Lay Patronage of Welsh Cistercian Houses and the Influence This Had on Welsh and English Political History, 1150 – 1290
By Robert Harbison
Published Online (1999)
Introduction: In 1098, as a response to perceived laxness within traditional monasticism as followed by the Benedictines and especially the Cluniacs, a small group of monks set out from the rich Abbey of Molesme to found a new monastery, “far from the concourse of men.” This Nova Monasterium was to be organized following a strict observance to the Rule fo Saint Benedict, most of the changes in the Rule from the previous five centuries were removed. The heart of this move to a new monastery, that became a monastic movement with the first real organization, was the Englishman, Stephen Harding.
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Tags: Monasticism, Wales
