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For Prosperity or Penury: A Comparison of Large and Small English Augustinian Houses and Their Lay Patrons in Late-Medieval England
- The Catholic Historical Review
- The Catholic University of America Press
- Volume 98, Number 1, January 2012
- pp. 1-17
- 10.1353/cat.2012.0034
- Article
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The status, feudal ties, and generosity of the founder and hereditary patrons of a religious house played a role in the monastery’s prosperity. The author argues that although smaller Augustinian priories may have been less expensive to establish and maintain than larger ones of their monastic brethren, it was not always the case that the patrons of smaller priories were of lower social status and/or that they were less active in these priories. As is seen with the Augustinian monasteries in the Diocese of Worcester, the patrons of smaller monasteries frequently were of high social position and played an active role in the monasteries under their patronage.