PETER. 
Raving been rein Hated in his abbacy, and reftored mat¬ 
ters once more to order, Peter employed himfelf in wri¬ 
ting againft Peter de Bruys, a zealous reformer, who had 
many followers in Languedoc, Provence, and Gafcony. 
It were to be wifhed, confidering the general excellence 
of our abbot’s charadler, that he had confined his efforts 
to argument and perfuafion, and could be vindicated 
from the charge of having joined his clerical brethren in 
perfecuting that unhappy martyr. See Petroerusians. 
-In the year 1130, pope Innocent II. paid a vilit to 
Cluni, where he was entertained by Peter with great 
magnificence; and, in the year 1150, having occafion to 
take a journey to Rome, on bufinefs relating to his mo- 
naftery, Peter was received there with the higheft honours 
by pope Eugenius, and the Roman citizens. He died 
at Cluni in 1156, when he was about 63 years of age. 
His temper was mild and amiable, his difpofition bene¬ 
volent and charitable, and he poffeffeda molt compaffion- 
ate heart. He acquired the furname of Venerable from 
the great ferioufnefs and gravity of his demeanour. He 
procured the Koran to be tranllated out of the Arabic 
into Latin, and wrote a treatife in four books againft the 
Mahometans. He w'as alfo the author of feveral other 
polemical pieces, againft the Jews, Proteftants, &c. and 
various mifcellaneous writings, in profe and verfe, which 
are enumerated in the works of Cave, Dupin, &c. 
Many of his “ Letters,” which have been colledled toge¬ 
ther in fix books, are curious and intererefting, and ferve 
to throw light on the civil as well as ecclefiaftica! hiftory, 
manners, and difcipline, of thofie times. His works were 
fir It publifhed at Ingoldftadt, in 1546 ; and afterwards at 
Paris, with the notes of Duchefne and Marrier, in the 
year 1614. The edition lalt-mentioned has been inferted 
in the 22d voi. of the Bib!. Patr. Two of his Letters, 
not before edited, were printed by Father Mabillon, in 
the 2d vol. of his Analedla ; and a third by d’Achery, 
in the 2d vol. of his “ Spicileg.” Cave's Hiji. vol. ii. 
PE'TER, fu roamed de Celles, an eminent French pre¬ 
late in the 12th century, was defcended from an honour¬ 
able family in Champagne. He purfued his ftudies at 
Paris, where he appears to have embraced the religious 
life in the monastery of St. Martin des Prez. About 
the year 1150, he was eledted abbot of a monaftery in the 
fuburbs of Troyes, commonly called Montier-la-Celles, 
whence he had his furname. In the year 1162, he was 
tranllated from his preferment at Troyes to the abbey of 
St. Remy at Rheinis. In this houfe lie filled the poll of 
abbot for about twenty years; and at length, in 1182, fuc- 
ceeded John of Salifbury in the bifhopric of Chartres. 
After prefiding over that fee five years, he died in 1187, 
having diftinguifhed himfelf as one of the moft able of 
the Bible-dodlors, or fupporters of the ancient theology 
againft the fcholaftics. His works, confifting of myftical 
and moral Treatifes, Sermons, Letters, &c. were collected 
together by Father Ambrofe Janvier, a Benedidline of 
the congregation of St. Maur, and publifhed in 1671, 4to. 
Father Sirmond had before feparately printed his Letters, 
with notes, in 1613, 8vo. to which Ihould be added two 
others given in the zd'vol. of d’Achery’s Spicileg. Moft 
of the author’s pieces may be feen in the 23d vol. of the 
Bibl. Patr. Cave , vol. ii. 
PE'TER Nolas'oue, a Saint in the Roman calendar, 
and founder of the order for the redemption of captives, 
commonly called the Order of Mercy, is entitled to have 
his name recorded with honour, for the benevolence and 
humanity which prompted him to devife and eftablilh 
that ufeful inftitution. Tie was of noble defcent, and 
born in the Lauraguais in Languedoc, about the year 
1189. Having loft his father when he was only fifteen 
years of age, he attached himfelf to Simon count de 
Montfort, who placed him in the fervice of James king 
of Arragon. By his talents and virtues he recommended 
himfelf to the favour of that prince ; which circumftance 
proved of no little importance, when he afterwards un¬ 
3 
781 
dertook the foundation of his order. The firft defign of 
it was fuggefted to him by a private fociety of gentlemen 
at Barcelona, who made a common purfe for the purpofe 
of redeeming Chriftian captives, and relieving the lick. 
Struck with the generofity of their undertaking, he medi¬ 
tated a plan for converting this private fociety into a 
religious and military order; and availed himfelf of the 
advice of Raymond de Pegnafort, canon of Barcelona, in 
completing it. He then laid his plan before the king, 
who fandlioned it with his approbation, and diredted 
Berenger de la Pale, bifliop of Barcelona, to give every 
necelfary afiiftance in carrying it into execution. The 
order was eftablillied in the year 1123, under the title of 
“ The Confraternity of Mercy;’'and at firft confided of 
fix priefts and feven laymen, who, befides the three cufto- 
mary monaftic vows, bound themfelves by a fourth to 
devote their perfonal exertions to the talk of redeeming 
captives from Mahometan flavery. Peter Nolalque was 
appointed the firft fuperior-general ; but this office did 
not exempt him from engaging in the common duties of 
the fociety. And by the ftatutes, he, as well as the other 
lay-members, were to partake with the clergy in all the 
divine offices enjoined by their rule. Peter is faid to 
have been fo fuccefsful in his two firft expeditions into 
the kingdoms of Valentia and Grenada, as to redeem up¬ 
wards of four hundred captives from their oppreftive bon¬ 
dage. He afterwards pa fled over into Africa, where he 
met with much ill treatment, while employed in zealoufly 
purfuingtheobjedt ofhis benevolent million. In theyear 
J249, he refigned the office of fuperior-general; and he 
died in 1256, when about 67 years of age. His order was 
approved by pope Gregory IX. in J230, and the number 
of members rapidly increafed, feveral houfes being 
founded in France, and other countries; but its princi¬ 
pal eftabliffiments have always been in Spain. Peter No¬ 
lafque was canonized by Urban VIII. in 1628 ; and fuclx 
an honour might have been confidered as an enviable 
mark of diftindtion, had it never been lavilhed on lefs 
deferving objects. Morcri. 
PE'TER the Cister'ciaN, a monk in the 13th century, 
belonging to the houfe of that order in the valley of Cer- 
nay, within the diocefe of Paris, He was felected to 
accompany his abbot Guy, who was one of the twelve 
dignitaries of that clafs whom pope Innocent III. ordered 
to join in the crufade againft the Albigenfes in Langue¬ 
doc. Having been an eye-witnefs of the barbarous and 
fanguinary proceedings for the extirpation of thofe inno¬ 
cent reformers, he received the commands of the pontiff 
to write an hiftory of that war, and of the fedt againft 
which it was diredted. Such a work cannot but be cu¬ 
rious, and interefting to the ecclefiaftical hiftorian ; but 
he muft not expedt to find it in the detail of an impartial 
narrator, or imagine that it will furnilh him with either 
a juft delineation of the charadler of the Albigenfes, or a 
faithful view of their diftinguifiiing tenets. Indeed his 
Catholic critics acknowledge, that he is chargeable with 
the reproach of having exaggerated the irregularities of 
the heretics, while he refrained from doing juftice to 
their virtues. This work was printed in Latin at Troyes, 
in 1615, 8vo. and is inferted in the Bibliotheque de Ci- 
teaux de D. Tiffier. A tranflation of it, from the Latin 
into French, was publilhed at Paris by Arnaud Sorbin, in 
1659, 8vo. Gen. Sion-. 
PE'TER the Cru'el. See the article Spain. 
PE'TER, the name of three Emperors of Russia. See 
that article. 
PE'TER the Wi'ld Boy. This extraordinary crea¬ 
ture occafioned great fpeculation among the learned; 
but we do not know that any fatisfadtory caufes have been 
affigned for the ftriking difference between him and other 
human beings. The following account of him is ex- 
tradled from the parifli-regilter of North-church, in the 
county of Hertford. 
“ Peter, commonly known by the name of Peter the 
Wild 
