The friendship in the writings of Aelred of Rievaulx. A punctiform knowledge

Authors

  • Lorenzo Braca Università degli Studi di Padova

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/1593-2214/17

Keywords:

Middle Ages, 12th Century, Cistercians, Aelred of Rievaulx, Friendship, Sexuality, Theology

Abstract

For the English cistercian Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167) friendship represents the main vehicle of divine acquaintance: the fusion of the spirits of two friends is the first step in a scale of perfection that leads to union with God. According to some historians, however, the basis of his theology could be the need to canalize an unwanted sexual drive. This article analyses Aelred's theology as his doctrine of knowledge reached through love, and discusses the possibility of finding in his writing signs of his sexual orientation.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2010-06-15

How to Cite

Braca, Lorenzo. 2010. “The Friendship in the Writings of Aelred of Rievaulx. A Punctiform Knowledge”. Reti Medievali Journal 11 (1):199-222. https://doi.org/10.6092/1593-2214/17.

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2010)

Section

Essayes in Monographic Section

License

RM Journal is an open access, online publication, with licence:

cc-by-80x15_80

CCPL Creative Commons Attribution

The author retains the copyright of his work whilst granting anyone the possibility “to reproduce, distribute, publicly communicate, publicly exhibit, display, perform and recite the work”, provided that the author and the title of the journal are cited correctly. When submitting the text for publication the author is furthermore required to declare that the contents and the structure of the work are original and that it does not by any means compromise the rights of third parties nor the obligations connected to the safeguard of the moral and economic rights of other authors or other right holders, both for texts, images, photographs, tables, as well as for other parts which compose the contribution. The author furthermore declares that he/she is conscious of the  sanctions prescribed by the penal code and by the Italian Criminal and Special Laws for false documents and the use false documents, and that therefore Reti Medievali is not liable to responsibilities of any nature, civil, administrative or penal, and that the author agrees to indemnify and hold Reti Medievali harmless from all requests and claims by third parties.