6533b821fe1ef96bd127bea2

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Donner soi-même, donner autrui. Conversion d'adultes et oblation d'enfants en Provence (fin Xe-XIIe siècle)

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Taking as its point of departure the case of Provence as documented in the diplomatic sources of Benedictine monasteries and in hagiography, this article demonstrates that the increase in the conversion of adults in the second half of the eleventh century is unrelated to a supposed decline in child oblation. Contrary to the traditional perspective, oblation appears to remain stable and the oblate monk (nutritus) is still the ideal model of monastic perfection as opposed to the converted monk (conversus), an alternative model then offered to the seigniorial aristocracy.