290 F. M. IVarrcn, 



persistent hostility of that determined m:)nk. For when the curtain 

 rises again on the Hfe of the ex-sco/asfictis. in the year 1001, it 

 reveals to us the presence of a rival abbot at St. Mesmin, who had 

 probably been put forward b}' the redoubtable Abbo. and who was 

 certainly upheld b}' king Robert, ever under the influence of the 

 monastic orders. ^ After a few brief 3'ears of comparative quiet, 

 during which the harried Constantine may have found solace and 

 relaxation in those authors of pagan antiquity whose very names 

 were anathema at Fleury, the unfortunate friend of the great teacher 

 and Pope is once more in subjection to his enemies. But this time 

 he rouses himself to a more vigorous and a more effectual resis- 

 tance. A letter, addressed by Al)bo to the friars at St. Mesmin, 

 and to Constantine " decano," defends Abbot Robert against the 

 charges of the brethren, who had driven him and a favorite of his 

 away from the abbey, and reproaches them for having slandered 

 Robert to Foulques, bishop of Orleans. ^ Foulques had become 

 bishop in 1003. Abbo was killed in 1004. The date of the letter 

 and the revolt, which is its burden, can therefore be lixed within 

 definite time limits. 



For good or for ill then Constantine may be located at St. Mesmin 

 from about 992 to 1004. Robert was restored to his abbey, and 

 we may suppose that his return preluded b}- only a few months 

 the departure of Constantine, whom he had supplanted but not 

 overcome. =^ For another migration must have seemed advisal^le to 

 the luckless " decanus," and some friendly influence must have soon 

 opened the way for it. At St. Mesmin he had won the goodwill of 

 a man who was respected for his learning and admired for his 



^ See the charter by king Robert in favor of the monks of St. Mesmin 

 and their abbot, Robert, given under date of April, 1001. Rrcjtcil drs 

 historiens des Gatdes^ etc., vol. x, p. 579. 



2 Migne, op. eft., vol. 139, col. 436-438. 



3 This Robert is the so-called Robert of Blois, who succeeded a monk 

 of Fleuiy as abbot of St. Florent, near Sauniur, as earlj' as 988 perhaps, 

 certainly before 994. He had united this charge with the abbacy of 

 St. Mesmin by 1001— as we have seen — and finished his life at tlris latter 

 post, d3nng in 1011. Chroniqjics des cglises d'Anjoii (in the Societe de 

 I'Histoire de France series), pp. 187—199 ; Gallia Christiana., vol. xiv, 

 p. 625, and vol. viii, pp. 1631 ff. — He may be the Robert of St. Mesmin 

 whom Gerbert denounces so bitterly in 988 (letter 136), have gone from 

 there to St. Florent and afterwards returned to St. Mesmin (F. Lot, 

 Derniers Carolingiens, p. 232, n. 4). In this case he would be an old 

 enemy of Gerbert and his friends. 



