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To Be the Neighbor of Saint Peter: The Social Meaning of Cluny's Property, 909-1049
Barbara H. Rosenwein here reassesses the significance of property in the tenth and eleventh centuries, a period of transition from the Carolingian empire to the regional monarchies of the High Middle Ages. In To Be the Neighbor of Saint Peter she explores in rich detail the question of monastic donations, illuminating the human motives, needs, and practices behind gifts of land and churches to the French monastery of Cluny during the 140 years that followed its founding. Donations, Rosenwein shows, were largely the work of neighbors, and they set up and affirmed relationships with Saint Peter, to whom Cluny was dedicated. Cluny was an eminent religious institution and served as a model for other monasteries. It attracted numerous donations and was party to many land transactions. Its charters and cartularies constitute perhaps the single richest collection of information on property for the period 909–1049. Analyzing the evidence found in these records, Rosenwein considers the precise nature of Cluny's ownership of land, the character of its claims to property, and its tutelage over the land of some of the monasteries in its ecclesia.
280 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
About the author
Barbara H. Rosenwein
291 books23 followersProf. Barbara Rosenwein was the Humanitas Visiting Professor in Historiography at the University of Oxford for the year 2014-2015.
Barbara H. Rosenwein (Ph.D. (1974), B.A. (1966), University of Chicago) is a professor at Loyola University Chicago. An internationally renowned historian, she has been a guest professor at the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France; the École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France; the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, and most recently at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Since 2009, Rosenwein has been an affiliated research scholar at the Centre for the History of the Emotions at Queen Mary University in London. She was a scholar in residence at the American Academy in Rome in 2001-2002 and was elected Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America in 2003.
Barbara H. Rosenwein (Ph.D. (1974), B.A. (1966), University of Chicago) is a professor at Loyola University Chicago. An internationally renowned historian, she has been a guest professor at the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France; the École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France; the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, and most recently at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Since 2009, Rosenwein has been an affiliated research scholar at the Centre for the History of the Emotions at Queen Mary University in London. She was a scholar in residence at the American Academy in Rome in 2001-2002 and was elected Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America in 2003.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 22, 2011
This is a very thought-provoking book. Barbara Rosenwein's research project was originally intended to map the early properties of Cluny, a monastery founded in Burgundy in 909 that would grow into one of the domninant monastic instutions of the Middle Ages. After a statistical analysis, however, Rosenwein noticed that the properties often wound up being essentially un-mappable - single pieces of land were given to Cluny, given back, and argued over for multiple generations. Plots were donated and then re-donated by sons and daughters of the original donors. Lands were given to Cluny and then given back to the original donors for set periods of time.
After analyzing all of these trends, Rosenwein came to the conclusion that these trends were all indicative of a society in which land was conceptualized not only with economic meaning, but also social and spiritual meaning. People donated land in elaborate ceremonies that brought together their neighbors, and they would occasionally symbolically re-donate the land later as a show of support (or of influence). Land would be shuttled around between owners so that landholders would have the opportunity to have their land border the land of Cluny - and consequently, the land of Saint Peter himself - in order to have spiriutal protection over their environs. Land was "in flux," according to Rosenwein, and the donation of a parcel of land, while it may have alienated the right to collect financial income from that land, did not end the previous owner's connection to it. In fact, it underlined the social relationship between the donor and the recipient.
I do wish that Rosenwein had expanded her argument a bit in places. While sources are always a problem, it can be a bit hard to see precisely how contemporary donors saw their own gifts and how deeply social concerns fit into their motives. Also, in her conclusion, Rosenwein notes that around the year 1010 a marked shift starts to occur, and property starts to become associated with tightly held, familial land plots as opposed to the more porous situation of the 10th century. At this point, the laity are less concerned about having Saint Peter for a neighbor, and more about making donations from their own, more clearly-established blocks of land. It's a fascinating observation, and one that could have benefited from more discussion.
Very interesting book, though. The intensive discussion of the charters can get a little dry in places (and the genealogies can get very complicated very quickly), but if it's a subject you're interested in, it's certainly worth a read. It's fairly easy to grasp the gist of Rosenwein's argument even if you skip over the more detailed case studies.
After analyzing all of these trends, Rosenwein came to the conclusion that these trends were all indicative of a society in which land was conceptualized not only with economic meaning, but also social and spiritual meaning. People donated land in elaborate ceremonies that brought together their neighbors, and they would occasionally symbolically re-donate the land later as a show of support (or of influence). Land would be shuttled around between owners so that landholders would have the opportunity to have their land border the land of Cluny - and consequently, the land of Saint Peter himself - in order to have spiriutal protection over their environs. Land was "in flux," according to Rosenwein, and the donation of a parcel of land, while it may have alienated the right to collect financial income from that land, did not end the previous owner's connection to it. In fact, it underlined the social relationship between the donor and the recipient.
I do wish that Rosenwein had expanded her argument a bit in places. While sources are always a problem, it can be a bit hard to see precisely how contemporary donors saw their own gifts and how deeply social concerns fit into their motives. Also, in her conclusion, Rosenwein notes that around the year 1010 a marked shift starts to occur, and property starts to become associated with tightly held, familial land plots as opposed to the more porous situation of the 10th century. At this point, the laity are less concerned about having Saint Peter for a neighbor, and more about making donations from their own, more clearly-established blocks of land. It's a fascinating observation, and one that could have benefited from more discussion.
Very interesting book, though. The intensive discussion of the charters can get a little dry in places (and the genealogies can get very complicated very quickly), but if it's a subject you're interested in, it's certainly worth a read. It's fairly easy to grasp the gist of Rosenwein's argument even if you skip over the more detailed case studies.
April 27, 2009
Painstakingly researched but very dry, I could only recommend this volume to someone with a passion for monastic charters.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews