They should live in some kind of renunciation of the world. There is no logical reason why monks should copy manuscripts. We’re going to talk a little more about that when we come to near the end of the course on intellectuals in the court of Charlemagne.īut monasticism and learning are linked in our mind, but they are not intrinsically linked. We all have this image of monks quietly copying manuscripts, and those manuscripts being how the learning of the ancient world was transmitted. And monasticism in the popular imagination, and accurately, is linked to learning.
Professor Paul Freedman: We’re going to talk about monasticism today. The Early Middle Ages, 284–1000 HIST 210 - Lecture 13 - MonasticismĬhapter 1: Introduction to Monasticism
