death of Peter Lombard. He made strenuous attempts to reform his diocesan clergy, and
was a friend, adviser, and delegate to Louis VII and Philip II Augustus. In the great
tradition of scholar-bishops, he tried to continue his studies. His Sermons on the Gospels
(1168–75), the oldest original prose extant in French, are also among the finest. They
were later translated into Latin and English. He also wrote a treatise on the canon of the
Mass.
Maurice began the rebuilding of Notre-Dame in 1163 (it was consecrated in 1182); he
also rebuilt the episcopal palace. In 1196, he retired to the abbey of Saint-Victor, where
he died in the same year.
Lesley J.Smith
[See also: PARIS; SCHOOLS, CATHEDRAL]
Maurice de Sully. Maurice of Sully and the Medieval Vernacular Homily, ed. Charles A.Robson.
Oxford: Blackwell, 1952.
Longère,Jean. Les sermons latins de Maurice de Sully, évêque de Paris (1196): contribution à
l’histoire de la tradition manuscrite. Steenbrugis/Dortrecht: In Abbatia S.Petri/Kluwer
Academic, 1988.
Martin, Marie-Madeleine. Un grand évêque d’Occident, Maurice de Sully(XIIe siècle), évêque de
Paris, né à Sully-sur-Loire. N.p.: Reconquista, 1973.
Mortet, V. “Maurice de Sully, évêque de Paris (1160–1196): étude sur l’administration épiscopale
pendant la seconde moitié du XIIe siècle.” Société de l’Histoire de Paris et de l’Île-de-France,
Mémoires 16(1890):105–318.
Robson, Charles A. Maurice of Sully and the Medieval Vernacular Homily, with the Text of
Maurice’s French Homilies, from a Sens Cathedral Chapter MS. Oxford: Blackwell, 1952.
Zink, Michel. La prédication en langue romane avant 1300. Paris: Champion, 1976.
MAYOR OF THE PALACE
. The maior domus, “first man of the house,” that is, of the palace, was originally the
manager of the household and estates of the Merovingian kings. By the early 7th century,
he was effectively the head of the royal government, a sort of chief of staff, while also
representing the interest of the great noble families, to one of which he belonged. As the
Merovingian kings weakened in the mid-7th century, the mayors of the palace became
virtual heads of state. In 751, the mayor Pepin the Short overthrew the Merovingian
dynasty and arranged for his own election as the first Carolingian king of the Franks.
Mayors were originally estate managers of great landowners, and a maior domus
supervised the other mayors. At first, the Merovingians had their own maior domus to
manage all royal estates and revenues, as well as the household. His close association
with the king led to his gaining political powers, such as appointing and directing counts
and dukes, presiding over the royal court, and commanding the army. He came to be a
virtual prime minister for the king. The three Frankish kingdoms of Neustria, Burgundy,
and Austrasia frequently had separate administrations headed by their own mayors of the
palace, who were from the regional aristocracy and tried to make the office hereditary.
Mayors like Ebroin of Neustria and Grimoald of Austrasia occasionally even attempted to
install their own sons as kings. The victory of the Austrasian mayor Pepin II at Tertry in
The Encyclopedia 1141