Hugh of Fleury

Hugh of Fleury

(Called also HUGO A SANTA MARIA, from the name of the church of his native village).

Benedictine monk and ecclesiastical writer; d. not before 1118. He is known only by his writings. (1) In 1109 he compiled an ecclesiastical history in four volumes, up to the death of Charles the Great (814). In the following year he made another edition of the work in six volumes, arranging the contents in a better manner, adding notes, especially of a theological nature, and omitting a few things, bringing it up to 855. It appeared in print for the first time at Münster, in 1638, edited by Bernhard Rottendorf, This contains also a letter to Ivo of Chartres and a preface to King Louis the Fat. It is in Migne, P. L., CLXIII. (2) A book narrating the "acts of the Frankish kings" (842-1108). (3) A chronicle of the kings of France from Pharamond, the legendary first king, to Philip 1(1108). In French this is in the Guizot collection, VII, 65-86. This and the next work were formerly ascribed to Ivo of Chartres. (4) An abbreviated chronicle of the kings of France, written for King Louis VI, in the work of Rottendorf. (5) "De regia potestate et sacerdotali dignitate" addressed to King Henry II of England, during the controversy on investiture, opposing Hugh of Flavigny who upheld the ideas maintained by Pope Gregory VII. With great freedom Hugh of Fleury tries to settle the dispute and advances views later embodied in the concordats [see Sackur in "Neues Archly" (1891), 369; Mansi, II, 184-197]. (6) Remodelling of a life, previously written by someone else, of St. Sacerdos, Bishop of Limoges. (7) Continuation of a work "De miraculis S. Benedicti Floriaci patratis". Great credit must be given Hugh of Fleury for his labour in collecting material and for systematic arrangement of the same. He has been frequently confounded with another Hugh of Fleury, who became Abbot of Canterbury and died in 1124.

HURTER, Nomenclator; BIHLMEYER in BUCHBERGER, Kirchl. Handlex., x.v. Hugo, no. 11; MITTERMÜLLER in Kirchenlex., s.v. Hugo von Fleury.

FRANCIS MERSHMAN