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A new and important history of medieval monasticism, from the 4th to the 16th century. From the end of the Roman Empire onwards, monasteries and convents were a common image throughout Europe. But who were monasteries for? What kinds of people founded and maintained them? And how did monasticism change over the thousand years of the Middle Ages? Andrew Jotischky traces the history of monastic life from its origins in the fourth century to the sixteenth. He shows how religious houses sheltered the poor and elderly, cared for the sick and educated the young. They were centers of intellectual life that owned property and exercised power, but also gave rise to new developments in theology, music and art. This book brings together Orthodox and Western accounts, as well as the experiences of women, to show for the first time the full picture of medieval monasticism. It is a fascinating and wide-ranging account that expands our understanding of life in the holy orders as never before.
