Klöster im Hochmittelalter

The Mind as Cell and the Body as Cloister | 115
abbot, but as a religious virtuoso. Entering the monastery had been a transitional
act intended to facilitate pursuit of his spiritual goals in a state of detachment from
worldly concerns; at the same time, the incremental growth of his virtuosity bore
in itself the responsibility to transcend the monastery as a secluded environment,
and carry out a mission of converting both his own subjects (turning them into
ideal, ascetic monks) and the world at large. ³⁶ Resisting his authority, and denying
his behavior as an example of virtuous piety, was to reject the salvatory virtues he
was himself embodying through his conduct. ³⁷ According to Hugh, Richard was
“of pious expression, venerable in his way of walking, severe against miscreants,
tender to those of good will […] extremely fervent in the observance of
the Rule, extremely prudent in the correction of vices, extremely competent
in chastity, and absolutely perfect in demonstrating good works.” ³⁸
Importantly, Richard’s own observance of these virtues was grounded not in his
formal vows as monk or obedience to an ecclesiastical superior, but in his desire to
emulate Christ. ³⁹ Thus he dissolved the traditional boundaries between secular clerical
and monastic contexts, demanding from the religious leadership a degree of detachment
that made the institutional context in which they carried out their mission
irrelevant. As such, he embodied the closing gap between conceptions of monastic
asceticism and those regarding clerical behavior, presaging the discussion over the
purity of the priesthood that would erupt in the mid-eleventh century. ⁴⁰ No longer
was it truly important whether one was a clerical leader or an abbot: what mattered
was one’s mission in life, which was to convert oneself by converting others.
36 I refer to Anne Wagner, De l’humilité de l’abbé Richard, in: Autour de la congégation de Saint-Vanne et
de Saint-Hydulphe, l’idée de réforme religieuse en Lorraine (Journées d’études meusiennes (2–3 octobre
2004; Verdun, Saint-Mihiel)), ed. Noëlle Cazin/Philippe Azin, Bar-le-Duc 2006, pp. 11–14.
37 Hugh writes how, shortly after his election, Richard and Frederic travelled to Emperor Henry’s curia;
once there, Frederic was given a suitable place of honor at the emperor’s side; to everyone’s surprise, he
abandoned his place in favor of Richard; Hugh of Flavigny, Chronicon (note 9 above), p. 372.
38 Hugh of Flavigny, Chronicon (note 9 above), p. 376: erat […] pius in vultu, reverendus in cessu, severus
contra reprobos, dulcis erga benivolos, forma honestus, actione compositus, praeferens semper honestum
utili, qui nullo terrore, nulla adulatione a vero flecteretur, in observatione regulae ferventissimus, in
corrigendis viciis prudentissimus, in castitate cluentissimus, in exibitione bonorum operum perfectissimus.
39 See Wagner, De l’humilité (note 36 above), pp. 11–14.
40 For a discussion of this debate, see Rachel Fulton, From Judgment to Passion. Devotion to Christ and
the Virgin Mary, 800 –1200, New York 2002, p. 106 onwards.