| This dissertation explores Carolingian monasticism through the writings of Paschasius Radbertus, a monk of Corbie, in northern Francia. Radbertus's literary career lasted from c. 820 until his death around 860. These decades belong to the pre-Cluniac era of monastic history (821-910), which was an interval between the monastic reforms of Benedict of Aniane (d. 821) and those of Cluny (founded in 910). Most scholarship on pre-Cluniac monasticism focuses on monastic decline or the relationship between monasteries and non-monks, such as kings, popes, and lay abbots. In contrast, the present study looks at how monastic life was imagined at one pre-Cluniac monastery, the abbey of Corbie. Radbertus's monastic ideals are uncovered through the analysis of five of his writings: two vitae of Corbie's abbots; and three non-hagiographical works about spiritual marriage to Christ. These analyses focus on the themes of humility and abbot-monk relations and on emotional expressions, such as love, sorrow, and tears. Recent historians, such as Barbara Rosenwein, have explored the history of medieval emotions. Building on their scholarship, the dissertation uses Radbertus's emotional expressions to gauge his views about the character of monastic relationships, e.g., between humans and God, and among the members of a monastery. This dissertation argues that Radbertus's writings contain diverse monastic ideals, including contemporary ones connected to the Anianian reform and older traditions from female monasticism and the Columbanian monastic world. In addition, he was one of the first Latin authors to portray a male cenobite as Christ's bride. Using Radbertus's Corbie as a case study, one may infer that the pre-Cluniac era was a time when diverse ideas about monasticism flourished. |
