The Monastic World - A 1,200-Year History

A major new history of medieval monasticism, from the fourth to the sixteenth century
 
From the late Roman Empire onwards, monasteries and convents were a common sight throughout Europe. But who were monasteries for? What kind of people founded and maintained them? And how did monasticism change over the thousand years or so 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 centres 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 the Orthodox and western stories, as well as the experiences of women, to show the full picture of medieval monasticism for the first time. It is a fascinating, wide-ranging account that broadens our understanding of life in holy orders as never before.

About the author

Andrew Jotischky is professor of medieval history at Royal Holloway, University of London. An expert in medieval religion and culture, he is the author of The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Medieval World, Crusading and the Crusader States, and The Carmelites and Antiquity.

Product details

• Authors: Andrew Jotischky
• Publisher: University Presses
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 12.05.2026
• EAN: 9780300287004
• ISBN: 978-0-300-28700-4
• No. of pages: 464
• Illustrations: 16 b-w illus.
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Religion: general, reference works; RELIGION / Christian Church / History, RELIGION / Monasticism, History of Religion, Christian Churches & denominations, Christian Churches, denominations, groups, Religious communities and monasticism, Christian communities & monasticism