The institution of lay brothers by the Cistercians between expectation and reality. A comparison of monasteries from the Rhineland / northern Germany and Flanders from the 12th to the 14th century.

This research project concerns itself with patterns and strategies of social order in the Central Middle Ages.  The formation of groups and the attribution of belonging to a group as well as the treatment of their members will be investigated in regard to the example of the lay brothers in the Cistercian Order.

The institution of lay brothers by the Cistercians between expectation and reality. A comparison of monasteries from the Rhineland / northern Germany and Flanders from the 12th to the 14th century.