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Aelred of Rievaulx : Cistercian Monk and Medieval Man
“In England, the year 1110 was one of severe storms, bad harvests and high taxes. May saw an eclipse of the moon, and in June a comet blazed across the sky visible throughout the country for three weeks. It was also the year that Aelred, then known as Ethelred, was born.”
Insightful and refreshing in its approach, this biography of Aelred of Rievaulx, England's most famous Cistercian, explores his life in full—from his childhood in Hexham, his time at King David's court in Scotland, through to his entry into Rievaulx abbey as a monk and his subsequent career within the Cistercian order.
Aelred’s experiences and activities are placed firmly in context of what life was like in the twelfth century. The book is well researched and informative yet also enjoyable and a pleasure to read.
For anyone interested in Aelred, the Cistercians, early medieval England or life in the twelfth century, this is book is essential reading.
Insightful and refreshing in its approach, this biography of Aelred of Rievaulx, England's most famous Cistercian, explores his life in full—from his childhood in Hexham, his time at King David's court in Scotland, through to his entry into Rievaulx abbey as a monk and his subsequent career within the Cistercian order.
Aelred’s experiences and activities are placed firmly in context of what life was like in the twelfth century. The book is well researched and informative yet also enjoyable and a pleasure to read.
For anyone interested in Aelred, the Cistercians, early medieval England or life in the twelfth century, this is book is essential reading.
232 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 21, 2014
Sharla Race manages to paint a picture which introduces you to this fascinating writer, monk and thinker and she does so with imagination and an easy style. It has encouraged me to re-visit the works of his that I read at College almost 30 years ago and has made me intrigued enough to want to discover the ones I have not read......however.....I have a few gripes.
One:- Who was your proof-reader ? Whoever they were, I would let them go. They were worse than useless. Omissions, clunky punctuation, misspellings.
Two:- Who was your editor ?.......Much the same verdict. Any number of times there were repetitions of facts and ideas. Now if that is stretched across the whole book or at least chapters then that can be seen as emphasis but between pages or even paragraphs and on two occasions the preceding paragraph ended with a sentence that was, almost word for word, repeated to begin the next.
Three:- As a catholic I am quite used to wading through waters which can be everso slightly muddied by legend and fable in the stories of saints or, to use another metaphor, I am quite used to separating the wheat from the chaff in the hagiographical tradition. At one point Race discusses Aelred being miraculously protected from rain in a leaky cell of a neighbouring Abbey whereas his comrades are soaked. She then proceeds to argue out as to whether this pointed to n awkward snub being delivered by the Abbot being visited.....eh no....it was hagiographical nonsense attempting to 'prove' Aelred's sanctity by the miraculous appearance of the invisible angelic umbrella presumably.
Fourthly:- And this is just a personal gripe:-
"By the time Aelred was a teenager the collective memory of the Norman Conquest was as distant as ours is of the Second World War"
On this I beg to differ. The memory of the second world war and its brutality and privations is seen from the vantage point of victory and 70 years or so of, in the UK at least, relative positive progress. Society has been transformed and radically changed but through the normal run of development and alteration.
The Norman Conquest was just that. A conquest, a whole societal structure, an edifice of aristocracy, of family, of clan was swept away, destroyed in one battle and the aftermath of this, culminating in the razing of the North by William I to quash opposition, would not have been something from which the inhabitants of England could so easily have moved.
The quisling Anglo-Saxon families would still be remembered as such; the Norman aristocrats who would have usurped and slaughtered the recalcitrant Saxons and ousted ancient families from their communities would have not been so easily accepted. They had imposed, through might and power, their rule and although this was the normal way for the era it would not have made the change any more easy to bear.
Aelred's family had quite clearly thrown in their lot with the victors, I would have been quite interested to have had more investigation of what and how this situation had its effect in his life and ministry and yet there is nothing. It is as if the massive shock of Hastings never really happened, as if it was simply Harold dying conveniently and William stepping in helpfully to the vacated throne. I realize this was not the book Ms Race was writing but I find it hard to see how the memory and echo of that 'earthquake' cannot have had repercussions but there is no sight of even a min tremor or ripple on the pond.
So all in all, an interesting book as far as it goes but a number of jars and clunks, some of which I have mentioned, which meant it served to be a stumble rather than an effortless glide.
One:- Who was your proof-reader ? Whoever they were, I would let them go. They were worse than useless. Omissions, clunky punctuation, misspellings.
Two:- Who was your editor ?.......Much the same verdict. Any number of times there were repetitions of facts and ideas. Now if that is stretched across the whole book or at least chapters then that can be seen as emphasis but between pages or even paragraphs and on two occasions the preceding paragraph ended with a sentence that was, almost word for word, repeated to begin the next.
Three:- As a catholic I am quite used to wading through waters which can be everso slightly muddied by legend and fable in the stories of saints or, to use another metaphor, I am quite used to separating the wheat from the chaff in the hagiographical tradition. At one point Race discusses Aelred being miraculously protected from rain in a leaky cell of a neighbouring Abbey whereas his comrades are soaked. She then proceeds to argue out as to whether this pointed to n awkward snub being delivered by the Abbot being visited.....eh no....it was hagiographical nonsense attempting to 'prove' Aelred's sanctity by the miraculous appearance of the invisible angelic umbrella presumably.
Fourthly:- And this is just a personal gripe:-
"By the time Aelred was a teenager the collective memory of the Norman Conquest was as distant as ours is of the Second World War"
On this I beg to differ. The memory of the second world war and its brutality and privations is seen from the vantage point of victory and 70 years or so of, in the UK at least, relative positive progress. Society has been transformed and radically changed but through the normal run of development and alteration.
The Norman Conquest was just that. A conquest, a whole societal structure, an edifice of aristocracy, of family, of clan was swept away, destroyed in one battle and the aftermath of this, culminating in the razing of the North by William I to quash opposition, would not have been something from which the inhabitants of England could so easily have moved.
The quisling Anglo-Saxon families would still be remembered as such; the Norman aristocrats who would have usurped and slaughtered the recalcitrant Saxons and ousted ancient families from their communities would have not been so easily accepted. They had imposed, through might and power, their rule and although this was the normal way for the era it would not have made the change any more easy to bear.
Aelred's family had quite clearly thrown in their lot with the victors, I would have been quite interested to have had more investigation of what and how this situation had its effect in his life and ministry and yet there is nothing. It is as if the massive shock of Hastings never really happened, as if it was simply Harold dying conveniently and William stepping in helpfully to the vacated throne. I realize this was not the book Ms Race was writing but I find it hard to see how the memory and echo of that 'earthquake' cannot have had repercussions but there is no sight of even a min tremor or ripple on the pond.
So all in all, an interesting book as far as it goes but a number of jars and clunks, some of which I have mentioned, which meant it served to be a stumble rather than an effortless glide.
February 11, 2022
I chose to read this after a visit to Rievaulx and enjoyed the sections on the growth and development of the abbey. Also the social history aspects daily life, travel and customs etc.
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