I'm wanting to find out about monastic life in the middle ages, and also in the modern day. I also would like to know how the monasteries operated in relation to the church and the Vatican - the politics and power relationships. This is for general research - not specific to an order or a country, and I am interested especially in qualities monastic orders have in common in terms of structure and hierarchy. Is there one book that would give me this info???

Any help much appreciated.

Pete

<Added>

what qualities - doh

<Added>

Ah, wrong forum. double doh

Write about what you know Pete. I'm sorry, there's only one way to find out. It's off to Monk School for you.

Sorry. My missus knows more about historical religion than I'm really comfortable with, I'll ask...

Jon

On the modern view, there's a BBC reality TV series called the Monastery. I have not seen it, but you might get a few flavours from it.

You could try The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. A good read as well as an introduction to the structures and philosophy of the age.

Luke

Can't recommend one single book but for the medieval end of things try 'Medieval Monasticism' by C H Lawrence. It was published in 1984 with a second edition in 1989. There may be more recent things of course.

Naomi

<Added>

Also if you type 'monasticism' into google it will come up with the Catholic encyclopaedia which has a long article and links to related topics

Hi Pete,

You could try The Age of the Cloister by Christopher Brooke. Its one of the more approachable books. Quite a few tend to be very dry and scholarly tomes, not exactly bedtime reading.

The Name of the Rose, as mentioned, is a good tale of the monkish life and religious politics, and a good read.

If you wanted to get a bit of a feel for the way these people lead their lives you could try and visit one of the ruined monasteries around the country. Unfortunately they have a tendency to be tucked away in remote corners. Rivaux abbey on the North York moors, or Fountains Abbey, which is fairly close by, are both well worth a visit. The scale and splendour of these places, even in their semi-ruined state, is pretty inspiring stuff. An example of the contradictory lives of men who had sworn a vow of personal poverty, but who lived in some of the finest buildings of their age.

Were you planning to use your research in your writing?

Sam

I second Lawrence's Medieval Monasticism -- it's a fairly quick read, but contains a wealth of information. And there's a great deal in it about the politics, hierarchy, structures of monastic institutions, etc.

I've got the 2001 edition, which is probably the latest.

Thanks everyone who helped out here. I bought Medieval Monasticism which is very good and also Monastic and religious Orders in Britain 1000-1300 by Janet Burton which is also splendid.

Pete

I really like 'Celtic Theology' by Thomas O'Loughlin (I believe it's his name; if not, let me know and I'll find it in my hefty shelf). It should have some great stuff in it, and it's massively more informative than some of the tosh out there that passes as 'Celtic' in the Christian book market. It deals particularly with medieval monasticism, orders, rules, rituals, etc. Hope it's helpful.