Klöster im Hochmittelalter

116 | Steven Vanderputten
Richard’s Life of Roding
Richard was preoccupied by the need to justify these attitudes, for his understanding
of virtuosity and its inherent obligation to convert the world, by default constituted
a criticism of older visions of priesthood and abbatial office. Valuable information
in this regard can be found in his Vita Rodingi or Life of St Roding, patron saint
of the abbey of Beaulieu, also known as Vaslogium, a minor institution situated in
the Argonnes region. ⁴¹ Besides celebrating the sanctity and achievements of Roding,
the Life encapsulated Richard’s vision of monastic leadership, and in that sense its
significance to our understanding of the man is greater than his better-known Life
of St Vanne, which he wrote in support of the cult of his main institution’s patron. ⁴²
It is also far more layered discursively than the latter narrative, refers to more interesting
textual antecedents, and concerns issues that can be shown to be of immediate
relevance to his conduct as abbot.
To anyone familiar with Richard, his conduct and his career, reading or listening
to the text must have been an eerie experience, for many of its passages echo
the latter’s own leadership of Saint-Vanne. Like Richard’s, Roding’s leadership at
Tholey and, later on, Beaulieu, is geared to creating a suitable environment for
the contemplative existence of his brethren, and entails the construction of new
buildings for worship (something Richard had actually done at Beaulieu and other
institutions), the acquisition of important privileges and relics, the attraction of
pilgrims and patrons, and the promotion of redemptive donations from the laity.
Roding’s relations with the episcopal leaders of Trier and Verdun are excellent,
and with Bishop Paul he achieves a familiaritas not unlike that which Richard had
with Haimo of Verdun and Gerard of Cambrai. As an individual with exceptional
spiritual and ascetic capabilities, the textual Roding also develops in much the same
way as Richard appears to have done in real life. Like Richard, Roding is educated
for, and initially pursues, a career in the secular clergy. Once professed at Tholey,
he is noted early on for his exceptional qualities and quickly assumes the office of
abbot. In relations with his brethren, he exhorts them through admonitions and
41 Richard of Saint-Vanne, Vita Rodingi, ed. Luc d’Achéry/Jean Mabillon, in: Acta Sanctorum Ordinis
Sancti Benedicti, vol. 4, Paris 1680, cap. 532–538. Regarding the attribution of this text to Richard, see
Wolfgang Haubrichs, Die Tholeyer Abtslisten des Mittelalters. Philologische, onomastische und chronologische
Untersuchungen (Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Saarländische Landesgeschichte
und Volksforschung 15), Saarbrücken 1986, p. 98 onwards, and Guy Philippart/Anne Wagner, Hagiographie
des diocèses de Metz, Toul et Verdun 920 –1130, in: Hagiographies, ed. Guy Philippart, vol. 4,
Turnhout 2006, pp. 698 –700.
42 Richard of Saint-Vanne, Vita Sancti Vitoni Virdunensis/Libellus de miraculis sancti patris nostri Vitoni,
ed. Hubert Dauphin, in: Id., Le Bienheureux Richard, abbé de Saint-Vanne de Verdun † 1046 (Bibliothèque
de la revue d’histoire ecclésiastique 24), Louvain/Paris 1946, pp. 360 –378.