Regular and proceeded to grow in intensity and scope. It is no wonder that the head of the Windesheim congregation, John Vos of Heusden, described the life at Windesheim as the maintaining of the rule, the perpetual striving after observance.2 His successor, William Vornken, saw Windesheim principally as a contrast to the former free practice of the monasteries, while for John Busch a short time later, the reformation of the monasteries had become the mainspring of Windesheim's activities. His book on the reformation of various monasteries (Liber de reformationibus monasteriorum ordinum diversorum) begins with the period under discussion here.3 Observance commenced later among the various other Orders and to a large extent under the influence of Windesheim which had at least made the minds of the monastics receptive to such ideas.

 

One result of the ever increasing influence of the Devotionalists

was the establishing of a great number of convents and some monasteries for men who were usually called Tertiaries, since they originally followed the Third Rule of St. Francis. It is impossible in most cases to determine whether these foundations were preceded by a communal dwelling together without any monastic Rule. So many new foundations arose in the various regions of the Netherlands, especially in the cities, that they cannot all be mentioned here. They sprang up in such numbers that William Vornken, who succeeded John Vos as prior of Windesheim (1425-1454) could rightly ask: ‘What town, place or village is there now in the entire church province of Cologne which does not rejoice to have received the taste or the scent of the lilies?’1 Without going into detail it may be remarked here that these brothers and sisters constantly desired a stricter life (arctior vita) and usually succeeded in introducing it into their houses by a majority or unanimous vote. Their first desire was to solemnly take one or all of the three monastic vows. Having thus become monastics, many of them directed their efforts towards cooperation, to uniting the monasteries, to the formation of chapters (Chapter of Utrecht, of Venlo, of Sion). The next step for these monastics towards a stricter life was the introduction of the ‘clausura,’ or enclosure within which they remained and within which no one else was admitted. Another was the adoption of a stricter monastic rule. Many of them abandoned the Third Order of St. Francis for that of St. Augustine - by no means a harsh rule, admittedly, but one intended exclusively for monastics. By adopting the Rule of St. Augustine these persons again came within the domain of Windesheim, if indeed they had not already been led to adopt this rule by the influence of members and monasteries of this congregation. One group must be mentioned here on account of its resemblance to Windesheim. This is the congregation of Sion, established in this period. It did not, indeed, attain the size of Windesheim, but it included the monastery of Stein. It was chiefly the work of William Hendrikx Clinkard whom we have already met as superior of the Brothers at Amersfoort, and in 1399 as the first Minister-general of the Utrecht chapter - the union of houses following the Third Rule of St. Francis. He also founded the monastery of Hem, near Schoonhoven, where he placed a number of Brothers in 1407. In his attempts to have the Brothers adopt the rule of St. Augustine in order to found a new

chapter, he was assisted by Peter Gerrits, who was also a Brother of the Common Life from the house of Delft. They too had adopted the Third Rule of St. Francis. Together these two urged bishop Frederik of Blankenheim to grant general permission to members of the Utrecht chapter of the Third Order to transfer to the Rule of St. Augustine, on condition that those who took this step should in their turn join together to form a new chapter. They obtained their request on July 17th, 1418, and already on the 25th of July William Clinkard and his monastery of Hem near Schoonhoven and Peter Gerrits with his monastery of St. Hieronymusdal at Delft (former Brethren of the Common Life) took the monastic vows. They thus became monastics and the foundations of the chapter were laid. It was later called the Sion chapter after a new monastery near Delft to which the Canons of St. Hieronymusdal moved in 1433. Others followed: the house of St. Gregory in Gouda, transferred outside Gouda in 1419 and named Stein. This was later the monastery of Erasmus. In 1422 arose the convent of the new nuns in Amsterdam, then St. Elizabeth in Oudewater, St. Agnes of Delft and two from Gouda. In 1324, the chapter consisted of three monasteries and five convents, which remained independent while following the customs and usages of Windesheim. On account of their distribution throughout the province of Holland, this chapter also came to be known as the Holland congregation.1


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