In addition to his lectures on Scripture (which were taken down as reportationes by his
students), the Chanter devoted much of his time to lecturing and disputing on moral
questions; he found the 12th-century church desperately lacking when compared with
gospel injunctions and Paul’s teaching. Dedicated to testing present practice against the
straightforward teaching of Scripture, he was, however, a realist who saw that seriously
embracing scripturally based reform could lead to criticism of accepted practices in the
church of his day. He raised and resolved hundreds of moral “questions,” which were
incorporated in his Summa de sacramentis et animae consiliis. The questions, with
numerous exempla to illustrate situations and conclusions, were grouped according to the
sacraments of the church (baptism, confirmation, extreme unction, consecration of
churches, the eucharist, and penance). All systematization seems to have given way in the
section on penance, for it is a vast collection of case after case for analysis and resolution.
Peter’s Verbum abbreviatum is also directed toward moral concerns, this time with
copious citations of passages from “authorities” (Scripture, Christian writers, classical
authors) and exempla to discourage vice and promote virtue. Although Peter was
recognized as a preacher, no sermons have survived. He was tireless in his devotion to
ecclesiastical duties and to the work of a master in lecturing on Scripture, posing
questions for resolution through disputation, and providing in his writings the outcome, in
a text, of his labors in the classroom.
Grover A.Zinn
[See also: BIBLE, CHRISTIAN INTERPRETATION OF; PETER COMESTOR;
SCHOLASTICISM; SCHOOLS, CATHEDRAL; STEPHEN LANGTON]
Peter the Chanter. Summa de sacramentis et animae consiliis, ed. Jean-Albert Dugauquier. 3 vols.
in 5. Louvain: Nauwelaerts, 1954–67.
——. Verbum abbreviatum. PL 205.1–554. [Short version.]
Baldwin, John W. Masters, Princes, and Merchants: The Social Views of Peter the Chanter and
His Circle. 2 vols. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1970.
Smalley, Beryl. The Gospels in the Schools c. 1100-c. 1280. London: Hambledon, 1985, pp. 101–
18.
——. The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages. 3rd ed. rev. Oxford: Blackwell, 1983, chap. 5.
PETER THE VENERABLE
(1092/94–1156). Born into the noble Montbossier family in Auvergne, Peter was
dedicated by his mother as a child oblate to the Cluniac monastery of Sauxillanges, where
he was educated. He became a monk of Cluny not long before 1109. Four of his six
brothers also entered ecclesiastical careers; one became archbishop of Lyon while the
other three were abbots of Vézelay, La Chaise-Dieu, and Manglieu. Peter served as prior
of Vézelay and of Domène before being elected abbot of Cluny in 1122. He proved to be
a skillful administrator of a vast monastic organization comprising over 1,000 dependent
monasteries and priories; he was also an influential ecclesiastical leader, had scholarly
interests, and was a strong defender of Cluniac customs against Cistercian criticisms. His
extensive correspondence with notables throughout the western church (193 extant
The Encyclopedia 1367