Holy Entrepreneurs - by Constance Brittain Bouchard (Paperback)

About the Book

The twelfth century was characterized by intense spirituality as well as rapid economic development. Drawing on unprecedented research, Constance Brittain Bouchard demonstrates that the Cistercian monks of Burgundy were exemplary in both spheres...

Book Synopsis

The twelfth century was characterized by intense spirituality as well as rapid economic development. Drawing on unprecedented research, Constance Brittain Bouchard demonstrates that the Cistercian monks of Burgundy were exemplary in both spheres. Bouchard explores the web of economic ties that linked the Cistercian monasteries with their secular neighbors, especially the knights, and reaches some surprising conclusions about Cistercian attitudes.

Review Quotes

A signal strength of this book is the author's care to show that contemporaries understood and expressed in the charters the different transactions in which a monastery might engage. There was no confusion among pawns, leases, purchases, and gifts. In addition to being an important revisionist study of Burgundian Cistercian economic practices, this clear book is an excellent brief introduction for anyone wishing to understand twelfth-century charters and cartularies.

About the Author

Constance Brittain Bouchard is Distinguished Professor of Medieval History and Chair of the History Department at the University of Akron. Among her many books are "Every Valley Shall Be Exalted" The Discourse of Opposites in Twelfth-Century Thought and "Strong of Body, Brave and Noble" Chivalry and Society in Medieval France, also from Cornell, and The Cartulary of Montier-en-Der, 666-1129.