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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 June 2011
In 1919, Cuthbert Butler, abbot of Downside abbey and one of the major figures in Roman Catholic intellectual life in England in the early years of this century, published an interpretation of Benedictine history which stressed the cenobitical spirit of the Benedictine Rule. Butler felt that Benedict avoided the excesses of physical asceticism and lonely competition found in earlier, more eremitical forms of monasticism and emphasized instead a life of obedience and stability within the monastic family. This interpretation has so dominated more recent scholarship on medieval monasticism that few students of the Benedictine Rule have noticed how little discussion of community it actually contains.
2 Butler, Cuthbert, Benedictine Monachism: Studies in Benedictine Life and Rule (2nd ed.; London and New York: Longmans, 1924)Google Scholar. On Butler, see Knowles, David, The Historian and Character and Other Essays (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1963) 264–362.Google Scholar
3 Butler's emphases have been continued by the most influential English historian of monasticism, David Knowles (see The Monastic Order in England: A History of Its Development from the Time of Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council: 940–1216 [Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1940; reprint with corrections, 1963]Google Scholar and Christian Monasticism [World University Library; New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969]Google Scholar. For an interpretation of the Rule closer to my own, see Vogüé, Adalbert de, La communauté et I'abbé dans la règle de saint Benoôt [Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1961]).Google Scholar
4 See Morin, G., “Rainaud l'Ermite et Ives de Chartres: Un épisode de la crise du cénobitisme au Xle-XIIe siècle,” Revue bénédictine 40 (1928) 99–115Google Scholar; Dereine, C., “Odon de Tournai et la crise du cénobitisme au Xle siècle,” Revue du moyen âge latin 4 (1948) 137–54Google Scholar; Leclercq, Jean, “La crise du monachisme aux Xle et Xlle siècles,” Bullettino dell'Istituto storico italianoper il Medio Evo 70 (1958) 19–41Google Scholar; Cantor, Norman, “The Crisis of Western Monasticism,” The American Historical Review 66 (1960) 47–67Google Scholar; and the works by Knowles cited in n. 3 above. See also the essays in The Cistercian Spirit: A Symposium in Memory of Thomas Merton (ed. Pennington, M. B., Cistercian Studies Series 3; Spencer, Mass.: Cistercian Publications, 1970) especially pp. 23–24Google Scholar and 43.
5 See Grundmann, Herbert, Religiöse Bewegungen im Mittelalter: Untersuchungen über die geschichtlichen Zusammenhänge zwischen der Ketzerei, den Bettelorden und der religiösen Frauenbewegung im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert... (Berlin: E. Ebering, 1935Google Scholar; reprint with “Anhang,” 1961); Ernest McDonnell, W., “The Vita Apostolica: Diversity or Dissent?” Church History 24 (1955) 15–31Google Scholar; Marie-Dominique Chenu, “Moines, clercs, laïcs: au carrefour de la vie évangélique” (1954) in Chenu, La théologie au douzième siècle (Etudes de philosophie médiévale 45; Paris: J. Vrin, 1957) 225–51Google Scholar; and Vicaire, Marie Humbert, Limitation des apôtres: moines, chanoines, mendiants (IVe-XIIIe siècles) (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1963)Google Scholar. These works suggest that the religious revival of the eleventh and twelfth centuries was not merely a reform within monasticism but rather an outburst of religious feeling which touched clergy and laity as well as monks and resulted in a plethora of new groups, heterodox and orthodox.
6 See, for example, Gilson, Etienne, La théologie mystique de saint Bernard (Paris: J. Vrin, 1934)Google Scholar; Pacifique Delfgaauw, “La nature et les degrés de l'amour selon saint Bernard,” Saint Bernard théologien: Actes du congrès de Dijon 15–19 septembre 1953 in Analecta sacri ordinis cisterciensis, 11/3–4 (Rome: 1953) 234–52Google Scholar; idem, “La lumière de la charité chez saint Bernard,” Collectanea ordinis Cisterciensium Reformatorum 18 (1956) 42–69Google Scholar, 306–20; Amédée Hallier, Un éducateur monastique: Aelred de Rievaulx( Paris: Gabalda, 1959); the essays by Pennington, Leclercq, and Ryan in The Cistercian Spirit (ed. Pennington) 1–26, 88–133,224–53; Dumont, Charles, “Seeking God in Community According to St. Aelred,” Cistercian Studies 6 (1971) 289–317Google Scholar; and the bibliography in Wenner, Francis, “Charité: Le Xlle siècle,” Dictionnaire de spiritualité, 2 (Paris: 1953) cols. 570–72.Google Scholar
7 The conclusions in this article are based on a close study of works of spiritual advice by cloistered authors, in particular commentaries on the Benedictine and Augustinian Rules and works of advice for novices. On Benedictine commentaries see Calmet, Augustin, Commentaire littéral, historique et moral sur la règle de saint Benoît (Paris: 1734) 1. 73–90Google Scholar and 592–97; Ziegelbauer, Magnoald, Historia rei literariae ordinis S. Benedicti (Augsburg: M. Veith, 1754) 3. 12–24;Google Scholar Butler, Benedictine Monachism, 177–83; Schmitz, Philibert, Histoire de l'ordre de saint Benoît I (Maredsous: Editions de Maredsous, 1942)Google Scholar Appendix III, 373–81; Berlière, Ursmer, L'ascèse bénédictine des origines à la fin du XIIe siècle: essai historique (Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1927) 19–23;Google ScholarSchroll, M. Alfred, Benedictine Monasticism as Reflected in the Warnefrid-Hildemar Commentaries on the Rule (New York: Columbia University Press, 1941)Google Scholar, especially Appendix, 197–205. On Augustinian commentaries see Dickinson, John Compton, The Origins of the Austin Canons and Their Introduction into England (London: S.P.C.K., 1950) 65–66;Google ScholarDereine, Charles, “Chanoines,” Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographic ecclésiastiques 12 (Paris: 1953) col. 391;Google Scholar and Creytens, R., “Les commentateurs dominicains de la règle de S. Augustin du XIIIe au XVIe siècle,” Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum 33 (1963) 142–46.Google Scholar On treatises for novices see Leclercq, Jean, “Deux opuscules sur la formation des jeunes moines,” Revue d'ascétique et de mystique 33 (1957) 387–99;Google ScholarHermans, Vincent, De novitiatu in ordine Benedictino-Cisterciensi in jure communi usque 1335 in Analecta sacra ordinis Cisterciensis (Rome: 1947) 3. 5–10 and 94–105Google Scholar; and Mikkers, Edmond, “Un ‘Speculum novitii’ inédit d'Etienne de Salley,” Collectanea ordinis Cisterciensium Reformatorum 8 (1946) 17–19Google Scholar. In my article, “The Spirituality of Regular Canons in the Twelfth Century: A New Approach,” Medievalia et Humanistica, new ser. 4 (1973) 3–24Google Scholar, I have discussed my reasons for concentrating on these genres in studying twelfth-century spirituality. The choice of evidence cited in the present article presupposes the methodological discussion in the earlier article.
8 See Rupert of Deutz, Super quaedam capitula regulae divi Benedicti abbatis, PL 170, cols. 477–538; Hildegard of Bingen, Explanatio regulae sancti Benedicti, PL 197, cols. 1055–66; Peter Abelard, Epistola VIII, in McLaughlin, T. P., “Abelard's Rule for Religious Women,” Medieval Studies 18 (1956) 241–92Google Scholar; and the anonymous Instructio novitiorum secundum consuetudinem ecclesiae cantuariensis, MS Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 441, pages 359b-391a, portions of which have been published by Knowles, David in The Monastic Constitutions of Lanfranc (London: Nelson, 1951) 134–49.Google Scholar
9 See John of Fruttuaria, Liber de vitae ordine et morum institutione, PL 184, cols. 559–84, portions of which have been reedited in Wilmart, André, Auteurs spirituels et textes dévots du moyen âge latin: études d'histoire littéraire (Etudes et documents pour servir à l'histoiredu sentiment religieux; Paris: Bloud et Gay, 1932) 94–96Google Scholar and 96–98; Peter the Deacon, Expositio super regulam sancti Benedicti and Exortatorium... ad monachos... in the monks of Cassino, Monte, ed., Bibliotheca Casinensis 5 (Monte Cassino, 1894)Google Scholar, Florilegium, 82–165 and 61–72; Peter of Celle, Tractatus de disciplina claustrali, PL 202, cols. 1097–1146; and the anonymous De novitiis instruendis, MS Douai 827, cols. 60v–80, portions of which are published by Leclercq, in Rev. d'ascét. et de myst. 33 (1957) 388–93.Google Scholar
10 This is especially true of Peter the Deacon and Abelard; see nn. 8 and 9 above.
11 ‘The Cistercian Bernard of Clairvaux pays a great deal of attention to the role of the abbot and to particular regulations; see his De praecepto et dispensatione in Sancti Bernardi opera 3; Tractatus et Opuscula (ed. Leclercq, J. and Rochais, H. M.; Rome: Editions Cistercienses, 1963) 253–94Google Scholar. But he combines this with an emphasis on love and community; see below, nn. 13, 14, 39, and 42. Both Bernard and Aelred distrusted the eremitical life but saw the Cistercian life as combining solitude with community; see Bernard of Clairvaux, letter Contra vitam heremiticam, in Etudes sur saint Bernard et le texte de ses écrits (ed. Leclercq, Jean, Analecta sacri ordinis cisterciensis; Rome: 1953) 9. 138–39Google Scholar; Aelred of Rievaulx, sermon V In natali sancti Benedicti, PL 195, cols. 241–43; and Leclercq, Jean, “Problèmes de l'érémitisme,” Studia monastica 5 (1963) 208–12.Google Scholar
12 In addition to the Cistercian works cited in nn. 13–19 below, there are three Cistercian works which do not as clearly reflect the conception of community I outline here. Arnulf of Bohéries' Speculum monachorum, PL 184, cols. 1175–78, is a very short discussion of the monastic day and the monastic virtues, so short that its failure to outline a conception of spiritual progress within the cloistered community is not significant. Furthermore we should note that it contains some suggestion that the monk learns from the example of his brother; see n. 29 below. Joachim of Flora's De vita sancti Benedicti et de officio divino secundum eius doctrinam, in Baraut, Cipriano, “Un tratado inédito de Joaquin de Fiore: De vita sancti Benedicti …,” Analecta sacra tarraconensia 24 (1951) 33–122Google Scholar, is a statement of Joachim's theory of history and of the place of the Cistercians in it, not a discussion of the cloistered life. The anonymous commentary on the Rule from Pontigny, MS Auxerre 50, cols. 1r-125r, portions of which have been published in Talbot, C. H., “A Cistercian Commentary on the Benedictine Rule,” Studia Anselmiana, 43, Analecta monastica, 5 ser. (1958) 102–59Google Scholar, and idem, “The Commentary on the Rule from Pontigny,” Studia monastica 3 (1961) 77–122, is probably but not certainly Cistercian. It contains many unelaborated references to community, but is more like works of the older monasticism in lacking a sense of the individual's emotional development within the communal framework and in stressing abbot and superiors more than brothers.Google Scholar
13 Bernard of Clairvaux, De gradibus humilitatis, iii, in Opera (ed. Leclercq and Rochais) 3. 20–21. Translation by Burch, George B., The Steps of Humility (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1950) 133–35.Google Scholar
14 Bernard's analysis of the descent into pride, which makes up the second part of the treatise, assumes a communal setting. See De gradibus, xi–xv, Opera (ed. Leclercq and Rochais) 3. 46–50.
15 Aelred of Rievaulx, Speculum caritatis, III, iv and vi, PL 195, cols. 579B-C and 583C-D.
16 Aelred, Speculum. II, xxiv, and III, xii, PL 195, cols. 573 Band 588B-D. The themes mentioned here are also found in Aelred's De spirituali amicitia (ed. and tr. DuBois, J., L'amitié spirituelle; Bruges and Paris: Beyaert, 1948)Google Scholar. For two very different interpretations of Aelred's doctrine of friendship, see C. Dumont, Cistercian Studies, 6. 312–16, and Moore, John C., “Love in Twelfth-Century France: A Failure of Synthesis,” Traditio 24 (1968) 429–43, especially 440.Google Scholar
17 Aelred, Speculum, III, xxiv, PL 195, col. 597A-B.
18 Adam of Perseigne, Letter to Osmond, in Adam, , Lettres (ed. Bouvet, J.; Sources chrétiennes 66; Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1960) 1. 7–29Google Scholar; and Letter to G. of Pontigny, PL 211, cols. 614–23. Stephen of Salley, Speculum novitii (ed. by Mikkers, in Coll. ord. Cist. Ref.) 8. 45–68; see especially 67. See also Guerric of Igny, second sermon for Saints Peter and Paul, PL 185, col. 182C-D, and idem, fourth sermon for Advent, in d'Igny, Guerric, Sermons (ed. Morson, J. and Costello, H.; Sources chrétiennes 166; Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1970) 136–38.Google Scholar
19 William of St. Thierry, Epistola ad Fratres de Monte Dei, II, i, PL 184, col. 339B-C. Translation by Berkeley, Theodore, The Golden Epistle: A Letter to the Brethren at Mont Dieu (The Works of William of St. Thiery; Cistercian Fathers Series 12; Spencer, Mass.: Cistercian Publications, 1971) 4. 77.Google Scholar
20 See nn. 8 and 9 above. John of Fruttuaria's De vitae ordine sees novices as learning from seniors.
21 For an explanation of the regular canon's concern for edification and a discussion of its sources, see my article in Medievalia et Humanistica, new ser. 4 (1973) 7–20.
22 Hugh of St. Victor, De institutione novitiorum, III, IV, and XIV, PL 176, cols. 927C, 928A, and 945A-B.
23 Adam of Dryburgh, Liber de ordine, habitu et professione canonicorum ordinis praemonstratensis, sermons II and VI, PL 198, cols. 457–60 and 489–94.
24 See the works cited in n. 5 above; Dereine, Charles, “L'élaboration du statut canonique des chanoines réguliers spécialement sous Urbain II,” Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique 46 (1951) 558–64;Google Scholar and Peuchmaurd, M., “Le prêtre ministre de la parole dans la théologie du XIIe siècle (canonistes, moines et chanoines), Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale 29 (1962) 52–76.Google Scholar
25 See n. 21 above.
26 The one non-Cistercian exception is Peter of Celle's De disciplina, PL 202, cols. 1097–1146, which is addressed to regular canons as well as monks. Thus the fact that Peter departs from the monastic focus does not necessarily indicate that he sees an obligation to edify as part of the monastic vocation.
27 Aelred, Speculum, III, xxxvii, PL 195, cols. 614–15; Spec., III, xxxviii, col. 617C; Spec., III, xl, col. 620C.
28 Adam, Letter to G. of Pontigny, PL 211, col. 622C.
29 Arnulf, Speculum monachorum, PL 184, col. 1176A.
30 Stephen, Speculum novitii, i (ed. Mikkers, Coll. ord. Cist. Ref.) 8.46.
31 William, Epistola, I, i and iii, PL 184, cols. 309D-10A and 312B-C.
32 Anselm of Havelberg, Epistola apologetica pro ordine canonicorum regularium, PL 188, cols. 1131–32. On the significance of Anselm's new conception in comparison to earlier medieval ideas, see Dereine in Dict, d'hist. et de géog. eccl., 12, col. 394; Fina, Kurt, “Anselm von Havelberg,” Analecta Praemonstratensia 33 (1957) 7–16Google Scholar; and Petit, François, “L'ordre de Prémontré de saint Norbert à Anselme de Havelberg,” La vita comune del clero nei secoli XIet XII: atti della settimana di studio: Mendola, settembre 1959 (Miscellanea del centro di studi medioevali 3; Milan: Soc. ed. Vita e pensiero, 1962) 1. 476–78.Google Scholar
33 Bernard of Clairvaux, Sancti Bernardi opera, II: Sermones super Cantica Canticorum 36–38 (ed. Leclercq, J., Talbot, C. H., and Rochais, H. M.; Rome: Editiones Cistercienses, 1958) sermon 50, pp. 78–83.Google Scholar See also Butler, Cuthbert, Western Mysticism: The Teaching of SS. Augustine, Gregory and Bernard on Contemplation and the Contemplative Life: Neglected Chapters in the History of Religion (2nd ed.; London: Constable, 1927) 277–87; and Jean-Marie Déchanet, “La contemplation au XII siècle,” Dict. de spiritualité, 2, cols. 1948–1966.Google Scholar
34 Aelred, sermon XVII, PL 195, cols. 303–09. See also Dumont, Charles, “L'équilibre humain de la vie cistercienne d'après le bienheureux Aelred de Rievaulx,” Coll. ord. Cist. Ref. 18 (1956) 177–89;Google ScholarSquire, A., “Aelred of Rievaulx and the Monastic Tradition Concerning Action and Contemplation,” The Downside Review 72 (1954) 289–303; and Hallier, Un éducateur monastique, 92–97.Google Scholar
35 Bernard, , Sancti Bernardi opera, I: Sermones super Cantica Canticorum 1–35 (ed. Leclercq, J., Talbot, C. H., and Rochais, H. M.; Rome: Editiones Cistercienses, 1957) sermon 12, p. 66; and see n. 38 below. Joachim, Tractatus (ed. Baraut in Anal, sacra, tarr. 24. 42, 61, 63, and passim.Google Scholar
36 See Aelred, Spec., III, xxxviii, PL 195, col. 617–18, where references to action for men (praying for them, giving aid, and offering encouragement and correction) are encompassed in a discussion of love as an emotion. Indeed the subject of book III of the Speculum is the emotion, love, which leads to God; so all of the remarks listed in n. 27 above occur in that context.
37 Aelred, Speculum, III, xxxvii, PL 195, cols. 615D-16D.
38 Bernard, Opera, I, sermon 12, pp. 63–65, and Opera, II, sermon 57, pp. 124–25.
39 Bernard, Opera, I, sermon 18, pp. 103–08. Bernard's famous description of himself as a “chimaera” reflects not only his feeling of being neither cleric nor layman but also a sense of being torn between withdrawal from and conversion of the world; see Bernard of Clairvaux, letter CCL Ad Bernardum priorem Portarum. PL 182, col. 451A.
40 Bernard, Opera, I, sermon 12, 66.
41 See, for example, Aelred, Speculum, III, iv and v, PL 195, cols. 579–82.
42 Bernard, Opera, II, sermon 50, 78–83.
43 See, for example, the passage cited in n. 13 above.
44 For examples of the monastic conception of conduct, speech, and silence, see my article in Medievalia et Humanistica, new ser. 4 (1973) 9–16. See also Guerric of Igny, fifth sermon for Christmas, Sermons (ed. Morson and Costello) 226–28.
45 See n. 28 above.
46 See n. 30 above.
47 See, above, nn. 16, 17, and 18.
48 Compare Adam's letters to Osmond, a novice master, and to H., abbot of Tiron, with his letter to Nicolas, a young Cistercian. Second letter to Osmond, in Adam, Lettres, I, 136; Letter to H., abbot of Tiron, in Adam, Correspondence (ed. Bouvet; Archives historiques du Maine XIII, fasc. 2. 52–53); and Letter to Nicolas, PL 211, col. 628C-D.
49 See n. 31 above.
50 Benedict of Nursia, Regula (ed. Hanslik, Rudolph; Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum 75; Vienna: Hoelder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1960) IV, 29–30, para. 1–2, 14–19.Google Scholar
51 Ibid., vii, 39–52.
52 Ibid., vii, 50–51, para. 62–65.
53 Ibid., vi, 38–39; see also iv, 32, para. 51–56.
54 See de Vogüé, La communauté et l'abbé.
55 The longest discussion of relations among equals (Benedict, Regula [ed. Hanslik] lxxii, 162–63) focuses entirely on relations between brothers as an aspect of the discipline of the individual monk; see also lxxi, 161–62.
56 There were, of course, regular canons, notably Richard of St. Victor, who wrote abstract treatises on love (see Wenner, in Diet, de spiritualité, 2, cols. 570–72). But these discussions occur in the context of allegorical exegesis not of practical spiritual advice. A comparison of canons' works of advice for the cloistered with those by Cistercians shows that regular canons stress emotional change as a result of community life less than do Cistercians.
57 Hugh of St. Victor, De institutione, VII, PL 176, cols. 932D-33C. Philip of Harvengt, De institutione clericorum, PL 203, cols. 689–94, 719A-B, 738B-C, 748–50, 766B, 933C-D, 1035D, 1202C.
58 Aelred, Spec., III, xii, xix and xxiv, PL 195, cols. 588–89, 592–94, 597.
