Habit und Habitus

Harald Müller focuses on the correspondence of monks interested in Renaissance scholarship. His analysis of letters and letter collections demonstrates how and to which degree these monks were able to join the community of humanists. He shows the polemic discussions about the conformity of humanist studies with the monastic vocation inside and outside the monasteries. In contrast to traditional approaches which concentrate mostly on the history of literature, this study regards humanist behavior as the pivotal point of humanism itself. It thus sheds new light on humanism as a phenomenon of changing intellectual and stylistic ideals shared and developed by the humanists.