What was the religious orders in the middle ages and who was in them?

Answer 1

There were a lot of new orders in the Middle Ages. Among the better known were the following:

Augustinians

Benedictines

Carmelites

Cistercians

Cluniacs

Dominicans

Franciscans

Trappists

Answer 2

The "Middle Ages" covers a huge period of time and everything changed dramatically over that period, including the religious orders of Western Europe.

At first there was just one monastic order of monks: the Benedictines, named for St Benedict and following the 73-chapter Rule he devised during the 6th century in Italy. St Benedict always intended his Rule to form the basis of monastic life in his own monastery of Monte Casino but did not consider it complete.

Gradually other orders grew up, also following the Rule of St Benedict, but interpreting it in different ways and effectively competing with each other. These were the Cistercians, Cluniacs and Carthusians. Together with the Benedictines they formed allof the monastic orders until the early 13th century.

Benedictines and Cluniacs wore black habits while Cistercians and Carthusians wore undyed, natural wool (almost white) habits. Medieval black dye was at best an unpredictable and unstable colour and often would have turned to a dirty, very dark brownish-grey, still referred to as black.

Early in the 13th century the first orders of friars were formed and quickly spread across Europe: the Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, Praemonstratensians and Austin friars. These were not monks and most followed the Rule of St Augustine, working out in the community and including preaching in their daily routine; they were mendicant (meaning they supported themselves by begging and on donations from benefactors). They wore grey, brown or a mix of black and white.

Alongside the monastic orders were colleges of priests, called canons; initially they were established to staff certain cathedrals but some set themselves up almost like monks in a community, such as the Augustinian Canons; they were not monks and did not follow the Rule of St Benedict.

Today many people use the term "monk" indiscriminately for any of these religious orders, but true monks followed the Rule of St Benedict and lived isolated, secluded, cloistered lives in a monastery.

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