User:Ifilby/Rodulfus Glaber

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Life[edit]

Rodulfus (also known as Raoul, Rudolphus, or Rudolf) Glaber was born in 985 in Burgundy near Auxerre, Bourgogne, France. From a young age Glaber was known to be quite mischievous and unruly in his youth, something that ultimately led to him being sent to St-Leger de Champeaux at the age of twenty via a recommendation of his uncle to safeguard him from sin and to prevent him from seeking out further trouble. Glaber continued his constant disobeying of authority and started quarrels with his brothers within St-Leger de Champeaux which led to Glaber being expelled from St-Leger de Champeaux by the attending monks. Glaber then entered the monasteries of Notre-Dame du Moutier and St-Benignus at Dijon, there he met Saint William of Volpiano who took a liking to Glaber's literary work and welcomed him to work inside the monastery, Glaber later accompanied Saint William on a journey to Suza Italy in 1028. However, Glaber later ran away and traveled around from monastery to monastery, this was again due to his unruly disposition and his unwillingness to follow authority. . Glaber noted that he had no trouble finding refuge due to his literacy skills and the popularity of his writings. Glaber eventually found refuge inside the monastery of St-Germain d’Auxerre where the monks put him to work on restoring and writing inscriptions on tombs and alters of saints that died in the monastery.

When in Italy with William, Glaber was encouraged to write Historiarum libri quinque ab anno incarnationis DCCCC usque ad annum MXLIV ("History in five books from 900 AD to 1044 AD") which chronicled the cultural, social, and religious attitudes of France and Europe from the years 900-1044 AD. Although Glaber's work is disorganized and often scattered, this has been known to be his greatest work and is still cited as a source of history when analyzing the 10th and 11th centuries and their social, political, and religious climates as reported by scholars. While writing "The Five Books of the Histories" Glaber learned of Saint Williams's death in 1031 and wrote a biography of Saint William, known as Vita Domni Willelmi Abbatis (The life of Saint William) and included it in his work "The Five Books of the Histories". Glaber then traveled to Beza abbey and Cluny abbey run under St. Odilo. Glaber stayed in Cluny until his death around 1050.

Glaber is most notably credited with coining the phrase "white mantle of churches", describing the fascinating architecture of Christian churches after the year 1000. Glaber made a particular observation about William of Volpiano's (the same Saint William as mentioned above) church at Saint-Benigne in Dijon, commenting on the wonder and grandeur of the church.

Works[edit]

Glaber is best known for Historiarum (The Five Books of the Histories), which he is believed to have started writing during his time at the Abbey of Cluny around 1026 or so and completed at the Abbey of Saint-Germain en Auxerre sometime later. Initially intended to be an ecclesiastical history, Glaber's focus is on events in the center of France, but occasionally ranges as far as Scotland and Southern Italy. Glaber wrote about the years around the year 1000 in particular, popularizing the belief of the time that there was to be an "apocalypse" or the second incarnation of Christ after the first millennium. Glaber talks about the multiple heresies that occurred around 900-1000 AD which connected to the book of revelation's prophecies of the apocalypse. When his initial predictions of an apocalypse in a couple of years after 1000 fell through, Glaber redated his predictions and stated that since Europe had revived itself through erecting the "white mantle's" of churches throughout Europe, it had erased itself of the past and the apocalypse had been postponed. Historiarum had a multitude of geographical and chronological errors in its text, Glaber often misspelled or improperly used his Latin making it hard to exactly translate what Glaber was saying and what he meant in his writings.

Glaber's writings often sympathized with proponents of church reform of that age, including Henry II, Henry III , and Robert II of France, while criticizing others like Conrad II, and Pope Benedict IX. As a source of events, the work is of limited value due to its chronological and geographic inadequacy, but it is of significant historical value, as it has helped shape our understanding of the 10th century and the moral and cultural condition of Europe at the end of the so-called "Dark Ages", and the turning of the first millennium. Historiarum included the history of the Capetian Kings and of King Henry III. Glaber Recounted a multitude of events, ranging from battles to daily life to religious activities, often with great detail attached to them. Glaber went into great detail in his recounting of the battle of Ménfő, where Glaber spoke about a supposed sandstorm that led to the annihilation of the Hungarian armies against Henry III. Glaber spoke about monastic life as well, mentioning the labor-intensive nature of Benedictine monks and their attitudes to avoid rest to fend off temptations by the devil, Glaber himself spoke about his own experience with the devil, while avoiding his work and sleeping in he was visited by an evil spirit Glaber wrote about the geography of Europe as well in his histories, mentioning the placement of kingdoms where their names originate from and his own opinions of the people that inhabit them.

Glaber also wrote a hagiography of his friend, Abbot William of Volpiano (Saint William of Volpiano), the Vita Sancti Guillelmi Abbatis Divionensis or Vita Domni Willelmi Abbatis. The hagiography talked about William's birth and his travels. Glaber also mentioned William a multitude of times within Historiarum. In Historiarum Glaber talks about his travels with William and their eventual falling out.

Large extracts from his works are cited and discussed in The Year 1000, by French author Georges Duby. Historiarum was first published in 1596 from a manuscript owned by Pierre Pithou, as part of a collection of eleven medieval chronicles.