410 Mediaevistik 33 . 2020 dominant leaderships (65). Grigg offers Boris Gübele, Deus vult, deus vult. Der a useful summary of current scholarship christliche heilige Krieg im Früh- und on the stock of kingly names, patri- and Hochmittelalter. Mittelalter-Forschun- matrilinearity, and the politics of royal gen, 54. Stuttgart: Jan Thorbecke Ver- succession, which was seldom father to lag, 2018, 449 pp. son. The Easter question and ecclesia- Boris Gübele’s methodical, source-ba- stical reform in the direction of the in- sed examination of the development of ternational norm are given incisive brief Christian holy war in the early and cen- discussion. The chapter concludes with a tral Middle Ages is a timely book, for it section on Pictish cross-slabs as liturgi- arrives at a moment in which medieval cal texts. wars of religion—and the in Chapter 4 is entitled “Twilight of the particular—have obtained a new rele- Picts,” an image referring more to loss of vance within our contemporary Western distinctive political identity than to eth- political discourse. Indeed, from George nic submersion or eradication. Develop- W. Bush’s infamous use of the term ‘cru- ments in the greater Scottish polity seem sade’ as a byword for the War on Terror to have encouraged the Picts to form al- almost twenty years ago, to the more liances and even fusion with Dal Ríata recent adoption of crusading imagery (successor state to the Irish settlement in and terminology (including the words northwestern Scotland) rather than face deus vult) by the so-called alt-right, debilitating war. The kingdom of Alba highly politicized notions of medieval was the result. By the mid-ninth century Christian holy war hang heavy in the the Picts all but disappeared from the air, and have in multiple instances been contemporary historical record. “Pictish associated with real-world violence. As culture was neither precocious nor back- such, the establishment of some histori- ward. It embraced social and technologi- cal clarity around these matters seems an cal change, participating fully in the cut urgent affair. and thrust of northern British politics. The question of the origins and de- The Pictish symbols and origin myths velopment of a specifically Christian indicate a conscious attempt to develop idea of holy war is one that has long oc- a national identity” (98). Grigg’s brief cupied historians of the Middle Ages. “Conclusions” open with a reference to The modern scholarly foundations of current scholarship which “is sculpting the field were laid nearly a century ago a new image of the historical Picts as a by Carl Erdmann, Die Entstehung des vigorous and culturally innovative nati- Kreuzzugsgedankens (1935), while recent on whose political trajectory was in lock- works by Jean Flori, La guerre sainte: step with the rest of the west” (101). la formation de l’idée de croisade dans This excellent survey is complemen- l’Occident chrétien (2001) and Philip- ted by maps, illustrations, a glossary, and pe Buc, P. Buc, Holy War, Martyrdom, recommendations for further reading in and Terror: Christianity, Violence, and twenty-first century scholarship. the West (2015) have reinvigorated and William Sayers, expanded the scope of the debate. In a Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; ws36@ sense, then, Deus vult, deus vult covers cornell.edu familiar ground. Yet Gübele’s work is Mediaevistik 33 . 2020 411 hardly redundant. For there is some truth which could be understood as meaning in Gübele’s charge that much previous war as a holy action, as when a religious scholarship on his theme has been “oft service is celebrated). Thus, Gübele pro- allzu oberflächlich, allzu pauschalisie- vides a fairly strict definition of holy war rend und allzu vorschnell” (13; frequently as a quasi-liturgical act, which neverthe- overly cursory, overly general, and overly less allows him scope to explore a wide premature) in its conclusions. As such, range of issues lying at the intersection of Gübele seeks to present a more comple- warfare and religion in the early and cen- te and considered study through a strict, tral Middle Ages. chronological survey of the primary sour- After setting his terms, Gübele be- ce evidence. gins the task of sifting a massive array Gübele’s book begins with a brief in- of evidence for the phenomenon of holy troduction, in which the author directly war, starting with a consideration of the addresses the problem of what constitu- attitudes of the early Christians toward ted a ‘holy war’ in the early and central armed conflict. Obviously, as Gübe- Middle Ages. (The term was rarely used le observes, the itself contains a in the period. Salvian of Marseilles, for plethora of contradictory statements re- example, uses the term bellum sanctum, garding war. The Old Testament, after not in reference to a military conflict, but all, certainly allows for the possibility rather to a campaign against circuses, of war as a holy action, as in the wars the theater, and general licentiousness. of the ancient Israelites—models which See Salvian of Marseilles, De guberna- greatly affected the medieval framing of tione Dei, VI.17, ed. C. Halm, MGH AA war—while the New Testament, Gübele 1.1. [1877].) As he makes abundantly asserts, exhibits an unambiguously pa- clear, the term has effectively resisted a cifistic attitude. It was this anti-martial neat, widely accepted definition, despi- stance that was generally reflected in te tremendous efforts by a great many early Christian and patristic writings, scholars. Given this, Gübele concludes Gübele claims. Indeed, he argues that that “aufgrund all der Unklarheiten, des the use of military vocabulary in Chris- Definitionswirrwarrs und der ungenauen tian letters (e.g., the term miles Christi, Aussagen soll es nun das Ziel dieser Ar- a term whose historical development beit sein, nach ausgiebiger Auseinander- Gübele is particularly concerned with) setzung mit den Quellen zu einem eige- was entirely metaphorical in this early nen Verständnis von ‘heiligem Krieg’ zu period. In support of this position, Gübe- gelangen, das eben so aussehen könnte, le notes, among other evidence, Tertulli- dass Krieg als heiliges Handeln verstan- an’s opposition to military service, Ori- den wird, so, wie wenn ein Gottesdienst gen’s view that Christians should serve zelebriert wird” (24;because of all the un- the empire through prayer alone, Hip- certainties, the jumble of definitions, and polytus’s ban on accepting soldiers into the imprecise assertions, the aim of this congregations, and Cyprian’s assertion work shall now be—following extensive that the hand that spills blood should examination of the sources—to arrive at not receive the Eucharist. However, as a distinct understanding of ‘holy war,’ he also makes clear, in the end, these 412 Mediaevistik 33 . 2020 stricter attitudes dissolved, as bishops his career, as in his struggles against the universally accepted soldiers into their Arian Visigoths. congregations and the religion as a who- Gübele’s most significant contribution, le gradually accommodated itself to the however, is his discussion of the possible military realities of the Roman state. influence of Byzantine ideas of holy war Gübele next proceeds to delineate on the early medieval West—a subject this process of accommodation, begin- which he treats in depth. Here, Gübele ning with the conversion of Constantine, focuses in particular on contemporary which he sees as “the first important step representations of the seventh-century on the road to a Christian holy war, even emperor Heraclius and his wars against if the way there was still long” (pp. 34–5). the Persians, which the author suggests Above all, Gübele stresses the importan- predict in some respects elements of the ce of the emperor’s use of the labarum, . Specifically, Gübele points the traditional Roman army standard, to reports of Heraclius’s recovery of the which Constantine supposedly modified Holy Cross, the emperor’s apparent use with the chi-rho. This modified standard, of sermon-like speeches and liturgical Gübele suggests, marked a turning point music prior to battle, an observance of in the posture of the Christian religion a three-day fast, the carrying of an ach- vis-a-vis war, and greatly influenced the eiropoieton (a miraculous icon not crea- deployment of subsequent medieval mi- ted by human hands) into battle, and the litary symbols such as the cross and the apparent suggestion by Heraclius that holy lance. Yet if Constantine was the soldiers who fell in battle would receive first to use Christian religious symbols eternal life. Gübele also notes here the in battle, there remained the work of de- temporal coincidence between the de- veloping a theological basis for Christian velopment of Byzantine notions of qua- war. This work was carried out in the first si-holy war and the Islamic concept of instance by Augustine, whose theories of jihad, without going so far as to suggest bellum iustum, Gübele is careful to note, influence in either direction. Most criti- do not equate to holy war per se, but laid cally, however, Gübele presents evidence the foundations for a more permissive that knowledge of Heraclius’s wars was attitude toward violence and allowed the widespread in the West, transmitted by Church a greater role in directing war. sources such as the chronicle of the An- Gübele traces the further elaboration of tipope Anastasius Bibliotecharius and by these early developments in medieval the liturgical tradition of the feast of the Christian holy war in the post-Roman Exaltation of the Holy Cross, whose cele- West. Specifically, he focuses on Grego- bration on September 14th was supposed ry the Great, who broadened Augustine’s to mark the date of the Byzantine emper- notions of just war to include war aimed or’s return of the True Cross to Constan- at the expansion of the Christian faith, tinople. In addition, Gübele points to the and on the figure of Clovis, whose con- direct influence of Heraclius’s own pro- version at the Battle of Tolbiac broadly gram of forcible baptism on the Frankish echoed Constantine’s, and who waged king Dagobert’s baptisms of Jews in the interreligious warfare at several points in Merovingian realm. Mediaevistik 33 . 2020 413

Subsequent chapters—of widely the invasion of Muslim North Africa in varying length—address numerous 1087 by a group of Genoese and other other matters, including the influence northern Italians. Most significant, ac- of Byzantine models on rituals of war in cording to Gübele, is the anonymous au- Visigothic Spain, the history of clerical thor’s casting of a military operation as participation in war, the possibility of an act of pilgrimage. holy war in the time of the Carolingians To Gübele, the Council of Clermont and Charlemagne, depictions of war in and the First Crusade represent a less the Old Saxon Heliand, the accommoda- ambiguous case of holy war. Here, as in tion of war within the Christian liturgy, his discussion of the conversion of Cons- as well as the development of the cult of tantine, Gübele highlights the differing the Holy Lance and its use in Ottonian impressions of the Council conveyed in coronation rituals. These discussions the various sources, concluding ultima- make clear that religion and warfare tely that it seems impossible to know remained closely connected throughout precisely what Urban II actually said at the early medieval period, though, in Clermont. Moreover, following Jonathan Gübele’s view, there was nothing that Riley-Smith, Gübele submits that there attained the status of true holy war ac- is in fact startlingly little novelty in the cording to his definition, i.e., war as a pope’s call to liberate the Christian com- holy action. munities of the East, and that the call to Gübele sees something closer to his ‘take the cross’ in fact merely represented understanding of holy war in the ele- a synthesis of previously existing ideas venth-century Milanese clerical reform regarding war, pilgrimage, and indul- movement known as the Pataria, prefi- gence, all combined in “an act of papal gured certain elements of the crusades. politics” (p. 317). Soo too, the symbol of Supporters of this movement employed a the cross had already been used as a sign military vocabulary to promote the idea of Christian war as far back as Constan- that fighting against heretics and unbe- tine. Nevertheless, in the unification of lievers was a valid alternative to cloiste- these elements, Gübele perceives the de- red life, while also promoting the ideal velopment of something new and signi- of pilgrimage. Gübele also considers the ficant: “konnte Krieg hier wirklich zum Normans, who employed papal banners Gottesdienst werden, konnte er sakrales and fought against Muslims in southern Handeln darstellen, konnte der Zug in Italy, and Popes Alexander II and Gre- die Schlacht zur Prozession, der gefalle- gory VII (the former offering remission ne Krieger zum Märtyrer, der Kämpfer of sins for Christian soldiers fighting zum Pilger werden” (374; war here could against Muslims in Spain, the latter rec- actually become a religious service, it ruiting the laity for military service in could constitute a sacred action, the mar- defense of Christian lands), as significant ching army could become a procession, actors in moving the West toward what the fallen warrior a martyr, and the sol- he would see as a more authentic holy dier a pilgrim”). In the years following war. Also important, in Gübele’s opini- the First Crusade, Gübele describes a on, is the text known as the Carmen in continuing trend toward the sacralization victoriam Pisanorum, which celebrates of war, with the aggressive tone of Ber- 2020 414 Mediaevistik 33 . 2020

nard of Clairvaux and the proliferation of term. For example, in the case of Carolin- knightly orders (which he recognizes as a gian campaigns—and particularly Char- 00 reaction primarily to the problem of how lemagne’s wars against the Saxons and to secure the newly established Crusader Avars—Gübele dismisses the contempo- 00 states) contributing to the erasure of the rary religious framing of conflicts on the old line between the miles saeculi and basis that such framing was ‘formulaic,’ 1 the miles Christi. and because material concerns such as In sum, Gübele’s book succeeds in its plunder are also mentioned (pp. 163–5). stated aim of offering a thorough, sour- Yet can we truly be certain that such fra- page 416 ce-based history of the development of ming was less formulaic in the First Cru- the concept of Christian holy war in the sade? Moreover, where Gübele pronoun- 2020 early and central Middle Ages. His work ces material motives as disqualifying of moves deftly between the close reading holy war in the Carolingian period, he of primary sources and broader discussi- seems to allow at least for the possibility ons of the relationship between war and of such motives (alongside religious ones) religion. His analysis, meanwhile, is al- in the case of the First Crusade (pp. 310– ways sensitive to the range of historical 11), which of course he does deem a holy contexts covered. Nevertheless, the book war. Ultimately, if holy war is, in Gübele’s could have been improved in a few small view, simply a war conceived as a holy ac- areas. First, at several points Gübele deals tion, how can we be absolutely certain as in detail with material objects and arti- to whether a given conflict was or was not stic representations—as in Constantine’s conceived as such by any one individual or labarum and Heraclius’s acheiropoieton, group, especially given the fragmentary, for example. As such, illustrations would often formulaic, and frequently tendenti- have added substantial value to an already ous nature of our sources for war in the worthwhile text. (Of course, such matters are not always in the hands of authors.) early and central Middle Ages? Finally, Second, Greek texts are not consistently and on a related note, the backward-loo- dealt with in the original language. This ming specter of the First Crusade is, per- is somewhat surprising, given the weight haps understandably, nearly inescapable Gübele places on the supposed influence throughout the book. Indeed, Gübele’s of Byzantine notions of holy war in the work is in some senses an archaeology of West. Third, as Gübele himself makes the First Crusade, excavating its constitu- abundantly clear, the term ‘holy war’— ent parts (war as pilgrimage, remission of again, practically unknown in the early sins, the symbols of the cross and the holy and central Middle Ages—is a thoroughly lance, the idea of martyrdom in war, the vexed one in modern scholarship, a prob- memory of Heraclius, etc.). Such an appro- lem which he has attempted to resolve by ach is certainly valid. (it was the one taken providing yet another definition, i.e., war by Erdmann.) But unless made explicit, it as a holy action. Yet he does not always runs the risk of teleology, and of subordi- make an entirely convincing case as to nating earlier intersections of religion and why specific examples agree with or di- war to the perceived ‘end result’ of the verge from his own particular sense of the First Crusade. Mediaevistik 33 . 2020 415

These quibbles should be understood which they inspired, while others have as such, however. Gübele’s book offers charted his role as an inspiration and mo- significant insight into the relationship del to a host of medieval poets, like the between war and religion in the early and eleventh-century author of the elegiac central medieval West, and will prove an love poem known as Versus Eporedien- indispensable guide for anyone interested ses, the subject of a recent book by Marek in the subject. Perhaps most important- Thue Kretschmer, Latin Love Elegy and ly, Gübele lays bare the complicated and the Dawn of the Ovidian Age (Brepols, elusive nature of medieval holy war at a 2020). time in which simplistic, ahistorical ideas A worthy addition to this field of re- about the phenomenon are too often pro- search is the latest volume of the Dum- moted for narrow and often destructive barton Oaks Medieval Library, which political ends. collects “the surviving corpus of pseu- Christopher Landon, do-Ovidiana” (ix), that is, poems falsely Centre for Medieval Studies, University of attributed to Ovid in the Middle Ages. Toronto, [email protected] The title of the book, Appendix Ovidia- na, evokes the Appendix Vergiliana, the title of the collection of works attributed to Virgil in medieval Europe. Unlike that ancient corpus, however, these thirty-four poems ascribed to Ovid had diverse Appendix Ovidiana: Latin Poems Ascri- points of origin in time and did not travel bed to Ovid in the Middle Ages, ed. together in medieval manuscripts until Ralph Hexter, Laura Pfuntner, and Jus- the thirteenth century. tin Haynes. Dumbarton Oaks Medieval The volume presents these pseu- Library, 62. Cambridge, MA: Harvard do-Ovidian poems chronologically, but University Press, 2020, 510 pp. since their provenance is difficult to es- The medieval reception of the Roman tablish, the editors have organized them poet Ovid (43 B.C.E.-17 C.E.) is a field of according to their earliest manuscript historical inquiry that has advanced with attestation with Ovid named as their au- focused yet feverish industry in modern thor. The collection begins with two late scholarship. Already in 1881, Ludwig antique summaries of Virgil’s poems Traube recognized Ovid alongside Virgil (one dedicated solely to the Aeneid, the and Horace as one of the three most in- other encompassing the Eclogues and the fluential classical poets among medieval Georgics as well). These were products readers and christened the twelfth and of late antiquity, but their association thirteenth centuries as the “age of Ovid” with Ovid took place in the Carolingi- (aetas Ovidiana) because it was during an age. Their purpose was “to express this time that his work was most widely and inscribe Ovid’s subordinate status imitated. In the past few decades, scho- in every manuscript of Virgil in which lars like Frank Coulson and his students they appear” (xiii) at a time when Ovid’s have traced the far-reaching influence of work was still suspect among monastic Ovid’s poems in medieval schools, espe- readers. Early medieval authors also link­ cially through the commentary traditions ed Ovid to verses on the qualities of fish