The History of Rooklooster in a Nutshell

Rooklooster was one of a number of Augustine priories of Canons Regular to be founded in the late fourteenth century. The origin of the name Rooklooster ("Red Cloister") has been subject to debate, but might be related to the reddish colour of the type of mortar made from ground up tiles that was used to protect the first wooden buildings.
The priory developed out of an old hermitage called Bruxkens Cluse ("hermitage of the small bridge"), that existed ca. 1350 in Soignes Forest on the territory of the municipality of Oudergem near Brussels. Between 1367 and 1370 the construction of a number of cells and a chapel had begun on a property granted by duchess Johanna of Brabant. On August 29th, 1369 the first altar was consecrated with the permission of the Dominican nuns of Hertoginnedal (Val-Duchesse) in Oudergem. The same year, on December 5th, the foundation was approved by the bishop of Cambrai. By accepting the rule of Saint Augustine, the hermitage became a priory in 1373, dedicated to Saint Paul. On January 8th, 1374 the first prior was installed. Because the initial funds were scarce, the number of inhabitants was limited to four canons and four lay brothers, besides the prior. The financial situation had probably improved when the construction of a new church started, somewhere between 1381 and 1385. Rooklooster (Sanderus, Chorographia 2. Hagae Comitae, 1727) In 1385, the monastery had 12 residents. Due to the growing number of monks, the bishop of Cambrai permitted an unlimited number of novices on July 6th, 1392. In 1402, the monastic church became independent, ending a longstanding conflict over dependence with the parish of Watermaal and the Dominican nuns of Hertoginnedal.
Ten years later, in 1412, Rooklooster joined the Chapter of Windesheim, a congregration of Canons Regular which played a considerable role in the piety movement of the Devotio Moderna. Only on October 30th, 1438, the Rooklooster priory became a cloistered community, when the inclusio or monastic enclosure was adopted. This enclosure was temporarily weakened between 1478-1482 to allow the artist and laybrother Hugo van der Goes (†1482) to maintain contacts outside the monastery and work on his paintings.
In 1488 the monks had to flee to Brussels as a result of the continued power struggle between Maximilian of Habsburg and the rebellious Flemish municipalities. This was only to be a prelude to a long period of difficulties during the Eighty Years War (1566-1648). In 1572 the monastery was plundered, and in 1581 and 1583 the Rooklooster monks had to leave their monastery and take refuge within the city walls of Mons and Brussels. After returning to their cloister in the Soignes Forest in 1607, they fled their monastery a third time in 1635 to find refuge in the city of Brussels.
Between 1679 and 1683 a conflict arose between the prior and some members of his community, requiring the general chapter to intervene with several visitations and depositions of priors. In 1693 part of the buildings burned down.
On April, 8th 1784 the Rooklooster priory was officially suppressed by emperor Joseph II of Austria, leading to the sale of the buildings in 1789. During the Brabantine Revolution (1789-1790), sixteen monks were able to return to the priory on January 26th 1790. Two years later, however, French revolutionaries plundered the monastery. The priory was finally abolished in 1796 and the remains were sold in 1797. In 1834 the church of the priory was destroyed in a fire. In 1912, the vestiges were acquired by the Belgian State and classified as a historic monument in the period 1959-1965. Since 1992, the estate is administered by the Brussels Capital Region.

Other Rooklooster Catalogues

Rooklooster boasted an important library and an active scriptorium as a result of the many authors, copiists, miniaturists and binders that worked in the priory. In addition to the Rooklooster Register, some other library catalogues or lists of books originating from Rooklooster have survived to the present day. A list of Middle Dutch books or Dietsche boeke (Brussels, Royal Library, MS. 1351-72), dated to around 1400, has been one of the main sources for a recent study that proves that many fourteenth century Middle Dutch manuscripts, that were kept in the Rooklooster library, were in fact copied by a group of active copiists in the charterhouse of Herne. A bench catalogue from the early sixteenth century (before 1522) has survived (Brussels, Royal Library, MS. II 152), the bibliographical structure of which has many similarities with the Rooklooster Register; it also contains a fragment of an older book list, dating back to 1503. Around the middle of the sixteenth century, a Tabula legendorum in refectorio (Brussels, Royal Library, MS. 242-65) was composed in Rooklooster. Finally, the most recent catalogue of printed works and manuscripts was compiled at the time of the suppression of the priory in 1784 (Brussels, National Archives of Belgium, Comité van de Religiekas - Comité de la Caisse de Religion, Inv. 74/131).

Frans Hendrickx

Literature