APPENDIX B - Reforms Instituted At S. Michele In The Year 1478 (See
P. 105)
The palmiest days of the sanctuary were during the time that
Rodolfo di Montebello or Mombello was abbot - that is to say,
roughly, between the years 1325-60.
"His rectorate," says
Claretta, "was the golden age of the Abbey of La Chiusa, which
reaped the glory acquired by its head in the difficult negotiations
entrusted to him by his princes. But after his death, either lot
or intrigue caused the election to fall upon those who prepared the
ruin of one of the most ancient and illustrious monasteries in
Piedmont." {34}
By the last quarter of the fifteenth century things got so bad that
a commission of inquiry was held under one Giovanni di Varax in the
year 1478. The following extracts from the ordinances then made
may not be unwelcome to the reader. The document from which they
are taken is to be found, pp. 322-336 of Claretta's work. The text
is evidently in many places corrupt or misprinted, and there are
several words which I have looked for in vain in all the
dictionaries - Latin, Italian, and French - in the reading-room of
the British Museum which seemed in the least likely to contain
them. I should say that for this translation, I have availed
myself, in part, of the assistance of a well-known mediaeval
scholar, the Rev. Ponsonby A. Lyons, but he is in no way
responsible for the translation as a whole.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 256 of 279
Words from 68626 to 68877
of 75076
