From Scandal to Monastic Penance
A Reconciliatory Manuscript from the Early Twelfth-Century Abbey of St. Laurent in Liège
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3366189 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Tjamke Snijders (0000-0001-5854-8464, Research Foundation - Flanders), Steven Vanderputten (0000-0002-4424-6796, Research Foundation - Flanders) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 82 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 523-553 |
| Publication date | 2013-09-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Church History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0009-6407 • E-ISSN: 1755-2613 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0009640713000620 |
| OpenAlex | W2092544694 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 15 |
An important element of monastic penance and conflict resolution was its repetitive, almost cyclical nature. The manuscripts that were used during these performances often proceed implicitly, which makes them difficult to contextualize and understand. This article considers a possible example of such "hidden" reconciliatory discourse in a manuscript that was produced for the congregation of St. Laurent in Liège around the turn of the eleventh century: Brussels, Royal Library 9361-9367. It examines the sin of pride in monastic dignitaries, discusses the best way to atone for it, and provides tools for the penitent to start living a more virtuous life in the future. The surviving evidence suggests that this manuscript was produced in reaction to the deeds of abbot Berenger, whose actions in 1095 were considered scandalous by contemporaries because he had led his monks into confusion and sin. The article shows how the combination of texts in this manuscript takes on a different meaning because of these politically charged circumstances, and argues that the St. Laurent manuscript was a discreet but methodical way to end the resulting estrangement between Berenger and his monks. In this interpretation, Brussels RL 9361-9367 is a rare and highly relevant testimony to the ways in which monks in the early twelfth century dealt with psychological and social tensions in the wake of an intra-group conflict
Art · Confusion · Eleventh · Epistemology · Interpretation (philosophy) · Linguistics · Literature · Meaning (existential) · Pride · Psychoanalysis · Theology · Classics · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy · Psychology
Past Convictions
Individual experience, collective remembrance and the politics of monastic reform in high medieval Flanders
The Iconography of Theophilus Windows in the First Half of the Thirteenth Century
The Appearance of Early Vernacular Plays
Monks, Knights, and the Enactment of Competing Social Realities in Eleventhand Early-Twelfth-Century Flanders
Conflict in Medieval Europe
The Monastic Constitutions of Lanfranc
The Penitential State
On ritual and discipline in medieval Christian monasticism
| Citations per year | 0.13 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2018 - 2018 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |