La presenza dei monaci della Chaise-Dieu in Italia meridionale

The presence of the monks of the Chaise-Dieu in southern Italy After a quick summary on the dependencies of the Chaise-Dieu in Italy, the essay focuses on the most recent acquisitions in studies on the presence of the Chaise-Dieu monks in Southern Italy, in particular on the priory of S. Maria di Juso near Montepeloso in Basilicata. Here the presence of French monks, starting from about 1130, was commissioned by King Roger II, but was opposed by the inhabitants, who from the end of the twelfth century tried to restore an independent bishop's residence, whose functions had been absorbed by the monastic priory. The result of this contrasted relationship between monks and the local population was the destruction of the priory in the fifteenth century. In recent years, an excavation campaign has allowed to reconstruct at least the dimensions and a part of the decorations of the Casadeian church, while the remains of the other monastic buildings are still to be identified and investigated. Even the investigation of the papal documents of the thirteenth century preserved in the original form has allowed to better reconstruct the network of relationships that instead allowed the monks residing in the Lucan priory to maintain contacts both with the abbey of Chaise-Dieu, both with the papal court of Avignon.