KATHERINE M. YOHE

AELRED OF RIEVAULX ON HOLY ROYALTY

A Twelfth-Century View of Lay Spirituality

‘Who is like you among the kings of the earth, O good king! You have made yourself poor in gold, humble on a throne, mild in arms, pure in delights. You showed yourself modest to the people, just to the soldiers, lowly to the priests. You were made all things to all men that you might exhort them to virtue’.1 Thus the Cistercian abbot, Aelred of Rievaulx, praises the recently deceased King David of Scotland in a lament given to Duke Henry, soon to be King Henry II of England. Several of his later writings are dedicated to portraying models for Christian kings. Such texts are fertile ground for those interested in the history of lay spirituality, or more narrowly, twelfth-century English views of royal piety. They serve as a ‘mirror for kings’, by which Aelred hoped to offer royalty models for how they should conduct themselves as Christians in the world.2 This article will focus on Aelred’s works, asking of them some of the same questions Ann Astell asks in her recent collection Lay Sanctity, Medieval and Modern: A Search for Models: What distinguishes the sanctity of the laity from that of religious? Must it follow a monastic ideal? Can one be holy in the world? Do marriage, sex, property or politics impede sanctity?3 Aelred is considered one of the four major fathers of Cistercian spirituality and theology, though much less famous than his contemporary Bernard of Clairvaux.4 He was born in 1110, the son of a married priest who was respon- sible for a small church and shrine for Northumbrian saints at Hexham. Aelred was educated before he joined the monastery, possibly at the cathedral school at

1 Aelred of Rievaulx, Eulogium Davidis regis Scotorum, in: W.M. Metcalfe (Ed.), Pinkerton’s Lives of the Scottish Saints, Vol. 2, Paisley 1889, Sec. 2. The English translation is by Jane Freeland forthcoming in a collection of Aelred’s historical works by Cistercian Publications. 2 Aelred Squire calls the combined text that Aelred of Rievaulx gave to the future Henry II a ‘mirror for kings and perhaps the earliest twelfth-century example of a type of literature which had Carolingian forbears in treatises of men like Alcuin and Hincmar of Rheims’ (Aelred Squire, Aelred of Rievaulx: A Study, London 1969, 88). 3 Ann Astell (Ed.), Lay Sanctity, Medieval and Modern: A Search for Models, Notre Dame 2000, 2. 4 The other two fathers are Guerric of Igny, who came to Clairvaux in 1123 and William of Saint-Thierry, who joined in 1135. 170 KATHERINE M. YOHE

Durham and had been captivated by Cicero’s De amicitia. At some time in his youth he also joined the court of King David of Scotland.5 According to Wal- ter Daniel, who wrote a twelfth-century biography of Aelred, Aelred first saw Rievaulx in 1134 when he was returning from a mission for King David to see Archbishop Thurstan of York.6 The visit was enough to convince him to become a Cistercian, then and there. Eight years after he joined he was made novice master, and then in 1143 was chosen as the first abbot of Reversby. Four years later he was back at Rievaulx to serve as their third abbot until his death in 1167. Aelred’s writings include spiritual and theological treatise, sermons, histories and hagiographies. His first work was Speculum caritatis, a treatise on the nature of love which includes a defense of the rigors of Cistercian life. It was written at the request of Bernard of Clairvaux. The work he is most well-known for today is De spirituali amicitia, a dialogue on spiritual friendship. Yet it is his his- tories and one of his vitae that will be the focus of this article: Genealogia regum anglorum (Genealogy of the Kings of England), which originally includes the already cited lament for the Scottish King David, De bello standardii (on the Battle of the Standard) and Vita Edwardi (Life of Edward the Confessor).7 Aelred wrote his genealogy of the kings to give to Duke Henry, before the latter became King Henry II of England in 1154. Aelred saw in Henry, who

5 James Raine, following information in a poem by Nicholas of Rievaulx, puts Aelred as a ‘member of the suite of prince David’, thus in the company of David before he became king (Priory of Hexham: Its Chronicles, Endowments and Annals, Sortees Society, Vol. 44, Edinburgh 1864, lxxiii). Squire believes Aelred would have been ‘at least’ twelve when he arrived at court to account for Aelred’s reference to affectionate friendships formed in school (Aelred: A Study, 12-13). Frederick Maurice Powicke refuses to guess at a precise year (Walter Daniel’s Life of Ailred of Rievaulx, Oxford 1950, xxxix). William Ducey believes Aelred spent a dozen years at court, thus entering around 1122 (‘St Aelred of Rievaulx and the Speculum Caritatis’, in: Catholic Historical Review 17 (1931), 310). Amédée Hallier is sure he was at court for less than twelve years (The Monastic Theology of Aelred of Rievaulx, trans. Columban Heaney, Spencer (Mass.) 1969, xxi). 6 The diplomatic mission most likely concerned Thurstan’s jurisdiction, as Archbishop of York, over Glasgow. Bishop John of Glasgow was refusing to accept the Archbishop’s authority, and continued to refuse, even with papal orders in 1135-36 demanding that he submit. See Robert Lindsay Graeme Ritchie, The Normans in Scotland, Edinburgh 1954, 253; Squire, Aelred: A Study, 19; and Powicke, Life of Ailred, xliv. 7 Genealogia regum anglorum is in: J.P. Migne, Patrologiae cursus completus […] series Latina (PL), no. 195, Paris 1855, cols. 716-738; De bello standardii is in PL 195, cols. 701-712. Translations for both of these used in this article are by Jane Freeman, forthcoming in the Cis- tercian Publications’ collection of Aelred’s historical works. Vita Edwardi is in PL 195, cols. 737-790 (trans. Jerome Bertram, The Life of Saint Edward, King and Confessor, by Blessed Aelred, Abbot of Rievaulx, Southampton 1997). AELRED OF RIEVAULX ON HOLY ROYALTY 171 through his father was the great-grandson of William the Conqueror and through his mother, a descendent of famous Saxon kings, a symbolic union of the diverse people on the land and thus a hope for peace. In a style reminiscent of Bede, Aelred used past kings (and a few queens) as edifying models of holi- ness and exhorted Henry to follow their example. The genealogy focuses on the Saxon line, through which Henry was related to St. Margaret, Edward the Con- fessor and Alfred the Great. Aelred also pauses to mention a few of the Scottish Kings who married into the Saxon line.8 Aelred includes, with the genealogy he sent to Duke Henry, a lament for David who had ruled Scotland from 1124 to 1153.9 Aelred’s lament for David has similarities to Bernard’s lament for his brother and fellow monk, Gerard, and Ambrose’s lament for his brother Satyrus. In 1155, seventeen years after the De bello standardii, Aelred wrote his own account. The battle was fought between forces fighting under David of Scot- land and those loyal to Stephen of Blois, the reigning King of England. David was fighting, in part, as matter of loyalty to his niece Matilda whom he consid- ered the rightful heir to the throne of England. Unlike Richard of Hexham’s and Henry of Huntingdon’s previous accounts of the battle, Aelred’s account emphasizes the nobility of the Scottish king David and his son Henry. He also gives a significant and honorable role to Walter Espec as the man who rallied, in the name of Christ, the victorious forces which gathered against David. This piece may have been written at the request of Walter who is thought to have spent the last two years of his life, 1153-55, at Rievaulx.10

8 Genealogia regum, col. 716. In terms of sources, Aelred mentions in his introduction that he was making use of ‘the most reliable and ancient records and chronicles’. Aelred Squire notes possible reliance on Simeon of Durham’s History of the Kings, Asser’s Life of Alfred, the Old English Chronicle, Henry of Huntingdon’s History of England, a Durham document on the miracles and translation of Cuthbert, Rufinus’ History of the Church, Osbern of Canterbury’s Life of Dunstan, in addition to a few stories personally narrated to him by King David of Scot- land (Aelred: A Study, 90-92). 9 Apparently, this king was widely-liked. ‘David had the gift of inspiring intense personal loyalty. Praise comes from quarters too many and too close to be insincere or ill informed’, according to Robert Ritchie, The Normans in Scotland, 215. See also Squire, Aelred: A Study, 86. 10 Squire, noting where Aelred departed from the versions of the battle composed by Henry of Huntington and Richard of Hexham, concludes that ‘the real hero of his [Aelred’s] piece is Walter Espec’, and suspects that Aelred may have written the piece at the request of Walter in order to honor Rievaulx’s founder (Aelred: A Study, 78). Aelred Glidden, however, believes Aelred’s intention was not to create a hero of Walter, but rather to clear King David’s name. Henry of Huntington blamed David for some of the atrocities committed by the army fight- ing under him. In contrast, Aelred portrayed David as a loving and kind king who almost can- celed the battle (‘Aelred the Historian: The Account of the Battle of the Standard’, in: John Sommerfeldt (Ed.), Erudition at God’s Service, Kalamazoo 1987, 175-184). 172 KATHERINE M. YOHE

Aelred’s Life of Edward the Confessor was written at the request of Laurence, abbot of Westminster, a relative of Aelred, for the translation of Edward’s body to a new shrine in 1163. Edward was king of England from 1042-66 and can- onized in 1161.11 Aelred begins his vita with a prologue addressed, yet again, to Henry II. And like the genealogy, it also tries to outline the virtues appropriate for a king. Furthermore, Aelred uses this text to legitimize Henry’s reign in the tumultuous period following the Norman conquest.12 With this brief background on Aelred and his writings in place, the rest of the article will analyze Aelred’s approach to kingly spirituality. First to be exam- ined is Aelred’s portrayal of the prayer life of the kings, including his under- standing of their approach to the liturgy, sacraments and the intercession of saints. The next section will examine Aelred’s description of the kings’ secular lives. This will include a discussion of the proper use of wealth, authority and military might, as well as Aelred’s view on chaste marriages. The article will close with some comments on the extent to which Aelred’s view of royal piety corresponds with some modern approaches to lay spirituality. In particular, does Aelred think of the king’s vocation as a call to be sanctified within the secular order and to sanctify the secular order.

1ROYAL PRAYER LIFE

1.1 Liturgical Prayer In the lament for David, Aelred describes the pattern of prayer which he wit- nessed when he visited David in the Lent of 1153, a few months before the

11 Aelred’s text is based on the vita written sometime before 1138 by Osbert of Clare, prior of Westminster, as part of Osbert’s efforts to attain Edward’s canonization (Osbert of Clare, ‘La Vie de S. Édouard le Confesseur’ (introd. M. Bloch), in: Analecta Bollandiana 41 (1923), 5- 131). Aelred notes that he had access to additional texts. These likely included the anonymous Vita written about the time of the Edward’s death and William of Malmesbury’s History of the Kings of England. There is some scholarly disagreement on whether Aelred actually preached at the translation of the body. David Knowles states that he preached at the translation (The Monastic Order in England, Cambridge 1950, 263) and Squire does not think he was present at the translation (Aelred: A Study, 95). For a detailed historical study of Edward, see Frank Barlow, Edward the Confessor, Los Angeles 1970). Barlow does not work with Aelred’s text, preferring the sources written closer to the time of Edward as being more historically accurate. 12 Marsha Dutton believes that this is the purpose of ‘the work as a whole […] not so much to celebrate Edward as king and saint as to restate the source of Henry’s legitimacy on the throne’ (‘Aelred, Historian: Two Portraits in Plantagenet Myth’, in: Cistercian Studies Quarterly 28 (1993), 119). She also thinks it probable that while Laurence requested the vita, it was Henry who ‘selected Aelred for this task’ (p. 122). AELRED OF RIEVAULX ON HOLY ROYALTY 173 king died. The king ‘turned his whole heart to God. […] He watched, he who seven times in the day gave praise to the Lord and rose in the middle of the night to praise him. […] He watched, he who confessed his sins every Sunday and received the body and blood of Christ’.13 Note the monastic divine office, complete with seven hours for prayer including the night vigil. Indeed, as the king’s death draws nearer and he persists in the saying of his psalms, Aelred holds him up as an example of the right manner of saying the Office and read- ing the Sacred Scriptures. King David, in saying the psalms, ‘absorb[s] the force of those words’, meditating on them and reflecting on their meaning in his life, on occasion repeating over and over a key verse. In this, Christ is said to be present, pouring ‘the feeling of these verses in him and warm[ing] his wearied soul’. When those with him encouraged him to relax a bit from the work of chanting, he refuses, asking his companions to let him ‘meditate rather on those things that are of God’.14 Here Aelred’s texts seem to support the research of André Vauchez. In his study of medieval laity, Vauchez finds that ‘those adults who were especially devout recited the hours at set times of the day like monks or canons, because there was nothing distinctive about the piety of laypeople: in the best cases – those of princes or kings – it remained an imitation of the piety of priests and religious’.15 David is not the only royal person Aelred writes of as having such a devotion to prayer and the psalter. His son Henry is also described as ‘enjoying attending church’ and ‘giving frequent time to prayer and assisting at solemn high mass’.16 The youthful Edward the Confessor is described as ‘often in church, frequently bowing in prayer and taking part in the solemn masses’.17 Then toward the end of Edward’s life, Aelred describes him as ‘committing all the business of the kingdom to his peers and nobles, he dedicated himself totally to the divine serv- ice. Yet the more he withdrew from corporeal things, the more brilliantly he gave himself to spiritual studies’.18 Queen Matilda, Henry I’s wife, was also said to be ‘assiduous and devoted […] in the divine office and holy vigils’.19 Alfred the Great, ‘always carried around in his breast a part of the psalter in which he especially delighted, written in a small book so that what that breast meditated interiorly would be drawn in from the breast of the exterior man’.20 Moreover,

13 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 8. 14 Eulogium Davidis, sec.11. 15 André Vauchez, The Laity in the Middle Ages: Religious Beliefs and Devotional Practices (Ed. Daniel E. Bornstein, trans. Margery J. Schneider), Notre Dame 1993, 91. 16 Bello standardii, col. 708. 17 Life of Saint Edward, 24. 18 Life of Saint Edward, 59. 19 Genealogia regum, col. 736. 20 Genealogia regum, cols. 718-719. 174 KATHERINE M. YOHE

Aelred imagines this king to be delighted when he was forced to flee from the Danes and hide ‘in forest and swamp’. (This reference to swamps may have been significant for Aelred as the Cistercian name derives from an Old French term for marsh rushes. In the early years the Cistercians preferred otherwise undesirable lands, such as marshes and swamps.) He did not so much grieve that he had lost the kingdom but rather was glad that he had found a suitable time and opportune place for converse with God. […] His friends were busy in the pursuit of fish and he was meditating on the law of God in the little hut where he lived, and he was soothing the injury of his out- lawry in David’s hymns.21 In addition to comments about mass attendance as part of the kings’ regular piety, Aelred has several accounts of visions received by kings during the mass.22 Edward the Elder had a vision during mass in which he saw the dispersion of an army that had intended to plunder England.23 Similarly, during the liturgy for the feast of Pentecost, King Edward the Confessor was totally recollected and put aside all earthly concerns for spiritual ones. He was praying earnestly, and while the sacrifice was offered for the general welfare, the intentions of his own prayers were grace for himself, peace for the people and pardon for all. Suddenly, at the moment when the spiritual gifts were being dis- tributed to the congregation, the king’s face brightened, his eyes lifted, and, while preserving the dignity of a king, he dissolved into quiet laughter.24 Like his ancestor, he too had a vision of one of England’s enemies preparing to attack. In the Elder’s vision the army dispersed after drinking too much and fighting amongst themselves. In the Confessor’s vision, the enemy dispersed after the leader slipped into the water and drowned. On another occasion, Edward the Confessor and a companion are said to have seen Jesus Christ dur- ing the mass: ‘The heavenly rite was being performed at the altar, and the sacred elements were held in the priest’s hands. And lo, the fairest of the chil- dren of men, Christ Jesus himself, appeared visibly to the eyes of both: he was seated on the altar, and held his sacred right hand over the king to sketch the sign of the Holy Cross in blessing’.25 In Aelred’s works references can also be found to kings’ baptism, confirma- tion, marriage (to be discussed in a later section), confession, viaticum, ‘holy

21 Genealogia regum, cols. 719-720. 22 For more on Aelred’s view of the Eucharist, see Marsha Dutton, ‘Eat Drink and Be Merry: Eucharistic Spirituality of the Cistercian Fathers’, in: John Sommerfeldt (Ed.), Erudition at God’s Service, Kalamazoo 1987, 1-31. 23 Genealogia regum, cols. 723-724. 24 Life of Saint Edward, 37. 25 Life of Saint Edward, 60. AELRED OF RIEVAULX ON HOLY ROYALTY 175 unction’ and ‘royal unction’. Edward the Confessor’s baptism and confirma- tion are briefly described after his birth: ‘The blessed child was born, washed at once with the waters of baptism, and confirmed with holy chrism to be more closely united to Christ. He became the temple of the Holy Spirit’.26 Moments before his death, the Confessor ‘fortified himself for departure by receiving the Body and Blood of the Lord’.27 The description of King David’s last days includes confession, viaticum and an anointing. Two days before he died, ‘he summoned the clerics and monks and asked that the sacrament of the body of the Lord be given to him’. They were willing to bring it to him, but he asked to be carried to the oratory instead. After mass, ‘having first made confession of sin with many tears, he prepared for his demise by receiv- ing the heavenly mysteries’. He was taken back to his chamber and the ‘priests came to perform the sacrament of holy unction’. Here again he is portrayed as a model for saying the office, ‘he received that saving office with such devotion that he constrained the clerics with his hand as well as in word, since they were singing a little too fast, and he would listen to the separate words and respond to the separate prayers’.28 Aelred, as was not uncommon during his time, also considered the anointing of the king a sacrament.29 He references this anointing and ‘sacrament of royal unction’ for King Alfred,30 Ethelred,31 Stephen,32 and Edward the Confessor.33

1.2 Personal Prayer and the Intercession of the Saints Vauchez finds it rare in the twelfth century, ‘that God, who by definition was invisible and whose infinite grandeur surpassed understanding, was directly implored. In general it was preferable to have recourse to closer and more acces- sible intermediaries: the saints’.34 Nonetheless, Aelred (perhaps because of his

26 Life of Saint Edward, 24. 27 Life of Saint Edward, 94. 28 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 10. 29 During the eleventh and twelfth centuries the number and definition of the sacraments were under discussion. Peter Damian (1007-1072), for example, included in his list of sacraments the anointing of kings, dedication of churches, funerals and monastic habits. Peter Lombard (1100-1160), however, restricted the sacraments to the seven that were formally defined at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215: baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, penitence, extreme unc- tion, holy orders and marriage were officially named as the seven sacraments. For a descrip- tion of the rite for anointing kings see Barlow, Edward the Confessor, 60-64. 30 Genealogia regum, col. 718. 31 Genealogia regum, col. 730. 32 Bello standardii, col. 705. 33 Life of Saint Edward, 28, 77. 34 Vauchez, Laity in the Middle Ages, 88 176 KATHERINE M. YOHE own Cistercian spirituality) does show his kings speaking of God’s presence and imploring God directly. This is not to say that devotion to the saints is lacking. The references to the kings’ prayers are too numerous to list all of them. There- fore the following will give some examples and discuss the general pattern of the kings’ personal prayers and their relationship to God and the saints. King David’s devotion is described in terms of turning ‘his whole heart to God, holding his ears always attuned to the voice of his spouse’,35 and as know- ing ‘that the Spirit of Christ himself was present, who poured the feeling of these verses in him, and warmed his wearied soul’.36 When trials struck he would turn to the Lord, trusting that God’s hand was at work.37 When he had sinned, he would confess to God with tears and contrition, trusting in Christ’s mercy.38 Aelred thinks of this king as having an intimate and direct relationship with Christ. Note that the king is even said to think of God as his spouse.39 In the lament, there is only one passing reference of any devotion of David toward the saints.40 In the Life of Edward, however, Aelred shows a close relationship with God as going hand in hand with a great devotion to the saints. God and the saints will often be mentioned together. For example, when Edward was in exile Aelred describes him as finding ‘sage counsel in laying himself habitually before God’. Edward’s prayer begins: ‘See, O Lord, I cannot assist myself’ and goes on to bemoan his many trials, echoing phrases from the psalms. He closes his prayer saying: ‘If you therefore will be with me, if you will protect me, if you will bring me back to my father’s throne, you will ever be my God, Saint Peter the Apostle ever my patron. I vow that I shall visit his holy relics, in the city where he and his fellow apostle lie, with your kind guidance, you ever at my side’.41 Edward’s prayer upon deciding to enter into a celibate marriage is addressed to both Jesus and Mary. He begins: ‘O Good Jesus’, and recalls how by God’s aid the heroes in the Old Testament were protected. He continues:

35 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 8. 36 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 11. 37 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 7. 38 Eulogium Davidis, secs. 6, 7, 11. 39 See also Eulogium Davidis, sec. 9, where preparing for death is likened to preparing for ‘nuptials’. 40 After David dies, Aelred prays that the angels of the Lord come take David’s soul and lay it ‘with the holy apostles and martyrs whose memory he earnestly cultivated and nurtured’ (Eulogium Davidis, sec. 12). In Aelred’s De sanctis ecclesiae Haugustaldensis, chapter 5, dedi- cated to the saints whose relics were kept at Hexham, he speaks of David as having a respect for the Church of Hexham. Taking into account the context, it is likely that Aelred under- stood him to share with his father a special reverence for the saints associated with the shrine (Latin text of this work of Aelred is in Priory of Hexham, 172-203). 41 Life of Saint Edward, 27-28. AELRED OF RIEVAULX ON HOLY ROYALTY 177

‘See, I your servant, the son of your maidservant, striving as I can to love you and your dear mother. […] Come to my aid, therefore, O my Lord, son of my virgin Lady: O my Lady, Virgin and Mother of my Lord: help me’.42 As this king ages, Aelred writes: ‘day by day he grew in love for God and his holy Mother, and in devotion to God’s saints’.43 The same pattern appears at the description of his death: ‘At last, entrusting himself totally to God, he departed this life in the faith of Christ, under Christ’s sacraments, relying on the prom- ises of Christ. […] His pure spirit left his virginal body and was wedded to the Creator of Spirits in eternal life. The citizens of heaven came to meet him; the keybearer of the sky opened heaven; John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, ran to meet him’.44 In Aelred’s texts the foundational spiritual relationship is the relationship with God, often in the person of Jesus. The saints are effective and compas- sionate intercessors only because of their relationship with God.45 It should be noted that Aelred intends the kings’ relationship with the saints to go beyond seeking their intercession. As he writes to King Henry II in the prologue to the Life of Edward: ‘commend yourself earnestly to the prayers of him, from whose father and mother alike you derive your kingdom and noble blood. Entrust yourself to his careful protection, be sure to imitate his holiness as well, and so you will achieve happiness for ever with him’.46 This is in accord with the lines of one of the last treatises Aelred wrote: De anima. In concluding this text Aelred argues that people should honor the saints, contemplate their bliss, imi- tate their behavior and desire their company.47 What can be said, then, to summarize Aelred’s treatment of royal prayer? On one hand, it is similar to monastic prayer. His kings, like the monks, are said to value the psalter, saying their psalms with great devotion and fervor. The kings may carry the psalter with them and even recite the full seven hours. While they value relationships with and the assistance from the saints, this does not over- shadow an immediate relationship with God, a relationship that Aelred will even describe in spousal language. They also make regular use of the sacraments available to them, with a special devotion to the mass. On the other hand, some subtle differences can be seen between royal prayer and monastic prayer in that the kings’ communication with God readily includes their specific secular

42 Life of Saint Edward, 34. 43 Life of Saint Edward, 81. 44 Life of Saint Edward, 94. 45 On several occasions Aelred makes an effort to explain explicitly how he understands the intercession to work. See Life of Saint Edward, 65, 112, 114, and 117-119. 46 Life of Saint Edward, 16. 47 Aelred of Rievaulx, Dialogue on the Soul (trans. and introd. C.H. Talbot), Kalamazoo 1981, 149. 178 KATHERINE M. YOHE concerns.48 Like a monk, the king may pray for grace for himself, peace for the people and favor for all, but he will also pray to regain his throne and for pro- tection from his earthly enemies. There is little indication that Aelred thinks something is amiss when kings focus on secular concerns. On the contrary, he recounts divinely granted visions and dreams in which God reveals events rele- vant to the kings’ earthly rule. So also he notes their reception of sacraments that offer grace for their secular life: marriage and royal unction.

2ROYALTY’S LIFE IN THE WORLD

In The Mirror of Charity Aelred describes three orders: the order of nature, the order of necessity and the voluntary order.49 The voluntary order is the monastic or religious life, described as a renunciation of the world for the sake of perfec- tion. The order of necessity is the restriction of licit things as a means to make sat- isfaction for abuses in the past. The natural order, which will be the focus of the discussion here, is the proper use of what is licit: ‘if a person who has not com- mitted illicit actions so chooses, he may make use of everything licit, provided [he does so] licitly. For example, eating flesh meat and drinking wine are licit, as are also the use of marriage and the possession of riches. As the apostle said: “To the pure all things are pure”’. For use to be licit, there must be moderation, avoidance of worry and excessive preoccupation, and attentiveness to what is proper accord- ing to circumstances and needs.50 To a large extent, this is the framework for Aelred’s understanding of the kings’ life in the world: they can remain pure if they use their wealth, clothing, food, marriages, power and authority in a licit manner. There is one difference, however: when writing for the religious he will stress the perfection of the voluntary order; yet when writing to kings he will speak of the possibility of holiness, even of perfection in the world.51

48 This is not to say that monks do not pray for temporal concerns, rather that the type of tem- poral concern varies. Aelred’s own pastoral prayer includes prayers for the temporal needs of his monks and the monastery (The Works of Aelred of Rievaulx, Vol. I: Treatises, Pastoral Prayer, Spencer (Mass.) 1971, 117-118). 49 Aelred of Rievaulx, Mirror of Charity (trans. Elizabeth Connor, introd. and notes by Charles Dumont), Kalamazoo 1990, 3.32-34. For further analysis of medieval approaches to orders or classes in society see Dumont’s comments about this passage (302, n.16); and Giles Consta- ble, Three Studies in Medieval Religious and Social Thought, Cambridge 1995, 249-341. 50 Mirror of Charity 3.32.77, citing Titus 1:15. 51 In terms of Aelred’s praise of the religious life as the higher and more excellent way, see Mir- ror of Charity 3.34-36; Sermo 3, 6 and 22 in Aelredi Rievallensis Sermones I-XLVI: collectio Claraevallensis prima et secunda (Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis (CCCM) 2a, Ed. Gaetano Raciti), Turnhout 1989, 27-36, 56 and 177; De institutione inclusarum 2.14-17 (critical ed. in: A. Hoste & C.H. Talbot, Aelredi Rievallensis opera omnia, Turnhout 1971; for AELRED OF RIEVAULX ON HOLY ROYALTY 179

Aelred writes King Henry II in the prologue to his life of Edward: ‘What indeed could more easily arouse and encourage the human spirit to strive for perfection than reading or hearing of those who were already perfect, to learn their way of life, and savor their renown?’52 Note that this comment about attaining perfection is written to a king about a king. Aelred then begins Book One with a quotation from Acts 10:34-35: ‘Truly I have come to understand that God does not discriminate between peoples, but those who revere God and act justly are accepted by him’. Then he adds in his own words: ‘Poverty in itself does not produce holiness, any more than do riches acquire it; obscurity does not make you perfect, and fame does not condemn’. To prove his point, Aelred does a quick sweep of Old Testament heroes: Abraham was wealthy and saintly; Joseph was master of Egypt and his ‘chastity was a model for the world to imitate’; Job had been wealthy and famous for patience; King David ‘was richer and more holy than anyone’.53 Note that Aelred does not interpret these passages spirituality as the literal interpretation serves his purposes. Aelred’s conclusion: ‘Let no one be surprised, therefore, if we call our Edward both king and saint: we shall see how he was frugal in the midst of riches, temperate when surrounded by luxury, unassuming while robed in splendour, and indifferent to worldly things while wearing a golden crown’.54 The following section of this article will highlight three areas in royal lives and outline how Aelred under- stood the kings to have made proper and virtuous use of each: wealth and lux- ury, power and authority, and marriage.

2.1 Wealth and Luxury What does Aelred consider to be the proper use of wealth and luxury? As already noted, there must be moderation (frugality, temperance), an avoidance of excessive preoccupation (indifference), and an attentiveness to what is proper according to circumstances. Early in The Mirror of Charity he offers other insights into the use of wealth by the elect: Note that Solomon does not say, someone who has wealth, but someone who loves wealth gains from it no profit [Qo 5:9]. Now there are some elect who, even if they have wealth, do not love it, so do not seek rest in it. But heeding Paul’s instruction to the rich not to be haughty or to set their hope on uncertain riches, they give freely, share, and so save up a good capital sum for themselves that they

an English trans. see: The Works of Aelred of Rievaulx, Vol. 1); Spirituali amicitia 1.65-66 (crit- ical ed. in: Aelredi Rievallensis opera omnia (CCCM 1), Turnhout 1971; English trans. by M. Laker as Spiritual Friendship, Spencer (Mass.) 1974). 52 Life of Saint Edward, 15. 53 Life of Saint Edward, 18. 54 Life of Saint Edward, 18-19. 180 KATHERINE M. YOHE

may possess true life [1 Tim 6:17] and derive no little fruit from their riches, for certainly they will hear from the Lord: come, blessed of my Father. […] for I was hungry and you gave me to eat [Mt 25:34-35].55 He also explains here that the elect ‘do not labor to acquire riches’ and ‘do not murmur at the loss’, but actually ‘accept with joy even the theft of their goods’.56 Aelred’s accounts of holy kings are filled with examples of them fol- lowing these directives on proper use of wealth and luxuries. Aelred’s most detailed descriptions of a king’s proper use of and detachment from riches are in his Life of King Edward. This king is said to be ‘unnaturally indifferent to money, seeming neither distressed at its loss nor glad at its acquisi- tion’.57 Yes, Aelred admits, the king ‘enjoyed royal pomp, but that was part of the sacrament of kingship. He walked about accompanied by a numerous guard, but that was out of necessity. He took first place at banquets, but that was what was expected of him. He was lucky to be able to use all these things without abusing them’.58 The reference to the sacrament of kingship may refer to the ring, sword, crown, scepter and rod that were given to the kings as part of the liturgy in which they were anointed.59 When attired in his imperial robes, with scepter and crown at great festivals, he was careful that his mind would not be ‘drawn down’ but rather remain ‘intent on heaven’. He would, therefore, put ‘himself in the presence of God, and considered all these earthly things to be as dross’.60 Aelred writes that King Edward’s treasury ‘seemed to be the common prop- erty of all: a public fund for the poor, since the king considered all that he had to be not his own, but everybody’s. He gave to all who asked’.61 To prove this point, Aelred tells the following story about a thief who stole some of Edward’s treasure as Edward was resting. The treasury chest had been left open and a poor boy who notices this draws out coins and hides them in his clothes. He leaves to hide the coins, and then returns to get more. The king silently observes all of this until he becomes aware that Hugelin, the royal chamberlain,

55 Mirror of Charity 1.24.68. 56 Mirror of Charity 1.24.69. 57 Life of Saint Edward, 31. 58 Life of Saint Edward, 77. 59 Barlow explains the meaning of each of these items: the ring is the ‘seal of holy faith’ to destroy heresies and unite subjects in the Catholic faith; the sword is to protect the kingdom for God; the crown symbolizes justice and glory; the scepter is given with a prayer that God will establish the king on his throne and receive him into the eternal kingdom; the rod sym- bolizes virtue and equity (Edward the Confessor, 63). See also Aelred’s earlier story of the king adorned with scepter, robes and crown: ‘inwardly he considered the glory of all these to be no more than dung, but he wore them conscientiously for their sacred meaning’ (Life of Saint Edward, 37). 60 Life of Saint Edward, 77. 61 Life of Saint Edward, 30. AELRED OF RIEVAULX ON HOLY ROYALTY 181 is about to return. Wishing to protect the thief, Edward tells him: ‘secure what you have and escape, since, by Our Lady, if Hugelin comes he won’t leave you a single coin’. The boy escaped and the king tells his angered treasurer: ‘Be calm, perhaps the one who took it needed it more than we: let him keep it, we have enough with what remains’.62 King Edward is even willing to part with the ring off his finger, when no other alms are present to offer a pilgrim.63 Edward was so far from putting his trust in his treasury, notes Aelred, that ‘he not so much diminished as extinguished it in God’s cause’.64 Aelred also highlights other kings’ use of their treasury to aid widows, orphans and the poor. King Edelwulf, Alfred the Great’s father, is praised for his aid to the poor, care for orphans and windows.65 Aelred describes David in the last year of his life as continuing his daily practice of personally giving alms to the poor.66 This practice was important enough to him that on the day before he died, ill and in bed, he interrupted his meditation on the psalms to make sure the daily alms had been given ‘to Christ’s own poor’.67 Generosity toward the poor remains important even when the kings have been deprived of their wealth. In a story reminiscent of Elijah’s encounter with the widow of Zarephath, Aelred tells of a poor man approaching Alfred the Great when the king was poor himself, hiding in the woods from the Danes who had overrun his country: But what did the servant of God do? He had nothing more than a little loaf and a little wine in a jar. He called his attendant and said, ‘alas, fellow, what should we do? Christ is present who once used to bestow the royal treasure on his poor, and does not disdain the distress of our little bread box and our very small cup. Come, break the bread, quickly break this bread and portion out the wine for the hungry. Let Christ receive the half of all the food and let the other half be kept for me and my little family’.68 As it turns out, the poor man was St. Cuthbert in disguise coming to test Alfred, and later promises Alfred victory over the Danes.

62 Life of Saint Edward, 32. 63 This story is set during the celebration surrounding the consecration of a church to St. John. A pilgrim is begging Edward for some alms ‘for the love of Saint John’. The king had already dispensed the money he had in his purse and could not find his treasurer, so he pulls the ring off his finger. Later he discovers that the pilgrim was St. John in disguise who returns the ring to the king (Life of Saint Edward, 81-84). Bertram notes that this is one of the most famous stories about Edward and is the reason why Edward is often depicted holding a ring (Intro- duction to Life of Edward, 14). 64 Life of Saint Edward, 47. 65 Genealogia regum, col. 718. 66 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 8. 67 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 11. 68 Genealogia regum, col. 720. 182 KATHERINE M. YOHE

The kings were also consistently praised for their generosity and care for monasteries and churches. They gave the initial plots of land, gave more land to already existing monasteries, built new churches and repaired churches that had been destroyed or fallen into disuse. They also provided food and clothing for the monks, acquired relics and decorated the churches, and arranged for priestly vestments.69 King Edward the Confessor, for example, was personally involved in the details of the dedication of the abbey church for St. Peter at Westminster: ‘He prepared his own contribution, set out various ornaments, sorted out the different kinds of vessel, and made an inventory of all the property which was to go to endow, to adorn and to enrich that sacred monastery’.70 The motives for thus serving the churches and monasteries are manifold. Aelred describes Walter Espec’s work as a way to make ‘Christ the heir’ of his possession, and he in turn gives Espec’s credit for all the fruit that was born from the manifold monasteries he founded.71 On the other hand, Aelred explains that the original church at Westminister had been build by King Sebert because he wished to ‘ingratiate himself’ to St. Peter and St. Paul,72 for the saints were understood to return such favors by supporting and protecting the country. Edward the Confessor had a different motive for building a new Church on the sight: remission for his sins and as a substitute for a pilgrimage to Rome.73 In these writings Aelred shows the kings to be making proper use of their wealth when their treasury is at the service of the poor and religious. Both groups of people specially represent Christ so that to serve them is to serve Christ. Such service also covers up for sins and gains an eternal reward. Nev- ertheless, there are occasions in which Aelred’s kings serve the poor without any mention of spiritual benefit for themselves: the motive is simply compas- sion for the suffering. In addition to proper outward use of wealth, the holy kings reveal a correct inner attitude toward their wealth. This is illustrated by their awareness that all their earthly splendor is as dross compared with the heavenly, and a contentment when their wealth is taken from them.

2.2 Power and Authority What is the proper use of power and authority? According to Aelred, holy kings are to use their power and authority to serve the people put under their care by God. Aelred has King Edgar give this as his job description:

69 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 4; Genealogia regum, cols. 722, 723, 726-727, and 736. 70 Life of Saint Edward, 86. 71 Bello standardii, col. 704. 72 Life of Saint Edward, 51. 73 Life of Saint Edward, 85. AELRED OF RIEVAULX ON HOLY ROYALTY 183

to deal with the laity in the law of equity, to make just decisions between a man and his neighbor, to punish sacrilege, withstand rebels, to snatch the weak from the hand of the strong, the needy and poor from those robbing them. And it is also my duty both to provide necessities and to consider their peace and quiet among the ministers of the churches, the flocks of the monks, the choirs of virgins.74 Aelred was typical of his age in believing that kingship was a divine vocation. Medieval kings were understood to be imitators of Christ in his royalty and to be God’s vice-regents on earth.75 From this perspective Aelred can have St. Peter explain the following in a vision about the future of England and the upcom- ing reign of the Confessor: ‘The kingdom is the Lord’s. […] He is the one who distributes royalty and appoints authorities. […] He will choose himself a man according to his own heart, who will carry out all his wishes’.76 According to Susan Ridyard’s work on Anglo-Saxon royal saints, the king’s primary responsibility toward his citizens was ‘leadership in war’.77 Fitting this perspective, Aelred does not expect his kings to be pacifists. Indeed going to battle is one of the ways he understood the kings to be working as God’s instru- ments to protect the nation. One can even get a glimpse twelfth-century just war theories by the call-to-battle speeches by Alfred the Great and Walter Espec in Aelred’s texts.78 The troops are encouraged to trust that God is on their side if they are Christians who are humble in spirit, fighting wicked and proud pagans. Their battle is just if they are combating those who have destroyed churches, burned down monasteries and profaned altars, or those who have ‘not spared any age, any rank, nor even any sex’ in previous attacks. They have noble

74 Genealogia regum, col. 727. For a similar description of kings’ responsibilities see Wulftan’s Institutes of Polity. Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester and Archbishop of York 1002-23, lists eight virtues kings need to uphold a kingdom: ‘truth, patience, generosity, good counsel, correction of evil-doers, the lifting-up of the righteous, modest taxes, and equitable judgements’. He includes in his list of attributes for kings ‘the will to succour the poor, to help the Church, and to be equitable in judgment to friend and foe’ (Institutes of Polity, as quoted by H.R. Lyon, ‘Church and State in England in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries’, in: David Parsons (Ed.), Tenth-Century Studies: Essays in Commemoration of the Millennium of the Coun- cil of Winchester and Regularis Concordia, London 1975, 101). 75 Constable, Three Studies, 160-161. Vauchez goes so far as to say ‘by virtue of the coronation ceremony, the sovereign assumed a religious rank comparable to that of the bishops by whom he was anointed. In the eyes of the clergy and the common people, the king was an excep- tional being, a mediator between the spheres of the sacred and the profane’ (Laity in the Mid- dle Ages, 52). See also Susan Ridyard, The Royal Saints of Anglo-Saxon England: A Study of West Saxon and East Anglican Cults, New York 1988. 76 Life of Saint Edward, 26. 77 Ridyard, Royal Saints, 76. 78 For further analysis see John Bliese, ‘The Battle Rhetoric of Aelred of Rievaulx’, in: Haskins Society Journal 1 (1989), 99-107. 184 KATHERINE M. YOHE cause to fight if they are not seeking to expand their holdings, but rather trying to take back what another has conquered. They have a right to fight if they are trying to put in to power a man who has been chosen by the people and the clergy, and was anointed by the Pope.79 (All of this isn’t to say that Aelred imag- ined all the wars fought by his heroes to be just and noble wars, in which his kings were working for God’s cause. He accuses King David of Scotland of sin- fully failing to rein in his troops when they were committing atrocities against woman, children, priests and monks.80) Nevertheless, there are a few kings described as having such sanctity and amiability that they do not need to fight wars. Others join them in alliance without blood having been shed. In praising King Edward, the Pacificus, Aelred explains how nations freely came to subject themselves to him because ‘he put forth such signs of interior sweetness in words, in face, in habits’. Not only this, creation too is said to have joined in the tribute: ‘While he was reigning, the sun seemed to be brighter, the waves of the sea more peaceful, the earth more fruitful, and the face of the whole kingdom lovelier with its abundant beauty’.81 The reign of Edward the Confessor is described in similar terms.82 In addition to protecting their nation from foreign enemies, Aelred’s holy kings were also responsible for protecting their subjects, especially the poor, from the injustices of other subjects.83 This would correspond with the second service Rid- yard highlights: ‘the special and all-enveloping royal virtue – that of iusticia, with its associated power of correctio’.84 Alfred the Great ‘took the greatest care lest the poor be oppressed by counts and stewards and be burdened with undue exac- tions’.85 King Edgar would travel around the country, inquiring how the laws and statues were being upheld, ‘lest the poor should suffer a premature judgment and be oppressed by the powerful’.86 Of King David, Aelred writes: He always reserved the business of the poor and widows for himself. […] No poor man or widow or orphan bringing any complaint was ever forbidden to go

79 Genealogia regum, col. 721; Bello standardii, cols. 705-706. 80 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 6. 81 Genealogia regum, col. 726. 82 Life of Saint Edward, 28, 37-39. The historical record, as examined by Barlow, creates a dif- ferent image of Edward, including several battles in which he was involved. On the other hand, Barlow grants that Edward may have been more mild than other kings (Edward the Confessor, 80, 134). 83 For a discussion of Aelred’s preferential option for the poor within a monastic community see Gaetano Raciti, ‘L’option préférentielle pour les pauvres dans le modèle communitaire aelré- dien’, in: Collectanea Cisterciensia 55 (1993), 186-206. 84 Ridyard, Royal Saints, 76. 85 Genealogia regum, col. 722. 86 Genealogia regum, col. 727. AELRED OF RIEVAULX ON HOLY ROYALTY 185

to him, but at once he was brought to the guest house, and though the king was occupied with the most necessary business and councils or with great or a few persons he put them aside and listened.87 Even when justice demands that a holy king punish one of his subjects, Aelred imagines this to be done with mercy and sorrow. Speaking of David he writes: ‘I believe he never imposed punishment without great contrition of heart, even on those who were guilty of treason. We saw him strike his heart and pour tears often in the punishment of robbers or traitors, so that he made it clear that in punishing a culprit, as a minister of the law, he was obeying justice, not exer- cising cruelty’.88 The kings not only gave alms and administered justice on behalf of the poor, they also personally cared for the poor. Aelred says of Alexander of Scotland, that he ‘was so devoted to the poor that in nothing did he seem to take more pleasure than in receiving them, in washing and nourishing and clothing them’.89 Along the same theme, the washing of lepers is central to one of Aelred’s few stories about holy Queens. Aelred repeats this story as it was told to him by King David, whose sister was Matilda, King Henry I’s wife. I was called by the queen to her chamber, and I went; I found the house full of lepers, and the queen standing in the middle; having taken off her cloak and bound herself with linen, she put water in a basin and began to wash their feet and to wipe them, and when they were wiped, she pressed both their hands and kissed them with devotion. I said to her, ‘What are you doing, my lady? If the king knew this, he would not deign to kiss your mouth, polluted with the plague of the feet of the lepers, with his lips’. Smiling she said, ‘Who does not know that the feet of the King eternal are to be preferred to the lips of a king who is mortal?’90 Aelred believed Edward had a miraculous gift of healing and the majority of the time this gift was used on behalf of the poor. Before the healings are com- pleted, Aelred makes a point of describing Edward, like Matilda, as not shrink- ing back from touching the diseased. Instead, to the horror of the bystanders, Edward carries a deformed and bleeding man on his shoulders, and washes a woman’s infected skin with his own hands.91 Aelred did not limit the kings’ responsibilities to the physical and temporal welfare of their subjects. They were also to be concerned for the state of their citizens’ souls. According to Aelred’s account, King Edmund

87 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 4. 88 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 3. 89 Genealogia regum, col. 736. 90 Genealogia regum, col. 736. 91 Life of Saint Edward, 48-50, 62-63. 186 KATHERINE M. YOHE

was jealous with a great jealousy in behalf of the faith of Christ, taking it very ill that the relics of the pagans in the worship of idols should defile the dignity of his kingdom. He extorted from the pagans five of the noblest cities […] which they heretofore inhabited, and when all paganism was removed, he illuminated them with the light of the Christian faith.92 Likewise King Edgar who made a point of learning the law of God, ‘was busy in teaching his subjects not only in word but by example’.93 He credits David with building up his subjects from a ‘barbarous way of life’ into ‘the Christian religion’, persuading his people, ‘by word and example to attend church and to be present at the divine sacrifice’.94 Even though Aelred has Alfred the Great and King Edgar state that it is the bishops and abbots who are responsible for judging the lives of the religious and clergy, he does seem to think the king should know whether or not the clergy are properly fulfilling their responsibil- ities, and if they are not, the king should do the best he can to encourage them to do so.95 While Aelred understood justice to be indispensable for the proper use of royal authority and power, there is another virtue which he often treats as more worthy of praise in the kings and a greater sign of their sanctity: humility. It is the first virtue listed when Aelred outlines the seven-fold grace of the spirit working in Edward.96 Donald Weinstein and Rudolph Bell in Saints and Soci- ety notice the place of humility when discussing the large percentage of medie- val saints who were royalty: ‘the possession of power was an opportunity to cul- tivate the virtue of humility; to command obedience and yet to remain as humble as the lowliest of one’s subject was a saintly manifestation of that Christlike virtue’.97 For Aelred, this royal humility is two-fold: toward God in recognition that all the kings have and do comes from God; and toward their fellow humans in counting others their equal, or even honoring others as above themselves. Thus in the chapter devoted to describing Edward’s character, Aelred begins: Our saint was not puffed up with human pride, but acknowledged God’s pro- found goodness towards himself, pondering well on the sage’s words, ‘Have they made you prince? Be not proud but remain among them as one of them’. He set

92 Genealogia regum, col. 725. 93 Genealogia regum, col. 727. 94 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 9. 95 Genealogia regum, cols. 727-729. For a further description of Aelred’s understanding of the proper division of power between the ordained and royalty see ‘Sermones de Oneribus’, in: PL 195, cols. 402-403. 96 Life of Saint Edward, 70-71. 97 Donald Weinstein & Rudolph Bell, Saints and Society: The Two Worlds of Western Christen- dom, 1000-1700, Chicago 1982, 158. AELRED OF RIEVAULX ON HOLY ROYALTY 187

himself this manner of life: to treat his servants as equals, the priests with humil- ity, to be popular with the commons.98 As examples of humility toward God, Edward is portrayed as shying away from the honor and attraction caused by his ability to heal. He is intent on ‘ascribing all to God’, and saying: ‘not to us, Lord, not to us, but to Your name be the glory’.99 In contrast to the Dane’s pride, which leads them to think falsely that their victory is due to their own strength, Edward places his ‘hope in the Lord my God and in his blessed Mother’.100 In addition to the citation above about Edward’s humility toward others, Aelred also highlights other kings’ humility toward their subjects. Prince Henry of Scotland, David’s son, is described as ‘so humble that he seemed inferior to all’, while still maintaining his authority.101 King David’s humility made him equal to his subjects, and when among them he acted as one of them.102 Alfred the Great, even though ‘made higher than all, he was the servant of all’.103 This echoes Aelred’s great praise for Jonathon, son of King Saul, who in humility lowered himself ‘even beneath a servant’ in say- ing to his friend David, ‘you shall be king and I shall be second after you’.104 Another aspect of the kings’ humility is their willingness to seek and follow the advice of others, especially the religious. Edward the Confessor followed his subjects’ will about not taking a pilgrimage to Rome, and also consulted with Rome on this matter.105 King Edgar says to Archbishop Dunstan, of Canter- bury: I chose you as the pastor and bishop of my soul, the guardian of my life. When have I not obeyed you? What treasures did I ever prefer to your counsels? What posses- sions did I ever refuse at your hand? If you thought something should be given to the poor, it was done at once. If you judged something should be bestowed on the churches, I did not hesitate. If you complained that anything was lacking to regu- larize the monks, I supplied it.106

98 Life of Saint Edward, 30. Aelred is quoting Ecclesiasticus 32:1 a classic line used to remind those in authority of the importance of remaining humble. It is found, for example, in Gre- gory the Great’s exhortation for humility among ecclesiastic superiors (Regula pastoralis 2.6). 99 Life of Saint Edward, 66. 100 Life of Saint Edward, 38. Walter Espec is also said to contrast the humility of his southern army with the pride of the Scots as grounds to hope for victory (Bello standardii, col. 707). 101 Bello standardii, col. 708. 102 Eulogium Davidis, secs. 2, 4. 103 Genealogia regum, col. 719. 104 Mirror of Charity 3.29.70. Aelred is meditating on 1 Sam 23:17 in describing the ‘most sacred friendship’ between Jonathon and David (3.29.71). 105 Life of Saint Edward, 40-43. 106 Genealogia regum, cols. 728-729. See also King Edmund’s use of advice from Archbishop Dunstan (col. 725). Marsha Dutton is interested in this theme and presented a paper, ‘“Sancto Dunstano cooperante”: The Collaboration of Anglo-Saxon Monarchs and Monks as 188 KATHERINE M. YOHE

King David too, ‘committed himself entirely to the advice of religious men’ and made some of the Knights Templar ‘guardians of his practices day and night’.107 Throughout these examples, Aelred shows the proper use and attitude toward royal authority and power. Like wealth, the kings’ authority is to be used on behalf of their subjects. The kings are to protect the country from for- eign invaders, either by victory in war or more ideally by creating freely chosen alliances. The kings are also to protect the poor against injustices, and if neces- sary punish offenders, the latter being done with mercy and sorrow. Saintly kings even personally wash, clothe and feed the poor. If they have the power to heal, this too is exercised on behalf of the downtrodden. On behalf of all their subjects, the kings teach the faith by word and example. In conjunction with their great authority the kings are to act humbly: humbly recognizing that their power is from God and for God’s purposes, and humbly treating those under their care as their equals. Royal humility is further shown by kings’ willingness to seek out and follow the advice of others.

2.3 Marriage As already noted, Aelred believes that because marriage is licit it is possible to remain pure in marriage.108 He further explains the proper ‘use of marriage’, by citing 1 Thessalonians 4:4-5: ‘Let each one of you know how to possess his vessel in holiness and honor, not in the passion of desire’. Moderation in mar- riage is shown when one ‘avoids ignominious passions’. Taking account of cir- cumstances in marriage is shown by not exercising marital rights ‘when one should be free for necessary prayer’.109 Even though the married do not keep the rule for monks Aelred grants that they do have a type of ‘conversion of life’ in fleeing ‘the shipwreck of fornication for the port of marriage’.110 From a more positive perspective, he notes that the sacrament of marriage actually sanctifies the body along with the soul, preparing it for its future glory.111 Moreover, ‘holy couples’ can have the charity in which all perfection resides.112 Aelred does not stress procreation as the proper end of marriage, nor mention the value of abstaining as much as possible for couples who do consummate their marriages. Indeed, when discussing marriage in a homily he writes: ‘As the

Exempla for Henry II in the Historical Works of Aelred of Rievaulx’, 1 August 2003, at the University of Leicester’s conference on The Religious and the Laity: Europe, 1000-1300. 107 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 7, see also sec. 10. 108 Mirror of Charity, 3.32.77. The term used here for pure is mundus, often translated as clean. 109 Mirror of Charity 3.32.77. 110 Mirror of Charity, 3.35.91. 111 Dialogue on the Soul, 66. 112 Mirror of Charity, 3.35.95-96. AELRED OF RIEVAULX ON HOLY ROYALTY 189 cause of marriage, love is enkindled through affection. As the use of marriage, love extends through desire. As the end of marriage, love is enjoyed through concord’. Lest one thinks Aelred is speaking of only spiritual love he adds that marriage is the end of love, ‘because each on both sides enjoy themselves in the paying of the debt’.113 From Weinstein and Bell’s perspective, Aelred’s approach would be unusual. They grant that some saints did engage in sexual intercourse, but they did so ‘without yielding to passion and solely for the purpose of pro- creation’.114 Vauchez’ chapter on marital chastity works with hagiographical texts that also stress that ‘the fundamental justification for marriage is the duty to procreate and that the proper use of marital relations consisted in making as little use of them as possible’.115 What then does Aelred explicitly say about the proper use of marriage when writing about holy kings? For Edward the Con- fessor, his purity comes in the context of a celibate marriage in which the spouses have a deep and affectionate love for one another. Yet other kings remain ‘pure’ and ‘chaste’ in the context of consummated marriages. In Aelred’s account, Edward the Confessor was fearful of the ‘heats of pas- sion’ and ‘the shipwreck of his chastity’. Nonetheless he felt it best to give into the nobles’ pressure and marry. He ‘commended his modesty to the Lord’, pray- ing to Jesus and Mary, who was ‘both spouse and virgin’, and asking for help ‘to undertake the sacrament of marriage in such a way as not to endanger my chastity’.116 The nobles were then given permission to find a suitable wife. Aelred says of Edith: ‘She it was that Christ prepared for his beloved Edward, inspiring her from childhood with a desire for chastity, hatred of vice and love of virtue’.117 Once married, the newlyweds agree to live together celibately: ‘She was a wife in heart, but not in flesh: he a husband in name, not in deed. Their conjugal affection remained, without their conjugal rights, and their affection- ate embraces did not rupture her chaste virginity’.118 It is interesting that while

113 ‘In upapanti Domini de diversis moribus’, in: Sermones inediti, B. Aelredi abbatis Rievallensis (Ed. C.H. Talbot; Series Scriptorum S. Ordinis Cisterciensis 1), Rome 1952, 47 (my transla- tion). While not a focus, on at least one occasion Aelred does mention procreation as a proper motive for sex (‘Sermones de Oneribus’, col. 464). For a more detailed description of Aelred’s approach to sexuality, see Katherine Yohe, ‘Sexual Attraction and the Motivations for Love and Friendship in Aelred of Rievaulx’, in: American Benedictine Review 46 (1995), 283-307. 114 Weinstein & Bell, Saints and Society, 73. 115 Vauchez, Laity in the Middle Ages, 187 and 189. On the other hand, Jean Leclerq finds evi- dence in the twelfth-century texts he has studied (Aelred is not mentioned in this work) that consummated marriages are called ‘chaste’ and that love, alone, can be listed as the reason for marriage (Monks on Marriage: A Twelfth-Century View, New York 1982). 116 Life of Saint Edward, 34. 117 Life of Saint Edward, 35. 118 Life of Saint Edward, 35-36. 190 KATHERINE M. YOHE

Aelred pictures Edward and Edith as maintaining chastity in the midst of phys- ical affection, the thirteenth-century story of St. Hedwig describes her as refus- ing to speak or approach her spouse after they made their commitment to chastity.119 Later in the Life of Edward, Aelred connects the king’s ability to see into the future, his ability to work miracles and the light radiating from his body moments after death with his chastity.120 Nonetheless, while Edward’s celibacy is significant for Aelred in his understanding of the king’s sanctity, from all that has been said already in the article, it is clear that it was certainly not the only important factor, and perhaps not the most important one. Indeed Aelred will argue: ‘In my estimation, that he gave sight to the blind, that he cured the lame, that he delivered many from sickness, is to be considered less important than his simplicity and patience’.121 Aelred also has a passing positive comment to make about the marriage of King Henry I to Matilda and more lengthy praise for King David’s virtue of chastity. In both of these cases there is no need to discuss the possibility of mar- ital celibacy as Aelred knew the offspring. Of the English royalty he writes that Henry married ‘neither driven by necessity nor urged by hope of gain, but out of pure love for her’.122 As in his sermon, Aelred is again highlighting love as the cause of marriage. He calls the Scottish king a ‘model of chastity’123 and his flesh pure, because he was faithful to his wife: ‘Surely it is not necessary to praise his chastity: for, from the beginning of his marriage he was faithful to one bed; so that not only did he not know another, but he never even looked at another indecently; as in flesh, so also was he pure in mind, hand, move- ments, gestures, eyes and speech’.124 In the thirty-three years in which King David outlived his wife, he remained celibate.125 Even though David’s chastity was not life-long celibacy, Aelred still calls out to the angels to take David’s soul to the company of ‘the holy virgins whose purity he imitated’.126 Thus Aelred describes throughout his writing on kings ways in which the kings can make licit use of wealth, authority and marriage. While he personally

119 Vauchez, Laity in the Middle Ages, 189. 120 Life of Saint Edward, 36, 64, 94. 121 Life of Saint Edward, 33 (my translation). For a further analysis of this passage see Katherine M. Yohe, ‘Aelred’s Recrafting of the Life of Edward the Confessor’, in: Cistercian Studies Quar- terly 38 (2003), 177-189. 122 Life of Saint Edward, 91. The phrase ‘pure love’ is the translation of amoris affectu. 123 castitatis exemplar (Eulogium Davidis sec. 1), here translated as ‘chastity’. See also the quote which opens this article that speaks of David as ‘pure in delights’, castum in deliciis (sec. 2). 124 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 6 (my translation). Aelred is praising David’s castitatis and using pudi- cus to describe his flesh. 125 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 6. 126 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 12. AELRED OF RIEVAULX ON HOLY ROYALTY 191 chose to embrace a life of poverty, obedience and celibacy, he believes kings could still stay pure if they used properly their goods, power and marital rela- tionship. And perhaps influenced by his experience as a son of a married priest, he believed that sexual intimacy did not stain a king’s spiritual purity if it was in the context of a loving and faithful marriage.

3SANCTIFICATION THROUGH LIFE IN THE WORLD WHILE SANCTIFYING THE WORLD?

To what extent do Aelred’s accounts of holy kings correspond to discussions of lay spirituality today? Is Aelred providing examples of how lay persons can be sanctified in their life in the world and sanctify the world itself?127 It seems cor- rect to say that Aelred does not think marriage, sex, property or politics neces- sarily impede sanctity. He has described kings he considers to be holy who have not left their royal position nor their spouses to join a monastery. Nevertheless, is he actually saying that it was their life in the world that sanctified them? Or did they attain their sanctity in spite of their life in the world? Moreover, is he thinking of anything along the lines of the sanctification of the world? Or is he still working within a model of contemptus mundi. A few passages that might answer these questions are briefly discussed below, followed by tentative con- clusions. In Aelred’s writings some of the kings do show a desire to pull away from the royal life in order to seek holiness. He writes that once David became king he so shuddered at sin and aspired to the highest zeal of virtues that he would have renounced the kingdom and put away the scepter, and would have retreated to a spiritual army in the places of the Lord’s passion and resurrection, unless the advice of the priests and abbots, the tears of the poor, the groans of the widows, the desolation of the people and the clamor and wailing of the whole kingdom had not recalled him.128 Edward the Confessor also desired to step away from his royal responsibilities for a while to fulfill a vow he had made to visit Rome. He tried to convince the people that God would watch over them while he was away so that they would have nothing to fear. Yet, they ‘all together protested against the king, insisting that they should not be deserted, not be exposed to violence, that the country

127 For discussions of the lay vocation as one of sanctifying the world and being sanctified in the world, see Lumen Gentium 31, 34, 36 and Apostolicam Actuositatem 4, 7 in the documents of the Second Vatican Council. 128 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 7. 192 KATHERINE M. YOHE should not be handed over to its foes’.129 The king acceded to their demands, agreed not to leave yet and sent emissaries to consult with the Pope on whether or not he could be dispensed from the vow.130 In both cases Aelred believes it was God’s will that the kings remain in their worldly role for the sake of their subjects. However, is Aelred saying here that they grew in holiness because they remained in this role? Was kingly work a means to grow in holiness, or a nec- essary distraction from the growth in holiness that occurs through prayer or other means?131 Indeed, it was not sufficient for Edward simply to serve God as king to be absolved from his vow. He also had to build a church in honor of Saint Peter and give the money collected for the pilgrimage to the poor.132 What of Aelred’s description of the kings’ final days? As they were preparing for death, a time of a heightened desire to live a holy life, to what extent did they seek to flee their secular lives and royal responsibilities? Aelred’s vita shows Edward receiving a vision notifying him that he would die in six months. Edward’s response: ‘before setting out for his eternal fatherland, he was careful to send suitable messengers in advance, prayers, that is to say, and repentance. With increased generosity, he dispersed his wealth, making himself friends with the mammon of iniquity, who would receive him into the tents of eternity’.133 He also focused on the completion of the church dedicated to Saint Peter. After the consecration of the church, Aelred writes of the king laying ‘his head back on his couch as if to say “It is consummated”’.134 Shortly before his death he has a vision in which some monks he had known from Normandy reveal to him the trials England would undergo. He then praises Edith for her service and commends her to her brother and the nobles. Finally he asks to be buried in the recently consecrated church, and asks that as soon as he dies, the word would be passed around so he could benefit from peoples’ prayers. Here the focus is on prayer, service to the poor, and the dedication of the church. Interspersed are concerns about the future of the kingdom and of his wife.135 As death approached for King David of Scotland, he made time to say the full seven hours of the divine office and continued his daily alms toward the poor. Aelred notes that his daily schedule also included time for ‘honorable work’, in this case the planting of herbs and grafting of shoots. After his evening

129 Life of Saint Edward, 41. 130 Life of Saint Edward, 41-42. 131 Gregory the Great for example, seems to think that while pastoral work is a necessary service the pastor’s own growth takes place when he retreats from such work in prayer and contem- plation (Pastoral Care 2.7 and 11). 132 Life of Saint Edward, 43. 133 Life of Saint Edward, 85. 134 Life of Saint Edward, 86. 135 Life of Saint Edward, 85-95. AELRED OF RIEVAULX ON HOLY ROYALTY 193 meal, he would gather with some ‘monastic brothers and a few distinguished men in a kind of religious ease’. And ‘if the sun was still up he accomplished the usual business with his officials’ before retiring to ‘his chaste cell in great silence’.136 Five days before he died he took care of ‘certain things about the business of the kingdom that seemed to need arranging’. The last hours were spent receiving the sacraments and meditating on Psalm 119 and 120. Aelred says David, at this time, ‘shut out all the care of the world, and anxiety of the kingdom’, except for the care of the poor. From Aelred’s perspective, the king has taken on the life of a monk as his life nears its end: ‘I found, I confess, a monk in the king, a cloister in the court, the discipline of the monastery in the palace’.137 How much could a life which included arranging the business of the kingdom and gardening mimic the monks? Because of the Cistercian apprecia- tion for manual labor, gardening would be appropriately monastic.138 Abbots also had to take time out of their routine of prayer and labor to organize the livelihood of the monastery and travel on business.139 Perhaps it was from this experience that Aelred could think of caring for the business of the kingdom as somewhat monastic. Even so, one could make the opposite argument: that Aelred’s experience as a Cistercian abbot was one in which the secular life was spiritualized. His form of monastic life embraced some secular work. Aelred’s analysis of David’s meditation on the psalms and Aelred’s own prayers for David are worth mentioning because Aelred uses them to argue for David’s righteousness and entrance into heaven. He pauses on Psalm 119:121: ‘persevering in justice and virtue, must I now be abandoned to my oppressor’ (translation of Vulgate 118:121); and reasons that David is acclaimed just and virtuous because he repented of his sins and confessed them, endured suffering, and showed mercy to others. In reflecting on Psalm 120, Aelred focuses on Christ taking the penalty for sin on David’s behalf. Then in closing his lament, Aelred prays: Help him, saints of God; come to meet him, angels of the Lord, take his soul, worthy of your company, lay it in the breast of Abraham with Lazarus, whom he

136 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 9. 137 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 9. David’s son Henry is described similarly: ‘as a king he seemed a monk and as a monk he seemed to show himself a king’ (Bello standardii, col. 708), though this in the context of him preparing for battle. For a broader discussion see Susan Ridyard, ‘Monk-Kings and the Anglo-Saxon Hagiographic Tradition’, in: Haskins Society Journal 6 (1995), 13-28. 138 Benedict included manual labor in his monastic rule as a means to avoid idleness and imitate the apostles who lived by the work of their hands (Rule of Benedict, chapter 48). Part of the Cistercian reform was to reintroduce manual labor into monastic life. 139 For an overview of Aelred’s travels see Alberic Stacpoole, ‘The Public Face of Aelred’, in: The Downside Review 85 (1967), 183-199, 318-325. 194 KATHERINE M. YOHE

did not despise but cherished; with the holy apostles and martyrs whose memory he earnestly cultivated and nurtured; with the priests and confessors whom he venerated in their successors and in their churches; with the holy virgins whose purity he imitated; with those who showed contempt for the world, whom he secured to himself with the mammon of iniquity, to whom he subjected himself with all humility in the name of Christ.140 Here David's holiness is connected with his repentance, suffering, mercy, humility, chastity, almsgiving, support of the churches, honoring of the saints, respect for priests and donations to monasteries. Another passage worth considering is Aelred’s brief description of the variety of saintly kings in English history: ‘some were crowned again by martyrdom, rising from an earthly to a heavenly reign; others chose exile from their home- land, preferring to die as pilgrims for Christ; several renounced their crown and embraced the discipline of a monastery; yet others reigned with justice and holiness and strove to be their people’s servants more than lord’.141 The first three types of saintly kings attain their sanctity by leaving their royal world. The fourth group, in which he includes Edward the Confessor, is saintly because they live in justice and strive to be servants of their people. In choosing this characteristic of Edward, Aelred is highlighting the all-important virtue of char- ity, a charity which a king can exercise on behalf of his subjects in the world just as much as a monk can amongst his brothers in the monastery. It echoes his first work, The Mirror of Charity. To what extent then did Aelred understand his kings as achieving holiness through their vocation to be kings? His focus on charity and almsgiving, mercy and justice are virtues developed and practiced in their kingly role in the world. This is certainly a type of sanctity fully appropriate to the laity that does not simply mimic monastic spirituality. Aelred’s references to the support for monasteries and churches, from his twelfth-century perspective, would also be part of a specifically lay vocation. However, there is a sense in which the grace attained through these donations is sometimes associated not so much with the virtue of the donor, but the virtue of the monks to whom the gift is given. By associating themselves with monasteries, through royal gifts of ‘the mam- mon of iniquity’, they can hope to benefit from monks’ relationship to God. Aelred’s comment about finding ‘a monk in the king’ and the fact that David’s final day is spent reciting psalms also betrays a bias toward the monastic life as the most excellent path to holiness. Overall, one does not then find in Aelred a wholehearted embrace of the lay vocation as something separate but nearly equal to the monastic vocation. If this was the case, David could have died in

140 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 12 (portions of this translation are mine). 141 Life of Saint Edward, 15-16. AELRED OF RIEVAULX ON HOLY ROYALTY 195 the midst of transacting the affairs of the kingdom without any loss of grace. Nonetheless, in Aelred’s texts there are some refreshing insights and praise for work in the world and charitable persons living in the world. Finally, does Aelred seem to think that through their work in the world the kings participate in the sanctification of the world? Are temporal and secular things made holy through the lives of holy kings? Before answering this, note that Aelred did not imagine a vast gulf between heaven and earth. His great devotion to the saints includes a belief that, in Christ, the saints continue to be concerned for and aware of life in the world. And they do not do so from a dis- tance: they appear in visions and in disguise, and as one woman prayed, are ‘present in spirit’, since ‘in the eyes of the Creator all creation is close together’.142 Such a view of saints’ concern for the world is rooted in Aelred’s theology which continually stresses God’s concern for the world. This is mani- fested, for example in God’s involvement in the choice of kings. Thus Aelred can speak of his kings meditating on the things of heaven at the same time in which they have visions about earthly events and take care of the needs of the poor.143 Recall that several of the visions the kings received while piously atten- tive at mass were about the defeat of their enemies! Aelred does, on occasion, write of the holy kings scorning the world, but it seems that what he means by this is that they scorn the illicit use of licit things, so to speak, rather than the licit things themselves. The miracle stories surrounding Edward the Confessor in Aelred’s vita seem to offer some examples of things becoming holy through the holiness of a king. Because of Edward’s holiness the water he touched became ‘health giving’ and gave sight to the blind.144 His physical body also became holy. During Edward’s life ‘his body itself was illuminated by his inner spirit of holiness’ and after Edward’s death ‘the power which remained in his limbs erupted into mira- cles’.145 The sanctity of the corpse is described vividly even before there are mir- acles at his tomb, for as soon as he died his body began to glow: not only did a heavenly light shine on his face, but the whole body shone with light.146 Again the holiness of the body is revealed when the tomb is open and the body found incorrupt. Aelred notes that the flesh’s wholesome tone ‘prefigured the glory of

142 Life of Saint Edward, 119. 143 In addition to the examples already cited in this article, see Aelred’s description of King Edel- wif: ‘Here in the earthly kingdom his mind was always on the celestial, so that it could be clearly seen that he was not overcome by desire but moved by charity, and that he considered the needs in governing and did not satisfy his own will in ruling’ (Genealogia regum, col. 718). 144 Life of Saint Edward, 65, 67, 70. 145 Life of Saint Edward, 30, 96. 146 Life of Saint Edward, 94. 196 KATHERINE M. YOHE his coming resurrection’. The articles around the king’s body were affected by his saintliness too, for the shroud ‘preserved its original beauty and strength’ and ‘the other ornaments and clothes’ were found ‘firm and whole’.147 Perhaps Aelred’s description of the fruit of holy kings’ reigns can also be seen as type of sanctification of the temporal order. David’s effect on Scotland was to make her land beautiful and fruitful, so much so that from her abundance there was food to share with neighboring regions. He also covered her land with castles and cities, and established ports so that she could enjoy the riches of other king- doms. In saying this, Aelred might be indicating a respect for a wider variety of secular work. There is no indication that such growth of cities and ports are to be ignored as ‘dross’. Rather they appear as the good fruit of a holy king’s work. At the moral level, Aelred credits David with the transformation of Scotland from a ‘barbarous way of life into the Christian religion’, because he showed the honor of marriage, persuaded them by word and example to attend church and directed them to pay tithes.148 Aelred’s description of Edgar the Peacemaker’s reign is more grandiose and excerpts from two sections seem worth quoting: He settled the kingdom of the English in a kind of heavenly peace and joined the nations of many languages in a federation of one law. […] As the dawn dispels the shadows with its clear rays when the night is passed, so at the rise of this holy king the night was driven off through all of England, the shadows of wrath and discord were all dispersed. […] While he was reigning, the sun seemed to be brighter, the waves of the sea more peaceful, the earth more fruitful, and the face of the whole kingdom lovelier with its abundant beauty.149 O truly blessed church of English then, that the integrity of innumerable monks and virgins adorned, that the devotion of the people, the moderation of the knights, the impartiality of the judges, and the fruitfulness of the land made happy! The blessed king rejoiced in his own time that his order had found the nature of all things, when man provided his just duty to God, the land to man, heaven to earth, in justice, in fruit, in temperate air.150 Here the king’s righteousness helps create peace with allies and among the people, but spills out toward the whole natural order. Indeed, Aelred reasons that it is ‘the nature of things’ that when people are in right relationship with God, the land itself will respond generously toward humanity. The description of Edward the Confes- sor’s reign is similar: the people enjoy peace, the priests are holy and wise, the monks follow their rule, the clergy fulfill their duty and nature seems to respond. ‘For when a peacemaking king reigns long enough, all nature converges in a bond

147 Life of Saint Edward, 109. 148 Eulogium Davidis, sec. 9. 149 Genealogia regum, col. 726. 150 Genealogia regum, col. 729. AELRED OF RIEVAULX ON HOLY ROYALTY 197 of peace: no infection remains in the air, no turbulence in the sea, no barrenness in the earth, no disorder among the clergy, no unrest among the people’.151 This overview and analysis of Aelred of Rievaulx’s texts on holy royalty shows that at least one twelfth-century author did think one could be holy, even a model of perfection, while living in the world. To a certain extent his good kings did follow a monastic ideal: they meditated carefully on the psalms, hon- ored the monastic hours of prayer, sought to contemplate on the things of heaven and at times are said to consider as ‘dross’ the riches of the world. While never taking vows of poverty, they still had a communal view of property. And in Edward the Confessor’s case, celibacy was embraced. Also echoing monastic spirituality is Aelred’s praise for the kings’ humility. Yet as Christian kings these men were also called by God to take on work distinct from the work of the monks. They were responsible for the physical welfare of their subjects and when necessary, should battle against earthly enemies to protect them. Likewise they were responsible for internal peace, acting as judges particularly to protect the poor. Because they had extensive wealth and earthly power at their disposal, they could serve in ways that a monk could not: giving alms, clothing and food to the poor; and granting land, materials and funds for building churches and monasteries.152 In these services they practiced a type of charity particular to their vocation as kings. Even in their consummated marriages the kings could be models of chastity if they loved their wives well, being faithful to their spouses. Indeed, for Aelred, it was the love for each other that was the honor- able cause and purpose of marriage. Marriage was seen as a sacrament that sanc- tified the flesh and sexual activity in the context of a faithful marriage did not tarnish the couple’s purity. Thus, to a certain degree, it was the kings’ life in the world that was an arena for their fulfillment of their vocation and growth in holiness. Moreover, their holiness could spill over to sanctify, in a sense, the world. Not only does a holy king create a more prosperous, civilized and fruit- ful kingdom, but nature itself responds to the rule of holy kings by being gen- erous and peaceful toward those in the kingdom.

SUMMARY

Aelred of Rievaulx spent several years in the court of King David of Scotland before he joined the Cistercian order. As a Cisterian, he wrote a history of the kings of England,

151 Life of Saint Edward, 28-29 152 While almsgiving was not traditionally part of the vocation of individual monks, the monas- tic communities could assign one of their members to provide something to the poor who knock at their gates. The monasteries’ surplus produce or donations could be used for this purpose. Aelred makes reference to this practice in De institutione inclusarum, 28. 198 KATHERINE M. YOHE a lament for King David and a vita of King Edward the Confessor. This article exam- ines Aelred’s descriptions of holy kings, looking to see how he answers the following questions: What distinguishes the sanctity of the laity from that of the religious? Must it follow a monastic ideal? Can one be holy in the world? Do marriage, sex, property or politics impede sanctity? It also discusses to what extent Aelred understood the king’s vocation as a call to be sanctified within the secular order and a call to sanctify the tem- poral order.

Katherine M. Yohe (born 1959 at Cleveland, Ohio, USA) is a lecturer in Christian spiri- tuality and the Second Vatican Council documents for Education, Parish, Service, an adult education program (Washington, DC). Address: 9072 Loreleigh Way, Fairfax, VA 22031, United States of America (E-mail: [email protected])