This is a history of monastic hospitality during the “long twelfth century” (3). While historians have written monographs about hospitality in medieval Ireland (Catherine O'Sullivan, Hospitality in Medieval Ireland, 900–1500 [Dublin: Four Courts, 2004]) and Cistercian hospitality in Germany in the High Middle Ages (J. M. Berger, Die Geschichte der Gastfreundschaft im hochmittelalterlichen Münchtun [Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1999]), Kerr's book is the first extensive study of monastic hospitality in medieval England. Her study focuses on the large southern houses of Abingdon, Bury St. Edmunds, Christ Church, Canterbury, and St. Albans. These houses were chosen both because of the significant survival of evidence and because these royal foundations were situated in towns, which would have meant they would have been frequently called upon. Kerr notes that focusing on these great houses gives “a rather limited perspective of Benedictine hospitality” (13) but justifies this approach because smaller houses are significantly less well-documented. Material relating to the Cistercian Order is used to place the study in a wider monastic context.
The book is built on the evidence provided by customaries, “which date from this time” (201). They provide a wealth of untapped material regarding the routine of monastic life and the administrative structures of individual houses. Kerr discusses the problems with customaries as evidence. It is not always clear if they were intended to conserve or reform previous practice, and one cannot know if these customs were in fact observed. This problem is remedied by a vast and impressive array of other original material. Saints’ lives, chronicles, cartularies, archaeological evidence, and other sources provide vivid detail that puts flesh on the bones of the material from the customaries.
The study opens with a chapter considering what prompted monastic hospitality. Two major impulses are discussed: the spiritual and the worldly incentive. Kerr points to the “concern for salvation” (24). Christ's exhortation to receive and feed strangers because “whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40) and the command “not to forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2) had a significant influence on monastic hospitality, as did the rule of St. Benedict. The second major motivation was that hospitality often led to worldly rewards. It could build up the reputation of the house and the abbot. There was the potential that grateful guests might give gifts, concessions, or other forms of material support.
Kerr does not emphasize the tension between these two differing impulses. She writes that “the discussion suggests that monastic hospitality was motivated by both spiritual and worldly concerns, and that the two were not mutually exclusive” (48). The divergence between a religious ideal and a reality pointed to by Bartholomew of Pisa's account of two friars being turned out into the heavy rain because they were not entertainers (197) is largely left un-discussed. It is accurate to say that grading guests according to social station was not inconsistent but simply meant that guests were shown the honor due to them (103). An example of this grading is seen in the accommodation that was provided. “Less notable visitors” were housed in a public hall, while “distinguished visitors” were placed in a private chamber (90). Nevertheless, Kerr's material does point to tension. Thomas of Marlborough, a monk of Evesham Abbey, complained that Abbot Norreys only received the rich (27). Alexander of Neckam worried that monasteries might refuse entry to those whose only lord was Christ (28). The way the worldly motivation often overshadowed the spiritual could have been drawn out more thoroughly.
Chapters then follow that help to build a very detailed picture of monastic hospitality. The administrative structures set up to deal with guests, how different guests were received, what provisions were made for them both physically and spiritually, how guests were entertained, and what interaction took place between the monastic community and their guests are all areas that are discussed thoroughly. All this material sheds a great deal of light on the internal life of the large Benedictine houses and the interaction of their monks with the wider community. One of the major themes of the book was that the increasing withdrawal of the abbot from communal life in the period had a significant impact on hospitality. It was often split between the abbot and the convent, and this in turn influenced the ways that hospitality developed and was administered. The final chapter draws out the financial implication of hospitality. This demonstrated that as the burden placed on monasteries increased over the period, monastic hospitality developed in particular ways to reduce potential costs. As one would expect, the lack of uniformity between Benedictine houses is often stressed throughout the work.
The great achievement of this volume is the extensive detail it provides, giving a clear picture of monastic hospitality, which was an integral aspect of monastic life during the Middle Ages.
