Institute for Medieval Studies

Session	128
Title	The Boundaries of Monastic Institutions, I
Date/Time	Monday 4 July 2022: 11.15-12.45
Sponsor	Kolleg-Forschungsgruppe (KFG) 'Religion & Urbanity: Reciprocal Formations', FOR 2779, Max-Weber-Kolleg für kultur- und sozialwissenschaftliche Studien, Universität Erfurt
Organiser	Simone Wagner, Historisches Institut, Universität Potsdam
Moderator/Chair	Simone Wagner, Historisches Institut, Universität Potsdam
Paper 128-a	Furness Abbey in the 14th-Century: Border Warfare and Plague (Language: English) Michael Carter, Curatorial Department, English Heritage, London Index Terms: Manuscripts and Palaeography; Monasticism
Paper 128-b	Rivers as Boundaries, Edges, and Crossing-Points in Monastic Narratives (Language: English) Ellen Arnold, Institutt for kultur- og språkvitenskap, Universitetet i Stavanger Index Terms: Historiography - Medieval; Monasticism
Paper 128-c	Protecting the Boundaries: Southwest German Monasteries in the 11th and 12th Century (Language: English) Johannes Waldschütz, Kreisarchiv, Landkreis Rottweil Index Terms: Charters and Diplomatics; Historiography - Medieval; Monasticism; Religious Life
Abstract	Monasteries usually secluded themselves from the world by building walls around their institutions. These walls did not only have a religious meaning but also a legal and administrative one. The physical aspect was tied to imagined boundaries being created between the religious and the secular. Imagined and physical boundaries interacted. Nevertheless, it varied how much religious communities sought to isolate themselves. The relationship between the religious and the secular sphere was highly contested throughout the Middle Ages. Especially in the case of less regulated communities, the boundaries were permeable and space was used both by religious as well as secular actors. Since enclosure was seen as especially important for female monasteries, monastic boundaries and their permeability seem to have been gendered. However, apart from spiritual matters monasteries were also concerned about the boundaries of their possessions. Charters and cartularies include detailed descriptions of the boundaries of specific possessions. Chronicles and vitae show how nuns and monks hoped to protect their possessions through performative acts such as processions with relics.