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The speaking cross, the persecuted princess and the murdered earl: the early history of Romsey Abbey
Posted on February 5, 2013 | No CommentsThe Old-English note may have begun life as an endorsement, either to the grant of privileges or (what is perhaps more likely) to the agreement about the woodland belonging to Romsey, a notice of which has become attached to it; it was not uncommon when diplomas were collected into cartularies for such endorsements to be used as ‘headings’ for the text. -
The Consuetudines canonice of Lund
Posted on December 4, 2012 | No CommentsIn this paper we shall deal with the customs in Lund, the so-called Consuetudines canonice. -
The Passion of Peter Abelard
Posted on November 22, 2012 | No CommentsIn the philosophical part of the project we chose not to use Abelardís work Dialogue of the Philosopher with a Jew and a Christian, which explains his views on different religions. Since we decided to use the Letters of Direction in order to get an overview about Abelardís view on Christianity, there appeared to be little need for the aforementioned book. -
Excusing the Inexcusable: Abbots Who Diminish the Patrimony, and the Monks Who Love Them Anyway
Posted on November 7, 2012 | No CommentsThis paper was part of the fantastic SESSION IV: Abbots between Ideals and Institutions, 10th–12th Centuries. This paper focused on the writing about abbots during the tumultuous period of Stephen's reign. -
You Are What You Eat: Hildegard of Bingen’s Viriditas
Posted on October 21, 2012 | No CommentsHildegard argues in the beginning of Physica that humans become what they eat. -
Organa doctorum: Gerbert of Aurillac, organbuilder?
Posted on October 11, 2012 | No CommentsHe was born a peasant. Yet, through intelligence, political skill and uncommon good luck he came to be one of the most influential people in the Europe of his time...Pope Sylvester II. -
Bernard Ayglier and William of Pagula: Two Approaches To Monastic Law
Posted on October 10, 2012 | No CommentsThe paper examines the role of canon law in two monastic works, the Speculum monachorum (SM) (1272x74) of Bernard Ayglier (d.1282), abbot of Montecassino, and the Speculum religiosorum (SR) (c.1322) of William of Pagula, a canonist and secular priest (d.1332) -
The Education of Heloise in Twelfth-Century France
Posted on September 9, 2012 | No CommentsThis paper holds that Heloise had opportunity and one can demonstrate that other women, both secular and religious, while being located within the twelfth century of France, also had similar, if not more opportunities in education, business, and other domains that were typically thought of as impossible for women of this era. -
“Partners in the same”: Monastic Devotional Culture in Late Medieval English Literature
Posted on September 9, 2012 | No CommentsTo understand this apparent incongruity, it is, I argue, necessary to interrogate more carefully the continuation of monastic literary culture and its gradual diffusion beyond the walls of the cloister. -
Mary and the Jews in Anglo-Norman Monastic Culture
Posted on July 15, 2012 | No CommentsThis thesis looks at the ways in which Benedictine monks contributed to the fashioning of images of Jews in sources related to the Marian cult in the post-Conquest period, 1066-1154. -
Total St Gall: Medieval Monastery as a Disciplinary Institution
Posted on May 16, 2012 | No CommentsHow much was a medieval monastery reminiscent of a modern prison? Or insane asylum? -
Temptation and Redemption: A Monastic Life in Stone
Posted on March 23, 2012 | No CommentsThe monks who wrote the legend of Eugenia and those of the other transvestite women/monks were explicitly including a female in an all male monastic milieu. Women, as a rule, were not allowed in male monastic enclosures; the Rule at Cluny strictly forbade any women to enter the grounds. -
Convents, Courts and Colleges: The Prioress and the Second Nun
Posted on March 22, 2012 | No CommentsPilgrimage, after Whitby, and before Vatican II, was a secular activity, a performance of piety by the laity, not by the clergy; although there were a few exceptions.7 Chaucer's Monk, Friar, Prioress, Nun, Priest, Summoner, Pardoner and Parson ought not to be here. Their presence is outrageous comedy. Inns were forbidden to the cloistered clergy who, if they had to travel, were enjoined to stay in other monastic establishments along their route. -
Writing the Order: Religious-Political Discourses in Late Anglo-Saxon England
Posted on March 19, 2012 | No CommentsThe issue of how authority was created, maintained and defined in religious terms by the written word is therefore the main concern throughout this study. -
The Mystery of Monasticism: History, Spirituality and Vocation
Posted on March 18, 2012 | No CommentsWhat is a monk? What exactly do they do? What is the purpose of their way of life? These are the questions people often have when they first visit a monastery. -
The Liturgical Context of Ælfric’s Homilies for Rogation
Posted on February 12, 2012 | No CommentsTo search out Ælfric’s sources is also to inquire into his method of composition, to guess at the principles that guided him to some sources and away from others. Malcolm Godden has provided a remarkably full list of Ælfric’s sources, and suggests that Ælfric relied on relatively few volumes to compose his homilies. -
From Jerusalem to Malta: the Hospital’s character and evolution
Posted on February 10, 2012 | No CommentsIn 1113 Girardus secured an important papal privilege which recognized the Hospital's independence; its members were considered to be in some sense technically religious and they were given the power to elect their own ruler. -
Writers in religious orders and their lay patrons in late medieval England
Posted on February 6, 2012 | No CommentsCritics have long recognized that the religious orders played an important part in the production of vernacular devotional literature in late medieval England. The orders were well suited to this task. Reading and writing were an important part of the life of those who lived under a rule. -
The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VI, 1065-1109
Posted on January 16, 2012 | No CommentsThe reign of Alfonso VI was also to be the setting within which León-Castilla joined in the emergence of a new western Europe and itself also assimilated the new norms and structures that were being erected everywhere there. -
The Benedictine Centuries: Monasticism in Anglo-Saxon England, 597-1066
Posted on January 4, 2012 | No CommentsThis synopsis of the type of person who became a Benedictine monk reflects the welcoming attitude that St Benedict hoped to give to the rule for monastic living that now bears his name. It also reflects the variety of people who came into a life of monasticism in England during the Anglo-Saxon period of 597-1066. These people were drawn to the simple spiritual life formed by St Benedict of Nursia. -
HASKINS CONFERENCE: Context and Cultivation: The Formation of a Monastic Property Network in Eleventh Century Brittany
Posted on November 5, 2011 | No CommentsThis paper focused on the Benedictine abbey of St. Florent. -
HASKINS CONFERENCE: The Monks of Fécamp and their Ducal Patrons: Transformations of the Eleventh Century
Posted on November 5, 2011 | No CommentsThis paper investigates the relationship between the 11th century Norman Dukes and the monastery from the monastic point of view. -
St Benedict of Nursia: the Birth of Western Monasticism
Posted on October 23, 2011 | No CommentsSt Benedict of Nursia: the Birth of Western Monasticism Steele, Helen Published Online, Guernicus.com (2006) Abstract St Benedict of Nursia was the founder of western monasticism and an important figure in... -
Ralph de Limésy: Conqueror’s Nephew? The Origins of a Discounted Claim
Posted on September 15, 2011 | No CommentsRalph de Limésy: Conqueror’s Nephew? The Origins of a Discounted Claim Jackson, Peter (University of Oxford) Prosopon Newsletter (1997) Abstract The name of Ralph de Limésy is well enough known... -
Medieval Dreams: A Sample of Historical and Psychological Criticism
Posted on September 11, 2011 | No CommentsDeep into the Middle Ages, in Western Europe a small group of clergymen, mainly monks, had a monopoly on recording dreams in writing