Hersendis of Champagne

Hersendis of Champagne (* around 1060 - †  December 1, 1114 ), lat.Hersendis de Campania , fr. also called Hersende de Champagne or Hersende de Montsoreau , was a French high nobility, a follower of the traveling preacher Robert von Arbrissel and, as the prioress of the choir nuns of Fontevraud, co-founder of this abbey. According to recent research, she is also considered a possible mother of Heloisas .

origin

Hersendis von Champagne came from the Champagne house with headquarters in Durtal on the Loir . Her family originally came from an estate near Parcé on the Loir called Campania, hence the name addition Champagne, which should not be confused with the county of the same name .

Hersendis' father was Hubert III. of Champagne (* around 1016), a vassal of the Counts of Anjou . There were family ties to the houses of Montreuil-Bellay , Matheflon and Durtal, all major fiefs of Anjou. There were also family ties to the house of Montmorency near Paris through the great-grandfather Hubert II of Champagne , because he was married to Ermenburg, the daughter of Albert of Montmorency and mistress of Vihiers . Through Hersendis' great-great-grandmother Heloisa, the daughter of Count Odo II of Blois, Troyes and Chartres , there were also family ties to the manors of Le Lude , Broyes, Pluviers , Beaufort and the Count House of Champagne.

Hersendis' mother was Agnes von Matheflon, from a manor house on the high bank of the Loir, a few kilometers north of Angers. Her maternal great-grandfather was Hugo von Clervaux (aristocratic residence in southern Anjou, today Scorbé-Clairvaux ), who had excelled in the battles against the Bretons several times and was therefore also known as "Mange Bretons" (German: "Bretonenfresser"). This grand vassal had numerous possessions. He was among other things. “Oppidanus” of the fortress town of Saumur . His son Theobald von Jarzé came into the possession of the border fortress Champtoceaux on the Loire , through him later the relationship to the house of Petit-Montrevault arose . Through the grandmother Hersendis von Vendôme, daughter of Vice Count Hubert I. de Vendôme , there were also close relationships with the Vendômois . Her maternal uncle was Hubert II. De Vendôme , Bishop of Angers between 1010 and 1047, who had the burned down Dom Saint-Maurice in Angers rebuilt from his own resources.

Hersendis came from the lower to middle Angevin nobility and was related to a large number of middle noble families in the region.

Life

Hersendis von Champagne was born in Durtal Castle after 1060 . Her parents died early; presumably she had to look after her brothers, some of whom were younger, after their death. Sometime after 1080 she is said to have been married to a certain Fulko, but the marriage is not guaranteed. Before 1086 she married William of Montsoreau († before 1087), lord of the fortress Montsoreau near Candé on the Loire, just a few kilometers from the future monastery of Fontevraud. Wilhelm von Montsoreau also belonged to the Angevin nobility. From his first marriage he had a son named Walter von Montsoreau , who was not far from his stepmother Hersendis in terms of age and was demonstrably on good terms with her.

From her marriage to Wilhelm, Hersendis gave birth to a son named Stephan (around 1086–1130), who was first canon at the Church of Saint-Martin in Candes and later was honored as archdeacon of Saint-Martin in Tours and envoy to the Holy See.

After the death of her husband, Hersendis of Champagne decided not to remarry and instead joined the itinerant preacher Robert von Arbrissel as a conversant after 1096 , after he had founded the monastery of La Roë in the woods of Craon. So she left her life as a noblewoman and her two sons to join the ascetic community of Robert von Arbrissel, which was dedicated to the apostolic vita and which, like so-called “Pauperes Christi” (German: “the poor of Christ”) through the forests north of the Loire grazed. A short time later, Petronilla von Chemillé , a broad relative of Hersendis and later first abbess of Fontevraud, also joined the movement of Robert von Arbrissel as a conversant. However, Hersendis rose to be Roberts' first important confidante. He later called it “bona coadjutrix mea” (German: “my good aid”).

Hersendis remained loyal to the ascetic movement of Robert von Arbrissel, which in the meantime had grown to a large number of followers (exact numbers cannot be given) and which had caused offense to church orthodoxy because of the unregulated way of life, and established permanent convents with him, around 1100, in Fontevraud. Hersendis became the first prioress of the nuns and monks of Fontevraud. After years of building Fontevraud, Hersendis of Champagne died too early, probably around 1112, and was buried in Fontevraud. Robert von Arbissel followed her to the grave on February 23, 1116; both are buried in the choir of the monastery church.

Lifetime achievement

For the movement of Robert von Arbrissel, Hersendis of Champagne took care of the Fontevraud estate, which was owned by the aftervasals of her stepson Walter von Montsoreau. It was a clever decision, because Fontevraud was right on the intersection of three independent political zones, the Anjou , the Touraine and the Poitou . Under canon law, the area was subject to the Archdiocese of Poitiers , but it was furthest away from the center. This reduced any political and episcopal influences on the young convent to the minimum possible. Likewise, the terrain in a shallow valley basin, at the confluence of several streams, was ideally suited for the planned large-scale convention, and due to its geographical location it perfectly fulfilled the requirements for the later prosperity of the order, because it was close enough to the life and economic artery of the Loire located, yet so remote that it met the requirements of monastic seclusion.

Choir of the Hersendis of Champagne

The successful start of the monastery was based on the donations of numerous nobles from northern and southern Anjou, who, according to an analysis of the associated documents, almost exclusively belonged to the physical or by marriage relatives of the Hersendis of Champagne; above all Hersendis' stepson Walter von Montsoreau.

According to the Vita Roberts von Arbrissel, from the hand of the abbot Balderich von Bourgueil , it was not Robert himself but Hersendis of Champagne who was the driving force behind the construction of the new monastery church of Fontevraud. Construction on the spacious abbey church began around 1104, and Hersende hired the builders and craftsmen for the entire, multi-segmented building complex that offered space for more than 500 inmates. The harmony of the church is one of the masterpieces of Angevin church art.

As the leader of the nuns and monks, Hersendis did not retire to the cloister , but organized the instruction of the conversers and nuns, which is why she was also called "magistra" (German: "teacher, master"). She went on numerous trips and, as the documents show, she proved to be a skilful negotiator who was anxious to find a balance and obtained significant donations for the convent.

The fact that Hersendis of Champagne later fell into oblivion despite these achievements can be blamed on the 17th century hagiograph , who unsuccessfully carried out the canonization of Roberts of Arbrissel on behalf of Abbess Jeanne de Bourbon and pushed the decisive role of the Hersendis into the background. Her significant role in Fontevraud's early days, especially in view of the numerous donations that were made to the young monastery thanks to her, as well as the construction of the new church, are confirmed by two contemporary documents:

"Domina hersendis ecclesiae Fontis Ebraldis fundatrix - Mistress Hersendis, the founder of the Church of Fontevraud" (deed of gift from Rainald von Salamanche)

"Orate pro piissimo patre nostro Roberto et pro Hersende karissima matre nostra - Pray for our most pious father Robert and our most dear mother Hersendis." (Title 131 of the Totenrotel in honor of Abbot Vitalis von Savigny , from the year 1122).

effect

The aftermath of Roberts and Hersendis' life's work was significant. Although the order soon followed the path of most charismatic monasteries founded in the High Middle Ages and developed into a classic, high-aristocratic order, its significant size of approx. 80 convents spread across France is a sign of the great obesity and importance of the Fontevraud came to. Until its dissolution during the French Revolution, the Fontevristian Order was the largest female order in France.

The mother of Heloisas

Recent research has provided ample evidence that Hersendis of Champagne was the mother of the famous Heloisa , the lover and wife of Petrus Abelardus . Heloisa would have been born around the crusade year 1095, when Hersendis left her seat in Montsoreau and joined the movement of the "Pauperes Christi" of Robert von Arbrissel in the woods of Craon, and then as an oblate in the crown domain , in the nunnery of Sainte- Marie of Argenteuil near Paris.

In detail, the following analogies and similarities were demonstrably found for Hersendis von Champagne and Héloïse's mother:

• Both died on December 1st.
• Both had a brother named Hubert.
• Both came from the wealthy nobility of France.
• Both were related to the house of Montmorency near Paris.
• The name Héloïse, which was extremely rare until the 12th century, can be identified as a possible lead name in both families.
• Both assumed dates of birth and death are identical.
• Both convents were in a community of prayer despite the great distance.
• After marriage, both pursued monastic careers.
• Both founded convents under male leaders from Brittany .
• The assumed family connection explains numerous details from the lives of Abelardus and Héloïse, for example Abelardus 'support by the Count's House of Champagne, the connections between the Hersendis of Champagne and the Abelardus family, Fulbert's career at the Paris Cathedral, and Abelardus' entry 'for Robert von Arbrissel, the relationship of the Abbot of Cluny , Petrus Venerabilis , to Héloïse.

literature

• J.-M. Bienvenu (Ed.): Grand Cartulaire de Fontevraud . Volumes 1 and 2. Société des Antiquaires de l'Ouest, Poitiers, 2000.
• Balderich von Bourgueil : Vita B. Roberto de Arbrissello . In: Patrologia Latina 162 : 1043A-1058A.
• KA Christianson: Female Leadership and Male Submission: The Order of Fontevraud in Twelfth-Century France, PhD dissertation, University of Iowa, 2009.
• J. Dalarun: L'impossible sainté. La vie retrouvée de Robert d'Arbrissel (1045-1116), fondateur de Fontevraud, Paris, 1985.
• J. Dalarun et al .: Les deux vies de Robert d'Arbrissel, Fondateur de Fontevraud, Turnhout 2006.
• C. Mews: Negotiating the boundaries of gender in religious life. Robert von Arbrissel and Hersende, Abelard and Heloise . Viator, No. 37, 2006, pp. 113-149.
• A. Müller: "From Charismatic Congregation to Institutional Monasticism. The Case of Fontevraud, The American Benedictine Review (4:64), 2013, pp. 428-444.
• W. Robl: Heloisa's origin. Hersindis mater . Munich, 2001, ISBN 3-7892-8070-4 ( excerpts online )
• W. Robl: Hersindis mater. News on the family history of Heloisa with a look at the family of Peter Abelard . In: Ursula Niggli: Abelard. Work, life, effect . Herder, Freiburg, 2003, ISBN 3-451-28172-4 , pp. 25-90.
• J. von Walter: The first traveling preacher in France. Studies on the history of monasticism, Leipzig 1903–1906.