Page 272 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

Pope Innocent III. Innocent III was an active and powerful pope during the High Middle Ages. He approved the creation of the Franciscan and Dominican religious orders and inaugurated the Fourth Crusade. He is shown here with the papal bull he issued to establish the monastery of Sacro Speco in Subiaco, Italy.
twelfth-century Europe. Whereas a Benedictine monk often spent hours in prayer to honor God, the Cister- cian ideal had a different emphasis: “Arise, soldier of Christ, arise! Get up off the ground and return to the battle from which you have fled! Fight more boldly after your flight, and triumph in glory!”6 These were the words of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (klair-VOH) (1090–1153), who more than any other person embod- ied the new spiritual ideal of Cistercian monasticism (see the box on p. 235).
WOMEN IN RELIGIOUS ORDERS Women were active par- ticipants in the spiritual movements of the age. The number of women joining religious houses increased perceptibly with the spread of the new orders of the twelfth century. In the High Middle Ages, most nuns were from the ranks of the landed aristocracy. Con- vents were convenient for families unable or unwilling to find husbands for their daughters, for aristocratic women who did not wish to marry, and for female intellectuals who needed a haven for their activities. Most of the learned women of the Middle Ages,
especially in Germany, were nuns. One of the most dis- tinguished was Hildegard of Bingen (HIL-duh-gard of BING-un) (1098–1179), who became abbess of a con- vent at Disibodenberg in western Germany.
Hildegard shared in the religious enthusiasm of the twelfth century (see the Film & History feature on p. 236). Soon after becoming abbess, she began to write an account of the mystical visions she had experienced for years. “A great flash of light from heaven pierced my brain and . . . in that instant my mind was imbued with the meaning of the sacred books,”7 she wrote in a description typical of the world’s mystical literature. Eventually, she produced three books based on her visions. Hildegard gained considerable renown as a mystic and prophet, and popes, emperors, kings, dukes, and bishops eagerly sought her advice.
LIVING THE GOSPEL LIFE In the thirteenth century, two new religious orders, the Franciscans and Dominicans, emerged that had a profound impact on the lives of or- dinary people. The Franciscan friars were particularly active in the cities, where, by their example, they strove
234 Chapter 10 The Rise of Kingdoms and the Growth of Church Power
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Sacro Speco-Monastery of St. Benedict, Subiaco, Italy//Scala/Art Resource, NY