The late writing of Minutes Books in the monasteries of the Cistercian Congregation of Castile’s (1659-1835)

Abstract

The well-known Cistercian chronicler, Fr. Bernardo Cardillo Villalpando (1570-1637), visited many houses of the Order, but none of his works were published. As a result, most have been lost. Among the few surviving ones are recently identified works dedicated to Santa María de Monfe-ro (A Coruña). These include two memoriales of the abbey's royal and papal documents, prepared in 1616 and placed at the end of the so-called Tumbo Viejo now held by the Archivo Municipal de A Coruña. The recovery, edition, and study of these collections have two aims. They cast light on the state of the monastic archive at the start of the seventeenth century and its evolution, and they allow an assessment of the style, method, and products of this antiquarian's work. By comparing Fr. Bernar-do's material with the evidence we can obtain, four centuries later, from surviving documents he cites, we see that the author was well-prepared to study this documentary heritage, and that he carried out his investigations with rigor.