• “And how, if you are a Christian, can you hate the emperor?” Reading a Seventh-Century Scandal in Carolingian Francia

    Author(s):
    Charles West (see profile)
    Date:
    2019
    Subject(s):
    Byzantine Empire, Carolingians
    Item Type:
    Book chapter
    Tag(s):
    Byzantium
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/nd7b-am88
    Abstract:
    A late ninth-century Latin manuscript, Paris BnF Lat. 5095, preserves the unique copy of Anastasius Bibliothecarius’s so-called ‘Collectanea’. This collection of texts documents the tribulations of Pope Martin and Maximus the Confessor, put on trial by Emperor Constans II in Constantinople in 655 in the course of the monothelite crisis. This chapter considers the juxtaposition of the criticisms of (Byzantine) imperial power presented by these texts, translated into Latin by Anastasius in Rome c. 874, and the treatment of Carolingian rulers that the Paris manuscript also presents, notably the letter to King Louis the German sent by West Frankish bishops in 858. Although the Paris manuscript has traditionally been associated with Bishop Dido of Laon, this article suggests that it should instead be associated with Hincmar of Laon. Hincmar had been deposed as bishop of Laon in 871 by his uncle acting in concert with King Charles the Bald; but he and his allies pressed the papacy for reinstatement, and achieved a qualified success in 878. The article proposes that the Paris manuscript be seen as part of Hincmar’s reinstatement campaign, blending Byzantine and Carolingian traditions of ruler critique to frame Charles the Bald’s involvement in his deposition as contrary to church tradition
    Notes:
    Submission version of book chapter
    Metadata:
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    Published as:
    Book chapter     Show details
    Book Title:
    Criticising the Ruler in pre-modern societies - possibilities, chances and methods
    Author/Editor:
    Karina Kellermann, Alheydis Plassmann and Christian Schwermann
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    4 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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