medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
it is unfortunate that the historical genre (Gesta Episcoporum) being
reviewed
here doesn't seem to have caught on (in France at least --Le Mans is, i
believe, a rare exception), or, if it did, the works in it have not survived.
i certainly wish that there had been a gesta of the bishops of Chartres.
Connie Bouchard's assessment of the reason why "many of the abbots of
St.-Germain were related to each other or to other abbots...[Hugh (1099-1115),
followed by his cousins Gervais (1115-1147) and Harduin (1148-1174); Regnaud
(1226-1238) uncle of Jean (1243-1277), cousin of Gui (1285-1309)]..."
[i.e., abbots from the same family, *without a break*, 1099-1174; and from
another(?) family 1226-1309, with two short breaks totaling a mere 13 out of
83 years]
namely, that "Without improper influence from laymen, the monks (and with them
the bishops and even the pope) routinely advanced to the office of abbot
relatives of men who had previously proved themselves in that position..."
strikes me as just a WEE bit on the naive/superficial side.
does anyone else here happen to think so?
Professor Bouchard knows this Auxerre material very well (obviously much, much
better than i --which ain't saying much at all), having published, some years
ago (via the Medieval Academy of America), a translation of a large part of
this _gesta_ herself, but i'm wondering just how she can "know" that the
["free"] elections of these guys were "without improper influence from
laymen," who could not *possibly* have influenced "the bishops" nor "even the
pope."
(of course, the latter was merely confirming the dictates of the Holy Spirit,
so he could not possibly have been "influenced" by those nasty "laymen" from
that far-away region.)
c
------ Original Message ------
Received: Fri, 06 Apr 2012 09:42:12 AM EDT
From: The Medieval Review <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: TMR 12.04.09 Deflou-Leca and Sassier, Les gestes des abbés de
Saint-Germain (Bouchard)
Deflou-Leca, Noëlle, and Yves Sassier (ed. and trans.) <i>Les gestes
des abbés de Saint-Germain d'Auxerre</i>. Series: Les classiques de
l'histoire au moyen âge. Paris: Les belles lettres, 2011. Pp. lxii,
178. EUR 43. ISBN: 978-2-251-34061-6.
Reviewed by Constance B. Bouchard
University of Akron
[log in to unmask]
The Burgundian city of Auxerre was a notable center of writing and
scholarship in the Carolingian era, the home both of a "school" of
philosophy and of the <i>Gesta</i> of the bishops of the city, one of
the earliest and fullest examples of this genre. The episcopal
<i>Gesta</i>, continued during subsequent centuries, have recently
been edited and translated in an admirable three-volume set under the
direction of Michel Sot. Now, the much less well known <i>Gesta</i>
of the abbots of St.-Germain of Auxerre, directly inspired by those of
the bishops and dating to the thirteenth-fourteenth centuries, have
also been edited and translated, the first complete edition since that
of Philippe Labbe in the seventeenth century.
The monastery of St.-Germain was dedicated to Germanus, bishop of
Auxerre in the fifth century and the region's first historically
attested saint. Originally a basilica, it acquired monks at some
point during the Merovingian era, but it was ruled by laymen during
much of the Carolingian era--even during the period of its
intellectual height, the same period in which the edifice was rebuilt
and expanded--and fell into disrepute in the tenth century, only to be
reformed to Cluny's <i>ordo</i> in the 980s. A century later, monks
from Cluny had to reform the house a second time. From then on,
however, the monastery flourished, acquiring a great deal of property
and prestige. In the thirteenth century, the present-day Gothic
church was built over the Carolingian crypt, and both the cartulary of
St.-Germain and the <i>Gesta</i> of its abbots were put together.
Indeed, Abbot Gui de Munois, the abbot who composed the <i>Gesta</i>
of his predecessors at the very end of the thirteenth century, had
earlier been responsible for creating the very large and handsome (and
as of yet never fully edited) cartulary of the monastery (now Auxerre,
Bibliothèque municipale, MS 161).
The new edition of the <i>Gesta</i> is very welcome, especially as it
has been done so meticulously by two scholars--one senior and one just
beginning to make a mark--who know the history of medieval Auxerre
very well. They worked from the unique manuscript, now in the
Bibliothèque nationale de France (MS lat. 10940) and almost certainly
the autograph of Gui de Munois, to which two continuations were added
in the first half of the fourteenth century, his own <i>vita</i> and
that of his successor. The two most informative entries are that of
Jean, Gui's predecessor, whom he knew personally, and that of Gui
himself, written by Aymo of Bordes, who professed himself unequal to
the task of describing Gui's deeds but tried his best. As well as the
text of the <i>Gesta</i> with facing French translation, the editors
provide an extensive introduction putting the work into its historical
context, three useful maps, and an index of place names cross-
referenced by the Latin version.
Gui de Munois's account began with Heldric, the reforming Cluniac
abbot of the end of the tenth century. He started there because, as
Gui admits in his prologue, he could find only scattered information
about Heldric's predecessors, in spite of his own research in
histories, chronicles, accounts of royal deeds, his monastery's
archives, the <i>Liber pontificalis</i> of the popes, and the
<i>Gesta</i> of the bishops of Auxerre. For each abbot, he gave
whatever information he had on his ecclesiastical and family
background, his election, his principal deeds, and his death (or, in a
few cases, deposition or resignation). Reflecting his sources, he
provided a good deal of information on property that the abbots
acquired, in comments based on charters copied into the cartulary.
The editors note that, wherever the charters he used survive, he
reported their contents conscientiously, giving credence to his
account even when charters have been lost.
Thus Gui clearly attempted to be what would now be called scholarly,
basing his accounts on the evidence he could find, but he also shaped
his version of three hundred years of monastic history to put St.-
Germain in the best light. Although most of the information he gave
on the eleventh and twelfth centuries is derivative, the way he
constructed his account reveals what was important to an abbot of the
thirteenth century. Interestingly, he made no effort to conceal the
deplorable difficulties into which his house had fallen before its two
reforms by monks from Cluny. Rather, his real concern was emphasizing
that, even with a Cluniac abbot at its head, St.-Germain was never
subject to rule from Cluny itself (as the editors note, Cluny's own
version of the events, as well as several contemporary charters, are
not nearly as explicit as was Gui that St.-Germain was free of any tie
to that great monastery).
One striking detail that emerges from the <i>Gesta</i> is how many of
the abbots of St.-Germain were related to each other or to other
abbots. Abbot Hugh of St.-Germain (1099-1115) was nephew of Abbot
Hugh of Cluny (1049-1109). At St.-Germain, Hugh was succeeded by
Gervais (1115-1147), his cousin, and <i>his</i> successor, Harduin
(1148-1174), was another cousin. Abbot Regnaud (1226-1238) was uncle
of Abbot Jean (1243-1277); Jean in turn was cousin of Abbot Gui (1285-
1309), the author of the <i>Gesta</i>. Without improper influence
from laymen, the monks (and with them the bishops and even the pope)
routinely advanced to the office of abbot relatives of men who had
previously proved themselves in that position.
These <i>Gesta</i> give the account of a monastery of the sort that
could too easily fall out of the narrative of religious history in the
High Middle Ages. The history of monasticism in the twelfth century
usually focuses on the Cistercians, and the thirteenth century is
usually described as dominated by the friars. But Gui de Munois never
thought that his monastery was being overshadowed by new forms of the
religious life. The monasteries of Cîteaux and Clairvaux and Saints
Francis and Dominic never appear in his pages. He described a
flourishing house that negotiated its relationship to the bishops and
to the regional secular lords and that constructed a new and elegant
church, not a house slipping out of relevance. Western Europe was
thick with long-established monastic houses with close ties to their
neighbors, houses that continued to define the religious life for
their regions even while new forms of that life rose to prominence.
Just as well-run but not very well-known houses like St.-Germain need
to be recognized for their impact on the religious life of the Middle
Ages, so works like the abbots' <i>Gesta</i> deserve to be studied.
The editors are to be commended for producing such a handsome and
useful volume. The more such chronicles and narratives are available,
the more we will know about the medieval period.
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
Attached Message
Date: Fri, 06 Apr 2012 10:37:09 -0400
From: "Christopher Crockett" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Fwd: TMR 12.04.09 Deflou-Leca and Sassier, Les gestes des abbés de
Saint-Germain (Bouchard)
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
it is unfortunate that the historical genre (Gesta Episcoporum) being
reviewed
here doesn't seem to have caught on (in France at least --Le Mans is, i
believe, a rare exception), or, if it did, the works in it have not survived.
i certainly wish that there had been a gesta of the bishops of Chartres.
Connie Bouchard's assessment of the reason why "many of the abbots of
St.-Germain were related to each other or to other abbots...[Hugh
(1099-1115),
followed by his cousins Gervais (1115-1147) and Harduin (1148-1174); Regnaud
(1226-1238) uncle of Jean (1243-1277), cousin of Gui (1285-1309)]..."
[i.e., abbots from the same family, *without a brake*, 1099-1174; and from
another(?) family 1226-1309, with two short breaks totaling 13 years]
namely, that "Without improper influence from laymen, the monks (and with
them
the bishops and even the pope) routinely advanced to the office of abbot
relatives of men who had previously proved themselves in that position..."
strikes me as just a WEE bit on the naive/superficial side.
does anyone else here happen to think so?
Professor Bouchard knows this Auxerre material very well (obviously much,
much
better than i --which ain't saying much at all), having published, some years
ago (via the Medieval Academy of America), a translation of a large part of
this _gesta_ herself, but i'm wondering just how she can "know" that the
["free"] elections of these guys were "without improper influence from
laymen," who could not *possibly* have influenced "the bishops" nor "even the
pope" --the latter, of course only confirming the dictates of the Holy
Spirit,
i presume.
c
------ Original Message ------
Received: Fri, 06 Apr 2012 09:42:12 AM EDT
From: The Medieval Review <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: TMR 12.04.09 Deflou-Leca and Sassier, Les gestes des abbés de
Saint-Germain (Bouchard)
Deflou-Leca, Noëlle, and Yves Sassier (ed. and trans.) <i>Les gestes
des abbés de Saint-Germain d'Auxerre</i>. Series: Les classiques de
l'histoire au moyen âge. Paris: Les belles lettres, 2011. Pp. lxii,
178. EUR 43. ISBN: 978-2-251-34061-6.
Reviewed by Constance B. Bouchard
University of Akron
[log in to unmask]
The Burgundian city of Auxerre was a notable center of writing and
scholarship in the Carolingian era, the home both of a "school" of
philosophy and of the <i>Gesta</i> of the bishops of the city, one of
the earliest and fullest examples of this genre. The episcopal
<i>Gesta</i>, continued during subsequent centuries, have recently
been edited and translated in an admirable three-volume set under the
direction of Michel Sot. Now, the much less well known <i>Gesta</i>
of the abbots of St.-Germain of Auxerre, directly inspired by those of
the bishops and dating to the thirteenth-fourteenth centuries, have
also been edited and translated, the first complete edition since that
of Philippe Labbe in the seventeenth century.
The monastery of St.-Germain was dedicated to Germanus, bishop of
Auxerre in the fifth century and the region's first historically
attested saint. Originally a basilica, it acquired monks at some
point during the Merovingian era, but it was ruled by laymen during
much of the Carolingian era--even during the period of its
intellectual height, the same period in which the edifice was rebuilt
and expanded--and fell into disrepute in the tenth century, only to be
reformed to Cluny's <i>ordo</i> in the 980s. A century later, monks
from Cluny had to reform the house a second time. From then on,
however, the monastery flourished, acquiring a great deal of property
and prestige. In the thirteenth century, the present-day Gothic
church was built over the Carolingian crypt, and both the cartulary of
St.-Germain and the <i>Gesta</i> of its abbots were put together.
Indeed, Abbot Gui de Munois, the abbot who composed the <i>Gesta</i>
of his predecessors at the very end of the thirteenth century, had
earlier been responsible for creating the very large and handsome (and
as of yet never fully edited) cartulary of the monastery (now Auxerre,
Bibliothèque municipale, MS 161).
The new edition of the <i>Gesta</i> is very welcome, especially as it
has been done so meticulously by two scholars--one senior and one just
beginning to make a mark--who know the history of medieval Auxerre
very well. They worked from the unique manuscript, now in the
Bibliothèque nationale de France (MS lat. 10940) and almost certainly
the autograph of Gui de Munois, to which two continuations were added
in the first half of the fourteenth century, his own <i>vita</i> and
that of his successor. The two most informative entries are that of
Jean, Gui's predecessor, whom he knew personally, and that of Gui
himself, written by Aymo of Bordes, who professed himself unequal to
the task of describing Gui's deeds but tried his best. As well as the
text of the <i>Gesta</i> with facing French translation, the editors
provide an extensive introduction putting the work into its historical
context, three useful maps, and an index of place names cross-
referenced by the Latin version.
Gui de Munois's account began with Heldric, the reforming Cluniac
abbot of the end of the tenth century. He started there because, as
Gui admits in his prologue, he could find only scattered information
about Heldric's predecessors, in spite of his own research in
histories, chronicles, accounts of royal deeds, his monastery's
archives, the <i>Liber pontificalis</i> of the popes, and the
<i>Gesta</i> of the bishops of Auxerre. For each abbot, he gave
whatever information he had on his ecclesiastical and family
background, his election, his principal deeds, and his death (or, in a
few cases, deposition or resignation). Reflecting his sources, he
provided a good deal of information on property that the abbots
acquired, in comments based on charters copied into the cartulary.
The editors note that, wherever the charters he used survive, he
reported their contents conscientiously, giving credence to his
account even when charters have been lost.
Thus Gui clearly attempted to be what would now be called scholarly,
basing his accounts on the evidence he could find, but he also shaped
his version of three hundred years of monastic history to put St.-
Germain in the best light. Although most of the information he gave
on the eleventh and twelfth centuries is derivative, the way he
constructed his account reveals what was important to an abbot of the
thirteenth century. Interestingly, he made no effort to conceal the
deplorable difficulties into which his house had fallen before its two
reforms by monks from Cluny. Rather, his real concern was emphasizing
that, even with a Cluniac abbot at its head, St.-Germain was never
subject to rule from Cluny itself (as the editors note, Cluny's own
version of the events, as well as several contemporary charters, are
not nearly as explicit as was Gui that St.-Germain was free of any tie
to that great monastery).
One striking detail that emerges from the <i>Gesta</i> is how many of
the abbots of St.-Germain were related to each other or to other
abbots. Abbot Hugh of St.-Germain (1099-1115) was nephew of Abbot
Hugh of Cluny (1049-1109). At St.-Germain, Hugh was succeeded by
Gervais (1115-1147), his cousin, and <i>his</i> successor, Harduin
(1148-1174), was another cousin. Abbot Regnaud (1226-1238) was uncle
of Abbot Jean (1243-1277); Jean in turn was cousin of Abbot Gui (1285-
1309), the author of the <i>Gesta</i>. Without improper influence
from laymen, the monks (and with them the bishops and even the pope)
routinely advanced to the office of abbot relatives of men who had
previously proved themselves in that position.
These <i>Gesta</i> give the account of a monastery of the sort that
could too easily fall out of the narrative of religious history in the
High Middle Ages. The history of monasticism in the twelfth century
usually focuses on the Cistercians, and the thirteenth century is
usually described as dominated by the friars. But Gui de Munois never
thought that his monastery was being overshadowed by new forms of the
religious life. The monasteries of Cîteaux and Clairvaux and Saints
Francis and Dominic never appear in his pages. He described a
flourishing house that negotiated its relationship to the bishops and
to the regional secular lords and that constructed a new and elegant
church, not a house slipping out of relevance. Western Europe was
thick with long-established monastic houses with close ties to their
neighbors, houses that continued to define the religious life for
their regions even while new forms of that life rose to prominence.
Just as well-run but not very well-known houses like St.-Germain need
to be recognized for their impact on the religious life of the Middle
Ages, so works like the abbots' <i>Gesta</i> deserve to be studied.
The editors are to be commended for producing such a handsome and
useful volume. The more such chronicles and narratives are available,
the more we will know about the medieval period.
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|
