ON BL. HUMBALD, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR, AT AUXERRE IN GAUL,
IN THE YEAR 1515.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Humbald, bishop and confessor, at Auxerre in Gaul. (Bl.)
V. D. B.
Sole §. The cult and consecration of Bl. Humbald; he is present at several councils and dedications of churches; settles disputes; favours pious donations; perishes on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
Bl. Humbald, bishop of Auxerre, praised by Chastelain, Chastelain, in the additions and corrections to his Martyrology Martyrologe universel, p. 986, orders these things to be subjoined at the present day: "At Auxerre, the natal day of the Venerable Humbald, bishop, consecrated at Milan by Pope Urban II, honoured with the title of Saint
in the Book of the bishops of Auxerre, called II by those who had wrongly read the name of the Venerable Vibald. He conferred great benefits on the new monastery of Fontaine-Jean; he instituted canons regular at St. Peter's and at St. Eusebius's, as is read in the Chronicle of Robert of St. Marian; he gave the church of St. Julian of Warchi to the canons of St. Laurence near Cosne. Such was his abstinence that from the day of his consecration he ate neither meat nor fish." And already before, among the Aemeri Ibid., p. 971, he had written of the same that he is called Saint under his image in the church of St. Stephen of Auxerre in the chapel of St. Sebastian. And all these things must now be explained, so that it may appear that he is rightly treated by us, although the Martyrology of Auxerre (omitting very many other Saints) makes no mention of him, nor do the people of Auxerre now follow him with any cult.
[2] [He is called Blessed in an old catalogue of the bishops, not so in the Necrology;] The distinguished Mr. Quantin, who strives to render us the same aids which Lebeuf formerly conferred on our predecessors, and who has already deserved excellently of literary, historical and diplomatic matters, sent us many things to this purpose. First of all he remarks that the former part of the autograph codex of the Deeds of the Pontiffs of Auxerre, which Labbe brought to light less entire, was written in the twelfth century; and that to this there is prefixed a catalogue of the bishops, written in the same century, among whom comes, 53rd in order, Bl. Humbald, in these words: "Of Blessed Humbald." Yet in the History itself, or Deeds of the Pontiffs of Auxerre, he is not yet given the title of Blessed or Saint, and the same appellation is omitted in the Necrology of Auxerre, in which, at the 20th day of October, about the middle of the twelfth century, the following encomium was inscribed: "On the same day died Humbald, bishop of humility and kindness, who, with many buildings and ornaments with which he decorated the church within and without, gave the church of Accolacum and the church of Crevennum with tithes and pareda to the stipends of the brethren. He indeed, peace having first been restored among the brethren, went to Jerusalem for the sake of prayer, and returning thence, and making holy confession to God by singing psalms, merited a precious burial in the open sea." This Necrology is now preserved at Paris Colbert codex 1696, Bibliothèque Royale, nos. 5253 and 894, ancien fonds latin, from which the distinguished Messrs. Challe and Quantin greatly augmented their edition of the History of Auxerre, which Lebeuf formerly published. This new edition we shall use throughout.
[3] he formerly had an image with the title of Saint in the cathedral church But we have another indication of cult, much more notable, namely an image of Bl. Humbald, conspicuous in the cathedral church, with the title of Saint added, as we have just received from Chastelain. Of this image the above-praised Quantin writes to us that it was part of the mural painting with which the chapel of St. Sebastian, nearest the northern aisle of that building, is adorned; that there was exhibited in it the apotheosis (pardon the word) of Christ the Lord, whom the holy prelates of Auxerre surround, disposed in such order that the more ancient are nearer the Saviour and accordingly higher, the more recent at the lowest order: which, since it was very much worn away, was covered five years ago with a wooden structure; whence it has come about that now the image of St. Humbald has wholly vanished, the last trace of his ecclesiastical veneration among the people of Auxerre. Would that those who have authority there would substitute somewhere in the same church either another painted image or a statue of Bl. Humbald with the title of Saint! For otherwise, outside very few books, posterity will seek in vain any indications of sacred cult once paid to Bl. Humbald.
[4] already before the year 1554; how much that avails for ecclesiastical cult. That chapel was built in the fourteenth or fifteenth century; and the paintings were caused to be made by François II de Dinteville [Lebeuf, Mémoires concernant l'histoire ecclésiastique et civile d'Auxerre et de son ancien diocèse, volume II, p. 127, edition of 1851], himself a painter Gallia Christiana, volume XII, column 335, who held the see of Auxerre with much praise from the year 1531 up to 1554 Ibid., column 334 and following. Besides the author and age of these images, it remains to be investigated how much they avail for establishing the cult of the Saints. Very often, namely, our predecessors gathered the ecclesiastical cult of Saints from images and statues with the title of Saint publicly exposed in sacred buildings; but it will be better to have observed that Prospero Lambertini, afterwards Benedict XIV, entered on altogether the same way in many places, especially where he discourses most fully on the paintings of the apse of the apostolic chapel of St. Nicholas in the Lateran patriarchium, afterwards existing in the buildings of the penitentiary De servorum Dei beatificatione, book I, chapter XLI, no. 18 and following; and where he explains the manner of proving immemorial cult, he openly teaches that images avail for this Ibid., book II, chapter XXII, no. 8 and following. Further, that a Saint may be said, after the decrees of Urban VIII, to enjoy legitimately immemorial cult, it is necessary that the cult have been from at least the year 1534, or that ecclesiastical honours have been paid to him a hundred years before those decrees Ibid., book II, chapter XXII, no. 1 and following. But since the image of Bl. Humbald was painted between the year 1531 and 1554, and more probably after the year 1543 Lebeuf, volume II, p. 126, it could indeed be disputed about his legitimate veneration; but it must be considered that at that time a beginning was not given to his cult, since he had long before been called Saint, as we showed from the Catalogue of bishops adduced at no. 2. And that less celebrated honours were granted to him at Auxerre seems to have as its cause the absence of his relics, as one swallowed up by the waves of the sea. But now of his deeds.
[5] [His Acts, written shortly after his death, are to be supplemented from elsewhere.] "It is a not ignoble custom of the church of Auxerre," so writes Frodo In Labbe, Bibliotheca Manuscriptorum, volume I, p. 454, canon and afterwards dean of Auxerre, and himself biographer of the bishops Goffrid and Robert [Ibid., p. 456; compare Dom Rivet, Histoire littéraire de la France, volume IX, p. 324 and following], "that as soon as a bishop departs from the world, at once the end of his life, his entry into the see, and especially his good deeds are written down." To which custom we owe the Acts of Bl. Humbald; very notable, although their author was more occupied in recording temporal matters than in declaring the ecclesiastical administration: which however is the common fault of this whole historical collection. Therefore we may not be content with printing these Acts alone; but there remain some deeds of Bl. Humbald which are not contained in that History, and are to be gathered from elsewhere; nay even some contained in this very History seem to need illustrating from other documents; and these things we shall try to perform in the present Commentary, for the most part retracing the footsteps of the Gallia Christiana and of the historian of Auxerre.
[6] He was consecrated at Milan by Bl. Urban II in the year 1095, The canon Frodo, giving the reason why he had written the Acts of Robert, Bl. Humbald's predecessor in the see of Auxerre, three years after his death, had advised In Labbe, Bibliotheca Manuscriptorum, volume I, p. 454 that this was done because so great grief at his death, so great dissension about the substitution of the future pontiff, had intervened; but at length, after three years, the grief being now tempered, and the church tranquillized by the consolation of a pastor, he had come to write, asked by the assembly of the chapter and admonished by the bishop; hence some have deduced Lebeuf, volume I, p. 277 that three years intervened between the death of Robert and the election of Bl. Humbald; but that cannot stand. In the year 1094, namely, Robert gave a charter to the monks of La Charité, met with in the Gallia Christiana Volume XII, Instrumenta, column 103 and elsewhere: and Humbald was consecrated before the middle of the year 1095 (as will at once be manifest). The writers of the Gallia Christiana Volume cited, column 288 will have it that Robert died on the day before the Ides of February of the year 1095 and Bl. Humbald was consecrated on the day before the Nones of May of the same year. But whence they fished out that Robert died in this year escapes me; and indeed in the Brief Chronicle of Auxerre of Sirmond In Labbe, volume XII, volume I, p. 292; in Dom Bouquet, volume XII, p. 299 I read at the year 1094: "Bishop Robert died," and at the year 1095: "Ordination of Humbald. In the same year Pope Urban held a council," namely that of Clermont. But whatever be determined about Robert's death-year, it must altogether be held that Bl. Humbald was consecrated in the year 1095, since he received the imposition of hands at Milan from Bl. Pope Urban II, as his Acts testify: whence it follows that Robert, monk of St. Marian, errs when he openly relates that Daimbert of Sens and Bl. Humbald were adorned with the mitre in the same year 1096 In Dom Bouquet, volume XII, p. 290; Ruinart explains this by the help of the Pisan reckoning, running nine months ahead of the common one Life of Bl. Urban II, Opera Posthuma, volume II, p. 182, which very many other Gallican authors (especially when the journey of Urban is treated) followed; I do not oppose it, although certainly Daimbert, elected at the beginning of the year 1097 and consecrated at Rome by Urban II in the year 1098, raises a difficulty Gallia Christiana, volume XII, column 41 and following.
[7] [on the day, as it seems, of the 3rd of June; although the people of Como bend Urban's journey otherwise;] Ruinart relates Life of Bl. Urban II, p. 182 that in the old monuments of the church of Auxerre it is read that Humbald was consecrated on the sixth day before the Nones, or the 2nd day of May; Lebeuf and the Gallia Christiana mark the same consecration on the day before the Nones, or the 6th day of May. But no one indicates what these monuments are; nay rather I think this assertion arose from a faulty calculation of the time during which Bl. Humbald sat. The biographer, namely, has it that his episcopate lasted 22 years (rather 20), 4 months, 17 days; further, that he died on the 20th day of October has already been understood from the Necrology of Auxerre; whence, if you subtract 4 months and 17 days, he must have been consecrated on the 3rd day of June of the year 1095, which was a Sunday. But Ruinart, by I know not what distraction of mind, seems to have subtracted five complete months and seventeen days and two hollow ones; by which calculation he would have fallen on the 2nd day of May; but the Gallia Christiana and Lebeuf, noticing (if I mistake not) that in the year 1095 this day did not agree with a Sunday, transferred the consecration of Bl. Humbald to the 6th day of May, which was both a Sunday and the feast of an Apostle, namely of St. John before the Latin Gate. For the rest, so far as I have been able to investigate, it has been shown by no documents that Bl. Urban II was at Milan at the beginning of the month of May. Of his itinerary as he proceeded from Italy into Gaul we have learned that on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of May, or the 15th day of April, at Cremona
he was still staying [Compare the diploma in the Gallia Christiana, volume I, Instrumenta, column 119; Mansi, Supplement to Coleti's Councils, volume II, column 134]; and that on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of June, or the 16th of May, he was at Milan, as is manifest from the subscription of the diploma for the monastery of St. Abundius of Como: "Given at Milan by the hand of the deacon cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of June, in the third indiction, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1096" (according to the Pisan style), "and in the eighth year of the pontificate of the Lord Pope Urban the second" Tatti, Annali sacri di Como, volume II, p. 865. He was still there on the seventh day before the Kalends of June, or the 26th of May [Compare the diploma in Calmet, Histoire de Lorraine, volume III, Instrumenta, column 37; and in Hugo, Sacrae Antiquitatis Monumenta, volume II, preface, p. XV]. The people of Como will have it that he consecrated the church of Nesso on the 28th of May Cantù, Storia della città e diocesi di Como, volume I, p. 312, note 1 and on the 3rd of June the church of St. Abundius of Como Tatti, volume II, p. 284; Dom Bouquet, volume XIV, p. 681, note b, and about the same time the church of Blessed Mary of Nullate or of Lurate Cantù, volume I, p. 312; Tatti, volume II, p. 284 and following; but since I see these things supported by no ancient testimonies, and since the people of Como add that indulgences were then granted by Urban II plainly incredible for that age Compare note 76 in the Auctarium to volume V of October, p. 51, I would not on that account depart from Bl. Humbald's biographer, who declares that he was consecrated at Milan four months and seventeen days before the 20th of October, or on the 3rd of June.
[8] [in the month of November of the same year he is present at the council of Clermont and is employed in the business of the primacy of Lyon;] Returning to Auxerre, Bl. Humbald was received with much joy. He must be judged to have been present at the Council of Clermont, to which Pope Urban II gave beginning on the octave of St. Martin, or the 18th of November, both because the bull of Urban II Labbe, Concilia, volume X, column 517 and following on the primacy of Lyon indicates that all the suffragans of the metropolis of Sens met at Clermont, and because it is read that Lambert, bishop of Arras, freed from prison, came to Auxerre and found there Richer of Sens and his comprovincials and neighbours Gervin of Amiens and Gerard of Thérouanne; with whom he completed the rest of the journey and arrived at Clermont on Sunday, the fifteenth day before the Kalends of December [On the restoration of the bishopric of Arras, in Dom Bouquet, volume XIV, p. 755; compare Ruinart, Life of Bl. Urban II, p. 201]; on which prayers were to be poured out for the council to be begun on the morrow (according to custom, on the Monday). There Bl. Urban employed the suffragans of the church of Sens to induce Richer, their metropolitan, to acknowledge the primacy of Lyon. Until the ancient privileges of Sens should be found, this whole province subjected itself to the primacy of Lyon; on which account, when in the year 1097 Daimbert, Richer's successor, had been elected, St. Ivo of Chartres wrote to Hugh of Lyon inquiring how he and the suffragans should conduct themselves in the ordination of Daimbert Letter LIX in Duchesne, XXXIII in Dom Bouquet, volume XV, p. 91. But Hugh, having got the occasion of asserting his authority, forbade that hands should be laid on Daimbert unless he had first promised him obedience and acknowledged the primacy of Lyon. This demand moved the indignation of St. Ivo; and he wrote, in his own name and in that of Bl. Humbald and the other suffragans, that this previous acknowledgment was an unaccustomed and undue thing; yet that he would be the author that after his consecration Daimbert should revere the primacy of Lyon Letter LX in Duchesne, XXXIV in Dom Bouquet, volume XV, p. 92 and following. But since Bl. Humbald did not have the first part in this business, it will be enough to have said that he and the rest of his comprovincials did not obey the second letter of Hugh either In Dom Bouquet, volume XV, p. 94 and following, so that Daimbert was at length consecrated at Rome by Bl. Urban II himself; no previous obedience having been rendered to the primate of Lyon, but only in the following year Gallia Christiana, volume XII, column 42.
[9] [in the year, as it seems, 1096 the count of Nevers remits to him the right of spoils;] Meanwhile William, count of Nevers, seems to have remitted to Bl. Humbald the wicked custom of spoils; which the Gallia Christiana determines was done in the year 1096 Ibid., column 288: which designation of time is probable, yet not certain. For the diploma, which we owe to the biographer, ends in these words: "On the Lord's day, the day before the Kalends of September"; further, the last day of August, marked with the Dominical letter E, fell on a Sunday in the years 1096, 1102 and 1113; but in the year 1102 William was in Syria Art de vérifier les dates, volume II, p. 563; whence it remains that this renunciation of spoils was made either in the year 1096 or in 1113: probably, however, in the year 1096, on account of the chronological order which the biographer seems to follow in the principal matters.
[10] [in the same year Pope Urban, in the council of Nîmes, commits to him the reform of the abbey of St. Germain,] In the same year Bl. Humbald was present at the council of Nîmes, celebrated by Urban II at the beginning of the month of July Dom Bouquet, volume XIV, p. 684, note a, and there he had the principal part in the business of Guibert, abbot of St. Germain of Auxerre; of this matter mention is made by the biographer, but more clearly by Guy, abbot of the same convent, who about the year 1290 described the Deeds of his predecessors. See how he here sets out that business: "Guibert," he says Labbe, Bibliotheca Manuscriptorum, volume I, p. 574 and following, "a monk of Blessed Germanus from boyhood, was elected … in the year of the Lord 1085 … In his time, as we have heard from our elders, the fervour of religion and of order grew so cold in the monastery of St. Germanus, that afterwards of itself it could scarcely or never add that it should rise again … And in the year of the Lord 1096, Philip reigning, Humbaud being bishop of Auxerre, in the first year of his pontificate" (namely before the 3rd day of June), "it happened that the said Abbot Guibert fell into the infamy of a grave fault: whence, when he was gravely accused by his monks before the aforesaid bishop, the bishop cited him to the council of Nîmes, which was about to be held shortly. Where, in the presence of the Lord Pope Urban, the said abbot renounced. And the aforesaid pope, born and brought up on the border of the city of Auxerre" (at Reims according to Orderic, at Châtillon-sur-Marne according to Alberic Compare Dom Bouquet, volume XX, p. 306, note b), "when he had learned from those standing round the lamentable loss of the same monastery formerly known to him, grieved vehemently, and, having called the said Humbald, bishop of Auxerre, modestly rebuked him for negligence, then handed over to the bishop the staff given back to him by the said Guibert, saying gently: 'See, son, that you apply the caution of more vigilant care to this church, subject to your government according to the institution of the preceding fathers, and according to my counsel require that one monk, either of La Chaise-Dieu, or of Cluny, or of Marmoutier, be piously and charitably given to you; who, free from every yoke of former subjection and constituted abbot in Catholic fashion, may exercise the vigour of the rule firmly and becomingly by serving in the convent of St. Germanus, lest henceforth the rumour of so shameful an infamy go out from the house of God.'
[11] [on which account he asks St. Hugh of Cluny to send an abbot from his own; a whole colony comes, which is not received;] "The said bishop, therefore, having returned from the council, directed letters to the abbot of Cluny" (St. Hugh), "asking that not for the sake of ambition, not of covetousness, but for the love of Christ alone, he would give to St. Germanus one monk free and absolved from his obedience; who, afterwards ordained abbot, by instructing others to keep the rule, might relieve the misery of the ruin of the same church." The Cluniacs at that time held a threefold kind of monasteries bound to them; of which the first were so subject to the abbot of Cluny that they lacked the faculty of an abbot of their own; others had their own, but under the discipline and correction of the Cluniac; the third finally received indeed the Cluniac customs, but without any subjection Mabillon, Annales Benedictini, at the year 1100, no. 232, volume V, p. 392. Eight had been instituted in this last manner from the time of the pontificate of St. Gregory VII Ibid., at the year 1101, no. 2, volume V, p. 404; but this manner pleased the Cluniacs less, not content to communicate their laws, but catching also at authority. Hence many disputes arose, which we mention only so that the reader may understand St. Hugh's manner of acting in the present business. "And the said abbot," so Guy proceeds, "sent Ivo, prior of Cluny, a well-lettered man [Compare Mabillon at the year 1101, no. 18, volume V, p. 411; Dom Rivet, Histoire littéraire de la France, volume IX, p. 513 and following], and with him fifteen monks to Auxerre; who, coming to St. Germanus's, were received honourably in the evening, and on the morrow entered the chapter. And when they were asked of the nature of their mission, they answered that they had been sent for this, that they might receive into their dominion that place, both given by laymen and granted by the bishop, and, having received it, might subject it to the church of Cluny: hearing which, both the clergy and people of the city, indignant, altogether refused; and the Cluniac monks withdrew abashed, yet did not even so rest; nay rather, directing letters to Stephen, count [of Blois, Chartres, Meaux [Hugh of Fleury, Libellus de modernis Francorum regibus, in Dom Bouquet, volume XII, p. 797] and in part Dom Bouquet, volume XIV, p. 737, note a] of Champagne, they asked that the said church be given to them, yet could not obtain it.
[12] Count Stephen intercedes "But the bishop meanwhile was directing letters to the abbots of La Chaise-Dieu and Marmoutier; but, the Cluniacs hindering, he obtained absolutely nothing. Meanwhile the church of St. Germanus, like a ship without a rudder, had now been tossing for more than three years. About the same time the aforesaid Count Stephen, making a passage through those parts, turned aside to that place, of which he had heard certain sinister things, to prove whether what he had heard was true: and although he had heard many things contrary to religion of it, yet he found incomparably more. Grieving, therefore, at so miserable a destruction, he sought a way by which he could in some measure relieve so miserable a ruin. Touched therefore by the divine Spirit, together with the aforesaid Humbaud, bishop of Auxerre, he called St. Hugh, abbot of Cluny, praying that, as Blessed Mayolus had once freed the said place from destruction, so now too the same holy man would come to the aid of its misery, granting it one monk free and absolved, who, made abbot in the said monastery, might reform the order.
[13] [and
Pope Urban; St. Hugh of Montaigu is granted; Bl. Humbald is present in the year 1197 at the consecration of the church of St. Stephen of Nevers;] If these things are accurate, St. Hugh nevertheless yielded not to these prayers but to pontifical commands. For Baluze Miscellanea, volume VI, p. 385 and after him Dom Bouquet Volume XIV, p. 736 and following published the following letter of Bl. Urban II: "Urban, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to our venerable brother Hugh, abbot of Cluny, greeting and apostolic benediction. In the council of Nîmes the abbot of the monastery of St. Germanus, which is situated at Auxerre, resigned the same abbacy into our hand; and, often asked by him, we were unwilling to restore the place itself to him. Moreover our son Count Stephen with his wife has besought us that we would commit the same monastery to you. This very thing was lately established in the Roman synod in the presence of the bishop of the same city" (namely Bl. Humbald) "and of the brethren of the aforesaid place. We therefore command your fraternity by these present letters that you take up the aforesaid abbacy to be disposed henceforth under your provision, and institute there the monastic religion according to the way of life of your brethren, yet so that the same place be not without its own abbot." Thus Urban to St. Hugh; who granted (to proceed with Guy) "the Lord Hugh, his nephew, instructed from boyhood in regular disciplines in the monastery of Cluny." Mabillon Annales, at the year 1100, no. 131, volume V, p. 392 makes William, count of Nevers and Auxerre, also a sharer in this business; but his name nowhere occurs in the documents. Meanwhile that same William, count of Nevers, had completed the monastery of St. Stephen of Nevers; whose church St. Ivo of Chartres consecrated on the 13th day of December (which was a Sunday) of the year 1197. At this celebration three other bishops were present, among whom Bl. Humbald; in the presence of all of whom Count William caused the diploma of foundation, which is recited entire in the Gallia Christiana Volume XII, Instrumenta, column 332 and following, to be read before the altar of St. Mary the Virgin and of St. Stephen.
[14] [in the year 1099 he is present at the Roman council and in the same year or 1098 at the council of Étampes and perhaps at that of Sens;] From the letter of Bl. Urban II it has been understood that Bl. Humbald was present at the Roman council of the year 1099. This had been appointed for the third week after Easter, or for the seventh day before the Kalends of May (which was a Monday), as the Chronicle of Maillezais has it; and there were present at it 150 bishops, abbots and innumerable clerics; the decrees made or confirmed there against simony, schismatics and investitures, on the way of the Holy Sepulchre and on the Friday fast, and other things of that kind, let the reader see in the collectors of the Councils [Labbe, Concilia, column 615 and following; Mansi, Supplement, volume II, column 153 and following]. And Bl. Humbald had accompanied his metropolitan, who had gone to Rome both on account of the business of the primacy of Lyon and for the common synodical summons [Compare the Bull of Urban II in the Gallia Christiana, volume IV, Instrumenta, column 12 and following]. The Gallia Christiana relates Volume XII, p. 289 that in the same year Bl. Humbald was present at the council of Étampes and at that of Sens. And indeed that about that time a council was held at Stampae (Étampes) and that Bl. Humbald was present at it is a certain matter; since the letter by which St. Ivo of Chartres blames Philip, bishop of Troyes, in the name of the comprovincials, because, being summoned to the council of Étampes, he did not come, nor showed reverence to the archbishop of Sens, and announces to him the respite given up to the Sunday next before the Nativity of the Lord, when the consecration of Hervé, bishop of Nevers, is to be, has this beginning In Labbe, Concilia, volume X, column 716; Dom Bouquet, volume XV, p. 105: "Ivo, by the grace of God bishop of Chartres, William of Paris, John of Orléans, Walter of Meaux, Humbald of Auxerre, to Philip of Troyes, greeting. When we were gathered in the council of Étampes many things were reported to us about your fraternity, though to unwilling hearers," etc. That this council was celebrated before the year 1100 the deeds of Hervé of Nevers in the year 1100 make manifest Compare Gallia Christiana, volume XII, column 637; but nothing at all forbids that this synod was celebrated in the year 1098 equally as in the year 1099 Compare Cossart in Labbe, Concilia, volume X, column 717; and indeed since that letter of St. Ivo comes among those which were written in the time of the pontificate of Urban II, who died on the 29th day of July of the year 1099 Novaes, Elementi della storia de' sommi pontefici, volume I, p. 296, since it is incredible that already from the month of July the Sunday before the Nativity of the Lord had been designated for consecrating the bishop of Nevers, and finally, thirdly, since it seems more likely that the prelate of Troyes denied reverence to Daimbert at the beginning of this pontificate rather than in its second year; let others see whether one should depart from the year 1099 commonly received for this council. For my part I would not oppose it if someone contended that this assembly was convened in autumn or at the beginning of winter of the year 1098. This synod had been appointed by Daimbert, so that in it "the apostolic and canonical institutions for the correction of the wicked" might be promulgated Ivo of Chartres, letter LXXVI, in Dom Bouquet, volume XV, p. 104, and there was dealt with there also the simultaneous election of two bishops of Nevers Ibid. and the following letter. As regards the council of Sens, no memory of it exists anywhere; except that from the letter of St. Ivo of Chartres cited above it appears that an assembly was appointed for the Sunday before the Nativity of the Lord. Nor does the conjecture drawn from this by the Gallia Christiana displease, since Philip of Troyes afterwards lived peacefully with his colleagues Gallia Christiana, volume XII, column 497, and must therefore be judged to have obeyed this canonical admonition.
[15] [in the year 1100 he is present at the council of Anse and about the same year receives in trust the church of Crisenon;] In the year 1100 Bl. Humbald is read to have shared again in the labours of a council: "In the year from the incarnation of the Lord 1100," says Hugh of Flavigny [Chronicon Virdunense in Dom Bouquet, volume XIII, p. 624; Labbe, Concilia, volume X, column 726], "at Ansa" (Anse in the territory of Lyon) "there met the archbishops Hugh of Lyon, Anselm of Canterbury, Daimbert of Sens, Radulf of Tours, Leodegar of Bourges; and eight bishops, Norgaud of Autun, Berard of Mâcon, Walter of Chalon, Humbald of Auxerre, William of Paris, Ismio of Die and two others; and peace being established, they spoke of the way to Jerusalem, separating from communion those who had vowed and had not been executors of the vow, until they should fulfil their vows." More things do not pertain to us. To the same year the Gallia Christiana refers Volume XII, column 289 the restoration of regular discipline in the abbey of St. Peter, procured by Bl. Humbald; but where it found this escapes me; and indeed this assertion is the more suspect to me because not even a trace of this matter appears a little below, where the fortunes and vicissitudes of this abbey are explained Volume cited, column 434 and following. Wherefore the time of this business seems to have to be left in darkness. To the year 1100, or thereabouts, belongs the trust which Bl. Humbald received from Hugh de Toucy. "Hugh, namely, having returned from the journey to Jerusalem, began to love more and more the place of Crisenon, already before given to the monks of Molesme and afterwards occupied by nuns, to build a church of stone, the wooden one being thrown down, to carry his goods there, to apply his mind altogether to the increase of the same place. But since he seemed greatly to doubt of his return, he again prepared the way for his vow to be fulfilled. And when he had to depart from this country, he went into the presence of his lord Humbaud, bishop of Auxerre, and placed the gift which he had made to St. Mary of Molesme in his custody and defence; and also returned the prior of that place, named Walter, into his hands, asking him that as long as he lived he should be everywhere a faithful witness to the church of Molesme. The witnesses are the lord Humbaud himself, bishop of Auxerre, Wauterius the archpriest, Robert the chaplain, Odo of Avallon, Erucus, brother of Alexander." Thus far the synopsis of some charters of Crisenon Gallia Christiana, volume XII, Instrumenta, column 104.
[16] [he is feigned to have subscribed a Molesme diploma; which is shown to be either corrupted or false; another similar error is detected.] He subscribed, if we again listen to Lebeuf Volume I, p. 285 and the Gallia Christiana Volume cited, column 289, in the year 1101 a donation made by Robert, bishop of Langres, to the monks of Molesme. But these things again seem less accurate. Robert of Langres is indeed read to have given two diplomas to St. Robert of Molesme in the year 1101; yet Bl. Humbald subscribed neither. Nor is the source of the error hard to detect: for in the latter, by which Robert of Langres invests St. Robert of Molesme with the church of Polliacum, it is read Gallia Christiana, volume IV, column 150 and following: "We invest you with that church, as the same Arnaud, abbot" (of Saint-Pierre-le-Vif of Sens), "and his brethren, at Fontaine-Jean, in the presence of the lord Daimbert, archbishop of Sens, and of ourselves, there standing by also William of Châlons, Burchard of Meaux, Hugh of Auxerre, William also of Nevers and Milo of Bar-sur-Seine, counts, caused themselves to be divested of the aforesaid church": there occurs there, therefore, Hugh of Auxerre, in whose place Humbald seemed to be understood: nor would I oppose it if the rest agreed: but it is far from it, and very far. For that diploma is either corrupted or fabricated; for it is closed with these words: "Done happily at Sens in the year of the incarnate word one thousand one hundred and first, in the ninth indiction, in the eighteenth epact, the lunar cycle concurrent being the sixteenth, Paschal the second happily governing the pontificate of the holy Roman city": which chronological notes agree among themselves, but fight altogether with the age of the bishops who are said there to have been present at the assembly at Fontaine-Jean. William, namely, sat at Châlons from the year 1113 to 1122 Ibid., volume IX, column 877, Hugh at Auxerre from the year 1115 to 1136 Volume XII, column 290 and following, Burchard at Meaux from the year 1120 (when Pope Paschal II had already died on the 21st day of January of the year 1118 Novaes, volume II, p. 305) to 1134 Gallia Christiana, volume VIII, column 1611 and following. See how on every side that diploma falls, which yet the writers of the Gallia Christiana profess to publish from the autograph! By a similar error, namely substituting Humbald for Hugh, Lebeuf contends Volume I, p. 285, note I that the letter of Paschal II which is read in the Chronicle of Vézelay D'Achery, Spicilegium, volume II, p. 506, folio edition is addressed to Bl. Humbald; but the other bishops who are designated in it show sufficiently that it was written not in the year 1103 but after the death of Bl. Humbald, as will be manifest to anyone running through the catalogues of the bishops.
[17] In the year 1104 he is present at the councils of Troyes and Paris; It does not therefore appear that Bl. Humbald was present in the year 1101 at the assembly of Fontaine-Jean or set his sign to the Molesme diploma; on the contrary he was most certainly present at the general council of Gaul begun at Troyes in the year 1104, from the 28th day of March, or the Monday after the octave of Easter, by Richard, bishop of Albano and legate of Paschal II Labbe, Concilia, volume X, column 738 and following, and he subscribed there with many others the diploma by which Hugh, count of Champagne, son of Theobald, gave to the monks of Molesme the township of Rumiliacum and certain other things Ibid., column 740. In this council ecclesiastical business was dealt with; the purgation of Hubert of Senlis, accused of the crime of simony, was received; the election of Godfrey of Amiens was confirmed; and the privilege of Hugh, count of Troyes, for the church of St. Peter was ratified. In the same year, on the 2nd day of December, he was present at the council of Paris, over which Lambert of Arras presided in the name of Paschal II, and in which he released King Philip from the bonds of excommunication after the union with Bertrada of Anjou had been abjured; as we know from Lambert's letter to Paschal, there were present besides Bl. Humbald two archbishops and six bishops and very many abbots; he who desires more, let him go to Labbe Ibid., column 742, and especially the commentary of Michel Brial on Bertha repudiated by King Philip and on Bertrada of Anjou brought in in her place Dom Bouquet, volume XVI, preface, p. XCVII and following. There are referred Gallia Christiana, volume XII, column 289 to the same year the aids furnished to Fontaine-Jean and which the biographer mentions; but this designation of time seems little certain, as resting on this argument alone, that in this year two noble men helped the hermits of this place with their goods [Charter of Stephen of Autun, Gallia Christiana, volume XII, Instrumenta, column 106].
[18] [from the year 1106 to 1108 he receives letters from St. Ivo of Chartres and from Paschal II; he is present at the dedications of La Charité and of Fleury;] In the year 1106 Bl. Humbald was admonished by St. Ivo, bishop of Chartres, concerning the marriage of Pontius, son of Garnier de Pont, with Matilda, daughter of Hugh the White of La Ferté, dissolved on account of defect of consent; because a certain parishioner of Auxerre wished to have the aforesaid woman as wife Letter CLXVI, in Dom Bouquet CII, volume XV, p. 136 and following. In the fifteenth Indiction, which ran either from the month of September of the year 1106 or from the 1st day of January of the year 1107 Wailly, Éléments de paléographie, volume I, p. 346, Bl. Humbald obtained from Paschal II the diploma which the biographer recites, and by which the possessions of his church of Auxerre are confirmed. To the same year 1107 they bind Gallia Christiana, volume XII, column 289 the introduction of Canons Regular into the church of St. Peter, from conjecture rather (if I mistake not) than from a certain argument; for the rest they seem to annex the same matter to the year 1100. See above, no. 15. But certainly this year is adorned by the most celebrated dedication of the church of Blessed Mary of La Charité on the Loire, of the Cluniac order, in the diocese of Auxerre, celebrated by Pope Paschal II on the 8th day of March of the year 1107, there being present three cardinals, two archbishops, six bishops, five abbots; among whom Bl. Humbald: all of whom stayed there three days [Dedication of the church of Blessed Mary of La Charité, in Lebeuf, Recueil de divers écrits, etc., volume II, p. 404; and Dom Bouquet, volume XIV, p. 121]. The other was made at Fleury on the Loire in the following year, on the 21st day of March, or the feast of St. Benedict, whose body is related to have been translated at the same solemnity: for we do not wish to dispute here whether the monks of Fleury or rather those of Monte Cassino held the body of St. Benedict at that time; on which matter it was spoken in the Commentary on St. Berarius See above, p. 151. "To this assembly," says Clarius Chronicle of Saint-Pierre-le-Vif, in Dom Bouquet, volume XII, p. 282, an eyewitness, "came and was present Louis, king designate, with many nobles of the kingdom of France, and joined his joy to the common gladness. There were present also John, bishop of Orléans, Humbald, bishop of Auxerre, religious men, with a very great multitude of clergy and people. On the same day they dedicated the high altar in honour of St. Mary, Mother of God; and another, namely the matutinal one, in honour of St. Benedict, under which were placed on that day the holy relics of the same father… On the same day the monks of that church made an abbot, the aforesaid Louis granting it and promising his father's consent, the aforesaid bishops being present…
[19] [and also at the enthronement of Louis the Fat at Orléans and at the making of a diploma at Bourges;] "And King Philip lived up to the month of July, and at the end of that month, namely on the third day before the Kalends of August, died at Melun, ordering that his body be carried and buried in the monastery of St. Benedict." They will have it that Bl. Humbald was present at this burial Lebeuf, volume I, p. 285, and Gallia Christiana, volume XII, p. 289; but I do not know on what documents this assertion rests; certainly he was not present at the obsequies; nor do others seem to have been present at the burial than those at the obsequies Suger's book on the life of Louis the Fat, in Dom Bouquet, volume XII, p. 24. On the contrary, on the 3rd day of August Bl. Humbald was present at the coronation of Louis the Fat, hastened by St. Ivo of Chartres for fear of impious machinations, and performed in the church of the Holy Cross at Orléans by Daimbert, archbishop of Sens, with the comprovincials, namely Galo, bishop of Paris, Manasses of Meaux, John of Orléans, Ivo of Chartres, Hugh of Nevers, Humbald of Auxerre Ibid., pp. 25, 154, 218, 223. From Orléans Louis set out for Bourges with the same bishops, with four of the first men of the kingdom and some other noble men; who all subscribed the diploma of Louis giving certain properties to the monks of Fleury. The clause is: "Done publicly at Bourges in the palace, in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1108, and in the first year of our reign." Then follow the subscriptions, among which that of Humbaud of Auxerre Mabillon, Annales Benedictini, at the year 1108, no. 56, volume V, p. 486.
[20] [in the year 1109 he settles the disputes of the Cluniacs with the bishop of Autun and in the year 1110 those of the monks of Fleury with the house of Toucy;] To the following year belong the things which are read in a manuscript codex of Cluny Gallia Christiana, volume IV, column 389: "In the year 1109 the complaints which there were against the lord Nargod, bishop of Autun, and the monks of Cluny were laid to rest by the hand of Richard, bishop of Albano, legate of the Apostolic See, Hervé of Nevers, Humbald of Auxerre and William, count of Nevers, mediating"; which complaints were about the parish priests who should rule the churches of the right of the Cluniacs, as Lebeuf testifies Volume I, p. 285, relying on the cartulary of the priory of Paray: but these quarrels were not new, since the Cluniacs had opposed the consecration of Nargod in the year 1100, having already experienced his tyranny Gallia Christiana, volume IV, column 386. In the year 1110 Bl. Humbald settled other disputes burning between the family of Toucy and the monks of Fleury. Nariotus or Nargaudus, lord of Toucy, had first imposed certain evil customs or unjust tolls on the township of Villare; of which the monks of Fleury had quite often complained before Bl. Humbald. "Nariotus," so Bl. Humbald discourses Ibid., volume XII, Instrumenta, column 107 and following, "touched, as we believe, by the divine clemency, undertook the journey to Jerusalem, and in the middle of the journey, seized by disease, coming to his extremity, confessed his sins to the patriarch of Jerusalem, and repented of those same evil customs before him. But hearing from him that penance is fruitless unless correction follow, he directed letters to his wife and his people, namely for the sake of relaxing those same evil customs, commanding and asking that, for the salvation of his soul, they should be remitted to that place, and never again be demanded. But they, as is the custom of some to add worse things to the worst, not only would not give up those customs, but even added worse ones; on which matter the aforesaid brethren and the aforesaid Leteric, to whom the place itself had been committed, came into our presence complaining of the injustice done to them and their place, and asking us that by episcopal justice we would compel them to proclaim those unjust exactions free to St. Benedict and to themselves and to that place, as the letters of Nariotus signified. Willingly giving assent to their petition, having interdicted the divine office to them, we at length compelled them to come to justice, and to remit those same evil customs by our hand and that of our clerics, there standing by the most noble count of Nevers William and many of his nobles." Then are enumerated the things which the wife of Nariotus and Hugh his son-in-law, then lord of the castle of Toucy, remitted. "And this was done at the aforesaid place of the city of Auxerre, in the chapter of St. Stephen, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1110, in the 3rd indiction, Louis reigning as king of the Franks." The witnesses follow. And it has pleased me to recite these things, that the reader may have a specimen of the method which Bl. Humbald followed in vindicating ecclesiastical properties; which the biographer narrates was done by him very often.
[21] [in the year 1110 he seems to have been present at the council of Fleury, and in the year 1113 is present at the institution of the canons of St. Victor of Paris;] In the same year he seems to have been present at the council of Fleury, celebrated on the Kalends of October by Richard the legate, Daimbert of Sens and three other archbishops; who, since they are read in the Chronicle of Saint-Pierre-le-Vif to have had their bishops and abbots with them In Dom Bouquet, volume XII, p. 283, Bl. Humbald must not be judged to have been absent. Some rights of monasteries were vindicated there and some disputes settled [Labbe, Concilia, volume X, column 766; Mansi, Supplement, volume II, column 241 and following]. In the year 1113, the archbishops, bishops, counts and the other magnates of the kingdom meeting together at Châlons, King Louis by common consent determined the institution of the Canons Regular of St. Victor at Paris. Among the signs of a good many others comes the sign of the bishop of Auxerre, Humbaud Gallia Christiana, volume VII, Instrumenta, column 48. About almost the same time St. Ivo of Chartres wrote to him his letter CCXLI; in which he admonished him that a cause already settled by ecclesiastical judgment was not to be retried before the count, a vassal of his episcopal see. And on these at length the foundation of the convent of Pontigny sets the crowning touch, situated four leagues from Auxerre, the second daughter of Cîteaux, and mother of forty-three.
[22] he gladly consents to the foundation of Pontigny The part which Bl. Humbald had in this foundation the domestic records explain thus Ibid., volume XII, column 439: "A certain priest, adorned not moderately with true religion, named Ansius" (rather Hildebert, canon of the mother church of Auxerre, according to the biographer and Robert of St. Marian Dom Bouquet, volume XII, p. 290), "dwelling in the territory of Auxerre, asked the lord Stephen, abbot of the New Monastery, and the monks of the same place, that in his place, which was called Pontigny, monks being placed there, they would ordain an abbey.
They, incited by the hope of propagating regular discipline, promised that they would satisfy the vow of the aforesaid priest, if the prelate in whose diocese that place was situated would embrace this. Thereafter the lord abbot Stephen and Ansius (Hildebert) the priest, coming to Auxerre, open the cause of ordaining an abbey in the aforesaid place to Bishop Humbald of blessed memory. The pontiff, hearing their laudable zeal, is rendered most joyful, that he and those committed to him would obtain a great profit of spiritual good, if in his time the divine grace should multiply lovers of the holy rule in his bishopric. At that time, by the assent and gift and authority of the lord Bishop Humbald and of the whole chapter of his church and of the venerable priest Ansius (Hildebert), the lord abbot Stephen took up the church of Pontigny for ordaining an abbey." More about this abbey will be given by the Gallia Christiana, Manrique [Annales Cistercienses, at the year 1114, chapter II, volume I, p. 74 and following] and others.
[23] and admits the profession of the first abbot with a restriction of their rights. Bl. Humbald admitted the profession of Hugh, the first abbot, couched in these words Ibid., chapter III, p. 76: "I, Hugh, abbot of Pontigny, promise that I will perpetually show to you, Lord Bishop Humbald, and to your successors canonically to be substituted, and to the holy see of Auxerre, the subjection, reverence and obedience instituted by the Holy fathers according to the rule of Saint Benedict, SAVING OUR ORDER." Hugh was the first to insert the exception "saving our order" into his profession, St. Stephen wishing that the bishops should first hold ratified the authority of the abbot of Cîteaux before he should send out colonies Ibid., place cited. That these things were done in the year 1114 ancient and more recent writers agree; and indeed that Pontigny was founded on the third day before the Kalends of June, or the 30th day of May, William Godell testifies Chronicle, in Dom Bouquet, volume XIII, p. 674: and the foundation was commonly reckoned from the day on which the new abbot had gone out with his colony from the mother monastery; which custom will be explained more fully in the Life or Commentary of BB. Geoffrey and Serlo.
[24] [He dies, returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, on the 20th day of October of the year 1115; his nephew institutes an anniversary.] At the end of the month of May of the year 1114, therefore, Bl. Humbald was still staying in his diocese. But since he afterwards visited Palestine and on his return met death on the 20th day of October, it is at once apparent that there should be no hesitation between Canon Lebeuf and the Gallia Christiana, since the former Volume I, p. 286 marks his death in the year 1114, the latter Volume XII, column 289 in the year 1115. For within four and a half months that journey could not at that time be undertaken. It is certain, therefore, that Bl. Humbald did not die before the year 1115; but no less certain that he did not die in the year 1116. For his successor went to the thresholds of the Apostles and there, as the biographer testifies, received the imposition of hands from Paschal II; and indeed on the third day before the Nones of March, as the Gallia Christiana has it Ibid., column 290; whence, if Bl. Humbald had departed from life in the year 1116, his successor would have been consecrated at the beginning of March of the year 1117; but that cannot stand. For if we compare the sayings of Peter the deacon with the narrative of Falco of Benevento, it is manifest that Paschal II went out of Rome at the beginning of August of the year 1116, or even before, and never returned to the City Dom Bouquet, volume XV, p. 14 and following. It remains, therefore, that Bl. Humbald went to heaven on the 20th day of October of the year 1115, and that his successor St. Hugh of Montaigu was consecrated on the 5th day of March of the following year. In the Necrology which we praised at no. 2 his memory is celebrated not only at the 20th of October, but at the 7th day of May it is read that Ulger or Ilger, his nephew and provost of the chapter, who also contended with St. Hugh for the bishopric, founded his uncle's anniversary and gave the cathedral church a mill, on the condition that every year on this day a common dinner should be furnished to the canons. Because Ulger himself had built that mill, his name adhered to it, afterwards corrupted into Moulin de Fulger or Fulget; which appears in the Maps of Cassini to the west of Auxerre between the villages of St. Martin and of St. Maurice the old, beyond the district of Aigleny or Egleny, within whose bounds however Lebeuf Volume I, p. 287 places this mill. More will be given by the Acts, which we now subjoin.
LIFE OF BL. HUMBALD, BISHOP OF AUXERRE,
from the History of the bishops of Auxerre, in Labbe, Bibliotheca Manuscriptorum, volume I, p. 456.
Humbald, bishop and confessor, at Auxerre in Gaul. (Bl.)
BHL Number: 4035
BY AN ANONYMOUS CONTEMPORARY.
SOLE CHAPTER.
Bl. Humbald, after a boyhood and youth Humbaud a of good memory, from dean b made bishop, an Auxerrois by nation, of his father Humbald, his mother Adela, spent in the chapter of Auxerre, is consecrated bishop at Milan; sprung namely of a noble lineage, sat 22 years c, 4 months, 17 days. And this bishop was in the times of the Roman pontiffs Pope Urban II d, Paschal II e, there reigning among the Franks the most illustrious men Philip f, glorious king of the Franks, and Louis his son happily. He, handed over from infancy to the studies of letters by Heribert g, his predecessor, made cleric and canon, strong in simplicity and prudence, chastity and temperance, and the other flowers of the virtues, serving through all the offices of the orders in the church of the Blessed Protomartyr Stephen, endeavoured to serve God there honourably, becomingly and religiously h; and when the most excellent pontiff of pontiffs Robert i, most noble of the nobles in manners and in birth, most comely of the comely in prudence and in beauty of body, departed from the world, Humbald is elected pontiff by the clergy and people of the city k; and being elected, he is presented by the clerics at Milan, a city of Italy, to be consecrated, to the aforesaid pope, namely Urban, who had come down into Lombardy on account of certain persons declining from sound doctrine l; and being consecrated there by the same, he is brought back to his own city and was devoutly received in the pontifical see by the clergy and people with glory and with hymn-singing chants according to the custom of the church m.
[2] he recovers many church goods possessed by laymen; Meanwhile certain vassals of the church, rising against the church, usurped the episcopal goods and wished to retain them as their own: but Humbald, a simple and prudent bishop, relying on useful counsel and trusting in the providence of God, shrewdly removed by ecclesiastical justice Geoffrey of Donzy n, who was occupying the castle of Varzy and depopulating the land and men beyond measure, and determined that it should be held by himself and his successors. Cosne o too he freed from the tyrannical invasion of Hugh, who had usurped with perverse audacity the episcopal revenues of the same place and thirsted to retain them for himself hereafter. The men of Toucy [p] likewise he restrained with ecclesiastical discipline, and compelled them to restore what they had stolen from the episcopal right. How piously, therefore, he behaved toward the church taken up by him, how kindly and prudently toward his subjects, his illustrious deeds demonstrate: for he decorated the church within and without with many benefits, multiplied it with buildings, ennobled it with honours; with many goods also: he would have conferred more on the church, had not the devil, who always envies good men, brought upon him, through the aforesaid and certain other tyrants [q], losses of his property and honour. For the roofs of the church, consumed by age and fallen, he renewed with new shingles; the tower of the church, placed over the altar of Saint Alexander, he raised high with a wonderful and lofty wooden covering. Another tower also, placed over the choir, he caused to be covered with squared stones, lest its festive bells should be consumed by the burning of fire (if by chance it should happen), or lest, consumed at some time by icy rains, they should be broken. Four windows also, giving light to the older altar [r], he caused to be glazed with wonderful work; and in the front part of the church he glazed 22, and beside the choir also two.
[3] he adorns churches, especially the cathedral He placed also before the altar five candlesticks of wonderful height, so that the tapers set on them might brighten the church in the night hours and minister light more brightly to clerics or laymen entering. Likewise he gave a linen curtain, decorating one wall of the church [s] on festal days, painted with images of kings and emperors; above which he placed three most precious palls costing a thousand shillings [t], of which one, of green colour, shines with many-coloured lions set in roundels; the second is strong with images of kings likewise set in roundels, riding in royal manner; the third also smiles on the beholders with golden-coloured lions set in roundels. Likewise for the beauty of the church, mindful of the Psalmist saying, "Lord, I have loved the beauty of Thy house and the place of the habitation of Thy glory," he gave two great woollen dorsals [u], marked with work of many-coloured lions, and placed over the seats of the choir two excellent tapestries. Likewise for the ornament of the church, insinuating also to us that, vices being put aside, we ought to be cloaked with virtues within and without, he gave four good copes of pall-silk, three dalmatics, seven albs, excellent chasubles, stoles and maniples [x], many of them, and many books befitting the episcopal office. The head of the church also over the altar of Saint Stephen he decorated with a wonderful and precious painting; in the crypt likewise he adorned with paintings above and below the altar of the Trinity, and in the other crypt he honoured the altar of Saint Nicholas with a painted image of the Saviour and of Saint Mary and of Saint John the Evangelist. The church of Saint Mary, Mother of the Lord, situated within the walls, falling and almost collapsed, he renewed, and himself dedicated it when renewed. The head of the church of Saint Mary outside the walls he caused to be covered with new shingles.
[4] and enriches them; For the stipends of the canons, finally, he gave the church of Accolacum [y] with the tithes, which he had acquired from Guibert, knight of the castle of Censurium, and remitted the pareda to the same canons. The church of Crevennum [z] he likewise gave to the brethren with tithes, and remitted the pareda; yet he assigned two prebends on that condition to two clerics, at the prayers of the chapter. Likewise he gave to the aforesaid canons the church of Collumnum [aa] with tithes, which he obtained from Morundus the knight, on condition that the canons should rebuild the destroyed church, and remitted the pareda. The church also of Ansiacum [bb], possessed by Hugh Mansellus as by hereditary right, with the presbyterate and tithes, he had promised he would give to the stipends of the same brethren, and if the canons meanwhile could extort it from him by any means, he had granted it by episcopal donation, which he would have assigned to us to be held in perpetuity, had he not been prevented by death intervening too soon. Nor have we thought it worthy to be passed over in silence that the township which is called Laurea [cc], situated between Carcedonum and Andraja, very suitable for the bishops, with woods, lands cultivated and uncultivated, he acquired the half of from Geoffrey Bolsarius and from his heirs, a price of 30 pounds and more being given to them, and determined that it should be held by himself and his successors in perpetuity. At Auxerre indeed the episcopal closes of vines, consumed by age and almost dead, he brought back to their former greenness and good fruitfulness.
[5] he obtains that the count of Nevers renounce the right of spoils; The wicked custom also, namely that the counts, when a bishop died, were wont to seize and usurp for their uses all the utensils of the episcopal house, from the younger Count William [dd] for himself and his successors
he obtained to be held in perpetuity, and that it might be commended to memory he ordered it to be confirmed by this writing: "In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity, be it known to all, future as well as present, who love the truth and seek the salvation of their souls: that I, William, consul of Nevers, for the remission of my sins and of my father and my mother and of their predecessors, my wife the countess Adelaya approving, remit to the church of Blessed Mary, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of Blessed Stephen the Protomartyr, and to Humbald, bishop of Auxerre, and to the canons of the same church and their successors, a certain wicked custom which my predecessors were wont to take, namely from the episcopal house and from the goods of the bishop, which after the death of the bishops they possessed as their own, laid waste and plundered: and this remission of such a custom I make, that henceforth no heir of mine may presume to take anything from it, or if he presume to take anything from it, he lose all my honour. And this remission was made first upon the altar of Saint Stephen, afterwards in the same church publicly on the Lord's day, the day before the Kalends of September."
[6] he recovers and increases episcopal townships and towns and other goods; At Appoigny [ee] also he brought back to its fertility the episcopal close, destroyed and badly wasted; and the oven, taken away from the episcopal right, at the mill placed on the river Yonne, and the fields which are commonly called Condominicati [ff], he restored to the jurisdiction of the bishops; he acquired many male and female serfs; and the destroyed fortification of the town he fortified firmly with a strong wall and new engines, the ditches being renewed round about; the custom also, namely of 300 shillings, which was given every year to the count of Joigny [gg] for the fortification of the castle of Appoigny, he reduced by 40 shillings, and planted vines there. At Gy [hh] he built for the bishops a stone house and a chapel. At Varzy [ii] indeed he acquired the benefices of several: namely the church of Saint Peter, withdrawn from the dominion of laymen; likewise also he freed from lay possession the Pentecost and Christmas offerings of the church of Saint Eugenia and those of the festival of the assumed Virgin herself, and established that they should be of the right of the bishops in perpetuity. He planted vines and built a close, and assigned also male and female serfs, houses, lands cultivated and uncultivated. At Cosne also the bishop of Auxerre lacked an episcopal house, where he splendidly built a splendid house, and becomingly decorated the chapel of Saint Mary placed beside it; and the church of Saint Laurence he withdrew by his ingenuity, yet with great labour, from the lay hand, and assigned it to be held by himself and his successors in perpetuity: and he acquired many other benefices. At Toucy he built an episcopal house for the bishops, and for the use and profit of the bishops by his prudence acquired many goods there with much labour.
[7] monks, hermits Nor ought we to be silent on this, that the monastery of Saint Germanus, taken away from our church by the ancient kings of France [kk], he merited to obtain from the aforementioned Pope Urban the second in the council of Nîmes, so that the bishop of Auxerre should in perpetuity, God disposing, place an abbot in the same monastery, and take care to order the same church by regular order: as long as he lived, he endeavoured to foster it as he could and ought. In the allod also of Hildebert, canon of our church, which is called Pontigny, the same Hildebert asking and urging, he constituted a monastery of monks living under the rule of Blessed Benedict and placed there as first the religious abbot Hugh [ll]. And the convent which is called Fontaine-Jean [mm], situated within the bounds of the bishopric of Auxerre, built by Girard, a religious man, afterwards to be abbot, he exalted with his benefits (so far as he could).
[8] and fosters canons regular; obtains from Pope Paschal a diploma for his church The church also of Saint Peter [nn], situated in the suburb of the city of Auxerre, he established to be of Canons Regular, and merited to have from the lord pope this privilege of ecclesiastical constitutions. "Paschal, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to our venerable brother Humbald, bishop of Auxerre, and to his successors canonically to be substituted, in perpetuity. It befits us to give assent to just wishes and to lend our ears to just petitions, who, though unworthy, see ourselves placed, the Lord disposing, as guardians and heralds of justice in the lofty watch-tower of the princes of the Apostles Peter and Paul. Assenting, therefore, to your just petitions, brother most dear in Christ Humbald, we fortify with the authority of the apostolic see the holy church of Auxerre, over which by God's authorship you preside: for we establish that all things which your church of Auxerre is known to have possessed from the ancient times of our predecessors and to obtain at present from the 15th indiction [oo] be always preserved free and undiminished to you and your successors. Let no one at all of whatever dignity or order dare, against the will of you or of your church, to invade, take away or in any way withdraw the things of your subjection or of your possession; but let all things persist in the obedience and disposition of you and your successors living with canonical uprightness: for so it is believed to have been instituted by our predecessors the pontiffs of the holy Roman church at the petition of Blessed Germanus, whose patrimony the parish of Auxerre had been [pp]. If therefore any ecclesiastical or secular person, knowing this page of our constitution, shall rashly attempt to come against it, being admonished a second or third time, if he does not amend with fitting satisfaction, let him lack the dignity of his power and honour [qq]; and let him know himself to stand guilty at the divine judgment of the iniquity perpetrated, and let him become alien from the most sacred body and blood of God and of the Lord our Redeemer Jesus Christ, and at the last examination let him lie subject to strict vengeance; but to all preserving just things to the same place be the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that both these may receive the fruit of good action and find with the strict judge the rewards of eternal peace. Amen. Amen."
[9] and another for his nephew, provost of Auxerre; Likewise of the same to the clergy: "Paschal, servant of the servants of God, to our beloved sons the canons of the church of Auxerre, greeting and apostolic benediction. That our confrere Humbald, bishop of your church, has behaved kindly toward our son Husgerius [rr], your canon, and has given him the dignity of the provostship with your consent, we give thanks both to him and to you. And we wish it to be known to you that we will that both himself and all things pertaining to him persist under the protection of the guardianship of the apostolic see. By the authority of the present letters, therefore, we forbid that any ecclesiastical or secular person presume to disquiet our same son concerning the benefice of the aforesaid provostship."
[10] he promotes Canons Regular; Among the other distinctions of his kindly deeds, the man of honourable life and praiseworthy through all things established the church of Saint Eusebius [ss], at which it is established is the burial-place of our canons and servants, to be of Canons Regular, and placed there several brethren of approved life under the priory of the Abbey; to whom also he took care that the prebend of a dead canon of ours be given for a year, with the consent of the whole clergy and people, Hervé, bishop of Nevers, canon of this our church, assisting, so that these Regular Canons of Saint Eusebius should also celebrate masses for our dead, and daily discharge the other offices of the dead: which prebend also his predecessor the pontiff Robert had decreed should be given for a year to a certain presbyter celebrating masses for a dead canon [tt]. To the Regular Canons also of the Abbey, which his predecessor Robert, glorious and the ornament of pontiffs, raised into an abbey, he gave many churches, that of Warchi, of Tratiacum, of Saint Martin of Truncetum, of Saint Quentin [uu], which he withdrew from the lay hand, and granted them to be held by them in perpetuity by apostolic and episcopal authority.
[11] likewise the Cluniacs; he takes away wicked customs; To the monastery of La Charité [xx] likewise he granted many churches, which he acquired from the laymen possessing them. The same, a lover of the divine offices and of the ecclesiastical order, removed vigorously and reasonably from lay * possession the baptisteries and burials and the other offerings of churches, usurped by laymen for a long time, and now possessed by long use and as it were by custom, and also the wicked customs, namely the banquets which the parish presbyters paid every year to their lay lords; and in the synod he forbade by episcopal authority that thereafter the priests of God should obey laymen in such things; proclaiming that decree of Stephen, pope and Martyr [yy]: "To laymen, however religious they be, no power is ever read to have been attributed of possessing anything of the ecclesiastical resources."
[12] his religion and disposition are praised; This bishop, then, a friend of God, of peace and of kindness, adorned with these and such displays of good works, so showed himself lovable and dear to good men that he merited to be made worthy of the praise of all the good: for he was of shrewd wit, prudent in speech, provident in counsel, gentle in patience, cheerful in countenance, pleasant in gait and dress, kindly affable toward all, fit for all within and without; he gave himself at opportune time to prayers, and at times enjoyed the conversations of his familiars; in disposing of his own and his people's interests, he loved the company of knights and nobles; but there was in him a greater affection toward clerics, and the grace of largeness appeared more copious toward them both at table and in the provision of clothing. Of the illicit motions of the flesh indeed there is not silence, which he was studious to repress by parsimony of food and drink: so that from the time he was made bishop he abstained from meats, the eating of pulse sufficed him, nor did he drink wine except a little. At a banquet, finally, pursuing hospitality toward one another and toward all, he was bountiful, nor was he ever without the poor of Christ at dinner, avoiding that which is written: "A bishop, unless he receives all, is inhuman." And in Lent he refreshed twelve poor persons daily, to whom on the Lord's Supper he distributed denarii, and at Easter clothed very many.
[13] and other virtues; he dies piously in a shipwreck. And when, as commonly happens, the fury of anger and discord had crept by diabolical instinct into the minds also of the barons subject to him, by his wonderful patience and grace of humility he brought discordant minds into concord; and that peace and quiet might become firmer, he quite often gave drink to the disturber by giving from his own. But if at any time any lay person had a cause of calumny against a cleric or an injury inflicted on him by a cleric, and complaining protested to him; he, instructed with the simplicity of the dove and the prudence of the serpent, both caused the fault to be kept under silence, lest disgrace should come to the church; and the negligence, if it could not be done otherwise, he sometimes redeemed from the complainants by a price given. He, therefore, the clemency of Jesus Christ working, who both anticipates by inspiring and follows by helping the actions of His faithful, peace having first been restored among the brethren, in the 22nd year [zz] of his episcopate, for the love of his Saviour and the remission of his sins, undertook the journey to Jerusalem: whence, the sacred places having been visited according to custom, and prayer having been made everywhere with a shower of tears for his sins, while he was returning and bringing very many ornaments for his church, amid the waves of the raging sea, imploring the mercy of our Saviour Jesus Christ and crying out that he was guilty, sounding forth psalms and hymns to God, the ship breaking up, he gave back his spirit to his creator [aaa].
ANNOTATIONS.
p. The lords of Toucy at that time were Iterius, who died in the holy war, Hugh and Norgaud Gallia Christiana, volume XII, Instrumenta, column 104 and following; of whom it has been spoken in the Preliminary Commentary, nos. 15 and 20. Toucy was of the patrimony of St. Germanus of Auxerre, and the bishops had a castle there, from whom the family of Toucy held its barony La Martinière, Dictionnaire géographique, under Toucy. Below, at no. 6, it is read that Bl. Humbald built an episcopal house there. Perhaps Bl. Humbald recovered half of the lordship of Toucy Lebeuf, volume I, p. 246, note b.
q. The houses of Donzy and Toucy and also Hugh Mansellus are here accused of tyranny; yet most seem to have been pious men and to have lived in peace with Bl. Humbald. Certainly disputes existed between them and Bl. Humbald applied ecclesiastical censures; but this was then the common condition of things, since in times past the vassals had usurped the rights of their lords, and these were striving to recover their authority. In the same way the most pious and most prudent count of Nevers, William II, is ill regarded by some; of whom afterwards.
r. The older altar for the principal altar. This very altar Bl. Humbald also adorned: for in the Necrology of Auxerre this memorial is made of Norgaud of Autun, of whom it was spoken in the Preliminary Commentary, no. 20 Gallia Christiana, volume IV, column 389: "On the sixth day before the Nones of May died Norgaud, bishop of Autun, canon of this church, who by the hands of Bishop Umbald gave to our church 5 marks of silver for adorning the table of the altar."
s. By the other wall of the church Lebeuf understands Volume I, p. 281 the left side.
t. If they were gold shillings (as it seems), these palls would have cost 80,000 francs.
u. Dorsals were tapestries which were hung either at the back of the stalls or on the walls.
x. These hand-towels were gradually changed into maniples, which are of no use, but mere ornament.
y. Accolacum, commonly Accolay; Castrum Censurii, Château-Censoir. The right of pareda, pareta or parata, which the bishops had over churches, consisted in this, that the presbyters of these churches had to give food to the bishops and their retinue.
z. Crevennum, commonly Crevan or Crevant.
aa. Collumnum, now Coulons; this parish no longer exists; but the memory of the region in which it was situated is preserved by the name of another parish, called St-Cyr-en-Coulons; between this and Courgis lay Collumnus Lebeuf, volume I, p. 282, note b.
bb. Ausiacum, now Oisy.
cc. Laurea seems to Canon Lebeuf to be Chapelle-Laurent, between Carcedonum (Courçon) and Andraja (Andrie).
dd. Count William, the younger or II, son of Rainald II, made this remission probably in the year 1096. See the Preliminary Commentary, no. 9. A year before his death he left the world, and was made a lay brother among the Carthusians.
ee. Apogniacum, commonly Appoigny. That close was afterwards called the Royal stream, commonly Regennes or Regeannes Ibid., volume I, p. 280.
ff. Condominicati are fields immune from every agrarian burden; the origin of this word seems to be con, in the vulgar idiom designating a field, and domini Compare Du Cange under Condamina and Condomina. These fields, no otherwise than the oven and the mill, must have been situated in the neighbourhood of Appoigny, since the biographer continues to speak of this town.
gg. Joviniacum, commonly Joigny.
hh. Giacum, commonly Gy.
ii. Varziacum, commonly Varzy; of which it has already been spoken in annotation n. The church of St. Eugenia had first been built from the time of St. Germanus, and restored in the tenth century by Bishop Galdric, who laid up there a part of the relics of this Saint Lebeuf, volume I, p. 232. The festival "of the assumed Virgin herself," which comes a little below, is to Canon Lebeuf the feast of Bl. Eugenia herself. The church of St. Peter was parochial and had also been renewed by Galdric.
kk. The new editors of Canon Lebeuf's History of Auxerre seem to err in referring the loss of episcopal authority to the times in which the dukes of Burgundy presided over the monastery of St. Germanus as lay abbots. I would believe that the biographer also errs when he thinks that that convent was formerly of the right of the bishop of Auxerre: for it was royal in origin Gallia Christiana, volume XII, column 361 and following, and accordingly subject to the visitation of the royal archchaplain and of the missi dominici: but elsewhere [Examen historique et canonique des droits et offices des réguliers, p. 200 and following] we have said enough and more than enough on this argument. In the thirteenth century, after many disputes, the monks of St. Germain vindicated their liberty from the authority
of the bishop. Of the council of Nîmes and the rest see the Preliminary Commentary, no. 10 and following.
ll. Of the foundation of Pontigny, the second daughter of Cîteaux, made in the year 1114 on the 30th day of May, it was spoken in the Preliminary Commentary, no. 23. Bl. Hugh of Mâcon, the first abbot instituted and, after St. Hugh of Montaigu, bishop of Auxerre, died at Pontigny on the 12th day of October of the year 1151.
mm. Fons humidus, Fontismus, in French Fonteme or Fontemoi, lies to the south of Auxerre below Accolay, near the little town of Juga, commonly Joux, to the right of the road from Lyon toward Paris; which runs between Fontaine-Jean and Rigny, and almost separated there the former dioceses of Autun and Auxerre. For Fontaine-Jean lay in that of Autun and Rigny in that of Auxerre. The seat of Fontaine-Jean was received by BB. Gerard and Guerin, both presbyters and hermits, in the year 1104; and they at once received many disciples, whom first of all Bl. Gerard ruled, after him Bl. Guerin and then Julian; who being dead, that monastery was handed over to Clairvaux; from which Stephen of Toucy was sent there with the power of abbot in the year 1128; but in the year 1134 this abbey was translated to Rigny, where it existed up to the end of the eighteenth century [Mabillon, Annales Benedictini, at 1104, no. 80, volume V, p. 1104; Gallia Christiana, volume XII, column 459 and following, and Instrumenta, column 106 and following; Expilly, Dictionnaire géographique de France, under the words Joux and Rigny, etc.]. Bl. Gerard is called by the biographer "afterwards to be abbot," and likewise Julian is read as abbot of Fontismus in a charter of St. Germain Gallia Christiana, volume XII, Instrumenta, column 108: whether according to the custom by which other superiors of hermits also are found called abbots, or because they received the abbatial blessing, is not sufficiently clear to me. From the manner of speaking of the biographer Bl. Humbald must have done good to Fontaine-Jean about the year 1104 or 1105.
nn. Commonly called St. Pere; mention of it occurs already in the sixth century in the Life of St. Aunacharius, and its fortunes are described in the Gallia Christiana Volume XII, column 434 and following. In the eleventh century and the following the institute of Canons Regular was propagated in a wonderful way through Gaul and other regions Compare Le Large, De Canonicorum ordine disquisitiones. At nos. 15 and 18 of the Preliminary Commentary we remarked that the introduction of canons regular into the church of St. Peter is marked by the Gallia Christiana, from conjecture rather than from certain argument, now at the year 1100, now at 1107.
oo. See what was said in the Preliminary Commentary at no. 18.
pp. That the whole parish or diocese of Auxerre (as is insinuated here) was the patrimony of St. Germanus Lebeuf deservedly calls into doubt or rather denies Volume I, p. 281. Yet that this Saint was very rich and likewise the church of Auxerre very rich is a manifest matter.
qq. That a similar formula was already used by St. Gregory the Great in the celebrated privilege of Autun escapes no learned man. And the deprivation of all honour and dignity was a consequence of excommunication or of public penance (for penitents and the excommunicated were held almost in the same place). Hence penitents or the excommunicated were removed from military service and from all political offices; hence Theodosius in the time of his penance did not gird his head with the diadem; hence King Wamba laid down the sceptre and led an almost monastic life; hence others in other ways stripped themselves of all secular honour. Since therefore this discipline still flourished in the eleventh century (as this very letter of Paschal also shows), there were those in the time of St. Gregory VII who defended his judgment on deposing the Emperor Henry IV from these ancient laws of public penance.
rr. In place of Husgerius there seems to have to be read Hulgerius, or Ulgerius, nephew of Bl. Humbald; of him it has been said in the Preliminary Commentary, no. 24.
ss. In the seventh century St. Palladius, bishop of Auxerre, built this suburban church under the patronage of St. Eusebius of Vercelli; which others afterwards quite often renewed Gallia Christiana, volume XII, column 359. The Abbey, from which Bl. Humbald brought the Canons Regular here, is the canonical church of St. Laurence near Cosne, formerly called of Wulfinus, of Longoretum, afterwards of the abbey, commonly des Aubats Compare Lebeuf, volume I, p. 284; Gallia Christiana, volume XII, column 430, and first built in the seventh century.
tt. These things were not long preserved; for in the year 1159 the Venerable Alan, prelate of Auxerre, at the complaint of the canons of St. Laurence about the poverty of the priory of St. Eusebius, granted again that, as often as a canonry should be vacant in the church of Auxerre, so often for the circle of one year the church of St. Eusebius should have the revenues of the canonry entire Gallia Christiana, volume XII, column 259; Lebeuf, volume I, p. 320.
uu. Warchi, now commonly Guarchy or Guerchy; Tratiacum, Tracy; St. Martin of Truncetum, St-Martin-du-Troncet; St. Quentin, St-Quentin: all these villages lie not far from the monastery of St. Laurence. He gave to it moreover the church of St. Cyr in Collumnum, St-Cyr-les-Coulons; as Lebeuf gathered Volume I, p. 284 from the Necrology of St. Laurence, written in the thirteenth century.
xx. Of the monastery or priory of La Charité it was spoken in the Preliminary Commentary, no. 18. The churches which Bl. Humbald gave it Lebeuf judges were all situated in its neighbourhood Ibid., place cited.
yy. These words are found in chapter X of the second letter of St. Stephen the pope to all bishops Labbe, Concilia, volume I, column 735; the arguments by which this is shown to be supposititious see in Berardi Canones Gratiani, volume I, p. 315 and following, edition of 1777. In Labbe's text you have aliquid respondendi; for which he judges disponendi should be substituted; and indeed rightly, since in chapter III of the Roman Council of the year 502, part XVI, chapter XXXVI of the Decree of Ivo, and cause XVI, question VII, chapter XIV of the Decree of Gratian it is so read, although the biographer has possidendi.
zz. Rather the 21st: see above, annotation c.
aaa. Robert, monk of St. Marian, in his Chronicle Dom Bouquet, volume XII, p. 290 narrates the same things, adding an encomium of Bl. Humbald similar to the memorial of the Necrology recited at no. 2.
* laicali