The ‘Bec Liber Vitae’. Robert of Torigni’s Sources for Writing the History of the Clare Family at Le Bec, c. 1128-54

Abstract

This article investigates the sources of prosopographical information used by Robert of Torigni, a twelfth-century Benedictine monk and historian at the Norman abbey of Le Bec (1128-54) and later abbot of Mont-Saint-Michel (1154-86). Robert is known to have composed a large number of detailed genealogical narratives, which he inserted into his redaction of William of Jumieges’ Gesta Normannorum ducum, as well as into his continuation of Sigebert of Gembloux’s ‘World History’, known as the Chronica. Much work has been done in an attempt to verify (or contest) the accuracy of Robert’s genealogies, but little investigation has been undertaken of the possible templates used for their compilation. This article will redress this imbalance in two steps. First, it will offer a detailed analysis of Le Bec’s twelfth-century library, discussing both extant and lost material and comparing Le Bec to other contemporary Norman and Anglo-Norman monasteries (particularly Durham), in order to theorise as to the types of so...