Steven Vanderputten

Fulcard’s Pigsty: Cluniac Reformers, Dispute Settlement, and the Lower Aristocracy in Early Twelfth-Century Flanders

This article argues that the chronology and geography of the Cluniac reform movement in the county of Flanders in the early twelfth century were to a large extent determined by the attempts of the counts to regain control over the feudal network and by the reformers’ specific strategies to reassess relations between monastic communities and their lay officers. Through the example of the turbulent abbacy and eventual deposition of Fulcard, abbot of Marchiennes and member of one of the most powerful local clans in the southeastern parts of Flanders, it is shown how the dividing line between supporters and adversaries of the reform movement ran across the division between the higher levels of the Flemish aristocracy and families who had recently introduced themselves into the aristocratic network. If one accepts the existence of opportunities for consensus based on what Patrick Geary has described as “structural conflicts,” it can be understood how Cluniac reforms at the same time constituted a point of diss...

A Time of Great Confusion. Second-Generation Cluniac Reformers and Resistance to Monastic Centralization in the County of Flanders (c. 1125-1145)

The present article argues that the years between circa 1125 and 1145 witnessed an attempt on behalf of ecclesiastical leaders from the archbishopric of Reims to homogenize and reorganize reformed Benedictine monasticism on a regional basis. Second-generation reformers controversially devised methods of supervision rooted in a Cluniac understanding of internal life but formally inspired by the Cistercian model of monastic organization. Central to the development of this new model of reformed monasticism was the leadership of Alvisus, abbot of Anchin and subsequently bishop of Arras. His interventions led to the creation of some form of regional supervision but failed to organize the Benedictine monasteries in the archbishopric of Reims into a well-structured, hierarchical network. A significant factor in convincing the reformers of the necessity of compromise was the fact that their objectives repeatedly clashed with the political interests of various ecclesiastical and secular leaders.

Monastic literate practices in eleventh- and twelfth-century northern France

This article aims to apply the concept of literate practices to the production of written artefacts in northern France during the late eleventh and twelfth centuries. It is argued that the increasing impact of the written word in society was not a straightforward process but one that suffered setbacks and whose nature depended on how it was applied at a micro-level. Using the vantage point of the archives of a number of Benedictine monasteries in the valley of the Scarpe, a small river currently situated near the current Franco-Belgian border, it is shown how the monks responded to the uncertainties of their age by exploring the advantages of producing and receiving large numbers of documents, all of which were created, used and stored in functional and specific, but changing, contexts.

Monastic Reform, Abbatial Leadership and the Instrumentation of Cluniac Discipline in the Early Twelfth-Century Low Countries

Les discussions savantes sur la chronologie, la methodologie et les resultats du deploiement des « reformes clunisiennes » de la fin du xie et du debut du xiie siecle aux Pays-Bas se sont fondees, a mon sens, sur la conviction que la « clunisation » du monachisme benedictin etait un phenomene « spontane », issu du desir des moines qui conduisaient les reformes et de leurs 386 resumes protecteurs de rendre la vie conforme aux coutumes et a la spiritualite clunisiennes dans les monasteres concernes. En premier lieu, l’article montre comment l’idee d’une « clunisation » progressive derive du discours apologetique de commentateurs reformistes dans la premiere moitie du xiie siecle, et du discours des historiens modernes qui cherchent a expliquer le mouvement de reformes en se referant, d’une part, a la puissante attraction du monachisme clunisien et, d’autre part, a differents exemples de laxisme disciplinaire anterieurs a ces reformes. Ensuite, l’article propose de discerner l’instrumentalisation, a partir d...

Abbatial Obedience, Liturgical Reform, and the Threat of Monastic Autonomy at the Turn of the Twelfth Century

The author argues that the introduction of the written promise of obedience made by abbots to the local bishop, as recorded in liturgical manuals of the late-twelfth century, was the result of a process that began at least a century earlier. By looking at an exceptional set of liturgical and archival sources from the Bishopric of Arras in northern France and putting them in their appropriate canonical, liturgical, and political contexts, the author shows how, in the late- eleventh and early-twelfth centuries, reformist bishops were experimenting with a ritual repertoire that included references—be they intended or inferred—to both the monastic profession and secular homage.

Episcopal benediction and monastic autonomy in the 12th-century bishopric of Tournai: the curious blessing of Hugo, first abbot of Saint-André (1188)

Over the course of the twelfth century, the meaning of the liturgical formula for the benediction of abbots shifted from one instilled with a monastic meaning of self-renunciation to a secularised one, focusing on fidelity and service. The purpose of this change was to allow bishops to rely securely on abbatial obedience in the exercise of their office, and to retain or strengthen their financial and juridical grip on the non-exempt monasteries of their diocese. This paper argues that this process did not prevent bishops from being attentive to the sensitive political realities of their time. By looking at the controversial election and blessing of Hugo, first abbot of Saint-Andre in the diocese of Tournai, it is shown how the benediction liturgy could be used as a means of reconciling the interests of ecclesiastical and secular leaders without compromising the ordinarius‟ canonic authority and political status.

Realities of Reformist Leadership in Early Eleventh-century Flanders: The Case of Leduin, Abbot of Saint-Vaast

The reform movement of the later tenth and early eleventh centuries distinguishes itself from other such episodes in monastic history not so much by its impact on the existence of ecclesiastical communities throughout western Europe as by its diversity. Whereas Cluny, Gorze, and the movements initiated or inspired by William of Volpiano, Romuald of Camaldoli, Johannes of Vallombrosa, and Peter Damián have rightly attracted the most interest from scholars, there existed a number of regional movements led by individuals with a reformist agenda, carried out with as much determination, and with results as significant as their international counterparts. One such example is that of the so-called Lotharingian reforms initiated by Richard, abbot of Saint-Vanne (d. 1046), which, over the course of the first half of the eleventh century, spread across large parts of the archbishoprics of Reims, Metz, and Cologne.1 The exact nature of the movement has long been a subject of debate, with Kassius Hallinger proposing controversially to designate it as a Mischobservanz, or mixed observance, based primarily on the customs observed at Cluny and Gorze.2 The current consensus, how-

A Compromised Inheritance: Monastic Discourse and the Politics of Property Exchange in Early Twelfth-Century Flanders

This paper explores the possibilities of assessing the social discourse of monastic groups in early twelfth-century Flanders. Through the examination of a dispute over property given by a dying noblewoman to the priory of Hesdin, it argues that both the way in which the monks and their benefactors dealt with the politics of property transfers and the discourse of the written account of these events may be interpreted, on the one hand as deliberate attempts to force a monastic understanding of property and relations with the laity upon the rural communities around Hesdin. On the other, they may be seen as the reflection of a struggle for power and status involving members of several levels of the lay elite.

Canterbury and Flanders in the late tenth century

Abstract This paper provides an edition, translation and discussion of four letters written by Flemish abbots to the archbishops of Canterbury between the years 980 and 991 and preserved in two manuscripts drawn on the archiepiscopal archives in the early eleventh century (London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius A. xv and Cotton Vespasian A. xiv). The letters document the increasing importance of cross-Channel relations in the late tenth century and provide context for a number of hitherto unexplained indications of cultural, religious and financial exchanges between the county of Flanders and England.

Reconsidering religious migration and its impact: the problem of Irish reform monks in tenth-century Lotharingia

Traditional accounts of early medieval monastic history routinely included a discussion of how a tenth-century ‘wave’ of Insular migrants crucially shaped the ideology and methodology of the ‘Lotharingian reform movement’. While a number of scholars have raised questions about the validity of this view, their investigations did not result in a revised account of the Irenwelle and its place in the history of 10th-century monasticism. This paper seeks to remediate this problem by considering the phenomenon from the viewpoint of indigenous agents, particularly Lotharingia’s ruling elites. Central to its argument is the hypothesis that ecclesiastical and secular lords were interested in hosting Insular migrants in local Benedictine contexts for reasons other than a desire to introduce typically ‘Irish’ elements to reformist spirituality and practice. More specifically, they hoped to achieve two things: draw on the intellectual, diplomatic, and leadership expertise of leading figures among the ‘Irish’ migrant ...