Monasticism and the Arts by Timothy Gregory Verdon; John Dally; John W. CookReview by: William R. CookThe American Historical Review, Vol. 90, No. 2 (Apr., 1985), pp. 397-399Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1852686 .

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Medieval 397

brisk but fairly comprehensive narrative. The maps and illustrations are sufficient in number, well re- produced, and very much to the point. But, attrac- tive though it is, this is no mere picture book. As the archaeological work proceeds, it will eventually lead to publication of detailed monographs and special- ized articles. This book provides an excellent in- terim account of respectable scholarship. It should attract a wide readership.

EDWARD N. LUTTWAK

Georgetown Center for Strategic and International Studies,

Washington, D.C.

MEDIEVAL

PETER CLASSEN. Studium und Gesellschaft im Mittelalter. Edited byJOHANNES FRIED. (Schriften der Monumen- ta Germaniae Historica, number 29.) Stuttgart: An- ton Hiersemann. 1983. Pp. xx, 305. DM 98.

Among the Nachlass of Peter Classen, who met an untimely death in December 1980, were seven pa- pers devoted to the theme of education and society in the Middle Ages. These are collected in this splendid volume edited by his student Johannes Fried. Eschewing the traditional history of educa- tional institutions, Classen investigates the interac- tion between schools, scholars, politics, and society in a manner not unlike Alexander Murray's in Reason and Society in the Middle Ages (1978).

The introductory chapter, which republishes a paper that became a classic in 1966, declares and illustrates the underlying theme in the French schools of the early twelf'th century. The last two papers, which have also been publishecl previously, meditate on the meaning of the medieval university for modern times. The longer of the two explicates libertas scholastica by distinguishing the modern con- notation of freedom of instruction from the medie- val conception of liberty as the sum of scholars' rights and privileges, including their right to subject all questions to the scrutiny of scholastic disputation. Classen concludes that medieval experience can pose questions for modern times without presuming to furnish the answers. Another paper, f'ollowing in the footsteps of Pearl Kibre's Scholarly Privileges in the Middle Ages (1962), analyzes reform within medieval universities by comparing the development of their structures during the first third of the thirteenth century.

The cenitral and most original part of the collec- tion, however, consists of three chiefly unpublished papers that call on prosopography to uncover the social context in which schools and scholars oper- ated. In the first, devoted to Italy, Classen compiles

lists of municipal officers and judges and identifies those who displayed legal training. When this evi- dence is compared with the appearance of local law codes, he is able to ascertain the emergence of legal studies at Milan and Pisa in the early twelfth cen- tury, exclusive of the influence of Bologna. Pisa, in fact, has the distinction of being the first medieval polity outside of the church to require legal training for entrance to municipal office. The second paper explores the connections between the schools of Paris and the Roman curia by detailing the careers of popes and cardinals who were known to have studied at Paris in the twelfth and thirteenth centu- ries. Notoriety and success at Rome thereby serves to cast light on a small but significant sample of Parisian alumni. In a third paper the development of royal courts and the practice of common law in England are reviewed. By identifying the royal judges, both clerical and lay, of the thirteenth cen- tury and by establishing their family, scribal, and teacher-pupil relationships, Classen is able to fash- ion a social context that helps explain the unique character of Henry of Bracton's Note Books and Treatise and distinguishes the English system of legal apprenticeship fromn the more formal training of Continental schools and courts.

Much of the ground covered in these studies will be familiar to students of medieval education, but readers will nonetheless find Classen's widely rang- ing explorations over Italy, France, England, and Germany to be remarkably careful, judicious, and abreast of the latest scholarship in European lan- guages. Most important, they will see the achieve- ments of medieval schools through an optic focusing on the society that nourished these schools.

JOHN W. BALDWIN

Johns Hopkins University

TIMOTHY GREGORY VERDON, editor. Monasticism and the Arts. Assisted by JOHN DALLY. Foreword by JOHN

W. COOK. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. 1984. Pp. ix, 354. Cloth $34.95, paper $16.95.

This book is a collection of essays that were origi- nally presented at a 1980 conference sponsored by Yale University and St. Anselm's Abbey as part of the celebration of the 1500th birthday of St. Bene- dict. Skillfully edited and beautifully introduced by Timothy Gregory Verdon, all the contributions are of high quality, most are provocative, and a few break new ground in the study of Christian art. The subject matter varies widely, but the essays generally fall into three categories: the historical ambience of monastic life and art, specific works of art, and monastic influences on art outside the cloister.

Although it is impossible to discuss all the articles, I want to comment on several that I found to be

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398 Reviews of Books

particularly illuminating. William Loerke's study of two sixth-century mosaics of the Transfiguration, one monastic (St. Catherine's on Mt. Sinai) and one not (S. Apollinare in Classe), suggests that the expe- riential dimension of monastic culture so often as- sociated with the High Middle Ages can be found quite early in the tradition of monastic art. Jean Leclercq suggests that the monks of the Middle Ages viewed artistic activity as a continuation of the creativity of God. I do not think, however, that he takes into account all medieval monastic art when he describes its essence as neither tragic nor exuberant (p. 76).

Otto von Simson presents two distinct arguments. He suggests, first, that the theology of the Cister- cians, and especially of St. Bernard, was an impor- tant influence on the evolution of the Gothic style of sculpture and, second, that it can be seen as early as the mid-twelfth century in the central tympanum on the west portal of Chartres Cathedral. Von Simson also examines Bernardine influences on the Ecclesia and Synagoga figures at Strasbourg and the image of Christ as the Man of Sorrows. He also sees the influence of Bernard's Augustinianism in the pro- portions of early Cistercian churches. Walter Cahn argues that the Cistercians both adhered to and deviated from their own legislation concerning book illumination. fie demonstrates that books given to or purchased by Cistercian houses did not necessar- ily conform to the legislated restrictions. Unfortu- nately, the photographs in this essay are not thor- oughly described. Sumner Crosby's interesting piece on St. Denis suggests that the emphasis on reg um in the facade and sacerdotium in the choir was, in Suger's plan, to be linked by a nave whose architec- ture was reminiscent of St. Peter's in Rome and thus symbolic of the role of the papacy.

Meredith Lillich makes some interesting sugges- tions in her article on monastic stained glass and indicates the need for art historians to reconsider in light of her research the relationship of monastic spiritLuality to Cistercian grisaille windows, Suger's use of blue in the windows of St. Denis, and the origins of the watershed in Gothic taste. Although this is a significant piece, Lillich overstates distinc- tions between the functions of monastic and nonmonastic art when she argues that the former was "not to instruct but to provide stimulus for introspection and encouragements for the medita- tionls of the monks" (p. 213). Are instruction and stimulus for introspection mutually exclusive? She makes some valuable observations about differences between monastic and nonmonastic programs-for example, monks were particularly fond of obscure typologies-but fails to cite sufficient examples. I think immediately of a comparison of the sculptural programs at V6zelay and Autuni. In the former

there are many more obscure Old Testament stories than at the nonmonastic St. Lazare at Autun.

Peter Hawkins has contributed a fine piece on Dante's portrayal of Benedict and the contempla- tives in the Paradiso. He points out that the context of the third cantica of the Commedia is monastic, because the first and last souls Dante encounters in heaven (Piccarda Donati and St. Bernard) were cloistered contemplatives and heaven itself is de- scribed as a cloister in which Christ is abbot (Purg. XXVI: 129). Emphasizing the ladder imagery of canto XXII, which Dante borrows from the Rule of St. Benedict, Hawkins suggests that Dante perceived the Commedia as itself a ladder that the reader is to climb.

Marvin Eisenberg presents some interesting mo- nastic liturgical allusions in an early painting of Lorenzo Monaco, a Camaldolese monk. William Hood's description and analysis of the Franciscan Sacro Monte of Varallo in northern Italy is espe- cially rich and suggestive. In essence, he argues that this pilgrimage site and others patterned after it are Franciscan "translations" of monastic experiential spirituality for a wide audience. Furthermore, Hood claims that a study of these sacri monti challenges art historians to rethink traditional distinctions between medieval and Renaissance. Since this article was written, Hood has created an even richer context for the phenomenon of the sacro monte by applying Ewart Cousins's idea of the mysticism of the histor- ical event.

The final article is a survey of developments in American monastic architecture since World War II, and R. Kevin Seasoltz has skillfully approached this subject in light of the tradition of monastic art stretching back a millenium and a half.

Aidan Kavanagh's study of the influence of Evagrius on the Rule of St. Benedict seems mis- placed, as does Bennett Hill's article on lay patron- age of the abbey of Savigny because he does not relate his topic carefully to the overall purpose of the book. Ruth Steiner's analysis of the music for an office of St. Benedict at Cluny is too technical to fit neatly into this book.

Three areas not addressed seem to me important for a balanced collection of essays on monasticism and the arts. There should be a study of the sculp- ture of the medieval monastic churches and cloisters of Europe. There is no study of monastic art be- tween the sixteenth century and the end of World War II. Certainly these were not "monastic centu- ries," but some study of monasticism and the arts in that period would be useful for balance. Most seri- ously, there is no study of the literature produced by monks. Although the book has some pervasive themes, the contributors could have attempted to address certain general questions more systemati- cally. Nevertheless, this is an excellent volume both

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Medieval 399

for students of monasticism and those interested in the history of art.

WILLIAM R. COOK

State University of New York, Geneseo

RICHARD KRAUTHEIMER. Three Christian Capitals: To- pography and Politics. (Una's Lectures, number 4.) Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 1983. Pp. xiv, 167. $27.50.

Dealing with Rome, Constantinople, and Milan, Richard Krautheimer presents a remarkable synthe- sis of architectural history and city planning, on the one hand, and social, religious, and political history, on the other. His discussion is unusually well docu- mented by 106 illustrations, including plans, recon- structions, and photos of buildings or their remains, as well as several maps. We may share the author's regret that he could not include a fourth Christian capital, Trier, in this useful study.

Rome is first considered in the early years of Constantine's accession to power, the period in which the Lateran Cathedral (on which Krauth- eimer is the acknowledged authority) was built. It is the most significant of Constantine's church build- ings, followed by the palace church of S. Croce in Gerusalemme and the basilicas associated with the shrines of certain early Christian martyrs. Because of the pagan aristocracy in Rome, Constantine's religious policy remained ambiguous, as evidenced by the placement of all these buildings-which in grandeur were almost all clearly public edifices-on private property, away from the forum, or center of the city. When Krautheimer returns to Rome in his last chapter, it is the papacy that takes the leading role against the last of the pagan traditionalists. The papacy also had to compensate for the relatively remote location of the Lateran Cathedral by erect- ing new churches and initiating "station services," or papal masses, at these more convenient sites during the liturgical year. This period, beginning with Pope Damasus (366-85) and extending through Sixtus III (432-40) and perhaps Leo 1 (440-61), is marked by the acceptance of the full classical heritage by the Roman church.

The establishment of Constantinople as "a perma- nent and Christian capital" (p. 41) for Constantine's empire provides a meaningful contrast to Rome. Here the emperor was free to organize a city with Christian churches at the center, including a com- manding location for the church in which he was to be buried surrounded by cenotaphs commemorat- ing the Apostles-with Constantine as the thir- teenth. Quite remarkable is the emperor's identifi- cation of himself with Christ, the Apostles, and the sun god, Helios, as seen "in the portrait statue atop

the column in his Forum and in the rites established by himself for the consecration of the city in the hippodrome on May 11, 330, and continued into the sixth century" (p. 61).

Milan during the episcopate of St. Ambrose (374-97) is the setting of a complex struggle be- tween the Arian and Nicene parties for control of the church and its property. Here too the buildings, as seen in the context of political and religious developments, embody the dynamics of the strug- gle. Here too the leading figure, Ambrose, wanted to create a Christian capital in a favored residence of the later emperors, but he was faced with an impe- rial family sympathetic to the unorthodox Arian creed. Krautheimer develops a strong case that the Church of S. Lorenzo was built to be the cathedral of the anti-Nicene faction close to the palace and circus in the suburbs. Throughout one is struck by the clarity of the argument and the command of a variety of sources.

GREGORY T. ARMSTRONG

Sweet Briar College

H. R. LOYN. The Governance of Anglo-Saxon England, 500-1087. (Governance of England.) Stanford: Stan- ford University Press. 1984. Pp. xvii, 222. $27.50.

This is the best and fullest analysis to date of Anglo-Saxon government and is worthy of its dis- tinguished author, H. R. Loyn. The heterogeneous sources-including laws, charters, numismatics, ar- chaeology, and poetry-are successfully conflated, and other scholarly interpretations are given a fair shake. Part 1 surveys the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to A.D. 899. Loyn concentrates on kingship and its relation to levels of society and to the developing organization of land, law, and wealth and demon- strates the movement from tribal society to "territo- rial community." Loyn emphasizes Alfred the Great's reign as the "culmination of past trends and as a critical take-off point" (p. xv). Part 2, "Later Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms, 899-1066," pursues these developments in kingship, central government (the secretariat, witenagemot, household, and judicial and financial organization), and local government (shire, hundred and tithing, boroughs, church, pri- vate jurisdiction, and military organization). Part 3, "The Norman Conquest," examines the various interpretations of the conquest's impact and de- fends with convincing shifts of emphasis the now orthodox view that the Norman enterprise used and modified a functioning Anglo-Saxon system.

A brief review cannot do justice to the magisterial handling of sources, the balanced presentation, and the many stimulating suggestions. These range from major matters such as the significance of the heavy concentration of physical and social bases of

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