Thursday, May 10, 2007

I'm sure you all remember the commotion surrounding Y2K, when people imagined a complete breakdown in computer networks, complete with chaos in financial markets and airplanes falling out of the sky. In Ralph Glaber's account we can get a glimpse of Y1K prophecies and signs. I often think that at least some people today develop fantasies of destruction out of a desire for life as we know it, with all its petty frustrations, to be smashed into bits by a great catastrophe that renders all former anxieties and dissatisfactions utterly irrelevant. There may have been those in Y1K who felt the same way, desiring to see their enemies (the Jews, for example) destroyed, but even more, wanting God to step in and put an end to all the luxury and criminal behavior that is such a constant in life.

When we get together for class on Thursday, I'd like us to consider other examples of this frame of mind. The destruction of the WTC on September 11, 2001 is one obvious choice--and by the way, the Pentagon took an enormous hit that day as well (it's interesting how much that fact has been submerged by the other disaster). Another example is the famous (or infamous) Left Behind books. Can it be possible for people today to understand how people in the year 1000 might have felt? Or are 1000 years just too long of a time for any comparison to be meaningful?

The charters of Cluny demonstrates the piety of noblemen who wished to support religious establishments for the sake of their own souls as well as for service to society. The latter parts of these documents give vivid content to the concept of anathema, a word you all learned last Thursday. We today are mere amateurs in the face of curses such as these. Embedded in the charters are detailed accounts of the lands and laborers that the donors are handing over. Serfs are not only enumerated, but named. It is on the basis of documents such as these that scholars such as Duby are able to draw conclusions about the manorial system during this period. Allods and alloidal lands are those held directly by the owner, without dues or obligations being owed to someone else.

Homework Questions:

1. In the Glaber account, I'd like you to reflect on Glaber's own words describing those who are the enemies of God, humanity, and true religion. How does he depict the distinction between those whom God loves and those whom He hates?
2. In the collection of Cluny charters, reflect on the donors' motives for endowing the new establishment. As you can see from this reading, and as you've already learned in previous readings, the monastery is to have substantial resources. What functions do the donors expect the monastery to fulfill? What protections does William provide for it at the outset?
3. What do these documents tell us about assumptions peoople at this time held concerning wealth?

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