Hildebert of Lavardin (c. 1056–1133)

Encyclopædia Orbis Latini

French churchman, bishop of Le Mans (1096–1125), and archbishop of Tours (1125–33). He was taken prisoner when Le Mans was captured (1099) by William II of England and was carried away to England, where he spent a year. When he was at Tours he came into conflict with Louis VI of France over the king’s supposed right to present the deanery of Tours. Hildebert attended the First Lateran Council. He completed the cathedral at Le Mans. He was one of the most prolific writers of his period; especially noteworthy are his Latin hymns and poems. He wrote several elegies, a mythological poem on the destruction of Troy, lives of St. Hugh of Cluny and St. Mary of Egypt, and miscellaneous works, such as an interpretation of the Mass.