Arnulf of Lisieux and the Crisis at Grestain 1164–6: Brother Bishops, Inherited Policies and Failed Leadership
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Journal of Medieval History ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rmed20 Arnulf of Lisieux and the crisis at Grestain 1164–6: brother bishops, inherited policies and failed leadership Gustav Zamore To cite this article: Gustav Zamore (2020) Arnulf of Lisieux and the crisis at Grestain 1164–6: brother bishops, inherited policies and failed leadership, Journal of Medieval History, 46:4, 419-448, DOI: 10.1080/03044181.2020.1787210 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03044181.2020.1787210 © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group Published online: 07 Jul 2020. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 283 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rmed20 JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY 2020, VOL. 46, NO. 4, 419–448 https://doi.org/10.1080/03044181.2020.1787210 Arnulf of Lisieux and the crisis at Grestain 1164–6: brother bishops, inherited policies and failed leadership Gustav Zamore Stockholms Universitet Historiska institutionen, Stockholm, Sweden ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY This article examines the failed reform of the abbey of Grestain by Received 13 November 2018 Arnulf, bishop of Lisieux (r. 1141–81). Faced with a disobedient Accepted 6 July 2019 abbot, in whose absence the monks had resorted to violence and KEYWORDS murder, Arnulf saw an opportunity to stamp his authority on his Arnulf of Lisieux; Grestain diocese by turning the monastery into a house of canons regular. ’ abbey; church reform; Arnulf s policies were shaped by the example of his older brother Benedictines; canons regular John, bishop of Sées (r. 1124–44), and his uncle and predecessor in his own bishopric John of Lisieux (r. 1107–41), as well as his mentor Geoffrey of Lèves, bishop of Chartres (r. 1116–49). A close reading of Arnulf’s letters demonstrates that Arnulf’s conception of religious leadership and his representation of the crisis at Grestain were formed not only by familial networks, but also by the wider social and educational ideals of the eleventh and twelfth centuries filtered through the Victorines. From the second quarter of the twelfth century onwards, canons regular began to appear in Normandy as part of the efforts to reform the local church.1 Within a century from their first appearance in Normandy in 1118 or 1119, their houses almost outnumbered those of the Benedictines.2 In the eyes of reform-minded bishops, the discipline and pastoral focus of the canons regular (compared to what was perceived as Benedictine laxity and corrup- tion) made them important allies in the reform of the church.3 But the assertion and CONTACT Gustav Zamore [email protected] Stockholms Universitet Historiska institutionen, Stockholm 10691, Sweden 1 The following abbreviations are used in this article: GC: Barthélemy de Haureau, Denis de Sainte Marthe and the Congr. S. Mauri, eds., Gallia Christiana: in provincias ecclesiasticas distributa. 16 vols. (Paris: Ex typographia regia, 1715–1865); Invectiva: Arnulf of Lisieux, Arnulfi Sagiensis archidiaconi postea epsicopi Lexoviensis Invectiva in Girar- dum Engolismensem ecclesiam episcopum, ed. Julius Dietrich. MGH, Libelli de lite, 3 (Hanover: Hahn, 1897), 81–108; Letters: Arnulf of Lisieux, The Letters of Arnulf of Lisieux, ed. Frank Barlow (London: The Royal Historical Society, 1939); MGH: Monumenta Germaniae Historica; OV: Orderic Vitalis The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, ed. Marjorie Chibnall. 6 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969–80); PL: Patrologia cursus completus, series Latina; RB, Benedict of Nursia, Benedicti Regula, ed. Rudolf Hanslik. Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, 75 (Vienna: Hoelder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1960); SBO: Bernard of Clairvaux, S. Bernardi Opera, eds. Jean Leclercq, Charles H. Talbot and Henri Rochais. 8 vols. (Rome: Editiones Cistercienses, 1957–77). 2 Mathieu Arnoux, Des clercs au service de la réforme: études et documents sur les chanoines réguliers de la province de Rouen (Turnhout: Brepols, 2000), 23. 3 Adam J. Davis, The Holy Bureaucrat: Eudes Rigaud and Religious Reform in Thirteenth-Century Normandy (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2006), 65–6. See Arnoux, Clercs, 105. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. 420 G. ZAMORE consolidation of episcopal power through the introduction of canons regular was a far from straightforward process. This article examines the attempt by Arnulf, bishop of Lisieux, to establish episcopal control over his diocese through his project of refounding the Benedictine house of Grestain as a house of canons regular, a project that was to end in failure. The abbot of Gres- tain, Herbert, had disappeared to England to pursue litigation, and in his absence the monks had not only failed to maintain their adherence to the Benedictine rule, but their discord had led to violence and murder in the cloister, even, according to Arnulf’s account, causing the death of an old woman from the neighbourhood in a failed attempt to bring about a miracle. In addition to disobedience, adultery, drunkenness, and murder, the monks refused to con- tribute to the construction of Arnulf’s new cathedral. Faced with disarray and insubordina- tion, Arnulf sought regional support for a refoundation of the monastery and wrote to Pope Alexander III, seeking papal approval for the plan. This crisis presented Arnulf with the opportunity to implement church reform and to set an example for other monasteries in his diocese that showed disobedience. But reforming bishops and their ideologies did not appear from nowhere. Arnulf’s policies had taken shape in his younger years as an arch- deacon under the tutelage of his older brother John, bishop of Sées (r. 1124–44), and his uncle and predecessor in his own bishopric John of Lisieux (r. 1107–41), as well as his patron Geoffrey of Lèves, bishop of Chartres (r. 1116–49).4 In outlining Arnulf’s project, the importance of networks of mentors and patrons, in particular those of family, is highlighted in the formation of episcopal policies for reform.5 Through the documentation of Arnulf’s episcopacy and those of John of Lisieux and John of Sées, it is possible to trace the origins of the young Arnulf’s commit- ment to reform and canons regular, which would culminate with him living in the abbey of Saint-Victor at the end of his life (possibly as a professed canon). Arnulf’s conception of religious leadership was formed not only by familial networks, but also by the social and educational ideals of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, filtered through the Victorines, which influenced Arnulf’s perception and representation of the crisis at Grestain. This article therefore begins with an outline of Arnulf’s early life and career and his struggle to preserve his brother John’s reforms in Sées, which saw the introduction of Victorine canons to the cathedral chapter. The struggle to protect John of Sées’ legacy was not only born of fraternal diligence, but also reflected their shared commitments to reform, which Arnulf brought with him to his episcopate at Lisieux. Arnulf rose to public prominence through his treatise Invectiva in Girardum, a blister- ing attack on Archbishop Gerard of Angoulême over the latter’sunflinching support of the antipope Anacletus II in the wake of the schism of 1130 after the election of Innocent II.6 Among Anglo-Norman historians, Arnulf is known for his quarrels with John of Salisbury, 4 On Geoffrey’s role, see Barlow’s introduction to Arnulf’s Letters, xiv–xv, and Lindy M. Grant, ‘Arnulf’s Mentor: Geoffrey of Lèves, Bishop of Chartres’,inWriting Medieval Biography, 750–1250: Essays in Honour of Frank Barlow, eds. David Bates, Julia Crick and Sarah Hamilton (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2006), 173–84. 5 The importance of Arnulf’s role models in his actions as bishop has been highlighted by Carolyn Poling Schriber, The Dilemma of Arnulf of Lisieux: New Ideas versus Old Ideals (Bloomington, Ind.: University of Indiana Press, 1990), 110–11. See also John S. Ott’s study of the formation of northern French episcopal identities, and the networks of bishops, in the province of Rheims: Bishops, Authority and Community in Northwestern Europe, c.1050–1150 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), chapters 2 and 4. 6 For a brief overview of Gerard’s career and his service under Anacletus, see Ursula Vones-Liebenstein, ‘From Aqui- taine to Provence: The Struggle for Influence During the Schism of 1130’,inPope Innocent II (1130–43): The World vs the City, eds. John Doran and Damian J. Smith (London: Routledge, 2016), 152–71 (159–65). JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY 421 his role in the Becket conflict and his tumultuous friendship with Henry II, who ended up unceremoniously ousting the bishop from his see in 1179. Arnulf’s letter collection, which he partly edited himself, has provided historians with important information on the poli- tics of twelfth-century Normandy and England, but also events further away, such as the treaty of Constance and the Second Crusade, in which Arnulf served as papal legate heading the Anglo-Norman contingent with Godfrey of Langres.7 The letters have also, together with his poetry, been studied in their own right as literary artefacts.8 Early life and education Arnulf was born before 1109 into a family that was increasingly establishing itself in the Church.9 His grandfather Norman had been dean of Sées, and some traditions connect his son and Arnulf’s father Hardouin to Neuville near Sées.10 Hardouin’s brother, Arnulf’s uncle, John of Lisieux (d.