In spite of several attempts in the later Middle Ages to centralise the observances of the canons regular, such efforts did not lead to anything like liturgical uniformity for the various houses who from the late eleventh century onwards in large quantities had adopted the so-called Rule of Augustine. Consequently, one cannot refer to a well-defined ‘liturgy of the canons regular’. On the other hand, it must be underlined – as shown by modern scholarship – that medieval liturgy altogether was never unified and that for instance the distinction between secular (or Roman) and monastic liturgy is difficult to sustain consistently.

This, however, does not mean that it is impossible to talk about particular influences or new initiatives taken in houses of canons regular. It has, for instance, been demonstrated that the canons regular in the South German part of the Holy Roman Empire had an interesting and particular role in the development of the famous Easter morning observances of the so-called Quem quaeritis ceremonies in the twelfth century.

Based on Margot Fassler’s work on the house of St Victor and Michael Norton’s on the visitatio sepulchri traditions, I shall discuss the liturgical impulses of the canons regular also with an attempt to assess the situation at Dalby and, more generally, in the Scandinivian area where, unfortunately, sources remain very limited.