Runboard.com
Слава Україні!
Community logo


runboard.com       Sign up (learn about it) | Sign in (lost password?)

 
thewilliam theredforum2002 Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Registered user

Registered: 03-2004
Posts: 484
Karma: -5 (+2/-7)
Reply | Quote
Gundulf


 Gundulf lived from 1028-1108 being Bishop of Rochester from 1077-1108.
 He was born in the Vexin, served at Rouen Cathedral and after pilgrimage to Jerusalem studied at Bec Abbey, Normandy which was effectively a religeous academy of The Norman Revolution after the Conqueror’s victory at Varaville (1058).
 He co-led the construction of Saint Stephen’s (St. Etienne) and Holy Trinity Abbeys in Caen which were monuments symbolic of the Conqueror and Matilda’s commitment to Cluniacism.

 He allied with Lanfranc and got recognition in Angleland from the Conqueror by appointment as Bishop of Rochester (1077) where he led the building of Rochester Castle.
 Around 1077/79 he initiated the construction of a tower in West Malling, Kent.
 In 1078 the Conqueror appointed him to lead with Eadmer the Lefthanded the construction of The Great Tower of London, known much later as The White Tower which was to be a symbol of the Revolution in its capacity as a government stronghold and historical-archival strorage centre as well as a monument to Cluniacism evidenced by its apsidal chapel.
 In 1088 he supported the Red’s final suppression of the Odo-Courtheuse Counter-Revolution at Rochester.
 His testament declared that his commitment to give his wealth to the poor and his replacement as bishop.
 There is no evidence that he opposed the Counter-Revolution of 1100 following the assassination of the Red on 2/8.

Rob, Chairperson, Franc B, First Secretary ( both in personal capacity)
Feb/26/2005, 4:05 pm Link to this post Send Email to thewilliam theredforum2002   Send PM to thewilliam theredforum2002
 
thewilliam theredforum2002 Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Registered user

Registered: 03-2004
Posts: 484
Karma: -5 (+2/-7)
Reply | Quote
Re: Gundulf


Rob or anyone do you know where I can acquire a copy of the <<Textus Roffensis>>?
I have searched numerous sources without success.I am especially interested in its Rochester information about the time the Red's siege of Odo's Counter-Revolutionaries in 1088 was in full swing.

Martin Tilston (personal capacity)
Mar/31/2005, 8:24 pm Link to this post Send Email to thewilliam theredforum2002   Send PM to thewilliam theredforum2002
 
thewilliam theredforum2002 Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Registered user

Registered: 03-2004
Posts: 484
Karma: -5 (+2/-7)
Reply | Quote
Re: Gundulf


The Tower in West Malling is definitely worth a visit even if the site is a bit dubious on precise history. emoticon

Bill H (personal capacity)
Jul/28/2005, 10:30 pm Link to this post Send Email to thewilliam theredforum2002   Send PM to thewilliam theredforum2002
 
thewilliam theredforum2002 Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Registered user

Registered: 03-2004
Posts: 484
Karma: -5 (+2/-7)
Reply | Quote
Re: Gundulf


I do not think that any discussion on Gundulph is adequate unless it grasps that his Saint Leonard's Tower in West Malling was dedicated to that 6th Century Saint born towards the end of the 5th Century,who was close to the Frankish King Clodwig or as he was also known Clovis.Gundulph,resolute and dedicated Cluniacist that he was,knew that St Leonard's example as a follower of St Benedict,was strongly based in the latter's commitment to an austere spirituality based on his 'Holy Grotto' cave experience outside Rome which lasted 3 years and preceded his monastic movement (Monte Cassino etc).St Leonard was the patron saint of peasants,prisoners and horses and was especially keen to be as close to St Benedict's original example as possible.This was why he ended up choosing to live in a forest in the Limousin,shunning his earlier monastic experience.Saint Benedict in reverse but in a positive sense.
It was no accident Gundulph,revolutionist defender of Rochester in 1088,chose such an icon to bear the name of his favourite Tower.

John G (personal capacity)
Jul/29/2005, 4:56 pm Link to this post Send Email to thewilliam theredforum2002   Send PM to thewilliam theredforum2002
 
thewilliam theredforum2002 Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Registered user

Registered: 03-2004
Posts: 484
Karma: -5 (+2/-7)
Reply | Quote
Re: Gundulf


John,

Perhaps an aspect of what constituted the 'role of Forests' in Medieval Times. The Conqueror received the news of The Usurper's takeover while hunting in a Norman forest,The Red favoured a forest base in Brockenhurst,Angleland for his active rule. The religious element via Saint Leonard's legacy is something I think worth exploring in more detail in the Cluniacist context.And what of the placename in today's England of St Leonards which is in the same borough/district of Hastings?

Drogo (personal capacity)

Aug/13/2005, 5:43 pm Link to this post Send Email to thewilliam theredforum2002   Send PM to thewilliam theredforum2002
 
thewilliam theredforum2002 Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Registered user

Registered: 03-2004
Posts: 484
Karma: -5 (+2/-7)
Reply | Quote
Re: Gundulf


All:: This is not a simple thing to understand being exceptional to even the more abstruse subjects handled on this chatboard.My view is that the Conqueror's "inner light" was comprised of a number of factors more or less related.Surely it must be of the greatest importance that he spent much of his free time in the forests of Normandy-Angleland? was this just about hunting or did that diversion also encompass statecraft,military perceptions or plans,joint exercises in leadership in a non-combat situation in abnormal conditions? And if these are to be factored into the equation,why not the religious-spiritual too?

The Conqueror was an extremely pious man its not just evident as conventional wisdom would have it in his order that prayers should be said daily by monks for his father and mother,but more tellingly in his experience of the Latin liturgies renowned for their meticulous attention to detail which found its political translation in Domesday which he ordered during the 1085-86,Counter-Revolutionary challenges from Scandinavia and The Frankish King.

The Forest Laws were draconian against peasants to be sure but was this not just a case of freedom for hunting but also a decision to preserve totally a training ground for himself and his revolutionary leadership team? It's estimated that about 20% of Angleland was covered by woodland and forest in 1066 and the Conqueror reserved significant portions of it for his personal authority. Saint Leonard's penchant for the forests was surely a factor in his spiritual fame which cannot have been lost on someone who also strongly identified with Saint Stephen The Protomartyr.The likelihood that forests in the Conqueror's perspective possessed a special 'cathedral- type' quality cannot be ruled out as something to be integrated into his wider policy of exporting The Norman Revolution 1058-1100 (or in his case 1087).
CT Vice Chairperson (personal capacity)
Aug/20/2005, 12:16 pm Link to this post Send Email to thewilliam theredforum2002   Send PM to thewilliam theredforum2002
 
mousteriana Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Registered user

Registered: 03-2005
Posts: 936
Karma: 6 (+6/-0)
Reply | Quote
Re: Gundulf


All:

Actually, there's a much simpler reason why the Forest Laws existed: kings traveled a lot back then, and they needed "food on the hoof". "Red deer/"elk"(Cervus elaphus) were quite common everywhere and good eating. King William was probably no exception to this rule, but the Forest Laws were a lot harsher under him and afterward, than beforehand. Oh, and BTW, "forest" in medieval times didn't mean what it means today, i.e. an environment with lots of trees. It meant land sequestered for royal use. And a lot of this land did, in fact have a lot of trees(you're right about that), which is one reason "forest" has come to have the meaning it does today.
Anne G






[The Forest Laws were draconian against peasants to be sure but was this not just a case of freedom for hunting but also a decision to preserve totally a training ground for himself and his revolutionary leadership team? It's estimated that about 20% of Angleland was covered by woodland and forest in 1066 and the Conqueror reserved significant portions of it for his personal authority. Saint Leonard's penchant for the forests was surely a factor in his spiritual fame which cannot have been lost on someone who also strongly identified with Saint Stephen The Protomartyr.The likelihood that forests in the Conqueror's perspective possessed a special 'cathedral- type' quality cannot be ruled out as something to be integrated into his wider policy of exporting The Norman Revolution 1058-1100 (or in his case 1087).
CT Vice Chairperson (personal capacity)



Aug/20/2005, 9:10 pm Link to this post Send Email to mousteriana   Send PM to mousteriana
 


Add a reply





You are not logged in (login)