Jocelyn de Brakelond or ''Jocelin de Brakelonde'' (''
fl.'' latter half of 12th century) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
monk
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
and the author of a
chronicle narrating the fortunes of the
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...
of
Bury St. Edmunds Abbey
The Abbey of Bury St Edmunds was once among the richest Benedictine monasteries in England, until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. It is in the town that grew up around it, Bury St Edmunds in the county of Suffolk, England. It was a ...
between 1173 and 1202. He is only known through his own work.
Joceylyn was a native of
Bury St. Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A ...
; he served his
novitiate under
Samson of Tottington
Samson of Tottington (1135 – 1211) was an English Benedictine monk who became Abbot of Bury St. Edmunds. His life was later used by Thomas Carlyle as a leadership model in his book ''Past and Present''.
Life
Samson was born at Tottington, n ...
, who was at that time master of the novices, but afterwards sub-
sacrist
A sacristan is an officer charged with care of the sacristy, the church, and their contents.
In ancient times, many duties of the sacrist were performed by the doorkeepers ( ostiarii), and later by the treasurers and mansionarii. The Decreta ...
, and, from 1182,
abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The ...
of the house. Jocelyn took the habit of religion in 1173, during the time of
Abbot Hugo (1157–1180), through whose improvidence and laxity the abbey had become impoverished and the monks had lost discipline.
The fortunes of the abbey changed for the better with the election of Samson as Hugo's successor. Jocelyn, who became the abbot's chaplain within four months of the election, describes the administration of Samson at considerable length. He tells us that he was with Samson night and day for six years; the picture which he gives of his master, although coloured by enthusiastic admiration, is singularly frank and intimate. It is all the more convincing since Jocelyn is no stylist. His
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
is familiar and easy, but the reverse of classical. He thinks and writes as one whose interests are wrapped up in his house; and the unique interest of his work lies in the minuteness with which it describes the policy of a monastic administrator who was in his own day considered as a model.
Jocelyn has also been credited with an extant but unprinted tract on the election of Abbot Hugo (Harleian manuscript 1005, fol. 165); from internal evidence this appears to be an error. He mentions a (non-extant) work which he wrote, before the ''Cronica'', on the miracles of Saint
Robert of Bury
Saint Robert of Bury (died 1181) was an English boy, allegedly murdered and found in the town of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk in 1181. His death, which occurred at a time of rising antisemitism, was blamed on local Jews.Patricia Skinner ''The Jews ...
, a boy found murdered in 1181 whose death during a period of rising
anti-Semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
was blamed on the local
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
.
J. G. Rokewood published an edition of ''Chronica Jocelini de Brakelonda de Rebus Gestis Samsonis Abbatis Monasterii Sancti Edmundi'' (
Camden Society
The Camden Society was a text publication society founded in London in 1838 to publish early historical and literary materials, both unpublished manuscripts and new editions of rare printed books. It was named after the 16th-century antiquary a ...
), in 1840. A translation and notes are given in TE Tomlin's ''Monastic and Social Life in the Twelfth Century in the Chronicle of Jocelyn de Brakelond'' (1844).
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy.
Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...
's book ''
Past and Present'', which contrasted medieval and modern culture, used Tomlin's edition of Jocelyn as its principal source, making a hero of Abbot Samson, one of the main figures in Jocelyn's narrative.
A recent translation with a substantial introduction is: Jocelin of Brakelond, ''Chronicle of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds'', trans. Diana Greenway and Jane Sayers (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1989; reissue 2009).
Notes
References
*Jocelyn de Brakelond, ''Chronicle of the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds 1202'', Oxford World Classics.
*Jocelin Brakelond, ''The Chronicle of Jocelin Brakelond: A Picture of Monastic Life in the Days of Abbott Samson'', newly edited by Sir Ernest Clarke, M.A. F.S.A; London: Alexander Moring, The De La More Press, 1903
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brakelond, Jocelyn de
12th-century births
Year of birth unknown
13th-century English historians
1211 deaths
English Christian monks
English chroniclers
Writers from Bury St Edmunds
Benedictine scholars
Benedictine writers
12th-century English historians
12th-century Latin writers