<A>
monasticism (as movement): *
monastic roots: the Benedictines.
From the 6th century onward most monasteries in the West were Benedictine, founded in 520 by Benedict of Nursia. His Rule defined the activities of the monastery, its officers, and their responsibilities. Monastic life consisted of prayer, reading & manual labour. Some were involved in the preservation of ancient texts by manually copying them. By the 9th century the Benedictines & their Rule had become the model for monasticism.
reform: Cluny
In the 10th century monasticism was in decline owing to secular interference in the monasteries. A Benedictine monastery required land & therefore a patron or lord. Lords demanded rights & prerogatives; they considered the monastery their family lands & expected to install their kinsmen as abbots; they often took revenue from the orders. The Rule was modified; to accommodate the lords matins were scheduled so not to interrupt sleep, a richer diets & warmer clothing was provided & fasting was ignored. A reform movement to restore traditional monastic life was initiated in 910 AD by Saint Odo (878-942) with the founding of Cluny Abbey by William I, Duke of Aquitaine (875–918). These Cluniac Reforms were successful in reinvigorating the Benedictines & they spread throughout France, England, Italy & Spain.
a new beginning: the Cistercians
In 1075 Robert de Molesme, a Benedictine from Cluny Abbey, tried to restore the simple, severe Rule (called "Strict Observance"). In 1098 he established a new monastery at Cîteaux. Thus was born the Cistercians. Their innovation was a return to the literal observance of the Benedictine Rule & simple manual labour. Hugely popular by the late 12th century their houses numbered 500, growing to 750 by the 15th century. Most were established in Europe’s wilderness areas & played a major role in bringing isolated parts of Europe into economic cultivation. They were one of the main agents of technological diffusion in medieval Europe.
the warrior order: The Knights Templar
The Templars were founded in 1119 were a military order with their headquarters in Jerusalem. Rrecognised in 1139 by the pope, they became a popular charity throughout Christendom & grew rapidly in membership and power. Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled warriors of the Crusades. They established a network of 1,000 commanderies & fortifications across Europe & the Holy Land. Outside of warfare they were prominent in banking. Non-combatant members (90% of their members) managed a large economic infrastructure & developed innovative financial techniques, an early form of banking. They formed the first multinational corporation. Tied closely tied to the Crusades; when the Holy Land was lost, support for the order faded. The order was active until 1312 when it was perpetually suppressed by Pope Clement V.
the mendicants: the Franciscans & Dominicans
In the 13th century 2 rival orders emerge. The dominance of the Benedictines declined late 12th century; success was their undoing as many monastic foundations had gown wealthy. Saint Francis of Assisi (1181-1260 AD) established the Franciscans, a mendicant (begging) order that promoted poverty as the vehicle to ensure a holy lifestyle. A second mendicant order, the Dominicans was established 1220 AD; they focused on poverty & scholasticism and sought to bring heretics back to the church through debate and apologetics. As the Benedictines took a vow of "stability", which tied them to a particular foundation, they were bound by location. In contrast the mendicants were better able to respond to an increasingly "urban" environment.
​
<B>
Enlightenment (& the Church): *
Toleration.
Enlightenment scholars worked to curtail the political power of organized religion (i.e. the Church of Rome) & prevent further religious wars. John Locke (1632-1704) abandoned most religious dogma & recommended avoiding detailed debate. Jefferson (1743-1826) dismissed Biblical passages dealing with miracles, angels & the resurrection of Jesus, extracting a practical Christian moral code from the New Testament. Spinoza (1632-77) wanted to remove all politics from contemporary & historical theology. Moses Mendelssohn (1729-86) advised that organized religion should have no political weight; each person needed to follow what they found most convincing. Good religion was based in instinctive morals; a belief in God should not need force to maintain order in its believers; both men judged religion on its moral fruits, rather than the logic of its theology. Toleration is linked to the separation of Church & state, an idea credited to Locke who argued government lacked authority in the realm of individual conscience, a thing rational people could not cede to government control. Liberty of conscience was a natural right & must be protected from government authority. In the 18th century this idea became current. In 1721 Montesquieu (1689-1755) famous for his “separation of powers” idea, wrote of religious tolerance & a degree of separation between religion & government. Voltaire (1694-1778) defended some level of separation although he ultimately subordinated the Church to the needs of the State. Diderot (1713-84) called for the strict separation of Church and State, saying "the distance between the throne and the altar can never be too great". It was Thomas Jefferson who enshorined this idea in the US Constitution, Bill of Rights, First Amendment (1791). This forbade the establishment of a national church & meant believers need not fear government interference in their right to expressions of religious conscience. In 1789 the French Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen produced a like result in the new French Republic.
Anti-clericalism.
Opposition to religious authority in social or political matters, is historically linked to opposition to the influence of Roman Catholicism & is related to secularism, which seeks to remove the church from all aspects of public, political & social life. Anti-clericalism became extremely violent during the French Revolution; revolutionaries had witnessed the church playing a pivotal role in the systems of oppression they opposed. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790) required all clerics to swear allegiance to the French government & the National Constituent Assembly. Most of the bishops & half the parish priests refused. During the Reign of Terror (1792-94) anti-clericalism grew increasingly violent. Revolutionary authorities suppressed the church, nationalized church property, killed hundreds of priests & exiled 30,000 others. In 1793 a new calendar replaced the traditional calendar; the festivals of the deistic Cult of the Supreme Being & the state sponsored atheistic Cult of Reason were born, replacing Saints days. In April and May 1794, the government mandated the observance of such festivals & any church outside this remit was closed. The government aimed to control the priesthood by making them state employees.
<C>
city democracy (and the Church):
Spengler is refering to the nation state & its aggressive secularization. French secularism has a long history starting in 1789, although it is notable for its various stops & starts. Laïcité (a word used from late 19th century) meant the freedom of public institutions from the influence of the Catholic Church. It promoted the complete separation of church & state & the prohibition of any state religion as prerequisites for freedom of thought. It defined a strict division between private life (which includes religion) and the public sphere in which all (regardless of religion) appear as citizens equal to all other citizens. The government would abstain from taking positions on religious doctrine & consider religious subjects only for their practical consequences on inhabitants' lives.
​
Under the Third Republic (1870-1940) France moved steadily towards laïcité (secularism). In 1877 a Republican election victory began the dismantling the Concordat (1801). Secularization continued with the removal of priests from the administrative committees of hospitals & boards of charity (1879); nuns were replaced by lay women in hospitals (1880); religious instruction in schools was forbidden (1881) & the teaching profession was secularized (1886). Further secularization prior to 1905 included: the introduction of divorce & requirement that civil marriages be performed in a civil ceremony; legalizing work on Sundays, conscription of seminarians, secularising schools & hospitals, abolishing public prayers at the start of Parliamentary Session & of the assizes, ordering soldiers not to frequent Catholic clubs, ending the religious character of judicial oaths & use of religious symbols in courtrooms, forbidding the armed forces from participating in religious processions. The 1901 the religious orders came under state control to limit their influence in education. Owing to papal reaction in 1904 diplomatic relations with the Vatican were severed. Legislation in 1905 ended all government funding of religious groups & declared all religious buildings property of the state (but made freely available to the church). Likewise cathedrals were property of the state and smaller churches that of the local municipal government; they were to be managed by “associations cultuelles” or religious organizations composed of laymen NOT priests. Other laws prohibited affixing religious signs on public buildings.