Rupert of Deutz

Rupert of Deutz (Latin: Rupertus Tuitiensis; c. 1075/1080 – c. 1129) was an influential Benedictine theologian, exegete and writer on liturgical and musical topics.

In 1092, in the context of the conflict between the papacy and the Empire, known as the Investiture Controversy, which in Germany encompassed nearly 50 years of civil war (1076-1122), Rupert joined other monks in following their abbot, Berengar, into exile in northern France, from where he returned in 1095.

According to differing sources, around 1106 or 1109 he was ordained a priest by the Bishop of Liège, Otbert, a powerful figure, and a close supporter of Emperor Henry IV.

While the minor works of Rupert's youth seem to have largely perished, it was from shortly after his priestly ordination, about the year 1110, that he began producing an immense volume of surviving writings, which were widely known to his contemporaries, and though in some quarters they were not without influence, they also won him strong opposition.

At Deutz, Rupert emerged as a prominent theologian,[4] and from surviving manuscripts, it would seem that he was a prolific writer, his works taking up four volumes in Patrologia Latina (vols.