The Monastic Construction of the Ordo Militiae: Monks and milites in Anglo-Norman and French monastic writing, c.1050-c.1150

Abstract

This thesis examines the presentation of the milites as a distinct social group within Anglo-French monastic writing during a particularly significant epoch in the history of monasticism, c.1050-c.1150. Study of this period relies heavily on monastic written sources, and so it is necessary to understand monastic conceptualisations before it is possible to understand the milites. Principally, this study argues that monks understood themselves and the milites as coexisting within a network of Christian order, and that they naturally presented the milites according to a projection of their own principles and experiences.

Adopting a broad perspective on contemporary monastic literature, the study pursues this line of argument across two sections. First, it examines the functions associated with the particular social identities in monastic understanding, with an emphasis on the role of service. It also analyses the presentation of virtues in monastic writing, particularly questioning the ways in which they were applied to monks and milites alike. Second, the study explores the boundaries of the ordines through a close analysis of two ritualised moments codified in monastic custom; those of profession and dying. Highlighting the roles that these played in associating somebody with a particular ordered identity, it demonstrates how these moments were transplanted from the monastic experience onto the milites in order to define them as a distinct social group.

This study thereby proposes a framework for future study of the milites in this period by identifying the influences upon their presentation in monastic sources, providing a foundation for understanding how and why milites exist in monastic sources as they do. Intervening in both monastic and military historiography, it contributes to the growing scholarly field that seeks to bridge the perceived gap between the two. Ultimately, for the period c.1050-c.1150, it is necessary to understand monks before one can understand milites.