Lambert of St-Bertin

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Lambert of St-Bertin was a French Benedictine chronicler and abbot.

[edit] Biography

Lambert was born about 1060 of a distinguished family, and, when still young, entered the French Benedictine abbey of St-Bertin. He afterwards visited several famous schools in France, having first laid the foundation of his subsequent learning by the study in his own monastery of grammar, theology and music. For some time he filled the office of prior, and in 1095 was chosen abbot at once by the monks of St-Bertin and by the canons of St-Omer. He was thus drawn into closer relations with Cluny, and instituted through the Cluniac monks many reforms in his somewhat deteriorated monastery. Needless to say, he encountered no little opposition to his efforts, but, thanks to his extraordinary energy, he finally secured acceptance for his views, and rehabilitated the financial position of the monastery. He was a friend of St. Anselm and exchanged verses, still extant, with the poet Reginald of Canterbury (ed. Libermann in "Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft fur altere Geschichte", XIII, 1888, pp. 528; 531-34). He died on 22 June, 1125, at St-Bertin.

[edit] Works

Even during his lifetime, Lambert was lauded in glowing terms for his great learning by an admirer —not a monk of St-Bertin— in the "Tractatus de moribus Lamberti Abbatis S. Beretini" (ed. Holder-Egger in "Monumenta German. Histor. SS.", XV, 2, 946-53). This work mentions several otherwise unknown writings of Lambert, e.g. "Sermones de Vetere Testamento", also studies on free will, the Divine prescience, original sin, origin of the soul and questions of physical science.

He is probably identical with Lambert, the Canon of St. Omer who wrote the famous "Liber Floridus", a kind of encyclopedia of Biblical, chronological, astronomical, geographical, theological, philosophical and natural history subjects, a detailed description of which is given in the Historia comitum Normannorum, comitum Flandriae ("History of the Norman and Flemish counts"). It is an extract or synopsis from different authors, and was begun in 1090 and finished in 1120.

[edit] Sources and references

  • "Lambert of St-Bertin". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company. 
  • POTTHAST, Bibl. Histor. Medii Aevi. I, 705; Biogr. Nat. De Belgigue, XI (1891), 162-66
  • WATTENBACH, Geschichtsquellen, II (1894), 170 sq.

This article incorporates text from the entry Lambert of St-Bertin in the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.