Normative Schriftlichkeit im früheren Mittelalter: das benediktinische Mönchtum

• Autores: Christoph Dartmann
• Localización: Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte.: Kanonistische Abteilung, ISSN 0323-4142, Vol. 131, 2014, págs. 1-61
• Idioma: alemán
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• Resumen

  • Recent discussion has downplayed the importance of written norms in the Early Middle Ages in order to emphasize the importance of unwritten customs and rules for social and political practices.

    However, Latin Christianity produced a large amount of normative texts during this period such as monastic rules, acts of synods or collections of ecclesiastical law. This article analyses the Rule of Benedict and its reception until the High Middle Ages as an example of the use of written norms during this periodo The Rule of Benedict is deeply influenced by late antique monastic literature. Early coenobitism organised communal life in most cases without referring to written rules. The few rules passed down are only a small segment of a large variety of texts offering examples for the solution of typical problems of ascetic practice. Like other texts, monastic rules present the ideal of an oral, personal teaching of younger ascetics by an elder person. The Regula Benedicti presents itself as a means of teaching by which a magister and pius pater explains to his monks how to attain knowledge ofthe basic features of monastic life. The minimum standards of ascetic practice are explained to offer a basis for further development of self-perfection. When the Rule of Benedict became a central reference for monastic identity in the Carolingian era, there was detailed debate on how to implement the written norms in daily life. On one hand the importance of following the rule was stressed by several authors like Benedict of Aniane or his biographer Ardo, followed by the canons of synods held under the reign of Louis the Pious. On the other hand, the same authors as well as writers commenting the Regula Benedicti (Smaragd of Saint-Mihiel, Hildemar of Corbie) insisted on the didactic character of the rule. The same kind of differentiation is still present in the conflict between the Cluniacs and the Cistercians in the twelfth century. By reconstructing the discussion about the right understanding and an adequate implementation of the Regula Benedicti in Latin monasticism, it is not only possible to assess the importance of written norms in a specific field of social practice. lt also offers an example of how to analyse other genres of normative literature by understanding the specific expectations that guided people of the Early and High Middle Ages in making and using these texts.