Camaldolesi e Vallombrosani nella Toscana medievale

In the context of the intense religious and social renewal known as “Gregorian Reform”, the Camaldoli Hermitage and the Vallombrosa Abbey, both located in the Tuscan territory, gave rise to two movements of reform inspired by the spirituality of the respective founders, which later became congregations belonging to the benedictine family. Motivated by common instances, the Camaldolese and the Vallombrosan Orders were similar in some of their essential features and in the dynamics of their expansion. This statement has been the starting point of this work, which aims to formulate a comparative overview of the territorial spread of these reforms in Tuscany, by recording the known settlements and making an inventory of the religious communities interested by this phenomenom, in order to gather a broad range of examples of the way these movements interacted with the local situations in the different areas of the region. The text is enriched by a carthographic appendix illustrating the chronology of these congregations’ development in medieval Tuscany.

Color Symbolism in the Castilian Atlantic Bibles: Initials and Scenes from the Bible of Avila (BNM, Vit. 15-1)

The Atlantic Bibles of the Umbro-Roman school are associated with the needs of the Gregorian Reform, which began at the end of the 11th century. Their first impression is one of great ornamental sobriety, in accordance with the early stages of what Garrison and Berg have labelled the “geometric style.” This was first manifested in the decoration we find concentrated in the initials heading the individual books of the Bible. In Castile, one outstanding example is the Bible of Avila, begun by the Umbro-Roman school and finished in a Castilian scriptorium. This double perspective can be observed in a similarly double palette of color: Italian and Spanish. It is especially in this second phase when a reduction to the minimum of polychromy leads us to think that color has here a symbolic use. Red and blue, having had symbolic connotations since the birth of Christian iconography, are the principal colors of the scenes illustrated in the Bible of Avila, with the addition of green and yellow, which are also rich with symbolism. This possible symbolism of color may work to reinforce the conceptual nature of these miniatures, in direct relation to the text they decorate and to the liturgy they accompany. The Bible in the Middle Ages, in the context of monastic schools, was the most important manuscript for teaching and learning. Its miniatures and the symbolism of its colors contribute to the transmission of meanings.

A Time of Hope and Change

This chapter discusses how the world into which Saint Bernard of Clairvaux was born in 1090 was full of hope and promise. The search for intimacy would come to characterize Bernard's life and helps explain why he joined a monastery. At the same time, however, he benefited from other factors in creating his life. A few decades before Bernard was born, the Western Church had experienced the upheaval of what many history books call the Gregorian Reform. This movement can be called the first medieval reformation, for it brought about a genuine reformation or restructuring of the Christian Church. Bernard came to the monastery as an adult, and the new monasticism that he joined insisted on individual choice. In this sense, Bernard and his contemporaries would discover the meaning of Christianity as manifested in the words of Jesus, emphasizing the consent that comes from the heart instead of the gesture's symbolic assent.

The Robe of Corporeality: Sensual Aspects of Medieval Representations of Crucified Christ in the Tunica Manicata

This paper explores the iconography of the Volto Santo – a crucifix worshiped at the cathedral of Lucca, Italy, and the reception of this iconographic type in the medieval art. The aim is to investigate the role of robes covering the body of crucified Christ in the scenes of the Passion. First of all, the origins and meaning of different Christ’s garments are discussed in relation to the debates on the nature of Christ and around the Eucharist. Still, as the Volto Santo is usually dated to the 12th century and it presents Christ in the tunica manicata with the cingulum, which can be identified as a clerical costume, the meaning of Christ’s garments in the context of the Gregorian Reform, celibacy, and the concept of the third gender is also presented. Afterwards the practices of dressing the Volto Santo in the ceremonial vestments as a manifestation of its worship are analyzed. These vestments along with the altar, where the Volto Santo was presented to the faithful, are the most important elements of the iconography of the representations of the Volto Santo in the mural paintings. What draws attention in these images is the ambiguous position of Christ nailed to the cross and standing on the altar at the same time. That produces ambivalent sensual experience: the impression of uncourting Christ turns into a recognition of the particular cult object and vice versa. Moreover, the robe covering the body contributes to a fluid gender identity of the figure. It may be concluded that the robes of the crucified Christ play several roles: they cover the suffered body, they are an attribute of the ruler or priest, but above all, they manifest Christ’s corporality. The faithful confronted with these images found his or her somatic identity with Christ.

Lay Sanctity in the Central Middle Ages, 970–1120

This article surveys a collection of lay saints who were neither martyrs nor born into a royal family to show that, despite previous assumptions, this type of sainthood was possible before developments of the twelfth century. Two main themes emerge from their cults, namely an attempt to promote pious role models for the lay aristocracy and the growth of pilgrimage as an expression of wider devotion. The cults are also situated in the context of the Gregorian reform movement, showing that they contribute to a picture of clergy and laity working symbiotically rather than in opposition.

Resurrecting Rome. Liturgy and Rome's Second Revival

Liturgy is one of the more underestimated entries of the Gregorian reform. Surely, this is due to the difficulty of getting a clear view of concrete and detailed liturgical evolutions and renewals. It seems, however, to have been one of the more important elements at stake during the short period of the bitter and hard confrontations between the leading layers of the Church around 1100. Besides, between about 1050 and 1150, Rome saw an intense building activity of new churches according to new plans that seem to have been partly dictated by liturgical renovations. Notably, Pope Innocent II seems to have realized the importance of liturgy as a weapon to be used against his ecclesiastical and secular opponents. Thanks to the remarkable Liber politicus by Benedict the Canon (around 1140), we can have some ideas of the way innocent II used liturgy as a means to install his own imperial papacy. My contribution will have a closer look at Benedict's Liber politicus in its literary context as a means to reimagine Rome. The Liber will prove to be much more than a liturgical manual or a strange collection of disparate writings. Behind it lies a strong view of the political role of the papacy and of liturgy as a means to achieve and express papal supremacy. On cover:Monks singing the Office and decorated initial A[sperges me.]. Gradual Olivetan Master (Use of the Olivetan Benedictines), illuminated manuscript on parchment ca. 1430-1439. Italy, Monastero di Santa Maria di Baggio near Milan, Ca 1400-1775.Beinecke Ms1184: The olivetan Gradual. Gradual. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Pope Leo of Bourges, clerical immunity and the early medieval secular

This article investigates the notion of the secular in the European early Middle Ages, focusing on the transmission of a text that limited the liability of clerics to secular courts, from Late Antique Gaul through to the 'Gregorian Reform'.