Lindsay Rudge PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

the monastery, ‘according to the Rule of Caesarius, Bishop of Arles, of blessed memory,
… shall never have the right to leave it’. 86 The significance of this letter is that the
bishops concerned (Eufronius of Tours, Praetextatus of Rouen, Germanus of Paris, Felix
of Nantes, Domitianus of Angers, Victorius of Rennes, and Domnolus of Le Mans) were
clearly aware of the requirements of the rule; by the 550s, knowledge of the rule had
spread over a wide geographical area.
The Vitae composed by both Venantius Fortunatus and the nun Baudonivia refer
to Radegund’s adoption of the Caesarian rule. 87 Praising Radegund’s zeal for undertaking
the menial tasks of the monastery, Fortunatus exclaims ‘How can anyone describe her
excited fervour as she ran into the kitchen, doing her week of chores?’ 88 Subsequently,
Fortunatus also notes that ‘Further she never flagged in supporting the sick and even
before she took up the Rule of Arles did her weekly tour of service preparing plenty of
warm water for them all.’ 89 Radegund’s practice is clearly taken directly from the Regula
virginum: ‘As in the kitchen, so in every ministration to bodily needs, in whatever the
daily need requires, they shall take turns with one another, except the mother and the
prioress’. 90
Fortunatus evidently had a good understanding of the requirements of the Regula
virginum, but this was surpassed by Radegund’s second biographer, the nun
Baudonivia. 91 Brought up in Holy Cross from an early age – ‘I am the smallest of the
small ones she nourished familiarly from the cradle as her own child at her feet!’ 92 –
Baudonivia’s understanding and conceptions of monastery life were shaped by the Arles
rule. On occasion, she makes direct reference to the rule. Even for Radegund’s funeral,
the nuns did not leave Holy Cross: ‘Since it was ordained that no living person should
issue out of the gates of the monastery, the whole flock stood on the walls while they
86
Gregory of Tours, Historiae IX.39, tr. Thorpe, 528.
87
For further examples of this, see S. Coates, ‘Regendering Radegund?’, 48-9.
88
Vita sanctae Radegundis 24, Krusch (ed.) MGH SSRM 2 358-76, ed. and tr. SWDA 80.
89
Vita Radegundis I, 24, tr. SWDA, 81.
90
RV 14.
91
Krusch (ed.) MGH SSRM II 377-95; tr. SWDA, 86-105.
92
Vita Radegundis II, praefatio, tr. SWDA, 86.
91