Lindsay Rudge PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

monastery was refounded for nuns by Charles the Bald, only to be ruined a second time.
The community was refounded yet again in c.1029, again for women. 56
Communities could also be founded by bishops. The monastery of Caladon, near
Le Mans, was founded before 710 by Berarius, probably bishop of Le Mans. It is first
mentioned in his will, dating to that year. This document records that he endowed the
community with the monasteries of Busogilus (Saint-Jean-sur-Mayence), Priscosiccinus,
and St-Victeur-du-Mans, and the oratory of Saint-Martin-du-Mans. At the time of
writing, the abbess of the community was named Cagliberta, and Berarius states that the
second abbess will be Chrodilda, the daughter of dux Chrodegarius, who had helped
significantly with the foundation of the monastery. The will closes by asking Herlemond,
bishop of Le Mans, to look after the monastery and oversee the election of the next
abbess after Chrodilda. 57
One further issue that must be brought out is that of income. Certainly income
was always an issue for monastic houses, even, as we have noted, for Caesarius’ own
foundation of St John. Even in the ninth century, the Institutio Sanctimonialium had to
include the provision that that no monastic house could accept new entrants that it could
not comfortably feed. 58 Added to the ever-present internal pressure on resources was the
uncomfortable presence outside of those overseeing the monasteries. Opportuna (d. c.
770) was less fortunate. Her brother Chrodegang, the bishop of Sées, was away, and in
his absence the guardian of his properties, Chrodobert, seized those belonging to her
monastery. At the same time, Chrodobert arranged the death of Chrodegang. 59 Indeed,
one of Opportuna’s miracles amply illustrates the importance of resources and, in this
case, the measures to which an abbess might have to take. A peasant who stole a donkey
from the monastery refused to acknowledge his crime; by the next day, the peasant’s
fields had been miraculously sown with salt, and he handed over both the donkey and the
56
See also the community’s entry in http://monasticmatrix.usc.edu.
57
DHGE XI, 264.
58
Institutio Sanctimonialium, can. VIII. MGH Conc. II:I 421-456.
59
Vita Opportunae AASS April 3: 62-73, at 63.
185