Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/127

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ROBERT


97


ROBERT


on the French Court. He created excellent cardinals, but donated the larger part of the Pontifical States to Louis II of Anjou, resorted to simony and extortion to meet the financial needs of his court, and seems never to have sincerely desired the termination of the Schism.

Baluze, Vita Paparum Avenionensium, I (Paris, 1693), 486 sqq.; Salembier, The Great Schism of the West (tr. New York, 1907), passim. N, A. Weber.

Robert of Jumieges, Archbishop of Canterbury (1051-2). Rohcit ClKiinpart was a Norman monk of St. Ouen at lioucn and was prior of that house when in 1037 he was elected Abbot of Jumieges. As abbot he began to build the fine Xorman abbey-church, and at this time he was able to be of service to St. Edward the Confessor, then an exile. When Edward returned to England as king in 1043 Robert accompanied him and was made Bishop of London in 1044. In this capacity he became the head of the Norman party in opposition to the Saxon party under Godwin, and exerted supreme influence over the king. In 1051 Robert was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury' and went to Rome for his pall, but the appointment was very unpopular among the English clergy who re- sented the intrusion of a foreigner into the metro- politan see. For a time he was successful in opposing Godwin even to the extent of instigating his exile, but when Godwin returned in 1052 Robert fled to Rome and was outlawed by the Witenagemot. The pope reinstated him in his see, but he could not regain possession of it, and ^\'illiam of Normandy made his continued exclusion one of his pretexts for invading England. The last years of his life were spent at Jumieges, but the precise date of his death has not been ascertained, though Robert de Torigni states it as 26 May, 1055. The valuable liturgical MS. of the "Missal of Robert of Jumieges", now at Rouen, was given by him, when Bishop of London to the abbey at Jumieges.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, ed. Thorpe, R. S. (London, 1861); Vita Eadwanli in LcaRD, Lives of Edward the Confessor, R. S. (London, 1858); William of Malmesbury, Gesta Ponti- ficum; P. L., CXLL 1441, giving one of his charters; Wilso:<, The Missal of Robert of Jumieges (London, 1896); Hook, Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury (London, 1865-75); Hcnt in Diet. Nat. Biog.; Searle, Anglo-Saxon Bishops, Nobles, and Kings (Cambridge, 1899) ; Obituary of the Abbey of Jumiiges in Recueil des Hisloriens, XXIII (Rouen, 1872), 419.

Edwin Burton. Robert of Lincoln. See Grosseteste.

Robert of Luzarches (Lus), b. at Luzarches near Pontoise towards the end of the twelfth century; is said to have been summoned to Paris by Philip Augustus who employed him in beautifying the city, and to have had a share in the work on Notre Dame. The real fame of this master is, however, connected with the cathedral of Notre Dame in Amiens. The old cathedral was destroyed by fire in 1218 and Bishop Evrard de Fouilloy had it rebuilt in Gothic style. An inscription made in 1288 in the "labyrinth" of the floor (now removed) testified that the building had been begun in 1220, and names "Robert, called of Luzarches", as the architect, and as his successors, Thomas de Cormont and the latter's son. The work was completed in later centuries. Viollet-le-Duc sees a fact of great significance in the employment of the layman, Robert; but it is not accurate that in Romanesque times the architects were always bish- ops, priests, or monks; or, on the other hand, that since the Gothic period the Church relinquished the direction of church-building so entirely as is now be- lieved. Robert was not long employed on the cathe- dral. Under the successor of Bishop Evrard, who apparently died in 1222, Cormont appears as the architect. Before 1240 the work had grown up to the vault. About 1270 Bishop Bernard put a choir window in the provisionally completed cathedral. An intended alteration of the original plan was not XIII.— 7


used in the finished building, so that the whole re- mains a splendid monument to Robert. In his day it was already called the "Gothic Parthenon". Gracefully built and better lighted than several of the large churches of France, there is yet, especially about the fa9ade, a majestic severity. It is more spacious than Notre Dame in Paris and considerably larger than the cathedral of Reims. The former is effec- tive tlirough its quiet simplicity, which amounts to austerity; the latter is less rich in the modelling of choir, windows, and triforium. But Robert's creation became a standard far and near, tlirough France and beyond, on account of the successful manner in which weight and strength are counter- balanced and of the consistently Gothic style. The design presents a middle aisle and two side aisles, though the choir has five aisles and the tran.sept has the width of seven aisles. The choir is flanked by seven chapels; that in the centre (the Lady chapel) projecting beyond the others in French style. The majestic and harmonious interior is surpassed in beauty by few cathedrals. The nave is about 470 ft. in length, 164 ft. in breadth (213 ft. in the transept), and 141 ft. in height. A poet writes aptly, "Fabrica nil demi patitur nee sustinet addi" (It is not possible to add anything to or to take anything from it).

G. GlETMANN.

Robert of Melun (De Melduno; Melidensis; Meliduxus), an English philosopher and theologian, b. in England about 1100; d. at Hereford, 1167. He gets his surname from Melun, near Paris, where, after having studied under Hugh of St. Victor and probably Abelard, he taught philosophy and theology. Among his pupils were John of Salisbury and Thomas k Becket. Through the influence of the latter he was made Bishop of Hereford in 1163. Judging from the tributes paid him by John of Salisbury in the "Me- talogicus" (P. L., CXCIX), Robert must have en- joyed great renown as a teacher. On the question of Universals, which agitated the schools in those days, he opposed the nominaUsm of Roscelin and seemed to favour a doctrine of moderate realism. His principal work, "Summa Theologiae" or "Summa Sententiarum" is .still in MS., except portions which have been published by Du Boulay in his "Historia Univ. Paris", ii, 585 sqq. He also wrote "Quajstiones de Divina Pagina" and "Quaestiones de Epistoha Pauli", both of which are kept in the Bibliotheque Nationale. Those who have examined the "Summa" pronounce it to be of great value in tracing the his- tory of scholastic doctrines.

Materials for the History of Thomas Becket in Rer. Britt. SS. contains valuable data; De Wulf, Hist, of Medieval Phil., tr. Coffey (New York, 1909), 210; Haureac, Hist, de la phil. scol. (Paris, 1872), 490 sqq. WiLLIAM TURNER.

Robert of Molesme, Saint, b. about the year 1029, at Champagne, France, of noble parents who bore the names of Thierry and Ermengarde; d. at Molesme, 17 April, 1111. When fifteen years of age, he commenced his novitiate in the Abbey of Montier- la-Celle, or St. Pierre-la-Celle, situated near Troyes, of which he became later prior. In 1068 he succeeded Hunaut II as Abbot of St. Michael de Tonnerre, in the Diocese of Langres. About this time a band of seven anchorites who lived in the forest of Collan, in the same diocese, sought to have Robert for their chief, but the monks, despite their constant resistance to his authority, insisted on keeping their abbot who enjoyed so great a reputation, and was the ornament of their house. Their intrigues determined Robert to resign his charge in 1071, and seek refuge in the monastery of Montier-la-Celle. The same year he was placed over the priory of St. Ayoul de Provins, which de- pended on Montier-la-Celle. Meantime two of the hermits of Collan went to Rome and besought Gregory VII to give them the prior of Provins for their supe-