A Study Of Monastic Retirement In Late Medieval England

In the late Middle Ages,England was in the midst of the Black Death and the Hundred Years’ War,which caused a massive population decline and depressed economic development,and the care of the vulnerable among the old and sick led the monasteries to give full play to their charitable relief role;on the other hand,under the Hundred Years’ War,the king was constantly levying taxes on the monasteries because of the excessive costs of war and the emptiness of the treasury,by which the king applied to the monasteries for On the other hand,under the Hundred Years’ War,the king’s coffers were empty and the king was constantly taxing the monasteries,so that he could apply to them for pensions for the servants who served him.On this basis,the monastic pension service and pension system evolved.The pension system developed from the corrody,which began as a special provision for the monastery and evolved into a system of pensions for four distinct classes of monks between the 12 th and 13 th centuries,purchased either for cash or for real estate,with the purchaser transferring a piece of real estate or a sum of money to the monastery concerned and gaining the privilege of enjoying it for Life.The purchase consisted of a cash purchase and a real estate purchase.It consists of an allowance in kind and an allowance in cash,in addition to a servant’s staff and the provision of horses.The monastery of corrody served different social classes: firstly,the servants in the service of the king,who applied to the monastery on his own initiative to retire his servants;secondly,the retirement of bishops within the monastery,who applied for retirement pensions in two cases,one being incompetent bishops who were forced to resign and the other being bishops who were given large pensions and applied to resign on their own initiative;thirdly,special arrangements for the elderly and infirm clergy elderly care and proper medical treatment.The monastic pension service,demonstrating its valuable character as a medieval charity,not only provided relief and services for the clergy within its monasteries,but also provided a means of relieving the needs of the sick and elderly associated with the royal service,which facilitated its social function;the accompanying sale of monastic pensions made the relief function utilitarian and ultimately counterproductive,resulting in the monasteries not being able to make ends meet,which is a fact that needs to be viewed in a dialectical and objective way.The content,service groups and impact of monastic pensions varied throughout the historical development of the monasteries,influenced by the context of the development of the times and a variety of factors,which need to be integrated and analysed in depth to promote further research into the content of monastic pensions.