Marbodius of Rennes
Encyclopedia
Marbodus was archdeacon
and schoolmaster at Angers, France, then Bishop of Rennes in Brittany
. He was a respected poet, hagiographer, and hymnologist.
in Anjou
, France, presumably in the mid-1030s. He received at least part of his early education at Angers under archdeacon and schoolmaster Rainaldus (d. ca. 1076), who may have been trained by Fulbert of Chartres
. Several of Marbod's family members were in the entourage of Count Fulk le Réchin of Anjou. Marbod was a canon
in the cathedral chapter
of Saint-Maurice of Angers as early as ca. 1068. In about 1076 he became the cardinal archdeacon of Angers as well as the master of its cathedral school.
He was consecrated in his mid-60s as bishop of Rennes by Pope Urban II
(1088–1099) during the Council of Tours
(16–23 March 1096). Although Pope Urban II was a reforming pope in the tradition of Pope Gregory VII
(1073–1085) (see Gregorian Reform
), it is likely that Marbod's selection as bishop had a significant political component. Bishop Marbod attempted to implement reform principles in his diocese of Rennes, working to regain episcopal possessions that had been alienated by his predecessor-bishops, and helping transfer churches held by laymen to ecclesiastical hands. He was critical of the more extreme practices of Robert of Arbrissel
and other such itinerant preachers wandering northwestern France at the time, but his letters indicate that he was tolerant of and even favorable towards their religious ideals.
At the age of about eighty-eight he resigned his diocese and withdrew to the Benedictine
monastery of St. Aubin at Angers where he died.
, writing ca. 1110-1125, praised Marbod’s clever verse style. He composed works in verse and prose on both sacred and secular subjects: saints’ lives, examples of rhetorical figures (De ornamentis verborum), a work of Christian advice (Liber decem capitulorum) , hymns, lyric poetry on many subjects, and at least six prose letters. The most popular of Marbod’s works was the Liber de lapidibus, a verse compendium of mythological gem-lore; by the fourteenth century it had been translated into French, Provençal, Italian, Irish, and Danish, and it was the first of Marbod’s works to be printed.
The first collection of Marbod’s works was published at Rennes in 1524 (In collectione prima operum Marbodi. . . ). Today the most widely accessible edition of Marbod’s collected works is that in Migne
’s Patrologiae cursus completus. . . . Series Latina
, vol. 171, edited by Jean-Jacques Bourassé (Paris, 1854); this was based on the edition of Antoine Beaugendre, Venerabilis Hildeberti primo Cenomannensis. . . . Accesserunt Marbodi Redonensis . . .(Paris, 1708). Both contain numerous errors and omissions and should be used with caution. Modern editions of Marbod's works include Antonella Degl’Innocenti, ed. Marbodo di Rennes: Vita beati Roberti (Florence, 1995) and Maria Esthera Herrera, ed., Marbodo de Rennes Lapidario (Liber lapidum) (Paris, 2005).
Marbod produced lyric poetry on a wide variety of subjects, including frankly erotic love lyrics concerning male and female love interests. Many of his shorter poems circulated primarily in florilegia, collections assembled for the use of students; the essential discussion of the authorship of poetic works attributed to Marbod is by André Wilmart, “Le florilège de Saint-Gatien: contribution à l’étude des poèmes d’Hildebert et de Marbode,” Revue bénédictine 48(1936):3-40; 145-181; 245-258. The most radical of Marbod’s poems, while printed in the earliest collections, were omitted by Beaugendre and Bourassé; they were reprinted by Walther Bulst in "Liebesbriefgedichte Marbods," in Liber floridus: Mittellateinische Studien Paul Lehmann, zum 65 Geburtstaag am 13. Juli 1949, ed. Bernhard Bischoff and Suso Brechter (St. Ottilien, 1950), p. 287-301, and Lateinisches Mittelalter: Gesammelte Beitraege (Heidelberg, 1984), 182-196.
Several of his poems speak of handsome boys and homosexual desires but reject physical relationships (An Argument Against Copulation Between People of Only One Sex). This exemplifies a tradition of medieval poetry which celebrated same-sex friendship while generally denouncing the wickedness of sexual relations. Some poems, such as the one where he sent an urgent demand that his beloved return if he wished the speaker to remain faithful to him, have nonetheless been interpreted to indicate that more than poetic invention was involved .
For discussions of Marbod's literary works see: Antonella Degl’Innocenti, L’opera agiografica di Marbodo de Rennes (Spoleto, 1990), and Rosario Leotta, and Carmelo Crimi, eds., De ornamentis verborum; Liber decem capitulorum: retorica, mitologia e moralità di un vescovo poeta, secc. XI-XII (Florence, 1998).
Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...
and schoolmaster at Angers, France, then Bishop of Rennes in Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
. He was a respected poet, hagiographer, and hymnologist.
Biography
Marbod was born near AngersAngers
Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....
in Anjou
Anjou
Anjou is a former county , duchy and province centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day département of Maine-et-Loire...
, France, presumably in the mid-1030s. He received at least part of his early education at Angers under archdeacon and schoolmaster Rainaldus (d. ca. 1076), who may have been trained by Fulbert of Chartres
Fulbert of Chartres
Fulbert of Chartres –10 April 1028) was the bishop of the Cathedral of Chartres from 1006 till 1028. He was a teacher at the Cathedral school there, he was responsible for the advancement of the celebration of the Feast day of “Nativity of the Virgin”, and he was responsible for one of the...
. Several of Marbod's family members were in the entourage of Count Fulk le Réchin of Anjou. Marbod was a canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
in the cathedral chapter
Cathedral chapter
In accordance with canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese in his stead. These councils are made up of canons and dignitaries; in the Roman Catholic church their...
of Saint-Maurice of Angers as early as ca. 1068. In about 1076 he became the cardinal archdeacon of Angers as well as the master of its cathedral school.
He was consecrated in his mid-60s as bishop of Rennes by Pope Urban II
Pope Urban II
Pope Urban II , born Otho de Lagery , was Pope from 12 March 1088 until his death on July 29 1099...
(1088–1099) during the Council of Tours
Council of Tours
In the medieval Roman Catholic church there were several Councils of Tours, that city being an old seat of Christianity, and considered fairly centrally located in France. Athenius, Bishop of Rennes, took part in the First Council of Tours in AD 461...
(16–23 March 1096). Although Pope Urban II was a reforming pope in the tradition of Pope Gregory VII
Pope Gregory VII
Pope St. Gregory VII , born Hildebrand of Sovana , was Pope from April 22, 1073, until his death. One of the great reforming popes, he is perhaps best known for the part he played in the Investiture Controversy, his dispute with Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor affirming the primacy of the papal...
(1073–1085) (see Gregorian Reform
Gregorian Reform
The Gregorian Reforms were a series of reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII and the circle he formed in the papal curia, circa 1050–80, which dealt with the moral integrity and independence of the clergy...
), it is likely that Marbod's selection as bishop had a significant political component. Bishop Marbod attempted to implement reform principles in his diocese of Rennes, working to regain episcopal possessions that had been alienated by his predecessor-bishops, and helping transfer churches held by laymen to ecclesiastical hands. He was critical of the more extreme practices of Robert of Arbrissel
Robert of Arbrissel
Robert of Arbrissel was an itinerant preacher, and founder of the abbey of Fontevrault. He was born at Arbrissel near Rhétiers, Brittany; and died at Orsan.-Biography:...
and other such itinerant preachers wandering northwestern France at the time, but his letters indicate that he was tolerant of and even favorable towards their religious ideals.
At the age of about eighty-eight he resigned his diocese and withdrew to the Benedictine
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...
monastery of St. Aubin at Angers where he died.
Writings
Marbod was renowned for his Latin writing during his lifetime; Sigebert of GemblouxSigebert of Gembloux
Sigebert of Gembloux was a medieval author, known mainly as a pro-Imperial historian of a universal chronicle, opposed to the expansive papacy of Gregory VII and Pascal II...
, writing ca. 1110-1125, praised Marbod’s clever verse style. He composed works in verse and prose on both sacred and secular subjects: saints’ lives, examples of rhetorical figures (De ornamentis verborum), a work of Christian advice (Liber decem capitulorum) , hymns, lyric poetry on many subjects, and at least six prose letters. The most popular of Marbod’s works was the Liber de lapidibus, a verse compendium of mythological gem-lore; by the fourteenth century it had been translated into French, Provençal, Italian, Irish, and Danish, and it was the first of Marbod’s works to be printed.
The first collection of Marbod’s works was published at Rennes in 1524 (In collectione prima operum Marbodi. . . ). Today the most widely accessible edition of Marbod’s collected works is that in Migne
Jacques Paul Migne
Jacques Paul Migne was a French priest who published inexpensive and widely-distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias and the texts of the Church Fathers, with the goal of providing a universal library for the Catholic priesthood.He was born at Saint-Flour, Cantal and studied...
’s Patrologiae cursus completus. . . . Series Latina
Patrologia Latina
The Patrologia Latina is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques-Paul Migne between 1844 and 1855, with indices published between 1862 and 1865....
, vol. 171, edited by Jean-Jacques Bourassé (Paris, 1854); this was based on the edition of Antoine Beaugendre, Venerabilis Hildeberti primo Cenomannensis. . . . Accesserunt Marbodi Redonensis . . .(Paris, 1708). Both contain numerous errors and omissions and should be used with caution. Modern editions of Marbod's works include Antonella Degl’Innocenti, ed. Marbodo di Rennes: Vita beati Roberti (Florence, 1995) and Maria Esthera Herrera, ed., Marbodo de Rennes Lapidario (Liber lapidum) (Paris, 2005).
Marbod produced lyric poetry on a wide variety of subjects, including frankly erotic love lyrics concerning male and female love interests. Many of his shorter poems circulated primarily in florilegia, collections assembled for the use of students; the essential discussion of the authorship of poetic works attributed to Marbod is by André Wilmart, “Le florilège de Saint-Gatien: contribution à l’étude des poèmes d’Hildebert et de Marbode,” Revue bénédictine 48(1936):3-40; 145-181; 245-258. The most radical of Marbod’s poems, while printed in the earliest collections, were omitted by Beaugendre and Bourassé; they were reprinted by Walther Bulst in "Liebesbriefgedichte Marbods," in Liber floridus: Mittellateinische Studien Paul Lehmann, zum 65 Geburtstaag am 13. Juli 1949, ed. Bernhard Bischoff and Suso Brechter (St. Ottilien, 1950), p. 287-301, and Lateinisches Mittelalter: Gesammelte Beitraege (Heidelberg, 1984), 182-196.
Several of his poems speak of handsome boys and homosexual desires but reject physical relationships (An Argument Against Copulation Between People of Only One Sex). This exemplifies a tradition of medieval poetry which celebrated same-sex friendship while generally denouncing the wickedness of sexual relations. Some poems, such as the one where he sent an urgent demand that his beloved return if he wished the speaker to remain faithful to him, have nonetheless been interpreted to indicate that more than poetic invention was involved .
For discussions of Marbod's literary works see: Antonella Degl’Innocenti, L’opera agiografica di Marbodo de Rennes (Spoleto, 1990), and Rosario Leotta, and Carmelo Crimi, eds., De ornamentis verborum; Liber decem capitulorum: retorica, mitologia e moralità di un vescovo poeta, secc. XI-XII (Florence, 1998).
Translations and Adaptations
- A French translation of his hymns was edited by Ropartz (Rennes, 1873).
- Marbod's verse life of Saint Thaïs, a fourth-century Egyptian prostitute who finished her life as a recluse, inspired the novel by Anatole FranceAnatole FranceAnatole France , born François-Anatole Thibault, , was a French poet, journalist, and novelist. He was born in Paris, and died in Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire. He was a successful novelist, with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters...
and in turn the operaThaïs (opera)Thaïs is an opera in three acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet based on the novel Thaïs by Anatole France. It was first performed at the Opéra Garnier in Paris on 16 March 1894, starring the American soprano Sybil Sanderson, for whom Massenet had written the title role...
by Jules MassenetJules MassenetJules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
.