In Cistercian Stories for Nuns and Monks: The Sacramental Imagination of Engelhard of Langheim, Martha G. Newman has written a significant addition to the body of literature concerning monasticism within the study of medieval church history. Professor Newman, in this work, seems to be in alignment with the new understanding of the Cistercian order's founding and its attitude toward women adherents as suggested by such scholars as Constance H. Berman (The Cistercian Evolution: The Invention of a Religious Order in Twelfth Century Europe [2010]) and Anne. E. Lester (Creating Cistercian Nuns: The Women's Religious Movement and its Reform in Thirteenth-Century Champagne [2011]).
Professor Berman in particular challenges the traditional view of the founding of the order, namely that it was founded in 1098, but rather contends that this occurred later, after the death of Bernard of Clairvaux in 1153, and that the order grew by incorporating houses and including women, who would adopt the Cistercian observance. Additionally, the view that the Cistercian order was disdainful of women was identified by R. W. Southern in Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages (1970, 314–17). This reference was so influential regarding the attitude of the Cistercians toward women that it was later alluded to by both Sally Thompson in her article “The Problem of Cistercian Nuns in the Twelfth and Early Thirteenth Centuries” (in Medieval Women, ed. Derek Baker [1977], 227), and Constance Berman in her review of Anne Lester's work cited above (“Lester, Creating Cistercian Nuns,” Medieval Review 12.11.07 [2012]). Perhaps, Professor Berman noted, according to the traditional Cistercian history, Cistercian nuns did not exist in the twelfth century! Professor Newman, of course, would agree with Professor Berman that they did.
In this work, Newman identifies the unique contribution of one Cistercian, Engelhard of Langheim, to the development of the order by the recognition of the validity of women as members of the Cistercians, and his efforts to guide them in proper Cistercian observances. Engelhard used stories to educate and train the Cistercian nuns of Wechterswinkel. “But unlike the Cistercian abbots and other officials Engelhard used stories rather than visitations and regulations to connect women to the Cistercian order” (40). Newman provides a helpful appendix listing the manuscript bases for Engelhard's stories, and her use of and facility with these primary sources enhance the thesis of her book. After a biographical sketch of Engelhard, his influences, and his abilities in the use of rhetoric in the early part of the book, Newman proceeds to make her case that Engelhard's use of stories as visible signs helped shape the nuns spiritually. Using stories concerning the sacraments such as the Eucharist, and later penance, Engelhard was able to demonstrate to the nuns that the observable elements signified spiritual truths foundational not only to Cistercian observance, but Christianity itself.
Newman argues that this practice allowed a spiritual path for these nuns that countered the growing twelfth-century emphasis on sacerdotalism, to which the nuns had minimal access. Indeed, she emphasizes that by supporting the biblical concept that faith is the conviction of things unseen, Engelhard was able “to transmit Cistercian culture to people at a distance” (129). One of the important and helpful distinctions that Newman makes is between religio, religion, and fides. She correctly notes that historians have sometimes confused these terms, conflating religio, which she defines as monastic observance, with religion, which relates to the distinctives of the Christian faith. Also, she identifies the truth that within Catholicism, fides is progressively achieved, and that Engelhard was instrumental in that process through the communication of his stories to the nuns of Wechterswinkel.
Newman demonstrates that through his use of stories, Engelhard was able to depict Mary, an especially venerated figure among the Cistercians, as a spiritual leader, a helpful identification for Cistercian nuns and their incorporation into the order, since it allowed them to feel themselves to be on an equal spiritual plane with their brother monks. Newman acknowledges, however, that we do not know how the nuns of Wechterswinkel responded to Engelhard's stories. It is therefore difficult to know how successful his approach was. Nor may it necessarily be possible to use his example as representative of larger efforts by Cistercians to facilitate the incorporation of nuns into their order through training in Cistercian religio. Nevertheless, Professor Newman has written a very helpful work that should provide a lasting and beneficial resource for medieval church historians.
