Confronting Crisis in the Carolingian Empire: Paschasius Radbertus' Funeral Oration for Wala of Corbie 1526134829, 9781526134820

Table of contents :
Front matter
Contents
List of figures
List of abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Maps
Biographical notes
Introduction
Paschasius Radbertus, Epitaphium Arsenii
Book 1
Book 2
Bibliography
Index

Citation preview

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CONFRONTING CRISIS IN THE CAROLINGIAN EMPIRE

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CONFRONTING CRISIS IN THE CAROLINGIAN EMPIRE Paschasius Radbertus’ funeral oration for Wala of Corbie translated and annotated by Mayke de Jong and Justin Lake

Manchester University Press

Copyright © Mayke de Jong and Justin Lake 2020 The right of Mayke de Jong and Justin Lake to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Published by Manchester University Press Altrincham Street, Manchester M1 7JA www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk British Library Cataloguing-​in-​Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 5261 3482 0 hardback ISBN 978 1 5261 3484 4 paperback First published 2020 The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-​party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. FRONT COVER–Stuttgart, Würtembergische Landesbibliothek, Cod.bibl.fol.23, f.47v showing Psalm 36: 32–33

Typeset by Newgen Publishing UK

CONTENTS List of figures List of abbreviations Acknowledgements Maps Biographical notes Introduction Paschasius Radbertus, Epitaphium Arsenii

page vi vii x xi xv 1 47

Book 1

49

Book 2

147

Bibliography Index

224 237

FIGURES 1 The Carolingian world of Paschasius Radbertus (copyright 2019, Mappa Mundi Cartography). 2 Corbie in the West-​Frankish kingdom (copyright 2019, Mappa Mundi Cartography). 3 The Carolingian family of Adalhard and Wala (courtesy of Erik Goosmann). 4 Simplified genealogy of the descendants of Louis the Pious (reproduced from Rachel Stone and Charles West, The divorce of King Lothar and Queen Theutberga: Hincmar of Rheims’s De Divortio (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016)). 5 The opening pages of the one extant manuscript of the Epitaphium Arsenii (Paris, BnF lat. 13909, ff. 1v–2r).

page xi xii xiii

xiv 6

ABBREVIATIONS AB

Annales Bertiniani, ed. R.  Rau, Quellen zur karolingische Reichsgeschichte 2 (Darmstadt, 1972), pp. 13–​287.

ARF

Annales regni Francorum, ed. F. Kurze, MGH SRG 6 (Hanover, 1895).

ASOB

Acta Sanctorum Ordinis Sancti Benedicti, ed. J. Mabillon, 9 vols. (Paris, 1668–​1701).

Astronomer Astronomus, Vita Hludowici imperatoris, ed. E.  Tremp, MGH SRG 64 (Hanover, 1995). BAV

Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana

BHL

Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina

BnF

Bibliothèque Nationale de France

CCCM

Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis

CCM

Corpus consuetudium monasticarum

CCSL

Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina

CSEL

Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum

EA

Paschasius Radbertus, Epitaphium Arsenii, ed. E.  Dümmler, in Abhandlungen der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Phil.-​Historische Abhandlungen 2 (Berlin, 1900), pp. 1–​98.

EME

Early Medieval Europe

In Mattheum

Paschasius Radbertus, Expositio in Matheo libri XII, ed. B. Paulus, 3 vols., CCCM 56–​56A–​56B (Turnhout, 1984).

LCL

Loeb Classical Library

Mabillon

Epitaphium Arsenii seu Vita venerabilis Walae abbatis Corbeiensis in Gallia, ed. J.  Mabillon, ASOB, vol. IV (Paris, 1677), pp. 453–​522.

Abbreviations

MGH

Monumenta Germaniae Historica

Capit.

Capitularia regum Francorum

Conc.

Concilia Karolini Aevi

DD LdF

Die Urkunden Ludwig des Frommen, 3 vols., ed. T. Kölzer et al., MGH Diplomata Karolinorum II, 1–​3 (Wiesbaden, 2016).

DD Merov.

Die Urkunden der Merowinger, 2  vols., ed. T.  Kölzer, MGH Diplomata regum Francorum e stirpe Merovingica (Hanover, 2001).

Epp.

Epistolae Karolini aevi

Poet. lat.

Poetae Latini aevi Carolini

SRG

Scriptores rerum Germanicarum

SRM

Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum

SS

Scriptores

Niermeyer, Lexicon Minus

J. F. Niermeyer, with C. van de Kieft, Mediae Latinitatis Lexikon Minus (Leiden/​New York/​Cologne,  1993).

Nithard Nithard, Historiarum libri IV, ed. and trans. P.  Lauer, revised by S.  Glansdorff, Nithard:  Histoire des fils de Louis le Pieux (Paris, 2012). PL

Patrologiae cursus completus, series latina, ed. J.-​P. Migne, 221 vols., Paris (1841–64).

prol. prologue RB

Regula Benedicti, ed. and trans. B. L. Venarde, The Rule of Saint Benedict. Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 6 (Cambridge, MA, 2011).

Regesta imperii

J. F.  Böhmer and E.  Mühlbacher, Regesta Imperii, vol. I:  Die Regesten des Kaiserreichs unter den Karolingern, 751–​918, 2nd edn (Innsbruck, 1908); http://​www.regesta-​imperii.de

Relatio episcoporum (833)

Episcoporum de poenitentia, quam Hludowicus imperator professus est, relatio Compendiensis, MGH Capit. II/​2, pp. 51–​5.

SC

Sources Chrétiennes

viii

Abbreviatio ns

Settimane

Settimane di studio del centro italiano di studi sull’alto medioevo.

Thegan Thegan, Gesta Hludowici imperatoris, ed. E. Tremp, MGH SRG 64 (Hanover, 1995). VA

Paschasius Radbertus, Vita Adalhardi, PL 120, cols. 1507–82; trans. Cabaniss, Charlemagne’s Cousins: Contemporary Lives of Adalhard and Wala (Syracuse, NY, 1967) pp. 25–82.

ix

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Since 1967 Anglophone scholars have gratefully turned to Alan Cabaniss’ pioneering translation of the Epitaphium Arsenii, in his wellknown Charlemagne’s Cousins. This also was true of Mayke de Jong, when in 2010 she embarked on a new working translating of this fascinating text. Realising that she could not turn this into a publication without the help of a Latinist who was also a native speaker of English, in 2015 she invited Justin Lake to join the project. In the autumn of 2016 Justin made an independent translation of the Epitaphium’s first book; he could do so thanks to a Faculty Development Leave granted by the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University. Once it was clear that we were of one mind about translating our text, we never looked back, even though most of our joint venture took place in 2017–18, and very much in the margin of other obligations. We are grateful for the supportive reception of our project at Manchester University Press, and for the precise corrections and good advice of our anonymous clearance reader. In September 2016 Monique Goullet and Sumi Shimahara explored the possibility of making a French translation, but decided against it; we are indebted to them for making their preliminary draft translation of portions of the text available to us. We should also like to thank Erik Goosmann who created the two maps, as well as the genealogy of the Carolingian family of Adalhard and Wala. Courtesy of Rachel Stone and Charles West we could reprint their simplified genealogy of Carolingian rulers from their Divorce of King Lothar and Queen Theutberga (Manchester University Press, 2016). The Würtembergische Landesbibliothek in Stuttgart and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France both graciously permitted the use of images of manuscripts in their collection.

MAPS

Figure 1  The Carolingian world of Paschasius Radbertus

Maps

Figure 2  Corbie in the West-​Frankish kingdom

xii

newgenrtpdf

Charles Martel = 1. Chrotrude d. 725 d. 741

Carloman became a monk in 748 d. 755

Pippin = Bertrada made king in 751 d. 768

Charles Carloman d. 771 (Charlemagne) sons fled d. 814 the kingdom

Chiltrude = Odilo duke of Bavaria

= 2. Swanahild

Grifo killed in 753

Tassilo, the last duke of Bavaria deposed by Charlemagne 787

Figure 3  The Carolingian family of Adalhard and Wala

= 3. Unidentified concubine(s)

Remedius

Adalhard d. 826

Wala d. 836

Bernard Jerome = 1. unnamed Frankish wife = 2. unnamed Saxon wife

Gundrada Bernarius Theodrada d. 846

newgenrtpdf

Louis the Pious m. (1) Ermengard (2) Judith

(1) Lothar I m. Ermengard

Lothar II Louis II m. Engelberga m. (1) Theutberga (2) Waldrada

Ermengard m. Boso of (2) Hugh Provence

Hugh of Arles

(1) Pippin I of Aquitaine

Charles of Provence

Pippin II of Aquitaine

(2) Berta (2) Ermengard (2) Gisela m. Theobald of Arles

Boso

(1) Louis the German m. Emma

Carloman

Louis the Younger

(1) Judith m. (1) Æthelwulf of Wessex (2) Æthelbald of Wessex (3) Baldwin

Theutberga

Figure 4  Simplified genealogy of the descendants of Louis the Pious

(2) Charles the Bald m. (1) Ermentrude (2) Richildis

Charles the Fat

(1) Louis the Stammerer m. (1) Ansgard (2) Adelaide

(1) Charles (1) Carloman the Younger

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES Adalhard (d. 826) Older (half-​)brother of Wala, Theodrada and Gundrada; monk (since c. 771)  and abbot (780/​1) of Corbie; adviser to Charlemagne, Pippin of Italy and (after 821)  Louis the Pious; exiled 814–​21. Nicknamed Antonius (see below). Adeodatus The youngest of the three monks and interlocutors of the Epitaphium’s first book, probably named after the son of the church father Augustine of Hippo (d. 430); returns in the second book as an older discussant. Allabigus An illiterate monk of Corbie who makes a brief yet forceful appearance in the Epitaphium’s first book, citing Terence while praising Wala/​ Arsenius. Ambrose of Milan Bishop of Milan (374–​97), church father who spoke truth to power, i.e., to Emperor Theodosius I; author of De excessu fratris sui Satyri and De bono mortis, both sources of inspiration for the Epitaphium Arsenii. Antonius (d. 356) Founding father of monastic life whose retreat to the Egyptian desert as a hermit was celebrated in a Life by Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria; the byname of Adalhard, abbot of Corbie, given to him at Charlemagne’s court by Alcuin of York (d. 804).

Bio graphical notes

Arsenius (d. c. 445) Courtier of Theodosius I  (see below); reputedly the tutor of the emperor’s sons Arcadius and Honorius, who around 400 joined the monastic desert community of Scetes (Egypt); the byname of Wala, abbot of Corbie, who in 814 exchanged the imperial court at Aachen for Corbie, and in 822 became the mentor and deputy of Lothar I. Bernard of Septimania (d. 844) Son of William of Gellone; godson of Louis the Pious; duke of Septimania and count of Barcelona from 826, and in charge of Louis’ court from August 829 until the rebellion of 830. He was accused of adultery with the Empress Judith and remained the adversary of Louis, and then of Charles the Bald, until the latter had him executed in 844. One of the main culprits of the Epitaphium; see also Naso. Charles the Bald (r. 829/​840–​77) Youngest son of Louis the Pious by his second wife, Judith, and one of the three surviving sons who in 840–​ 3 contended for the succession to their father’s empire. Charles carved out the so-​called West-​Frankish kingdom for himself; in 875 he inherited the imperial title. The Epitaphium’s second book was written in the 850s, during Charles’ reign. C[h]‌remes Four different characters in Terence’s plays are called Chremes, which inspired the byname of this monk who appears in the first book as a witness to the justice dispensed by Wala/​Arsenius in 822–​5, as Lothar’s second–​in-​command in the kingdom of Italy. Ebo of Reims (d. 851) Archbishop of Reims from 816 and scapegoat of the rebellion against Louis the Pious in 833; forced to give up his office in 835; briefly restored to his see in 840 by Lothar, but soon driven out again by Charles; he ended his life as bishop of Hildesheim. His alias in the Epitaphium is Phasur, after Jeremiah’s jailer, Phassur (Jeremiah 20:2). xvi

Bio graphical notes

Ermengard (d. 851) Empress; daughter of Count Hugh of Tours and wife of Lothar I from 821; patron of Corbie. Gratian See Justina and Louis the German. Gundrada Wala’s sister and one of Charlemagne’s courtiers who, upon Louis the Pious’s accession to the throne in 814, was sent off to the royal nunnery of Ste-Croix in Poitiers. She commissioned biblical commentary from Alcuin of York. Honorius Co-​ emperor of his father, Theodosius I  (393–​ 5), emperor of the Western Roman empire until his death in 423. This and his reputation for having been tutored by Arsenius turned ‘Honorius’ into an appropriate alias for Emperor Lothar I in the Epitaphium. Jeremiah One of the major Old Testament prophets; according to Jewish tradition he was the author of the Book of Jeremiah and the Book of Lamentations; in the Epitaphium this prophet of doom is one of the main role models for Wala. Judith (d. 843) Empress; daughter of the Alemannian Count Welf and named after the Old Testament heroine Judith; second wife of Louis the Pious from 819 and mother of Charles the Bald; accused of adultery with Bernard of Septimania in 830 and made to take the veil in a nunnery in Poitiers to do penance; rehabilitated in 831; exiled to Tortona in 833–​4 during the second rebellion against Louis. See also Justina.

xvii

Bio graphical notes

Justina The second wife of Emperor Valentinian I (r. 364–​75), who in 385/​6 clashed with Bishop Ambrose of Milan; mother of the Western Roman emperor Valentinian II (r. 375–​92), whom she dominated; stepmother of Emperor Gratian (r. 367–​87). All this made ‘Justina’ a fitting alias for the Empress Judith. Justinian I Eastern Roman/​Byzantine emperor (r. 527–​65), known for his codification of Roman law (Corpus iuris civilis), his expansive wars in Italy and North Africa, and his heavy-​handed interference in doctrinal strife in the imperial church; the last probably inspired the alias ‘Justinian’ for Louis the Pious in the Epitaphium. Lothar I (795–​855) Eldest son of Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengard; co-​emperor from 817; in charge of the kingdom of Italy from 822, with Wala as deputy; crowned emperor in 823 in Rome by Pope Paschal I; disgraced and relegated to the kingdom of Italy in August 829; involved in the rebellion of 830 and the leader of the revolt of 833 against Louis. Called ‘Honorius’ in the Epitaphium. Louis the German (c. 810–​76) Third son of Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengard; king of Bavaria (817), king of the East-​Frankish kingdom (833); his alias in the Epitaphium is ‘Gratian’ (see Justina). Louis the Pious (778–​840) Youngest son of Charlemagne, who inherited the realm and imperial title as sole survivor in 814; had three sons from his first marriage to Ermengard (Lothar I, Louis the German, Pippin I of Aquitaine) and a fourth son from his second marriage with Judith (Charles the Bald). The father’s longevity and the survival of all four sons led to intense strife and competition for the throne, first in 830–​3 during the two rebellions against Louis, and then after his death in 840–​3. Named ‘Justinian’ in the Epitaphium. xviii

Bio graphical notes

Melanius See Pippin I of Aquitaine. Naso Alias of Bernard of Septimania referring to Publius Ovidius Naso (41 BC–​AD 17), the Roman poet known as Ovid in the English-​speaking world, author of the Metamorphoses and Ars Amatoria. According to tradition Ovid was exiled for adultery. Pas(c)hasius Monastic byname of Radbert of Corbie, who uses this name as the narrator of the Epitaphium. There may be multiple origins, but the most likely one is that of the sinful and penitent deacon Paschasius in the Dialogues of Pope Gregory the Great (590–​604). Phasur See Ebo of Reims. Pippin I of Aquitaine (797–​838) Second son of Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengard; king of Aquitaine from 817; had a leading role in the rebellion of 830. The origin of his alias in the Epitaphium, ‘Melanius’, remains a matter of speculation. Severus The monastic byname of Radbert’s friend Odilman, who figures as a discussant in the first book of the Epitaphium, as an older and outspoken monk of Corbie with clear memories of Wala’s leadership of the community before the foundation of Corvey in 822. Teofrastus Young and intrepid discussant in the second book of the Epitaphium, whose byname was inspired by the philosopher Theophrastus, xix

newgenprepdf

Bio graphical notes

Aristotle’s successor as leader of the Peripatetic School, who came to Athens as a young man. Terence The Roman playwright Publius Terentius Afer, whose comedies were first performed in 170–​160 BC. His language became authoritative to (late) Roman grammarians, which explains his fame in ninth-​century literate circles, in monasteries such as Corbie, as well as at the court of Louis the Pious. Theodosius I (‘the Great’) Roman emperor (379–​95) who, from 392 onwards, was the last to rule an undivided empire including both East and West. He became an ideal Christian ruler in the ninth century, especially because of his public penance of 390, performed at the behest of Ambrose of Milan. Theodrada (d. 846) Wala’s youngest sister; from 810, abbess of the nunnery of Notre Dame of Soissons, where Radbert was raised, albeit before Theodrada was in charge. Wala (d. 836) Referred to by some of the monks of Corbie as ‘our Arsenius’; an influential count during the last decade of Charlemagne’s reign who withdrew to Corbie upon Louis’ accession in 814, and became abbot of Corbie and Corvey in 826, succeeding his brother Adalhard. He was one of the leaders of the rebellion of 830 against Louis the Pious. Exiled from 830 until 833, he followed Lothar I in 834 to Italy, where he became abbot of Bobbio and then succumbed to an epidemic in August 836. See also Arsenius.

xx

  1

INTRODUCTION

The Epitaph of Arsenius Confronting crisis The ‘epitaph’ or funeral oration for Abbot Wala of Corbie (d. 836), a cousin of Charlemagne who was also known as Arsenius, is a confrontation with political crisis at various levels, and at different moments in time. Its focus is on Wala’s different roles during the reigns of Charlemagne (768–​814) and his successor, Louis the Pious (814–​40). As the only remaining son when his father died, Louis, who had hitherto been king of Aquitaine, had already been made co-​emperor by Charlemagne in 813. At this time Wala was the most important layman at Charlemagne’s court, while his older half-​brother Adalhard was abbot of Corbie. Louis’ take-​over of the palace in Aachen meant the introduction of a new group of trusted counsellors and the removal of the old guard. Powerful kinsmen such as Wala and Adalhard were sent off to monasteries, along with their sister Gundrada and other women of the family who had become influential during the last decade of Charlemagne’s reign. In due course, however, Louis, who had been crowned emperor in October 816 in Reims by Pope Stephen IV, felt secure enough to reconcile himself with his two formidable cousins. From 821 onwards Wala once more became a central figure at the Frankish imperial court, as the mentor and deputy of Louis’ eldest son, Lothar, co-​emperor and king of Italy, and, from 826, when Adalhard died, as abbot of Corbie. In 819 the widower Louis had remarried with an aristocratic daughter from Alemannia, Judith, who in 821 bore him a son, with the significant name Charles: this was a boy destined to rule. Fitting this newcomer into the succession arrangements set up in 817 contributed to the already growing tensions between Louis and his three elder sons, and especially with the co-​emperor, Lothar. Deciding to distance himself from Lothar, in August 829 Louis put his godson Bernard, count of Septimania, in charge of the imperial household. The backlash followed in the spring of 830. Accusations of adultery between Bernard and Empress Judith, fuelled by fear of the chamberlain’s competition, were

Confronting crisis in the Carolingian empire

the pretext for this first revolt, in which the two elder sons, Lothar and Pippin, joined forces with a group of courtiers elbowed out by Bernard. Wala was one of the leaders, and paid for it by being exiled to a series of monasteries in the empire. Louis’ quick comeback and highhanded dealing with his elder sons in the aftermath of the first rebellion sowed the seeds for a second revolt in the summer of 833, which led to the old emperor’s infamous public penance in the autumn of that year. Yet within half a year Louis was back in charge, and in August 834 Lothar was forced to retreat to Italy and remain there. He was followed by some loyal supporters, including Wala, by now abbot of Bobbio, who died there in 836.1 These events provide the backdrop to the Epitaphium Arsenii. Yet its context should be extended further, well into the period after the death of Louis the Pious and the struggle for succession among his three remaining sons. While the emperor, Lothar (840–​55), still commanded loyalty in Corbie, this monastery became part of the kingdom of Charles the Bald (840–​77).2 This in itself created considerable tension, yet it only surfaces in the Epitaphium’s second book, in the context of a full-​scale assessment of the rebellions of the early 830s from a later perspective. Its author, Paschasius Radbertus (c. 790–​c. 860), a monk of Corbie, wrote this spirited defence of his beloved master in two phases. The Epitaphium’s first book originated not long after Wala’s death in 836, when Radbert (as we shall call him) was a prominent member of his community, but also in a difficult position because of his close ties with Wala, who was accused of having been disloyal to his emperor, Louis the Pious. Radbert only added a second book about two decades later, in the mid-​850s. By then, he was an elderly man who had been forced to resign as abbot of Corbie, an illustrious position he had only managed to hang on to for about seven years. These were the two crises of Radbert’s life. The first was Wala’s involvement in the two rebellions against Louis the Pious in 830 and 833, and his punishment by exile, which also meant dishonour to his monks and his closest associates; the second was Radbert’s own loss of the abbacy of Corbie, sometime between 849 and 853. His Epitaphium Arsenii not only defended his abbot’s motives and reputation but also served to support the author’s own shaky position. When he wrote the 1 For a succinct survey of Louis’ reign, see De Jong, Penitential State, pp. 14–​58. 2 Nelson, Charles the Bald. 2

Intro ductio n

first book, Radbert kept his head down, and concentrated on Wala/​ Arsenius’ many virtues as a perfect monk and abbot. Without any strict, linear chronology, his first part covers the period from Wala’s training at Charlemagne’s court until his succession as abbot of Corbie in 826, with only oblique references to his part in the rebellions against Louis. The sequel, added after Radbert stepped down as abbot, starts in the late 820s and ends with Wala’s death in Italy in 836. It is a fierce diatribe against Wala’s enemies, with the narrative of the two rebellions at its core. Modern historians have mostly been interested in the Epitaphium’s shorter second book and its vivid narrative about the rebellions against Louis the Pious. Because of its emphasis on Wala as a monk and abbot, the first book was largely ignored, or at best cherry-​picked for a few supposedly non-​monastic stories.3 This has meant missing rather a lot, and not just because this was an age in which political discussions were conducted within a religious framework. Big monasteries such as Corbie were closely connected with the Frankish royal court, and provided both spiritual support and material sustenance to the ruler and the governing elite.4 Wala’s religious reputation, therefore, was crucial to the overall judgement of his qualities as a leader of his people. Nor can the outspoken second book be understood as a narrative of political history in the modern sense of the word. Its loud lamentations about a dismal present turn the work into a retrospective prophecy, reminiscent of the prophet Jeremiah, who recorded the tribulations of his people with hindsight, as an exile. This was how Radbert portrayed Wala, and by association, also himself, especially in the second book: as a prophet whose warnings went unheeded, and who had therefore to witness and suffer the exile of his people. It is no wonder that the second book has become one of the main ingredients of modern grand narratives about a decline of the Carolingians that began with the two revolts against Louis the Pious;5 yet Radbert’s account of the crisis of Louis’ reign was written two decades later, with considerable hindsight. To a large extent, it reflects Radbert’s experiences as abbot of Corbie in the 840s, followed by his own sort of exile: an enforced retirement and exclusion from the circle of counts, bishops and abbots who 3 For an early critique of this approach, see Ganz, ‘Epitaphium Arsenii ’. 4 De Jong, ‘Carolingian monasticism’. 5 Booker, Past Convictions, pp. 42–​50; De Jong, ‘Empire that was always declining’. 3

Co nfro nting crisis in the Caro lingian empire

governed together with their ruler. This does not make the second book less valuable as a historical source, but it is vital that it is situated in its proper context: the reign of Charles the Bald, the youngest son of Louis the Pious. A daring experiment Paschasius Radbertus, as is he is known (we call him Radbert for short), was one of the most prolific biblical commentators of his age, whose opinion was sought by the great and good, including King Charles the Bald, who in 843 wanted Radbert’s views on the nature of the Eucharist, a matter of current debate that had also involved the royal court.6 To this treatise, and to his vast commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Radbert owes most of his posthumous fame, yet he also composed two funeral orations (‘epitaphs’) for the men he thought of as his monastic fathers, the half-​brothers Adalhard and Wala, abbots of Corbie. The Life of Adalhard was composed shortly after the abbot’s death in January 826.7 Even though Radbert himself called it an epitaph, and declared his boundless admiration for Cicero,8 this earlier work still had some of the conventional structure of the Life of a holy man.9 By contrast, the Epitaphium Arsenii is the daring experiment of an even more accomplished author. Once more the funeral orations of the church fathers Ambrose and Jerome served as an example, and by the time he started on the Epitaphium, Radbert’s classical learning had clearly progressed by leaps and bounds.10 In this case, the real experiment was that Radbert now drew upon a long classical and late antique tradition of literary dialogue. Three monks of Corbie, with Radbert himself only thinly disguised as the narrator Pascasius, discuss their deceased abbot’s many virtues and exploits. At first they grieve about his death in Italy, so far away from his own community, but soon their lament turns into a spirited defence 6 Regesta imperii, no. 406 (Karl der Kahle, 840–​8): Chazelle, Crucified God, pp. 210–​25. 7 Kasten, Adalhard, pp. 168–​70. 8 VA, c. 20, col. 1518C; Ganz, Corbie, pp. 22–​9. 9 Verri, ‘L’arte di ritratto’. 10 Ganz, Corbie, pp. 82–​3, who also notes new patristic reading; Bischoff, ‘Hadoardus and the Manuscripts of Classical Authors’, especially pp. 49–​51. Beda Paulus’ list of works cited in the twelve books of the In Mattheum is a good guide to the gradual expansion of Radbert’s reading. 4

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of Arsenius against his many enemies. The second book is even more polemical, not just because it covers the two rebellions against Louis, but also because it was written when, after only seven years of being abbot of Corbie, Radbert had to step down from this prestigious office, because both at the court and in his monastery his position had become untenable. By structuring his defence of Wala as an at times antagonistic debate between ‘Pascasius’ and his fellow monks, the author managed to articulate the views of his adversaries before thoroughly refuting them. It is difficult to pinpoint one particular model for this strategy, for Radbert was nothing if not eclectic, but Sulpicius Severus’ dialogue (c. 400) on the virtues of St Martin, between the author himself and two of his monastic friends, seems a likely source of inspiration.11 Two books, one work Only one manuscript of the Epitaphium survives. It was produced in Corbie not long after the mid-​to late 850s, the time when Radbert completed his second book (Paris, BnF lat. 13909).12 This manuscript, written by at least three scribes and carefully corrected by a contemporary hand, contains only Radbert’s Epitaphium Arsenii, which is the work’s original title (see Figure 5). The author’s name, however, is not mentioned, except as the narrator in the text itself who is identified as ‘P’ (Pascasius).13 Although the transition from the first to the second book is clearly marked, the same hand continues the text halfway down the page (f. 62r). Whether the first book ever circulated on its own is anybody’s guess. The chapter headings used in modern editions were added by the Epitaphium’s first editor, Jean Mabillon (1632–​1707).14 In the manuscript itself the text runs continuously, and is structured only by a change of interlocutor, indicated by the first letter of their name. This is only the case with the main participants in the confabulation, three in each book. The additional two interlocutors in the first book, Allabigus and Cremes, have their names spelled out. The 1 1 Ganz, Corbie, pp. 112–​20; De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 99–​101. 12 https://​gallica.bnf.fr/​ark:/​12148/​btv1b9076783s/​f2.image.r=latin%2013909; last consulted on 20 June 2019. 13 Bischoff and Ebersperger, Katalog, vol. III, p.  213 (no.  4945); Ganz, Corbie, p.  145; Huelsenbeck, ‘A nexus of manuscripts’, esp. p.  293. De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 8–​11. Occasionally this ‘P’ has been expanded to ‘Pascasius’ by a different yet contemporary hand. 14 ASOB, vol. V (1677), pp. 455–​522. 5

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Figure 5  The opening pages of the one extant manuscript of the Epitaphium Arsenii (Paris, BnF lat. 13909, ff. 1v–​2r), with later indications of ownership (Saint-​Arnoul de Crépy, early thirteenth century; Saint-​ Germain-​des-​Prés, eighteenth century) and the thirteenth-​century addition of the author’s name, ‘Paschasius’. This does not figure in this copy from the third quarter of the ninth century, but the title (Epitaphium Arsenii) does; the entire text numbers 111 folios (18 lines, 17,4 × 15,3 cm), with only a few folios missing at the end. It is possible that Radbert himself still supervised the copying and subsequent corrections.

6

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Figure 5 (Continued)

letters designating the three chief discussants are in red uncial script, so they do stand out, but in no way is the liveliness of their conversation reflected in the layout of the manuscript. This suggests that it was meant for personal perusal by a reader, rather than for any kind of performance. The survival of the Epitaphium in one single yet contemporary copy has consequences for the interpretation of the text, for it means that 7

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questions concerning the intended audience and the date of its composition can only be answered from its contents. There is no doubt that Radbert meant this to be a work in two books, just like De excessu fratris sui Satyri, the funeral oration that Ambrose of Milan composed in 378 upon the death of his brother. This served as Radbert’s main model.15 Especially in the earlier part of the first book, and towards the end of the second, the Epitaphium remains close to Ambrose’s text. These densely Ambrosian sections provide a framework for the entire Epitaphium, pulling the two books together through their central theme:  the grief of the monks of Corbie over the demise of their Arsenius in faraway Italy, while they were unable to be present at his deathbed. This funeral oration proper introduces and finishes the bigger central part of the Epitaphium, which, stretching across the two books, relates the events and misfortunes of Wala’s life as a courtier, monk and latter-​day Jeremiah, who warned his people about impending disasters, all to no avail. It is here that Radbert, in his guise as the narrator ‘Pascasius’, develops his defence of his abbot against a chorus of nameless enemies. The first book counters the allegation that Wala was not a real monk, and that as an abbot he had neglected his community because of his long absences in imperial service. The other and most grievous accusation, that by rebelling against Louis the Pious in 830 Wala had been disloyal to his emperor, already surfaces in the introduction to the first book, but is only developed fully in the second, together with the identification of Arsenius with Jeremiah, the prophet of doom. All this shows that the Epitaphium was planned and executed as one work. Nonetheless, there are substantial differences between the two books, which are underlined by the author himself. Radbert emphatically states that the second book was only added at a later stage, when he himself had left behind ‘countless anxieties of duty within the monastery and the weighty issues to attend to outside of it’.16 In other words, he resumed his work on the Epitaphium after he was forced to step down as abbot of Corbie, sometime between 849 and 853, having only held this office since late 843 or early 844.17 15 See below, pp. 30–1. Von Moos, Consolatio, vol. II, pp. 100–​1 provides a provisional yet helpful overview of textual parallels between the Epitaphium and Ambrose’s De excessu; we have built on this in the notes to our translation, which offer more extensive references to textual parallels. 16 EA II, prol., p. 60; see below, p. 147. 17 Regesta imperii, nos. 355 and 406 (Karl der Kahle, 840–​8); De Jong, Epitaph, p. 42. 8

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Judging by the considerable differences between the two books, the first was not substantially adapted when the second was added, with the possible exception of some editing of the preface to the entire work, and the transition from the first to the second book. Radbert seems to have left the earlier book largely intact, using its reticence as a foil for its more explicit and polemical successor. At regular intervals the interlocutors warn each other to hold back from speaking the full truth about their abbot: there would be a time when this was possible, however, when the great man’s enemies would no longer hold sway. The second book, on the other hand, is situated in a later age, when the disasters of which Arsenius warned had become a dire reality. This dismal present (hodie) is emphasised throughout, as the vantage point in time from which the monks reflect on their abbot’s role in the rebellions against Louis, now well in the past. If only those in charge had heeded Arsenius’ warnings; but they were deaf. ‘This is why, up to the present day, none of the rulers can show the respublica the ways towards justice.’18 Frank speech governs the monks’ discussion, interspersed with fierce bouts of invective. The time to tell the truth about the injustices committed against Wala had come. Or was the contrast between the two books the rhetorical device of a clever author, who actually wrote everything in one go at the final stage of his life? Such a deliberate deception is not the most obvious explanation, and there are other dissimilarities that suggest a different context for the Epitaphium’s two parts. Whereas the dialogue of the first book is lively, full of banter and punctuated by citations from the classics in general, and Terence in particular, the second features long monologues by the narrator, Pascasius. Devoid of explicit references to classical authors, it is composed with the thunderous voices of Old Testament prophets in mind. It is not only Wala who is the object of grief and lamentation, but also the recent past, when all could have been set right, but went so horribly wrong. Naming and shaming Radbert’s naming strategy contributed to the coherence of the two books, but also helped to articulate the reader’s awareness of their 18 EA II, c. 6, p. 66: Inde est quod adhuc hodie nemo principum explicare potest reipublic¸e vias ad iustitiam. 9

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chronological distance. The confabulation is carried on by three monks, two of whom remain active throughout the entire text:  the narrator Pascasius, who personifies the author himself, and Adeodatus (‘given by God’), a young monk named after Augustine’s son, who apparently had never known Wala personally. In the first book, this Adeodatus is an inquisitive youngster whose seemingly innocent yet probing questions move the conversation forward; the third interlocutor is Severus, a straightforward older monk who does not suffer fools gladly and is inclined to push the boundaries of what can be said out loud. This Severus is the byname of Radbert’s older friend Odilman, to whom he dedicated his Commentary on Lamentations.19 At the start of the second book, it is signalled that Severus has died; a well-​travelled monk with the Terentian name ‘Cremes’, who was with Arsenius in Italy in the 820s, ‘has disappeared in the midst of our crisis’. Adeodatus is still present, but now as an older and more authoritative figure, capable of voicing strong rebuke and condemnation. In order to complete the original threesome, a third discussant is recruited, Teofrastus, named after the philosopher who in 322 BC succeeded Aristotle as leader of the Peripatetic School.20 Like Severus, this young monk does not mince his words; from the outset, he functions as the frank speaker who drives the narrative of the polemical second book. Radbert’s eclectic choice of bynames reflects the scope of Corbie’s classical and patristic learning, but also, most likely, the everyday use of such names among the monks themselves. This is only certain in the case of Pascasius and Severus, however. Another obvious case in point is Arsenius, a byname used affectionately by Radbert well before he embarked on his Epitaphium.21 The pseudonyms of the second book are another matter altogether. ‘Pseudonyms’ is hardly the right expression, for the names given to the political protagonists of the rebellion era are quite transparent for any literate insider.22 Rather than hiding the identities of those named

19 Paschasius Radbertus, Expositio in Lamentationes 1, p. 4. All five books were dedicated separately to Odilman/​Severus. On this commentary, see Matter, ‘Lamentations commentaries’. 20 Throughout, Radbert favours ‘Greek’ spellings of the names Cremes and Teofrastus. 21 Paschasius Radbertus, De corpore, prol., p. 3; De Jong, ‘Becoming Jeremiah’, p. 192. 22 De Jong, ‘Becoming Jeremiah’; De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 134–​46; on Alcuin’s influential use of nicknames, see Garrison, ‘Praesagum nomen tibi ’ and ‘Social world of Alcuin’. 10

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and, in some instances, shamed, these aliases drew upon the biblical, classical and late antique imperial past. Interpreting their meaning also required a general knowledge of the more recent and turbulent history of Louis’ reign, and the parts played by the two main culprits: Bernard of Septimania (called Naso after the adulterous poet Ovid) and Louis’ second spouse, Judith, who was Empress Justina, the nemesis of Ambrose of Milan.23 The alias of Honorius for Lothar depended on Wala’s byname Arsenius, because of their relationship of mentor and pupil; here as well, getting the moral implications of the name required a familiarity with the careers of Emperor Theodosius I  (r. 379–​95) and his younger son, Honorius (r. 393–​423), who in 393 was made co-​ emperor. As a youth Honorius had been educated by the Arsenius, a courtier and tutor turned desert monk. The most intriguing alias is ‘Justinian’ for Louis the Pious, for it had both positive and negative connotations, which was in accordance with Radbert’s ambivalent attitude towards this emperor. Justinian the Great (r. 527–​65) was admired as a lawgiver and an orthodox ruler, yet the name also reflected the evil Justina’s dominance of her husband. Theodora had been savagely criticised for her influence over her husband.24 More importantly, by calling Louis ‘Justinian’, albeit only twice and in a highly specific context, Radbert emphatically withheld the honorific alias of ‘Theodosius’. This would have been the obvious choice, for Theodosius I  ‘the Great’ was not only Honorius’ father, but in 391, at Ambrose’s behest, this emperor had also performed a celebrated public penance.25 Although Wala was never explicitly compared with Ambrose of Milan, naming the Empress Judith ‘Justina’ made this point implicitly, and imagining Louis as Justinian rather than as Theodosius drove it home even further. Rather than hiding the identities of those involved, these aliases articulated their moral status, at 23 On the historical context, see McLynn, Ambrose of Milan, pp. 170–​1; Liebeschuetz, Ambrose of Milan, pp.  124–​36. Justina’s evil reputation originates with Ambrose himself: Ambrose, Epistolae, 76 [20].12, 18; trans. Liebeschuetz, Ambrose of Milan, pp. 160–​73. 24 Procopius’ infamous and savage attack on Theodora in his Secret History, written in the 550s, only became known in the West in the tenth century, yet Radbert may have known about Theodora’s reputation from another sixth-​century source, the Breviarium of Liberatus of Carthage, of which Corbie had a ninth-​century copy. See De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 142–​3. 25 McLynn, Ambrose of Milan, pp. 316–​29; Schieffer, ‘Von Mailand nach Canossa’; De Jong, Penitential State, pp. 122–​9. 11

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least for an insider audience who knew its way around the history of the Christian Roman empire. Context and audience The most plausible explanation for the disparity between the two books is that they were indeed created with an interval between them of some twenty years or more, and that their different approach reflects Radbert’s changed position. As a highly respected scholar at Corbie who had frequently been at Wala’s side in the 820s and 830s, Radbert seems to have been destined for the leadership of his community.26 Yet inevitably in the years immediately following Wala’s death in 836, he was tainted by his mentor’s reputation of infidelity towards the emperor. With its focus on Arsenius as the perfect abbot, and its restraint towards Louis the Pious, the first book may well have served to defend both the author and his subject, enhancing Radbert’s chances to become abbot after a decent interval. That this only happened eight years later, in 843/​4, suggests that there was considerable resistance, both within Corbie and outside. When the second book was added, however, Radbert was no longer abbot, and even though the conflicts that led to his ‘retirement’ are not entirely clear, he did not step down entirely of his own volition.27 His own career now resembled that of his beloved Arsenius, who had been exiled from Corbie and Louis’ court. Although Radbert never attained Wala’s elevated social and political status, as abbot of Corbie he had been part of the leadership of the kingdom of Charles the Bald. Once this came to an end, fiction and real life joined forces. Ousted from the corridors of power, Radbert made it clear that he was now an outsider, devoted once more to scholarship. Yet this particular stance enabled him to write a second book that drew upon a longstanding tradition of frank speech, or parrhesia. In pagan and Christian Antiquity, outsiders had a liberty to speak truth to power that those in the establishment lacked, and as Irene van Renswoude has made clear, this literary tradition did not disappear in the early Middle Ages, even though the philosophers of yore had morphed into prophet-​like monks and 26 Two highlights of Radbert’s companionship with Wala: the foundation of Corvey in 822 and the second rebellion of 833; see below, pp. 110–12, 194–6. 27 De Jong, ‘Familiarity lost’; De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 64–​8. 12

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bishops.28 The Epitaphium’s second book is a prime example of this continuity, at two interconnected levels: it is not just Arsenius who comes into his own here as an outspoken Jeremiah, but also Radbert himself, who made the most of his own version of exile to associate himself as closely as possible as an author with ‘our Arsenius, whom these times of ours have turned into another Jeremiah’.29 In consequence, the Epitaphium Arsenii cannot be used as a straightforward report of the events of the rebellion era, if only because it is nearly impossible to distinguish between the ‘real’ Wala and the Arsenius constructed by his disciple. We should treat this book first and foremost as a source for Radbert’s ideas and the world in which he lived and wrote, that is, the 850s.30 This should be the default position not only for the later second book, but also for the first. It is closer in time to Wala’s life and death, yet it is also a deeply subjective text, which is precisely what makes it so interesting. Except for a treatise on the management of monastic estates, there are no writings by Wala himself, so his ideas are known almost entirely through the prism of the Epitaphium. That Radbert’s views were entirely similar to those of his master is no more than an assumption, albeit one that is still made all too easily. Another problem is that the Epitaphium’s fragile transmission, in a single manuscript produced in Corbie itself and with little sign of any impact on subsequent authors, has led to the conclusion that it was primarily a ‘private’ work. Supposedly it was written for the author’s own satisfaction, or at best for the monks of Corbie and its Saxon daughter house, Corvey, but not for the world beyond.31 Given the contents of Epitaphium, however, and especially in view of the second book’s reflections on the moral dilemmas posed by the rebellions against Louis, this seems highly unlikely. Radbert may well have started with his fellow monks in mind; in the first book he does indeed mention the younger monks of Corbie’s Saxon foundation, Corvey, who had no idea what a wonderful abbot they once had, and therefore needed to be 2 8 Van Renswoude, Rhetoric of Free Speech. 29 Paschasius Radbertus, De corpore, prol., p. 3: …quod Arsenius noster quem nostra nunc nobis saecula Hieremiam alterum tulerunt… 30 As argued independently by De Jong, ‘Paschasius Radbertus and Pseudo-​Isidore’ and Breternitz, ‘Ludwig der Fromme’; see also De Jong, ‘Familiarity lost’. 31 Ganz, Corbie, p. 113; Ganz, ‘Epitaphium Arsenii ’, p. 538; Kempshall, Rhetoric, p. 204. 13

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informed.32 Yet even the first book should not be deemed ‘private’ or ‘internal’ just because it is dominated by monastic themes and issues. As we said earlier, there was nothing internal about the reputation of prominent Carolingian monasteries and their political leadership, and the same holds true for contested monastic property. Wealthy abbeys such as Corbie were closely connected to the royal court, and the revenues of its estates helped to sustain the king’s armies. Although Radbert had precise ideas about the limits of the claims rulers could make to the lands of the monasteries to which they extended their protection (tuitio), he was also immensely proud of Corbie’s royal connection, which was forged from the moment of its foundation by Queen Balthild and her son Chlothar III sometime between 657 and 661.33 His defence of Wala as a monk and abbot was surely also meant for court-​connected eyes, even if Radbert could not be sure that his views would ever be relayed to the ruler himself. In his first book, he expressed his hopes in this respect, as well as his anxieties. There is, of course, a difference between an intended audience and an actual one, and neither should the survival rate of manuscripts be equated with the size of their readership. All the same, judging by the contents and style of the Epitaphium, Radbert wrote for insiders who could appreciate the author’s literary fireworks as well as his pointed critique of the conduct of the Carolingian leadership, past and present. What mattered were the reputations of Wala, Corbie and Radbert himself among those who possessed political clout and moral standing, an audience of well-​educated peers who were familiar with scripture, the classics and Christian imperial history. This intended audience was highly restricted, but given standards of literacy among ninth-​ century elites, it was by no means made up of clerics only.34 On the contrary, there are similarities between the Epitaphium’s second book and two near-​contemporary texts written in the early 840s by two famous ‘lay’ authors:  Nithard’s Histories and Dhuoda’s Handbook for

3 2 EA I, c. 16, p. 45; see below, p. 116. 33 MGH DD Merov., no. 86, pp. 220–​4, with an extensive argumentation for the verdict ‘unecht’; the charter has been interpolated; see also Fouracre and Gerberding, Late Merovingian France, p. 109, n. 83. Yet for Radbert it was very real, as becomes clear from the Privilege of the Synod of Paris (846/​7); on this privilege, see De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 58–​64. 34 McKitterick, Carolingians and the Written Word; Wormald and Nelson (eds), Lay Intellectuals; Brown et al. (eds), Documentary Culture and the Laity. 14

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her son William.35 Both authors wrote in the middle of the succession crisis after the death of Louis the Pious, reflecting on the values (or lack thereof) of their peers, with ‘the madness of infidelity’ (infidelitatis vesania) as their central theme.36 Like Radbert’s second book, these two works have been a first resort for modern historians of Carolingian politics, yet they survived in only a few manuscripts. Their intensely personal tone, which also characterises the Epitaphium, may have been one of the reasons for this. All three works were written by authors whose personal experience of the corridors of power and its vicissitudes inspired some deep thought on the duties and values of public leadership. Precisely in these highly personal accounts of crisis and uncertainty one encounters a more articulate discourse on the meaning of the public interest or ‘commonwealth’ (respublica). In the first book of Radbert’s funeral oration for Arsenius there is not yet any mention of it, but in the second it is all the more present, as part of a more general political terminology derived from Cicero and other classical authors.37 This is one of several features that signals a different time of writing and context for the Epitaphium’s two books. All the same, it was planned as one work, by a sophisticated author who, as we shall see, made the most of these dissimilarities in the 850s, as an integral part of his strategies of persuasion. Adalhard, Wala, Radbert and Louis the Pious Adalhard and Wala ‘It is impossible for me to describe how much I silently wondered to myself at their virtues, and how much I rejoiced that God had given such patrons to me, who was the third member of their fellowship (consortium), though unworthy.’38 This is how Radbert remembers his two monastic fathers around 822, when all three of them were engaged in the foundation of Corvey in Saxony. In this narrative about the joint 35 On Nithard:  Nelson, ‘Public histories’; Airlie, ‘The world’. On Dhuoda:  Nelson, ‘Dhuoda’, ‘Dhuoda on Dreams’; Le Jan, ‘Dhuoda ou l’opportunité du discours féminin’. For the political context of these two authors and others discussed in this chapter, see Nelson, ‘Search for peace’. On biblical culture across the boundaries of clerics and laymen:  Noble, ‘Secular sanctity’; De Jong, ‘Carolingian political discourse and the biblical past’. 36 Dhuoda, Liber manualis III, c. 4, p. 150. 37 De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 130–​5. 38 EA I, c. 15, p. 43; see below, p. 111. 15

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venture of the two half-​brothers, Radbert emphatically presents himself as an active participant. Adalhard had recently returned to Corbie as abbot after having been exiled in 814 by Louis the Pious to St Philibert, a monastic community on Noirmoutier, an island in the Atlantic Ocean, south of the mouth of the Loire. In that same year of royal succession Wala, then the highest ranking lay dignitary at Charlemagne’s court, retreated to Corbie and kept his head down, but according to Radbert he became the informal leader of the monastery. Whether he actually became a monk as well is a moot point. In 814 the status of political opponents who lay low in monasteries was not clear, and in this respect Radbert does protest rather loudly. In fact, he depicts Wala’s youthful apprenticeship at Charlemagne’s court as a kind of noviciate, which he then conflates with his mentor’s retreat from the corridors of power to Corbie in 814. This is all kept deliberately vague and allusive, partly in order to gloss over past controversies. The main point made in the first book is that Wala was always a perfect monk, regardless of his prominent position at the court, and then went on to become a perfect abbot after he took over from Adalhard in 826, even though he spent much time at the imperial court.39 Radbert praises the virtues of the two brothers at great length, as well as their total unanimity.40 Or was he protesting too much? Were his loyalties divided when Adalhard came back, after years of Wala ruling the Corbie roost, despite a stand-​in abbot having been appointed? We hear very little about this temporary leader of Corbie, who confusingly was also called Adalhard,41 for Wala’s qualities received all the limelight. Still, there may be some tension in Radbert’s extensive and laudatory comparison of Adalhard (Antonius) and Wala (Arsenius). He portrayed the elder brother as the real monk, humble to the hilt, while Wala/​ Arsenius was the vigorous younger man who remained recognisable as the charismatic magnate he once had been, despite his monastic habit. Was this how he remembered the two men, or was it how he stylised their underlying tension into two types of abbot, the one very much a part of his community, the other one who defended it effectively in the outside world? The latter seems more likely, for Adalhard had been as

3 9 On Arsenius’ immutability, see Verri, ‘Il libro primo’. 40 EA I, cc. 12–​18, pp. 40–​8; see below, pp. 103–20. 41 EA I, c. 13, p. 43; see below, p. 107, n. 247. 16

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active in politics as his younger brother, and was not more monastic than Wala. They were the sons of Bernard (a son of Charles Martel from a concubine), who was the half-​brother of King Pippin III, Charlemagne’s father (see Figure  3). To Radbert we owe the information that Adalhard was the son of Bernard’s first spouse, who was Frankish; he then married a Saxon woman, who bore him Wala and three younger siblings: Gundrada, Bernarius and Theodrada.42 Between Adalhard and Wala there was an age difference of at least twenty years. Conflicts with Carolingian rulers ran in this family, precisely because they were of royal progeny, as Radbert proudly reported in his Life of Adalhard. Here he also contended that Adalhard became a monk in Corbie as a protest against Charlemagne’s breaking his engagement to the daughter of the Lombard king Desiderius in 771, a version of events not confirmed by any other source.43 Whether real or fictional, the altercation between Adalhard and his king did not last, for in 780/​1, at the very latest, Adalhard was granted the abbacy of Corbie. Charlemagne used his powerful cousins well and judiciously, especially during the last and imperial phase of his reign. Adalhard became one of his most prominent counsellors, and after the death of Pippin of Italy in 810 he became the emperor’s deputy in this kingdom, as the mentor of Pippin’s son, the young King Bernard.44 Meanwhile, Wala pursued an equally brilliant secular career, also in imperial service. In 811 he even headed the list of lay magnates who witnessed Charlemagne’s will.45 These flanking members of the royal family grew so powerful that upon his accession in 814, Louis saw only one time-​honoured solution: monastic exile, which would remove them from the court and from their institutional base, while keeping them alive for a future reconciliation, and renewed royal service. Almost all of Bernard’s offspring changed places. Abbot Adalhard went from Corbie to Noirmoutier, a place where Wala would end up eventually as well, but in 814 he had to withdraw from the public arena of the court and retreated to 42 VA, c.  56, col. 1537; Weinrich, Wala, pp.  11–​14; Hlawitschka, ‘Vorfahren’, p.  81; Depreux, Prosopographie, pp. 390–​3. 43 Kasten, Adalhard, pp.  24–​ 35; on Adalhard’s biography, see also Ganz, Corbie, pp. 23–​8; Depreux, Prosopographie, pp. 76–​9; De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 20–​5. 44 Kasten, Adalhard, p. 68; Werner, ‘Gouverner l’empire chrétien’, pp. 30–​7. 45 Einhard, Vita Karoli, c. 33; Innes, ‘Charlemagne’s will’. 17

Co nfro nting crisis in the Caro lingian empire

Corbie. He was not a ‘monastic prisoner’, but neither was his entry into monastic life entirely voluntary, much as Radbert presents it as such.46 Wala’s brother Bernarius, a monk in Corbie, was dispatched south to Lérins, where he had made his profession, and his sister Gundrada, who had been resident at Charlemagne’s court, was sent to the nunnery founded by Queen Radegund, Ste-​Croix in Poitiers. The only one who remained in place was Theodrada, who had become abbess of another court-​connected community, Notre-​Dame in Soissons, in 810. Wala’s political clout in 814 emerges from the much later account by one of Louis’ biographers, the so-​called Astronomer, who depicts this regime change as one fraught with danger. Wala’s cooperation with the new emperor was indispensable, and it was his support, the Astronomer implies, that made the various factions rally behind Louis.47 But once Louis was established in Aachen, Wala bowed out. The representation of a grandee’s retreat to a monastery as his own decision went a long way towards saving reputations. To be said to have chosen exile, rather than to have been sent off, meant escaping the shame of having submitted to duress. Throughout the Epitaphium, exile is depicted as Wala’s own choice, starting with his retreat to Corbie in 814. It is turned into a regular noviciate, and is conflated with his training as a youth at Charlemagne’s court. In both sections of the first book, a key phrase from the Rule of Benedict and scripture is cited repeatedly: the newcomer is tested like gold in a furnace, proving himself a true monk.48 It is crystal clear that this was no ordinary novice, however. In the absence of his brother, the rightful abbot, Wala assumed the informal leadership of Corbie. Radbert According to a later tradition, our author came to Corbie as a novice in 812 when Adalhard was abbot, but here we are on shaky ground, as with almost every aspect of Radbert’s early life. He may have been born around 790, but also some years earlier or later.49 References scattered 46 De Jong, ‘Monastic prisoners’ discusses the problems of narrating monastic exile while protecting the reputation of one’s subject, and the importance of voluntariness. 47 Astronomer, c. 21, p. 348; trans. Noble, Charlemagne, p. 247; Nelson, ‘Women at the court of Charlemagne’, pp. 239–​41. 48 Regula Benedicti, c. 1, 6; Psalm 66:10; Proverbs 27:21; Wisdom 3:6. 49 Peltier, Pascase, pp. 28–​32; De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 35–​6. 18

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throughout his exegetical work suggest that he was an orphan, taken in, educated and tonsured by the nuns of Notre-​Dame in Soissons, with whom he kept a life-​long and loving connection, as evinced by the various works he dedicated to them. Later in life he expressed regret about having soiled and lost his ‘monastic crown’ (tonsure) during a long spell in the world. Presumably this break in his monastic career occurred during his adolescence, and before he entered Corbie. He may have joined this community sometime between 810 and 814, when Adalhard was still abbot, possibly at Theodrada’s behest, but there is no way to be sure. Whatever the case, Radbert retained a very special connection with this family of alternative Carolingians, and enjoyed their life-​long patronage. It enabled him to become one of the foremost biblical scholars of his age, and a magister who transmitted these skills to the next generation. As an author of biblical commentary and other learned treatises, Radbert often called himself ‘Paschasius Radbertus, the greatest scum (peripsima) of all monks’.50 In the Epitaphium he used his monastic name, Pascasius, to signal that he himself was the narrator of this monastic confabulation. In other words, he did not hide his identity when it came to those who knew him as an author of biblical commentary and authoritative treatises on pressing issues such as the Eucharist, but when he acted officially, as abbot of Corbie, he was Radbertus abbas.51 It is not entirely clear how he got the byname Pascasius. Possibly he identified with the penitent deacon Paschasius about whom Gregory the Great wrote in his Dialogues, for Radbert never was ordained as a priest; he remained a deacon throughout his life, perhaps because of the sinful adolescence he hinted at.52 On the other hand, Pascasius was a conspicuous name in the long and complicated tradition of the Vitae Patrum, the lives of the desert fathers that circulated in many versions in the West from the sixth century. This was also the source of Wala’s byname, Arsenius.53

5 0 Paschasius Radbertus, De corpore, Prologus ad Karolum Calvum, p. 8. 51 Privilege of the Synod of Paris (846/​7), p. 149: Radbertus ipsius monasterii abbas… 52 Gregory the Great, Dialogi IV, 42, p.  150. According to the late twelfth-​century Vita Paschasii, p.  453, lines 34–​5, there were those who had confused Paschasius Radbertus with this Roman deacon Paschasius  –​but wrongly (sed frustra), as the author commented. 53 De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 31–​3. 19

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In 822 when Adalhard and Wala founded Corvey, Radbert accompanied them to Saxony as their ‘third man’, but soon he had to do without his mentor, for later in this year Wala accompanied Louis’ eldest son, Lothar, to Italy, where he became the young emperor’s chief adviser and deputy. Until his return to Corbie in 825, Wala spent long stretches of time south of the Alps; presumably he was involved in Lothar’s imperial coronation in 823 by Pope Paschal I, and in the election of Pope Eugenius II (824–​7), who was very much a Frankish choice. The creation of the Constitutio Romana in 824 further tightened the bonds between St Peter’s Republic and its Frankish protectors.54 Yet neither Lothar’s nor Wala’s sphere of activity was limited to the kingdom of Italy: they travelled back and forth regularly, keeping up their influence at Louis’ court. Lothar had been formally co-​emperor since 817, but his position was considerably enhanced when on Easter Day 823 Pope Paschal I bestowed upon him the crown of the kingdom of Italy and the titles of Emperor and Augustus.55 In the summer of 825 he began to issue charters together with his father, Louis, and it is no coincidence that the very first of these joint imperial diplomas was a confirmation of the royal privileges of Corbie, which also granted the community the right to elect its own abbot. In practice this meant the right to propose a candidate to the emperor, and this was precisely what happened after Adalhard’s death in January 826. From one of Radbert’s stories in which he was himself a main actor, it emerges that he was sent to Louis’ court to make sure that Wala would succeed his brother as abbot of Corbie and Corvey. This mission reveals a great deal about Radbert’s prominent position in Corbie, which he underlines, implicitly yet effectively, in the Epitaphium’s first book, and it is also confirmed by his authorship of the Life of Adalhard, written right after the abbot’s death, when Wala’s succession in Corbie was still contested. Radbert’s authorial voice carried weight, and he, the third man, was chosen to plead Wala’s case for the abbacy at the imperial court. Much as he was on tenterhooks among the great and good at the palace, he wrote about this occasion with pride. It looks as if here was a future abbot waiting in the wings,

54 Noble, Republic, pp.  310–​13; Weinrich, Wala, pp.  48–​51. On Lothar I  in Italy in 822/​3 and 824/​5, see now above all the in-​depth discussion in Schäpers, Lothar, pp. 101–​68. 55 Astronomer, c. 36, p. 414; Noble, Charlemagne, p. 264; ARF s.a. 823, pp. 160–1. 20

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ready to take over when Wala went to meet his maker. As a major scholar and magister, suitably connected to the court, he was potential abbot material. Hraban Maur, the other great biblical commentator of his age, is an example of this particular career path. Yet if this was the plan, it had to be shelved in the aftermath of Wala’s involvement in the first rebellion against Louis the Pious in the spring of 830. Political contexts: the 830s and 850s The rebellions against Louis the Pious (830–4) The background to this was that Louis, who felt threatened by Lothar and his allies, began to push back, culminating in an assembly held at Worms in August 829, where Lothar was sent off to Italy and told to stay there, while the emperor made his godson Bernard of Septimania chamberlain (camerarius).56 In fact, Bernard now became second after the emperor, supplanting Wala, who had held a similar position until then. The first revolt broke out during Lent 830, when the emperor had departed on an ill-​ timed campaign into Brittany. Initially his middle son, Pippin, took the lead, capturing his stepmother, Judith, who was veiled and relegated to the nunnery of Ste-​Croix in Poitiers, but by May 830 Lothar was back from Italy and in charge. He got his father to agree to turn the clock back and restore him to his rightful position as co-​emperor. This, at least, is Radbert’s contention; he is the only explicit source for this, and for Louis’ alleged gratitude to the rebels. Although Louis spent the summer in Lothar’s custody, ‘an emperor in name only’,57 he manoeuvred skilfully, convening another assembly in October in Nijmegen, where he expected support from his faithful men east of the Rhine, and from his younger son, Louis. This strategy worked, and those who had sided with the rebels were punished. Archchaplain Hilduin had to spend the winter in Paderborn in humble quarters; Wala was sent back to Corbie, to live like a monk rather than like a courtier, and await his fate. When the rebellion had died down, the final reckoning came during an assembly that gathered on 2 February 831, the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin, and the day upon which Louis had succeeded his father as emperor in 814. Having purged herself by an oath, Judith was rehabilitated and allowed 5 6 For a brief overview of the rebellion of 830, see De Jong, Penitential State, pp. 38–​44. 57 Astronomer, c. 45, p. 464; Noble, Charlemagne, p. 276. 21

Confronting crisis in the Carolingian empire

back at the side of her husband; later that year Bernard was allowed to clear himself by an oath as well. By contrast, Wala was sent into exile, according to Radbert to a series of increasingly distant locations, because Judith, once more in charge of the palace, feared that he might team up with one of Louis’ three elder sons. For Radbert this first revolt was by far the most important one, first of all because Wala played a much more central role here than in the subsequent rebellion of 833, and because of the disgrace of his exile, which hurt both himself and his proud monastic community, for he was made into something of a scapegoat. By 832 Hilduin and Louis were fully reconciled once more, but Wala remained out in the cold. In Radbert’s second book, the undisputed culprits were Judith and her alleged lover, Bernard, who had turned a sacred palace into a brothel. This was also the view that Archbishop Agobard of Lyons expressed in two fiery treatises of 833, which feature some central themes that would also be hammered home by Radbert twenty years later: adultery by a frivolous young wife, the concomitant loss of honour of the Franks in general and Louis’ sons in particular, and the scandal of a woman who, condemned to do penance for her sins in a convent, discarded her veil and returned to the very imperial bed she had contaminated.58 Judith/​Justina gets her share of Radbert’s scorn, but it is Bernard/​ Naso who bears the brunt of the Epitaphium’s invective. His powerful combination of roles, as Louis’ godson and first man after the emperor, allowed him to exclude the likes of Wala from the court.59 For those ousted, the only way to fight back against the chamberlain was via Judith’s reputation. As head of the imperial household, Bernard worked closely with the empress, so he was vulnerable in this respect.60 Hence the accusations of an intended takeover:  having introduced his own allies into the palace, Bernard was out to marry the empress and kill the entire competition, including the emperor and his three elder sons. Yet there were also older familial loyalties that intersected with this eternal strife among courtiers. Apparently, Wala had been married once to Bernard’s sister, the daughter of Count William of Gellone,

58 Agobard, Liber Apologeticus I; Ward, ‘Agobard of Lyons’; De Jong, ‘Exegesis for an empress’; De Jong, Penitential State, pp. 195–​200; Dohmen, Ursache, pp. 137–​42. 59 Depreux, ‘Der karolingische Hof ’; De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 151–​6. 60 Ward, ‘Caesar’s wife’. 22

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and had been like a father to this youngster who had now grown into a powerful enemy.61 Radbert is the only source for these details. His indignation about Bernard’s ungrateful behaviour to his elder kinsman rings true, yet it should be kept in mind that he also accused the chamberlain of having filled the palace with sorcerers and soothsayers. Clearly this was malicious slander, but why was it still worth elaborating on at least a decade after Bernard and Judith had died? The empress died in 843, and her alleged lover was executed in 844, at the orders of Judith’s son, Charles the Bald.62 One thing is certain: the Epitaphium’s second book is much more than the record of the loyal palace rebellion of 830 it has been taken to be, or a testimony to the aims of ‘the reformers’ at that particular time. Most of all it reveals Radbert’s vivid memory of the shame of Arsenius’ exile, and the way he explained the disasters of his own day and age as the product of Wala’s having been scorned. The disgrace of having been banished from the court and Corbie is what singles out Radbert’s extensive treatment of the revolt of 830. By contrast, the subsequent insurgency in June 833, when Louis found himself facing his three eldest sons in Alsace, on the so-​called Field of Lies, is no more than the aftermath of the first. Radbert is mostly on the side of the rebellious sons, but his real enthusiasm is reserved for Pope Gregory IV and his attempted mediation. Having travelled north with Lothar, and remaining in the latter’s entourage, the pontiff met with a chilly reception on the part of Louis and his bishops. The view of the latter can be found in the Astronomer’s Life of Louis: the pope was no more than a biased meddler, who, moreover, had flouted all the rules of protocol by arriving north uninvited by the emperor.63 For Radbert, on the other hand, Louis’ refusal to accept the authoritative intervention of the 61 De Jong, Epitaphium, p.  155 suggests that it was Bernard’s paternal aunt whom Wala married, rather than his sister, the daughter of William of Gellone, count of Toulouse; she has been followed in this by Depreux, ‘Der karolingischer Hof ’, pp. 21–​2; similarly, Dohmen, Ursache. On second consideration, the traditional interpretation that Wala was married to Bernard’s sister seems the more likely, although in our view the Latin remains somewhat ambiguous; see below, p. 165. We are grateful to Warren Pezé for his scrutiny of the passage in question. 62 AB, s.a. 844, p.  62; Nelson, Annals of St Bertin, p.  57; Nelson, Charles the Bald, pp. 139–​40. 63 Astronomer, c.  48, pp.  474–​6; Noble, Charlemagne, pp.  280–​1; De Jong, Penitential State, pp. 217–​20. 23

Co nfro nting crisis in the Caro lingian empire

supreme pontiff provoked the judgement of God that made his troops go over to Lothar and his rebellious brothers.64 From Radbert’s narrative about 833 it emerges that Wala and he were both present in Lothar’s camp prior to and during the mass desertion of Louis’ men on the Field of Lies, and that they remained with Lothar in the months after Louis’ infamous public penance. This was such a painful event that Radbert only referred to it obliquely, in an allusive passage heavily interspersed with citations from the book of Job.65 On its aftermath and Lothar’s takeover Radbert is downright scathing: the victors proceeded to divide the spoils, without taking into account ‘God and the public interest’. Although most of Wala’s advice went unheeded, he is credited with engineering a reconciliation between Lothar and his father, thus preventing further civil war and possible parricide. At this point, father and son come in for equal shares of Arsenius’ censure.66 Both rulers try to get Wala back on their side, but the great man would have none of it and retired to Bobbio, Columbanus’ foundation in the kingdom of Italy, where the monks, Radbert claimed, asked him to become their abbot. After Wala Radbert represented Wala’s flight south as his own decision, and the abbacy of Bobbio as the result of an invitation from its monks, rather than as a benefice granted by Lothar to his staunch ally. The defensive tone of the Epitaphium indicates that at Corbie Wala’s departure and his leadership of a new monastery were controversial, to say the least. Radbert had Teofrastus, the frank speaker of the second book, articulate these grievances, and countered them with the argument that it had become far too dangerous for Arsenius to remain north of the Alps. Like Columbanus, who had been driven by Queen Brunhild out of her kingdom in 610, Arsenius had been expelled by the equally evil Judith. Given the general assumption in modern scholarship that Wala was Lothar’s man, Radbert’s attempt to represent him as an independent agent is interesting, and so is the criticism of Louis’ eldest son that he

6 4 EA II, c. 18, pp. 88–​9; see below, pp. 203–4. 65 EA II, c. 20, pp. 91–​2; see below, pp. 208–10; on the use of Job in this passage, see De Jong, ‘Jeremiah, Job, Terence’. 66 EA II, c. 20, p. 91; see below, pp. 205–8. 24

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puts into his master’s mouth. Apart from his wish to put some distance between Wala and Lothar, there are also several instances in which Radbert the author seems to distinguish himself from his master, for example by depicting himself as a mediator between Louis the Pious, who was eager for reconciliation, and an intransigent Arsenius who stuck to his principles, no matter what.67 This no doubt serves to underline that Wala was an independent agent, beholden to no one, but it also reflects some of the difficulties Radbert experienced, not just in the years immediately after Wala’s departure in August 834 and his death two years later, but also in the decades thereafter, when he continued to struggle with the complicated legacy of his Arsenius. The Epitaphium’s second book remains silent about the last years of Wala’s life, probably because, unlike during his abbot’s first exile in the early 830s, Radbert no longer had regular contact with him. According to the Astronomer, Louis and Judith were eager to reconcile themselves with Wala and did so at the assembly of Thionville in May 836, having used him earlier as an intermediary between Lothar and themselves.68 This implies that Wala travelled north recurrently, but if so, he seems to have avoided Corbie, which is not unlikely, given his controversial abandonment of his own community. Furthermore, these were the years of Louis’ restoration, and to make matters worse, Corbie had been dealt a severe blow in the summer of 833, when Louis put an end to the unity of Corbie and its Saxon foundation by rewarding Warin for his loyalty by granting him the abbacy of Corvey.69 Warin, a monk of high birth, had been trained by Radbert and was the initial recipient of his treatise on the Eucharist in 831, but in the years thereafter, they ended up in different camps. The monastic bastion of Corbie and its Saxon daughter that had been governed by Adalhard and then by Wala was now broken up, which affected more than just personal relationships. Corbie lost control of the landed wealth that had been donated to Corvey, and Wala was blamed because all of this had been the result of his disloyalty to his emperor. These tensions reverberate in the Epitaphium’s first book, with Radbert taking the occasional dig at Warin, also for the benefit of the latter’s own monks;70 defending 6 7 EA II, c. 10, pp. 75–6; see below, pp. 176–8. 68 Astronomer, c. 55, p. 506; Noble, Charlemagne, p. 289. 69 Krüger, ‘Nachfolgereglung’; De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 49–​51. 70 EA I, c. 20, p. 49; see below, p. 123. 25

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Adalhard and Wala against the acrimony in Corbie also went a long way towards clearing his own name. According to the twelfth-​century Life devoted to Radbert, he was the third abbot of Corbie after Wala, ‘with two others in between’.71 All we learn about these two intervening abbots is that they were called Isaac and Heddo; the hagiographer focused on his subject, who governed his community ‘happily’ (feliciter). Yet there are signs that during his tenure of about seven years Abbot Radbert did not have an easy time of it. These were the heady years in which West-​Frankish bishops and abbots asserted the ecclesiastical control of the church’s landed wealth in general, and of monasteries in particular. This wealth was considerable:  since the fifth century, religious communities, male and female, had been the recipients of the gifts of the faithful.72 They challenged a young ruler who, by virtue of his protection of monastic prayer through privileges of immunity, claimed the time-​honoured right to grant the income from this wealth as ‘benefices’ to his lay followers. This was how royal armies had been raised since the days of his grandfather Charlemagne, but in the struggle for succession after Louis’ death in 840, Charles had to make considerable concessions. Yet in 845 the young king felt strong enough to put his foot down, and refused to confirm the decisions of a big synod held in Meaux and Paris the year before.73 This refusal offended churchmen who thought they had been making some progress: ‘At this assembly, the most necessary admonition of the bishops of the realm about the affairs of the Church was treated as if it did not matter a straw: practically never, since Christian times began, can reverence for bishops be found to have been so totally disregarded.’74 Possibly in reaction to this, but certainly because he felt that Corbie’s estates were at stake, Radbert requested that the bishops gathered in Paris at a synod in the winter and spring of 846/​7 protect the integrity of Corbie’s property by means of an elaborate episcopal privilege, which in all likelihood had been drafted 7 1 Vita Paschasii, p. 451. 72 Wood, ‘Entrusting’; Wood, ‘Landscapes compared’. 73 On the early years of Charles’ reign: Nelson, Charles the Bald, pp. 132–​59; on Charles the Bald and his successful use of church property: Nelson, ‘Charles the Bald and the Church’. 74 AB , c. 63 (s.a. 846), p. 68; cf. Nelson, Annals, pp. 62–​3, who in n. 1 suggests that this is a later interpolation by Hincmar. On Carolingian bishops, see above all Patzold, Episcopus; on admonition, De Jong, Penitential State, pp. 112–​47. 26

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by Corbie’s abbot himself. The bishops did as they were asked and subscribed the document in question; it became the foundation for the papal privileges that Corbie obtained in 855 and 863, deftly negotiated by Radbert’s younger successor, Odo.75 There is no sign of animosity between the new abbot and his predecessor, who once was his teacher. Of Odo, a young man ‘hardly out of school’, Radbert wrote with affection.76 Odo’s succession did not spell any major change in Corbie’s policy.77 Like Radbert, he did his utmost to protect his monastery’s rights, as was the duty of any abbot. Nor should their successful efforts to secure episcopal and papal support be seen as directed against secular rulers, for the extra ecclesiastical protection built on a series of royal charters of immunity, of which Corbie was fiercely proud. There is no reason to assume that the king was offended by Radbert’s seeking the protection of his bishops in 846/​7, and that he proceeded to kick him out of office as a result. The more likely explanation is that internal resistance in his community combined forces with influential members of the royal family. These included two rebellious younger Carolingians, the sons of Louis’ son Pippin (d. 838), who contested Charles the Bald’s takeover of Aquitaine, their paternal inheritance. In 849 Pippin’s younger son, also named Charles, was entrusted to Corbie for monastic custody, something that can hardly have added to Radbert’s peace of mind, even though when this Charles escaped in 854, he was no longer in charge.78 On top of all this, it is likely that Radbert’s close association with the still controversial Wala continued to undermine his authority as an abbot, both in Corbie and at the court. This is one explanation for his adding a polemical second book to his Epitaphium at this later stage: that these old grievances against Wala still mattered, and that they affected Radbert as well. On the other hand, it gave him the opportunity to address some more recent controversies. Wala’s speeches on the use of ecclesiastical wealth by secular rulers are a good example of such contemporary

7 5 Privilege of the Synod of Paris (846/​7); De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 58–​9. 76 In Mattheum 9, prol., p. 932, lines 44–​5: … filio tunc mihi karissimo vix expleto tyrocinio. 77 Grierson, ‘Eudes’; Ganz, Corbie, pp. 33–​4. 78 AB, s.a. 854, p. 88; Nelson, Annals (p. 79, n. 10), suggests that Louis the German may have been behind the escape. Charles’ elder brother, Pippin II, was detained in St  Médard at Soissons from 851 until 854, when he escaped as well; De Jong, Penitential State, pp. 265–​6. 27

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resonance and relevance. These are presented as delivered to Louis the Pious and his court in the winter of 828/​9, but they best fit the disputes on this topic at the synods of the 840s in which Radbert himself had taken part, as well as the tenor of the episcopal privilege he procured for Corbie in 846/​7.79 Another possible case in point is the narrative about Wala and Radbert boosting the morale of Pope Gregory IV in 833 by offering him ‘writings confirmed by the authority of the holy fathers and of his predecessors’ to point out his right to intervene.80 This has been taken as proof that Radbert, or even Wala himself, was the mastermind behind the so-​called Pseudo-​Isidorian forgeries, and moreover, that an early version of the False Decretals already existed in the early 830s. The problem with this ‘proof ’ is obvious, for it ignores the fact that this story was told two decades later, and may have served purposes that were relevant at that particular time. This is not to deny that Corbie played an important role in the creation of the Decretals, and given that Radbert was one of this monastery’s most prominent scholars, it is hard to imagine him as totally detached from this enterprise. Yet any convincing evidence that he was the brain behind it, at an early stage, has not been found, least of all in the Epitaphium.81 That Radbert’s voice in the second book of the Epitaphium was part of a more general pro-​papal chorus of the 850s, and supportive of Pseudo-​Isidorian notions of papal authority, is another matter altogether. After all, the first sign of use of the False Decretals dates from 852.82 Having lost the abbacy, Radbert retired to the nearby community of St Riquier, where Charles’ maternal uncle Rudolf, Judith’s brother, had succeeded Nithard as lay abbot in 844, which in itself is a sign that there was no insuperable enmity between the discharged abbot and his king.83 Whether he remained there or eventually returned to Corbie is a point of discussion among historians. In any case, these were productive years, in which Radbert completed several big projects. To the four books of his Commentary on Matthew, finished already in 831, he 7 9 De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 61–​3,  193–​9. 80 EA II, c. 16, p. 84. 81 De Jong, ‘Paschasius Radbertus and Pseudo-​Isidore’. For a different interpretation, see Patzold, ‘Überlegungen’ and the classic article by Zechiel-Eckes, ‘Ein Blick in Pseudo-Isidors Werkstatt’. 82 Fuhrmann, Einfluss I, pp. 200–​19; the first possible use is in Hincmar’s Second Episcopal Statute (1 October 852); the first certain use is in his Collectio de raptoribus (857). 83 Nelson, Charles the Bald, p. 177. 28

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added eight more books, dedicated to the monks of St Riquier who had welcomed him after his ‘shipwreck’ (naufragium).84 Then there were the Exposition on Psalm 44 for the nuns of Notre Dame of Soissons, the second book of the Epitaphium Arsenii and a treatise for Fredegard, a monk of St Riquier, on the nature of the Eucharist.85 His last work was  an exegetical exposition on the Benedictions of the patriarchs Jacob and Moses, which confirms that he was still active as an author well into the 850s, for this work was dedicated to Abbot Eigil of Prüm (853–​60).86 After these Benedictions, the trail of Radbert’s authorial activity goes cold. For all we know, he lived and worked on after 860, but there is no way to be sure. Radbert’s resources Learning and sources Corbie in the ninth century possessed one of the most extensive libraries in the Carolingian world.87 Rare works such as the first and third decades of Livy,88 Cicero’s De oratore,89 Martial’s Epigrams,90 Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations, and the Thebaid and Achilleid of Statius were among the manuscripts copied there.91 The depth of the library’s holdings and the extent to which classical learning flourished at Corbie can be gauged in part from the classical citations strewn throughout the Epitaphium. Among many other works, Radbert cites the Thebaid, the letters of Pliny the Younger, and both the epistulae morales and the Apocolocyntosis of Seneca the Younger. The last, a satirical account of the apotheosis of the much-​maligned Emperor Claudius, was an exceedingly rare text 8 4 In Mattheum 5, prol., p. 463. 85 Paschasius Radbertus, Epistula ad Fredegardum, PL 120, col. 1351. 86 Paschasius Radbertus, De benedictionibus patriarcharum, pp. 3–​11; Ganz, Corbie, p. 32; Breternitz, ‘Ludwig der Fromme’, pp. 193–​4. 87 For the library at Corbie, see Delisle, Le cabinet des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Nationale II, pp.  104–​41; Ganz, Corbie, pp.  36–​67. For Corbie manuscripts, see Ganz, Corbie, pp.  124–​58; Huelsenbeck, ‘A nexus of manuscripts’; and the hand-​ list of Corbie manuscripts compiled by Klaus-​Zechiel Eckes: http://​www.mgh.de/​ datenbanken/​leges/​pseudoisidor/​corbie/​?sword_​list[0]=zechieleckes&sword_​ list[1]=corbie (last consulted on 20 June 2019). 88 Ganz, Corbie, pp. 58–​9, 154. 89 Ganz, Corbie, p. 60; Huelsenbeck, ‘A nexus of manuscripts’, pp. 297–​8. 90 Paris, BnF lat. 8067. See Ganz, Corbie, p. 152. 91 Paris, BnF lat. 8051. See Ganz, Corbie, p. 152. 29

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in the Middle Ages. Radbert’s citation pre-​dates the earliest surviving manuscripts, which date from the end of the ninth century, and marks the first reappearance of the text since Late Antiquity.92 Radbert’s most important textual model for the Epitaphium was the De excessu fratris sui Satyri, a funeral oration composed by Ambrose of Milan (d. 397)  in 378 on the occasion of the death of his brother Satyrus.93 He was also familiar with Ambrose’s De obitu Valentiniani, which was written to commemorate the Emperor Valentinian II after his death at the hands of the Western magister militum Arbogast in May of 392. Radbert quotes the latter work in the opening chapter of the Vita Adalhardi, where he cites Ambrose and Jerome as his stylistic models.94 The De excessu was of far greater importance for the Epitaphium, however. Radbert quotes it extensively in both books (mostly towards the beginning of Book 1 and the end of Book 2) and presumably derived the Epitaphium’s two-​book structure from it as well. The De excessu is an example of the consolatio, a genre with deep roots in classical literature, in which the author or speaker sought to assuage his own grief and that of his audience by developing a set of standard themes, e.g., that death brought an end to suffering, that all men are mortal and that the prospect of a better life awaited the soul after death.95 The ancient consolatio also contained an ethical component, since it was typical for authors to exhort their audiences to keep their grief within appropriate bounds.96 All of these themes are present in the De excessu, though in the first book Ambrose’s grief frequently overpowers him, and Radbert draws in particular on those passages in which the inevitability and the consolatory power of grief are described. The monastic interlocutors of the EA had an additional source of consolation available to them, namely, their belief that Arsenius had already ascended to heaven and would serve there as a patron for them before God.97 In this way the structures of Carolingian social and political life could be replicated in 92 Eden, ‘The Manuscript Tradition of Seneca’s Apocolocyntosis’; Eden, Seneca: Apocolocyntosis, p. 19; Reynolds, Texts and Transmission, p. 361; Ganz, Corbie, pp. 116–​17. 93 For Radbert’s use of the De excessu, see Von Moos, Consolatio, vol. I, pp. 137–​46, vol. II, pp. 97–​106; De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 81–​6. 94 VA c. 1–​2, cols. 1507–​9. 95 See Von Moos, Consolatio, Scourfield, ‘Towards a Genre of Consolation’. 96 See in particular Scourfield, ‘Towards a Genre of Consolation’, pp. 5–​7. 97 EA I, prol., p.  20 (Adeodatus):  Propter quod non sunt quasi mortui deplorandi, sed quasi patroni precibus commendandi; 1.5, p.  27 (Pascasius):  et te ad spei beatitudinem presumimus pervenisse, nosque tuis illuc meritis credimus adiuvari. 30

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the heavenly realm: just as temporal lords were expected to protect the fideles who served them, it was believed that Arsenius would intervene on behalf of his monks in heaven. After the De excessu, the most important classical model used by Radbert was the Roman playwright Terence (d. 159 BCE).98 At first glance this may seem unsurprising, since Terence –​together with Virgil, Cicero and Sallust  –​was one of the four great school authors of Late Antiquity, admired in particular for the elegance of his diction and his morally edifying aphorisms.99 In fact, Terence seems to have been comparatively neglected in the late eighth and early ninth century, and only experienced a revival late in the reign of Charlemagne, or during the reign of Louis the Pious.100 Corbie may have been a key locus for the transmission of Terence’s plays.101 The magnificently illustrated Vatican Terence (BAV lat. 3868), a ninth-​century copy of a late antique exemplar, was copied c. 820–​30 for the palace library of Louis the Pious by a scribe (Hrodgarius) and illustrator (Aldricus) who were probably monks at Corvey.102 The Corbie Terence (Paris BnF lat. 7900) has been dated to the middle or the third quarter of the ninth century, so probably it post-​ dates Radbert’s abbacy; its text is related to that of the Vatican Terence.103 In the Middle Ages Terence would have been mediated to students through the aid of commentaries and glosses.104 By the early Middle 98 Booker, Past Convictions, 42–50; De Jong, ‘Heed that Saying of Terence’; Booker, ‘Hypocrisy’. 99 See Cain, ‘Terence in Late Antiquity’, esp. pp. 382–​4. 100 Rand, ‘Early medieval commentaries on Terence’, pp. 387–​8; Reynolds, Texts and Transmission, pp. 412–​20. For the manuscript tradition of Terence in the Middle Ages, see Munk Olsen, L’étude des auteurs classiques latins, vol. II, pp. 583–​653. 101 Reynolds, Texts and Transmission, p. 418. 102 Pellegrin et  al., Les manuscrits classiques latins de la Bibliothèque Vaticane, vol. III.2, pp. 340–​3. For the theory that this MS was copied at Corvey, see Bischoff, ‘Hadoardus and the manuscripts of classical authors’, p. 54 n. 33; Grant, Studies in the Textual Tradition of Terence, p.  137. The manuscript is accessible online at https://​digi.vatlib.it/​view/​MSS_​Vat.lat.3868. 103 Ganz, Corbie, p. 61; Bischoff, ‘Hadoardus and the manuscripts of classical authors,’ p. 53; Munk Olsen, L’étude des auteurs classiques latins, vol. II, pp. 627–​8; Bischoff and Ebersperger, Katalog, vol. III, no. 4509, p. 135. Radbert stepped down as abbot sometime between the spring of 849 and April 853; see De Jong, Epitaph, p. 42. Huelsenbeck, ‘A nexus of manuscripts’, explores the difficulties of dating Corbie’s various ninth-​century scripts, and their co-​existence in the same codices. 104 For commentaries and scholia, see Rand, ‘Early medieval commentaries on Terence’; Reynolds, Texts and Transmission, pp. 419–​20; Victor, ‘History of the Text and Scholia’; Victor, ‘The Transmission of Terence’; Munk Olsen, L'étude des auteurs classiques latins, pp. 44–​5. See also Villa, ‘Terence’s Audience and Readership.’ 31

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Ages, the important commentary on Terence by the fourth-​century grammarian Aelius Donatus had become hopelessly contaminated and therefore only indirectly reflects what Donatus originally wrote.105 There are no extant copies of Donatus’ commentary on Terence from the Carolingian period, although Lupus of Ferrières appears to have had an incomplete copy, which he sought to complete by obtaining a new manuscript from Pope Benedict III.106 There was also a surviving commentary written by a certain Eugraphius, the α-​recension of which seems to have been available at Corbie in the mid-​ninth century.107 Neither of these late antique commentaries enjoyed a wide circulation in the ninth century, however, and for the most part medieval students and readers relied on collections of scholia compiled during the Middle Ages. One such collection, the so-​called Commentum Brunsianum, was written in France c. 825 and was probably produced in a monastic school setting.108 The author lacked the Donatus commentary and was in no position to understand the historical context of ancient comedy. He felt the need, for example, to argue that Terence’s plays were written in meter (citing Priscian as an irrefutable authority)109 and elsewhere advanced a number of fanciful explanations for people and terms, e.g., that they were recited by a certain Calliopius (who was in fact a late antique editor of the plays).110 The commentator was mostly interested in helping students construe Terence’s Latin by providing grammatical information and synonyms for unfamiliar words, and by teasing out and elucidating the often puzzling brevity of Terence’s style. Because Terence looms so large in the Epitaphium Arsenii it would be of considerable interest to know precisely to what sort of Terentian exegesis 105 See Wessner, Aeli Donati quod fertur Commentum Terenti. For the complex formation of this commentary, see also Grant, Studies in the Textual Tradition of Terence, pp. 60–​96. 106 Lupus, Epistolae, no. 103, pp. 128–​30. 107 For the Eugraphius commentary, see Wessner, Aeli Donati quod fertur Commentum Terenti vol. III; and Wessner, ‘Der Terenzkommentar des Eugraphius’. 108 Text in Commentum Brunsianum, in Bruns, P. Terentii Afri comoediae. Jacoby, ‘Das Commentum Brunsianum’, corrects certain conclusions of Riou, ‘Essai sur la tradition manuscrite’. See also Rand, ‘Early Medieval Commentaries on Terence’. 109 Bruns, P. Terentii Afri comoediae, p. 4. 110 Bruns, P. Terentii Afri comoediae, p.  3. Rand, ‘Early Medieval Commentaries on Terence’, p. 369: ‘From [the Ars Poetica], from Priscian and Orosius, from the text of Terence itself, and, I am confident, from absolutely no other source save his own perverse imagination the author constructed an account of Terence and his comedies the likes of which had never appeared before.’ 32

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Radbert had been exposed, and how it affected his reading of the plays. The prologue to Book 3 of his commentary on Matthew suggests that he was familiar with, and had a low opinion of, certain stylistically crude commentaries on classical authors. As part of an attack on those who preferred secular literature to the study of sacred scripture, Radbert speaks of ‘lovers of profane literature’ who seek out commentators (expositores) so that they might better understand the ‘burnished falsehoods of execrable subject-​matter’ produced by pagan authors: And while the vain eloquence of the authors to whose teachings they wish to subjugate themselves is polished, nonetheless the language of those who interpret them is frequently unsophisticated and neighbouring on boorish. Although they are replete with the stain of sin, in their need to understand they do not overlook –​I will not say a page –​but even a syllable that they do not scrutinize carefully with the utmost vigilance and toil. Hence, I marvel not a little that the words of scripture are offensive to the usages of some people, so that they are unwilling to scrutinize the mystical sacraments of God with the same care with which they exert themselves in their desire to investigate tragic dirges and the fictions of poets and excite the applause of men over the theatrical performances of comic actors.111

The criticism of those who devote themselves to pagan literature at the expense of sacred scripture is a well-​worn topos, and too much should not be read in to it. At the same time, the reference to stylistically uncouth commentaries and comic plays at least hints at the reading of Terence through a tradition of glosses similar to what is found in the Commentum Brunsianum. We also know that Hildemar of Corbie brought with him, or found, a glossed manuscript of Terence when he arrived in Brescia in the early 840s, and that the tenth-​century Commentum Monacense drew upon this manuscript.112 111 In Mattheum 3, prol., p.  233:  Etsi eorum polita sit vanitatis eloquentia quorum se cupiunt inservire doctrinis tamen frequenter illorum expositorum satis incultus est sermo et rusticitati vicinus. Qui quamvis pleni sint sordibus vitiorum, propter necessitatem quoque intelligendi non dico paginam sed neque syllabam pretermittunt quam non enucleatius discutiant summa cum vigilantia et labore. Unde miror satis quid divina eloquia quorundam moribus offenderunt quod non velint mystica Dei sacramenta ea diligentia perscrutari qua tragoediarum nenias et poetarum figmenta sudantes cupiunt investigare labore et super teatralia mimorum plausus hominum excitare. 112 The Commentum Monacense is found in Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 14440, and edited in Schlee, Scholia Terentiana. A new partial edition is found in Schorsch, Das commentum Monacense, and a complete critical edition in San Juan Manso, El Commentum Monacense a Terencio. Schorsch, Das commentum Monacense, 33

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Currently there is no evidence of Radbert’s knowledge of any particular commentary or set of glosses, though future research may shed light on the subject. Radbert’s knowledge of Terence is impressive; he cites all six plays and clearly knew them well enough to remember apposite passages to work into the EA. This kind of knowledge was the product not merely of close reading, but also of exposure to Terence in other authors.113 Because Terence played such a large role in the late antique school curriculum, his verses cropped up repeatedly in the works of both patristic authorities like Augustine and grammarians like Donatus, Servius and Priscian. Some of the Terentian expressions found in the EA –​e.g., the ubiquitous ne quid nimis (‘nothing in excess’) or plenus rimarum (‘full of cracks’) –​would have been drilled into the minds of young monks through constant exposure. In other cases, Radbert was drawing upon a close personal knowledge of the texts. Unlike the De excessu, however, which provided both an overarching model for a funeral lament and long passages that could be reproduced in order to lend the dignity of Ambrose’s expression to the EA, Terence’s plays were hardly directly relevant to the subject matter of Radbert’s text. It may reasonably be asked, therefore, why Radbert chose to cite Terence so heavily. In part it seems to have been intended to bind the dialogue’s participants together as part of an elite cadre of educated monks who would recognise these classical citations because of their years of reading and study. Indeed, the whole atmosphere of the first book of the Epitaphium is redolent of the schoolroom, and the quoting of Terence, who could be referred to simply as ‘the comic poet’ (comicus),114 at times resembles a sort of literary gamesmanship. It is also relevant that Radbert only draws on Terence in the first book, which he wrote shortly after Wala’s death in 836, when Louis the Pious was still alive and Radbert could still hope for promotion to the office of abbot if he avoided offending the wrong people. The citations often appear in contexts where the conversation begins to veer close to uncomfortable truths, so that literary allusion could be a strategy for p. 45, points out that there is no hard and fast evidence that Hildemar brought with him the manuscript from which the Commentum Monacense was copied. See also Reynolds, Texts and Transmission, pp. 419–​20. 113 De Jong, ‘Heed that Saying of Terence’, pp. 291–​5. 114 EA I, c. 3, p. 25 (Adeodatus): per hoc omnibus fit illud quod comicus ait. Cf. EA I, c. 11, p. 38 (Pascasius): Cave, frater, ne comicorum notam incurras. 34

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masking the source of criticism.115 Thus, when the heretofore illiterate monk Allabigus suddenly starts spouting Terence during his appearance in Book 1, he does so in order to describe his strategy for ingratiating himself with those who do not believe the truth about Wala: Now, however, because they don’t believe, I have found ‘this new thing,’ as Terence puts it, namely, to latch onto those who want to be foremost in everything but aren’t. When they laugh, I laugh along with them and admire their cleverness. I praise whatever they say, and if they contradict themselves I praise it again. Whatever anyone denies, I deny. What they affirm, I affirm. I have steeled myself to go along with everything, since this way of making a living is now so lucrative.116

The Terentian passage alluded to occurs in the second act of the Eunuchus, in which the parasite Gnatho describes his new strategy for currying favour with the rich. In this case Allabigus’ exasperation with those who ‘don’t believe’ is deflected by his ironic admission that in the company of these men he plays the part of the flatterer, doing whatever it takes to get along. As this example shows, the original context of the plays is not important in the passages that Radbert weaves into his text. What matters is Terence’s words and the use to which they could be put. Radbert skilfully repurposes Terentian language in order to endow his dialogue with the auctoritas of a classical author who was known for both his sententious wisdom and his knowledge of human nature.117 In doing so, he was following in the footsteps of unimpeachable patristic authorities such as Jerome and Augustine, who had similarly used Terence to serve their own rhetorical ends.118 Rhetoric and style The Latin of the Epitaphium Arsenii is generally recognised to be difficult.119 Ernst Dümmler described Radbert’s style as ‘frequently obscure, 1 15 De Jong, ‘Jeremiah, Job, Terence’, p. 67; De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 112–18. 116 EA II, c. 8, p. 32: Nunc autem quia non credunt, hoc novum repperi iuxta Terentium, ut consecter eos, qui se primos omnium esse volunt, nec sunt: et cum riserint, adrideo, eorumque ingenia admiror; vel quicquid dicunt laudo; et si negant, laudo; quid quisque negaverit, nego; aiunt, aio. Deinde imperavi mihi omnia adsentari, quia is questus nunc est valde uberrimus. 117 On dialogue, see Goldhill (ed.), End of Dialogue; De Jong, Epitaph, 86–101. 118 Cain, ‘Terence in Late Antiquity’; De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 95–​6, 117–​18. 119 An exception is Max Manitius, who found Radbert’s style in the EA no worse than that of many of his contemporaries. See Manitius, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters, vol. I, p. 410. 35

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inelegant and harsh’.120 David Ganz has called it ‘allusive and impenetrable’.121 This obscurity derives, on the one hand, from the perceived danger of speaking openly about Wala’s life and career, particularly when Louis the Pious was still alive, a danger alluded to several times in the first book.122 At the same time, the Epitaphium was intended for an audience of insiders to whom the events recounted (or merely alluded to) were already familiar. The result is that many things are left unsaid, or are hinted at rather than stated openly. This allusiveness, combined with the complete lack of chronological markers, frequently leaves the reader feeling unmoored. To cite merely one example, early in Book 1 Pascasius recalls the early life of Wala at Charlemagne’s court: The emperor observed the power of his intellect, and although he was his cousin and the son of his uncle, at the prompting of someone or other he ordered him to be humbled and demoted down among the lowest group.123

This is all we are told about Wala’s curious demotion. We do not know when it happened, who Wala’s accuser was, why he was accused, how he was ‘demoted’ and who constituted the ‘lowest group’ (infimi) of whom Radbert speaks. This has been interpreted as Wala’s ‘first exile’,124 but it is more likely that his two later banishments have been projected backwards in time, in order to depict a saintly young man unafraid to confront the ruler and his courtiers.125

1 20 EA (introduction), pp. 8–​9. 121 Ganz, ‘Epitaphium Arsenii ’, p. 538; Ganz, Corbie, p. 113. 122 See, e.g., EA I, prol., p. 19 (Pascasius): Sed timeo, ne dum vobis placere procuro, multis offendam; EA I, prol., p. 21: Nunc autem novi…multam quorundam invidiam non defore; EA I, prol., p. 22 (Pascasius): tamen cave, ut ubi emolumentum deest, salutis causa cesset inquiri; EA I, c. 3, p. 25 (Severus) Sed forte, ut reor, putatis vos clarius derogantes nec ipsa furibunda silentia possint audire. Idcirco loqui libere talia minime formidatis; EA I, c. 8, p. 33 (Pascasius): idcirco nostrum est intelligere utcumque atque ubicumque opus sit adsentari vel obsequi de isto si quomodo vel tacere; EA I, c. 9, p. 34 (Pascasius): Qua de causa parcius laudandum censeo, ubi veritas convitiis suffocatur et invidia iustitia perimitur; EA I, c. 11, p. 39 (Adeodatus): Timeo ne forte qui talem eum oblatrant sentiant, de quo proposueras enigmatice loqui, clarius predicari; EA I, c.  11, p.  39 (Pascasius):  erit, ut credo, illa dies mihi cum liceat eius aperte dicere facta. 123 EA I, c.  6, p.  28 (Pascasius):  Cuius augustus efficatiam auspicatus ingenii, licet consobrinus ipsius esset, patrui eius filius, decrevit humiliari cuiuslibet instinctu, et redigi inter infimos… 124 Weinreich, Wala, pp. 15–​16. 125 On this conflict topos, see De Jong, In Samuel’s Image, pp. 47–​8, 196, 202–​5; on its function in the Vita Adalhardi, De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 22–​3. 36

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The difficulty of this text extends beyond its vague and allusive nature. The compression and artificiality of the Latin employed by Radbert have a tendency to perplex modern readers. He was a skilled Latinist who was more than capable of varying his style to suit different circumstances. The prologues to his Matthew commentary, for example, are pitched in a high style, while the exegesis is carried out in a clearer register. The opening rhetorical salvo of the Epitaphium is representative of the demands this text places on the reader. In the first line of the dialogue Pascasius uses the previously unattested idiom liminio luctus expleto (‘the exile of [our] grief having come to an end’) to describe the time that has passed since Wala’s death at Bobbio in 836. There follows a dense web of allusions to a series of classical and patristic texts: Cicero’s De inventione, Boethius’ Consolatio Philosophiae, Virgil’s Aeneid, Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Care and Terence’s Hecyra.126 Casual references to both ‘Maro’ (i.e., Publius Vergilius Maro) and Zeuxis (a famous painter of Antiquity invoked by Cicero in the De inventione) signal that the text is intended for an educated audience who will understand these allusions to classical authors. With a few exceptions Radbert’s diction is not abstruse. His vocabulary was drawn from scripture, patristic authorities (particularly Ambrose) and classical texts, and the obscurity of his style does not derive from the deliberate use of archaic words or erudite coinages, such as one finds in the so-​called ‘hermeneutic’ or ‘glossematic’ style that began to be cultivated by certain authors towards the end of the ninth century. There is in many cases, however, a pronounced compression of thought, which creates obscurity where none need exist.127 In some cases such compression may have been intended to make the Epitaphium harder to penetrate, but in many instances it seems merely to be an artefact of Radbert’s style, without any necessary rhyme or reason. Elsewhere, and especially in the longer speeches of Pascasius, loose syntax and confusing 1 26 Berschin, Biographie und Epochenstil, vol. III, pp. 321–​2. 127 E.g., EA I, c. 5, p. 26 (Pascasius): sed necdum est locus licet invitus quae proponis, where invitus must modify the speaker rather than the nominative noun locus. Cf. also EA I, c. 3, p. 25 (Adeodatus): semper omnium precedit velle, deinde quicquid sapit quisque et potest ad hoc confligere ut compleatur, where the nature of the infinitive confligere is grammatically unclear, though the general sense of the sentence can be understood. See also EA I, c.  26, p.  55 (Cremes):  Vereor laudare virum, ne id adsentandi magis quam quod habeam ex illo et gratum facere existimer, where the subjunctive verb existimer seems to govern both a genitive of the charge and a complementary infinitive. 37

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clausal structures are common, reflected in the comparatively frequent appearance of nominatives absolute (i.e., nominative participial clauses that are grammatically unconnected to the main clause).128 The Latin of the dialogue’s participants is an artificial literary language. Features like chiasmus,129 hyperbaton,130 transferred epithets,131 rare constructions (e.g., a future passive infinitive with iri) and mannered forms of expression reveal –​if there was any doubt –​that the Epitaphium could not have been a transcript of any actual conversations that took place among the grieving monks of Corbie, although it is presented as such in the dialogue itself. Features that are generally characteristic of informal conversation, such as ellipsis of verbs (particularly esse),132 the retained indicative in indirect questions,133 the omission of antecedents, the presence of constructiones ad sensum and grammatical prolepsis,134 might possibly reflect the way that Latin was spoken by the educated monastic elite (a subject we know little about, in any case), but may just as well be stylised features of literary dialogue. There are a few hints of what might be vernacular influence on Radbert’s Latin:  one instance of habere plus perfect participle to create a periphrastic perfect form,135 what may be an analytic present passive form (perfecti [sunt] for perficiuntur)136 and what seems to be the use of debere to express futurity, rather than obligation.137 In general, however, proto-​Romance 128 E.g., EA II, c. 2, p. 64 (Adeodatus): immo ad invicem provocati deteriorantur omnia; EA I, c. 6, p. 29 (Pascasius): Ubi diu multumque camino humilitatis detritus, valde claruit mitissimus et nescio cui obtimatum commissus libera sub custodia probus atque idoneus plurima eius cottidie crescebat fama, vitae et laudis preconia comulabantur; EA II, c. 6, p. 66 (Pascasius): si Deus ab eis recedens, consilium patriae deperierit. 129 EA I, c. 6, p. 29 (Pascasius): Cuius augustus efficatiam auspicatus ingenii. 130 E.g., EA I, c.  1, p.  22 (Adeodatus):  Quaeso conspersionem morum ex quibus interior integer conficitur homo pandas; EA I, prol. p. 21 (Pascasius): Iure, Adeodate, agis, quem precibus fatigas, tuis si faveas votis –​where the relative clause would naturally come last to someone speaking Latin. 131 E.g., EA I, c. 9, p. 34 (Adeodatus): etsi pulchre sunt virtutes sub absconso clamide. 132 EA I, prol., p.  20 (Pascasius):  nullus vix aut rarus qui credat; II, c.  6, p.  66 (Pascasius): Iam rarus qui regibus fidem exhibeat. 133 EA I, prol., p. 21 (Pascasius): si adverterint fabula de quo texitur. 134 E.g., EA I, c. 7, p. 30 (Adeodatus): quia talia in quibus fastus commendatur saeculi non intueor quid prosint. 135 EA II, c. 9, p. 71 (Pascasius): eo quod sacratissimum augustum sic haberet suis dilusum prestigiis. 136 EA I, c. 6, p. 28 (Adeodatus): Alterna quidem proportione perfecti viri. 137 EA, I, prol., p. 19 (Severus): cuius imitator esse et paternos…vultus refundere debueras. See Stotz, Handbuch, vol. IV, p. 325 §61.7. 38

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usages are very rare. It is possible to deduce in some cases that a particular turn of phrase was adapted from Terence,138 but apart from the extended borrowings there is no very marked influence of Terentian style on Radbert. For example, one finds none of Terence’s archaisms (e.g., archaic spellings, the -​ier ending in the present passive infinitive, deictic forms of pronouns) or one-​syllable interjections (hem, vah, attat, etc.) among the dialogue’s participants. Nor is the vocabulary noticeably Terentian. There are an unusual number of solecisms (inevitably corrected by Mabillon in his edition of 1677). For the most part these look like the slips of a tired or preoccupied author. Nouns are occasionally attracted into the case of a neighbouring word.139 In one instance a neuter noun is construed as masculine,140 while in another the wrong form of a verb is used because of the attraction of a nearby pronoun (a constructio ad sensum).141 Elsewhere a future form is used instead of a subjunctive.142 On occasion deponent verbs are employed passively,143 and at least one passive verb is used actively.144 In more than one case a verb is assigned to the wrong conjugation.145 Since the one surviving manuscript was produced during or close to Radbert’s lifetime, and appears to have been carefully corrected, it is not easy to explain why these errors remained in the text. If the corrector was working from Radbert’s autograph he might have been wary about making changes to the original text, but in fact there 138 E.g., the choice of the verb adportare at EA I, prol., p. 21 (Severus): nunc autem nobis fabulam adportas. This almost certain derives from Terentian usage. See Terence, Phormio, prol. 24–​6: adporto novam Epidicazomenon quam vocant comoediam Graece, Latine hic Phormionem nominat; Heautontimorumenos 3.1.18; 4.4.25. Cf. Andria 2.6.1–​ 2 (432–​3): Hic nunc me credit aliquam sibi fallciam/​portare. 139 EA I, prol., p. 18 (Pascasius): quid novi acciderit Adeodati nostri, instead of the dative Adeodato; EA I, prol., p. 21 (Severus): rei gestam historiam texere instead of gestae. For attraction into the case of an antecedent, see EA II, c. 3, p. 65 (Pascasius): et pompis saeculi quibus abrenuntiaverunt. 140 EA I, prol., p. 20 (Pascasius): nonne legisti quod inefficacem petat studium res quae caret effectu, where inefficacem should be inefficax. Cf. In Mattheum 3, prol., p. 233, l. 18. 141 EA I, c. 28, p. 58 (Adeodatus): qualia nullus nostrum se vidisse simul testamur, where the correct form of the verb would be testatur. 142 EA I, c. 3, p. 24 (Pascasius): ne ad peiora provenies declina. 143 EA I, c.  9, p.  34 (Adeodatus):  sola quae Dei et sancta sunt ab omnibus meditantur; EA I, c.  27, p.  57 (Severus):  perscrutatis delictorum admissis; EA II, c.  12, p.  79 (Pascasius): idcirco nec hic extra solum, acsi extra mundum, retrusus permanere patitur. 144 EA I, c. 26, p. 56 (Chremes): athletam tuum multo afficiebaris zelo. 145 E.g., EA I, c. 11, p. 38 (Severus): in tantum igitur illo cremebatur. 39

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are corrections in the manuscript, so one is left to conclude that the stylistic quirks that irritate and perplex modern editors and readers may have been viewed as acceptable authorial choices. In antiquity funeral orations fell under the category of epideictic rhetoric, in which praise or blame was meted out to the subject.146 The chief organising principle of speeches of praise in the Latin rhetorical tradition was the ‘personal attributes’ (attributa personae), of which Cicero provided an authoritative list in the De inventione.147 In the Vita Adalhardi Radbert explicitly mentions the attributa personae and uses them as a structuring device, although the list that he uses is taken from the fifth-​century CE rhetorician Fortunatianus and differs from Cicero’s.148 Radbert follows no such scheme in the Epitaphium, though he touches on most of the attributa at some point. Indeed, although Radbert must have known both the De inventione and Fortunatianus’ Ars rhetorica well, in addition (probably) to the rhetorical writings of Cassiodorus and Isidore of Seville, classical rhetoric does not leave a heavy footprint in his funeral oration for Arsenius. At the beginning of the first book Radbert alludes to the famous classical painter Zeuxis, in an anecdote borrowed from the second book of the De inventione149 (he similarly refers to Zeuxis in the Matthew commentary and in the Vita Adalhardi), and the discussion shortly thereafter about the difference between history and fable derives ultimately from the De inventione as well.150 But apart from a possible reference to status-​theory at the end of Book 1,151 the categories and precepts of Ciceronian rhetorical discovery (inventio) make no explicit appearance in the Epitaphium Arsenii.

146 Quintilian, Institutio oratoria 3.7.1. Consolation was one of the functions of the epitaphios logos, the ‘speech over a tomb’, one of the three types of funeral speech described by the third-​century CE orator Menander of Laodicea. 147 Cicero, De inventione 1.34–​6, 2.32–​4. 148 VA c.  55, col. 1536C:  Personae quippe juxta praefatam artis peritiam plurima sunt attributa, ex quibus optime dignoscatur. Consideratur enim perfecti viri qualitas, juxta oratores patria, genere, dignitate, fortuna, corpore, institutione, moribus, victu, si rem bene administret; qua consuetudine domestica teneatur; affectione mentis, arte, conditione, habitu, vultu, incessuque, oratione, affectu. See Fortunatianus, Ars rhetorica 2.1; Berschin, Biographie und Epochenstil, vol. III, pp. 313–​14; Cizek, ‘ “Charakterismos” ’. 149 EA I, prol., p. 18 (Pascasius). See Cicero, De inventione 2.1.1. 150 EA I,. prol., p. 21. See Cicero, De inventione 1.19.27. 151 EA I, c. 28, p. 59 (Pascasius): quanto magis ut formetur narrationis ordo et status. 40

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Telling the truth about Arsenius This is not to say, however, that these concepts and categories were alien to the author’s intellectual apparatus. Far from it: in earlier work such as the Vita Adalhardi Radbert praised Cicero as the ‘king of Latin eloquence’ and made it emphatically clear that he had mastered the great orator’s precepts.152 By the time he wrote the Epitaphium, however, he no longer felt the need to vaunt his rhetorical skills, and opted for the flexible eclecticism of an accomplished scholar who has grown beyond specifically naming his initial heroes. Hence, other aspects of Radbert’s learning are more in evidence. In the first book, this is his familiarity with Terence, which helps to establish and maintain a light and bantering tone, however serious the topic. Citing Terence allowed Radbert to push the boundaries of what might be said openly, without having to cross them. In the second, he assumes the thunderous voice of a prophet, above all of Jeremiah, who warned his people of impending disaster, to no avail. Some light on this strategy of persuasion is shed by the prologue to the fifth and last book of Radbert’s exegesis of Lamentations, a commentary he completed before he embarked on the Epitaphium’s second book. Here he explains that in this last prologue Jeremiah offered a concluding summary of the preceding four books ‘according to the principle of the rhetoricians’ (lege rhetorum), who, in the conclusion of their plea, try to rouse the indignation or mercy of an equitable judge. In other words, Radbert interpreted this part of Lamentations as a perfect example of forensic rhetoric: its author, Jeremiah, bewails the dire fate of his people ‘in the presence of the most clement judge’, and thus ‘brings to mind himself and his people, thrown in the deepest misery, in the manner of the orators’.153 Not only is Wala portrayed as a latter-​day Jeremiah, but this is also how Radbert, through his persona of Pascasius, operates as an author in the Epitaphium’s second book. In his study of medieval historiography and rhetoric, Matthew Kempshall has argued that for his refutation of Wala’s enemies Radbert deployed forensic rather than epideictic or demonstrative rhetoric, as was customary for the genre of consolation.154 Kempshall is right, but matters are even more 1 52 VA, c. 20, col. 1518C; see also In Mattheum 1, prol., p. 6. 153 Paschasius Radbertus, Expositio in Lamentationes 5, prol., pp. 310–​11. Lamentations has traditionally been ascribed to Jeremiah because of a reference at 2 Chronicles 35:25 to the prophet composing a lament on the death of King Josiah. 154 Kempshall, Rhetoric, pp. 202–​8. 41

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complicated: consolation, praise and lament remain a recurrent theme in the first book, and one that Radbert returns to at length towards the end of his work. Within this framework of consolatio inspired by Ambrose and Jerome, however, Radbert offers a point-​by-​point refutation in the best tradition of Roman forensic rhetoric, enveloping the judicial pursuit of the truth in the less contentious cover of lament and praise.155 This complicated structure serves the overall purpose of the Epitaphium: to get the upper hand in an ongoing debate about Wala’s reputation, and to claim the monopoly of speaking the truth on Arsenius through a dialogue based on inside knowledge of the great man and his exploits. The participants in this monastic confabulation are introduced as fellow mourners, but soon they become witnesses for the defence. In the first book, when the discussion gets too heated, the monks remind themselves of their original role, which functions almost like a default option.156 In the second, it is the evils of the rebellion era and the dismal confusion of the present that are mourned, rather than Wala’s absence and death. This is summed up neatly towards the end of the entire work, when the monks go full circle and return to their original purpose: Yet now that we have grieved about the deeds of the past and the things that happened, Pascasius, and bewailed so many hazards and their various consequences,157 recounted the tribulations, and, weeping, reckoned up the course of disputes, now it remains to concentrate upon the end, and on his death.158

Lament and exculpation went hand in hand, even though in the second book it was defending Wala’s reputation that took the upper hand. Here, frank speech took over from the initial stage whispers about the great injustices done to ‘our Arsenius’, which could not yet be countered explicitly as long as ‘our enemies’ had the upper hand.159 When Radbert

155 Ibid., pp. 206–​7; on the strong connection between rhetoric and forensic practice in Late Antiquity, see Humfress, Orthodoxy and the Courts. 156 EA I, c. 17, p. 47; I, c. 20, p. 49; I, cc. 21–​2, p. 52. 157 Rerum discrimina et varios eventus. Cf. Virgil, Aeneid 1.204–​5: Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum/​tendimus in Latium. 158 EA II, c. 22, pp. 92–​3 (Adeodatus): Sed quoniam retro quae gesta sunt, quae contigerunt, Pascasi, doluimus, rerum discrimina et varios eventus deflevimus, tentationes quoque recensuimus, et varia causarum negotia plangentes enumeravimus:  nunc restat ad finem intendere, eiusque obitum …. See below, p. 212. 159 De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 125–​9. 42

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added his later sequel, he no longer needed his dark hints at the ‘raging silences’ (silentia furibunda) of the first book160 and introduced Teofrastus, the frank speaker who took over from the now deceased Severus/​Odilman, but with a vengeance. Together with Arsenius-​as-​ Jeremiah, Teofrastus incorporates Radbert’s new but time-​honoured strategy as a truth-​teller: the outsider, excluded from the corridors of power, who for this very reason had a licence to speak truth to the powerful. As Irene van Renswoude has recently shown, parrhesia (frank speech) could assume many forms. Literary traditions played a role in their transmission, but new articulations of this rhetorical figure were also shaped in actual political confrontations. Radbert’s Epitaphium Arsenii is a salient case in point: we see the author’s strategies of persuasion shifting with the changing context of his own life and society. It was the reality of Radbert’s life, and its varying political constraints, that determined his literary approach.161 In his second book with its so-​called pseudonyms Radbert evokes a world of late antique Christian empire that mirrors the imperial court of his own day and age. Through his self-​conscious deployment of the terminology of imperial Rome, he elevated himself and his readers above the confusion of the present, and anchored the debate about Arsenius in the memory of an authoritative past. All the same, the creation of a ‘world of Ambrose’ through aliases and imperial terminology was not merely a matter of veneration for an authoritative yet bygone age. It was also about finding a political vocabulary for Radbert’s own turbulent times. At first glance it all looks pretty familiar: the realm is described as a ‘commonwealth’ (respublica), and the emperor receives the honorifics caesar and augustus, while the upper echelon of magnates who advised him are referred to as the senate (senatus, senatores). The Latin word plebs (‘people’) appears to denote not the population of the empire writ large, for which Radbert uses the word cives (‘citizens’), but rather the ruler’s ‘faithful men’ (fideles). This was a broader category, the scope of which extended beyond the ‘senators’, who were royal counsellors with access to the ruler.

1 60 EA I, c. 3, p. 25. 161 On the continuity of classical and late antique parrhesia into the early Middle Ages, see above all Van Renswoude, Rhetoric of Free Speech; on Radbert’s possible use of the genera dicendi, either through his knowledge of Cicero or, more indirectly, through Augustine’ De doctrina christiana, see De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 122–​5, 129–​31. 43

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Imperium is another expression that merits special attention. As has been pointed out, in Carolingian political vocabulary ‘empire’ rarely carries territorial connotations. It is best translated as imperial rule, also with regard to the contentious issue of the ‘division of empire’ (divisio imperii); what is divided is not so much the geographically defined empire as the unanimity of those governing under a one-​ headed imperial authority.162 Moreover, imperium can mean simply any political rule; hence, in ninth-​century narrative texts, it might be a simile or synonym for regnum (kingdom or royal rule) without a clear distinction between royal and imperial authority.163 Nonetheless, in our translation of imperium we retained the imperial associations; these mattered to Radbert, who constantly compared the past glories of late antique Christian emperors with the shortcomings of their Carolingian successors. Accordingly, monarchia is used for the unique authority of the senior emperor, be it Louis the Pious or his son Lothar. This is yet another way of referring to the kind of imperium that was indivisible, albeit with some negative inflections:  the expression is also used in connection with Justina’s dominance, and with Lothar’s sudden takeover from his father.164 The word fides is a leitmotif of the Epitaphium. For Radbert’s audience it denoted both the Christian virtue of faith and fidelity, that is, the loyalty of a follower to his lord. To modern historians, by contrast, faith as religious belief is distinct from the kind of secular loyalty involved in ‘feudalism’. Still, it is not only the interference of modern interpretations that makes fides a difficult word to translate. Radbert himself made the most of the tension between the religious and secular meanings of fides, but not in order to turn them into opposites. On the contrary, loyalty to God and to one’s king were related, and mutually enhancing.165 Similarly, the discussion at the beginning of the second book about the king’s use of church property for the respublica, and the limits thereof, has very little to do with modern notions of the separation between Church and State.166

1 62 Patzold, ‘loyale Palastrebellion’. 163 Van Espelo, ‘A testimony of Carolingian rule?’ 164 De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 223–​5; see EA II, ­chapters 16 (Justina) and 18 (Lothar). 165 Esders, ‘ “Faithful believers” ’; De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 188–​2, 215–​21. 166 De Jong, ‘Two republics’; De Jong and Van Renswoude, ‘Introduction’. 44

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It is no coincidence that this emphatically Roman political terminology, inspired by an idealised Christian Roman empire, only surfaces in the Epitaphium’s second book. It was written well after the vicious struggle for succession between Louis’ sons which unfolded in 840–​ 3; unlike the massive desertion of Louis on the Field of Lies in 833, the battle of Fontenoy in 841 was a bloody confrontation.167 Political turmoil made members of the elite more aware of the precarious and complex nature of the order they had taken for granted. These new challenges demanded more explicitness about such self-​evident values as fides, and engendered sharper articulation of the public domain (respublica) and those who served it, be they bishops and abbots or lay magnates. For the order that had been lost but should be revived, Radbert used resounding Roman words, not just respublica, but also officium, consules, senatores and cives, with added layers of meaning that are often difficult to convey in modern English. Such terms reflect his learning, but they were also closely connected with his own experience as a member of a Carolingian leadership in the 840s. These were the words he found to talk about the public domain.168 Having confronted crisis on an almost daily basis, in old age Radbert was nonetheless ready for a literary confrontation with the enemies of his beloved abbot and himself. These enemies were no figment of his imagination, or a set piece of forensic rhetoric. Evidently the controversy about Wala and his reputation had not died down in the 850s, and continued to affect Radbert. His funeral oration for Wala is an idiosyncratic work aimed at an audience of insiders, and probably for this reason it survives by chance. Yet this one extant copy tells us much about the values and ideals of the Carolingian leadership in the mid-​ ninth century, and about what made and broke the name and standing of those who competed for their rightful place in the inner circle around the ruler. It is also a precious witness to life and learning in a great Carolingian royal abbey, which needed to be closely connected with the court, but also to keep a safe distance in order to safeguard its identity. Last but not least, the Epitaphium Arsenii is a personal appeal to all the powerful who were responsible for the salvation of the people and 167 For its impact on contemporary authors, see Nelson, ‘Search for peace’ and Airlie, ‘The world’. 168 De Jong, ‘For God, king and country’. 45

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the well-​being of the realm. With Arsenius as an eloquent example, Radbert reminded them that they held a public office (officium) and were therefore accountable to an exacting and vengeful deity. When all is said and done, this is what this text is all about: whether the leaders of the Frankish polity ‘walked sincerely before God’.169

169 EA II, c. 19, p. 89; see below, p. 206. 46

Paschasius Radbertus, Epitaphium Arsenii

  49

BOOK 11

Pascasius: I often wonder quietly to myself in earnest,2 brother Severus,3 now that the exile of so terrible a grief is over,4 what has happened lately to our brother Adeodatus5 that he gives the order  –​at your urging, I  believe  –​to ‘dredge up’ (in the words of Virgil) these ‘unspeakable griefs once more’,6 and asks us to depict the features of 1 The title of the text in the manuscript of the Epitaphium Arsenii (BnF lat. 13909) does not mention that it is the first book that follows, nor does the text itself have chapters; the participants in the discussion are only indicated by the first letter of their bynames, in red uncial script, in the running text (see above, Introduction, p. 6–7). We have adopted Jean Mabillon’s chapter divisions, which are indicated in the margins of the edition by Ernst Dümmler; the page numbers of Dümmler’s edition are referred to in our translation. Some critical commentary on this edition is provided by Weinrich, Wala, pp. 93–8. For clarity’s sake, we provide the discussants’ full bynames and book numbers. Unless stated otherwise, translations of sources in the footnotes are our own; biblical citations come from Robert Weber’s standard edition of the Vulgate, and translations of biblical texts from the Douay-​Reims Bible, in the version revised by Richard Challoner. 2 Saepe mecum … tacitus multumque admiror. An echo of Cicero, De inventione 1.1.1. A second reference to the De inventione occurs below in the mention of the painter Zeuxis. The De inventione and the pseudo-​Ciceronian Rhetorica ad Herennium, both of which date to the mid-​80s BC, were two of the most important classical handbooks of rhetoric in the Middle Ages. The adjective tacitus (‘quietly’) may be an echo of the opening line of Boethius’ Consolatio philosophiae (1.1.1). 3 Severus is the byname assigned to Radbert’s friend Odilman, the dedicatee of his commentary on Lamentations. 4 The Latin here is liminio … expleto, a difficult expression attested nowhere else. In classical Latin the word liminium appears only at Cicero, Topics 8.36, where, in a discussion of the word postliminium (the recovery of property and civic rights lost while in exile), the opinions of two jurisconsults are cited as to the independent meaning of liminium. 5 Adeodatus (372–​ c. 390; the name means ‘Given by God’) was the only son of Augustine of Hippo (354–​430), by a concubine, and serves as Augustine’s interlocutor in the philosophical dialogue De magistro (389). Augustine praises his son’s intelligence in the Confessions (9.6.14), noting that at the age of fifteen he was already smarter than many older and supposedly more learned men. In the Epitaphium’s first book, Adeodatus is a young and inquisitive monk who keeps the conversation going with his apparently naïve yet probing questions, often about Wala/​Arsenius’ bad reputation at the time of writing: the years immediately after Wala’s death in 836. 6 Aeneid 2.3:  ‘you order me, queen, to relive an unspeakable grief ’ (infandum, regina, iubes renovare dolorem). This is Aeneas’ response to Dido when she asks him to recount the story of his voyage since leaving Troy at the end of Book 1.

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Arsenius’7 character as a memorial for posterity in the manner of Zeuxis.8 For he fails to recognise that I, a contemptible painter,9 am ashamed to display the portrait of so great a man –​one made famous by the flowers of his virtues –​to future generations in a mirror of letters, lest I appear even more contemptible by comparison. Although there is much that discomfits me,10 it is nonetheless something of a consolation that I am enlightened by the merits of his virtues, even though I cannot discover a suitable place to begin. For this reason, I shall commence to relate partly what I saw with my own eyes, and partly what I heard with my ears11 and understood more completely in my mind. Severus: Is it astonishing that a man of your expertise should wonder, if indeed you blush to produce a likeness of a man rendered beautiful by the

7 Arsenius (354–​445) was a celebrated Egyptian desert father who according to tradition served as tutor to Arcadius and Honorius, sons of Emperor Theodosius I, at Constantinople before leaving to become an anchorite in the Egyptian desert. The name could be fittingly applied to Wala, who served as tutor and adviser to Louis the Pious’s son Lothar from 822 to 825. Radbert and contemporaries knew about Arsenius from the sixth-​century Latin translations of the Greek writings about the desert fathers (the Apophthegmata patrum); De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 31–​2. 8 Zeuxis of Heraclea (c. 435/​ 425–​ 390 BC) was a famous painter of Classical Antiquity. Cicero (De inventione 2.1.1) recounts a story in which the citizens of Croton in southern Italy hired him to decorate the temple of Juno. Having decided to paint the likeness of Helen, he chose five of the most beautiful girls of the city to serve as models, since no single girl possessed all the attributes of perfect beauty. Radbert also refers to the story in VA 20 and in the prologue to Book 1 of his commentary on Matthew, addressed to the monk Guntland of St Riquier (In Mattheum 1, prol., p. 6). 9 ‘Contemptible’ is a translation for the Latin foedus, which here refers to both physical and moral ugliness. The implication is that Pascasius is a bad ‘painter’ of the features of Arsenius because he is himself morally unworthy. Gregory the Great makes the same point at the end of his Pastoral Care, in a passage that probably inspired this one. See Regula pastoralis 4, p. 540: ‘Behold, good man, how, compelled by the necessity of criticism, while I am striving to show what qualities a pastor ought to have, I, an ugly painter, have depicted a handsome man, and I am directing others to the shore of perfection, while I am still tossed on the waves of my transgressions’ (Ecce, bone vir, reprehensionis meae necessitate compulsus, dum monstrare qualis esse debeat pastor invigilo, pulchrum depinxi hominem pictor foedus aliosque ad perfectionis litus dirigo, qui adhuc in delictorum fluctibus versor). 10 The verb confundor here implies both embarrassment and confusion. 11 Terence, Hecyra 3.3.1–​3 (361–​3).

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integrity of his character. For you were supposed to have been his imitator and to have recalled his features like a son (as they say),12 though by virtue of my discipleship,13 I, too, am bound by the same vows, especially since there is nothing more cowardly or ignoble than not to feel what grieves you and not to have the courage to lament the miseries by which you are oppressed. Pascasius: I shall strive to the utmost to do what you urge,14 Severus. For there is no one who is unable to grieve for what afflicts him, and no one who refrains from groaning amidst torment.15 I would rather part my soul from my body, therefore, than fail to love him or commend in my prayers one whom it might benefit. Adeodatus: When someone has departed from his body, it is a most worthwhile practice to reflect upon the virtues of his soul, so that what seemed to perish with him should flourish once more in our midst. For virtues are always in bloom and flowering towards their reward,16 nor do they ever die in anyone unless they are slain by vice –​if, that is, they can ever be 12 The unusual idiom paternos vultus refundere (lit. ‘to reflect back the visage of a father’) is adapted from the phrase paternos vultus effudi (‘I poured out your father’s features’) found in the fifth-​century Passion of Saint Sebastian (BHL 7543)  of Arnobius the Younger (d. after 455). See Acta S. Sebastiani martyris 2.6, PL 17 col. 1023D. A ninth-​ century copy of the text from Corbie is found on ff. 2–​80v of Paris, BnF lat. 18311. For the text and author, see Lanéry, ‘La tradition manuscrite’. 13 Severus’ role in the discussion is that of the older monk, a faithful disciple of the recently deceased Abbot Wala, who could inform his fellow monks about an earlier phase of Arsenius’ leadership of Corbie. 14 Cf. Terence, Adelphoe 3.4.51 (497): quapropter nitar, faciam, experiar. 15 … cum nemo quod doluerit qui nesciat deplorare, nemo inter tormenta qui non audeat ingemiscere. Dümmler added doluerit as the main verb in the cum-​clause, but this emendation is unnecessary, since without it the two clauses retain a parallel structure. The passage can be construed as follows: cum nemo [est] qui nesciat deplorare quod doluerit, nemo [est] qui non audeat ingemiscere inter tormenta. For a similar ellipsis of the verb esse in a relative clause of characteristic, see Dümmler, p. 35: quia nemo [est] qui virtutibus hac in vita proficere nequeat. 16 Floridae enim semper virtutes sunt ad premium et virides. Cf. Ambrose, De Cain et Abel, 1.4.12: sed labori merces parata est, qui, licet non sit suavis ad gratiam, tamen fructuosus ad praemium est.

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destroyed or weakened at all. For it is a trust born of faith17 and a consoling hope to suppose that one whom you know well has gone to meet God, and an obligation of charity to honour and esteem him in prayer. Otherwise, are we anything other than down tossed by the wind?18 Perish the thought. It is precisely because men of this stamp have gone before us that we ought to believe that they have come to a better state in him who says that ‘no one who believes in me shall die forever’.19 For this reason, they should not be mourned as though they were dead, but commended in our prayers as our patrons. Pascasius: Let us put aside these matters, my brother and son. For our task will be to become worthy of these gifts of the Holy Spirit, which so adorned him with the verdant flowers of the virtues. Yet I fear that, in trying to please you, I will give offence to many.20 Or are you unaware, Severus, that the age of our wretched life brought forth another Jeremiah from him?21 For you yourself, as I recall, often heard this Arsenius, suffused with tears, proclaim ‘Woe is me, my mother! Why have you borne me a man of strife, a man of contention to all the earth?’22 You order us to 17 Fidutia fidei. In his commentary on Matthew, Radbert distinguishes between fides (faith) and fidutia (trust). Hence fidutia fidei is trust, or confidence, arising from faith. See In Mattheum 8.26, pp. 502–​3: Unde manifestum quod fides sine fidutia et fortitudine ubique infirmatur … fidutia vero fidei ex potentia et bonitate divini adiutorii ubique et semper solidat credentes et efficaces facit. 18 Wisdom 5:15:  ‘For the hope of the wicked is as dust which is blown away with the wind and as a thin froth which is dispersed by the storm and a smoke that is scattered abroad by the wind and as the remembrance of a guest of one day that passeth by’ (quoniam spes impii tamquam lanugo est quae a vento tollitur et tamquam spuma gracilis quae a procella dispergitur et tamquam fumus qui a vento diffusus est et tamquam memoria hospitis unius diei praetereuntis). 19 John 11:26. 20 This is an early allusion to the danger of praising Wala openly, even at Corbie. In the summer of 834 Wala departed for Italy with Lothar, where he became abbot of Bobbio, a decision that some monks of Corbie viewed as akin to desertion. 21 Radbert invokes the same comparison of Wala to Jeremiah in the prologue to his treatise On the Body and Blood of the Lord, which was addressed to his former student Warin during the period of Wala’s exile (831–​3). See De corpore et sanguine Domini, prol., p. 3: Arsenius noster, quem nostra nunc nobis saecula Hieremiam alterum tulerunt ab illo (‘our Arsenius, whom these times of ours have turned into another Jeremiah’). 22 Jeremiah 15:10.

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give voice to our grief over the tomb23 that time has drawn over him,24 to bedew his epitaph with tears in the manner of our ancestors,25 and, now that the quarrels of discord have died down, you want to kindle a devastating blaze out of the ashes? Do you not see, Severus, that even now throughout the whole world everything is being consumed by the fires of avarice and laid waste by devouring envy? Severus: I see it clearly, since according to the passage from Revelation ‘a great mountain, burning with fire, was cast into the sea’26 of this wicked age, as our sins have increased, and ‘a great star, burning like a torch’27 has come down from heaven and reduced the minds of all men to ashes. Bearing the peace of Christ against these evils, this Arsenius preferred to extinguish its flames, but as our sins required, the bitterness of

23 A figurative rather than a literal tomb, as confirmed by the relative clause that follows. Wala was buried in the Italian monastery of Bobbio, where he had been appointed abbot by Lothar after the latter’s failed rebellion against Louis. 24 The phrase tumulum quod tempus adduxit (‘the tomb that time has drawn over’) is derived from Jeremiah 46:17, which, however, contains the word tumultus (‘disorder, tumult’) rather than tumulus: Vocate nomen Pharaonis, regis Aegypti, tumultum adduxit tempus (‘Call ye the name of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, a tumult time hath brought’). 25 Iubesque super tumulum … condere luctum, epitafium scilicet more priorum lacrimis inrorare. The phrase condere luctum seems to have been coined by Radbert (cf. VA c.  2:  epitaphia … condiderunt) and is explained by the equally unusual epitafium scilicet … lacrimis inrorare (cf. VA c. 3: lacrymis abluere sepulturam). Condere here is used in its secondary sense of ‘to compose or write’, so that the phrase condere luctum here extends beyond merely ‘perform lamentations’ to mean something like ‘leave a written record of our grief ’. Epitaphium normally means a funeral oration (Greek epi + taphios = ‘over/​at a tomb’, hence epitaphios logos = ‘funeral oration’), as in Epitaphium Arsenii, but it can also denote the grave monument itself (Niermeyer, s.v. 3). Inrorare lacrimis would at first glance seem to refer to sprinkling the grave of Wala with tears, but his tomb was at Bobbio rather than Corbie. Both condere luctum and epitafium lacrimis inrorare, therefore, denote the expression of grief at the (figurative) tomb of Wala, but also the composition of a text in remembrance of him. That a written record is being kept is confirmed at c. 8 below in a reference to a pen (stilus). 26 Revelation 8:8. The opening of the seven seals at Revelation 6:1–​8:5 is followed by seven trumpet blasts made by seven angels. The first blast produces hail and fire mixed with blood, and a third of the earth is burned up. After the second blast, a blazing mountain is cast into the sea. 27 Revelation 8:10. The Astronomer (c. 58, pp. 518–​20) reports on the appearance of Halley’s comet at Easter (1 April) of 837, and another comet in January of 839 (c. 59, p. 528); trans. Noble, Charlemagne, pp. 292–​5.

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Wormwood28 here and there vanquished the sweetness of so great a man, lest he should prevail against the evil desires of the people. Pascasius: Certainly, I  perceive that you are in no doubt about the conscience (conscientia) of this man, but, since I am reminded by what you said to me, I will relate what I saw in a vision before these things happened. I beheld from afar a kind of mountain, piled high with wood almost up to the clouds, and kindled with flames from below. In front of it a person of lofty stature was trying to knock away with a stick everything that had already been burnt in order to feed the fire, and I could perceive no end to the conflagration. These things were a portent, I believe, of what you described. Severus: As I see it, our Adeodatus has requested the composition of a lamentation. You, on the other hand, are trying to provoke our laughter. Had you not been asleep, you never would have testified to the truth of what I said, which you yourself perceive, with the dubious fantasies of your dreams. Now, however, I wish that you would wake up and apply yourself to what we are asking of you. Adeodatus: You frequently employ the subtleness of Chrysippus,29 Severus, and parry even well-​chosen jests with the sword of your eloquence. I ask you not to treat us with the severity that your name portends, but 28 See Revelation 8:11, where the name of the star that falls from the heavens following the third angel’s trumpet blast is ‘Wormwood’ (Latin absinthium/​absinthus; Greek apsinthion). There was no star bearing this name in Antiquity; rather, the name was derived from the toxic effect it had on the waters of the earth. Though used as a medicine in Antiquity (e.g., Pliny the Elder, Historia naturalis 27.28), wormwood is treated as a poison at Jeremiah 9:15 (‘Behold, I will feed this people with wormwood and give them poisonous water to drink’) and 23:15. 29 Cf. Jerome, epp. 57.12 and 61.3; Seneca, De beneficiis 1.3.8. The third head of the Stoic School at Athens after Zeno and Cleanthes, Chrysippus of Soli (c. 280–​204 BC) was responsible for systematising Stoic doctrine. He wrote voluminously on all branches of philosophy, but was best known for his studies of logic, including works on fallacies and paradoxes. 54

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rather to work together with us to fashion an image of our father in a restrained style.30 Severus: I am happy to do as you recommend. But a complete image of this man’s character cannot be fashioned, I  think, from the features of a single person, since in his actions he exhibited the moral excellence of many famous people. For very often it seemed to me that he possessed the same mixture of character traits that belonged to the earlier Arsenius. Sometimes he appeared in the guise of Father Benedict,31 and on occasion (as was touched upon earlier) he took on the role of Jeremiah, with his steely visage and fierce determination, though in truth he was gentle in spirit and the mildest of men. Pascasius: You certainly show that while he was alive he painted in your mind with the pen of piety, which in the words of the Apostle ‘is profitable to all things’.32 And yet if I should wish to continue on in this vein, hardly anyone would believe it. Adeodatus: Who has ever required a historian to produce witnesses?33 But if they must be produced, there are many men of unimpeachable character who will present their right hands to swear by what you have said. It is

30 Stilo … modesto. This is a reference not to the classical levels of style (genera dicendi), but to a style that is neither overwrought nor excessively vehement. Cf. c. 1, p. 61 below:  ‘He possessed a disciplined eloquence…’ (Eloquentiam … modestam nimis habebat). 31 Benedict of Nursia (c. 480–​547), author of what became the most influential monastic rule in the Latin West. 32 1 Timothy 4:8. 33 Seneca, Apocolocyntosis 1. This is the first of a series of quotes from the Apocolocyntosis, a mock apotheosis of Emperor Claudius (r. AD 41–​54), who was widely believed to have been poisoned by his fourth wife, Agrippina, to ensure the succession of her son Nero. The title means something like ‘pumpkinification’ or ‘the apotheosis of a gourd’ (Gk. kolokynthe), the latter probably an unflattering epithet for Claudius. Pascasius’ citation of the Apocolocyntosis is of considerable interest, since it is the first direct reference to this text since the fourth century. 55

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unseemly, therefore, to seek to evade a friend of the truth, and to maintain a cowardly silence in the face of those who are seeking the truth from you. Pascasius: Have you not read that it is a waste of effort to pursue a fruitless task?34 You know full well how often the truth has been trampled underfoot and driven out of these precincts. If, therefore, I testify to the fact that no one in our day and age has borne a greater resemblance to Father Benedict –​and even if the all-​seeing sun itself attests to this –​hardly anyone will listen to what I say, though it is the unblemished truth. Adeodatus: I do not believe that a task is fruitless if it induces an effect of love and piety. Thus, it is not ridiculous –​though the envious may stop up their ears –​to briefly give free rein to the feeling of love, which is nourished by tears, soothed by weeping,35 and, as it is refreshed, becomes fixed through contemplation of the one you love, and at least to bedew the tomb of so worthy a father with the flowers of our lamentation.36 [p. 21] Pascasius: What you say is true, and it is with a spirit of piety that you urge us to attend this man –​a sacrificial victim of God and one beloved of the Lord –​to the palace of heaven with our tears, not because we had a man like him among us, but because we lost him and could no longer accompany him, weighed down as we were by our sins. Now if the old 34 Pascasius is citing the opening lines of Book 1 of the Mitologiae of the sixth-​century African mythographer and allegorist Fulgentius. Radbert quotes the same passage in the prologue to Book 3 of his commentary on Matthew (In Mattheum 3, prol., p. 233). On Fulgentius, see Hays, ‘Date and identity’. 35 Ambrose, De excessu 2.1, p. 251: absurdum non fuit relaxare paulisper adfectum naturae, qui lacrimis magis pascitur, fletibus delinitur, stupore defigitur. 36 … et tanti patris tumulum saltim lamenti floribus inrorari. For a similar image, see Jerome, ep. 60 p. 549: quotienscumque nitor in verba prorumpere et super tumulum eius epitaphii huius flores spargere, totiens inplentur oculi et renovato dolore totus in funere sum. The letter (dated 396) is written to console Heliodorus for the loss of his nephew, the priest Nepotianus. 56

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proverb were true that ‘the only thing that does not attract envy is misfortune’,37 then we would freely accompany him with our prayers. But I know that now, amid the wretchedness of our tears, we will not want for envy from certain people who will reach out their arms and bind themselves by oath,38 especially if they realise who the subject of this story (fabula) is. Severus: This is what I observed earlier –​you seem to me to be suffering from drowsiness. Didn’t you say that you were going to paint a picture of his character and compose a history of actual events (rei gestae historiam), whereas now you are presenting us with a ‘story’?39 Adeodatus: It is astonishing, Severus, how you always resort to such harsh language. I do not believe that he was speaking to you when he used the word ‘story’, but to those for whom everything supported by the truth is a story and a joke. You, on the other hand, can read the history of this man in your conscience, which is why it is not a story, but the truth that is revealed to you. 3 7 Isidore, Sententiae 3.25. 38 The Latin here is obiurare, an exceedingly rare verb only attested in Antiquity in Book 13 of the De verborum significatu, a glossary of obscure words in twenty books produced by the second-​century AD grammarian Sextus Pompeius Festus. Festus’ work, an abridgement of an earlier glossary by the Augustan scholar Verrius Flaccus, survives in only one badly damaged manuscript, the eleventth-​century codex Farnesianus. Paul the Deacon made an epitome of Festus for Charlemagne’s library, which severely abridges the original but preserves much that would otherwise be lost. In Festus’ fragmentary original we find the unhelpful fragment Penthesilea:  ‘formidabant obiurare’; Paul’s epitome contains a gloss of obiurare as iure iurando obstringere (‘to bind oneself by an oath’). Obiurat is also used as a gloss for obtestatur in the eighth-​century Latin and Anglo-​Saxon Corpus Glossary (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 144, f.  44r). For Festus and Paul the Deacon, see Lhommé, ‘De l’encyclopédie au glossaire’. 39 Nunc autem nobis fabulam adportas? The distinction between history (historia) and story or fable (fabula) was articulated by Cicero at De inventione 1.19.27 in his discussion of types of narrative: fabula was neither true nor plausible; historia was an event that took place in the past; argumentum was a type of narrative that did not actually happen but could have. Isidore of Seville recapitulates these definitions at Etymologiae 1.40–​1. Radbert’s use of the verb adportare here probably derives from Terence. See, e.g., Phormio, prol., 24–​6:  adporto novam Epidicazomenon quam vocant comoediam Graece, Latine hic Phormionem nominat; Heautontimorumenos 3.1.18, 4.4.25, etc. 57

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Pascasius: You act correctly, Adeodatus, if you support with your prayers one whom you weary with your entreaties. But what will outsiders40 do when we are accused by one of our own?41 Or have you not read, as it was recently related in a work of the pagans, that a certain man saw Drusilla on her way to heaven? Perhaps this same person will report that he saw Arsenius on the road to heaven as well.42 If you do not believe yourselves, therefore, ask him what is going on in heaven (whether he wants to or not),43 since we do not believe in the divine.44 Perhaps if you ask him he will tell you what he saw and only tell you. I don’t think he will ever say a word in public. For ever since the day that he swore in the Senate that he had seen her ascending to heaven, and in return for this good news nobody believed him about what he claimed to have seen, he took a formal oath that he would not tell anyone what he had seen, even if he saw a man murdered in the Forum.45 4 0 Literally, ‘those who are unknown (to us)’ (ignoti). 41 I.e., if even Severus does not accept the historicity of what is being said. 42 Seneca, Apocolocyntosis 1: ‘Ask the man who saw Drusilla going to heaven; he will tell you that he saw Claudius making the same journey’ (quaerito ab eo qui Drusillam euntem in caelum vidit:  idem Claudium vidisse se dicet iter facientem). Julia Drusilla (AD 17–​38) was the sister –​and rumoured lover –​of Caligula, whose murder at the hands of the Praetorian Guard in 41 led to Claudius’ succession as emperor. She was deified after her death and received divine honours. The senator Livius Geminius claimed to have seen her ascending to heaven, for which he received a million sesterces (Dio Cassius, Roman History 59.11). The narrator’s assertion that his audience can confirm the truth of Claudius’ translation to heaven by asking the same witness who lied for money to attest to Drusilla’s is of course laden with irony. Pascasius’ sarcastic admonition to Adeodatus and Severus to ask this witness about the ascension of Arsenius (since they no longer believe the divine) depends for its effect on the idea that asking this witness is a ridiculous idea. 43 Quapropter eum interrogate, si vobismet non creditis, velit nolitve, quae in caelo aguntur. Cf. Apocolocyntosis 1:  Velit nolit, necesse est illi omnia videre, quae in caelo aguntur (‘whether he wants to or not, he has to see everything that happens in heaven’). In the Apocolocyntosis the unnamed witness of Drusilla’s purported apotheosis knows everything that goes on in heaven because he is in charge of the Appian Way, the road leading into southern Italy, and specifically to Cumae, one of the most famous entrances to the Underworld. 44 Severus’ reluctance to believe exasperates Pascasius, whose arguments are directed at a wider group of sceptics. 45 Cf. Apocolocyntosis 1.1:  Nam ex quo in senatu iuravit se Drusillam vidisse caelum ascendentem et illi pro tam bono nuntio nemo credidit quod viderit, verbis conceptis affirmavit se non indicaturum, etiam si in medio foro hominem occisum vidisset (‘For ever since he swore in the Senate that he had seen Drusilla ascending to heaven and in return for such good news no one believed that he had seen it, he solemnly swore that he would never again bear witness, even if he saw a man murdered in the middle of the Forum’). 58

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Adeodatus: I think that what you put forth as an excuse is a little more fearful than is warranted. Do you think that you can say anything that will please everyone equally, and which everyone will believe? If it comes to that, what is more glorious, more joyful and (of greater importance) more true than the message that Christ returned victorious from hell and entered heaven in the flesh? For all those who wish to go there, he showed the way, unbarred the doors, forgave their sins, freely granted them grace and gave them the power through faith. And yet why is it that some people do not believe, many oppose him in their works and few make it there, when so many miracles shine brightly and so many examples of the patriarchs converge, when the pronouncements of the prophets declare, as if by pointing it out, what happened, when the elements perceive him,46 when angels follow and proclaim him? All the apostles are witnesses to these promises and accounts of his deeds. The martyrs of Christ are witnesses, too, as are the countless confessors and virgins whose miracles attest to the merits of their faith.47 When so many declarations of, and witnesses to, such good news are rejected, you have no grounds for complaint, since there are many who do not even believe the message of their own salvation, whereas there are those who think very highly of him.48 [p. 22] Pascasius: The saying of Solomon that ‘iron sharpens iron’ is true.49 In the same way, you, too, my brother, often sharpen the friends whom you love, so that they make progress in loving. For this reason, I shall follow devotedly wherever you lead. Only take care that, in the interest of our well-​being, we cease this inquiry when there is nothing more to be gained.50 46 A reference to Christ’s powers over the natural world. Cf. Jerome, In Hieremiam 4.23, p. 62, lines 14–​15: iram enim dei et muta sentiunt elementa et inrationalia pertimescunt animantia. 47 In the preface to the Translatio s. Viti (p. 30) the author treats at length this same theme of the evidence for God’s operation in the world, citing in the same order the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors and virgins. 48 I.e., of Wala. Pascasius, reasons Adeodatus, has an easier task in persuading his audience of the merits of Arsenius than those who spread the message of the Gospel do of convincing their audience. 49 Proverbs 27:17. 50 This is another sign of Pascasius’ anxiety about openly praising Arsenius. 59

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Chapter 1 Adeodatus: I would like you to explain the combination of traits that made up the complete inner man, since virtually everyone is well acquainted with his appearance and birth, and also –​as Severus reminded us –​to tell us of those to whom he might be compared. Pascasius: It is true that from boyhood onwards he expanded upon the glory of the earlier Arsensius through military service and high office.51 For he was a cousin of the greatest of emperors52 and was favoured by him above all others;53 he was truthful in speech (as is said of the one whose ashes, recently brought here, were resplendent with such great miracles),54 just in judgement, provident in counsel and absolutely faithful with what had been entrusted to him.55 Among royal advisers (in senatu) he exceeded everyone else in sagacity, so that if he were asked about any subject, without any hesitation the best answer that could be pronounced or devised would flow from the font, as it were, of his wisdom. For at that time56 he possessed supreme virtue and authority 51 Unlike the ‘earlier Arsenius’, who was a courtier at the court of Theodosius I and allegedly the tutor of the emperor’s sons Arcadius and Honorius, Wala/​Arsenius became the most important layman at Charlemagne’s later court, and led the emperor’s armies into battle, before he entered Corbie in 814; Weinrich, Wala, pp. 18–​28. 52 Wala was the son of Bernard (d. 787), an illegitimate son of Charles Martel, and thus first cousin to Charlemagne. VA, c.  61, col. 1539; Weinrich, Wala, pp.  90–​1; Hlawitschka,’Vorfahren’, p. 81; Kasten, Adalhard, pp. 13–​15. 53 Cf. VA c. 32, col. 1526B: ‘he clung to the king’s side with the closest familiarity and was raised to the highest level of office’ (nimia familiaritate regi inhaerens, et maxima praefecturae dignitate subvectus); Astronomer, Vita Hludowici c. 21, p. 346: ‘Wala, who occupied the highest place before the emperor Charles, was a source of particular fear’ (Timebatur enim quam maxime Uuala, summi apud Karolum imperatorem habitus loci). Wala’s name appears first in the list of secular magnates (comites) at the end of Charlemagne’s will. See Einhard, Vita Karoli c. 33, p. 38; Innes, ‘Charlemagne’s will’. 54 In 826 the relics of St Sebastian were translated to the monastery of St Médard of Soissons by Hilduin, archchaplain of Louis the Pious and abbot of St Denis. See ARF s.a. 826, p. 171; Smith, ‘Old saints, new cults’. 55 … in sermone verax…in iudicio iustus, providus in consilio, et in commisso fidelissimus. Cf. Acta S. Sebastiani martyris c. 1, PL vol. 17 col. 1021C: erat enim vir totius prudentiae, in sermone verax, in iudicio iustus, in consilio providus, in commisso fidelis. 56 I.e., in the early 800s, before the accession of Louis in 814. 60

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magnified by numerous accomplishments, while his goodness and the nobility of his character and blood likewise recommended him. He was renowned for wisdom, such that he was not only proficient in divine matters, but excelled others in human affairs. He possessed a highly disciplined eloquence in both languages57 (which often aids wisdom) and the fluency of speech58 to argue in favour of whatever course of action he wished. Being conspicuous for virtues such as these, therefore, he was universally loved. Adeodatus: Since he was like this, I would like you to explain to me why he often lamented that he had been born ‘a man of strife and a man of contention’,59 especially since, as you say, he was loved by everyone. Pascasius: The reason is that zeal grew in him because of his piety, and his virtue became richer from grace. For he was not yet aware of the damage the state has lately endured, and he rejoiced to see it growing. And so for this reason he sought to cultivate the strongest kind of associations with aristocrats and the holiest of friendships with clerics60 rather than to bewail, like Jeremiah, our sins and the injuries to the state, which had not yet grown so bad. Or are you unaware, Adeodatus, that a good man puts the interests of his fatherland and countrymen before himself ? You know also that Scipio61 and the other men of that era endured

57 (Old High) German and Latin. Cf. VA c.  77. Col. 1546C:  quis sine mentis scrupulo poterit epistolarum eius nitorem eloquentiae recitare? quem si vulgo audisses, dulcifluus emanabat:  si vero idem barbara, quam Teutiscam dicunt, lingua loqueretur praeeminebat claritatis eloquio; quod si Latine, iam ulterius prae aviditate dulcoris non erat spiritus. 58 Copiam dicendi. Sometimes used as a synonym for eloquentia, copia dicendi more specifically denotes the ability to find the right words to fit any situation. 59 Jeremiah 15:10. 60 Sanctissimas … plebium amicitias. The plural plebes here denotes not ‘people’ in the general sense, but a Christian community, diocese or chapter, in this case probably clerics who lived in wealthy institutions and enjoyed influence. For the meaningful term amicitia, which included kinsmen and other relations, see Althoff, Family, Friends and Followers; Epp, Amicitia. 61 Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (236–​183 BC) became a hero after defeating Hannibal at the battle of Zama in 202 BC, but he was forced out of public life after his return to Rome. 61

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hatred and mortal dangers of all kinds in return for the great and abundant services of their virtues to the fatherland. Chapter 2 Adeodatus: Alas! How the vast majority pursues the vilest things! Would that I had not come to know of such things among the religious men of our age. But now I want to know how he came to live the life of a monk. Pascasius: It is true that worldly glory never comes without envy, [p.  23] nor prosperity without the risk of some adversity, but a virtuous man uses each in its turn for his salvation. When certain people attacked Arsenius with their plots, therefore, and he saw that in their shamelessness violent men held positions that they did not merit, he found that the time had arrived for what he had previously vowed to God in his mind.62 For the clever occupied the seats of the learned, and the vilest used armed might63 to cast down those best known and most devoted to the people. When, therefore, he beheld men such as these wielding power against the wise, holding positions of authority and being held in the highest esteem by the masses, he predicted that many troubles and disasters would befall the people. Then, although many sought to dissuade him, he set aside the world and its attractions without sadness, just as he had held on to them without affection. Because he was aflame with love for God, he gave up everything and sought out a house of monastic discipline so that he might be governed by Christ’s laws, not his own, and by the Holy Spirit. For he had read that ‘whosoever are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God’.64 And for this reason, he strove to put Christ before himself in all things. As for the sort of life that he led there, ask Severus. For as long as I was intent on listening to you, 62 Upon his accession in 814, Louis the Pious banished Wala and Adalhard from court (VA c. 30, cols. 1523C–​1524C). Wala entered Corbie, not necessarily as a monk, for he may have been merely tonsured as a cleric. But he had clearly left the political arena, and for Radbert it is important to represent this as a voluntary act which would therefore not affect Wala’s reputation negatively. 63 Marsa manu: an exceedingly unusual phrase derived from Ennius, Annales 229, by way of Donatus (Ars maior 3.5) or Bede. See Ganz, ‘The Epitaphium Arsenii ’, p. 537. 64 Romans 8:14. 62

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I bore my present sufferings lightly. But as soon as I touched upon the man whom I had seen and what sort of person he was, the pain that I thought was gone returned once again with renewed vigour. For this reason, let me be silent for a little while, while ‘my eyes find a fountain of tears and run with water’,65 ‘because my comforter, the relief of my soul, is far from me’.66 ‘Far from me’, that is, because he departed from here to God, worn out with exhaustion at the many sorrows he had endured on behalf of the people and the faith of Christ. None of us is unaware of how many tore him to pieces with their bites when he was on the verge of death. For they acted towards him as if they were pronouncing that passage of Jeremiah against him: ‘come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us give no heed to all his words’.67 Such was the weariness with which these men filled him that he sought for a time a monastery68 where he could abide in the aid of the Almighty and the protection of the Lord of Heaven, where none of his enemies could enter by force.69 But in thinking of himself, he left us abandoned on the shore and filled with sadness. For this reason, ‘my bowels are troubled and my liver is poured out upon the earth’70 over the absence of such a father, and I cannot see the image of his character through my tears. But ‘weeping I shall weep’71 until my eyes melt, so that I, who suddenly lost such a comfort to my soul, may thereby be consoled amidst my sorrows. Severus: I beg you to leave off weeping for a little while, so that our hearts are not stirred up again by fresh tears and we are no longer able to render an account of72 what we know. Before our eyes are enveloped in mist, 6 5 Jeremiah 9:1, 9:18. 66 Lamentations 1:16. 67 Jeremiah 18:18. 68 The abbey of Bobbio in Italy, where Wala became abbot in 834. Wala’s departure from Corbie left a bitter taste in the mouth of many of the monks. 69 Bobbio was safe because it was under the protection of Lothar. 70 Lamentations 2:11. Radbert comments at length on the spiritual interpretation of this passage in his commentary on Lamentations, Expositio in Lamentationes 2.2, pp. 112–​17. 71 Lamentations 1:2. 72 Expungere here is used in its secondary sense: not to blot out or erase, but to reckon up or accomplish. 63

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however, let the image of his character be painted in its elegant hues. Only then will a complete recollection of his noble features open up the warm fountains of our tears.73 And then, while he looks on from above, we shall give way to joyful weeping:  now rejoicing, now sad; now mournful, now happy; now downcast, now uplifted. For even though what we have lost is a cause of grief to us, it should be a source of joy that we have sent a man such as this before us to the palace of heaven as our intercessor. Or are you unaware that the Jeremiah whose type (typus) this man represents, though the people had him lowered down into a cistern filled with mire,74 when at last he was raised to heaven, ‘prayed much’?75 If that Jeremiah pours out unceasing prayers to God on behalf of those for whom it had been forbidden to him to take up praise and prayer while he was alive,76 what do you think the other will do for those dear sons of his whom he suddenly left behind abandoned? For we read that it was said of him:  ‘This is a lover of his brethren, Jeremiah, the prophet of God; this is he who prays much for the people, and for all the holy city of Jerusalem.’77 Hence if that Jeremiah, though forbidden to do so, took up praise and prayer on behalf of the city and people for whom he formerly wept so bitterly, for whom he composed lamentations and broke into songs of sorrow78 while he was alive, what will the other one do for his own whom he loved? I declare that he will intercede not only on our behalf, but also on behalf of those whose enmity he, like Jeremiah, was forced to endure, since the harsh 73 … calentes lacrimarum … fontes: a favourite image of Radbert, who uses it below (ex quo velim fontem aperias nobis calentem) as well as in his commentary on Lamentations and in De fide, spe, et charitate (Carmen ad Warinum: 3). 74 Jeremiah 37–​8. Jeremiah, having been wrongly imprisoned as a deserter prior to an impending Babylonian invasion, is brought up before Zedekiah, king of Judah, who agrees to release him to the court of the guard. Angry at Jeremiah’s subsequent proclamations that anyone who stays in Jerusalem will be killed, but all who surrender to the Babylonians will live, four princes of the city have him lowered into a cistern filled with mud, there to die. Jeremiah is rescued from the cistern through the intercession of the eunuch Ebed-​melech. 75 The Bible contains no record of Jeremiah’s death or ascension to heaven. At 2 Maccabees 15:12–​16, however, Judas Maccabeus recounts a vision in which Jeremiah appears to him and presents him with a golden sword. The high priest Onias tells Judas that Jeremiah is ‘he who prays much for the people and for all the holy city’ (15:14: hic est qui multum orat pro populo et universa sancta civitate). 76 Jeremiah 11:14. 77 2 Maccabees 15:14. 78 … threnos composuit, lamenta instituit. Radbert uses threnos and lamenta as synonyms; hence, these two phrases presumably refer to the same activity. Jeremiah was traditionally assumed to be the author of the book of Lamentations. 64

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invectives that both of them delivered against the people arose not from hatred, but from love. Although they may not believe it, we who knew him should be in no doubt that the promises of Christ are not withheld from one who endured such difficult struggles for the sake of the truth. If faith (fides) could be bought with money, we would pay the price so that they might cease to persecute with their hatreds one nourished by charity, exalted by justice and adorned by piety. I advise them, therefore, to keep silent and cease their slander lest they make manifest their own wicked deeds. For it would be better to emulate the cunning and disloyalty that they accuse him of than their own corrupted faith. Pascasius: Yours is a fierce invective, brother Severus. I  would like you to be mindful of that line from Terence ‘nothing in excess’,79 since all those whose conscience is less than sound are more suspicious somehow. They take everything as an insult, and always think that they are being blamed for their own particular reasons.80 Chapter 3 Adeodatus: I think that if you show what true fidelity towards one’s neighbour is, and how one preserves the faith that he has promised to his lord, then each one of us will be able to see more clearly and make a judgement on the basis of his own conscience, for the mark of infamy branded upon this man is that he did not preserve the faith that he owed to the emperor (augustus).81 Pascasius: You do well to urge that it be made clear how many people adulterate and corrupt true faith because they are unaware of what it is that they 7 9 Andria 1.1.34. 80 Terence, Adelphoe 4.3.14–​16,  605–​7. 81 This was the key accuation against Wala, and therefore at the heart of Radbert’s defence of his abbot. It pertains mostly to the rebellion of 830, in which Wala played a leading part, and less so to the revolt of 833, when his role remained a marginal one. 65

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are promising. According to the Apostle, then, the faith of Christians is that which ‘works through love’.82 For if you do away with love, then faith (fides) is destroyed, since love encompasses all of the obligations of fidelity (fides). Moreover, love for Christ and one’s neighbour admits nothing of sin, at least not of its own accord. Hence, everyone who loves or willingly takes part in injustice iniquitously hates both his own soul83 and the one whose wicked conduct he encourages by agreeing to it. From this it can be plainly inferred that faith should not look to the desires of the individual such that in answer to the will of an earthly master it rises up even against the precepts of God; for by consenting to wickedness it would become faithless and lose the faith that works through love in one’s neighbour. Instead, faith should fulfil what belongs to love, and through faith carry out more resolutely and scrupulously what aids in the salvation of one’s neighbour. Otherwise, if faith required doing anything asked of you, and you were obliged to carry out whatever you had promised, then Herod and his henchmen would be innocent of any crime, since he was bound by an oath.84 For this reason, you must first take care not to make a profession of faith rashly. Then, if you have sworn an oath, deviate from it sooner than proceed to greater evils.85 For we have no obligation, says the Apostle, ‘but to love one another’.86 Let each person, therefore, discharge the obligations required of him, and in discharging them let him owe the faith that works through love.87 For otherwise faith is not faith, because it does not come from the love for God and one’s neighbour, but is rather an earthly and bestial oath and a snare of the devil. No one, therefore, keeps his faith well in cases where there is disdain for God and disregard for the salvation of one’s neighbour in the next life. 8 2 Galatians 5:6. 83 Inique odisse. Cf. Psalms 37:20: inimici autem mei vivunt, et confirmati sunt super me, et multiplicati sunt qui oderunt me inique. 84 Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, swore an oath to give the daughter of his brother’s wife Herodias whatever she asked for. Prompted by her mother, she requested the head of John the Baptist, and Herod was compelled to order John’s death (Matthew 14:6–​11). 85 … ne ad peiora provenies declina. Provenies here is equivalent to the subjunctive provenias in a final clause after the imperative declina. 86 Romans 13:8. 87 … quisque quod debet solvendo adimpleat, implendo debeat, fidem videlicet. Quod debet, which is subsequently defined as fidem … quae per dilectionem operatur, serves as the object of both jussive subjunctives (adimpleat…debeat) and both gerunds (solvendo … implendo). 66

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Adeodatus: Alas, how wretched is the age in which we live, in which everyone’s will (velle) comes first, and then clashes with whatever one knows (sapit) and is capable of (potest), so that it is accomplished, albeit with unhappy results.88 For it is essential to know (sapere) what you ought to want first, then to want (velle) what you know, and only then to do what you are capable of with good will.89 But nowadays all minds beget monstrosities, since what ought to follow leads the way, while the head, which ought to come first, follows aimlessly, and in the middle wanton power swells up here and there, and for this reason that tag of the comic playwright ‘I will, I won’t, I won’t, I will’90 applies to everyone, and all are afflicted by an unfortunate and childish dizziness. Pascasius: It is for this reason that almost two years ago, when I was deploying similar arguments against one of these people, who was a leading member of the council (senatus), so that he might correct his ways, defeated by my reasoning and scriptural citations, he said to me, ‘Do you hear yourself ? It is true that what you are saying was relevant to the conduct of life and had persuasive power in the age and at the time when we were born, but though these are the words of scripture, in the age in which we live now there is no utility or reason to them.’ And so with these words we took our leave of one another, he striving to get what he was after, and I abandoning my efforts.

88 In a well-​ordered mind, knowledge (sapere) comes first, followed by ability (posse) and then will (velle). As Adeodatus argues, in the current wretched age, will comes first, followed by ability and then knowledge. 89 Compare Radbert’s treatment of divine knowledge, power and will in the De fide, c. 14, p. 61: Propterea credenda est potentia deitatis et sapientia atque voluntas. Quoniam quicquid et quando voluit utique potuit. Nam et quiquid potuit aut voluit in sua sapientia fuit. Ob id nihil reprehensibile fecit. Ergo ut habuit non maius posse quam velle neque ipsum velle plus quam posse ita nec velle aut posse maius quam sapere (‘For this reason we must believe in the power of God, and his wisdom and will, since whatever (and whenever) he has willed, he has also been capable of. For whatever he was capable of or wanted was in his wisdom. For this reason, he has done nothing that can be criticised. Therefore, just as his power was no greater than his will, nor his will greater than his power, so too neither his will nor his power were greater than his wisdom’). 90 Terence, Phormio 5.8.57. 67

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Adeodatus: What you are talking about seems to me to be not so much blindness, dear Pascasius, as a strange sort of mental derangement: that someone should not understand where he is or what he is doing, while at the same time recalling where he has been and knowing how unstable his current path is, and yet for all that not to possess the desire or ability to return to his former state, but to pursue his own will unreflectively, so as not to return to himself as he once was. Severus: Who, I say, could be more bereft of sense91 than one who does not perceive himself or hear what he himself says? But perhaps, as I suspect, you think that those who are loudest in disparaging you cannot hear these raging silences,92 and for this reason you have no fear of speaking your mind freely on this topic. Pascasius: We are talking about what fidelity towards one’s fellow men should be like, and how it should be preserved. The reason that I thought we should not remain silent is that, as you know, our Arsenius truly kept, demonstrated and preserved the faith that works through love, the faith that is supported by truth in all things, the faith that is strengthened by justice, not the faith that deceives wickedly through flattery and praises whichever of the vices happens to please someone else. But in every deed and word, in every affair and every agreement, he was accustomed to seek out the presence of truth as his friend and diligently investigate every point at issue in any matter or dealing, down to the last detail, as it were, lest by chance falsehood should open a crack in anything. And then, in order that each one of the parts of faith should sound the harmony of justice with one accord, he gave himself the task of looking 91 Quis … plus sensu deficisci potest. Latin defetiscor means to ‘grow weary’ (cf. Terence, Phormio 4.1.23, 589), but that is clearly not what is meant here. Rather, Radbert seems to be using deficisci as a syonym for defeciscere, for which the Corbie Liber glossarum provides separari as the first definition (Paris, BnF lat. 11529, f. 82r). 92 Furibunda silentia. Cf. Statius, Thebaid 10.896:  Iunonem tacitam furibunda silentia torquent. A clear allusion to the elusive style of the work: certain things cannot be mentioned. The Thebaid is transmitted in the Corvey MS Paris BnF lat. 8051; see Bischoff, Katalog, vol. III, no. 4521, p. 138. 68

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at everything himself and prayed to God every day that love (caritas) might do everything from within him. Chapter 4 Adeodatus: I am amazed at how, amidst the countless different matters that occupied him (so I hear), [p. 26] he devoted himself so intently to God and was everywhere present to himself, especially since we are distracted every time we wish to devote ourselves to God, and we can scarcely find ourselves when we try. Pascasius: I assure you, my dearest Adeodatus, that whenever he was with himself, he was also with God. For he did not deliver himself over to affairs (as it is said), but rather adapted himself to them,93 and carrying on his meditations during his dealings with men, he was always contemplating something profitable to himself. By way of helping the faithless to believe, I can declare that I have never seen anyone who was always so present to himself, and who went everywhere with such purpose, such that he rarely or never became estranged from himself, though he was occupied with countless matters of great importance. At mealtimes, when he was entertaining guests or when one of the great men had invited him, I have never seen anyone who on every occasion partook so sparingly, so that many people would have considered what he took for his afternoon meal to be an act of supreme self-​denial and abstemiousness if they themselves had been able to manage it during Lent. How wretched I  am now to be deprived of his presence! Now I do not blush to do in the presence of many what I was then afraid to do in front of him.94 For I knew that he would be unsparing if I expressed anything immoderately. I would like you to ask Severus about this as well, since he very often endured this same discipline with me.

93 Non enim se … rebus tradebat, sed commendabat. The verb commendare here is equivalent to accommodare (we are grateful to Monique Goullet for this suggestion). 94 I.e., to give free rein to his emotions. 69

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Severus: I understand full well what you are aiming at:  you want it to be made clear why (perhaps because I  had been too eager in reaching my hand to my mouth) we so frequently gave him cause to criticise us, and why even today we are lashed by his severe condemnation, in our consciences at least. Nonetheless, there are fathers, brothers and fellow students who were witnesses to what you are talking about, and they know that, like a farmer weeding a field, he wielded the word and judgement of correction like a hoe at the first appearance of sin, so that Christ’s harvest would sprout up more abundantly. For he did not behave as some people do and continue to deliberate while transgressions were springing up, but in every case he immediately struck down the source of sin with the sword of his words. How, then, could he be so negligent as to spare his own, when he never in any circumstance yielded before the high and mighty, unless it were to admonish them? For he had made his own the statement of Solomon that ‘the words of the wise are as goads, and as nails deeply fastened in’,95 since he transfixed the outgrowths of vice upon the point of his words, while fastening the beginnings of virtue more firmly to its support. How happy and blessed he was, that while continuously occupied with so many different affairs of great importance,96 he always remained his own most severe critic and devoted himself in such profound solitude97 to learning, to God and to love (caritas). This was his labour and the reason for his labour; this was his rest and his toil; this was his fast and his vigil; this was his care and his constant anxiety:98 that he should never cease what he had once begun in the service of Christ. As a result, it was made abundantly clear to others that he was always one and the same person to himself, to God and to those around him. He was no more severe to anyone else than he was to himself, nor did he judge anyone more than himself.

9 5 Ecclesiastes 12:11. 96 … tantis rerum alternisque decursibus occupatus:  decursus rerum here literally means ‘channels’ or ‘courses’ of activity. 97 … in alto secessu. See Pliny, ep. 1.3: quin tu … ipse te in alto isto pinguique secessu studiis adseris. Books 1–​4 of Pliny’s letters are found in the ninth-​century Corbie manuscript Vatican City, BAV lat. 3864. 98 Hoc igitur negotium eius et causa negotii, hoc otium et labor, haec ieiunia et vigiliae, haec cura et perpetua mentis sollicitudo. Cf. Pliny, ep. 1.3: Hoc sit negotium tuum, hoc otium, hic labor, haec quies; in his vigilia, in his etiam somnus reponatur. 70

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Chapter 5 Pascasius: I am thinking over and contemplating what you recall, brother, but regrettably it is not yet the occasion for what you propose.99 Still, I assure you that I once asked him why he was so severe with himself and why he walked about so glumly when he was alone. [p.  27] To this he responded:  ‘You know that I  am with myself, and I  perceive what is within me. For this reason, up to now I am not cheered by any joys, but by hope alone.’ Let those of our number consider this, therefore, who seek to slander him and charge him with crimes of which he is innocent, when he exercised such severe scrutiny over himself. For do they think that, contrary to the Apostle, he will be judged anew by God apart from the council of the just?100 Rather to Christ, to whom he clung when planted in his mortal body, he sings joyfully, ‘You have delivered me from the snare of the hunters and from the sharp word.’101 But while he is no longer burdened by these great evils, he has forsaken us in our wretchedness. For this reason, I ask their pardon if we should give way to tears in secret,102 when we previously restrained 99 Something appears to be missing from the manuscript, which reads sed necdum est locus licet invitus quae proponis. Mabillon, p. 462, suggests adding et ideo praetermitto vel sim. before licet. 100 Putasne contra apostolum quod a domino ulterius iustorum extorris a consilio iudicetur. It is implied in the letters of Paul, and stated explicitly in patristic authors such as Gregory the Great (e.g., Dialogi 4.26) and Augustine, that the just would receive immediate judgement upon death and be received into heaven. In the eyes of the speakers, therefore, Arsenius had received judgement from God at the time of his death and was already in heaven (see below, p. 73: ‘for we presume that you have arrived at the blessedness of hope’). He would not, therefore, be subject to a second judgement by God (this seems to be the import of the word ulterius), but would himself be part of the council of the elect (the sancti of 1 Corinthians 6:2) with whom Christ would pass judgement at the Final Judgement. Contra apostolum here presumably refers either to 1 Corinthians 6:2 or to 2 Corinthians 5:10 (omnes enim nos manifestari oportet ante tribunal Christi). The phrase ‘council of the just’ derives from Psalms 1:5: ‘Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgement, nor sinners in the council of the just’ (Ideo non resurgent impii in iudicio, neque peccatores in consilio iustorum). For the idea that the righteous would not be judged again, see, e.g., Ambrose, Explanatio Psalmorum XII 1.56, p. 47: Unde videntur qui bene crediderunt et fidem suam etiam operibus exsecuti sunt, ipsi non iudicari, sed surgere in consilio iustorum (‘Whence it is clear that those who believed well and also demonstrated their faith through works are themselves not judged but rise in the council of the just’). 101 Psalms 90:3. 102 … quo velim ignoscant, si prolabimur ad lacrimas secretius. An echo of Seneca, ep. 63.1:  nobis autem ignosci potest prolapsis ad lacrimas (‘we may be pardoned for giving way to tears’). Pascasius’ speech here is heavily influenced by this letter, 71

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our weeping lest we should seem to lament for one whom the unjust hated without cause. Now, however, while these men are silent, we shall at last give way to our lamentations, since tears and weeping are a salve for longing,103 and longing is the pleasant recollection of those we have lost.104 For even though bitter death frightens us, the memory of a cherished name is a source of joy. Hence it is that someone says the death of friends gives a certain pleasure, and the memories of them are agreeable, like apples that have a pleasantly bitter taste.105 When, therefore, a certain interval of time has elapsed, the pure joy of hope returns to us,106 because just as we loved those whom we had with us as though they would leave us at any minute, so when we have lost them it is as though they are still with us.107 Glorious indeed is this sweet and blessed hope. Thus, my father Arsenius, we rejoice in our hope for in which Seneca consoles Lucilius on the death of the latter’s friend Flaccus. Nonetheless, the unrestrained grief that Pascasius allows himself runs contrary to Seneca’s warning about immoderate grieving, which he finds both ostentatious and self-​indulgent. 103 It was a commonplace that grief was a solace for loss. See, e.g., Ambrose, De obitu Valentiniani consolatio 1, p. 329: doluisse plerumque solatium sit dolentis (‘having grieved is often a comfort to the one who grieves’); Ambrose, De excessu 1.74, pp.  247–​ 8: Ipsae dulces lacrimae sunt, ipsi fletus iucundi, quibus restinguitur ardor animi et quasi relaxatus evaporat adfectus (‘the very tears are sweet, the weeping joyous; for by these the ardour of the soul is cooled and emotion, relaxed for a time, is dissipated’) 104 Desiderium … iucunda recordatio amissi. Cf. Seneca, ep. 63.4: id agamus, ut iucunda nobis amissorum fiat recordatio (‘let us conduct ourselves so that the memory of those we have lost becomes pleasant to us’). 105 … amicorum mors quandam habeat voluptatem, eorumque memoria sit iucunda, quomodo poma que videntur suaviter aspera. Cf. Seneca, ep. 63.4–​5: sed hic quoque morsus habet suam voluptatem. Nam ut dicere solebat Attalus noster, ‘sic amicorum defunctorum memoria iucunda est, quomodo poma quaedam sunt suaviter aspera. (‘But this pain, too, has its own pleasure. For as my teacher Attalus used to say, “the memory of departed friends is pleasant like certain apples that are sweetly bitter”.’) 106 Cum ergo intervenit spatium, pura ad nos spei iucunditas redit. Cf. Seneca, ep. 63.5 (continuing the above quote from Attalus): cum vero intervenit spatium, omne quod angebat extinguitur et pura ad nos voluptas venit (‘but after a certain interval of time, all that pained us is extinguished and unadulterated joy returns to us’). In Radbert’s alteration of this quote we can see him using the words of Seneca to express a uniquely Christian, rather than Stoic, doctrine. Rather than the pure joy of remembering a friend, what remains after his departure is hope, the hope of meeting him again in heaven. 107 … tamquam et nos hinc subito ituros, sicque amisimus tamquam habeamus. Cf. Seneca, ep. 63.7: Ego non idem sentio; mihi amicorum defunctorum cogitatio dulcis ac blanda est. Habui enim illos tamquam amissurus, amisi tamquam habeam. (‘I do not agree with him [i.e., Attalus]; to me the thought of departed friends is sweet and mellow. For when I had them with me it was as though I were going to lose them, and when I have lost them it is as though I have them with me.’) 72

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you and we are consoled by our hopes for ourselves; for we presume that you have arrived at the blessedness of hope, and we trust that we are aided by your merits there. And though we are sad for now, we are nonetheless joyful, because your triumph is happier for you than the end that awaits us, unless your repose108 intervenes in the meantime. Perhaps your leaving was for the best. For in this way the consolation of Christ could come; in this way we could hasten to abandon everything else and be with you in mind, and through unstinting prayer obtain the power to win pardon; and in this way the spirit could receive assurance of its arrival. Therefore, we are not wretched because of you, father, but blessed; for your spiritual presence never fails us, nor is your pastoral care diminished, but instead your grace is increased. For what is death109 but sleep, as we can prove from many passages in scripture.110 For if, in the still of night, when our souls still cling to the chains of the body and are bound, as it were, in the prison-​house of the limbs, they can perceive loftier things and discern everything clearly according to its own appearance, how much more will they see with a pure and ethereal sense, when they have stripped off all the stain of corruption (as one of the saints says).111 Whence we believe that you are more present to us as a father now than when you were alive and we had an opportunity to see one another. For his present absence, we

108 Nisi prior tuus interveniat recessus. Recessus can mean departure or withdrawal (Radbert uses it that way in the very last lines of the commentary on Matthew to refer to the departure of the Holy Spirit), but here it is probably used to refer to the resting place (lit. ‘place of withdrawal’) of Wala (i.e., heaven), and by metonomy to Wala himself. Cf. Ambrose, De obitu Valentiani consolatio c.  72:  363:  sinus enim patriarchum recessus quidam est quietis aeternae (‘for the bosom of the patriarchs is a certain remote place of eternal tranquility’). 109 Ambrose, De excessu 1.73, p. 247. 110 E.g., 1 Kings 2:10, Psalms 13:3, Jeremiah 51:57, Daniel 12:2, Matthew 9:24, Acts 7:60, 1 Corinthians 15:6. 111 This passage is borrowed, with some changes, from Ambrose, De excessu 1.73, p.  247:  Quod si in quiete nocturna vinculis adhuc corporeis inhaerentes et quasi in carceraria religatae claustra membrorum possunt tamen animae altiora et discreta perspicere, quanto magis spectant haec, cum iam puro aetherioque sensu nulla corporeae labis inpedimenta patiuntur! (‘For if, in the quiet of night, when souls still cling to their bodily chains and are bound, as it were, in the imprisoning bonds of the limbs, they can nonetheless perceive higher and more distinct things, how  much more do they see these things with pure and ethereal sense when they no longer endure the impediments of bodily corruption.’) The phrase etherius sensus in Ambrose derives from Virgil, Aeneid 6.745–​7. The idea that the soul longs to reunite with the ether after separating from the body is Platonic in origin. 73

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believe, is always at hand and sweet to us, because at that time not all of him could be present,112 as is now the case; nor is his absent presence113 too hard to bear, since he is believed to be in him to whom all things are manifest and present. For it is a great power and an inexpressible force that neither death nor time can tear away those114 whom this very same majesty of God has blessed. For this reason, my father, you who are living a better existence for yourself are believed to be more alive to us now. Tears now become sweet and weeping a source of joy,115 because even though death is hateful, loving you is life to us. For death has been drunk down and swallowed up in life,116 and for this reason you live, father, and live a blessed existence. We ask for your assistance before the one with whom you live in a better state, in whom all things live, and in whom we exist and are moved. [p. 28] For by the promises of this hope the soul’s ardour is cooled and emotion, relaxed for a time, is dissipated.117 Thus I ask that the image of your soul may constantly fly hither and spread over us the pleasing visions of a true dream (if it is permissible to speak this way),118 so that you, who have been deprived only of your physical appearance, may be completely present. For daily experience of you rouses continual remembrance, and our feelings bring your image before our eyes; and when these are conveyed to us, 112 Ambrose, De excessu 1.73, p. 247: Ita enim ubique praesto eras … Nam tunc utique omnia praesto esse non poterant. 113 Absentia presens …presentia absens. Cf. VA c. 4, col. 1509D: Unde tua praesens absentia mihi manens, novos in me generat lacrymarum affectus:  ita tamen ut praesentia absens faciat gratulari, quam jam perveneris ad diu promissa gaudia felix. 114 Ambrose, De excessu 1.74, p. 247: Teneo igitur te, frater, nec mihi te aut mors aut tempus avellet. 115 Ambrose, De excessu 1.74, pp.  247–​8:  Ipsae dulces lacrymae sunt, ipsi fletus iucundi, quibus restinguitur ardor animi, et quasi relaxatus evaporat affectus. 116 Namque mors ebibita absorta est in vita. The metaphor of death being ‘swallowed up’ derives from 1 Corinthias 15:54 (Absorpta est mors in victoria), and was frequently cited in patristic authors. 117 Ambrose, De excessu 1.74, pp.  247–​8:  Ipsae dulces lacrymae sunt, ipsi fletus iucundi, quibus restinguitur ardor animi, et quasi relaxatus evaporat affectus. (‘the very tears are sweet, the weeping joyous; for by these the ardour of the soul is cooled and emotion, relaxed for a time, is dissipated’). The soothing power of weeping in Ambrose has been replaced here by the soothing power of contemplating the afterlife. 118 Veri (si fas dicere) somnii. For the potentially delusory nature of dream visions, see In Mattheum 1.20, p.  124:  somnus ipsa quidem dormientium quies est, somnium vero nonnumquam dilusio dormientis (‘sleep (somnus) is the repose of those at rest, but a dream (somnium) is often a delusion of the sleeper’). Cf. Haito, Visio Wettini c. 10, p. 271: Deliramenta … somniorum non sunt adtendenda. On dreams and their meaning in Carolingian society, see Dutton, Politics of Dreaming. 74

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they renew our grief. And thus, my father, you are present for a time and you are embraced in mind and spirit. For on every occasion we kiss you, we speak to you, we grasp you. How unlucky am I that I received the final admonitions of your words from so far away.119 For what you said, as our Cremes120 reported it, was this:  ‘Act, my son, in such a way that you carry out what you know to be good, lest you be found inferior to yourself.’121 These were your last words to me, my father; these were the instructions that you deemed best. You took pains, not that I would know what was perfect, but that I would make progress in knowing. Unaware of what was about to happen, which might be put off for a time but could not be avoided,122 I replied to him –​with more truth than humour –​that three things could not exist at the same time in someone in equal measure, namely, knowledge, will and ability. For many things that we know to be good we do not wish to do when we are in the grip of sin, and even when the will to accomplish them is present, sometimes we do not have the ability. It is only God whose knowledge is not greater than his will, and whose will is not stronger than his ability. Whatever he knows, he wills and is able to accomplish, and thus he accomplishes everything in his wisdom.123 In men, however, none of these is possible without the grace of Christ. I beseech you, therefore, to strengthen us through your prayers and aid us through your supplications, since the advice of a teacher will only be complete if he aids those whom he admonishes at the cost of his prayers. In praising you I am obliged to say that in no case did you fail124 to make clear the will of God to your brethren (though without causing offence), insofar as you could recommend it through prayer and virtuous conduct, so 1 19 I.e., from Bobbio. 120 Chremes is the name of four different Terentian characters found in the Heauton­ timorumenos, the Andria, the Eunuchus and the Phormio. The monk called Cremes (sic) accompanied Wala in Italy in 822–​5, and is called up as a faithful witness to the way his abbot dispensed justice. 121 Cf. Jerome, ep. 12: Et quod iam pridem in consecratione consecutum te esse credis, restat ut capias:  ne minor inveniaris in Christo quam in mundo interim nominaris ac si falsi vocabuli inutilis pastor existas; Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job 32.21, p. 1661: An non perpendis quia cum ad aliena extenderis, erga ea curanda quae tua sunt minor inveniris? 122 … quod non preterire, licet longius differi, posset:  preterire is best understood as intransitive ‘pass away’ (as at Matthew 24:34) or ‘pass away without effect’ (as at Matthew 5:8), rather than transitive ‘pass over’. Dümmler’s punctuation, which places a comma after licet, obscures the meaning of the passage. 123 Cf. 1 Corinthians 12:6: idem vero deus qui operatur omnia in omnibus. 124 Construing subter fuisti as defuisti, but it could as easily be scribal error for subterfugisti (i.e., ‘in no case did you avoid’), a verb employed eleven times by Radbert. 75

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that God might grant the will and ability to do what pleased him to those who were permitted through your agency to know what would profit them. Chapter 6 Adeodatus: I would like you to go further back and recall the early stages of this great man’s life from boyhood, since we believe that the merits of such great perfection grew up along with him. For in truth the virtues do not arise in the absence of innocence, but innocence is strengthened by the operation of the virtues. Stability, moreover, is established by a longstanding habit of good works, with merit increasing all along. Men are perfected by a reciprocal process, so that simplicity responds to prudence and prudence renews simplicity, with the result that what is in bloom brings forth fruit, and flowers put forth the fruit of good hope first. It is possible that a flower may sometimes fall away without bearing fruit, but fruit does not come forth in the absence of a flower. For this reason, I would like you to describe the flowers first, so that the fruit that comes forth will be even sweeter; for even though fruit is beneficial, the flower of youth emits a more beautiful smell. Hence it was through the grace of Christ that even before he flowered he possessed abundant potential to bloom. Pascasius: You are asking, perhaps, Adeodatus, about things that took place when I  was not present. All the same, because he was from birth so conspicuously brilliant, I  have learned from trustworthy men a great many things that are eminently worthy of remembrance. From boyhood, as part of his training at the palace,125 he was handed over to the study of the liberal arts, distinguishing himself for the nobility of his character and the correctness of his feelings. The emperor126 observed the power of his intellect, and although he was his cousin and

125 Cf. VA c. 7, col. 1511B: inter palatii tirocinia omni mundi prudentia eruditus (‘educated in every type of worldly wisdom as part of his training at the palace’ – describing Adalhard). 126 On Wala at Charlemagne’s court, see Introduction, pp. 16, 36; De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 25–​7. 76

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the son of his uncle, at the prompting of someone or other he ordered him to be humbled and demoted down among the lowest group. This did not happen by accident, but through the just dispensation of God, [p. 29] so that his tender age, like gold, might be tested in the furnace of temptation. In this way he might learn while still young to face adversity with courage in the same measure as he met good fortune with equanimity. For it is written that temptation tests the just as the furnace does gold.127 And thus the proof of his justice was already shining out, so that he was endowed with even more abundant grace. After being long tried in the furnace of humility,128 his meekness was plain to see, and his unimpeachable character made him suitable to be entrusted to one of the magnates under free custody,129 where his reputation grew greater every day, and praiseworthy commendations of his life piled up one upon another. Who, therefore, could fail to recognise that he was already being tested in the divine novitiate? For though guiltless and morally upright, and innocent of any sin, he was oppressed by one close to him (proximus) as though he were guilty and estranged from the emperor. Some say that at that time, when he was going despondently along the road, girded with a belt and arms, a yokel came towards him, driving a cart with oxen. ‘Do you wish, good fellow,’ he said, ‘to put down the arms130 you carry as a poor man (pauper) and take up those with which I am equipped?’ Scarcely able to believe that what he had heard was not a trick, the traveller eventually disburdened himself of his arms and carried away these unexpected gifts at no cost to himself. Then our Arsenius said, ‘Servile trappings are better suited to me with this cart, since I do not serve this world but am instead devoted to the communal life.’ Why would he do such a thing, brothers, unless he were following the example of David in saying ‘I will become still meaner and I will be little in my own eyes’?131 This is especially true because when anyone humbles himself

1 27 Cf. Ecclesiasticus 27:6; Wisdom 3:5–​6; Proverbs 17:3; RB c. 1.6, p. 16. 128 Ecclesiasticus 2:5. 129 Libera sub custodia: freedom of movement with certain restrictions, an honourable treatment of elite political opponents; see De Jong, ‘Monastic prisoners’. 130 Arma here is used in the metaphorical sense of tools or equipment, as occasionally in classical Latin. 131 2 Samuel 6:22: et ludam et vilior fiam plus quam factus sum et ero humilis in oculis meis (‘I will both play and make myself meaner than I have done; and I will be little in my own eyes’). 77

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before God he becomes more acceptable to God, whereas when he styles himself as grand and wanting for nothing, he is, as we read, judged as a small child.132 What more needs to be said? Shortly after this the power of the Lord elevated him to many honours, and as his virtue increased so did the esteem in which he was held by everyone. He was restored to the palace and elevated in favour, and every day advancing and growing greater, he was appointed steward133 over the whole household by the emperor. He was widely revered, second only to the emperor himself,134 such that you would think another Joseph was wielding the sceptre of the realm. He was on everyone’s lips, the leading man in each and every affair, the principal enforcer of justice. Through his expertise the civil law135 was given to the good without any subterfuge, and his presence terrified the guilty in equal measure as it calmed the pious. He was the senator of senators, so to speak, a counsellor more effective than any other, because he wanted nothing save for what he could discern was the best course of action. In every instance he showed foresight; he was always prompt and assiduous, always energetic, so that in his presence no one would dare to give any indication of wanting anything but justice. The civil law never came up for sale before him, but he conducted himself generously in every affair and appeared voluntarily before petitioners. For this reason, at times he was a special emissary regarding affairs that the emperor needed to act upon himself. At this point he already held a military command, and he is reported [p. 30] to have distinguished himself leading the army against the enemy in the emperor’s place.136 The savage barbarian peoples who had been tamed by his benefactions 132 Gregory the Great, Gospel Homily 7.4, p.  51 (on 1 Samuel 15:17):  Ac si aperte diceretur: Cum tu te parvulum conspiceres, ego te prae caeteris magnum feci (‘As if it were being said openly, “When you saw yourself as a child, I  made you great above others” ’). 133 Echonomus, from the Greek oikonomos. 134 Cf. Astronomer, Vita Hludowici c. 21, p. 346: Uuala, summi apud Karolum imperatorem habitus loci (‘Wala, who held the highest rank before the Emperor Charles’); VA c. 31, col. 1526B. 135 Ius civium. In classical Latin this refers to the law of Roman citizens. The term is used here, along with other Roman terminology (e.g., senatores, respublica, caesar, augustus), to refer to public Frankish institutions; see Introduction, pp. 43–4. 136 In the campaign against the Abodrites (see Chapter 11 below). Wala is also listed as the first of the Frankish primores who concluded a treaty with emissaries of the Danish King Hemming at the Eider River in the spring of 811. See ARF s.a. 811, p. 134. 78

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loved him, as you know, and even after he had become a monk they continued to flock to him devotedly. Chapter 7 Severus: I confess that we often pondered why it was that he loved these peoples so much, to the point that he would often leave behind the chief men of our order to hasten to them quickly, and would put himself completely at their service without fail. But it is clear to see that he did this out of piety, so that he might inspire them by his example and cultivate virtuous habits in those who had only recently come to faith in Christ. Pascasius: Indeed, my Severus. And this is why he found greater favour among them (as I myself can confirm) and was dearer to them than anyone else. Perhaps you recall when we were all there together with our Antonius because of the new monastery.137 I myself witnessed how great was the esteem in which he was held, such that he was venerated as though he had come from heaven, so to speak (and this assuredly because he was a monk), more than he ever was when he came from the palace. Hence on one occasion when we had arrived among certain people who did not recognise him with his changed garb, people who had been violently plundering the fields of their countrymen138 and despoiling the adjoining lands, our Antonius wanted to chastise them gently, in keeping with his kindly nature, but he was not given a hearing. He put Arsenius before them, therefore, and bid him speak, to get them to put a stop to this behaviour. After listening to him, they looked at him carefully to see if it was really who we said it was, and even though there was much to convince them, they were unwilling to believe that so distinguished and powerful a man had sunk so low and become so degraded in appearance. One of them said to him, ‘Are you the one whose fame our whole world celebrates?’ to which he responded, ‘I am.’ 137 Corvey, in Saxony. The monastery began as a cell founded at Hethis in Solling in 815. It was moved to Höxter, on the west bank of the Weser River, in 822. 138 Suorum agros: these are fields that belong to Corvey which are being plundered by local Saxons. 79

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Then another said, ‘I declare that you are all the more deserving of this reputation, since you don’t even possess the strength of the tip of his little finger.’ When we heard this, we all smiled and departed. Adeodatus: I wish you would be more serious, since I don’t see the benefit of these stories in which worldly pride is extolled, given that our death will put an end to whatever joys these may have possessed. Or are you unaware that whoever cherishes this world loses what is truly valuable? For what else is seeking out the vanity of the world than to deny the faith of Christ? Pascasius: I agree completely, but virtuous men, though they seem to engage with the demands of the world, keep a focused mind139 and do not allow themselves to be distracted by everything going on outside, though the whole world might resound and be battered by great disturbances.140 Which do you think is more courageous, then:  to dress in purple and use vessels made of gold and silver as though they were earthenware and sackcloth and remain unaffected, or to treat these cheap goods as though they possessed inestimable value and be untroubled by poverty? Adeodatus: I would say that both are men of great virtue, but someone like that one finds rarely or hardly at all: one whom a lofty position does not cast down, whom lowliness does not influence, whom riches and high office

139 Intentum gerunt animum. Cf. Seneca, ep. 56.5:  Animum enim cogo sibi intentum esse. Here the narrator Pascasius begins a series of references from the 56th epistle of Seneca, a meditation on the tranquillity necessary for philosophical reflection. 140 … licet foris universa resonent et magnis fulciantur tumultibus. Cf. Seneca, ep. 56.5: omnia licet foris resonent, dum intus nihil tumultus sit. Radbert here uses fulciri (which normally means to be propped up or supported) in the highly unusual sense of ‘to be pressed down/​besieged’.

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do not puff up, whom poverty does not affect, and whom involvement in various kinds of affairs does not wear down. Pascasius: Yes, Adeodatus, this is true. But true virtue, that is, virtue exhibited by a good and pious mind, is in each of those141 where neither cupidity nor avarice stirs up the spirit, but a generous character ennobles it and respectability of conduct recommends it. [p. 31] Here the virtues are not at odds with one another, the weight of vice is not felt, one emotional state does not trouble another,142 and external concerns do not wreak havoc. Otherwise, even in the desert what benefit are the harsh conditions and silence that everywhere prevail, if wicked urges rage within and vices corrupt the spirit? A truly peaceful repose, therefore, is one that is everywhere ordered by reason and commended by the tranquillity of monastic life.143 Certain people, therefore, as we have discovered, though retiring from the world, are still tossed upon the waves because they have not sufficiently withdrawn in their mind. And yet others, who learned the rudiments of the virtues in war, have subsequently come to service in Christ purer and more discerning than if they had had no such experience. Adeodatus: Nonetheless, they must have some experience of the virtues, to which they owe their reputation, since even pagans were regarded as worthy and honourable, at least among their own people, and in popular opinion some are said to have been taken up amongst the gods.144 Pascasius: You seem to me to be wavering with regard to everything that we are discussing, and, because you are tinged (as it were) with a vulgar way of 141 … vera virtus in utrisque est, quam bona mens explicat et devota. Cf. Seneca, ep. 56.6: Illa tranquilitas vera est, in quam bona mens explicatur. 142 … non altera affectionum passio alteram vexat. Cf. Seneca, ep. 56.5:  nec altera alteram vexet. 143 Ergo placida quies et vera illa est, quam ratio ubique componit et serenitas religionis commendat. Cf. Seneca, ep. 56.6: Nulla placida est quies, nisi quam ratio conposuit. 144 See Augustine, De civitate Dei 2.5.

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thinking,145 unable to accept any other impression, all the more so since fickle rumour stains inconstant minds with stray bits of gossip. Perhaps you, too, have been so tainted by many people’s accusations that you cannot believe anything else about this man, who is so maligned by many and abused by the ignorance of the masses.146 Adeodatus: Don’t you recall the saying of Cato that many people say many things, and for this reason trust (fides) is hard to come by? And yet I declare that I have supreme faith in this man, whose side I clung to at the very end,147 whom I knew, though late, and whom I dearly loved, adorned as he was by the virtues. But one should not be quick to put faith in everything. Hence we read that the apostles were late to believe, lest by chance their faith should seem rash.148 In the same way, it is incumbent upon us to do nothing rashly or without consideration, nor to allow ourselves to be so influenced by the impressions of the masses or of any individual that we are unable to accept a better one. Nor should we soften easily like wax (so to speak), so that we receive the imprint of every stamp upon our form. Every impression must be examined and faith put to the test, so that once you have become clearly convinced of something, you do not then pass judgement on it again. Pascasius: You put it well, but I  wish you would consider how virtuously men have lived while holding the highest secular offices, and how worthily they have come to the grace of Christ directly from military service. I will say nothing of David, who was neither led astray by the royal 145 … quasi plebeio infectus colore. The accusation is that Adeodatus has become influenced by common opinion. Adeodatus’ objection, and Pascasius’ exasperation with it, helps to underline the author’s point: Wala’s military career served as a prior training in virtue, rather than detracting from his excellence as a monk. This also argues against the contemporary view that the best monks were those who were raised in the cloister; see De Jong, In Samuel’s Image, pp. 636–​44. 146 The gist of the accusation against Wala is his disloyalty to Louis the Pious in 830; see Introduction, p. 15. 147 Disticha Catonis I, 13.2, p. 46: rara fides ideo est, quia multi multa locuntur; see also II, 20.2, p. 122: exigua est tribuenda fides, qui multa locuntur; 2 Timothy 3:1: ‘Know also this, that in the last days shall come dangerous times’ (Hoc autem scito, quod in novissimis diebus instabunt tempora periculosa). 148 See, e.g., Matthew 28:17; Luke 24: 36–​44. 82

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office and its abundant riches nor diverted from the gift of grace by his worldly obligations. Nor will I say anything of all those other men who possessed the flowers of the virtues at the height of power, men who we read were pleasing to God and shone with many signs of divine mysteries. But let me come to the men of our own era whom the Church of Christ took from service to the world and made its glorious bishops. I  speak here of Ambrose, who obtained the episcopal seat immediately after holding a prefecture,149 and Hilary, whom Gaul celebrates as a most distinguished teacher.150 Men such as these were elevated in the world, or rather the grace of Christ elevated them out of the world. And for this reason, no one should be in any doubt that this man, too, who was adorned with the jewels of the virtues while he held the insignia of senatorial office, was appointed by divine providence and fired by divine mercy so that he might become a vessel of honour, having exchanged the summit of power for the monastic life. Chapter 8 [p. 32] Severus: I have been waiting for a long time to see what dubious arguments you wanted to put forward about this man, whom we knew –​so to speak –​ better than ourselves, whose confidants we were, whom we do not doubt to have been a champion of justice and truth, whom we trusted more than ourselves. Perhaps, like certain philosophers,151 we hold everything to be doubtful and theorise that nothing can be known for certain. Otherwise ask our Cremes, or Allabigus here, whose trumpet blast will convince even the deaf, that while still in the world he lived a life in which he was more distinguished for the nobility of his character and his virtues than anyone else. 149 Ambrose was appointed to the office of governor (consularis) of Aemilia and Liguria in 372/​3, with his headquarters at Milan. Upon the death of Bishop Auxentius of Milan in 374, Ambrose was elected his successor by popular acclamation. He served as bishop until his death in 397. 150 Hilary was bishop of Poitiers from before 356 until his death in 367/​8. He appears to have converted to Christianity from paganism in his youth, but it is unclear what secular office Pascasius thinks he held before he became bishop. 151 The Academic Sceptics. 83

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Cremes: There is no one who is unaware of this, since he was known to almost everyone, but in many cases envy refuses to accept what the conscience recognises to be true. It is abundantly clear, therefore, that though he may have given offence, he nonetheless surpassed all the other leading men of our age even in the eyes of his rivals, and though these same men might find fault with him, his goodness is universally recognised. For in the world he was a munificent giver of alms and so generous a dispenser of tithes that you could be certain he distributed not only what belonged to him, but what was given to him for this purpose. After the annual receipt of tithes, he continuously gave daily sustenance to the poor of Christ, taken from all the dues and revenues yielded by the community’s estates, as well as from a variety of gifts. This he reckoned to be his share of the inheritance, this the value of his profit, this the proceeds from his justice.152 But I can see that our Allabigus is growing agitated, as if he has some objection (perhaps this is why he is periodically scratching his bald head), and he doesn’t think much of your opinion on these matters. Then he said: ‘Why, then, do you bandy such nonsense as if it were in jest? And if I appear bald to you, why do you mock Elisha?153 Or are 152 When Charlemagne in 779 made the annual giving of tithes (decimae) compulsory for all the faithful, he built on an older Merovingian practice, which had in turn been inspired by biblical precepts (esp. Leviticus 17:30, 32)  and patristic thought. Charlemagne’s imposition of tithes, however, was a response to contemporary famine and disaster, and expressed the urgent need to regain divine favour by sacrifice (MGH Capit. I, no. 20, c. 7, p. 48). In principle, Carolingian tithes were intended to provide the Church with income for its various tasks, especially the care of the poor and the sustenance of priests of parochial churches; the bishops were to be in charge of collecting and distributing these revenues. In practice, however, bishops had to compete with prominent laymen who established priests on their estates or with monastic communities who did the same or acquired lands through donation, including the local churches and their tithes. Royal privileges of immunity also increased the independence of monasteries viz. their diocesan bishops. Thanks to Adalhard’s Statutes of 822, Corbie is a well-​documented case of a Carolingian monastery that collected tithes directly from its more important tenants, ignoring that these were to be paid only to parochial churches, under episcopal supervision (Adalhard, Statuta c. 6, pp. 388–​40). Radbert’s praise for Wala, who did his utmost to make the poor share in monastic revenues, is part of the Carolingian ethos of tithing, which should never be for private gain, but it also takes for granted that Abbot Wala was in control of all Corbie’s (and Corvey’s) material resources, including tithes. The standard work on monastic tithes remains Constable, Monastic Tithes, but see also McKitterick, Frankish Church, pp. 76–​7, and now also Eldevik, Episcopal Power, pp. 62–​102. 153 At 2 Kings 2:23 a group of young men mock the prophet Elisha for his baldness on the road to Bethel. When Elisha curses them in the name of the Lord, a pair of she-​bears emerge from the trees and kill forty-​two of them. 84

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you unaware, Cremes, that many winds have blown upon me? Perhaps I have brought this down on myself by swearing upon this head.154 Now, however, because they don’t believe, I have found ‘this new thing’, as Terence puts it, namely, to latch on to those who want to be foremost in everything but aren’t.155 When they laugh, I laugh along with them and admire their cleverness. I praise whatever they say, and if they contradict themselves I praise it again. Whatever anyone denies, I deny. What they affirm, I affirm. I have steeled myself to go along with everything, since this way of making a living is now so lucrative. Nonetheless, let me show a little faith (fides) at least,156 given that my conscience is clean when it comes to him, and let me not devise any falsehoods, since I can find no one dearer to my heart. For in his own day everyone thought well of him, although the monstrous final age of this world foolishly and malignantly hates him and has persecuted him with lies. But, I beg you, do not think me so indifferent, ungrateful, churlish and devoid of reason that neither the companionship of so great a man, nor his resolute manner of life, nor his love, nor the shame of forgetting would not stir me and move me to keep faith with that man with whom I have endured much, from whom I have learned many things, through whose example I perceived, while still in the world, the highest manifestations of the virtues, and for love of whom I  first abandoned the world for God. If any of you has sounded an opposing note from his trumpet, then let him hear the horn of truth,157 for though the envious are deaf to hear, this Arsenius was a true champion of Christ. And if, by virtue of my lack of eloquence, I am unable to speak at length on this subject, nonetheless I  am not ashamed to mourn, even in public, every time I recall these things. For in this way I may at least be comforted, filled 154 See Matthew 5:36: ‘Neither shall you swear by the head, because you cannot make one hair white or black’ (Neque per caput tuum iuraveris, quia non potes unum capillum album facere aut nigrum). Swearing false oaths by the hair of one’s head could also lead to baldness in accounts of the miracles of saints. 155 From this point Allabigus’ speech is heavily dependent on Terence, Eunuchus 2.2.16–​22 (247–​53). At this point in the play the parasite Gnatho enters and recalls an encounter he had earlier in the day in which a man who had wasted his fortune complains of his lot in life. Gnatho rebukes him by way of revealing his own successful strategy of sucking up to the rich. Allabigus is saying that because those in power do not believe the truth about Wala, he has been compelled to use flattery and complaisance in order to stay in their good graces. On Allabigus, see Introduction, p. 35. 156 Tamen saltim parvam adhibeam fidem: i.e., in contrast to his usual tactics outlined above, Cremes will now speak the truth. 157 Cf. In Mattheum 6.30, p. 423: Et ideo sic exclamat tuba veritatis. 85

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as I am with the pain of our sorrows. For even though I believe that we should rejoice to have had a man such as him among us, it is much to be regretted that we who always lived with him were absent at the very end. [p. 33] For perhaps if we had been with him, we would have partaken more fully of his spirit. Or have you not read what Elijah said to Elisha when the latter asked him for a double share of his spirit? ‘If you see me when I am taken away, it will be as you wish?’158 In the same way, brothers, if we had been with him when he departed hence for heaven, perhaps he would have given a pledge of his spirit back to us. But now how wretched we are, we who were not permitted to know the hour of his death and thought he was still living. Pascasius: As I  have been listening, this bald man who seemed to be illiterate has suddenly been transformed into a philosopher of lamentation.159 Nor can there be any doubt but that the spirit of the one for whom we are grieving has blown upon him. For had he not been touched by it, how could he have anticipated such things before the pen arrived at the point when it would be time to pour out our hearts with grief ?160 For he is not one who pays court to falsehood, as he has made himself out to be, but in my view a bringer and herald of the truth. For one thinks little of what he hears, especially since nowadays there is not one of my friends to whom I would dare to reveal all of my secrets (whereas this man exposes ours even to our enemies). For before one person our dignity restrains us, before another the unsuitability of the act itself inhibits us, lest we should seem disloyal or shameless. Hence it is our task to understand when and in what circumstances we should go along and be accommodating, and when we should say nothing about him. Accordingly, because we could not anticipate or foresee the death of so great a man,161 we must now give heed to what we say, to whom

1 58 2 Kings 2:9–​11. 159 The illiterate monk Allabigus suddenly pronounces entire sentences from Terence. See De Jong,’Heed that saying of Terence’; and Introduction, p. 35. 160 This reference to the pen (stilus) and the comment below that Allabigus is revealing the secrets of the group to their enemies again suggest that the participants are composing a written lament to Arsenius. 161 Ergo quia nec premeditari potuimus tanti viri obitum. Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.35, p. 229: Cuius ego casum, quo esset tolerabilior, nec praemeditari potui. 86

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and when. Previously our thoughts feared to contemplate anything about him like what we grieve to have ultimately happened, not because we were unaware of his condition, but because a certain habit of prayer had clouded our understanding of our common frailty, so that we were unable to contemplate anything about him unless it was favourable.162 At the time, I was dispatched by the emperor on an errand that you know, and during my return, before I had reached Cologne, I learned in the room where most of the monks ate together that the one for whom we now grieve had been sent into exile by way of reward.163 The table reading was from the middle of the prophet Isaiah, where it is said, ‘Egyptians will fight against Egyptians, and Egypt will be broken in its bowels.’164 Then I shuddered. Then, drenched to overflowing (so to speak) with a whole shower of tears, and broken in grief, I collapsed, to the astonishment of all. Some were speaking of what had happened; others imagined that I was an accessory to his guilt. But none of them is the same to me now as he was before, though at the time they appeared deeply concerned with me.165 I assure you, however, that at that very hour I had a premonition of everything that was to happen later. There can be no doubt, therefore, that the divine spirit fills all things everywhere, even those that it does not possess.

162 Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.35, p. 229: ita pavebat animus de illo tale aliquid cogitare, non quo condicionem ignorarem, sed quidam votorum usus sensum communis fragilitatis obduxerat, ut de illo nisi secunda omnia cogitare nescirem. 163 As a punishment for his leadership in the rebellion of 830, Wala was exiled from the court; according to the Astronomer, c. 45, p. 462, this happened in October 830 at the assembly of Nijmegen, when Wala was sent off to Corbie to live like a proper monk. The Astronomer claimed that Louis pardoned his opponents in the spring of 831, yet the AB, s.a. 831, pp. 12–​14, present the assembly in Aachen of 1 February 831 as the time of the final reckoning with the rebels, and so does Nithard, I, c.  3, p.  14. Probably Radbert had Wala’s formal condemnation in Aachen in mind, and his own discovery thereof while he was in Cologne, in early February 831. 164 Isaiah 19:2–​3:  ‘And I  will set the Egyptians to fight against the Egyptians, and they shall fight brother against brother and friend against friend, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. And the spirit of Egypt will be broken in the bowels thereof, and I  will cast down their counsel …’ (Et concurrere faciam Aegyptios adversum Aegyptios, et pugnabit vir contra fratrem suum et vir contra amicum suum, civitas adversus civitatem, regnum adversus regnum. Et disrumpetur spiritus Aegypti in visceribus eius, et consilium eius praecipitabo …). 165 Radbert’s open display of grief at the news of Wala’s banishment makes him suspect and complicit in the eyes of the monks in Cologne and others present in the refectory. 87

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Severus: Let me tell you what is on my mind, and you may pronounce judgement. When he was the only one, when there was no other hope, when his powers were at their height, then many people paid court to him and held him in honour. But now, after a pretext has been discovered, those persons of whom you are complaining have revealed themselves. Still, I would not say that these things happened by chance, since the reading and the tears together revealed that our Egypt would be eviscerated. Perhaps already at that time the belly of the heart was keening like a lyre against the unspeakable deeds of future men. Chapter 9 [p. 34] Adeodatus: Since different sorts of affairs are being brought up in conversation, the style is becoming muddled, the order of speaking is not preserved, nor does a flood of tears spring abundantly from the well of the heart.166 For this reason, I would like you to open up these warm springs to us and indicate what sort of person he was when he entered monastic life. For even though virtues retain their beauty when hidden beneath a cloak and flourish amidst the allurements of the world, nonetheless they become fairer still in a school of virtue, where, when the vices have been cut away, the field is redolent with the sweet smell of one’s fellow soldiers, and everyone’s thoughts are only on what is holy and belongs to God. Pascasius: If you are asking, Adeodatus, what sort of person he was, then I will tell you he was just as that Virgilius Maro of yours puts it:  ‘complete, polished and well-​rounded’.167 Of course, this verse, though it is 1 66 Paschasius Radbertus, De fide, spe et caritate 1, p. 101. 167 … totus teres atque rotundus. This phrase originates with Horace, Satires 2.7.86 (see below), but was later echoed in the poem De viro bono (Eclogues 20.14) written by the Gallo-​Roman grammarian and rhetorician Decimus Magnus Ausonius (c. 310–​ 94). At some point Ausonius’ poem began to circulate in manuscripts as part of a collection of Virgilian juvenilia. 88

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accorded high praise in your Virgil, is actually found much earlier in Horace, who, when speaking of the wise man, said that he was ‘strong and in himself wholly self-​sufficient, polished and well-​rounded’.168 Thus, it is surely proved, as in a great many other places, that your clever Maro earned praise for the thoughts of others, and, like a beggar, confected a banquet of vanity (for children, at least) from many fragments of philosophers.169 But this man of ours shone out in an even more praiseworthy manner as soon as he left the world, illuminated as he was by the grace of Christ. He arrived strong in God, and polished and well-​rounded, as they say, since there is nothing more well-​rounded on every side, extending out from the centre, than when the virtues accord with divine reason. Don’t you think that virtue properly defined is a kind of equilibrium of life, one that is consonant with reason on every side?170 For if something in life is out of harmony with something else, as that distinguished man says, it causes greater offence (if I am not mistaken) than if one part of a circle is more or less distant from the centre than the others. It is this virtue, therefore, and true reason, which make up the perfect life,171 a life that is perfect on all sides if it is in harmony with the truth and attains to the virtues. One is rightly held to be worthy and blameless in life, therefore, who manifests such virtue and integrity that he is thought to live in the virtues according to God. But this man is not credited with such qualities, for he is attacked on all sides by hatred and envy. For this reason, I think praise should be more sparing where truth is stifled by insults and justice extinguished by malice.172 168 Horace, Satires 2.7.83–​86: sapiens sibi qui imperiosus,/​quem nec pauperies neque mors neque vincula terrent,/​responsare cupidinibus, contemnere honores/​fortis, et in se ipso totus, teres atque rotundus. Cf. VA c. 15, col. 1516C: Erat autem iuxta illud Horatii, quod magnis laudibus praedicatur: Fortis et in se ipso totus teres atque rotundus. Radbert’s knowledge of this passage comes from Augustine, De animae quantitate 16.2. Augustine, and thus the participants in the dialogue, reads fortis as independently modifying the substantive sapiens; in fact, it governs the infinitives responsare and contemnere. 169 Accusations of plagiarism against Virgil are attested early on and mentioned in a lost biography by Suetonius, which was later incorporated into the Vita Vergilii of the fourth-​century grammarian Aelius Donatus. A rebuttal of these allegations of plagiarism is found at Macrobius, Saturnalia 6.1.1–​7. 170 Augustine, De animae quantitate 16.27. This text is found in Paris, BnF lat. 13369, which was copied at Corbie under Abbot Maudramnus (772–​81). See Ganz, Corbie, p. 139; Bischoff, Katalog, vol. III, no. 1409, p. 206. 171 Augustine, De animae quantitate 16.27. 172 Pascasius again cautions against praising Arsenius too much in public, thus provoking the ire of Severus. 89

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Severus: I suppose that if you had lived during the age of the persecutions, you would either have claimed to know nothing about Christ, or at any rate you would have stayed silent. But now, I ask you, put aside your fear. No one here will force you to swear again.173 But tell yourself this: ‘If I harm what I love, there will be no end to the harm that I do.’174 The love that I  once imbibed from him, and which I  cannot receive anywhere else, is enough for me. If what has been seen brings no profit,175 therefore, then let us approach the arms of virtue ourselves. For if I do not cease to offer fitting praise to God in return for men of this calibre, I will be more blessed, though I am myself unequal to his teaching and pattern of life. Pascasius: We are attempting something daunting, brother Adeodatus, but there is no virtue without struggle.176 So let us tell a ‘tale’ (as it is called) that is well known to the whole world. For, as you say, there is little virtue in remaining silent about what happens, whereas it is a serious offence to talk about what ought to be kept quiet,177 though many have found it advantageous to conceal what ought to be said and to reveal what ought not to be mentioned. [p. 35] For our Arsenius here, as you know well, came to the monastic life already virtually perfect, though he is subsequently believed to have grown greater and better, since there is no one in this life who cannot make progress in the virtues. He came, I repeat, as that poet of yours says: ‘A good man, and wise. Apollo, if asked, could scarcely find his like out of all the thousands of men. He was his own judge, who subjected each and every aspect of himself to scrutiny.’178 I must say that I have never seen anyone who scrutinised 173 An allusion to the Roman practice of forcing suspected Christians to swear on the gods of the empire or the genius of the emperor during periods of persecution. 174 Ovid, Heroides 20.35. 175 … si non proficiunt visa. A cryptic statement that seems to mean if what has been openly observed about Wala is not enough, then we must steel ourselves to praise him openly. 176 Ovid, Ars amatoria 2.537: Ardua molimur, sed nulla nisi ardua virtus. 177 Ovid, Ars Amatoria 2.603–​4: Exigua est virtus praestare silentia rebus /​At contra gravis est culpa tacenda loqui. 178 Ausonius, Eclogues 20.14 (De viro bono) 1–​3. See n. 167 above. 90

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himself as much as he did. He pried into the inner motivations of his own actions –​I will not say every day, but on a continual basis –​to a degree that no judge, no matter how skilled, has ever examined the affairs of others. Adeodatus: Tell me how, if he came to the monastic life already smooth and well rounded, he was subsequently able to become greater and better than he was. For can anything be more well rounded than round? If this is possible, it implies that it was not already round, such that a circle of virtues was formed (through the workings of God, of course) around a fixed point. Pascasius: Insofar as the form of the art of geometry is concerned, what you say is true. But if we consider the form of the virtues, then on every side they are always positioned at equal distances in a sphere, with Christ working within. Here only a beginning of the form is undertaken; there, where there is a city of virtues,179 it is completed. Hence, just as no one is good in comparison to God, so, too, no one is perfect. And just as no one is perfect, so, too, no one is smooth or well rounded, although a man might be called good and perfect; and if he is perfect, he is necessarily smooth, because he is formed in Christ, ‘around whom’, we read ‘there was a rainbow’,180 which signifies the complete perfection of the virtues. Certainly, no one progresses to this point who is not daily found better and greater than himself. Hence also the prophet says ‘Blessed is the man whose help is from thee; in his heart he hath disposed to ascend by steps.’181 As for what it means to ascend by steps, he adds with regard to individuals that ‘they will go from virtue to virtue’.182 Thus, just as it 179 The civitas virtutum is the monastery, where a person who was ‘circular’ (rotundus) with respect to the virtues, in that he displayed them all in equal measure, could still become more rotundus (i.e., more perfect). 180 Revelation 4:3: Et qui sedebat similis erat aspectui lapidis iaspidis et sardinis, et iris erat in circuitu sedis, similis visioni zmaragdinae (‘And he who sat there was to the sight like jasper and carnelian, and there was a rainbow around about the throne in sight like unto an emerald’). The narrator beholds God sitting upon the throne of heaven. 181 Psalms 83:6. 182 Psalms 83:8. 91

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is the form of all virtues, the love (caritas) that belongs to each person produces the particular quantity and quality of his soul.183 Thus, the soul grows greater through the virtues and shrinks through vice until it ceases to exist. Just as our Arsenius progressed every day from virtue to virtue,184 so, too, he proceeded from being to greater being, and thus to a greater and better existence. And though he was already polished in the virtues, he was continuously shaped by the hand of Christ so as to become even more polished and perfectly shaped. As for what he was like and how great he already was when he put aside service to the world, the abbot185 and brethren who are here can bear witness to this. When he sought entrance at the gate of monastic discipline as a novice,186 they took great care and diligence and examined him thoroughly using many testing trials and skilful means of correction. Truly they can bear witness that, like gold in the furnace, he stood trial amidst all the harsh and difficult rebukes in such a way that, though not yet even a beginner, he was already deemed to be a perfect soldier of Christ. For the spirit of God was within him, and for this reason, it is said, his resolve was not shaken amidst any of the vexations that pricked him, but every day he revealed himself to be more worthy than he had been before. [p. 36] How true, then, is the saying of the Apostle that ‘all things work together unto good to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints’.187 For surely he profited even from what was inflicted upon him as an evil. For together with the prophet he sang to the Lord: ‘For the sake of the words of thy lips, I have kept hard ways.’188 I declare that what seems difficult to many was easy for him –​for he was a monk. 183 The language is cryptic here, but Radbert appears to be claiming that caritas is the form of all virtues. See 1 John 4:16 (Deus caritas est); Augustine, sermo 13, PL vol. 30 col. 1256: ipsa denique charitas est forma omnis bonae actionis. See VA c. 4, col. 1509C where Radbert addresses Adalhard as forma virtutum. 184 Psalms 83:8. 185 A reference to one of Arsenius’ successors, Heddo (presumably elected in 836) or Isaac, who succeeded in 837. The information on these abbots is found in the twelfth-​century Vita Paschasii, p. 453; it is difficult to say how reliable it is. 186 Chapter 58 of the Rule of Benedict prescribed a one-​year novitiate for those seeking to enter the monastic life. From 816/​17 onwards this monastic rule was imposed as the only valid one in the Carolingian empire. See De Jong, ‘Carolingian monasticism’; Diem, ‘Carolingians’. 187 Romans 8:28: scimus autem quoniam diligentibus Deum omnia cooperantur in bonum his qui secundum propositum vocati sunt sancti. 188 Psalms 16:4. 92

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Chapter 10 Adeodatus: What kind of praise is this, that you proclaim him to be a monk? Are not we and a great many others called by the name of monk? Pascasius: We are rightly called monks in name only, for we are found false by virtue of our deeds. Thus it was that a certain one of the fathers, after inspecting himself closely, declared, ‘Wretched am I, who bear the false name of monk.’189 If you look carefully, therefore, very few are to be found. But this one of ours was one out of a thousand, for he alone was pointed out. Do you remember how the eyes of all those who visited us (for out of everyone there, they all immediately fastened their gaze on him) were fixed on him as though he were a beacon, seeking him out and desiring to speak with him alone? Even at first, though he was last in seniority, everyone held him in honour above all others. No one, therefore (as is normally the case with the abbot), wanted to be seen as a person worthy of reproach in his eyes owing to their frivolity.190 For his seriousness and the integrity of his character cast their light upon all, so that everyone humbly lowered their gaze in his presence.191 For you would have been more inclined to admit to something blameworthy in public192 than to him. But now how wretched we are to live without him, enticed as we are by many experiences with temptation! We are all 1 89 Jerome, Vita Pauli, c. 13: Vae mihi peccatori, qui falsum monachi nomen fero. 190 Nemo igitur, ut adsolet etiam apud patrem, levitatis causa quispiam apud eum reprehensibilis voluit inveniri. Mabillon and Dümmler set off ut adsolet with commas. The point here is that none of the monks wanted to come up short in the eyes of Wala, whom they held in awe as if he were an abbot, even though he was merely a novice at the time. 191 … vultum singuli coram eo submittebant. Summittere vultum is a rare formulation and probably derives from Suetonius, Divus Augustus 79.2: oculos habuit claros et nitidos, quibus etiam existimari volebat inesse quiddam divini vigoris, gaudebatque si qui sibi acrius contuenti quasi ad fulgorem solis vultum summitteret (‘[the emperor] had clear, bright eyes, in which he judged there to be a certain divine power, and he rejoiced if, when he stared intently at someone, they let their countenance drop as if they were looking at the brightness of the sun’). 192 Coram sole. Another unusual phrase, used here to mean ‘in public’. Radbert may well have borrowed it from c­ hapter 12 of the Gospel of Nicodemus (or Acts of Pilate), an apocryphal gospel composed in Greek in the fifth century and subsequently translated into Latin, which became enormously popular in the Middle Ages. 93

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the worse for that licence, which, when it springs into someone’s mind, often loosens the restraints of seriousness.193 Ask Severus, therefore, if you want to know anything about him. Severus: Brothers, brothers, what am I to say? Where am I to find the fullness of expression, when in me nothing remains of him but the capacity to sob and groan? For it benefited me to be with him when I was carrying the yoke of my youth,194 and I remained silent in his presence as if I were alone, more so than now, when the freedom to speak has been relaxed. And I believe now that I am permitted to do with impunity what at that time I feared to admit. I suffer from the habit (one that is common to almost everyone) of being better able to see and judge the behaviour of others than my own. Hence, I am very often guilty of dishonourable conduct, all the more so because now I  have frequent dealings with those who do not know what is lawful or good or right. Whether something is better or worse, or beneficial or harmful –​they don’t care and don’t notice.195 They are only happy doing what they want and defend nothing with their knowledge but the objects of their desire, even though circumstances do not allow them to be as they wish. Still more, we glorify and sing the praises of the man who has such force, power and skill at deception that he can declare what is false to be true and judge the wicked to be beyond reproach. For this reason, it is not now the time to say anything praiseworthy about him. Yet because everyone already knows, though they may hate or envy him, we need little in the way of eloquence to praise him, since he is universally proclaimed to be more religious196 and more perfect than anyone of our era. For he was in all things a disciple of monastic discipline, and one who served for a long time under a rule and an abbot. A disciple, I say, because in every case he showed himself to be submissive and humble, and he took more joy in obeying than leading. Yet he endeavoured to be of just as much use when bearing the master’s yoke as he was later when he 193 This is the first in a series of references to declining moral standards at Corbie, in praise of the heyday of the abbacy of Adalhard and Wala. 194 Lamentations 3:27: Bonum est viro cum portaverit iugum ab adolescentia sua. 195 Terence, Heautontimorumenos 642–​3:  quid cum illis agas qui neque ius neque bonum atque aequom sciunt, melius peius, prosit obsit, nil vident nisi quod lubet. 196 I.e., more scrupulous in his observance of the monastic way of life. 94

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was in charge. [p. 37] And this is precisely why an abbot or master is considered perfect: because he proves to be more perfect than others as a disciple. You will rarely find this type, since people take more delight in being in charge than in obeying and being useful. Otherwise, there would not be such a dearth of perfect office holders, nor such great difficulty in making progress; for many, although they are in charge, strive to be useful only to few, and to hinder many. But in his case many people praise how he bore up under the discipline of obedience. And then there was this instance when he was still a novice and the channel of the river was swollen, and the order was given (as is customary) for the brothers to go out and cut back the sodden mass of reeds to prevent further flooding.197 Then he began to urge the others to enter the river dressed only in their tunics to carry out their task more efficiently, and in response most of them went in with him. There they suffered from the bitter cold, and after word was brought back to the abbot at the monastery, they were immediately pulled out at his command and chastised not to presume to do anything like that again. This shows that often a culpable transgression can arise from a fervent love of what is good (if it is even right to say so), since the mind is less inclined to deliberate when it is driven by the love of charity, even though the Apostle Paul says that ‘charity never falls away’.198 Hence, we read that on many occasions things like this happened to Peter, since he gave little consideration to what he was saying.199 Moreover, this transgression is a fault not of love, but of ignorance, so that his fervour is the more easily forgiven. Did you not see what he was like –​ how humble and devoted –​when he was in charge of our hospitality?200 Which of our nobles did you ever see who always sought out such foul circumstances, endured such harsh conditions, and carefully handled 197 Removing obstructive plant growth from river channels increases their carrying capacity and is a traditional method of flood abatement. 198 1 Corinthians 13:8. 199 E.g., Matthew 16:22, Mark 8:32, Mark 9:5. In all four gospels Peter tells Jesus that he will not abandon him and later does (cf. Matthew 26:33, Mark 14:29, Luke 22:33, John 13:37). 200 Wala was in charge of the almshouse of Corbie, which housed up to twelve poor men every night and fed additional beggars who might appear. According to the Statutes of Adalhard, which were drawn up in 822 and describe the organisation of Corbie in precise detail, the reception of guests was overseen by the senior gatekeeper (portarius), while the almshouse was managed under his direction by two hostellers (hospitalarii); Statuta Adalhardi, c.  2, pp.  372–​4. See Kasten, Adalhard, pp. 110–​37. 95

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such disgusting and loathsome things? Not to speak of the filth of the shoes of the guests, he would wash the wounds of the poor and their stinking clothes as though he were carrying precious spices. For he took care of all of their needs unstintingly and without tiring. Pascasius: O good Lord Jesus, how indefatigable you made him when it came to all the duties of love! How vigorous! How capable! How devoted! He busied himself so diligently with his constant ministry201 that during the day he put the care of the poor, of guests and of the sick over and above everything else. During the night, after his brief rest was over, both before and after the vigils of the brethren,202 he would lie down prostrate, unwearied and together with Mary,203 on the floor before the holy altars at the feet of the Lord Jesus. You know, Lord Christ, how he watered the ground with showers of tears, asking you, sighing to you, beseeching you and knocking204 so that you would open the door of your mercy for him –​and open it, too, when you had earlier closed it –​and that you would receive him once you had mercifully opened it to him. At the time when the doors were opened, he knocked with faith (as we believe) to gain entrance, but now he embraced what he enjoyed205 with the love of charity.206 For he could say with the prophet, ‘My eyes have failed for thy word, saying, “When wilt thou comfort me?” ’207 I assure you that in the morning I often beheld places wet with the showers of his tears, and I saw that his eyes were spent from weeping. You, too, I believe, frequently saw him unkempt from the rigours of his vigils; 201 Satagebat enim circa frequens ministerium ita sollicitus. Cf. Luke 10:40: Martha autem satagebat circa frequens ministerium. 202 The night office of vigils, or matins. Arsenius does not sleep before or after them. On the Benedictine monastic office in early medieval Europe, see Billett, Divine Office. 203 Mary, the sister of Lazarus, sat at the feet of the Lord while her sister Martha served (Luke 10:38–​42). Having just been compared to the active Martha, Arsenius is now likened to the contemplative Mary. 204 The description of prayer through the metaphor of knocking derives from Matthew 7:7–​8 and Luke 11:9–​10. 205 … nunc fruendo amplectitur. The missing direct object is presumably God. 206 Cf. Radbert’s discussion of the Lord’s Prayer at In Mattheum 6.9, p. 379, where the metaphor of knocking at ‘the door of piety’ also appears: omnium vox est una et simul omnes una fide Deum in mente portant, una caritate diligunt, una spe fruuntur. Simul quoque omnes unum petunt, unum querunt, unam propulsant ad ianuam pietatis. 207 Psalms 118:82. 96

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you saw him drenched with tears; you saw him consumed with groans; you saw how he was wasting away from hunger, how his skin clung to his bones because of his austere diet, how his face ran with sweat from the toils of his life. For he led both lives at the same time –​a life of activity during the day, and a life of contemplation at night –​and he was adorned with the flowers of both. [p. 38] For though he was active with Martha, he knew with Mary that one thing was necessary,208 and for this reason he always made each one of his actions conform to this single purpose. Here gasping for breath, there hurrying to accomplish these things from the obligations of love, he exerted himself, making the field of his body run with sweat during the day and with tears at night. Early in the morning you might have seen him suffused, as it were, with crimson dew,209 and sprinkled with showers of tears. If, then, you wish to know the truth more fully, ask Severus, who was always more committed to and capable of keeping vigils than I was, and therefore knew more about all these matters. Severus: Although what you say about me is not true, still, in one way or another I  did observe many things about him that rightly ought to be made public. Do you recall how insensible he was when singing to the Lord? Hardly once during the night did he step away from the holy altars to go to bed. If you asked him whether he wished to stay awake singing, asking, seeking and knocking,210 and outlast the night211 with weeping and tears, he would reply with that saying of Cato:212 ‘Whether I want to or not, whether I am able to or not,’ it nonetheless benefits me to stay awake on account of the passage ‘blessed are those who watch at my gates’,213 for if they seek me early in the morning, they will find me. If not 2 08 Luke 10:42. 209 Cf. Paulinus of Aquileia, De nativitate domini, MGH Poet. lat. I, p. 146: Respersi tamen rore sed purpureo, where the ‘crimson dew’ describes the blood of the martyrs. 210 … petendo, querendo, pulsando. Cf. Matthew 7:7; Luke 11:9; according to the RB c. 58.3, whoever wants to join the community as a new monk ‘comes knocking’ (pulsans). 211 … noctemque … vincere: Cf. Virgil, Aeneid 1.727: et noctem flammis funalia vincunt; Statius, Thebaid 1.520: ast alii tenebras et opacam vincere noctem. 212 This passage is not found in the Disticha Catonis. 213 Cf. Proverbs 8:34: ‘Blessed is the man that heareth me and that watcheth daily at my gates and waiteth at the posts of my doors’ (Beatus homo qui audit me et qui vigilat ad fores meas cotidie et observat ad postes ostii mei). 97

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for the blessedness of his perfect labour, he never would have been able to endure the burdensome duty of so many sleepless nights. Above all, there was no one in the morning who could not see that the stones of the floor were wet where he had soldiered for the Lord during the night. O, what a time it was then! For you would have seen everyone else roused from sleep night after night as if at the crow of a single cock, noising about here and there on all sides with deep groans. Now, however, the more we are stupefied by sleep, the more we are like the living dead, because when we are slaves to sleep, we are dead, even though we live. Chapter 11 Pascasius: You speak only of his vigils, and not of the excellence of his life. Either you don’t remember it, or –​more likely –​you don’t dare to expand on it –​which is what you criticise in me! Severus: I certainly dare to, but one should not speak recklessly about another person. Pascasius: Take care, brother, lest you run afoul of the criticism of the comic poets.214 For as they say, it is impossible for anyone to be free or obedient, or to know how to handle the truth correctly, or to know another or be known by him, in the absence of an honourable life. Perhaps this is the reason that you do not wish to show how much you cared for him, and that he did not dare to trust you as a father should. If this had been the case, you never could have been silent about him, even if you wanted to. Severus: Of course I want to show what was virtuous in him. For I trusted him more than myself, because he kept nothing about himself to himself, 214 Pascasius’ remarks here draw heavily on Terence, Heautontimorumenos 1.1.100–​5 (152–​6), a scene in which Chremes commiserates with his neighbour Menedemus, whose strictness has alienated his son. 98

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so that I  would not know it. He gave himself over completely,215 so that he fashioned in me in his own paternal features.216 For he did not give himself any respite, nor did he have any regard for himself,217 but committed himself wholly to God and directed himself to those things that are unseen.218 Hence it was plain to see, whenever it was his turn to heat the living quarters of the brothers during winter, how he shone out all the more nobly through his virtues, and with what lustre of acrid smoke he glowed, though dingily darkened with pitch.219 He was so scorched by the fire and the blaze of the furnace that you would have beheld him not as a man clothed in flesh but as some sort of sooty ghost come to life. [p. 39] Pascasius: I recall and remember this well, for God tested him like gold in a furnace, so that he eventually received him like a burnt offering.220 He willingly exhausted himself through his labours, seeking the evils of this world rather than its delights, so that he might endure them for the sake of God. He weakened himself with fasting and practised restraint through the frugality of his diet. He concerned himself with everyone and was weighed down by a deep and pious concern for the brothers. He served the guests and sick brothers with attentive subservience, and when a number of them shied away from his ministrations 215 Ad liquidum literally means ‘manifestly’ or ‘clearly’, but here, as at other places in Radbert’s corpus, it seems to mean something closer to ‘completely’. 216 … ut paternos in me formaret vultus. Cf. EA I, prol., p. 19: cuius imitator esse et paternos (ut aiunt) vultus refundere debueras. 217 Terence, Heautontimorumenos 1.1.17–​18 (69–​70):  denique/​ nullum remittis tempus neque te respicis (‘You give yourself no respite, nor do you have any regard for yourself ’). In the opening scene of the play, Chremes advises Menedemus to cut back on manual labour and assign more work to his slaves. 218 … transposuit ad ea quae non videntur. Cf. 2 Corinthians 4:18:  Quae enim videntur, temporalia sunt; quae autem non videntur, aeterna sunt. Radbert uses transponere intransitively here. 219 … acrimoniarum fumi nitoribus…aestuabat: lit. ‘he glowed with the resplendence of the bitterness of smoke’. Fumi nitor(es) is an oxymoron unattested anywhere else. 220 For true monks who need to be tested like gold in a furnace, see the RB c.  1.6; Psalms 66:10; Proverbs, 27:21; Wisdom 3:6. On the monastic profession and child oblation as an act of sacrifice pleasing to God (holocaustum), see De Jong, In Samuel’s Image, pp. 185–​91,  282–​9. 99

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out of a sense of reverence, he often spoke up and said, ‘Listen you! Why do you want to eliminate my duties and take away the obedience that has been imposed on me?’ In response, everyone immediately offered themselves yieldingly into his hands. And so from day to day his fame was carried everywhere to the ears of more and more people and commended him as worthy of praise. What more is there to say? Shortly after Antonius died,221 he was appointed in the latter’s place as the distinguished abbot. I myself was sent as an emissary by the brothers on account of his election, and I quickly obtained from the emperor what many previously wanted. In order to escape notice he had previously gone to visit our brethren and build up that second house222 which shares the same name as its mother (being herself a mother, but a different one; a different one, but the same). As soon as he was recalled from there, our election occupied him. At that time some of the chief men (at the behest of the emperor, as I understood it) asked me about the austerity of his life and the rigour of his discipline, suggesting that we would not be able to endure him or follow in the footsteps of his conduct. To this I  responded with a kind of laugh:  ‘Look you, don’t you know who we are? Do you really think that, contrary to nature, we want to elect a tail instead of a head, as some are accustomed to do? And if he were as great as you suggest, how much greater then was one of the saints? Because we can’t keep up with him, are we really supposed to set over ourselves one who follows behind rather than leads from the front?’223 He smiled a little at this and, reported it back –​I believe –​to the emperor. In the aftermath 221 Wala’s brother Adalhard died on 2 January 826. See VA c. 87, col. 1552B; Kasten, Adalhard, 168–​9. The byname Antonius, which appears to have been assigned to him by Alcuin, refers to the monastic pioneer Anthony (d. 356). See VA c. 21, col. 1519C. 222 Corbie’s daughter abbey of Corvey, in Saxony. The implication here seems to be that Wala was lying low (gratia dilitiscendi) to avoid being appointed abbot. If this is what Radbert was hinting at, it can be linked to the claim below that Wala was chosen abbot against his will (licet invitus), a topos of hagiography and episcopal/​ monastic biographies. The Translatio s. Viti, c. 4, p. 35, says that when Adalhard died Wala was at Corvey ‘for the sake of the election’ (electionis gratia). 223 Deuteronomy 28:13: … constituet te Dominus in caput et non in caudam et eris semper supra et non subter si audieris mandata Domini Dei tui quae ego praecipio tibi hodie et custodieris et feceris … (‘And the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail: and thou shalt be always above, and not beneath: yet so if thou wilt hear the commandments of the Lord thy God which I command thee this day, and keep and do them’).

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of these discussions, I obtained absolutely everything that I wanted, just as I wanted it.224 And under orders from the emperor he who had for some time now avoided preferment yielded to our wishes, albeit unwillingly. Adeodatus: I am afraid that those who rail against a man such as this may feel that we are discussing too openly one of whom you proposed to speak obliquely. Pascasius: What we are talking about is neither unseen nor unknown. And so even though the writing is obscured, nonetheless the broad strokes of his deeds stand out, as it is with skilled painters who often give expression to faces in such a way that they speak without script or voice. Yet while I have not yet applied my lips to these affairs and I am keeping them hidden under silence, there will come a day, I  believe, when I will be allowed to speak openly about his deeds, and for what is most important about him to be revealed more plainly. In the meantime, though, as you advise, we would do well to speak more carefully, lest we step over the line, and to grieve more deeply that we live without him, when it would have been better to die with him, I believe, since his death has been transformed into life (though it was perhaps earlier than we would have wished) so that wickedness might not alter his heart.225 Think over in your mind whether this is not the case. [p. 40]

224 Krüger, ‘Nachfolgeregelung’, p. 188, suggests that what Radbert obtained from the emperor was Wala’s undivided control of both Corbie and Corvey, just as Adalhard had held. 225 Wisdom 4:11: ‘He was taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding or deceit beguile his soul’ (Raptus est ne malitia mutaret intellectum illius aut ne fictio deciperet animam illius). This passage was typically explained as a reference to the biblical patriarch Enoch, as, for example, at Ambrose, De excessu 1.30, p. 226 (with cor substituted for intellectum, as here). For its use in a consolatory context, see Jerome, ep. 60, p.  550:  laeter et gaudeam quod raptus sit, ne malitia inmutaret mentem eius.

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Adeodatus: I truly believe and ponder it because it is the voice of truth that says: ‘He that believes in me, though he die, shall live.’226 This man did not believe this in a perfunctory way, but from his whole being and with love, since only that faith gives life which operates through love.227 And therefore, because he lived and believed in him who brings the dead to life, he will not die for all eternity.228 Pascasius: You, too, because you believe in this way, are amply supplied with faith. How much more, then, ought we to believe that a man redolent of such virtuous deeds is now receiving imperishable rewards as a result? For from the day of his profession he bore the mortification of Christ upon his own body, and after he was subsequently elected abbot, like Christ’s standard-​bearer he was on every occasion the first to take the field of battle against his monstrous enemies. For when the nature of his service changed, so did the soldier. He who had first taken up arms against the indomitable race of the Abodrites229 was proclaimed thereafter to have won greater glory by bearing the standards of the virtues against the monstrosities of vice. Consequently, he who once spurned the honours of this world on behalf of the faith now bears the prize of victory as his reward. Chapter 12 Adeodatus: We know all of this. But I would like you to talk about the manner of his life under our Antonius, for the particular benefit of our brothers living

2 26 John 11:25. 227 Galatians 5:6. 228 John 11:25. 229 The Abodrites were a Slavic people who inhabited the area around the Elbe basin and the Baltic Sea. They fought with Charlemagne against the Saxons from the 780s onward, but their defeat at the hands of the Danish king Godefred in 808 and the murder of their dux Thraso a year later led to political instability and conflict with the Franks.

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in Saxony, whose nation he belonged to,230 so that they might know more fully what sort of men they had as the founders of their faith. Pascasius: If I were to try to tell this story I would not know where to start, where to turn to first or where to go next, since their231 lives and deeds were so intertwined that from the time that I knew them you could not find anything that one did without the other. Even though a particular action might belong to one of them, or there might be some difference between them in ability, time or office, nonetheless they shared the same desires and a single will, so that you would have seen them under one yoke, so to speak, patiently pulling their plough in the husbandry of the Lord and bearing their burdens together.232 And if it ever happened that they were separated for some period of time, you would have seen one of them searching for the other with sighs and longing, like an ox looking for his fellow, since neither of them felt that he was completely there if the other was absent. On the contrary, in affection each one of them was more where the other was than with himself. And just as an ox frequently proves its devotion with continuous lowing, if by chance the partner at whose side it was accustomed to pull the plough is absent,233 in the same way they sighed anxiously out of longing for one another, wondering what the other was doing, until the time when they could be reunited. Although one of them was older in years and the other quite 230 Wala’s Saxon ancestry is underlined, which implies that his mother was a Saxon; see EA I, c. 12, c. p. 40; also EA I, c. 13, p. 42; on Wala and Saxony, see Flierman, Saxon Identities, pp. 137–​46; Rembold, Conquest, pp. 153–​5,  175–​6. 231 I.e., Wala and his older half-​brother, Adalhard. 232 Cf. In Mattheum 10:2 (where the apostles are named by pairs), p.  568:  Constat igitur caritatem non minus quam inter duos haberi posse. Idcirco satis dispensative duo simul reor iunguntur quatinus et ipsi prius eadem fibula charitatis annectantur et ceteros iugo dilectionis in hac Domini agricultura binos ac binos consocient (‘For charity is said not to be able to exist among fewer than two people. For this reason, it was quite deliberate, I believe, that two were joined together at the same time, so that they themselves might first be bound by the same brooch of charity and then join together others, two by two, in the yoke of love in this husbandry of the Lord’). 233 Et sicut bos frequenti mugitu quam sepe pium alterius testatur affectum, si forte defuerit cum quo trahere aratrum a latere consueverat. Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.8, p. 213: Bos bovem requirit seque non totum putat et frequenti mugitu pium testatur adfectum, si forte defecerit, cum quo ducere collo aratra consuevit.

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young,234 in both the longing was equal. For while one was stronger in body and the other loftier in the ardour of his charity,235 they shared one intention, one purpose and one will. Thus, while this one had a more acute understanding, our old man was more expansive in counsel and charity; this one was more zealous for justice, as it were, but the latter was more mature in his circumspection and had a greater depth of foresight, so that while the one would respond to particular events more decisively at short notice, the other would at the same time carefully consider both the present benefits and possible future disadvantages. Although they were siblings in flesh, therefore, and brothers in faith and will, [p. 41] nonetheless their behaviour differed in this respect: that one conducted himself in all things as a venerable father, and the other as a disciple of monastic discipline and a beloved and wholly submissive son. Severus: Nobody doubts this, since, as everyone agrees, they were unique among the whole royal line in their sanctity and devotion, and wholly dedicated to goodness. It is not surprising, therefore, that those who offered themselves to others as an example to imitate supported one another in the mutual exercise of virtue. But while our Antonius was at this time worn out with old age and took a lesser share of the work and responsibilities, he was nonetheless more expansive in charity, while the other always clung assiduously to his side with an attitude of pious devotion,236 and humbly carried out the responsibilities of leadership through his own offices, so that you might have seen him attending to everything like a son. He showed him reverence like a younger man, obedience like a servant, earnest attention like a beloved brother, tender love at times as a father. He gave authoritative counsel with all humility like an elder, and had such patience in all things that no slights or vexations bothered him.237 234 The age gap between the two brothers may have been more than twenty years, enough to justify Radbert’s comparison of their relationship as akin to that of a father and son. 235 … ardore caritatis sublimior. This point is reiterated below by both Paschasius (senex noster … in caritate latior) and Severus (erat autem in caritate amplior). 236 … cuius semper latus sollicitior iste affectu piae affectionis suo fovebat studio. Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.8, p. 213: quo pio semper sollicitus adfectu latus meum tuo latere saepiebas. 237 … cui exhibebat reverentiam ut iunior, famulatum ut servus, diligentiam ut frater carissimus, teneritudinis amorem aliquando ut pater, imperiosum quoque consilium cum omni humilitate ut senior. Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.8, p. 213: caritate ut frater, cura ut pater, sollicitudine ut senior, reverentia ut iunior. 104

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Pascasius: You recall this well, brother, such that in this one relationship you seem to enumerate to us the duties of several. Hence, in one and the same person we grieve not to have lost a single man, but many,238 all the more so because the force of so terrible a grief compels us to remember what we lost not only in him, but now also in our Antonius. For their fraternal brilliance and the loveliness of their life shone out so brightly and were so conspicuous not only among us, but everywhere in this imperial realm, that it was as if you could see two heavenly lamps shining everywhere, though one was smaller (so to speak), because he was the son, and the other greater, because he was the father –​the one an old man and longer in years, and the other quicker to act,239 perhaps, because of his restless nature,240 just as he was younger in age. There was no flattery on either side, but rather a display of mutual devotion.241 Nor was there any discord between them, for you could find nothing to add to their unity of purpose,242 since they shared one spirit and one faith, one harmonious concord, and a true commitment to monastic life. You could detect nothing among them except for complete charity and devotion, such that no change of fortune could alter it. Nor could you recognise any difference between them in their desires; for their integrity of character was so attractive that even if one surpassed the other in a particular virtue, you could still discern among them one harmony of honourable conduct and one just proportion of virtue.243 Thus, what belonged to one was so much a 238 Ambrose, De excessu 1.8, p.  213:  Ita in unius necessitudinis gradu conplurium mihi necessitudinum officia pendebas, ut in te non unum, sed plures amissos requiram. 239 Acrior: the word implies fervour, keenness to act, and possibly excessive haste. 240 Agilitas morum:  an unusual formulation. Like acrior above, it implies haste and quickness to act. 241 In quibus nulla adulatio fuit, sed hinc inde expressa pietas. Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.8, p. 213: in quo uno ignorata adulatio, expressa pietas. 242 … non invenires ad eorum propositi simulationem quid adderes. Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.8, p. 213: Neque enim habebas, quod simulatione adderes. The phrase propositi simulationem literally means ‘the deceptiveness/​pretence of their intent’, which is obviously not what Radbert is trying to communicate here. It makes sense here to accept the suggestion of Mabillon that simulationem is used here for similitudinem. 243 … unam…armoniam honestatis … unumque virtutis temperamentum. These two phrases are roughly synonymous. Honestas means not ‘honesty’ but integrity or probity, and is thus close in meaning to virtus. Harmonia means a concord or harmonious balance, while temperamentum here probably denotes a proportionate mixture rather than ‘temperament’. The meaning seems to be that while either brother might have been more prominent in any particular virtue (e.g., it is repeatedly 105

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part of them that you would have deemed it common to both, such that this one was truly said to be half of the other one, just as that one was thought to complete this one. Thus it is, dearest brothers, that with such concord and devotion they planted the seeds of a new vineyard in Saxony, and with God’s help built monastic communities for both sexes from the foundations. Chapter 13 Adeodatus: I am surprised that you would want to equate them, since it was not he who built them, but Antonius, who was the shepherd of this place and thus had the means of building it at his disposal. The other was one among many, as it were, though he was held in greater favour (since he was his brother), offered sager counsel, was foremost in his determination, rendered greater assistance and was more assiduous in prayer. And thus, while they always [p. 42] loved one another dearly, and each wanted his own labours to redound to the credit of the other, by rights the reward for this work belongs to the one through whose efforts these accomplishments were consecrated. For even though the desire to do what is pious and holy was common to both, it is rightly assigned to the merits of the one who had the power to act, however much the endeavour may have been communal in nature. Pascasius: In so far as it regards what is external and depends on human judgement, reputation usually goes hand in hand with popular praise. But the divine judge looks within at the grace that he has given to each person and the labour that has been expended on top of that. But because these men shared one purpose, and the will of one depended on that of the other,244 when he spoke it was clear to all that this one245 was the first to emphasised that Adalhard excelled in caritas), taken together they constituted a single harmonious whole. 244 … utraque eorum ex alterius pendebat voluntate. Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.23, p.  222:  Uterque enim nostrum ex alterius ore pendebat (‘For each of us hung on the words of the other’). 245 I.e., Wala. The Translatio s. Viti c. 3 reports that Adalhard had originally had the idea to build a monastery in Saxony, and that after his banishment, his successor, also named Adalhard (see below), ‘took counsel with the older brothers and those 106

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be divinely inspired, having seized the opportunity on behalf of certain men of his nation who had come to us seeking conversion, and who gave us land from their own possessions where a monastery could be built.246 And because he was zealous in his love of God and the holy faith, and for the neighbouring men of his nation and his homeland, he set about insistently trying to convince the distinguished abbot (the namesake of the old man)247 to let him expend the labour and provide the funds necessary for this undertaking. For at that time the internal supervision and public governance of our monastery rested with him.248 When the abbot heard this, he made the wishes and desires of our Arsenius his own. And thus a virtuous undertaking was begun and carried along successfully until the time when the venerable Antonius returned from exile and was restored to favour.249 Upon his return, the other’s will soon became that of the old man,250 so that in the case of this divine gift251 you might have seen the son bringing forth his venerable father.

who came from that region, and finally with the whole congregation to see how to carry it out’. In what follows Radbert noticeably downplays Adalhard’s role in the founding of Corvey; see De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 48–​52. 246 Certain Saxons had entered the monastic life at Corbie and donated land in return for their acceptance into the monastery. The Statutes of Adalhard list a certain Bruningus Saxo as a prebendary (Statuta Adalhardi c. 1, p. 365). 247 Adalhard the Younger, or Adalhard II, who became abbot of Corbie in 814, when the elder Adalhard was banished to St Philibert of Noirmoutier. According to the Translatio s. Viti c. 3, p. 38, Louis the Pious granted free choice of election to the monks of Corbie after the banishment (vero Ludewicus imperator ut Corbeienses monachi alium de suis abbatem sibi eligerent precepit). 248 … ipse iam tunc erat, in quo domestica monasterii nostri sollicitudo et cura residens publica requiescebat. On the face of it this is a remarkable statement, suggesting that Adalhard the Younger was forced to rely on Wala to manage Corbie after the banishment of the elder Adalhard. Some support for this idea is found in the Translatio s.  Viti, which reports (c. 3, p.  40) that Adalhard kept close counsel with Wala after he became abbot (Hunc prefatus abbas familiarissimum habuit). This passage closely echoes Ambrose, De excessu 1.20, p. 220: tu postremo unus, in quo domestica sollicitudo resideret, publica cura requiesceret (‘Finally, it was you alone in whom the care of my household and my public responsibilities resided’). 249 Adalhard returned from Noirmoutier in 821 and was reconciled with Louis at the assembly of Thionville; ARF s.a. 822, p. 156. 250 The claim that Adalhard only conceived of a desire to found a monastery in Saxony after the idea had been presented to him by Wala, and that Wala took the lead in its foundation, is at odds not only with the account in the Translatio s. Viti, c. 3, p. 42, but also with Radbert’s own report at VA c. 65, cols. 1540D–​1543B. 251 … in hac gratia. The inspiration to found a monastery –​which came to Wala first –​ is treated as a divine gift. 107

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For his constant exhortations in this effort made one intention of two and left a single trace of purpose, and God granted them that they should desire and oppose the same things. For before this these same men had been united in other matters as well, since neither wanted to live without the other, and they shared a single disposition of mind, a single desire and a single concern for the holy faith. Therefore, let the wisdom of their sons  –​especially those whom the faith of these men brought forth in equal measure,252 and those whom charity dedicated to God in this divine gift253 –​decide whether anyone deserves a greater reward than the person who, after God, first caused others to adopt the same goal through his frequent exhortations and then compelled them to bring it to completion; who through his valiant efforts raised it aloft on shoulders greater than his own; who fortified it through his unfailing counsel, and acted in all matters before the emperor, before the leading men of the whole realm and before everyone whom he could, using all of his ingenuity, skill and effort, so that the work that had been undertaken could be brought to completion through his urging. Chapter 14 Severus: This does not escape our notice. For we were well aware of everything and saw what he did with our own eyes, so much so that there were many who complained that he was plundering all the property of this monastery in order to enrich those places at our expense. But this much praise belongs to him: that without disturbance of the estates,254 he endowed those monasteries from every kind of property255 and enriched them with resources without greatly diminishing our own. [p. 43] At the same time, he governed the house of his brother256 and 2 52 I.e., brothers who had known both Adalhard and Wala. 253 … et caritas in hac gratia Dominio dedicavit. Assuming that gratia refers to the divine inspiration to found Corvey, this would be a reference to the monks of that foundation. 254 Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.20, pp.  220–​1:  haec enim laudis tuae portio est, quia sine offensione ulla et gubernasti fratris domum et commendasti sacerdotium. Radbert’s alteration of sine offensione ulla to sine offensione bonorum is important, since it implies that Wala offended some part of the brethren through his endowment of Corvey. 255 I.e., Wala endowed Corvey from his own property and that of Saxon aristocrats, not solely from what belonged to Corbie. 256 Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.20, p.  221:  et gubernasti fratris domum et commendasti sacerdotium. 108

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already showed himself worthy of the office of abbot (which he was later to hold), when on the inside he offered solace and a model of holy piety, and on the outside he served as a protective shield and rampart and a glorious example of complete virtue. As I  have said, moreover, he was already at that time exercising responsibility over the monastery along with the abbot, serving as a kind of arbiter in council257 and a general overseer, wielding control over everything. A diligent steward of souls, he also worked to see that our venerable abbot would not displease God in anything, but would satisfy him in every respect. For he was a banisher of grief258 and the staff of his saintly brother’s old age,259 as well as an incitement to virtue for all of us. The saintly old man rejoiced greatly and took delight in him because of the verdancy of his grace, since he himself had adorned his brother with his holy teachings and virtues, so that on both sides you might have seen them invigorated by one another and making progress in all things. But Pascasius may know all of this better –​what they did inside and outside and how they did it –​since he was their special companion in all things and the third member of their group, so to speak, in every enterprise. Chapter 15 Pascasius: I do not deny what you are arguing, least of all how together they built monasteries for both sexes among the aforementioned people with such devotion and fervour of charity, such humility and sublimity of virtue, that in themselves they demonstrated the model of saintly monasticism and an example of perfection so that the disciples who followed after them in the days of this world under the monastic discipline should have in them a model to imitate. For as the Lord, the teacher of truth, says, ‘every disciple will be perfect if he is as his master’.260 And therefore these men truly became imitators of Christ, so that with them securely established on a foundation, a future flock 257 … quasi arbiter in consilio. Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.20, p. 220: tu, inquam, in consiliis arbiter. 258 … depulsor … meroris. Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.20, p. 220: depulsor maeroris. 259 Tobias 5:23: Cumque profecti essent, coepit mater eius flere, et dicere: Baculum senectutis nostrae tulisti, et transmisisti a nobis. Cf. also Acta sancti Sebastiani martyris 2.7, col. 1024A: O filii, meae baculus senectutis et geminum meorum viscerum lumen. 260 Luke 6:40. 109

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might be gathered together for the Lord, lest a summit should be erected without the square base of the virtues261 and the stability of faith, or a foundation should be laid without a summit of complete perfection. For this reason, because they made themselves worthy of imitation, they should truly be followed before all others, and their teaching and examples preserved, lest that which was securely established at the foundation should totter badly at the top, and the seed that was sown in the best conditions should put forth a bad shoot. Henceforth, let our grief for the fathers we have lost be shared, for we all shared in the profit by living with them under such discipline. For in thinking back over their services and recalling their virtues, the mind cannot help but be affected, and yet in this very grief and affliction of the soul we are invigorated and our affection is renewed,262 especially for those of us who beheld them. In my case, moreover (for I was with them when they embarked on this enterprise), I  behold their absence as always present to me, as though I were looking back at it:263 when they were on a journey, when they remained in a given place, when they were attending to particular matters, when they were in counsel and spoke to one another. Then I drank in their grace with my eyes, perceived the speeches that they uttered with my ears and caught the words that they spoke.264 If it is now a source of joy for me to look back on all of this, 261 Quadratura virtutum, i.e., the four cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. Cf. In Mattheum 1.17, pp. 88–​9: Quisquis igitur Christiano censetur nomine non tantum glorietur dici quam esse quia profecto haec est quadratura virtutum quae perfectum faciat Christianum et omni soliditate undique versari firmissimum. 262 Nam in repetendis eorum officiis, recensendisque virtutibus non potest non affici animus, sed tamen in ipsa affectione animi et merore recreamur, et renovantur affectus. Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.20, p. 221: Sentio equidem quod repetendis officiis tuis recensendisque virtutibus adficiatur animus, sed tamen in ipsa mei adfectione requiesco atque hae mihi recordationes, etsi dolorem renovant, tamen voluntatem adferunt (‘I feel, for my part, that in recalling your services and thinking over your virtues my mind is troubled, yet in this state of mind I find repose, and these memories, though they renew my pain, yet bring some pleasure’). 263 … quasi reflexa cervice absentiam eorum semper presentem intueor. Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.22, pp.  221–​2:  Ego certe fraternae oblitus absentiae quasi praesentem reflexa saepius cervice quaerebam et coram alloqui atque aspicere videbar mihi (‘Forgetful of my brother’s absence, I often turned around to look for him as though he were there, and I seemed to speak with him and see him before me’). 264 … cum haurirem oculis eorum gratiam, et auribus perciperem sermones. Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.23, p. 222: Uterque enim nostrum ex alterius ore pendebat, non intento aspectu legere iter, sed mutuos sollicitus excipere sermones, haurire oculorum gratiam, spirare fraternae imaginis voluptatem. (‘For each of us hung on the words of the other, not focused on following the path, but anxious to hear each other’s words, to drink in the charm of each other’s eyes, to inhale the delight of our brother’s appearance’). 110

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what do you think, dear brothers? How great was the delight then? How great was the joy? How blessed were the times when I saw them contemplating such great and worthy actions? I tell you, it is impossible for me to describe how much I silently wondered to myself at their virtues, and how much I rejoiced that God had given such patrons to me, who was the third member of their fellowship (consortium), though unworthy. It was not by virtue of merit, or grace, or the honour of rank, but through their sufferance alone that I was present as an extra, merely to look and listen. [p. 44] And yet in attaching myself to them I  maintained a humble modesty and did not despair of my capacity for simplicity and innocence, at least.265 When I beheld their wisdom, I  marvelled greatly that they also possessed the simplicity of doves, and if I  was mindful of simplicity, yet there was hardly any spirit of wisdom to admire in me. To this simplicity they constantly joined their wonderful virtues,266 and what they expressed in words, they sensibly matched by example. At that time one of them could accomplish on his own things that earlier they could scarcely do together,267 and if one ever did something without the other, their habit of acting in unison now made it seem as though you could see both. And though on occasion one of them might show an uncovered flank,268 he nonetheless anticipated the disposition of the other with respect to conduct and the performance of duties, so that you would have marvelled to see in them a single purpose of mind, a single holy and inviolable grace, a single mental (if not bodily) vigour of mind, a single resolve and a single discipline of contemplation. When they were stretching out ropes by hand for this project, and taking measurements with a rod,269 and deciding where everything in both places270 would go, it seemed that they were 265 Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.23, p.  222:  cum tuam innocentiam cogitarem, efficaciam desperarem, cum efficaciam cernerem, innocentiam non putarem. 266 Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.23, p. 222: Sed utrumque mira quadam virtute iungebas. 267 Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.24, p. 222: Denique ea quae ambo nequiveramus concludere, solus inplesti. 268 … intectum latus exhiberet (i.e., acted on his own). Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.22, p.  221:  Quodsi quando sine altero prodeundum fuit, intectum latus putares, adfectum vultum cerneres, maestum animum iudicares (‘And if it were ever necessary for one to go out without the other, you would have thought his side was unprotected, you would have seen his face troubled, you would have judged his thoughts mournful’). 269 Measuring ropes and rods were key surveying instruments in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Cf. Translatio s. Viti c. 4, p. 42: Et postquam compleverunt litaniam et orationem, iactaverunt lineam et infixerunt paxillos et ceperunt mensurare, prius quidem templum, deinde habitationes fratrum. 270 I.e., the male and female monasteries at Corvey. 111

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measuring ‘the building of a structure’, as Ezekiel has it, ‘bending toward the south’,271 so that they might establish both the foundations and the roof in heaven. And when they lifted up their feet together,272 they raised their faces and eyes upward, so that you would have thought they were commending whatever arrangements they made on earth to God in heaven, and establishing the depths of the foundations273 where the summits of others scarcely reach. Adeodatus: As I see it, like the Apostle Thomas274 they established the foundations of the monasteries and the fabric of the dwellings so that they would never grow decrepit, and they built workshops and erected rooftops so that they would never fall down. In any case, I  do not think that they would have attempted these feats in such a distant region were it not that they believed (since the new light of Christ had just recently shone forth among this nation through the Holy Spirit)275 that they were establishing a heavenly dwelling among them, so that they might say in the Spirit with John: ‘Happily we saw a new Jerusalem adorned with her jewels in both sexes descending from heaven to where we were.’276 Thus, concerning 271 Cf. Ezekiel 40:2 In visionibus Dei adduxit me in terram Israel, et dimisit me super montem excelsum nimis, super quem erat quasi aedificium civitatis vergentis ad austrum (‘In the visions of God he brought me up into the land of Israel and set me upon a very high mountain upon which there was as the building of a city, bending towards the south’). 272 Qui cum adtollerent pariter gressus. The idiom is from Ambrose, De excessu 1.21, p. 221: cum gradum tollerem, vel tu meum vel ego tuum corpus videremur adtollere? (‘and when I took a step, did we not each seem to be lifting up each other’s body’). 273 Katabula fundamenti: ‘the bottom/​ base of the foundation’. In medieval Latin catabulum is used to mean stables, and by extension a lower level. 274 In the apocryphal acts of Thomas, the disciple tells Abbanes, the emissary of King Gundaforus of India, that he will establish foundations that will never grow old and build walls that will never fall down. See Passio S. Thomae Apostoli, c. 4, p. 5: colloco fundamenta quae numquam veterescunt, exstruo parietes qui numquam corruant. 275 Saxon resistance to Frankish rule ended in 804 after Charlemagne deported Saxons en masse from the lands east of the Elbe into Francia. Conversion of the Saxons followed on the heels of their subjugation. See most recently Rembold, Conquest, with reference to older literature. 276 Isaiah 61:10:  Gaudens gaudebo in Domino, et exsultabit anima mea in Deo meo, quia induit me vestimentis salutis, et indumento iustitiae circumdedit me, quasi sponsum decoratum corona, et quasi sponsam ornatam monilibus suis (‘I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation and with the robe of justice hath he covered me, as a bridegroom decked with a crown and as a bride adorned with her jewels’). 112

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these places it is universally proclaimed –​so that no one may be in doubt –​ that among this people these divine bastions were dedicated to God, together with their twin offspring. Chapter 16 Severus: Although all of this is as you say, I would nonetheless like to know in what respect our Arsenius played a greater part in this endeavour than any one of us who assisted the saintly old man, especially since at that time he had no authority277 and no means of doing any more than the rest of his comrades. For this reason, we ought to take care that we do not assign more credit to him than is necessary and comports with the truth. It may be the case, as was mentioned earlier, that he was the first to be divinely inspired with this great and noble purpose. After that, however, he shared a common goal with the rest of his brothers, and a common ability, or inability, to act together and render obedience in each particular instance. Pascasius: In the first place he had a special claim to merit in the undertaking because, as you say, he enjoyed the divine favour of conceiving of the idea before anyone else. Then, as events made clear, he accomplished more, because his desire was stronger than anyone else’s. And above all, his desire, [p. 45] which came first, generated and stimulated the desires of others, and nurtured them with appeals and constant exhortations, together with prudent counsel. And because of this, although the authority of office was with Antonius, as well as the special insight to see things through and the great force to achieve them, nonetheless, in some way this man’s grace seems to be superior –​though both shared in it  –​in that whatever the former did, or wanted to do, originated with the latter and was nourished by him together with the grace of God. And this is true not only of what he [Antonius] determined to do and accomplished, but also of whatever other people offered by way of assistance, as, for example, the idyllic, rich and fertile site where this

277 Potestas refers to the office of abbot. 113

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consecrated religious community was instituted,278 and everything  –​ whatever it was –​by which this place was surrounded. None of us is unaware of whose inheritance this was, an inheritance that he would not have yielded up to anyone else during his lifetime (not even, if I may say so, to the king), had he not been driven to it by the divinely inspired exhortations of that man, to whom he could argue nothing in response, since from a very young age he had been dearer and closer to him than anyone else.279 Thus spurred on by his pleas and advice, he willingly handed over to God whatever of most value he possessed on earth in response to his urging. Hence, by rights the recompense (gratia) for this should be awarded to him, who both selected and was able to obtain a location previously chosen by God that was ideal for this purpose, because I do not think that any other mortal could have done so. For among that people280 he was much beloved and most exceptionally renowned. This became clear when Antonius came to an assembly not far from this place, where a great crowd of the men of that nation had gathered because of them. After we had been received with reverence, they all began to turn their faces towards our Arsenius and crowd around him tightly because of their great love and admiration for him, so much so that in their joy and longing they would have taken him away from us. For none of them was paying any attention to Antonius, though he possessed the authority, and we were all supporting him on this side and that, thronging around him and venerating him to the utmost as our lord. But none of them gave a thought to any of us, or to who he was. Then Antonius, joyful in his humility that they had shut all of us out, and exultant at his brother’s reception, turned to me and said with a smile: ‘Well may we take our leave of this place, brother, since no one cares about our presence here or is waiting for anything.’ Then, after accepting two of them and leaving all the others behind, we returned, as if alone,281 to the aforementioned monastery, rejoicing and glad at heart. 278 Höxter, on the River Weser. For the qualities of the site, see also VA c. 65 col. 1541; Translatio s. Viti c. 3, p. 42. 279 Radbert here treats Höxter as the property of an unnamed Saxon noble who was persuaded to donate the land to the new foundation. For detailed analysis, see Krüger, Studien, pp.  25–​37, 53–​76; for a summary, De Jong, Epitaph, pp.  57–​61. Radbert attempts to play down Louis’ role in the foundation of Corvey. 280 The Saxons. 281 Adalhard and Radbert travel simpliciter, without the customary throng, including armed men, that normally accompanied a great abbot or magnate. 114

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I  have told you this so that the noble sons282 may know what sort of founders they had. For they thought humbly of themselves in all respects and were not –​as is typically the case –​influenced by the approval of the world. And thus neither was the one embarrassed nor the other puffed up by the honour that he had received, since the welcome of the latter [Arsenius] and his fame among the people was a source of joy and pride to the former [Antonius] –​not only because he was popular and universally loved, but because he was worthy of their love and welcome, so that he was made to prosper in all things in the Lord.283 For the rest, I do not know which of them was superior in humility, unless someone should wish to determine this with reference to their deeds. For while each of them ranked high in worldly honour, [p. 46] they nonetheless competed with one another to see who could be found more humble. This is why Antonius, although he was abbot and lord, modestly extended to his son and younger brother reverence of the sort that I do not think anyone would, or could, extend to a companion of the same age. And at the same time I do not think that anyone could adequately express –​since no one could imitate his ­example –​how diligently the other strove to see to it that no one excelled him in obedience, in the respect owed to his brother’s office, in care, solicitude, and all the obligations of due service, in speech, comportment and even in gait. And as an example to others of the humility that they displayed in their own conduct, I shall cite merely one case among many. While he practised greater austerity than anyone else by consuming only the humblest food, he also wanted to be content with the customs284 of that country, saying that it was not fitting that a monk, who ought to be dressed in humble clothes according to the practice of the land in which he lived, should wear more elegant clothing or partake of more refined food than the men of that region who were his companions. Consequently, he ordered shoes to be made for himself after the fashion of his fatherland, which they call ‘ruhilingos’,285 and he would have worn them, had this not been forbidden by the abbot for the sake of discretion.286 But I wonder why he [Adalhard] wanted to be 2 82 The monks of Corvey, who are the figurative sons of Corbie. 283 Psalms 117:25: O Domine, salvum me fac. O Domine, bene prosperare. 284 The manuscript reads usibus. Dümmler prints vestibus (‘clothing’), following Traube. 285 These were felt slippers. See Tiefenbach Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch, s.v. 286 Discretio (‘discretion’ or ‘discernment’) was a quality demanded of the abbot in the Rule of Saint Benedict, which calls it the ‘mother of virtues’ (RB c. 64.17–​19). The Translatio s. Viti c. 3, p. 36 characterises Adalhard as plenus discretione. 115

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so punctilious in this particular matter, when in his own behaviour he could be deemed excessively scrupulous287 (if it is permissible to say so). For at that time when he was travelling he refused to allow any contraption to be made for himself at night, such as travellers are accustomed to make, so that we could be sheltered from the rain. Nor did he permit any kind of tent to be erected for himself by day or night, but we rested spread out upon the ground, and according to what a certain person sings, ‘the grass itself provided us with refreshing sleep’.288 At the same time, the blessed abbot admirably provided deep and wide furrows in the fields (such as are typically found in that country) for himself and me, where he ordered me to spread out our bedding. On both sides their flanks surrounded us and kept us warm with their lovely bedposts. The saddle of a horse was placed in the middle, one peak of which supported my head and the other his. And we had nothing else there save what was above and below us from day to day. This had all the softness of a bed, and was quite a respectable arrangement. Severus: This does not seem excessively scrupulous, as you deem it, especially since we read that when Jacob was travelling at the cost of great toil to purchase a wife, he had nothing to support his head on the journey but a stone,289 and carried nothing to comfort him save a staff. Why, then, is it surprising that he should not be propped up with any honours or adorned with any pomp when he was travelling to ‘betroth a virgin to one husband and present a chaste virgin to Christ the Lord’?290 For he was duty-​bound to prefigure, both in himself and in us, everything that he wanted the bride whom he was bringing to Christ to preserve: namely, that she should always pursue holy poverty rather than the luxuries of this world, and embrace harsh and difficult conditions, 287 Superstitiosus. Cf. Augustine, De doctrina Christiana 3.12.18:  Quisquis autem rebus praetereuntibus restrictius utitur quam sese habent mores eorum cum quibus vivit, aut temperans aut superstitiosus est (‘Whoever employs transitory things more sparingly than is the custom of those among whom he lives, is either self-​controlled or excessively scrupulous’). 288 Boethius, Consolatio philosophiae Book 2, Metrum 5: Somnos dabat herba salubres. 289 Genesis 28:11, 18. This was Jacob’s journey to the house of his uncle Laban, where he laboured for fourteen years. 290 2 Corinthians 11:2: Aemulor enim vos Dei aemulatione. Despondi enim vos viro, virginem castam exhibere Christo. (‘For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God. For I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.’) 116

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through which the path to Christ invariably leads. For we know that it was not only in this matter that the holy father showed himself to be exemplary, but in all things through which the faith of Christ is commended. [p.  47] Perhaps you say this because there are so few people who exhibit conduct like this in their own behaviour, since everyone pursues the vainglory of the world. Yet this man showed further examples of the virtues to his sons, though you have only spoken of those evinced on the occasion of this journey. Chapter 17 Pascasius: So what if I have turned my thoughts wholly to recalling their services and thinking back over their virtues?291 This very act of remembrance, I believe, will renew our sorrows,292 the memory of which is pleasant to the mind and an incitement to virtue. And this is why to remember them is a pleasing sweetness:293 because their sainted memory is more pleasant to the mind and comes more quickly than any enjoyment of present pleasures, since at the present time time there is rightly no joy without grief, no sweetness without bitterness, no honourable order without confusion, no happiness without sorrow. For everywhere there is grief,294 everywhere pain and sorrow,295 because not daily, I  tell you, but by the hour one hears of evils everywhere, and nothing but confusion is reported. Furthermore, although evils were already on the increase, these two, because they were men of virtue, could not abandon us in our grief, they who comforted us with their words, instructed us through their example, fortified us with their counsels and raised us with righteous discipline. And for this reason, 291 Quid si omnino in repetendis eorum officiis recensendisque virtutibus animum adpulero? Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.21, p.  221:  Sentio equidem, quod repetendis officiis tuis recensendisque virtutibus adficiatur animus (‘I feel for my part, that in recalling your services and remembering your virtues my mind is touched’). 292 Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.21, p. 221: Sed tamen in ipsa mei adfectione requiesco atque hae mihi recordationes, etsi dolorem renovant, tamen voluptatem adferunt (‘Yet in this state of mind I find repose, and these memories, though they renew my pain, yet bring some pleasure’). 293 Gratia suavitatis (‘the grace of sweetness’) is a patristic, rather than biblical, idiom. See in particular Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job 35.17. 294 Virgil, Aeneid 2.368–​369: ubique luctus, ubique pavor. 295 Isaiah 35:10, 51:11. 117

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they remain with us still today, and they will always remain with us if we are their true followers and lovers of the virtues. For if we are true lovers of virtue, then we have already begun not to be here, but to be pilgrims –​at least by the fact of our longing –​to where the better part of ourselves is.296 For if we have truly loved them, then we are never whole in ourselves, but in them, who were the head, and in whom was the greater part of ourselves.297 And because each of them lives in Christ, in whom exists the sum of all and a part of each individual,298 it suits us better to be faithful pilgrims there. Hence, their memory is more pleasant than any riches, and more pleasing than any present goods is the one in whom is found all of our fruits [Christ]. For they had already transferred everything that belonged to them there even before they arrived, so that they might lift us up, whom they had raised as little children in Christ. How much more, then, does it befit their sons, whom they begat for this purpose, to live there, so that they might flower in heaven like lilies, and grow to great heights like the cedars of Lebanon?299 Chapter 18 Severus: As I hear it, Rome was founded by two brothers in a manner different from the new one in our name.300 The former was built carnally on the earth, the other spiritually so that it might expand in heaven. The one was meant to subject the people around it to its dominion, the other to take its citizens away from the world; the one was meant to expand and grow rich, the other to be rich in holy poverty and have a foundation

296 … iam hic non esse coepimus, sed peregrinamur, saltem ex desiderio, quo melior nostra portio est. Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.6, p. 212: coepi enim iam hic non esse peregrinus, ubi melior mei portio est (‘for I have begun not to be a stranger where the better part of myself is’). 297 Ambrose, De excessu 1.6, p. 212: Numquam enim in me totus fui, sed in altero nostri pars maior amborum (‘For I was never complete by myself, but the greater part of both of us was in the other’). 298 Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 1.6:  uterque autem eramus in Christo, in quo et summa universitatis, et portio singulorum est (‘but both of us were in Christ, in whom is the sum of all and a part of each individual’). 299 See Ecclesiasticus 50:8, 50:13. 300 Corvey, whose name was ‘New Corbie’ (Nova Corbeia). Pascasius will interpret Severus’ remarks here as a criticism of Corvey. 118

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in heaven. The one began in bloodshed and expanded through bloody warfare,301 while the other was intended to embrace spiritual poverty in the present life, and be enriched in heavenly things. Pascasius: As far as I can see, you are behaving as you usually do, criticising others severely before correcting them.302 Perhaps you are thinking about those whom these two brothers planted unanimously, so that they might grow and increase in heaven.303 And now it seems to you that they are going against their teachings and precepts, and against their farsighted admonitions, and are instead growing in property, awash in luxuries, and expanding in honours and the empty displays of the world. Otherwise I think it was unnecessary for you to have brought up the two different foundations, [p. 48] except insofar as the one was built on earth through bloodshed, while the other, which was dedicated to God by these two men, was built, according to the passage from Ezekiel, as if ‘a building bending towards the south’.304 For it had the same measurements atop the same foundations, the same length and width, the same number of gates and windows, and no other room for expansion. It was for this reason that when the two extraordinary men laid the foundations for this city, together with its towers and ramparts, among the peoples of the north, they insisted on these three things: not to delight overmuch in the acquisition of property; not to seek worldly

301 There may be an echo here of Micah 3:9–​10:  Audite hoc, principes domus Iacob et iudices domus Israhel, qui abominamini iudicium et omnia recta pervertitis, qui aedificatis Sion in sanguinibus, et Hierusalem in iniquitate (‘Hear this, princes of the house of Jacob, and judges of the house of Israel; you that abhor judgement, and pervert all that is right; you that build up Sion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity’). 302 Pascasius interprets Severus’ comparison as a criticism of Corvey, which has failed to live up to the goals of its founders. Cf. Ecclesiasticus 19:17:  Quis est enim qui non deliquerit in lingua sua? Corripe proximum antequam commineris. ('For who is there that hath not offended with his tongue? Admonish thy neighbour before thou threaten him.') Cf. Gregory, Moralia in Job 26.43, p. 1325: Quia videlicet si is qui corrigere nititur ira superatur, opprimit antequam corrigat (‘For if the one who strives to correct is overcome by wrath, then he oppresses before he can correct'). 303 On Radbert’s controversy with his old friend and pupil Warin, who became abbot of Corvey in 833, see the Introduction, p. 25. 304 Ezekiel 40:2. 119

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riches so as to set their heart upon them,305 but in every respect to shun luxury and pleasure like poison; and finally, not to be enticed by honours –​ostensibly in the name of the faith –​and the haughtiness of pride, lest by chance they should fall apart completely and collapse into a void, just as we perceive that many churches in Gaul once founded on sound principles have fallen from the faith. This is why these men, having learned from many examples, warned their sons not to abound in human possessions that would enslave them to the world,306 but to be poor in spirit, humble and gentle, meek and merciful, and always to hunger for justice in all things,307 in order that everyone might always wish them well and extend to them good hopes on account of the purity of their hearts, so as not to begrudge them their success due to worldly envy and oppress them through secular obligations. And with God’s favour, everyone still reports good things and thinks well of them. And they are still conspicuous for their virtues and marvellous for the probity of their lives, since the fragrance of those men is still bestrewn amongst them, and their virtues are still in bloom. Their praises are sung, their piety is extolled, and the surpassing nobility is proclaimed of those men whose blessing still flourishes among them. The abounding worthiness of their lives is commended, and the abundant fruit of their merits grows while their conspicuous grace blooms and is extolled. Chapter 19 Severus: Whatever praise the abundant renown of their virtues anywhere accords them308 would be commendable, had they not earlier alienated (and this is truly astonishing) from the lawful possession of this community estates that had previously been solemnly handed over to our monastery, and everything that had been conferred upon us in those parts,309 and wanted these to be in their ownership for their own use. 305 Psalms 61:11: Divitiae si affluant, nolite cor adponere (‘If riches abound, set not your heart upon them’). 306 Here and in what follows, Pascasius’ remarks echo VA c. 68, cols. 1542B–​1543A. 307 Matthew 5:3–8. 308 I.e., Wala and Adalhard. 309 Louis the Pious’s foundation charter for Corvey specifically mentions taking the property in Saxony that had been given to Corbie and transferring it to Corvey: MGH DD LdF no. 226, p. 561. 120

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Especially because it is unusual for one not to want the monastery that he heads to grow continuously richer, so that it might expand and grow more powerful (ostensibly for the cult of God) from the arrogance of power. These two, by contrast, not only did not wish to enrich the place that they were in charge of with estates when they had the chance, but actually took away property that had been granted to it and restored them to the free use of the brothers so that they would not belong to us.310 Pascasius: What they taught in words they carried out in order to confirm it by example. For they warned that neither we nor they should accept estates that were not indispensable,311 and that we should not seek to acquire ample resources (ostensibly for the cult of God), but set a limit to the estates and possessions of the Church lest they312 extend their finger too far, [p.  49] as the prophet warns,313 or ‘join field to field even to the end of the place’314 without any limit to their greed. But lest the freedom (libertas) thus created315 should seem unfair to you, you should know that this was more profitable and more respectable, because it was more just and irreproachable, for these properties to serve the Lord freely for the benefit of the community rather than that 310 In other words, some of Corbie’s property in Saxony was reserved for the use of the monks of the new foundation, so ‘we’ (the monks of Corbie) could no longer lay claim to it. This became a problem when in 833 the institutional unity between Corbie and Corvey was broken up and Warin became Corvey’s abbot. See Krüger, ‘Nachfolgereglung’. 311 I.e., for the sustenance of the monks and the liturgy. Cf. VA c. 68, col. 1542C. 312 I.e., the monks of Corvey. 313 Isaiah 58:9–​10: Si abstuleris de medio tui catenam et desieris digitum extendere et loqui quod non prodest, cum effuderis esurienti animam tuam et animam adflictam repleveris, orietur in tenebris lux tua et tenebrae tuae erunt sicut meridies (‘If thou wilt take away the chain out of the midst of thee and cease to stretch out the finger and to speak that which profiteth not, when thou shalt pour out thy soul to the hungry and shalt satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise up in darkness and thy darkness shall be as the noon day’). 314 Isaiah 5:8:  Vae qui coniungitis domum ad domum, et agrum agro copulatis usque ad terminum loci. Numquid habitabitis vos soli in medio terrae? (‘Woe to you that join house to house and lay field to field, even to the end of the place. Shall you alone dwell in the midst of the earth?’) 315 I.e., the freedom (libertas) to own property unencumbered by obligations and services. Radbert uses this monastic ideal to explain why Corbie should not lay claim to Corvey’s property and revenues. 121

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they should exercise an inappropriate and unnecessary rule by virtue of our hereditary right. For here and there inherited property can be shown to serve the Lord or his Church, when conscientiously and with charity it is spent on the needs of his servants. Whence the gift of grace was greatly enriched, when from a single root of perfect love there sprouted two houses of monastic discipline. Chapter 20 Adeodatus: Let it suffice that thus far you have reflected upon these two men, who shared a single power of action and a single purpose, in equal measure. But since it is Arsenius, who toiled even more in these efforts, whom we have decided to attend with our laments in this work, he alone is to be commended through our tears. For had he not departed from us so early,316 perhaps he would have made the brothers of whom we are speaking317 citizens of heaven, since in all respects he demonstrated contempt for the world to them. Indeed, he would even have made them despise themselves for the faith just as he had formerly despised himself. And when he returned,318 he would have reduced all their hearts to one319 for the sake of charity, so that none would have sought to extend himself beyond the rule and measure of monastic discipline to what lay outside it (which he amply demonstrated in the case of the prelate whom they preferred to be in charge there),320 had he not been compelled to go back to Italy again so quickly.321 For we know for a certainty that he never would have agreed to take charge there had he not first learned

3 16 The reference here is to Wala’s departure to Italy in 834. 317 I.e., the monks of Corvey. 318 After enduring banishment near Lake Geneva, on the island of Noirmoutier and in an unnamed German monastery, Wala returned to Corbie in 832. On the theme of exile in the Epitaphium Arsenii, see De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 162–​5. 319 Cf. Acts 4:32: Multitudinis autem credentium erat cor unum, et anima una. 320 The ‘prelate’ referred to here is Warin. According to the twelfth-​century Annales Corbeienses (ed. Jaffé, p. 33), Warin succeeded to the abbacy of Corvey on the death of Adalhard in 826. This account is backed up by Translatio s.  Viti c.  4, which reports that Adalhard had singled out Warin as his successor before his death. Krüger, however, (in ‘Nachfolgeregelung’) has demonstrated that Wala succeeded to the abbacy of both Corbie and Corvey after Adalhard’s death, and that Warin only became abbot of Corvey in 833. 321 This refers to Wala’s final departure for Italy in 834; see Introduction, pp. 2, 25. 122

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to think humbly of himself,322 not to be puffed up by his birth,323 not to embrace pleasure, not to indulge in the frivolities and vanities of the world, and not to pursue worldly things. For assuredly you would have seen324 on this side and that, the buildings (as it were) of a heavenly fatherland rising up on the model of the city that I mentioned above, which always bends towards the south, which is measured by heavenly proportions, and does not expand in the world according to human ones. You would have seen today the towers and ramparts of the faith rising humbly all the way to the heavens, and virtues of every sort springing up, rather than the property of the monastery being expanded for the sake of arrogant pride. Yet though I may speak in this way, his fragrance still smells sweet even today; the virtues are in bloom; moral instruction is still in force; a noble way of life remains; seriousness is admired;325 charity is praised; and honourable discipline prevails in all respects, to such an extent that because of the fertility of the daughter, the glorious reputation of the mother is heralded everywhere, and her fruitfulness, which has been spread far and wide, increases through all of her offspring. These, then, brothers, are the titles to glory of our Arsenius; these are the fruits of his labour, and the manifestations of his virtues. For as long as the world remains and the faith of churches exists, his praises and the renown of his illustrious life will never be absent from the lips of man. Nor is this undeserved, for fruit will return seed many times over, while the praise of the sower grows again with the return of the harvest, and the harvest increases from year to year. Whence the saying of God’s truth is confirmed in which it says: ‘Whoever leaves everything that he owns for my name’s sake shall receive a hundredfold and possess eternal life.’326 For he gave up many things, but acquired

322 Oblique criticisms of Warin can be read into all of the virtues attributed to Wala here. 323 Translatio s. Viti c. 4 says that Warin ‘was descended from the noblest line of the Franks and Saxons’ (ex nobilissimo Francorum atque Saxonum genere fuerat ortus). 324 I.e., if Wala were still in charge, rather than Warin. 325 On conversatio morum as monastic conduct, see RB 58.17. On Radbert’s pride in the many aristocrats that entered Corbie, see De Jong, Epitaph, p. 59. This passage refers to these conflicting aspects of ninth-​century monastic life. 326 Cf. Matthew 19:29: Et omnis qui reliquit domum vel fratres aut sorores aut patrem aut matrem aut uxorem aut filios aut agros propter nomen meum centuplum accipiet et vitam aeternam possidebit (‘And every one that has left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my name’s sake shall receive a hundredfold and shall possess life everlasting’). 123

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still more in the world, [p. 50] because he made all the resources of the Church, by loving this same Church, his own. He gave up countless things, trampling himself and all the carnal desires of this present life underfoot. He gave up everything when he humbled himself in this way, so that we saw him every day worn out with innumerable toils, tormented by sleepless nights, and constantly weakening his body with fasting and starvation, so that you might have seen, like the prophet David, ‘his skin clinging to his bones’327 and the strength of his body continuously wasting away through excessive fasting. To sum up, thus clothed in the poverty of Christ, he who despised the worldly honours that he possessed in favour of divine worship shone out, deservedly happy and blessed. But as to how energetic he was in the exercise of virtue, Severus can bear witness. For they did many things together so that their brothers might profit by their example. Chapter 21 Severus:328 I pledge my word to you on these conditions.329 I shall keep most of what I know about him to myself and store it up carefully in my memory,330 so that when the time has come, and the flames of enmity have died down, I may reveal these things openly to those who wish to hear. For at this point if anyone openly says something that is false, baseless or invented about him, it actually finds a more receptive audience.331 It is like Allabigus says: ‘I was the first to discover this method. There is a class of men who want to be first in everything, but aren’t.332 I track 327 Psalms 101:6: ‘Through the voice of my groaning my bone has cleaved to my flesh’ (A voce gemitus mei adhesit os meum carni meae). 328 Severus’ remarks here depend heavily on the speech in Terence, Eunuchus 1.2.22–​5 (102–​5) in which the slave Parmeno assures the courtesan Thais that he is capable of holding his tongue and not revealing what she is about to impart to his master, Phaedria. 329 … hac lege vobis meam adstringo fidem. Cf. Terence, Eunuchus 1.2.22 (102): hac lege tibi meam adstringo fidem. 330 … quae novi de illo plura reticeam, et memoriam obtime instituam. Cf. Terence, Eunuchus 1.2.23: quae vera audivi taceo et contineo optume (‘I will hush up what I know to be true and keep it completely to myself ’). 331 Quia si falsum aut vanum vel fictum nunc ex eo aliquis palam enarrat, magis utique placet. Cf. Terence, Eunuchus 1.2.24 (104): sin falsum aut vanum aut finctumst, continuo palamst. 332 … ego adeo hanc primus inveni viam, quoniam est genus hominum qui se primos esse omnium rerum volunt, cum nec sint. Cf. Terence, Eunuchus 2.2.16–​18 (247–​9):  ego adeo hanc primus inveni viam. /​est genus hominum qui esse primos se omnium rerum volunt/​nec sunt. 124

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them down; I adapt myself to them to get them to laugh; and I laugh along with them.’333 It is because people like this think they are being disparaged when they hear others praised that there is no opportunity now to talk about good men. Pascasius: Good Jesus, how one man is superior to another!334 For this man lost his nerve when the topic came up335 and doesn’t dare say what he knows. Perhaps all of his acquaintances, and all of his friends and comrades, are deserting this man,336 such that no one will dare to speak about him! Adeodatus: It’s a frightful thing that I  am hearing, Pascasius, that to court favour with the wicked one does not dare to attend the good.337 Find the strength, I  pray you; make the effort; and, if it is possible, bring Severus around so that he won’t be so afraid and won’t squander all the 333 … hos consector, his ego me comparo, ut rideant hisque ultro adrideo. Cf. Terence, Eunuchus 2.2.18–​19 (249–​50): hos consector; hisce ego non paro me ut rideant/​sed eis ultro adrideo. Gnatho’s point is that he doesn’t let his rich patrons laugh at him; rather, he laughs at their jokes so as to ingratiate himself with them. 334 Bone Iesu! homini homo quid prestat. Cf. Terence, Eunuchus 2.2.1 (232): Di immortales! homini homo quid praestat. 335 … iste sibi virtutem cum re amisit. Cf. Terence, Eunuchus 2.2.10 (241): Simul consilium cum re amisti? Here the parasite Gnatho asks the down-​on-​his luck grifter whom he meets if he has lost his wits (consilium) along with his property (res). It would be nonsensical for Pascasius to refer literally to a loss of property on Severus’ part here, so res is probably best understood as referring to the subject matter at hand, i.e., the virtues of Arsenius. It is possible, however, to read Pascasius’ remark as a knowing nod to Terence so that both parties know that res jokingly refers to property. 336 Fortassis ergo hunc omnes noti omnesque amici et commilitones ita deserunt. Cf. Terence, Eunuchus 2.2.7 (238): quo redactus sum? Omnes noti me atque amici deserunt. (‘What have I been reduced to? All of my acquaintances and friends desert me.’) 337 Bonos consectari: at first glance consectari seems an odd verb to pick, although the idea that the monks assembled here are ‘attending’ or ‘accompanying’ Arsensius with their words has been repeatedly expressed in the dialogue. Radbert chooses it here because it echoes Terence, Eunuchus 2.2.18 (249): hos consector (‘I pursue/​ attend these men’), where Gnatho reveals his new scheme (novom aucupium) for cadging meals and favours from wealthy marks. Consector in that context has a distinctly unsavoury connotation, whereas here it is wholly positive. This is one of many cases where Radbert repurposes a Terentian word or tag for his own purposes. 125

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good things that he has learned338 because he has been deceived by an unfounded expectation of what is going to happen. Severus: Shall I  then fail to praise this man, whom I  long for day and night; whom I think about, whom I admire, and whose image, when I see it before my eyes, is a source of refreshment; for whom my love burns even more fiercely when I recall him, and whose praise brings me closer to the truth? Shall I hold off from praising him to the virtuous, when even those whose hatred seeped into him are compelled to praise him? For he bears the palm of glory, even though, like the sainted Jeremiah, he is opposed by those who speak falsehoods to themselves from their hearts, because as soon as he was made abbot he became, without any exception, a lord of sinners and the abbot of us all, as not only the whole congregation of the community that he presided over, but also the intimate knowledge of many monks, can attest to. He was abbot because, as the father of all, he demonstrated a pious disposition, bearing towards each and every person a heart filled with the dew of Christ’s charity. Yet he was also lord, because he did not –​as those who think lightly of their pastoral responsibilities are accustomed to do  –​negligently tolerate wanton behaviour in anyone, but instead scrutinised everyone and led the way for each person through his habits and manner of living, yet in such a way that he could drag the ones at the back along through his exhortations and lift up and carry the young with Christ in the arms of his virtues. [p. 51] There was no one, then, whom he left lukewarm and failed to heat with his poultices; no one whom he did not season with the salt of his wisdom; no one whom he did not cure with his pointed teachings, if the nature of the illness permitted it, with Christ’s attendant grace. On the contrary, in order properly to heal the wounds of sin, he dutifully carried out the office of a physician, and as an exhortation to virtue he not only made an example of his own life, but provided an unfailing model, both when it was convenient and when it was not.339 In 338 ... ne bona quae didicit simul abligurriet. Cf. Terence, Eunuchus 2.2.4: Hominem haud impurum, itidem patria qui abligurierat bona (‘Not a bad sort of fellow, who, in the same way had squandered all of his inherited wealth’). Bona refers to property in the Terence passage, but to information that reflects well on Arsenius here. 339 Oportune inportuneve. Cf. 2 Timothy 4:2:  praedica verbum; insta oportune, inportune; obsecra; increpa, in omni patientia et doctrina (‘Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, entreat; rebuke, in all patience and doctrine’). 126

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all things he maintained one love and one discipline, neglecting nothing and overlooking nothing that he believed would contribute to the salvation of the souls that had been entrusted to him. But now I would like Pascasius, who followed him always through the assent of his counsel340 rather than through the examples of his deeds (although he now calls me a yes-​man341), to continue with the rest, since he was everywhere his inseparable companion. Pascasius: I have never seen a man craftier than you.342 For having spoken as you have, are you now going to refuse what you applauded as being in your own interest?343 Nonetheless, let me not stay silent about what so many already know. I have never seen anyone like him when it came to the responsibilities of governance: one who was so conspicuous for his constant exercise of the virtues, and always maintained such an indefatigable vigour in his concern for his sacred duties; who so carefully watched over the flock that had been entrusted to him whether present or absent;344 who thought about virtually nothing else save how he would give an account of every one of them when he stood before the judgement seat of Christ.345 Hence, with careful arguments 340 Assensus consilii: this could simply mean that Wala looked to Radbert for advice, but the tone of Severus’ remarks here, and the play on the word assentator (‘flatterer’) which follows, suggests something less positive, namely that Radbert served as a yes-​man to his patron. 341 Assentator:  this is presumably a reference to the earlier criticisms of Severus by Pascasius and Adeodatus that he was withholding what he knew about Arsenius in order to appease the latter’s enemies. 342 Terence, Phormio 4.2.1 (591–​2):  Ego hominem callidiorem vidi neminem /​quam Phormionem (‘I have never seen a man craftier than Phormio’). 343 Pascasius once more takes issue with Severus passing the baton to him, especially in light of his earlier protestations that remembering Wala refreshed him and brought him closer to the truth. 344 An important detail. Wala’s repeated absences from Corbie could not be ignored. These were part of the accusations that Radbert had to defend his abbot against. 345 The discusion that follows borrows from the provisions of the Rule of Benedict regarding the abbot’s authority over the community and the monks’ obligations to subjugate their will to that authority. Here Pascasius alludes to the abbot’s responsibility to answer for the conduct of his flock at the Last Judgement. See RB 2.6–​ 7:  memor semper abbas quia doctrinae suae vel discipulorum oboedientiae, utrarumque rerum, in tremendo iudicio Dei facienda erit discussio. Sciatque abbas culpae pastoris incumbere quicquid in ovibus paterfamilias utilitatis minus potuerit invenire (‘let the abbot always remember that in the fearful judgement of God an examination will be made of both his teaching and the obedience of his disciples. Let the abbot know 127

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he often admonished everyone together, as well as many people individually, about the faculty of free will and the mastery of one’s own body according to the profession of monastic discipline,346 so that none of us would pursue his own will. ‘Otherwise,’ he used to say, ‘how will I be able to give an account of someone, if he does not surrender power over his body and the faculty of free will to me? For if he keeps himself under his own power and will, he should know how to give an account of himself –​not only for his own words, thoughts and deeds, but also for the fact that, contrary to the monastic profession, he has kept himself under his own power and the will of his own heart. Indeed, I shall be all the more free’, he said, ‘insofar as the power that is owed to me remains out of my hands, and the faculty of free will is not relinquished. And yet I will devote myself as much as possible to charity in order to be found free from power and will, so that I  am not beguiled by superficial power, nor deceived by the will of my ambition.’ Good Jesus, how much was he ceaselessly vexed with care for his sheep and concern for their souls, now teaching everyone together, now separately instructing individuals; employing threats upon one, cajoling another with the sweet words of his teaching. One he would recall through a kind of flattery, using words of praise, according to the saying of the prophet, ‘I will bridle you with my praise’;347 another he would rebuke with reprimands. But he always challenged everyone through his example. His words, as I have said, were ‘as nails deeply fastened in’,348 and when he held forth to everyone in chapter, he seemed to be speaking to each person individually. Out of the whole text of the rule he left nothing untouched and nothing unexamined; and if he found anything that everyone was remiss about, he brought it up publicly and with many exhortations commended it (no matter how minor it might seem) that the shepherd will bear the blame for whatever fault the head of household finds among his sheep.’); RB 3.11: Ipse tamen abbas cum timore Dei et observatione regulae omnia faciat, sciens se procul dubio de omnibus iudiciis suis aequissimo iudici Deo rationem redditurum (‘Yet the abbot himself should fear God and observe the rule in everything that he does, knowing for a certainty that he himself will render an account of all of his decisions to God, the most impartial of judges’). See Mayr-​Harting, ‘Two abbots’, on Wala as abbot. 346 Monks were required to subordinate their will and bodies to the control of the abbot. See RB 3.7–​9; 7.19; 33.1–​5. 347 Isaiah 48:9: ‘For my name’s sake I will remove my wrath far off, and for my praise I will bridle you, lest you perish’ (Propter nomen meum longe faciam furorem meum, et laude mea infrenabo te ne intereas). 348 Ecclesiastes 12:11: ‘The words of the wise are as goads and as nails deeply fastened in’ (verba sapientium sicut stimuli, et quasi clavi in altum defixi). 128

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to the divine commandments, so as not to be neglected. [p. 52] But if someone transgressed against any of the words of the holy rule and failed to make satisfaction, he reproved him publicly and secretly,349 and seasoned him with the salt of his teaching. For he neglected nothing, but placed the salvation of souls before all and above all else,350 judging even minor details to be of the greatest importance. All of his speech was seasoned with salt.351 And thus he either healed their wounds so that his flock would not perish from their unhealthy behaviour,352 or, guarding the health of their souls, he implanted strength in their minds, so that the sheep that had been entrusted to him would always lie down in fresh grass beside flowing waters and grow fat from this abundance. He also encouraged everyone by attending to their physical needs so that they would preserve the mandate of the rule and fulfil the teachings of Christ. Severus: Someone says that ‘I have never seen anyone have an approach to living so well thought-​out that circumstance, age or experience did not inevitably introduce some new wrinkle and show that you do not know what you thought you knew, and that what you thought was of primary importance you now reject from experience.’353 Regrettably, this has now happened to us. For we have lost the hard life that we formerly lived with him,354 and now our time is almost up.355 And thus we assess 349 On public and secret penance, see Meens, Penance, pp. 118–23; on this distinction in Carolingian monastic communities, Hamilton, Practice of Penance, pp. 84–7. 350 RB 36: infirmorum cura ante omnia et super omnia adhibenda est (‘care of the sick must be placed before and above everything else’). 351 Colossians 4:6: ‘Let your speech be always in grace seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man’ (Sermo vester semper in gratia sale sit conditus, ut sciatis quomodo oporteat vos unicuique respondere). 352 Morbidis actibus. Cf. RB 2.8. 353 This is an almost verbatim reproduction of Demea’s monologue inTerence, Adelphoe 5.4.1–​20 (855–​874), in which he rejects the harsh way of life that he had adopted in favour of his brother Micio’s more indulgent manner of living. 354 Nam nos vitam duram olim qua viximus cum eo … amisimus. Cf. Terence, Adelphoe 5.4.5 (859): nam ego vitam duram, quam vixi adhuc…omitto (‘I am abandoning the hard life that I have lived up to now’). 355 … prope iam excurso spatio. Cf. Terence, Adelphoe 5.4.6 (860), where Demea recognises that his life is nearly over. Severus may mean the same thing, but the fact that the much younger Adeodatus is one of the participants renders this interpretation more difficult. It may be better to read it as a generalised expression of pessimism. 129

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the situation with ease:356 that ‘nothing is better for a man,’ according to the Proverbs of Solomon, ‘than to abound in delights and for each to enjoy the fruits of his labour’.357 This is easy to recognise now, when one always passes his life in leisure and banqueting, goes easy on himself and is unperturbed in the enjoyment of pleasure; does not dare to offend or refute a guilty man for the sake of the truth; is accustomed to smile at everyone358 and criticise no one; lives for himself, and spends money on himself. And behold! Everyone praises him; everyone loves him and honours him. When it comes to us, on the other hand, they like to point out how uncivilised and unsophisticated we are; how glum and gruff; how stubborn and critical of others. When we try to please men such as this, therefore, we waste our lives and years in the effort. And in the meantime, while they reap the benefits, we receive in return only hatred as a reward for our labours. Other people love and esteem them, and want men such as this to flourish, while they shun us. They entrust their plans to these men and confide their wishes to them, but they hope for our deaths and promise themselves that they will be free if we cease to accuse them of these things and can no longer refute them through any office. Hence, if we want to praise this man, they think that they themselves are being blamed. Chapter 22 Pascasius: Come now. Let us rather see if we can speak courteously or act generously.359 If not, however, let us seek to be loved in return by our own, 356 … quamobrem rem ipsam iam censemus facilitate. Cf. Terence, Adelphoe 5.4.6–​7 (860–​ 1):  re ipsa repperi facilitate nil esse homini melius neque clementia (‘In reality I  have discovered that nothing is better for a man than to be easy-​going and indugent’). 357 Cf. Ecclesiastes 2:24–​5:  Nonne melius est comedere et bibere et ostendere animae suae bona de laboribus suis? Quis ita vorabit et deliciis affluet ut ego? (‘Is it not better to eat and drink and to show his soul good things of his labours? Who shall so feast and abound with delights as I?’) Cf. Ecclesiastes 3.12: Et cognovi quod non esset melius nisi laetari et facere bene in vita sua (‘And I have known that there was no better thing than to rejoice and to do well in this life’); Ecclesiastes 3:22: Et deprehendi nihil esse melius quam laetari hominem in opere suo (‘And I have found that nothing is better than for a man to rejoice in his work’). 358 Adridere omnibus. This echoes Gnatho’s remarks on how to be a successful parasite at Terence, Eunuchus 2.2.19, 250 (sed eis ultro adrideo), quoted above by Allabigus. 359 Age, age, nunc experiamur e contra, quippiam blande si possimus dicere aut benigne facere. Cf. Terence, Adelphoe 5.4.23–​4 (877–​8): age age nunciam experiamur contra, ecquid ego possiem blande dicere aut benigne facere, quando hoc provocat. 130

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and to commend to posterity what is worthy of praise. And let us also try to soften these things through generosity, indulgence, persuasion and love so that they may come to love the good (though they cannot, or will not, imitate it) and not reject the elements of truth that we set forth. Or don’t you recall what our Arsenius did when one of our number, filled with envy at the preferment of another, swelled up with resentment when he saw himself covered with a threadbare winter cowl and the other given preference? Severus: I recall clearly and remember well how he immediately devised a remedy from his own lowliness. For he dressed himself in a fine cowl of the best lining, [p. 53] and after three days, when the other’s resentment had begun to dissipate, the abbot went up to the brother, fell upon his neck and kissed him.360 Receiving him, he took off his cowl and cloaked the other in it, and dressed himself in the other’s cowl in return. Mollified by his kindnesses, the brother quickly withdrew, now sound in health. Then the abbot rejoiced for himself and was delighted for the other, because he had found a treatment for his wound that increased both his own merit and the health of the other. He wore this garment for many days, thereby challenging our pride. For we often vaunt ourselves on account of the fineness of our dress, and for this reason it behoved us to be humbled. And in this way, he imitated the supreme head of household, who was the first to meet his son upon his return and clothed him in his first robe,361 so that charity might bring to love one whom dissipation had sent into exile. Behold, how in one and the same action we witnessed three different things: a remedy for the brother, the growth of the abbot and an example of monastic life for all of us. Yet we should grieve all the more that we are not men of his ilk. For when we enjoy the more refined pleasures, we are despised even by laymen, because they know very well what we should have been like.

360 … inruensque super collum eius deosculabatur. Cf. Luke 15:20: et adcurrens cecidit supra collum eius et osculatus est illum (‘And running to him he fell upon his neck and kissed him’). The parable of the prodigal son will be invoked directly below. 361 Cf. Luke 15:22: Dixit autem pater ad servos suos: cito proferte stolam primam, et induite illum (‘And the father said to his servants: Bring forth quickly the first robe, and put it on him’). 131

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Chapter 23 Adeodatus: I am amazed; if he was a man of such charity and holiness, why do they sometimes insist, cutting off, as it were, a small piece from the hem of his cloak,362 that he was austere and harsh, especially since they heap praise upon him for the other virtues of his life? Pascasius: Don’t be astonished, I ask you, at what you know from the Gospel. For the slothful servant calls his master harsh,363 not because he is harsh, but because his own failings make him lazy, and he seeks to lay the blame on his master. Let men such as this, therefore, return to their own conscience, lest in proclaiming him to be harsh they stoke up more savage flames and heap vengeance upon themselves. Given that the Lord is said to gather where he has not strewn, and he exacts interest where he has not sown,364 why do you think he was severe, when he was proved to be merciful and mild, unless it was that the idleness of the slothful made him so? For those who are unwilling to obey show themselves to be slothful, and they call him harsh, when through his gentleness it was only with difficulty that he held their vices in check, and he called them to the virtues through his own example. For if he seemed harsh, the torments of the Deceiver will be harsher still. For he condemned nothing but their vices, and cultivated their virtues, lest he should have nothing to show for the talent that had been entrusted to him. Indeed, 362 At 1 Samuel 24, Saul pursues David into the desert of Engedi. He enters a cave to defecate, but unbeknownst to him, David and his men are hiding within. David’s men urge him to kill Saul, but David refuses to do so, instead secretly cutting away the hem of Saul’s robe. He then calls out to Saul to show that he did not kill him when he had the chance. 363 Cf. Matthew 25:26–​7. 364 Matthew 25:24: Accedens autem et qui unum talentum acceperat ait, ‘Domine, scio quia homo durus es; metis ubi non seminasti et congregas ubi non sparsisti ’ (‘But he that had received the one talent came and said, “Lord, I  know that you are a hard man; you reap where you have not sown and gather where you have not strewn” ’); 25:26–​7:  Respondens autem dominus eius dixit ei, ‘Serve male et piger, sciebas quia meto ubi non semino et congrego ubi non sparsi. Oportuit ergo te committere pecuniam meam nummulariis, et veniens ego recepissem quod meum est cum usura.’ (‘And his lord answering said to him, “Wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I reap where I sow not and gather where I have not strewn. You ought therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with interest.” ’) 132

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if Jeremiah had been in charge of men such as this, there is no doubt that he would have been accused of being even harsher, since ‘the Lord made his brow harder than theirs’.365 For indulgence always deems men of virtue to be harsh and uncivilised. In truth, he was kind and merciful, and always more permissive to others than to himself, but he checked their vices or cut them off at the root at their first appearance. If he was harsh, then, it was to those who could neither be deterred from their inclinations by punishment nor placated with rewards, men whose hearts surely had become so unfeeling that they heeded neither his nor Christ’s merciful admonitions. For there are times in every man’s life when fear profits him more than love. Hence also it is written that ‘Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.’366 And thus Arsenius sometimes acted through threats, sometimes through blows, sometimes through tangible rewards, and sometimes through gentle words of persuasion in order to make us adoptive sons of Christ.367 [p. 54] He looked after each individual with all of his energy and resourcefulness, so that no one should be lost through the wiles of the Devil. Or did you not see what he did in the case of that brother who, in a state of madness, was eager to leave because he was unwilling to endure what he had done, and what his sins demanded of him? Chapter 24 Severus: We saw it clearly and acted together with him [Arsenius] to ensure that he [the fugitive monk] would not leave from here in such a maddened state, posting soldiers at the door to prevent him from doing so. And thus, compelled by fear, he went back inside and fell prostrate at his feet, drenched with tears. Pascasius: I am truly glad that you remember this, and I greatly rejoice that the one of whom we are speaking held to the mean of a more perfect life 365 Ezekiel 3:8: Ecce dedi faciem tuam valentiorem faciebus eorum, et frontem tuam duriorem frontibus eorum. In Radbert’s memory, Jeremiah and Ezekiel have been conflated. 366 Psalms 110:10. 367 Cf. Ephesians 1:5. 133

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and made great progress, I believe, towards the virtues. Good Jesus, how great then was the joy! It was as though you saw the prodigal son returning and his father rejoicing. For the latter wept for joy, and his son, now rendered gentle, wept as well. I, too, when I  saw them weeping so plentifully, groaned and shed many tears together with them, giving thanks to God that we had received him back, as if from the dead. Such was our father’s harshness; such was the depth of his inflexibility; such was his will and his disposition. But now how wretched we are, when the freedom to sin has been given to us! For if at that time no one sinned with impunity, and yet cases of relapse still arose, how much worse is it now, when we are beguiled by our own wickedness? Chapter 25 Adeodatus: As I see it, he was a man of perfect charity who loved his own as Christ loved and demanded in deeds what is found in divine instruction. Yet they say that he was insufficiently conformable,368 and therefore was less loved in return and less celebrated by many. Pascasius: I tell you that I said the same things to him many times, although I knew that he had almost become all things to all people.369 But he replied –​not defensively as some people do, but humbly –​that he could not do everything, for his heart was not as limitless as the sands of the seashore. And then he said, ‘To whom would you like me to conform? Surely not to the negligent and wicked? To the pompous and glib? Or have you not read what the Apostle proclaims: “be not conformed to this world, 368 Cf. Romans 8:29:  Nam quos praescivit, et praedestinavit conformes fieri imaginis filii sui (‘For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his son’). This exact passage is referenced a few lines later. See also EA I, c. 9, p. 35: Tamen dicitur et bonus, et perfectus homo; et si perfectus, utique teres, quia in Christo conformatur; In Mattheum 6:8, p. 377: Quapropter docuit prius nos conformes esse debere, deinde concessit, quod ipse habebat ex natura deitatis, nobis per adoptionis gratiam possidere (‘for this reason he taught us first to be conformable, and then he granted that we might possess through the grace of adoption what he himself had from the nature of his divinity’). 369 1 Corinthians 9:22: Omnibus omnia factus sum. 134

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but be reformed in the newness of your mind”?’370 Through these and other sorts of examples, then, he made a constant effort to raise himself up even higher towards the virtues, so that levity of mind should not render void what the seriousness of charity offered inwardly to the Lord. I wonder, my brother and son, why those who are devoted to licentiousness and pleasure want all those who are more perfect to become like them, when they ought rather to change themselves to the image of virtue. For they will not be sons of the adoption unless they are foreknown and predestined and become conformable to the image of the Son of God.371 Arsenius was foreknown and predestined to this image, and for this reason he did not join in much with boyish fun, though sometimes he would stand on a high rock and jokingly urge all the boys who were swimming here and there to come back closer to the shore. And though on rare occasions he said something to make them laugh,372 nonetheless he conducted himself with great seriousness, so that reasoned virtue should not be undermined, and instead suckling youth, stripped of its childish toys and nursed by paternal flesh, should strive for what was more perfect. Yet none of them believed that smiling countenance when in his presence unless he conducted himself with gravity, since according to what Job says:  ‘Although he laughed at them, they did not believe him.’373 [p. 55] For although he relaxed the seriousness with which he spoke, ‘the light of his countenance did not fall upon the earth’,374 and he argued subtly in order to provoke his interlocutors to the pursuit of virtue. When they listened to him, moreover, ‘they awaited his verdict and kept silent to hear his counsel’.375 Although he was far inferior to Job in the virtues, nonetheless ‘the ear that heard him blessed him, and the 3 70 Romans 12:2. 371 Romans 8.29. 372 Laughter was morally suspect within the monastery. See RB 6.8: Scurrilitates vero vel verba otiosa et risum moventia, aeterna clausura in omnibus locis damnamus: et ad talia eloquia discipulum aperire os non permittimus (‘In all places we condemn to eternal exclusion jests and idle talk and words that provoke laughter, and we do not permit a disciple to open his mouth to speak in this way’). See Innes, ‘Politics of humour’. 373 Job 29:24: Si quando ridebam ad eos, non credebant, et lux vultus mei non cadebat in terram (‘If at any time I laughed on them, they believed not, and the light of my countenance fell not on earth’). Cf. Gregory the Great’, Moralia in Job 20.3, p. 1005: ‘If we understand these words according to their historical meaning, it must be believed that the holy man behaved in such a fashion to those beneath him that even when he was laughing he could be feared’ (Hoc si iuxta historiae verba percipimus, credi necesse est quod vir sanctus talem se exhibuerit subditis, ut etiam ridens timeri potuisset). 374 Job 29:24: lux vultus mei non cadebat in terram. 375 Job 29:21: Qui me audiebant expectabant sententiam et intenti tacebant ad consilium meum. 135

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eye that saw him bore witness to him’,376 because ‘he had delivered the poor man who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper’.377 For ‘the blessing of him who was about to perish came upon him’,378 who surely from boyhood had been ‘clad in justice as with a robe’.379 Hence also ‘the cause which he knew not he searched out most diligently’.380 And let us therefore ask Cremes how he conducted himself in his judgements, in his management of public affairs,381 and in the exercise of justice when he served as tutor to the august Caesar beyond the Pennine Alps. Chapter 26 Cremes: I am afraid to praise the man, lest I should be thought to be agreeing to more than I have on evidence from him and simply repaying my debt to him.382 All the same, in order not to be completely silent about how diligent he was in seeking out the truth, how energetic in pronouncing judgement, how forceful against the highest of the unjust judges,383 how effective against those who were corrupted by gifts, I will reveal one thing out of many, which was a greater injustice than any other I learned of during that time. There was a certain noble widow who entrusted herself and her possessions to a man of the class of iudices to act as her legal guardian, and she assigned almost half of her property to him by a donation charter in order to keep the rest safe for herself.384 3 76 Job 29:11: Auris audiens beatificabat me, et oculus videns testimonium reddebat mihi. 377 Job 29:12: eo quod liberassem pauperem vociferantem et pupillum cui non esset adiutor. 378 Job 29:13: Benedictio perituri super me veniebat, et cor viduae consolatus sum. 379 Job 29:14: Iustitia indutus sum, et vestivi me sicut vestimento et diademate iudicio meo. 380 Job 29:16: Pater eram pauperum, et causam quam nesciebam diligentissime investigabam. 381 Wala was second in the kingdom of Italy, as Lothar’s deputy. 382 I.e., lest I be seen as a mere flatterer. 383 Luke 18:6:  ait enim Dominus audite quid iudex iniquitatis dicit (‘And the Lord said: Hear what the unjust judge saith’). 384 See McKitterick, ‘Perceptions of justice’, pp. 1087–​9; Bougard, Justice, pp. 180–​1, 415; Schäpers, Lothar, pp. 107–​8. We are grateful to Stefan Esders for his in-​depth discussion of this text with us in November 2019, from which it transpired that the widow’s donation could well be a donatio ad mortem, meaning that she transferred all her property to that man on the condition that she could keep half of it during her remaining lifetime. Furthermore, the ‘sacred letter’ mentioned below refers to an imperial mandate (mandatum) that gave a certain person or official the right to enquire about this case and pronounce a judgement. As Esders will argue in a forthcoming publication, it is likely that the widow had to follow Lombard law after 136

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But in short order he cunningly used this same document to seize control of all of it, and produced witnesses. Hence, when the woman wanted to return to her property and live off her lands, there were men preventing her from entering what was her own, on the grounds that she had turned everything over to her guardian (defensor), and, as they said jokingly, he protected everything well who left nothing to the owner. Then the poor widow, bereft of her lands, appealed to the emperor, and he commended her in his sacred letter to one of the bishops, together with the rest of the judges of that land, in order that they should carefully investigate her case and render a just verdict. But because ‘each turned aside towards his own gain’,385 ‘the cause of widows did not come in to them’.386 Hence, fabricating a lie for themselves, they clapped their hands with the witnesses so that the people would not understand what was going on, and all of them, up to and including the bishops of Christ (sacerdotes Christi),387 could perpetrate this fraud.388 When all of this had been carried out and the widow had been driven from her lands, her guardian received word from the leaders of the people to the effect that there would be no further dispute about this property. The widow, however, tormented by the many wrongs that had been done to her and the pain of what she had endured, eventually returned to Gaul after wearing herself out with a long journey over the jagged peaks of the Alps, and began to petition the her marriage to a Lombard, also after the death of her husband, which meant that she had no Frankish witnesses to help defend her rights, a predicament that was addressed by Lothar I in several capitularies . 385 Isaiah 56:11:  omnes in viam suam declinaverunt, unusquisque ad avaritiam suam (‘all have turned aside into their own way, every one after his own gain’). 386 Cf. Isaiah 1:23: Principes tui infideles, socii furum. Omnes diligunt munera; sequuntur retributiones. Pupillo non iudicant, et causa viduae non ingreditur ad eos. (‘Your princes are faithless, companions of thieves. They all love bribes; they run after rewards. They judge not for the fatherless, and the widow’s cause comes not in to them.’) 387 In ninth-​century texts sacerdos usually refers to a bishop or another leading member of the clergy, not to an ordinary priest (presbyter). This is why Radbert refers to Jeremiah 5:31: it is the leadership of the Church that clapped their hands, applauding falsehood, and bishops who persecuted the widow instead of protecting her. This does not transpire from the modern biblical translation provided below (see n. 388). 388 Jeremiah 5:31: Prophetae prophetabant mendacium, et sacerdotes adplaudebant manibus suis, et populus meus dilexit talia (‘The prophets prophesied falsehood, and the priests clapped their hands, and my people loved such things’). For the idiom mendacium fabricare, see Gregory, Moralia in Job 11.23, p. 606: Sicut enim aedificium lapidibus, ita mendacium sermonibus fabricatur (‘For just as a building is constructed with stones, so is a lie built with words’). 137

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king with her tears. The king [Louis] was deeply moved by the sorrowful accounts of her misfortunes and commended her to our Arsenius, who at that time was being dispatched by the father, together with his august son,389 to order and govern the kingdom, as a most faithful man and kinsman. He sent her on ahead, ordering her to return to her own property and wait until he arrived in that land, at which time she was to present herself before him, together with her witnesses. When this became known, all of Italy trembled and resorted to its cunning and fraudulent tricks, and it390 began to set in motion a plot to bring about the death of the woman, since it saw that one was coming whom it judged could not be corrupted by bribes. [p. 56] This was the weapon that it typically used to weaken everyone’s resolve and lure them towards its embrace of carnal desires; for almost everyone ‘pursues rewards and loves bribes’.391 Yet when it could prompt no failure of duty in the other, it turned to trickery through the working of iniquity. When he [Wala] had ordered him to return at least some part of the lands that he had unjustly snatched away through trickery, he knew that he was hemmed in and straightaway sent three of his men along furtively to kill the woman in secret in a certain street. But because three people were involved in this scheme, there did not seem to be a sufficient guarantee of keeping it quiet. So he joined one crime to another, lest they should reveal their terrible deed under questioning. They were isolated far from one another, and he ordered one of them to kill the other two, so that there would now be no one left on the face of the earth to reveal the innocent blood that had been spilled through treachery; for the scoundrel cared nothing392 for the sentence of the divine judge, as long as he could escape human judgement. But burning with fervour for God, Arsenius used many means of proof so that what stood out clearly would not remain hidden, although the perpetrator 389 After the assembly of Attigny (August 822), Louis the Pious sent his eldest son, Lothar, to Italy, accompanied by Wala and Gerung (ARF s.a. 822, p. 130); on Easter Day 823 (5 April) Lothar was crowned emperor by Pope Paschal I (ARF s.a. 823, p.  132); see Noble, Republic, pp.  310–​13; Weinrich, Wala, pp.  48–​51; Schäpers, Lothar, pp. 115–​34. By ‘the king’ (rex) Louis the Pious is meant; the expression ‘rex’ seems to be used in the more generic sense of Frankish political authority above the Alps. 390 At some point the subject shifts from Italy to the unnamed defensor who was defrauding the widow, but it is not clear in the Latin when this change of subjects actually takes place. 391 Isaiah 1:23: Omnes diligunt munera; sequuntur retributiones. 392 Reading parvipendens miser as a nominative absolute. 138

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could not be identified, either by a judgement or by witnesses.393 In the meantime, however, one of the men was found buried in someone’s underground cave, and as a result different conclusions were drawn. The man in whose cave he had been found was deemed to be guilty, but another, on whose orders the deed was thought to have been carried out, was also accused. Yet neither of them could be found guilty by anyone. What grief and what lamentation do you think was then in the mind of Arsenius? You saw, Lord Jesus, how many prayers and tears he poured out before you, who once heard the blood of the righteous Abel crying out from the earth, so that you might also reveal who had spilled the blood of these men.394 Against him all of Ausonia,395 which had been corrupted by bribes, together with its senators, fought to see to it that this notorious thief and murderer would not be found guilty by a single man. But you, God, who searched their hearts and inner feelings,396 knew everything, and yet you treated your champion with great jealousy and did not reveal to him what so many knew, but instead to their accomplices. Almost to a man, everyone schemed so that he would not be found guilty, because in this one man, Lord, many had been made guilty in your sight. How great were the slanders with which the unjust abused your champion then, and how great were the false accusations with which they gnawed at him, to the effect that he alone out of all could not be trusted, and he alone wished to punish the innocent, contrary to the law. And so these men who had no fear of undermining justice appealed to the law! But innocent blood cried out from the earth, and even the murdered men, who had already been received into hell, made it known that they had spilled it unjustly. What more is there to say? All the magnates of the palace campaigned –​now through laws, now through witnesses, now through many kinds of clever tricks –​for him to dismiss the guilty man as though he were innocent, and in the meantime they tired him out with supplications. He, however, was not taken in by any of their specious arguments nor unnerved by any of 393 As Stefan Esders has suggested, this could be some kind of inquiry (inquisitio) in which people could be asked to compulsorily denounce what they knew about a certain case, but here this did not produce any effect. It seems relevant that at this stage, they try to find out the murderer, while the procedure is not yet directly pointing to the defensor as instigator of the crime. 394 Genesis 4:10. 395 This was how Virgil and other classical authors referred to Italy. 396 Psalms 7:10: Consumetur nequitia peccatorum, et diriges iustum, qui scrutaris corda et renes, Deus. 139

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their reproaches, but remained undaunted and did whatever he could to see that the truth should come to light in the end. When they saw his resolve, they finally decided that they would no longer participate in this dispute, unless he [Wala] would accept an ordeal concerning the man, although the legal procedure was clear in this case. [p. 57] The people roared their approval, as if a soldier of Christ would not want to accept the outcome of an ordeal. When he heard this, he resorted to his usual weapons and proclaimed a fast both for himself and for those of us who were with him, lest perchance (as often happens) some deceit of the devil should prevail in this same ordeal. We passed the whole night awake in prayer, therefore, beseeching the merciful Lord to reveal the man guilty of this terrible crime. When morning came, trusting in the mercy of God, we proceeded to the arena (as it were), where all of the people had already gathered. There was a great deal of insolence among the great men, to the point that a number of bishops were caught up in this altercation, since indeed the gravity of the case did not dawn upon them.397 Then the true champion of Christ began to urge them now to make ready the ordeal. Taking up a position in their midst, he held out his hands and prayed tearfully to God that this sham of an ordeal should not leave its stain on men of integrity as well.398 The tears that he shed rose quickly from his cheeks to heaven, and because bribes had subverted the tribunal of human judgement, his tears instead approached Christ’s throne of grace,399 and with them at the same time innocent blood cried out from the earth. And thus the inner judge, as if once more rebuking the ancient guilt of Cain, compelled him [the defensor] to confess what had been wickedly hidden as secret. He immediately fell to the feet of Arsenius, trembling and groaning because the divine judge was punishing his miserable conscience from within. Overwhelmed then by a new fear, he also began to point out everyone whose protection he had employed to commit these acts. Out of all that he could have had, he said, nothing remained to him save for what he had as he stood before them; for he had given 397 I.e., the bishops were not receptive to the widow’s plight and allowed themselves to participate in a sham ritual. Radbert cites a biblical passage about judges who will not hear a widow’s case: Isaiah 1.23: et causa viduae non ingreditur ad eos (‘and the widow’s cause comes not in to them’). 398 Ecclesiasticus 35:18–​19: Nonne lacrimae viduae ad maxillam descendunt et exclamatio eius super deducentem eas? A  maxilla enim ascendunt usque ad caelum, et Dominus exauditor non delectabitur in illis. 399 Cf. Hebrews 4:16. 140

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everything away to those who now stood around him. Blinded by these things, these men naturally made a mockery of the tribunal, so much so that they persecuted Arsenius with their hatreds and exhausted him with their plots. But now that they had all been convicted by divine judgement, they departed in confusion, and the scoundrel was mercifully handed over to penance. Pascasius: Unhappy indeed is the age when no one is disposed to obey a man of good intention and judgement, and everyone follows his own will and not the will of God. ‘Everyone pursues rewards and loves bribes.’400 Everyone pursues it in equal measure and has the same obstinacy. They seem to play the same game of keeping a lookout for wickedness and whether anyone can be tricked in this way. Perhaps they display so little trust because they judge our Arsenius on the basis of their own desires, as if no one could possibly be different from them, especially since there is no truth to be found among them, ‘for it has fallen down in the streets and equity could not come in’.401 Whence ‘the blood of the widow did not come in to them’,402 but, because she was innocent, ‘she lay open to be a prey’.403 Chapter 27 Severus: Why is Cremes getting so excited about this affair, given that when he [Arsensius] lived with us, virtually every day he would use his powers of inference to draw forth secret judgements from the hidden recesses of the heart and bring them to light, so that at that time there was hardly anyone who would dare to keep anything hidden from him. And after he had carefully examined admissions of sin, he would straightaway apply the gentle medicine of Christ to the sick.

4 00 Isaiah 1:23: Omnes diligunt munera; sequuntur retributiones. 401 Isaiah 59:14: Et conversum est retrorsum iudicium, et iustitia longe stetit, quia corruit in platea veritas et aequitas non potuit ingredi. 402 Isaiah 1:23. 403 Isaiah 59:15: Et facta est veritas in oblivionem, et qui recessit a malo praedae patuit. 141

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Cremes: What you recall is true, but here [in Francia] there were many people who looked into these matters with him in the interest of our salvation. There [in Italy], on the other hand, no one, or hardly anyone, could be found who not only did not corrupt truth and justice, but who also did not stretch out his arms against him to defend the crimes of iniquity. Hence also a certain man, [p. 58] after he had fraudulently made off with the documents of another person’s will, summoned witnesses and secretly stashed them in a scabbard; and in this fashion he cunningly returned it to the plaintiff. This person, unaware of what it was he was taking, chanced to leave it in the very same spot. Shortly thereafter he asked him to give back the will, but the latter pleaded, assisted by witnesses, that he had given back to him all the charters of his own accord. But since every dispute ends with an oath, once the witnesses swore, the wretch had no opportunity to make a claim in repsonse. Nonetheless he appeared before [Arsenius] in person and spoke in plaintive tones about what had happened. Then our Arsenius smiled and ordered the guilty man to come forward, as if he were already aware of the nature of the crime. ‘Unhappy man,’ he said, ‘how did you think up such a clever trick?’ And that man, seeing that he was as good as caught, fell at his [Arsenius’] feet and revealed what he was hiding. Adeodatus: As I see it, the wisdom of Solomon was in this man, and this is why he was so acute when looking into affairs of a hidden nature. Pascasius: It often happens, as Parmenus says, that a thoughtless (inprudens) man occasionally does more good without knowing it than he ever does knowingly.404 But from the moment of his profession our man here never 404 … ut homo quilibet inprudens plus boni interdum nesciens, quam prius sciens umquam agat. Cf. Terence, Hecyra 5.4.39–​40 (879–​80): equidem plus hodie boni /​feci imprudens quam sciens ante hunc diem unquam (‘I for my part did more good today without knowing it than I have ever knowingly done before this day’). It is also possible to take inprudens and nesciens as redundant synonyms in Pascasius’ statement, which would preserve more neatly the original meaning of the Terentian passage from which Radbert is borrowing. 142

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acted without consideration (inprudenter), and he often caught hidden things in the nets of his intuition, as we ourselves often witnessed in the case of the sins of certain brothers. For at first the sinners would always retreat to the shadows and try to stay hidden, so that what is open to the gaze of God would not be seen by those who might condemn them. But it has been a long time since we crossed into Italy and were exiled to this side of the Pennine Alps, where we saw Saturn’s golden realm and her wicked arts, where in every respect the world is king and the Ausonian soil plays the harlot. Now that almost everything has been set right, therefore, and the holy Eugenius405 has been ordained bishop of the Apostolic See –​whose ordination he is said to have worked hard to bring about, so that what had been corrupted by the negligence of many might be corrected by him –​let us return, at long last, to Gaul. Adeodatus: Perhaps, Pascasius, you are bitterly accusing  –​no less secretly than deviously or cunningly –​the one whom you had intended to praise, on the grounds that you saw him take away some small gifts offered to the brothers, amongst which were riches and trappings of all kinds in the which the world is king, such things as none of us can profess to having seen before.406 Pascasius: I never would have believed that you could be so suspicious and prickly407 as to twist words spoken in all sincerity in order to slander

405 Pope Eugenius II (824–​7). This pope was elected with Frankish support and confirmed the Franco-​papal alliance by oath, while Wala most likely supervised these proceedings. Some months after Eugenius’ accession the Constitutio Romana of 824 was agreed upon, which required all male adult Romans to perform an oath of loyaly to the Frankish emperor. See Noble, Republic, pp. 308–​22. 406 Upon his return from Italy, Wala brought with him a great number of gifts that he had received from Italian nobles and the pope. Some at Corbie criticised his acceptance of these gifts on the grounds that they were bribes; see Weinrich, Wala, pp. 51–​3. A capitulary of 819 had specifically prohibited comites, vicarii, et centenarii from accepting gifts propter iustitiam pervertendam (MGH Capit. I 141, c. 21, p. 291). On the broader context of gifts that might become bribes, see Fouracre, ‘Beneficium’. 407 Nemorosus. This word ordinarily means ‘shady’, and if the scribe has not made an error it represents a highly unusual figurative usage. Mabillon emended to morosus (‘peevish, difficult’), which makes better sense. 143

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me. For perhaps you are offended by these things, as certain people are, and for this reason you are casting aspersions on another. And yet no one who has a just estimation of the conscience of his neighbour could doubt that all of these things were either the blessings of a pious love or tokens of esteem from the magnates expressing due reverence because he was the regent of the kingdom and the emperor’s teacher. Secure in his conscience, he said, in the presence of all of us, ‘All these things that you see you can accept safely without risk to anyone, just as I received them for myself without any accusation of greed and without anyone losing his property, [p.  59] for the sake of God and you all, since they were offered with honourable reception in mind,408 and as a gift of honour for the emperor, as well as for your sustenance. No one, moreover, acquired or lost anything unfairly for the sake of these gifts, nor did anyone regret having given or received them. On the contrary, the truth is that in many cases I did not wish to accept them, but the donors entreated me that they be brought to you by way of alms.’ In accepting these things, therefore, it is clear that (contrary to what you believe me to have said)409 he was taking account of the customs of the land and the adornment of the realm. For I knew him to be a man who was so generous and contemptuous of the world in all things, that ‘he left himself ’ according to the word of the Lord.410 What, therefore, could this man, who ‘left himself ’ so perfectly (as everyone might have known) have gained for himself, I will not say through fraud or avarice, but even through lawful means? Indeed, as I have said, and as the facts have made clear to us, he accepted these things to forestall the possibility (as sometimes happens) that those who wanted to give them would take offence, or that we would hear that he had rejected what had 4 08 Causa honestae acceptionis: i.e., not as a bribe. 409 The Latin is obscure here, but Pascasius appears to be referring to Adeodatus’ earlier remark that he was secretly accusing Wala of having taken gifts intended for his community of monks. There is no indication that Corbie had a separate mensa fratrum, i.e., property set aside for the monks who would receive the revenues thereof for their sustenance, as distinct from those at the abbot’s disposal. In Corbie, Adalhard and then Wala were fully in control of monastic property. On the economic organisation of Corbie, see Kasten, Adalhard, pp. 110–​37. 410 Cf Acts 14:16:  ‘Nevertheless he left not himself without testimony, doing good from heaven’ (Et quidem non sine testimonio semetipsum reliquit, benefaciens de caelo). At first glance, the passage from Acts is hardly relevant to the point Pascasius is making, which is that Wala despised the things of the world and his own material gain; yet by using part of it, Radbert deftly evokes the original thrust of the biblical text, which suggests an analogy between Christ and Wala with regard to their reputation after death. In neither case had their enemies succeeded in destroying it. 144

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been offered to us and criticise him for returning with nothing to show for our expenditures. Adeodatus: I am glad that I  upbraided you for having accused him about the rumours concerning what he brought back, so that everyone can now understand how generous he was, what a stranger to earthly things and how dead to the world. For in return for all of these things he never dishonourably asked for even the smallest recompense from us, nor from strangers in return for any other sort of benefactions, but always and in all things he sought to please God. Pascasius: It is as you say, my brother, so much so that some of our number did not understand at the time that these things had been given to him as a gift, but that they had been sent to us by many of the great men or by the supreme pontiff of the Apostolic See, who also gave generously to him. Hence it happened one day that when one of the brothers was praising him for this sort of thing, another is said to have responded: ‘Why are you praising him so much for this? Weren’t the things that he brought intended for us in the first place?’ When he had finished speaking, we all laughed at this. Then someone else said:  ‘Perhaps you deserve to have so many fine gifts sent to you!’ Human nature, I declare, is clearly wretched; it is so stupid, envious and ungrateful. For had he not exerted himself on their behalf, that man never would have spoken in this way. But in truth it is clear that at that time our Arsenius was beloved and renowned like no one else in that kingdom. This is why he was flattered with so many fine gifts, to the extent that he was compelled against his will to accept them out of kindness, so that the affection of friendship would not be injured. Let others do what they can. Let them set snares and spread fear as much as they are able to. Let them sell justice for bribes. Let them rage with deceit and wiles, and put everything up for sale to everyone. For all that, none of them were offered so many gifts of such quality as this man was, with no expectation of anything in return, but solely out of love and respect. Now that this has been said and we are finally turning our pen back to Gaul, let us bring this book to an end. For what we must deal with next is so grim and so monstrous that hardly anyone can comprehend it in his mind, because these 145

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things are so frightening and confusing. When the pen reaches these things, though the one who commits them to writing may bear within him a heart of stone, I do not know whether he will be able to form letters through his tears, or whether they will not be washed away by weeping, much less how the order and form (status)411 of the narrative will be constructed. In the meantime, let us console ourselves with the joy of the awareness [p. 60] that we have known and had among us such a great man, about whom we do not fear to rejoice to God. And let us be on guard not to be intimidated by any slanders; for in our time even men of high standing speak against the good, such that no one can escape unscathed. HERE ENDS THE FIRST BOOK OF THE EPITAPH OF ARSENIUS

411 A possible reference to the status theory of classical (forensic) rhetoric, according to which all cases (causae) hinged on one of four possible chief points at issue (status, constitutiones): conjectural (did X do it?); definitional (how should the act committed by X be defined?); qualitative (was there a mitigating factor that led X to do it?); or translative (is this court the proper venue in which to adjudicate the claim?). 146

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The second book begins Adeodatus: After the countless anxieties of duty within the monastery and the weighty issues to attend to outside of it, after the ups and downs of circumstances and affairs, and the hardships of life, after the long weariness of sundry travel hither and thither and running about everywhere, after unrelenting pressures on all fronts, at long last, Pascasius, now that all of this has been left behind and tranquillity and freedom of mind have been restored to you by the disposition of divine judgement,1 it is time to recall what we formerly omitted, so that hereafter we may complete the form of our father’s epitaph, which we earlier began to commit to writing. For it would have been more respectable not to have started than to leave unfinished what we began. Pascasius: I confess that this is so, my brother. Yet, after the muted silences of life and the suspension of literary pursuits, I  am afraid to return to what forgetfulness has done away with or moral levity now disdains to hear. Even if it were time to speak about these things, moreover, the fluency of writing is no longer mine, if it was ever there at all. All the same, lest what we began should founder in disgrace as a source of joy for our enemies and a precedent for the indolent, I shall attempt to do 1 Radbert became abbot of Corbie in 843/​4 but was forced to resign the office at some point between 849 and 853, after which he retired to the monastery of St Riquier. The date of his deposition marks the terminus post quem for the composition of Book 2, which was probably written in the mid-​850s. The same theme of rest after a long period of labour is found in the preface to Book 9 (p.  932) of Radbert’s commentary on Matthew: Mihi quidem post innumeros actus seculi et molestos vitae labores, post sollicitudines tanti regiminis et longa vitae presentis dispendia, optabile satis tandem prudenti viro concessit otium (‘After the countless worldly affairs and irksome toils of life, after the anxieties of so great a position of leadership and the continuous hardships of the present life, I have at long last been granted the leisure that is most welcome to a prudent man’).

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what you urge and make a start, although the remaining lament for what has transpired can never be fulfilled. But because in the meantime Severus has blessedly entered the way of all flesh,2 and Cremes has now departed in the midst of our crisis,3 we need to choose (in the manner of the sacred fathers) one of those who lived with him as we did, so that through him the truth may be more strongly sanctioned (by the testimony of three witnesses, as it were),4 and so that our lament will not be found different even in the number of participants. Therefore, brother, since it was your idea that we should start all over again, it should be your responsibility to choose our companion in this task. Adeodatus: Although I am scarcely capable of discerning judgement, as a devoted follower of your commands I  will not refuse what you ask. For with reason we are not looking for a philosopher for our lament, but for one of those whose pious remembrance or emotion will move us to tears. Hence, if this seems right to you, then out of everyone let us choose Teofrastus, although he is beardless (glaber).5 Teofrastus: I never would have thought that you would want to combine jokes with jest, or play childish games! 2 Odilman was the dedicatee of Radbert’s commentary on Lamentations, which means that his death had taken place after the completion of that work but before Radbert began Book 2 of the EA. See Introduction, p. 10. 3 Presumably the crisis that led to Radbert’s deposition as abbot of Corbie (849–​53). 4 Cf. 2 Corinthians 13:1:  ‘In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word stand’ (In ore duorum vel trium testium stabit omne verbum); Matthew 18:16: ‘And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more: that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand’ (Si autem te non audierit, adhibe tecum adhuc unum vel duos, ut in ore duorum vel trium testium stet omne verbum); Matthew 18:20: ‘For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them’ (Ubi enim sunt duo vel tres congregati in nomine meo, ibi sum in medio eorum). A possible source for the three witnesses is Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae 8.15.6: In omne autem iudicium sex personae quaeruntur: iudex, accusator, reus et tres testes (‘In every judgement six persons are required: the judge, the accuser, the guilty party and three witnesses’). On Isidore and legal procedure, see Loschiavo, ‘Isidore of Seville’, pp. 12–​21. 5 Beardlessness here is synonymous with youth. Teofrastus’ youth partly explains his intrepid interventions and emphasises the distance in time from Book 1. This new and outspoken discussant is named after the philosopher Theophrastus, Aristotle’s successor as leader of the Peripatetic School, who came to Athens as a young man. He figures in Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations at 1.45, 3.21 and 69, 5.24–5, 85, 107. 148

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Pascasius: Do not be surprised, brother, if Adeodatus has chosen you for this purpose, beardless and all, given that he did not exempt me, worn out with age as I am and long since devoid of such learning. For men of integrity and those who love with a good conscience should be the ones to convey lamentation and truth to an audience.6 [p. 61]. In many respects, therefore, the two of us, who have been made to suffer for a long time now, can just as well make known our weeping to our sons and friends. Chapter 1 Adeodatus: But before we get to the lament, I ask that you point out to us the origin of this terrible crisis, because there is nobody in his right mind who would believe that all this happened among the people without God being offended. Pascasius: By Hercules,7 what you say is true, but everything should not be revealed to everyone yet, least of all to those who hate the truth8 and delight in wickedness. All the same, even if these men take little joy in what is good, the truth should not be concealed forever, because the man of whom we are speaking freely spoke the word of truth even to those who reproached him. From this it follows that, before all these evils of the entire imperial reign (imperii)9 made their appearance, when the disasters and scourges upon the people had already been increasing on a daily basis through God’s just judgement, the emperor together 6 The idea is that although Teofrastus is (too) young and Pascasius is old and worn out, because they are morally upright (probi) and their love derives from a good conscience (bene conscii amantes) they are qualified to perform this lament. 7 Swearing by Hercules (hercle, mehercle) is common in Terentian comedy, where its use is limited to male characters. Its use here is of a piece with the frequent citations from Terence’s plays, which are expected to be recognised among this learned coterie of monks. On Hercules and the classical tradition at the Carolingian court, see Nees, A Tainted Mantle. 8 … quibus veritas odii est. Cf. Terentius, Andria 1.1.40–​1(67–​8): namque hoc tempore /​ obsequium amicos, veritas odium parit. 9 On our choices for translating imperium, see the Introduction, p. 44. 149

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with his senators10 and the magnates of the land wondered why it was that the divine majesty had shown such displeasure to the people on so many occasions for such a long period of time, since, as scripture bears witness, vexation alone shall make you understand what you hear.11 Therefore, it was ordered that every one of them should make diligent inquiries until the next assembly about what it was that had offended God and by what efforts he might be placated.12 Once this had been thus ordained, our Arsenius put before his eyes the wretched world, together with the divine laws and the decrees of the fathers, and in them he immediately saw the many ways in which the churches of God13 had been perverted and the sorts of carnal deeds through which the whole people had been corrupted. In response he drafted a short document (scedula), which was actually an aid to memory for himself, in which he efficaciously portrayed in writing all the vices of this realm (regni), and so comprehensively that none of his adversaries could deny that all of this was true. Then, returning to the court,14 in the presence of the emperor and the leaders of all the churches and the senators, he held forth in turn about the duties of the various orders in the face of increasing evil, and he showed how everything had been corrupted and perverted. Teofrastus: I am much astounded, given that we are challenged by such exemplary deeds on his part, that there is none of ours who dares to tell the full truth about that man to posterity, although he was daring enough to expose the sins of the people that had long accumulated: disasters, 1 0 Senatores, i.e., the inner circle of royal/​imperial counsellors. 11 Isaiah 28:19: ‘Whensoever it shall pass through, it shall take you away, because in the morning early it shall pass through in the day, and in the night, and vexation alone shall make you understand what you hear’ (Quandocumque pertransierit, tollet vos, quoniam mane diluculo pertransibit in die et in nocte, et tantummodo sola vexatio intellectum dabit auditui). 12 This order was presumably given at the restricted assembly that took place at Aachen over the winter of 828/​9. See ARF s.a. 828, p. 176; De Jong, Penitential State, pp. 157–​70. The ‘next assembly’ referred to here was the summer assembly held at Worms in August 829. 13 This refers to religious communities in general, and monastic ones in particular; see De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 193–​9. 14 Wala seems to have been resident at Aachen for the whole of the winter meeting. Having retired to his own quarters to prepare the scedula, he returned to the court to deliver it in person. See De Jong, Penitential State, pp. 164–​7. 150

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epidemics, famines, irregularities in the weather, and also terrifying visions. These evils were preceded, of course, by a spurious fabrication about dust,15 which produced so much anxiety and such an enormity of falsehood that to prudent men it seemed that the entire world had been given into the hands of the enemy to be tested. From this it is clear that, on account of these and similar reasons, the sins of the realm, which have not yet come to an end, are piling up every day for the worse, and it only remains (as we have learned has happened in many cases) for it to be destroyed. Hence it is to be feared that what we read has already happened to many peoples will also happen to us.16 By no means would I say, therefore, that it is without cause that the miracles of the saints who have long slumbered in Christ have recently shone resplendently: miracles of such a sort and in such a number as are never heard to have been performed at the relics of the saints at one time since the beginning of the world. [p. 62] For all the saints who have been carried hither and thither to this kingdom roused one another, as if at cock-​crow, to sing together in harmony, so that it was made clear that our lack of faith (according to the Apostle) demanded this (for in truth, as he himself bears witness, signs are given not to believers but to the unbelieving),17 in case somehow, after the darkness of our blindness, we might awake and at last rise up to the true light which is Christ.18 Adeodatus: Perhaps if this man had been called to our joint lament at an earlier stage, he would have exposed us like an informer, since he cannot

15 In 810 the Frankish empire was struck by a cattle pestilence attributed in some quarters to poisoned dust. See Annales Sithienses s.a. 810, MGH SS XIII, p. 37: Boum pestilentia per totam Europam immaniter grassata est, et inde pulverum sparsorum fabula exorta. The story is fleshed out by Agobard of Lyons, De grandine et tonitruis c. 16, pp.  14–​15, who relates that Duke Grimald of Benevento was accused of sending people to spread contaminated dust ‘throughout fields, mountains, meadows, and wells/​ streams’ because he was hostile to Charlemagne. See Meens, ‘Thunder over Lyon’. 16 A reference to the Old Testament destruction of the gentes, enemies of Israel. 17 1 Corinthians 14:22:  ‘Wherefore tongues are for a sign not to believers but to unbelievers, but prophesies not to unbelievers but to believers’ (Itaque linguae in signum sunt non fidelibus sed infidelibus, prophetiae autem non infidelibus sed fidelibus). 18 Cf. John 1:9: ‘That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world’ (Erat lux vera quae inluminat omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum). 151

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restrain himself in speaking.19 For although what he alludes to is true, he does not wait to speak in his turn. Teofrastus: What I have just recounted could not be expressed more appropriately in any other place (locus),20 since the evils that have grown up little by little are only now being punished. For this empire has expanded with felicitous success up to the present day, as if in the fullness of time, but the vices that have been committed by degrees, as is typical in a state of prosperity, have grown up and accumulated. By the just judgement of God this was revealed not merely by his scourges, but also by new miracles of saintly power.21 Unless I  am mistaken, therefore, these things should be pointed out and lamented in this place (locus) –​so that they might serve as a warning for correction, if not for us, then at least for future generations. Chapter 2 Pascasius: We cannot deny that this is the case, yet we must not pass over what our Arsenius set forth in the presence of all, including the loftiest magnates,22 because these matters and others of this sort had driven him to reveal to everyone, on divine authority, like another Jeremiah, in what ways they had all offended God. And from the duty of charity he constantly admonished them to destroy, scatter and eradicate the evils to which they had given free rein, and henceforth to build and propagate for the future the good that they had disregarded. ‘By the way,’ he asked, ‘do you know the orders that make up the Church of Christ? For 19 Cf. Proverbs 25:28: ‘As a city that lieth open and is not compassed with walls, so is a man that cannot refrain his own spirit in speaking’ (Sicut urbs patens et absque murorum ambitu, ita vir qui non potest in loquendo cohibere spiritum suum). 20 The word locus used here and below seems to refer both to the text itself and to the physical location of the dialogue, i.e., the monastery of Corbie. 21 This may be a specific reference to miracles and disasters reported by Einhard at the winter assembly and described in his Translatio 3.12–​14. 22 At the winter assembly of 828/​9, yet Wala’s speeches as rendered by Radbert also (or even more so) reflect the issues debated at synods he participated in as abbot in the 840s; see De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 193–​9, and Breternitz, ‘Ludwig der Fromme’. On royal assemblies and the role of speeches, see Airlie, ‘Talking heads’. 152

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it is beyond doubt that the order of religious life23 and the state of the realm should be investigated according to the duties of each. Hence, we must first consider what is internal and divine, and then what is external and human, because without doubt the state of the Church as a whole is governed through these two orders. So let the emperor and king be bound to his office, and let him undertake nothing foreign to it, but rather those things that fall within the sphere of his responsibilities; and let him not neglect these things, because the Lord will call him to account for all of this. Let the bishop, however, and the ministers of the churches have particular responsibility for what belongs to God. Let the king, moreover, appoint such rulers in the realm as the Lord in his Law commands be diligently sought out,24 men in whom and for whom he may rest secure because he knows them to be righteous and suited to rule over the holy people of God, not those who support him for their own gain, but who hate avarice and love God and righteousness, whose task it is, in short, always to establish what is righteous and just, and to correct what has become corrupted. For otherwise, O king, if you do not preserve what has been ordained, then worse torment awaits you,25 and through you all will meet a single death, if God turns away. You must see to it, therefore, that you neglect nothing, because on you alone, according to Solomon, rests the stability of the whole kingdom.26 But do not involve yourself in divine affairs more than is fitting.’ [p. 63] Adeodatus: As I understand it, it was not without justification that you referred to him as another Jeremiah for the constancy of his faith and the hardness of his head,27 since he so boldly complained to the emperor 23 The ‘order of discipline’ (ordo disciplinae), i.e., the discipline of a religious community, be it monastic or clerical. Disciplina is a key term in the Rule of Benedict. 24 Exodus 18:21–​5; Deuteronomy 1:11–​15. 25 Wisdom 6:9: ‘But a greater punishment is ready for the more mighty’ (Fortioribus autem fortior instat cruciatio). 26 Wisdom 6:26: ‘Now the multitude of the wise is the welfare of the whole world, and a wise king is the upholding of the people’ (Multitudo autem sapientium sanitas est orbis terrarum, et rex sapiens populi stabilimentum est). 27 Cf. Ezekiel 3:8: ‘Behold, I have made thy face stronger than their faces, and thy forehead harder than their foreheads’ (Ecce dedi faciem tuam valentiorem faciebus eorum, et frontem tuam duriorem frontibus eorum). 153

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that, because of the idleness of luxury and the wicked habits of kings, he had neglected so many important duties of his office (as we saw), being preoccupied instead with things of no importance. Pascasius: Harsher still, brother, was what was spoken at the time,28 of which I shall now reveal a little. For he said to Caesar: ‘I wish, most revered emperor Augustus, that you would tell us, your subjects, why it is that for some time now you have abandoned your own responsibilities and have devoted yourself instead to divine affairs?29 Or what is it that you are giving when you bestow the honours30 –​or rather, as I see it, the burdens –​of churches? For if property has been lawfully consecrated to God through the giving of alms, then it belongs to his churches because it has been lawfully given to his poor, and in particular to those who serve him. But if you think that you can, by divine authority, bestow blessings and the Holy Spirit, which those chosen to be worthy of God are to receive from the Lord and from his holy consecrated bishops, you should know that what you presume to do is beyond the scope of your office.31 If, moreover, according to the authority of the holy fathers, it is more judicious to do what you do and more fruitful to give what you give according to God, then your conduct must be modified in agreement with the clergy and the servants of God, and the holy bishops, lest either you choose what is your own for yourself and usurp what belongs to God, or else the ordinary people or some particular person confound so great a gift in some way, because 28 Again, the reference is to remarks Wala delivered at the Aachen assembly held over the winter of 828/​9, but their content probably reflects the concerns of the 840s and 850s, especially in the kingdom of Charles the Bald. See De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 193–​9. 29 Louis is accused of having interfered too much in the religious domain Radbert considers to be the prerogative of the clergy: the conduct of divine worship (cultus divinus) and the way of life of the monks and clerics who ministered to it. The accusation was still relevant, or even more so, during the reign of Charles the Bald (840–​ 77), when the second book was written. 30 Honor here encompasses both the office of bishop and the lands and possessions attached to it. It could equally well be translated ‘benefice’. On the latter, see Fouracre, ‘Beneficium’. 31 The bestowal of blessings by Louis (and/​or his son Charles) is an intriguing example of the kind of interference of the ruler in divine affairs that Radbert had in mind. Given the religious authority of the ruler at this particular time, this is not all that far-​fetched. 154

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in these matters only that which pertains to God and the doctrine of our salvation should be taken into account. Almost the same holds true for the property of churches; for their resources are nothing other than the penitential payments of sinners, the offerings of the faithful and the patrimony of the poor.32 So let what has once been lawfully consecrated to God be yielded up freely to his soldiers and his poor for the use of his army. Let the king have the public domain33 to dispense of freely for the benefit of his army, and let Christ have the property of the churches, like another public domain, to be entrusted to his faithful assistants for the use of the needy and his servants. And let it be the responsibility of the king for it to be entrusted to those who will faithfully administer it and wisely make provision for it, so that all may glorify God and rejoice in Christ as much for the promises of what is to come as for the consolations of the present. For if, as the Apostle says, those who plunder what belongs to others shall not possess the eternal kingdom,34 then how much more does this apply to those who misappropriate what belongs to God and his churches, in which they are associated with sacrilege? Teofrastus: Well, if what he has stated is true, and these things are in any way within God’s providence, then I don’t know which of our rulers can be saved. For there is nothing so delightful to them, and nothing so sweet, as the properties of churches, just as it is written: ‘hidden bread is more pleasant, and stolen waters sweeter’.35 Pascasius: This is true, my brother, and thus God’s wrath has been poured out upon our rulers and has caused them to wander in a trackless place, and 32 Originally from Julianus Pomerius, De vita contemplativa 2.9.2, PL 59, col. 454A: Et idcirco scientes nihil aliud esse res ecclesiae nisi vota fidelium, pretia peccatorum, et patrimonia pauperum; non eas vindicaverunt in usus suos, ut proprias, sed ut commendatas pauperibus diviserunt. This text circulated widely in the Carolingian world, and was usually ascribed to Prosper of Aquitaine; on its impact on notions of (clerical) poverty, see Claussen, Reform, pp. 184–​205. 33 The term used throughout is respublica: see the Introduction, pp. 43–5. 34 1 Corinthians 6:10. 35 Proverbs 9:17: Aquae furtivae dulciores sunt, et panis absconditus suavior. 155

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not on the path,36 while laymen likewise wrongly hasten to despoil what belongs to God. Yet Christ’s bishops and the servants of the altar rush forth from the inner sanctum to the outside world together with what belongs to God, and what is worse, they also undergo this transformation without shame, although they can read it written that ‘no man who serves God entangles himself in worldly business’.37 [p. 64] From here there arise destructive presumption and confusion, from here the devouring flame of carnal desire, the emptying out of the virtues and the incitement to sin. For either the ministers of Christ, seduced by the enjoyment of property, and in order not to lose it are driven to what is not appropriate for them, or the men of the world, aroused by the heat of carnal desire, and protected, as it were, by royal authority, rise up against God with reckless authority and seize what belongs to him. When all of these things were laid out clearly before the king, and before the bishops of Christ and the rulers of the land, none of them denied it. Adeodatus: I wonder what could have been denied, since it is so obvious to everyone, and hardly anyone could contradict it. To the contrary, they have goaded each other on so that everywhere everything is getting worse and being put to the worst ends. Chapter 3 Pascasius: O misery, that such madness is now increasing every day, so that because of these sorts of deeds and words everyone is being changed to what is worse rather than to moral advancement through correction. Hence it was that at that time everyone –​and especially the men of the Church – began to protest and ask how else the dignity and honour of the churches were to be maintained –​as if they had not read the decrees of the holy fathers. To this our Arsenius replied: ‘Investigate what goes

36 Cf. Psalms 106:40: ‘Contempt was poured forth upon their princes, and he caused them to wander where there was no passing and out of the way’ (Effusa est contemptio super principes, et errare fecit eos in invio et non in via). 37 2 Timothy 2:4: Nemo militans Deo inplicat se negotiis saecularibus. 156

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against the authority of God, so that these things may be corrected by the authority of God himself. For not only human laws, but divine ones as well are in your hands.’ Then the secular men responded: ‘Although all of this may be true, the realm has been impoverished for many reasons and cannot endure on its own. Hence we must employ the lands and soldiers of the Church and be assisted by the support of its resources. Make it clear, then, what you are planning.’ To this he answered, ‘I am puzzled that you are asking. Look at our king, who, as has often been pointed out, has helped himself to many of the resources of churches for his own needs and those of his men. Yet a great many anathemas of the holy fathers have been pronounced with divine authority (as you yourselves know, since they have been read out before you on very many occasions) that condemn it in no uncertain terms if the property of churches has been usurped by force or the power of any judge.38 I ask you, therefore, to consider if one of [his] faithful men has placed his gifts upon the altar for God (be it small or large), and someone comes along and recklessly steals –​by force or theft –​what has been brought there and consecrated. Now I ask you to judge, what kind of crime is this act?’ As if struck from within by a new divine pronouncement, they all immediately decreed it to be a sacrilege. Then he said, ‘Let no one deceive you, most glorious of augusti, for it is a most dangerous thing, when property has once been faithfully dedicated to God for the use of his poor and the servants of God, to take it away later by force and twist it to worldly ends, contrary to divine authority. Given that, according to the word of Truth, whatever these holy bishops bind on earth shall also be bound in heaven,39 all those anathemas of the holy fathers that one reads pronounced in the sacred canons for such crimes should be feared, since as far as I  can judge the authority of those who reign now with God has no less power. If, as you say, therefore, the commonwealth cannot survive without the aid of the property of the churches, then with the greatest reverence and Christian devotion a method and an orderly system must be devised to see if what you and yours take 38 Cf. the compilation made by Jonas of Orléans in 836: Epistola concilii Aquisgranensis, MGH Concilia 2.2, pp. 724–​67. 39 Cf. Matthew 16:19, where it is only Peter who is given the power of binding and loosing. The idea of the bishops collectively sharing Peter’s prerogatives, as successors to the apostles, is clearly expressed in the Relatio episcoporum of 833, which contains the bishops’ accusations against Louis the Pious that led to his public penance. Relatio episcoporum (833), p. 51; De Jong, Penitential State, p. 271; for a new edition of this text, see Booker, ‘Public penance’. 157

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from the churches is for the purpose of protection rather than rapine, lest this presumption extend so far as to bring with it the maledictions and curse of the holy fathers. [p. 65] Moreover, if something must be rendered for military use, let these saintly bishops present it as such, and in all cases let it take place in such a calculated way that they themselves are not compelled to flutter across to worldly things and to devote themselves irreligiously to the worldly pomp which they have abjured, since, according to the Apostle, as I have said, “No man who serves God entangles himself in worldly business.” Otherwise, any one of them who has until now served the vanities and works of the devil is not a true Christian.’ When he had said this, they began to ask what constituted vanity. But he said, ‘It is up to you to determine this and to show yourselves to be men of the Gospel rather than those in whom the world rules and revels in its appetites.’ Chapter 4 Teofrastus: Indeed, this is why so many people slander him (as I  still hear today): because he wanted the property of churches to be divided and only as much left to them as would be just sufficient, but for the rest to be put to the use of the secular order. Pascasius: This is not at all the case, as you wrongly believe, and as many at the time believed. For on this matter he did not rashly make any determination or indication of his will, but merely exhorted them that whatever was to be done should in all events be done in such a way that neither of [the orders] should sin against God for the sake of earthly things. Thus, when some of the bishops challenged him on how he intended to proceed, no one could ascertain anything except for what he had previously told everyone in the presence of the emperor. While these things were being dealt with, meanwhile, he demonstrated and enumerated the dangers that faced the monasteries. For already at that time many of these were held by laymen, although today those that are governed according to their own order are much less frequently found, but instead, as a punishment for sin, almost all of them have been occupied

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and corrupted for worldly needs and pursuits. For although the king40 made a good start on these matters, as evils proliferated they were ultimately taken over by men of the world. And at that time he repeatedly and vociferously denounced the fact that bishoprics were not being given properly according to the authority of the canons, nor was free choice being protected. After he had laid all of these things out before everyone in this way, since none of them could deny that the episcopal order had been wholly corrupted, they worked out that synods should be held in three places41 at which they could look into this more carefully, not because –​as subsequent events revealed –​they really wanted to correct these abuses, but so that they might for the time being show deference to the king. For at that time they were already striving towards those secular ends that would later be brought out in the open, and for that reason they paid less regard to what belonged to God. Chapter 5 Adeodatus: When his words are recalled, I marvel at him in his absence, though we did not marvel at him when he was present. For since he was so humble that no one seemed humbler or more dead to the world, how is it that among the chief men of the churches (namely, the counsellors from among the bishops and the senators) he spoke so forcefully and resolutely in the senate before Augustus? Pascasius: You are not unaware, brother, that this was a man whom neither terror of threats, nor the force of circumstance, nor hope for the present, 40 This best fits Charles the Bald, who at the beginning of his reign liberally granted privileges to ecclesiastical institutions in order to gain their support. In June 845, he put his foot down and refused to give in to further demands from the bishops. Cf. AB s.a. 846, p. 68, and Nelson, Annals, pp. 62–​3, n. 1, with the suggestion that this is a later interpolation by Hincmar. See also the comment s.a. 866 in Nelson, Annals, p. 136, on Charles dividing monastic property ‘among some of his men, with more detriment to his own soul than any benefit to them’. 41 Four, rather than three, great councils were held. These took place at Paris, Mainz, Toulouse and Lyons on 23 May (the Octave of Pentecost) 829. See Patzold, Episcopus, pp. 151–​2; De Jong, Penitential State, pp. 170–​6.

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nor fear for the future, nor promises [p. 66] of material rewards, nor unending varieties of torment, nor any authority could recall from the charity of Christ and love for his fatherland and people, from love for the Church and loyalty to the emperor.42 For these and many other reasons, therefore, he spoke resolutely, like another Jeremiah. He reserved particular criticism for the army of clerics in the palace (whom they popularly call ‘chaplains’), because this is not any order of the Church. For they do not serve for any other reason than for the sake of the honours of churches and the profits of the world, for material rewards without the oversight of authority, and for worldly ambition.43 Thus their life is not that of monks under the rule, nor do they soldier under a bishop in accordance with the canons whereas indeed there is no other training in the Church that is not under these two orders. For he used to say that one ought either to be a canon (or a layman) or a monk; those who were neither of these things were shown to belong to no order, because they seemed to have no head. Although this heresy had won this name [i.e., that of ordo] for itself elsewhere, nonetheless he proclaimed that no worse disease of the Church could be found in our time, which from the time that it had arisen had corrupted all of its laws to the point that, since many of these people were vice-​ridden, almost all the houses of monks and canons, as well as those of nuns, were now occupied by laymen, and all had become corrupted. This is the reason why –​since he had foreseen what was to come –​he never hesitated to pronounce appropriate judgement on behalf of the security of the realm, the salvation of the people, the stability of the churches and the peaceful life of religion, even though he might have given offence to some people. Chapter 6 Adeodatus: Insofar as it is in our power to understand, the likes of them at the time were neither royal counsellors (consules) nor overseers of their fatherland, but robbers whose narrow minds the darkness of present 42 This is the first of a series of at least twelve repetitive pronouncements on what Wala believed in. These ‘mantras’ are discussed by De Jong, ‘For God, king and country’, and Epitaph, pp. 185–​8. 43 Similar criticism of palace clergy can be found in Haito’s Vita Wettini c. 7, p. 270, and the Relatio episcoporum 829, MGH c. 7, p. 39; see also Köhn, ‘Militia curialis’, pp. 243–​5. 160

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concerns had blinded, which sordid baseness had filled with shadows and carnal desires stained with its filth to such an extent that they were incapable of understanding or perceiving the dignity of being a counsellor, the illustriousness of this rank and the importance of this office, or of taking charge and maintaining it. For this reason, they should be called not counsellors, but merchants and pedlars of such a great dignity, and creators of disorder in the churches. For not only did they not give counsel when he admonished them, but in fact they alternately evaded, schemed and betrayed, so that such abuses would neither be corrected, nor would they resist, when they could have done so, the worse [evils] that were to come. And therefore, as Pascasius lamented a little bit earlier, these things did not happen undeservedly. On the contrary, because they were unwilling to receive the spirit of truth in order to be corrected, they received the spirit of error to their own confusion. That is why, up to the present day, none of the rulers can show the commonwealth the way towards justice.44 Pascasius: Not undeserved, too, because they were unwilling to stand firm for God or seek out the things of God first so that they might correct what had already become corrupted, when, with God retreating from them, the fatherland is bereft of counsel, faith has disappeared, peace has fled and prosperity of any sort today lies forsaken. Now there is hardly anyone who shows loyalty to kings, no one who properly looks out for the interests of the fatherland or the citizens, no one who measures out to his companions and friends the charity that is their due. Judges do nothing save what profits them; the people do not support the imperial officers, [p. 67] and the authority of the bishops holds no sway because that of the emperor and the kings has disappeared. The realm is impoverished of its churches, since bandits plunder them; all of the most eloquent men have become silent, because the power to act and speak has been rendered useless. For no greater knowledge has arrived from the world into these parts, nor anything more substantial to ponder, than that in every case ability and knowledge come panting after desire. Therefore, as far as I can see, because they did not heed his voice at that time (or rather, that of God), all of their good fortune has been overturned and 44 … nemo principum explicare potest reipublicae vias ad iustitiam. Cf. Jeremiah 2:23: cursor levis explicans vias suas. 161

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their strength shattered. Counsel has fled, and ‘all wisdom’, according to the prophet, ‘has been swallowed up’.45 Of course, at that time he already foresaw what was to come and warned them of this in that same assembly by making all of these matters clear. Soon afterwards he was afflicted by a serious illness, which the doctors call lientery,46 so that he might bring his virtue to perfection in sickness.47 And from this moment forward he fell silent until the judgement of God should come upon us and the sins which had previously been committed should be made manifest in the doing, to the extent that what we are doing now is not merely sinful, but the punishment for sin. Chapter 7 Teofrastus: It has already become crystal clear why such events occurred, but it is not beside the point to inquire how they began, since we believe that it was right that their hearts were hardened in order that they might not hear, as their sins required, so that thereafter divine vengeance might justly rage all the more among us sinners. Pascasius: Alas for that day that brought virtually never-​ending darkness and danger to this world, that rent into pieces and divided the peaceful and united empire, violated ties of brotherhood, tore kinsmen apart, begat hatreds everywhere, scattered fellow citizens, exiled faith, destroyed charity, violated churches and corrupted everything! As a result, every day civil wars and wars more than civil (so to speak) are taking place. The army of the whole fatherland is wiped out on almost every side, while provinces, counties and cities are widely ravaged. Anyone left has no strength and either flees or falls before the sword. For this reason, there are invasions of heathens and enemies on all sides; for this reason, the whole people is cut down, and countless villages and cities are put to the torch. Alas for that wretched day, which was followed by 4 5 Psalms 106:27: Turbati sunt et moti sunt sicut ebrius; et omnis sapientia eorum devorata est. 46 The appearance of undigested food in the faeces. 47 2 Corinthians 12:9:  ‘My grace is sufficient for thee, for power is made perfect in infirmity’ (Sufficit tibi gratia mea, nam virtus in infirmitate perficitur). 162

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a worse night, though none is more unhappy than the day on which the accursed Naso48 was recalled from Spain, that fornicator who abandoned everything honourable [to which he had been appointed] and stupidly plunged himself into every filthy sty. Accordingly, when he came, like a wild boar, he turned the palace upside down, put an end to counsel and destroyed all the laws of reason.49 All the counsellors of things human and divine he expelled and humiliated. He occupied the bed and seditiously took over everything so that his plots became even more apparent. Blinded in this way, in order that nothing could exist save for what he himself had devised, he set aside divine affairs and plunged himself into human ones, both lawful and otherwise, immediately uprooted and corrupted everything, and hollowed out every royal office. He broke agreements and threw order into confusion so that there could be no stability. He transformed every last thing, turned day into night and night back to day. He separated sons from their father, and father from sons. And in this way his tyranny proceeded on its course so that he surpassed all others and left nothing untouched. [p.  68] Those who held merited benefices (honores) lost them, while those who did not obtained them inappropriately without regard for who they were. All the best men –​the most distinguished, noble and supremely worthy –​had now lost the authority to act. For at that time no one had an easier path to retaining and acquiring benefices –​or whatever he wanted or desired –​than to follow the lead of that tyrant Naso. Meanwhile, female power had broken all the bones of virtue. Such was the stupidity with which he, lacking eyes or sense, had plunged himself into everything. The whole empire was now shaken by instability, so that no one could acquire power, office or resources without crime or the dispossession of others. This indeed was the fruit of faithlessness and discord. For this reason, the most judicious course is always to sow the seeds of prudence, justice, courage and moderation so that you may reap the fruit of your labour a hundredfold, rather than the works of carnal desire and vice from which judgement will be meted out and the 48 Bernard of Septimania. The byname Naso  –​the cognomen of the poet Publius Ovidius Naso  –​signifies his moral degradation, since Ovid had not only written the scandalous Ars amatoria, but had been exiled by Emperor Augustus, supposedly for his involvement in the emperor’s daughter Julia’s adulterous liaisons. For the allegations of Bernard’s adultery with Queen Judith, see De Jong, Penitential State, pp. 195–​200; Dohmen, Ursache, pp. 115–​25. 49 Bernard, who held the office of count of Barcelona, was appointed chamberlain by Louis at the assembly in Worms in August 829. See ARF s.a. 829, p. 177; Astronomer c. 43, p. 454 (Noble, Charlemagne, p. 274). 163

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vengeance of destruction will arise. Alas for that day, a day of shadows and darkness! O cursed day, when this course of action was undertaken! And this is the hour of God’s wrath, the hour of retribution sent to punish us, in which the eyes of all have been opened together with Balaam the diviner,50 when we have all fallen and the rod of God’s anger has awoken, when all the rights of law have been violated. Chapter 8 Adeodatus: How abominable that such monstrous and terrible calamities suddenly sprang up in the realm, though to some extent the accumulation of our sins demanded it. Hence, we ask why it is that Arsenius flung himself once more into such severe and ruinous kinds of peril, the end of which he could not have foreseen, when he wanted to confront them. This is what we want you to reveal to us. Pascasius: It is true, brother, that he beheld the innumerable and immense evils that were arising every day, but he could not foresee what was going to happen. These he wanted to counter and resist, as much as he had it in him, out of fidelity to the realm and the king, for the love of his fatherland and people, for the religious life of the churches and the salvation of the citizens (cives), all of which were more precious to him than his own life. But because these evils had not been checked and countered at the start, they prevailed with impunity –​as our sins demanded –​to the destruction of us all, so that now there was no one brave and wise left to resist them. For as soon as this man had recovered from his illness, from all quarters he began to hear about things infamous and obscene, immoral and dishonourable  –​not just of any sort, but such as have never been heard of in this age of ours. For this reason, all his insides were at once stirred by a feeling of loyal outrage (pietas), because the palace, which had once been a seat of honour, had become a theatre in which so many recurring impostures of soothsayers were bubbling up as one would never believe to have existed in the entire world. Nor could he restrain his tears out of grief and love when these things were 50 Numbers 22:31. 164

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reported to him day and night by the good, men of high position and those of unimpeachable honesty, because the more that he loved the Church of Christ and the emperor, together with the people and his offspring, the more he was overcome by sorrow. Moreover, the leading men of the palace from both orders came to him and affirmed that this was how things were, and that they were actually worse than what was being said in public. At this point, he decided on his own initiative to go there, no matter the circumstances, in case he might be able to offer some reasoned assistance through his arguments or counsels, so that that madness might abate before it reduced everything to a state of confusion and disorder. When he arrived, he did whatever he could. He spoke with the emperor and the magnates about what he had learned, and warned them about what he had perceived in what was happening. He even spoke faithfully to that seditious beast, with all of the deference of friendship, because that man and his father had previously been close friends with him.51 Nor was this without cause, since in the past he had taken as wife his sister, the daughter of a most noble and distinguished man.52 Consequently, from the cradle, like a father he showed him affection, care and solicitude in all things, more indeed than if he had been his father. But when he saw that in his blindness he had become estranged from his senses and was plunging headlong towards his own destruction, he said whatever he could, though the other, having now become morally barbarous, refused to listen, because he had become drunk on the poison of carnal desires. When he saw, therefore, that he was not making any progress, he returned to the monastery in sadness and despair at all that he had seen, with nothing to show for his efforts. After a brief interval of time, he was followed by the bishops and chief men of the palace, who had been expelled and humiliated, weeping and mourning that by the actions of a single shameless person all the laws of the whole empire were being violated, all the best people were being driven out, and everywhere powerful and distinguished men were being oppressed, not by the force of that degenerate, but by the treachery and fraud of the worst kind of deception. Each of them brought news of things worse than the worst, and from all sides 51 Bernard’s father was William, count of Toulouse (d. 806), and was, like Wala, a cousin of Charlemagne. 52 See above, Introduction, p. 23 and n. 61. This passage is ambiguous, and while it more naturally suggests that Wala was married to Bernard's sister, it is not out of the realm of possibility that his paternal aunt is meant. Our translation preserves the ambiguity. 165

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everyone flocked to Arsenius and sought his counsel, as if from a well-​ spring. But he, in mourning and grief, turned to God with his whole mind, wondering if he might help him amidst these his perils. He exhorted each one of them individually to bear up and await the judgement of God. They were to return to the palace one by one, to observe and understand, and to urge the better path of salvation. And they were to strive as hard as possible to oppose such terrible disorders. When this had been done, the most important men were driven out, and the eminent deposed. The shameless were assembled, the vainest honoured and the wicked brought in. Then, when they understood what was going on, they reported to Arsenius evils in this world that had scarcely ever been heard of, that in such a glorious empire everything had suddenly been transformed. The palace had become a brothel where fornication held sway and an adulterer ruled, where crimes were piled up upon one another, where every type of evil deed and sorcery of magicians could be found, so much as I never could have believed still existed in the world. Out of all evils, none was overlooked, and it was proclaimed everywhere to everyone. Yet he was a serious and cautious man, and for this reason in the meantime he was not moved (except to tears) until their faction was revealed and confirmed by the very men who had openly been a party to such wicked plans: that this selfsame tyrant wanted to kill the emperor secretly by some means, so that it would appear that he had died suddenly from an illness of his, and then to kill his sons, together with whichever of the most important magnates of the realm he could seize beforehand through trickery. When it was reported by men of the utmost seriousness and truthfulness that all of this was true beyond any doubt, he was struck by terrible grief and again and again sent back suitable and thoroughly trustworthy persons of saintly religion who were to come secretly and maintain themselves within the palace in the company of those who were involved in these plans in whatever capacity, until such time as they could carefully ascertain what was true. They soon discovered that all of these things had really been planned out in secret, just as it had been said. They reported back how, when and in what way the tyrant had determined to carry out what he was plotting, and that it was certain that those who were accomplices to the plot had already given these orders. [p.  70] Then, together with the most important counsellors and certain holy bishops, as well as the highest-​ranking officials of the palace, with faith in Christ he began to ask what he should do to prevent such wickedness from being carried out to the 166

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destruction of the whole empire. Then with once voice, weeping and lamenting, all of them  –​the great and powerful, along with all the servants of God who were present –​declared resolutely that one who could render assistance amidst such evils but chose not to was not being faithful to God and his holy Church. Having accepted this counsel, therefore, at the urging of many people, together with the most distinguished and eminent men, he sent himself into great danger on behalf of the faith of Christ, the preservation of the empire, the peace of the churches, the love of king and realm, and the well-​being of his sons, fired with love for God lest the deceit of the devil should prevail, and so that the dignity of the fatherland would be maintained and prosperity would be preserved for its citizens. And for the sake of justice and fidelity he devotedly offered up his own security in the interest of everyone’s freedom. If he had chosen to countenance what was going on there, he would have been more universally agreeable and held in higher honour by everyone. But because he was strong-​minded, outstanding in holiness, robed in justice, made resolute by faith, grounded in charity and girded with the arms of the virtues, he chose rather to die than to tolerate such an outrage and so barbarous a crime, one that would lead to ruin, destruction and the death of eternal damnation for everyone who went along with it. For this reason, he now began to have no fear for himself, so long as he could come to the aid53 of the most Christian magnates, the bishops of the churches and all the people, and free them from the terrible danger of death, since a single destruction now hung over the heads of all good men. Adeodatus: We were supposed to grieve for a single man, but we are now constrained by the far worse events that have overtaken us; for they are much more bitter and cruel than what we proposed to lament. Therefore, we ought now to recall these things in the spirit of a mourner.54 For it is not so much this man for whom we should grieve, but rather these events that 53 … tantum ut prevenire potuisset. This is a highly unusual use of praevenire, which normally means ‘to anticipate’ or ‘prevent’ and seems to have been assimilated to subvenire (‘to assist’). For a possible analogue, see Psalms 58:11:  Deus meus, misericordia tua praeveniet me. 54 Here Radbert changes tack: the lament for Wala becomes an epitaph for a dismal era that started with the great man’s death in 836, from the authorial perspective of the mid-​to late 850s. 167

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we must continuously bewail, so that God’s wrath might be turned away from us. And yet that which we lament must be commended to our tears, so that this man of ours might not be implicated in any of the crimes of his enemies, though in spite of our capacity for speech we cannot respond to each and every thing that is being said. For this reason, let us ask for the grace of piety rather than put forth critical accusations. Let us offer up our innermost sorrows rather than plead his case in order to defend our own cleverness. If, then, we proceed to do anything persistently in a manner more vehement or unrestrained than we should have or they themselves might wish, let us beseech them to pardon our awkwardness and lack of restraint to the same degree that they are willing to make allowances for dutiful sorrow and for justice. For no sorrow can be greater than this sorrow of ours, by which we lament that so worthy a father was suddenly taken away from us; who, though he was worthy of great love, was torn apart by so many slanders and hatreds of evil men and subjected to daily persecution; in whom and with whom we bewail together the ruin of the fatherland, the destruction of churches, the misfortunes of the poor, the oppression of the rich, the invasions of barbarians, the slaughter of the common people, the wars of the arrogant, the plotting of everyone and (what is most terrible of all) the perdition of souls. For all of these things happened because that man was ignored and not heeded. For this reason, I ask you not to give up, even if you are persecuted with threats and assailed by slander. And lest anyone say that such things should not be heaped up or repeated in a lamentation, [p. 71] let him know that there is no place where this is more appropriate, especially when such terrible evils are appearing, when the truth is persecuted by hatreds and when justice is under assault. This is the reason why, after rebukes, persecutions and attacks, the prophet Jeremiah turned to lamentation and mourned bitterly for everything that happened as a punishment for sin. Chapter 9 Pascasius: You are right to exhort us, brother, if only there were not so many things that we cannot remember or consider them all. I am not talking about what happened long ago, but only of what came to pass after that foul and wicked enemy of all religious veneration confused, disordered, perverted and confounded all honourable things with obscene ones, and 168

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religious ones with vanities, so that there is neither mind, tongue nor voice that can relate the schemes that this madman undertook, enveloped as he was in the filth of every sort of crime.55 For he intended to take control of everything through diabolical sorcery and prevail not through counsel, but to usurp power through omens and divination, because he had so deluded the most sacred emperor through his impostures that the latter drove all those whom he or his worthy father the emperor had nurtured from private confidences, from consultation, from intimate association and counsel, from the loyalty of fidelity, from honours, and from all the fellowship of their earlier life. And since he was protected by royal power, this madman and author of crime prevailed because he represented a punishment for our earlier crimes and an increase of evil. The result was that no one in the kingdom could do anything unless he willed it and gave the order. Everyone was so beaten down, therefore (as if it were an indication of God’s wrath), that no one dared to resist or contradict him, because the might and will of the pious emperor –​as if through no fault of his own56 –​was in the hands of this reprobate. What was done created a memory of everlasting shame. And since the plans that had been previously set in motion were now being undertaken, when the king and queen made the journey under the leadership of that savage beast,57 the emperor was going like an innocent lamb to the slaughter. The great and merciful emperor, deceived by the one (qua) whom Solomon had warned him about,58 or rather by the intrigues of that pimp, was going to his death, kept alive for no other reason than that in the name of his authority the law (ius) of the empire might be despoiled and the deceits of the devil might engulf everyone. There is no one who could believe or explain these events and the scope and nature of what was done, and thus no one who could understand why or how these things happened, and who were the perpetrators of evil and good, respectively. For this reason, all the ignorant, the bad and the worse put 55 … ex omnium scelerum conluvione vallatus. Cf. Cicero, Pro Sestio 7.15:  ex omnium scelerum conluvione natus. 56 Acsi innocenter. A subtle criticism of Louis, who remained passive in the face of the dangers posed by Bernard. 57 In March of 830 Louis the Pious undertook a campaign into Brittany at the urging of Bernard. See AB s.a. 830. 58 Judith; the reference to Solomon is probably to the adulterous woman of Proverbs 7. See in particular Proverbs 7:22: ‘Immediately he followeth her as an ox led to be a victim and as a lamb playing the wanton and not knowing that he is drawn like a fool to bonds’ (Statim eam sequitur quasi bos ductus ad victimam et quasi agnus lasciviens et ignorans quod ad vincula stultus trahitur). 169

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the blame on Arsenius, as though he were the instigator of these evils.59 While all this was going on, meanwhile, and the emperor had left his seat60 and was going unknowingly to his death like an innocent lamb to the slaughter, the hand of the Lord came over all the people,61 and they all assembled at the same time, as though divinely compelled, for the sake of their fidelity to the king and the realm, for the well-​being of the people and the fatherland, for the preservation of the empire and the succession of his sons.62 For they had all heard, and each had learned from his own sources, that a single destruction had been prepared for them all. When they had all come together, as if in response to a divine summons, they each related the evils of which they had heard, and in some cases what they had witnessed with their own eyes or had been present for.63 After these assemblies had been broken up everywhere, it became transparently clear that a single destruction awaited the emperor and his sons, together with all of the leading men. [p. 72] For Melanius,64 the son of the most pious Caesar, had also come together with them and was in danger, although he was a king surrounded by all of his men, because the campaign had been undertaken against him without his father’s knowledge, so that he might be the first to die after his father.65 Then, when everyone was overcome with grief and in doubt as to what they should do about this, Gratian hastened forth

59 Radbert alludes to a tradition that blamed Wala and his allies for the uprising against Louis in 830, rather than viewing it as a necessary response to the crimes of Bernard and Judith. 60 Louis left Aachen on 2 March 830 (Ash Wednesday). Cf. AB s.a. 830, p. 12. 61 Ezekiel 37:1: factus est super me manus Domini et eduxit me in spiritu Domini… 62 According to the Annals of St Bertin the campaign into Brittany was deeply unpopular and many people refused to participate. As a result, certain magnates opposed to Louis and Bernard ‘summoned [the people] to a meeting so as to wean them away from the loyalty they had sworn to the Lord Emperor’ (AB s.a. 830, p. 12; Nelson, Annals, p. 21). 63 ‘[T]‌he whole people, who should have been marching to Brittany, met up in Paris, and went on to force Lothar to come from Italy and Pippin from Aquitaine to attack their father…’ (Nelson, Annals, p. 21). 64 Pippin of Aquitaine, who was the first of the sons to rally to the rebels’ cause. Pippin had failed to appear at the Worms assembly of 829, which constituted an act of defiance against Louis. See De Jong, Penitential State, pp.  41–​4. The origin of the pseudonym Melanius, which derives from Greek melas (‘black’, ‘dark’), is a mystery. For some suggestions, see De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 144–​5. 65 I.e., Bernard was using the campaign into Brittany as a pretext to destroy Pippin, whose power base was in Aquitaine. With Lothar in Italy, Pippin was a focal point for opposition to Bernard, Judith and Louis the Pious. 170

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from his distant outposts,66 though he was held back for a long time by the oaths he had sworn with his father at that time.67 With his own voice he recounted what had been said, what had been done and what he knew would happen in the future, because he had stayed among these people for a long time68 and now saw nothing else looming before him but death. After he had fled to them, he told them everything that he had learned when he was detained on the inside [i.e., at the palace]. On the matter of adultery, no doubt remained in anyone’s mind,69 and as to the delusions and divinations of sorcerers, they heard so much and of such a sort from him as never would have been thought to have existed, all of which had converged on the palace from every corner of the world, as if the Antichrist had appeared with his witchcraft.70 Finally, he spoke about the murder of his father and the overthrow of the entire empire, and how it had been determined in advance by divination, augury, planning and plotting, and furthermore by all of the dark arts. Then all of the magnates and the two sons who were there, Melanius and Gratian,71 determined that it would be better for them to die rather than acquiesce any further in these things, lest a single man –​a criminal, reprobate and author of every sort of evil –​become a source of reproach, disaster and everlasting disgrace to them all. Mourning and grieving with the fear of God, Arsenius agreed to their decision and determination, since he could devise no other way out of the dilemma. He did not intend for the emperor to be deprived of the imperial rule or treated dishonourably in any way by anyone (insofar as the outcome of events would allow), but for the enemy and his accomplices to be driven out, and for the adultery that had now become public knowledge not to be covered up any 6 6 Louis the German, who was coming from Bavaria. 67 Possibly oaths sworn at the Worms assembly of 829, when a new kingdom was created for Charles the Bald. Radbert’s second book is the only ninth-​century narrative source which depicts Louis the German as a participant in the rebellions. The Annals of St Bertin, Thegan, Nithard and the Astronomer do not include him among the rebels. See Goldberg, Struggle for Empire, pp. 60–​2. 68 While Pippin had been noticeably absent from the Worms assembly of 829, Louis the German was present, and it is implied that he had become familiar with the new chamberlain, Bernard, and the deteriorating situation in the palace. 69 The empress Judith was accused of carrying on an adulterous affair with Bernard, made worse by the fact that Bernard was Louis’ godson, which turned their (alleged) sexual relationship into incest. See above, n. 48. 70 The Astronomer, c. 44, p. 456 (Noble, Charlemagne, p. 275) reports that accusations of witchcraft were used by the rebels to try to win Pippin of Aquitaine over to their side. 71 Pippin and Louis. 171

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longer as a source of confusion72 to everyone. The sorcerers who had assembled there were to be driven from the sacred palace, along with the diviners, soothsayers and the mute,73 the dream-​interpreters and those who inspect entrails, and the many others who had been trained in the dark arts. These persons were responsible for prognostications of this unspeakable art so numerous and of such a nature that they dragged a great many people into error. For it seemed that every deceit of this devilish craft had sprouted forth into the world to such a degree that the emperor was completely incapable of understanding what was going on from day to day, because all of these things were being practised around him by way of fraud or trickery. For had he not been hindered by these malicious arts, it never would have come about that he would have refused to heed all of his most faithful counsellors and the most holy bishops (men with whom he had always kept counsel in the past), or trust them when they told him what sort of things were going on. For he took no one into confidence unless Justina74 approved, nor was he willing to listen to anyone or show them affection or agree with them (so long as these conditions prevailed) unless she commended them to him in faith, and –​what is more ominous –​he had no other will (as they say) than what she herself willed. Hence, when all of the bishops of Christ and the senate of the whole empire, as well as all the people, were standing before him and rebuking him for these things with unwavering fidelity, one of the bishops declared: ‘Despite the nature and enormity of what is being said, I know that you have only assented to these practices up to now because you have been badly deceived, [p. 73] and once you have stripped off the clothing in which you are dressed, you will recover yourself and be a peerless emperor, as you always were before.’ Adeodatus: So far as I  can tell, since the beginning of the world one reads of nothing like this happening: that the people should act on behalf of a ruler by acting against him. For I believe it was either the great love 72 Confusio here implies moral confusion with severe implications for the polity:  the adultery had become public and therefore required a public atonement, lest God would be angered. See De Jong, Penitential State, pp. 151–​3, 232–​3,  237–​9. 73 Deaf-​mutes were sometimes thought to possess the power of divination in the Middle Ages. See Bruce, Silence, p. 175. 74 Judith. Justina was the second wife of Emperor Valentinian I (364–​75) and in 385/​6 had supported the Arian church of Milan against Ambrose. 172

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that the senators and prelates bore the emperor and his sons that led them, once the issues [causae] had become clear, to place him so reverently upon the throne again, or else blind recklessness that they undertook such actions without any obvious justification save for popular opinion about adultery, sorcery and other offences of certain people. Consequently, I do not think that the entire priesthood and the whole order of the people would have risen up this far and rebelled against the emperor, unless something more serious lay behind it. And since you were present at this assembly where this business took place,75 we would like you to explain this a little more clearly, so that our Arsenius might appear more justified in his conduct. Chapter 10 Pascasius: It is true, as you say, that I  was present at this same assembly, when all of the magnates, who had gathered there together peaceably (as far as we could discern at the time), argued with the emperor about these things. I do not deny it, but I cannot recall completely everything that was said and all of the answers that were given. Nor is this surprising, since you don’t even remember what I  briefly enumerated a little bit earlier. For if you weren’t forgetful, or a false accuser at least, you never would have deemed the lamentable state of affairs that I recounted to you to be unimportant,76 since there could be nothing more criminal than if the magnates of the realm and the sons who had already been made kings had allowed what I have described to happen. Hence, during that assembly the king, together with the people, gave thanks for these things,77 though he concealed something else in his heart. ‘You’, he said, ‘have done things of a kind no people is observed ever to have done before, since previously I, too, permitted and carried out acts such as no other king before me is found to have done.’ ‘And therefore,’ he said, ‘thanks are due to almighty God, who brought so threatening a danger to 75 The assembly took place at Compiègne after Easter week (17–​24 April) of 830. See AB s.a. 830, p. 12 (Nelson, Annals, p. 22). 76 A response to Adeodatus’ declaration above that something more serious than rumours of adultery and sorcery must have been at the root of the rebellion against Louis. Pascasius is indignant at the suggestion that the rebels acted merely upon the basis of gossip. 77 I.e., for the intervention of the rebels that spring. 173

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such a peaceful conclusion. From this time forward, moreover, I pledge that I will do nothing else like this, and nothing without your counsel. For it is my will and determination that the empire should remain as it was previously ordained and constituted by me together with you.78 And as for this woman, whose punishment you have judged to be in my hands according to the communal laws, I grant her her life, just as you request, on the condition that henceforth she should wear the sacred veil and do penance.’ After all of these matters had thus been peacefully settled in this assembly, the glorious emperor was elevated to the throne once more and lifted up with praise, and all the people faithfully submitted to him with even greater fidelity (if this is possible) than before. Such is the faithlessness of Arsenius, as those people falsely believe who fail to recognise that, through his wise counsel, he prevented a tyrant from carrying out his plans to kill the emperor, exterminate all of his offspring and take as his wife [Judith], whom he had faithlessly defiled. If he had been allowed to do so, he would have usurped the imperial office together with her, and either killed or evilly subjected to the yoke of oppression all the great men of the land, or else he would have taken himself to Spain with her. This is the reason why Arsenius put himself in danger and freed everyone from the evil of such wickedness. He did nothing against the emperor, therefore, although spiteful and ignorant men may believe otherwise, but he acted on behalf of the emperor and the empire, for his fatherland [p. 74] and all the well-​born, for fidelity and zeal towards God, for the Christian religion and the salvation of his countrymen. Indeed, in what happened shortly afterwards all the rights of the law –​both divine and human –​were rescinded. This utter deception was concealed, as it were, under the cloak of fidelity and the royal will (voluntas).79 That is why, by Hercules, even today many people are mistaken when it comes to him and declare what is good to be evil, and the evil that everyone was decrying at the time to be good. From 78 That is, according to the terms of the Ordinatio imperii of 817:  MGH Capit. 2.1 no. 136, pp. 270–​5; on this capitulary, see Patzold, ‘Loyale Palastrebellion’, and De Jong, Penitential State, pp. 24–​8, with reference to older literature. 79 Wala’s sudden fall from grace in late 830. Wala was not allowed to attend the October 830 council at Nijmegen, but was instead sent back to Corbie and ordered to resume the monastic life. At the Aachen assembly held in February 831, the rebels received formal judgement, and Wala was sent into exile. See the Astronomer, c. 45, pp.  460–​4 (Noble, Charlemagne, pp.  276–​7). The implication here is that Wala’s enemies conspired in his downfall by playing up their own loyalty to the emperor and persuading him to accede to Wala’s banishment against his better judgement. See below, where blame for Louis’ behaviour is assigned to the circle of advisers around him, particularly Judith. 174

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this evil there arose countless others, and even more frightful evils continue to spring up every day. At that time, however, everyone praised him as a universal liberator and sang his praises everywhere, especially after the arrival of the august emperor Honorius, who had been recalled from Italy.80 For previously Justinian had, with universal will and consent, made him a partner sharing imperial authority and the successor to sole rule (monarchia),81 and the man of whom we have been speaking [Bernard] tried to destroy and overthrow him together with his father and the rest of his brothers, the kings. Upon his [Lothar’s] arrival a great many people were exposed and their words brought to light. And because the brother of that madman was convicted and confessed to having been an accessory to this plot, he was blinded in that same assembly by a public judgement, though his life was mercifully spared.82 Yet everything that was happening did not come from the heart and mind of Justinian.83 For he was being goaded and cajoled by the enemies of true faith and justice, and he had given in to his wife’s prompting, to the effect that what had transpired had not been done out of loyalty but was a source of great dishonour to him, and that unless he took vengeance for these things and received back his wife after she had taken the veil,84 he would not be able to rule effectively in the future. In the meantime, he concealed the wound that was deep in his heart, and the number of his accomplices increased, so that the empire [imperium] might be torn apart. Honorius, who had long ago been declared co-emperor by his father and everyone else, was removed from power and excluded from joint rule.85 The oaths that everyone 80 Lothar arrived back in France in time to take charge of the assembly at Compiègne in late April 830. 81 In the Ordinatio imperii of 817. On the political terminology, see the Introduction, p. 44. 82 Bernard’s brother Heribert was blinded at the Compiègne assembly. Cf. AB s.a. 830 p. 12 (Nelson, Annals, p. 22). On blinding in the early medieval West, see Bührer-​ Thierry, ‘ “Just anger” ’. 83 A comment on the insincerity of Louis’ public promises; see Booker, ‘Hypocrisy’, pp. 194–​5; De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 159–​61. 84 After fleeing from Aachen, Judith sought refuge in the convent of Notre Dame at Laon, but she was removed by Pippin and ultimately compelled to take the veil at the convent of Ste-Croix, Queen Radegund’s foundation in Poitiers. See AB s.a. 830, p. 2 (Nelson, Annals, p 22); Astronomer, c. 44, pp. 456–​8 (Noble, Charlemagne, p. 276). Judith was recalled from Poitiers after the assembly at Nijmegen in October 830. 85 Judgements against the rebels were handed down at Aachen in February 831, after which Lothar was given permission to go to Italy. See AB s.a. 831, p. 14 (Nelson, Annals, pp. 22–​3); Astronomer, c. 45–​6, pp. 462–​4 (Noble, Charlemagne, pp. 276–​7). 175

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had sworn to him were broken through his father’s authority, and the good and distinguished men who had struggled for so long on the side of fidelity, who had put the tyrant to flight and driven adultery and every sort of immoral behaviour from the sight of the palace, who had saved the fatherland and the people, who had, moreover, liberated (as we said before) the emperor and his sons, and who had acted out of loyalty to him, submitted themselves to him at great risk after these acts by which they restored him to the throne of the empire together with his son as a faithful partner, so that nothing but loyalty and truth could be seen in them. Yet the wicked plotters were merely seeking an opportune time and an appropriate place. All of those who had previously preserved their fidelity to him were dispersed, the senate was sent into exile, and all of the magnates, those once held most dear, and the chief men of the palace were condemned, among whom our Arsenius was also seized, although through the actions of the bishops he was sent into exile at the emperor’s behest, as though this were some great honour. But in reality he was dragged away and set up in some very high and narrow cave in the most distant corner of the earth, where, through the working of divine judgement, no one could reach him but an angel.86 [p. 75] Not long afterwards, I  was sent there by the emperor to deal with monastic business and matters of church property, and when I arrived, I went up to visit him [Arsenius] in order to offer him comfort. Though sad, we passed a happy day together there, shedding copious salty tears of joy and grief. We were happy because of our shared vision and pure conscience (since there was no stain of guilt in him), yet sad, because in return for so noble a service he had suffered exile, hatred, imprisonment and the injustice of such a grievous misfortune. While we were together, I tried to persuade him, amidst our sweet and bitter words, to admit to having stepped over the line87 in some respect and thereafter 86 The precise location of Wala’s exile on Lake Geneva remains uncertain. The castle of Chillon, on the eastern shore, and the monastery of St Maurice d’Agaune, on the River Rhône south-​southeast of the lake, have been suggested as possible locations by Weinrich, Wala, p. 76. On the other hand, Radbert depicts Wala’s exile as a constant movement from place to place, in order to prevent him from liaising with one of Louis’ sons. The general idea is to show that the illustrious exile was still much in demand as a royal counsellor. This was Radbert’s first concern, rather than giving precise geographical locations. 87 … ut in aliquo se excessisse fateretur. The verb excedere is carefully chosen here; it denotes excess or going too far, but stops short of any kind of ill-​intentioned act. 176

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to assent in every particular to whatever the emperor wanted, in case I could somehow plead together with certain of his friends to secure his return to favour, which is something the emperor was very eager for, if only he would have agreed. But in response he said, ‘I am surprised at you, if you doubt my conscience in any respect. For I was no more a party to the matters for which I  am being accused than you were. Hence, you ought to have urged me to struggle for justice, rather than to relent in the slightest or agree to anything contrary to what is true and honourable.’ Then I said, ‘I do not doubt you in the slightest, nor would I wish for anything further in this matter than to have from you an admission that you went too far,88 and your agreement, because with these two things I believe that your friends and I could secure not only a pardon for your offences, but even greater favour, as well as the honores that belong to you89 and even greater ones, in addition to whatever you want of him and from him.’ Then, smiling slightly in mockery, he said, ‘Perhaps you believe that he and all those who support him are within your power? Is it possible that you do not fear the judgements of God? What if I falsely pronounce a statement of confession and a spurious admission of guilt against myself, abandoning the righteousness of true fidelity and purity of heart? In that case, it might happen that through the requirements of divine justice the pronouncement would be turned into the opposite of what you expect. And if I abandon the truth and pronounce a lie against myself in order to obtain someone’s favour, or for the sake of honours, or out of fear or partiality, and I am caught in these falsehoods through the workings of the just judgement of God, then, having been condemned out of my own mouth, I will receive the sentence of death. For while you ask me to avoid minor dangers and seek out honours and favour, the risk is that I will incur still harsher penalties, and, while you ask me to flee from temporal harm and seek out honours, that I will win for myself the damnation of eternal death through the inexpressible dispensation of God. For this reason, brother, let us remain in the way of truth that we have entered upon and have hope that this will lead us to eternal life, which is Christ.’ When he had finished speaking, I was reduced to a confused silence. And it is evident that he had no consideration except for what was 88 … excessus verbum. Again, Radbert stops short of asking Wala to admit to any criminality or disloyalty. 89 Chief among them the abbacy of Corbie. 177

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according to God and because of God, and concerning the emperor and his sons, the fatherland and churches, the chief men and magnates, and the practice of the faith and the salvation of the people, because he did not pursue his own interests in anything, but rather those that were of Christ. Anyone who thinks, therefore, that Arsenius risked exile and death because he committed some transgression90 in this affair by virtue of what he knew or wanted, or because he had harmed the fatherland, committed treason against the empire, caused dishonour to the emperor and his sons, corrupted his fidelity, or disturbed the peace, is mistaken. For good and wise men do not accuse him91 because he did not hold ecclesiastical rights dear or esteem the glory of the king and the magnitude of the empire, but because he transgressed in some way by loving these things too much. By rights, therefore, [p. 76] he is not called to account for being guilty of malicious intent in all these affairs, but for being guilty of virtue, since ‘blessed are those who suffer persecution for the sake of justice’.92 He is rightly called a new man of the virtues, who extinguished the destructive madness and frenzy of fraud and deceit, who freed the emperor from death, his sons from destruction, and the realm and empire from the usurpation of a tyrant. For he drove every abomination from the palace of the sacred empire, chased away adultery, condemned those who practised divination and restored honourable order. He gave back a father to his sons, and sons to their father, nor at that time did he permit unified rule (monarchia) to be divided into pieces, but forbade the oaths that had been sworn to the son and emperor to be violated. He wanted to preserve all that was good, and cast out and destroy what was evil, so that everyone could live a secure and peaceful life according to God. The election of the son, which had been solemnly carried out by the father and everyone else, and the imperial consecration that had been confirmed by the authority of the Apostolic See,93 were to remain unshaken for the sake of the 90 Deliquerit: a stronger term than the excessus that Radbert wanted Wala to admit to. The verb delinquere denotes a sinful act, as opposed to merely ‘going too far’. 91 The present-​tense verb accusatur is important here; Wala’s reputation was still a subject of debate at the time when Radbert was writing, that is, in the mid-​850s or even later. 92 Matthew 5:10. 93 Lothar had been co-​emperor since Louis issued the Ordinatio imperii of 817, a status that was confirmed on Easter Day (5 April) 823 by Pope Paschal I; ARF s.a. 823, p. 132; Noble, Republic, pp. 310–​11; for a wider perspective on Louis’ rule together with his sons, see Costembeys et al., Carolingian World, pp. 202–​13. 178

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harmony of peace, the stability of unified rule and the reputation of the government, and for the honour and glory of the religion of Christ, which is now being trodden underfoot, persecuted and taken in hand almost everywhere by faithless men and those hostile to so mighty a name. For through the vigilance of his counsel he sought to ensure that so glorious and Christian a kingdom would not be divided into pieces, since, according to the voice of the Saviour, ‘every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate’,94 which is what all of us today grieve and bewail at every moment to have happened. He wanted (as we said) the oaths that had been sworn to Honorius and the fidelity that had been promised to him to be preserved intact, lest the whole people should be blackened by such terrible perjuries. He wanted the unity and dignity of the whole empire to remain for the defence of the fatherland and the freedom of the churches, for the preservation of estates and for the dispensation of monastic property. But now, as we see, everything has been transformed and thrown into confusion. Let anyone of a hostile disposition, therefore, pay attention and understand how illustrious were the virtues with which Arsenius was adorned, and how manifold are the testimonies in which he is praised for his justice. It is not good and honourable men who malign and defame him, but the harmful and spiteful, or ignorant men deceived by rumours, who persecute him with their hatreds, though his honourable and praiseworthy deeds everywhere commend him, and his life testifies on his behalf. Those who wish to disparage his life and diminish his renown, therefore, put the blame on to themselves, since either they lack understanding, or else, having become sycophants, they were unwilling to strive through the virtues so that the things that we lamented did not come about. For it is vain to seek glory and honours without toil and virtue. Hence, may our Arsenius have glory because he acquired the honours of eternal life for himself together with the grace of Christ, and may he possess renown and titles to praise because after dishonour and exile he has now been granted life and immortality. Adeodatus: I am astounded, nor can I marvel enough at a man who is exalted with such abundant and public eulogies, whose praise is on everyone’s lips, of whom the whole Church and all the people are aware that through 94 Matthew 12:25. 179

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his counsel he always kept at bay the evils which were then flourishing and increasing, who protected the honour of the king and imperial rule for his sons, and sought to oppose and forestall the terrible evils that the whole church, all the people, and every age and order now endure and lament. Why is it that they are unwilling to perceive and understand, when they themselves are oppressed by these same evils? Why do they refuse to take heed and consider from what quarter and through whose agency these things arose, by whom they were brought forth, and by whom [p.  77] they were fostered and propagated? For if his advice had been heeded, what would have benefited everyone then and pleased them today would have been far different. But lest the opponent of evil should prevail through his counsel against the plots of the malicious and the depravity of the wicked –​or rather against the emperor himself, who (it was daily apparent) strove against his sons, against the empire, against the fatherland, and against the well-​being of the people through his power, offices and cunning, through any means he could devise, through arms and a throng of soldiers –​he was expelled, cast out, delivered into exile and bound fast (as you note) in a lofty cave,95 so that he could no longer extend to any mortal man the salutary counsel which might thwart his [Louis’] malign intentions. For wisdom and counsel did not take precedence so that goodwill might be guided towards propitious and salubrious ends, but the intention of a corrupt will came first and was urged on by cunning, scheming and unjust power, so that once this cruel policy had been determined and the decision had been made, it would not be weakened. Chapter 11 Pascasius: You realise, brother, where the ravening fire of this conflagration came from. For if his [Louis’] mind had not been badly deluded by all manner of illusions and his power inflamed, and if his royal will had remained unvanquished together with the reverent, humble and devoted loyalty of his faithful men, he never would have acted so destructively against his own and everyone’s well-​being, partly through the exhortations [of others], partly through [his own] power and cunning. But because their loyalty remained inviolate and undefiled, those who were good, 95 Wala’s place of exile, in the mountains near Lake Geneva. See n. 86 (p. 176) above. 180

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led astray by an excess of reverence, were initially unwilling to oppose him lest they cause offence, and for this reason they exposed themselves to the risk of damnation, and the result was virtually universal ruin. Time and time again, therefore, when he was in that same cave, he rejoiced greatly for himself that he was suffering injustice for the sake of justice, but he grieved for the dangers that he saw looming at that very moment; he grieved that the good and the best were under attack, that men of unimpeachable innocence and those who remained loyal were oppressed and dishonoured, and handed over to exile, imprisonment and various unjust forms of punishment. While he was raised up almost among the clouds and leading an angelic life (insofar as this is allowed to mortals), his custody was deemed insufficiently strict by the emperor and his men, and by the supporters of Justina (who had returned to her marriage),96 because of Honorius, a king ousted from the co-​emperorship who was staying in this area. For they were afraid that he would give useful counsel to him and his magnates, as a result of which injustice would be thwarted and the cruelty that had been undertaken would give way, overcome by the virtues. For this reason, he was taken down from his lofty cave as quickly as possible and brought to the island of Noirmoutier97 in the ocean, the most distant place on earth, in case somehow, just like the blessed John, he might be able to perceive only what was divine, while being unable to have any contact with human affairs or offer words of comfort to anyone.98 Teofrastus: Insofar as I can understand, the disaster inflicted upon this man –​and his exile without legal grounds, without a verdict and without guilt, but rather for the sake of fidelity, defence and justice –​was not a punishment for sin but a title to praise. For it did not diminish the glory of his most illustrious name, but rather burnished it, and spread his honourable renown everywhere. For if someone today goes to where 96 Judith left her monastic confinement at Poitiers after the assembly at Nijmegen in October 830 and had returned by February 831 to Aachen, where she purified herself at the placitum held by Louis. See AB s.a. 831, p. 14 (Nelson, Annals, p. 23); De Jong, ‘Bride Shows’. 97 Wala was exiled to the monastery of St Philibert on the island of Noirmoutier, near the mouth of the Loire, like his brother Adalhard in 814. 98 Early Christian tradition held that John, the author of Revelation, was exiled to the island of Patmos by the Roman emperor Domitian. 181

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he once was, he will perceive the fragrance of the virtues that he left behind, since his whole life was full of seriousness of purpose, full of good works and full of religious observance, such that the affliction and tribulation of the age increased [p. 78] his renown everywhere, to his everlasting memory. For though it would be preferable to forge a path in life free from pain and suffering, nonetheless, with respect to the glory of immortality and the enjoyment of eternal recompense, the toil of pious struggle in which there is no end brings greater profit than a tranquil leisure. For this reason, this man was always resolute and unwavering in every well-​founded plan and pious endeavour, always gentle and patient, and ready with all devotion to receive whatever the divine power had in store for him. For wherever he was, as long as he was with God, he did not deem it a place of exile for himself, but rather his homeland. In every place, therefore, he was, with the Apostle, a ‘good odour unto God’,99 and thus he was conveyed hither and thither for the fame and glory of the holy name. Pascasius: It is just as you say, and for this reason it is not he who should be called an exile, but rather those who forced him into exile. For no matter where they were, these men were exiled from themselves, from understanding and from counsel, when through their crimes they handed their fatherland over to what amounted to an exile from its citizens (cives) and its most responsible leaders. For what does the name of exile signify in and of itself ? At the very least, a punishment implying disaster and disgrace. When, therefore, is it disgraceful? Truth be told, when it is a punishment for sin. This is also the view men take when, as in this case, it is the punishment of someone unjustly condemned. For in this case he did not bear the name of exile because of his own sin, but because of an unjust decree enacted through the just workings of God. For there is no one so estranged from his senses that he would call it a sin to act with saintly counsel for fidelity, for the life of the emperor, for his sons and the empire, for the welfare of the people and the salvation of the fatherland, for the justice and laws of the emperors, for the stability and unity of the realm, for the concord of peace, and the expulsion of vices and abominations, against adultery (which is the worst of all), and the disgrace of the whole empire. Hence, there is no one so mad, so insane 99 2 Corinthians 2:15. 182

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and so ignorant that he would deem men happy or sensible who praise deeds like these that are contrary to the conscience and well-​being of all people, and disparage this man, as if all those were not blessed who endure the triumphs of such outrages in their struggle for justice. From the company of all such men this man was chosen in his own day to receive the honours of abuse in return for his countless extraordinary benefactions. Thus, in a novel fashion he was given the magnificent honour of being exiled to Noirmoutier, while the consciences of all those who were giving such wicked counsel stood witness. For being innocent and beyond reproach, nothing tormented him so much as the fact that he could not oppose their malign efforts through his good counsel. Thus, they did what all faithless men previously perpetrated against the saints, and the result was that he endured similar wrongs, having suffered with them so that he might reign together with them. Adeodatus: Oh, what a monstrous and unspeakable intention! Who has ever heard of someone hating those through whose counsel and foresight his life was spared, and through whose loyalty and aid his family and possessions were saved? And who could have comprehended that he [Louis] would so prize those who were enemies to himself and his family –​men whose filthy abuses contaminated all that was honourable in him through their sinfulness –​as to see eye to eye with them? Alas, what madness of new-​fangled obscenity, when all the floodgates of vice were opened, when Justina, although polluted, was received back, though she had not received correction, and no place was given to fear so that she might be corrected.100 As a result, traps were set for this man, and he was moved from one place to another, since everywhere the vices are ill at ease with the virtues, and as long as they are thought to exist somewhere, the wicked never believe that the virtues are confined securely enough. And so a man of virtue, [p. 79] a lover of chastity and a defender of justice was cast out to one place and another without witnesses (for his virtue was public knowledge), without trial, without a crime, without an audience and without sin. For this reason, I would like you to reveal what he did after he was exiled to Noirmoutier, the most remote island on earth. 100 Ecclesiasticus 19:18: da locum timori Altissimi (‘give place to the fear of the Most High’). 183

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Chapter 12 Pascasius: I can readily affirm that in the aforementioned cave there were the usual sweet smells, but whereas there he could see the sky, the Pennine Alps and Lake Geneva, here he could only see the sea and the sky. But in both places he meditated upon God, and with himself he always bore himself as present to himself. He perceived, according to David, ‘wonderful surges of the sea’; he perceived in his mind the ‘Lord on high’.101 Thus he beheld the wheels and the turnings102 to which the present life is subject and rejoiced that he had been established on solid ground. And finding himself in a kind of garden of delights because of the surpassing loveliness of the place, he exulted that he had escaped from the depths of iniquity, where under the influence of demons floods ceaselessly lift up to the heavens waves that clash with one another.103 But for all that, they cannot cover up the land. For just as no one can count up their waves and surges, there is no one who can understand the power of divine dispensation. Let everyone who is faithful, therefore, hear the voice of God speaking with Arsenius to the sea and the world:  ‘Hitherto shalt thou come, and here thou shalt break thy swelling waves.’104 For had he not been made fast by these promises and established upon solid rock, he would not have remained so unmoved and unshaken amidst so many swells of abuse, and so many crashings and breakings of tribulation.105 There he was permitted, with the blessed John (though lesser than him), to behold the divine mysteries with exultation and alacrity of heart,106 and though, alas, it was but for a short period, nonetheless, refreshed for a time by the joy of eternal contemplation, he left the glory of his holy faith as a good example for his brothers and posterity. And because no place is so trusted that it does not become a source of even greater fear, he was not even suffered

1 01 Psalms 92:4: mirabiles elationes maris; mirabilis in altis Dominus. 102 Rotas et volubilitates may also be understood as hendiadys for ‘the turning(s) of the wheels’. 103 Cf. Psalms 92:3: ‘The floods have lifted up, O Lord; the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods have lifted up their waves’ (Elevaverunt flumina, Domine; elevaverunt flumina vocem suam; elevaverunt flumina fluctos suos). 104 Job 38:11. 105 The metaphor of waves crashing is continued here. 106 Cf. VA cc. 39–​41, cols. 1529D–​1530D. 184

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to remain hidden away here beyond the land (beyond the world, as it were!). For John, too, was feared when he was bound up in prison.107 And so Justina, having trodden her veil underfoot and returned to her marriage, inquired intently where this same man was, whom, as far as I can tell, she did not wish to live in any place. The devil, too, the enemy of all good men, had long begrudged him the enjoyment of such pleasures of the virtues, since there was no place in this mortal life that would please him more; and so he was removed from such a lovely garden of delights. Chapter 13 Adeodatus: I would like you to reveal to us why it was that he was expelled from there, when no place more secure or remote could be found, since no one can arrive or depart from there without a long sea voyage. For we know that Antonius was once put in the same place in order to keep him under close guard.108 For this reason everyone loved this man, too, although they had already loved him for a long time because of his good deeds and benefactions. This Antonius left behind many deposits of his virtues there,109 commended his merits before God, and carried with him everywhere the sweet savours of the virtues. Pascasius: As for your question about the pretext,110 I revealed this to you earlier. [p. 80] It was the same reason that John was kept in prison, namely so that he might be put to the sword.111 King Melanius, however, was 1 07 John the Baptist, who was imprisoned and executed by Herod Antipas. 108 Upon his accession in 814, Louis the Pious exiled Adalhard to Noirmoutier, where he remained until 821. 109 The phrase ‘deposits of the virtues’ (virtutum deposita) appears unattested before Radbert. The sense seems not to be related to 2 Timothy 1:12 (‘I am certain that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day’), where the author appears to be speaking of his life or soul, and is probably best understood in connection with the following phrase, viz. that Antony commended his merits to God. The idea seems to be that the ‘deposits’ of virtuous deeds will be rewarded on Judgement Day. 110 I.e., the pretext for Wala’s confinement at Noirmoutier. 111 For the beheading of John the Baptist, see Mark 6:17–​29. 185

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in the area nearby,112 so they decided to free him.113 This measure was taken so that the king would not be aided by his counsels,114 for he was blinded because of his many sinful acts.115 This is the reason why  –​ though it was with honour, because he was venerated for his merits and feared for his counsels –​he was dishonourably brought out of exile and transported with every courtesy, like fragrant incense, through the midst of Gaul into Germany.116 He, however, always carried his fatherland with him everywhere, because he was known and loved everywhere, and the more guiltless he was, the more dearly he was loved by everyone. For his own part, having now endured these trials, he feared no violence or command. And though he had not completely satisfied the desires of his adversaries or appeased the hatreds of the wicked, nonetheless he had temporarily sated the perfidy and wickedness of his betrayers (though not completely, since he still opposed in his mind what they wanted to do). In fact, they were filled with fear that he would provide support through his good counsels and that their machinations would be uncovered and come to naught. For they were not enemies to him, now that he had been expelled, but to the virtues, which –​with God’s aid protecting him –​he could never lose anywhere. What more is there to say? He left behind a beehive of monks sweetened with the honey of the virtues. And behold how a chorus of monks welcomed him back with jubilation after he had been brought into Germany, and how, being escorted back by the bishops to the same place and the same abbot, he was in some sense honoured, albeit in dishonourable fashion. Teofrastus: Oh, this wretched age of ours! Oh, these foolish plots of our discords, which have brought a realm completely at peace to such a frenzy of civil strife! But happy is he whose reputation for virtue has spread everywhere. 1 12 I.e., in Aquitaine, where Noirmoutier was located. 113 Pippin had returned to Aquitaine after the placitum held at Aachen in February 831, at which the conspirators against Louis the Pious had been punished. On the animosity between Louis and his second son, Pippin, in 831–​2, see AB s.a. 831–​ 2, pp. 14–​16 (Nelson, Annals, pp. 24–​6); Astronomer, c. 46–​7, pp. 464–​70 (Noble, Charlemagne, pp. 278–​9); De Jong, Penitential State, pp. 44–​6. 114 I.e., so that Pippin would not be aided by Wala. 115 The reference is to Pippin’s repeated acts of disobedience towards Louis the Pious. 116 Wala was brought to the East-​Frankish kingdom in early 832. See Weinrich, Wala, p. 78. 186

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I think that there is no region, no part of our territories –​even the most remote –​no sea, no islands, no shores, no place, no house, no city in which this man’s praise is not publicly proclaimed, and in which the traces of his chaste counsel cannot still be found, since he outstripped all others through his extraordinary seriousness of purpose, his virtue, his constancy and his purity of heart. For in him were probity of mind, saintly religious devotion, careful attention to affairs and control of the virtues, by which his authority was greatly commended.117 And so he was everywhere revered and considered a patron of outstanding worth, since his virtuous and meritorious life made him an object of reverence even in the consciences of those by whom he was condemned into exile, insofar as they had the power to do so.118 For he did not consider it exile at all, but an increase in his merits, because, just as it is sung in the psalm, ‘going, he went’ from place to place, ‘casting his seed.’119 Everywhere he had the confessors of Christ as his intercessors, and everywhere he found their examples offered up to him by God by way of encouragement. Everywhere, too, he left his own example as a confessor.120 And he had with him a throng of monks –​to whose number he belonged –​to commend him in their prayers, support him with their consolations and soothe him through their solemn offices.121 He in turn instructed them by his example, encouraged them with his pronouncements and guided them through his counsels, so that even today he is loved and cherished in the places where he once was, and he is spoken of and ceaselessly commended,122 even by those who never saw him, so that his glory and praise are always flourishing. Chapter 14 Pascasius: And yet he was not allowed to remain for very long in the monastery to which he had come, for fear that he would get involved with Gratian 1 17 Auctoritas here is not simply the power deriving from office, but general prestige. 118 Quantum in ipsis fuit. The implication is that although Wala’s enemies sent him into physical exile, he was never exiled from himself and from God. 119 Psalms 125:6: Euntes ibant et flebant, mittentes semina sua. Radbert quotes the same passage in the preface to his commentary on Lamentations. 120 I.e., as one who had borne witness to God through his sufferings, but had not been martyred. 121 I.e., the monastic offices, some of which could be specifically geared towards the commemoration of the dead. 122 In prayer, to God. Commendation through prayer is a recurring theme of the EA. 187

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(who was in the area), either by speaking with him or by offering him counsel.123 [p.  81] For he was the same person no matter where he was,124 and in accordance with God, as soon as he had decided to do something, he clung to it tenaciously, so that his mental resolve was not broken by any annoyance or injury. What more is there to say? He was brought back to his own monastery (for he was venerated everywhere), having been stripped of his honours125 so that he would not have the opportunity to act against the [royal] will once it had seeped down.126 Hence, his return filled us with equal parts sadness and joy: sadness because he had been deprived of his office, but joy because we had at least deserved the opportunity to see him again and were allowed to have him with us. Nor do I  think that the humility and submissiveness that he showed during this period, or his devotion and readiness to do everything, will be erased from memory. For shortly thereafter, although he had been worn out by many vexations and abuse, envoys arrived from the Apostolic See,127 and from the royal sons and the leading men, bringing word that they had all come together with this same most holy man [pope Gregory IV] for the sake of peace and unity, and to obtain forgiveness and make satisfaction to their father, so that they might obtain pardon by the authority of the pope and the empire might be saved.128 They brought letters laden with every kind of divine 123 Louis the German had briefly resisted his father’s authority in the spring of 832: AB s.a. 832, p. 18 (Nelson, Annals, p. 25). Just as the emperor’s court had taken Wala from Noirmoutier because it feared that he might assist Pippin, they now removed him from confinement in Germany to prevent him joining forces with Louis. 124 … quoniam ipse ubique idem erat. Dümmler’s punctuation obscures the fact that this phrase explains what follows, not what preceded it. 125 Wala was stripped not just of the office of abbot of Corbie and Corvey, but of all his other honores, i.e., estates and their revenues granted to him by the emperor. 126 … reducitur ad proprium eisdem privatus honoribus coenobium, quia venerabatur ubique, ne locum haberet contra voluntatem semel inlapsam agendi. The causal clause quia venerabatur ubique seems to be explaining why, after such precautions had been made to keep Wala sequestered, he was brought back to Corbie. Traube emends quia to quibus here, which would change the meaning of the sentence to: ‘he was stripped of these honours, by which he was venerated everywhere’. The final clause explains the reason why Wala was stripped of his abbacy. Voluntatem refers to the royal will; the deponent participle inlapsam, which modifies voluntatem, is unusual, since illabi normally means to sink down or penetrate and would not normally be expected in this context. There may be some implied criticism that the royal will was not expressed with sufficient clarity and/​or consistency. 127 From Gregory IV (827–​44) in 833. 128 Lothar, Louis the German and Pippin united together in opposition to their father in early 833 and met with their respective armies at a place called Rotfeld, in Alsace. See AB s.a. 833, pp.  18–​20 (Nelson, Annals, pp.  26–​8); Nithard I, c.  4, 188

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authority and entreated him with all manner of oaths –​though he had already suffered much on their behalf –​to come to meet them and give aid to the pope. If he were unwilling to do so, the rulers (augusti) decreed that he was to be taken away by force, albeit with all honour and reverence. We feared greatly when we heard this, especially because our entire monastery was occupied by armed men. At first, however, we did not know what they wanted for themselves, and so we were very afraid and asked what was going on. Then they made known the truth of the matter, but this same man refused to go with them. Pressing down upon us, however, they declared that if it were possible in no other way, they would have to take him away by force.129 At these words we were naturally filled in turn with grief and fear, because the danger of doing or not doing what they were asking threatened us and him at the same time. For we were very much grieved by the many threats that he faced, and we were worried about the prospect of him making another attempt, since he had accomplished nothing earlier.130 The authority of the pope was publicly made manifest and read out on behalf of peace, for the reconciliation of the father and sons, and of the magnates and lords, for the stability of the churches, for the unity of the people and the salvation of the whole empire. At the same time, there were others on the side of the sons who asked him on their behalf to aid them through his counsels and not to desert them at the final hour of danger, since he had already endured so much for them. The power of God was also proclaimed, which had smoothed the rugged path through the Alps that lay before the sacrosanct pope, a path that had been obstructed by many obstacles so that no army would be able to advance hither from that region,131 but which was said to have opened up before them of its own accord. When these and countless other proclamations had been read out, we began to exhort him for the sake of peace to obey the most high pontiff of God, even if it entailed dying alongside him. ‘For great is the authority by which you are called,’ we said. ‘And great are the necessity and the justice for the sake of which you are summoned.’ Nor is that obedience worth any less through which it befits a man devoted pp. 16–​18; Astronomer c. 48, pp. 472–​6 (Noble, Charlemagne, pp. 279–​82). See De Jong, Penitential State, pp. 46–​8. 129 All this to make it clear that Wala only joined the rebellion of 833 under pressure, and not of his own volition. 130 The rebellion of 830, which had failed when Louis broke the promises he made at the assembly of Compiègne. See above, pp. 173–5. 131 I.e., so that no army from Italy would be able to cross the Alps. 189

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to God, to goodness and to his saints, to obey the orders of so great a pontiff, together with other holy faithful men of God. Chapter 15 Adeodatus: Indeed, many people malign him on the grounds that he was not obliged to assist the pope any further in this matter, nor to have involved himself in these sorts of affairs, since no authority of any rule prescribes to the grace of the Holy Spirit, [p. 82] but rather the providence of Christ governs all things: how far each person should go in carrying out his individual responsibilities, and in what manner. For this reason, we must take account of what each person does, and how, and when. For we read in the same rule that the cloisters of the monastery are instruments of the virtues and of good works,132 so that everything might be accomplished with greater care in accordance with the rule. Hence, in the case of one who was not permitted to do anything without a command from his abbot,133 we must consider carefully whether he was permitted to leap up to such momentous and uncertain affairs, since it is extremely dangerous for someone to abandon a resolution and involve himself recklessly in matters which are not expedient and do not befit his office. Pascasius: That is what many people say, though they fail to take account of that man’s rank (dignitas) and the order to which he belonged. For after he was unanimously elected pastor and called by God to undertake the office of rector,134 he became (as we believe) a counsellor of the whole empire, together with other chosen men; and indeed, he ranked ahead 132 RB 73.6, p. 228. However, the Rule of Benedict refers to John Cassian, the Rule of Basil and other monastic texts as the instrumenta virtutum, not to the claustra, by which the part of the monastery is meant that is only accessible to the monks, and not to outsiders. See De Jong, ‘Carolingian monasticism’. 133 This is not about a specific abbot, but about Wala having become an ordinary monk, who was in principle subject to monastic discipline. In Corvey, Warin only succeed him as abbot in the summer of 833; see Krüger, ‘Nachfolgereglung’. There is no indication that a new abbot was appointed in Corbie before Wala’s death in 836; Louis seems to have kept his options open. 134 I.e., abbot. 190

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of all the others in both fidelity and counsel.135 This was already true even before he was elected, since on account of his birth, his meritorious way of life and the education that he had received almost from the moment that he came of age, the powerful workings of his mind and the nobility of his sentiments ensured that he was heeded carefully by everyone and universally revered in the confines of the senate and among the wise men of the realm. And so he who had already received preferment together with other pastors of churches136 was ordained a senator with these same men and with all the other senators of the palace and realm. As a result, he was called upon to give advice on particular matters, and I do not think he could have abstained without risk to himself without first making a determination about those things that we have already mentioned, in which a single destruction threatened everyone. For no monk was greater or more holy than John, who was beheaded for that very reason, none more pleasing than Elijah,137 none more devout that Elisha, or the other holy men and prophets who bravely resisted kings and laid down their lives in the struggle for justice. For Zechariah was killed for this reason,138 Isaiah cut in half139 and Jeremiah plunged into a cistern140; but he, who was greatly inferior to these men, was raised up in a high cave. Therefore, those people are wrong who claim that he ought not to have stood up for justice, or to have struggled for fidelity in the face of the many evils and terrible things that came to pass, or who say that since he was

135 The implication is that in 826, when he succeeded Adalhard as abbot of Corbie and Corvey, Wala obtained the position of chief counsellor (‘first after the emperor’). 136 I.e., abbots of monasteries. 137 Elijah’s conflicts with Ahab, king of Israel, and his idolatrous wife, Jezebel, are recounted at 1 Kings 17–​21. 138 Zechariah, son of the prophet Jehoiada, was stoned to death at the behest of King Joash of Judah (r. 837/​835 BC–​800/​796 BC) after he rebuked the king and his followers for their worship of false gods (2 Chronicles 24:20–​1). This Zechariah was often understood (e.g., by Jerome) to be the same person as the Zechariah, son of Berechiah, mentioned at Matthew 23:25 and Luke 11:49–​51, where he represents the last of the martyred messengers of God. Neither was identical with the author of the book of Zechariah. Radbert discusses the confusion occasioned by the multiplicity of Zechariahs at In Mattheum 10.23.35, pp. 1136–​8. 139 The prophet Isaiah’s death is not described in the Bible, but popular tradition held that he had been sawn in two. Hebrews 11:37 (Lapidati sunt, serrati sunt, et gladio mortui sunt) was often read as a reference to his death. Radbert cites Jerome to this effect in his Matthew commentary. See In Mattheum 10.23.37, p. 1141: solus Isaias serratus sit. 140 Jeremiah 38:6. 191

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forbidden the use of arms, he should not have resisted through counsel, exhortation and persuasion. The evils that befell everyone at that time and continued to come to light thereafter were greater and more terrible than our pen desires, or is able, to record. Anyone, therefore, who pretends not to be familiar with the nature and magnitude of these things, or the terrible consequences that followed from them and continue down to this day, is either completely void of understanding or else insane. Hence, no one of sound mind wishes to defame this man, who sought to oppose these things through his sage counsel. Teofrastus: I wondered greatly then, as many people do now, why it was that for the sake of so great an empire and so worthy a realm there could be found so few prelates (praesules) and senators brave and resolute enough to dare to risk themselves and their safety in the interest of the well-​ being of the whole empire and the salvation of all. At this time one of our own would be more surprised to see [p. 83] a good or brave man than a coward or one who looks out for his own interests rather than those of the commonwealth (respublica), which has ceased to exist, or become vanishingly small. And so the same thing is true in the case of the churches and the people, since no one is daring enough,141 or has the ability, to correct what has been corrupted and perverted. For without recalling each individual misfortune, one glance is sufficient to behold all those who at that time, through their counsel or all their goods, raised up once more and liberated from domestic robbery the dignity of the throne and the churches, which had been diminished, cast down and defiled. Subsequently they were saddened and dishonoured, condemned as faithless, and adjudged guilty of death, the loss of their reputation, imprisonment and exile, while those who violated, harassed, disturbed and overturned everything divine and human through their rapacity were not only joyful and exultant, but the strongest and most powerful, triumphant and honoured with benefices (honores), while at the same time setting traps and plotting dangers for the illustrious, the wise and those striving honourably, and all the while having no fear for themselves. And although there is much that is shameful and detestable in this business, we should be no less aghast that mortal dangers

141 Reading audeat for audiat with Mabillon. 192

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and calamitous degradations were not only brought about by brigands and robbers, those driven to it by poverty, the most vicious sorts of criminals and those abandoned to crime, but by those who in the past had been the most prominent (optimos) men, by those exalted in religious authority and by those elevated by the nobility of their blood, who were also responsible for this thievery and oppression. For now there is hardly anyone who leads troops by paying legitimate stipends out of his own resources instead of through theft and violence, which Naso, the most foul of all men, was the first to teach them, and until the day of his death142 he always lived as a common brigand. But now the more these people surround themselves with robbers, the more powerful they are, such that no one can oppose them in their plundering. But however much they may increase their military followings through these means, none of them seems to have any power, except at stirring up public disorder. It is not surprising, therefore, if this man spoke out against such people when he was summoned by the pope, he who wished first to be removed from the book of life together with Moses for the sake of the people of God, the emperor and his sons,143 and with Paul to be an anathema for the brethren and the churches.144 Adeodatus: It is not surprising, therefore, that he resisted at first, exhausted as he was by so many periods of exile and tarnished by so many false accusations. For as we have seen and learned, if he had not been forcefully compelled by all of us, and had the great authority of the highest pontiff not weighed upon him, he would not have assented any further to anything of this kind. But now, urged on by the brethren, called upon with oaths by the highest pontiff, implored by the royal sons of the emperor, entreated by the people and the prelates145 with whom 142 Bernard was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death by Charles the Bald in 844. See AB s.a. 844, p. 64 (Nelson, Annals, p. 57). 143 See Exodus 32:31–​3: ‘Either forgive them this trespass, or if thou do not, strike me out of the book that thou hast written. And the Lord answered him, he that hath sinned against me, him will I strike out of my book’ (aut dimitte eis hanc noxam, aut si non facis, dele me de libro tuo quem scripsisti. Cui respondit Dominus qui peccaverit mihi delebo eum de libro meo). 144 Cf. Romans 9:3:  ‘For I  wished myself to be an anathema from Christ for my brethren’ (Optabam enim ipse ego anathema esse a Christo pro fratribus meis). 145 Yet another way of referring to the lay and ecclesiastical members of the elite bound by ties of fidelity to the Frankish ruler. 193

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he had joined forces in this endeavour from the start, for the sake of concord and peace he was finally compelled to go there and obey the highest prelate, and to join forces with him, who had taken upon himself so much hardship for all the people of God, in case together with him he might be able to restore peace in the realm and put an end to discord. For this reason, there can be no occasion to find fault with him; indeed, the criticism [of him] would have been greater if he had shirked an order of such great authority because of the risk posed by any danger of this present life, since it is more praiseworthy to die nobly or risk danger with the good and the best than to live ignobly or make common cause with the worst. For the punishment of judgement is one thing, the increase of sin another. [p. 84] And therefore he did not once more expose himself to danger recklessly (as they say) or contrary to the profession of true religion, but in a praiseworthy manner he presented himself as eager to serve and as a mediator for both sides, provided that he would be treated fairly by everyone. Nor could he be deterred by the dangers to himself, who had so many times exerted himself on behalf of others. Let us therefore follow Pascasius hereafter, who was his inseparable companion and whom no hazard of this present life could deter from following one whom he had loved in Christ, whom he had determined to imitate, and with whom he had even chosen to die for the faith of Christ, if a time of mortal danger were imminent, so well did he think of him. Chapter 16 Pascasius: Regardless of the mood in which you say it, I acknowledge that what you say is true. This is proved by the journey that we undertook in the midst of clusters of ambushes and enemy armies rushing hither and thither, among whom we walked always with fear and trembling, at great risk to ourselves, until we came to the imperial kings and the sacred pontiff, fearing that we would not be allowed to reach our destination. For if we had been discovered, an even narrower confinement would have awaited us than the one which was previously inflicted [on Wala]. For with the emperor at the time was Justina, who once more wielded the sceptre of the entire realm (monarchia), who stirred up the waves and the seas, whipped up the winds, and turned the hearts of men to whatever she desired. And because they had driven that one 194

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supremely depraved man of whom we have spoken [Bernard] from her side,146 others of the most criminal sort continued to render service. And though we could not diverge from our path without passing through their armed bands, with God’s aid we managed to come safely through their midst. When we arrived there, we were received with the greatest joy by the kings, the magnates and all the people. When subsequently we presented ourselves to the most holy pontiff, he received us honourably with great alacrity, because he was tormented in his mind about the things that he had discovered, things of a kind that he never would have thought possible. Moreover, he was being threatened (and this is most regrettable) by the emperor and all of his men, and even by the bishops, who the day before we arrived had given their right hands to him to pledge that they would be united in resisting those who were in opposition: the royal sons, the magnates and the people. And on top of this they conspired under oath (for sorrow!) to depose this pope (apostolicus), because he had come uninvited. For Phasur147 was there, and others who were of one mind with Justina. When he had listened to them, the pontiff was much astounded and afraid. We therefore gave him some writings148 confirmed by the authority of the holy fathers and of his predecessors, on the basis of which nobody could contradict that his was the power, or rather God’s and the Apostle Peter’s, and his the authority to go and send out to all peoples (gentes)149 on behalf of the faith of Christ and the peace of the churches, for the preaching of the Gospel and the proclamation of the truth, and that in him rested all the exalted authority and living power of the blessed Peter, by whom all humankind ought to be judged, meaning that he himself should be

146 Bernard had fled to Barcelona with Louis’ permission after the outbreak of rebellion in 830. In the autumn of 831 he came to an assembly held at Thionville to clear himself of the accusations against him, but after conspiring with Pippin in the following year, he was deprived of the march of Septimania. See Astronomer c. 44, pp. 456–​8; c. 46, pp. 466–​70 (Noble, Charlemagne, pp. 275–​8). 147 This was Ebo, archbishop of Reims, who remained loyal to Louis and Judith until the emperor’s troops deserted him; he was instrumental in Wala’s exile in 831, and therefore likened to the priest Phasur, who had the prophet Jeremiah beaten and locked up (Jeremiah 20:2); see De Jong, Penitential State, pp. 109–​10; Booker, ‘False Decretals’, pp. 238–​9. 148 For the possible relationship of these writings to the Pseudo-​Isidorian Decretals, see De Jong, ‘Paschasius Radbertus and Pseudo-​Isidore’; Patzold, ‘Überlegungen’; De Jong, Epitaph, pp. 199–​205. 149 Cf. Acts 15:17, 15:22. 195

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judged by nobody. Now that these [precepts] had been set down,150 he accepted them gratefully and was much encouraged. Teofrastus: What do we expect the emperor to have been like, or Justina (who, with a nod, turned everything upside down), or the leadership (principes), when prelates like this were found, [p.  85] rising up together in divine matters just as the former had in human affairs. For with their horns they agitated the people (like the false prophets of old) unto every wind,151 and they rose up against the head of Christ’s entire Church lest he make peace between father and sons, and the emperor and the magnates, and lest those who had been dispersed and exiled and unjustly dishonoured should be restored; lest peace be returned to the churches; lest the decisions of earlier times152 and the division of kingdoms between the sons remain unshaken and undisputed. Matters were like this because Justina was fanning the flames of their ambitions, and they did not offer the ruler counsel from their hearts and minds, but by way of seeking favour through flattery and adulation, trampling underfoot truth, justice, peace and concord, and with all their might they fought against those whom they perceived to be striving for these things. Still, because you were present, we would like you to explain what justice the sons and people had. For the father was plotting against his sons, who were warring against one another on every side, and the sons were beheld rising up against their father, and so all were enemies. Chapter 17 Pascasius: It is evident that the aspects of justice are manifold. The justice of the kingdom of God is different from the justice of an earthly kingdom, which is different from the justice that exists between family and neighbours, which in turn is different from that which exists between 1 50 … quibus profecto scriptis gratanter accepit. 151 I.e., they are no leaders, but send their flock in every direction. Cf. Ezekiel 34:21:  ‘you struck all the weak cattle with your horns, till they were scattered abroad’ (cornibus vestris ventilabatis omnia infirma pecora, donec dispergerentur foras); Ecclesiasticus 5:11: ‘Winnow not with every wind’ (Non ventiles te in omnem ventum). 152 I.e., the Ordinatio imperii of 817. 196

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strangers and foreigners, to the extent that it is said that in practice there are as many aspects of justice as there are laws and customs among peoples. Hence, the appropriate standard (modus) of justice must be established from the law of God no less than from the law of the fatherland, in addition to the law of nature. For as it is written, ‘children obey’ and submit ‘to your parents’,153 and likewise, ‘fathers, provoke not your children to anger’.154 If both precepts had been observed with foresight, such evil would not have arisen.155 Nonetheless, in order to clarify what I have related, let us recall the capitula that the august father (augustus pater) sent to his sons by way of a complaint (querela), in order to make known what were his accusations against [them].156 First, he admonishes them to remember that they are his sons, and that he himself engendered them at God’s behest. To which they respond:  ‘Thanks to almighty God, who has allowed you to reconsider what is the truth about us, and that you have not merely deigned to reconsider, but also to make the truth known by messenger.157 For we, o greatest of emperors, hold nothing in life more dear, after God, than you, most hallowed father; we possess nothing

153 Ephesians 6:1:  ‘Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is just’ (Filii, oboedite parentibus vestris in Domino, hoc enim est iustum). 154 Ephesians 6:4: ‘And you, fathers, provoke not your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and correction of the Lord’ (Et vos, patres, nolite ad iracundiam provocare filios vestros, sed educate illos in disciplina et correptione Domini). 155 A view shared by Hrabanus Maurus, abbot of Fulda, in 834:  De Jong, ‘Hraban Maur as mediator’. 156 Quid contra requireret refers to the satisfaction or admission of guilt Louis demanded from his sons; requirere contra means bringing legal action. This fictitious exchange is construed as a juridical dispute (querela) and has little to do with the actual diplomacy between father and sons, except that this is the setting which is suggested. The praesens historicum is consistently used, which gives an impression of an actual debate with propositions (capitula) and responses (responsiones), but from the context and terminology (capitula, mandare) it is clear that Radbert had an exchange through written documents and messengers in mind; ‘inquit/​inquiunt’ refers to what ‘it says’ or ‘they say’ in the documents exchanged. Louis’ charges are presented as ultra-​brief, rhetorically unsophisticated, and in most cases obviously boorish, while the sons, with Lothar as their spokesman, offer effective, highly polished and extensive refutations, which, moreover, appeal to the values that father and son are supposed to share. The tables have been turned: Honorius, rather than his father, is the one who admonishes with moral authority. For Radbert this dialogue created an opportunity to outline his views on the rebellion and the role of Pope Gregory. See De Jong, ‘For God, king and country’, pp. 111–​12. 157 The verb mandare here seems to refer to an exchange of views by letter (mandatum). 197

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more glorious than to be thought of as, and to be, your sons –​nothing more opulent, nothing more rich, nothing more magnificent by way of honores, superiority and high rank, by way of the renown of our name and the splendour of fame. Therefore, most glorious one, we come to you humble and devoted, subordinate (as is fitting) and subject; only let your piety and mildness deign to reconsider with regard to us, lest we be condemned unjustly, dispossessed without crime and disinherited without cause. For in fact we do not rebel against you, as our enemies who strive to destroy us claim by way of accusation, but as supplicants we beg for forgiveness, leniency and mercy.’ Then in another chapter (capitulum): ‘You should remember’, he says, ‘that you are also my vassals, and that you have declared fidelity to me with an oath.’ [p. 86] To which they again answered: ‘We remember well that it is exactly as you have said in your mandate,158 because surely we are your faithful men, by nature as well as by virtue of our promises, and by every oath of true fidelity. Therefore, just as we have never deserted the service of your army, as long as there is still breath in us, so we will never be deserters, because for us your glory, honour and prosperity are more precious than our own life. And therefore we do not come in a way hostile to you,159 but we are prepared to aid you in all respects, provided we are granted your former favour and mercy. Nor have we brought those who are with us against you, but, because we do not dare to come without an armed retinue160 (as would have been fitting), on account of those who are plotting against us, and wish to destroy us and overthrow the imperial rule of your glory. They seek as well to turn and corrupt against us and those faithful to you your most serene spirit, merciful (pius) and mild, filled by nature with all the goods of supreme magnanimity and illuminated by Christ’s grace, and to change it into a bitterness that is alien to [your] nature. For from the beginning they have done nothing except what contributed to their aim of killing you. Against this we have thus come to your clemency, so that these men may be exposed, and so that the throne and glorious majesty of your 1 58 Mandastis: in the written text sent by Louis. 159 … non contra vobis venimus: i.e., although they have brought an army, they claim that it is intended to aid Louis. 160 Simpliciter; cf. Astronomer c. 45, p. 462 (Noble, Charlemagne, p. 246] on Hilduin in Nijmegen in October 830, who should have come simpliciter but came hostiliter, i.e., with a military retinue. 198

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imperial rule may be strengthened through the exposure of their sins, and so that we may be restored to your forgiveness –​we who, insofar as it was in our power, have in no way ever voluntarily incurred any guilt.’ And he also added: ‘You should know that for a long time now I have most faithfully undertaken the defence of the Apostolic See, though you now unjustly seek to appropriate it so that you might exclude me from this office, which I cannot neglect as long as I shall live.’ Hereupon Honorius, together with his brothers, replied:  ‘May Your Sublimity consider carefully and deign to remember that your most excellent providence in Christ made me equally undertake the care and defence of this see in particular and of the other churches, when Your Highness, in unison with the will of the people, appointed me your consort in the entire imperial rule161 with every power and honour, in every charter and coin, in every decree, with your honour and guidance (providentia) remaining intact. Likewise, Your Imperial Highness leniently sent me to the same see, to confirm whatever Your Merciful Worthiness had decreed with respect to me, so that I would be a partner and consort no less by virtue of anointing than through power and title.162 And so it was that before the holy altar and in the presence of the sacred body of the blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, I  received from the highest pontiff, with your consent and will, the consecration, dignity and title of the imperial office, and in addition to this a diadem upon my head163 and a sword for the defence of this Church itself and your imperial rule. There is no one who desires, or is obligated, to defend this together with you more than I. And because I have heard that many plots are being hatched against this man [the pope], I want it to be clear to all that in my absence nobody will harm 161 Already in the preface to the Ordinatio imperii of 817 (p.  271), Lothar had been declared to be the ‘consort in and successor to the entire imperial rule’ (consortem et successorem totius imperii). In other words, Lothar became his father’s co-​emperor, just as Charlemagne had crowned Louis his co-​emperor in 813. See above, c. 11, p.  181, where Lothar is said to have been ousted from the co-​emperorship (consortium imperii). The ninth-​century connotations of imperium were not necessarily those of an empire in the territorial sense of the word; see above, Introduction, p. 44. 162 … potestate et nomine: i.e., the imperial title (nomen imperiale). 163 The implication of diadema is imperial; see Astronomer, c.  36, p.  414:  ipso sancto die apud beatum Petrum diadema imperiale cum nomine suscepit augusti (‘and on that very holy day [Easter] at St Peter’s he received an imperial crown and the name of Augustus’ (Noble, Charlemagne, p. 264). 199

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him, the vicar of St Peter, whom for peace and concord I have brought to restore the most serene mercy (pietas) of your spirit.’ [p. 87] The glorious Caesar, in return, sent the message that it was not right that they did not permit this same pontiff to come to him, and that they denied him the routes of access. To which Honorius replied, ‘Most serene one, in no wise have we barred the routes of access to him, but with God’s help we have opened them up. For at your orders these had been obstructed and broken up in the Alpine passes, so that no mortal could freely cross over, until, thanks to God’s miraculous power and our labour, they were smoothed out, such that I might say with the prophet that “the crooked ways have become straight and the rough ways plain”.164 This was done so that he [Gregory IV] might come to you, together with us, with all devotion, and we ordered him to undertake this labour so that this highest intercessor might come to you in the place of the blessed Peter, whose power lives and whose authority is pre-​eminent in him.165 Therefore, we are not hindering him, as we are accused of doing, but rather we most dutifully present one whom we beseech suppliantly and humbly to be given a hearing, for God’s sake and ours.’ Once more Augustus said: ‘You act unjustly because you force our sons, your brothers, to remain with you, and induce them to rise up against me.’ ‘God forbid, God forbid, my lord,’ said Honorius. ‘It is precisely because they had been driven away and cast out, and exiled to distant parts by persecutions, that I  decided to lead them back to Your Clemency, beseeching you like a supplicant:  may Your Sainted Paternity deign to consider that we are your sons, and may Your Majesty not deem it proper to reject or destroy us without guilt; on the contrary, may the love of your own flesh and blood, and justice derived no less from the

164 Quod factae sint pravae in directas et asperae in vias planas. A fairly close paraphrase of the latter part of Isaiah 40:4: ‘Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways plain’ (Omnis vallis exaltabitur, et omnis mons et collis humiliabitur, et erunt prava in directa, et aspera in vias planas). 165 … vobis … occurreret. The implication being that Gregory IV would perform an occursus (a humble and honorific approach to the emperor), which is clearly not what Radbert thinks is required, given the listing of the pope’s sacred credentials. 200

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law of nature as from the law of God, move the innards of your mercy, and may you deign to have pity on us.’ Then, finally, he said: ‘You have also received our vassals without just cause and you keep them with you.’ Honorius: ‘Your Blessedness should know it is not as it seems; in fact, when they themselves had been dispersed, put to flight, or detained in custody or exile, they sought refuge with us and with that blessed prelate, so that he might intercede with Your Most Serene Clemency on their behalf, lest those who stood for your fidelity and justice should be unjustly condemned, and lest the deceit and treachery of the most wicked should prevail. This I have always heard in your sacred assembly (concilio), and in the senate of most illustrious men; this I have always observed in your deeds; this I have learned from you; this we read about in the accounts of the deeds of the ancients:166 that valiant and pre-​eminent and well-​deserving men should be honoured and covered in glory, rather than driven away; those who with foresight prevented the onslaught and intrigues of evil men; who by virtue of their authority, fidelity and constancy, and through greatness of spirit and counsel, resisted the insolence of plotters, that is, of those men who by their fickleness and perniciousness have, with complete unscrupulousness, defiled your imperial rule. Those who uncovered them and put them to flight should be honoured and glorified, rather than accused by the most pestilent men. For they themselves were brought up from early on in your discipline,167 taught by your counsel, and raised to high rank by your authority; and, made illustrious by benefices (honores), they were always held to be the foremost and most distinguished men of the palace. We have therefore deemed it right to lead them back to your most merciful pity and to exhibit them to your gaze: and thus we ought not to give offence if we restore and reconcile to your advantage those whom the treachery of the seditious has ruined.’ [p. 88] This was the debate (altercatio) that went back and forth between them; this was their exchange of arguments (querelae); this was the case 166 This could refer to scripture, or to classical, late antique or early medieval historiography. 167 The discipline of the palace; see Nelson, ‘Aachen’; Innes, ‘Place of discipline’. 201

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(propositio) of the father and the refutation (responsio) of the sons.168 When even then they were unable to get him to agree to forgive in the slightest, the holy and supreme pontiff, the vicar of blessed Peter, was sent [to him] as an intercessor. When he arrived,169 he was not received with any appropriate honour, and yet, after giving the blessing according to his custom,170 he set forth the reasons for which he had come. At this the emperor said to him, ‘We have not received you according to the custom of the kings of old, holy pontiff, with hymns and lauds and other marks of honour due to your rank and holiness, because you have not come to us as your predecessors did, who were accustomed to come to us [only] when summoned.’ To this he replied, ‘You should know that we have come in the right manner, because we have come for the sake of the peace and concord which the author of our salvation has bequeathed to us,171 and I have been commissioned to preach this to the whole world and to proclaim this to all men. Therefore, O emperor, if you receive us and the peace of Christ in a worthy manner, it will reside in you and your kingdom. If not, then the peace of Christ will return to us, as you read in the Gospel, and remain with us.’172 Teofrastus: For sorrow! What could have happened, that such a pious and faithful emperor should act so foolishly and rashly, more so than any of his predecessors, and give honour neither to God nor to the blessed Apostle Peter? Evil and wicked stubbornness of mind, I  say, and hardness of heart, and the malign persuasion of a woman, which deceived our original father [Adam]. And we know as well that she wickedly deceived him, for which we grieve. And therefore we bewail that a man of such 168 In forensic rhetoric propositio could denote a summary statement of the main argument to be proved (see, e.g., Quintilian, Institutio oratoria 3.9.2), but none of these terms suggests a close reliance on the terminology and categories of classical rhetoric. 169 I.e., when he made a formal approach (adventus or occursus) towards the emperor. Radbert and the Astronomer represented two radically different views among the Frankish clergy on the way this meeting should have been conducted; see De Jong, Penitential State, pp. 216–​24. 170 The pope observes custom (mos), while Louis does not. 171 See John 14:27: ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you’ (Pacem relinquo vobis; pacem meam do vobis). 172 Luke 10:6: ‘And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall return to you’ (Et si ibi fuerit filius pacis, requiescet super illum pax vestra; sin autem, ad vos revertetur). 202

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authority and sanctity was so much oppressed by darkness and did not remember what Truth says:  ‘he who receives you, receives me; and he who hears you, hears me’.173 Alas, how great then was the bewitching and blinding of the mind that so deceived a man of such greatness amid so many tribulations and dangers, and among so many scandals,174 such that he could never be recalled or be healed by any counsel from sacred scripture! He was seen to meditate daily on God’s law,175 and [yet] how far did he withdraw from the law of true love by virtue of his hardness of heart. Otherwise he would never have provoked his sons so obstinately to anger, against God’s commandment, and he never would have pursued them so frequently and cruelly with a hostile sword after they had been disinherited, when they themselves wished nothing evil upon him, but only that those [arrangements] that he himself and the entire people176 had ordained and confirmed by oath177 should remain unshaken. For if he had cherished or taken care of the people, or of the Church of Christ that had been committed to him by God, or certainly the realm (respublica), he never would have permitted so many evils to befall the kingdom because of the will or wiles of one woman, evils that may never at any point cease –​ not through ingenuity, or human virtue, or through counsel, or anyone’s might. And while we greatly bewail this, we ask you to expound on what business the highest pontiff transacted with him, and what he obtained. Chapter 18 Pascasius: Just as you often read that envoys returned without having obtained the peace for which they came, so, too, this man came back without success, without honour and without anything to show for his efforts. All the same, on the night following the day of his return, the hand of God came 173 Matthew 10:40: qui recipit vos me recipit et qui me recipit recipit eum qui me misit; Luke 10:16: Qui vos audit me audit. 174 For the political implications of scandalum (‘an offence that had undermined a divinely sanctioned order of society’), see De Jong, Penitential State, pp. 232–​3, 237–​9. Louis the Pious was described as an auctor scandali in the communal Relatio drafted by the bishops who met at Compiègne in 833 to accept his public penance. See Relatio episcoporum (833), p. 54; Booker, ‘Public penance’, p. 16, line 16. 175 Psalms 1:2: ‘But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night’ (Sed in lege Domini voluntas eius, et in lege eius meditabitur die ac nocte). 176 Populus, here used in the sense of fideles (the emperor’s ‘faithful men’). 177 Another reference to the Ordinatio imperii of 817. 203

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upon the entire people through a just judgement of God, and the minds of every one of them were changed, as all were struck with the fear of God and made to tremble. Hence in that same night they abandoned the emperor without –​so far as I can remember –​any persuasion or exhortation, [p. 89] and all, from the smallest to the greatest, went over to Honorius and added themselves to his camp. And in the morning all of their tents could be seen set up around him, such that everyone on the side of the sons and the pope was saying ‘Manu?!’ which means ‘What is this?!’178 For to those who had no idea what was happening it seemed miraculous that those who on the previous day had been so strong and steadfast, and so confident in their numbers, in everyone’s assurances, in the counsel of the bishops and magnates (senatorum), in paternal authority and manifold promises, had been found to be so fickle and weak that in the absence of advice or counsel from anyone they had left Caesar alone with his Justina, and all that night flocked around the son against whom they had advanced and sworn, like chicks under his wings. In the morning, when they pitched camp, it appeared to be one people. And then at the break of dawn we went to that same pontiff because of the miracle that happened, and behold, one of the Romans cried out in the voice of one singing: ‘the right hand of the Lord has wrought strength’, and the rest that follows.179 Then this same holy man and all those who had gathered there judged that the illustrious and glorious imperial authority (imperium)180 had fallen from the hand of the father, so that the august Honorius, who was the heir and had already been made and created co-​emperor (consors) by his father and by everyone, would relieve him and receive it. If he [the pope] had not done this, everyone said with one accord that they would choose for themselves one who would bring them aid and protection. When this had been said, Honorius consented and accepted the command of the entire realm (totius monarchiam imperii), taking his father with him on the basis of some verdict I am not sure of.181 After I had observed these things, 178 The reference is to Exodus 16:15, where the Israelites behold the manna that God has sent them in the wilderness: ‘And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, “Manhu?!” which signifieth, “What is this?!” ’ (Quod cum vidissent filii Israhel, dixerunt ad invicem, ‘Man hu?!’ quod significabat ‘Quid est hoc?!’). 179 Psalms 117:16: ‘The right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength; the right hand of the Lord hath exalted me’ (Dextera Domini fecit virtutem; dextera Domini exaltavit me). 180 On imperium, see the Introduction, p. 44. 181 Here we see the fairly universal disapproval of Louis’ dishonouring captivity, which probably swung the mood of Lothar’s supporters back to Louis –​if not in ‘reality’, 204

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I accosted Arsenius about them and said that such a haphazard affair seemed like a bad thing to me: that without any greater deliberation or more careful provisions so great an empire (imperium) should be suddenly overthrown, and the one who had been made co-​emperor through fidelity should immediately claim the undivided imperial authority for himself as a result of his father’s downfall. To this he replied: ‘It was our duty to come here, to labour with good will on everyone’s behalf, to give the counsel of peace, and to put to rest the civil war that was imminent. But now, just as no one listens to us, so there is no one who pays attention to what we are saying, since everyone, as you have read, “either fears, or desires, or rejoices, or grieves”.182 For they fear what has already happened, lest what has been done should be avenged in turn. At the same time, each and every one of them is eager, while there is still time, to immediately get their hands on what they formerly possessed, or to acquire what they do not yet have. They greedily rejoice and exult in their honours; for they all pursue their own interests,183 but few pursue what belongs to God and the public interest. Consequently, the rest –​those through whose temerity and advice Caesar Augustus did such things against his sons –​grieve for what they fear to lose.’ Chapter 19 Adeodatus: As far as I  understand, these men, too, were birds of prey, rather than counsellors (consules), who decided to make provision for nothing except their own benefices (honores), and for how each of them could carry off more plunder, when  –​because imperial authority had fallen from the father’s hand –​they should have reflected and investigated with this same pontiff, together with Honorius and his brothers, why it had fallen, and then simultaneously corrected, strengthened and stabilised these things so that then certainly in the discussions after the event which are our best access to this reality. See De Jong, Penitential State, pp. 249–​52. 182 Aeneid 6.733: hinc metuunt cupiuntque, dolent gaudentque. Anchises explains to Aeneas how fleshly bodies weigh down the spirit of life in man and give rise to fear, desire, suffering and joy. Cf. Expositio in Lamentationes 3.7–​9, p. 159, lines 591–​3: Habent enim scelera et peccata quadraturam suam sicut quidam poetice ait: ‘Hi metuunt cupiunt gaudentque dolentque.’ With hindsight, Radbert has Wala condemn all those who took part in the rebellion of 833 and divided the spoils without any consideration for anything but their own interest, remaining deaf to those with better motives, such as Wala himself. 183 Cf. Philippians 2:21: ‘For all seek the things that are their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ’s’ (Omnes enim quae sua sunt quaerunt, non quae sunt Christi Iesu). 205

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henceforward it would remain united and stable. For the most prominent and highest-​ranking men ought to have kept watch with great foresight and counsel to see to it that the commonwealth (respublica) and the stability of the entire empire would not collapse through discord once more and perish. For usually there is no other end to conflict between illustrious [and] powerful men than either universal destruction or else the victor’s total dominance, and then, once more, the unity of the kingdom, and the renewal of peace and concord. But because [Lothar] was not established on the throne in a well-​considered manner, and because as victor he did not exercise his dominion together with God (while his father had fallen through a judgement of God), and the peace was not fully restored as each person pursued his own interest, therefore the realm perished once more in the hands of the son and slipped back [into ruin]. And thus because both of them [Louis and Lothar] in turn failed to walk sincerely before God,184 to this day [the realm] lies overthrown and divided. There remains as well a secret hatred among brothers and a wound seated deep in the hearts and burned in the minds of eminent men, for which reason the commonwealth is ceaselessly tending towards the worse and on the verge of collapse. Opportunities are sought, and each person bides his time, since the authority of kings, which is proper and expedient for governance, has collapsed, and the consensus of all has been broken up and severed. Gone are judgements and forthright counsels. The support of men is accumulated, but they have become womanish and are of no use, to such a degree that scarcely a man can be found who would risk himself for the well-​being of his fatherland or expose himself to danger on behalf of his fellow citizens (cives). Thus, according to the Word of Truth, from day to day a kingdom divided is brought to desolation185 and corrupted, because where there is no helmsman, the people come to grief. Hence, everyone on all sides lost God as their helmsman, when amid crisis they sought him with an insincere heart. Hence, on a certain day, when the great men and magnates (consules) of the palace proceeded purposefully in a highly secret meeting, together with the august son, they divided the entire realm (imperium) for themselves, without heeding the rights of kinsmen or the 184 Luke 1:6: ‘And they were both just before God, walking in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord without blame’ (Erant autem iusti ambo ante Deum incedentes in omnibus mandatis et iustificationibus Domini sine querela). Again, it is stressed that both sides in this conflict left much to be desired. 185 Luke 11:17: ‘Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation, and house upon house shall fall’ (Omne regnum in se ipsum divisum desolabitur, et domus supra domum cadet). 206

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equal status of the great, or the multitude of nobles or of well-​deserving faithful men (fideles), or the rights (which are weightier) of churches, or the reverence of God from the heart. As soon as they were done, Arsenius arrived. In a state of confusion because of their complicity, they showed him how the shares had been apportioned,186 to see if there was anything that might displease him. Being canny in his reply, he said, ‘Everything has been distributed well, except that you have left God nothing that is his by rights, nor is what you have ordained pleasing to good men.’ Having answered them in this way, he began to be more and more saddened, overwhelmed by the cupidity of the blind, since hardly anyone would give him a hearing. And so it happened that from moment to moment the royal authority, which had been undermined, began to perish rather than grow. Crimes were multiplied, discord was inflamed once more, disputes were provoked, plots were hatched, and the august father was brought to life (reanimatur) once more by many who urged that he should be restored (recreari)187 to the throne of the empire. Here and there revolts broke out, and danger spread, to the point that there is no household, no city (civitas) and no town (municipium),188 no county and no province in which discord has not reigned until the present day. But at that time greater perils were growing one after another, until the moment when the august father was restored (resuscitatur) to the royal throne and the son was expelled. Chapter 20 Pascasius: He was not driven out like this, as you claim, and neither did he act so unwisely, as you complain.189 For together with the august father he 186 Distributionis sortes. The allusion is to the partition of lands between Lothar and his brothers, and possibly to the allotment of estates and monasteries to their followers as well. Sors can denote an estate or property without any attendant idea of the casting of lots (see, e.g., Niermeyer, Lexicon Minus, s.v.), but Radbert may have worded the phrase precisely to give an impression of the arbitrary assignment of lands. 187 The terminology of Louis’ restoration (reanimatur … recreari … resuscitatur), which suggests that he is being brought back to life, may well be ironic. 188 Civitas denotes the chief city of a district or county (pagus), in which a bishopric is found. Municipium here is probably best understood as a smaller town or fortification (see Niermeyer, Lexicon Minus, s.v.). 189 In fact, Adeodatus’ diatribe does not accuse Wala of being unwise or foolish (insipienter), merely of being incapable of stopping the unwise behaviour of the victors of the rebellion of 833. This more general accusation against Wala, that he was foolish enough to be disloyal to the emperor, is ascribed to Adeodatus to serve as a starting point for Radbert’s defence. 207

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upheld and preserved royal and imperial authority (regnum et imperium), which had fallen, and in this he did not admit of any guilt whatsoever, except what the universal senate and the people forced him to with regard to the deprivation of power and the verdict of the bishops who imposed penance upon him [Louis].190 All of these things our Arsenius tempered, together with God’s grace, [p. 91] lest either side should act more cruelly or criminally towards the other than nature allows, because of the seriousness of the crisis. But when the voracious fire of discord raged higher, and the august father would not relent by agreeing to anything of his own volition, the august son took action through his own sacred counsel in order to forestall the possibility of parricide, and having left his father once more upon the throne of empire, he asked for forgiveness, together with all the men who had agreed with him, so that he might depart as a free man. For God’s wrath had been poured out everywhere and raged over the whole people. For according to Job, ‘the tents of robbers abounded’ on both sides, which ‘rashly provoked God’ with their wicked deeds.191 And so Arsenius had ever less success with his advice. For the gates of carnal desire had everywhere been opened, and cupidity had flared up. He therefore chose a moment of pause in order to retreat from their midst. For although God had given everything into their hands,192 nobody sought God from his heart  –​God ‘in whom there is wisdom and fortitude’, and who indeed ‘possesses counsel and understanding’.193 Hence, it is clear that ‘whomever the Almighty Himself has destroyed, nobody can restore; whomever he has confined, nobody can liberate’.194 And thus, because he was alternately destroying those whom he had raised up and restoring those whom he had imprisoned, he preferred to depart as a free man rather than remain among them as a slave to sin. For in his astonishment he reflected that 190 The reference here is to the assembly held at of Compiègne in October 833, at which Louis was formally stripped of the kingship and made to undergo a public penance. Radbert is keen to distance Wala from those proceedings. 191 Job 12:6: ‘The tabernacles of robbers abound, and they provoke God boldly, whereas it is he that hath given all into their hands’ (Abundant tabernacula praedonum, et audacter provocant Deum, cum ipse dederit omnia in manus eorum). On Radbert’s use of Job in the subsequent passage, see De Jong, ‘Jeremiah, Job, Terence’. 192 Job 12:6. 193 Job 12:13: ‘With him is wisdom and strength. He hath counsel and understanding.’ (Apud ipsum est sapientia et fortitudo. Ipse habet consilium et intellegentiam.) 194 Job 12:14: ‘If he pull down, there is no man that can build up. If he shut up a man, there is none that can open.’ (Si destruxerit, nemo est qui aedificet. Si incluserit hominem, nullus est qui aperiat.) 208

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the strength and wit of humankind amounted to nothing, because wisdom seemed rather to be foolishness; for according to the testimony of scripture, ‘he knows both the deceiver, and him that is deceived’.195 For this reason, when he saw various wiles and tricks being put into the field on both sides, he brought it about that the son would submit to the father and leave unharmed with his troops, and the father would remain in the imperial rule together with those who wished to be with him, in such a way that it would be given to all to understand that he alone was the all-​powerful king who ‘brings counsellors to a foolish end and judges to insensibility’.196 And in addition ‘he loosens the belt of office of kings and girds their loins with a cord’,197 which is of course what we saw happen to him [Louis]. But because neither of them wholly sought God in a worthy manner, their fortunes varied by turns, and the people were scourged, so that all might understand that it was God himself who ‘leads away infamous bishops and supplants magnates’.198 For there never would have been such great vexation and confusion among all people were it not as a result of their sins.199 ‘For the advice of the truthful was inverted, and the wisdom of senior advisers rejected.’200 For this reason, he could not stand up against everyone by himself, except for what he did so that the outcome of events would not get worse, something many people urged [him] to do, since contention and contempt had been ‘poured out upon the rulers’.201 But what he then opposed so that a civil war would not arise among them –​ for sorrow!  –​we later saw brought to fruition.202 And yet this man of ours would have rather died than have agreed to or taken part in anything like this. Hence, he persuaded the son to disappear with all of his men, and the father to take control of the imperial rule which 1 95 Job 12:16: Ipse novit et decipientem et eum qui decipitur. 196 Job: 12:17: Adducit consiliarios in stultum finem et iudices in stuporem. 197 Job 12:18: Balteum regum dissolvit et praecingit fune renes eorum. 198 Job 12:19: Ducit sacerdotes inglorios et optimates supplantat. 199 Cf. Psalms 43:16: ‘All day long my shame is before me, and the confusion of my face hath covered me’ (Tota die verecundia mea contra me est, et confusio faciei meae cooperuit me); Isaiah 19:28: sola vexatio intellectum dabit auditui (‘vexation alone shall make you understand what you hear’). The latter is a central admonitory text in Nithard and Radbert; De Jong, Penitential State, pp. 101–​2. 200 Cf. Job 12:20: Commutans labium veracium et doctrinam senum auferens. 201 Cf. Job 12:21:  ‘He poureth contempt upon princes and relieveth them that were oppressed’ (Effundit despectionem super principes, eos qui oppressi fuerant relevans). 202 A reference to the fraternal wars of 840–​3. 209

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previously had been managed badly. Seeing that God, who ‘changes the heart of the rulers of the earth, and deceives them so that they walk in vain where there is no way’,203 had hardened his [Louis’] heart, he [Wala] entrusted everything entirely to his [God’s] judgement lest anything that was even more wicked should happen between them. For at that time he was sad to observe, on account of their sins, what Job says: ‘They shall grope as in the dark and not in the light, and he shall make them stagger like men that are drunk’.204 For ‘it is only he whose purpose nobody can change; but he will do whatever he wishes according to his own just judgement’.205 Evidently reflecting on the judgements that had happened, and which were becoming worse and growing daily, [p. 92] this man of ours, albeit belatedly, foresaw the future events which here and there are seen to have been fulfilled down to the present day. Hence, he chose to flee rather than to remain with any of them. For at the time, with me as a witness, the father [Louis] most insistently wanted to keep him with him, with all honour and reverence due to the highest rank,206 even though the august son wished him to swear the oath and fidelity [sworn by] his own men, and to then carry him off with him. Heeding neither of them, however, but instead resisting strenuously, he left both of them, and having entered Italy with winged steps, he retired to the monastery of St Columbanus,207 which, at the request of the brothers, he undertook to govern, so that it would not be invaded by robbers, as all the others had been taken over. And as long as he lived there, he ruled it nobly and peacefully. Chapter 21 Teofrastus: Indeed, many people try to cast blame upon him on the grounds that he left his own [monastery], in which he had professed and been elected, and 203 Job 12:24: qui inmutat cor principum populi terrae et decipit eos ut frustra incedant per invium. 204 Job 12:25: Palpabunt quasi in tenebris et non in luce, et errare eos faciet quasi ebrios. 205 Quoniam ipse solus est cuius nemo avertere potest cogitationem; sed faciet quaecumque voluerit suo iusto iudicio. Cf. Job 23:13: ‘For he is alone and no man can turn away his thought, and whatsoever his soul hath desired, that hath he done’ (Ipse enim solus est et nemo avertere potest cogitationem eius et anima eius quodcumque voluerit, hoc fecit). 206 Literally, ‘of the highest honour’ (summi honoris); the implication is that Wala was offered his former position of secundus in imperio. 207 Bobbio. Wala followed Lothar to Italy in 834 and was appointed abbot there. 210

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(as though driven to it by greed) snatched up another one by some means or another. Perhaps it would have been more monastic (religiosius) either to have remained in his own [community], which, as you said a little while ago, he could have done peacefully, or to have lived in this one [Bobbio] without the burden of the abbacy. For the first would have entailed the fulfilment of his vow to them, the second a praiseworthy act of humility. Pascasius: Perhaps you have not read the life and deeds of this same blessed Columbanus, who, after he was banished from Luxeuil by the jealousy of a certain woman,208 in turn founded this monastery [Bobbio] and in a praiseworthy manner was in charge of many brothers there down to the end of his life. For he ought not to have buried in the earth the talent that had been entrusted to him,209 but to have distributed it to the brethren, which is what we read that the blessed Benedict and many others did. It is therefore clear that, to no lesser degree [than these men], he defended [the monastery] from its enemies and governed it with scrupulous observance (religiosissime) under the sacred rule, and assiduously enlarged it according to the very same monastic order which he had first undertaken there.210 For because he believed that he could not live with sufficient peace or succeed in the office of abbot211 in his own [monastery], I believe that no one in his right mind would wish to criticise him if he betook himself to tranquillity and to what was helpful for the brethren according to that same monastic regime, so that he might benefit many people. Whereas I  do not know if he could have saved himself with us in the midst of so many perils, where fidelity is no longer to be found, or only rarely, especially among those who desired to be the greatest, or to appear as such. Among them, to spurn the honours of the world for the sake of the religious life was considered faintheartedness. 208 Queen Brunhild, who orchestrated the banishment of the monastic pioneer Columbanus (c. 550–​615) because of his refusal to bless the illegitimate children of her grandson Theuderic II, king of Burgundy. Cf. Jonas of Bobbio, Vita Columbani I, c. 18–​20, pp. 86–​98; O’Hara and Wood, Jonas of Bobbio, pp. 132–​44. 209 Matthew 25:25. The subject of this sentence is ambiguous, possibly deliberately, since it applies to both Columbanus and Wala. 210 At Corbie. The implication is that Wala never stopped being a monk and did not desert his own community. 211 In officio regiminis proficere. Wala was pessimistic about regaining the dual abbacy of Corbie and Corvey. 211

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Chapter 22 Adeodatus: We know all of this:  how he lived among them, although spurning honours is thought to be criminal and loving the poverty of Christ foolishness. Yet now that we have grieved about the deeds of the past and the things that happened, Pascasius, and bewailed so many hazards and their various consequences,212 recounted the tribulations, and, weeping, reckoned up the course of disputes (negotia causarum), now it remains to concentrate upon the end, [p. 93] and on his death. For since we were not present, nor at his funeral did we sprinkle tears around his tomb in place of flowers, in our absence let us at least commend him to God in our prayers long thereafter, and since we do not know the day of his burial, nor the day of his death, let us commemorate him as long as there remains life in us. This day of future rest is surely an image (representatio) present in our mind, in which he lives who is thought dead, and the commendation of his memory reveals that the day of his death, when he entered into eternal life, is better than the day of his birth, when, as soon as he began to live, he was subject to death.213 Pascasius: You exhort us well, brother, in ordering us to touch upon and recall his death. For in so doing you teach us that this man of ours is not to be mourned, because just as ‘through the sin of one man death passed upon all men’,214 so also the resurrection was made manifest through one man, in whom all those who die in a godly manner (pie) live blessedly. And because we cannot flee the author of our kind,215 so we cannot escape the creator of death; and if we cannot escape him, we cannot avoid what is common to all men. It is thus unseemly for us to despair 212 Rerum discrimina et varios eventus. Cf. Virgil, Aeneid 1.204–​5: Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum/​tendimus in Latium. 213 For the idea that the day of a man’s birth is to be mourned and the day of his death celebrated, see Ambrose, De excessu 2.5, pp. 253–​4. 214 Romans 5:12: ‘Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death, and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned’ (Propterea sicut per unum hominem in hunc mundum peccatum intravit, et per peccatum mors, et ita in omnes homines mors pertransiit, in quo omnes peccaverunt). 215 Auctorem … generis. Traube emended genus to generatio, but Radbert has taken the phrase from Ambrose, De excessu 2.6, p. 254: Et ideo, licet per unius peccatum, in omnes tamen pertransivit, ut, quem generis non refugimus auctorem, non refugiamus et mortis et 212

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of a life which is in Christ, since he himself is the sole creator of life and resurrection. And for this reason, just as death came about through one man, so one must truly believe that life comes about through Jesus Christ alone –​and not just any sort of life, but blessed and eternal life. Therefore, most beloved, the day of the death of our father is rather a day of life than one of death, when by his death he entered into this eternal life. Therefore, it is more fitting for us to be consoled than to grieve, since this death is experienced by everyone, and we ought not think something hard to bear which is shared by all humankind. Hence, death is not to be lamented, first because it is communal and is owed to everyone, and then because it releases us from all worldly travails, and lastly because it is a kind (species) of sleep, since it frees us from the toils and cares of this world and grants us rest after the miseries and sorrows of the present life. And therefore this anniversary rightly lends vigour to our faith (fides),216 gives hope of arrival,217 and restores the charity of love. For who is not comforted by the grace of resurrection? Whom does hope not raise up, or the trust in arriving there not fortify? Whom would charity not inflame, and whom would so great an inner love not bring to life, which arises from nothing but the Holy Spirit? Because of this, although until now we have lamented various accidents of chance and the hardships of suffering, it now remains to us to direct our mind thither and behold that day on which he [Wala] came to live a better life, and to redirect our intention to him –​‘for that day in the courts of the Lord’, although it is only one, ‘is better than a thousand’218 –​in such a way that we are not completely fixed upon the father [Wala] with all our senses, lest grief once more encroach because of his absence. Yet in order that we are not deprived of such loyalty (pietas) and mercy (gratia) by the one whom we love, it is fitting that we abide with him in our minds where such great joys are proclaimed, where he came to when invited and entered into with joy. sit nobis sicut per unum mors, ita per unum etiam resurrectio ne recusemus aerumnam, ut perveniamus gratiam (‘And thus, although it came about through one man’s sin, it nonetheless passed unto all, so that we cannot deny that he who was the author of our kind was also the author of death, and that just as we partake of death through one man, so also do we participate in the resurrection through one man, nor may we avoid sorrow in order to arrive at grace’). 216 This suggests that, despite the fact that Wala’s date of death was not known, an annual day of commemoration was celebrated at Corbie. 217 In heaven, with Wala. 218 Psalms 83:11: ‘for better is one day in thy courts above thousands’ (quia melior est dies una in atriis tuis super milia). 213

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Teofrastus: Why is it that you say he was ‘invited’? Haven’t we all been invited,219 who have received spiritual regeneration through the promise (fides) of baptism? [p. 94] Indeed, all have been called220 to the same immortality, and therefore it is absurd to weep for this man as though he were dead, although it is also foolish to bewail something in particular which you know has been prescribed for everyone. For this is to elevate one’s mind above one’s condition, not to accept the universal law of death, to reject the common bond of nature and to be unaware of the limits of the flesh. Yet if this man came to death when invited, as you say, so that he accepted it willingly, then you are expounding the case of the just debtor who meets his obligation voluntarily, ready to return what he owes.221 Chapter 23 Pascasius: Not without reason did I say that he came invited,222 because I heard a certain saintly bishop relate that before the day of his [Wala’s] death arrived, he was not just once but twice called by a vision and invited, as though he were going to complete his mission in the sight of the eternal king and receive recompense (gratia) for his efforts, so that our Arsenius told him [the bishop] even before he contracted the fever that killed him that shortly thereafter he would be departing hence through his death. And as the aforementioned bishop was able to understand, from that time forward he [Wala] lived on more eagerly in hope and, freed from care, he did not suffer long from the fever. When he was afflicted with the fever, he was more concerned for the august emperor [Lothar], whom he was serving at the time, 2 19 Cf. Matthew 22:1–​8. 220 Romans 1:6: ‘among whom are you also the called of Jesus Christ’ (in quibus estis et vos vocati Iesu Christi). 221 Cf. Ezekiel 18:5: ‘And if a man be just and do judgement and justice … (Et vir si fuerit iustus et fecerit iudicium et iustitiam …); Ezekiel 18:7: ‘and hath not wronged any man but hath restored the pledge to the debtor…’ (et hominem non contristaverit, pignus debitori reddiderit …). 222 The discussion of coming to death after being summoned or invited parallels an arrival or meeting (occursio) after having been summoned by the ruler. Compare the accusations against Pope Gregory IV about having come uninvited. 214

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than for himself, lest in his fever-​stricken state he should fail to carry out what he had recently promised his father when the opportunity presented itself. From this it is clear that he remained unconquered in fidelity (fides) and devoted in affection (caritas), comforted by the hope of his having been called.223 Bound to Christ by this threefold cord,224 he securely rendered his soul to heaven,225 and the earth received his body in the church where the blessed Columbanus rests, at his side. Nor do I  think it was merely an accident that one home embraced them at the same time, and one place of burial commended those who were bound by a single monastic devotion (religio), and that an almost identical persecution banished them like strangers from their monasteries and drove them to Italy. For the two queens226 who did this were not dissimilar in wickedness, and though they lived at different times they are connected and joined together by the same impious crime. For from a similar jealousy they did not suffer these holy men to rebuke them for their similarly unspeakable acts of wickedness or to oppose them in anything. By plotting against them through ruses and trickery, therefore, they forced them to abandon the monastic houses they had charge of and to seek out Italy (Ausonia). There, in the end, those who shared a single way of life (albeit for slightly different reasons), a single monastic observance (religio) and a single flight from the plots of two women had a single rest from labour and a single burial place, so that the one [Columbanus] was confirmed to be a holy confessor of Christ through his virtues, and the other [Wala], as his [Columbanus’] servant, was supported by his merits, recommended by his praise and aided by his prayers. Nor do I  think it happened without God’s providence that those who put themselves in the way of danger for fidelity (fides), for zeal for God, for religious life (religio), for the equity of justice and striving towards virtue, reached the end of their struggle in one and the same place. And thus there should be no doubt that the outstanding father, who in a similar fashion was driven from his monastery and banished from his fatherland and the

223 … spe consolatus suae vocationis. Vocatio also means religious calling, which resonates here, but given the context it must refer to Wala’s having been called to death. 224 Cf. Eccesiastes 4:12: ‘And if a man prevail against one, two shall withstand him. A threefold cord is not easily broken. (Et si quispiam praevaluerit contra unum, duo resistunt ei. Funiculus triplex difficile rumpitur.) 225 On 31 August 836. 226 Brunhild and Judith; see Nelson, ‘Queens as Jezebels’. 215

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office of abbot, rests honourably227 together with the holy confessor of God in eternal quietude, so that those who had endured the same trials might be comforted by the same consolation of eternal rest from the nature of their merits, and so that a proportionate share of justice might adorn them both in heaven. [p. 95] Hence, in light of such a great hope it behoves us to console one another rather than to grieve. For not only has our trust in his blessedness soothed the sadness of such great grief, but time has blotted it out and reason has vanquished it, and indeed wisdom had already softened the blow.228 And though we were justified in our lament when we bewailed the various attacks on him, enumerated the manifold tribulations [he endured] and expounded upon his misfortunes, hereafter it is fitting for us to rejoice for his sake, to be revived by joy in place of mourning, to be restored by the gladness of good hope instead of grief, and to be clothed inwardly with exultation instead of sadness, because we know for a certainty that the excellent father outlived his body.229 For though he was absent from us when he died, still he is always present, because he lives blessedly230 in Him who is everywhere. For having cast off the shackles of its own senses, his unencumbered soul now perceives with a free gaze what before, located in the body, it could not see. For if in sleep the soul elevates itself to higher things while still buried (as it were) in the body, and often announces to the body visions of absent or even heavenly things,231 how much more is this the case when it has been released from the afflictions of the world232 and lives entirely in 2 27 Togatus: literally ‘toga-​clad’, but by extension a respectable person. 228 … quia maestitiam tanti luctus non solum fidutia beatitudinis eius lenivit, verum tempus oblitteravit et ratio devicit, necnon et prudentia iam olim mitigavit. Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 2.8, p. 255: Cur enim maestitiam tuam non ratio potius quam dies leniat? Nam quod oblitteratura est temporis series, melius prudentia mitigabit. (‘Why should it not be reflection, rather than time, that softens your grief ? For what the passage of time will blot out, wisdom will do more to assuage.’) Here, as elsewhere, there is a reference to the time frame of the Epitaphium; the years have dulled the worst grief. 229 Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 2.21, pp. 260–​1: Scimus tamen quod corpori supervivat. 230 The MS reads beatae, an error of transcription for beate. 231 Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 2.21, p. 261: et ea iam depositis proprii sensus repagulis expedita libero cernat obtutu, quae ante sita in corpore non videbat –​quod exemplo dormientium possumus aestimare, quorum animi velut sepulto quieti corpore ad altiora se subrigunt et renuntiant corpori –​rerum absentium vel etiam caelestium visiones. 232 Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 2.21: Ergo si mors carnis et saeculi nos absolvit aerumnis. 216

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the Lord, who lives everywhere, and fulfils and governs everything everywhere. For our father did not journey far away to a different place but rather to Him for whom and in whom he lived, who is everywhere in himself and lives everywhere. For it was for this reason that he died every day with the Apostle,233 so that he might live more perfectly for God, because, as the philosophers say,234 the life of a wise man is a meditation on death. Yet he meditated in order to arrive at what is perfect, when its appearance would be revealed and the eternal vision would appear manifest to the beholder, not in part, or enigmatically or in shadow, but in truth, just as it is, which could not happen in this life, because, according to the Apostle, in the present life ‘we know in part and we prophesy in part’.235 When something arrives among us that is perfect in this life it will be rendered void because it is incomplete, but at that time what is now [only] incomplete will be complete.236 For no one would hasten to the end trusting faithfully in the Lord unless he were escaping the misfortunes of this life, about which David laments, saying to the Lord: ‘Behold, thou hast made my days old in your sight, and my substance is as nothing before thee. And indeed all things are vanity, every man living.’237 And therefore, brothers, after he learned this, after he came to know it, he never demurred from fleeing his own will, and he did not want to be vainly caught up in this world or to put his hope in the uncertainty of riches, but he trusted in the living God, whom he reached. And thus when he tasted the death of the body, he found life, because he had not incurred the earlier death of the soul. 233 1 Corinthians 15:31: ‘I die daily, I protest by your glory, brethren, which I have in Christ Jesus, our Lord’ (Cotidie morior per vestram gloriam, fratres, quam habeo in Christo Iesu Domino nostro). 234 Cf. Jerome, Ep. 60.14, p.  566:  Platonis sententia est omnem sapienti vitam meditationem esse mortis. Laudant hoc philosophi et in caelum ferunt, sed multo fortius apostolus:  ‘cotidie’, inquit, ‘morior per vestram gloriam’. (‘Plato thinks that a wise man’s whole life ought to be a meditation of death; and philosophers praise the sentiment and extol it to the skies. But much more full of power are the words of the Apostle: “I die daily through your glory”.’) Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 2.35, p.  268:  ‘Cottidie morior,’ apostolus dicit, melius quam illi, qui meditationem mortis philosophiam esse dixerunt. 235 1 Corinthians 13:9: Ex parte enim cognoscimus et ex parte prophetamus. Radbert has written scimus for cognoscimus. 236 Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 2.32, p. 266. 237 Psalms 38:6. Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 2.33, pp. 266–​7: Nemo tamen festinaret ad finem, nisi vitae istius fugeret incommoditatem, et ideo etiam David, quare ad finem festinet, exposuit dicens:  ‘Ecce veteres posuisti dies meos et habitudo mea tamquam nihil ante te, verumtamen universa vanitas omnis homo vivens.’ 217

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For death is said to be threefold in nature:238 one is when we die to sin and live in God, another when we sin unto death, of which it is said, ‘the soul that has sinned, this same shall die’,239 and the third is the departure from this life, by which even Christ has died. And whoever has tasted this life will die, so that he may sin no more.240 Hence the one is called spiritual, the second natural, and the third also penal.241 But the death that is now called natural, [p. 96] although to many it seems penal, God has not given as a punishment, as those will have it who have written books about the good of death, but they say it was given as a remedy. For Adam was prescribed one thing as a punishment, and another as a remedy. It is as a punishment when it is said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife more than to me, and have eaten of what I ordered you not to eat, cursed is the earth in your work’,242 and so on, ‘until you return to the earth from which you were taken’.243 Behold the kinds of punishments when he was cursed, and thorns and thistles sprouted from his work. These thorns and thistles choke the word of life, and they also generate cares and worries by which the food is destroyed and shut out (excluditur) that comes from heaven, where

238 Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 2.36, pp. 268–9:  secundum scripturas autem triplicem esse mortem accipmus, unam, cum morimur peccato, deo vivimus:  beata igitur mors, quae culpae refuga, domino dedita a mortali nos separat, inmortali nos consecrat. Alia mors est vitae huius excessus, qua mortuus est patriarcha Abraham, patriarcha David, et sepulti sunt cum patribus suis, cum anima nexu corporis liberatur. Tertia mors est, de qua dictum est: ‘Dimitte mortuos sepelire mortuos suos.’ Ea morte non solum caro, sed etiam anima moritur: ‘Anima enim, quae peccat, ipsa morietur.’ 239 Ambrose, De excessu 2.36, pp. 268–​9. The passage derives ultimately from Ezekiel 18:4: ‘Behold all souls are mine: as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul that sinneth, the same shall die.’ (Ecce omnes animae meae sunt; ut anima patris ita et anima filii mea est; anima quae peccaverit, ipsa morietur.) The same passage is cited by Ambrose at De bono mortis c. 2. 240 Cf. Romans 6:6:  ‘knowing this:  that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed and that we may serve sin no longer’ (hoc scientes: quia vetus homo noster simul crucifixus est, ut destruatur corpus peccati, ut ultra non serviamus peccato). 241 The whole section that begins here and ends with the quote from Genesis 3 is borrowed, with minor changes, from Ambrose, De excessu 2.37, p. 269: Una ergo est mors spiritalis, alia naturalis, tertia poenalis. Sed , quae naturalis, eadem poenalis; non enim pro poena dominus, sed pro remedio dedit mortem. Denique Adae peccanti praescriptum est aliud pro poena, aliud pro remedio, pro poena cum dicitur:  ‘Quoniam audisti…donec revertaris in terram, ex qua adsumptus te.’ 242 Genesis 3:17, with some minor changes. 243 Genesis 3:19.

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every man lives who lives in God, and death is brought in (includitur),244 by virtue of which the soul lives as a punishment. Hence this death has been given by the merciful Lord by way of a remedy, as an end to evils. For this reason, it is not said to Adam, ‘because you have listened to the voice of your wife, you will return to the earth’. For if he had spoken these words, it would have been a sentence of punishment, in the way that this one is: ‘cursed is the earth in your work’, and so on.245 Thus, you have sin that is the death of the soul, and you also have the punishment that is rightly called true death, and you have the death which is rather the end of our punishments and a remedy, by which the course of this life is broken off in an instant. That death, therefore, by which Abraham died, by which Our Father also died, by which we all die not only is not bad, but is actually good.246 And for this reason the blessed Ambrose also brought forth an exceedingly useful book on the goodness of death.247 If, therefore, on the occasion of the death of so great a father we lament various sources of grief and his many sufferings, let us rejoice with him that for him ‘to live was Christ, and to die, gain’.248 Let us also die together with him so that we may live with him in Christ,249 and let us learn through daily practice to die to the world so that we may be separated from the flesh and live in thought (meditatione), as though in heaven. In the meantime, let us assume the likeness of death, lest the punishment of death overtake us,250 so that through the good of death we may attain eternal life, in which there will be no more death or sorrow. And let us die by the death of the just, so that we may live among them; let us also die by the death of so great a father, because he –​we believe –​already lives in a blessed state, so that we, too, may live together with him, as he himself always 2 44 The excluditur/​includitur opposition is taken from Ambrose, De excessu 2.38. 245 This section is borrowed with minor changes from Ambrose, De excessu 2.38. 246 Ambrose, De excessu 2.39, p.  270:  Ergo mors non solum malum non est, sed etiam bonum est. 247 The De bono mortis. 248 Cf. Philippians 1:21: Mihi enim vivere Christus est, et mori lucrum. 249 Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 2.40, p.  270:  Et ideo commoriamur cum eo, ut vivamus cum eo. 250 Cf. Ambrose, De excessu 2.40, p. 270: Sit quidam cottidianus in nobis usus adfectusque moriendi, ut per illam, quam diximus, segregationem a corporeis cupiditatibus anima nostra se discat extrahere et tamquam in sublimi locata…suscipiat mortis imaginem, ne poenam mortis incurrat.

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prayed and taught.251 Let us offer in ourselves the vows (vota) of this same father, because he vowed us to God and offered us like a sacrifice (hostia),252 especially our brothers whom he dedicated to the Lord like a new offering for sacrifice –​and not only those whom he himself educated and gathered together, but also those, whoever they are, who will be there in the future to receive the same instruction, which he himself dedicated to the Lord who not only lived for himself and for God, but lived for all of us to serve as an example and instruction, so that he might teach us to live for God. And in this way we have profited by the life of one for whom, with the Apostle, ‘to die was gain’. Hence as supplicants we beseech Christ, who offers the vows of the saints to God the father, to confer his gifts in us for the increase of his [Wala’s] merits, since these [gifts] are offered in abundance to God the father on his behalf for the increase of his reward, so that both our offering and his offering in us may be accepted through Christ as an eternal sacrifice, so that those whose monastic life (professio) was one through the sacrament of sacred confession may also be one in sharing the joy of their eternal reward. Chapter 24 That he himself [Wala] was carried by angelic hands to the joys of eternal life [p. 97] we know full well from the information of the venerable Queen Ermengard.253 She often said, in a spirit of pious recollection,254 that at the death of the great man and in the hour of his demise she had sent word to the various monasteries of Italy that they should each commend the soul of the blessed man to God in their prayers. 251 Moriamur autem morte iustorum, ut cum illis vivamus, moriamur et morte tanti patris, quia ipse, ut credimus, iam beate vivit, ut cum eo et nos vivere valeamus, quod ipse semper oravit et docuit. The clause ut … valeamus is probably a consecutive clause dependent on vivit rather than a final clause dependent on moriamur. 252 Votum here has the combined meanings of vow, supplication and prayer. On the terminology of gifts, vows, holocausts and sacrifices in the context of child oblation, see De Jong, In Samuel’s Image, pp. 164–​70, 282–​9. Hostia is both a sacrifice/​victim and the eucharistic sacrifice. 253 Ermengard, daughter of Count Hugh of Tours, empress and first wife of Lothar I, and mother of the future kings Louis II and Lothar II. 254 Mabillon (p.  521) interpreted these words as an indication that Book 2 was written after the death of Ermengard (20 March 851), a theory that Dümmler (p. 11) accepted with some reservations. However, the imperfect tense verbs aiebat and referebat and the epithets piae recordationis and venerabilis do not presuppose Ermengard’s death. On this point, see Ganz, ‘Epitaphum Arsenii ’, p. 539. 220

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Amongst which she also sent word to her own most excellent convent (monasterium), which was dedicated to the Lord within the walls of the city of Brescia,255 about forty miles from Pavia, in which a multitude of nuns serve God, instructing them in a similar fashion, and entreating them resolutely to commend the blessed soul of the man of God to the divine Christ256 in their prayers. When the envoys who had been sent had reached this city, they found these same handmaidens of Christ reflecting on the death of the aforesaid man and, prescient of the hour and time of his demise, talking among themselves. And then, after scrutinising the sacred letter that the queen had sent, they found that everything about him had already been revealed by those angels. For among them there were two most sacred virgins who had predicted all of these things to them, as they testified, because they had heard angelic choirs carrying the soul of the blessed man to heaven, as if it were in this very same convent. For his funeral procession they sang, among others, the hymn Te Deum laudamus, te Dominum confitemur, with alternating voices,257 according to the customary rite, and by singing (symphonizando) they commended the obsequies of the blessed man to the merciful Lord. After these two had listened to these hymns of praise for some time, they finally called together all the others so that they could hear the same thing, but it was granted to none of them but these two alone, so that they might be witnesses to the truth.258 Having spoken to one another (as I have said) and read the sacred letter that the aforementioned couriers had brought, the nuns discovered that he had died at the same hour and on the same day on which the angels 255 The convent of St Julia/​St Salvator, founded by the Lombard queen Ansa, and given in 848 by Lothar to his wife, and after her death to their daughter Gisla; MGH Diplomata Lotharii I no. 101, pp. 240–​2 and no. 115, pp. 265–​6; see Becher, ‘Frauenkloster’, pp.  299–​392. The Liber memorialis of this community confirms that the nuns remembered Wala in their prayer: see Geuenich and Ludwig (eds), Der Memorial-​und Liturgiecodex, pp. 8–​9, ff. 28v (Uuala abbas) and 34r (Uuala). We are grateful to Rosamond McKitterick for reminding us of this. 256 Christo deo. 257 The Te Deum was one of the earliest and most famous Latin hymns. Its authorship was traditionally attributed to Ambrose, but more recently Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana, has been brought forward as a candidate. Ernst Kähler, in Studien zum Te Deum, traces it to an Easter vigil service. 258 The reported story is similar to a miracle found in Jonas of Bobbio’s Life of Columbanus in which two young girls at the abbey of Faremoutiers, ‘whose innocence rendered them without stain’, are able to observe a ball of fire coming out of the mouth of one of the sisters while she is singing, a miracle that remained hidden from the others. See Vita Columbani 2.16, pp. 135–​6. 221

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had taken him off with their songs of praise. Whence it is agreed to be true what scripture says:  ‘Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been proven, he shall receive the crown of life.’259 And in order that all these things might be made public, it was reported to the queen in a completely true account that only these two had heard such things and others that surpass description. But perhaps in response to this some unbelieving backbiter will say that a man subject to such great tribulations and disturbed by afflictions of such magnitude did not deserve all of this, when in fact Christ, the very judge who subjected and made trial of him, rewarded the man who was tested (as we believe), just as he promised in the Gospel when he said, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of the Lord.’260 [At this point (f. 111r) the manuscript shows signs of having been severely damaged and many of the words are no longer legible].261 Therefore, make out the things that I  say to be false, although they are true … what I say is recounted again. Therefore, it is for [God’s] very own and the righteous … to have gained from God the reward of eternal life, because on his account [p. 98] the saying from the Gospel about eternal life: ‘Friend, I do thee no wrong. I grant it for free. Did you not agree with me for a penny?’262 ‘Or is it not lawful for me to do what I want because I give no recompense to anyone unless it is for nothing. Or is your eye evil because I am good?’263 What I give for

2 59 James 1:12. 260 Matthew 25:21. 261 Only a little of the text has been lost, as David Ganz pointed out in an email conversation of 2011: ‘It now has 111 folia; 14 regular quires of 8 leaves would make a volume of 112 folia.’ 262 Matthew 20:13: Amice, non facio tibi iniuriam. Nonne ex denario convenisti mecum? Matthew 20 tells the parable of the workers in the vineyard: at various hours of the day a householder hires labourers to work in his vineyard, but all receive the same daily wage (a penny, or denarius), no matter how early or late they began to work. If the parable is meant to have specific relevance to Wala, then it may allude to the fact that his conversion to the religious life came comparatively late. 263 Matthew 20:15: Aut non licet mihi quod volo facere? An oculus tuus nequam est quia ego bonus sum? The reference here is to the envious critics of Wala who resent the gift of grace that he has been given. 222

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nothing for nobody except he by God < because of grace, not> [because of his] works. I ask you, therefore, brother, let us give thanks to God, who granted him these things, and who promised himself to us, so that we may greatly rejoice … that he granted such things to him.

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236

INDEX Aachen 1, 18 see also assembly/​synod; palace, royal/imperial Abel 139 Abraham 219 Acts of St Sebastian 51n.12, 60n.55 Adalhard see Antonius Adalhard II (the Younger) 107 Adeodatus 10 adultery 49, 22, 166, 171–​3, 176, 178, 182 Aelius Donatus 32–​3 Agobard, archbishop of Lyons 22 Allabigus 5, 35, 83–​6, 124 Ambrose, bishop of Milan 11, 83 De bono mortis 218–​19 De Cain et Abel 51n.16 De excessu fratris Satyri 8, 30–​1, 56n.35–​6, 72n.108–​9, 73–​4, 86n.161, 87n.162, 103–​12, 117–​18, 212, 216–​18 De obitu Valentiniani 30, 72n.103 Antonius (Adalhard) and Arsenius (Wala) 79–​80, 102–​7 death 100 exile 107, 185 monk and abbot of Corbie and Corvey 15–​18, 113–​16 see also Corvey, foundation; Radbert of Corvie, Vita Adalhardi Apostolic See 143, 145, 178, 188, 199 Arsenius (Wala) 19 abbot of Bobbio 24, 37, 210–​11 accused of infidelity 15, 65–​6, 163, 174, 178 and Antonius (Adalhard) 103–​6, 113–​17, 120–​3

at Charlemagne’s court 36, 60–​2, 76–​8 death 2, 25, 212–​16, 220–​1 family connections 17–​18, 76–​7 and gifts 143–​5 and Italy 20, 24, 122, 136–​43, 144 as Jeremiah 61, 63–​4, 126, 152–​3, 160 and Lothar I 210 and Louis the Pious 154–​5, 166–​7, 210 monk and abbot of Corbie 69–​71, 80, 93–​101, 127–​35 praise of 64, 85, 89, 93–​5, 100, 106, 108, 120, 126–​7, 130–​2, 136, 142, 179, 181, 187, 215 and Saxony 79–​80, 103, 106, 114–​15 virtues 80–​3, 89–​92, 117, 124–​7, 132, 135–​6, 163, 178–​9, 181, 183, 185–​7, 190, 215 see also exile Arsenius, courtier of Theodosius and desert monk 19 assembly/​synod 114, 201 Aachen (828/​9) 150, 152–​62 Aachen (831) 21–​2 Compiègne (830) 173–​5 Compiègne (833) 208 Meaux-​Paris (845)  26 Nijmegen (830) 21 Paris (829) 159 Paris (846/​7)  26 Thionville (836) 25 Worms (829) 150 Astronomer, Vita Hludowici 18, 23, 25, 87n.163

INDEX

Augustine of Hippo 34–​5 Confessiones 49n.5 De animae quantitate 89n.168–​71 De doctrina christiana 43n.161, 81n.144, 116n.287 De magistro 49n.5 Sermones 92n.183 Ausonia (Italy) 139, 143 Ausonius 88n.167, 90n.178

Job 12:6, 13–​25, 208 Job 29:11–​14, 16, 21, 24, 135–​6n.373 Job 38:11 184n.104 Psalms 1:2 203n.175 Psalms 1:5 71n.100 Psalms 7:10 139n.396 Psalms 13:3 73n.110 Psalms 16:4 92n.188 Psalms 37:20 66n.83 Psalms 38:6 217n.237 Psalms 43:16 209n.199 Psalms 58:11 167n.53 Psalms 61:11 120n.305 Psalms 83:6 91n.181 Psalms 83:8 91n.182, 92n.184 Psalms 83:11 213n.218 Psalms 92:3 184.n.103 Psalms 92:4 184n.101 Psalms 101:6 124n.372 Psalms 106:27 162n.45 Psalms 106:40 156n.36 Psalms 110:10 133n.366 Psalms 117:16 204n.179 Psalms 117:25 115n.283 Psalms 118:82 96n.207 Psalms 125:6 187n.119 Proverbs 7:22 169n.58 Proverbs 8:34 97n.213 Proverbs 17:3 77n.127 Proverbs 25:28 152n.19 Proverbs 27:17 59n.49 Proverbs 27:21 99n.220 Proverbs 9:17 155n.35 Ecclesiastes 2:24–​5 130n.357 Ecclesiastes 3:22 130n.357 Ecclesiastes 12:11 70n.95, 128n.348 Wisdom 3:5–​6 77n.127 Wisdom 3:6 99n.220 Wisdom 4:11 101n.225 Wisdom 5:15 52n.18 Wisdom 6:9 153n.25 Ecclesiasticus 2:5 77n.128

Balthild, queen 14 Benedict III, pope 32 Benedict of Nursia 55 Rule of 18, 77n.127, 97n.210, 99n.220, 123n.325, 127n.345, 128n.346, 129n.350–​2, 135n.372, 190n.132 Bernard, father of Wala and Adhalhard 17 Bernard of Septimania 21–​3 as Naso 11, 163, 165–​7, 193–​5 Bernarius, brother of Wala 17–​18 Bible, references Genesis 3:17 218n.242 Genesis 3:19 218n.243 Genesis 4:10 139n.394 Genesis 28:11, 28:18 116n.289 Exodus 16:15 204n.178 Exodus 18:21–​5 153n.24 Exodus 32:31–​3 196.143 Numbers 22:31 164n.50 Deuteronomy 1:11–​15 153n.24 Deuteronomy 28:13 100n.223 1 Samuel 24 132n.362 2 Samuel 6:22 77n.131 1 Kings 2:10 73n.110 1 Kings 17–​21 191n.137 2 Kings 2:9–​11 86n.158 2 Kings 2:23 84n.153 2 Chronicles 24:20–​1 191n.138 Tobias 5:23 109.n.259 2 Maccabees 15:14 64n.77 238

INDEX

Ecclesiasticus 5:11 196n.151 Ecclesiasticus 19:17 119n.302 Ecclesiasticus 19:18 183n.100 Ecclesiasticus 27:6 77n.127 Ecclesiasticus 35:18–​19 140n.398 Ecclesiasticus 50:8, 50:13 118n.299 Isaiah 1:23 137n.386, 138n.391, 140n.397, 141n.400, 141n.402 Isaiah 5:8 121n.314 Isaiah 19:2–​3 87n.164 Isaiah 19:28 209n.199 Isaiah 28:19 150n.11 Isaiah 35:10 117n.295 Isaiah 40:4 200n.164 Isaiah 48:9 128n.347 Isaiah 51:11 117n.295 Isaiah 56:11 137n.385 Isaiah 58:9–​10 121n.313 Isaiah 59:14 141n.401 Isaiah 59:15 141n.403 Isaiah 61:10 112n.276 Jeremiah 2:23 161n.44 Jeremiah 5:31 137n.388 Jeremiah 9:1, 9:18 63n.65 Jeremiah 9:15 54n.28 Jeremiah 11:14 64n.76 Jeremiah 15:10 52n.22, 61n.59 Jeremiah 18:18 63n.67 Jeremiah 20:2 195n.147 Jeremiah 37–​8  64n.74 Jeremiah 38:6 191n.140 Jeremiah 46:17 53n.24 Lamentations 1:2 63n.71 Lamentations 1:16 63n.66 Lamentations 2:11 63n.70 Lamentations 3:27 94n.194 Ezekiel 3:8 133n.365, 153n.27 Ezekiel 18:4 218n.239 Ezekiel 18:5 214n.221 Ezekiel 18:7 214n.221 Ezekiel 34:21 196n.151 Ezekiel 37:1 170n.61 Ezekiel 40:2 112n.271, 119n.304

Matthew 5:3–​8 120n.307 Matthew 5:10 178n.92 Matthew 5:36 85n.154 Matthew 7:7 97n.210 Matthew 7:7–​8 96n.204 Matthew 10:40 203n.173 Matthew 12:25 179n.94 Matthew 14:6–​11  66n.84 Matthew 16:19 157n.39 Matthew 18:16 148n.4 Matthew 18:20 148n.4 Matthew 19:29 123n.326 Matthew 20:13 222n.262 Matthew 20:15 222n.263 Matthew 22:1–​8 214n.219 Matthew 23:25 191n.138 Matthew 25:21 222n.260 Matthew 25:25 211n.209 Matthew 25:26–​7 132n.363–​4 Matthew 28:17 82n.148 Mark 6:17–​29 195n.111 Mark 8:32 95n.199 Mark 9:5 95n.199 Mark 6:17–​29 195n.111 Luke 1:6 206n.184 Luke 6:40 109n.260 Luke 10:6 202n.172 Luke 10:16 203n.173 Luke 10:38–​42 96n.203 Luke 10:40 96n.201 Luke 10:42 97n.208 Luke 11:9 97n.210 Luke 11:9–​10 96n.204 Luke 11:17 206n.185 Luke 11:49–​51 191n.138 Luke 15:20 131n.360 Luke 15:22 161n.361 Luke 18:6 136n.383 Luke 24: 36–​44, 82n.148 John 1:9 151n.18 John 11:25 102n.226, 228 John 11:26 52n.19 John 14:27 202n.171 239

INDEX

Bible, references (cont.) Acts 4:32 122n.319 Acts 14:16 144n.419 Acts 15:17, 15:22 195n.19 Romans 1:6 214n.220 Romans 5:12 212n.214 Romans 6:6 218n.240 Romans 8:14 62n.64 Romans 8:28 92n.187 Romans 8:29 134n.368, 135n.371 Romans 9:3 193n.144 Romans 12:2 135n.370 Romans 13:8 66n.86 1 Corinthians 6:2 71n.100 1 Corinthians 6:10 155n.34 1 Corinthians 9:22 134n.369 1 Corinthians 12:6 75n.123 1 Corinthians 13:8 95n.198 1 Corinthians 13:9 217n.235 1 Corinthians 14:22 151n.17 1 Corinthians 15:31 217n.233 2 Corinthians 2:15 182n.99 2 Corinthians 4:18 99n.218 2 Corinthians 5:10 71n.100 2 Corinthians 11:2 116n.290 2 Corinthians 12:9 162n.47 2 Corinthians 13:1 148n.4 Galatians 5:6 66n.82, 102n.227 Ephesians 1:5 133n.367 Ephesians 6:1 197n.153 Ephesians 6:4 197n.154 Philippians 1:21 219n.248 Philippians 2:21 205n.183 Colossians 4:6 129n.351 1 Timothy 4:8 55n.32 2 Timothy 2:4 156n.37 2 Timothy 3:1 82n.147 2 Timothy 2:4 156n.37 Hebrews 4:16 140n.399 Hebrews 11:37 191n.139 1 John 4:16 92n.183 Revelation 4:3 91n.180 Revelation 8:8 53n.26 Revelation 8:10 53n.27

Revelation 8:11 54n.28 bishops 83, 137, 140, 153, 156–​9, 161, 165, 167, 172, 176, 186, 195, 204, 208–​9 see also prelates (praesules) Bobbio see Arsenius (Wala) Boethius, De consolatione Philosophiae 37, 49n.2 Brescia 33 Brunhild, queen 24 caritas (charity, love) 52, 65, 69, 70, 92, 95–​6, 103–​5, 108–​9, 122–​3, 126, 128, 131, 134–​5, 152, 160–​2, 167, 192, 205, 213 Cassiodorus 40 Charles, son of Pippin I of Aquitaine 27 Charles the Bald 2, 4, 12, 23, 26, 150, 159 Chlotar III, son of Balthild 14 Chrysippus 54 Church see ecclesia (‘the Church’) Cicero De inventione 37, 40, 49n.2, 50n.8, 57n.39 De oratore 29 Tusculan disputations 29 see also Zeuxis cives (citizens) 43, 122, 161, 162, 164, 182, 206 Cologne 87 Columbanus 24, 210–​11, 215 conscience (conscientia) 54, 57, 65, 70, 84–​5, 132, 140, 144, 149, 176–​7, 183, 187 consolatio 30, 42, 72–​6, 212–​13, 216–​20 see also epitaphium corruption 136–​45 see also Arsenius (Wala), and Italy counsellors, royal/​imperial 1, 17, 43, 45, 78, 159–​61, 163, 166, 172, 190, 205, 209 see also senatores 240

INDEX

Corbie privileges 14, 20, 26–​8 property 108, 120–​2 Corvey 13, 25, 100, 123 foundation 79, 107–​14, 119–​22 see also Warin Cremes 5, 10, 75, 83–​6, 136–​42, 148

and silence 42–​3, 56, 65, 68, 72, 81, 90, 94, 98, 101, 127, 135–​6, 147, 161, 162, 177 and truth-​telling 12, 41–​3, 55–​7, 101, 149 vocabulary, political 15, 43–​5 Ermengard, empress, wife of Lothar I 220–​1 Eugenius II, pope 20, 143 exile 2–​3, 13, 17–​18, 22–​3, 25, 36, 49, 87, 107, 131, 176–​82, 186–​7, 192–​3, 201 Ezekiel 112, 119

David 77, 82, 124, 132, 184, 217 devil 66, 133, 140, 158, 167, 169, 172, 185 Dhuoda, Liber manualis 15–​16 dialogue 4–​5, 38–​9, 42 Dümmler, Ernst 35

fabula 57, 90 fatherland (patria) 61–​2, 115, 123, 160–​4, 167, 168, 170, 174, 176, 178–​80, 182, 186, 197, 206, 215 fideles (faithful men) 43, 157, 180, 190, 198, 207 fides (faith, fidelity, loyalty) 15, 44, 65–​6, 85, 160–​1, 163–​4, 167, 169, 174–​6, 180–​3, 191, 198, 201, 211, 215 see also Arsenius (Wala), accused of infidelity; oaths Field of Lies 23–​4, 45 Fontenoy, battle of (841) 45 Fortuniatinus 40

ecclesia (‘the Church’) 83, 124, 152–​3, 159–​60, 165, 179, 203 ecclesiae (‘churches’ = religious communities) 120, 123, 150, 153–​62, 164, 167–​8, 178–​80, 189, 192–​3, 195–​6, 199, 207 property 14, 44, 119, 121–​2, 154–​8, 176, 179 Egypt 87–​8 Eigil, abbot of Prüm 29 Elijah 86, 191 Elisha 84, 86, 191 eloquence 33, 41, 54, 61, 85, 94, 161 empire see imperium epitaphium lamentation 42, 56, 72–​6, 148, 151, 167–​8, 202–​3, 212–​13 monument, funeral 53, 56, 212 oration, funeral 4, 8, 30, 147, 212–​13, 216–​20 Epitaphium Arsenii audience 12–​15 first and second book 5–​9, 13–​14 and publicity 85, 93, 97, 165, 171, 179, 183, 187, 189, 222 rhetoric and style 35–​42, 55

Ganz, David 36 Gaul 83, 120, 137, 143, 145, 186 Germania 186 Gratian (Louis the German) 170–​1, 187 Gregory IV, pope 23–​4, 28, 195–​6, 188–​9, 200, 204 Gregory the Great Dialogi 19, 71n.100 Moralia in Iob 75n.21, 117n.293, 119n.302, 135n.373, 137n.388 Regula pastoralis 37, 50n.9 Gundrada, courtier, sister of Wala 17–​18 241

INDEX

Heddo, abbot of Corbie 26 Hilary of Poitiers 83 Hildemar of Corbie/​Civate 33 Hilduin, abbot of St Denis and archchaplain 21–​2 honor(es) (benefice, honour, office) 78, 102, 116, 119–​20, 124, 154, 160, 169, 177–​9, 183, 188, 192, 198, 201, 205, 211–​12 Honorius, emperor 11 Honorius (Lothar I) 11 as augustus/​caesar 136, 189, 214 co-​emperor (consors) 1, 20–​1, 181, 175–​6, 199, 204–​7 criticism of 206–​7 rebellion of 830 21–​4, 175–​6 rebellion of 833 21–​4, 199–​201, 204–​7 Horace 88–​9 Hraban Maur 21 imperium (imperial rule, empire) 44, 149, 152, 162–​3, 165–​7, 169–​72, 175–​80, 182, 188–​90, 192, 204–​9 unity of 179, 182, 188, 206 see also regnum Isaac, abbot of Corbie 26 Isidore of Seville 40, 57n.37, 57n.39, 148n.4 Jeremiah 13, 41, 43, 55, 61, 63–​4, 126, 151–​2, 160, 168 Jerome 4, 30, 35, 42 Epistolae 54n.29, 56n.36, 75n.121, 101n.225, 214n.33 In Hieremiam 59n.46 Vita Pauli 93n.189 Job 24, 135, 208, 210 John the Baptist 184–​5, 191 Joseph 78 Judith, empress see Justina

justice 9, 65, 68, 77–​8, 83–​4, 89, 104, 120, 136–​42, 145, 161, 163, 167–​8, 175, 177–​9, 181–​3, 189, 191, 196–​7, 200–​1, 215–​16 Justina (Judith) 11, 21–​3, 172–​5, 181, 183, 185, 194–​6, 204 Justinian see Louis the Pious Kempshall, Matthew 41 laymen (saeculares, laici) 131, 156–​8 Livy 29 Lothar I, emperor see Honorius Louis the Pious as augustus/​caesar 43, 65, 154, 157, 159, 170, 189, 200, 204–​7 criticism of 172–​3, 175–​6, 180, 196–​203, 206 as Justinian 11, 175 and rebellion of 830 21–​4, 168–​74 and rebellion of 833 21–​4, 180, 194–​210 as Theodosius 11 see also penance Louis the German see Gratian Lupus, abbot of Ferrières 32 Mabillon, Jean 5, 39 manuscripts BAV lat. 3864 70n.97 BAV lat. 3868 31 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 14440 33n.112 Paris BnF lat. 7900 31 Paris BnF lat. 8051 68n.92 Paris BnF lat. 11529 68n.91 Paris BnF lat. 13909 5–​7, 49n.1, 222n.261 Martial 29 Melanius 170–​1, 185 242

INDEX

monarchia 44, 175, 178, 194, 204 Moses 29, 193 Naso see Bernard of Septimania Nithard, Histories 15–​16 Noirmoutier 16–​17, 181, 183 Nôtre-​Dame of Soissons, nunnery of 18–​19, 29 oaths 21–​2, 57, 58, 66, 142, 175–​9, 189, 193, 195, 198, 203, 210 Odilman see Severus Odo, abbot of Corbie, bishop of Beauvais 27 Ovid 11, 163n.48 Ars amatoria 90n.176–​7 Heroides 90n.174 palace, royal/​imperial 1, 20, 22–​3, 56, 76–​9, 100 chaplains of (capellani) 160 pollution of 164–​6, 171–​2 sacred 22, 172, 178 see also Aachen; sorcery Parmenus 142 parrhesia (frank speech) 12 Pascasius see Radbert of Corbie Paschal I, pope 20 Paul (apostle) 55, 66, 77, 92, 95, 134, 151, 155, 158, 182, 193, 217, 220 penance 2, 11, 22, 24, 120, 141, 157, 174, 208 Peter, apostle 95, 195, 199, 200, 202 Phasur (Phassur) 195 Pippin, king of Italy 17 Pippin of Aquitaine see Melanius Pippin II of Aquitaine 27 Pliny the Younger 29 Epistolae 70n.97–​8 Historia naturalis 54n.28 prelates (praesules) 173, 192–​3, 196 Priscian 34

Pseudo-​Isidore  28 public see Epitaphium Arsenii, and publicity; respublica; slander querela (judicial complaint) 197, 201 Radbert of Corbie 18–​21, 27–​9 Abbot of Corbie 12, 19, 26–​8 companion of Arsenius 15, 109, 111, 127, 176–​8, 194–​5, 204–​5 De benedictionibus patriarcharum 29 De corpore et sanguine 10n.21, 13n.29, 19n.50, 52n.21 De fide, spe et caritate 67n.86 Expositio in Lamentationes 10, 41n.153, 53n.25, 63n.70, 205n.182 Expositio in Mattheum 28–​9, 33n.111, 41n.152, 52n.17, 56n.34, 74n.118, 85n.157, 96n.206, 103n.232, 110n.261, 134n.368, 147n1, 191n.138–​9 Expositio in psalmum XLIV 29 Vita Adalhardi 20, 40–​1, 50n.8, 53n.25, 60n.52–​3, 61n.57, 62n.62, 74n.113, 76n.125, 78n.134, 89n.168, 92n.183, 100n.221, 107n.250, 114n.278, 120n.306, 121n.311, 184n.106 regnum (kingdom, realm) 44, 78, 105, 108, 138, 144–​5, 150–​1, 153, 157, 160–​1, 164, 166–​7, 169–​70, 173, 178–​9, 182, 186, 191–​2, 194, 196, 202–​3, 206 Renswoude, Irene van 12 respublica (commonwealth, state) 15, 43–​5, 61, 155, 161, 192, 203, 206–​7 Rhetorica ad Herennium 49, 49n. 2 Rudolf, abbot of St Riquier 28 saints 73, 92, 100, 151, 183, 190, 220 miracles 59–​60, 151–​2 243

INDEX

Saxony see Arsenius (Wala) Scipio 63 senatus (senate, royal council/​ assembly) 43, 60, 67, 159, 172, 176, 191, 201, 208 senatores (senators, counsellors, magnates) 43, 78, 139, 150, 159, 173, 191–​2 Seneca the Younger Apocolocyntosis 29, 55–​8 De beneficiis 54n.29 Epistulae morales 29 Severus (Odilman) 10, 43 slander 23, 65, 71, 139, 143, 146, 158, 168 Solomon 59, 70, 130, 142, 153, 169 sorcery 166, 169, 171–​2 Spain 163, 174 St Croix (Poitiers) 18, 21 St Riquier 28–​9 stabilitas/​status (stability) 76, 110, 153, 160, 163, 179, 182, 189, 206 Statius 29, 68n.92, 97n.211 Sulpicius Severus 5 Terence 31–​5, 67, 85 Adelphoe 51n.14, 65n.80, 129n.353–​5, 130n.356; 130n.359 Commentum Brunsianum 33 Commentum Monacense 33 Eunuchus 35, 85n.185, 124–​6, 130n.358 Heautontimorumenos 39n.138, 57n.39, 98n.214, 99n.217 Hecyra 37, 50n.11, 142n.404

Phormio 39n.138, 57n.39, 67n.90, 68n.91, 127n.342 Theodora, empress 11 Theodosius I, emperor 11 Theodrada, sister of Wala 17–​18 T(h)eofrastus 10, 24, 43 Thomas (apostle) 112 Translatio s. Viti 59n.47, 100n.222, 106n.245, 107n.247–​50, 111n.269, 114n.278, 115n.286, 122n.320, 123n.322 truth 9, 35, 41–​3, 54–​7, 65, 68, 83, 85–​6, 89, 97–​8, 102, 109, 113, 123, 126, 130–​1, 136, 140–​2, 144, 148–​51, 157, 161, 168, 176–​7, 195–​7, 203, 206, 221 Virgil 31, 49, 88–​9 Aeneid 42n.157, 49n.6, 73n.111, 87n.211, 117n.294, 205n.182, 212n.212 virtues see Arsenius (Wala) Vita Adalhardi see Radbert of Corbie Vita Paschasii 26 voluntas (will) 67, 71, 74–​6, 174 Wala see Arsenius (Wala) Warin, magister and abbot of Corvey 25, 123 William of Gellone, father of Bernard of Septimania 22 witnesses 42, 55, 59, 70, 137–​9, 142, 148, 183, 221 writing (authorial act of) 55, 86, 101, 145–​7, 150, 192 Zechariah 191 Zeuxis 37, 40, 50

244