Beschreibung
This volume provides a record of the response, by eight
expert scholars in the field of medieval monastic studies,
to the question “To what extent did abbots and abbesses
contribute as a `human resource’ to the development of
reformed monastic communities in the ninth- to
twelfth-century west?” Covering a broad geographical area,
papers consider one or several of three key points of
interest: the direct contribution of abbots and abbesses to
the shaping of reformed realities; their influence over
future modes of leadership; and the way in which later
generations of monastics relied upon the memory of a
leader’s life and achievements to project current realities
onto a legitimizing past.
Steven Vanderputten is a full professor in
the History of the Early and High Middle Ages at Ghent
University (Belgium). His research is mainly concerned with
the social and cultural development of monastic groups in
the ninth to twelfth centuries, including such subjects as
leadership, identity formation, and reform.
