The "Bec Liber vitae": Robert of Torigni’s sources for writing the history of the Clare family at Le Bec, c. 1128-54
This article investigates the sources of prosopographical information used by Robert of Torigni, a twelfth-century Benedictine monk and historian at the Norman abbey of Le Bec (1128-54) and later abbot of Mont-Saint-Michel (1154-86). Robert is known to have composed a large number of detailed geneal...
| Published in: | Revue bénédictine |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Abbaye de Maredsous
[2016]
|
| In: |
Revue bénédictine
|
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Guilelmus, Gemeticensis, Gesta Normannorum ducum
/ Text revision
/ Robert, von Torigny, Mont-Saint-Michel, Abt 1100-1186
/ Family chronicle
/ Spring
/ Kloster Le Bec-Hellouin
/ Library
|
| IxTheo Classification: | KAA Church history KAE Church history 900-1300; high Middle Ages KBG France KCA Monasticism; religious orders |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This article investigates the sources of prosopographical information used by Robert of Torigni, a twelfth-century Benedictine monk and historian at the Norman abbey of Le Bec (1128-54) and later abbot of Mont-Saint-Michel (1154-86). Robert is known to have composed a large number of detailed genealogical narratives, which he inserted into his redaction of William of Jumièges’ Gesta Normannorum ducum, as well as into his continuation of Sigebert of Gembloux’s ‘World History’, known as the Chronica. Much work has been done in an attempt to verify (or contest) the accuracy of Robert’s genealogies, but little investigation has been undertaken of the possible templates used for their compilation. This article will redress this imbalance in two steps. First, it will offer a detailed analysis of Le Bec’s twelfth-century library, discussing both extant and lost material and comparing Le Bec to other contemporary Norman and Anglo-Norman monasteries (particularly Durham), in order to theorise as to the types of sources to which Robert might have had access at his home monastery. This will lay the groundwork for the second part of the argument, which will employ later medieval and early modern copies of lost original documents (such as annals, calendars, necrologies and lists of monks and benefactors) as a means of reconstructing Robert’s primary sources for the writing of family history and genealogy at Le Bec during the twelfth century. My main focus will be on the Clare family, whose members figure prominently in both Robert’s work and the surviving sources from Le Bec. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 0035-0893 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Revue bénédictine
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1484/J.RB.5.112227 |