HIST 2220 Lecture 9: The New Monks
12 Oct 2016
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Document Summary
Too rich, too grand, too much power. Around 1100, new monastic movements spring up: cistercians are the largest and most powerful. Small group of monks become dissatisfied with the benedictine lifestyle: 1098, leave to find a new place for a monastery. A desert, or a place with little habitation. By 1112, the remaining 12 monks felt it was hopeless: bernard came to become a cistercian monk. In 3 years, bernard is abbot of the new cistercian monastery at clairvaux: he was really good at recruiting and advocating for the order. New experiment in institutions: tried to place the monasteries away from population centers. Lead to the cultivation of new crops and livestock. Instead of peasants working the field, the monks labour themselves: lay brothers spring up to solely work the field. These are peasants who live a quasi-monastic life. Goal was to have a simple, poor, purified lifestyle. Only the bare minimum of what benedict dictates.
