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Cistercian exempla of the late Middle Ages: from history to rhetoric
Abstract
This paper proposes a new approach to late medieval Cistercian exempla collections, which have long been neglected by scholars due to the presumed lack of ‘originality’. Indeed, in contrast to earlier collections that draw inspiration from the rich and flourishing oral tradition, those of the 14th century mainly reuse well-known written sources of non-Cistercian origin, in apparent imitation of more popular mendicant exempla handbooks. However, it would be misleading to regard them simply as evidence of the genre’s or the Order’s decline. Having examined this view from the perspective of both historical and literary criticism, the author rejects it. The remarkable diversity of late medieval Cistercian exempla collections suggests, on the one hand, the potential of the regional (micro)historical approach, and, on the other hand, the necessity of integrating them into new literary contexts. To illustrate the opportunities of such a perspective shift, the paper proposes a brief cross-disciplinary study of Sertum fl orum moralium, compiled by Simon de Vauluisant, the student of the Cistercian College Saint-Bernard in Paris, around 1346. The product of the university milieu, the Sertum was probably intended to be a florilegium, an authoritative compendium of useful maxims and extracts from learned sources, a genre highly appreciated by Cistercian intellectuals. Its lack of originality therefore contributes to the author’s intent to provide his readers with an effective learning tool, and should not be seen as a failure.
Keywords
Exempla, Cistercian, Decline, Late Middle Ages, Fourteenth Century, Regional Approach
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