On The Cultural Center Position Of Monastery In The Earlier Middle Ages In Western Europe And Its Cause Of Formation

In the early Middle Ages (5-11centries), the monastery institute played an important part in the culture reconstruction process that nothing could instead of. As the only cultural entity meanwhile, it preserved and last the classical civilization which was nearly dying out. When study the culture of the Middle Ages of the West, we must study the monastery inevitably, because monastery is the most typical culture organization in that period, occupying the important position in the west development of the history of the early Middle Ages. Except for the preface and epilogue, the whole thesis was divided into three parts to discuss.The preface discussed the textual research meaning, the research overview and the research methods.The first part mainly introduced the background, the early development of monastery and several kinds of Western Europe monastery in early days. At the beginning, monarchism represented extreme asceticism. When in combined with Christianity, it gradually became a kind of life style with the purpose of purifying the soul. In Western Europe several different factions of monastery emerged. They affected the development progress of the culture of Western Europe in some different extents.The second part emphasized to discuss the cultural center position of monastery in the period of the early Middle Ages in Western Europe. When the Empire of Rome ended up suddenly, the monastery preserved the classical civilization by its own way, and took the heavy load of training the talented person. In this way, monastery became talented person's cradle in the Middle Ages. The subjective motive of contributing to God make the monastery becomes the center of academic research objectively. And the art was developed and innovated in the same time. All of these appeared that monastery dad been the cultural center at that time.The third part analyzed the reasons of monasteries becoming the cultural center at that time. The monastery replaced the government to exercise some cultural and educational functions with its special advantages. The sacred purpose, the quite atmosphere, the abundant library and the strict disciplines contributed to the monastery's cultural center position at that time. In addition, the self-sufficient economic mode and the manorial managing quomodo and the later ranches provided strong economic foundation for monastery. Finally, the monastery also gained supports from both emperors and popes, so it could develop in a loose-fitting political environment. The epilogue part summed up the whole thesis, and briefly elaborated the function and the influence of the monastery in the Middle Ages at the same time.