PULLEN
563
PULPIT
Pullen (PoLENius, Pdllan, Pullein, Pullends,
Polly, La Podle), Robert, d. 1147 (?). Nothingis
known of his early life except that he was of English
parentage. The conjecture of a recent biographer
(Williams, op. cit. infra) that he was born at Poole
in Dorsetshire is not supported by any evidence.
Other accounts state that he came from Devonshire.
John of Hexham, in his continuation of the history
of Symeon of Durham, written within half a century
of Pullen's death, asserts that Henry I offered him a
bishopric which he refused, being devoted to the study
of philosophy. His early education was received in
England, but during the troubles which began with
the accession of King Stephen in 1 1.3.5 he seems to have
gone to Paris to continue his life of study in peace
there. According to other accounts, he completed
his education at Paris, where he subsequently lectured
before returning to Oxford to teach. At Oxford he
was one of the first masters whose names have been
recorded. He opened schools there and taught
without exacting fees; he is said to have supported
many scholars at his own expense and to have been
largely instrumental in fostering the growth of the
Oxford schools. If these traditions are true, and it
must bo confessed that they rest on the statements
of later writers, it would seem more probable that
they happened during the reign of Henry I, when he
refused to accept the bishopric offered. He was cer-
tainly Archdeacon of Rochester in 1134, and it is
equally certain that he was absent from England for
a notable time within the next few years, for at some
date prior to 1143 he seems to have been in trouble
with his bishop for being absent so long from his
duties. This appears from an undated letter of St.
Bernard addressed to the Bishop of Rochester, in
which the saint makes his excuses for detaining Pullen
in Paris "on account of the sound doctrine which
is recognized in him". In the same letter he blames
the bishop for seizing the archdeacon's goods, and he
begs that Pullen may stay longer in Paris where he
is necessary. Though Bishop Stubbs (op. cit.) has
thrown doubt on the identity of this Archdeacon
Robert Pullen with the cardinal of the same name,
the statements of St. Bernard's biographer, William
Abbot of Theodoric, and the Oseney Chronicle justify
the identification.
While in Paris, Pullen taught logic and theology with great success. Among his pupils was John of Salisbury, who describes him as a man commended both by his life and his learning. That was in 1141 or 1142. In 1143 he is still described as Archdeacon of Rochester and in or about that year he probably went to Rome on the invitation of Innocent II, who died in September of that year, but Pullen found favour with the new pope, Celestine II, who created him a cardinal (Ciaconius). The Oseney chronicler, however, states that he was called to Rome by Lucius II who succeeded Celestine in 1144. Certainly it was Pope Lucius who appointed him Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, an office which he was discharging through 114.5 and 1146. When St. Bernard's disciple, Eugenius III, became pope in 1145 the saint wrote a letter to Cardinal Pullen beg- ging him to console and counsel the new pontiff. As a theologian Cardinal Pullen used all his influence against the heretical teaching of Abelard, and em- bodied his doctrine in his work "Sententiarum Logi- carum Libri VIII" reprinted in P. L., with the com- mentary prefixed to it by the Maurist, Dom Hugo Mathoud, originally written for his edition, published at Paris in 1655. In this treatise he was breaking new ground, being one of the first teachers to compile a book of "Sentences", but his work was soon supplanted by that of Peter Lombard. He covers a wide range of subjects, but his treatment lacks orderly arrangement, and he relies for his proofs on Scripture and reason in preference to the testimony
of tradition. Taking his stand on the authority
of the Bible and of papal decisions, he proceeds to
enter on speculative discussion. The first book treats
of God and His attributes; the second, of the crea^
tion, of angels, of the soul, of the fall of man and of
original sin; the third, of the ancient and the new law,
and of the Incarnation; the fourth, of God's power,
of Christ's Passion, and of hell and purgatory; the
fifth, of the Resurrection, the descent of the Holy
Ghost, the preaching of the Gospel, of baptism, con-
firmation, confession, and some virtues and vices.
The sixth book deals with a variety of subjects, in-
cluding ignorance, negligence, and frailty, good and
bad spirits, the choirs of angels, merits, and the ad-
ministration of the Sacrament of Penance; the seventh
discusses the forgiveness of sins, penance and fasting,
prayer, tithes, the civil power, the priesthood, its
privileges and obligations, continency, the contem-
plative and active life, and matrimony. The eighth
book deals with the Blessed Sacrament, the Second
Advent, Antichrist, the Last Judgment and the ulti-
mate state of the saved and the lost. The titles of
some other works which remain unpublished are given
by Pitts: "In Apocalypsim Sancti Johannis";
"Super ahquot psalmos": "De conteraptu mundi";
"Super doctorum dictis ; " Pra;lectiones " ; "Ser-
mones". A MS. copy of the sermons is preserved
at Lambeth Palace, and Rashdall (Diet, of Nat.
Biog.) observes of them that "the sermons, which
breathe a very ascetic spirit, were evidently delivered
to scholars". Chevalier is certainly in error in identi-
fying him with the Cardinal Robert who was cardi-
nal priest of St. Eusebius in December, 1134. This
Robert, who also held the office of Chancellor of the
Holy Roman Church, was created cardinal by Inno-
cent II in 1130, a date inconsistent with the known
facts of Pullen's life.
Annals of Oseney; Annates Monastici, IV (Rolla Series, Lon- don, 1869); John of Hexham, Continuation of Symeon of Dur- ham (Rolls Series, London, 1885); Pitts, De Angliai illustribus scriptoribus (Paris, 1619); Jaff^, Regesta Pontifieum Romanorum (Berlin. 1851); Williams, Lives of the English Cardinals (Lon- don, 1868); Ceillieh, Hist. Gin. des Auteurs Sacres et EcclSs., XIV (Paris, 1869); Stubbs, Lectures on Medimval and Modern History (Oxford, 1886).
Edwin Burton.
Pulpit (Lat. pulpilum, a stage or scaffold), an ele- vated stand to preach on. To elucidate the meaning of the word Durandus refers (Ration, div. offic, I) to Solomon (II Par., vi, 13), who prayed from "a brazen scaffold", and to Esdras (II Esd., viii, 4), who "stood upon a step of wood" and read the law of God. Their elevated position and public action suggest to Durandus the symbolical meaning of the pulpit: the position of the perfect. He also calls it analogium {imXoyeiov-dmyi'uaT^piov} , from the preaching of the word of God; and ambo ab ambiendo, quia inlrantem ambit el citigil. The ambo (q. v.) was the immediate predecessor of the present pulpit. In the first Chris- tian era the bishop preached from his cathedra; a sur- vival of this is retained in the French and German words for pulpit, chaire and predigtstuhl. The other German word kanzel recalls the position of the ambo at the choir-screen (cancelli). Durandus clearly dis- tinguishes the pulpit from the cancelli and stalli of the choir. The pulpit, characterized as part of the church furniture by its independent position and use, is found separated from the choir and pushed forward in the central part of the nave beyond the choir for singers, as indicated by a large circle in the buikling plan of St. Gall (820). The analogia, or reatling desks for the Epistle and Gospel, remained at the sides of the choir, and were used for the same purpose as the ambo, which, as belonging to the choir, was considered a part of the cancelli and was chiefly used for reading or sing- ing parts of the liturgy.
Just when it became customary to use the ambo mainly for the sermon, which gave it a new impor-
