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2 The Hortus deliciarum: A Book for Reform and Renaissance The Hortus deliciarum marked a critical stage in the progress of reform at Hohenbourg. Some twenty years had elapsed since the first flush of reform enthusiasm had begun to transform the community from a neglected outpost—locked in struggles both with its own chaplains and most likely also with the neighboring monasteries of Niedermünster and Ebersheim—to a vibrant spiritual center for the female religious life. As we saw in the last chapter, that transformation had been effected over the course of several years, beginning with the attentions of the emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, and spanning the careers of both Relinde and Herrad . By the time work began on the Hortus, sometime before 1175, Hohenbourg was already entering its second generation of reform. Many of the difficulties that must have marked the early years of Relinde’s abbacy were no longer as pressing as they had been. The monastic buildings—once in disrepair—had been restored and some new ones had been built. More important, the spiritual life of the community had been renewed and the women placed under the Augustinian Rule in accordance with the dictates of several church councils and in probable obedience to the bishop of Strasbourg. Although we have few details concerning the spiritual life at the community during this early reform period, it is clear that Relinde sought relationships with other reform-minded communities, chief among them the male reform center at Marbach. Her arrangement with the canons there reinforced Hohenbourg’s reform stance and set the stage for Herrad’s foundation at Truttenhausen. The relationship with Marbach may also, as I discuss in this chapter, have provided Herrad with the library access that her work on the Hortus presupposed. Despite the many successes of Relinde’s abbacy, one major task remained unfinished in the early 1170s: the establishment of reliable pastoral care for the women of the community by what later documents insist must 50 Chapter 2 be a ‘‘suitable’’ (idoneus) priest. Given the defensive context in which this term usually appears in Hohenbourg’s records—alongside strict warnings against attacks on either the women or their property—‘‘suitable’’ seems at the very least to have meant that these priests should harbor no ill-will toward the community. However, the term obviously meant more than this bare minimum, given Hohenbourg’s recent refoundation and evident commitment to reform. Like other reformers, Herrad and Relinde were deeply concerned with the proper instruction of priests, their preparation for the care of souls, and, above all, their moral standing, a topic that appears repeatedly throughout the Hortus. Against this background it is likely that a suitable priest meant not simply one who would do no damage to the community, but who was well equipped and eager to guide the women in their spiritual lives. In their concern for the quality of the pastoral care that they would receive, Relinde and Herrad were very much in tune with the most pressing issues of the contemporary reform movement: the instruction and preparation of priests had been a preoccupation of church reformers since the late eleventh century. During the twelfth century, these concerns gained new force with the ever-increasing ordination of monks and the extension and solidification of the church’s administrative reach. Although the contexts of monastic and secular ordination were certainly different, the issues of education and preparation were shared; both were viewed as central to the ultimate success of reform. In 1179, the year following Herrad ’s foundation at St. Gorgon, the Third Lateran Council laid down guidelines for the provision of education within each diocese to ensure that proper training for the priesthood would be universally available. Some forty years later, the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) extended these requirements, noting that ‘‘to guide souls is a supreme art’’ and calling for the careful preparation and selective ordination of candidates to the priesthood. Reminding church leaders that ‘‘it is preferable, especially in the ordination of priests, to have a few good ministers than many bad ones,’’ the council invoked the warnings of Matthew 15:14 and Luke 6:39—if ‘‘a blind man leads another blind man, both will fall into the pit.’’1 Properly trained and spiritually minded priests formed the front line of the church’s reforming efforts. It was to them, then, that reformers increasingly turned in order to secure the viability of the reform movement as a whole and...

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