Lawrence of Durham

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Lawrence of Durham
Waltham, Essex
DiedMarch 1154
France
Resting placeDurham
Other namesLawrence/Laurence of Waltham
EducationChurch of the Holy Cross school, Waltham
Years active2nd quarter of the 12th century
Known forLatin poetry
TitlePrior of Durham
Term1149–1154
PredecessorRoger
SuccessorAbsalom

Lawrence of Durham (died 1154) was a 12th-century English

Benedictine monk. In the 1130s Lawrence became a courtier of Geoffrey Rufus, bishop of Durham
.

After the latter's death, Lawrence was a leading opponent of

Ailred of Rievaulx
.

Life and career

Lawrence was born at

novice during the episcopate of Ranulf Flambard (bishop of Durham, 1099–1128).[3]

Two teachers of the Waltham school—Athelard and his son Peter—are known from this era, and it is likely that one of them was Lawrence's instructor.

Henry I.[5]

According to his own account, he continued his education at Durham, learning the

cantor and may have held the post of receiver general in Bishop Geoffrey's exchequer.[8]

After Bishop Geoffrey's death, one of Geoffrey's former courtiers,

William de Ste Barbe was elected at York as the new bishop.[12] Cumin subsequently seized the priory and ejected the monks, including Lawrence.[13]

Lawrence's opposition, as expressed in his writings, was vehement, and he has been described as "one of the most persistent opponents of Cumin".[14] Subsequently, Lawrence rose in station within the hierarchy of the priory. Lawrence held the office of sub-prior [deputy prior] by November 1147.[15] Following the death of Prior Roger[16] in either 1148 or 1149, Lawrence took over the leadership of the priory itself, and is named for the first time in such capacity in 1149.[17] As prior of Durham, the most important ecclesiastical office in the diocese after the bishop, he remained until his death.[18]

Lawrence died on either 16 March or 18 March 1154.

Hugh du Puiset as bishop of Durham, the replacement of William de Ste Barbe who had died in 1152.[19] It was on his return, while in a French town, that illness took him.[7] His body was later taken and buried at Durham.[7]

Writings

His earliest work appears to be his Vita Sanctae Brigidae, a Latin

King of the Scots; that is, between 1130 and 1134.[21] Lawrence's letter to Ailred survives.[22]

Lawrence's most famous work in the Middle Ages—surviving in at least 17 manuscript copies—was the Hypognosticon (meaning, according to Lawrence, abbreviation).

the Bible, though becoming a member of the episcopal court meant he was only able to compose 40 lines per day.[26] He managed to get the work up to a good size when it disappeared one Christmas, stolen, Lawrence thought, by a maid-servant.[27] The Hypognosticon, an improved version of what he could remember of this work, was written in the space of one month.[28]

Another major work, the Dialogi, has been hailed as Lawrence's "most original work".[29] The work is a set of dialogues, in four books, averaging c. 550 lines of elegiacs.[29] The dialogues feature Lawrence, Philip, another monk of Durham, and a Breton named Peter.[29] In the first two books, where Lawrence and Philip are in exile, Lawrence describes his longing for the good times of Bishop Geoffrey's era, describes the great things of Durham, and disparages Cumin and the behaviour of his soldiers .[30] In books iii and iv, when the two Durham monks have been allowed to return by Cumin, Lawrence recounts his own upbringing, and the characters debate various moral points.[31]

Another work attributed to Lawrence, the Consolatio de Morte Amici ["Consolation on the Death of a Friend"],

De Consolatione Philosophiae.[33] Lawrence, grieving over the death of his friend Paganus, is persuaded not to mourn by an interlocutor, who insists on the immortality of Paganus' soul and God's love.[34]

Further, five speeches written in prose are extant:

Cleophas, Luke, Thomas and the other Apostles, bemoaning the Crucifixion, get interrupted and reassured by Christ.[38]

Notes

  1. ^ Raine, Dialogi, pp. xxvii, 40–41; Lawrence-Mathers, Manuscripts, p. 144; Rigg, "Durham, Lawrence of"
  2. ^ Rigg, "Durham, Lawrence of"; Rigg, History of Anglo-Latin Literature, p. 54
  3. ^ Raine, Dialogi, pp. xxviii–xxix, 43–44; Rigg, "Durham, Lawrence of"
  4. ^ Raine, Dialogi, p. xxviii
  5. ^ Knowles and Hadcock, p. 178; Lawrence-Mathers, Manuscripts, p. 144, Rollason, Libellus, p. 212, n. 94
  6. ^ Lawrence-Mathers, Manuscripts, pp. 144–45
  7. ^ a b c d e Rigg, "Durham, Lawrence of"
  8. ^ Rigg, History of Anglo-Latin Literature, p. 59; Raine, Dialogi, p. xxix
  9. ^ Young, William Cumin, pp. 11–12
  10. ^ Young, William Cumin, pp. 14–15
  11. ^ Young, William Cumin, pp. 12–14
  12. ^ Young, William Cumin, pp. 20–21
  13. ^ Young, William Cumin, pp. 11, 22
  14. ^ Young, William Cumin, p. 11
  15. ^ Knowles, Brooke and London, Heads of Religious Houses, p. 43; Le Neve, Fasti, p. 33
  16. ^ Udo Kindermann,Zum Brief des Bernhard von Clairvaux an Prior Roger, in: Analecta Cisterciensia 26 (1970), S. 248–252
  17. ^ Knowles, Brooke and London, Heads of Religious Houses, p. 43; Le Neve, Fasti, pp. 33–34
  18. ^ a b Knowles, Brooke and London, Heads of Religious Houses, p. 43; Le Neve, Fasti, pp. 33–34; Rigg, "Durham, Lawrence of"
  19. ^ Le Neve, Fasti, p. 30; Rigg, "Durham, Lawrence of"
  20. ^ a b Rigg, History of Anglo-Latin Literature, p. 54
  21. ^ Rigg, History of Anglo-Latin Literature, p. 54; Sharpe, Medieval Irish Saints Lives, p. 33, n. 121
  22. ^ For which, see "Survey of the Unedited Work of Laurence of Durham", pp. 249–265; see also Sharpe, Medieval Irish Saints Lives, p. 33, n. 121
  23. ISBN 3-7896-0668-5
  24. ^ Rigg, History of Anglo-Latin Literature, pp. 54, 340, n. 153
  25. ^ Summarised by Rigg, History of Anglo-Latin Literature, pp. 54–58
  26. ^ Raine, Dialogi, p. xxx
  27. ^ Raine, Dialogi, pp. xxx–xxxi
  28. doi:10.3138/flor.16.005
    . Retrieved 31 October 2013.; Raine, Dialogi, p. xxx; Rigg, History of Anglo-Latin Literature, p. 340, n. 153
  29. ^ a b c d Rigg, History of Anglo-Latin Literature, p. 58
  30. ^ Rigg, History of Anglo-Latin Literature, p. 59
  31. ^ Summarised by Rigg, History of Anglo-Latin Literature, pp. 59–61
  32. ISBN 978-3-7896-0688-5
  33. ^ Rigg, History of Anglo-Latin Literature, p. 57, and p. 341, n. 158
  34. ^ a b c Rigg, History of Anglo-Latin Literature, p. 57
  35. ^ Edited by Udo Kindermann, Die fünf Reden des Laurentius von Durham, in: Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 8 (1971), S. 108–141
  36. ^ Edited by Udo Kindermann, Laurentius von Durham, Consolatio de morte amici. Untersuchungen und kritischer Text, Diss. Erlangen 1969, S. 190
  37. ^ Edited by Udo Kindermann, Das Emmausgedicht des Laurentius von Durham, in: Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 5 (1968, printed 1969), S. 79–100
  38. ^ Rigg, History of Anglo-Latin Literature, pp. 57–58

References

Further reading

  • Bollandus, Johannus (ed.), "Vita S. Brigidae auctore Laurentio Dunelmensi ex MS. Salmanticensi.", Acta Sanctorum, vol. i. pp. 172–85 (1 February), Oxford: Société des Bollandistes, retrieved 9 August 2010
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Roger
 Prior of Durham
1149–1154 		Succeeded by
Absalom
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