Monastic and religious orders, c. 1100–c. 1350

Brian McGuire

doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521811064.006

4 - Monastic and religious orders, c. 1100–c. 1350

from PART I - INSTITUTIONS AND CHANGE: 1100–1200

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2010

Brian McGuire

Edited by

Miri Rubin and

Walter Simons

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Miri Rubin: Affiliation:
Queen Mary University of London
Walter Simons: Affiliation:
Dartmouth College, New Hampshire

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Summary

Traditional monasticism

This period in Western Europe brought about a reform of traditional monasticism, with the formation of new orders, both contemplative and pastoral. Military life was combined with the monastic vocation in the foundation of military orders. After 1200 forms of religious life appeared that built on earlier manifestations of pastoral life in community but now reflected the concerns of their founders, especially Dominic and Francis. The twelfth and thirteenth centuries manifest an embarrassment of riches: the number, variety and development of monastic and religious orders in this period is overwhelming, and I will seek only to provide an outline.

Monastic or religious life in the Middle Ages meant living according to a rule of life based on community, prayer and obedience. Traditional monasticism required vows of stability, obedience and conversio morum (change in way of life). Practically all those bound to such a life in the West after about 800 followed either the Rule of Saint Benedict or the Rule for Canons adopted at a synod of Aachen in 816. The first was intended for monks or nuns, the second for regular canons or canonesses. After about 1100, however, a new understanding of the monastic life emerged, especially in the genesis of the Cistercian Order. At the same time canons came to interpret their vocation in relation to the Rule of Saint Augustine, which in contrast to the Aachen legislation did not allow for personal property and emphasised more strongly life in community.

Keywords

embarrassment of riches Dominicans Cistercian monasteries Augustinian canons soldier-monks traditional Benedictine monasticism religious orders hermits problematic Franciscans Premonstratensians

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge History of Christianity , pp. 54 - 72

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521811064.006 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2009

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4 - Monastic and religious orders, c. 1100–c. 1350

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