Medieval Monastic Education PDF

Medieval Monastic Education
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Medieval Monastic Education
Edited by
George Ferzoco and Carolyn Muessig
Leicester University Press
London and New York

Leicester University Press
A Continuum imprint
The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SEI 7NX
370 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017-6503
First published 2000
© George Ferzoco, Carolyn Muessig and contributors 2000
All rights reserved_ No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in

any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording
or any information storage retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 0-7185-0246-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Medieval monastic education/edited by George Ferzoco and Carolyn Muessig.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7185-0246-9
1. Monastic and religious life-History-Middle Ages, 600-1500. 2. Religious
education-History. 1. Ferzoco, George. II. Muessig, Carolyn.
BX2462 .M43 2000

268' .82' 0902-dc21
00-055654
Typeset by BookEns Ltd, Royston, Herts.

Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall
Contents
Illustrations Vll
Contributors IX
Preface xiii
Acknowledgements XIV
1 The changing face of tradition: monastic education

in the Middle Ages
George Ferzoco 1
2 Training for the liturgy as a form of monastic education

Susan Boynton 7
3 Besides the book: using the body to mould the mind -

Cluny in the tenth and eleventh centuries
Isabelle Cochelin 21
4 A medieval novice's formation: reflection on a

fifteenth-century manuscript at Downside Abbey
Aidan Bellenger 35
5 The scope of learning within the cloisters of the

English cathedral priories in the later Middle Ages
Joan Greatrex 41
6 University monks in late medieval England

James G. Clark 56
7 Hildegard of Bingen's teaching in her Expositiones

evangeliorum and Ordo virtutum
Beverly Mayne Kienzle 72
8 Learning and mentoring in the twelfth century:

Hildegard of Bingen and Herrad of Landsberg
Carolyn Muessig 87
9 Educating Heloise
W. G. East 105
vi Contents
10 The role of images in monastic education: the evidence

from wall painting in late medieval England
Miriam Gill 117
11 Ghostly mentor, teacher o f mysteries: Bartholomew,

Guthlac and the Apostle's cult in early medieval England
Graham Jones 136
12 'Life, learning and wisdom': the forms and functions of

beguine education
Penelope Galloway 1 53
13 Franciscan educational perspectives: reworking monastic

traditions
Bert Roest 168
14 Monastic educational culture revisited: the witness of

Zwiefalten and the Hirsau reform
Constant J. Mews 182
Abbreviations 198
Bibliography 199
Index 231
Illustrations
10. 1 Crucifixion and Arma Christi from Carthusian

miscellany (c. 1460-70) 121
10.2 Tree of the Seven Deadly Sins. Speculum virginum
(c. 1 140) 123
10.3 Tree of the Seven Deadly Sins. Hoxne, Suffolk
(c. 1390-1410) 124
lOA Moralized cherub. Chapter House, Westminster Abbey
(1380s) 126
10.5 Lower portion of Crucifixion. Former refectory,
Charterhouse, Coventry (c. 141 1- 17) 128
10.6 Lower portion, St Anne teaching the Virgin to read.
Former refectory, Charterhouse, Coventry (c. 1 4 1 1- 1 7) 130
10.7 Christ appearing to Doubting Thomas. Former Chapel
of the Holy Cross, north transept, St Albans Cathedral
(c. 1428) 132
11.1 Map o f St Bartholomew church dedications 143
1 1 .2 Map of distribution of churches in honour of
St Bartholomew and Guthlac 145
12.1 Table o f accounts from the beguinage o f S t Elizabeth
in Lille 163
Contributors
Dom Aidan Bellenger is a monk of Downside Abbey, where he was

Head Master for five years. He teaches medieval history at Bath Spa
College. He studied at the University of Cambridge, where he received
his PhD in 1978, and at the Angelicum University, Rome. He has
written five books and numerous articles mainly on the history of
religious orders and Anglo-French relations. He is a Fellow of the
Royal Historical Society.
Susan Boynton is Assistant Professor of Historical Musicology at

Columbia University. Her research interests include liturgical poetry,
liturgical drama, monastic customaries, monastic education and
women in medieval music. Recent publications include an article on
the Orpheus myth in Carolingian music theory: 'The Sources and
Significance of the Orpheus Myth in "Musica Enchiriadis" and Regino
of Priim's "Epistola de harmonica institutione" Early Music History
"
1 8 ( 1 999), 47-74; and articles on liturgical drama, including

'Performative Exegesis in the Fleury "Interfectio Puerorum" Viator"
29 ( 1 998), 1-25, and 'The Liturgical Role of Children in Monastic

Customaries from the Central Middle Ages', Studia Liturgica 28
( 1 998), 194-209.
James G. Clark is British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow and Junior

Research Fellow in History at Brasenose College, Oxford. His research
interests are focused on later medieval monastic learning. He has published
several articles on this theme and is currently completing a study of
Thomas Walsingham and 8t Albans Abbey for Oxford University Press.
Isabelle Cochelin is Assistant Professor in History and at the Centre

for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto. Her research interests
include monastic history and social history, more specifically Cluny,
monastic customaries and the life cycle, and among her recent
publications are two articles in Revue Mabillon on novitiate and
hierarchy ( 1 998 and 2000).
W. G. East holds degrees from Oxford and Yale, and has taught in
Cork, Sunderland and York universities. A Catholic priest, he
continues to teach and publish on various medieval topics. Recent
x Contributors
publications include 'Abelard's Allusive Style', in Mittellateinisches

Jahrbuch ( 1999) and 'This Body of Death: Abelard, Heloise and the
Religious Life', in Medieval Theology and the Natural Body (York:
Boydell and Brewer, 1997).
George Ferzoco is Lecturer in Italian Studies, University of Leicester.

His research interests include sermons, hagiography and religious
literature in Italy, and recent publications include an English translation
of Peter of the Morrone's 'Autobiography' in T. Head (ed.) Medieval
Hagiography (New York: Garland, 2000) and 'An Italian Archbishop's
Sermon to the Pope', Medieval Sermon Studies 43 ( 1 999), 67-74.
Penelope Galloway is Lecturer in Medieval History, University of

Bristol. Her research interests include beguine communities, medieval
women's work and urban history. Recent publications include 'Neither
Miraculous nor Astonishing: The Devotional Practice of Beguine
Communities in French Flanders', in J. Dor, L. Johnson and J. Wogan
Browne (eds) New Trends in Feminine Spirituality: The Holy Women of
Liege and Their Impact (Turnhout: Brepols, 1 999), 1 07-27.
Miriam Gill is a PhD candidate at the Courtauld Institute. Her thesis

discusses late medieval wall painting in England. She has recently
undertaken a database project on catechismical murals for the
University of Leicester. She is interested in the relationship between
visual, oral and written culture, with particular regard to didactic wall
paintings, the articulation of sacred space and local saints.
Joan Greatrex was Associate Professor of Medieval History, Carleton

University, Ottawa, until her retirement, and was recently Bye Fellow at
Robinson College, Cambridge. Her research interests include English
monastic history with special reference to the cathedral priories and their
Benedictine chapters, and also to the monks' intellectual pursuits. She is
the author of Biographical Register of the English Cathedral Priories of the
Province of Canterbury, c.1066-1540 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1997).
Graham Jones is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Leicester's

Department of English Local History and Stott Fellow in the
University of Wales, Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies.
He was awarded a Leverhulme Fellowship at Leicester, 1997-99, to
begin work on a Trans-national Database and Atlas of Saints' Cults.
Beverly Mayne Kienzle is Professor of the Practice in Latin and

Romance Languages at Harvard Divinity School and is the current
President of the International Medieval Sermon Studies Society.
Recent publications include Cistercians, Heresy and Crusade (1145-
1229): Preaching in the Lord 's Vineyard (York: Boydell and Brewer,
2000) and The Sermon: Typologie des sources du moyen age occidental,
fasc. 81-83 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2 000).
Contributors Xl
Constant J. Mews is Senior Lecturer in the School of Historical

Studies and Director of the Centre for Studies in Religion and
Theology, Monash University, and specializes in the thought and
religious culture of the twelfth century. He is the author of The Lost
Love Letters of Heloise and Abelard: Perceptions of Dialogue in Twelfth
Century France (New York: St Martin's, 1999), as well as many papers
relating to Hildegard of Bingen.
Carolyn Muessig is Lecturer in Medieval Theology, University of

Bristol. Her research interests include the sermons of Jacques de Vitry
and James of Voragine, monastic history and medieval women's
education. Recent publications include The Faces of Women in the
Sermons of Jacques de Vitry (Toronto: Peregrina, 1 999) and Medieval
Monastic Preaching (Leiden: Brill, 1998). She is co-editor of the journal
Medieval Sermon Studies.
Bert Roest is Fellow of The Netherlands Royal Academy assigned to

Groningen University. His research focuses on medieval intellectual
history and (Franciscan) religious thought. His writings include
Reading the Book of History: Intellectual Contexts and Educational
Functions of Franciscan Historiography (1226-ca. 1350) (Groningen:
Regenboog Press, 1 996) and A History of Franciscan Education (c.
121 7-1500) (Leiden: Brill, 2000).
Preface
The contents of this book are based on the international conference,

'Medieval Monastic Education and Formation', held at Downside
Abbey from 22 to 25 June 1999. This was the second conference
hosted by the Congregation of St Gregory the Great, Downside Abbey,
which addressed monastic life in the Middle Ages. The conference was
attended by scholars from Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy,
The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. Over the
four-day conference, fourteen speakers and three respondents
investigated education and formation in male and female religious
houses from the eighth to the sixteenth centuries. The geographical
areas under examination included England, France, Germany and the
Low Countries.
Of the fourteen papers delivered at the conference, this volume
contains twelve with the addition of an article on twelfth-century
female education and a discussion of the main themes raised in the
papers. The proceedings offer further insight into both male and
female monastic approaches to learning. Moreover, aspects of
medieval monastic education which have not been explored in great
detail up until now, such as the use of music and liturgy in education,
are addressed. Two papers dealing with beguinal and Franciscan
education respectively are also included as they at once share in the
tradition of monastic learning and shed light on monastic approaches
to education.
George Ferzoco, University of Leicester

Carolyn Muessig, University of Bristol
17 April 2000
Acknowledgements
The editors would like to record their gratitude to the Downside Trust,
a charitable organization dedicated to the promotion of scholarship in
the field of religious history and thought, which sponsored the
Medieval Monastic Education conference, Downside Abbey, 22-25
June 1999. In addition to the help and support of the Downside Trust,
many thanks are owed to Downside Abbey, the University of Bristol
Research Fund, and the Department of Theology and Religious
Studies, University of Bristol - all assisted in the sponsorship and
support of this conference. We would like to give warm thanks in
particular to Fr Richard Yeo, Abbot of Downside, Fr Aidan Bellenger,
Fr Charles Fitzgerald-Lombard, Fr James Hood, Fr Dunstan O'Keeffe
and Fr Daniel Rees. The dedicated participation of all the contributors
to this volume is warmly acknowledged.
The editors wish to dedicate this book to
Jacques Menard
and to all who teach by word and example
1 The changing face of
tradition: monastic education
in the Middle Ages
George Ferzoco
The Rule of Benedict begins with the call: 'Listen carefully, my son, to
the master's instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your
heart' (RB: Prologue). How one should listen and how one should
instruct are, however, never clearly laid out in the Rule; and the
methods that were developed and employed to fill this lacuna have
been the subject of several landmark books addressing education in
the Middle Ages. Presently, a handful of these books will be addressed
to outline the main trends in this area of study.
Formative studies of medieval education
One of the most influential books in the study of monastic culture and
education is Jean Leclercq's The Love of Learning and the Desire for
God (1974). Analysing monastic education from Benedict of Nursia
(tc.540) to Bernard of Clairvaux ( t 1 153), the book underlines that
monastic houses were places where monks developed their theological
sensibilities in order to find God. Leclercq's study is a thematic tour de
force, addressing aspects of monastic pedagogy such as poetry, liturgy,
classical studies, methods of reading, biblical imagination, humanism,
scholasticism, hagiography and liturgy, to name only a few.
While Leclercq's book offers depth and breadth to the under
standing of monastic culture which all students should examine, he
tends to synthesize various monastic approaches to education into a
monolithic characterization of the learned monk:
To combine a patiently acquired culture with a simplicity won
through the power of fervent love, to keep simplicity of soul in
the midst of the diverse attractions of the intellectual life and, in
order to accomplish this, to place oneself and remain firmly on
the place of the conscience, to raise knowledge to its level and
never let it fall below: that is what the cultivated monk succeeds
in doing. He is a scholar, he is versed in letters but he is not
2 George Ferzoco
merely a man of science nor a man of letters nor an intellectual,

he is a spiritual man. (Leclercq, 1 9 74: 3 1 7)
Leclercq's study offers insight into early monasticism by dedicating
chapters to Benedict of Nursia and Gregory the Great (t604).
Nevertheless, the central points of his book are related to the twelfth
century, and in particular to the thought of Bernard of Clairvaux. One
book which focuses entirely on the early period of monastic education
in the West is Pierre Riche's Education and Culture in the Barbarian
West ( 1 976). This work provides a detailed study of monastic trends of
learning from the sixth to the eighth centuries. Riche traces how the
ancient education of Rome slowly yielded to the developing centres of
monastic education throughout Western Europe (Riche, 1976: 365). In
addition to looking at the thematic evidence of pedagogical tendencies,
Riche studies the changing social context in which learning developed.
He examines aspects of education that until the publication of his book
had received little attention, such as: monastic attitudes toward the
education of children; the role of women as educators in double
monasteries; the self-perceptions of monastic educators qua educators;
and the use of song in education. Many of these subjects raised in
Education and Culture in the Barbarian West have inspired further
research among younger scholars.
What is also significant about Riche's study is the vast geographical
range he covers. By looking at Africa, Ireland, England, France,
Germany, Italy and Spain, as well as a variety of monastic rules,
numerous approaches to learning and teaching are highlighted. Unlike
the apparent uniformity which looms large in Leclercq's study, a
seeming cacophony of teaching voices are heard: Bede wrote, 'While
observing the discipline of the rule and the daily chanting of the offices
in the church, my chief pleasure has been to learn, to teach, and to
write' (Riche, 1976 : 380- 1); Columban believed that study allowed
students of monasticism to overcome carnal desires (Riche, 1976:
325); and Isidore of Seville believed that 'The monk should refrain
from reading the books of pagans and heretics' (Riche, 1976: 294).
Recently a number of books have been published in France that deal
with medieval education (e.g. Laurioux and Moulinier, 1 998; Verger,
1 999).1 Both studies offer an excellent introduction to educational
trends in the central and later Middle Ages. However, in these studies
an analysis of attitudes towards learning and teaching found in the
cathedral schools and universities receives greater attention than that
of monastic experiences. The perception of pedagogy is at the heart of
Caroline Walker Bynum's Docere Verbo et Exemplo ( 1 979), which often
dwells on how canons and monks saw themselves as teachers. In this
study Bynum seeks to investigate if and how canons regular and monks
distinguished their approaches to edification. Using treatises of
spiritual advice that monks and canons wrote for their brethren, she
studied these two groups' views of speech and conduct.
Written fifteen years after Bynum's book, Stephen Jaeger's The
Envy of Angels ( 1994) presents a variety of learning attitudes found in
The changing face of tradition 3
cathedral schools. Sections of the book study the subject of the teacher
and identify a progression of attitudes toward learning and teaching in
the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Although Jaeger focuses more on
cathedral schools, he does address monastic learning in his chapter on
Bernard of Clairvaux.2 He sees a continuity between different centres
of learning: 'Monasticism gave Europe new ways of studying;
humanism gave it new ways of behaving; scholasticism gave it new
ways of thinking' (Jaeger, 1994: 325-6). This is a move away from the
common tendency to separate learning techniques sharply among
monastic and scholastic thinkers. 3 Jaeger's development of a scholarly
terminology regarding pedagogy and attitudes toward teaching and
learning is a welcome tool in the study of medieval monastic education.
Behind the activity of learning in monastic milieus are a variety of
factors that do not technically fall under the category of learning, but are
integral to an understanding of monastic education. Brian Patrick
McGuire's book Friendship and Community: The Monastic Experience
350-1250 (1988) demonstrates how bonds of community were intimately
connected to bonds of learning. McGuire defined medieval monastic
friendship as a relationship where one monk was a custos animi, guardian
of the soul, for his fellow monk (McGuire, 1988: xv). Such nuances of
monastic culture must be closely studied in order to grasp the various
levels of learning and formation which existed in the cloister.
The themes of medieval monastic education
Several of the subjects raised in these books are further developed in

the chapters of this collection. Other issues are introduced and
examined and, in the process, invitations to further research are
numerous indeed.
Susan Boynton and Isabelle Cochelin have contributed studies
dealing with fundamental yet hitherto neglected aspects of the
pedagogy practised in the greatest Benedictine congregation of the
central Middle Ages, Cluny. Boynton shows that through liturgical
education children at Cluny learned far more than the liturgy: through
the time spent in liturgical training, youths became acquainted with
the hierarchy, discipline and ritual patterns of the monastery. Boynton
accomplishes this by moving away from the traditional focus on music
theory treatises as pedagogical sources towards customaries from the
tenth to the twelfth centuries. Cochelin makes similar use of
customaries, noting their interest not simply for their explicit
instructions and descriptions but also for their implicit agendas. In
using these sources as well as hagiographical texts dealing with
Cluniac saints, Cochelin not only shows the importance of physical and
verbal imitation in education across the spectrum of medieval society,
but she also adduces convincing evidence to argue that physical
discipline was an essential parallel to the intellectual instruction
afforded by monastic teachers.
4 George Ferzoco
Aidan Bellenger's analysis of a medieval manuscript is neatly apt for

this collection. Not only is this medulla (or essential grammar book)
conserved in the Library of Downside Abbey (site of the conference
that gave rise to much of the material in this book), but Bellenger also
provides us with a direct and detailed study of the contents and context
of this manuscript. The author treats it as a part of the intellectual
education of medieval English monks in the later Middle Ages. The
same period and geographical area provide the material for broader
studies by Joan Greatrex and James Clark. Greatrex examines the
education provided within English monastic cathedral priories. She
brings together information from disparate sources in order to provide
a first look at the pre-priesthood education of monks who were not
selected to study at Oxford or Cambridge. Moreover, Greatrex notes
that much further work can be accomplished with the publication of
editions of medieval library catalogues (especially those of cathedral
priories). Clark continues the 'narrative' provided by these three
chapters dealing with the late medieval English context of monastic
education, in his turn examining the education of monks at Oxford.
Stressing how previous studies have centred exclusively upon
exceptional scholars, Clark goes on to show that, at Oxford at least,
the norm - as revealed by examining the registers of Congregation -
could present an educational context that was in several ways not only
different but even pioneering.
A comprehensive history of women's monastic education compar
able to the detailed study of Riche has yet to be written. An innovative
personage among medieval educators of women was surely Hildegard
of Bingen, and the chapters by Beverly Mayne Kienzle and Carolyn
Muessig provide new insights to this figure and her cultural world; and
William East looks at another great twelfth-century educator, Abelard.
Kienzle, in examining Hildegard's Expositiones evangeliorum in the
light of the theatrical Ordo virtutum, emphasizes how the teaching and
exegesis of the abbess occurred within a homiletic context. With her
focus on the struggle of the soul, the teaching and approach of
Hildegard is argued as being unique. This point is convincingly argued,
but it is interesting to see in Muessig's contribution that while
Hildegard's lessons are tied to her personality and actions, her
approach to selecting the women who would be her students and fellow
nuns is typical of Benedictine spirituality to that time. Herrad of
Landsberg, a fellow abbess and contemporary of the more celebrated
Hildegard, is a compiler and mediator of textual tradition. In
contrasting the two educators, Muessig shows the vital diversity of
pedagogical and spiritual approaches to be found in twelfth-century
German convents. The French convent of the Paraclete had as its
abbess another extraordinary figure, Heloise, and East presents her as
the pupil of an extraordinary teacher, Abelard. In concentrating on the
final letters from Abelard to his beloved, East eloquently demonstrates
the necessity of ignoring previous judgements of these letters as being
unworthy of study. Through these letters and the hymns written by
The changing face of tradition 5
Abelard for Heloise's nuns, one sees how the world of the cloisters was
not an isolated one, but rather one in which real and instructive
dialogue could take place through teaching and learning.
One could teach and learn in the monastic milieu through a variety
of source materials, and the chapters of Graham Jones and Miriam Gill
concentrate largely on this matter. Jones presents a case study of
Guthlac and his cult, and how one can only come to understand the ties
drawn between the English hermit and the figure of the apostle
Bartholomew by entering into very close readings of hagiographical
texts. Jones shows how the lives of saints were not simply spiritually
uplifting, but also served to inform the mission of a monastery and to
reinforce the sense of identity and community that needed to be
instilled in all members. Gill's contribution provides a careful overview
of how the visual arts were used in monastic education. Focusing on
wall paintings, Gill not only shows how they were used to educate
monks, but she also demonstrates the role played by monastic art in
teaching lay visitors to the monastery.
The influences that traditional monastic pedagogy had on lay people,
as well as on other related religious communities, provide a focus for
the final three chapters. Penelope Galloway, in looking at the beguine
communities of Douai and Lille, shows not only how they would
provide an education for themselves, but also how they would teach
local children as well; this education would be at once practical and
intellectual. Bert Roest examines the debt owed by Franciscan
pedagogy to its monastic antecedents, and shows that this debt was
especially profound, owing much to Cistercian and Victorine
approaches to education. Constant Mews, finally, reveals the hitherto
ignored educational agenda favoured by the Hirsau reform movement.
In presenting and analysing the contents and products of the
Zwiefalten library and scriptorium, Mews shows (as does Roest with
the Franciscans) that there could and did exist a remarkable harmony
between monastic and scholastic educational concerns. In accomplish
ing this, Mews calls for a revision of Leclercq's rather monolithic
separation of these two broad Christian communities in the Middle
Ages.
Given the riches contained in these chapters, I think it would be
folly to attempt a comprehensive list of their inspirations for future
research. Although such a list would likely be as long as this present
book, I believe it to be worthwhile to point out just a handful of the
more obvious paths opened to us. One has to do with geography.
Although these essays are very illuminating with regard to England and
the northern part of Europe, very little is stated explicitly with regard
to the Mediterranean basin. A second would deal with how other
sources may be used to provide even more detailed and accurate
information on the themes discussed. For example: if Franciscan
pedagogical links can be made to monasticism through scholastics like
Bonaventure, then what will we find upon analysing Franciscan
writings for novices, for Poor Clares, for tertiaries, for lay people
6 George Ferzoco
generally? Indeed, how will such approaches compare with works

produced by other mendicant orders? Regarding points raised in the
essays on English monastic education: do the contents of medullae,
like the one in the Downside Library, vary? Did monks studying at
Cambridge have similar approaches and study patterns to those of
their brethren at Oxford? And concerning women: did abbesses in
centuries other than the twelfth have such a pivotal role in education in
their convents?
The chapters in this book furnish us with a greater insight into the
diversity of monastic education. Moreover, they point to pathways for
further research in many fields and directions. Listening to them not
only with the engaged intellect but also with the heart will move
scholars toward ever richer areas of study.
Notes
1. Both these books are general introductions to the history of medieval

education and are aimed at students who are preparing for the 2000 and
2001 French agregation examinations in history.
2. Because of the cross-pollination between cathedral and monastic centres
of learning in the eleventh century, it is nearly impossible to present
them as separate entities of learning.
3. S e e Constant Mews, Chapter 14, for a detailed discussion o f this matter
and its relationship to the influence of Leclercq's view of medieval
monasticism versus scholasticism. An example of Leclercq's influence in
this regard may be observed in Elder, 1986.
2 Training for the liturgy as a
form of monastic education
Susan Boynton
In the early eleventh century, Guido of Arezzo fumed that 'cantors are
foolish above all men' because their lifelong study of singing left no
time for other learning. He deplored the fact that singers could not
learn even the shortest antiphon by themselves without the help of a
teacher, and consequently spent all their time learning chant. Worse,
both secular clergy and monks neglected the Psalms, readings and
pious works essential to salvation to devote themselves exclusively to
the art of singing 'with assiduous and most foolish labor'.l Guido's
invective echoes Agobard of Lyon's complaint two hundred years
earlier that singers spent their entire lives, from childhood to old age,
learning and practising the chant repertory instead of pursuing useful
and spiritual studies.2 Learning melodies by rote imitation and
repetition, singers were utterly reliant on their teachers; as Regino
of Priim remarked around 900, most musicians knew nothing about
their art, but simply performed as they had learned from their
teachers. 3 Indeed, although the science of music theory had achieved
major advances between the Carolingian period and the early eleventh
century, chant pedagogy did not match this progress before Guido,
whose innovative systems of notation and sight-singing enabled singers
to learn melodies more quickly.4
What do the sources tell us about the lengthy process of training
young singers to take part in the monastic liturgy during the central
Middle Ages? Musical education was part of a broader liturgical
formation in which reading, singing and writing were fully integrated.
Since music theory treatises rarely make explicit reference to the
environment in which liturgical instruction went on, studies of early
music education based entirely on them tend to be schematic and
abstract (Smits van Waesberghe, 1969; Walter, 1996). The treatises do
not provide information on the social context, roles and responsi
bilities of teachers, or on the times and places of instruction. To
understand these aspects of elementary liturgical education we need
texts not only about music but also about musicians, and particularly
about boys, since in this period child oblates constituted the primary
group undergoing elementary liturgical training. The richest sources
for studying the process of monastic liturgical training are customaries
8 Susan Boynton
from the tenth to the twelfth centuries, which form the principal basis
of this study.5
Monastic customaries indicate that oblates were responsible for a
great variety of liturgical tasks, including intoning Psalms and hymns,
reciting litanies, reading lessons, and singing both simple and complex
chants. Boys were assigned an ever greater number of chants and
readings over the course of the tenth and eleventh centuries (Boynton,
1998). Their responsibilities seem to have peaked in the late eleventh
and early twelfth centuries, as reflected in the Cluniac customaries of
Bernard and Ulrich, from the 1 080s, and the Fruttuaria customary of
around 1 100. The lengthy account of boys' liturgical duties in
Bernard's customary concludes with an imposing list of tasks:
[They] pronounce the versicles of each psalm at all the canonical
hours, intone the antiphons on ferial days, and intone whatever is
sung at the morning mass, unless it is a major feast day; at Lauds
and Vespers, they sing a responsory and say the versicles; in the
summer at Matins they say the single short lesson; they always
read in chapter, never in the refectory.6
Learning these chants and readings, as well as many others, seems
to have occupied every free moment of the day. The training process
necessarily constituted a monk's entire education, at least until he
mastered the most essential liturgical material. The first chants to be
learned were the Psalms, canticles and hymns. The Murbach Statutes
of 8 1 6 mention these chants first in a programme of elementary
learning,7 and the same items, in the same order, were apparently
assigned to beginners in the twelfth century by the Augustinian canons
of St Victor of Paris, whose customary states that 'when a novice sits in
the cloister, he should learn his psalter, and repeat it literally by heart,
and afterwards the hymnary'. 8 Prescriptions in the customaries
assigning liturgical items to the pueri or in/antes enable us to deduce
exactly which chants and readings were studied after this elementary
programme.
The customaries also provide ample information on the places and
times of liturgical instruction. While the pueri practised reading in the
cloister, most singing instruction seems to have taken place in the
chapter house, perhaps because it provided convenient acoustic
isolation.9 Study went on under the supervision of teachers during
intervals between services, usually early in the morning. The early
Cluniac customaries and the Decretal of Lanfranc prescribe that the
children go to the chapter house to sing with their teachers in the
interval between Matins and Lauds during the winter months. After
Prime, they return to the chapter house to sing until the sun comes up,
then go into the cloister to read aloud. 1o In the autumn, however, they
stay in the cloister with the other brothers after Prime, first reading
and then singing (Dinter, 1980: 177; Hallinger, 1983: 10). While
reading and singing are usually the only activities mentioned, the
Fruttuaria customary states that children practise writing in the
Training for the liturgy 9
interval after Matins as well (Spatling and Dinter, 1987: I, 20). Other
texts mention further times of instruction. The Wiirzburg redaction of
the early Cluniac customs prescribes that between None and Vespers,
while the monks sit reading in the cloister, the boys can practise their
chants in a low voice and receive instruction from the cantor if he is
present. ! 1 In the Liber tramitis the pueri read in the interval after
Vespers (Dinter, 1 980: 47). A twelfth-century Cluniac customary from
Melk prescribes that the boys read aloud after Prime, Mass and Sext.12
The various kinds of learning taking place at these times ranged on a
continuum from individual practice to group practice with teachers,
culminating in a formal lesson or rehearsal with a teacher.
The customaries provide a shifting picture of the officials
responsible for liturgical training. In the central Middle Ages, a single
person taught both reading and singing, and often was the librarian as
well, with duties including the correction and annotation of the
monastery's liturgical books. Before the eleventh century, however,
the organization of these activities was somewhat different. Ninth- and
tenth-century customaries describe the cantor and librarian as
different officials, or distinguish the cantor from the master of the
children's choir. A ninth-century customary from Corbie and a tenth
century one from Einsiedeln have separate headings for cantor and
librarian, and the tenth-century Regularis concordia distinguishes
between the cantor and the director of the children's choir without
mentioning a librarian (Fassler, 1985: 37-40). The Fleury customary
from around the year 1000 mentions the 'armarius qui et scolae
praeceptor vel librarius' , a librarian who is also the teacher (Davril and
Donnat, 1984: 1 6 - 1 7). But it was the succentor, mentioned as an
assistant in the description of the precentor's duties, who taught
chant:
For assistance [the precentor] is given a brother of demonstrable
talent who is called the succentor. For the master of the school is
the receiver of the children. In all study of chants and with daily
attention, he carefully orders the cadences of the modes and the
divisions of the Psalms, and is accustomed to drive to the chapter
those who treat the Divine Office negligently.13
Several customaries of the eleventh and early twelfth centuries, a
period of increasing reliance on liturgical books, combine the offices of
armarius and cantor. ! 4 In the Liber tramitis, which reflects Cluniac
customs between about 1027 and 1048, the role of the armarius has
been expanded to absorb functions previously attributed to the cantor;
he is called 'armarius uel cantor' (as distinguished from the weekly
cantor). This official is in charge of the library, liturgy and the
education of the oblates (Dinter, 1 980: 238-9; Fassler, 1985: 44-6).
The later Cluniac customaries of Bernard and Ulrich, both written
around 1080, indicate that the armarius has taken over the office of
the cantor. Presumably because of his full schedule, the instruction of
the children in reading and singing was entrusted to an assistant, and
10 Susan Boynton
the armarius just listened to a final 'dress rehearsal' after his

assistant had prepared the children's chants and readings (Cochelin,
1 996: 253-4). According to the customaries of Bernard and Ulrich,
early each day the armarius went to hear the boys try out their
readings and chants; if they read or sang negligently or did not learn
the chant well, he would mete out appropriate punishment. 15
The Fruttuaria customary from around 1 100 offers the most detailed
account of the teachers' duties. As in the Cluniac customaries, the
cantor bears responsibilities previously divided between the librarian
and the cantor. He is required to supervise the final 'dress rehearsal'
but also to teach a long list of skills: reading, singing, writing, notating,
preparing parchment and binding books, and writing the brevis
(Spatling and Dinter, 1987: II, 138). The cantor goes into the boys'
scola every morning to hear the boy who will read in chapter, to correct
the brevis if necessary, and to listen to the chants of the mass and the
epistle. The cantor also goes to the scola every day after None (or
before None during Lent) to listen to whatever chants or readings the
boys will perform the next day at the Office, Mass, at the collation or in
the refectory. On feast days, the boys have to sing all their Matins
Psalms and antiphons for the cantor, as well as the responsories and
verses they have to intone. However, as in the late Cluniac
customaries, the cantor hears the boys only once a day, after his
assistant has already trained them. This assistant cantor, who always
sings with the boys and teaches them their chants and readings,
functions as the boys' own cantor (Spatling and Dinter, 1987: II, 150) .
He is distinct from the magister puerorum, the teacher who is in charge
of their behaviour but not their liturgical training. The boys' cantor and
the magister puerorum are also present at the daily 'dress rehearsal'
with the cantor.
Another important duty of teachers was punishing the boys for
unsatisfactory liturgical performance, an integral part of the liturgical
training as reflected in the customaries. The Cluniac customary of
Bernard prescribes immediate physical punishment for boys who
'make any mistake in the psalmody of Matins or at the other hours, or
in any chant, or by falling asleep, or by committing anything in any
way'; they are immediately stripped of their tunic and cowl, and
wearing only their shirts, are beaten with light wicker rods by the prior
or the magister puerorum.16 A subsequent passage from the same
customary prescribes that if a boy is too sleepy to sing well at Matins,
the teacher should give him a large book to holdY The second, gentler
provision is probably derived from a comparable one in the earlier
Liber tramitis.l8 In the Fruttuaria customary, the punishment for
mistakes in reading or singing takes place during the cantor's daily
session with the boys, rather than in church immediately after the
service. If a boy has not sung his responsory or read his lessons well at
Matins, and was unable to correct the mistake immediately, the cantor
requires him to take off his cowl and recite a reading. Only the cantor
has the authority to discipline the boys for poor liturgical performance;
neither the boys' teacher nor their cantor can discipline the boys, and
the symbolic removal of the cowl is the cantor's prerogative: 'if the
cantor arrives when a boy has already been stripped [of his cowl] , [the
boy] immediately puts it on with the permission of the person who
made him take it off.'19 Although the Cluniac and the Fruttuaria
customaries share the element of humiliation through removal of the
cowl, the differences between their prescriptions are significant. The
purely punitive corporal punishment described by Bernard contrasts
with the pedagogical character of the forced recitation in the
Fruttuaria text, which takes the form of the liturgical training carried
out in the context of the daily lesson with the cantor.
How exactly did children learn to read and sing? In the central
Middle Ages, they learned chant by listening and then repeating after
the teacher, the traditional method of instruction specifically
mentioned in the Cluniac customary of Ulrich: 'the boys sit in the
chapter house, and learn the chant from someone singing it before
them'.20 Reading seems to have been practised in a variety of different
ways, induding repetition, reading aloud and silent reading. The Liber
tramitis explicitly describes children practising reading silently from
books.21 Moreover, several customaries indicate that children could
practise reading during the celebration of Mass, which implies that the
other times for daily study were not sufficient. Bernard's customary
states that boys are allowed to read silently during Mass if they are
preparing a reading for Matins or for the collation, and novices are
allowed to memorize their Psalms at the same time.22 Similarly, in the
Fruttuaria customary, a boy is allowed to read during Mass if he is
preparing a reading for the refectory or learning the Psalms or hymns
for the first time; he is excused from singing with the other boys
(Spiitling and Dinter, 1987: I, 2 1) .
This prescription is a significant indication of the increased use of
books for learning the elementary chant repertory of Psalms and
hymns. The Fruttuaria customary also refers to the use of books
during the boys' lesson with their own cantor: 'no one looks at the
book there, except a boy who is so old that he cannot learn otherwise;
and if there are two of them, they take a board, put it between them,
and place the book on top of it' P Apparently younger children were
expected to learn liturgical texts aurally, while older ones needed the
visual prompt of a book.24 More reliance on books is also reflected in
the Fruttuaria customary's prescriptions for the education of novices.
If they were literate, they were given a Psalter and a hymnary which
they could keep for up to a year and use in church during Mass to
practise their lessons silently. Novices were required to recite one or
two Psalms for their teacher every day, but otherwise seem to have
studied independently.25 This difference between the training of boys
and adult novices with regard to books is striking: according to the
Fruttuaria customary, teachers avoided using books as a primary
support for children, but depended on them for the education of
novices.
12 Susan Boynton
Although the greater use of books for novices could be interpreted

simply as a pragmatic measure, it can be seen as the sign of a different
philosophy of teaching from the one applied to oblates. The Fruttuaria
customary's explicit emphasis on the oral teaching of children with
minimal use of books suggests that the traditional method was used
consciously with the younger students, perhaps to reinforce their
dependence on their teacher. Other customaries, such as the
Augustinian one from St Victor in Paris, show that adult novices were
not always left to learn on their own just because they were literate. In
this text, the distribution of books does not replace close individual
supervision, but rather fits into a programme involving both private
practice and individual teaching.
In the St Victor customary, teaching by the armarius i s
supplemented b y personal study with chant books. The armarius
distributed Psalters and hymnaries to those still learning the Psalms
and hymns, as well as to brothers studying other chants. A common
stock of chant books was also available for others to prepare for
upcoming services.26 The novice had to practise all his chants and
readings in private before trying them out for his teacher.27 Mter a
month's probation, he continued to study chants and readings under
supervision, either with the same teacher as before or with a new one
assigned to him.28 If the novice made satisfactory progress, the abbot,
on the recommendation of the armarius, allowed him to participate in
the conventual offices, with liturgical responsibilities assigned
according to his capabilities.29 Even after the novice was fully admitted
to the community, his teacher continued to follow his progress
closely. 30 Close supervision by a teacher was not limited to novices:
the armarius also had to prepare the brothers thoroughly for difficult
offices that were rarely performed, and he or someone else appointed
by the abbot corrected brothers learning ordinary chants and
readings. 31
Prescriptions for the use of books constitute one major area of
evidence for the acquisition of literacy as part of liturgical training; the
other is the participation of boys in the preparation of the brevis, an
outline of the liturgical assignments for the following day. Prescrip
tions vary for the oblates' role in the production of the brevis.
According to the Fleury customary from around the year 1000, a boy
reads the brevis in chapter. 32 The Liber tramitis indicates that the
group compiling the brevis included a child writing the incipits of the
responsories. 3 3 The Fruttuaria customary states that the boy who
reads in chapter must write in the brevis the names of the monks who
will perform responsories or antiphons. The cantor checks and
corrects the boy's work (and sometimes writes the brevis himself, if
necessary), but the boy carries the primary responsibility for writing
the brevis:
At all times, the boy who reads in chapter writes the entire brevis
up to the lesson, if he can, the day before it will be read aloud . . .
For feasts of three lessons he writes the names of the brothers
one day before and the responsories on the next day. On Saturday
the boy who is responsible for that week writes half of the brevis,
whether there are twelve lessons or three; the person who will
read the next day writes the other half. If the boy who reads in
chapter does not know how to write the brevis, his teacher does it
for him . . . The boy writes the whole brevis on Sunday and on
feasts of twelve lessons, except for the weekly server at mass,
and the reader at table and in the kitchen. The cantor writes
those three, but the boy writes all the others in order. 34
These three accounts of the brevis may indicate a progression over
time, reflecting an increase in the use of writing in liturgical training
during the eleventh century. While a boy reads the brevis written by
others in the earliest of the three texts, he helps others write it in the
Cluniac customary from about 1040, and in the Fruttuaria customary
he often writes the entire brevis himself.
The picture of liturgical training in the customaries can be
completed by didactic texts pertinent to singing and reading. 35
Medieval music theory treatises provide information on the basic
subjects of chant pedagogy: the Psalm tones, modes and intervals. 36
The Psalm tones, a set of recitation formulas for chanting the Psalms
in the divine office, were combined with various cadential formulas for
the termination of verses (differentiae). Performance of the Psalms
also required knowledge of their accentuation patterns for executing
the terminations. Thus chanting the Psalms entailed learning tones as
well as the texts, and also assimilating rules for applying the
appropriate differentia (Dyer, 1989). Since the choice of Psalm tone
and differentia depended on the mode of the antiphon chanted before
and after the Psalm, beginning students had to learn the church
modes, a system of tonal organization adopted in the Carolingian
period that provided parameters for the classification and memoriza
tion of chants. This body of knowledge corresponds to the 'cadences of
the modes and the divisions of the Psalms' taught by the succentor,
according to the Fleury customary, 37 Modes were distinguished by
characteristic tonal structures and melodic gestures that were
manifested in chants, in mnemonic formulas and in the organization of
tonaries. Expositions of modal theory with reference to specific chants,
which constitute a major component of treatises, could serve as examples
for teaching. Another way to internalize the modal system was to
memorize modal formulas in the form of model melodies set to texts
composed of nonsense syllables of Greek origin or to Latin scriptural
texts. 38 These formulas provided convenient paradigms that could help
a student determine the mode of a chant. Tonaries, which are lists of
chants grouped by mode, also had pedagogical and mnemonic
functions. Intervals were another essential component of chant theory;
knowledge of intervals enabled singers to understand the tonal
structure of chant melodies and to apply consonances and dissonances
correctly in polyphonic singing. Music theory treatises furnish the
rules that singers were taught to apply in singing polyphony.
14 Susan Boynton
While these aspects of music theory can tell us something about

how children learned the melodies of chants, information on how they
learned the texts is more elusive. Most methods for memorizing the
Psalms discussed in medieval texts do not seem designed for oblates.
Hugh of St Victor's Chronicon, for instance, describes a system of
facilitating the memorization of the Psalter by dividing it into distinct
components; after placing the Psalms in numerical order in a mental
grid, one memorizes the order of the whole Psalter, then the verses of
each Psalm (Carruthers, 1 990: 262-3). While this method presumes a
proficient reader, perhaps an adult Augustinian novice, Benedictine
child oblates probably learned the Psalms, office hymns and canticles
as they were acquiring their reading skills, and before any extensive
study of grammar. Germanic vernacular glosses on these texts
illustrate methods used for explaining them to students not yet
acquainted with Latin. While the vernacular glosses tend to focus on
translation, 39 the corpus of Latin glosses on the hymns is much more
diverse; those copied in liturgical chant manuscripts may offer new
evidence for liturgical training. As I argue elsewhere, by analogy with
glosses on school texts (such as Prudentius, Sedulius and Virgil) hymn
glosses probably preserve approaches to teaching the texts (Boynton,
1997; forthcoming). This is all the more probable because, as the
customaries indicate, liturgical books were used both by the cantor and
by his students for study purposes. Even if the extant glossed
hymnaries were not themselves employed directly in teaching, the
glosses may reflect the ways in which a cantor or his assistants would
teach hymn texts.
Hymn glosses in eleventh-century manuscripts address several
aspects of the hymns: lexicon, grammar, syntax, metre, style, doctrine
and textual criticism. The simpler lexical glosses include synonyms
and explanatory glosses supplying the referent of a pronoun or the
subject of a verb. More complex lexical glosses include equivalents
that offer interpretations of terms rather than synonyms, words and
etymologies. Grammatical glosses focus on the case of nouns and
syntactical glosses recast strophes in prose form in order to clarify
word order. Source glosses point out scriptural references. An
umbrella category of glosses most conveniently termed 'encyclopaedic'
encompasses a wide variety of subjects, from customs of Roman
antiquity to natural science and astronomy. Text-critical glosses
evaluate variants and propose emendations. The most sophisticated
glosses discuss the style and authorship of the hymns and elaborate on
theological points in the hymn text; the latter category also includes
statements of liturgical theology. All these gloss types appear in
combination in only a few manuscripts; most of the manuscripts with
hymn glosses contain primarily interlinear lexical and grammatical
glosses.4o
The wide range of glosses in hymnaries seems to reflect different
levels of study. The simpler glosses may shed light on methods of
teaching beginners, while more complex glosses illustrate the
reception of hymns in the context of more advanced grammatical

studies attested from late antiquity through the later Middle Ages.
That hymns were used to teach metre is shown by their appearance as
examples in treatises on metrics from Augustine to Alberic of Monte
Cassino. Artes lectoriae from the eleventh and twelfth centuries
(grammatical treatises intended to teach readers the pronunciation of
liturgical texts) discuss office hymns as well as other chants. The
textual emendations and commentary in these treatises could fulfil
several different functions, such as preventing incorrect performance
of the texts, explaining their theological content and helping librarians
emend the texts. The pedagogical function of hymns is also suggested
by their transmission in florilegia and by the presence of hymn
commentaries in late medieval grammatical manuscripts.41 Theological
glosses on the hymns, along with citations of hymns in theological
texts, suggest that they served to teach doctrine as well. With their
poetic language, rich theological content, formulaic melodies and
memorable rhythms, hymns demonstrate the didactic potential of
chant. Glosses on the hymns attest to the use of hymns not just in
liturgical training but in several levels of grammatical education,
exemplifying the multifaceted formation offered by the monastic
liturgy.
Additional information on liturgical training can be gleaned from
school texts, particularly scholastic colloquies that teach the lexicon
and organization of the liturgy by depicting scenes from monastic life.
The colloquies of .tElfric Bata, written around the year 1000, represent
an exceptionally rich source of information on monastic education in
Anglo-Saxon England, presented in a frame so vivid that a recent
commentary has called them 'monastic childhood come alive' (Gwara
and Porter, 1997: 2). Since they were designed to teach Anglo-Saxon
students the vocabulary and syntax needed to communicate in Latin on
a daily basis, the colloquies portray every aspect of life in a monastery.
A great many are conversations between students and teachers, in
which the liturgy is treated as a subject of monastic education (Gwara
and Porter, 1997: 10-1 1). Several aspects of liturgical training are
mentioned, including chants and readings to be learned, assignments
of specific items to the boys and study between the offices. In one
dialogue, the boys ask permission to go out and play before Vespers
because they have already learned their assignments, lessons,
responsories and antiphons; here, liturgical items are grouped with
other assignments (acceptos) , which are presumably set texts to be
memorized and later recited for the master.42 .tElfric Bata's colloquies
also present liturgical terminology in conversations taking place
outside the context of formal study. Monks in one dialogue discuss
going to Compline, citing versicles they will perform.4 3 In another,
negotiation between a boy scribe (addressed as tu, scriptor bone et
pulcher puer) and a potential client provides the opportunity to learn
the terms for several different kinds of liturgical books, which would be
useful vocabulary for students learning to take part in the liturgy.44 The
16 Susan Boynton
customaries indicate that boys were responsible for holding or

carrying books in a variety of liturgical contexts (Davril and Donnat,
1984: 53; Spatling and Dinter, 1987: I, 30, 1 47-8, 153; II: 1 43).
Two further colloquies reinforce the knowledge of liturgical
organization that boys would have learned both by participating in
offices and by preparing the brevis. The first of the two texts refers to
the distribution of Matins lessons and responsories in an order written
on the tabula (a liturgical listing written on a slate that is comparable
to the brevis). A boy who has missed Matins is asked which lesson or
responsory he should have sung; he responds with the numbering of
the items assigned to him on the tabula. The boy's response implies
that a classmate who attempted to substitute for him mixed up the
place of his assignments in the order on the tabula, which the boy
states was otherwise correctly observed (Gwara and Porter, 1997:
1 10). In learning this dialogue, a student not only acquired the Latin
vocabulary for discussing the order of lessons and responsories in the
Night Office, but also internalized the system of assignments with its
attendant responsibilities. The second text, a dialogue between the
boys and their teacher, makes more extensive and detailed reference
to the liturgy. The boys report that 'we read and sang all day, and we
wrote something before Prime and after Prime till Terce',45 an account
that corresponds to the study of reading, singing and writing between
offices as described in customaries. The boys mention further details
corroborated by the customaries (the versicles they sing before their
meal and while entering the church), as well as various aspects of
liturgical ceremonial (the names of the weekly officials who wore
vestments at Mass). This colloquy gives students' vocabulary for
describing liturgical actions.46 By carrying out monastic formation
through the medium of linguistic education, .tElfric Bata's colloquies
combined the acquisition of Latin with initiation into the organization
of the liturgy.
As the primary form of elementary monastic education, liturgical
training initiated children into both ritual and monastic discipline,
including the hierarchical organization of the monastery. The
redactors of the Cluniac customaries took pains to specify the order
in which readings and chants should be performed, teaching the pueri
the structures of seniority in the community. The Liber tramitis, for
instance, prescribes that children should read lessons according to the
hierarchies of age and seniority: younger ones reading before older
ones and recent arrivals reading before those who had entered the
community earlier. The writing of the brevis also initiated oblates into
the hierarchy that found daily expression in the assignment of chants
and readings according to status (Cochelin, 1996: 257-8). Thus the
liturgy was in many ways a school within the monastery, and its
incessant rhythm made liturgical training a constant preoccupation -
the central focus of monastic education and formation.
Notes
1 . Temporibus nostris super omnes homines fatui sunt cantores. In omni enim
arte valde plura sunt quae nostro sensu cognoscimus, quam ea quae a
magistro didicimus . . . Miserabiles autem cantores cantorumque discipuli,
etiamsi per centum annos cottidie cantent, numquam per se sine magistro
unam vel saltem parvulam cantabunt antiphonam, tantum tempus in
cantando perdentes, in quanta et divinam et secularem scripturam
potuissent plene cognoscere. Et quod super omnia mala magis est
periculosum, multi religiosi ordinis clerici et monachi psalmos et sacras
lectiones et nocturnas cum puritate vigilias, et reliqua pietatis opera, per
quae ad sempiternam gloriam provocamur et ducimur, neglegunt, dum
cantandi scientiam, quam consequi numquam possunt, labore assiduo et
stultissimo persequuntur (Guido of Arezzo, 1999a: 406- 10).
2. Et adulescentulis atque omnibus generaliter, quibus cantandi officium
iniunctum est, magna occasio stultae et noxiae occupationis aufertur. Ex
quibus quam plurimi ab ineunte pueritia usque ad senectutis canitiem
omnes dies uitae suae imparando et confirmando cantu expendunt, et totum
tempus utilium et spiritalium studiorum, legendi uidelicet et diu ina eloquia
perscrutandi, in istiusmodi occupatione consumunt (Van Acker, 198 1:
350).
3. Solum hoc confitebitur, quod hec ita faciat, sicut a magistro accepit et didicit
(Bernhard, 1989: 70-1). See also Boynton, 1999.
4. See Smits van Waesberghe, 1951; 1953; Rosa Barezzani, 1995. For a new
edition and translation with commentary of the Epistola ad Michahelem,
which presents Guido's new system for learning a melody, see Guido of
Arezzo, 1999b.
5. After completing my own analysis of references to child oblates in the
customaries, I found that many of the passages cited below are also
studied in Lahaye-Geusen, 1991: 241-57.
6. Ad horas omnes regulares singulos psalmorum versiculos pronuntiare, in
privatibus diebus antiphonam imponere, et quidquid cantatur ad missam
matutinalem, nisi sit aliquod magnum anniversarium; ad matutinas et
vesperas responsorium decantare, versus dicere; in aestate ad nocturnos
illam minimam et unicam lectionem dicere; in capitulo legere semper, in
refectorio nunquam (Herrgott, 1 726: 208).
7. Ut scolastici, postquam psalmi, cantica et hymni memoriae commendata
fuerint, regula, post regulae textum liber comitis, interim uero historiam
diuinae auctoritatis et expositores eius necnon et conlationes patrum et uitas
eorum legendo magistris eorum audientibus percurrant; Actuum praelimi
narium synodi primae aquisgranensis commentationes sive Statuta
Murbacensia (CCM 1, 1963: 442).
8. Quando autem in claustro nouitius sedet, debet firmare psalterium suum, et
cordetenus ad uerbum reddere, et postea hymnarium (Jocque and Milis,
1984: 1 07).
9. While some customaries refer to boys practising in the scola, this term
does not necessarily indicate an established physical space in the
monastic buildings; in the customaries, scola can mean the boys in a
group or a place where they study. See Tilliette, 1992: 65-7.
10. Knowles, 1967: 8: Infantes in capitulo cum luminaribus diligenter a
magistris custodiantur canentes quod necessarium erit aut si nimis
profunda nocte surrexerint pausent iacentes ad sedilia sua; Hallinger,
1983: 18, 287.
18 Susan Boynton
1 1 . Conuentus autem sedeat in claustro uacans lectioni. Si cui cantare opus est,
uocem ita supprimat ne alios inquietet. Armarius interim si opus est pueris
lectiones et quae docere necesse fuerit insinuet (Hallinger, 1983: 283).
12. Sedeant in claustro ad legendum vel cantandum et pueri in scolis suis
legant aperta voce quousque custos sonet signum . . . Post missam eant pueri
ad prandium, fratres vero sedeant ad lectionem in claustro. Pueri vero
exeuntes de refectorio legant iterum clara voce. Cum tempus fuerit, sonetur
Sexta. Post Sextam iterum sedeant in claustro et pueri legant aperte
(Hallinger, 1983: 394).
13. Huic frater probabilis ingenii solatia datur qui succentor nuncupatur. Nam
scole magister est acceptor infantum. In omni studio cantilenarum et
cottidiana cura tonorum diffinitiones et psalmorum distinctiones providus
disponit et divinum officium negligenter tractantes propellare in capitulo
solet (Davril and Donnat, 1984: 15).
14. See Fassler, 1985: 43, note 6 1 . Tilliette, 1992: 70, notes that the
magister was a supervisor, while the teacher was either the cantor or the
librarian.
15. Omni die diluculo postquam pueri tres psalmos, ut mos est, perlegerint,
continuo venit ad eos, ut illi, qui lecturus est in capitulo auscultet lectionem.
Ea etiam vice si ipsi pueri aliquid offendunt cantando vel legendo negligenter,
vel si minus diligenter cantum addiscunt, dignam ab eo disciplinam
experiuntur (Herrgott, 1726: 163). The corresponding passage in the
customary of Ulrich is almost identical (Ulrich of Zell: col. 749).
16. Ad nocturnos autem, imo ad omnes horas, si quid ipsi pueri offendunt in
psalmodia, vel in alia cantu, vel dormitando, vel aliquid tale ullo modo
committendo, minime differtur; absque mora frocco et cuculla exuti
iudicantur, et in sola camisia caeduntur (nisi laici sint in ecclesia, a
quibus videri possint) et hoc fit vel a priore, vel a praefato eorum magistro,
virgis vimineis levibus, et teretibus ad hoc provisis (Herrgott, 1 726: 2 0 1 ).
17. Si quis eorum oppressus somnolentia ad nocturnos non bene cantaverit,
magister dat ei in manus unum codicem grandiusculum, donee experge fiat
(Herrgott, 1 726: 204).
18. Si puer grauatur sopore ad opus dei, non quidem pro hoc omni hora est
uapulandus, sed cum uiderit eum magister saepe somno grauari, det
unumquemlibet libellum in sua brachia sustendandum, quousque de ipsa
pigritia eum excitet (Dinter, 1980: 223).
19. Qui bene lectionem ad Matutinas non legit et responsorium non cantauit et
ibi emendare non potu it, tunc non obliuiscitur; similiter qui ad collationem
et in refectorio, non obliuiscitur, et facit eum ante se legere exutum cuculla.
Quamdiu ibi stat magister puerorum nee ille, qui eis can tat, ullam
disciplinam pueris faciunt, et si iam puer exutus est cantor uenit, statim se
induit cum licentia illius, qui eum exuere fecit (Spatling and Dinter, 1987:
II, 1 38).
20. Pueri sedent in capitulo, et per aliquem praecinentem cantum addiscunt
(Ulrich of Zell: col. 687). The other common method of rote learning was
to repeat the chant after hearing it played on a monochord; Guido of
Arezzo characterizes this approach as suitable for beginners (Guido of
Arezzo, 1999b: 458-60).
2 1 . Exientes autem paruum fiat interuallum, uidelicet usquedum coadunentur
pueri cum magistris in scola et codices aperuerint et quantulumcumque
subter silentium leguerint (Dinter, 1980: 47).
22. Solis pueris conceditur in choro legere ad missam, cum in crastino debent
esse duodecim lectiones, aut cum praevident aliquam lectionem collationis,
vel huiusmodi; aut si aliquis eorum est novitius, poterit psalmos suos
firmare ad utramque missam, dum tacet conventus (Herrgott, 1 726: 204).
23. Nullus ibi aspicit in librum, nisi tam magnus puer sit, qui aliter discere
non possi!, et si duo sunt, apprehendunt tabulam et inter se ponunt et
librum desuper mittunt (Spatling and Dinter, 1987: II, 150-1).
24. The importance of the visual aid furnished by manuscripts apparently
increased in the twelfth century. Hugh of St Victor remarked that boys
had more trouble memorizing a text when they did not always use the
same copy of it, because a specific image was an essential part of the
memorization process. See Carruthers, 1990: 263.
25. Si est litteratus apprehensa confessione psalterium et ymnarius ei in
manum mittitur et usque ad unum annum, si ei necesse est, dimittitur. In
ecclesia ad missas in manu tenere et legere conceditur et cottidie unum
psalmum aut duos magistro suo reddere (Spatling and Dinter, 1987: II,
265).
26. Fratribus, quibus iniunctum est, cantum suum cotidie firmare et reddere,
debet armarius singulis libros, in quibus cantant, specialiter assignare . . .
Similiter his, qui psalm os et hymnos suos firmare habent, psalteria et
hymnarios, prout opus fuerit, distribuat . . . Debet autem armarius unum
antiphonarium uel duos et alios libros de cantu et psalteria et hymnarios in
communi proponere, in quibus ceteri fratres possint, quod prouidendum est,
prouidere (Jocque and Milis, 1984: 146).
27. Sed et legere, et cantare, et psallere alta et demissa uoce, prout tempora
deposcunt, eum ibidem faciat et omnia, quae in publico acturus fuerit, prius
in secreto praetemptet et assuescat (Jocque and Milis, 1984: 107).
28. Deinceps postquam ad conuentum uenerit, debet abbas, si prior magister ei
uacare non potest, aliquem prouidere alium, qui eum assidue doceat et cui
ille cotidie lectionem suam reddat, qui etiam eum instruere debet et docere
ea, quae eum specialiter in choro cantare uel legere oportet, id est
antiphonas et responsoria, lectiones, uersiculos et cetera talia, et quando et
quomodo cantare uel legere debeat ostendere (Jocque and Milis, 1984: 109-
10).
29. Deinde abbas, aduocato armario, iubet ut in breui ponatur ad legendum et
ad cantandum, secundum scientiam suam et possibilitatem, ad lectiones et
ad responsoria et antiphonas ad horas (Jocque and Milis, 1984: 1 10).
30. Postquam nouitius plene ad conuentum admissus fuerit, magister eius non
tamen curam eius omnino postponere debet, sed saepius cum eo loqui sicut et
prius (Jocque and Milis, 1984: 1 1 1).
3 1 . Quotiens hystoriae aliquae, siue de sanctis, siue de tempore, quae graues
sunt et inusitatae, in ecclesia cantari debent, tempestiue debet armarius
fratres in capitulo praemonere, ut ea, quae cantanda sunt, diligenter
praeuideant . , . Fratribus, quibus iniunctum est cantum suum firmare,
debet armarius uel aliqui de senioribus, quibus abbas in capitulo iusserit,
assistere, qui et eos, si errauerint, corrigant et lectiones eorum, quando
reddere uoluerint, audiant (Jocque and Milis, 1984: 146-7).
32. Qua soluta brevem pronunctiat puer divini officii (Davril and Donnat,
1984: 49).
33. Die sabbatorum debent esse quattuor qui breuem faciant quorum infans qui
scribat capita responsoriorum . . . In duodecim lectiones sint tres: armarius,
cantor, infans (Dinter, 1980: 238-9).
34. Nam omni tempore ipsum breuem puer, qui in capitulo legit, uno die
antequam pronuncietur totum scribit usque ad lectionem, si potest . . . In
tribus lectionibus scribit nomina fratrum uno die ante et responsoria in
20 Susan Boynton
crastinum. Sabbato autem puer, qui ebdomadam tenet, medietatem scribit

siue duodecim lectiones sint siue tres, qui autem in crastinum legit, aliam
medietatem. Puer, qui in capitulo legit, si nescit facere breuem, magister
suus, qui eum docet, facit pro eo uel cui ipse cantor precipit . . . Scribit puer
totum breuem in dominica et in duodecim lectionibus excepto ebdomadario
misse et mense lectoris et coquine. Ista tria cantor scribit, cetera omnia puer
scribit ita per ordinem (Spatling and Dinter, 1987: II, 1 39).
35. Thorough coverage of this subject is not possible here because of space
limitations; the following discussion aims to present briefly the most
essential concepts that were central to the instruction of beginners.
36. For a convenient summary of the aspects of early music theory relevant
to chant, see Hiley, 1993: 442-77.
37. See above, note 13.
38. Edited in Bailey, 1974.
39. On Anglo-Saxon hymn and Psalm glosses, see Gasquet, 1908; on Anglo
Saxon hymn glosses, see Milfull, 1996; on Old High German hymn
glosses, see Sievers, 1874; on Irish hymn glosses, see Bernard and
Atkinson, 1897.
40. For the typology of the glosses, see Boynton, 1997: 1 07-72; 2001.
41. For a survey of evidence (besides hymn glosses) for the pedagogical
function of the hymns, see Boynton, 1997: 184-91 , 203-18.
42. Mihi uidetur, quod uespertina hora prope sit modo. Sic et nobis. Sed non est
uespera tamen adhuc. Domne magister, licet nobis ludere paulisper, quia
modo scimus bene nostros acceptos et nostras lectiones et responsoria nostra
et antiphonas nostras? (Gwara and Porter, 1997: 94)
43. Pergamus ad completorium. Faciamus 'adiutorium nostrum in nomine
Domini, qui fecit celum et terram ' et iterum 'sit nomen Domini benedictum
ex hoc nunc et usque in seculum' (Gwara and Porter, 1997: 1 06).
44. Scribe mihi prius unum psalterium aut hymnarium aut unum epistolarium
uel unum tropiarium seu unum missale librum aut unum bonum
itinerarium siue capitularium unam bene digestam et ordinatam (Gwara
and Porter, 1997: 1 34).
45. Nos legimus, et cantauimus tota die, et scripsimus aliquid ante primam et
post primam usque ad tertiam (Gwara and Porter, 1997: 88-90).
46. Since linguistic formation was the main purpose of the colloquies, it is
interesting to note that a term for the hours of the office, sinaxes, is
glossed with the Anglo-Saxon gloss 'ure tida' in the manuscript edited by
Gwara and Porter (Oxford, St John's College, 154, fol. 164r). This is
another example of liturgical training through the study of Latin (Gwara
and Porter, 1997: 90).
3 Besides the book: using the
body to mould the mind
Cluny in the tenth and
eleventh centuries
Isabelle Cochelin
To you your father should be as a god;

One that compos'd your beauties, yea, and one
To whom you are but as a form in wax
By him imprinted, and within his power
To leave the figure or disfigure it.
Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night 's Dream, I, i, 4 7-51
The theory of late twentieth-century education focuses almost
exclusively on the development of the mind but in practice school
teachers complain bitterly that they do little more than police the
behaviour of their students. It would be fascinating to investigate what
this dilemma tells us about our ideals and limitations in constructing
the society of tomorrow, but before doing so it is worthwhile to
observe earlier modes of education. Studies show that book or skill
learning was rarely the only goal in former times; the overlapping
topics of religion, ethics and manners were also fundamental to
education (e.g. Ozment, 1983: 136ff). In this context, control of the
body occupied a conspicuous place (e.g. Foucault, 1975: 137ff). As Roy
Porter wrote recently in a collection of articles assembled by Peter
Burke in New Perspectives on Historical Writing:
A history of education which exclusively concentrates on the
achievement of skills such as reading and writing will miss one of
the prime functions of the ragged, charity or elementary school in
the past: instilling physical obedience, or education as a process
of breaking children in. (Porter, 1992: 219)
The Cluniacs, the subject of this chapter, did not believe that they
needed to 'break in' the child to make him fit the monastic life;
however, they certainly did not pay attention only to his mind. For
them, the puer was essentially an empty vessel which needed both to
be moulded physically, and filled up spiritually and intellectually in
order to mature into a perfect monk. The purpose of this chapter is to
stress the great principles guiding this training,l and particularly the
important role of the body. In other words, I will not dwell on the
22 Isabelle Cochelin
specific content of Cluniac education (books read, techniques learned,

etc.), nor its goals (primarily memorization of the liturgy and
disciplina), but consider rather its method through an analysis of the
perception and treatment of the members of the schola. At the heart of
this topic lies an intriguing paradox: Cluniacs viewed themselves as the
terrestrial mirrors of the celestial angels.2 Yet flesh played a central
role in their training.
No other monastery of the central Middle Ages has left so many
texts on the daily life of the monks as Cluny. From the two and half
centuries between the foundation of the abbey in 910 and the death of
its last great abbot, Peter the Venerable, in 1 156, twenty-two vitae and
five customaries remain. 3 Previous studies have already proved the
usefulness of the vitae for the understanding of early medieval
education (e.g. Merdrignac, 1986; Heinzelmann, 1990: 105-38). The
custom aries are less well known and their value in this regard may
require some explication. The two oldest Cluniac customaries, the
consuetudines antiquiores (Hallinger, 1983), written at the beginning of
the eleventh century, are like ordinaries in the sense that they offer a
detailed portrait of the liturgical year. However, the later three - the
Liber tramitis (Dinter, 1980), written in various steps around 1040,
and the works of Ulrich of Ze1l4 and Bernard of Cluny (Herrgott, 1726),
composed around 1080 - offer details about all practical aspects of the
life of a Cluniac monk. Except for Bernard's customary, which was
written as a reference manual for the novices of Cluny, these extensive
texts were written for non-Cluniac monasteries desirous of imitating
the Cluniac way of life. In Cluny itself, before the Ordo cluniacensis
(Herrgott, 1726), most customs were transmitted orally (Herrgott,
1 726: 134; Iogna-Prat, 1992b: 30-1). The customaries cannot there
fore be compared to monastic rules and downplayed as mere
prescriptive sources, offering an ideal construction unrelated or
tenuously related to reality (Donnat, 1992: 14-1 5 ; Iogna-Prat, 1 992b:
26-8). Nor are they simply realistic descriptions of daily life in
eleventh-century Cluny. Rather, they offer a selective snapshot of the
customs followed by the Cluniacs. But the very process of selection is
meaningful. Indeed, the various authors of the customaries strove to
outline everything they considered worthy of admiration in Cluny's
activities. In this context, what they chose to incorporate about the
training of the monks, as well as what they decided not to elaborate
upon, is meaningful.
In Cluny, two types of newcomers required education to become
monks: child oblates given to the monastery by their parents, and adult
converts. Only the children are considered in this chapter. They
constituted, in terms of numbers, the more prominent group of the
two, at least until the second half of the eleventh century (Cochelin,
1998: 35-6). Various nouns are used in the vitae and customaries to
designate them: pueri, in/antes and schola are the most common. This
diversity of terms should not conceal the fact that this group was very
clearly defined: the schola united all the children before they reached
Cluny in the tenth and eleventh centuries 23
puberty, i.e. usually before the age of fifteen.5 After this point in their
physical development they were considered youths, iuuenes, and taken
out of the schola; they then had to make their profession, and join the
ranks of the adult monks. In other words, the closing of the first and
most important stage of monastic education, the one dispensed in the
schola, was signalled by a bodily change, the appearance of puberty,
and not by some specific step in mental maturation.
The adult monks' perception of their younger brothers should first
be discussed. Indeed, the manner in which the educators looked at
their pupils is inseparable from the pedagogical techniques they
devised to transform these pupils into full-fledged monks. As a whole,
the Cluniac discourse on pueritia is derogatory, even if occasionally
compassionate. This does not mean that the Cluniacs did not like their
oblates,6 but rather that they did not look at them as we gaze at little
ones today. This divergence is obviously meaningful to our topic.7 I will
not discuss all the manifold characteristics of this discourse on
childhood, but rather will concentrate on the themes which are
important to understanding the training of the oblates: the perception
of the child's inferiority, his innocence/ignorance and finally his
docility/levity.
Through the customaries we learn that their fellow brothers
exaggerated the childishness of the oblates and their inferior status.
For instance, in the sign language used by the monks, an oblate was
symbolized by bringing the little finger to the mouth as if to suck it.8
The little finger was probably preferred to the thumb because it
evoked the adjective paruus small, inferior (Herrgott, 1 726: 1 72).
-
Therefore, the gesture for the oblate both exaggerated his young age -
the majority of the oblates were between the ages of seven and
fourteen, and would have long ceased to suck their thumbs - and
underlined his position of inferiority.
This inferior position is best observed in the hierarchical structure
of the Cluniac community. This structure is of fundamental importance
given that, again and again throughout the day, the monks positioned
themselves hierarchically: in church, in the refectory, in the chapter, in
procession. In this configuration, the pueri were assigned the bottom
places, below all the adult brothers. One might comment that in the
past this perception of the child as an inferior was scarcely unusual;
but the inferiority of the child is far from obvious in a spiritual context.
Besides Christ's comments regarding the eminent place reserved to
the little ones in Paradise (Matthew 19: 13-15; Mark 10: 13-16; Luke
18:15- 16), Benedict had specifically required in his rule that age not
be considered as an organizing factor, but rather seniority and,
occasionally, spiritual progress: in other words, a ten-year-old oblate
who entered the convent at the age of five should theoretically be
above a recently converted fifty-year-old man.9 But the Cluniacs
disregarded this rule, as illustrated for instance in the numerous
descriptions of processions given in the customaries (e.g. Dinter,
1 980: 23, 4 1 , 52, 69, 78, 89, 104, 108, 1 1 5, 1 5 1 , 242, 270, 275, 284).
Cluniacs neglected equally Benedict's regulation demanding that a

iunior (in seniority) calls a prior 'nonnus ' while being called 'frater'
(RE 63:12). In the Burgundian monastery, monks called each other
'Domnus'; 'frater' was only used to name an oblate (Herrgott, 1726:
1 77; Ulrich of Zell, 1853: col. 709C). As these examples show, Cluniacs
perceived all children as spiritually inferior to adults, regardless of
their individual development. This implies that no form of interchange
was envisaged between the educators and the educated. Rather, the
educators were reaching down to the educated to lift them up to their
own superior status.
While the customaries focus mostly on the daily activities, the vitae
give us the opportunity to explore more deeply the Cluniac perception
of childhood and, henceforth, their approach to education. Compared
to other hagiographic collections (Burrow, 1986: 105-6; Merdrignac,
1986: 94-7; Giannarelli, 1991: 44-5; Cochelin, 1992: 137; long, 1996:
1 35ff), the Cluniac corpus seems less tolerant towards the first age of
the life cycle. Given that three of these collections date from the early
Middle Ages, this discrepancy cannot be explained only by the fact that
Cluniac sources are mostly pre-twelfth-century; that is, they precede
the emergence of a more positive image of childhood. Through the
Cluniac vitae, we learn that monks looked down upon childhood
because they saw no special quality in this age, unlike the other ages of
the life cycle. Old saints were occasionally lauded for their youthful
vitality;lO far more frequently, saints in their childhood or youth were
acclaimed for behaving as old men; however, no young or old saint, nor
any other individual portrayed in the vitae, was ever praised for having
shown a quality specific to children. Indeed some saints were glorified
for having presented no feature of childhood whatsoever while in this
age.1l Even so, some positive characteristics were occasionally
mentioned in the descriptions of children. These can usually be
connected with faults also linked with the first age. Two of these
antithetic pairs are important to an understanding of Cluniac
education: the child's innocence/ignorance and his docility/levity.
One positive attribute was occasionally linked to the first age -
innocence. The association between innocence and childhood was not
inherited from Roman antiquity and was probably a contribution of
Christianity. However, the Fathers of the Church made distinctions
between childish innocence and adult innocence because the first was
based on the child's ignorance (Clark, 1994: 20-7).12 A similar
discourse can be found in the Cluniac vitae: innocence is not presented
as a characteristic specific to childhoodl 3 and, when linked with this
age, has much to do with children's lack of (impure) knowledge (Peter
Damian, 1853: col. 927B; Jotsald, 1880: col. 9 1 7A; Huygens, 1980a:
40). Connecting the childhood traits of innocence and ignorance
indicates that the Cluniacs perceived the oblate as an entity devoid of
any knowledge, an empty vessel.
If innocence was the most frequent positive attribute connected to
childhood, the lack of grauitas was the most frequent fault the Cluniac
hagiographers associated with it. Children were accused of leuitas or

lasciuia - this last fault being usually different from the lasciuia
occasionally assigned to youth.14 This accusation is inseparable from
the recurrent criticisms made regarding the child's manner of speech,
activities and bodily behaviour. Hagiographers complain about his
'pueriles ineptiae et lenocinia uerborum', 'nugales ineptiae', 'infantiles
iocositates et ineptiae', 'aniles fabulae et uerborum obscenitates', 'lusus
obsceni et actus' or 'insolentia puerilis et motus incomposites' . 15 When
Peter the Venerable noticed in the first half of the twelfth century that
the coming of age was generally not accompanied by a change in
behaviour, he decided to delay the final phase of profession until the
age of twenty. He summarized the Cluniac discourse on childhood's
faults to justify his new statute:
The cause for this ruling was the too rapid admission of children.
Before they might possess any form of rational intelligence, they
are vested with the clothes of the sacred religion and mixed with
others, perturbing everybody with their inept puerilities.
(Constable, 1975: 70-1)
To convince his brethren of the necessity of his statute, Peter used
commonplace accusations against children, even though they were not
really appropriate for individuals aged fifteen and more. The child was
therefore perceived as someone who ceaselessly changed his mind and
mood, whose speech and gestures were devoid of meaning. This
conviction goes hand in hand with the belief that he was a malleable
individual adorned by an impressionable memory.l6 In other words, the
fault of levity (in its traditional sense of inconstancy and fickleness)
can be linked with a positive characteristic of childhood - docility. This
meant that the child was perceived as both incapable of reason, but
also extremely flexible, a soft material that could be easily moulded.
Overall the Cluniac hagiographers paid little attention to children,
saints or not, but the little they said helps give meaning to the long
sections of the customaries explaining oblates' activities and relation
ships with adults. The first intriguing characteristic of Cluniac education
was the passive role assigned to the child, both in the handling of his
body and his mind. This treatment of the oblate is of course inseparable
from the perception of childhood which I have just discussed. For the
Cluniacs, the child was devoid of reason and imbued with few or no
qualities; everything had therefore to come from outside. This passivity
was not limited to education. Outside or inside the cloister, the Cluniacs
invariably depicted the child as someone acted upon, never acting, i.e. a
person without agency. The best illustration of this phenomenon can be
found in the vitae. Even the saints, 'super-humans' who should have
been able to transcend any human limitations, were always portrayed as
quiescent children whose destiny was decided between their parents
and God. The sole exceptions were Maleul, who had been an orphan,
and some twelfth-century saints (Hugh of Semur and most of the new
recruits depicted in Peter the Venerable's De miraculis (Bouthillier:
1988)). This passivity assigned to the Cluniac saints in the tenth- and
eleventh-century vitae is singular when compared to the independence
manifested by the child saints in the hagiographic sources of the first
centuries (Boulhol, 1990), and the later Middle Ages (Weinstein and
Bell, 1982: 45-6). The reading of the customaries tells us that this
hagiographic depiction of the child as a subdued individual reflected
Cluny's mode of functioning: the oblate shared all aspects of the life of
the monks inside the cloister, but was never an initiator, only an
imitator. For instance, contrary to what scholars have thought in the
past (e.g. Deroux, 1927: 14- 15; Jong, 1996: 136), children did not take
an active part in the chapters. They sat in them, but had to keep quiet;
discussions of the abbey's administration, even denunciations of the
brothers' faults, were the prerogative of the adult monks (Herrgott,
1726: 167; Cochelin, 1996: 232-6).
With respect to education, the passivity of the child is best observed
in the acquisition of knowledge. Most of the hagiographers describe
the process by using the verb imbuere, meaning to impregnate, to soak
in, to imbueY The finest description of this process can be found in
the Life of Odo of Cluny rewritten by the monk Nalgod in the 1 120s.
Typical of this author (and the vitae of the twelfth century generally)
are a keener attention paid to education and hints of tenderness
regarding childhood that are absent from the earlier writings, including
the tenth-century text he used as his model. In the story, Odo had just
been weaned when he was sent to a far-away priest to be educated.
The priest instructed the child he had received with kindness and
smoothness, as his very fragile age required. He imbued his
untaught infancy with the rudiments of the letters. He was doubly
careful with the child to inculcate in him the [right] path by his
honest discourse and to pour the rivers of science into his tender
but tenacious memory. (Nalgod, 1680: col. 87A)
The verbs used in this excerpt, 'instituere ', 'jubere', 'inculcare',
'transfundere', all express the conviction that education consisted in
pouring knowledge into a passive receptacle. A caricatured image of
this process might be that children were bodies into which the monks
poured spirit. I will go even further, perhaps too far, by evoking
Genesis 2:7 as an interesting parallel: 'And the Lord God formed man
of the slime of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life,
and man became a living soul.'18 In both cases, the process of
spiritualization, symbolized by raising someone or something from the
earth closer to the Divine, has been made possible by having spirit or
knowledge insufflated into it. More pragmatically, one notes that
Cluniacs perceived children's memorization primarily as a passive
phenomenon. This raises the question (which cannot be answered in
this short chapter) whether the calculative ability of medieval memory
described by Carruthers was developed during a monk's later life
stages, or was a result of different methods of education in cathedral
schools and universities (Carruthers, 1990: 19; Jaeger, 1994: 22).
Another illustration of the monks' conviction that an oblate's mind

was too immature to participate in education, and that other means
were needed to educate him, is found in the modes of punishment
designed for him. Benedict was convinced that children were unable to
understand excommunication or any other form of psychological
punishment; he therefore recommended that they be punished
physically:
Every age and level of understanding should receive appropriate
treatment. Therefore, as often as boys and young, or those who
cannot understand the seriousness of the penalty of excommu
nication, are guilty of misdeeds, they should be subjected to
severe fasts or checked with sharp strokes so that they may be
healed. (RB: 30; d. also RB: 45)
The Cluniacs followed Benedict on this matter: fasts (e.g. Dinter, 1 980:
2 1 7, 2 1 9) and far more often whippings (e.g. Herrgott, 1 726: 163, 202;
Ulrich of Zell, 1853: col. 744B) were used to correct oblates. However,
one innovation may be attributed to them: children falling asleep
during Nocturns were normally whipped (Herrgott, 1 726: 201; Ulrich
of Zell, 1853: col. 742-3; Dinter, 1980: 223), but if the problem was
recurrent, they were given a book to hold instead (Herrgott, 1 726: 204;
Dinter, 1 980: 223). Whipping was extremely common in former times
and the question to ask is not why, but how often. Anselm of
Canterbury's complaints about excessive beating (Southern, 1979: 20-
1, 37-8) have no Cluniac equivalent, either because the Cluniacs
showed moderation and did not need such an exhortation, or because
they did not care as much. Nevertheless, the book used during
Nocturns might be an indication that they tried to resolve one of the
most pressing problems facing oblates - sleeping during the nightly
hours of the Divine Office - through other means than repeated
whipping. In any case, fasts, whippings and holding books are perfect
cases of 'using the body to mould the mind': corporal punishments
were applied to the flesh to impress the mind and to modify it. Here
again, the position of the child in the educative process was completely
passive: he was holding books, receiving blows, suffering fasts.
Inseparable from this first characteristic of Cluniac education is a
second one: to ensure that the oblate was never doing anything on his
own and to teach him proper behaviour in all circumstances, an
unceasing surveillance was maintained. Here again, the body of the
child was given a crucial importance. This surveillance was not only
related to the child's training. Cluniacs also kept a close watch on the
oblates to prevent any contact between them and the adults. They
feared that the adults, especially the adolescents, might become
physically attracted to the children.l9 Moreover, one can guess that in
their attempt to duplicate on earth the angelic life, they wanted to
avoid childish disruptions in the cloister. No teasing putti fitted their
vision of Paradise. Whatever the prevailing causes (fear of paedophilia,
quest for perfection, education), the formative years of the Cluniac
oblate were marked by extremely strict supervISIOn. No free time

outside the cloister was ever allowed to the children (at least,
according to the customaries). In this respect, the Cluniacs seem to
have been harsher than other monastic communities.20 Whatever he
was doing, wherever he was going, with whomever he was talking, the
child was always supervised by an adult monk, usually his master.21
This somewhat oppressive regime is more particular to later
customaries, those of the 1 080s. The increasing elaboration of the
customaries throughout the eleventh century probably testifies to the
growing desire of the Cluniacs to bring perfection to the tiniest details
of their daily life, including the activities of their oblates. For the
oblates, this meant less and less freedom of movement. For instance,
the Liber tramitis mentioned times when the oblates were allowed to
speak freely to each other inside the schola; these intervals were less
numerous than the ones allotted to the adults, but did exist (Dinter,
1980: 220). However, in the Ordo cluniacensis an oblate had to ask
permission of the master to speak to another child; and, once the
master had agreed, the message had to be delivered in front of all the
schola (Herrgott, 1 726: 204). Another illustration of this increasing
vigilance is given by the transformation of the function of the
children's masters. If, in the older vitae and customaries, the masters
in charge of the children had an educative role to fulfil (in the
traditional sense of teaching singing, reading and writing) , this role is
no longer mentioned by the late eleventh century. By then, teaching
had been allotted to the second of the armarius, with the armarius
supervising the work done. The masters seem to have been restricted
to the single duty of surveillance.
The third and last important characteristic of the Cluniac training is
the role played by imitation: the child repeated the behaviour and
sayings of the elders in order to perform the rituals correctly and to
memorize them progressively. Before it becomes a mental activity,
imitation is a physical one. The whole body or the mouth duplicates
certain gestures or sounds. The previous citation from the Life of Odo
of Cluny by Nalgod mentioned the two main goals of the Cluniac
training: teaching the child the 'rivers of science' and 'the right path'.
In other words, oblates should be imbued with intellectual knowledge
and disciplina. Imitation played a fundamental role in the attainment of
both objectives. Susan Boynton (Chapter 2) explains how the
acquisition of reading, writing and singing skills by children was
mostly based on imitation. I would like to use the rest of this essay to
discuss the other goal of Cluniac training, learning the disciplina, and
show how imitation was here also essential.
Besides the liturgy, the discipline of the monastery is the most
important topic of the customaries. When William, the abbot of Hirsau,
asked Ulrich of Zell to redact the customs of Cluny for him, he
explained that he did not know another ecclesia which was similar in
life and regular discipline (Ulrich of Zell, 1853: col. 644A). In answer
to William's demand, Ulrich wrote a first book devoted to liturgy and a
second entitled De disciplina regulari. Disciplina signifies primarily the

correct ensemble of gestures needed to perform each non-liturgical
activity (Illmer, 1971: 31). Ulrich was hesitant to comply with William's
request to expose for him the Cluniac discipline, because he had not
been an oblate at Cluny (Ulrich of Zell, 1853: col. 644A).22 This means
that oblates were especially well trained in this respect. How did they
learn the thousands of customs detailed in Ulrich's and Bernard's
texts? It was not through books or special lectures. The customaries
occasionally describe the children reading or singing in the schola, but
never learning about the disciplina regularis. Rather, they acquired it
by participating in every activity of the monastic community: in the
dormitory, the refectory, the choir, the cloister, the mill, the fields -
the oblates are always mentioned beside the adult monks. In all these
various locations, they reproduced the gestures of their elders.23 To
give one proof a contrario, I mentioned earlier that the children had no
right to speak in the chapter; however, they were still attending them.
Moreover, they had the opportunity to learn how to behave rightly in
this context through their own private chapter, in which they had to
accuse each other of their faults (Herrgott, 1726: 207; Ulrich of Zell,
1853: col. 744B-C; Hallinger, 1983: 12). In other words, children
learned the disciplina by mimicking the gestures of their elders. They
also learned in this way the most important monastic duty, the
celebration of the opus Dei. Some explanations of these different
activities were given by the adults, as Susan Boynton's study of the
liturgical glosses has shown for the liturgy (Boynton, 1997: 192ff);
however, the oblate was probably acquiring understanding of most of
his functions inside the monastery like any apprentice, that is through
time and experience. The flesh was therefore used as an avenue to
reach and form the inner self.
Most of what I have said in this chapter could also relate to certain
boarding schools prior to the 1960s (Deroux, 1927: 38, 48; Bouille,
1988: 126ff 1 58ff). However, it is possible to emphasize some of
'
Cluny's characteristics, besides the obvious religious factor. The great
importance given to imitation, that is learning outside of books and the
classroom by repeating the gestures of the elders, is more typical to
occupations demanding a great degree of physical knowledge. A
parallel can then be drawn with the two other orders of eleventh
century society, laboratores and bellatores, whose training primarily
required the acquisition of physical knowledge. The Cluniacs were
probably much more similar to them than they wished to be. Two other
elements that must be taken into account in order to understand the
specificity of Cluniac education are the ideals of virginity and stabilitas.
The surveillance of the oblates was increased since they were
perceived as potential objects of desire, i.e. threats to perfection, as
well as virginal individuals to be treasured and preserved. In terms of
passivity, unlike the medieval clerics (or any boarding school student)
the oblates did not have the opportunity to leave the religious life
when reaching adulthood. This should be taken into account when
contrasting monastic education with the one offered in the cathedral

schools. Finally, the factor of time must also be considered. By the late
eleventh century, when Ulrich and Bernard wrote their customaries,
the Cluniac quest to construct a perfect community producing perfect
monks had given an increasing importance to customs. Under these
conditions, surveillance over the oblates was increased, as was their
confinement to a passive role. However, already by the end of the
eleventh century, distinct voices were being heard. First, increasing
criticisms against the overwhelming monastic customs were made, for
instance by the Cistercians. Second, far more adult converts were
entering the convent, and their superior mental capacities were
quickly recognized (e.g. Herrgott, 1 726: 2 10; Ulrich of ZeB, 1853: col.
747-8; Constable, 1975: 97). Third, possibly because these late
converts brought with them a different (lay) perception of childhood,
and/ or possibly because the religious sentiment was changing and
increased attention was being paid to the more fragile elements of
society, the presentation of the first age was slowly becoming less
negative. This new perception of childhood would probably have had
an impact on monastic education in the long term if oblation of boys
had not progressively declined from around the same period.
Before this change took place, however, Cluniac training gave to the
body a striking importance: first, because according to the custom
aries, most of what young and old recruits had to learn concerned
liturgy and the disciplina, both relying heavily on the performance of
the correct bodily gestures; and second, because child training was
based on three principles - passivity, surveillance and imitation -
which all focused at least partly on the child's body. This confirms the
statement made recently by various scholars that medieval discourse
on the body was ambivalent, as the flesh was simultaneously despised
and perceived as one possible locus of the sacred (e.g. Schmitt, 1990:
18; Bynum, 1992: 182; Jaeger, 1 994). In Cluny, a context particularly
interesting as it concerns a male monastic community prior to the
twelfth century (implicitly used as a counter-example by Schmitt,
Bynum and Jaeger), the bodily movements of the monks were strictly
supervised by fear of inappropriate behaviour, and yet organized in a
perfect choreography envied by other abbeys. The Cluniac paradise
was certainly not a world of pure spirits. In their resplendent
monastery, adorned lavishly with gold, silver and marble, Cluniacs
busied themselves to please God's sight through their speeches and
perfected bodies.
Notes
1 . I will b e using the terms 'monastic education' and 'monastic training'

interchangeably to designate the learning process involved in becoming a
Cluniac. Monastic education was part and parcel of the apprenticeship of
the monastic life (Leclercq, 1 957). Therefore, in this context, it would be
artificial to separate education from training, and it is more appropriate
to discuss them as a whole, at least occasionally.
2. Cf. for instance Ulrich of Zell's Cluniac customary ('alter paradisus';
Ulrich of Zell, 1853: col. 7 3 1 ) and Peter Damian's letter to Hugh of
Semur, the sixth abbot of Cluny ( 1 049- 1 109), PL 1 44 (1853): col. 374-8,
and Marrier and Duchesne, 1 9 1 5c: col. 447-8. Cf. also Iogna-Prat, 1 988:
332-40, and more generally Milis, 1992.
3. Cf. Donnat, 1992; Iogna-Prat, 1992a; 1992b; 1998: 67-70. The
customaries describe Cluny and can be directly tied with the Burgundian
abbey, but this is not the case with all twenty-two vitae. My list is
inclusive rather than exclusive, as I have considered all the vitae written
by or for the ecclesia cluniacensis between 9 1 0 and 1 156.
4. For bibliographical information see Ulrich of Zell, 1853, in the
Bibliography at the end of this volume.
5. RE: 70:4; Herrgott, 1 726: 2 0 1 ; Ulrich of Zell, 1853: col. 742B. In a
society in which age was rarely known, the first growth of beard was
sometimes the sign chosen to decide when a young man should be
incorporated into the group of the adults (d. Ulrich of Zell, 1853: col.
747-8; William of Hirsau, 1881: col. 934D; Bartlett, 1994: 43-4);
however Bernard does not repeat Ulrich's words on this matter
(Herrgott, 1 726: 2 1 0) and the Liber tramitis only speaks of the tempus
consecrationis (Dinter, 1 980: 228). Gratian mentions puberty, which
usually marks the end of pueritia and entrance into adulthood (Friedberg,
1879-8 1: c.20, q. I , col. 843-54; also d. Metz, 1976: 13).
6. Three of the vitae of Hugh of Semur ( t 1 1 09) tell the story of an oblate
killed in the choir by a fallen rock, of which two mention the grief of the
brethren: Hildebert of Lavardin, 1881: col. 877 A; Cowdrey, 1978: 77;
Huygens, 1 980a: 53-4; 1980b: 65-6 (who repeats the story without
evoking the monks' sadness). A touching anecdote describes Odilo
(tI049) calling the oblates of Saint-Denis to come admire an enormous
fish which had just been taken in the Seine (Jotsald, 1880: col. 922B).
Peter Damian did not keep this story in his new version of Odilo's Life,
dated 1063. This is the only lively tale of the oblates given in all the
Cluniac vitae. Another amusing scene concerning children outside the
cloister is found in the first vita of Odo of Cluny (t942). John of Salerno,
his disciple and hagiographer, recounts that Odo enjoyed asking children
he met along the roads to sing to amuse his travelling companions (John
of Salerno, 1881: col. 63B).
Examples of criticisms of childhood are more common. The most
extreme case is found in Odo's vita of Gerald of Aurillac: 'Nam in prima
aetate, ut saepe videmus, incitamentis corruptae naturae, solent parvuli
irasci, et invidere, et velte ulcisci, vel alia hujusmodi attentare' (Odo of
Cluny, 1881: col. 644C). It is significant that the abbreviator of the Vita
Ceraldi, who wrote not long after, changed the words (i.e. he did not
repeat mechanically the sentence of his predecessor), but he kept the
accusations (Anonymous, 1890: 394). However, he removed the most
negative comment, the reference to the corrupt nature of children. Odo
is the only Cluniac author to mention this concept, which was more
current in the Protestant literature of the Reformation (Ozment, 1983:
138-9, 1 6 1ff).
7. For the last forty years, ever since Philippe Aries published his history of
childhood (English translation, 1962), the bibliography on the topic has
increased conspicuously. Following in his footsteps, many scholars have
adopted an extreme position, depicting medieval childhood in excessively
sombre or optimistic colours. Overall, the most reliable studies have
been those based on a well-delineated corpus of sources, such as Desclais
Berkvam, 1981 or Hanawalt, 1993. For an overview of the topic: Shahar,
1990 (on monasteries: 19 1ff). On the life in the monastery, besides the
studies already cited in this article: Jong, 1996 and the numerous articles
by Riche, the latest being Riche and Alexandre-Bidon, 1997: 1 3-14.
8. Herrgott, 1726: 1 70-3; Ulrich of Zell, 1853: col. 704A. On the monastic
sign languages: Jarecki, 1981; Umiker-Sebeok and Sebeok, 1987.
9. RE: 63: 1 ; but it is already clear in the Rule that the strict application of
the principle of seniority was problematic regarding children: Benedict
felt obliged both to justify his decision (RE: 63:5-8) and to limit its use to
the oratory and the refectory (RE: 63:18-19). The inferior status of
oblates is not specific to the Cluniacs (e.g. Mittermiiller, 1880: 576; Jong,
1996: 1 45-6).
10. Cf. for instance the passages in Maleul's hagiographic corpus where his
'iuuenilis uigor' , 'iuuenilis feruor' and 'fortitudo adolescentium' are lauded
in his old age (Nalgod, 1 680: 666C-D; Marrier and Duchesne, 19 1 5b: col.
1 764E; Iogna-Prat, 1988: 280- 1; also Marrier and Duchesne, 1 9 1 5a: col.
1 784B-C). These adjectives do not refer to pueritia, but to the following
age in the life cycle, iuuentus.
11. Cf. William of Volpiano ( t I 031): 'Nam et habitudo tenerrime etatis ita
dissimilis uidebatur ceterorum ut nimium admirabilis haberetur' (BuIst,
1989: 258, 260). The most classical form of negation of childhood is
found in the topos of the puer-senex, present in three Cluniac vitae. For
instance, see Nalgod's description of Maleul (t994) in the 1 1 20s: ' Videres
in virgine puero lascivam pueritiae levitatem censoriae gravitatis acrimonia
condemnari: videres insolentiam puerilem et motus incompositos aetatis
illius matura morum canitie castigari' (Nalgod, 1680: 657E). Cf. also the
abbreviated vita of Odo (t942) written in the tenth and eleventh
centuries (Fini, 1968-70a: 2 1 1 ) and Jotsald's vita of Odilo (t I 049)
(Jotsald, 1880: col. 899B). Sometimes, no reference is made to old age,
but the child is praised for his maturity (in Maleul's Vita breuior: Marrier
and Duchesne, 19 15b: col. 1 765A-B) or the fact that he transcended his
childhood by acting as an adult (cf. the vita of Babolein, founder of Les
Fosses, written between 1 058 and 1 067, some four hundred years after
his death; Chifflet, 1681: 358).
12. Cf. for instance, Jerome ( 1884): 'Non praecipitur apostolis, ut aetatem
habeant parvulorum, sed ut innocentiam, et quod illi per annos possident,
hi possideant per industriam: ut malitia, non sapientia parvuli sint'
(Commentarium in Evangelium Matthaei ad Eusebium Libri quattuor PL.
26: col. 1 33A). Similar remarks are to be found in Ambrose, Augustine
and Gregory among others (cf. for instance Leclercq, 1975: 172;
Lamirande, 1983: 1 10; see also Weinstein and Bell, 1982: 28-30; Jong,
1996: 132-4).
13. The vita of Hugh of Semur (t 1 1 09) written by Gilo c. 1 1 20-2 offers the
best illustration of this: 'In pupillaribus annis constitutus, non ut illa etas
assolet lasciuiae frena laxauit nec inerti luxu emollitus nugales ineptias
sectatus est; sed, secundum quod scriptum est, innocenter habitabat domi'
(Cowdrey, 1978: 49). For examples of adults praised for their innocence
or simplicity, d. Peter Damian, 1853: col. 928A, 943C; Jotsald, 1880: col.
9 1 6A-B; Huygens, 1980a: 47, 5 1 . The only portrait of an innocent adult
which seems to evoke children's qualities dates from the middle of the
twelfth century: Bouthillier, 1988: 24-5.
14. Cluniac authors used different names for this fault, but all referred to the
same lack of grauitas: puellaris mollitia (Odo of Cluny, 1881: col. 6 74B);
leuitas aetatulae illius (Marrier and Duchesne, 1 9 1 5a: col. 1783B);
lasciva leuitas (Nalgod, 1680: 657E); lasciuia (Jotsald, 1880: col. 917 A;
Cowdrey, 1978: 49; Huygens, 1980a: 40); aetas lasciua (Ulrich of Zel!,
1853: col. 636B). On the antiquity of this criticism made against
childhood see Giannarelli, 1991: 35-6.
15. Nalgod, 1 680: 657D-E; Hildebert of Lavardin, 188 1 : col. 381B; Marrier
and Duchesne, 19 15a: col. 1 783B; Iogna-Prat, 1988b: 183. Cf. also
Leclercq, 1972: 283.
16. Cf. MaYeul being called a 'docilis puer' and the reference made to his
' mens tenerrima' in the Vita altera written in the 1 120s (Marrier and
Duchesne, 1915a: col. 1 783B).
17. Chifflet, 1 68 1 : 358; Odilo of Cluny, 1880: col. 947-8; Vita beatae Idae,
1880: col. 438D; John of Salerno, 1881: col. 46D; Nalgod, 188 1 : col. 87A;
Bourel de la Ronciere, 1892: 5; Fini, 1968-70a; 1968-70b: 2 1 1 . In the
Vita Maioli altera, the orphan MaYeul imbues himself with knowledge
(,ultra aetatem literas combibebat . . . ') (Marrier and Duchesne, 1915a: col.
1 783A-B).
None of Hugh's vitae, all dating from the twelfth century, present
education in this manner. The other twelfth-century Cluniac hagiog
rapher, Nalgod, does use 'imbuere', but he also employs the verb
'informare' (Nalgod, 1680: 657D). It is quite possible that this change in
vocabulary illustrates the emergence of a new perception of education, to
be linked with the contemporary flourishing of the cathedral schools.
Ulrich also uses 'imbuere' to describe the training of novices (Ulrich of
Zell, 1853: col. 700C). However, he employs 'instruere' in the same
sentence and the next ones, proof that the training of adults was
perceived as a different intellectual process (e.g. Ulrich of Zel!, 1853:
col. 70 1A, col. 702B, 7 12D).
18. Vulgate. On the World Wide Web, see:
http://www .cybercomm.net/ � dcon/OT/genesis.html
19. Neither the vitae nor the customaries address this problem directly
(except for John of Salerno, 1881: col. 51C and Bouthillier, 1988: 46-7
regarding events taking place outside of Cluny; Huygens, 1980c: 106 for
Cluny). However, the repetitive interdictions against physical contact
between adult monks and children, and the prescriptions that no
individual could ever be left alone with an oblate, leave no doubt: the
Cluniacs did everything they could to prevent such sexual temptations in
their cloister (d. Lahaye-Geusen, 1991: 426-32; Cochelin, 1996: 271-
81). More generally, it was necessary to preserve the innocence/
ignorance of the oblates vis-a-vis the impurities of the world as much as
possible (Jong, 1996: 143ff).
20. Cf. e.g. Mittermiiller, 1880: 418-19 (even though surveillance over oblates
was also very strict in his monastery: Jong, 1996: 147-8) and Shahar, 1990:
195.
2 1 . The Cluniacs were proud of this situation. Ulrich ended his chapter on
the children saying that they were so well kept under surveillance day
and night that no prince could have been better nurtured: 'Et ut tandem
de ipsis pueris concludam, saepenumero videns quo studio die noctuque
custodiantur, dixi in corde mea difficile fieri posse ut ullus regis filius
majore diligentia nutriatur in palatio quam puer quilibet minimus in
Cluniaco' (Herrgott, 1 726: 2 1 0 ; Ulrich of Zell, 1853: col. 74 7C-D).
22. However, d. also Ulrich's furore before the oblates' claim to know better
than the conuersi what should be the life and disciplina inside the
monastery (Ulrich of Zell, 1853: col. 636A).
23. On the fact that this method of education was the appropriate one for the
'simpliores' of the community: RB: 2 : 1 2. Cf. also Illmer, 1 9 7 1 (who
summarizes this mode of training by the formulation 'Lemen durch
Nachleben'); jong, 1 996: 1 49.
4 A medieval novice's
formation: reflection on a
fifteenth-century manuscript
at Downside Abbey
Aidan Bellenger
Dom Cuthbert Butler, Abbot of Downside, published his Benedictine

Monachism: Studies in Benedictine Life and Rule in 1 91 9. It was an
unabashed apologia for a monastic ideal which looked to the great
tradition of communitarian Benedictinism exemplified in medieval
England. Butler was writing a polemical work aimed at his English
Benedictine brethren, many of whom were settled in far-flung parishes
and were only in the first generation of a fully developed Benedictine
community life. The young, for Butler, had to be educated along the
right lines. 'In every monastery, after the Work of God,' he writes, 'the
most important work is the training and formation of the young monks'
(Butler, 1919: 371). He continues:
The training of the young monks should be aimed at preparing
and fitting them for this permanent living in the round of duties
whereof Benedictine community life is made up. It is not enough
merely to impress forcibly this idea, this principle upon them.
They must receive the spiritual and intellectual and social
formation that will make it natural and easy for them to pass their
lives in the monastery contentedly, happily, and fruitfully, and will
minimize the chances of their afterwards finding it unsatisfying,
and so tiring of it and desiring change. So their intellectual tastes
and capabilities should be sympathetically encouraged and
carefully developed, and they should be prepared to take part
and find their satisfaction in some sphere of the life of the house.
Too much care cannot be bestowed on the education of the young
monks, for on them depends the future of the abbey. (Butler,
1919: 372)
The Rule of St Benedict remained always at the centre of Cuthbert
Butler's educational ideal and in 1 9 12 he attached a Medulla Doctrinae
S. Benedicti to his Latin 'critico-practica' edition of the Rule for the use
36 Aidan Bellenger
and convenience of novices (Butler, 1912: 149-69). It is presented

over some twenty pages in a dialogue form and provides a catechetical
tool for the early stages of monastic formation. The medulla (the
kernel) of any way of life or method of formation is always difficult to
convey but Butler's medulla, Rule-based, provides an interesting
contrast to fifteenth-century manuscripts of another probably monastic
medulla, of uncertain origin: Downside Abbey, Library Ms 26540, 1
described by Dom Aelred Watkin i n The Downside Review (Watkin,
1939).
In 1865 Albert Way had discussed various versions of the Medulla
grammaticae in his edition of the Promptorium parvulorum for the
Camden Society, identifying some of the manuscripts then known,
seventeen in total (Way, 1865: l-liv). Apart from those mentioned by
Way and others at Shrewsbury School, and Stonyhurst College noted
by Ker,2 there is the Downside manuscript discussed in this paper and
another in the University of Bristol Library.3 Aelred Watkin's articles
were his first important contribution to the study of medieval history.
Watkin, like the probable Dominican compiler of the Promptorium
Parvulorum, Geoffrey of Lynn, had strong East Anglian and Dominican
connections. Born at Edgbaston in 1918, he spent most of his
childhood at Sheringham in Norfolk and was educated at the
Dominican school at Laxton in Northamptonshire. He was clothed as
a novice at Downside at the age of nineteen in 1937, and his work on
the medulla was done during this period of formation as a novice and
junior before he went to Cambridge to read history. The Downside
community at that time was much engaged in a controversy over the
nature of the monastic life and formation, in which Dom David
Knowles was the principal protagonist (Sillem, 1991: 27-46). Watkin,
by the time of his arrival in Cambridge in 1943, had published his Wells
Cathedral Miscellany. Afterwards he edited (in three volumes) The
Great Cartulary Glastonbury ( 1 946-58) and the Registrum Archdiaco
natus Norwyci ( 1948). Later, he became Head Master of Downside
School, parish priest (and mayor) of Beccles in Suffolk and titular
Abbot of Glastonbury. He died in 1997.4 These biographical details are
mentioned here to place the Watkin articles in context. He was himself
undergoing monastic formation while he compiled his contribution to
medulla scholarship. He possessed a vivid and acute intelligence and if
he were here today he would have provided a good living example of
what he would have seen as a medieval monastic formation, albeit in
twenty-first-century Downside.
The book came to Downside from the recusant Langdale family of
Holme-on-Spalding-Moor in Yorkshire through Dom Odo Landale, a
Downside monk, in whose effects it was found at the time of his death
in 1 934. Measuring 285mm by 2 10mm it retains its original binding of
white leather covering oak boards. It has 259 leaves. The medulla is
written on heavily watermarked paper with the exception of three
medieval parchment end leaves and a modern flyleaf. 5 The text is
divided into seven principal sections. The first (fols. 1-52) is a work in
A medieval novice 's formation 37
three chapters, the first missing and the second on figures of Holy
Writ. The third chapter consists of a collection of phrases in the Bible
and the Divine Office which were, in the compiler's view, difficult to
understand. The continuing use of the manuscript is shown in the
editing, correcting and supplementing in various hands - 'presumably',
Watkin says, ' succeeding generations of novice masters' (Watkin,
1939: 478) or indeed student religious. Many worked-over student
books exist. In the Worcester Cathedral Library, for example, there are
four surviving notebooks that belonged to Worcester monk students at
Oxford which had found their way back to the monastic library where
they could be of use to other students.6 In the Downside manuscript
there are various northern English glosses and on fol. 16 Lincoln is
given as a place (Ker, 1977: 443).
The second section (fols. 55-100v), following two blank sheets, is
made up of 1 1 5 hymns. 'The first half of the explanation gives the
meaning, the second half is a prayer composed from the matter of
the verse (Watkin, 1939: 479).' Ninety-seven of the hymns are in the
printed Sarum Expositio hymnorum of 1496 and eleven, not there, are
in the printed Expositio hymnorum of 1488. The others, with the
exception of number 98, are York hymns (Ker, 1977: 443). Ker,
following Watkin, points out the similarities with another manuscript:
Cambridge, Peterhouse, 2 1 5 (James, 1899: 257-61). The next, the
third section, is a treatise De accentu (fols. 1 0 1 -13), which explains the
accentuation and pronunciation of the Latin words, important in a
period before choir books were accented. There are thirty-eight
columns of rules, followed by thirteen columns of rules of pronuncia
tion arranged in alphabetical order and in rhyme. The fourth section,
Nomina propria (fols. 1 14- 15) consists of a list of 1 50 Latin Christian
names, with one to five English equivalents for each. Watkin
reproduces these names in full (Watkin, 1939: 480-3). The fifth
section (fols. 1 1 5v-19v) is a list of adverbs and adjectives, the Latin
being written above its English equivalents. There are seventy adverbs
and 128 English equivalents (Ker, 1977: 443). The sixth section is in
the form of a Nomina numeralia, Roman and Arabic, from one to three
million, on which the compiler concludes, Etcetera usque millesies
millia etcetera usque ad infinitum, and then explains, Sciendum est quod
omnis figura coniuncta cum aliis figuris (Ker, 1977: 444).
The seventh and final section of the book is a substantial Latin
dictionary, the core of the medulla (fols. 122-252). Many of the more
difficult Latin words have been given English equivalents. Watkin took
the average of Latin words in each column to be thirty-six and the
average of English words to be ten and calculated them as nearly
nineteen thousand Latin words and over five thousand English in the
dictionary (Watkin, 1939: 485). It suggests, in its many Latinized
Greek words, a wide classical sympathy, and in its description of fauna
a typical medieval confusion between the actual and the mythical.
There are few words of specifically Benedictine character although the
English for Dompnus is given as 'Danne'; 'Don', or 'Danne' being the
38 Aidan Bellenger
medieval equivalents to 'Dom' (Watkin, 1939: 487). It is possible that

the Downside medulla might come from a monastic almonry school
where the putative monks (and others) were educated before their
novitiate. Yet, within the text there is a clear monastic educational
agenda - the whole of the early part of the compilation and a large part
of the dictionary are aimed at a proper understanding of the opus Dei,
the centre of the monk's life. Within the context of true peace will be
found: Pax est in cella nichil exterius nisi bella / Si pacem queris tunc
rarius egrederis (Watkin, 1939: 488). The Downside medulla, as I have
noted already, came to the Abbey via Dom Odo Langdale, but it is
difficult to locate its original provenance. Watkin's analysis of the
hymns, forming the greater part of the second section of his study,
leads to his conclusion that it comes
from a Benedictine monastery of ancient foundation . . . situated
near enough to York for that Use to have impressed itself upon
the old Benedictine tradition yet was far enough away to have
considerable influx from the southern tradition as exemplified in
Sarum. (Watkin, 1 940: 204)
As noted above, the place name Lincoln is given as an example; this
suggests a monastery situated between Lincoln and York and Watkin
suggests Bardney as the most likely place for the medulla' s
composition (Watkin, 1 940: 206). More study o f dialects and regional
variation might make its origin clear. Whether Bardney is its specific
context or not, what else can the medulla tell us about late medieval
monastic education?
In the first instance it shows the wide vocabulary and influences which
impinged on claustral education. The world was being brought into the
cloister perhaps by the growing number of those attending the schools of
the university. The wide learning shown by such as Dom Robert Joseph of
Evesham in his letter book on the eve of the Reformation exhibited that a
rusticus could also be a cosmopolitan (Marrett-Crosby, 1997: 147). The
library catalogue of Prior Henry of Estry ( 1285-1331) of Christ Church,
Canterbury, listed 698 volumes which included three thousand separate
items (Thompson, 1939: 373). A century and a half later Prior William
Sellyng (1472-94) glazed the south cloister at Christ Church, Canterbury,
building there 'some new framed connivances which we call carrels' in
which space was found, among other things, for the Greek books he
introduced into the library (Thompson, 1939: 376).
If books allowed the world into the cloister, the monks of the
fifteenth century were proceeding with great alacrity to the
universities . This was part of a process of centralization and
clericalization with profound consequences for the nature of the
syllabus of monastic education. In 1336 Pope Benedict XII had issued
his bull Summi magistri, which required each monastery to provide
teaching within its walls of the 'primitive sciences' of grammar, logic
and philosophy - the territory of the medulla (Coates, 1997: 79). The
Downside medulla reflects a broadening education, a novitiate and a
A medieval novice 's formation 39
continuing formation which was more about training 'clerks' than

monks. The one-year novitiate planned for Benedict's 'ideal' monastery
of lay people was, by the later Middle Ages, woefully inadequate for a
priest-monk who often had a heavy administrative burden and high
public profile. The need for easily accessible works of reference in the
form of a medulla must have been felt in many communities.
If clericalization was an important development in the later Middle
Ages, monasteries remained closely knit communities where learning
to live together remained the heart of formation. A shared vocabulary
could build up a common life. Many monasteries had their customary
in which the life of the community would be closely detailed. The
customary of St Augustine, Canterbury, includes a specific section on
Informicio noviciorum (Thompson, 1902; 1904). Training in community
life always included diverting minutiae, the result of community
experience. Individuals are asked not to crack nuts but to open them
with a knife. If the community as a whole is having nuts then, 'let every
brother crack them as he may please, and never mind the reader'
(Thompson, 1 904: XV).7 Table manners, deportment, custody of the
eyes, church ceremonial, public reading, familiarity (with much
learning by rote) all formed part of 'the learning experience'.
I began with Cuthbert Butler and his medulla. I will finish with The
Downside Customary. It supplements the medulla with the details of
monastic life and protocol - not only the ritual of the choir, but also the
details of the refectory ceremonial, medieval in feel, with its signs for a
silent meal including one for toast (not I suggest a medieval delicacy):
'the palm of the hand is held about six inches flat above the table'
(Downside Customary, 1935: 79). Continuities as well as developments
are always part of monastic education. The ideal remains. 'The higher
the ideals the more clearly they are grasped the fuller will be the actual
realization' (Butler, 19 19 : 34). Monastic education in its aspirations
and structure was aimed at helping genuine seekers of God.
In the monastic tradition inherited by the late medieval monks,
meditatio and lectio as part of education and continuing formation were
closely linked to the study of texts, especially the Scriptures, which
were seen as a highway to prayer, through words to the Word
(Leclercq, 1974: 13-30). Grammar and dictionaries had their place on
the path to perfection. The progress through lectio, meditatio, oratio to
contemplatio involved elevating the whole person - body, mind, heart
and will - to God. At root, holiness through wholeness was the ideal
sought in medieval monastic education (RB 1980: 446-7).
Notes
1. See Watkin, 1940: passim; Ker, 1977: 442-4.

2. Ker and Piper, 1992: 305-6 (Shrewsbury), perhaps fourteenth century,
and 388-9 (Stonyhurst), fifteenth century.
3. Ker, 1977: 2 13-14, for University o f Bristol, D M 1 4 . This manuscript
also dates from the fifteenth century.
40 Aidan Bellenger
4. See obituary notice of Dom Aelred Watkin in Society of Antiquities of

London Annual Report 1998 (London, 1999), 73-5.
5. See Ker, 1977, for manuscript details.
6. See Greatrex, 1997b: 59. The earliest includes treatises on logic and
works of Aristotle annotated by John de Aston who was at Oxford in the
1290s; two others are early fourteenth-century manuscripts containing
notes on logic in the hand of John Broghton who died in 1448 before
completing his degree. In that same year John Lawerne, another
Worcester monk, recorded his inception in his personal notebook, in
which is found a miscellaneous compilation of theological lectures,
disputations, sermons and letters.
7. The journal Pax, edited b y the monks o f Caldey, has two articles by
'L.M.', used by Watkin, which translate and use the Customary (Pax 7
( 1 9 1 5): 392-402; Pax 8 ( 1 9 1 6): 28-40).
5 The scope of learning within
the cloisters of the English
cathedral priories in the later
Middle Ages
Joan Greatrex
. . . certis temporibus occupari debent fratres in labore manuum,

certis iterum horis in lectione divina. (RE: 48 : 1 )
Introduction
The only school to which St Benedict referred was the 'school of the
Lord's service' (RB: Prologue, 45), a phrase which encapsulated the life
long undertaking of a prospective monk. In other words, the monastery
was itself a school where the monk passed his days in learning to serve
God and his brethren by way of obedience and humility (RB: 5, 7).
Learning is the key word, learning in its widest sense, implying
constant growth in the knowledge and love of God realized in and
through all the daily occupations no matter how menial. With the more
limited sense of a prescribed course of learning Benedict was not
concerned; but it is noteworthy that in the daily horarium he set aside
significant periods for study and meditation upon the sacred texts of
Scripture and the Fathers (RB: 73: 3-5). The time provided for what
Benedict described as teetio divina amounted to a minimum of three
hours in the summer and slightly fewer in winter when the hours of
daylight were less. ! Leetio divina, it should be stressed, was prayerful
rather than academic reading and implied 'a total immersion of oneself
in the Word of God and its exposition by the . . . Fathers' (RB 1980: 86).
Instruction in other subjects such as grammar, rhetoric and musical
chant was subservient to the aim of ensuring that those who were
received into the community achieved a standard of proficiency that
enabled them to use with understanding the primary texts of the faith,
i.e. the Scriptures and the Psalms on which the daily offices were
based.
Moreover, it was the psalmist who impressed upon the monk that
the beginning of wisdom was to be found in the fear of the Lord:
initium sapientiae timor Domini - fear, with the meaning here of
reverence, worship, adoration (Ps. 1 10:10). At the same time the
42 Joan Greatrex
psalmist's constant prayer was for understanding in order to know the

divine law, to be obedient to its precepts, in short, to live (Ps. 1 18:34,
1 44). From the earliest times, therefore, the monk was occupied in
searching the Scriptures and in acquiring the skills necessary for
understanding and interpreting them. This presupposes the presence
of monastic teachers and students, and the provision of books in the
earliest communities.
For a Benedictine there has always been an intimate connection
between fidelity to his vocation and constant intellectual exercise to
deepen his understanding and appreciation of the divine mysteries. Let
us bear in mind also that the underlying aim was not tied to any
practical goal of service to the world outside the monastery as was the
case, for example, with the orders of friars whose educational
programme often included university study to an advanced level. In
this chapter I intend to confine my attention to those black monks of
the nine English monastic cathedral chapters (from c.1300 on) who
were not singled out as university potential and who consequently
spent their lives for the most part within the confines of the cloister.
Of these, I would suggest, a respectable number continued in the years
after their ordination to pursue some form of study, very possibly
intermittently and largely unsupervised. A few of this group taught,
preached and wrote for the edification and pleasure of their brethren
and others, but only a handful were acclaimed for originality of thought
or felicity of style and expression. Benedictine pre-eminence in the
field of learning had already given way to the friars by the mid
fourteenth century. As Knowles observed, the larger black monk
houses, preoccupied with the administration of their extensive and
scattered estates and subject to conflicting pressures within church
and state, had already begun to take on the functions of religious
corporations to the increasing detriment of community life (Knowles,
1966: 299). Nonetheless, individual monks in the cathedral monas
teries continued to maintain the Benedictine intellectual tradition by
frequenting their monastic libraries, by borrowing books, by purchas
ing them with their pocket money, and by annotating and copying
treatises for their own use.
On first sight the evidence at our disposal is disappointingly meagre,
but sufficient material exists to postulate the continuity of what we
may call the intellectual tradition up until the Dissolution.2 It is a
hazardous undertaking to attempt to flush out and reconstruct the
activities and interests of the ordinary monks whose lives were on the
whole so uneventful that they receive scant mention in the records.
The results may elicit more questions than answers; nevertheless,
these should prove to be useful pointers for future research.
It will be advisable to begin with a brief investigation into the course
of instruction given to novices and junior monks before their
ordination to the priesthood, an event which generally took place
within approximately five years after admission; however, variations in
the length of this initial period extended from three to seven or eight
English cathedral priories in the later Middle Ages 43
years depending on circumstances (Greatrex, 1999). We will then

move on to the more difficult task of piecing together evidence from
the cathedral priories to throw light on cloister monks who continued
to pursue their intellectual interests through further studies. Our
approach will, of necessity, be primarily via the written texts rather
than via their readers and writers whose names are only occasionally
known. In so doing we must bear constantly in mind that we are usually
unaware to what extent volumes were plucked from the shelves and
consulted; with perhaps a few exceptions the inclusion of e1eventh-,
twelfth- and thirteenth-century writings in late fifteenth- or early
sixteenth-century book catalogues provides no clue to their continuing
popularity nor to their neglect. The exceptions are to be found in the
books that were borrowed, annotated, indexed, taken to university and
to dependent priories, and returned to the cloister library from the
cells of deceased monks. The fact that other copies of most of the
works removed from the cathedral priory book presses for the use of
the university contingent were available in the cloister indicates that
claustrales also felt the need to improve their style and expression in
the spoken and the written word, and to consult many of the texts,
commentaries and works of reference that were the basic tools of
monk scholars. As an initial test of the merit of this method of
approach it will be applied in three areas: grammatical works, biblical
and theological studies, and historical writings. Finally, we will turn
our attention to a few individual monks whose interests and activities
are known through the books they acquired and used. I will conclude
by suggesting, with some degree of confidence, the hope that these
will not prove to have been the rare exceptions.
Instruction of novices
The prerequisite for admission to the cathedral monasteries included

letters of reference and recommendation providing details of the
candidate's scholastic attainments. From letters preserved in cathedral
priory and episcopal registers it is clear that the selection process was
no mere formality. In refusing a pupil who had been proposed by his
tutor, it was noted by the prior and chapter at Christ Church,
Canterbury, that he did not meet the required standard and advised
that he should continue to study 'terminos grammaticales et usum et
artem cantandi et legendi' (Sheppard, 1887-89: I, no. 131). This was
written in the 1 320s, the same decade in which one clericus was
refused entry to Worcester Cathedral priory because he was judged to
be 'in litteratura et aliis, ut est moris, minus sufficientem', while another
was accepted because he demonstrated at his interview that his master
at Glastonbury abbey school had given him an adequate grounding in
sciencia et moribus.3
The course of instruction for the Benedictine novice during his
probationary year varied from one monastery to another in accordance
44 Joan Greatrex
with the customs and regulations of the particular house. However, the
general outlines were similar and probably changed very little during
the three centuries before the Dissolution. In addition to the novice
master, one or more monk masters gave instruction and secular
masters were sometimes appointed. A Benedictine chapter visitation
of 1384 at Durham reported the lack of an 'instructor claustralis . . . ad
instruendum monachos in primitivis scienciis, videlicet gramatica, logica
et philosophia'. 4 In 1 437 at Winchester a schoolmaster from outside
was appointed to instruct the young monks in grammar and singing,
and in 1501 at Worcester a schoolmaster was appointed as instructor
to teach 'fratres nostros et scholasticos domus nostre Elemosinarie [in]
grammatice vel arte dialectice'.5 Since some of the Canterbury, Ely and
Worcester lectors known by name in the fourteenth century were
among the most competent scholars in their communities, with
doctorates in theology, the younger brethren would surely have
benefited from the university training of their seniors.6
The question at once arises: Can we delve more deeply into what
they were taught?7
The monastic formation called for impressive feats of memorization
that included the Rule, the Psalter and other parts of the divine office
(Carruthers, 1990, 1992). In addition, practical training in liturgical
chant must have been a frequent, if not a daily, part of the timetable in
the novitiate under the direction of the precentor, who also gave or
arranged for organ lessons for some of the musically gifted.8 A
thirteenth-century Christ Church customary refers to the morning and
afternoon study periods but makes no mention of the times when
lectures were given or of their content.9 According to a former monk of
Durham reminiscing some fifty years after the Dissolution, all the
elderly monks spent the afternoons studying, each in his own carrel on
the north side of the cloister. 'All' may be an exaggeration due to the
dimming of his memory but the regular pursuit of learning by some
need not be doubted (Fowler, 1903: 83, 87). Beyond these facts we are
on less firm ground when we try to reconstruct the programme of
studies that occupied the novice for most of his waking hours outside
of choir.
Grammar
There can be no doubt, however, as to the importance attached to

grammar which, with rhetoric and dialectic, comprised the medieval
arts trivium. Nevertheless, in attempting to assess the evidence that
can be gathered through an examination of the monastic book
collections we encounter problems of terminology. While medieval
teachers and writers throughout the later Middle Ages remained in
agreement that the categories of discourse were also threefold, namely
the ars grammatica, the ars dictaminis and the ars predicandi, they
were neither united nor consistent in their opinions on what should be
included in the study of grammar and what distinguished it from

rhetoric and dialectic. During the course of the late twelfth and the
thirteenth centuries their content and function shifted to accommodate
the new ideas and methods that were being developed in the cathedral
schools and nascent universities. New commentaries based on the old
classical texts of grammar appeared, together with new teaching
methods. Grammar that had previously been focused on constructions
in order to ensure correctness in speech and writing now broadened
its scope to consider not merely the words and phrases themselves but
also their meanings. After Abelard, dialectic and rhetoric were
increasingly advanced as the skills required to convince and convert
with the aid of logical argument; and the method of this new
'speculative' grammar was soon taken over as an instrument that could
be usefully applied to theology (Chenu, 1936; Bursill-Hall, 1971).
Doubts and objections were raised on the part of the monks who
foresaw, for example, the danger in exposing the Scriptures, with their
clumsy if not barbaric Latin, to the age-old rules of the classical
grammarians (Donatus and Priscian) now being refashioned in a
theoretical and speculative mode.
Book collections in the cloister reflected these new developments in
grammar and other fields of study, the old texts standing alongside the
new, if we may judge by a Durham inventory of books dated 1395. In
the section headed libri grammaticae, for example, we find two copies
of Priscianus maior. We also find unspecified works of Peter Elias,
whose Summa was an updating of Priscian. There were also copies of
Papias (early to mid-eleventh century), and of Huguccio of Pisa
( t 1 2 1 0) , the Corrogationes of Alexander Nequam ( t 1 2 1 7), the
Catholicon of John of Genoa (t1286) and William Brito's Expositiones
vocabulorum Bibliae (late thirteenth century); several of these
contained glossaries of biblical terms and other useful reference
material as well as grammatical commentaries (Botfield, 1 840: 49).
The Durham novices' book cupboard in this same year also had
Priscianus minor, Huguccio, Papias and Brito, and a Liber elencorum,
cum aliis libris logicalibus.lO
No similar lists have been found of the reading material prescribed
for novices in the other monastic cathedral libraries, but some of the
works named in the lists above survive from the Norwich, Durham and
Worcester collections, and others are recorded in medieval inven
tories.ll The Rochester library held Donatus, Priscian, Aelfric of
Eynsham and Peter Elias, while Hamo de Hethe, monk and bishop of
Rochester, bequeathed to his brethren a copy of Papias.12 Rochester,
like Canterbury, Durham, Norwich and Worcester, possessed a
number of Bede's treatises including those on grammar, orthography
and metre; Durham, Canterbury and Worcester also possessed the
Liber derivationum of the twelfth-century Gloucester monk, Osbern
Pinnock.13
Coventry monks, both junior and senior, consulted one or more of
the treatises now bound in a hefty volume of some 225 folios which
46 Joan Greatrex
appears to be the work of a single, pleasingly legible hand of the

fifteenth century.14 It contains the writings of two fourteenth-century
English grammar masters: the first by John of Cornwall, whose
SPeculum grammaticale, based on Donatus, was innovative in its use of
English rather than French in the teaching of Latin; 15 the second
treatise is the Memoriale iuniorum or De quatuor partibus grammaticae
of Thomas Hanney. Other items found in this volume are a lengthy
poem on Latin grammar, the Ars minor of Donatus, a short section of
form letters as examples of the ars dictaminis together with the rules
of letter-writing procedure and extracts from Bede's treatise on metre.
The fifteenth-century date of its compilation suggests that its contents
were still being regarded as useful reference material. A remarkably
similar collection occurs in two Worcester manuscripts: BL, Royal
1 5B.iv and Worcester Cathedral F.61, which also contains writings by
another late thirteenth-century English grammar master, Richard de
Hambury.16 A few anonymous notes such as those in BL, Royal 1 5B.iv,
may be from the hand of a Worcester monk instructor preparing his
own lectures.
In addition to this survey of grammatical works in the monastic
cathedral libraries we can actually examine a notebook and a text
belonging to one late fifteenth-century Canterbury monk. We are
fortunate in the preservation of these two manuscripts, both of which
belonged at one time to William Ingram I. One of them, still to be found
in situ, he may have compiled when he was a boy in the Christ Church
almonry school since it antedates by five years his reception of the
monastic tonsure. Now bound in two volumes, the first has elaborate
designs and decorations in colour on folios Iv and 2r, a treatise on
logic preceded by its tabula and extracts from Bede's De metrica; the
second volume has mnemonic computistical verses for the months of
the year and their feasts and other useful items. The second
manuscript, now BL, Ms Harley 1587, was in Ingram's hands while
he was a novice in the early 1480s having been passed on to him by his
senior, Reginald Goldston; it includes some basic rules of Latin
grammar, a De modo Latini loquendi and a Latin-English glossaryY
There are a number of problems that, for the present at least,
forestall any attempt to ascertain further details on instruction in
grammar in the novitiate. Apart from Osbern Pinnock in the mid
twelfth century and Ranulph Higden of Chester in the mid-fourteenth,
there are no known grammatical texts written by English Benedictines
and few copies of their works seem to have circulated.18 Nevertheless,
it is clear that at Worcester and Coventry the monks were kept
informed, probably by their brethren at Oxford, which was the main
centre of grammar schools and masters in the later Middle Ages; the
monk students would have been conveniently placed to procure copies
of grammatical treatises for their monastery libraries.
While specified sections of Priscian and the later glossators and
commentators may have been assigned as required reading for novices
and juniors, there is also some evidence of their use by senior monks
at Canterbury. An inventory of missing books in the 1330s records that

Brito's Prologos super Biblie had been borrowed by Thomas Undyrdown
I (t1347) and the Eastry catalogue lists two volumes that had belonged
to Thomas de Stureye II (t1298); these suggest a continuing interest
in grammar and associated works of reference.19 John Lawerne, monk
of Worcester, took a copy of Priscian with him to Oxford in the mid
fifteenth century and copies of Papias, Huguccio and the Catholicon
were sent for repair in 1508 at Canterbury.20
Theology
One volume, whose miscellaneous contents are itemized in the

Durham novices' book list, may be conveniently described as
comprising biblical and theological writings. Among these are a tabula
or index to the Rule of Benedict; several treatises by Bernard of
Clairvaux and one of Bede that may be classed as both spiritual and
theological; an expositio on the Lord's Prayer; the De professione
monachorum, probably the one by the contemporary Durham monk,
Uthred de Boldon (t1397); the treatise Abbas vel prior, which is an
abridgement of William of Pagula's Speculum religiosorum and Isidore
of Seville's Synonyma (Botfield, 1840: 82). In the 1490s the Durham
chancellor/librarian placed another composite volume in the novices'
book cupboard; it consisted of a shortened version of Adam of Dore's
Adaptationes veteris testamenti ad novum; Jerome's Vulgate; two
versions of the Interpretaciones hebraicorum nominum; and Alexander
Nequam's treatise on the books of the Bible.21
U sing these as models of the sort of material that was considered
useful for novices we may look for similar manuscripts in other
cathedral libraries that might have been compiled for instructional
purposes. The Eastry catalogue provides one such example in a
manuscript containing several anonymous Iibelli on the virtues; a
treatise by Bernard of Clairvaux; expositiones on the Creed and the
Lord's Prayer; and an unspecified commentary on the Rule. Another in
the same catalogue has similar contents, with the addition of Hugh of
St Victor's De institucione noviciorum and Questiones de theologia.22 A
third miscellany, an extant fourteenth-century Canterbury manuscript,
contains the Philosophia monachorum; an expositio of the Lord's
Prayer; Bernard of Cassino's commentary on the Rule; a devotional
treatise; and other items.23 Among candidates at Norwich for this
suggested category of novices' prescribed or recommended reading
material there are two manuscripts. One contains a Liber erudicionis
religiosorum; Bernard of Cassino on the Rule; an abridged Confessiones
of Augustine; and a devotional tract.24 The other includes a copy of the
Rule; a treatise on monastic profession; Flores, or extracts, from
Bernard of Clairvaux with a subject index; a Summa theologie
magistralis; and Richard of St Victor's De contemplacione. Much of
this last volume is well worn and annotated.25 A Rochester manuscript
48 Joan Greatrex
assigned the descriptive title by Ker 'miscellanea theologica et

grammatica' and written by twelfth- and thirteenth-century hands
possibly had a similar origin. It contains short extracts from the New
Testament glossed; notes or distinctiones on theological topics; an
explanation of Greek and Hebrew names; and the Partitiones XII of
Priscian.26
The miscellanea theologica selected for the novices at Durham in the
fourteenth century would not find a place on a recommended reading
list for students of theology today; they would more likely be classified
as spiritualia for they were intended as stimuli to faith and devotion
rather than as intellectual exercises. Moreover, since there was no
separation of biblical studies from theological studies, any written
work in which the Christian truths were taught and Christian doctrine
explained was regarded as theology. Although the writings recom
mended to all young monks to give them a grounding in theology would
have been the Scriptures themselves, the Durham book list includes
only one copy of the Gospels and that is in French (Botfield, 1840: 81).
This seems a surprising omission unless we may infer that viva voce
readings occupied a prominent place in the novices' daily routine. If
so, as seems most likely, we may then conjecture that these readings
would have been accompanied by the monastic instructor's explanation
of the text with the aid of the patristic commentaries that formed a
significant component of all monastic book collections. The writings of
Jerome, Gregory, Augustine and Bede, among others, would thus have
gradually become familiar so that the diligent young monk would soon
have learned to consult them for himself.
To help him in his studies he would have made use of the numerous
glosses on the books of the Bible and some of the wide range of finding
aids in the form of biblical concordances and subject indexes which
proliferated in the thirteenth century.27 Alphabetical compendia of
encyclopedic proportions appeared, affording easy access to the
Scriptures and to the patristic auctoritates, with explanations of the
words found in the text and of names and places. The Durham novices
were provided with a tabula to the Rule and another to their copy of
Huguccio, whose Liber derivationes was one of the early productions of
this type.28 Among these new productions were the collections of
distinctiones described as 'the most highly evolved form of the spiritual
dictionary' (Smalley, 1984: 246). Canterbury, Durham, Norwich and
Worcester each acquired one of the most popular of these, compiled by
Maurice (the Englishman), and most of the cathedral priories had a
number of others, some by unnamed writers.29
Although scholastic authors were added to the cathedral priory book
collections in the thirteenth century, the Victorines, especially Hugh,
and the Cistercians, especially Bernard, continued to occupy
prominent places in the cloister and, as we have seen, their works
were among those approved for novices.30 This preference for the
writings of authors who were themselves claustrales reflects the
enduring adherence of the monks to what Jean Leclercq identified as
monastic theology, which he described as 'a prolongation of patristic

theology' (Leclercq, 1961a: 189). He distinguished it as a wisdom to be
received and not a science to be subjected to the cut and dried
investigations that held sway among scholastics. As examples of
Benedictine monastic theologians, Leclercq pointed to two twelfth
century examples: Eadmer monk of Christ Church in the early years of
the century, and Senatus prior of Worcester in the final decade. Both
produced theological treatises that were faithful to the monastic
tradition. They stopped short of submitting the mysteries of faith to
reason but they respected and made use of dialectic which lay at the
heart of the scholastic method (Leclercq, 1961a: 2 1 0- 1 1 , 192-3).
The main difference in approach for Leclercq lies in the fact that
monastic theology has its source in experience whereas the scholastic
approach is entirely impersonal and scientific. 'In the cloister,
theology is studied in relation to monastic experience . . . the pursuit
of truth and the quest for perfection must go hand in hand. ' This could
not be achieved without reflection on the meaning of the Scriptures
which, in turn, required the use of dialectic without succumbing to its
abuse in scholastic disputation (Leclercq, 196 1a: 198-203). There was,
then, a certain moderation in learning coupled with an ambivalence
towards the advisability of university studies for monks even after the
English Benedictine provincial chapter's decision in 1277 to found a
house of studies at Oxford.31
To what extent the internal life of the claustral community was
affected by this move to join the mainstream of education and thereby
come under the pervasive influence of scholastic studies is as yet
impossible to assess. It is a fact, however, that only a handful of
Benedictine university-trained scholars made any mark among the
intellectual elite of their day. To judge by their continuing acquisitions,
the libraries of the cathedral priories kept in close touch with the
theological and homiletic output of the friars; presumably some monks
skimmed through or even digested it but they seem to have been
content to remain silent in the background. This cannot be entirely due
to a lack of scholarly competence because a respectable number went
up to university and many returned with degrees.
Uthred of Boldon was one of these; receiving his doctorate in
theology in 1357 he spent much of his later years at Durham and its
dependent priory at Finchale.32 He spoke for the majority of his less
visible brethren when he voiced his uneasiness about the 'excessive
intellectualism' at Oxford; and, although he employed scholastic
procedures in writing his two treatises on the monastic life, his
underlying theme was the primacy of spiritual values for the monk.33
Ranulph Higden, a monk of Chester, had expressed the same
sentiment a few years earlier in his treatise on the art of preaching
when he warned the reader against the use of scholastic methodology
in preparing sermons (Jennings, 1991: 5). The Dominican scholar T.
M. Charland considered that by the early fourteenth century the
university sermon modelled on scholastic lines had entirely replaced
50 Joan Greatrex
the earlier practice modelled on patristic homilies (Charland, 1936:

224-6). Were Uthred and Ranulph exceptions in speaking out against a
fait accompli or presque accompli? One answer to this question may lie
in the fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Benedictine sermon manu
scripts of which an impressive number remain at Worcester.34
However, no conclusion can be drawn before all of them have been
transcribed and individually examined for the sources cited and for
other recognizable influences on their style and content.
Leclercq has provided us with a test which might fruitfully be
applied to the result. It consists in examining the texts (in this case the
sermon texts) in order to search for what he calls 'Ie vocabulaire de la
contemplation' which cannot have been faithfully handed down 'sans
que fussent egalement preservees les realites qu 'il exprimait' (Leclercq,
1961b: 109). Thus the intellectual and the spiritual converge if the
tradition of monastic theology has been preserved.35 Such results
might well enable us to come closer to an understanding of the
monastic perspective and self-perception in this period.
History
The importance of history to the monks lies in the fact that for them it
was nothing less than the history of salvation, which began with
creation and will only have its end in the new Jerusalem. The cathedral
priories' extant manuscripts display a broad selection ranging from
universal histories to chronicles recording events in the history of a
single monastery. Peter Comestor's Historia scholastica and Ranulph
Higden's Polychronicon (Lumby and Lumby, 1865-86) were among the
most popular in the former category. Peter came to be known as
Master of the Histories, having produced a summary of biblical history
from creation to Acts.36 It became a classic; there were at least ten
copies at Canterbury, four at Durham, three or four at Rochester, six at
Worcester and one each at Coventry and NorwichY The Polychronicon
also began with creation but carried on until Ranulph's own time in the
mid-fourteenth century; the copies owned by Canterbury, Bath and
Norwich have survived along with those from many other monasteries.38
Many of the cathedral priories had their own monk historians who
carefully recorded the principal events of their house but often
digressed to cover wider topics relating to affairs of national
importance in church and state.39 The lives of patron saints were also
copied and composed with the intent of preserving and promoting
their words and deeds. Novices and senior monks had a wide selection
of saints' lives from which to choose, many of them in the popular
collection known as the Legenda aurea of James of Voragine (t1298) of
which copies remain from Canterbury, Winchester, Worcester and
Durham.4o The impressive historical output of the St Albans and Bury
monks that endured well into the later fifteenth century has no parallel
among the cathedral priories, but there are a few indications that in
this period modest attempts were made t o record past and

contemporary events, in the main by monks who had received their
entire education in the cloister. Thomas Rudborne at Winchester is
one of these. Of his several volumes, one relates the history of England
from Brutus to Henry VI with frequent reference to events in
Winchester. His writings bear the imprint of wide reading in his
references to the classics and his use of passages borrowed from
earlier chronicles. The result is interesting and entertaining but in no
way original apart from his particular selection of sources and method
of compilation.41 We may presume that he found most of the books he
consulted in St Swithun's Library. The fact that he appears as an
isolated figure hardly suggests that his interests were shared by more
than a few in his community; yet it is possible that he involved some of
the younger monks to assist him in his research.
The concerns of two almost contemporary Christ Church monks
were more limited. Like Rudborne both of them were products of a
cloister education and both set out to put on record the local events
occurring in their time, William Glastynbury's account running
intermittently from c. 1419 to 1448 and John Stone's from 1415 to
1471 .42 Parts of these short accounts, which centred on the daily lives
of the monastic community, read like the jottings in a diary. They lead
one to speculate that among the eighty to ninety members of the
community of their day there would have been other claustrales poring
over books and making notes that, unfortunately, no one thought worth
keeping for posterity.
William Glastynbury's chronicle was written in his paper notebook,
which also contains a miscellany of other material. There is, for
example, a detailed description of the 'theological windows' in the
choir of the cathedral that must at least be partly based on his own
observations and reflection. There are quotations from the Bible, a
chronological list of Christ Church manors and churches, copies of
letters and daily accounts of his receipts and expenses during his
tenure of obedientiary office. Quotations from the Pauline epistles and
from Augustine reveal his concern to come to grips with the problems
of grace and free will, and he noted as worthy of remembrance the
dictum that the fear of the Lord leads to true wisdom.43
Some studious monks
While it is unfortunate that our knowledge of other studious cathedral

monks is more scanty we do know how a few Worcester volumes were
acquired. A codex of the Distinctiones Mauricii, for example, was
purchased through contributions of eleven Worcester monks in the
later thirteenth century, and the four volumes of the Postille of
Nicholas de Lyra containing his commentary on the whole of the Old
and New Testaments were acquired by Prior John Grene in 1386 'ad
communem utilitatem claustralium' .44 We are also informed by a note
52 Joan Greatrex
in a copy of Smaragdus's Diadema monaehorum that Thomas Wulstan,

monk of Worcester, had in 1 529 read it right through.45
At Canterbury William Chartham (t I448) compiled a Speculum
parvulorum; by 1520 it had been passed on to John Salisbury III who
was then in charge of the martyrdom. It was intended for boys as the
title indicates, and for younger monks, as Chartham states his
intention to share with them his own enjoyment of the tales he had
read in his youth. He therefore copied a collection of these stories as
exempla, chosen from the Vitae patrum, Gregory, Bede and the Gesta
Romanorum 'ad dei laudem et, ut speratur, ad multorum parvulorum
deleetationem et utilitatem'. 46 Two further examples of inconspicuous
Christ Church monks labouring to complete their literary undertakings
in the early sixteenth century add weight to the evidence of the
continuity of intellectual interests within the cloister. Laurence Wade's
translation of the Life of Thomas Becket into English verse and
Richard Stone's Vitae sanetorum bear little mark of originality, but
their manuscripts have fortunately escaped destructionY
Conclusion
These few illustrations are tiny chinks of light faintly visible through the
keyhole of the monastic library door; they are suggestive but as yet not
adequately substantiated apart from a few other examples. Once the
medieval library catalogues and the forthcoming manuscript catalogues
(for the cathedral priories) have been completed, we will benefit from a
fuller knowledge of the contents of both the lost and extant manuscripts;
we will then be on firmer ground. By then we may also have the names
and details of more monks, especially those of Bath and Coventry where
many still remain unknown along with most of their books.
The sons of Benedict have always included a broad spectrum of
persons and temperaments. Among these each succeeding generation
has produced an unknown number whose inclinations were literary and
reflective. For them their vocation was expressed by their constant
desire to rediscover 'the perennial synthesis between culture and
spirituality' within the monastic tradition (Leclercq, 1986; O'Keeffe,
1995: 278). Can we find more of them in the monasteries of late
medieval England?48
Notes
1. Timothy Fry suggests that, aside from the liturgical readings, about four
hours a day were given to [ectio 'which included reading, private prayer
and meditatio, the memorization, repetition and "rumination" of biblical
texts' (RE 1980: 95).
2. By intellectual tradition I mean the 'intellectual interpretation of faith' ,
which for the monk was 'inseparable from spiritual life and religious
experience' (Leclercq, 1 960: 104).
3. Worcester Cathedral, Liber albus (Reg. A.5), fols. 1 13v, 134r.

4. At Durham there were seven magistri noviciorum and ten novices in
1 344-45 according to the hostiller (DCD, Hostiller's account for that
year). The visitation is printed in Pantin, 1931-37: III, 83.
5. Greatrex, 1978, no. 236 and no. 510 for the appointment of a grammar
master in 1493. See also Winchester Cathedral, Common Seal Register
III, fol. 83v for a grammar master appointed to instruct both the junior
monks and the boys in the almonry school in 1538. The Worcester
reference is in Worcester Cathedral, Reg. A.6 (2), fol. 1 7r.
6. I refer to monks such as Martin de Clyve, Hugh of St Ives and John Aleyn
at Canterbury; Roger de Norwich I at Ely; Richard de Bromwych, Ranulph
de Calthrop and John de St Germans at Worcester; and the unnamed
magister theologie at Norwich whose camera was repaired at the
infirmarer's expense in 1 429-30 (NRO DCN 1/10/17). For the careers
of all these monks see Greatrex, 1997a.
7. At Worcester there is evidence that graduate monks gave public lectures
in the chapter house which other monks attended; see Greatrex, 1991b:
217. See also Piper, 1997: 84-5.
8. Robert Colville, later prior of Ely, was given organ lessons between
1465-66 and 1473-74; see Greatrex, 1997a: 399. At Durham in 1417 the
precentor taught the juvenes in organis (Fowler, 1898- 1901: II, 287).
9. Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 441 , a Christ Church manuscript
written in the thirteenth century; it contains Instructio noviciorum
secundum consuetudinem ecclesie Cantuariensis, 359-92, especially 380-
1. See also Pantin, 1985: 69-70.
10. Botfield, 1840: 8 1 , and see below.
1 1 . For medieval catalogue listings see Sharpe et al., 1996: B58 . 2 1 ,
Catholicon a n d B 5 7 . 5 a , B 5 7 . 6 , Brito (Norwich); t h e Canterbury
catalogues are in James ( 1903), where copies of all these works are
found. Among extant manuscripts there is a Norwich volume containing
Priscian in CUL, Ii.4.34; Papias and Huguccio survive in Worcester,
WCL, F.20 and F.22, and Brito in F.13 and F.61. Ms C.1V.29 at Durham
has Note super Priscianum and B.1.31 is a copy of the Catholicon.
12. Sharpe et at., 1996: B79.178 (Donatus), B79.175 (Priscian, 3 copies),
B79.162 (Aelfric), B79. 198 (Helias), B82 .12 (Papias).
13. For Bede, Sharpe et al., 1996: B79. 176 (Rochester); James (1903) nos
398, 847 (Canterbury); Durham Cathedral B.11.35, BL, Ms Harley 4688 ,
Botfield, 1840: 20, 64-5 (Durham); Sharpe et al., 1996: B62.25 (Norwich);
CUL, Kk.3.18, BL, Royal 4B.xiii, Sharpe et al. ( 1 996) B 1 1 8 . 1 1 a
(Worcester). The Pinnock manuscripts are i n Botfield, 1840: 49
(Durham); James, 1903: no. 531 (Canterbury); WCL, Q.37 (Worcester).
14. The manuscript is now Oxford, Bodl., Auct. F.3.9.
15. Br Bonaventure characterized the manuscript generally as a book 'for
younger monks and almonry boys' (Br Bonaventure, 1961: 3), but he
described John of Cornwall's treatise as 'for advanced students' (Br
Bonaventure, 1961: 6).
16. Hunt, 1964, where Hambury's Worcester origins and work are discussed
at 1 67-72. Professor Rodney Thomson suggests that WCL, F.61 was
intended for beginners as were two other Worcester manuscripts F.123
and F.147 (personal communication).
17. For the careers of William Ingram I and Reginald Goldston see Greatrex,
1997a, in the Canterbury section. The Canterbury manuscript is in
Canterbury Cathedral Library identified as Lit. Mss E7 and E8.
54 Joan Greatrex
18. For Osbern see Hunt, 1 980. Higden's writings extend to all three
subjects of study under discussion in this paper: a Pedagogium artis
grammaticae, a Distinctiones theologicae and the Polychronicon discussed
below.
1 9 . For Thomas Undyrdown I and Thomas de Stureye II see Greatrex,
1 997a.
20. Sharpe et al., 1996: B 1 l 6.25, and for Lawerne's career see Greatrex,
1997a, in the Worcester section. The Canterbury volumes are in James,
1903: 158, nos 157, 1 6 0 and 156.
21. This is now CUL, Kk.5.10.
22. These are items 1576 and 1579 in James, 1903.
23. Now Cambridge, Corpus Christi College Ms 137.
24. Now CUL, Kk. 2 . 2 1 .
25. Now CUL, Kk.3.26.
26. Ker, 1 964b: 162; this is now BL, Royal 5A.iv. Another Rochester volume,
which is also numbered among the Royal manuscripts ( 1 2C .i), has similar
contents.
27. See R.H. and M.A. Rouse, 1 974; Christ Church, Canterbury had a copy of
one of the three editions, now Cambridge, St John's College 51, and so
did Durham, DCD, A.I.2, and Norwich, Sharpe et al., 1 996: B64.7, under
'Yarmouth'. The Norwich copy has survived as BL, Royal 4E.v. At
Worcester, WCL, F. 1 75 contains one section only which, presumably,
was once complete.
28. Botfield, 1840: 8 1 , 82. Thomas de Horstead, precentor of Rochester in
the 1330s, was responsible for the tabula to his monastery's copy of
Gregory's Moralia, now BL, Royal 6D.vii, fols. 268-96; he acquired this
and other volumes for the library including a Concordancie bibliae, BL,
Royal 4E.v, one of the St Jacques productions; see Greatrex, 1 997a: 6 1 3 .
29. Smalley, 1984: 246. James, 1 903: n o . 1 6 1 4 (Canterbury); Botfield, 1840:
53 (Durham); Sharpe et ai., 1996: B64.6 (Norwich cell at Yarmouth, 15th
c.); WCL, Q,42 (Worcester).
30. They ranked next to Augustine and Gregory in popularity judging by the
Eastry catalogue, James, 1 903: 13- 142, and the Durham Catalogi veteres
(Botfield, 1 840).
31. Pantin, 1931-37: I , 75. Note also that the same statutes ruled that some of
the claustrales were to be occupied 'in studendo, libros scribendo, corrigendo,
illuminando', etc.; this was repeated in 1343 (ibid.: I, 74 and II, 51).
32. Emden, 1957-59: I, 2 12-13, gives a summary of his career and writings.
33. These treatises are discussed by Pantin, 1 948. Apart from Uthred there
are very few surviving Benedictine writings in theology in the two
centuries before the Dissolution.
34. E.g. Worcester, WCL, F. 1 0 (Benedictine sermons), F . 1 l4, F. 126, Q.9,
Q.18 (Benedictine collations), Q.56 (Carmelite), Q.63, Q.65; except for
F . 1 0 and Q.18 the exact number of sermons contained in these
manuscripts that were preached by Benedictines has not yet been
ascertained.
35. The sermon collections of the Durham monk, Robert Ripon (tafter
14 19), and of the monk bishops of Rochester, Thomas Brinton ( t 1 389)
and John Shepey ( t 1352), should also be examined; for the manuscripts
and printed editions see Sharpe, 1997.
36. See Daly, 1957, which discusses his career and writings. The His to ria
scholastica is printed in PL 198, 1 053-1722. Higden's history has been
edited in the Rolls Series; see also Taylor, 1966, and the critical
appraisal of Higden's historical achievement in Gransden, 1974/ 1982: I I ,

43-57.
37. James, 1903, lists nine in the Eastry catalogue, and thus all of these had
been acquired before 1 3 3 1 : nos 637, 722, 975, 1 060, 1 084 (now
Cambridge, Trinity College 342), 1 17 1 , 1 1 8 1 , 1208, 12 19. The Catatogi
veteres (Botfield, 1840) at Durham has an uncertain number of copies,
and among those extant are DCD, B.I.33 and 34, B.II.36 and B.III.20.
Rochester's copies included one given by Bishop Hamo de Hethe, Sharpe
et at., ( 1996) B82.6; there are possibly two more now in the BL, Royal
2C.i and Harley 23 which may be an abbreviated version. Sharpe et at.,
1996: B79.105 may have been one of these. The Worcester copies are
still in situ: WCL, F . 1 , F.33, F.37, F.71, F.133, Q.2. The Norwich and
Coventry copies are both found in medieval catalogues, see Sharpe et at.,
1996: B23.24, B62. 1 6 (at St Leonard's cell). The Coventry copy was the
work of the monk scribe, John de Bruges c. 1240, see Greatrex, 1997a.
38. BL, Arundel 86 (Bath); CUL, Ii. 3 . 1 , Oxford, Bodl., Rawlinson B . 1 9 1
(Canterbury); BL, Add M s 15759, BL, M s Harley 3634, BNF, Lat. 4922
(Norwich).
39. Matthew Paris of St Albans (t after 1259) may be regarded as the most
notable example. See also Piper, 1998.
40. CUL, Ff.5.31 (Canterbury); CUL, Mm.3.14, DCD, B.IV 39A, Oxford,
Bodl., Ms Laud misc. 489, and York, York Minster Library, xix.C.5,
printed book (Durham); CUL, Gg.2.18 and Cambridge, Trinity College
338 (Winchester); WCL, F.45, F . 1 1 5 (Worcester); the Norwich cell at
Yarmouth also possessed a copy in the fifteenth century; see Sharpe et
at., 1996: B64.8.
41. His career is summarized in Greatrex, 1997a, and his writing is evaluated
in Gransden, 1974/ 1982: II, 394-8.
42. These have both been printed: Woodruff, 1925, an incomplete transcript,
some in translation; Searle, 1902.
43. Oxford, Corpus Christi College 256, fols. 2v, lOr, 1 7r.
44. The names of the monks are listed on the back flyleaf of the Distinctiones,
Q.42; in the third volume of Lyra's commentary, F.27, the note of the
date of acquisition by Prior Grene is recorded.
45. The inscription and note occur on the front flyleaf of BL, Royal 8D.xiii.
46. London, Lambeth Palace Library, 78, quotation on fol. 1r.
47. Wade's manuscript is on fols. 1-56v of Cambridge, Corpus Christi
College, 298; it has been printed by Horstmann, 1880. Stone's Vitae is in
London, Lambeth Palace Library, 159 where on fol. 1 76r occurs the
phrase scriptum per followed by his name; thus he may have been merely
the scribe but if so his exemplar is unknown.
48. I am greatly indebted to Dr Tessa Webber, Dame Catherine Wybourne
OSB and Dr Carolyn Muessig who read earlier drafts of this paper and
shared with me their wisdom and expertise.
6 University monks in late
medieval England
James C. Clark
The Benedictines' contact with the universities has attracted

considerable attention in recent years: institutional histories of the
monastic colleges have been followed by studies of the impact of monk
graduates upon individual communities (Pantin, 1947-85; Greatrex,
1991a; Wansborough and Marrett-Crosby, 1997). However, as an
educational enterprise, the experience of the Benedictines at Oxford
and Cambridge has been largely neglected. The intellectual activities
of the monk-scholars, the form and substance of their studies, and the
full extent of their scholarly interests remain open to question.
This neglect stems at least in part from an over-concentration on the
work of a handful of exceptional monk-scholars, such as Uthred of
Boldon (c. 1320-97) and Adam Easton (c. 1340-97). On the one hand
there has been a tendency to treat them as representative of university
monks as a whole. David Knowles called Uthred 'the representative
monk-scholar of his age' and 'the century's typical figure', regarding
him as the blueprint for the 'moine universitaire' (Knowles, 1948-59:
II, 48, 58). On the other hand those less willing to emphasize the
representative quality of these men have nonetheless tended to treat
Uthred and Easton, as well as Simon Langham (Westminster monk and
archbishop of Canterbury, tI376) and Thomas Brinton (monk and
bishop of Rochester, t I 389), as the exceptions who only serve to
prove the rule that the intellectual achievements of the majority of
monk-scholars were not of any great significance (Pantin, 1955: 165-
85). Except in this handful of cases, it has been argued that the
'creative stimulus dwindled to the verge of extinction' leaving 'no
original minds at work within the cloister' (Greatrex, 1991a: 555).
There are obvious problems with these views. The careers of men such
as Uthred and Easton, who spent more than two decades of continuous
study at Oxford and attracted international renown, were far from typical.
For this same reason it is misleading to generalize a concept of a 'moine
universitaire' on the basis of their highly unusual experiences and
achievements. It is of course understandable that the abundant evidence
that surrounds these figures has attracted historians. Probably, the
teaching and learning of the university monks are less well recorded than
any other aspect of late medieval monastic experience. Proportionately,
University monks in late medieval England 57
the losses of books and manuscripts from Canterbury, Durham and

Gloucester Colleges at the Dissolution were far greater than from
provincial monastic libraries (Ker, 1964: 145-6; Ker and Watson, 1 987:
53-4). Nonetheless, there is a comparatively rich body of evidence that
can offer important insights into the experience of the wider body of
monk-scholars. In the first place, the universities' own records have not
been fully exploited. Oxford's registers of Congregation, which record
details of every student's progress from inception to graduation, are
almost complete for the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Nor has anyone
has yet examined in detail the surviving books which can be identified as
belonging to or written by monk-scholars themselves. These notebooks,
commonplace books and personal anthologies, which in many cases are
filled with marginal comments, can provide revealing glimpses into the
studies and individual interests of the monks who passed through the
universities.
The following discussion focuses on the teaching and learning of
monks at Oxford in the later fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, for
which there is greater evidence than for Cambridge. The picture that
emerges challenges many of the common assumptions about monastic
learning in the later Middle Ages. It can be shown that monk-scholars
followed a much broader range of studies both before and during their
degree work than has often been assumed; in some respects they even
led the academic community in the cultivation of new intellectual
trends.
To understand the intellectual activities of the great majority of
monk-scholars, it is first important to consider the context in which
they were taught and in which they studied. Framing their intellectual
activities were three complementary bodies of legislation which
underpinned the Benedictines' contact with the universities: the
statutes of the General and Provincial Chapters, successively revised
between 1277 and 1 444; Benedict XII's 1336 canons Summi magistri;
and the statutes of the monastic colleges themselves.l Not only did
these govern the daily activity of the monk-scholars, they also sought
to regulate the form and content of their studies. The capitular and
papal statutes prescribed a programme of training in 'the primitive
sciences', a vague formulation roughly equivalent to the university arts
course, followed by higher study in theology and canon law.2 The
colleges themselves went further, restricting the period of training in
arts, and in the case of Durham College preventing their members
from pursuing any studies in law (Raine, 1839: 1 40). This legislation
also placed severe restrictions on monk-scholars' integration in the
wider university community. Students were subject to a pared-down
version of the liturgical horarium. Teaching was to be done in the
college, no student was to receive tuition from a secular master, and
involvement in public scholastic exercises was limited by obligations to
keep within the precinct, which made periods of regency virtually
impossible (Pantin, 1947-85: III, 1 72-83).
Other factors also governed their studies. Oxford monks came from
58 James C. Clark
a wide variety of backgrounds and, to a significant extent, what they

studied was determined by what they had already learned in the
cloister. In some houses, those chosen to attend the university had
already been educated at a provincial grammar school before their
profession. St Albans, for example, tended to select monk-scholars
from amongst the socially better-connected juniors, perhaps as a
means of ensuring they had already reached a certain level of
proficiency in grammar, logic and philosophy.3 However, elsewhere it
seems likely that the only preparatory training they had received was
as novices and juniors in the monastery itself. In some cases they may
not have completed even this basic course of instruction as it was not
uncommon for monks to be sent to Oxford within two or three years of
their profession. The number of elementary grammar texts and other
works usually associated with the instruction of novices and juniors in
the book inventories from Canterbury and Durham Colleges indicates
that some of the monks spent their first months at Oxford completing
the training which otherwise would have been done in the cloister.4
Moreover, many Oxford monks only spent a small proportion of
their time in residence at the university. In the later fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries, secular scholars might expect to spend between
fifteen and twenty years in continuous study. But the majority of
monk-scholars remained in their colleges for only a fraction of this
time. Large wealthy houses such as Christ Church, Canterbury and St
Albans might allow their scholars to remain at Oxford for more than a
decade. However, those from smaller poorer houses were obliged to
settle for shorter interrupted stays at the university and longer periods
studying in their own cloister. For example, Thomas Caly, a Durham
monk, studied for his bachelor degree for more than twelve years from
c.1445, but at least a quarter of this time was spent in the cloister.
Thomas Ratylsdon, a Bury monk, spent two full years studying
theology in the cloister before arriving at Gloucester College at the
end of the 1440s. Exceptionally, Richard Graveney, a monk from Christ
Church, Canterbury, had studied canon law for six years in the cloister
before he went to Oxford in 1432 (Pantin and Mitchell, 1972: 82, 163,
3 14).
Moving between the cloister and colleges meant the monk-scholars
were often out of sequence with the academic year, beginning their
studies in the second, third or fourth term, and unable to incept, or
oppose and respond for their degrees at the conventional time.
Perhaps as a consequence of this, many monks preferred to study at
the university during its vacations. For instance, John England, a
Westminster monk, spent five vacations but only four years studying
for his bachelor degree. Having studied theology in the cloister for two
years, William Farley, a monk from Gloucester, continued his degree
work at Gloucester College during the next nine long vacations, until
c. 1450. John Warder, a St Albans monk, appears to have been at Oxford
only during the vacations, offering 'five long and many shorter
vacations' when he incepted in theology in the 1440s (Pantin and
Mitchell, 1972: 165, 220, 3 13). It is possible that the vacations were
also attractive to the monks for other reasons. Extending from October
to June, the university year coincided with what in liturgical terms
must have been the busiest period in a monastery of any size and
status. Consequently it seems that abbots and priors preferred to
release their most able monks only during the summer months.
Periods of study divided between Oxford and the home community,
and the uneasy interaction with the university and its own cycle,
clearly affected the form and content of the monk-scholars' studies. It
severely restricted their access to university teaching, much more so
than the capitular, papal and college regulations. In a learning
environment where academic progress was measured in terms of the
time spent following the reading of particular authors and texts, this
must have directly affected the ways in which the monks could prepare
for their degrees. Some insight into these difficulties is offered in the
case of John Hatfield, a St Albans monk, who incepted in theology in
c. 1 430. Hatfield told the university officers that he had spent no fewer
than eight vacations studying philosophy at Gloucester College, but he
had still not heard the ordinaries, the prescribed lectures for his
degree (Mitchell, 1998: 194). Like Hatfield, monk-scholars were
dependent on the resources of their own colleges and cloisters, and to
what must have been largely independent, self-regulating patterns of
study.
The comparatively meagre provisions for teaching in the monastic
colleges reinforced the independent character of monastic studies at
Oxford. Very little evidence of the internal life of the colleges survives,
but it seems clear that for more than a century after their foundation,
they struggled to provide consistently either a wide range of books or
teaching for their members. In this context the inventories of books
which are preserved from Canterbury and Durham Colleges should be
treated with some caution. More than a dozen survive from Canterbury
College, and about half that number from Durham, but the earliest
Canterbury inventory dates from the second half of the fifteenth
century and only one of the Durham documents record books actually
in situ at the college, the remainder being records of the transfer of
books from the mother-house.5 For the first century or so of their
existence, neither college had a library building, and probably only the
beginnings of a common book collection. Individual students were
obliged to borrow books on an ad hoc basis from the home library, or to
purchase or even copy their own.6 From the early fifteenth century,
both colleges' book collections were expanded; before 1450, however,
they were still lacking multiple copies of many of the standard
academic textbooks, particularly those prescribed for the arts course.
The colleges' holdings in academic theology were greater, although
older commentary traditions were better represented than the work of
more recent or contemporary authors. The Canterbury College monks
appear to have been using some of the oldest books from the mother
house, including one alleged to have belonged to Thomas Becket
60 James C. Clark
himself (Pantin, 1947-85: I, 6). Gloucester College, the largest of the

monastic colleges, did not acquire a library until the end of the 1440s
and it seems unlikely that the common book collection there was ever
very large.?
It also seems unlikely that the monastic colleges were able to
provide anything approaching the level of organized teaching available
in the secular university. The diverse educational backgrounds of the
monks and their varied patterns of attendance worked against the
provision of group teaching. With no more than four monks in
residence at any one time, the conditions at Canterbury College did
not lend themselves to classes, lectures or disputations. There was
supposed to be an established master teaching at Gloucester College,
although correspondence between the capitular presidents, the prior
studentium and the home communities suggests that the college
frequently struggled to fill the post (Pantin, 193 1-37: I, 174-5).
Probably, when there was a resident master, he served as a lector in
theology, guiding the relatively small number of students who
proceeded to bachelor and doctoral degrees. For those pursuing other
studies and, crucially, for those following the preparatory programme
in the primitive sciences, the emphasis must have been upon
individual study, in which the monk-scholars applied themselves to
their own personal programmes of reading.
There were probably greater opportunities for organized teaching
and studying provided for monk-scholars in their own communities.
For example, at Durham and St Albans there was a separate study
room constructed exclusively for the use of monk-scholars.8 A number
of early fourteenth-century manuscripts from Worcester priory contain
anonymous theological quaestiones that may be the work of monk
graduates teaching within the community.9 In the middle years of the
century two graduates, Richard Bromwich and Henry Fouke, appear to
have served as masters to the priory's monk-scholars. Both emended
and glossed a large group of textbooks.lo Several houses imported
teaching masters from elsewhere. Christ Church, Canterbury, St
Augustine's Canterbury, Ramsey and Worcester on various occasions
exchanged graduates to assist in cloister teaching (Pantin, 193 1-37: I,
18 1-5; Pantin, 1969: 2 1 1 , 2 13-16). The well-connected abbots of St
Albans attracted a wide range of distinguished scholars to teach their
university monks, including the theologian John Waldeby (tc. 1372), a
member of the York convent of the Augustinian friars, John Preston
(tc. 1422), a monk from St Augustine's, Canterbury, and later in the
fifteenth century the humanist scholar, John Gunthorpe (t1498),u
It would be wrong to suggest that these contextual factors limited
the intellectual activities of university monks. But it did mean that as a
community of scholars they represented something different from
simply being a university in microcosm. They were not straightfor
wardly monks studying in the faculties of arts, canon law and theology,
in other words they were not 'moines universitaires'. The circum
stances in which they worked ensured that in many respects their
intellectual horizons differed from those o f their secular counterparts.

It seems likely that every monk-scholar, regardless of background,
did spend an initial period following a programme of studies in the
'primitive sciences'. In spite of the recommendations of the capitular
and papal legislation, it appears that this differed in significant
respects from the university's own arts course. Given their varied
levels of education, it seems likely that a key component of their early
studies was elementary Latin grammar. In the university arts faculty,
the study of grammar occupied only a minor place, at least until the
curriculum reforms of the later fifteenth century. Secular students
were expected to have already achieved a high level of competence in
grammar, having passed through a provincial grammar school.12 In
contrast, the monk-scholars studied some of the simplest texts,
supplemented with glossaries and word lists, such as Huguccio of
Pisa's Dictionarium, John of Genoa's Catholicon and Papias's
Elementarium, progressing then to prescriptive treatises such as
Donatus, Priscian, Peter Elias and some contemporary works of
Oxford's own secular grammar masters.13 The texts recorded in a late
fourteenth-century book list from Evesham typify this approach to the
study of grammar, including copies of the Catholicon , Priscian, a
collection of quaterni combining extracts from the Catholicon with
Walter Bibbesworth's Anglo-Norman Le tretiz, and copies of treatises
commonly used in provincial grammar schools, such as Thomas
Hanney's Memoriale iuniorum and the anonymous Pratum florum
(Sharpe et al. , 1996: 1 39-40 (B30.6-7, 10, 103».
Interestingly, both in the colleges and their cloisters, the monk
scholars seem to have preferred an older tradition of grammar
learning, rather than the more recent works of speculative grammar in
use elsewhere in the university. There is evidence of monk-scholars
acquiring, glossing and noting copies of Alexander Nequam's
Corrogationes, De naturis rerum, Eberhard of Bethune's Graecismus
and Adam of Petit Pont's De utensilibus.I4 They read these together
with Latin prose and poetry 'readers', including a diverse range of
classical and later eleventh- and twelfth-century texts (Raine, 1838: 33,
49; James, 1903: 365-6; Sharpe et al., 1996: 559-65 (B87». Indeed it
became increasingly common for monks to use anthologies that
combined prescriptive treatises together with literary texts, teaching
the rules and use of grammar within the same volume. The Dover
monks used a collection which included manuals such as the Officia
grammaticorum alongside Horace's Epistulae and Geoffrey of Vinsauf's
Poetria noua.15
In addition to elementary grammar, the monk-scholars' early
training also seems to have included some work on rhetoric and the ars
dictaminis. There was no place for these subjects in the university arts
course itself, at least until the second half of the fifteenth century.
Indeed the university severely restricted the teaching of dictamen in
those parts of the town under its own jurisdiction. The Worcester
monk-scholars, for example, owned several copies of the dictaminal
62 James G. Clark
treatises of the Oxford master John Leland.16 The Coventry monks also
made use of a large compendium of dictaminal texts, including a series
of model letters that may have been compiled at the priory specifically
for the training of university monksY The study of dictamen and
rhetoric seems to have been regarded as especially important for
monks intending to take degrees in canon law. In the library at Christ
Church, Canterbury, dictaminal texts were kept in the same place as
the law books and catalogued 'libri legis canonici et ciuilis' (James,
1903: 145).
The monk-scholars also studied some subjects on the very fringes
of the arts curriculum. There is some evidence that their preparatory
work included the study of elementary mathematical and astronomical
texts. This again contrasted with the university arts faculty where, in
the later fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the study of the natural
and physical sciences had entered a decline. By c. 1 409 Iohannes Sacro
Bosco's De sphaera was the only major scientific text prescribed for
bachelors, and only the Theorica planetarum and Ptolemy's Almagest
were required for Masters of Arts (Pantin and Mitchell, 1972 : XXXI -III).
Several manuscript anthologies compiled by Oxford monks include
astronomical tables and tracts on the movements of the planets, while
John Westwyk, a St Albans monk at Gloucester College c. 1400, even
completed a revision of Richard of Wallingford's Tractatus Albionis.18
Closely associated with the study of mathematics and astronomy, some
monk-scholars also appear to have studied music as part of this
preparatory programme. Several scholars' books include fragments of
music, voice parts and extracts from treatises on notation.19 Some
monks even went on to study science or music in the higher faculties.
The registers of Congregation record several cases of monks incepting
for bachelor degrees in medicine and music, in some cases after having
graduated in another subject (Pantin, 1 947-85: III, 261 ; Mitchell,
1998: 263).
The training of monk-scholars 'in the primitive sciences' owed
more to the traditional conception of the liberal arts, the trivium and
quadrivium, than it did to the speculative culture of the fourteenth
century schools. But there is no doubt that the monks also followed
some more conventional course of study in logic and philosophy. Given
the few opportunities for group teaching in the colleges and the home
community, and the emphasis on individual study, their approach to
these disciplines was again very different from their secular counter
parts. Probably they worked on a piecemeal basis taking each text or
author in turn, and simply omitting those texts they had been unable to
acquire. Henry Renham, a fourteenth-century monk-scholar (appar
ently from Rochester priory), managed to acquire a late thirteenth
century anthology containing Aristotle's De anima, De celo et mundo,
De generatione et corruptione. The texts were of poor quality, but
Renham improved them by adding notes and glosses from other
sources and from those disputations and lectures he was able to
attend.20 Similarly, in the early fifteenth century, John Broughton, a
Worcester monk-scholar, made his own compilation of Aristotelian

texts including De anima, Meteora and Physica, presumably based on
those exemplars he was able to acquire at Oxford and in his own house,
which he also corrected and glossed.21
To compensate for the difficulties of studying these subjects in their
own colleges and cloisters, monk-scholars and their masters also
made extensive use of epitomes, reference books and other manuals.
The inventories from Canterbury and Durham Colleges, as well as the
books and library catalogues from St Augustine's, Canterbury, Durham
and Worcester, include several collections of extracts, notabilia and
sententiae, compiled from the works of Aristotle, Boethius and some of
the early Aristotelian commentators.22 They also compiled their own
manuals, custom-made to introduce monks to the complexities of logic
and philosophy. The Worcester monks used a text simply titled
Philosophia genus est ceterarum disciplinarum, which explained the
nature and purpose of the discipline .23 There was a similar
introduction to logic and its application in the study of theology in
use in a number of houses, which may have been compiled especially
for a monastic audience. In one copy its usefulness was highlighted
with a note, 'for new theologians', scribbled in the margin.24
The monk-scholars' training in the higher faculties probably also
differed in some significant respects from those elsewhere in the
university. As with their studies in arts, there was a tendency to prefer
authors and texts that belonged to earlier traditions such as Bede,
Hrabanus Maurus, the Victorines and Stephen Langton.25 Interest
ingly, those contemporary or near-contemporary texts the monks did
read were not prominent in the work of secular scholars. For example,
many Oxford monks showed a strong interest in the work of
'classicizing' friars, such as Robert Holcot, John Ridevall and Thomas
Waleys, whose commentaries were never widely adopted elsewhere in
the university (Pantin, 1947-85: I, 48; Sharpe et al., 1996: 661 (B116.
1 7». They also began to use the literal-sense Postils of Nicholas of
Lyre sometime before they became the mainstay of the university's
own theology faculty. The St Albans monks had acquired copies as
early as c. 1360, while the Durham and Westminster monks were using
them before the end of the 1370s (Raine, 1838: 41-5; Sharpe et al.,
1996: 559 (B87.24), 619 (B105.27» .
To consolidate their work in the higher faculties, Oxford monks again
compiled their own anthologies of extracts and sententiae from
Scripture, patristic authors and a wide range of other theological works.
William Thornden, a Christ Church, Canterbury monk, who completed
his bachelor degree c. 1450, used a text based on extracts from twenty
three authors, including Augustine, Ambrose, Jerome, Gregory, Cassian,
Isidore and Bede.26 Similar compilations appear amongst the surviving
books and library catalogues from St Augustine's, Canterbury,
Evesham and Worcester.27 In some houses, monk-scholars (or their
masters) also developed their own custom-made prescriptive treatises
to assist the study of theology and canon law. An early fifteenth-century
64 James G. Clark
Norwich manuscript contains a series of short lectures explaining the

rudiments of theology, probably the work of a monk-graduate John
Stowe.28 Similarly, the St Albans monks began their legal studies using
a versified summary of the decretals, which in successive couplets
introduces the reader to Gratian, Gregory and the Sext.29
It remains difficult to assess how the monk-scholars approached the
academic exercises that occupied the later stages of their higher
degrees. Apart from the records of inception and graduation, there is
very little evidence of them meeting the final requirements of the
course. Despite the large numbers of monk-scholars who completed
the doctorate in theology at Oxford between 1277 and 1 540, not a
single set of Benedictine lectures on Peter Lombard's Sentences now
survives, and there are only fragmentary records of their involvement
in disputations. Interestingly, the fragments that do survive suggest
that, when entering debates alongside other members of the university
community, the monks tended to be drawn towards discussions in
which they could reflect upon their own condition as monk-scholars.
Examined for his doctorate in c. 1 366, the St Albans monk-scholar,
Nicholas Radcliffe, chose to address such questions as the nature of
religious vows.30 Similarly, John Lawerne, the Worcester monk who
studied at Gloucester College in the 1440s, compiled a series of
quodlibetal questions debating whether a monk should take on the role
of intercessor, pastor or teacher.31
It would be wrong to suggest, however, that the studies of Oxford
monks were confined to their formal curriculum in the 'primitive
sciences', canon law and theology. The evidence of their anthologies,
commonplace books and in some cases their own writings, indicates
that many developed a much wider range of intellectual interests.
Without the restrictions and scrutiny that attended reading and writing
in the cloister, the monks were able to follow their own inclinations.
Particularly notable is the number who used the opportunity to
produce their own compositions. It is usually argued that, Uthred and
Adam Easton notwithstanding, the Benedictines' contact with the
universities failed to produce a monastic writer of any stature. As
already noted, few academic texts do survive, but there is a large body
of writing on other topics which can be firmly associated with the
monk-scholars. Many of them occupied themselves with traditional
devotional and meditative works. It was while at Gloucester College in
the 1330s that the Glastonbury monk Edmund Stourton composed his
influential commentary on the Rule of Benedict.32 Later in the 1420s,
John Matthew, another Glastonbury scholar, revised the SPeculum
monachorum, a twelfth-century monastic homily, while completing his
degree.33 The intellectual atmosphere at the monastic colleges seems
to have stimulated forms of writing which were rapidly declining in the
cloister itself.
Other monk-scholars tended to follow the intellectual traditions
prevailing in their own houses. Several generations of monks from St
Augustine's Canterbury compiled astronomical treatises while at Oxford
Games, 1903: 525-40; Ker, 1964: 40-7; Knorr, 1991: 269-84). John
Moorlinch, a Glastonbury monk, produced a Polychronicon continuation
and other historical writings drawn from domestic chronicles while at
Oxford between 1400 and 1410.34 Understandably, many were required
to apply their studies to the needs of their own house. Successive
generations of Worcester monks provided sermons and sermon digests
for use in the mother-house on a wide range of occasions.35 In the early
decades of the fifteenth century, St Albans monk-scholars seem to
have been encouraged to provide Latin and vernacular sermons
condemning Wyclif and the dangers of Lollardy for use at home.36
Earlier in the 1 370s, the abbot, Thomas de la Mare, had commissioned
one of his monk-scholars, Nicholas Radcliffe, to compile a series of
dialogues on Wyclif to be used in teaching at the Abbey.37
As well as writing, many monk-students also spent time copying and
decorating books. The atmosphere in the monastic colleges again
seems to have encouraged activities for which there were increasingly
few opportunities at home. In many late medieval monasteries
organized in-house book production was in steady decline and the
monk-scholars' work may have also met a practical need. From their
description, it seems likely that a good number of the books listed in
the Canterbury and Durham College inventories were copied and
compiled by the monks themselves (Pantin, 1947-85: I, 3-6, 1 1 -16,
18-28). Several surviving books can also be shown to be the work of
monk students. Hugh Eyton, a St Albans monk-scholar who completed
his degree in c. 1410, copied Richard Rolle's commentary on the
Psalms.38 The Glastonbury monk, John Moorlinch, compiled and
probably copied no fewer than five manuscripts at Gloucester College.
The books were lavishly decorated and included a series of images
depicting various attitudes of monastic study.39
In this connection, there is some evidence that Oxford monks
actually became involved in the publication of texts. While at
Gloucester College in 1389, Nicholas Fawkes, a Glastonbury monk,
compiled and copied an anthology of contemporary theological texts.
Fawkes's anthology included the earlier of only two surviving copies of
Nicholas Aston's Quaestiones; the only other copy is also found in a
monastic manuscript from Worcester. Presumably Fawkes had
acquired the exemplar at Oxford and was directly responsible for its
circulation in Oxford to a wider audience within his own monastic
network.40 Similarly, an analysis of the transmission of Nicholas
Radcliffe's Quaestio on Wyclif suggests it was also published from
Oxford and circulated through networks of monk-scholars.4l
Perhaps the most striking feature of the monk-students' books,
notebooks and anthologies, however, is their interest in Latin
literature. In particular, many of them seem to have been drawn to
the study of rhetoric and dictamen, not simply as a practical skill, but as
the basis for a deeper understanding of poetry and prose, and the use
of colour, metre and the cursus. Library catalogues reveal several
monk-scholars who amassed sizeable collections of such texts during
66 James C. Clark
their stay at Oxford. At the turn of the fourteenth century, John

Hawkhurst, a canon law scholar from St Augustine's, Canterbury,
acquired at least half a dozen volumes on poetry, including Geoffrey of
Vinsauf's Poetria noua, an important text for the study of rhetoric and
metre (James, 1903: 298-9, 365, 385-6, 431-3). His contemporary,
John Ashford, a Dover monk, also owned a copy of Vinsauf, together
with several classical texts. Another Dover monk from this period,
Stephen Reynham, acquired several treatises on dictamen, amongst
them a text called the Prosodion that he may have compiled himself
(James, 1903: 364-5, 368, 433, 486). Henry Cranbrook, a scholar at
Canterbury College, compiled and partly copied two large compendia,
containing some of the best-known contemporary treatises, including
the work of Simon Alcock and a 'Simon 0'.42 These texts were popular
amongst Oxford monks in the early decades of the fifteenth century,
but even later a significant number continued to make this kind of
compilation. Thomas Swalwell, a Durham monk who studied theology
at Oxford in the 1470s, compiled an anthology that included Thomas
Merke's Liber de modis dictamine and Geoffrey of Vinsauf's Poetria
noua, together with Richard Bury's Philobiblon.43 In the same period,
WaIter Hotham, a York monk-scholar, collected together copies of
Bury, Merke, a treatise on the colours of rhetoric, and an ars
praedicandi.44
Several of these monk-scholars also produced dictaminal and
rhetorical treatises of their own. Perhaps the earliest was the
Westminster monk, Thomas Merke, who completed his Formula
moderni et usitati dictaminis in c. 1390. Drawn from the treatises of
earlier Oxford masters, it seems probable Merke had compiled the text
while he was still at the university (Camargo, 1995: 105-47; Sharpe:
1997: 668-9). In the first decade of the fifteenth century, Hugh Legat,
a St Albans monk, collaborated with John Woodward, a Worcester
monk, and one 'brother Maurice' of no known affiliation, in the
composition of a sequence of letters designed to serve as models of
rhetorical style. The sequence circulated widely within the monks' own
network of houses, and copies survive from Canterbury, Durham and
Norwich, as well as St Albans and Worcester.45 Other monk-scholars
composed similar sequences, including more than a dozen that Henry
Cranbrook copied into one of his anthologies, although their names
and affiliations remain unknown.46 Even John Lawerne, the Worcester
monk, interspersed his theological notes with letters of amicitia
exploring various rhetorical models, probably of his own composi
tionY
Such was the vitality of these studies that, in the early decades of
the fifteenth century, Oxford's monastic colleges seem to have
emerged as important centres for the teaching of dictamen and
rhetoric. The anonymous scholar who copied the model letters of Hugh
Legat into his commonplace book noted in the margin that they were
the work of 'Brother Hugh, our teacher'.48 In early 1400 the university
authorities appealed to Thomas Arundel to allow the Westminster
monk, Thomas Merke, to return to Oxford to teach. Merke was the

author not only of the aforementioned Formula, but also of another
popular dictaminal treatise, the Liber modis dictamine, and it seems
likely that it was as a teacher of dictamen that he was so highly valued
(Salter et al. , 1942: I, 182-5, 200- 1). Martin Camargo has suggested
that the dictaminal master Simon 0, whose treatises were influential
both within and outside the university, was himself a monk-scholar,
perhaps based at Gloucester College. His largest work, known by its
incipit as Regina sedens rhetorica, was itself addressed to a monastic
audience (Camargo, 1995: 19-35: 169-2 19).
The monk-scholars complemented these more technical interests
with studies in a wide range of Latin literature, both poetry and prose.
Contemporary library catalogues reveal large collections of literary
material. John Hawkhurst, the St Augustine's, Canterbury monk owned
copies of Cicero's De officiis, Lucan, Sallust and various works of Ovid
(James, 1903: 298-9, 365, 385-6, 431-3). In the same period, William
Curteys, a Bury monk, owned copies of Cicero, Ovid and Virgil's
Aeneid.49 Writing to a fellow monk c. 1400, a Durham monk-scholar
requested a copy of the Bellum Troie because of its 'elegance of style,
its richness of vocabulary' (Salter et al., 1942: II, 238). Many Oxford
monks compiled their own anthologies of literary texts. Thomas
Wybarn, a Rochester monk who studied at Oxford in the later 1460s,
amassed one of the largest collections. He acquired, compiled and
glossed no fewer than sixteen books, including copies of Lucan,
Solinus and a collection of grammatical texts.50 Several other
anthologies almost certainly the work of Oxford monks contain such
texts as Ps.-Theodolus' Ecloga, Alan of Lille's Anticlaudianus, Jean
Hauville's Architrenius and Walter of Chatillon's Alexandreis.51 An
anonymous Bury monk combined Walter of Chatillon's Alexandreis with
a copy of Suidas, which he probably copied from two exemplars (one at
Bury and the other at Oxford).52
Many of these monks also composed literary works of their own
while at Oxford. As early as the 1370s, a member of the Oxford
Greyfriars remarked that the only laudable work to have emerged from
the monastic colleges was an elegant new account of the Trojan war,
composed by John Seen, a Glastonbury monk-scholar.53 Sadly, Seen's
text is not extant, but there are many other poems and prose texts
written by university monks during their studies at Oxford. Probably
John Lydgate completed his translation of part of Aesop's Fabula while
at Oxford at the turn of the fifteenth century. 54 The St Albans monk
Hugh Legat composed commentaries on Boethius' Consolatio and Jean
Hauville's Architrenius at Oxford.55 In the prologue to the latter he
explained that the text was completed 'in the autumn, when every son
of our university exhausted from his labours, roams in the fields of
repose and gathers the fruits and flowers of pleasant recreation'. 56
Clearly the vacations offered opportunities to study outside the formal
curriculum. Another St Albans monk, John Whethamstede, wrote a
sequence of verses and epitaphs following classical models in a
68 James G. Clark
commonplace book compiled while at Gloucester College. A number of

these concerned his own contemporaries. Probably it was also at
Oxford that he began the research for his compilation of extracts from
classical authors, the Pabularium poetarum.57 Recalling his experi
ences in Oxford more than forty years later, he remembered the
atmosphere of the monastic college as a poet's paradise, 'a Cabalinian
fount which gushing forth in the midst of Oxford, makes it
unexpectedly rich in poets [and where] one joins with the Muses in
the singing of extraordinary melodies' (Riley, 1872-73: II, 3 13-14).
As these examples suggest, there appears to have been a strong seam
of classicism in the literary tastes of the monk-scholars. The marginal
notations in their books and the focus of their own writings suggest
particular interests in ancient history and mythography. There also
seems to have been a strong desire to return to the 'classicizing' writers
of the twelfth century - Alan of Lille, Jean Hauville and Walter of
Chatillon. It has long been assumed that the only evidence of more than
a passing interest in classicism amongst English monks is to be found in
the work of William Sellyng and his Canterbury circle at the end of the
fifteenth century, and Robert Joseph and his circle of monk graduates in
the 1 520s.58 However, the books and writings of Oxford monk-scholars
briefly examined here suggest these were only the latest in a long
standing tradition of classical and literary scholarship associated with
the monasteries' intellectual elite. Indeed, given the activities of Hugh
Legat, John Whethamstede and others early in the fifteenth century,
Joseph's correspondence can perhaps be seen not as exceptional but
typical of the intellectual culture of Gloucester College.
It would be wrong, of course, to suggest that as a community,
Oxford's university monks represented some kind of centre of nascent
humanism. However, the fact that a significant proportion of Oxford's
monk-scholars was pursuing vigorous literary studies in the later
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is an indication of the distinctive
learning environment that they inhabited. It was evidently one in
which teaching and learning, for the majority at least, were never
constant. It was also one in which individual, self-regulated patterns of
study took precedence over the master-student interaction that
usually characterized the universities. Crucially, it was also an
environment in which independent approaches to study could flourish
in spite of the competing influences of the home communities and the
university itself. The arts curriculum which the monk-scholars
developed in this context in some respects challenged the authority
of the university arts faculty, rehabilitating the older arts of grammar
and rhetoric, and in so doing anticipating changes which were to sweep
the university in the sixteenth century. The literary, and in particular
the classical, interests which the same monks cultivated also pre
figured the new trends which would affect the university by 1 500.59 Of
course, when these changes occurred, few in the university would have
connected them with the monastic communities which for more than
two centuries had lived and studied in their midst.
Notes
1. Wilkins, 1737: II, 585-613; Pantin, 1931-37: I, 64-92; II, 28-62, 64-82.
2. Wilkins, 1 737: II, 594; Pantin, 1 93 1 -37: I, 55-8, 74-82.
3. For example, Thomas de la Mare and John Whethamstede, both abbots of
St Albans in the later Middle Ages, were educated at grammar schools
before their profession. See BL, Harley 139, fo!' 9 1r; Riley, 1867-69: II,
372.
4. The Canterbury College book inventories for 1443 and 1459 include
multiple copies of the dictionaries and glossaries of Huguccio of Pisa, John
of Genoa and William Brito. Significantly, by 1501 a section of the library
was devoted to elementary grammatical texts, including Isidore's Etymola
giae and Priscian. See Pantin, 1947-85: I, 3-6, 1 1- 15, 27-8. For similar
texts, including novice 'readers' at Durham College, see Burrows, 1896: 36-
9; Salter et al., 1942: II, 244.
5. For these inventories see Durham, Cathedral Chapter Library, B.lV. 46, fo!.
15r; Burrows, 1896: 36-9; Pantin, 1947-85: 1 1-16, 18-28, 39-50, 59-62,
70-2, 76, 80-92.
6. In these circumstances some monk-scholars amassed considerable
personal libraries. See the collections of the Durham monks Thomas
Westoe, William Ebchester and Thomas Swalwell: Ker and Watson, 1987:
87-97.
7. The construction of the college library was funded by John Whetham·
stede, abbot of St Albans, and completed in c.1440. Only four books
survive, all of them Whethamstede's gifts. See Ker, 1 964: 146; Ker and
Watson, 1 987: 54.
8. See CUL, Ee 4.20, fo!. 274r; Riley, 1867-69: III, 389.
9. See for example WCL, F.50, F.124, Q.31 and Q.7 1 .
10. S e e for example WCL, F.62, F . 1 3 9 and F.156.
1 1 . See BL, Cotton Nero D.vii, fols. 1 1 1v, 157r; Riley, 1867-69: III, 372.
12. For the university arts curriculum see Weisheipl, 1 964, 143-85; Pantin
and Mitchell, 1 972: XXIX-XXXIV; Fletcher, 1992: 3 15-45.
13. See for example the grammar texts in use at Crowland, Glastonbury and
Ramsey in Sharpe et al., 1996: 1 1 4-25 (B24), 230-1 (B43), 354-415
(B68); also those in use at Christ Church, Canterbury and Dover, in
James, 1 903: 355-9, 385-8, 432-3; and at Durham, Raine, 1838: 33, 49,
111.
14. See for example Oxford, Bod!., Rawlinson G.99, an early fifteenth-century
collection compiled by Hugh Legat (a St Albans monk-scholar), and
WCL, F.123, fols. 25r-98v. See also the grammar books in use in the
later fourteenth century at Durham and Ramsey: Raine, 1838: 33; Sharpe
et al. , 1 996: 354-4 15 (B68.23, 327, 396, 471, 535).
15. Cambridge, Trinity College, R. 3. 5 1 .
16. S e e WCL, F. 123, fol. 98v; Oxford, Bodl., Bodley 8 3 2 , fols. 8r-v.
1 7 . Oxford, Bodl., Auct. 2.3.9. The model letters are at 4 1 4-27.
18. See for example the books on loan to the Worcester monk-scholars John
Lawerne, John Broughton and Isaac Ledbury; Sharpe et al., 1996: 661-2
(B 1 16.22-3). For Westwyk's text see Oxford, Bodl., Laud Misc. 657, fols.
1r-78v.
19. See for example Dublin, Trinity College 444, fols. 9v- 10r (St Albans).
See also the book lists from Evesham and Worcester; Sharpe et al., 1996:
1 42 (B30.34), 661-2 ( B 1 1 6 . 1 5).
20. BL, Royal 12G.ii. The ex libris inscription at fol. Iv reads: 'librum scripsit
70 James G. Clark
Henricum de Renham et audiuit in Scolis Oxonie emandauit et glosauit

auidendo'.
21. WCL, F.86.
22. See Pantin, 1 947-85: I, 81, especially those volumes described as
'opusculum Aristotelis' . See also WCL, F.63, F.99, Q.38; Raine, 1838: 39-
45; james, 1 903: 355-9; 384-8.
23. WCL, F.123, fols. lr-24v.
24. BL, Royal 12C.xiii, fols. l r-6v. The inscription is at fol. lr. The second
copy is in Oxford, Magdalen College, 99.
25. See for example the 1 443 and 1 5 0 1 book inventories in Burrows, 1896:
36-9; Pantin, 1 947-85: 1, 5, 18-19. See also Raine, 1 838: 39-41 , 42-5;
Sharpe et al., 1996: 2 2 1 -3 (B43. 18-25).
26. BL, Royal 7B.xiii. For other examples see Raine, 1838: 41-5.
27. See for example james, 1 903: 3 18; WCL, F.5 1 .
28. Cambridge, Emmanuel College, I I . 2. 7 ( 1 42), fols. 78r-79r.
29. BL, Harley 3775, fols. 12r-14v. For a similar text in use at Evesham see
Sharpe et al., 1996: 1 46 (B30.89).
30. BL, Royal 6D.x, fols. 229r-74r. See also Catto, 1 992a: 230.
31. Oxford, Bodl., Bodley 692, esp. fol. 6r.
32. No complete copy of the text survives. See Sharpe, 1997: 108.
33. Oxford, Bodl., Bodley 496, fols. 207r- 1 4r. See Sharpe, 1 997: 282.
34. Oxford, Queen's College, 304, fols. 1 5 1 r-78v. See also Sharpe, 1997:
283.
35. See for example the texts collected in WCL, F.10 and Q.56, both of which
were compiled in the first quarter of the fifteenth century and are likely
to be connected with the work of monk-scholars.
36. See for example the sermons in Oxford, Bodl., Laud Misc. 706, fols.
144r-51v, 153r-6v; WCL, F . 1 0 , fols. 83rb-4va. The first sermon in the
Worcester manuscript is ascribed to the St Albans monk Hugh Legat,
who studied at Gloucester College in c. 1405-20.
37. BL, Royal 6D.x, fol. 1rb.
38. Oxford, Bodl., Bodley 467. Eyton's ex libris inscription is on the front
flyleaf.
39. BL, Harley 641, 6 5 1 ; Oxford, Bodl., Laud Lat. 4; Oxford, Queen's College,
304. See also Ker, 1 964a: 264.
40. See Catto, 1 987: 354. The second copy of Aston's Quaestiones is in WCL,
F.65, fols. 42r-63r.
41. Manuscripts containing Radcliffe's Quaestio include BL, Royal 6D.x (St
Albans); BL, Royal 10D.x (Reading). See also Poole et al. 1 990: 307;
Oxford, Bodl., Top. Gen. C.3.
42. Oxford, Bodl., Selden Supra 65, esp. fols. 1 34r-46r.
43. BL, Add. 28805. See also Emden, 1957-59: III, 1828.
44. BL, Add. 2436 1 . See also Emden, 1957-59: II, 970.
45. BL, Royal 10B.ix, fols. 1 70r-3r (Christ Church, Canterbury); BL, Cotton
julius F.vii, fols. 129r-35r (Norwich); Oxford, Bodl., Bodley 832, fols.
1 73v-76v (Worcester).
46. For Cranbrook's anthology see BL, Royal 10B.ix, fols. 58v, 123r, 129r-
32v. For another monastic collection containing similar letters see
Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 358, fols. 20v-1v.
47. Oxford, Bodl., Bodley 692, fols. 29v-30r, 84r, 147v-9v.
48. BL, Harley 5398, fol. 130r.
49. Cambridge, Trinity College, R. 3. 50 (623).
50. Cambridge, Trinity College, R. 3 . 30 (610), O. 2. 24 ( 1 128); BL, Royal
15A.xxii. See also Emden, 1957-59: III, 2098-9; Greatrex, 1997a, 649-50.
5 1 . See for example Oxford, Bodl., Digby 64, 100; WCL, Q.79.
52. BL, Royal 8B.iv.
53. Richard Trevytlam, De laude Oxoniae, 1. 314, 'quod narrat optime de bellis
Hectoris'. See Burrows, 1896: 204. For Trevytlam see Emden, 1957-59: III,
1904.
54. The colophon of Lydgate's version of Aesop's fable of the dog and
shadow identifies the translation as having been 'made in Oxenforde'.
See Oxford, Bodl., Ashmole 59, fol. 24v.
55. Legat's commentary on Architrenius survives uniquely in Oxford, Bodl.,
Digby 64, fols. 1 08r-20v. His commentary on Boethius' Consolatio is now
lost, although Bale records its incipit in Poole et al., 1990: 1 7 1 , 215.
56. Legal's prologue is preserved in a quotation by Bale from a lost copy of
the text which belonged to Norwich Cathedral Priory. See Poole et al.,
1 990: 215.
57. For Whethamstede's verses see Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College,
230, fols. 56v-7r; 79r, 80v, 86r-9v, 1 70r-v. For the Pabularium
poetarum see BL, Egerton 646, fols. 23r-72v, 79r-82v.
58. For Sellyng see Weiss, 1 957: 148-50, 153-9. For Joseph see Aveling and
Pantin, 1967.
59. For an account of these changes see Catto, 1992b: 769-83; Fletcher,
1 993: 343-4.
7 Hildegard of Bingen's
teaching in her Expositiones
evangeliorum and Ordo
virtu tum
Beverly Mayne Kienzle
The conviction that exegesis, teaching and preaching are inseparable

was summarized by Beryl Smalley, when writing about Gregory the
Great: 'Exegesis is teaching and preaching. Teaching and preaching is
exegesis. This was the strongest impression left by St. Gregory on
medieval Bible study' (Smalley, 1984: 35). Hildegard of Bingen
inherited this view from Gregory and others, but she also added her
own dimension to the interplay of those forms of explicating the Bible.
To convey her message to her own community, she retold the Gospel
stories and brought them to life for her nuns. In so doing, she
employed a dramatic narrative style of exegesis that calls to mind her
work as a dramatist and author of the first surviving medieval morality
play, the earliest Ordo virtutum. Here we shall consider Hildegard's
Expositiones evangeliorum, Gospel commentaries in homily form, in the
light of the Ordo virtutum, to illustrate how the magistra and abbatissa
addressed her community and represented its struggles by incorporat
ing elements of drama into exegesis, teaching and preaching. l
First, a word about the texts we are considering - the Ordo virtutum
and the Expositiones evangeliorum. Scholars estimate that the Ordo had
been written by 1 1 5 1 , when Hildegard was finishing the Scivias.2 The
Ordo virtutum dramatizes with words and music the struggle of a soul
who falls into sin, experiences a battle between the Devil and the
rescuing virtues, and returns restored to her community. The principal
characters are the Soul, the Devil and personifications of virtues, such
as Humility, Knowledge of God, Charity, Obedience, Faith and Hope.
The Soul engages in dialogue with individual virtues, and a chorus
thereof, as well as with the Devil. At the drama's close, the virtues, led
by Humility and Chastity, bind up the Devil. It is not possible to do
justice to the Ordo virtutum in a short essay; what I shall emphasize
are the connections that I see between the Ordo and the themes,
function and dramatic character of Hildegard's homilies, many of which
Hildegard of Bingen 's teaching 73
represent the struggle of the soul both within itself and in a larger
cosmological context.
Hildegard composed fifty-eight Expositiones evangeliorum, or
homilies on the Gospels, devoted to twenty-seven scriptural passages
and liturgical occasions.3 She mentions some expositiones in the
prologue to the Liber vitae meritorum as having been written (but not
necessarily completed):
After that vision the subtleties of the various creatures of nature,
and responses and admonitions for many lesser and greater
persons, and the symphony of the harmony of celestial
revelations, and an unknown language and writings, with certain
other expositions. (Carlevaris, 1995: 8)
From that passage, we can conclude that the Expositiones were
composed, at least in part, by 1 157. In addition, intratextual references
in two homilies probably place one during the schism of 1 159-77 and
another during the crisis over the Cathars burnt in Cologne in 1 163.4
Hence, Hildegard probably composed the Expositiones over a number
of years, progressively adding to them and filling out her coverage of
the liturgical year. They have received very little attention from
scholars, and compared to Hildegard's major visionary trilogy -
Scivias, Liber vitae meritorum, Liber divinorum operum - they are
practically unknown.
I call Hildegard's Expositiones homilies because of their literary
form: they comment on the biblical passage progressively, that is,
phrase by phrase.5 The written text of the Expositiones differs from
most extant twelfth-century monastic sermons because of its informal
quality and the performative dimension that must be imagined behind
it. To understand the Expositiones, one needs to picture Hildegard
speaking to her sisters, the scriptural text either before her, read
aloud to her, or recited from memory, section by section in sequential
order. After each section, she adds her explanations. 6
This observation leads us to consider the first of three key aspects
of the identity of Hildegard's audience, a community of twelfth-century
Benedictine nuns living in the Rhineland. The Rule of Benedict
grounds and shapes Hildegard's message; it provides the authority, the
responsibility and the liturgical structure for her exegesis, preaching
and teaching.7 According to the Rule, the abbot, and likewise the
abbess, was responsible at the Judgment for the souls of the
community, and he or she was obliged to encourage or reproach their
b ehaviour as needed.s In one letter, Hildegard describes her
responsibility to her daughters and the forces weighing against her:
I exercised the care of my daughters in all things necessary for
both their bodies and their souls . . . In a true vision I saw with
great concern how various airy spirits9 battled against us, and I
saw that these same spirits were entangling certain of my noble
daughters in various vanities as it were in a net. I made this
known to them through a showing of God, and I fortified and
74 Beverly Mayne Kienzle
entrenched them with the words of Holy Scripture and the

discipline of the Rule and a holy way of life. (Klaes, 1993: 37)10
Here Hildegard credits her visionary gift for her understanding of
conflict, and expresses her responsibility for teaching her sisters about
their individual failings and the cosmic forces weighing against them
and all humanity.
Furthermore, the Benedictine liturgical practice of commenting on
the Rule and hearing commentaries on the Scriptures must have
shaped the form of Hildegard's Expositiones as progressive commen
taries on a biblical passage. Moreover, the word expositio denotes the
homiletic commentaries on Scripture read in the office; and the verb
exponere is employed for the process by which the abbot or abbess
expounds a passage (sententia) of the Rule in chapter. Hildegard
herself uses the term elsewhere to describe her biblical commentary.
In so doing, she echoes the terminology of numerous earlier Christian
exegetes.l1 One can then see Hildegard's commentary on Scripture as
an outgrowth of her exposition of the Rule and indeed as the fruit of
listening to patristic homilies read in the office.12 Moreover, in
explaining the Scriptures, the abbess retells the biblical story for her
sisters. The meaning of the scriptural text is not altered, but the
richness of possible meanings is brought to life in a new performance
of the story. Hildegard's dramatic vision shapes the form and content
of her exegesis.
The Expositiones and the Ordo virtutum occupied a place in the
community liturgy13 and provided vehicles for teaching and exegesis in
the monastery. Like other homilies and sermons, Hildegard ' s
Expositiones could have been preached, heard and read, both aloud
to the community and silently as individual devotional reading. Various
dimensions of the liturgical function of the Ordo virtutum in
Hildegard's community have been proposed. Moreover, the play's
meaning and emphasis would have shifted depending on which persons
in the community played which roles, and how they related to each
other at any given time of performance.14 A parallel range of meanings
could have existed for some of the Expositiones: any person in
Hildegard's community could at one time or another see herself or one
of her sisters in the characters of the scriptural story, or in Hildegard's
allegorized interpretation.
A second aspect of the identity of Hildegard's audience and
Hildegard herself emerges from the context of twelfth-century
spirituality. Along with Hildegard's distinctive focus on the human
and cosmic struggle, we note central elements of medieval religious
thinking: the battle between virtues and vices, and the importance of
symbolism. Hildegard's interpretations of the Scriptures for her
community repeatedly call upon the sacred text to illustrate the
triumph of a faithful soul over the vices. Moreover, as twelfth-century
Christians, Hildegard and her sisters viewed the Bible and the world as
a composite of signs that acquired their real meaning only through
spiritual or allegorical interpretation.15 The notion of a battle between
virtues and vices within the individual soul captured the late antique
and medieval sense of struggle, from Prudentius's Psychomachia to the
iconography of Christian art and architecture, and the content of
treatises on the virtues and vices (Bloomfield, 1939; Newhauser,
1993). Hildegard, informed by medical cosmology, envisioned the
inner spiritual and physical struggle extending to the cosmos (Glazer,
1998: 12 5-48). The notion of inner and cosmic conflict, microcosm and
macrocosm, dates back in Christian exegesis as far as Origen.16 The
sources for Hildegard's cosmology and its relationship to twelfth
century Platonism and scientific studies poses a complex problem that
I shall not tackle here,17 but the importance of cosmology must be
mentioned because of its role in Hildegard's exegesis.
That Hildegard was a woman writing for women raises questions of
gender connected to the content of her writings and to her authority.
While the concerns of monastic life and the struggle to achieve
salvation probably weighed more heavily in her preaching and teaching
than did gender differences, the sisters received a somewhat different
message than a male audience, in particular, a greater emphasis on
virginity. Numerous expositiones teach lessons about chastity, virginity
and the struggle between virtues and vices that also animate the
Speculum virginum, a manual on virginity that achieved popularity in
religious houses from the twelfth century onward.18
Finally, the question of authority must be considered. Since
Hildegard's uniqueness among medieval women has concerned many
other scholars, we shall call attention to just a few points. First, the
Rhineland provided an unusual environment in which other magistrae
received respect before and at the same time as Hildegard . l9
Nonetheless, they did not achieve the level of Hildegard's fame nor
are any works of theirs extant. Second, Hildegard's position as woman
exegete was as remarkable as her status as a preacher. The
Expositiones offer us a text where the two roles merge. Third,
Hildegard's gift as seer, described as either visionary or prophet,
grounded the authority for her exegesis20 and apparently placed her
beyond the controversies over abbesses' and other women's preach
ing.21 Finally, the understanding that Hildegard gained as a visionary
and prophet entailed the call to transmit her revelations to others -
first, her sisters through various compositions, notably the homilies,
drama, music; and then to those beyond her monastery through the
letters, other writings and four preaching tours.22 Thus Hildegard's
response to the understanding she gained through visions was to
transmit it through teaching and preaching; exegeting the Scriptures
elucidated both the conflicts humans faced and the solutions they were
to find.23
Hildegard's preaching to her community is attested not only by the
extant texts of her homilies, but also by a letter that her secretary
Volmar drafted on behalf of the sisters. Together Volmar and the
sisters expressed what they valued and would miss most about
Hildegard, including her 'new interpretation of the Scriptures' and her
'new and unheard-of sermons on the feast days of saints' .24 Evidently
Hildegard's community recognized that her interpretations of Scrip
ture were different from what they were accustomed to hear preached
or read from patristic homiliaries. That different interpretation relates
no doubt to the allegorical and cosmological vision that one finds in her
works. Hildegard's reputation as exegete also extended beyond
Rupertsberg, as evidenced by her Solutiones triginta octo quaestionum,
a treatise she sent to Guibert of Gembloux for the monks at Villers.25
Now let us turn to Hildegard's view of exegesis, which she expounds
in Homily 21.2 (Ninth Sunday after Pentecost) on Luke 19:41-47, the
story of Jesus expelling the moneychangers from the temple.26 In
Hildegard's explication, Jesus and, after him, the interpreters of the New
Testament, that is, Gregory the Great, Ambrose, Augustine and Jerome,
have changed the old into the new, specifically into the spiritual meaning.
They cleanse old ways of worship and lead carnal institutions to humility
by means of spiritual understanding. They leave no written word and no
worship without transformation; indeed, so profound is the alteration that
not one word remains unchanged. Hence, for Hildegard, every word of
Scripture must be interpreted spiritually.
Hildegard does not speak here of the three or four traditional levels
of scriptural interpretation: historical-literal, allegorical, moral,
anagogical. She does demonstrate knowledge of the conventional
modes when she explicates the first book of Genesis in the Liber
divinorum operum, Book II. Her approach there follows three levels of
meaning, and the manuscript rubrics reflect them with labels of
Littera, Allegoria, Moralitas. Nonetheless, Hildegard's interpretation
in these passages remains strikingly original. 27 While in general we
may distinguish between literal and spiritual interpretation in
Hildegard's Expositiones, the spiritual predominates and her method
resists attempts to draw neat categories.28
Hildegard is indebted to the tradition that precedes her and, like her
predecessors, to the second-century scholar Origen above all.29 To
varying degrees, most twelfth-century interpreters of Scripture and, in
fact, most medieval exegetes held the view that the hidden meaning of
Scripture, revealed by spiritual or allegorical interpretation, surpasses
the literal or historical sense. M.-D. Chenu used the term 'symbolist
mentality' to describe this mode of twelfth-century thought, and
scholars have investigated a school of German symbolism during the
same period.30 Hildegard was certainly a product of her age in this
regard; yet there is something more and unmistakably unique about
her homilies and their approach to the scriptural text.
The Expositiones, like the Ordo virtutum, hold at least three possible
patterns of theological interpretation. The first is the collective
struggle of humankind in salvation history; the second, the journey of
the faithful soul, which typifies the individual inner struggle of every
human soul when confronted with temptations and evil; and the third,
the individual and collective battles against sin which the nun and her
community wage in the monastic life. These correspond roughly to
historical-literal, allegorical and moral interpretation, but they cannot

be reduced to those traditional levels alone. All Hildegard ' s
interpretation and writing are marked b y allegory.31 Several of
Hildegard's Expositiones represent the struggle of the faithful soul,
as do some of her letters and a lengthy sequence that praises the Holy
Spirit. In fact, the notion of Christian life as an ongoing struggle
represents a key feature of Hildegard's moral thought,32 one that she
often portrays as the dramatic conflict between virtues and vices. At
the successful termination of the struggle, the soul's reception back
into the community, as dramatized poignantly in the Ordo virtuturn,
may represent the redeemed soul's entry into the communion of saints
in heaven; the wholeness to which the conflicted soul returns; or the
soul's return to the monastic or any other human community from
which it was estranged. Moreover, a fourth dimension of Hildegardian
interpretation that appears in the homilies (but not directly in the Ordo
virtuturn) transports the struggle to the cosmic level, where the
elements associated with good triumph over those allied with evil. This
fourth or cosmological level represents the harmony of cosmic
elements re-established with the soul's restoration, but a cosmic
dimension may appear along with any of the three preceding patterns.
We shall now examine how the four patterns of interpretation
operate in some of the Expositiones: first, several pairs of homilies on
the same pericope; then, the three cases where three texts exegete
one passage; and finally, the four homilies on Luke 2 1 :25-33, which
constitute the only set within the Expositiones offering four
interpretations of the same text. In all instances, a measure of
consistency and an impressive range of Hildegardian variety emerge
from reading the texts.
Most of Hildegard's Expositiones present two interpretations of the
scriptural text: one grounded in salvation history (literal), and the other
offering individual and/or collective moral lessons (allegorical and/or
moral). The first of the Easter homilies (13.1, Mark 16:1-7) begins with
historical and typological interpretation of the Old and New Testaments
(old and new law) but moves to a tropological lesson directed at women in
religious life. The second homily begins its drama with the problem of
choosing between good and evil, and a struggle between virtues and vices
ensues.33 Another two homilies (12.1 and 12.2 for the Sunday before
the Third Sunday of Lent) present Hildegard's exegesis of the Parable
of the Prodigal Son (Luke 1 5 : 1 3-32).34 One recounts the drama of
salvation history, where humanity sins and is expelled from Paradise
but afterward receives the law, the prophets and the Saviour's
redemption. The other brings to life the story of a soul who falls away
from God, allows the vices a temporary triumph, but then returns to
God with the assistance of the virtues. In both Hildegard enhances the
parable's dramatic structure, building on the story's crisis (the father's
kiss) and denouement (the son's restoration to the household). The
characters do not engage in dialogue but Hildegard reports their
conversation, interaction and conflict (Kienzle, 2000b).
The exegesis of two other Lukan pericopes illustrates how

Hildegard may emphasize one side or the other of the struggle, or
one aspect of the story.35 In one homily on the Parable of the Great
Supper ( 1 8 . 1 , Luke 14: 16-21), Hildegard does not trace the whole
story of salvation history.36 Instead she focuses on Adam, his children
and his relationship to creation. Similarly, in the other homily on the
same pericope (18.2), Hildegard stages one aspect of the Psychomachia
- the interaction between desire for pleasure and vanity.37 Vanity
serves as desire's messenger, searching for humans who will consent
to desire. The individual soul plays only a small role here and the
virtues do not enter the conflict to usher in victory, as they generally
do. Hildegard echoes some features of Origen and Gregory the Great's
exegesis here, along with Augustine's, namely the interpretation of the
five pair of oxen (one invitee's excuse for not attending the banquet) as
the five senses and the general emphasis on bodily versus spiritual
pleasures. Other exegetes such as Ambrose and Augustine focus on
the three excuses together as refusals made by heathens, Jews and
heretics (Wailes, 1987: 16 1-6; Bovon, 1996: 456-7).
The first homily for the Sunday within the octave of Epiphany (6.1,
Luke 2:42-52) has a christological focus, emphasizing the incarnation
as the transformer of the old law and the prophets into the new.38 The
point of departure for the second homily in this set (6.2), as for others,
is the knowledge of good and evil. In Hildegard's exegesis, Jesus, the
logos, teaching in the temple at the age of twelve designates
rationalitas.39 In contrast to the banquet homily, Hildegard emphasizes
here the human's alliance with the virtues - humility, fear of the Lord,
wisdom and obedience - but not without attention to the defeat of
pride, boastfulness and vainglory.
We turn now to the three sets of expositiones for which Hildegard
composed three interpretations of one pericope: 16. 1-3 on John 3 : 1 -
1 5 ; 20.1-3 o n Luke 5 : 1 - 1 1 ; 2 1 . 1-3 o n Luke 1 9 :41-47. I n two o f those
sets (20. 1-3 and 2 1 . 1 -3), the first two homilies concern salvation
history but start at different points - one with the Creation and the
other with the Incarnation. The third homily in both sets focuses on
the individual sinner. These correspond roughly to Hildegard's three
level reading of the first book of Genesis (literal, allegorical, moral),
expounded in the Liber divinorum operum. Together they may serve as
a standard for establishing Hildegard's basic method of exegesis and
we may view them as a three-act drama of salvation history. However,
the third set of three expositiones does not conform so neatly to this
model: it retains one interpretation devoted to the individual sinner,
but the other two readings offer a strikingly cosmological emphasis,
teaching about the right understanding of creation.
The first set of three homilies that we consider (20.1-3, Fourth
Sunday after Pentecost) comments on Luke 5 : 1 - 1 1 , the miraculous
catch.40 The first views salvation history briefly: beginning with
Creation, it describes the human's endowment with the knowledge of
good and evil, the Fall, and Christ's coming to open the path to good
works and the heavenly Jerusalem. The second starts from the
Incarnation and treats the turning from the old law to the new in the
Gospel, when humankind accepts belief in Christ's dual nature and
subjects itself to God's commands. The third homily dramatizes the
virtues' role in conversion and victory over the Devil.
For the three homilies on Luke 19:41-47 (21 . 1-3, Ninth Sunday
after Pentecost), the story of Jesus expelling the moneychangers,41 the
first expositio offers a panorama of salvation history from the moment
of creation to Christ's teaching. The second has an incarnational focus,
explaining Jesus' transformation of the Law and the understanding of
the Scriptures. Homily three focuses on the individual sinner and the
drama of her conversion from sin to righteousness, from vices to
virtues, from the thieves' den (the Devil's house of ill repute) to the
temple, where angels and saints openly and joyously praise the
repentant sinner.
In the third set of three expositiones (16. 1-3, Invention of the Holy
Cross) this one on John 3:1-15, the story of Nicodemus,42 the third
expositio focuses on the individual sinner, as occurs in the previous two
sets. Here the emphasis lies on the journey from sin through penance,
specifically compunction and confession. While the struggle between
virtue and vice does not play a prominent role, the rejection of vices
and of aridity constitutes part of the process of repentance. The first
two expositiones in this set do relate to salvation history but they differ
strikingly from the others examined so far. The first teaches about
salvation history starting from the Creation, but it takes its point of
departure from the misconceptions of a pseudo-prophet, designated by
Nicodemus. His questioning Jesus about rebirth reveals views that
resemble those of the Cathars. Hildegard emphasizes God as sole
creator, the importance of baptism with water and Christ's dual nature
- all key differences between orthodox and Cathar theology. The
second expositio begins with knowledge of evil, defined as nothingness
and differentiated from good. The frequent Hildegardian image of the
wheel (from the first chapter of Ezekiel) holds a central function here,
as do the life-giving power of God and the concept of viriditas. One can
imagine the Cathars in the back of Hildegard's mind here too, when
she emphasizes God's creative power.43
Hildegard composed several works against Cathar beliefs, as she
collaborated with Elizabeth of Schonau and her brother Ekbert in the
anti-heretical campaign in the Rhineland (Kienzle, 1998: 165-8). One
of those is a homily belonging to the set of four expositiones (24.1-4) on
Luke 2 1 :25-33, to which we now turn. The first of these is labelled
Littera in the manuscript margin, the second AUegorica; the third and
fourth are not identified by a specific mode of interpretation.44
However tempting it may be to match these four homilies with the
traditional four levels of interpretation, such labels prove insufficient.
This Lukan text lends itself handily to Hildegard's cosmological
vision. The first part of the Gospel passage (Luke 2 1:25-29) describes
the signs preceding the end of the age and the parousia. The second is
a very short Parable of the Fig Tree (Luke 2 1:29-3 1) whose leaves
announce the coming of summer (not the longer Parable in Luke 13:6-
9). Most medieval exegetes leave aside the fig tree, but not so with
Hildegard. Even German vernacular sermons on the same pericope
and from the same period pass it over in silence and furthermore do
not incorporate virtues and vices into their commentary as Hildegard
does.45 Moreover, she enhances the dramatic tension in all four of her
texts, retelling the cosmic reactions and the Parable of the Fig Tree
with heightened conflict - battling virtues and vices, cosmic groans
and jealous angels.
While the first version follows most closely the literal meaning of
the Scripture and the literal interpretation of salvation history, it
incorporates a cosmological dimension nonetheless. The elements of
the cosmos are moved by humanity's evil deeds, and humans then
experience physical or natural consequences of their sin: the shaking
wrought by heavenly bodies, aridity - the opposite of greenness
(viriditas), sadness instead of happiness. Hildegard says:
The air and water are affected and the water extends to the sun,
the moon and the stars, since those reflect from the water. And
so those heavenly bodies shake humans violently with
unaccustomed terror.46
Humans also provoke the anger of the angels. The community
envisioned here encompasses the cosmos, and the inter-relatedness
and interaction of the cosmos, humankind and the angels enhances the
element of drama in the text. The signs announce Christ's coming in
humanity and divinity. Greenness in the blossoming of trees and
flowers signals redemption and reward for the righteous. The visible
world will be transformed into a better and more stable condition.
The fourth homily corresponds to the pattern of Hildegardian
interpretation that recreates the drama of the individual soulY It
introduces vices and virtues but imagines their conflict as a mirror of
the inward struggle between care for heaven and concerns on earth,
the psychodrama that played out in individual sisters' souls and in the
monastic community as a whole. Carnal desires and licentiousness
besiege faith and knowledge. Humans doubt and fear, unable to discern
God from the Devil. The soul's powers - rationality, faith, hope and
charity - are shaken by the body's tempests.
With Christ's coming, the virtues allow human knowledge to
conquer evil with good. The fig tree represents knowledge of good and
the turning towards it. Trees producing fruit are humans who examine
and reveal their conscience and then groan and weep in repentance.
The summer's heat again designates the Holy Spirit, which produces
the flowers of virtues. The reward of heaven does not come until the
battle of virtues and vices has ended and earthly follies are no longer
present in the mind. Since this expositio evokes pure contemplation
associated with attaining heaven, one may call at least this aspect of it
anagogical.
The second homily, labelled allegorical, clearly targets the Cathar

heresy and probably can be situated chronologically around 1 163.48 I
have written about it elsewhere (Kienzle, 1996: 43-56; 1998: 1 63-81),
and so move on to the third homily, which treats another sort of battle,
one between virtues and vices on earth.49 Its moral lessons are drawn
for various groups of society, and it seems to be staged in Germany
during the schism of 1 1 59-77.50 The signs in the heavens represent
three groups of virtuous human beings: saints and lovers of God,
virgins and the chaste, and good lay people. Signs on the earth
designate the human senses that fall to temptation, as well as error and
madness, at both ends of the social scale - the princes, the weak, the
poor. Faith, justice and salvation find no repose. Evils are evident in
schisms and false beliefs.
Christ comes into human minds through prophecy, showing power
in miracles and mysteries. The fig tree represents martyrdom and
suffering, which will be rewarded with sweet fruit. Summer comes with
the ardour of the Holy Spirit. Bitter things battle the virtues, but the
virtues prove victorious. The coming of God's kingdom means that the
schism will not endure much longer. Humankind will not pass from
darkness to light until the battle of virtues and vices has taken place.
Then the Devil will be vanquished by virtues and the temporal will
yield to the eternal. 51
The set of four homilies highlights the spiritual meaning of the text.
One is primarily historical-literal, concerned with salvation history,
Christ's coming and redemption; another, a psychodrama, is highly
allegorical with elements of anagogy. Two moral interpretations relate
to contemporary society. The four homilies therefore correspond to
the three modes of interpretation discussed earlier as roughly
historical-literal, allegorical and moral: the account of salvation history,
the drama of the faithful soul, and the moral lesson for the monastic
and wider community. Nonetheless, all are primarily spiritual and
three of four include a cosmological dimension. These four homilies
and the others we have surveyed demonstrate the richness of
Hildegard's exegetical range in the entire corpus of Expositiones.
Hildegard offers from two to four interpretations of one pericope. At
times she follows a three-level reading, much like a three-act drama of
salvation, moving from Creation and Fall to redemption to con
temporary struggle. Hildegard does not ever seem to repeat verbatim
the readings of previous exegetes. She brings the biblical text alive and
relates it to her community through her remarkable blend of drama,
exegesis, teaching and preaching. Her method resists categorization.
It is as difficult to conclude that she employs solely one sense of
Scripture as it is to state that she is exclusively a visionary, a teacher,
an exegete or a preacher. She combines all those roles just as she
takes from tradition but forges her own voice. Hans Liebeschutz used
the term Lehrvisionen for Hildegard's teaching visions. Here I have
tried to show that the Expositiones were also exegetical, preaching and
dramatic visions.
Notes
1. One could extend this further to include the music of Hildegard's play
and the songs she composed for the liturgy. See Fassler, 1998: 157. On
the titles magistra and the less common abbatissa for Hildegard, see
Mews, 1998: 94-5.
2. A passage similar to the Ordo virtutum (Davidson, 1985) but shorter
appears at the end of Hildegard's first great visionary work, Scivias
(Dronke, 1981: 100-1); Fassler, 1998: 249, agrees with Dronke's dating
(Dronke, 1981). Constant Mews has also pointed out to me the usually
overlooked similarity between the chorus of the Ordo and the Liber
divinorum operum (Derolez and Dronke, 1996: III. 8-24). Dronke points
this out in the 'Introduction' (Derolez and Dronke, 1996: lxxixii) where
he describes the Liber divinorum operum text as 'amplifications' of the
Ordo's final chorus, the difference being that in the Liber divinorum
operum the Son speaks to the Father, whereas in the Ordo the virtues are
joined by the souls.
3. The Expositiones are published in Analecta Sanctae Hildegardis, Pitra,
1882: VIII, 245-327. A new edition is being prepared from Wiesbaden,
Hessische Landesbibliothek, 2 (Riesenkodex), fols. 434r-61v, and BL,
Add. 1 5 102, fols. 1 46-9 1 (a 1487 copy) for the Corpus Christianorum
Continuatio Mediaevalis by Beverly Mayne Kienzle and Carolyn Muessig
with assistance from Monika Costard and Angelika Lozar. The
Riesenkodex is described by Van Acker 1991: XXVII-XXIIX; Albert
Derolez, ' Introduction' , in Derolez and Dronke, 1996: XCVII-C1.
4. See below, Homily 24.2, with references to the Cathars and Homily 24.3
with two references to schism ( 'Erunt signa', Wiesbaden, Hessische
Landesbibliothek, II, 459v-60v; Pitra, 1882: 3 1 2-14).
5. See Kienzle, 2000b. Wenzel, 1986: 62, observes three structural steps of
the homily: 'narrative of the Gospel, allegorical exegesis and moral
exegesis'.
6. In her commentary on the Rule, Hildegard emphasizes the importance of
committing the Scriptures to memory. Feiss, 1990: 24-5.
7. The Rule of Benedict describes the monastery as the schola Christi;
within it, the abbot or abbess holds authority and responsibility for
instructing the community. Hildegard felt strongly that an abbess's words
should inspire in her sisters the desire to hear them; to another abbess,
Hildegard wrote that she was bearing her burden well, because her sheep
wanted to hear God's admonishment through her teaching (Van Acker,
1991: 339).
8. Rochais, 1980: 2.6, 23-40.
9. Aerii spiritus, d. principem potestatis aeris huius, Eph 2,2.
10. See also Van Engen, 1998: 44-5. Whereas Hildegard uses aerii spiritus, a
passage from Origen speaks of the aerae potestates. Homilia VIII in
Exodum, 46, cited by Bloomfield, 1952: 5 1 , note 68. Elsewhere Hildegard
refers to 'aerios spiritus' (Van Acker, 1991: 40).
1 1 . Rochais, 1980: 9.8. For Hildegard's use of expositio, Derolez and Dronke,
1996: 1. (visio) IV. CV on John 1. See also Mohrmann, 1961: 63-72; Lubac
and Doutreleau, 1976: lI.6, 1 2 . 1 4.25.26, pp. 106, 1 08. See also Griesser,
1956: 234-45 for uses of exponere in chapter talks.
12. Carlevaris calls attention to the importance of those readings and
explains the ties of Disibodenberg to the Cluniac reforms and homiliary;
see Carlevaris, 1998: 72-3.
13. The Orda virtutum was probably performed at the end of either Matins or
Vespers; see Fassler, 1998: 15 1-3.
14. Sheingorn proposes that the Orda was written to be performed at the
celebration for the consecration of virgins; Sheingorn, 1992: 52-7.
Holloway, 1 992: 68-72, discusses the role of drama in monasteries and
proposes a link to Hildegard's deep regret over her friend Richardis of
Stade's departure to another monastery and eventual death. Fassler,
1 998: 150, says that the Orda 'would always have been a play within a
play, a mousetrap for conventual souls'.
15. While twelfth-century Victorines and others took increased interest in
salvation history and thus the historical-literal sense of Scripture, their
emphasis in exegesis remained allegorical. On the interest in the
historical-literal sense, see Van Engen, 1983: 287; Mews, 1996: 27-42.
16. Striking examples are: Lubac and Doutreleau, 1976: 1. 1 1 , 11. 3 1 -6; XII.3,
11. 10-22, 23-39; Borret, 1 985: Hom . 13.3, 274, 1.25.
17. On cosmology and cosmic struggle, see Mews, 1998: 99; on the scientific
tradition in Rhenish abbeys, Van Engen, 1 983: 85-6; on Rupert of
Deutz's interest in nature and cosmology in his commentary on Genesis,
Gersh, 1 99 1 : 5 1 2-36; Burnett, 1998: 1 1 1 -20; Dronke, 1 998: 1-16.
Singer, 1 95 1 : 1-59, stresses neoplatonism and an influence of Bernard
Sylvestris's De universa.
18. SPeculum virginum (Seyfarth, 1 990). Constant Mews emphasizes the
differences in outlook between the SPeculum virginum and Hildegard and
Tenxwind of Andernach in 'Hildegard, the SPeculum virginum and
religious reform in the twelfth century'. Mews, 1998: 96, notes that a
copy of her Speculum Virginum from Andernach contains one extant leaf
of melodies. I am grateful to Constant Mews for a pre-publication copy of
the paper on the SPeculum.
19. Mews, 1 998: 94, observes: 'Hildegard was growing up in a world in which
female spiritual leaders were emerging outside the traditional aristoc
racy and the Benedictine order'.
20. Phillip, dean of the cathedral at Cologne, identifies the Holy Spirit as the
source for Hildegard's authority when he writes asking for a copy of the
sermon she delivered in Cologne. Epist. XV, Van Acker, 1 9 9 1 : 33. See the
comment from Robert of Val-Roi reported by Guibert of Gembloux, Epist.
XVIII, Derolez, 1 989: 229; Mews, 1998: 109, note 96. Bernard McGinn,
in 'Hildegard of Bingen as Visionary and Exegete', discusses the three
forms of divine vision distinguished by Augustine (corporeal, spiritual,
intellectual) and finds that Hildegard's descriptions fall into the broad
category of spiritual vision, that based on images in the mind. Hildegard
also claimed the Spirit's enlightenment as the grounds for her
understanding of the Scriptures. I am grateful to Bernard McGinn for
a pre-publication copy of his paper.
2 1 . On the controversies around abbesses' preaching, see Blamires, 1995:
1 35-52; Biller, 1997: 68-9. On abbesses preaching at Admont, see
Borgehammar, 1993: 47-52; Knapp, 1 994: 74-8.
22. On Hildegard's preaching, see Pernoud, 1 996: 15-26; Kienzle, 1998:
1 63-8 1 .
23. Hildegard did not claim the authority specifically to preach, but she
apparently supported pastoral leadership for Benedictine monks. On the
controversy over monks' preaching, see Van Engen, 1 983: 329-30. On
Hildegard's views, see Fuhrkotter and Carlevaris, 1 978: II.v(isio). 1 7-2 1 ,
pp. 1 90-4; Mews, 1 998: 107.
24. Van Acker, 1993: cxcv, 443.

25. I am grateful to Bernard McGinn for this insight. The Solutiones, PL 197
( 1880): 1037-54, are analysed by Bartlett, 1 992: 1 53-65.
26. 'Cum appropinquaret', Hessische Landesbibliothek, 2, 457v-8r; Pitra,
1882: 306.
27. Derolez and Dronke, 1 996: 32-3: II. u. I. XLIII: ad litteram, iuxta
allegoriam; XLVI: secundum moralitatem; XLVIII: secundum allegoriam;
XLVIII: iuxta tropologiam. Flanagan describes briefly Hildegard's
systematic analysis here, moving from literal to allegorical to tropological
exegesis (Flanagan, 1998: 1 45-6). Bernard McGinn points out the
originality of Hildegard's interpretation of Genesis in 'Hildegard of
Bingen as Visionary and Exegete'. See also Dronke, 1992: 386.
28. Hildegard's view of spiritual interpretation grounds itself in biblical
statements, such as 2 Corinthians 3,6: The letter kills, but the spirit
gives life', and on the tradition that distinguished broadly between the
letter and the spirit, the literal and the spiritual, the body and the soul.
See Smalley, 1985: 1 -2.
29. Wiesbaden, Hessische Landesbibliothek, II, fol. 453rb, Homily 1 7 . 1 on
Luke 16:19-3 1 , Lazarus and Dives: 'et dives ' illi qui in sapientia sua se
injuste extollunt, ut Orienes, 'et sepultus est'. Carlevaris, 1998: 79, cites a
similar spelling of Origen (Orienus) in Defensor Locogiacensis, Liber
scintillarum (Rochais, 1957: 32.20 and 60.15, p. 125). Hildegard probably
alludes to the well-known legend of Origen's fall. I am grateful to Bernard
McGinn for pointing this out. Nonetheless, Hildegard's words recall
Origen's association of the Gospel rich man, the Sodomite and pride, in
Borret, 1989, 314-16, Homilia 9.4. on Ezek. 16, 49. Here, Origen adduces
the example of the rich man and Lazarus, read 'many days before',
explaining himself this way: Sed s i consideres hoc quod i n praesenti scriptum
est, et illud quod in Evangelio dicitur, videbis quia et illius maximum
peccatum inter universa peccata superbia fuerit . . . in tantam superbiam
elatus est despiciens paupertatem . . . talis autem est et dives, qui in Evangelio
describitur, nulli dubium quin dives ille Sodomita sit. Quomodo autem
Sodoma, et filiae Sodomorum superbae fuerunt, tales sunt arrogantes animae.
One passage in Origen, 1883: 1 127A associates Dives, Solomon and
sapientia but without conclusions about pride. In contrast, Gregory the
Great and others draw an opposition between Jews and Gentiles from the
figures of Dives and Lazarus. See Wailes, 1987: 245-60.
30. Chenu, 1 968: 99-145. Van Engen, 1983: 7 1 -2, observes that Rupert of
Deutz distinguished broadly between the historical and spiritual senses
of Scripture. He demonstrated interest in salvation history but
emphasized spiritual interpretation. See Kerby-Fulton, 1 998: 70-90, on
German symbolism.
3 1 . Dronke, 1 992: 3-6, proposes categories of Hildegard's allegory: ( 1 )
Establishment o f allegorical correspondence; (2-4) Self-revelation:
gradual, direct and allegory within allegory; (5) Allegoresis - allegorical
reading of the sacred text.
32. '0 ignee Spiritus', Newman, 1998c: 1 42-7, 280 - 1 . Newman, 1998a: 188-
90, analyses it and classifies it as a psychodrama, to be interpreted on
levels of individual and salvation history; on p. 190, she discusses the
'dialectical nature' of Hildegard's moral thought. Newman, 1 998b, 79-87,
discusses the moral allegory in the parables of Hildegard's letters.
33. Homily 13. 1-2, 'Maria Magdalene et Maria Jacobi', Wiesbaden, Hessische
Landesbibliothek, II, 449v-50r; Pitra, 1882: 282-4. In the first, Hildegard
associates the old law with carnal union and the new with abstinence,
chastity and virginity. Crucifixion represents the inner experiential death
of corrupt desire and frees the flesh from its enslaved state. The second
text contains a passage where Hildegard switches from indirectly narrating
the story in the third person to directly addressing her audience in the
second person plural as she underscores the lesson. These homilies have
been analysed by Jaehyun Kim, Princeton Theological Seminary, who
compares Hildegard's exegesis to that of Gregory the Great in an
unpublished conference paper, 'Hildegard of Bingen's Gospel Homilies
and her Exegesis of Mark 16:1-7', International Congress of Medieval
Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 1999.
34. Homilies 1 2 . 1 and 12.2, 'Homo quidam', Wiesbaden, Hessische Land
esbibliothek, II, 447v-9v; Pitra, 1882: 277-82.
35. Two homilies for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (Ninth Sunday of
Trinity, 26. 1 , 2) exegete Luke 16:1-9, the Parable of the Unjust
Steward), and include the whole story (salvation or individual) but wrap it
up very quickly. See also Wailes, 1987: 245-53, on this parable.
36. Homily 1 8 . 1 , Homo quidam fecit coenam magnam, Wiesbaden, Hessische
Landesbibliothek, II, 454v-5r; Pitra, 1882: 296-8.
37. Homily 1 8 . 2 , 'Homo quidam fecit coenam magnam ' , Wiesbaden,
Hessische Landesbibliothek, II, 455r-v; Pitra, 1882: 298-9.
38. Homily 6 . 1 , ' Cum factus esser, Wiesbaden, Hessische Landesbibliothek,
II, 441r-v; Pitra, 1882: 258-9.
39. Homily 6.2, ' Cum factus esser, Wiesbaden, Hessische Landesbibliothek,
II, 441v-2r; Pitra, 1882: 259-60.
40. Homilies 20.1-3, 'Cum turbae irruerent', Wiesbaden, Hessische Land
esbibliothek, II, 456r-7v; Pitra, 1882: 301-5.
41. Homilies 2 1 . 1-3, 'Cum appropinquaret Jesus', Wiesbaden, Hessische
Landesbibliothek, II, 457v-8r; Pitra, 1882: 305-7.
42. Homilies 16. 1-3, 'Erat homo ex Pharisaeis', Wiesbaden, Hessische
Landesbibliothek, II, 45 1r-3r; Pitra, 1882: 287-92.
43. The two possible parallels I have found so far for associating Nicodemus
and heresy appear in Rabanus Maurus and Rupert of Deutz. Both discuss
heretical and schismatic views on rebaptism in a sermon mentioning
Nicodemus but do not attribute them to Nicodemus. Rabanus, 1880:
283A; Rupert of Deutz, 1894: 325B.
44. Homilies 24.1-4, 'Erunt signa', Wiesbaden, Hessische Landesbibliothek,
II, 459v-60v; Pitra, 1882: 3 1 1- 1 5 . Dronke, 1992: 386-7, suggests
anagogical and moral designations for homilies 24.3 and 24.4, while he
also observes that they perhaps were seen as aspects of Allegoria and
therefore not labelled as anything different. He does not mention the
references to heresy and schism.
45. Wailes, 1987: 1 67-9. Hans-Jochen Schiewer, 'Preaching Doomsday.
Heaven and Hell in Vernacular Sermons from the 1 2th to the 15th
Century', paper presented at International Congress of Medieval
Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 1999. Six of approximately 800
early German sermons are devoted to the Second Sunday in Advent; they
focus on the signs of the coming of Christ. These are found in model
sermons for priests from the second half of the twelfth century and
include the collections referred to as of Leipzig, Oberaltaich, Priest
Conrad, Millstatt and St Paul.
46. Wiesbaden, Hessische Landesbibliothek, II, 459v; Pitra, 1882: 3 1 1 .
47. Wiesbaden, Hessische Landesbibliothek, II, 460v; Pitra, 1882: 314-15.
48. Wiesbaden, Hessische Landesbibliothek, II, 459v-60r; Pitra, 1 882: 3 12-

13.
49. Wiesbaden, Hessische Landesbibliothek, II, 460r-v; Pitra, 1882: 3 1 3-14.
50. For more on Hildegard and the 1 1 57-79 schism, see Kerby-Fulton, 1998:
70-90.
5 1 . Dronke, 1 992: 387, suggests classifying Homily 24.3 as anagogical.
8 Learning and mentoring in
the twelfth century: Hildegard
of Bingen and Herrad of
Landsberg
Carolyn Muessig
Men's learning and mentoring
Stephen Jaeger, in his book The Envy of Angels, demonstrated the

changing face of education in centres of learning from the eighth to the
twelfth centuries. In regard to twelfth-century examples he examined
the Victorines and the Cistercians. Focusing on the view of the inner
and outer formation of men, he demonstrated varied attitudes toward
education. He argued that among the Cistercians and, in particular, in
the writings of Bernard of Clairvaux ( t 1 1 53) outward perfection
represented an inner state of being; in other words, pleasing physical
movement indicated ontological perfection. The perfected soul, the
person full of grace and virtues, exhibited control; outward bearing
reflected inward impeccability (Jaeger, 1994: 269-72). Bernard o f
Clairvaux captured this sentiment in Sermon 85 of his Sermons on the
Song of Songs:
when the luminosity of this beauty fills the inner depths of the
heart, it overflows and surges outward . . . It makes the body into
the very image of the mind; [the body] catches up this light
glowing and bursting forth like the rays of the sun. All its senses
and all its members are suffused with it, until its glow is seen in
every act, in speech, in appearance, in the way of walking and
laughing . . . When the motions, the gestures and the habits of the
body and the senses show forth their gravity, purity, modesty . . .
then beauty of the soul becomes outwardly visible.1
Jaeger argues that the Victorines, who were Augustinian canons, had a
different view of formation from Bernard of Clairvaux and the
Cistercians.2 The Victorines underlined that the outer man if properly
groomed could affect the inner man (Jaeger, 1994: 249, 270). The body
through discipline and education could come to control the soul.
88 Carolyn Muessig
Augustinian novices were trained by a master. The first abbot of the

Parisian Abbey of St Victor, Gilduin ( t 1 1 55), explained that the master
should instruct the novice
diligently in the bows, in walking and standing, in his every
gesture, how he should array his clothing in accordance with the
particular act he is performing, how to compose his members in
an ordinate way, keep his eyes lowered, speak gently and not too
fast, swear no oaths . . . how to speak to the abbot or to his
masters, to the brother, to inferiors.3
Instead of choosing the monastic life of asceticism, the Victorines
opted for the life of 'beautiful manners', a 'life that left open the
possibility of advancement in the church' Oaeger, 1994: 268). The
focus was on courtesy and refinement. Associated with this emphasis
on comportment was the fact that Augustinian priories were centres
where men were likely to be promoted to positions of church and state
Oaeger, 1994: 253, 458 note 48).
These differences in emphasis indicate two attitudes toward
learning. Generally, for twelfth-century Augustinian canons as
represented by the Victorines, discipline and education developed
the interior man. By learning one could become a better person, and
this prepared one for life in the priory or in the wider world of
ecclesiastical or secular affairs. However, for the Cistercians, as
represented by Bernard of Clairvaux, through sacred learning with
Christ as the example of master, the soul was cleansed and its innate
goodness revealed. Goodness was always there; it did not develop ex
nihilo, but simply was waiting to be found. The right environment to
find perfection was the monastery. Training for a life outside of the
cloister was not encouraged.
Old and new learning
In addition to these different approaches to learning found in religious

houses, Jaeger also identified distinct attitudes toward mentoring in
eleventh- and twelfth-century cathedral schools. He identified a form of
education which prevailed in the eleventh century - the old learning.
This revolved around 'the teacher' as the source of wisdom; through
his virtue the magister was able to teach his pupils. Learning was
directly tied to the charisma of the master, as his good character
illuminated the lesson. In the twelfth century, however, there was a
shift of emphasis in which magisterial charisma was overshadowed by
knowledge of 'the text'. Mastery over the growing corpus of
commentaries was the focal point of an accomplished instructor. The
successful teacher was able to master the texts and to train his
students to do the same. Generally, education in the twelfth-century
schools moved the emphasis away from magisterial virtue to textual
expertise Oaeger, 1994: 130- 1). This was the new learning.
Hildegard of Bingen and Herrad of Landsberg 89
Women's learning and mentoring: Augustinian and Benedictine

examples
Varied forms of education would be expected for men since their

vocational possibilities were more flexible than women's. But women's
houses, like men's, opted for different rules. Perhaps this may indicate
a difference in female religious vocation just as it did for their male
counterparts. Moreover, the twelfth century witnessed a moment
when men and women rubbed shoulders comparatively often in the
domain of religious learning;4 this is partially owing to the rise of
double monasteries which created more opportunities for dialogue.5
This leads to the question: did attitudes to learning and mentoring
which prevailed among men also exist among women? Or were
women's educational experiences similar to one another and not
greatly affected by the order to which they belonged? To investigate
these points let us consider two female religious houses, Hohenburg
and Rupertsberg.6
The Augustinian convent of Hohenburg was originally founded in
the eighth century by the Merovingian princess St Odile (t720)
(Dressler, 1967: 642-3).7 With the assistance of the twelfth-century
Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (t1 190), the abbesses Relinde (t1 167)
and Herrad of Landsberg (t1 195) reformed the convent (Green et al.,
1979a: 9). The Benedictine convent of Rupertsberg was founded in
1 15 1 . Its reputation was intimately attached to its founder and most
famous sister, Hildegard of Bingen ( t 1 1 79). The roots of this convent,
however, were planted at the monastery of Disibodenberg, where
Hildegard began her religious life as an anchoress.
By examining the sorts of writings that Hildegard of Bingen and
Herrad of Landsberg directed to their communities an assessment will
be made to identify aspects of their views of mentoring and teaching.
First Hildegard's methods of teaching and mentoring will be analysed.
The sources mainly referred to will be Hildegard's letters and, in
particular, those letters which describe the communal life of
Rupertsberg. Furthermore, the vitae of Hildegard and her magistra
Jutta will also be examined. The source used for Herrad's approach to
teaching will be her encyclopaedic tour de force, the Hortus
deliciarum, which she compiled for the canonesses of Hohenburg.
Jutta and Hildegard
Hildegard started her monastic life under the tutelage of a magistra

named Jutta of Sponheim.8 The term magistra indicated one who was a
spiritual guide or mentor.9 Jutta was from a noble family (Staab, 1992:
175; Silvas, 1998: 66). From early on in her childhood her family
ensured that she be educated in Sacred Scripture. During Jutta's early
formation it became clear that she had great intelligence and a
retentive memory (Staab, 1992: 1 75; Silvas, 1998: 67). Eventually she
90 Carolyn Muessig
was put under the care of a religious woman named Uda who
strengthened her in regard to 'virtue' (Staab, 1992: 175-6; Silvas,
1 998: 68). On 1 November 1 1 12 at the male Benedictine abbey of
Disibodenberg, the twenty-one-year-old Jutta was enclosed as an
anchoress with two younger girls; one of the girls was Hildegard of
Bingen, who was in her fifteenth year (Staab, 1992: 1 76; Silvas, 1998:
69).10 The solitude of the anchorhold, however, did not last for long.
Jutta's scriptural learning and monastic spirit led to the development
of a scola around her.
We learn more about Jutta's 'scola' in a letter written by Guibert of
Gembloux (t12 13) who was Hildegard of Bingen's secretary in the
final years of her life (Silvas, 1998: 93). Guibert reveals that Jutta's
holy life attracted many young girls; this caused the small anchorhold
to be opened to many:
When the entrance to her tomb [i.e. her anchorhold] was opened
up, she brought inside with her the girls who were to be nurtured
under the guidance of her disciplined guardianship. It was on this
occasion that what was formerly a sepulchre became a kind of
monastery, but in such a way that she did not give up the
enclosure of the sepulchre, even as she obtained concourse of a
monastery. !l
For all intents and purposes, Disibodenberg had become a double
monastery, with Jutta in charge of teaching the nuns.
Jutta was greatly honoured for her practices of asceticism which
entailed strict fasting and self-mortification (Staab, 1993: 180; Silvas,
1998: 74). It is clear that Hildegard respected her ascetic magistra for
she endeavoured to have Jutta's vita recorded by one of the monks of
Disibodenberg (Silvas, 1998: 62). As Hildegard's magistra, lutta was
successful in leading the younger woman on the path to virtue:
And her venerable mother [i.e. lutta] . . . took pains over her [i.e.
Hildegard] and rejoiced in her progress as she began to perceive
with wonder that from a disciple she too was becoming a magistra
and a pathfinder in the ways of excellence. So it came about that
the benevolence of charity glowed in her [i.e. Hildegard's] breast,
a benevolence which shut out no-one from its embrace. The
rampart of her humility defended the tower of her virginity.
Likewise, she backed up her frugality of food and drink with
meanness of clothing. So too, she showed the guarded tranquillity
of her heart by silence and fewness of words. Among all these
jewels of the virtues which adorned the spouse of Christ . . . the
guardian which watched over them all was patience.12
But Hildegard did not view Jutta as an intellectual mentor. She
provided an example of formation, i.e. proper living rather than proper
learning. In regard to a formal pedagogy, a different view of Jutta was
noted. Hildegard described her as an 'indocta mulier', that is an
unlearned woman (Klaes, 1993: 24; Silvas, 1998: 160). Hildegard
attributed Jutta with teaching her the monastic virtues of humility and
innocence, and how to read the Psalms (Klaes, 1993: 6 ; Silvas, 1998:
1 3 9 ) . 13 Hildegard's trusted and beloved secretary, the Disibodenberg
monk Volmar, was also accorded some recognition of her formation;
she referred to him as her magister (Klaes, 1993: 24; Silvas, 1998:
159). But beyond this she claimed that she had 'received no teaching
in the arts of literature or music from a human source' (Silvas, 1998:
1 3 9 ) . 14 While set on the right path of holy living by J utta, Hildegard
never associated her wisdom as being passed on by her magistra. In
fact, in all of her theological writings she presents an original and
inventive voice which shows little trace of direct sources (Dronke,
1 998: 1 - 1 6). She saw herself as a prophetess, hence she attributed her
wisdom to God, not to man, and especially not to Jutta. Nonetheless,
the prophetess was also a teacher, for she assumed the role of
magistra when Jutta died (Derolez, 1989: 375; Silvas, 1998: 1 1 1 ).
The Rupertsberg liturgy15
Hildegard makes it clear that she did not learn anything 'academically'
from Jutta, but she did adopt one lesson that she had learned from her
magistra. Through right living Jutta showed her disciple how to reveal
her virtue, and Hildegard would do the same for her community of
nuns. She did not stress asceticism as had Jutta, but she did put
forward a plan of formation which would lead the soul along its right
and virtuous path.
With much resistance from the monks and some of the nuns of the
Disibodenberg, Hildegard relocated her sisters to another site,
Rupertsberg on the Rhine, thirty kilometres away from Disibodenberg
(Newman, 1 998b: 9 - 1 0 ; Berger, 1999: 3). Moving away from the
memory of J utta and the interference of the monks of Disibodenberg,
she firmly established a monastic community which was greatly shaped
in her image and likeness. Based on elaborate worship, she created a
path to God which at once invited worshipper and the worshipped to
participate. The liturgical atmosphere that Hildegard crafted was a sort
of spiritual allurement to display the holy attractiveness of her nuns to
God.
Hildegard as hymn writer and magistra stressed the centrality of
praising God through song (Fassler, 1998: 149-75). Although this was
not innovative, some characteristics of her liturgy were novel and
raised the eyebrows of contemporaries. This is best demonstrated in
an intriguing letter to Hildegard from Tenxwind (tc. 1 1 52), the abbess
of the Augustinian convent of Andernach. In this letter Tenxwind
objected to two liturgical practices established by Hildegard. She
describes the first practice in the following manner:
on feast days your virgins stand in the Church with unbound hair
when singing the psalms and . . . as part of their dress they wear
92 Carolyn Muessig
white, silk veils, so long that they touch the floor. Moreover, it is
said that they wear crowns of filigree into which are inserted
crosses on both sides and the back, with a figure of the Lamb on
the front, and that they adorn their fingers with golden rings. 16
This practice disturbed Tenxwind because it went against 1 Tim. 2:9,
which exhorted women not to adorn themselves 'with plaited hair, or
gold, or pearls or costly attire' (Van Acker, 1991: Ep. 52, 126; Baird
and Ehrman, 1994: 127) .
The second practice which disturbed Tenxwind was Hildegard's
custom to allow only women of noble and wealthy families into the
Rupertsberg convent while rejecting those of lower birth and wealth
(Van Acker, 1991: Ep. 52, 126-7; Baird and Ehrman, 1994: 127). The
tone of her letter indicates that she believed Benedictine monasticism
needed reforming in regard to its elitist tendency, and that Hildegard
of Bingen's convent was an example of established Benedictine
snobbery.
To the first charge Hildegard argued that virgins did not need to
cover their hair and that they could wear white vestments to indicate
betrothal to Christ (Van Acker, 1 9 9 1 : Ep. 52R, 128-9; Baird and
Ehrman, 1994: 129). In regard to the noble status of her nuns she
wrote:
Thus it is clear that differentiation must be maintained in these
matters, lest people of varying status, herded all together, be
dispersed through pride of their elevation, on the one hand, or
the disgrace of their decline, on the other, and especially lest the
nobility of their character be torn asunder when they slaughter
one another through hatred. Such destruction naturally results
when the higher order falls upon the lower, and the lower rises
above the higherY
While Hildegard's liturgical methods were creative, her approach to
formation was, on one level, traditionally Benedictine. Benedictines in
the early twelfth century had been accused of viewing wealth as a
measure of virtue (Van Engen, 1986: 2 9 1 ; Jaeger, 1994: 1 10). One
could argue that to some degree Hildegard's liturgical practices and
preference for noble nuns manifest these attributes of the Benedictine
trend to view wealth as a measure of virtue. But other influences were
at work which reinforced this distinct mode of worship at Rupertsberg.
First, Benedictine liturgical practice highlighted the importance of the
intercessory role of the monk and nun. Some Benedictines believed
that monastic intercessory prayer would be more fruitful if embellished
with fine vestments and properly adorned churches (Van Engen, 1 986:
297); Hildegard clearly shared this sentiment. Second, Hildegard
belonged to the generation of monastic thinkers who believed that the
external reflected the internal perfection of the soul. Conrad of
Hirsau's Dialogue on the Contempt and Love of the World, which
Hildegard may have known,18 argued that the animus had to conform to
the habitus (Jaeger, 1994: 1 1 0). Hildegard belonged to a tradition of
learning which viewed the wide expanse of cosmology as reflecting

human morals and the divine mind, that is the microcosm reflected the
macrocosm (Jaeger, 1 994: 1 78). Cosmology taught in the twelfth
century centres of learning focused on the world of nature as a mirror
of morals, as reflected in Hugh of St Victor's Didascalion:
In the meaning of things lies natural justice, out of which the
discipline of our own conduct [mores] arises. By contemplating
what God has made we realize what we ourselves ought to do.
Every nature tells of God; every nature teaches man.19
For Hildegard the perfection of her nuns would be realized in their
outward comportment. In the world of her monastery, the Rupertsberg
liturgy reflected a little bit of Paradise. Ritual and song acted out by her
nuns created heaven on earth. This is clearly seen in Hildegard's letter
where she laments the ban placed on the sisters of Rupertsberg from
singing the Divine Office. Without song they were deprived of closeness
to God. She argues that our prelapsarian knowledge can be glimpsed
and to some degree regained through the hearing of liturgical music:
When we consider these things carefully, we recall that man
needed the voice of the living Spirit, but Adam lost this divine
voice through disobedience. For while he was still innocent,
before his transgression, his voice blended fully with the voices of
the angels in their praise of God . . . God, however, restores the
souls of the elect to that pristine blessedness by infusing them
with the light of truth. And in accordance with His eternal plan,
He so devised it that whenever He renews the hearts of many
with the pouring out of prophetic spirit, they might, by means of
His interior illumination, regain some of the knowledge which
Adam had before he was punished for his sin.20
Hildegard's plan of formation for her nuns appropriates Benedictine
and Cistercian ideas found in male houses. For the Cistercian monks
perfection flowed from the inside to the outside. The perfected soul,
the person full of grace and virtues, exhibited control. The noble nuns
of Rupertsberg did not become perfect, for they simply were perfect by
virtue of their noble birth and virginity, and the convent allowed their
inner perfection to shine. Moreover, their fine attire was a necessary
accoutrement for their roles as divine intercessors. But does
Hildegard's method of formation resemble that of her contemporary
Herrad of Landsberg?
Canonesses and twelfth-century reform
The Augustinian convent of Hohenburg, like Rupertsberg, provides a

dramatic approach to religious education and formation. Hohenburg
was perched on top of Mont Ste-Odile, in the Vosges (in France) just
outside of Strasbourg. The members of the convent were canonesses
94 Carolyn Muessig
and not nuns. Before the reforms of the twelfth century, theoretically
there were three main differences between nuns and canonesses.
Canonesses had more flexibility in their comings and goings than nuns
did since they were not strictly enclosed.21 Second, with the exception
of the abbess, canonesses did not take permanent vows of chastity and
hence were technically free to marry (McNamara, 1996: 1 79).22 Third,
upon entering communal life canonesses did not take vows of poverty
and thus they reserved their wealth (McNamara, 1996: 179).
Canonesses were most often attached to wealthy and influential
families. In those areas under Hohenstaufen authority, including
Hohenburg, some canonesses were closely associated with the
imperial family. Canonesses were the subject of reform in the second
quarter of the twelfth century; in 1 13 9 the Second Lateran Council
insisted that canonesses adopt a regular way of life:
We decree that the pernicious and detestable custom which has
spread among some women who, although they live neither
according to the rule of blessed Benedict, nor Basil, nor
Augustine, yet wish to be thought of by everyone as nuns, is to
be abolished. For when, living according to the rule in
monasteries, they ought to be in church or in the refectory or
dormitory in common, they build for themselves their own
retreats and private dwelling-places, where, under the guise of
hospitality, indiscriminately and without shame they receive
guests and secular persons contrary to the sacred canons and
good morals. (Tanner, 1990: I, 203)
Furthermore, in 1 148 the Council of Reims stipulated that canonesses
must establish common ownership (Torquebiau, 1942: 497).
Relinde and Herrad
The Hohenstaufen emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, was involved in the

reform of Hohenburg which had fallen into disrepair. He was keen to
make amends for his father, Frederick of Swabia ( t 1 1 47), who during
his reign had pillaged the wealthy convent (Caratzas, 1977: vii; Green
et al., 1 979a: 10). To rebuild and reform Hohenburg, Frederick
Barbarossa called upon his relative Relinde, a nun from the convent of
Bergen in Bavaria who was very much influenced by the reform of
canonical life (Carnes, 1 9 7 1 : 1 32).23 Under Relinde's supervision of
Hohenburg, the Rule of St Augustine was enforced. That things had
become untenable at the convent before Relinde's arrival is made clear
in the Hortus deliciarum:
Relinde, venerable Abbess of the monastery of Hohenburg,
carefully repaired all the damages to the monastery which she
found during her time and with great wisdom reinstituted there
the religious spirit which was then almost destroyed.24
Part of the restoration of Hohenburg included Relinde's repair of the

ancient monastic school located there. This school was not only
established to educate canonesses, but it also offered education to the
daughters of the rich noble families who lived in the area (Caratzas,
1977: vii).
Herrad of Landsberg took over the supervision of Hohenburg in
1 167 after the death of the abbess Relinde. Not much is known about
the early life of Herrad,25 but the Hortus indicates that Relinde was
Herrad's teacher: 'Herrad, appointed as Abbess of the convent of
Hohenburg after Relinde, who taught her by lessons and examples.'26
As was often the case with canonesses their convents were associated
with canons who oversaw their pastoral needs. To this end, Herrad
established two priories to oversee the divine services at Hohenburg.
The first priory was located at the foot of Mont Ste-Odile, and housed
the Premonstratensian canons of St Gorgon of Etival. In 1 180 Herrad
purchased property very close to the convent of Hohenburg; there in
1 1 8 1 she established the priory of Truttenhausen, which housed
twelve Augustinian canons who were under the direction of the
Augustinian Abbey of Marbach (Uhry, 1967: 3; Green et al., 1979a:
1 1).27 The Marbach Abbey was a leading centre of spiritual and
intellectual reform in Alsace. For example, the customary of Marbach
was adopted by numerous Augustinian houses eager for reform.28 In
regard to its intellectual reputation, the first dean of Marbach Abbey
was the magister Manegold of Lautenbach ( t 1 103) who wrote a
treatise on the Timaeus.29
However, this dependency on canons should not lead one to think
that canonesses were completely reliant on their male overseers. First
of all it was Herrad who was instrumental in the establishment of the
two nearby priories. Moreover, the convents of canonesses sometimes
were powerful centres of jurisdiction. Some abbesses exercised civil and
criminal jurisdiction in the town where their convent was located and
were known to suspend clerical benefices (Torquebiau, 1942: 497).30
Hortus deliciarum
The Hortus deliciarum was compiled most likely at Hohenburg

between the years 1 176 and 1 195 (Green et al., 1979a: 1). Herrad
prepared the Hortus for the moral edification of the canonesses. She
did not execute the drawings herself but oversaw the production of the
work and compiled the texts from various sources. The poems in the
Hortus are believe d to be her creation (Yardley, 1986: 19).
Unfortunately, this lush work of colour images and accompanying text
was destroyed in August 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War.
However, a record of much of it was preserved by the painstaking work
of nineteenth-century scholars who had traced various images and
transcribed a number of its texts before that fateful August night
(Green et al., 1979a: 17-25).
96 Carolyn Muessig
The Hortus is an encyclopaedia. Medieval encyclopaedias provided

detailed and comprehensive texts which would teach the reader all that
was necessary on a given subject. In the case of the Hortus deliciarum,
the main subject under scrutiny was the salvation of the Hohenburg
canonesses. The title of the work echoes prelapsarian perfection as
defined by the encyclopaedist Isidore of Seville (t636) in his
Etymologies:
Paradise is a place located in the East, the name of which,
translated from the Greek into Latin, is hortus, a garden. In
Hebrew it is called Eden, which means in Latin deliciae delights.
-
Together this makes hortus deliciarum, the garden of delights.31

Through the title alone Herrad concisely beckons her students to
perfection, and makes an implicit yet unmistakable reference to an
early Christian encyclopaedist.
The unfolding and meaning of salvific history and its meaning are
the major elements in the Hortus. Herrad takes the canonesses
through a theological tour to lead them toward salvation. The text
begins with the discussion of the hierarchy of angels and then delves
into the creation story. Relying on her various sources, Herrad weaves
a narrative around the Bible, explaining the books of the Old and New
Testaments and then interspersing exegesis with philosophical
discussion and presenting hymns for her community to sing. She
goes beyond biblical sources and quotes Aristotle, Socrates, Plato and
Cicero to edify the canonesses.32 In one section she describes the
Exodus and the crossing of the Red Sea. She digresses into a
discussion of geography in which she outlines the earth's waters, seas,
rivers and lakes. In order that this important geographical lesson not
be lost on some of the canonesses who are just learning Latin, she
provides, in addition to the Latin words, all the German equivalents of
descriptions of the waterways.33
Herrad's work is a compilation of explicit sources around which she
fashions her lessons. She used books which she had access to and
which were applicable in the teaching of the women of Hohenburg. Her
lessons are based on various authorities. The endeavour to educate is
demystified into a painstaking task of compilation. Herrad relies
heavily on several authors and makes explicit references to their
works. These include the monastic writer Rupert of Deutz's ( t 1 129)
Liber de divinis officiis and Commentaria in Canticum canticorum
(Green et al. , 1979a: 51-2); the encyclopaedist Honorius Augustodu
nensis (fl. twelfth century), in particular his Eludiciarium, SPeculum
ecclesiae, and Gemma animae (Green et al., 1979a: 46-9); the canon
lawyer Ivo of Chartres's ( t 1 1 16) Panormia (Green et al., 1979a: 49-
50); the master of theology Peter Lombard's ( t 1 160) Sententiae
(Green et at., 1979a: 5 1 ); and the work of another scholastic
theologian, Peter Comestor's ( t 1 1 78) Historia scholastica (Green et
al., 1979a: 5 1 -2). Interestingly, there are only a handful of references
to Bernard of Clairvaux, and all of them are implicit (Green et at.,
1979a: 45).34 It is likely that access to such a rich variety of works was
partly owing to Herrad's relationship with the two nearby priories
which oversaw the canonesses' masses and various sacramental needs
(Green et al., 1 979a: 59). As mentioned above, the Augustinian canons
of Truttenhausen came from Marbach, which was a centre of
intellectual life in Alsace.
The Hortus encouraged self-development through education, with an
emphasis on chastity. Herrad makes her intention clear from the
outset:
Herrad, who through the grace of God is abbess of the church on
the Hohenburg, although unworthy, addresses the sweet virgins
of Christ in the same church who work as though in the vineyard
of the Lord; may the Lord grant grace and glory. I was thinking of
your holiness when like a bee guided by the inspiring God I drew
from diverse flowers of sacred and philosophical writing this book
called 'Garden of Delights'. And I have put it together for the
praise of Christ and the Church, and for your enjoyment, as
though into a sweet honeycomb. And therefore you must
diligently seek your pleasing nourishment in this book and
refresh your weary spirit with its sweet honey drops, so that
occupied with the allurement of your Bridegroom and fattened on
spiritual sweets, you may safely hurry over what is transitory, and
possess lasting happiness through delight. And I making my way
through the many dangerous currents of the sea, by your fruitful
prayers may you unbind me from earthly ties, and may you pull
me heavenwards to be one with you in the love of your Beloved.
Amen.35
Herrad is concerned to lead the canonesses to salvation by means of a
thorough education which includes Christian and pagan texts, art and
religious poetry. She invites them to increase their knowledge and
chances of redemption through studying the Hortus deliciarum. But
she makes it equally clear that she needs the prayers of her community
to bolster her own spiritual progress. There is reciprocity of intention
and endeavour. This reflects the Augustinian ethos of the community
as the Rule of Augustine underlines a spirit of unity and charity and
stresses that each person in the community should be an example for
others to emulate:
Everything you do is to be for the service of the community, and
you are to work with more zeal and more enthusiasm than if each
person were merely working for herself and her own interests.
For it is written of love that 'it is not self-seeking' (1 Cor. 13:5);
that is to say, love puts the interests of the community before
personal advantage, and not the other way around. Therefore the
degree to which you are concerned for the interests of the
community rather than for your own, is the criterion by which you
can judge how much progress you have made. (Canning, 1984:
33-4)36
98 Carolyn Muessig
At a time when reform was a sensitive issue, the emphasis on

community within a convent of canonesses would be crucial to
underline.
A sense of community is also underlined at the end of the Hortus.
The last two folios depict the convent of Hohenburg. The penultimate
folio portrays the first abbess, St Odile, and the reforming abbess
Relinde.37 The images unite these two abbesses in clear succession.
This lineage is focused upon, while the intervening centuries are
ignored. This allowed Herrad to accent Augustinian renewal and to
gloss over the lax periods of Hohenburg.
As mentioned above, canonesses had been criticized for not
following a strict life according to a monastic rule, and consequently
they were deemed to be lax in their spiritual life. But the reforming
canonesses of Hohenburg underlined the importance of chastity.
Surrounding the image of Relinde is the following text:
Relinde to the congregation of Hohenburg: Oh dear flock, united
under a heavenly law and sheltered from all errors, may the one
who is called the Mountain of Zion, who serves as a bridge to
enter our true country, who is the source of all good, the way and
the light serve you as guide; may His cross protect you! Christ
gives the gentle dew of chastity, the immutable good of eternity,
the flower of virginity; may he govern you, dear flock, and may He
have pity on me, now and always. Amen.38
The last miniature in the Hortus is of the congregation of Hohenburg.39
The image portrays each of the forty-seven canonesses and thirteen lay
sisters who resided at Hohenburg under the abbacies of Relinde and
Herrad. The ethos of Augustinian community is recalled at the top of
this image:
Religious congregation united in charity for the service of God, at
the monastery of Hohenburg, at the time of the Abbesses Relinde
and Herrad.40
Herrad stands next to the community and in her hand she holds a scroll
which reads as follows:
Oh you white flowers, pure as snow, who spread the perfume of
your virtues and who, scorning earthly dust, rest in the
contemplation of divine things: Oh may your course always be
directed towards heaven, where you will be face to face with the
Betrothed at a moment still hidden from yoU.41
This emphasis on chastity was also found in Augustinian priories. In
keeping with the Gregorian Reform's endeavour to enforce clerical
celibacy, this is one of the main elements underlined in the reform of
the canons.42
A comparison of learning and mentoring: Herrad and Hildegard
Herrad's teaching derives largely from a careful and methodical

compilation of explicit sources. Her focus is to teach her canonesses
about what philosophers and other thinkers advised on moral
development. The Hortus is where they find their insight: 'And
therefore you must diligently seek your pleasing nourishment in this
book and refresh your weary spirit with its sweet honey drops.'43
Moreover, she underlines Relinde's influence on her as a teacher, with
no qualification.
Hildegard's approach to learning, however, revolved around her
role as a prophetess. Her ability to be magistra was derived from the
divine. Her lesson was embodied in all that she was, and there could be
no separation between her message and her person. Moreover, her
departure from Disibodenberg to establish the convent of Rupertsberg
gave her a sort of sole authority which may have distanced her from a
monastic tradition and underlined her direct relationship with God; it
certainly lessened her reliance on the monks of Disibodenberg. Unlike
Herrad who worked in unison with the canons, Hildegard looked to
separate herself and her community from the monks. This separation
enabled her to carry out her particular role as magistra; not
surprisingly, her theological lessons are free of explicit references to
human sources but make continual reference to God's command.
In many ways Herrad's approach to learning and mentoring was
dictated by the possibilities her students might encounter. A canoness
could become an abbess one day, in her own community or elsewhere.
She might be left with juridical duties which called for detailed and
time-consuming training. Furthermore, canonesses' dealings in the
wider world and their association with canons made their educational
needs overlap with their male counterparts. In some instances girls
studied at Hohenburg but did not become canonesses, like the thirteen
lay sisters depicted in the final image of the Hortus deliciarum. It is
also likely that some of the wealthy girls who received their education
at Hohenburg left after their formation to become the wives of
noblemen.
Hildegard viewed her nuns as staying within the convent,
perpetually giving themselves to Christ in liturgical demonstrations.
Perhaps this partially explains Hildegard's outrage when her favourite
nun, Richardis of Stade, left Rupertsberg to become abbess of Bassum
in the diocese of Bremen. The move appears to have been manoeuvred
by Richardis's brother Hartwig, who was Archbishop of Bremen. In an
attempt to secure his authority in the area he saw fit to appoint
Richardis as abbess in his own jurisdiction leaving Hildegard
devastated. Her attachment to Richardis is captured in a letter which
Hildegard wrote to her friend lamenting her departure: 'I loved the
nobility of your character, your wisdom, your chastity, your spirit, and
indeed every aspect of your life that many people said to me: What are
you doing?'44 In Hildegard's eyes, Richardis was to stay and partake in
100 Carolyn Muessig
the divine service of worship as was fitting for virgins, so her life
outside of the cloister was not appropriate. Ironically Richardis died
very soon after her departure from Rupertsberg. In Hildegard's
estimation, the nuns of Rupertsberg were not educated to move out
into the world, but were to remain in her cloister.
To some degree, the different approaches employed by the two
women are similar to the old and new learning that was found in men's
schools in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The 'old learning'
method is reminiscent of Hildegard's magisterial approach in that the
prophetess is similar to a charismatic teacher who edifies students
through his virtuous character. Herrad relied on a different source
from divine revelation, using instead an arsenal of textual authorities.
Her form of education belonged more to the world of canons and their
scholastic aspirations than to the mystical theology of Hildegard. That
is where Herrad's educational authority rested, not in prophecy but in
her role as compiler and hence mediator of textual authorities and
tradition; in this sense, Herrad is an example of 'new learning'.
The examples of Hohenburg and Rupertsberg indicate that medieval
female education and formation was varied; this variation indicated
different expectations for medieval women, all the while revealing that
they participated in the trends of education just as their male
counterparts. Caroline Walker Bynum, in her book Docere Verbo et
Exemplo, studied the differences between the spirituality of twelfth
century monks and canons. She discovered that texts written by
canons emphasized a concern to edify one's fellow neighbour by word
and by example. 'Canonical authors allowed a sense of responsibility
for edification to coexist in their treatises with an emphasis on the
canon's own salvation (Bynum, 1979: 1 17). Monastic writers, however,
did not express an awareness of 'a process of learning' (Bynum, 1979:
181).
The same broad descriptions hold true for Herrad and Hildegard's
approach. Like the Augustinian canons, Herrad turned to education in
order to reform and to train the souls of her students. Through reading
the Hortus, they would learn and develop their self-awareness and
along the way they would pray for Herrad's soul too. When one looks to
Hildegard's attitude to education one does not discover an articulated
notion of pedagogy. Hildegard looked to the outer perfection of the
nun as representing her inner perfection. Her nuns did not become
more knowing and wise about God through systematic training. The
Rupertsberg liturgy made manifest their innate and essential virtue as
virgins. In Hildegard's view, the high-born virgins who made up her
community were perfect models of Christ's brides in their white
dresses and free flowing hair. To borrow Bernard of Clairvaux's words,
the luminosity of their beauty reflected the very image of their minds.45
Although one might be tempted to postulate general similarities
between these two women's approach to learning and mentoring, it
can be argued that their views of education reflect the religious orders
to which they belonged rather more than gendered affinities.46
Notes
1. English translation from Jaeger, 1994: 2 7 1 . Original in Leclercq e t al. ,

1958: II, 3 14: Cum autem decoris huius claritas abundantius intima cordis
repleverit, prodeat foras necesse est . . . Porro efflugentem et veluti
quibusdam suis radiis erumpentem mentis simulacrum corpus excipit, et
diffundit per membra et sensus, quatenus omnis inde reluceat actio, sermo,
aspectus, incessus, risus . . . Horum et aliorum profecto artuum sensuumque
motus, gestus et usus, cum appareuerit serius, purus, modestus . . .
pulchritudo animae palam erit.
2. Augustinian canons were not monks. They were priests who lived
together, owning no private property but sharing their wealth in common
under the Rule of Augustine.
3. English translation taken from Jaeger, 1994: 249. Original in Jocque and
Milis, 1984: 1 06: In scolas diligenter instruendus est de inclinationibus, de
incessu et statu, et omni gesto suo, et quomodo uestimenta sua in omni
actione circa se coaptare debeat, et membra sua ordinate componere, oculos
demissos habere, submisse et non festinanter loqui, iuramenta non . . .
quomodo ad abbatem uel ceteros magistros suos loqui debeat, quomodo ad
fratres uel alios compares, et quomodo ad inferiores.
4. This would change considerably in the thirteenth century when more
specialized training in law, medicine and theology became the mainstay
of the university - an institution which did not allow women entry
(Ferrante, 1980: 1 7-18).
5. Double monasteries had great success in the seventh century, but
afterwards their popularity declined until the twelfth century when they
enjoyed a renaissance (Ferrante, 1980: 15-1 7).
6. One may argue that these two examples are unusual in regard to female
education because of the high calibre of learning at each house.
Nonetheless, they provide useful comparisons to the level of learning at
Clairvaux and St Victor.
7. For her vita see Levinson, 1913: 24-50.
8. Much of the material that we know about Jutta comes from her vita which
has recently been edited (Staab, 1992: 1 74-87) and translated into
English (Silvas, 1998: 65-84).
9. I base this definition on the use of the term in Hildegard's vita. See note
12 below.
10. Before Jutta's vita came to light, it was believed that Hildegard was immured
at the age of eight. However, the vita of Jutta indicates the date of 1
November 1 1 12 for Hildegard and Jutta's enclosure. See Silvas, 1998: 51-4
for further discussion.
1 1. Translation from Silvas, 1998: 1 09-10. Original in Derolez, 1989: Ep. 38,
374: Et dilatato mausolei sui ambitu puellas sub disciplina regularis
custodie nutriendas secum introduxit. Hac oceasione sepulchrum illud prius
factum est quasi monasterium; sic tamen ut et sepulchri clausram non
amitterat et monasterii iam deinceps frequentiam optineret.
12. Translation from Silvas, 1998: 140. Original in Klaes, 1993: 7: Matre
uenerabili, que iam ex discipula magistram ac preuiam semitarum
excellentium eam fieri cum admiratione cernebat. Flagrabat siquidem in
eius pectore karitatis benignitas, que nullam a sua latitudine excluderet.
Turrim quoque uirginitates murus tuebatur humilitatis: hine cibi potusque
parsimonia uestium uilitate fouebatur, inde cordis tranquillitas pudibunda
silentio ac uerborum parcitate monstrabatur, que omnia sanetarum monilia
102 Carolyn Muessig
uirtutum, summi fabricata manu artificis, patientia custos in sponsa

Christi exornando seruabat.
13. Reading of the Psalms reveals the ability to read basic Latin.
14. Klaes, 1993: 6: Ceterum preter psalmorum simplicem noticiam nullam
litteratorie uel musice artis ab homine percepit doctrinam, quamuis eius
extent scripta non pauca et quaedam non exigua uolumina.
15. See also Beverly Kienzle (Chapter 7) for discussion regarding the
Rupertsberg liturgy.
16. Translation from Baird and Ehrman, 1994: 127. Original in Van Acker,
1991: Ep. 52, 126: Virgines uidelicet uestras festis diebus psallendo solutis
crinibus in ecclesia stare, ipsasque pro ornamento candidis ac sericis uti
uelaminibus pre longitudine superficiem terre tangentibus, coronas etiam
auro contextas capitibus earum desuper impositas et his utraque parte et
retro cruces insertas, in fronte autem agni figuram decenter impressam,
insuper et digitos earundem aureis decorari anulis.
199 1 : Ep. 52R, 129: Ideo et discretio sit in hoc, ne diuersus populus in
unum gregrem congregatus in superbia elationis et in ignominia
diuersitatis dissipetur, et precipue ne honestas morum ibi dirumpatur,
cum se inuicem odio dilaniant, quando altior ordo super inferiorem cadit et
quando inferior super altiorem ascendit, quia Deus discern it populum in
terra sicut et in celo uidelicet etiam angelos, archangelos, thronos,
dominationes, cherubim, et seraphim discernans.
18. See Constant Mews, Chapter 14.
19. Translation is from Jaeger, 1994: 1 77. Original in Hugh of St Victor, 1879:
col. 805: De tropologia nihil aliud in praesenti dicam quam, quod supra
dictum est, excepto quod ad eam magis rerum quam vocum significatio
pertinere videtur. In ilia naturalis justitia est, ex qua disciplina morum
nostrorum, id est positiva justitia nascitur. Contemplando quid fecerit Deus;
quid nobis faciendum sit, agnoscimus. Omnis natura Deum loquitur. Omnis
natura hominen docet. Omnis natura rationem parit, et nihil in universitate
infecundum est.
1991: Ep. 23, 63: Quibus cum diligenter in tendimus, recolimus qualiter
homo uocem uiuentis spiritus requisiuit, quam Adam per inobedientiam
perdidit, qui ante transgressionem, adhuc innocens, non minimam
societatem cum angelicarum laudum uocibus habeat . . . Deus uero qui
animas electorum luce ueritatis perfundens ad pristinam beatitudinem
reseruat, ex suo hoc adinuenit consilio, ut quandoque corda quamplurimum
infusione prophetici spiritus innouaret, cuius interiore illuminatione aliqua
de scientia ilia recuperarent, quam Adam ante preuaricationis sue
uindictam habuerat.
21. This comparable freedom had been recognized in the earliest religious
woman associated with the Hohenburg, the eighth-century Merovingian
princess, St Odile. In the tenth-century vita of this canoness the
hagiographer gives an account of St Odile speaking to her sisters. She
asks them if they should be canonesses or nuns. Because the Hohenburg
is located so high up on a mountain and the women often seek water
outside of the walls of the convent, she argues that it would be
logistically better to be canonesses since they can fetch water anytime.
The implication is that nuns would be strictly enclosed and not able to
get water when they needed it (Levinson, 1913: 24-50; and see
McNamara, 1996: 1 76-7).
22. However, marriages of canonesses do not seem to have been a common

practice nor were they readily accepted when they did occur (McNamara,
1996: 191).
23. For discussion about the historical confusion of the identity of Relinde
see Carnes, 1 9 7 1 : 1 38-9.
24. Translation from Caratzas, 1977: 248. Original in Green et al., 1979a:
226: Rilinda, uenerabile Hohenburgensis ecclesie abbatissa tempore suo
eiusdem ecclesie queque diruta diligenter restaurauit et religionem diuinam
inibi pene destructam sapienter reformauit.
25. For further discussion see Lefevre, 1969: 366-9.
26. My translation. Original in Green et al., 1979a: 227: Herrat Hohenbur·
gensis abbatissa post Rilindam ordinata ac monitis et exemplis eius
instituta.
27. Space constraints do not allow discussion of the Hohenburg's strained
relationship with the Benedictine Abbey of Ebersheimmunster which
retained the right to celebrate the Divine Office at Hohenburg for
Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. See Uhry, 1967: 34; Green et al. ,
1979a: 1 1 .
2 8 . Some houses a s far away as Bavaria and Austria used the customary
(Green et al., 1979a: 1 1 ).
29. Manegold of Lautenbach is referred to by the anonymous author of Melk
as the magister magistrorum (Chenu, 1968: 3 19).
30. Clerics who fell foul of abbesses were not always ready to follow the
commands of the fairer sex, especially in ecclesiastical matters. We have
evidence that Pope Honorius III ( 1 2 16-27) had to order an abbot in the
diocese of Halberstadt to comply with and obey the jurisdiction of the
abbess of Quedlinberg (Torquebiau, 1942: 496). I am grateful to Jo Ann
McNamara for allowing me to read a pre-publication copy of her article
'Consorts in Empire: Imperial Abbesses and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in
the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries'. This article underlines the unique
role of canonesses in the medieval church.
3 1 . Translation from Saxl, 1957: I , 245. Original in Isidore of Seville (1878),
Etymologiae, col. 496: 'Paradisus' est locus in orientis partibus constitutus,
cujus vocabulum ex Graeco in Latinum veritur 'hortus'; porro Hebraice
Eden dicitur, quod in nostra lingua deliciae interpretatur. Quod utrumque
junctum facit 'hortum delicarum'.
32. For her use of philosophical texts see Will, 1937: 527.
33. Here is the list which she provides. The first term is given in Latin and
the corresponding German follows: 'Mare mortuum, leber mere; vadum,
vurt; lacus, wac; padus, Plat; ister, tunowe; anasis, ense; licus, lech;
rodanus, roten; renus, rin; mogus vel menus, moin; mosella, musela; mosa,
mase; alba, elbe; nektar, nekir; athesis, etise; liger, lier, sigonia vel secona,
sigene (Green et al. , 1979b: 71). At different points in the Hortus, as here,
Herrad supplies German equivalents for Latin terms.
34. For further details regarding Herrad's sources see Green et al., 1 979a:
43-59.
35. My translation. Original in Green et al. , 1979b: 4: Herrat gratia Dei
Hohenburgensis ecclesie abbatissa licet indigna dulcissimis Christi
virginibus in eadem ecclesia quasi in Christi vinea Domini fideliter
laborantibus, graciam et gloriam, quam dabit Dominus. Sanctitati vestre
insinuo, quod hunc librum qui intitulatur Hortus deliciarum ex diversis
sacre et Philosophice scripture floribus quasi apicula Deo inspirante
comportavi et ad laudem et honorem Christi et Ecclesie, causaque dilectionis
104 Carolyn Muessig
vestre quasi in unum mellifluum favum compaginavi. Quapropter in ipso

libro oportet vos sedulo gratum querere pastum et mellitis sillicidiis
animum reficere lassum, ut sponsi blandiciis semper occupate et spiritalibus
deliciis saginate transitoria secure percurratis et eterna felici; jucunditate
possideatis, meque per varias maris semitas periculose gradientem
fructuosis orationibus vestris a terrenis affectibus mitigatam unam
vobiscum in amorem dilecti vestri sursum trahatis. Amen.
36. See also Bynum, 1 979; 1 982: 40- 1 . The Rule of Augustine is highly
controversial in regard to its dating and authorship. For further
discussion on the Rule, see Bynum, 1 979: 7, note 4.
37. The images can be found in a number of reproductions. The most
accessible is Green et al. , 1979b: (504-5).
38. Translation from Caratzas, 1977: 248. Original in Green et al., 1 979a:
226: Rilindis Hohenburgensis congregationi, 0 pie grex, cui celica lex est,
nulla doli fex: Ipse Syon Mons ad patriam pons, atque boni fons; Qui via,
qui lux, est, hie tibi sit dux, alma tegat crux. Qui placidus casitatis ros qui
stabilis dos, virgineus flos Christus. Ille regat te grex commiserans me,
semper ubique. Amen.
39. See Green et al., 1 979b: (505) for image.
40. Translation from Caratzas, 1977: 250. Original in Green et al., 1979a:
227: Congregatio religiosa temporibus, Rilindis et Herradis abbatissarum
in Dei servicio in Hohenburc caritative adunata.
41. Translation from Caratzas, 1977: 250. Original in Green et al., 1 979a:
227: 0 nivei flores, dantes virtutis odores, Semper divina pausantes in
theoria, Pulvere terreno contempto currite celo, Que celo nunc absconsum
valeatis cernere sponsum.
42. The reforming Pope, Nicholas II (t l061), said as much: 'By our
authority, obeying our predecessor, we order that all priests, deacons,
and sub-deacons, who observe chastity, to have around the churches for
which they are responsible, common sleeping and eating areas, and to
possess in common all goods coming to them from the church insofar as
it is necessary for clerics leading the religious life. By our prayers we
exhort them to make every effort to live like the apostles, that is, a
common life, so that, having attained perfection, they merit inscription in
the heavenly homeland, with those who have already received a
hundredfold.' Epistle of Pope Nicholas II as cited in Smith, 1953: II,
466. The term hundredfold was associated with virgins. See Jerome,
Commentarium in Evangelium Matthei, col. 92A.
43. See note 35 above for full citation.
44. Translation from Baird and Ehrman, 1994: 1 44. Original in Van Acker,
1 9 9 1 : Ep. 64, 147: Amaui nobilitatem morum tuorum, et sapientiam et
castitatem, et tuam animam et omnem uitam tuam, ita quod multidixerunt:
Quid facis?
45. See note 1 above.
46. I am grateful to Michael Richardson and Hannah Lowery of the
University of Bristol Special Collections for their kind assistance. I
would like to thank Paul Williams, Kevin Magill, Beverly Kienzle, Jo Ann
McNamara and George Ferzoco for their helpful comments.
9 Educating Heloise1
W. C. East
The correspondence ends with two very long letters . . . They are
by no means readable, and they are seldom read. They have no
personal interest. They must have cost him much dreary toil.
(Southern, 1970: 1 0 1 )
We know a great deal about the education of two major monastic
figures of the twelfth century, Abelard and Heloise. Abelard tells us
about his own education in the Historia calamitatum:2
My father had acquired some knowledge of letters before he was
a soldier, and later on his passion for learning was such that he
intended all his sons to have instruction in letters before they
were trained in arms. His purpose was fulfilled. I was his first
born, and being specially dear to him had the greatest care taken
over my education. (Radice, 1 974: 57-8)
We believe that he was taught by the nominalist Jean Roscelin, though
he does not mention Roscelin in the Historia calamitatum, doubtless
because of Roscelin's condemnation in 1093 for denying the unity of
the Trinity (Radice, 1974: 58, n. 1). He studied under William of
Champeaux and made a lifelong enemy of him (Radice, 1974: 58)
before founding, at Melun, the first of several schools of his own
(Radice, 1974: 59). Later, turning his attention from philosophy to
theology, he studied under Anselm of Laon, again incurring his
teacher's enmity (Radice, 1974: 62-4).
Abelard tells us much too about the education of his wife Heloise.
She was already famous for her learning when Abelard was engaged as
her tutor:
There was in Paris at the time a young girl named Heloise, the
niece of Fulbert, one of the canons, and so much loved by him
that he had done everything in his power to advance her
education in letters. (Radice, 1974: 66)
It is worth pointing out that this is a non sequitur; many men in the
twelfth century must have loved their daughters, or nieces, without
seeing any need to make extraordinary provision for their education.
Abelard never portrays Fulbert as being particularly far-sighted or
advanced in his views on women's education, but relates Fulbert's
concern for Heloise's education in letters as casually and naturally as
he mentions his own father's concern for Abelard's education.
Abelard tells us later in the Historia calamitatum that Heloise's early
106 W. C. East
education had been in the convent at Argenteuil (Radice, 1974: 74).

Abelard was engaged as Heloise's tutor (Radice, 1974: 67). He does
not tell us exactly what course of study Heloise followed under him;
presumably he taught her philosophy, since that was his specialization
at that time. But he also took in hand her education sentimentale, and
this took up much of their time:
We were united, first under one roof, then in heart; and so with
our lessons as a pretext we abandoned ourselves entirely to love.
Her studies allowed us to withdraw in private, as love desired,
and then with our books open before us, more words of love than
of our reading passed between us, and more kissing than
teaching. (Radice, 1974: 67)
The course of their affair and marriage, of Abelard's castration, and
the entry of both into the religious life are well-known events and have
been studied in detail. But at a much later date, Abelard resumed his
interest in Heloise's education. This came about through a request
from Heloise in a letter to Abelard:3
And so all we handmaids of Christ, who are your daughters in
Christ, come as suppliants to demand of your paternal interest
two things which we see to be very necessary for ourselves. One
is that you will teach us how the order of nuns began and what
authority there is for our profession. The other, that you will
prescribe some Rule for us and write it down, a Rule which shall
be suitable for women, and also describe fully the manner and
habit of our way of life, which we find was never done by the holy
Fathers. (Radice, 1 974: 1 59-60)
R.W. Southern has remarked that Abelard did what Heloise asked,
and much more. Besides the requested Rule and history, 'To get the
full record of what Abelard did for Heloise, we must add about a
hundred hymns, thirty-five sermons, and a substantial series of
solutions to Heloise's theological problems' (Southern, 1970: 1 0 1 ) . I
have argued elsewhere for the inclusion of the half-dozen Planctus
which Abelard wrote, which touch very closely on the state of mind of
Heloise and himself.4 This adds up to a very considerable oeuvre.
Michael Clanchy has drawn our attention to this remarkable
contribution to monastic education, pointing out that Abelard was
the greatest provider of devotional literature for nuns in the twelfth
century. Considering all the work he put into his own monastic
development, as well as the seventy thousand words he wrote for
Heloise as a nun, it was, Clanchy thinks, ungenerous and mischievous
of Bernard of Clairvaux, at the time of Abelard's prosecution for heresy
in 1 140, to say that there was nothing of the monk about him except
the name and the habit (Clanchy, 1997: 153). Clanchy goes on to quote
David Luscombe: 'I can think of no other monastic foundation of those
times of numerous new beginnings that was accompanied by so much
new writing by a single friend or patron.'5
Educating Heloise 107
Two of the texts in this corpus, the History of Nuns6 and the Rule for
Nuns,? have been rather neglected. David Luscombe has observed that
their correspondence concludes with three letters (5, 6, and 7 with
Abelard's Rule for Heloise and her nuns at the Paraclete) which are
almost entirely concerned with problems to do with female monasti
cism. He recalls that Southern once described these letters as 'by no
means readable' and 'seldom read' (Southern, 1970: 101). He was
right, Luscombe thinks, to say that they are seldom read; in the
Penguin Classics translation of Letter 6, the late Betty Radice
summarized merely in three pages what takes up more than thirty
columns in the Patrologia Latina (Luscombe, 1997: 101).
This Letter 6 was Abelard's history of female monasticism. The
Latin text is edited by Muckle ( 1 955) and for those who require it,
there is a somewhat quaint earlier translation by C.K. Scott Moncrieff
( 1925: 105-42 ). Betty Radice, in choosing merely to summarize it,
says: 'To us it seems prolix and not very logical in the arrangement of
the many examples of the specially favoured position of women
amongst the followers of Christ and in the early Church' (Radice, 1974:
180). In fact, the letter is a sustained and remarkable defence of the
dignity of women. It has been ably studied by Mary Martin
McLaughlin, who regards it as 'the fullest, if not the most extreme,
statement ,of what may not unreasonably be called an "evangelical
feminism" (McLaughlin, 1975: 304). Far from agreeing with Southern
that these and the other late letters 'have no personal interest'
(Southern, 1970: 10 1) , she observes that what makes this letter, in
Leclercq's words, so 'new', so 'personal', indeed, 'unique in medieval
literature' , is the force and direction of the argument that derives its
special power from the firmness of its foundation in the teachings and
actions of Christ and their Gospel sources.8
The ministry of women is said several times to be higher than that
of men. Jesus often ministered to his disciples, but he allowed only
women to minister to himself (Scott Moncrieff, 1925: 108). Only a
woman was allowed to anoint him: 'Perpend therefore the dignity of
woman, from whom when He was alive Christ, being twice anointed, to
wit both on the head and on the feet, received the sacraments of
Kingship and Priesthood' (Scott Moncrieff, 1925: 109). The Latin
reads: regis et sacerdotis suscepit sacramenta (Muckle, 1955: 255).
Abelard was writing while the definition of the word 'sacramentum' was
still somewhat vague, and before the definitive list of the seven
sacraments had been drawn up by Peter Lombard. Kingship would not
in later times be regarded as a sacrament; but Abelard is still making a
powerful claim for the ability of women, in some circumstances and in
some sense, to confer the sacraments. He observes in passing, 'at
times women may presume to baptise' (Scott Moncrieff, 1925: 1 08).
Abelard is careful not to claim any hierarchical position for the
woman, but seems to recognize a parallel ministry, we might say a
charismatic ministry, alongside the ordained ministry: 'The humble
woman . . . performs these sacraments before Christ, not by the office
1 08 W. C. East
of prelation but by the zeal of devotion' (Scott Moncrieff, 1925: 109).

This ministry is highly acceptable to Jesus: nowhere, says Abelard, 'do
we read of the services of any other person whatsoever, that such
commendation was given by the Lord or such sanction' (Scott
Moncrieff, 1925: 1 10).
The ministry of women was constituted by Christ and is in some
respects superior to that of men. 'The Lord Himself also, appearing
first to Mary Magdalene, says to her: "Go to my brethren, and say unto
them, I ascend unto my father." From which we gather that these holy
women were constituted as it were female Apostles over the Apostles'
(Scott Moncrieff, 1925: 1 13).9
For Abelard, Mary Magdalene, the woman who anointed Christ and
was the first witness to his Resurrection, is a figure of some
significance as providing a role model for Heloise.10 His wife did not fit
easily into any of the standard categories of Christian women. She was
obviously not a virgin, nor was she a widow; she was not a 'godly
matron' caring for her husband and family. She was a nun, an abbess,
and yet a nun with a husband still living, and a child, and a highly active
sexual past which still lingered in her memory:
In my case, the pleasures of lovers which we shared have been
too sweet - they can never displease me, and can scarcely be
banished from my thoughts. Wherever I turn they are always
there before my eyes, bringing with them awakened longings and
fantasies which will not even let me sleep. Even during the
celebration of the Mass, when our prayers should be purer, lewd
visions of those pleasures take such a hold upon my unhappy soul
that my thoughts are on their wantonness instead of on prayers. I
should be groaning over the sins I have committed, but I can only
sigh for what I have lost. ll
Mary Magdalene provided a figure of a woman with a vivid sexual past,
a 'peccatrix' (Luke 7:37, 39) who had nevertheless been called to the
highest dignity, to minister to and bear witness to Christ himself.
Abelard uses the figure to raise Heloise's self-esteem, to invite her to
contemplate her own dignity and that of her sex, to encourage her to
emulate the sanctity of the Magdalene. Perhaps not surprisingly, Mary
Magdalene appears several times in Abelard's writings for Heloise.
She has two hymns devoted to her feast-day in the Paraclete
Hymnary, 12 and provides most of the substance for a hymn for the
common of holy women (Hymn 127, Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 262).
Abelard's Rule for religious women is no less fascinating than his
Historia. Heloise had asked Abelard for the Rule because: 'At present
the one Rule of St Benedict is professed in the Latin Church by women
equally with men, although, as it was clearly written by men alone, it
can only be fully obeyed by men' (Radice, 1974: 160). She points out
that, as everybody knows, it is practically impossible for a woman to
get drunk. She cites Macrobius and Aristotle as authorities for this
statement. The reason is that women's bodies have more holes than
men's: 'Through these holes the fumes of wine are quickly released'
(Radice, 1974: 166). That being so, was there any chance of a little
more wine in the daily allowance? A bit more meat would also be
welcomed; not the thing for monks, of course, but harmless and
necessary to support the infirmity of the weaker sex. She also fancied
wearing linen next to the skin, like Augustinian canons, not the rough
cloth worn by monks (Radice, 1974: 165). Abelard may have had this
request in mind when he made provision for the burial of nuns:
The body of the dead woman must then be washed at once by the
sisters, clad in some cheap but clean garment and stockings, and
laid on a bier, the head covered by the veil . . . The burial of an
abbessI3 shall have only one feature to distinguish it from that of
others: her entire body shall be wrapped only in a hair-shirt and
sewn up in this as in a sack. (Radice, 1974: 2 16-17)
Heloise wrote a Rule of her ownI4 which differed from Abelard's in a
number of respects. It is instructive to compare the two texts. Heloise
specifies that the nuns are to eat pure wheat bread, whereas Abelard
had laid down that coarse grains should be mixed with the wheat.
Abelard had kept the nuns firmly within the cloister; Heloise allows
them to go outside for necessary business. Most significantly, in order
to provide the priests and deacons necessary for the services, Abelard
had envisaged a double monastery, ruled over by a male superior. In
Heloise's Rule, the abbess is in charge of the monks serving the
convent; nobody is superior to the abbess.
No doubt one is right to detect an element of banter in these two
documents. Abelard and Heloise were to some extent playing games
rather than devising Rules seriously intended for use in a real convent.
The Rule actually put into use at the Paraclete seems to have owed
very little to Abelard, or indeed to Heloise; it appears to have been
based on Cistercian customs.15 And yet there is a more serious
intention than mere banter in Abelard's Rule. Mary Martin McLaughlin
regards it as a work that was meant from the first as far more than 'a
kind of institute or rule', and one whose implications may in the end
have outrun its author's intentions. What he proposed, McLaughlin
thinks, was something much closer to a 'mirror' of monastic
perfection, a 'treatise of instruction' and exhortation aimed, if we
may judge by its content, at translating into reality a highly personal
vision of the monastic ideal' (McLaughlin, 1975: 318). She notes the
extraordinary amount of learning that Abelard pours into the treatise,
observing that 'the remarkable breadth of scriptural and monastic
learning there deployed for the edification of Heloise and her nuns
further underscores Abelard's didactic and exhortatory, rather than
merely regulatory, purposes' (McLaughlin, 1975: 3 1 9).
The Hymnary which Abelard wrote for the Paraclete, a collection of
133 hymns to accompany the daily office, is one of the glories of
medieval Latin literature. It is a significant contribution to a tradition,
begun as far as the West is concerned by Ambrose, of using the liturgy
110 W. C. East
as a medium for teaching Christian doctrine, by composing hymns

replete with scriptural and doctrinal references. Abelard cared deeply
about the quality of the liturgy which Heloise and her nuns celebrated.
He gave very precise directions for its performance in his Rule:
None of the nuns may be absent from the Canonical Hours, but as
soon as the bell is rung, everything must be put down and each
sister go quickly, with modest gait, to the divine office . . . The
psalms should be repeated clearly and distinctly so as to be
understood, and any chanting or singing must be pitched so that
anyone with a weak voice can sustain the note. (Radice, 1974:
220)
When Abelard believed his life to be in danger, he instructed
Heloise to insert special prayers for him into the liturgy of the
Paraclete (Radice, 1974: 124-5); furthermore, if he should be
delivered into the hands of his enemies and killed, he wished to be
buried at the Paraclete, where, as he says, 'our sisters in Christ may
see my tomb more often and thereby be encouraged to pour out their
prayers more fully to the Lord on my behalf' (Radice, 1974: 125). He
may therefore be said to have staked his life, and indeed his salvation,
on the efficacy of the liturgy at the Paraclete, and in his Hymnary he
did his best to enhance and inform that liturgy. It may be that, in
practice, Heloise did not use the Hymnary for that purpose.16 Perhaps
the hymns were, after all, too personal for communal use, but they are
not on that account any less remarkable a literary achievement.
The hymns are an education in themselves through their frequent
literary references. They allude to previous hymns such as those of
Ambrose (Hymn 1 , Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 15), Prudentius (Sz6verffy,
1975: II, 12, 44, 83, 95, 103) or Venantius Fortunatus (Hymn 26,
Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 7 1-2); frequently they allude to Abelard's other
writings;17 very often they allude to the Bible,18 The Hymn for the Holy
Innocents, according to Sz6verffy, contains the only known insertion in
Latin hymnody of an anecdote recorded in the Saturnalia by Macrobius
(Hymn 102, Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 2 12). The Hymn for the Epiphany
derives from Orosi us (Hymn 34, Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 92). A number of
hymns allude to the Physiologus (Sz6verffy, 1975: I, 1 06-7).
In a recent article I have pointed out an allusion (previously
unnoticed, I think) in one of the hymns to a sermon by the Venerable
Bede.19 In the same article I also examine Hymn 6, Ornarunt terram
germina (Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 27). This hymn contrasts the natural sky
under which the poor man sleeps with the painted sky, or ceiling, of
the rich man. Most of the references in this poem are scriptural, but
Abelard slips in the word testudo. This word has classical rather than
scriptural connotations. Literally 'a tortoise' and hence a tortoise-shell,
it can be used of the shield-wall formed by Roman soldiers,20 or of the
domed vault of a Roman building. In Virgil's Aeneid (I: 505) Dido takes
her seat media testudine templi, i.e. under the central dome of the
temple. Actually, Dido's temple is the locus classicus for splendid
painted buildings, for its walls (though not its ceiling) were painted
with the story of the defeat of Troy (Virgil, Aeneid I: 452-93). We may
marvel how, with a single word, Abelard can evoke a fabulous world of
artifice and splendour, in contrast to the simple, 'real', world of the
poor man.
Abelard's Easter hymns have been memorably described by Peter
Dronke as 'an exuberant series of rondeaux - our first examples of the
lyrical strophe with internal refrain, which Abelard may even have
invented' (Dronke, 1968: 52). Interestingly, they present a traditional
view of the Atonement as the victory by Christ (, Christus Victor') over
the Devil, a view which can be traced back to Venantius Fortunatus,
and before him to Gregory the Great, Leo the Great, Augustine, Hilary
of Poitiers, Irenaeus of Lyons and the Latin Fathers generally.
Elsewhere, in his commentary on the Letter to the Romans, Abelard
criticized this view, in terms like those of Anselm of Canterbury in his
Cur Deus Homo:
What right to possess mankind could the devil possibly have
unless perhaps he had received man for purposes of torture
through the express permission, or even the assignment, of the
Lord? (Fairweather, 1956: 281)
Anselm had suggested seeing the Atonement in terms of satisfaction
offered to God, rather than of ransom offered to the Devil. Abelard, in
his commentary on Romans, thought in more subjective terms of the
crucifixion as an example:
Now it seems to us that we have been justified by the blood of
Christ and reconciled to God in this way: through this unique act
of grace manifested to us - in that his Son has taken upon himself
our nature and persevered therein in teaching us by word and
example even unto death - he has more fully bound us to himself
by love; with the result that our hearts should be enkindled by
such a gift of divine grace, and true charity should not now shrink
from enduring anything for him. (Fairweather, 1956: 282)
In these hymns, however, Abelard uses the traditional images of
victory over the Devil. Perhaps the poetic images were too good to be
missed, or the pull of the traditional liturgy and exegesis too strong to
be resisted.21 So Abelard writes (Hymn 28, In Paschale Domini,
Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 127): 'Christiani, plaudite, / Resurrexit Dominus, /
Victo mortis principe Christus imperat, / Victori occurrite, / Qui nos
liberat - 'Christians applaud, the Lord is risen. The Prince of Death
has been conquered.' (Such is the title given to the Devil in the Latin B
version of the Acts of Pilate (James, 1924: 127); 'Christ rules', as
Sz6verffy notes, is 'reminiscent of the liturgical acclamation: "Christus
vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat'" (Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 127).)
'Run to the victor, who frees us.'
The third stanza begins with a particularly striking reference to this
view of the atonement: 'Fraus in hamo fallitur' 'Deceit is deceived by
-
112 W. C. East
the fish-hook.' (Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 128). Sz6verffy provides numerous

parallels in his note; the ultimate source is Job 40:20, 'An extrahere
poteris Leviathan hamo?' - 'Can you pull up Leviathan with a fish
hook?' Rufinus of Aquileia seems to have been the first of many to
make the comparison with the divine fishhook surrounded by human
flesh as bait for the Devil (cf. Bettenson, 1943: 127). Sz6verffy might
also have mentioned the line of Venantius Fortunatus, 'multi/ormis
perditoris arte ut artem /alleret'22 - 'that the manifold deceiver's art by
art might be outweighed'.23
Abelard seems to have retained throughout his life an affection for
his parents and his hometown, Le Pallet on the borders of Brittany.
The Latin name of the town was Palatium, 'Palace', and Abelard was
commonly referred to as Peripateticus Palatinus, the peripatetic from
Le Pallet. It is remarkable that in his hymns Abelard often uses
Palatium virtually as a synonym for heaven. Thus in his hymn for
Sunday Vespers he writes, 'Ingressus proprium / dehinc palatium'
(Hymn 16, 6 : 1 -2; Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 55) - 'entering then into his own
palace' - referring to Jerusalem, the Temple and to Heaven itself. In
his famous hymn for Saturday Vespers he asks, ' Quis rex, quae curia,
quale palatium?' (Hymn 2 9 , 3: 1-2; Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 77). In J.M.
Neale's familiar translation, 'What are the monarch, his court, and his
throne? ' ; except that palatium is not the king's throne, but his palace.
In his hymn for the first nocturn on Ascension Day, Abelard describes
Christ as ascending 'Ad paternum palatium', 'to his father's palatium'
(Hymn 62, 2 : 1 ; Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 134). In his hymn for the second
nocturn on Christmas Day he writes: 'Excipitur / viIi tugurio / Qui
praesidet / coeli palatio' - 'He who presides over the palatium of
heaven, is caught in a lowly hut' (Hymn 3 1 , 2: 1-4; Sz6verffy, 1975: II,
85). Once again we may marvel at Abelard's ability to evoke a whole
world in a single word, for a tugurium is the shepherd's cottage of
Virgil's first Eclogue:24 not so inappropriate a birthplace for the Good
Shepherd.
The Letter to the Hebrews sets forth the idea of Heaven as our true
homeland:
These all died in faith, not having received what was promised,
but having seen it and greeted it from afar, and having
acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a
homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they
had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it
is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. (Hebrews
1 1 : 13-16)
This became a commonplace in Christian literature. One thinks of
the last lines of Aquinas's Corpus Christi hymn, ' Qui vitam sine
termino / Nobis donet in patria'25 - '0 grant us life that shall not end /
in our true native land with thee. ' I am not aware that Aquinas
seriously thought of heaven as a celestial Roccasecca; Abelard,
however, seems to have thought o f Heaven a s just like L e Pallet, only

nicer. Abelard wrote frequently of exile from the heavenly Palatium,
but nowhere more poignantly than in his hymn 0 Quanta Qualia
(Hymn 29, Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 77-8) which Frederick Brittain has
described as 'one of the most beautiful and also one of the most
pathetic of medieval poems, with the sad story of Abelard's life as its
undertone' (Brittain, 1962: xxix): 'Nostrum est interim / mentem erigere
/ Et totis patriam / votis appetere / Et ad Ierusalem / a Babylonia / Post
longa regredi / tandem exsilia' - 'It is up to us in the meantime to raise
our minds and with all our desire to seek the fatherland, and to return
at last from Babylon to Jerusalem, after our long exile.' Abelard was
raising Heloise's mind to Heaven by means of images that were, on the
one hand, scriptural, traditional and liturgical, but on the other hand
also entirely personal. After all, Heloise had spent the happiest days of
her life in Le Pallet; it was there that Abelard had taken her after their
marriage, and there that she had given birth to their son, Astralabe.
Perhaps not surprisingly, we find the combination of Christian
doctrine and personal reference most markedly in Abelard's hymns for
holy women. In Hymn 12 5 (Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 259), for the second
nocturn of feasts of holy women, he writes: 'Iephte nata /victoris in
proprium / Patris dextram / animavit iugulum' - 'The daughter of
Jephtha urged on the right hand of her victorious father [to cut] her
own throat.' The story of Jephtha and his daughter is told in Judges
1 1 :29-40. Jephtha made a vow to God that, if He would deliver the
Ammonites into Jephtha's hands, he would sacrifice the first person to
meet him on his return home. Having defeated the Ammonites,
Jephtha returned home and was met by his daughter. The girl had
consented to be offered in sacrifice, in accordance with the terms of
her father's vow. The following hymn (Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 259), for the
third nocturn of the same set of feasts, also refers to Jephtha's
daughter: 'Si cum viris / leminas contendere / De virtute / liceat
constantiae, / Quis virorum / mentis lortitudine / Adaequari / possit
Iephte liliae,/ Quae ne voti / pater reus sit, / Se victimam / patri
praebuit?' - 'If it is permissible for women to contend with men in the
virtue of constancy, which of men could equal in fortitude of mind the
daughter of Jephtha, who, lest her father should be guilty of breaking a
vow, offered herself as a victim to her father?'
The figure of Jephtha's daughter was evidently of some importance
to Abelard, for he mentions her also in a letter to Heloise (Radice,
1974: 125), in his History 01 Religious Women (Scott Moncrieff, 1925:
128) and in one of his Planctus (Vecchi, 1951: 48ff). I have discussed
elsewhere26 the significance of Jephtha's daughter to Abelard, relating
her sacrifice to that of Heloise, following the remark of Southern that
'Abelard killed Heloise and she willingly made the sacrifice of her life'
(Southern, 1970: 94). I have noted that nothing is said in the Bible
about the way in which Jephtha killed his daughter: 'The frequent
mention of cutting her throat is perhaps intended to reinforce the
image of sacrifice, the girl being put to death like a sacrificial lamb'
1 14 W. G. East
(East, 1997: 56). These poems acknowledge the great sacrifice Heloise
had made for Abelard. They are perhaps as near as he came to saying
'Sorry'.
The Hymn for Lauds on the feasts of holy women (Hymn 127,
Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 262-3) tells two stories of Mary Magdalene.27 In
terms very like those used in his History of Religious Women, Abelard
celebrates her as anointing the feet of Christ, conferring upon him the
'sacraments' of priesthood and kingship: ' Christi pedes / capit unguens
mulier, / Christum eum / fecit corporaliter; / Sacerdotis / et regis
mysteria / Suscepisse / constant hunc a femina, / Et qui eum / sexus
peperit, / Sacramenta / quoque tradidit' - 'The woman takes the feet of
Christ and anoints them. She made him bodily the Christ [i.e. 'the
Anointed One']. The mysteries of priest and king allow him to receive
themselves from a woman, and the sex which brought him forth also
conferred the sacraments upon him.'
The next stanza (Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 263), again in terms
reminiscent of the History of Religious Women, refers to Mary
Magdalene as the first witness to Christ's Resurrection: 'Et sepulto /
ferens hic aromata / Resurgentis / prius vidit gaudia' - 'And now,
carrying spices to the buried one, she is the first to see the joys of the
rising one.'
Having in this hymn dealt with the Magdalene as anointer of Christ
and witness to his resurrection, in his two hymns for the feast of Mary
Magdalene Abelard presents her as the type of the repentant sinner,
the 'peccatrix'. Central to Hymn 128 is the interiority of the
Magdalene's repentance. Paraphrasing Psalm 50(5 1): 18-19, Abelard
writes (Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 264-5): ' Cor contritum / tribulatus spiritus /
Holocaustis / gratius est omnibus' - 'A contrite heart, a troubled spirit,
is more acceptable than all burnt sacrifices.' The rest of the hymn
contrasts the external ('foris') observances of the Old Testament with
the interior ('intus') dispositions of the New, the old 'falsitas' with the
new 'veritas', the old 'umbra corporis' with the new 'corpus'. The
Magdalene is strikingly described as 'felix meretrix', the 'happy harlot'.
By her tears she obtained instant forgiveness ('statim indulgentia').
The second hymn for Mary Magdalene's feast is described by
Sz6verffy as 'one of Abelard's most intriguing hymns from the point of
view of interpretation' (Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 266). Taking up the idea of
'instant forgiveness' from the previous hymn, Abelard contrasts this
with the severe penitential disciplines of the Church (Sz6verffy, 1975:
II, 266-7): 'Poenitentum / severa correptio / Et eorum / longa satisfactio
/ Crebris carnem / edomant ieiuniis / Asperisque / cruciant cilciis [sic.
,
Sc. ciliciis) - 'The severe reproof of penitents, and their long period of
satisfaction, overcome the flesh with cruel fasts, and torture it with
harsh hair-shirts.' Sz6verffy comments perceptively that this is
obviously a 'criticism' of the practice, but wonders if it was prompted
by Abelard's own experiences and if so, if it expresses his personal
bitterness over his own treatment. He is inclined to believe that this is
the correct explanation, but in the absence of any positive indication,
Educating Heloise 1 15
thinks this must remain hypothetical (Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 266).

Perhaps so, but it is very much in keeping with the 'subjective' style
of Abelard to intertwine his own and Heloise's experiences with his
exposition of Christian doctrine.
Throughout the hymns, and indeed throughout the 'seventy
thousand words' which Abelard wrote for Heloise, he seeks not only
to educate her, in the sense of informing her intellect, but to edify her,
in the sense of building her up, raising her spirits and her self-esteem,
opening her mind to appreciate her own dignity and that of her sex.
These seventy thousand words form a corpus of the first importance in
the history of monastic education and of women's education. Despite
R.W. Southern's observations, none of these texts has the appearance
of 'dreary toil'; rather, they present themselves as a labour of love.
They are by no means 'unreadable', and it is time that they were more
widely read.
Notes
1 . My title might seem to suggest reliance on McNamer, 1 9 9 1 . In fact the

book is quite unscholarly; one finds references to 'Paterlogia Latina' (p.
97) and 'Augustus' for Augustine (p. 180) and many other egregious
errors. McNamer does provide a translation of the Problemata of Heloise
but, caveat lector!
2. Muckle, 1950: 163-2 13; translation by Radice, 1974.
3. Muckle, 1 955: 240-8 1 ; translation in Radice, 1 974.
4. East, 1 997: 43-59. The Planctus have been edited by Vecchi, 1 9 5 1 .
5. Clanchy, 1 997: 2 5 7 , quoting Luscombe, 1 997: 9 .
6 . Text in Muckle, 1 9 5 5 ; briefly summarized in Radice, 1 974: 180-2.
7. McLaughlin, 1 956: 241-92. Translation in Radice, 1 974: 183-269.
8. McLaughlin, 1975: 295. The reference is to Leclercq, 1 962: 1 72 .
9 . Quasi apostolas super apostolos constitutas; Muckle, 1 9 5 5 : 2 5 8 . Katherine
Ludwig Jansen has noted other writers who refer to Mary Magdalene in
these terms, and has identified a liturgical antiphon, 0 Apostolorum
Apostola. See Jansen, 1 998.
10. On Mary Magdalene as a feminine role model see Blamires, 1997,
especially Chapter 8: 'The Formal Case in Abelard, Chaucer, Christine
de Pizan', 1 99ft.
1 1 . Radice, 1 974: 133. Latin text in Muckle, 1 953: 47-94; this quotation, 80-
1.
1 2 . Sz6verffy, 1975: Hymns 1 28 and 1 2 9 (II: 264-9).
13. Heloise was the abbess.
14. It is printed with the works of Abelard in PL 1 78, col. 3 1 3-26. As with all
the works of Abelard and Heloise, it is difficult to date with precision;
one assumes it is later than Abelard's Rule, since she would hardly
complain to him that no rule for women then existed, if she had already
written her own.
15. See the work done by Waddell, 1 983-85; 1987; 1989.
16. Ibid.
1 7 . See the Index Bibliographicus in Sz6verffy, 1 975: II, 283-90.
18. See the Index Biblicus in Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 2 79-82.
116 W. C. East
1 9 . East, 1 999: 41-9. The hymn is number 39 in Sz6verffy, 1975: II, 101.
20. See the instances in Livy, Caesar and Tacitus listed in Lewis and Short,
1896.
21. It is not possible to speak of Abelard changing his mind from one point of
view to the other, for we cannot date either the Commentary on Romans
or the Hymnary with any precision. Buytaert discusses the dating of the
Commentary at some length and observes: 'We must conclude that the
Commentary was redacted not later than 1 137' (Buytaert, 1969: 37).
Sz6verffy says of the hymns: 'It should be noted here that the date of
their composition cannot be ascertained, but they probably belong to a
later period of Abelard's life than most scholars would be willing to
assume' (Sz6verffy, 1975: I, 19). Nor can we have any idea how long the
ideas in either the Commentary or the Hymnary had been forming in
Abelard's mind. What is certain is that the traditional view of the
atonement had been attacked by St Anselm in his Cur Deus Homo (1097),
long before Abelard had turned his mind to theological issues.
22. Venantius Fortunatus, Pange, Lingua, quoted from Raby, 1 924: 90.
23. Translation in Dearmer, 1 906: no. 95.
24. Virgil, Eclogue I , 68; in Mynors, 1969: 3.
25. Thomas Aquinas, 'Verbum supernum prodiens', in Dreves and Blume,
1886-1922: I , no. 388, p. 588.
26. East, 1997: 54ff. See also Alexiou and Dronke, 1 9 7 1 : 8 1 9-63.
27. On Mary Magdalene hymns see Sz6verffy, 1 963: 79-146; Fiinten, 1 966.
1 0 The role of images in
monastic education: the
evidence from wall painting
in late medieval England
Miriam Gill
For medieval apologists and modern art historians alike, probably the
most famous justification of religious art is that offered by Gregory the
Great: 'What writing does for the literate, a picture does for the
illiterate looking at it, because the ignorant see in it what they ought to
do, those who do not know letters read it' (Duggan, 1989: 227).
Gregory's proposed parity of words and images as sources of
information is problematic (Camille, 1985: 26-49; Duggan, 1 989:
2 2 7-5 1 ) . However, his statement describes the basic role of
monumental art in late medieval parish churches, where literacy could
not be presumed and books were scarce.
However, as Bernard of Clairvaux implied in his Apologia of c. 1 125,
the Gregorian formula did not justify monastic art (Rudolph, 1990b:
10-12, 39, 5 1 ) . Bernard argued such art threatened monastic
enclosure by attracting pilgrims and that violent and worldly images
distracted monks from reading and meditation (Rudolph, 1990b: 52,
1 1 1 , 120). Bernard's catalogue of unsuitable subjects found in the
cloister - 'filthy apes . . . fierce lions . . . monstrous centaurs . . .
creatures part man and part beast . . . striped tigers . . . fighting
soldiers and hunters blowing horns' (Rudolph, 1990b: 1 1 ) - is echoed
in the introduction to the English typological work, Pictor in Carmine
(James, 195 1 : 141; Park, 1986: 199-200). The attack on distracting
external imagery was also closely connected to the spiritual ideal of
imageless devotion (Hamburger, 1990: 4). Monastic suspicion of
images found its most striking expression in the visual austerity of the
early Cistercians (Park, 1986: 197).
However, in the same period, another tradition emerged exempli
fied by Abbot Suger of St Denis ( t 1 1 5 1 ), who created and championed
a distinctively monastic art 'accessible only to the litterati' (Rudolph,
1990a: 73; 1990b: 108). Suger stressed two concepts central to the
justification of monastic art: that material images led to immaterial
118 Miriam Gill
things (Rudolph, 1990a: 57, 70) and that the exegetical function of art
was an extension of monastic [eetio (Rudolph, 1990a: 71). The first idea
was developed in Rhineland convents in the thirteenth century, where
art gained acceptance as an aid to mystical experience (Hamburger,
1990: 3). The second idea found expression in complex typological
schemes accompanied by Latin inscriptions, such as those in the
Chapter House at Worcester (e. 1 1 60-70), in late twelfth-century glass
at Canterbury Cathedral, on the choir stalls at Peterborough (e. 1233-
45) and at Bury St Edmunds (Sandler, 1974: 1 10-15; Henry, 1990: 3 1 -
2, 35-4 1 , 44, 71-3).
In this Chapter I use wall painting to explore the didactic function of
monumental monastic art in England from e. 1300 to the Dissolution.
Three specific areas will be examined: the role of murals in education
for the monastic life; the visual interpretation of monastic space and
activity; and the role of the monastery in the visual education of the
laity. While this paper focuses on monumental painting, the important
and in many instances parallel role of stained glass and monumental
sculpture should be remembered.
Any study of monastic wall painting in England faces problems.
While not usually subject to violent iconoclasm, murals are intrinsically
vulnerable to the ruin and radical alteration which befell most English
religious houses after the Dissolution. For this reason, a large
proportion of the surviving corpus comes from Benedictine abbeys
adopted as cathedrals or parish churches. Almost no late medieval
convent painting survives, although some early sixteenth-century
sacred heraldry is recorded in a building associated with the Cistercian
convent at Hampole in Yorkshire (Whiting, 1938-39: 206). This loss is
particularly regrettable, given the remarkable mural expressions of
bridal mysticism in convents at Gass in Austria (e. 1283-85) and
Chelmno in Poland (mid-fourteenth century) (Hamburger, 1 990: 53,
85-6). While attitudes to religious art among the Cistercians appear to
have softened considerably in this later period (Park, 1986: 198-9),
the fragmentary corpus may obscure the persistence of distinctions
between the orders.
Some polychromy - painted decoration - in monastic buildings
represents the encroachment of lay patronage and concerns. For
example, the simple Crucifixions and Marian subjects on the north
arcade of St Albans Abbey appear to chart the gradual advance of side
altars patronized by the laity from the west end to the east between
e. 1230 and e.1320 (Binski, 1992: 256-71). The Capella ante Portas at
Hailes Abbey (Cistercian) in Gloucestershire includes many apparently
secular subjects, such as grotesques, heraldry and hunting (e. 1320-40)
(Park, 1986: 200-4). These instances raise the question of how
monastic and parochial art are best distinguished.
Not all surviving monastic polychromy is didactic. Some is simply
decorative, while other schemes perform a specific liturgical function,
for example accompanying an altar, as at Wimborne Minster in Dorset
(Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, 1975: frontispiece). It is
The role of images: wall painting 1 19
sometimes difficult to distinguish between images with a didactic and a

devotional function. The saintly monks identified by inscriptions
painted around the altar of St Jerome and St Benedict in Durham
Cathedral were surely intended to inspire emulation as well as
devotion (Fowler, 1903: 120- 1). These problems of categorization
emphasize that monastic education was preparation for living the
religious life rather than a mental exercise in acquiring knowledge. It
embraced the emotions, imagination and will, and constituted a
continuous process of rediscovery and remembrance in which the
whole community was involved.
Finally there is the question of how we assess the contribution of
didactic images. As a permanent fixture, a mural works in a different
way from a treatise. To use Gregory's metaphor, it is a book which is
always open, but most of the time it may be the visual equivalent of
'background noise'. While the educational careers and reading habits
of monks can sometimes be reconstructed, the use of monumental art
leaves few records. An anonymous late-thirteenth-century Italian
treatise exhorts the young monk, who may find no model of holiness
among his fellows, to study the saints depicted on the walls of the
church (Leclercq, 1957: 398), but we cannot judge how much such an
ideal influenced practice. Like the monastic routine or liturgy, images
were pervasive, but their full didactic potential might only be realized
in individual moments of engagement, perhaps prompted by preaching.
Several of Bishop Thomas Brinton's (t1389) sermons to the monks at
Rochester Cathedral (Benedictine) referred to the Wheel of Fortune
which was painted in the choir (mid-thirteenth-century) (Devlin, 1954:
I, 10, 99, 1 54).
Education for monastic life
Despite the fragmentary corpus of paintings and frequent absence of

written evidence, it is possible to identify a variety of ways in which
murals could contribute to education for the monastic life. One of the
most striking is the emotional moment of personal engagement
described in the Testament of John Lydgate. A wayward youth, Lydgate
was not reformed by entering the monastery.
His holy rewle was onto me rad,
And expouned in ful notable wyse,
Be vertuous men, religious and sad,
Ful weel experte, discrete, prudent, and wys
Of observaunces of many gostly empryse;
I herd all weel, but towchyng to the dede,
Of that thei taught I toke litel hede!
Which now remembrying in my later age,

Tyme of my childhode, as I reherse shall,
Wythinne .x. v holdyng my passage,
120 Miriam Gill
Myd of a c/oyster, depicte vpon a wall,

I savgh a crucifyx, whos woundes were not smalle,
With this [word} 'vide ', wrete there besyde,
'Behold my mekenesse, 0 child, and leve thy pryde. '
(MacCracken, 1 9 1 1 : verses 9 1 and 99: 354, 356)1
Lydgate thus credits a graphic image, accompanied by the exhortation
to look, with effecting a change of heart which hearing the Rule had
failed to achieve. The inscription transformed the familiar image of the
Crucifixion into a teaching device by associating it with the cardinal
sin, Pride, and the root of the virtues, Humility.2 The direct address
enhanced the emotive power of the image and invited the viewer to
respond like Lydgate with repentance and amendment.
This combination of devotional imagery and appeal poetry was not
unique. Two related Latin appeal poems beginning Ascipe are recorded
at Hatfield parish church in Yorkshire and the chantry of Abbot Islip
( t I532) in Westminster Abbey (Benedictine), probably on the east wall
of the upper chapel (BL, Lansdowne 897: fol. 1 52r; Weever, 1631: 488,
CVX; Palmer, 1990: 106).3 All these poems related to Passion imagery.
For example , that at Westminster accompanied a Crucifixion
surrounded by the Arma Christi (Weever, 1631: 488). The visual
effect of these verses and images was probably not dissimilar to the
combination of vigorous line-drawings and vernacular devotional
poetry found in the Carthusian miscellany produced at Mount Grace
in Yorkshire in c. 1460-70 (Figure 1 0 . 1 ) (Hogg, 1981).
Similar injunctions to 'behold' are also found in late medieval
vernacular lyrics and sermons and ultimately derive from Lamentations
1 : 12 and the Reproaches included in the Good Friday liturgy (Gray,
1972: 140- 1 ; Wenzel, 1986: 120, 139). Numerous inscriptions
accompanying art are recorded at Bury St Edmunds (James, 1895:
186-203). If Lydgate is recalling a real event, it is intriguing to ponder
the extent to which his experience inspired his later composition of
poems for display alongside religious images.4
A different approach is evident in the 'painted chamber' at Cleeve
Abbey (Cistercian) in Somerset, in a possibly unique depiction of an
exemplum story found in German versions of the Gesta Romanorum.5
The 'painted chamber' is one of a suite of rooms built by Abbot Juyner,
probably for his own use. Abbot Juyner presided over the house from
1435 to 1487 (Gilyard-Beer, 1992: 32). This mural shows an allegory of
a man who finds himself trapped between the sea (the world), a lion
(the flesh) and a dragon (the Devil). An angel offers him the choice of
succumbing to temptation and facing divine punishment (symbolized
by a sword) or resisting and gaining a heavenly crown. Fortunately he
chooses the latter.
The composition deliberately heightens the themes of peril and
decision. The central figure is a well-dressed layman, his hands in
prayer. He is trapped on a bridge by the sea, a lion (left) and a dragon
(right) and flanked by St Katherine (left) and St Margaret vanquishing
Figure 1 0 . 1 Crucifixion and Arma Christi with kneeling Carthusian
accompanying a complaint poem. Carthusian miscellany (c. 1460-70)
(London, British Library, Additional MS 37, 049 fo!' 67 verso). (By
permission of the British Library.)
122 Miriam Gill
the dragon (right). Two angels are shown with attributes of triumph
and punishment. Rather than depicting his victory, the painting thus
focuses on a moment of decision and potential conversion, implying
that resistance (as expressed in the monastic life) emulates and is
aided by the saints who have already overcome the three-fold enemy.
The viewer is confronted with an image of the nature of monastic
vocation which can galvanize the resolve to resist temptation and
persevere. Unfortunately, as the purpose of the painted chamber is
uncertain, we do not know if this obscure image was a personal aide·
memoire or a familiar sight to members of the monastic community.
The power of images to prompt moral and spiritual development by
presenting choices and engaging the emotions is also stressed in the
early twelfth-century treatise De fructibus carnis et spiritus.
It is good to represent the fruits of humility and pride as a kind of
visual image so that anyone studying to improve himself can clearly
see what things will result from them. Therefore we show the
novices and untutored men two little trees, differing in fruits and in
size, each displaying the characteristics of virtues and vices, so
that people may understand the products of each and choose which
of the trees they would establish in themselves. (Hugh of St Victor:
De fructibus, col. 997; Caiger-Smith, 1963: 50)
Such diagrammatic trees were probably considered suitable for
'novices and untutored men' because they required a less sophisti
cated knowledge of Latin than a passage of prose. By providing visual
scaffolding on which ideas and images could be stored, such diagrams
also related to contemporary memory theory (Carruthers, 1 990: 85).
The use of an emotive reaction to an image to prompt a moral choice is
also characteristic of such theory (Carruthers, 1990: 60).
The frequency of such diagrams in encyclopaedic collections, such
as the SPeculum virginum, suggests that they were considered
appropriate and successful tools for monastic education, possibly even
superior to unadorned prose.6 Although such material originated in
didactic texts, by the late thirteenth century it was depicted on rolls for
classroom display (Saxl, 1942: 1 1 0) and in monumental paintings, for
example, the late thirteenth-century domestic scheme at Tre Fontane
(Cistercian) in Rome (Park, 1986: 1 98-9).
Versions of these visual aids entered English wall painting
sometime after 1300. The debt they owe to their monastic exemplars
is evident in the comparison of the Tree of Sins, the most frequently
depicted of such subjects, in the earliest manuscript of the Speculum
virginum (Figure 10.2) and in a wall painting at Hoxne in Suffolk of
c . 1 39 0- 1 4 1 0 (Long, 1930), where text has been replaced by
caricatures, and complexity with simplicity (Figure 1 0.3). The
advowson at Hoxne was held by the Benedictines of Norwich, but it
is not clear whether the dissemination of such diagrams to parishes
was ever the product of active monastic promotion rather than lay
enthusiasm and emulation.
-4 1Mt f.if f ) � � .3 (, )y
Figure 10.2 Tree of the Seven Deadly Sins. Speculum virginum
(c. 1 1 40) (London, BL, Arundel 44, fol. 28 verso). (By permission of the
British Library.)
124 Miriam Gill
Figure 10.3 Tree of the Seven Deadly Sins. Hoxne, Suffolk (c. 1390-
1410) (Long ( 1930) 'Some Recently Discovered English Wall Paintings',
Burlington Magazine 56, plate IlIA) (By kind permission of Professor
Tristram's daughters, Mary and Philippa.)
Paintings of the Seven Deadly Sins are recorded in almost fifty

British parish churches, but in only one religious house, Milton Abbas
in Dorset (Benedictine). Accompanied by the Seven Corporal Works of
Mercy, the murals in the south transept are known only from an
antiquarian description (Hutchins, 1973: 403). Rather than using a
didactic schema, such as a tree, the scenes were divided by angels
bearing Latin inscriptions. Those for the Works of Mercy were biblical,
while the identifiable sins followed the order of a fifteenth-century
vernacular poem (Oxford, Bodl. 549; Russell, 1962-63: 1 1 5). The
inscriptions for the sins may have been composed especially; the
The role of images: wall painting 125
fragmentary inscription accompanying Anger 'Iracundus provocatur'

echoes phrases in Proverbs.? An intended monastic audience is
suggested by the emphasis on brotherly love: ' Ubi est Invidia amor
fratrum esse non palest' (Hutchins, 1973: 403). However, the inclusion
of a label, 'Pryd', may suggest that a lay audience was also envisaged
(Hutchins, 1973: 403). The laity worshipped in the south aisle and
probably the transept also (Traskey, 1978: 1 52).
The other surviving monastic example of a monumental didactic
diagram is a mural of a moralized cherub to the right of Christ the
Judge in the Chapter House at Westminster Abbey (c. 1 380s).8
Documentary evidence suggests that the Chapter House paintings
were financed by John of Northampton, a monk at Westminster from
1372 to 1404 (Turner, 1985: 89). The wings of the cherub are
inscribed with texts charting the progress from confession to the love
of God (Figure 1 0.4) (Turner, 1985: 91). This image derives from the
treatise by Alan of Lille (t1203) De sex aliis cherubim (Alan of Lille
( 1 885): cols 267-80). In contrast to the popularity of the Seven Deadly
Sins, this subject is apparently unique in English monumental art.
The Chapter House also contains an elaborate ninety-six scene
Apocalypse cycle with extracts from the Vulgate and the commentary of
Berengaudus written on parchment and pasted to the wall (Turner, 1985:
94-7; Binski, 1995: 187-92). The painting resembles the highly illustrated
Apocalypse books produced in thirteenth-century England, one of which
provided the model for the north-western scenes (Turner, 1985: 94, 97).
The moralized cherub and Apocalypse were clearly designed for an
educated audience. Such art was not a substitute for a book, but
reproduced the form and content of an illustrated manuscript on a
monumental scale for simultaneous communal study. The bookish
quality of this art not only characterizes and justifies its display in a
monastic context, but also functions as an extension of monastic leclio.9
Monastic reading and meditation and the instruction of novices
frequently took place in the cloister. A christological cycle of thirty
images is recorded in the cloister of the College of Bonhommes at
Ashridge in Buckinghamshire (Todd, 1823: 58). Claustral stained glass
of scriptural subjects is recorded at Peterborough (Gunton, 1990: 336)
and St Albans (Clark, 1 997: 121). The cloisters at Peterborough also
included windows describing the history of the Abbey and the Kings of
England (Gunton, 1990: 1 04-12, 336), while those at Durham were
glazed with the life of St Cuthbert accompanied by Latin verses
(Fowler, 1903: 76-7). It may be that such historical and hagiographical
material was intended to complement and disseminate the chronicles
and saints' lives compiled in these monasteries.1o
Monumental painting and the articulation of space
Just as images in the cloister may have been intended to enhance lectio
and study, the image of Christ in Judgement at Westminster, already
"
--
\.
I ;JP-'--
. .,
'\ '.
<
� 1
//
1/
, /1
Figure lOA Moralized cherub. Chapter House, Westminster Abbey

( 1 380s) (J.G. Waller ( 1873) 'On the Paintings in the Chapter House,
Westminster', Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological
Society 4, Figure 1).
discussed, can be understood as a comment on the activities which

occurred in the chapter house itself. This use of imagery to teach the
meaning of space and activity is common to monastic houses and
parish churches. Murals could recall the function of a space when it
was not in use, reveal the spiritual and allegorical significance of an
activity, or relate earthly life and worship to the heavenly realm.
In the Chapter House at Westminster the figure of Christ in
Judgement is behind the seat of the prior, presenting the administra
tion of monastic discipline as a foretaste of the Last Judgement
(Binski, 1995: 1 9 1 ) . H The penitential content of the moralized cherub
also relates specifically to the description in Ware's Customary
(c. 1270) of a 'house of confession, the house of obedience, mercy
and forgiveness . . . in which every failing by the brothers within or
without is mercifully assuaged by confession and satisfaction' (Binski,
1 995: 191).
A similar desire to interpret and enhance monastic activity may be
evident in a now-damaged painting (c. 1260-80) which very likely
portrays St Benedict. The figure is writing a text beginning 'Orate sine'
in an area in the south transept of Winchester Cathedral which may
have served as the monastic scriptorium (Constable, 1929: 76, pI. VII;
Tristram, 1950: 612 ; Park and Welford, 1993: 126).12 It is possible that
this image was intended to inspire monastic scribes to emulate their
saintly founder and exemplar. Even domestic rooms could be used to
reinforce didactic messages. A series of inscriptions found in the
Charterhouse in Coventry included the exhortation to 'Honour the
Prior' .13 Objects in frequent use could be associated with important
sentiments. At St Albans, any brother consulting the conventual clock
would be admonished by the Wheel of Fortune and reassured by an
image of the Virgin accompanied by an inscription reminding him of
her salvific role.14
Theological comment on monastic activity is perhaps most evident
in refectory murals. In most monasteries dinner followed Mass and
thus had specifically eucharistic associations. The two most striking
refectory paintings known in fifteenth-century England depict the
Crucifixion, a traditional subject, found in this context as early as the
eleventh century. The first of these, now lost, at Cleeve Abbey was
probably contemporary with the 'painted chamber' (James, 1926: 125,
facing 127; Babington et al., 1999: 47). The second, in the Charter
house in Coventry, contains an inscription mentioning the completion
of the house under William Soland, who was prior between c. 1 4 1 1 and
1 4 1 7 (Turpin, 1919 : 251). The upper part of the composition was
destroyed by the sixteenth-century insertion of a floor (Turpin, 1 91 9:
249).
At the Charterhouse, the detail of angels collecting Christ's blood in
a chalice stresses the connection between the Crucifixion and the
Eucharist (Figure 10.5). This is probably the earliest English mural
example of this Italianate motif apparently introduced in the Litlington
Missal (1383-84) (Binski, 1995: 193). A seated figure of St Anne, the
Figure 1 0.5 Lower portion of Crucifixion with angels collecting blood
from Christ's wounds and the Centurion. Former refectory,
Charterhouse, Coventry (c. 141 1-17). (By permission of Charterhouse
Enterprise Ltd.)
dedicatee of the house, is shown on the favoured north side teaching

her daughter to read (Figure 10.6) (Turpin, 1 9 1 9 : 250). The Virgin
and Child are on the south.15 The depiction of a patron in the refectory
is usual and can be compared to paintings in the Benedictine Priory of
Horsham St Faith in Norfolk where the Crucifixion accompanied
images of the patron saint and the foundation of the house, c. 1250,
repainted c.1440 (Park and Howard, 1996: 388). The conventional
image of St Anne teaching her daughter may also have resonated with
the practice of reading aloud during meals. Under the Carthusian rule,
the brothers would only eat together in the refectory on Sundays and
festivals. Their refectory painting expressed the sacramental signifi
cance of their communal dining and also their allegiance to their
saintly patron on whose festivals they gathered there.
Monastic art and a wider audience
In late medieval England both monastic cathedrals and isolated houses

created art for lay visitors. Some such schemes were clearly provided
to enhance lay devotion and pilgrimage. Such an intention is evident in
the murals around the miraculous image of the Virgin at Bradwell
Abbey in Buckinghamshire which date from the later fourteenth
century (Rouse, 1 973: 34-8) .
A document from St Albans of c. 1428 and the remains of the scheme
it describes provides us with a unique insight into the possible didactic
motivation behind such monastic provision. 16 The first section of the
text is a general apology for religious art, with a Gregorian emphasis
on teaching the illiterate, but also a warning about the dangers of
adoring images (Riley, 1870- 7 1 : I, 418-19). The second section
describes the new paintings around the chapel of the Holy Cross, in
the north transept (Riley, 1870-7 1 : I, 4 19-2 1). The final section of the
document describes how veneration of St Lawrence and St Grumbald,
disrupted by the demolition of the almonry chapel, was re-established
at the altar, probably at the insistence of William Wynturshille the
almoner, who established a chantry there (Lloyd, 1873: 421-3).
The document describes two pillars (probably the piers of the
arcade). One signifying love of God was painted an earth colour to
recall the lowliness of humanity, the other signifying love of neighbour,
red, for Christ's blood. Both were adorned with Emblems of the
Passion and the following verse:
Vincla, flagella, minae, pro bra, sputa,
columna, spinaque
Derisus, colaphi, nudatio, lancea, clavi
Cum calamis, felle, crux, laus fuit ista fideli.
(Riley, 1870-7 1: I, 420)
The base of the first pillar was identified, possibly by an inscription, as
humility and its turret as charity, and the base of the second as virtue,
Figure 10.6 Lower portion, St Anne teaching the Virgin to read.
Former refectory, Charterhouse, Coventry (c. 1 4 1 1 - 1 7). (By permission
of Charterhouse Enterprise Ltd.)
with its turret as honour. Both turrets contained angels with an

admonitory text (Riley, 1870-7 1 : I, 420).17 Two further angels
(position unknown) were associated with comforting Christ and
heralding his victory. There were also a 'history of the Passion' and
one of the Resurrection with these verses inscribed between them:
Mars tua, mars Christi, fraus mundi, gloria coeti,
Et dolor inferni, sint memoria tibi:
In cruce sum pro te; qui peccas, desine pro me;
Desine, condono; pugna, juvo; vince corona.
(Roberts, 1993: 41)
Of this ensemble only fragments of the verses and a scene of Doubting
Thomas (the history of the Resurrection) survive (Figure 10.7)
(Roberts, 1993: 39-41). The painting below probably showed the
Crucifixion (Lloyd, 1873: 21).
The St Albans document is preserved among a collection of brief
works of a historical nature, several relating to the Abbey and its
fittings. It seems likely that it was composed by and for the monastic
community and intended for general instruction in the history and
contents of the Abbey. The lengthy justification of religious art and
stress on the prohibition of image worship may also suggest an anti
Lollard context (Roberts, 1993: 39).18 Similar concerns may be evident
in the inscriptions recorded by We ever elucidating the distinction
between religious images and the object of religious devotion (Weever,
1631: cxiv).
The St Albans text is replete with scriptural allusion, but the
scheme was 'near the public path, where many persons pass by and go
out' (Lloyd, 1873: 2 1).19 Friars and secular clergy were allowed to
celebrate mass in the chapel (Lloyd, 1873: 23). Did the monks at St
Albans overestimate their lay visitors when they provided them with
such a rich combination of Latin texts, images and colour symbolism?
Certainly, the conjunction of words and images displayed in the
north transept at St Albans is reminiscent of that which Lydgate
described in the cloister at Bury St Edmunds. The texts displayed also
link the scheme to public art in other religious houses. The poem
inscribed with the Arma Christi at St Albans shares its opening words
with one recorded at Bury St Edmunds in c.1300 (James, 1895: 197).
Variants of 'In cruce sum ' formed the conclusion of the appeal poems at
Hatfield and Westminster described above (BL, Lansdowne 897: fo1.
1 52r; Weever, 1631: 488; Palmer, 1990: 106). English and Latin
versions of this commonplace poem are included in later medieval
sermons (Wenzel, 1978: 1 19, 1 64-5). The texts at St Albans thus
belong to a corpus of material which was probably familiar to someone
with rudimentary Latin.
The verses at St Albans also relate to the well-documented practice
of displaying texts in churches, especially monasteries, cathedrals and
places of pilgrimage. Material displayed included prayers, hagiography,
church guides and more general historical information, appeals for
Figure 10.7 Christ appearing to Doubting Thomas ('History of the
Resurrection') and remains of appeal text below. Former Chapel of the
Holy Cross, north transept, St Albans Cathedral (c. 1428). (Photograph
D. Kelsall. By permission of St Albans Cathedral.)
prayers for benefactors, and lists of indulgences.2o William of

Worcester remarked on the thirty-four 'tables' containing 'many
devotions and good reminders to devotion and the arousing of all
Christian souls to God' in Sheen Charterhouse (Harvey, 1969: 2 7 1 ) . It
may be that in the later Middle Ages the display of informative and
devotional texts was regarded as one of the attractions of a prominent
church and that the monks of St Albans were sensitive to visitor
expectations.
Conclusion
By the end of the Middle Ages both Benedictine cathedrals and

traditionally austere Cistercian and Carthusian houses in England
contained monumental paintings intended to inform and enhance
monastic life. These employed a wide variety of strategies. Some used
texts and devotional images to make an emotional appeal. The painting
at Cleeve presented an uncompromising allegory of the nature of
monastic vocation to strengthen resolve. The moralized cherub at
Westminster is the only monumental example of the type of mnemonic
image pioneered in monastic formation literature. Other scriptural and
historical paintings complemented monastic reading and in the case of
the Apocalypse at Westminster replicated the form of an illustrated
book. Monumental paintings were also used to gloss monastic activity
and in particular to suggest hidden theological and spiritual
significance.
As the scheme at St Albans demonstrates, it is often hard to
distinguish between devotional and didactic images, and between
those intended for a lay or a monastic audience. Indeed, we may
question whether such distinctions depend on the position of a
painting rather than its content, or indeed if they are appropriate at all.
As Lydgate's experience suggests, an inscription might introduce a
didactic note into an apparently devotional image and harness religious
emotion for moral amendment. At St Albans the laity were provided
with the Latin texts and complex symbolism associated in earlier
centuries with a distinctively monastic type of art. A shared visual
culture of devotion is also evident in the stone carving found in a cell at
Mount Grace depicting the Image of Pity, which was also disseminated
to lay people in woodcuts produced by the Carthusians (Bertelli, 1967:
47-9; Hall, 1993: 104, 107). Both these instances suggest a deliberate
monastic dissemination of imagery, possibly in response to lay
aspiration. However, in the case of the most striking lay adoption of
imagery with a monastic origin, parochial paintings of mnemonic
images of didactic material such as the Seven Deadly Sins, the role of
the monasteries is harder to trace. It may have been minor, for this
imagery was familiar in manuscripts used by the secular clergy and
laity by the thirteenth century. While it is sometimes difficult to
identify a distinctively monastic form of art in later medieval England,
134 Miriam Gill
the corpus of monastic paintings can be regarded as a development of

the interest in exegetical imagery evident in earlier centuries, rather
than necessarily a symptom of secularization. It may even be that the
shared experience of monumental art became more important to
communities as their common lives became fragmented (Clark, 1997:
1 2 1).
The issues and problems revealed by this consideration of
monumental monastic art are encapsulated in the final stanzas of
Lydgate's poem on the Image of Pity, a monastic work written in
Middle English for a mixed audience. These make it clear that the
power of imagery to recall and prompt meditation on Scriptures, to
inspire greater devotion and moral commitment, and to impress itself
into the memory led to an acceptance of the monumental 'books of the
illiterate' as a fit tool to educate the emotions and wills of the religious.
Enprynt thes wordes myndly thy hert within,
Thynk how thaw sest Cryst bledyng on the tre,
And yf thaw steryd or temptyd be to syne
It shall sane sese and pase a-way from the_
Remembre all so this dolorus pytie,
How that this blyssid ladye thus doth enbrace
Her dere son ded, lygyng vpen her kne,
And, payne of deth, thaw shalt not fayll of grace_
Lerne well this lesson, it is bathe short and lyght,

For with this same the wekest creature
That ys on lyffe may putte the fend to flyght
And saffe hym-selffe in sale and body sure
To suche entent was ordeynt purtreture
And ymages of dyverse resemblaunce,
That holsom storyes thus shewyd in fygur
May rest with ws with dewe remembraunce.
(MacCracken, 1 9 1 1 : 298)
Notes
1. The extracts from Lydgate are reproduced with the kind permission of
the Council of the Early English Text Society. Grateful thanks also to
Kristin Bliksrund Aavitsland for her help with Tre Fontane.
2. For the well-known practice of 'reading' a crucifix in relation to the Seven
Deadly Sins (Barnum, 1976: 83-4).
3. Grateful thanks to Dr John Goodall for his help in confirming the
probable position of the inscription.
4. Pearshall, 1970: 181-3.
5. Oesterley, 1872: 28, 40, 49, 51, 56, 86, 101, 120, 135, 141, 597; Park,
1986: 206-8, pI. 88; Babington et al., 1999: 46-7.
6. ' Ut melius innotescat ex pictura, si quid dignum proferri potest ex scriptura'
(Hamburger, 1990: 3 0 0 , note 74) For the SPeculum see Mews
(forthcoming).
7. Proverbs 15:18: 'vir iracundus provocat rixas qui patiens'; Proverbs 29:22:
' vir iracundus provocat rixas'.
8. Turner, 1985: 90- 1; Binski, 1995: 189; Babington et al., 1999: 10, 30-2.
9. This possibility is discussed in Clark, 1997: 1 2 1 .
10. I a m grateful t o D r James Clark o f the University o f Oxford for drawing
this possibility to my attention.
1 1 . A similar scheme was executed at St Albans by Abbot Thomas ( 1349-96)
(Riley, 1867-69: III, 386; Binski, 1995: 188).
12. At St Albans, St Benedict was depicted in the cloister: Riley, 1867-69: III,
386.
13. London, Society of Antiquaries, Brown Portfolio for Warwickshire: fol. 6.
14. Clark, 1997: 121. For the Wheel of Fortune see Riley, 1867-69: III, 385.
The text accompanying the Virgin may be found in Riley, 1873: II, 298.
15. Incorrectly identified as St Catherine and the former Lollard, Nicholas
Hereford (Turpin, 1 9 19: 250-1).
16. BL, Harleian 3775 no. 11, fols. 122-3r; Riley, 1870-7 1 : I , 418-25; Lloyd,
1873: 20-3.
17. The ascent from humility to charity may derive from the Tree of Virtue in
Hugh of St Victor, De fructibus, col. 1 002-5.
18. The manuscript context was drawn to my attention by Dr Clark. For the
abbey's opposition to Lollardy, see Clark, 1997: 271-82.
19. Abbot William ( 1 2 14-35) placed images here 'ad laicorum . . .
aedificationem et consolationem saecularium' (Riley, 1867-69: I , 287).
20. For example, hagiography and history at Stone Priory in Staffordshire
(Gerould, 1917: 323-5); the tombs of the benefactors, Worksop Priory in
Nottinghamshire (Gerould, 1 9 1 7: 336); indulgences at Durham Cathedral
(Fowler, 1903: 43).
1 1 Ghostly mentor, teacher of
mysteries: Bartholomew,
Guthlac and the Apostle's cult
in early medieval England
Graham Jones
The relationship between Guthlac and his imagined

spirit-mentor
Guthlac's education when he forsook the monastery of Repton was as

full and fashionable as any man of Mercian royal descent could
reasonably hope for around the year 700.1 He had learned the ways of
the world as a soldier before entering Repton as a novice. There, under
the direction of Abbess IElfthryth he became proficient in letters and
monastic routine. He learned to sing in the Roman mode lately
introduced to Britain. Yet his preparation for life as a hermit at
Crowland was deficient in one respect. This man who had shunned the
company of his fellow-monks, and had studied the Lives of the Egyptian
hermits, had not foreseen, even so, the depths of loneliness he would
encounter in solitude.
Judging from his near-contemporary biography (72 1-49) by an
otherwise unknown monk named Felix, the loneliness began to
express itself in two clinical forms.2 One was extreme anxiety,
described as torments by devils;3 the other was depression, accidie. As
his biographer Felix put it, the 'poisoned arrow' of aching despair.4
During a particularly serious episode, and after three days not knowing
what to do, Guthlac sang Psalm 120, 'In tribulatione invocavi dominum
et reliqua', and found himself in the presence of a teacher not of this
world. Thereafter Guthlac learned to cope with the solitude by
dependence on this spiritual mentor, a soul-friend. His imagined
rescuer and henceforth exemplar was the Apostle Bartholomew.
Although, according to Felix, Guthlac now 'began to inhabit the
desert with complete confidence in the help of St Bartholomew',
nevertheless, this was the beginning of a relationship characterized by
visions of Hell and an acute sense of its dangers (Colgrave, 1956: 89).
Demons are a major feature of Guthlac's mental landscape as portrayed
Bartholomew, Guthlac and the Apostle 's cult 137
by his biographer. Bartholomew the imagined mentor acts as a role

model and intervenes in demonic episodes. In one violent crisis, Guthlac
dreams that the Apostle comes to his rescue after Guthlac had been
abducted into Hell. Bartholomew then orders the offending devils to
take Guthlac back to the reality of his lodgings (Colgrave, 1956: 100-9).
Guthlac's choice of Bartholomew as his mentor has important
implications for our understanding of his spiritual formation and
ambitions, and his subsequent ministry and education of others. It also
raises questions about the significance of Bartholomew's wider
veneration within the English church.
The relationship was emphasized while Guthlac's memory was very
much still alive in a formal coda to his biography. Felix's Life of Guthlac
was written most probably within fifteen to twenty-five years of
Guthlac's death in 714, with the help, inter alia, of Guthlac's successor
Cissa, and rEthelbald King of Mercia (716-57) who sought oracles
from Guthlac while a prince in exile. A series of verses at the end of
the earliest surviving, ninth-century, manuscript spell out in the initial
letters of successive lines
BEATUS GUTHLAC
and in the final letters
BARTHOLOMEUS.5
It was the OpInIOn of Bertram Colgrave that these verses were

intended to be inscribed on the saint's shrine, probably the one built
for him by King rEthelbald 'with wonderful structures and ornamenta
tion' (Colgrave, 1956: 27).
How the relationship was presented to subsequent generations

of religious-in-training
Felix addressed his Latin biography to King rElfwald of East Anglia

(t749). However, as in the case of its adaptation into Old English
verse, it is clear that it was composed for audiences which heard the
story every year on Guthlac's feast day, 1 1 April, and perhaps on other
occasions.6 Various observations support the likelihood that these
audiences were monastic. The text's overall theme is the value of the
monastic life as a means of fighting for Christ. At a detailed level,
scholars have perceived textual influences (on the verse Lives
particularly) from Benedict's Rule, plus a number of other internal
clues including a consistent etymology of the Apostle's name
intelligible to educated religious.7
Further, such knowledgeable audiences schooled in accounts of the
Apostle and familiar with his veneration would have best appreciated
the allusions to Guthlac's relationship with Bartholomew. Thus,
according to Felix, it was on Bartholomew's feast day, then celebrated
138 Graham Jones
on 25 August, that Guthlac first set foot on the island of Crowland. It

was on that day too, wrote Felix, that Guthlac arrived a second time
after he had returned to Repton almost immediately for three months
to settle his affairs. Generations of quick-thinking young monks
spotted, but were not perturbed by, the impossibility of one or the
other date. What mattered was the implied auspiciousness of
Bartholomew's feast day in the mind of their founder or honoured
alumnus (Colgrave, 1956: 4). Felix alluded again to Guthlac's
attachment to his imagined mentor in reporting the date, 'five days
before the feast of Bartholomew', of the consecration of the Crowland
hermitage and Guthlac's ordination (Colgrave, 1956: 146-7). That
attachment was to be commemorated many times over at Crowland (as
probably at Repton) and to become part of the future Benedictine
monastery's educative stock-in-trade.
Novices from the eighth to the sixteenth centuries learned to place
the Apostle at the centre of their understanding of Guthlac. Just how
enduring, strong and thematically focused was the pervasive relation
ship is demonstrated by the surviving evidence of text, image and cult.
For example , Guthlac's debt to the Apostle was emphasized
liturgically, as in a set of eleventh-century choral responses for
Guthlac's feast day.8 The most important artistic evidence is in the so
called Guthlac Roll, a series of roundels showing scenes from Guthlac's
Life in which Bartholomew figures prominently.9 This life dates from
the twelfth century when English enthusiasm was kindled for
dedicating hospitals in Bartholomew's honour. At Crowland on
Bartholomew's day, 1 136, Guthlac's remains were translated to a
new shrine.IO Despite these facts and the date of the vita, this twelfth
century hagiographical text may preserve much older local traditions.
Specifically, as Colgrave pointed out, two pieces of local tradition
involving the Apostle were illustrated by the artist of the Roll (Colgrave,
1956: 13). In the eighth roundel Bartholomew presents Guthlac with a
scourge, and in the ninth Guthlac uses this scourge to drive away devils.
Elsewhere a book is shown (Warner, 1928: 23). This may allude to the
local tradition that Guthlac possessed a Psalter, and this Bartholomew
appears to hold in a fold of his garment in the eighth roundel. Guthlac is
shown with the book in earlier scenes and in the ninth roundel it lies on
the altar in his oratory while he scourges the devils.
Pilgrims to Guthlac's shrine at Crowland took home miniatures of
the flaying knife, the legendary instrument of Bartholomew's torture,
but for the commissioner and designers of the roll and their intended
daily audience, the crucial motif which linked mentor and pupil was the
scourge.11 Above the Abbey's west door, a central sculpture put
Guthlac's scourging of a devil at the heart of his story. Obvious
allusions are the scourging of Jesus; and, with the book, the
prefiguring of Flagellation ritual in which participants scourged
themselves to the accompaniment of Psalms.12 Here such allusions
underline the central theme, Guthlac's exorcism of demons following
the example of his mentor.
Combat with devils characterized literary traditions about Bartho

lomew and was a familiar motif of hermit stories from Antony
onwards.13 It was in such contexts that the religious-in-training would
have accessed the deep meanings to be learned from their founder's
story. From the verse lives they knew Guthlac's rescuer from the
demons as dryhtnes ar, halig of heofonum, 'the Lord's messenger, holy
from heaven', the conduit of 'terror coming from above to the
wretched spirits' (Olsen, 1981: 37, 127). If confirmation is sought of
the importance of Guthlac's Bartholomew-like powers of exorcism, it is
here. For example, the poet of one of the verse Lives, 'Guthlac A',
concentrated on Guthlac's imagined fight against devils for possession
of the Fenland in greater detail than Felix did.14 Novices were
encouraged to focus on Guthlac's ministry of exorcism and healing as
learned from a supernatural exponent. Meanwhile, a miraculous relic
known as 'St Guthlac's Bell', kept at Repton until the Dissolution of the
monasteries, was deemed efficacious for headaches; bells were
understood to have the power of purifying the air and driving away
devils.15 The compiler of a ninth- or tenth-century version of the Latin
Life which belonged to St Augustine's, Canterbury, went so far as to
preface it with a Life of St Paul the Hermit, associate of the demon
fighting Antony.16
Hence, religious-in-training at Crowland were given an introduc
tion to their own spiritual mentor Guthlac permeated in text and
image with motifs and ideas springing from representations of
Bartholomew. Not least of these were sacred writings, both biblical
and apocryphal.
The likely patterns of devotion from which the relationship

sprang
Bartholomew in text
The biblical Bartholomew
By the ninth century the practice had begun of identifying the disciple
known by his patronymic Bartholomew (Son of Tolmai), mentioned in
the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke - but only in their lists of the
Twelve, which coupled him with Philip - with a disciple known by his
given name Nathanael 'of Cana', mentioned only in the Gospel of
John.17 John reported Nathanael's recruitment by Philip and his
consequent conversation with Jesus. In John 1 : 47 Jesus tells
Nathanael, who is described as 'an Israelite without guile', that he
has seen him under a fig tree - the 'tree of knowledge'.18 If it is
possible to sense here an implied suggestion of a second sight, then
added significance is lent to Jesus's bestowal (in John 1 : 5 1 ) of a second
sight on Nathanael-Bartholomew: 'You shall see heaven laid open and,
140 Graham Jones
above the Son of Man, the angels of God ascending and descending.' It
is hoped to demonstrate that this allusion to Jacob's vision at Bethel,
an episode understood exegetically as a mythologizing of the Hebrews'
appropriation of the Canaanite temple of Baal at Bethel, is crucial in
interpreting Bartholomew's importance for Guthlac and for the Church
in early medieval Europe in genera1.19 Since the allusion, on this
hypothesis, points directly ahead to the later legend of Bartholomew's
doings (in a career whose course may have been run historically by
c.60), its inclusion in the Gospel of John by 100 conceivably points to
an origin for the legend no more than half a century after the career it
purported to describe.20
The apocryphal Bartholomew
The credibility of such an origin is supported by the circulation within

two centuries of the Apostle's discipleship of a text known to Jerome
(c.341-420) as The Gospel of Bartholomew, proscribed by 'Gelasius' but
since lost (James, 1954: 166ff). This has been identified with a second,
The Questions of Bartholomew, known to Bede at Jarrow and therefore
presumably at other English monasteries in the time of Guthlac
(James, 1954: 166-8 1).21 This esoteric book relates directly to
demonic themes in Guthlac's pupilship under Bartholomew. For
example, it includes an account of Bartholomew's humiliation and
interrogation of the Devil as allowed by Christ. As Bartholomew
presses the face of the demon (Beliar) into the earth, the latter asks
for respite and reveals his true name, Satan; how he and his fellow
fallen angels were chased from heaven by Michael and the heavenly
host; and how he deceives men into sin. Afterwards Bartholomew asks
forgiveness for sinners and receives Christ's blessing and permission
to reveal 'these secrets' to 'as many as are faithful and are able to keep
them unto themselves'. 22 In a third text, The Book of the Resurrection of
Christ by Bartholomew the Apostle, Bartholomew is again associated
with visions of Christ harrowing Hell and crowned in Heaven.23 At the
Ascension, each apostle is separately blessed and in many cases
described by reference to his future role. Of Bartholomew the text
says: 'He will be the depositary of the mysteries of the Son' (my italics)
(James, 1954: 185).24 Later 'the apostles thanked and blessed
Bartholomew for what he had told them: he should be called the
apostle of the mysteries of God' (my italics) (James, 1 954: 1 84).
A fourth apocryphal work is the Acts of Bartholomew, to be found in
Book Eight of the Apostolic History by Pseudo-Abdias. This work was
probably put together in Frankish Gaul, perhaps a century or so before
the birth of Guthlac. Richard Lipsius thought it was based on a
Nestorian exemplar, probably dating from the fifth century.25 In fact
many earlier texts were used by the Frankish redactor, possibly
including the original of a preface attributed to Ambrose of Milan
(339-97).26 Elsewhere in the Apostolic History (in The Acts of Philip)
Bartholomew helps in the destruction of a shrine at Hieropolis. Here
Bartholomew's presence 'in India' disrupts the healing of a temple

'demon', Astaroth, whose followers seek the oracle of a second
'demon', Beirith, in another unnamed city. Bartholomew casts out a
devil, cures King Polymius's daughter, shatters an idol, has an angel
re-consecrate its temple, and summons up the idol's demon. The king
is baptized but his brother Astriges's idol, Vualdath, is broken and
Astriges has Bartholomew put to death.27
The names of these demonized deities may provide a crucial clue to
the ultimate origins and purposes of the legend. Far from being a south
Asian male divinity, Astaroth is the Hebraicized name of the
Phoenician Astarte, earth mother and moon goddess, corresponding
to Aphrodite and patron of the city of Sidon. When Astaroth's followers
go to another city to consult Beirith, perhaps the eponymous patroness
of Beryt, modern Beirut, is meant. Beryt, progenitor of the Phoenician
pantheon, was also known as Baalat, patroness of Byblos, to the
north.28 She and Astarte, therefore, were aspects of the same deity.
Together with the supreme divinity EI (represented by the Biblical EI
Elyon, 'the most high god'), she and her consort Baal (Vualdath of the
Bartholomew legend?) stood at the core of Canaanite worship. The
implication forces itself upon the reader, therefore, that India stands
for the Levant and insofar as Bartholomew was destroying other
peoples' deities, he was attacking those of the ancient rivals of the
Hebrews - deities also adopted by Israe1.29 Even the name Polymius
can be etymologized. 'Polymius' is 'Ptolemy' without its '1', and
'Ptolemy' is 'Tolmai', the patronymic of Nathaniel as identified with
'bar Tolmai', Bartholomew.3o Since the composition of the Phoenician
pantheon had long been familiar in the West, the true identities of the
deities in The Acts of Bartholomew were only thinly disguised for more
educated members of Western monastic communities.31
When Guthlac decided to become a hermit on the island of
Crowland, under Bartholomew's example, he would also have known
from readings of Gregory of Tours that Bartholomew's body had been
enshrined on the island of Lipari off Sicily.32 The travels of English
clerics and religious will have brought them into contact with the
miracles and wonders associated with the shrine, if only at second
hand, and their experiences may have been reported in the Repton
refectory.
Bartholomew and Guthlac in the con text of early medieval

mentality and mission
Guthlac's motivation in his choice of imagined mentor
Under Bartholomew's tutorship, Guthlac became seer and oracle.

However, he was best remembered for his exorcisms: for example, he
exorcized Hwaetred (a noble of the East Angles), Ecga, a companion
(gesith) of iEthelbald (Colgrave, 1956: 130-3), and his own pupil,
142 Graham Jones
Beccel, who had been tempted to cut Guthlac's throat while shaving
him.33 Then, too, there is Guthlac's contest with so-called demons for
possession of his chosen home at Crowland, an ancient burial
chamber, together with the barrow, or beorg, on which it stood and
the Fenland round about. Small wonder that by the thirteenth century
his reputation was 'supreme tamer, or conqueror, of monsters,
Monstrorum domitor' . 34
When Guthlac is described by Felix as abducted into Hell, and
Bartholomew rescuing him, the resonances with Bartholomew's
apocryphal visions of Heaven and Hell, and Christ's narration to
Bartholomew of his harrowing of Hell, are deafening (Olsen, 1981:
50).35 There can be no doubt of the deep meanings of these esoteric
motifs for the early medieval Church, whether in the East or in 'Dark
Age' Britain. Bartholomew is introduced in the verse Lives as
'ofermaecg', literally 'the man above' or 'the son or kins-person from
above'. Alexandra Olsen has pointed out that this 'hapax legomenon'
runs parallel to what is correctly described as the 'consistent'
etymology of the name Bartholomew by the Commentators. It is
explained as filius suspendentis aquas 'son of one who suspends the
-
waters (or himself), that is, son of God' (Ryan, 1993: II, 1 09).
Ofermaecg has been noticed as an almost precise equivalent of this
etymology's reduction to filius ('son') and celsus ('above') in the poetic
works of Sedulius Scotus, the Irish monk who established a centre of
learning at Liege in 848.36 The Hebrew Nathan-'el, 'God has given [a
son] ', consequently takes on particular significance.
In choosing Bartholomew as mentor, Guthlac was making a
statement about himself, setting himself an agenda of spiritual and
therapeutic formation and achievement. He was tying his reputation
and posthumous remembrance to that of an apostolic hero and, in
effect, engaging in a programme of religious appropriation.
Retrospective evidence from the dedications of ch urches
One largely unexplored area of study with the potential to illuminate

monastic training in the early Middle Ages, as well as the mentality and
cultural background from which sprang an imagined pupilship like
Guthlac's (and further, the wider popularity of individual universal
cults in Anglo-Saxon England), is the spatial pattern of religious
dedications.
Margaret Gelling has accepted forty-four places in England whose
names are taken as indicative of pre-Christian Germanic religious
activity; names such as Woden's beorg, encountered inter alia at
Wednesbury in Staffordshire, fall into this category (Figure 1 1. 1 ).37 No
fewer than twenty-two (possibly twenty-four) of these places are
located in ancient parishes under Bartholomew's patronage or
contiguous to, or no more than five miles from, one or more such
parishes. Wednesbury is a case in point, evidenced under the Apostle's
Devon and
Cornwall
,
,
"
\�.. " . .. ,
\ .
1\
L,J;. '. _� . ,",
.... ,
/
AqUNAnNtm.dH ,
.
\ \
'. Ll'.M.�Id_ �:tlaIfIl

W� """ W.Ndy'k.
�
as1IIII • , " /
b,..!'.
_ _ _ _ ... _ _ .., . ..
� eIllill
'
"
NI"* J ,
.
, ..' ,
.. .. .....
" ' - '"-�
, e
Figure 1 1 . 1 St Bartholomew church dedications and place-names

indicative of non-Christian religious activity, based on Gelling, 1988:
Figure I I .
+- S t Bartholomew dedications i n close proximity; C : Crowland; G : a
unique cluster of Guthlac dedications_
Place-names are categorized by symbol: • Woden; • Tiw, Thor or
Thunor; H Hearg, 'temple' ; • names in weoh, '(?roadside) shrine';
6 names containg nimet-, nemeton_
144 Graham Jones
patronage from at least 1413. Since only 180 of England's fourteen

thousand or so ancient parishes have Bartholomew as their patron,
this is a striking and statistically significant correlation. It is even more
striking when dedications of ancient churches in honour of Bartholo
mew are mapped (Figure 1 1 .2). Their spatial distribution is far from
random. No fewer than a fifth of these parishes lie within the extent of
two neighbouring Anglo-Saxon dioceses, those of the peoples known as
the Hwicce (with their cathedral at Worcester) and the Magonsaetan
(whose cathedral was at Hereford).
Mapping Bartholomew churches and 'pagan' place-names together,
further patterns emerge. For example, Essex has a number of places
with names from the god Thunor, chiefly along its borders, but hardly
any Bartholomew churches, and Hampshire likewise. In contrast there
are no 'pagan' names but several Bartholomew churches in Norfolk
and Suffolk, the kingdom of East Anglia over which iElfwald, Felix's
patron, ruled. As for Guthlac himself, it may be no coincidence that
churches in his honour are concentrated in a single district of north
Leicestershire close to a handful of places with 'pagan' names.
These correlations are best explained as zones of Christianization.
However, it is not only Gelling's Germanic place-names that correlate
well with Bartholomew dedications. So do places whose names derive
from the British nemet (temple or shrine) in Cornwall, Devon,
Somerset and Gloucestershire - in short, the 'Celtic West'. One is
Nympsfield, in whose neighbouring parish of Uley a healing shrine of
Mercury was replaced by a church c.380.
A number of Bartholomew churches have notably high elevations,
had royal associations and were sited in curvilinear yards. Three
examples suffice. Areley Kings, Worcestershire, is set in a high, round
yard, looking out over the river Severn, in whose sandstone cliffs are
caves with traditions of eremitical occupation. This is where Layamon
wrote his Brut, a Middle English romantic history of Britain.38 From
Tardebigge, Worcestershire, a panoramic view takes in the distant
Malvern and Clee hills. Its yard is high and round and has a well on its
perimeter. The other church associated with the place's founder, Earl
Tyrdda, is that of Tredington, dedicated in honour of Gregory.
Churchdown, Gloucestershire, also has a high round yard, as well as a
British place-name, and is sited within an Iron Age fort looking out
over Gloucester. Churchdown was the caput of the tenth-century royal
estate with which was endowed Gloucester's second minster, St
Oswald's.
Possible contexts for early insular devotion
Kings and their idols: educating the king
If there is a true distinction to be drawn from the evidence in eastern

England of the Bartholomew dedications (all but absent in Essex) in
()
Figure 1 1 .2 Distribution of churches dedicated in honour of St

Bartholomew and Guthlac: • Bartholomew; 0 Guthlac; + Old
English names; 6. 'British' names; ....... Wansdyke.
Inset map: Early medieval dioceses and kingdoms: B, Brycheiniog;
Be, Bernicia; C, Chichester; D, Dorchester; Du, Dumnonia; E, ( ?Elmet)
archdeaconry of York; EA, East Angles; ES, East Saxons; H, Hwicce; K,
Kent; L, Landaf; Li, Lichfield; M, Magonsaetan; MA, Middle Angles; S,
Sarum; Si, Sidnacester; Su, Surrey; W, Winchester.
146 Graham Jones
conjunction with the 'pagan' place-names (all but absent in Norfolk and
Suffolk), it is possible that it echoes the contrasting attitudes of Anglo
Saxon kings towards Christianity. The role of Polymius and Astriges in
the Bartholomew legend may have been pointed out to such kings, in
association perhaps with the example of Solomon and Josiah, with the
expectation that Christian holy men would throw down their 'idols'. It
is the latter allusion which seems crucial in searching for an early
medieval context for Bartholomew dedications.39
The eremitical ideal
Some dedications in Bartholomew's honour may have arisen from his

perceived role as seer and keeper of mysteries since they appear to
have been associated with places of hermitage. This category includes
places associated with hermits who took Bartholomew's name, such as
Bartholomew of Fame (t 1 1 93). The case of Plegmund's place of
hermitage, Barrow in Cheshire, may also involve the theme of
Christianization since the place-name Bearu, 'grove', potentially
indicates a pre-existing sacred site.
Appropriation of sacred places
Guthlac's imitation of Bartholomew in his opposition to demons

explicitly equates his struggle for possession of his chosen home, the
burial chamber and mound at Crowland, with the Apostle's overthrow
of deities whose places of worship were required to be appropriated
for Christian use. But whose deities were implied in the Guthlac story?
Whose religious buildings were to be acquired? Three categories invite
examination: pre-Christian cemeteries, healing shrines and places of
worship.
Pre-Christian cemeteries
According to Felix, the Fenland demons spoke British - a strange

observation unless it had a purpose, since British was a language
familiar to Mercians.40 Guthlac's father Penwalh, and perhaps his
sister Pega, had names derived from British originals. British had been
spoken in the neighbourhood of Repton within two decades or so of
Guthlac's birth (Gelling, 1988: 101). Yet the devils of Guthlac A are
'menacing forces'. Perhaps it was an attempt to demonize the British
in general. Felix described how
in the days of Coenred, king of the Mercians, the British nation, the
enemies of the Saxon race, were troubling the English with attacks,
pillaging and devastations of the people. (Colgrave, 1956: 109)
At the same time, these demons inhabit a burial chamber within a
tumulus.41 A plan of the supposed foundations of Guthlac's cell, a
former chapel at Anchor Church Hill just south-east of Crowland
Abbey, was published more than a century ago.42 It has been suggested
that it represents the foundations of a Roman rather than a Bronze Age
or Neolithic barrow.
Healing shrines
At least one of the nemeto- places with devotion to Bartholomew is

associated with a healing shrine, namely Nympsfield in Gloucestershire,
adjoining Uley where the Romano-British temple was Christianized
c.380. A recent study of this association has identified a geographical
pattern of dedications in honour of Antony which, like that of
Bartholomew, has a concentration in western England Gones, 1999:
121 -3). Both Antony and Bartholomew were deemed efficacious in the
later Middle Ages for skin disease; both Antony and Guthlac were
tormented by devils. The apparent nexus between conditions of skin and
mind invites analysis. Antony held great interest for the early medieval
insular churches. For example, he was shown on the Ruthwell Cross,
c.700, together with his companion the hermit Paul. 43 It is difficult to
determine the likeliest period at which the appropriation of healing
shrines would have led to Bartholomew's patronage. Thus the
apostle's final resting place was a church at Rome built on the site
(on an island in the Tiber) of a temple of the healer Aesculapius, but
while this translation took place only in 983 the site had been
appropriated by the church at a much earlier date.44
Places of worship
The Acts of Bartholomew contains many allusions to the appropriation

of religious buildings. An angel marks the temple of Astaroth with the
cross, an early example of the motif of supernatural consecration of
churches. This mirrors episcopal consecration ritual, whose liturgy
included Christ's prophecy regarding Nathaniel as a latter-day Jacob at
Bethel.45 Gregory exhorted Augustine not to destroy temples but to
convert them to Christian use. He is generally assumed to be speaking
about temples of the English, but Guthlac's demons spoke British and,
by analogy with the Bartholomew legend, Felix may have meant them
to represent deities, not devotees. Were these then Celtic deities, still
worshipped by British Fen-dwellers 300 years after Constantine made
Christianity the state religion, and conceivably also adopted by English
incomers?
Overall, therefore, the Guthlac-Bartholomew story, together with
the geography of medieval devotion to the Apostle, may shed
important light on the Christianization process in England. What role
did it play therefore in monastic education? Christianization was high
on the monastic agenda, and the novitiate were prepared for it by
familiarity with the lives of evangelizers like Bartholomew and Guthlac.
But at what period did this happen? Was Guthlac among those taking
up a work previously ignored by the urban hierarchy of the British
148 Graham Jones
church? That is difficult to argue in the light of the Christian

appropriation at Uley, for example. The first church there may have
been contemporary with Martin of Tours's destruction of shrines in
Gaul (372-97) and/or the composition of the Milanese (Ambrosian)
Preface on the evangelizing Bartholomew, if this is to be attributed to
Ambrose himself (339-97) or to the early editor of the Ambrosian
Sacramentary, bishop Laurentius of Milan (490-5 12).46 In the light of
current knowledge about 'Dark Age' learning in western Britain and
Ireland, and contacts with the Continent, it is possible that the
Apostolic History, probably compiled in Frankish Gaul not too long
after 550, was known to the British church on the eve of Augustine's
mission to the English (597), soon after the start of Columbanus's
continental mission (590). Similarly, earlier versions of Bartholomew's
Acts may have been introduced to British monks.47
On the other hand, it may never be known to what extent a hiatus in
the British episcopacy and monastic life had taken place, allowing a
return to pre-Christian ways of worship and the abandonment of
churches. It has been thought that Geoffrey of Monmouth's statement
that bishops Theon of London and Thadioc of York fled to Wales in the
latter part of the sixth century may have some historical basis. The
traditional date is 586 (Bright, 1878: 33). It may be instructive that
William of Malmesbury declined to write down the names of certain
saints translated at another Fenland monastery, Thomey, c.972,
because they were uncouth (Hamilton, 1870: 327). Walter de Gray
Birch took this to indicate British names.48 A tradition in the late
seventh century recalled the names of 'sacred places abandoned by the
British clergy' when they 'fled from the sword' of the English. Eddius
Stephanus wrote of this in his biography of his master Wilfrid, a
neighbour (? and visitor) of Guthlac by virtue of his monastery of
Oundle, where he died (Webb, 1965: c. 1 7, 1 50, 202). Consecration
ceremonies were required not only at places of non-Christian worship
appropriated to Christian use, but also at Christian places of worship
which had been abandoned or involved in episodes of apostasy.49
Monastic training
Thus it may be argued that Guthlac's adoption of Bartholomew as

imagined mentor had importance not only for his formation but also for
that of subsequent generations of religious-in-training. Bartholomew was a
role model also for appropriators of non-Christian places of religious
activity and missioners, thereby having an impact on lay education also.
As keeper of mysteries and visionary he represented authority. He also
represented action, combating the Devil in the forms of vice (casting
down idols), disease (healing and exorcism), ignorance (setting up
churches and communities, educating kings) and waste (making the
wilderness bloom).5o The monk takes part in all these activities.
As to when the Christianization took place which is represented by
Bartholomew churches and 'pagan' place-names, it is hard to say, but
an immediate association is with the seventh-century policy of

conversion initiated by Gregory the Great, patron of the abbey church
of Downside.
Notes
1. Our knowledge of Guthlac stems principally from an eighth-century Latin

prose Life (printed and translated with introduction and notes in
Colgrave, 1956), of which the Prologue and first twenty-five chapter
headings survive in a manuscript of the late eighth or early ninth century,
BL, Royal 4A.xiv. The text as a whole is found in a ninth-century
manuscript, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Ms 307. An Old English
translation of the text is contained in the eleventh-century manuscript
BL, Cotton Vespasian xxi and edited in Gonser, 1909. This Old English
translation is edited partially in Goodwin, 1848, and also in Birch, 1881:
15. In eleventh-century manuscripts are found two Old English verse
Lives, concerning the saint's spiritual trials and his holy death, known as
' Guthlac A' and ' Guthlac B' which have been edited (Roberts, 1979).
Although found in eleventh-century manuscripts they probably originate
'within the earlier Old English period' , conceivably before c.730
(Roberts, 1979: 70-1). There is also a twelfth-century roll of drawings
depicting the life of Guthlac in BL, Roll Y. 6., edited in Warner, 1928. A
few later additions to the Guthlac story appear in a Latin poem of the
thirteenth century edited in Russell and Heironimus, 1935. This edition
is based on CUL, Dd.xi.78.
2. Felix wrote his Life of Guthlac at the request of King .tElfwald of East
Anglia, who died in 749. It exploits Bede's Life of Cuthbert and thus was
written not earlier than 721 and most likely in the 730s (Colgrave, 1956:
6).
3. Colgrave, 1956: 1 00-7, 1 08- 1 1 , 1 1 4-17, 185-6.
4. Colgrave, 1956: 94-9, note 197, 184.
5. B i rch, 1881: xix-xxi.
6. Olsen, 1981: 6-7, pointed out that the likelihood of a monastic audience
for the verse Life had been emphasized by a number of scholars,
including Cynthia Edelstein Cornell, Zacharias P. Thundyil and Thomas
R. Post. The so-called 'Exeter Book' - Codex Exoniensis (Thorpe, 1842)
-
was presented to that cathedral's library by bishop Leofric in 1 046.

7. Discussed by Olsen (note 6). See also Olsen, 1981: 53-4; Ryan, 1993, II:
1 09.
8. Birch, 1881: 66-9; the reference to Bartholomew is at 67. The original is
found in the manuscript BL, Harley Ms 1 1 17, fo1. 65.
9. The Guthlac Roll contains eighteen six-inch roundels, perhaps sketches
for painted glass. It is edited in Warner, 1928.
10. Bartholomew's feast day had moved forward by then to 24 August. The
Roll is discussed, together with other imagery of the saint at Crowland,
particularly in sculpture, by Henderson, 1986.
1 1 . Baring-Gould, 1914: 9, 260. The flaying of Bartholomew appears first in a
tenth-century Greek version of his legend.
12. Flagellant processions appear to have begun in Italy in the thirteenth
century (Cross and Livingstone, 1974: 5 1 6- 1 7).
13. Kurtz, 1926: 104-46. Bartholomew continued to be associated with devil
150 Graham Jones
combat into the later Middle Ages. Demons claiming to be Bartholomew

harassed Angela of Foligno ( 1248-1309) and Christine of Stommeln
( 1242- 1312), and even the Apostle's own wet-nurses in a fourteenth
century retable now in Tarragona Cathedral museum. I am grateful to
Professor Joy Schroeder for the first two examples.
14. Olsen, 1981: 48. It has been thought likely that both verse Lives were
written in eastern Mercia, most probably Crowland, with a western
centre (such as Hereford, Worcester or Glastonbury) as a suggested
alternative (Roberts, 1979: 71).
15. Brodie, 1965: 10, 1 38. Probably a hand-bell, it is now lost.
16. Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 389, cited in Birch, 188 1 : xxi. Shook
(1961) viewed this combination against the patristic traditions of
psychopomps (Bartholomew's role here and in apocryphal texts) and
the motif of the otherworld journey.
17. Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6: 14; John 1 :43-51; 21:2. Holzmeister,
1940.
18. On the social uses of the wild fig tree, see Kitto, 1879-82: 291.
19. On Jacob and Bethel, see Kippenberg, 1971: 188ff.
20. The apocryphal accounts of Bartholomew were printed by the
Bollandists, AASS: Aug. t. 5 (Venice, 1 7 4 1 ) : 7-108, and summarized
in Butler, 1956: 3, 3 9 1 -2. On Bartholomew's preaching and Passio, see
AB 14 ( 1895), 353-66; for the apocryphal Gospel of Bartholomew see
below, note 22; and for a fragmentary Passio in which the Apostle is
martyred by drowning see Budge, 1 9 1 3 : 231-2. See also the notes to
the following section. On the apocryphal fulfilment of Christ's
prophecy, see James, 1 954: 186. Goulder ( 1977) has argued that the
events of John 1 were central to the Christology of a proto-Gnostic but
also incarnational Samaritan or Hebrew church, as opposed to the
Jewish church of Jerusalem. Suppression of this movement, which at
first enjoyed a near-monopoly in Egypt and eastern Syria, implied
exclusion of its literature from the orthodox canon, but not, perhaps,
before apocryphal accounts of Nathanael-Bartholomew had entered
Greek and Coptic traditions.
21. It exists in a Greek version probably from the fifth century, and in Latin
probably from the sixth or the seventh (Wilmart and Tisserant, 19 13).
22. James, 1954: 1 73-80, c.4, vv. 7 -71. A similar account appears in a Coptic
gospel fragment of the fifth century or later (Lacau, 1904, and James,
1954: 149).
23. A tenth- or eleventh-century Coptic version, BL, Oriental 6804, deriving
from a Greek exemplar of which nothing is known, was printed,
translated and discussed in Budge, 19 13: xv-xxix, plates 1-48, 179-230,
and summarized in James, 1954: 18 1-6.
24. This part of the text attempts to identify Bartholomew. 'He protested: "I
am the least of you all, a humble workman. Will not the people of the city
say when they see me, Is not this Bartholomew the man of Italy, the
gardener, the dealer in vegetables? Is not this the man that dwelleth in
the garden of Hierocrates the governor of our city? How has he attained
this greatness?'" James, 1954: 186 commented: 'In St John we read of
[Nathanael) being "under the fig-tree" . . . this was probably enough to
suggest to the Coptic author of the Book that he was a gardener. '
Gardening is a common hagiographic motif for cultivation of desert
places and hence alludes to hermitage.
25. James, 1954: 467-9, confirmed the view of Max Bonnet (Tischendorf et
al., 1898) that the Frankish Latin compilation was the original o f the
Greek Passion of Bartholomew (known from a single manuscript of 1 279,
printed in Tischendorf, 1851). The earliest manuscript of the Latin
compilation is of the eighth or ninth century.
26. On the texts employed see R. Lipsius, 'Abdius' , in Smith and Wace, 1900:
I , 1-4, especially 4. The Ambrosian Preface, which survives only from the
tenth century, is now said to be based on 'les Actes apocryphes des
Apotres' (Moeller, 1980-8 1: 1 6 1 : xciv-v; 1 6 1 C : 274; 1 6 1D: 425). A
further Preface for Bartholomew's feast day was composed for the
Mozarabic church in Toledo, Spain, by the ninth century (Moeller, 1980-
81: 1 6 1 : xxxiv-v; 161C: 465-6. Janini, 1982: xxxii-iii, 296-30 1). Later
adaptations included the thirteenth-century Legenda Aurea of James of
Voragine (little altered from the Pseudo-Abdias), most recently
translated by Ryan, 1993, II: 1 09-15. Ethiopic texts were translated
and printed by Malan, 1871 and Budge, 1899, 1901, and Arabic texts by
Lewis, 1904. James, 1954: 471ff.
27. The Apostle is not martyred by flaying, however. This was to be a later
addition to the legend; see James, 1954: 468.
28. On these deities, see Gehman, 1944: 45-6, 53-4, and with their cities,
see Moscati, 1973: 57-68.
29. The Christian Apostle had been clothed, therefore, in the mantle of
Elijah but also that of King Josiah, who threw down Solomon's altar of
Astaroth.
30. King Astriges's name appears to resonate with that of Astaroth, a neat
apposition.
31. The description of the pantheon by Philo of Byblos was propagated in
Eusebius's Praeparatio Evangelica I (Sirinelli and Des Places, 1974).
32. Van Dam ( 1988): I, 33. The resting place at Lipari was also known to the
author of the Greek Acts of Bartholomew (Tischendorf, 1851: 259). A
previous resting place from c.507 in Daras in Mesopotamia was reported
by Lector ( 1 6 1 8-22), pt.505. The prevalence of islands in association
with Bartholomew - Lipari, the island in the Tiber at Rome, and here
Crowland - resonates with the themes of desert and solitude.
33. Colgrave, 1956: 1 10-13. Beccel was said to be present at Guthlac's
eventual natural death. Redin, 1919: 85, took Beccel's name (Beccelmus
in the Guthlac Roll) to be from Celtic bekko-s, 'little' (and thus comparable
to modern Welsh bachgen, diminutive of bach, 'little' , thus 'little one'), or
perhaps a hypocoristic form of a compound with Beorn- or Beorht-.
34. Henry of Avranches, Vita Sancti Guthlaci Confessoris (Russell and
Heironimus, 1935), quoted by Henderson, 1986: 88. Was the contest tale
a substitute for, or accompaniment to, a foundation charter endowing
Crowland with its lands? One of the unique fragments in Henry of
Avranches's Vita Sancti Guthlaci Confessoris (Russell and Heironimus,
1935) is the story that Guthlac's sister, Pega, herself a solitary at what is
now Peakirk, not far from Crowland, appeared to her brother in the form
of the Devil. Guthlac was not deceived.
35. Henderson, 1986: 8 1 , has pointed out that a similar vision, culminating in
rescue by the Apostle, was had by Rahere, founder of St Bartholomew's
Hospital, Smithfield, London. It is described in Webb, 1921: 42-3.
36. Olsen, 198 1 : 53-4, and on ofermaecg, 18 (following Robinson, 1968).
37. Gelling, 1988: 1 60, Figure 1 1 ; Wilson, 1992: 5-2 1.
38. Brook and Leslie, 1963-78: I, lines 1-7, p. 2-3.
39. Such a context can be seen also on the European mainland. Budak, 1998:
152 Graham Jones
241-9, especially 244, has shown that Bartholomew's patronage was

chosen for the ninth-century reconsecration of refurbished Dalmatian
royal churches of late antique origin_
40. As noted in the variant of the Old English prose Life of which a fragment
survives in the Codex Vercellensis and is edited in Goodwin, 1848.
41. Olsen, 1981: 33, who also quotes Karl P. Wentersdorf: 'The battle for the
tumulus represents . . . the unremitting campaign by the church to
suppress the lingering remnants of heathendom.'
42. Moore, 1879: 133, reprinted in Birch, 1881: facing xlii.
43. Paul's Life was associated with that of Guthlac at Canterbury, as
mentioned earlier.
44. Mflle, 1 960. On the issue of the temple's early Christianization, I am
grateful to Dr Michael Jost for his advice, based on his unpublished PhD
thesis (Jost, 1998).
45. De Vaux, 1966: 47, note 28.b.
46. Moeller, 1980-8 1 : 1 6 1 : xciv. See note 26 above.
47. A specific personal link between a British church in north Wales and
Lyon in Gaul (perhaps the monastery of lIe Barbe), probably datable to
540 (Knight, 1995), can now be added to other epigraphic and ceramic
evidence for continental contacts, for which see a summary in Thomas,
1 994: 5, 197-208. On the context within which transmission of literary
texts could take place between Gaul and Britain, see Williams, 1 9 1 2 :
1 79-88; on Irish scholarship and contacts with Merovingian Gaul see,
respectively, Bieler, 1 952, and James, 1 982; and on the likely assumption
by the British church of responsibility for public (Latin) education see
Charles-Edwards, 1998: 75-82. Columbanus's teacher was himself a
pupil of 'a certain learned Greek' and also ta1.!ght Mo-Chuar6c, 'whom the
Romans styled doctor of the whole world' (0 Cr6inin, 1995: 1 77).
48. Birch, 1881: xvi. The names of three Thomey saints, the male hermits
Tancred and Torthred, and the female Tova, are known, supposedly
killed by the Danes in 870 (Farmer, 1 997: 460), but these appear to be
Germanic names.
49. Apostasy among British as well as English Christians must be
considered.
50. For a description of Bartholomew as a gardener see foonote 24.
1 2 'Life, learning and wisdom':
the forms and functions of
beguine education
Penelope Galloway
Beguines were, and are, laywomen seeking to lead religious lives.5l

The first beguine communities appeared in France, Germany and the
Low Countries in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries.52
These communities could take a variety of forms, ranging from
individual women living alone to virtual townships, known as
beguinages, separate enclaves containing streets, gardens, churches,
even cemeteries, isolated from the surrounding city by a high
encircling wall. This chapter is particularly concerned with the
education of and the impact of learning on these religious women,
considering the extent to which the majority of beguines had access to
learning and the forms of learning they encountered. This will be done
by means of a local study, focusing on the impact of learning on the
beguine houses of Douai and Lille, cities now in France but which
were, for most of the medieval period, part of the county of Flanders.53
In the Middle Ages larger beguine communities played a significant
role as educational establishments. The type of education these
beguine houses provided, both for members of their communities and,
more frequently, for local children generally, will be considered here.
However, in order to examine the education beguines themselves
received, one must look beyond their schools. Many women joined
beguine communities, or chose to live independently as beguines, later
in life. Beguine communities also tended to restrict entry to those over
sixteen years of age. In order to discern the type of education
experienced by and the skills required of these women we will
consider the types of tasks and roles they performed within beguine
communities. This chapter examines the type of education beguines
had and what purposes it served. It will also assess the various ways
women used the education they received in the beguine houses of
Douai and Lille.
The relative proximity and similar size of these two cities, which,
with neighbouring Orchies, constituted la Flandre gallicante, did not
preclude significant differences in the development of the religious
communities within their walls. In the range and number of its beguine
1 54 Penelope Galloway
communities Douai is unsurpassed in northern France: records survive

from nineteen institutions, ranging from small convents to two
beguinages (Galloway, 1998: 67). The beguinage of Wetz was primarily
known as a hospital (AHD, Wetz Hospital, 1/784, October 1245) while
the community at Champfleury was home to around one hundred women
and constituted an entire parish (AMD, FF861, February 1272).
However, even this community was dwarfed by Lille's beguinage,
popularly known as the hospital of 5t Elizabeth.54 This seems to have
been one of the largest beguine communities in Europe incorporating
substantial grounds including herb and vegetable gardens55 and
individual houses, 56 even employing a chaplain. 57 The size of this
beguine house is less surprising in view of the fact that it was the only
such community in the city.
Beguine schools were by no means the exclusive providers of
education in this region, particularly in Douai. The majority of this
town's population, including some of its beguines, was involved in the
cloth industry in some capacity, and this had important implications for
the level and amount of education available to residents of the city. 58
The international market for Douai's cloth meant that merchants in the
city were engaged in business across Europe; this required a
reasonable level of education. Complicated business deals involving
large amounts of money needed at least basic skills in reading, writing
and mathematics. From at least the end of the twelfth century, Douai
contained small schools teaching children to read, write, count and
recite catechism (Rouche, 1985: 70).
One of the most unusual features of the cloth industry in Douai is
the number of opportunities it provided for women. They had access to
skilled work, much of it high status. Women appear to have been
involved in every aspect of the drapery trade from weaving to selling
cloth.59 This virtual parity of opportunity in the workplace had an
impact on the education and training of girls. In the Middle Ages
Douaisiens made no distinction between sons and daughters in terms
of school and apprenticeship (Rouche, 1985: 70).
Lille was never as dependent on textiles as Douai (Nicholas, 1992:
1 1 1). Fertile soil in the area made it, like Douai, a grain exporter but
its development and prominence was due more to the frequent
presence of the government of the counts than to economic factors.6o
When Flanders became part of the duchy of Burgundy, Lille continued to
play an important role as an administrative centre. In 1386 Philip the Bold
reorganized the administration of his duchy into two main territories. A
single combined council and accounting office at Lille was responsible for
the government of Flanders, Artois, Rethel and the other northern lands
(Vaughan, 1962: 126-39). This administrative function also required an
educated populace and schools similar to those found in Douai may also
have emerged in Lille around the same period.
Broadening our scope, we may now consider the role beguine
communities played in the provision of education. Beguine commu
nities across Europe established for themselves a place in the life of
Beguine education 155
their towns through the provision of a range of social services for the
community as a whole. Almost all substantial beguine communities
acted as hospitals and many also maintained schools within their
compounds (McDonnell, 1969: 27 1-2; Galloway, 1998: 262-3 19). We
know this from the vitae of various religious women who attended
beguine schools. The Life of Beatrice of Nazareth tells how her father, a
wealthy patrician and the founder of three nunneries, sent his daughter
to a beguine school in Leau, after her mother died (Henriquez, 1630:
1). Ida of Leau also spent her childhood in beguine houses before
becoming a Cistercian nun at the age of sixteen (Henriquez, 1630:
109F, 1 10A). On entering the convent of La Ramee, Ida was swiftly
placed in the scriptorium because of her skill with a pen, the benefit of
a beguine education (Henriquez, 1630: 109-10, 1 1 3).
What sort of education was provided in a medieval beguine school?
The foundation documents for beguine houses in Brussels speak of the
beguines 'raising children', which might suggest a caring rather than
educational role (McDonnell, 1969: 272). According to Ernest
McDonnell, the pre-eminent historian of beguines, these schools
would have taught elementary subject matter and a substantial amount
of religious instruction (McDonnell, 1969: 272). A fourteenth-century
description of the beguines of Gent attested that:
they have such respectable manners and are so learned in
domestic affairs that great and respectable persons often send
them their daughters to be raised, hoping that, to whatever estate
they may later be called, whether in the religious life or in
marriage, they may be found better trained than others.6l
One result of this expertise in domestic training is that beguines
appear to have been in demand as maids or companions, duties they
performed in return for money or bed and board.62 These women could
be employed within or outside beguine communities. Marie de la Tour,
a beguine in St Elizabeth's in Lille, mentions Isabiaus dou Maressiel,
her companion (ADN, B 1528/2493, July 1283). Records from Douai
include references to a beguine named Bietris, who lived with one
Agnes Ie Cuveliere.63
Most scholars have assumed that beguine schools were only
intended to educate girls. Their reasoning is that the majority of
beguinages had clearly established regulations advocating that
beguines avoid contact with all laymen over the age of seven.64
However, we know that in certain cases these regulations were
suspended. Numerous beguine communities in Douai were founded by
men - the beguinage of Wetz, the convents of St Thomas, Pilates, Ie
Huge, Souchez, and those of Philippe Ie Toilier, Werin Mulet and
Lanvin Ie Blaier - and in some cases these men actually lived in the
houses they established.65 The most significant example of this
phenomenon is Gervais Dele Ville, who founded the beguinage of Wetz
in 1245 on the understanding that he and his wife would live in the
community until their deaths (AMD, GG 1 9 1 , 1247).
156 Penelope Galloway
Douai was not unique in this respect. One beguine convent in Arras
contained seventy-two women and one man (Delmaire, 1 983: 152).
There were also a few men resident in the beguinage of St Elizabeth of
Lille in the later Middle Ages. Jean Ie Roux was given the use of a
house in the beguinage for his lifetime on 16 September 1458 (AHL,
Lille Beguinage, B32, 16 September 1458) while on 13 January 1501
properties within the beguinage were rented to Jean Crassier (AHL,
Lille Beguinage, B38, 13 January 1501) and to David de Bauvins (ADN,
B 334, 13 January 1501, fol. 20v). If adult men were permitted to
reside in beguine communities, it would appear more likely that boys
were attending beguine schools. We know that in Germany beguines
ran elementary schools for girls and boys in Mainz, Cologne and
Lubeck (Opitz, 1988: 3 13).
However, unlike the system in operation in more conventional
religious communities (discussed by Susan Boynton, Chapter 2 and
Isabelle Cochelin, Chapter 3), beguine schools were not established
primarily to train young beguines. Some women who later became
beguines may well have attended beguine schools, but the schools
themselves were open to all, not designed simply to educate oblates.
This is due, in part, to the restrictions imposed by beguine houses on
acceptance of girls younger than sixteen. The practice of accepting
girls under this age appears to have been officially frowned upon in
beguine communities.66 When Christine of Stommeln ran away from
her home at the age of nine to join the beguines of Cologne, the
women urged her to return to her parents, and refused to allow her
entry into their community (McDonnell, 1969: 445). However, there
were exceptions. One example is that of Jeanneton of Burgundy, who
entered the beguinage of Lille at the age of nine (ADN, 162H 9/7, 2 1
June 1439). Jeanneton was the daughter o f John the Fearless, Duke of
Burgundy, and, on her father's death she was placed in the beguinage
in Lille at the request of her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Burgundy,
Isabella of Portugal. Jeanneton's age was unusual enough to be
commented upon both by Isabella and by the mistress of the
beguinage, who had qualms about accepting her (ADN, 162H 9/7).
The mistress described Jeanneton as 'a young child' and initially
refused her a place on account of her youth.67 Isabella stated that
Jeanneton should be admitted to the Lille community 'notwithstanding
her youth'. 68 It is unclear what sort of provision was made for
Jeanneton's education, as the beguinage of Lille does not appear to
have contained a school as such. However, the extent to which the
mistress of the beguinage demurred about accepting this child, even at
the request of the Duchess of Burgundy herself, suggests that it was a
very unusual occurrence.
We can see that beguines had a role in the provision of education for
their local communities, but not necessarily a significant role in the
provision of education for beguines. What sort of education, or
training, did the majority of beguines receive? This question is difficult
to answer, partly because of a lack of source material. It is
unsurpnsmg that we find little evidence of beguine education and

access to learning in Douai and Lille. Beguines were encouraged to be
devout, but not intellectual; the most important thing was for the
women to be humble and obedient to their priests, rather than learned.
This is stressed in the vitae of the first beguines. Jacques de Vitry in
his vita of Marie of Oignies, who is often described as the mother of
the beguine movement, goes to considerable lengths to emphasize that
Marie was not learned.69 Just before her death Marie sang for three
days and nights and Jacques details that:
She expounded the Holy Scriptures in a new and marvellous way
and subtly explained many things from the Gospels, the Psalms
and the Old and New Testaments which she had never heard
interpreted. She uttered many things about the Trinity and from
there she descended to the humanity of Christ, the blessed
Virgin, the holy angels, the apostles and the other saints who
followed them.70
But Jacques is keen to note that this does not reflect learning on
Marie's part. He places a prominent disclaimer on her behalf, before
describing the song itself, saying:
She did not have to compose it or discover the meaning or have to
ponder the rhythmical arrangement, but the Lord gave it to her just
as if it had been written out before her at exactly the same time as it
was spoken. She . . . did not have to deliberate over it, nor did she
have to interrupt her song in order to arrange its parts.71
Marie had to be established as merely the vehicle of God, acting not as
his spokeswoman but as his voice. This interpretation of events
ensured that her role was perceived as passive. Marie's deathbed
analysis of these passages of the Scriptures was presented by Jacques
as divine revelation rather than something she had learned (see
Muessig, 1998: 150-3). Thus, she could not be accused of attempting
to transcend her status as a devout member of the laity. This sense of
respectability, of remaining within clearly defined boundaries of
acceptable behaviour, is also apparent in archival documents from
French Flanders. In 1328 William, Bishop of Tournai, embarked on an
investigation into the way of life followed by the beguines of Lille. His
report describes the women as 'going devoutly and frequently to
church, reverently obeying their priests'. 72 Emphasis is placed,
throughout this document and many others in the archives of Douai
and Lille, on the beguines being dependent on and obedient to their
local priests.73 The women's devotion is continually reinforced. In
1400 Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, established a committee to
investigate the state of the beguinage in Lille (ADN, 127H 5950). The
resulting report described the atmosphere of the community as
'devout throughout'. 74
Many churchmen were ambivalent about educating beguines and
downright suspicious about the uses to which the women would put
their education. Gilbert of Tournai spoke for many in his contribution

to the Second Council of Lyon in 1274 (Stroick, 1931: 61-2). He
criticized beguines for translating and writing commentaries on the
Scriptures, saying, 'They have interpreted in ordinary French idiom
the mysteries of the Scripture which are scarcely accessible to experts
in divine writing.'75 Gilbert was tapping into a tradition of unease
concerning the orthodoxy of beguines and the ways in which the
women used their education; from the first, beguines were vulnerable
to accusations of heresy and they became particularly associated with
the Heresy of the Free Spirit.76 The example of Marguerite Porete, a
beguine burned at the stake in Paris in 1310 for her refusal to
renounce the heretical ideas outlined in her book, The Mirror of Simple
Souls, resonates here.77
This 'fear' of the way beguines might use their education is also
apparent in papal documents. The beguines of St Elizabeth's in Lille
and of the beguinage of Champfleury in Douai were subject to
episcopal investigation in the 1320s as a result of papal decrees
following the Council of Vienne. In 1321 and 1328 Pope John XXII sent
to the bishops of Arras-Cambrai and Tournai copies of the decree Cum
de mulieribus,78 an amended and abbreviated form of Pope Clement V's
Cum de quibusdam mulieribus (Tanner, 1990: I, 374). This decree
emphasized the security and acceptability of those communities of
'simple beguines who lead honest lives, attend church frequently, obey
their priests' and (most significantly for our purposes) 'do not involve
themselves in debates or in errors' .79 These women, John averred, had
nothing to fear from investigation. The beguines of Champfleury were
given episcopal endorsement in November 1323 (ADN, 30H 18/286).
In 1328 the bishop of Tournai embarked on an examination of the
beguinage in Lille and, satisfied as to the orthodoxy, good intentions
and devout lifestyle of the women in the beguinage, in that they did not
engage in such debates or perpetuate such errors,80 he undertook to
protect the community.81 These attitudes and actions demonstrate that
beguine education was a source of controversy and, at the very least,
had to be handled carefully.
Keeping this in mind, we can begin to examine the scarce
information available concerning beguine learning in Douai and Lille.
This leads us to two questions: What was a beguine education for?
What were the beguines educated to do? By examining the tasks the
women performed we can have some idea of the skills required of
them.
There is a little evidence of beguines in Douai and Lille acquiring
knowledge as learners rather than teachers. The foundation docu
ments of the beguinage of Champfleury in 1245 mention the provision
of a cleric to instruct the women in 'the discipline of letters or
scholarship' , presumably reading and writing, but to what level?82
Perhaps this knowledge was passed on in a school within the
community. Sources concerning the festivities organized for the feast
of St Elizabeth of Hungary, the patron saint of the beguinage of
Champfleury, speak of sermons and of clerks debating in front of the

beguines (ADN, 30H 16/227). The inclusion of sermons and debates
between clerks in the description of the festivities indicates that
beguines in this community did have some access to clerical learning,
even perhaps, in view of the close associations between Champfleury's
beguines and the local Dominican convent, monastic learning (Gallo
way, 1998: 162-77). The beguines of Champfleury were not uniquely
privileged in being able to attend sermons. The fourteenth-century
statutes of the beguinage of St Elizabeth in Ghent decreed that the
women of this community were obliged to be present at all sermons in
their church (Bethune, 1883: 89-92).
The area of learning in which the beguines of Douai and Lille do
appear to be at variance with the practices of beguines elsewhere is in
the accumulation of books. Douaisien and Lillois beguines received
many donations of candles, clothing and cash, but their patrons seem
less interested in providing the women with texts of any description.
However, this may say more about the priorities and values of the
beguines' patrons than those of the women themselves. Certainly, this
is not typical of all beguine communities. In the neighbouring city of
Tournai, beguine houses were regularly provided with books by
patrons. Lotars Noires's will from 1 March 1 349 stated, 'I give my
book of the Apostles to the large beguine convent, but they are neither
to sell nor exchange it' ,83 while Simon Thiebault donated 'a book of the
suffering and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the text of which is Ad
Deum vadit'. 84 Beguines in Tournai also received a bequest of
Augustine's Soliloquies and Meditations (Lauwers and Simons, 1989:
23).
By contrast, my on-going examination of hundreds of wills and
donations from Douai and Lille has provided no examples of beguines
there being given any sort of book.85 There are no libraries or
scriptoria in the beguine communities of French Flanders. On the few
occasions when detailed information on personal property is available,
such as the 1425 inventory of the possessions owned by Agnes de
Maissin, a beguine from Lille, no reference is made to books (ADN, B
7760/ 157368). The absence of any sort of references to devotional
texts used in the beguine houses of Douai and Lille appears to reflect
the fact that theirs was not a method of devotion focused primarily on
devotional texts or manuals.86
However, this does not mean that the beguines' devotional routine
did not require them to learn anything. The rules of the beguinages of
Bruges and Gent suggest that most beguines were expected to learn to
recite the liturgical hours (Bethune, 1883: 18-19, 89-92; Hoornaert,
1929: 37-59). The most detailed set of regulations from a beguine
house, in terms of the opus Dei, is that of the beguinage of Bruges
which details the prayers said and even the beguines' responses
(Hoornaert, 1929: 37-59, 79). All the prayers of this community were
said in Latin and mistresses of the individual convents were charged
with teaching the novices in their care the responses for the offices of
the opus Dei and the prayers to be said at mealtimes (Hoornaert, 1929:
32). In the beguinage of St Christopher in Liege the rest of the opus
Dei, after morning mass, would be marked by the beguines in their own
homes or at work, where one woman would read to the others from a
Psalter.87 There was also an emphasis on reading at the beguinage in
Gent. The 1354 Rule of St Elizabeth's beguinage in Gent stipulates
that the women were obliged to read 'three psalms of Our Lady without
fail' each day.88
The pattern of devotion found in Liege is comparable with that seen
in documents from the beguinage of Lille, which refer to the beguines
as praying at the appointed hours.89 These prayers were to be recited
in the beguinage chape1.90 The beguines of Champfleury in Douai also
kept the liturgical hours in their community's parish church.91 Even in
smaller beguine communities which did not have their own church, the
women had to learn prayers. Bernard Pilates decreed that the ten
women resident in the beguine convent he established in Douai were
to learn the Pater Noster and Ave Maria, in order that they might recite
them before an image of the Virgin each day (AMD, GG19 1/290/524,
1 2 September 1362).
Clearly, participation in the devotional life of their community
required some learning. In what other forms of education did the
women participate? If we expand our definition of the word 'education'
from formal learned activities such as reading to encompass a broader
range of experiences which contribute to an individual's development
or formation, we find much more evidence of beguines engaged in
development of skills. This is apparent in a number of different areas,
most notably through the work the women did.
In view of the significance of the cloth industry to the city of Douai it
is unsurprising that we find beguines working in this trade. One
reference from Douai mentions an enigmatic 'beguine de la draperie'
(Espinas, 1 933-49: 35) and the only sources available concerning rural
beguines from the hamlet of Hornaing, situated between Douai and
Valenciennes, come from their involvement in the cloth trade.92 The
beguines of Wetz also appear to have been involved in the cloth trade
to some degree, perhaps working for Jaquemon de Tournay, a
Douaisien merchant in the early fourteenth century (AHD, Wetz
Hospital, 2/877, 7-8 April 13 13). This work, weaving and dying cloth,
required training in the form of apprenticeships. We should remember
that, as they contained members of the laity, beguine houses were not
strictly speaking church institutions and the women within them were
thus, in the sphere of economic activity, subordinate to guild
regulations.93 This may well have included the obligation to train
apprentices. There are no records from Douai and Lille of any
problems arising between beguine communities and guilds. Those
guilds which did exist in Douai were far more concerned with
attempting to eradicate the involvement of strangers (that is, anyone
who was not from Douai) in the cloth trade (Galloway, 1998: 289).
Artisans and small producers in the town had no guilds (Howell, 1993:
103). The guilds of Douai and Lille do not appear to have restricted the
involvement of women in the various trades (Galloway, 1998: 289).
Beguines also worked within their own communities as nurses,
teachers, accountants, almoners and in many other roles. In Lille some
beguines acted as merchants, selling their community's produce.
Accounts mention fruit and vegetable goods that the women had sold
(ADN, B 7730, 1417-18). Clearly the women in Lille produced for their
own community but the surplus was put on the market. Beguine
communities also made investments and some women managed the
community's financial and business affairs. Beguine houses kept their
own accounts and the beguinage of Champfleury had a separate
accounts office, staffed by the women themselves (ADN, 30R 1 6/227,
March 1478). Aelys Razarde, a resident of the beguinage of Lille, acted
as receiver or accountant for her community until 16 December 1409
(ARL, Lille Beguinage, E2, 16 December 1409). Women also acted as
receivers in other beguine houses. The first reference to an external
receiver for the beguinage of Wetz is not found until 1503.94 Until this
time the task had been performed by a succession of beguines.
One role within a beguine house which definitely required a certain
level of education and particular skills was that of the mistress. In
French Flanders the overall mistress of each beguine community was
known as the souveraine. In the beguine convents, such as those
established by Werin Mulet and Bernard Pilates in Douai, the
souveraine was the only mistress.95 In the beguinages, she was in
charge of the entire community, including those women who chose and
could afford to build their own houses within the community's
courtyard.96 Poorer beguines lived in convents within the beguinage
(each of which was governed by a mistress) all of whom were subject to
the souveraine.97
The souveraines of the beguinages of Champfleury and Wetz in
Douai and of St Elizabeth in Lille were public figures, appearing in a
range of documents as the legal representatives of their communities.
For example, in 1422 the souveraine of the beguinage of Lille
appointed Jean Deleforterie to the position of bailiff of the fief of
Bondues.98 The souveraine was also in charge of the common funds,
advancing money as necessary to particular convents and paying
expenses occasioned by the upkeep of buildings (ADN, B 7730). Other
responsibilities included investing the inheritance of the beguine
convents in her care, arranging the rental of property, and purchasing
land and property. She put her personal seal, as mistress and, on
occasion, as a private individual, on some documents.99 The souveraine
also made decisions regarding who was to be accepted into the
community and who could be ejected from it100 and dispensed charity
for poor beguines (ARL, Lille Beguinage, B20, 24 May 1371).
In some communities, such as Champfleury, a council of the most
senior beguines advised the souveraine in these matters. She was also
assisted by her second-in-command within the beguinage, the mistress
of the hospitaPOl Erembourc Dauby is described as the 'mistress and
prioress of the beguine hospital of Wetz', on behalf of which she

purchased land. 102 She is also found in documents ceding the right to a
waterway and providing capital for investments. 103 The extent to which
beguines managed their own affairs without external assistance is in
itself a tribute to the skills they developed and the training they
acquired. However, the significance of the beguines' actions is largely
dependent on the scale of the enterprises in which they were engaged.
In order to appreciate the difficulty of the tasks the women performed
and, by implication, the amount of training required to discharge them
effectively, we have to examine the context in which beguine
communities in Douai and Lille functioned. How important were they
in their local communities?
Through the consideration of the wealth of the beguinages in Douai
and Lille it is possible to discern the important positions the beguines
held in their local communities as employers, landlords and land
owners. In order to manage these various enterprises efficiently over a
period of 300 years, as we know they did, the beguines of Douai and
Lille must have benefited from a sort of education, whether they
attended a beguine school or not. Successive generations of beguines
developed or were trained in skills to suit their duties and
responsibilities, presumably going on to train those who followed
them. The various beguine communities of Douai and Lille appear to
have maintained specific strategies concerning their investments and
financial transactions. As early as 1258 the beguinage of Champfleury
was buying up houses and land in and around Douai. This does not
simply imply fields but also access paths, gates, canals and ditches.lo4
In the first decades of its existence the beguinage of Wetz also sought
to expand its territory. In June 1266 the beguines bought land which
adjoined the territory of the hospital (AHD, Wetz Hospital, 2/853).
This community also had a mill.l°5 The same phenomenon of territorial
expansion may be seen in documents from the beguinage of Lille.106
These investments secured for the beguinages an influential role as a
local landowner and, as the beguines themselves did not farm or use all
of this property but instead rented it to others, as a landlord.
The beguines of Wetz in Douai presented their annual accounts to
that city's council on 12 August 1 264, noting that they had 'in land and
in investments', after having paid the rents the community owed, one
hundred and four pounds and nineteen shillings income per year.l°7
This was generated from the rental of houses and land, and from the
cultivation of various crops (AMD, AA92 , 12 August 1 264), of which
the beguines received a certain proportion.108 The accounts demon
strate that, by their willingness to receive payment in money, produce
and kind, the beguines of Wetz were active members of Douai's urban
economy. Presumably any produce they did not require themselves
would be sold or given to the poor. The beguinage held both rural and
urban properties in and around Douai ranging from arable land to town
houses.l°9 The community archives include documents recording
seventy-one sources of income spanning the period 1238-1493.
Investments were not exclusive to the larger beguine communities.

Even a community as small as the beguine hospital of Hames, about
which we know virtually nothing, has a book dated 1453 listing its
properties which extends to twelve pages (AMD, GGI91/181- 190,
1453).
The most detailed records of properties owned by and income
available to beguines comes from the beguinage of Lille in 1417-18.110
The beguines here received rental income from other religious
institutions,lll from both male and female individuals (ADN, B 7730),
and even on one occasion from children.1l2 In total, the beguines of
Lille received income from 106 separate sources in Lille itself,
including one undefined financial investment, houses, gardens, rights
to fish in the river, rights to the use of their mills, twenty-three pieces
of land and various tax exemptions (ADN, B 7730). These totals do not
include the outlying territory of Bondues, where the beguinage had
substantial holdings from which they received fifty pounds eighteen
shillings (ADN, B 7730). Clearly, the beguinage was a significant
landlord in Lille, with fifty-three tenants in one term of the year alone,
many of whom rented more than one property or right from the
beguines (ADN, B 7730). The women also appear to have received
money from the sale of produce, selling twenty pounds and nineteen
shillings of wheat alone in this year (ADN, B 7730). The records
include such varied items as butter, cheeses and prunes.l13 These
examples from Douai and Lille demonstrate the scale of the beguines'
involvement in the local economy and the range of their activities. This
has obvious implications for the types of skills the women had to acquire
and to demonstrate. Figure 12.1 shows Lille's beguinage's accounts in
the latter part of the fifteenth century, providing some details of its
financial position. In order to put these figures into context, it is worth
noting that in this period the population of LiBe's beguinage was limited
to thirteen women (ADN, 127H 5950, 25 June 1402).
It is difficult to determine how much this is worth without having
some kind of frame of reference. This is why in this chapter I have
commented on the large number of tenants and the wide variety of
enterprises in which the beguines were involved, rather than relying
Year Income Expenditure
24 June 1487-23 June 1488 405 1. 3 s. 7 d. 354 1. 2 s . 1 0 d.

24 June 1488-23 June 1489 395 1. 4 s. 8 d. 406 1. 1 s . 9 d.
24 June 1489-23 June 1490 380 1. 8 s. 6 d. 261 1. 1 s . 1 0 d.
24 June 1490-23 June 1491 351 1. 18 s. 0 d. 318 1. 15 s . 10 d.
24 June 1491-23 June 1492 349 1. 13 s. 4 d. 308 1. 17 s. 9 d.
24 June 1492-23 June 1493 557 1. 4 s. 2 d. 430 1. 19 s. 9 d.
24 June 1493-23 June 1494 384 1 . 12 s. 3 d. 425 1. 1 5 s . 0 d.
24 June 1494-23 June 1495 314 1. 5 s. 9 d. 434 1. 1 5 s . 8 d.
Figure 1 2 . 1 Accounts from the beguinage of St Elizabeth in Lille,

1487-95.
exclusively on figures. A context for these figures is provided by David

Nicholas's calculations that in Flanders in the period 1365-89 a master
artisan with two children would require approximately seven pounds
gross annually for a comfortable living. A master carpenter in Gent had
to work 2 10 days to earn this sum.114 This comparison serves to
demonstrate the scale on which beguine communities were functioning
and the extent to which they were flourishing under a system which
gave the women themselves significant responsibilities.
In conclusion, this survey gives some idea of the various tasks which
beguines performed and the sort of education they must have had. For
some of these roles, training is perhaps a more appropriate word than
education to describe the process the women must have undergone.
Their experience as would-be market traders, gardeners, nurses and
cellarers is perhaps best described as apprenticeship, such as that
experienced by beguines in the cloth trade in Douai. However, like
their fellow beguines who acted as accountants and scribes, these
women had to acquire skills ranging from herbal lore to arithmetic. It
is clear that the beguines of Douai and Lille, particularly those resident
in beguinages, were significant contributors to the urban economy,
acting as employers, landlords and landowners. The successful level at
which they performed these tasks is testament to the quality of their
education, however the term is defined.
Notes
1. There are a few beguines still living in communities across Belgium.

2. For general background, and details of the extensive bibliography
available concerning beguines, see McDonnell, 1 969; Southern, 1 970a;
Simons, 1 989; Ziegler, 1 992.
3. Other aspects of beguine life in these cities are considered in Brassart,
1867: 135-42; Simons, 1 982: 180-98; Delmaire, 1 983: 12 1 -60; Galloway,
1997: 92- 1 1 5; 1 999: 1 07-27.
4. The first document we have concerning the Lille beguinage is a sale of
land to hospitale beghinarum earumdem, ADN, B 1 528/826, March 1245.
5. trois bouniers et deus cens de terre . . . por herbregier ou por gardegnier,
ADN, B 1528/835.
6. Ke quesconques lieus et place doudit beghinage soit otroiies a quelconques
persones . . . Ii edefices de celui lieu doive revenir et demorer ou commun
proufit dou dit beghinaige, ADN, B 1528/2005, 20 April 1278.
7. Countess Margaret established the revenues and obligations of the
chaplain in a document from July 1245; Hautcoeur, 1 894: I , 294.
8. Medieval Douai is considered in Brassart, 1 842, 1877; Duthilloeul, 186 1 ;
Dancoisne, 1866; Rouche, 1 985. For further examination o f Douai's
cloth trade, see Pirenne and Espinas, 1 906-24; Espinas, 1 9 1 3 ; Chorley,
1 987: 349-79; Howell, 1 993: 85- 1 19.
9. For further discussion of opportunities for women in the Douaisien cloth
trade, see Howell, 1 98 6 : 1 66 - 7 . Guild regulations from Douai
consistently used feminine as well as masculine forms for those involved
in the cloth trade. AMD, reg. AA95, c . 1250, fol. 20r-v.
10. Further information on Lille may be found in Duthilloeul, 1850;

Vaughan, 1962; 1966; 1970; 1973; 1975; Trenard, 1970; Duplessis and
Howell, 1982: 49-85; Howell, 1986.
11. Et inter hec omnia, ita sunt in moribus composite ac rebus domesticis
erudite, quod magne et honeste persone filias suas eis consueverint tradere
nutriendas, sperantes quod ad quemcumque statum forent postmodum
vocate, sive religionis, sive matrimonii, invenirentur ceteris aptiores
(Bethune, 1883: 75). Translation from Amt, 1993: 266.
12. One such housekeeper is found in the household of The Goodman of
Paris whose manual is translated in Amt, 1993: 325. The original is in
Brereton and Ferrier, 1981.
13. Cis wers est Agnies Le Cuveliere et Bietris, se compaingnesse, beghines,
AMD, FF6 6 1 , October 1269.
14. A French translation of these rules is found in the archives of the
beguinage of Lille at AHL, Lille Beguinage, E3 and ADN, B 20040/ 199 1 5 ,
undated a n d 1 354. The originals are printed in Bethune, 1 8 8 3 : 18-19,
89-92.
15. For Wetz, see AMD, GG191, 1 247. For St Thomas, see AHD, St
Thomas's Hospital, 1/2, 23 March and 7 November 1377. For Pilates,
see AMD, GG191/290, 1 362. For the convent of Ie Huge, see ADN, 5 1 H
13/72, December 1 3 0 5 . For Souchez, s e e AMD, FF862, 1 3 3 8 . For Ie
Toilier, see AMD, reg. AA94, 16 September 1 3 1 2 , fo1. 53r-v. For Mulet,
see AMD, reg. AA94, c. 1280 copy, fo1. 43r-v. For Anselm Creke, see
AMD, FF862, March 1 328. For Lanvin Ie Blaier, see AMD, GG190, pre
1337.
16. See AHL, Lille Beguinage, E3; ADN, B 20040/19915.
17. Un josne enfant, ADN, 1 62H 9/7, 2 1 June 1439.
18. Que non obstant son jone aage, ADN, 1 62H 9/7.
19. For further discussion of this see Bynum, 1982 and Coakley, 1991a: 222-
46 and 199 1b: 445-61.
20. Quaedam etiam de diviniis Scripturis, novo et mirabili modo exponens; de
Evangelio, de Psalmis, de novo et de veteri Testamento quae numquam
audierat, multa et subtiliter edifferens. A Trinitate vero ad Christi descendit
humanitatem, dehinc ad beatam Virginem, ab hinc de sanctis angelis et de
Apostolis, et de aliis sequentibus Sanctis multa pronuntions (Jacques de
Vitry, 1707: 663; translation from King and Feiss, 1993: 123).
2 1 . Nec deliberabat an sententias inveniret, nec morabatur ut inventas rithmice
disponeret sed velut ante se scriberentur, dabat ei Dominus in ilia hora quid
loqueretur (Jacques de Vitry, 1707: 662; translation from King and Feiss,
1993: 1 2 1-2.
22. Devote frequentant ecclesias, prelatis suis reverenter obediunt, AHL, Lille
Beguinage, C2.
23. For example, see Item, que toutes soient chacun jour tant celles de la court
comme dhospital aux heures acoustumees en la chapelle pour dire leurs
oroisons et prier pour leurs fondeurs et bienfaiteurs ainsi que tenues y sont,
ADN, 127H 5950, 25 June 1402.
24. Devotement entretenir, ADN, 127H 5950, 25 June 1402.
25. Habent interpretata scripturarum mysteria et in communi idiomate
gallicata quae tamen in sacra Scriptura exercitatis vix sunt pervia, Stroick,
1931: 6 1 .
2 6 . The Heresy o f the Free Spirit is explored in greater depth i n Lerner,
1972; Schmitt, 1978; Lambert, 1992.
27. For a modern translation of this work see Porete, 1993.
28. For Champfleury: ADN, 30H 18/296, August 1 323 and for Lille: AHL,
Lille Beguinage, C2, 16 March 1328.
29. Beguinas simpliciter nuncupatas que per virtutum odoramenta currentes
honeste vivunt, devote frequent ecclesias, prelatis suis reverenter obediunt et
se in premissis disputationibus et erroribus non involvunt, AHL, Lille
Beguinage, C2, 16 March 1 328.
30. Mulieres in villa Insulensi . . . beguine vulgariter et communiter
nuncupantur, esse et fuise bone vite, conversationis honeste ac devote
frequentare ecclesias et quod se disputationibus et erroribus de quibus in
litteris domini nostri fit mentio non involvunt, sed adeo honeste et
laudabiliter vixerunt et adhuc vivunt, pro nulla super hiis fuit nec est
suspitio aut infamia contra ipsas, AHL, Lille Beguinage, C2.
31. Non permiteas eas vel ipsarum aliquam in person is et bonis earumdem
occasione perhibitionis et abolitionis hujusmodi quosque de statu earum
fuerit aliter per sedem apostolicam ordinatum ab aliquibus molestari,
molestatores, si qui fuerint, per censuram ecclesiasticam, AHL, Lille
Beguinage, C2.
32. In litteralibus disciplinis, ADN, 30H 1 7/250.
33. Je donna me livres des Apostles au grant couvent des beguines devant les
freres meneurs, par si que elles ne Ie puissent vendre ne en wagnier, de la
Grange, 1897: 73.
34. Un livre de la souffranche et Passion Nostre Seigneur Jesus Christ dont Ie
texte est tel Ad Deum vadit, de la Grange, 1897: 738.
35. In Douai alone, 1077 wills are found in chirograph: AMD, FF861 ( 1228-
79) to AMD, FF888 ( 1495-1500); and 620 in register: AMD, FF444
(141 5-28); AMD, FF450 ( 1 495-1500).
36. For further discussion of the devotional practice of the beguine houses of
Douai and Lille, see Galloway, 1999.
37. Statutes transcribed in Hoyoux, 1961: 156.
38. Trois psaumes de Nostre Dame sans faillier, AHL, Lille Beguinage, E3.
Another copy may be found at ADN, B 20040/ 19915.
39. Item, que toutes soient chacun jour tant celles de la court com me dhospital
aux heures acoustumees, AHL, Lille Beguinage, E3, 25 June 1402.
40. En la chappelle pour dire leurs oroisons et prier, AHL, Lille Beguinage, E3.
41. Al eure que on dist Ie premiere messe a saint aubin sans avenir Ie messe et
offisse deum de Ie parroche de campflori devant dit, ADN, 30H 18/284,
1 3 1 3.
42. The beguines of Hornaing are listed in an assize document from 1304
which is part of BMD, Ms 1 096 piece 38.
43. For further details on beguines and guilds see McDonnell, 1969: 270-7.
Guilds are discussed in Epstein, 1991.
44. The echevins (town council) of Douai nominated Jean de Caudoy to act as
receiver. AHD, Wetz Hospital, 1/843, 30 October 1503.
45. Werin Mulet was himself the souverain of the community he established;
see Galloway, 1998: 9 1 . The convent of Lanvin Ie Blaier in Douai had a
demoiselle souveraine (AMD, GG 190, pre-1337); that of Pilates had a
souveraine (AMD, GG 1 9 1 , 12 September 1362).
46. In the regulations of the beguinage of Champfleury tout governe par un
seul kief a Ii ki es fort une feme beghine ki soit eslite pour fiet deo plus
souffisans de Ie cort . . . a estre maistresse, ADN, 30H 17/268.
47. AHL, Lille Beguinage, E3 and ADN, B 20040/19915. Original printed in
Bethune, 1883: 18-19, 89-92. See also ADN, 30H 1 7/268.
48. Nous maistresse du beghinage de lospital Sainte Ysabiel . . . et tous Ii
couvens de ce meisme lieu . . . Savoir faisons que nous plainement confians

des sens, loyaulte et bonne diligence de Jehan Deleforterie, icellui avons fait,
ordonne, commis et establi et par teneur de ces presentes faisons, ordonnons,
constituons et establissons bailli de nostre terre, jurosdiction et seignourie
. . . en Ie paroisse de Bondues, ADN, B 7759/ 1 57236.
49. AHL, Lille Beguinage, B6 (10 March 1 375) provides an example of a
personal seal.
50. AHL, Lille Beguinage, E3. Copies at ADN, B 1 528/ 1940; ADN, 1 62H,
16371, fol. 135r-v.
51. ADN, B 1 528/2493. See also AHL, Lille Beguinage, B 1 3 ( 2 1 September
1 362); AHL, Lille Beguinage, B 1 5 (5 November 1 383); AHL, Lille
Beguinage, B37 ( 1 8 December 1 387); AHL, Lille Beguinage, B32 ( 1 6 July
1 390); AHL, Lille Beguinage (5 November 1393); ADN, 1 62H 303/2867
(14 June 1 394).
52. Maistresse et porveresse de l 'hospital de Saint,Spirit, AMD, GG 190, July 1270.
53. AMD, FF664, January 1279; AMD, FF665, 1 0-30 April 1289. See also
AHD, Wetz Hospital, 3/894, September 1270.
54. For example, rentes fonci'eres pecunaires, l 'une sur une maison, l 'autre sur
une porte et sur un chemin, AMD, FF659, June 1258.
55. Le moelin des Wes, 29-30 November 1 270.
56. ADN, B 1 528/ 1 2 1 5 (24 April 1259); ADN, B 1528/ 1294 (February 1262).
See also AHL, Lille Beguinage, B13 (21 September 1361); ADN, 1 62H
(22 April 1 367); ADN, 162H (25 February 1 368).
57. En rente et en terre, AMD, reg. AA92, 12 August 1 264, r-v. Other
accounts and receipts for this community at AHD, Wetz Hospital, 4/9 1 0 ,
1312-1646. Abbreviated accounts from 1 329 a t AHD, Wetz Hospital, 4/
9 1 1 ; accounts from 1 343-44 at AHD, Wetz Hospital, 4/9 12.
58. 5 muis, 2 rasieres, une coupe de terre et encore 4 bonniers et un quaregnon
de terre et sunt Ie muis, 7 ras et une coupe de bleit par an et une rasiere
d 'avaine, AMD, reg. AA92, 12 August 1264. The quittance presented by
the souveraine of the beguinage of Wetz in respect to the community's
accounts from 1340 notes that the house received des rentes de l 'hospital
des Wez . . . en capons, dousiens, mars, fiertons, auiwes et coreuwees, eskues
en l 'eskevinage de douay et en autre maniere, en quelconques lieu que ce soit,
AMD, FF673, 16 January 1340.
59. See AHD, Wetz Hospital, 3/85 1-70, 881-6, June 1264 to 24 October
1 496.
60. ADN, B 7730. Accounts from Lille are also at ADN, B 3685, 1 369-77.
61. De lospital Ie contesse sur leur heritage qui u la poticarie empr'es Ie porte
dudit hospital 4 sols 3 deniers, ADN, B 7730.
62. des bons enfans, ADN, B 7730.
63. De bure, de frommages, de menus grains verdins, fruis, prunes, poireaux,
oingnons, oings de pourceaulx en cest an tout despendu pour che, II livres,
ADN, B 7730.
64. Nicholas, 1987: 123. The only statistics available from Douai and Lille
are those provided by Martha Howell, who states that the day wages of a
master artisan in the building trades in Douai was 8 so us parisis in the
late fourteenth century and 10 sous in the mid- and late-fifteenth century;
see Howell, 1993: 94.
1 3 Franciscan educational
perspectives: reworking
monastic traditions
Bert Roest
The current emphasis in studies on mendicant education is on the

organization of mendicant studia, their links with the universities and
their embrace of the university scholarly curriculum. This emphasis
has lead to a relative neglect of elements of mendicant education that
fall outside the scholarly curriculum at the mendicant schools, and
stands in the way of an understanding of the relationship between the
curricular studies and other educational aspects of the mendicant
religious life. Mendicant mysticism and spirituality have received
serious scholarly attention for more than a century. Yet the studies on
these aspects of mendicant religious life are done relatively
independently from studies on mendicant schools and studies on
mendicant speculative theology. The latter tend to postulate a
dichotomy between monastic and scholastic learning. Whereas
monastic learning would have centred on the acquisition of wisdom
(sapientia), through the process of reading-meditation-contemplation,
scholastic learning would have been directed towards science
(scientia), through the process of reading-disputation-preaching.
The speed with which the mendicants gained access to the university,
as well as the role of the mendicants in the pastoral offensive of the
thirteenth century (which asked for well-educated doctrinal preachers
and inquisitors), makes it easy to depict these orders as well-organized
bodies of professional students. It should not be forgotten, however,
that these orders remained religious movements. Each of them
subscribed to a religious Rule, and inherited many traditions and
religious concepts from older monks and regular canons.
In this chapter, I limit myself to one of these movements, the
Franciscans. To provide a proper context for the pursuit of learning in
this order, it seems most productive to concentrate on some
Franciscan educational perspectives and the way in which Franciscan
educators inherited, applied and reworked received monastic educa
tional ideas. Since a thorough treatment of these matters would
require a book-length exposition, this chapter only touches on two
areas: the religious formation of novices and friars in Franciscan
Franciscan educational perspectives 169
communities, and the persistence of wisdom ideals transgressing the

scholastic view of theology and reaching back to older notions of
religious education.
The scholarly context: access to the schools
Although the Franciscan school system did not emerge as quickly as its
Dominican counterpart, developments were well under way during
Francis of Assisi's last years. Important study houses were established
in Bologna ( 1 220-23), Montpellier and Toulouse (between 1223 and
1225), Oxford (between 1224 and 1229) and Paris (c. 1230). Alongside
these study houses more elementary theological schools appeared in
many of the larger Franciscan settlements, notably in the Italian,
southern French and English provinces.
A variety of sources indicates that a multi-levelled study organiza
tion began to emerge from the 1230s onwards. By the end of the
thirteenth century the educational organization of the Franciscan
order in nearly all order provinces had developed into a veritable
hierarchically structured network of schools. 1 Besides the many
schools in individual friaries meant for the lifelong instruction of
friars by the community lector, most or nearly all provinces had so
called studia particularia at the custodial and the provincial level.
These custodial and provincial schools were intended to provide young
friars after their novitiate with training in the arts and theology. Every
province was further entitled to send a selected number of its friars to
one of the studia generalia of the order for more advanced theological
studies.
Religious formation of novices and friars
It is commonly assumed that the character of the Franciscan

movement changed radically with the clericalization of the order and
the access to the schools. Historians like to single out pivotal
developments to illustrate the quick transgression from a band of
penitents to a well-organized movement of professional clerics. The
most well-known are the deposition of Elias and the suppression of the
uneducated lay element in 1239; the educational reforms under Albert
of Pisa and Haymo of Faversham; and the final push towards an order
of learned clerics under the leadership of Bonaventure (minister
general between 1257 and 1273).2
These developments notwithstanding, the religious life of individual
friars and the organization of the Franciscan communal life after
c. 1260 were not geared solely to scholarly and pastoral activities. For
this, we can begin with a closer look at Franciscan novice training and
the subsequent religious education of friars outside the schools.
170 Bert Roest
Novice training
The Franciscan Rules of 122 1 and 1223 already pay attention to the
acceptance of new postulants, in accordance with the bull Cum
secundum (1220) of Pope Honorius III (1216-27) (Sbaralea, 1759-68:
I, 60; d. Bernarello, 1961: 37). Those who wanted to join the order
ordinarily were expected to absolve a novitiate period which lasted a
year. During this period, the postulant had to be initiated in the basics
of the Franciscan way of life.3 After the end of the novitiate, the novice
could be admitted to the profession of obedience and be allowed to
exchange his novitiate clothes for the friar's habit.4
The Franciscan order began as a movement for adults. Neither the
Rules nor early Rule commentaries paid much attention to the influx of
young postulants.5 Looking at subsequent constitutions, it would seem
that matters changed very slowly. The 1260 Narbonne constitutions
still took eighteen years as a minimum age for incoming friars.
Younger boys from fifteen years or older could only be accepted in
exceptional circumstances. Only the 1316 constitutions lowered the
age of admittance to fourteen. The 1325 statutes of Lyon and the
Farinarian constitutions of 1354 finally repeated this minimum age. In
addition, these later constitutions mentioned oblates. These could be
presented by their parents at a younger age (Oliger, 1915: 394-400; d.
Moorman, 1952: 106-7).6 Other sources, however, such as Franciscan
chronicles and saints' lives, as well as accusations by Parisian secular
masters, tell a different story, indicating that legislation and practice
could differ significantly. Based on such 'non-official' evidence, we can
deduce that from the 1 240s onwards it became more common to
receive fourteen-year-old postulants, and even much younger children
and oblates (d. Oliger, 1917: 271-88; MoUat, 1955: 195-6). Only the
fifteenth-century Observants were far less eager to accept oblates
(pueri ob/ali) and mere children.
The influx of adolescents motivated the friars to take the novitiate
period very seriously.7 Hence we see the emergence of the novice
master around 1240, followed shortly by the youth master (magister
iuvenum), responsible for younger friars under the age of twenty. In
addition, it became customary to select one or two friaries within each
custody to take care of incoming novices.8 These centres often housed
the custodial schools, where young friars could receive additional
training in the arts and theology after their novitiate. Young friars
would be under continual surveillance, first by the novice master and
thereafter by the magister iuvenum and the student master (the
magister studentium, who was responsible for the scholarly progress of
students) (Brlek, 1942: 67).
Interesting for my present purpose is the emphasis in sources
concerned with novice training. Franciscan novices were not expected
to devote their probation time to rigorous studies of philosophy or
theology. Instead, they should devote their novitiate to learn the divine
office and to internalize fully the basic principles of their chosen
vocation. This vocation was identified a s the life o f evangelical

perfection. It comprised complete discipline over body and mind,
which had to be geared towards poverty, humility, obedience, self
negation and the love of God. To implement the internalization of
these requirements, Franciscan novices were subjected to forms of
communal religious instruction, manual labour and exercises in private
reading, prayer and meditation (d. Barone, 1978: 229).
To facilitate all this, specific manuals and treatises began to appear.
Of fundamental importance was a group of writings that have come
down to us under the collective title De exterioris et interioris
compositione hominis. This conglomerate contains a Formula de
compositione hominis exterioris ad novitios, a Formula de interioris
hominis reformatione ad proficientes, and De septem processibus
religiosorum. All of these works were written by David of Augsburg
(c. 1200-72), who was novice master of the Regensburg friary in the
1240s. They were originally intended to guide novices and young friars
in Regensburg and other friaries in the Strasbourg Province. These
three treatises, both together and separately, soon found their way all
over Europe, occasionally in combination with other works by the
same author. All of them became the objects of reworkings and
translations between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. They
became instrumental in the dissemination of 'Franciscan' religious
ideas among male and female religious and lay communities alike.
Inspired by Gregory the Great's (c.540-604) theme of three levels
leading to religious perfection (which was also taken up in William of
St Thierry's (c. 1085 - 1 1 48) Epistola ad fratres de Monte Dei), David of
Augsburg's Formula deals with the edification of exterior man, by
means of simple behaviour guidelines and instruments to strengthen
the virtues and to avoid vice. The complementary Formula de interioris
hominis reformatione ad proficientes and De septem processibus
religiosorum explain the subsequent stages of religious perfection
from the viewpoint of interior man. The Formula stresses the reform
of the powers of the soul - reason, memory and will - which are
hampered by sin. Through their spiritual reform, man's soul once more
can become a true image of God.9 De septem processibus religiosorum
provides a sevenfold progression of spiritual man, leading to
perfection. Though initially also presented as a further step in novice
training, this treatise refers in its more elevated spiritual stages to the
mature religious. lO
Of comparable importance to David's instruction manuals was the
Speculum discip/inae of Bernard of Bessa (fl. c. 1260), Bonaventure's
trusted secretary and socius. Bernard's SPeculum disciplinae, which for
a long time was ascribed to the minister general himself (as was
David's De exterioris et interioris compositione hominis), also concen
trates on the discipline of body and mind to arrive at a state of
evangelical perfection.ll Bernard argued, in accordance with Hugh of
St Victor's (t 1 14 1 ) De institutione novitiorum, that the exercise of
discipline formed the foundation of the proper religious life.12 His
172 Bert Roest
treatise therefore opens with the preparatory conditions for disciplin

ary training. 13 An internalization of these preparatory conditions, of
which humility is the most pressing,14 would strengthen the stamina of
the student of discipline.
The second section of the first part of the SPeculum disciplinae deals
with discipline itself. This section, which fills an additional twenty-five
chapters, defines the essence of discipline (once more with recourse
to Hugh of St Victor), 15 and touches on the ways in which discipline can
be maintained in all the different aspects of the religious life. These
ways range from prayer, confession and participation in the Divine
Office, to eating habits, bodily care, corporal exercise and the
comportment toward guests and strangers. 16 At the very end, the
Speculum disciplinae contains six additional chapters with general
Rules by which a friar must always abide. These are Rules with respect
to the friar's relationship with God, his attitude towards his fellow
friars and incoming postulants, and his dealings with received goodsY
Comparable themes are also emphasized in other works for novice
training, such as Bonaventure's influential Regula novitiorum, which
was meant to provide a solution to the acknowledged necessity to take
the novitiate period more seriously (Bonaventura, 1898a: 475-90). If
we can rely on John Capistran's 1452 letter of instruction to Albert
Puchelbach, the guardian of the Neurenberg friary, it seems that
fifteenth-century Observants dealing with the novitiate exhibited many
of the same concerns.18
These and comparable works of initiation trained novices to see all
their daily occupations, including basic activities such as eating and
sleeping, as a point of departure for spiritual exercises.19 The
incumbent friar should always give his undivided attention to all his
occupations - never should he give in to leisure (otium).20 Through
these reiterative daily activities he would acquire the knowledge and
the right disposition to live a proper religious life.21
The vision of religious life portrayed in these Franciscan works for
novice training was very much inspired by older monastic ideals, which
ultimately went back to the spiritual educational programmes of
Augustine, Gregory the Great, Benedict of Nursia, and Cassiodorus
(see Leclercq, 1975, 1990; Riche, 1982; Gehl, 1984). In that respect
there was a strong continuity between early and later medieval manuals
for novice training and their Franciscan counterparts. This also is
revealed in the immediate sources of David of Augsburg, Bernard of
Bessa, et al. Aside from the Bible (the Psalms and the Gospels in
particular), the major immediate sources for these authors were William
of St Thierry's Epistola ad fratres de Monte Dei, the spiritual writings of
Bernard of Clairvaux, and De institutione novitiorum of Hugh of St Victor
and Gerard Ithier. It shows that, with the transformation of the
Franciscan fraternity to a more regulated religious community, the
Franciscan life of evangelical perfection was not simply exchanged for a
life of professional scholarship, but modelled ideologically more along
the lines of later medieval monastic spirituality.22
Franciscan educational perspectives 1 73
Subsequent religious education
After absolving their novitiate, the intellectually more promising friars

would embark on curricular studies in the custodial schools and
beyond. Yet, apart from these curricular studies, all young friars would
continue to be immersed in the daily liturgical activities and religious
exercises of their community.23 Both novices and young friars needed
to get well acquainted with the various formulas of the Divine Office,
the Mass, and the accompanying Psalms, antiphons, hymns, readings
and responses. This included a thorough instruction in the use of the
breviary and the other liturgical books, in musical training, and in the
physical acts (genuflections, prostrations, processions, vigils) con
nected with the manifold liturgical moments (Dijk, 1969; Costa, 1982).
The friars were immersed in the intense liturgical rhythms of the day,
the week and the year. In the context of these liturgical celebrations,
friars would be exposed to thematic sermons that not only reiterated
doctrinal matters but also dealt with issues pertaining to religious
virtue.24
The daily schedule of novices and friars included hours for bodily
penance,25 private reading, meditation and prayer. Such activities
traditionally were presented as necessary pendants to the communal
liturgy.26 Ignatius Brady has shown that 'mental' prayer was an
intrinsic part of the Franciscan religious life from the very beginning.
It was regarded as spiritual food that nourished the soul.27 The
importance of this element of private devotion shines through in
Francis's own De religiosa habitatione in eremo, in the sections of
Franciscan saints' lives devoted to the teachings and the religious
habits of Franciscan saints, as well as in many important educative
writings of subsequent Franciscan authors.28
The friars should make themselves thoroughly acquainted with the
biblical books and devotional texts in their hours of private reading and
private meditation by committing these texts to memory in a
ruminative process. This reading process was complementary to the
structured exegesis in the order's schools of theology. In their hours of
private reading, Franciscan friars over the years not only learned by
heart the Psalms and large portions of other biblical books, but also a
range of other inspired writings that in one way or another testified to
God's might and benevolence. These private readings provided them
with additional tools for their hours of prayer and meditation after the
Midnight Office and in the early morning (the hours of silence),29
opening their souls to the contemplation of spiritual truth. In addition,
the concentration of the friars on these texts and their virtuous
message reduced the danger to succumb to alien influences in
moments of solitude.30
In the context of these various communal and private reading and
meditation exercises functioned a wealth of Franciscan spiritual works,
ranging from concise guidelines for spiritual edification to lengthy
treatises on evangelical perfection. Nearly all of them describe ways in
174 Bert Roest
which the theological virtues can be strengthened and in which the

soul can be made ready to receive sanctifying grace as a prerequisite
for the gift of true wisdom in the act of contemplation.
Very influential were David of Augsburg's prayer guides,31 as well as
his De septem processibus religiosorum mentioned before. As influential
were Bonaventure's manifold spiritual writings for the order, such as
his famous Itinerarium mentis in Deum and his De triplici via
(Bonaventura, 1891b; 1898f: 3-18). These works unfold a progress
in wisdom which is presented as a gift of the Holy Spirit. They
elaborate influential monastic conceptions of hierarchical ascent
inspired by Gregory the Great, William of St Thierry and, in particular,
Pseudo-Dionysius (c.500). Such conceptions subsume all ascetical,
devotional and doctrinal teachings to the goal of perfect knowledge of
the Divine and the union with God through love (Ruh, 1993: 412-31).
As such, these Franciscan spiritual writings provide a programme of
religious instruction valid for all friars, including those who studied
and taught at the higher study houses of the order.
Many of these more elevated spiritual and sometimes outright
mystical texts rework Bonaventurean and Pseudo-Dionysian spiritual
themes. For instance, this is the case with De laude Domini novi saeculi
and De investigatione Creatoris per creaturas of the Franciscan lector
from Munster Bertram of Ahlen (t after 1315) (Bihl, 1 947; cf. Ruh,
1978), as well as with the connected treatises of Berthold Kule, who
was active as lector in Cologne in the early fourteenth century.32 In the
same category we can place the Liber soliloquiorum of the Regensburg
lector Werner of Ratisbonne (t after 1290) (Pez, 1 724; Bonmann,
1 937), and the Septem itinera aeternitatis of Rudolf of Biberach
(c.1 270-1316). The latter, a learned, mystical compilation, presents
the ascent of the soul to the inner secrets of God, a process that would
restore the human soul as image of God (Rudolf of Biberach, 1985).33
These and other systematic works stand next to a more
heterogeneous text corpus that goes back to the oracular sayings
and proverbs of Francis's early followers. Very popular in this regard
were the so-called Dicta beati Aegidii, allegedly derived from Giles of
Assisi's oral teachings concerning prayer, devotion and the experience
of the Divine (Ruh, 1993: 403ff). Over the centuries, many of these
texts were translated, excerpted and reworked, to function in (male
and female) Franciscan houses and in tertiary communities as guides
to spiritual exercises.
Persisting ideals of religious wisdom
Another way to evaluate the context of studies in the Franciscan life is

provided by more extensive Franciscan writings on the objectives and
methods of learning. For this, we can have recourse to authors with
distinguished academic and para-academic careers, such as Bonaven
ture, Gilbert of Tournai (c. 1 2 1 0-88) and Matthew of Aquasparta
(c. 1240-1302), to name but a few. Because of limitations of space and

expertise, I will concentrate on Bonaventure's ideal of religious
education and his vision of the relationship between formalized studies
and other forms of religious learning.
Bonaventure had to defend the Franciscan position at the university
at Paris against the seculars, who found fault with the mendicant
dominance in the theology faculty and attacked the Franciscans for
harbouring heretical Joachimist views (see in particular Dufeil, 1972;
Douie, 1974). He had to defend the Franciscan pursuit of learning
against spiritually inclined friars, who were afraid that the access to
the schools was leading to the destruction of Franciscan simplicity (d.
also Bonaventura, 1898d: 451). He also saw himself forced to attack
the so-called Latin-Averroists or radical Aristotelians in Paris, who
claimed an autonomy of philosophical studies that Bonaventure was
not willing to accept (Dales, 1 989). These three intertwined
motivations tied in with his own deep-felt convictions concerning the
nature of theological knowledge and true wisdom, and concerning the
Franciscan way of life as an expression of evangelical perfection.34
Against those critics who found fault with the Franciscan presence at
the universities and the Franciscan pursuit of learning, Bonaventure
unfolded a salvation-historical rationale that was closely bound up with his
eschatological view of the Franciscan movement. While distancing himself
convincingly from those Joachimist views that threatened the existing
ecclesiastical order, Bonaventure was convinced that the Franciscans had
come near the end of time as a God-sent salvation army. In his eyes, the
history of the Franciscans was an analogous antitype of the history of the
Church itself, which had started with a few simple fishermen, but now had
learned doctors in its midst. Hence, the change of the movement from a
group of simple men to an order of learned doctors able to defend
Christian orthodoxy was in accordance with divine providence.35
Eventually, Bonaventure would develop these notions in his
Collationes in Hexaerneron into a full-blown theology of history, in
which he stressed the concordances between the process of salvation
in the course of time and the progressive insight in divine truth.36
Bonaventure's overall eschatological vision provided him not only
with arguments to support the Franciscan access to the schools, but
also with arguments to embed the curricular studies in a wider
perspective of Franciscan spirituality. Bonaventure indicated that
Francis had established the Franciscan order with a three-fold goal: to
imitate the life of Christ on earth, to engage in apostolic activities in
the world, and to contemplate God in a mystical way. These three
activities together formed the active and contemplative elements of
evangelical perfection according to the message of the Gospels and the
rule of Francis. Bonaventure made clear that the mendicant orders
both followed and distinguished themselves from previous monastic
movements, and that they prefigured a future order of spiritual men (of
which Francis already had been a true exemplar) to come after the
death of Antichrist.37
176 Bert Roest
The imitation of the life of Christ, the first and foremost goal of
minorite life, asked for an uncompromising embrace of poverty and
humility. The third goal (the mystical contemplation of God) asked for
a submission of body and soul to the discipline of asceticism, prayer
and meditation. The second goal, the apostolic mission, asked for the
study of Scripture as well as the ancillary arts and philosophical
sciences.38 Study itself therefore was part of a larger whole: one
important but limited way to fulfil the sapiential nature of man who was
created to know and to love his creator. Study should be seen in the
context of the apostolic mission of the order and man's objective to
contemplate divine truth. As study was a foundation for the apostolic
mission and for mystical contemplation, the spirit with which it was
taken on should be fully informed by a desire for God and compassion
for one's fellow men. Only then one could hope to reap the proper fruit
of these studies, namely wisdom and love (see Bonaventura, 189 1a:
420).
Bonaventure's own definition of wisdom made clear that study in
and of itself should be more than just a proficient use of logical
techniques and forms of formal reasoning. True wisdom was a light
descending from God in man, making the soul deiform and a house of
God, fully open towards eternal truths and the eternal forms.39 This
definition of wisdom as the proper fruit of study shows to what extent
the final aim of study in the Bonaventurean vision is dependent upon
grace and the correct disposition of mind and soul. This presupposes a
holy life according to the Franciscan precepts of poverty and humility.
The definition also shows to what extent study is itself an essential
element to engage in a fruitful mystical contemplation of God. Hence,
in Bonaventure's presentation, the three goals enshrined in the
Franciscan ideal are fully intertwined: the transition from mere
knowledge to true wisdom requires the practice of sanctity.40
Bonaventure could advocate the scientific stature of speculative
theology and the use of other sciences to perfect this science (indeed,
his academic writings forcefully confirm this). At the same time he
could negate the pursuit of the sciences for their own sake.
These and comparable themes also emerge in other Bonaventurean
writings in which the sanctifying aspects of the pursuit of Christian
perfection are central, such as the sermon De sancto Dominica, the
Itinerarium mentis in Deum and the Legenda major.41 These writings,
in one way or another, all make clear that Christian perfection consists
of the comprehension of truth and the practice of virtue. The
comprehension of truth is dependent upon the theological and
speculative virtues, which are purified in faith, illuminated in science
and perfected in contemplation. The practice of religious virtues,
which will make man clement, constant, humble and prudent, will
further ensure that the knowledge of truth will bequeath to man true
wisdom (Berube, 1976: 4-8, 260ff). Both the comprehension of truth
and the acquisition of true wisdom therefore are dependent on a life of
Christian perfection. The model for this life is given by the
mendicants, and in particular by Francis of Assisi, who had followed

the example of the suffering Christ to the very end. Francis is
presented as the perfect imitator of Christ, who by means of his love
and emulation of the Saviour, his fervent prayer, and his ecstatic
meditation of the Scriptures received a spiritual intelligence of the
divine word, which transgressed philosophical and theological spec
ulation. In the final instance, constant prayer, meditation and the
exercise of the virtues would enable man to exceed the knowledge
obtained by the discursive methods of philosophy and theology.42 This
not only downplayed the importance of curricular studies, but also, in
principle, legitimized the access to a spiritual intelligence by those
who were denied access to the schools to begin with, like the Poor
Clares and the beguines.
Conclusion
Comparable educational perspectives can be found in a wide range of

other Franciscan writings not mentioned in this chapter. They were
composed either for the instruction of novices and friars, or for the
instruction of Poor Clares, tertiaries and the lay population at large.
We are, in fact, dealing with a heterogeneous corpus varying from basic
texts for beginners in devotional exercises to deep-probing works of
speculative mysticism. Texts like these fuelled the devotional and
mystical discourse of Franciscan textual communities that comprised
not only the learned clerical friars, but also a varying cloud of fellow
travellers. Most importantly for our present purpose, the spiritual
educational programmes put forward in these texts (which reached
back to influential Cistercian and Victorine educational models)
embedded the pursuit of studies in a wider, fundamentally religious
context.43
Notes
1 . See Felder, 1904; Brlek, 1942, as well as my forthcoming book on

Franciscan education.
2. On this movement of clericalization see in particular Landini, 1968.
3. In the early Franciscan movement, the initiation of new postulants was
done by Francis himself. Cf. Thomas of Celano, 1926-41: 4 1 .
4 . For more details concerning the legal aspects o f these matters, the way
in which they were dealt with in canon law, the Rules of 1221 and 1 223,
and in subsequent Franciscan Rule commentaries and order regulations,
see Boni, 1996: 2 1 1-64.
5. In contrast with the Poor Clares, the 1 253 Rule expressively provides
regulations for girls under twelve who are being accepted. See Oliger,
1915: 394.
6. The pueri oblati should be distinguished from mature oblates, who were
adults who offered themselves with their possessions to a monastery or a
178 Bert Roest
friary, in order to live a religious life in service of that religious

community.
7. Boys coming in at a very young age - say nine - would not immediately
have entered the novitiate stage. They first would receive a rudimentary
education in the Franciscan grammar schools before entering their
novitiate at a time deemed appropriate by the guardian and the novice
master.
8. This is confirmed by the Narbonne Constitutions of 1260. Cf. Bertinato,
1954: 80ff; Bernarello, 1961: 38-9.
9. David informs us that: Interior reformatio in spiritu mentis consistit, quia
et interior homo et imago Dei est mens rationalis . . . interior autem homo . . .
renovatur et proficit in similitudinem eius, ad cuius imaginem creatus est.
David of Augsburg, 1899: 88.
10. See in particular Bernarello, 1961: 24-6; Ruh, 1993: 526-31 .
1 1. Bernard o f Bessa ( 1 898): 583-622. Cf. Bernarello, 1961: 39f.
12. Nam, ut ait Hugo de sancto Victore, usus disciplinae ad virtutem animum
dirigit, virtus autem ad beatitudinem perducit; ac per hoc, inquit,
exercitium disciplinae esse debet inchoatio, virtus perfectio, praemium
virtutis aeterna beatitudo. Bernard of Bessa, 1898: 583.
13. Praeparatoria sunt per modum principii, medii et postremi depositio
vetustatis, stabilitas mentis adversus tentationes diaboli et subiectionis
humilitas. Primum praeparationem inchoat, secundum continuat, tertium
vero consumat. Servanda erit ubique maiorum et minorum paragraphorum
distinctio ad seriei et ordinis evidentiam ampliorem. Bernard of Bessa,
1898: 584.
14. In the first section of the SPeculum disciplinae, the depositio vetustatis
and the constantia mentis both receive a small chapter. The subjectionis
humilitas, however, receives a fuller treatment in four chapters.
15. Disciplina est, ut ait Hugo, conversatio bona et honesta, cui parum est mala
non agere, sed studet etiam in his quae bene agit, per cuncta
irreprehensibilis apparere. Item, disciplina est omnium membrorum motus
ordinatus et dispositio decens in omni habitu et actione. Bernard of Bessa,
1898: 591.
16. Bernard of Bessa, 1898: 591-614.
17. Principalia huius opusculi expedita, secundaria haec pauca epilogat et
supplet quaedam, ut novi discipuli Christi, qualiter ad Deum, ad se, ad
proximum et ad res etiam, quas aliquando servare vel tractare contingit, se
habeant; quibus differentiarum indiciis de sua conversione discernant;
qualiter denique ipsi ad professionem recepti se gerere debeant, vel breviter
in aliquibus instruantur. Pars Secunda, Quae de Generali exhortatione
loquitur. Bernard of Bessa, 1898: 6 1 5-22; 6 15.
18. Albert had just received no fewer than thirty-four novices in the
aftermath of Capistran's preaching tour through the German lands.
Albert was asked to ensure that the novices learned how to sing (without
spending too much time on it), to meditate, to confess their sins and to
engage regularly in mental prayer: 1. Placet mihi, quod Novitii discant
cantare; magis tamen placeret, ut discerent plorare et orationi vacare; quia
quotidie cantare parit nobis Fratrum penuriam, mentem vagam deducit, et
adeo tempus consumit, ut nullus vestrum evadere possit in officio
praedicandi clarus et peritus; 2. Item, quod Magister saepenumero hortetur
Novitios suos, docatque meditari Passionem Christi, propriam miseriam,
diem mortis, infernales poenas, propria peccata perpetrata, et gloriam post
poenitentiam eis repromissam; 3. Item, quod Novitii bis saltem in
hebdomada confiteantur, revelando malas phantasias et cogitationes, ut

tentati ad vomitum non redeant; 4. Item, quod singulis diebus faciant
coronam beatae Mariae virgin is cum septem meditationibus; 10. Item, quod
instituatur pro Novitiis una hora pro oratione mentali, ut discant
semetipsos cognoscere . . . et alias devotas Orationes faciant quotidie.
Wadding, 1932: XII, 1 83-5. Cf. Nicholas Glassberger, 1887: 342.
19. Et sicut Bernardus dicit: 'Cum comedis, non totus comedas, sed attendas
lectioni, si fueris in loco, ubi legatur; si vero non legitur, ibidem cogita de
Deo, ut uterque homo sit propria refectione refectus. Bonaventura, 1898e:
48 1 ; In lecto autem sic positus, donee somnus te occupet, dicas Psalmos, vel
aliud utile meditare, vel quod utilius est, imaginare Iesum in cruce
pendentem. Quod si sollicite cogitabis, vix aut numquam poterit te diabolus
molestare. Bonaventura, 1 898e: 483.
20. Stude semper expendere tempus tuum aut in oratione, aut in lectione, aut in
bona meditatione, aut in servitiis. Bonaventura, 1898e: 476a; In his ergo
maxime exerce te, scilicet in frequenti et ferventi oratione et lectione et in
servitiis, et per ista tria tota vita tua decurrat, ut semper ores, aut legas, aut
servias, et potissime senibus, forensibus et infirm is; et perfectis servitiis, non
stes cum Fratribus otiosus, sed statim vade ad cellam, ut ibi ores vel legas, et
sta in ea quotidie usque ad Tertiam. Bonaventura, 1898e: 484; Numquam
otio turpeant, sed semper aut lectioni, aut orationi, vel officio addiscendo,
aut aliis, non quae ipsi elegerint, sed quae iniuncta fuerint, faciendis
intendant. Bernard of Bessa, 1898: 6 1 7 .
21. Scientiam, quae a d institutionem recte e t honeste vivendi pertinet, multis
modis hominem colligere et comparare sibi oportet: partim ratione, partim
doctrina, partim exemplo, partim meditatione sanctarum Scripturarum,
partim assidua inspectione operum et morum suorum. Bernard of Bessa,
1898: 591.
22. For a more detailed analysis of these and other works of David of
Augsburg, Bernard of Bessa and Bonaventure see in particular Bertinato,
1954 and Bernarello, 1961, mentioned before. These scholars also
discuss the monastic sources used by these Franciscan authors, and with
the main characteristics of the Franciscan life of evangelical perfection
rising up from their works. See also Heerinckx, 1933.
23. According to the third chapter of the Regula non bullata ( 1221), the
clerical friars would absolve their liturgical obligations in accordance
with their clerical status, whereas the lay friars had to say the Creed and
the Pater Noster twenty-four times. The third chapter of the Regula
bullata of 1223 indicated that clerical friars would absolve the Divine
Office according to the ordo sanctae romanae Ecclesiae.
24. We can, for instance, refer to the many sermons de sanctis held in
Franciscan communities in which the moral and theological virtues of
Franciscan saints were dealt with in depth.
25. Bernarello, 196 1 : 51ft. To my knowledge a thorough study on Franciscan
activities of bodily mortification has not yet been undertaken.
26. Monastic authors maintained that not only personal prayer and
meditation were rooted in the biblical message, but also the Mass and
the Divine Office. Cf. Wilmart, 1 9 7 1 : 1 3-25.
27. Cf. Bougerol, 1977: Sermo I Domin. , I in Quadr.: Sicut corpus indiget
recreari et sustentari cibo materiali, sic spiritus cibo spirituali, qui quidem
cibus est verbum Dei quod reficit spiritum.
28. Thus the SPeculum disciplinae insists that the novice (both during his
novitiate and throughout his life as a friar) should spend at least one hour
180 Bert Roest
a day in mental prayer (Brady, 1951). The emphasis on mental prayer

and meditation shines through many Franciscan saints' lives.
29. Concerning these hours of silence after Compline usque post Pretiosa, see
Bihl, 1941: 56.
30. Lectionibus quoque divinis est anima nutrienda . . . De quotidiana lectione
aliquid quotidie in ventrem memoriae dimittendum est, quod fidelius
digeratur et sursum revocatum crebrius ruminetur, quod proposito
conveniat, quod intentioni proficiat, quod detineat animum, ut aliena
cogitare non libeat. Bernard of Bessa, 1898: 594.
31. Namely his Tractatus de oratione and his De septem gradibus orationis.
32. Among his works we count the Tractatus de pulchritudine anime et eius
deformatione, the Tractatus de extrema hora, De revelatione filii
perditionis, De tempore mortis eiusque incertitudine, and De iudicio proprie
conscientie. Cf. Bihl, 1947: 3-31.
33. For its abundant use of monastic and patristic authorities, and regarding
how the work was received until the eighteenth century, see Schmidt,
1992.
34. Cf. also Bonaventura, 1898a. The best introduction to these aspects is
provided by Berube, 1 9 76: 97-162, 258-82.
35. Quodsi verba philosophorum aliquando plus valent ad intelligentiam
veritatis et confutationem errorum, non deviat a puritate aliquando in his
studere, maxime cum multae sint quaestiones fidei, quae sine his non
possunt terminari . . . hoc est, quod me fecit vitam beati Francisci maxime
diligere, quia similis est initio et perfectioni Ecclesiae, quae primo incepit a
piscatoribus simplicibus et postmodum profecit ad doctores clarissimos et
peritissimos. Bonaventura, 1898c: 335-6.
36. The logical and eschatological outcomes of these concordances would be
the direct contemplation of the Divine by the beatified. Bonaventure's
unfinished Collationes in Hexaemeron breaks off before this is fully
addressed. Cf. Ratzinger, 1959.
37. In ordine contemPlantium sunt tres ordines . . . Intendunt autem divinis
tripliciter, quidam per modum supplicatorium, quidam per modum
speculatorium, quidam per modum sursumactivum . . . Primo modo sunt
illi qui se totius dedicant orationi et devotioni et divinae laudi . . . ut
Cirsterciensis [ordo], Praemonstratensis, Carthusiensis, Grandimontensis,
Canonici Regulares. Secundus est qui intendit per modum . . . speculativum,
ut illi qui vacant Scripturae . . . Huic respondent Cherubim. Hi sunt
Praedicatores et Minores. Alii principaliter intendunt speculationi . . . et
postea unctioni. Alii principaliter unctioni et postea speculationi. Tertius
ordo est vacantium Deo secundum modum sursumactivum, sc. exstaticum
seu excessivum. Quis enim iste est? Iste est ordo seraphicus. De isto videtur
fuisse Franciscus. See Bonaventura, 1891a: 440. For Bonaventure's
vision of Francis as the forerunner of the seraphic order of spiritual men,
see Clasen, 1962; Roest, 1998: 206-9.
38. See Bonaventura, 1898b: 338-9, and also his De reductione artium ad
theologiam, which not only affirms that all human sciences can nourish
theology, but also demonstrates how the multiformis sapientia Dei, quae
lucide traditur in sacra scriptura, occultatur in omni natura (Bonaventura,
1891c, no. 25). The liberal arts and the natural sciences perfect man in
his intelligible being. For him these disciplines are a Lumen exterius,
scilicet artis mechanicae; Lumen inferius, scilicet cognitionis sensitivae;
Lumen interius, scilicet lumen cognitionis Philosophiae (quod illuminat ad
veritatis intelligibiles perscrutandas) [which can be divided into the
logical, natural and moral disciplines] ; Lumen superioris, scilicet lumen

gratiae et sacrae scripturae (Bonaventura, 1891c). The first three lights
pertain to the level of natural inventio. The fourth pertains to the
inspiration that leads to salvation. All forms of inspired knowledge feed
theology, in the sense that they facilitate proper theological knowledge.
Cf. Gneo, 1 969. The Augustinian concept of the sciences as handmaidens
of theology is also clearly expressed in Bacon's Opus majus. Cf. Berube,
1976: 56f; Lindberg, 1 987. Bacon was more optimistic about the
exploration and use of these sciences than Bonaventure.
39. Sapientia est lux descendens a Patre luminum in an imam et radians in
eam, facit animam deiformem et domum Dei. Ista lux descendens facit
intellectivam speciosam, affectivam amoenam, operativam robustam. See
Bonaventura, 189 1a: 329. On the role of illumination in mid-thirteenth
century religious epistemology see Berube, 1973: II, 627-54; 1976: 201-
57.
40. Non est ergo securus transitus a scientia ad sapientiam; oportet ergo
medium ponere, scilicet, sanctitatem. See Bonaventura, 1891a: 420. Cf.
also his remark Transitus autem a scientia ad sapientiam est exercitium:
excercitatio a studio scientiae ad studium sanctitatis, et a studio sanctitatis
ad studium sapientiae. See Bonaventura, 1891a: 420.
41. Berube, following Ratzinger and Bougerol, postulates that Bonaventure's
later writings increasingly stress the spiritual and mystical aspects of
religious learning, gradually moving away from the more rationalist
stance in his Sentences Commentary. Cf. Berube, 1976: 102ff, 258ff.
42. Bonaventura, 1 926-4 1 : 605: Ad tantam autem mentis serenitatem
indefessum oration is studium cum continua exercitatione virtutum virum
Dei perduxerat, ut, quamvis non habuerit sacrarum litterarum peritiam per
doctrinam, aeternae tamen lucis irradiatus fulgoribus, Scripturarum
profunda miro intellectus scrutaretur acumine . . . Legebat quandoque in
libris sacris, et quod animo semel iniecerat, tenaciter imprimebat memoriae,
quia non frustra mentalis attentionis percipiebat auditu quod continuae
devotion is ruminabat affectu . . . Nec absonum, si vir sanctus Scripturarum
a Deo intellectum acceperat, cum per imitationem Christi perfectam
veritatem ipsarum gestaret in opere et per sancti Spiritus unctionem
plenariam doctorem earum apud se haberet in corde. In the Itinerarium
mentis in Deum and De triplici via, this vision is reworked into a
programme of spiritual ascent through the practice of virtues, prayer and
meditation, to the contemplation of the divine. Cf. Berube, 1976: 2 8 1 .
43. I would like t o express m y thanks t o the Royal Dutch Academy o f Arts
and Sciences for the financial support that made this research possible.
In addition, I would like to acknowledge my appreciation of Dr Carolyn
Muessig's initiative in organizing such a wonderful conference on
monastic education.
1 4 Monastic educational culture
revisited: the witness of
Zwiefalten and the Hirsau
reform
Constant ]. Mews
In The Love of Learning and the Desire for God, originally presented as a
series of lectures for young monks in Rome in 1955-56, Dom Jean
Leclercq, OSB, argued with elegance and literary flair that monastic
culture in the Middle Ages was characterized by a contemplative focus,
fundamentally different from that pursued in non-monastic schools. In
his view, the cloister fostered a theology that was contemplative in
character and quite distinct from the pastorally oriented theology
taught in urban schools. Monks acquired their religious formation, he
held, not from a scholastic using the quaestio, but under the guidance
of an abbot or spiritual father within a liturgical context (Leclercq,
1982a: 2).1 Leclercq's thesis of a great divide between monastic and
scholastic culture has a seductive simplicity. It interprets the confronta
tion between Abelard and Bernard of Clairvaux as epitomizing the tension
between two very different ways of doing theology: one contemplative and
mystical, the other based on the quaestio (Leclercq, 1982a: 208-9). While
not denying the legitimacy of scholastic theology, Leclercq did not
disguise his preference for the thought of the cloister as 'less affected by
the concerns of the moment' (Leclercq, 1982a: 224). In a paper written in
1981, he commented that while scholasticism was of only 'temporary'
interest, the literature of monastic theology would have an enduring
legacy because of its appeal to 'human experience' and its 'enduring
beauty' ( 1982b: 87).2 Leclercq did much to promote the study of twelfth
century monastic authors as providing an alternative to what he feared
was the potential aridity of scholastic theological discussion, just as the
writings of his friend, Thomas Merton, helped renew interest in
contemplative spirituality in the second half of the twentieth century.
Leclercq's argument that underpinning the diversity of individual
monastic writings there was a single underlying 'monastic theology',
quite distinct from that of the schools, is problematic. The central
figure whom he presented as the embodiment of this 'monastic
The witness of Zwiefalten and the Hirsau reform 183
theology' was Bernard of Clairvaux. Certainly, the disputes with

Abelard and Gilbert of Poitiers in which Bernard became embroiled
lend support to the notion that Bernard may have perceived the
meditative values of the cloister as under threat from a questioning,
analytic spirit. Leclercq's division between scholastic and monastic
theology is much less able, however, to come to terms with the
writings of Anselm of Bec, who makes extensive use of the quaestio to
unravel knotty questions both of language and of theology. What are we
to make of monastic interest in the thought of Hugh of St Victor, who
similarly combines the quaestio with monastic ideals of contemplation?
Bernard's distinct interpretation of the monastic life cannot be
taken as representative of monastic educational culture as a whole
during the twelfth century (or in any other period, for that matter).
Texts of scholastic theology were frequently copied in monastic
libraries. The 1472 library catalogue of Clairvaux, for example,
contained a large collection of libri speculative theologie, including
the earliest known copy of the Four Books of Sentences of Peter
Lombard (Troyes, Bibliotheque municipale 286), produced at Clair
vaux c. 1 1 59, only a few years after the work had been completed.3
While Abelard's writings never circulated as widely as those of
Bernard, a significant proportion survive in Benedictine libraries.4
Gilbert of Poitiers was another non-monastic author whose difficulties
with Bernard of Clairvaux in 1 1 48 did not stop his writings from
circulating in monastic as well as non-monastic libraries.5 Otto of
Freising, who had been the first Cistercian abbot of Morimond before
becoming a bishop, gently criticized Bernard for not understanding the
subtlety of Gilbert's theology, and was celebrated for being one of the
first scholars to introduce new texts of Aristotle into Germany.6 Peter
Classen has already observed how many early scholastic texts are to be
found in monastic libraries in Bavaria and Austria, where the surviving
deposit of twelfth-century manuscripts is particularly rich (Classen,
1 959). The concept of 'monastic theology' imposes a degree of cultural
uniformity on twelfth-century monasticism which is difficult to sustain
from the evidence of manuscripts and library catalogues.
The Hirsau reform
The emphasis that Leclercq placed on the Cistercian movement of

monastic reform, as well as on rhetorical claims that there was a great
spiritual divide between the world of the cloister and of the schools,
inevitably placed a great deal of emphasis on the situation in France
where this rivalry became particularly pronounced in the twelfth
century. Much less well known to English-speaking students is the
reform movement promoted in south-western Germany by William of
Hirsau (c. 1026-9 1). Brought up at St Emmeram, Regensburg, under
the influence of Otloh ( 1010-c.1070), William was remembered by his
biographer as having the rare quality of being both learned and
184 Constant J. Mews
religious (Wattenbach, 1856: 22, 2 19).7 He composed dialogues on

both music (in which he criticized the opinions of Boethius and Guido
of Arrezo) and astronomy.8 After becoming abbot at Hirsau in 1069,
William asked his friend Ulrich of ZeU to send him the customs of
Cluny, on which he based his own Constitutiones Hirsaugienses
(William of Hirsau, 1881: 927- 1 1 46).9 Although William's reforms
are often described as 'neo-Cluniac' , they differed in some important
ways from those of Cluny. William never adopted the full complexities
of its elaborate liturgy or its system of subordinating houses to the
authority of a single abbot. Abbeys influenced by Hirsau were free to
adapt a kernel of common liturgical practices according to their own
needs.Io William had a horror of being venerated for his abbatial
dignity, and was much involved in promoting the religious life through
his preaching to women as well as men (Kiisters, 1985: 102-14).
Our understanding of the educational culture promoted by William
at Hirsau, and at the houses influenced by his reforms in the late
eleventh and early twelfth century, has been severely impaired by the
destructive wars that ravaged monastic communities in south-western
Germany in the seventeenth century. Our problems are compounded
by the fact that for much of our knowledge of the Hirsau reform we are
largely dependent on the testimony of Johannes Trithemius ( 1462-
1 516), the bibliophile abbot of Sponheim, sometimes accused of being
an unreliable historian.!1 Only by patiently exploring those manu
scripts that do survive and matching them against his testimony can we
learn to evaluate what he has to say.
One of the many German monastic houses which may have been
influenced by the Hirsau reforms is the Abbey of St Disibod, officially
founded in 1 108 by archbishop Ruthard with monks from the Mainz
abbeys of St James and St Alban. Its Hirsau affiliations, often
suspected, have recently been confirmed by Felix Heinzer, who has
observed that a liturgical manuscript from Disibodenberg (Engelberg,
Ms 103) incorporates the Hirsau liber ordinarius.!2 St Disibod is most
well-known for the fact that Hildegard spent the first forty years of her
life there as a recluse, initially under the tutelage of Jutta ( 1 092-1 136)
and Volmar, the monk deputed to be her magister (see Carolyn
Muessig, Chapter 8). While we know very little for certain about the
kind of educational culture to which Hildegard would have been
exposed at St Disibod, we can gain some idea of the type of monastic
culture valued there by the extended attention its chronicle gives to
Bec as a centre for both the liberal arts and sacred studies under
Anselm. The chronicler lists all the writings of Anselm, including a
letter that he believes had been sent to William of Hirsau.l3
The Library of Hirsau
Although relatively few manuscripts from the abbey of Hirsau have

survived, it is evident from William of Hirsau's monastic constitutions
that great importance was attached to the maintenance of the library

and the work of transcription.14 A twelfth-century library catalogue,
transcribed by Johannes Parsimonius ( 1525-88), fourth evangelical
abbot of Hirsau and edited by Gottfried Lessing in the eighteenth
century, is particularly valuable in allowing us to glimpse its
character.15 Parsimonius seems to have had access to important
manuscripts of Hirsau not known to Trithemius. 16 The catalogue
begins with the rubric:
Books of the most distinguished authors of the Church of the
library of Hirsau, copied by hand with great labour and greatest
expense and assembled almost all in the time of the aforemen
tioned father William [ 1 069-9 1] and his successors, Bruno
[ 1 105-2 1 ] , Volmar [ 1 1 2 1-57] and Manegold [ 1 157-65 ] , without
doubt an incomparable treasure.
The first part lists various authors chronologically: Josephus, Origen,
Tertullian, Cyprian, Hilary, Augustine, Jerome, Orosius, John Chry
sostom, Athanasius, Cassian, Cassiodorus, Isidore, Bede, Alcuin,
Raban Maur, Haimo, Anselm of Canterbury, Peter Damian, Hermann
[of Reichenau] , Bernold [of Constance] , William of Hirsau and finally 'a
certain monk of Hirsau known as Peregrinus' . A second list follows,
mentioning various glosses on biblical books, Hugh [of St Victor] , De
sacramentis in two volumes, Letters of Popes Gregory II and IV, two
volumes of canons, books of canons and papal decrees; Prosper, De
contemplativa vita; Didymus, De spiritu sancto; Paschasius, De corpore
et sanguine Domini; and finally 'various chronicles and historical books
. . . and in sum truly many books whose titles and authors I have not
wanted to write down'.
While many of these Hirsau volumes have not survived, many of the
same authors are present in the Library of Zwiefalten, a community of
both monks and nuns, founded in 1089 as an early offshoot of Hirsau.
The Abbey expanded significantly under the governance of abbot
Ulrich I (1095- 1 139). From around 1 100 there was a separate
community of women under their own magistra at Zwiefalten, a few
hundred metres from the men's community. By 1 138, Berthold reports
that Zwiefalten counted some seventy monks, one hundred and thirty
lay brothers and sixty-two nuns (pertz 1844: 10, 160). Karl Loffler
identified no fewer than 285 surviving manuscripts from this abbey, all
but four of them preserved in the Wurttembergische Landesbibliothek,
Stuttgart; this research is reproduced by Kramer in her inventory of
medieval libraries (Loffler, 1931; Kramer, 1989: I, 866-72).
Just over one hundred can be dated to the twelfth century. (The
other great period of scribal activity was in the fifteenth century.) What
makes this collection particularly valuable is that a significant number
of them carry inscriptions written in the characteristic hand of its
chronicler and librarian, Ortlieb, enabling them to be dated to before
1 140. Some idea of the relative levels of literacy in the male and female
communities is suggested by the fact that the twelfth-century
necrology (Cod. Hist. 2 ° 420) mentions just two scribes: (fol. 4v)
Mahtilt de Nifen conversa congregationis. Ista multos libros sancte Marie
conscripsit, and (fol. 15v) Albertus monacus nostre congregationis.
ScribaY The statement that Mathilda of Nifen 'wrote many books of St
Mary' is of particular interest for what it implies about levels of literacy
in the female community. Not all the nuns may have been as skilled in
copying as Mathilda. Nonetheless, it is noteworthy that the author of
the obituary saw fit to single out the contribution of a female conversa
as well as that of a monk. The variety of hands that copy these
manuscripts suggests that there must have been more than just two
scribes active in the twelfth century (Loffler, 1 931 : 8).
The only manuscripts of Zwiefalten that have so far received critical
attention are those with art historical interest.18 There can be no
doubt, however, that it possessed an exceptionally well-endowed
library. Certain codices copied before the twelfth century seem to have
been brought to the Abbey at its foundation.l9 If the twelfth-century
manuscripts are extracted from Kramer's list, we can derive a good
picture of its library. As no printed catalogue of the Codices Theologici in
the Landesbibliothek has ever been produced, it is likely that further
research will uncover more treasures. Nonetheless, even a preliminary
glance at the twelfth-century manuscripts of Zwiefalten reveals a number
of the authors mentioned in the Hirsau catalogue, as well as many others:
Karlsruhe, Badisches Generallandersarchiv, 65/ 1 1962 Isidore (frag
ment), c. 1 1 50/65
Karlsruhe, Badisches Generallandersarchiv, Aug. LX Antiphonale,
c. 1 165/ 1200
Stuttgart, WLB, Bibl. 2 ° 56-58, c. 1 120/ 1 200
Stuttgart, WLB, Bibl. 2° 65 Evangelium secundum Marcum Passionale,
cum glossis, s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Bibl. 2° 66 Evangelium secundum Lucam cum glossis ,
s.XII/XIII
Stuttgart, WLB, Bibl. 2° 67a-b Gilbertus Porretanus, In Psalmos, etc.,
c. 1 1 60/70
Stuttgart, WLB, Bibl. 2° 68 Evangelium secundum Lucam, etc., s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Bibl. 2° 70 Evangelium secundum Matthaeum cum
glossis, s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Bibl. 2° 72 Epistolae Pauli cum glossis, c. 1 160/ 1200
Stuttgart, WLB, Bibl. 2° 74 Ezekiel cum glossis, etc., s.XII/XIII
Stuttgart, WLB, Bibl. 2° 76 Evangelium secundum Lucam cum glossis,
s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Bibl. 2° 77 Exodus, cum glossis, s.XII/XIII
Stuttgart, WLB, Bibl. 2° 78 Numeri, cum glossis, s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Bibl. 2° 79 Evangelium secundum Iohannem cum
glossis , s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Bibl. 2° 8 1 Evangelium secundum Matthaeum, cum
glossis , s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Bibl. 4° 33 Lectionarium, c. 1 1 25/35
Stuttgart, WLB, Bibl. 4° 34 Biblia, s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Bibl. 4° 36 Graduale, c. 1 125/35

Stuttgart, WLB, Brev. 98 Psalterium, etc., c. 1 125/35
Stuttgart, WLB, Brev. 100 Psalterium, etc., c. 1 1 25/s.XV
Stuttgart, WLB, Brev. 109 Rituale, a . 1 1 3 7/43
Stuttgart, WLB, Brev. 123 Graduale, etc., 1 140/50
Stuttgart, WLB, Brev. 126 Evangelistarium, c. 1 1 50/60
Stuttgart, WLB, Brev. 128 Collectarium festivale, c. 1 1 40/50
Stuttgart, WLB, Rist. 2° 409 Eusebius, Historia ecclesiastica, etc.,
c. 1 1 1 0/25
Stuttgart, WLB, Rist. 2° 410 Orosius, c. 1 160/70
Stuttgart, WLB, Rist. 2° 4 1 1 Frutolf of Michelsberg and Ekkehard of
Aura, Chronica, c. 1 1 60/70
Stuttgart, WLB, Rist. 2° 415 Annales Zwifaltenses c. 1 162
Stuttgart, WLB, Rist. 2° 416 Ps-Regesippus, Historiae, c. 1 1 30/40
Stuttgart, WLB, Rist. 2° 420 Necrologium Zwifaltense, a.1 196/ 1208
Stuttgart, WLB, Rist. 4° 156 Ortlieb, De fundatione Monasterii
Zwifaltensis, s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Poet. et phil. 2° 33 Isidore, Etymologiae, c. 1 130/40
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 1 8 8 Gregory of Tours, Libri VIII
miraculorum, etc., c. 1 130/40
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 189 Didymus interprete Hieronymo, etc.,
1 125/35
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 190a-f Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job,
c. 1090/ 1 1 10
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 1 9 1 Cassian, c. 1090/ 1 1 10
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 194 Anselm of Canterbury, Cur Deus Homo,
etc., s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 201 Augustine, Homiliae, s.XII/XIII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 203 Homiliae, s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 204 Peter Comestor, Historia scholastica,
etc., post a. 1 1 73/s.XIII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 205 Chrysostom, Homilae, etc., s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 206 Ps-Bede, In psalmos, etc., s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 207 Augustine, c. 1 100/20
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 209 Martyrologium, etc., s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 2 1 0 Ambrose, Hexaemeron, etc., c. 1 100/ 1 1 10
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 2 1 1 Gregory, Homiliae, etc., s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 2 1 2 Augustine, Sermones, c. 1 125/35
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 2 14 Ambrose, De officiis, etc., c. 1 1 30/40
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 2 1 5 Augustine, De virginitate, etc., s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 2 1 6 Augustine, Confessiones, c. 1 125/35
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 2 1 7 Raymo, In Apocalypsim, c. 1 1 15/25
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 218 Glossarium biblici, etc., c. 1 1 30/40
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 220 Bede, In Cant. Canticorum, etc., c. s.XIj
XIII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 221 Jerome, Adversus Jovinianum, etc., s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 222 Augustine, De doctrina christiana, etc.,
s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 223 Augustine, De genesi ad litteram, c.1 100/

20
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 224 Vitae patrum, etc., c. 1 1 20/25
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2 ° 225 Bede, Homiliae, s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 226 Raymo, In XII Prophetae mtnores,
c. 1 1 15/25
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2 ° 227 Augustine, Homiliae, s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 228 Haymo, In epistolas Pauli, c. 1 1 1 5/25
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 229 Bernard of Clairvaux, In Cant.
Canticorum, etc., s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 230 Paterus, In vetus et novum testamentum,
etc., s.XI/XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 231 Augustine, De consensu evangelistarum,
s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 2° 232 Paterus, In vetus testamentum; Ps
Paterus, Ex operibus Gregorii Magni, c. 1 130/40
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 1 4 1 Annales Zwiefaltenses, etc., c. 1 1 1 1/96
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 188 Smaragdus, Diadema monachorum, etc.,
c. 1 100/20
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 209 Gregory the Great, etc., c. 1 120
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 2 1 0 Gregory Nazianzene, Ora tiones , etc.,
s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 2 13 Defensor pacis, Liber scintallarum, etc.,
s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 2 1 6 Sermones, etc., s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 2 1 7 Ambrose, De mysteriis, etc., c.1 1 00/ 1 5
Stuttgart, WLB, Theo!. 4 ° 2 2 3 Gregory the Great, Dialogi, s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theo!. 4° 226 Cassian, etc., s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 232 Institutio canonum Aquisgranesium,
etc., c.1 130/40
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 233 Cassian, De vitiorum remediis, etc., s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 234 Anselm of Canterbury, Orationes, etc.,
s.XI/XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 243 Bede, Super Acta apostolorum, etc.,
c. 1 130/40
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 244 Jerome, In Matthaeum, etc., c. 1 1 1 5/25
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 245 Augustine, Retractationes, etc., c. 1 1 00/
15
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 247 Augustine, Contra Mendacium, etc.,
c. 1 125/35
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 248 Isidore, Synonyma, etc., s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 250 Bede, De tabernaculo, c. 1090/ 1 1 1 0
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4 ° 2 5 1 Ephraem the Syrian, Sermones, etc.,
c. 1 1 1 0/ 1 5
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 252 Gregory the Great, Homiliae, etc., s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 253 Miscellanea theologica [including: Ivo of
Chartres, Sermo V, Hildegard, Epistulae; Bernard, De gratia et libero
arbitrio; Isidore, De ecclesiasticis officiis], s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 40 254 Gregory the Great, Regula pastoralis,

etc., c. 1 100/35
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 255 Raban Maur, In IV libros Regum, c. 1 130/
40
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 256 Augustine, De peccatorum meritis, etc.,
c. 1 1 00/20
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 257 Augustine, Enchiridion, etc., c. 1 1 10/ 1 5
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4 ° 2 5 8 Augustine, De gratia e t libero arbitrio,
etc, c.l090/ 1 1 10
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 259 Excerpta patrum, etc., c. 1 100/ 15
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 260 Augustine, Sermones, s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 261 Augustine, Ex variis operibus (exc.),
c. l000/ 1 5
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4 ° 2 6 2 Ronorius Augustodensis, Gemma
animae, etc., s.XII/XIII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 4° 263 Jerome, In Genesim, etc., c. 1 130/40
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 8° 51 Ivo of Chartres, Sententiae, Inevitabile, De
offendiculo [three works also in Munich, Bayerische Staatsbi
bliothek, Clm 13105] ; ps-Bede, Oraculum de interitu Romae; Bede,
De die judicii, etc., c. 1 1 25/35
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 8° 54 Augustine, De opere monachorum, etc., s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 8° 56 Basil of Caesarea, Regula monastica,
c.1 125/35
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 8° 64 Regula Augustini, etc., s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 8° 65 Ambrosius Autpertus, Sermo de
cupiditate, etc., c. 1 1 20/25
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 8° 66 Jerome, In Danielem, s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 8° 67 Augustine, De vita christiana, etc., s.XII
Stuttgart, WLB, Theol. 8° 68 Institutio puerorum , etc., s.XII
This is an impressively wide-ranging collection. Zwiefalten owned
not just familiar historical authors like Eusebius, Orosius and
Josephus, but also a copy (Rist. 2° 4 1 1 ) produced c.1 160-70 containing
a treatise De sibyllis (fols. 1 v-4), the chronicles of Frutolf of
Michelsberg and Ekkehard of Aura (fols. 5v- 180, 183-207), and
excerpts from Otto of Freising (fols. 209-2 1 v) and Bernold of
Constance (fols. 2 2 1v-2). It was also rich in theological texts, often
copied alongside more well-known authors from the past. Thus Theol.
4° 257, copied c. l 1 10- 1 5, contains on fols. 83v-85 Alger of Liege,
Libellus de libero arbitrio after Augustine's Liber de fide et enchiridion
ad Laurentium (fols. 1-36v) and his Enchiridion (fols. 37r-83v)
(Borries-Schulten, 1987: 43, no. 13). Theol. 4° 259 contains not just an
anthology of patristic texts (fols. 1-73), and Ambrose, De bono mortis
(fols. 75-102), but also Bernold of Constance, De veritate corporis et
sanguinis domini (fols. 102-30) (Borries-Schulten, 1987: 45, no. 16).
A number of texts would have been of particular relevance to the
female community at Zwiefalten. Thus Theol. 40 2 1 7 ( 1 100- 15)
contains an important collection of writings of Ambrose relating to
virginity and widowhood, notably the De virginibus, De virginitate, De
190 Constant ]. Mews
viduis, Exhortatio virginitatis, De institutione virginis (Borries-Schulten,

1987: 45, no. 17). Theol. 2° 224 ( 1 1 20-25) contains ascetic texts for
both men and women: the Vitae Patrum; Martinus de Braga, Formula
honestae vitae; ps-Sixtus (Rufinus), Sententiae; Pelagius, Epistula ad
virginem devotam; Nicetas de Remesiana (?), De lapsu virginis
consecratae; Isidore, Synonyma; Ambrosius Autpertus, De conflictu
vitiorum et virtutum (Borries-Schulten, 1987: 56, no. 33). Theol. 4° 232
contains Carolingian rules for both canons and nuns: the Institutio
canonicorum Aquisgranensis (fols. 1-7 4v) and the Institutio sanctimo
nialium Aquisgranensis (fols. 75v-129) (Borries-Schulten, 1987: 89,
no. 59). Historical writing was well represented: Hist 2° 411 ( 1 1 60-70)
contains a treatise De sibyllis (fols. Iv-4), the chronicles of Frutolf of
Michelsberg and Ekkehard of Aura (fols. 5v-180, 1 83-207), excerpts
of Otto of Freising (fols. 209-2 1v) and of Bernold of Constance (fols.
2 2 1v-22).
As at Hirsau and at Disibodenberg, the writings of Anselm seem to
have been accorded honour at Zwiefalten. Theol. 2 ° 194 contains his
Cur deus homo, De conceptu uirginali, De processione spiritus, and
Epistola de sacrificio azimi et fermentati, while Theol. 4° 234 contains
the Meditationes et orationes (Loffler, 1931: 54, no. 1 55; Borries
Schulten, 1987: 126, no. 16). It also owned glossed copies of all the
major books of the Bible. More research is needed to establish
whether these are copies of the Glossa ordinaria, a literary project
initially stimulated by the exegetical activity of Anselm of Laon.
One Zwiefalten manuscript from the early twelfth century (Bibl. 2°
206) contains on fols. 1-188 a commentary on the Psalms, printed by
Heerwagen in the early sixteenth century as a work of Bede, but in fact
an innovative scholastic Psalm commentary of the late eleventh or
early twelfth century. Whether or not 'pseudo-Bede' is in fact
Manegold of Lautenbach, as Wilmart suggested, there can be no
denying that this is one of a new breed of Psalms commentaries that
focuses on analysing the meaning of individual words (Borries
Schulten, 1987: 126-27, no. 79). The manuscript also contains
Bernold of Constance, De vitanda excommunicatorum communio (fol.
40), Hugh of St Victor, De quinque septenis (fol. 188rb-vb), and Decreta
pontificum (fols. 189r-90v).
A manuscript possibly copied before 1 140 (Theol. 4° 262) included
Honorius Augustodunensis, Gemma animae (fols. 1 -63v), Hildebert of
Lavardin, De fide et spe (fols. 64-99vb) and Alcuin, Dialogus de rhetorica
(fols. 100-1 ) , followed by a chart showing the various divisions of
philosophia into physics, ethics and logic, as well as the subdivisions of
each of these disciplines. By the late twelfth century Zwiefalten had
acquired Peter Comestor's Historia scholastica (Theol. 2° 204) and
numerous glosses on Scripture. The combination of texts within a
single manuscript undermines the idea that there is a sharp cleavage
between texts of 'scholastic' and 'monastic' theology. Thus Theol. 40
253, copied in the second half of the twelfth century, begins with a
synthesis of scholastic theology, associated with the school of Anselm
of Laon: 'Principium et causa omnium deus, ante iam eternaliter in

omnibus inuariabiliter, et omnia interminabiliter' (fols. 1 - 1 9rb)
(Borries-Schulten, 1987: 1 19, no. 71). The subsequent texts have
been jumbled in rebinding the manuscript. An extract about penance
(fol. 20ra-vb) and a sermon of Ivo of Chartres (fols. 20vb-26va) are
followed by our earliest surviving copy of the letters of Hildegard of
Bingen (fols. 27-59, 75r-v, 76-93v), Bernard of Clairvaux's De gratia
et libero arbitrio (fols. 60-75), and Isidore's De ecclesiasticis officiis
(fols. 94-101). The juxtaposition within a single manuscript of writings
of Hildegard, Ivo, Bernard and of an early 'scholastic' text blurs any
notion that there is a sharp divide between 'monastic' and 'scholastic'
theology.
While we cannot tell how many of these manuscripts were actually
read by the monks and nuns of Zwiefalten, the mention of both a male
and a female scribe in its obituary, coupled with the presence of some
books directly relevant to religious women, suggests both parts of the
community benefited from its library. In her invaluable inventory of
authors read in women's religious houses in the German region
between the eighth and mid-thirteenth centuries, Susann El Kholi has
identified impressive libraries at a number of monastic communities
for women, notably at Hohenburg, Lamspringe and Lippoldsberg, as
well as at abbeys such as Admont which combined male and female
communities (El Kholi, 1997: 358-62.).20 Zwiefalten can certainly be
added to her list. El Kholi has demonstrated that the tradition of the
literate aristocratic women was well established in the eleventh
century (El Kholi, 1998a; 1998b). Even if Hildegard professed that she
was not herself skilled in the art of writing, there is no reason to doubt
that she was brought up in an environment which attached much
importance to a good library as a facility to which both men and women
had access.
Conrad of Hirsau
A key figure for understanding the literary and intellectual culture of

the Hirsau reform is the monk identified as Peregrinus in the Hirsau
library catalogue, and more often known as Conrad of Hirsau. While
Leclercq devoted several pages of The Love of Learning to one specific
composition of this author, the Dialogus super auctores (Huygens,
1970) arguing that it exemplified what he considered were the two
essential features of monastic attitudes towards pagan authors -
optimism coupled with belief in the importance of an allegorical
interpretation - he did not observe that this work is known from only
three manuscripts, all from the German region.21 It is the work of a
school teacher anxious to explain the differences between genres of
literature. He summarizes the key features of all the major authors
studied in the curriculum (Donatus, Cato, Aesop, Avian, Sedulius,
Iuvencus, Prosper, Theodulus, Arator, Prudentius, Cicero, Sallust,
192 Constant f. Mews
Boethius, Virgil, Lucan and Ovid) and then reflects on the functions of
grammar, dialectic and rhetoric within the pursuit of philosophy as a
whole. A guiding theme is that all these authors can assist in the
promotion of virtue. The treatise belongs to the same genre as the
Didascalicon of Hugh of St Victor, a canon regular (of German
extraction), but is very different in tone from any writing of Bernard of
Clairvaux. To argue that Conrad's dialogue exemplifies a distinctly
monastic attitude towards pagan learning is potentially misleading,
given the wide range of perspectives taken up within different
monastic communities to this particular question.
There can be no doubt, however, that Conrad was a significant and
original writer. His biggest literary composition is the Speculum
virginum, an extended dialogue about the spiritual life between
Peregrinus and a virgin of Christ called Theodora.22 Like the Dialogus
super auctores, it uses the quaestio within a monastic context, in this
case to provide a way of explaining to women the core values of the
spiritual life. The fact that books of Peregrinus are mentioned in the
Hirsau library catalogue supports the claim that he was indeed a monk
of this community. In 1492 Trithemius identified him simply as
Peregrinus,
a monk of Hirsau, a disciple and once listener of abbot William,
German by nationality, most learned in divine as in human
writings, subtle in talent and truly fluent in speech, brief and
most beautiful in words, but so rich and brilliant in teaching that
he seems not inferior to any of the ancients.23
By 1 494 Trithemius was referring to him as Conrad, 'a monk of Hirsau,
a philosopher, an orator, a musician and a distinguished poet' .24 He
could by then have come across a fuller manuscript of the Speculum
virginum, such as that copied c. 1 140-50 perhaps in part by the author
himself (London, BL, Arundel 44, from Eberbach), in which the author
introduces himself simply as C. In his De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis,
completed in 1494, Trithemius identified the Speculum virginum by
the words Collaturo tecum 0 Theodora (from the opening of its twelve
book version).25 Trithemius also cited the incipits of his Didascalon
(enabling Schepps to identify Conrad's authorship of the Dialogus
super auctores) and an as yet unidentified treatise on music and the
tones (Musica est secundum cuiusdam). Trithemius repeated many of
these details in his Chronicon Hirsaugiense (1495-1503),26 adding in
the Annales Hirsaugienses ( 1509-14) that Conrad was master of the
schools at Hirsau and that he was buried in the main church of the
abbey, having died in his eighties. This would suggest that Conrad
lived from c. 1070 to c. 1 150 and thus could well have been a disciple of
William of Hirsau.27
Independent evidence that Conrad was revered at Hirsau is supplied
by Parsimonius, who transcribed a large number of quotations
inscribed on a wall in the dormitory, including four of Peregrinus.28
Parsimonius also reports that Peregrinus was one of the many monks
and doctors or teachers of the monastery whose names were inscribed

on the walls of the summer refectory, Peregrinus being found on the
wall nearest to the kitchen.29 While this art work seems to date only
from the late fifteenth century, the account that Parsimonius gives of
monastic teachers at Hirsau seems to rely on written sources larger
than any familiar to Trithemius. Under the heading 'Succession of
illustrious monks and doctors or teachers of the monastery of Hirsau
who wrote various works' Parsimonius describes the literary achieve
ment of twenty-nine monks of the abbey, beginning with Luthbert, a
disciple of Raban Maur. After the entry about Conrad of Hirsau, two
other monks are mentioned, Henry and James of Oppenheim, the latter
a fifteenth-century monk of the Bursfeld reform (Lessing, 1974: VI,
500-5). His entry on Conrad mentions a number of works unknown to
Trithemius:
Conradus, qui et peregrinus, doctor egregius, scripsit plura per
dialogum opuscula. Ad Theodoram sanctimonialem speculum
virginum libros 8. Homiliarum per anni circulum librum 1.
Altercationem Pauli et Gamalielis in Vetus et novum Testamentum
libros 2. Matricularium de vita spiritus et fructu carnis libros 2.
Didascalon libros 2. De Musica et tonis librum 1. De laudibus S.
Augustini librum 1. Vitam S. Paulini librum 1. Carmina in Job
librum 1. In Psalmos librum unum. Threnos lib. 2. In Evangelia
librum 1. Epigrammata in Psalmos et prophetas librum 1. Vitam S.
Benedicti duplici metro librum 1. In gradus humilitatis librum 1.
Vitam S. Nicolai librum 1. Et alia multa.30
This Altercatio between Paul and Gamaliel, not referred to by
Trithemius but published anonymously in 1 537, is written as a
dialogue, and contains a number of phrases identical to other dialogues
by Conrad.31 It was copied at Hirsau in 1 5 1 1 by Johannes Rapolt and is
explicitly introduced as a work of Conrad of Hirsau.32 Nothing is known
about the other writings of Conrad listed by Parsimonius.
Conrad seems to have been a prolific author and remarkable
educator, interested in using the technique of literary dialogue to
expound a wide range of subjects, from the value of the pagan authors
to the religious life for women. His treatise De mundi contemptu vel
amore is a dialogue between a cleric or matricularius (the title given by
Trithemius) defending the value of the monastic life against his
questions.33 His fondness for dialogue as a literary technique echoes
that of William of Hirsau.
Conclusions
Much more still needs to be discovered about the educational culture

of Hirsau and the monastic houses that were influenced by its reforms.
From this initial survey, however, it should be apparent that monastic
communities influenced by the Hirsau reform placed great value on the
194 Constant J Mews
study of both secular and sacred authors. Leclercq's notion that there
was a sharp divide between the culture of the cloister and that of the
schools runs the risk of elevating a rhetorical contrast, perhaps keenly
felt in northern France in the twelfth century, into a universal
principle. To argue that the quaestio had no place in a monastic
educational system does not represent the reality of the situation. The
tendency to discuss issues through questioning was part of a general
movement that swept through all kinds of educational institutions,
whether monastic or non-monastic, throughout the twelfth century.
The educational culture fostered in monastic houses reformed by
Hirsau does not seem to have fostered a sense that there was any
sharp differentiation between monastic and non-monastic authors.
A distinguishing feature of Hirsau reformed monasticism, at least in
the first half of the twelfth century, is the value attached to women
within the monastic community. The Speculum virginum of Conrad of
Hirsau, presented as a dialogue about the spiritual life between
Peregrinus and Theodora, may well have been written as much for
monks occupied with preaching to women as directly for the women
themselves. Yet in presenting Theodora as a questioning disciple
eager to absorb the spiritual truths put forward by Peregrinus, Conrad
transformed a literary genre that traditionally had been constructed
simply in terms of male masters and disciples discussing points of
doctrine or philosophy. Although an enthusiastic writer of dialogues,
Anselm of Canterbury never imagined a dialogue in which his disciple
was a woman.
We do not know if Zwiefalten ever owned a copy of the Speculum
virginum. Yet the fact that its obituary should record the achievement
of a female scribe, Mathilda of Nifin, as well as that of a male monk, is
in itself significant. It suggests that the practice of combining
significant communitie s of religious women alongside a male
community did result in shifting conventional attitudes and in
promoting a modest form of recognition of the contribution that they
could make. At Disibodenberg, where Jutta and Hildegard lived in the
shadow of a larger male community, the encouragement which Volmar
gave to Hildegard, a woman whom he was deputed to teach, had far
reaching consequences. Volmar eventually gave up his role as
Hildegard's magister in order to dedicate himself to recording her
visions and her commentary on those visions. This was a form of
instruction that simply was not possible within the urban schools.
While Hildegard has become widely known to English-speaking
readers over the last two decades, the dynamism of the Hirsau reform
to which she was exposed is still relatively unknown, at least outside
Germany. The literary culture encouraged within religious houses
influenced by this reform movement, characterized by keen awareness
of new trends in intellectual enquiry, is not easily categorized by the
label 'monastic theology' developed by Leclercq in the 1950s. This
category, invented as a counter to the equally vague label of 'scholastic
theology', fails to come to terms with the great diversity of monastic
culture within the Middle Ages as a whole. The particular constellation

of attitudes which Bernard sought to introduce into the monastic life
did not represent the only way in which monks interpreted their way of
life. Conrad of Hirsau was a monastic schoolteacher with a very
different approach. He applied his didactic techniques to a range of
issues of interest to both women and men in the religious life. In the
late eleventh and early twelfth centuries (as in other periods), many
monks asked questions about the meaning and correct implementation
of the way of life to which they were committed. Some were interested
in new reflection about the meaning of Christian doctrine, whether
such ideas came from within a monastic environment or from outside
its confines. The vitality of monastic culture in the first half of the
twelfth century was characterized by a keen desire both to study the
legacy of the past and to search out new solutions to the questions
which troubled them.
Notes
1. I am indebted to Felix Heinzer of the Wiirttembergische Landesbib

liothek, Stuttgart for assistance with many aspects of this study, as well
as for telling me about the Zwiefalten manuscripts held in Stuttgart in the
first place.
2. Constable, 1994, catches Leclercq's enthusiasm for the monastic life in
this sensitive essay.
3. This part of the 1472 catalogue is edited by Vernet, 1979: 164-88. The
manuscript of Lombard (I 33 in the 1472 catalogue) is reproduced on the
front cover of Colish, 1994.
4. Twelfth- or early thirteenth-century copies of the Theologia, Sic et Non,
Sententiae and Ethiea belonged to Benedictine abbeys at Admont,
Hautmont, Anchin, Montecassino, Regensburg (St Emmeram, perhaps
copied at Priifening), Tegernsee, St Gall, Ploermel, Brittany (St
Nicholas), G6ttweig, and the Cistercian houses at Heilsbronn and
Heiligenkreuz; see Barrow et al., 1984-85, esp. nos. 17, 35, 43, 5 1 , 80,
105, 1 63, 1 7 1 , 178, 199.
5. See the list of manuscripts drawn up by Hiiring, 1966: 1 6-34.
6. Waitz and von Simson, 1912: 1 .48, 52-9 and Rahewin in Waitz and von
Simson, 1912, 4.12, 67-8, 74-85, 250.
7. The article on William of Hirsau by Bischoff, 1953 is now superseded by
that of Worstbrock, 1998. There are important papers in Schreiner,
1991.
8. For edition see Harbinson, 1975. Bernold of Constance reports William's
fame in reforming the practice of chant, Pertz, 1844: 5, 451: 'Hie in
musica peritissimus luit, multaque illius artis subtilia, antiquis doctoribus
incognita, elueidavit, multos etiam errores in cantibus deprehensos satis
rationabiliter ad artem correxit. In quadruvio sane omnibus pene antiquis
videbatur praeminere. ' Bultot, 1 9 7 1 : 1 7-27 discusses William's under
standing of the quadrivium.
9. See Jakobs, 1961. The chronology of this process is reviewed by 1ogna
Prat, 1988: 69-70. See also Elvert, 1994.
10. Heinzer, 1992, identified the Rheinau liber ordinarius, edited by Hiinggi,
196 Constant ]. Mews
1957 as that of Hirsau. In his important paper 'Hildegard und ihr

liturgisches Umfeld', forthcoming in the proceedings of the musicologi
cal conference held at Bingen, 18-20 September 1998 and edited by Wulf
Arlt, Heinzer observes that the Hirsau liturgy is characterized by a
distinct relationship between identity and openness, allowing a distinct
Hirsau identity to be seen at the same time as a capacity for distinct
regional identity.
11. In particular, the Chronica insignis monasterii Hirsaugiensis, in Freher,
1966: 2, 1-235; see Arnold, 1 9 7 1 : 1 67-79.
12. Omlin, 1964. I am indebted to Felix Heinzer (note 1 0 above) for alerting
me to this study and to the Hirsau connections of this manuscript.
13. Waitz, 1861: 14. See Freher, 1966: 2, 74-5; Mews, 1998: 97-8.
14. Heinzer, 1991.
15. See Kramer, 1989. The original of his notebook is now Wolfenbiittel,
Herzog August Bibliothek, Cod. 134.1 Extravagantes, fols. 2-194v. A
copy is held at Tiibingen, Universitatsbibliothek Mh 1 64. 'Des Klosters
Hirschau. Gebaude, iibrige Gemalde, Bibliothek und alteste Schriftstel
ler', in Lessing, 1 974, VI, 491-507, especially 498-9, reprinted in
Becker, 1885: 2 19-20.
16. Parsimonius records valuable accounts of the early history of the abbey
that confirm and supplement the account of Trithemius, as copied from 'a
certain manuscript of Hirsau'; Tiibingen, Universitatsbibliothek Mh 1 64,
fols. 2-8, Ex scripto quodam codice Hirsaugiensi qui reperitur inter
Monasterii Literas.
17. Necrologium Zwifaltense, in Baumann, 1983: 244, 253.
18. Borries-Schulten, 1987. This includes an important chapter on the
palaeography of Zwiefalten manuscripts by Herrad Spilling, 3-8.
19. Ninth-century codices include Augustine, De utilitate credendi, and De
gratia novi testamenti ad Honoratum (Theol. 2° 202), copied by scribes
called Thancolfus and Theodericus (wrongly listed by Kramer, 1989 as
c. l l0 0/ 1 5), a Psalter (Bibl. 2° 73), and a New Testament (Bibl. 2° 80);
there is also a tenth-century Book of Gospels (Bibl. 2 ° 82).
20. I am indebted to the author for alerting me to her study.
21. Dialogus super auctores, discussed by Leclercq, 1982a: 1 1 5-18.
22. See Seyfarth, 1990.
23. Trithemius, De illustribus viris ordinis sancti Benedicti, first printed in
Cologne in 1575, was not included in Freher's edition of the Opera
Historica, but I have consulted Berlin, Deutsches Staatsbibliothek, lat.
oct. 395 (preserved after 1 945 in Cracow, Jagellonian Library), fol. 29:
Peregrinus monachus hirsaugiensis, Wilhelmi abbatis discipulus quondam
auditor, natione teutonicus, vir arte tam in divinis quam in humanis
scripturis eruditissimus, ingenio subtilis et eloquio valde disertus, brevis et
pulcherrimus in verbis, sed copiosus et nitidis in sententiis, adeo, nulli
priscorum videatur inferior. Scripsit utroque stilo metri vis et prose varia
opuscula de quibus et vidi subiecta. Opus quale et insigne quod per modum
dialogi sub persona sui et theodore virginis Christi composuit cuius titulus
est Speculum Virginum libri viii dialogorum, commentariorum in evangelia
libri, in dialogum de vita spiritus et fructu mortis liber I, Dialogus
matricularii liber I, Dialogus cuius tituli est Didascalon fiber I, In laudem
quoque sancti Benedicti carmina et rithmos composuit, Omnia autem
opuscula que soluta ratione et ordine composuit, in dialogi morem
ordinavit. Claruit eodem tempore quo Wilhelm us, anno domino millesimo
C. This manuscript, which also contains other writings of Trithemius
from 1492, is not listed by Arnold, 136 and 282 (as note 29), but is
similar in contents to Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, cod. lat. fol. 410, written
at Sponheim in 1492.
24. Catalogus illustrium virorum Germaniae (Mainz 1495); Freher, 1966: 1 ,
136-7.
25. De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis (Basel 1494); Freher, 1 966: 1, 276.
26. Chronicon Hirsaugiense (written 1495- 1503; Basel 1 559); Freher, 1966:
2, 90- I .
27. Trithemius, Annales Hirsaugienses (not printed), Munich, Bayerische
Staatsbibliothek, Clm 703, fol. 190: Claruit his quoque temporibus in
hirsaugiensi cenobio Conradus monachus qui nomen suum ex humilitate
occultans peregrinum in suis se lucubrationbus nuncupat. Beati Wilhelmi
quondam auditor atque discipulus, vir in omni sciencia scripturarum
doctissimus et non minus religionis observantia venerandus: qui sub
nomine peregrini scripsit multa preclara opuscula: de quibus extant
subiecta. Ad theodoram sanctimonialem opus insigne quod prenotauit
speculum uirginum Ii. viii. In evangelia per circulum anni volumen
magnum. De vita spiritus et fructu mortis Ii i. Et alius qui prenotatur
matricularius Ii i. Didascalon Ii i. De musica et differentia tonorum Ii. i. De
laudibus sancti benedicti carmine heroico Ii. i. Sermones quoque varios
om elias simul et epistolas plures eleganter composuit: quorum mentionem
facere singulatim nimis prolixum foret ac tediosum. Muftis annis
monachorum scolis in hoc cenobio prefuit: et plures discipulos insignes
atque doctissimos educavit. Obiit tandem octogenarius cum patribus suis in
maiori cenobio ut servus Christi sepultus.
28. Tiibingen, Universitatsbibliothek Mh 1 64, fol. 40. Two are from the
SPeculum virginum 9, 11. 492 and 4 18-20; the other two are unidentified.
29. In the margin of fol. 27v of the Tiibingen copy is noted: Isti sancti, in
refectorio estiuali, conspiciuntur, in pariete qui ad circuitum vergit; and in
the margin of fol. 3 1 : In pariete Refectorii aestiualis, qui culinae est
contiguus.
30. Wolfenbiittel, Herzog August Bibliothek, Cod. 1 34. 1, fols. 1 13-1 13v and
Tiibingen, Universitatsbibliothek, Mh 1 64, fol. 35; Lessing, 1974: VI,
505.
31. Altercatio Synogogae et Ecclesiae in Chuonrado Pelopus, 1537. See
Blumenkranz and Chatillon, 1956; Bultot, 1965.
32. Stuttgart, WLB IV, 27, fol. 1: Conradus monachus Hirsaugiensis cenobium
in confinibus Suevie Ordinis Sancti Benedicti, natione Teutonicus Spirensis
diocesis, Vir divinis scripturis erudtiisimus, et in secularibus ualde peritus,
philosophus, rethoricus, musicus et poeta insignis . . . Ex hiis Ego Iohannes
Rotensis cognomen to Rapolt cucullatorum extremus codicem (qui ab eo
in<ti>tulatur matricularius) reuisendo perlegi, ubi mira elegantia in
Pentateucum Gamalielis et Pauli Altercacionem disserit, verumtamen non
minus iuxta historicum, quam etiam moralem, anagogicum et tropologicum
sensum intuenti granum e palea denudare uidetur, uti in hac abbreuiatura
per modum exercitii a me fratre LR. elaborata contuenti patebit. Cf. Boesse,
1975: 149-50.
33. Edition appears in Bultot, 1966. Also contained in manuscripts of this
work (Oxford, Bodl., Laud Misc. 377 from Eberbach and Cologne) is the
work described by Trithemius as De vita spiritus et fructu mortis
(including Cum omnis diuinae paginae). See Bultot, 1963; Bernards,
1967.
Abbreviations
AASS Acta Sanctorum. J. Bollandus et al., (eds) 99 vols.,

Antwerp and Brussels, 1643-.
AB Analecta Bollandiana. Brussels, 1882-.
ADN Archives departementales du Nord, Lille
AHD Archives de l'h6pital, Douai
AHL Archives de l'h6pital, Lille
AMD Archives municipales, Douai
BL British Library, London
BMD Bibliotheque municipale, Douai
BNF Bibliotheque nationale de France, Paris
CCCM Corpus christianorum continuatio mediaeualis.
Turnhout: Brepols.
CCM Corpus consuetudinum monasticarum. Siegburg:
Franz Schmitt, 1963-.
CUL Cambridge University Library
DCD Dean and Chapter, Durham
MGH SS Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores
NRO DCN Norfolk Record Office, Dean and Chapter, Norwich
Oxford, Bodl. Oxford, Bodleian Library
PL Patrologiae curs us completus. Series latina. J.-P.
Migne, Paris: Migne, 1844-9l .
RB Benedict o f Nursia, Regula Benedicti. (All references
are to chapters.)
RB 1980 The Rule of St. Benedict in Latin and English
with Notes. T. Fry (ed.), Collegeville, Minn: Liturgical
Press, 1981.
WCL Worcester Cathedral Library
WLB Wiirttembergische Landesbibliothek (Stuttgart)
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Index
Numbers which are italicized indicate a whole chapter dedicated to a

topic; numbers which are in bold indicate an illustration.
Abelard 4, 45, 105-16, 182, 183 fermenti 190

and Heloise 105-16 Meditationes et orationes 190
Historia calamitatum 105 Anselm of Laon 105, 190-1
heresy 106 Arator 191
hymns 1 05-16 Argenteuil 1 0 6
liturgy 1 05-16 Aristotle 62-3, 9 6 , 1 0 8 , 1 8 3
Planctus 106, 1 1 3 Arma Christi 120, 1 2 1
Rule 1 05-16 ars praedicandi 66
Adam of Dore 47 art 97
Adam of Petit Pont 61 and education 1 1 7-35
rElfric Bata, colloquies 15-16, 20 saints 120
n.46 Arundel, Thomas 66
rElfwald, King of East Anglia 137, Ashford, John 66
144 Augustine of Hippo 15, 47, 48, 63,
Aesop 191 76, 78, 1 1 1 , 1 72, 189
rEthelbald, King of Mercia 137 Augustinian
Agobard of Lyon 7 canonesses 93-104
Alan of Lille 67, 68, 125 canons 109
Alberic of Monte Cassino 15 customary 12, 95, 109
Albert of Pis a 169 Marbach Abbey 95
Alcock, Simon 66 St Victor of Paris 8, 48, 63, 87-8
Alcuin 185, 190 vows 94
Alexander of Nequam 45, 47, 6 1 Avian 1 9 1
Alger o f W�ge 189
Ambrose 63, 76, 78, 109, 1 10, 140, Bartholomew, apostle 5, 136-52
189 Bartholomew of Farne 146
on virginity 189-90 Beatrice of Nazareth 155
Ambrosius Autpertus 190 Bede 2, 45, 46, 47, 48, 52, 63, 1 1 0,
angels 120, 140 1 1 1 , 140, 185, 190
cherub 125, 1 26, 127 beguines 153-67, 177
Anselm of Canterbury 27, 183, 1 84, beguinages 153, 154
185, 190, 194 books 159
and Bec 184 children 156
Cur Deus Homo 27, 190 Douai 5, 153-67
De conceptu virginali 190 hospitals 155
D e processione spiritus 1 90 Lille 5, 153-67
Epistola de sacrificio azimi et Rules 159
232 Index
beguines - continued Butler, Cuthbert 35, 39

schools 1 53-67 Benedictine Monachism 35
sermons 159 Bynum, Caroline Walker, Docere
souveraine 1 6 1 Verbo et Exemplo 2 , 1 00
work 1 6 1-4
bellatores 29 canon law 62, 64, 185
Benedict XII, pope 38 canonesses 93-1 04
Summi magistri 38, 57 Carruthers, Mary 26
Benedict of Nursia 1, 2, 1 2 7 , 172 Carthusian order 120, 129
Benedictine order 35-40, 41 -55, 'miscellany' 1 20, 1 2 1
56- 71 Cassian, John 6 3 , 1 85
admission 43 Cassiodorus 172, 185
art 1 18 Cathars 73, 79, 8 1
book production 65 Cato 1 9 1
England 41 -55, 56- 71 Charland, T.-M. 49
historians 50 Chartham, William 52
lectio divina 4 1 Chenu, M.-D. 76
libraries 41 -55, 59, 6 0 , 6 3 , 183 childhood, and education 7-20,
liturgy 74, 9 1-3 21 -34
novices 36, 43 Christine of Stommeln 156
oblates 14 Cicero 67, 191
and Oxford University 56- 71 Cistercian order 48, 87-9, 183
saints 50 art 1 1 7
statues 57 scholasticism 183
see also Rules classicism 68
Bernard of Bessa 1 71-2 Cleeve Abbey 120
Bernard of Cassino 47 Clement V, pope 158
Bernard of Clairvaux 1 , 47, 87-8, Cluniac order 3 , 7-20
96, 106, 1 1 7, 1 72 , 182, 183, armarius 9, 10, 1 2 , 28
191, 195 chapters 26
Apologia 1 1 7 customaries 7-20, 21 -34, 184
Sermons o n the Song of Songs 8 7 hagiography 21-34
Bernard o f Cluny 8, 1 0 , 1 1 , 22, hierarchy 1 6 , 23
29 Liber tramitis 9, 16, 22, 28
Bernold of Constance 185, 1 89, liturgy 7-20, 28
190 novices 22
Berthold Kule 1 74 oblates 7-20, 21 -34
Bibbesworth, Walter 6 1 Ordo cluniacensis 22, 28
Bible 37, 4 1 , 45, 47, 48, 5 1 , 89, 96, pederasty 27, 29, 33 n . 19
1 10, 1 60, 172, 190 saints 26
exegesis 72-86 sign language 23
glosses 48, 1 90 Columban 2
body, and education 21 -34, 172 Conrad of Hirsau 92, 185, 1 9 1 , 192,
Boethius 63, 67, 184, 1 92 1 95
Bonaventure 169, 1 7 1 , 174, 175, SPeculum virginum 75, 122, 123,
1 76 124, 192, 194
Boughton, John 63 convents
Brinton, Thomas 56, 1 19 Argenteuil 106
Brito, William 45, 47 Hohenburg 89, 93
Bromich, Richard 60 Paraclete 4-5, 1 06-16
Burke, Peter 2 1 La Ramee 155
Bury, Richard 66 Rupertsberg 89, 9 1-3, 99
Bury St Edmunds 120 scriptorium 155
Index 233
councils Franciscan order 5, 1 68-81

Lateran II 94 Farinarian constitutions 170
Lyon II 158 humility 176
Reims 94 liturgy 173
Vienne 158 mysticism 1 68
Coventry, Charterhouse 128, 130 Narbonne constitutions 170
'St Anne Teaching the Virgin to novices 1 68, 170-4
Read' 130 oblates 170
Cranbrook, Henry 66 Observants 172
Crowland 136, 138, 141, 147 Poor Clares 177
crucifixion 120, 1 2 1 , 128 poverty 176, 177
customaries 39 studia 1 68, 1 69
see also Augustinians order; Frederick Barbarossa 89, 94
Cluniac order Frederick of Swabia 94
Cyprian 185 Frutolf of Michelsberg 189, 190
Gelling, Margaret 142, 143, 145
David of Augsburg 171, 172, 174
devils 72, 1 1 1 , 136, 139, 1 40-1, Geoffrey of Lynn, Promptorium
146, 147, 1 48, 149 parvulorum 36
Didymus, De spirito sancto 185 Geoffrey of Vinsauf 6 1 , 66
disciplina 28-9 geography 96
Dissolution of the monasteries 42, Gesta Romanorum 52, 120
44, 57, 1 18, 139 Gilbert of Poitiers 183
distinctiones 48 Gilbert of Tournai 158, 174
Divine Office 27, 37, 172, 173 Gilduin 88
Donatus 45, 46, 6 1 , 1 9 1 Giles of Assisi 174
Downside Abbey 4, 35-40, 149 Glastynbury, William 57
Durham 1 1 9 Goldston, Reginald 46
grammar 14, 37, 38, 41, 44-7, 58,
Eadmer 49 6 1 , 192
Easton, Adam 56, 64 treatises 15
Eberhard of Bethune 6 1 trivium 44
Ekbert o f Schonau 7 9 Gratian 64
Ekkehard o f Aura 189, 190 Graveney, Richard 58
Elias 169 Greek 48
Elias, Peter 61 Gregory I the Great, pope 2, 48,
Elizabeth of Hungary 158-9 52, 63, 64, 72, 76, 78, 1 1 1, 1 1 7,
Elizabeth of Schonau 79 1 7 1 , 174
encyclopaedia 89, 96 Gregory II, pope 185
England, John 58 Gregory IV, pope 185
Eusebius 189 Gregory of Tours 141
exorcism 141 Guibert of Gembloux 76, 90
Eyton, Hugh 65 Guido of Arezzo 7, 184
guilds 1 60-1
Farinarian constitutions 170 Gunthorpe, John 60
Farley, William 58 Guthlac 5, 1 36-52
Fathers of the Church 24, 1 1 1
Fawkes, Nicholas 65 hagiography
Felix 136, 137-8, 142, 146, 147 Cluniac 21 -34
Life of Guthlac 137 in England 137
florilegia 1 5 and Hildegard of Bingen 89-90
Fouke, Henry 60 Hailes Abbey 1 1 8
Francis of Assisi 1 69, 177 Haimo 1 8 5
234 Index
Hamo de Hethe 45 De institutione novitiorum 1 7 1 ,

Hanney, Thomas 46, 6 1 172
Hatfield, John 5 9 , 67 De sacramentis 185
Hauville, Jean 67, 68 Didascalicon 93, 192
Hawkhurst, John 66 Hugh of Semur 25
Haymo of Faversham 1 69 Huguccio of Pisa 45, 47, 61
Heaven 140, 1 42 humility 1 76
Hebrew 48 hymns, see music
Hel1 137, 140, 142
Heloise 4, 105-16 Ida of Leau 155
and Abelard 1 05-16 imitation, and education 28, 29
monastic life 105-16 industry, cloth 1 54, 160
Paraclete 1 05-16 Ingram, William I 46
Henry of Estry 38 Iohannes Sacro Bosco 62
Heresy of the Free Spirit 1 58 Irenaeus of Lyon 1 1 1
Hermann of Reichenau 185 Isabel1e o f Portugal 156
Herrad of Landsberg 4, 87-104 Isidore of Seville 2, 47, 63, 96, 190,
Hortus deliciarum 89, 94-104 191
Higden, Ranulph 46, 49, 50 Iuvencus 191
Hilary of Poitiers 1 1 1 Ivo of Chartres 96, 1 9 1
Hildebert o f Sens 190
Hildegard of Bingen 4, 72-86, Jacques d e Vitry 157
87-104, 184, 1 9 1 , 194 Jaeger, Stephen, The Envy of
Expositiones evangeliorum 72-86 Angels 2 , 87-8
and Jutta 89-91 James of Voragine, Legenda
letters 89 aurea 50
Liber divinorum operum 76, 78 Jeanneton of Burgundy 156
liturgy 9 1 -3 Jerome 47, 63, 76, 140
Ordo virtutum 72-86 John XXII, pope 158
as prophetess 9 1 , 99, 100 John the Fearless 156
Scivias 72 John of Genoa, Catholicon 45, 47,
Solutiones triginta octo 61
quaestionum 76 Joseph, Robert 68
as visionary 74, 75 Josephus 185, 189
vita 89-90 Jutta 89-9 1 , 184, 194
Hirsau 1 82-97 Juyner, abbot 120
Johannes Parsimonius 185,
192-3 Knowles, David 36, 42, 56
library 185, 186
reform 5, 182-97 laboratores 29
history 50-1 Langdale family 36
Hohenburg 89, 93 Langham, Simon 56
Hohenstaufen dynasty 94 Langton, Stephen 63
Holcot, Robert 63 Lateran II, Council of 94
homilies 72-86 Latin 37, 46, 61, 65-6, 96
Honorius III, pope 1 7 0 dictionaries 37
Honorius Augustodunensis 96, 1 9 0 Lawrene, John 40, 64, 66
Horace 6 1 Leclercq, Jean 182, 194
Hotham, Walter 6 6 Love of Learning and the Desire for
Hugh o f St Victor 4 7 , 9 3 , 172, 183, God 1 , 48, 49, 50, 182, 1 9 1
185, 190 Lega� Hugh 66, 67, 68
Chronicon 1 4 Leland, John 62
D e fructibus carnis e t spiritus 122 Leo I the Great, pope 1 1 1
Index 235
letters 89 novices 1 68, 170-4

liberal arts 62 numbers 37
libraries, Hirsau 185-6
Liebeshutz, Hans 81 oblates 7-20, 21-34, 170
literacy 185-6 Observants 172
liturgy Odile 89
Sarum 38 Odo of Cluny 26
York 38 Life 26, 28
see also Abelard; Benedictine opus Dei 38
order; Cluniac order; ordination 42
Franciscan order; Hildegard of Origen 76, 78, 185
Bingen Orosius 1 10, 189
logic 38, 58, 62, 63 Ortlieb 185
Lollards 65, 1 3 1 Otloh 183
Lucan 67, 192 Otto of Freising 183, 190
Lydgate, John 1 19-20, 1 3 1 , 134 Ovid 67, 192
Lyon II, Council of 158
Papias 45, 47, 6 1
McGuire, Brian Patrick 3 Paradete, convent 4-5, 105-16
Macrobius 1 08, 1 1 0 Paschasius De corpore et sanguine
magistra 72, 82 n . 1 , 8 9 , 9 0 , 9 1 , 185 Domini 185
MaYeul of Cluny 25 pedagogy 87-104
Manegold of Lautenbach 95, 190 pederasty 27, 29, 33 n.19
Marguerite Porete 1 58 Pelagius 190
Marie of Oignies 157 Peregrinus, see Conrad of Hirsau
Marie de la Tour 155 Peter Comestor 50
Martinus de Braga 190 Historia scholastica 50, 190
Mary Magdalene 1 08 Peter Damian 24, 96, 185
Mathilda of Nifen 186, 194 Peter Lombard 64, 96, 1 08, 183
Matthew, John 64 Peter the Venerable 22, 25
Matthew of Aquasparta 174 De miraculis 25-6
medulla 4, 35-40 Philip the Bold 1 54, 157
memory 26, 44, 122 philosophy 38, 58, 59, 62, 105, 106,
mercy, works of 124 192, 194
Merke, Thomas 66, 67 pilgrimage 131
Merton, Thomas 182 Pinnock, Osbern 45, 46
monasteries Plato 96
Disibodenberg 89, 90, 9 1 , 184, poetry 66, 68, 95, 1 19-20
190 Poor Clares 177
double 89, 185 Porter, Roy 21
see also Hirsau; Zweifalten poverty 176, 177
Moorlinch, John 65 prayer 47, 92, 97, 173, 174
Murbach Statutes 8 preaching 194
music 7-20, 44, 62, 75 and art 119
hymns 14- 15, 20 nn. 39 & 40, 37, Premonstratensians 95
96, 1 05-16 Preston, John 60
singing 29, 136 Priscian 46, 47, 61
theory 1 3-14, 184, 192 prophecy 8 1 , 9 1 , 99, 100
mysticism 168 Prosper 191
De contemplativa vita 185
Nalgod 26, 28 Prudentius 191
Narbonne constitutions 1 70 Psychomachia 75, 78
Nicholas of Lyre 63 Pseudo-Abdias 1 40
236 Index
Pseudo-Dionysius 174 Seen, John 67

puberty 23, 3 1 n.5 Sellyng, William 38, 68
punishment, and education 27 Senatus of Worcester 49
Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer
quodlibets 64 Night's Dream 2 1
shrines 1 47
Raban Maur 63, 185, 193 sign language 23
Radcliffe, Nicholas 64, 65 sin 76, 133
Ratylsdon, Thomas 58 tree of 122, 1 2 3
Regino of Priim 7 Smalley, Beryl 72
Reims, Council of 94 Smaragdus 51
Relinde 89, 94, 95, 98, 99, Socrates 96
103 n. 23 Solinus 67
Renham, Henry 62 Southern, R.W. 106
Reynham, Stephen 66 SPeculum virginum, see Conrad of
rhetoric 41, 61, 62 Hirsau
Richard de Hambury 46 stabilitas 29
Richard of St Victor 47 Stone, John 5 1 , 64
Richard of Wallingford 62 Stourton, Edmund 64
Richardis of Stade 83 n.14, 99, studia, Franciscan 1 68, 1 69
100 Suger of St Denis 1 1 7
Riche, Pierre 2 Swalwell, Thomas 6 6
Education and Culture in the
Barbarian West 2 Tenxwind of Andernach 9 1 -2
Ridevall, John 63 Tertullian 185
Robert Joseph of Evesham 38 Theodulus 191
Rodolf of Biberach 174 theology 45, 47, 50, 58, 59, 60, 63,
Rolle, Richard 65 64, 66, 105, 182
Roscelin 105 Thomas Aquinas 1 1 2
Rudborne, Thomas 57 Thomas Becket 59-60
Rufinus of Aquileia 112 Thomas de la Mare 65
Rules Thomas de Stureye II 47
of Augustine 94, 9 7 Thornden, William 63
o f beguines 1 5 9 Trithemius, Johannes 184, 185,
o f Benedict 1 , 24, 32 n.9, 47, 64, 192, 193
73-4, 137
of canons 190 Ulrich I, abbot 185
of nuns 190 Ulrich of Zell 8, 10, 1 1, 22, 28, 29,
Rupert of Deutz 96 30, 184
U ndyrdown, Thomas 46
St Albans Abbey 1 18, 1 3 1 , 133 universities 175
'Christ Appearing to Doubting academic year 59
Thomas' 1 32 Cambridge 4, 57
saints, cults 26, 1 36-52 monks 38, 44, 49
Sallust 1 9 1 Oxford 4, 56- 71
schools Uthred de Boldon 47, 49, 56,
boarding 29 64
cathedrals 3 3 n . 1 7, 45, 88
see also beguines Venantius Fortunatus 1 1 0, 1 12
science 62 vernacular, and learning 14
scola 17 n.9, 22, 28, 90 Vienne, Council of 1 58
scriptorium 5, 155 Virgil 67, 1 10, 1 12, 192
Sedulius Scotus 142, 191 virginity 29, 75
Index 237
Vitae patrum 52, 190 William of Hirsau 28, 29, 183-5,

Volmar 75-6, 9 1 , 184, 194 192, 193
Institutiones Hirsaugienses 184
Waldeby, John 60 preaching 184
Waleys, Thomas 63 William of Pagula 47
Walter of Chatillon 67, 68 William of St Thierry 1 7 1 , 172, 174
Warder, John 58 William of Worcester 133
Watkin, Aelred 36 Wimborne Minster 1 1 8
Way, Albert 36 Woodward, John 6 6
Werner of Ratisbonne 1 74 Wulstan, Thomas 52
Westminster Abbey Wybarn, Thomas 67
chapter house 125, 126, 127 Wyclif, John 65
'cherub' 125, 1 2 6
'Christ in Judgement' 127 Zweifalten 185
Westwyck, John 62 library 5, 185-9 1 , 194
Whethanstede, John 67, 68 scribes 186, 191, 1 94
William of Champeaux 105 scriptorium 5

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Medieval Monastic Education

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Leicester University Press

London and New York

First published 2000

© George Ferzoco, Carolyn Muessig and contributors 2000

All rights reserved_ No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

BX2462 .M43 2000

Typeset by BookEns Ltd, Royston, Herts.

1 The changing face of tradition: monastic education

2 Training for the liturgy as a form of monastic education

3 Besides the book: using the body to mould the mind -

4 A medieval novice's formation: reflection on a

5 The scope of learning within the cloisters of the

6 University monks in late medieval England

7 Hildegard of Bingen's teaching in her Expositiones

8 Learning and mentoring in the twelfth century:

10 The role of images in monastic education: the evidence

11 Ghostly mentor, teacher o f mysteries: Bartholomew,

12 'Life, learning and wisdom': the forms and functions of

13 Franciscan educational perspectives: reworking monastic

14 Monastic educational culture revisited: the witness of

10. 1 Crucifixion and Arma Christi from Carthusian

Dom Aidan Bellenger is a monk of Downside Abbey, where he was

Susan Boynton is Assistant Professor of Historical Musicology at

1 8 ( 1 999), 47-74; and articles on liturgical drama, including

29 ( 1 998), 1-25, and 'The Liturgical Role of Children in Monastic

James G. Clark is British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow and Junior

Isabelle Cochelin is Assistant Professor in History and at the Centre

publications include 'Abelard's Allusive Style', in Mittellateinisches

George Ferzoco is Lecturer in Italian Studies, University of Leicester.

Penelope Galloway is Lecturer in Medieval History, University of

Miriam Gill is a PhD candidate at the Courtauld Institute. Her thesis

Joan Greatrex was Associate Professor of Medieval History, Carleton

Graham Jones is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Leicester's

Beverly Mayne Kienzle is Professor of the Practice in Latin and

Constant J. Mews is Senior Lecturer in the School of Historical

Carolyn Muessig is Lecturer in Medieval Theology, University of

Bert Roest is Fellow of The Netherlands Royal Academy assigned to

The contents of this book are based on the international conference,

George Ferzoco, University of Leicester

Formative studies of medieval education

merely a man of science nor a man of letters nor an intellectual,

The themes of medieval monastic education

Several of the subjects raised in these books are further developed in

Aidan Bellenger's analysis of a medieval manuscript is neatly apt for

generally? Indeed, how will such approaches compare with works

1. Both these books are general introductions to the history of medieval

the armarius just listened to a final 'dress rehearsal' after his

Although the greater use of books for novices could be interpreted

While these aspects of music theory can tell us something about

reception of hymns in the context of more advanced grammatical

customaries indicate that boys were responsible for holding or

crastinum. Sabbato autem puer, qui ebdomadam tenet, medietatem scribit

To you your father should be as a god;

specific content of Cluniac education (books read, techniques learned,

Cluniacs neglected equally Benedict's regulation demanding that a

hagiographers associated with it. Children were accused of leuitas or

Another illustration of the monks' conviction that an oblate's mind

oblate were marked by extremely strict supervISIOn. No free time

second entitled De disciplina regulari. Disciplina signifies primarily the