Life in the Medieval Cloister
Ebook
Ebooks are designed for reading and have few connections to your library.
Overview
Life in the Medieval Cloister makes extensive use of primary sources and quotations from chronicles, letters, customaries and miracle stories, and the experience of medieval monastic life is presented through the monks’ own words. Medievalist Julie Kerr provides day to day account of life in the medieval monastery from the Norman conquest to the Dissolution, with a particular focus on the high Middle ages, exploring such questions as:
What effect did the ascetic lifestyle have on the monks’ physical health and mental well-being?
How difficult was it for newcomers to adapt to the rigors of the cloister?
Did the monks suffer from anxiety and boredom; what caused them concern and how did they seek comfort?
What did it really mean to live the solitary life within a communal environment and how significant were issues of loneliness and isolation?
Life in the Medieval Cloister makes an important contribution to our understanding of medieval monastic life by exploring key aspects that have been either inadequately addressed or overlooked by historians, but also offers an up close and personal perspective on a fascinating, but little known, corner of history.
Julie Kerr’s vivid account provides insights into the thoughts and experiences of the medieval monk.
Will be of interest to the interested general reader as well as academics.
Makes extensive use of primary sources and quotations.
Spans life in the medieval monastery from the Norman Conquest to the Dissolution, with a particular focus on the High Middle Ages.
Preface
Introduction: The origins of monasticism
Chapter 1: The precinct, the people, the daily regime
Chapter 2: The severity of monastic life (i)
Chapter 3: The severity of monastic life (ii)
Chapter 4: The Sound of Silence - the silence of the cloister
Chapter 5: The Sound of Silence - the silence of the night
Chapter 6: A Life of obedience
Chapter 7: Crimes and misdemeanours
Chapter 8: The Work of God - The communal life
Chapter 9: The Work of God - The monk alone
Epilogue
’Kerr presents a fascinating glimpse into daily life, as well as outlining some of the very real practical problems that impinged on a monk’s routine, and provides insight into a way of life that flourished for centuries.’ - Good Book Guide
’A lively and readable study of an area sometimes neglected by historians of monasticism ... will whet the appetite of the reader interested in what it was like to be a medieval religious’ - Church Times
Title mention in Revue Benedictine, 2009
’Dr Kerr is sympathetic as well as objective and the combination makes this a very good introduction to a way of life, that was, at one time, so important to our civilisation.’ - Contemporary Review
’[Kerr’s] portrayal is broad, yet intimate, and endlessly fascinating ... Best of all, the book captures the tensions inherent in the medieval monastic environment ... Kerr’s book breathes new life into this difficult, far-distant historical subject.’ - Catholic Herald
- Title: Life in the Medieval Cloister
- Author: Julie Kerr
- Publisher: Continuum
- Print Publication Date: 2009
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Pages: 272
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781441125095, 9781847251619, 1847251617, 1441125094
- Resource ID: LLS:9781441125095
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T12:22:23Z