Death As A Symbolic Arena: Abbatial Leadership, Episcopal Authority, and the “Ostentatious Death” of Richard of Saint-Vanne (d. 1046)

Abstract

This article reconsiders the evidence relating to the “ostentatious death” of Richard of Saint-Vanne (d. 1046), to support two arguments relating to the centrality of abbatial leadership in the ideology of the monastic reformers of the early eleventh century: first, that rituals and other forms of symbolic behavior associated with the passing of reformist abbots deserve analysis as a repertoire of acts and statements which derived their multiple meanings from the institutional and ideological contexts in which they were applied; and second, that Richard himself, his followers, and the bishop of Verdun turned Richard’s passing into a symbolic arena for the enactment of competing visions on abbatial leadership, monastic autonomy, and episcopal authority.