Monks and Love in Twelfth-century France: Psycho-Historical Essays

by Jean Leclercq

I) INTRODUCTION : MODERN PSYCHOLOGY AND THE MEDIEVAL PSYCHE - II) NEW RECRUITMENT - NEW PSYCHOLOGY : I) Adult recruitment - II) Psychological implications - III) The unpredictable St. Bernard - III) A BIBLICAL MASTER OF LOVE : SOLOMON : I) The Solomon of the Song of Songs and others - II) A symbolic tradition- III) A spontaneous symbolism - IV) The school of the liturgy - V) A methodical formation - VI) From images to realities - VII) Different keys to interpretation - VIII) In the lineage of St. Bernard - IV) ANOTHER MASTER IN THE ART OF LOVING : OVID : I) Cicero forerunner to Ovid - II) The ovidian complex - III) Ovid and monks - IV) The secular's Ovid - V) The french Ovid - VI) Pagan writings and Holy Scripture - V) AGGRESSIVENESS OR REPRESSION IN ST. BERNARD AND IN HIS MONKS : I) Two levels of psyche in two forms of writings - II) Social aggressiveness as reflected in St. Bernard - III) Transformation of a desire for human love into a desire for union with God - IV) Conclusion. The oneness of the two psychic levels in St. Bernard - VI) CHAMPAGNE AS A GARDEN OF LOVE : The castles - II) The synagogue - III) The court - IV) The riddle of Andrew the Chaplain - V) Héloïse and the Paraclete - VI) St. Bernard and the Bride of the Song of Songs - VII) Erec and Enide - VII) EPILOGUE. BERNARD AND DANTE : THE BRIDE AND BEATRICE : I) Love and women - II) Two similar processes : personification and sublimation - III) Two similar results : renunciation and integration - IV) Mary and the Eternal Feminine - INDEX.

156 pages, Hardcover

First published June 14, 1979

About the author

Dom Jean LeClercq, O.S.B. was a French Benedictine monk, and author of a classic study on Lectio Divina and the history of inter-monastic dialogue. As a young man, he entered Clervaux Abbey in Luxembourg, of which monastery he remained a monk until his death.

Reviews

[Brian Hohmeier · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tough one. A few of the essays collected contain valuable insight and gorgeous prose, but on the whole—particularly as Leclercq branches out from his discussions of the new monasticism and Bernard to incorporate analyses of Ovid and the literature of Champagne—the value of this particular project eludes me.