Jean Mabillon
Encyclopedia
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
monk and scholar, considered the founder of palaeography
Palaeography
Palaeography, also spelt paleography is the study of ancient writing. Included in the discipline is the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating historical manuscripts, and the cultural context of writing, including the methods with which writing and books were produced, and the history of...
and diplomatics
Diplomatics
Diplomatics , or Diplomatic , is the study that revolves around documentation. It is a study that focuses on the analysis of document creation, its inner constitutions and form, the means of transmitting information, and the relationship documented facts have with their creator...
.
Early career
He was born in Saint-Pierremont, ArdennesSaint-Pierremont, Ardennes
Saint-Pierremont is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France.-Population:-References:*...
as the son of Estienne Mabillon (who died in 1692 at age 104) and Jeanne Guérin. At age 12 he entered the Collège des Bons Enfants in Reims
Reims
Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
and in 1650 entered the seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
. He left the seminary in 1653 and instead became a monk in the Maurist Abbey of Saint-Remi
Abbey of Saint-Remi
The Abbey of Saint-Remi is an abbey in Reims, France, founded in the sixth century. Since 1099 it has conserved the relics of Saint Remi , the Bishop of Reims who converted Clovis, King of the Franks, to Christianity at Christmas in AD 496, after he defeated the Alamanni in the Battle of...
. His devotion to his studies there left him ill, and he was sent to Corbie
Corbie Abbey
Corbie Abbey is a former Benedictine monastery in Corbie, Picardy, France, dedicated to Saint Peter.-Foundation:It was founded in about 659/661 under Merovingian royal patronage by Balthild, widow of Clovis II, and her son Clotaire III...
in 1658 to regain his strength. In 1663 he transferred again, to Saint-Denis Abbey near Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and the next year to the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés
The Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, just beyond the outskirts of early medieval Paris, was the burial place of Merovingian kings of Neustria...
in Paris, where he met and worked with many other scholars, including Luc d'Achery
Luc d'Achéry
Luc d'Achery was a learned French Benedictine of the Congregation of St. Maur, a specialist in the study and publication of medieval manuscripts.-Life:...
, Charles du Fresne, Sieur du Cange, Etienne Baluze
Étienne Baluze
Étienne Baluze was a French scholar, also known as Stephanus Baluzius.Born in Tulle, he was educated at his native town and took minor orders. As secretary to Pierre de Marca, archbishop of Toulouse, he won his appreciation of him, and at his death Marca left him all his papers...
, and Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont
Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont
Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont was a French ecclesiastical historian.He was born in Paris into a wealthy Jansenist family, and was educated at the Petites écoles of Port-Royal, where his historical interests were formed and encouraged...
.
As editor, collaborator
In Saint-Germain, Mabillon edited the works of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (published in 1667), and also worked on the Lives of the Benedictine Saints ("Acta Ordinis S. Benedicti") (published in nine volumes between 1668 and 1701). The later work was undertaken in collaboration with Luc d'AcheryLuc d'Achéry
Luc d'Achery was a learned French Benedictine of the Congregation of St. Maur, a specialist in the study and publication of medieval manuscripts.-Life:...
, an older scholar and long-lasting librarian of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, who had collected the historical materials which Mabillon used. A foreword which Mabillon
later added used the lives of the saints in order to illustrate the history of the early Middle Ages.
De re diplomatica
In 1681 Mabillon published his De re diplomatica, which investigated different types of medieval documents and manuscriptManuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
s, including scrutiny of their script, style, seals, signatures, testimonia, and other intrinsic and extrinsic factors, using an acquired taste derived from long experience, and consulting the views of other document scholars. Manuscripts from many archives are addressed, and references made to items dating back to Dagobert I
Dagobert I
Dagobert I was the king of Austrasia , king of all the Franks , and king of Neustria and Burgundy . He was the last Merovingian dynast to wield any real royal power...
(King of the Franks, c.629-639). Concerned often with "distinguishing genuine documents from forgeries" the work is now seen as the foundation work of palaeography
Palaeography
Palaeography, also spelt paleography is the study of ancient writing. Included in the discipline is the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating historical manuscripts, and the cultural context of writing, including the methods with which writing and books were produced, and the history of...
and diplomatics
Diplomatics
Diplomatics , or Diplomatic , is the study that revolves around documentation. It is a study that focuses on the analysis of document creation, its inner constitutions and form, the means of transmitting information, and the relationship documented facts have with their creator...
. Mabillon writes:
"I do not deny that in fact some documents are false and others interpolated, but all of them should not be dismissed for that reason. Rather, it is necessary to devise and hand down rules for distinguishing genuine manuscripts from those that are false and interpolated. ... I undertook this task after long familiarity and daily experience with these documents. For almost twenty years I had devoted my studies and energies to reading and examining ancient manuscripts and archiveArchiveAn archive is a collection of historical records, or the physical place they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime, and are kept to show the function of an organization...
s, and the published collections of ancient documents. ... I compared and weighed them with one another that I might be able to compile a body of knowledge which was not merely scanty and meager, but as accurate and as well-tested as possible in a field which had not been previously investigated."
This work brought him to the attention of Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Jean-Baptiste Colbert was a French politician who served as the Minister of Finances of France from 1665 to 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His relentless hard work and thrift made him an esteemed minister. He achieved a reputation for his work of improving the state of French manufacturing...
, who offered him a pension (which he declined), and King Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
. He began to travel throughout Europe, to Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, in search of medieval manuscripts and books for the royal library.
Opposition
However, there were opponents to his work. Some of the less scholarly monks in his own abbey criticized his Lives for being too academic, and de Rancé, abbot of La TrappeLa Trappe Abbey
La Trappe Abbey or La Grande Trappe is a monastery in Soligny-la-Trappe, Orne, France, and the house of origin of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance , Reformed Cistercians or Trappists, to whom it gave its name.-History:The site of the famous La Trappe Abbey was for centuries...
, declared that he was breaking the rules of his order by devoting his life to study rather than manual labour. He also caused trouble by denouncing the veneration of the relic
Relic
In religion, a relic is a part of the body of a saint or a venerated person, or else another type of ancient religious object, carefully preserved for purposes of veneration or as a tangible memorial...
s of "unknown saints," wrote a controversial critique of the works of Saint Augustine
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
, and was accused of Jansenism
Jansenism
Jansenism was a Christian theological movement, primarily in France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. The movement originated from the posthumously published work of the Dutch theologian Cornelius Otto Jansen, who died in 1638...
, but at all times he was supported by the king and the church.
Later career and legacy
In 1701 Mabillon was appointed by the king as one of the founding members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-LettresAcadémie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres is a French learned society devoted to the humanities, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France.-History:...
, and in 1704 a supplement to De re diplomatica was published. In 1707 he died and was buried in the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, in Paris.
According to a modern historian and critic, Mabillon was the "greatest historical scholar of his century."
The Mabillon
Mabillon (Paris Metro)
Mabillon is a station on line 10 of the Paris Metro in the heart of the Left Bank and the 6th arrondissement.The station opened on 10 March 1925 as part of the line's extension from Croix Rouge . It was the eastern teminus of the line until its extension to Odéon on 14 April 1926...
station of the Paris Métro
Paris Métro
The Paris Métro or Métropolitain is the rapid transit metro system in Paris, France. It has become a symbol of the city, noted for its density within the city limits and its uniform architecture influenced by Art Nouveau. The network's sixteen lines are mostly underground and run to 214 km ...
is named after him.
External links
- Jean Mabillon: De re diplomatica (1709) - Digital Reproduction (website in German)