THE MONASTIC WORLD

Not simply solitary figures.

Jotischky, professor of medieval history at the University of London, author of A Hermit’s Cookbook: Monks, Food and Fasting in the Middle Ages, writes that at the height of their influence (c. 800-1300), “monasteries provided intellectual leadership for the institutions of Church and civil government, innovation in religious thought and practice, pastoral care, medical provision, education, visual culture and agricultural development” while providing alms for the poor, hospitality for travelers, and schooling for local people. Almost as soon as Roman Emperor Constantine adopted Christianity in 312, pious individuals began devoting their lives to serving God. Avoiding individuals (“mendicants,” “anchorites”), he focuses on enclosed communities that first appeared in the eastern Mediterranean in the fourth century, most likely in Egypt. They quickly spread, becoming an indispensable feature of Christian society by the sixth century. By the 12th century, monasteries were fixed and immutable points in political culture. They were found in towns and cities as well as remote areas. Abbots and even abbesses were regular attenders at royal and aristocratic courts. Possession of property brought responsibilities and obligations to the running of political society as well as quarrels. As businesses, they were employers and sources of labor and purchasers of goods. Monks themselves were used as representatives of governments at a time when professional diplomacy did not exist. World history, from the fall of Rome to the Enlightenment, makes its appearance, but Jotischky sticks closely to his specialty. The result is perhaps more than the average reader wants to know about the founding and influence of individual monasteries as well as the origin, philosophy, and controversies of the various schools: Cistercians, Cluniacs, Augustinians, Benedictines, Dominicans, Franciscans.

A thorough account of the “engine rooms of medieval society.”