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Narrating and accounting the costs of reform in a “Chronicle of the Reform of San Salvador de Oña (1450–1465)”

2022; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 15; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/17546559.2022.2153262

1754-6567

Carlos Manuel Reglero de la Fuente,

Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books

ABSTRACTThe monastery of San Salvador de Oña was reformed by the priors of the monastery of San Benito de Valladolid between 1450 and 1456. The majority of the monks of Oña opposed this reform, which led to their being replaced by monks from Valladolid. In addition, the payment of papal taxes, lawsuits and building projects generated a substantial debt, which was repaid through the sale of the church’s silver ornaments and altarpieces, and as a result the monks who were expelled from Oña accused the reformers of theft. The priors of San Benito and its monks defended their actions in two texts: a document acknowledging the debt and explaining its origin, and a chronicle of the reform undertaken by the priors of San Benito which minimised their responsibility for the monastery’s mismanagement. Thus, the financial accountancy of the reform was combined with a literary commemoration of this undertaking.KEYWORDS: CastilemonasteryBenedictinesreformaccountsmemory Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 This article was produced as part of the research projects “El ejercicio del poder: espacios, agentes y escrituras (siglos XI-XV)” (reference HAR2017-84718-P) and “Los monasterios de la Corona de Castilla en la Baja Edad Media: actitudes y reacciones en un tiempo de problemas y cambios” (reference PID2021-124066NB-I00), financed by the Spanish Government’s Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Agencia Estatal de Investigación and FEDER, European Union MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER, UE.2 This first reform was also divisive: Agúndez San Miguel, “La memoria femenina.” Concerning Oña’s foundation and its Benedictine reform: Faci Lacasta, “Sancho el Mayor;” Isla Frez, “Oña: Innovación;” Martínez Díez, “Oña un monasterio;” Olmedo Bernal, “Una abadía;” Segl, Königtum und Klosterreform, 43–46; Reglero de la Fuente, “Founders and Reformers,” 88–92.3 Bonaudo, “El monasterio de San Salvador.”4 Alfonso Antón and Jular, “Oña contra Frías.”5 Diago Hernando, “La tutela nobiliaria.”6 Colombás and Gost, Estudios sobre el primer siglo; Zaragoza Pascual, Los generales de la Congregación.7 Such cases of trauma are not exceptional and are often encountered in monastic chronicles. Albeit a very different and earlier example, the study of the Hirsau reform of Petershausen is insightful: Beach, The Trauma of Monastic Reform.8 “Oña. Quentas con S. Benito de Valladolid con su fin y quito de la una casa a la otra desde el año de 1450 hasta el de 1469. Con la historia de la reformación que hizieron fray García de Frías y fray Joan de Gumiel, priores de S. Benito, año de 1450.” (AHN Clero, libro 16,757).9 Gómez Redondo, Historia de la prosa; Diago Hernando, “La tutela nobiliaria,” 99n66, 102n72; Viñuales Ferreiro, “El monasterio de Oña,” 325.10 The best known monastic chronicle is that of Sahagún (Puyol y Alonso, Las Crónicas de Sahagún; Ubieto Arteta, Crónicas anónimas), which was originally in Latin but survives as a Castilian fifteenth-century version. See Gaffard, “Martirio y taumaturgia;” Garcia, “L’anonymat individuel,” “Les miracles d’un autre genre,” and “Mirabilia et réforme;” Garcia and Reglero de la Fuente, “Dossier: Escritura y reescritura;” Reglero de la Fuente, “Estructura y proceso,” and “La Segunda Crónica;” Schwarzrock, Conflict and Chronicle; Agúndez San Miguel, La memoria escrita. Less well known and briefer is the Historia latina de Santa María de Valvanera (Pérez Alonso, Historia de la Real, 465–501). San Benito de Valladolid’s Book of Benefactors also included a brief description of its foundation (Olivera Serrano, El Libro de los bienhechores, 212–15, 263–64).11 The untitled Chronicle refers to sending monks “para rreformar el dicho monesterio” and the expenses “que se fezieran en la dicha reformaçión.”12 Paragraph published in Viñuales Ferreiro, “El monasterio de Oña,” 325.13 Ten purchases are listed worth a total of 38,700 mrs, and seven sales 75,850 mrs.14 Zaragoza Pascual, “La implantación de la observancia,” 379–83.15 AHN Clero libro 16,757.16 110,000 mrs and 90,000 mrs repaid loans the prior of Rojas and the count of Haro, respectively, had issued to pay for lawsuits against Juan Marín; 159,133 mrs and 26,150 mrs were paid to the bachelor of Belorado to repay loans made, respectively, for building work undertaken in a chapel and an undisclosed debt; 40,000 mrs to pay for choir books; 10,750 mrs for clothing and provisions; and 6,000 mrs for a pair of mules.17 200 gold doblas de la banda to pay a debt to the count of Haro and spend on monastery business; 150 florins for two monks to travel to Rome to attend to the monastery’s affairs; 400 florins for expenses and provisions; 441 florins to pay for the monastery’s papal bulls and affairs in Rome.18 225 marks and three ounces of silver from an altarpiece were sold to a silversmith of Valladolid for 202,837 mrs in the presence of a monk from Oña; sixty-two and a half marks of silver were later sold to the same silversmith for 56,825 mrs; the steward was subsequently given a gold image weighing five marks and five ounces, valued at 47,654 mrs. Abbot Martín de Salazar sold another 120 marks of silver from the altars to cover Oña’s needs and the lawsuits against Juan Marín.19 AHN Clero carp. 324–326. Zaragoza Pascual, “Documentos inéditos,” and “Documentación inédita.”20 See the Benedictine chroniclers of both monasteries and the order: Yepes, Corónica general, fol. 334v–336r; Argaiz, Soledad laureada, 481–85; Torres, Libro primero de la Historia, 199–202, 215–33. The latter manuscript is an eighteenth-century copy; Fray Mancio de Torres was a monk in the years 1618–1631 (Rodríguez Martínez, Historia del monasterio, 29). For twentieth-century studies: Herrera Oria, “Reforma religiosa;” Colombás and Gost, Estudios sobre el primer siglo, 57–59; Zaragoza Pascual, Los generales de la Congregación, 109–10, 129–34, and “La implantación de la observancia;” Suárez Bilbao, “El monasterio de Oña,” 166–71; Suárez Bilbao and Viñuales Ferreiro, “El monasterio de San Salvador.” Diago Hernando’s article, “La tutela nobiliaria,” is a pioneering study.21 Arsuaga Laborde, Pedro Fernández de Velasco, 120.22 Diago Hernando, “La tutela nobiliaria,” 98–99. Yepes, Corónica general, fol. 334v, and Argaiz, Soledad laureada, 482, say that they also complained to the bishop of Burgos, Alonso de Cartagena.23 AHN Clero carp. 324, no. 15. Chronicle refers to twenty-six monks, but the document only mentions twelve. The former figures seem more realistic circa 1455.24 Probably from one of the military units besieging the town of Frías, just over ten kilometres away.25 Only fifteen monks are mentioned in the documents. Seemingly they were sent to the priories of Tejada, which is where Juan Marín reappears in Chronicle, or Santo Toribio de Liébana, where there were fifteen monks in 1456, including at least one of those expelled in 1450: Zaragoza Pascual, “Documentos inéditos,” 133–34.26 Zaragoza Pascual, “Documentos inéditos,” 123–26.27 AHN Clero carp. 324, nos. 17, 18, 19. Argaiz, Soledad laureada, 482; Herrera Oria, “Reforma religiosa,” 63.28 The document does not explain the reason for the flogging. However, it could probably be understood as a measure of penitential discipline: Lusset, Crime, châtiment et grâce, 238; Valous, Le monachisme clunisien, I:217–19.29 Zaragoza Pascual, “Documentos inéditos,” 126–33. The account by Mancio Torres is based on these documents, Libro primero de la Historia, 201–02, 215–17, esp. 217.30 AHN Clero carp. 325, nos. 1–331 AHN Clero carp. 325, nos. 4–5.32 Quod dicitur de vobis, quod in Oña magis quaerebatis dominationem quam reformationem: Beltrán de Heredia, “Colección de documentos,” 303–04, doc. 4.33 Torres, Libro primero de la Historia, 225–26, states that there were six in October 1453, yet the register of monks show records at least twelve new monks from March or April (AHN Clero carp. 325, nos. 10, 14).34 Five prominent monks issued a letter dated 16 September 1453; another, undated, was signed by eleven, although between two and four of the signatories coincide (AHN Clero carp. 325, nos. 8, 10).35 Published in Yepes, Corónica general, fol. 335r-v.36 Yepes, Corónica general, fol. 335v.37 Herrera Oria, “Reforma religiosa,” 69. During the visitation, the monks of Oña kissed the hand of the prior of Valladolid.38 AHN Clero carp 326, no. 5.39 AHN Clero carp. 326, nos. 4–5.40 AHN Clero carp. 326, no. 7.41 Zaragoza Pascual, “La implantación de la observancia,” 377, and “Abadologio del monasterio,” 566–67. The documents clearly show the correct date for Pedro de Paredes’s election was August 1456, not 1457.42 Zaragoza Pascual, Los generales de la Congregación, 194–96; Herrera Oria, “Reforma religiosa,” 77–83, 155–59.43 Zaragoza Pascual, Los generales de la Congregación, 101–47.44 In 1459 he separated from his wife Beatriz Manrique de Lara, by mutual agreement, to live a celibate life. Diago Hernando, “La tutela nobiliaria,” 97–98; González Crespo, Elevación de un linaje, 291–94; Arsuaga Laborde, Pedro Fernández de Velasco, 233–98.45 The text has been published by Zaragoza Pascual, “Documentación inédita,” 701–02. The notes refer to documents submitted in Oña, which included their obligation to repay two loans received from San Benito, for 179,000 mrs and 110,000 mrs respectively. The detailed arrival and departure times given for each location led Pérez Álvarez, “Concepción moderna,” 144, to conclude that Juan de Gumiel, prior of Valladolid, wanted to create detailed itineraries for future journeys.46 AHN Clero leg. 8,349 (16 September 1458 to 1460). A summary of the monastic accounts in: Maté Sadornil, Prieto Moreno, and Santidrián Arroyo, “El papel de la contabilidad.” There are numerous studies devoted to English monasteries, including Snape, English Monastic Finances; Dobie, Accounting at Durham. Research on medieval Castile is hampered by the scarcity of sources. A noteworthy exception are the accounts of the Benedictine monasteries in the Province of Toledo: García González, Vida económica; Moreta Velayos, Rentas monásticas; Reglero de la Fuente, “The Administration of the Castilian.”47 The Bachelor Pedro Fernández de Belorado loaned 204,600 mrs in exchange for the grain incomes paid by eight villages (AHN Clero, libro 16,757, 17 March 1453); the count lent 1,000 gold doblas (around 150,000 mrs), and received a village as a guarantee.48 AHN Clero, libro 16,757 (7 June 1455).49 The equivalent of approximately 576,100 mrs or 5,485 florins.50 On the accounts of 1458: Diago Hernando, “Fuentes de ingresos,” 456–62. That year, the income in coin was 57,129 mrs, while the income in cereals was valued at 137,355 mrs, and for wine at around 60,000 mrs. As other lesser sources of income had to be added the total surpassed 255,000 mrs. On the monastic estate of Oña: Bonaudo, “El monasterio de S. Salvador.”51 After discounting the payment made at the end of July 1455, the remaining debt was 134,718 mrs, 200 doblas and 991 florins (268,785 mrs in total).52 Argaiz, Soledad laureada, 483, says that Pedro de la Rúa asked Gonzalo García de Villalpando, the King’s book-keeper (contador), for a loan of 600 doblas (90,000 mrs) on 19 June 1456.53 Diago Hernando, “Fuentes de ingresos,” 456–62.54 The papal accounts register the payment by Oña of the common service on 19 October 1450 and 28 June 1452, which consisted of payments of 166 florins and 8 gros (Hoberg, Taxae pro communibus, 315). These payments would correspond to the appointments of Juan Marín and Martín de Salazar as abbot, and should have been followed by a third payment Pedro de la Rúa’s appointment in 1455. According to Sáez, Demostración histórica, 336–37, the papal chamber florin was valued at three for four Aragonese florins, which means each payment was worth about 222 Aragonese florins; multiplied by three, this would be equivalent to around 70,000 mrs.55 To repay this sum, San Benito had to lend another 90,000 mrs and 150 doblas (22,500 mrs), to which must be added previous loans: 150 florins for a journey to Rome and 441 to pay for papal bulls (equivalent to over 62,000 mrs).56 A total of about 300,000 mrs, without taking into account other building work. Quentas indicates that the cost the vaulting over the chancel came to 200,000 mrs, for which the bachelor of Belorado loaned 159,133 mrs, which was guaranteed with the rents from various villages; once again the monastery of San Benito repaid this loan.57 The cost of the choir books, valued at 40,000 mrs., brought by the monks of Valladolid must be included in this category of expense.58 In 1453, 6,000 mrs were paid to an innkeeper of Burgos for supplying oil and fish. In addition, the accounts of 1455 register four consignments for provisions worth 66,750 mrs.59 Argaiz, Soledad laureada, 483, records further economic harm derived from the reform: following the imposition of the enclosure, the monks of the priories were transferred to the monastery, which left these churches in the hands of the secular clerics, who with the support of the Bishop of Burgos, exploited them to their advantage, thereby reducing the rents paid to the monastery.60 Torres, Libro primero de la Historia, 215–16.61 Argaiz, Soledad laureada, 482–83.62 Yepes, Corónica general, fol. 334v.63 He later defines them as “professed monks, male and religious, wise, praiseworthy and chaste, honest, devout, knowledgeable in science and customs, full of virtue, brought up in the cloister, knowledgeable about the observance of the rule, agreeable to God and to men, in all things commendable.”64 Clearly this document precedes the aforementioned loan dated 14 July 1455.65 The count was famous for being conciliatory, as he demonstrated in the political sphere by mediating between the Infantes of Aragon and Don Álvaro de Luna in what is known as the “Seguro de Tordesillas” (Marino, El “Seguro de Tordesillas”).66 Calculated according to the journey made in 1456: Zaragoza Pascual, “Documentación inédita,” 701–02.67 A footnote to a later letter states that Abbot Pedro died on 11 July 1452, was buried the following day, and Álvaro, who was the prior of Oña, was elected the next day.68 According to Argaiz, Soledad laureada, 483, Juan Marín served as abbot for fourteen years, which includes the period until 1464–1465. In contrast Chronicle states that he died during the tenure of Pedro de la Rúa (1455–1456).69 The words in brackets are missing from the short version, which also has some minor differences from the long version but they do not alter the meaning. I transcribe the “v” before or after “n” as “u”, and the “u” between vowels as “v.”Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the Spanish Government's Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Agencia Estatal de Investigación and FEDER, European Union MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER, UE: [Grant numbers: HAR2017-84718-P and PID2021-124066NB-I00].Notes on contributorsCarlos Manuel Reglero de la FuenteCarlos M. Reglero is Professor of Medieval History in the Department of Ancient and Medieval History at the University of Valladolid in Spain. He is currently Principal Investigator of the project, “The monasteries of the Crown of Castile in the Late Middle Ages: attitudes and reactions in a time of problems and changes,” funded by the MCIN/AEI/UE-FEDER. His research focuses on social and monastic history of medieval Iberia, mainly in Cluniac and Benedictine houses and its relation with society. Recent publications include Monasterios y monacato en la España medieval (Madrid: Marcial Pons, 2021); Amigos exigentes, servidores infieles. La crisis de la Orden de Cluny en España (1270–1379) (Madrid: CSIC, 2014); Cluny en España. Los prioratos de la provincia y sus redes sociales (1073- ca. 1270) (León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro, 2008); “El abad contra el rey (y los regidores): conflicto de jurisdicciones y ejercicio del poder en Sahagún (1398–1417),” Espacio, tiempo y forma: serie III, Historia Medieval 34 (2021): 845–80; “Imágenes, espacios, gestos y palabras en un conflicto: el señorío de Sahagún (siglos XIII-XV),” Studia Historica, Historia Medieval 36 (2018): 85–106; “Cluny and its Priories in Fifteenth-Century Castile,” Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies 9 (2017): 261–79.