The introduction begins with Ennin, the eminent Japanese monk who traveled to China in 838 with the last Japanese embassy to the Tang court. Then sojourning for nine years in China, Ennin witnessed that more-private forms of shipping and trade had already begun to displace the tribute system. Tracing Ennin’s experience in China, this chapter introduces three main themes of the book: Buddhist material culture and the monastic economy, trade via religious networks, and the relationship among monks, merchants, and the secular authorities. This chapter also explains the nontraditional sources that this book uses and the new readings of monastic records that it offers.

Papyrological evidence shows that, in the centuries preceding the Arab conquest of Egypt (fifth to seventh centuries), the monastery at Deir el-Naqlun was home to groups of monks who pursued non-religious activities, possessed private assets, and maintained contact with various ‘worldly’ figures. Among them, we find moneylenders, a creative monk-potter, and a bishop who maintained a network of contacts with officials and elite members. On the other hand, clues as to the overarching organisation of the Naqlun monastery are scant, and the relation of the monks’ individual activity to that of the community as a whole is thus difficult to establish. It is nevertheless clear that managerial structures of an economic character were among the first to emerge within the monastery. Overall, the Naqlun evidence testifies to a model of organisation in which elements of communal life harmoniously combined with a degree of social and economic independence of individual monks.

This article deals with different modes of monastic economic agency: the mobilisation of internal means and forces of production to supply its inhabitants with staple food, and the activation of spiritual capital to supply inhabitants and visitors with spiritual goods, such as the forgiveness of sins. These practices are exemplified by recent findings of an ongoing project at Deir Anba Hadra. After an overview of the monastery and its role in the first cataract region, two sections deal with the two kinds of economy attested here. One section focuses on archaeological evidence for food production, such as mills and ovens, in the workshop area of the monastery. The role of food production intra muros for mere subsistence versus a local market is discussed here. Another section is dedicated to secondary inscriptions left on the walls of the monastery by inhabitants and visitors and their potential role in the monastic economy.