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Monasticism was the spiritual engine of medieval Christianity. From the desert fathers of the early Christian period to the great mendicant orders of the High Middle Ages, the monastic tradition shaped the religious, intellectual, and economic life of Europe in profound ways. The monastery was a place of prayer, study, and work; the monks and nuns who inhabited it sought to live according to the Gospel in a community of discipleship; and the abbot or abbess who led it was one of the major figures of medieval society. By the High Middle Ages, monasticism had produced a wide variety of orders and congregations, each with its own rule, its own customs, and its own contribution to the life of the Church.
This cluster explores monasticism and the religious orders of the period. The articles in the related long-tail pages provide deeper examinations of specific orders and topics.
C. H. Lawrence, “Medieval Monasticism: Forms of Religious Life in Western Europe in the Middle Ages” (1984), is the standard English-language synthesis. André Vauchez, in “La Spiritualité du Moyen Âge occidental” (1975), is the indispensable French complement. The Rule of St Benedict itself is available in several English translations; the page below uses the critical edition and translation of Timothy Fry, OSB, in the Liturgical Press edition (1981).
The Rule of St. Benedict
The Rule of St. Benedict was the foundational document of Western monasticism. Written by Benedict of Nursia (c. 480–547) in the sixth century, the Rule provided a comprehensive guide for the life of the monk. The Rule emphasized the principles of stability (the monk was to remain in one monastery for life), obedience (to the abbot), and conversion of manners (a comprehensive commitment to monastic life). The Rule also organized the daily life of the monk around the Divine Office — the recitation of the psalms and prayers at eight fixed hours of the day and night — and the manual work of the fields, the workshop, and the library.
The Rule of St. Benedict gradually displaced the earlier monastic rules in Western Europe — the Rule of St. Basil in the East, the Rule of St. Columbanus in the West, the Rule of the Master in Italy — and it became the standard rule for Western monks. The synthesis of the Benedictine Rule with the Celtic, Lombard, and Frankish monastic traditions was a gradual process, and it was essentially complete by the Carolingian period. The Council of Aachen in 817, under the emperor Louis the Pious, made the Benedictine Rule the standard rule for all monasteries in the Carolingian Empire.
The Benedictine monastery was a self-contained community. The monks lived in a common dormitory, ate in a common refectory, worked in common tasks, and gathered in the church for the Divine Office and the Mass. The abbot was the head of the community, elected by the monks and serving for life; he had the authority to make decisions, to discipline the monks, and to represent the community in its dealings with the outside world. The prior assisted the abbot, and the various officials of the monastery — the cellarer, the infirmarian, the guest-master, the sacristan — had specific responsibilities.
The Benedictine monasteries were major economic institutions. The labor of the monks produced the food, the cloth, the metalwork, the illuminated manuscripts, and the various other goods needed for the monastery and for the wider community. The Benedictine monasteries were major landowners, and they were often the principal economic actors in a region. The alms of the monastery — the food given to the poor, the hospitality extended to travelers, the care of the sick — were major forms of medieval charity.
The Cluniac Reform
The Cluniac reform of the tenth century was the first major effort to reform the Benedictine tradition. The abbey of Cluny, founded in 910 by William the Pious, duke of Aquitaine, was a new kind of monastery: it was free from the control of the local bishop, and it was dedicated to a stricter observance of the Benedictine Rule. The Cluniac life was organized around the liturgy — the elaborate celebration of the Mass and the Divine Office — and the monks of Cluny were renowned for the beauty of their worship and the length of their services.
The Cluniac reform spread rapidly across Europe in the tenth and eleventh centuries. By the time of Abbot Hugh of Cluny (1049–1109), the Cluniac congregation included hundreds of monasteries across France, Italy, Spain, England, and Germany. The priors of the dependent houses were appointed by the abbot of Cluny, and the Cluniac monasteries were bound together in a single congregation under the leadership of the abbot of Cluny.
The Cluniac reform was a major stimulus to the Gregorian Reform of the papacy. The Cluniac monks were prominent among the supporters of Pope Gregory VII, and the Cluniac monasteries were major centers of the reform movement. The Cluniac tradition of elaborate liturgy and beautiful worship also stimulated the development of the Romanesque style of architecture and the illumination of manuscripts. The Cluniac monasteries were major patrons of the arts and learning, and they played a major role in the cultural transformation of the period.
Yet the Cluniac reform also produced new problems. The wealth and prestige of the Cluniac monasteries provoked the resentment of those who saw them as betrayals of the monastic ideal. The elaborate liturgy was criticized for its worldliness, and the accumulation of property and endowments was criticized as a violation of the poverty required by the Benedictine Rule. The Cistercian reform of the late eleventh century was a response to these criticisms.
The Cistercian Order
The Cistercian Order was founded in 1098 at the abbey of Cîteaux in Burgundy, by a group of monks who wished to live according to a stricter observance of the Benedictine Rule. The Cistercians rejected the Cluniac emphasis on elaborate liturgy and artistic display, and they sought a return to the simplicity and austerity of the early Benedictine tradition. The Cistercian churches were plain, with no towers, no stained glass, and no elaborate sculptural decoration. The Cistercian monks worked in the fields, ate simple food, and observed a strict silence.
The Cistercian order expanded rapidly under the leadership of St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153), who joined the new monastery of Cîteaux in 1112 and was soon made abbot of Clairvaux. Bernard was one of the most influential figures of the twelfth century: he was a major preacher of the Second Crusade, a major theologian, and a major political advisor to popes and kings. Under his leadership, the Cistercian order founded hundreds of monasteries across Europe, and the Cistercian tradition of austerity, simplicity, and manual work became one of the most influential spiritual traditions of the period.
The Cistercian monasteries were major economic institutions. The Cistercians were pioneers of the agricultural development of the medieval landscape, draining marshes, clearing forests, and establishing new farms and villages. The Cistercian granges — outlying farms managed by lay brothers — were major agricultural enterprises, and the wool and the grain of the Cistercian estates were major commodities in the medieval economy. The Cistercian monasteries were also major patrons of the arts, especially in the architecture of their plain but austerely beautiful churches.
The Cistercian order produced a rich tradition of theology and spirituality. St. Bernard was a major mystic and a major preacher, and his Sermons on the Song of Songs was one of the most influential works of medieval theology. The Cistercian tradition of devotional reading of the scriptures, of affective prayer, and of mystical union with God became one of the most important spiritual currents of the period, and it influenced the development of the Devotio Moderna of the Late Middle Ages and the Reformation of the sixteenth century.
The Mendicant Orders
The mendicant orders — the Franciscans and the Dominicans — emerged in the early thirteenth century in response to the new urban and commercial society of the period. Unlike the Benedictine and Cistercian monks, who lived in rural monasteries and supported themselves by the labor of their own communities, the mendicants lived in towns, supported themselves by begging (hence the term mendicant), and devoted themselves to preaching, teaching, and pastoral work.
The Franciscan Order was founded by St. Francis of Assisi (1181/82–1226), the son of a wealthy merchant who had renounced his inheritance to live in poverty and preach the Gospel. The Franciscans — known also as the Friars Minor — adopted a rule of absolute poverty, owning no property individually or collectively, and living by begging and by the alms of the faithful. The Franciscan emphasis on simplicity, humility, and evangelical poverty was one of the most powerful spiritual movements of the period, and it attracted many adherents, especially among the townspeople and the poorer classes.
The Dominican Order was founded by St. Dominic (1170–1221), a Spanish canon regular who had been involved in the mission to the Cathars of southern France. The Dominicans — known also as the Order of Preachers — combined the mendicant life with a strong commitment to preaching and teaching, and they played a major role in the defense of the faith against heresy and in the education of the clergy. The Dominican tradition of scholastic theology produced some of the greatest theologians of the period, including St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Albert the Great, and Blessed John of Vercelli.
The mendicant orders were major intellectual forces. The Dominicans established studia (houses of study) in the major universities of Europe — Paris, Bologna, Oxford, Cambridge, Cologne — and the Franciscan tradition of scholasticism produced some of the major thinkers of the period, including St. Bonaventure, Blessed John Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham. The mendicant tradition of preaching produced some of the most famous preachers of the period, including St. Anthony of Padua, St. Bernardino of Siena, and St. Vincent Ferrer.
The mendicant orders were also major pastoral forces. The mendicant friars served the urban populations that the parish system could not reach, and they played a major role in the care of the poor, the sick, and the marginalized. The mendicant tradition of pastoral preaching — direct, vernacular, and emotionally engaging — was a major feature of the religious life of the late medieval town, and it contributed to the reform of the parish system and the religious instruction of the laity.
Nuns and Religious Women
The religious life for women was as varied and as important as the religious life for men. The nuns lived in monasteries for women, often of aristocratic foundation, governed by an abbess and a rule. The nuns of the great houses — Fontevraud, Barking, Quedlinburg, Sainte-Marie de Rieunelle — were often drawn from the highest aristocracy, and they could exercise considerable authority as abbesses of great communities.
The Cistercian nuns were a major force in the religious life of the period. The Cistercian tradition of austerity and simplicity attracted many women of the aristocratic class, and the Cistercian nunneries were major economic and spiritual institutions. The Cistercian nunneries were often associated with the Cistercian monasteries, and they followed the same rule and the same customs as the monks.
The Franciscan and Dominican nuns were another major force. The Poor Clares, founded by St. Clare of Assisi (1194–1253) under the guidance of St. Francis, established a tradition of evangelical poverty for women that was as rigorous as the Franciscan tradition for men. The Dominican nuns combined the contemplative life with pastoral work, and they played a major role in the education of women and the care of the sick.
The Beguines of the Low Countries and the Rhineland were a unique form of religious life. The Beguines were laywomen who lived in community without taking formal vows, and they supported themselves by manual work (especially weaving and lace-making) and by charity. The Beguine tradition combined the contemplative life with active ministry, and it attracted many women who did not wish to enter a formal monastery or who could not afford a dowry. The Beguine tradition produced some of the most remarkable mystics of the period, including Hadewijch, Mechtild of Magdeburg, and Mechtild of Hackeborn.
Sources
Principal sources used in this article:
- C. H. Lawrence, Medieval Monasticism: Forms of Religious Life in Western Europe in the Middle Ages (Longman, 1984).
Further reading:
- André Vauchez, La Spiritualité du Moyen Âge occidental (1975).
For a recent single-volume synthesis with full scholarly apparatus, see the relevant chapter of Barbara H. Rosenwein, A Short History of the Middle Ages (University of Toronto Press, 2014).