War and the Making of Medieval Monastic Culture

Description

Monastic culture has generally been seen as set apart from the medieval battlefield, as `those who prayed' were set apart from `those who fought'. However, in this first study of the place of war within medieval monastic culture, the author shows the limitations of this division. Through a wide reading of Latin sermons, letters, and hagiography, she identifies a monastic language of war that presented the monk as the archetypal `soldier of Christ' and his life of prayer as a continuous combat with the devil: indeed, monks' claims to supremacy on the spiritual battlefield grew even louder as Church leaders extended the title of `soldier of Christ' to lay knights and crusaders. So, while medieval monasteries have traditionally been portrayed as peaceful sanctuaries in a violent world, here the author demonstrates that monastic identity was negotiated through real and imaginary encounters with war, and that the concept of spiritual warfare informed virtually every aspect of life in the cloister. It thus breaks new ground in the history of European attitudes toward warfare and warriors in the age of the papal reform movement and the early crusades. Frontcover CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS INTRODUCTION 1 Encountering War in the Scriptures and Liturgy 2 Monks and Warriors: Negotiating Boundaries 3 Spiritual Warfare: The History of an Idea to c.1200 4 Martial Imagery in Monastic Texts 5 Warriors as Spiritual Exemplars CONCLUSION APPENDIX: The Loricati, c.1050–12501 BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX Backcover