Confirmation of the Privileges Granted to the Pleterje Charterhouse

SLOVENIA, April 30 - In 1084, Bruno of Cologne founded one of the strictest yet most fascinating monastic orders in the Catholic Church. Seeking solitude and silence to devote himself entirely to God, he established his first monastery in the valley of the Grande Chartreuse (the Great Charterhouse), in the French Alps. The name of the valley was eventually adopted as the name of the Carthusian Order (Ordo Cartusiensis). However, the order’s rules were not written by its founder, but by his disciples. In 1133, they were confirmed by Pope Innocent II (1130-1143), and in 1140 by the assembly of priors from all charterhouses. For this reason, 1140 is generally regarded as the formal founding year of the Carthusian Order. That same year, two of the order’s most important texts - the Statutes and the Customs of the Charterhouse - were compiled. The Carthusian way of life has remained essentially unchanged since its foundation, as has the order’s motto, Stat crux dum volvitur orbis (“The Cross stands firm while the world turns”).

The core of the Carthusian Order is contemplation and meditation. Carthusian Order monks do not preach, teach in schools, or engage in parish work. Their “work” is to pray for the entire world in near-total isolation. The order combines both ermitic (hermit) and cenobitic (communal) monastic life. Each monk lives in his own small cottage or cell with a garden, where he prays, works, studies, and sleeps. The monks speak to one another only on special occasions (for example, during their weekly communal walk) and communicate mostly through signs or brief written messages. They come together only in the church for midnight liturgy, morning mass and vespers. Their chant is ancient, slow and unaccompanied by any instruments (pipe organs).

The order originated in France and Italy. Its first charterhouses outside these two countries were established in what is now Slovenia, where four charterhouses remained active over several centuries: Žiče (founded around 1160), Jurklošter (around 1170), Bistra (in the mid-13^th century), and Pleterje (in the early 15^th century).

This month's archivalia is dedicated to the monks of the Pleterje Charterhouse, a religious institution founded by Hermann II of Celje (c. 1361-1435), a generous benefactor of the Carthusian Order from 1391 onward. 

Hermann II cultivated a close relationship with charterhouses and had long wished to establish a monastery of his own, which is why in 1403 he commissioned the construction of a monastery named The Throne of the Most Holy Trinity (Thronus sanctissimae Trinitatis). Although its founding charter was not issued until July 10, 1407, in Celje, preliminary intensive preparations – particularly the acquisition of land and provincial princely privileges - had already been underway for some time. The charterhouse was built in the village of Pleterje at the foot of the Gorjanci Mountains, where the Counts of Celje gradually acquired land by purchasing it from the Auerspergs, the Zobelsbergs and the Sicherstains. To ensure that construction proceeded without interruptions, Hermann II endowed the charterhouse with revenues from his seigniories of Vuzenica and Žlemberk. By the end of 1407, much of the complex, including the chapter chapel, the sacristy, and the two cloister walks, had already been built and consecrated, while the majestic monastic church was only completed and consecrated in 1420. The new foundation was formally incorporated into the Carthusian Order in 1410. 

The charterhouse was granted extensive estates by Hermann II, including the seigniory Sicherstain, together with all hunting and fishing rights, mills, numerous farms and the tithe collected throughout the plains of Šentjernej and Krško. These substantial privileges were later confirmed by Hermann II's son Freidrich II and grandson Ulrich II, who also granted the charterhouse the right to exercise high (capital) jurisdiction. All this attests to the enduring importance of the Pleterje Charterhouse for spiritual well-being and the political power of the Counts of Celje. 

The monastic settlement was deliberately established in a remote valley at the foot of the Gorjanci Mountains, surrounded by forest, so that the Carthusians could live in complete solitude and silence while carrying out the duties of their order. The number of monks in the Pleterje Charterhouse gradually increased, necessitating the building of additional cells and the expansion of the order's property, which the Counts of Celje generously supported for the duration of their family’s existence. After the family became extinct in 1456, life at the Pleterje Charterhouse also began to decline. It was frequently targeted by the Turks (in 1471, the charterhouse was burned down, but soon restored), who raided and set fire to the monastery's fields, destabilized its economic position, and murdered or enslaved its serfs. In the first half of the 16th century, the Carthusian estate was further reduced in size due to the arrival and settlement of the Uskoks. By 1593, the Pleterje Charterhouse was in a state of both spiritual and financial ruin. The Austrian Archduke transferred it to the Jesuit community in Ljubljana, and following the dissolution of the Jesuits in 1773, the Pleterje Charterhouse became state property, and in 1839 passed into private ownership. In 1899, the Carthusian Order purchased the building of the former charterhouse and restored it. Since 1904, the charterhouse has once again served its original purpose of prayer and contemplation. 

Since the 1980s, the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia has been the keeper of 143 charters of the Pleterje Charterhouse, created between 1304 and 1595 and now preserved in our Collection of Charters (SI AS 1063). This month's archivalia is a charter issued by the Archduke of Austria, Ferdinand I of Habsburg, who became King of Hungary and Bohemia in 1526, and was Holy Roman Emperor from 1556 to 1564. Exactly five hundred years ago, on May 12, 1526 in Vienna, at the request of the prior of the charterhouse of the Throne of the Most Holy Trinity in Windic March and in the parish of Šentjernej, both within the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Aquileia (der prior des closters Plettriach der Newenstifft genannt zum thron der heiligen vngetaillten Driualtigkait karthuser ordens, in vnnserm lannde an der windischen Marich in der pharr sannd Barthelme, in dem bisthumb zw Aglaÿ), Ferdinand I, in his capacity as the sovereign lord and the territorial prince of Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, confirmed the privileges and freedoms previously granted to the Pleterje Charterhouse by his ancestors, in particular his grandfather, Emperor Maximian I (1508-1519), in 1503, and his great-grandfather, King Friedrich III (between 1452 and 1493 Emperor Friedrich III), in 1444. He based his decision on recognition of and respect for the enduring service to God carried out by the Carthusians in the parish of Šentjernej. He strictly ordered that no provincial officials or serfs were to hinder the monks in the exercise of these rights, and imposed penalties for potential offenders. This charter thus solidified Ferdinand's role as a protector and territorial prince in the former Windic March.

The charter presented here is the second to last confirmation of the privileges before the charterhouse was dissolved in 1595/1596; the last one was issued by his son, Archduke Karl II (1564-1590), territorial prince of Inner Austria, on January 28, 1568.

Jure Volčjak