Medieval Monasticism: Forms of Religious Life in Western Europe in the Middle Ages (4th ed. 2015)

Medieval Monasticism traces the Western Monastic tradition from its fourth century origins in the deserts of Egypt and Syria, through the many and varied forms of religious life it assumed during the Middle Ages. Hugh Lawrence explores the many sided relationship between monasteries and the secular world around them. For a thousand years, the great monastic houses and religious orders were a prominent feature of the social landscape of the West, and their leaders figured as much in the political as on the spiritual map of the medieval world. In this book many of them, together with their supporters and critics, are presented to us and speak their minds to us. We are shown, for instance, the controversy between the Benedictines and the reformed monasticism of the twelfth century and the problems that confronted women in religious life. A detailed glossary offers readers a helpful vocabulary of the subject. This book is essential reading for both students and scholars of the medieval world. About the Author C.H. Lawrence is Professor Emeritus of the University of London, UK. His previous publications include St Edmund of Abingdon (1960); Matthew Paris and St Edmund (1996); The Friars: The Impact of the Mendicant Orders on Medieval Society (2001) and The Letters of Adam March (ed. and translated 2006-10). List of images x Publisher’s acknowledgements xi Preface to the First Edition xii Preface to the Second Edition xiii Preface to the Third Edition xiv Preface to the Fourth Edition xv Abbreviations used in the Notes xvi 1 THE CALL OF THE DESERT 1 The desert hermits 4 St Pachomius and the cenobitical life 7 St Basil 8 The desert tradition transmitted to the West 10 The first Western monks 11 2 THE RULE OF ST BENEDICT 17 St Benedict and his biographer 17 The Rule and its sources 20 The monk’s profession according to the Rule 23 The monk’s life according to the Rule 27 3 WANDERING SAINTS AND PRINCELY PATRONS 36 Columbanus in Gaul 36 Early Irish monasticism 38 Columbanus and the Merovingian nobility 43 The double monasteries of Gaul 45 The mixed rule in Gaul and Spain 46 4 ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT 50 Roman and Celtic foundations 50 Wearmouth and Jarrow 53 The Anglo-Saxon monks on the Continent 56 5 THE EMPEROR AND THE RULE 61 The religious motives for endowment 61 Social convenience 63 Public policy 64 The Rule under imperial supervision 68 Collapse and dispersal 72 6 THE AGE OF CLUNY 76 The rise of Cluny 76 The Cluniac empire 81 The Cluniac ideal 88 Gorze and the German revival 93 The English revival of the tenth century 94 7 THE CLOISTER AND THE WORLD 100 The daily round 102 Monastic tasks and their distribution 109 Recruitment 112 The social and economic role 115 Feudal obligations 119 Lay patrons 121 Relations with bishops and secular clergy 123 The cloister and the schools 127 8 MONASTIC REFORM: THE QUEST FOR THE PRIMITIVE 135 The orders of hermits 138 The Rule and the desert 141 The Carthusians 145 The canons regular 148 The Premonstratensians 153 9 THE CISTERCIAN MODEL 158 The truth of the letter 158 Growth and recruitment 166 The constitution of the order 169 The general chapter 172 Criticism and dilution 175 10 THE NEW MONASTICISM VERSUS THE OLD 183 St Bernard and Peter the Venerable 183 Reformers and traditionalists 186 11 A NEW KIND OF KNIGHTHOOD 190 The Templars 192 The Hospitallers 195 Decline and fall 196 12 SISTERS OR HANDMAIDS 199 Frauenfrage – the question of the sisters 199 St Gilbert and the Order of Sempringham 206 The Cistercian nuns 208 A new experiment: the Beguines 212 13 THE FRIARS 219 The social context 220 New evangelists 222 Franciscan origins 224 The Order of Preachers 233 The mission of the friars 238 Student orders 240 The complaint of the clergy 244 The place of the nuns 247 Other Mendicant Orders 248 14 EPILOGUE: THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE COMMUNITY 257 Glossary 272 A Cistercian abbey ground plan 283 Index 285 Medieval Monasticism traces the Western Monastic tradition from its fourth century origins in the deserts of Egypt and Syria, through the many and varied forms of religious life it assumed during the Middle Ages. Hugh Lawrence explores the many sided relationship between monasteries and the secular world around them. For a thousand years, the great monastic houses and religious orders were a prominent feature of the social landscape of the West, and their leaders figured as much on the political as on the spiritual map of the medieval world. In this book many of them, together with their supporters and critics, are presented to us and speak their minds to us. We are shown, for instance, the controversy between the Benedictines and the reformed monasticism of the twelfth century and the problems that confronted women in religious life. A detailed glossary offers readers a helpful vocabulary of the subject. This book is essential reading for both students and scholars of the medieval world. Book jacket