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31 - Monastic Reform from the Tenth to the Early Twelfth Century

from Part II - The Carolingians to the Eleventh Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2020

By
Steven Vanderputten
Edited by
Alison I. Beach  and
Isabelle Cochelin
Alison I. Beach
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
Isabelle Cochelin
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Summary

Reform is one of the most frequently referenced, but least understood, aspects of monasticism’s development in the tenth to early twelfth centuries. Its status as a key paradigm in discussions of that period originated with contemporary apologetic commentators who relied on reform to support a broad range of auctorial agendas. Some of these individuals were seeking to justify ongoing or recent interventions by reformist agents in the life of monastic groups, while others, writing from an a posteriori perspective, used accounts of reform as a means to construct a heroic memory for past spiritual and institutional leaders, to project certain ideals relevant to the current state of monasticism, or to justify the actions of reformers living in their own age. All, or nearly all, of these discourses supported an interpretation of monastic reform as an abrupt, sometimes traumatic, but nearly always beneficial procedure, rooted in the desire to realize a more authentic experience of the cenobitic ideal and remediate some of the challenges facing monastic communities, such as the decline of discipline, bad leadership, and interference from secular society.

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Chapter
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The Cambridge History of Medieval Monasticism in the Latin West , pp. 599 - 617
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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