What is it about?

The Norman context in the eleventh century lent itself to a customary domination of the duke over monastic communities. In the abbey of Le Bec, the prince was the guarantor of the election of the abbot. However, at the end of the 11th century, the bishops wanted to strengthen their diocesan authority by using liturgical power at the time of the "consecration" of the abbot. To escape this domination, the monks of Le Bec reacted strongly during the first third of the 12th century.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Despite the assertions of three polemical treatises written in the 1130s by an anonymous monk, the abbey of Le Bec did not escape the rule of the Norman ducal domination. Duke William the Conqueror supervised and guided the destiny of the small foundation of the knight Herluin (c. 1034), transforming it after 1047 into a true reformed Benedictine abbey. But the question of investitures was therefore much less related to an intervention by the prince, considered illegal, than to the community's desire to escape the subjection of the archbishop of Rouen. At the end of the 11th century, this one wants to impose a scrutinium and a profession of obedience to the abbot. At the time of the abbatial election, the monks submitted to the pastoral power of the abbot, but they did not abdicate their freedom into the hands of the episcopate. The renunciation of the abbot's homage in 1124 enabled King Henry I of England, the Conqueror's son, to retain the friendship of the monks and to prevent them from seeking the support of the papacy. The monks of Le Bec aspired to live in peace, sheltered by their cloister and royal protection. However, the papacy supported the claims of the metropolitan regarding the abbots' profession of obedience in the 1130s and, after the death of the king (1135), the Apostolic See became the monasteries’ more usual arbiter. It was time for the abbey of Le Bec to look towards Rome.

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: The Abbot’s Pastoral Power among Princes and Bishops: A Crucial Issue for the Le Bec Community (C. 1034–C. 1139), July 2024, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004701984_003.
You can read the full text:

Read

Contributors

The following have contributed to this page