Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T03:23:12.609Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

14 - Early Cistercian writers

from Part III - Religious mentality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2012

Mette Birkedal Bruun
Affiliation:
University of Copenhagen
Get access

Summary

The Dictionnaire des auteurs cisterciens published in the 1970s lists some fifteen Cistercian writers active in the formative early twelfth century, a staggering one hundred thirty-eight for the full twelfth century, and another one hundred seventy-nine who lived on into the thirteenth century. Even allowing for some duplication in this count, readers will understand that a short article cannot introduce all of them. Only the best known Cistercian writers, and of them those whose works have been critically edited and/or are available in English, are presented here.

THE ‘FIRST FOUNDERS OF THIS CHURCH’: THE CISTERCIAN AUTHORS OF THE FORMATIVE YEARS

Stephen Harding (third abbot of Cîteaux, 1108/9–33, d. 1134) deserves pride of place in any list of Cistercian writers, even though his literary legacy is slight. It was Stephen who established the constitution, the Carta Caritatis and formed the character of what became the Cistercian Order.

An oblate at Sherborne Abbey in Dorset, the young Anglo-Saxon Harding left cloister and country in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest, perhaps prey to ‘worldly nettles’ or perhaps wary of his new overlords. After studying and travelling through Europe, he re-entered monastic life at Molesme, recently founded by the Benedictine Robert and the hermit Alberic. In community discussions of Abbot Robert ’s plans for a another new foundation, as imaginatively depicted by William of Malmesbury, Stephen defended stricter fidelity to the Rule of Benedict as being in accord with reason.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum anglorum 4.20; ed. and trans. R.A.B. Mynors et al., Gesta Regum Anglorum: The History of the English Kings, 2 vols. (Oxford, 2007)
Cowdrey, E.J., ‘Quidam frater Stephanus nomine, anglicus natione: The English Background of Stephen Harding’, Revue bénédictine, 101 (1991), 322–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowdrey, , ‘Peter, Monk of Molesme and Prior of Jully’, in Cross Cultural Convergences in the Crusader Period, ed. M. Goodich, S. Menache and S. Schein (New York, 1995)Google Scholar
Verdeyen, P., La théologie mystique de Guillaume de Saint-Thierry (Paris, 1990)Google Scholar
Wilmart, A., ‘La série et la date des ouvrages of Guilluame de Saint-Thierry’, Revue Mabillon, 14 (1924), 157–67Google Scholar
Now thought to have been the Theologia ‘scholarium’ and student notes. See C.J. Mews, ‘Peter Abelard’s “Theologia” Re-Examined’, RTAM, 52 (1985), 109–58
McGuire, B. P. (ed.), A Companion to Bernard of Clairvaux (Leiden, 2011)CrossRef
Epistola Guillelmi abbatis (Letter of Abbot William), Ep 326 inter Bernardi; PL 182:531–3; ed. P. Verdeyen, CCCM 89A (Turnhout, 2007)
Dutton, M.L., ‘Introduction’, in Walter Daniel: The Life of Aelred of Rievaulx and The Letter to Maurice, trans. F.M. Powicke and J.P. Freeland, CF 57 (Kalamazoo, MI, 1994)Google Scholar
Brooke, C., ‘Gregorian Reform in Action: Clerical Marriage in England, 1050–1200’, Cambridge Historical Journal, 12 (1956), 1–21CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barstow, A.L., Married Priests and the Reforming Papacy: The Eleventh-Century Debates (New York, 1982)
Vita Aelredi 30; ed. and trans. F.M. Powicke (London, 1950)
‘Introduction’, in Guerric of Igny: Liturgical Sermons, trans. monks of Mount Saint Bernard, 2 vols., CF 8 and CF 32 (Spencer, MA, 1971)
Vita Hugonis, Abbatis Marchianensis, ed. E. Martène and U. Durand, Thesaurus Novus Anecdotorum, 3 (Paris, 1717)
See Conrad of Eberbach’s late twelfth-century Exordium Magnum, dist. 3, chapters 8–9; ed. B. Griesser (Rome, 1961), pp. 163–6
See Ep 89 and 90 of Bernard of Clairvaux; Letters 92 and 93 in B. Scott James (trans.), The Letters of St Bernard of Clairvaux, intro. B.M. Kienzle (Stroud and Kalamazoo, MI, 1998; first pub. 1953)
Clair, R., ‘Saint Pierre II de Tarentaise et Saint Amédée de Lausanne’, Cîteaux, 25 (1974), 287–98Google Scholar
C. Waddell’s introduction to Magnificat: Homilies in Praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary, trans. M.-B. Saïd et al., CF 18A (Kalamazoo, MI, 1978)
See also McGinn’s introduction to Isaac of Stella: Sermons on the Christian Year 1, trans. H. McCaffery, CF 11 (Kalamazoo, MI, 1979)
Mikkers, E., ‘De vita et operibus Gilberti de Hoylandis’, Cîteaux, 14 (1963), 33–43Google Scholar
Leclercq, J., ‘La première rédaction des sermons in Cantica Canticorum de Gilbert de Hoyland’, Revue bénédictine, 62 (1952), 289–91Google Scholar
Braceland, L.C., ‘Introduction’, in Gilbert of Hoyland: Sermons on the Song of Songs 1, CF 14 (Kalamazoo, MI, 1978)Google Scholar
Braceland, L.C., Gilbert of Hoyland IV: Treatises, Epistles, and Sermons, CF 38 (Kalamazoo, MI, 1981)Google Scholar
Gastaldelli, F., Ricerche su Goffredo d’Auxerre: Il compendio anonimo del ‘Super Apocalypsim’ (Rome, 1970)
Leclercq, J., ‘Les écrits de Geoffroy d’Auxerre’, Revue bénédictine, 62 (1952), 277–88CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lange, H., Traités du XIIe siècle sur la symbolique des nombres: Geoffroy d’Auxerre et Thibault de Langres (Copenhagen, 1978)
Blumenthal, U.-R., ‘Cardinal Albinus of Albano and the Digesta pauperis scolaris Albini. MS. Ottob.lat.3057’, Archivum Historiae Pontificiae, 20 (1982), 7–49Google Scholar
Blumenthal, , Papal Reform and Canon Law in the 11th and 12th Centuries (Aldershot, 1998)
Dimock, J. (ed.), Itinerarium Kambriae (London, 1868)
Thorpe, L., The Journey through Wales (Harmonsworth, 1978)
Bell, ‘Introduction’, in Baldwin of Forde: Spiritual Tractates, 2 vols., CF 38 and 41 (Kalamazoo, MI, 1986)
O’Sullivan, J.F., ‘Introduction’, in Cistercians and Cluniacs: The Case for Cîteaux, CF 33 (Kalamazoo, MI, 1977)Google Scholar
Costello, , ‘John of Ford and the Quest for Wisdom’, Cîteaux, 23 (1972), 141–59Google Scholar
Holdsworth, C.J., ‘John of Ford and the Interdict’, English Historical Review, 78 (1963), 705–14CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holdsworth, , ‘John of Ford and English Cistercian Writings 1167–1214’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, fifth series, 11 (1961), 117–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romanuik, K., ‘Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces, in the Work of Adam of Perseigne’, CSQ, 33 (1998), 185–90Google Scholar
Andrea, A.J., ‘Adam of Perseigne and the Fourth Crusade’, Cîteaux, 36 (1985), 21–37Google Scholar
Pernoud, R., Poètes et romanciers du moyen-âge (Paris, 1958)
du Halgouët, J., ‘Poètes oubliés, Hélinand le Trouvère’, COCR, 20 (1958), 31–135Google Scholar
Smits, E.R., ‘Editing the Chronicon of Helinand of Froidmont: The Marginal Notes’, Sacris Erudiri, 32 (1991), 269–89CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kienzle, , ‘Hélinand de Froidmont et la prédication cistercienne dans le Midi (1145–1229)’, in La prédication en Pays d’oc (XIIe–début XVe siècle), ed. Biget, J.-L. et al. (Toulouse, 1997)
Porter, J.L., Helinand of Froidmont: Verses on Death, CF 61 (Kalamazoo, MI and Spencer, MA, 1999)Google Scholar
Duculot, B., ‘Le bienheureux Hélinand de Froidmont poète du XIIe siècle à la télévision et au theatre du XXe siècle’, Cîteaux, 16 (1975), 109–11Google Scholar
Lawrence, C.H., ‘Stephen of Lexington and Cistercian University Studies’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 2 (1960), 164–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Dwyer, B.W., ‘The Impact of the Native Irish on the Cistercians in the Thirteenth Century’, Journal of Religious History, 3 (1967), 287–301CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Dwyer, , ‘The Crisis in the Cistercian Monasteries in Ireland in the Early Thirteenth Century’, Analecta Cisterciensia, 31 (1975), 267–304; 32 (1975), 3–112Google Scholar
Kwanten, E., ‘Le collège Saint-Bernard à Paris, sa fondation et ses débuts’, Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique, 43 (1948), 443–72Google Scholar
Dautrey, P., ‘Croissance et adaptation chez les Cisterciens au treizième siècle: les débuts du collège des Bernardins de Paris’, Analecta Cisterciensia, 32 (1977 for 1976), 122–215Google Scholar
Obert-Piketty, C., ‘La promotion des études chez les cisterciens à travers le recrutement des étudiants du collège Saint-Bernard de Paris au moyen âge’, Cîteaux, 39 (1988), 65–78Google Scholar
O’Dwyer, B.W., ‘Introduction’, Stephen of Lexington: Letters from Ireland, 1228–1229, CF 28 (Kalamazoo, MI, 1982)Google Scholar
Cawley, M., Send Me God: The Lives of Ida the Compassionate of Nivelles, Nun of la Ramée, Arnulf, Lay Brother of Villers, and Abundus, Monk of Villers, by Goswin of Bossut (Turnhout, 2003 and University Park, PA, 2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winkelman, J.H., ‘Over Beatrijs visioen en de imperfectie van het menselijke interpretatievermogen’, Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik, 36 (1992), 181–96Google Scholar
De Ganck, R., ‘The Three Foundations of Bartholomew of Tienen’, Cîteaux, 37 (1986), 49–75Google Scholar
Wilmart, A., ‘Nicolas Manjacoria: Cistercien à Trois Fontaines’, Revue bénédictine, 63 (1953), 3–17Google Scholar
Conrad of Eberbach, Exordium Magnum Cisterciense; trans. B. Ward and P. Savage, The Great Beginning of Cîteaux, ed. E. R. Elder, CS 72 (Collegeville, MN, 2012)
Gastaldelli, F., ‘A Critical Note on the Edition of the Exordium Magnum Cisterciense’, CSQ, 39 (2004), 311–19Google Scholar
Savage, P., ‘Introduction’, The Great Beginning of Cîteaux, pp. 17–24: ‘Conrad’s Sources’; M. Casey, ‘Herbert of Clairvaux’s Book of Wonderful Happenings’, CSQ, 25 (1990), 37–64Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×