Holy Entrepreneurs
Cistercians, Knights, and Economic Exchange in Twelfth-Century Burgundy

Constance Brittain Bouchard (Author)

9780801475252

Paperback / softback, published 28 May 2009

260 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.9 cm, 0.454 kg

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.

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.