The Grandmontine “Good Man (Vir Bonus)”—Clerc or Conversus?: Ideals and Identity among the Successors of Stephen of Muret (†1124)

Abstract

The Grandmontine communities of the twelfth century developed a unique social vision of community organization based on the received spiritual teachings of the Auvergne hermit, Stephen of Muret. Central to their order was the subordination of clerics to lay brother governors. From this position, the Grandmontine clerics recorded their ideal of the “Good Man,” and this vision of virtue became significant in later internal contests and conflicts over community leadership. This article examines the evolution and ruin of Grandmontine confraternity, with reference to other marginalized religious groups of the twelfth century with whom their struggles can be compared.