Lindsay Rudge PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

the areas of northern France and Belgium. 2 In numerical terms, she noted one hundred
and two foundations between 600 and 649, of which twenty-five (25.5%) were for
women; between 650 and 699, there were one hundred and fifty-nine foundations of
which fifty-two (32.7%) were for women. 3 In the eighth century, she shows a noticeable
drop in the number of new foundations. Between 700 and 749, the overall figure had
reduced by almost two thirds, at sixty-three; the proportion of female foundations was
down to 12.7% (8 new houses in real terms). In the second half of the century, there were
ninety-one new houses, of which only eleven were for women (12.1%). 4 Schulenburg
views this as a decline, and attributes this it to waning enthusiasm for the monastic life in
the eighth century. Underlying this were a variety of other reasons: too many small
‘proprietary’ houses which had to compete for the same resources, invasions by the
Normans in the north and the Arabs from the south, the short life expectancy of many
houses which were intended to last only as long as it was deemed beneficial to the
aristocratic family concerned, and lastly the twin generalisms of ‘disorder’ on the one
hand and ‘reform’ on the other. 5
However, this summary perhaps raises as many questions as it answers. Most
importantly, to what extent did each of these factors – and others not discussed by
Schulenburg – affect the ways in which eighth century women lived out a life dedicated
to God? As a context within which to understand the transmission of Caesarius’ works
for dedicated religious women in the preceding chapter, this discussion will evaluate
some of the evidence for dedicated women in the eighth century. While following
conventional historiographical approaches by examining southern and northern Gaul
separately, this study will go further by placing the vicissitudes of monastic life within a
wider political context as a means of appreciating the fates of individual monasteries
2
On Columbanus, see above, Chapter Two. For Eligius of Noyon (Eloi) (d.660), see his vita by Dado of
Rouen, Krusch (ed.) MGH SSRM IV: 669-742. The vita Filiberti is at MGH SSRM V, 583-606. The
multiple vitae of Amandus are in AASS Feb. I, 848 ff.
3
Schulenberg, ‘Women’s Monastic Communities’, at 266.
4
Ibid, 266.
5
Ibid, 274-5; 277-8. See also J.T. Schulenburg, ‘Strict Active Enclosure and its Effects on the Female
Monastic Experience’, in J.A. Nichols and L.T. Shanks (eds.), Medieval Religious Women. I: Distant
Echoes (Kalamazoo, MI, 1984) 51-86, at 71.
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