DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.72132#0016
Geleitwort zum Band
Thirty years ago, when I first began studying the Caulites - a relatively small, rel-
atively obscure monastic order with origins in Burgundy - two kinds of sources
were available to me. First were the charters, boxes and boxes of them, mostly
economic in nature, scattered over several archives across western Europe. Sec-
ond was the Caulite customary, a collection of rules and texts by which the order
regulated its affiliated communities.
To suggest that there was a single, unified document called "the Caulite custom-
ary" is misleading. The accidents of history have left us two manuscript witnesses
to the customary, one at the Bibliotheque nationale de France in Paris, and one at
the departmental archives in the charming town of Moulins-sur-Allier. To consult
either of these manuscripts meant in situ visits to that particular library or archive.
Having to visit libraries and archives is never a bad thing, but neither is ac-
cessibility. In 1900, Walter de Gray Birch - a prolific antiquarian in the British
Museum's Department of Manuscripts - provided scholars some accessibility to
the Caulite customary with his edition of Ordinale conventus Vallis Caulium: the
Rule of the monastic order of Val-des-Choux in Burgundy.
The Ordinale was handy when it first appeared, but the methods and needs of
scholars have evolved since 1900. Today, the Caulite customary cries out for a
new treatment.
To answer this call, Jörg Sonntag offers this new edition of the Caulite Statutes,
Die Gesetzgebung der Cauliten im 13. Jahrhundert. Students of monastic history
will be well served by his edition, which provides a rich historical context for the
beginnings of the Caulite order, thorough descriptions of the extant manuscripts,
a detailed critical apparatus indicating variations in the manuscripts and, best of
all, facing-page translations of the Latin text into German.
It would be easy to lament how much my own work on the Caulites would have
benefited from Sonntag's edition. Instead, let me close by saying how thrilled I am
that interest in the Caulite monks continues. I don't doubt that Die Gesetzgebung
der Cauliten will inspire and facilitate new avenues of research concerning this
small but fascinating ordo.
Phillip C. Adamo
Minneapolis, Minnesota
3 March 2022
Thirty years ago, when I first began studying the Caulites - a relatively small, rel-
atively obscure monastic order with origins in Burgundy - two kinds of sources
were available to me. First were the charters, boxes and boxes of them, mostly
economic in nature, scattered over several archives across western Europe. Sec-
ond was the Caulite customary, a collection of rules and texts by which the order
regulated its affiliated communities.
To suggest that there was a single, unified document called "the Caulite custom-
ary" is misleading. The accidents of history have left us two manuscript witnesses
to the customary, one at the Bibliotheque nationale de France in Paris, and one at
the departmental archives in the charming town of Moulins-sur-Allier. To consult
either of these manuscripts meant in situ visits to that particular library or archive.
Having to visit libraries and archives is never a bad thing, but neither is ac-
cessibility. In 1900, Walter de Gray Birch - a prolific antiquarian in the British
Museum's Department of Manuscripts - provided scholars some accessibility to
the Caulite customary with his edition of Ordinale conventus Vallis Caulium: the
Rule of the monastic order of Val-des-Choux in Burgundy.
The Ordinale was handy when it first appeared, but the methods and needs of
scholars have evolved since 1900. Today, the Caulite customary cries out for a
new treatment.
To answer this call, Jörg Sonntag offers this new edition of the Caulite Statutes,
Die Gesetzgebung der Cauliten im 13. Jahrhundert. Students of monastic history
will be well served by his edition, which provides a rich historical context for the
beginnings of the Caulite order, thorough descriptions of the extant manuscripts,
a detailed critical apparatus indicating variations in the manuscripts and, best of
all, facing-page translations of the Latin text into German.
It would be easy to lament how much my own work on the Caulites would have
benefited from Sonntag's edition. Instead, let me close by saying how thrilled I am
that interest in the Caulite monks continues. I don't doubt that Die Gesetzgebung
der Cauliten will inspire and facilitate new avenues of research concerning this
small but fascinating ordo.
Phillip C. Adamo
Minneapolis, Minnesota
3 March 2022