Monastic Europe: Medieval Communities, Landscapes, and Settlements ed. by Edel Bhreathnach et al. (review)

Readers might expect to feel on well-trodden ground with a volume that deals with monastic 'communities, landscapes and settlements', for these are themes universally applicable to the study of any monastery, and not just those in the European Christian tradition. Familiar though these themes may be, the case studies presented in the book under review are sure to introduce readers to many locations and foundations rarely encountered in mainstream West-European monastic historiography. The twenty-one chapters, nineteen of which originated as conference papers delivered in Ennis, Ireland, in 2015, constitute a veritable tour d'horizon of monastic Europe. They are striking for the breadth of geographical coverage they embrace and for the range of ancillary disciplines they draw on: psychogeography and archaeology, to name but two. In this respect, Monastic Europe provides a companion volume to Monasteries on the Borders of Medieval Europe (2013), which appeared in the Brepols series 'Medieval Church Studies' (reviewed in Parergon, 31.2 (2014), 178–80).

This volume is far more than just a well-edited collection of reworked conference papers. Notwithstanding the variety of methodological approaches and varying degrees of scholarly acumen, Monastic Europe gels into a coherent and stimulating exploration of lesser-known monastic cultures. Contributions are organized around three themes: identification of the familia monastica; monasticism's role in shaping landscapes and patterns of settlement; and monastic environments and economies. Chief editor, Edel Bhreathnach, provides an excellent introduction that includes detailed observations and insightful cross-references to areas of commonality in contributors' chapters. And what is highlighted in her introduction one can follow up by consulting the well-designed index that combines key topics, personalia (inter alia twenty-nine saints), establishments (144 monasteries no less), place names, and curiosities such as the 'culdees'.

While some of the chapters strike this reviewer as heavy on amassed detail and a little light on interpretation, all chapters have the great asset of an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources. Collectively, at over seventy-eight pages net, they constitute a rich resource, not readily available elsewhere, for further research. Readers will no doubt bring to Monastic Europe their own special interests and areas of expertise. Women's houses figure importantly in only three chapters (Chapters 11, 20, and 21), a reflection perhaps of the paucity of information generally about female monasticism. That is not the case, however, with Portugal. It boasted no fewer than eight Poor Clare monasteries, four of them royal foundations. It is a pity that Catarina Almeida Marado's enlightening coverage of Portuguese Franciscan houses takes no account of them. While music, per se, is nowhere mentioned in the volume, musicologists, and especially those interested in Notre Dame polyphony, will surely want to read Elizabeth Valdez del Álamo's chapter (Chapter 14) on San Domingo de Silos. Their eye will also be caught by the passing references in Chapters 1 and 11 to the céli Dé (anglicized as 'culdees'), the ancient Celtic order that metamorphosed into a secular chapter and eventually into the royal chapel of St Andrew's Priory, Scotland, which possessed a copy of Notre Dame's Magnus liber organi.

While space does not permit detailed discussion of individual chapters, it would be remiss not to highlight the impressive contributions by Alf Tore Hommedal (Chapter 2) and Frederik Felskau (Chapter 9). Hommedal weaves together a fascinating tale that unfolded during the eleventh century, centred on the remote Norwegian island of Selja, the site of an episcopal see, home to English Benedictines from St Albans, and the location of the sanctuary of the apocryphal St Sunniva. He traces the influence of the cult of this saint on the relocation of the bishopric and on the Benedictines' enlightened self-interest in continuing...