2011 EX LIBRIS :: "WOMEN IN THE DAYS OF THE CATHEDRALS" A MARVELLOUS WOMAN IN A.D. 841

Revealing surprisingly attractive personalities in dark and distant times.

We are often left with an absolutely false and depressing view of Medieval times, and in fact, the word itself has become a pejorative term, doing a great injustice to the people of those times and their achievements in the face of barbarian Viking, Mohammedan (from North Africa) and Magyar (from Hungary) raiders. 

Some 650 years before Rabelais, and later Montaigne wrote their treatises on Education, a laywoman, wife and mother named Dhouda wrote "A Manual for My Son " which was published in French in 1975.

Charlemagne had been crowned Emperor by the Pope in the year 800. But upon his death, in 814, his three sons began to fight among themselves over who should rule. Dhouda was of noble birth and began to write her work at age 40 years in 841 . The times were troubled indeed and it must have been hard to know where to stand. Dhouda's husband was Bernard of Septimania who was executed for treason in 844 for supporting Pepin of Aquitaine in the struggle against his brother Charles the Bald. Dhouda's son William was also executed for treason five years  later in 849.  

But, in 841, all of that lay in the future. Before we read somethings she wrote, we need to know something about her. She was, like all educated Catholics of her time totally immersed in knowledge and love of Sacred Scripture - both New and Old Testament were her daily points of reference, as they were for her sons. So she could confidently write to them making allusions to details of Sacred Scripture with no doubt that they would understand. She was a prayerful person, praying the Divine Office every day. She was a very down to earth, practical achiever, managing the family estates whilst her husband and sons were away for extended periods on military campaigns. This practicality of hers even extended to negotiating loans when extra funds were needed for the estates. She was a devoted wife and mother as will become plain, and in so  many ways she was a model of Christian living. Let us hear her words, from this work which occupies 370 pages in the modern translation,   the first of which to Son William was "Lege"("Read") :
First she urges him "to read and to pray ". "" In your involvement in the preoccupations of this world, do not neglect buying yourself many books with which you can, through the teaching of the holy Fathers and masters, discover and learn about God the Creator more than you can find here........you have and will have  books to read, to leaf through, to meditate, to deepen, to understand, and you will even very easily find scholars to teach you.They will provide you with examples of the good you can do to comply with your double duty( no doubt to his father and to his lord.)..She later went on.."People who apparently succeed in the world and are rich in possessions and who nevertheless, with dark malice, never cease to  envy and to tear apart their neighbour as much as they can, and this under  cover of honesty  ..... those I invite you to watch, to flee from  , to avoid" Perhaps surprisingly, only 10 of the 370 pages are taken up with issues of morality. Dhouda is always humble and tenderly respectful in addressing her Son :  "I pray and suggest humbly to you..", "I exhort you my son....", "I , your mother, however lowly I am according to my smallness and the limits of my understanding...."                                           

This was a labour of love and that is a key feature of her writing : "Love God, seek God, love your younger brother, love your friends and the companions among whom you live at the royal or Imperial Court, love the poor and the unhappy, love everyone so that you may be loved by all, cherish them so as to be cherished by them."

If the above book were to be purchased for the full story of Dhouda alone , it would be worthwhile. The lengthy account of Dhouda from pp 45 to 54  is a joy to read and I have only been able to give my readers a brief taste here. I urge you to track down the Book and get to know more about this dear lady from 1,200 years ago! 

A final, fitting consequence of her life: Her Grandson William the Pious was instrumental in the founding of the great Abbey of Cluny which led the reform of the monastic movement and truly flourished for centuries to the greater glory of God.