Search

Comments about succession to the Iona abbacy rarely go beyond the observation that most of the early abbots – but not all – belonged to the Cenél Conaill, the kindred of Iona's founder, Saint Columba. This point privileges the role of eligibility criteria in the succession process at the expense of agency. This paper concerns itself with the specific mechanism that mediated the Iona abbacy: the central question is not 'who' could succeed, but rather 'how' they succeeded. It will be suggested that abbatial authority was passed from one abbot to the next via designations, whereby the reigning abbot appointed his own successor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article looks how eighteenth century rulers shift back and forth between ecclesiastical and worldly leadership to obtain their goals. The setting is the small ecclesiastical and abbatial Principality of Stavelot-Malmédy during the election of its prince-abbot in 1787. This principality became increasingly entangled in the geopolitical-ecclesiastical rivalries between the Austrian Netherlands and the Prince-bishopric of Liège. Although this election has been studied before, little attention was given to the way leadership was influenced and how it reacted to these ecclesiastic and economic constraints. The archival sources can be found in the Archives générales du Royaume in Brussels (Conseil des Finances), Archives de l'état à Liège (États du Pays de Liège et du Comté de Looz, Abbaye de Stavelot-Malmédy, Principauté de Stavelot-Malmédy) and the Österreichisches Staatsarchiv in Vienna (Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]