Between the Cathedral Chapter and the Hôtel-Dieu of Paris: The Issues of the Conflict in the Late Middle Ages
Jéhanno, Christine
Between the Cathedral Chapter and the Hôtel-Dieu of Paris: The Issues of the Conflict in the Late Middle Ages - 2011.
85
On July 11, 1497, Jean Le Fèvre, master of the Hotel-Dieu of Paris, was sent to jail by the canons of Notre Dame, a decision that introduced an acute conflict between these two parties in the context of the reform which the chapter sought to impose on the monastic community that was in charge of the hospital. Compared with other cases of detention, which were rare–although they became more numerous by the end of the fifteenth century–this measure was exceptional, all the more because it touched the highest official of the institution. It was officially motivated by the poor keeping of his accounts which, according to the canons, raised suspicion concerning the concealing frauds regarded as proofs of impropriety, a major indication of the "deformed monk," pursued by the reforming canons. The imprisonment of the master provoked anger among his fellow monks which lasted after his release by authority of the Parliament, since he nonetheless remained dismissed. The chapter’s hostility towards him was not due to his personal behavior, since the archives contain no mention of misbehavior for the forty-five years he served the Hôtel-Dieu. It is better explained by the conditions involved in his election as master: he was elected in 1482 by a huge majority of monks and nuns according to the system of voting elaborated and defined more precisely throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that accorded greater weight to the hospital community at the expense of the chapter’s initiative. The latter was the sole means of appointment in the statutes drafted at the beginning of the thirteenth century. He had thus become less the chapter’s representative than the appointee of the hospital. Thanks to this support, he finally came to embody his colleagues’ resistance against the reform measures, so much so that the canons were forced to reinstate him.
Between the Cathedral Chapter and the Hôtel-Dieu of Paris: The Issues of the Conflict in the Late Middle Ages - 2011.
85
On July 11, 1497, Jean Le Fèvre, master of the Hotel-Dieu of Paris, was sent to jail by the canons of Notre Dame, a decision that introduced an acute conflict between these two parties in the context of the reform which the chapter sought to impose on the monastic community that was in charge of the hospital. Compared with other cases of detention, which were rare–although they became more numerous by the end of the fifteenth century–this measure was exceptional, all the more because it touched the highest official of the institution. It was officially motivated by the poor keeping of his accounts which, according to the canons, raised suspicion concerning the concealing frauds regarded as proofs of impropriety, a major indication of the "deformed monk," pursued by the reforming canons. The imprisonment of the master provoked anger among his fellow monks which lasted after his release by authority of the Parliament, since he nonetheless remained dismissed. The chapter’s hostility towards him was not due to his personal behavior, since the archives contain no mention of misbehavior for the forty-five years he served the Hôtel-Dieu. It is better explained by the conditions involved in his election as master: he was elected in 1482 by a huge majority of monks and nuns according to the system of voting elaborated and defined more precisely throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that accorded greater weight to the hospital community at the expense of the chapter’s initiative. The latter was the sole means of appointment in the statutes drafted at the beginning of the thirteenth century. He had thus become less the chapter’s representative than the appointee of the hospital. Thanks to this support, he finally came to embody his colleagues’ resistance against the reform measures, so much so that the canons were forced to reinstate him.
Réseaux sociaux