Lindsay Rudge PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

which saw changes - the composition of a new rule for the cathedral canons of Metz, and
the promulgation of legislation through church councils and new sacramentaries – were
substantial impressions made on the existing situations of religious women in Francia.
Conclusion
While there is some evidence for the foundation of women’s monastic houses in
the northern parts of Gaul in the eighth century, there is very little for the south. To some
extent this was clearly due to the enthusiasm for religious life which remained from the
activities of Columbanus and his followers in the previous century. It was also linked to
the geographical location of the centre of power in Francia: for families linked to the
court, monastic foundation continued to prove a way of consolidating their hold on their
lands. The increasing northerly bias of the Frankish territories was also reflected in the
production and preservation of written sources. From the evidence which remains for
southern Gaul, it is difficult to make conclusive statements on the nature of dedicated life
for women in those regions. The climate of dedicated life had therefore changed
considerably from Caesarius’ day, in that the centres of monastic gravity and innovation
had shifted north. In other respects, however, much would still be recognisable. Amongst
several relatively well-documented monastic foundations in Francia, there is evidence for
the continuation of less formal dedicated lifestyles, and this is not surprising: a life
dedicated to God lived at home or in a smaller community would have been both more
economical and easier to arrange than a formal foundation. It is in this context that
Caesarius’ writings, and in particular the ‘booklet’ of shorter texts, must have found a
ready audience.
For these reasons, efforts towards the reform of dedicated life in the eighth
century were not as fruitful as either Boniface or Chrodegang would have hoped. The
question that remains to be answered in the following chapter is how far their reforming
initiatives laid the groundwork for subsequent attempts to reform the Frankish church in
the ninth century.
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