How did the monks, nuns and hermits live? What rules did they agree to obey? To what extent were they able to uphold those ideals in reality? What was the relationship between the monasteries and wordly authorities? And what was the source of the power that the religious orders were able to exercise in political affairs at various times? Are the remarkable cultural accomplishments of the monasteries simply the fruits of great self-discipline, or did they also result from a privileged way of life? Who were the men and women who entered monasteries? The book covers the history of monasticism from its origins in late antiquity through its apex in the High Middle Ages and into the present

Translation of Orden und Klöster : 2000 Jahre christliche Kunst und Kultur. Bibliography note: Includes bibliographical references (p. 426-428) and index

13