ABSTRACT
Bernard’s ep. 265, written in autumn 1150, is his last preserved communication to Peter. The next and final phase of the correspondence, dating to May 1152, is preserved only on Peter’s side, where it provides the closure to his letter-collection. It comprises a pair of related letters, 192 to Bernard,1 and 193 to Nicholas,2 which can be dated through references to Peter’s visit to Italy which took place between November 1151 and April 1152.3 Both letters offer an account of this journey, with that to Bernard containing added detail relating to Peter’s reception by Eugenius III and the papal Curia. More importantly, both refer to a proposed meeting between Peter and Bernard, postulated to take place either at Dijon or at Clairvaux.4 Almost certainly, this meeting, which appears to have taken place at Cluny, concerned the problems relating to tithes between Gigny and Le Miroir.5 In spite of an apparent concordia reached previously, probably during Bernard’s visit to Cluny over the Christmas period of 1150,6 renewed trouble seems to have broken out during Peter’s absence in Italy, culminating in a violent attack on Le Miroir organised by ringleaders from Gigny.7 This resulted in two papal bulls, one addressed to Humbert, archbishop of Lyons, in whose diocese both institutions lay,8 the other to Peter and the Cluniacs,9 demanding immediate reparation under threat of interdiction.
