“The Saints Are On Our Side: Eleventh Century Social Justicein the Liber Miraculorum Sancte Fidis”

It was while studying at the school in Chartres under

Bishop Fulbert that Bernard of Angers, a self-proclaimed

magister of the school in Angers,1 first discovered Sainte

Foy. Sainte Foy, a young, virgin martyr from the fifth

century,2 was translated from Agen, the site of her

martyrdom, to Conques in 866, much to the benefit of the

small monastery there.3 However, wealth in the form of

donations and pilgrim commerce was not the only thing Sainte

Foy brought to the monastery at Conques; she also brought

her reputation for unusual and wondrous miracles. These

curious miracles where what eventually drew Bernard, who

felt God had intended him to go to Conques in order to

record the miracles of Sainte Foy.4 Over the course of three

1 Angers, Bernard. Liber Miraculorum Sancte Fidis. from The Book of Sainte Foy. trans. and ed. by Pamela Sheingorn (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995). 39-261. Prologue, p. 39.2 Sheingorn, Pamela. “Introduction,” The Book of Sainte Foy. trans. and ed. by Pamela Sheingorn (Philadelphia: Universityof Pennsylvania Press, 1995). 1-31. p. 21. 3 Sheingorn, p. 8-10.4 Angers, Prologue, p. 39-40.

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trips to Conques, one in 1012 or 1013,5 one in the years

between 1013 and 1020,6 and one in 1020 just prior to his

death,7 Bernard gathered, edited, and recorded those

miracles that appear in his only known work, the first two

book of the Liber Miraculorum Sancte Fidis.

Upon reading Books One and Two of the Liber Miraculorum

Sancte Fidis, it becomes readily apparent that Bernard has made

very specific editorial decisions in choosing which miracles

he included. This is made all the more obvious by Bernard’s

own confession: “I have concentrated on the miracles that

were worked to take revenge on evil-doers, or on those that

are in some way new and unusual.”8 Bernard is true to his

word: in the first two books of the Liber, there are sixteen

entries out of a total forty-nine that deal with divine

5 Sheingorn, in her translation notes, dates Bernard’s earliest entries to 1012; Kathleen Fung argues for 1013 (Fung, Kathleen Stewart, “Divine Lessons in an Imperfect World: Bernard of Angers and The Book of Sainte Foy’s Miracles,” The Middle Ages in Texts and Textures: Reflections on Medieval Studies, ed. JasonGlenn [Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011]. 119-128.p. 120).6 Fung, p.120. 7 Angers, 2.7, p. 129.8 Angers, 1.9, p. 69.

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retribution as delivered by Sainte Foy.9 It is Bernard’s

sheer abundance of divine vengeance miracles that set his

work apart from other hagiographies and miracle books. The

prevalence of these miracles in Bernard’s sections of the

Liber Miraculorum offers an interesting look into contemporary

beliefs about saints and their participation in social

justice, and reinforces the ideas of the Peace of God, a

movement contemporary to Bernard’s writings, emerged.

In the Middle Ages, the saints were regarded as holy

men and women who, through their lives and deaths, proved

themselves to be worthy of sitting at God’s side. In the

eleventh century, prior to the standardization of

canonization procedures, one merely needed to be venerated

by a group of people; a saint’s post-mortem cult became ispo

facto proof of a person’s sanctity.10 In addition, so long as

post-mortem miracles could be linked to a particular person,

he or she was liable to develop a cult and thereby attain

9 Roughly calculated, this means that 32% of Bernard’s writings deal with saintly vengeance. 10 Kleinberg, Aviad M. Prophets in Their Own Country: Living Saints and the Making of Sainthood in the Later Middle Ages (London: University ofChicago Press, 1992). p. 23.

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sainthood. As saints, these holy dead served as a lifeline

from the living to the Almighty. Praying to a saint in

addition to God increased one’s chances of being heard. Not

only that but, with the permission and borrowed powers of

the Father and Son, the saints could intercede through their

miracles on behalf of their faithful. Miracles include

anything from miraculous healing to good fortune, safety in

the home or protection on the battlefield.

Although the Liber Miraculorum Sancte Fidis establishes Sainte

Foy as a protector and healer like other saints, she is also

portrayed as an intercessor that will avenge wrongs done

against herself, her property, and her adherents. While this

role as a saintly avenger is not a new one, it certainly is

unusual. Where divine punishment is present in

hagiographies, it is usually God who does the punishing; the

saints will predict this punishment, or it will be wrought

on their behalf.11 Sainte Foy, on the other hand, although 11 For example, St. Benedict predicts the death of the evil King Totila (St. Gregory the Great, Life and Miracles of St. Benedict, 2.15); St. Willibrord is protected from attack after destroying and idol, and God makes it so that his attacker is slain. (Alucin, The Life of Willibrord, 14); St. Cuthbert predicts the death of King Egfrid, which is dealt

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her power comes from God and can be interpreted as an act of

God, takes an active part in punishing wrong doers, even

appearing to them in dreams to physically injury them

herself. Bernard’s depiction of the child martyr doles out

punishment for three reasons: slandering her name,

threatening her property, and harming her followers.

A majority of these vengeance miracles, in which

Bernard portrays the saint as a protector of social justice,

deal with Sainte Foy’s punishment of secular crimes like

theft and assault. In those miracles dealing with theft,

anything from food to donations, candles to land are stolen

from the monastery at Conques or those under their

protection.12 The assaults, however, have less variety. Most

frequently, they are perpetuated against members of the

clergy or pilgrims—the unarmed classes. The punishments for

these crimes are frequently without mercy, and almost

surprising in their violence.

as punishment for his ruthless warmongering (Bede, The Life andMiracles of Saint Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindesfarne, Chapter XXVII). Theseare but a few examples, and many more can be found.12 Miracles 1.6, 1.11, 1.12, and 2.5 all deal with the theftof Sainte Foy and her followers’ property.

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For all three trespasses, slander, theft, and assault,

the punishment is harsh regardless of the severity of the

crime. In Miracle 1.11, Bernard tells of an unnamed man with

whose master the monks of Conques have disputed property

rights. While the monks process onto the contested land in a

spiritual attempt to turn the tide in their favor, this man

mocks them, saying that the reliquary of Saint Foy is

nothing more than a devil or a worthless idol. Suddenly, a

“windstorm sent from heaven” destroys the roof of the hall,

killing only the man, his wife, and his five servants. Their

bodies are flung through the windows, and “found a great

distance from the house”.13 Even the simplest slander is

responded to with the threat of death; the antagonist of

Miracle 1.13, a priest named Odalric, persuades a crowd not

to venerate Sainte Foy or donate to her and, that night,

dreams he is beaten savagely by Sainte Foy. He lives only

long enough to relate the dream in the morning.14 Two of

the thieves of Miracle 1.6, who simply conspire to steal

wine from the monastery, die horrible deaths: one is 13 Angers, 1.11, p. 70-73.14 Angers, 1.13, p. 77-79.

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paralyzed, loses control of his bowels, and dies from the

mysterious affliction a few days later while the other’s

neck and throat swell, which eventually results in his

death.15 Abbot Hugh, whose relatives steal a great deal of

gold from Sainte Foy to pay his ransom, is killed by Foy so

that the ransom will not be delivered, and his kinsmen die

under mysterious circumstances.16 All assaults on Sainte

Foy’s flock result in a death sentence.17 While all these

crimes are punishable by death in Bernard’s, and presumably

Sainte Foy’s, eyes, they also have another thing in common:

the perpetrators are more often than not described as nobles

or mounted warriors.

Even outside of his reported miracles, Bernard does not

hide his distain for certain members of the armed class. He

associates the arrogance, thievery, and violence of the

knights he describes with the physical manifestation of the

deadly sin Pride.18 This Pride, Bernard writes, may serve

the knights in this life, but will eternally damn them. 15 Angers, 1.6, p. 61-62.16 Angers, 2.5, p. 126-127.17 See Miracles 1.5 and Miracle 1.12. 18 Angers, 1.5, p. 59-60.

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After relating a miracle in which Pons, a knight, is struck

by lightning for attacking a band of Foy’s monks, Bernard

inserts his own sermon on knightly arrogance:

Oh, fearless warrior, […] you who exalted

yourself up to the heavens, you who consider the

very saints of God as if they were nothing, where

is your power now? […] Whoever strives against

His will, will not rejoice in a favorable

outcome, for to Him human strength is feebleness

and the wisdom of the world foolishness. […] Stop

now, stop harrying the servants of Christ, carry

out obediently the duty imposed upon you.19

In another miracle, Bernard warns those same proud knights

to repent lest they face the wrath of the saints and God:

Understand these things, you who have proud

hearts. Now is the time to come to your senses

from your wickedness and learn to do right. […]

For injustice does not always have the upper hand

and divine judgment is not a trifling matter.20

19 Angers, 1.12, p. 75-76.20 Angers, 1.5, p. 60.

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In Bernard’s mind, the matter seems clear: proud knights

must turn from their ways, particularly their actions

against the Church and those under her protection, or face

divine punishment.

A couple questions must still be asked: why would

Bernard portray Sainte Foy as actively vengeful? Is he

reflecting a contemporary belief about the roles play by the

saints? These questions are made even more pressing by the

fact that the remaining two books of the Liber Miraculorum,

written by anonymous monks of Conques, which lack the same

level of vengeance and saintly rage. Perhaps the vengeful

nature of Books One and Two is owing to Bernard’s apparent

dislike of the armed class, but such a hypothesis does not

hold up to scrutiny. After all, not all of the Liber

Miraculorum’s villains are mounted warriors,21 and Bernard

even makes a point to describe some mounted warriors as good

men, and the recipients of miracles.22 To answer such a 21 The villains punished in Miracles 1.1 and 1.13, for example, are described as corrupt priests.22 Examples of good warriors include Gerbert of Miracle 1.2,who is attacked for freeing prisoners, and eventually turns to a life in the Church; Gerald of Miracle 1.4, whose donkeydies and is revived while he is returning from pilgrimage to

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question then, one must examine the historical context in

which Books One and Two of the Liber Miraculorum was written.

Although rare, Bernard does make comments throughout

the Liber Miraculorum about the world in which he lived. In

Miracle 1.11, he sets the stage for one particular act of

saintly vengeance:

[At] this time there are a great many people who

deserve to be called Antichrists. Blinded by their

greed, they dare to seize what rightfully belongs to

the Church; in so doing, not only do they show no

respect for officials of the sacred ministry, but they

sometimes even assault them with insolent abuse and

beatings. […] As things are now these men undergo no

punishment, so they haven’t the least dread of divine

vengeance; on the contrary, they don’t anticipate that

it will ever come.23

Through his description of his times and the events

described in the miracles of the Liber Miraculorum, Bernard

paints his time as one of casual violence, lawlessness (to

Rome; and Rainon’s companion in Miracle 1.5, who, because hetries to keep Rainon from attacking a priest, is spared.23 Angers, 1.11, p. 70-71.

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the point that divine intercession is necessary to bring

about any semblance of justice), and social unrest.

Although historians must always suspect hyperbole and

bias in any primary narrative source they read, it appears

Bernard was not exaggerating. The early eleventh century was

a time of great trouble in France, particularly in

Aquitaine, where Conques is located. With the “slow and

awkward consolidation of Capetian power” came the rising of

lesser nobles, eager to fill the void left in the wake of

the Carolingian dynasty.24 Through endless bouts of feuding

and raiding, these lesser nobles rearranged the French

countryside in areas like Limousin and Aquitaine, and built

myriads of motte-and-bailey forts from which to control and

protect their lands. This shift in land control affected the

peasant population, which had started to become economically

stratified, by pulling free peasants into new serfdoms and

economically ‘leveling’ the class. Such ‘leveling’ meant

that those peasants who had earned some amount of autonomy

24 Head, Thomas and Richard Landes. “Introduction,” The Peace of God: Social Violence and Religious Response in France around the Year 1000 (London: Cornell University Press, 1992). 1-20. p. 1.

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were plunged back into subservience.25 France’s lesser lords

affected not only peasant society, but also their own. In

order to consolidate their holdings over multiple

generations, the lords, who had previously divided land up

amongst all their sons, switched to primogeniture

inheritance.26 The younger sons, therefore, were forced to

turn to different means of supporting themselves; during the

twelfth century, these younger sons regularly used raiding

and violence as a means of sustaining and entertaining

themselves,27 but there seems to be no reason to doubt that

such raiding did not start in the eleventh century given the

25 In his book Feudal Society (trans. L. Mayon [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964]), Marc Bloch refers to the period beginning in 1050 as the “second feudal age,” andrightly so considering the social and economic changes imposed upon the French countryside by these lesser nobles. Other historians have argued to shift the start of this “second feudal age” back to the year 1000 (Bisson, Thomas N.“Foreword.” from Duby, Georges. The Three Orders. trans. ArthurGoldhammer [London: University of Chicago Press, 1980]. vii-viii. p. viii.).26 Landes, Richard. Relics, Apocalypse, and the Deceits of History: Ademar of Chabannes, 989-1034 (London: Harvard University Press, 1995).p. 27.27 Duby, Georges. “In Northwestern France: The “Youth” in Twelfth-Century Aristocratic Society,” trans. by editor. Lordship and Community in Medieval Europe, ed. Frederick L. Cheyette (New York: 1968). 198-209. p. 206.

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level of violence described by Bernard. He was joined in

thinking that the increasing violence was the sign that

society was slipping into total anarchy by numerous other

contemporary chroniclers, most of whom were fellow men of

the cloth.28 Because the changes in society during the early

eleventh century were so drastic, some historians have taken

to calling the events of the period the ‘castellan

revolution.’29

During this period of endemic raiding and warfare, the

militant lesser nobility gained a newfound enemy in the

Church. The Church disapproved of their actions on more than

just a moral level; between disputing land donations and

raiding the Church’s exigent property, the lesser nobles

were a financial liability, physical threat, and a blow to

the pride of the Church.30 More clerics than just Bernard

called for an end to the violence and trespasses against the

28 Head and Landes, p. 1.29 Landes, p. 26; Duby, p. 147-166; Landes also cites the following: Fossier, Robert. L’enface de l’Europe: Aspects économiques et sociaux. Nouvelle Clio 17, 2 vols. (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1982).; Moore, Robert Ian.“Duby’s Eleventh Century.” History 69 (1984). 36-49.30 Landes, p. 27-28.

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Church. The anonymous author of the Gesta episcoporum

Cameracensium opens a passage by describing the social

climate:

[The] realm tottered on its foundations, and […] the

incompetence of the king and the sins [of men]

confounded the laws and profaned the customs of the

fathers as well as all manner of justice.

The writer goes on to describe a peace council held by the

bishops of Soissons and Beauvais; although the writer seems

to disagree with the peace councils, he throws his support

behind the idea of one bishop: that the peace falls to the

crown to enforce, and the Church must support the king in

his fight against the castellans instead.31 Rodulphus

Glaber, on the other hand, sees the peace councils as a way

of saving mankind from “perpetual chaos and the destruction

of the human race.”32 In the wake of a peace council, Glaber

31 “Document 8. Excerpts from the Gesta episocoporum Cameracensium (1024-36). MGH 7:475, 585,” trans. Richard Landes. from Peace of God: Social Violence and Religious Response in France around the Year 1000 (London: Cornell University Press, 1992). 335-337. p. 335-336.32 Glaber, Rodulphus. “Document 10. Rodulphus Glaber on events in the year 1033. Historiarum 4.5.13-17,” trans. Richard Landes. from Peace of God: Social Violence and Religious

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describes five years of “such an abundance of grain and win

and other fruits of the earth that one could scare hope for

so many.”33 While it is reasonable to expect exaggeration on

Glaber’s part, he certainly expresses his wholehearted

approval of the peace councils through such hyperbole.

Bernard, in agreement with Rodulphus, supports the peace

council, as is suggested by his inclusion of miracles Sainte

Foy brought about at peace councils.34 All three of these

writers share a desire for justice, and, although they may

disagree on how to solve the problems of the period, it is

clear that one solution pursued was the Peace of God.

The Peace of God was the historical manifestation of

the desire for justice Bernard that expressed through Sainte

Foy’s miracles, and a direct response to the chaos of the

early eleventh century.35 The movement was inspired by a

council in Le Puy in 975, held by Bishop Guy of Le Puy to

denounce those who had stolen ecclesiastical property in his

Response in France around the Year 1000 (London: Cornell University Press, 1992). 338-339. p. 338.33 Glaber, p. 339.34 See Miracles 1.28-1.29, p. 98-99. More will be said on these miracles shortly.35 Head and Landes, p. 1.

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bishopric. Guy’s council was not, however, quite in keeping

with the values that would become central to the Peace of

God; rather than threaten the accused knights with religious

wrath, he threatens them with the physical retaliation of

his relatives and their allies.36 Instead, Guy’s council

served as a suggested solution to contemporary problems and

a starting point for the Peace of God. Those councils that

followed the one in Le Puy were called for the same reason,

but wielded God and the saints instead of swords.

The first council of the Peace of God movement was the

Council of Charroux in 989. Headed by Archbishop Gunbaldus

of Aquitaine, the council was also attended by “bishops, as

well as clerics and monks, not to mention laypeople of both

sexes,” all of whom came seeking the “aid of divine

justice.” The council acts list theft or attack of the

Church and its property, theft from peasants within the

bishopric, and assault on clergymen as offenses punishable

by excommunication.37 This council would set the standard 36 Head and Landes, p. 3.37 “Document 1. The acts of the council of Charroux (989). Mansi 19:89-90.” trans. Thomas Head. from Peace of God: Social Violence and Religious Response in France around the Year 1000 (London:

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for later councils, all of whom denounced the same crimes.

As the councils progressed, however, the Church began to

threaten wrongdoers with more than excommunication; they

began to threaten violent lesser nobles with the threat of

divine punishment at the hands of the saints.

All the proceeding councils prominently featured the

saints as the leaders, participators, and enforcers of the

Peace councils. Saints were frequently used to draw crowds

of laypeople and clergy alike to the councils, and Sainte

Foy herself was counted among their numbers at one council,

as Bernard himself mentions in Miracle 1.28:

To this synod [in Rodez] the bodies of saints were

conveyed […] by various communities of monks or

canons. […] The golden majesties of Saint Marius, […]

Saint Amans, […] Saint Santurninus, and the golden

image of holy Mary, mother of God, and the golden

majesty of Sainte Foy especially adorned [the

pavilions of the council].38

Cornell University Press, 1992). 327-328.38 Angers, 1.28, p. 98.

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Sainte Foy’s presence at the Council of Rodez brings about

the miracle healing of a boy who had been blind, lame, deaf,

and mute. After all, where there are saints, there are bound

to be miracles. The miracles that followed these relics into

the Peace councils not only helped to keep crowds flocking

to and participating in the councils, but they also affirmed

the physical and spiritual presence of the saints. If one

judges God’s favor by miracles, then the councils must have

had God on their side. In addition to their miraculous

presence and apparent favor, the saints also enforced the

Peace since the oaths of former wrongdoers to give up their

evil ways and uphold the peace were sworn upon their

relics.39 Should such an oath be broken, the oath breaker

would find himself at the mercy of the saints. Considering

Sainte Foy’s participation in the regional Peace of God

movement, it seems only logical that oaths would be made to

her as well, and, left unfulfilled, to be punished by her.

39 Callahan, Daniel F. “The Cult of the Saints in Aquitaine,” Peace of God: Social Violence and Religious Response in France around the Year 1000 (London: Cornell University Press, 1992). 165-183. p. 176-177.

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Perhaps this is why Bernard’s Foy is a vengeful saint; she

must seem so in order to uphold the peace.

Although it is short text, the Liber Miraculorum Sancte Fidis

contains a dearth of information, only a fraction of what

has been mentioned here. Bernard’s depiction of Sainte Foy

over the course of Books One and Two of the document is

vengeful, and, by being not only startling but also uniquely

so, sets her apart from saints whose hagiographies and

miracle books came before hers. But the Liber Miraculorum’s Foy

is not blindly spiteful, as the God of the Old Testament or

the pagan gods of old are sometimes portrayed. Rather her

revenge is pointed: she pursues and drastically punishes all

those who threaten the tenants of the Peace of God. Sainte

Foy’s participation in the Peace of God is not limited to

the hypothetical. Bernard’s writing places her at the

Council of Rodez around 1012,40 a council at which she

wrought a number of miracles and, presumably, was sworn

Peace oaths to. By establishing Sainte Foy as an avenger,

40 Sheingorn, in her notes, estimates that Bernard wrote Miracle 1.28 around 1012, and hints that the synod was contemporary to Bernard’s writing of the entry (p. 293).

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therefore, Bernard sets the young martyr up to be a fierce

defender of the peace. Evildoers must think twice,

therefore, before they break their oaths or commit crimes

against those who patronize Sainte Foy. Sainte Foy’s Liber

Miraculorum and her participation in the Peace of God

movement, therefore, give historians a case study through

which to examine perceived saintly participation, and the

change in the cult of the saints during the early eleventh

century. Should further studies be conducted, the results

might suggest that the transformation of Sainte Foy from

playful child saint to full-blown avenger was one many other

saints made because of their communities’ willingness to

participate in the Peace and Truce of God.

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