La production diplomatique des évêques de Bayeux et de Coutances (XIe-XIIIe siècles)
March 2024
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Chapter
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Écrire à l'ombre des cathédrales. Pratiques de l'écrit en milieu cathédral (espace anglo-normand et France de l'Ouest, XIe-XIIIe siècle)
Les sceaux du chartrier de l'abbaye de Savigny de 1112 à 1300
October 2023
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Chapter
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Apposer sa marque: le sceau et son usage (autour de l'espace anglo-normand)
The Chapel of St Catherine at the Cistercian Abbey of Savigny: 'unearthing' an architectural enigma
April 2023
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Journal article
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The Antiquaries Journal
This paper examines the evidence relating to the twelfth-century chapel of St Catherine at the Norman abbey of Savigny. It brings together the findings of the latest archaeological survey of the monastic precinct, of which only fragments survive, with a comprehensive analysis of all the available references to – and scholarly discussions of – the chapel, which was destroyed in 1705. In doing so, it looks to shed light on an edifice that, although long known to those with an interest in Savigny, head of Normandy’s only native monastic congregation, nevertheless remains something of a mystery, such that its precise location has, to date, been a matter of conjecture. By building on findings revealed by the first ever geophysical surveys of the site in 2016, this article argues that the chapel’s probable position within the claustral complex was almost unique in the Cistercian world, with its closest parallels being found instead in the Cluniac one. These circumstances were born more of accident than design, but they nevertheless presented challenges for Savigny’s medieval community, who had to manage both benefactor burials in the chapel and pilgrim access to it, the consequences of which help shed light on wider issues relating to the use and reuse of Cistercian monastic spaces.
monasteries, FFR, Cistercians, Savigny, medieval architecture, Northern France
Les bibliothèques du Mont Saint-Michel et de Savigny (Manche) et la tradition annalistique normande : une approche comparative
October 2022
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Journal article
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Tabularia : Sources Écrites de la Normandie Médiévale
Si les annales de l’abbaye du Mont Saint-Michel n’ont pas manqué d’attirer l’attention des spécialistes, une étude comparative avec les annales rédigées dans les maisons en dehors du réseau bénédictin reste à faire. Le but de cet article est de combler quelque peu cette lacune en comparant les textes annalistiques montois avec les annales d’une autre grande
maison religieuse du diocèse d’Avranches, l’abbaye cistercienne de Savigny. Ce faisant, on s’interrogera sur la place des annales montoises et savigniennes dans leurs bibliothèques respectives, sur le rayonnement des textes annalistiques et sur la part de l’héritage, de l’influence ou du transfert documentaires. Une approche comparative permettra également de mieux situer les annales dans leur contexte historiographique plus large, et de réfléchir sur le rôle joué dans leur rédaction par les abbés, notamment l’abbé du Mont Robert de Torigni (1154-1186) et l’abbé de Savigny Geoffroy de Bayeux (1122-1138/9).
Church and society
June 2022
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Chapter
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The Cambridge Companion to the Age of William the Conqueror (c.1025–1100)
Écrire l’histoire dans la Normandie cistercienne (XIIe-XIIIe siècle): un premier aperçu
May 2022
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Chapter
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Maîtriser le temps et façonner l’histoire. Les historiens normands au Moyen Âge
Alors que la production textuelle des abbayes cisterciennes normandes n’a pas manqué d’attirer l’attention des spécialistes, une étude approfondie sur l’écrit historique cistercien normand reste à faire. Le but de cette contribution est de combler en partie cette lacune en s’appuyant sur les textes historiographiques de la Normandie cistercienne pour donner un aperçu de l’émergence des historiens dans le milieu cistercien normand, et pour répondre à plusieurs questions sur la production et la transmission de l’écrit historique dans le monde cistercien médiéval plus large. Se pencher sur les textes historiques produits par ou pour les abbayes cisterciennes normandes donne également l’occasion d’approfondir la réflexion sur leurs bibliothèques, dont il ne reste souvent que quelques vestiges, et les inventaires anciens, ainsi que sur les liens entre textes historiques et ceux d’autres genres (notamment diplomatique) dans le milieu cistercien.
SBTMR
History, memory, and community in Cistercian Normandy (12th-13th centuries)
April 2021
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Journal article
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The Downside Review
While the textual production of Normandy’s Cistercian abbeys has not lacked for scholarly attention, a detailed study of Cistercian historical writing in the duchy remains to be written. This article looks in small part to fill this historiographical gap by examining those historical works produced in and copied by the Cistercian abbeys of Normandy between the beginning of the 12th and the end of the 13th centuries. In doing so, it aims to shed new light on the sorts of historical texts copied or written by Normandy’s White Monks. It contextualises these works within the historiographical culture of both the duchy itself and the wider Cistercian world, and shows how the Cistercians of Normandy played a distinctive role in the transmission of key historical texts, among them the universal chronicle of Sigebert of Gembloux (c. 1030–1112) and Einhard’s Vita Karoli Magni.
FFR
Rewriting the Gesta Normannorum ducum in the fifteenth century: Simon de Plumetot’s Brevis cronica compendiosa ducum Normannie
November 2020
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Journal article
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Traditio
This article offers an analysis, edition, and translation of the Brevis cronica compendiosa ducum Normannie, a historiographical account of the dukes of Normandy and their deeds, written at the turn of the fifteenth century by the Norman jurist and man of letters, Simon de Plumetot (1371–1443). Having all but escaped the attention of modern scholars, this study is the first to examine and publish the Brevis cronica. It not only demonstrates that the work is of greater importance than its rather scrappy form might at first suggest, but it also looks to place the text within the broader context of Simon’s literary and bibliophilic practices, and to determine its raison d’être. In doing so, it argues that the Brevis cronica was perhaps created as part of a much larger historiographical project, namely an extended chronicle of Normandy, probably written in the vernacular, the text of which is now lost. By exploring these important issues, the article sheds new light on a wide range of topics, from early humanist book collecting to the writing of history in France in the later Middle Ages.
FFR
Les vacances de sièges épiscopaux en Normandie ducale puis royale (XIe-XIIIe siècles)
December 2019
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Journal article
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Revue Belge de Philologie et de Histoire
À la différence des vacances dans les diocèses anglais, celles qu’ont connues leurs homologues normands pendant le Moyen Âge central n’ont jamais fait l’objet d’une analyse approfondie. Sur la base d’un premier tour d’horizon des sources narratives, canoniques et diplomatiques, cet article vise à combler cette lacune historiographique. Il focalise surtout sur quelques études de cas, surtout la vacance survenue dans le diocèse de Bayeux entre 1163 et 1165, qui a vu l’intervention conjuguée d’acteurs nombreux (papauté, évêques voisins, chapitre), mais il ambitionne aussi de faire avancer la réflexion sur les normes, procédures et personnes impliqués lors d’une vacance épiscopale normande.
Les chartes originales de Savigny des origines jusqu'au XIIIe siècle (1112-1202)
March 2019
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Chapter
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L'abbaye de Savigny (1112-2012). Un chef d'ordre anglo-normand
Cet article se donne pour objet l'examen des chartes originales de l'abbaye de Savigny pour la période allant de sa fondation jusqu'au début du XIIIe siècle. Ces chartes forment une masse documentaire de premier plan pour l'histoire savignienne et représentent également une partie significative du seul fonds monastique médiéval subsistant dans sa forme originale pour les deux anciens diocèses de Coutances et d'Avranches. La première partie de cet article consiste donc à présenter le corpus des chartes originales connues à ce jour pour la période allant jusqu'en 1202 ; la seconde à en examiner les caractères diplomatiques pour donner un aperçu sur l'activité du scriptorium abbatial pendant cette période de formation. L'analyse des chartes de cette période, qu'il s'agisse d'originaux ou de copies, nous permet en outre de connaître les origines géographiques et sociales des moines de Savigny et de faire une reconstruction de la communauté pendant les cent premières années de son existence.
Unknown copies of the lost charters of Le Mont Saint-Michel (11th-13th C.). The Henry Chanteux collection at the Archives Départementales du Calvados
December 2018
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Journal article
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Revue Mabillon
This article examines a previously unknown collection of material compiled in relation to the abbey of Le Mont Saint-Michel by the archivist and historian Henry Chanteux (1904-1995). Conserved today at the Archives départementales du Calvados in Caen, it includes transcripts of almost eighty of the abbey's charters, the uncatalogued and unlisted originals of which were destroyed during the Allied bombing of Normandy on 6 June 1944. The copies collected or made by Chanteux not only preserve for us texts that would otherwise be unknown, but help shed light on a range of wider issues, from the management of the abbey's estates to its efforts to attract pilgrims to its door. The article includes a complete listing of the acts preserved in the Chanteux collection, and an edition of a dossier of ten charters relating to the church of Argouges (Manche), which was a frequent source of dispute between Le Mont and the abbey of Marmoutier.
The abbey of Savigny (Manche) in Britain and Ireland in the 12th century: three overlooked documents
December 2018
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Journal article
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Annales de Normandie
This article examines three little-known documents concerning the Savigniac filiation in Britain and Ireland. Conserved at the British Library and at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, two of these documents relate to the Savigniac houses at Dublin, Buildwas and Basingwerk. Taken together, this article will show how these texts shed light not only on a key episode in the story of Savigny’s interaction with its British houses, but also offer an unparalleled snapshot of life at the abbey of Savigny itself, especially in the period immediately following its merger with Cîteaux in 1147. As for the third document, which is housed today at the London Metropolitan Archives, this was witnessed and sealed by two Cistercian abbots, one of whom was Jocelin, abbot of Savigny (1165–1178). His seal has not been previously noticed by scholars, despite the fact that it is among the earliest (perhaps the earliest) to survive from Cistercian Normandy.
Article
Life and death in a medieval monastery: The case of the Cistercian Abbey of Savigny (1112-c. 1250)
December 2018
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Journal article
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Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies
This article looks to paint a picture of life and death at the reformed Benedictine (later Cistercian) abbey of Savigny, head of Normandy's only native monastic order. Using the abbey's extensive collection of charters, as well as narrative and annalistic texts, it traces in detail the different networks that underpinned recruitment at the abbey, from its abbots to its lay brothers, and attempts to reconstruct the community's lost sepulchral landscape, in particular with regards to the burial of its lay benefactors. As a result, it offers the first such evaluation of a Savigniac community, either in France or the British Isles, providing a case study that should be of interest not just to scholars working on the history of Savigny itself, but also to those looking to understand the various ways in which monastic institutions, both Cistercian and otherwise, helped to shape and influence the wider world in which they operated.
Reform and conquest: the penitential ordinance of John of Ivry, archbishop of Rouen (1067-1079)
September 2018
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Chapter
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Sur les pas de Lanfranc, du Bec à Caen: Recueil d’études en hommage à Véronique Gazeau
The annals and history of the abbots of Savigny: a new edition of the so-called Chronicon Savigniacense
April 2018
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Journal article
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Citeaux: Commentarii Cistercienses
If the annals produced by the Benedictine abbeys of Normandy have long been the subject of scholarly interest, those written at houses associated with the other monastic orders have received considerably less attention. Among the longest and best preserved of these overlooked works is the so-called Chronicon Savigniacense, or the Chronique de Savigny, written at the reformed Benedictine (later Cistercian) abbey of Savigny, which was founded towards the beginning of the 12th century by the hermit St Vitalis in the forested region on the frontier between Normandy, Brittany and Maine. A source of critical importance not only with regards to the history of the abbey, but also that of the local nobility, as well as other ecclesiastics, most notably the bishops of Avranches, the text has been relied upon since the late 17th century, when Dom Claude Auvry, prior of Savigny (1698-1712), used it in part to compile his Histoire de la congrégation de Savigny. But, much like the short history of the abbots of nearby Mont Saint-Michel, recently treated to a critical edition by Thomas Bisson, the 17th-century printing of the text on which Auvry relied, which is still that invariably cited today, proves not only inadequate, but downright artificial, when compared with its apparent source. The same is true for the partial reprinting carried out in the 19th century, which is often said (incorrectly) to be to critical standards. The need of a new edition, therefore, is clear, and it is that which is offered here, with the aim of not only shedding new light on the history of the mother house of Normandy’s only native order, but also on Cistercian historical writing in the region during the central Middle Ages.
Un nouvel acte de Guillaume le Bâtard, duc de Normandie (18 juin 1066)
January 2018
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Journal article
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Bibliotheque de l'Ecole des Chartes
Depuis la parution en 1961 du Recueil des actes des ducs de Normandie de 911 à 1066, c’est un devoir pour les historiens de signaler et de publier tout acte qui a pu échapper aux recherches du savant éditeur, Marie Fauroux. Or, malgré l’ambitieux travail de recensement et d’édition engagé depuis une bonne trentaine d’années autour des actes de la Normandie ducale, seule une poignée de copies ignorées d’actes déjà connus par ailleurs a jusqu’à présent été retrouvée. La découverte récente d’un nouvel acte ducal pour la période jusqu’en 1066 mérite donc une présentation approfondie, d’autant plus qu’il s’agit d’un acte du plus célèbre des ducs normands, donné en faveur de la cathédrale d’Avranches, l’une des institutions ecclésiastiques les plus négligées de l’historiographie normande. Le présent article suivra donc un double objectif : celui de mettre à disposition des chercheurs le texte de ce nouvel acte, le premier à être découvert depuis plus de cinquante ans, et celui d’améliorer notre connaissance de l’activité ducale dans une région dont l’histoire pendant la première moitié du XIe siècle reste encore assez obscure.
The ecclesiastical patrons of Le Bec
October 2017
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Chapter
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A companion to the Abbey of Le Bec in the Central Middle Ages (11th–13th centuries)
SBTMR
À la recherche d'un atelier d'écriture de la Normandie cistercienne: le scriptorium de l'abbaye de Savigny (XIIe-XIIIe siècles)
January 2016
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Chapter
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Les pratiques de l'écrit dans les abbayes cisterciennes (XIIe-milieu du XVIe s.). Produire, échanger, contrôler, conserver
SBTMR
The reform of the chapter of sées (1131) reconsidered: the evidence of the episcopal acta
January 2016
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Journal article
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Journal of Ecclesiastical History
<p style="text-align:justify;"> This paper reexamines the reform of the cathedral chapter of Sées in 1131. It does so by looking primarily, though not exclusively, at the almost 400 acta – that is, the charters and documents –issued by the bishops of the diocese in the period up to 1220. It shows that this underused material has the potential better to contextualise this key event in the ecclesiastical history of medieval France and radically to improve our understanding of its wider effects. It also looks in detail at the careers of the bishops during this period and shows that these prelates, contrary to popular belief, were often supportive not only of the reform established within their cathedral, but also of the wider Augustinian movement. It concludes by briefly considering what the example of Sées can tell us about the regularisation of cathedral chapters in the Middle Ages. </p>
SBTMR
Episcopal acta in Normandy, 911-1204: the charters of the bishops of Avranches, Coutances and Sées
May 2015
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Journal article
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Anglo-Norman Studies XXXVII: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2014
The launch of the British Academy’s English Episcopal Acta (EEA)project in 1973, and the publication of its first volume in 1980, along with the further forty-one that have since come to press, have helped to revolutionize our understanding of the English Church in the High Middle Ages.¹ Whereas previous generations of scholars interested in such documents had been forced to rely upon scattered, outdated and very often difficult-to-access published and unpublished material, those working today can depend upon a body of meticulously edited texts collected together in a single series that, upon its completion, will answer the call famously...
SBTMR
Mémoire et diplomatique: l'édition des actes des évêques de Sées (911-1220)
January 2015
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Journal article
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Bulletin de la Société historique et archéologique de l'Orne
SBTMR
Avant Lanfranc. Un réexamen de la carrière de Mauger, archevêque de Rouen (1037-1054/55)
January 2015
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Chapter
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Autour de Lanfranc (1010-2010). Réforme et réformateurs dans l'Europe du Nord-Ouest (XIe-XIIe siècles)
SBTMR
The earliest known list of excommunicates from ducal Normandy
August 2013
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Journal article
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Journal of Medieval History
Of the many additions made by the canons of Rouen cathedral to the Anglo-Saxon manuscript known today as the Benedictional of Archbishop Robert, the shortest is a list of 17 persons who are recorded as having been either ‘summoned’ (vocandi) or ‘excommunicated’ (excommunicandi). Although known to scholars for almost two centuries, the list has never been analysed to any great extent, despite the fact that it not only contains the earliest Norman register of excommunicates in existence, but is also apparently unique within the history of the Anglo-Norman realm. This article examines the list in detail for the first time, and addresses some of the most fundamental questions concerning the rationale behind its creation, its place within the history of excommunication in ducal Normandy, and the identity of the people it names. It will also be argued that the first (and largest) part of the list, the entirety of which is traditionally dated to the reign of Robert Curthose (1087–1106), was most likely compiled during the reign of his father, William the Conqueror (1035–87).
Benedictional, Robert Curthose, William the Conqueror, SBTMR, excommunication, rebellion, Normandy, Archbishop Robert of Rouen
'Praesul praecipue, atque venerande': the career of Robert, archbishop of Rouen, 989-1037
January 2013
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Chapter
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Society and culture in medieval Rouen, 911-1300
Rouen, one of the leading cities of medieval Western Europe, has long awaited detailed consideration in English by modern scholars. This book presents exciting new research on the society and culture of medieval Rouen by British and Continental historians. Divided into three sections, addressing space and representation, religious culture, and social networks, the volume is both wide-ranging and tightly focused. The key themes include Rouen’s relationship with its environs, image and identity, social and political relationships, and Rouen’s status as the ‘capital’ of Normandy. The essays discuss topics ranging from urban development and charity, the city’s aristocratic and ecclesiastical elites, the Jewish community, and the relationship of the Angevin kings with Rouen. Comparisons and contextualization, as well as detailed maps, make the book valuable not only to readers interested in Rouen and Normandy, but also to those who wish to learn more about medieval cities, culture, and society.
SBTMR
À propos du décès de Guillaume Ier Burel, évêque d'Avranches : 1194 ou 1196 ?
December 2012
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Journal article
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Revue de la Manche
Les actes des évêques d'Avranches, ca. 990-1253: esquisse d'un premier bilan
December 2012
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Journal article
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Tabularia
Robert Cénalis et l'histoire épiscopale d'Avranches de 1100 à 1253
December 2011
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Journal article
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Annales de Normandie
Robert Cénalis et l’histoire épiscopale d’Avranches de 1100 à 1253. – En raison de l’effondrement de la cathédrale d’Avranches au crépuscule de l’Ancien Régime et de la destruction des Archives départementales de la Manche en 1944, l’histoire du diocèse d’Avranches est très mal servie par la documentation médiévale. Il nous reste cependant quelques collections d’érudits contenant des copies de documents avranchais dont l’une des plus importantes fut compilée par Robert Cénalis, évêque d’Avranches (1532-1560). Conservé actuellement à la Bibliothèque nationale de France, ce manuscrit méconnu, dont le contenu est souvent tiré de documents perdus depuis longtemps, nous offre un aperçu important sur l’histoire du diocèse à partir du début du XIIe siècle jusqu’au milieu du XIIIe , ainsi que la possibilité de mieux nous renseigner sur plusieurs faits diplomatiques, archéologiques, prosopographiques et topographiques.
The Acta archiepiscoporum Rotomagensium and urban ecclesiastical rivalry in eleventh-century Rouen
May 2011
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Chapter
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Cathedrals, Communities and Conflict in the Anglo-Norman World
As one of the few surviving texts to have been produced by a Norman cathedral chapter during the eleventh century, the Acta archiepiscoporum Rotomagensium has long held the attention of scholars. Classified as a gesta episcoporum, the text was first edited towards the end of the seventeenth century, though was only studied for the first time in any real detail towards the end of the nineteenth. In recent years it has become one of the key focal points for scholars studying the rivalry that is believed to have existed between the cathedral of Rouen and its neighbouring abbey of St-Ouen de Rouen, which erupted most noticeably in the city during the last quarter of the eleventh century. This rivalry was played out on many levels, and the two institutions competed with each other for the restitution of land and other benefices from the duke and his leading magnates, as well as for the acquisition of relics and the subsequent attraction of pilgrims. Their rivalry also included the production of literary works, especially hagiographical texts. The abbey and cathedral are also believed to have competed with each other architecturally. Evidence for this is severely lacking, however, since little remains of the Romanesque structure at either site. Fortunately, detailed excavations have been carried out at the cathedral, which have revealed its eleventh century form, but the abbey has never been the subject of a survey in the modern era.
Les reliques de la cathedrale d'Avranches
December 2010
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Journal article
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Revue de l'Avranchin et du pays de Granville
SBTMR
Robert Curthose and the Norman Episcopate
November 2010
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Journal article
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Haskins Society Journal
SBTMR
Les actes des évêques d'Avranches de 911 à 1252
October 2010
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Journal article
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Revue de l'Avranchin et du pays de Granville
‘A proud and headstrong man’: John of Ivry, bishop of Avranches and archbishop of Rouen, 1060–79
May 2010
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Journal article
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Historical Research
4303 Historical Studies, 43 History, Heritage and Archaeology
Five charters concerning the early history of the chapter at Avranches : an edition revisited
January 2010
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Journal article
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Tabularia
The Acta archiepiscoporum Rotomagensium: study and edition
January 2009
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Journal article
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Tabularia
Un évêque et sa ville : les évêques d'Avranches de 990 à 1134
January 2009
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Journal article
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Revue de l'Avranchin et du pays de Granville
Five charters concerning the early history of the chapter at Avranches
January 2008
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Journal article
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Tabularia
Auprès de l’évêque : un réexamen des auxiliaires épiscopaux du diocèse de Coutances à la lumière d’une édition critique d’actes (1048–1208)
Chapter
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Les évêques en leur monde : réseaux, communautés, influences (Xe-XIIIe siècle)
Auteur ou impétrant ? Le cas des actes des évêques de Sées (XIe-XIIIe siècles)
Chapter
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À propos des actes épiscopaux: nouvelles approches et nouveaux regards (Xe-XIIIe s.)
Le chartrier perdu du Mont Saint-Michel : réseaux, échanges et construction spatiale dans le diocèse d’Avranches (XIe-XIIIe s.)
Chapter
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1023-2023 : le Mont Saint-Michel en Normandie et en Europe. Nouvelles découvertes et nouvelles perspectives de recherche
Parmi les fonds d’archives détruits lors du bombardement allié de Saint-Lô le 6 juin 1944, les collections médiévales de l’abbaye du Mont Saint-Michel occupaient une place numériquement et qualitativement de premier rang. Presque 3,000 articles et 1,500 sceaux ont été en effet réduits en cendres, dont le contenu exact nous échappe, faute non seulement d’un inventaire publié mais de toute autre description détaillée. Or, si les documents originaux qui composaient le chartrier médiéval du Mont Saint-Michel nous sont aujourd’hui perdus, les chartes de l’abbaye ont fait l’objet de copies d’érudits dès le XVIIe siècle et jusqu’au début du XXe siècle, alors qu’un inventaire médiéval de presque 1,500 titres nous donne un aperçu de l’état des archives montois vers la fin du Moyen Âge. Cet article a pour but d’approfondir la réflexion sur ces documents, conservés aujourd’hui de manière éparpillée dans les fonds de plusieurs archives et bibliothèques, tant (inter)nationaux que locaux. Ce faisant, on ne vise pas à une « reconstitution » du chartrier montois, un desideratum qui dépasse largement le cadre de cette communication, mais d’en utiliser certaines parties comme outil pour aborder plusieurs questions que propose d’examiner ce colloque, dont les réseaux dans lesquels les religieux montois s’inscrivaient, la façon dont ils ont géré au quotidien leurs domaines, et le rôle joué par l’abbaye dans la construction spatiale du diocèse frontière dans lequel elle se situait.