Diplomatarium monasterii Glacensis canonicorum regularium sancti Augustici ab anno 1350 usque ad annum 1381 ed. by Pavel O. Krafl and Lenka Blechová

Abstract

Reviewed by: Diplomatarium monasterii Glacensis canonicorum regularium sancti Augustici ab anno 1350 usque ad annum 1381 ed. by Pavel O. Krafl and Lenka Blechová Peter McDonald Krafl, Pavel O., and Lenka Blechová, eds, Diplomatarium monasterii Glacensis canonicorum regularium sancti Augustici ab anno 1350 usque ad annum 1381 (Canonici regulares sancti Augustini, 2), Brno, Středoevropské centrum slovanských studií, 2018; hardback; pp. 172; ISBN 9788086735207. This volume prints charters and other documents of the Augustinian priory of Mount St Mary in Glatz, Silesia, then part of Bohemia and now Kłodzko in Poland. The editors transcribe forty-nine Latin documents from its foundation in 1350 to the death of the founding prior in 1381, forty-one from the Kłodzko parish archive and the others from copies elsewhere. They also print a contemporary translation of one charter (no. 11) into Old Czech. A comprehensive apparatus in Latin gives details of manuscripts and seals, textual variants in surviving versions, persons and places named, and biblical and canonical citations. Concise, accurate and helpful Latin summaries preface the documents (though no. 17 is slightly confusing because ‘ecclesiam’ in the first line should be dative ‘ecclesiae’). The editing achieves a high standard, replacing incomplete and defective earlier editions. An introduction, in Czech and English, describes the documents, and an English epilogue points to the wider history of the house. That history lies between the lines of the legal documents assembled here. The house’s later role as a cultural centre and node for the spread of the devotio moderna is invisible, but the deeds of confraternity with nearby Augustinian houses point to their role in ecclesiastical reform—a late blossoming for an order that peaked elsewhere in the twelfth century. The political context also points to a reforming role. The protagonists in the charters are the Emperor Charles IV, King of Bohemia, and Arnošt of Pardubitz, Archbishop of Prague. Both promoted church reform and both sought to consolidate their authority: Bohemia had regained Glatz from Poland in 1335, and the metropolitan see of Prague had separated from Mainz province in 1344. Arnošt and his brothers founded the house from his mensa and their own purchases to build up his diocese, with royal backing; his successor Jan Očko de Vlašim followed suit (nos. 30, 41, 43). Arnošt and Charles gave lands, revenues, churches, and jurisdictional privileges and protected the house from jealous clerical and lay neighbours, including two bailiffs who resented their reduction from imperial liegemen to monastic servants. But alongside lawsuits with some neighbours are endowments and support from others: the documents provide a window into local society. Students of papal diplomacy will note that Arnošt obtained a simple bull of confirmation (no. 18) for his foundation charter (no. 10), not the elaborate and obsolescent privilegium commune. In summary, this is a useful contribution to scholarship in this field. [End Page 282] Peter McDonald Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Copyright © 2022 Peter McDonald