Life in the Medieval Cloister (review)

Julie Kerr's impressionistic book on the character of monastic life in the Middle Ages is the first wave of a swelling tide of general titles on medieval history and religion from Continuum Books. Kerr's book is, for the most part, a highly derivative survey of monastic history that ornaments its drab generalizations and stereotypes with gaudy splashes of sensationalism aimed at capturing the attention of a general readership.

It is only fair to begin by describing the book on its own terms. Kerr aims "to explore what it really meant" for medieval people to enter the cloistered life and "to evoke the reality of everyday life in the monastery" (p. xi). The time period in question is the eleventh to the sixteenth centuries, and examples are drawn primarily from England with a measured sampling of evidence from European abbeys. For some reason, neither the mendicants nor the crusading orders are considered in the narrative, and female religious play only a very small role in the work. For the most part, then, this is a book about the monks who already inhabit the popular imagination of modern readers, the Benedictines.

With a thematic rather than an historical approach, the book presents an omnium gatherum of information on general topics such as the monastic precinct, the duties of religious officials, the demands of individual comportment, and the daily rhythms of the cloister. Kerr illustrates these topics with anecdotal evidence that has been stripped of any meaningful context. As such, she creates the very misleading impression that the experience of the monastic vocation was relatively constant for medieval people, irrespective of when and where they lived. Much worse, though, is her tendency to adorn her narrative with anecdotes that lean toward sensationalism and hyperbole. The worst of these is the story of the twelfth-century nun who is forced to take into her mouth the severed genitalia of her lover (p. xiii, with no reference to its source). This story does not convincingly forward Kerr's argument, in this case, that "measures were taken to enforce obedience and misdemeanours were punished" in medieval abbeys. Rather, it is in the opening pages of the book presumably to catch the imagination of the popular reader. This is medieval history as perverse alterity.

Kerr's book offers nothing new to scholars of monastic history; and although readers unfamiliar with the topic will come away with some useful information, it is not recommended for a general audience. Its lack of sensitivity to historical change and its inattention to the limitations of the sources used to illustrate its assertions are more likely to mislead new readers than provide them with an accurate picture of medieval monastic life in all of its rich variety. Academics write histories for the general public for a variety of reasons, but too often forget that these books, unlike monographs and articles, are the ambassadors of scholarly research to intelligent and inquisitive readers of all backgrounds. The simplification and sensationalization of a complex topic like Christian monasticism is a condescension they do not deserve.