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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.
The career, mental world and writings of Regino, abbot of Prüm, were all defined by the Carolingian empire and, more particularly, by its end. The high Ottonian period of the mid-tenth century also witnessed a revival of historiography, exemplified by the work of the two major authors who wrote about the rise of the dynasty. The first of these was Liutprand of Cremona, whose Antapodosis, a history of European politics from 888 until around 950, and Historia Ottonis, a focused account of events surrounding Otto's imperial coronation, were both written in the earlier 960s. The second was Adalbert, who most probably wrote his continuation to the Chronicle in 967/968. Regino's Chronicle, dedicated to Bishop Adalbero of Augsburg in the year 908, was the last work of its kind for several decades, and as such its author can be regarded as the last great historian of the Carolingian Empire. The Chronicle is divided into two books. The first, subtitled 'On the times of the Lord's incarnation', begins with the incarnation of Christ and proceeds as far as the death of Charles Martel in 741. The second 'On the deeds of the kings of the Franks' takes the story from the death of Charles Martel through to 906. The much shorter continuation by Adalbert of Magdeburg enjoys a place in the canon of works relating to the history of the earliest German Reich and consequently has received considerably more attention.
This book presents a translation of the Annals of Fulda (AF). By the ninth century annals were one of the major vehicles for historical writing within the Frankish empire. The AF are the principal narrative source written from a perspective east of the Rhine for the period in which the Carolingian Empire gave way to a number of successor kingdoms, including the one which was to become Germany. AF offer the major narrative account of the east Frankish kingdom from the death of Louis the Pious down to the end of the ninth century. The surviving manuscripts are only an echo of what must once have been a much more extensive transmission, to judge by the use made of AF by a number of later annalists and compilers. The brief description of the manuscript tradition must be amplified by looking at the content of the annals. For the years 714 to 830 the work is undoubtedly a compilation which draws on earlier annals, in particular on the Royal Frankish Annals and the Lorsch Frankish Chronicle, with occasional use of other smaller sets of annals and saints' lives. The account of the origins of AF was heavily criticised by Siegmund Hellmann in a number of articles written some fifteen years after the appearance of Friedrich Kurze's edition in 1891.
William) inhabited the same Carolingian world. They were of course atypical – but they are about as close as it is possible to get to lay religiosity in the Carolingian moment. CONCLUSION In 881 Vikings stabled their horses in Charlemagne’s church at Aachen and burned down the Aachen palace. The Carolingian Empire ended in 888, and the western branch of the old dynasty died with Louis V in 987. Aachen did not survive as a capital: what lingered was some symbolic allure in social memory which nourished a nostalgia for Charlemagne and his empire
objectives. We shall return to this below. It is useful, however, first to review in more detail both traditional and revisionist interpretations of this so-called movement in order to have a better understanding of its connection with eleventh-century reform as well as its repercussions for eleventh-century society. Traditionally, the ‘peace of God’ has been seen as something of a ‘war on war’, in other words, as a reaction to the disorder, whether real or perceived, that resulted from the disintegration of the Carolingian Empire during the later ninth and especially
Regino’s world and career The career, mental world and writings of Regino, abbot of Prüm (d.915), were all defined by the Carolingian empire and, more particularly, by its end. The Carolingians were the second great ruling dynasty of the Franks, one of the barbarian peoples which had taken up the reins of power in the Roman provinces at the end of the fifth century. Their
secular components and repercussions, and vice versa.2 In his efforts to further his reforms Charlemagne relied on networks based on trust, loyalty and values shared with his fideles. The two meanings of the word fides, ‘faith’ and ‘fidelity’, exemplify the interwovenness of politics and religion in the Carolingian empire. When it comes to assessing Monte Cassino’s position within Charlemagne’s network of renovatio, important clues are held by Theodemar’s epistolary guide to the world of Benedictine monastic discipline, including his lengthy discussion of fashion. But
landscape was complicated by the interests of a powerful monastic institution, although one might say it was already complicated by the interests, and presence, of a powerful landowner. Here, in north-west Iberia, far beyond the reach of the legacy of the Carolingian Empire, we have elements of many of the themes that have recurred in this book. It hardly needs saying that the source material available for the early Middle Ages does not allow reconstruction of the feelings and the nuances of personal relationships of individual peasants. There is a limit to what can be
have exercised historians is the extent to which the Ottonians did or did not continue Carolingian precedent. Gerd Althoff has seen problems with Carolingian influence, pointing to the fact that the Ottonians ceased to appoint missi or issue capitularies, and eschewed other ‘state-like structures’ developed by the Carolingians. 39 Timothy Reuter explained this by suggesting that the political traditions of the Ottonians were based, not on the Carolingian Empire in its heyday, but on those of the post-843 East Frankish kingdom. 40 He also argued that
power and authority over vast, Western territories. However, the Carolingian Empire (like the Merovingian Empire before it) did not long survive its founder. It disintegrated in all but name soon after Charlemagne’s death. The demise of the Carolingian Empire was quickened by new waves of destructive migrations. Magyar, Viking and Arab assaults threatened to bring chaos to the Far West in the eighth and ninth centuries – as the Goths had done half a millennium earlier. But the Carolingian Empire lacked a strong imperial centre. Although Charlemagne had