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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Jennifer Carlson <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >I recently read Berman's Cistercian Evolution, and much of what she writes regarding the Cistercians seems to speak to the confusing nature of beguine history (my current research interest) as well. However, I believe there were some critical analyses of Berman's work on this listserv awhile back, which I unfortunately didn't save because I didn't realize it would become applicable to my research. Dear Jennifer, the list archives are accessible, though it might take a bit of time to find the right string. they only discussion about Berman's work which i can recall is one which i believe i contributed to, drawing attention to Chrysogonus Waddell's extensive shredding of her rather grotesque [mis]use of primary source material in : "The Myth of Cistercian Origins: C. H. Berman and the Manuscript Sources," Citeaux 51.3-4 (2000) 299-386. (http://www.citeaux.org/ ) as i recall, he's only treating a single chapter (or two?) in these 87 pages, but the effect of such intense, close, line-by-line scrutiny is really quite devastating. i don't believe i've ever seen such an effective, detailed and effective critique of a scholarly work, ever. all done with the greatest of (quite sincere) Charity, of course, as befiting an OCSO monk. Berman's unfortunate problem was that her work happened to cross paths with someone who was as good (or better) a scholar as herself and who happened to know the sources used *much* better than she. although only concerned with the *origins* of Citeaux and not at all with the period you are interested in, you might want to take a look at Chrysogonus' work, since it might lead you to treat Berman's work on the whole with a bit of healthy skepticism. btw, has Dayton Phillip's work on the Beguines of Medieval Strassbourg held up over time ? (just curious; he was my old professor at Vanderbilt.) best from here, christopher ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html