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T036

Epistolae duae

Century: 13

Correspondence

Latin

Dioc. Liège
Duchy of Brabant

INCIPIT

Inc. 1: Amantissime sorori sue, suus uterinus frater... Hic talis considerat que sit voluntas Dei bona, beneplacens et perfecta... Inc. 2: Dilectissime sorori sue A.(leidi), frater Th.(omas) inherere Domino amore. In tuis molestiis patiens et quieta, in tuis moribus Deo et ...

EXPLICIT

Expl. 1: ... vitiorumque tentamina viriliter conculcare atque vestrum creatorem redemptorem disceritis amare. Expl. 2: ... soror carissima, si contigat vos prius me migrare, habebitis procul dubio me pro vobis orantem. Hec paupertatis athlete accipite, valete.

Thomas Villariensis

Sex: M- Bio: Chanter in Villers (at the latest since 1260). Entered together with his twee brothers and his father Renier, chamberlain and secretary of the duke of Brabant, in Villers c.1215-1220 (1216?) under the abbacy of Godefrey of Utrecht (Trajectensis).-Status author (order, function): Cistercian Monks (SOCist)

EDITING

Location:Villers - Date:Letter 1 between c. 1239 († Abundus of Villers) and c. 1262 († Godfrey Pachomius); Letter 2 after ca. 1216 (entrance of Thomas in Villers) - Commission: /

SIZE

123 regels + 158 regels (ed. Mikkers)

CONTEXT

Thomas entered the Cistercian monastery of Villers c. 1216 together with his father Reinier and his two brothers, Godfrey (Pachomius) and Renier. Their sister Aleidis/Alice entered the Cistercian nunnery of Vrouwenpark/Parc-les-Dames that resorted under the paternitas of Villers since c. 1215. Thomas held the position of cantor at Villers at the latest since 1260. In addition to the two letters to Aleidis Thomas wrote a vita of his brother Godfrey, dedicated to Aleidis (NaSo 2321).

ABSTRACT

Two letters of the Cistercian Thomas from Villers addressed to his sister Aleidis/Alice, a nun in the Cistercian monastery Vrouwenpark (Parc-les-Dames) in Rotselaar. In the first letter Thomas offers Aleidis comfort in the form of information about their brother Godfrey. He mentions among others three visions sent by Maria to Abundus about Godfrey (for more information on Abundus, see NaSo 501). letter two is composed of excerpts from the Bible, work by Bernard of Clairvaux and a quote attributed to Arnold, a monk of Boheries (~ Arnulf of Boheries, the author of the Speculum monachorum?). These excerpts laud the contemplative life, in particular the exercise of silence, solitude, love of God and singing the psalms.

SOURCES

Bernardus Claraevallensis, Sermones super Cantica Canticorum
Bijbel
Bernardus Claraevallensis, De diligendo Dei
Bernardus Claraevallensis, Sermones
Ambrosius, De virginibus
Vita prima Bernardi Clarevallensis

INFLUENCE

N.A. (Deze brieven zijn terechtgekomen in een manuscript dat ook teksten van Arnulfus Lovaniensis, de beschrijving van het bezoek van Hendrik II aan Villers en een verhandeling over de deugden van drie conversen van de grangia van Fleppe bevat (vide Handschriften).)

MANUSCRIPTS

Brussel/Bruxelles, Koninklijke Bibliotheek/Bibliothèque Royale, 4459-4470 (Link)

TRANSLATIONS

EDITIONS

MIKKERS (E.), Deux lettres inédites de Thomas, chantre de Villers, in: Collectanea Ordinis Cisterciensium reformatorum, X (Rome, 1948) 164-168

LITERATURE

RAY (A.), 'Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Brothers and Sisters indeed: Two Thirteenth-Century Letters of Thomas, Cantor of Villers, to his Sister Alice, Nun of Parc-les-Dames', in: F. Griffiths, J. Hotchin, eds., Partners in Spirit. Women, Men, and Religious Life in Germany, 1100-1500 (Turnhout, 2014) 213-23
Monasticon belge, IV/2 (Bruges/Liège: Abbaye de Maredsous, 1890-1993) 343 et 372.

LINKS

Desiderata:

Contributor:
Jeroen Deploige
Sara Moens

Update:
2014-12-19 18:19:23