Wayward Monks and the Religious Revolution of the Eleventh Century

Description

Examining a central change in European religious thought, this study investigates the changing roles of monks in society to help understand the reform of Christian ideology. It is based on extant monastic writings, including hagiography and polemics. The book explains the diversification of monasticism in this period as an outgrowth of a shift toward greater interest in lay religious life. Focusing on the German Empire, it examines monastic values in such areas as missionary work, public preaching, pilgrimage, and the polemics of the gregorian reform. The sections on the role of polemic as a catalyst and reflection of monastic change and on missionary activities as part of ecclesiastical reform are especially important for the historian of religion. The book fills an important gap in the study of central European monasticism. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS INTRODUCTION i. The problem: the monk versus the world ii. The state of the question iii. The "monastic crisis" iv. Dissolution versus definition v. The principles of this book CHAPTER ONE. TENTH-CENTURY MONKS AND SOCIAL EXPECTATIONS i. The tenth-century monastery as public servant ii. Withdrawal from a tainted world iii. Infiltration of the cloister iv. A foretaste of heaven CHAPTER TWO. MISSIONARIES AND NEW MONASTIC DREAMS i. The imperial mission ii. Wenceslas of Bohemia and changing monastic ideals iii. The new language of mission iv. The problem of 'stability' v. Monks and Christian responsibility vi. A Romualdian missionary movement CHAPTER THREE. STABILITY AND CARE: THE RECLUSES i. The growing popularity of reclusion ii. Separation and liminality iii. The recluse as caregiver iv. The holiness of recluses CHAPTER FOUR. THE GODLY SOCIETY: MONKS AND REFORM IN THE ELEVENTH CENTURY i. From missionary to wandering preacher ii. The monk as spiritual adept iii. Entanglement with ecclesiastical reform iv. The revival of eremitism v. Romuald of Ravenna and the Camaldolesi vi. Monks and 'caritas' CHAPTER FIVE. THE "NEW MONASTICISM" OF LOTHARINGIA IN THE EARLY ELEVENTH CENTURY i. Lotharingian monasticism and the turn to the world ii. Hypocrisy and schism iii. Gregory the Great and the active life iv. Invasion of the monastery v. Is monasticism enough? CHAPTER SIX. MONKS AND THE ROMAN REFORM i. Monks, the reformed papacy, and ecclesiastical reform ii. Peter Damian vs. the Tuscan hermit iii. The quandary of ecclesiastical reform iv. The evidence of Vallombrosa v. A community of reformers vi. Servants of the papacy? CHAPTER SEVEN. ANTI-GREGORIAN PROPAGANDA AND THE MONASTIC CRISIS i. Hirsau as model for world-reforming monasticism ii. The polemic against Hirsau iii. The disavowal of a radical past iv. Hildebrand the false monk v. The case for Gregory vi. The monastic 'ordo' and Christianity CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX