Consoling for Homesickness: the Transformation of Worldly Bonds in Three 12th-Century Monastic Letter Collections

High medieval letter collections eased the transition of votaries (monks and nuns) who had entered religious communities. By studying the thematic arrangement of the letter collections ascribed to Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109), Arnulf of Lisieux (1104–1184), and Peter of Celle (1115–1183), this study has probed into the apparent tensions between the ideals of monastic seclusion and the realities of mental health. Existing pictures of the monastic life as a life of ‘splendid isolation’ are too positive to be true. This cultural-historical and cultural-psychological study demonstrates that the monastic life of flesh-and-blood votaries was much more complicated than a matter of loving God and forsaking the world. Analyzing the thematic arrangements of the 12th-century monastic letter collections of Anselm, Arnulf, and Peter, it becomes clear that these texts constitute strategic communications to offer their readers consolation and education. Anonymous scribes produced the manuscripts of these collections and arranged them in such a way to accommodate the needs and wants of their religious communities. While doing so, they represent the ascribed ‘authors’ of these collections as exemplars, as supremely admirable and imitable individuals, who nudge their readers to undertake the transformation of their continuing worldly bonds: i.e. embracing the monastic life, substituting their friends and relatives, and acknowledging the body or the monastic house as substitute homes. This study shows how the written word was used in medieval religious communities to guide members towards the transformation, rather than the rejection, of their worldly bonds such as homesickness and nostalgia.