Gerard la Pucelle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Denomination | Catholic |
|---|---|
| Senior posting | |
| See | Diocese of Coventry |
| Title | Bishop of Coventry |
| Period in office | 1183–1184 |
| Predecessor | Richard Peche |
| Successor | Hugh Nonant |
| Personal | |
| Date of birth | c 1117 |
| Date of death | January 13, 1184 |
| Place of death | Coventry |
Gerard la Pucelle was an Anglo-French scholar of canon law, clerk, and Bishop of Coventry.
Contents |
[edit] Life
Gerard (Girard) La Pucelle (c. 1115/1120 – 1184) was an Anglo-French scholar, possibly born in England, who taught canon law[1] at the University of Paris in the 1150s, when the study of the discipline of the Church was first differentiated from theology, spurred by the collections of church decretals that began with the Decretum Gratiani assembled by a monk at the University of Bologna. Among his surviving texts are glosses on the Decretum Manuscripts, among the manuscripts of Durham Cathedral[2] and, in the Summa Lipsiensis[3] marked with the siglum 'Magister G. Coventris Episcopus' ("Doctor G. Bishop of Coventry"), and occasionally in the Summa Parisiensis,[4] and elsewhere (See Pennington). Gerard added to the standard collection from which he taught. Among his pupils were Lucas of Hungary, Ralph Niger, master Richard, a certain Gervase who retired to Durham, and the English scholar Walter Map (Pennington).[5]
Gerard was a member of Thomas Becket's entourage, his extended familia,[6] and a close friend of John of Salisbury.[7] After Becket went into exile, Gerard taught for a while in Paris before he undertook a mission to the Empire[8] in 1165/66 even though Frederick Barbarossa was under a ban of excommunication.[9] In 1168 Gerard returned to England and took the oath of fealty to Henry II which Becket had rejected.[10] With papal permission and that of Louis VII of France he was permitted to reside—and doubtless teach— in Cologne, which was one of the most important centers of canon law scholarship in the 1160s and 1170s.
From about 1174 he was once again in England, serving as a principal clerk to Becket's successor as Archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop Richard of Dover. He was also with Peter of Blois for a time in Rome, where he represented Richard of Dover at the curia. In 1179, Gerard attended the Third Lateran Council as the archbishop's representative. From there, he may have returned to Colonge to teach for a bit, but by 1181 Gerard had returned to England.[9]
Perhaps already a canon,[citation needed] in January 1183, he was appointed Bishop of Coventry (later known as Coventry and Lichfield),[11][12] which made him the vassal of Henry II of England,[13] but he died the following year on January 13, 1184[11] at Coventry. Some suspected that Gerard was poisoned. He was buried in Coventry Cathedral.[9]
[edit] See also
- Mathieu d'Angers
- Anselm of Paris
[edit] Notes
- ^ leges et decreta according to John of Salisbury.
- ^ MS C.III.1 marked with the siglum 'Ger.' (Pennington)
- ^ The collection of decretals with commentary, as used in Leipzig
- ^ The decretals and commentaries collected at the University of Paris.
- ^ Knowles The Monastic Order in England p. 674 footnote 3
- ^ Barlow Thomas Becket p. 78
- ^ Barlow Thomas Becket p. 135
- ^ Barlow Thomas Becket p. 127
- ^ a b c Donahue "Pucelle, Gerard (d. 1184)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ Barlow Thomas Becket p. 176
- ^ a b Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 253
- ^ The two dioceses were combined, 1121–1188.
- ^ Throughout the latter part of the twelfth and early part of the thirteenth century, the bishop owed the service of fifteen knights, according to Victoria County History: Warwick, vol 2 (1908) {http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=36487 (on-line])
[edit] References
- Barlow, Frank Thomas Becket Berkeley, CA:University of California Press 1986 ISBN 0-520-07175-1
- Catholic Encyclopedia "Paris, University of"
- 'Dignitaries & canons whose prebends are unidentified: Canons for whom no prebend assigned', Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300: volume 4: Salisbury (1991), pp. 118-38. Date accessed: 13 May 2006. Apparently already a canon, though his prebendary, whether of Canterbury or Coventry, is unidentified.
- Donahue Charles jun., "Pucelle, Gerard (d. 1184)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press, 2004 Online Edition accessed January 14, 2008
- Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology, Third Edition, revised, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
- 'Houses of Benedictine monks: Priory of Coventry', A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 2 (1908), pp. 52-9 Date accessed: 13 May 2006.
- Knowles, Dom David The Monastic Order in England: From the Times of St. Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council Second Edition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1976 reprint ISBN 0-521-05479-6
- Pennington, Dr. Ken "d.-glosses, appear in a strata of Bolognese glosses composed during the 1180s" Bibliography.
- Weiler, Dr. Bjorn review of Joseph P. Huffman, Family, Commerce and Religion in London and Cologne: Anglo-German Immigrants, c.1000-c.1300 (Cambridge University Press, 1998) (on-line)
[edit] Further reading
- S. Kuttner and E. Rathbone, "Anglo-Norman canonists of the twelfth century" Traditio 7 1949–51 p. 279–358
| Roman Catholic Church titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Richard Peche |
Bishop of Coventry 1183–1184 |
Succeeded by Hugh Nonant |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | La Pucelle, Gerard |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gerard Pucelle; Girard la Pucelle |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Bishop of Coventry |
| DATE OF BIRTH | c. 1117 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 13, 1184 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
