The Letters of Peter of Celle

The Letters of Peter of Celle
Author: Peter (of Celle, Bishop of Chartres)
Publisher: Clarendon Press
Total Pages: 846
Release: 2001
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780198204459

Peter of Celle was a figure of great authority and influence in twelfth-century France. His letters offer unique insight into the ideals and values of the monastic world at a critical turning point for western religion. This is the first translation of his correspondence and the first complete modern edition.

The Letter Collection of Peter Abelard and Heloise

The Letter Collection of Peter Abelard and Heloise
Author: Peter Abelard
Publisher:
Total Pages: 792
Release: 2013-08-22
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0198222483

The letters of Abelard and Heloise contain a vivid account of one of the most celebrated love affairs in the western world that raised questions about love, marriage, and religious life in the Middle Ages. This much needed new edition of the Latin text contains English translation, a full introduction, extensive annotation, and detailed indexes.

The Correspondence between Peter the Venerable and Bernard of Clairvaux

The Correspondence between Peter the Venerable and Bernard of Clairvaux
Author: Gillian R. Knight
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 516
Release: 2017-03-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 1351892304

Starting from the premise of the letter as literary artefact, with a potential for ambiguity, irony and textual allusion, this innovative analysis of the correspondence between the Cluniac abbot, Peter the Venerable, and the future saint, Bernard of Clairvaux, challenges the traditional use of these letters as a source for historical and (auto)biographical reconstruction. Applying techniques drawn from modern theories of epistolarity and contemporary literary criticism to letters treated as whole constructs, Knight demonstrates the presence of a range of manipulative strategies and argues for the consequent production of a significant degree of fictionalisation. She traces the emergence of an epistolarly sequence which forms a kind of extended narrative, drawing its authority from Augustine and Jerome, and rooted in classical rhetoric. The work raises important implications both for the study of relations between Cluniacs and Cistercians in the first half of the 12th century and for the approach to letter-writing as a whole.

The Popes and the Baltic Crusades

The Popes and the Baltic Crusades
Author: Iben Fonnesberg-Schmidt
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2007
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004155023

"The Popes and the Baltic Crusades" examines the formulation of papal policy on the crusades and missions in the Baltic region in the central Middle Ages and analyses why and how the crusade concept was extended from the Holy Land to the Baltic region.

Learning as Shared Practice in Monastic Communities, 1070-1180

Learning as Shared Practice in Monastic Communities, 1070-1180
Author: Micol Long
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2021-10-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004466495

In this study, Micol Long looks at Latin letters written in Western Europe between 1070 and 1180 to reconstruct how monks and nuns learned from each other in a continuous, informal and reciprocal way during their daily communal life.

The Church in the Early Middle Ages

The Church in the Early Middle Ages
Author: G.R. Evans
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2007-03-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 085773556X

The creation of a new history of the Church at the beginning of the third millennium is an ambitious but necessary project. Perhaps nowhere is it needed more than in re-describing the Church's development - its life and its thinking - in the period that followed the end of the 'early Church' in antiquity. The cultural, social and political dominance of Christendom in what we now call 'the West', from about 600-1300, made the Christian Church a shaper of the modern world in respects which go far beyond its religious influence. Writing with her customary authority, and with a magisterial grasp of the original sources, G. R. Evans brings this formative era vividly to life both for the student of religious history and general reader. She concentrates as much on the colourful human episodes of the time as on broader institutional and intellectual developments. The result is a compelling and thoroughly modern introduction to devotional and theological thought in the early Middle Ages as well as to ecclesiastical and pastoral life at large.

The I.B.Tauris History of Monasticism

The I.B.Tauris History of Monasticism
Author: G.R. Evans
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2015-12-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0857726641

From the earliest centuries of the church, asceticism and the contemplative life have been profoundly important aspects of western Christianity. And in assessing the glories of western civilization, perhaps the best place to start is within medieval monastic institutions, not outside of them. For while monasteries withdrew from the main currents of their societies, until the rise of universities in the 12th century they provided fertile soil and sanctuary to the liberal arts and sciences as well as those who wanted to spend their lives focused upon God. They became the driving cultural forces of Europe, nurturing education, music, manuscript illumination, art and history, agriculture, animal husbandry - all in addition to spiritual guidance. In this first general history of monasticism since 1900, Andrea Dickens explores the cloistered communities and individuals who have aspired to the ascetic ideal in their religious life, assessing the impact they have made on the wider church and its practices. She discusses some of the best known names in Christian history - including Cuthbert, Columba, Hilda of Whitby, Peter Abelard and Thomas Merton - and traces the monastic impulse from its beginnings in the Egyptian desert through the Rule of St Benedict, Cluny's foundation in 910, the austerity of the Cistercians, the legacy of women's houses, the critique of Luther and Calvin, Trappists and Catholic reform, up to the present-day ecumencial Taize community. Offering a lively and informed overview of western monasticism, the book will be essential reading for students of history and religion as well as the lay reader.

Freunde, Gönner und Getreue

Freunde, Gönner und Getreue
Author: Bernadette Descharmes
Publisher: V&R unipress GmbH
Total Pages: 398
Release: 2011
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 3899717872

English summary: Close relationships that go beyond family ties and kinships have become an interdisciplinary research subject that has received a lot of attention. Variations of social ties such as friendship, patronage and social networks ensue from different historical and cultural contexts and, hence, constitute a significant yet under-represented subject of interdisciplinary research. Questions such as the changing semantics of friendship, historical, intercultural and political practices of friendship, patronage and loyalty were the focus of an international conference for a critical discussion and re-assessment of values and norms that constitute such relationships in different cultures and epochs, as well as the social circumstances that determine them. Aspects of interest included the constitution and representation of the body and gender and the growth of trust and deceit, as well as the culturally and historically different practices and semantics of friendship and patronage and the way they are perceived according to social status and social and historical contexts. The results of the conference are presented in this volume. German description: Nahbeziehungen, die uber familiare und verwandtschaftliche Bindungen hinausgehen, haben sich zu einem vielbeachteten Thema interdisziplinarer Forschung entwickelt. Beziehungen wie Freundschaft, Patronage und soziale Netzwerke als Variationen sozialer Bindungen sind das Ergebnis unterschiedlicher historischer wie kultureller Kontexte und stellen deshalb einen wesentlichen, aber immer noch unterreprasentierten Gegenstand interdisziplinaren Forschens dar. Fragen nach sich andernden Freundschaftssemantiken, historischen und interkulturellen bzw. politischen Praktiken von Freundschaft, Patronage und Loyalitat standen im Mittelpunkt einer internationalen Tagung, die eine kritische Diskussion und Neubewertung von Werten und Normen, die z.B. Freundschaft in verschiedenen Kulturen und historischen Epochen konstituieren, sowie der sozialen Umstande, die diese Nahbeziehungen bedingen, vorgenommen hat. Aspekte wie Konstitution und Reprasentation von Korper und Gender und das Entstehen von Vertrauen und Betrug waren dabei ebenso von Interesse wie die kulturell und historisch unterschiedliche Praxis und Semantik von Freundschaft und Patronage sowie deren jeweilige Wahrnehmung in Abhangigkeit von ihrer gesellschaftlichen Situation in verschiedenen sozialen und historischen Kontexten. Die Ergebnisse dieser Tagung werden nun im vorliegenden Band prasentiert.

Friendship and Community

Friendship and Community
Author: Brian Patrick McGuire
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 650
Release: 2010
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 9780801476723

First published in 1988, this book has been widely debated, inspiring the current interest on medieval friendship. In a new introduction, McGuire surveys the critical reaction to the original edition and new research on friendship.