Monasticism

Question 1

Origins of Monasticism

Answer 1

Extreme form of religious devolution
Hermits - withdrew to seclusion but community built up around them
Large number of women live as reclusives
Cenobites - idea of having no possessions, everything in common
Early texts like Casiano crucial for understanding life
Rule of basil, Augustine, Benedict etc

Question 2

Benedictines

Answer 2

Male and female movements
Based around poverty, chastity and obedience
Routine- everything regulated by bells
Speaking restricted to certain times
The hours - praying every 2/3 hours- safe from temptation through routine
Daily chapter
Connections between houses established

Question 3

Cluniac Benedictines

Answer 3

First exempt monastic house 
Reform of Benedictine order 
Strong emphasis on prayer and renewal 
Manual labour almost disappears 
Site of clunky explodes
Differentiation here too - eg Carthusians and hermitage

Question 4

Cistercians

Answer 4

Also based out of Benedictine Order - Bernard of clairvaux
Return to idea of manual labour
Presence of laypeople as conversi - lots of labour
Provides vast labour force
More socially inclusive than others
Multinational organisation
Organised in general chapters- elites would attend to influence in their favour
Becomes provincial structure

Question 5

Augustinians

Answer 5

Rule of St. Augustine
Rule very short - emphasises fraternity, common property and interior conversion
Not specific - therefore differed within communities
Priory in St Andrews
Rejection of wealth, colour etc
Land clearance- accumulated great wealth - turned landscape into workable arable land
Lordship over others

Question 6

New Military Orders

Answer 6

Combination of monastic and military life
Links to crusades
Templars etc
Once latin east fell, very active in west
Templars Became financiers in french and english kingdoms
Hospitaliers created hospitals of St. John
Still took part in crusades and reconquistas

Question 7

Beguines and Beghards

Answer 7

Lay movement for both sexes
Large numbers of women involved, claimed to have been founded by a woman
Account of Marie by Jaques de Vitry
No vows etc to order - claim separate category
Word beguine began to be used for heresy - problematic

Question 8

Mendicants

Answer 8

Friars - not monks!
Inspiration form gospel passages
More about moving continuously, giving at same time
Required real dedication - not unformly followed
Poverty key
All over western world - eventually expected to travel whilst studying
Simplicity
Major orders- Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites

Question 9

Mendicant Rules

Answer 9

Now required papal approval
Franciscans received oral approval before Lateran 4 - key to their argument
Became recognised as professional preachers
Dominicans too late for Lateran 4 - had to use pre-existing rule, adapted Augustine
Their focus on teaching made them some of Europe’s key intellectual minds
Clare of Assisi - first female to have Rule approved

Question 10

New forms of Learning

Answer 10

Recruited from universities 
Became masters of universities 
Combinaron with aesthetic form of life 
New mediators of the bible 
Tensions between secular and mendicant masters

Question 11

Sources

Answer 11

Peter Abelard - ends up in a monastery, so both does Heloise
Life of Louis the Fat - wirtten by Abbot Suger - monastic but still involved with state affairs
influence of dominicans in learning