Debating reform in tenth- and early eleventh-century female monasticism

Recent years have seen significant progress in the study of the role of female religious in the monastic reform movements of the tenth and early eleventh centuries. The motivations of secular and ecclesiastical elites in promoting reform, the impact of reformist discourses on our understanding of pre-reform realities, and finally the processual nature of reformist government are now well established. One particular area of investigation that has so far eluded scholars’ attention is how reformist women religious and their supporters debated institutional and disciplinary change. Looking at an exceptional document from the early eleventh-century monastery of Maubeuge, this paper argues that the perceived scarcity of evidence for these practices and discourses may be a false problem. Analysis of the Roll of Maubeuge reveals how reformist agents actively recycled texts and arguments from their institution’s collective and intellectual past, in the process disconnecting them from their original context in order to advocate the current reform and outline its main goals and principles.Recent years have seen significant progress in the study of the role of female religious in the monastic reform movements of the tenth and early eleventh centuries. The motivations of secular and ecclesiastical elites in promoting reform, the impact of reformist discourses on our understanding of pre-reform realities, and finally the processual nature of reformist government are now well established. One particular area of investigation that has so far eluded scholars’ attention is how reformist women religious and their supporters debated institutional and disciplinary change. Looking at an exceptional document from the early eleventh-century monastery of Maubeuge, this paper argues that the perceived scarcity of evidence for these practices and discourses may be a false problem. Analysis of the Roll of Maubeuge reveals how reformist agents actively recycled texts and arguments from their institution’s collective and intellectual past, in the process disconnecting them from their original context in order to advocate the current reform and outline its main goals and principles.A