Rainald of Vézelay: Vita Sancti Hugonis Abbatis

This prose life of Hugh, abbot of Cluny, was written by Rainald, abbot of Vézelay, who addresses it to all the sons of the church of Cluny. He explains that many brethren have urged him to describe the life of the most holy father briefly, and that he writes from devotion, not presumption; if some more gifted writer has already laboured on the subject, he does not wish to overshadow him, but offers his plain work for less learned readers, since a simple style may serve truth. The life begins with Hugh’s noble Burgundian descent from Dalmatius and Aremburgis and his pious youth.

The chapters cover his monastic training, his election as abbot, his generosity to the poor, his power over demons, the deliverance of the dead from punishment, the building and reform of churches and monasteries, his foreknowledge and healing gifts, and finally a council at Reims, the ending of a schism and his holy death. In the sample Rainald notes that Hugh founded the nunnery of Marcigny on his patrimony with the help of his brother Geoffrey. The life is a key source for one of the most influential abbots of the Middle Ages.