Post dedicat lui Walhalla!

Citeam pe undeva o chestie foarte interesanta si anume ca, in timpul primei modernitati (asta ar veni cam prin sec. XII - XIII) cistercienii au fost printre cei mai entuziasti promotori ai revolutiei industriale / tehnologice  (hidrotehnica si metalurgie, in special) si comerciale in Evropa medievala (sublinierile imi apartin):

Until the Industrial Revolution, most of the technological advances in Europe were made in the monasteries. The Cistercians were catalysts for development of a market economy in 12th century Europe and they were also known for their skill in metallurgy. In their rapid expansion throughout Europe the Cistercians played a role in the diffusion of new techniques, for the high level of their agricultural technology was matched by their industrial technology.

Din pacate, oricat de mult l-as admira pe Ernst Jünger nu pot sa nu remarc faptul ca Maestrul ramane tributar unei viziuni romantice, pseudo-istorice, in ceea ce priveste perioada Evului mediu. Criticand aspru societatea stiintifico-tehnologica contemporana si intorcandu-se plin de admiratie catre un trecut ipotetic, el uita - sau nu stie - ca Evul mediu

introduced machinery into Europe on a scale no civilization had previously known.

Asadar, cand pseudo-neo-conservatorii / neo-luddistii tuna si fulgera impotriva tehnologiei moderne ar trebui sa-i ia de barbi, in primul rand, pe cistercieni, pe Toma d’Aquino (unul dintre stalpii economiei moderne) si altii din aceeasi perioada. Iar lucrurile devin cu atat mai complicate cu cat asemenea chestiuni sunt introduse, fortat, in spatiile balcanice ortodoxe care au avut o cu totul alta orientare socio-economica. In primul rand acestor spatii le lipseste perioada medievala si cea moderna. Au sarit direct din antichitate (din antichitatea altora) in contemporaneitate (a lor? Vom vedea…). Unii privesc acest lucru cu mandrie. Altii, cu teama. Iar altii…ma rog.

Pentru cei interesati, mai multe informatii despre acest subiect in link-urile de mai jos:

Thomas Woods, How the Catholic Church built Western civilization

Elspeth Whitney, Paradise restored: the mechanical arts from antiquity through the thirteenth Century

Jean Gimpel, Medieval Machine: The Industrial Revolution of the Middle Ages

si nu pot sa recomand destul excelentul articol al lui Raymond de Roover, Scholastic Economics: Survival and Lasting Influence from the Sixteenth Century to Adam Smith.

Cateva titluri in plus, aici.

——

Insa nu despre hidrotehnica si metalurgica cistercienilor am vrut initial sa scriu, ci despre altceva. Am putea spune ca m-a luat gura de dinainte… Bun. Am tapitat acest blog cu diverse astrolabe medievale. Imaginile au fost preluate dintr-un fascinant volum: David King, The ciphers of the monks: a forgotten number-notation of the Middle Ages (poate fi rasfoit aici). Legatura dintre aceste instrumente si ordinul cistercian poate fi facuta asa. Lectura placuta!

_____

Uh, acum mi-am adus aminte ca am mai scris candva despre un trapist (trapistii sunt cistercieni reformati, cistercienii fiind benedictini reformati): Thomas Merton.

_____

Si pentru ca tot am mentionat Balcanii ortodocsi, iata ce spune Baeck in a sa The Mediterranean Tradition in Economic Thought (2004), pp. 57, 128:

Xenophon, while adhering to the ethical code of his class, advocated a novel synthesis between traditional virtue and the upsurge of growth economics. This aspect of economics is based on Xenophon’s efficient management, propagated in the Oikonomikos; Ischomachos is the gentleman squire, the  Kalos kagathos who does not waste his time in the agora, but takes good care of his possessions and who personifies the ethical efficiency of classical society.

In many respects the activities of the monastic Cistercian order of the eleventh and twelfth centuries mirror this aspect of Xenophon’s principles of efficient management, with no abstract ethical morality involved. The Cistercians not only propagated a new enterprise culture, but also an original corporate structure. By exploring, settling and cultivating the lands under their own management, by their positive evaluation of labour, by efficient management of human and material capital, by their positive inclination toward new technologies (unusual for its time), by a puritan austerity in lifestyle for the monks and their fellow brothers, and by means of a spirituality which presented all this as the fulfilment of a divine plan for the earthly acquisition of eternal bliss, the Cistercians emerged as the most productive stimulators of the rural economy. Under their influence, the stationary economy of the time was gradually transformed into a growth economy.

Their activities were a prototype of multinational agribusiness, since their order spread from Portugal, Ireland, Scotland, and England in the west to Sweden in the north, to much of southern, western, and central Europe, and on to Syria and Palestine, through the Crusades. This multinational activity was governed by a General Chapter and has been looked at as the forerunners of the multinational company of our day.

Pacat ca spiritualitatea si modul de viata benedictin (inclus cel reformat) nu a avut un impact mai decisiv in istoria Evropei, el fiind depasit de prezenta franciscano-dominicana. Rezultatele sunt evidente astazi. Sa speram insa ca intelepciunea si imensul bun simt benedictin isi vor face loc, pana la urma, in societatea contemporana…