Robert of Arbrissel
Encyclopedia
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
; and died at Orsan
Orsan
Orsan is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.-Population:-External links:*...
.
Biography
Robert studied in Paris during the pontificate of Gregory VIIPope Gregory VII
Pope St. Gregory VII , born Hildebrand of Sovana , was Pope from April 22, 1073, until his death. One of the great reforming popes, he is perhaps best known for the part he played in the Investiture Controversy, his dispute with Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor affirming the primacy of the papal...
, perhaps under Anselm of Laon
Anselm of Laon
Anselm of Laon was a French theologian and founder of a school of scholars who helped to pioneer biblical hermeneutics.Remembered in the century after his death as "Anselmus" or "Anselm", his name was more properly "Ansellus" or, in Modern French, "Anseau."Born of very humble parents at Laon...
and later displayed considerable theological knowledge. The date and place of his ordination are unknown. In 1089 he was recalled to his native diocese of Rennes by Bishop Sylvester de la Guerche, who desired to reform his flock.
As archpriest, Robert devoted himself to the suppression of simony, lay investiture, clerical concubinage, irregular marriages, and to the healing of feuds. This reforming zeal aroused such enmity that upon Sylvester's death in 1093, Robert was compelled to leave the diocese. He went to Angers and there commenced ascetic practices which he continued throughout his life.
In 1095 he became a hermit in the forest of Craon
Craon
Craon is the name of several communes in France:* Craon, Mayenne, in the Mayenne department* Craon, former commune of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department, now part of Sionviller* Craon, Vienne, in the Vienne department...
(south-west of Laval
Laval, Mayenne
Laval is a commune in the Mayenne department in north-western France.It lies on the threshold of Brittany and on the border between Normandy and Anjou. Its citizens are called Lavallois.-Geography:...
), living a life of severe penance in the company of Bernard, afterwards founder of the Congregation of Tiron, Vitalis, founder of Savigny Abbey
Savigny Abbey
Savigny Abbey was a monastery near the village of Savigny-le-Vieux , in northern France. It was founded early in the 12th century. Initially it was the central house of the Congregation of Savigny, who were Benedictines; by 1150 it was Cistercian.-History:It was situated on the confines of...
, and others of considerable note. His piety, eloquence, sympathetic view of women and strong personality attracted many followers, for whom in 1096 he founded the monastery of La Roé of Canons Regular, becoming himself the first abbot. In the same year Urban II summoned him to Angers and appointed him a "preacher (seminiverbius, cf. Acts 17, 18) second only to himself with orders to travel everywhere in the performance of this duty" (Vita Baldrici).
There is no evidence that Robert assisted Urban to preach the Crusade, for his theme was the abandonment of the world and especially poverty. Living in the utmost destitution, he addressed himself to the poor and would have his followers known only as the "poor of Christ", while the ideal he put forward was "In nakedness to follow Christ naked upon the Cross". His eloquence, heightened by his strikingly ascetic appearance, drew crowds everywhere. Those who desired to embrace the monastic state under his leadership he sent to La Roé, but the Canons objected to the number and diversity of the postulants, and between 1097 and 1100 Robert formally resigned his abbacy, and founded Fontevrault. This was a double monastery, but he stipulated that the leader of this order should always be a woman. His disciples, however, were of every age and condition.
Robert's legend has long alluded to the presence of converted prostitutes and there is indeed considerable contemporary evidence for this assertion. Baldric of Dol
Baldric of Dol
Baldric of Dol was abbot of Bourgueil from 1079 to 1106, then bishop of Dol-en-Bretagne from 1107 until his death....
writes of the presence amongst Robert's disciples of meretrices - a Latin word usually used at the time to refer to prostitutes, or at the very least, morally loose women. The almost-certainty of prostitutes being amongst Robert’s followers is confirmed by a text discovered at the monastery of Vaux-de-Cernay. In the text, Robert visits a brothel in Rouen and speaks of sin to the prostitutes there; enraptured, they walk away into the wilderness with him. Robert aimed to “attract adulterers and prostitutes to the medicine of repentance”, the text avers. The story it relates may not be entirely true in the matters of its facts, but it relates the essential truth that Robert had prostitute followers – by virtue of showing that such a story was in common currency at the time. Robert also dedicated one of the houses at his abbey of Fontevrault to Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...
.
Robert continued his missionary journeys over the whole of Western France till the end of his life, but little is known of this period. He was, however, condemned by Abbot Geoffrey of Vendôme
Geoffrey of Vendôme
Geoffrey of Vendôme was a French Benedictine monk, writer and cardinal....
and Bishop Marbod of Rennes for the practice of syneisaktism, a mortification of the flesh that consisted of resisting the temptation of sleeping among women. At the Council of Poitiers, November 1100, he supported the papal legates in excommunicating Philip I of France
Philip I of France
Philip I , called the Amorous, was King of France from 1060 to his death. His reign, like that of most of the early Direct Capetians, was extraordinarily long for the time...
on account of his lawless union with Bertrade de Montfort
Bertrade de Montfort
Bertrade de Montfort was the daughter of Simon I de Montfort and Agnes, Countess of Evreux. Her brother was Amaury de Montfort.-Marriages:...
; in 1110 he attended the Council of Nantes. Knowledge of his approaching death caused him to take steps to ensure the permanence of his foundation at Fontevrault. He imposed a vow of stability on his monks and summoned a Chapter (September, 1116) to settle the form of government. From Hautebruyère a priory founded by the penitent Bertrade, he went to Orsan, another priory of Fontevrault, where he died. The "Vita Andreæ" gives a detailed account of his last year of life.
Veneration
Robert was never canonized. The accusation made against him by Geoffrey of VendômeGeoffrey of Vendôme
Geoffrey of Vendôme was a French Benedictine monk, writer and cardinal....
of extreme indiscretion in his choice of exceptional ascetic practices (see P.L., CLVII, 182) was the source of much controversy during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Other evidence of eccentric actions on Robert's part and scandals among his mixed followers may have helped to give rise to these rumors. The Fontevrists did everything in their power to discredit the attacks on their founder.
The accusatory letters of bishop Marbodius of Rennes
Marbodius of Rennes
Marbodus was archdeacon and schoolmaster at Angers, France, then Bishop of Rennes in Brittany. He was a respected poet, hagiographer, and hymnologist.-Biography:...
and Geoffrey of Vendôme were without sufficient cause declared to be forgeries and the MS. Letter of Peter of Saumur was made away with, probably at the instigation of Jeanne Baptiste de Bourbon, Abbess of Fontevrault. This natural daughter of Henry IV of France
Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
applied to Pope Innocent X
Pope Innocent X
Pope Innocent X , born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj , was Pope from 1644 to 1655. Born in Rome of a family from Gubbio in Umbria who had come to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Innocent IX, he graduated from the Collegio Romano and followed a conventional cursus honorum, following his uncle...
for the beatification
Beatification
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...
of Robert, her request being supported by Louis XIV and Henrietta of England. Both this attempt and one made about the middle of the nineteenth century failed, but Robert is usually given the title of "Blessed".
The original recension of the Rule of Fontevrault no longer exists; the only surviving writing of Robert is his letter of exhortation to Ermengarde of Brittany (ed. Petigny in "Bib. de l'école des Chartes", 1854, V, iii).
Further reading
- Venarde, Bruce L., ed. and trans.(2003) Robert of Arbrissel: a Medieval Religious Life. Washington, D. C.: Catholic University of America Press
- Dalarun, Jacques. (2006) Robert of Arbrissel: Sex, Sin, and Salvation in the Middle Ages. Translated by B. L. Venarde. Washington, D. C.: Catholic University of America Press