Reginald of Bar (Renaud de Bar, d. 1316) was bishop of Metz from 1302.
Reginald was the son of Theobald II, Count of Bar, and his wife Joan of Toucy. He was made canon at Rheims, Laon, Verdun and Cambrai and then, before 1298, archdeacon of Brussels. He then became archdeacon of Besançon in 1299 before being made canon and 'princier' of Metz in 1301 and provost of la Madeleine in Verdun in 1302. In mid-1302, he was elected bishop of Metz, but the election was considered irregular since the pope held the privilege of name the holder of this bishopric. To solve the problem, appease the clergy at Metz, and save face, Pope Boniface VIII vetoed the election but then immediately named Reginald as his choice for the bishopric. He was the only prelate from the archdiocese of Trier to assist at the council of Vienne, called by pope Clement V to suppress the Templars. Reginald fought against Theobald II, Duke of Lorraine, then against the magistrates of Metz.
He was forced to retire in the messine campaign and died on 4 May 1316, apparently poisoned.[citation needed]
Liturgical manuscripts
Reginald de Bar is known to have owned six liturgical manuscripts all dating from the very beginning of the 14th century, probably between 1302 and 1305.[1]
The manuscripts were probably gifts from his relations, including his sister, Marguerite de Bar, abbess of the Abbey of Saint-Maur de Verdun[2] and his mother, Jeanne de Toucy, whose arms figures many times in the margins alongside those of her son. All six manuscripts are designed to be used in church ceremonies by a bishop.
Ritual for the Use of Metz (BM Metz ms. 43), destroyed in 1944
These manuscripts, especially the two volume Breviary of Verdun, are renowned for their rich illuminations, blason, marginalia and historiated initials.
Lion, from July, Breviary of Verdun, Winter, British Library
Marginalia, Breviary of Verdun, Summer, BM. Verdun
Combatants carrying their heads, Breviary of Verdun, Summer
^Catalogue général des manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques des départements, V (1879), p. 486-487 Base Enluminures (BM Verdun ms. 107)
^probably begun in 1302, commissioned by his sister, the abbess of the abbey of St Maur, Verdun, or by his mother.
Bequeathed to the British Museum in 1941.
Montague Rhodes James, A Descriptive Catalogue of Fifty Manuscripts from the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1898), no. 31 pp. 142–178.
Patrick M. de Winter, 'Une réalisation exceptionnelle d'enlumineurs français et anglais vers 1300: le bréviaire de Renaud de Bar, évêque de Metz', in La Lorraine: études archéologiques (Actes du 103e congrès national des Sociétés savantes (Nancy-Metz, 1978), Section d'archaeologie et d'histoire de l'art) (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, 1980), pp. 27–62 (pp. 34, 36, 37, 38, 49 n. 27, figs. 9, 10, 13).
Georges Poull, La Maison souveraine et ducale de Bar, 1994.
Sharon Kay Davenport, Manuscripts illuminated for Renaud de Bar, Bishop of Metz (1303-1316) PhD University of London, Courtauld Institute 1984; PhD Diss. Courtauld Institute of Art, London (1989).
Alison Stones, "Les manuscrits de Renaud de Bar", L’écrit et le livre peint en Lorraine, de Saint-Mihiel à Verdun (IXe-XVe siècles). Actes du colloque de Saint-Mihiel, 25-26 octobre 2010 (2014), 269–310.
