7m 
P E 
at the fiege of Antioch in 1097. But his fanatical ardour 
feems now to have deferted him ; for, during the hard- 
fhips attending that enterprife, he attempted to make 
his efcape. He was, however, brought hack by Tancred, 
who obliged him to fwear that he would never defert an 
expedition of which he was the firft mover. He after¬ 
wards diftinguifhed himfelf at the fiege of Jerufalem, on 
which account he has obtained immortal renown from 
the mufe of Talfo. After the capture of that city he was 
appointed by the patriarch, during his abfence in God¬ 
frey’s army, to aft as his vicar-general. Peter died at the 
abbey of Neu-Moutier near Huy, of which he was the 
founder. Gibbon. 
PE'TER of Bi.ois, a learned French ecclefiaftic,^and 
writer of fome note, was born about 1120, in the city 
whence he derived his furname. Having been inftrufted 
in the claffics and polite learning at Paris, he went to the 
univerilty of Bologna, where he acquired great reputa¬ 
tion by the proficiency which he made in the ftudy of 
civil and canon law, and the various branches of profane 
literature. He then returned to France, and devoted 
himfelf wholly to the ftudy of divinity, under the in- 
ftruftions of the celebrated John of Salisbury, bilhop of 
Chartres, of whofe church it feems probable that he'was 
made a canon. In the year 1167, he travelled into Sicily 
with Stephen, fon of the count of Perche, coufin to the 
queen of that ifiand, where he was appointed tutor, and 
afterwards fecretary, to William II. king of Sicily. When, 
however, Stephen, who had been made chancellor of the 
kingdom, and archbilhop of Palermo, was fent into ba- 
nilhment, Peter was involved in his fortune, and found 
it neceflary to take refuge in his native country. Hence 
he was invited into England, by king Henry II. at 
whofe court he continued fome time, and was nominated 
archdeacon of Bath. He next entered into the fervice 
of Richard archbilhop of Canterbury, who appointed 
him his chancellor, and deputed him to negotiate bufinefs 
of importance relating to his metropolitan fee, with king 
Henry II. and the popes Alexander III. and Urban III. 
After the death of Henry, he refided for a time at the 
court of queen Eleanor. Late in life he was deprived of 
his archdeaconry of Bath ; though he was afterwards 
in fome degree compenfated for his lofs, by obtaining that 
of London, the duties of which he difcharged with the 
utmoft fidelity, and no little labour, for a very inadequate 
revenue. He died in England in the year 1200. The 
word tranfubjlantiation is faid to have been firft of all made 
ufe of by him, to exprefs the doftrine of the Catholic 
church on the fubjeft of the eucharift. The mod confi- 
derable of his remains confift of “Letters,” one hundred 
and eighty-three in number, which he formed into a col- 
jeftion by order of Henry II. and which will be found 
ufeful in illuftrating the civil and ecclefiaftical hiftory, 
but more particularly the ftate of manners and church- 
difcipline at the period when he wrote. There are alfo 
itil! extant feveral Sermons of this author, and various 
treatifes which he wrote on doctrinal and moral topics. 
In the earliell: editions of the works attributed to him, 
publifhed at Mentz and at Paris in the 16th century, 
fermons by the fubjeft of our next article were inferted, 
in dead of the author’s own. This error was corrected 
b.y Peter de Gouffainville, who in 1667 publifhed a new 
edition of all Peter of Blois’s works, in folio, with notes 
and various readings; which is inferted in the 24th vol. 
of the Bibl. Patr. Cave's Hijl. Lit. vol. ii. 
PETER, furnamed Cortujlor, or the Eater, another 
eminent French ecclefiaftic in the 12th century, was a 
native of Troyes in Champagne. Having embraced the 
clerical profeffion, he became canon, and afterwards 
dean, of the cathedral in that city. In this fituation he 
acquired fuch celebrity, that he was invited to Paris, 
where he was appointed dean of the metropolitan church. 
Some time after this he refigned his benefices, renounced 
the world, and entered among the canons-regular of St. 
Viftor at Paris, where he gave himfelf up wholly to ftudy 
T E E. 
and exercifes of devotion. He died in the year 119?, 
He was a man of learning for the age in which he lived, 
and, what reflefts credit on his memory, had the hardi¬ 
hood publicly to condemn fome of the abufes and cor¬ 
ruptions of the Romifli church. This we learn from the 
teftimony of Girald Barry, more generally known by the 
name of Giraldus Cambrenfis, who was his difciple, and 
mod probably imbibed from him the enmity which on 
all occafions he difcovered againft the monks. In a ma- 
nufcript of that author preferved in the archiepifcopal 
library at Lambeth, he tells us that he heard Peter de¬ 
clare before his whole fchool, in which many perfons of 
diftinguifhed literature were prefent, that the old enemy, 
meaning the Devil, never infidioufiy devifed a more in¬ 
jurious meafure againft the church of God, than the lav/ 
which enjoined a vow of celibacy on the clergy. The 
following epitaph upon his tomb has been thought not 
unworthy of prefervation, by different authors who have 
communicated notices of him to the public : 
Petrus eram, quem Petra tegit, diftufque Comejior. 
Nunc comedor. Vivus docui, nec cello docere 
Mortuus; ut dicant, qui me vident incineratum, 
“ Quod fumus, ifte fuit, erimus quandoque quod hie eft.” 
Fie was the author of “ Hiftorise Ecclefiafticje, Lib. xvi.” 
containing a fummary of facred hiftory, from the begin¬ 
ning of Genefis to the end of the Afts of the Apoftles, 
intermixed with numerous paffages from profane hiftory, 
and fome fabulous narrations. It was firft publifhed at 
Reutlingen, in 1473, and afterwards underwent repeated 
impreffions at Strafburg, Bafil, Lyons, and other places. 
Our author alfo wrote the “ Sermons” which, as we have 
already feen, made their firft public appearance among 
the works of Peter of Blois; and manuferipts of feveral 
others ftill remain in the libraries at Lambeth and Pem- 
broke-hall, Cambridge. To his pen, iikewife, has been 
attributed a work, entitled, “ Catena Temporum,” &c. 
confiding of an indigefted compilation of univerfal hiftory, 
publifhed at Lubeck in 1475, in % vols. folio; of which a 
French tranftation was printed at Paris, in 1488, in 
2 vols. folio, under the title of, “ Mer des Hiftoires,” &c. 
Cave's Hijl. Lit. vol. ii. 
PE'TER -Maurice, furnamed the Venerable, an emi¬ 
nent and worthy Frfench abbot in the 12th century, was 
defeended from the counts de Monboiflier, a noble family 
of the province of Auvergne, and born in the year 1093. 
When very young he was dedicated by his parents to the 
religious life in the monaftery of Cluni, the principal 
houfe of a reformed branch of the Benediftine order. 
Flere he acquired fo high a character for talents and vir¬ 
tue, that in 1121, when only twenty-eight years of age, 
he was made prior of Vezelay, and foon afterwards prior 
of Doranus. From this fituation he fpeedily removed to 
a higher dignity, being elefted to fill the vacant place of 
abbot of Cluni in the year 1123, and at the fame time 
chofen general of his order. Immediately upon thefe 
promotions he applied with diligence to reltore the ftate 
of difeipline in the community at Cluni, and throughout 
the congregation in general, which under Pontius, oneof 
his predeceftors, had been fullered to become exceedingly 
relaxed; and, though he had many difficulties to encounter, 
he fucceeded in his objeft without having recourfe to 
exceffive feverity. Afterwards he met with much trouble 
from the above-mentioned Pontius, who had refigned the 
abbacy upon his undertaking a vifit to the Holy Land ; 
but, on his return from that expedition, and during the 
abfence of Peter, endeavoured to obtain re-pofleflion of 
the dignity which he had abdicated. Finding, however, 
that the monks oppofed his delign, with a band of fol- 
diers he forcibly entered the monaftery, fullered it to be 
pillaged, and difperfed the fociety. For this violent pro¬ 
ceeding, he was excommunicated by the legate of pope 
Honorius II. who confirmed the fentence, and cited 
Pontius before his tribunal at Rome, where he died in 
the year 1126. 
Having 
