(b Moustiers-sur-Sambre, nr Namur, c1070; d St Truiden, 1138). South Netherlandish ecclesiastic. He was abbot of St Truiden (north-east of Liège) from 1108 until his death. He began the Gesta abbatum Trudonensium (ed. in PL, clxxiii, 33–434; and Monumenta Germaniae historica, Scriptores, x Hanover, 1852/R, 227–317), in which he described all aspects of monastic life including musical practice at St Truiden and the teaching of boy scholars according to the methods of Guido of Arezzo. An anonymous tract Quaestiones in musica has sometimes been attributed to him, probably incorrectly (see Anonymous theoretical writings).
MGG1 (‘Rodulfus von Sint Truiden’; P. Fischer)
R. Steglich: Die Quaestiones in musica: ein Choraltraktat des zentralen Mittelalters und ihr mutmasslicher Verfasser, Rudolf von St Trond (1070–1138) (Leipzig, 1911/R)
J. Smits van Waesberghe: Muziekgeschiedenis der Middeleeuwen, i (Tilburg, 1936–9), 253–7
M. McCormick: ‘Rudolf of St Trond’, Dictionary of the Middle Ages, ed. J. Strayer (New York, 1982–9)
GORDON A. ANDERSON/C. MATTHEW BALENSUELA