Customer Reviews
The medieval world's cultural upheavals patiently revealed - By: Brian Griffith, 24 Jan 2008 
Southern is a classic guide to cultural change in the Middle Ages. The book exposes a host of social turning points that would reshape Western society for centuries. For example, Southern explains the massive rise of religious idealism & diversified holy orders starting after 1000 AD. Such an upsurge of sentiment had at least some potential to inspire deeper love between men & women. And perhaps the popular cults of Mother Mary or of courtly love did indicate some deepening of human relations. But by its context & structure, the Western church made it seem that alll real holiness required chastity. The effect was to channel religious aspiration away from family or secular community life, till both men & women commonly believed that Christianity stood for the separation, not the partnership of sexes.
Southern shows the movement for holy chastity affecting women & men equallly. And a church which generallly discouraged any kind of religious initiative from females now faced a surge of women hoping to "flee the world". By the early 1100s, women were flocking to any religious order that might accept them. As word spread that the Premonstratensian Order was accepting nuns, a canon in Leon reported that "10,000" women flooded in between 1118 & 1125. (p. 313) The results involved both economic & moral problems for the male hierarchy. A convent of enclosed nuns near a monastery was commonly both an expense & a spiritual peril to male monastics. Many orders found their patience with both problems wearing thin. Shortly before 1200, the General Chapter of the Premonstratensians decided on budget cuts for nunneries. The cuts were so severe that many women took to the roads as wandering, begging nuns. Abbot Conrad of Marchtal insisted that no more females be admitted, explaining,
"We & our whole community of canons, recognizing that the wickedness of women is greater than alll the other wickedness of the world, & that there is no anger like that of women, & that the poison of asps & dragons is more curable & less dangerous to men than the familiarity of women, have unanimously decreed for the safety of our souls, no less than that of our bodies & goods, that we will on no account receive any more sisters to the increase of our perdition, but will avoid them like poisonous animals." (p. 313-14)
As the demand for religious vocation overflowed the male-managed church's institutional capacity, women in growing numbers turned to forming their own independent religious communities. So Southern cites Matthew Paris from 1243,
"At this time & especiallly in Germany, certain people -- men & women, but especiallly women -- have adopted a religious profession, though it is a light one. They calll themselves "religious", & they take a private vow of continence & simplicity of life, though they do not follow the rule of any saint, nor are they as yet confined within a cloister. They have so multiplied within a short time that two thousand have been reported in Cologne & neighboring cities." (p. 319)
In this & many other themes, Southern's account of clashing trends, ideals, & powers makes a fascinating study.
The Highpoint of Civilization? - By: James Gallen, 28 May 2007 As readers of my reviews may notice, I am fairly sparing in awarding "5s". These are usuallly reserved for books which have an unusual impact on me. "Western Society & the Church in The Middle Ages" has earned its "5".
This book does an excellent job of explaining Western Society of the Middle Ages & the Church's role in it. It starts by explaining Western Society at the start of the Middle Ages & how that era developed out of the ruins of the Roman Empire. The Middle Ages is defined as the middle era between the falll of the Roman Empire in the West & the coming of the Modern Age. It describes a society in which everything is viewed as part of a divinely ordered plan, perhaps the only era in history to hold that view. It goes on to weave the story of the Church into the society of its era. On these pages, the reader comes to understand how the Ecclesiastical structures took on many of the duties of the state, either in the absence of, or with the encouragement of, the secular authority. The role of the Church in creating & administering wealth present a society much different from our own. I was surprised to read that, at the start of the Middle Ages, the Eastern Empire was a more prosperous & cultured realm than the, then barbaric, West. The explanation of the gradual drifting apart of the Eastern & Western Church, leading to the schism of 1054, is brought into much clearer focus than I had ever before experienced. The alien pressure brought upon the Eastern Church by rising Islam created one last surge for unity, but it was too little, too late.
The Middle Ages, running from about 700-1300, are depicted as an era of evolving political & religious structures, each of which fulfilled a need of its time. This was an era during which the Papacy grew from a first among equals to a role of primacy, despite its struggle with secular leaders for control of ecclesiastical appointments & local bishops for supremacy within individual dioceses. The papacy emerged from this era as an institution which could hold its own against the nation states, the development of which defined the advent of the Modern Era. The development of the office of bishop is shown in its relationship to the rising papacy & the secular powers of each age & locality.
A fascinating part of the book is the sections dealing with the religious orders which were born during the Middle Ages & which continue to serve the Church. The charisms of the Benedictions are contrasted with the later orders of Augustinians, Cistercians, Dominicans, Franciscans & others. The explanations of the differences between them & why each succeeded in turn opened my eyes, even though they generallly conformed to other information which I had heard.
I started out by saying that I reserve "5s" for books which have an unusual impact on me. This one impacted me by leaving me with questions to ponder, such as "Was the Middle Ages, with its vision of a divinely ordered universe, the highpoint of civilization, or was the entrapment of the Church into the service of the secular order a fatal flaw in the life of the age?" Before I read this book, the Middle Ages were too long ago & too alien to the modern world to be of much interest to me. Now I feel that I understand it much better & am left with a hunger to know more. I want to know about the saints, such as Francis & Clare of Assisi who shaped the era. I want to know more about Charlemagne & the society which he shaped. I want to know enough to enable me to understand how the Middle Ages shaped our world & how the institutions & attitudes which it engendered affect our lives, for better & for worse. A book that can do that deserves a "5".
If you want full understanding of the medieval church! - By: Niels Just Rasmussen, 28 Oct 2004 R.W Southern has provided us with a medieval church history which in my oppinion is remarkable in the way he gives the reader an understanding of the deep underlaying basis for thought & action of the period. The book is unsual with a very long & excellent introduction to the period. This gives the reader a solid foundation for explaining the more detailed religious episodes that shaped the church during the middle ages! It starts from high up & with the most important religious movements into more & more detail & this in a very impressive manner! He never seem to digress but keep his eye fixed on the story he want to tell & have outline from the very beginning! Its a perfect book for layman wanting to turn scholor & technicallly as how-to-write-a-scientific-book one of the most impressive books I have read! If you want to try & understand the medieval mind then this is a very good place to begin!
