at Boulancourt, not far from Brienne.^68 This may have whetted Erard’s
appetite to act more individually, although he could also have reflected
that, given the growing wealth of the county of Brienne and the Cham-
pagne region as a whole, he could afford to be generous. Rather later,
with the support of the bishop of Troyes, he founded another monastery,
still closer to Brienne, at Beaulieu.^69
This period was characterized not just by new monastic houses, but
also by new religious orders. Through their donations to the abbey of
Molesme, which stood at the cutting edge of developments within the
Church, the Briennes were already linked with what would prove to be
the very greatest of these orders: that is, the Cistercians. The‘family
connection’with the order would soon become very intimate indeed.
Milo II’s younger son, Raynald (or‘Rainard’), succeeded Guy of Trois-
Fontaines as abbot of Cîteaux in 1133–4.^70 Raynald’s long period in
office has the unenviable distinction of being the real‘bump back down
to earth’, after the exceptional abbacies of some of his predecessors. He is
best remembered for having been comprehensively overshadowed by his
theoretical subordinate, Bernard of Clairvaux. (Moreover, a seal was set
on this by Bernard’s canonization in 1174, whereas Raynald has merely
been beatified.)^71 But Bernard’s relationship with the house of Bar-sur-
Seine–and, indeed, with Abbot Raynald in particular–was also very
close. Both Bernard’s sister and his sister-in-law were nuns, at least for a
time, in Milo II’s foundation of Jully.^72 Furthermore, it can come as no
surprise that the main line of the house of Brienne quickly followed suit,
committing its support to the burgeoning order. Walter II granted a rent
of 100sousto Clairvaux, specifying that it should be used to fund an extra
dish of food for each monk on one feast day per year.^73 However pleasing
this may have been to the community, it pales beside the count’s efforts
to salvage the monastery of Boulancourt, which had all but collapsed
soon after switching to join the Cistercians. In the last year of his life,
Walter joined forces with the count of Champagne and the bishop of
Troyes to ensure the abbey’s survival.^74 The count of Brienne could rest
(^68) For Erard’s role in the process, see Lalore,Cartulaire de l’abbaye de Boulancourt(Troyes,
1869), 16–25, 94.
(^69) ‘Catalogue’, no. 28;Collection des principaux cartulaires du diocèse de Troyes, iv,
pp. xxxix–xl.
(^70) See I. Eberl,Die Zisterzienser: Geschichte eines europäïschen Ordens(Stuttgart, 2002), 108.
(^71) For a recent, sure guide to the saint, seeA Companion to Bernard of Clairvaux, ed.
72 B. McGuire (Leiden, 2011).
74 See theCartulaire du prieuré de Jully-les-Nonnains,2–3.^73 ‘Catalogue’, no. 58.
For this, seeibid., no. 53; and Lalore,Cartulaire de l’abbaye de Boulancourt, p. 25.
Piety and Plunder 25