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Monk

Specialty Definition: Monk

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Specialty Definition: George Monck

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

George Monk or Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle (6 December 1608 - 3 January 1670), second son of Sir Thomas Monk, a gentleman of good family but in embarrassed circumstances, was born at Potheridge, near Torrington, in Devonshire. Having thrashed the under-sheriff of the county in revenge for a wrong done to his father, he had to leave home, and naturally took up soldiering. He served as a volunteer in the expedition to Cadiz (1626), and the next year did good service at the siege of the Isle of Rhé.

In 1629 Monk went to the Netherlands, then a centre of warfare, and there he gained a high reputation as a leader and a disciplinarian. In 1638 he threw up his commission in consequence of a quarrel with the civil authorities of Dordrecht, and returned to England. He obtained the lieutenant-colonelcy of Newport's regiment.

During the operations on the Scottish border in the Bishops' Wars (1639 - 1640) he showed his skill and coolness in the dispositions by which he saved the English artillery at the Battle of Newburn (1640), though himself destitute of ammunition.

At the outbreak of the Irish rebellion (1641) Monk became colonel of Lord Leicester's regiment. All the qualities for which he was noted through life - his talent of making himself indispensable, his imperturbable temper and his impenetrable secrecy - were fully displayed in this post. The governorship of Dublin stood vacant, and Leicester appointed Monk. But Charles I overruled the appointment in favour of Lord Lambart, and Monk with great shrewdness gave up his claims. Ormonde, however, who viewed him with suspicion as one of the two officers who refused the oath to support the Royal cause in England, sent him under guard to Bristol. But he justified himself to Charles in person, and his soldierly criticisms on the conduct of the Irish war impressed the king, who gave him a command in the corps sent over from Ireland during the English Civil War. Monk was, however, soon taken prisoner, at Nantwich (1644), and spent the next two years in the Tower, where he found it difficult to live owing to his want of means. The king himself sent him 100 pounds, a gift for which Monk himself was sincerely grateful. He spent his imprisonment writing his Observations on Military and Political Affairs.

Monk's Irish experience, however, led to his release and an invitation to take service in the parliament's army against the Irish rebels. Making a distinction like other soldiers of the time between fighting the Irish and taking arms against the king, he accepted the offer and took the covenant. At first as adjutant-general to the Parliamentary lord-lieutenant, his old friend Lord Lisle, and afterwards as governor of Ulster, he rendered great services to his new masters. In conjunction with Colonel Michael Jones, governor of Leinster, he made headway against the rebels for two years, but in the third (1649) the Parliamentarians, weakened by defections brought about by the execution of the king, were no longer able to keep the field. Losing one strong place after another, Monk concluded an armistice with the rebel Owen Roe O'Neill upon terms which he knew the parliament would not ratify. The convention was indeed a military expedient to deal with a military necessity, and although most of his army went over to the Royalist cause, he himself remained faithful to his employers and returned to England.

As he expected, Parliament "utterly disapproved" of the armistice but exonerated their general. His next service was in Oliver Cromwell's army in Scotland. He commanded a brigade at the great victory of Dunbar, and afterwards captured a number of small places. When in 1651 Cromwell with the field army hurried southward into England to bring the invading Scots to battle, Monk was left behind to complete the subjugation of the country.

In February 1652 Monk left Scotland to recover his broken health at Bath, and in November of the same year he became an admiral, or rather a "general at sea", instead of a soldier in the First Anglo-Dutch War. Ten days after hoisting his flag for the first time he was engaged with his colleagues, Robert Blake and Richard Deane, in the battle of Portland (28 February - 2 March 1653). In the Battle of the Gabbard (2 - 3 June 1653) Monk exercised the general command after Deane's death. The Battle of Scheveningen followed on 29 - 31 July, which proved a decisive victory for the Commonwealth's fleet.

On his return to shore Monk married Anne Clarges, a woman of "low extraction", often supposed to have been his mistress, "ever a plain homely dowdy", says Pepys, who, like other writers who mention her, is usually still less complimentary. Next year he returned to Scotland, methodically beating down a Royalist insurrection in the Highlands, and when this service was over settled down to a steady government of that country for the next five years.

The timely discovery of a plot fomented by Overton, his second in command, in 1654, gave him an excuse for thoroughly purging his army of all Anabaptists, Fifth monarchy men, and other "dangerous" enthusiasts.

It is improbable that at this time Monk had proposed to himself the restoration of the king, though so astute a diplomatist must have weighed the chances of such an event. His very reticence, however, caused alarm on one side and hope on the other. In 1655 he received a letter from Charles II, a copy of which he at once sent to Cromwell, who is said to have written to him in 1657 in the following terms: "There be that tell me that there is a certain cunning fellow in Scotland called George Monk, who is said to lye in wait there to introduce Charles Stuart; I pray you, use your diligence to apprehend him, and send him up to me." Monk's personal relations with Cromwell were those of sincere friendship on both sides.

During the confusion which followed Cromwell's death (3 September 1658), Monk remained silent and watchful at Edinburgh, careful only to secure his hold on his troops. At first he contemplated armed support of Richard Cromwell, but gave up this idea on realising the young man's incapacity for government, and renewed his waiting policy. In July 1659 direct and tempting proposals were again made to him by the king. Monk's brother Nicholas, a clergyman, was employed by Sir J. Grenvil to bring to him the substance of Charles's letter. No bribe, however, could induce him to act one moment before the right time. He bade his brother go back to his books, and refused to entertain any proposal. But when Booth rose in Cheshire for the king, so tempting did the opportunity seem that he was on the point of joining forces with him, and a manifesto was prepared. His habitual caution, however, induced him to wait until the next post from England, and the next post brought news of Booth's defeat.

For a moment he thought of retiring into private life, but soon Charles Fleetwood and John Lambert declared against the Parliament, and to their surprise Monk not only refused to join them, but (23 October 1659) at once took measures of active opposition. Securing his hold on Scotland by a small but trusty corps of occupation, he crossed the border with the rest of his army. Holding Lambert in play without fighting until his army began to melt away for want of pay, Monk received the commission of commander-in-chief of the parliamentary forces (24 November 1659). The navy, some of the English garrisons and the army in Ireland declared for the parliament, and the army from Scotland crossed the Tweed on 2 January 1660. It was inferior in numbers, but in all other respects superior to Lambert's, and Monk slowly marched on to London, disbanding or taking over on his way the detachments of Lambert's army which he met, and entered the capital on 3 February 1660. In all this his ultimate purpose remained mysterious. At one moment he secretly encouraged the demands of the Royalist City of London, at another he urged submission to the existing parliament, then again he refused to swear an oath abjuring the house of Stuart, and further he hinted to the attenuated Long Parliament the urgent necessity of a dissolution. Lastly, acting as the stern military agent of the infuriated parliament, he took away the gates and portcullises of the city. This angered not only the citizens but his own army, and gave him the lever that he desired to enforce the dissolution of parliament, while at the same time enabling him to break up, as a matter affecting discipline, the political camarillas that had formed in his own regiments. He was now master of the situation, and though he protested his adherence to republican principles, it was a matter of common knowledge that the new parliament, which Monk was imposing on the remnant of the old, would have a strong Royalist colour. Monk himself was now in communication with Charles II, whose Declaration of Breda was based on Monk's recommendations. The new parliament met on 25 April 1660, and on 1 May 1660 voted the restoration of the monarchy.

With the Restoration the historic interest of Monk's career ceases. Soldier as he was, he had played the difficult game of diplomacy with incomparable skill, and had won it without firing a shot. That he was victor sine sanguine, as the preamble of his patent of nobility stated, was felt by every one to be the greatest service of all. He became gentleman of the bedchamber, knight of the Garter, master of the horse and commander-in-chief. Charles raised him to the peerage with the titles of Baron Monk, earl of Torrington and duke of Albemarle, and he received a pension of £7000 a year. As long as the army existed of which he was the idol, and of which the last service was to suppress Thomas Venner's revolt (January 1661), he remained a person of influence. But he entirely concurred in its disbandment, and only the regiment of which he was colonel, the Coldstream (Guards), survives to represent the army of the English Civil War.

In 1664 Monk had charge of the admiralty when James, duke of York, commanded the fleet, and when in 1665 much of the populace deserted London on account of the Great Plague, Monk, with all the readiness of a man accustomed to obey without thinking of risk, remained in charge of the government of the city.

Once more, at the end of 1665, he was called upon to fight, having a joint commission with Prince Rupert against the Dutch in the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The whole burden of the preparations fell upon him. On 23 April 1666 the admirals joined the fleet, and on 1 June 1666 began the great four days' battle, in which Monk showed not only all his old coolness and skill, but also a reckless daring which had seemed hitherto foreign to his character. Later in the same year he maintained order in the city of London during the Great Fire.

His last service occurred in 1667, when the Dutch fleet sailed up the Thames, and Monk, though ill, hurried to Chatham to oppose their farther progress. From that time he lived generally privately (although he officially served as First Commissioner of the Treasury) and died of dropsy on 3 January 1670, "like a Roman general with all his officers about him".

His dukedom became extinct on the death of his son Christopher, 2nd duke of Albemarle (1653 - 1688).

See the Life of Monk, by Dr Gumble, his chaplain (London, 1671).

Original text from http://1911encyclopedia.org

References

• George Monck and the Restoration: Victory without Bloodshed by Ted Jamison ISBN 0912646047

See also

• British military history

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "George Monck."

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James Henry Monk

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

James Henry Monk (1784-1856), English divine and classical scholar, was born at Buntingford, Herts.

He was educated at Charterhouse School and Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 1809 was elected professor of Greek in succession to Porson. The establishment of the classical tripos was in great measure due to his efforts. In 1822 he was appointed dean of Peterborough; in 1830, bishop of Gloucester (with which the see of Bristol was amalgamated in 1836). He is best known as the author of a Life of Bentley (1830) and as the editor (with CJ Blomfield) of Porson]'s Adversaria (1812).

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "James Henry Monk."

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Monasticism

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Monasticism (from Greek: monachos—a solitary person) is the religious practice of renouncing all worldly pursuits in order to fully devote one's life to spiritual work. Many religions have monastic elements, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity, and Islam, though the expressions differ considerably. Those pursuing a monastic life are usually called monks or brothers (male), and nuns or sisters (female).

Hindu Monasticism

In Hinduism, monastic tradition varies somewhat from sect to sect. Historically this path has been open to males only, but some traditions now accept female renunciates as well. Hindu monks are called Sadhus and in most traditions are easily recognized by their saffron robes. Vaisnava monks shave their heads except for a small patch of hair on the back of the head, while Saivite monks in most traditions let their hair and beard grow uncut.

A Sadhu's vow of renunciation typically forbids him from:

• owning personal property apart from a bowl, a cup, two sets of clothing and medical aides such as eyeglasses;
• having any contact with, looking at, thinking of or even being in the presence of women;
• eating for pleasure;
• posessing or even touching money or valuables in any way, shape or form;
• maintaining personal relationships.

Buddhist Monasticism

The Sangha, democratic order of Buddhist monks and nuns, was founded by Gautama Buddha during his lifetime of missionary work over 2500 years ago. Established to preserve the doctrine and discipline now known as Buddhism, they are a living example for the laity. A monk, known as a Bhikkhu in Pali, firstly ordains as a Samanera (novice) for a year or until the ripe age of 20. If deemed acceptable and able by the order, he then receives full ordination and now lives by the 227 monastic rules, called the Patimokkha, which are stated in the Tripitaka. Once a year as a novice monastic, and if 20 years old, the female Samaneri becomes a nun or Bhikkhuni and will adhere to 311 rules of discipline. Monastics eat one vegetarian meal at noon and fast until sunrise the follwing day. Between midday and the next day, a strict life of celibacy, scripture study, chanting, meditation and occasional cleaning forms most of the duties. It is necessary for not only monks but the laity to practice with intuitive insight, in a state of mindfulness and concentration, here and now, to benefit from the experience. Only then is Enlightenment possible.

The distinction between Sangha and lay persons has always been important and forms the Purisa, Buddhist community. Here, monastics teach and counsel the laity at request while laymen and laywomen offer donations for their future support. This inter-connectedness serves as a marriage and has sustained Buddhism to this day.

The legendary Shaolin monasteries of China are perhaps best known in the Western hemisphere from martial art films. Practicing Ch'an of the Mahayana school, this form of Buddhism spread to Korea and subsequently to Japan where it is now known as Zen. According to legend, their founder is known alternatively as Bodhidharma or Ta Mo.

In Tibet, before the Communist invasion in the late 40's and early 50's, a strikingly large percentage of males, more than half of the countries population, were expected to ordained for monastic life. Due to the oppressive struggle, and destruction of monasteries and libraries, Tibetans now live in exile. Hoping to resume and revive an independent nation under the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Vajrayana Buddhism, many Tibetan monks annually risk crossing the Himalayas to seek freedom in India.

In Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar where the religious prevalence is Theravada, there is a common tradition of short ordination. During a school break, many young men usually ordain for a week or two to earn merit for loved ones and to gain knowledge of the Dharma, Buddhist teaching.

Christian Monasticism

Monasticism in Christianity is a family of similar traditions that began to develop early in the history of the Christian Church, modeled upon Scriptural examples and ideals, but not mandated as an institution by the Scriptures.

While most people think of Christian or Catholic monks or nuns as "something to do with living in a monastery", from the Church's point of view the focus has nothing to do with living in a monastery or performing any specific activity, rather the focus is on an ideal called the religious life, also called the state of perfection. In other words, a monk or nun is a person who has vowed to follow not only the commandments of the Church, but also the counsels (e.g., vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience). The words of Jesus which are the cornerstone for this ideal are "be ye perfect like your heavenly Father is perfect".

Precursor models of the Christian monastic ideal

The ancient models of the modern Christian monastic ideal are the Nazirites and the prophets of Israel. A Nazirite was a person voluntarily separated to the Lord, under a special vow.

2 Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of separation to the LORD as a Nazirite, 3he must abstain from wine and other fermented drink 5 During the entire period of his vow of separation no razor may be used on his head. He must be holy until the period of his separation to the LORD is over; he must let the hair of his head grow long. 6Throughout the period of his separation to the LORD he must not go near a dead body. 8 Throughout the period of his separation he is consecrated to the LORD. (Numbers 6, NIV)

The prophets of Israel were set apart to the Lord for the sake of a message of repentance. Some of them lived under extreme conditions, voluntarily separated or forced into seclusion because of the burden of their message. Other prophets were members of communities, schools mentioned occasionally in the Scriptures but about which there is much speculation and little known. The pre-Abrahamic prophets, Enoch and Melchizedek, and especially the Jewish prophets Elijah and his disciple Elisha are important to Christian monastic tradition. The most frequently cited "role-model" for the life of a hermit separated to the Lord, in whom the Nazarite and the prophet are believed to be combined in one person, is John the Baptist. John also had disciples who stayed with him and, as may be supposed, were taught by him and lived in a manner similar to his own.

1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea ... 4 John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. (Matthew 3, NIV)

The female role models for monasticism are Mary the mother of Jesus and the four virgin daughters of Philip the evangelist:

''7 On finishing the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, greeted the brothers, and stayed with them for one day. 8 The next day we left and came to Caesarea. We went to the home of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven, and stayed with him. 9 He had four unmarried daughters who could prophesy. (Acts 21, NIV)

The monastic ideal is also modeled upon the Apostle Paul, who is believed to have been celibate, and a tentmaker:

7 I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. 8 Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am. (1 Corinthians 7, NIV)

But, the consummate prototype of all modern Christian monasticism, communal and solitary, is Jesus:

'' 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death -- even death on a cross! ( Philippians 2, NIV)

The first Christian communities lived in common, sharing everything, according to Acts of the Apostles.

Institutional Christian monasticism

Institutional Christian monasticism seems to have begun in the deserts in AD 4th century Egypt as a kind of living martyrdom. Contemporary piety believed that the deserts and wilderness were inhabited by demons, and so the monks would go out into the desert to fight the demons, and to overcome their temptations. Some scholars still present monasticism as a seeking for martyrdom after the legalization of Christianity meant that one could no longer be persecuted for being a Christian. Others point to historical evidence that individuals were living the life later known as monasticism before the legalization of Christianity. In fact it is believed by the Carmelites that they were started by the Jewish prohet Elias. Anthony the Great and Pachomius were early monastic innovators in Egypt. Eastern Orthodoxy looks to Basil of Caesarea as a founding monastic legislator, as well as the example of the Desert Fathers. Benedict is often credited with being the 'father of Western monasticism'.

From a very early time there were probably individuals who lived a life in isolation - hermits - in imitation of Jesus's 40 days in the desert. They have left no confirmed archaeological traces and only hints in the written record. Anthony of Egypt lived as a hermit and developed a following of other hermits who lived nearby but not in community with him. This variety of monasticism is called eremitical or "hermit-like". Pachomius, a follower of Anthony, also acquired a following; he chose to mould them into a community in which the monks lived in individual huts or rooms (cellula in Latin, "cell", which has a different connotation in modern English) but worked, ate, and worshipped in shared space. This method of monastic organization is called cenobitic or "community-based." All the familiar monastic orders are cenobitic in nature. In Catholic theology, this community based living is considered superior because of the obedienance practiced and because one is less likely to err then one would be by oneselve. The head of a monastery came to be known by the word for "Father" in Syriac, Abba, in English, "Abbot".

Christian monasticism was and continued for centuries to be a lay condition - monks depended on a local parish church for the sacraments. However, if the monastery was isolated in the desert, as were many of the Egyptian examples, that inconvenience compelled monasteries either to take in priest members, to have their abbot ordained, or to have other members ordained. A priest-monk is sometimes called a hieromonk. In many cases in Eastern Orthodoxy, when a bishopric needed to be filled, they would look to nearby monasteries to find suitable candidates. Since many priests were married (before being ordained to the priesthood), but bishops were required to be celibate, monasteries were a good source of celibate men who were also spiritually mature and generally possessing the other qualities desired in a bishop. Gregory Palamas is one such example.

In traditional Catholic societies, monastic communities often took charge of social services such as education and healthcare; to the latter they were so closely linked that nurses are often called "sisters."

Christian Monastic Orders

A number of distinct monastic orders developed within Roman Catholicism. Eastern Orthodoxy does not have a system of orders, per se.

Augustinians, which evolved from the Priests Canons who would normally work with the Bishop: now living together with him as monks under St. Augustine's rule

Benedictines, founded by St. Benedict, stresses manual labor in a self subsistant monastary.

Carmelites, Contemplative Order

Carthusians

Celestines

Cistercians

Dominicans, Mendicant (preaching) order. They blend the active and the contemplative life: namely they practice contemplation, and go out to preach the fruits of that contemplation and encourage others to contemplate.

Franciscans, another Mendicant order, they were charged with preaching to the poor.

Trappists

Redemptorists

Christian Brothers

Visitation Sisters

Knights Templar

The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) is a religious order, having vows; but, it is not a monastic order, strictly speaking,

Sufi Brotherhoods in Islam

Some of the Sufi orders have set up communities that have been compared to monasteries, though there is as much reason to consider them Ashrams I think. this needs to be elaborated

See Sufism and Islam

See also:

• Order (religious)
• Monastery
• Pachomius -- early example of monastic organizer
• Rule of St Benedict

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Monasticism."

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Monk

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

A monk is a male religious ascetic. The word comes from the Greek monachos, a solitary person. Monks often live in a monastery.

See also:

• monasticism
• Order (religious)
• Buddhism
• Christianity
• Pachomius -- early example of monastic organizer
• Rule of St Benedict

Monk is also the programming language internal to the Datagate message-brokering software. Monk is also a television show that debuted in 2002.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Monk."

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Abbreviations & Acronyms: Monk

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Photo Album: Monk

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Hawaiian monk seal - Monachus schauinslandi. Credit: NOAA's Ark (Animals).		Statue of Hawaiian monk seal - Monachus schauinslandi. Credit: NOAA's Ark (Animals).
	Hawaiian monk seal entangled in rope. Credit: Fisheries.		On the beach at Laysan Island - monk seal lying on the beach about 100 feet away. Credit: Small World.
	Monk seal on the beach at Laysan Island. Note ripple pattern in coral sand. Credit: Small World.		CAMP BUTMIR, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AFPN) -- Tech. Sgt. James Monk (left) and Master Sgt. Scott Wagers walk away from a helicopter landing pad here as a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk rises into the air behind them. Wagers and Scott are two aerial-qualified comb.
	Toward the monk the coal burner was deeply reverent. Credit: Library of Congress.		She bent down over the dead monk. Credit: Library of Congress.
	Henry Monk and two of his stepchildren on their farm near Ruthven, Iowa. Credit: Library of Congress.		Nixon as a monk, holding skull. Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Digital Photo Gallery: Monk
 

"Monk @ the phone" by Lorena Molinari Commentary: "Hi pa'..."	"Quietness" by José Warletta Commentary: "Sculpture of a monk at the Museum of Fine Arts in Valencia, Spain."
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers.

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