Accounts rendering at the Cistercian Order in Castile: the “book of statements” of the Monastery of Oseira

Abstract

The rendering of accounts by monasteries of different religious orders constitutes one of the most relevant features of monastic accounting. The analysis of accounting systems developed by these institutions throughout their history shows a clear relationship between the informative demands they had and the objective to control a superior organ had. In this paper we will analyse the reach and evolution of the regulation related to the supervision and control of accounts in the Cistercian Order in Castile throughout the chronological period which marks the end of the Old Regime. Therefore, on the one hand we have examined historical documents which have and apply this regulation: the Definiciones Cistercienses de la Sagrada Congregación de San Bernardo y Observancia de Castilla, and on the other a documented series which corresponds to the Book of Statements (Libro de Estados) of one of its institutions, the Monastery of Santa Maria de Oseira, 1614-1832. The analysis of this regulation shows the existence of a regulating frame for account statements based on figures connected to book keeping: internal accounting control and external revision and verification of accounts. Thus demonstrating how important this monastic order considered the development of the instruments of control that allowed it to evaluate the administration of its monastic heritage. The study of the accounting series where this body of rules is developed and interpreted, shows a constant evolution of these rules throughout time. It shows a constant evolution of these oriented toward increasing, clarifying and homogenising information contained in the Book of Statements, constituting an interesting process of normalisation of accounts tied to the unifying and controlling function performed by the superior governmental organ of this Order.