Present-day Tours cathedral. Photo taken by magreben and distributed by photobucket
Radbod loved studying. He was a student for most of his life and possibly didn’t really like being given the job of bishop, as this meant giving up his studies. When Radbod left Compiegne in 877, he travelled to Tours in western France, to continue his studies. In Tours he joined abbot Hugo and the community of canons, which was situated in the old monastery of St Martin. This monastery had once been the home of the court school of Charles the Great (Charlemagne), where the scholar Alcuin of York had established one of the most famous libraries of the early Middle Ages.
In this community, Radbod continued his studies, specialising in dialectic (which is a variety of methods of reasoning and discussion in order to discover the truth) and rhetoric (which is the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing). Most likely he also continued studying theology and the literary works of important church leaders like St Augustine and Gregory the Great.
Old freco of St Martin who gets his resignation from the army by the Roman emperor. This picture is in the public domain
In Radbod’s day, Tours was already an important city. It had grown from a Roman town on the River Loire, to a city in early medieval times, famous for its shrine of St Martin of Tours, who had become the second bishop of Tours in 371. The Frankish kings had from an early time embraced St Martin as their patron saint, and consequetly many of the churches built by the Franks were dedicated to this saint. Radbod became quite intrigued by St Martin and during his lifetime, wrote several articles about him.
It is possible that Radbod stayed in Tours until 899, so a little over 20 years, when he was made bishop of Utrecht by King Arnulf. Having become a bishop he travelled to his see, which at the time had been moved to Deventer, because Utrecht was unsafe due to Viking attacks.
I’ve known a few “perpetual students” in my lifetime – I suspect they stay in school to avoid dealing with real life! :)
Also, it’s interesting how the Tours Cathedral somewhat resembles the Cathedral of Notre Dame – I wonder if they were designed by the same stonemason, or same family (as often architectural designs were handed down in families or from master to apprentice).
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Yeah, you could very well be right about the ‘perpetual students’, Trisha. :)
The cathedrals of Tours and Paris are both built in the Gothic style, which is the reason they look the same. Gothic was a style ‘invented’ in France around 1150 and used for several hundred years. The Gothic style spread around Europe as the ideal style for churches and was in some parts used until almost 1500.
I don’t think all these churches were actually designed by the same person or family. But of course the actual style was handed down and copied by many different people all over Europe, as they wanted to have a church in the latest style.
Interesting link with York and Tours. I’ve always wanted an excuse to visit, but didn’t know why! School History lessons were never this interasting. B¬)
Thanks, Simon!
Now you have the excuse to visit Tours! :) I might go there this summer. And of course you understand that I HAD to mention York in one of my posts…