Stephan von Garlande

Stephan von Garlande ( French Étienne de Garlande ; * around 1070; † before June 2, 1147 ) was knight and cleric at the same time and in this double role was controversial like no other. In the first half of the 12th century he rose to the highest honors in the Kingdom of France, held many court posts and had a decisive influence on politics in the crown domain.

origin

Stephan comes from the landed gentry of Brie . The genealogy of the Garlande family is controversial, especially its origins are largely in the dark. The father of the politically successful Garlande sons (Étienne, Anseau and Guillaume ), who is sometimes confused with Wilhelm I of Garlande-en-Brie, is mentioned in various publications. T. referred to as Gilbert and Adam pincerna . Neither is certain, but documents from Saint-Martin-des-Champs show a certain Adam as the father and an Alberich as a further ancestor. It seems unusual that two of the Garlande brothers are said to have carried the name Gilbert at the same time. Perhaps the name was confused with the father.

Presumably the ancestral castle of the Garlande politician family is in Livry-en-l'Aunoye, later the Gournay-sur-Marne castle belongs to their fund. The Lord von Garlande and his sons managed to rise to the highest court positions from insignificant beginnings: the father was initially the royal cupbearer , his son Gilbert Paganus advanced to the position of Seneschal of the empire around 1100 under King Philip I. The senior succeeds in establishing his other sons at the court as his successor: After his death in 1101, Anselm follows him into office from 1101 to 1118 - with a short interruption between 1104 and 1107 -, then a second son named Wilhelm , but only for a short time. Brother Gilbert is then under King Ludwig VI. from 1108 to 1127 royal cupbearer.

Lifetime achievement

But all of these careers are far overshadowed by that of Stephans von Garlande. In addition to his secular career at court, he also embarks on a spiritual career, acquiring numerous benefices at various churches in the crown domain, thereby accomplishing the balancing act of being not only a fighting knight, but also a promoter of science and a high-ranking churchman.

In his thirst for power, in his ambivalent position as a cleric and soldier, and in his favor of free teaching, Stephan von Garlande polarized his contemporaries like no other. Sometimes he draws the undisguised hostility of reforming church circles and oppositional aristocratic groups, even the royal house and the Holy See.

Stephan is probably the decisive supporter of the philosopher and theologian Peter Abelard in the first phase of his career. In the last years of his life, however, Stephan seems to have largely turned away from Peter Abelard. Apart from that, one discovers astonishing congruences and parallels to that of Peter Abelard over large sections of Stephen's life. Stephan von Garlande is mentioned in this sense only at one point in Abelard's work, namely in the so-called Historia Calamitatum , namely when he campaigned for Abelard's release from the monastery of Saint-Denis with his abbot Suger and with the king . The references to Abelard are shown in italics and indented in the following list.

Life

Stephan von Garlande was born around 1070 as one of the five sons of Gilbert I von Garlande, who was the king's seneschal from 1099 to 1101.

Nothing is known about his early marriage, Ivo von Chartes later calls Stephan a “publicly convicted adulterer” who was excommunicated because of it.

Rise under King Philip I (1100–1104)

Even before 1100 Stephan canons of Notre Dame de Paris and chaplain King Philip I . Already at this time he made the acquaintance of Canon Fulbert , the uncle of Heloisas . He rivals the canon and teacher Wilhelm von Champeaux for influence at the royal court.

Abelard arrives in Paris and probably soon finds support from Stephen in his dispute with Wilhelm von Champeaux.

In 1101, at the request of the king, Stephan von Garlande was bishop of Beauvais , against the will of the cathedral chapter there, which Galon, the provost of the canons of Saint-Quentin in Beauvais, was favored. After the death of Bishop Wilhelm von Montfort in the Holy Land in 1102, two years of sedis vacancy in Paris followed. When Fulko, the former dean of an interim solution on the episcopal see of Paris, dies after two years in office, the cathedral chapter decides in favor of Galon against Stephen's resistance.

Abelard has to leave Paris, he goes to the royal court in Melun, presumably through the mediation of Stephans von Garlande, who no longer has much influence in Paris.

In 1103, Wulgrin's successor, Wilhelm von Champeaux, friend Ivos of Chartres and later friend of Bernhard von Clairvaux , climbed the archdeaconate of Paris. He becomes Stephen's great rival and adversary.

Descent under King Philip I (1104–1108)

The king changed his policy in 1104 under obvious pressure. Seneschal is now Guido the Red, Herr von Rochefort. Guido causes the king to betroth the heir to the throne Ludwig to his daughter Lucienne, although she is not yet of marriageable age. Stephan von Garlande has to give up the bishopric of Beauvais again because he cannot prevail against Bishop Ivo von Chartres, who represents the reform party of the French episcopate against the king. This defamed Stephan, among other things, in a letter to Pope Paschal II, where he called him “an uneducated person, gambler and womanizer, who was once excommunicated by the Archbishop of Lyon for public adultery ...”. Instead, Stephan becomes archdeacon of Paris, despite the fact that he has suffered a considerable loss of prestige due to the change of office. The third archdeacon in Paris, Rainald, plays no political role.

Without Stephen's support, Abelard can no longer survive in Melun and moves to Corbeil. He claims to want to be closer to Paris, but in reality Paris is closed to him, and Count Odo von Corbeil opposes the overthrow of the Garlande family.

Around 1105 Stephan von Garlande has largely lost his political influence at the court.

Abelard moves to Brittany, for health reasons, as he states, but actually because he would be defenseless to Archdeacon Wilhelm von Champeaux. He stayed away from the king's center of power for three to four years, precisely during the three years of Stephen's powerlessness.

Rise under King Ludwig VI. (1108-1127)

After years of struggle with the French crown, Pope Paschal II traveled to France in 1108 and received the kneeling and homage of the king and the heir to the throne in the Saint-Denis basilica . This surprising alliance between the Pope and the French King has immediate domestic political consequences. The heir to the throne dissolves his engagement to Lucienne von Rochefort, King Philip now again favors Stephan von Garlande: He becomes chancellor in the royal council, his brother Ansel again seneschal. The disempowered House of Rochefort rises against the king, the Garlandes put down the uprising. Abbot Adam of Saint-Denis is charged with his connection with the House of Senlis, William of Champeaux loses the archdeaconate. His successor as archdeacon and head of the dialectic chair is for a short time the previous chancellor of the cathedral chapter, Gilbert. Even under the new King Ludwig VI. Stephan von Garlande initially remains head of the court chancellery.

Abelard returns to Paris, but soon goes to Melun, where the king temporarily resides, and teaches there.

While the king resided in Melun, Count Galeran II of Meulan , already lord of the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève and the port of Grève, took the Seine island from Paris in 1111 . The citizens, however, drive the count away and so free the king from the embarrassing situation of not being able to switch between his residences in Paris and Melun. Galleran II loses his power over Sainte-Geneviève, and Stephan von Garlande receives in addition to his offices the office of dean of the secular canon monastery of Sainte-Geneviève on the left bank of the Seine. In this role he has the task of promoting monastic discipline. On March 12, 1111, Stephan acquired the privilege from the king that the monastery had the chapter of its own monastery as the only place of jurisdiction, presided over by the king or his authorized representative: the king's chancellor, i.e. Stephan, or the seneschal, his brother Ansell , or the cupbearer, whose name was Gilbert von Garlande the following year. Stephan von Garlande is therefore no longer subject to the jurisdiction of the opposing Bishop of Paris.

Abelard then returns from Melun to Paris. Since lectures are not possible at the cathedral school, he begins - presumably with the help of Stephans von Garlandes - again lectures on the Genovevaberg.

In 1113, Stephen was nothing but archdeacon of Notre-Dame and dean of Sainte-Geneviève, and through promotion he also became dean of Sainte-Croix, Saint-Avit, Saint-Samson and Saint-Aignan in Orléans and canon in Étampes . Wilhelm von Champeaux loses his political influence and retires as a regular canon to Saint-Victor , but has influence on the filling of his dialectic chair through his connections to Bishop Galon. The former dean Hugo becomes bishop of Laon, but dies after a short time.

Laon is home to one of the most celebrated theology schools in Europe. Abelard goes there and studies theology for a short time with Anselm, a famous early scholastic student. The death of Bishop Hugo may have thwarted his and Stephen's plan to take over the cathedral school there.

In the following two years, Stephan von Garlande and his clan continued to gain influence.

Abelard now finally deprives Wilhelm von Champeaux of his scientific importance. Wilhelm gives up his teaching post, but climbs a rung in the church career, albeit a long way off: he becomes Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne.

When Bishop Galon died in 1116, the Garlande family expanded their power. Gilbert succeeds Galon, that Gilbert who, as Chancellor of the Chapter, had made Abelard head of the logical studies. Theobald the notary, a close confidante of Stephans von Garlande, becomes archdeacon.

Abelard is at the height of his fame. For two years he was head of the dialectic chair he had long envisaged and also reads theology. He gets to know Heloïsa. The secret relationship follows, the discovery by Fulbert, the flight, the secret marriage and finally the emasculation of Abelard.

In 1118 Ansell of Garlande fell in battle; his brother Wilhelm follows as Seneschal.

After his recovery, Abelard enters Saint-Denis as a monk and is soon teaching again.

In 1120, Stephan von Garlande, previously Chancellor of the royal administration and archdeacon of Paris as well as Dean of Sainte-Geneviève, became Seneschal of France after the death of his brother. He is at the height of his power. The whole of France is governed by his council - “like a housekeeper , so to speak ”, as the annals of Morigny report. A cleric is thus head of the royal army. The Garlande family occupies three of the five most important offices of the kingdom, all judicial functions of the kingdom are in their hands, and no ecclesiastical decision can be made past them in the heart of France.

Abelard flees to Maisoncelles-en-Brie from the stalemates of the monks from Saint-Denis. In 1121 he was convicted at the Council of Soissons , but quickly released from monastic custody. Stephan von Garlande may have stood up for him.

In 1122 Stephan von Garlande negotiated with Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis about Abelard's detachment from Saint-Denis.

The only time Abelard mentions Stephan by name as a supporter. Abelard is released from the monastery association and founds his school at the Paraklet Oratory .

Descent under King Ludwig VI. (1127–1132)

In 1127 the wind turned and there was a break between Seneschal Stephan von Garlande and his highest employer, King Ludwig VI. The simmering conflict came to light as early as the spring of 1127, when Bishop Stephan von Senlis was still in Rome because of the affair with Archdeacon Theobald.

Followers of Stephans von Garlande forcibly seize the property of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés at the gates of Paris and Abbot Gilduin of Saint-Victor, acting on behalf of the Parisian bishop, is now interdicting Dean Stephan von Garlande and the entire Genovefaberg, although Stephan, according to his own statements, offered satisfaction and submitted to the protection of the Holy See by unilateral declaration. This action documents the renewed serious attempt by the episcopate to gain access to the world clergy monastery after decades of calm. It is only possible because Stephan von Garlande has just fallen out of favor with the king.

While the king was at war in Flanders, Stephan tried to marry his niece Agnes to Amalrich III. von Montfort to transform the Seneschallate of France into a kind of hereditary farm. Therefore, in Queen Adelheid of Savoy and the royal cousin Rudolf von Vermandois, a dangerous opposition arises at court. The queen, who as the niece of Pope Callixtus II adheres to the papacy and church reform and has an important say in state affairs, eyed the king's seneschal suspiciously long before. The king, who until then had always trusted Stephen's advice, was now convinced by his wife of his presumptuousness and danger.

Stephan von Garlande and his family are overthrown. Stephan loses the office of chancellor and seneschal, just not the archdeaconate. His brother Gilbert loses the office of cupbearer. Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis is at the height of his power. As in the previous year, Dean Stephan appeals to his cousin, the Metropolitan of Sens, Heinrich the Boar. He quotes the Parisian Bishop Stephan von Senlis on Ascension Day, May 12, 1127, to Provins. But this suspects a plot and refuses to come "into enemy territory". The Garlandes seek the help of the House of Montfort and Count Theobald II of Champagne . The Champagne is covered with war that dragged on over the years 1128 and 1129. In the meantime, the rift also runs right through the ranks of the French bishops: The Archbishop of Tours, Hildebert von Lavardin , takes a public position in favor of Stephen von Garlande.

After a few years of teaching at the Paraklet , Abelard now also feels increasingly insecure in Champagne. He went to the monastery of Saint-Gildas-en-Rhuys in Brittany as abbot , possibly through a final mediation by Stephen von Garlande.

Rise under King Ludwig VI. (1132–1137)

In the middle of the dispute, King Ludwig VI changes. from the year 1130 the fronts. Since France cannot rule permanently against the Garlande and Montfort houses and Stephan von Garlande signals a relenting and renounces the office of Seneschal, the king makes the no longer expected about-face and accepts Stephan again in his grace. Bernhard von Clairvaux and the papal legate, Bishop Gottfried von Chartres, are involved in the successful peace negotiations . Stephan becomes again the king's chancellor in 1132; Simon, Suger's nephew, has to resign from this position. Seneschal becomes Rudolf von Vermandois. Although Stephan von Garlande was able to win back the office of Chancellor, he emerged from the quarrels weakened. Although he remains unaffected in his ecclesiastical offices, he is still archdeacon of Brie (in Paris) and dean of Sainte-Geneviève, but he is no longer able to significantly influence state affairs due to the loss of military dignity.

During this time Abelard gave the Paraklet oratory to Heloisa and her nuns. He is absent from Saint-Gildas more often.

In 1133 Archdeacon Theobald the notary had the prior of Saint-Victor, Thomas, murdered. This takes place on the soil of Stephen von Garlande, not far from his castle Gournay-sur-Marne , and possibly with his approval. Unrest breaks out again. Bernhard von Clairvaux protests violently against Stephan von Garlande in a letter to Suger von Saint-Denis, meanwhile a close advisor to the king: “I ask you who is this monster who seems to be cleric and warrior at the same time and is neither. .. "

Abelard returns to Paris and starts teaching again on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, but this time not under the protection of Stephen von Garlande and not in the monastery itself, where he would have had influence, but at the church of Saint-Hilaire, which became a secular canon monastery Saint-Marcel belongs and may be under the direction of Magister Gilbert de la Porrée, a friend and benefactor of Abelard. Abelard has a tremendous influx of students, but with it he draws the hostility of the conservative theologians again.

In a settlement from 1134, the king corrected the previous, unlawful confiscation and devastation of the Parisian vineyards of Stephen von Garlande. However, these do not fall back on the Garlande family, but on the Cathedral of Paris.

Descent under King Louis VII (1137–1141)

In 1137, Stephen completely lost power when King Ludwig VI died. Shortly after taking office on August 1, 1137, the young Ludwig VII made an astonishingly resolute change of direction for his age. The new political doctrine is believed to have emerged under the influence of his Aquitaine relatives by marriage. By marrying Eleanor of Aquitaine , a woman with political expertise, the French king has considerably expanded his area of ​​legitimation and is now also Duke of Aquitaine . Even if its actual executive radius is considerably smaller, the Anglo-Norman rule, which is preparing to encroach on the Loire counties, has finally created a significant antagonist. To the same extent that Ludwig now supports the Vermandois family, he frees himself from his father's old ties: within a short time he breaks free from the influence of his mother Adelheid, who resignedly withdraws to the monastery she founded on Montmartre .

There is no longer any room at court for the members of the Garlande family either: Stephan von Garlande loses the Chancellery and is thus deprived of all honorary positions at the court. He has now lost all of his brothers. Although he still holds the archdeaconate at Notre-Dame Cathedral and the deaconate of Sainte-Geneviève, he is now in a similarly isolated position as the Bishop of Paris. But Stephan recognized the turnaround in the years before the change of government and is now carefully balancing out with the bishop and Saint-Victor. For example, he agrees to the treaty that integrates the vineyards devastated by the king during the civil war into the Episcopal estate. The book of the dead of Saint-Victor confirms Stephen's explicit recommendation for about the same period to transfer the annual income of the royal abbeys, the so-called Annalia , to the Saint-Victor monastery . In 1135, Stephan explains with an exchange of serfs, called. Serfs agreed between Sainte-Geneviève and the Cathedral of Paris.

Approach to Bernhard von Clairvaux and Church Orthodoxy (1137–1142)

In 1141 Stephan became so powerless in Paris that some bishops of Francia intrigued against him undisturbed with Pope Innocent II , albeit with moderate success: On March 10, 1141, Pope Innocent II issued a bull in the Lateran in which he calls for public censure of Stephen, but advises against confiscating his goods. In fact, this means a pardon.

There are indications that during this time Bernhard von Clairvaux was getting closer to Stephan von Garlande, whom he used to criticize so harshly, because he, too, is now in danger of losing his influence with the King of France. He may stand up for Stephen on the above-mentioned request from the bishops at the Holy See, because the judgment is unexpectedly mild. Before that, around 1137, Bernhard had written a very conciliatory letter to Stephan. He had recently recovered from a serious illness. Assuming that he is now in a mild mood, Bernhard asks Stephan that he should enable a new Cistercian foundation with his own resources. What he offers Stephan in return can be read between the lines: his grace and his future support! Maybe he hopes that Stephan will not use his influence in Sens for Abelard in the trial against Abelard. This would be possible in principle, because Stephan is not only provost of the cathedral in Sens, but also the cousin of the Archbishop of Sens, Heinrichs the Boar.

In fact, at the time when the council met on May 25, 1141, there was no trace of Stephen's influence in favor of Abelard. Bernhard von Clairvaux and the bishops of Franzia as well as other well-known theologians and clerical dignitaries pursue the elimination of Abelard at the council undisturbed: his doctrines and books are condemned as heretical work. Abelard dies the following year, on April 21, 1142 in Saint-Marcel-sur-Saône , a priory of Cluny .

Shortly before Abelard's death, there is evidence of a personal meeting between Bernhard von Clairvaux and Stephan von Garlande. After his famous sermon De conversione to the school people in Paris, Bernhard visits archdeacon Stephan and suffers a mental breakdown in his oratorio Saint-Aignan.

More than two decades earlier, Heloisa and Peter Abelard had married in this chapel, and Stephan von Garlande, who is over 70 years old, has given it to the cathedral.

The fact that Bernhard and Stephan are getting closer after the elimination of Peter Abelard is well explained by the chaotic conditions that now also prevail in the Crown domain due to the war with Champagne, and the need for new coalitions.

Final Years (1142–1147)

The last document in the Cartulaire Générale de Paris , in which Stephan von Garlande appears as dean of Sainte-Geneviève, dates from the year 1140. After that, he no longer seems to have taken decisive action for his pen.

However, his career as archdeacon of Paris can be traced over a much longer period of time: In a charter that was drawn up around 1140 and probably signed by Heloïsa's uncle Fulbert shortly before his death, it is mentioned that archdeacon Stephan made two further donations to Saint-Victor approved. A document dated from 1145 is signed by Stephans in his capacity as archdeacon, a second is likely to have been drawn up around the same time. Two more documents from 1146 are the last documents signed by Stephan. One of them is Stephen's will in favor of the Paris Cathedral. As early as 1108, he gave his house in the Cloître to the Cathedral Chapter and organized his Anniversaries Day. Around 1120 he and Bishop Girbert regulated the further use of his house chapel Saint-Aignan by creating two half-pfunds and bequeathed his house and his vineyards on Genovefaberg and near Ivry to the priests who worked there. As a reward for his course in the last few years, which was intent on compensating, Stephan received the award that his nephew Manasses de Garlande was elected Bishop of Orléans (1146).

One last document mentions Stephan von Garlande in 1147, it proves the reconciliation of the already seriously ill man, who was marked by imminent death -  divino spiritu afflatus  - with the papacy and church orthodoxy . Contrary to expectations, it is not Bishop Theobald of Paris who draws here, but Cardinal Bishop Alberich von Ostia, a former Cluniac who is staying in France as a papal legate. It confirms Stephen's earlier donations under Bishops Stephan and Girbert: houses, vineyards and scrubland. Anyone who wants to enrich themselves from it in the future is threatened by the legate with the papal anathema. Since Cardinal Bishop Alberich von Ostia stayed as a legate in Paris for the first time in April 1145, W. Janssen's deed was changed to the year 1145. It probably arises later, however, because Stephan is already described as fatally ill in the document, on the other hand, he was still active as an archdeacon in 1146 and was therefore obviously healthy. That is why one has to date this “Testament of Stephen” to the year 1147, on the occasion of the Easter Consistory in Paris, when Pope Eugene III. negotiated the heretic trial of Gilbert Porreta with the College of Cardinals in a first hearing and Alberich von Ostia was present.

According to this, Stephan von Garlande died on June 2, 1147 at the latest after a fast-paced life marked by ups and downs. His last resting place is unknown. He was probably buried in the aforementioned Saint-Aignan chapel in the Cloître of Notre-Dame, in the oratory which he once built for his family as a mausoleum.

reminiscence

• The world-famous Notre-Dame Cathedral of Paris, which was built between 1169 and 1300, still bears some components of the previous church of Saint-Etienne from the 6th century on the right side portal of the main facade, the so-called Anne portal. This portal is still connected to the potential donor Stephan von Garlande. It bears the name Le portail d'Etienne de Garlande .
• The Rue Galande in the Quartier de la Sorbonne of the 5th arrondissement in Paris commemorates the place where the walled vineyard of Stephen, the Clos de Garlande , was once located, which was in the city war with the Bishop of Paris and King Louis VI. was destroyed in 1127.

literature

• Robert-Henri Bautier : Paris au temps d'Abélard. In: Jean Jolivet (ed.): Abélard en son temps. Actes du colloque international… 1979. Editions Belles Lettres, Paris 1981, pp. 53-77, ISBN 2-251-34302-4 .
• Abelard: Historia Calamitatum. In: Eric Hicks (ed.): La vie et les epistres Pierres Abaelart et Heloys sa fame. Champion, Paris 1991, ISBN 2-05-101173-7 .
• Werner Robl: The Council of Sens 1141 and its consequences, The heretic trial against Peter Abelard in the mirror of contemporary history. Neustadt 2003, Chapter: Namesakes: Stephan von Garlande and Stephan von Senlis, pp. 71–80, and Chapter: Change of course: The late years of Stephan von Garlande, pp. 96–101. ( online ( memento of September 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive ))
• Éric Bournazel: Le gouvernement capétien au XIIe siècle, 1108-1180. Structures sociales et mutations institutional. PUF, Paris 1975, pp. 35-40.
• Jean Dufour: Garlande. In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Vol. 4, Col. 1118-1119.
• Rolf Große: Saint-Denis between nobility and king. The time before Suger (1053–1122). (Supplement to Francia, 57). Thorbecke, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-7995-7451-4 , p. 168 ( online )

Web links

• La chapelle Saint-Aignan in Paris (French)
• Short biography ( memento from January 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), abaelard.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Éric Bournazel: Le gouvernement capétien au XIIe siècle, 1108-1180. Structures sociales et mutations institutional. PUF, Paris 1975, pp. 35-40.
2. ^ Jean Dufour: Garlande. In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Vol. 4, Col. 1118-1119.
3. ^ Rolf Große: Saint-Denis between nobility and king. The time before Suger (1053–1122). (Supplement to Francia, 57). Thorbecke, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-7995-7451-4 , p. 168 ( online )
4. ^ Robert-Henri Bautier: Paris au temps d'Abélard. In: Jean Jolivet (ed.): Abélard en son temps. Actes du colloque international… 1979. Editions Belles Lettres, Paris 1981, pp. 53-77, ISBN 2-251-34302-4 .
5. ↑ Ivo von Chartres: Letter to Pope Paschal II, in: PL 162, Sp. 167–168, also in: RHF 15, pp. 110–111.
6. ↑ Chronicle of Morigny, ed. L. Mirot, Paris 1912, pp. 34 and 42–43.
7. ^ Chronicle of Morigny, ed. L. Mirot, Paris 1912, p. 43.
8. ^ Letter 512 SBO, ed. J. Leclercq / H. Rochais, Vol. 8, p. 471, also in: Bernhard von Clairvaux: Complete Works, ed. G. Winkler, Vol. 3, Innsbruck 1992, pp. 960-961.
9. ↑ Cf. Herbert von Torres: De miraculis liber secundus, in: P.-F. Chifflet: Sancti Bernardi Clarevallensis abbatis genus illustrious assertum, Dijon 1660, pp. 279-281, here cited from: PL 185, Sp. 1326-1327