Réflexions autour de l’application de la réforme pontificale en France : le cas du Val de Loire

Abstract

By comparison with the Gregorian model, which sees the reform of the church being promoted by the papacy with the support of the monasteries, the Loire valley presents an original scenario in the eleventh century. For if the crisis of the church was real there, the first attempt at reform in both the temporal, liturgical, intellectual and monastic spheres was conducted under the tutelage of the prince and the bishop. It is, therefore, necessary to distinguish the ways in which Gregorian reformers interpreted the evils of their time from that which derived from the limitations and dysfunctions inherent in the post-Carolingian ecclesiastical system. Relying on the prestige of St Peter and responding to specific local appeals, the papacy was drawn into continuing with earlier princely initiatives, which in terms of reformation had often been too ad hoc in character. Proceeding pragmatically, it succeeded in tapping into the energies of regional milieux — the cathedrals in particular —, attracting the loyalty of the episcopate, and creating a certain immediacy in the bond with local churches. It did this while accepting the distinctions (spiritual, temporal, sacramental) neccessary for compromises with secular powers — and therefore for the triumph of reformist ideas during the 1100s.