Reconsidering Religious Migration and Its Impact: The Problem of ‘Irish Reform Monks’ in Tenth-Century Lotharingia

Abstract

Traditional accounts of early medieval monastic history routinely included a discussion of how a tenth-century ‘wave’ of Insular migrants crucially shaped the ideology and methodology of the ‘Lotharingian reform movement’. While a number of scholars have raised questions about the validity of this view, their investigations did not result in a revised account of the Irenwelle and its place in the history of 10th-century monasticism. This paper seeks to remediate this problem by considering the phenomenon from the viewpoint of indigenous agents, particularly Lotharingia’s ruling elites. Central to its argument is the hypothesis that ecclesiastical and secular lords were interested in hosting Insular migrants in local Benedictine contexts for reasons other than a desire to introduce typically ‘Irish’ elements to reformist spirituality and practice. More specifically, they hoped to achieve two things: draw on the intellectual, diplomatic, and leadership expertise of leading figures among the ‘Irish’ migrant community, and justify their recent interventions in monastic communities by reviving authoritative memories of Irish migrant’s real or imagined role in shaping Lotharingia’s early medieval monastic landscape.