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“PARTNERS IN THE SAME” Monastic Devotional Culture in Late Medieval English Literature by BRANDON CARLOS ALAKAS A thesis submitted to the Department of English in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada October, 2009 Copyright © Brandon Carlos Alakas, 2009 Abstract This dissertation studies adaptations of monastic literary culture between the first decades of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the English Reformation. My discussion focuses on the writings of John Whethamstede, John Lydgate, Richard Whitford and Thomas More. I argue that, while these authors aim to satisfy readers’ desires for elaborate and authoritative forms of piety, they actually provide models of reading and patterns of disciplined living that restrict lay piety within orthodox boundaries. I begin with an introductory chapter that situates this adaptation of monastic reading within broader literary and cultural developments, such as the growing popularity of humanist reading and Protestantism, in order to demonstrate that monastic ideals remained culturally relevant throughout this century. This chapter also aims to prompt a further reassessment of the division that is often created between the medieval and early modern periods. Chapters Two and Three focus on the use of monastic reading practices within a Benedictine context. Chapter Two examines the historiographic poetry and prose of John Whethamstede in which the abbot both positions himself at the forefront of contemporary Latin literature and, at the same time, signals the differences that set the cloistered reader apart from his secular counterpart. Chapter Three examines Lydgate’s incorporation of monastic devotional culture into the Life of Our Lady through the depiction of the Virgin as living out an exemplary religious vocation and through the arrangement of the text to facilitate calculated meditative responses from readers. Chapters Four and Five then shift to the first decades of the sixteenth century. Chapter Four examines Richard Whitford’s orthodox programme of monastic and social ii reform that aimed not only to meliorate the individual’s ethical life but also to revitalize Catholicism and engage directly with Protestantism. Finally, Chapter Five looks back two decades to investigate More’s borrowings from different elements of religious life in his Life of Pico and Utopia that seek to manage the spiritual aspirations of the laity and to depict a society in which, much as in a monastery, the desires of the individual are shaped by and subordinated to the ideals of the community. iii Acknowledgements Over the course of this study I have incurred many debts on account of the advice and guidance I received from the first stages of the dissertation up to its conclusion. My largest debt of gratitude, however, is owed to my supervisor, Scott Straker, who first kindled my love of medieval literature many years ago. His encouragement and commitment to this project made its completion possible, and his insightful readings helped immeasurably to refine my understanding of these texts. I am also grateful to my second reader, Margaret Pappano, whose generosity and guidance over my entire career in graduate school played a decisive role in my transition from student to scholar. As well, I would like to thank my external examiner, Andrew Taylor, whose kindness over the last three years helped inspire me to pursue my reading of Lydgate’s Life of Our Lady and expand my approach to other texts. I would also like to acknowledge the instructors, colleagues and friends who have contributed to this project. Geoff Rector’s knowledge and love of monastic lectio helped me to lay the foundations for this study, and I can never thank him enough for those early conversations in Kingston and Ottawa four years ago. Fred Lock’s generosity (and patience) helped equip me with the linguistic tools to approach Latin texts with confidence, and Elizabeth Hanson’s interest in my reading of More was critical to the arguments that eventually became the final chapter of this study. Mary Agnes Edsall’s shared love of the vita contemplativa brought me to a fuller understanding of meditative reading, and Cristiana Zaccagnino’s knowledge of classical mythology greatly assisted me in fully digesting Abbot John’s coarse grain. iv Finishing the Ph.D. is a dream I have harboured for many years, and I could not have reached this point without the support of my family back in Niagara. Thank you, Will, for being a great big brother at very difficult points early on: I’ll never forget our weekly dinners in Toronto. Thanks to my mother, Paula, who first populated my life with books and showed me the riches they contain, and to my father, William, who always encouraged me to pursue those things about which I’m most passionate. I hope these words pay adequate tribute to all the love and support you’ve shown me throughout my life. At many points while writing this dissertation, especially when everything seemed to go wrong, I was always comforted by the bright eyes and playful seriousness of my Callie Francesca, whose little personality has infinitely enriched my life. Finally, I would like to thank my beloved wife, Deanna Mason, who brings joy to my life with the dawning of each new day and without whom I could never have found the freedom to be who I am. I dedicate this work to you, my best friend, whose concern and compassion has sustained me through every difficulty over the last eight years. Sei la massima benedizione della mia vita, tesoro mio, «distruggitrice di tutti li vizi e regina de le virtudi» che mi ha svelato tutta la bellezza del mondo. v Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements iv Table of Contents vi List of Figures vii Chapter 1: Introduction: The Progress and Adaptation of Monastic Literary 1 Culture Inside and Outside the Cloister in Late Medieval England Chapter 2: “The very healthy food of monastic life”: John Whethamstede, 45 Monastic Identity, and the Legacy of Claustral Reading Chapter 3: Reading Mary: Lydgate’s Life of Our Lady and Monastic Lectio 97 Chapter 4: “In ye secret chambre of the mynde / in the preuy closet of the sowle”: 143 More’s Adaptation of Monastic Discipline and Devotion in the Life of Pico and Utopia Chapter 5: “Closed and kept most surely in religion”: Richard Whitford’s 190 Regulation of Lay Piety through Religious Culture Works Cited 243 vi List of Figures Figure 1 Frontispiece, The lyfe of Iohan Picus erle of Myrandula (1525). 206 Early English Books Online. vii Chapter One Introduction: The Progress and Adaptation of Monastic Literary Culture Inside and Outside the Cloister in Late Medieval England I began after my poore maner to wryte in latyn / but your charite preuayled and letted me / for anone as I had set the penne to the boke / it was put in to my mynde to drawe it in the englysshe tonge / wherby it myghe be the more accepte to many / and specyally to suche that understande no latyn and so to make you partners in the same. —William Bonde The Pilgrymage of Perfeccyon, fo. 1v. A contemporary of Thomas More and brother at Syon Abbey, William Bonde’s words, written “for all chrysten people to rede,”1 succinctly express a literary movement, which had at this point been underway for over a century. Central to this undertaking were numerous endeavours to adapt and transform the devotional culture of the cloister to meet the needs of pious laypeople seeking to live a richer spiritual life. This shift focused attention on transposing and popularizing two essential components of its reading culture: first, the specific body of literary and devotional writing originating from within the monastery and, second, the systematic approach to reading which was practised by the monks. This short quotation from Bonde, taken from his vernacular treatise on the contemplative life, The Pilgrymage of Perfeccyon, touches on a number of important concerns that lay at the heart of this effort to adapt monasticism’s literary heritage to a secular audience. What is particularly striking about this passage is its preoccupation with 1 Although these words, appear on the frontispiece of the 1531 edition to the The Pilgrymage of Perfeccyon, Bonde’s treatise was aimed primarily at prelates who would communicate this knowledge to the less learned devout who remained in their cure (see fo. 2) and thus, as J.T. Rhodes notes, “control access to its doctrine of perfection” (“Syon Abbey” 22). Bonde does not identify the person who advised him to write his work in English rather than Latin: it may be that the “you” he refers to is the same “you” he directs his prologue towards—a general body of secular readers. 1 issues related to the comprehensibility of the text, especially in terms of language, which would come to be associated almost exclusively with Protestant reading. Intending at first to write his treatise in Latin, Bonde is persuaded to write in English so that it might be “the more accepte to many.” There is no doubt that Bonde is concerned about how his work is received by his audience, since he wishes above all to impart the tools for living a devout (Catholic) life to as many readers as possible. Writing in English would certainly respond to the demand of an audience hungry for vernacular religious literature that opened avenues for greater access to more rigorous and enabling spiritual resources.2 Yet, Bonde’s choice of words also attests to his desire to render his message as transparent as possible in order to be understood by everyone who reads his text. Not only does Bonde eschew any desire to restrict access to biblical and patristic authority, which he liberally translates throughout his treatise, but he also ensures the text’s accessibility by opting to have his Pilgrymage printed rather than copied.3 Each of these textual objectives is closely related to similar attitudes held by Protestant authors who carefully deployed them to make increasingly effective challenges to ecclesiastical authorities.

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