{"id":1067,"date":"2024-07-30T18:42:42","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T18:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppschum1021earlycivilizations\/chapter\/10-1-monasticism-decline-of-roman-influence\/"},"modified":"2025-03-21T15:09:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T15:09:59","slug":"10-1-monasticism-decline-of-roman-influence","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppschum1021earlycivilizations\/chapter\/10-1-monasticism-decline-of-roman-influence\/","title":{"raw":"10.1 Monasticism - Decline of Roman Influence","rendered":"10.1 Monasticism – Decline of Roman Influence"},"content":{"raw":"
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After the disintegration of the Western Roman Empire, chaos and confusion were left in its wake. The Romanesque age can be defined as the union of the older, settled Roman civilization with its ideas of reason, law, and order, and the spirit of the north with its restless energy. The Romans were urban and agricultural, built monumental stone architecture, had an organized legal system, were led by emperors and Caesars, and were literate. The barbarians were nomadic, bred pastured animals, built wooden forts with earthen walls, and lived in tents made of skins. Their government was based on a system of clans and kinship. Theirs was an oral tradition and they had few written laws. Roman roads and aqueducts were still in place, but there was no central government to repair or maintain them. Cities shrank drastically, and in those regions of Gaul north of the Loire River, they nearly all vanished in a process that we call ruralization. <\/strong>As Europe changed to a more rural culture and elite values came to reflect warfare rather than literature, schools gradually vanished, leaving the Church as the only real institution providing education. So too did the tax-collecting apparatus of the Roman state gradually wither in the Germanic kingdoms.<\/p>\r\n

The Europe of 500 may have looked a lot like the Europe of 400, but the Europe of 600 was one that was poorer, more rural, and less literate. Without the protection of Rome the people were susceptible to invasion by the Muslims and other colonizing groups. Ever since the fifteenth century, historians of Europe have referred to the period between the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the Italian Renaissance (which took place in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries) as the Middle Ages. The term demonstrates that Europe was undergoing a transitional period: it stood between, in the middle of, those times that we call \u201cmodern\u201d (after 1500 CE) and what we call the ancient world (up to around 500 CE). This Middle Age would see a new culture grow up that combined elements of Germanic culture, Christianity, and remnants of Rome. As Roman law and rule disintegrated, the void was filled by the only stable organization in existence: the Christian Church.<\/p>\r\n

Bishops stepped in to consolidate power and take control. The abbey was one of the institutions that came to be extremely powerful during this time. Another term used by art historians to discuss this time period is Romanesque, due to the fact that it still relies on some of the ancient Roman ideas, now colored by Germanic and Christian beliefs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

LIFE IN THE MONASTERY<\/h2>\r\n

As the stability of Roman infrastructure disappeared, people lacked the security of city living, so they formed communities of devout Christians which flourished as havens of peace. These were called monasteries and they were miniature, self-contained worlds, which offered physical as well as spiritual safety. Another term for the monastery is the abbey, which was the center of monastic life. The monastery functioned as a religious shrine and may house one or many relics, depending on the amount of wealth it controlled. It was a manufacturing and agricultural center where monks or nuns spent hours in prayer and performed their assigned duties. They might also produce wine, ale, honey, cloth, grains or vegetables. The monastery was often the only source of medical care for the community, a hostel for travelers, and education. Many monasteries copied and illuminated manuscripts that could be sold. They were the \u201ccity of God\u201d in physical form.<\/p>\r\n

One such monastery was St. Gall. The plans were drawn in 817 CE and they are still in the library in a monastery in Switzerland. They were copied at least once because there are pin pricks in the margins of the vellum, but as far as we can tell it was never built. It was intended to be the plan of an ideal monastery.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"437\"]\"A 10.1<\/strong> Model of the Monastery of St. Gall.1<\/sup><\/a>[\/caption]\r\n

This monastery has a residence for the Abbot, a school, and a hospice for distinguished guests. The quarters for the monks are on the side opposite the administrative buildings and the monks entered the church by the cloister or dormitory using stairs directly into the choir. The church is a basilica with a modular base of 2 \u00bd feet, which means that all parts are fractions of or multiples of 2 \u00bd feet. The width of the nave is 40\u2019; the length of the monk\u2019s beds is 6\u20193\u201dand so forth. There is a prominent westwork, which is a fa\u00e7ade placed on the west end of the church and includes a structure where the emperor was to sit if he came to visit. This follows the idea of the unity of church and state. There are multiple alters included so that many monks could officiate at the same time.<\/p>\r\n

One of the main influences on monastic life was Saint Benedict. He grew up and was educated in the decaying imperial city of Rome and was probably able to see firsthand the growth of papal rule after Rome was sacked in 546. Benedict lived several years in a cave on the outskirts of Rome, where he taught and converted many pagans to Christianity. His greatest contribution was a written description of how monks should live and how the Abbot should rule his monastery. This is called the Rule of Saint Benedict. This way of life included strict rules that each monk who joined was committed to keep:<\/p>\r\n\r\n