Lindsay Rudge PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

‘sorely lamented that he had lost the ability to walk because of an illness’. 127 The
continuing presence of these men despite their disabilities suggests a monastic
community which extended beyond the nuns themselves, in which servants who could no
longer work were still resident or at least associated with St John. Of course, it is
probable that such people were employed by and resident at the monastery from its
foundation. The specific prohibition against personal maids or slaves (Regula virginum
cap. 7) may have been intended to differentiate such women from general servants
employed by the monastery as a whole – and this is a salutary reminder that even in
Caesarius’ day the community at St John was composed of more people than simply
nuns.
In sum, the Vita Rusticulae provides several valuable insights into the monastery
of St John in the years after not only Caesarius’ death, but also those of Caesaria I and II.
Insofar as issues such as the employment of servants are concerned, this relatively late
source may in fact illuminate practices that had always been part of the living
arrangements at the monastery, but that Caesarius had never needed or wanted to
mention. As a closer reflection of its own time, it shows the nuns – and in particular their
abbesses – taking action to find a safe place for themselves and their monastery in the ebb
and flow of political life. In this, the provisions of the Regula virginum proved to be
immensely useful.
Early transmission: Use in later sixth-century rules
The Regula virginum of Caesarius was not only sent to Poitiers. It was also used
as a model for three Provençal rules composed in the later sixth century: Aurelian of
Arles’ Regula monachorum and Regula virginum; Ferreolus of Uzès’ rule for monks; and
the anonymous Regula Tarnantensis. In the cases of the latter two rules, the means by
which their authors obtained copies of the Regula virginum is unknown. All three of
127 Vita Rusticulae 25, 26; trans. SWDA 135.
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