Siegfried Wenzel

Preaching the Memory of Virtue and Vice: Memory, Images, and Preaching in the Late Middle Ages (review)

In terms of elucidating the lives of monastic reformers of the twelfth century, this volume bears comparison to recent publications of the two lives of Robert of Arbrissel (d. 1116) by Baudri of Dol (or Bourgeuil (c. 1118) and that by a Robert’s chaplain Andreas of Fontevrault (c. 1120).2 Not only did Stephen of Obazine cross paths with Robert of Arbrissel in western France, but another companion was Blessed Bernard of Tiron, whose life as written by Geoffrey Grossus c. 1147 has recently been published in English translation.3 As these Lives become more available, it should be possible not only to compare them to one another but also to the great exemplars on which they are based: the lives of such heroes as St. Benedict of Nursia or St. Martin of Tours. As our bookshelves of saints’ Lives expand, we can move as well in the direction of standard presentation, including manuscript tradition, date of composition, and possibly the library context within which such lives were composed. Even undergraduates might then be able to correlate the relationships with earlier lives, making it possible that incorporating saints’ Lives into our courses would include more than asking which miracles might be scientifically explained or what the tangential details of them may tell us about medieval life more generally.