medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
i thought that there might be some things of interest to Med-Rels in this.
like:
"Although there is no paper specifically on Abelard in this volume,
Brasington's account helps provide the context for Abelard's own expansion on
the theme of <i>caritas</i> in the <i>Sic et Non</i>, itself profoundly
indebted to Ivo's achievement in the <i>Decretum</i>."
anyway, electrons are free.
more or less.
and desire to Be of Service.
c
------ Original Message ------
Received: Sat, 19 Apr 2008 09:34:18 AM EDT
From: The Medieval Review <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: TMR 08.04.24 Vaughn and Rubenstein, Teaching and Learning (Mews)
Vaughn, Sally N. and Jay Rubenstein. <i>Teaching and Learning in
Northern Europe, 1000-1200</i>. Turnhout: Brepols, 2006. Series:
Studies in the Early Middle Ages, 8. Pp. xxii, 362. $81.00. ISBN 2-
503-51419-7.
Reviewed by Constant J. Mews
Monash University,
[log in to unmask]
The pedagogical slogan "teaching and learning" draws attention to the
importance of the experience of learning as much as on the content of
teaching. This volume makes an important contribution towards such a
perspective. Its wide and ambitious title might suggest that its
geographical focus is wider than it actually is. "Northern Europe" is
here used to refer overwhelmingly to the Anglo-Norman domain, with a
few essays on northern France, without anything on Germany. The volume
is driven by a more specific aim, to get away from the traditional
emphasis on the rise to dominance of Paris as an educational centre in
the twelfth century, and to re-assert the influence of monastic
schools, particularly within Normandy. Yet the regional focus of so
many of the essays in this volume (complemented by a more wide ranging
essay by Münster-Swendsen on pedagogical models in northern Europe) is
valuable in itself. As Vaughn and Rubenstein argue in their thoughtful
introduction, Francophile historians of scholasticism have long tended
to assume that--with the brilliant exception of St Anselm--Norman
monasticism never generated an educational culture as significant as
that of the Parisian schools. The essays in this volume help question
rhetorical assumptions about a scholastic/monastic divide, by
considering cultural, political, and religious influences on
educational practice within particular locations in Normandy and
northern France in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
Technically speaking, two essays in the volume fall outside the
chronological parameters suggested by the title, those of Michael E.
Moore, "Teaching and Learning History in the School of Reims, c. 800-
950," and of Jason K. Glenn, "Master and Community in Tenth-Century
Reims." Yet they serve the volume well in reinforcing well the
fundamental continuity of educational practice in Reims between the
ninth and eleventh centuries. As with many of the papers in this
volume, their focus is not so much on specific ideas or concepts, as
on pedagogy. Biographies of individual teachers (like Gerbert of
Aurillac) may be relatively thin as records of the content of their
teaching. Nonetheless, they can be rich in documenting the charismatic
power of an individual teacher, as C. Stephen Jaeger has shown so well
within the German context in the tenth and eleventh centuries. One can
only regret that the two excellent chapters on Reims between 800 and
1000 were not followed up by a re-assessment of the role of schools of
Reims in the eleventh century, for which we still have to rely on the
now quite outdated (but still useful) study of John R. Williams in
<i>Speculum</i> (1954). It would have been interesting to reflect on
Bruno of Reims, who left that city after the political disturbances of
1076/1077 to pursue an eremitic career, or John of Reims, who also
left Reims about this time, in his case for Saint-Evroul in Normandy,
where he became the mentor of Orderic Vitalis. There is similarly
little focus in the volume on how Laon took over from Reims as a
center for learning in the late eleventh century, or on the hotly
contested issue of the relationship between Chartres and Paris in the
twelfth.
Yet the conscious attempt of this volume to avoid well-trodden paths
in educational history is still helpful. The paper of Priscilla D.
Watkins, "Lanfranc at Caen: Teaching by Example," highlights the
importance of Caen as an educational centre under Lanfranc and his
successor as abbot of St-Etienne, William Bona Anima. In the late
eleventh century, monks could play as important a role in providing
higher-level public education, as could secular clerics like Anselm of
Laon in northern France. Sally Vaughn's essay, "Anselm of Bec: the
Pattern of his Teaching" emphasizes well the charismatic impact of
Anselm's pedagogical technique. It includes a minor slip, Vaughn's
claim (114) that St Anselm's protégé, bishop Fulk of Beauvais, is the
same person as Fulcoius of Beauvais, author of a poetic treatise on
the marriage of Christ and the Church. Yet this does not undermine her
major theme, that Anselm offered his admirers (many of whom were
monks) a charismatic model of pedagogy, as concerned with the inner
soul as much as with linguistic correctness.
Bruce C. Brasington's paper, "Lessons of Love: Bishop Ivo of Chartres
as Teacher" highlights an under appreciated theme, that the renewal of
canon law in the late eleventh century (which preceded and certainly
influenced the renewal of theology in the twelfth), was not simply
about ecclesiastical rights. Brasington emphasizes that Ivo's
greatness rested not just on his knowledge of patristic precedent, but
on his awareness of the role of <i>caritas</i> as underpinning the law
of Christ, and thus of the Church. Although there is no paper
specifically on Abelard in this volume, Brasington's account helps
provide the context for Abelard's own expansion on the theme of
<i>caritas</i> in the <i>Sic et Non</i>, itself profoundly indebted to
Ivo's achievement in the <i>Decretum</i>.
Jay Rubenstein's paper, "Guibert of Nogent's Lessons from the Anglo-
Norman World," is concerned not so much with educational practice, but
with the instruction in which he engaged through his writings. He
argues that Guibert cannot be identified simply as "pro-French" in his
enthusiasm. William North's paper, "St Anselm's Forgotten Student:
Richard of Préaux and the Interpretation of Scripture in Early
Twelfth-Century Normandy," exploring themes of action and
contemplation, fits in more easily with Vaughn's emphasis on the
influence of St Anselm, not himself remembered as a scriptural
commentator. North provides a valuable edition of extracts of
Richard's commentaries on various books of the Bible.
John S. Ott's paper, "Educating the Bishop: Models of Episcopal
Authority and Conduct in the Hagiography of Early Twelfth-Century
Soissons," is concerned not with formal teaching as such, but with a
series of saints' lives written at Soissons for Josselin de Vierzy,
bishop of Soissons 1126/27-1152. Ott shows how these saints' lives
effectively provide models of episcopal authority in a city where the
commune did not always have easy relationships with the monasteries of
Saint-Médard and Saint-Crépin. This study, excellent in bringing to
life the dynamism of Soissons in the twelfth century, suggests that
Josselin, normally remembered as a teacher of dialectic, would develop
as bishop an acute interest in contemporary history and its relevance-
-helping to explain why he should be the dedicatee of Suger's account
of the life of Louis VI. The complexity of the interface between
monastic and scholastic culture is also well brought out by John D.
Cotts, in his study, "Monks and Clerks in Search of the <i>Beata
Schola</i>: Peter of Celle's Warning to John of Salisbury
Reconsidered." Rather than interpreting Peter of Celle as simply
attacking the schools, Cotts elucidates the seamless quality of their
literary friendship, which clearly went back to their time in Paris,
when Peter was a monk at St-Martin-des-Champs while John was a secular
cleric. Their correspondence exemplifies a significant theme in this
volume as a whole, that any rivalries between monks and clerics were
not as important as their shared commitment to education and the study
of letters.
A welcome interdisciplinary dimension is provided by John L. Snyder,
"Reason and Original Thinking in English Intellectual Circles:
Aristotle, Adelard, <i>Auctoritas</i>, and Theinred of Dover's Musical
Theory of Species." He shows how Theinred of Dover (fl. 1150), author
of an unpublished treatise on music, and quite possibly the grammarian
identified as Tenredus by John of Salisbury, offers an original
critique of music, attentive to its phonetic character--a parallel
Snyder suggests, to the more well-known critique of authority given by
Adelard of Bath. The essay well demonstrates how music theory deserves
to be as integrated into any history of education and ideas in the
twelfth century as any other discipline.
The final essay, by Mia Münster-Swendsen, "The Model of Scholastic
Mastery in Northern Europe, c. 970-1200," explores the bonds of
affectivity which bound master to disciple throughout this period. C.
Stephen Jaeger has already demonstrated the significance of
charismatic authority of masters in the imperial cities of the tenth
and eleventh centuries. Münster-Swendsen's study is excellent in
extending this perspective to the twelfth century. Rather than
reflecting on polemical debate about rivalries between charismatic
monks and charismatic masters, she focuses on friendship as the glue
of pedagogical experience. In doing so, she shows how crucial such
networks were to nurturing the educational and intellectual vitality
of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The editors are to be
congratulated for producing such a cohesive volume of essays, one
which invites further exploration of both teaching and the experience
of learning in medieval Europe.
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