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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011
‘On my side are St. Benedict and the whole of antiquity’, wrote Rancé to Mabillon in February 1693, ‘and what is called study has only been instituted when discipline has been lax’. However one may sympathise with his great adversary, it can hardly be denied that, at least so far as the Cistercian order was concerned, Rancé was historically justified. The transmission of new ideas depended on freedom of movement and this was not compatible with the monastic vow of stability. It was this, rather than any ingrained conservatism, that made the monastic orders so slow to adapt themselves to the new learning of the cathedral schools and the rising universities. The Cistercians in particular were seemingly committed by their founders to being, Like St. Benedict, scienter nescius et sapienter indoctus. It was the vocation of Cîteaux to recall men to the primitive observance of the Rule in which the essential tasks of the monk were liturgical prayer and manual labour. There was to be no school in the cloister. The only instruction provided for in the early consuetudines was training in the chant. The making of books, save by permission of the general chapter, was expressly forbidden.
page 164 note 1 ‘… que saint Benoît et l'antiquité tout entière est pour moi, et que ce qui s'appelle étude n'a été établie que dans le relâchement’: Lettres de Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé, ed. Gonot, B., Paris 1846, 226. The correspondence was occasioned by the publication in 1692 of Mabillon's famous Traité des études monastiques.Google Scholar
page 164 note 2 Cf. the observations of Halphen, L. in ‘Les universités au xiiie sièle’ in Revue historique, CLXVI (1931), 217–38.Google Scholar
page 164 note 3 Guignard, P., Les monuments primitifs de la règle cistercienne, Dijon 1878, 266Google Scholar. Cf. also the restrictive attitude to legal studies displayed by the general chapter of 1188: J. Canivez, Statuta Capitulorum Generalium Ordinis Cisterciensis, i. 108, discussed by Stutz, U., ‘Die Cisterzienser wider Gratians Dekret’ in Zeitschr. d. SavignyStiftung f. Rechtsgesch., Kan. Abt., XL (1919), 63–98.Google Scholar
page 164 note 4 The Life of Ailred of Rievaulx by Walter Daniel, ed. Powicke, F. M., 1950, 26.Google Scholar
page 165 note 1 Marilien, J. in Bernard de Clairvaux, ed. Commission d'histoire de l'ordre de Cîteaux 1953, 22–5Google Scholar. See the valuable discussion of the intellectual background of Bernard and Ailred by Talbot, C. H., Ailred of Rievaulx De Anima in Mediaeval & Renaissance Studies, suppl. I, 1952, 9–22.Google Scholar
page 165 note 2 Haskins, C. H., Studies in the History of Medieval Science, Cambridge (Mass.) 1924, 231–2, 233.Google Scholar
page 165 note 3 The sources however conflict on the Chanter's last days at Longpont: Gutjahr, F. S., Petrus Cantor Parisiensis: sein Leben und seine Schriften, Graz 1899, 32–8.Google Scholar
page 165 note 4 Crane, T. F., The Exempla of Jacques de Vitry, 1890, 12Google Scholar; quoted by Haskins, , Studies in Mediaeval Culture, 1929, 50.Google Scholar The duty of abandoning the schools for the monastic life is of course a favourite theme with university preachers of the thirteenth century, see for instance the exhortations of the Dominican master John of St. Giles in Les Sermons universitaires parisiens de 1230–1231, ed. Davy, M. M., Paris 1931, 292, 295.Google Scholar
page 165 note 5 Roisin, S., L'hagiographie cistercienne dans le diocèse de Liège au xiiie siècle, Louvain 1947, 28–72.Google Scholar
page 165 note 6 See William Hunt's notice in Dict. Nat. Biog., xi. 1083.
page 166 note 1 The manuscript of Stephen's letter-book, which is in the Public Library of Turin, was first noticed by Cognasso, F. in Römische Quartalschrift, XXVI (1912), 58–80.Google Scholar It has now been edited in full by Griesser, Fr. Bruno of Mehrerau: ‘Registrum Epistolarum Stephani de Lexinton’ in Analecta Sacri Ordinis Cisterciensis, II (1946), 1–118; viii (1952), 181–378. The editor plausibly suggests that the book found its way to north Italy when abbot Stephen was involved in the catastrophe which overtook the General Council of 1241.Google Scholar
page 166 note 2 Rot. Litt.Claus., i. 7, 21.
page 166 note 3 The genealogy of the family is given in Thoroton's Nottinghamshire, 1796, iii. 110 ff. In 1249 the general chapter of Cîteaux conceded plenum servitium after death to abbot Stephen's brothers and included in the list one named ‘Thoquefort’ who does not appear elsewhere: Canivez, ii. 336.
page 166 note 4 CChR, i. 149. The descent of the manor and sub-manor is traced by S., C. and Orwin, C. S., The Open Fields, 2nd ed. 1954, 72–85.Google Scholar
page 166 note 5 CIPM, i. 174.
page 166 note 6 CPR, 1232–47, 197.
page 166 note 7 Ibid., 359.
page 166 note 8 CIPM, i. 378.
page 166 note 9 Ibid., i. 402.
page 167 note 1 In a letter written later to Robert de Somercote, Stephen refers to their former association at Paris: Griesser, op. cit., 315–16.
page 167 note 2 Rot. Litt. Pat., 138.
page 167 note 3 The originator of the anecdote was apparently the Dominican theologian Robert Bacon who was Master Edmund's contemporary in the schools, see my St. Edmund of Abingdon, a study of hagiography and history, 1960, 101, 118, 251. The authors of Gallia Christiana, iv. 806, were mistaken in locating the incident at Paris.
page 167 note 4 Annales Monastici, RS, iii. 67.
page 167 note 5 In 1223 abbot Stephen issued new letters of attorney to the proctors of the abbey on his assumption of office: Curia Regis Rolls, xi. 251. His predecessor, abbot Ralph, appears in 1221–3: Charters and Documents illustrating the History of the Cathedral, City, and Diocese of Salisbury, ed. W. R.Jones and W. D. Macray, RS, 114; Rot. Litt. Claus., i. 590. Documents relating to Stephen's abbacy are printed by Birch, W. de G., ‘Collections towards the History of the abbey of Stanley’ in Wilts. Archaeological and Natural Hist. Magazine, XV (1875), 239–79.Google Scholar
page 167 note 6 Canivez, ii. 61; Griesser, 39–45; Patent Rolls, 1225–32, 176.
page 168 note 1 Griesser, 34–7.
page 168 note 2 Ibid., 16–18.
page 168 note 3 Griesser, 37–40; Canivez, ii. 73.
page 168 note 4 Griesser, 45–8.
page 168 note 5 Chronicon Savigniacense in Receuil, xxiii. 584; Waverley annals in Ann. Mon., ii. 307.
page 168 note 6 Griesser, 97–8.
page 168 note 7 Chron. Majora, iv. 125.
page 168 note 8 The Chronicle of Melrose, ed. O., A. and Anderson, M. O., facsimile ed. 1936, 90. The general chapter of 1241 ordered prayers on their behalf: Canivez, ii. 230.Google Scholar
page 169 note 1 Chronica Villariensis Monasterii, ed. G. Waitz in MGH. SS., xxv. 202.
page 169 note 2 Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis, ed. Denifle, H. and Chatelain, A., Paris 1889–1897, i. nos. 53, 157, 161, 167, 177, 192, 221.Google Scholar See the account by Müller, G., ‘Gründung des Bernhardkollegiums zu Paris’ in Cisterzienser Chronik, XX (1908), 1–14, 38–50Google Scholar; and by Kwanten, E., ‘Le Collège saint-Bernard à Paris’ in Rev. d'hist. ecclés., XLIII (1948), 443–72Google Scholar; also the mention of Stevenson, W. H. in The Early History of St. John's College, Oxford, OHS, 1939, 2–5.Google Scholar
page 169 note 3 Canivez, ii. 170.
page 169 note 4 Ibid., ii. 290.
page 169 note 5 Denifle, Chartularium, nos. 157, 161.
page 169 note 6 Ibid., nos. 166, 167. The plot measured five arpents.
page 169 note 7 Ibid., no. 232.
page 170 note 1 Canivez, ii. 327.
page 170 note 2 Ibid., ii. 348.
page 170 note 3 Ibid., ii. 399.
page 170 note 4 Denifle, Chartularium, no. 221.
page 170 note 5 Glorieux, P., Répertoire des maîtres en théologie de Paris au xiiie siècle, Paris 1933, ii, 252Google Scholar; Michaud-Quantin, P., ‘Guy de l'Aumône, premier maître cistercien de l'université de Paris’ in Analecta Sacri Ordinis Cisterciensis XV (1959), 194–219.Google Scholar
page 170 note 6 Étude sur l'état intérieur des abbayes cisterciennes awe xiie et xiiie siècles, Troyes and Paris 1858, 69, 181.Google Scholar
page 170 note 7 Gallia Christiana, ed. Piolin, , Paris 1876, iv. 806.Google Scholar
page 170 note 8 Chron. Majora, v. 596.
page 171 note 1 Chron. Majora, v. 652.
page 171 note 2 ‘Ce silence officiel permet de rejeter le fait allégué, faute de preuves solides …’: loc. cit., 459.
page 171 note 3 Canivez, ii. 424 n.
page 171 note 4 Les Registres d'Alexandre IV, ed. Roncière, C. Bourel de la, Loye, J. de, Cenival, P. de, and Coulon, A., École française d'Athènes et de Rome 1917, 1791, 1792. It is unfortunate that this volume has not been indexed.Google Scholar
page 171 note 5 The formulary is described and catalogued by Schillmann, F., Die Formularsammlung des Marinus von Eboli, in Bibliothek des preussischen historischen Institute in Rom, XVI (1929)Google Scholar. It is a composite work which was brought together in its existing form in the time of Boniface VIII. There are four copies. The MS. used here is Cod. Vat. lat. 3976.
page 173 note 1 St. Edmund of Abingdon, 58, 123.
page 173 note 2 Griesser, 372–3. The scholar was Master Robert de Coton, on whom see Glorieux, Répertoire des maîtres, 156.
page 173 note 3 Griesser, 45–8.
page 173 note 4 Johannis Lemovicensis Opera, ed. Horvath, C., Veszprém 1932, iii. 93–102.Google Scholar
page 173 note 5 Griesser, appx., 116–18. The editor dates this letter c. 1233–4, but the reference to the papal Inquisitor at Orleans suggests that it was written some time after 1235 when the Dominican Robert le Bougre began his activities in Northern France; see Haskins, C. H., ‘Robert le Bougre and the beginnings of the Inquisition in Northern France’ in American Historical Review VII (1902), 437–57, 631–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
page 174 note 1 Canivez, ii. 289–90.
page 174 note 2 On whom see C. L. Kingsford's notice in Dict. Nat. Biog., xviii. 627. The two men had studied at Paris together; cf. Griesser, 315–16.
page 174 note 3 He first appears as auditor of the audience on 1 March 1238: Les registres de Grégoire IX, ed. Auvray, L., Bibl. des Écoles françaises d'Athènes et de Rome 1896–1908, 4123. A list of the auditors of the audience is given by Bresslau, Handbuch der Urkundenlehre, 284–5, but Master Robert is omitted.Google Scholar
page 174 note 4 Auvray, 4709; Chron. Majora iv. 5.
page 174 note 5 Chron. Majora, iv. 165, 168; v. 194. Matthew suggests that he was poisoned to prevent him from gaining the papacy.
page 174 note 6 Thus Müller and Kwanten, who object that the expression ‘amicissimus ordinis’ applied to him by the General Chapter in 1244 (see Canivez, ii. 274) would not have been applied to a member of the order. Willi, D., however, includes him among the Cistercian prelates: ‘Päpste, Kardinäle und Bischöfe aus dem Cisterzienser Orden’ in Cisterzienser Chronik, XXIII (1911), 267–8.Google Scholar A full-length study of his activities as cardinal and his place in medical scholarship was published by Grauert, H., ‘Meister Johann von Toledo’ in Sitzungsberichte der königlichen bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosoph., philolog. u. hist. Kl. (1911), 111–325. The writer was unable, however, to throw any light on his career before he was raised to the cardinalate.Google Scholar
page 174 note 7 Thus the Winchester and Worcester annalists: Ann. Mon. ii. 121; iv. 470; The Furness annalist: Chron. of the reign of Stephen, Henry II, & Richard I, ed. R. Howlett, RS, ii. 569; Matthew Paris in Chron. Majora, iv. 354, 578–9, etc.
page 174 note 8 The suggestion of Grauert, op. cit., 137.
page 174 note 9 Chron. Majora, v. 430.
page 175 note 1 Chronicle of Melrose, 90–1. The chronicler gives the text of a letter which he and the other Cistercian prelates wrote to abbot Stephen from their prison; cf. Huillard-Bréholles, Hislorior diplomatica Frederici Secundi, v. 1121. Ricardus of San Germano noticed Master John of Toledo as being among the prisoners who were transferred to Tivoli, but he makes no reference to his Cistercian profession: MGH. SS., xix. 381, 383.
page 175 note 2 Gallia Christiana, xiv. 536–7.
page 175 note 3 Canivez, ii. 80–1.
page 175 note 4 Chron. Majora, iv. 354.
page 175 note 5 Royal Letters, ed. W. W. Shirley, RS, ii. 204.
page 175 note 6 He was the channel through whom many of the king's clerks obtained papal provisions and licences to hold in plurality, e.g. CPL ii. 330, 333, 336, 346, 348, 360. In 1244–6 he was the chief standby at the papal court of those who were working for the canonisation of archbishop Edmund of Abingdon: Martène, E. and Durand, U., Thesaurus Novus Anecdotorum, Paris 1717, iii.Google Scholar cols. 1849–50; in 1261 he spent his treasure freely among the Romans in order to procure the senatorial office for Richard of Cornwall: Rymer, i. 728, and the letter published by Hampe, K. in Neues Archiv, XXX (1905), 688–9.Google Scholar On his work as protector of the Cistercian Order see Mahn, J. B., L'Ordre cistercien et son gouvernement, Paris 1951Google Scholar, 166. Apparently doubts about his nationality caused him to be omitted from the Dict, Nat. Biog.
page 175 note 7 Canivez, ii. 289.
page 175 note 8 Denifle pointed out that the original copies are endorsed by the scribe of the papal chancery ‘Frater Iohannis cardinalis’, or ‘Cardinalis albus pro scolaribus Parisiensibus’: Chartularium, nos. 157, 161, 192.
page 175 note 9 As urged by Müller, op. cit. 48–50, who on this ground rejected Matthew Paris's account of the deposition of abbot Stephen.
page 176 note 1 ‘Ut in singulis abbatiis Ordinis nostri, in quibus abbates habere potuerint vel voluerint, habeatur studium.… Ad dictas abbatias mittere poterunt de monachis suis quos ad hoc magis idoneos viderint, ita tamen quod ad id compelli non poterunt quibus facultas deerit vel voluntas …’: Canivez, ii. 290.
page 176 note 2 Chronica Villarienses Monasterii, ed. G. Waitz, MGH. SS., xxv. 208; cited by Moreau, E. de, L'Abbaye de Villers-en-Brabant aux xiie et xiiie siècles, Brussels 1909, 116–17. I am grateful to Mr. Christopher Holdsworth for this last reference.Google Scholar
page 176 note 3 Johannis Lemovicensis Opera Omnia, iii, 3–90.
page 176 note 4 Ibid., iii. 93–102.
page 176 note 5 Denifle, Chartularium, i. no. 209.
page 176 note 6 Ibid., i. no. 265.
page 177 note 1 Les Registres d'Alexandre IV, nos. 1791, 1792.
page 177 note 2 Saint-Aubin, P. Piétresson de, ‘Le Livre des sepultures: chronique inédite des abbés de Clairvaux’ in Revue Mabillon, 2e série, XXXVI (1929), 303–23. Henriquez cites the same text which he had seen in an earlier copy at Dunes abbey: Menologium Cisterciense, Antwerp 1630, 317–18.Google Scholar
page 178 note 1 Canivez, iii. 238.
page 178 note 2 Ibid., iii. 2.
page 178 note 3 Ibid., iii 200.
page 178 note 4 ‘In moribus autem et modo studendi et etiam in gratia libertatum scolaribus apud sanctum Bernardum Parisius studentibus sint conformes’: Ibid. iii. 217; cf. W. H. Stevenson and H..E. Salter, The Early History of St. John's College, 5–8.
page 178 note 5 E.g. in 1300, 1301, 1312, 1319: Canivez, iii. 299–300, 303, 326, 346. Cf. the evidence cited by Little, A. G., ‘Cistercian students at Oxford in the Thirteenth Century’ in EHR, VIII (1893), 83–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar No doubt reluctance was deepened by the heavy cost of keeping men at the schools. The grudging attitude of many abbots towards their monks studying at Oxford emerges from several of the begging letters published from a Combe abbey formulary by Richardson, H. G., ‘Cistercian Formularies’ in Oxford Formularies, OHS, 1942, ii. 281–327, e.g. nos. 9, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 20.Google Scholar
