Search results
This book presents a new and accessible translation of a well-known yet enigmatic text: the ‘Epitaph for Arsenius’ by the monk and scholar Paschasius Radbertus (Radbert) of Corbie. This monastic dialogue, with the author in the role of narrator, plunges the reader directly into the turmoil of ninth-century religion and politics. ‘Arsenius’ was the nickname of Wala, a member of the Carolingian family who in the 830s became involved in the rebellions against Louis the Pious. Exiled from the court, Wala/Arsenius died Italy in 836. Casting both Wala and himself in the role of the prophet Jeremiah, Radbert chose the medium of the epitaph (funeral oration) to deliver a polemical attack, not just on Wala’s enemies, but also on his own.
. 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 so punctilious in this particular matter, when in his own behaviour he could be deemed excessively scrupulous 287 (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
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
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. 99 2
Adalhard, a pious, devout, and God-fearing man, and a relative of the blessed man Gebhard according to consanguinity of the flesh; he was not, however, from Swabia, but lived in a distant land. Many great estates in the pagus of Illergau – that is, near Aichstetten and Breitenbach, Rieden, Hausen, and Steinbach – fell into his rule through inheritance. Whenever this man came from his land and visited these estates (which he did very rarely), all of the inhabitants hastened to greet him with their little gifts, just as all serfs do for their lord. But because he was
his kingdom, once the external threats to it had been suppressed. In July, after the armies had been gathered together and formed up and were about to set out, 9 suddenly 10 the king was burdened with a great weight of troubles. For messengers came from the west, Abbot Adalhard and Count Odo, 11 asking him to comfort with his presence a people sore pressed and in peril. If he did not do this swiftly
This chapter contains the translated and annotated text of Regino of Prüm’s Chronicle.