Ebrulf (aka Evroul) was a courtier to King Childebert III, called the Just. [One source says Childebert I, but the timing's off for him.] Anyway, Ebrulf had a pretty soft gig in the palace, but he ditched it to become a monk. He had a thing about manual labor, and being the king's cupbearer was not the kind of heavy lifting for which he yearned.Sources emphasize that he saw that his wife was provided for, perhaps by placing her in a nunnery. At the time, nunneries required dowries, so I suppose this is saying something. But not much, in my book. That whole pledge about "to have and to hold... till death do you part" seems unfulfilled if he's in a monastery and she's in a nunnery. Nonetheless, she may well have been down with it; if so, who am I to judge?
Ebrulf went to the Deux Jumeaux abbey in Bayeaux, and from there set himself up as a hermit. Folks came to ask his guidance, so he pushed deeper into the Pays d'Ouche forest where he gathered a small band of hard-working monks. Labor was a big part of their routine, with prayer being another big part and eating gruel being a small part.
There's an anecdote about a bandit, or perhaps a gang of them, entering his little forest settlement. There wasn't much to steal of course, since they lived in daub-&-wattle huts and prayed during the hours not spent working. Ebrulf explained that they could share their food, but they had no wealth. The bandit cautioned Ebrulf about the dangers of living in the forest. Ebrulf in turn cautioned the bandit about the dangers of living in sin. The bandit left, but then returned with three loaves of bread, a honeycomb, and a request for admittance to the brotherhood.
What would take more courage -- staring down a bandit, or living without enough wealth to warrant a bandit's interest?
It's also the feast of St. Thomas a Becket, linked here if you'd like to revisit last year's post.
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