Grimlaicus or Grimlaic was a
cleric
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
who lived in ninth- or tenth-century
Francia
The Kingdom of the Franks (), also known as the Frankish Kingdom, or just Francia, was the largest History of the Roman Empire, post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks, Frankish Merovingian dynasty, Merovingi ...
, probably around
Metz
Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...
.
He is known only for the book he wrote on how to lead a
solitary life within a monastic community, the '. This was the first known rule written for
hermit
A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions.
Description
In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...
s in the Latin West, drawing heavily on the
Rule of St Benedict
The ''Rule of Saint Benedict'' () is a book of precepts written in Latin by Benedict of Nursia, St. Benedict of Nursia (c. AD 480–550) for monks living communally under the authority of an abbot.
The spirit of Saint Benedict's Rule is summed up ...
. The Regula begins with a prologue, followed by 69 sections, or chapters. Grimlaicus dedicated the compilation to his namesake, a
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...
. The latter,
Mabillon
Dom Jean Mabillon , (; 23 November 1632 – 27 December 1707) was a French Benedictine monk and scholar of the Congregation of Saint Maur. He is considered the founder of the disciplines of palaeography and diplomatics.
Early life
Mabillon w ...
conjectures, lived at the
papal court
The papal household or pontifical household (usually not capitalized in the media and other nonofficial use, ), called until 1968 the Papal Court (''Aula Pontificia''), consists of dignitaries who assist the pope in carrying out particular ceremon ...
during the
pontificate
The pontificate is the form of government used in Vatican City. The word came to English from French and simply means ''papacy'', or "to perform the functions of the Pope or other high official in the Church". Since there is only one bishop of Ro ...
of
Formosus
Pope Formosus (896) was the pope and ruler of the Papal States from 6 October 891 until his death on 4 April 896. His reign as Pope was troubled, marked by interventions in power struggles over the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Kingdom of ...
.
The Codex Palatino-Vaticanus, no. 830. (Texts, translations and indices.) MacCarthy, Bartholomew; Marianus Scotus,1028-1082; p.5
/ref>
References
Further reading
* Andrew Thornton, ''Grimlaicus: Rule for Solitaries'' (Trappist, Ky., 2011),
* Andrew Thornton, 'Rule Within Rule, Cell Within Cloister: Grimlaicus's Regula Solitariorum', in Cate Gunn and Herbert McAvoy (eds.) ''Medieval Anchorites in their communities'' (Woodbridge, 2017), 68-83
* Charles West,
Group formation in the Long Tenth Century
, in Christine Kleinjung and Stefan Albrecht (eds.), ''Das lange 10. Jahrhundert – Struktureller Wandel zwischen Zentralisierung und Fragmentierung, äußerem Druck und innerer Krise'' (Mainz, 2015), pp. 49–59
External links
{{Authority control
Frankish Christian monks
10th-century Lotharingian people
Christian hermits