Page "Richard of Saint Victor" Paragraph 1
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Like many before him, Richard travelled to Paris in search of a good education and became a canon of the Augustinian Abbey of Saint Victor on account of its reputation for piety and learning.
Here he studied under the theologian Hugo of Saint Victor, the most influential of all Victorine teachers.
However, it has been debated that Richard entered the abbey after Hugh ’ s death in 1141 or slightly before.
Richard ’ s chief biographer, Jean de Toulouse, writes that when Richard died in 1173 he was still young and so it therefore must be assumed that he entered the Order well into its second period of development, near the end of Hugh ’ s life.
At this time, under the abbot Gilduin, Saint Victor was a thriving community and upon Gilduin ’ s death, the abbey had 44 dependant houses of canons.
He served as prior under Achard of St. Victor ’ s elected successor Ernisius, who was unworthy of the position.
Richard ’ s life was then burdened by the frustrations of working under a man who was ill-suited for his responsibilities.
Ernisius wasted the abbeys resources on overly-ambitious building projects and persecuted those who attempted to resist him.
Things became so unbearable that an appeal was made to the Pope, who then visited Saint Victor in 1162.
Through a multitude of transactions, Ernisius was eventually removed from his position and the Pope commended Richard for his continued involvement in the matter.
Letters from England written to Richard show that he was in constant touch with English affairs and give evidence of the international character of intellectual life at this time.
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