It has to be taken into account the situation of crisis that the Castile kingdom was in due to the isalmic conquerors and the friction in the marriage of king Alfonso VI, that caused internal political tension.
The historical context provoked a drastic reduction in the number of donations and acquisitions to San Millán. Also the interest for the monastery had reduced in an area that each time was more limited. The emilianense community were obliged to adopt defensive measures designed to reorganise the estate. Two of the more immediate measures were: the conservation of their possessions and the acquisition of wealths behind formulas, such as the thirds and tithes.
The economice splendour lived in the previous centuries until the first quarter of the 13th century, in which the monks lived a period of optimism. Until the year 1226 San Millán had increased it´s patronage and the monks organised the state to obtain it´s highest return. The economic crisis produced internal tension within the monastery itself. The abbot was the centre of spiritual direction and administration, but the situation of extreme poverty progressively brought about the situation of the abbot being an administrator. As it can be seen, the religous institutions did not escape certain cases of corruption and they were frequently the abuse of things such disputes or looting committed by the abbot himself with the wealth of the covenent. Successors, that for the other part, created a climate of insecurity in the monastery. On top of the internal crisis, were the disappearances of donations and goods and the restriction of buying goods. The economic crisis in the 13th century produced internal tensions within the monastery itself and disputes between the abbot and the other monks ended with the administration of the covenent being dealt with separately The number of disputes rose between the monastery and the neighbours who refused to pay "the vows of San Millán": it appeared that everyone was against them.
From the 3rd decade of the 13th century the monastery at San Millán adopted a clear political defence of it´s inheritance. They had to take measures to save in anyway they could, such as using animal skins for their clothes. The graveness of the crisis was so great that they had to find protection from the Holy Sede in Rome and from the monarchy. The emilianense monks wrote " fraternity letters" to the monasteries that were near by or the to those with whom they had a closer relationship, such as Silos for example. These monasteries responded by helping in their own way and taking in members who had abandoned their convent. The situation in which the monks of San Millán lived is very similar to that suffered by other religous Spanish institutions. The convent also fell back on it´s own archives and it´s enormous library (element of prestige), to dust of the antique parchments, organise them and to compile cartularies. San Millán was endowed with an extraordinary library stuffed texts principally orientated to the spiritual and moral formation of the monks, but the factor of greatest importance was the writing bureau, that functioned in the second quarter of the 10th century. In the forms, according to the investigators, Claudio and Javier Garcia Turza; "San Millán was endowed with the human means and sufficient materials to attend the parishoners in the valley and the multitude of pilgrims who provisionally left the route to Santiago and went into the river Cárdenas, still drawn by the fame of the holy hermit. On the 11th of April 1347 some men from the riojan valley held a manfestation to claim their necessary subsistence in front of the attitude of the entity of the domain: the monastery of San Millán itself. It was no more and no less than that people plainly protesting against the emilianense dominium. The difficulties that were brought about during the 13th and 14th centuries to the monastery were no more than a true reflection of the sudden changes in the Castile kingdom in the same period. The community saw itself obliged - has had done other monasteries - to find an armed and powerful defender that could protect them: Lord Lopez Diaz of Haro. It was too late, the attacks came from everywhere; the nobles from one side and the men from the abbatial from the other. |
