About

The premise

The project Puhetta metsistä studies how discussion of forests – which affected how people acted towards them – took shape within the intercommunication between Greek East and Latin West, in Southern Italy. The period under study extends from the half point of the 10th century to the beginning of the 13th century. During this time the climate was warmer than usual, which fostered a growth in population. One of the main consequences of this was an extended clearing of forests. In the beginning of the High Middle Ages the main stage of this discussion regarding forests was in Southern Italy, where essential texts, on which the discussion was also later based on, were translated, and key arguments formed.

Acquainting oneself with the Latin-Byzantine discussion surrounding forests offers a perspective from which to regard modern discourse. In this project we ask what the forest appears like in texts written, translated and read in Southern Italy. How did the people in this time justify their actions towards forests? At which point in these texts did they begin to ponder on detrimental effects these actions possibly had? The notion of humans as Lords of All Creation was inherent in Christian tradition, but in the High Middle Ages new dimensions of this idea appeared. In this time the utilization of forests was examined more diversely. Conversations regarding natural resources touched on controlling them and on the consequences of doing so.

In this project we examine the rhetorical means through which people sought to rationalize and make meanings for phenomena related to forests and the changes happening to them. These descriptions were built on themes such as Godly Creation, dangers of the forest, forest clearing and utilization, and changes in environment, brought to light by passing time.

The pioneers of Montecassino

The monastery of Montecassino was perhaps the most significant cultural centre of Southern Italy during the High Middle Ages. The school of the monastery flourished in the 11th and 12th centuries, during which the erudites of Montecassino took interest towards natural sciences, in addition to the traditions of the classical age and early Christianity. In addition to Latin texts, a new-found interest was directed towards Greek and also Arabic texts. As a whole, these developments created a basis for new conceptions and notions related to forests. The school of Montecassino had great influence over the courts of the surrounding principalities and over the papal rule in Rome. It also had significant authority in all Christendom. This is why Montecassino has such an important role in this project: research into the monastery is research into the surrounding society.

In this project we study how this recovered interest towards natural sciences affected the authors’ manners of writing of forests, within different textual genres, and within this ardent period of forest cleaning. Montecassino was a great landowner, and as such also a pioneer in clearing forests and founding new settlements. What sort of literary models did they use while discussing forests, and how did they adapt said models to answer to the challenges of their time? How did the intercommunication between the learned elite of the monastery and the preceding tradition as well as the Greek contemporary world mould the understanding of nature, and especially of forests as part of nature? What were the textual genres within which the monks discussed and moulded views on land clearing, both their own and those of the public?

Rome and Grottaferrata

Forest clearing and the expansion of settlements were an important part of societal change in Rome and its environments. The church owned the suburban areas in the 10th century, but during the 11th century incastellamento – that is, land clearing and raising new fortified settlements – transferred the rural control to the rising new urban aristocracy. Papal church and noblemen alike tied their properties in the countryside to religious institutions, above all to monasteries. One such monastery was Grottaferrata, situated c. 20 km outside Rome. Alongside Montecassino Grottaferrata will serve as the main setting of our study.

Grottaferrata was founded by a Greek monk called Nilos (d. 1005) in the year 1004. The monastery eventually became a centre of Greek-Latin cultural exchange and erudition. Grottaferrata’s own land ownership and agency in land clearing are great sources into how monasteries were interlocked with material power. They operated alongside the church elite and aristocracy, all with aims of taming and controlling the natural world. In the end Grottaferrata’s power reached far beyond its original scope, and via this position it became a remarkable agent in land clearing in a vast area.