Érémitisme et « inurbamento » dans l'ordre camaldule à la fin du Moyen Âge

Abstract

Hermitism and inurbamento in the Camaldulensian Order in the Late Middle Ages - Several Camaldulensian establishments founded in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries put into practice the hermitical model of Camaldoli, thus creating a movement of observance. Although the Camaldulensian constitutions, elaborated in the twelfth century and completed in the last three decades of the thirteenth, expound a rule of life for the hermits, they give no clear indication as to the practical application of the observance. The abundant documentation preserved to us concerning the Florentine hermitage of Santa Maria degli Angeli offers an enlightening day-to-day picture of Camaldulensian hermitism. Founded toward the very end of the thirteenth century, this urban hermitage exemplified a form of open réclusion much in favor with Florentine society and especially with the chancellor Coluccio Salutati. But the fragile compromise between hermitism and urban life became evident in the early years of the fifteenth century when the community split and the schismatic group founded a new hermitage : a sign that the return to observance in the Camaldulensian order continued to be perceived as a return to hermitism.