medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
As part of my undergrad dissertation on the Winchester Troper, I outlined a
little of the Fleury-England influences. Here's an excerpt if people are
interested (bear in mind this was undergrad! - full text here:
http://www.rob-rah.com/Downloads/BA.pdf):
"...Monasticism reached its height in Anglo-Saxon England during the eighth
century. However, the Danish invasions of the ninth century destroyed most
of these communities:
Similarly, in the continent the Viking raids and the dissolution of the
Carolingian empire made the second half of the ninth century a period of
growing darkness and disorder. Political and monastic institutions suffered
a decline.
The turning point in the continent came in 910 with the founding of Cluny.6
The Cluniacs' influence spread as far as Fleury in 930, and gave rise to
other Benedictine communities on the continent. 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. King Edmund
was apparently not in favour of continental-styled reform here, but the
increased communication between England and Europe made change inevitable.
Dunstan reformed Glastonbury under the enthusiastic King Edred (946-955), at
which time Æthelwold (later bishop of Winchester) was attracted there. The
latter seems to have been supportive of the new continental monasticism, and
was only prevented from going to Fleury to learn from the Cluniac
Benedictines there by his appointment to Abingdon in 954. When King Edred
died, and was replaced by a less
5 Planchart (1977), 5-6
---------
zealous reformer, Dunstan was forced into exile in Ghent where he must have
encountered other forms of reformed monasticism. Indeed, on his return to
England in 957 and his appointments as Bishop of Worcester (957), London
(c.958) and Canterbury (c.960), the reform of English monasteries continued
apace.
In about 963, Dunstan's disciple Æthelwold was appointed bishop of
Winchester. Planchart reminds us that Oswald also returned from Fleury to
become bishop of Worcester in 961.7 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. Winchester cathedral was
rededicated in 980, and Ælfheah, Æthelwold's successor (984-1005) installed
an organ.8
7 Ibid., 9
8 Wulfstan, a disciple of Æthelwold, and cantor at the cathedral, chronicled
many events at the cathedral throughout this period. "
---------
Best wishes,
Rob.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Christopher Crockett" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, February 29, 2004 6:48 PM
Subject: [M-R] St. Oswald & Fleury [<saints of the day 28. February]
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Phyllis Jestice <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Oswald of Worcester (d. 992) Oswald was a noble of Danish descent,
educated at Canterbury and then dean of Winchester. He wanted to be a monk
during a very dry spell for monasticism in England, so went to Fleury for
monastic training.... Oswald played an important role in the monastic and
more
general ecclesiastical reform movement in tenth-century England.
i've been poking around A-S England <=> Fleury <=> Chartres [artistic]
connections of circa 1000 for the last few months and have been very
impressed
with the amount of *cross* fertilisation which was apparently going on --in
both directions.
as i see it --vaguely-- Fleury was largely "responsible" for the A-S reform
which began (??) with Oswald, then, in the 990s or so, it received some of
the
brilliant fruits of that reform's sucess in the form of a very advanced
style
of manuscript illumination
http://centrechartraine.freeservers.com/mss/fleurymss/orleans175p149.jpg
http://centrechartraine.freeservers.com/mss/fleurymss/orleans175p149-d3.jpg
which seems to have gotten a toe-hold (more or less) in the Fleury
scriptorium
http://centrechartraine.freeservers.com/mss/fleurymss/orleans175p175.jpg
from which it may have spread to other sites in France having solid
connections with Fleury (which places were legion, apparently).
one of the things which i find particularly intriguing is the two-way flow
of
the various aspects of monastic culture which were being exchanged.
the key figure in this seems to have been Abbo, monk of Fleury, who spent
several years at Ramsey, before going back home to become abbot there in
988,
and, presumably, brought his sudies of grammar, astronomy, mathematics, and
philosophy to English shores.
comments would be welcome from anyone who actually knows something about
this
subject.
best from here,
christopher
Gib$son'$ Folly:
http://images.ucomics.com/comics/jd/2004/jd040224.gif
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