The Monks of Saint-Thierry in a Property Dispute with the Archbishop of Reims

Abstract

On the wave of religious enthusiasm and monastic reform under Cluny’s influence, monasteries focused their particular attention on the memory of the institution. Collective memory recorded and structured interactions of the brethren with the society, preserving the names of benefactors, patrons, and other emblematic figures. It helped communities shape their identities, demarcating their monastic networks and protecting and reclaiming their property from any exterior intervention or usurpation. This article considers three documents that have almost entirely escaped scholarly attention. This small dossier is a significant of example of how the brethren of Saint-Thierry in Reims disputed their property rights to the small demesne of Villers-Franqueux against powerful, local noblement and the Archbishops of Reims in the third quarter of the 11th century. Engaged in this property dispute, the community deployed different legal measures and appealed to exterior royal authority. The monks did not hesitate to forge the material and mention an influential person of the moment, Queen Anna, who ruled as regent around that time, in order to solidify their position. This manifold and detailed ‘protective narrative’ constructed by the monks of Saint-Thierry was also supplemented by hagiographical texts intended to provide the community’s claims to Villers-Franqueux with a sacred, transcendent legitimacy, which had to present the deeds of the monastery’s adversaries as not only illegal but also as going against God’s will. All of this, as the subsequent history of Saint-Thierry suggests, allowed the community to overcome in the struggle and retain Villers-Franqueux, which became one of the core elements of its demesne.