——, Joseph N. Garvin, and Marthe Dulong, eds. Petri Pictavien-
sis Sententiarum libri quinque. 2 vols. Notre Dame: University
of Notre Dame Press, 1950.
Grover A. Zinn
PETER THE CHANTER (d. 1197)
Born near Beauvais, Peter studied at Reims and by ca.
1173 was a master in theology in the schools of Paris. In
1183, he was named chanter of the cathedral of Notre-
Dame in Paris. Peter was judge delegate for the pope
on a number of occasions, including the divorce trial of
Philip II Augustus (1196). He was elected dean of the
cathedral of Reims in 1196, but he became ill and was
unable to take the position. He entered the Cistercian
abbey of Longpont as a monk and died there.
As a teacher in the schools, Peter exerted a remark-
able infl uence on both students and peers. He was at the
center, with Peter Comestor and Stephen Langton, of
what Beryl Smalley (following Grabmann) called the
“biblical moral school,” a group of masters in the late
12th-century schools who followed the emphasis on
biblical study developed at the abbey of Saint-Victor by
Hugh, Richard, and Andrew of Saint-Victor.
While most masters of the day commented only on
the Psalms and Gospels, Peter, like Stephen Langton,
commented on all the books of the Old and New Testa-
ments. Moreover, Peter was critical of those masters who
devoted themselves to seeking out details of the text and
its interpretation rather than focusing on the important
matters of moral teaching and behavior.
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 dis-
puting 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 conclu-
sions, were grouped according to the sacraments of the
church (baptism, confi rmation, extreme unction, con-
secration 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 abbreviation
is also directed toward moral concerns, this time with
copious citations of passages from “authorities” (Scrip-
ture, 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.
See also Peter Comestor; Stephen LangtonFurther Reading
Peter the Chanter. Summa de sacramentis et animae consiliis, ed.
Jean-Albert Dugauquier. 3 vols. in 5. Louvain: Nauwelaerts,
1954–67.
——. Verbum abbreviation. 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.
Grover A. ZinnPETER 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- Four of his six brothers also entered ecclesiasti-
cal 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 mo-
nastic organization comprising over 1,000 dependent
monasteries and priories; he was also an infl uential
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 letters) is
a rich source of information about various matters,
both ecclesiastical and secular, including the world of
learning and spirituality. Although Peter and Bernard
of Clairvaux were in opposition on matters of monastic
discipline and practice, they remained friends through-
out life, as their letters reveal. Peter’s health was never
good, and he probably suffered from malaria on several
occasions and from chronic bronchitis.
Peter’s election to the abbacy of Cluny came at a
time when the order needed a fi rm hand, following the
disastrous abbacy of Pons de Melgeuil and the brief
four-month abbacy of Hugues II. Monastic discipline
was lax; fi nances needed attention; the large sprawling
Cluniac order needed an effective leader. Peter rose to
PETER OF POITIERS