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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture [log in to unmask] wrote: >My feeling is that, with many servants, oblates, corrodians, etc., not to mention monks or nuns, medieval monasteries were probably really quite varied in their inhabitants. that's certainly my understanding as well: even without counting the guys out working the land of the estates, just in the immediate neighborhood of the mother house, actual, professed Monks themselves were probably in a small minority. (was not one of the elements of the Early Cistercian Ideal --what a construct!-- the "return" of the Monks to the Rule's admonition that they should do actual, physical labor, as opposed to those FatCat Cluniacs who "worked" only on the _opus Dei_? Probably a very old-fashioned idea, that.) the situation would perhaps have been different in the case of outlying, smaller priories, which might have been staffed by 1-3 or so Monks sent out from the Mother House, probably with a few attached servants (though there, again, were the multiplicity of various levels of serfs who were attached to the land which the priory owned in the immediate neighborhood and "exploited" --in such intimate circumstances the distinction between the "staff" of the priory itself and its agricultural hangers-on would have been somewhat less... well... distinct, perhaps). but, as usual, i'm just flying by the Seat of my Pants here --there must be a vast literature on this subject (check out Constable's bibliography), up with which i have never kept. Someone who actually knows something about it should definitively inform us all (or, at least, correct my own mis-impressions). best to all 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