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Reginald of Durham and Saint Godric of Finchale: Learning and Religion on a Personal Level
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
Extract
In terms of their achievements in the field of learning, Reginald of Durham and saint Godric of Finchale present an enormous contrast. Reginald was a monk of the powerful and wealthy community of Durham and also, naturally enough in the second half of the twelfth century, a priest. As such he was the product of a formal monastic education. He was especially favoured, in addition, because the house which moulded him was at that time passing through a phase when letters flourished to a greater extent than at any other period in its history. Godric, on the other hand, was never anything but a layman. He earned a living as a pedlar and merchant first of all and only later decided to abandon the world and lead the eremitic life. His contacts with learning were thus tenuous at best. Both Reginald and Godric were trying, however, to achieve the same ideal: to live the religious life, and for some years in the third decade of the twelfth century circumstances led them to follow their vocations in close contact with one another. Students of this period are fortunate in having some insight into the relationship that developed between them. In particular one can isolate the part played in the relationship by learning or, more precisely, by Reginald’s substantial education and the hermit’s lack of it.
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- Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1981
References
1 My thanks are due to Mr D. H. Farmer who first directed me to the study of this hagiographer and his main subject. I am also grateful to Professor H. S. Offler and Professor Donald Matthew for useful suggestions.
2 Compare Brooke, C., The Twelfth Century Renaissance (London 1969) pp 50-1Google Scholar and Morris, C., The Discovery of the Individual 1050-1200 (London 1972) pp 65–70, 76-86Google Scholar.
3 David Knowles’s sympathetic discussion of Ailred will be found in MO pp 257-66.
4 The Vita Sanctae Margaretae, almost certainly the work of prior Turgot of Durham, is printed in Sym[eonis] Dun[elmensis] [Opera et Collectanea] , ed Hinde, [J. H.] [(SS51-1867) pp 234-54Google Scholar. On p 241 occurs the famous story of how Malcolm would kiss the books prized by his wife, ornament them with gold and jewels and them return them to her as a mark of affection.
5 His Lib[ellus de vita et miraculis S.] God[rki, heremitae de Finchale] was edited by Joseph Stevenson as number 20, the volume for 1845, in the publications of the Surtees Society. His version, containing as its main text the life as found in Oxford Bodleian MS Laud mise 413, is to a large extent reliable. It also contains, amongst other things, a preface with a number of useful appendices and a detailed index. As far as we can judge, Reginald’s account of the hermit is likewise generally trustworthy. Other accounts of Godric are found in the following places. A life by prior Germanus of Durham, now surviving only in part, lies embedded in the life by the monk Geoffrey ( God[ricil, Vit[a] , printed in ASB [(3 ed Paris etc 1863-)] May 5 pp 70–85 Google Scholar and otherwise of no independent value). William of Newburgh in his Historia Rerum Anglicarum also gives a brief description of the hermit (see Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I, ed R. Howlett (RS82 4 vols 1884-90) 1 pp 149-50). These sources add little to what Reginald tells us, however.
6 Examples of this are found in the writer’s other major work, the Lib[ellus de admirandis beati] Cutlh[berti virtutibus], ed Raine, J. (SS1 1835) pp 64 Google Scholar,68, 72-3, 74-5, 108, 155.
7 For example Lib Cuth pp 58-60, 147, 181, 247-8; Lib God pp 67-9, 148-9.
8 Lib Cuth p 284; Lib God pp 369, 419.
9 See below.
10 Lib God pp 315-16. Unfortunately much of the effect of this would have been lost as Godric’s English had to be translated into Latin. It was of course not long before this that Eadmer had made such effective use of recorded conversation in his Life of saint Anselm (see Southern, R. W., Saint Anselm and his biographer (Cambridge 1963) pp 333-5Google Scholar).
11 For the reference to his birthplace as Norfolk, see Lib God pp 23-4. The dates can be conjectural only. We know, however, that Godric may well have been in Palestine in May 1102 when ‘a certain Guderic, a pirate from the kingdom of England’ was drawn into the affairs of the newly-founded Christian state of Jerusalem ( Albert of Aix, Historia Hierosolymitana in RHC, Occ 4 (1879) pp 595-6)Google Scholar. Before setting out for Palestine, presumably in 1101 or 1102, he had spent sixteen years in trade (Lib God pp 33-4). Reginald refers to the beinnning of this commercial phase in his life immediately after mentioning his childhood (Lib God pp 24-5), so it probably began when Godric was relatively young, perhaps between the ages of fifteen and twenty. This would place his birth at some point between the years given.
12 Lib God pp 25, 28-30.
13 Lib God pp 31-2.
14 Before the Norman conquest a merchant who went abroad three times in his own ship was entitled to the rank of thegn or nobleman ( Whitelock, D., The Beginnings of English Society (Harmondsworth 1966) pp 86 Google Scholar, 125; Loyn, H. R., Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest (London 1962) pp 91-2Google Scholar). After 1066 the aristocracy of England was Norman and to Godric, and others of Anglo-Saxon stock, its doors were closed.
15 Lib Cod pp 33-65.
16 For his arrival at his future home, see Lib God p 66. Before moving there Godric had spent some time, perhaps several months, in Durham itself. Not long after reaching the city he had attached himself to the church of saint Giles which was not dedicated until June 1112 ( Durham Episcopal Charters 1071-1152, ed Offler, H.S (SS 179 1968) p 64)Google Scholar. Thus it is likely that his life at Finchale began in 1112 or 1113.
17 Vit Cod (ASB May 5) p 78.
18 Ibid and Lib God pp 135-6.
19 He did not live in the monastery, Reginald explains, but he was regarded as one of its monks, wore the habit and had been associated with the community by a decree promulagated in chapter (Lib God pp 325-6). The fact that a decree was necessary suggests that Godric had never made a formal act of profession. His status thus fell short of that of a full monk of the house. This evidence, together with the fact that Reginald defined his position with such care, suggests that his relationship with the house was highly unusual, if not unique.
20 For example Lib God pp 179, 195, 227.
21 Lib God pp 243, 256.
22 One of those who enjoined the task on Reginald was Thomas, prior of Durham from what may have been 1161 or 1162 to 1163. This provides us with a date for Reginald’s first attempts to collect information for his life.
23 He often appears in the miracle stories that date from the time when the hermit wa bed-ridden, before his death in 1170 (for example Lib God pp 288-90, 306-8, 313-15) and we know that one year the whole of Lent was spent with Godric (Lib God p 315)
24 Our knowledge of the library in this period is based on a number of sources, some contemporary and some modern. We have lists of the donations of three individuals: bishop William of Saint Calais (printed in Cat[alogi] Vet[eres Librorum Ecclesiae Cathedrailis Dunehn, ed Raine, J. (SS 7 1838)] pp 117-18Google Scholar; one Robert of Edington (printed in Mynors, [R. A. B.], Durham Cath[edral] Manuscripts [to the end of the Twelfth Century (Oxford 1939)] p 78 Google Scholar; bishop Hugh du Puiset (given in Cat Vet pp 118-19). Even more useful is a twelfth-century list of books found in Durham Dean and Chapter MS B IV 24 fols av, 1r-2v. (It was printed in Cat Vet pp 1-10. A fragment of another library list of the same period, printed by Mynors, Durham Cath Manuscripts pp 10-11, adds little to what the longer catalogue tells us.) These sources can be supplemented by two modern works: the study by Mynors already mentioned and Ker, N. R., Medieval Libraries of Great Britain (2 ed London 1964)Google Scholar. The total of over seven hundred volumes provided by these sources is significantly greater than the 502 mentioned by the twelfth-century catalogue alone. This lends weight to David Knowles’s contention that monastic libraries of this period were larger than surviving catalogues suggest (MO P525).
25 This is suggested by his knowledge of the technical names of ailments (for example Lib Cuth pp 213, 224; Lib God p329), the statements he makes on the strength of medical authority (Lib God pp 451, 453) and the attention paid to clinical detail in many of his accounts of miraculous cures (for example Lib Cuth pp 220-1; Lib God pp 412, 480).
26 Printed, of course, in Sym[eonis] Mon[achi] Op[era Omnia], ed Arnold, [T.] [(RS75 2 vols 1882-5)] 1 pp 3–135 Google Scholar.
27 The standard work on Maurice is Powicke, F. M., ‘Maurice of Rievaulx’, EHR 36 (1921) pp 17–29 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
28 Laurence’s historical work, the Dialogues, together with parts of a second composition of his, were printed in Dialogi Laurentii Dunelmensis Monachi, ed Raine, J. (SS 70 1878)Google Scholar.
29 In addition to his life of Godric, Geoffrey almost certainly wrote the life of saint Bartholomew of Farne which is printed in Sym Mon Op, ed Arnold, 1 pp 295–325 Google Scholar.
30 He composed a Vita Sancii Oswaldi (given in Sym Mon Op ed Arnold, 1 pp 326-85Google Scholar) in addition to the works on Godric and Cuthbert. The Sermo de vita et miraculis sánete Ebbe virginis found in Oxford Bodleian MS Fairfax 6 fok 164v-173v is also associated with him though in its present form it is not the immediate product of his pen.
31 Lib God p 21.
32 Lib God pp 41-2. The work dated from the Carolingian period.
33 Lib God pp 59-60.
34 Lib God pp 109, 357, 356. The editor of the life suggested that the volume referred to was a missal as it contained an illumination of the crucifixion, complete with figures of the Virgin and saint John (Lib God p 109 n 2).
35 Lib God pp 200-1. Compare p 99.
36 For example Lib God pp 259, 299-300, 352.
37 For example Lib God pp 186, 214-15, 256.
38 For example Lib God pp 152, 202, 285-6.
39 For example Lib God pp 93-4, 242, 275-6.
40 Lib God pp 51,173.
41 Lib God pp 119-20.
42 Lib God p 205.
43 Lib God pp 313-15.
44 Lib God pp 319-20.
45 We do not know exactly when he was born, but there is evidence to suggest that he was already a monk of Durham towards the end of king Stephen’s reign, possibly by the late 1140S, certainly by the early 1150s. He provides a substantial obituary of prior Roger of Durham, who died in 1149 (Lib God p150), which may indicate that he had known the prior and that his career as monk had begun before that year. More definitely, we catch sight of him at various points between 1150 and 1154. The events described in Lib Cuth pp 65-6 may well have been written down between these years. The anterior date is privided by a mention of the hermit Bartholomew on Farne. Bartholomew first went to Farne in 1150 (Sym Mon Op, ed Arnold 1 introd p xli). There is also a reference to king Stephen’s being on the throne. In addition Reginald witnessed a miracle which occurred in 1152 or 1153 (Lib Cuth p 104). The historical context of the miracle is the vacancy of the see of Durham between the death of bishop William of Sainte Barbe in 1152 and the consecration of Hugh du Puiset in 1153. Finally, Reginald was present at a cure which occurred in 1154 (Lib Cuth pp 198, 201). The cure happened shortly after a visit of archbishop William of York to Durham. The archbishop was entertained by bishop Hugh and the visit can only have taken place in 1154, between Hugh’s return from his consecration in Rome in December 1153 and William’s murder in the middle of the next year. If Reginald had taken his vows not long before the late 1140s or early 1150s and had done this on reaching adolescence, as Lanfranc had recommended in his Monastic Constitutions (ed and trans Knowles, D. (London 1951) p 111 Google Scholar. Compare Knowles, MO p 419), he may have been born in the 1130s.
46 Lib God pp 311-12.
47 Lib God pp 302-4. See Lib Gods p 182 for another example of Reginald disregarding Godric’s words.
48 Lib God pp 202-3, 285-6, 288-90.
49 Lib God pp 202,287.
50 Lib God pp 124, 203-4.
51 Lib God pp 308-9.
52 Lib God pp 38-40.
53 Lib God pp 203-4, 206.
54 Lib God p 180.
55 The hermit could sing quite elaborate melodies (Lib God pp 301, 306) and he is credited with the composition of three ‘hymns’ (the words and music of which can be found in BM MS 5 F VII fol 85).
56 Lib God pp 315-16.
57 Lib God pp 18, 222, 353.
58 Lib God pp 18, 221, 305.
59 Lib God p 294
60 He orders that each should be given a book at the beginning of Lent, but accepts that some may be illiterate (The Rules of Saint Benedict, ed and trans McCann, J. (London 1969) cap 48 p 112 Google Scholar).