Monasteries

In the years after the Fall of Rome, monasteries played an important role in boosting the cultural life of Europe, and of the whole world. Monasteries are generally a group of buildings where monks live and work. Monks are men who have taken vows, or promises, to remain poor, to remain unmarried and without children, and to spend their time and energy helping others. Women who have made the same vows are called nuns, and their communities are called convents. The word 'cloister' is also used to refer to monasteries and convents.

Although it is the Christian monasteries in Europe which vitalized the world's intellectual life, there are other monasteries: a famous Buddhist monastery in the Tibetan city of Lhasa, or the Christian monasteries which were numerous in Egypt, Syria, Babylonia, and Persia until the Islamic armies destroyed them. (Today Babylonia and Persia are called Iraq and Iran.) But history is mainly concerned with the study of European Christian monasteries.

These monasteries played three roles in history: first, they functioned as libraries, schools, and homes for intellectual analysis of authors like Cicero, Homer, Vergil, Plato, and Aristotle; second, they are often architectural masterpieces, showing the skills of various designers and preserving prime specimens of various styles; finally, they provided food and assistance to the poor, providing a reliable support for those who might otherwise be ignored.

The monastery in the town of Corvey, located in central Germany, is one of the best-preserved examples of Carolingian architecture, and is visited by many to see its bold facade. Built around 822 A.D., the interior of the building preserves wall murals from the time, with images from Homer's tales. These paintings have been cited as evidence of popularity of Homeric stories throughout the early Middle Ages.

Although the monks and nuns had taken vows, there were, at times, individuals who broke those vows: either they allowed themselves to become wealthy, or they had children, or they failed to help the people around them. To deal with these situations, there were individuals whose task it was to return those monks and nuns to their proper activities. These individuals organized reform movements for the monasteries and convents, ensuring that monks and nuns did their work well. Some of these reformers and their movements were the Cistercians, the Mendicants, and the Clunaic reforms.

Gregor Mendel, the founder of modern genetics, is one of the many monks whose scientific work was carried out in the context of monasticism.