Читать книгу English Monasteries - A. Hamilton Thompson - Страница 20

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Bodies of canons regular, however, came into existence, distinct from the chapters of canons secular, living in monasteries, reciting the canonical hours, and leading the common life of monks. Their rule was modelled on an adaptation of a letter from St. Augustine of Hippo to a congregation of religious women. It was shorter and couched in more general terms than the rule of St. Benedict; but its aim was similar. Its followers became known as Augustinian or Austin canons. From their hooded black cloaks with white surplices and black cassocks beneath, they were often called black canons. The order did not appear in England until about 1106, when the priory of St. Botolph at Colchester was founded by a Benedictine monk named Ernulf; nor did the papacy definitely recognise the order until 1139, when its houses were already numerous. The number of English Augustinian houses at its highest point reached 218, and of these 138 were founded before 1175. At the suppression of the monasteries there were about 170 Augustinian houses, while of Benedictine houses there were from 130 to 140. Augustinian houses varied greatly in size and wealth, and at no time did their wealthier abbeys approach the immense revenues of the greater Benedictine houses; while their average income was very moderate. Each house was governed by a 'prelate,' generally known as the prior, but in some 24 cases as the abbot. Most of their abbeys were in the midland districts: in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Norfolk, where their houses were numerous, the title of prior was universal. In 1133 one of their convents, Carlisle, was raised to the dignity of a cathedral priory. Their growth was analogous to that of the Benedictines: each house with its cells was an independent community: their visitor was the diocesan bishop, and very few of their houses became permanently exempt from visitation. The order also held its general chapters, at which two visitors were appointed yearly for each of the provinces into which its houses were divided.