Communities ofSa int Martin Communities of Saint Martin LEGEND AND RITUAL IN MEDIEVAL TouRs Sharon Farmer Cornell University Press ITHACA AND LONDON Open access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program. Copyright © 1991 by Cornell University First paperback printing 2019 The text of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. To use this book, or parts of this book, in any way not covered by the license, please contact Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu. Printed in the United States of America ISBN 978-0-8014-2391-8 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-5017-4059-6 (pbk.: alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-5017-4060-2 (pdf) ISBN 978-1-5017-4061-9 (epub/mobi) Librarians: A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Cover illustration: Saint Martin. Courtesy of Bibliothèque Municpale, Tours. Contents List of Illustrations vii List of Tables Vlll Preface lX Introduction I PART I. MARTIN's TowN: FROM UNITY TO DuALITY Introduction 1 I 1. Martinopolis (ca. 37I-I050) 13 2. Excluding the Center: Monastic Exemption and Liturgical Realignment in Tours 38 PART 2. MARMOUTIER Introduction 65 3. History, Legitimacy, and Motivation in Marmoutier's Literature fo r the Angevins 78 4· Marmoutier and the Salvation of the Counts of Blois 96 5· Individual Motivation, Collective Responsibility: Reinforcing Bonds of Community I I 7 6. Preservation through Time: Historical Consciousness at Marmoutier I 5 I PART 3· THE CHAPTER OF SAINT-MARTIN Introduction I89 7· The Corporate Identity of the Canons of Saint-Martin I95 8. Saint Martin's Diocese: The Appropriation of Episcopal Symbols 222 9· Martin's New Town: Dominance and Resistance in Chateauneuf 26I Conclusion 299 v vi Contents Source Appendix 305 Abbreviations 319 Bibliography 321 Index 353 Illustrations MAPS 1. The fo otsteps of Saint Martin I5 2. Tours, fo urth century through sixth century I7 3. Tours in the twelfth century I8 4· Procession route on May I2 54 5· Priories of Marmoutier about I200 I30-3I 6. Saint-Martin's processional diocese 246 PLATES 1. Saint Martin's body returns to Tours I2 2. The contest in Auxerre s8 3. Marmoutier in the seventeenth century 66 4· Floor of the chapel of Saint Benedict 143 5. The basilica of Saint-Martin as it looked about I700 I90 6. Saint Martin and the Theban relics 233 7. Saint Martin and the pagan tree 236 8. Saint Martin's ordination as bishop 237 9. Saint Martin's apostolic dignity 238-39 IO. The mass of Saint Martin 244 I I. Saint Martin and Saint Brice cure the bishop of Liege 276 I2. Translation of Saint Martin's head, December I, I323 300 vii Tables 1. Blesois relations with Marmoutier 69 2. Angevin relations with Marmoutier 72 3· Eleventh-century history of Marmoutier 163 4· Martin's genealogy 168 5· Thirteenth-century history of Marmoutier 176-77 viii Preface This book concerns the relationship between group identities and cultural expression. Specifically, it examines three medieval commu­ nities-the town of Tours, the chapter of Saint-Martin in To urs, and the abbey of Marmoutier near To urs-and the ways in which they defined themselves, or were defined, through the cult of Saint Mar­ tin. Because the three communities drew on Martin's cult in different ways, my analysis serves to demonstrate, I hope, that culture is con­ tested territory. Sources from the early Middle Ages might lead us to believe that there was only one interpretation of Martin's cult. As I indicate in chapter 1, the bishops of fifth- and sixth-century Tours, who con­ trolled the cult, created an idealized image of Tours as Martin's town, and of themselves-the heirs to Martin's see-as the rightful leaders of the community. By the late eleventh century, however, the canons of Saint-Martin and the monks of Marmoutier had gained control of Martin's cult, and they produced new legends and rituals that ex­ cluded the cathedral of To urs and its prelate fr om the symbolic urban community that Martin protected. The two houses also turned to Martin's cult in efforts to define their own corporations and to en­ hance the interests of their lay patrons. They were especially anxious to strengthen the internal cohesion of their communities, which so­ cial and political changes threatened to undermine. Marmoutier and Saint-Martin used Martin's cult fo r similar rea­ sons, but they differed in their internal structures and external ties and thus in the ways they elaborated and manipulated it. The cult of Saint Martin did not "mean" simply one thing. Rather, it leant itself to varying uses and interpretations. By relating the manifold uses and meanings of a single saint's cult to its specific local contexts, I have attempted to elucidate how that cult served the practical, psychological, and spiritual needs of differ- ix x Preface ent collective groups. Although my discussion fo cuses on the com­ munities of Marmoutier and Saint-Martin, it also shows that Martin's cult was associated with other groups as well-the comital lineages of Blois and Anjou, the cathedral community of To urs, and the bur­ ghers ofTours. If this were an ideal world, I would have analyzed the interpretations each of those groups gave to the cult. Unfortunately, however, the sources speak with the voices of Marmoutier and Saint­ Martin alone. Like many historians, I was drawn to my subject by personal concerns and convictions, and in tum I fo und that my subject shaped those concerns and convictions. As an undergraduate and graduate student, I first took an interest in the study of religion because I was both attracted to and disturbed by the propensity of Americans to explain, confront, or escape social and political processes by refor­ mulating and reinterpreting their cultural and religious traditions. As a woman who is also a professional academic, I have become in­ creasingly aware that I myself and those whom I know, love, and teach have been molded and affected by the cultural construction of our fe minine and masculine identities. Indeed, the more I think and write about human society, the more I become convinced that we all fmd meaning in, and are shaped by, the groups we belong to, either voluntarily or involuntarily, and by the attitudes that we ourselves and those around us hold concerning those groups. My own intellec­ tual approach to knowledge and experience thus compels me to pref­ ace this work by acknowledging the people and groups who partici­ pated in its fo rmation. Three teachers especially contributed to my general attitude to­ ward the past and enhanced my enthusiasm with their demand fo r discipline. Lester Little, whose courses at Smith College firstinspired my interest in the relation between religion and society, has remained a source of encouragement and advice and has provided enthusiastic support fo r my work. Caroline W. Bynum, through her courses, writings, and close readings of my earlier work and parts of this book, has been a source of intellectual stimulation and emotional courage. She has continually reminded me, moreover, that religion is a matter of meaning and that language-my own, as well as that of the people I study-is extremely important. Giles Constable patiently advised me in the early stages. I am grateful fo r his meticulous read­ ings and fo r the lesson that it takes enormous discipline, endeavor, and caution to begin to make sense of the past. Pierre Gasnault and Dom Guy Oury offered advice on the sources Preface xi of the religious and institutional history of Touraine; Jacques Le Goff and Jean-Claude Schmitt helped with certain problems regarding miracle collections, exempla collections, and ghost stories; and Megan McLaughlin provided useful references on prayers fo r the dead. David Herlihy, Gabrielle Spiegel, Elizabeth Brown, Edward Muir, and Junius Martin were gracious in reading an early draft and generous in offering advice. Patrick Geary, Barbara Rosenwein, Ber­ nard Bachrach, Geoffrey Koziol, Jeffrey Russell, Wa rren Hollister, Michael Burger, Barbara Abou-El-Haj, Ronald Sawyer, John Mar­ tin, Alan Kaplan, and Thomas Haskell read parts of the manuscript and made many useful comments. Caroline Bynum, Thomas Head, Geoffrey Koziol, Barbara Abou-El-Haj, and Quentin Skinner shared their unpublished work with me. John Ackerman at Cornell Univer­ sity Press has demonstrated tremendous fa ith in my work and pro­ vided support and encouragement when they were needed. I am grateful to them all. For financial support, I owe a large debt to the Committee of General Scholarships and the Sheldon Fund at Harvard fo r providing me with a Sinclair Kennedy Traveling Fellowship; to Rice University and the Mellon Foundation fo r a two-year postdoctoral fellowship; and to the University of California at Santa Barbara fo r two Faculty Career Development Awards and fmancial support fo r ordering re­ search materials, preparing art, and hiring research assistants. Those assistants included Miriam Davis, Michael Burger, and Richard Bar­ ton, whose careful help in preparing the manuscript saved me an enormous amount of time and energy. The Interlibrary Lo an department at SUNY Binghamton was es­ pecially resourceful in fe rreting out books fo r me, and I am grateful to the library staffs at Rice University and UCSB as well. Madame Laurent, curator at the Bibliotheque Municipale of Tours, offered useful advice and was always cooperative in sending microfllms and photographs.