Religion, Culture, and Mentalities in the Medieval Low Countries: Selected Essays 2503518907, 9782503518909

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Religion, Culture, and Mentalities in the Medieval Low Countries

L udo J. R. M ilis

Religion, Culture, and Mentalities in the Medieval Low Countries Selected Essays

Edited by Jeroen D e p l o ig e , Martine D e R e u , Walter S im o n s , and Steven V a nd erpu tten

W ith the collaboration of Laura G aloppini, L uc J ocqué , Ann K elders, and Véronique L ambert

BREPOLS 2005

© BREPOLSSäPUBLISHERS - Turnhout (Belgium) A ll rights reserved. No part o f this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission o f the publisher.

D/2005/0095/150 ISBN 2-503-51890-7

Contents

♦ Ludo Milis. An Appreciation by Jemen Deploige, Martine De Reu, and Walter Simons

9

♦ Bibliography of Ludo Milis by Steven Vanderputten and Luc Jocqué

25

♦ Acknowledgements

45

♦ Abbreviations

49

I — Religion & Conversion ♦ The Conversion of the Low Countries and Church Institutions until c. 1070 ♦ The Church in the Low Countries between Gregorian Reform and Avignon ♦ Conversion: A Never-Ending Process

53 81 153

II — Hermits & Canons ♦ The Regular Canons and Some Socio-Religious Aspects about the Year 1100 ♦ Hermits and Regular Canons in the Twelfth Century

169 181

I ll

— Power & Ideology

♦ Justus ut Palma. Symbolism as a Political and Ideological Weapon on the Seals of Thierry and Philip of Alsace, Counts of Flanders (1128-1191) ♦ Dispute and Settlement in Medieval Cenobitical Rules ♦ The Byzantine Cross of Eine with Edmond Voordeckers IV

249 271 291

— Language & Boundaries

♦ The French Low Countries: Cradle of Dutch culture? ♦ The Linguistic Boundary in the County of Guines : A Problem of History and Methodology ♦ State Boundaries and Ethnic Alienation : Perspectives on Research into the Alienation Processes of French Flemings

369

♦ Tabula Gratulatoria

385

8

327 353

CO NTENTS

Ludo Milis. An Appreciation

n 28 March 2005, Ludo Milis celebrated his sixty-fifth birthday. At this age professors at Belgian universities are required to retire. Whereas reaching emeritus status may be a difficult or at least an emo­ tional moment for many academics, Ludo Milis rounded that cape with the greatest of ease. Two years earlier, in 2003, he surprised many a friend or foe by choosing early retirement from his alma mater, Ghent Univer­ sity. In view of the profound reforms in European higher education her­ alded by the so-called Bologna Declaration of 1999, he preferred to make room for younger academics. In his opinion, it could not be he — who would never experience the final implementation of these reforms anyway — but rather his younger colleagues who should be called to help shape the academic future. Ludo Milis could look back upon a very successful and varied career. The sometimes confusing mix of intellectual boldness and social restraint, of honesty and irony, of kindness and subde provoca­ tion, of critical rigor and aversion to intellectual snobbery, which so thor­ oughly marks his personality and his work, has left none of his students and colleagues untouched. Ludovicus J. R. Milis was born in Antwerp on 28 March 1940, shordy before the outbreak of the Second World War in Western Europe. Al­ though as a small child he did not consciously experience this dark page in history, the lethal bombings of Antwerp by German V-l and V-2 rock­ ets at the end of 1944 and the beginning of 1945 are part of his earliest memories. Ludo grew up as the youngest of two children in a family of modest means. His father was an employee in a cannery, his mother a

housewife. It was she who aroused his curiosity in history and the world of culture, as well as an awareness of social change in post-War Europe. Setting a pattern for the rest of his life, Ludo started his secondary education a year early, at the age of eleven. He enrolled in the Latin and Greek programme of the Royal Athenaeum of Hoboken, where the foun­ dations of some of his future interests were laid. His Dutch teacher there was Paul Lebeau (1908-1982), a committed Flemish militant and then a famous writer of novels and essays. Ludo also struck up lasting friend­ ships, for example with the future sociologist Cornelis (Kees) Kruithof. Upon finishing his secondary education in 1957, he was unsure which direction his further studies would take; he was fascinated by mathemat­ ics, but in the end history won out. His interests in mathematics, however, may explain why, in his historical research and in guiding students, he always placed much emphasis on precise terminology, clearly explained methodology, and the value of quantification; he was also one of the first medievalists to fully embrace computer technology to enrich historical research. The years of Ludo Milis’s academic formation at the so-called His­ torical School of Ghent University witnessed the gradual substitution of the ‘old masters’ by a new generation of medievalists. The former, bom at the end of the nineteenth century, had been trained in medieval history by Henri Pirenne (1862-1935), the ‘godfather’ of the Ghent medieval school1. During his ‘candidate’ and ‘licence’ studies (1957-1961), Ludo Milis worked closely with François-Louis Ganshof (1895-1980), Egied Strubbe (1897-1970), and Hans Van Werveke (1898-1974). Ganshof and Strubbe, both scholars of history as well as law, exerted perhaps the most influence on Milis’s early research. Ganshof was primarily a specialist of institu­ tional history — he gained international renown with his monograph Qu’est-ce que la féodalité?(1941) — and of land exploitation in the Early Middle Ages. Strubbe, an expert in the history of law, was best known for his many editions of primary sources in legal history and his concomitant work in palaeography, diplomatics and other auxiliary disciplines. 1

On Pirenne’s role as the founder of the ‘École de Gand’ see the Liminaire in F. L. Ganshof, E. Sabbe, and F. Vercauteren (eds.), Études d ’histoire dédiées à la mémoire de H enriPirenneparses anciens élèves (Brussels, 1937), p. v. See also R. C. Van Caenegem, ‘Reflecties bij “Een eeuw Gentse Historische School”’, in Een eeuw Gentse Historische School 1891-1992, ed. by L. François (Ghent, 1993), pp. 7-15.

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Like his future colleagues at Ghent, Raoul C. Van Cáenegem and Adriaan Verhulst (1929-2002), Ludo Milis wrote his ‘licence’ thesis under the direction of François-Louis Ganshof. The thesis, completed in 1961, was a solid, traditional study of the demesne of St Salvator’s abbey at Ename during the High Middle Ages2. Ludo was Ganshof’s last thesis student. The work he did with this giant figure of the Ghent school’s sec­ ond generation was also virtually his last to follow closely in the positivist tradition that dominated historical research at Ghent University between Henri Pirenne’s retirement in 1930 and the early 1960s. But even though in his further career he rarely returned to this kind of research, the his­ tory of Ename continued to hold a special place in his work. As a student, Ludo Milis not only impressed his professors and fel­ low students as a promising historian but also threw himself fully into the extracurricular aspects of university life. In 1959-1960, he became the dynamic president of the Vlaamse Geschiedkundige Kring, the organiza­ tion of history students at Ghent founded in 1931 by the future Antwerp city archivist Frans Blockmans. Ludo was also an active member of the regional club Antwerpen Boven, led in the years 1960-1961 by the future journalist and Antwerp alderman Tuur Van Wallendael. Several lifelong friendships were bom at this time, for example with the future Byzantinist Edmond (Mon) Voordeckers, co-author of one of the essays included in this volume3. The most important new development in his life was un­ questionably his love for Greta Proost, a spirited history student two years ahead of him in the history programme; as his wife she would form the cornerstone of his existence until today. One year after his graduation, Ludo Milis became the assistant of Egied Strubbe, who had directed Greta Proost’s ‘licence’ thesis and remained close to her. As Strubbe’s assistant, Milis began his doctoral dissertation on the history of the regular canons of Arrouaise, a religious order formed during the Gregorian reform of the late eleventh century. Until then, re­

2 3

L. Milis, Het domein der Sint-Salvatorabdij te Ename gedurende de Middeleeuwen. 1063-1250 (Unpublished ‘licence’ thesis, Ghent University, 1961). See e.g. : L. Milis, ‘Testimonium amicitiae’, in La spiritualité de l’univers byzantin dans le verbe et dans l’image. Hommages offerts à Edmond Voordeckers à l’occasion de son éméritat, ed. by K. Demoen and J. Vereecken (Turnhout, 1997), pp. 21-26.

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11

ligious history tended to fall outside the purview of the Ghent historical school. Perhaps for that reason Milis often ventured abroad for research and additional course work. As early as 1961, in the first months after his graduation, he took part in the summer programme of the Centre d’études supérieures de civilisation médiévale of the University of Poitiers. There, he met two famous medievalists who played stimulating roles in his later research: the late Dorn Jean Becquet (1917-2003), monk of the nearby abbey of Ligugé and a respected specialist of the history of medieval mo­ nastic and canonical orders (nine years later, Milis and Dom Bequet co­ edited the Constitutiones of the order of Arrouaise for the Corpus Christianorum4); and the British medievalist Giles Constable, the expert of monastic history in the High Middle Ages, with whom he remained in touch for the rest of his career. In 1962, Milis studied at the University of Cambridge with Christopher Cheney and David Knowles, then among the leading scholars of medieval Church history. Ludo Milis did not finish his dissertation under the auspices of Egied Strubbe. In a new generational shift at Ghent University, Raoul Van Caenegem became a full professor in 1964, and Milis joined him as his assistant. Like Ganshof and to a great extent also Strubbe, Van Caenegem was trained in both history and law; his main interests were institutional and legal history. In the course of his assistantship with Van Caenegem, Milis gained expertise in this area of research and in the editorial scholar­ ship it required. With Van Caenegem, he later edited and commented upon a number of famous Flemish city charters as the output of research seminars conducted with upper level students5. In the mean time, he was able to continue his own doctoral research. On 10 May 1967, he received his PhD as the first of Van Caenegem’s doctoral students. The dissertation was a far more innovative work of church history than its title — The Order of Regular Canons of Arrouaise: History, Institu­ tions and Constitutions from the Foundation of the Mother House (ca. 1090)

4

5

Constitutiones canonicorum regularium Ordinis Arroasiensis, ed. by L. Milis and J. Bec­ quet, Corpus christianorum. Continuatio mediaevalis, 20 (Turnhout, 1970). See below, Bibliography, Articles and Book Chapters, for the years 1977, 1979, and 1981. Two of the authors of this Appreciation remember those seminars with great awe — they inspired more than the occasional nightmare.

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until the End of the Annual Chapters (1471) — suggests6. It did not quite fit into the traditions of the Ghent school up to the 1960s, but soon re­ ceived international recognition. The book was not only concerned with narrating the history of Arrouaise in the Middle Ages: rather it subjected that history to comparative analysis within a larger framework, that of the Gregorian reform and the new monastic trends of the late eleventh and twelfth centuries. It also implicidy applied Max W eber’s sociological ob­ servations on the transition, in new religious movements, from charis­ matic origins to institutionalized observance by later followers through the elaboration of all kinds of legal instruments. In subsequent years, and even up to very recendy, Milis returned to different aspects of his disserta­ tion research for several publications, erudite source editions as well as synthetic essays characterized by a wealth of ideas and methodological rigour. These essays caught the attention of his old friend Cornelis Kruithof, who made them the subject of an inspiring sociological analy­ sis7. Thus Ludo Milis had started his university studies guided by the ‘old masters’ at Ghent but finished his dissertation as a new cohort of historians took over, all born around 1930. Soon after Van Caenegem, Adriaan Verhulst and Walter Prevenier also received appointments as full professors. As had been the case with the former generation, the new group of Ghent medievalists presented the Ghent school of medieval his­ tory with a seemingly homogenous and immediately recognizable face to the outside world, while internally working rather independently from each other. The traditional emphasis on the concept of a ‘Ghent School’ tends to obscure the many innovations it generated and the many different ways in which it evolved after Pirenne. Unlike today, when all medieval historians at Ghent are members of the same department, these medieval -

6

7

L. Milis, De orde der reguliere kanunniken van Arrouaise. Geschiedenis, instellingen en constituties vanaf de stichting der moederabdij (ca. 1090) tot het einde der jaarlijkse kapittels (1471) (Unpublished dissertation, Ghent University, 1967). The dissertation was published in French as L'ordre des chanoines réguliers d’Arrouaise, son histoire et son organisation, de la fondation de l’abbaye-mère (vers 1090) à la fin des chapitres annuels {1471), 2 vols, Rijksuniversiteit Gent. Werken uitgegeven door de Faculteit van de letteren en wijsbegeerte, 147-48 (Bruges, 1969). C. L. Kruithof, ‘De institutionalisering van de sdite. Een aantekening over heremidsme en cénobitisme’, Tijdschrift voor sociale wetenschappen, 28 (1983), pp. 214-18.

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ists were chairs of different and sometimes competing ‘seminars’ that gradually carved out their own paths. They became the breeding ground for the exploration of new historical fields. Immediately after the Second World War, the medievalists Charles Verlinden (1907-1996) and Jan Dhondt (1915-1972) were the founding fathers of the seminars of, respec­ tively, Early M odern and M odern History, with their very own distin­ guished futures; in the 1970s, Adriaan Verhulst laid the basis for a thriving school of agrarian history that was quite different from Ganshof’s institu­ tional approach, while Raoul Van Caenegem became a leading scholar of English legal history and Walter Prevenier generated new approaches to both the auxiliary sciences and the social history of the Late Middle Ages8. Milis thus was trained in an ambiance that paid tribute to long-standing tradition but showed all signs of exploration of the new. While Ludo Milis remained a member of the ‘Seminar of General and Institutional History of the Middle Ages’ directed by Raoul Van Caenegem until its dissolution into the larger department of Medieval History in 1992, he — like his colleagues Hilde De Ridder-Symoens and Monique Vleeschouwers-Van Melkebeek — enjoyed considerable free­ dom to pursue his own research interests. Influenced by historians of the third generation of the French Annales such as Jacques Le Goff or Georges Duby (1919-1996), though always with distinctively personal in­ sight, Ludo Milis became more and more interested in the history of ‘mentalities’. In doing so, he was following in the footsteps of Jan Dhondt, who had pioneered the field in several important publications of the 1950s9,

8

9

See: R. Van Eenoo, ‘Van Seminarie voor Hedendaagse Geschiedenis naar Vakgroep Nieuwste Geschiedenis. Herinneringen’, in Geschiedenis maken. Liber amicorum Her­ man Balthazar, ed. by G. Deneckere and B. De Wever (Ghent, 2003), pp. 49-57 (espe­ cially pp. 49-53); C. Verlinden, ‘Biografie Charles Verlinden’, Bulletin van het Belgisch Historisch lnstituut te Rome, 67 (1997), pp. 7-31 (especially 11-16);W. Prevenier and E. Thoen, ‘The Scholarly Career of Professor Adriaan Verhulst’, in Peasants & Towns­ men in Medieval Europe. Studia in honorem Adriaan Verhulst, ed. by J.-M. Duvosquel and E. Thoen (Ghent, 1995), pp. 15-30; L. Milis, et. a l, ‘Preface’, in R. C. Van Caenegem, Law, History, the Low Countries and Europe, ed. by L. Milis et. al. (London and Rio Grande, 1994), pp. ix-xn; W. Blockmans, M. Boone, and T. de Hemptinne, ‘Walter Prevenier. Un portrait intellectuel’, in: Secretum secretorum. Liber alumnorum Walter Prevenier (Louvain and Apeldoorn, 1999), pp. 9-17. See J. Dhondt, ‘Les ‘solidarités’ médiévales. Une société en transition: la Flandre en 1121-112$, Annales ESC 12 (1957) pp. 529-60 and Idem, ‘Une mentalité du douzième siècle. Galbert de Bruges’, Revue du Nord 39 (1957) pp. 101-09.

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but the two had relatively little personal contact, nor did Milis ever har­ bour the ambition to emulate Dhondt. W hat he and Dhondt held in com­ mon, however, was not only an interest in mental attitudes as an important part of human agency in history, but also the conviction that innovative research had to prickle, even to provoke, in order to be successful, and that erudition for erudition’s sake did not deserve much admiration10. Shortly after receiving his doctoral degree, Ludo Milis was made ‘eerstaanwezend assistent’ at Ghent University. After the sudden death of Jan Dhondt in 1972, he was put in charge of a regular course ‘The His­ tory of the Romance-Language W orld’. Two years later, he became an associate ‘docent’, teaching courses on the ecclesiastical, cultural and reli­ gious history of the Middle Ages as well as the heuristics of research in medieval history and the methodology of cultural history. H e was made an associate professor of history in 1980 and a full professor in 1991. Fol­ lowing Van Caenegem’s retirement in 1992, Milis took charge of the ‘big course’, the ‘Introduction to Medieval History’, required for all beginning students of history. H e became ‘gewoon hoogleraar in 1996. Ludo Milis’s early academic career was closely connected to the protest movement of the late 1960s and the academic reforms of these years. Stu­ dents who took his classes at that time immediately thought of him as the ‘other’, more ‘progressive’ professor, mainly because of his innovative choice of research subjects, but perhaps — students being what they are — also because of his rather revolutionary dress code: tie and suit were replaced by brown corduroy trousers and a turtleneck sweater that has now achieved legendary status among alumni. He was also an innovator in the use of computer-assisted research11. In the late 1970s, Milis started to guide students (and colleagues!) into the personal computer era, firstly with a primitive Commodore 64 machine that all of his thesis students came to know well. Sometimes these classes had little to do with medieval

10 See also W. Simons, ‘The Annales and Medieval Studies in the Low Countries’, in The Work o f Jacques Le G o ff and the Challenges o f Medieval History, ed. by M. Rubin (Woodbridge-Rochester, 1997), pp. 99-117 (especially pp. 113-14,119). 11 For an early example, see L. Milis, ‘History and the Computer’, in Guide to the Sources o f Medieval History, ed. by R. C. Van Caenegem and F. L. Ganshof (Amsterdam, New York, and Oxford, 1977), pp. 381-87.

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history, but that was never an objection: Milis was convinced that comput­ ers held enormous promises for historians, and he was of course right. In the course of his academic career at Ghent University, Ludo Milis directed fifty-nine ‘licence’ theses and seven doctoral dissertations: his first ‘licence’ student graduated in 1976, and in 1985 his first PhD student completed his dissertation. Most of his students pursued research in the religious history of the Southern Low Countries, in the history of mentalities and daily life in medieval Europe, and in medieval historiog­ raphy12. As a thesis adviser, Milis was not interested in gaining large num­ bers of students. H e liked to stimulate his students by provocation, which charmed some (including the editors of this volume) but disturbed others, not because the latter were more conservative, but rather because, once established truth was demolished, they often found themselves at sea and alone: he was notorious for giving his students a great deal of freedom, starting with the choice of their thesis topic. Ludo Milis always wanted his students to think and to work inde­ pendently from the very beginning, and to come to terms with the fact that scholarship may be a profoundly unsettling enterprise, demanding independence of judgment based on methodologically sound research. But those who worked with him found their initial apprehension gradu­ ally replaced by pride and possibly elation at the discovery that they were scholars in their own right. They knew that in Ludo they could count on an ever accessible and generous sounding board for their questions. Above all, Milis wanted to make sure talented young researchers were not held back in their natural growth as scholars because of too narrow a subject matter or too rigid his guidance. H e may now find satisfaction in observ­ ing how many of his former students successfully found their way into teaching and research positions not only at Ghent University but also at other colleges and universities, even abroad; as curators of manuscripts and archives; as leaders in the booming sector of cultural heritage manage­ ment; or as editors of specialized publishing houses. And he may be even

12 They are catalogued in L. François and G.Leloup, Te paard op àrie eeuwen. Bibliografie van de licentiaats- en doctoraatsverhandelingen aan de Vakgroepen Geschiedenis van de Universiteit Gent (Ghent 2004). The list should be completed by the doctoral disserta­ tion of Laura Galoppini, Mercanti toscani e Bruges nel tardo medioevo, defended in

2003.

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more pleased by the fact that their achievements were made without any lobbying effort on his part, an activity which he always loathed and for which, as a man of principle, he lacked all inclination. O n the political and ideological issues that divided Belgium after the Second World War, Ludo Milis took an early stand in favour of Flem­ ish emancipation, without espousing a narrowly separatist vision. His pro­ foundly democratic convictions put him at odds both with the Belgian monarchy — a medieval anomaly in the modern world — and with certain fascist trends in the Flemish movement. In addition to his interest in reli­ gious and cultural history, he became intrigued by the history of French Flanders and the historical shifts in the boundaries between French and Dutch (Flemish) languages in the region. His first publications on this topic date as far as 1969. In several of these essays, he examined why Ro­ mance (French) languages displaced Germanic languages (Dutch in Northern France and German in Alsace). Taking into account this his­ torical phenomenon, he supported the legal establishment of a linguistic boundary in Belgium from 1963 onwards. Meanwhile, Milis also had the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with Dutch students at the Nutsacademie voorpedagogische en maatschappelijke vorming of Rotterdam, where from 1971 until 1983 he taught several courses in medieval history. The experience may have increased his interest in the old ideal of a culturally united Low Countries, of the old Grootnederlands-perspective, within a newly emerging European con­ text. These ideas never led to a firm political commitment. Milis was (and is) too much of an individualist to move to the frontlines of social debate, let alone to fight on the barricades for a cause. Moreover, his convictions were too strong and too much guided by principle for him to join any political movement, which sooner or later might imply making pragmatic choices. Nevertheless, he actively promoted Dutch-language culture as a member of the Orde van den Prince, a pluralistic society aimed at the pro­ motion of the Dutch language and culture; and as a regular contributor to both Ons Erfdeel, the journal of Dutch culture founded by Jozef Deleu, and its off-shoot, De Pranse Nederlanden—Les Pays-Bas Français, a journal focused on French Flanders. H e also serves on the board of several his­ torical or academic organizations in Northern France, some of which are especially concerned with the study and support of Dutch-language cul­ ture in the region. The growth of the European Union, within which he

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prefers to see the cultural emancipation of Dutch and Flemish culture, also affected his academic activities. H e firmly supported the mobility of students within Europe as promoted by Erasmus programmes and edited a textbook on Europe’s medieval religious history, published as one of the first results of the international project Manuels universitaires sur l’histoire de l’Europe13. As a historian, Ludo Milis continued to direct his attention to medieval monks, canons, and hermits. But as indicated above, his interests from about 1980 onward shifted towards religious ‘mentalities’ and to the rela­ tion between powerful religious elites and ordinary people during the Middle Ages. In this new direction, he was drawn into closer contact with several foreign colleagues: Frederik (Frits) W. N. Hugenholtz (1922-1999), Rudi Künzel and Hendrik Teunis, of the Netherlands; Miri Rubin in the U.K.; and, as we will see, several French historians. At Ghent, his new orientation toward the history of mental attitudes and his qualified criti­ cism of the positivist tradition caused clashes with a few colleagues, al­ though they never became disruptive and relations with even the most ‘positivist’ colleagues, such as Adriaan Verhulst (whom Milis always great­ ly respected), remained cordial. It should indeed be noted that despite all of his innovative drive, Milis never renounced his Ghent roots in the sense that he continued to privilege the thorough study of primary sources as the basis of research. In his approach of the primary sources, Ludo Milis always started from two principles: first, the sources used should be ‘representative’; second, they should be studied preferably to answer questions unrelated to the original intentions of their authors (since these naturally determined the explicit content). In his publications, Milis allotted relatively little space to debate with other scholars in medieval studies. That made his approach rather different from that of cultural historians working in the Annales tradition, or from most historians of medieval culture and religion in the English-speaking world. Until today, Milis likes to declare with pride: “I don’t read secondary sources because I can think for myself”,

13 L. Milis (ed.), La chrétienté des origines à la fin du Moyen Âge, Série Europe et histoire (Paris and Brussels, 1998).

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a provocative motto with which he was and still is able to needle many colleagues. At the same time, however, he displayed a remarkable ability to write historical syntheses that asked probing questions for specialists but were also accessible to a wider audience, such as in his contributions to the Algemene Geschiedenis der Nederlanden, translated in this volume. Although he supposedly (this was of course not really true) did not read the works of others, he did intend to be read. An important turning point occurred in 1989, when Ludo Milis was a member of the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Ad­ vanced Study in Princeton, where Giles Constable was a resident profes­ sor. After many years of gruelling pressure as a teacher, Milis converted for the occasion into the role of a true hermit — one of his favourite re­ search subjects — in a splendid isolation that lasted a good three months. As many reliable but somewhat mystified witnesses report, his social con­ tacts and daily comfort were reduced to the absolute minimum in order to write his most successful and most controversial monograph, Angelic Monks and Earthly Men (1992). This book brought to a close but also questioned years of research and writing on monastic and canonical life. Analysing with Ockhamian rigour the relationship between medieval monasticism and the world outside the monastic enclosure, the book at first met with confused reactions from historians and other critics, who did not always understand the author’s intentions: to define the core values of medieval monastic life and to clearly outline their implications for the society in which monasticism ‘flourished’ but from which, by definition, it must withdraw. Few historians of the Middle Ages before him had re­ flected on the conflict so brilliantly and honestly, as many readers across the globe soon understood: the book was translated into Dutch, Japanese, Italian, and Polish. The following years were among the most prolific in Ludo Milis’s career. In addition to his Angelic Monks, he also edited in 1991 the suc­ cessful De heidense Middeleeuwen (The Pagan Middle Ages). This collec­ tion of essays by form er students and others (with an im portant contribution by himself), completed a series of questions Milis started to ask in the 1980s in his ‘La conversion en profondeur, un processus sans fin’, translated in this volume. The Pagan Middle Ages convincingly coun­ tered the nineteenth-century ideal of the ‘Christian Middle Ages’ and argued for the essential syncretism of medieval religious culture in which,

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despite centuries of Christian evangelization, pagan and Christian ele­ ments were often seamlessly combined. This highly productive period in Milis’s career intensified his international contacts. In 1992, he was a Vis­ iting Fellow at Clare Hall College in Cambridge. Five years later, JeanLoup Lemaitre invited him to the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris for a series of lectures that resulted in a thoroughly revised French version of his Angelic Monks — a version that received much scholarly attention and that became the occasion for a radio broadcast in September 2002, in which Milis was joined by Jacques Le Goff and Michel Parisse in a fascinating discussion of his book14. In the mean time, in 1994, he had published De indiscrete charme van ]an Schuermans, pastoor van Ename (1645-1655) [The Indiscrete Charm of Jan Schuermans, Curate o f Ename, 1645-1655], arguably the book that best illustrates his lifelong interest in the history of mentalities. De indiscrete charme carefully reconstructs, analyses and interprets the true story of a village priest who impregnated a young woman at the time of the Treaty of Münster (1648), as well as the act’s consequences. The book was of course not devoted to the Middle Ages as they are tradition­ ally defined, but for Milis, medieval history did not end in the late fifteenth century. He shared with a few historians of the Annales school a belief in a ‘Long Middle Ages’, lasting until the late eighteenth century15. It was no accident that Schuermans’ story brought Milis back to Ename, the subject of his ‘licence’ thesis. Throughout his career he remained interested in the village with its rich medieval history; he enthusiastically supported the archaeological excavations at the site of St Salvator’s abbey. About Ludo Milis’s newest book, we are still more or less in the dark. During his final year as a professor at Ghent University, he took a sabbatical leave to write a monograph synthesizing several lines of enquiry that had remained un­ published. The editors of the present volume have gathered that the man­ uscript nears completion, but note that they do not know its true subject.

14 ‘Les moines et le peuple’, broadcasted on ‘France Culture’ (Les lundis de l'histoire) on 9 September 2002. 15 The last article in the present volume — ‘State Boundaries and Ethnie Alienation: Perspectives on Research into the Alienation Processes of French Flemings’ — testifies again to his interests in the early seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

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In the 1990s, Ludo Milis left an important legacy with the Internet database Narrative Sources16. This annually updated online catalogue of all narrative sources from the medieval Southern Low Countries was the main result of different joint projects directed since 1987 by Milis and his colleagues Jean (Jan) Goossens and W erner Verbeke of the Catholic University of Leuven. While the catalogue was largely based on prepara­ tory research by Werner Verbeke and the work of several collaborators, Narrative Sources undeniably bears the stamp of Milis’s inspiring guidance. Firmly centred on the study of primary sources, more specifically on nar­ rative texts (which are so crucial for the study of medieval culture and mentalities), the online catalogue was upon its release in 1996 one of the first of its kind worldwide. Since the catalogue was funded by governmen­ tal grants, Milis insisted that it should be freely accessible — in contrast to many other historical databases. Its technical realization owed much to the collaboration with the Ghent University Library and its pioneering experience in computerized cataloguing techniques developed in the 1990s, under the direction of H erbert Van de Sompel. Narrative Sources proved to be a success: not only is it still consulted daily by dozens of re­ searchers from all over the world, it also inspired a whole range of new doctoral dissertations until today. In 2002, the scope of the database was even enlarged to the Low Countries as a whole, through a Dutch research project coordinated by Renée Nip at the University of Groningen. For many years, Ludo Milis preferred to concentrate his energies on teach­ ing and research; he had initially little interest in serving on the many in­ fluential and prestigious boards that control public grants for research in Belgium. This attitude changed in the mid-1980s. The first important func­ tion he assumed was that of the presidency of the Belgian Historical In­ stitute in Rome, which he held from 1986 until 2001. The position fitted him well: his great love of Italy, its history and culture, its people and lan­ guage, its cuisine and wines, made him take up the task with great enthu­ siasm as well as empathy for the country that hosted Belgian scholars in

16 The Narrative Sources from the Medieval Low Countries— De verhalende hronnen uit de middeleeuwse Nederlanden— Les sources narratives des Pays-Bas médiévaux (Ghent, Louvain, and Groningen: Ovid-database, 1996-2005,10 editions), http://www.narrative-sources.be.

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Rome; he worked also very hard to improve the quality and distribution of the Institute’s publications. In 1991, he became a member of the Belgian Royal Commission for History, surely the most important of all historical societies in the country but in the 1970s and 1980s sometimes perceived as rather antiquated. Milis had criticized this venerable’ institution in his younger days; as happens so often with former rebels, in 2005 he became the Commission’s President. From 1995 until 2003 he also served on var­ ious committees of the Fund for Scientific Research - Flanders, where he gained a reputation for his discretion, his thorough knowledge of the is­ sues, and his aversion to all lobbying by outsiders. Even before Ludo Milis left academic life, he often indicated to his col­ laborators that he did not want to be honoured with a Liber Amicorum. Although his wish certainly grew from his natural reserve, his experience serving on committees of the Fund for Scientific Research helps to explain his reticence; all too often he noted that contributions to this kind of Fest­ schriften — though very common in the arts and humanities — barely had any scientific impact in most other disciplines. And he also recalled that Henri Pirenne’s Liber Amicorum, published shortly after Pirenne’s death in 1935, caused some tension17. However, he happily welcomed the idea of collecting some of his essays in an English translation that would make available to a larger audience part of his most important work. This volume contains eleven essays published between 1969 and 1990, offering insight in Ludo Milis’s varied research interests. A close examination of his bibliography will reveal that in the period before his Angelic Monks, Milis only rarely published in English. Nine essays in­ cluded here appeared in Dutch or French and have now been translated into English; two essays previously published in English but not widely distributed are also included and newly edited. The first part of this col­ lection is devoted to the religious history of the Low Countries during the Early and High Middle Ages, and to issues of religious conversion and persuasion. These essays, which may serve as the historical framework for many others in the volume, demonstrate Milis’s unusual talent for his-

17 Seenöte 1.

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torical synthesis. The second part contains two fundamental contribu­ tions, inspired by his 1967 dissertation, to the history of the twelfth-century regular canons and their eremitical origins. We next in­ clude three very different case studies in which Milis examines the ways in which ideology and power shape society and its cultural expressions. The volume concludes with a few lesser known, but highly original essays on the social and cultural history of French Flanders, a theme dear to Milis’s heart. Bibliographical references in this volume have been harmonized and in a few cases corrected, but no attempt was made to update them. His emeritus status allows Ludo Milis to choose now more freely among his commitments and activities — scholarly, social, and cultural — and to devote more time to his biggest passion, his family. His famiglia, in its Ital­ ian sense, always played a very important role in his life. His wife Greta, famous for her congeniality and her talents as a hostess, was, and still is, his main pillar of strength and his greatest supporter. Their three children, Huib, Geertje, and Daan left the parental home at Sint-Martens-Latem quite a while ago now, but their visits are naturally always cherished, es­ pecially when they bring along the grandchildren Timo, Illy, and Cosmo. Ludo and Greta continue to visit their Tuscan pied-a-terre in Guardistallo and to travel widely; most recently to Thailand, the ‘motherland’ of their youngest grandson. It is our most profound wish that Ludo and Greta will continue their new path in life in the happiest of circumstanc­ es and for a very long time. Jeroen D e p l o ig e , Martine D e R e u , and Walter S im ons

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Bibliography of Ludo Milis

Books 1965 De onuitgegeven oorkonden van de Sint-Salvatorsabdij te Ename voor 1200,

Koninklijke Academie van België. Koninklijke Commissie voor Geschiedenis. Verzameling van onuitgegeven Belgische kronieken en van onuitgegeven documenten betreffende de geschiedenis van België. Publicades in 4°, 61 (Brussels: Paleis der Academiën, 1965). 1969 L’ordre des chanoines réguliers d’Arrouaise, son histoire et son organisation, de la fondation de l’abbaye-mère (vers 1090) à la fin des chapitres annuels (1471), 2 vols, Rijksuniversiteit Gent. Werken uitgegeven door de Faculteit van de

letteren en wijsbegeerte, 147—48 (Bruges : De Tempel, 1969). 1970 (with J. Becquet), Constitutiones canonicorum regularium Ordinis Arroasiensis, Corpus Christianorum. Continuatio mediaevalis, 20 (Tumhout : Brepols, 1970). 1979 Inleiding tot de geschiedenis van het kloosterwezen in de Niederlanden. A. Orden ontstaan in de Middeleeuwen, II. 1. d. Orde van Arrouaise, Archief- en biblio-

theekwezen in België, extranummer 22 (Brussels : Archief- en bibliotheekwezen in België, 1979). 1983 H et middeleeuwse kloosterwezen in de Nederlanden (Ghent: Rijksuniversiteit

Gent. Wetenschappelijke Nascholing, 1983). PJjkdom en armoede van cultuurcontact. De taalgrens als resultante (Antwerp : De

Orde van den Prince, 1983). 1984 (with L. Jocqué), lib e r Ordinis Sancti Victoris Parisiensis, Corpus Christianorum. Continuatio mediaevalis, 61 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1984). 1988 (with J. Desmulliez), Histoire des provinces françaises du Nord, 1. De la Préhistoire à l’an mil, ed. by A. Lottin (Dunkirk: Westhoek-Éd., 1988). (withD. Callebaut et al.), Ename, Oudenaarde, Mullem : Archeologisch-historische route, Archaeologicum Belgii speculum, 16 (Brussels: Nationale dienst voor opgravingen, 1988). 1991 (as editor) De heidense Middeleeuwen, Belgisch Historisch Instituut te Rome. Bibliotheek, 32 (Brussel: Belgisch Historisch Instituut te Rome, 1991 ; Tumhout: Brepols, 19922). English translation : The Pagan Middle Ages (Woodbridge : Boydell Press, 1998). Japanese translation : Ikyouteki Chusei (Tokio : Shinhyoron, 2002).

1992 Angelic Monks and Earthly Men : Monasticism and its Meaning to Medieval Soci­ ety (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1992,19992). Dutch translation : Hemelse monniken, aardse mensen. H et monnikenideaal en újn hetekenis voor de middeleeuwse samenleving (Baam and Antwerp : Ambo and Hadewijch, 1995, Houtekiet, 19982) ; edition on tape (Brussels : Vlaamse Blindenbibliotheek, 1998) ; edition in braille (Brussels : Vlaamse Blindenbibliotheek, 1998, September-November 2001).

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Polish translation : Anielscy mnisi i ziemscy ludzie. Monastycyzm ijego znaczenie w spoleczeñstwiesredniowiecznym (Krakow: Znak, 1996). Italian translation : M onad Angeli e Uomini. Il ruolo del monacheSimo nella soáetà medievale (Genova: ECIG, 1997). Japanese translation: Tenshinoyona Shudoshitachi (Tokio: Shinhyoron, 2001, 20032).

1994 (with M. De Reu et al.), De heidense Middeleeuwen (Ghent: Rijksuniversiteit Gent. Wetenschappelijke Nascholing, 1994). De indiscrete charme van ]an Schuermans, pastoor van Ename (1645-1655) (Ant­ werp and Baarn, Hadewijch and Ambo, 1994). (as editor with D. Lambrecht, H. De Ridder-Symoens, and M. VleeschouwersVan Melkebeek) R. C. Van Caenegem, Law, History, the Low Countries and Europe (London and Rio Grande: The Hambledon Press, 1994). 1996 (as editor with V. Lambert and A. Kelders), Verhalende hronnen : Repertoriëring, editie en commerdalisering (Ghent: Studia Historica Gandensia, 1996). (as scientific director with W. Verbeke et al), The Narrative Sources from the Medieval Low Countries — De verhalende hronnen uit de middeleeuwse Nederlanden — Les sources narratives des Pays-Bas médiévaux, computerized by J. Deploige and H. Van de Sompel (Ghent, Louvain, and Groningen : Ovid-database, 1996-2005, 10 editions), http ://www.narrative-sources.be. Previously published in print as : De verhalende hronnen uit de Zuidelijke Neder­ landen, 600-1500 — The Narrative Sources from the Southern Low Countries, 600-1500. Preprint 1, 12 vols (Ghent and Louvain: Vakgroep Middeleeuwse Geschiedenis Universiteit Gent and Instituut voor Middeleeuwse Studies Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 1995).

1998 (as editor) La chrétienté des origines à la fin du Moyen Age, Série Europe et his­ toire (Paris and Brussels : Belin and De Boeck, 1998). 2000 (with B. M. Tock), Monumenta Arroasiensia, Corpus Christianorum. Continuatio mediaevalis, 175 (Turnhout : Brepols, 2000).

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2002

Les moines et le peuple dans l'Europe du Moyen Age (Paris : Belin, 2002). Italian translation : Monaci e popolo nell’Europa medievale (Turin : Einaudi, 2003 ; electronic edition in R eti medievali).

2003 Le charme indiscret de ]an Schuermans, curé flamand du dix-septième siècle (Ville-

neuve d’Ascq: Presses universitaires du Septentrion, 2003). 2005 (as editor with W. Verbeke and J. Goossens) Medieval Narrative Sources: A Gate­ way into the Medieval Mind, Mediaevalia Lovaniensia, 1/34 (Louvain: Leu­ ven University Press, 2005).

Articles and Book Chapters 1961 ‘De abdij van Ename in de Middeleeuwen. Haar bezittingen in de periode 1063— 1250’, Handelingen der Maatschappij voor Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde te Gent, 15 (1961), pp. 1-48. 1963 ‘Les seigneurs de Pamele-Audenarde. Vers une meilleure chronologie’, Cahiers de civilisation médiévale, 6 (1963), pp. 49-53. 1964 ‘De kloosterbibliotheek van Ename’, Handelingen van de geschied- en oudheidkundige kring van Oudenaarde, 13 (1964), pp. 97-107. 1965 ‘The Library and the Manuscripts of the Abbey of Arrouaise’, Scriptorium, 19 (1965), pp. 228-35.

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1966 (with E. I. Strubbe), ‘Abbaye de Spermalie à Slijpe, puis à Sijsele, ensuite à Bru­ ges’, in Monasticon Belge, lit. Province de Flandre Occidentale (Liège: Centre National de Recherches d’Histoire Religieuse, 1966), n, pp. 447-78. ‘Giselbrecht, abt van Ename, kroniekschrijver’, in Nationaal Biografisch Woordenhoek (Brussels: Paleis der Academiën, 1966), n, pp. 255-56. 1967 ‘De burchten aan de Vlaamse en Zeeuwse Kust en de term “burgus”’, Ons Erfdeel, 11/2 (1967), pp. 47-51. ‘Een onverwachte getuigenis over de invloed van Paul Fredericq’, Ons Erfdeel, 11/2 (1967), pp. 156-57. ‘xxvie Vlaams Filologencongres, Gent 29-31 maart 1967. Verslag Sectie Geschiedenis’, Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis, 80 (1967), pp. 358-59. ‘De orde der reguliere kanunniken van Arrouaise. Geschiedenis, instellingen en constituties vanaf de stichting der moederabdij (ca. 1090) tot het einde der jaarlijkse kapittels (1471)’, Bulletin van het OSGG. Oud-studenten in de geschiedenis van de Rijksuniversiteit te Gent, 18 (1967), pp. 45^48. 1968 ‘Verslag van de sectie geschiedenis’, in Handelingen van het x x v f Vlaams filo­ logencongres. Gent, 29-31 maart 1967 (Zellik: Secretariaat van de Vlaamse Filologencongressen, 1968), pp. 377—415. ‘Een reliekenroof uit de xnde eeuw’, Spiegel Historiad, 3 (1968), pp. 685-90. ‘De Premonstratenzer-wetgeving in de xnde eeuw. Een nieuwe getuige’, Analecta Praemonstratensia, 44 (1968), pp. 181-214; 45 (1969), pp. 5-23. ‘De voogdijregeling voor Ename van 1064 opnieuw onderzocht’, Handelingen van het Genootschap voor Geschiedenis “Société d’Émulation de Bruges", 105 (1968), pp. 122-59. 1969 (with E. Voordeckers), ‘La croix byzantine d’Eine’, Byzantion, 39 (1969), pp. 456-88. ‘De Vlaming door een Franse bril’, Ons Erfdeel, 12/3 (1969), pp. 176-77.

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‘Een onverwachte getuigenis over de invloed van Paul Fredericq, 2’, Ons Erfdeel, 12/3 (1969), p. 175. ‘Een oude taaltwist te Steenwerk’, Ons Erfdeel, 12/4 (1969), pp. 177-78. (with G. Milis-Proost), ‘Talenkennis te Duinkerke aan het einde van de 18' eeuw’, Ons Erfdeel, 12/4 (1969), pp. 80-85. ‘De Europese eenheid en eenheidsgedachte. Een historische schets’, De Vlaamse Gids, 53 (November 11,1969), pp. 43^18. ‘De taalgrens in Pas-de-Calais omstreeks 1800’, Ons Erfdeel, 13/1 (1969), pp. 169-70. ‘Flitsen uit Ename’s verleden’, in Tentoonstelling E m m e — zijn abdij— zijn kerk. 9-10-11 oogst 1969 (Audenarde: Stad Oudenaarde, 1969), pp. 4-5. ‘Verslag van de sectie Geschiedenis’, in Handelingen van het x x v if Vlaams filologencongres. Brussel, 8-10 aprii 1969 (Louvain: De Vlaamsche Philologencongressen, 1969), pp. 175-95 1970 ‘Een religieuze orde van eigen bodem: Arrouaise’, Wetenschappelijke tijdingen, 29 (1970), pp. 23-32. (with H. De Ridder-Symoens), Tongerlo en zijn Studenten op het keerpunt van de Middeleeuwen en de moderne tijden’, Ons geestelijk E rf 44 (1970), pp. 405-31 ; 45 (1971), pp. 290-332. 1971 ‘Het geestelijk klimaat rond 1100, kiembodem voor de reguliere kanunniken’, in Gedenkboek Orde van Prémontré 1121-1971 (Averbode: Altiora, 1971), pp. 13-23. (with G. Milis-Proost), ‘Libraries and Archives. 6. Belgium’, History, 56 (1971), pp. 231-34. (with E. Voordeckers), ‘Het reliekschrijn van het H. Kruis te Eine’, Handelingen van de geschied- en oudheidkundige kring van Oudenaarde, 17 (1971), pp. 69-89. ‘Les origines des abbayes de Slçza et du Piasek à Wroclaw’, Roczniki humanistyczne, 19 (1971), pp. 5-27.

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1972 ‘Le coutumier de Saint-Quentin de Beauvais’, Sacris erudiri, 21 (1972), pp. 43581. ‘Twee koningen en twee pausen. 3. Gregorius vn’, Spiegel Historiael, 7 (1972), pp. 358-63. La fin de l’abbaye dArrouaise et son historiographe Dom Gosse (Arras : Société Archéologique de Bapaume et sa région, 1972) [companion to the anastatic reprint of M Gosse, Histoire de l’ahhaye et de l’ancienne congrégation des chanoines réguliers d'Arrouaise, avec des notes critiques, historiques et diplo­ matiques (Lille: Danel, 1786; reprint Arras: SAPIA, 1972 )].

1973 (with R. Van Uytven), ‘De middeleeuwse samenleving. Het platteland’, in W ink­ ler Prins encyclopédie van Vlaanderen, ed. by R. F. Lissens et al. (Brussels : Elsevier-Sequoia, 1973), m, pp. 14-17. Reprint in Vlaanderens Roem, ed. by G. Peeters et al. (Brussels : Elsevier-Sequoia, 1975), pp. 119-22; Grote Winkler Prins: Compendia Viaanderen, ed. by G. Peeters et al. (Brussels: Elsevier-Sequoia, 1975), pp. 14-17.

‘Beeid en beeltenis van Thomas Becket’, Spiegel Historiael, 8 (1973), pp. 40413. ‘Was het graafschap Wijnen (Guines) in de Middeleeuwen een- of tweetalig?’, Mededelingen van de iverkgroep geschiedenis, Volkskunde, heemkunde van het Komitee voor Frans-Vlaanderen, 4 (1973), pp. 29—40.

1974 (with H. Thoen), ‘Het site Ten Duinen te Koksijde: Archeologisch, geologisch, historisch’, Handelingen der Maatschappij voor Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde te Gent, 28 (1974), pp. 11—45. ‘Adders in Italië ... een probleem?’, Hamster, 14/1 (1974), pp. 27-33. ‘Frans-Vlaanderen en de Gentse liberalen van “Het Volksbelang” in de late 19e eeuw. Drie bijdragen’, Handelingen der Maatschappij voor Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde te Gent, 28 (1974), pp. 115—40. ‘Ename duizend jaar ?’, in Uit het rijke verleden van E m m e 974-1974 (Audenarde : Sanderus, 1974), pp. 7-25. ‘The Regular Canons and Some Socio-Religious Aspects about the Year 1100’, in Études de civilisation médiévale (ix^-xif siècles). Mélanges offerts à Edmond-

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René Labande, Professeur à l’Université de Poitiers, Directeur du Centre d’Études supérieures de Civilisation médiévale à l’occasion de son départ à la retraite et du XXe anniversaire du Centre d’Études supérieures de Civilisation médiévale par ses amis, ses collègues, ses élèves (Poitiers : Centre d’Études

Supérieures de Civilisation médiévale, 1974), pp. 553-61. 1975 ‘Kerkelijke praktijk en cultuurregio’s’, SpiegelHistoriael, 10 (1975), pp. 606-13. ‘Taalkonflikt en taalgrens als onderwerp van historisch onderzoek’, Tijdschrift voor geschiedenis, 88 (1975), pp. 301-12.

‘Charisma en administratie. Peiling naar de levensvatbaarheid van nieuwe religieuze orden aan de hand van de oorkondenleer. Als voorbeeld : de regu­ liere kanunniken van Arrouaise, 1097-1147’, Archives et bibliothèques de Belgique — Archief- en bibliotheekwezen in België, 46 (1975), pp. 50-69 and 549-66. 1976 ‘Une trouvaille inattendue : Le cartulaire D d’Arrouaise’, Mémoires de la Commis­ sion départementale d’histoire et d’archéologie du Pas-de-Calais, 10 (1976), pp. 21-28.

1977 (with R. C. Van Caenegem), ‘Kritische uitgave van de “Grote Keure” van Filips van de Elzas, graaf van Vlaanderen, voor Gent en Brugge (1165-1177)’, Bul­ letin de la Commission Royale d’Histoire — Handelingen van de Koninklijke Commissie voor Geschiedenis, 143 (1977), pp. 207-57. ‘Abbaye de Saint-Sauveur à Eename’, in Monasticon Belge, va. Province de Flandre Orientale, (Liège: Centre National de Recherches d’Histoire Reli­ gieuse, 1977), n, pp. 11-52. ‘Monastère de Moorsel’, in Monasticon Belge, vil. Province de Flandre Orientale (Liège: Centre National de Recherches d’Histoire Religieuse, 1977), n, pp. 195-98. ‘Frans-Vlaanderen in de belangstelling van de negentiende-eeuwse Vlaamse intellektuelen’, De Franse Nederlanden — Les Pays Bas Français, (1977), pp. 175-93.

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‘History and the Computer’, in Guide to the Sources o f Medieval History, ed. by R. C. Van Caenegem and F. L. Ganshof (Amsterdam, New York, and Oxford: North-Holland, 1977), pp. 381-87. (with H. P. H. Jansen), ‘De Middeleeuwen’, in Winkler Prins Geschiedenis van de Nederlanden. 1. Van de prehistorie tot de Bourgondische periode, ed. by J. A. Bomewasser (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1977), pp. 131-262. 1978 (with H. P. H. Jansen), ‘De Middeleeuwen’, in De Lage Landen van prehistorie tot 1500, ed. by R. C. Van Caenegem and H. P. H. Jansen (Amsterdam : Elsevier, 1978), pp. 175-342.

‘La frontière linguistique dans le comté de Guînes. Un problème historique et méthodologique’, in Actes du 101e Congrès national des sociétés savantes, Lille, 1976. Section d’Histoire moderne et contemporaine, 1 : Frontières et limites de 1610 à nos jours (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, 1978), pp. 24962. 1979 ‘Een afrekening met de Middeleeuwen’, Spiegel Historiael, 14 (1979), pp. 399— 403. (with R. C. Van Caenegem), ‘Kritische uitgave van de “Precepta” van graaf Filips van de Elzas voor de stad Gent (1178)’, Handelingen van de Maatschappij voor Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde te Gent, 33 (1979), pp. 99-115. ‘De “Onacht” in het nieuw(s)’, Handelingen van de Maatschappij voor Geschiede­ nis en Oudheidkunde te Gent, 33 (1979), pp. 239—41. ‘Ermites et chanoines réguliers au xne siècle’, Cahiers de civilisation médiévale, 22 (1979), pp. 39-80. ‘Guillaume de Saint-Thierry, son origine, sa formation et ses premières expé­ riences monastiques’, in Saint-Thierry, une abbaye du Vf au XXe siècle. Actes du Colloque international d’histoire monastique, Reims-St. Thierry, 11 au 14 octobre 1976, ed. by M. Bur (St Thierry: Association des amis de l’abbaye de

Saint-Thierry, 1979), pp. 261-78. English translation: ‘William of Saint-Thierry: His Birth, his Formation and his First Monastic Experiences’, in "William, Abbot o f St Thierry : A Colloquium at the Abbey o f St Thierry, Cistercian Studies Series, 94 (Kalamazoo MI, Cister­ cian publications, 1987), pp. 9-33.

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1980 (with M. Hoebeke), ‘Abbaye de Notre-Dame rattachée à l’hôpital à Audenarde’, in Monasticon Belge. Vil. Province de Flandre Orientale (Liège : Centre Natio­ nal de Recherches d’Histoire Religieuse, 1980), ni, pp. 375-77. ‘Ketterij en dissidentie, enkele karakteristieken’, Spiegel Historiael, 15 (1980), pp. 627-34. ‘Presentane en probleemstelling (Ketters, dissidenten en anddemocraten)’, Spiegel Historiael, 15 (1980), p. 578. ‘L’évoludon de l’érémidsme au canonicat régulier dans la première moitié dou­ zième siècle: transition ou trahison?’, in Istituzioni monastiche e istituzioni canonicali in Occidente (1123-1215). A tti della Settimana intemazionale di studio. Mendola, 28 agosto-3 settembre 1977 (Milan: Vita e Pensiero, 1980), pp. 223-38. ‘Het begijnenwezen, uiting van een middeleeuwse maatschappij in de kering’, in Toespraken gehouden bij de Begijnhoffeesten. Breda, ju n i 1980 (s.l., s.d.), pp. 9-29. (with D. Callebaut), ‘Het “oud kasteel” te Petegem en de vroegmiddeleeuwse grensverdediging längs de Schelde’, in Comines, 28-31 août 1980. XIVe congrès de la Fédération des cercles d’archéologie et d’histoire de Belgique et 1er congrès de l’Association des cercles francophones d’histoire et d’archéologie de Belgique — Société d’histoire de Comines-Warneton et de la région. Actes

(Tielt: Veys, 1980), ï, pp. 132-33. 1981 ‘Terug op het spoor van Benedictus’, in Spectrum atlas van de historische plaatsen in de Lage Landen , ed. by A. F. Manning and M. de Vroede (Utrecht : Spec­ trum, 1981), pp. 32-37. (with R. C. Van Caenegem), ‘Édition critique des versions françaises de la “grande Keure” de Philippe d’Alsace, comte de Flandre, pour la ville d’Ypres’, Bul­ letin de la Commission Royale d’Histoire — Handelingen van de Koninklijke Commissie voor Geschiedenis, 147 (1981), pp. 1-44. ‘Frankrijk en zijn minderheden. Politiek en cultuurbesef in Frans-Vlaanderen van de Franse Revolutie tot nu’, De Franse Nederlanden — Les Pays-Bas Français, 1 (1981), pp. 155-82. ‘Over ketters en dissidenten’, Keesings reflector, 1 (1981), pp. 205-212.

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‘Vele wegen naar een doel of hoe verschillende observances het Brugse SintTrudo charmeerden’, in Male, burcht en abdij, ed. by J. L. Meulemeester and J. Van Brugghe (Bruges: Jong Kristen Onthaal voor Toerisme, 1981), pp. 11-25. ‘Het kind in de Middeleeuwen. Beschouwingen over methode en onderzoek’, Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis, 94 (1981), pp. 377-90. ‘François-Louis Ganshof (1895-1980)’, Revue Beige de Philologie et d’Histoire — Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis, 59 (1981), pp. 518-28. ‘Kerstening en kerkelijke instellingen tot circa 1070’, in Algemene geschiedenis der Nederlanden, ed. by D. P. Blök et al. (Haarlem : Fibula-Van Dishoeck, 1981), I, pp. 266-85. (with R. Künzel and L. Genicot), ‘Cultuur en mentaliteit’, va. Algemene geschiede­ nis der Nederlanden, ed. by D. P. Blök et al. (Haarlem : Fibula-Van Dishoeck, 1981) , I, pp. 385^112. ‘Staatsgrenzen en volksvervreemding. Beschouwingen over de mogelijkheid van een Studie van het vervreemdingsproces van de Frans-Vlamingen’, in Recht en instellingen in de oude Nederlanden tijdens de Middeleeuwen en de Nieuwe Tijd. Liber amicorum ]an Buntinx, ed. by G. Asaert et al. (Louvain :

Universitaire Pers, 1981), pp. 467-82. ‘De Europese Middeleeuwen. Feodale en rurale maatschappij’, in School en omroep, 8/6 (March 1982) (Brussels: B.R.T.-Schooluitzendingen, 1981-82), pp. 31-33. 1982 ‘Justus ut palma. Symboliek als politiek-ideologisch wapen op de zegels van Die-

derik en Filips van de Elzas, graven van Viaanderen (1128-1191)’, Sacris erudiri, 25 (1982), pp. 271- d l . (with D. Callebaut), ‘Le castrum de Petegem et le système défensif le long de l’Escaut au Haut Moyen Age’, in Château Gaillard. Actes des colloques inter­ nationaux tenus à Basel (1978) et à Durham (1980), Études de castellologie médiévale, 9-10 (Caen: Centre de Recherches Archéologiques Médiévales, 1982) , pp. 71-82. ‘De devotionele praktijk in de laat-middeleeuwse Nederlanden’, in Hoofsheid en devotie in de middeleeuwse maatschappij. De Nederlanden van de 12e tot de

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12eeeuw. Handelingen van het wetenschappelijk colloquium te Brussel, 21-24 oktober 1981, ed. by J. D. Janssens (Brussels, 1982), pp. 133^15. ‘Brabanders in hart en nieren. Uit de geschiedenis van de geslachten Van Tongerloo en Marinus’, Taxandria, 54 (1982), pp. 123-52. ‘De positie van het kind in de vormingsfase van de Westerse Middeleeuwen’, Fibula. Orgaan van de Nederlandsejeugdbond ter bestudering van de geschie­ denis, 23/4 (1982), pp. 4-9. ‘De kerk tussen de Gregoriaanse Hervorming en Avignon’, in Algemene geschie­ denis der Niederlanden, ed. by D. P. Blok et al. (Haarlem : Fibula-Van Dishoeck, 1982), m, pp. 166-211. 1983 ‘Beroering omirent bisdomssplitsingen in Vlaanderen in de jaren 1112-1113’, in Pascua mediaevalia. Studies voor Prof. Dr. ]. M. De Smet, ed. by R. Lievens, E. Van Mingroot, and W. Verbeke, Mediaevalia Lovaniensia, 1/10 (Louvain : Leuven University Press, 1983), pp. 5-14. 1984 ‘La “Summa Cartae Caritatis” et son influence sur la législation canoniale’, in Mélanges à la mémoire du père Anselme Dimier. 2: Histoire cistercienne (Arbois: Benoît Chauvin, 1984), ni, pp. 121-31. ‘Cultuurhistorische en -sociologische overwegingen bij het fenomeen taalgrens’, Ons Erfdeel, 221/9 (1984), pp. 641-50. ‘Schets van het kloosterwezen in Vlaanderen voor het einde van de elide eeuw’, in Sint-Arnoldus en de Sint-Pietersabdij te Oudenburg, 1084—1984 (Oudenburg: Gemeentebestuur van Oudenburg, 1984), pp. 27-34. 1985 (with H. Ryckeboer), ‘Nederlandse namen voor Noordfranse toponiemen in het Frans-Vlaamse dialekt’, in Feestbundel voor Maurits Gysseling, ed. by W. J. J. Pijnenburg, K. Roelandts, and V. F. Vanacker (Louvain : Instituut voor Naamkunde, 1984) (= Naamkunde, 17 (1985)), pp. 229^18. Reprint in : H. Ryckeboer, H et Nederlands in Noord-Frankrijk. Sociolinguïstische, dialectologische en contactlinguistische aspecten (Ghent: Universiteit Gent, Vakgroep Nederlandse Taalkunde, 1997), pp. 127^46.

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‘De Franse Nederlanden. Bakermat van de Nederlandse cultuur?’, De Transe Nederlanden— Les Pays-Bas Français, 10 (1985), pp. 13—43. Collaboration to Santiago de Compostela. Pelgrims door de eeuwen been, ed. by J. van Herwaarden (Tumhout: Brepols, 1985). 1986 ‘De feodale en rurale maatschappij’, in De Europese Middeleeuwen, ed. by R. De Keyser, W Dupon, and R. Lefevre (Brussels : BRT-Instructieve Omroep/Schooluitzendingen, 1986), pp. 18-25. ‘De feodale en rurale maatschappij’, in School & Omroep, 2/1986-1987 (Brus­ sels: B.R.T-Schooluitzendingen, 1986), pp. 28-31. ‘La conversion en profondeur, un processus sans fin’, Revue du Nord, 68 (1986), pp. 487-98. 1987 ‘Viaanderen in Europa’, OnsErfdeel, 30/3 (1987), pp. 333—40. ‘Arrouaise et la Silésie. 1535 ou la fin de quatre siècles de relations’, in Liber amicorum. Études historiques offertes à Pierre Bougard, Mémoires de la Commission départementale d’histoire et d’archéologie du Pas-De-Calais, 25 — Revue du Nord (Hors Série), Collection Historique, 3 (Arras: 1987), pp. 141—43. 1988 ‘Trends en resultaten betreffende de Middeleeuwen’, in Godsdienst, mentaliteit en dagelijks leven. Religieuze geschiedenis in België sinds 1970 — Religion, mentalité et vie quotidienne. Histoire religieuse en Belgique depuis 1970. Handelingen van het Colloquium van 23 en 24 September 1987 — Actes du colloque des 23 et 24 septembre 1987, ed. by M. Cloet and F. Daelemans (Brussels: Gemeentekrediet, 1988) (=Archives et bibliothèques de Bel­ gique— Archief- en Bibliotheekwezen in België, special issue, 1989), pp. 11-31. 1989 ‘Reformatory Attempts Within the “Ordo canonicus” in the Late Middle Ages’, in Reformbemühungen und Observanzbestrebungen im spätmittelalterlichen

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Ordenswesen, ed. by K. Elm (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1989), pp. 6169. ‘Twaalfde en dertiende eeuw. De middeleeuwse grootstad’, in Gent. Apologie van een rebelse stad. Geschiedenis, kunst, cultuur, ed. by J. Decavele et al. (Antwerp: Mercatorfonds, 1989), pp. 61-79. French translation: ‘Douzième et treizième siècle. La grande ville médiévale’, in Gand. Apologie d ’une ville rebelle. Histoire, art, culture, ed. by J. Decavele et al. (Antwerp: Fonds Mercator, 1989), pp. 61-79. English translation: ‘1100-1300. The Medieval City’, in Ghent. In Defence o f a Rebellious City. History, Art, Culture, ed. by J. Decavele et al. (Antwerp : Mer­ catorfonds, 1989), pp. 61-79.

1990 ‘Monniken en de stad : cisterciënzers en Gent’, in Bernardina et Cisterciensia in de Hniversiteitsbibliotheek, ed. by G. Hendrix (Ghent: Rijksuniversiteit Gent, 1990), pp. xiii-xvi. ‘[Veertig Jaar O.S.G.G.]’, Bulletin van het O.S.G.G. Oudstudenten Geschiedenis Rijksuniversiteit Gent, 32 (1990), pp. 10-15. ‘Harrold’, in Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. by R. Aubert (Paris : Letouzey et Ané, 1990), xxm, col. 413-14. ‘Heldémare’, in Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. by R. Aubert (Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1990), xxm, col. 863. ‘Dispute and Settlement in Medieval Cenobitical Rules’, Bulletin de l’Institut Historique Belge de Rome — Bulletin van het Belgisch Historisch Instituut te Rome, 60 (1990), pp. 43-63. (with D. Callebaut), ‘Ename, burcht en “pre-stedelijke” nederzetting’, in La génèse et les premiers siècles des villes médiévales dans les Pays-Bas Méri­ dionaux. Un problème archéologique et historique — Middeleeuwse steden in de Zuidelijke Niederlanden. Een archeologisch en historisch probleem. 14e Colloque International — 14de Internationaal Colloquium. Spa, 6-8 septembre/-er 1988 (Brussels: Gemeentekrediet, 1990), pp. 459-94. ‘Monks, Mission, Culture and Society in Willibrord’s Time’, in Willibrord, zijn wereld en zijn werk. Voordrachten gehouden tijdens het Willibrord-congres. Hijmegen, 28-30 September 1989, ed. by P. Bange and A. G. Weiler (Nijme­ gen : Centrum voor Middeleeuwse studies, 1990), pp. 82-92.

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1991 ‘Le climat religieux et ses aspects érémitiques à la fin du onzième et au début du douzième siècle’, in Colloque International ‘Robert d’Arbrissel (1045-1116) et le monde de son temps’. 1988 Abbaye de Saint-Michel-de-Rrigolet, 9-11 juin 1988; Château de Barroux, 12 juin (Barroux: Centre d’études histori­ ques et archéologiques du Château de Barroux, 1991), pp. 23-32. ‘Pureté et sexualité’, in Villes et campagnes au moyen âge. Mélanges G. Despy, ed. by J. M. Duvosquel and A. Dierkens (Liège: Éditions du Perron, 1991), pp. 503-14. ‘Travellers of the Southern Low Countries and their Views on Italy and the Ital­ ians’, Bulletin de l’Institut Historique Belge de Rome — Bulletin van bet Bel­ gisch Historisch Instituut te Rome, 61 (1991), pp. 7-35. ‘De heidense Middeleeuwen: een contradictio in terminis?’, in De heidense Middeleeuwen, ed. by L. Milis, Belgisch Historisch Instituut te Rome. Bibliotheek, 32 (Brussels: Belgisch Historisch Instituut te Rome, 1991), pp. 5-18. English translation : ‘The pagan Middle Ages — A Contradiction in Terms ?’, The Pagan Middle Ages, ed. by L. Milis (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1998), pp. 1- 12.

Japanese translation : ‘Ikyouteki chuusei — hyougen no mujun ka’, Ikyouteki Chuusei, ed. by L. Milis (Tokio: Shinhyoron, 2002), pp. 3-30.

‘Reinheid, sex en zonde’, De heidense Middeleeuwen, ed. by L. Milis, Belgisch Historisch Instituut te Rome. Bibliotheek, 32 (Brussels : Belgisch Historisch Instituut te Rome, 1991), pp. 143-66. English translation: ‘Purity, Sex and Sin’, in The Pagan Middle Ages, ed. by L. Milis (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1998), pp. 129—49. Japanese translation: ‘Junketsu, sekkusu, tsumi’, in Ikyouteki Chuusei, ed. by L. Milis (Tokio: Shinhyoron, 2002), pp. 269-312.

‘Slot: De functie van het heidens overleven’, De heidense Middeleeuwen, ed. by L. Milis, Belgisch Historisch Instituut te Rome. Bibliotheek, 32 (Brussels : Belgisch Historisch Instituut te Rome, 1991), pp. 167-73. English translation : ‘Conclusion : The Role of Pagan Survivals’, in The Pagan Mid­ dle Ages, ed. by L. Milis (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1998), pp. 151-56. Japanese translation: ‘Ikyou shinkou no zanshi — sono yakuwari’, in Ikyouteki Chuusei, ed. by L. Milis (Tokio: Shinhyoron, 2002), pp. 313-28.

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1992 ‘De kerkhistorische produktie in België (1959-1992) betreffende de Middeleeuwen’, Trajecta, 1 (1992), pp. 113-23. 1993 ‘Children and Youth. The Medieval Viewpoint’, Paedagogica historica, 29 (1993), pp. 15-32. ‘Een lange aanvangsperiode (tot en met de tiende eeuw)’, in Geschiedenis van de Niederlanden, ed. by J. C. H. Blom and E. Lamberts (Amsterdam: Agon, 1993,19942,20013), pp. 1-17. English translation : ‘A Long Beginning : The Low Countries through the Tenth Century’, in History o f the Low Countries, ed. by J. C. H. Blom and E. Lam­ berts (New York and Oxford : Berghahn, 1999), pp. 1-22.

‘De periode van de landsheerlijkheden (elfde-dertiende eeuw)’, in Geschiedenis van de Niederlanden, ed. by J. C. H. Blom and E. Lamberts (Amsterdam : Agon, 1993,19942,20013), pp. 18-44. English translation : ‘Counts, Cities, and Clerics : The Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thir­ teenth Centuries’, in History o f the Low Countries, ed. by J. C. H. Blom and E. Lamberts (New York and Oxford : Berghahn, 1999), pp. 23-53.

‘Woord vooraf — Preface’, in V. Lambert, Chronicles of Tlanders 1200-1500: Chronicles Written Independently from Flandria Generosa (Ghent: Maatschappij voor Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde, 1993), pp. 5-7. 1994 ‘Frans-Vlaanderen, verleden en perspectief, Raaklijnen, 12/4 (1994), pp. 1620 .

‘The Italian Journey of Walter, Prior of Arrouaise in 1161-1162’, in Società, istituzioni, spiritualità. Studi in onore di Cinzio Violante, ed. by G. Arnaldi et al. (Spoleto: Centro Italiano di Studi sull’alto medioevo, 1994), n, pp. 535—46. 1995 (with V. Lambert), ‘De indiscrete charme van Jan Schuermans, pastoor van Ename (1645-1655) — Het vervolg’, Handelingen van het Genootschap voor Geschiedenis, 132 (1995), pp. 165-74.

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‘Het dagelijks leven in de Middeleeuwen’, in Cahier '94-95. De Hanze (Amster­ dam : Orde van den Prince, 1995), pp. 1-4. ‘De structuur van afwijkend gedrag’, in Ketterij, dissidentie en marginalen (Heerlen: Sintermeertencollege, 1995), pp. 1-7. ‘Topsy-Turvy Morality : Obedience as a Regulator o£ Social Behavior’, in Peasants & Townsmen in Medieval Europe. Studia in honorem Adriaan Verhulst, ed. by J. M. Duvosquel and E. Thoen (Ghent: Snoeck-Ducaju & Zoon, 1995), pp. 651-61. (with W. Verbeke et. al), ‘Inleiding — Introduction’, in De verhalende bronnen uit de Zuidelijke Niederlanden 600-1500 — The Narrative Sources from the Southern Low Countries 600-1500. Preprint 1 (Ghent and Louvain: Vakgroep Middeleeuwse Geschiedenis Universiteit Gent and Instituut voor Middeleeuwse Studies Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 1995), i, pp. 1-11. 1996 ‘Vooruitblikken naar het verleden. Over eruditie en de informatiesnelweg’, in Verhalende bronnen: Repertoriëring, editie en commercialisering, ed. by L. Milis, V. Lambert, and A. Kelders (Ghent : Studia Historica Gandensia, 1996), pp. 5-15.

‘Het moeizame huwelijk van de professionele en de amateur-historicus’, Handelingen van de geschied- en oudheidkundige kring van Oudenaarde, 33 (1996), pp. 12-19. (with M. De Reu), ‘Geschiedenis en informatica’, in Hoe schrijfik de geschiedenis van mijn gemeente ?, 3b : Hulpwetenschappen, ed. by J. Art (Ghent : Stichting Mens en Kultuur, 1996), pp. 75-91. ‘Van Caesar tot de Karolingen’, in De Gouden delta der Lage Landen. Twintig eeuwen beschaving tussen Seine en Rijn, ed. by H. Balthazar et al. (Antwerp : Mercatorfonds, 1996), pp. 17—40. English translation: ‘From Caesar to the Carolingians’, in The Drama o f the Low Countries: Twenty Centuries o f Civilization between Seine and Rhine, ed. by H. Balthazar et al. (Antwerp: Mercatorfonds, 1996), pp. 17-40. French translation: ‘De César aux Carolingiens’, in Le Delta d ’or des plats pays. Vingt siècles de civilisation entre Seine et Rhin, ed. by H. Balthazar et al. (Antwerp : Fonds Mercator, 1996), pp. 17-40.

Contributions to The Narrative Sources from the Medieval Low Countries — De verhalende bronnen uit de middeleeuwse Nederlanden — Les sources narra-

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tives des Pays-Bas médiévaux (Ghent, Louvain, and Groningen : Ovid-database, 1996-2005,10 editions), http ://www.narrative-sources.be. From 1996 onwards, several small articles have been published in the journal of local interest Emme 974 [1 (1996), p. 7; 2 (1996), p. 8; 3 (1996), p. 8; 4 (1997), p. 8; 5 (1997), p. 7; 6 (1997), p. 7; 7 (1997), p. 14; 9 (1998), p. 12; 11 (1999), p. 18; 16 (2001), p. 5 ; 18 (2002), p. 12]). ‘Moines angéliques, gens terrestres’, Livret-Annuaire. École pratique des Hautes Études. Section des sciences historiques et philologiques, 12 (1996-97), pp. 122-23. 1997 ‘Bedenkingen bij het fenomeen taalgrens’, Wij vrouwen, 1 (1997), pp. 2-4. ‘Van vrije kluizenaars tot georganiseerde kanunniken : Een spirimele revolutie in de Hoge Middeleeuwen’, Trajecta, 6 (1997), pp. 305-17. ‘Testimonium amicitiae’, in La spiritualité de l’univers byzantin dans le verbe et dans l’image. Hommages offerts à Edmond Voordeckers à l’occasion de son éméritat, ed. by K. Demoen and J. Vereecken (Tumhout: Brepols, 1997), pp. 21-26. (with J. Deploige and M. De Reu), ‘Informatique et études médiévales’, Intro­ duction aux sources de l’histoire médiévale, ed. by R. C. Van Caenegem, F. L. Ganshof, and L. Jocqué (Tumhout: Brepols, 1997), pp. 533-50. ‘L’évolution historique de la politique et de l’identité culturelles en Flandre Fran­ çaise’, in 70e anniversaire de la Chaire de Néerlandais à l’Université Catholi­ que de Lille, Actes de la journée d'étude du 21 mars 1997 (Lille: Université Catholique de Lille, 1997), pp. 59-73. 1998 (with G. Van Hooydonk et al.), ‘A TXRF and Micro-Raman Spectrométrie Reconstruction of Palettes for Distinguishing Between Scriptoria of Related Medieval Manuscripts’, European journal of Inorganic Chemistry, 5 (1998), pp. 639-44. ‘Historische antropologie in de toekomst’, Theoretische Geschiedenis, 25 (1998), pp. 44-47. 42

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1999 ‘Il nostro tempo non ha eguali’, JJEuromediterraneo, 2/7 (1999), pp. 36-39. ‘Preface’, in Negotiating Secular and Ecclesiastical Power. Western Europe in the Central Middle Ages, ed. by A. J. A. Bijsterveld et al, International Medi­ eval Research : Selected Proceedings of the International Medieval Congress University of Leeds, 6. (Tumhout: Brepols, 1999), pp. ix-x. ‘Narrative Sources: A Quantification of Culture and Religion’, in Vita Religiosa im Mittelalter. Festschrift für Kaspar Elm zum 70. Geburtstag, ed. by F. J. Felten and N. Jaspert (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1999), pp. 819-36. ‘Rejecting Power, Gaining Power’, in The Growth of Authority in the Medieval West: Selected Proceedings of the International Conference, Groningen 6-9 November 1997, ed. by M. Gosman, A. Vanderjagt, and J. Veenstra (Gron­ ingen: Egbert Forsten, 1999), pp. 83-96. 2000

‘Discours de conclusion’, in Actes du Colloque 'lèrejournée de la Coordination Universitaire pour l'Étude du Flamand’ (Lille: Université Catholique de Lille, 2000), pp. 93-95. ‘Apocalyps en utopie in 1000, 2000 en tussenin’, Kultuurleven, 67 (2000), pp. 36-45. 2002

‘Viaanderen in het jaar duizend — La Flandre en l’An Mil’, De Franse Nederlanden — Les Pays-Bas Français, 27 (2002), pp. 91-141. ‘Monks, Canons, and the City: A Barren Relationship? The Productivity of Urban Space in Northern Europe’, The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 32 (2002), pp. 667-88. (with A. L. J. Van De Walle et al.), ‘La découverte du Crosseron abbatial en ivoire d’éléphant à Ename, IXe s. ’, in Centre — region— periphery. Medi­ eval Europe, Basel, 10-15 September 2002 (Third International Conference of Medieval and Later Archeology), ed. by G. Helmig, B. Scholkmann, and M. Untermann (Hertingen: Archäologische Bodenforschung Basel-Stadt, 2002), in, p. 406. (with A. L. J. Van De Walle, R. Heughebaert and J. Philippe), ‘La découverte de fragments sculptés du portail occidental de l’église abbatiale Saint Bavon

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à Gand et ses relations internationales’, in Centre — region— periphery. Medieval Europe, Basel, 10-15 September 2002 (Third International Confer­ ence of Medieval and Later Archeology), ed. by G. Helmig, B. Scholkmann, and M. Untermann (Hertingen: Archäologische Bodenforschung BaselStadt, 2002), m, p. 407. 2003 ‘Toscane, een landschap voi cultuur’, Viaanderen, 52 (2003), pp. 2-11. ‘2100 : het henvonnen paradijs of de verloedering der tijden ?’, Sint-Lukasgalerij, 3 (2003), pp. 15-17. 2004 ‘Un témoin inconnu du coutumier de l’ordre des chanoines réguliers d’Arrouaise’, in Retour aux sources. Textes, études et documents d’histoire médiévale offerts à Michel Parisse, ed. by S. Gougenheim et al. (Paris: A. et J. Picard, 2004), pp. 677-87.

‘25 december 861. Boudewijn met de IJzeren Arm schaakt Judith’, De 25 dagen van Vlaanderen (Zwolle: Waanders, 2004), n, pp. 37-64. 2005 ‘Introduction. Medieval Narrative Sources: A Fascinating Gateway into the Medieval Mind’, in Medieval Narrative Sources :A Gateway into the Medieval Mind, ed. by W. Verbeke, L. Milis, and J. Goossens, Mediaevalia Lovaniensia, 1/34 (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2005), pp. vii-ix.

Steven Vanderputten and L u c JocQUÉ

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Acknowledgements

he editors of this volume would like to thank Greta Milis-Proost, Walter Prevenier, Hilde Symoens, and Raoul Van Caenegem for kind­ ly having shared their memories of Ludo Milis’s early scholarly career ; Donald Pistoiesi, Judith Terry, and Alastair Weir for their translations of, respectively, the original French and Dutch articles ; Chloe Clifford and Alisa Koonce, who assisted in the new edition of two essays originally published in English ; Claudine Colyn, Els Devreese, and Lena Vanelslander for their technical assistance to the editorial work ; the Ghent University Library and the Churchwardens of Eine for granting reproduction rights ; and Brepols Publishers for having warmly welcomed this publication. Thanks are also due to the journals and publishers who granted copyright for the translations and reprints of Ludo Milis’s original essays, and to Edmond Voordeckers, co-author of one of the essays translated here.

T

The chapter T h e Byzantine Cross of Eine’, co-authored by E d­ mond Voordeckers, was first published in French as ‘La croix byzantine d’Eine’, Byzantion, 39 (1969), pp. 456^488 The chapter ‘The Regular Canons and Some Socio-Religious As­ pects about the Year 1100’ was first published in Études de civilisation médiévale (ixe-xif siècles). Mélanges offerts à Edmond-René Labande (Poi­ tiers: Centre d’Etudes Supérieures de Civilisation médiévale, 1974), pp. 553-61 and is newly edited for this volume. The chapter ‘The Linguistic Boundary in the County of Guines : A Problem of History and Methodology’ was first published in French as

‘La frontière linguistique dans le comté de Guînes. Un problème histo­ rique et méthodologique’, in Actes du 101e Congrès national des sociétés savantes, Lille, 1976. Section d’Histoire moderne et contemporaine, 1 : fron­ tières et limites de 1610 a nos jours (Paris : Bibliothèque Nationale, 1978), p p .249-62. The chapter ‘Hermits and Regular Canons in the Twelfth Century’ was first published in French as ‘Ermites et chanoines réguliers au XIIe siècle’, Cahiers de civilisation médiévale, 22 (1979), pp. 39-80. The chapter ‘State Boundaries and Ethnie Alienation : Perspectives on Research into the Alienation Processes of French Flemings’ was first published in Dutch as ‘Staatsgrenzen en volksvervreemding. Beschouwingen over de mogelijkheid van een Studie van het vervreemdingsproces van de Frans-Vlamingen’, in Recht en instellingen in de oude Nederlanden tijdens de Middeleeuwen en de Nieuwe Tijd. Liber amicorum ]an Buntinx, ed. by G. Asaert et al. (Leuven : Universitaire Pers, 1981), pp. 467-82. The chapter ‘The Conversion of the Low Countries and Church Institutions until c. 1070’ was first published in Dutch as ‘Kerstening en kerkelijke instellingen tot circa 1070’, in Algemene geschiedenis der Ne­ derlanden (Haarlem: Fibula-Van Dishoeck, 1981), I, pp. 265-85. The chapter ‘The Church in the Low Countries between Grego­ rian Reform and Avignon’ was first published in Dutch as ‘De kerk tussen de Gregoriaanse hervorming en Avignon’, in Algemene geschiedenis der Nederlanden (Haarlem: Fibula-Van Dishoeck, 1982), m, pp. 166-211. The chapter ‘justus ut Raima. Symbolism as a Political and Ideo­ logical Weapon on the Seals of Thierry and Philip of Alsace, Counts of Flanders (1128-1191)’ was first published in Dutch as ‘justus ut palma. Symboliek als politiek-ideologisch wapen op de zegels van Diederik en Filips van de Elzas, graven van Vlaanderen (1128-1191)’, Sacris erudiri, 25 (1982), pp. 21-41. The chapter ‘The French Low Countries : Cradle of Dutch cul­ tu re?’ was first published as ‘De Franse Nederlanden. Bakermat van de

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Nederlandse cultuur?’, De Transe Niederlanden 10 (1985), pp. 13-43.

—

Les Pays-Bas Trançais,

The chapter ‘Conversion : A Never-Ending Process’ was first pub­ lished in French as ‘La conversion en profondeur: un processus sans fin’, Revue du Nord, 68 (1986), pp. 487-98. The chapter ‘Dispute and Settlement in Medieval Cenobitical Rules’ was first published in the Bulletin de l’Institut Historique Belge de Rome Bulletin van het Belgisch Historisch Instituut te Rome, 60 (1990), pp. 43-63 and is newly edited for this volume. —

A K N O W LED G EM EN T S

Abbreviations

AASS AASS Belgii CCCM CCSL MGH SS SSRM SSRG PG

Acta sanctorum quotquot toto orbe coluntur Acta sanctorum Belgii selecta Corpus Christianorum. Continuatio Mediaeualis Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum Patrologiae cursus completus, series graeca, ed. by J.-P. Migne (Paris, 1844-55)

PL

Patrologia cursus completus, series latina, ed. by J.-P. Migne (Paris, 1857-68)

The Conversion of the Low Countries and Church Institutions until c. 1070 The Merovingian Period, 500-750 id the barbarian invasions mean the end of the conversion to Chris­ tianity started in the Roman period ? This is a fundamental question, which can only be answered on the basis of a thorough understanding of the extent of conversion in that period. According to their importance, the Roman administration centres had played a more or less early, and a more or less important, role in promoting Christianity. The civitates had become the centres of a number of bishoprics, which meant that secular and spiritual power was exercised from the same centre. ‘Church and State’ in fact went hand in hand from the fourth century onwards. The name of the first bishop to be known with certainty is Servatius (actually the oriental name Zapßcmoc; [Sarbatios]) in Tongres, mentioned in 343. A certain Superior was bishop in Cambrai (or Bavay) in 346. In Tournai there is no reference to a bishop before the sixth century, nor is there such a reference in Thérouanne before the seventh.

D

The chronology and distribution show how political and geo­ graphic orientation played a role. In the south there were a few towns in the middle of the old tribal areas connected by a network of roads. In the east there was the south to north direction of the rivers — Meuse, Moselle and Rhine — along which Romanization penetrated faster and more in­ tensively than elsewhere in the Low Countries. So the essential problem is whether this first phase of conversion, which progressed in parallel with Romanization, was still so superficial that under the influence of the Ger­ manic invasions the disappearance of Roman control also resulted in the

disappearance of Christianity. The answer to this question is not simple. On the one hand there are interruptions in the lists of bishops (of about a century for Tongres-Maastricht)1, giving the impression that Christian­ ity, too, disappeared temporarily; on the other hand the question should actually be posed much more widely. Was it in fact the case that the ‘Ro­ man structures’ were completely suppressed, and therefore the Church was, too ? Opinions on this are now undoubtedly more balanced than they used to be. After all, the Merovingians in their exercise of control made use of what remained of the Roman infrastructure (the fortified nature of Tournai explains why the Merovingians chose it as their capital). So the possibility that the ecclesiastical element had not wholly disappeared ei­ ther cannot be ruled out. How otherwise can the continued topographical existence of the late-Roman civitates in the early-medieval urban centres be explained ? Only in the case of Tongres is there a shift — which can be ex­ plained on other grounds — with first Maastricht and then Liège becom­ ing the seat of the bishop. The more we become convinced of a degree of survival of the Roman structures, the more we are inclined to attach full credence to the indications of a continuing Christianity ; recent research into patrocinia or church dedication names allows many churches of St Stephen to go back to late-classical times, and the same goes for some churches of O ur Lady. O f course this only applies to regions that were heavily Romanized (such as the valley of the Scheldt, where Cambrai and Tournai were situated). The flight of a number of Christians from Tournai to the neighbouring Blandain, as told in the Vita Sancti Eleutherii, should be regarded in the light of a surviving colony of Christians in the time of the first Merovingians. But more than the texts (and certainly the hagio­ graphie texts), archaeology has recendy produced new evidence. For in­ stance, there is no longer any doubt that from late-classical times burials went on without interruption in the church yard round St Servaas in Maas­ tricht — the tombstones of a certain Amabilis and Aluvefa have sur­ vived— and moreover that they were Christian burials. A wooden chapel above the grave of Servatius was replaced by a larger structure around 560. 1

P. C. Boeren, ‘Les évêques de Tongres-Maestricht’, Revue d'histoire de l’Église de France, 62 (1976), p. 30.

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It may seem obvious that the examples we can quote here came from Tournai and Maastricht, since those were perhaps also the more important centres of Christianity; they were also the most important towns. W hat was going on in the countryside ? Could Christianity survive in these areas, when there is even doubt whether it had penetrated there to any significant extent in the late Empire ? The answer is a qualified positive. As evidence, objects with Christian motifs can be cited, found in fifth-century burial grounds (among others at Haillot and Pry in the prov­ ince of Namur), which belonged to the Mediterranean tradition, but were made at Châtel-Chéléry in the Ardennes. They differ from the sixth- and seventh-century cross motifs which have survived as amulets or on the bottom of vases (as at Haine-Saint-Paul, in the province of Hainault). Here a moribund Gallo-Roman Christianity, which to some extent survived the barbarian invasions, was faced with the infiltration of the beliefs of the invading peoples2. In the Merovingian period, which witnessed a ‘second conversion’, society had clearly become rural. O f course, the ethnic make-up of the population had changed. More generally, the political situations which determined the possibilities and the orientation of conversion had altered. The diocesan bishop, the central figure in the late-Roman church, surrounded by his clergy, only played a limited role in conversion. None­ theless it was in this early-medieval stage that in these old frontier regions of the Roman Empire the diocesan organization originated which would continue to exist until the reforms by Philip II in 1559. The old Roman organization with a Belgica secunda, divided into a number of civitates, became the framework of the diocesan organization without a great deal of adjustment. This does not mean that the boundaries of these episcopal civitates were precisely the same as those of the Roman administrative organization. We have, after all, insufficient information on the precise demarcations of the diocesan boundaries in the early Middle Ages. More­ over, there are also indications that the Frankish fifth-century realms may have been a factor in setting those boundaries. At the end of the fourth century there was only the bishopric of Tongres in what would later be the Low Countries. The region came under the Roman province of 2 G. Faider-Feytmans, La Belgique à IIépoque mérovingienne (Brussels, 1964), pp. 123— 32.

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Germania secunda, which meant that Cologne became the seat of the arch­ bishop. The other regions belonged to Belgica secunda, so they came under Rheims. The fifth century has left remarkably few traces : the list of bishops of Tongres, for example, which gives seven names between Servatius and Falco, is not to be trusted. Falco who was bishop when Remigius was enthroned in Rheims, had colleagues at Arras (perhaps dating back to a late-imperial organization)3and Tournai : Vedastus (d. 540 ?) and Eleutherius (d. 531 ?). Flagiographic sources attach stories to them for which it is difficult to recover the historical core. The diocesan organization was completed in the late sixth and seventh century: Gaugericus (584-590) appeared in Cambrai in that period. That see became joined with the diocese of Arras, and this link lasted until the very end of the eleventh century. A similar situation occurred in Tournai (577) which was joined to Noyon until 1146. The last bishopric in these old frontier regions, the territories of the Morini, the extremi homines of the Roman texts, was Thérouanne. Audomarus, a missionary from what later became Norman­ dy, was the first holder of the office here (before 639). We do not know much about the bishops themselves. Only their cult as saints and an oc­ casional mention in documents give us hints. Peripatetic missionar­ ies — sometimes with an episcopal consecration or later promoted to bishops — are the leading figures of the conversion process. On the whole missionaries were sent from two directions : there was a Southern-French group and an Irish-Scottish one. St Amand is the best example of the first. H e came from Aquitaine, and after a period in Tours and Bourges he travelled to Rome, where he had a vision telling him to go and convert the Gauls. H e was active in various regions, but particularly in the valley of the Scheldt. Here he did missionary work in the old settlement of Ganda (the original Ghent), in the area of Chanelaus (the former Calóes in the south of the present-day Antwerp municipal area) — where Eligius was also working about that time — and in the diocese of Tongres, of which the seat was moved to Maastricht in the sixth century. H e spent several years here, probably holding the office of bishop. The information about

3

F. Vercauteren, Étude sur les Civitates de la Belgique seconde, Mémoires de l’Académie royale de Belgique, Classe des Lettres, 33 (Brussels, 1934), p. 186.

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Amand gives us some idea of the opposition offered by paganism. The missionaries dealt with this in two ways : by the ostentatious destruction of ‘idols’ and shrines and by the deliberate organization of Christian cults in pagan sanctuaries. Elst — although this has nothing to do with Amand — appears to be an example of a pagan cult centre which was changed into a Christian church, though there is no absolute certainty of this. Eligius (St Eloi) can be put on an equal footing with Amand ; he came to the Low Countries from the South of France under King Dagobert I, and was bishop of Noyon-Tournai from 641. Traces of paganism nevertheless continued to exist in the regions covered by Tongres-Maastricht, and of course throughout the north. In Maastricht, which had been the seat of the bishopric since the second half of the sixth century, Lambert was appointed bishop in the late seventh century. H e was engaged principally in the conversion of Texandria. His violent death at Liège (c. 700) led to a cult of him as a saint and to the relocation of the seat of the civitas Tungrorum to Liège under his successor H ubert (c. 717). He, too, took on Texandria and the Ardennes — thinly populated regions, difficult of access, and so difficult to convert. A men­ tion of Brabant, where according to his vita he was also active, probably refers to the region around Dijle and Zenne, the territory on the bound­ ary between his diocese and that of Cambrai. As has been said, there were also the Irish-Scottish missionaries. They came straight from Ireland or from the north of England (Northum­ bria), preceded by Columbanus, who in the late sixth century had found­ ed the monastery of Luxeuil (Eastern France). They maintained close links with Rome (the consequence of the Synod of Whitby, 664, when the iso­ lationist-oriented Irish Church and the English Church inspired by Rome came to an agreement), which brought them to the Low Countries. When we take into account that exile for the purpose of preaching (the peregrinatio of the texts) was one of the missions in life of these monks, their actions become comprehensible. This will be fully illustrated by the career of Willibrord. Missionary activities depended on monks. They lived by one of the rules which had penetrated into the west from the east and south of Europe, or by one of the strict Irish rules like that of Columbanus. But that they belonged to the monastic world implied that their missions started from the centres they developed, their abbeys, outposts in an at the time still pagan environment. These missionaries are

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57

without exception known for having founded abbeys and their success was guaranteed by the stability (and soon the wealth and power) of their monasteries. Moreover their Nachleben was cultivated and promoted by the abbeys who looked on them as their founders. Here, too, vitae provide the essential, not always reliable, information, while the study of patroc­ inia also appears promising. After a first batch of country churches, built by the first missionaries themselves and dedicated to universal saints, a new batch followed from the seventh century onwards, founded by their successors, and dedicated to themselves. This conversion to Christianity within the Merovingian territory had a political dimension which should not be underestimated. The fa­ mous conversion of King Chlodowich (Clovis) (496) is indeed a milestone, but it gives no date for the conversion of the Franks as a whole. Nor does it say anything about the depth of their conversion, certainly not in the northern frontier areas of the kingdom where the indigenous population was thin on the ground and the number of Frankish immigrants therefore carried more weight. In addition to the abbeys, the royal land holdings (in part old Roman state property) played a role in the dissemination of the faith and in developing a network of village churches. This so-called Reichsmission (royalty led mission) became an important element in the spread of churches dedicated to St Martin. The northern frontier re­ gion — the southern part of the later Low Countries — was thus witness to the founding of a dense network of abbeys. The earliest was Elnone (later St Amand’s, nowadays Département du Nord) which was founded by Amand before 6394. Later historiography and hagiography assigned a role to this missionary in the founding of many other monasteries. It is certain that he played this role in the cases of St Bavo’s in Ghent and the abbey of Nivelles. In a first phase, until about 730, forty-five houses, for men and women, were founded in the south. The largest group was situ­ ated in the area between the Scheldt and the Sambre. These were outposts from which the conversion towards the north would have to be organized. Elnone, the two abbeys at Ghent (St Bavo’s and St Peter’s), Lobbes, Foss­ es, St Bertin’s at Saint-Omer, and St Trond should be mentioned here.

4

H. Platelle, Le temporel de t abbaye de Saint-Amand des origines à 1340 (Paris, 1962), p. 36.

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A number clearly showed Irish characteristics, either through direct Irish influence, or because they were marked by the Irish traits which coloured Amand’s monastic outlook. Jonas of Bobbio, one of Amand’s helpers, had been a student of Columbanus at Luxeuil. The abbeys were founded by members of the top social classes : great nobles, mayors of the palace, and kings, who endowed them richly (St Amand’s received a foundation donation of about 10,000 hectares) and granted them exemption rights3*5. After the death of the first group of mis­ sionaries, the abbots and abbesses of these institutions — who would later become the new local saints — were recruited from these same cir­ cles. Gertrude of Nivelles is a typical example. In contrast to what would become the tendency under the Carolingians, the typical abbey complex consisted of various smaller churches, each of which had a specific function. In St Vaast’s at Arras there were five, at Andenne as many as seven6. We have very little information about the actual spirituality of these monasteries, since the sources — the vitae — are mostly of a later date. It is also difficult to see how any osmosis was achieved between the strict, very ascetic rule of Columbanus and the hu­ mane, balanced rule of Benedict. The influence of the diocesan bishops on the abbeys and hence on conversion was limited. In the Irish tradition there were suffragan bishops who led missions from and for the monaster­ ies, but who had no individual see. The existence of abbot-bishops (in any case of Remaclus) at Stavelot-Malmédy must be explained in this way. The churches were very often built on Merovingian cemeteries, which in the late sixth and seventh centuries showed traces of Christian­ ity. This is supported by the excavations carried out, among other places, at Arlon and Rosmeer, where bullae, small boxes with Christian motifs which were used as amulets, were found. The fact that some objects

3

R. R. Post, ‘Die Christianisierung des Limburgischen Raumes’, A rchief voor de gescbiedenis van de Katholieke Kerk in Nederland, 3 (1961), pp. 234—46 ; K. F. Werner, ‘Le rôle de l’aristocratie dans la christianisation du nord-est de la Gaule’, Revue £ histoire de l’Église de France, 62 (1976), pp. 57-62. 6 F. Rousseau, ‘Le monastère mérovingien d’Andenne’, Annales de la société archéologique de Namur, 53 (1965), pp. 35-39.

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originated in the Middle Rhine region (as at Arlon) may possibly indicate other channels for conversion to Christianity7. The northern part of the Low Countries only finds its way into religious history when King Dagobert (632-639) decided to conquer the Delta area. A letter of a hundred years later tells us that the king had donated the castellum Utrecht to Bishop Cunibert of Cologne, together with the small church built there for the Frankish garrison, on condition that it would be used for the conversion of the Frisians. That Cunibert did nothing about it, and Willibrord later found the little church destroyed, explains the difficulties between Utrecht and Cologne under Boniface. The expulsion of the Franks from Utrecht in the mid-seventh cen­ tury postponed a new attempt at conversion to the years 678-679, when Wilfrid, the bishop of York, preached as an exile among the Frisians. He did not have much success, though he did prepare the way for the effective mission led by Willibrord. This monk from northern England carried out his mission in close cooperation with the Carolingian mayors of the palace. W hether he first operated out of Antwerp, as an outpost on the edge of what was then Frisia, is far from certain. The conversion of the north fits completely into the Frankish rulers’ policy of annexation of the Frisians and a little later of the Saxons. Pepin n, mayor of the palace, conquered Fresia citerior in the last years of the seventh century, and Willibrord and his companions took part in the conversion from 695. H e was directed to do so by the pope, who granted him the title of ‘archbishop among the people of the Frisians’. At Utrecht, St M artin’s church was rebuilt and that of St Salvator founded ; there missionaries were trained. As material support for its activities the church of Utrecht was granted a tithe on all royal properties and revenues. Spiritual and material support was ensured by the establishment of the abbey of Echternach, in the region converted earlier, which could be fallen back on in emergencies. O n the death of Pepin n the Franks were driven out of Fresia citerior again, and the results could only be consoli­ dated from 718 onwards, after the definitive conquest under his son, Charles Martel. Willibrord now had the assistance of Winfrith Boniface,

7

H. Roosens and J. Alenus-Lecerf, Sépultures mérovingiennes au ‘Vieux cimetière'' àiArlon, Archaeologica Belgica, 88 (Brussels, 1965), pp. 165-68.

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in addition to some of his first companions, such as Suidbert and Werenfrid. H e himself died at Echternach in 739. At first no one was appointed to the see of Utrecht after Willibrord’s death. This suggests that Utrecht had not yet really proved itself as a mis­ sionary bishopric. At Carloman’s request the papal legate, Boniface, ar­ ranged to appoint a bishop in 743. Like Willibrord, Boniface had come to the continent from England. His first activities can be located in Dorestad in 716, but the changing fortunes of the war between the Frisians and the Franks made any success impossible. In 718 he was ordered by the pope to work Thuringia as a mission region, and was ordained missionary bish­ op. Later he was promoted to archbishop and assigned the see of Mainz. From here, and against the claims of Cologne, Boniface, who had also become a papal legate, involved himself in the conversion of the Frisians. His relations with the pope and the mayors of the palace (he would in 751, at the request of the pope, anoint Pepin m king) made it possible for him to have the claims annulled of the archbishop of Cologne to Fresia (which were based on Dagobert’s award, mentioned above). Utrecht became de­ finitively and uncontrovertibly a bishopric. From here Frisia, which in 734 had come into Frankish hands as far as the Lauwers, should and would be converted. W hen in 754 he went to preach again in the north, he was murdered at Dokkum with a number of his companions. As in the south, but roughly a hundred years later, the first stage of missionary work was now at an end. Conversion in depth, which went further than a few external expressions and rites, was the next stage. For this people from the newly converted regions offered themselves. We saw examples in the south of the founders of abbeys. In the north there is the example of Liudger, a member of the Frisian nobility who had rebelled against King Radbod. H e went to Rome and M onte Cassino, became bishop at M unster and there preached among his fellow countrymen and the neighbouring Saxons. In 804 followed the founding of the abbey of Werden. His activities in this region prove that here the diocese of M un­ ster penetrated westwards into the diocese of Utrecht. The direct intervention of Rome in the organization of conversion to Christianity (just as in England around 500), the association of Frank­ ish territorial success and missionary activity, the fact that founding abbeys (as Boniface did at Fulda) and elevation to episcopal status went together, the tendency of missionary bishoprics to evolve into diocesan ones as the

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situation was stabilized (or the conversion to Christianity was successful), are the most obvious characteristics of this late-Merovingian approach. This applied not only to the old Frisia (the later diocese of Utrecht) but also for the lands further east, which lay within the horizon of the Franks, or would do so in the future.

The Carolingian Period, 750-843 W hen the Carolingian dynasty established its rule over the Frankish king­ dom, the southern Low Countries had been Christianized, at least in a cursory way. It is necessary to keep an open mind about how deep this went, though there is no doubt that the missionaries had made much more progress in the south. The last mention of pagans (though not of pagan practices !) is between 705 and 727 in the Campine8. In the north there was resistance to religious assimilation as long as there was resistance to political assimilation — for example among the Saxons. The emphasis in this period was more on raising the level of pen­ etration of Christianity than on increasing its geographical extent. The interrelationship between secular and ecclesiastical power ensured that the king (after 800 the emperor) made efforts to achieve more depth of faith, or, put differently, to eliminate superstition. The whole power appa­ ratus of the Carolingians was available : proclamation of laws, control of their application, and punishment for their infringement. The capitularia deal with the organization of bishoprics and their functioning, the theo­ logical and liturgical knowledge of the clergy, the obligation of monks to live in, and not outside, their monasteries, control of morality (such as suppressing incest, adultery, giving false witness and blasphemy) and sup­ pression of the survivals of the old belief which were classed as supersti­ tion (soothsaying, witchcraft, the veneration of trees and springs). The Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae (785)9 gives a long list of these for a region (Saxony) that had only just come within the Christian sphere of influence.

8 9

É. de Moreau, Histoire de l’Église en Belgique (Brussels, 1945), ï, p. 119. Capitularia regum Francorum, ed. by A. Boretius and V. Krause, MGH Legum sectio n (Hannover, 1883-97), i, pp. 68-70.

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The Indiculus superstitionum™, probably written in Utrecht in the eighth century, can also be mentioned in this respect. How the regulations were applied in practice can to some extent be discerned from episcopal stat­ utes or pastoral letters. They show how the focus was on the proclamation of the faith, the quality of the parochial clergy, and the practice of religion (administration of the sacraments). The faith was very formal and ritual­ istic, while pre-Christian elements were still present in the inner belief. Revolts by the Frisians and the Saxons, with paganism as the main issue, still occurred under Louis the German (843) and there was a noticeable abandonment of the faith during the rule of the Norsemen in Frisia (until around 900). Nonetheless, the indoctrination of Christianity was such that the inscription Christiana religio appeared on coins, struck, among other places, in Dorestad. The involvement of the secular authorities in religious affairs undoubtedly had favourable aspects for the Church. The psycho­ logical and moral influence of the Church was backed by the govern­ ment. The reverse of the medal was the lack of independence. Since many abbeys and churches were founded by the ruling house (for example, Susteren by Pepin n and Plectrudis in 714) or by their Merovingian pred­ ecessors and had them to thank for large donations, they were also vulner­ able when these same rulers ran into financial difficulties and usurped lands donated previously. It was in this way that Charles Martel and his successors managed to reward those loyal to them. They disposed as they thought fit of episcopal and abbatial dignities, offices which were handed out to reliable friends. Very often — and as the result of protests by the Church — the property rights were not taken away. The lands might be given as precariae, actually in usufruct, so that after the death of the ben­ eficiary they might come back into the hands of the Church. To give the necessary material help to the Church, which was the victim of these arrangements, Pepin ni introduced the payment of tithes, that is to say, the tenth part of the yield of the fields and of the increase in livestock (originally a purely ecclesiastical revenue) which now became compulsory by royal command {Capitulare of Heristal, 779). Under Char-10

10 Ibid., pp. 222-23 ; M. Gysseling, Corpus van Mtddelnederlandse teksten (tot en m et het jaar 1300). Reeks 11: Literaire handschriften (The Hague, 1980), I, pp. 19-21.

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lemagne even the 'nona or second tenth was introduced. A number of cathedrals (such as at Cambrai and Tournai) and large abbeys acquired immunity from the ruler. This means that they were exempted from the financial obligations towards and from the jurisdiction of the king/ emperor : royal officials had no access to them and the incomes were allo­ cated to the institutions themselves11. This did not mean that an abbatia (which meant both the abbey and the office of abbot, together with the income associated with it) could not be given by higher authority to a layman who had nothing to do with the monastic community. One exam­ ple of this is Einhard, Charlemagne’s biographer, who was the lay abbot of both abbeys in Ghent and of St Servaas in Maastricht. This same exam­ ple of Einhard shows that an abbey did not necessarily suffer under such a regime. To prevent abuse the abbey income was divided into a mensa abbatialis and a mensa conventualis, one fixed proportion for the abbot and one for the community (for example, St Peter’s in Ghent, shordy after 817). The importance of the mensa fratrum (= conventualis) depended on various factors. The St Bertin’s polyptich offers a good impression of a rich donation12. The normal consequence of a lay abbacy was, however, the abandonment of strict enforcement of the Rule, and the replacement of the monks by canons. They would in turn have to make way for monks again during the Gregorian reforms of the late eleventh century. As we have seen, the division in dioceses dates from the Meroving­ ian or in part even from the Roman period. The spiritual cure of the diocese was exercised by the bishop. He was in theory chosen a clero et populo (by clergy and people), but in reality was appointed by the ruler. In 805 Charlemagne stated that Gerbald of Liège held his office “through the almighty God and at our command”13. Practical considerations and changes in the distribution of population led to the founding of parishes. Originally parochia (mxpoiKÍa) meant diocese, but it evolved into a territo­ rial definition within the diocese, headed by a parochus. The first churches,

11 F. L. Ganshof, ‘L’immunité dans la monarchie franque’, in Les liens de vassalité et les immunités , Recueils de la Société Jean Bodin, (Brussels, 19582), pp. 179-80 and 21415. 12 F. L. Ganshof, F. Godding-Ganshof, and A. de Smet, Le polyptyque de l’abbaye de Saint-Bertin (844-859), Mémoires de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, 45 (Paris, 1957), pp. 13-24. 13 F. L. Ganshof, La Belgique carolingienne (Brussels, 1958), p. 129.

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which were built elsewhere in the cathedral cities, or here and there in the smaller settlements {vici) or in the countryside, enjoyed no parochial rights, that is to say, they could not carry out the administration of baptism or burials in consecrated ground. In keeping with the low density of pop­ ulation and the still large areas of uncultivated wasteland, the first parishes were very large. An example of this is the demesne of Jupille (in the prov­ ince of Liège) which belonged to the Pepinids. Parochial fragmentation led to twenty-six sub-parishes actually covering the original area of the parish14. The mother parish of Snellegem (near Bruges), an old fiscus of about 7,400 hectares, formed the centre for the Christianization of the Pagus Flandrensis15. As the population increased, or new centres were founded, the parishes were subdivided into smaller parishes, usually with the same rights as the old ones, though some privilege or other might be preserved. For this reason importance was attached to the status of matrix ecclesia. The emancipation of the chapels in the cathedral cities themselves went more slowly. For several regions of the Low Countries it is not difficult to trace the history of parishes back to Frankish times. Nevertheless their actual origin is usually obscure and we only get a glimpse of the existence of a church or parish from a passing reference in a charter. The dedication can, however, help to discover the approximate period of foundation. None­ theless much research still remains to be done in this area. The choice of a patron saint was, after all, governed at different times by different cus­ toms and preferences among the founders, lay people (for example St Martin in the royal domains) as well as ecclesiastics (in the Campine almost all St Trend’s foundations are dedicated to St Trudo). From all this it is immediately clear that the initiative for the found­ ing of a new church could come from just about anyone : there is mention of Eigenkirchen, meaning that the church remained the property of the founder. This implies that he was himself responsible for the upkeep, not only of the building, but of its minister, and also that he would in practice *1

14 M. Josse, he domaine de ]upille des origines à 1297 (Brussels, 1966), pp. 109-28. 13 J. Noterdaeme, ‘De fiscus Snellegem en de vroegste kerstening in het westen van Brugge’, Handelingen van deMaatschappij voor Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde te Gent, 11 (1957), pp. 127-28.

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be completely free in his choice of that minister. To protect these parishes against arbitrary exploitation it was decreed by Louis the Pious that the pastor should at least have the use of a mansus — a farmstead with land and some serfs — for his maintenance. In theory the pastor could also be entitled to tithes, but here there were various distribution formulae, with shares going to the poor and to the bishop, if they did not in practice end up with the local lord. There was a reaction to this — as we wil see — at the time of the Gregorian Reform. Between the diocesan and the parochial levels two more levels were introduced: archdiaconates and deaneries. Archdeacons who in Merov­ ingian times fulfilled the diaconal function primarily in the cathedral church, acting as deputies for the bishop, started to detach their power more and more from the episcopate. In particular they gained judicial and visitation rights. This increasingly affected the effective authority of the bishop, who was assisted in certain functions (those connected with his potestas ordinis) by ‘choral bishops’. However, these disappeared as early as the ninth century, and if they are encountered later it is usually only as a relic title ascribed to one of the archdeacons. This was, among other places, the case at Utrecht. In the course of time the archdiaconates were territorially established for each diocese. In Utrecht the organization of them was completed by around 1125. The deaneries sometimes coincide with the territory of the old mother parishes, or of the banal crosses (croix banales), that is to say, the processions which a number of parishes had to hold to important churches (for instance, St Trond, Lobbes) to make offerings there. Sometimes the organization is more or less the same as the secular one, as appears to have been the case in old Brabant : the pagus corresponded to the archdiaconate, and the four old counties of the pagus to the deaneries16. From the Carolingian period onwards the synod (seend) was also introduced, to which in the parishes or the mother parishes witnesses (,testes synodales) were called who had to give evidence under oath on

16 M. van Rey, ‘La division politique et ecclésiastique de l’ancien diocèse de Liège au haut moyen âge’, Fédération des Cercles ã Archéologie et ã Histoire de Belgique x u v ime ses­ sion. Annales — Federatie van Kringen voor Oudheidkunde en Geschiedenis van België xuv* sessie. Congrès de Huy. Annalen , 3 (1976), pp. 121-24.

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those who had publicly infringed the ecclesiastical law (adultery or failure to attend Mass, etc.). This synod should not be confused with the episco­ pal synod, at which once or twice a year the clergy assembled under the leadership of the bishop, and where statutes were proclaimed affecting the spiritual interests and needs of the diocese (for example, the cure of souls). Those of Gerbald and Waltcald at Liège between 787 and 831 give some idea of the lack of education and sophistication of the clergy at whom they were directed17. One of the most substantial characteristics of the Carolingian gov­ ernment under Charlemagne and Louis the Pious is its unification policy. Whichever area of the social system we look at (government institutions, script and suchlike), we are struck afresh by the conscious unification which is being striven for. They brought to an end the fragmentation and confusion of the previous period. This also applied to the organization of the Church and in particular monasticism, which, as mentioned earlier, played a primary role in the dissemination of the faith. The difference in observance in the monasteries (the Rule of Columbanus, that of Benedict, or a combination of them in one form or another) was brought to an end. The Rule of Benedict remained the only one in force, which must be ascribed to the efforts of another Benedict, of Amane. This was confirmed by law at Aix in 81618. There was a similar phenomenon among the lay clergy. As early as the mid-eighth century Bishop Chrodegang of Metz had ordered his clergy to accept some degree of community life, for which he based his rule on the texts of the Church Fathers, particularly of Augustine. This initiative was taken over by the Carolingians who in 816 proclaimed the so-called Rule of Aix as though it were a capitulare, and made it compulsory for all clerics in the Empire. Both reforms therefore took place at the same time, and convents of nuns were also submitted to new regulations. There is little information about the actual results ; the next period is too poorly sourced. W hen the data do become a little richer in the eleventh century,

17 C. De Clercq, La législation religieuse franque de Clovis à Charlemagne (Paris, 1936), pp. 352-66. 18 J. Semmler, ‘Karl der Grosse und das Fränkische Mönchtum’, in Karl der Grosse, Lebens­ werk und Nachleben (Düsseldorf, 1965), n, p. 287.

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they consist mostly of lamentations about the dismal way in which the rules were followed.

The Late-Carolingian Period, 843-925 Just as the rise of the Carolingians between Charles Martel and Louis the Pious exercised a decisive influence on the position of the Church, so would their decline have repercussions, too. The frontier changes of 843 resulted in dioceses sometimes changing kingdoms, or finding the frontier cutting through their territory. Cambrai is an example of this: in 870 it was part of the West-Frankish kingdom, in 879 of Lotharingia. Hence it finally came under Francia orientalis, but was part of the ecclesiastical province of Rheims and was looked at with greedy eyes by both the king of France and the count of Flanders. At that time the fact that the cultural frontier between the Roman and Germanic world ran through the diocese was of less importance. Something similar could be said of almost every other diocese. It is striking how loyal the bishops remained to their prince, and if there was any doubt of his legitimacy, preference was given to members of the Carolingian dynasty. In the light of the ruler’s influence on the choice of bishops, this is not, of course, surprising. It was quite normal for members of the Carolingian house to be among the bishops, such as Franco at Liège (852 or 856-901). The waning of the central authority and the possession of immunity rights had enabled the bishops to exercise secular authority over their cathedral city and soon over the surrounding comitatus (county). Tournai, which was not actually the seat of a bishop (he was based in Noyon), was the first where this process took place. This happened in various stages, which were completed in 898. Cambrai and Liège followed, while in Thérouanne there is no evidence of it until much later, in 1160, but for this the scarcity of sources is to blame. The bishops were, of course, also included in the feudal structure, so that they were vassals of the king and took part in the life of the court. They also had military obligations. For instance, in 898 the bishop of Cambrai went to the aid of King Zwentibold of Loth­ aringia.

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The decline of Carolingian power could not be blamed only on dynastic factors, or on the impossibility of achieving cohesion in sufficient depth (as a consequence of difficulties in communication, the weakness of the army in defence and so on), but external factors also played a role. By this we mean invasion by foreign peoples, in this case the Vikings. The Magyars did not come until 954. More than anyone the Church suffered under the raids which took place between about 800 and 900. More important than knowing precisely where and when the Norsemen attacked is to know how the Church, the priesthood, reacted materially and psy­ chologically to the raids. Since the cathedral cities all lay well inland, the first stages of the invasions did not reach them. The only exception was Utrecht, which could, of course, be reached by the network of rivers. There were already reports of devastation by 834. The trading settlement of Dorestad suffered that fate. In general it was the region then known as Frisia which suffered most from the Norsemen in the early stages. The more southerly situated regions up-stream on the rivers with important cathedral cities and abbeys only suffered major attacks in later years, as local resistance grew19 and the Norsemen needed winter quarters from which to penetrate further inland. Centres in the south, nearer the coast — such as Saint-Omer — were, of course, also attacked at an early stage. A first attack around 840 was followed by a second around 846. The destruction of all the monasteries is described in the sources : first those in the valleys of the Scheldt, the Aa and the Somme, then after 881 also those along the middle Meuse, where the wealth of the Carolingians was a great attraction20. There are references to the background mentality of people in these events : how bishops and abbots, clergy and monks fled at the approach of danger with their relics, leaving the common people (materially and psychologically) unprotected. In the ninth century relics offered a sense of security for people in any emergency. The almost magical role of the relics was destroyed ; the organization of resistance was psychologically inhibited. Their withdrawal induced the monks themselves to scatter.

19 A. D’Haenens, Les invasions normandes, une catastrophe ?, Questions d’histoire (Paris, 1970), p. 62. 20 A. D’Haenens, Les invasions normandes en Belgique au IXesiècle, Université de Louvain. Recueil de travaux d’histoire, 4' série, 38 (Louvain, 1967), pp. 43-61.

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Sometimes they returned after a short time and rebuilt their abbey. Some­ times their absence lasted decades, which could lead to confusion. They found shelter in other monasteries and their relics became mixed up. Their possessions in their home abbeys were illegally seized and confused with the possessions of other abbeys ; afterwards, it cost a great deal of effort to disentangle the two heritages. For instance, in 851 the monks of St Bavo’s fled before the Vikings, who are believed to have set up their win­ ter camp there in 879. Part of the monastery went to Saint-Omer, and then on to Laon and Nesle-la-Reposte, from where they did not return until 911-937. The largest part of their heritage fell into the hands of secular lords, particularly into those of the count of Flanders21. To turn the tide, the decision was made to fortify towns (cathedral towns in particular) and also churches. In Saint-Omer the chapter church was fortified before 89122. In this way monasteries fulfilled a strategic social function : people living around could go there for safety on the advent of their destructive and, above all, fast-moving enemy. The greatest danger was averted when in 891 the Norsemen were defeated at Louvain. It seems probable that the country was exhausted and that not much had survived of the wealth that had attracted the invad­ ers. There is litde doubt that the large churches and monasteries had been the chief victims, because for centuries that is where the accumulation of goods had taken place. For the Church in general a particularly difficult phase set in when in the early tenth century the central authority also sank to its lowest point.

The Feudal Period, 925-1070 The immunity enjoyed by the ecclesiastical institutions undermined the exercise of power by the central government. Administration and justice were exercised by the local feudal lord, and the ruler’s officers (the counts)

21 A. E. Verhulst, De Sint-Baafsabdij te Gent en haar grondbexit (vn'-xrv* eeuw), Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie. Klasse der Letteren, 30 (Brussels, 1958), p. 58. 22 H. Van Werveke, ‘A-t-il existé des fortifications à Saint-Omer antérieurement à 878881 ?’, Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis — Revue belge de Philologie et et Histoire, 41 (1963), p. 1089.

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had no right to interfere. That was the situation as it had developed in Carolingian times and which was now maintained in a period of extensive fragmentation of power. The lack of legal expertise among the clergy had made it necessary to appoint a layman to represent them before the courts, to administer their property and to protect them. This person held a guardianship and was therefore called guardian, advocatus23. H e was appointed by the person enjoying immunity, under the supervision of the count, to guarantee the competent management of the exempt property. He was consequendy regarded as an official, like the count. This situation changed in this period. The position of the exempt institutions rose and when regalia were granted to them their autonomy became in practice complete. The control of the central authority over the appointment of a guardian lapsed, which encouraged heredity. Reforms of the monasteries, of which more later, tried to withdraw lay abbacies from the great lords. These compensated themselves for the loss by taking control of the guard­ ianship and by disposing of the property as if it was their own. Instead of minor officials, as had been the case until then, the guardians from now on were great lords, members of the nobility24. However, in order to pre­ vent the guardianship exerting too much pressure, the churches tried to enforce guardianship regulations which would restrict usurpation and extortion by their ‘protector’. The likelihood of success depended on the power relationships between the two parties. Guardianship had played an important role in the formation of territorial lordships. For instance, the counts of Namur based their success partly on their guardianship over Stavelot, Malmédy and Andenne ; those of Hainault on the guardianship over St Waudru at Mons, and the counts of Louvain on the guardianship at Nivelles. That the counts of Flanders could expand so successfully was the consequence of their rights as advocatus for rich abbeys such as St Bertin’s, St Amand’s, and the two monasteries in Ghent. The prominent noble family of Béthune regularly bore the phrase Advocatus Atrebatensis in their titles. The first monastic reformers did not really object to guardianship as such. This certainly explains why counts, such as Arnulf in Flanders,

23 Ganshof, ‘L’immunité’, pp. 204-10. 24 M. Parisse, La noblesse lorraine, x f-x u f s. (Lille, 1976), i, pp. 59-66.

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could actively support the reform. They had no fear of their own power being reduced. Only the Cluny movement and later the Gregorian reforms opposed this excessive power. So the secular world encroached on the life of the Church via lay abbacies, the right of appointment and guardianship. Yet we should not forget that in their turn the Church and its office hold­ ers were involved in the secular government. We refer here to the system of the Imperial Church. To bring an end to the chaos governing the dignity of the duke of Lotharingia, O tto I granted this title to his brother Bruno, the archbishop of Cologne. That was in 953. The intention was to limit the power of the dukes, which threatened to become excessive. Bishops and great abbots could be of valuable assistance to the ruler if they had been carefully selected and had sufficient worldly power at their disposal. Since they had no children, the eternal problem of efforts to make the office hereditary, which tended to encourage the disintegration of central authority, did not arise for the king/emperor. So when the bishops could be appointed by the ruler (and this was fully in line with tradition) the ruler was also guaranteed a loyal secular lord, in the person of the bishop, even when he actually came from the region itself (as in the case of Loth­ aringia)25. W hat was originally implemented in Cologne would by the late eleventh and early twelfth century be the most important basis on which the power of the German king/emperor was supported. But the system itself would in fact be the reason for the Investiture Controversy. When in 1122 a compromise was reached at Worms by which the emperor lost his role in the appointment system, the basis of his authority was funda­ mentally affected. To make the secular power of the bishops effective in the Imperial Church system, sufficient material means had to be provided. Otto I and his successors made donations to churches or confirmed their properties and rights : gifts of land, of regalia (coin minting, tolls) and even the rights of counts inside and outside the cathedral cities. At the same time the first reform movements resulted in counts and other potential landowners being encouraged to restore church property which had been illegally acquired. The system had played an extensive role in troubled Lotharingia. 25 L. Genicot, ‘Haut clergé et noblesse dans le diocèse de Liège du XF au XVe siècle’, in A del und Kirche. Gerd Tellenbach... dargebracht (Freiburg, 1968), p. 240.

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In two cases, Liège and Utrecht, it had led to the formation of important local territorial sovereignties : at Liège, the prince-bishopric which lasted until the French invasion of 1794, and at Utrecht, the region that became known as the Sticht. It must be emphasized that neither in one case nor in the other the diocese corresponded with the territorial sovereignty, in other words, the area in which the bishop acted as a bishop was not iden­ tical with that where he exercised secular power. In Cambrai the situation was rather different. Here the bishop, as a secular lord, only had a very small area under him. The reason is a complex one : his dependence on the French metropolis of Kheims (instead of Cologne), the proximity of the expansive count of Flanders, and the fact that his church lands in part extended into the West-Frankish kingdom of 843 (he was, after all, also bishop of Arras). At Liège the expansion of the prince-bishopric can be attributed to Bishop Notger (972-1008), of Swabian origin, who was appointed to Liège after a career at the Ottoman court. Milites from the diocese had under his predecessors appropriated episcopal properties in fief or had illegally taken possession of them. Notger took action to eliminate these opponents, partly by building castles (Thuin, Fosses, etc.) and by protect­ ing Liège itself with a defensive wall. His loyalty to the house of Saxony was honoured by confirmations of property and immunities and by gifts of privileges, abbeys and lands. Particularly important was the gift of two counties together with the powers of a count (Huy and Brugeron, c. 985)26. In line with Notger we should also mention Wazo (1042-1048), who, as well as having a political role, had clear views concerning the theory of the relationship between Church and State : the anointment of a bishop was to him superior to that of the ruler. A bishop was only accountable to the pope for his ecclesiastical office, and the pope could not be judged or deposed by anyone, not even by the emperor27. The question whether Wazo was a forerunner of the Gregorian reform and so would have been one of the instigators of the Investiture Controversy can nonetheless be answered in the negative. H e did not say that the investi­ ture of laymen would be a cause of recruiting the wrong men. Moreover, 26 Moreau, Histoire de l’Église, n, pp. 25-32. 27 Ibid., p. 45.

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he was completely loyal to the emperor. The loyalty of the bishops of Liège, who were actually overwhelmingly recruited from the imperial capella, was very great up to the end of the Investiture Controversy. These close ties between Liège and the kings also explain why the artistic produc­ tion of the Rhine-Meuse culture reached such a high level. Eraclus (959971), Notger and Wazo had, moreover, ensured the development of an important educational network over the whole diocese, in chapters and abbeys. At Utrecht there was a parallel development. Based on the privi­ lege of immunity of all the possessions of the Utrecht Church, Bishop Baldric (918-976) prepared the way for the formation of an ecclesiastical sovereignty. Successive gifts of land and rights (including the right to mint coinage in Utrecht, 936) accentuated the importance of the immunity. In 999 followed the grant of juridical power over the villa of Bommel, of rights in the county of Count Hunrog (in the pagus of Teisterbant) and in the villa of Arkel. In 1024 followed the first gift of a complete county, Drenthe28. There was further expansion in the next quarter century. Apart from one or two additions and adjustments, the secular territory, consist­ ing of two sections, the Oppersticht and the Nedersticht, remained unal­ tered from the time of Bishop Bernold (d. 1054). In Cambrai, a less typical example of an Imperial Church organization, the sources allow a much closer scrutiny of the evolution from immunity to territorial sover­ eignty. The crucial date for this is 948, when Otto I presented all govern­ mental privileges in the town and the incomes linked to them to the bishop. Count Isaac of Cambrai, with whom there had been arguments about these rights in previous years, was in this way excluded from them. It lasted until 1007 before the bishop’s rights were extended to cover the whole Cambrai area29. The continuing secular influence — both the power of the Carolingians and the weakness of their successors — and the ravages by foreign invaders had a disastrous effect on observance within the monasteries. This was, among others, the case in Susteren, where the monks originally (714) may have followed an Irish or mixed rule, but afterwards that of

28 R. R. Post, Kerkgeschiedenis van Nederland in de Middeleeuwen (Utrecht, 1957), i, pp. 59-77.

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Benedict. In 891, after a raid by the Norsemen, the monastery was occu­ pied by women. It was an Eigenkloster, given to the abbey of Prüm by King Amulf. In the twelfth century it was a secular convent, occupied by canonesses. Similar shifts occurred in a large number of other monasteries, such as at Elten, founded by Count Wichman of Hamaland, and at Thom, founded by Count Ansfried, the later bishop of Utrecht2930. Egmond, also founded by a count (Thierry), remained regular. The grip of the laity on the Church resulted in the rise of monastic reformers. In general history the name Cluny, the Burgundian abbey which from 910 would reform the Benedictine way of life, is at the forefront. Its influence in the Low Countries is only discernible from the last years of the eleventh century, so that it falls outside the purview of this survey. Three ‘home-grown’ reforms preceded it. They are commonly called the ‘Lotharingian reform movements’. The continual appearance of new reformers in the tenth and early eleventh century is explanation enough of why Cluny only penetrated in the Low Countries so late. The successive reform movements often took place within the same abbeys, such as St Bertin’s or St Peter’s. That can be explained by the fact that some of the reforms were inspired not from within but from with­ out — by the guardian or the feudal lord — or encouraged by the bishop, so that they were to some extent experienced as foreign. Moreover, more and more progressive reforms were involved, in which, with increasing emphasis, the ideal was formulated to live according to the Rule of Ben­ edict. As has been said, many monasteries were occupied by secular can­ ons who often lived in material need, and had a rather casual attitude to the Rule imposed on them at Aix in 816. Nonetheless we should be care­ ful not to take the despondent accounts of the sources too literally, par­ ticularly those texts in which a reform was announced or defended. Undoubtedly many smaller chapters had a very difficult time, but in others (such as Liège) both the spiritual and the intellectual level reached great heights. The first reform was started by Gerard of Brogne. H e was a feudal lord from the vicinity of Namur, who elevated his private church into a

29 Moreau, Histoire de l’Église, n, pp. 8-15. 30 Post, Kerkgeschiedenis, I, pp. 83-84.

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monastery and became its abbot from 913-91431. After a stay at St Denis near Paris, he expanded his abbey and became well known from 931-932. He was recruited for reforming projects by Duke Giselbert of Lotharingia, but particularly by Count Am ulf of Flanders ; St Ghislain, St Peter’s, St Bavo and others were reformed. We only know very vaguely what Gerard’s precise ideology was. There are links with Cluny, but the Ubertas which was provided by the founder of Cluny, is lacking here. N or did Gerard aim for a coordinating organization. The abbeys retained their autonomy and remained under the influence of their secular protector. The other two reforms were in the south of Upper Lotharingia. Gorze, near Metz, reformed by Bishop Adalbero (933), became the centre from which monks were sent out over the dioceses of Toul and Liège. Richarus of Liège took on the reform of Stavelot-Malmédy — where Duke Giselbert was the lay abbot — and probably of St H ubert’s. At Waulsort the rich nobleman Eilbertus made use of Iro-Scots, who were, however, trained in the Benedictine tradition32. In Ghent the reform at the abbey of St Peter’s was after 954 also influenced by Gorze, which led to a version mixed with that from Brogne33. The movement from Gorze, which reached about 160 abbeys, did not result in a unified congregation either, although Cluny’s influence was also notable because of the temporary presence at Metz of William of Volpiano, the abbot of St Bénigne at Dijon (around 996—997)34. Among the reformed houses was also St Vanne at Verdun. Under the inspiring leadership of its abbot, Richard (1004-1046), a new reform was launched, which was midway between the traditional Lotharingian activities and Cluny. It has been called the Lotharingian Mischobservanz.

31 J. Wollasch, ‘Gerard von Brogne und seine Klostergründung’, Revue bénédictine, 70 (1960), p. 63 ; Idem, ‘Gerard von Brogne im Reformmönchtum seiner Zeit’, Ibid., pp. 224-31. 32 D. Misonne, Eilbert de Florennes. Histoire et légende. La Geste de Raoul de Cambrai, Université de Louvain. Recueil de travaux d’histoire et de philologie, 4e série, 35 (Lou­ vain, 1967), pp. 13-20. 33 K. Hallinger, Gorze-Kluny. Studien zu den monastischen Lebensformen und Gegensätzen im Hochmittelalter, Studia Anselmiana, 22-23 (Rome, 1950), I, pp. 79-80. 34 M. Parisse, Le Nécrologe de Gorze. Contribution à l’histoire monastique, Annales de l’Est. Mémoire, 40 (Nancy, 1971), p. 23 ; N. Bulst, Untersuchungen zu den Klosterrefor­ men Wilhelms von Dijon (962-1031), Pariser Historische Studien, 2 (Bonn, 1973), pp. 81-114.

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As far as the Low Countries are concerned, it is interesting to note how Richard’s influence also made itself felt west of the Scheldt, and so in France. This is explained by the role of Bishop Gerard of Cambrai, who was an imperial bishop, but as titular lord of Arras also had French terri­ tory under him. It also explains the influence of the count of Flanders, Baldwin iv. Richard came to Arras in 1008 and in the next few years several of his followers joined him. Among them was Poppo of Deinze, who in 1020 was appointed abbot of Stavelot by the emperor Henry n. In the next few years the reform was successful at Gembloux, St Amand, St Bertin’s and some fifteen other houses35. In the north, where the Benedictine observance had still gained little acceptance, Hohorst came under the influence of Poppo, to whom Bishop Adalbold of Utrecht had transferred it before 102636. The continually renewed movements of reform which had started in the south since the early tenth century, even before the annexation of Lotharingia by the Empire, were not limited to the restoration of existing, hence Carolingian, houses. The interests of the feudal lords and great nobles as lords of their own churches and their own monasteries, encour­ aged them to found new institutions. Thus the foundation of chapters in the main towns of castellanies and in new towns meant a step in the direc­ tion of the administrative development of the county of Flanders37. The example of the counts was followed by the great nobles, such as in HéninLiétard (before 1024)38. The coming together of secular power and reli­ gious institutions left little room for spontaneous monastery foundations : foundation and endowment went together ; the monastery lived for and by the bounty of its secular founder. To what extent ‘Church and State’ were interwoven is also clear from the Peace of G od {pax Dei) which had the object of maintaining public order by means of ecclesiastical control. Its proclamation for the ecclesiastical province of Rheims in 1023 of course

33 Hallinger, Gorze-Kluny, i, pp. 282-84. 36 Ibid., I, p. 297. 37 J. Dhondt, ‘Développement urbain et initiative comtale en Flandre au XIe siècle’, Revue du Nord, 30 (1948), pp. 153-54. 38 E. Van Mingroot, ‘Kritisch onderzoek omtrent de datering van de Gesta episcoporum Cameracensium’, Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis — Revue belge de Philologie et iH istoire, 53 (1975), p. 330.

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also applied to Flanders39, and so penetrated for the first time into the LowCountries. The reform movements we have just outlined were in essence verylimited ; they were restricted to the established organization of the Church and only took place within a context tolerated by the secular powers. Fundamentally the atmosphere of reform did not differ from what had already occurred in Carolingian times, with Benedict of Amane, or even Chrodegang of Metz. W hat happened was conservative, perpetuating the existing order. Flowever, at about the same time traces also appeared here and there of a new kind of thinking and believing. Religious and theo­ logical theories were proclaimed among the wider masses of the popula­ tion, with social repercussions which were looked at with suspicion by the ‘establishment’. A great deal has already been written about their origin and about the theories themselves, and it is a subject that more than ever fascinates historians and theologians. Suffice it to point out that the criti­ cal mood which underlies these ‘heretical’ approaches is undoubtedly connected with the general revival and vitality to which the world of around AD 1000 was witness. The scarcity of the sources about the heret­ ical behaviour of groups and individuals, certainly in a limited area such as the Low Countries, does not allow the phenomenon to be placed in a general context, without running the risk of making unjustified generaliza­ tions. We therefore restrict ourselves to drawing attention to the most important centre of agitation within this area : Auras. There in 1025 Bishop Gerard recorded the presence of a group of heretics from Italy called Gandulphi after their spiritual leader. It is not known whether they had any links with the heresy reported in Orléans in 1022. Their doctrine showed some similarities with that of the Cathars, and with more generally prevalent ‘deviations’ : renouncing the world, suppressing physical desire, manual labour... issues, certainly, which also occurred in orthodoxy and which would soon afterwards become essential in the revival of the ideal of the vita apostolica. Sacramental issues (such as doubts about the value of baptism) and points of dogma (denying transubstantiation in the Eucha-

39 E. I. Strubbe, ‘La paix de Dieu dans le Nord de la France’, in La Faix, Recueils de la Société Jean Bodin, 14 (Brussels, 1962), p. 493; J. F. Lemarignier, ‘Paix et réforme monastique en Flandre et en Normandie autour de l’année 1023’, in Droit privé et institutions régionales. Etudes historiques offertes à ]ean Yver (Paris, 1976), p. 457.

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rist) came under discussion, too. And in Liège, Bishop Wazo, and after him Theoduinis (1048-1075), also reacted against dangerous heresies, always emphasizing that punishment should be administered in modera­ tion40.

40 E. Van Mingroot, ‘Acta synodi Attrebatensis (1025)’, Studia Gratiana, 22 (1976), p. 229 (= Mélanges G. Fransen).

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The Church in the Low Countries between Gregorian Reform and Avignon

Introduction n the preceding chapter, we reviewed the history of the Church up to about 1070. This period — roughly the late eleventh century — was, after all, a period of change for social evolution in general and for the situation of the Church in particular. W hat especially characterized the Church since the Carolingian period (why not say since the beginning of conversion), was the influence exercised by laymen. They were, of course, in no way involved in anything to do with theology and administering the sacraments — with the exception of the emperor, in so far as he can be considered a layman — but where organization and material matters were concerned, they pulled all the strings. No abbey was ever endowed except by laymen ; however, no abbey escaped secularization and the usurpation of its property whenever its lay lord — at any level — found it necessary. This was now about to change. The Church was on the threshold of insti­ tutional and religious upheavals which fitted entirely into the great drive that began to inspire society, conveniently, if not quite accurately, labelled the Twelfth-Century Renaissance. This term can be justified in the first place if by renaissance we not only mean a cultural and elitist phenome­ non, but one affecting all branches of human society, and second, if by the twelfth century we mean a long period running from the middle of the eleventh century into the thirteenth. As for religious history — which is the only aspect we are dealing with here — the ground had already been

I

prepared for the renaissance in the so-called ‘Iron Age’ which was the tenth century, just as the seeds of agrarian, demographic and other evolu­ tions were sown then. After this brief sketch of developments in the eleventh centu­ ry — which at the same time should justify why we start with just this period — the first question to arise concerns the geographical back­ ground.

The Geographical Background The early Middle Ages had seen the dioceses come into being : Tournai, Cambrai, Thérouanne and even earlier, Tongres, which via Maastricht eventually became based at Liège1. They had all been centres of Roman government institutions and were located in one of the northernmost cor­ ners of the Roman Empire. On the other side of the great river delta, and on the other side of the Rhine, where the Roman presence had been min­ imal, Utrecht was founded in the late seventh and early eighth century as a result of the conversion of the Frisians; clearly a different origin. This is a conclusion which will also be discussed later. But in this group of dio­ ceses yet another range of contradictions can be seen. The Roman situation had also had its influence on a larger organizational network, the church provinces, of which the capitals — in other words, the seat of the arch­ bishop — were the same as the capitals of the old Roman provinciae : the centre of Belgica Secunda was Rheims : Rheims became the church prov­ ince for Tournai, Cambrai and Thérouanne. The centre of Germania Se­ cunda was Cologne : Cologne became the church province for Liège and by extension for Utrecht. This division still made some real sense in the times of the Carolingians, who, after all, regarded themselves as the spir­ itual heirs of the old Imperatores Romanorum. However, these frontiers laid down in the past had little or nothing in common with the territorial subdivisions which were a living reality in the later eleventh century. The great Carolingian Empire had long ago disintegrated ; even the sub-king­ doms which had sprung from it showed barely any realistic reminder of 1 L. Milis, ‘Kerstening en kerkelijke instellingen tot circa 107 O’, in Algemene geschiedenis der Nederlanden (Haarlem, 1981), I, pp. 265-85.

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it. To the west of the Scheldt, the imperial frontier after 843, Flanders was on the way up, as free as possible from France ; to the east and the north there were lords with ambitions to form their own principalities on impe­ rial territory. A new grid had been placed over the old one, blurring the old frontiers : Flanders expanded under Baldwin IV and V on the right bank of the Scheldt, and later became united in a personal union with Flainault, which itself would be allied to Flolland in the late thirteenth century. In other words, the Church organization, established since Roman times or the early Middle Ages, did not fit into the new pattern. As a result there were conflicts of interest groups, each wanting to adapt the church bound­ aries to the political ones to their own advantage. The final implementation of this would only begin to be achieved in 1559, when Philip n could carry through a totally new ecclesiastical organization, in which the bound­ aries of the Church in the Low Countries were made to match those of the Seventeen Provinces (and Liège). In the half millennium which lay between, there were only a few adjustments which were successful, and undoubtedly also a series of failed attempts2. It began at the end of the eleventh century, when the double diocese of Cambrai-Arras was split up3. The mounting problems of the Investiture Controversy explain this. Cam­ brai as a loyal member of the Imperial Church played its role on the far side of the frontier, in Crown Flanders, and therefore in the kingdom of France. Politically this was an undesirable situation. In addition there was a religious effort by the Arras clergy to separate themselves from the ‘Simonist’ Church of Cambrai. Urban n, in the spirit of the Dictatus Papae of 1075, considered he had the right to split or merge dioceses as he liked. Certainly in the period 1092 to 1094, when he carried through the split of Arras and Cambrai, he stated his intention to restore to their former state the twelve dioceses of the old province of Belgica Secunda — which on the basis of the equation civitas = diocese were supposed to have existed.

2

3

In 1303, plans existed to suggest the pope (in the context of the war between Flanders and France) to set up one or two new bishoprics in Flanders. (É. de Moreau, Histoire de l’Église en Belgique, (Brussels, 1945), m, pp. 276-77). In Brabant, attempts were made in the thirteenth, and again in the fourteenth century to separate Brabant from Cambrai and Limburg from Liège. Henry I (c. 1230), John n, and especially John m (1332 and 1336) urged this, in vain, with the pope. H. Sproemberg, ‘Die Gründung des Bistums Arras im Jahre 1094’, in Mittelalter und demokratische Geschichtsschreibung (Berlin 1971), pp. 119-53.

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After the death of Radbod in 1098, the clergy of Tournai, encouraged by this measure, began to campaign for the dissolution of the almost sevencenturies-old union with Noyon4. All their efforts failed — and attempts were made every time the sees became vacant — as a result of ecclesiasti­ cal or political opposition. Not until 1146 was the separation achieved on the orders of Eugene in and at the instigation of Bernard of Clairvaux. The royal influence emanating from Noyon diminished temporarily, al­ though the town of Tournai itself was in the royal demesne. Tournai came increasingly under the influence of the counts of Flanders. All possible influences therefore played their part in the attempts at separation we have already identified. In 1112 there was an attempt by the papal supporters to reduce the area of the imperial diocese of Utrecht : the islands (of Zeeland) were handed over to the control of John of Warneton, bishop of Thérouanne, a fervent reformist. This aroused protest from the Utrecht clergy, who slandered the negotiator sent to the pope, Tanchelm (of whom more later), making him out to be a dangerous heretic. In effect there was no real reduction of the territory of the Utrecht diocese5. Thérouanne itself was in fact threatened with being the victim of division, but this is thought to have been sparked off by a ‘historic’ pro­ nouncement by Bishop John himself6. This episcopal seat after all covered the old civitates of Thérouanne and Boulogne. But had Boulogne ever been an independent diocese, such as Arras or Tournai, which had earlier been the other victims of the drive for mergers ? In the twelfth century people, at least in Boulogne, were completely convinced this had been so — and the Liber Floridus of 1120 claimed that' it had been one of the four civitates (which in the spirit of the time meant the episcopal seats) of Flanders (together with Arras, Thérouanne and Tournai). Statements by Saint-Omer (seventh century) as bishop of Boulogne and Thérouanne were the explanation of this, and in the past (the ninth century) Flincmar

4

A. Dimier, ‘Saint Bernard et le rétablissement de l’évêché de Tournai’, in Horae Tornacenses (Tournai, 1971), pp. 48-59.

5 6

J. M. de Smet, ‘De monnik Tanchelm en de Utrechtse bisschopszetel in 1112-1114’, in Scrinium Lovaniense (Louvain, 1961), pp. 208-17. G. Coolen, ‘L’évêché de Boulogne’, Bulletin de la société académique des antiquaires de laM orinie , 17 (1948), p. 183.

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of Rheims had called Boulogne the seat of a diocese7. From this it appears that as a result of the separation of Arras and Cambrai all the boundaries of dioceses in the Low Countries (except, apparendy, of Liège) were called into question for some time. For Thérouanne-Boulogne the difficulties reached a peak in 1159, on the occasion of the consecration of Milo H. However, a separate diocese of Boulogne would not happen. For that Thérouanne would first have to be razed by Charles v and the diocese redivided by Philip n into three new bishoprics (Boulogne, Saint-Omer and Ypres). However, the static picture of the distribution of bishoprics that people tend to adhere to proves in every way to have been thorough­ ly shaken up in the ‘Gregorian period’.

The Gregorian Reform, the Investiture Controversy and its Repercussions, c. 1070-1200 The term Gregorian reform is used to indicate the movement for the re­ newal of the Church in the second half of the eleventh century. It is called after its most eminent representative and promoter, Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085), who even before his election as pope had made the Ubertas of the Church a priority. However, the concept has to be seen in a much wider context. It includes more and other matters than could be found on Gregory’s programme. It concerned the whole movement for awaken­ ing awareness within the Church and authenticity within the faith. In a first section we will see how under the influence of this awakening the relationships between the lay world and the Church were changed ; in a second section we will see how the pursuit of authenticity influenced re­ ligious life. To talk of the lay world and the Church as being opposed is wrong, because it assumes a split between the two spheres ; it is in fact precisely the Gregorian reform that created a sharper awareness of the differences between them. Not that it created the separation of Church and State — an anachronistic concept — but because it destroyed the visible evidence of secular influence on the Church. Moreover, it is necessary to guard against

7

PL, 126, col. 294.

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indiscriminately accepting the accusations which supporters of the G re­ gorian reform laid at the door of their opponents. The quality of Christi­ anity and of ecclesiastical organization was not inferior in the Imperial Church. The Church’s pursuit of greater libertas was played out at every level : emperor against pope for leadership as G od’s representative over the societas Christiana, territorial prince against bishop, feudal lord against parish priest. It is plain that in these rivalries it was not only religious or transcendental considerations that played a role. It was essentially a mat­ ter of power : the power of the lay rulers was only possible if they could also dominate men’s souls through the Church, the power of the Church over these souls was only possible through its freedom from the lay world. This did not mean that the parties involved had a clear understanding of the workings of this power struggle. For instance, lay lords devoted them­ selves to a qualitative improvement of Church and faith, even when that would harm their interests (politically and economically) in the long term. All the actions of the counts of Flanders for the reform of monastic life in the eleventh century are proof of that8. It was not necessary to wait for Gregory vn and his success before attempts at restoration were under­ taken in the Low Countries, although it is true that they first took place in the dioceses belonging to France : Thérouanne, Tournai, Arras (after it was split), and only later in the dioceses in the Empire (Cambrai, Liège and finally Utrecht). Liège occupied a key position, associated with the strong support enjoyed there by the emperors until the end of the controversy. Henry iv died there in 1106 and found a strong supporter in Bishop Otbert. More­ over, Aix-la-Chapelle — which was once expected to become the new Rome — was part of the diocese. Here, more than elsewhere, a role was played by polemical literature. Sigebert, a monk at Gembloux, defended the Imperial Church in his treatises and even in his hagiographie works9. Rupert of Deutz, his contemporary, introduced the Dragon of the Apoca-

8

9

Milis, ‘Kerstening’, p. 284 ; N. N. Huyghebaert, ‘Adela van Frankrijk, gravin van Vlaanderen, stichteres van de abdij van Mesen (ca. 1017-1079)’, lepers kwartier, 15 (1979), pp. 80-91. J. Ziese, ‘Bischofsamt und Königtum’, Historisches Jahrbuch, 97-98 (1978), pp. 108— 30.

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lypse to the scene in theological and historical works10. Finally, Wibald of Stavelot, a loyal subject of pope and emperor, helped to bring about the precarious balance of the concordat of Worms11.

BETWEEN POPE AND EMPEROR

The influence from both sides on the Church in the Low Countries until 1122; the decline o f the Imperial Church after that date It was a coincidence that all the dioceses in the Low Countries, except for Thérouanne, experienced lengthy episcopates between 1068-1076 and 1091-1099, which aided the complete infiltration of reformist ideas. In Arras the succession problems of Urban n had been exploited to gain independence from Cambrai : Lambert of Guines, a friend of John of Warneton, together with a whole team of reformers, who in part were also to be found round John in Thérouanne, made sure of the dissemina­ tion of new ideas. Since 1030 — at least if we are to believe the claims of a Gregory vn and Urban n — unworthy bishops had succeeded each other at Thér­ ouanne, and were moreover supported by an unworthy count, Robert the Frisian, while the clergy held “in one hand the body of a sleazy woman, and in the other the body of Christ”. The great accusation was simony; for contemporaries quite a normal practice, interpretable as more or less equivalent to a promotional gift, but for rigorous reformers a plague to be rooted out. That it was not as bad as it was made out to be is clear from the stimulus given by Bishop Gerard to religious life12. In 1100 John of Wameton, who favoured reform, became bishop of Thérouanne ; a firstclass character, who would have a stimulating influence elsewhere too. Being a former pupil of Yvo of Chartres, a secular canon at Lille, a monk

10 J. van Engen, ‘Rupert von Deutz und das sogenannte Chronicon sancti Laurentii Leodiensis’, Deutsches Archiv fü r Erforschung des Mittelalters, 35 (1979), p. 59. 11 E-J. Jakobi, Wibald von Stablo und Corvey (1098-1158), benediktinischer A b t in der frühen Stauferzeit, Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Westfalen, 19 (Münster, 1979), pp. 131—49. 12 Moreau, Histoire de I Église, n, pp. 65-73 and 110-14 ; C. Dereine, ‘Gérard, évêque de Thérouanne (1083-1096) face aux moines exempts’, Mémoires de la société âhistoire de Comines-Warneton et de la région, 10 (1980), pp. 249-64.

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at Mont-Saint-Eloi and archdeacon of the diocese of Arras since the 1094 split, he fought against immoral clergy and those guilty of simony. He encouraged the foundation of new abbeys, surrounded himself with sup­ porters of the new order and in 1100, with other bishops, at the request of the count, proclaimed a Peace of G od13. This summary sketch of a century’s evolution — 1030 to 1130 — can be repeated for each of the dioceses in the Low Countries. In Tournai, still attached to Noyon, there was a similar evolution : Bishop Radbod (1068— 1098) was accused of having bought his bishopric from the kingofFrance. The whole papal establishment, which had just before that been fully oc­ cupied with legati a latere and synods, swung into action. But in the end Urban n let him go scot-free. The accusations and suspicions were apparendy aimed at bringing down more heads than were necessary. In Cambrai, too, a single episcopate covered the time of crisis. Ger­ ard (1076-1092) was appointed by canonical election and later invested by the em peror — as had long been the custom in the Imperial Church — which afterwards drew the wrath of the newly appointed Pope Gregory vn down on his head. Here, too, a reconciliation followed, but the introduction of reformist ideas against simony and concubinage aroused opposition to the bishop among the clergy. Gerard’s death was followed by the struggle for independence in Arras and by the double election in Cambrai itself of a Gregorian and a supporter of the emperor. Emperor, pope and count went into action, with the pope in 1103 com­ missioning Count Robert n to undertake a crusade against the ‘head of the heretics’, Henry IV. Not long afterwards Odo, the abbot of St M artin’s abbey at Tournai, who had been converted to the newer, Benedictine, opinions, ascended the episcopal throne. This meant the first break­ through of the reformist supporters at the head of Cambrai. There is no doubt that it was achieved more easily there — the diocese was dependent upon Rheims in France — than at Liège or Utrecht. Certainly, the em­ peror, Henry v, with Bishop Burchard, immediately afterwards showed that he did not give up easily.

13 E. I. Strubbe, ‘La paix de Dieu dans le Nord de la France’, in La Paix, Recueils de la Société Jean Bodin, 14 (Brussels, 1961), p. 501.

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At Liège, Henry of Verdun, a “creation” of Henry IV, occupied the episcopal throne from 1073 to 1091. Faced with the allegations and grow­ ing hunger for power of Rome, he tried to hold a middle course between both parties. There was no comment from the side of the pope on any aspect of his attitude to the clergy. His successor, O tbert (until 1119) was a strong supporter of Henry IV : against his son Henry V and against the pope, against the abbeys and against some of the Lotharingian nobles, but all for different reasons, of which the expansion of the principality — the prince-bishopric — was not the least important. His successor, the prov­ ost of Liège cathedral, Alexander of Julich, was granted the office by the emperor, was deposed and then again in 1123 canonically elected and of­ ficially installed by Lothair n with a secular investiture. The concordat of Worms, which forbade spiritual investiture by the king, was effective, but the balance was precarious14. Evolution at Utrecht was similar to that at Liège, although here loyalty to the emperor was a decisive factor for longer. Bishop Conrad, in office from 1076 to 1099, was a loyal supporter of the emperor: he at­ tended imperial diets, took part in Henry V’s travel to Rome (Römerzug), and carried out diplomatic missions. So only at Utrecht was there in the late eleventh century still no sign of a growing rivalry and hence of hesita­ tion on the part of the bishops. This only occurred under Burchard (up to 1112) and even more under Godbold in the last years of the Investiture Controversy, and certainly after 111615. The swing in the balance of power is clearly shown by the statistics drawn up for Liège. In the eleventh century the decisive role in the selec­ tion of bishops lay in seven cases with the emperor and in two with the cathedral chapter. In all the elections in the twelfth and the first half of the thirteenth century (fifteen cases in all) the chapter is the most important party; later the balance swung in favour of the pope: eight against four (for the chapter) in the period up to 1378. However, the clear tendency towards recruitment from Lotharingia — almost always from the leading nobility — was interrupted when in the first half of the thirteenth century

14 Moreau, Histoire deîÉglise, n, pp. 59-64 and 73-110. u R. R. Post, Kerkgeschiedenis van Nederland in de Middeleeuwen (Utrecht, 1957), I, pp. 96-117.

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Frenchmen were chosen in three out of four cases16. This swing was in the first instance the effect of the Concordat of Worms. This compromise brought an end to the Investiture Controversy, but not to the rivalry be­ tween the two governing principles : the papacy and the empire, of which the first sought to acquire the hegemony over Christendom and the second to retain it. It meant the decline of the Imperial Church system, which for a century and a half had to uphold the cohesion within the Holy Roman Empire. In two privilegia Calixtus H and Henry V laid down the rights of each party in the appointment of prelates. The emperor was in future denied the right of investiture with ring and crosier. He might be present at the election, which had to proceed ‘canonically’, he might act as arbitra­ tor in disputed elections, and he might bestow the secular investiture before consecration took place : a system of reciprocal control, which in fact only became possible after a great deal of argument. The problems still did not go away. Various factors continued dur­ ing the rest of the twelfth century to disturb the relationship between pope and emperor by altering the precarious balance of power in one direction or another. It is not surprising that this phenomenon showed itself strongly in the Low Countries : a frontier region of the two continental powers (France and the Empire) and with various regions moving towards greater autonomy. The power vacuum, caused by the weakening imperial power, was filled by regional and local powers. This is the great determinant of the history of the bishoprics in the twelfth century. It is not the intention to describe this here in as much detail as the investiture controversy itself, but only in broad outline. O f the six dioceses which roughly covered the Low Countries, four came clearly into the Flemish sphere of influence in the course of the twelfth century, even when the episcopal seats were not actually located in the county itself. The increased Flemish influence obvi­ ously reflects quite clearly the preponderant position exercised by the county in the whole region, and also outside it. The count of Flanders was — to paraphrase Hans Van Werveke — of European dimensions. Within the theoretical France of 843 there was no Imperial Church problem

16 L. Genicot, ‘Haut clergé et noblesse dans le diocèse de Liège du x f au XVe siècle’, in A del und Kirche. Gerd Tellenbach... dargebracht (Freiburg, 1968), pp. 237-58.

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and it was still too early for any Gallicanism. The reform activities which came under discussion there from the last decades of the eleventh century onwards, clearly show loyalty to the pope and to his growing power. At Thérouanne, Arras and Tournai the count of Flanders determined as much as possible the choice of bishops and great abbots by exerting pressure on the elections themselves. In Tournai this coincided with a temporary decline in the influence of the French crown, which until the separation from Noyon had been evident, as was fully illustrated in the case of Simon of Vermandois (1123-1146), a member of the royal family. However, the political situation at the end of the century caused a reversal : the diocese of Arras and most of the diocese of Thérouanne were lost to Flanders with the death of Philip of Alsace in 1191 and came under strong royal influence ; subsequendy the same increase of power was dem­ onstrated again at Tournai by the successful policies of Philip n Augustus. In the thirteenth century we shall see how this French influence even made itself felt outside the frontiers of France — so in Lotharingian territory. Flemish influence, too, was clear at Cambrai in the mid-twelfth century, which also meant that indirect influence could be exerted on Brabant and Hainault, which were largely covered by this diocese. The most striking example of Flemish influence is reflected by Robert of Aire, who has been given a clear profile by recent studies17. H e was a ‘homo novus’ from Chartres who, until his violent death in 1174, became a con­ fidant of Philip of Alsace : first as an accumulator of all kinds of ecclesias­ tical offices : provost of the chapters of Aire, Saint-Omer, Cassel, Douai and Lille, and, as provost of St Donaas in Bruges, also as chancellor of Flanders. In 1172 he became bishop of Arras and in 1174 bishop elect of Cambrai, replacing Peter of Alsace, Philip’s brother, who was marrying for dynastic reasons. More than in Cambrai, the imperial influence continues to be no­ ticeable in the imperial bishoprics of Utrecht and Liège. Here secular interests — respectively the Sticht and the prince bishopric — were far more important than in Cambrai. The power vacuum referred to earlier,

17 H. Van Werveke, Thomas Becket, Filips van de Fizas en Robrecht van Aire, Mededelingen van de Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Künsten van België. Klasse der Letteren, 32/1 (Brussels, 1970), pp. 6-10; Idem, Een Vlaamse graafvan Europees formaat: Filips van de Elzas (Haarlem, 1976), pp. 35-38.

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was by the end of the Investiture Controversy evident in both dioceses. After all, canonical election — not otherwise specified — offered oppor­ tunities for the local magnates : at Utrecht in 1127 Andreas, a member of the Cuyk family, became bishop, and was succeeded by prominent local dignitaries. At Liège this tendency was already noticeable in 1119 in the succession to Otbert, an imperial supporter: first a son of the count of Namur, Frederick, and later a brother of the count of Louvain, Albero I. This tendency would continue because more and more prominent families infiltrated their sons into cathedral chapters, which became increasingly responsible for the elections. Occasionally German influence was still seen in Lotharingia. In 1130 and 1136 at Cambrai there was some jostling on both sides between pope and emperor. At Utrecht Conrad in had some difficulty in helping his candidate, who was admittedly also supported by his ‘neighbours’, the counts of Gelre, Holland and Cleves, effectively into power, and it was only under Frederick i Barbarossa that he was completely successful. Im ­ mediately this most powerful among the Hohenstaufen emperors was ap­ pointed, he became the only one who successfully returned to a not unimportant extent to the imperial church system. Nonetheless it appears to have been impossible to go back to it entirely. The power of the pope on the one hand, and on the other the powers of the regional princes, had grown too much. But when at Liège a certain Henry of Leez proved to be a faithful supporter of the emperor (even podestà at Milan) and chose his side — as the other imperial bishops had done in the schism between Alexander in and Victor iv (1160) — then it appeared that the front which had fallen apart in the first years of the twelfth century, had again acquired cohesion. That in this context ‘foreigners’ again appear as bishops, is part of a normal evolution. W hen in 1167 Frederick I appointed a nobleman from Breisgau, Radulf of Zähringen, as bishop of Liège, this fits in with the pattern of the prelates of three-quarters of a century earlier, but also with that of his immediate predecessors18. This was because the imperial policy of appointment did not necessarily have to go against the interests of the regional magnates. Radulf of Zähringen was related to the count of Hainault and of Luxemburg. Another example is the appointment in 18 J.-L. Küpper, Raoul de Zähringen, évêque de Liège. 1167-1191, Académie royale de Belgique. Mémoires. Classe des Lettres, 62/2 (Brussels, 1974), pp. 66-68.

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Utrecht of Baldwin, the brother of Floris in of Holland (1178). This fam­ ily, loyal to the emperor and fast gaining power, helped the emperor in his bitter struggle with Henry the Lion. But of course, the emperor’s intention was to regain his authority in the north-western corner of his empire. Henry vi could not possibly retain his father’s power. The elections at Liège in 1191 and 1192, which culminated in the murder of (Saint) Albert of Louvain, proved the last occasion on which the imperial influence was felt so strongly. In 1193-1194 the disputed succession was setded in Rome. The balance of power therefore again turned to the advantage of the local rulers (as, for instance, in 1196 at Utrecht in the quarrel between the counts of Holland and Gelre) and particularly to the advantage of Inno­ cent in, who became the most powerful pope of the Middle Ages19. Bishops appointed or elected by the emperor, the king, regional magnates or the cathedral chapters... There has still been too little re­ search to discover the precise procedure followed, although some work has been done recently for Liège20. There, twelfth-century elections took place in the bosom of an assembly reminiscent of the mixed (clerical and lay) synod, in which the prestige of the cathedral chapter gained in power. The recruitment of members from among the sons of great lords, and the presence of those lords in persona, strengthened their role in these assem­ blies. The ruler could if necessary change the normal course of the elec­ tion. This presupposes a certain power relationship. The accumulation of offices had the result that indirectly other institutions than the cathedral chapter could make themselves heard and precisely because of this the role of the chapter of St Lambert’s was reduced. The ideal of an election a clero et populo was followed, but in a strictly aristocratic context.

19 Moreau, Histoire de l’Église, m, pp. 18-99; Post, Kerkgeschiedenis, I, pp. 118-28; J. Lejeune, Liège et son pays. Naissance d u n e patrie (xnf'xrv* siècles), Bibliothèque de la Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres de l’Université de Liège, 112 (Liège, 1948), pp. 1525 ; J. Lestoquoy, Les évêques dArras, Mémoires de la Commission départementale des monuments historiques du Pas-de-Calais, 4/1 (Fontenay-le-Comte, 1942), pp. 7-13. 20 Küpper, Raoul de Zähringen, pp. 21-31.

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The dissolution o f the Eigenkirchen system ; patronage ; restitution o f tithes The reform movement did not affect only the position of the emperor. Every form of lay ownership or lay right of disposal over church affairs was from then on condemned. This is clearly demonstrated by canon law. That there should be some discrepancy between the claims and the real­ ity goes without saying. Here, too, it would be wrong to ascribe the attack on secular rights solely to the Gregorian reform stricto sensu. It was not as if the first reaction to them was in 1059 and the following years21. There had already been several cases in earlier years of the renunciation of church rights and property. For instance, in 1046 a layman presented his church at Haaltert (near Alost), then still in Lotharingia, to the bishop of Cambrai for him to instai a chapter of canons in it. W hen Baldwin v and Adela of Flanders founded abbeys and chapters, including those at Ename, Lille and Messines, altaria and tithes were part of the endowment22. But there has not yet been any profound research into these early cessiones and their connection with legal rules and moral considerations (such as guilt feelings created by the new rules)23. It is plain, however, that later a large number of forged charters were drawn up, which date from that time. Moreover, it is striking that gifts of important landed property to monasteries gener­ ally stop where there are gifts of altaria, which themselves were redeemed by gifts of tithes24. The Eigenkirchen system evolved into a right of patronage25, in which the former feudal lord only retained the right to nominate a candi­ date for parish priest (the right of presentation instead of the right of ap-

21 R. R. Post, Eigenkerken en bisschoppelijk gezag in het diocees Utrecht tot de x n f eeuw, Bijdragen van het Instituut voor Middeleeuwse Geschiedenis der Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht, 13 (Utrecht, 1928), p. 52. 22 Huyghebaert, ‘Adela van Frankrijk’, pp. 80-91. 23 The Hst for Tournai, Thérouanne and Cambrai can be found in D. Lambrecht, De synode in het oude bisdom Doornik gesitueerd in de Europese ontwikkeling (UnpubHshed doctoral dissertation, Ghent University, 1976), pp. 679-93. 24 H. Platelle, Le temporel de t abbaye de Saint-Amand des origines à 1340 (Paris, 1962), pp. 150-52 and 191-94; C. Renardy, ‘Recherches sur la restitution ou la cession de dîmes aux éghses dans le diocèse de Liège du XIe au début du XIVe siècle’, Le Moyen Âge, 76 (1970), pp. 258 and 260. 25 P. Landau, Ius Patronatus, Forschungen zur kirchlichen Rechtsgeschichte und zum Kirchenrecht, 12 (Cologne, 1975), pp. 16-37.

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pointment). H e did, however, retain the ownership of the bare church property. The priest had the altare at his disposal, the altar to which a proportion of the tithes (sometimes a third, sometimes half) and the of­ fertories were linked. The great influence of the abbeys and the chapters resulted in very few churches actually being handed over by laymen to the bishops, as had been foreseen. It was usually the monasteries which prof­ ited from such transfers and disputed cases were often decided in their favour2627.The abbey was only exceptionally responsible for the actual serv­ ice of the church (cura animarum, the cure of souls). The normal system developed that the institution or the abbot became the persona, that is the theoretically responsible priest, but with the income effectively at their disposal. The actual office was exercised by a vicarius, vicar, who for his maintenance was allotted a much more modest share, the portio congrua17. The readiness of abbeys to gain possession of churches and tithes, wheth­ er or not they then exercised the cure of souls themselves, of course de­ pended a great deal on their initial observance. At Liège it is notable that the regular canons, and particularly the Premonstratensians, started the movement for the restitution of tithes after 1120-1130, so after they had started to expand. The Cistercians, who might not acquire tithes, nonethe­ less did so from 1160 onwards28. Codification o f canon law and its connection with the reform movement The whole struggle for the emancipation of the Church was carried out on the basis of ‘testimonies’, which could be found in the Bible, in the Fathers of the Church, in conciliary canons, or in papal utterances. The systematic arrangement of them in ‘canonical collections’ revived strong­ ly, but was, of course, not new. It is, however, important to point out that right from the beginning reformers made use of these collections, and were themselves also active in this field. It demonstrates precisely the parallel-

26 For example, N. N. Huyghebaert, ‘Les abbés de Saint-Bertin et la restauration du diocèse de Tournai’, Bulletin de la société académique des antiquaires de la Morinie, 20 (1966), pp. 419-22. 27 See, among others, J. Verbesselt, Hetparochiewezen in Brabant tot het einde van de 13de eeuw (Zoutleeuw, 1950), I, pp. 223-26. 28 Renardy, ‘Recherches sur la restitution’, pp. 210-19.

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ism between the reform movement and canon law. The role which the ninth-century Decretales Pseudo-isidorianae, undoubtedly from the church province of Rheims, played at Rome in the second half of the eleventh century, is well known29. In the Low Countries, in particular the example of Yvo of Chartres was clearly effective. Both his collections, the Panormia and the Tripartita, were models for a series of collections which were used in the centres of reform in the Southern Netherlands. The collectio novem partium, the collectio decem partium and the collectio Atrebatensis all three have links with Arras and Thérouanne in the early twelfth century. Both the bishops there, Lambert and John, were former students of Yvo of Chartres, and as such were seen as promoters of the new ideas30.

THE RELIGIOUS REVIVAL

Cluny In the previous chapter of this volume Cluny was mentioned in passing. In the Low Countries, the Burgundian abbey of Cluny, founded in 910, did not develop its reform programme to the Benedictine observance before the end of the eleventh century. The reason for this lay in the oc­ currence of a num ber of Lotharingian and hence, as it were, autoch­ thonous, movements, which had previously been purged in religious matters. The wide success of Cluny, which included the removal of lay influence in its programme and particularly saw the celebration of the liturgy as its essential task, was the result of centralization. Unlike tradi­ tional Benedictinism, in which the abbeys were independent of each oth­ er, even when one was a daughter foundation of another, their object was a firm structure, in which the abbot of Cluny was the head of the order. He could intervene directly in the dependent monasteries, which were in fact not abbeys, but priories. The fact that in the Low Countries, and particularly in the south, there were already such very important abbeys,

29 L. Waelkens and D. Van den Auweele, ‘La collection de Thérouanne en DClivres à l’abbaye de Saint-Pierre-au-Mont-Blandin: le codex Gandavensis 235’, Sacris erudiri, 24 (1980), pp. 116-23. 30 H. Fuhrmann, Einfluss und Verbreitung der pseudo-isidorianischen Fälschungen, Schriften der MGH, 24 (Stuttgart, 1973), n, pp. 346-53.

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which had already been subjected to a purge by the previously mentioned reform movements, explains why no more could usually be achieved here than the introduction of the consuetudines, the customs, of Cluny. It was difficult to see how the unquestioned leadership of the abbot of Cluny could be accepted in centuries-old, rich and powerful abbeys, such as St Bertin’s. The monks of that abbey had in fact opposed the introduction of the Cluniae customs, when their abbot, Lambert, in consultation with Anselm of Canterbury, Clementia of Flanders and the bishop of Thérouanne, planned their introduction in 1099. The counts of Flanders and their kin favoured Lambert’s actions, just as they had previously favoured the reform movements. In subsequent years these practices were in fact introduced in old, important abbeys, such as St Vaast’s, St Peter’s and St Bavo’s, as well as in the more recent St Winoc’s in Bergues. But there was no question of real incorporation31. Even before St Bertin’s, the practices were introduced in Anchin (before 1092) which had been founded in 1079 near Douai, but was actually situated in Hainault. Spurred on by Alvisus, abbot in 1111, Cluny’s influence was spread to Marchiennes and Lobbes32. In Liège, which was in the church province of Cologne, there had, on the contrary, been direct foundations from Cluny. Aywaille near Liège dated from around 1089 and in the following decades about four more foundations followed in the Liège, Namur and Hainault areas. They were not very influential. That was more the role of the old abbeys there, such as St Jacques and St Laurent. In the north, Egmond and St Paul’s in Utrecht were marked down for possible reformation. As far as the first was concerned, its clear hostility to the new movement is evident from the Annales, but around 1130 it is believed to have been affected to some extent through Ghent. Around this time the traditional Benedictine observation appears still to have had some vitality in the diocese of Utrecht. Bethania at Ferwerd and Stavoren can be mentioned. This means that on the whole the

31 É. Sabbe, ‘La réforme clunisienne dans le comté de Flandre au début du xn' siède’, Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis — Revue belge de philologie et âhistoire , 9 (1930), pp. 121-38. 32 H. Sproemberg, Alvisus A b t von Anchin (1111-1131), Historische Studien, 202 (Berlin, 1931), pp. 117-22.

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area was roughly about half a century behind the south, where, for exam­ ple, the Flemish abbey of St Winoc’s (Sint-Winoksbergen) was already founded in 1022-1030, and Ename in 1063. Within 150 years the traditional Benedictines in the Low Countries had been offered an opportunity to reform four times. Flanders in par­ ticular had taken advantage of this every time. In Liège the reforms were frustrated — at least the latest — by the conflict between pope and em­ peror. Cluny’s struggle for emancipation was in contrast to the loyalty which the Liège bishops, particularly Otbert, would show to the emperor until 1122. In any event, these reforms tried to patch up the Carolingian view of monastic life. But around this time far-reaching social changes were sowing new seeds which presaged a brand-new religiosity. The ideal of poverty, hermits, Wanderprediger That Cluny’s progress was overtaken in the first half of the twelfth cen­ tury was the result of the acceleration that had occurred. If we assess the cause of this religious revival, we can find no clear answer, unless we as­ cribe it to the crisis brought about by the expansive ‘twelfth century’ (and we know that in fact it started earlier than 1100). Did something like a spiritual collapse occur in the face of all the innovations, all the possibili­ ties offered by the new age ? Fiad old certainties — and so securities, de­ spite the hard times — been breached, with all the consequences of this ? There is indeed a good case to be made for ascribing to this the return to the sources which can be observed. A return to the sources indeed. It can­ not be emphasized enough that in the Middle Ages innovations always had to be presented as the return to a state which had existed in the past, but had been degraded by decadence. Innovations in themselves had a negative reception, and it is likely that only when this way of thinking could be overcome, would society make rapid progress. But there is no question of that here yet. The poverty movement was the main element in this wave of reno­ vation. The call of the message of Christ, his example and the example of his first followers in Jerusalem, worked infectiously. This package of values had, of course, been called upon before, but was it not so that all that had already been achieved — and that was life in a community — had led to the creation of wealth ? In the period we are considering here, was the

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view of existing and past monastic life not completely of Carolingian in­ spiration : large, powerful abbeys with the Rule of Benedict as their unique guide, and embedded in the feudal structure, which was governed by static, rural characteristics ; governed also by the strong ties between the social and the judicial classes, in which the monasteries were ranged on the side of the powerful ? Here in the north-west corner of Gaul very litde of the old eremitic way of life had survived. The traces of what the IrishScots — the early-medieval missionaries from Ireland or N orthum ­ bria — had been able to introduce in this area appeared to have completely disappeared in these centuries of the triumph of classical Benedictinism. Yet the impetus for the innovations that would crop up in abun­ dance in the last years of the eleventh, in the twelfth and then again from the thirteenth century onwards, would come from the eremitic way of life. Although it is difficult to draw up a precise geography of how eremitism again came on the agenda in the Low Countries, it is likely that the influ­ ence of Italy played a part here. Undoubtedly under the influence of or­ thodox Christianity in southern Italy, people in the north, in Tuscany and Umbria, proceeded to systematize the eremitic way of life by founding Vallombrosa and Camaldoli. Around 1050 Peter Damian had even laid down a rule which was intended to regulate the life of hermits33. But this assumes some degree of advanced organization. The earliest traces, in the Low Countries too, are always those of unorganized eremitism : an indi­ vidual would withdraw from the active world to seek solitude, there to follow the example of John the Baptist, Mary Magdalene or St Antony the Hermit. By definition the hermit established himself in the wilderness, desertum, pr)|roç, where he could lead his austere life of mortification and penance. Ligerius, for instance, established himself in 1107 at the mouth of an inlet of the sea at Koksijde (West Flanders). The Dunes Abbey later grew out of this settlement. Barely twenty years earlier, around 1090, an­ other hermit, Roger, had setded in the Forest of Arrouaise, which had the reputation of sheltering dangerous brigands just on the frontier between Flanders and Vermandois. Still earlier, around 1052, one Everelmus had

33 J. Leclercq, Saint Viene Damien, ermite et homme d’Église, Uomine e dottrine, 8 (Rome, 1960), pp. 50-55.

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withdrawn to an island in the Reie at Bruges. The religious who lived there eighty years later were called pauperes Christi, the poor of Christ, as were also the followers of the other pioneers. It is the ideal for which many strove in that time : voluntary poverty in a time of increasing wealth. The hermit settlements of which we are best informed for that time, are not those we have just mentioned, but those of Ailbertus at Rolduc and of Gerlach at Houthem. The former was a canon at Tournai, who after a phase there as a hermit went to Rolduc. Following a system that we will describe further, more candidate hermits came to join him, which would lead to a monastery being founded, Kloosterrade. The Annales Rodenses outline for us in an excellent way the evolution from hermitage to monas­ tery, with every hesitation in the area of spirituality, the options available, the antagonism between clerics and laymen, and so on. It is surprising how many of these hermits were in fact laymen, and the proportion of them is probably still higher than we can estimate. It should be remembered that only ‘successful’ hermits, that is to say, hermits whose settlements later led to monasteries being established, are recorded in the sources. These were in fact mainly clerics. The ‘unsuccessful’ hermits, those without a follow­ ing, appear to have been mainly laymen. Among these laymen particu­ larly Gerlach of Houthem is an interesting and picturesque figure. A thirteenth-century vita of him has survived, which, when it has been purged of its clichés, still reveals a historical core. In fact, the clichés could just as well be kept in, because that is how it was experienced by contem­ poraries. Gerlach was a knight, who after a conversio undertook a peni­ tential journey to Rome and Jerusalem, and afterwards went to live in a hollow tree in the region of his birth. There he led a very strict life of penitence. H e fasted, he prayed, and like most of his colleagues he wore a coat of mail over a hair shirt. People came to him for advice, so he played a social role. The official church looked at it all with a suspicious eye, which, according to the vita, can only accentuate the virtues of the holy man. O n the spot where his hermitage stood, a Premonstratensian abbey was later founded, and Gerlach himself was venerated as a saint. The best examples in the Low Countries actually come from present-day Limburg. People like Ailbertus and Gerlach had been preceded by like-minded individuals in the Liège area. A tradition was then created of uninter­ rupted eremitism which lasted until about 1930. The caves in the limestone offered a popular accommodation for hermits. 100

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As well as hermits who could move about freely, there were also, of course, ‘real’ hermits who had themselves walled in (includere) in a cell built up against a church or an abbey. The Annales Rodenses, quoted ear­ lier, reported in 1130 the inclusio of a noble Roermond lady in a hermitage built against the church, and other examples are not difficult to find34. For men, but particularly for women, this became a way of ‘dying for the world’. Giving advice is an essential element in the life of a hermit, whether walled in or not. Through his contact with G od he could alleviate need and help to resolve problems. He also wanted to propagate the Gospel. This ex­ plains why in the sphere of eremitism we must also look at the Wanderprediger, the peripatetic preachers who propagated the fervour of extreme religious beliefs. Travelling round from one town to another, barefoot and suffering hardship on the example of Christ at the head of his disciples, nudus nudum Christum sequi, naked following the naked Christ. It is ob­ vious that the efforts of these reformers were not limited by frontiers, they were by definition international. If some local examples are quoted here it is purely because they happened to had from the Low Countries. One early example was a monk from St Peter’s in Ghent, Wedericus who, around 1076-1083, according to the account in the Exordium mon­ asterii Affligemensis, “invested with the permission of the papal authority travelled through Flanders and Brabant, to preach the word of G od and by his preaching to make the people of G od repent of their sins”. By his efforts six robber barons were converted, who became the founders of the abbey at Affiigem35. Much more famous and notorious were respectively N orbert of Xanten and Tanchelm. Norbert, a descendant of the lords of Gennep, was destined for the Church and acquired a benefice as a canon in the chapter of St Victor at Xanten. Entirely in conformity with the Carolingian Rule of Aix which allowed private property, he was a regular member of the courts of, respectively, Archbishop Frederick I of Cologne and the em­ peror Henry V. Through these connections Norbert is even believed to

34 Annales Rodenses, ed. by P. C. Boeren and G. W. A. Panhuysen (Assen, 1968), p. 74. 35 N. N. Huyghebaert, ‘La Vita Secunda S. Winnoci restituée à l’hagiographie gantoise’, Revue bénédictine, 81 (1971), pp. 249-57.

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have been offered the office of bishop of Cambrai. In 1115 he underwent a sudden conversion, very reminiscent of that of St Paul. H e came in con­ tact with convinced reformers (among others at Kloosterrade) and even had charges levelled against him in a synod (Fritzlar, 1118). One of the charges concerned his preaching without permission, another wearing the dress of a cleric without belonging to a regular order. H e then travelled barefoot to Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, there to ask the pope for permission to preach. Until his appointment as archbishop of Magdeburg in 1126 he continued to travel around. In 1119 his first disciples died of deprivation at Valenciennes, the result of the strict penitential regime Norbert laid down. Tanchelm’s operations were on a less international scale. They were limited to the Antwerp-Zeeland region, where on extensive preaching expeditions, dressed like a king (said his accusers), he spread his errores, his false doctrine. After his assassination his supporters were strongly at­ tacked by Norbert. The canons of Utrecht, who were involved, attributed to him things which particularly they — as adherents of the Imperial Church — could not accept, but which for Gregorians were quite normal. H ad Christ himself not been accused of his association with women ? The breakdown o f the traditional Benedictine framework: the rise o f Cîteaux Since Carolingian times no other form of monasticism than Benedictinism had been acceptable. Various waves of reformers and reforms had washed over the monasteries of the Low Countries, Cluny being the last of them. This movement had nothing to do with a more profound spiritual­ ity or the return to the sources, of which we spoke earlier. The intention was undoubtedly the same : to create a Christian society moving towards eternal life. The means were different : power as opposed to disengage­ ment, splendour as opposed to simplicity. The ideals of Cîteaux are im­ mediately evoked as an antithesis, but this is partly erroneous. O r rather, in the early stage of this new movement in the monastic world the pre­ dominance of Cîteaux is not what it would later become. Cîteaux is only one of the various movements which at the end of the eleventh century and in the first years of the twelfth developed into successful monasteries,

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and, as a result of their meteoric growth, could found new monasteries or encourage existing ones to change. There was competition at work here, in which eventually the weakest movements would have to give way. How this weakness was determined we leave in abeyance : the lack of powerful leaders, a lack of connections, or unfavourable political or geographical opportunities. As an example, let us take Savigny. Savigny in Normandy had be­ come an abbey in 1112 after its founder, Vitalis, had already spent years living as a hermit. Here the Rule of Benedict was followed to the letter. From 1122 onwards new abbeys were founded from Savigny, both in France, and in England. A few years later, for instance, they penetrated the Low Countries by converting the hermitage on the Dunes into an ab­ bey. But what characterized Savigny also characterized Cîteaux, which had in fact started earlier: the strict following of the Regula, the white habit. Then as the influence of Cîteaux increased in the Low Countries (in 1132 the abbey of Vaucelles was founded on the edge of the county of Flanders), competition started. In 1138 the Dunes abbey opted to join Cîteaux36. Another Savigny foundation, Longvillers, also founded in the diocese of Thérouanne in 1135, went over with the whole Savigny order to Cîteaux in 1147. This is only one example to show how various small, new settlements went looking for an observance that tallied with their desires, or that the founder could best reconcile himself with, or that were suggested by friendly advisers. This did not always have to lead to a new direction. Thus Herman of Tournai tells of the doubts in the new monastic settle­ ment, St M artin’s at Tournai, which he entered as a boy with his parents. After long deliberations Cluniae Benedictinism was introduced there (1092). However, in general experiments went the Cîteaux way. The monks who in 1098 left the abbey of Molesmes, on the border of Burgundy and Champagne, to withdraw in isolation in accordance with their interpreta­ tion of the Rule, and to establish the Novum Monasterium there, appeared in a similar way to profit from the conditions which had already encour­ aged the expansion of other reforms in Burgundy : Cluny and St Bénigne

36 H. Thoen and L. Milis, ‘Het site Ten Duinen te Koksijde, archeologisch, geologisch, historisch’, Handelingen van de Maatschappij voor Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde te Gent, 28 (1974), pp. 12-15.

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at Dijon. Here the personality of Bernard of Clairvaux, who in 1112 pre­ sented himself with some thirty young knights at Q teaux, would have acted as an additional stimulant. After the founding of Clairvaux (1115) the expansion of the growing movement could no longer be halted, be­ cause the soundness of its philosophy of life was backed by a series of clear texts and by the charismatic role of Bernard. As a letter writer, traveller, theologian, as the man behind the scenes of politics, he proclaimed the dissemination of the order over the whole of Christendom. Orval, Vaucelles, the Dunes abbey, Clairmarais, Villers, Loos, Cambrón, and so on, were founded from Clairvaux, all before Bernard’s death in 1153. In many cases the personal role of this Doctor of the Church could be dis­ cerned. It is not surprising that these examples all relate to the southern Low Countries. The monastic infrastructure there had developed for so much longer and so much more intensively ; the opportunities for contact with the reforms, always coming from the south, were made easier by the language and location. Undoubtedly there was more wealth there and therefore more potential patrons for pious foundations. Perhaps, how­ ever, the successful spread of Cistercianism is explained by the fact that the lay founders, who necessarily had to put each pious propositum into practical effect, had to relinquish fewer assets to these new monks. They were more quickly satisfied, demanded no wealth for their monastery, even refused it and actually included in their Capitula the imperative that they should live by their own work. Even more, if it is possible as a potential patron to choose an institution that is satisfied with very little, it is a pos­ itive aspect ; if it involves a new movement taking up old ideals of strictness and simplicity, then a place in the hereafter seems guaranteed ... and therefore the foundation is a promising investment. The north would have to wait until 1162-1163 before in Friesland the monastery of Klaarkamp was established near Rinsumageest, which, still before the end of the century, seeded itself to Bloemkamp and Aduard. The location of most of these abbeys allows no doubt about their share in the history of the twelfth-century land reclamation : in Friesland and coastal Flanders the reclamation can in part be attributed to the monks and their lay brothers. Agricultural land was gained from forests by Orval, Villers and Clairmarais. However, the image of the Cistercians as essentially land reclaimers in distant places must undoubtedly be qual104

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ified. Lay locatores, a kind of property developers, in fact played an im­ portant role in the movement for reclaiming land, but they have survived less in the sources. As regards the wasteland, the desertum, recent studies have shown that the Cistercians very often established themselves in plac­ es which had already been proved fit for habitation and where there were already settlements37. The institution of lay brothers undoubtedly had an important share in the development of the Cistercians and the role they played. Developed from the laymen, who in virtually all foundations with a modern orientation were represented in large numbers, manual labour was particularly allotted to them. As the organization progressed they were, however, forced into the position of a subordinate minority. The success of Cîteaux, here and elsewhere, was in sharp contrast to the growth of urbanization which marked this period : how could the desertum ideal be reconciled with increasing production, profit-seeking and later, secularization ? By their increasing agricultural yields the monks were associated, whether they wished it or not, with an economic process which put them back in the society from which they wanted to escape. The breakdown of the ‘Aix framework’: The rise of the regular canons In Carolingian times the ideal assumption was that the clergy should be organized in a restricted form of common life and the Institutio Aquisgranensis was proclaimed for this purpose by Louis the Pious in 816. The reality of the Carolingian decline shifted the emphasis. W hat was allowed at an individual level (private property) was stressed, what affected the community (common dormitories and refectories) was played down. The result was that in the early years of the eleventh century there were signs of decadence almost everywhere. The influence of secular lords on institu­ tions which they or their forebears had founded and which they had filled with their children or other kin, was in these circumstances not surprising. It would take about a century to clear this situation up and this would eventually lead to two well-defined categories : the secular canons, associ­ ated with a diocesan church or chapter church, and the regular canons, attached to a monastery.

37 Ibid., p p . 19-22.

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The reality was rather more complex, because within the group of regular canons all kinds of observances would arise of varying grades of strictness. Yet doubts have been raised on whether the negative data in the sources should always be accepted as such. If there was all-pervading decadence, how could it be explained that so many chapters in the course of the eleventh century suddenly appeared from nowhere ? It was as if it were a status symbol for successful members of the nobility to found a chapter near their castrum, even if it were for just a few canons (four, as at Zonnebeke near Ypres, for example). Sometimes their existence is only known from a passing mention, so that it may be assumed that there were in reality more than we can surmise. It has been suggested that the object of these foundations, certainly in Flanders, should be seen in the light of the expansion of an administrative infrastructure (clerics could write, and so run their lord’s administration). In our opinion, taking account of the spirit of the time, it seems far more likely to see in these foundations an insurance policy for the hereafter. The growing strictness of monastic life as a result of the reforms of, among others, Richard of St Vanne, must undoubtedly have influenced the ideals of perfection of the canons. And if the canons themselves did not feel any great enthusiasm for perfection, there was always someone around who could impose a reform. In some cases chapter churches were in fact linked to abbeys — for instance, at St Amand or Corbie. The earliest movements in Italy and southern France (St Ruf) do not appear to have had a direct, detectable, influence on the stricter way of life affecting these canons. There must have been a general trend run­ ning through canonical circles, which particularly gained strength in the course of the 1060s. In the church province of Rheims the regularization of St Denis at Rheims exercised a power of attraction, as around 1066 at Mont-Saint-Eloi near Arras38. There the bishop of Cambrai-Arras placed “regular canons who live in community and have no private property, with an abbot of the same observance (professio) at their head, while elsewhere prebends are given to those canons who do have private property and do not wish to live in community”.

38 O. Barubé, L ’abbaye du Mont-Saint-Éloi des origines au XIVe siècle (Poitiers, 1977), pp. 70-71 and 189.

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But there had been earlier regularizations, as at Phalempin near Lille, where in 1039 a pauperum Christi clerimonìa was founded39. The earliest of these institutions — predominandy existing institutions which had been regularized — lived by an observance which would later be re­ ferred to as ordo antiquus. Here St Augustine’s regula tertia (the Praeceptum) served as a rule, giving some basic principles for life among clergy, but leaving plenty of room for individual opinions about life in a community. A drastic increase in strictness would result from the influence which the hermits and Wanderprediger exerted on the one hand, and monks on the other, so that a kind of acceleration is encountered in the period 1090 to 1130. Disparate trends began to intermingle. There were chapters which were regularized, with or against the will of their members (hence the negative picture that some sources had to paint to legalize the intervention of outsiders, such as a lord or a bishop). It occurred with the members’ approval at Marceuil, against their wishes at Cysoing, where there were still some secular canons after some forty years. From 1134 onwards, the canons at Meersen were systematically replaced by Benedictines. There were hermitages which attracted many followers and where necessarily some degree of organization had to be reached to offer the settlement a minimum guarantee of the means of livelihood and to dispel any suspi­ cions of the established ecclesiastical order. Both laymen and priests were involved, as is so clearly outlined in the Annales Rodenses and Herman of Toumai’s Liber restaurationis Sancti Martini Tornacensis. The strict spir­ ituality of the hermits exerted its influence on those groups which adopt­ ed the canonical way ; they called it an ordo novus, in which total abstinence from eating meat, complete observance of silence, wearing wool instead of linen clothing, and compulsory manual labour were imposed. It is not possible to give a general explanation of why in these settlements some opted for the monastic way of life and some for the canonical. At best, valid local reasons can be found (location, influences, founders). It is a concurrence of circumstances which determined why St M artin’s at Tournai became a traditional Benedictine institution, like Affligera ; why

39 N. N. Huyghebaert, ‘Hugo Tornacensis ecclesiae cancellarius. Examen critique de la charte de fondation de Phalempin (1039)’, Bulletin de la Commission royale d’histoire — Handelingen van de Koninklijke Commissie voor Geschiedenis, 128 (1962), pp. 266 and270-73.

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the Dunes abbey belonged first to Savigny and then to Cîteaux, and why Watten and Rolduc joined the regular canons. Augustine’s rule, as we said earlier, demanded supplementation. A few settlements worked out their own system of practices, partly in­ spired by what was done elsewhere and partly original. The mutual influ­ ences of the foundations can be explained by the frequent travels of their inhabitants. In fact, the more the Gregorian reform made advances, the more the ecclesiastical establishment began to support these new move­ ments and followers of them started to appear in episcopal circles (for instance, John of Wameton, bishop of Thérouanne (1099-1130)). It is sometimes possible to understand foundations and their options by con­ sidering their network of personal relationships. Such lists of practic­ es — first passed on in oral form, but from the years 1120-1130 onwards also written — showed success. Existing institutions adopted them and new ones were founded in conformity with them. Two movements in par­ ticular, Prémontré and Arrouaise, would lead to the creation of soci­ etates — what would later be called orders. Norbert of Xanten, already mentioned as a Wanderprediger, established himself in the wilderness of Prémontré near Laon, north-west of Rheims, surrounded by a growing number of supporters. In 1121 the change from hermitage to monastery was officially sealed. The expansion of the order was achieved under N orbert’s successor at Prémontré, Hugh of Fosses. Floreffe, between Namur and Fosses, was in 1121-1122 Prémontré’s third daughter foundation (and later indeed became the head of one of the drearies into which the order would be subdivided). In the next few years communities were founded at Antwerp, Liège, and Vicogne (near Arras). There were more than twenty by the end of the twelfth century, two of them in Friesland (Mariengaard, 1163-1164, and Lidlun, before 1182) and one in Gelre (Marienweerd, 1129). Among them were several abbeys that still exist : Grimbergen, Park, Tongerlo, Averbode, Postel and Leffe40. Besides Prémontré, Arrouaise also developed. W hat had begun as a hermitage on a busy traffic route to the Flemish frontier post of Bapaume, evolved after some thirty years into an abbey (1121 ). In the next few years

40 N. Backmund, Monasticon Praemonstratense (Straubing, 1949-60), n, pp. 243^440.

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it was joined by abbeys in Arras, Thérouanne, Tournai, Cambrai, and also further out (like Prémontré) as far as the British Isles and Poland. It was, besides the Crutched Friars (thirteenth century), the only order of Low Countries origin. Prémontré and Arrouaise had similar disciplines, a strict asceticism, and also a parallel organization, taken over from the Cistercians. Summoning the abbots together to the annual general chapter, and a sys­ tem of visitation of the abbeys with the same affiliation (the mother-daugh­ ter link) was typical of it. The position of Arrouaise was quickly eroded, although they stayed reasonably stable in the core area41. The confusion of origin, evolution and objectives of the associated houses encumbered their future ; for instance, the discrepancy between an observance ori­ ented on the wilderness (desertum ideal), and their actual location in a town (for instance, Tournai or Bruges). Alongside the opus divinum, the essential occupations for the abbeys (which in the empire mostly remained priories or deaneries sui iuris) were the cure of souls, hospital duties and manual labour on the land. The extent to which all this happened de­ pended on the past, on the composition of the demesne, on the location, and on the choice of the leaders. This was also the case for the still numer­ ous regular canons who had not given in to the attraction of Prémontré or Arrouaise, but continued to retain their independence. The secular chapters which remained aloof from any form of regularization were in general the large institutions, founded, sometimes centuries ago, round the cathedral or in the cathedral city (for example, Tournai, Utrecht). Others supplied, as it were, the entourage of the ruler, from which the administrative machine started to develop (for instance, St Donaas at Bruges, whose provost after 1089 was ipso facto chancellor of the county of Flanders). Where major material interests were involved, regularization tended to develop less rapidly. This may explain the continued existence of specific Adelsstifte, where the institution remained closely connected with the nobility.

41 L. Milis, Vordre des chanoines réguliers dtArrouaise, Werken uitgegeven door de Faculteit van de Letteren en Wijsbegeerte. Rijksuniversiteit te Gent, 147^18 (Bruges, 1969), pp. 588-94 ; Idem, Orde van Arrouaise, Archief- en Bibliotheekwezen in België. Extranummer — Archives et Bibliothèques de Belgique. Numéro spécial, 22 (Brussels, 1979), pp. 25-28 and 54-59.

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Later the order of the Holy Sepulchre, which had been founded in 1114, also spread; the earliest houses (from 1144) were all located in the diocese of Liège42. The fact that in subsequent decades the regularized institutions fell into decline as a result of the breach of their strict spiritu­ ality (e.g. greater toleration of eating meat), and even by the introduction of fixed grants or prebends, was part of the normal course of evolution from success to decadence, experienced by every institution. Religious trends and women That in the foregoing account there is little mention of women, is a clear consequence of the lack of a specific means of expression for their piety. It would, of course, not be difficult to find examples of religious institu­ tions which as early as Carolingian times offered accommodation to wom­ en and of course there are also surviving vitae which give us a picture of pious abbesses or nuns : Gertrude, Berlinde, and so on. It can be assumed without exaggeration that women’s convents, even more than male mon­ asteries, in classic monasticism were reserved for the nobility. They were Eigenklöster, private institutions where the founders wished to place their own relatives. This tendency sometimes declined in the later Middle Ages, but never disappeared. Foundations such as Thom and Elten remained Adelsstifte until their suppression c. 1800, meaning that only girls from the high nobility were allowed to enter religious life. Whether the residents belonged to a monastic or a canonical observance is of no importance. The extent to which a Rule was followed is open to question. For instance, it seems that at Thom in 1172 only the abbess took a vow of chastity. The convent seems to have been a place where daughters of the nobility were kept waiting in expectation of a hoped-for marriage. In new foundations, too, such as at Messines between Lille and Ypres, where c. 1060 Countess Adela of Flanders founded a convent for women, this aristocratic function remained important. It is not a sign of decadence (Adela exerted herself to the full to develop the religious life) but an expression of the spirit of the time. A community of twelve canons guaranteed the spiritual health

42 Zr. Hereswitha, Orde van het Hetltg-Graf, Archief- en Bibliotheekwezen in België. Extranummer — Archives et Bibliothèques de Belgique. Numéro spécial, 15 (Brussels, 1975), pp. 80-97.

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of some thirty nuns43. And when Petronella, the widow of Floris n of H ol­ land, established the convent of Rijnsburg in 1133, that foundation was firmly entrenched in this trend. By that time the new movements of her­ mits, Wanderprediger and new orders had already started. A woman could now come into her own in a way previously unknown. There were women among the first followers of hermits and Wanderprediger, with Norbert and with Tanchelm. Sometimes they were alone, sometimes they went in with their whole familia, for which the head of the house would presum­ ably have taken the decision. As far as we can make out, entry to a convent now appears to have been thrown open to all. However, there was no question yet of it becoming totally democratic. The recruits appear most­ ly to have come from prosperous country dwellers. The naïve enthusiasm of the new movements for a time made houses for both sexes popular, although there appear to have been theoretical and practical problems. Hence the Cistercians for a very long time hesitated for reasons of princi­ ple to tolerate a female branch, and there was no question of houses for both sexes44. There were some among the regular canons, and particu­ larly with Prémontré and Arrouaise. In the stabilization process the wom­ en were soon isolated, just as laymen were ‘degraded’ to lay brothers. First the separate buildings were removed from the men’s monastery, which at Rolduc gave rise to some commotion. Later there were separate priories, such as the sisters of Eekhout at Bruges, who acquired accommodation in St Trudo’s at Odegem. In fact, in 1137 the Premonstratensians forbade double monasteries in the future45, and the second Lateran Council made this rule a general one in 1139. The increase in the number of women candidates undoubtedly put heavy pressure on the monks and canons : not only their spiritual welfare, but also more and more their economic equilibrium came under pressure from it. One of the great problems with which the order of Arrouaise wrestled from the late twelfth century onwards was the surplus of women at the same time as a financial depression. Attempts to prevent the entry of women in general, however, had little success, rather the contrary. The

43 Huyghebaert, ‘Adela van Frankrijk’, pp. 28-34. 44 M. Pontenay de Fontette, Les religieuses à Fâge classique du droit canon (Paris, 1967), pp. 27-33. 45 Ibid., pp. 14-18.

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rise of the beguine movement, and the breach of the Cistercian veto on female entry (and how !) are characteristics of the development which started in the late twelfth century. The rise of the mendicant orders, with their women’s branches, would widen the opportunities for women still further. This will be discussed later. The orders of knighthood This review of the institutions that owed their existence to the religious revival would not be complete without any mention of the orders of knighthood. O ur knowledge of these is, however, still limited46. It seems in fact that their social effect on the history of the Low Countries was not so great, even when the number of their houses ran into double figures. The knights of St John (Hospitallers, later knights of Malta) are the oldest order. As a spiritual order this goes back to the eleventh century, was given papal recognition in 1130 and from 1137 onwards knights were admitted to it. The earliest foundation in the south was Chantraine (near Jodoigne) around 1177 ; in the north the commandery at Arnhem was already in existence by 1214. The order of Templars, founded in 1119, was inspired by Citeaux through St Bernard. The excessive use of the word Temple, Tempelhof and similar, in place names and in popular tradition, and the fragmentary nature of the sources, casts a shadow on the study of the historic reality47. Research on this has only been carried out for Flan­ ders and Brabant48. For the first of these principalities sixteen houses (founded between 1131 and 1276) have been counted; for Brabant six. W hen the order was abolished under the influence of Philip rv of France, their houses and property went to the Knights of St John. 46 The remarks of Moreau, Histoire de TÉglise, m, p. 472 and W. Nolet and P. C. Boeren, Kerkelijke instellingen in de Middeleeuwen (Amsterdam, 1951), p. 419 remain valid. 47 L. K. Cumps, De Tempeliers in Vlaanderen (Tielt, 1976). 48 P. Rogghé, ‘De orde van de Tempelridders en haar geschiedenis in het oude graafschap Vlaanderen’, Kultureel Jaarboek voor de Provincie Oost-Vlaanderen, 26, 2 (1972), pp. 91-152 ; M. Nuyttens, ‘De tempeliers in Vlaanderen’, Handelingen van de Maatschappij voor Geschiedenis en Oudbeidkunde te Gent, 28 (1974), pp. 47-58; M. Mar­ chai-Verdoodt, ‘Les maisons des Hospitaliers et des Templiers dans l’ancien duché de Brabant au début du XIVe siècle’, in Hommage au prof. Paul Bonenfant (Brussels, 1965), pp. 255-66 ; A. A. Streefland, ‘Tempeliers in Brabant. De commanderij Ter Brake te Alphen’, Jaarboek van de Geschied- en Oudheidkundige Kring van Stad en Land van Breda ‘De Oranjeboom’, 32-33 (1979-80), pp. 141-66.

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Right at the end of the twelfth century (1198) the founding of the Teutonic order was approved, which would be mainly engaged in the conversion of the Slav regions (Prussia). Schelluinen (South Holland) and Aldebiezen (Belgian Limburg) were their earliest houses in the Low Coun­ tries (around 1220).

The Expansion of the Societas Christiana Second Half Twelfth Century — Thirteenth Century THE SECULAR CHURCH — EXTERNAL

The previous section demonstrated the decline of imperial influence on the appointment of bishops in the Low Countries. The conflict between Hohenstaufens and Guelphs accelerated this process. Hence in 1209 Otto IV agreed that the elections at Liège should take place without his inter­ vention49. At the same time the power of the French crown was increasing. At Tournai this became plain from the visit of Philip Augustus in 1187. The town became part of the crown demesne. The king was able to control a part of Flanders through the bishopric. A Victorine abbot, Stephen — known in canon law as Stephanus Tornacensis — became the sacrificial pawn. Precisely this right of appointment was one of the meas­ ures that gave the French king an advantage over the feudal lords in the struggle for effective power. Like Thérouanne, Tournai and Arras escaped from Flemish influence in the late twelfth century. Even so, the prelates chosen were very often canons of the cathedral chapter that had to carry out the actual election — but at the king’s suggestion. Such a canon was Walter of Marvis, who, after studying at Tournai and Paris, made a career in the diocese of Tournai and became bishop there (1219-1251). He also acted as papal legate in the Albigensian Cru­ sade. At that time Hugh of Pierrepont was in power at Liège (1200-1229). More is known about his activities and those of his successors in the po­ litical field than in the spiritual sphere. The relevant sources and later historiography always concentrate more on these aspects. The picture we can put together of these prelates is (for the moment ?) more that of rulers

49 Lejeune, Liège et son pays, p. 27.

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at the head of a principality than of shepherds leading their flocks. None­ theless it was during his episcopate that the split between princedom and bishopric was implemented more clearly than it had been previously. From then on the synods had only clerical members and no laymen. In the first half of the century the increasing papal influence also became clear. That was, after all, when rivalry between pope and emperor reached its peak. W hen in 1240 the bishop of Langres, Robert of Thourotte, was appointed bishop of Liège, this was done by the papal legate, together with some plenipotentiaries from the chapter. There was no longer any demand for imperial investiture, after his predecessor had only requested it after his consecration. Even more, at the ecumenical council in Lyons in 1245 Robert was one of the only two imperial bishops present to vote for the excommunication of Frederick n. His successor, Henry of Gelre, was simply appointed by the pope without any election by the chapter taking place and without even being ordained priest. H e was in power for a quarter of a century, loyal to the pope and (anti)king (his cousin William of Holland), but with a level of morality that his contemporaries found contemptible and which finally led to his removal. The fact that in Utrecht at about the same time John of Nassau as bishop elect had a negative im­ age, shows how much the external interests of the power blocks had led to deterioration. The longer reach of the canon law did not guarantee a higher standard of spirituality. That the regional lords wanted to fight out their mutual struggles for power by also gaining a hold over the bishoprics is plain from the actions of John of Avesnes, count of Hainault, Holland and Zeeland. Three of his brothers were bishops : at Utrecht (Guy), Cam­ brai (William) and Metz (Burchard), after attempts to have the first and the last of them appointed to Liège had failed. We can also see this influ­ ence from Hainault increase at Cambrai, where in the course of the thir­ teenth century the imperial and Flemish influence was practically played out and was replaced by that of the house of Avesnes and of France. This was particularly the case since Philip the Fair (1285-1314), although the battle of Bouvines (1214) had been a sign on the wall. The support — pro­ visionally — of the pope even offered the king the opportunity of levying tithes in imperial territory : in Liège, Cambrai, Metz, Toul, Verdun, and Basle. It was evidence of the French king’s ambitions which would later become more obvious. At Utrecht the influence of the outside world was no different. W hen in 1216 a bishop was elected, it was the counts of Hol114

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land and Gelre who came to the cathedral city to impose their candidate on the canons. The new bishop was Otto of Lippe, a neutral figure about whom both interest groups could reach an agreement. Frederick n gave him the regalia even before he was consecrated, more evidence that the imperial influence lasted longer in the north than in the south. With the Confoederatio cum principibus ecclesiasticis (1220) the step would be tak­ en towards a quasi-autonomous principality, with the bishop as dominus terrae. The secular office was, however, the most important. The bish­ op — particularly at Utrecht and at Liège — was a prince. “Because he was capable as a secular prince”, says Post50, “people accepted him as a spiritual one”. For ecclesiastical matters sufficient call could be made on collaborators and substitutes, whose numbers grew in the thirteenth cen­ tury. The most obvious example of this type of prelate is John of Nassau, whose election in 1267 was influenced by Gelre. These were troubled times for the Sticht : in the north the hegemony of Flolland was starting to weigh heavily and Floris v gained de facto power over Utrecht. In 1290 John, who all this time had been bishop-elect and hence not consecrated, was dismissed by the pope on the basis of a long list of allegations. They do not appear to have been of a moral nature. Because he had deposed him, the pope could now himself see to the appointment of a successor. This was one of his loyal supporters, John of Sierck. A little later he had to make way for William Berthout from Malines, whose appointment re­ vealed in all respects the support of Flanders and Brabant, which at the same time indicates that these principalities were now infiltrating affairs in Utrecht. This in turn provoked a reaction when John of Avesnes, count of Flainault, also succeeded in Flolland and Zeeland. Guy, his brother, was the next bishop. From all this it is clear that the external history of the thirteenth century bishoprics is not very different from the political history. The in­ terests of world domination, the struggle between pope and emperor, were in the foreground, and were fought out : the pope won. H e now even be­ gan to make wholesale changes of bishops. But his power was not unlim­ ited. He had to take account of relationships within the Low Countries

50 Post, Kerkgeschiedenis, i, p. 167.

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themselves : the princely families of Flanders, Brabant, Hainault and H ol­ land, who wanted to push their relatives or loyal supporters to round off their own territorial influence. In spite of the reduction in religious cred­ ibility which resulted from this, they tried to gain a psychological influence in the territory of their opponent. The discrepancy between the diocesan boundaries and the political boundaries repeatedly allowed each of the parties to interfere with their rivals. In general mainly the Flemish power was on the wane. The decisive role which, for example, Thérouanne, Tour­ nai and Arras had played in the reforms of the early twelfth century was in the past. A new piece had been advanced on the political chessboard : the king of France. From Philip Augustus, via Louis IX to Philip the Fair, the Capetian influence spread from Flanders to Lotharingia. Indeed, if previously episcopal appointments had also been the result of interests and power relationships, now the bishops themselves were fully in­ volved51.

THE PYRAMID OF POWER

The true evolution of the history of the Church in the Low Countries can­ not be dissociated from the spiritual and legal position of its office holders. The main factors in this respect, occurring between the late eleventh and late fourteenth centuries, are briefly outlined here. Broadly speaking, the pope had developed himself from being a secondary figure into the leader of the societas Christiana. This was the result of the Investiture Controversy, described earlier, which had enabled the popes by means of psychological and religious pressures to succeed in suppressing the influence of laymen in ecclesiastical affairs and to gain the leadership of Christendom for themselves. Rather than by legal and or­ ganizational interventions, this was the result of the charisma demon­ strated by the late-eleventh and early-twelfth-century popes. It was in fact the only weapon they could employ. W hen at the end of the twelfth cen­ tury and in the thirteenth it was mainly lawyers who occupied the throne of Peter, this led to a more concise formulation of their claims (they

31 Moreau, Histoire de l’Église, m, pp. 79-200; Lejeune, Liège et son pays, pp. 25-76; Post, Kerkgeschiedenis, I, pp. 162-92.

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reached the peak of their power with Innocent m), but it was eventually at the expense of their credibility. In the conflict with the Hohenstaufens the popes were in the end no more than one party to it, supporters of the Guelphs, instead of being the arbitrators at the head of Christendom. The over-strict development of legality, in which, for example, excommunica­ tion was often used as a weapon, and so lost its efficacy as a threat, to­ gether with the rise of nation states and a tax system which was used for faction politics, affected their credibility even more. The ‘Babylonian cap­ tivity’ at Avignon, and later even more the western schism, put an end to any possibility of restoring the serenity of the papal leadership52. The question arises how this power evolution was able to come about. For the answer it is essential to look at the means through which the papal claims were made known to Christendom and could be imposed on it. A pyramid of subordinate authorities — pardy with autonomous, partly with delegated powers — were available to him. Since Gregory vn and the reform movement called after him, the legates (legati a latere) became a weapon in the establishment of papal supremacy. They were active wherever the claims of great worldly rulers (mainly, of course, the Holy Roman Emperors) had to be contested. They called synods together to excommunicate alleged usurpers. Here we should mention Gerard of S. Maria in Via Lata, who went to Liège and had to deal with Frederick Barbarossa. Since the legates were usually cho­ sen from the college of cardinals itself, their role was associated with the internationalization of that college53. One noteworthy legate was Cono, who in the early twelfth century became a cardinal under Paschal n and led missions in France, Germany and the Holy Land. H e belonged to Bishop John of Warneton’s circle of friends, and was one of the founders of the hermitage at Arrouaise in southern Flanders54. The increasing pow­ er of the popes, of which the legates were the emanation, led to the erosion of the power of the archbishops. In the period studied here it is possible to see exacdy how all the prerogatives at the disposal of the archbishops

52 Nolet and Boeren, Kerkelijke instellingen, pp. 112-21. 53 Moreau, Histoire de FÉglise, m, pp. 313-18 ; Nolet and Boeren, Kerkelijke instellingen, pp. 146-49. 54 C. Dereine, ‘Conon de Préneste’, in Dictionnaire d!histoire et de géographie ecclésias­ tiques (Paris, 1953), xm, col. 461-71.

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(confirmation and consecration of new bishops, summoning of provincial synods) disappear or become illusory. Appeals to the pope made the legal powers of the metropolitans dwindle further55. The bishops were the highest autonomous office holders of the Church in the Low Countries. Everything affecting external control of that Church revolved around them. The general powers of the bishop (provision of the cure of souls, collation of prebends, rights of visitation, and so on) were limited in several ways, albeit at different times. Some of the first nibbles into their worldly influence were through the Eigenkircherecht. In the late eleventh and twelfth century they involved mainly the exemptions acquired by monasteries (e.g. Cluny) while gradually also papal intervention affected the episcopal power (reservation of prebends). In practice the ties of the bishops to the pressure groups which had had a hand in their election, proved a real constraint, as did the powers which the archdeacons increasingly began to exercise in their own name. O f this more later. The changing power relationships were best reflected in the actual episcopal elections. De jure these were by the clergy and the people, a clero et populo, but certainly long before our period the share of laymen in them was non-existent or had become extremely elitist in every sense. After the decline of the imperial church the problem reappeared of how the formula ‘clergy and people’ should be interpreted. We have seen ex­ amples of this. Not until the fourth Lateran Council (1215) were the elec­ tions clearly put in the hands of the cathedral chapter. Only Utrecht was an exception to this : here, in addition to the canons of the five city chap­ ters, the provosts of the chapters of Tiel (later Arnhem), Deventer, Em­ merich and Oldenzaal, who were also archdeacons, took part in the election. This system, too, left the door wide open for influence, as we have already shown. These electors were completely sidelined when the pope appointed a bishop directly, which became the rule in the thirteenth century, particularly in Utrecht, but gradually also in Liège56. An important means at the bishop’s disposal to exert his power as ordinarius was that of 55 Moreau, Histoire de TÉglise, m, pp. 318-21 ; Nolet and Boeren, Kerkelijke instellingen, pp. 151-53. 56 Moreau, Histoire de TÉglise, m, pp. 171-76 ; Nolet and Boeren, Kerkelijke instellingen, pp. 163-69 ; Post, Kerkgeschiedenis, i, p. 128 ; Küpper, Raoul de Zähringen, pp. 23-31, gives the most complete survey for Liège.

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summoning the diocesan synod. However, the documentation surviving on this is full of lacunae, so it is difficult to determine to what degree the ruling of the Lateran Council of 1215 for holding annual meetings was followed. At the start of the reform movement in the Low Countries and more particularly at Arras the synod was in every way the essential means by which Lambert of Guiñes bound the clergy to him and encouraged new religious trends57. In the course of time an increasing clericalization appears to have been pushed through in the membership of these synods. The points to be debated, and which led to proclamations, often involved the status of the clergy and the protection of ecclesiastical rights and prop­ erty. That the earliest known records almost all stem from the same period is merely the restait of greater legal awareness and the fact that more mat­ ters were put down in writing: in Arras (around 1259-1280), in Liège (1288) and in Cambrai (c. 1307), while the Utrecht ones already went back to 120958. Among those who assisted the bishop, the members of the ca­ thedral chapter should be mentioned in the first instance. As the rift be­ tween this institution and the bishop himself grew (among other reasons, by the splitting of the mensa) the task of its office holders (dean, provost etc) became more and more limited to matters involving the chapter itself. For administration of the diocese the bishop increasingly called on officers appointed only by himself, who did not enjoy fixed prebends of their own for this. It must be assumed that they often acted as canons. The first was the suffragan bishop, who served the ordinary in consecrations, i.e. while performing the pontifical rituals. Where at first any visiting bishops who happened to be present were called upon to help in, for example, the consecration of new churches (increasingly the case in the thirteenth cen­ tury), it gradually evolved into a permanent office. They were normally chosen from the regular clergy, and particularly from the ‘successful’ or­ ders : first Cistercians, after them Franciscans, Dominicans and Carmelites. In Utrecht the office became permanent from 1312 onwards. H ere it evolved slowly, at least within Friesland, into a jurisdictional office59.

57 PL, 162, col. 647-716. 58 Moreau, Histoire de l’Église, ni, pp. 341-45 ; Nolet and Boeren, Kerkelijke instellingen, pp. 17-18; Post, Kerkgeschiedenis, I, p. 182. 59 Moreau, Histoire de l’Église, in , p p . 322-24 ; Post, Kerkgeschiedenis, I, p p . 203-05 ; Nolet and Boeren, Kerkelijke instellingen, p p . 174-77.

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The deputies in pontificalibus et spiritualibus were two officials of a new type : the vicar general and the officialis. In the course of the twelfth and thirteenth century they became the opposite pole of the archdeacons, who in the course of time had been able to make their office autonomous60. A precise nomenclature had to wait for some time : in the twelfth century they were usually referred to as the vices gerens episcopi. It is only clear from the context which of the functions (the administrative, the judicial, or both) they performed. Originally the archdeacon had only been a sub­ stitute for the bishop, inspired by the bishop’s political ambitions and the size of his diocese. As the case of Utrecht shows, the institution may have developed from the old choral episcopate. However, in the late eleventh, early twelfth century the office changed character. The diocese was sub­ divided into a number of territorially defined areas (at Utrecht completed around 1125), headed by an archdeacon, whose power would expand into the thirteenth century : the visitation of dependent parishes, the granting of benefices and the right to hold synods. Appointment would gradually slip from the bishop’s power, because it became automatically linked to, for example, an office in a chapter (the provostship in the Utrecht chap­ ters). The increasing reservation of these offices by the pope (appointment of outsiders, among whom at Liège even two popes were recruited) and the consequent absence had then made it possible for the office to be eroded so that vicars-general and officiales — competent for the whole territory and at the same time directly responsible to the bishop — could win back the lost territory. From the fourteenth century onwards the archidiaconates were consequently regarded primarily as sources of in­ come61. The dean, the continuation of the early-medieval archpriest, was at the head of a defined area containing a number of parishes. These could run into double figures (for instance, Oudenburg, 44 parishes)62. Referring

60 Moreau, Histoire de l’Église, ni, pp. 328-30; Post, Kerkgeschiedenis, i, pp. 205-06; Nolet and Boeren, Kerkelijke instellingen, pp. 229-31. 61 Moreau, Histoire de FÉglise, in, pp. 324-8 ; Post, Kerkgeschiedenis, i, pp. 207-10 ; Nolet and Boeren, Kerkelijke instellingen, pp. 208-25 ; C. Dekker, ‘De vorming van aartsdiakonaten in het diocees Utrecht in de tweede helft van de 11e en het eerste kwart van de 12e eeuw’, Geografisch Tijdschrift van het Koninklijk Nederlands Aardrijkskundig Genootschap, 11 (1977), pp. 339-60. 62 J. Toussaert, Le sentiment religieux en Flandre à la fin du moyen âge (Paris, 1963), P- 53.

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to the name of his field of office he was usually called decanus christiani­ tatis, dean of Christianity. At Liège the term decanus concilii was used. The way in which he was appointed also differed. Normally, he was appointed by the bishop6364.In the Empire, and hence, among others, at Liège, he was elected by the parish priests of his defined area and their choice was rati­ fied by the bishop. The dean did not have his own jurisdiction. H e exer­ cised justice only in the name of the ordinary and as such did so on the occasion of the synod. H e collected the dues of dependent churches for the bishop (obsonium, cathedraticum) and accounted for them to the epis­ copal synod, where he also took cognisance of the episcopal or synodal decisions. The parsimonious nature of the sources generally makes it im­ possible to assess the precise significance of the deans. From the thirteenth century onwards they were very involved in drawing up contracts and as such preceded the notariiM. At the lowest level was the parish priest, but he did enjoy an officium ordinarium, in other words, he could act in his own name in the area of spiritual welfare. The balance of power between laymen and the Church can, as outlined earlier, not only be deduced from the conflict between emperor and pope, prince and bishop, but also from the relationship between local lord and parish priest. Secular influence was reduced, but not eliminated. It was the abbeys rather than the bishop who profited from the shift. We will not go into the curatus further, but in the next chapter the split of parishes — the result of the increase of pop­ ulation in the central Middle Ages — will be discussed.

THE INCREASING SOCIAL INFLUENCE

The apparatus of legal control: synod, episcopal courts, inquisition There is every indication that the late twelfth and first half of the thirteenth century in particular was the period in which the Church approached most nearly its ideal of a christianized society. Among other things this was the result of the expansion of an adequate control apparatus, of which the elements had undoubtedly been present for a long time, but which had

63 Ibid., pp. 53-62. 64 J. Lefèbvre, ‘Notes pour servir à l’histoire des doyens de chrétienté de Binche de 1150 à 1250’, in Hommage au prof. Bonenfant (Brussels, 1965), pp. 65-83.

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now become fully functional. The apparatus was intended both to keep a check on the outward and visible Christian character of society and al­ so — a new development — to strengthen the inward and spiritual Chris­ tian attitude of the individual. Here we divide this control system, rather arbitrarily, into legal and pastoral elements. The synodus or synod is already discussed in the previous chapter65. This was where public offenders were arraigned before the bishop or his representatives and were punished. From c. 1200 onwards the synod as an institution was overshadowed by the officialis (of which more later), while the developing towns also made great efforts to keep this assembly outside their walls. Among other things, this led from 1269 to a lengthy court case between Bruges, Damme and the Franc (Het Brugse Vrije), against the bishop of Tournai66. The bishops themselves also saw more benefit in new and therefore more easily controlled institutions. This evo­ lution shows many similarities to that of the increasing power of the rulers with regard to the feudal structures. The growing financial resources which made it possible to pay of­ ficials with money and so made it easier to appoint and depose them at one’s own discretion, was one reason. Another was the greater develop­ ment of the juridical system which grew from Italy — and hence from Rome — through legates, councils, journeys ad limina (episcopal visits to Rome) and so on. The creation of the officiales is typical of this evolution. To temper the growing power of the archdeacons, and to meet the needs of the ad­ vance of scholarly law with romano-canonical procedure, the officialis was appointed. He exercised judicial powers over the diocese — or over a part of it — in the name of the bishop. In addition to civil and criminal law, he increasingly took on himself jurisdiction over undisputed matters (record­ ing contracts etc) which would lead to the expansion of a staff with a public prosecutor (thepromotor), an official seal holder (the sigillifer) and numerous notarii. The officialis was gradually introduced into the Low Countries from France. In the metropolis of Rheims he appeared between 1168 and 1175, at Laon in 1199 and — in the Low Countries — at Arras

65 Milis, ‘Kerstening’, p. 278. 66 Lambrecht, De synode in het oude hisdom Doornik, pp. 653-73.

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in 1200, at Thérouanne in 1203 and at Tournai in 1203-1204. The officia­ lis penetrated as far as Liège in 1214 and to Utrecht in 1231, while the metropolis of Cologne only recognized the office from 125067. Investigation into orthodoxy was legally the bishop’s prerogative. So long as the heterodox were only regarded by the ecclesiastical author­ ities as individuals or isolated groups and the ‘risk of contamination’ was hence thought to be limited, the inquisition remained no more than the etymological meaning of the word — an enquiry. Only from the times of the great twelfth-century heresies, more particularly the Cathars, did it become a real institution. The synod of Verona, 1184, was a milestone here. Soon afterwards the papal inquisition, in which the newly established Dominican order would play the leading role, would suppress the episco­ pal one. The expansion of a strict legal system under Gregory ix (12271241) lay at the foundation of this : from 1231 inquisitores apostolici oper­ ated independently and in the immediately subsequent years they were already at work in the Low Countries. Torture in the questioning of the accused was introduced in 1252. For the time being the death penalty was only pronounced in cases of repeated apostasy68. The pastoral apparatus; confession, indulgences The importance of the increase in the practice of confession in the Middle Ages and particularly the obligation, imposed by the fourth Lateran Coun­ cil (1215), to make confession annually to one’s own parish clergy, un­ doubtedly had a profound influence on the infiltration of theological and particularly moral assumptions in individuals69. However, the precise in­ fluence of this cannot be measured, because auricular confession, which was now popularized, made confessional secrecy absolute. For historians this means a complete blank spot in the study of psychological influence and indoctrination. Only from the presence of confessors, for example

67 M. Vleeschouwers-Van Melkebeek, De officialiteit in het bisdom Doornik tijdens de xai * eemu (Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Ghent University, 1974), i, 3 ; P. PieynsRigo, La juridiction épiscopale dans la principauté de Liège, Bibliothèque de la Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique, 47 (Louvain, 1968), p. 187. 68 Nolet and Boeren, Kerkelijke instellingen, p. 366-72. 69 Toussaert, Le sentiment religieux, pp. 104-22.

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Dominicans, in the entourages of princes, can their influence be assumed. Absolution at confession led to sins being forgiven. The punishment, which remained, could be reduced or removed by an indulgence. These are first known in the eleventh century (among others, the full indulgence of the Council of Clermont, 1095, on the occasion of the First Crusade). Later they were made general (for example, on the occasion of visits to churches under construction) and commercialized (the sale of indul­ gences).

New Social Structure, New Orders (Thirteenth Century) INCREASING IMPORTANCE OF URBAN CONCENTRATION - LOSS OF ROOTS - THE REPERCUSSIONS ON THE NEWLY POPULATED AREAS

In earlier sections the emphasis has often been laid on the great social changes which took place in the period from the mid-eleventh to the latethirteenth century. The increase in population with its consequences, an intensive movement of settlement and urban formation, was not without repercussions on the ecclesiastical and monastic structures. The qualitative improvements which the Gregorian reform had brought by scaling down lay pressure, were followed by a quantitative improvement. Particularly the towns posed problems for the Church. W hat the early Middle Ages had known as towns were, with a few exceptions, the old civitates, whose survival could in fact be ascribed to the Church organization. New towns which as a consequence of increasing economic activities expanded and flourished — it is particularly the towns in Flanders that come to mind — drew power from their wealth. This power was demonstrated in their opposition to the feudal lords and also to the Church. W hen in 1127 the count of Flanders had to grant a charter to Saint-Omer, this included an article which limited ecclesiastical jurisdiction. This is not an indication of the degree of faith (which was probably total), but of the extent of the urban hunger for emancipation, which could not tolerate control institu­ tions not associated with the town. The Church would have to accept this in order to maintain its hold. The third category consisted of the newly founded towns of the late twelfth and thirteenth century, such as in the Flemish coastal regions, the Brabant moors, or on a greater scale in the

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river areas of Holland. These new towns had attracted population from everywhere, and for later periods too the registers of burghers leave no doubt about the interregional aspect of the influx of residents70. Undoubt­ edly this meant a degree of roodessness. Having left the static character of the centuries-old village community with its strong social and psycho­ logical controls, new residents would go through a period of lack of con­ trol. Here too the Church had to take action, if it wished to perform its role. Something similar must have taken place in the newly reclaimed ag­ ricultural areas, though the small scale of these setdements will have made control easier. The aim was in fact to reduce the scale ; the Gospel and control must be close to the people, in other words pastoral care had to be taken to the town dwellers. Various means were available for this. The first was the new range of ecclesiastical functionaries, mentioned above, who operated mainly in administration and jurisdiction. They were not involved in the direct dissemination of the Gospel. The second means was the compulsory confession which made the individualized cure of souls possible. The third was the generalization of preaching, of which more later. This was closely associated with the expansion of new orders. As far as the secular church was concerned, splitting up parishes proved essentially to be the way to accommodate the cure of souls. Old extensive parishes had to be subdivided so that the church — the building and the institution — would become the focus of each centre of popula­ tion. In any medieval cartulary documents may be found relating to this split and its financial repercussions. In general the old mother parishes continued to exercise some right of supervision over their daughter par­ ishes (organization of the synod), the parishioners of the split-off centres had to keep demonstrating their distant dependency (processions to the matrix ecclesia) and were made to feel it (financial contributions). Deaner­ ies are in fact sometimes the successors of subdivided original parishes. A few examples make it possible to follow this splitting-up process in the urban and country types of parish mentioned above. These may go back to a time before the period discussed here, for instance, at Ename,

70 A. Derville, Saint-Omer. Essai ethistoire sodale (Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Paris, 1970), p p . 20-27 (concerning Saint-Omer) ; R. Fossier, La terre et les hommes en Picardie jusqu’ à la fin du x n f siècle (Paris, 1968), I, p. 297 (concerning Arras).

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beside the Scheldt. Here there was a church as the centre of an early-me­ dieval demesne. In the late tenth century a Lotharingian fortress was built there, in which a chapter was installed. An urban settlement was estab­ lished round the castle, which in the first quarter of the eleventh century saw two churches rise which acquired parochial rights71. A second example is provided by the impoldering of the Yser plain. There in the twelfth century six parishes were split up into twenty, and in the thirteenth century another six. This was an early example of land rec­ lamation72. There was an identical phenomenon in the Brabant moorland, but this took place later. Financial interests appear to have had a restrain­ ing influence here. When in 1261 the abbess of Thom presented her abbey with patronage rights over the churches at Gilze, Baarle and Geertruidenberg, she asked the bishop of Liège to promote the dependent churches of Princenhage, Ginneken, Etten and Meerle to parishes. It would be 1317 before some of these (as well as Bavel) had actually been elevated to that status73. As far as towns are concerned, we will look briefly at the case of Ghent. Here between the mid-tenth and late-twelfth centuries five new parishes were created near the count’s castle and in the oldest town centre from the old parishes of the Holy Christ, Ekkergem, and O ur Lady74. When in the late-twelfth and thirteenth centuries a deliberate move was made to create new towns, the parishes were carved out from purely rural areas. ‘s-Hertogenbosch became a parish eased away from the village of Orthen75. Rotterdam was split off from its original mother parish of Vlaardingen76. The development of towns had also affected the ecclesias­ tical structures in two other fields ; help for the poor and sick, and educa-

71 L. Milis, ‘Ename duizend jaar ?’, in Hit het rijke verleden van Rname (Audenarde, 1974), pp. 17-18. 72 R. Boterberge, ‘Historische geografie van het overstromingsgebied van de IJzer in de Middeleeuwen’, Handelingen van deMaatschappij voor Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde te Gent , 16 (1962), pp. 85-91. 73 F. F. X. Cerutti, Middeleeuwse rechtsbronnen van stad en heerlijkheid Breda, Werken der Vereniging tot uitgaaf der bronnen van het oud-vaderlands recht. Derde reeks, 17 (Utrecht, 1956), I, pp. 24-25 and 106. 74 N. N. Huyghebaert, ‘Notes sur l’origine de la pluralité des curés dans l’ancien comté de Flandre’, Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique, 64 (1969), pp. 411-14. 73 Nolet and Boeren, Kerkelijke instellingen, p. 322. 76 Dekker, ‘De vorming van aartsdiakonaten’, p. 344.

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tion. The first was evangelical in origin and in theory part of the church income, more specifically of the tithes, was used for this. There are still arguments about the extent to which medieval hospital services were of a religious origin or not. Here are just two points to consider. First, in the thirteenth century hospitals were certainly founded in towns by the citi­ zens (by the town administrations or by individuals). However, as far as their organization was concerned, these institutions could not break loose from the religious aura that coloured every formation of a group (celibacy, common life, etc). Secondly, other institutions undoubtedly grew out of the ideal of love for one’s neighbour that was enshrined in the vita apos­ tolica movement. The hospital of Santinghevelt (now Saint-Inglevert) north-east of Boulogne (1131), where travellers from England were re­ ceived, was one of these77. The second area where town and Church came into conflict and had to find a modus vivendi was education. It was controlled by the school­ men and in principle given in the chapter schools, except when they were abbey schools. "Whether anyone who was not a candidate for the priest­ hood or an order of monks was taught there depended on individual cases, but was certainly not the norm. W hen the tradesmen in the towns felt the need to record their transactions in writing, the problem of an ap­ propriate education arose. At Ghent — a town that was in every way the most advanced in the Dutch language area — there was a school contro­ versy in the late twelfth and early thirteenth century. The archbishop of Rheims talked in 1179 of the “excessive arrogance of a mob of burghers ... who wanted to take over control of the schools”78. To sum up, the Church tried by adaptive measures (particularly by splitting parishes) to reach out to the new concentrations of population effectively; these — and certainly the towns — wanted to throw off the shackles of its legal influence. Even when they were successful — and they were — we can still see how the new movements of devout clerics and laymen dotted the towns with monasteries, large and small, which, as

77 Milis, L ’ordre des chanoines réguliers, p. 121. 78 M. H. Voordeckers-Declercq, ‘De S. Veerlescholen en de schoolstrijd te Gent tot het einde der xmde eeuw’, Collationes Brugenses et Gandavenses, 3 (1963), pp. 383-87.

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sixteenth-century prints show, to a very large extent determined the land­ scape.

ADJUSTMENTS IN THE CUBE OF SOULS GENERATED BY THE NEW ORDERS

In the early thirteenth century another religious renewal was well under way. It showed that the orders which were founded about hundred years earlier, were no longer fully appropriate for the current social conditions and Christian aspirations. Admittedly, many abbeys were still being found­ ed in accordance with the Gregorian movement, but signs of decadence and problems were plentiful. The existing orders could no longer com­ pletely absorb piety. So after a steady decline for fifty years, the last quar­ ter of the twelfth century saw a renewed increase in eremitism79. This failure to adapt was the result of two things : first the erosion which affects every movement, in which the charisma is reduced as the institutional expansion increases ; next their maladjustment to the new social order. This last demands some reflection. The monastic movement around 1100 and the rise of the towns and trade were both the result of the same trends. In essence, however, they were opposed to each other. The monastic move­ ment, because it followed the Rule of Benedict so stricdy, was oriented towards agriculture. Instead of being involved in the active world, it was an escape from it. Its aim was to live in deserto. This applied even to the regular canons. W hen existing secular chapters were “regularized”, they had an agriculturally inspired rule imposed on them (Prémontré, Arrouaise), even when they were located in an urban agglomeration. There is no clear evidence of any real willingness to serve the urban population on the part of the regulars. A member of a monastery tried in the first instance to achieve personal saintliness ; if his monastery or chapter was founded by wealthy laymen, this involved guaranteeing the spiritual welfare of the founders. H e was not concerned with the salvation of the average towns­ man. Nevertheless the struggle against the loss of roots, as we mentioned earlier, was essentially the Church’s problem. Here the new orders had a function to perform. Even if they had developed from eremitism (Fran-

79 L. Milis, ‘Ermites et chanoines réguliers au xn5siècle’, Cahiers de civilisation médiévale, 22 (1979), p. 75.

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ciscans) or from regular canons (Dominicans), they were still oriented on the towns. The great number of individuals who felt attracted to these movements is striking. Later history has seriously distorted our views of these movements and it is only in the last few years that the wealth of their experimentation has been fully revealed. In fact, of all the thirteenth-century movements, only a limited number were to survive. Conciliary decrees lay at the basis of this. In 1215 it had already been decided at the fourth Lateran Council that no more new orders {religiones) might be set up. New foundations had to adapt themselves to one of the approved movements. This was not strictly observed. The most successful order — the Franciscans — was already an exception to the rule. The proliferation of movements, coupled with the panic about heretical movements, led to new measures at the second Council of Lyons in 1274. Two of the new orders were authorized without limitations : the Dominicans and the Franciscans ; on two others, the Carmelites and the Austin friars, a decision was postponed. The others should in theory disappear, and many in practice did. It was more spe­ cifically their mendicant aspect which filled the Church with distrust. Pov­ erty was one of the traditional vows of every monastic life, but it was poverty of the individual. The monastery could and might be wealthy. A sound endowment guaranteed the carefree existence of the monk, who could therefore devote himself to his opus divinum. However, these new movements called for total poverty, including that of the institution. Beg­ ging as a supplement to manual labour was a means of survival — the paupertas Christi with all it entailed. Earlier pauperes had also striven for this, but had always ended up in stabilization and endowments. This would now happen again : it severely shook up the early Franciscan move­ ment. But the rise of Francis and Dominic and so many others in such a short time and so successfully, needs explanation. First and foremost — as we said before — there was the urban orientation of the regenerated so­ ciety and the fact that the older movements had lost their impetus. But there are still other points : the growing influence of the increasingly cen­ tralized Church, which easily allowed Italian movements (Francis) and those actively used by the pope (Dominic) to expand. Then there was the breakdown of the elitist character of recruitment as it had existed until then. If a man did not belong to a traditionally well-to-do group (the rural nobility) he would find it difficult to become a monk and had to turn to

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being a lay brother. Another elite, members of the urban bourgeoisie, had — so far as we know — provided the earliest generations of mendi­ cant friars80. Yet traditional donors such as the landed nobility were cer­ tainly the driving force in the spread of these orders81. Here the origin of these new orders only needs to be discussed briefly. Around 1210 a men­ dicant order originated round Francis of Assisi, which after receiving pa­ pal approval spread widely over Europe, and so also over the Low Countries, from 1217 onwards. The movement of Friars Minor came to the Low Countries from two directions. From the east, first the provincia Theutonica, later Coloniae : there were seven foundations (St Trond, Tirlemont, Diest, Louvain, Brussels, Malines and ‘s-Hertogenbosch) within ten years (c. 1220 and 1231). Meanwhile in the provincia Franciae, which included the south and west of the Low Countries, there were thirteen foundations: Lens (1219) Arras, Saint-Omer, Namur, Bruges and so on. No other order had been able to achieve so much before. And the move­ ment obviously did not stop in 123182. It slowly pushed northwards. In the 1240s houses of Friars Minor were established at Middelburg, Utrecht and Dordrecht, and a little later at Zierikzee. Once more it can be seen how innovations penetrated from the south to the north. The success of the Dominicans, who owed their creation to Do­ minic de Guzman, also grew in this time. The Black Friars came into the Low Countries with foundations at Lille (1224), Louvain and Ghent (1228), Liège (1230) and Utrecht around the same time83. In those years hermits from M ount Carmel in the Holy Land came to western Europe to found the Carmelites (friars of O ur Lady of Mount Carmel) there. They are believed to have started a monastery in Valenciennes by 1235 ; by 1249 there was one at Haarlem. The Austin Friars were originally a hotchpotch

80 P. A. Henderikx, De oudste bedelordekloosters in het graafschap Holland en Zeeland , Hollandse Studien, 10 (Dordrecht, 1977), pp. 115-19. 81 Ibid., p. 185. 82 A. Houbaert, ‘Minderbroederkloosters in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden’, franciscana , 26 (1971), pp. 44-48 ;J. B. Freed, The Friars and German Society in the Thirteenth Century (Cambridge Mass., 1977), pp. 197-98; J. A. De Kok, ‘Minderbroeders in Nederland: de eerste provinde. 1228/39-1529’, in 750}aar Minderbroeders in Nederland (Utrecht, 1978), I, pp. 54-57. 83 S. P. Wolfs, Studies over Noordnederlandse dominicanen in de Middeleeuwen (Assen, 1973), p. 5.

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which was grouped into an order by a bull in 1256 ; supporters of the movement were already active in Malines by 1242, and in Bruges by 1250. They remained more contemplative, less directed towards the vita acti­ va. Research has been done and is still going on into their spread gen­ erally, and to examine their situation in individual towns. In regions with an established urban tradition their arrival was of course the consequence of the fertile soil they hoped to find there. Among the places already men­ tioned are the old towns of Flanders and Liège. In areas where towns had developed more recently, it can be seen how the promoters of the towns were the same as those who encouraged the mendicant orders : William n and Floris V of Holland. They wanted instant towns with all the trimmings. In Dordrecht, Middelburg, Zierikzee and Haarlem there were eight es­ tablishments of the four great orders before about 131084. Apart from these four, other movements were also active. That they are less well known is the result of the competition from the major orders, and often also because they disappeared from the religious scene around 1300. One of them was the order of the Wilhelmites, who had difficulty in not being absorbed by the Austin Friars. They were of Tuscan origin and expanded north of the Alps. In the Low Countries they first appeared in the old hermitage of Baseldonk near ‘s-Hertogenbosch (1244-1245). Then fol­ lowed a foundation near Biervliet in 1249. This was called, deliberately, S. Maria de Castina because they did not want to abandon their eremitic origins. Not surprisingly, foundations in the larger towns are of a later date85. One victim of the 1274 measures was the Ordo poenitentiae Jesu Christi, known in the Low Countries as zakbroeders (bag brethren), which spread particularly in Italy and France. From there they penetrated the Low Countries with a settlement at Tournai (1264 ?) and Ghent (1269). Meanwhile they also reached Utrecht via Cologne. After the order was suspended their property was taken over by the recognized mendicant

84 Henderikx, De oudste bedelordekloosters, p. 11. 85 K. Elm, Beiträge zur Geschichte des Wilhelmitenordens, Münstersche Forschungen, 14 (Cologne, 1962), pp. 57-60.

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orders, such as the Augustinians at Tournai and the Carmelites in Arras86. Another victim of the Council were the fratres beatae Mariae, the so-called ‘magpie brethren’, who owed their popular name to the colour of their habit. The Crutched Friars, a canonical order that originated in the Low Countries, deserve more than a passing mention. A canon of Liège, Theo­ dore of Celles, who in 1209 had met Dominic on the occasion of the Cru­ sade against the Albigensians, founded the order, whose early history is shrouded in obscurity. They were in any case in existence in 1247. Their first settlement was located near Huy. The influence of the group of mys­ tics round Mary of Oignies (d. 1213) appears to have played a role in it87. The establishment of the monasteries of mendicant orders in Hol­ land and Zeeland has been studied, but research is still in hand for Flan­ ders and Hainault88. It can already be said that the largest numbers are to be found in Bruges, Ghent, Ypres and Valenciennes, which corresponds to the importance of these towns in their respective principalities. It is difficult to suggest precisely where within the town their monasteries were situated. Probably the first criterion was the availability of sufficient space, which applied even more to the beguinages. This implies that they were built where the town was expanding, so on the edge of it, between the old town centre and the new circle of walls which many towns acquired in the thirteenth century. That the recent immigrants also settled here, reinforc­ es the basic idea that there was some correlation between the mendicant orders, the loss of people’s roots, and concern for a modified cure of souls. If the opportunity offered, they might later move to the centre. In Flan­ ders, as well as in Holland and Zeeland, it is established that close links developed between the town administration and the monasteries, either because the monasteries were used as repositories of the urban charters

86 K. Elm, ‘Ausbreitung, Wirksamheit und Ende der provençalischen Sackbrüder (Fratres de Poenitentia Jesu Christi) in Deutschland und den Niederlanden’, francia , 1 (1972), pp. 270-74. 87 H. Van Rooijen, ‘De oorsprong van de orde der kruisbroeders of kruisheren’, Clairlieu, 19 (1961), pp. 194-96 ; K. Elm, ‘Entstehung und Reform der belgisch-niederländischen Kreuzherrenordens’, Zeitschrift fü r Kirchengeschichte, 82 (1971), pp. 292-93. 88 We thank drs W. Simons (Ghent) for some unpublished information [note of the edi­ tors — see : W. Simons, Stad en apostolaat. De vestiging van de hedelorden in het graafschap Vlaanderen (ca 1225-ca 1350) (Brussels 1987)].

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(for example at Ghent) or because they offered meeting rooms for the town councillors and the guilds89. Finally the beghards should be mentioned, the male counterpart of the beguines. After apparendy living in the towns as individuals in accord­ ance with a religious conviction, they grouped themselves into monaster­ ies, first — as always — in Flanders and in Brabant ; the earliest mention for Bruges dates from 1252, followed by Diest (first mentioned 1252), St Trond, Brussels, Tirlemont (1276), and others. They earned their keep mainly by working in the textile industry9091. In the thirteenth century the cure of souls was strongly dominated by preaching. One indication of this is that the Dominicans were mainly known as Preaching Friars. It would be wrong, however, to underrate the importance of preaching before then. The Wanderprediger had a century earlier actually used popular preaching as a means of propagating funda­ mental conversion. Undoubtedly the quality of the sermons improved now that it was done by specialized and trained religious, and they were better than those of the average parish priest, who by his inadequate education lacked the background or the communication skills to urge his audience on to a better life. It would also be wrong to ascribe this form of pastoral activity purely to the activities of the mendicant orders. They appear to have ben­ efited from the achievements of others who had gone before them. An example is James of Vitry. He was active in the Liège area in the years 1211-1216 and probably came from the Rheims region. From being a secular priest he became a regular canon at Oignies, where the mystic Mary was then living. Besides a series of Sermones by him, intended for a religious elite, sermones vulgares have also survived in which he addressed himself, among others, to tradesmen and farmers, and which were hence examples of an adapted cure of souls. The technique he applied in them was the use of examples, exempla. As he says in his foreword to his Vita

89 Henderikx, De oudste bedelordekloosters, p. 187. 90 J. le Leu, ‘De begarden te Antwerpen, 1296-1474’, Franciscana, 33 (1978), pp. 166-67 and 173-77 ; E. McDonnell, The Beguines and Beghards in Medieval Culture with Spe­ cial Emphasis on the Belgian Scene (New Brunswick, N. J., 1954), pp. 253-55. 91 J. F. Hinnebusch, The Historia Occidentalis o f Jacques de Vitry, Spicilegium Friburgense, 17 (Freiburg, 1972), pp. 3-10.

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of Mary of Oignies91 : “Many are inspired by examples, who are not stirred by commandments”. This exemplary literature was to be widely circu­ lated. They became, as it were, virtues catalogues, adapted to everyone’s need. One figure with many points in common, also in the genre of his production, was Thomas of Cantimpré, who was also attracted by the aura of mysticism and by the growing beguine movement. From being a canon he became a Dominican, which shows the strength of attraction of the new movement92. Two compilations would meet with great success in the next few decades, in the Low Countries too : the Dialogus miraculorum by the Cistercian Caesarius of Heisterbach (1222) and the Dominican James of Voragine’s Legenda Aurea, in which hagiography was transformed, as it were, into exemplary literature93.

THE OLD ORDERS

W hat opportunities were there for the old orders in the light of the success of this new militia Christi ? For this we must bear in mind two differences : (1) the old orders themselves could be divided into the ‘genuinely’ old (the black Benedictines) and into those who had originated around 1100 ; (2) the contrast between the rural and the urban character of the religious orders before and after 1200. The old orders could not cope with the competition which the ‘new times’ forced upon them. Particularly the Benedictines were the victims. The religious decline they displayed was accompanied by a material de­ cline which is evident in almost every abbey. The economic situation had in general changed to the advantage of the towns and trade ; this altered relationships in the rural areas as well. So the old-fashioned structure of the great landownership of older abbeys was in decline. The usurpations of the manorial officers, the decline of forced labour, and the devaluation of the dues, reduced their incomes. It was not until the late-thirteenth century or even later that the Benedictines

92 S. Axters, Geschiedenis van de vroomheid in de Nederlanden (Antwerp, 1950-53), I, pp. 333-35. 93 Ibid., I, p p . 216-18; n , p . 88.

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found a better adapted system of operation (leasing and similar practic­ es)94. The twelfth-century orders had fewer problems of this kind, they relied more on their own manual labour, but here too there was at best stagnation. These abbeys were on average much less well endowed than the older ones, but their development had been so explosive that the saturation point was soon reached. Hugh of Fouilloy has given a sombre picture of this. “W hat once was freely given now has to be bought, and what then could be retained in peace, can now hardly be held in owner­ ship without a lawsuit”95. The order of Arrouaise, for example, shook on its foundations in the middle of the century : some abbeys set themselves against visitation ; the strict abstention from meat was weakened and women were no long­ er accepted as members of the order96. Almost everywhere the mensa communis ended up being divided into separate prebends97. In other words, even without the mendicant orders the old monasteries were faced with severe trials98. Those who to some degree escaped this sombre pic­ ture, were the Cistercians, for whom foundations or affiliations took place up until the thirteenth century. Klaarkamp in Friesland was founded be­ fore 1163, which in 1191 led to the foundation of Bloemkamp, and in 1192 of Aduard. Around 1240 its monks swarmed out to Gerkesklooster. The great success of this order was, however, mainly with its feminine branch, and this against the inclinations and wishes of the order. We now assume this phenomenon to be part of the whole problem of female religious ex­ pression.

94 W. Braeckman, ‘De moeilijkheden van de Benedictijnerabdijen in de late Middeleeuwen : de Sint-Pietersabdij te Gent (ca. 1150-ca. 1281)’, Handelingen van deMaatschappij voor Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde te Gent, 17 (1963), pp. 92-99. 95 W. Simons, ‘Deux témoins du mouvement canonial du xne siècle’, Sacris erudiri, 24 (1980), p. 243. 96 Milis, L ’ordre des chanoines réguliers, pp. 242-54. 97 L. F. Genicot, ‘Le chapitre de Huy au tournant des xn' et xut' siècles’, Revue ã histoire ecclésiastique, 59 (1964), p. 17. 98 Post, Kerkgeschiedenis, I, pp. 213-14.

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THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT

The most remarkable occurrence in the history of religion in the latetwelfth and thirteenth century is the explosion of women’s convents and beguinages. This produced a whole series of problems, of which the most important is whether these ‘questions of women’s movements’ (Frauen­ frage) were the result of a drive for feminine emancipation. The answer depends very much on what is meant by the term. It must certainly be borne in mind that these foundations and entries must be placed entirely within the paternalistic ethos of the time. The new movements were there­ fore not expressions of a female self-awareness that wished to set itself against a society dominated by men, a fortiori, the Church. The movement should in fact be seen as a parallel to the opposition of the towns to the rurally dominated religious structures, in other words, both towns and women gained the opportunity around 1200 to achieve their aspirations in a framework much better suited to their needs. Just as the Church was looking for means to operate adequately in the towns, and the towns themselves sought a suitable religious expression in the newly launched orders and establishments (mendicants, hospitals), so it was for women. The Church, traditionally suspicious of women, tried to organize them and so to keep them away from heretical ideas and actions. Although there was therefore no question of a ‘liberation movement’ as such, there was one of enlarging structures to meet new needs. To this extent the com­ parison with the town is valid, but no further. Where the rural religious orders of men had passed their peak and could count on few new founda­ tions, this was not the case for the women. The failure of earlier experi­ ments with mixed monasteries, and later with women’s priories dependent on men, led to the creation of independent women’s convents, in which the most important factor was their economic independence. The exces­ sive number of women in the priories had, after all, encouraged the men to curb their entry and secure their own standard of living. But the monks were not keen on providing spiritual guidance either. The general chapter of Citeaux opposed — admittedly in vain — the explosion of the number of convents of nuns". This did not prevent some sixty houses of Cistercian9

99 M. Pontenay de Fontette, Les religieuses à Tage classique du droit canon (Paris, 1967), pp. 30-33.

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sisters being founded at the close of the twelfth century and the first sixty years of the thirteenth from south to north in the Low Countries ; to men­ tion only a few, Blandecques near Saint-Omer, Herkenrode near Hasselt (1182), and the Frisian convents of Nazareth and Sion. The mendicant orders drew up adjusted rules for women and founded what was usually called the ‘second order’. This mainly applied for the Dominican sisters. They first appeared in the Low Countries in 1232 at Mersch (Luxemburg) and by the end of the century they had houses in Flanders and Bra­ bant100. There is some confusion here about a few convents (such as St Mary Magdalene’s in Nijmegen and in Dordrecht). Institutions with this name had often been members of the “penitent order of St Mary Magdalene” which originated at Worms in the early thirteenth century. Its object was to bring prostitutes to a more spiritual life. They were established in Utrecht between 1226 and 1248, while the first mention of them in Brus­ sels is in 1235 and at Louvain in 1245101. The Fãles-Dieu (or ‘Filledeusen’ as they were known in Dutch language areas), imported from France, had the same aims : they were reported in Arras, and from there in Bruges, in the thirteenth century. As the century progressed these penitents, or White Ladies as they were called, started moving on to other orders and mostly lost their original recruiting grounds. They ended up with the Dominican sisters, the Norbertine sisters (as at Utrecht), or the Victorines (as did the Brabantine houses). The spread of the Victorines started from the convent of Prémy (near Cambrai) which was founded from the combined male and female monastery of Cantimpré (1185)102. They followed a rule spe­ cially drawn up in 1200. The Poor Clares, who formed the second order of the Franciscans and led a stricdy contemplative life, reached the Low

100 A. M. Bogaerts, H et klooster Hertoginnedal der zusters dominikanessen te Oudergem. 1262-1797, Bouwstoffen voor de geschiedenis der dominikanen in de Nederlanden, 18 (Louvain, 1979) pp. 7-11. 101 Ibid., pp. 11-12. 102 M. P. Coenegracht, ‘Ontstaan van de Brabantse witte vrouwen en hun overgang naar de orde van St.-Victor’, Ons Geestelijk Erf, 34 (1960), pp. 71—79 ; J. W. C. van Campen, ‘Stichting en status van het Wittevrouwenklooster te Utrecht’, Arcbiefvoor de Geschie­ denis van de Katholieke Kerk in Nederland, 17 (1975), pp. 106-11.

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Countries in 1250 with a foundation at Bruges103. Because of their late ar­ rival the order never spread very widely. Meanwhile, the beguine system had also started to flourish. It was based on a typical feminine expression of piety, which was to reach its peak in the mysticism of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Mary of Oignies, who is said to have been the first beguine, lived in the shadow of the monastery of the canons regular of Oignies near Namur, where she died in 1213. Such women, living as a kind of parasite on the male mon­ asteries, were not exceptional, and on balance the recluses were no more than that. This spirituality began to reach women who lived in the towns, alone or in groups. This caused a problem. Leading a religious life unre­ lated to an organized institution was not acceptable to the Church of that time, particularly where women were involved. So these small groups were put under the spiritual guidance of the parish priest. This slowly led to greater concentration : by 1232 a beguinage had been set up at Louvain, where the devotae mulieres were assembled together. The example was followed by Ghent (1234 and 1240), Antwerp (1239) and other towns, also outside Brabant and Flanders, so that later some hundred béguinag­ es could be counted throughout the Low Countries. The apostolic pov­ erty promoted by the first adherents gradually ebbed away. The beguinage became a stable institution presented as a Hortus Conclusus (enclosed garden), a town within the town. The closed institu­ tion which had been introduced among nuns remained foreign to the beguines. The stabilitas, to which the Church had held so long for any form of spiritual life, was breached, as in fact it was also being breached by the male members of the mendicant orders. The beguines were still lay. This explains the suspicion that later fell on them. They never went be­ yond being an association of members of a third order within the Francis­ can movement. The original religious commitment of a Mary of Oignies or an Yvette of Huy and of their male supporters Lambert le Bègue, and later James of Vitry, gradually weakened. Their continued lay status and the elasticity of their observance offered the prosperous burgher a means of ‘safe-keeping’ for an excessive number of daughters. In fact it is re-

103 A. Cassiman, ‘Stichting van het klooster van de rijke Claren te Gentbrugge’, Francis­ cana, 8 (1933), p. 1.

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corded in 1328 that the Ghent beguinages were founded because there were too many women who could not marry within their class and, if they wished to live a chaste life, did not have sufficient means to acquire a place in a convent. There must be some doubt about whether this view corre­ sponded with the reality of some hundred years earlier. That beguines remained lay had the advantage for the families that there was still the option of withdrawing their daughters if neccessary104. The success of the women’s movement must undoubtedly have been based on an imbalance between the sexes in medieval society. If the expression of piety is the perfect reflection of this imbalance, it could be deduced that the excess of females had existed, or even increased, since the late twelfth century. An explanation has been sought for this which, as far as can be seen, can­ not be proved, but seems more or less to fit the facts. It is assumed that the waging of war had more fatal consequences in the recent period, that obstetrics progressed so that fewer women died in childbirth, and that the crusades cost a great many male fives105. These reasons could have played their part, but it is quite likely that there was also a surplus of women before that, which in the rural communities was better absorbed by the closed nature of the social system : unmarried women were simply in­ cluded in the extended family. The expansion of the towns and the loss of roots and opening of society already suggested, brought changes here. Moreover it appears that the process of impoverishment among the nobil­ ity had become serious, so that daughters could no longer amass a suffi­ cient dowry, either to get married or to be received in a convent106. There are no reliable statistics for us to estimate precisely the proportion of fe­ male religious in the total urban population. For the fourteenth century an estimate of 2.5% of the known population can be assumed for the beguines alone, in other words about 5 per cent of all women in the town. To this an equally high percentage of nuns must be added from the many convents of the mendicant orders. Rather than the factors mentioned above, the imbalance on the marriage market can, however, for the most

104 As to the beguines, see : O. Nübel, Mittelalterliche Beginen- und Sozialsiedlungen in den Niederlanden, Schwäbische Forschungsgemeinschaft, Reihe 4,14 (Tübingen, 1970). 105 Fossier, La terre et les hommes , i, pp. 278-80. 106 For this purpose, Robert of Termonde and Béthune provided a sum in his will (1269) (E. Hautcoeur, Cartulaire de Fabbaye de Flines (Lille, 1873), ï, pp. 177-80).

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part be explained by the growing number of men who entered religious orders107.

HERESIES

Much of the Church’s attitude to the new movements can be explained by the fear of heresy. But this fear itself encouraged the rise of heresies, because within the normal structure of the Church innovations could not have sufficient chance of being accepted. O n top of that, precise legal definitions had brought into being a much stricter distinction between orthodoxy and heterodoxy, and the reinforcement of a more high-handed authority led to more force. At first violence against heretics originated mainly among the people, but in the thirteenth century clearly became a matter for the church courts108. Moreover heresies (or alleged heresies) had endured an identification process. New ideas were identified with earlier ‘deviations’ considered objectionable. Hence the identification of Manichaeans with Cathars109. In addition it must be taken into account that people are always heretics in the view of someone else, and that the relative balance of power in the end decides the issue. Tanchelm, in the early twelfth century, was a heretic in the eyes of the chapter of Utrecht, while he was perhaps just an overenthusiastic element of the ‘Gregorian reform’ coming from Thérouanne. The international radius of operations of groups focused on the cure of souls would have encouraged this iden­ tification and increased the panic. The Cistercians and particularly the Dominicans after them were deployed in the struggle against Catharism. Their enormous success explains why the heretics were perceived every­ where and therefore persecuted. Robert le Bougre, the first inquisitor to come to the Low Countries on behalf of the pope (1236), a Dominican of course, made himself notorious, was ordered to calm down and eventu-

107 M.-T. Lorcin, ‘Retraite des veuves et filles au couvent’, Annales de démographie his­ torique (1975), pp. 187-204, gives figures (though for a slighdy later period) which run to 1/4 for women and 1/6 for men. 108 G. Despy, ‘Les cathares dans le diocèse de Liège au Xlf siècle’, in Christianisme cühier et d'aujourÆhui. Hommages à Jean Préaux (Brussels, 1979), p. 70. 109 M. Grisart, ‘Les cathares dans le Nord de la France’, Revue du Nord , 49 (1967), pp. 51419.

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ally condemned to imprisonment for life. There had been a storm of com­ plaints, among other things as a consequence of a great auto-da-fé in Champagne. Particularly the women’s movement incurred the odium and indeed the suspicion of heresy. As a result of the increasing use of the vernacular women were able to express their mystical aspirations, which could easily lead to suspicion (among other things, of pantheism). Once again there­ fore the flashpoint between orthodoxy and heresy was most imminent in what can be called spear-point religiosity (the up-and-coming and stimu­ lating movements) among the (few) men and (many) women who repre­ sented it. Lam bert le Bègue (d. 1177), after whom it was thought incorrecdy that the beguines were named, was one example110. A century later the beguines would increasingly be suspected of heresy, which led to their partial dissolution after the Council of Vienne in 1311. Illiteracy declined as a result of a higher level of education. Demand for Bibles in the vernacular grew : Lambert le Bègue translated the Acts of the Apostles out of Latin and mentioned a translation of the Psalms ; around the same time the count of Guines possessed a translation of the Cantica Canticorum ; later Jacob of Maerlant’s Rijmbijhel appeared111. The growth of the demand opened the floodgates for self-confident laymen, or religious descended from the upper classes, to produce their own in­ terpretations. Heresy was the normal battleground between a Church which was becoming more intransigent, and new possibilities and forms of awareness for the towns, for women, and for the laity. It became all the more intolerable for the authorities when (untrained) laymen took it upon themselves to preach.

The Church at the Time of the Avignon Papacy If the fourteenth century was a troubled time for Western society in gen­ eral, it was certainly one for the Church. Its credibility and charismatic influence from the top had vanished. The Church was a party in the strug-

110 J. Goossens, ‘A propos de YAntigraphum Vetri (XIIe s.) Notes critiques’, Handelingen van de Koninklijke Commissie voor Geschiedenis, 143 (1977), pp. 117-22. 111 Axters, Geschiedenis van de vroomheid, n, pp. 380-81.

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gle for stronger worldly power, in which the nation states were now de­ finitively getting the upper hand. W hen in 1305 the archbishop of Bordeaux was elected pope under the name of Clement V, the so-called ‘Babylonian captivity’ of the popes started. After some roaming around he settled in Avignon. Under Benedict xn (1334), steps were taken to organize the town as the definitive seat of the Church by building the palace, transferring archives, and so on. Avi­ gnon lay outside the kingdom of France. Yet the influence of the French king was important, particularly when in 1337 the H undred Years War started. From then on sympathy for the pope became associated with loyalty to the French monarchy. That this had important repercussions for the Low Countries is obvious. W hen in 1377 Gregory xi returned to Rome, after all kinds of pressure, this was the beginning of an even more confusing period for the Church ; that of the Western Schism. Two, some­ times three popes would in the next few decades fight for the Petrine succession. Political coalitions would become ever more important. The section on Church history discussed here comes to an end between Avi­ gnon and the Western Schism.

THE SECULAR CHURCH — EXTERNAL

The evolution of power politics which could be discerned in the thirteenth century continued unabated in the fourteenth. The rise of France, al­ though temporarily interrupted by the start of the Hundred Years War, was in sharp contrast to the disintegration to which the Empire fell victim. That a few attempts were undertaken by, among others, Henry vn of Lux­ emburg and Louis of Bavaria to restore the lost imperial power, does not detract from this general assessment. Within the Low Countries the ten­ dency continued in which Flanders saw its hegemony affected by Brabant and Hainault-Holland. The role played by the Church in society forced it to choose sides in these mutual rivalries. Yet it was no longer the decisive element it had been earlier. Being unable to impose itself, it’s part became more passive. It had gone through more than it could cope with. The growing centralization of the papacy, the increasing appointment of for­ eigners, the growing absenteeism resulting from the accumulation of of­ fices (this will be discussed later) made a special physiognomy of its own impossible for the Church in the Low Countries. The conclusions which 142

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can be drawn relating to individual bishoprics will consequently always be the same as those valid for dioceses in other regions. The impression given is always one of an international Church without international pres­ tige. Improper use of finances and abuse of transcendental threats (excom­ munication and interdict) accentuated this process, which had started in the thirteenth century112. During the war with France which Flanders waged almost continuously until 1355, that region bore the burden of excommunication or interdict for shorter or longer periods at least seven times. It was a means which the French king, with papal support, could fall back on113. The pressure which the French monarchy could exert through the episcopal seats of Arras, Thérouanne and Tournai became increasingly stronger. Not only were those appointed to these sees pre­ dominantly Frenchmen, but before or during their terms of episcopal office they also held office at the French court114. The mobility of bishops (and other office holders) is striking: Rob­ ert of Geneva, who would become Clement vn, was first bishop of Thér­ ouanne (1361- 1368), then of Cambrai (1368-1371). The reason was, of course, that the office was regarded solely as a source of income, and that the holder was always on the look-out for a better post. The best re­ searched example now is that of John of Arkel, first bishop of Utrecht (1342-1364), then of Liège (1364-1378) where he replaced Engelbert de la Marck, who moved on to Cologne115. O f course the regular occurrence of these moves meant that the relationship between the bishop and his diocese, as of that of a shepherd and his sheep, was lost. The bishop be­ came no more than an official, appointed by and for the pope, if not by and for the king. It is obvious that further into imperial territory French influence was less. It diminished as one moved further away from the imperial fron­ tiers : strong at Cambrai, less so at Liège, almost non-existent at Utrecht. In Cambrai the attempt of the German kings (Henry vn) to return to some extent to the situation in the twelfth century did not succeed. On the con-

112 113 114 115

Moreau, Histoire de FÉglise, m, p. 278. Ibid., pp. 261-301. Ibid., pp; 307-08. C. A. Rutgers, Jan van Arkel, bisschop van Utrecht, Bijdragen van het Instituut voor Middeleeuwse geschiedenis der Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht, 34 (Groningen, 1970).

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trary. The efforts of the French prince did, and hence he acquired some degree of control over Brabant and Hainault, which fell outside the tra­ ditional frontiers of 843. Flanders from then on remained aloof, and opened the way for the Avesnes, whose Hainault possessions surrounded Cambrai itself116. At Liège Philip the Fair intervened to get the Westphal­ ian nobleman Adolf de la Marck appointed bishop (1313 ). Admittedly he was a member of the papal curia, which considerably facilitated appoint­ ments. It all shows what a difference there was between the two centuries. The role of the German king was played out. The bishop was primarily a prince who was more interested in his principality than in his diocese, in other words, more in his worldly than in his spiritual power. H e was a warrior and a politician, who had to negotiate with his subjects about the delicate path between feudal, authoritarian and democratic control117. O f course this has nothing to do with religious history. At Utrecht the situation was not drastically different, except that French influence, as we observed, was less noticeable there (though it was in the time of Frederick of Sierck, 13 IS)118. In addition to papal influence, the role of Holland and Gelre counted there. This was clearly shown by the appoint­ ment of John of Arkel. After the death of John of Diest (1340) the cathe­ dral chapter demanded the right to choose his successor (with the exclusion of the other religious houses in Utrecht). However, the pope reserved the right of appointment to himself. Meanwhile William rv, count of Holland, had already appeared in the town to put pressure on the elec­ toral college. John won the appointment over Gelre’s candidate, but the pope was watching his interests. H e appointed an Italian canon from Thérouanne, who, however, was not accepted in Utrecht. After difficulties and arguments, the pope in 1342 finally appointed Holland’s choice after all. For him, too, the political role left more important and more plentiful scars than the religious ones. The regular holding of synods, the promul­ gation of statutes, the limitation of archidiaconal power (particularly that of the cathedral) cannot, however, be ignored119.

116 117 118 119

Moreau, Histoire de l’Église, m, pp. 251-55. Ibid., pp. 230-40 ; Lejeune, Liège et son pays, pp. 43-44 and 66-74. Post, Kerkgeschiedenis, I, p. 197. Rutgers, ]an van Arkel, pp. 164-75 and 220-21.

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THE INFLUENCE OF AVIGNON IN THE LOW COUNTRIES - APPOINTMENT OF BISHOPS, PREBENDS, FINANCES

The increasing centralization of the Church had been noticeable for some considerable time. From the thirteenth century on, and particularly in the fourteenth, the popes would try to broaden the base of their power pyra­ mid even more, and to control it better. The chosen method — of which we have seen examples — was the reservation of appointments. With in­ creasingly sweeping measures, proclaimed between 1265 and 1363, epis­ copal, archidiaconal and canonical offices were distributed by the popes. This meant that not much survived of the original election of bishops a clero et populo. During the Avignon period there were 251 appointments in the southern sees, of which barely 46 were by canonical election. O f the 66 archdeacons in the fourteenth century some 40 were foreigners (Ital­ ians, and particularly southern Frenchmen), including 16 cardinals. It is not difficult to find such examples. The system of the reservation of preb­ ends encouraged cronyism and this favoured the system of the cumulation of offices. A 1317 measure to limit the collection in one hand of different offices (the bull Execrabilis) actually remained a dead letter. The result of this situation was that offices came to be regarded only as a source of in­ come, and that their holders did not five locally. It was particularly uni­ versity graduates (who belonged to a network of international contacts) who were guilty of absenteeism. Figures for the diocese of Liège between 1200 and 1350 show that for 22 chapters there were six with an absence percentage of 25 to 40 per cent ; they are also the most prominent ones : O ur Lady in Maastricht, St John’s at Liège, St Paul’s at Liège (30 per cent), O ur Lady at Aix, St Adalbert’s at Aix (30-35 per cent) and St Lambert’s (the cathedral chapter) at Liège (40 per cent)120. The motor for the whole system was its financial aspects. Cutting off the normal church incomes from Italy, and the increase in the curial activities made it necessary to find alternative sources of income. The result was the taxation of the clergy. As well as a range of smaller obligations, there were particularly the servitia, the annates and the papal tithes. The first were payments which had to be

120 C. Renardy, Le monde des maîtres universitaires du diocèse de Liège. 1140-1350, Biblio­ thèque de la Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres de FUniversité de Liège, 227 (Paris, 1979), pp. 214-18.

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made on the occasion of an appointment to an important benefice. For bishops these payments rose from 4,600 gold guilders in Utrecht, to more than 5,000 in Tournai and Thérouanne, 6,000 in Cambrai and 7,200 in Liège. For abbots there were varying amounts : for St Peter’s in Ghent 5,000, for Egmond 250, for Orval 32.5. The payment of annates was com­ pulsory for the small benefices. In both cases it was a part of the first year’s income of the prebend, but often a stay of payment was granted. The pa­ pal tithes, originally a tenth part of a cleric’s income, were reserved for the financing of crusades. They evolved into a source of income of which the collection was left to the king, in the first instance Philip the Fair. So these funds eventually were turned against those who paid them, such as the Flemings in their struggle against the Capetians121.

RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS

The evolution of the thirteenth-century orders. Spontaneous foundations No orders of particular importance were created in the fourteenth cen­ tury. Religious movements carried on within the framework that had de­ veloped at latest in the thirteenth century and been accepted by the Council of Lyons (1274). This meant that any new expressions of religios­ ity had to be contained within an integrated whole stricdy defined before­ hand. This resulted in a series of tensions, most noticeable among the Franciscans, between supporters of a more moderate observance and those of the rigorous ideal of poverty of the Poverello himself. There was a similar evolution among the Poor Clares. The most remarkable phenomenon was perhaps that there was still no room made for a typical lay spirituality. The beguine movement which met this need was, after all, condemned at the Council of Vienne in 1311. The Hainault beguine Margareta Porete was with her Miroir des simples âmes a supporter of the heresy of the Free Spirit, and was burnt the same

121 Moreau, Histoire de l'Église, ni, pp. 207-29 ; Post, Kerkgeschiedenis, i, pp. 274-85 ; A . J. Munsters, ‘Verkenning van de middeleeuwse Kerk in Limburg’, in Limburgs verleden. Geschiedenis vanNederlands Limburg tot 1815 (Maastricht, s.a.), pp. 498-503 ; Lejeune, Liège et son pays, pp. 53-55.

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year122. However, the council’s decision did not lead to the eradication of the movement in the Low Countries, as it had done in the Rhineland. And though they were defended by a number of bishops who guaranteed their orthodoxy, yet the beguines had to adopt a more strictly religious way of life. For this the so-called third order was thought up, both within the Franciscan and within the Dominican tradition. This was an observance specially oriented on the laity, which operated alongside the first and sec­ ond orders (for male and female religious respectively) but in the course of time would acquire a clearly monastic style, though without enclosure. The Grey Sisters of Saint-Omer appear to have been the earliest in the Low Countries123. The beghards too became increasingly part of this movement124125. It would seem that the numbers of religious, particularly among women, reached peaks they never had before. In how far this was the consequence of purely demographic or economic factors, or of psy­ chological changes — the reaction to the great famine and to the Black Death — is difficult to say, at least as yet. If there were sometimes spon­ taneous foundations, then these were not fundamentally new in form. They consisted of groups of devout men or women, who gathered to­ gether in the town under the wing of their parish priest123. But that was exactly what had happened a century earlier with the evolution of the beguinages. That they were still created in the fourteenth century shows that neither the system of beguines nor the third order, could absorb eve­ ryone. It was from these small groups that Geert Grote’s movement — just at the end of the period studied here — drew its success. This movement would, however, undergo the traditional institutionalizing process by the formation of the congregation of regular canons of Windesheim. The regular canons could still, after all, accommodate new move­ ments most easily, since their rule (that of St Augustine) made much of 122 P. Pierrard, Les diocèses de Cambrai et de Lille, Histoire des diocèses de France, 8 (Paris, 1978), pp. 64-66. 123 B. de Troeyer, ‘Béguines et tertiaires en Belgique’, in I frati penitenti di S. Francesco nella società del L u e e Trecento (Rome, 1977), pp. 137-8; Bogaerts, H et klooster Hertoginnedal, pp. 3-4 ; R. Creytens, ‘Oorsprong van de reguliere Derde-Orde van SintDominicus of van de Zusters Dominikanessen’, Lom inikaans Leven, 28 (1972), pp. 1-6 and 57-61. 124 Leu, ‘De begarden’, pp. 21-25. 125 For example, W. Jappe Alberts, "Van heerlijkheid tot landsheerlijkheid, Maaslandse monografieën, 21 (Assen, 1978), pp. 219-21.

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their own input possible. So it is not surprising that — just as three cen­ turies earlier — hermits, who had withdrawn from the vita activa, again took this road when it came to organization. Here we come up against John of Ruysbroeck and his followers, who withdrew from the chapter of St Gudule in Brussels to devote themselves wholly to contemplation in Groenendaal in the Forest of Soignes. Their hermitage had a great power of attraction and was in contact with both St Victor’s in Paris and with Geert Grote126. This Groenendaal, with similar foundations in the neigh­ bourhood such as Rooklooster and Zevenborren, ended up in the later congregation of Windesheim127. The group obviously became famous mainly as a result of the ascetic and visionary activity of John of Ruysbr­ oeck and his fellow brothers128. It continued the tradition of mysticism which had started a century and a half earlier and had led to highlights of Dutch literature in the beguine and Cistercian sister circles with Hadewych and Beatrijs of Nazareth. Time and again we find that this religious (and only in second place literary) awakening occurred within the new experi­ ments where the sclerosis of time and custom had not yet done its work. In this revival, Geert Grote had the greatest success. His career reflected the transition from an established Church to a dynamic Church, with all its associated problems. Parallels with previous reformers were legion. Hailing from Deventer (°1340) he studied, among other places, at Paris, where he graduated as magister artium. H e enjoyed prebends at Utrecht and Aix-la-Chapelle. As a result of an illness he underwent a conversion : he gave up his income, put a house at the disposal of devout women (1374), became a deacon and travelled around preaching penitence. This led to a ban on his preaching in 1383. In 1384 he died of the plague. He held forth against the worldly way of life of the clergy, the non-observance of celibacy, and their greed for money. The house at Deventer was the base from which developed the communities of the Brethren and Sisters of the Common Life, who wished to lead a pious but secular life ; they also es­ tablished themselves, among other places, in Zwolle, ’s-Hertogenbosch

126 Monasticon beige. Tome TV. Province de Brabant (Maredsous, 1890), iv, pp. 1075-76. 127 Monasticon Windeshemense, ed. by W. Kohl, E. Persoons, and A. G. Weiler (Brussels, 1976), I, pp. 61-62,125-26 and 195-96. 128 A. Ampe, Ruusbroec. Traditie en werkelijkbeid, Studiën en tekstuitgaven van Ons Geestelijk Erf, 19 (Antwerp, 1974).

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and Delft. The uncertainty about their discipline made a better organiza­ tion necessary. The movement evolved under Florens Radewijns and led eventually to the Windesheim congregation129. Stabilization of the old orders in the countryside and in the towns There were hardly any new movements in the fourteenth century. As rea­ sons can be listed : the growing lack of credibility of the Church as an institution ; the anathemas on new experiments ; the general uneasiness of society; and undoubtedly in particular, saturation. Institutions once founded, continued to exist and outlived their usefulness. This was par­ ticularly true of the Benedictines, the Cistercians and the regular canons, of which the Premonstratensians were the most important group. Their traditional benefactors — the rural nobility — had become the victims of the urban and commercially oriented revolution of the thirteenth century. On average their property had not increased. Certainly landed estates were only rarely donated yet, and the days of land reclamation were past. If there were any donations, these came mostly from rents of land or houses by the urban population. These new rich had difficulty in identifying with the old orders, even — as, for example, in the case of St Bavo’s and St Peter’s in Ghent, or St Vaast’s in Arras — if their abbeys ended up within the area of the town’s expansion. The important role of these institutions, which earlier we could deservedly have referred to on almost every page, was over by the fourteenth century. And of course, the more a region was oriented on the town and on new forms of economy, the more striking was the contrast. In the democratic institutions of Flanders the clergy played no role. There is evidence to the contrary that they did so in the repre­ sentative councils, the States, of other principalities (for example, the im­ portance of the Premonstratensians in Brabant)130.

129 W Lourdaux, ‘De breeders van het Gemene Leven’, Bijdragen. Tijdschrift voorfilosofie en théologie, 33 (1972), pp. 372-75 ; G. Epiney-Burgard, Gerard Grote (1340-1384) et les débuts de la Dévotion moderne, Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Europäische Geschichte Mainz, 54 (Wiesbaden, 1970), pp. 142-47. 130 R. Van Uytven, Wereldlijke overheid en reguliere geestelijkheid in Brabant tijdens de late Middeleeuwen, Bibliothèque de la Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique, 47 (Louvain, 1968), p. 84.

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Within the abbeys, too, the crisis continued to grow. Fervent reli­ gious faith weakened. The increase in the number of pittances and distri­ butions led to the decay of the ideal and practice of poverty. Certainly too, the erosion of the election of abbots was a negative factor. Just as for secular priests, the pope retained to himself the right of appointing regu­ lar prelates. Examples of papal appointments, including those for Egmond, St Paul’s or Oostbroek, are numerous131 The office of abbot was a source of income, not an opportunity for radiating charisma. This situation was obviously not characteristic only of the Low Countries. It was a gen­ eral situation, to which the Avignon pope Benedict xn wanted to make an end with an ambitious plan for reform. Bulls covering the Cistercians and Benedictines were issued in 1335, the Franciscans in 1336 and for the regular canons in 1339. They prescribed the organization of chapters for each order in each province of the Church, but in practice litde came of it. Although the Dominicans were also confronted with a crisis, they were not to be subjected to measures which had the purpose of restoring the rigor ordinis and adapting the orders themselves to fit the new society (for example, with regard to university studies). However, these texts could not create a greater vitality. O f course, this did not prevent new monaster­ ies being set up. The obligations of the councils of 1215 and 1274 were decisive : each new experiment had to end up in one of the allowed orders. It is in fact the lack of vitality in the Benedictine and Augustinian houses which explains the rise of the Carthusians in the Low Countries after a delay of more than two centuries. That they did not penetrate earlier can be explained by the success of the eremitic and Cistercian movements at the time when they all originated around 1100. That they penetrated at the end of the thirteenth century is perhaps an illustration of the increas­ ing French influence. Foundations are recorded at Valenciennes (1288) and Saint-Omer (1299). Their number grew suddenly between 1314 and 1329 when six houses were founded in Hainault, Flanders and Brabant (Herne, Bruges and others). By the end of the Middle Ages the number amounted to about twenty over the whole of the Low Countries. If the benefactors of a fourteenth-century Charterhouse are compared with those of a traditional abbey it is striking how prominent a different stratum

131 Post, Kerkgeschiedenis, I, p. 276.

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of society has become, and how the package of income has changed (rents). The founders were still mosdy feudal lords, but the benefactors came more and more from the leading classes in the towns. The sector within which their properties lie becomes steadily narrower132. The isolation to which these religious pledged themselves, even when they were living in the immediate vicinity of a town, of course pre­ vented them playing a role comparable to that of the old orders in the past, or that of the mendicant orders. Culture profited from it in all ways. This is explained by the great mobility of the religious who would move from one monastery or convent to another.

132 J. De Grauwe, ‘De Stichting van de Gentse Kartuis ‘Koningsdal’ te Rooigem in de parochie Ekkergem’, Handelingen van de Maatschappij voor Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde te Gent, 25 (1971), p. 10; J. De Grauwe, Prosopographia Cartusiana Belgica (1314-1796), Analecta Cartusiana, 28 (Ghent, 1976), pp. 7-8 ; Van Uytven, Wereldlijke overheid, pp. 68-70.

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Conversion : A Never-Ending Process

Geographical Conversion ne characteristic of Christianity is its proselytism. In attempting to become part of the social structures and institutions of any given society, it must operate on two fronts : the domination or annihilation of the prevailing religion and the imposition of its own values. Driven by the idea of its own superiority, the Christian end justifies the means : persua­ sion where possible, force where necessary. If we apply these considerations to the historical situation that existed at the end of the classical era and during the early Middle Ages in Western Europe, we can sketch the following picture. The first wave of Christianization that took place in the fourth century accompanied Romanization. The reference to St Servatius as the Bishop of Tongres illustrates this and establishes the south-north direction of the influence, determined by the Rhine and the rivers running parallel to it and by the road network. But a question arises : how well did these early Christian communities survive the Germanic invasions ? The answer seems to be more positive than was for many years imagined. Excavations have brought to light various Christian objects, and there also exist a few sparse written clues that seem to confirm the (later) reference in the Life of St Eleutherius to the presence of a Christian community in Tournai at the end of the fifth century1. Nevertheless, a second Christianization must have taken place

1

AASS, Febr. in (Antwerp, 1658), p. 187. See also : L. Milis, ‘Kerstening en kerkelijke instellingen tot circa 1070’, in Algemene geschiedenis derNederlanden (Haarlem, 1981),

during the sixth and seventh centuries. Its concentration in mainly rural areas paralleled the decline of urban life. We certainly encounter the names of several sixth-century bishops (St Géry in Cambrai, for example), but it was apparently not until the establishment of the abbeys that this second wave of Christianization began to bear fruit. Powered by mission­ aries of Mediterranean or Irish inspiration, it was partially controlled by the Merovingian kings as a component of their Reichsmission. This link between monarchy and evangelization is illustrated by the example of St Amand, who, finding the inhabitants of Ghent resistant to conversion, appealed to King Dagobert for permission to make their baptism compul­ sory2. Similarly, the conversion of the Frisians went hand in hand with Frankish efforts to seize the territory of Frisia. Under these conditions, there is no doubt that so-called ‘primary’ conversion was extremely super­ ficial. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that at the moment of baptism, conversion had yet to begin. This sacrament was no longer, as in the early days of the Church, the result of a lengthy initiation. It took no more than a sermon and a miracle to baptize an entire audience (voluntarily or oth­ erwise), as witness the successes of Saints Luglius and Luglianus in Boulogne3.

In-Depth Conversion I am more interested, here, in what I have chosen to call in-depth conver­ sion. After the relatively swift Christianization of public life, it would be a long time before individual, external behaviour became adapted to the requirements of the new religion. Changes in internal behaviour — result of the ‘development of conscience’ — was even harder to achieve. Nevertheless, Boulard and Rémy’s studies in the sociology of religion prove that the circumstances of Christianization still play a more decisive

2 3

pp. 266-75. On the general topic of Christianization, see: Cristianizzazione ed organizazione ecclesiastica delle campagne nell’alto medioevo: espansione e resistenze, 2 vols, Settimane, 28 (Spoleto, 1982). Ed. by B. Krusch, MGH SSRM, 5 (Hannover, 1910), pp. 436-37. AASS Belgii, 6 (Tongerlo, 1794), pp. 14-15.

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role in contemporary religious practice than such recent phenomena as industrialization and urbanization4. My first goal is to establish a chronology — inevitably rather vague — of the successes of in-depth Christianization. I shall then attempt to define the mechanism that made possible such a change of attitude and mentalities.

THE CHRONOLOGY

The last reference to pagans in our region can be found in the Life of St Hubert5. This hagiographical text tells us that early in the eighth century this bishop of Liège served as a missionary in Campine, Brabant, and the Ardennes — regions controlled by Liège and in part by Cambrai. The objects of his mission were probably Franks, not yet converted because of their isolation. At that period, farther north, the Pippinids were plan­ ning a political and religious expansion into Frisia. A text from the mid­ eighth century, the Indiculus superstitionum, of which a copy made at the end of the same century has come down to us, indicates that the populace was still pagan. The many ‘superstitions’ recorded testify to the extraor­ dinary vitality of paganism, and the document itself no doubt represented an inventory of the practices the Frankish occupying authorities aimed to stamp out6. In a number of places this text, thought for many years to be linked to the more easterly region of Saxony, is reminiscent of the sermon written two centuries earlier by St Eligius, bishop of Noyon-Toumai, which was itself inspired by the sermons of Caesarius of Arles7. We can therefore state that primary conversion followed by vigorous attempts to eradicate pagan-

4

5 i

7

F. Boulard and J. Rémy, Pratique religieuse urbaine et régions culturelles (Paris, 1968), pp. 118-19. Ed. by W. Levison, MGH SSRM, 6 (Hannover, 1913), pp. 484-85. Capitularia regum Francorum, ed. by A. Boretius and V. Krause, MGH Legum sectio n (Hannover, 1883), I, pp. 222-23 ; M. Gysseling, Corpus van Middelnederlandse teksten (toten m ethetjaar 1300). Reeks il: Literaire handschriften (Leyde, 1980), I, pp. 19-21 ; A. Dierkens, ‘Superstitions, christianisme et paganisme à la fin de l’époque mérovin­ gienne’, in Magie, sorcellerie, parapsychologie (Brussels, 1984), pp. 9-26. Ed. by B. Krusch, MGH SSRM, 4 (Hannover, 1902), pp. 705-08.

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ism occurred in northern Gaul and northwest Germania between the middle of the sixth and the end of the eighth centuries. But these texts, though the clearest, are not the only ones that offer evidence of the problems encountered by Crown and Church. Paganism was too powerful a force to disappear rapidly. A whole range of sourc­ es — including sermons, conciliar canons, customary law, royal legislation, penitential books, lives of the saints, and miracles — reveal the long strug­ gle to achieve in-depth Christianization; a struggle which has never ended. It is well known that even today in certain regions (Brittany and Vendée, for example), pagan elements survive in the realm of magic and witchcraft8. Moreover, we are all familiar with gestures, expressions, opin­ ions, and ideas that can be traced directly back to pagan society. The Church’s struggle to eliminate and replace ancient beliefs is too vast a subject to be explored in any depth in this short essay. I shall therefore confine myself to a discussion of two specific cases : the destruction of pagan cult sites as an illustration of the first phenomenon and the intro­ duction of a strict sexual morality (especially within marriage) as an illus­ tration of the second.

THE VICTORY OVER PAGANISM

Nothing is more vital to the introduction of a new religion than the destruc­ tion of the sites and symbols of the old cults. For the missionaries, this destruction was a way of proving the unique existence of God, the Christian God. Thus did H e demonstrate the omnipotence against which the pagan gods, the idolae — manifestations of satanic evil — had no defence. The cult sites in the Gallo-Roman, Celtic, and Germanic cultural spheres were almost all associated with trees or forests, springs, and rocks. All the possible types of documents (attesting to mental coercion) testify to this : the sermons of Caesarius of Arles and the Gallo-Roman councils of the fifth and sixth centuries, the lives and miracles of the seventh and

See : J. Favret-Saada, Les mots, la mort, les sorts. La sorcellerie dans le Bocage (Paris, 1977).

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eighth9. Although the last reference in the capitularies dates to the early ninth century, it cannot be assumed that the veneration of such natural features ceased. This documentary absence might also be explained — par­ tially, at least — by the intellectual development of the Carolingian Renaissance, less and less preoccupied with everyday life. The councils would become platforms for the discussion of major theological issues, eschewing their disciplinary role. In any case, while it is generally agreed that the pagan cult sites had disappeared from Frankish territory by the time of St H ubert at the latest, they continued to flourish in recently con­ quered regions, as the Indiculus superstitionum proves. However, fear lin­ gered for a long time, even in the heart of the Carolingian empire : the Council of Paris (829) emphasized that mass could only be celebrated in consecrated churches10. In the region around the Mediterranean, ancient cult sites were less difficult to control. A temple could easily be trans­ formed into a church, and it happened many times. Particularly notable was the consecration of the Pantheon, in Rome, in 609 — a victory of the one true G od over pantheism — which had such an impact that even in the eighth century Bede saw fit to mention it twice11. Superficially con­ verted Christian believers could travel the same path to their place of worship ; only the God had changed. But what was the situation farther north, where worship took place in the open air ? Here, too, there was substitution. The Council of Epaone (517) stipulated that altars should be made of stone rather than wood, and the Council of Soissons (744) ordered

9

Caesarius Arelatensis, Sermones , ed. by G. Morin, CCSL, 103 (Turnhout, 1953), pp. 233-35 (no. 53) and pp. 235-40 (no. 54) ; Council of Arles (442-502) : Condita Galliae, A. 314-A. 506, ed. by C. Munier, CCSL, 148 (Turnhout, 1963), p. 191 ; Coun­ cil of Tours (567) : Condita Galliae. A. 511-A. 695, ed. by M. de Clercq, CCSL, 148A (Turnhout, 1963), p. 191 ; Vita Amandi, MGH SSRM, 5, p. 439 (ch. 15) and p. 447 (ch. 24) ; Vita Bavonis, MGH SSRM, 4, p. 537 ; Vita Hugberti, MGH SSRM, 4, pp. 484-85 (ch. 3) ; Admonitio generalis (789) : Capitularia regum Francorum, ed. by Boretius and Krause, i, pp. 58-59 (ch. 65) ; Capitulare missorum spedale (802 ?) : Ibid., i, p. 104 (ch. 41) ; Council of Frankfurt (794) : Ibid., I, p. 77 (ch. 43) and Condlia aevi Karolini, ed. by A. Werminghoff, MGH Legum sectio m Concilia n (Hannover-Leipzig, 1906), i/l, p. 170. 10 Ibid., i/2 (Hannover, 1908), p. 641 (ch. 47). 11 Beda Venerabilis, De temporum ratione, ed. by Ch. W. Jones, CCSL, 123B (Tumhout, 1975), p. 523 (ch. 66) ; Idem, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, ed. by C. Plummer (Oxford, 1896), i, p. 88 (Iib. n, ch. 4).

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the destruction of crosses and crucifixes that clerics had set up near springs12— both signs of inculturation, in the missionary language of today. And we can surely see many other indications of inculturation, in place names and even in devotional practices themselves. The spring, moreover, symbol of purity, played a role in a number of miracles inspired by the Old Testament, such as the Miracles of St Fursey13. H ad the problem been resolved by the ninth century ? H ad it been overcome by destrucdon, substitution and inculturation ? Almost certainly not. The penitential of Bishop Halitgar of Cambrai forbade both the mak­ ing of vows at springs and the ritual drinking of the water14. And since this text was part of the Carolingian reform programme, it certainly did not reflect a situation that no longer existed. It constituted a systematic redac­ tion, ordered after the abolition of the earlier penitentials in 81315. Even as late as the year 1000, the Corrector Burchardi, by Burchard of Worms, continued to condemn the worship of springs, trees, and rocks16. In the summae confessionis (successors to the penitential books) of the thirteenth century, the subject is not discussed. Pagan practices had probably been exterminated, or at least completely incultured. It should not be forgotten, however, that the catalogues of sins contained in these summae were far less comprehensive than those in the penitentials themselves. In any case, it was no longer deemed necessary to mention the veneration of natural phenomena explicitly. O ther moral preferences — and hence other sins — had taken their place.

A NEW MORALITY

The very first interpreter of Christ’s message, St Paul, assigned sexuality to the realm of matter, impurity, and sin. H e and the patristic tradition in

12 Concilia Galliae. A. 511-A. 695, p. 30; Concilia aeviKarolini, i/l, p. 35 (ch. 7). 13 MGH SSRM, 4, p. 444 (ch. 11). 14 H. Wasserschieben, Die Bussordnungen der abendländischen Kirche (Halle, 1851 — ana­ static reprint Graz, 1958), p. 281 (ch. 30). 15 R. Kottje, Die Bussbücher Halitgars von Cambrai und des Hrabanus Maurus. Ihre UeberUeferung und ihre Quellen, Beiträge zur Geschichte und Quellenkunde des Mittelalters, 8 (Berlin, 1980). 16 Wasserschieben, Die Bussordnungen, p. 644 (ch. 57).

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general are responsible for the sexual repression that has afflicted our society. We can only examine a few aspects of this question here. For more information on the subject, readers should consult J.-L. Flandrin’s book Un temps pour embrasser11. Let us look first at the observance of purity within marriage. Christianity made no fundamental alteration or addition to already existing opinions. Leviticus discusses all questions related to purity lengthily, thus transmitting the Jewish tradition. It firmly forbids intercourse with a woman in the weeks following childbirth and during menstruation1718. Even today, a Jewish woman will perform a ritual purifica­ tion after her period (in the mikveh), and post-partum purification still exists in popular Catholic devotional practices. The connotation of impu­ rity associated with menstrual blood is not exclusively Jewish. In his Historia naturalis, Pliny the Elder advises avoiding sexual relations during a woman’s period under certain circumstances19. The fear of conceiving a monster survived throughout the Middle Ages, and there are very clear references to this idea in two of the sermons by Caesarius of Arles20. He was the propagator par excellence of the patristic doctrine on sexuality, which centered on the ideal of abstinence, the essential link between tol­ erated sexuality and procreation, and the strict prohibition of abortion. According to Caesarius, moreover, sins of a sexual nature led irremediably to damnation. He saw a necessary connection between spiritual and phys­ ical impurity: monsters, cripples, and lepers were the result of impure sexual union, the visible manifestations of sin. The authors of miracle col­ lections took every opportunity to express the same view — Gregory of Tours when speaking of St Martin, for example, and an anonymous writer on St Géry21. However, sacramental purity could vanquish bodily impurity. Without offering any justification, most of the penitential books from the sixth and seventh centuries and later placed an increasing emphasis on the

17 J.-L. Flandrin, Un temps pour embrasser (Paris, 1983). 18 Lev. 12.4-5; 15. 19-29; 18. 19 Pliny, Natural History, ed. by W. H. S. Jones (Cambridge Mass., 1963), vm, pp. 54-55 (lib. xxvm, ch. 23, no. 77). 20 Caesarius Arelatensis, Sermones, p. 184-89 (no. 42) and pp. 195-200 (no. 44). 21 Ed. by B. Krusch, MGH SSRM, 1 (Hannover, 1885), p. 617 (lib. n, ch. 24) ; ed. by Idem, MGH SSRM, 3 (Hannover, 1896), p. 653 (ch. 5).

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observance of purity. Abstinence linked to female physiology and absti­ nence linked to the liturgical cycle went hand in hand ; the most severe and casuistic of the penitentials imposed sexual continence more than three hundred days out of the year. The other types of normative texts do not mention this aspect of sexuality. It was evidendy considered a subject related to inner life and thus controlled by the institutions (such as confession) designed to guide that life. The thirteenth-century summae confessionis continued to empha­ size the harmful effects of impure sexual relations22234.They also rejected all forms of sexual variation as deviant. In his manual, Peter of Poitiers exhorted confessors to question the faithful on their peccata inusitata scil­ icet contra usum et naturarti. This idea of something being ‘against nature’ was rooted in the belief that there exists a parallel between nature and God, between natu­ ral law and divine law. Nature was interpreted as something fashioned according to G od’s design, an ideal nature rather than nature as we know it, which is material and consequendy evil. Peter condemns a number of sexual variations, including any positions that are canino more (like dogs), that ignore — and I quote — “the receptacle provided by nature”, or that place the woman above the man. By indulging in such acts, even with his own wife, a man sins m ortalissim i. Toward the end of the century, Rudolf of Liebegg went further still : in his eyes, it is even more reprehensible to sin in this way with one’s wife than with a prostitute25. These authors defended their point of view by appealing to a real (St Augustine) or imagined (St Methodius of Olympia) authority. According to Peter of Poitiers, Methodius attributed the Flood to the sexual super­ position of women26. Here again, we only find references to such subjects

22 Petrus Pictaviensis, [Summa de confessione] Compilatio praesens, ed. by J. Longère, CCCM, 51 (Tumhout, 1980), pp. 16-17 (ch. 12). 23 Ibid., p. 22 (ch. 19). 24 Ibid., p. 16 (ch. 12). 23 Rudolfus de Liebegg, Pastorale novellum, ed. by A. P. Orbán, CCCM, 55 (Tumhout, 1982), p. 232,11. 1246-48 (lib. iv, ch. 16). 26 Petrus Pictaviensis, [Summa de confessione], p. 16 (ch. 12). In Methodius’s own text (Le Banquet, ed. by H. Musurillo, Sources Chrétiennes, 95 (Paris, 1963)) we find no such daim. Peter referred in fact to a Pseudo-Methodius.

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in the penitential books and similar texts. They are practically never men­ tioned in either sermons, normative texts or hagiography. The penitentials, however, became increasingly comprehensive : more and more types of sexuality were described and denounced. This development resulted from the fundamental doctrine that any inherendy non-fertile sexuality (masturbation, sodomy, fellatio) was prohibited, together with any potentially fertile union undertaken without the inten­ tion to procreate, any union deemed physiologically or liturgically impure, any union contracted outside marriage, and finally any union not con­ ducted in the position where the man superposes the woman — actually known in the jargon of sexology as the ‘missionary position’. The immu­ table order of creation, divine will and nature required that woman sub­ mit, in every sense of the word, to man27. Speaking of such matters seems not to have caused the Church any discomfiture. The penitential books were actually questionnaires read aloud to the penitents. Later, confessors were advised not to ask too many questions of penitents, to avoid informing them about things of which they were so far ignorant28. Discussion of these subjects was nevertheless not considered a problem as long as it remained within the very particular confines of the confessional. Other sources are silent on the question. But the confessional was surely the ideal tool for shaping the conscience. If these considerations are correct, in-depth Christianization could only succeed with the spread of oral confession. This practice, imported by Irish monks, was made com­ pulsory in 1215 with the Fourth Lateran Council29. It is easy to understand the enormous importance of the penitentials for historians : they are the sole source for the study of many aspects of the medieval mentalities and the behaviour it generated. But their historical interpretation is very dif­ ficult indeed.

27 Augustinus, Quaestionum in heptateuchum libri vii, ed. by J. Fraipont, CCSL, 33 (Tumhout, 1958), p. 59 (ch. 153, Quaestiones Genesis), adopted in the Corpus Iuris canonici, causa xxxm, q. V , canon 12 ; Rudolfus de Liebegg, Pastorale novellum, p. 232,1. 1241 (lib. IV , ch. 16) : “vel dum pervertitur ordo”. 28 Petrus Pictaviensis, [Summa de confessione], p. 22 (ch. 19). 29 Canon 21.

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The Mechanism of In-Depth Conversion In what precedes, I have attempted to offer cursory proof of the gap that exists — a gap of several centuries — between the primary conversion phase (marked by public baptism), and in-depth conversion. I shall now examine the mechanism in operation, which can be summarized by the following diagram : Theological doctrine

t

inai determination

r

communication

I

behaviour

F

1

control

t

stimulation

sanction

I__ Moral actualization based on a system of values

Each of these stages is represented and underscored by one or sev­ eral types of source. The aim in this section of this essay will be to verify the validity of the diagram by looking more closely at a concrete example : the observance of Sunday as a day of rest. The first references to Sunday as a day of worship appear in the New Testament. The sanctity of the Lord’s Day was established as doctrine in the patristic writings30. This corresponds in the diagram to the ‘Theological doctrine’ level. The doctrine must then be actualized, intro­ duced into the ethical code — the Christian value system. The rule, derived from the doctrine and part of the value system, is simply stated : respect the Lord’s Day by making it a day of rest.

30 Dictionnaire d’archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, ed. by F. Cabrol and H. Leclercq (Paris, 1920), rv/1, col. 858 ff.

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The rule is formulated in the normative texts. While not aiming to cite the earliest examples or to be comprehensive, I direct attention to its appearance in the canons of several Councils, including those of Narbonne (589)31, Paris (829)32, and Mayence (852)33. The rule then had to be communicated, brought to the awareness of Christians at large. While preaching was not the only means to this end, it was definitely the preferred one. Collections of homilies invariably reit­ erated the prescription in pastoral form. The extremely influential Caesarius of Arles stressed that there should be no w ork on Sunday — “christiani in die dominico soli Deo vacare”34— and no resting on Thursday, Jupiter’s day in the romanized world — a practice indulged in by some women, he claimed35. The aforementioned Council of Narbonne also prohibited the celebration of Thursday36. The communication system was designed to result in observance of the prescription, to make it part of collective (social) and individual behaviour. This implementation had to be controlled, moreover, to ensure that behaviour conformed to the rule. The control, like the behaviour, had to operate in two spheres. Social and public life was controlled by the ecclesiastical courts. There were the synods, for instance, organized periodically by the local bishop in the deaneries or early mother-parishes37. The Inquisition offers another, and obviously later, example of this level of control. And since there was no clear division between secular and spiritual authority, it is not surprising to find that the obligation to rest on Sunday was part of Carolingian law38. The control of inner life was the responsibility of the confessor. The goal of the confessional was to use this control to suppress and sanction

31 Concilia Galliae. A. 511-A. 695, p. 254-55 (ch. 4). 32 Concilia aeviKarolini, l/2, p. 643 (no. 50, ch. 50). 33 Capitularia regum Francorum, ed. by A. Boretius and V. Krause, MGH Legum sectio n (Hannover, 1897), n, p. 190 (no. 248, ch. 14). 34 Ibid., p. 66 (no. 11, ch. 3). 35 Ibid., pp. 230-31 (no. 52, ch. 2). 36 Concilia Galliae. A. 511-A. 695, p. 257 (ch. 15). 37 D. Lambrecht, ‘De KerkeHjke wroegingsprocedure in de Fränkische tijd. Genese en eerste ontwikkeling’, Revue d’histoire du droit, 49 (1981), pp. 47-100. 38 Capitularia regum Francorum, I, P. 404 (ch. 75) : no. 12, Ansegisi capitularium.

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personal behaviour that was unknown to others and likely had no impact on social life or the public order. The source here is the penitential books, which are unfortunately exclusively normative. Because confessional secrecy has always been so fiercely defended by the Church and so respected, the ritual of confession provides little evidence of how moral standards became actualized. Control was followed by sanction in the case of a discrepancy between prescription and behaviour. This took the form of punishment in the forum externum, and of penance in the forum internum. The goal of the sanction was to correct the behaviour through renewed communi­ cation (either a sermon or an exhortation during confession). So, as the diagram shows, there was feedback — a retroactive movement that recom­ menced the cycle of pastoral influence or, if one prefers, of indoctrination. Feedback was also provided by stimulation, consisting of a system of ascetic practices (abstinence, fasting, and prayer) and devotional customs (pilgrimage, reading of pious texts). O f these, the reading of pious texts obviously left documentary evidence, the most important of which in this particular case are saints’ Lives and Miracles. Since their goal was to encourage the believer to observe rules, these texts had to guarantee the benefit of being obedient (the reward) and the danger of not being respect­ ful (the wrath of G od). The collected miracles of St Martin39and St Bavo40, as well as the Lives, including that of St Hubert41, warned believers of the fate that would befall those who contravened the Sunday rest prescription : miraculous paralysis or blindness — even for a serf forced to work by his lord. The rule was sacred, and there could be no excuse. This stimulation thus revitalized observance of the value system through a new communi­ cation or through the communicative function of the reading of pious texts. In other words, the pastoral system forms a closed circle, which, through its very circularity, implies that the process is continual and there­ fore incomplete.

39 MGH SSRM, 1, p. 613 (lib. n, ch. 13) ; p. 639 (lib. m, ch. 29). 40 Ed. by O. Holder-Egger, MGH SS, 15/2 (Hannover, 1888), p. 594 (lib. n, ch. 2) ; AASS Belgii, 2 (Brussels, 1784), p. 623 (lib. n, ch. 30). 41 MGH SSRM, 6, p. 485 (ch. 4).

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We could, of course, refine the diagram by drawing a distinction between, for example, primary determinations (such immutable laws as ‘Thou shalt not kill’) and secondary ones (rules arising from socio-cultural situations and relations that are concrete and mutable). We could also make it subtler by representing the double function of several phases and their sources (the dually communicative and normative function of ser­ mons that appeal to an authority). It is time to conclude, however. Although geographical conversion had ended in Western Europe by the mid-eighth century at the latest, it would be decades before the power of pagan religious expression was subdued. It would be centuries before pagan rites and beliefs were abol­ ished (through destruction, substitution or inculturation), and in certain places a superstitious attachment to them still persists. The establishment of a Christian life and a Christian morality necessarily takes place over the same period. The Church employed a sophisticated system of communica­ tion, control, and stimulation to achieve ideals derived from theological doctrine. The system’s cornerstone for imposing a moral code, which was to become increasingly casuistic and formalized by around 1200, was the confessional. Its range of control went beyond (and still goes beyond) the visible, tangible world, penetrating into the individual’s mind and heart to suppress thoughts and desires, and even the subconscious realm of dreams.

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The Regular Canons and Some Socio-Religious Aspects about the Year 1100

he transition from the first to the second Christian millennium con­ stitutes an important stage in medieval history. It initiated a renewal of western society : a great increase of population, new agricultural meth­ ods, the foundation of new towns, the growing importance of trade, the land reclamation-movement, all of these bear witness to it. More specifi­ cally for the Church, the transition from the tenth to the eleventh century was decisive. The Church was no longer willing to play the submissive role to which it had been condemned first by Charlemagne’s power, then by his successors’ weakness. At the institutional level, the Church tried to remodel its relations with the laity. The religious movement that started from the confines of France and Germany in the tenth century was large­ ly responsible for this change : Cluny in Burgundy, Gorze and St Vanne in Lotharingia, paved the way for a renewed observance of St Benedict’s rule. This slowly increased the self-confidence of the Church, allowing it to acquire the Ubertas desired and claimed for a long time1. This movement, which was named the Gregorian Reform half a century ago, caused a tre­ mendous change in medieval political, social, and religious structures. The battle for autonomy which the popes were fighting during the eleventh

1

Standard works on this subjects are : G. TeDenbach, Libertas. Kirche und Weltordnung im Zeitalter des Investiturstreites , Forschungen z. Kirchen- u. Geistesgeschichte, 7 (Stuttgart, 1936) and K. Hallinger, Gorze-Cluny. Studien zu den monastischen Lebensfor­ men und Gegensätzen im Hochmittelalter, 2 vols, Studia Anselmiana, 22-25 (Rome, 1950-51).

century, ended in an endeavour towards hegemony, culminating under Pope Innocent m, whose power and domination were accepted all over western Christendom at the beginning of the thirteenth century. This battle, however, was not an easy one : the Church needed com­ pletely new structures, which it obtained by a general reorganization, the foundations of which were often layed at the lower levels of society. Its fight against simony, concubinage and nicolaism was inexorable. Bishops should be appointed henceforth by the Pope, without any secular inter­ vention. His legates, working in his name and with his power, travelled throughout the Christian World, to assure the victory of the Gregorian vision of the societas Christiana. This restoration was only made possible by a religious revival, which ran parallel with the general expansion of medieval society around the year 1000. As in every movement of renewal, reformers of this time looked back and reflected on the sources of faith : the Bible and what the Fathers wrote about it. A ‘return to the source’ reappears every time in such cir­ cumstances, not the least in our own days. Many people felt an aversion from or contempt for a world changed by increased commerce and the growth of urban life. These feelings caused — or at least accentuated — a crisis of conscience. Many people tried to pursue the authentic religious life described in the Acts of the Apostles : the vita apostolica, the life of the first Christian community in Jerusalem (2: 44-45). The fundamental issue, the first item of the whole programme, was poverty2. Here, too, historians can trace a clear parallel with our own times. Do we not find many resemblances with the hippies’ ideals of com­ munity and simplicity in the 1960s and 1970s? Or, more generally, with the opposition to mindless consumerism in modem society — for that was a danger too, naturally on a reduced scale, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries ? But the imitators of the poverty-ideal, the pauperes Christi as

2

C. Dereine, ‘Vie commune, règle de Saint Augustin et chanoines réguliers au XT' siècle’, Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique, 41 (1946), pp. 365-406 ; Idem, ‘Chanoines’, in Diction­ naire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, 12 (1951), col. 353-405; Idem, Les chanoines réguliers au diocèse de Liège avant saint Norbert, Académie royale de Belgique.

Mémoires de la Classe des Lettres, 47/1 (Brussels, 1952). Dereine was the first to assign to the regular canons the place they deserve in medieval historiography. About the same time appeared J. C. Dickinson, The Origins o f the Austin Canons and their Introduction into England (London, 1950).

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they were called, who ‘followed naked the naked Christ’, approached their ideals of asceticism and abstinence in different ways, according to their varying circumstances3. One can find manifestations of this movement among monks, cler­ ics and laymen. The monks reacted to the strongly coenobitical and litur­ gical interpretation of St Benedict’s rule at Cluny and aimed to lead a more authentic religious life. So did clerics, who rejected (or at least disap­ proved of) the Rule of Aix-la-Chapelle, which had been composed for the clergy at the command of Louis the Pious in 816. This Rule was an amal­ gam of patristic texts concerning the common life, the vita communis, supplemented with a few directives for practical organization4. Searching for a new basis for common life, clerics embraced instead the rules attrib­ uted rightly or wrongly to St Augustine {Regula tertia, Orio monasterii), which constituted from about 1100 onwards the generally accepted model for the common life of the regular canons5. Lay people could join monas­ tic houses to fulfil their religious aspirations. When, by the central Middle Ages, the gradual trend towards conferring holy orders to all monks was completed, lay men could enter as lay brothers or as members of the military religious orders6. However, the most profound confessors of the spiritual revival, who liked to be an image of the ‘dying Christ facing the Father’, retired not only from secular life but even from the common religious life. Following

3

E. Werner, "Pauperes Christi”. Studien zu sozial-religiösen Bewegungen im Zeitalter des Reformpapsttums (Leipzig, 1956) ; H. Grandmami, Religiöse Bewegungen im Mittelalter, Historische Studien, pp. 267 (Berlin, 1935) with additions: ‘Neue Beiträge’, Archiv fü r Kulturgeschichte, 37 (1955), pp. 129-82 and Idem, ‘Eresie e nuovi ordini religiosi nel secolo xn’, in M ovimenti religiosi popolari ed eresie del medioevo, X° Congresso internazionale di scienze storiche, relazioni (Florence, 1955), ni, pp. 305-541 sketches very well the socio-religious atmosphere of this period. See also : T. Manteuffel, Nais­ sance d’une hérésie. Les adeptes de la pauvreté volontaire au moyen âge (Paris, 1970).

4

Ed. by A. Werminghoff, MGH Legum sectio m Concilia n (Hannover-Leipzig, 1906), i/l, pp. 308-421. See: J. E A. M. Van Waesberghe, De Akense regels voor canonici en canonicae uit 816, Van Gorcum’s historische bibliotheek, 83 (Assen, 1967). L. Verheijen, La règle de Saint Augustin, 2 vols, Etudes augustiniennes (Paris, 1967). On the regular canons, see also the proceedings of the first conference on the Passo della Mendola (1959) : La vita comune del clero nei secoli xi e xn, 2 vols, Miscellanea del Centro di Studi medioevali, 3 (Milan, 1962). See : I laici nella “societas christiand” dei secoli XI e xu, Miscellanea del Centro di Studi medioevali, 5 (Milan, 1968).

5

6

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t ie example of the Fathers of the Desert, they settled as hermits, alone or in a small group, in a remote area, such as a wood or a mountain-pass7. They wished to lead a life of prayer and contemplation, to live by the la­ bour of their own hands, and they were ready to carry out an apostolic activity for pilgrims or travellers who asked for help and accommodation while passing through. They were councillors for those who had spiritual or material needs ; most hermits alternated between periods of isolation and periods of social engagement. One of this phenomenon’s typical fea­ tures was the hermits’ preaching, going from one town or region to an­ other, along with their strong asceticism. Among those Wanderprediger, Robert of Arbrissel, the founder of the order of Fontevrault, and St Norbert, the founder of that of Prémontré, are the best known. The success of eremitical centres included an element of self-de­ struction : when a great number of disciples came together, eremitical life became impossible. Such centres were then transformed into religious houses with a coenobitical way of life. (A few exceptions in Italy, and es­ pecially St Bruno’s Grande Chartreuse in the French Alps, confirm the general rule). Eremitical principles were at the base of the Cistercian or­ der8. Elsewhere these experiments ended in the foundation of nuclei of regular canons. Most of the twelfth-century centres where special canon­ ical observances were in use, were born out of eremitical foundations. For instance, St Norbert wandered about France and the Low Countries as a preacher before ecclesiastical authority forced him to settle in the remote­ ness of Prémontré near Laon, where he introduced the common life9. Arrouaise, on the southern borders of medieval Flanders, was founded by a small community of hermits, both clerics and laymen10. St Victor devel-

7

See: L ’eremitismo in Occidente nei secoli xi e xn, Miscellanea del Centro di Studi medioevali, 4 (Milan, 1965). 8 This is clear from the sources concerning the foundation of Cîteaux, especially the Exordium parvum (ed. by J. B. Van Damme, Documenta pro Cisterciensis ordinis histo­ riae ac juris studio (Westmalle, 1959), p. 7). See also: J. Leclerq, ‘Les intentions des fondateurs de l’ordre cistercien’, Collectanea Cisterciensia, 30 (1968), pp. 233-71. 9 C. Dereine, ‘Les origines de Prémontré’, Revue d ’histoire ecclésiastique, 42 (1947), pp. 352-78. 10 L. Milis, L ’ordre des chanoines réguliers d ’Arrouaise, 2 vols, Werken uitgegeven door de Faculteit der Letteren en Wijsbegeerte. Rijksuniversiteit te Gent, 147^48 (Bruges, 1969). Constitutiones canonicorum regularium ordinis Arroasiensis, ed. by L. Milis and J. Becquet, CCCM, 20 (Tumhout, 1970).

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oped from the hermitage that William of Champeaux and some of his students at the cathedral school had built on the Mont-Sainte-Geneviève, at the gates of Paris11. Stephen of Muret, who spent his youth in the South of Italy, where he came in contact with eastern forms of religious life, founded the eremitical Grandmont, near Limoges12, and the hermit Vitalis established the small order of Savigny, which later affiliated with Cîteaux. The pressure that the ecclesiastical hierarchy exercised on these spontaneous movements, its efforts to tie them to the fixed frame of a religious house or — in other words — to impose on their members the stabilitas loci, destroyed much of the movements’ sense of experiment and spontaneity. In his Pauperes Christi, Ernst Werner called this the end of the ‘orthodox dynamics’13. A typical, specifically lay, piety started to grow in the thirteenth century. A profound religious spontaneity would then be found mainly in the new Benedictine, i.e. Cistercian, houses and in those of regular canons. From the start of the eleventh century onwards, there is evidence that clerics in Italy and in the South of France were living according to the ideal of the vita communis, as for example at St Ruf, near Avignon14. Slowly the movement gained momentum in Northern France and espe­ cially in Paris, where regular canons in 1060 began living in the newly erected abbey of Saint-Martin-des-Champs15.

11 F. Bonnard, Histoire de Fabbaye royale et de iordre des chanoines réguliers de Saint-Victor de Paris, 2 vols (Paris, 1904-08). 12 Scriptores ordinis Grandimontensis, ed. by J. Becquet, CCCM, 8 (Turnhout, 1968), with references to Becquet’s other studies on Grandmont. 13 Werner, “Pauperes Christi”, p. 77 ff. ; Grundmann, Religiöse Bewegungen, pp. 5-6. 14 Valuable publications on St Ruf are rare for it has been for years the historical “hunting ground” of the theologian A. Carrier, whose edition of the customary was even pub­ lished under a wrong title : Coutumier du X f siècle de Fordre de Saint-Ruf en usage à la cathédrale de Maguelone, Études et documents sur l’ordre de Saint-Ruf, 8 (Sherbrooke, 1950). Only C. Dereine’s article, ‘Saint-Ruf et ses coutumes aux XIe et XIIe siècles’, Revue bénédictine, 59 (1949), pp. 161-82 and G. Misonne’s ‘La législation canoniale de SaintRuf d’Avignon à ses origines’, Annales du Midi, 76 (1963), pp. 471-89 may be consid­ ered as historical. 15 See : C. Dereine, ‘Les coutumiers de Saint-Quentin de Beauvais et de Springiersbach’, Revue ethistoire ecclésiastique, 43 (1948), pp. 411—42.

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Meanwhile, at the Lateran Synod of 1059, Hildebrand (the later Pope Gregory vn), vehemendy attacked some chapters of the Rule of Aixla-Chapelle, in which clerics were allowed to have private property. He considered it an offence against the new apostolic ideal. His intervention was very important, determining the success of the canonical movement in the following century. Inspired by the example of Saint-Martin-desChamps, the famous canonist Yves, later a bishop of Chartres, composed a customary for the new abbey of St Quentin at Beauvais, which he di­ rected. It was rather moderate, posing relatively few restrictions on speech and the eating of meat, while allowing the canons to wear linen. The au­ thor of the earliest preserved version of this coutumier, dating from the middle of the twelfth century, was rather defensive, apologising for the fact that his community at that time still observed regulations that others were criticising with increasing vigour16. The moderate branch of the re­ form movement, found in some other abbeys of the ecclesiastical province of Reims was loosing ground, while the reform of the Church guided by the strict observance of hermits and preachers became increasingly influ­ ential. Among regular canons, a distinction was made between the ordo antiquus and the ordo novus, inspired respectively by the regula tertia and the ordo monasterii, both attributed to St Augustine. The latter rule pre­ scribed strict observance of silence, fasting, manual labour, and woollen dress. The differences between monks, clerics, and laymen, all of them inspired in their own way, but mutually influenced and in search of a bet­ ter and more profound spiritual way of life, produced a whole literature of pamphlets reaching far into the twelfth century. All kinds of religious feelings and ambitions collided. Tensions with the existing hierarchy which fought for the autonomy of the Church but wanted to control this religious movement by all possible means could not be avoided. While this may remind us of another parallel with twentieth-century protest movements, we should remember that some eight centuries ago the reaction was more violent : a number of experiments and movements were considered heretical, although they had the same origins and evolu­

16 We are preparing an edition with commentary of this text of which only the introduc­ tion (Dereine, ‘Les coutumiers’, pp. 433-37) has been published yet. Yves of Chartres reacted vehemently against eremitism (PL, 162, ep. 192, col. 198-202).

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tion as the orthodox ones. The pataria of Milan, an insurrection with both religious and socio-economic aspects, is a good example of this1718. Other movements were considered orthodox, although their promoters ran into conflict with the hierarchy. It was difficult for St Norbert to obtain permis­ sion to preach, and he had to abandon the unusual liturgy of the Ordo m onasterii. The problem was not one of doctrine. The conflict shows how wide a gulf had been created between the official (although progres­ sive) Church, and the new experiments. O n the other hand, St Norbert himself harshly attacked the heretic Tanchelm, who was preaching with great success in Antwerp and Zeeland19. The various tendencies among these movements exercised a recip­ rocal influence but caused great differences. It is therefore rather difficult to offer a simple, comprehensive typology. Among the canons, the ‘old fashioned’ observance showed clear parallels with the new monastic life. Sometimes the reformers obtained the help of popes and bishops, some­ times they did not ; some experiments were successful, others ended in utter failure. This was a time of great uncertainty and change : old, sclero­ sed structures were broken and rejected, while a new solution was not immediately available. Again, parallels to our own time are evident. Let us now turn to the most important promoters of the move­ ments, the founders of what would become new religious orders. W hat did they have in common? Naturally they were not aware of their his­ torical significance : they did not realize that they established new orders that would last for centuries. For most of them, those actions were only moments in a chequered career (an issue that invites elaboration). It is also important to emphasize that many were hermits, and the eremitical life was crucial to them. Finally, many of them belonged to the clerical class and thus had occupied a place in the former ecclesiastical structure, which allowed them to pass judgment about the value of the older situation and the new tendencies.

17 C. Violante, ‘I laici nel movimento patarino’, in I laici nella “societas Christiana”, pp. 597697. 18 Among the numerous biographies, the most recent is : W. M. Grauwen, ‘Norbert van Maagdenburg’, in Nationaal biografisch woordenboek, 3 (Brussels, 1968), pp. 610-25. 19 Werner, “Pauperes Christi”, pp. 190-97 ; J. M. De Smet, ‘De monnik Tanchelm en de Utrechtse bisschopszetel in 1112-1114’, in Mélanges E. Van Cauwenbergh (Louvain, 1961), pp. 207-34.

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But we should also note their education, for it is very striking indeed that the founders of the new religious orders all enjoyed a thorough intel­ lectual training, often at the great cathedral schools of the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries : Rheims, Tournai, Chartres, and especially Paris20. In these centres of medieval civilization, where the twelfth-century renaissance was initiated, the founders were schooled in the trivium and quadrivium, or in theology. The tremendous mobility of teachers and stu­ dents gave these schools a pan-European character and made possible the rapid interchange of ideas, which undoubtedly constituted the most vigor­ ous weapon of this (if not of every) reform movement. Although the pro­ moters were progressive in the religious field, they remained traditional as thinkers, which may be explained by the fact that traditional theology was based largely upon patristic texts, especially the works of St Augustine, who was also considered the author of the rules that inspired the religious renouveau among canons. William of Champeaux, the authoritative teacher of the Paris cathedral school and founder of the order of St Victor, was a central character in the reform movement. As is well known, he ran into conflict with his student, the exceptional dialectician Abelard, whose thought constituted a decisive step forward in medieval philosophy and logic21. William himself had been a student of Manegold of Lautenbach, the founder of the abbey of Marbach in Alsace, which exerted a prepon­ derant influence on the German canonical movement22. William in turn counted among his students Robert of Arbrissel, the founder of

20 J. Becquet, ‘L’érémitisme clérical et laïc dans l’ouest de la France’, in L'eremitismo in Occidente, pp. 187-88, also observed a high degree of intellectual training among her­ mits in western France. See his article ‘Les chanoines réguliers du Chalard’, 'Bulletin de la Société archéolique et historique du Limousin, 98 (1971), p. 156. 21 A selection of important studies : Bonnard, Histoire de l'abbaye royale, I, pp. 1-17 ; H. Weisweiler, Das Schrifttum der Schule Anselms von Laon und Wilhelm von Champeaux in deutschen Bibliotheken (Münster, 1936); G. Paré, A. Brunet and P. Tremblay, La renaissance du x i f siècle (Paris, 1932), pp. 275-312 ; J. Châtillon, ‘La culture de l’école de Saint-Victor au xn' siècle’, in Entretiens sur la Renaissance du x i f siècle, ed. by M. de Gandillac and É. Jeauneau (Paris, 1968), pp. 147-78. 22 J. Siegwart, Die Consuetudines des Augustiner-Chorherrenstiftes Marbach im Eisass 12. Jahrhundert, Spicilegium Friburgense, 10 (Fribourg, 1965) ; W. Hartmann, ‘Manegold von Lautenbach und die Anfänge der Frühscholastik’, Deutsches Archiv, 26 (1970), pp. 47-149 doubts whether Manegold, the teacher of William of Champeaux, may be identified with Manegold of Lautenbach. However, he appears now as a more important personality in the evolution of early scholasticism than previously thought.

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Fontevrault23. Yves of Chartres, the oldest and most moderate of this group, was a product of the schools of Bee and Paris before teaching at Beauvais and Chartres24. Lanfranc, teacher and abbot of Bee, before be­ coming archbishop of Canterbury probably exercised a certain influence upon the founders of Arrouaise, Heldemarus and Cono, who had crossed the Channel for intellectual purposes. Cono had links with Tournai, where Odo, the founder of the very modern-minded abbey of St M artin’s, was teaching25. From this city, too, came Ailbert, whose hermitage was the initial settlement of the very influential abbey of Rolduc26. In Laon some of the founders attended the lectures of Anselm and his brother Raoul, both of whom were renowned for their traditional ex­ egesis of the Holy Scripture. Stephen Harding, who would play an impor­ tant role as abbot of Citeaux, visited some of these schools27. The founder of the Cartusians, St Bruno, first a canon at Cologne, became magister scholarum at Rheims28. St Norbert, who was in close touch with the ca­ nonical and cathedral centres of the Rheinland (Xanten, Cologne) at the highpoint of the region’s cultural achievements, received a similar educa­ tion. Although the movement of regular canons was later influenced by the Cistercians (whose St Bernard disliked the urban civilization and its thirst for knowledge), it was in fact at canonical houses that scholasticism thrived during the twelfth century. More specifically at St Victor, in the present-day Quartier Latin, Hugues and Richard continued the intellectual tradition created by the abbey’s founder, William of Champeaux. From the bosom of this abbey sprang the small order of Val-des-Ecoliers, cre­ ated by professors and students of Paris29. 23 See: R. Niderst, Robert d'Arbrissel et les origines de l’ordre de Fontevrault (Rodez, 1952). 24 H. Sprandel, Yvo von Chartres und seine Stellung in der Kirchengeschichte, Pariser historische Studien, 1 (Stuttgart, 1962). Even in the struggle between the pope and the Reichskirche, he aimed at a compromise. 23 C. Dereine, ‘Odon de Tournai et la crise du cénobitisme au xT siècle’, Revue du Moyen Âge latin, 4, fase. 2 (1948), pp. 137-54. 26 Idem, Les chanoines réguliers au diocèse de Liège, pp. 184-93. 27 M.-A. Dimier, ‘Etienne Harding’, in Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésias­ tiques (Paris, 1963), xv, col. 1226-34. 28 B. Bligny, ‘Les premiers chartreux et la pauvreté’, Le Moyen Âge, 57 (1951), pp. 2760. 29 Ch. Giroud, Dordre des chanoines réguliers de Saint-Augustin et ses diverses formes de régime interne (Martigny, 1961), pp. 141-42.

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Although this generation of founders followed traditional paths in study of theology and philosophy, it was stirred, as far as the religious life was concerned, by the new eremitism. At certain moments in their career, many of the founders realized that their actual place in Church and society was not the one dictated by their own spiritual evolution. Norbert left his prebend as a secular canon living within the framework of the Reichskirche to become a pauper Christi. The founders of Arrouaise were chaplains of the English king William the Conqueror before they retreated to their hermitage. The archpriest of Rennes, Robert of Arbrissel, was travelling and preaching in western France, when his ardour brought him to the brink of heterodoxy in a conflict with Yves of Chartres30. The incident is reminiscent of the hostility of St Bernard, and that of a few others, to Abelard’s thought. Odon of Tournai and Ailbert of Rolduc were sincere hermits but met with opposition more than once. It cannot be a mere accident that the eremitical experiments that were successful and led to the foundation of monasteries and even new orders, were carried out by individuals with nearly identical educations and dispositions. We may suppose that the most learned men with knowl­ edge of the older situation, were able to attain a religious life that was well balanced31. For those who could comply with the wishes of the Gregorian popes and bishops, the foundation of a hermitage did not constitute the end of their career, for they were often called to play a role in the achieve­ ment of the reform programme32: William of Champeaux, who increas­ ingly underw ent the influence of St Bernard, became bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne ; Cono of Arrouaise became papal legate and played an important role in the last stages of the Investiture Conflict. Norbert, like Cono a German by birth and a Frenchman by adoption, was honoured with the archiépiscopal see of Magdeburg, the West’s jumping-off point into the Slavic world. St Bruno was called to Rome by the Pope against

30 Becquet, ‘L’érémitisme’, pp. 198-99. 31 It is hard to accept Dereine’s contention (L!eremitismo in Occidente, p. 203) that the hermits chose the eremitical life because they were disappointed by the superficial theological training. In fact, they had no objection to this training or its contents. 32 On the positive relations between hierarchy and hermits, see : Becquet, ‘L’érémitisme’, pp. 196-98.

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his will, but later was able to establish a second ‘Grande Chartreuse’ ; in an earlier stage of his lifetime, his path had crossed that of Robert of Molesme, the founder of C iteaux,. One finds the founders, in this new episode of their careers, in all fields where the Church was on the offensive : the internal reform of the Church was achieved through the papal nomination of bishops attached to the new ideals; supporters tried to integrate pagan or recently Christianized regions into the world and culture of western Christianity, as Cono or his fellow hermit Achard did in Palestine33. We meet them again in the struggle against the emperor and the Reichskzrche. This generation, untrained in the field of speculative science (the use of dialectic in theology was introduced by Anselm of Bee), seldom produced a written customary for their foundations. It was the next gen­ eration that took responsibility for issuing religious legislation, as did Hugues of Fosses for Prémontré, or Gilduinus for St Victor. This hap­ pened during a period when the influx of postulants was so great that the initial purity of the religious programme was threatened. The founders themselves lived in a pre-constitutional period, in which the life of their community was shaped by their spiritual ideal rather than by the letter of the law. Law regulates that which no longer happens spontaneously ; it implies coercion, which was not necessary for the founders and the houses’ first adherents, as their ideals were strong. In sum, we find that in the first decades of the twelfth century, and especially in the 1120s and 1130s, new religious orders were created to which dozens of religious houses affiliated (old collegiate chapters or new foundations, hermitages or hospitals). These orders were based on the actions of a few learned and profoundly religious clerics who criticized the old structures. They experimented, but accepted the prescripts of the official Church, and remained inside the orthodox framework ; therefore they chose the authoritative religious principles of St Benedict and St Augustine as their guides. The similarities between these orders, which were marked from the very beginning, were maintained and even strength­

33 E.-G. Ledos, ‘Achard’, in Dictionnaire de biographie française (Paris, 1932), I, pp. 28385.

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ened when the successors of the founders exchanged information while drafting their customaries. This is why the new orders enjoyed a successful start in the first half of the twelfth century, but later did not grow very much. A fast flowering implied in many cases a fast withering. Typical examples are St Victor, which never became an important order, although it was famous for its theological school in the twelfth century ; Arrouaise, whose decline was evident by the time abbot Gervase resigned in 1147 ; and Savigny, Tirón and Obazine, which were absorbed at the same time by the Cistercians. The situation of Prémontré and Cîteaux was slightly different ; they suc­ ceeded in surmounting the early critical stages and showed greater ability to adapt to new circumstances. While the regular canons expanded in a time of general social growth, they soon could no longer follow the rhythm of a continuously changing society. They were condemned, as the black and the white monks were, to be classified by the thirteenth century as “the old orders”, which progressively lost close contact with the active world. For its religious aspirations a new type of founders arose, such as St Dominic and St Francis, as well as a new type of disciples, the friars.

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Hermits and Regular Canons in the Twelfth Century

he connection between the flourishing of eremitism in the eleventh century and the success of the regular canons in the late eleventh and early twelfth century has been examined various times, particularly in La vita comune del clero nei secoli xi e xii (Milan 1962) and Leremitismo in Occidente nei secoli XI exil (Milan 1965). The purpose of this article is to study the mechanism of transition from eremitism to regular canonry1. I have focused my attention above all on the region between the Loire and the Rhine, without however ignoring either England or the Limousin region. One basic question will direct this study : to what degree did the canons, once well established, uphold the ideals and structures of their hermit precursors ? Was it a transition or a betrayal ? An evaluation and categorization of the sources seems necessary at the outset of this study to avoid the pitfalls and dangers of the documentation.

T

The Sources The very definition of a hermit — someone who withdraws from active life to lead a solitary life — implies difficulties of documentation. The

1

This article returns to the topic I examined at the C.É.S.C.M. summer session in 1977 and the Passo della Mendola congress the same year. I thank all those who helped and took part, especially the Reverend Father J. Becquet (Ligugé), Mr G. Pon (Poitiers), Mr M. Parisse (Nancy), and Mr R. LocatelH (Besançon).

solitary in his hut was thinking about something other than writing an account of his experiences. In fact, how could charters have been written in his favour ? H e was seeking solitude but not stability. A first stumbling block for the historian is thus the paucity of documentation. A hermit appears in the documentation only by chance, when his experience was so successful that after he left or died, a religious establishment was per­ petuated where he had lived, and people continued to venerate his mem­ ory there. In this case, however, the dangers that may be caused by a change in point of view are not illusory. Let me begin with a systematic review of the different types of sources. Among the most important narrative sources are two basic cat­ egories : Lives of saints and foundation narratives. There may be overlap­ ping of one category onto the other; the Life of St Stephen, which constitutes a vita, bears particular interest for the foundation and the early development of the abbey of Obazine2. The manner of consulting these two types of sources for information is identical. I have classified the texts studied in two tables, the first showing the vitae and the second showing the narrationes fundationis. VITAE

7-21 23-26 25-45 49-54 58-63 ±150

Years separating the death of the hermit the eremitic beginning and the writing of the vita St Stephen of Obazine St Norbert 37-40 St Norbert of Xanten3 46-60 St Stephen St Geoffroy of Le Chalard4 62-81 St Geoffroy St Gerlach St Gaucher of Aureil5 72-78 St Gerlach of Houthem6 St Gaucher 108-109 Bl. Giraud de Sales7 ±180 Bl. Giraud

2 3 4

Vie de saint Étienne ã Obazine, ed. and trans, by M. Aubrun (Clermont-Ferrand, 1970). Vita Norberti, ed. by R. Wilmans, MGH SS, 12 (Hannover, 1856), pp. 663-706. A. Bosvieux, ‘Vita bead Gaufredi’, Mem. Soc. des Sc. naturelles et archéol. de la Creuse, 3 (1862), pp. 75-119; Vie de saint Geoffroy, fondateur de l’église et de l’abbaye du Chalard, trans, by Ch. Tenant de la Tour (Sceaux, 1877).

5

J. Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher, fondateur des chanoines réguliers d’Aureil en Limousin’, Revue Mabillon, 54 (1964), pp. 25-55. Vita Gerlaci, AASS, Jan. I (Antwerp, 1643), pp. 304-21. Vita Geraudi de Salis, AASS, Oct. x (Brussels, 1861), pp. 249-67. According to O. Lenglet, ‘La biographie du bienheureux Géraud de Sales’, Cîteaux, 29 (1978), pp. 7-40, the hermit’s passage to the regular canons did not in reality take place.

6

7

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NAKRATIONES FUNDATIONIS

+17 +33 ±48 49-58 ±50 +49 +60 ±70 +73 96-97 ±100 ±100 ±300

Years separating the eremitic beginning the cenobitic foundation and the writing of the account Chaumouzey 14 Chaumouzey8 Saint-Laurent-au-Bois +20-30 Val-des-Écoliers9 Val-des-Écoliers Vicoigne10 +33 Hérival Saint-Laurent-au-Bois11 +33 Saint-Nicolas-des-Prés Saint-Nicolas-des-Prés12 35-37 Vicoigne Chancelade13 -39 Chancelade Saint-Pierremont14 49 Rolduc 58 Rolduc15 ±50 Dale Hérival16 Saint-Pierremont ±60 Arrouaise17 Arrouaise Dale18 70-71 Llanthony Llanthony19 ±100 ±300 Nostell Nostell20

In all truth, these tables do not provide a very faithful view of the texts’ value ; the sources of information carry more weight than the date of writ­ ing. I will return to this question. Still, texts near in date to the death are more reliable because the risk of corruption of the content is less. Who were the authors ? Without exception they were canons and monks who lived in the monasteries that grew up out of the saint’s hermit­

8 Seheriprimordia Calmosiacensia, ed. by Ph. Jaffé, MGH SS, 12, pp. 324—47. 9 Ph. Labbe, Nova bibliotheca (Paris, 1657), I, pp. 391-94. 10 Historia monasterii Viconiensis, ed. by I. Heller, MGH SS, 24 (Hannover, 1879), pp. 291-301. 11 Amiens, Bibi. Antiq. Picardie, ms. 62, fol. 1'. 12 Fundatio monasterii s. Nicolai de Pratis Tornacensis, ed. by O. Holder-Egger, MGH SS, 15/2 (Hannover, 1888), pp. 1112-17. 13 Gallia Christiana (Paris, 1715-1785), E, instr., col. 492-94. 14 Paris, Bibi. Nat., nouv. acq. lat. 1608, fol. 13. 15 Annales Rodenses, ed. by P. C. Boeren and G. W A. Panhuysen (Assen, 1968). 18 A. Calmet, Histoire de Lorraine (Nancy, 1748), m, preuves, col. cclxix-cclxx. 17 Fundatio monasterii Arroasiensis, ed. by O. Holder-Egger, MGH SS, 15/2, pp. 1117— 23. 18 W. Dugdale, Monasticon anglicanum (London, 1817-1830), vi/2, pp. 892-95. 19 Ibid., vi/1, pp. 128-34. See: Itinerarium Kambriae, ed. by J. F. Dimock, Giraldi Cambrensis opera, Rolls Series, 21 (London, 1868), vi, pp. 37-38. 20 J. Wilson, ‘Foundation of the Austin Priories of Nostell and Scone’, Scottish Historical Review, 7 (1928), pp. 157-59.

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age or who settled at the site of the hermitage. In three cases, it is the head of the community himself who composed the narratio-. Seher for Chaumouzey, Hugh for Saint-Laurent-au-Bois and Walter for Arrouaise. Seher was a militant of the first hour who knew Chaumouzey’s founder well ; Hugh of Fouilloy entered Saint-Laurent early on and witnessed its transition to cenobitism, while Walter only entered Arrouaise forty years after it became an abbey and seventy years after its eremitic beginnings. Despite the chronological differences, these men had a common reason for setting to their task: difficulties within their communities, as at Chaumouzey, where the second part of the narrative consists of a detailed enumeration of acquisitions21, at Saint-Laurent-au-Bois and Arrouaise, where organizational and managerial difficulties had compounded. In order to remedy them, the heads began writing a cartulary to enumerate their monasteries’ possessions and rights. Narrations served as an intro­ duction to the cartulary (as at Chancelade) or to the customary (at Hérival). The narrationes were intended to stimulate contemporary and future can­ ons by evoking their predecessors’ faith and enthusiasm. But can other motives for writing be advanced ? The answer to this question, at least regarding the vitae, is generally threefold. a) To make the lives of saintly men known. The author of the Life of St Stephen expresses himself thus : I do this not to make myself known by it, but so that the life and ways of this saint not remain hidden. Today and in the future, it will be known what this man was, how he lived, how he departed this life and, finally, how his saintliness benefited not only him but also many others2223.

b) To edify the believer and provide him with a model. As the author of the Vita of Gaucher of Aureil says : U nde fa c tu ru s m ih i opere p re tiu m videor, si vita m sanctissim i v iri exem plo aliis m o x fu tu ra m perscripsero, quo u tiq u e a d veram sapientiam e t celestem m ilitia m divin a m q u e virtu tes legentes in c ita h u n tu iP .

21 See : Ch. E. Perrin, ‘La chronique de Chaumousey’, Annales de l’Est, 4 (1933), pp. 26591. 22 Vie de saint Étienne c£Obazine, pp. 40—41. 23 Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher’, p. 44.

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c) To stimulate and deepen the veneration of the homo Dei and, if possible, promote his canonization, which, as is known, was not yet reserved for the pope in the period that interests us. Reporting miracles would further this goal. In the case of foundation narrationes, the motive seems more purely historical, in that they did not want future canons to forget the past : “I draft it now”, the author at Vicoigne writes, “at the time when the first religious have just completed their lifetimes”24, and the author at Dale notes, “Quae, si per negligentiae vicium non forent scripto commendata, posteris essent incognita”25. We must of course qualify the notion of ‘his­ torical motives’. It is a subjective historical reconstruction with no lack of edifying, apologetic and pedagogical elements. Thomas Muskham, quot­ ing the founder of Dale, a woman, who told him of the first attempts at foundation, wrote : Narrabo vobis fabulam; non fabulam, sed rem certissime gestam2627. Nearly all the authors take pains to insist on the truthfulness of their account, which implies a certain scepticism and a somewhat critical spirit on the part of the audience they wanted to reach. The Vita of Gaucher says for example : Obsecro autem eos q u i lecturi sunt, u t fid e m dictis adhibeant, neque m e quicquam n isi com pertum e t com probatum ab illis q u i v id eru n t scripsisse arbitrentur, alioquin tacere quam falsa dicere m aluissem 21.

If medieval man seems credulous to us, it is merely an appearance. He only wanted to know reality, and facts seemed proven to him as soon as they came from people worthy to be trusted. Consequently, authors were led to name their sources, the type of which depended on the date of writ­ ing. The author of the Vita of Stephen knew the holy man himself and, furthermore, inquired of one of his first disciples as to the early state of

24 25 26 27

MGH SS, 24, p. 294. Dugdale, Monasticon anglicanum, vi/2, p. 893. Ibid. Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher’, p. 44.

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affairs at Obazine28; the authors of both Vitae of St Norbert also knew their hero ; the authors of other vitae could benefit from the narratives recounted by disciples, people from the surrounding area and the hermit’s relatives29. These sources were obviously oral, written testimony not enter­ ing the picture until later, when eye witnesses had disappeared : I will cite for example the encyclical of the death scroll of Giraud de Sales30. There is one exception, however, and it is quite an important one : the Life of Geoffroy of Le Chalard contains fragments direcdy quoting the saint him­ self word for word, which allows us to grasp the hermit’s initial spiritual­ ity. In these circumstances, what is fiction’s share? Although difficult to determine, it exists, and no doubt more in the later accounts, like those of Llanthony and Nostell. The most typical example is the following: wanting to describe the site of Llanthony, the author sighs, De situ vero loci quid referam, cum pene universa eo tempore, quo primum inhabitari coeperat, modo dissimilia esse sciantur. However, this quid referam does not prevent him from giving a highly imaginary description of the site, about two hundred and thirty words in length, or one-quarter of a folio page3132.The same author does not hesitate to hide his ignorance of the facts with his great knowledge of classical literature, and he sprinkles his text with quotations from Horace and Ovid. Then, one might wonder what the role is of the stylistic constraints imposed by the genre of the narratio. They are not exempt from cliché, and I will return to this below, in describing the hermits’ life. But here let me cite an example of a probable literary influence : the horseman out hunting who finds a hermit and joins him is a known twelfth-century theme that even inspired a poem in the next century, the Dit du chevalier qui devint hermitê2. Is Llanthony’s chronicler, of French culture living in Wales, telling the truth when he describes the beginnings of his monastery,

28 Vie de saint Étienne d’Ohazine, pp. 13,54, and 72. 29 AASSJan.I ,p .313 (col. 17,§41).S ee:H .Grundmann,‘ZumVitas.Gerlacieremitae’, in Ausgewählte Aufsätze, Schriften der MGH, 25/1 (Stuttgart, 1976), i, p. 182. 30 L. Delisle, Rouleaux des morts du DF au XIVe siècle (Paris, 1864), p. 279. 31 Dugdale, Monasticon anglicanum, vi/1, p. 129. 32 Grundmann, ‘Zum Vita s. Gerlaci’, p. 194.

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or is he letting himself be influenced by this literary theme33? Let us there­ fore take care not to overestimate the too recent texts : they provide more information about their own time than about the time they intend to describe. Among the sources that are not properly speaking narrative, let me first mention charters that include a full narratio. These records are much closer to the events than the narrative accounts and vitae, which is normal ; these are the oldest, or among the oldest, pieces in the cartulary ; in gen­ eral, they were issued by the bishops who approved the foundation and gave or consecrated the church. Obviously, the historical genre does not allow for a long exposition, but in the case of Val-des-Ecoliers34 and Clairefontaine35, we have other sources (the narratio fundationis and the Annales Rodenses), which allow for a comparison. These charters are only about fifteen years removed from the eremitical beginnings, and the oral, if not visual, tradition is certain. This remains valid even for the text about Hérivaux, a hermitage begun about 1130 and receiving its confirmation about 1160: the bishop recalls his personal contact with the hermit founder36. The documents without a long narratio, obviously much more numerous, rarely teach us anything about the abbeys’ eremitic past, even if it exists. Thus, we get the impression that usually these origins were left in obscurity — which must be interpreted as an intentional omission — at the time when order eliminated disorder, and certainty eliminated uncer­ tainty37. The eremitic beginnings of a good number of abbeys are known

33 On hermits in epic literature, see : H. Grundmann, ‘Deutsche Eremiten, Einsiedler und Klausner im Hochmittelalter’, in Ausgewählte Aufsätze, Schriften der MGH, 25/1 (Stuttgart, 1976), i, p. 117. 34 Gallia Christiana, iv, instr., col. 199-200. 35 C. L. Hugo, Annales Ordinis Vraemonstratensis (Etival, 1734), i, preuves, col. 400-

01. 36 Gallia Christiana, vn, instr., col. 271-73. 37 For example, Saint-Pierremont : the charter of 1095 is addressed to the “religiosis cleri­ cis Leubrico atque Guacelino ceterisque Dei servis tam clericis quam la id s... ip si... com­ munem et canonicam vitam ducant” (Calmet, Histoire de Lorraine, i, coi. 504-05). The narratio refers to the eremitic past despite its ‘cenobitic’ point of view (Paris, Bibl. Nat.,

nouv. acq. lat. 1608, fol. 13r).

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only through narrative sources ; these being relatively rare, the eremitic origin of many monasteries completely eludes us38. Let us move on to the consuetudines, or customaries. These collec­ tions regulated the daily life, liturgy, and internal organization of the abbeys in detail. The content of the Regula sancti Augustini, which the regular canons quoted as their authority from the mid-eleventh century, was in fact too general. The customaries therefore filled out this rule39. Years separating the eremitical beginning

the cenobitic beginning

from the writing of the customary Prémontré40

11

±2

Val-des-Écoliers41

+14

+3

Rolduc42

+19-24

+11-16

St Victor43

±22

±17

Oigny44

+24-25

25—45 0(?)

(propositum)

0

Arrouaise45

45

19

(Summa C. C.)

40

±14

Hérival46

63-73

23-33

38 E.g. Blanchelande, 1154 : Hugo, Annales Ordinis Rraemonstratensis, preuve, col. ccxciiccxciv; Belle-Étoile, 1216: Ibid., col. cc-cci. 39 I will not dwell on the confusion created by the term Regula sancti Augustini itself. 40 R. Van Waefelghem, ‘Les premiers statuts de Prémontré’, Anal. Ordre Rrémontré, 9 (1913), pp. 15-74. 41 Constitutiones Ordinis Vallis Scholarium, ed. by E. Martène and U. Durand, Voyage littéraire (Paris, 1717), I, pp. 114-34. 42 Consuetudines canonicorum regularium Springirsbacenses-Rodenses, ed. by S. Weinfurter, CCCM, 48 (Tumhout, 1978). This text, as the title indicates, could be from Rolduc or Springiersbach. 43 E. Martène, De antiquis Ecclesiae ritibus (Antwerp, 1764), m, pp. 252-91. 44 Pl.-E Lefèvre and A. H. Thomas, Le coutumier de Tabbaye âO igny en Bourgogne au x i f siècle, Spicil. sacrum Lovan. Ét. et doc., 39 (Louvain, 1976). 45 Constitutiones canonicorum regularium Ordinis Arroasiensis, ed. by L. Milis and J. Becquet, CCCM, 20 (Tumhout, 1970). 46 Calmet, Histoire de Lorraine, m, preuves, col. cclxix-cclxxx. I have not included the consuetudines of Hérivaux, Aureil, and Saint-Pierremont in this list because they cannot be dated with sufficient accuracy.

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This table has only a relative value because it cannot take into account the different phases — furthermore difficult to distinguish — the writing of the customaries underwent in the majority of cases and because some texts have been more carefully studied than others (Prémontré, Arrouaise), or are easier to date. Moreover, and this is also true of the other tables given here, it often happens that we do not know the date of an eremitic beginning. Who are the authors of the customaries ? Only in the case of Hérival is it certain, if we accept the narratio fundationis, that it was Constantine, the community’s third head. In other cases, more important because of their greater influence, only a vague or late tradition mentions the name of the writer : Gervais at Arrouaise, Hugh of Fosses at Prémontré, and Gilduin at St Victor, all of whom are considered great organizers of their abbey and their order, both for their action in the economic, institutional, and religious realms, and for the length of their abbacies. The writer of the Oigny customary remains anonymous, which is not surprising when one realizes that, considering the actual results, his project proved much too ambitious. More important than the interval between foundation and the writ­ ing of the customary is the fact that nearly all these texts were produced around 1125-1140 — without any doubt for Prémontré, Arrouaise, and Rolduc, almost certainly for St Victor. Oigny’s must date from the same period. Thus, whatever the date of the eremitic beginning (the difference between Arrouaise and Prémontré for example is about thirty years), the abbeys reached their maturity simultaneously, which suggests that their maturity depended rather on a general development of religious life to be sought beyond the houses themselves and their mutual influence. This immediately raises a problem that must eventually be resolved : what is the share of the past proper to each foundation and what is the share imported under the influence of analogous movements ? The value of our findings will depend on the answer to that question. It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish the orig­ inal material in the customaries from the additions. The manuscripts are nearly always more recent. We are very happy when the interval does not exceed a century (as at St Victor or Arrouaise). Sometimes, all that survives is an edition from the early modern period (Hérival, Val-des-Écoliers). The development between the first draft and the oldest extant manuscript

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remains uncertain, because previous copies have disappeared or were destroyed after being revised. Only for Prémontré can we follow the devel­ opment step by step. W hat conclusions can be drawn from this overview of the sources ? 1. — The data from the non-narrative sources is of a different nature from the narrative sources. The way of consulting them will thus be different. The former category is dynamic and traces a development that often covers several decades. The latter is static: its development will only be percep­ tible after a thorough comparison of the analogous texts. 2. — The narrative sources are in general more recent than the non­ narrative sources, as shown in Diagram 1, which indicates abbeys that have multiple forms of documentation. An exception, however, is Aureil, where the customary postdates the Vita of Gaucher by several years47.

Diagram 1 — Foundations having several forms of historical documentation.

47 See: Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher’, pp. 25-55, and J. Becquet, ‘Le coutumier des chanoines réguliers d’Aureil’, Bull. Soc. archéol. et histor. du Limousin , 91 (1964), pp. 71-85. One nonetheless wonders whether there is not an older basis to the custom­ ary.

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3. — The sources — essentially narrative — that inform us about eremitic beginnings are thus later than those that tell us about the cenobitic period and, as regards customaries, even about the period following the forming of the canonical orders. There is no slight danger that the authors of the accounts and vitae were influenced by the cenobitic development they themselves saw. 4. — Is the sources’ disparity of date a mere coincidence ? No. Foundation narratives and vitae were written out of historical concern, certainly, but also militant concern : they wanted to urge the canons of future generations not to forget or abandon the spirituality of their predecessors, as the authors knew it or learned of it. Why then this delay relative to the normative doc­ uments, the customaries ? Precisely, it seems, because the introduction and codification of this new way of life threatened the flexibility of the original spirituality and the identity of the establishment. It was feared that the tra­ ditio moderna would cancel out the purpose, the original propositum. 5. — The narrative sources, that is, foundation accounts and vitae, have many points in common : the same family of authors, the same purpose, and hence, the same pitfalls.

The Phase of Pure Eremitism THE HERMIT

The sources do not allow us to trace a common social or legal origin for all hermits : the vocation of solitude was not tied to a determined condi­ tion48. It is the foundation narratives and vitae that provide specific infor­ mation and allow us to situate the hermits from one end of the social*5

48 Throughout this section, the reader may be referred to the book by L. Gougaud, Ermites et reclus : études sur d’anciennes formes de vie religieuse, Moines et monastères, 5 (Ligugé, 1928) and to the article of J. Becquet, ‘L’érémitisme dans l’ouest de la France’, in L ’eremitismo in Occidente nei secoli xi e xii (Milan, 1965), pp. 182-204. In this study, I have not considered the hermitage of La Roë, founded by Robert of Arbrissel. The Vita of Baudry of Bourgeuil (PL, 162, col. 1045-51) mentions it, but very briefly. See : J. M. Bienvenu, ‘Aux origines d’un Ordre religieux : Robert d’Arbrissel et la fondation de Fontevraud (1101)’, in Aspects de la vie conventuelle aux xf-xiF siècles (Lyons, 1975), pp. 125-28.

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ladder (upper nobility) to the other (commoners). St N orbert’s parents were nobles from Gennep, an im portant Frankish prosapia49, and St Gerlach’s secundum saeculi dignitatem inclyti50, while Geoffroy of Le Chalard was of ‘low extraction’51. If their backgrounds differed, they attained nearly the same level of education. Nearly all were trained in the science of letters52; thus, they differed from their model, Anthony of Egypt53. Stephen of Obazine learned all the knowledge of his preceptors, “that is to say the knowledge of the Scriptures necessary for divine worship and the edification of souls”54. Parents’ indigence must not hinder this education, which was set as an ideal : in this case, friends or distant relatives, such as Geoffroy of Le Chalard’s uncle55, provided for material necessities. These hermits were not open to Ivo of Chartres’s reproaches against the “ambitious ... who wish to become masters without having been disciples”56. Those who stud­ ied took holy orders, which aptly illustrates the clergy’s cultural and ped­ agogical monopoly57. Those who remained in the lay state could not boast any scholarly education, or in any event the sources do not mention it : the son of a knight, St Gerlach became a knight in turn58; the founder of the hermitage of Dale was a baker. These people disappeared from the history of their houses once the clerics tended to take charge of the abbeys’ des­ tinies. Is this disappearance due solely to the fact that lay people had more difficulty ‘surviving’ in the sources, since the sources were composed by

49 MGH SS, 12, p. 670. 50 AASS Ja n . I, p. 306. 51 Vie de saint Geoffroy, p. 4. See : J. Becquet, ‘Les chanoines réguliers du Chalard’, Bull. Soc. archéol. ethistor. du Limousin, 98 (1971), pp. 153-72. 52 Vita Geraudi de Salis, p. 254; MGH SS, 12, p. 671 ; Vie de saint Étienne d’Obazine, p. 42 ; Vie de saint Geoffroy, p. 5 ; Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher’, p. 47. 53 AASS, Jan. n (Antwerp, 1643), p. 121 (§ 1). 54 Vie de saint Étienne d’Obazine, pp. 44-45. 55 Vie de saint Geoffroy, p. 5. There are many parallels with the hermits who did not take up canonry, e.g. Robert of Arbrissel (J- M. Bienvenu, ‘Aux origines d’un Ordre reli­ gieux’, pp. 119-35). 56 PL, 162, col. 201, ep. 192. 57 When Seher writes that he did not have sufficient scientia saecularis (MGH SS, 12, p. 326, 1. 17), would this be anything other than a literary formula ? 38 AASS, Jan. I, p. 306.

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clerics ? No doubt. But an additional reason must be sought in the her­ mitage’s ‘cenobitization’, so thoroughly suffused with the clerical spirit and unfavourable to laymen. The latter were still admitted, of course, but they would soon be relegated to a lower category, that of conversi. Another explanation : the foundations that issued from well-educated clerics had greater chances of survival and development. Through their knowledge and experience of religious movements, they could better assess the risks of an overly strict experience and thus better protect it against the real dangers of exaggeration. If this reasoning is correct, the success or failure of the foundations lay not only in the ultimate evolution (cenobitic organ­ ization, writing of customaries), but already in the initial phase : an eccle­ siastical schoolmaster from Paris founded St Victor, another from Tournai founded St M artin’s, and one of his disciples, Rolduc and Clairefontaine, just as their colleague from Rheims, Bruno, had founded the Grande Chartreuse a litde earlier39. However, the ‘scholarly’ spirit implied the danger that learning would eclipse religion. A friend warned St Norbert, who was intending to study at Laon for a time : Q u id hoc audio de te ? N u tritu s et eruditus in scola Spiritus sancti cu i ad docendum nulla m ora est, et ea relieta saecularem scolam a d isti so,

whereas Hildebert congratulated William of Champeaux for abandoning philosophorum scientia to become a perfectus philosophus through an inte­ grum m unii contemptum596061. The sources mention several royal chaplains among the founders : if there is no doubt that St Norbert began his career at the imperial court amid the disputes over investiture, less is known about Hildemar and Cono, the founders of Arrouaise, and Raoul Aldlan, founder of Nostell62. O ur doubts arise from the absence of their names in

59 60 61 62

See: PL, 163, col. 901, letter from Herman of Rheims, who mentions still other cases. MGH SS, 12, p. 678. PL, 171, col. 141—42, ep. 1. K. Bosl, ‘Epqpoç— Eremus. Begriffsgeschichtliche Bemerkungen zum historischen Problem der Entfremdung und Vereinsamung des Menschen’, in Polychordia. Festschrift Franz Dölger (Amsterdam, 1967), n, pp. 73-90 ; J. Leclercq, ‘Eremus et eremita. Pour l’histoire du vocabulaire de la vie solitaire’, Coïlectan. Ord. cisterc. reform., 25 (1963), pp. 8-30.

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the English royal charters and the fairly late date of the accounts. But it has not been proven for as much that these accounts have altered the truth.

THE RETREAT ESITO SOLITUDE : THE MEANING OF

EKEMUM

The hermit retired into solitudo : he moved to an eremum or a heremitagium63, the meaning of these two words being imprecise. Eremum is often used in the sense of ‘convent’, or ‘monastery’, and thus does not presup­ pose a solitary life. This is readily learned from reading the Sermo ad fratres in eremo, a thirteenth-century pseudo-Augustinian treatise. The ideal it recommends is cenobitic, and so it contains expressions like monaste­ riumi6364 and monachi65. The interpretation of heremitagium is more difficult still, particu­ larly in the English sources. In them, the donation of a heremitagium does not seem to have to be interpreted as the grant of an inhabited hermitage, as one surmises in the case of Poughley about 116066. Heremitagium must not refer to an eremitic past at all : vulgariter a u te m locus ille a la id s h erem itagium nuncupatur, propter so litu ­ d in e m ; n o n q u o d herem ita aliquis aliquo tem pore ib id em solebat conversari

(Chetwood)67.

The hermitage may have been abandoned shortly before, because one of the typical features of the quest for solitude was a lack of stability. For the majority of these zealous reformers, retreat was not the ultimate stage in their life : not for William of Champeaux, Cono of Arrouaise, or St Norbert. For them, eremitism was only a stage in their religious development and ecclesiastical career. It is through the life of St Norbert, the Wanderprediger par excellence, and Ailbertus, the founder of Rolduc and Clairefontaine,

63 64 63 66

J. Wilson, ‘Foundation of the Austin Priories’, p. 157. PL, 40, col. 1237. Ibid., col. 1239. Dugdale, Monasticon anglicanum, Vl/1, p. 408; Victoria History o f Berkshire (London, 1907), n, p. 85. 67 Dugdale, Monasticon anglicanum, vi/1, p. 499.

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who alternated eremitic periods with pilgrimages, that this instability is perhaps best illustrated. Even a prelate-reform er like John of W arneton, Bishop of Thérouanne, turned to the ideal of solitude : ... am icam sib i so litu d in em am plexus, D eo vacabat, su m m o prorsus u tens silentio. V etuerat enim , n e quisquam ingredi perm itteretur, n isi q u em a d m itti fo r te jussisset, preter illos religiosos, quos assidue volebat adesse 68.

If this passage does not seem to suggest the existence of a hermitage where John retreated, it proves he withdrew into solitude, whether internal or external. The illi religiosi to whom the author refers are the hermits of Arrouaise — Cono, mentioned above, and Achard, who became the arch­ deacon of Thérouanne and eventually prior of the Temple of Jerusalem. The eremitic ideal was thus also alive within those who, for major reasons, could not leave the post that the Church had entrusted them with. For other hermits, retreat into solitude did constitute the final phase of their spiritual development. Only in a minority of cases did a canonical order originate from the founders of such definitive hermitages (Aureil, Val-des-Ecoliers). Their uninterrupted presence could have slowed devel­ opment toward cenobitism and thus curtailed its energy. This applies to Saint-Laurent-au-Bois, Obazine and Aureil, even if the sources do not indicate any opposition to ‘cenobitization’ on the part of the founders. The longevity of Stephen and Gaucher, and hence their prolonged pres­ ence in their community, must have worked against rapid development. Under Oury, St Laurent remained in the mitigated canonical tradition. Elsewhere, the departure — for ecclesiastical or spiritual reasons — of the initiators stimulated expansion toward cenobitism and even the formation of new orders.

SOLITUDE : THE SITE AND THE HUT

The solitude sought by hermits must be interpreted in two senses : internal and external69. Although the sources do not normally make a distinction,

68 MGH SS, 15/2, p. 1148. 69 J. Leclercq, ‘Problèmes de l’érémitisme’, Studia Monastica, 5 (1963), p. 202.

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a thorough study of the sites occupied, especially by the Cistercians, proves that isolation was not so great as one might think70. In this section, I will refer to the sites only as the narrative texts present them — idealizing them. The favourite site is a mountain with a river flowing at the foot. This is what appeared in a vision to Geoffroy of Le Chalard who, to locate himself, searched until he found a place that corresponded to his dream : a wooded mountain full of wild beasts71. Once Ailbertus arrived at Rolduc, he recognized it as the place many visions had already shown him72. The following elements occur repeatedly: a steep mountain (Obazine, Val-des-Ecoliers, Llanthony), a dense forest (Hérivaux, Vicoigne, O bazine, L lanthony)73 — and dangerous (Vicoigne, Arrouaise) — a river or spring with clear water (Val-des-Écoliers, Obazine, Llanthony and, as its name indicates, Fontaines-les-Blanches), and the presence of wild beasts (Val-des-Ecoliers, Vicoigne). All this recalls the locus horroris et vastae solitudinis described in the Bible74 (Val-des-Ecoliers, Hérivaux, Le Chalard) — for the hermit, a place propitious to the realiza­ tion of his ideal. The house, the cella or cellula, the hermit built for himself, was quite simple : a hut of branches, covered with light thatch75, it was the link that united the hermit to nature. The first oratory was made of branches and leaves (Arrouaise) or of wood (Houthem). Sometimes, as at Dale, a grotto was dug, which is still visible today76. The mythic role of the tree is considerable : the hermitage of Roger of Arrouaise was located right by an oak, called the Tronc Bérenger, that had served as a hideout for bandits.

70 R. M. Clay, The Hermits and Anchorites o f England (London, 1914), makes the follow­ ing distinction: “island and fen recluses, forest and hillside hermits, cave dwellers, lightkeepers on the sea-coast, highway and bridge hermits, town hermits, anchorites in church and cloister”. 71 Vie de saint Geoffroy, pp. 8-10. 72 Annales Rodenses, p. 22. 73 See also the Exordium parvum of Cîteaux, ed. by J. de la Croix and J. B. Van Damme, Les plus anciens textes de Cîteaux (Achei, 1974), pp. 59-60 and the Chronicon Affligemense, ed. by G. H. Pertz, MGH SS, 9 (Harmover, 1851), p. 408 (§ 2). 74 Deut. 32.10. 75 Vie de saint Geoffroy, p. 11. 76 H. M. Colvin, The W hite Canons in England (Oxford, 1951), p. 170; illustration in Clay, The Hermits, ill. 15.

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St Gerlach settled into an old oak rotted on the inside ; he had some stones thrown in and covered them with a mat to use as a bed. Guy of Vicoigne found shelter in the shade of an ancient linden. Other times, hermits setded in ruins — a domus vacua at Tournai77 — or else they restored a dilap­ idated old chapel78. In such conditions, was the hermit’s solitude real ? The comparison between eremitic and Cistercian life makes me reluctant to accept these narratives just as they are. The ‘solitude’ of the hermit Liger, whence arose the Cistercian abbey of Dunes, in Flanders, was near a village whose cem­ etery, partially excavated, has already yielded several hundred skeletons79. As for the hermitages of Obazine80 and Le Chalard81, the villages do not seem so far away. Expressions like ab omni habitatione hominum separa­ tur82 should be regarded with circumspection, all the more so since this type of cliché is extremely frequent. If there was no village nearby, there were often other hermits : at Vicoigne a ‘mountain of hermits’83 is men­ tioned. The hermits took the place of predecessors who had moved away or died (sometimes killed)84.

LIFE IN SOLITUDE

Scriptural bases Why and how did a particular cleric or layman withdraw into this locus horroris et vastae solitudinis ? The influence of the Bible is manifest. Several vitae and foundation accounts cite the Holy Scriptures, and if the passages always differ, they insist on the same values and necessary conditions for eternal Ufe : leaving one’s family, selling one’s property and giving every­ thing to the poor. But it is not only the Word of Christ that encouraged

77 MGH SS, 15/2, p. 1113. 78 Vie de saint Geoffroy, p. 11. 79 H. Thoen and L. Milis, ‘Het site Ten Duinen te Koksijde’, Handel, der maatschappij v. geschied. en oudheidk. te Gent, 28 (1974), pp. 11—46. 80 Vie de saint Étienne £ Obazine, p. 80. 81 Vie de saint Geoffroy, p. 17. 82 Dugdale, Monasticon anglicanum, vi/2, p. 893. 85 MGH SS, 24, p. 296. 84 Vie de saint Geoffroy, p. 13 ; Vie de saint Étienne £ Obazine, p. 53 ; PL, 211, col. 446, ep. 159 (letter of Stephen of Tournai to the hermit Guillaume de Bière).

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the viri Dei to lead this strange and severe life. It is also the example of Biblical figures, saints and above all St John the Baptist, who is considered the prototype of the hermit85. Peter Damian mentions him only as one of the founders of the eremitic life, along with Elijah and Elisha for the Old Testament and St Paul and St Anthony for the Christian era86. Rupert of Deutz follows Peter Damian in this classification87. The authors of the narrative texts retain only John the Baptist: Giraud de Sales, for example is compared to him88. Several hermitage churches were dedicated to him whom Gerald of Wales called the eremita primus?9, such as Llanthony and Woodham90. The example of Mary Magdalene also occurs regularly in the vari­ ous types of sources91: weeping at the feet of the Lord, she is invoked by the author of the Life of Giraud de Sales92. A model of the contemplative life so dear to the hermits, she had churches and chapels dedicated to her, for example at Chancelade93 and Arrouaise94. The desert precursors Paul and Anthony appear almost only in the treatises95. The Lives and narratives rarely refer to these Egyptian exam-

85 E. Delaruelle, ‘Les ermites et la spiritualité populaire’, in L ’eremitismo, p. 233. 86 De institutis eremitarum, PL, 145, col. 338. 87 De vita vere apostolica, PL, 170, col. 647. See also: Dialogus inter Cluniacensem et Cisterciensem, ed. by R. B. C. Huygens, ‘Le moine Idung et ses deux ouvrages: ‘Argumentum super quatuor questionibus’ et ‘Dialogus duorum monachorum , Studi medievali, 13 (1972), p. 428, which mentions Elijah and St John, also following the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville, ed. by W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911) (vn, 13,3). 88 AASS, Oct. x, p. 255. 89 Itinerarium Kambriae, I, p. 37 (m). 90 Ibid., and Dugdale, Monasticon anglicanum, vi/1, p. 446. 91 The hermits’ important role in popularizing the cult of Mary Magdalene is pointed out by V. Saxer, Le culte de Marie Madeleine en Occident (Auxerre, 1959), p. 125-26. 92 AASS, Oct. x, p. 256. 93 Gallia Christiana, n, instr., col. 492. 94 MGH SS, 15/2, p. 1120. In the cenobitic period, the patron saint of the enlarged churches was almost without exception the Blessed Virgin, a sign of the success of her cult beginning in the late eleventh century: Obazine (Vie de saint Étienne d ’Obazine, pp. 83-85), Chaumouzey (MGH SS, 12, pp. 327-30), Vicoigne (MGH SS, 24, p. 298), Val-des-Écoliers (Labbe, Nova bibliotheca, I, p.393), Rolduc (Annales Rodenses, p. 36). 95 Dialogus inter Cluniacensem et Cisterciensem, p. 432 ; Libellus de diversis Ordinibus, ed. by G. Constable and B. Smith (Oxford, 1972), p. 12 (§ 1) ; Consuetudines canonicorum regularium Springirsbacenses-Rodenses, p. 55 (§ 20).

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pies96 and do not seem to derive anything from these saints’ vitae, although the themes may have served the medieval writers97. Spiritual life It is not easy to establish a clearcut distinction between spiritual and mate­ rial life, for the spiritual life profoundly conditions the material and vice versa989. Solitude is not an end in itself but must lead the hermit to abandon everything and follow Christ in order to gain eternal life, in order to “receive a hundredfold” (Matt 19. 29)" or to “have treasure in heaven” (Mark 10. 21)100. Solitude will help the hermit pray ceaselessly day and night, and achieve pure contemplation. In fact, most of the texts express ‘to contemplate’ by vigilare, ‘to be awake day and night’101; it is this that makes the hermit’s life so hard102. Geoffroy of Le Chalard prayed — these are his own words : O pie, o misericors, vera salus, certa spes vincendi, serva nos incolum es cum om nibus nobis pertinentibus, u t sem per corde jucundo, ore consono, m eri­ tas laudes, nocte e t die, tib i victori p ro m a m u s1®.

O n the path of contemplation, tears — the lugere of the eremitic and cenobitic texts104 — accompanied uninterrupted prayer. The recitation of Psalms was certainly always in vogue105, but the richness of prayer was largely determined by intellectual level. Gerlach of Houthem, a converted

96 97 98 99 100 101 102

Annales Rodenses, p. 30; MGH SS, 12, p. 325.

AASS, Jan. I, pp. 602-08; Jan. II, pp. 120-41. See : Delaruelle, ‘Les ermites’, pp. 212-41. Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher’, p. 48. PL, 171, col. 142. Letter of Hildebert to St Victor. Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher’, p. 49 ; Vie de saint Geoffroy, p. 17. Libellus de diversis Ordinibus, p. 8 (§ 1) : “exercitatio corporalis, jejunia et vigiliae” are characteristic for hermits. Jaeques de Vitry, Historia occidentalis, ed. by J. F. Hinnebusch (Freiburg, 1972), p. 109 (§ 12). 103 Bosvieux, ‘Vita beati Gaufredi’, p. 83. 104 The Dialogus inter Cluniacensem et Cisterciensem, p. 426 is based on Jerome. Stephen of Obazine, after his priesthood, ‘definitively abandoned the worldly way of life ... The carefree smiles of before became sorrow, and gaiety became sadness’ (Vie de saint Étienne £ Obazine, pp. 44-45 (§ 2)). 105 Vie de saint Geoffroy, p. 17 ; Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher’, pp. 49-50 ; Vie de saint Étienne £ Obazine, pp. 52-53, etc.

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knight poor in spirit, recited only the simplest prayers, the only ones known to laymen : the Kyrie, Pater noster, and Ave Maria106. Sleep and the devil — the antiquus inimicus or mali artifex — two closely interwoven dangers, must be combated by severe mortification : flagellation107, sometimes ice-cold baths108; for others, and most often, extremely strict fasting and crude dress, attesting to utter destitution. The practice of mortification was the same with all the hermits ; the often iden­ tical terms the authors used derive from a common fund : the Bible109. Hunger and thirst are mentioned first everywhere : they are, it seems, the most difficult to withstand, and so the most greatly stressed. Hence, Gerlach ate barley loaves mingled with ash110, and Giraud de Sales was only happy when his bread, also of barley, was as black as possible111. The author of the Dialogus reproached St Norbert for defaulting on his austere life : from wheaten bread and its usual accompaniment, he progressed to splendid royal feasts112. Silence, which was to be observed with the same strictness as fasting113 in order to arrive at a quietude, would not seem likely to pose great problems so long as the hermit lived alone or in sparse company. But the observance of silence would need severe regulation once cenobitization had progressed. When one felt silence to be threatened, one went off temporarily114. As isolated as hermits could be, they did not cut themselves off completely and definitively from the world. To gain eternal life also meant helping one’s neighbour: material attentions, spiritual attentions above all. Helping the poor was an important precept. The poor in spirit that

106 AASS, Jan. I, p. 312 (§ 15). On the popularity of the AveM aria in twelfth-century lay milieus as an imitation of the recitation of the Psalms by the clergy, see : F. Roschini, La madonna secondo la fede e la teologia (Rome, 1954), rv. 107 Vie de saint Étienne d’Obazine, pp. 52-53 (§5). 108 Vie de saint Étienne dObazine, pp. 44-45 (§ 2) ; Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher’, P .5K S11). 109 “In fam e et siti et nuditate et om ni penuria" (Deut. 28. 18) ; “in fam e et siti, in jejunis multis’’ (n Cor. 11.27) See: Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher’, p. 49 (§ 7) (for Aureil) ; Calmet, Histoire de Lorraine, m, preuves, col. cclxix (for Hérival) ; Dugdale, Monasticon anglicanum, vi/2, p. 893 (for Dale) and vi/1, p. 129 (for Llanthony). 110 AASS J a n . I, p. 308 (ch. 5). 111 AASS, Oct. X, p. 255 (ch. 1, § 7). 112 Dialogus inter Cluniacensem et Cisterciensem, p. 426. 113 See: Petrus Damiani, PL, 145, col. 339 (§ 5). 1M E.g. Arnaud in the hermitage of Geoffroy of Le Chalard, Vie de saint Geoffroy, p. 35.

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the hermits were heeded Christ’s words : Venite ad me omnes, qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego reficiam vos (Matt. 11.28)115. In their turn, they sup­ ported the poor ; Ailbertus of Rolduc is referred to as in elemosynis largus, and Guy de Vicoigne gave orders that no one should leave the hermitage empty-handed : neminem ex caritate victualia petentem vacuum abire per­ mitti1^. More than material aid, which they could not effectively provide because of their own impoverished state, it was spiritual care they pro­ vided. The hermit was a central figure though he lived very far off, even secluded in a cell he never left. “I counsel y o u ... imitate Christ”, Gaucher of Aureil answered a certain Arnaud, whom he sent to Geoffroy of Le Chalard117. The hermit was approached for advice, and, close to G od and rich in experience often acquired through pilgrimages, he played the role of counsellor. These pilgrimages were a stage in the religious development of many who carried them out before arriving at solitude. And at times they left the eremum to undertake another: Gaucher of Aureil and St Norbert took up the pilgrim’s staff to go to Saint-Gilles-du-Gard118; Gerlach set out for Rome and Jerusalem119; Hildemar and Cono visited sanctuaries after leaving England and before settling in the Forest of Arrouaise120. These travels must have brought them in constant contact with the fer­ ment of new religious ideas, a reflection of the renewal of all of society at the end of the eleventh century, to initiate and accelerate a process of modernization — evidendy in the guise of a return to sources — of reli­ gious feeling. To combine travels and counsel is to preach. The Wanderprediger is the hermit in one stage or another of his fife121. It is by walking, by

115 116 117 118

Chaumouzey: MGH SS, 12, p. 325. Annales Rodenses, p. 30 ; MGH SS, 24, p. 296. Vie de saint Geoffroy, p. 34.

Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher’, p. 47 (§ 4) ; MGH SS, 12, p. 674. St GiUes was a hermit before becoming an abbot (Vita s. Aegidii abbatis, AASS, Sept, i (Antwerp, 1747), pp. 316-23, written in 1120/24). His cult was popular precisely in the late elev­ enth century and the early twelfth. 119 AASS J a n . I, p. 307 (ch. 3). 120 MGH SS, 15/2, p. 1119. 121 On this subject, see: J. von Walter, Die ersten Wanderprediger Frankreichs (Leipzig, 1906) ; E. Werner, Rauperes Christi (Leipzig, 1956) and G. G. Meersseman, ‘Eremitismo e predicazione itinerante dei secoli xi e xn’, in Ueremitismo, pp. 164-79.

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preaching that one reaches sure followers: Hugh of Fosses followed St Norbert before Norbert decided to settle at Prémontré122. O ur image of the hermit, the pauper Christi who nudus nudum Christum sequitur, took form during his public appearances, that is, when he was preaching123. It is precisely his activity as a preacher that would cause difficulties for St N orbert: being accused at the Council of Fritzlar and the permission to pursue are well-known episodes in the biography of the founder of Prémontré124. The placidus sermo contrasted with the vilis habitus and the hilaris vultus. The hermit’s spirituality determined his physical aspect. Material life The mortification and punishment of the flesh left traces : “His holy vis­ age”, the Life of Stephen tells, “was furrowed with wrinkles wherein one read the pallor of fasting”125. Geoffroy of Le Chalard was recognized as a true servant of God “by the simplicity of his clothing, the pallor of his face and his thinness”126. Clothing was reduced to little despite the reluctance of some converted clerics who, like Ailbertus at Rolduc127 and Clairefontaine128, continued to wear linen garments and not wool. More fervent, St Norbert adopted religious dress, which, once again, caused him difficulties129, but the traditional garb of the hermit — and the majority wore it — was the hair shirt, the penitential robe par excellence: Gaucher130, Geoffroy131, Gerlach132, and others thus followed the example

122 MGH SS, 12, p. 675. 123 See Vicoigne: MGH SS, 24, p. 296: “turbae confluunt, vïlemque hominis habitum, hilarem vultumplacidumque sermonem attendentes... reficiebantur non minus opinione quam sermone”.

124 MGH SS, 12, pp. 673-74. The most in-depth article on his spirituality is L. Van Dyck, ‘Norbert van Gennep en de Ordo canonicus. Evangelisch leven tussen restaurane en vernieuwing’, Ons Geestelijk Erf, 48 (1974), pp. 361—410. 123 Vie de saint Étienne d’Obazine, pp. 54-56 (§6). 126 Vie de saint Geoffroy, p. 18. “Simulat enim verissimum Dei cultorem habitu vili, vultu pallido ac maxillento ” (Bosvieux, ‘Vita beati Gaufredi’, p. 87). 127 Annales Rodens es, p. 692. 128 Hugo, Annales Ordinis Rraemonstratensis, preuves, col. cccc. 129 MGH SS, 12, pp. 672-73. 130 Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher’, p. 47 (§ 3). 131 Vie de saint Geoffroy, p. 11. 132 AASS, Jan. ï, p. 307 (ch. 3).

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of the desert Fathers. To further aggravate their trials, a number wore the lorica, the coat of mail, such as Stephen133 and Geoffroy134. Soldiers of Christ, they donned the armour of their century’s soldiers. It is therefore not surprising that former knights, Gerlach135and the founder of Llanthony, should thus spiritualize their traditional attire. The latter changed his military dress for a not negligible weight of iron, because the coat of mail that defended him against enemies was from now on to protect him against the devil,

wrote the chronicler of Llanthony136. This way of dressing was normal for hermits. In his treatise De institutis eremitarum, Peter Damian already referred to those fanatics who disdain hair shirts as too comfortable and wear coats of mail next to their skin137.

In the matter of hygiene, no hermits cultivated the same ideals. Let us compare two saints from the same period and region : Stephen of Obazine and his companions wore their clothes until excessive filth or lice forced them to take them off. They then dried them over the fire or soaked them in water and put them back on, washed this way and somewhat pressed138.

Geoffroy of Le Chalard, on the contrary, wanted his clothing to be clean ... He thought that to have something dirty was an indication of negligence, and not proof of virtue139.

More important to the development of eremitism was the role of manual labour. Hermits practised it traditionally, as notes the author of the Dialogus : Perfectissimi contemplativi habuerunt cotidianum opus manum ;

133 134 135 136 137 138 139

Vie de saint Étienne d’Obazine, pp. 52-53 (§5). Vie de saint Geoffroy, p. 11.

AASS J a n . i, p. 307 (ch. 3). Dugdale, Monasticon anglicanum, vi/1, p. 129. PL, 145, col. 346. Vie de saint Étienne diObazine, pp. 52-53 (§5). Vie de saint Geoffroy, p. 43.

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he continues, opus manuum non obesi, sed prodest contemplativism . Manual work was furthermore inspired — and our medieval hermits were aware of it — by the example of St Paul140141. It was also the conditio sine qua non of survival, other than donations of food made by the faithful. Clearing the land, which hermits occupied without owning, was a thank­ less activity, and the results were uncertain. The quest for greater security led them to obtain ownership, which would in turn prove a decisive step toward the formation of a coenobium.

THE HERMIT AND HIS ENTOURAGE

The hermit and his first disciples Normally, the hermit did not enter his desert completely alone : there were two or three, even at the start, before one may speak of a first expansion142. But this rule was not universal, for true solitaries did exist : Giraud de Sales, Anthenor of Chaumouzey and Roger of Arrouaise were already liv­ ing in their huts before others came to share their austere life. If it is not to be doubted that what prompted the viri Dei to group themselves together was above all the insecurity of travel and isolated places, they lost not time in giving their numerical composition a theo­ logical turn : the number of hermits at Arrouaise (three) explains why the church that was built there soon after was dedicated to the Trinity14314. W hen Ailbertus founded Clairefontaine with two friends, he was ipse tertius ... fidelis sanctae Trinitatis cultor144. It was around this primitive nucleus of two or three hermits that a larger community would be formed, of which the number of members is impossible to assess : the narrative sources lack detail and the charters where they are sometimes mentioned as witnesses generally date from the cenobitic period. For the time being,

140 Dialogus inter Cluniacensem et Cisterciensem, pp. 432, 891-96. 141 Annales Rodenses, p. 30. 142 Libellus de diversis Ordinibus, p. 16 (§ 1): “ut quidam horum soli habitent, quidam vero adiunctis sibi duobus aut tribus aut pluribus ” ; for later periods, see : J. Sainseaulieu, Études sur la vie érémitique en France de la Contre-Réforme à la Restauration (Lille, 1974), pp. 157-58. 143 MGH SS, 15/2, p. 1119. 144 Annales Rodenses, p. 42.

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the first hermits lived together, but no vow of stability bound them to stay : they came and went. However, in order to prevent their hermitage from becoming a warren, the initiators favoured a tendency toward stabiliza­ tion. Stephen of Obazine and his friend Peter, when they decided to leave the world, stayed with a hermit for ten months. The author of the account, writing at a time when stability prevailed, felt obliged to provide an expla­ nation of their departure after so short a stay : Not at all, he says, that they were overcome with lassitude, but much rather ... they ... were keen on a more courageous life, closer to salvation.

He continues : Furthermore, upon their arrival near him, it had been agreed with the hermit that ... they could in all freedom and without dispute go away elsewhere143*145.

The increase in the number of hermits would accentuate later stabilization and constitute a new step towards cenobitization146147. Relations with the sites’ owners The hermit in quest of solitudo lost sight of the fact that all land, however uncultivated or desolate it might be, belonged to someone. His settling there would not be devoid of difficulties, especially when the community grew larger and land-clearing disturbed the fauna and made havoc with the vegetation. The baker from Derby who lived at Dale saw the owner of the forest enter in a rage. This man magnae potestatis... videns fumum ignis de spelunca... ascendentem, indig­ nanter praemirabatur, vehementius qua temeritatis fronte auderet aliquis in bosco suo mansionem sibi facere, sine ipsius licentia1*1.

143 Vie de saint Étienne d'Obazine, pp. 48—49 (§ 3). See: Libellus de diversis Ordinibus, p. 16 (§ 1) : “Si autem aliquando contigerit ut aliquis hanc institutionem agressus non multum sibi utilem esse perspexerit, si aliam rursus assumat, non debet inde judicari... nisi forte priorem illam institutionem se obseraturum voverit”. 146 In the ‘stabilized’ hermitages, which is the type described by Peter Damian in the De institutis eremitarum, there was a formula of profession that provided for stability, PL,

145, col. 342 (S 7). 147 Dugdale, Monasticon anglicanum, vi/2, p. 893.

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But even when initially reluctant, lay owners were eventually persuaded to cede the site and surrounding land to the homo Dei: Videns ipsius hominis Dei calamitatem, the chronicler of Dale continues, concessit sibi locum; deditque ei decimam molendini ra/148. Owning the site was as much as the fanatical hermit could tolerate, however : if he obtained a certain security in this way, on the other hand he infringed on the divine precept that required him to sell all his possessions and give everything to the poor149150.Faced with this dilemma, the hermit hesitated, and this hesitation explains the difficulties that several hermitages would encounter in the course of their development. Referring to the first cleric Hildemar, the chronicler of Arrouaise is categorical : parumque vel nichil terrenum pos­ sederit, vel possidendum hic adquirere voluerit150; and Hugh of Fouilloy, describing the beginnings of Saint-Laurent-au-Bois, tells that after fifteen years, the seven hermits did not have enough land at their disposal to require a plow151. Often, the lay owner welcomed the hermit enthusiastically. To cede this small or uncultivated parcel of land did not impoverish him ; in return, what price might he not expect : the gratitude of the homo Dei, who would not fail to commend him to God ! The lay lords who donated the site of the hermitage of Chaumont in the Ardennes to two heremi cultores, did so in hope of a superna renumeratio — they even included permission to clear as much land in the neighbouring forest as per se vel per carrucas possent extirpare152. Thus, in accordance with customary law, owners sol­ emnly granted land to the pauper and his successors. The time of the grant is important, at least when the church that the hermit has gone to great trouble to build is thus freed from the pos­ sibility of lay seizure. How happy and proud Geoffroy of Le Chalard was to write in his memoirs :

148 Ibid. 149 Adrian iv’s mandate in favour of Gerlach of Houthem stipulated that the hermit was only the ‘dispensator’, the administrator of his patrimony, and thus not the owner; AASS, Jan. i, p. 307 (ch. 4). 150 MGH SS, 15/2, p. 1119. 151 Amiens, Bibl. Soc. Antiq. de Picardie, ms. 62, fol. l r. 152 Hugo, Annales Ordinis Vraemonstratensis, ï, col. cccxl.

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The year one thousand eighty-eight of the Incarnation ... the day of the feast of St Yrieix, Aimar, Viscount of Limoges... gave to me, Geoffroy, the place where the church of Le Chalard was built153.

The period we are concerned with did not yet require all transactions to be committed to parchment, and so such grants were rarely the subject of a written document. The lack of such a document later caused countless difficulties, of which the priory of Saint-Laurent-au-Bois, for example, was victim. Arrouaise made use of written notitiae, private memos. Documents in due and proper form are not lacking, but they are usually more recent154. W hen the owner was an ecclesiastical establishment, the grant did not go through so easily: the sources mention various difficulties155. This reluctance of the clerics is explained by their mistrust of any uncontrolled innovative movement: herm its’ bizarreness, their extreme behaviour, aroused a mixture of contempt, wonder and admiration. Moreover, it was feared that the largess of the rich would benefit this new movement, a war­ ranted fear furthermore. But donations did not accumulate until the next phase, the passage from eremitism to cenobitism. Relations with the ecclesiastical hierarchy How did the ecclesiastical authorities, whose role was not limited to that of owner, behave toward the hermits? The bishops, when they buckled down to the Gregorian reform, could only be favourable to this avenue. The reform of the Church, in so far as it concerned internal life and eccle­ siastical organization, was to be implemented with the cooperation of eremitism ; John of Wameton, Bishop of Thérouanne, is a telling example : the hermit Achard became his archdeacon156*. Nonetheless, the bishops’

153 Vie de saint Geoffroy, p. 26. 154 See : Cockersand, 1180-84 : The Chartulary o f Cockersand Abbey ofthePremonstratensian Order, ed. by W. Farrer, Chetham Society, n.s. 38 ([Manchester], 1898), pp. 758-59, n. 2. 135 Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher’, pp. 50-51 (§ 10). 156 L. Milis, L ’Ordre des chanoines réguliers d ’Arrouaise, Werken uitgegeven door de Faculteit van de Letteren en Wijsbegeerte. Rijksuniversiteit te Gent, 147^48 (Bruges, 1969), ï, p. 597.

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goodwill did not blind them to the exaggerations of the pauperes or leave them indifferent to the scandalum they could provoke157. Thus, they assisted them and prevented them from excess. Consider the trouble the bishop of Laon, Bartholomew, went to to retain St Norbert and procure him a shelter that suited him : Cotidie circumducens eum et ostendens, si qua sit ecclesia, quae ei placeat, si quae solitudinis, si qua deserta, si qua terra culta et inculta ad aedificandum et commanendum158. The oldest charters are generally episcopal approvals, but the number of these dating back to the true eremitic phase is very limited. I refer to three : two were issued by Lambert of Arras, an active reformer, the first bishop of this diocese after its separation from Cambrai ; the other by Bartholomew of Laon, just as serious a supporter of eremitism, as I have just indicated159. From these sources, several general observations on the bishops’ action in favour of the hermits may be noted : — the bishop approved the foun­ dation, possibly at the suggestion of a member of his entourage160, the approval covering the place {locus) and the observance (ordo)161; — he gave the church to those who lived there, reserving for himself the pos­ sibility of collecting a recognition fee or synodal fee ; — he gave the cura animarum to the head of the small community, thus withdrawing it from the parish clergy162 (in one case, he already gives him the parish church and, consequently, the cura of all the parishioners)163; — he may cede other ecclesiastical rights, like tithing164; — he made provision for the

1.7 Pope Adrian rv gave St Gerlach written permission to setde as a hermit, after having proposed a series of other monastic and canonical solutions to him, AASS, Jan. I, p. 307 (ch. 5). 1.8 MGH SS, 12, p. 679; Bartholomew’s role is emphasized by C. Dereine, ‘Les origines de Prémontré’, Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique, 42 (1947), pp. 363-70. 1.9 Obviously, there are many other charters, for example related to Aureil, see :J. Becquet, ‘Les chanoines réguliers de Lesterps, Bénévent et Aureil en Limousin’, Bull. Soc. archéol. et histor. du Limousin, 99 (1972), p. 83. 160 Cuissy : Hugo, Annales Ordinis Praemonstratensis, I, col. lxi. 161 Arrouaise, 1097 : F. Gosse, Histoire de labbaye et de ï antienne congrégation d'Arrouaise (Lille, 1786), pp. 413-15. 162 Eaucourt: PL, 162, col. 708. 163 Gosse., Histoire de tabbaye. 164 PL, 162, col. 708.

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future, which is of significance to my study, for it means he expected that the expansion that was just beginning would go on165. The opponents who declared themselves were of a lower level : clerics who feared a decrease in their parish income. You see, your parishioners are now offering someone else what by cus­ tom they gave you ! Everything belongs to the religious Geoffroy ; what will you do if the oblations are taken from you, you who have no other income166?

This is what was whispered in the ear of the priest of Ladignac ; and when he went to complain to the archdeacon of Limoges, sede vacante, the arch­ deacon supported these complaints. But the bishop of Périgueux, to whom they turned, was an unfailing friend of Geoffroy, whose rights were recognized. The archdeacon would have to wait for his own miraculous conversion167. Mistrust of true hermits was in great part due to the existence of ‘false hermits’, hermits who did not persevere or, worse yet, deceived those around them 168. It is in this perspective that one may place the attitude of the “priests of the neighbouring parishes” who expelled Geoffrey’s pred­ ecessor169; the Life of Stephen of Obazine devotes an entire paragraph to a pseudochorita to whom the “people gave many gifts” but who, the night before his first Solemn High Mass, took “all his possessions and disap­ peared forever”170. The construction of a chapel or a church was a most important matter for our solitaries : the wooden hut or restored ruin did not long suffice the zealots’ aspirations for the success of their hermitage. The influx of companions would necessitate the construction of new buildings, and

165 Gosse, Histoire de l’abbaye : “S i ... locus ...a d tantam copiam rerum et servorum D e i... excreverit, utprelatum eligere debeant... Hugo , Annales Ordinis Rraemonstratensis-. “ in usus fratrum, qui in ea ... victuri sunt”. 166 Vie de saint Geoffroy, p. 18. 167 Ibid., p. 18 ff. 168 See : the poem by Paganus Bolotinus, edited and studied by J. Leclercq, ‘Le poème de Payen Bolotin contre les faux ermites’, Revue bénédictine, 68 (1958), pp. 52-86. Paganus was canon at Chartres around 1130. 169 Vie de saint Geoffroy, p. 13. 170 Vie de saint Étienne £ Obazine, pp. 52-53 (§ 5).

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the new church would attract other vocations. Thus, it played a leading role in the stabilization of the hermitage.

The Hermitage and its Expansion THE INFLUX OF COMPANIONS

This new stage of expansion through ‘magnetism’171 was the ‘fatal’ result of several hermitages’ success — ‘fatal’ because it made the survival of the eremitic ideal difficult, indeed impossible. But let me not get ahead of myself. First, we must see how this influx of followers constituted the conditio sine qua non of development toward cenobitism, knowing that there will be not only qualitative change but, first and foremost, quantita­ tive change. Hermits setded in small groups from the beginning of their experience. Then, the numbers increased. The neophytes who knocked at the door were not so much like these bizarre, fanatical, outrageous men but rather people fascinated by the austere life of the primitive hermits, whom they wished to imitate. Thus, there were more of them. As in the preceding stage, they included laymen and clerics. Only rarely do the sources allow us to state nearly exact figures. The layman’s difficulty in gaining a place in the sources has already been remarked quite often. We can only make numerical assessments for foundations with very early char­ ters, dating from before eventual cenobitic development effaced the lay­ m an’s role and presence. The massive success of the new monastic and canonical religious movements is explained largely by the religious enthu­ siasm of the laity. I have drawn up a diagram of the entrants to Arrouaise in the period from 1090 (foundation) to 1121 (consecration of the first abbot and thus the ultimate date of cenobitization). The figures are grouped by prelacy: 1090/97 Hildemar, 1097-1108 Cono, 1109/16 Richer’s first phase, 1116/21 and the same Richer’s second phase172.

171 Sainseaulieu, Études sur la vie érémitique, p. 157. 172 These figures do not include deaths and departures, since the data on them is surely incomplete; and since the data concerns mainly clergy, their numbers are too high on the diagram.

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Diagram 2 — The increase in population at Arrouaise for the period 1090-1121

During the first two phases, the number of lay people, in so far as there were any, was far lower than that of the clerics. The first part of Richer’s prelacy instigated a change : the number of lay people equalled and even slightly exceeded that of the clerics. Then, from 1116, the positions were reversed : clerics were more and more under-represented. However, ‘cenobitization’ came about gradually : between 1108 and 1116, we still find the expression eremita, the prelatus has not yet been consecrated abbot, and the second in command is still called decanus. But all that changed after 1116 to become, in proper canonicomonastic tradition, canonicus, abbas, prior. Cono, who had already sought to stabilize his foundation by obtaining a charter of confirmation from the bishop of Arras at the beginning of his prelacy, had received a cella some years later173, the first in a network of curtes, comparable to the Cistercian granges, which were to absorb the growing number of lay men and, after 1121, women. The more rapid increase in the number of laymen no doubt caused, or at least accelerated, development toward cenobitism174. It was not only the number, henceforth too large, of laymen that prevented upholding the eremitic ideal, but above all the cultural difference between them and the

173 Before 1107, bull of Paschal n : Acta pontificum Romanorum inedita, ed. by J. PflugkHarttung (Stuttgart, 1881), I, p. 90 (no. 99). 174 For Aureil, a dossier on the population has been compiled by Dom J. Becquet and deposited by him in the Archives départementales of the Haute-Vienne, Limoges.

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clerics. Without a written culture, without a knowledge of Latin, laymen had no access to many ecclesiastical matters, whether doctrinal, spiritual or institutional. The organization of a religious community eluded them entirely. There was no leadership role in the organized movement for those who had entered upon a common life in response to a spontaneous impulse. If, as at Arrouaise, their names appear very frequendy among the witnesses in the pre-abbatial period, they then become very rare and insig­ nificant. If the first followers of the hermitages were mainly clerics, the next would be laymen. In the early years (about 1125), Saint-Laurent-au-Bois had four clerics and three conversi. In 1153, only fifteen clerics were listed in the two houses of Saint-Laurent and Saint-Nicolas-de-Regny, as opposed to nineteen lay persons175. This shift in the population’s numbers and pro­ portions necessitated a new organization. The laity would henceforth be condemned to play a different role : they abandoned the condition of eremitae, which they shared with their clerical colleagues, to become conversi : the clerics acceded to the higher category of canonia. The example of Chancelade shows how interest in the conversi diminished : when the first stone of the new church was laid, the names of seven priests and three laymen are given. Some years later, in 1133, when an indeterminate number of clerics took the habit, becom­ ing canons, five are named expressis verbis ; laymen are no longer men­ tioned176. The problems faced by the communities’ leaders did not end there. “Neither of the sexes is excluded from the Heavenly Kingdom”, the biog­ rapher of Gaucher of Aureil notes177. Women too were ‘to be saved’, but admitting them further reinforced the development outlined above. They were accepted but were considered incapable of leading an eremitic life and so were separated from the community earlier than lay males178.

175 176 177 178

Amiens, Bibl. Soc. Antiq. Picardie, ms. 62, fol. 7r. Gallia Christiana, n, instr., col. 492-94. Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher’, p. 52 (§ 12). There are some very rare examples of female hermits ; according to her Vita, Mary Magdalene lived in the wilderness after her conversion. Women who wanted to retreat into solitude most frequently enclosed themselves as recluses.

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Almost everywhere, the presence of women and the attitude to be observed toward them posed problems, which may be noted very early on at Rolduc. Women there aggravated the rivalry between the hermit cleric Ailbertus, prototype of the solitaries, and the lay conversus Embrico, pro­ totype of the newcomers. Ailbertus wanted to isolate the women in a new foundation, while Embrico, responsible for the community’s financial basis and hence powerful, opposed it. Even if Embrico won his point for the time being (Ailbertus left Rolduc to found Clairefontaine), his power did not prevent the clericalization of the community at Rolduc as well. Embrico’s personal role would be maintained until the end of his life, but at Rolduc he witnessed the institution of the canonical, thus clerical, reform of Rottenbuch and then that of Springiersbach179. Next is the ques­ tion of children. The Life of Stephen of Obazine realistically describes how the brethren loaded the children, wife and family, baggage, cattle and all of a noble personage’s other possessions on carts180; imposed conver­ siones for the greater part, and a considerable obstacle to the future of the community. The hermitage, with its hard and severe life, its requirement of extreme mortification, must henceforth serve as a day nursery : the care necessary for the children’s support and education181 made eremitic life more and more similar to that of a canonical chapter or a traditional abbey. The increase in the religious population brought a string of other difficulties : personal problems arising from the cohabitation of the sexes, which led to topographical separation and sometimes even rejection of women182; and institutional, material and spiritual problems that will be referred to below. There is a further point to raise among the personal conflicts : the attitude of the original hermit toward development and

179 Annales Rodenses, p. 38. 180 Vie de saint Étienne d’Obazine, pp. 86-89 (§ 29). See : Grundmann, ‘Adelsbekehrungen im Hochmittelalter’, in Ausgewählte Aufsätze, Schriften der MGH, 25/1 (Stuttgart, 1976), I, p p . 125-49. 181 See the son of Embrico, at Rolduc “hic edoctus erat et iam adultus ” : Annales Rodenses, p . 62.

182 Val-des-Écoliers, able to take advantage of previous experience, refused access to women: Gallia Christiana, IV, instr., col. 200. Furthermore, at about the same time, the regular canons took measures to limit the number of women, see: Milis, L ’Ordre des chanoines réguliers, pp. 515-17.

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expansion, which he perhaps did not even want, let alone encourage, but which gravely compromised his ideal of solitude and austerity.

THE EXPANSION OF THE RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY : THE CONSEQUENCES

The attitude of the homo Dei A reading of the sources does not permit the distillation of an attitude common to hermits. I have already referred to the difficulties between Ailbertus of Rolduc and the ministerialis conventi Embrico. Ailbertus wanted to continue distributing goods to the poor in keeping with his biblical ideal ; Embrico required that the income be devoted to the con­ struction of a larger church. The poverty of the eremum gave way to com­ munity wealth; the hermitage was succeeded by the monastery183. At Llanthony, the first hermits quarrelled when their contubernium duorum transiret in coenobium multorum184. Stephen suffered violently in his soul from the desire for solitude, for he bore his charges with difficulty and feared having to assume the lea­ dership of so many people. He had not chosen this place to assemble large crowds, but to live in solitude185. The original hermit sometimes retained leadership of the cenobitic com­ munity, like Stephen, after much hesitation186. The consequence was the adapting of his spirituality187. Nowhere does there appear any sign whatsoever of enthusiasm for the great change begun by the hermits. But was there opposition to it ? The prior of the Grande Chartreuse answered Stephen — who had come to consult him about a possible affiliation — that he should take up the Cistercian observance because, he said,

183 Annales Rodenses, p. 38. 184 Dugdale, Monasticon anglicanum, vi/1, p. 130. 183 Vie de saint Étienne d!Obazine, pp. 58-59 (§ 10). See, for Chaumouzey : MGH SS, 12, p. 326 and probably for Vicoigne, where Guy took up again his peregrinations, MGH SS, 24, pp. 297-99. 186 Vie de saint Étienne dJObazine, pp. 64-67 (§ 14). 187 Ibid., pp. 66-67 (§ 15) : “Nam de dominicis quidem diebus facile adquievit, de quinqua­ ginta vìnci non poterit, donec monachus est effectus”.

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you have assembled many people for the service of God, and you have decided to take in even more188.

So Stephen was not opposed to the increase of his flock ; he probably considered it an irrevocable phenomenon, even if in the immediate future it excluded him from the Carthusian affiliation he so highly desired. Parvus numerus was regarded as a specific feature of the Grande Chartreuse. The attitude of the original hermit, in the rare cases where he was still alive at the time of this development, thus shows a certain ambiguity : he opposed neither the numbers nor the change189 but tried to preserve the fullness of the eremitic ideal for himself190. In the majority of other cases, where the hermit had gone to another destination or died, his com­ panions easily dispensed with the original ideal. Spiritual consequences Neither rule nor specific practice was characteristic of life in solitude. With almost no exception and few variants, the texts use the expression heremiticam vitam ducere. There was no assumption that a certain text would be followed, say, the rule of Peter Damian’s hermits. The vita heremitica was an attitude, a way of life. It must of course conform to tradition, the “custom handed down by the Fathers”191. But it did not have uniformity, the uniformity so greatly desired and presented as the supreme ideal of the religious life since the Carolingian era. Diversity engenders fear and mistrust — one need only recall the letters of Ivo of Chartres192 and St Bernard193. The Libellus de diversis ordinibus alludes to it: unusquisque

188 Ibid., pp 82-83 (S 26). 189 Why would he have opposed this cenobitic tendency, having read in the Vita of St Gilles, for example, that this precursor had founded an abbey ? (AASS, Sept. I, pp. 301— 02 (ch. 2)). 190 It sometimes happened that a member of the original eremitic nucleus did not tolerate the influx of men and women, and so withdrew into another solitude, e.g. Stephen, whom the author of the Life of Gaucher of Aureil confuses with Stephen of Muret, the founder of Grandmont: Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher’, p. 52 (§ 12). 191 Vie de saint Étienne d1Obazine, pp. 54-55 (§7). 192 PL, 142, ep. 38 and 256. 193 Leclercq, ‘Problèmes de l’érémitisme’, pp. 208-12.

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vitam suam instituat, and the author is displeased quod omnes huius profes­ sionis homines non uno modo vivunt194. The only support, the only certainty for the companions was the master’s example : As yet no order’s rule had been adopted, and the master’s decisions were the law: they taught nothing other than humility, obedience, poverty, dis­ cipline, and above all, constant charity195.

Strong personalities, the hermits owed the success of their founda­ tion to their ability to impose the ideal of the vita heremitica on their companions196. Their ever-growing numbers do not seem to have hindered the effectiveness of the master’s example. If some rule or specific ordo was imported, it was due either to a new ‘second’ generation that produced no outstanding charismatic personality on a par with the founder, or to the founder himself, who, concerned for the salvation of his followers and aware of his imminent death, wanted to ensure the continuity of his foun­ dation197. It was up to him to prevent that locus ille jam ex parte cultui mancipatus a Dei servitio vacaret et ad pristinam solitudinem remearet198. To introduce an ordo or a rule was a serious decision, and those responsible knew it. It was upon mature reflection, after many contacts and much advice, that they decided in favour of a canonical or monastic solution, even where there were canonical antecedents199. They exercised the cura animarum over their disciples and so had to guarantee spiritual and material calm for the time to come.

194 Libellus de diversis ordinibus, pp. 14 and 16 (§ 1). 195 Vie de saint Étienne d'Obazine, pp. 70-71 (§ 16). 196 See, for Chaumouzey : MGH SS, 12, p. 326 : “sub unius tamen patris dispositione obedientiae studentes”.

197 Vie de saint Étienne diObazine, pp. 96-97 (§ 1) ; MGH SS, 12, p. 683. 198 For Hérivaux: Gallia Christiana, vn, instr., col. 272. 199 E.g. at Obazine ; Vie de saint Étienne diObazine, pp. 96-97 (§ 1).

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The Cenobitic Phase WAS THE TRANSITION QUITE CLEARCUT ?

The end result of the influx of disciples was the transformation of the heremitagium into a coenobium. Is there a clear delineation between these two terms ? And, if we apply one, was it perceived in the same way at the time ? These are interesting questions, but difficult to elucidate. One gets the impression that the authors of the narratives and vitae perceived little or no rupture. But on one hand, they wrote to link the past to the present, specifically to place the hermit-founder’s action in the spotlight ; some­ times the goal of writing was also to urge their confrères to a more austere life, and thus more inspired by the initial spirituality. On the other hand, different sources, the charters in particular, remain blithely silent on the eremitic past, and for them everything begins at the time when one can speak of a coenobium. To determine the moment of the break is thus not an easy task for the historian200. However, certain indications show that awareness of a new identity increased gradually. 1. — Approval of the site and foundation. This is an act of legal import ; it came about through the diocesan bishop or the temporal lord. Usually, it does not signal the beginning of the cenobitic change, because the prob­ lems it was intended to settle could arise in a cenobitic foundation as well as with hermit groups. In fact, it involved the bishop’s responsibilities : to protect his diocesans ; to lead them to stay the right path ; to avoid scan­ dalum. The document would normally regulate the cura animarum within the community and avoid conflicts with the outside, especially the par­ ish. 2. — The choice of a head. The bishop sometimes foresaw the future necessity of electing a leader “when the number of brethren had grown greatly”201. The consecration of a prelate is perhaps a more valuable indi­ cation, at least from the canonical point of view. Seher of Chaumouzey says that after his consecration, he began to serve {ministrare) his confrères

200 See the questions asked by W. M. Grauwen, ‘Norbert et les débuts de l’abbaye de Floreffe’, Anal, praemonstr., 51 (1975), pp. 5-6. 201 Arrouaise, 1097 : Gosse, Histoire de l’abbaye, pp. 413-15.

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ex officio, while previously it was sola ipsorum petitioné202. But this crite­ rion is not wholly valid, because humility and scruples prevented some hermits from accepting consecration : Richer of Rolduc willingly accepted the cura from Bishop O tbert of Liège, but in no way wished to be conse­ crated by that reputed simoniac203. 3. — The consecration of the church. While a church is an indication of stabilization, it is not necessarily a sign of ‘cenobitization’. Solitary hermits, even lay hermits, built chapels and then churches for themselves in pace with the arrival of brothers. The enlargement of scale does not imply a qualitative change. 4. — The adoption of a rule. This would have to be the criterion par excel­ lence. The example of the master qui heremiticam vitam ducit w a s replaced by a text that was accepted as authoritative. The text — generally the Rule of St Augustine — was not always fixed. The authenticity of several texts is questionable204. These texts advocated the community ideal inspired by the Acts of the Apostles, thus the vita communis or the vita apostolica205. Sometimes the sources mention the regula sanctorum ~Patrumm or the institutio sanctorum Patrum201207.This is not a specific text but an anthology of patristic prescriptions — like those contained in the Rule of Aix — relating to common life : ut non sine legibus et consuetudinibus viveremus, sed ab aliquibus sancto­ rum Patrum, qui nos in religione eadem praecesserant, vivendi exemplum susciperemus208. In fact, we get the impression that the houses that claimed to follow the Rule of St Augustine did not all really have a written text at their disposal

202 203 204 205

MGH SS, 12, p . 330. Annales Rodenses, p. 42. See: Libellus de diversis ordinibus, p. 72 (§ 5).

See: Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher’, p. 52 (§ 13): “apostolorum vitam ... imitan­ dam”.

206 See: MGH SS, 12, p. 678: “praeceptis et regulis sanctorum Patrum obedientes”. The texts use the expression in a general way, thus not in a precise manner. C. Dereine, ‘Vie commune, règle de saint Augustin et chanoines réguliers au XT=siècle’, Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique, 41 (1946), p. 392. 207 Milis, L'Ordre des chanoines réguliers, pp. 105 and 112. 208 Chaumouzey : MGH SS, 12, p. 329.

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and that often they simply followed the Rule’s ‘high points’, as known through indirect transmission209210. The flexibility of this rule and the share left to the discretion of the initiators smoothed the passage from the vita heremitica to the vita communis. Sometimes a compromise was sought between common life and eremitic life. This was the case at Oigny, in Burgundy, whose Propositum states : Primo enim de vita heremitica custodienda apud nos tractabamus, sed viri religiosi quos ad nostrum invitabamus consilium, presentium fragilitatem perpendentes, nobis consilium dedere ut insimul et sub regula et abbate viveremus11®. According to this compromise, the refectory and dormitory, worship and work were shared, but the strictness of abstinence, renunciation of prop­ erty and other spiritual exercises would be observed in accordance with the vita heremitica. 5. — The taking of canonical habit would provide a clearer indication of transition if some hermits with a canonical past had not adopted this dress during their stay in the desert. However, the situation is different when the habit was taken during a ceremony, in the presence of the bishop, other ecclesiastical dignitaries and lay benefactors. Then the hermits became canons, the eremum became a coenobium, and the abbey could even be consecrated. Thus, at Chancelade : In cujus tempore ... domnus Geraldus de Monlave primus abbas de Cancellata amore divino repletus et zelo sanctae religionis accensus cum ceteris fratribus in eodem loco in Christi servitio sibi adhaerentibus ... ordinem canonicalem ... primus constituit, atque ... regularem vitam cum fratribus sibi commissis tenere incipiens, primos canonicos in eodem loco primum benedixit2U. But the sources rarely give a very precise date, which proves that a great ceremony, which would have left a strong impression on the mind as well

209 See: S. Weinfurter, Salzburger Bistumsreform und Bischofspolitik im 12. Jahrhundert (Cologne, 1975), p. 236. 210 Lefèvre and Thomas, Le coutumier, pp. 43—44. 211 Gallia Christiana, n, instr., col. 493.

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as written traces, did not take place everywhere, or even in the majority of cases. A well-defined transition between eremitism and cenobitism was thus rare, its true import uncertain : there were perhaps institutional con­ sequences, but much less so spiritual and mental ones. The progress toward cenobitism was made by stages varying in number, speed and obviousness.

THE OVERALL ORGANIZATION OF THE COMMUNITY

The introduction of the Rule of St Augustine, too succinct, as is known (the expression ‘rule of the Holy Fathers’ fell into disuse thereafter), did not solve all the problems posed by cenotibism. For the detailed organiza­ tion of daily life, it was possible to draw upon analogous experiences from the distant or quite recent eremitical or canonical past, or from traditional monastic examples. The new canons could finally be urged to creative activity. The sources recount the transition in this way : the hermit and his companions, or only the latter when the solitary had left or died, wanted to organize life with the aim of perpetuating the foundation’s existence. They had, according to circumstances, a greater or lesser experience of the cenobitic solutions in use in the Church, solutions that dated back to analogous origins, to an identical spirituality. Their belonging to this pro­ gressive group, sensitive to the new religious ideal, often involved them in the reformative action launched by the bishops. Among the latter, there was no lack of friends. Their advice was sought in the choice of a new observance. Decisions were made after long discussion in which all the possibilities were reviewed : Multi quidem religiosi tam episcopi quam abbates diversa ei consilia dede­ rant, alius heremiticam, alius anchoretarum vitam, alius Cysterciensium ordinis assumendum suadentes212.

This, one reads in the Vita of St Norbert. Others who in the past had shown a predilection for the canonical life, like Stephen of Obazine213,

212 Vita A. Norberti, MGH SS, 12, p. 683. 213 Until then, he had followed canonical usages, e.g. the Nine Lessons : Vie de saint Étienne d’Obazine, pp. 54-55 (§ 7) and 76-77 (§ 22).

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Giraud de Sales and Otto of Tournai, eventually opted for monasticism214. Still others refused to consider regular canonry or classical monasticism and chose the path laid out by Savigny, for example Geoffrey of Fontainesles-Blanches in Touraine215. Generally, it was the reputation of another house that oriented the new cenobites’ choice. These houses, like St Ruf in Avignon, which, in the initial period of Church reform, experienced the phases others had only recently undergone, had long ago found solutions to the problems of organization. Their system had functioned for some years, even generations, and proved its viability. It is thus these solutions that the likes of Gaucher of Aureil216 and Seher of Chaumouzey were addressing, though from an entirely different region, Lorraine217. The same goes for the house of Marbach, in Alsace, which patterned itself after St Ruf about 1100 ; this demonstrates the great renown of the southern estab­ lishment218219. The hermitage of Rolduc, bereft after the departure of Ailbertus, sought what course to follow by turning first to Rottenbuch, near Salzburg, then to Springiersbach, near Trêves215. If we are to believe the sources, the introduction of these new customs resulted in both cases in a clamping down on observance220, which seems to indicate that some hermits did not impose the same strictness on their companions as on themselves. In the 1120s, the new French foundations followed recent examples and were more creative. Hermit groups no longer sought to introduce the

214 Vie de saint Étienne ã Obazine, pp. 97-98 (§ 2) ; Vita Geraudi de Salis, AASS, Oct. X, p. 257 (ch. 2) ; C. Dereine, ‘Odon de Tournai et la crise du cénobitisme au XIe siècle’, Revue du Moyen Age latin, 1948, pp. 137-54. 215 G. Oury, ‘Guillaume de Messines, l’ermite de Fontaines-les-Blanches’, Bull. Soc. archéol. de Touraine, 37 (1973), p. 22. 216 Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher’, pp. 52-53 (§ 13). 217 MGH SS, 12, p. 329. 218 J. Siegwart, Die Consuetudines des Augustiner-Chorherrenstiftes Marbach im Eisass (Freiburg, 1965), pp. 57-60; C. Dereine, ‘Saint-Ruf et ses coutumes aux XIe et xn' siècles’, Revue bénédictine, 49 (1949), pp. 161-82 ; D. Misonne, ‘La législation canoni­ ale de Saint-Ruf d’Avignon à ses origines’, Ann. du Midi, 75 (1963), pp. 471-89. 219 Annales Rodenses, pp. 42 and 60. 220 Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher’, pp. 52-53 (§ 13) ; Annales Rodenses, p. 50 (anno 1119).

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customary of St Ruf221 or Ivo of Chartres222. The ideal of eremitic life hav­ ing become stricter, the solutions became severe to the point of merging with those of contemporary monasticism. For this reason, some advisors proposed Cistercian observance, so greatly did Q teaux’s past offer paral­ lels with that of the new canonical houses that had grown out of eremitism. Stephen of Obazine received such advice from the prior of the Grande Chartreuse223, and Walter of Arrouaise insisted on the role of St Bernard224. Q teaux’s positive image did not fade until later, in the thirteenth century. Only then did the chronicler of Llanthony write that they wanted nothing to do with the Cistercians when his house was founded, because of their greed, an easy reproach to make in the thirteenth century, much less so in the early twelfth century225. Others would want to introduce the recent customs, still in the midst of development, already adopted by confrères who had only just made the transition to canonical life226. In the short term, the massive use of customaries, or only of some — the ‘best sellers’ — would necessitate the organization of a super­ imposed centralizing structure, which led to the founding of societates or orders of regular canons. Those of Prémontré, Arrouaise, St Victor, Oigny, Aureil, perhaps Saint-Pierremont and many others as well, would have mixed success.

221 In so far as the customary of St Victor is known, it does not present parallels with Aureil’s, despite the time Gaucher spent there, see : Becquet, ‘Le coutumier des cha­ noines réguliers d’Aureil’, p. 76. 222 Whatever is said, the customary of St Victor in no way resembles that of St Quentin of Beauvais, which would date from the time of Ivo. See: J. Châtillon, ‘Canonici regolari di San Vittore’, in Dizionario degli instituti di perfezione (Rome, 1975), n, col. 126; C. Dereine, ‘Les coutumiers de Saint-Quentin de Beauvais et de Springiersbach’, Revue dihisoire ecclésiastique, 43 (1948), pp. 411—42 ; L. Milis, ‘Le coutumier de Saint-Quentin de Beauvais’, Sacris erudiri, 21 (1972-73), pp. 435-81. Nor are there traces of Saint-Ruf at Saint-Victor, despite Alberic of Trois-Fontaines’s statement, MGH SS, 23 (Hannover, 1874), p. 828. There is perhaps some influence of Beauvais on Saint-Laurent-au-Bois, which may be deduced from the identical formula of profession, see: C. Dereine, ‘Hugues de Fouilloy’, in Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques (Paris, 1971), xvn, col. 1273. 223 Vie de saint Étienne à’Obazine, pp. 82-83 (§ 26). 224 M G H SS, 1 5 /2 , p . 121.

225 Dugdale, Monasticon anglicanum, vi/1, p. 130. 226 Vicoigne: MGH SS, 12, p. 297.

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The internal organization of the monasteries, henceforth ruled by customaries, instituted a hierarchy among the cenobites that was patterned on the monastic model. A head with clearly defined rights and duties replaced the master of the eremitic period, though sometimes it was the same person. The change of the leader’s title allows us to distinguish the steps taken along the road to cenobitic organization. Several historians have already pointed out this phenomenon, and here a brief reference to it will suffice227. The primitive hermit had no title, which was normal because he was alone or in limited company ; in any event, he was not formally des­ ignated as head228. However, legal necessity imposed a title on him. The most neutral, which may be read in the Rule of Aix, is prelatus229230.The expression prepositusm was also used, which is found in the Praeceptum, the third Rule of St Augustine231. But little by little, abbas gained

227 I shall limit myself to the case of Arrouaise, which, though neither the first nor the most important, has the virtue of being highly representative. 228 Urban n’s 1095 bull to Saint-Pierremont is addressed to “Leubrico atque Guacelino ceterisque Dei servis tam clericis quam secum manentibus laids” (Metz, Arch. Mun. GG 261). The epitaph of Hildemar, Le Tronc-Bérenger hermitage’s first head, calls him simply “huius lo d fundator” (Gosse, Histoire de l’abbaye, p. 14; Milis, L ’Ordre des chanoines réguliers, p. 103). When shortly after, Cono, his successor, received a first charter from Bishop Lambert of Arras (1097) (Gosse, Histoire de Labbaye, pp. 413-15), the bishop addressed him as his “reverentissime frater et conpresbiter”. Furthermore, the bishop used the same words in addressing the founder of Eaucourt, the hermit Otto (PL, 162, col. 708). In this charter, there is a very long list of witnesses, including — after the abbots and before the members of the cathedral chapter — “Cono de Arida Gamantia”, without any title at all, but definitely on the level of the abbots (identical examples date from 1106 (PL, 162, col. 711) and from 1108 (Ibid., col. 699)). These superiors are given titles in later texts: the charter of 1097 refers to Hildemar as a “magister et consacerdos” ; thus, he has the tide of magister, master. This is how the companions addressed their spiritual father (See : Vie de saint Geoffroy, p. 48). 229 Concilia aevi Karolini, ed. by A. Werminghoff, MGH Legum sectio m Concilia II (Hannover-Leipzig, 1906), i/l, p. 415 (§ 138). This is the tide provided for by Lambert of Arras when he authorized an election in advance, should the number of hermits require it. When the same bishop addressed Pope Pascal n in view of an apostolic confirmation, he again spoke of a ‘praelatus’ (PL, 162, col. 682). 230 Acta pontificum Romanorum inedita, I, p. 90 (no. 99). 231 La Règle de Saint Augustin, ed. and trans, by L. Verheijen (Paris, 1967), ï, p. 435 (§ 7, 1). Nonetheless, ‘praelatus’ continued in use under Richer (1116, Amiens, B. M., ms. 1077, fol. 39v-40') : but rather than a noun, it would seem to me to be a participle of praeferre-, “q u i... praelatus es”.

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ground232. The evolution from a total absence of title to the consistent use of ‘abbot’ may be detected at several establishments, the most famous being Prémontré233. The change is one of monastic inspiration. All sys­ tematic opposition disappeared. D uring the first phase, in fact, the monastic milieus were of the opinion that canons, even reformed and of eremitic origin, ought to adhere to the titles provided for by St Augustine or the Rule of Aix. Now the canons argued that no one could reproach them for using the word abbas, not even from an etymological stand­ point234235678, and if this title could be adopted, that of prior could be used for the second in command, and so on. Furthermore, the canons felt much closer to the new monks, who came from the same spiritual cur­ rent, than to their predecessors in canonical life. However, the tide of abbot was not widespread : at the end of the development, there were still some sui juris houses that remained priories or provostries, espe­ cially within the borders of the Empire.

232 Richer was the first to bear the title of abbot, although he was never consecrated : this hesitation on both his part and the part of the entire community — they were in the midst of change — is expressed in the tides given in the bulls of 1116 and 1119. In 1116, ‘abbas’ is used. (The charter is signed by Cono, his predecessor, who was then the cardinal-archbishop of Preneste; J. Ramackers, Papsturkunden in Frankreich (Göttingen, 1942), iv: Picardie, p. 78 (no. 11). Cono too was designated once as ‘abbot’ (Amiens, B. M., ms. 1077, fol. 121') in an informal notice written, it seems, under Richer; it is an anachronism. In the bull of 1119, ‘prior is used (Ramackers, Papsturkunden, p. 80 (no. 12). See: this tide used at Obazine, Vie de saint Étienne d’Obazine (§ 14-15) and at Le Chalard, Vie de saint Geoffroy, pp. 48-54). The termi­ nological uncertainty conveyed by the simultaneous use of ‘prelatus’, ‘prepositus’, ‘prior’, and ‘abbas’ ended in 1121, when Gervais, young and full of enthusiasm, but with no eremitic past, became head of the religious house. Without personal eremitic anteced­ ents, he did not feel restrained by any reluctance in regard to cenobitic or even monas­ tic tides (he was only mentioned one more time as ‘prepositus’ : Th. Duchet and A. Giry, Cartulaire de t église de Térouane (Saint-Omer, 1881), p. 12 (no. 12)). 233 Norbert had no tide in the thirty official documents that mention him before his elec­ tion as archbishop (W. M. Grauwen, ‘Lijst van oorkonden waarin Norbertus wordt genoemd’, Analecta Praemonstratensia, 51 (1975), pp. 140-50). 234 Consuetudines canonicorum regularium Springirsbacenses-Rodenses, pp. 154-56 (§ 45) ; see also: Siegwart, Die Consuetudines, pp. 34-35. 235 See above. 236 A. H. Thomas, De oudste constituties van de dominicanen (Leuven, 1965). 237 Conciliorum oecumenicorum decreta (Bologna, 1973), p. 241, can. 12. 238 Gallia Christiana, IV, instr., col. 200.

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The main stimulus for the propagation of the title of abbot among canons was Qteaux, even if the title had already appeared by the third quarter of the eleventh century; the example of the traditional monks seems insignificant, even if it is certain that several canonical customaries were inspired by Cluniae models. The Cistercians’ influence may be dis­ cerned through the narrative sources235 and above all the customaries. The great canonical movements, bom in the north of France but whose foun­ dations or affiliations multiplied throughout Christendom, were largely inspired by Qteaux : Prémontré, the most powerful, Arrouaise, St Victor. Through them, the future orders, such as the Dominicans236, and the national and provincial chapters provided for by the Fourth Lateran Council (1215)237, bore the Cistercian stamp. Val-des-Écoliers is a typical canonical example238. An important observation: the regular canons in search of appropriate customaries were not content to draw inspiration from Qteaux once and for all. Throughout the period of legislative effer­ vescence, the example of the White Monks never ceased being felt239. The titles and order of the chapters, as well as their content, proves that the cloistral officers of Prémontré, Arrouaise and Oigny drew upon their Cistercian colleagues240. One notes the influence of the Ecclesiastica officia (a title reused at Oigny) and the Summa cartae caritatis, which regulated the organization of the societates : links between abbots, chapter general, and so on241. I cannot dwell here on the problems of textual (and thus spiritual) filiation between these canonical documents. The situation seemed quite clear when the customaries of Prémontré and Arrouaise were compared with Qteaux. But the recent publication of Oigny’s has greatly clouded the filiation, and it is impossible to see it clearly at this time242. If Cistercian influence was much less noticeable at St Victor (for its eremitic origin is much less clearcut and its intellectual tradition more independent), it nonetheless remains perceptible243. The Liber Ordinis of

239 See: Constitutiones canonicorum regularium Ordinis Arroasiensis, pp. lxxii-lxiii; Lefèvre and Thomas, Le coutumier, p. lxxviii. 240 Ibid., pp. xxxviii-xxxix and 1-li. 241 Even Saint-Pierremont, which drew upon Marbach, borrowed Cistercian provisions to regulate ties with its dependencies at Boulancourt and Freistoff (Calmet, Histoire de Lorraine, iv, preuves, col. 178; Gallia Christiana, xn, instr., col. 262-63). 242 Lefèvre and Thomas, Le coutumier, pp. lvii-lviii.

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St Victor, having no rubrics about the formation or functioning of an order, is formalized on the model of Qteaux. In fact, there are extant cop­ ies of the Summa cartae caritatis from St Victor that were used in Paris early on and, as is, without a need being felt to adapt it243244. St Victor, in turn, strongly suffused the customary of Hérivaux, which all in all is noth­ ing but a selection of important passages from St Victor245. The custom of the Paris house also served as a basis for the much more recent (early thirteenth-century) one of Val-des-Écoliers, which shows much greater independence246. One text, taken to be the customary of Springiersbach but which is perhaps (or rather?) that of Rolduc, bears many Cluniae traces: the constitutions of Hirsau, Udalric, and Bernard247. O n the canonical side, the customary of Marbach, itself the heir of St Ruf and Cluny, served as a model248, while the regula secunda and regula tertia of St Augustine are virtually absent, despite the opportunity of giving a patristic basis to the customary and despite the use of the regula secunda at Springiersbach during its development. The Rule of St Benedict influenced other customaries, such as those of St Victor249 and Hérival250.

243 E.g . § 5, De priore maiore, and § 6, Quae reverentia exhibenda sit : similar texts at Oigny, 244

245

246 247 248 249 250

Prémontré, Arrouaise; E. Martène, De antiquis ecclesiae ritibus (Antwerp, 1764), m, pp. 254-55. At Val-des-Écoliers, which grew out of St Victor, the order was organized along the Cistercian model, Gallia Christiana, IV, instr., col. 200; J. de la Croix Bouton and J. B. Van Damme, Les plus anciens textes de Ctteaux (Achei, 1974), p. 109 ; P. Vermeer, ‘SintBernardus en de orden der reguliere kanunniken van Prémontré, Saint-Victor en Arrouaise’, in Sint Bemardus van Clairvaux (Achei, 1953), pp. 55-64. Paris, Bibl. Sainte-Geneviève, ms. 1646. This manuscript should be dated with greater accuracy, particularly with a view to knowing whether it represents a situation prior to Hérivaux’s affiliation with St Victor, about 1188 (Fourier-Bonnard, Histoire de l’abbaye royale et de IIordre des chanoines réguliers de Saint-Victor de Paris (Paris, [1904-1908]), I, p. 177), or a later situation. In this case, Hérivaux would not have entirely been fol­ lowing its head house. Martène and Durand, Voyage littéraire, pp. 114-34. Consuetudines canonicorum regularium Springirsbacenses-Rodenses, pp. 156-62 (§ 45-47). The influence of St Ruf around 1100 and of Cluny in the second half of the twelfth century (Siegwart, Die Consuetudines, pp. 54-57). De coquina et cellario, § 11 (Martène, De antiquis ecclesiae ritibus, p. 256), and Regula S. Benedicti, § 31. § 21, De eligendo priore (Calmet, Histoire de Lorraine, m, preuves, col. cclxxv) and Regula S. Benedicti, § 64.

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Eremitic influence is difficult to detect in the chapters that deal with the abbot and officers. Would it not be contradictory to look for it, since eremitism knew neither a clearly demarcated abbacy nor a hierarchy ? This organization belonged to the vita communis, and the Propositum of Oigny — which clearly distinguishes the domain in which the influence of the Rule of St Augustine was exercised from that inspired by the vita heremitica — specifically and justifiably ascribes the vita communis to the rule251. My documentation contains but a single exception to monastic influence : the customary of Hérival. The person who is elected, says Chapter 22, De officio electi, must refrain from pretension, the first virtue being humility252, and must see to maintaining the good name of his order, qui heremiticam seu anachoreticam vitam redolei253. In the customaries drawing upon Cîteaux, or of cenobitic inspiration in general, it is incum­ bent upon the abbot to deal with a whole series of very concrete obliga­ tions. At Hérival, the content of the corresponding chapter exudes spirituality. The magister hujus eremi must be content with the same food, books, clothing and utensils as his brothers ; he must supply the house with the strict necessities and avoid introducing harmful novelties. He must make peace reign among the brethren and show himself to be a father and a master. No trace of the strict organization typical of cenobitic life, but instead advice : set an example of a severe life to preserve this ideal among the companions. Thus, eremitism’s influence on the hierarchical organization of the newly cenobitic houses was scarcely perceptible. The very impossibility of this influence favoured the importation of ideas, structures, and texts of Augustinian or Benedictine cenobitic origin. The impact of Cîteaux proved predominant.

251 Lefèvre and Thomas, Le coutumier, p. 43. The combination of the Rule of St Augustine and the eremitic life also appears in Bartholomew of Laon’s charter for Prémontré in 1125 (Grauwen, ‘Lijst van oorkonden’, p. 148 (no. 22)). 252 Compare Stephen of Obazine who cleaned the lavatory as a sign of humility, Vie de saint Étienne d’Obazine, pp. 74-75 (§ 20) ; it is also the first virtue of the canons living according to the Rule of Aix, See : J. F. A. M. Van Waesberghe, B e Akense regels voor canonici en canonicae uit 816 (Assen, 1967), pp. 299-305. 253 Calmet, Histoire de Lorraine, m, preuves, col. cclxxv-cclxxvi.

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MATERIAL ORGANIZATION

The increase in the number of religious had already led to the enlargement of the buildings : the hermit’s hut and chapel gave way to a much larger complex. This stabilization above all brought about the construction of a church, a symbol of the nascent establishment. For the time being, the isolated huts and common houses could still be built with fragile, tempo­ rary materials like wood and thatch. But the most explicit sources stress church-building — in stone — often at great expense254. The most com­ plete data is that on Obazine. After his foundation received the bishop’s approval, Stephen was not long in building “dwellings on the model of a monastery, that is a chapel, dormitory, refectory, kitchen and, in the mid­ dle, a cloister”. “All that, ” the author adds, “was scarcely more extensive than the space of a large house”255. Thus, monastic influence affected not only observance but also topographical arrangement. As the number of disciples swelled, this arrangement was to pose more and more urgent problems. It was no longer a matter of feeding and housing a few fanatics who had reduced life’s necessities to the bare min­ imum ; now the companionship was, though perhaps enthusiastic, much less hardy psychologically and physically. This inevitably led to a contradiction. The original site, the biblical locus honoris, often proved unsuited to large numbers living a common life and had to be changed256. Change of lodging, change also of food sup­ ply system : the requirements in this area, we realize, would increase more rapidly than the number of followers. There were not only the hardy but also the weak. Those who had to shoulder the organization of this new situation due to expansion were overwhelmed257. Concern over daily bread mounted. Charity, which previously could support the poor hermit if nec-

254 Vie de saint Geoffroy, pp. 15-18. 255 Vie de saint Étienne diObazine, pp. 54-55 (§7). 256 E.g. Allerheiligen, in the Black Forest (N. Backmund, Monasticon Praemonstratense (Straubing, 1949), I, p. 63) ; or Isle-Dieu (P. Duchemin, Notice historique sur Vascoeuil et le prieuré de File-Dieu (Gisors, 1888), p. 59). Sometimes a single change was not enough (Vie de saint Étienne di Obazine, map on p. 254). 257 This explains Gaucher of Aureil’s reluctance to accept possessions, but he was forced to do so because of the number of his disciples : Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher’, p. 53 (S 14).

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essary, was no longer sufficient in itself. An estate had to be constituted : possessions, from noble protectors258 or donated by entrants, ensured the cenobites’ material survival. But material cares gravely compromised the idealism and purity of observance. Service to God became routine ; food, and thus possessions, became the centre of interest. The narrationes fun­ dationis, which up to this point have served us so well in reconstructing the eremitic phase and its spiritualty, increasingly confine themselves to enumerating gifts and purchases. The foundation accounts of Chaumouzey and Rolduc are typical in this respect. Hugh of Fouilloy, prior of SaintLaurent-au-Bois, clearly noticed how the religious’ attention had changed its focus, and necessarily so. H e even broadened the problematic by show­ ing how the proliferation of the foundations and orders had incited jeal­ ousy259. A conflict thus arose between the spiritual ideal and vital necessi­ ties : the balance the hermits had tried to find individually by giving a spiritual dimension to their work now had to be sought on the scale of the monastery. Manual labour, prescribed by monastic rule and eremitic tradi­ tion, would be reorganized ; service to God as well. One category of breth­ ren would specialize in the one, another category in the other. This is where the distinction between clergy and laity arose, between canons and conversi-, there would be two groups, quite separate and specialized, the transition from one to the other being illicit260, even if canons still worked the soil with their hands and the conversi still prayed and praised God.

238 E.g., Healaugh Park (Dugdale, Monasticon anglicanum, vi/1, p. 438) and Woodham (Ibid., p. 446). 239 Amiens, Bibl. Soc. Antiq. Picardie, ms. 62, fol. l r: “Cum igitur iuvenis essem ecclesie beati Laurentii per conversionem me contuli et non nisi septem fratres, quatuor videlicet canonicos et tres conversos commorantes ibi inveni. Quindecim anni iam transierant ex quo convenerant et adhuc quod labori unius carruce posset sufficere non habebant. Qui igitur pauper esse volui, cum pauperibus ibi habitare pauper decrevi. Cepit numerus fratrum crescere et sibi servientibus non distulit Dominus necessaria ministrare. Nondum fratres templi vel hospitalis seu cisternientes (sic) ad istas partes edificandi causa descen­ derant, nondum Premonstrate ecclesie fratres in hiis regionibus que nunc obtinent eo tempore possidebant. Crevit religiosorum turba et cum turba crevit turbatio. Qui enim m ulti erant multis possessionibus in d igebanf. 260 Lefèvre and Thomas, Le coutumier, p. 43 ; Constitutiones canonicorum regularium Ordinis Arroasiensis, p. 154 (§ 160) ; L. Milis, ‘De premonstratenzerwetgeving in de XIT eeuw. Een nieuwe getuige’, Analecta praemonstratensia, 45 (1969), p. 22 (§ 48).

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Each ‘cast’ had its human duty ; the conversi, formerly the equals of hermit clerics261, dropped lower on the socio-religious ladder. This separation was even given a scriptural justification with the introduction of the theme of Martha and Mary in place of Mary Magdalene : in order to be able to give the greater part to Mary, Martha’s concerns must be delegated to others262. Hugh of Fouilloy, in his treatise Tie claustro animae, compares canons to the Apostles and conversi to the Disciples of Christ263. The constitution of temporalities — land, churches, tithes, taxes on transported goods — was necessary for the survival of all these men, women and children. It squelched the hermits’ characteristic lack of con­ cern for earthly things. This development was fatal; it was repeated only to be relentlessly fought by each new wave of reform264.

SPIRITUALITY

The introduction of cenobitism must have had repercussions on spiritual­ ity. All that is recounted about the hermits, their spiritual and even phys­ ical feats, could not be passed on to ever-increasing numbers of disciples

261 Compare the address of the bull of Urban n to Saint-Pierremont : “ ... ceterisque Dei servis tam clericis quam secum manentibus laids” (Metz, Arch, mun., GG 261): this mention of laity would be unthinkable later. 262 See : Arrouaise, MGH SS, 15/2, p. 1118 : “Deo dediti v ir i... ne a contemplationis arce et optima parte Marie nec puncto temporis disturbentur, Marthe sollidtudinem quibusdam de suis delegare student”. At the start however there was no opposition between the

sisters. The earliest reference to Martha is in fact in the Life of Stephen of Obazine, where the hermit’s willingness to serve is compared Martha’s : “ ... olera sive legumina diligenter coquebat et fratribus apponebat ac área refectionem eorem ut Martha sollidte satagebat” (Vie de saint Étienne di Obazine, pp. 56-57). Then the antithesis between

Martha and Mary, between the active and the passive life, was stressed (See among the Carthusians : B. Bligny, ‘Les chartreux dans la société occidentale du xn' siècle’, in Aspects de la vie conventuelle aux x f et x i f siècles (Lyons, 1975), pp. 33 and 36). Ailred returns to this topic three times in a row (De vita eremitica, PL, 32, col. 1464 £f. (§ 41, 47,54)) and the thirteenth-century Pseudo-Augustine speaks of it in even clearer terms : “fratres dilectissimi, qui optimam partem cum Maria elegistis” (PL, 40, col. 1280). As with Christ, ‘affectum’ (love) is preferred over ‘obsequium ’ (servitude) (Ailred, De vita eremitica, PL, 32, col. 1464 (§ 41)). 20 PL, 176, col. 1181 (§43). See: C. D. Fonseca, ‘Hugues de Fouilloy entre Y ordo antiquus et l’ordo novus', Cahiers dvilisation médiévale, 14 (1973), p. 307. 264 E.g. Val-des-Écoliers. Gallia Christiana, IV, instr., col. 200 : “Statuerunt etiam vivere sine agricultura, villis et grangiis, et hominibus, solis redditibus contenti et elemosynis. Pecudum possessiones non habebunt, praeter decem vaccas tantum”.

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without being altered and weakened. The sources show a wide gulf between the spirituality emanating from the example of the master and that of the disciples. With the introduction of a customary, daily life and observance were perceived as more demanding. The narrationes of Rolduc, Arrouaise and Chaumouzey, and the Life of Gaucher of Auriel attest to this. This implies errors on the part of the authors, who are either contradicting themselves by contrasting the greater severity of canonical life with the heroism of eremitic life, or else presenting life in the desert as harder than it actually was. No doubt there is some truth on both sides, but the under­ lying reason at the time must be sought in the uncertainty in their minds about the nature of observance, described as the ‘crisis of cenobitism’. The hermits and their companions went in search of models invested with a greater authority than the desert Fathers’ vague prescriptions and better suited to more populous communities. From the second quarter of the eleventh century, the expression Regula sancti Augustini was used, and probably the text of the rule itself, which had served as a basis in the tran­ sitional phase between eremitism and cenobitism, for, while remaining quite flexible, it was accepted as authoritative because of its author. The hermits’ feats were obviously not illustrated there ; its basis was a greatly mitigated life. For lack of another text — the severer ordo monasterii was not yet known, or only in a restricted milieu — hermits already on the road to cenobitism were led to choose a model of a mildness hardly in conformity with the rigours of the primitive ideal — which explains why the ordo antiquus, a more relaxed observance founded on the regula tertia and partially inspired by the Rule of Aix, with its flexible precepts on silence, fasting and dress, should be in vogue among our hermit groups, in a milieu traditionally intransigent in this realm. One thus understands the development of Saint-Laurent-au-Bois, which, of eremitic origin, fol­ lowed this ordo antiquus, perhaps under the influence of St Quentin in Beauvais, that is, of Ivo of Chartres, whose moderation in regard to the canonical life and aversion to the extremes of the eremitic life are known. The ordo monasterii, or regula secunda, which imposed stricter mor­ tification, did not appear until the early twelfth century at Springiersbach, Halberstadt, and Prémontré. This ordo would have been the basis of the ordo novus, as opposed to the ordo antiquus, at least in Dereine’s now clas-

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sic distinction. The introduction of new things perceived as harsher, but objectively more flexible, was the result of a greater formalization, gener­ ally set down in a written text. At first, the ‘example of the master’ pro­ vided a measure of freedom that allowed the hardiest to imitate his heroism265 and the weaker to follow according to their ability, the absence of stability opening the possibility of leaving the hermitage for those who were too weak. The vow of stability, once introduced, obliged them to stay or forever bear the brand of shame266. The disciplinary code, an im portant part of the monastic and canonical customaries, was not yet in use : it was the master who decided any transgressions267. The customary and thus cenobitism levelled the behaviour of the religious to establish a human balance. As the Propositum of Oigny says, “The rule somewhat softens eremitic asperity, and eremitic asperity restrains the course of our conduct”268. An attitude too extreme in one direction or the other was no longer tolerated : only the hermitfounder held to his initial intransigence269. Hermits’ spirituality was not regulated : each lived according to his own temperament, undergoing his own influences : religious and intel­ lectual antecedents, geographic and climatic circumstances played their role. O n the whole, anything was permissible as long as it was not a “harm­ ful novelty”270. ‘Cenobitization’ struck a blow to this freedom : the recipro­ cal influence of the houses and customaries dating from the eleventh century and consequently, I would say, moderate271, the reciprocal influ­ ence of hermitages undergoing development, the predominance, at least

265 E.g. the bath with cold water : Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher’, p. 51 (§ 11). 266 “alii... quoniam in sua promissione ac professione usque ad ultimum sui obitus diem non perseveraverunt sed a monasterio suo ... redierunt, iccirco inter eos qui perseveraverunt ascribi non meruerunt” (Chancelade: Gallia Christiana, n, instr., coi. 493). 267 See: § 22 of the customary of Hérival: Calmet, Histoire de Lorraine, m, preuves, col. cclxxvi. 268 Lefèvre and Thomas, Le coutumier, p. 43. 269 E.g. Becquet, ‘La vie de saint Gaucher’, pp. 52-53 (§ 13) ; Stephen, until the time he became a monk, Vie de saint Étienne d’Obazine, pp. 66-67 (§ 15). 270 Vie de saint Étienne d’Obazine, pp. 54-55 (§ 7) : “ita dumtaxat ut morem a patribus traditum per omnia sequerentur”.

271 The ‘ordo novus' was not introduced at Rottenbuch until 1126 under the impetus of Gerhoh of Reichersberg : J. Mois, Has Stift Rottenburg in der Kirchenreform des xi.-xii. Jahrhunderts (Munich, 1953), pp. 260-61.

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verbal, attained by the Rule of St Augustine — and later, much more strongly, by the customs of Cîteaux — would equalize and standardize spiritual ideals. This is what explains the so-called contradiction between the narratives. O n the whole, the ideals endured among both hermits and canons. However, a certain change of emphasis is noticeable. O f course, contem­ plation and prayer, fasting, silence, poor clothing, simple food, and man­ ual labour were already known, but — and this proves the formal character of this spirituality — the authors began to stress abstinence from meat and fat272, whereas only the Annales Rodenses had already spoken of these things concerning eremitical beginnings27327456. The writer’s insistence leads one to think he is not simply reproducing a historical reality (Ailbertus practised abstinence) but wanted above all to edify his contemporaries and urge them to follow the example of the founder. The framing of spiritual ideals was not long in raising problems : at Prémontré, the introduction of the Rule of St Augustine — at that time the ordo monasterii — received a lukewarm welcome, mingled with doubt and fear, so severe was the observance in regard to work, abstinence, dress, and silence. To combat this malaise required all the eloquence of Norbert, who said, Si usus mutatur et institutio, numquit debet mutari caritatis vin­ culum, quod est dilectio274? Thus, it was not the form but the content of the spirituality that counted — at least in the minds of those in charge. Their aim was to serve Christ as best they could, whether the ordo was novus or antiquus215. Although the manifestations of spirituality changed practically not at all, the biblical and patristic basis underwent cenobitic influence. The accent was placed on common life as described in the Acts of the Apostles (4. 32), a life that obviously denies all private possessions,

272 MGH SS, 15/2, p . 1121. 273 Annales Rodenses, pp. 30 and 50. 274 MGH SS, 12, p. 683. Such uncertainty also existed at Chaumouzey, where Seher had to be assured by the abbot of St Ruf and the bishop of Maguelone that the modified observance was authentically Augustinian (Dereine, ‘Saint-Ruf et ses coutumes’, pp. 167-75). 275 See: Fonseca, ‘Hugues de Fouilloy’, p. 309. 276 For them, abandoning all possessions was an ideal for monks {Concilia aevi Karolini, pp. 394-97 (§ 11)). There was thus a break between the hermits’ spirituality and that of Aix, even though the chapters related to private ownership were in some cases deleted.

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as did tie divine words on which tie hermits based themselves, but which the old canons living according to the Rule of Aix refused to acknowl­ edge276. Henceforth, instead of distributing their goods to the poor, the new entrants consign them to the monastery. This marks the appearance of the voluntary entrance gift, a long-term prelude to a practice that was eventually made obligatory, however. We have yet to look for what eremitic traces might have survived ‘cenobitization’ in the realm of spirituality, traces that should appear in the customaries. One may judge the true value of the Propositum of Oigny, which, faced with choosing between the Rule of St Augustine and the heremitica vita, purported to follow the latter by abstinence, poverty {alienatio rerum secularium) and spiritual exercises277. Now, what was laid out in 1116 in this propositum, which was in fact nothing other than a programme, could not be upheld when, cenobitic organization increas­ ingly taking over, it came time to draw up specific, concrete texts. Oigny’s legislator drew inspiration not from a text of eremitic origin, but from the most popular cenobitic model at the time, the Ecclesiastica officia of Cîteaux. We do not yet know whether Oigny was inspired directly by Citeaux, and there is room for doubt. But even if Arrouaise, Prémontré or some other foundation played an intermediary role, the Oigny text is in almost every respect identical to Cîteaux’s. From this, I presume that the canonical group formed by Oigny, Prémontré and Arrouaise did not hesitate to give its canonical ideals monastic form. But were they really canonical ideals ? Without doubt they were278. The customary of Rolduc went to considerable lengths to seek in the Augustinian texts a basis for manual labour, which was accorded all the greater importance in that the canonical legislation and its formulation were early. The pertinence of many new features that were not yet assim­ ilated remained to be proven. Other canonical centres, like Prémontré and Oigny, whose inception and development came later, did not have to clar­ ify their programme : they could immediately devote themselves to the making of prescriptions. However, Arrouaise’s customary, somewhat hybrid in structure, conserves, alongside Chapter 8, de labore, written on the Cistercian model, 277 Lefèvre and Thomas, Le coutumier, p. 43. 278 See : Vita A Norberti, MGH SS, 12, p. 683 (1.31-36).

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another more general chapter of the same name279, a vestige of an early stage of writing. This chapter forms a unit with four others : de usu carnis et sanguinis, de ieiunio, de vestimentis and de silentio280. They constituted the final part of the earliest draft of the customary of Arrouaise. It would be erroneous to ascribe these chapters to the eremitic tradition. In fact, the chronicler Walter wrote that it was St Bernard who urged Abbot Gervais to introduce these obligations281. Even if we suppose that the influence of St Bernard was due more to his reputation — and thus post factum — than to an actual intervention, the influence of the monastic milieus is certain. This appears not only in the long and detailed chapters, like Chapter 8 — where textual correspondences exist — but also in those that give only a few generalities (Chapters 210 to 214) and that doubdess date back to the end of Richer’s abbacy and the beginning of Gervais’s, around 1121282. These chapters have nothing in common with any of the Rules of St Augustine but recall the Rule of St Benedict283. Thus, cenobitization is characterized by monastic influence no mat­ ter what phase of its development one considers, whether in its still vague beginnings, when new ‘intentions’ were formulated, or in the later phase, when the rubrics that regulated conventual life in detail were written. Additional evidence may be discerned in another aspect of canonical life : Richer of Rolduc, elected in 1119, introduced abstinence from meat and fat ex monachorum consuetudinibus284, whereas the canons, under the influence of his predecessor, Richer of Rottenbuch (elected in 1111), had until then eaten meat three times a week285, according to the “usage of the ancients”. Lacking such a short and clear chapter on this point as at

279 See : Constitutiones canonicorum regularium Ordinis Arroasiensis, p. 202 (§ 213). 280 See: Ibid., p. 200 (§ 210: de esu carnis ...), p. 201 (§ 211 : de ieiunio; §212: de vesti­ mento), p. 202 (§ 214 : de silentio). 281 M G H SS, 15/2, p . 1121. 282 E.g. § 214 : “ Omnibus tam clericis quam laids continuum iniunctum est silentium intra totius mansionis nostrae ambitum ” : the terms 1clerici and ‘laici will be replaced, in the most recendy founded chapters, by ‘canonici and ‘conversi (e.g. Constitutiones cano­ nicorum regularium Ordinis Arroasiensis, p. 200 (§ 209)). 283 Ibid., p . 201 (§212). 284 Annales Rodenses, p. 50. 283 Annales Rodenses, p. 42.

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Arrouaise286287, both Prémontré and Oigny borrowed analogous chapters from Q teaux’s Summa cartae caritatis1-®. Traces of eremitic influence persisted only in the customary of Hérival. Furthermore, several layers illustrating the monastery’s develop­ ment may be distinguished in this codification: if Chapter 6, de lectione prandii, still implies that the canons live separately and eat together only on Sundays and feast days288, Chapter 9289, de eodem, provides for a com­ mon dormitory. At the time true monasteries were formed, silence, scarcely men­ tioned in the texts of eremitic inspiration290291,becomes one of the cardinal points. I have already pointed out its presence in the programmatic chap­ ters at Arrouaise. It also appears among the great options of the Propositum of Oigny : Omni tempore silentio studeant nec aliquis petat licentiam loquendi cum aliom — a sentence that suffices to illustrate the influence exercised by the Benedictine Rule292. Rolduc, whose customary is an early one, still felt it appropriate to argue the necessity of silence; it is based — obviously, you could say — on the constitutions of Hirsau, while some ideas recall the canonical customary of Marbach (1083/88), which was itself strongly influenced by the Cluniae way of life. Conversation by sign language in the canonical communities, particularly at St Victor and Oigny293, was borrowed from the example of Cluny. Previously, Oigny, ruling on the observance of silence, had drawn upon the Usus conversorum of Cîteaux in a draft that dates from 1135/52294. At various times, then, 286 “A b esu carnium et sanguinis abstinere statuimus”. See: Constitutiones canonicorum regularium Ordinis Arroasiensis, p. 200 (§ 210). 287 Summa cartae caritatis, nos 13,14 = Oigny, nos 25,26 = PW nos 30,31. PW is the old­ est extant version of the Prémontré customary (R. Van Waefelghem, ‘Les premiers statuts de Prémontré’, Anal. Ordre de Prémontré, 9 (1913), pp. 15-74). 288 Calmet, Histoire de Lorraine, ni, preuves, col. cclxxii. 289 Ibid. 290 Vie de saint Étienne d ’Obazine, pp. 58-59 (§ 9), discusses it at length, but during the height of the development phase. 291 Lefèvre and Thomas, Le coutumier, p. 44. 292 “ Omni tempore silentium debent studere monachi”, Regula S. Benedicti, § 42. 293 In these two cases, the position of the rubrics in question allows one to suppose they are additions; Lefèvre and Thomas, Le coutumier, p. 94 (§ 67), see also p. lxxiii; Martène, De antiquis ecclesiae ritibus, p. 290 (In this edition, the chapter comes at the end. In the manuscripts, it comes after the chapter ‘de professione’, along with others concerning the novitiate). 294 Lefèvre and Thomas, Le coutumier, p. 90 (§ 60), see also p. lxxii.

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the canons of Oigny tried to transpose their ideas into monastic language : those of St Benedict, Cluny, and Cîteaux. The ‘pure’ hermit’s traditional garb was the hair shirt, but as disci­ ples were not compelled to wear it295, this garment did not survive cenobitization. Oigny’s Propositum and Arrouaise’s chapter de vestimentis (Chapter 212), both of early origin, enumerate the clothing and bedding that canons could have at their disposal : tunics, a pelisse, and so on. The material was wool, even in the houses of clerical origin where linen had been in use during the anchoritic period ; it is found at Rolduc, where Abbot Bomo, coming from Springiersbach, introduced wool in 1134/37296. Linen was no longer tolerated except for priestly robes297298. If we want to gauge Augustinian influence on dress, our success will be minimal. Chapters rv, 1-3 and v, 1 of the Praeceptum deal with cloth­ ing, but the subject does not come up in the customaries. The chapter de vestimentis298 from Arrouaise, on the contrary, recalls the Rule of St Benedict. Although the official in charge of clothing is one of the only people described in some substance in the Praeceptum, the customaries preferred to draw upon the monastic model. A chapter de vestiario in the drafts of Prémontré, Oigny (Ch. 11), and Arrouaise (Ch. 183) was copied more or less faithfully in its entirety from the ordo Cluniacensis of Bernard and the customary of Hirsau. The absence of a parallel chapter in Cîteaux’s Ecclesiastica officia, the source of the other chapters concerning monastic officers, explains why the canons made do with Cluny, but this was only possible when their horizon had been coloured with monasticism and not Augustinianism. In conclusion, I shall say that the emanations of eremitic spiritual­ ity became formalized and specific to the detriment of the original spon­ taneity : continual fasting became periodic, characterized by an abstinence from meat, but limited in space and time. As soon as cenobitic features appeared, eremitic features gradually disappeared. They did not even sur­ vive under the cover of the Rule of St Augustine. Only at Rolduc, very

295 296 297 298

Vita A Norberti, MGH SS, 12, p. 684. Annales Rodenses, p. 82. Lefèvre and Thomas, Le coutumier, p. 44.

This chapter has been copied by Hugues of Fouilloy, De claustro animae, PL, 176, col. 1056 (n, 8).

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early in the period we are examining, was it occasionally drawn upon to adequately describe the greater strictness still not absorbed by the mental­ ity. But the monastic model played a much greater role than Augustinianism. All the texts, all the available ideas — the Benedictine Rule, Cluniae customaries, Cistercian tradition — were put to use at various stages of devel­ opment299. That is why it is difficult to locate the canons in the religious and clerical gamut of the twelfth century. Were they monks, canons or clerics300? No doubt, my findings are not valid for the whole of Western Christendom, for I have relied on too small a number of customaries. But even if these houses and the orders that grew out of them were in a fairly limited area, covering the territory between the Loire and the Rhine, they succeeded in propagating their interpretation of common life as far as the British Isles, the Slavic countries and the Holy Land.

The Survival of Eremitism after the ‘Great Wave’ A diagram of the frequency of eremitic experience in the late eleventh and throughout the twelfth shows a very clear development.

o o

0o1

K> O O

Diagram 3 — Eremitic experiences leading to a canonical status (1080-1205) Periods of twenty-five and fifty years.

299 It is difficult to understand how historians could have denied monastic influence (Dereine, ‘Les coutumiers de Saint-Quentin de Beauvais et de Springiersbach’, p. 422 ; Idem, ‘Le premier ordo de Prémontré’, Revue bénédictine, 58 (1948), p. 92). 300 See: Dialogus inter Cluniacensem et Cisterciensem, p. 424 (1.662-73) : “Qui erant primi aecclesiae monachi ? Ipsa prima aecclesia, illi scilicet de quibus scriptum est : Erat omnibus cor unum et anima una ... Quod autem omnes communem vitam habentes et illos imi­ tantes de quibus scriptum est; erat omnibus cor unum et anima una, dicti sunt monachi, testatur... S. Augustinus”.

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The validity of this diagram may of course be questioned, for one thing because in general the sources transmitted only successful experiences (hence a proportion of the total that is difficult to estimate), and for another because this diagram is based only on the mentions encountered. As these cannot be considered complete, reality might be somewhat dis­ torted. However, despite these reservations, a clear evolution emerges : from 1150 on, the number of eremitic foundations dropped, to almost zero for 1160/75, before rising again toward the end of the century. To explain this phenomenon, we must analyze the difficulties con­ fronted by the religious foundations — cenobitic in this instance. 1. — Every postulant in retreat from the world could turn to one of the centres already established, for their range was wide and every spiritual ideal represented : one could choose among the Benedictine and Cistercian monks, Carthusians or Grandmontians, the canons of Prémontré, St Victor and Arrouaise and so on. In the third quarter of the twelfth century, these societates were well organized, had available recent customaries, still invoked the memory of the founder and his spirituality, and by this fact exerted a powerful attraction. If eremitism did not die out, it would have less opportunity to evolve toward a new form of cenobitism. And if ere­ mitic attempts still led to the creation of a new abbey, it affiliated itself with an existing order. The mediation of the bishop and the pope, the support — or the harassment — of the interested neighbouring abbeys could cause the secession of some hermits and a struggle concerning the Premonstratensian, Benedictine, Victorine, and perhaps even Cistercian observances. But the slow, groping development the precursors in the vita heremitica had experienced belonged to a bygone era. Now, everything moved faster, the trails had been blazed, and, even when they crossed or grew tangled, guided the hermits toward solutions known in advance and sure success301. 2. — The founder-hermits’ chances of recruiting followers were reduced as many potential candidates were attracted instead to the new orders — first of all Cîteaux, whose reputation reached its apogee at this time. Internal discord seemed more frequent, the ‘example of the master’

301 A. Vidier, ‘Ermitages Orléanais au XIIe siècle’, Le Moyen Age, 19 (1906), pp. 57-96 and 134-56.

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less effective ; the Gué de l’Orme, and its affiliated Gué de Chappes, pro­ vide an example. Another was the secession from Fontaines-les-Blanches, soon after 1130, of hermits who did not want to profess the Rule of Savigny and settled at Aigues-Vives (Loir-et-Cher), where they established an abbey of regular canons302. 3. — The spiritual momentum that drove people toward the hermitages and abbeys in the late eleventh and early twelfth century abated: the entrance of whole families into the religious life, so typical of the preced­ ing period, yielded to a system of more classical entries — the oblates, children who entered before having been able to freely choose their career. These considerations cannot explain the last quarter of the twelfth century’s rebound, which was no doubt a prelude to a new movement in the early thirteenth century — the Franciscans and Dominicans. Their dazzling success throughout Europe reveals the vacuum left by the enthu­ siastic movement launched a century earlier. This vacuum was already perceptible in the late twelfth century, when some orders and abbeys of canonical observance, fallen into decline, no longer met the needs of those who wished to attain spiritual perfection. “Do not bring us here any of those religious who believe that their solemn profession of faith is an incontestable entitlement”, Hugh of Saint-Jovinien is said to have answered his fellow hermits, who just before 1187 were looking for a rule. “Do not give us either black canons or monks. One of you alone would spend as much as four who live according to the true spirit of mortification”303. The chronicler of Llanthony’s anachronistic negative judgm ent of the Cistercians dates from this period304. A certain renaissance of the eremitic movement can thus be per­ ceived as normal, while awaiting the rise of the poor in the thirteenth century. The most typical example is that of Val-des-Écoliers, founded in the early thirteenth century. Teachers and students from the University of Paris, then in the midst of being formed, withdrew into solitude, only to organize themselves almost immediately into a religious house and even

302 Gallia Christiana, xiv, instr., col. 320-21. 303 Duchemin, Notice historique sur Vascoeuil et le prieuré de îIle-Dieu, pp. 57-58. 304 See above, note 225.

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an order. The model they wished to follow was determined on mental and geographical grounds : the abbey of St Victor, so closely linked to the Parisian teaching. Unhappy with the emptiness that philosophy and its rational approach left them with, they became seekers of the divine pres­ ence through contemplation and abstinence : Ergo parentes, agros et pos­ sessiones nostros sine differentia relinquamus et nudi nudum Christum sequamur, the founder, Master William, is reported to have said305. Despite the influence of St Victor, they did not want to be affiliated with this new abbey ; their rejection of such an identification proves the idealists’ dis­ content with the houses that had arisen out of a similar discontent threequarters of a century earlier. W hat precedes concerns only men and women seeking hermitage after life in the world. I have not spoken of those who, after a common life in a canonical house, wanted to attain the supreme level of knowledge of God in solitude, as provided for in the first chapter of the Rule of St Benedict. Even if the rules attributed to St Augustine mention no such retreat, monastic influence, the eremitic past, and the great flexibility of many institutes of regular canons allowed it to be seen as a higher level of canonical life. Like the example of Guillaume de Bière, who, after forty years as a canon and fifteen as a prior at St Euverte in Orléans, decided to withdraw to a hut. In “frightful, wild, arid and dangerous solitude”, he gave himself over to the traditional mortifications of the flesh of the soli­ tary retreat. The abbot of St Geneviève, the future Stephen of Tournai, congratulated him but asked him nonetheless to temper the austerity of his life, especially in the area of fasting. Already quite old, it seems, and having himself succeeded two hermits306307,he took the measures necessary for the survival of the eremum™. In 1197, Philippe Auguste gave the eremum to St Euverte, on the condition that this abbey see to the per­ petual installation of two priests who would continue the eremitic life and, while participating in the canonical community, have a certain autonomy. They would keep the way of life, behaviour and spirituality proper to hermits, but their dress would be that of the Victorines. Even if this ere­ mitic life still presented many parallels with what preceded it by a century

303 Labbe, Nova bibliotheca, p. 392. 306 PL, 211, col. 445-49. 307 Gallia Christiana, vm, instr., col. 522-23.

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(the vocabulary that Stephen uses is entirely traditional), it could no longer detach itself from conventual life ; it returned to the state of perfection conceived of and formulated by the Rule of St Benedict more than six centuries earlier. Another typical example, from the early thirteenth cen­ tury, is that of the Frisian Dodo who, forced to marry against his w ill... entered religious life with his wife and mother at the monastery of Mariengaard ... Later, he sought a place of greater calm where he could better serve God alone308.

Having dwelt at length on the hermits, free in their movements and dis­ placements, let me add a few words about recluses. Among canons and canonesses, cases of seclusion were not rare : a fine example is that of the Bl. Radegunde, an enclosed Premonstratensian nun from the monastery of Sordillos (diocese of Burgos), who went into seclusion after a pilgrim­ age to Rome and died in 1152309. The Constitutiones portuenses of Ravenna provided for seclusion not far from an isolated church31031, and it is not an exception. This is proven by the necrology of Amstein in Germany, which mentions a dozen female recluses {inclusae)m . Numerical data remains impossible to calculate, however : the ratio of canons living in a community to those who preferred solitude remains obscure. One may even wonder about the frequency of these eremitic survivals. Otherwise, it seems to me, the hagiographie texts would not have placed such emphasis on it in the case of saints who followed this austere way of life. Let us simply say that the phenomenon existed.

Conclusion Having reached the end of this study, let me attempt to draw some conclu­ sions. Let me first recall the facts : the development of an eremitic founda­ tion toward a canonical or monastic establishment went through three

308 309 310 311

L. Van Craywinckel, Legende des levens (MaHnes, 1664), pp. 415-19. AASSJan. n, p. 975. E. Amort, Vetus disciplina canonicorum (Venice, 1747), i, p. 354 (§ 31). W. M. Grauwen, ‘Was de inquisiteur Koenraad van Marburg een premonstratenzer ?’, Analecta praemonstratensia, 52 (1976), p. 217 note 24.

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phases : 1) the eremitic phase ; 2) the phase of cenobitization ; 3) the cenobitic phase. Eremitism was very popular in the last quarter of the eleventh cen­ tury and the first quarter of the twelfth ; a general climate impelled people toward solitude to live a hard life inspired by the example of the desert Fathers. Its success seems above all the result of a lapse in the classical expression of religious feeling, of Carolingian and feudal inspiration. Contemporary with the renewal of the Church and its activity in favour of a greater independence in the face of lay control, eremitism gave momentum to this liberation and to religious rebirth. But life in solitude was a phenomenon at once too flexible and too outrageous not to be con­ sidered dangerous as well. The Church, even favourable to renewal, wanted and had to control all expressions of religion, a fortiori those that exceeded the bounds of moderation. Eremitism was tolerated but had to be controlled. The letters of Ivo of Chartres and St Bernard are typical in this respect. The hermitages, born of the cohabitation of a few fanatics, grew larger and, as they did, lost the dimension that made them specifically hermitages. They attracted people of all categories like magnets. The orig­ inal solitaries, those of the ‘wild period of eremitism’, lived according to the ‘example of the master’. That they did not observe a clearly fixed rule reinforced the mistrust of which they could be the victims. The hermitages’ very success altered their character, leading to the phase of ‘cenobitization’. The community’s makeup changed. There was an influx of sympathizers — men, women, children — and the ratio of clerics to laity seems to have progressed in favour of the latter. But the increasing number of followers caused material cares that led to the con­ stitution of an estate with a more or less fixed revenue. The development of this estate in turn broke with the purity of the biblical ideal the first hermits had cultivated : total renunciation of property. The third change : the construction of permanent buildings, mainly a church. During the cenobitic phase, the example of the master gave way to rules and customaries. This provoked crises of conscience : some hermits went elsewhere ; others did not oppose a development that was going to take place despite them. Then they had to choose a rule, an observance : when they embarked upon their religious career in canonical habit, they gave preference to the Augustinian way. Others opted for monasticism.

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These changes also affected ‘desert’ eremitic spirituality and its excesses : the hair shirt, the coat of mail and other ways of mortification disappeared. The ideal put forward now was that of common life, the apostolic life described in the Acts of the Apostles. Manual labour, pov­ erty, charity, silence and fasting persisted in this phase. However, instead of arising from an observance ad nutum magistri, these ideals would be formalized, not only under the influence of the two so-called Rules of St Augustine, but especially, it seems to me, under the influence of the monas­ tic tradition : the Rule of St Benedict, the classic monasticism of Cluny and the new monasticism of Citeaux. The role of counsellors was extremely important in the choice of an observance. In any event, it explains why long-term eremitic solutions, like those of the Grande Chartreuse and Grandmont, remained so rare. The counsellors knew only cenobitic solutions, at least in the geographical area I have concentrated on. Nothing was done in favour of the pursuance of the eremitic experience, in particular the fixing of a maximum number of companions. We cannot lose sight of the fact that any change had to be presented as the restoration of an older situation, and not as a novelty : in this per­ spective, the problems’ solution had to result in the institution of a ceno­ bitic way of life. Regula tertia or regula secunda, praeceptum or ordo monasterii, ordo antiquus or ordo novus, one gets the impression that Dereine’s distinction between a strict observance founded on spiritual differences between the various rules attributed to St Augustine was less clear in reality, at least for the first half of the twelfth century. References to the Rules of St Augustine still existed in the mid-twelfth century, in the customaries (at Oigny, for example) and the vitae (St Norbert, for example), but they are rare and do not reveal any system. The severe ideals of fasting, silence, mortification in general, were known equally to monasticism and eremitism. But wild eremitism knew no well-ordered way of life, no systematization : it pro­ posed total commitment. It was by the rule and above all by the drafting of customaries that changes came about. The ideals prescribed did not necessarily always accord with the ideals experienced : to the hermits who followed — at least to judge from the texts — the ordo antiquus (SaintLaurent-au-Bois), systematization appeared strict, and the rule had no repercussions on the customaries. This is especially true for those drawn 244

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up during the second quarter of the twelfth century, when little or no ref­ erence was made to the rule of St Augustine, unlike that of St Benedict. It is remarkable that these instituta reached maturity together, regardless of the date when each eremitic experience began. Rather than form a series of specific and localized developments, this maturity stems from strong interdependence between the religious foundations. The customaries borrowed freely from monastic examples, rarely from canonical precedents of the eleventh century or the earlier model, the Rule of Aix. Monastic influence penetrated from Cluny, especially in regard to the organization of common life, as well as from Qteaux, notably in regard to spirituality : the finalizing of the legislative texts and the severity of the Cistercian spirit earned it a striking success. Thus, for the wild eremitism that had evolved toward cenobitsm, the influence of monasticism was far more decisive than the Augustinian Rule : the imprint of Q teaux marked the development of the regular can­ ons. Furthermore, it was the most ‘Cistercian’ canons who saw the most spectacular results. They corresponded more with the spiritual needs of the time, conditio sine qua non of their flourishing. The hermitages that followed the ordo antiquus remained small (Saint-Laurent-au-Bois) or suc­ cumbed to the competition of the ‘modernists’ (the affiliates of SaintPierremont flooded toward Prémontré). The local examples, their particular antecedents, continued to exert an influence. The successful formation of new abbeys and orders capable of directing the enthusiasm of these abbeys dealt a heavy blow to the wild eremitic life : candidates for an austere life were satisfied with the new cenobitic solutions. The eremitic phenomenon thus lost its importance in the mid-twelfth century. However, it did not disappear. Just like the rec­ luses, hermits reappeared at the ultimate stage of common life, as described by St Benedict in his chapter de generibus monachorum. The wild eremitic life reappeared about 1200, when the ideal promoted by the new abbeys lost its fervour, its dynamism : it stimulated new foundations in the frame­ work of canonry regular (Val-des-Ecoliers) or new orders (Franciscans, Augustinian friars). If we wish at last to answer the question asked at the beginning — was this a betrayal or only a transition ? — it is clear that we may speak of a betrayal of the eremitic ideal, but of an inevitable betrayal. Except for some generalities or on a few specific points — limited notably

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to Hérival — there was not an eremitic survival in the houses or the canon­ ical orders of the first half of the twelfth century. The canons of the second half of the century must have had great difficulty in recognizing themselves in their predecessors, whom they knew through the vitae and foundation narratives. That betrayal was the inevitable result of expansion itself, which had completely changed the old eremum. Qualitative change, in particular, disrupted the unity among the hermits. Hermits, clerics, and lay people developed into two distinct cat­ egories : canons and conversi. During the second phase, fearing they would become the minority, the clerics relegated their lay companions to an infe­ rior category and quite an ambiguous status. They chose the cenobitic, monastic, or canonical path that guaranteed their superiority.

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Justus u t palm a

Symbolism as a Political and Ideological Weapon on the Seals of Thierry and Philip of Alsace, Counts of Flanders (1128-1191) Definition of the Problem THE PRESENCE OF A ‘STYLIZED PLANT’ ON THIERRY OF ALSACE’S SEALS

hierry of Alsace came to power in 1128. After the murder of Count Charles the Good (1127) the office of count was granted to William Clito, through the intervention of the French king Louis vi. Civil war broke out shortly afterwards. William died, leaving room for Thierry, whose rule lasted until 1168. In these forty years he used various types of seal. A common feature of these equestrian seals is a stylized plant, shown at the bottom of the design.

T

THE PRESENCE OF A ‘STYLIZED PLANT’ ON ONE OF PHILIP OF ALSACE’S SEALS

His successor, Philip, also had a stylized plant on one of his seal types ; in addition there are three birds. This image does not appear on his other seal types, which are simply equestrian seals. The seal with the plant and birds was used between 1170 and 1180, in so far as this can be confirmed by surviving documentation1. 1

I refer to the as-yet unpublished doctoral dissertation by T. de Hemptinne, De oorkonden van de graven van Vlaanderen Diederik en Filips van de Elzas (Ghent University, 1977-78), n, pp. 471-91.1 would like to thank her for her help and suggestions during the preparation of this article.

A PURELY DECORATIVE ELEMENT OR SYMBOLISM ?

The question arises whether the plant should be seen purely as a decora­ tion which has been added for aesthetic reasons (filling in the space at the bottom of the seal) or whether there is some special meaning behind it. Symbolism is difficult to prove, but the consistency of indications, of ‘meanings’, makes the presence of symbols probable. It no longer needs proof that symbols occur more often in Romanesque art than in other stylistic periods. At the same time we know that much of their meaning simply escapes us. Let us accept as fact what Olivier Beigbeder says: “le symbole est d’autant plus riche de capacités qu’il est plus insaisissable par nature et c’est dans la mesure où l’on admet ce privilège irritant et merveil­ leux qu’on est à même d’en pénétrer l'essence”2.

Identification of the Plant DESCRIPTION

Although Thierry’s seal types differ slightly from each other as far as the portrayal of the plant is concerned, a common description will suffice. From a stem a group of three branches sprouts on each side, fanning out widely. Above, also on each side, a branch curls lightly upwards from below, bending towards the top of the stem3. O n Philip of Alsace’s seal the stem curls slightly upwards like a leaf. Three overhanging branches on each side follow each other up to where the stem stops squarely in the centre. Above is a bird facing right, while two birds, facing each other, are on the curls below4. Although there is a clearly noticeable difference between the types of Thierry’s seal and Philip’s, yet (in view of the link between the two princes — father and son — and the rarity of such a seal motif) it seems obvious that the plant on Philip’s seal is a repeat of that on Thierry’s, and that it is in fact the same plant.

2

Lexique des symboles (La-Pierre-qui-Vire, 1969), p. 7.

3

See Illustrations 1,2,3. See Illustration 4.

4

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IS AN IDENTIFICATION POSSIBLE ?

Can we expect to identify this plant ? Here the problem of decoration or symbol arises. Are images from the Romanesque period likely to be repro­ ductions of what the artist or craftsman observed, or are they ‘signs’ intended to project a natural object to an idea ? There is, of course, no one who views Romanesque art as realistic art. Yet some people base their scepticism with regard to identification and symbolism on the lack of real­ ism in the representation.

THE PALM MOTIF

In describing Philip’s type of seal we carefully avoided the use of the words ‘palm leaves’ or ‘palm’ in order not to anticipate the identification. The similarity between the reality and the representation of a palm tree is — in spite of Romanesque ideas of art — indeed striking. Both the shape and the open fan of palm leaves are strongly reminiscent of a real palm. That the plant is lived in by birds also points in this direction : it is a tree, not a flower or a shrub. Moreover, a palm is of course a frequently used decora­ tive plant in Romanesque art, mostly, however, in stylized form, a ‘pal­ m etto, when it is sometimes difficult to distinguish from an acanthus motif. O n all the types of seal the plant has nine extremities, whether they are the ‘branches’ on Thierry’s seals, or the leaves on Philip’s. Nine is pre­ cisely the number that often occurs in palm or palmette motifs (though by no means exclusively). There is, for example, no doubt that the motif in the Spanish church of San Juan de la Peña at the top of a capital is in fact a palm. The scene shows in detail the entry of Christ into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday5. It would not be difficult to find many more examples of similar representations6. Representations of complete palm trees are also known, but there would be even less reason to look for a similarity to the representation on

3 6

See Illustration 5 CAragon roman, ed. by A. Canellas-Lopez et al. (La-Pierre-qui-Vire, 1971), Ü1. 13). Among others, R. Oursel, Bourgogne romane (La-Pierre-qui-Vire, 19683), ill. 72 ; Alsace romane, ed. by H. Haug et al. (La-Pierre-qui-Vire, 19702), ill. 75 ; J. Fontaine, Uart préroman hispanique (La-Pierre-qui-Vire, 1967), ill. 29.

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the seals : in the one case the object was to portray the whole palm tree, in the other only to fill in the empty space at the bottom of the seal7. Any similarity or lack of it has no evidential value. On the basis of these considerations, and in the knowledge that in the seventeenth century Olivier Vredius in his Sigilla comitum Flandriae recognized a palm in this plant8, let us accept this identification with the palm. That Vredius ascribes the motif to Thierry’s journeys to the Holy Land, may well be wrong (Thierry did not go there until 1138), but later journeys, providing a visual contact with palm trees, may perhaps explain the more natural representation on Philip’s seal.

Symbolism of the Palm If we accept that the plant portrayed is a palm, and we also accept that there is some symbolic value in its portrayal, then the crucial point is to ‘identify’ the symbol. The palm is the symbol of various things. It is, for example, the sign of the Redemption9, but it is not immediately clear what precisely this might mean in the context of the Flemish counts. The palm is also the representation of one of the eight beatitudes mentioned in Eccli. 24. 18 [Vulg. 23. 18] : “ Quasi palma exaitata sum in Cades” [I am exalted like a palm in Cades], but the context to find a reference to the Church in the palm also escapes us10. This was, however, how the Glossa ordinaria, wrongly ascribed to Walafridus Strabo, considered the palm, though the compiler could give no further explanation, but only quoted what he could find in Isidorus of Seville’s Etymologiae11.

7

Liber Floridus, Ghent, University Library, ms. 92, fol. 76v and 139v (Lamberti S. Audomari canonici Liber Floridus, ed. by A. Derolez and E. I. Strubbe (Ghent, 1968)) ; Les jours de l’Apocalypse (La-Pierre-qui-Vire, 1967), ill. 22 (Beatus, In Apocalipsin libri duodecim , based on ms. Gerona fol. 147v). 8 O. Vredius, Sigilla comitum Flandriae (Bruges, 1639), pp. 18 and 21. 9 Beatus, In Apocalipsin libri duodeám (see note 7). See : Apoc. 7-9. 10 Commentarii in Ecclesiasticum, PL, 109, col. 929 (ch. 5). 11 Glossa Ordinaria Lib. Eccli., PL, 113, col. 1208-09. See: F. Brunhölzl, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters (Munich, 1975), pp. 346 and557. See: Liber Flor­ idus, fol. 13 9V .

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O ur picture apparently has nothing to do with the seven-branched palm, as it occurs in a whole series of treatises on palm trees in Latin, French and Dutch12. We probably make more progress when Psalm 92, 12-13 [Vulg. 91, 12-13], is included in the argument, in which it says “Justus ut palma florebit: sicut cedrus Libani multiplicabitur... ” [The right­ eous shall flourish like the palm tree : he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon]. This leads us to the commentary of Hrabanus Maurus, one of the promi­ nent scholars of the Carolingian Renaissance, who applied new knowledge and opinions to the works of Isidore13. After quoting Isidore’s Etymologiae14, he compares the rough trunk of the palm tree, the fan of leaves and the sweet fruits to the conduct in life of the righteous, which is hard on earth, but very wonderful in heaven : “sicjustorum conversatio in hoc mundo duris est laboribus plena : sed in supernis probatur esse pulcherrima"’. H e follows this by taking over the ideas which Gregory the Great had already put forward15. Then Hrabanus goes on: “Palma autem significare potest hom­ ines virtutum decore semper virentes, et \v\ictoriam de vitiis omnibus spir­ itualibus capientes” [Moreover, the palm can signify men always strong in the honour of virtues, and wresting victory from all spiritual vices]. So here the palm tree becomes the symbol of the virtues. If we look at the iconography, then the Liber Floridus, the encyclo­ pedia which Lambert of Saint-Omer drew up around 1120 (eight years before Thierry took over power, and in the same geographical area) teaches us something similar. There the palm tree is portrayed with a fan of leaves, on each of which a virtue is inscribed. The corresponding vice is shown on the outside16. Hrabanus Maurus17, like the Ps-Walafridus Strabo18, also

12 On this subject, see : W. Fleischer, ‘Ascendam in palmam. Ein Beitrag zur Überlieferung der Palmbaumallegorie im Mittelalter’, Literaturwissenschaftliches Jahrbuch, N.F. 10 (1969), pp. 1-52 ; Idem, Untersuchungen zur Palmbaumallegorie im Mittelalter, Münch­ ner Beitrage zur Germanistik, 20 (Munich, 1976), and J. Reynaert, ‘Het vroegste middelnederlandse Palmboomtraktaat’, Ons Geestelijk Erf, 52 (1978), pp. 3-32,195— 228 and 296-310. 13 Hrabanus Maurus, De universo, PL, 111, col. 511. 14 Lib. xvn., ch. 7,1. 15 Gregorius Magnus, Moralia in Job, PL, 76, col. 129 (lib. xix, ch. 49). 16 See note 7 and Illustration 6 in this article. I thank mr. A. Derolez, keeper of the manuscripts, who kindly offered some information on this manuscript. 17 PL, 109, col. 930. 18 PL, 113, col. 1209.

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knows the palm as the symbol of victory in the classical contest {agon, dywv) ; of course, they use the word in a christianized sense.

The Virtues The palm as the symbol of the virtuous man : does this make sense in the context of Thierry of Alsace ? Precisely which virtues are meant ? Here too the encyclopedists of the Carolingian period can help us. Hrabanus recognizes four virtutes morales: prudence (prudentia), courage (forti­ tudo), righteousness (iustitia) and self-control (temperantia), describing them extensively and defining them in his Tractatus de anima19. W hen in the Dialogus de rhetorica et virtutibus Charlemagne asks his teacher Alcuin how many parts are to be distinguished in the virtues, the answer is four : prudentia, iustitia, fortitudo and temperantia20. In his De virtutibus et vitiis, the same Alcuin calls these virtues the captains of the Christian faith against the armed forces of the devil21. These four virtues together make up the ethica, which itself, with physica and logica, make up philosophia. H ere Isidore with his Differentiae bridges the gap between classical times and the Middle Ages22. The four listed ‘cardinal virtues’ themselves stand out, according to Alcuin, in a list of subordinate virtues23. Memoria Intelligentia Providentia

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19 PL, 110, col. 1115. Hrabanus follows the same order as in Gregorius Magnus, Homiliae in Ezechielem, PL, 76, col. 809 (lib. i, hom. m, 8) and Ibid., col. 1068 (lib. n, hom. X, 18). This sequence is different from that in Gregorius’ own Moralia in Job, PL, 75, col. 592 (lib. n, ch. 49,76) and PL, 76, col. 212 (lib. XXI, ch. 1,2): prudentia, temperan­ tia, fortitudo, iustitia.

20 Rhetores latini minores, ed. by C. Halm (Leipzig, 1863), p. 548 ; The Rhetoric o f Alcuin and Charlemagne, ed. by W. S. Howell (Princeton, 1941), p. 146. 21 PL, 101, col. 637 (ch. 34). 22 PL, 83, col. 94 (lib. n, ch. 154). 23 PL, 101, col. 944—45.

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Naturalis