
A charterhouse (french: chartreuse; german: Kartause; it, certosa; pt, cartuxa; es, cartuja) is a
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
of
Carthusian
The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians ( la, Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its ...
monks. The English word is derived by
phono-semantic matching
Phono-semantic matching (PSM) is the incorporation of a word into one language from another, often creating a neologism, where the word's non-native quality is hidden by replacing it with Phonetics, phonetically and semantically similar words or ...
from the French word ''chartreuse'' and it is therefore sometimes misunderstood to indicate that the houses were created by
charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
, a grant of legal rights by a high authority.
The actual namesake is instead the first monastery of the order, the
Grande Chartreuse
Grande Chartreuse () is the head monastery of the Carthusian religious order. It is located in the Chartreuse Mountains, north of the city of Grenoble, in the commune of Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse (Isère), France.
History
Originally, the ch ...
, which
St Bruno of Cologne established in a valley of the
Chartreuse Mountains
The Chartreuse Mountains (french: massif de la Chartreuse ) are a mountain range in southeastern France, stretching from the city of Grenoble in the south to the Lac du Bourget in the north. They are part of the French Prealps, which continue a ...
in 1084.
The
London Charterhouse
The London Charterhouse is a historic complex of buildings in Farringdon, London, dating back to the 14th century. It occupies land to the north of Charterhouse Square, and lies within the London Borough of Islington. It was originally built ( ...
was the first English site to which this English version of the word was applied.
See also
*
Certosa (disambiguation) Certosa is an Italian word meaning Carthusian monastery, or charterhouse. It may refer to:
* Certosa di Bologna, a former monastery which was turned into a monumental cemetery
* Certosa di Farneta, near Lucca in Tuscany
* Certosa di Ferrara
* Ce ...
, the Italian name for a Carthusian monastery
*
Charterhouse (disambiguation)
Charterhouse may refer to:
* Charterhouse (monastery), of the Carthusian religious order
Charterhouse may also refer to:
Places
* The Charterhouse, Coventry, a former monastery
* Charterhouse School, an English public school in Surrey
Lond ...
*
Chartreuse (disambiguation)
Chartreuse () may refer to:
Food and drink
* Chartreuse (liqueur), a French liqueur
* Chartreuse (dish), a French dish of vegetables or meat tightly wrapped in vegetable leaves and cooked in a mould
Religion
* Carthusians, a Catholic relig ...
, the French name for a Carthusian monastery
*
List of Carthusian monasteries
This is a list of Carthusian monasteries, or charterhouses, containing both extant and dissolved Monastery, monasteries of the Carthusians (also known as the Order of Saint Bruno) for monks and nuns, arranged by location under their present count ...
References
Carthusian Order
Christian monasteries
{{Christian-monastery-stub