Monasticism Post-Carolingian Europe

This book is the first in English to attempt to tackle all aspects of the development of monasticism during the 10th and 11th centuries in the area covered by the present-day countries of France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands. Certain themes in monastic history (eg the various reform movements) have been studied intensively in the past; nor is there a scarcity of local and regional studies. However, the evidence tends to be scattered in more or less obscure scholarly publications written in half a dozen languages, and therefore is not readily available to all students. The authors provide a synthesis in which the results of recent research are taken into account, and they supplement them, where necessary, with original research carried out by themselves. Thus the book will prove helpful not only as an introduction for students, but also as an incentive to scholars to carry our further research. The book is not restricted to ecclesiastical, institutional, cultural or spiritual aspects of monastic history; while paying ample attention to them, much also is said about anthropological issues (religious anthropology, the history of mentalities) and the complex interaction of monks and abbots with representatives of other political and social groups (the aristocracy, kings and emperors, but also peasants and town dwellers). Many of these aspects have been dealt with separately in the past; no attempt has been made so far to deal with their complex totality in one single textbook.