Ecclesia in Medio Nationis : Reflections on the Study of Monasticism in the Central Middle Ages - Réflexions Sur L'étude Du Monachismeau Moyen Âge Central

The role of monastic institutions in society during the Central Middle Ages has been much debated in medieval studies. Some scholars saw monasticism as the principal motivator of economic, social, intellectual, and "spiritual" progress in human society, while others regarded monastic ideology as fundamentally antisocial and oriented toward itself. These debates remained pertinent until the final decades of the twentieth century, but seem to have lost some of their relevance to the present-day scholar. Today monasticism is studied as a social entity that needed interactions with the outside world to survive and to give a clear sense of purpose to its members. Drawing on recent trends in historical scholarship, this book―which contains four chapters in English (including the introduction and conclusion) and five chapters in French―seeks to identify some of the major questions that will dominate research into monasticism in the years to come. Contributions deal with the evolution of monasticism itself, its links with aristocracy, the economic relations of religious communities and their physical and ideological boundaries, and the representation of the outside world in monastic manuscripts. The role of monastic institutions in society during the Central Middle Ages has been much debated in medieval studies. Some scholars saw monasticism as the principal motivator of economic, social, intellectual and ‘spiritual'progress in human society, while others regarded monastic ideology as fundamentally anti-social and oriented towards itself. These debates seem to have lost some of their relevance to the present-day scholar. Today monasticism is studied as a social entity which needed interactions with the outside world, not only to subsist in a physical sense, but also to give a clear sense of purpose to its members. Drawing on recent trends in historical scholarship, this volume seeks to identify some of the major questions that will dominate research into monasticism in the years to come. Contributions deal with the evolution of monasticism itself, its links with aristocracy, the economic relations of religious communities and their physical and ideological boundaries, and the representation of the outside world in monastic manuscripts. Les contributions rassemblées dans ce volume présentent un point de vue à la fois multiple et multidisciplinaire sur l'état de la question dans l'historiographie du monachisme, un domaine de recherche dont la complexité s'avère désormais incontestable. Il s'agit de réflexions portant sur l'évolution du monachisme, ou d'études approfondissant les liens entre le monachisme et l'aristocratie ou les réalités économiques, explorant les liens physiques et idéologiques avec le monde extérieur, sans oublier des analyses portant sur les représentations du monde extérieur dans les manuscrits médiévaux. This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content). Steven Vanderputten (Gent) & Brigitte Meijns (Leuven) Introduction 7 Isabelle Rosé (Rennes) Les moines et leur vie communautaire du IXe au XIIe siècle. T our d’horizon historiographique 11 Florian Mazel (Rennes) Monachisme et aristocratie aux Xe-XIe siècles. Un regard sur l’historiographie récente 47 Nicolas Ruffini & Jean-François Nieus (Namur) Société seigneuriale, réformes ecclésiales: les enjeux documentaires d’une révision historiographique 77 Alexis Wilkin (Bruxelles) Communautés religieuses bénédictines et environnement économique, IXe-XIIe siècles. Réflexions sur les tendances historiographiques de l’analyse du temporel monastique 101 Harald Sellner (Tübingen) Les communautés religieuses du Moyen Age central et la recherche des réformes monastiques en Allemagne 151 Gert Melville (Dresden) Inside and Outside. Some Considerations about Cloistral Boundaries in the Central Middle Ages 167 Diane Reilly (Bloomington) T he Monastic World View in the Artistic Tradition 183 Arnoud- Jan Bijsterveld (Tilburg) Conclusions 211 The role of monastic institutions in society during the Central Middle Ages has been much debated in medieval studies. Some scholars saw monasticism as the principal motivator of economic, social, intellectual and spiritual' progress in human society, while others regarded monastic ideology as fundamentally anti-social and oriented towards itself. Today monasticism is studied as a social entity which needed interactions with the outside world, not only to subsist in a physical sense, but also to give a clear sense of purpose to its members. This volume seeks to identify some of the major questions that will dominate research into monasticism in the years to come. Contributions deal with the evolution of monasticism itself, its links with aristocracy, the economic relations of religious communities and their physical and ideological bounderies, and the representation of the outside world in monastic manuscripts. Les moines et leur vie communautaire du IXe au XIIe siècle / Isabelle Rosé Monachisme et aristocratie aux Xe-XIe siècles / Florian Mazel Société seigneuriale, réformes ecclésiales / Nicholas Ruffini & Jean-François Nieus Communautés religieuses bénédictine et environnement économique, IXe-XIIe siècles / Alexis Wilkin Les communautés religieuses du Moyen Age central et la recherche des réformes monastiques en Allemagne / Harald Sellner Inside and outside : some considerations about cloistral boundaries in the Central Middle Ages / Gert Melville The monastic world view in the artistic tradition / Diane Reilly.