Beihefte Der Francia Bd. 52 2001
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Sources hagiographiques de la Gaule VIII JOHN HOW E The Hagiography of Saint-Wandrille (Fontenelle ) (Province of Haute-Normandie) GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY The Genera l Bibliography concernin g Saint-Wandrille has been placed a t the top o f the Jumièges dossier (SHG VII, p. 91-93) INTRODUCTION Early medieva l hagiography i n the archdiocese o f Rouen cam e from monasteries , so much so that even episcopal saints are generally seen through the eyes of monks1. The narrative hagiograph y survivin g fro m th e dioces e o f Roue n itsel f i s almost al l fro m three monasti c center s - Saint-Wandrille (Fontenelle) , Jumièges, and Saint-Oue n a t Rouen. Each of these houses and its dependents produced interrelated hagiographica l documents. Saint-Wandrille (Fontenelle) was the most prolific hagiographical center in the ear- ly medieval diocese of Rouen. This abbey, originally dedicated to Saint Peter, was es- tablished around 649 in the valley of the Fontenelle near the lower Seine2. Its founder , Wandregisilus (d. around 668, at least before 672), whose name it came to bear, was an Austrasian nobleman who abandoned Kin g Dagobert's court to embark on a spiritu- al quest . Ultimatel y h e reache d th e archdioces e o f Roue n wher e h e establishe d a monastery. His work prospered, aided by Archbishop Audoenus, the Neustrian elite, and the royal fisc. Half a century after hi s death, Saint-Wandrille controlled an alleged 4264 manses (LOT 1913, xxvi). That it became a literary center is evidenced by two for- tuitously surviving early manuscripts - a vita o f Wandregisilus and a copy of Jerome's ::' M y thanks to the SHG directors for many substantial contributions to this study, to the German His- torical Institute in Paris for hospitalit y grants in 1995 and 1998, and to Felice Lifshitz fo r her kindnes s in sharing her materials and research on Norman hagiography . 1 Monastic dominance of hagiography in the region of Rouen and in greater Normandy i s analyzed in Fe- lice LIFSHITZ, Eigh t Me n In: Rouennais Traditions o f Archiépiscopal Sanctity, in: The Haskins Societ y Journal 2 (1990) p. 63-74; Nancy GAUTHIER, Quelque s hypothèse s su r l a rédaction de s vies des saints évêques de Normandie, in: Memoriam sanctorum vénérantes-. Miscellanea in onore di Monsignor Victor Saxer, Vatican City 1992 , p . 457-60 (Studi di antichità cristiana, 48); an d LIFSHITZ 1995,119-20 and 126-27. 2 LO T 1913 , iii-viii, argues for a date of 645, but 649 remains more generally accepted . 128 John How e martyrology - which managed to reach safe havens prior to the Viking invasions3. The Vita Ansberti (chap . 13) claims that 8th-cent . Saint-Wandrill e ha d about a thousand charters in its archives. That boast might sound incredible, but the 9th-cent. author(s) of the Gesta abbatum Fontanellensium di d have the resources available to incorporate into the Gesta material from about fifty charter s written in the first third o f the eighth century or earlier (LOT 1913, xiii). This prosperity initially suffered under the Carolingians. Imposed abbots looted the monastery. Donations ceased. Monastic holdings were reduced to 1582 manses4. Even- tually the fortune o f the monks began to improve5. The monastery's physical plant was rebuilt and its domains came to boast a n impressive number o f water mills 6. Yet 9th- cent. debates over provisioning arrangements leave some doubt about whether the do- mestic economy was ever fully stabilized 7. Vikings burned the monastery i n 851 and 858. Its monks began a series of ill-doc- umented wanderings, accompanied by the relics of their greatest saints, peregrinations discussed below in the context of the fragmentary hagiographica l evidence. By the mid 10th century, the exiled community had lost its coherence. Its relics were acquired b y Saint-Pierre a u Mont-Blandin o f Ghent. Monks from Ghen t attempted to recolonize Saint-Wandrille in 960, but the restored monastery was an undistinguished house un- til well into the 11th century. Saint-Wandrille honored at least eight of its saints in narrative hagiographical works written before the year 1000:1. Ansbertus; II. Childemarca; III. Condedus; IV Erem - bertus; V Lantbertus; VI. Vulframnus; VII. Waltfridus; and VIII. Wandregisilus. In this present study, the Roman numerals designating these dossiers are used in cross refer - ences, which are frequent becaus e the texts are interrelated. The dossiers vary greatly: many texts commemorate Ansbertus and Wandregisilus; none at all survive today fo r Childemarca and Waltfridus . This impressive collection might have been even larger i f the books o f Saint-Wan- drille had been better preserved, not only during the Viking era but also during the ear- ly modern age. Lost texts such as the Ss. Vandregisili et Vulfranni liber metrice, note d at 14th-cent . Saint-Wandrille (LAPORT E 1937-38, 27), might have had earl y medieva l antecedents but today this cannot be demonstrated. Additional saints associated with the house could hav e been commemorated i n their own earl y medieval narrative ha- giography, but hav e been omitted her e because o f a lack o f positive evidence . Their 3 The 7th/8th-cent. Vita Wandregisili (Paris, BNF lat. 18315) which survived at Corbie is discussed in sec- tion VIII. 1 below. A 772 version o f Jerome's martyrology (Wolfenbiittel , Herzo g Augus t Bibl. , Weis- senburg 81), the oldest o f this martyrology's important »Fontenell e family«, survived a t Weissenburg: see Hans BUTZMANN , Die Weissenburger Handschriften, Frankfur t a . M. 1964, p. 242-44 (Kataloge der Herzog Augus t Bibliothek , Wolfenbiittel , n. s. 10), and als o Jean VEZIN, Les scriptoria de Neustrie, 650-850, in: ATSM A 1989, 2 : 309 . 4 LOT 1913, xiii-xxix, esp. xxvi; WOOD 1991, 10-12. 5 Jea n HEUCLIN, Les abbés des monastères neustriens 650-850, in: ATSMA 1989,1:330-31 ; LIFSHITZ 1995, 63. 6 Carol HEITZ, Architecture et monuments de Neustrie, in: ATSMA 1989,2:191-93. On the 67 water mills Saint-Wandrille had in operation by 780, see Dietrich LOHRMANN , Le moulin à eau dans la cadre de l'é- conomie rurale de la Neustrie (VIIe-IXe siècles), in: ATSMA 1989 , 1: 367-404. 7 Gesta abbatum Fontanellensium i v (2) vs. xiii (8), ed. PRADIÉ 1999 , 64-65 and 184-91 . SHG VIII: Hagiography o f Saint-Wandrill e 129 number includes Godo, the nephew of Wandregisilus8; Waningus, an early benefacto r of Saint-Wandrill e an d o f th e firs t nun s o f Fecamp 9; Bainus , th e fift h abbot 10 an d Ansegisus, the eighteenth abbo t n. Als o not treated her e are texts written elsewher e concerning Saint-Wandrill e saints , such a s the vita o f th e Saint-Wandrille mon k Er - menlandus who became bishop of Nantes and was commemorated there 12, the vita o f Ansbertus' fiancé Angadrisma which stems from Beauvais 13, and the lost translatio o f Wandregisilus written at Ghent 14. Readers should be aware that all the obituary dates here are uncertain. Because none of these saints lived much past the 7th century, their obits were originally reckoned in abbatial and regna l years, not i n incarnational years . Saint-Wandrille, unfortunately , does not seem to have had either a single accepted lis t of abbatial reigns or a standard system for correlating them with royal ones. Subsequent historians have not found a universally accepted way to eliminate the resulting inconsistencies. I. ANSBERTU S Ansbertus (Fr . Ansbert) f 9. II. around 698 at Hautmont-sur-Sambre, repatriated to Fontenelle Bishop o f Rouen, Abbot o f Fontenelle (Dept. Seine-Maritime ) 8 Godo (d. late 7th cent.) appears in the vitae o f his uncle Wandregisilus (see VIII. 1 and VIII.4) and with his uncle in the Gesta abbatum Fontanellensium i (4-7), ed. PRADIÉ 1999 , 10-24. Ultimately he would be honored i n two versions o f a vita (BH L 3594 and 3595), based largel y on the above. A vita wa s at Saint-Wandrille in 1481 in the monastery's Lectionarius magnus (se e LAPORTE 1937-38,23). Yet no pos- itive evidence demonstrates the existence of an early medieval Vita Godonis. 9 Waningus (d. around 688) is commemorated i n BHL 8811-8814, fragmented »vitae« which are actual- ly excerpts o f the anonymous De Revelatione, aedificatione et auctoritate Fiscannensis monasterii (P L 151: 699-724 , esp. 707-12). The present written tradition owe s much to the hagiographical tradition s of Wandregisilus, Audoenus, etc. PONCELET 1904, p. 251-54, places the earliest known copy in the late 11 th century. 10 Bainus (d. around 710) is described i n the Gesta abbatum Fontanellensium ii , ed. PRADIÉ 1999 , 26-37. Bainus is discussed i n AASS Jun. IV (1701), 26-29. In the 14t h century, Saint-Wandrille's Passionarium II containe d a text for Bainus, as noted i n LAPORTE 1937-38, 18.