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Maria Galante, Giovanni Vitolo, and Giuseppa Z. Zanichelli, eds., Riforma della Chiesa, esperienze monastiche e poteri locali: La Badia di Cava nei secoli XI–XII . (Millennio Medievale 99.) Florence: SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2014. Pp. vi, 410; 96 black-and-white and color plates. €82. ISBN: 978-88-8450-545-3.Table of contents available online at http://www.sismel.it/tidetails.asp?hdntiid=1378 (accessed 28 March 2016)

2016; University of Chicago Press; Volume: 92; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1086/689999

2040-8072

Kathryn Jasper,

Renaissance and Early Modern Studies

Previous articleNext article FreeReviewsMaria Galante, Giovanni Vitolo, and Giuseppa Z. Zanichelli, eds., Riforma della Chiesa, esperienze monastiche e poteri locali: La Badia di Cava nei secoli XI–XII. (Millennio Medievale 99.) Florence: SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2014. Pp. vi, 410; 96 black-and-white and color plates. €82. ISBN: 978-88-8450-545-3.Table of contents available online at http://www.sismel.it/tidetails.asp?hdntiid=1378 (accessed 28 March 2016)Kathryn JasperKathryn JasperIllinois State University Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreThis volume contains twenty-three essays, all of which began as papers presented at a conference held at Badia di Cava (the abbey of Cava) in September 2011. This Benedictine house dedicated to the Holy Trinity celebrated its millennium in that year. Located not far from Salerno, in southern Italy, Cava has yet to receive due attention despite the availability of rich documentary and archaeological evidence. This collection of essays represents a significant step in the right direction. The volume brings together scholars mostly from institutions across Italy, but also includes essays by Valerie Ramseyer from Wellesley College and by Huguette Taviani-Carozzi of the Université Provence, Aix-en-Provence. The essays explore the origins of the monastery and its first two centuries of development. According to one of the organizers, Giovanni Vitolo, the question driving the conference was whether the success of Cava was inevitable (4). To that end, the essays examine the early foundations of this community, based on an Italo-Greek model, that grew into a prominent Benedictine monastery, its ties to reforming monasteries, and the political and religious landscape of Cava and the region around Salerno. As the title indicates, the book emphasizes three areas of study: local ecclesiastical reform, the monastic experience at Cava, and the exercise of power in the region. Huguette Taviani-Carozzi and Valerie Ramseyer situate the monastery of Cava within wider Church reform movements. In her essay, entitled “La Badia di Cava nella riforma della chiesa e nella spiritualità dei secoli XI–XII,” Taviani-Carozzi shows that the monastery of Cava offers another opportunity to reconcile a universal reform narrative with particular examples of reforming institutions. Cava’s charters reveal that the monastery fought for libertas ecclesiae in the early eleventh century. In 1025, for example, Cava received the right to free abbatial election through a privilege granted by its founder. In 1089 Urban II released the monastery from the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Salerno. Beyond this documentation, the author uses texts composed by the monks themselves at the end of the eleventh century and during the twelfth and uncovers a distinct monastic spirituality that simultaneously echoed Gregorian rhetoric. Similarly, in her essay “Vescovi e monasteri nei secoli XI–XII” Ramseyer argues that the monks of Cava worked together with the archbishops of Salerno to reform church and society. Consequently, both institutions amassed significant political power to realize their objectives. Secular lordship did not impede these goals; rather, it represented a manifestation of reform polemic in which pastoral care involved cooperation among secular and ecclesiastical authorities. Additional essays on the exercise of justice in the region around Salerno provide insights into the tangible manifestations of reform ideas. Maria Galante’s chapter in particular, entitled “L’abbazia di Cava e l’esercizio della giustizia in età normanno-sveva,” charts the gradual extension of Cava’s jurisdiction and the concomitant increase in its autonomy towards the end of the twelfth century. In his essay, “Montecassino, Cava, Montevergine (secc. IX–XIII),” Potito d’Arcangelo addresses whether the monastery of Cava created a unique model of reformed monasticism that recalled Cluny and influenced Montecassino and another important monastic foundation in the south, Santa Maria di Montevergine. D’Arcangelo argues that, unlike Cluny, Cava never represented a distinct break with the past. The example of Montecassino preceded Cluny and would have been far more dominant in the region. Ultimately, the author proves that these three great monastic foundations had less in common than scholars have previously thought. Vito Loré makes a similar point in his chapter, “Poteri locali e congregazioni monastiche: Cava e Montecassino a confronto.” According to Loré, both houses had to contend with the local aristocracy over property disputes, but, whereas Montecassino hired mercenaries in these struggles, Cava expanded through its dependent institutions far more slowly to avoid military conflict and was more successful as a result. Despite their differences the monasteries of the Mezzogiorno did not operate in isolation and remained in contact. As Giuseppa Z. Zanichelli asserts in her essay, “Tra Montecassino e Benevento: Le origini dello scriptorium di Cava,” a specific manuscript in original Beneventan script (MS 3) containing Bede’s De temporum ratione was likely produced at Montecassino in the late eleventh century and arrived at Cava shortly thereafter. Zanichelli’s contribution is one of several to discuss the physical evidence. Fulvio Delle Donne also looks at the codicological and paleographical features of Cava’s manuscripts and especially the Annales Cavenses. Art historians contributed to the volume as well, including a piece by Chiara Lambert, “Coetu sanctorum locus est celebris monachorum: Riflessi dell’ideale monastico in un’epigrafe cavense,” who studies the epigraphy of the monastery of Cava, and another by Elisabetta Scirocco on changes in the liturgical structures of Cava’s church from the late eleventh through the twelfth centuries (“L’arredo liturgico della Santissima Trinità di Cava nel XII secolo”). Beat Brenk’s essay “Grotte come contenitori di architettura (monastica e non): Linee di ricerca” asks how southern Italian monasteries, including Cava, incorporated caves as distinct architectural features in their foundations. The extensive collection of plates in the back of the book offers numerous images that complement these essays. These specific chapters could contribute more to the question of connections between reform movements and architecture and images; the result might have been more cohesion between chapters. Nonetheless, collectively the essays provide a complex picture of the monastic culture of Cava in context. Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Speculum Volume 92, Number 1January 2017 The journal of the Medieval Academy of America Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/689999 Copyright 2017 by the Medieval Academy of America. All rights reserved. For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.