The transfer of accounting technologies within a religious order: the case of the Monastery of Silos (Spain) in the nineteenth century

ABSTRACT

After a long period of abandonment due to the confiscation of its ecclesiastical properties in 1835, life at the Monastery of Silos recommenced in 1880, with the arrival of a group of Benedictine monks from France. This study focuses on the accounting system that the French monks brought with them to illustrate how accounting technology was transferred between two monasteries of the same religious order located in two different countries. The archives of the Monastery of Silos shed light on the differences between the accounting practices implemented at the end of the nineteenth century compared with those that had existed up until 1835. Our findings suggest that the French monks acted as agents for the transfer of technology by importing the accounting practices used at the Monastery of Ligugé (France) to the Monastery of Silos (Spain). The accounting approach used in Ligugé was notably less sophisticated than the one used for centuries at Silos. However, these new accounting practices fitted well with the needs of the Monastery of Silos at a time of scant economic resources, primarily focused on the reconstruction of the monastery’s buildings, activity which extended from the end of 1880 up until January 1883.

KEYWORDS:

• Monastic accounting
• accounting technology transfer
• changes to accounting practices
• accounting history
• ecclesiastical confiscations

JEL Code::

• M41

Aknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the comments and suggestions gratefully received over the course of writing the paper from the anonymous reviewers, all of whom have undoubtedly contributed to its enrichment. Our thanks go especially to Nieves Carrera, as well as to Antony Price for the translation of the original article in Spanish.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The Monastery of Silos, the history of which will be outlined later on, is still to our days a place of attraction because of the beauty of its architecture, in which the Romanic cloisters, quite unique in the world, occupy centre stage.

2. (i) Book I: 38 chapters dedicated to the Governance of the Congregation; (ii) Book II: 37 chapters dedicated to the Governance of the Monasteries and to the presentation of the regulations on bookkeeping; and (iii) an Annexe: a report format in which the financial statements were standardised in complete detail and regularly presented to the General Chapter by all monasteries of the Congregation.

3. The following accounts books are analysed: (i) Journal of Repair Work (1880–1883); (ii) Journals (1880–1890; 1890–1908) and (iii) Accounts Books of Ordinary Expenditure and Repair Work (1880–1890; 1890–1908). The Book of Notes and Bills (11 volumes, 1880–1923) and the Book of Copier of Letters (22 volumes, 1892–1941) are also examined.

4. Divine office is the public service of praise and worship consisting of psalms, hymns, prayers, readings from the Fathers of the early church, and other writings. Recurring at various times during the day and night, it is intended to sanctify the life of the Christian community (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2020).

5. Galbraith and Galbraith (2004) considered the Rule of Saint Benedict as a management text to keep an organisation on track, whether in the corporate world or in the public sector. The authors highlighted how the principles of leadership, key to any explanation of the impressive longevity and the competitive survival of the Benedictine Order, may be applicable to the management of sustainable companies today.

6. Various waves of Visigoths arrived in Spain between 409 and 507 AD. The Visigothic monarchy, enmeshed in successional struggles, was overthrown following the invasion of the Moors in 711 (Pérez, 2001).

7. The reconquest was the fight of the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula against the Muslim invasion. Usually, the start of this historical period is associated with the battle of Covadonga (Asturias) -which probably took place in 722-, and it lasted up until 1492, the year in which the city of Granada was retaken by the Christians (Pérez, 2001).

8. The most prestigious Spanish Benedictine Congregation, headed by the Monastery of Saint Benedict of Valladolid. This monastery was founded in 1390 with the purpose of leading a reform process that turned towards literal compliance with the Rule of Saint Benedict (Márquez, 2003). At the time when the Monastery of Silos joined the aforementioned Congregation, the communal life of the monks at Silos appears to have been reduced to the choir and to the chapter house, given that many of the monks had their own rents and their own housing within the monastery grounds (Zaragoza, 2003).

9. The period called the Liberal Triennium extended between 1820 and 1823, that is, between the first absolutist monarchy of Ferdinand VII of Spain (1814–1820) and the second restauration of absolutism (1823–1833), under the same monarch. The Liberal Triennium reinstated the Constitution of 1812 and pursued the dismantlement of the status and privileges of the Church in Spain (Bahamonde & Martínez, 1998).

10. On this matter, see Tomás y Valiente, (1971, pp. 80–84).

11. Although it had no effect on the Monastery of Silos, the ecclesiastical and civil confiscations continued in Spain under the Treasury Minister, Pascual Madoz. The Law on confiscations of 1 May 1855, declared that the assets of the clergy, among others, were for sale. Over two years, 1855–1856, according to Simón Segura (1973, p. 232), the estates of both the regular and the secular clergy were placed on the market, with an estimated value assessed at 24 million and 135 million Reals, respectively. Four years later, the Spanish government fully recognised the authority of the Church to dispose of its assets (Law 4^th of April, 1860). Nevertheless, the assets purchased before that date were subject to confiscation, the State committing itself to deliver to the Church non-transferable inscriptions of the debt up to a total sum of the value of those assets. The Agreement-Law of 1860 and its implementation remains in force today, and with the exception of some periods between 1868–1874, the Church was empowered to acquire, retain and exercise usufructuary property rights over all types of assets (Tomás y Valiente, 1971).

12. This document was composed by a professed monk of the Monastery of Saint Salvador de Celanova, Fr. Benito Uría, by order of Fr. Pablo Valcárcel, General of the Congregation.

13. Castrillejo (2003) details the number of rustic and urban estates belonging to the Monastery of Silos that were confiscated, as well as the income from their sale.

14. At present, some manuscripts may be found at the British Museum and at the National Library of France, while the Museum of Burgos houses some of the enamels.

15. The French government prohibited the exercise of religious life in community by decree on 29 March 1880. As from that date, those in charge of the orders and congregations sought to find lodgings at monasteries outside France, in anticipation of the definitive expulsion, which took place on 5 November of that same year (Maté, 2017).

16. Comparisons with other investments at the time suggest very reduced costs for the total restoration of the Monastery of Silos. For example, the initial reconstruction of the Monastery of Cardeña, of a similar size to the Monastery of Silos, both in the province of Burgos, amounted to 150,000 Pesetas (AMS, Mémoires de Dom Guépin (Memoirs of Father Guépin), 1913, fol., 21) The fact that the architects who worked at the Monastery of Silos were from this monastery and that the materials were acquired from the same area, as may be seen in the accounts books, could also have contributed to achieving lower costs than might otherwise have been incurred.

17. As reflected in the Journal, the sum of all the daily expenses throughout February amounted to 828.32 Francs. That same amount is also recorded in the first Accounts Book of Ordinary Expenditure and Repair Work, dividing it into two types of expenditure: sustenance (264.10) and other expenses (564.22). If the expenditure in January is added to the total expenditure of February, the accumulated expenditure is 3,044.38 Francs, a figure that is reflected in both documents: the Journal and the Accounts Book of Ordinary Expenditure and Repair Work. Adding the four headings that appear first in the Journal and then in the Accounts Book of Ordinary Expenditure and Repair Work, the income for February amounted to 535.01 Francs. Adding the income in January to the income in February gives the accumulated total (3,157.86 Francs) that was then subtracted from the expenditure, to ascertain the cash balance (113.48 Francs).

18. Hernández Esteve (2013, pp. 108–109) set out the characteristics that define double-entry bookkeeping, dividing these into three sections relating to: concept, instrumentation and formal requirements. The accounting system of the Monastery of Silos, as from 1880, neither complied with a large number of conceptual conditions (for example, the entry in one account did not imply an outgoing item in another account, debits and credits were not employed, and there was no complete set of accounts, among other aspects), nor did it comply with the conditions for instrumentation, i.e. there was no General Ledger. The conditions pertaining to formal requirements were exclusively fulfilled for the Journal (and not for the General Ledger, as no such book existed).