Carlo Magno

Florin Curta and Jace Stuckey
Charlemagne in Medieval East Central Europe (ca. 800 to ca. 1200)

ABSTRACT: During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the legend of Charlemagne gained widespread popularity, as the figure of the emperor became a model for rulers and crusaders. However, at the same time, there was no equivalent cult of the emperor in East Central Europe, despite intensive intellectual exchange with those parts of the continent in which Charlemagne served as the highest political ideal. The examination of two early textsthe chronicles of Gallus Anonymus and Cosmas of Praguereveals that although not completely absent from the chroniclers repertoire of historical parallels and examples, Charlemagne was either mentioned simply as a chronological marker or (especially in the Chronicle of Cosmas of Prague) given attributes that do not appear in any other contemporary works and which suggest a local reinterpretation of his role in history and of his personality. Additionally, this is confirmed by an examination of a slightly later textthe Gesta Hungarorum, the earliest surviving work of medieval historiography in Hungary.
Charlemagne was never particularly popular in East Central Europe. The emperor rarely appears in the medieval historiography of Hungary and his name is not even mentioned in any of the medieval chronicles of that country.1 Emperor Charles IV attempted to introduce the cult of Charlemagne to Bohemia, when in 1350 he dedicated to him a church in Prague, and later built the Karltejn as a shrine for the imperial insignia, some of which were said to have been Charlemagnes.2 Nonetheless, such efforts remained a historical curiosity of no political significance.3
Lszl Veszprmy, Kaiser Karl der Groe und Ungarn, in ... swer sinen vriunt behaltet, daz is lobelich. Festschrift fr Andrs Vizkelety, edited by V. Mrta Nagy and Lszl Joncsik (Budapest and Piliscsaba: Katholische Pter-Pzmny Universitt, 2001) 195196. 2 Franz Machilek, Karl IV. und Karl der Groe, Zeitschrift des Aachener Geschichtsvereins 10 (2003): 137138. For the liturgy of St. Charlemagne established in Prague, see Robert Folz, Etudes sur le culte liturgique de Charlemagne dans les glises de lEmpire (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1951) 3940. There is a portrait of Charlemagne in the Chapel of the Holy Cross at Karltejn, for which see Sven Lken, Karl der Groe und sein Bild, in Karl der Groe und Europa. Symposium, edited by Bernd Bastert (Frankfurt a. M.: Peter Lang, 2004) 72 with fig. 22. 3 Frantiek Graus, Lebendige Vergangenheit. berlieferung im Mittelalter und in den Vorstellungen vom Mittelalter (Cologne and Vienna: Bhlau, 1975) 183184; Marie Blhov, Nachleben Karls des Groen in der Propaganda Karls IV., Das Mittelalter 4 (1999): 1125.
Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue canadienne des slavistes Vol. LIII, Nos. 234, June-September-December 2011 / juin-septembre-dcembre 2011
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Why was there no interest in Charlemagne before the mid-fourteenth century? Did anyone in Bohemia remember Charlemagnes dealings with the Czechs? Did educated clergymen in medieval Hungary know that Charlemagne had waged war against the Avars in those same lands now under the rule of the Arpadian kings? Did the Piast rulers of Poland view Charlemagne as an ideal monarch? What was ultimately the image of Charlemagne in East Central Europe at the time when his legend had begun to develop in the West, most famously in the Song of Roland? Through an examination of two key textsthe chronicles of Gallus Anonymus and Cosmas of Praguewe will attempt to provide plausible answers to those questions. Our goal is to show that despite the rarity of direct references to Charlemagne, the earliest historiographical works produced in the Middle Ages in East Central Europe show both familiarity with the developments of the legend of Charlemagne and an interest in adapting elements of that legend for local use. We will limit our study chronologically to the early twelfth century, when the two chronicles were written, for two main reasons. First, it is important to gauge the influence of the legend of Charlemagne in the lands of East Central Europe before the emperors canonization in 1165. Second, we decided to focus on the earliest surviving chronicles in East Central Europe because they were written at a time of great significance for the development of Charlemagnes legend in Europe. Moreover, this approach raises a number of questions pertaining to cultural synchronism and the mechanisms of cultural transmission, two issues which have formed the staple of studies in the cultural history of modern Europe but have only recently been tackled by historians interested in the Middle Ages.4 We will first examine the development of the legend of Charlemagne, with a particular focus on aspects that may be relevant to its reception in East Central Europe: the Avar and Bohemian wars, the voyage to Constantinople, Charlemagnes contact with God, and Charlemagne as a lawgiver and a crusader. We will then turn to the reception of the legend in East Central Europe. The conclusion will substantiate some of the arguments in that discussion through a brief expansion of focus to the early thirteenth century to include an examination of Gesta Hungarorum, the earliest surviving work of medieval historiography in Hungary.
The literature on cultural transmission in the modern period is enormous, and cannot be cited here in full. See, more recently, Catherine Evtuhov and Stephen Kotkin, eds., The Cultural Gradient: The Transmission of Ideas in Europe, 17891991 (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), and Ute Schnpflug, ed., Cultural Transmission: Psychological, Developmental, Social and Methodological Aspects (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009). For cultural transmission in the Middle Ages, see the studies collected in L. H. Hollengreen, ed., Translatio or the Transmission of Culture in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (Turnhout: Brepols, 2009).
CHARLEMAGNE IN MEDIEVAL EAST CENTRAL EUROPE (CA. 800 TO CA. 1200) 183 CHARLEMAGNE IN EAST CENTRAL EUROPE AND THE MAKING OF THE CHARLEMAGNE LEGEND Charlemagne never set foot in Bohemia and Poland. Even in what is now Hungary, he did not go beyond the river Rba when he campaigned against the Avars in 791.5 The campaign was a grand-scale demonstration of military might. Two armies of Franks, Saxons, Frisians, Thuringians, Bavarians, and Slavs were assembled, the largest of which followed the Danube on the southern bank under Charlemagnes direct command. A second corps moved along the northern bank, while a fleet sailed down the river carrying supplies for both armies.6 In a letter to his wife, Fastrada, Charlemagne described the three days of fasting and prayer preceding the military actions.7 A third army, under the dukes of Istria and Friuli, had by then entered the Avar territory from the south and obtained the first victories against the Avars.8 Charlemagne encountered Avar fortifications in the northern part of modern Austria, before reaching the Vienna Woods and the river Rba, where an epidemic killed all his horses. The emperor decided to return through Savaria (present-day Szombathely), and ordered the northern army to withdraw through Bohemia.9 Over the next two years, Charlemagne prepared for a new expedition against the Avars, while a civil war broke in Avaria.10 Envoys of at least one party in the conflict came to him to offer submission and to request baptism for
Jzsef Der, Karl der Groe und der Untergang des Awarenreiches, in Karl der Groe: Lebenswerk und Nachleben, edited by Wolfgang Braunfels and Helmut Beumann (Dsseldorf: L. Schwann, 1967) 719791; Pter Vczy, Der frnkische Krieg und das Volk der Awaren, Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 20 (1972): 395 420; Walter Pohl, Die Awaren: Ein Steppenvolk im Mitteleuropa 567822 n. Chr. (Munich: C. H. Beck, 1988) 315323; Istvn Bna, Az avar birodalom vgnapjai. Vitk s j eredmnyek, in A honfoglalsrl sok szemmel I. Honfoglals s rgszet, edited by Gyrgy Gyrffy and Lszl Kovcs (Budapest: Balassi, 1994) 6775; Krzysztof Polek, Wojna awarska Karola Wielkiego i jej wpyw na stosunki polityczne, etniczne i kulturowe w strefie rodkowego Dunaju w kocu VIII i na pocztku IX wieku, in Viae Historicae. Ksiga jubileuszowa dedykowana Profesorowi Lechowi A. Tyszkiewiczowi w siedemdziesit rocznic urodzin, edited by Mateusz Goliski and Stanisaw Rosik (Wrocaw: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocawskiego, 2001) 131141; Bla Mikls Szke, Az avar-frank hbork kezdete, Zalai Mzeum 14 (2005): 233244. 6 Pohl 315; Polek 135. 7 Charlemagne, ep. 20, edited by Ernest Dmmler, Monumenta Germaniae Historica Epistolae Karolini aevi (Berlin: Weidmann, 1895) 528. 8 Pohl 316. 9 Royal Frankish Annals, s.a. 791, edited by Georg H. Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum 6 (Hannover: Hahn, 1895) 89. See also Polek 135136. 10 Royal Frankish Annals, s.a. 793, 93.
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their leader.11 Meanwhile, the troops of the duke of Friuli organized another raid into Avar territory under a commander named Voinimir, who reached the Avar ring in 795 and returned with a great amount of booty.12 Charlemagnes son, Pippin, who was at that time king of Lombardy, struck again at the heart of the Avar polity and obtained the submission of the Avar ruler before occupying and thoroughly plundering the ring.13 In 803, Charlemagne dispatched an army into Avaria, where an anti-Frankish revolt had broken in 799.14 However, Charlemagne had by then shifted his political and military interests to Bohemia, which was invaded in 805 by three armies, one of which was under the command of his other son, Charles the Younger.15 In 806, another army entered Bohemia and forced the local chieftains to pay a tribute (the earliest evidence of the latter, however, post-dates Charlemagnes death in 814).16 To Einhard, writing more than a decade after the emperors death, the war with the Avars, or Huns, was the greatest of all the wars he waged, except for that against the Saxons, to which this one succeeded.17 The most surprising element of the long description of that war is the removal of Charlemagne from the foreground.18 Except for his participation in the first campaign, much of the work is done on his behalf by others, from his son Pippin to prefects and counts.
Royal Frankish Annals, s.a. 795, 64; Annals of Lorsch, s.a. 795, edited by Georg H. Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores, 1 (Hannover: Hahn, 1826) 36. 12 Royal Frankish Annals, s.a. 796, 64; Polek 136. 13 Royal Frankish Annals, s.a. 796, 66. See also the poem De Pippini Regis victoria Avarica, in Poetae Latini aevi Carolini, edited by Ernest Dmmler, I (Hannover: Hahn, 1881) 116117. 14 Royal Frankish Annals, s.a. 797 and 799, 66 and 70. Two counts, Cadaloh and Goteram, died in battle against the Avars in 802 (Annals of St. Emmeram in Regensburg, s.a. 802, in Pertz 93). 15 Royal Frankish Annals, s.a. 805, 120; Annals of Metz, s.a. 805, edited by B. von Simson, Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, 10 (Hannover: Hahn, 1905) 93; Duan Tetk, Vznik Velk Moravy. Moravan, echov a stedn Evropa v letech 791871 (Prague: Lidov noviny, 2001) 7281. 16 The first mention of the tribute paid by the Czechs is in Ordinatio imperii of 817, edited by Alfred Boretius, Monumenta Germaniae Historica Capitularia regum Francorum, 1 (Hannover: Hahn, 1893) 270. See also Duan Tetk, Potky Pemyslovc. Vstup ech do djin (530935), esk Historie, 1 (Prague: Lidov noviny, 1997) 7073. 17 Einhard, The Life of Charles the Emperor, 13, edited by Oswald Holder-Egger, Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, 25 (Hannover: Hahn, 1911) 15; English translation from Charlemagne and Louis the Pious: The Lives by Einhard, Notker, Ermoldus, Thegan, and the Astronomer, translated by Thomas F. X. Noble (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009) 32. For the date of Einhards Life of Charles the Emperor, see Thomas F. X. Noble, in Charlemagne and Louis the Pious 1113. 18 Einhard 13: 1516.
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CHARLEMAGNE IN MEDIEVAL EAST CENTRAL EUROPE (CA. 800 TO CA. 1200) 185 In the end, the victory over the Avars is attributed to the Franks, in general, as if it were a collective endeavour. In describing the Avar war as part of a long section dedicated to Charlemagnes military exploits, Einhard wanted to show that, despite the length of time it took, this was in fact a relatively easy war with only a few losses on the Frankish side. After properly starting the war, Charlemagne could leave the task to be finished by his son and deputies. This is in sharp contrast with what Einhard has to say about Bohemia, where Charlemagne is said to have waged war in person.19 In this case, Einhard seems to have simply ignored the fact that in reality all operations had been led by Charles the Younger, and not by the emperor. Most likely his intention was to emphasize how little value the Avars had as Charlemagnes enemies and how easy it had been not only to defeat them, but also to extinguish the entire nobility of the Huns.20 Writing some sixty years later, Notker the Stammerer employed a similar approach when explaining that the emperor had had to intervene when the Huns and Bulgars, and many other fierce peoples, were still whole and intact along the land road to the Greeks. The most warlike Charles decided to conquer some of those peoples, mainly the Slavs and the Bulgars, and he virtually eradicated them, such as the ironlike and rock-hard people called Huns.21 But he chose not to press things to a final conclusion with the Bulgars, because they no longer seemed to threaten the kingdom of the Franks, once the Huns had been defeated.22 Like Einhard, Notker knew that the war against the Huns was waged primarily by Charlemagnes son, Pippin.23 However, the idea that the war against the Avars was ultimately no military challenge at all takes a different twist in Notkers work. In a story apparently collected from the oral tradition, he introduces a warrior of a very large frame named Eishere. Just as Einhards Charlemagne cannot waste his time fighting the Avars in person, so is Notkers Eishere somewhat annoyed by the interest others have in people whom
Einhard 15: 18. The Bohemian war (bellum Boemanicum) immediately followed the Avar war (Einhard 15: 1617). Unlike the Avar war, the Bohemian one did not take very long (diu durare non potuerunt). 20 Einhard 13: 16; English translation from Charlemagne and Louis the Pious 32. 21 Notker the Stammerer, The Deeds of Emperor Charles I, 27, edited by Hans F. Haefele, Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, Nova seria, 12 (Berlin: Weidmann, 1959) 3738. English translation from Charlemagne and Louis the Pious 83. 22 Notker the Stammerer II 1: 51; English translation from Charlemagne and Louis the Pious 91. 23 Notker the Stammerer II 12: 70 and II 1: 51. Unlike Einhard, Notker has a detailed, albeit fantastic description of the Avar strongholds in the form of nine concentric circles (II 1: 4950).
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he views as worms to be skewered on his spear.24 It is worth noting at this point that in the eyes of Notker, who used Eisheres story to illustrate the point, both Bohemians and Avars were equally worthless adversaries of the Franks. The underlying idea, which may have originated in Einhards account of the Avar war, is that to the East, on the road to the Greeks, lived people who could be easily conquered, should the emperor have decided to do so. However, it was ultimately Einhards, and not Notkers version that would be transformed into legend.25 Writing a few years after Notker, an unknown monk from Corvey turned Einhards Life of Charles the Emperor into a long poem and took the story a step further: at the Last Judgment, Charlemagne presents the Saxons to the Saviour, in the same way Peter introduces the Jews, Paul the pagans, and John the Gentiles of Asia.26 This entirely new development in the transmission of Einhards portrait of the Frankish emperor shows that before the end of the ninth century associating Charlemagne with the divine had already become an important component of the legend.27 Furthermore, it was from Einhard that Widukind of Corvey learned of Charlemagnes victory against the Avars, who had been driven across the Danube and enclosed in a large valley and so restrained from committing their
Notker the Stammerer II 12: 75; English translation from Charlemagne and Louis the Pious 106107. Heinrich Hoffmann believed this story to have been based on the folk traditions of the Swiss. See his Karl der Grosse im Bilde der Geschichtsschreibung des frhen Mittelalters (8001250) (Berlin: Ebering, 1919) 19. 25 Robert Folz, Le souvenir et la lgende de Charlemagne dans lempire germanique mdivale (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1950) 9 and 15; Matthias Tischler, Einharts Vita Karoli: Studien zur Entstehung, berlieferung und Rezeption, I (Hannover: Monumenta Germaniae Historica, 2001); Santiago Lpez Martnez-Moras, Carlomagno y la tradicin oral: de Notker Balbulus a los primeros textos picos, in El Pseudo-Turpn lazo entre el culto jacobeo y el culto de Carlomagno. Actas del VI Congreso internacional de estudios jacobeos, edited by Klaus Herbers (Santiago de Compostela: Xunta de Galicia, 2003) 49. 26 Gesta Karoli Magni imperatoris, ll. 679688, edited by Paul de Winterfeld, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Poetae Latini aevi Carolini, 4.1 (Berlin: Weidmann, 1899) 71. For an analysis of this passage, see Hans-Joachim Reischmann, Die Trivialisierung des Karlsbildes der Einhard-Vita in Notkers Gesta Karoli Magni. Rezeptionstheoretische Studien zum Abbau der kritischen Distanz in der sptkarolingischen Epoche (Konstanz: Hartung-Gorre Verlag, 1984) 8283. The war against the Saxons had already been depicted as a holy war, a proto-crusade in the Translation of St. Vitus, written at Corvey in or shortly before 837 (Folz, Le souvenir 30). 27 Christine Ratkowitsch, Das Karlbild in der lateinischen Grodichtung des Mittelalters, in Karl der Groe in den europischen Literaturen des Mittelalters: Konstruktion eines Mythos, edited by Bernd Bastert (Tbingen: Max Niemayer Verlag, 2004) 4.
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CHARLEMAGNE IN MEDIEVAL EAST CENTRAL EUROPE (CA. 800 TO CA. 1200) 187 usual depredations.28 Like other medieval authors, Widukind drew inspiration from the ethnographic concepts of Late Antiquity and believed that ancient nomads periodically reappeared under different names, even though they were essentially the same people. He therefore depicted Otto Is crushing defeat of the Magyars as a victory over the Avars, previously conquered (but apparently not entirely wiped out!) by Charlemagne.29 Benedict of Saint Andrew (a monastery on Mount Soracte, north of Rome), who wrote in ca. 968, mentioned the Avars twice in his chronicle, first as envoys from the chagangu to Charlemagnes court in Aachen.30 Much more interesting is the other reference to Avars in the context of the journey Charlemagne is said to have made to Jerusalem and Constantinople, the first such instance in the development of the Charlemagne legend. Benedicts Charlemagne built bridges across the sea, so that he could cross to Jerusalem together with his great army made up of all of the Franks, Saxons, Bavarians, Aquitanians, Gascons, Pannonians, Avars, Alamans, and Lombards, a mass of peoples that no one is able to quantify.31 The list of ethnic names is most likely derived from the enumeration of conquered peoples and territories in chapter 15 of Einhards Life of Charles the Emperor.32 A turning point in the development of the Charlemagne legend was the decision of Emperor Otto III to open Charlemagnes tomb in Aachen in 1000. Some even believe that the emperors intention was to establish Charlemagnes cult in Aachen.33 Two later accounts of this event definitely point in that
Widukind, Deeds of the Saxons 1.19, edited by H. E. Lohmann and Paul Hirsch, Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, 60 ( Hannover: Hahn, 1935) 29; English translation from Raymund F. Wood, The Three Books of the Deeds of the Saxons, Diss. (University of California, 1949) 186. 29 Avares, quos modo Ungarios vocamus. Widukind 1.17: 28. A connection between Avars and Magyars was also established in Passau in the circumstances surrounding Otto Is efforts to convert the Magyars to Christianity in the aftermath of his victory of 955. A series of forged diplomas of this period claimed that the jurisdiction of the bishop of Passau over Pannonia had been established by Charlemagne himself (Folz, Le souvenir 7273). 30 Benedict of SantAndrea del Soracte, Chronicon, edited by Giuseppe Zuichetti (Rome: Tipografia del Senato, 1920) 104. 31 Benedict of SantAndrea del Soracte 113; English translation from Anne Austin Latowsky, Imaginative Possession: Charlemagne and the East from Einhard to the Voyage de Charlemagne, Diss. (University of Washington, 2004) 64. 32 Latowsky 63. 33 Knut Grich, Otto III ffnet das Karlsgrab in Aachen. berlegungen zu Heiligenverehrung, Heiligsprechung und Traditionsbildung, in Herrschaftsreprsentation in ottonischen Sachsen, edited by Gerd Althoff and Ernst Schubert (Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke, 1998) 381430; Matthew Gabriele, Otto III, Charlemagne, and Pentecost A.D. 1000: A Reconsideration Using Diplomatic Evidence, in The Year 1000. Religious and Social Responses to the Turning of the First Millennium, edited by Michael Frassetto
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direction. Writing at least 27 years after the event, the chronicler of Novalesa (a monastery in Val di Susa, on the route to the Mont Cenis Pass) put the account into the mouth of Emperor Otto IIIs sword-bearer, Count Otto of Lomello, according to whom Charlemagnes corpse exuded a particularly sweet odour.34 Otto III and his companions promptly venerated the uncorrupted remains of Charlemagne, as if he were a saint. Admar of Chabannes, who wrote in 1028, brought another twist to the story, in order to support the idea of Charlemagnes sanctity. According to him, upon seeing Charlemagnes enormous body preserved intact, a priest from Aachen who had entered the tomb in the company of Otto III reached for the crown on Charlemagnes head in order to see if it would fit his own head. Not only was the crown too large for him, but a miracle instantly took place, as the priest was eventually paralyzed as a punishment for his sacrilegious behaviour.35 The transformation of Charlemagne into a saint-like ruler in a special relation to God is also visible at this time in the epic production.36 In the socalled Hague Fragment, which is dated to ca. 1030, Charlemagne invokes God at the siege of an unknown city, which is believed by many commentators to be Gerona.37 During the second half of the eleventh century, Charlemagne became the archetypal warrior against Muslims and thus the paramount crusader. In his Translation of St. Servais written in 1088, Jocundus described the emperor as outnumbered by Muslims, but still entering the battle, with no fear of dying for
(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002) 111123. Contra: Ludwig Falkenstein, Otto III. und Aachen (Hannover: Hahn, 1998); Anna Benvenuti, San Carlomagno: de Otn III al pseudo-Turpn, in Herbers 210. 34 Cronaca di Novalesa III 32, edited by Gian Carlo Alessio (Turin: Einaudi, 1982) 182. It is difficult to date the account, but book III of the chronicle, in which this passage is to be found, must have been written after 1027 (Folz, Le souvenir 92, n. 105). 35 Admar of Chabannes, Chronicon III 31, edited by Pascale Bourgain (Turnhout: Brepols, 1999) 153. It has been suggested that this particular passage is a later interpolation to be dated after 1154. 36 Charlemagne had already been the subject of such a production for some time, as clearly attested in the mid-tenth century by Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. Relying on information from his daughter-in-law, Bertha-Eudokia (the daughter of King Hugh of Provence), the Byzantine emperor knew that Charlemagne was a man much celebrated in song and story and author of heroic deeds in war. See Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De administrando imperio 26, edited by Gyula Moravcsik and translated by R. J. H. Jenkins (Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Center of Byzantine Studies, 1967) 109. 37 Martn de Riquer, Les chansons de geste franaises (Paris: Nizet, 1968) 328. See also Paul Aebischer, Le Fragment de La Haye. Les problmes quil pose et les enseignements quil donne, Zeitschrift fr romanische Philologie 73 (1957): 2037. For Charlemagne as Gods chosen in the epic production, see also Karl-Heinz Bender, La gense de limage littraire de Charlemagne lu de Dieu au XIe sicle, Boletn de la Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona 31 (19651966): 3549.
CHARLEMAGNE IN MEDIEVAL EAST CENTRAL EUROPE (CA. 800 TO CA. 1200) 189 the Church.38 This is in essence the image of Charlemagne in the Song of Roland.39 In that poem, Charlemagne appears as a man of considerable age (over 200 years old), with white hair and a white beard that he often pulls when thinking or when anxious. The emperor of the vernacular epic is particularly pious: he wakes up early in the morning for mass and always asks God for help before battle. He can also ask God for favours, as in the famous miracle of the sun.40 He leads a Christian army made up of various ethnic groups against the treacherous Saracens.41 This is in no uncertain terms a battle between Christendom and Islam, with Charlemagne leading Gods army to victory. Charlemagne as a proto-crusader, a great warrior, an ideal king, and a defender of the Church was a dominant theme for chroniclers and historians of the First Crusade. In his version of Pope Urban IIs speech at Clermont in 1095, Robert the Monk, who wrote just over a decade after the event, described Charlemagne as having destroyed the kingdoms of the pagans, and extended in these lands the territory of the Holy Church.42 The pope invited the crusaders to emulate the deeds of your ancestors (praedecessorum vestrorum), specifically those of Charlemagne and of his sons, the ideal Christian kings who defeated enemies on the battlefield while championing the cause of the Church.43 When crossing Hungary to go to Constantinople, some participants in the First Crusade appear to have been willing to give to Charlemagne (Karlomagnus) the credit otherwise due to Coloman (Calomanus), King of Hungary (10951116), for the repair of the road. Robert the Monk thus wrote of the King of the Franks
Jocundus, Translation of St. Servais 1, edited by R. Kpke, Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores, 12 (Hannover: Hahn, 1856) 93. For the date of Jocunduss work, see Folz, Le souvenir 137138, who notes that un Charlemagne crois existe donc trs probablement dans les esprits la veille du concile de Clermont. 39 D. Karl Uitti, Story, Myth, and Celebration in Old French Narrative Poetry 10501200 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973) 6979; Jace Stuckey, Charlemagne As Crusader: Memory, Propaganda, and the Many Uses of Charlemagnes Legendary Expedition to Spain, in The Legend of Charlemagne in the Middle Ages: Power, Faith, and Crusade, edited by Matthew Gabriele and Jace Stuckey (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008) 137153. 40 Song of Roland, ll. 24472459, edited by Jean Dufournet (Paris: Flammarion, 1993) 252. 41 Song of Roland, ll. 30453046 and 3052 in Dufournet 298. However, unlike the chronicle of Benedict of Saint Andrew, in the Song of Roland the Avars (Avers; l. 3242) and the Slavs (Esclavoz; l. 3255) are troops in Baligants army, so Charlemagnes enemies. For the identification of the Avers as Avars, see Gaston Paris, Mlanges linguistiques (Paris: H. Champion, 1909) 581. 42 Recueil des historiens des croisades. I, 3. Historiens occidentaux (Paris: Imprimerie royale, 1866; reprint Farnborough: Gregg, 1969) 728; English translation from Carol Sweetenham, Robert the Monks History of the First Crusade (Aldershot and Burlington: Ashgate, 2005) 7981. 43 Recueil des historiens 728.
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ordering the building of a road to Constantinople, while the anonymous author of the Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum described the journey to the East as following the road that Charlemagne, the heroic king of the Franks, had once caused to be built to Constantinople.44 Ralph of Caen described Baldwin I, the King of Jerusalem, as a descendant of Charlemagne and thus destined to be born as the one who would sit on Davids throne.45 A certain concern with linking current emperors genealogically with Charlemagne also appears in the historiography of the Holy Roman Empire. Adelbold of Utrecht claimed that Emperor Henry II was related to Charlemagne both on his mothers and on his fathers side, while Wipo extolled Queen Gisela, Conrad IIs wife, for being a descendant of the Carolingians.46 On the other hand, during Emperor Henry IVs conflict with Otto of Northeim and the Saxon nobility in the 1070s, the imperial chancery did not hesitate to compare Charlemagnes wars against the Saxons with the campaign of the imperial army against the Saxon peasants who had sacked the imperial fortress at Harzburg. Bishop Benzo of Alba even placed in Charlemagnes mouth a brief encouragement for Henry IV based on an untranslatable pun: Sic, sic victor eris, si crebro saxa teris (Thus, thus you will win, if you will repeatedly break the stones).47 In turn, the Saxons often made recourse to the liberties and laws purportedly established for them by Charlemagne, and now apparently disregarded by Emperor Henry IV.48
Recueil des historiens 732; Gesta Francorum et Aliorum Hierosolimitanorum, edited by Rosalind Hill (London: T. Nelson, 1962) 2. See also Peter Tudebode, Historia de Hierosolymitano itinere, edited by John H. Hill and Laurita L. Hill (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1974) 1617. For the confusion between Charlemagne and Coloman, see Folz, Le souvenir 142. For King Coloman, see Mrta Font, Koloman the Learned, King of Hungary (Szeged: Szegedi kzpkorsz mhely, 2001). 45 Ralph of Caen, The Deeds of Tancred 37, English translation from The Gesta Tancredi of Ralph of Caen. A History of the Normans on the First Crusade, translated by Bernard S. Bachrach and David S. Bachrach (Burlington: Ashgate, 2005) 61. This was no new development, for in the early eleventh century, the princes of Brabant also claimed direct descendance from Charlemagne (Folz, Le souvenir 112). 46 Adelbold of Utrecht, The Life of Emperor Henry II, edited by Hand van Rij, I (Amsterdam: Nederlandse historische bronnen, 1983) 48; Wipo, The Deeds of Emperor Conrad, edited by Harry Bresslau, Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, 61 (Leipzig: Hahn, 1956) 2425. Wipo also compared Conrad II to Charlemagne. 47 Benzo of Alba, To Henry I 17, edited by K. Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores, 11 (Hannover: Hahn, 1854) 606. Saxa means large and rough stones as well as Saxons. For the Saxon opposition to Henry IV, see Horst Fuhrmann, Germany in the High Middle Ages, c. 10501200 (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986) 6263. 48 Folz, Le souvenir 118.
44
CHARLEMAGNE IN MEDIEVAL EAST CENTRAL EUROPE (CA. 800 TO CA. 1200) 191 Charlemagne as lawgiver is first mentioned in the mid-eleventh century in the chronicle of the Bavarian Benedictine abbey of Ebersberg, the author of which has Bishop Udalrich of Augsburg bemoaning on his deathbed the passing of the good old days in which Sigebert, Theoderich, and Charlemagne had established their laws.49 A century later, the Kaiserchronik, a work compiled by a group of authors in Regensburg, described Charlemagne as a lawgiver in the manner of Moses. Initially, all peoples had separate laws; after Charlemagne became emperor, by divine inspiration he introduced a single law for the entire empire.50 In the early thirteenth century, the Saxon Mirror [Sachsenspiegel], compiled by Eike von Repgow, was regarded as the law established by Charlemagne.51 Proto-crusader, ideal king, defender of the Church, and lawgiver: the myth of Charlemagne was most certainly in existence by 1100.52 It is therefore against this background that the image of Charlemagne needs to be examined in the earliest native sources of East Central Europe. THE LEGEND OF CHARLEMAGNE IN EAST CENTRAL EUROPE A much repeated, but never demonstrated theory purports that the common noun for king in most Slavic languages derives from Charlemagnes name.53 A
Chronicle of Ebersberg, edited by Wilhelm Arndt, Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores, 20 (Hannover: Hahn, 1868) 14. 50 Kaiserchronik, ll. 14414, 1504015091, edited by Edward Schrder (Hannover: Hahn, 1892) 342 and 345. See Bernd Bastert, de Cristenheyt als ncz al skein czelffbott: Karl der Groe in der deutschen erzhlenden Literatur des Mittelalters, in Karl der Groe in den europischen Literaturen des Mittelalters: Konstruktion eines Mythos, edited by Bernd Bastert (Tbingen: Niemayer, 2004) 128133. 51 Sachsenspiegel, Prolog, edited by Karl August Eckhardt, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Fontes Iuris Germanici Antiqui, N. S. 1 (Hannover: Hahn, 1933) 14. See Stephen Mller, Schwabenspiegel und Prosakaiserchronik. Textuelle Aspekte einer berlieferungssymbiose am Beispiel der Geschichte Karls des Groen (mit einem Anhang zur berlieferung der Prosakaiserchronik), in Wolfram-Studien XIX. Text und Text im lateinischer und volkssprachiger berlieferung des Mittelalters. Freiburg Kolloquium 2004, edited by Eckart Conrad Lutz (Berlin: E. Schmidt, 2006) 237. 52 Max Kerner, Karl der Groe: Entschleierung eines Mythos (Cologne, Weimar, and Vienna: Bhlau, 2000); Matthew Gabriele, An Empire of Memory: The Legend of Charlemagne, the Franks, and Jerusalem Before the First Crusade (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011). 53 According to Erich Berneker, Slavisches etymologisches Wrterbuch (Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1924) 572573, at the origin of the Czech word krl or the Polish word krl is the Middle High German Karl. From the Slavic languages, the word was adopted with an identical or similar meaning by several non-Slavic languages, such as Romanian (crai), Albanian (kral), Hungarian (kirly), Lithuanian (karalius), and Turkish (keral). The idea goes back to Josef Dobrovsk, but was first developed by Franz von Miklosich, Etymologisches Wrterbuch der slavischen Sprachen (Vienna: W. Braumller, 1886;
49
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Polish linguist even argued that only Polabian Slavic permitted a soft l in borrowings from Germanic languages, from which he drew the conclusion that *korlj (the name for king supposedly derived from Charlemagnes name) must have entered the world of the speakers of Slavic from the northwest, the area inhabited by Wilzi, Sorbs, and Obodritesthe Slavs who first encountered Charlemagnes armies.54 From the northwestern Slavs (so the theory goes), the word for king modelled after Charlemagnes name was then adopted by other Slavs farther to the east and to the south and modified phonetically according to their respective languages and dialects. However, while it is true that the word for king is the same in most Slavic languages, that meaning was established relatively late, as it is not attested in the earliest surviving texts written in Old Church Slavonic. The earliest reference to a native *korlj is in the Glagolitic inscription known as the Baka Tablet, which is dated to 1100 or shortly after that.55 The word korol appears four times in the Life of Methodius and it is usually translated as king.56 Aleksander Brckner first noticed that the term was a proper name, not a nounKarl or Carolus used in reference to Frankish kings.57 Thus, instead of the heart of the Moravian king, the passage in
reprint Amsterdam: Philo Press, 1970) 131. The issue has gained some significance among students of Slavic studies, especially linguists, because it supposedly illustrates the metathesis of the liquids (the *tort formula with suffixal ictus), which could then be conveniently dated to the Carolingian age on the basis of Charlemagnes first contacts with the Slavs. 54 Tadeusz Lehr-Spawiski, Pochodzenie i rozpowszechnienie wyrazu krl w polszczynie i w innych jzykach sowiaskich, Prace Filologiczne 12 (1927): 4453. See Einhard 15: 18. For a critique of Lehr-Spawiski, see Horace G. Lunt, Old Church Slavonic *kralj, in Orbis scriptus. Dmitrij Tschiewskij zum 70. Geburtstag, edited by G. Dietrich, W. Weintraub, and H.-J. Zum Winkel (Munich: W Fink, 1966) 488. 55 Branko Fui, Croatian Glagolitic and Cyrillic epigraphs, in Croatia in the Early Middle Ages: A Cultural Survey, edited by Ivan Supii (London and Zagreb: Philip Wilson Publishers/AGM, 1999) 266268. The inscription mentions Zvonimir, the king (kral) of Croatia. 56 Life of Methodius, edited by Otto Kronsteiner (Salzburg: Institut fr Slawistik der Universitt Salzburg, 1989) 66: (the enemy of the Moravian king) and (the king said); 68: [][] (the kings bishops); and 82: (the Hungarian king). Of all four references to korol, the last one is usually viewed as a later interpolation. See also Berthold Bretholz, ber das 9. Kapitel der Pannonischen Legende des Heil. Methodius, Mitteilungen des Instituts fr sterreichische Geschichtsforschung 16 (1895): 346347. Korol as king is not attested in Ukrainian and Russian before the late thirteenth century. See Max Vasmer, Russisches etymologisches Wrterbuch (Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1953) 631. 57 Aleksander Brckner, Die Wahrheit ber die Slavenapostel (Tbingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1913) 9495. For the history of research on this matter, see Vladimr Vavnek, Ugr'skyj' korol' dans la Vie vieux-slave de Mthode, Byzantinoslavica 25 (1964): 261.
CHARLEMAGNE IN MEDIEVAL EAST CENTRAL EUROPE (CA. 800 TO CA. 1200) 193 chapter 9 of the Life of Methodius should be translated as the heart of the enemy of Moravia, Karl or the heart of his [Methodiuss] enemy, Karl. The Karl in question is Carloman, Louis the Germans son, who was at the time in Moravia with his army.58 Similarly, instead of the king said or the kings bishops in chapters 9 and 10, respectively, one should translate Karl said and Karls bishops, while the Hungarian king in chapter 16 is most likely Charles III (the Fat), who met with the Moravian ruler Sventopluk in 884 at Tulln.59 The idea that Charlemagne was such a popular figure in early medieval Slavic Europe that his name entered the fundamental political vocabulary as a common noun is directly contradicted by the evidence of the written sources pertaining to the name-giving practices of the local ruling families in the region. In Poland, Bolesaw the Braves successors often used names of Western origin, particularly of emperors, for their children, in order to emphasize political connections or the high aspirations of the Piast family.60 However, the name Charles is not among them. The only exception is Mieszko II Lambert (1025 1031 and 10321034) giving the name Charles (Karol) to his son Casimir (later Casimir the Restorer, duke of Poland between 1039 and 1058).61 Kazimierz Jasiski believed that this choice of name was a strong indication of a cult of
Lunt, Old Church Slavonic *kralj, 486; Horace G. Lunt, The Beginning of Written Slavic, Slavic Review 23.2 (1964): 215. 59 Vavnek 267268; Lunt, Old Church Slavonic *kralj, 487. 60 The classic work on name-giving practices among the Piasts is Jacek Hertel, Imiennictwo dynastii piastowskiej we wczeniejszym redniowieczu (Warsaw: Pastwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1980), but some of his conclusions have been recently modified by Gerard Labuda, O najstarszych imionach dynastii Piatowskiej, in Biedni i bogaci. Studia z dziejw spoeczestwa i kultury ofiarowane Bronisawowi Geremkowi w szedziesit rocznic urodzin, edited by Maurice Aymard (Warsaw: Pastwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1992) 262272, and Ambroy Bogucki, Kilka uwag o imieniu Mieszka I, in Spoeczestwo Polski redniowiecznejZbir studiw, V/10, edited by Stefan K. Kaczyski (Warsaw: DiG, 2004) 918. Hertels book deals with several other names of Western origin, both male and female, as well as with double names. For the names of the early Piasts in Gallus Anonymus, see Andrzej Bakowski, Imiona przodkw Bolesawa Chrobrego u Galla-Anonima (Rozwaania etymologiczne), Onomastica 34 (1989): 103138. For name-giving practices and political identity in the early Middle Ages, see Karl Ferdinand Werner, Liens de parent et noms de personne. Un problme historique et mthodologique, in Famille et parent dans lOccident mdival. Actes du Colloque de Paris (68 juin 1974), edited by Georges Duby and Jacques le Goff (Rome: Ecole Franaise de Rome, 1977) 1318 and 2534; Wolfgang Haubrichs, Identitt und Name. Akkulturationsvorgnge in Namen und die Traditionsgesellschaften des frhen Mittelalters, in Die Suche nach den Ursprngen. Von der Bedeutung des frhen Mittelalters, edited by Walter Pohl (Vienna: Verlag der sterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2004) 85105. 61 Przemysaw Wiszewski, Domus Bolezlai. Values and Social Identity in Dynastic Traditions of Medieval Poland (c. 9661138) (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2010) 371372.
58
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Charlemagne among the early Piasts, perhaps in connection with Bolesaw the Braves monarchic ideology and his presumed visit to Aachen at the time of the opening of Charlemagnes tomb.62 However, the evidence to support such a claim is simply missing. Most importantly, when first referring to Mieszko IIs son, Gallus Anonymus, the author of the first Polish chronicle, wrote of Casimir (that is, Charles), the restorer of Poland.63 If Casimir had been named after Charlemagne, assuming the cult of the emperor in Piast Poland was the reason behind that choice of name, Gallus Anonymus would have certainly not missed the opportunity to comment upon that particular fact.64 Such a conclusion derives from what little we know about Gallus.65 Some believe he was from southern France; others tie him with either Flanders or Venice.66 Still others have noticed a great resemblance between the rhythmical prose in the chronicle and the style of the works in Latin produced in the late eleventh and early twelfth century in central France, in the region of Tour and Orlans, which may indicate that Gallus studied there before coming to Poland.67 He finished his chronicle at some point between 1113 and 1116 or
Kazimierz Jasiski, Rodowd pierwszych Piastw (Warsaw and Wrocaw: Volumen, 1992) 130. For Bolesaws Cracow as imitating Aachen, see Roman Michaowski, Aixla-Chapelle et Cracovie au XI-e sicle, Bulletino dell'Istituto italiano per il Medio Evo e Archivio Muratoriano 95 (1989): 4569. 63 Gallus Anonymus, The Deeds of the Princes of the Poles I 17, edited by Karol Maleczyski and translated by Paul W. Knoll and Frank Schaer (Budapest and New York: Central European University Press, 2003) 7273. 64 Jacek Hertel notes that the double name (Casimir Charles) does not appear in the Annals of Cracow, which only know of the name Casimir. Casimir the Restorer is the only member of the entire Piast dynasty to be named Charles (Hertel 122). Among the Piasts, Otto and Henry were by far more popular names of imperial origin. 65 It was the sixteenth-century Polish historian Martin Kromer who first called Gallus the unknown author of the first Polish chronicle. See Pierre David, Les sources de l'histoire de la Pologne l'poque des Piasts (9631386) (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1934) 49. 66 Marian Plezia, Kronika Galla na tle historiografii XII w. (Cracow: Nakad Polska Akademia Umiejtnoci, 1947) 149150; Johannes Fried, Gnesen, Aachen, Rom. Otto III. und der Kult des Hl. Adalbert. Beobachtungen zum lteren Adalbertsleben, in Polen und Deutschland vor 1000 Jahren: Die Berliner Tagung ber den Akt von Gnesen, edited by Michael Borgolte (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2002) 267269; Tomasz Jasiski, Czy Gall Anonim to Monachus Littorensis? Kwartalnik historyczny 112 (2005): 6989. See also Norbert Kersken, Geschichtsschreibung im Europa der Nationes: Nationalgeschichtliche Gesamtdarstellungen im Mittelalter (Cologne: Bhlau, 1995) 493495. 67 Tore Janson, Prose Rhythm in Medieval Latin from the 9th to the 13th Century (Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1975) 7374; Marian Plezia, Nowe studia nad Gallem Anonimem, in Mente et litteris: O kulturze i spoeczestwie wiekw rednich, edited by Helena Chopocka, Jadwiga Krzyaniakowa, Gerard Labuda, Bohdan Lapis, and Jerzy Strzelczyk (Pozna: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu, 1984) 111120. His presence in the schools of central France
62
CHARLEMAGNE IN MEDIEVAL EAST CENTRAL EUROPE (CA. 800 TO CA. 1200) 195 1117, most likely at the Cracow court of Prince Bolesaw III Wrymouth (1102 1138).68 Judging from the dedications of his work, Gallus wrote the chronicle for an audience of friends and supporters at the court in Cracow.69 Some have even suggested that Gallus was in fact commissioned to write the work at a moment of particular crisis for the prince.70 There is only one mention of Charlemagne in the Deeds of the Princes of the Poles. At the beginning of an excursus on Prussia in Book II related to Bolesaw IIIs 1108 expedition against the Prussians, Gallus inserts an historical note regarding the origins of the Polish dukes enemies:
For in the time of Charlemagne, king of the Franks (tempore namque Karoli Magni, Francorum regis), when Saxony rose in revolt against him, and would accept neither the yoke of lordship nor the Christian faith, this people migrated with their ships from Saxony and took over this land [Prussia] and the name of the land. They still remain so, without king and without religion, and have not abandoned their ancient faithlessness and ferocity.71
At a first glance, this passage is about the Prussian ethnogenesis, and it was in fact interpreted in such a manner by several scholars who took the Saxon origin of the Prussians at face value.72 Widukind of Corvey has the Saxons coming to Saxony in ships, and it is quite possible that Gallus drew inspiration from that account to create his own story of Prussian origins.73 However, while calling Charlemagne a king (rex), Gallus insists that the Prussians (formerly known as
makes it very likely that Gallus had heard of, or even become familiar with the legend of Charlemagne. Before entering Bolesaw III Wrymouths court in Cracow, Gallus spent some time in Hungary, perhaps at the Abbey of Somogyvr. See Dniel Bagi, Gallus Anonymus s Magyarorszg: A Geszta magyar adatai, forrsai, minti, valamint a szerz trtnetszemllete a latin Kelet-Kzp-Eurpa 12. szzad eleji latin nyelv trtnetrsnak tkrben (Budapest: Argumentum, 2005). 68 Plezia, Kronika Galla 136 and 192193. 69 Gallus Anonymus 3, 111 and 211. That he dedicated two of his books to a chancellor of Bolesaw III Wrymouth shows that Galluss major concern was the Piast dynasty (Kersken 497). 70 Zbigniew Dalewski, Ritual and Politics: Writing the History of a Dynastic Conflict in Medieval Poland (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2008) 56. 71 Gallus Anonymus II 42: 194195. For Bolesaw III Wrymouths 1108 war against the Prussians, see Karol Maleczyski, Bolesaw III Krzywousty (Wrocaw, Warsaw, Cracow, and Gdask: Ossolineum, 1975) 140141. 72 ucja Okulicz-Kozaryn, Dzieje Prusw (Wrocaw: Fundacja na Rzecz Nauki Polskiej, 1997) 141142; Janusz Powierski, Prusowie, Mazowsze i sprowadzenie Krzyakw do Polski, vol. 2, pt. 1 (Malbork: Muzeum Zamkowe w Malborku, 2001) 18. 73 Widukind, Deeds of the Saxons 1.3: 5; English translation from Wood 162. Dariusz Adam Sikorski suggests that Gallus knew Widukind of Corvey through the intermediary of Fruthold of Michelsbergs chronicle (Galla Anonima wiadomoci o Prusach. Prba weryfikacji wybranych hipotez, Kwartalnik historyczny 110.2 [2003]: 12).
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Saxons) have no king at all. Just as the Saxons rebelled against Charlemagne rejecting both the Christian faith and any yoke of lordship, their descendantsnow known as Prussiansrefused to adopt Christianity and effectively opposed Bolesaw III, who could not conquer their country.74 Galluss goal therefore is to explain first why Bolesaw III moved against the Prussians in the first place (because they were faithless), and then why he failed to subdue them (because they were basically Saxon rebels, whom not even Charlemagne could subdue).75 Moreover, to Gallus, it was not so much that Charlemagne waged war against the Saxons, as that Saxony, as an entire country, had risen in rebellion against him. Most other references to Saxony as a whole have negative connotations: Saxony is the place where the stepmother of the rebel Zbigniew sent him to be taught in a convent of nuns and where Bolesaw would later send, preserved in salt and spices, the eviscerated bodies of the German noblemen who followed Emperor Henry IV in his invasion of Poland.76 On the other hand, there can be no accident that perfidia (faithlessness), of which Gallus directly accuses Zbigniew, is also one of the fundamental attributes of the Prussians, along with ferocity.77 One is led to believe that Gallus had some knowledge of the imperial propaganda trying to draw a parallel between Charlemagnes and Henry IVs wars against the Saxon rebels. Therefore, to say that Gallus made of Bolesaw a Polish Charlemagne78 is to miss an important
Gallus Anonymus explains that the land has never been subdued by anyone, for no one has ever been able to ferry themselves and an army across so many lakes and marshes, which protect the inhabitants of Prussia better than any castle or city. Gallus Anonymus II 42: 195. 75 Andrzej Feliks Grabski, Polska wobec idei wypraw krzyowych na przeomie XI i XII wieku: Duch krzyowy Anonima Galla, Zapiski Historyczne 26.4 (1961): 6264; and Sikorski. Both Grabski and Sikorski believed that chapter 42 in Book II of the Deeds of the Princes of the Poles described if not a crusade, then at least a just war, and that Gallus Anonymuss description of Bolesaw III Wrymouths 1108 campaign against the Prussians was greatly influenced by the crusading spirit of the early twelfth century. There is in fact no indication either of a crusade or of a crusading spirit in the text, and unlike the Pomeranians in chapter 44 of Book II, the Prussians are never mentioned as having converted to Christianity, whether sincerely or not. Bolesaws only goal in Prussia appears to have been to burn and to plunder. This is also true for the account of his other expedition of 11101111. Gallus Anonymus III 24: 269. 76 Gallus Anonymus II 4: 122 and III 9: 238. 77 Gallus Anonymus II 39: 190. Instead of perfidia, Gallus employs periurium in reference to Henry IV (Gallus Anonymus III 7: 236). 78 Sikorski 15. If Galluss Bolesaw were a Polish Charlemagne, one would have to conclude that the Prussians were expected to accept the yoke of lordship imposed on them by the king of the Poles. However, Gallus never called Bolesaw III Wrymouth a king and throughout the Deeds of the Princes of the Poles used the term king in
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CHARLEMAGNE IN MEDIEVAL EAST CENTRAL EUROPE (CA. 800 TO CA. 1200) 197 point: in the Deeds of the Princes of the Poles, Charlemagne does not appear either as a proto-crusader, or as the apostle of the Saxons. He is simply the king of the Franks against whom those Saxons rebelled, and who, under the new name of Prussians, were now creating problems for Bolesaw. Neither Charlemagne, nor Bolesaw had any success in subduing them: they were indomitable and remained outside civilization, for they had no king (rex) and no law (lex). This can also explain why, to Gallus, Charlemagne was a king and not an emperor: he was the embodiment of the law of the Franks, against which the Saxons had rebelled, for they did not want to have any yoke of lordship (dominacionis iugum) or Christian faith.79 On this point, Gallus agreed with Cosmas of Prague, in whose chronicle Charlemagne twice appears as king. Cosmas finished Book I between 1119 and 1122, with Books II and III following in relatively quick succession until 1125, the year of his death. He most likely wrote at the request of, and on commission from the Bohemian duke Vladislav I (11101117 and 11201125), as a plea for strong rule in the years following the death of Vratislav II (10611092). To Cosmas, the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire was an imperator, whether or not that individual truly held the imperial title.80 Only Charlemagne was rex. In one instance, he is the wisest king and most powerful in his army (hardly to be compared to us very humble men).81 In calling Charlemagne a rex, Cosmas may have simply followed the usage of Regino of Prm, whose chronicle he used extensively.82 However, the phrase wisest king (rex sapientissimus) is nowhere to be found in Reginos work. Cosmas put those words in the mouth of Boleslav II giving advice to his son and successor. Given the elaborate rhetoric
exclusive reference to those Piast rulers who were in fact crowned and were therefore entitled to be called so (Dalewski 112113). 79 Dalewski 112113. 80 Cosmas of Prague, Chronicle of the Czechs I 19, 23, and 38, edited by Berthold Bretholz, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, N. S. 2 (Hannover: Hahn, 1923; reprint 1995) 38, 45, and 68 (for Henry I). Henry III and Henry IV are each called imperator before their respective coronations. Cosmas of Prague II 8 and 12: 93 and 99; III 23 and 25: 116 and 118. 81 Cosmas of Prague I 33: 59; English translation from the Chronicle of the Czechs, translated by Lisa Wolverton (Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 2009) 86. 82 Regino of Prm, Chronicon II, s.a. 880 and 887, edited by Friedrich Kurze, Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, 50 (Hannover: Hahn, 1890; reprint 1989) 116 and 128. See Johannes Loserth, Studien zu Kosmas von Prag. Ein Beitrag zur Kritik der altbhmischen Geschichte, Archiv fr sterreichische Geschichte 61 (1880): 419; Duan Tetk, Kosmas a Regino. Ke kritice Kosmovy Kroniky, eskoslovensk asopis historick 8 (1960): 572; Marie Blhov, Die Beziehung Bhmens zum Reich in der Zeit der Salier und frhen Staufer in Spiegel der zeitgenssischen bhmischen Geschichtsschreibung, Archiv fr Kulturgeschichte 74.1 (1992): 29.
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of that long speech, Cosmass sophisticated combination of alliteration and an epigonic note cannot surprise.83 However, the particular choice of words to describe Charlemagne may reveal more than just Cosmass literary skills. While until the early twelfth century Charlemagne was rarely called wise, stronghanded (manu potentissimus) was a standard description of David, and by extension of the ideal king.84 In other words, when referring to Charlemagne as the wisest and most strong-handed king, Boleslav IIor rather Cosmas, who put those words in his mouthhad in mind the ideal king. The following remark, according to which Charlemagne can hardly be compared to us very humble men is meant to signal to Cosmass educated audience that Charlemagne is used here as an archetype in lieu of David. In the early twelfth century, such a procedure was entirely new, for Charlemagne, although a model for all kings, was rarely compared to David, especially in terms of wisdom. The reference to Charlemagne-David appears at the beginning of a section of Boleslavs long Frstenspiegel speech, in which the old duke of Bohemia attributes to Charlemagne the decision to bind his son Pippin with a frightful oath, that there should never be deceitful or crooked valuing of weights or money in his realm.85 Duan Tetk believed that this remark was Cosmass veiled critique of rulers of his own lifetime, who often drew large profits from steadily debasing coins (i.e., reducing the quantity of silver in each coin) and who fiddled with the continuous issuance of coins. According to him, the main culprit was Vratislav II (10611092), who is otherwise the chroniclers main villain.86 However, during Vratislavs reign, and especially at the time of the first debasement of coinage, Cosmas was actually not in Bohemia to suffer the consequences of the dukes ill-conceived monetary policies. It is much more likely that Cosmass remark was made with someone else in mind, someone who ruled in Bohemia
Cosmas of Prague I 33: 59: rex sapientissimus et manu potentissimus, haud equipperandus nobis, hominibus valde humilibus. Cosmas knew and used Sallust, Vergil, Horace, and Lucan. Kersken 578. 84 David is called manu fortis et visu desiderabilis in Jeromes treatise on Hebrew names, in Pseudo-Rufinuss commentaries on the Psalms, as well as in Isidore of Sevilles Etymologies. See Kornl Szovk, The Image of the Ideal King in Twelfth-Century Hungary (Remarks on the Legend of St. Ladislas), in Kings and Kingship in Medieval Europe, edited by Anne J. Duggan (London: Kings College Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies, 1993) 259. 85 Cosmas of Prague I 33: 59; English translation from Wolverton 86. 86 Duan Tetk, Kosmas (Prague: Academia, 1972) 160. Cosmass hostile attitude towards Vratislav II derives primarily from his condemnation of Vratislavs disrespect for the political traditions of Bohemia, which he pushed aside when proclaiming himself king in 1085. See Martin Wihoda, Kosmas a Vratislav, in Querite primum regnum Dei. Sbornk pspvk k poct Jany Nechutov, edited by Helena Krmkov, Anna Pumprov, Dana Rikov, and Libor vanda (Brno: Matice moravsk, 2006) 367381.
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CHARLEMAGNE IN MEDIEVAL EAST CENTRAL EUROPE (CA. 800 TO CA. 1200) 199 after 1100.87 Ever since Pavel Radomrsk, Czech scholars have regarded Vladislav Is monetary policies as a progressive debasement of the coinage up to Cachs type 545, then as a repetition of the process with type 546.88 Vladislav I ruled for a little more than fifteen years, during which period he issued no fewer than 29 coin typesabout two new coin types per year. He may have altered the coinage three or four times a year during his entire reign, but the recall of the old coins (a procedure known as renovatio monetae) was not always accompanied either by a change in weight or by debasement. In other words, although the remark in the chronicle may well be a critique of Vladislav I, Cosmas may have misunderstood or exaggerated the significance of the dukes monetary policies.89 What are we then to make of Cosmass claim that Charlemagne demanded a frightful oath (terribili [] sacramento) from his son Pippin? Could this too be a commentary on events of Cosmass day? Johannes Loserth long ago remarked that this bit of information is most likely Cosmass fabrication, for it does not show up in any other source and does not have the appearance of anything Cosmas may have lifted from the oral tradition.90 On the other hand, oaths appear frequently in the Chronicle of the Czechs, often to confirm a promise or an agreement, or to strengthen the credibility of a statement.91 Charlemagne extracted the terrible oath from Pippin when making arrangements that he (Pippin) would succeed him after death (cum filium sum Pippinum post se in solio sublimandum disponeret). Similarly, at some point before his death in 1055 Duke Betislav I asked his son Vratislav, as well as the magnates of the land to take an oath on their faith that upon the see becoming
See Petr Kopals commentary in Kosmova Kronika eska, translated by Karel Hrdina and Marie Blhov (Prague and Litomyl: Paseka, 2005) 251. 88 Pavel Radomrsk, Penze Kosmova vku (10501125), Numismatick asopis 21 (1952): 7158. For the types of Vladislav Is coins, see Frantiek Cach, Nejstar esk mince: esk a moravsk denry od mincovn reformy Betislava I. do doby braktetov (Prague: Numismatick Spolenost eskoslovensk v Praze, 1972) 3839. 89 Ruth Mazo Karras, Early Twelfth-Century Bohemian Coinage in Light of a Hoard of Vladislav I, American Numismatic Society. Museum Notes 30 (1985): 203206. 90 Loserth 2829. Loserth thought that at the origin of this story was Cosmass misunderstanding of canon 41 of the Council of Reims (813), which he may have found in some twelfth-century collection of conciliar decisions (Concilia aevi Karolini, part 1, edited by Albert Werminghoff, Monumenta Germaniae Historica Concilia, 2 [Hannover: Hahn, 1906; reprint 1997] 257). However, that canon concerns the rate of exchange between gold and silver (or the circulation of gold, along with silver), and not debasement or counterfeiting. Heinrich Hoffmann believed that Cosmas got the idea of Charlemagne establishing good coins and measures from Belgium, specifically from the region of Lige where he spent a few years for his studies (Hoffmann 87). 91 E. g., Cosmas of Prague III 1: 162; III 9: 169; III 19: 184; III 21: 207; III 22: 189.
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vacant, his son Jaromr would become bishop of Prague.92 That this was indeed a terrible oath results from the story of the eventual appointment to that see in 1068 of Jaromr, the man whom Cosmas regarded as the gem of priests, light of all Czechs.93 In power in Bohemia at that time was Vratislav, who, according to Cosmas, exceeded his ducal power and acted like an emperor when investing with both staff and ring his favourite candidate, Chaplain Lanzo. However, at the intervention of his brothers Conrad and Otto, and under pressure from the count palatine Kojata and from mil, the castellan of atec, Vratislav rescinded his decision and accepted his brother Jaromr instead. Violating the oath to his father has brought the wrath of his brothers upon Vratislav, who had further trespassed the limits of his authority and begun to regard himself as more than a duke. Pippin is the exact counterpart of that disobedient son. Pippin, the son of King Charles the Great, is mentioned again in the context of the answer the Slavs (Czechs) gave to Emperor Henry III, who, following Duke Betislav Is successful expedition to Poland in 1039, demanded that the silver collected by the Czechs be given to him: We have always kept within our law and are still today subject to the command of King Charles and his successors.94 To Emperor Henrys immoderate request, the Czech envoys answered by reminding him that Charlemagnes son Pippin had established for them an annual payment to the successors of the emperors in the amount of 120 choice cows and 500 marks.95 There are clear indications that this passage, as well as the following paragraph, are based on the written sources Cosmas had at hand.96 However, the exact nature of, and quantity in which the tribute needed to
Cosmas of Prague II 22: 114. That Vratislav took an oath to respect his fathers decision results from the speech Cosmas put in the mouth of the count palatine Kojata, accusing Vratislav of violating the oath to his father (Cosmas of Prague II 23: 116). During his reign, Betislav had twice asked the magnates of the land (comites) to take an oath of their faith, first to confirm the introduction of the so-called Betislav Decrees (Cosmas of Prague II 4: 86), then to abide by his decision that after his death his eldest son, Spitihnv, would succeed him (Cosmas of Prague II 13: 102). 93 Cosmas of Prague II 41: 146; English translation from Wolverton 169. 94 Cosmas of Prague II 8: 93; English translation from Wolverton 123. For the circumstances surrounding the conflict between Betislav I and Emperor Henry III over the silver booty from the Polish expedition, see Lisa Wolverton, Hastening Toward Prague: Power and Society in the Medieval Czech Lands (Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press, 2001) 231232. 95 Cosmas of Prague II 8: 93; English translation from Wolverton 123. Cosmas explains that marcam nostre monete CC nummos dicimus. Once again, Pippin is mentioned in relation to coins. 96 For example, the words which he employed to describe Henry IIIs beginning the war against Betislav I for the spoils of the latters expedition to Poland (Cosmas of Prague II 8: 93: Tunc imperator cepit querere occasiones adversus eos, quoquo modo ab eis [] eriperet aurum) are those he found in Regino of Prms description of Lothars search for a pretext to divorce his wife Thietbirga (Regino of Prm, Chronicon, II, s.a. 864, 80:
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CHARLEMAGNE IN MEDIEVAL EAST CENTRAL EUROPE (CA. 800 TO CA. 1200) 201 be paid are believed to be Cosmass own invention.97 In other words, Cosmas again projected the concerns of his own lifetime onto the age of Betislav.98 Unlike Vratislav II, Betislav I (10341055) is the great star in Cosmass gallery of good princes. The greatest memories of the golden age are connected to his rule, for during his reign everything appears to have been in the right place, with peace everywhere in Bohemia, a country which had back then a role in the Christian world very different from that in Cosmass own lifetime. What Emperor Henry III had demanded therefore appeared excessive, a patently unjust request. Pippin had introduced an arrangement between the Czechs and the emperors that Henry III was now violating. It is important to note that to Cosmas, Pippin, the son of King Charles the Great, was the ruler establishing the law, even though the Czechs had supposedly turned into subjects of the emperor under Charlemagne. Pippin thus appears as the agent of Charlemagnes power and will in matters Bohemian: the latter brings the Czechs sub imperio, but only the former deals with the practical issue of how large should be the tribute that the Czechs were to pay to the Empire. The relationship between Charlemagne and his son Pippin in Book II is therefore a mirror of that shown in Book I, where the father imposes a frightful oath not to allow deceitful or crooked valuing of weights or money. That Pippin appears in this context is surprising. Jaroslav Goll believed Cosmas had found the information about the Czechs being subject to the command of Charlemagne in Einhards Life of Charles the Emperor, which, as we have seen, makes him participate in person in the Bohemian war. According to Goll, Cosmas was simply confused when attributing to Pippin the imposition of tribute on the Czechs. He must have known from Einhard that Pippin had conducted the war against the Avars, and he may have thought that Pippin had waged war against the Moravians as well.99 However, no source mentions Pippin in relation to either Moravia or Bohemia, and there was no reason for Cosmas to equate the Moravians with the Czechs. Golls explanation has therefore convinced nobody. In reply, some have rightly pointed out that the
Lotharius rex coepit occasiones querere, qualite Thietbirgam reginam a suo consortio separare potuisset). See Tetk, Kosmas a Regino, 572. Cosmas took the information about the conflict between Henry III and Betislav I from the Saxon Annalist (Annalista Saxo, s.a. 1042, edited by Georg Waitz, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores, 6 [Hannover: Hahn, 1844] 685686) and from the Annals of Altaich (Annales Altahenses, s.a. 1041, edited by Edmund L. B. Oefele, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, 4 [Hannover: Hahn, 1891] 2628). 97 Blhov, Die Beziehung Bhmens 30. 98 Barbara Krzemieska, Boj knete Betislava I. o upevnen eskho sttu (1039 1041), Rozprav eskoslovensk akademie vd. Rada spoleenskch vd 89.5 (1979): 23. 99 Einhard 15: 18; Jaroslav Goll, Kosmas, II 8, esk asopis historick 6 (1900): 355 357.
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words uttered by Betislavs envoys apply more to Cosmass own lifetime than to relations between the duke of Bohemia and the Empire under Henry III.100 Nonetheless, Goll was probably right about Einhard being the source of Cosmass interest in Pippin.101 He mentioned his name for a third time in the answer Emperor Henry III gave to Betislavs envoys: King Pippin did what he wanted. Unless you do what I want, I will show you how many painted shields I have and my prowess in war.102 Henrys threat is in fact based on the words Sallust put in the mouth of Sulla: our power in war you already know from experience.103 This literary allusion was most certainly meant for Cosmass audience, and not for Betislavs envoys. The general sense of Henrys reply is that he, like Pippin, was entitled to have his own law with the Czechs. While Betislav, through his envoys, insisted upon a law of venerable age, Henry chose to innovate. Those in Cosmass audience who would have recognized the quotation from Sallust, would have therefore drawn the conclusion that Henry III was in fact challenging the authority of a much greater, ideal ruler Charlemagne, Pippins father. In other words, both Vladislav I (whom Cosmas most likely had in mind when referring to debased coins and altered weights) and Emperor Henry III infringed upon the right decisions taken by the wisest king Charlemagne, a ruler hardly to be compared to us very humble men. They violated the law established by the ideal king. In the Chronicle of the Czechs Charlemagne appears primarily as a lawgiver. Cosmas drew on a particular line in the development of the Charlemagne legend, namely that already attested in the mid-eleventh century in the Chronicle of Ebersberg, then amplified in the Kaiserchronik in the midtwelfth century, and culminating in the early thirteenth-century Saxon Mirror. We have seen that Charlemagne was already given credit for the Saxon liberties during Emperor Henry IVs conflict with the Saxon nobility in the 1070s. Robert Folz has noted that the idea of Charlemagne as lawgiver, ultimately derived from Einhard, developed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries as one of the most important elements of the Charlemagne legend in the German lands.104
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Krzemieska 2324. The wide circulation of the manuscripts containing the Life of Charles the Emperor makes it possible that Cosmas had access to Einhards work, even though no direct evidence of that may be detected in the text. At Prm, around 1100, a manuscript of Reginos chronicle (which Cosmas most certainly knew and used as an historiographic model) also included Einhards Life of Charles the Emperor (Folz, Etudes sur le culte liturgique de Charlemagne and Le souvenir et la lgende de Charlemagne 159). 102 Cosmas of Prague II 8: 94; English translation from Wolverton 124. 103 nam bello quid valeat, tute scis. Sallust, The War Against Jugurtha 102, edited and translated by Michael Comber and Catalina Balmaceda (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2009) 174175. 104 Folz, Le souvenir 170.
CHARLEMAGNE IN MEDIEVAL EAST CENTRAL EUROPE (CA. 800 TO CA. 1200) 203 Both Gallus Anonymus and Cosmas of Prague used the German tradition of Charlemagne, which depicted him either as the conqueror of Saxony or as lawgiver. That they both ignored the most conspicuous development of the Charlemagne legend taking place during their lifetimethe emperors transformation from Gods chosen into a saintis not necessarily an indication of the absence of that development in East Central Europe. Berthold of Zwiefalten (an abbey established in 1089 near Ulm in Swabia) mentions in his chronicle that at some point between 1134 and 1139, a Czech woman named Sextibrana (most likely estibrana) made a donation to his monastery. Among other things, her donation included a large dossal made of wool having the image of Christ in the mandorla on one side, and an image of Charlemagne on the other.105 estibranas gift was an ornamented ecclesiastical cloth, the purpose of which was to be suspended behind the altar.106 There can be little doubt that if not already the portrait of a saint, Charlemagnes image on the Czech dossal was a reflection of those developments which led to the emperors canonization some thirty years later. Why do those developments not show up in the chronicles of Gallus Anonymus and Cosmas of Prague? A quick look at the saints mentioned in those chronicles may provide some answers. The most important non-Roman saints in the chronicle of Gallus Anonymus are Adalbert and Stephen (the king of Hungary).107 In the Chronicle of the Czechs, by far the largest number of references is to St. Wenceslas, immediately followed by St. Adalbert.108 Leaving aside the prominent position of Adalbert in both Poland and Bohemia, which has
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Berthold of Zwiefalten, Chronicle 11, in Luitpold Wallach, Berthold of Zwiefaltens Chronicle, Traditio 13 (1957): 201. Berthold was abbot of Zwiefalten between 1139 and 1141, 1146 and 1152, and again between 1158 and 1169. Chapter 11, in which estibranas dossal is mentioned, was interpolated after this first term, i.e., between 1141 and 1146. For the dating of estibranas donation, see Vclav Ryne, K datovn Zwiefaltenskho dorsale eskho pvodu, Umn 12 (1964): 95. 106 In that respect, the dossal may be compared to the famous Halberstadt tapestry showing Charlemagne on the throne surrounded by four ancient philosophers, which is dated to ca. 1200 and believed to be of local manufacture. See Oskar Doering, Die Kirchen in Halberstadt (Augsburg: Filser, 1927) 7071. Ryne notes that estibranas dossal must also have been of local (i.e., Bohemian) manufacture (Ryne 94). 107 Adalbert: Gallus Anonymus I 6: 32, 34, and 36; I 19: 78 and 80; II 6: 130; III 25: 279. Stephen: I 18: 74; II 1: 116; III 25: 276. 108 Wenceslas: Cosmas of Prague I 15: 35; I 17: 35; I 22: 43; I 36: 64; II 7: 93; II 13: 102; II 17: 108 (four times); II 42: 148; II 43: 148; II 47: 154 (three times); III 1: 160; III 4: 164; III 13: 175; III 33: 204 (two times); III 54: 228; III 55: 228; III 60: 230. Adalbert: Cosmas of Prague I 27: 49; I 28: 51 (two times); I 29: 53 (two times); I 34: 60; I 39: 72; I 42: 79; I 42: 80; II 3: 85; II 4: 85 (two times); II 4: 88; II 4: 89; II 17: 108 (two times); II 34: 130 (two times); II 37: 135; II 43: 148; II 47: 154 (two times); III 4: 164; III 54: 228.
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otherwise been long noted,109 it is remarkable that the most popular saints in both chronicles are royal saints. As Gbor Klaniczay has observed, royal sainthood was not at all common in the early Middle Ages and the Church only slowly accepted the idea of elevating kings to the status of saints. Things began to change in the eleventh century when a new model of sacral kingship appeared. In his view, the royal saint as a type emerged step by step and grew into the ultimate symbol of power, a paradox, which peaked in the twelfth century.110 The crowning moment of this development was the canonization of Charlemagne in 1165. In East Central Europe, the conversion to Christianity of the newly emerging kingdoms took place precisely at the moment when the original hostility to royal sainthood ha[d] started to fade and the receptivity to the dynastic cults [had] entered a new phase that would facilitate their ultimate triumph. The peoples of East Central Europe thus would have no strong sense of the traditional contradiction between rulership and sainthood.111 Local saints such as Wenceslas and Stephenwere therefore much more important than other royal saints, because they were linked to local dynasties and identities. There was little room left for St. Charlemagne in East Central Europe, an area which, judging by the chronicles of Gallus Anonymus and Cosmas of Prague, was dominated around 1100 by three most prominent cultsthose of Wenceslas, Adalbert, and Stephen. Nonetheless, the evidence of the chronicle of Berthold of Zwiefalten shows that there was some room left for the burgeoning cult of Charlemagne, at least in Bohemia. That no indication of that cult appears in the earliest chronicles is most likely to be explained in terms of the goals their authors had in mind when addressing their respective audiences. This remained true even after Charlemagnes canonization of 1165. There is no mention of Charlemagne in the chronicle of Vincent Kadubek (11611223) or in any medieval chronicle produced in Hungary. Nonetheless, the Charlemagne legend had a great influence on the legend of St. Ladislas, who was canonized in Oradea in 1192, possibly in imitation of Charlemagnes canonization of 1165.112
Jerzy Koczowski, Saint Adalbert (Vojtech, Wojciech), patron de la Pologne, de la Bohme et de la Hongrie, in Maisons de Dieu et hommes d'Eglise: Florilge en l'honneur de Pierre-Roger Gaussin, edited by Henri Duranton, Jacqueline Giraud, and Nocile Bouter (Saint Etienne: Publications de l'Universit de Saint Etienne, 1992) 145 149; Jerzy Strzelczyk, Die Rolle Bhmens und St. Adalberts fr die Westorientierung Polens, in Adalbert von PragBrckenbauer zwischen dem Osten und Western Europas, edited by Hans Hermann Henrix (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 1997) 141162; Adm Somorjai, Kelet-Kzp-Eurpa szentje: Adalbert (VojtechWojciech, Bla), in Ezer v Szent Adalbert oltalma alatt, edited by Andrs Hegeds and Istvn Brdos (Esztergom: Prmsi Levltr, 2000) 1320. 110 See also Gbor Klaniczay, Holy Rulers and Blessed Princesses: Dynastic Cults in Medieval Central Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002) 396. 111 Klaniczay, Holy Rulers and Blessed Princesses 398. 112 Veszprmy, Kaiser Karl der Groe 195196.
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CHARLEMAGNE IN MEDIEVAL EAST CENTRAL EUROPE (CA. 800 TO CA. 1200) 205 That influence may have been mediated by the political and cultural circumstances surrounding the visit to Hungary of Frederick Barbarossa on his way to the Holy Land in 1189.113 It was at Fredericks initiative that a new biography of Charlemagne (Vita Karoli Magni) was written for his canonization by Pope Paschal III. Charlemagne is also absent from the Deeds of the Hungarians (Gesta Hungarorum), the earliest chronicle written in Hungary by the former notary of a king named Bla, who called himself Master P.114 However, the source of inspiration for many passages in the Deeds of the Hungarians was the same Vita Karoli Magni that had influenced the legend of St. Ladislas.115 The author of the Deeds of the Hungarians may have also directly known Einhards Life of Charles the Emperor, which inspired his description of the tactics employed by the Magyars in their conquest of the Carpathian Basin, their riding abilities compared to those of their Scythian ancestors, and the efforts to fortify the frontiers of their new homeland.116 If Master P. had access to at least two key
Lszl Veszprmy, Megjegyzsek korai elbeszl forrsaink trtnethez, Szzadok 138.2 (2004): 325348. Contra: Kornl Szovk, Szent Lszl alakja a korai elbeszl forrskorban. A Lszl-legenda s a kpes krnika 139. Fejezete forrsproblmi, Szzadok 134 (2000): 117145. 114 Deeds of the Hungarians, in Anonymus and Master Roger, edited by Martyn Rady, Lszl Veszprmy, and Jnos M. Bak, Central European Medieval Texts, 5 (Budapest and New York: Central European University Press, 2010) 2129. Much ink has been spilled over the true identity of the author of the Gesta and of the king for whom he served as notary (three kings named Bla ruled Hungary between the late eleventh and the late twelfth century). See Gyrgy Gyrffy, Abfassungszeit, Autorschaft und Glaubwrdigkeit der Gesta Hungarorum des anonymen Notars, Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 20 (1972): 209229, and Anonymus Gesta Hungaroruma, in A honfoglalskor rott forrsai, edited by Lszl Kovcs and Lszl Veszprmy (Budapest: Balassi, 1996) 193213; Lszl Veszprmy, Historical Past and Political Present in the Latin Chronicles of Hungary (12th13th Centuries), in The Medieval Chronicle: Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on the Medieval Chronicle. Driebergen/Utrecht, 1316 July 1996, edited by Erik Kooper (Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi, 1999) 260268. For the identity of Master P., see Kornl Szovk, Wer war der anonyme Notar? Zur Bestimmung des Verfassers der Gesta Hungarorum, UngarnJahrbuch 19 (1991): 117; Lszl Veszprmy, Anonymus Italiban? Szzadok 139.2 (2005): 335352; Rady, Veszprmy, and Bak xixxxiv. 115 Jzsef Der, Aachen und die Herrschersitze der Arpaden, Mitteilungen des Instituts fr sterreichische Geschichtsforschung 791.2 (1971): 4149. For example, Master P.s description of Attilas establishment of his capital beside the Danube above the hot springs (Deeds of the Hungarians 1: 7) is modelled after the description of the hot springs near Aachen in the Vita (Vita Karoli Magni I 16, in Gerhard Rauschen, Die Legende Karls des Grossen im 11. und 12. Jahrhundert [Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1890] 41). 116 Der, Aachen und die Herrschersitze, 4749. For example, when describing how the young Magyars hunted almost every day, whence from that day until now, the
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sources about Charlemagne, why was the emperor never mentioned in the Deeds of the Hungarians, especially since by the time that chronicle was written down, the cult of Charlemagne was well established in Aachen? Master P. wrote most likely around AD 1200, at a time when a great number of foreign knights came to Hungary from the Empire, but also from France and from Italy.117 This coincided in time with the growing popularity among Hungarian noble families of such names as Lrant and Olivr, showing familiarity with the Charlemagne legend in the epic production, especially with the Song of Roland.118 Knowledge of that text among students returning to Hungary from Paris cannot be doubted.119 Unlike Gallus Anonymus and Cosmas of Prague, Master P. had no interest in any saint other than St. Stephen, King of Hungary.120 In Hungary, ever since the late eleventh and early twelfth century, the ideal ruler had been King St. Stephen, not Charlemagne.121 He had converted his own people to Christianity, ruthlessly suppressed paganism, and organized the Church in Hungary. Because of the reputation of the Admonitions he was believed to have written for his son,
Hungarians are better at hunting than other peoples, Master P. employed the words that Einhard had used to describe the inimitable horse-riding qualities of the Franks, epitomized by his hero, Charlemagne (Deeds of the Hungarians 7: 2021; Einhard 22: 27). 117 Erik Fgedi and Jnos M. Bak, Fremde Ritter im mittelalterlichen Ungarn, Quaestiones Medii Aevi 3 (1998): 317. For the French influence in Hungary in the High Middle Ages, see Dezs Pais, Les rapports franco-hongrois sous le rgne des Arpads, Revue des tudes hongroises et finno-ougriennes 1 (1923): 23; Gyula Krist, Influences de la direction politique franaise en Hongrie au dbut du XIIIe sicle, Chronica. Annual of the Institute of History, University of Szeged 1 (2001): 4551. 118 gnes Kurcz, Lovagi kultra Magyarorszgon 1 1314. szzadban (Budapest: Akadmiai kiad, 1988) 246248; Andrs Vizkelety, Literatur zur Zeit der hfischritterlichen Kultur in Ungarn, in Die Ritter: Burgenlndische Landesausstellung 1990, Burg Gssing, 4. Mai28. Oktober 1990, edited by Harald Prickler (Eisenstadt: Amt der Burgenlndischen Landesregierung, 1990) 90. For the earliest heraldic devices in Hungary, see Ivn Bertnyi, L'apparition et la premire diffusion des armoiries en Hongrie, in Les origines des armoiries: IIe Colloque international d'hraldique, Bressanone/Brixen, 59. X. 1981, edited by H. Pinoteau, M. Pastoureau, and M. Popoff (Paris: Lopard d'or, 1983) 4348. 119 Veszprmy, Kaiser Karl der Groe, 202. For Hungarian students in Paris or Oxford, see Jzsef Laszlovszky, Nicholaus Clericus: A Hungarian Student at Oxford University in the Twelfth Century, Journal of Medieval History 14.3 (1988): 217231; and Hungarian University Peregrinatio to Western Europe in the Second Half of the Twelfth Century, in Universitas Budensis, 13951995. International Conference for the History of Universities on the Occasion of the 600th Anniversary of the Foundation of the University of Buda, edited by L. Szgi and J. Varga (Budapest: Etvs Lrnd Tudomnyegyetem Levltra, 1997) 5161. 120 Deeds of the Hungarians 11: 32; 24: 58; 27: 64; and 57: 126. 121 Klaniczay, Holy Rulers and Blessed Princesses 134147.
CHARLEMAGNE IN MEDIEVAL EAST CENTRAL EUROPE (CA. 800 TO CA. 1200) 207 Emeric, Stephen also appeared as the archetypal lawgiver.122 By 1200, he was regularly commemorated in a special liturgy.123 His memory was even invoked abroad, at the foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.124 Moreover, when thirteenth-century Hungarians thought of a crusader king, St. Ladislas, and not Charlemagne came to their minds.125 There was in fact no role of Charlemagne in Deeds of the Hungarians that had not already been taken by either Stephen or Ladislas. Cosmas was interested in the historical tradition of the Avar and Bohemian wars only in order to emphasize the significance of Pippins imposition of the tribute to be paid by the dukes of Bohemia to Charlemagnes imperial successors. In early thirteenth-century Hungary, no memory existed of the wars Charlemagne had waged in that country. Only in Western Europe was Charlemagnes Avar war still remembered in the eleventh and twelfth century, albeit in a distorted form.126 CONCLUSION That Charlemagne as ideal king did not inspire any member of the Pemyslid, Piast, or Arpadian dynasties had nothing to do with the lack of genealogical ties,
122
Ferenc Pelsczy, Szent Istvn kirly Intelmei az ezredik v kzfelfogsban, Vigilia 35.8 (1970): 527535. For the Admonitions and the issue of authorship, see Eld Nemerknyi, Latin Classics in Medieval Hungary (Eleventh Century), CEU Medievalia, 6 (Debrecen and Budapest: University of Debrecen, Department of Classical Philology, and CEU, Department of Medieval Studies, 2004) 3234. 123 Jzsef Trk, Szent Istvn tisztelete a kzpkori magyar liturgiban, in Szent Istvn s kora, edited by Ferenc Glatz and Jzsef Kardos (Budapest: MTA Trtnettudomnyi Intzet, 1988) 197201, and Szent Istvn tisztelete a liturgiban, in llamalapts, trsadalom, mvelds, edited by Gyula Krist (Budapest: MTA TTI, 2001) 101117. 124 Pl Gron Bozski, Szent Istvn kirly Jeruzslemi alaptvnyairl, in Doctor et apostol Szent Istvntanulmnyok: studia theologica Budapestensia. A Pzmny Pter katolikus egyetem, edited by Jozsef Trk (Budapest: Mrton Aron Kiad, 1994) 2382. 125 Lszl Veszprmy, Dux et praeceptor Hierosolimitanorum. Knig Ladislaus (Lszl) von Ungarn als imaginrer Kreuzritter, in ...The Man of Many Devices, Who Wandered Full Many Ways... Festschrift in Honor of Janos M. Bak, edited by Balzs Nagy and Marcell Sebk (Budapest: Central European University Press, 1999) 470 and 473474. For the cult of St. Ladislas in the thirteenth century, see Gbor Klaniczay, Szent Lszl kultusza a 1213. szzadban, in A kzpkor szeretete. Trtneti tanulmnyok Sz. Jns Ilona tiszteletre, edited by Nagy Balzs (Budapest: ELTE Kzp- s Korajkori Egyetemes Trtneti Tanszk, 1999) 357374. 126 Einhards and Notkers idea of the quasi-extermination of the Avars by Charlemagne is still repeated by Marianus Scotus (Chronicle, s.a. 814, edited by Georg Waitz, Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores, 5 [Hannover: Hahn, 1843] 548) and the Annals of Hildesheim (edited by Georg Waitz, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, 8 [Hannover: Hahn, 1878] 14) in the eleventh century, as well as by the Annals of Ottobeuren, s.a. 791 (edited by G. H. Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores 5, Pars 1 [Hannover: Hahn, 1843] 2) in the twelfth century.
208
but rather with the powerful influence of royal saints of local origin, such as Wenceslas and Stephen. Even though he never acquired in Poland quite the same political status and popularity as King Stephen in Hungary, Bolesaw the Brave nonetheless served as a political model for the Piast rulers of the eleventh and twelfth century. In the words of Gallus Anonymus, such was the glory of the great Bolesaw, worthy to be remembered; let his valor be told and remembered, and imitated by those who come after him.127 We will never know what Bolesaw III the Wrymouth thought of Charlemagne, if anything, but Gallus Anonymuss comparison between his expedition into Prussia and Charlemagnes wars against the Saxons is meant not as a compliment to the Polish prince, but rather as an explanation for the fierce resistance of the pagan Prussians. When it came to famous characters with whom to compare his hero, Gallus Anonymus preferred Hannibal or the son of Mars.128 Similarly, Cosmas of Prague does not compare Charlemagne with either Boleslav II or Betislav I. The proper comparison for Betislav I is with Achilles, Diomedes, Gideon, Samson, Solomon, Joshua, and the kings of Arabianot with Charlemagne.129 To chroniclers writing the history of local dynasties, Charlemagne had no appeal as a (would-be) saint, but his reputation could be used to gauge the political performance of more recent rulers. He was, after all, a legendary figure.
127 128
Gallus Anonymus I 16: 6667; Wiszewski 185215. Hannibal: Gallus Anonymus III 21: 254. Bolesaw the son of Mars: Gallus Anonymus II 34: 181. 129 Cosmas of Prague II 1: 8182.
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Florin Curta and Jace Stuckey

Charlemagne in Medieval East Central Europe (ca. 800 to ca. 1200)

FLORIN CURTA AND JACE STUCKEY

FLORIN CURTA AND JACE STUCKEY

FLORIN CURTA AND JACE STUCKEY

FLORIN CURTA AND JACE STUCKEY

FLORIN CURTA AND JACE STUCKEY

FLORIN CURTA AND JACE STUCKEY

FLORIN CURTA AND JACE STUCKEY

FLORIN CURTA AND JACE STUCKEY

FLORIN CURTA AND JACE STUCKEY

FLORIN CURTA AND JACE STUCKEY

FLORIN CURTA AND JACE STUCKEY

FLORIN CURTA AND JACE STUCKEY

FLORIN CURTA AND JACE STUCKEY

FLORIN CURTA AND JACE STUCKEY

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