IMC 2009: Sessions
Session 523: Getting in, Getting along, Getting on: Daily Life in a Cistercian Abbey
Tuesday 14 July 2009, 09.00-10.30
Organiser: | Terryl N. Kinder, _Cîteaux: Commentarii cistercienses_, Pontigny |
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Moderator/Chair: | Terryl N. Kinder, _Cîteaux: Commentarii cistercienses_, Pontigny |
Paper 523-a | A Lucky Escape?: Transition from Other Orders in the Letters of Nicholas of Clairvaux (Language: English) Index terms: Hagiography, Language and Literature - Latin, Monasticism, Religious Life |
Paper 523-b | Between Individuality and Community: Monastic Careers in the Cistercian Order (Language: English) Index terms: Geography and Settlement Studies, Monasticism, Religious Life, Social History |
Paper 523-c | Hailes Abbey, 1469-1539: The Evidence from the Cartulary (Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust MS DR 18/31/5) (Language: English) Index terms: Archives and Sources, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Monasticism, Religious Life |
Abstract | Paper-a: In this paper I will look at the question of transitus to Clairvaux from other Orders. The letter collection of Nicholas of Clairvaux contains several instances where the desire for a monk to change to a stricter order comes into conflict with the vow of obedience, as the abbot of the first order is unwilling to give his permission. Nicholas' advice for such occasions is on the face of it highly irregular, as is his account of his own transitus. It is difficult to understand how its author could have thought it appropriate to publish these letters and circulate them in the monastery. However, reading these letters in the context of saints' biographies puts a different perspective on Nicholas' attempts to break loose and to encourage others to do the same. I will suggest that Nicholas sees himself in the role of the young saint who has to break away from his worldly family in order to achieve sainthood. The abbot and community of Montieramy are cast in the role of the family standing in the way of salvation. This explains why Nicholas, so far from trying to hide the peculiar transactions surrounding his own and his friends' transition, is anxious to include them in the letter collection whose main narrative is that of his conversion to the Cistercian religio. |