Fulcard’s Pigsty: Cluniac Reformers, Dispute Settlement, and the Lower Aristocracy in Early Twelfth-Century Flanders

Abstract

This article argues that the chronology and geography of the Cluniac reform movement in the county of Flanders in the early twelfth century were to a large extent determined by the attempts of the counts to regain control over the feudal network and by the reformers’ specific strategies to reassess relations between monastic communities and their lay officers. Through the example of the turbulent abbacy and eventual deposition of Fulcard, abbot of Marchiennes and member of one of the most powerful local clans in the southeastern parts of Flanders, it is shown how the dividing line between supporters and adversaries of the reform movement ran across the division between the higher levels of the Flemish aristocracy and families who had recently introduced themselves into the aristocratic network. If one accepts the existence of opportunities for consensus based on what Patrick Geary has described as “structural conflicts,” it can be understood how Cluniac reforms at the same time constituted a point of dissent and an opportunity for all parties involved to reassess their relations in a satisfying and largely peaceful manner.

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