Last update: 2013.01.19

The medieval monastic convent did not only consist of the brethren or sisters living there. In one sense, also its deceased members remained an important part of the community with their memory being kept alive for future generations by readings of their names in the monastery church on the anniversary of their death days, combined with a common prayer from their live brethren and sisters for the benefit of their souls. In order to keep track of whom to pray for on each day, monastic communities kept ‘necrologies’, calendars with entries of names on deceased members of the community attributed to the particular day of their death; only rarely was the year of their death also included, as this was less important for the memorial function.

Such necrologies were undoubtedly kept at every Dominican convent in the province of Dacia, but only one of them is partly preserved, as fragments of the necrology for the Friars Preachers in Ribe. The parchment on which the necrology was written found a new use around 1600, long after the dissolution of the convent, as binding for the register books of the town hall in Ribe, for which purpose two of the necrology pages were cut into shape. The extant fragments from this book binding cover 104 days or less than a third of the entire necrology, from within the period 1 May to 12 October.

Although the fragments do not include any title of the list, it is evidently a necrology for the Dominican convent in Ribe. It includes the names of 83 deceased friars covering the entire lifetime of the convent, starting with Fr. Bero, “the first priest, who constructed the house” and Fr. Rano, “the first prior provincial”, to Fr. Johannes Conradi and Fr. Petrus Johannis, who both died in 1528. The necrology is obviously a transcript, apparently made by one hand (below marked as black text) around the 1440s (latest dated entries by this hand are from 1441), with later additions by other hands (marked as brown text) (Kinch 1853-56, 493). However, as the later hands also have added the abovementioned ‘constructor’ of the convent, Fr. Bero, it is not possible even to date the deceased ‘before or after 1450’ from the hands alone. Only in eight cases does the necrology itself provide the death years (from 1309-1528).

The extant parts of the necrology have 85 entries of 83 deceased individuals and two general anniversaries – one for the benefactors of the Order and one for all the friars of the Order. At least 77 of the individuals seem to have been friars at the convent in Ribe. To judge from this, the entire necrology would have contained the names of about 270 deceased conventual friars. If each friar on average had an active career of 20-25 years, this would mean that for the entire 300 years-lifetime of the convent in Ribe, from its foundation in 1228 to its dissolution in 1531, it was manned with an average of 18-22 friars.

The extant fragments of the necrology for the convent of Friars Preachers in Ribe are preserved at The Provincial Archives of Northern Jutland (Landsarkivet for Nørrejylland) in Viborg. It has previously been published with comments by J. Kinch as ‘Nogle Brudstykker af et Nekrologium fra Dominikaner-Klosteret i Ribe’ in Kirkehistoriske Samlinger 1. ser. vol. II (Copenhagen 1853-56), 492-500.

The colour of the text indicates if it was made by the main scribe, from c. 1440s (black), or by one of the later hands (brown).

		MARCIUS
1 March		Kalendas	Obiit frater Nicolaus Friis sacerdos
2 March		VI Non.	Obiit frater Nicolaus Magni fidelis terminarius
3 March		V Non.	Obiit frater Matheus lector Ripensis Et frater E…..
4 March		IIII Non.	Obiit frater Bartholomæus Arusiensis
5 March		III Non.
6 March		II Non.	Obiit frater Nicolaus Esgeri lect…..
7 March		Nonis
8 March		VIII Idus
9 March		VII Idus
10 March		VI Idus
11 March		V Idus
12 March		IIII Idus
		(…)
		APRILIS
1 April			…..[Mar]rtinus sacerdos et frater Pharao accolitus
2 April
3 April
4 April			…..os qui multum laboravit pro conventu anno Domini MCCCIX
5 April
6 April
7 April			…..skilli quodam prior Ripensis
8 April
9 April			…..novicius Obiit frater Martinus sacerdos
10 April			…..obiit frater Nicolaus Thome terminarius sacerdos
11 April
12 April			…..sacerdos Obiit frater Johannes Petri lector Ripensis
(…)
		[MAI]
13 May		III Idus	Obiit frater Bero sacer(dos?) primus huius domus constructor
14 May		II Idus	Obiit frater Laurentius Conradi lector…..
15 May		Idibus	Obiit frater Laurentius Jacobi sacerdos
16 May		XVII Kal.	Obiit frater Johannes acolitus
17 May		XVI Kal.
18 May		XV Kal.
19 May		XIIII Kal.
20 May		XIII Kal.
21 May		XII Kal.
22 May		XI Kal.
23 May		X Kal.	Obiit frater Thucho
24 May		IX Kal.
25 May		VIII Kal.
26 May		VII Kal.	Obiit frater Johannes Conradi 1528
	(…)
	[JUNI]
13 June
14 June
15 June
16 June			…..(donatus?)
17 June
18 June			…..nes Petri speciat amicus
19 June			…..Andreas Johannis sacerdos Obiit frater Petrus Johannis 1528
20 June
21 June
22 June			…..Cristernus Ebbonis sacerdos
23 June			…..Petrus Henrici sacerdos Obiit frater Laurentius Brwn lector
24 June
25 June
26 June			…..Cristiernus Johannis cognomento ‘Balni’
	(…)
	[JULI]
13 July	III Idus		Obiit frater …..
14 July	II Idus		Anno Domini 1518 obiit frater Laurentius sartor conversus fidelis dispensator
15 July	Idibus		Obiit frater Nicolaus Bund sacerdos Frater (Petrus Gotzen …?)
16 July	XVII Kal.		Obiit frater Rano primus p….. (ord?)…..
17 July	XVI Kal.		Obiit frater Vincentius juvenis
18 July	XV Kal.		Obiit frater Nicolaus Henrici
19 July	XIIII Kal.		Obiit frater Jacobus sacerdos Obiit frater Petrus Magni juvenis
20 July	XIII Kal.		Obiit frater Jonas (Nic..?) conversus Obiit frater Petrus Erici sacerdos Calmarnnensis
21 July	XII Kal.
22 July	XI Kal.
23 July	X Kal.		Obiit frater Mathias Johannis juvenis
24 July	IX Kal.
25 July	VIII Kal.		Obiit frater Sivardus
26 July	VII Kal.		Obiit frater Clemens accolitus
	(…)
	AUGUST
13 August	Idibus		Obiit frater …..
14 August	XIX Kal.		Obiit frater Albertus Petri juvenis
15 August	XVIII Kal.
16 August	XVII Kal.		Obiit frater Nicolaus Inglon sacerdos
17 August	XVI Kal.
18 August	XV Kal.		Obiit frater Andreas Jacobi novicius
19 August	XIIII Kal.		Obiit frater Nicholaus Johannis juvenis Item frater Jachobus Skædh sacerdos
20 August	XIII Kal.
21 August	XII Kal.
22 August	XI Kal.		Obiit frater Henricus Laly sacerdos
23 August	X Kal.		Obiit frater Johannes Henrici sacerdos
24 August	IX Kal.		Obiit frater Gregorius subdyaconus
25 August	VIII Kal.		Obiit frater Johannes Lub sacerdos
26 August	VII Kal.		Obiit frater Petrus Johannis prior Ripensis MCDXLI
	(…)
	SEPTEMBER
1 September	Kalendas		Obiit frater Henningus sacerdos Item obiit frater Petrus Otthonis juvenis
2 September	IIII Non.		Obiit frater Lanxingus conversus
3 September	III Non.		Obiit frater Johannes Andree sacerdos Et frater Johannes Cristerni novicius
4 September	II Non.		Obiit frater Petrus Amandus sacerdos
5 September	Nonis		Anniversarium familiarium benefactor. ordinis nostri
6 September	VIII Idus		Obiit frater Ascerus Murri sacerdos Item obiit frater Andreas Cristierni dyaconus
7 September	VII Idus		Obiit frater Godefridus conversus
8 September	VI Idus		Obiit frater Johannes Tuonis lector Ripensis
9 September	V Idus		Obiit frater Job sacerdos Item obiit frater Laurentius Severini subdyaconus
10 September	IIII Idus		Obiit frater Petrus novicius
11 September	III Idus		Obiit frater Johannes Ferken sacerdos
12 September	II Idus		Obiit frater Ovidius Michaelis prior Ripensis MCDXLI Item frater Cristernus sacerdos 1489
	(…)
	OCTOBER
1 October	Kalendas		Obiit frater Thomas conversus
2 October	VI Non.		Obiit frater Andreas sartor conversus
3 October	V Non.		Obiit Evert Kremer maritus Lyzabeth Henrich Frater Johannes Pauli
4 October	IIII Non.		Obiit frater Georgius professus Frater Johannes Pauli
5 October	III Non.		Obiit frater Jacobus lector Ottonensis. Et frater …..
6 October	II Non.		Obiit frater Severinus Johannis professus qui fuit submersus (inter Ripas et Hellwad?)
7 October	Nonis		Obiit frater Cristiernus Petri juvenis anno 1522
8 October	VIII Idus
9 October	VII Idus
10 October	VI Idus		Anniversarium omnium fratrum ordinis nostri. Obiit frater Dominicus cocus conversus
11 October	V Idus		Obiit frater Petrus subdyaconus
12 October	IIII Idus		Obiit frater Offo Lundensis

Fragment for the period 1-12 September of the necrology for the convent of Friars Preachers in Ribe.

Centre for Dominican Studies of Dacia

Johnny G.G. Jakobsen, Department of Scandinavian Research, University of Copenhagen

Postal address: Njalsgade 136, DK-2300 Copenhagen, Denmark ● Email: jggj@hum.ku.dk