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The cost of financing the General Chapter
(3/4)
The cost of hosting the General Chapter was quite considerable,
and external support was granted to help Cîteaux
sustain its guests. In 1189 Richard I gifted the church of Scarborough
and its revenues, as well as fish,(1)
to help finance the entertainment of the visiting abbots; (2)
the grant of fish was fairly common and fishing rights were reserved
to Cîteaux in Lake Geneva from 22 July-14 September.
Measures were also taken to keep costs to a
minimum. It was agreed that abbots should not stay longer than
necessary,
and there were restrictions on how many companions they might bring,
although the precise details changed over the years, and were
not
always observed. From 1134 each abbot was to bring only one lay-brother,
although it was conceded that abbots from overseas might have
two
horses with a boy or familiar;
in the thirteenth century each abbot could bring two horses and
two servants, and abbots from further afield, such as England,
were allowed an extra travelling companion. This extension seems
to have
imposed too great a burden on Cîteaux and by the fourteenth
century the ruling of one horse and one companion had been reinstated.
From the thirteenth century visiting grooms were not admitted within
the abbey precinct but stayed in Dijon, although this arrangement
was probably as much to maintain decorum as limit expenses, for
the grooms were notorious for their squabbles and unruly behaviour.
While the General Chapter was in session, Cîteaux was stretched
to its capacity and any other guests who arrived at this time
were
refused entry. (3)
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