Peter+the+Venerable

Peter the Venerable toc  Peter the Venerable (c.1092-1156) was the abbot of Cluny between 1122 and 1156, making him not only the leader of the entire Cluniac monastic order, but also one of the most influential religious figures of his time. In his powerful position, Peter the Venerable was able to make significant contributions to the society in which he lived, such as being responsible for religious reform, having influence in religious mediation, and writing intellectually-informed polemics denouncing heretical ideas - contributions which affected the wider community as well as the monks at Cluny. =Religious Reform=  The reforms implemented at Cluny by Peter the Venerable responded to concerns about a need to restore the basic teachings of the Rule of St. Benedict. Traditionalists believed that the monks at Cluny were living a far too liberal interpretation of the ‘Rule’. @Bernard of Clairvaux, a Cistercian monk and one such traditionalist, accused the Cluniac monks of diverge nces from the ‘Rule’ in a letter entitled 'Apology' in 1126/7. In response to the accusations, Peter the Venerable summoned a chapter of two hundred priors, hoping to implement reforms in Cluniac monasteries; however, this initiative was largely unsuccessful due to the lack of support for reform from many of the Cluniac monks themselves. A more successful implementation of reforms was achieved in 1146, when Peter the Venerable released a list of measures aimed to increase austerity by implementing a stricter regime to be followed by all Cluniac monks, largely reflecting Peter the Venerable's belief that "in the religious life it is easier to found than to restore". =Religious mediation =  Peter the Venerable wielded considerable power over affairs outside Cluny, mediating between disagreeing parties, which was largely due to his position as the head of a large and wealthy religious order. The influence held by Peter the Venerable is, as Constable highlights, considerable even in other religious orders, as exemplified by his mediating a disagreement between a group of Cistercian monks and their abbot. Peter the Venerable was also an instrumental figure in the reconciliation between [|Peter Abelard]and Bernard of Clairvaux, the latter having accused Peter Abelard of committing a heresy in his book about the Divine Trinity. As Peter the Venerable wrote on a letter to Innocent II, “the lord abbot of Cîteaux arrived, and spoke with us [the monks of Cluny] and with [Peter Abelard] about a reconciliation between him and the abbot of Clairvaux”, illustrating the abbot of Cluny's skill as an influential mediator. =Denouncing heretical ideas = As an intellectually-inclined man, Peter the Venerable also contributed to the religious literature of the time, particularly by writing texts which denounced heretical ideas and their promulgation. In 1142-43, Peter the Venerable commissioned the first Latin translation of the Qur'an, amongst other Islamic texts; however, as Nolan asserts, Peter the Venerable’s aim “was not to 'study' a 'religion', but to refute a particularly vile form of heresy”. Peter the Venerable then wrote two polemics denouncing the heretical ideas of the Islamic faith, using the Latin translations as a foundation for his anti-Islamic arguments. Peter the Venerable also wrote polemics against the heresies of the Jews (c. 1134) and even against those of Christians, such as the polemic written by Peter the Venerable against the heretical ideas of Peter de Bruys. =References = Constable, Giles. //The Reformation of the Twelfth Century.// Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Lawrence, C. H. //Medieval Monasticism: Forms of Religious Life in Western Europe in the Middle Ages.// 2ed. New York: Longman Group, 1989.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Leclercq, Jean. //Bernard of Clairvaux.// Washington D.C.: Cistercian Publications, 1973.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Leclercq, Jean. “The Monastic Crisis of the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries.” In //Cluniac Monasticism in the Central Middle Ages//, edited by Noreen Hunt. London: Macmillan, 1971.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Peter the Venerable, “Letter (98) to Pope Innocent II.” In //The Letters of Abelard and Heloise//, translated and edited by Betty Radice. Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books, 1974.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Sanford, Jonathan J. “Peter the Venerable.” In //A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle// Ages, edited by Jorge J. E. Garcia and Timothy B. Noone. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2003.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Tolan, John. //Sons of Ishmael.// Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2008.

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