READING GUIDE, Weeks 5-6: Saints and the Carolingians
A. Anonymous, Life of Saint Balthild (d. circa 680 CE)
Saints were (and are) Christian heroes, whose suffering and/or deeds
define the ideal form of Christian behavior for the period in which they
lived. We can thus learn much about a particular period of Christian
history by examining that period's saints. Saint Balthild is a particularly
interesting representative of the so-called ‘cult of the saints', for her
life reveals much about not only the values and expectations of sanctity,
but also of women's roles in Frankish society. As a slave/servant, then
as wife of King and mother of another, and finally as a nun and saint,
Balthild's life story spans the range of roles for women in this period.
1. What was the goal in writing this text? To narrate an ‘unbiased'
account of Balthild's life? Consider the qualities that make up the genre
of ‘saints' lives'.
2. What laudatory general traits or characteristics does the anonymous
author attribute to Balthild? Which of these mark her as saintly material?
Why? What does this tell us about the role of saints in Frankish society?
3. Examine Balthild's experiences as a servant girl in the home of
Erchinoald. What does the author want us to know about this period
in her life? Why?
4. The passage in which Balthild escapes marriage from Erchinoald only
to quickly marry King Clovis II is an interesting one, with apparent contradictions.
How can the author reconcile Balthild's lack of desire to marry Erchinoald
with her subsequent marriage to Clovis? What is the ‘moral' of this story?
5. What acts as Queen did Balthild perform? What do these acts suggest
to us about the expectations of Queenship? What should queens do? What
was their role in society? How did they interact with their husbands?
6. The author spends two chapters lauding Balthild's decision to found
and enrich monasteries. Explain this.
7. As regent for a minor king (her son, Clothar II), Balthild would
have enjoyed almost-kingly power and authority. Is this reflected in the
Life? Why or why not?
8. Her decision to join the nunnery at Chelles was almost undoubtedly
a product of a palace coup led by her son and his friends (to get rid of
Mom's influence). How does the author ‘spin' this event?
9. What traits does Balthild exhibit as a nun? Are they consistent
with her queenly traits?
10. The author throws in some obligatory miracles at the end of her
tale - what is their purpose? Why are saints associated with miracles?
What do miracles prove about the saint?
11. Do you think that sainthood is a gendered concept? That is, are
there distinct characteristics or attributes for male and female saints?
Do authors ‘fit' particular lives or deeds into unconsciously gendered
categories?
B. Gregory the Great, Dialogues (excerpts concerning the miracles
of St Benedict), c. 600
Gregory the Great was pope between 589 and 604 CE. He is considered
the last of the Church Fathers, and while responsible for important works
of theology, his real influence came in a series of pastoral works, designed
to help bring the essence of Christianity to recently converted or quasi-barbarian
Christians. Among these works was his Dialogues, selections
of which you have read for this week. In these selections Gregory elucidates
the wondrous deeds and nature of Saint Benedict (author of the Benedictine
Rule); he does so in the form of a dialogue betwen himself (Gregory) and
a fictional student, named (not surprisingly) Peter. Many scholars
attribute to this section of the Dialogues the rise in popularity
of Saint Benedict and his Rule (which Pope Gregory also championed); it
was also the model for an increasingly important genre of texts, the miracle
collection. Keep in mind that a miracle collection was not really
intended as high theology or doctrine (Gregory reserved his biblical exegesis
for these tasks); it was intended to provide mostly-illiterate Christians
with comprehensible stories that illuminated both the prime virtues of
the Christian life and the power and glory of God. Notice, too, that as
a written text, it would have been incomprehensible to those same illiterates;
miracle collections were often considered as sorts of pastoral or preaching
aids, from which a local priest or bishop could draw appropriate examples
to demonstrate the truths of Christian doctrine and belief.
1. What were some of the miracles that Benedict performed? Can you
categorize them into types? Does a certain type predominate? Thinking ‘sociologically'
(not doctrinally), can you provide explanations for the different types
of miracles? That is, are they designed to show different kinds of virtues?
2. Was Benedict an ascetic? How do we know?
3. Notice the circumstances under which Benedict was ‘called' to be
abbot of his monastery. This ‘topos' of the reluctant abbot (or bishop)
was extremely common in medieval saints' lives and miracle stories. Why?
4. As a person living in the 21st century, you may find the instances
of supernatural power (whether Benedict's miracles, or the Devil's constant
and dangerous presence) to be puzzling, incredible, or whatever. Remember,
however, to place yourselves in the shoes of sixth-century folks. And this
does NOT mean assuming that these folks were simplistic, deluded by lack
of science, or ‘stupid'. Indeed, people like Gregory (or Augustine, who
also believed in miracles) were brilliant minds. So we have to ask why
early medieval society was so ready to believe in the immanence (that is,
‘overwhelming presence') of the supernatural. What does it tell us
about their society?
5. Which qualities or traits mark Benedict as a saint? Are these the
same qualities that made Balthild a saint?
6. Pay careful attention to the contrived exchanges between Gregory
and Peter, for in them Gregory often discusses and explains some of the
theory behind saints and sanctity. For instance, Peter wonders whether
saints ‘know' the mind of God. How does Gregory respond? Peter expresses
some cautious doubt about certain miraculous events (see p. 200); how does
Gregory respond? What authority does Gregory cite?
7. Some students occasionally assume that medieval people saw saints
as ‘gods' unto themselves. How does Gregory respond to the idea that the
saint's power is an expression of his own will (that is, not connected
to God's)? What is the official doctrine of the saint's relationship
to God, and to this world?
C. Einhard, Life of Charlemagne (written before 840)
Charlemagne (French for "Charles the Great") was the second king from
the Carolingian dynasty of the Franks. The previous Frankish dynasty
(the Merovingians, founded by Clovis) had declined in power by the early
8th century, and in 754 Charlemagne's father, Pippin the Short, led a bloodless
coup that toppled the last Merovingian. Charlemagne, who ruled from
768 to 814, was both one of the most powerful monarchs of his day and the
model and inspiration for a whole host of subsequent political, military
and literary developments. Charles was an impressive warrior, a determined
law-giver, a serious reformer of judicial and religious institutions, and
a patron of educational and artistic reform. Charlemagne and many
of his contemporaries considered that Charlemagne had effected a renovatio
romani imperii (restoration of the Roman Empire). The summit of Charles'
ambitions and symbolic actions came on Christmas Day of the year 800, when
he was solemnly crowned "Roman Emperor" in Rome by the Bishop of Rome (aka,
the pope). Einhard was a cleric working in Charlemagne's court.
He composed his Life during the generation after Charles' death in 814.
Be sure to take notice of the fact that when Einhard set out to compose
his Life he modelled it on the Roman historian Suetonius' Life of Augustus
(Augustus was the first Roman Emperor; the Life was written c.140
AD); this his highly significant, as we must look somewhat critically at
the parts of Einhard's text that seem ‘too' Roman. Despite
Einhard's efforts to convince his reader that Charlemagne was Augustus
reincarnated, we need to remember that Charlemagne was at base a Germanic
warrior.
1. What did Einhard intend by modeling Charlemagne's life on that of
Augustus?
2. From what we know of the Roman emperors, how "Roman" was Charlemagne
really? How "germanic"? Try to separate the features of his life into German
and Roman elements.
3. According to Einhard, what were Charlemagne's most important virtues?
his most significant flaws?
4. What made for a good king according to Einhard? What function did
the king play in Carolingian society?
5. What was Charlemagne's relationship with the church? What were the
proper roles of Emperor, pope and bishop in Carolingian society?
7. How did Charlemagne treat his family? What did he think about
marriage, divorce, sexual habits, etc?
6. From this text, can we piece together anything about the daily life
of the Carolingian age?
8. What do we learn about Carolingian government, law and order, and
justice from this text?
9. Compare and contrast Charlemagne and Clovis. Both were Franks, and
both succeeded in welding together an enormous kingdom. Do they act similarly?
Do they share characteristics? Do they differ? How?
B. Selected Capitularies (Geary, 281-303)
Capitularies were quasi-legal, quasi-administrative documents issued
by Frankish kings. In a way they were like individual rulings by a modern
court, designed to apply to a particular circumstance or category of circumstances.
What they were not was comprehensive and systematic. Each year a
responsible king would listen to his advisors to determine what problems
existed in his kingdom, and would then issue appropriate capitularies designed
to end those problems. Very rarely he would issue a general capitulary,
which would encompass more than a particular region and which might treat
a wider variety of issues. Missi were literally "those sent
out" by the king to promulgate and enforce his capitularies. Usually
the missi worked in pairs, and would have the responsibility to
bring the year's capitularies to a series of counties in their particular
circuit. Notice that capitularies reflected what the king wanted
to occur, not necessarily what actually happened. The same old problem
of communication between center and periphery continued to impede the ability
of kings such as Charlemagne to make his will felt. Note: "capitulary"
comes from the Latin ‘capitula', or ‘chapters'. That is, each capitulary
comprised several chapters or clauses.
1. General
a. what sort of document
is a capitulary? What features mark its genre? How would you recognize
one?
b. what purpose or goal
did capitularies serve? How effective were they?
c. what sorts of things
did capitularies tend to treat or cover? Are there any patterns?
d. compare and contrast
capitularies with the old Salic Law. Salic Law was still the basis
of Frankish
‘law', but capitularies could add to or interpret features that were unclear
or lacking.
e. Note: capitularies are
named (by modern historians) by the place and date where they were issued.
A
few have come to be described by their content.
f. the capitularies provide
us with a much less overtly biased set of texts from which to evaluate
Charlemagne's claim to
have ‘revived the Roman Empire'. Use them to look for traditionally Germanic
or Roman practices. Look also for
reforms, or changes.
2. Capitulary of Herstal, 779
a. what religious authority
does Charlemagne seem to have? Is this surprising? Why or why not?
b. what reforms is the king
attempting to implement? Why?
c. Chapter 13 concerns the
‘census', or head-tax, which Charlemagne levied on all areas that
did not possess an
‘immunity' or ‘exemption'. What does this tell us about his royal authority?
About the nature of the Frankish
kingdom? Is there a ‘state'?
d. Do you see any traditionally
‘germanic' cultural practices in this text? Where?
e. Look at Chapter 21. What
other roles do the missi play? (In other words, they weren't just postmen).
How common
do you think it was for counts ‘not to do justice'?
f. Chapter 22: what's going
on here? Are you surprised? Why or why not?
3. Capitulary of Mantua, 781
a. Note that Mantua is in
Italy. Charles had conquered much of Italy and was governing parts of it
himself
b. Chapter 2: what's the
underlying motivation for this clause? Why might there be problems gaining
justice from local
counts? How is Charles attempting to solve this problem?
c. How much real control
does the king seem to have over the local regions of his kingdom?
4. Capitulary of Paderborn, 785
a. As Einhard tells us,
Charles spent almost 30 years fighting the Saxons (in northern Germany).
The Saxons'
unwillingness to be conquered and converted meant that Charles had to issue
a number of capitularies to his men
concerning the fate of the Saxons. This is one.
b. What religious role is
Charles taking in Saxony?
c. Are the clauses in this
capitulary particular to Saxony (still pagan)? Why? What evidence have
we?
d. what are the counts supposed
to do in Saxony?
5. Capitulary concerning the Saxons, 795
a. Clause 1 concerns the
‘king's ban' (or ‘king's peace'). What is this?
b. has the tone taken towards
the Saxons changed since 785? How?
c. What measures did Charles
take to ensure peace in Saxony?
6. The Synod of Frankfurt, 794
a. this ‘capitulary' reflects
the decisions made at an important general assembly of the Franks in 794.
b. Does Charles simply leave
religious matters to the church? Why or why not?
c. What does the case of
Tassilo of Bavaria tell us about the Frankish world?
d. Charles attempted to
reform the coinage - locate evidence of this in the acts of the Synod.
e. Note the nice example
of compurgation in chapter 9.
f. What does Charles' social
legislation tell us about the world of the Franks?
7. Charlemagne on the study of Literature, late 8th century
a. among Charlemagne's goals
was a desire to preserve and circulate the classic texts of the Roman and
Late Antique
periods.
b. what is Charles aiming
for in this letter/order?
8. The Capitulary de Villis ("concerning estates"), late 8th
century (one of the most famous capitularies)
a. what are the general
goals of this capitulary?
b. why did Charles have
this capitulary drawn up?
c. What sorts of burdens
or obligations did inhabitants of royal estates owe?
d. Try to piece together
a picture of life on one of these villas (estates). What were the components
of a villa? What sorts
of things might be grown or produced there?
e. note: a villa, or estate,
was composed of many tiny ‘manses' (mansi) on which individual tenants
lived. These tenants
had lands set aside for their use, but also generally owed significant
labor on the collective portions of the villa. Do
you find evidence of this in the text?
9. General Capitulary for the missi, 802 CE
a. notice that this capitulary
was issued after Charles' coronation as emperor in 800.
b. what were Charles' chief
concerns in 802? How were the missi to carry them out?
c. what seems to be Charles'
attitude toward a good old-fashioned Frankish feud? Why?