Serlo of Wilton, also known as Serlo of Paris, was a learned Latin poet and a monk. Born about 1105, Serlo acquired a thorough classical education and went on to teach at the University of Paris. Subsequently disillusioned with university life, Serlo became a Cluniac monk at Charité-sur-Loire about 1155. He grew to seek a more disciplined monastic life than that of the Cluniacs. He thus moved to the newly formed Cistercian order that emphasized Saint Benedict’s original monastic ideals of communal work, austerity, fellowship, and prayer. He was a Cistercian monk at L’Aumône Abbey, about 34 kilometers north of Blois, in the 1160s. He became the abbot of L’Aumône Abbey about 1173. Serlo died in 1181. Serlo is notable for his vitality, exuberance, and sensitivity as a man — a fully male human being.
From the 12th century, universities in Bologna, Paris & Oxford professionalized teaching. They repressed lively, idiosyncratic masters like Serlo of Wilton. … Read the post failure of universities began in the twelfth century
Resisting the common superlative “flower of flowers {flos florum},” a medieval poet insisted on his beloved women actually being as lovely as a flower. … Read the post flower of flowers: beloved woman as loveliest flower
While walking and thinking, medieval men were sensuously alive to the world’s beauty, especially beautiful women. They needed spiritual strength. … Read the post medieval men’s sensitivity to sensuous impressions
The 12th-century cleric Serlo of Wilton outdid Ovid in love poetry, then became a Cistercian monk. Serlo exemplifies medieval men’s passionate love. … Read the post Serlo of Wilton shows medieval men’s love ambition
That women prefer jerks is proverbial, but men also love abusive women. Medieval literature documents that the human heart is crooked. … Read the post unpleasant truth: some persons prefer jerks in love