Abstract
This article provides a systematic and coherent overview of the historical development of monasticism in the medieval Latin West (early fifth to the second half of the 15th century) by synthesising the most recent (2001–2021) specialist outputs in all relevant sections. It is shown that the “monk”, as a profoundly institutionalized form of subjectivity, contributed to the overall development of the Western history of ideas on an unprecedented scale, unparalleled to this day. After providing a discursive context for the development of monasticism in the West (Augustine, Boethius, Benedict, Cassian and Cassiodorus), the article distinguishes between progress in a first phase (within monasteries and cathedral schools from the fifth century onward) and a second phase (within mendicant orders from the early 13th century onward). The article subsequently reviews and contextualises the most influential monastic figures from the Latin West, ranging from Alcuin in the eighth century to the most significant mendicant monks up to the 14th century and the most noteworthy orders that were developed during this millennium-long period.
First, developments in monasticism in the Latin West before the onset of the fall of Rome are explored, with special reference to the contributions of Augustine, Boethius, Benedict, Cassian and Cassiodorus. It is shown that monasteries were not merely ascetic spaces for the fulfilment of a contemplative life, but centres of education where a study of the seven liberal arts could be combined with Christian instruction. Five themes are subsequently addressed in the period from the onset of the Carolingian Renaissance in the eighth century to the 12th century, focusing extensively on the contributions of Alcuin of York, John Scottus Eriugena, Anselm of Canterbury and Peter Damian: 1) the development of monastery schools during the Carolingian Renaissance; 2) monastery reforms during the 11th century; 3) the most significant monastery orders up to the 12th century (the Clunians, the Camaldolesians, the Vallumbrosians, the Carthusians and the Cistercians); 4) internal conflict between monks and between monastic orders during the 12th century (employing the deep rift between Bernard of Clairvaux and Peter Abelard as a good example); and 5) the adaptation of the Alcuinian curriculum in monastery schools under pressure from the new universities’ curricula (using Hugo of St Victor’s highly original and simplified four-part scheme of the trivium and quadrivium as exemplary of these idiosyncratic adaptations). The development of monasticism from the early 13th century onward is traced to the founding of the four mendicant orders between 1210 and 1244, and their virtually immediate impact on scholasticism: the Franciscans, the Dominicans, the Augustinians and the Carmelites. In each instance the most significant representatives of these orders are presented from the most recent specialised research. Similarities and differences between these orders, and the profoundly political ruptures that compromised the Dominican order internally from the 1320s onward, with their Franciscan counterparts prospering at the same time, are highlighted.
In conclusion it is noted that both monastery and mendicant monks were transferers of a millennium-long intellectual passion in which research and lecturing, the translation of texts of antiquity predominantly into Latin, the refined copying of older and contemporary texts, the synthesis and editing of philosophical texts of antiquity in Greek and Latin and especially the preservation of texts and intellectual traditions amidst severe political and societal instability in Western and South Europe, Britain and Ireland, were the most significant consequences. The characteristics of these monks’ intellectual labours were their precision, thoroughness and the academic integrity that imprinted them; their ability and willingness to engage the idea-historical past, always reconceptualising it. The “monk”, from whichever order, was a formidable guardian of what was entrusted to him. The role of the medieval monachus in the conservation and intensifying of concepts such as truth, virtue, order and tradition is indeed unparalleled to this day. That is why the earliest communities of monks were called “orders”: They created order amidst turmoil and tempest, furthering and deepening the notion of sensus communis – that there are things that can be known and logically, clearly and decisively communicated within a particular community. In their instance that “particular community” was localised in monasteries, whether presented from cloister classrooms and libraries or from mendicant studia at the young universities. In this broad sense this article contributes to scholarship in medieval history and philosophy by synthesising the most recent and relevant specialist outputs regarding leading monastic figures and prominent orders from the medieval Latin West, as reviewed and contextualised in the exposition, thereby presenting a systematic and coherent overview of the historical development of monasticism during this period of roughly a thousand years.
Keywords: Alcuin; Anselm; Augustine; Augustinian Order; Benedict; Boethius; Carmelites; Cassian; Cassiodorus; Damian; Dominicans; Eriugena; Franciscans; mendicant orders; monasteries in the medieval Latin West
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