A Brief Introduction to
The History of the Mendicant Orders in the Medieval Provinces of Dacia
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hree mendicant orders were present
in medieval Scandinavia. The first Friars
Preachers (Dominicans) arrived in
1220, the first Friars Minor (Franciscans)
followed in 1232, and finally the Carmelites
joined in from 1410; attempts of the Augustinian
Hermits to settle in Scandinavia in the 14th century never
succeeded. In total, 96 mendicant convents were established in the three
Scandinavian kingdoms, which for all three orders were chosen to constitute a
regional province within the orders. And in all three cases, this northernmost
province was named Dacia (on the
background of the name, see Jakobsen 2012). The Dominican province of Dacia saw
the foundation of 35 convents (31 male and 4 female); the Franciscan province
of Dacia counted 52 convents (48 male and 4 female); and the Carmelite province
of Dacia came to consist of 9 convents (all male). Their history in medieval
Scandinavia ended with the Protestant Reformation in the 1520-30s, which led to the dissolution of all mendicant
convents.
Map of mendicant
convents in the provinces of Dacia. For names on the convents in Denmark, see
special Danish map further down this page. © Centre for Mendicant
Studies of Dacia.
The Dominicans (Friars Preachers,
Blackfriars)
Only six years after its formation, the
Dominican Order had its first Scandinavian convent established in Lund in 1222.
Within the next fifty years, Dominican convents were founded in basically every
urban centre in Scandinavia of ecclesiastical importance: Ribe
(1228), Roskilde (1231-34), Sigtuna and Skänninge (1237), Schleswig and Skara
(1239), Nidaros, Oslo and Visby (1230-40), Västerås (1244), Viborg, Århus and Bergen (before 1246-47), Turku (1249), Haderslev (1251), Odense (before 1252), Åhus
(before 1254) and Strängnäs (1268); the only missing
church centres were Børglum (which had no town),
Copenhagen, Växjö, Uppsala (accessible from Sigtuna) and Stavanger, along with Hamar
(where a convent was eventually founded before 1511). The main initiators
behind these foundations were the bishops. A handful of centres of royal
importance were added to the list with Kalmar and Lödöse
(1243), Helsingborg (1275) and Stockholm (around 1340), along with a
short-lived convent (1253-1261) in Vordingborg, the centre of Danish crusades into the Baltic
Sea region, which Dominican friars promoted through preaching and the
collection of vows, payments and redemptions. In addition to these, a series of
Dominican convents were established in Danish market towns of regional
importance – Halmstad (1250-60s),
Næstved (1260s), Holbæk (1275) and Vejle (1325) –
where the prime initiative was taken by local magnates and town councils, the
latter to secure continued urban status and privileges. Also, in 1441 a
Dominican convent was founded as one of three mendicant houses in a grand-scale
royal project to promote Helsingør as the new urban
centre of the Kalmar Union. Within the Nordic-governed provinces outside Scandinavia
proper, convents of Friars Preachers were established in Tallinn, Estonia
(1229/46), and Vyborg, Karelia (1392). A final convent was founded in the
episcopal see of Hamar, Norway (before 1511). In
addition to the male convents, four Dominican nunneries were founded in
Roskilde (1263), Skänninge (1281), Kalmar
(1299) and on Gavnø (1403).
Especially in the 13th century, leading
friars of the Dominican Order held high esteem in Denmark as experts on
theology and foreign diplomacy. The friary schools were to some extent open to
outside students, especially parish clergy and young people aimed for an
ecclesiastical career. The outward pastoral orientation of the mendicant orders
meant that their friary churches were located in urban centres or by city gates
to become as visible and easy-accessible as possible for lay visitors, who
would come to the churches to hear sermons, attend masses and give confession.
Although based in urban locations only, the Friars Preachers – in Scandinavian
also known as Sortebrødre or Svartbröder (‘Blackfriars’)
– were also very much present in the surrounding countryside, where all rural
parish churches were likely to see a Dominican ‘guest preacher’ twice a year.
In return, the friars performing these biannual rural campaigns, termed terminario,
brought home alms of money, food and other material goods to the convent. As
mendicant friars, the Dominicans were not formally allowed to own any
rent-giving property outside their own friaries, but virtually all Danish
convents held some urban houses and meadows to support their livelihood. The
convents in Vejle and Odense were unusually rich on
such outside property, the former almost owning half of the urban houses,
meadows and cabbage gardens in Vejle. This relaxation
was encountered by an internal Observant reform within the order in the late 15th
century, as part of which the convents in Tallinn, Turku, Vyborg, Schleswig, Haderslev, Ribe and Vejle joined the reformed Dutch Congregation.
The Franciscans (Friars Minor, Greyfriars)
In terms of number of convents, the
Franciscans became the largest monastic order in medieval Scandinavia, with a
total of fifty-two houses by the time of the Reformation. Most of them were
founded in the 13th century: Ribe (1232),
Visby (1233), Schleswig (1234), Söderköping and Viborg (1235), Randers and Svendborg
(1236), Roskilde (1237), Copenhagen and Tønder
(1238), Krokek and Lund (1238-39), Kalundborg (c.1240), Næstved (c.1242/1270), Uppsala
(1247), Bergen, Enköping and Ålborg
(c.1250), Tønsberg (c.1260), Horsens (1261), Flensburg (1263), Trelleborg (1267), Ystad (1267), Kungahälla and Stockholm (c.1270),
Odense (1279), Nyköping (1280), Arboga
(1285), Nysted (1286), Linköping (1287), Kolding
(1288), Oslo (c.1290) and Marstrand
(before 1291). While some of them had bishops and canons secular as their main
initiators, far the bulk were founded by noble magnates; especially Countess Ingerd von Regenstein stands out with no less than five
foundations! An additional series of new houses came in the 15th
century: Vyborg (before 1403), Nykøbing (1419), Malmö
(1419), Helsingør (1420), Nidaros
(c.1430), Rauma (c.1440), Kökar (c.1460), Nya Lödöse
(1481), Køge (1484), Växjö
(1485), Torkö (c.1489) and Husum (1494); most of these late medieval houses were
established on royal (or ducal) initiative. Moreover, four female Franciscan or
‘Clarissan’ convents were founded in Scandinavia:
Roskilde (1256), Stockholm (1289), Copenhagen (1497) and Odense (1522) – the
latter as the last monastic foundation in medieval Scandinavia.
Due to their higher number of convents,
the Friars Minor or Gråbrødre
(‘Greyfriars’), as they were also known in
Scandinavian vernacular, were more commonly based in the smaller towns than
were the Dominicans, but it is otherwise quite difficult to identify any
systematic differences in their activities in Denmark. The convents of both
orders were highly focused on the rural terminario-campaigns with a combination of preaching and
collection of alms, and in spite of scholarly attempts to claim particular
connections to certain groups in society (including a claim for a female
preference for the Franciscans), actual analyses of recorded donations show
almost identical patterns between them. In both cases, the main donors were
found among the higher clergy and the nobility, whereas the often-claimed
dependence on urban bourgeoisie is hard to see for any of them.
Just like the Dominicans, the Franciscan
convents in Scandinavia were organized in a semi-autonomous province by the
name of Dacia. After the de facto formation
of the Kalmar Union in 1389, national tensions began to emerge between the
Danish convents and the Swedish-Norwegian convents, as the latter – probably
rightfully – complained that the Danes controlled the province unfairly. When
the Franciscan Observance began to spread in the second half of the 15th
century, almost all the Danish convents were eventually reformed, while the
Swedish and Norwegian house remained conventual – and
thereby freed themselves somewhat from the Danish influence. Four of the Franciscan convents in Denmark
were even established as Observant houses: the two male ones in Køge and Husum, and the two
female ones in Copenhagen and Odense. Unlike the conventual
Clares in Roskilde and Stockholm, who owned extensive
estates, the Poor Clares in Copenhagen and Odense
were not allowed this way of income, and the two Observant nunneries soon
experienced grave financial difficulties – especially as the Reformation began
to kick in.
As the third and final mendicant order
represented in medieval Scandinavia, the ‘Whitefriars’
of the Carmelite Order were introduced to the region in the early 15th
century. This seems to have happened on the initiative of King Erik VII ‘the
Pomeranian’ of Denmark-Norway-Sweden (r.1396-1439),
who chose some rather remote coastal locations for the first Carmelite
convents, where he had plans for future urban sea ports: Landskrona
(1410), Skælskør (1418-23) and Helsingør
(1430). Especially for the latter, the urban project did in fact develop into
an actual city, as the only Scandinavian city with all three mendicant orders
represented. Eventually followed more Carmelite convent
foundations in Örebro (1445-48), Sæby
(1469), Varberg (c.1470), Århus (c.1480), Sölvesborg (c.1485) and Assens (c.1500). Only the
one in Århus was founded in what was already a city
at the arrival of the friars. All eight Carmelite convents in Denmark were
male, and they all had churches dedicated to the patron saint of the order: the
Holy Virgin Mary. In 1462, it was decided to segregate the then four
Scandinavian convents – three Danish and one Swedish – into a province of their
own called Dacia. Even though the convent in Landskrona
formally maintained a superior rank due to its seniority, the convent in Helsingør appears to have been the actual power centre of
the province. Unlike the two major mendicant orders, the Carmelites in Denmark
do not appear to have been involved with rural terminario; several of the friaries
administered hospitals for people outside the order; and Carmelite theologians
played a significant role at the University of Copenhagen founded in 1479.
Map of mendicant convents in medieval Denmark. ©
Centre for Mendicant Studies of Dacia.
Main literature
There is still no overall work on mendicant history in medieval
Scandinavia. In recent years, Jakobsen (2015) has published on mendicant terminario in
Scandinavia; Hill (1998) on mendicant relations to Danish royalty; Larsen
(2018) on mendicant friary architecture in Denmark; and Berntson
(2003) on the dissolution of mendicant convents in Sweden during the
Reformation; while Ullern (1997) has performed a very
qualified master’s thesis on mendicant relations to the urban societies in
medieval Norway. More studies have been made on the individual orders.
The
main work on Dominican history in
the entire province of Dacia is Gallén (1946), while
overall national studies have been made by Jakobsen (2008) for Denmark; Hommedal (1993) for Norway; Kilström
(1976) for Sweden (with Finland); and Walther-Wittenheim
(1938) and Kala (2013) for Estonia. For studies on particular themes for the
entire province one may point out Halvorsen (2002) on
the early years of the province; Schütz (2014) and Borgehammar (2018) on Dominican sermons; Gallén (1940) on Dominican annalistic writing; and Jakobsen
on Dominican convent foundations (2011 and 2014a) and
friary locations (2019a), along with the friars’
involvement with a variety of themes such as mission (2018), crusades (2021a), veneration of saints (2019b),
confraternities (2014b), poverty (2016), science (2021b), urban literacy (2021c)
and the Lutheran Reformation (2019c).
The
main work on Franciscan history in
the province of Dacia is Rasmussen (2002), while overall national studies have
been made by Lindbæk (1914) for Denmark; Gunnes (1982) and Digernes (2010)
for Norway; and Roelvink (1998) for Sweden. For
studies on particular themes for the entire province one may point out Strömberg (1944) on Franciscan sermons; Almquist
(1992) on Franciscan architecture; Blomquist (1982)
on the provincial studium generale in
Lund; Gallén (1993) on the order’s expansion policy
in the Baltic Sea region; and Rasmussen on Franciscan relations to the urban
Scandinavian society (1992), the royal family around 1500 (2001), and the
Franciscan chronicler Fr. Petrus Olai
(1976).
A
basic work on Carmelite history in
Denmark/Scandinavia still awaits to be written.
Introductions in overview articles are provided by Mesters
(1956), Dahlerup (1963) and Jørgensen (1979, 1986 and
1997). For studies on particular themes for the entire Carmelite province one
may point out Lorenzen (1924), Bencard
(1957) and Flensborg (1999) on the architectural
history of the friaries and their wall paintings; while the main monography on a particular Carmelite convent is Gregersen (1982) on the one in Sæby.
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Centre for Mendicant Studies of Dacia
Postal address: Emil Holms Kanal 2, 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark. Email: jggj@hum.ku.dk