Introduction

Christophe Grellard and Frédérique Lachaud1

John of Salisbury is one of the main figures of the “12th-century Renaissance” and a major contributor to the political debates that took place between 1150 and 1180. His work stands at a crossroads between administrative and diplo- matic activity on the one hand – as shown by his correspondence in the service of the archbishops of Canterbury and his Historia pontificalis; and philosophi- cal and political thought on the other – as expressed in two exceptional works: the Metalogicon and the Policraticus. His place in contemporary debates and the sheer scale of his work have long made John of Salisbury a subject of inter- est. A conference held in 1980 to mark the eight-hundredth anniversary of his death offered an overview of advances in research and opened new avenues for study. Its contributions were later published in The World of John of Salisbury.2 Since then, numerous studies and new editions of major texts have deepened our knowledge of John of Salisbury’s work and of his place in his contemporary world,3 and it is the aim of this collection to review recent prog- ress and to highlight avenues for future enquiry. The following pages will first outline the origins and career of John of Salisbury, then discuss questions con- cerning his life and work that have led to specific debates.

The Life and Work of John of Salisbury

The biography of John of Salisbury has already been the subject of numerous studies. These either focus on one particular aspect of his life, or are cross- disciplinary and synoptic, presenting a general account of available data.4 His

1 The authors wish to thank Alison Culliford for correcting the English version of the introduction. 2 Michael Wilks, ed., The World of John of Salisbury (Oxford, 19841, 19942). 3 For a defence of a holistic approach to the work and career of John of Salisbury, see esp. Cary J. Nederman, “Friendship in Public Life during the Twelfth Century: Theory and Practice in the Writings of John of Salisbury,” Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies 38 (2007), 385–397. 4 The life and work of John of Salisbury have been the subject of several general accounts. See esp. Hans Liebeschütz, Mediaeval Humanism in the Life and Writings of John of Salisbury (London, 19501, 19682); Mario Dal Pra, Giovanni di Salisbury (Milano, 1951); Sister M. Anthony Brown, “John of Salisbury,” Franciscan Studies 19 (1959), 241–297; Klaus Guth, Johannes von

2 Grellard and Lachaud high public profile and the partly autobiographical dimension of his writings account for the large number of sources one can draw on for the reconstruc- tion of his life. These must, however, be used with some caution, as already in his time John raised controversy – particularly because of the positions he adopted on such issues as the relations between temporal power and the Church. Furthermore, if he does mention in his work a number of events that occurred in his life, this is not with any autobiographical purpose (such an ambition would largely have been alien to him): rather, his intention was to situate these personal events within an exemplary scheme, where the actions and gestures accomplished by others may be used as a model (or counter- model) of action. In medieval works that are traditionally seen as autobiographical (such as the Liber de temptationibus of Othlo of Saint-Emmeran, the De uita sua of Guibert of Nogent or the Historia calamitatum of Peter Abelard), individuality always appears within a certain typological framework, and is inserted into existing narrative schemes.5 John of Salisbury is no exception to the rule. With these few cautionary statements in mind, one may proceed to outline the main aspects of his biography. The first date in John’s life that is known with any certainty is that of his arrival in Paris as a student, one year after the death of Henry I of England (Metalogicon 2.10) – in 1136. Given that “higher studies” at that time began at about the age of fifteen, this leads us to date John’s birth at around 1120; unless one accepts that he would have started his cycle of studies in England, in which case a date of around 1115 would be more likely. John was born on the former site of the present-day Salisbury (Old Sarum), to a family that is generally thought to have been of modest origins. Two facts seem to confirm this point. John says that his nickname was “small,” an adjective which could refer to a physical characteristic (he was small in size), but also to a social one (small in social status). And we know that John often found himself in a critical financial situation during his student years. In spite of this modest social standing, John and his family seem to have kept up a close relationship with the clergy of

Salisbury. Studien zur Kirchen-, Kultur- und Sozialgeschichte Westeuropas im 12. Jahrhundert (St. Ottilien, 1978); David Luscombe, “Salisbury, John of (late 1110s–1180),” Oxford Dic tionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004); Cary J. Nederman, John of Salisbury (Tempe, Arizona, 2005). 5 See, e.g. Sverre Bagge, “The Autobiography of Abelard and Medieval Individualism,” Journal of Medieval History 19 (1993), 327–350; Chris D. Ferguson, “Autobiography as Therapy: Guibert de Nogent, Peter Abelard, and the Making of Medieval Autobiography,” Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 13 (1983), 187–212; Evelyn B. Vitz, “Type et individu dans l’autobiographie médiévale,” Poétique 24 (1975), 426–445.