medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Rob Howe <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>In England, King Edmund appointed Dunstan as abbot of Glastonbury in about
940. A hagiographer reports that the abbey housed a Benedictine community
under him.
>Dunstan reformed Glastonbury under the enthusiastic King Edred (946-955), at
which time Ęthelwold (later bishop of Winchester) was attracted there.
> Planchart reminds us that Oswald also returned from Fleury to become bishop
of Worcester in 961.
yes, of course, Oswald was part of the second "generation" of these
reformers.
though, he was instrumental in carrying the influence of Fleury to England.
Abbo was part of the third "generation".
>Thus principles of continental monasticism were adopted throughout much of
England and monks from Fleury were often consulted on the matter of reform,
although the precise nature of the liturgical reforms was basically still
insular.
"reform" has always been a bit of a problem word, for me.
in Chartres --and elsewhere, i assume-- while "liturgical reform" was
certainly an important part of what was going on, the foundation cake upon
which that icing was applied was on a much more practical, nitty-gritty level:
following the devastation of the Viking invasions of the later 9th c. the
ancient Benedictine house of St. Peter's had apparently fallen entirely into
lay hands and had become a "secular" abbey of canons irregular.
it was the return to the Regular life which, i believe, was the first
necessary [and "political"] step --taken in 954 in Chartres-- which made
possible the "reforms", liturgical and otherwise, which followed.
i'd welcome any revisions or corrections, but the view i have of it is that
what first had to happen was a *political* commitment to return a given house
to Regular observance --which meant a decision made by a "reforming" King,
Count or Bishop with the power to actually *do* it (there were vested
interests in the status quo, after all) ;
then --and only then-- could monks be brought from a place like Cluny or
Fleury who actually had been trained in what it meant to *live* a Regular
life, and how to sustain such over time.
what Oswald would have brought back from a couple of years at Fleury was the
very practical knowledge of how Benedictine monasticism worked, on a
day-to-day basis, and how such a community could and should function,
practically, liturgically and spiritually.
as well as such ancillary things as what form an appropriate architectural
setting for such a life might take.
as i mentioned previously, for me, the interesting aspect of this Fleury <=>
England interchange is that it was, apparently, far from a one-way exchange,
that the figural style in A-S manuscript painting which had flourished since
Dunstan's time was a return "gift" to Fleury ; and, i'm thinking, one which
may have had considerable import for the revival of figural art in _Francia_
in the course of the 11th century.
Thanks, Rob.
christopher
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