David Stasavage
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691140575
- eISBN:
- 9781400838875
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691140575.003.0005
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
This chapter examines the origins of European city-states. It has long been observed that within Europe, autonomous cities tended to emerge in a relatively narrow belt stretching from the Low ...
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This chapter examines the origins of European city-states. It has long been observed that within Europe, autonomous cities tended to emerge in a relatively narrow belt stretching from the Low Countries to northern Italy, and this empirical observation has generated a variety of explanations. Answering this question is critical to the conceptualization of the broad process of state formation in Europe. The chapter asks why city-states emerged in some European regions in the first place, whereas elsewhere territorial states became the dominant mode of state organization. It considers the principal existing explanation for the pattern of city-state development, the Rokkan/Tilly hypothesis, and compares it with the Carolingian partition hypothesis. Results of empirical tests show that city-states were able to emerge in Europe's central core because this was where central political control collapsed to the greatest extent after the partition of the Carolingian Empire.Less
This chapter examines the origins of European city-states. It has long been observed that within Europe, autonomous cities tended to emerge in a relatively narrow belt stretching from the Low Countries to northern Italy, and this empirical observation has generated a variety of explanations. Answering this question is critical to the conceptualization of the broad process of state formation in Europe. The chapter asks why city-states emerged in some European regions in the first place, whereas elsewhere territorial states became the dominant mode of state organization. It considers the principal existing explanation for the pattern of city-state development, the Rokkan/Tilly hypothesis, and compares it with the Carolingian partition hypothesis. Results of empirical tests show that city-states were able to emerge in Europe's central core because this was where central political control collapsed to the greatest extent after the partition of the Carolingian Empire.
CHARLES L. H. COULSON
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208242
- eISBN:
- 9780191716676
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208242.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
To speak of ‘fortresses and society’ is, indeed, a truism. As soon as wealth for survival was accumulated, notably harvested grain and domesticated animals, demarcation and defence were required. For ...
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To speak of ‘fortresses and society’ is, indeed, a truism. As soon as wealth for survival was accumulated, notably harvested grain and domesticated animals, demarcation and defence were required. For appreciating how natural fortresses were to normal ancient and medieval societies (and how various) a long perspective is essential. This chapter offers a revised perspective on castles during the medieval period by looking at the aesthetic, artistic, symbolic, and demonstrative elements in the design of fortresses rather than their presumed purpose as forms of local defence. It discusses fortresses in transition in medieval England and France; the response of the Carolingian Empire to the impact of internal disintegration and external attacks by the Norsemen penetrating far up the fine navigable river systems (particularly the Somme, Seine, and Loire); and the emergence of fortresses as a form of social reconstruction.Less
To speak of ‘fortresses and society’ is, indeed, a truism. As soon as wealth for survival was accumulated, notably harvested grain and domesticated animals, demarcation and defence were required. For appreciating how natural fortresses were to normal ancient and medieval societies (and how various) a long perspective is essential. This chapter offers a revised perspective on castles during the medieval period by looking at the aesthetic, artistic, symbolic, and demonstrative elements in the design of fortresses rather than their presumed purpose as forms of local defence. It discusses fortresses in transition in medieval England and France; the response of the Carolingian Empire to the impact of internal disintegration and external attacks by the Norsemen penetrating far up the fine navigable river systems (particularly the Somme, Seine, and Loire); and the emergence of fortresses as a form of social reconstruction.
Matthew Bryan Gillis
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- March 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198797586
- eISBN:
- 9780191839153
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198797586.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History, History of Religion
Gottschalk of Orbais was an exceptional religious dissenter and heretic in the Carolingian Empire, whose Christianity required cooperation with ecclesiastical superiors and willing participation in ...
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Gottschalk of Orbais was an exceptional religious dissenter and heretic in the Carolingian Empire, whose Christianity required cooperation with ecclesiastical superiors and willing participation in religious correction. The Introduction surveys the book’s approaches in relation to historiography on Gottschalk and on the Carolingian Empire, emphasizing how this study interprets his literary and spiritual self-representations, his Augustinian-based theology of predestination, his modes of argument, his prophetic claims to martyrdom and miraculous powers, and his shocking defiance to bishops as strategies for influencing contemporaries in changing political circumstances. In the larger history of medieval heresy and dissent, Gottschalk’s case reveals how the Carolingian Empire preserved order within the church through coercive reform. The hierarchy compelled Christians to accept correction of perceived sins and errors, while punishing as sources of spiritual corruption those rare dissenters who resisted its authority.Less
Gottschalk of Orbais was an exceptional religious dissenter and heretic in the Carolingian Empire, whose Christianity required cooperation with ecclesiastical superiors and willing participation in religious correction. The Introduction surveys the book’s approaches in relation to historiography on Gottschalk and on the Carolingian Empire, emphasizing how this study interprets his literary and spiritual self-representations, his Augustinian-based theology of predestination, his modes of argument, his prophetic claims to martyrdom and miraculous powers, and his shocking defiance to bishops as strategies for influencing contemporaries in changing political circumstances. In the larger history of medieval heresy and dissent, Gottschalk’s case reveals how the Carolingian Empire preserved order within the church through coercive reform. The hierarchy compelled Christians to accept correction of perceived sins and errors, while punishing as sources of spiritual corruption those rare dissenters who resisted its authority.
John Howe
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801452895
- eISBN:
- 9781501703713
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801452895.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter examines how the Latin Church was reformed in the tenth century following a series of attacks on the Carolingian Empire by non-Christian invaders. The epic Battle of Maldon, composed in ...
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This chapter examines how the Latin Church was reformed in the tenth century following a series of attacks on the Carolingian Empire by non-Christian invaders. The epic Battle of Maldon, composed in eleventh-century English, is an account of how Ealdorman Byrhtnoth fought Viking invaders on a beach near Maldon in 991. Although he was killed, this invasion was followed by more offensives that culminated in the 1016 crowning of Cnut as king of England. This chapter first highlights the difficulties historians face when reading Battle of Maldon before discussing the attacks launched by the Vikings, Muslims, and Magyars against the Carolingian Empire. In particular, it considers the archival and cultural destruction carried out by barbarians, along with their attack on church leaders, destruction of churches, and looting of ecclesiastical furniture. It also assesses the impact of such barbarian invasions on Christian morale, what survived to be reformed, and what reconstruction was required.Less
This chapter examines how the Latin Church was reformed in the tenth century following a series of attacks on the Carolingian Empire by non-Christian invaders. The epic Battle of Maldon, composed in eleventh-century English, is an account of how Ealdorman Byrhtnoth fought Viking invaders on a beach near Maldon in 991. Although he was killed, this invasion was followed by more offensives that culminated in the 1016 crowning of Cnut as king of England. This chapter first highlights the difficulties historians face when reading Battle of Maldon before discussing the attacks launched by the Vikings, Muslims, and Magyars against the Carolingian Empire. In particular, it considers the archival and cultural destruction carried out by barbarians, along with their attack on church leaders, destruction of churches, and looting of ecclesiastical furniture. It also assesses the impact of such barbarian invasions on Christian morale, what survived to be reformed, and what reconstruction was required.
Simon MacLean
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198800101
- eISBN:
- 9780191839887
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198800101.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History, Political History
This chapter provides an introduction to the problems of interpreting early medieval queenship, and explains the core arguments of the book. Existing historiography is summarized and the main sources ...
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This chapter provides an introduction to the problems of interpreting early medieval queenship, and explains the core arguments of the book. Existing historiography is summarized and the main sources are described. The chapter offers a survey of the key elements of Carolingian queenship in the mid and late ninth century, and explains how Ottonian queenship differed. The argument is that whereas Carolingian queenship was defined around fairly stable metaphors which emphasized the purity of the royal family and the royal palace, this stability was undermined by the much more fluid political situation of the tenth century. The implications of this contrast for the arguments of the book are then explained.Less
This chapter provides an introduction to the problems of interpreting early medieval queenship, and explains the core arguments of the book. Existing historiography is summarized and the main sources are described. The chapter offers a survey of the key elements of Carolingian queenship in the mid and late ninth century, and explains how Ottonian queenship differed. The argument is that whereas Carolingian queenship was defined around fairly stable metaphors which emphasized the purity of the royal family and the royal palace, this stability was undermined by the much more fluid political situation of the tenth century. The implications of this contrast for the arguments of the book are then explained.
Matthew Bryan Gillis
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- March 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198797586
- eISBN:
- 9780191839153
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198797586.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History, History of Religion
Chapter 1 examines Gottschalk’s legal case against Abbot Hrabanus Maurus of Fulda, at the Synod of Mainz, 829, where he alleged that Hrabanus had illegally forced him to become a monk while still a ...
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Chapter 1 examines Gottschalk’s legal case against Abbot Hrabanus Maurus of Fulda, at the Synod of Mainz, 829, where he alleged that Hrabanus had illegally forced him to become a monk while still a child. In order to understand why the bishops at the synod freed Gottschalk from his monastic oath and restored his liberty, this chapter contextualizes his court case in the history of the Saxon conquests and conversion, Frankish monasticism at Fulda, Carolingian monastic reform, the publication of the Old Saxon epic the Hêliand, and legal issues related to his case. The chapter finds that Gottschalk won influential allies, who supported him as a Carolingian nobleman while condemning Hrabanus’s actions in a moment of religious crisis and reform in the empire. Hrabanus, however, recast Gottschalk’s arguments as an anti-monastic heresy condemning child oblation in order to silence any opposition to his rule among the Fulda monks.Less
Chapter 1 examines Gottschalk’s legal case against Abbot Hrabanus Maurus of Fulda, at the Synod of Mainz, 829, where he alleged that Hrabanus had illegally forced him to become a monk while still a child. In order to understand why the bishops at the synod freed Gottschalk from his monastic oath and restored his liberty, this chapter contextualizes his court case in the history of the Saxon conquests and conversion, Frankish monasticism at Fulda, Carolingian monastic reform, the publication of the Old Saxon epic the Hêliand, and legal issues related to his case. The chapter finds that Gottschalk won influential allies, who supported him as a Carolingian nobleman while condemning Hrabanus’s actions in a moment of religious crisis and reform in the empire. Hrabanus, however, recast Gottschalk’s arguments as an anti-monastic heresy condemning child oblation in order to silence any opposition to his rule among the Fulda monks.
Matthew Bryan Gillis
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- March 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198797586
- eISBN:
- 9780191839153
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198797586.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History, History of Religion
Gottschalk of Orbais was an exceptional ninth-century religious dissenter and heretic in the Carolingian Empire, whose literary and spiritual self-representations, his Augustinian-based theology of ...
More
Gottschalk of Orbais was an exceptional ninth-century religious dissenter and heretic in the Carolingian Empire, whose literary and spiritual self-representations, his Augustinian-based theology of predestination, his modes of argument, his prophetic claims to martyrdom and miraculous powers, and his shocking defiance to bishops were strategies for influencing contemporaries in changing political circumstances. In the larger history of medieval heresy and dissent, Gottschalk’s case reveals how the Carolingian Empire preserved order within the church through coercive reform. The hierarchy compelled Christians to accept correction of perceived sins and errors, while punishing as sources of spiritual corruption those rare dissenters who resisted its authority. Yet the important role of patrons and supporters throughout Gottschalk’s career also shows how individuals within the Carolingian Empire sought to protect their allies from the severe aspects of the empire’s system whenever possible.Less
Gottschalk of Orbais was an exceptional ninth-century religious dissenter and heretic in the Carolingian Empire, whose literary and spiritual self-representations, his Augustinian-based theology of predestination, his modes of argument, his prophetic claims to martyrdom and miraculous powers, and his shocking defiance to bishops were strategies for influencing contemporaries in changing political circumstances. In the larger history of medieval heresy and dissent, Gottschalk’s case reveals how the Carolingian Empire preserved order within the church through coercive reform. The hierarchy compelled Christians to accept correction of perceived sins and errors, while punishing as sources of spiritual corruption those rare dissenters who resisted its authority. Yet the important role of patrons and supporters throughout Gottschalk’s career also shows how individuals within the Carolingian Empire sought to protect their allies from the severe aspects of the empire’s system whenever possible.
Matthew Bryan Gillis
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- March 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198797586
- eISBN:
- 9780191839153
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198797586.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History, History of Religion
Heresy and Dissent in the Carolingian Empire: The Case of Gottschalk of Orbais recounts the history of an exceptional ninth-century religious outlaw. Frankish Christianity required obedience to ...
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Heresy and Dissent in the Carolingian Empire: The Case of Gottschalk of Orbais recounts the history of an exceptional ninth-century religious outlaw. Frankish Christianity required obedience to ecclesiastical superiors, voluntary participation in reform, and the belief that salvation was possible for all baptized believers. Yet Gottschalk—a mere priest—developed a controversial, Augustinian-based theology of predestination, claiming that only divine election through grace enabled eternal life. Gottschalk preached to Christians within the Frankish empire—including bishops—and non-Christians beyond its borders, scandalously demanding they confess his doctrine or be revealed as wicked reprobates. Even after his condemnations for heresy in the late 840s, Gottschalk continued his activities from prison thanks to monks who smuggled his pamphlets to a subterranean community of supporters. This study reconstructs the career of the Carolingian Empire’s foremost religious dissenter in order to imagine that empire from the perspective of someone who worked to subvert its most fundamental beliefs. Examining the surviving evidence (including his own writings), this book analyzes Gottschalk’s literary and spiritual self-representations, his modes of argument, his prophetic claims to martyrdom and miraculous powers, and his shocking defiance to bishops as strategies for influencing contemporaries in changing political circumstances. In the larger history of medieval heresy and dissent, Gottschalk’s case reveals how the Carolingian Empire preserved order within the church through coercive reform. The hierarchy compelled Christians to accept correction of perceived sins and errors, while punishing as sources of spiritual corruption those rare dissenters who resisted its authority.Less
Heresy and Dissent in the Carolingian Empire: The Case of Gottschalk of Orbais recounts the history of an exceptional ninth-century religious outlaw. Frankish Christianity required obedience to ecclesiastical superiors, voluntary participation in reform, and the belief that salvation was possible for all baptized believers. Yet Gottschalk—a mere priest—developed a controversial, Augustinian-based theology of predestination, claiming that only divine election through grace enabled eternal life. Gottschalk preached to Christians within the Frankish empire—including bishops—and non-Christians beyond its borders, scandalously demanding they confess his doctrine or be revealed as wicked reprobates. Even after his condemnations for heresy in the late 840s, Gottschalk continued his activities from prison thanks to monks who smuggled his pamphlets to a subterranean community of supporters. This study reconstructs the career of the Carolingian Empire’s foremost religious dissenter in order to imagine that empire from the perspective of someone who worked to subvert its most fundamental beliefs. Examining the surviving evidence (including his own writings), this book analyzes Gottschalk’s literary and spiritual self-representations, his modes of argument, his prophetic claims to martyrdom and miraculous powers, and his shocking defiance to bishops as strategies for influencing contemporaries in changing political circumstances. In the larger history of medieval heresy and dissent, Gottschalk’s case reveals how the Carolingian Empire preserved order within the church through coercive reform. The hierarchy compelled Christians to accept correction of perceived sins and errors, while punishing as sources of spiritual corruption those rare dissenters who resisted its authority.
Matthew Bryan Gillis
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- March 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198797586
- eISBN:
- 9780191839153
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198797586.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History, History of Religion
This chapter reconstructs Gottschalk’s priestly career, when he preached a controversial, Augustinian-based theology of predestination in Italy and as a missionary in southeastern Europe in the late ...
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This chapter reconstructs Gottschalk’s priestly career, when he preached a controversial, Augustinian-based theology of predestination in Italy and as a missionary in southeastern Europe in the late 830s and 840s. Deciphering the limited and often obscure evidence (including Gottschalk’s own later writings), the investigation here seeks to uncover his theology of twin predestination at this time and his frequently aggressive and subversive strategies for propagating it among Christians—including bishops—and non-Christians alike. This was an era of political conflict and spiritual uncertainty in the Carolingian Empire, and Gottschalk’s goal was to separate the elect from the reprobate at this critical moment. The chapter also examines Hrabanus Maurus’s writings on predestination and his denunciations of Gottschalk as a heretic. The chapter concludes with an analysis of Gottschalk’s condemnation for heresy at the Synod of Mainz (848), where Hrabanus—then Archbishop of Mainz—oversaw his conviction and punishment.Less
This chapter reconstructs Gottschalk’s priestly career, when he preached a controversial, Augustinian-based theology of predestination in Italy and as a missionary in southeastern Europe in the late 830s and 840s. Deciphering the limited and often obscure evidence (including Gottschalk’s own later writings), the investigation here seeks to uncover his theology of twin predestination at this time and his frequently aggressive and subversive strategies for propagating it among Christians—including bishops—and non-Christians alike. This was an era of political conflict and spiritual uncertainty in the Carolingian Empire, and Gottschalk’s goal was to separate the elect from the reprobate at this critical moment. The chapter also examines Hrabanus Maurus’s writings on predestination and his denunciations of Gottschalk as a heretic. The chapter concludes with an analysis of Gottschalk’s condemnation for heresy at the Synod of Mainz (848), where Hrabanus—then Archbishop of Mainz—oversaw his conviction and punishment.
Steven Vanderputten
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801453779
- eISBN:
- 9780801456305
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801453779.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
Around the turn of the first millennium AD, there emerged in the former Carolingian Empire a generation of abbots that came to be remembered as one of the most influential in the history of Western ...
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Around the turn of the first millennium AD, there emerged in the former Carolingian Empire a generation of abbots that came to be remembered as one of the most influential in the history of Western monasticism. This book re-evaluates the historical significance of this generation of monastic leaders through an in-depth study of one of its most prominent figures, Richard of Saint-Vanne. During his lifetime, Richard (d. 1046) served as abbot of numerous monasteries, which gained him a reputation as a highly successful administrator and reformer of monastic discipline. As the book shows, however, a more complex view of Richard's career, spirituality, and motivations enables us to better evaluate his achievements as church leader and reformer. The book analyzes various accounts of Richard's life, contemporary sources that are revealing of his worldview and self-conception, and the evidence relating to his actions as a monastic reformer and as a promoter of conversion. Richard himself conceived of his life as an evolving commentary on a wide range of issues relating to individual spirituality, monastic discipline, and religious leadership. This commentary, which combined highly conservative and revolutionary elements, reached far beyond the walls of the monastery and concerned many of the issues that would divide the church and its subjects in the later eleventh century.Less
Around the turn of the first millennium AD, there emerged in the former Carolingian Empire a generation of abbots that came to be remembered as one of the most influential in the history of Western monasticism. This book re-evaluates the historical significance of this generation of monastic leaders through an in-depth study of one of its most prominent figures, Richard of Saint-Vanne. During his lifetime, Richard (d. 1046) served as abbot of numerous monasteries, which gained him a reputation as a highly successful administrator and reformer of monastic discipline. As the book shows, however, a more complex view of Richard's career, spirituality, and motivations enables us to better evaluate his achievements as church leader and reformer. The book analyzes various accounts of Richard's life, contemporary sources that are revealing of his worldview and self-conception, and the evidence relating to his actions as a monastic reformer and as a promoter of conversion. Richard himself conceived of his life as an evolving commentary on a wide range of issues relating to individual spirituality, monastic discipline, and religious leadership. This commentary, which combined highly conservative and revolutionary elements, reached far beyond the walls of the monastery and concerned many of the issues that would divide the church and its subjects in the later eleventh century.
Benjamin Brand
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199351350
- eISBN:
- 9780199351374
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199351350.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Tuscan bishops of the eighth and ninth centuries reshaped the sacred topographies of their cities by translating (or transferring) saints’ relics from suburban or rural shrines to urban basilicas. As ...
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Tuscan bishops of the eighth and ninth centuries reshaped the sacred topographies of their cities by translating (or transferring) saints’ relics from suburban or rural shrines to urban basilicas. As enshrined in the legendary histories recited on the saints’ feasts, these translations signalled the authority of the prelates over such holy treasure and occasioned their construction of new, magnificent tombs for it. In Lucca, the local bishop, Giovanni I, navigated his city’s delicate entrance into the Carolingian Empire by embracing the example of papal builders from late Antiquity. In Fiesole and Florence, local bishops distinguished themselves less as builders and more as protectors of holy relics in the face of the political instability produced by the dissolution of the Carolingian Empire.Less
Tuscan bishops of the eighth and ninth centuries reshaped the sacred topographies of their cities by translating (or transferring) saints’ relics from suburban or rural shrines to urban basilicas. As enshrined in the legendary histories recited on the saints’ feasts, these translations signalled the authority of the prelates over such holy treasure and occasioned their construction of new, magnificent tombs for it. In Lucca, the local bishop, Giovanni I, navigated his city’s delicate entrance into the Carolingian Empire by embracing the example of papal builders from late Antiquity. In Fiesole and Florence, local bishops distinguished themselves less as builders and more as protectors of holy relics in the face of the political instability produced by the dissolution of the Carolingian Empire.
Matthew Bryan Gillis
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- March 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198797586
- eISBN:
- 9780191839153
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198797586.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History, History of Religion
Gottschalk’s attempts to develop his clerical career in the early 830s were linked to the support of a powerful patron: Archbishop Ebbo of Rheims. Gottschalk, however, was quickly embroiled in the ...
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Gottschalk’s attempts to develop his clerical career in the early 830s were linked to the support of a powerful patron: Archbishop Ebbo of Rheims. Gottschalk, however, was quickly embroiled in the so-called Loyal Rebellion against Emperor Louis the Pious in 831, for which Archbishop Ebbo had Gottschalk forcibly tonsured. These circumstances led Gottschalk to compose his first surviving writings, which cast him as God’s loyal, but suffering servant in need of assistance. The chapter explores how Gottschalk used this self-representation in a verse letter to Archbishop Ebbo to protest his innocence in the rebellion and to recover the archbishop’s favor. Central to the investigation here is an examination of Gottschalk’s biblical and patristic literary allusions, which were meant to provide a hidden message to readers of his letter: an admonishment of unjust judges clearly meant to make Archbishop Ebbo reconsider Gottschalk’s condemnation and incarceration.Less
Gottschalk’s attempts to develop his clerical career in the early 830s were linked to the support of a powerful patron: Archbishop Ebbo of Rheims. Gottschalk, however, was quickly embroiled in the so-called Loyal Rebellion against Emperor Louis the Pious in 831, for which Archbishop Ebbo had Gottschalk forcibly tonsured. These circumstances led Gottschalk to compose his first surviving writings, which cast him as God’s loyal, but suffering servant in need of assistance. The chapter explores how Gottschalk used this self-representation in a verse letter to Archbishop Ebbo to protest his innocence in the rebellion and to recover the archbishop’s favor. Central to the investigation here is an examination of Gottschalk’s biblical and patristic literary allusions, which were meant to provide a hidden message to readers of his letter: an admonishment of unjust judges clearly meant to make Archbishop Ebbo reconsider Gottschalk’s condemnation and incarceration.
Benjamin Brand
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199351350
- eISBN:
- 9780199351374
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199351350.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This book explores the complex interplay between relic cults and the liturgy in the Middle Ages. The cults of saints buried in churches throughout Christendom provoked expressions of devotion through ...
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This book explores the complex interplay between relic cults and the liturgy in the Middle Ages. The cults of saints buried in churches throughout Christendom provoked expressions of devotion through various media, including not only more familiar ones like hagiographic literature, sacred architecture, and visual art but also the texts, music, and ritual of the liturgy. This study situates this oft-neglected yet critical domain of religious life at the center of its examination of relic cults in medieval Tuscany, which boasted the rich and well-documented veneration of holy bishops and martyrs buried in the cathedrals and suburban shrines of its principal cities. Holy Treasure reveals that the music composed for these local saints—no fewer than ninety chants for the Mass and Divine Office—belonged to larger campaigns that included the writing of their lives and the building and decoration of their shrines. The authors of such programs were the self-appointed protectors of their relics, namely bishops and cathedrals canons, who strove for a monopoly over the material (if not spiritual) benefits of local cults. In so doing, Tuscan clerics drew on influential models—literary, architectural, musical, and ritual—from preeminent European powers, Rome, and the Carolingian Empire. By integrating detailed analyses of plainsong and ritual into this rich panorama, this study traces the dialectic between local, regional, and pan-European politics in revealing the centrality of the liturgy in the development of medieval relic cults.Less
This book explores the complex interplay between relic cults and the liturgy in the Middle Ages. The cults of saints buried in churches throughout Christendom provoked expressions of devotion through various media, including not only more familiar ones like hagiographic literature, sacred architecture, and visual art but also the texts, music, and ritual of the liturgy. This study situates this oft-neglected yet critical domain of religious life at the center of its examination of relic cults in medieval Tuscany, which boasted the rich and well-documented veneration of holy bishops and martyrs buried in the cathedrals and suburban shrines of its principal cities. Holy Treasure reveals that the music composed for these local saints—no fewer than ninety chants for the Mass and Divine Office—belonged to larger campaigns that included the writing of their lives and the building and decoration of their shrines. The authors of such programs were the self-appointed protectors of their relics, namely bishops and cathedrals canons, who strove for a monopoly over the material (if not spiritual) benefits of local cults. In so doing, Tuscan clerics drew on influential models—literary, architectural, musical, and ritual—from preeminent European powers, Rome, and the Carolingian Empire. By integrating detailed analyses of plainsong and ritual into this rich panorama, this study traces the dialectic between local, regional, and pan-European politics in revealing the centrality of the liturgy in the development of medieval relic cults.
