How much was a medieval monastery reminiscent of a modern prison? Or insane asylum? And if it was in the least - what can such a metaphor tell us about power relations structuring the life of medieval monks? The purpose of this compilation thesis (sammanläggningsavhandling) is to render explicit and analyze relations of power and modes of control comprising the social tissue of early medieval Benedictine monasteries. By bringing up the examples of tenth- and eleventh-century monasteries of St Gall, Fulda, and Bury St Edmunds, this thesis seeks to understand what power was in medieval monasteries, how and between whom it was exercised, what and how it affected in terms of collective and individual identity. The thesis consists of three introductory chapters, four previously published empirical articles, and a concluding remarks section. Article 1 investigates the problem of surveillance and patterns of social control dispersed in the monastery of St Gall. Article 2 studies the early and high medieval institutional expectations and means of enforcement of the monk’s role. Article 3 scrutinizes an example of a persecution process and a set of defense measures in the hands of the St Gall community warding off an unwanted visitor. Article 4 examines a number of internal monastic conflicts from several monasteries and strategies, both political and cognitive, guiding them. In investigating these problems, the thesis proceeds in a manner of deliberate anachronism. It asks questions about how human subjectivity was manufactured in early medieval St Gall, what were a medieval monastery’s ‘conditions of possibility’ to operate as a social regime, or oral and literary means of conflict management etc. The crucial modern social theories on which the thesis hinges are: Erving Goffman’s notion of ‘total institution’, and Michel Foucault’s analysis of power, as well as Pierre Bourdieu’s logic of action.

This undergraduate thesis is an examination of the works of Odorannus (c. 985-c. 1046), a monk of the abbey of Saint Pierre-le-Vif in Sens, France. A prominent monk in his community, Odorannus was involved in constructing and celebrating his monastery's prosperity and identity. At times, however, he was at variance with his brethren, even experiencing a brief period in exile. This essay explores aspects of Odorannus' compilation, a collection which the monk himself gathered together in his old age, in terms of the dynamic relationship between self and community in a Benedictine monastery of the central Middle Ages.