Augustinian Friars or Hermits 77conversion or death as in the late eighth century by
CHARLEMAGNEin SAXONY. In some interpretations of this
Augustinian state, JEWS were tolerated and excluded
only from public office and the ownership of land.
Deviant Christians, pronounced heretical by the church,
were excluded from the political body and punished for
their ideas, viewed as promoting an infectious disease in
the body of Christendom. This was the basis for the
Crusader States in the 12th and 13th Centuries
centuries.
Most medieval theologians and thinkers did not
know all of the writings or ideas of Augustine. These
were studied by a very small number of scholars and not
widely available in a religious culture based on rare
manuscripts. Most were instead familiar with excerpts
from his writings and interpretations of his thought
by such writers or compilers as Saint ISIDOREof Seville.
This was particularly the case for most of Augustine’s
philosophical and theological works. The ideas of his
main political work, The City of God,were more widely
disseminated. Despite this, his ideas were pervasive in
medieval thought even if known only secondhand.
See also PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY; THEOLOGY,
SCHOOLS OF; REDEMPTION; VIRTUES AND VICES.
Further reading:Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo: A
Biography(London: Faber and Faber, 1967); John Cava-
dini, ed., Augustine through the Ages: An Encyclopedia
(Grand Rapids, Mich.: W. B. Eerdmans, 1999); F. Van der
Meer, Augustine the Bishop: Religion and Society at the
Dawn of the Middle Ages,trans. Brian Battershaw and G.
R. Lamb (New York: Harper & Row, 1961); Robert A.
Markus, Saeculum: History and Society in the Theology of
St. Augustine(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1970); Charles Trinkaus, The Poet as Philosopher: Petrarch
and the Formation of Renaissance Consciousness (New
Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1979); Gary Wills,
Augustine(New York: Viking, 1999).
Augustinian Canons (Black, Regular Canons)The
Augustinian or Austin Canons began in the 11th century
as part of a general reform movement of the clergy con-
cerned about SIMONY, nepotism, private property, clerical
marriage, and inheritance of BENEFICES. The order of
Austin Canons was founded as the first of the new orders
of regular canons, whose pastoral role was to administer
to the laity but who adopted the Rule of St. AUGUSTINE.
Ideally, these communities of canons were to lead a
full common or group life, in contrast to those clergy
who were later designated “secular” canons. The rule
prescribed the apostolic life in a collegiate organization
with common use of cloister, refectory, and dormitory
but allowed the continuation of controlling of private
property. Secular canons led a common life in collegiate
churches but did not live in communities sharing cloister,
refectory, and dormitory.
The Lateran Council of 1059, encouraged by Hilde-
brand, the future pope GREGORYVII, expected most of
the clergy to adhere to a regulated common life by living
under a rule. Over the next 50 years, such communities
of clerics grew and followed a stricter common life,
especially in northern ITA LYand FRANCE. The new regular
life was followed by several new orders of canons. The
PREMONSTRATENSIANShad their mother house at La Pré-
montré and were recognized by a white habit (the White
Canons) as opposed to the Austin Canons (Black
Canons). In numbers of religious estates, the largest
houses soon rivaled some of the older BENEDICTINE
monasteries, but most of these foundations were small
with slender endowments.
Further reading:J. C. Dickinson, The Origins of the
Austin Canons and Their Introduction into England(Lon-
don: S.P.C.K., 1950).Augustinian Friars or Hermits (Austin)These
comprised an order of hermits consolidated on April 9,
1256, by Pope Alexander IV (1254–61) out of three
orders of hermits that followed the AUGUSTINIAN RULE
in 13th-century Italy. The Hermits of Tuscany, insti-
tuted on an order by Pope INNOCENTIV in 1244, are
the only religious order founded by a pope. The other
two were the Hermits of Blessed John the Good and the
Hermits of Brettino. All were united into one order in- This order was based on charity, spirituality, and
the theological study of Saint Augustine’s particular
teaching on the primacy of GRACE. Founded to preach
and teach, as the FRANCISCANSand DOMINICANS, these
Augustinians devoted themselves with deep commit-
ment to the study of Scripture, the teachings of the
church, and the writings of Saint Augustine. The
English province had a house at the University of
OXFORDas early as 1266 and another at the University
of CAMBRIDGEby 1289.
Ruled by a prior-general, the order was eventually
formed into provinces. The original Italian hermits
claimed descent from Saint AUGUSTINE OFHIPPO, a claim
difficult or impossible to prove. Constitutions were
drawn up to regulate daily life and to encourage strongly
the friars in their dedicated intellectual pursuits. Accord-
ing to the evolving rule, the friars were to live in com-
mon, in poverty, and in the spirit of charity toward one
another. With such a call to the eremitic and scholarly
life, the regimen was severe. As mendicants they often
had to beg for their subsistence. Under the influence of
an English Augustinian, William of Flete, at the her-
mitage of Leccetto near SIENA, Saint CATHERINEof Siena,
a Dominican nun developed a mystical doctrine highly
influenced by Augustinian teachings.
From Italy the order expanded into England, east-
ward into Poland, and westward across Europe through
Germany, the Low Countries, and France and, by the