medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear all,
currently I am working on medieval name-changes, and have been thinking about religious names in this context, i.e. names taken/imposed after entering religious life. About the only specialised study I have found is a splendid article by Sharon Strocchia (see below). I also understand that the constitutiones say nothing about this practice, and all in all it seems to be a modern thing. However, name changes (more precisely: the acquisition of a new name in life) are not that rare in the Middle Ages, and at least sometimes they occured in the context of entering religious life. A few examples:
Orderic Vitalis famously acquired his name when he entered St Evroul, according to his own report because his "English name ... sounded harsh to the Normans". In the HE also reports how a five year old son fo Ernald d’Echauffour entering the monastery „was given the name of Benedict by the abbot because of his sweet nature“. St Theodora of Thessalonike was baptised Agape, and only called Theodora when she became a nun. (Other name changes of monks one could think of are St Francis and St Bonaventura, but then again, these names are not "religious names", are they?)
Does anyone have a guess how common "religious names" were in the Middle Ages? And can anyone think of medieval comments of this practice?
Best wishes,
Christof Rolker
Sharon T. Strocchia: Naming a nun. Spiritual exemplars and corporate identity in Florentine convents, 1450–1530, in: Society and individual in Renaissance Florence, hg. von William J. Connell, Berkeley 2002, 215–40.
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