Editing History of Christianity (section)

=== Monasticism and art ===
Until the end of the Early Middle Ages, Western culture was preserved and passed on primarily by monks known as "regular clergy" because they followed a {{lang|la|regula}}: a rule.{{sfn|Cantor|1960|p=47}}{{sfn|Matthews|Platt|1998|p=199}} The rule included chastity, obedience and poverty sought through prayer, memorization of scripture, celibacy, fasting, manual labour, and almsgiving.{{sfn|Stewart|2017|pp=308–309}}{{sfn|Helvétius|Kaplan|2008|p=277}}
[[File:Book of Hours (Use of Metz) Fol. 27r, Decorated Initials.tif|thumb|alt=image of decorated page from the book of hours|A page from a 15th-century [[book of hours]] (prayer book) with a decorated initial]]
Monasteries served as orphanages and inns for travelers, and they provided food for those in need.{{sfn|Brodman|2009|pp=66–68}}{{sfn|Helvétius|Kaplan|2008|p=295}}{{sfn|Constable|2004|pp=35–36}} They supported [[literacy]], practiced classical arts and crafts, and copied and preserved ancient texts in their [[scriptoria]] and libraries.{{sfn|Ferzoco|2001|pp=1–3}}{{sfn|Woods|Canizares|2012|p=5}} Dedicated monks created [[illuminated manuscript]]s.{{sfn|Matthews|Platt|1998|pp=202–203}} From the sixth to the eighth centuries, most schools were connected to monasteries, but methods of teaching an illiterate populace could also include [[mystery play]]s, vernacular sermons, saints' lives in epic form, and artwork.{{sfn|Van Engen|1986|p=552}}{{sfn|Ferzoco|2001|p=2}}{{sfn|Herrin|2021|pp=40, 80-81}}

This was an age of uncertainty, and the role of [[Relic|relics]] and holy men able to provide special access to the divine became increasingly important.{{sfn|Rosenwein|2014|pp=24, 27–29}}{{sfn|Markus|1990|p=26}} Promoting that special access, church offers that donations would fund prayers for the dead provided an ongoing source of wealth.{{sfn|Brown|2012|pp=514–517; 530}}{{sfn|Bonser|1962|p=236}} Monasteries became increasingly organized, gradually establishing their own authority as separate from political and familial authorities, thereby revolutionizing social history.{{sfn|Helvétius|Kaplan|2008|pp=275–277; 281; 298}}{{sfn|Haight|2004|p=273}} Medical practice was highly important, and medieval monasteries were best known for their public hospitals, hospices, and contributions to medicine.{{sfn|Phipps|1988|loc=abstract}}{{sfn|Crislip|2005|p=3}} The sixth-century [[Rule of Saint Benedict#Secular significance|Rule of Saint Benedict]] has had extensive influence.{{sfn|Truran|2000|pp=68–69}}{{sfn|Butler|1919|loc=intro.}}{{sfn|Dunn|2003|p=137}}

The East developed an approach to sacred art unknown in the West, adapting ancient portraiture in [[icon]]s as intercessors between God and humankind.{{sfn|Herrin|2021|p=12}} In the 720s, the Byzantine Emperor [[Leo III the Isaurian|Leo]] banned the pictorial representation of Christ, saints, and biblical scenes, and destroyed much early representational art.{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|p=65}} The West condemned the [[Byzantine iconoclasm]] of Leo and some of his successors.{{sfn|Halsall|2021}} By the tenth and early eleventh centuries, Byzantine culture began to recover its artistic heritage.{{sfn|Louth|2008|p=46}}{{sfn|Shepard|2006|p=3}}