Council of Sens

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The so-called Council of Sens was convened on the octave day of Pentecost 1141, on May 25th, by Archbishop Heinrich the Boar of Sens, to condemn the doctrines and books of Peter Abelard, which were suspected of heresy , at the instigation of Bernhard of Clairvaux .

prehistory

The function of the Council of Sens must be seen entirely within the framework of the ecclesiastical disciplinary proceedings, which Bernhard von Clairvaux had already initiated against Peter Abelard with an Admonitio fraternalis and continued with the Denuntiatio evangelica and which should now end with the excommunication of the theologian.

  • Before Easter 1140: Wilhelm von Saint-Thierry opens the church disciplinary proceedings against Peter Abelard with a first indictment .
  • Early summer 1140: Bernhard von Clairvaux drafts the extensive letter tract 190 SBO against Peter Abelard. It is an indictment against 19 theses of Peter Abelard, which are regarded as heretical.
  • Summer to autumn 1140: First reminder talks Bernhard von Clairvaux with Peter Abelard - z. T. in private, z. Sometimes among witnesses - run in a friendly tone, but are largely inconclusive as a result (Part 1 of the educational breeding process: Admonitio fraternalis ).
  • Summer to autumn 1140: Abbot Thomas von Morigny compiles the Capitula Haeresum XIV against Peter Abelard in Saint-Martin-des-Champs near Paris after previous contact with Bernhard von Clairvaux .
  • Late 1140 to early 1141: Abelard makes minor corrections to his Theologia Scholarium and creates a defense against the accusations of Bernhard of Clairvaux, the Apologia contra Bernardum .
  • Late 1140 to early 1141: Arnold von Brescia moves to France and seeks connection with Peter Abelard.
  • Late 1140 to early 1141: Bernhard preaches publicly in Paris against Peter Abelard and his teaching and does not spare himself with personal malice. (Part 2 of the educational breeding process : Denuntiatio evengelica ).
  • January to April 1141: Peter Abelard urges Archbishop Heinrich von Sens to arrange a public disputation between him and Bernhard von Clairvaux before the Metropolitan Court in Sens.
  • Spring 1141: Petrus Venerabilis sends two letters to a Magister Peter (presumably Peter Abelard) at a certain time apart , urging him to renounce the secular scientific business and come to Cluny.
  • April to May 1141: Bernhard writes to some members of the Curia and to the bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Reims. He asks you for support in the pending proceedings against Peter Abelard in Sens.
  • April to May 1141: Peter Abelard sends a letter to his followers in Paris with the urgent request that they appear in large numbers in Sens for the upcoming disputation with Bernhard von Clairvaux.

Present

Actual council body

Representatives of the clergy

  • Bernhard von Clairvaux , Abbot of Clairvaux
  • Peter Abelard , Abbot of Saint-Gildas-en-Rhuys, Magister in Paris
  • Nicholas of Montiéramey, Chaplain Hattos of Troyes, church diplomat
  • Gilbert de la Porrée , formerly Head of the Chartes Cathedral Chancellery, Masters degree in Paris
  • Numerous the abbots of the ecclesiastical provinces of Reims and Sens (with Paris)
  • Numerous the heads of the cathedral schools, masters, canons
  • Berengar of Poitiers , Abelard's companion

Not clearly attested, probably present:

Not attested for certain, probably absent:

It lacks:

  • Bishop Fromond of Nevers
  • Bishop Stephan of Paris

Worldly personalities

course

The council began on the eve of the octave day of Pentecost, ie on Saturday, May 24th 1141, with an evening mass in the cathedral and ended on the afternoon of the following Sunday, May 25th 1141.

public events

  • Vespers the evening before, preacher: Bernhard, Abbot of Clairvaux
  • Pontifical Mass on Octave Sunday in the still unfinished Cathedral of Sens, with exposure of the holy relics

Non-public meetings

The aim of the non-public part of the council, in addition to the Abelard case, is to discuss urgent political problems. The Council of Sens marks the absolute end point of the good political weather in France, the serious rift between papacy and kingship cannot be stopped in this memorable year 1141. The secular and spiritual leaders of the Francia meet for the last time to seek consensus. In detail, it concerns the following topics:

  • The social unrest in several cities of Francia, which has already led to the formation of so-called free municipalities, directed against the magistrate and high clergy, with the aim of defining a uniform citizen status.
  • The planning of King Louis VII's trip to Aquitaine and the organization of the participation of the Crown Episcopate.
  • Multilateral negotiations between the King, the Count of Champagne, the French church leadership and Bernhard von Clairvaux on important issues and conflicts. Probably the conclusion of a contract regarding the Bénissons-Dieu abbey , which was founded in 1138 by Bernhard von Clairvaux as a southern bulwark against rival Lyon under Archbishop Peter and which the king now places under his protection. Count Theobald of Champagne rejects the position of a troop contingent for the upcoming Aquitanienfeldzug and thus denied his sovereign the oath of allegiance , which a short time later leads to rupture and war with the king. Negotiation of the episcopal see of Poitiers and Bourges, in which the king has a say.

In view of these grave problems, the decisions on some questions within the church, e.g. B. the recognition of the Eleutherius miracle in Tournai , should have turned out to be a minor matter, and the question arises to what extent the matter of Abelard was the decisive reason for this council.

The trial of Peter Abelard

  • May 24, 1141 (Vespers): During the solemn evening service to open the octave day of Pentecost, Bernhard von Clairvaux asks the people of Sens to pray for Peter Abelard during a sermon. At the subsequent banquet, Bernhard von Clairvaux has the incriminated doctrines of Peter Abelard read out and already condemned as heretical by the bishops.
  • May 25, 1141 (day of the octave of Pentecost): After the pontifical office with exposure of the relics, the Abelard case is discussed in a public meeting. The theologian and Abelard supporter Gilbert de la Porrée is present. When Abelard realizes that his theses had been condemned as heretical by the bishops of the ecclesiastical provinces of Reims, Sens and Paris who were present the night before, at the instigation of Bernhard of Clairvaux, he declined the jurisdiction of the assembly. He neither revokes his theses nor insists on the promised disputation, but instead appeals to the Holy See and leaves the assembly. After his departure, Abelard's teaching was condemned by the council: fourteen theses and two works by Abelard were condemned as heretical works. The demand for a publication ban and condemnation of his writings is raised. Curia member Hyazinth Bobo presumably also attends this meeting as an observer of the curia, as does Nicholas of Montiéramey.

consequences

  • May 25 to May 31, 1141: Bernhard von Clairvaux and the bishops of the ecclesiastical provinces of Reims and Sens report to the Holy See in separate letters on the events of the Council from Sens. Bernhard and his secretaries are simultaneously writing a dossier of letters to individual members of the Curia in Rome, in the matter of Peter Abelard. Bernhard is not afraid to paint Abelard in the blackest colors and accuse him of any kind of heresy - the Arian, Nestorian and Pelagian.
  • End of May 1141: Nikolaus von Montiéramey, church diplomat and later Bernhard's secretary, leaves Sens as a courier with the letters and travels to the Holy See for the second time this year.
  • End of June 1141: Nicholas of Montiéramey arrives in Rome (with Philip of Lüttich as a companion?). Pope and Curia are either in front of Tivoli or in their summer retreats.
  • July 16, 1141: After his return to Rome, Pope Innocent II ratifies three documents at the same time and hands them over to Nicholas of Montiéramey:
  1. The bull of condemnation against Peter Abelard, which brands Peter Abelard's teachings as heretical, imposes eternal silence on him and threatens his supporters and defenders with excommunication.
  2. An arrest warrant for Peter Abelard and Arnold von Brescia. The Pope confirms Abelard's imprisonment as punishment; he instructs Bernhard and the bishops of Francia to arrest Peter Abelard and Arnold of Brescia at the appropriate time and to assign them separately to monastic prisons. In addition, the Pope orders the burning of their writings.
  3. A rather secondary document in this context, namely the papal recognition of the treaty between Bishop Hatto of Troyes and Petrus Venerabilis regarding the transfer of some churches to the Order of Cluny.
  • Summer 1141: Peter Abelard awaits the Pope's decision at an unknown location in France. It was probably during this time that he wrote his Confessio fidei Universis .
  • Late August to early September 1141: Nicholas of Montiéramey returns to Troyes. He is eagerly awaited there by Bishop Hatto of Troyes, Bernhard of Clairvaux and Bishop Gottfried of Chartres.
  • Autumn 1141: News of the papal condemnation of Peter Abelard made the rounds in France. In St-Martin-des-Champs near Paris, Thomas von Morigny prepared another pamphlet against Peter Abelard, the Disputatio Catholicorum Patrum , probably on behalf of the bishops of Franzia, intended for publication on the occasion of a planned reading of the papal judgment against Abelard in Paris. The associated synod in Paris does not take place. Meanwhile Abelard tries to find asylum in Saint-Ayoul in Provins , but to no avail . He then joins the Order of Cluny. He wrote the Confessio fidei ad Heloissam .
  • Late autumn 1141: the abbots Petrus Venerabilis of Cluny and Rainald of Cîteaux achieve the formal reconciliation of Peter Abelard and Bernhard of Clairvaux. Then Petrus Venerabilis applies for Abelard to the Holy See for permanent asylum in Cluny (probably under the formal execution of the papal judgment).
  • Autumn-Winter 1141: Arnold von Brescia continues to teach at Abelard's chair at Saint-Hilaire near Paris, but is expelled from there at the instigation of Bernhard von Clairvaux and King Louis VII. Then he goes to the Diocese of Constance.
  • Winter 1141: Peter Abelard's health deteriorates rapidly. Petrus Venerabilis sends the already death-marked philosopher to rest in the Saint-Marcel priory near Chalon-sur-Saône .
  • Spring 1142: Bernhard von Clairvaux addresses the sermon De conversione to the school people of Paris in Paris, without even mentioning Peter Abelard and Arnold von Brescia. He then visited Archdeacon Stephan von Garlande and suffered a mental breakdown in his oratory Saint-Aignan.
  • April 21, 1142: Peter Abelard dies in Saint-Marcel near Chalon-sur-Saône.

swell

  • Bernhard von Clairvaux: The Abelard Files ( online )
  • Abelard's accusers before the Council of Sens ( online )
  • The Bishops of Francia: Against Peter Abelard ( online )
  • Pope Innocent II: The judgments against Peter Abelard ( online )
  • Gottfried von Auxerre: Notes on Peter Abelard ( online )

Secondary literature

  • SM German: The Synod of Sens 1141 and the condemnation of Abelard , Berlin 1880. Also as a contribution in Symbolae Joachimicae: Festschrift des Königlichen Joachimsthalschen Gymnasium, 2 vol., Berlin 1880.
  • E. Vacandard: Chronologie abélardienne: la date du concile de Sens 1140 , in: Revue des questions historiques 50, 1891, pp. 235–245.
  • C. Mews: The council of Sens (1141): Abelard, Bernard, and the Fear of Social Upheaval , in: Speculum 77, 2002, pp. 342-382.
  • W. Robl: The Council of Sens 1141 and its consequences, The heretic trial against Peter Abelard in the mirror of contemporary history , Neustadt / WN, 2003 ( online )
  • W. Robl: Bernhard von Clairvaux ( online )
  • W. Robl: The Abelard Cause ( online )
  • F. Gastaldelli: Studi su San Bernardo e Goffredo di Auxerre , Florence 2001.
  • P. Zerbi: Philosophi e logici, Un ventennio di incontri e scontri: Soissons, Sens, Cluny (1121-1141) , Rome 2002.
  • P. Dinzelbacher : Bernhard von Clairvaux, life and work of the famous Cistercian , Darmstadt 1998.

Remarks

  1. ↑ As recent research confirms, this council did not take place in the year 1140, as has been the case for many years, but in the following year 1141, and thus on May 25th. See: SM Deutsch: The Synod of Sens 1141 and the condemnation of Abelard, Berlin 1880. C. Mews: The council of Sens (1141): Abelard, Bernard, and the Fear of Social Upheaval, in: Speculum 77, 2002, Pp. 342-382. W. Robl: The Council of Sens 1141 and its consequences, The heretic trial against Peter Abelard in the mirror of contemporary history, Neustadt / WN, 2003.
  2. ↑ According to Matthew, chap. 18, 15-17: "If your brother sins, go to him and correct him privately. If he listens to you, you have won your brother back. If he does not listen to you, then take one or two men with you Because every thing has to be decided by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he does not listen to them either, then tell the congregation. But if he does not listen to the congregation either, then he will be like a pagan or a tax collector for you. "
  3. ^ C. Mews: The council of Sens (1141): Abelard, Bernard, and the Fear of Social Upheaval , in: Speculum 77, 2002, pp. 342-382.
  4. ↑ King Ludwig VII decided in the early spring of 1141 to visit the newly acquired Aquitaine, the home of his young wife Eleanor. In addition to personal reasons, political necessities are decisive, namely the calming down of some sources of conflict (e.g. in Toulouse) by military means. Bishop Hatto of Troyes is chosen to accompany the king to the south and to act at the side of the king on the occasion of some ordinations.
  5. ↑ Abbot Grimoard was consecrated in Poitiers without the consent of the royal family. In the same spring, Bernhard von Clairvaux already intervened to resolve the conflict, with the help of Joscelins von Soisson, who is now also present at the council. In Bourges, the day after the Council of Sens with Chancellor Cadurc, the Pope's favorite, but not the King's, was elected, which prompted him to take countermeasures. The subsequent appeal of the elect in Rome leads to the prompt excommunication of the king and an interdict over the entire crown domain, with the consequence of a rift lasting several years.
  6. ↑ Abelard's supporter, Hyazinth Bobo , probably advised the appeal, as he noticed that the decision was questionable. At that time, the appeal to the Holy See had a higher degree of success, as Pope Innocent II had recently enforced the right of appeal against the highest dignitaries in some decisions.