ABSTRACT
In Western Christendom, and where monasticism is much better documented than in Byzantium because of the plentiful survival of descriptive as well as prescriptive evidence, parallel developments can be traced in the earlier medieval centuries. In the medieval world before the thirteenth century, strict time-keeping and such professionalism were distinctively monastic traits. The story of medieval monasticism has withstood the tests of time and revisionism because of the skilful and seductive writing of its modern narrators. The sources for monasticism are parti pris–chronicles written by monks, or charters produced by monastic scribes to record the gifts and 'record' the motivations of lay donors–or else they are prescriptive–monastic Rules; canons of church councils; privileges granted by bishops and popes. It's clearly too simple to see the prioritising of 'private' relationships over collective interests as the main threat to medieval monasticism. Individual spiritual experience could inspire and sustain monastic vocations throughout the medieval centuries.
