The Occupatio by Odo of Cluny

Edition, Translation, and Commentary

By (author) Christopher A Jones By (author) Christopher A. Jones

Book cover: The Occupatio by Odo of Cluny

Extent: 800, 1032 pages

Publisher: Brepols Publishers

Subjects: Literary Studies, Medieval Studies

Series: Publications of the Journal of Medieval Latin

Series volume number: 18

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(January 2026)

ISBN: 9782503615097

Price: $169.00

In stock

A new edition and translation of a major Latin poem that blends Carolingian intellectualism with tenth-century ascetic reform.


The Occupatio is one of the longest yet least-known Latin poems surviving from the earlier Middle Ages. Composed by the famous abbot Odo of Cluny (d. 942), the work retells the story of humanity’s fall and redemption as a series of episodes intended to help monastic readers focus their wandering thoughts. In pursuing those aims, the poem represents a uniquely ambitious attempt to reconcile the intellectual heritage of the late Carolingian Church with the spirituality of ascetic reform movements emergent in the tenth century. This book offers an improved edition of Odo’s Latin text together with its manuscript glosses, as well as a Modern English translation and detailed commentary. Introductory chapters offer helpful orientation to the character of the poem, its major themes, sources, language, style, and transmission.

  • By (author) Christopher A Jones
  • By (author) Christopher A. Jones