The Devotio Moderna and Commemoration. The Case of St Margaret’s Convent in Gouda

Abstract

This article focuses on the way St Margaret’s Convent of regular canonesses in Gouda organized its memoria culture, treating it as a window onto the wider field of liturgical commemoration in the early Devotio Moderna. It is now becoming clear that the religious houses originating in this movement soon took the path towards full monastic status. The speedy maturation of liturgical facilities was concomitant with this development. St Margaret’s has been singled out because of its relatively ample documentation and also because it represents the Chapter of Sion, a small chapter rivalling the Chapter of Windesheim. After an initial beginning shortly before 1400, a restoration of monastic life took place around 1450, which ended a period of crisis. As part of this restoration, the convent’s memory was put in order. This is documented by two manuscripts: Gouda Kloosters inv. 95, containing both a chronicle and a cartulary, and London MS 2939, in which a necrology has been preserved. The chronicle and cartulary were devised together, with the cartulary organized not as an aid in the administration of the convent’s possessions but as a prop to the remembrance of its benefactors. The necrology has an independent origin. Together they enable us to analyse the way the convent (re-)construed its memory, thereby underlining its identity and perpetuating the fruits of the restoration.