Robert, Abbot of Molesme, Saint

ROBERT, abbot of MOLESME, Saint - The flagellation, miniature from the Psalter that belonged to St. R., as is evident from a 12th-century annotation. It is a Psalter of Saint-Vaast of Arras, adapted to Cistercian use (late 11th century) - Dijon, Municipal Library, ms. 30, f. 8°.

He joined the archbishops of Mainz, Cologne and Trier against King Wenceslaus, took part in his deposition and was himself chosen to succeed him on 21 Aug. 1400, undertaking to recover the Lombard lands enfeoffed by Wenceslaus to Gian Galeazzo Visconti. Having descended into Italy with the financial and diplomatic help of Florence, he was defeated at Brescia on 24 Oct. 1401 and abandoned the enterprise in the following spring, renouncing the struggle in Lombardy and the imperial coronation. During the expedition he lacked the support of the Roman pope, Boniface IX, even though R. and the Rhenish archbishops recognized him against his rival of Avignon. But Boniface feared that, by making an enemy of Wenceslaus and the Visconti, he would lose obedience in Bohemia and above all political security in Italy, nor did R. give the Pontiff the assurances he had been asked for, so as not to close off the path to an agreement with France. The death of Gian Galeazzo favored the understanding between R. and Boniface and procured for the former the papal approval in 1403. R. remained loyal to the popes of Rome also in the following years and at the Council of Pisa, while in Germany his numerous adversaries abandoned the Roman obedience. He died on 18 May 1410.

Giovanni Tabacco