Summary Monasticism became part of European culture from the early period of Christianity and developed into a powerful institution that had a profound effect on the greater Church, on wider society, and on the landscape. Monastic communities were as diverse as the societies in which they lived, following a variety of rules, building monasteries influenced by common ideals and yet diverse in their regionalism, while also contributing to the economic and spiritual well-being inside and outside their precincts. This interdisciplinary volume presents the diversity of medieval European monasticism with a particular emphasis on its impact on the immediate environs. Geographically it extends from the far west in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, to the east in Romania and the Balkans, through the north of Scandinavia to the south of the Iberian Peninsula. Drawing on archaeological, art and architectural, textual and topographical evidence, the contributors explore how monastic communities were formed, how they created a landscape of monasticism, how they wove their identities with those around them, and how they interacted with all levels of society to leave a lasting imprint on European towns and rural landscapes. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations Preface Introduction - EDEL BHREATHNACH Identifying the Familia Monastica The Nature of Pre-'Reform' Irish Monasticism - EDEL BHREATHNACH St Sunniva, the Seljumenn and St Alban: The Benedictines and the Sanctuary at Selja, Norway - ALF TORE HOMMEDAL Monasticism, Lordship, and State-Building in Twelfth-Century Cumbria - RICHARD THOMASON Tensions in a Border Abbey: Strata Marcella, Its Patrons, Friends, and Enemies - JANET BURTON The Blackfriars Preachers, Trim, Co. Meath and the Legacy of Geoffrey de Geneville - FINOLA O'CARROLL Tales of War and Pilgrimage: The Archive of Santa Maria de Vilabertran in Catalonia - KAREN STÖBER The Cloister, Heart of Monastic Life - ELIZABETH VALDEZ DEL ÁLAMO The Cistercians and the Laity in Thirteenth-Century Italy: The Familia Monastica - GUIDO CARIBONI The Role of Monasticism In Shaping Landscapes and Settlement Patterns City Building and Monastic Institutions in East-Central Europe: The Significance of the Religiones Novae during the Foundation Years of Prague's Old Town (c. 1220s - 1250s) - FREDERIK FELSKAU Rivals to Cathedrals: The Architecture of Benedictine Churches in Northern France, 1100-1500 - DANY SANDRON Transforming Women Religious?: Church Reform and the Archaeology of Female Monasticism in Ireland - TRACY COLLINS Monasticism in a Border Landscape: Religious Orders in Medieval Finland - VISA IMMONEN At Blackfriars Priory: Dominican Priories within Urban Geography in Medieval Scandinavia - JOHNNY GRANDJEAN GØGSIG JAKOBSEN Franciscan Geography in Medieval Portugal: Architecture, Landscape, and Spirituality - CATARINA ALMEIDA MARADO Ordo Sancti Pauli Primi Eremitae: Monasteries and the Shaping of the Late Medieval Slavonian Landscape prior to the Battle of Mohács (1526) - TAJANA PLE?E Monastic Environments and Economies New Light on Caesarius' Abbey: Recent Excavations at the Cistercian Monastery of Heisterbach, Germany - CHRISTOPH KELLER The Landholding and Landscape Exploitation of Coupar Angus Abbey: Granges and Glenisla - VICTORIA HODGSON This Belongs To Us! Competition Between the Royal Burgh of Stirling and the Augustinian Abbey of Cambuskenneth over Salmon Fishing Rights on the River Forth, Scotland - RICHARD C. HOFFMANN AND ALASDAIR ROSS Riverine Monasticism in the Kingdom of Hungary: Navigation on the Lower Mure? and the Benedictine Abbey of Bizere - OANA TODA Convents And Basque Familial Networks Of Power - NERE JONE INTXAUSTEGI JAUREGI Shadows Of Ghosts: Rediscovering the Special Places of Medieval Female Monasteries Through Experiential Approaches to Landscape - KIMM CURRAN Index