Legendary Presents of Charlemagne

Encyclopedia of Medieval Pilgrimage

Starting at the end of the eleventh century, monumental works in a large number of churches represented Charlemagne. As a model pilgrim and crusader, the association of his cult with both medieval ideals was strong, and his reputation for acquiring many relics furthered the links between him and the cults that led pilgrims on their quests. Under his reign, numerous abbeys were established and posterity conserves his memory as a founder. As several texts attest, many churches created their foundational narratives around him, even when it was not true. Most sites associated with the cult of Charlemagne, scattered throughout Christendom, tried to obtain objects said to be 'of Charlemagne' (see Legendary Presents of Charlemagne) and represented him in their churches, whether in low relief, sculpture in the round or in stained glass windows or painting. His cult, which logically began at his primary capital at Aachen, sprawled especially throughout the German Empire, but also into France and the whole of Christendom.

Sakrale Schriftbilder - Zur ikonischen Präsenz des Geschriebenen im mittelalterlichen Kirchenraum, 2024

Before turning to Jerusalem, let us start with a diversion to Assisi. In the Vita of Francis of Assisi (1181/2-1226), his biographer Thomas of Celano writes: Wherever he [Francis] found any writing, divine or human, whether by the way, in a house, or on the floor, he picked it up most reverently and placed it in some sacred or decent place, in case the name of the Lord or anything pertaining thereto should have been written on it. And one day, when one of the brethren asked him why he so diligently picked up even writings of pagans, and writings in which the name of the Lord was not traced, he gave this answer, "My son, it is because the letters are there whereof the most glorious name of the Lord God is composed. The good, therefore, that is in the writing belongs not to the pagans nor to any men, but to God alone, of whom is all good." And, what is not less to be wondered at, when he caused any letters of greeting or admonition to be written, he would not suffer a single letter or syllable to be cancelled, even though (as often happened) it were superfluous or misplaced.1 Even though its extremism seems to surprise his brothers, Saint Francis's attitude is not unique. It runs throughout the Middle Ages. Isidore of Seville already testified to this in the sixth and seventh centuries with his attention to all aspects of writing, as a convinced etymologist showing his respect for the written word as a mysterious sign of truth, but also as an exegete showing that every graphic sign is material support for the revelation recorded in scripture.2 This medieval thought is very well explained by Vincent Debiais in the first chapter of La croisée des signes, showing that the graphic 1 Saint François d'Assise: documents; écrits et premières biographies, ed. by Desbonnets/Vorreux, 262 f. (1Cel 82). Thomas of Celano wrote this first Vita of the saint at the request of Pope Gregory IX in time for his canonisation in 1228. This passage also recalls Francis's insistence on the letter of the Gospel, in the sense of following it literally. There are also many reminders to the friars to follow the rule to the letter and without gloss. Finally, this quotation should be seen in the context of the whole of Chapter 29, entitled "Francis's love for all creatures because of the Creator." For comparisons between

2024

Research in Medieval and Early Modern Culture XXXIX Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Culture LXXXVIII The series of beautiful sacramentaries made at Saint-Amand in the later ninth century offer us unique insight into an early medieval scriptorium at work. These manuscripts contain principally the prayer texts for the celebration of the Mass, a ceremony which stood at the centre of monastic life in this period. They display how this largely neglected genre discloses creativity and initiative on the part of the monks of Saint-Amand, who re-organised and re-composed this especially versatile literature. They made their books uniquely comprehensive and full of insight into how the mass liturgy was re-made at a critical period in its development. This innovative study makes these sources accessible for the first time. In-depth study of script, decoration, and content enables a new appreciation of the context in which the deluxe Saint-Amand manuscripts were produced. It foregrounds ecclesiastical patronage, the political and intellectual dynamics at the waning of Carolingian power, and the intensive collaboration of scribes, artists, and liturgical composers, as well as the unique ways liturgical manuscripts can inform our understanding of medieval life and thought

Architettura medievale: il Trecento. Modelli, tecniche, materiali, 2022

From Rome to Cracow: the architectural setting of the relics of saint Stanislaus in the XIV century* 1. Exposition of the relics of saint Stanislaus in Cracow cathedral Cracow cathedral, in its present shape built between 1320 and 1364, was on many levels a focal point of the late medieval kingdom of Poland. 1 Situated next to the royal residence, from 1320 it served as a place of coronations and the royal burial site. Moreover, the cathedral houses the relics of saint Stanislaus, one of the Polish national saints, as well as the early Christian martyr saint Florian; the latter, however, in that time no longer played a truly significant role in the local liturgy. An altar containing the relics of both saints, covered with a XVII century canopy, is situated at the crossing of the nave and the transept (figs. I-1). Despite the reconstruction of its setting, the shrine was not moved and is still located in the same place as in the late middle ages. The whole arrangement is particularly striking because of the characteristic spatial layout of the church. The position of the shrine marks the very centre of the cathedral, as its nave, having only three bays, is very short, even shorter than the choir, which makes the plan of the whole church almost central. The shrine is also situated at the crossing of the two main functional and optical axes of the church. It faces both the western, and now main, entrance in the west wall of the nave and the south portal in the transept, which used to serve the clergy as well as king and court. Such an exposition of the relics seems to have no parallels in Late Medieval architecture. Thus, it is crucial to determine whether such a location of the shrine was the creation of the XIV century founders and whether it was intended from the very beginning of the works in 1320.

Journal of Medieval History, vol. 38, issue 3, 2012

This article examines two Georgian manuscripts from the Monastery of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem which contain commemorations of crusaders. The documents contain information about the crusaders and the Templars, and are significant for the light they throw on relations between the crusaders and Eastern Christians. This paper demonstrates how the crusaders and Templars came to be recorded in the charters of the Monastery of the Holy Cross, Jerusalem. Crusaders and even members of the military orders often visited the monastery, offered donations and sought spiritual aid in the Eastern churches. An examination of the prosopography of those recorded at the Monastery of the Holy Cross reveals names familiar from crusader history as well as some hitherto unknown crusaders.

Journal of Medieval History, 2018

This article considers stone pieces from the Holy Sepulchre brought to France in the eleventh century. Recent years have seen a growing awareness of architectural replications of the Holy Sepulchre built throughout the Latin West. Less attention has been devoted to its unmediated translation; namely, transporting its matter. Many French pilgrims who set out for Jerusalem before Urban’s instigation towards the East in 1095 returned with stone fragments of the Holy Tomb to commemorate their visit and to consecrate architectural copies. I argue that like the bodily remains of saints, these stone fragments acted as parts signifying the whole: they represented their place of origin and lent authenticity to local monuments. They could also act in unnatural ways, attracting cults and prompting narratives, visual representations, and staging in the church that announced their significance.

International Medieval Society Paris Annual Conference, Paris, France, 2014

Nostalgia for Charlemagne’s reign was at the heart of the identity of Aachen’s Marienkirche, which he constructed and endowed. After his death, the institution developed enduring ways of expressing his legacy and the power of his successors, the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. The most important among these were the church’s role as the coronation site of German kings (from 936 to 1531); the veneration of the church as the site of Charlemagne’s interment and, eventually, of the ruler as a saint (from 1165); and the display in a septennial pilgrimage (beginning in 1349) of the so-called Great Relics, which Charlemagne had procured for the church. In creating rituals for these three expressions of Charlemagne’s legacy, the canons of Aachen’s Marienkirche, some of whom were educated in Paris, were conscious of the ruler’s legacy in France, and this paper explores the ways in which some Aquensian rituals were designed to emulate or even to compete with parallel French rituals. While the coronation rites seem to have endured much as they had always been, liturgical melodies and reliquaries associated with Charlemagne’s sainthood betray a French influence. The twelfth-century sequence for Charlemagne’s feast day is a contrafact of a melody by Adam of Saint Victor. A fourteenth-century bust reliquary containing the ruler’s cranium displays the fleur-de-lis above the imperial eagle and looks distinctly like one that contained the head of Saint Louis. Even the pilgrimage, a relatively late development in the church’s activities that was essentially centered on the Shift of the Virgin, can be viewed as a response to the pilgrimage of Chartres, the focus of which was a Marian veil. I argue that all of these responses to French traditions are self-conscious efforts to bolster the importance of Aachen’s Marienkirche in the face of waning prominence.

Codex aquilarensis . - Aguilar de Campoo , 2018

Cathedrals collected and displayed relics in order to forge a "collective memory" of their origins and affiliations; their relics and reliquaries were, in effect, a material demonstration of ecclesiastical power and its access to salvation. The reliquary staff of Peter is an example, commissioned by an archbishop, of the forging of memories-it supplied Trier Cathedral with a vivid material testimony to its place in the power and hierarchy of the Church. At the French Cathedral of Langres, instead, a very unusual collection of relics argues for the prestige of the institution. Langres's rededication in the ninth century to Saint Mamas, an Eastern saint with few relics in the West, led to the assiduous collection of bodily relics of the saint, culminating, in the wake of the Crusader capture of Constantinople of 1204, of the 1209 acquisition of Mamas's head... At Langres, as a result, Mamas was considered to be complete, and said to be able to "speak," as a powerful patron, but more surprisingly, from the display of his multiple relics, we learn about the abiding power of the dismembered body.