Book Section
Benjamin Thompson
The Monastic Enclosure
The moral and physical enclosure of monks and nuns is central to the founding documents of Western monasticism. But even there it encountered the need for monasteries to interact with their societies, through recruits, hospitality, and the monastic economy. The increasing intensity of this tension is traced through key reforming texts, until later English visitations open up religious houses to closer scrutiny, ironically aided by inmates’ quandary over whether to conceal or reveal their secrets.
Keywords: monasticism; enclosure; Benedictines; Cistercians; visitation; Benedict XII; reform
| Title |
The Monastic Enclosure
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| Author(s) |
Benjamin Thompson
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| Identifier | |
| Description |
The moral and physical enclosure of monks and nuns is central to the founding documents of Western monasticism. But even there it encountered the need for monasteries to interact with their societies, through recruits, hospitality, and the monastic economy. The increasing intensity of this tension is traced through key reforming texts, until later English visitations open up religious houses to closer scrutiny, ironically aided by inmates’ quandary over whether to conceal or reveal their secrets.
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| Is Part Of | |
| Place |
Berlin
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| Publisher |
ICI Berlin Press
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| Date |
19 April 2022
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| Subject |
monasticism
enclosure
Benedictines
Cistercians
visitation
Benedict XII
reform
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| Rights |
© by the author(s)
Except for images or otherwise noted, this publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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| Language |
en-GB
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| page start |
249
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| page end |
269
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| Source |
Openness in Medieval Europe, ed. by Manuele Gragnolati and Almut Suerbaum, Cultural Inquiry, 23 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2022), pp. 249–69
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References
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Cite as:
Benjamin Thompson, ‘The Monastic Enclosure’, in Openness in Medieval Europe, ed. by Manuele Gragnolati and Almut Suerbaum, Cultural Inquiry, 23 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2022), pp. 249-69 <https://doi.org/10.37050/ci-23_13>