Investigating Liturgical Practice and Ritualized Circulation in the Monastery of Alcoba^A A Preliminary View from the Manuscripts

Taking as a case study the great Portuguese Cistercian house of Santa Maria de Alcobafa, founded by Bernard of Clairvaux in 1153, this article seeks to demonstrate the potential of liturgical books as a source for deepening our knowledge of how and where liturgical performances and ritualized circulations were performed within monastic spaces. With a busy and prolific scriptorium in operation from about 1170, Alcoba^a produced numerous liturgical codices of which a substantial corpus survives, allowing us to approach the reconstruction of many important rituals. An illustrative sample of these are examined, the processions for Palm Sunday (Proper of Time) and Candlemas (Proper of Saints), circulations concerning rites of sickness and death (burial ritual), and processions involving the commemoration of the dead. In each instance, aspects specific to Aicoba9a are highlighted.