the Memoirs of Guibert of Nogent

The Memoirs of Guibert of Nogent - Literary Analysis

Introduction

Guibert read widely and as a young man admired the classical Latin poets , especially Virgil and Ovid , who influenced his literary style . He developed an interest in theology and wrote prolifically on issues of liturgical practice and Christian faith . He was a conservative commentator in the tradition of Pope Gregory the Great . His work shows a fascination with sins of the flesh , sexual purity and bodily cleanliness , and visionary experiences . His memoirs reflect a nascent national pride . Guibert 's histories represent an

intensely moral perspective and incorporate numerous literary and moral embellishments in support of his theological standards . His works reflect the complex and challenging political , social , and theological environment of the twelfth century

Motives and Thoughts

In the memoirs of Guibert of Nogent (c . 1064-c . 1125 , we see a rare child 's-eye view of maternal abandonment . Guibert 's hagiographic account of his mother , modeled on Augustine 's portrait of Monica , blends the adult son 's admiration with the aggrieved child 's still-smoldering anger . A noblewoman , Guibert 's mother was married as a girl and had such a "fear of God 's name " that she remained virgin for the first three years of her marriage , leading her husband 's kin to speak of bewitchment and divorce . But the union was finally consummated as the unnamed lady "submitted to the duties of a wife " thereby opening herself "not so much to endless misery as to mourning " for the sins of her offspring Guibert was her youngest and last surviving child , born only months before her husband died . She labored , as he writes "almost the whole of Good Friday in excessive pain of childbirth (in what anguish , too , did she linger , when I wandered from the way and followed slippery paths This agonizing childbirth , synchronized with Christ 's Passion , set the stage for the new widow 's life as a mother of tears . Refusing a second marriage , she waited until Guibert was twelve before entering a monastery . At that time , he recalls

though I did not lack for the necessities of food and clothing , I often suffered from the loss of that careful provision for the helplessness of tender years that only a woman can provide . As I said , although she knew that I would be condemned to such neglect , yet Thy love and fear , O God hardened her heart . Still , when on the way to that monastery she passed below the stronghold where I remained , the sight of the castle gave intolerable anguish to her lacerated heart , stung with the bitter remembrance of what she had left behind . No wonder indeed if her limbs seemed to be torn from her body , since she knew for certain that she was a cruel and unnatural mother . Indeed , she heard this said aloud .tenderness would then have been her ruin , if she , neglecting her God , in her worldly care for me had put me before her own salvation . But 'her love was strong as death...