Title: The Early Growth of the Medieval Economy of Salvation in Latin Christianity
Abstract: Early Modern sheds, that is, the early and central Middle Ages, from the fifth century to the twelfth.We will begin by defining the medieval economy of salvation more closely and briefly sketching its overall history.We will then turn to some recent findings in the history of late antique and early medieval Christianity that shed light on two important questions.First, when did the Latin Church begin to involve itself systematically in death, dying and the care of the dead?And second, when it came to such things, how different was the Church of, say, Alcuin of York from that of Ambrose of Milan?That should give some idea of the growth of the economy of salvation between the fourth and the ninth centuries.Finally, we will present the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, at its height in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, as the culminating expression of the early medieval economy of salvation, even as changing social, theological and economic conditions were beginning to call into question some of the system's most characteristic features.