Page 196 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

At the same time, moderation did not preclude a disciplined existence based on the ideals of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
Benedict’s rules divided each day into a series of activities, with primary emphasis on prayer and manual labor. Physical work of some kind was required of all monks for several hours a day because idleness was “the enemy of the soul.” At the very heart of commu- nity practice was prayer, the proper “work of God.” While this included private meditation and reading, all monks gathered together seven times during the day for common prayer and chanting of psalms. A Benedic- tine life was a communal one; monks ate, worked, slept, and worshiped together.
Each Benedictine monastery was strictly ruled by an abbot, or “father” of the monastery, who held com- plete authority over the monks; each monk owed unquestioning obedience to the will of the abbot. Every Benedictine monastery also owned lands that enabled it to be a self-sustaining community, isolated from and independent of the world surrounding it. Within the monastery, however, monks were to fulfill their vow of poverty: “Let all things be common to all, as it is writ- ten, lest anyone should say that anything is his own or arrogate it to himself.”4 By the eighth century, Benedic- tine monasticism had spread throughout the West.
Although the original monks were men, women soon followed suit in withdrawing from the world to dedicate themselves to God. The first monastic rule for Western women was produced by Caesarius of Arles for his sister in the fifth century. It strongly empha- sized a rigid cloistering of these women, known as nuns, to protect them from dangers.
Monasticism played an indispensable role in early medieval civilization. Monks became the new heroes of Christian civilization. Their dedication to God became the highest ideal of Christian life. Monks copied Latin works and passed on the legacy of the ancient world to Western civilization in its European stage. Moreover, the monks played an increasingly significant role in spreading Christianity to all of Europe.
MONKS AS MISSIONARIES The British Isles, in particular, became an important center of Christian culture and missionary fervor. After their conversion, the Celts of Ireland and Anglo-Saxons of England created new cen- ters of Christian learning and in turn themselves became enthusiastic missionaries.
By the sixth century, Irish monasticism was a flour- ishing institution with its own unique characteristics. Unlike Benedictine monasticism, it was strongly ascetic.
Monks performed strenuous fasts, prayed and medi- tated frequently under extreme privations, and con- fessed their sins on a regular basis to their superiors. In fact, Irish monasticism gave rise to the use of peniten- tials or manuals that provided a guide for examining one’s life to see what sins, or offenses against the will of God, one had committed (see the box on p. 159). A great love of learning also characterized Irish monasticism. The Irish eagerly absorbed both Latin and Greek culture and fostered education as a major part of their monastic
The Book of Kells. Art historians use the term Hiberno-Saxon (Hibernia was the ancient name for Ireland) or Insular to refer to works produced primarily in the monasteries of the British Isles, especially Ireland. The best example of Hiberno-Saxon art is The Book of Kells, a richly decorated illuminated manuscript of the Christian gospels. Though owned by the monastery of Kells, the work was produced by the monks of lona, who combined Celtic and Anglo-Saxon abstract designs with elaborate portrayals of human figures and animals. A twelfth- century priest who viewed it observed: “Look . . . keenly at it and you . . . will make out intricacies, so delicate and subtle, so exact and compact, so full of knots and links, with colors so fresh and vivid, that you might say that all this was the work of an angel, and not of a man.” This introductory page from the Gospel of Matthew shows Jesus with four angels.
158 Chapter 7 Late Antiquity and the Emergence of the Medieval World
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a The Board of Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland/The Bridgeman Art Library