Of donkeys, wolves and squabblers. What satire can tell us about the evaluation of intra-Christian diversity in the High Middle Ages

The period of the High Middle Ages is traditionally known as a great time of religious reform, during which hundreds of new monasteries were founded throughout Europe and new forms of religious communities flourished. While researchers have long assumed that this pluralization was received very positively by contemporaries, a close reading of the sources reveals a more differentiated picture: in the area of satire in particular, there is sometimes massive criticism of the religious communities. A closer look at their points of criticism and contexts not only shows that high medieval observers could express surprisingly sharp polemics against religious groups. The interplay between legal and theological arguments and literary distortions can also reveal a great deal about the rules that structured the public sphere of the time.

Sita Steckel is Professor of Medieval History at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. After completing her studies and doctorate in Munich, she worked at the University of Münster, the University of Oslo and Harvard University. In addition to the history of scholarship, her research interests include the question of religious controversies in the Middle Ages. She is currently preparing a book manuscript on the debates surrounding the diversity of religious orders in the High Middle Ages.