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IMC 2020: Sessions

Session 338: Carthusians Over the Borderline, II: Life, Death, Imagination

Monday 6 July 2020, 16.30-18.00

Sponsor:Cartusiana vzw
Organisers:Tom Gaens, Faculteit der Letteren, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Stephen J. Molvarec, Department of History, Marquette University, Wisconsin
Moderator/Chair:Emilia Jamroziak, Institute for Medieval Studies / School of History, University of Leeds
Paper 338-aDefining the Boundaries of Carthusian Holiness: The History of the Carthusian Order in the Middle English Universal Chronicle in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS e Museo 160
(Language: English)
Kaan Vural Gorman, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Monasticism
Paper 338-bThe Image of the Carthusian in Jean de Berry’s Prayerbooks
(Language: English)
Julian M. Luxford, School of Art History, University of St Andrews
Index terms: Art History - General, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Monasticism
Paper 338-cFrom Ordination to Obit: The Prosopography of English Carthusians, c. 1350-1540
(Language: English)
David E. Thornton, Department of History, Bilkent University, Turkey
Index terms: Genealogy and Prosopography, Monasticism
Abstract

The Carthusians, just as other monks, lived in between the borders of their symbolic death to the world ('entrance' and 'ordination'), and their biological death ('obit'), the space of both the monstrous and the sublime. Although the lives of medieval Carthusians were often invisible, available images were increasingly projections of exemplary reputations for strictness and holiness. There is a paradoxical relationship to be found in the desire to remain within their enclosures and the reputation they enjoyed. This session examines the lives, deaths, and images of medieval Carthusians, and how these brought them into relationship with the medieval society.