VIBALDUS (Wibaldus, Guibert) of Stavelot. - Benedictine abbot of Stavelot, of Malmedy and of Corvey, b. near Stavelot (Stablo) in Belgium in 1097 or 1098 and d. in Paphlagonia, at Bitolia, on 18 July 1158.

After studying in the monastic schools of Stavelot and Liège, he entered the Order of St. Benedict in 1117 at Waulsort, near Namur, whence the following year he passed to the monastery of Stavelot. On 16 Nov. 1130 he was elected abbot of Stavelot and of Malmedy; in 1146 he also received the abbatial authority of Corvey, confirmed to him the following year by Eugenius III, extending his jurisdiction also over the female convents of Fischbeck and Kemnade, annexed to Corvey by the Emperor Conrad III. He was among the most influential counsellors of Lothair II and of Conrad III, carried out various missions to the Holy See, was the tutor of Conrad's son, Henry, during the Emperor's expedition to Palestine (1147-49), brought the monastery of Stavelot to its greatest splendour and re-established monastic discipline at Corvey. In 1137, having accompanied Lothair II to Italy, he was elected, on 19 Sept., abbot of Montecassino, in the presence of the Emperor and of St. Bernard; but on 2 Nov. of the same year he renounced the office, to avert the threat of Roger of Sicily who, hostile to V. as a creature of the Emperor, wanted to destroy the abbey.

Also held in esteem by Frederick Barbarossa, he succeeded, as long as he lived, in preventing a rupture between the latter and the Pope. Barbarossa sent him twice on a mission to Constantinople, in 1154 and in 1157; during the return journey from this last embassy he died suddenly, arousing the suspicion that he had been poisoned. More than 400 epistles by V. survive, beginning from 1146, a most important source for the history of the Empire of Conrad III and the early years of that of Barbarossa, and valuable also for the information on the transmission of classical authors during the Middle Ages.

Bibliography7 works

BIBL.: ediz. by Ph. Jaffé, Monum. Corbeiusia, in Biblioth. rerum Germanic., I, Berlin 1864, pp. 76-602, reproduced in Pl. 189, 1121-1458. Studies: J. Janssen, Wibald von Stablo u. Corvey, Abt. Staatsmann u. Gelehrter, Münster 1854; L. Mann, Wibald, Abt von Stablo u. Cornei nach seiner polit. Thätigkeit, dissert., Halle 1875; B. Dentzer, Zur Beurteilung der Politik Wibalds von Stablo u. Korvei, dissert., Breslau 1900; E. Rehfeld, Die polit. Stellung Wibalds im Zusammenhang mit seinen Grundanschauungen, dissert., Greifswald 1913; H. Zatschek, Wibald v. Stablo, Studien zur Gesch. der Reichskanzlei u. Reichspolitik, in Mittel. d. Österr. Inst. für Geschich., Ergän.-Band 10 (1928), fasc. II, pp. 237-495; A. Boeckler, Corveyer Buchmalerei unter Einwirkung Wibalds v. Stablo, in Westfäl. Studien, 1928, pp. 133-147; Manitius, III, pp. 289-92.

Alessandro Pratesi

@incollection{ec12_vibaldo_wibaldus_guibaldo_di_s, author = {Pratesi, Alessandro}, title = {Vibaldo (Wibaldus, guibaldo) di stavelot}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XII}, pages = {1356}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1954}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/vibaldo-wibaldus-guibaldo-di-stavelot} }

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Vibaldus (Wibaldus, Guibert) of Stavelot

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