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>I think it is also a characteristic of many 10th century lives (e.g. of German >bishops) that they are praised for practising moderation within, so to speak, >moderation. >Julia Barrow > Hildegard of Bingen was one monastic who strongly advocated moderation over extreme ascetic practices. On several occasions she received letters from monastic superiors who were considering leaving their communities in favour of a solitary and more rigorous form of religious life, to which she consistently urged them to follow moderation rather than an excessive ascetic routine. She explicitly warned a female recluse at the community of Zwiefalten against the dangers of excessive fasting. Her attitude may have been informed through her own experience as a recluse with Jutta of Sponheim at Disibodenberg: according to the depiction of Jutta in her Vita, the elder woman was noted for her strictly ascetic spirituality. Is this theme of moderation peculiar to a strand of German spirituality, or is it drawn more generally from the Rule? Julie Hotchin Dept of History Monash University %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%