The Reformation of the Twelfth Century (review)

Reviews 135 relationship between medieval thought and the development of the unique European intellectual tradition is not really the subject of this book. Although i t hints at more, it remains a competent and wide-ranging survey of medieval thought and literature, at a largely introductory level. Toby Burrows Scholars' Centre University of Western Australia Constable, Giles, The Reformation of the Twelfth Century, Cambridge, Camb University Press, 1996; cloth; pp. xx, 411; R.R.P. AUS$105.00. The twelfth century—or more accurately the period between about 1070 and 1160—was a watershed in the history of Western Europe. It was a time of great spiritual and intellectual ferment, and of significant change in almost every aspect of life. In the 1920s Charles Haskins memorably appropriated the term 'renaissance' to describe the intellectual life of this period. N o w Giles Constable applies the term 'reformation' to the profound religious change which was one of the most significant characteristics of the twelfth century. From its beginnings as a programme of reform in the institutions of the Church, this movement developed into nothing less than a rethinking and renewal of Christian spirituality. The heart of this reformation, for Constable, is the reformers' understanding of the spiritual life. They emphasized the personal nature of the human relationship with God, based on devotion to the human Christ and on the cultivation of interior virtues and inner responsibility. Love, rather than fear, became the cornerstone of the soul's relationship with God. In place of the earlier focus on ceaseless collective prayer and worship to propitiate an all-powerful Deity, they recognized the possibility of re-forming and re-making the human soul in the divine image in which it was created. These changed attitudes flowed through into n e w types of monastic orders and new approaches to pastoral work. Action joined contemplation as a worthy expression of the Christian life. For all the reformers' emphasis on personal spirituality, however, Constable finds no evidence of individualism in the modern sense. H e sees in the twelfth century a focus on spiritual self-knowledge, and on the development of a personal relationship with God, but not a view of human beings as distinct units driven by self-awareness of their differences. In relation to other people, a person continued to be defined primarily in terms of membership of social groups. Here, Constable extends the 'personalist' approach favoured by Richard Southern, and rejects as anachronistic the individualism identified by Colin Morris. 136 Reviews To describe the twelfth-century reform movement, Constable draws heavily on the spiritual writings of the time, which he interprets with exemplary caution and understanding. H e also has a keen eye for the telling detail and example. His discussion of the polemics against the Cistercians for not wearing trousers is particularly memorable. These primary sources are not listed in the bibliography, though—perhaps the only lacuna in the book. O n the other hand, the list of secondary sources amounts to more than a thousand items. Constable distils this vast body of learning into an account which is both readable and scholarly, and which acknowledges its sources and its scholarly inheritance without ever becoming overwhelmed by it. The primary focus of the book remains the words of the medieval writers themselves, and it never becomes merely an arid discussion of the views ofrivaltwentieth-century historians . More speculative, and somewhat tentative, is Constable's attempt to grapple with the wider context of the reform movement and to address the question of w h y it should have happened when it did. Here he draws on a more eclectic range of sources, including the anthropologist Mary Douglas, to try and relate changes in spiritual outlook to changes in the social and economic order. But he is unwilling to reduce this to a causal relationship, preferring to observe, with C. S. Lewis, that changes in religious sentiment are very rare and are not susceptible to simple explanations. This is a welcome change from the simplistic explanations often given for the religious ferment of the twelfth century—freedom from invasions, the growth of towns, and so on. Constable acknowledges that such social and economic...