INTRODUCTION
"[In the Middle Ages] the great numbers of monks, all “sons of Saint Benedict”, [were subjected] to an increasing variety of primitive Benedictine rules; in a divided and dynamic world, oscillating between the purest asceticism and a more worldly preoccupation of how to manage immense wealth, or the more humble struggle to make ends meet on a daily basis."

MARC BLOCH - THE FEUDAL SOCIETY