A complete history of the Cistercian convent of Byszewo-Koronowo is yet to be written. So far, only the beginnings of the abbey and its economic activity until the end of the 14th century have been the subject of exhaustive research. However, what we miss most acutely is a history of the Koronowo convent that would throw light on its position and rank within the Polish province of the Order, its contacts with other Cistercian houses, the social structure of the monastic community, and the cultural and pastoral work in the parishes taken over by the convention. The aim of this article is to analyze the functioning and the structure of the abbey until the middle of the 16th century on the basis of some scattered and little-known monastic documents found mainly in the State Archives in Bydgoszcz and the Archives of the Pelplin Diocese. The almost complete disappearance of the old library in the wake of the dissolution of the monastery in the 19th century makes it very difficult to assess the cultural role of the abbey. No definite solution has been reached in the dispute over the exact origins of Mikołaj, treasurer and founder of the Byszewo-Koronowo monastery. Equally disputed are the questions of affiliation, i.e., the beginnings of the original and the later Byszewo-Koronowo monastic foundation. In Poland, the last decades of the 14th century were a period of civil war and anarchy, which made it easy for local knights to seize possession of the convent's property. The mounting threat triggered off a number of papal documents that declared that the convent and its estates were under the protection of the Holy See. The general unrest did not stop at the convent's gate, especially during the chronic wars between Poland and the Teutonic Knights in the first half of the 15th century. At one point when the monks despaired of going back to their ruined monastery, they were excommunicated. However, in the second half of the 15th century, peace was restored and the monastic complex patiently rebuilt with the help of numerous royal donations. More grants poured in during the 16th century. The convent benefited both from the generosity of the last Jagiellons and an attempted internal reform which led in 1558 to a separation between the abbot's estate and the property of the convent. Another urgent task is to analyze the social structure of the monastic community of Byszewo-Koronowo and to compile a complete list of its abbots (there are a few extant lists which need to be given a critical evaluation). Whoever takes up that job should bear in mind that some abbots of Koronowo also held the office of suffragan (i.e., auxiliary) bishop of Włocławek. This article concentrates mostly on the parish supervision exercised by the Koronowo Cistercians. Until the end of the 16th century, they looked after eight parishes. They included the urban parish in Koronowo (incorporated in 1383) as well as parishes in Byszewo (incorporated in 1460), Włóki, Wtelno, and Wudzyn in the monastic estates (all in the Włocławek diocese). In the archdiocese of Gniezno, the Koronowo Cistercians held the parishes of Wierzchucin Królewski, Łącko Wielkie, and Mąkowarsk, all of them villages that belonged to them. Temporarily, the ius paternitatis of the Koronowo Cistercians was extended over the churches at Zaduszniki and Szpetal near Włocławek. It is however doubtful if they were the founders of the church at Podlaszki in the Gdańsk Pomerania.
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