IMC 2022: Sessions
Session 228: The Boundaries of Monastic Institutions, II
Monday 4 July 2022, 14.15-15.45
| Sponsor: | Kolleg-Forschungsgruppe (KFG) 'Religion & Urbanity: Reciprocal Formations', FOR 2779, Max-Weber-Kolleg für kultur- und sozialwissenschaftliche Studien, Universität Erfurt |
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| Organiser: | Simone Wagner, Max-Weber-Kolleg für kultur- und sozialwissenschaftliche Studien Universität Erfurt |
| Moderator/Chair: | Emilia Jamroziak, Institute for Medieval Studies / School of History, University of Leeds |
| Paper 228-a | Intangible Boundaries: Sound and Sacred Space in the Early Middle Ages (Language: English) Index terms: Hagiography, Language and Literature - Celtic, Monasticism, Religious Life |
| Paper 228-b | The Perception of Enclosure in Female Monasteries in Poland (Language: English) Index terms: Gender Studies, Monasticism, Women's Studies |
| Paper 228-c | Blurred Boundaries: Co-Spatiality between Cities and Collegiate Churches in the Later Middle Ages (Language: English) Index terms: Monasticism, Religious Life, Women's Studies |
| Abstract | Monasteries usually secluded themselves from the world by building walls around their institutions. These walls did not only have a religious meaning but also a legal and administrative one. The physical aspect was tied to imagined boundaries being created between the religious and the secular. Imagined and physical boundaries interacted. Nevertheless, it varied how much religious communities sought to isolate themselves. The relationship between the religious and the secular sphere was highly contested throughout the Middle Ages. Especially in the case of less regulated communities, the boundaries were permeable and space was used both by religious as well as secular actors. Since enclosure was seen as especially important for female monasteries, monastic boundaries and their permeability seem to have been gendered. However, apart from spiritual matters monasteries were also concerned about the boundaries of their possessions. Charters and cartularies include detailed descriptions of the boundaries of specific possessions. Chronicles and vitae show how nuns and monks hoped to protect their possessions through performative acts such as processions with relics. |