medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear all,
One indeed encounters within the Exempla occasionally true historical
characters. Sometimes the stories repeated in them are familiar from
other sources, for example Roman historians, but sometimes they are
unique sources of the event in question.
Occasionally it is reasonably easy to assume that the whole story is
fabricated. For example the stories where the person in question
visits the other world. In most cases, however, and this is the case
with Caesarius' exemplum discussed here, one has no sources that would
confirm the story. Basically then, it is a matter of faith. Of course,
one can make educated guesses on the basis of the story itself. Does
it sound reliable? Could it have been true? How close was the reporter
to the events described? And so and on.
In this particular case I am inclined to think that the story may very
well be true but in the end of the day it is still an educated guess -
nothing more and nothing less. However, I think here one should
remember the old Italian proverb: "Se non è vero è ben trovato."
Cheers,
Jussi Hanska
Lainaus Christopher Crockett <[log in to unmask]>:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> in an effort to give Frank and the other Larnéd Members of this list every
> opportunity to come up with creatively Dumb answers to more or less obvious
> Questions, i have one of the latter to float.
>
>
> browsing through a chance find, surely known to all here
>
> Jacques Berlioz, et al. “Bernard dans les exempla (XIIIe-XVe siècles),”
> in Patrick Arabeyre, et al., eds. Vies et légendes de Saint Bernard de
> Clairvaux: création, diffusion, réception (XIIe-XXe siècles): actes des
> Rencontres de Dijon, 7-8 juin 1991 (Présence cistercienne, Textes et
> documents, V) (Saint-Nicolas-lès-Cîteaux: Abbaye de Cîteaux, 1993), pp.
> 116-140
>
>
> i happened upon a St. Berniesque exemplum which involved Henry D. France
> (perversely called by the French "Henri de France"), third son of Louis VI
> and, therefore, brother of Louis VII.
>
> i am very interested in Henry D., as he was the "abbot of the royal abbeys"
> [i.e., the secular collegial abbeys directly controled by the king] from a
> very early age, including that of St. Mary of Etampes, whose Spectacular
> portal
>
> http://www.corpusetampois.com/cpa-es-eld43.html
>
> http://www.romanes.com/Etampes/Notre_Dame_du_Fort/Notre_Dame_du_Fort_d_Etampes_0005.html
>
> http://www.romanes.com/Etampes/Notre_Dame_du_Fort/Notre_Dame_du_Fort_d_Etampes_0004.html
>
> has been at the center of my Art Hysterical interests for several decades
> now.
>
>
> sometime during the run-up to the second crusade (1146-7) Henry D. fell under
> the spell of St. Bernie and was converted from his quite opulent life as,
> literally, a Prince in the Church, and became a simple monk at Clairvaux.
>
>
> though he only lasted three years there before being called/forced to the see
> of Beauvais (and later to that of Reims), it appears that his conversion was
> an utterly sincere one (what did he have to gain by giving up the World?).
>
> the circumstances surrounding his conversion and its aftermath are of
> particular interest to me.
>
>
> the exemplum in question, from the collection of Caesarius of Heisterbach
> (Strange ed., I., p. 26; Tubach 3333) purports to depict Henry,
> brother of the
> king of France, visiting St. Bernard (presumably at Clairvaux) and
> asking that
> the monks there pray for him. Bernard “a l’espoir que ces prièures seront
> efficaces. Henry rejoint plus tard le monastère.” (i can send the complete
> Latin text to anyone who wishes it.)
>
>
> my Quetio is: to what extent may we rely upon this story as an accurate
> reflection of some historical event;
>
> i.e., *did* Henry, indeed, visit Bernard (at Clairvaux) before his
> conversion?
>
>
> on the One hand, it is clear that the "purpose/aim/goal" of exempla --as a
> genre-- was not to recite historical events, so we may assume some liberty
> might have been taken in the details recounted in this one, in order
> to better
> fit the story to its pedagogical purpose.
>
> as such the source is inherently unreliable in its details.
>
>
> on the Other, Henry is specifically mentioned by name, in an account by a
> fellow Cistercian, written a scant two (or three) generations after the
> supposed event occurred.
>
> now, my very, very limited experience with exempla suggests to me that one of
> the operational motifs of the genre was to make a famous person, mentioned
> specifically by name, the subject of the "lesson" which was being made an
> "example" of.
>
> however, might Caesarius not be repeating part of an historically accurate
> oral tradition within his Order which surrounded what was, after all, perhaps
> the most spectacular Conversion achieved by the Order's most spectacular
> saint?
>
>
> any stray Thoughts (Dumb or Otherwise) on this Question would be appreciated.
>
> c
>
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