Medieval monasticism : forms of religious life in Western Europe in the Middle Ages / C.H. Lawrence.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lawrence, C. H. (Clifford Hugh), 1921- author.

Series:

Medieval world series.

Medieval world series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Monasticism and religious orders--History--Middle Ages, 600-1500.

Monasticism and religious orders.

History.

Monasticism and religious orders--Middle Ages.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xvii, 300 pages ; 24 cm.

Edition:

Fourth edition.

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2015.

Summary:

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.

Contents:

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.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781138854031

1138854034

9781138854048

1138854042

OCLC:

900277910