Emilie Lavallee

Adam Marsh (d. 1259) was a prominent spiritual counsellor to princes, prelates, and the superiors of his order. Counsel and exhortations are prominent features of his surviving letters, through which he sought to advance his theological vision, particularly with regard to the pastoral work of the church and its need for correction and reform. Although confident in the immutability of divine truth and its ultimate victory, Adam often expresses uncertainty and anxiety in his letters concerning what he and many of his correspondents viewed as a spiritually (and politically) fraught and dangerous landscape, in which truth had become more difficult to discern and sound counsel more difficult to provide. In his letters, Adam confronts the difficulties of such uncertainties and considers how he and his recipients can determine not only what is true but what course of action they ought to take. Over the course of various correspondences, Adam refers himself and others to several external sources of insight-the illumination of divine counsel, the exchange of human counsel, and the interchange of multilateral deliberation-all mechanisms which, to differing degrees, rely on the aid of both divine mercy and human fellowship in order to provide the support necessary to navigate the contingencies of changing circumstance. Together, these considerations emphasize the interconnectedness of those seeking the will of God, as those engaged in the active life rely on the prayers, exhortations, counsels, and even the disagreements of others to help them to navigate the darkness of temporal uncertainties.

As a commentary on the Rule of St Benedict, the thirteenth-century collection of 'Sermones in regulam S. Benedicti' from the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny is unusual in many respects. Surviving in a single extant manuscript and unique with regard to provenance, form, and length, it also takes a markedly different approach from other Rule commentaries. Rather than focusing on the practical tenets of the Rule, it chooses instead to utilize a near-mystical interpretation throughout: conflating the inhabitants of the earthly abbey with their heavenly counterparts, it establishes Heaven as the model of ideal monastic observance. By focusing on its commentary on the third chapter of the Rule, which instructs the abbot on calling together his brothers for counsel, this paper explores how shifting the focus from human to divine counsel highlights a particular aspect of the value of counsel within the monastery. Within the celestial cloister, counsel is used not to combat human ignorance or uncertainty, but rather to involve the entire community, brought together with one common purpose for the work at hand.

Counsel, in its medieval conception, was a multifaceted virtue, and like many medieval virtues, subject to differing attempts at categorization. One of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, 'consilium' was also strongly associated in the thirteenth century with the virtue of prudence and the Aristotelian concept of euboulia, or ‘deliberating well’. Although theological texts of the period naturally often focus on the solely spiritual aspect of counsel—counsel as divine illumination—this paper will instead focus on discussions of human counsel exercised by those living in religious community.

This paper begins with a consideration of the categorisation of counsel as both gift of the Holy Spirit and subsidiary virtue to Prudence depictions of counsel in twelfth through fourteenth century virtue diagrams. These diagrams also illustrated the myriad of associations developed by the gifts and virtues with other schemes such as the beatitudes, acts of mercy, vices, etc. With such varied positions in the virtue framework, conceptions of counsel range from speculatively theological to practically ethical. In both its divine and human senses, however, counsel is viewed as having directive power, aimed towards action, associated with reason, moral action, and progression.

Within a monastic context, the giving and receiving of good counsel could not be viewed as merely a bilateral exchange of advice. Rather, it was an intentional exercise of virtue which concerned the whole community, since as members of one body, they shared both in one another’s profit and in one another’s burdens. Monastic rules such as the Rule of St. Benedict therefore explicitly directed abbots to seek the counsel of their whole community, a principle further supported by canon law.

These ideas could also be brought together to exhort the community to good counsel, particularly in sermons. This paper looks at two unedited sermons from the late-thirteenth/early-fourteenth century. The first, a monastic sermon from Oxford MS Bodl. 25 entitled 'Contra male consulentes', reminds the brothers that while good counsellors assist their fellow members, encouraging them towards good, bad counsellors injure not only themselves and those they counsel, but also the entire community. Good counsel is required to share the burdens of religious life; none of them can be self-sufficient. The second, a model sermon 'Si petis consilium a fratribus in capitulo' from the 'Sermones arboris' collection, also situates counsel in relation terms, though it draws more strongly on language not just of community, but of friendship. It is this presumed friendship between preacher and audience that gives security to his request for their counsel, and their bond with in turn necessitates his openness to their counsel.

While not displacing divine counsel, good human counsel, secured by the bonds of friendship and joint participation in the corporate body, is depicted as an important means of supporting one another towards progress in the religious life. Counsel within a community was an important act of shared moral responsibility, one seen as both highly spiritual and highly relational.

In the thirteenth century, Dominican works on confession gradually incorporated theological discussions of ethics, morality, and conscience into the general practice of confession, emphasizing penitents’ responsibility for their own moral judgements and actions. This shift impacted not only the confessors trained and educated in these texts, but also the penitents who came to them: the very act of confession encouraged a regular examination of conscience and internal deliberation, as well as an attitude of humility and a willingness to accept counsel and reproof. What impact might these regular practices have had on penitents who were in power? Through an examination of the role of confession in the kingship of Louis IX of France (r. 1226-70), this paper argues that the practice of confession had the potential not only to shape behaviours and attitudes but also to become an influential factor in political decision-making.

Confession was a significant part of the religious rhythm of Louis’s life, one guided primarily by Dominicans. The account of his confessor, Geoffrey of Beaulieu, emphasizes the frequency of the king’s confession as well as his humility towards his confessor and his willingness to receive correction. Strikingly, both mendicant and lay chronicles concerning Louis’s life also recount a similar attitude of humility and openness to reproof impacting Louis’ relationships outside of confession. Louis actively solicited criticism from among his inner circle, intentionally choosing individuals besides his confessors on whom he could rely to offer him correction whenever necessary. This same emphasis on humility and openness to moral counsel can also be found in the Enseignements Louis wrote for his children. At the same time, however, Louis’s kingship also laid emphasis on the conscience of the ruler, allowing him to follow the same path of internal deliberation to make decisions against the advice of his counsellors.

The source text for this paper was the thirteenth-century sermon preached 'in concilio pro negotio tartarorum' by Eudes of Chateauroux. The sermon was likely preached during the latter half of 1241, shortly after the death of Gregory IX in August of that year and during a period of increasing concern and uncertainty about the threat posed to Christendom by invading Mongol armies. In the sermon, Eudes takes a spiritual yet practical view of how counsel and deliberation should be used in order to prepare for dangerous and uncertain times.

Eudes’s sermon takes the theme ‘Before every action, stable counsel’ (Ecclus. 37:20). It stresses the great value of human counsel for the Church, and repeatedly emphasises spiritual insight over worldly circumspection, contrasting good and bad counsellors. The need for the stability of good counsel is especially pressing when faced with clear danger and uncertainty, and Eudes’ model of counsel make it clear that the unknown future cannot be managed by an individual in isolation. Rather, counsel requested from various sources should itself be formed through forethought and active deliberation and discussion.

Although thirteenth-century sermons are themselves consciously forms of counsel and persuasive rhetoric, sermons in which ‘counsel’ itself is the primary subject are fairly rare. Those sermons like the above which do exist help us to establish the complex view of counsel carried and conveyed by the men who preached them. Medieval discussions of 'consilium' can focus on very different aspects, landing at different points along the spectrum between the spiritual and temporal. This sermon of Eudes of Chateauroux is significant in falling somewhere between, setting counsel within a clearly spiritual model but also emphasising the practical use of deliberative counsel in dealing with uncertainties in the immediate future.

Medieval conceptions of counsel ('consilium') were multifold, encompassing the spectrum from internal deliberation and divine illumination to public criticism and discussion. This paper specifically examines the views and influences of the Franciscan Adam Marsh (c. 1200 – 1259) concerning the role of counsel, admonition, and debate as articulated in his extant letters.

Trained in Oxford, Adam exerted a wide influence well beyond the bounds of his order, including in the royal court. Sought out as a spiritual counsellor but also inevitably drawn into a world of politics and mediation, Adam appears to give a rich, yet pragmatic role to counsel and debate. While making continuous reference to divine counsel, he also frames the perpetual search for truth and for the right course of action within a context of lively discussion and inquiry and assigns a positive role even to public disagreement, referring to ‘sweet disputes’ which can lead to concord rather than conflict. The natural inference is that decisions are therefore not only matters for the individual conscience, but rather may often also best be hammered out in many-sided communal discussion and debate—a striking conclusion in light of contemporary political disputes between Henry III and his barons.

Our richest sources for medieval courtliness are derived from the idealized world of courtly romantic literature, and identifying the extent to which this world reflected social realities remains problematic. When and where did the ideals of courtliness originate, and who—whether consciously or unconsciously—were its instigators and perpetuators? One area of study that has hitherto remained relatively overlooked in this respect concerns the works of vernacular historiography that emerged in the Anglo-Norman regnum over the course of the twelfth century. This paper briefly examined two such works, Geoffrey Gaimar’s Estoire des Engleis and Jordan Fantosme’s Chronicle, and the manner in which their authors used descriptions of courtly behaviour to didactic purpose, conveying ideals which synthesized aristocratic martial values with the values of the learned court.

Closer to the courtly milieu than intentionally polarized clerical critiques, these texts nonetheless offer engaged commentaries on the subject of courtly behaviour. As the earlier of these two texts by several decades, the Estoire des Engleis is more focused upon a new engagement and excitement over the subject-matter of the court, mixing an annalistic progression of events long past with sub-narratives imbued with proto-romantic elements. Fantosme’s later work, benefiting from the continued development of the court’s intellectual and administrative culture, describes a better-developed code of behaviour enacted in contemporary scenes of diplomacy and battle. However, both these historians share the goal of presenting courtly and mannered behaviours that contribute to the establishment of a peaceful and ordered society. Both intentionally shape and craft their texts in order to present histories that still resonate with contemporary aristocratic and knightly values and interests, thereby providing new mechanisms to inform and shape the new identity of the courtly prud’homme.