Dark Age Bodies: Gender and Monastic Practice in the Early Medieval West (review)

A review of Lynda L. Coon's book Dark Age Bodies: Gender and Monastic Practice in the Early Medieval West highlights its innovative analysis of Carolingian monastic culture through a gender theory lens, particularly focusing on the works of Hrabanus Maurus. The study reconstructs clerical masculinity by examining early medieval readings of the body, revealing how Carolingians used Roman artifacts to assert their authority and how linguistic proficiency (speaking proper Latin) defined leadership roles in monasteries, often relegating illiterates to subordinate positions. While the book offers insightful interpretations of monastic practices, including the use of physical discipline by abbots, its application of gender theory to patriarchal institutions like the Benedictine Rule is criticized as misleading and reductive.

(Ed.). (2011). Dark Age Bodies: Gender and Monastic Practice in the Early Medieval West (review). The Catholic Historical Review, 97(4), 764–765. https://doi.org/10.1353/cat.2011.0156