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140-541: Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade ( / s ɑː d , s æ d / ; French: [dɔnasjɛ̃ alfɔ̃z fʁɑ̃swa maʁki də sad] ; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814) was a French writer, libertine , political activist and nobleman best known for his libertine novels and imprisonment for sex crimes, blasphemy and pornography. His works include novels, short stories, plays, dialogues, and political tracts. Some of these were published under his own name during his lifetime, but most appeared anonymously or posthumously. Born into

280-531: A few Lollards held libertine views such as that adultery and fornication were not sin, or that "whoever died in faith would be saved irrespective of his way of life". During the 18th and 19th centuries, the term became more associated with debauchery. Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand wrote that Joseph Bonaparte "sought only life's pleasures and easy access to libertinism" while on the throne of Naples. Les Liaisons dangereuses ( Dangerous Liaisons , 1782), an epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos ,

420-441: A lettre de cachet and returned to police custody. Sade escaped custody while being transferred back to Paris and he returned to La Coste. On 26 August, he was re-arrested after a police raid on his château and was returned to Vincennes prison. In prison, Sade engaged in extensive correspondence, mostly with his wife, and continued working on Voyage d'Italie and a number of plays. In the summer of 1782, he drafted Dialogue between

560-627: A Priest and a Dying Man and began working on The 120 Days of Sodom . Vincennes prison was closed in February 1784 and Sade was transferred to the Bastille, where he produced a fair copy of The 120 Days of Sodom , which many critics consider his first major work. Sade began working on the novel Aline and Valcour and completed the novellas The Misfortunes of Virtue (1787) and Eugénie de Franval (1788). As revolutionary tension increased in Paris, Sade

700-457: A blessing is similar in some aspects to the consecration of a bishop, with the new abbot being presented with the mitre , the ring, and the crosier as symbols of office and receiving the laying on of hands and blessing from the celebrant. Though the ceremony installs the new abbot into a position of legal authority, it does not confer further sacramental authority- it is not a further degree of Holy Orders (although some abbots have been ordained to

840-652: A career as a writer. His novel Justine, or the Misfortunes of Virtue was published anonymously in June 1791. In October, his play Oxtiern opened at the Théâtre Molière in Paris, but closed after only two performances following audience uproar. Sade was increasingly involved in politics, at first supporting a constitutional monarchy. However, as republican sentiment grew in 1792, Sade found himself in political difficulty due to his noble ancestry, public support of

980-475: A contemporary emergency—the revenues of the community were handed over to a lay lord, in return for his protection, early suggested to the emperors and kings the expedient of rewarding their warriors with rich abbeys held in commendam . During the Carolingian epoch, the custom grew up of granting these as regular heritable fiefs or benefices , and by the 10th century, before the great Cluniac reform,

1120-685: A daughter, Madeleine-Laure, was born. Sade, heavily in debt, was forced to sell his commission but this did not save him from a short spell in debtors' prison. In November 1771, Renée-Pélagie's 19-year-old sister, Anne-Prospère, visited the Sades at La Coste. Sade developed "a fatal passion" for his sister-in-law and it is possible that they began a sexual relationship. The following year, he devoted himself to theatrical productions at La Coste and his Mazan property. He incurred large costs hiring professional actors and building elaborate sets. In June 1772, Sade and his manservant , Latour, traveled to Marseilles on

1260-526: A few months later. In June, Nanon Sablonnière, one of the servants involved in the La Coste orgies, quarreled with the Sades and left, finding refuge in a convent. Fearing that Nanon might provide damaging testimony, Madame de Montreuil falsely accused her of theft and successfully petitioned for a lettre de cachet. Nanon was arrested and imprisoned at Arles where she remained for over two years. In July, Sade, fearing arrest, left for Italy where he remained for

1400-413: A knife or burning her with hot wax and stated that Keller did not complain about the flagellation at the time. The parlement accepted the king's pardon and ordered Sade to pay 100 livres in alms for prisoners. Sade was returned to Pierre-Encize prison under the lettre de cachet. On 16 November, the king ordered his release on the condition that he stay at La Coste under supervision. The Arcueil affair

1540-453: A lesser rank, whom he fitted for the universities. His table, attendance and officers were an honour to the nation. He would entertain as many as 500 persons of rank at one time, besides relieving the poor of the vicinity twice a week. He had his country houses and fisheries, and when he travelled to attend parliament his retinue amounted to upwards of 100 persons. The abbots of Cluny and Vendôme were, by virtue of their office, cardinals of

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1680-556: A literary career and became politically active, first as a constitutional monarchist then as a radical republican. During the Reign of Terror he was imprisoned for moderatism and narrowly escaped the guillotine. He was re-arrested in 1801 for his pornographic novels and was eventually incarcerated in the Charenton insane asylum where he died in 1814. His major works include The 120 Days of Sodom , Justine , Juliette and Philosophy in

1820-548: A noble family dating from the 13th century, Sade served as an officer in the Seven Years' War before a series of sex scandals led to his detention in various prisons and insane asylums for most of his adult life. During his first extended imprisonment from 1777 to 1790, he wrote a series of novels and other works, some of which his wife smuggled out of prison. On his release during the French Revolution, he pursued

1960-452: A number of influential works against heresy , and about monastic and liturgical discipline, and Christian philanthropy . In the Tales of Redwall series , the creatures of Redwall are led by an abbot or abbess. These "abbots" are appointed by the brothers and sisters of Redwall to serve as a superior and provide paternal care, much like real abbots. "The Abbot" was a nickname of RZA from

2100-417: A pistol at Sade from point-blank range, but it misfired. After a second attempt to shoot him, Treillet's father left and filed a complaint of kidnapping and seduction against Sade. Madame de Montreuil then wrote to Sade telling him that his mother was critically ill in Paris. Sade and his wife arrived on 8 February 1777 only to find that his mother had been dead three weeks. On 13 February, he was arrested under

2240-528: A political opportunist whose only consistent principles were libertinage, atheism, opposition to the death penalty and the defense of his own property and aristocratic privileges. Prior to the Revolution, Sade insisted on the observance of feudal customs. After the Revolution he supported the constitutional monarchy because that was the prevailing trend. Following the overthrow of the king, he publicly advocated republicanism only to protect himself from arrest as

2380-413: A precursor to anarchism in that he was libertarian in his desire to expand human freedom and contemplated a society without laws. Ultimately, however, Sade advocated a society with minimal laws. Marshall writes that Sade was a proponent of free public brothels paid for by the state in order to reduce sex crimes and satisfy people's wishes to command and be obeyed. Dworkin, however, states that this proposal

2520-409: A question of overlordship, but implied the concentration in lay hands of all the rights, immunities and jurisdiction of the foundations, i.e. the more or less complete secularization of spiritual institutions. The lay abbot took his recognized rank in the feudal hierarchy, and was free to dispose of his fief as in the case of any other. The enfeoffment of abbeys differed in form and degree. Sometimes

2660-539: A reputation as a good soldier, but a gambler, spendthrift and libertine, all of which damaged any prospects of further promotion. In February 1763, the Treaty of Paris ended the Seven Years' War, and Sade was discharged. Back in Paris, he lived a life of pleasure, while his ill and seriously indebted father contemplated retiring to a monastery to avoid "having to welcome my son, with whom I am unhappy." Sade's father

2800-428: A right to ignore laws and moral precepts that are contrary to the laws of nature and to pursue goals that are in accordance with nature. His libertines argue that human virtues such as charity, pity and respect for parents are against nature and should be shunned whereas murder and theft are natural passions and should be pursued. For Sade, the only human value is the egotistical pursuit of the passions. The primary passion

2940-497: A rival to their own power. John Gray argues that Sade's philosophy is fundamentally religious as it replaces God with nature. However, it is also confused as it rails against nature while nevertheless advocating that humans follow nature's "destructive impulses". Lester Crocker argues that Sade was the first to construct "a complete system of nihilism , with all its implications, ramifications and consequences." Sade believed morals are only human conventions and that individuals have

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3080-420: A room and threatened to kill her if she did not undress. He then tied her down on a bed and whipped her with a cane or a cat-o'-nine-tails. She stated he also cut her with a penknife and poured hot wax on her wounds. He brandished a knife and threatened to kill her if she did not stop screaming. He later gave her food and locked her in an upstairs room. She managed to escape out a window and sought help. She went to

3220-553: A series of anonymous novels: Philosophy in the Bedroom and Aline and Valcour (1795), and the first volumes of The New Justine and Juliette (1797–99). Sade had huge debts, little income from his properties, and the Vaucluse department had incorrectly placed him on its list of émigrés, leaving him vulnerable to arrest and confiscation of property. In October 1796, he was forced to sell La Coste, but his former wife obtained most of

3360-612: A significant contribution to Christian hagiography , one of the most well-known being the Life of St. Benedict of Nursia by St. Gregory the Great . During the years 1106–1107 AD, Daniel, a Russian Orthodox abbot, made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and recorded his experiences. His diary was much-read throughout Russia , and at least seventy-five manuscript copies survive. Saint Joseph , Abbot of Volokolamsk , Russia (1439–1515), wrote

3500-426: A supporter of the monarchy. Gray concludes, "relentlessly opportunistic in his public stances, the ci-devant marquis ... was an unswerving moderate horrified by political excess." Albert Camus , writing in 1951, argued that Sade placed the sex drive at the centre of his thought. The sex drive is natural but a blind force that dominates man. The overthrow, in 1792, of a king ruling by divine right necessarily involved

3640-400: A sword, telling her he would kill her if she did not trample on a crucifix and exclaim obscene blasphemies. She reluctantly complied. She spent the night with Sade, who read her irreligious poetry. He asked her for sodomy (another capital offense) but she refused. The following morning, Testard reported Sade to the authorities. On 29 October, following a police investigation, Sade was arrested on

3780-465: A transgression. Examples among the Egyptian monks of this submission to the commands of the superiors, exalted into a virtue by those who regarded the entire crushing of the individual will as a goal, are detailed by Cassian and others, e.g. a monk watering a dry stick, day after day, for months, or endeavoring to remove a huge rock immensely exceeding his powers. When a vacancy occurred, the bishop of

3920-556: A wave of articles appeared identifying Sade as the author of the scandalous Justine and Juliette . The Napoleonic Consulate was cracking down on public immorality and, in March 1801, Sade was arrested at his publisher's office and detained in the Sainte-Pélagie Prison . The stocks of The New Justine and Juliette were seized and the police minister Joseph Fouché ordered Sade's detention without trial as he believed

4060-475: A year. In June 1776, Sade was back at La Coste writing a travel book, Voyage d'Italie . That summer, he hired three young women as servants, including Catherine Treillet, age 22. In December, he recruited four more servants. Three of them left after one night, claiming that Sade had offered them money for sex. They informed Treillet's father and, in January, he went to La Coste to retrieve his daughter. He fired

4200-431: Is a hierarchy of precedence or authority among abbots. In some cases, this is the result of an abbey being considered the "mother" of several "daughter" abbeys founded as dependent priories of the "mother". In other cases, abbeys have affiliated in networks known as "congregations". Some monastic families recognize one abbey as the motherhouse of the entire order. The title abbé (French; Ital. abate ), as commonly used in

4340-458: Is a trenchant description of sexual libertinism. Wayland Young argues: "... the mere analysis of libertinism ... carried out by a novelist with such a prodigious command of his medium ... was enough to condemn it and play a large part in its destruction." Agreeable to Calvin's emphasis on the need for uniformity of discipline in Geneva, Samuel Rutherford (Professor of Divinity in

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4480-528: Is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from abba , the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ab , and means "father". The female equivalent is abbess . The title had its origin in the monasteries of Egypt and Syria , spread through the eastern Mediterranean , and soon became accepted generally in all languages as

4620-422: Is based to some extent on Boileau 's version of Juvenal 's eighth or fifteenth satire, and is also indebted to Hobbes, Montaigne , Lucretius , and Epicurus , as well as the general libertine tradition. Confusion has arisen in its interpretation as it is ambiguous as to whether the speaker is Rochester himself, or a satirised persona. It criticises the vanities and corruptions of the statesmen and politicians of

4760-475: Is infinitely broken down and reconfigured, never perishing. Free will is an illusion because everything has a cause which is determined by the materialist laws of nature. The character of libertines is therefore determined by nature and it is pointless to punish them for something for which they are not morally responsible. Sade's libertines sometimes substitute nature for God, regarding it as a destructive force whose laws must be respected, but sometimes see nature as

4900-446: Is made of an abbot of Leicester , c. 1360, who was the most skilled of all the nobility in hare hunting. In magnificence of equipage and retinue the abbots vied with the first nobles of the realm. They rode on mules with gilded bridles, rich saddles and housings, carrying hawks on their wrist, followed by an immense train of attendants. The bells of the churches were rung as they passed. They associated on equal terms with laymen of

5040-454: Is proved by their attendance and votes at ecclesiastical councils. Thus at the first Council of Constantinople , AD 448, 23 archimandrites or abbots sign, with 30 bishops . The second Council of Nicaea , AD 787, recognized the right of abbots to ordain their monks to the inferior orders below the diaconate , a power usually reserved to bishops. Abbots used to be subject to episcopal jurisdiction, and continued generally so, in fact, in

5180-496: Is the head and chief governor of a community of monks, called also in the East hegumen or archimandrite . The English version for a female monastic head is abbess . In Egypt , the first home of monasticism, the jurisdiction of the abbot, or archimandrite, was but loosely defined. Sometimes he ruled over only one community, sometimes over several, each of which had its own abbot as well. Saint John Cassian speaks of an abbot of

5320-406: Is the sex drive which is inextricably linked to passions for destruction, violence and domination. For Sade's libertines, crime is not only necessary to establish and preserve their domination, it is also a pleasure in itself. They construct a hierarchy of the pleasures of crime according to which mere failure to help those in need gives the least pleasure and the torture and murder of children provide

5460-466: Is to be traced, far more than to the arrogance of abbots, rendered it increasingly frequent, and, in the 6th century, the practice of exempting religious houses partly or altogether from episcopal control, and making them responsible to the pope alone, received an impulse from Pope Gregory the Great . These exceptions, introduced with a good object, had grown into a widespread evil by the 12th century, virtually creating an imperium in imperio, and depriving

5600-627: The Château de Saumur and later the Pierre-Encize prison. On 15 April, the criminal chamber of the parlement de Paris took up the case and soon issued an arrest warrant for Sade. On 3 June, the king issued a pardon for the marquis, probably on the petition of the Montreuil family. The parlement interrogated Sade on 10 June and he stated that Keller was a prostitute who willingly supplied her services. He denied tying her down, cutting her with

5740-593: The Fortress of Miolans , then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia . He escaped from the fortress on 30 April 1773 and returned to France. Sade narrowly avoided arrest in January 1774 when he was warned of an imminent police raid on his home in La Coste which had been arranged by Madame de Montreuil. Following the death of Louis XV in May, Madame de Montreuil successfully petitioned for a new lettre de cachet for Sade's arrest in

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5880-604: The Lateran council , AD 1123. In the East abbots, if in priests' orders and with the consent of the bishop, were, as we have seen, permitted by the second Nicene council , AD 787, to confer the tonsure and admit to the order of reader; but gradually abbots, in the West also, advanced higher claims, until we find them in AD 1489 permitted by Innocent IV to confer both the subdiaconate and diaconate. Of course, they always and everywhere had

6020-571: The National Constituent Assembly voted to abolish lettres de cachet and Sade was released from detention on 2 April. On Sade's release, his wife sought a legal separation and the marriage was dissolved in September 1790. In August, he met Marie-Constance Quesnet, a 33-year-old actress, and they began a relationship which was to last until his death. Sade now called himself "Louis Sade, man of letters" and tried to launch

6160-589: The Revolution ; but the courtesy title of abbé, having long lost all connection in people's minds with any special ecclesiastical function, remained as a convenient general term applicable to any clergyman. In the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches , the abbot is referred to as the hegumen . The Superior of a monastery of nuns is called the Hēguménē . The title of archimandrite (literally

6300-621: The Thebaid who had 500 monks under him. By the Rule of St Benedict , which, until the Cluniac reforms , was the norm in the West, the abbot has jurisdiction over only one community. The rule, as was inevitable, was subject to frequent violations; but it was not until the foundation of the Cluniac Order that the idea of a supreme abbot, exercising jurisdiction over all the houses of an order,

6440-654: The Vaucluse region. The Abbé d'Amblet was appointed as Sade's tutor and the young marquis grew to respect him greatly. Meanwhile, the Count de Sade had lost favor with the king and had been recalled from his post in Germany. His career was now in ruins and his wife eventually left him to live in a Carmelite convent in Paris. In the autumn of 1750, ten-year-old Sade was sent to the Jesuit college Louis-le-Grand in Paris, where he

6580-427: The refectory , and be content with the ordinary fare of the monks, unless he had to entertain a guest. These ordinances proved, however, generally ineffective to secure strictness of diet, and contemporaneous literature abounds with satirical remarks and complaints concerning the inordinate extravagance of the tables of the abbots. When the abbot condescended to dine in the refectory, his chaplains waited upon him with

6720-444: The vestry , and a chapter was held, and the bishop or his delegate preached a suitable sermon . Before the late modern era, the abbot was treated with the utmost reverence by the brethren of his house. When he appeared either in church or chapter all present rose and bowed. His letters were received kneeling, as were those of the pope and the king. No monk might sit in his presence, or leave it, without his permission, reflecting

6860-538: The "difficulty of distinguishing a single authorial voice" from the multitude of characters in his fiction. Even in Sade's letters he was often playing a role which leads to "the ultimate impossibility of identifying the real Sade through his writing." The arguments his characters use to justify their more extreme behavior are often satire, parody and irony. Geoffrey Gorer states that Sade was in opposition to contemporary thinkers for both his "complete and continual denial of

7000-593: The "plain and charmless" Renée-Pélagie, and did not attend court when, on 1 May 1763, the king and members of the royal family endorsed the marriage contract. Sade finally relented, and the two families signed the contract on 15 May. The wedding took place two days later. Sade and Renée-Pélagie moved into rooms provided by her parents in the Hôtel de Montreuil in Paris. Sade was initially pleased with his new, strictly Catholic bride, writing to his uncle, "I don't know how to praise her enough." Two years later, however, he told

7140-486: The Abbé that she was "too cold and too devout." She gave birth to two sons and a daughter, and later became an accomplice to his alleged crimes with adolescents. Four months after his wedding, Sade was accused of blasphemy and incitement to sacrilege, which were capital offenses. He had rented a property in Paris which he used for sexual encounters. On 18 October 1763, Sade hired a prostitute named Jeanne Testard. Testard stated to

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7280-430: The Bedroom , which combine graphic descriptions of sex acts, rape, torture, murder and child abuse with discourses on religion, politics, sexuality and philosophy. The word sadism derives from his fictional characters who take pleasure in inflicting pain on others. There is debate over the extent to which Sade's behavior was criminal and sadistic. Peter Marshall states that Sade's "known behaviour (which includes only

7420-581: The Catholic Church on the European continent, is the equivalent of the English "Father" (parallel etymology), being loosely applied to all who have received the tonsure . This use of the title is said to have originated in the right conceded to the king of France, by the concordat between Pope Leo X and Francis I (1516), to appoint commendatory abbots ( abbés commendataires ) to most of

7560-523: The Hôtel de Condé. The infant Sade was spoilt, haughty, and prone to violent rages. In 1744, he was sent to live with his grandmother in Avignon , probably because he had fought with his playmate, Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé , who was four years his senior. The following year, Sade was placed in the care of his paternal uncle, the Abbé de Sade, a priest and libertine who lived in the château de Saumane in

7700-761: The Quintessence of Debauchery , 1684). Other famous titles are Histoire de Dom Bougre, Portier des Chartreux (1741) and Thérèse Philosophe (1748). Precursors to the libertine writers were Théophile de Viau (1590–1626) and Charles de Saint-Evremond (1610–1703), who were inspired by Epicurus and the publication of Petronius . Robert Darnton is a cultural historian who has covered this genre extensively. A three-part essay in The Book Collector by David Foxen explores libertine literature in England, 1660-1745. Critics have been divided as to

7840-530: The Roman church. In the process of time, the title abbot was extended to clerics who had no connection with the monastic system, as to the principal of a body of parochial clergy; and under the Carolingians to the chief chaplain of the king, Abbas Curiae , or military chaplain of the emperor, Abbas Castrensis. It even came to be adopted by purely secular officials. Thus the chief magistrate of

7980-544: The University of St. Andrews, and Christian minister in 17th-century Scotland) offered a rigorous treatment of "Libertinism" in his polemical work "A Free Disputation Against Pretended Liberty of Conscience" (1649). A Satyr Against Reason and Mankind is a poem by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester which addresses the question of the proper use of reason , and is generally assumed to be a Hobbesian critique of rationalism . The narrator subordinates reason to sense. It

8120-400: The West till the 11th century. The Code of Justinian (lib. i. tit. iii. de Ep. leg. xl.) expressly subordinates the abbot to episcopal oversight. The first case recorded of the partial exemption of an abbot from episcopal control is that of Faustus, abbot of Lerins, at the council of Arles, AD 456; but the exorbitant claims and exactions of bishops, to which this repugnance to episcopal control

8260-413: The abandonment of a system of law and morals sanctioned by God and sovereign. In its place, Sade advocated absolute moral license, allowing the passions to rule. If satisfaction of the passions involves crimes such as murder then this accords with the laws of nature, for destruction is necessary for creation. But if murder is licensed, all are at risk of being murdered. Therefore, absolute freedom must entail

8400-491: The abbeys in France. The expectation of obtaining these sinecures drew young men towards the church in considerable numbers, and the class of abbés so formed – abbés de cour they were sometimes called, and sometimes (ironically) abbés de sainte espérance ("abbés of holy hope; or in a jeu de mots , "of St. Hope") – came to hold a recognized position. The connection many of them had with

8540-403: The authorities that evening and lodged a complaint. The local magistrate began an investigation the following day and news of the affair reached Madame de Montreuil on 7 April. She immediately sent representatives to Arcueil who paid Keller to withdraw her complaint. On 8 April, the king issued a lettre de cachet (a royal warrant for arrest and detention without trial) and Sade was imprisoned at

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8680-647: The beating of a housemaid and an orgy with several prostitutes) departs greatly from the clinical picture of active sadism." Andrea Dworkin , however, argues that the issue is whether one believes Sade or the women who accused him of sexual assault. Interest in his work increased in the 20th century, with various authors considering him a precursor to Nietzsche , Freud , surrealism , totalitarianism , and anarchism . Many prominent intellectuals including Angela Carter , Simone de Beauvoir , and Roland Barthes published studies of his work and numerous biographies have appeared. Cultural depictions of his life and work include

8820-412: The beating of a housemaid and an orgy with several prostitutes) departs greatly from the clinical picture of active sadism." Phillips states "there is no reason to believe that any of this behaviour involved compulsion." Dworkin, however, argues that the issue is whether one believes Sade or his female accusers and that admirers of Sade "attempt to justify, trivialize, or deny (even though records confirming

8960-427: The bishop of all authority over the chief centres of influence in his diocese . In the 12th century, the abbots of Fulda claimed precedence of the archbishop of Cologne . Abbots more and more assumed almost episcopal state, and in defiance of the prohibition of early councils and the protests of St Bernard and others, adopted the episcopal insignia of mitre , ring, gloves and sandals. It has been maintained that

9100-425: The boy, who has not one good quality and all the bad ones." Meanwhile, Sade had fallen in love with a nobleman's daughter named Laure de Lauris, but was abruptly rejected after two months of courtship. He was enraged, and threatened to blackmail Lauris by blaming his venereal disease on her to the next young man she courted. Sade, who proclaimed that he would "only marry for love", resisted the arranged marriage with

9240-510: The church was of the slenderest kind, consisting mainly in adopting the title of abbé, after a remarkably moderate course of theological study, practising celibacy and wearing distinctive dress, a short dark-violet coat with narrow collar. Being men of presumed learning and undoubted leisure, many of the class found admission to the houses of the French nobility as tutors or advisers. Nearly every great family had its abbé. The class did not survive

9380-458: The church, and proceed barefoot to meet the members of the house advancing in a procession. After proceeding up the nave , he was to kneel and pray at the topmost step of the entrance of the choir, into which he was to be introduced by the bishop or his commissary , and placed in his stall. The monks, then kneeling, gave him the kiss of peace on the hand, and rising, on the mouth, the abbot holding his staff of office . He then put on his shoes in

9520-579: The church, have caused themselves to be called abbots, and presumed to attribute to themselves a title, as well as estates, to which they have no just claim. In conventual cathedrals, where the bishop occupied the place of the abbot, the functions usually devolving on the superior of the monastery were performed by a prior . In the Roman Catholic Church, abbots continue to be elected by the monks of an abbey to lead them as their religious superior in those orders and monasteries that make use of

9660-572: The château de Longeville in the Champagne region. There, he met Madame de Saint-Germain, for whom he would hold a life-long affection. Both women became mother-figures for Sade. In 1754, Sade was sent to the Chevaux-légers military academy. After twenty months of training, on 14 December 1755, aged 15, Sade was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant in the King's Foot Guard. He soon went to battle at

9800-435: The clergy, of appointing the most powerful people of a parish stewards, or, rather, patrons, of their churches; who, in process of time, from a desire of gain, have usurped the whole right, appropriating to their own use the possession of all the lands, leaving only to the clergy the altars, with their tenths and oblations, and assigning even these to their sons and relations in the church. Such defenders, or rather destroyers, of

9940-728: The court of Charles II. The libertine novel was a primarily 18th-century literary genre of which the roots lay in the European but mainly French libertine tradition. The genre effectively ended with the French Revolution . Themes of libertine novels were anti-clericalism , anti-establishment and eroticism . Authors include Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon ( Les Égarements du cœur et de l'esprit , 1736; Le Sopha, conte moral , 1742), Denis Diderot ( Les bijoux indiscrets , 1748), Marquis de Sade ( L'Histoire de Juliette , 1797–1801), Choderlos de Laclos ( Les Liaisons dangereuses , 1782), and John Wilmot ( Sodom, or

10080-525: The designation of the head of a monastery. The word is derived from the Aramaic av meaning "father" or abba , meaning "my father" (it still has this meaning in contemporary Hebrew: אבא and Aramaic: ܐܒܐ) In the Septuagint , it was written as "abbas". At first it was employed as a respectful title for any monk, but it was soon restricted by canon law to certain priestly superiors. At times it

10220-529: The details are unknown, it is probable that the orgies included sexual intercourse and flagellation. In January 1775, the families of the young women filed charges of kidnapping and seduction, and a criminal investigation commenced in Lyon. Sade's wife arranged for three of the girls to be sent to convents and one to the Abbé Sade until their wounds healed. One of the girls remained at La Coste and died of an illness

10360-411: The diocese chose the abbot out of the monks of the monastery , but the right of election was transferred by jurisdiction to the monks themselves, reserving to the bishop the confirmation of the election and the benediction of the new abbot. In abbeys exempt from the archbishop's diocesan jurisdiction, the confirmation and benediction had to be conferred by the pope in person, the house being taxed with

10500-464: The dishes, a servant, if necessary, assisting them. When abbots dined in their own private hall, the Rule of St Benedict charged them to invite their monks to their table, provided there was room, on which occasions the guests were to abstain from quarrels, slanderous talk and idle gossiping. The ordinary attire of the abbot was according to rule to be the same as that of the monks. But by the 10th century

10640-591: The elite of Napoleonic society. Sade was also allowed to write. In April 1807, he completed Les journées de Florbelle, a ten-volume libertine novel. The novel was seized after a police search of Sade's and Quesnet's rooms. Sade later completed three conventional novels at Charenton. Coulmier's novel approach to psychotherapy and the privileges granted to Sade attracted much opposition in official circles. In 1810, new police orders put Sade into solitary confinement and deprived him of pens and paper. Coulmier, however, gradually restored most of Sade's privileges. In 1813,

10780-418: The episcopacy). Once he has received this blessing, the abbot not only becomes father of his monks in a spiritual sense, but their major superior under canon law, and has the additional authority to confer the ministries of acolyte and lector (formerly, he could confer the minor orders, which are not sacraments, that these ministries have replaced). The abbey is a species of "exempt religious" in that it is, for

10920-526: The existing lettre de cachet and imprisoned in the Vincennes fortress. With Sade now in custody, the parlement de Provence in Aix agreed to hear his appeal against his conviction for sodomy and poisoning. On 30 June 1778, the court overturned his conviction on poisoning and ordered a retrial on charges of debauchery and pederasty . Madame de Montreuil, wishing to avoid the disgrace of a criminal conviction in

11060-449: The expenses of the new abbot's journey to Rome . It was necessary that an abbot should be at least 30 years of age, of legitimate birth, a monk of the house for at least 10 years, unless it furnished no suitable candidate, when a liberty was allowed of electing from another monastery, well instructed himself, and able to instruct others, one also who had learned how to command by having practised obedience. In some exceptional cases an abbot

11200-538: The facts exist) every assault Sade ever committed against women and girls." Gray states that Sade engaged in "psychic terrorism" and that "Sade's brand of sadism was often more mental than corporeal." According to Bongie, Sade perpetrated "crimes of physical violence committed during sexual assaults on hapless prostitutes. Such assaults, aggravated by death threats and the element of recidivism, could easily get an offender into similar difficulties today." John Phillips argues that Sade's views cannot be easily determined due to

11340-408: The family, sent a representative to Marseilles to bribe the prostitutes and other prospective witnesses. On 14 July 1778, after interrogating Sade and other witnesses, the appeals court overturned the sodomy conviction, finding him guilty of only "debauchery and immoderate libertinage." He was given a small fine and forbidden to enter Marseilles for three years. However, he was immediately re-arrested on

11480-517: The government ordered Coulmier to suspend all theatrical performances, balls and concerts. By this time, Sade was in a sexual relationship with Madeleine Leclerc, the teenage daughter of an employee at Charenton. The relationship caused consternation for Quesnet and further allegations of immorality against Sade. In September 1814, the new director of Charenton asked the Bourbon restoration government to transfer Sade to another institution. Sade, however,

11620-424: The great feudal families, as late as the 13th century and later, with the head of the community retaining the title of dean. The connection of the lesser lay abbots with the abbeys, especially in the south of France, lasted longer; and certain feudal families retained the title of abbés chevaliers ( Latin : abbates milites ) for centuries, together with certain rights over the abbey lands or revenues. The abuse

11760-525: The greatest. Libertine The word libertine was originally coined by John Calvin to negatively describe opponents of his policies in Geneva , Switzerland. The group, led by Ami Perrin , argued against Calvin's "insistence that church discipline should be enforced uniformly against all members of Genevan society". Perrin and his allies were elected to the town council in 1548, and "broadened their support base in Geneva by stirring up resentment among

11900-541: The head of the enclosure) used to mean something similar. In the East , the principle set forth in the Corpus Juris Civilis still applies, whereby most abbots are immediately subject to the local bishop. Those monasteries which enjoy the status of being stauropegic will be subject only to a primate or his Synod of Bishops and not the local bishop. Although currently in the Western Church

12040-516: The heads of some monasteries converted at the Reformation into collegiate foundations. Of these the most noteworthy is Loccum Abbey in Hanover , founded as a Cistercian house in 1163 by Count Wilbrand of Hallermund, and reformed in 1593. The abbot of Loccum, who still carries a pastoral staff, takes precedence over all the clergy of Hanover, and was ex officio a member of the consistory of

12180-419: The hierarchical etiquette of families and society. The highest place was assigned to him, both in church and at table. In the East he was commanded to eat with the other monks. In the West, the Rule of St Benedict appointed him a separate table, at which he might entertain guests and strangers. Because this permission opened the door to luxurious living, Synods of Aachen decreed that the abbot should dine in

12320-440: The highest distinction, and shared all their pleasures and pursuits. This rank and power was, however, often used most beneficially. For instance, we read of Richard Whiting , the last abbot of Glastonbury , judicially murdered by Henry VIII , that his house was a kind of well-ordered court, where as many as 300 sons of noblemen and gentlemen, who had been sent to him for virtuous education, had been brought up, besides others of

12460-884: The imagination of the essayist William Hazlitt, a man who lodged near Covent Garden during the 1820s, where he became unpleasantly intimate with the social consequences of unconventional sexual obsession that he revealed in his Liber Amoris of 1823, in which he candidly confessed to his infatuation with his landlord's young daughter." During the Baroque era in France, there existed a freethinking circle of philosophers and intellectuals who were collectively known as libertinage érudit and which included Gabriel Naudé , Élie Diodati and François de La Mothe Le Vayer . The critic Vivian de Sola Pinto linked John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester 's libertinism to Hobbesian materialism . Some notable libertines include: Abbot Abbot

12600-591: The kingdom. The governing body of the abbey consists of the abbot, prior and the "convent", or community, of Stiftsherren (canons). In the Church of England , the Bishop of Norwich , by royal decree given by Henry VIII , also holds the honorary title of "Abbot of St. Benet." This title hails back to England's separation from the See of Rome, when King Henry, as supreme head of the newly independent church, took over all of

12740-411: The literary merits of William Hazlitt 's Liber Amoris , a deeply personal account of frustrated love that is quite unlike anything else Hazlitt ever wrote. Wardle suggests that it was compelling but marred by sickly sentimentality, and also proposes that Hazlitt might even have been anticipating some of the experiments in chronology made by later novelists. One or two positive reviews appeared, such as

12880-588: The local dignitaries and vassals formally swore homage to their new lord; a revival of a feudal custom which his father had avoided. On 27 August, his first son, Louis-Marie, was born. On 3 April 1768, Easter Sunday, Sade approached a 36-year-old widow named Rose Keller who was begging at the Place des Victoires in Paris. Keller stated that Sade offered her employment as a housekeeper. He took her in his carriage to his country residence in Arcueil , where he locked her in

13020-461: The marquis returned to Paris where he took up a series of mistresses. In the summer of 1765 he took his then mistress, Mademoiselle Beauvoison, to his favourite castle at La Coste , Provence, where he passed her off as his wife, greatly offending Madame de Montreuil. The following year, he undertook renovations of La Coste, including building a theater for public performances. In January 1767, Sade's father died. That summer, Sade went to La Coste where

13160-520: The monarchy and the emigration of his two sons. In March, his play Le Suborneur premiered at the Théâtre Italien but only lasted one night when Jacobin activists disrupted the performance. He began publicly espousing more radical republican views and became more prominent in his local revolutionary section , the Section des Piques . Following the fall of the monarchy in September 1792, he

13300-463: The monasteries, mainly for their possessions, except for St. Benet, which he spared because the abbot and his monks possessed no wealth, and lived like simple beggars, deposing the incumbent Bishop of Norwich and seating the abbot in his place, thus the dual title still held to this day. Additionally, at the enthronement of the Archbishop of Canterbury , there is a threefold enthronement, once in

13440-412: The monastery would be a mere priory, headed by a prior who acts as superior but without the same degree of legal authority that an abbot has. The abbot is chosen by the monks from among the fully professed monks. Once chosen, he must request blessing: the blessing of an abbot is celebrated by the bishop in whose diocese the monastery is or, with his permission, another abbot or bishop. The ceremony of such

13580-411: The monks were directly subject to the lay abbot; sometimes he appointed a substitute to perform the spiritual functions, known usually as dean ( decanus ), but also as abbot ( abbas legitimus , monasticus , regularis ). When the great reform of the 11th century had put an end to the direct jurisdiction of the lay abbots, the honorary title of abbot continued to be held by certain of

13720-423: The most part, answerable to the pope, or to the abbot primate, rather than to the local bishop. The abbot wears the same habit as his fellow monks, though by tradition he adds to it a pectoral cross. Territorial abbots follow all of the above, but in addition must receive a mandate of authority from the pope over the territory around the monastery for which they are responsible. In some monastic families, there

13860-403: The name of King Louis XVI . Meanwhile, Renée-Pélagie requested an appeal of her husband's death sentence. In September 1774, Sade and his wife hired seven new servants for their La Coste property, including a young male secretary and five young women, all around 15 years old. That winter (1774–75), Sade, with the tacit consent of his wife, engaged in a series of orgies with his servants. Although

14000-532: The older inhabitants against the increasing number of religious refugees who were fleeing France in even greater numbers". By 1555, Calvinists were firmly in place on the Genevan town council, so the Libertines, led by Perrin, responded with an "attempted coup against the government and called for the massacre of the French. This was the last great political challenge Calvin had to face in Geneva". In England,

14140-630: The one in the Globe , 7 June 1823: "The Liber Amoris is unique in the English language; and as, possibly, the first book in its fervour, its vehemency, and its careless exposure of passion and weakness—of sentiments and sensations which the common race of mankind seek most studiously to mystify or conceal—that exhibits a portion of the most distinguishing characteristics of Rousseau, it ought to be generally praised". Dan Cruickshank in his book London's Sinful Secret summarized Hazlitt's infatuation stating: "Decades after her death Batsy (Careless) still haunted

14280-702: The onset of the Seven Years' War . After thirteen months as a sub-lieutenant, he was commissioned to the rank of cornet in the Brigade de Saint-André of the Comte de Provence's Carbine Regiment on 14 January 1757, and again promoted to the rank of captain in the Burgundian Cavalry on 21 April 1759. Despite this, Sade generally refused to ingratiate himself with his superiors, and "disdained making friends with his peers." He frequently infuriated his father with his gambling and womanizing. By 1761, Sade had gained

14420-530: The parallel rank of Archpriest or Protopresbyter . Normally there are no celibate priests who are not monastics in the Orthodox Church, with the exception of married priests who have been widowed . Since the time of Catherine II the ranks of Abbot and Archimandrite have been given as honorary titles in the Russian Church, and may be given to any monastic, even if he does not in fact serve as

14560-419: The pastilles. That evening, Sade had sex with another prostitute, Marguerite Coste, who became critically ill after eating the pastilles. Coste filed a complaint with the police and, after an investigation, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Sade on charges of sodomy and poisoning. Sade went into hiding, and his wife paid Laverne and Coste to withdraw their complaints. The Marseilles court, however, continued

14700-469: The personal orders of the king and jailed in Vincennes prison. Sade wrote several contrite letters to the authorities in which he expressed remorse and asked to see a priest. After Sade's father begged Louis XV for clemency, the king ordered Sade's release on 13 November. On his release, Sade was exiled to the Montreuil estate at Échauffour , Normandy. In September 1764, the king revoked Sade's exile and

14840-554: The play Marat/Sade by Peter Weiss and the film Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom by Pier Paolo Pasolini . Dworkin and Roger Shattuck have criticized the rehabilitation of Sade's reputation, arguing that it promotes violent pornography likely to cause harm to women, the young and "unformed minds". Sade was born on 2 June 1740, in the Hôtel de Condé , Paris , the only surviving child of Jean-Baptiste François Joseph, Count de Sade and Marie-Éléonore de Maillé de Carman. The Sade family

14980-558: The police that Sade had locked her in a bedroom before asking whether she believed in God. When she said that she did, Sade said there was no God and shouted obscenities concerning Jesus and the Virgin Mary. Sade then masturbated with a chalice and crucifix while shouting obscenities and blasphemies. He asked her to beat him with a cane and an iron scourge which had been heated by fire, but she refused. Sade then threatened her with pistols and

15120-622: The pornography laws did not provide for sufficient punishment and any trial would only increase Sade's notoriety. Following Sade's attempts to seduce young prisoners at Sainte-Pélagie, he was declared insane with "libertine dementia" and transferred to the Bicêtre Asylum . After intervention by his family, he was transferred once more to the Charenton Asylum , where his ex-wife and children agreed to pay his room and board. Marie-Constance, pretending to be his illegitimate daughter,

15260-416: The power of admitting their own monks and vesting them with the religious habit. The power of the abbot was paternal but absolute, limited, however, by the canon law . One of the main goals of monasticism was the purgation of self and selfishness, and obedience was seen as a path to that perfection. It was sacred duty to execute the abbot's orders, and even to act without his orders was sometimes considered

15400-637: The precedence was yielded to the abbot of Glastonbury, until in AD 1154 Adrian IV (Nicholas Breakspear) granted it to the abbot of St Alban's, in which monastery he had been brought up. Next after the abbot of St Alban's ranked the abbot of Westminster and then Ramsey. Elsewhere, the mitred abbots that sat in the Estates of Scotland were of Arbroath , Cambuskenneth , Coupar Angus , Dunfermline , Holyrood , Iona , Kelso , Kilwinning , Kinloss , Lindores , Paisley , Melrose , Scone , St Andrews Priory and Sweetheart . To distinguish abbots from bishops, it

15540-434: The pretext of obtaining a loan. On 27 June, they engaged in an elaborately staged orgy with four prostitutes. The orgy included sexual intercourse, flagellation , and, according to some witnesses, both active and passive anal sex involving Sade, Latour and one of the prostitutes. Sade offered the prostitutes aniseed -flavored pastilles laced with Spanish fly . One of the prostitutes, Marianne Laverne, became ill after eating

15680-548: The proceeds. In 1798, Sade unsuccessfully petitioned Paul Barras , a leader of the Directory regime , to have his name removed from the list of émigrés. Sade's émigré status was finally revoked in December 1799, by which time he had fallen deeper into poverty and had registered as indigent. In 1800, Sade published Crimes of Love , a collection of short stories published under his own name. The book received hostile reviews and

15820-582: The prosecution, sentencing Sade and Latour to death in absentia on 2 September. The sentence was confirmed by the Cours des Comptes de Provence in Aix on 11 September, and Sade and Latour were burnt in effigy the following day. Sade was now in Italy with Anne-Prospère, a liaison which turned Madame de Montreuil into his implacable enemy. He wrote to his mother-in-law from Italy, disclosing his location, and she used her influence to secure his arrest and imprisonment in

15960-403: The republic at Genoa was called Abbas Populi . Lay abbots (M. Lat. defensores , abbacomites , abbates laici , abbates milites , abbates saeculares or irreligiosi , abbatiarii , or sometimes simply abbates ) were the outcome of the growth of the feudal system from the 8th century onwards. The practice of commendation , by which—to meet

16100-472: The right to property" and for viewing the political conflict in late-18th-century France as being not between "the Crown, the bourgeoisie , the aristocracy or the clergy, or sectional interests of any of these against one another," but rather all of these "more or less united against the people." Thus, Gorer argued, "he can with some justice be called the first reasoned socialist ." Peter Marshall sees Sade as

16240-768: The right to wear mitres was sometimes granted by the popes to abbots before the 11th century, but the documents on which this claim is based are not genuine (J. Braun, Liturgische Gewandung , p. 453). The first undoubted instance is the bull by which Alexander II in 1063 granted the use of the mitre to Egelsinus, abbot of the monastery of St Augustine at Canterbury. The mitred abbots in England were those of Abingdon , St Alban's , Bardney , Battle , Bury St Edmunds , St Augustine's Canterbury , Colchester , Croyland , Evesham , Glastonbury , Gloucester , St Benet's Hulme , Hyde , Malmesbury , Peterborough , Ramsey , Reading , Selby , Shrewsbury , Tavistock , Thorney , Westminster , Winchcombe , and St Mary's York . Of these

16380-518: The rule was commonly set aside, and we find frequent complaints of abbots dressing in silk, and adopting sumptuous attire. Some even laid aside the monastic habit altogether, and assumed a secular dress. With the increase of wealth and power, abbots had lost much of their special religious character, and become great lords, chiefly distinguished from lay lords by celibacy . Thus we hear of abbots going out to hunt, with their men carrying bows and arrows; keeping horses, dogs and huntsmen; and special mention

16520-422: The struggle to dominate. For Camus, Sade advocated freedom of desire for the few which required the enslavement of the majority. Sade thus prefigured totalitarianism in the name of freedom. Phillips states that Sade was greatly influenced by the materialism of La Mettrie and Holbach and by the determinism of Hume . According to this view, God does not exist, and man and the universe are nothing but matter which

16660-627: The superior of a monastery. In Greek practice the title or function of Abbot corresponds to a person who serves as the head of a monastery, although the title of the Archimandrite may be given to any celibate priest who could serve as the head of a monastery. In the German Evangelical Church , the German title of Abt (abbot) is sometimes bestowed, like the French abbé , as an honorary distinction, and survives to designate

16800-420: The system was firmly established. Even the abbey of St Denis was held in commendam by Hugh Capet . The example of the kings was followed by the feudal nobles, sometimes by making a temporary concession permanent, sometimes without any form of commendation whatever. In England the abuse was rife in the 8th century, as may be gathered from the acts of the council of Cloveshoe . These lay abbacies were not merely

16940-483: The term (some orders of monks, as the Carthusians for instance, have only priors ). A monastery must have been granted the status of an abbey by the pope, and such monasteries are normally raised to this level after showing a degree of stability—a certain number of monks in vows, a certain number of years of establishment, a certain firmness to the foundation in economic, vocational and legal aspects. Prior to this,

17080-620: The throne the chancel as the diocesan bishop of Canterbury , once in the Chair of St. Augustine as the Primate of All England , and then once in the chapter-house as Titular Abbot of Canterbury. There are several Benedictine abbeys throughout the Anglican Communion . Most of them have mitred abbots. "The Abbot" is one of the archetypes traditionally illustrated in scenes of Danse Macabre . The lives of numerous abbots make up

17220-563: The title "abbot" is given only abbots of monasteries, the title archimandrite is given to "monastics" (i.e., celibate) priests in the East, even when not attached to a monastery, as an honor for service, similar to the title of monsignor in the Latin Church of the Catholic Church. In the Eastern Orthodox Church , only monastics are permitted to be elevated to the rank of archimandrite. Married priests are elevated to

17360-544: Was allowed to live with him there. The director of Charenton, Abbé de Coulmier , attempted to run the institution on humane principles with an emphasis on "moral treatment" in accordance with the nature of the mental illness. He allowed Sade to write, produce and perform in plays, and also encouraged balls, concerts, dinners and other entertainments. In 1805, Coulmier had a theater built on the premises with seating for about 200. The performances, which included professional actors and inmates, became fashionable, attracting many among

17500-459: Was allowed to name his own successor. Cassian speaks of an abbot in Egypt doing this; and in later times we have another example in the case of St Bruno. Popes and sovereigns gradually encroached on the rights of the monks, until in Italy the pope had usurped the nomination of all abbots, and the king in France, with the exception of Cluny, Premontré and other houses, chiefs of their order. The election

17640-478: Was also negotiating with the Montreuil family for his son to marry their eldest daughter, Renée-Pélagie. Although the Montreuils were of bourgeois origin, and had only been ennobled in the 17th century, they were wealthy and had influential contacts, both at court and in legal circles. The count considered his son a financial burden with a poor character: "As for me, what makes up my mind is that I will be rid of

17780-784: Was applied to various priests, e.g. at the court of the Frankish monarchy the Abbas palatinus ("of the palace"') and Abbas castrensis ("of the camp") were chaplains to the Merovingian and Carolingian sovereigns' court and army respectively. The title of abbot came into fairly general use in western monastic orders whose members include priests. An abbot (from Old English : abbod , abbad , from Latin : abbas ("father"), from Ancient Greek : ἀββᾶς ( abbas ), from Imperial Aramaic : אבא / ܐܒܐ ( 'abbā , "father"); compare German : Abt ; French : abbé )

17920-648: Was appointed the section's commissioner on health and charitable institutions, and in October 1793 he was chosen to deliver the funeral oration for the revolutionary martyrs Marat and Le Peletier . In November, his section delegated him to deliver a petition against religion to the National Convention . His speech probably alienated Robespierre and other members of the convention and its powerful Committee of Public Safety who were attempting to suppress atheism and attacks on religion. In December 1793, Sade

18060-482: Was arrested and charged with "moderatism", associating with counter-revolutionaries, anti-republicanism and "feigned patriotism". He was listed for execution on 27 July 1794 ( 9 Thermidor ) but was saved either by bribery or bureaucratic error. Robespierre and his supporters fell from power that day, ending the Reign of Terror and paving the way for Sade's release from prison in October. On his release, Sade concentrated on literature and his personal affairs. He published

18200-422: Was definitely recognised. Monks, as a rule, were laymen, nor at the outset was the abbot any exception. For the reception of the sacraments , and for other religious offices, the abbot and his monks were commanded to attend the nearest church. This rule proved inconvenient when a monastery was situated in a desert or at a distance from a city, and necessity compelled the ordination of some monks. This innovation

18340-462: Was for compulsory prostitution from childhood on, where women and girls could be raped by men. The proposal is from one of Sade's fictional characters, Le Chevalier, in the novel Philosophy in the Bedroom . Phillips argues that the views of Sade's characters cannot always be attributed to Sade . Gray suggests that Le Chevalier's speech should be read as subversive irony. Maurice Lever, Laurence Louis Bongie and Francine du Plessix Gray present Sade as

18480-408: Was for life, unless the abbot was canonically deprived by the chiefs of his order, or when he was directly subject to them, by the pope or the bishop, and also in England it was for a term of 8–12 years. The ceremony of the formal admission of a Benedictine abbot in medieval times is thus prescribed by the consuetudinary of Abingdon. The newly elected abbot was to put off his shoes at the door of

18620-420: Was not confined to the West. John, patriarch of Antioch at the beginning of the 12th century, informs us that in his time most monasteries had been handed over to laymen, beneficiarii , for life, or for part of their lives, by the emperors. Giraldus Cambrensis reported ( Itinerary , ii.iv) the common customs of lay abbots in the late 12th-century Church of Wales: for a bad custom has prevailed amongst

18760-481: Was not introduced without a struggle, ecclesiastical dignity being regarded as inconsistent with the higher spiritual life, but, before the close of the 5th century, at least in the East, abbots seem almost universally to have become deacons , if not priests. The change spread more slowly in the West, where the office of abbot was commonly filled by laymen till the end of the 7th century. The ecclesiastical leadership exercised by abbots despite their frequent lay status

18900-613: Was now seriously ill. He died on 2 December 1814 after an attack of "prostrating gangrenous fever." Sade had left instructions in his will requesting that he be buried at his property at Malmaison without an autopsy or "pomp of any kind." However, Malmaison had been sold years earlier and Sade was buried with religious rites at Charenton. His skull was later removed from the grave for phrenological examination. His surviving son, Claude-Armand, had all his remaining unpublished manuscripts burnt, including Les Journées de Florbelle . Marshall writes that Sade's "known behaviour (which includes only

19040-616: Was of the provincial nobility dating to the 13th century. Sade's mother was from a junior branch of the house of Bourbon-Condé and therefore Sade was related to the King of France by blood. Sade's father was a captain of dragoons who was entrusted with diplomatic missions to the Russian Empire , Britain and the Elector of Cologne . His mother was lady-in-waiting to the Princess of Condé and, for his first four years, Sade lived in

19180-513: Was ordained that their mitre should be made of less costly materials, and should not be ornamented with gold, a rule which was soon entirely disregarded, and that the crook of their pastoral staff (the crosier) should turn inwards instead of outwards, indicating that their jurisdiction was limited to their own house. The adoption of certain episcopal insignia ( pontificalia ) by abbots was followed by an encroachment on episcopal functions, which had to be specially but ineffectually guarded against by

19320-463: Was outraged that his daily exercise was curtailed. On 2 July 1789, he improvised a megaphone and shouted to passers-by below that the warders were killing the prisoners. Sade was transferred to the Charenton insane asylum that evening. On 14 July, the Bastille was stormed by a revolutionary crowd and Sade's former cell was looted of his personal effects which remained there under seal. In March 1790,

19460-722: Was taught Latin, Greek and rhetoric, and also participated in the school's theatrical productions. Sade's father was now heavily in debt and could not afford to enroll his son as a residential student, so Sade probably lived in private accommodation with Amblet. Residential students were discouraged from mixing with external students and this might have isolated Sade from his aristocratic peers. Biographers and historians are divided on whether or not Sade experienced caning (or other forms of corporal punishment ), sexual abuse or sodomy while at school, and whether or not this influenced his sexual development. Sade spent his summer holidays with Madame de Raimond, one of his father's former lovers, at

19600-458: Was widely publicized, causing the Sade and Montreuil families great concern for their reputation. In June 1769, Renée-Pélagie gave birth to a second son, Donatien-Claude-Armand, and the Montreuils hoped this would help domesticate Sade. In July 1770, Sade returned to his Burgundy regiment where he encountered some hostility. In March 1771, however, he was granted a commission as Master of Cavalry which amounted to an official rehabilitation. Soon after,

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