A Conflict between Asceticism an Wealth: Law and Economics of the Cistercians in the Middle Ages

Bernhard Nagel
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Bernhard Nagel: University of Kassel, Berufsbildungs-, Sozial- und Rechtwissenschaften, Kassel, Germany

Homo Oeconomicus, 2001, vol. 17, 441-461

Abstract: The Cistercians try to reform the practice of the Benedictines. They want to lead an ascetic life and live from the work of their own hands. In order to follow this rule and to run their cloisters they have to sell the surplus of their production. They develop their own town courts - monastic trading stations - and build up their own channels of distibution successfully. They profit from duty exemptions and from other competitive advantages like the vertical integration and the reputation of the order. Their religious rule and moral norm "individual work" changes into an economic norm of efficiency. Conflicts between the norms "poverty, chastity and obedience" and "living from the work of their own hands" develop. The order becomes wealthy. The ascetic principles erode. The Cistercians give an impetus to the overcoming of the medieval "waste economy" by developing efficient agricultural production and marketing of the achieved surplus.

Date: 2001
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