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The Monastic Order

H. E. J. COWDREY

in Lanfranc: Scholar, Monk, Archbishop

When Lanfranc became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1070, he had some two-and-a-half decades of monastic life behind him. Lanfranc's episcopal model, for himself as a monk and for others who shared his ... More

When Lanfranc became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1070, he had some two-and-a-half decades of monastic life behind him. Lanfranc's episcopal model, for himself as a monk and for others who shared his pastoral care, was that of a monk-bishop who, according to his circumstances, combined the qualities of the cloister with those requisite for his wider responsibility. Lanfranc exhibited a combination of severity arising from an insistence upon authority and obedience with a pastoral care for the duly subject which arose from mercy and charity. This chapter examines Lanfranc's monastic order, his reforming of monastic life at Christ Church, his dealings with three abbeys (St. Albans, Bury St. Edmunds, and St. Augustine's at Canterbury), the body of legislation that he provided in his monastic constitutions, and his propagation of and provision for cathedral and episcopal monasteries.Less

Gregory VII and the Monastic Order

H. E. J. Cowdrey

in Pope Gregory VII, 1073–1085

Pope Gregory VII's background as a monk by early training and lasting loyalty ensured that, throughout his pontificate, he would maintain close relations ... More

Pope Gregory VII's background as a monk by early training and lasting loyalty ensured that, throughout his pontificate, he would maintain close relations with the monastic order to whose objectives he was committed. Gregory was vigilantly active in helping monasteries under papal protection whose privileges were challenged or infringed. He acted strongly upon the complaints of their monks. Equally, many monastic houses would look to him for help and provide him with support. This chapter examines four matters that especially illustrate Gregory's distinctive concern with the monastic order of the Roman Catholic Church. It discusses his expectations of monasticism, the significance of the South Italian abbey of Montecassino and the Burgundian abbey of Cluny for him, and his attitude regarding conversion to the monastic life.Less

Monk and Abbot

H. E. J. COWDREY

in Lanfranc: Scholar, Monk, Archbishop

This chapter discusses Lanfranc's entry into the monastic order as a fundamental conversion of life, his life as monk, and his years as prior of Bec. There is no positive reason to doubt that ... More

This chapter discusses Lanfranc's entry into the monastic order as a fundamental conversion of life, his life as monk, and his years as prior of Bec. There is no positive reason to doubt that Lanfranc's decision to change his manner of life came quite suddenly. Lanfranc became abbot of Saint-Étienne at Caen in 1063, and ruled the newly founded abbey until he became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1070. When he moved to Caen he is likely to have been already some fifty years of age. His seniority, and therefore his experience and proven loyalty, are likely to have commended him to Duke William, who for political as well as for ecclesiastical reasons was seeking to establish the town of Caen as a centre of ducal authority.Less

Monastic Governance, ‘Geographicity’, and Gender

Indrani Chatterjee

in Forgotten Friends: Monks, Marriages, and Memories of Northeast India

This chapter surveys the political societies formed by monastic initiation-consecration rituals. These societies established monastic governments, centered on temples and monasteries, with laymen and ... More

This chapter surveys the political societies formed by monastic initiation-consecration rituals. These societies established monastic governments, centered on temples and monasteries, with laymen and women living either in the vicinity of such buildings or on lands held by such temples and monasteries. A monastic geographic order emerged when such lands and communities were strung across different ecological niches across the Himalayas and the coast. This geographic order was further consolidated by visiting monks-teachers or in times of crisis, by military marriages that brought aid from one partner to a monastic center or lineage under attack. Two moments of crisis can be detected in the records. One was in the late seventeenth century when Mughal attempts to establish control of the Brahmaputra valley began. Another was in the late eighteenth century when civil war among monastic orders brought both Burmese and English armies to the Brahmaputra valley.Less

Reading And Writing In Early Modern German Convents

CHARLOTTE WOODFORD

in Nuns as Historians in Early Modern Germany

This chapter examines the function of literacy in nuns' daily lives during the early modern period. It begins by examining the social history of early modern nuns, reasons for entering a convent, ... More

This chapter examines the function of literacy in nuns' daily lives during the early modern period. It begins by examining the social history of early modern nuns, reasons for entering a convent, responsibilities held by women, and differences between monastic orders in this period. It traces the importance of reading for nuns' spirituality from the monastic reform of the fifteenth century to the Counter Reformation by analysing the types of writings known to have existed in convent collections of manuscripts and printed books. The relative importance of Latin and the vernacular is also examined. The reasons why so few writings by nuns are known from this period are discussed, and examples of such writings introduced, in an attempt to show to what extent nuns may have composed original works.Less

Nigel of Longchamp's Speculum stultorum

Jill Mann

in From Aesop to Reynard: Beast Literature in Medieval Britain

Moving from beast fable to beast epic, this chapter discusses the Speculum stultorum (late twelfth century), written by Nigel of Longchamp, a monk of Canterbury, and dedicated to William of ... More

Moving from beast fable to beast epic, this chapter discusses the Speculum stultorum (late twelfth century), written by Nigel of Longchamp, a monk of Canterbury, and dedicated to William of Longchamp, the chancellor of Richard I. The narrative kernel of this poem, which relates how the foolish attempts of the donkey Burnellus to acquire a longer tail lead only to disaster, resembles those beast fables in which animals vainly try to exceed the bounds set for them by Nature. But the lengthy rhetorical elaborations and narrative interpolations which swell the poem to epic length also turn it into a comic celebration of the sheer redundancy of human language. These elaborations also give room for satiric passages which reflect the contemporary concerns of the Canterbury monks, in which William of Longchamp was also involved.Less

Under the Religious Life: Reform and the Cistercian Order

Anne E. Lester

in Creating Cistercian Nuns: The Women's Religious Movement and Its Reform in Thirteenth-Century Champagne

This chapter addresses how female communities were reformed as Cistercian convents and sets this process within the broader context of the formation of new monastic orders founded during the ... More

This chapter addresses how female communities were reformed as Cistercian convents and sets this process within the broader context of the formation of new monastic orders founded during the thirteenth century. For Popes Innocent III and Gregory IX, the Cistercian order was a model of administration that offered a compelling framework for regulation, possessing as it did a uniform customary that was already widely circulated and adopted throughout its many houses. A flurry of legislation generated within the order between 1200 and 1228 articulated what affiliation entailed for women and how Cistercian nuns were defined. Yet in many cases communities of Cistercian nuns continued to practice a life in accordance with the vita apostolica, living in small convents and committed to poverty and charity to an extent that was often at odds with the administrative rigors of the order.Less

Envisioning Nuns: Views from the Male Monastic Order

Lori Meeks

in Hokkeji and the Reemergence of Female Monastic Orders in Premodern Japan

This chapter examines how the monastic order viewed women and the problems surrounding their ordination during the years preceding Eison's decision to create an ordination platform for women at ... More

This chapter examines how the monastic order viewed women and the problems surrounding their ordination during the years preceding Eison's decision to create an ordination platform for women at Hokkeji in the 1240s. In his Shōbōgenzō, Zen master Dōgen speaks for his concern about the authenticity of Japanese Buddhism. According to Dōgen, that many Japanese priests are ignorant of true Buddhism is evident from the fact that they are overzealous in their service of high-ranking female patrons, a situation that “true” followers of the Buddha should recognize as humiliating. His writings further reveal two anxieties which can also be found in contemporaneous monastic texts: concerns about the propriety of close relationships between the sangha and rulers of state, and uncertainties regarding the authenticity of Japanese nuns.Less

Introduction: Written Fragments and Living Parts

Anne E. Lester

in Creating Cistercian Nuns: The Women's Religious Movement and Its Reform in Thirteenth-Century Champagne

This introductory chapter first describes a process of institutionalization that was taking place throughout Europe during the first decades of the thirteenth century: the reform of protean and ... More

This introductory chapter first describes a process of institutionalization that was taking place throughout Europe during the first decades of the thirteenth century: the reform of protean and dynamic religious movements into monastic orders. It then sets out the book's purpose, which is to understand the shape of this movement in its earliest forms and to analyze how it was transformed into an institutional framework: to trace the creation of Cistercian nuns. Between the turn of the thirteenth century and 1244, roughly forty Cistercian convents were founded in northern France, half of which fell within the region of Champagne. The impetus for their foundation came initially from women in the laity. The remainder of the chapter traces the history of women in the Cistercian order followed by an overview of the subsequent chapters.Less

Incense Light Buddhist Seminary for Nuns

Chün-Fang Yü

in Passing the Light: The Incense Light Community and Buddhist Nuns in Contemporary Taiwan

This chapter focuses on the entrance exam and curriculum of the Incense Light Buddhist Seminary. In less than two months after Wuyin was installed as the abbess of Incense Light Temple on January 5, ... More

This chapter focuses on the entrance exam and curriculum of the Incense Light Buddhist Seminary. In less than two months after Wuyin was installed as the abbess of Incense Light Temple on January 5, 1980, the Incense Light Buddhist Seminary admitted its first class. All nuns must attend five years of seminary, whether they have prior knowledge of Buddhism or not. Although the Buddhist nuns engage in various activities, their chief mission is education. This chapter first considers the challenges facing the monastic order in the Republican period before discussing the early history of modern Buddhist seminaries in Taiwan. It also assesses the challenges to success at the seminary by focusing on the experieces of two contemporary monks, Shengyan and Zhenhua. Finally, it compares the curriculum of Incense Light with that of other seminaries and offers a more detailed description of its courses under four categories: understanding, practice, daily living, and Dharma propagation.Less

Introduction: The Performance of Reading

in Reading in the Wilderness: Private Devotion and Public Performance in Late Medieval England

This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this book, which is about the late medieval habits of thought that link reading with performance. This connection private reading and public ... More

This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this book, which is about the late medieval habits of thought that link reading with performance. This connection private reading and public performance in the fifteenth century can be found in the British Library MS Additional 37049. The chapter investigates the monastic order that most likely both produced and used Additional 37049 and examines the book's Carthusian context matters for the performative reading it encourages.Less

Afterword as Fast-Forward

Dale K. Van Kley

in Reform Catholicism and the International Suppression of the Jesuits in Enlightenment Europe

This concluding chapter reviews how the Civil Constitution of the Clergy implemented many of the mixed Gallican–Jansenist reforms that would have come out of any such legislative opportunity in 1771. ... More

This concluding chapter reviews how the Civil Constitution of the Clergy implemented many of the mixed Gallican–Jansenist reforms that would have come out of any such legislative opportunity in 1771. These included the abolition of anti-Jansenist oaths, the nonpapal collegial confirmation of bishops, the narrowing of the material and even moral differences between bishops and their curés, the pruning of the nonpastoral clergy, the abolition of contemplative monastic orders, and even a role for the people in the election of the clergy. But by 1789, reformist Catholicism was far from the National Assembly's only source of ideological direction, and competing with it were strong Rousseauvian and physiocratic, or enlightened “economic,” biases against all privileged corporate or intermediary bodies.Less

Anti-Inquisitorialism to Antimendicantism

Janine Larmon Peterson

in Suspect Saints and Holy Heretics: Disputed Sanctity and Communal Identity in Late Medieval Italy

This chapter addresses inquisitors and the rise of anti-inquisitorial and antimendicant sentiments. Inquisitors were the ones who had the power to destroy the cult of a regional holy man or woman ... More

This chapter addresses inquisitors and the rise of anti-inquisitorial and antimendicant sentiments. Inquisitors were the ones who had the power to destroy the cult of a regional holy man or woman through an official condemnation of heresy. Since all inquisitors were friars, at times lay observers viewed the mainstream members of the wealthy and powerful mendicant orders as less spiritually worthy than those they prosecuted. Inquisitorial activity in local communities therefore consistently fueled the flames of acrimony. In addition, mendicant inquisitors often clashed with other members of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, in particular the secular clergy and the traditional monastic orders. Some of these other clerics viewed the mendicants as upstarts who interfered with their spiritual authority and received seemingly excessive and unwarranted papal favors. The chapter then details the process by which laypeople's anti-inquisitorial attitudes became antimendicant ones, as well as how other clerics' antimendicant views led them to support anti-inquisitorial actions.Less

Introduction: In Pursuit of a Difficult Saint

Brian Patrick McGuire

in Bernard of Clairvaux: An Inner Life

This introductory chapter provides an overview of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who almost defies characterization. Monk, abbot, adviser of kings and popes, author of some of the finest Latin prose to ... More

This introductory chapter provides an overview of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who almost defies characterization. Monk, abbot, adviser of kings and popes, author of some of the finest Latin prose to emerge from the Middle Ages, he was a man of many talents. At first glance he can seem abrasive, overconfident, and almost arrogant. But as this book shows, he is a point of departure for European culture in its search for faith, meaning, and community. Any history of Western Europe in the twelfth century has to include Bernard and his almost frenetic activities. Bernard deserves reevaluation as a person and participant in the history of Christian life and spirituality. His inner life and external actions illuminate his own time and provide a context for ours. In addition to his sophisticated theology, his moving sermons, and his influence among kings and popes, Bernard can plausibly be considered the first European. Through his vision and talent for inspiring people to work together, he helped build Christianity's first continent-wide monastic order, the Cistercians, whose monasteries extended from Ireland to Sicily and Norway.Less

The Rage of Thai Buddhism, 1975–1980

Eugene Ford

in Cold War Monks: Buddhism and America's Secret Strategy in Southeast Asia

This chapter considers how the December 2, 1975 abolition of the Lao monarchy, one immediate outcome of the Pathet Lao victory, had tremendous psychological impact in Thailand. This was due in large ... More

This chapter considers how the December 2, 1975 abolition of the Lao monarchy, one immediate outcome of the Pathet Lao victory, had tremendous psychological impact in Thailand. This was due in large part to its troubling implications for Buddhism. Because of the centuries-long symbiotic relationship between the Lao Buddhist hierarchy and the Lao monarchy, the fates of the two institutions seemed closely intertwined. Indeed, the Pathet Lao's destruction of the monarchy (the Lao king, queen, and crown prince were sent to a reeducation camp, where they subsequently died) seemed to Thailand's Buddhist elders equally as much an attack on Buddhism itself. That the new communist government of Laos also chose to disband the Thammayut monastic order, which it saw as an agent of Thai imperialism in the country, only confirmed such fears.Less