Alison I. Beach | |
---|---|
Born | Alison Isdale Beach October 8, 1963 New Rochelle, New York, U.S. |
Nationality | American |
Spouse | |
Awards | Ratner Teaching Award |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Columbia University (Ph.D.) Smith College (B.A.) |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Historian |
Institutions | University of St Andrews,Ohio State University,University of Cologne,College of William and Mary |
Main interests | Medieval History |
Alison Isdale Beach (born October 8,1963) is an American historian.
She is a professor of medieval history at the University of St Andrews. She completed her B.A. in history at Smith College in 1985 and her Ph.D. in religion at Columbia University in 1996. She also holds an M.A. in history and an M.Phil. in religion from Columbia University. From 2011 to 2020 she was a professor of history at the Ohio State University. She has also held regular positions at the College of William and Mary and the University of Cologne,and visiting positions at Union Theological Seminary,New Brunswick Theological Seminary,Temple University,and the University of Trier. She is the author of Woman as Scribes:Book Production and Monastic Reform in Twelfth-Century Bavaria (Cambridge University Press,2004) [1] and The Trauma of Monastic Reform:Community and Conflict in Twelfth-Century Germany (Cambridge University Press,2017) [2] as well as numerous articles that explore the history of monasticism in medieval Europe. She is a founding member of the Arbeitskreis geistliche Frauen im europäischen Mittelalter (AGFEM). [3] With Isabelle Cochelin,she edited the two-volume Cambridge History of Medieval Monasticism in the Latin West (Cambridge University Press,2020). [4]
Alison Beach was a Fulbright recipient in 2003 and has received grants from the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. In 2013-14 she was a Member in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study and is Co-President of the Board of Trustees of the Association of Members of the Institute for Advanced Study. [5] In 2017,she won a Ronald and Deborah Ratner Distinguished Teaching Award from Ohio State. [6] [7]
In January 2019,Alison Beach was a coauthor of the article "Medieval women’s early involvement in manuscript production suggested by lapis lazuli identification in dental calculus",which appeared in Science Advances. [8] The article demonstrated that a female religious in twelfth-century Germany was likely involved in luxury book production as an illuminator because she had lapis lazuli in her dental calculus. The article received extensive global press coverage. [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]
She is married to the economist David A. Jaeger.
The Benedictines,officially the Order of Saint Benedict,are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529 they are the oldest of all the religious orders in the Latin Church. The male religious are also sometimes called the Black Monks,especially in English speaking countries,after the colour of their habits. Not all Benedictines wear black however,with some like the Olivetans wearing white. They were founded by Benedict of Nursia,a 6th-century Italian monk who laid the foundations of Benedictine monasticism through the formulation of his Rule. Benedict's sister,Scholastica,possibly his twin,also became a religious from an early age,but chose to live as a hermit. They retained a close relationship until her death.
Monasticism,also called monachism or monkhood,is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic life plays an important role in many Christian churches,especially in the Catholic,Orthodox and Anglican traditions as well as in other faiths such as Buddhism,Hinduism,and Jainism. In other religions,monasticism is criticized and not practiced,as in Islam and Zoroastrianism,or plays a marginal role,as in modern Judaism.
Lapis lazuli,or lapis for short,is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color. Originating from the Persian word for the gem,lāžward,lapis lazuli is a rock composed primarily of the minerals lazurite,pyrite and calcite. As early as the 7th millennium BC,lapis lazuli was mined in the Sar-i Sang mines,in Shortugai,and in other mines in Badakhshan province in modern northeast Afghanistan. Lapis lazuli artifacts,dated to 7570 BC,have been found at Bhirrana,which is the oldest site of Indus Valley civilisation. Lapis was highly valued by the Indus Valley Civilisation. Lapis beads have been found at Neolithic burials in Mehrgarh,the Caucasus,and as far away as Mauritania. It was used in the funeral mask of Tutankhamun.
Edgar was King of the English from 959 until his death in 975. He became king of all England on his brother's death. He was the younger son of King Edmund I and his first wife Ælfgifu. A detailed account of Edgar's reign is not possible,because only a few events were recorded by chroniclers and monastic writers were more interested in recording the activities of the leaders of the church.
A scriptorium was a writing room in medieval European monasteries for the copying and illuminating of manuscripts by scribes.
Christian monasticism is a religious way of life of Christians who live ascetic and typically cloistered lives that are dedicated to Christian worship. It began to develop early in the history of the Christian Church,modeled upon scriptural examples and ideals,including those in the Old Testament. It has come to be regulated by religious rules and,in modern times,the Canon law of the respective Christian denominations that have forms of monastic living. Those living the monastic life are known by the generic terms monks (men) and nuns (women). The word monk originated from the Greek μοναχός,itself from μόνος meaning 'alone'.
Eucherius was a high-born and high-ranking ecclesiastic in the Christian church in Roman Gaul. He is remembered for his letters advocating extreme self-abnegation. From 439,he served as Archbishop of Lyon,and Henry Wace ranked him "the most distinguished occupant of that see" after Irenaeus. He is venerated as a saint within the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church.
The Cluniac Reforms were a series of changes within medieval monasticism in the Western Church focused on restoring the traditional monastic life,encouraging art,and caring for the poor. The movement began within the Benedictine order at Cluny Abbey,founded in 910 by William I,Duke of Aquitaine (875–918). The reforms were largely carried out by Saint Odo and spread throughout France,into England,and through much of Italy,northern Portugal and Spain.
Oswald of Worcester was Archbishop of York from 972 to his death in 992. He was of Danish ancestry,but brought up by his uncle,Oda of Canterbury,who sent him to France to the abbey of Fleury to become a monk. After a number of years at Fleury,Oswald returned to England at the request of his uncle,who died before Oswald returned. With his uncle's death,Oswald needed a patron and turned to another kinsman,Oskytel,who had recently become Archbishop of York. His activity for Oskytel attracted the notice of Archbishop Dunstan who had Oswald consecrated as Bishop of Worcester in 961. In 972,Oswald was promoted to the see of York,although he continued to hold Worcester also.
Christianity in medieval Scotland includes all aspects of Christianity in the modern borders of Scotland in the Middle Ages. Christianity was probably introduced to what is now Lowland Scotland by Roman soldiers stationed in the north of the province of Britannia. After the collapse of Roman authority in the fifth century,Christianity is presumed to have survived among the British enclaves in the south of what is now Scotland,but retreated as the pagan Anglo-Saxons advanced. Scotland was largely converted by Irish missions associated with figures such as St Columba,from the fifth to the seventh centuries. These missions founded monastic institutions and collegiate churches that served large areas. Scholars have identified a distinctive form of Celtic Christianity,in which abbots were more significant than bishops,attitudes to clerical celibacy were more relaxed and there were significant differences in practice with Roman Christianity,particularly the form of tonsure and the method of calculating Easter,although most of these issues had been resolved by the mid-seventh century. After the reconversion of Scandinavian Scotland in the tenth century,Christianity under papal authority was the dominant religion of the kingdom.
Diemoth was a recluse at Wessobrunn Abbey in Upper Bavaria,Germany,born around 1060 and died on 30 March,probably in 1130. She worked on 45 manuscripts from 1075 to 1130. Her name comes from the Middle High German word for "humility" or "modesty")
Monastic sign languages have been used in Europe from at least the 10th century by Christian monks,and some,such as Cistercian and Trappist sign,are still in use today—not only in Europe,but also in Japan,China and the USA. Unlike deaf sign languages,they are better understood as forms of symbolic gestural communication rather than languages,and some writers have preferred to describe them as sign lexicons.
Michael David Knowles was an English Benedictine monk,Catholic priest,and historian,who became Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge from 1954 to 1963.
Frithegod,was a poet and clergyman in the mid 10th-century who served Oda of Canterbury,an Archbishop of Canterbury. As a non-native of England,he came to Canterbury and entered Oda's service as a teacher and scholar. After Oda's death he likely returned to the continent. His most influential writing was a poem on the life of Wilfrid,an 8th-century bishop and saint,named Breviloquium Vitae Wilfridi. Several manuscripts of this poem survive,as well as a few other of Frithegod's poems. He was also known for the complexity of his writings,with one historian even calling them "damnably difficult".
The English Benedictine Reform or Monastic Reform of the English church in the late tenth century was a religious and intellectual movement in the later Anglo-Saxon period. In the mid-tenth century almost all monasteries were staffed by secular clergy,who were often married. The reformers sought to replace them with celibate contemplative monks following the Rule of Saint Benedict. The movement was inspired by Continental monastic reforms,and the leading figures were Dunstan,Archbishop of Canterbury,Æthelwold,Bishop of Winchester,and Oswald,Archbishop of York.
Janet Burton is professor of medieval history at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. She researches medieval monasticism,religious orders and congregations. She is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries,the Royal Historical Society,and the Learned Society of Wales. She initiated the Monastic Wales project in July 2007 to research and disseminate knowledge on the medieval monasteries of Wales.
Anthusa of Mantinea,also called Anthusa the Confessor was an anchoress and abbess in Constantinople during the 8th century.
Engelberga of Provence,Duchess of Aquitaine (877–917) was a 8th-9th century Bosonid noblewoman.
Guibert of Gembloux was a Benedictine monk who served as secretary to Hildegard of Bingen. He later became abbot of Gembloux Abbey in the province of Namur,Belgium.
Matrona of Perge of the 6th century was a Byzantine female saint known for temporarily cross-dressing as the monk Babylos to avoid her husband after she decided to live following the sentence in chapter 7,verse 29 of the First Epistle to the Corinthians,"those who have wives [must] be [live] as if they had none".