By Force and Fear

Jacobson Schutte Anne

Description

An unwilling, desperate nun trapped in the cloister, unable to gain release: such is the image that endures today of monastic life in early modern Europe. In By Force and Fear, Anne Jacobson Schutte demonstrates that this and other common stereotypes of involuntary consignment to religious houses-shaped by literary sources such as Manzoni's The Betrothed-are badly off the mark.Drawing on records of the Congregation of the Council, held in the Vatican Archive, Schutte examines nearly one thousand petitions for annulment of monastic vows submitted to the Pope and adjudicated by the Council during a 125-year period, from 1668 to 1793. She considers petitions from Roman Catholic regions across Europe and a few from Latin America and finds that, in about half these cases, the congregation reached a decision. Many women and a smaller proportion of men got what they asked for: decrees nullifying their monastic profession and releasing them from religious houses. Schutte also reaches important conclusions about relations between elders and offspring in early modern families. Contrary to the picture historians have painted of increasingly less patriarchal and more egalitarian families, she finds numerous instances of fathers, mothers, and other relatives (including older siblings) employing physical violence and psychological pressure to compel adolescents into "entering religion." Dramatic tales from the archives show that many victims of such violence remained so intimidated that they dared not petition the pope until the agents of force and fear had died, by which time they themselves were middle-aged. Schutte's innovative book will be of great interest to scholars of early modern Europe, especially those who work on religion, the Church, family, and gender.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christian Church
• Western Europe
• History of religions
• History of Europe

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 07 juillet 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801463174
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

 BY FORCE AND FEAR

BYFORCE AND FEAR n TAKI NG AND BRE AKI NG MONAST I C VOWS I N E ARLY MODE RN E UROPE

A n n e J a co b s o n S c h u t te

CORNELLUNIVERSITYPRESS IthacaandLondon

BlackandwhitefiguresareallfromFilippoBuonanni, SJ,Ordinum religiosorum in ecclesia militanti catalogus, eorum indumenta in iconibus expressa,2nd ed., 3 vols. (Rome: GiorgioPlacho,1714)andarereproducedbypermission of Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen,shelfmark8HEORD13/79.

Copyright©2011byCornellUniversity

Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

Firstpublished2011byCornellUniversityPress Printed in the United States of America

LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData

Schutte, Anne Jacobson.  By force and fear : taking and breaking monastic vows in early modern Europe / Anne Jacobson Schutte.  p. cm.  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 978-0-8014-4977-2 (cloth : alk. paper)  1. Vows—History. 2. Profession (in religious orders, congregations, etc.)—History. 3. Vows (Canon law) 4. Dispensations (Canon law) 5. Monastic and religious life—Europe—History. I. Title. BX2435.S39 2011 255.0094'09032—dc22 2011003703

CornellUniversityPressstrivestouseenvironmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possibleinthepublishingofitsbooks.Suchmaterials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Clothprinting

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  Co nt e nt s

Illustrative Materials vii Acknowledgmentsix Abbreviationsxi

1. Forced Monachization, 1668–1793: An Overview 2. Literary and Historiographical Contexts 3. Elders and Forced Monachization 4. Waging Law in the Congregation of the Council 5. Contracts and Fear in Monachization and Marriage 6. Witnesses to Forced Monachization 7. Degrees of Separation 8. War and Coerced Monachization 9. Continuity and Change in Forced Monachization

Bibliography265 Index 281

1

23 52

89

130 159 187 213

235

  Il lu s t r at i ve M at e r i a l s

Figures 1. Augustinian Hermit friar 2.Capuchin friar 3. Observant Franciscan friar 4.Conventual Franciscan friar 5. Augustinian nun 6. Benedictine nun 7. Dominican nun 8. Franciscan nun

Tables 1.Cases of forced monachization adjudicated by the SCC 2. Elite families and monachization in Toulouse, 1670–1790

Charts 1.Allocutives 2. Number of cardinals on SCC 3. Attendance at SCC meetings 4. National origins of cardinals on SCC 5. Cases initiated 6. Decisions: men 7. Decisions: women 8. Total decisions

Maps 1. Italy: Northwest 2. Italy: Republic of Venice

38 38 38 38 39 39 39 39

12 254

87 106 107 107 246 247 247 248

238 239

vii

viii I LLUSTRATI VE MATERI ALS

3. Italy: Central 4. Italy: Kingdom of Naples; Malta 5.Iberia 6. France and southern Netherlands 7. Central and Eastern Europe

240 241 242 243 244

  A c k n o w l e d g m e nt s

This book was born in Piazza Navona on a sunny January day more than ten years ago. In the final stages of completing another book and too frazzled to think concretely about a new topic needed for a grant application, I asked my lunch companion, Marina D’Amelia, for ideas about what to work on next. Off the top of her head, she replied, “Forced monachization.” Marina therefore deserves sole credit for pointing me toward what has turned out to be a difficult but fascinating research proj- ect. She, of course, bears no responsibility for its protracted gestation. In the course of research and writing, I have incurred numerous debts of gratitude. Let me recognize first those who have shared their techni- cal expertise. From beginning to end, in addition to providing moral sup- port, my departmental colleague Duane Osheim cheerfully revealed to me the arcana of information technology. At an early stage, Susan Dempsey of ITC (Information Technology and Communication, University of Virginia) expertly converted a digest of my evidence into Excel form. For generating illustrative material and bailing me out of trouble on numerous occasions, I owe thanks to three successive graduate student computer assistants in the Corcoran Department of History. Thomas Bryan and Ross Blair created the tables and graphs; Loren Moulds converted my digest into a searchable data- base and placed it on the Internet. With patience and dispatch, a professional cartographer, Bill Nelson, created the maps. Librariansandarchivistshavealsolentvaluablehands.AtAldermanLibrary, University of Virginia, I have benefited on innumerable occasions from help provided by two cooperative and resourceful staff members: George Crafts (reference librarian) and Lewis Purifoy (manager of borrowing and docu- ment delivery). Lenore Rouse, curator of rare books and special collections at John K. Mullen of Denver Memorial Library, The Catholic University of America, introduced me to the little-known treasures in that library’s Clementine collection. Thanks as well to the many staff members who have assisted me in Vatican City at the Archivio Segreto Vaticano and the Biblio- teca Apostolica Vaticana; in Rome at the Archivio di Stato (Giuliana Adorni

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