WIBALD OF STAVELOT

Monk, humanist, and statesman exemplifying the dynamic character of the 12th century; b. 1098; d. Bitolj, Macedonia, en route from Constantinople, July 19, 1158. He was probably the son of ministeriales of Stavelot, and there began his broad education, which took him to Liège, Waulsort, and back to Stavelot for Holy Orders. In 1122, when the Concordat of worms was being negotiated, Wibald was at work in the imperial chancellery. There he became acquainted with cardinals later elected pope as Lucius II and Anastasius IV. The monks of stavelot and its sister monastery, malmedy, elected Wibald abbot in 1130, and the next April he was invested by King Lothair. The monastery profited from having this renowned abbot who regained lost properties through the aid of his great patrons. Impelled by his devotion to copying and decorating books and his desire to embellish church furnishings, Wibald made his houses recognized art centers. He commanded a fleet off Naples for lothair iii, and had full charge of the royal son, Henry, as well as of the Empire while Conrad III (1138–52) was on the Second Crusade. He continued as adviser and ambassador during the opening of the reign of frederick i. Wibald's policy—criticized as being too Rome-oriented—worked for continued cooperation between the Empire and Constantinople. His correspondence is a capital source of historical information for the period 1125 to 1155.

Bibliography: É de moreau, Histoire de l'Église en Belgique (2d ed. Brussels 1945) 2:353–354; 3:41–58. k. hofmann, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche ² 10:854–856. m. manitius, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters 3:289–292.

[s. williams]