Phyllis G. Jestice

Wayward Monks and the Religious Revolution of the Eleventh Century (Brill's Studies in Intellectual History) Phyllis G. Jestice

This study investigates the changing roles of monks in society in order to facilitate understanding of the reform of Christian ideology. Based on extant monastic writings, it explains the diversification of monasticism in the 11th century as an outgrowth of a greater interest in lay religious life. Focusing on the German Empire, the author examines monastic values in such areas as missionary work, public preaching, pilgrimage, and the polemics of the gregorian reform.