The Violent Life of the Medieval Monks
Meant to live a life of perfect peacefulness and contemplation, in reality monks were human and fallible. How violent could life in the medieval cloister be?
When Abbot Abbo of Fleury agreed to travel to Gascony to advise on the reform of the monastery of La Réole, he would not have expected that his trip would result in his death. Yet in 1004 Abbo was the victim of a fatal accident when a fight broke out between a group of monks from La Réole and some of his own, brought with him from Fleury. Hearing a commotion in a courtyard of the monastery, Abbo attempted to separate the brawling monks – and was stabbed by a spear. He died in the arms of one of his monks, from whose hagiographic account we know the details of his untimely death.
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