- Relies on De Jong's _In Samuel's Image_ as a reference - related: [I'm a Monk in the middle ages. I'd like to quit being a Monk. Do I have any chances of doing so?](https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/l1y8j1/im_a_monk_in_the_middle_ages_id_like_to_quit/) by [[sunagainstgold]] via [[rAskHistorians|AskHistorians]] ## Highlights ### q1 Benedict of Nursia established the most common monastic code > The most archetypical monasticism in the Latin Christian world is the Benedictine tradition. While Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-550) was not the first western monk, his monastic code, *The Rule of St. Benedict*, laid the groundwork for monastic life in communities ordered under an abbot - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fk6zkf8p5ka8jjfkp74gcc9k) ### q2 entering monasteries young conferred advantage > in a monastic world increasingly stratified by education, those who entered a monastery young had more time to become steeped in texts, whereas an adult *conversus* might struggle to learn even basic reading. - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fk6znfh8acjm9kn6pn5yc4pk) - [n] This feels a lot like how modern parents will put their kids into preschool early even though it's not necessarily best for the kid for most things, because it gives them a leg up on literacy. ### q3 families gave kids to monasteries > Cerling explains, offering a child was not only a way for nobles to avoid the problem of a landless younger son, but to create a relationship with an institution and ensure prayers and Masses for their salvation and that of their relatives. Child oblation was not the only way that families could associate themselves with monasteries - Cerling also writes about monastic confraternities - but the point here is that families offered children not only out of self-interested desire for prayers on their behalf, but as part of broad strategies to strengthen the social ties between themselves and monasteries. Child oblation here is symbolic - *sacramental*, even, if I can be cheeky - of the relationship between monasteries and their surrounding communities. > > even though oblation used children as currency in an exchange between a religious institution and a family, these children often went on to achieve success, learning, and status unavailable to most of their peers. - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fk6zqe2bkkwhdr8stdcwjzfm) ### q4 child initiation practices distinguished monastic and mendicants > Child initiation is also one of the areas in which the mendicants of the later middle ages (e.g. Franciscan and Dominican friars) distinguished themselves against their monastic counterparts - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fk6zsh7qhh2appz0493p8s0z)