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Monasticism: A New Wave of Religion-centric Urban Life.
The ninth and tenth centuries ushered in a new wave of religion-centric urban life where the church and the attendant workings of it were the guides for European culture. One of the most significant and powerful extensions of the Church to the more rural areas was the monastery, segregated by gender, for the isolated study and service of God. The life at which the monasteries became the center were the expression of popular religion - steeped in ceremony and trappings, the monasteries become the centers of learning and culture as well as religious instruction and influence. The tenth and eleventh centuries formed what is considered to be the formation of the 'traditional' monastic life - what we today consider to be the stereotype. There was a constant flow of influence from the cloister into the various channels of popular religious devotion. The monks also became dependent upon the patronage they needed to continue to live and work in the manner in which they did. Frequent prayer marked the monastic life itself, long periods of isolation and silence (if that was part of the order), education, instruction of the nobles and commoners alike, and of a great influence over the communities in which they were formed. Monks and nuns seeking to establish not only a closer more influential role with God also looked for the freedom from the expectations of medieval life (namely farming for survival) by joining an order which was fed by the community and patrons.
