Popular in Arts and Humanities

Arts and Humanities

Freedom’s Dominion

Vanderbilt University Jefferson Cowie

Arts and Humanities

Titus Quinctius Flamininus’ “Italian triumph”

McGill University Michael Fronda

Arts and Humanities

Lincoln and the Jews

Brandeis University Jonathan Sarna

Arts and Humanities

Amputations and Convalescence

University of Western Australia Emily Brink

Art

Drawing on the past: Palladio, his precursors and knowledge of ancient architecture

University of Birmingham David Hemsoll

Art

Language, Sound, and Image in Wallace Berman’s Aleph, 1956–1966

University of San Diego Chelsea Behle Fralick

Humanism and Reform in Pre-Reformation English Monasteries

View more insights in Arts and Humanities - History - Medieval History

View more figures from University of Exeter

View the page of James Clark

Read the Study

Next in Arts and Humanities

Election Integrity in a One-Party Dictatorship

David Brandenberger | University of Richmond

The Poverty of Disaster: Debt and Insecurity in Eighteenth-Century Britain

Tawny Paul | University of California Los Angeles

It is commonly understood the old monastic order in England confronted the King’s Reformation unreformed: the houses of the Benedictines, Cistercians and Cluniacs were seemingly untouched by the spirit of renewal that charged continental congregations in the conciliar era, and their conventional patterns of observant life persisted in the face of a fast-changing world beyond the precinct walls. James Clark reexamines this view.

Image courtesy of interviewee. March 1, 2024

Log-in or Sign-up to Faculti
Currently viewing this subject insight as a guest. You have insight(s) remaining for this month. Login to view 8000+ figures on the platform.

Generating Workspace...

Export as PDF

This video video challenges the traditional view of monasteries, particularly in the British Isles, as being disengaged and hostile to the intellectual currents and reforms of the late Middle Ages and the European Reformation. This video video perspective has been prevalent since the Reformation, where radical Protestant theologians portrayed monasticism as reactionary and opposed to new ideas. However, the author argues that this view is based on misconceptions and a lack of thorough examination of historical evidence.

The author emphasizes the need for a closer investigation of monastic records, many of which remain unpublished and inaccessible. Through their research, they found that monks in the early 15th century were actively engaging with humanist ideas, studying classical texts, and re-evaluating their own practices in light of these influences. Rather than being resistant to change, monastic writers demonstrated an eagerness to adapt and innovate within their traditions.

In particular, the author highlights how monastic communities began to embrace humanist ideals by changing their educational approaches and integrating a more worldly view into their writings and practices. They made significant contributions to universities like Oxford and Cambridge, embodying a humanist spirit and demonstrating that they were not merely passive institutions but active participants in the intellectual developments of their time.

The overarching conclusion is that many assumptions about monasticism's rigidity and resistance to reform should be reassessed, as the evidence suggests a much more dynamic and reform-minded reality during this critical historical period. The author advocates for further exploration of manuscript materials to deepen the understanding of this era and overturn longstanding misconceptions.

Language:

Export as PDF

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

00:00.145 --> 00:03.245
The prevailing view is that monasteries,

00:03.735 --> 00:06.525
especially in the British Isles, are

00:07.325 --> 00:11.205
entirely disengaged from the currents of reform

00:11.385 --> 00:14.605
and intellectual change that we see growing

00:14.665 --> 00:16.245
and spreading across Europe,

00:16.245 --> 00:20.245
especially mainland Europe coming out of, of Italy,

00:20.245 --> 00:22.925
especially, at the end of the 14th

00:22.945 --> 00:24.365
and into the 15th centuries.

00:24.675 --> 00:26.285
That the, this old

00:27.165 --> 00:32.125
monastic movement holds itself detached from innovation

00:32.745 --> 00:35.765
in ideas, in intellectual inquiry

00:36.265 --> 00:38.725
and in approaches to religion.

00:39.035 --> 00:43.605
That they are a reactionary traditional

00:44.645 --> 00:49.115
group, hostile to new ways of thinking,

00:49.215 --> 00:52.645
new ways of teaching and studying,

00:52.785 --> 00:57.525
but also in new forms of religious practice, they are,

00:58.025 --> 01:01.885
almost positioning themselves as, the

01:02.765 --> 01:05.165
opponents of novelty.

01:05.305 --> 01:09.705
That's the traditional view, a view, advanced

01:09.955 --> 01:14.545
above all by the movements in the European

01:14.545 --> 01:18.385
Reformation that's set about challenging monasticism.

01:18.805 --> 01:23.065
So radical Protestant,

01:23.295 --> 01:26.385
theologians and churchmen who wanted rid

01:26.385 --> 01:28.505
of the monastic movement anyway,

01:28.925 --> 01:32.585
and of course, painted them in the,

01:32.635 --> 01:36.505
worst possible colors as opponents of all of the

01:37.305 --> 01:40.605
currents of thinking, which had really

01:41.655 --> 01:43.435
driven forward reformation.

01:43.935 --> 01:46.435
Um, so that's, that's the traditional view,

01:47.585 --> 01:50.965
but it's based as, as so often characterizations,

01:50.965 --> 01:52.685
especially those that come straight out of,

01:53.825 --> 01:55.325
a historical moment.

01:55.745 --> 01:59.925
Um, these are characterizations based on, on,

02:00.635 --> 02:04.645
snap judgments, on, on reputation,

02:04.785 --> 02:06.325
on supposition, on rumor,

02:06.745 --> 02:09.205
rather than on a close examination of the evidence.

02:09.745 --> 02:14.565
Um, and in coming to this topic myself

02:14.625 --> 02:19.075
as a researcher, what I wanted to simply suggest to,

02:19.775 --> 02:24.355
historians is that, let's cut through the,

02:24.815 --> 02:28.435
almost the name calling that, has been

02:29.265 --> 02:32.235
present since the moment of the European Reformation

02:33.035 --> 02:35.405
Monastery is opponents to all that is novel

02:35.505 --> 02:37.205
and in innovative in thinking

02:37.225 --> 02:40.205
and in religious practice at the end of the Middle Ages,

02:40.385 --> 02:41.645
and actually see the reality.

02:41.855 --> 02:44.285
Let's see what their records tell us.

02:44.825 --> 02:49.525
Do they reveal them to be narrow minded opponents of

02:50.375 --> 02:51.455
intellectual change,

02:52.115 --> 02:54.135
or do their records reveal them

02:54.135 --> 02:55.935
to be rather different to that?

02:56.165 --> 02:58.655
Well, one of the difficult difficulties in

02:58.875 --> 03:02.325
Looking at monastery as the monastic movement at the end

03:02.325 --> 03:03.725
of the Middle Ages is that

03:04.275 --> 03:06.685
because of this longstanding reputation,

03:06.685 --> 03:08.085
that they are just a kind

03:08.085 --> 03:10.925
of reactionary force standing against all change.

03:12.045 --> 03:13.865
Um, the main consequence of that is,

03:13.885 --> 03:15.865
is a great deal of what they wrote.

03:16.445 --> 03:18.865
Um, what they thought their records

03:19.925 --> 03:22.585
had has been neglected for generations.

03:23.325 --> 03:26.745
So much of the material, that needs

03:26.765 --> 03:30.525
to be examined remains not very accessible.

03:30.625 --> 03:32.485
So in other words, as as always,

03:32.485 --> 03:35.685
for historians working in this early period of, of history,

03:36.145 --> 03:40.165
it means that most of their material is not,

03:40.715 --> 03:42.365
printed,

03:42.505 --> 03:46.005
and edited in a form that researchers can easily,

03:46.665 --> 03:48.085
make use of.

03:48.345 --> 03:51.205
So most of the, material relating

03:51.205 --> 03:53.365
to monasteries at the end of the Middle Ages remains in

03:54.135 --> 03:55.405
manuscript form.

03:55.945 --> 03:59.925
So in highly abbreviated Latin text

04:00.745 --> 04:03.405
in manuscripts that are scattered across,

04:03.745 --> 04:07.765
across the world in, in research libraries here and there.

04:08.185 --> 04:12.605
Um, and so actually working through that material,

04:12.665 --> 04:15.645
the mechanics of research is a real challenge.

04:15.745 --> 04:18.485
You can't, you can't just call up a few,

04:18.895 --> 04:21.605
tones from a university library, read them and,

04:21.605 --> 04:22.925
and draw your own conclusions.

04:23.225 --> 04:26.565
You actually have to do a fair amount of al almost sort of

04:27.365 --> 04:30.525
archival archeology, digging up some of this material

04:31.065 --> 04:33.885
to find what were the people

04:33.905 --> 04:36.965
who were monks in the late 14th, 15th

04:37.065 --> 04:38.245
and early 16th centuries.

04:38.555 --> 04:40.445
What were they thinking? What were they writing?

04:40.515 --> 04:41.605
What were they teaching?

04:42.675 --> 04:46.875
Is this characterization of their, their, their outlook

04:47.455 --> 04:49.515
as hostile to change?

04:50.015 --> 04:51.235
Is it, is it really fair?

04:51.415 --> 04:53.875
So the starting point for me was, was doing

04:53.875 --> 04:55.955
that archeological work, going around

04:57.035 --> 05:00.135
the United Kingdoms collections of manuscripts,

05:00.135 --> 05:02.015
but also further afield.

05:02.315 --> 05:06.055
Um, I've, I've worked in, the Biblio Te Sian in France

05:06.275 --> 05:10.615
and the, the Vasan Library, in, in Rome

05:10.875 --> 05:15.535
and on, material held in, in USA, libraries

05:15.835 --> 05:17.255
as well to try

05:17.255 --> 05:19.895
and draw together a better understanding of

05:19.895 --> 05:23.935
what it was they were actually thinking, writing, teaching,

05:24.035 --> 05:26.895
saying the, the most striking discovery

05:26.925 --> 05:29.735
that I've made in this work is, is that

05:30.315 --> 05:32.535
far from being suspicious of

05:33.195 --> 05:36.975
and hostile to these new currents

05:36.975 --> 05:41.435
of thought emerging across Europe, which we give the label

05:41.995 --> 05:45.155
humanism, this determination to cut through

05:46.455 --> 05:50.935
medieval methods of teaching, to return to the,

05:51.795 --> 05:56.655
the standards of learning that, were present in, in,

05:57.185 --> 06:02.125
classical antiquity to the, the fine,

06:02.465 --> 06:04.725
expressions of, of language

06:04.745 --> 06:08.005
and rhetoric of the, classical Roman writers.

06:08.625 --> 06:12.085
Um, that whole, intellectual project of the,

06:12.105 --> 06:16.685
the humanists that I found, monks who were deeply engaged in

06:16.685 --> 06:21.045
that, that humanist movement in the revival of

06:21.675 --> 06:26.045
classical antiquity that they were urging for,

06:26.465 --> 06:30.965
and who, didn't simply give it, lip service

06:31.065 --> 06:33.365
and passing attention, but were, as it were,

06:33.565 --> 06:37.165
rolling up their sleeves and wanting to study the work

06:37.165 --> 06:41.565
of the humanists, wanting to imitate the work they were

06:42.315 --> 06:47.045
sharing in this, this almost rediscovery of, the,

06:47.265 --> 06:50.485
the style, the rhetoric, the, the,

06:51.385 --> 06:54.685
the fine standards of, of Latin literature

06:54.875 --> 06:56.605
that the humanists were championing.

06:57.025 --> 07:01.485
Um, they shared in the humanist view that the,

07:02.905 --> 07:06.545
alongside the teachings of Christianity, it was important

07:06.565 --> 07:11.305
for scholars to celebrate the achievements of mankind,

07:11.685 --> 07:16.105
of, celebrating the deeds of historic figures.

07:16.325 --> 07:20.345
Um, humanists wanted to, to, like,

07:20.375 --> 07:24.865
like classical writers had done, had wanted to, create

07:25.455 --> 07:28.225
history as a, as a form of literature in its own right.

07:28.405 --> 07:29.825
And what I found was

07:29.985 --> 07:31.505
that monastic writers in the early

07:31.505 --> 07:32.785
15th century were doing the same.

07:33.135 --> 07:36.705
They were, undoubtedly aware of what

07:37.635 --> 07:39.805
humanists across Europe were beginning to argue.

07:40.235 --> 07:42.525
They were applying those,

07:42.525 --> 07:44.045
those outlooks to their own work.

07:44.395 --> 07:46.285
They were writing history in a different way.

07:46.635 --> 07:50.205
They were, learning that in language in a different way.

07:50.715 --> 07:53.565
They were, looking on public affairs

07:53.875 --> 07:55.125
even in a different way.

07:55.185 --> 07:57.325
We think of monks as of course,

07:57.945 --> 08:02.165
and closed, almost, almost opposed to the life of the world,

08:02.465 --> 08:04.965
but under the influence of humanism, what I was finding was,

08:05.345 --> 08:08.925
monks who, on the contrary, were opening themselves out

08:09.435 --> 08:10.965
towards thinking about the world.

08:11.105 --> 08:14.365
Um, one of the features I found was they were beginning

08:14.385 --> 08:19.085
to use the, the language of public affairs that you,

08:19.085 --> 08:20.685
that you find in the work of the humanists.

08:20.685 --> 08:23.485
The humanists often referred to the res publica.

08:23.635 --> 08:28.605
That is the, the state, if you like, the, the,

08:28.625 --> 08:31.805
the public community, the, and its political nation.

08:31.865 --> 08:34.485
And I was struck by the fact that monastic writers

08:34.585 --> 08:36.445
of this period, if we look at what they wrote,

08:36.785 --> 08:39.365
rather than just make assumptions about it, we find

08:39.365 --> 08:41.245
that they're sensitive to these, these new

08:41.795 --> 08:44.005
nuances, of language.

08:44.345 --> 08:47.165
So, they embrace humanism.

08:47.315 --> 08:50.465
They might be arguing, even, even champion it,

08:50.765 --> 08:53.105
and it leads them to reexamine the way

08:53.105 --> 08:54.145
that they live as mon.

08:54.365 --> 08:57.645
So they, it leads them to reexamine their own,

08:58.265 --> 08:59.645
values.

09:00.345 --> 09:03.325
And whether or not are they, if you like, the,

09:03.465 --> 09:07.205
the best monks they can be is have they got this, this

09:07.715 --> 09:12.045
centuries old tradition of living in religious institutions?

09:13.125 --> 09:17.865
Um, should it change if the humanists are arguing for,

09:18.625 --> 09:21.625
changing the way that we, we study, we teach,

09:21.765 --> 09:24.785
we apply knowledge in wider society,

09:25.365 --> 09:28.505
should those challenges also be applied in their own

09:29.185 --> 09:30.185
monastic traditions?

09:30.565 --> 09:33.145
And the answer that I was finding was that, that,

09:33.145 --> 09:34.425
that they think, yes, they should,

09:34.565 --> 09:39.225
and that they were, accepting of the,

09:39.325 --> 09:43.065
the need for, for change and for, innovation.

09:43.885 --> 09:46.345
We have to look at the monastic movement across Europe,

09:46.725 --> 09:49.865
subdivided into its different regional settings.

09:50.365 --> 09:54.145
Um, what I found, focusing on, on,

09:55.075 --> 09:59.885
England was that whilst, the English

10:00.865 --> 10:05.665
monastic network do not go as far as some of their,

10:05.715 --> 10:09.065
their mainland European counterparts in

10:09.625 --> 10:11.945
reorganizing their institutions,

10:12.535 --> 10:16.545
nonetheless in their own individual houses,

10:16.675 --> 10:21.025
their own individual communities, they are changing the way

10:21.025 --> 10:25.225
that they practice, in particular, in the way that they,

10:25.875 --> 10:30.305
train and educate their, membership,

10:30.725 --> 10:35.145
and in the communities of, of men, making much more

10:35.405 --> 10:40.225
of a firm commitment to university education.

10:40.725 --> 10:45.025
Um, and they've become, very,

10:45.095 --> 10:49.425
very prominent in the two English universities

10:49.425 --> 10:51.625
that exist at the time in Oxford and Cambridge,

10:52.045 --> 10:56.505
and create colleges, which are very much,

10:56.885 --> 11:01.225
influenced by this, this humanist notion of, a,

11:01.905 --> 11:03.585
a different form of education that

11:03.585 --> 11:07.185
that really is grounded in, knowledge

11:07.185 --> 11:10.265
and study of language before proceeding to,

11:10.445 --> 11:13.105
to more advanced, subjects.

11:13.485 --> 11:18.425
Um, so although they don't call themselves a new order

11:18.605 --> 11:19.945
or a new congregation,

11:20.455 --> 11:24.265
nonetheless, the way

11:24.345 --> 11:26.625
that they are organizing the, the lives

11:26.685 --> 11:31.585
of their memberships are, are, are very close to what some

11:31.585 --> 11:35.185
of the, what we call the reformed monastic congregations

11:35.185 --> 11:37.385
of mainland Europe are, are, are also doing.

11:37.485 --> 11:40.905
So what I was able to, to show I think in this,

11:41.045 --> 11:45.155
in this research was that, the assumption

11:45.345 --> 11:49.965
that the least reform-minded, least innovative, least,

11:50.705 --> 11:52.485

11:52.615 --> 11:57.485
Supportive of change section of medieval monastic Europe,

11:57.835 --> 12:00.605
England was in fact quite the contrary.

12:01.065 --> 12:05.845
Um, very minded towards, advancing,

12:07.135 --> 12:10.315
innovation in intellectual life and

12:10.495 --> 12:12.595
and reform, in religion,

12:13.185 --> 12:16.635
even though they never quite established themselves into

12:17.255 --> 12:20.675
formal, new congregations.

12:21.435 --> 12:25.515
I think the the implications are, are very clear here.

12:25.615 --> 12:29.875
And that is that when we do medieval history

12:29.955 --> 12:32.435
and early, early, early modern history,

12:32.625 --> 12:34.315
what you might call pre-modern history,

12:37.105 --> 12:39.945
whatever we might think, it's still the case that some

12:39.945 --> 12:41.145
of the richest

12:41.525 --> 12:45.425
and most significant source material remains

12:46.305 --> 12:48.465
unedited and inaccessible.

12:48.605 --> 12:52.425
It is not in printed volumes held in libraries

12:52.645 --> 12:55.625
or in papers published in academic journals,

12:55.965 --> 13:00.545
but it remains out there in 14th, 15th, 30,

13:00.545 --> 13:04.665
16th century manuscripts waiting to be transcribed,

13:05.515 --> 13:07.425
translated, edited.

13:08.335 --> 13:10.795
And if we are prepared

13:11.535 --> 13:14.835
to mobilize the technical expertise

13:15.335 --> 13:19.285
and the time to go to that manuscript material,

13:19.475 --> 13:20.645
find it in the first place

13:20.915 --> 13:23.925
because it's scattered, go to it, transcribe

13:23.955 --> 13:26.125
what is written there, translate it

13:26.625 --> 13:29.295
and analyze it, many

13:29.315 --> 13:32.775
of our longstanding assumptions about that world

13:33.445 --> 13:35.335
will come crashing down.

13:35.885 --> 13:38.655
It's just that much of

13:38.655 --> 13:42.135
what we know about this period remains, if you like, locked

13:42.915 --> 13:44.895
in manuscript form.

13:45.315 --> 13:49.255
And of course, the skills to read those manuscripts are,

13:49.355 --> 13:50.575
are not universal.

13:51.115 --> 13:55.655
Um, we live in a, in a teaching world where Latin is,

13:55.715 --> 13:59.135
is not widely taught today, where the ability

13:59.155 --> 14:03.735
to read a densely abbreviated handwritten text is,

14:03.785 --> 14:07.455
takes, takes, months if not years of training

14:07.555 --> 14:09.535
to understand it's like studying shorthand.

14:10.035 --> 14:11.055
Um, and

14:11.295 --> 14:16.235
consequently, we are are simply not studying

14:16.825 --> 14:20.755
this period of time using the material we have directly,

14:21.135 --> 14:23.795
and we, we are just carrying on making assumptions about it.

14:24.135 --> 14:27.115
So I think, yeah, there, there's a significant,

14:27.745 --> 14:31.955
message in research process, resulting from,

14:31.955 --> 14:35.795
from this piece of work, which is, the more we can get

14:36.465 --> 14:40.275
back to the, the material that still survives,

14:40.375 --> 14:44.395
but is not being read, then,

14:44.405 --> 14:47.435
there is no doubt we will draw fresh insights,

14:47.855 --> 14:51.125
new understandings of, of this critical time period.

Reassessing Monastic Engagement with Reform Movements

00:00:00 - The prevailing view is that monasteries, especially in the British Isles, are entirely disengaged from the currents of reform and intellectual change that we see growing and spreading across Europe, especially mainland Europe coming out of, of Italy, especially, at the end of the 14th and into the 15th centuries. That the, this old monastic movement holds itself detached from innovation
00:00:36 - and in approaches to religion. That they are a reactionary traditional group, hostile to new ways of thinking, new ways of teaching and studying, but also in new forms of religious practice, they are, almost positioning themselves as, the
00:01:05 - That's the traditional view, a view, advanced above all by the movements in the European Reformation that's set about challenging monasticism. So radical Protestant, theologians and churchmen who wanted rid of the monastic movement anyway, and of course, painted them in the, worst possible colors as opponents of all of the
00:01:41 - driven forward reformation. so that's, that's the traditional view, but it's based as, as so often characterizations, especially those that come straight out of, a historical moment. these are characterizations based on, on, snap judgments, on, on reputation, on supposition, on rumor, rather than on a close examination of the evidence.
00:02:14 - as a researcher, what I wanted to simply suggest to, historians is that, let's cut through the, almost the name calling that, has been present since the moment of the European Reformation Monastery is opponents to all that is novel and in innovative in thinking and in religious practice at the end of the Middle Ages,
00:02:41 - Let's see what their records tell us. Do they reveal them to be narrow minded opponents of intellectual change, or do their records reveal them to be rather different to that? Well, one of the difficult difficulties in Looking at monastery as the monastic movement at the end of the Middle Ages is that because of this longstanding reputation, that they are just a kind of reactionary force standing against all change.

Uncovering Neglected Monastic Manuscripts

00:03:13 - is a great deal of what they wrote. what they thought their records had has been neglected for generations. So much of the material, that needs to be examined remains not very accessible. So in other words, as as always, for historians working in this early period of, of history, it means that most of their material is not, printed,
00:03:46 - make use of. So most of the, material relating to monasteries at the end of the Middle Ages remains in manuscript form. So in highly abbreviated Latin text in manuscripts that are scattered across, across the world in, in research libraries here and there. and so actually working through that material,
00:04:15 - You can't, you can't just call up a few, tones from a university library, read them and, and draw your own conclusions. You actually have to do a fair amount of al almost sort of archival archeology, digging up some of this material to find what were the people who were monks in the late 14th, 15th and early 16th centuries. What were they thinking? What were they writing? What were they teaching?
00:04:47 - as hostile to change? Is it, is it really fair? So the starting point for me was, was doing that archeological work, going around the United Kingdoms collections of manuscripts, but also further afield. I've, I've worked in, the Biblio Te Sian in France and the, the Vasan Library, in, in Rome and on, material held in, in USA, libraries
00:05:17 - and draw together a better understanding of what it was they were actually thinking, writing, teaching, saying the, the most striking discovery that I've made in this work is, is that far from being suspicious of and hostile to these new currents of thought emerging across Europe, which we give the label humanism, this determination to cut through
00:05:51 - the standards of learning that, were present in, in, classical antiquity to the, the fine, expressions of, of language and rhetoric of the, classical Roman writers. that whole, intellectual project of the, the humanists that I found, monks who were deeply engaged in

Monks Embrace Humanism in Historical Writing

00:06:21 - classical antiquity that they were urging for, and who, didn't simply give it, lip service and passing attention, but were, as it were, rolling up their sleeves and wanting to study the work of the humanists, wanting to imitate the work they were sharing in this, this almost rediscovery of, the,
00:06:51 - the fine standards of, of Latin literature that the humanists were championing. they shared in the humanist view that the, alongside the teachings of Christianity, it was important for scholars to celebrate the achievements of mankind, of, celebrating the deeds of historic figures. humanists wanted to, to, like,
00:07:25 - history as a, as a form of literature in its own right. And what I found was that monastic writers in the early 15th century were doing the same. They were, undoubtedly aware of what humanists across Europe were beginning to argue. They were applying those, those outlooks to their own work. They were writing history in a different way. They were, learning that in language in a different way.
00:07:53 - even in a different way. We think of monks as of course, and closed, almost, almost opposed to the life of the world, but under the influence of humanism, what I was finding was, monks who, on the contrary, were opening themselves out towards thinking about the world. one of the features I found was they were beginning to use the, the language of public affairs that you, that you find in the work of the humanists. The humanists often referred to the res publica.
00:08:28 - the public community, the, and its political nation. And I was struck by the fact that monastic writers of this period, if we look at what they wrote, rather than just make assumptions about it, we find that they're sensitive to these, these new nuances, of language. So, they embrace humanism. They might be arguing, even, even champion it, and it leads them to reexamine the way that they live as mon.
00:08:58 - values. And whether or not are they, if you like, the, the best monks they can be is have they got this, this centuries old tradition of living in religious institutions? should it change if the humanists are arguing for, changing the way that we, we study, we teach, we apply knowledge in wider society,

Monastic Adaptation and Innovation in England

00:09:29 - monastic traditions? And the answer that I was finding was that, that, that they think, yes, they should, and that they were, accepting of the, the need for, for change and for, innovation. We have to look at the monastic movement across Europe, subdivided into its different regional settings. what I found, focusing on, on, England was that whilst, the English
00:10:05 - their mainland European counterparts in reorganizing their institutions, nonetheless in their own individual houses, their own individual communities, they are changing the way that they practice, in particular, in the way that they, train and educate their, membership, and in the communities of, of men, making much more
00:10:40 - and they've become, very, very prominent in the two English universities that exist at the time in Oxford and Cambridge, and create colleges, which are very much, influenced by this, this humanist notion of, a, a different form of education that that really is grounded in, knowledge
00:11:10 - to more advanced, subjects. so although they don't call themselves a new order or a new congregation, nonetheless, the way that they are organizing the, the lives of their memberships are, are, are very close to what some of the, what we call the reformed monastic congregations of mainland Europe are, are, are also doing.
00:11:41 - in this research was that, the assumption that the least reform-minded, least innovative, least, Supportive of change section of medieval monastic Europe, England was in fact quite the contrary. very minded towards, advancing, innovation in intellectual life and
00:12:13 - even though they never quite established themselves into formal, new congregations. I think the the implications are, are very clear here. And that is that when we do medieval history and early, early, early modern history, what you might call pre-modern history, whatever we might think, it's still the case that some of the richest

Unlocking Insights from Historical Manuscripts

00:12:46 - unedited and inaccessible. It is not in printed volumes held in libraries or in papers published in academic journals, but it remains out there in 14th, 15th, 30, 16th century manuscripts waiting to be transcribed, translated, edited. And if we are prepared
00:13:15 - and the time to go to that manuscript material, find it in the first place because it's scattered, go to it, transcribe what is written there, translate it and analyze it, many of our longstanding assumptions about that world will come crashing down. It's just that much of what we know about this period remains, if you like, locked
00:13:45 - And of course, the skills to read those manuscripts are, are not universal. we live in a, in a teaching world where Latin is, is not widely taught today, where the ability to read a densely abbreviated handwritten text is, takes, takes, months if not years of training to understand it's like studying shorthand. and consequently, we are are simply not studying
00:14:21 - and we, we are just carrying on making assumptions about it. So I think, yeah, there, there's a significant, message in research process, resulting from, from this piece of work, which is, the more we can get back to the, the material that still survives, but is not being read, then, there is no doubt we will draw fresh insights,
00:14:47 -

Faculti AI can make mistakes

Research

Policy

Analysis