Guibert from Nogent

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Guibert von Nogent (* around 1055, † around 1125) was a Benedictine , historian and theologian as well as the author of autobiographical memoirs. He was born between 1053 and 1065, Edmond-René Labande preferred 1055. His exact place of birth is unknown, but was near Beauvais . Autreville, Agnetz, Bourgin, Catenoy and Clermont-en-Beauvaisis were discussed . He probably died in 1125.

In its time it was almost unknown, was hardly mentioned by its contemporaries, but it has caught the attention of researchers with its detailed descriptions, which allow an insight into life in the Middle Ages .

life and work

Guibert was born to noble parents. According to his statements, the birth almost cost his mother and him their lives. His father was violent, faithless, and dissolute, and died within Guibert's first year of life. His mother was of great beauty and intelligence, dominant and aggressively puritanical. She took control of his upbringing, isolated him from his peers and entrusted him from the age of six to twelve to a - again according to Guibert's memory - to cruelty demanding and at the same time incompetent private teacher. Around the time he was 12, his mother retired to an abbey near Saint-Germer-de-Fly (between Beauvais and Rouen ), where Guibert soon followed her as a Benedictine oblate. In the monastery he initially studied the ancient poets Ovid and Virgil with great zeal , an experience that had a strong influence on his writings, but later switched to theology , influenced by Anselm of Canterbury .

In 1104 he was elected abbot of the small and poor monastery Nogent-sous-Coucy , which had been founded in 1059, and from then on he played a more important role in ecclesiastical affairs, now having contact with bishops and court society. More importantly, he now had the time to devote himself to writing. His first major work from this period is his story of the First Crusade , the Dei gesta per Francos ( God's deeds through the Franks ), which he wrote between 1106 and 1109 and which became known in 1121. The work is largely a frizzy paraphrase of the Gesta Francorum by an unknown Norman author. Because Guibert's writing is so closely based on the Gesta Francorum and his Latin is difficult to read, it has long been considered superfluous. However, today's editors and translators point to his excellent style and the original material used. Others see the style as unhappy ("marred by an affected style and pretentious vocabulary", R. Huygens), R. Levine characterizes his style as acrobatic, intentionally difficult and shandyesk . Most importantly, the Dei Gesta provides invaluable information about the reception of the Crusade idea in France, both in public opinion and in Guibert's private views: he knew some crusaders personally, grew up with them, and, upon their return, wrote about theirs Memories and experiences spoken. In Gulbert's own words, he loves the obscure and despises a raw, unpolished style. "I value things that demand my mind more than those that are too easy to understand and do not memorize a mind that is eager for novelty." (Gesta, Introduction to Book 5)

He takes a decidedly aristocratic and French standpoint in the Gesta, which goes so far that he classifies Bohemond of Taranto , since Norman , as French. Only the Turks can match the French in terms of warlike spirit.

For modern readers, his autobiography De vita sua sive monodiarum suarum libri tres , also called memoirs , written in 1115 , is the most interesting of Guibert's works. Written towards the end of his life in the style of the Confession of Augustine of Hippo , it traces his life from childhood; it contains many pictorial fragments of his time and the customs of his country. The description of the not long existing commune of Laon is a historical document of the first order. It provides valuable information about daily life in the castle and monastery, about modern education methods at the time, and knowledge about some of the important (and less important) personalities of the time. His work is colored by his personal preferences and prejudices, which add to the value of the work as they allow a very private view of the medieval world.

literature

  • Works
    • De virginate opusculum
    • Moralium Geneseos libri decem
    • Tractatos de Incarnatione contra Judaeos
    • Gesta Dei per Franco
    • De vita sua
  • Editions
    • De vita sua
      • Guibert von Nogent: Monodiae - 'individual songs'. Confessions and memoirs of an abbot from northern France (= Fontes Christiani 77/1 and 2). Introduced, translated and edited by Reinhold Kaiser and Anne Liebe. Herder, Freiburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-451-32928-9 and ISBN 978-3-451-32929-6 .
      • Memoirs and [1] from the Internet Medieval Sourcebook
      • Paul J. Archambault (Ed.): A Monk's Confession. The Memoirs of Guibert of Nogent. Translated and with an introduction. Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park PA 1996, ISBN 0-271-01481-4 .
      • John F. Benton (Ed.): Self and Society in Medieval France. The Memoirs of Abbot Guibert of Nogent (1064? - c. 1125) (= Harper Torchbooks. 1471). Edited with an introduction and notes. Harper & Row, New York et al. 1970, (A revised edition of the edition by CC Swinton Bland (1925), with an introduction and current research results. Reprinted edition (= Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching. 15). University of Toronto Press, Toronto et al 1984, ISBN 0-8060-6550-3 ).
      • Guibert de Nogent: Autobiography (= Les Classiques de l'Histoire de France au Moyen Age. 34). Introduction, édition et traduction par Edmond-René Labande. Société d'Édition Les Belles Lettres, Paris 1981, ISBN 2-251-34043-2 .
      • Guibert de Nogent: The Autobiography. Introduced by Walter Berschin . Translated and commented by Elmar Wilhelm. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-7772-1204-3 .
    • Gesta Dei per Franco
    • On the Saints and their Relics from the Internet Medieval Sourcebook
    • The Revolt in Laon from the Internet Medieval Sourcebook.
    • On the First Crusade , including Guibert's version of Pope Urban's crusade sermon and impressions of Peter the Hermit .
  • literature
    • Michael D. Coupe: The personality of Guibert de Nogent reconsidered. In: Journal of Medieval History. Volume 9, No. 4, 1983, 317-329, doi: 10.1016 / 0304-4181 (83) 90011-8 .
    • Chris D. Ferguson: Autobiography as therapy. Guibert de Nogent, Peter Abelard, and the making of medieval autobiography. In: The Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Volume 13, 1983, ISSN  0047-2573 , pp. 187-212.
    • Karin Fuchs: signs and wonders with Guibert de Nogent. Communication, interpretation and functionalization of miracle stories in the 12th century (= Paris historical studies. Volume 84). Oldenbourg, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-486-58292-5 (also: Zurich, University, dissertation, 2003/2004; (online) )
    • Klaus Guth: Guibert von Nogent and the high medieval criticism of the veneration of relics (= studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches. Supplementary volume 21, ISSN  0722-253X ). Commission publisher Winfried-Werk, Ottobeuren et al. 1970, (At the same time: Würzburg, University, dissertation, 1963).
    • Jonathan Kantor: A psycho-historical source. The Memoires of Abbot Guibert of Nogent. In: Journal of Medieval History. Vol. 2, No. 4, 1976, 281-303, doi: 10.1016 / 0304-4181 (76) 90027-0 .
    • Georg Misch : History of the autobiography. Volume 3: The Middle Ages. Part 2: The early Middle Ages. Half 1. Schulte-Bulmke, Frankfurt am Main 1959, pp. 103–162.
    • Jay Rubenstein: Guibert of Nogent. Portrait of a Medieval Mind. Routledge, New York NY et al. 2002, ISBN 0-415-93970-4 .
    • Christian Kiening : Regimen corpusculi, or: The bodies and signs of Guibert de Nogent. In: Jan-Dirk Müller , Horst Wenzel (ed.): Middle Ages. New ways through an old continent. Hirzel, Stuttgart et al. 1999, ISBN 3-7776-0943-9 , pp. 63-80.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Guibert from Nogent
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Benedictine, historian and theologian
DATE OF BIRTH around 1055
DATE OF DEATH around 1125