Lindsay Rudge PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

these are the rules of Isidore of Seville and Fructuosus of Braga, which may be a
reflection of Benedict’s Septimanian origins. 87 Perhaps revealingly, even the rule for
monks of Aurelian, Caesarius’ successor to the see of Arles, and whose rule was largely
based on those of Caesarius, is referred to more often than that of his model. 88 A number
of explanations for this apparent lack of interest in the Regula virginum could be put
forward. The most obvious is to view the texts in terms of gender, and see a general
preference on the part of Benedict for rules written for men above those intended for
women. In addition to the Caesarian material, only two texts written for women have
been used in the Concordia. These two texts are referred to even less often than that of
Caesarius. 89 These are the rule of Donatus of Besançon, which was itself based on a
combination of the Caesarian and Benedictine rules; and an extract from the Vita
Columbani, which recounts miracles taking place at the female monastery of
Faremoutiers. This apparent oddity – a selection of miracles in the midst of a collection
of regulae – serves to underline the normative aspects of these miracles (see above,
Chapter Two, at 124 ff.). It further demonstrates once more the importance of non-
regulae texts to guiding dedicated women, which here is given particular weight by the
recognition by Benedict himself that such was the case.
However, explaining this discrepancy between the numbers of texts aimed at men
and women along gendered lines is less than convincing. Two of the texts for women
which are not used – the rules of Aurelian and Columbanus – have masculine
counterparts, so what could be seen as ignoring much of the female-oriented material
may simply be a wish to avoid duplication. More importantly, Benedict took the
opportunity in the Concordia to include more of the body of material originating from
Arles than had found space in the Codex. The first of these additional items, credited here
and generally known in the ninth century as a ‘letter of saint Caesarius’, is actually the
letter of his nephew Teridius to the second abbess Caesaria. 90 Perhaps more significant is
Benedict’s use of the three brief pieces of writing by the same abbess Caesaria on prayer,
87 Isidore’s Regula (PL 103, 553-572) is used in 37 chapters; that of Fructuosus (PL 87, 1099-1110) in 41.
88 The regula Aureliani (PL 68, 395-406) is used in 25 chapters.
89 The rule of Donatus is used in caps. 36, 4; 15, 10; 9, 10; 61, 14; the miracles of Eboriac are at 15, 12.
90 Vatican, Bibl. Apost., ms Reg. 140 (s.IX) also attributes this to Caesarius, suggesting a widespread belief
in his authorship.
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