ABSTRACT
The story of the religious orders – of monks and nuns, canons, friars, and others who embraced organized religious observance – is central to the history of medieval Christianity. And within that medieval story, the period covered here is perhaps the most crucial of all. From the eleventh century, women and men across all ranks of society, seeking to live in imitation of the Apostles, ran to religious life in unprecedented numbers. Some took vows and lived in reformed monasteries and canonries. Others retreated into the wilderness as hermits. Still others found themselves following charismatic wandering preachers. Through the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, their ways of life were increasingly institutionalized, most famously in the new orders of friars, who embraced poverty but also lived an active life of preaching, teaching, and pastoral care in Europe’s new cities and universities. Toward the end of the Middle Ages, their religious houses, their congregations and orders were challenged on multiple fronts: by the ravages of famine, war, and plague; by the political and social pressures of growing cities and territorial states; by competing models of religious life and experimentation established beyond their ranks. But the orders endured, and many embraced reform and renewal in ways that ensured their survival. Here, three vignettes, each a century and a half apart, can serve to capture the essentials of this vast story as it unfolded across five centuries. Subsequent discussion will briefly touch on the major historiographical trends of the last several decades, and suggest some of the most promising directions of recent work.
