Holy Monk-Bishops. Discourses on the Compatibility of Monasticism and Episcopacy in Hagiographic Vitae (11th-13th Centuries)

• Applicant: Dr. Daniela Bianca Hoffmann
• Subject Area: Medieval History
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 511766496

Although monks had become bishops since the 4th century, the monk-bishop remained a paradox, controversial figure in the Latin Middle Ages. On the one hand these bishops were idealized, on the other hand ever since Late Antiquity many had held the view that monasticism and episcopacy were not compatible. The main reason for this opinion was that the withdrawal from the world and its values was considered as constitutive for a monk, while the powerful bishop stood for action within the world. In the High Middle Ages, the compatibility of the two forms of life was newly challenged by the fundamental changes within monasticism and the church hierarchy. Especially the time between c. 1050 and c. 1250 was a dynamic period, in which monasticism diversified and a more unified, pope-centered church was institutionalized. The issue of the compatibility of the two forms of life became just as diversified as monasticism itself: Every monastic branch had to solve it in its own way, clarify its attitude to the church and develop its own episcopal ideals, because according to canon law a monk-bishop had to continue his monastic life.This project explores the paradox of monk-bishops in its literary communication during this period; it studies the hagiographic vitae of holy monk-bishops from contemplative communities to find out how monastic and episcopal life could be combined in an exemplary way and blended into the ideal of a monk-bishop. It analyses the vitae of Benedictine, Cistercian and Carthusian bishops written between c. 1050 and c. 1250 in England, France and the Kingdom of Burgundy. As for these regions, it wants to figure out, a) how the ideal of a monk-bishop was described and how he was legitimized in these vitae, and b) in which ways the episcopal ideals of the Benedictines, Cistercians and Carthusians as well as the respective attitudes to the church hierarchy within these vitae differed from each other.This project aims to fill a considerable research gap. Until now, a study about monk-bishops in this period, which explores the episcopal ideals of diverse monastic branches in a systematic and comparative way, is still a desideratum. Furthermore, it wants to contribute to the controversial question whether monastic elements within the episcopal ideal were gaining or losing importance due to the 11th-century Church Reform and the Investiture Controversy. The views in research on this matter were mainly based on the vitae of bishops from the “German” Empire and hardly discussed the monk-bishops as a special group, although they were the only bishops who were obliged to lead a monastic life by canon law. This project permits a more precise view on the subject, as it studies only the latter and includes bishops beyond the “German” Empire. Altogether, it wants to show how monks were placed in the changing Church of this time – and how they should alter the world exactly by withdrawing from it.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants