1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910812372903321

Autore

Vanderputten Steven

Titolo

Imagining religious leadership in the Middle Ages : Richard of Saint-Vanne and the politics of reform / / Steven Vanderputten

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Ithaca, New York ; ; London, [England] : , : Cornell University Press, , 2015

©2015

ISBN

0-8014-5630-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (261 p.)

Disciplina

271/.102

Soggetti

Abbots - France

Religious leaders - France

Monasticism and religious orders - France - History - Middle Ages, 600-1500

France Church history 987-1515

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Preface -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1. Imagining Richard in Medieval and Modern Historiography -- 2. Ecclesiastical Office, Religious Virtuosity, and the Apostolic Imperative -- 3. Imagining Saint-Vanne -- 4. "Founder and Head of Many Monasteries" -- 5. Converting the World -- Conclusion -- Appendix A: Chronology of Major Events in Richard's Life -- Appendix B: The Life of Roding -- Appendix C: Monastic Reading at Saint-Vanne -- Appendix D: Overview of Richard's Abbacies Outside of Saint-Vanne -- Appendix E: Overview of Richard's "Priors" -- Appendix F: Overview of Richard's Successors -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Around the turn of the first millennium AD, there emerged in the former Carolingian Empire a generation of abbots that came to be remembered as one of the most influential in the history of Western monasticism. In this book Steven Vanderputten reevaluates the historical significance of this generation of monastic leaders through an in-depth study of one of its most prominent figures, Richard of Saint-Vanne. During his lifetime, Richard (d. 1046) served as abbot of numerous monasteries, which gained him a reputation as a highly



successful administrator and reformer of monastic discipline. As Vanderputten shows, however, a more complex view of Richard's career, spirituality, and motivations enables us to better evaluate his achievements as church leader and reformer. Vanderputten analyzes various accounts of Richard's life, contemporary sources that are revealing of his worldview and self-conception, and the evidence relating to his actions as a monastic reformer and as a promoter of conversion. Richard himself conceived of his life as an evolving commentary on a wide range of issues relating to individual spirituality, monastic discipline, and religious leadership. This commentary, which combined highly conservative and revolutionary elements, reached far beyond the walls of the monastery and concerned many of the issues that would divide the church and its subjects in the later eleventh century.