The Risk of Writing:Disobedient Scribes in Medieval Monasteries
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article investigates an important but hitherto little studied aspect of medieval monasticism and manuscript culture by discerning and analyzing four ways in which writing (or not writing) could constitute disobedience: refusal, deviation, subversion, and presumption. Aiming to establish a working typology of scribal disobedience, the article offers a conceptual and terminological framework for discussing and distinguishing different strategies of negotiating, circumventing, and undermining abbatial authority and control through acts of writing, each with its own implications. Drawing on a wide range of published and unpublished sources from across the Latin West with a focus on northwestern Europe in the period between 1000 and 1250, the article hopes to both broaden and nuance our understanding of the risks taken by medieval monastic scribes, and of the severe consequences and punishments they faced for their lack of obedience.
Author: Pohl, Benjamin
Language: English
Subfield: Classics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7130905239
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