Hildebert of Lavardin
Illustration — Hildebert's letters, from a 16th-century manuscript (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Lat. 1r) • Illustration — Hildeberts's poem, from a 12th-century manuscript (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Ms.
Also recorded as Hildebert of Tours · Aldebert · Gildeber · Hydalbert
Hildebert of Lavardin

Hildebert of Lavardin · 2d copy · Public domain
- Born
- 1056 · Lavardin.
- Died
- 1133 · Tours.
- Nationality
- Kingdom of France
- Occupation
- poet · writer · catholic priest · theologian · hagiographer · catholic bishop
- Known for
- Letters · Vita beatae Mariae Aegypticae · Sermons · Poems
- Languages
- medieval Latin · Old French
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Documentary summary
Illustration — Hildebert's letters, from a 16th-century manuscript (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Lat. 1r) • Illustration — Hildeberts's poem, from a 12th-century manuscript (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Ms.
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Note VALÉORINE
Hildebert of Lavardin (1056–1133) was a catholic bishop, catholic priest and hagiographer, among other activities and a national of the Kingdom of France. Born in Lavardin, the catholic bishop died in Tours. Hildebert of Lavardin held the positions of archbishop and bishop of Le Mans.
Works include Letters, Poems, Sermons and Vita beatae Mariae Aegypticae. Languages used include medieval Latin and Old French.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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wikidata · Q731681 · wikipedia · Hildebert of Lavardin
In this article
Life
Life
Lat. Fol. 77r) Hildebert of Lavardin (c. 105518 December 1133) was a French ecclesiastic, hagiographer and theologian. From 1096–97 he was bishop of Le Mans, then from 1125 until his death archbishop of Tours.
Hildebert was born of poor parents at Lavardin, near Vendôme, and was intended for the church. He was probably a pupil of Berengar of Tours, and became master (scholasticus) of the school at Le Mans; in 1091 he was made archdeacon and in 1096 or 1097 bishop of Le Mans. He had to face the hostility of a section of his clergy and also of the English king, William II, who captured Le Mans and carried the bishop with him to England for about a year. Hildebert then (in 1100 or 1103) travelled to Rome and sought permission to resign his bishopric, which Pope Paschal II refused. In 1116 his diocese was thrown into great confusion owing to the preaching of Henry of Lausanne, who was denouncing the higher clergy, especially the bishop. Hildebert compelled him to leave the neighborhood of Le Mans, but the effects of his preaching remained. In 1125 Hildebert was translated unwillingly to the archbishopric of Tours, where he came into conflict with the French king Louis VI about the rights of ecclesiastical patronage, and with the bishop of Dol about the authority of his see in Brittany. He presided over the Synod of Nantes, and died at Tours probably on December 18, 1133. Hildebert built part of the cathedral at Le Mans. Some writers have referred to him with the title of saint, but there appears to be no authority for this. He was not a man of very strict life; his contemporaries, however, had a very high opinion of him and he was called egregius versificator by Orderic Vitalis.
Works
Works
The extant writings of Hildebert consist of letters, poems, a few sermons, two lives and one or two treatises. An edition of his works prepared by the Maurist, Antoine Beaugendre, and entitled Venerabilis Hildeberti, prima Cenomanensis episcopi, deinde Turonensis archiepiscopi, opera tam edita quam inedita, was published in Paris in 1708 and was reprinted with additions by J-J Bourassé in 1854. These editions, however, are faulty. They credit Hildebert with numerous writings by others and omit some genuine writings. Revelation of this fact has affected Hildebert's position in the history of medieval thought. His former standing as a philosopher rested on his supposed authorship of the important Tractatus theologicus—but this is now regarded as the work of Hugh of St Victor. Consequently, Hildebert is no longer thought of as a philosopher. His genuine writings include many letters. These Epistolae enjoyed great popularity in the 12th and 13th centuries, and were frequently used as classics in the schools of France and Italy. They include two letters concerning the struggle between the emperor Henry V and Pope Paschal II, which were edited by Ernst Sackur and printed in the Monumenta Germaniae historica. Libelli de lite ii. (1893), but whose attribution to Hildebert is very doubtful. His poems on various subjects were also very popular. Hildebert attained celebrity also as a preacher both in French and Latin, but only a few of his genuine sermons exist, most of the 144 his editors attributed to him being the work of Peter Lombard and others. The Vitae Hildebert wrote are the lives of Hugh of Cluny and of St Radegunda. His liber de Querimonia et Conflictu carnis et Spiritus seu animae is also undoubtedly his. Hildebert was an excellent Latin scholar, being acquainted with Cicero, Ovid and other authors. He sent letters and poetry to Adela of Normandy advising her on clemency, and praised her regency of Blois.
Identity
Identity
Hildebert of Lavardin is recorded as poet, writer, catholic priest, theologian and hagiographer.

Poems of Hildebert in the manuscript Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Ms. lat. fol. 591, fol. 77r.
Hildebert of Lavardin · 2d copy
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1056
Hildebert of Lavardin born.
1133
Hildebert of Lavardin died.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Lavardin.
Birth place
Tours.
Death place
Editions
• Hildeberts Prosimetrum de Querimonia und Die Gedichte Eines Anonymus: Untersuchungen und Kritische Editionen, ed. Peter Orth (Vienna, 2000). • Hildebertus Cenomannensis Episcopus. Carmina Minora, ed. A. Brian Scott, 2d ed. (Munich and Leipzig, 2001). • Hildeberti Cenomanensis Episcopi Vita Beate Marie Egipticae, ed. Norbert Klaus Larsen, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis 209 (Turnhout, 2004). • "The Gods Have Faces": The Biblical Epigrams and Short Poems of Hildebert of Lavardin, ed. Marc Wolterbeek (Turnhout, 2024).
Primary material
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reference work
- “Hildebert of Lavardin”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q731681: Hildebert of Lavardin
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Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.His name may also be spelled Hydalbert, Gildebert, or Aldebert.
- 2.On the date of consecration, see A. Dieudonné, Hildebert de Lavardin, Évêque du Mans, Archevêque de Tours, 1898, Paris, 110-11
- 3.Hildebert. 460.
- 4.See Dieudonné, loc. cit, 111-13.
- 5.Historia ecclesiastica 10 (Chibnall, vol. 5, 236-38)
- 6.Digitalised here.
- 7.See P. von Moos, Hildebert von Lavardin, 1965, Stuttgart, 338-39.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 8
- Barthélemy Hauréau, Les Mélanges poetiques d'Hildebert de Lavardin (Paris, 1882), and Notices et extraits de quelques manuscrits latins de la Bibliothèque nationale (Paris, 1890–1893)
- P. de Deservillers, Un évêque au douzième siècle Hildebert et son temps (Paris, 1876)
- Edward Augustus Freeman, The Reign of Rufus, vol. ii (Oxford, 1882)
- Tome xi. of the Histoire litteraire de la France,
- Tome IV. of the Histoire littéraire du Maine (B.Hauréau).
- H. Böhmer in Band viii. of Herzog-Hauck's Realencyklopädie (1900)
- Adolphe Dieudonné, Hildebert de Lavardin, évéque du Mans, archévéque de Tours. Sa vie, ses lettres (Paris, 1898); see also : full text from Revue Historique et Archéologique du Maine, coll.DVD-RHAM, Société Historique et Archéologique du Maine, Le Mans, 2006.
- Wilmart, A., Le florilège de Saint-Gatien. Contribution à l'étude des poèmes d'Hildebert et de Marbode, Revue Bénédictine 48 (1936) 3-40, 147-181, 235-258
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