Monasticism in North-Western Europe, 800–1200 (review)

Monasticism in North-Western Europe, 800-1200. By Tore Nyberg. (Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate Publishing Co. 2000. Pp. xi, 295. $84.95.)

This book claims to be a "fully integrated synthesis of the origins, spread and effects of monasticism in Scandinavia, and along the shores of the Baltic and the North Sea" in the period 800-1200. Many may be rather confused by the title, because the geographical designation is more often used for another region, as in The North-West European Campaign 1944-5. The area discussed here is more conventionally described as Scandinavia and the Baltic, or even Northern Europe. The author justifies his choice of title by the inclusion of Saxony and Frisia, areas, the author suggests, which shared many of the characteristics of Scandinavian monasticism.

Moreover, he argues convincingly that a whole range of influences beyond the north German shaped Scandinavian monasticism. Odense, which was founded by monks from Evesham in 1095, was perhaps the most spectacular success of English influence, but by then Denmark was marked by small monasteries which seem to have owed their foundation to the growth of the diocesan system and the initiative of individual bishops. By the end of the eleventh century Denmark was a predominantly, though not entirely, Christian kingdom.

However, one of the themes of this book is that the rest of Scandinavia was as yet only superficially touched by the new religion. In Sweden the sacrificial cycle performed every eight or nine years by the king powerfully mobilized opinion against Christianizing rulers, and may have led to their deaths deep into the twelfth century. In eleventh-century Norway Selja, c. 1070, was the first foundation, owing much to the diocese of Durham. In Sweden Vreta was the first monastery, founded around the year 1100.

It is interesting that Nyberg suggests that the monastic impulse in the eleventh century did not come from nearby North Germany because the progress of monasticism there was virtually contemporaneous. He argues that native kings and bishops, both powerfully influenced by desire to emulate the "Catholic Core" of Europe, were the primary forces active in creating monastic houses and there was a creative interaction with monasticism. For kings, fostering monasteries was a mark of their new Christian role. For bishops, such houses were important to cater for the range of spiritual experience within the new religion.

Certainly in no case were monasteries missionary centers, although they could serve as havens for wandering missionary bishops like Sigafrid at Selja. Alvastra and Nydala were very important Swedish houses of the early twelfth century, but they were founded in rich, already Christian areas where they and their French monks served to consolidate the new religion well away from the dangerous pagan fringes. But the monasticism of the north, as Nyberg describes it, is rather different from that of the "Catholic Core."

Monasticism in the north was clearly institutional, and the eremetic tradition struck no roots there. Communities living by the Rules of St. Benedict and St. Augustine were the norm until the arrival of the Cistercians, whose institutional sophistication left a great stamp in the north and exercised a stabilizing influence upon monastic growth and development there. Interestingly, female communities had a long history in the north and enjoyed widespread popularity.

This book presents a clear view of monastic development in northern Europe before 1200, and sets out the variety of influences, native and foreign, which helped to create it. The author makes extensive and skillful use of archaeology to develop his themes, with a plethora of plans and short histories of individual houses. This is a highly satisfying book that will be a standard work of reference on northern monasticism for many years to come.

 

John France
University of Wales Swansea

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