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Diabolical Doubt: The Peculiar Account of Brother Bernard's Demonic Possession in Jordan of Saxony's Libellus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2016

Steven Watts
Steven Watts*
Affiliation:
University of St Andrews
*
*Department of Mediaeval History, University of St Andrews, 71 South St, St Andrews, KY16 9QW. E-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

Jordan of Saxony's Libellus, first produced in 1233, has struck scholars as an unwieldy combination of hagiography and early Dominican history. Compounding its somewhat awkward nature are its various jumps in chronology and idiosyncratic biographical asides. Perhaps the most idiosyncratic of them all is Jordan's lengthy account of Brother Bernard's demonic possession. While this account provides the setting for the institution of the Dominican custom of chanting the Salve Regina after compline, it is difficult to see at first glance what benefit the story as told would have had for Jordan's audience. Upon closer inspection, however, some method appears in the madness. From a pedagogical point of view – the Libellus is described in the mid-thirteenth-century Vitas fratrum as a journal Jordan read to novices in Paris – the revelation of Jordan's various attempts at identifying the demon's wiles suggests a master willing to allow his students to witness his own doubts about how to proceed. Furthermore, the possessed brother shows a remarkable capacity to imitate ideals central to Dominican identity, in so far as Jordan reveals such ideals in his Libellus: a master of theology, a charismatic preacher and a prospective saint. This essay offers a close analysis of this perplexing narrative, describing the significance of the various demonic phenomena and Jordan's reactions to them, and reflecting on the pedagogical implications of the portrayal of Jordan's uncertainty.

Keywords

DominicansJordan of SaxonyDemonic PossessionMedieval UniversitiesMoral Exemplars
Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 52: DOUBTING CHRISTIANITY: THE CHURCH AND DOUBT , June 2016 , pp. 102 - 117
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 2016 

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References

1 Flanagan, Sabina, Doubt in an Age of Faith: Uncertainty in the Long Twelfth Century (Turnhout, 2008), 12–13CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 143–4.

2 Ibid. 13.

3 The standard edition is Libellus de principiis Ordinis Praedicatorum, ed. Heribert Christian Scheeben, Monumenta Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum Historica [hereafter: MOPH] 16 (Rome, 1935), 1–88. Translations of this text, and all others, are my own. For recent discussions relating to the date of the production of the Libellus, see Tugwell, Simon, ‘Notes on the Life of St Dominic’, AFP 68 (1998), 1–116, at 5–33Google Scholar; Barone, Giulia, ‘Il Libellus de initio Ordinis fratrum Predicatorum e lo sviluppo dell'Ordine nel primo cinquantennio’, in Domenico de Caleruega e la nascita dell'Ordine dei frati Predicatori. Atti del XLI convegno storico internazionale, Todi, 10–12 ottobre 2004 (Spoleto, 2005), 431–40Google Scholar; Canetti, Luigi, ‘La Datazione del Libellus di Giordano di Sassonia’, in Bertuzzi, Giovanni, ed., L’origine dell'Ordine dei predicatori e l'Università di Bologna (Bologna, 2006), 176–93Google Scholar; Wesjohann, Achim, Mendikantische Gründungserzählungen im 13. und 14. Jahrhundert. Mythen als Element institutioneller Eigengeschichtsschreibung der mittelalterlichen Franziskaner, Dominikaner und Augustiner-Eremiten, Vita regularis 49 (Berlin, 2012), 372–84Google Scholar.

4 Most notably Scheeben, Heribert Christian, ‘Der literarische Nachlass Jordans von Sachsen’, Historisches Jahrbuch im Auftrag der Görres-Gesellschaft 52 (1932), 56–71Google Scholar, at 61–2; Brooke, C. N. L., ‘St Dominic and his First Biographer’, TRHS 5th ser. 17 (1967), 23–40Google Scholar, at 24–6; Tugwell, ‘Notes’, 11.

5 Tugwell, ‘Notes’, 19.

6 Ibid. 18–23. See Canetti, ‘La Datazione’, 178–9; Simon Tugwell, Pelagius Parvus and his ‘Summa’: A Preliminary Enquiry and a Sample of Texts, Dissertationes historicae 34 (Rome, 2012), 172–3. As Tugwell has pointed out, the account of the translation of Dominic's bones in 1233 that Scheeben appends to his edition of the Libellus (§§121–30) is not part of the original text: ‘Notes’, 8 n. 9.

7 Barone, ‘Il Libellus’, 439.

8 Van Engen, John, ‘Dominic and the Brothers: Vitae as life-forming Exempla in the Order of Preachers’, in Emery, Kent Jr and Wawrykow, Joseph, eds, Christ among the Medieval Dominicans: Representations of Christ in the Texts and Images of the Order of Preachers (Notre Dame, IN, 1998), 7–25, at 13Google Scholar.

9 Vitas fratrum 3.33 (B.-M. Reichert, ed., Vitae Fratrum Ordinis Praedicatorum necnon Cronica Fratrum Ordinis ab anno MCCIII usque MCCLIV, ed. B.-M. Reichert, MOPH 1 [Rome, 1896], 1–320, at 126). Despite Reichert's use of the title Vitae fratrum, this collection originally circulated as Vitas fratrum. For a brief reconstruction of its convoluted manuscript tradition, see Tugwell, Simon, ‘L’évolution des vitae fratrum. Résumé des conclusions provisoires’, Cahiers de Fanjeaux 36 (2001), 415–18CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem, ed., Miracula sancti Dominici mandato magistri Berengarii collecta. Petri Calo legendae sancti Dominici, MOPH 26 (Rome, 1997), 32–9. On the basis of his ongoing reconstruction, Tugwell identifies Gerald as being responsible for this particular story: personal communication, 19 November 2014.

10 See Vitas fratrum 3.28–34 (ed. Reichert, 122–8); Thomas de Cantimpré, Bonum universale de apibus 2.19.2, 2.57.46 (ed. George Colvener, 2 vols in 1 [Chantilly, 1627], 569–70, 572–80); Étienne de Bourbon, Tractatus de diversis materiis praedicabilibus §§188, 189, 229 (Anecdotes historiques. Légendes et apologues tirés du recueil inédit d'Etienne de Bourbon, ed. A. Lecoy de la Marche [Paris, 1872], 101–2, 164–5, 197).

11 ‘[Q]uam tribulationem haud dubium operande patientie servorum suorum misericordia divina providerat’: Libellus §110.

12 ‘Multa miranda per os eiusdem demon euomuit. Interdum quoque, licet obsessus ille non foret in theologia peritus et sanctarum velut inscius scripturarum, adeo tamen per os eius profundas de scripturis sanctis eliciebat sententias ut huiusmodi etiam per Augustinum edita laudabilia merito censerentur’: Libellus §112.

13 Newman, Barbara, ‘Possessed by the Spirit: Devout Women, Demoniacs, and the Apostolic Life in the Thirteenth Century’, Speculum 73 (1998), 733–70, at 749–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

14 Caesarius of Heisterbach, Dialogus miraculorum 1.5.13 (ed. Josephus Strange, 2 vols [Cologne, 1851], 292).

15 Ibid.

16 Caciola, Nancy, Discerning Spirits: Divine and Demonic Possession in the Middle Ages (New York, 2003), 12–14Google Scholar. For an early example, see, in this volume, Charlotte Methuen, ‘“The very deceitfulness of devils”: Firmilian and the Doubtful Baptisms of a Woman possessed by Demons’, 50–66.

17 Mulchahey, M. Michèle, ‘The Dominicans’ Studium at Bologna and its Relationship with the University in the Thirteenth Century’, Memorie Domenicane 39 (2008), 17–30, at 23–4Google Scholar.

18 Vitas fratrum 3.11–13 (ed. Reichert, 108–10).

19 Ibid. 3.42 (ed. Reichert, 141). See Mulchahey, M. Michèle, ‘First the Bow is Bent in Study . . .’: Dominican Education before 1350 (Toronto, ON, 1998), 54–9Google Scholar; Hinnebusch, William A., The Early English Friars Preachers (Rome, 1951), 266Google Scholar.

20 See Asztalos, Monika, ‘The Faculty of Theology’, in de Ridder-Symoens, Hilde, ed., A History of the University in Europe, 1: Universities in the Middle Ages (Cambridge, 2003), 409–41Google Scholar, at 410–11; Mulchahey, ‘First the Bow’, 39–40.

21 I have chosen to translate tentatio as ‘trial', but its other meaning, ‘temptation’, is equally valid in this setting, i.e. a temptation to depart from the right path. For the use of tentatio in the second sense see the Vulgate of Matt. 6: 13; 1 Tim. 6: 9.

22 ‘Absit ut fedus cum morte ineam aut pactum faciam cum inferno. Tuis temptationibus te nolente fratres proficient et ad uitam gratie conualescent, quia tentatio est uita hominis super terram’: Libellus §113.

23 Gregory the Great, Moralia in Iob 8.6 (CChr.SL 143, 385). Note that the usual reading of the biblical text is militia, not tentatio. Gregory explicitly prioritizes the older reading tentatio in his moral interpretation of the text.

24 Étienne de Bourbon, Tractatus §118 (ed. de la Marche, 101–2); Vitas fratrum, 3.30 (ed. Reichert, 124).

25 ‘Primum, propter quod in unum estis congregati, ut unanimes habitetis in domo et sit vobis anima una et cor unum in Deum’: Regula sancti Augustini 1.2 (L. Verheijen, La Règle de Saint Augustin, 1: Tradition manuscrite [Paris, 1967], 417).

26 ‘Et ego cognoui figmentum tuum. Quod semel oblatum tibi respuis et contempnis tandem mea supplantatus improbitate facile et gratanter admittes’: Libellus §114.

27 ‘[D]iscant ex ipsorum hostium sedulitate continua, suum e contra continuare fervorem et vitare spiritus in se torpentis ignaviam’: ibid.

28 ‘[T]am efficacibus utebatur velut in modum predicationis sermonibus’: Libellus §115.

29 ‘[U]beres elicuerit lacrimas de cordibus auditorum’: ibid.

30 Newman, ‘Possessed', 753–62; cf. Kleinberg, Aviad M., ‘The Possession of Blessed Jordan of Saxony’, in Rubin, Miri, ed., Medieval Christianity in Practice (Oxford, 2009), 265–73CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 271.

31 Newman, ‘Possessed', 755, 768.

32 Jacques de Vitry, Historia occidentalis 5 (The Historia occidentalis of Jacques de Vitry: A Critical Edition, ed. John F. Hinnebusch [Fribourg, 1972], 86–7).

33 Tugwell, Simon, ‘The Evolution of Dominican Structures of Government III: The Early Development of the Second Distinction of the Constitutions’, AFP 71 (2001), 5–182Google Scholar, at 107–9.

34 ‘Hic est frater Henricus, cui multam atque mirabilem in verbo suo ad clerum Parisiensem dominus largitus est gratiam, cuius sermo vivus et efficax audientium corda violentissime penetrabat’: Libellus §77.

35 Libellus §§66–85; see Merlo, Grado Giovanni, ‘Gli inizi dell'Ordine dei Predicatori. Spunti per una riconsiderazione’, Rivista di storia e letteratura religiosa 31 (1995), 415–41Google Scholar, at 438–9.

36 Libellus §§67, 74, 78.

37 ‘[E]go multa perplexus ambiguitate diffidebam quidem de meritis, sed tamen hesitabam incertus quocumque pergerem mira circumfusus fragrantia uix ipsas manus audebam extrahere ueritus eam de qua nondum conscius eram mihi perdere suavitatem’: Libellus §117. In Gerald's rendering, Jordan hides his hands (ipse manus suas absconderet), presumably in his sleeves, which helps to clarify what Jordan means when he recalls that he ‘scarcely dared to uncover (his) hands’: Vitas fratrum 3.33 (ed. Reichert, 126). I have rendered qua nondum conscius eram as ‘which I did not yet understand', rather than the more literal ‘of which I was not yet aware’, as it reflects the sense of Jordan's explanation better.

38 ‘Iudica domine nocentes me’: Ps. 34: 1 (references to the Psalms follow the Vulgate numbering); see John Cassian, Conferences 7.21 (SC 42, 264).

39 ‘[Q]uia eruet pauperem a potente et inopem cui non est adiutor’: Ps. 71: 12.

40 ‘[T]antam recepi spiritus illustrationem intrinsecus et tam indubitatum per infusam veritatem plene securitatis indicium, ut iam omnino nihil ambigerem cuncta haec fraudulentis hostis extitisse figmenta’: Libellus §118.

41 ‘[F]ratrem illum certum de diabolica tentatione fecissem’: Libellus §119.

42 Jordan refers to Cassian's Conferences as a book Dominic valued highly: Libellus §13. For examples detailing the dangers of presumptive holiness, see Cassian, Conferences 2.2, 2.5 (SC 42, 112–14, 116–17).

43 ‘[Q]uasi thus redolens in diebus estatis’ : Libellus §12.

44 Litterae Enyclicae 1234, §§8–10 (B. Iordanis de Saxonia, Litterae encyclicae annis 1233 et 1234 datae, ed. Elio Montanari [Spoleto, 1993], 259–60); Walz, Angelus, ed., Acta canonizationis S. Dominici, MOPH 16 (Rome, 1935), 89–194Google Scholar, at 130–2, 135–6. On the probable confirmation of the Libellus by the General Chapter in 1233, see Tugwell, ‘Notes’, 12–13.

45 Canetti, Luigi, L’invenzione della memoria. Il culto e l'immagine di Domenico nella storia dei primi frati Predicatori (Spoleto, 1996), 309–20Google Scholar.

46 Vitas fratrum 2.21, 3.18, 3.42, 4.7, 5.17 (ed. Reichert, 81, 114–15, 143–4, 168, 201–5).

47 ‘[V]adens Parisius ipsum ad hac indiscretione, ut videbatur, averteret atque retraheret’: Libellus §76.

48 See Vitas fratrum 3.14 (ed. Reichert, 110–11); Lawrence, C. H., The Friars: The Impact of the Early Mendicant Movement on Western Society (London, 2013), 127CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The opposition of Thomas Aquinas's parents to their son's choice of vocation is perhaps the most famous example of this phenomenon: see de Tocco, Guillelmo, Vita s. Thomae Aquinatis 7–9, in Prümmer, D., ed., Fontes vitae S. Thomae Aquinatis notis historicis et criticis illustrati, fasc. 2 (Toulouse, 1911), 71–3Google Scholar.

49 Newman, ‘Possession’, 768.

50 Ibid.

51 Vitas fratrum 3.33 (ed. Reichert, 126).

52 Humbert, in particular, seems to have supressed names and edited stories in the work because they could have proved controversial or embarrassing: see Tugwell, ‘L’Évolution’, 417; idem, ed., Humberti de Romanis Legendae sancti Dominici, MOPH 30 (Rome, 2008), 53–5, 316–18.

53 ‘Sane multimoda fratrum de diversis nacionibus relacione frequenter ad nos pervenit, quod multa contigerunt in ordine et ordinis occasione, que si scripto commendata fuissent, multum valere possent in perpetuum ad fratum [sic] consolacionem et spiritualem profectum’: Vitas fratrum (ed. Reichert, 4).

54 Tugwell, ‘L’Évolution’, 414–17. Van Engen notes the textual imbalance between Jordan and Dominic: ‘Dominic and the Brothers’, 16. For a reappraisal of Peter of Verona's life and cult, see Prudlo, Donald, The Martyred Inquisitor: The Life and Cult of Peter of Verona (†1252) (Aldershot, 2008)Google Scholar.

55 ‘De sancto ac memorabili patre nostro fratre Iordane . . . dicimus eum tamquam speculum tocius religionis et virtutum exemplar’: Vitas fratrum 3.1 (ed. Reichert, 100–1).

56 Ibid., 1.7, 3.1–42, 4.10, 4.12, 4.13, 4.14, 4.15, 4.24, 5.2, 5.4 (ed. Reichert, 60, 100–46, 173–7, 179–80, 187–8, 192–3, 195–6, 216, 253–4, 270–1).

57 The Dominican General Chapter in 1245 sought stories of any miracles attributed to either Dominic or Jordan, which has been interpreted to mean that the order was preparing to seek Jordan's canonization: see Reichert, B.-M., ed., Acta capitulorum generalium Ordinis Praedicatorum, 1: Ab anno 1220 usque ad annum 1303, MOPH 3 (Rome, 1898), 33Google Scholar; Tugwell, ed., Miracula, 29–30; Deák, Viktória Hedvig, ‘The Birth of a Legend: The so-called Legenda Maior of Saint Margaret of Hungary and Dominican Hagiography’, Revue Mabillon 20 (2009), 87–112, at 98CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

58 For Pope Innocent IV's eagerness to promote an anti-heretical saint, see Prudlo, Martyred Inquisitor, 77–9. Interestingly, Prudlo notes that the initial steps for Peter's canonization were ‘entirely non-Dominican’: ibid. 77.

59 Vitas fratrum 3.25–33 (ed. Reichert, 120–6).

60 Ibid. 2.14–17 (ed. Reichert, 77–9).