Benedictine Rules

4. Monasteries that kept to Benedict's rules could be a very useful institution because of the positive effects they had on a society and it's people. Men who went into these monasteries adopted this strong moral code that they followed. Some rules they had to follow were not to kill, not to steal, to relieve the poor, console the suffering and other things that are a guideline to living a good life. These rules would follow them if they left the monasteries which would mean their way of life would rub off on others making the society as a whole hopefully better. Also these monasteries could be useful because they created a sense of community among the people who joined. Since everyone was following the same rules they felt as equals who understood the way of life each other had chosen. Finally they could be useful because it gave a place for the poorer people. Poor people could join the monasteries and adapt fairly well because of how the monks had to live. They were made to fast and not be gluttonous and the poorer people were used to hunger and hardships.

5. The Rule tells us about the social and economic structure of the society during this time that it was not in the best situation. The reason for this is because the average person if they were happy and had a good and easy luxurious life would not give that up for the hard life of a monastery. This means that during this time people were desperate for a better and more pure way of life to guarantee them a spot in heaven. So the social and economic situation must not have been very good. And also there must have been a lot of poorer people for the reasons I mentioned in number 4. The fact that silence and fasting were main rules of monasteries show that people would sacrifice that for a secure life after death.