The annals and history of the abbots of Savigny: a new edition of the so-called Chronicon Savigniacense

If the annals produced by the Benedictine abbeys of Normandy have long been the subject of scholarly interest, those written at houses associated with the other monastic orders have received considerably less attention. Among the longest and best preserved of these overlooked works is the so-called Chronicon Savigniacense, or the Chronique de Savigny, written at the reformed Benedictine (later Cistercian) abbey of Savigny, which was founded towards the beginning of the 12th century by the hermit St Vitalis in the forested region on the frontier between Normandy, Brittany and Maine. A source of critical importance not only with regards to the history of the abbey, but also that of the local nobility, as well as other ecclesiastics, most notably the bishops of Avranches, the text has been relied upon since the late 17th century, when Dom Claude Auvry, prior of Savigny (1698-1712), used it in part to compile his Histoire de la congrégation de Savigny. But, much like the short history of the abbots of nearby Mont Saint-Michel, recently treated to a critical edition by Thomas Bisson, the 17th-century printing of the text on which Auvry relied, which is still that invariably cited today, proves not only inadequate, but downright artificial, when compared with its apparent source. The same is true for the partial reprinting carried out in the 19th century, which is often said (incorrectly) to be to critical standards. The need of a new edition, therefore, is clear, and it is that which is offered here, with the aim of not only shedding new light on the history of the mother house of Normandy’s only native order, but also on Cistercian historical writing in the region during the central Middle Ages