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Home , Carolingian dynasty, Charlemagne, Charles the Fat

Alessandro Barbero. : Father of a Continent. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. 426 pp. $29.95, cloth, ISBN 978-0-520-23943-2.

Celia Chazelle. The Crucifed God in the Carolingian Era: Theology and Art of Christ's Passion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. xiii + 338 pp. $100.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-521-80103-4.

Simon MacLean. Kingship and Politics in the Late Ninth Century: the Fat and the End of the . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. xvi + 262 pp. $70.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-521-81945-9.

Rosamond McKitterick. History and Memory in the Carolingian World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. xvi + 337 pp. $84.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-521-82717-1.

H-Net Reviews

Herbert Schutz. The Carolingians in Central , Their History, Arts and Architecture: A Cultural History of , 750-900. Leiden: Brill, 2004. xxxi + 407 pp. $186.00, cloth, ISBN 978-90-04-13149-1.

Reviewed by Anna Lisa Taylor

Published on H-German (April, 2005)

Four recent books on the Carolingian world term to renaissance since it was used by contem‐ deal with issues of empire, history and identity, poraries) as a synthesis of Christian, classical, and and the ways that the present and the perception Germanic elements promoted by the Carolingians, of the past shape each other. A ffth book exam‐ particularly Charlemagne. Schutz's fairly conven‐ ines the complex Christological debates of the tional overview of the Carolingian 's as‐ late-eighth and ninth centuries and shows how cendancy, empire, and decline in the frst section theologians constructed their arguments in re‐ of the book forms the context for his investigation sponse to doctrinal controversy. These books deal of material culture. The second and third sections with issues such as the legitimating myths of iden‐ of the work, focusing on the book arts and archi‐ tity, the ways that texts are informed by each oth‐ tecture respectively, show how objects and build‐ er, the extent to which history is written by the ings combined diverse infuences to represent the victors of theological as well as military and polit‐ unifying and legitimating idea of the Imperium ical confict and, more generally, how contempo‐ Christianum, a Christian empire on earth in rary context shaped--and shapes--the writing of which the new chosen people, the , were history and the production of images. ruled over by a new . Schutz describes vari‐ In The Carolingians in Central Europe, Schutz ous works of literature, manuscripts, ivory carv‐ aims to integrate the frequently separate areas of ings, reliquaries, , and churches to demon‐ political history and the study of material culture. strate the variety of styles within the Carolingian Schutz's large, copiously illustrated work is the realms, particularly eastern . The book is a ffth in a series on the history of central Europe. storehouse of information and illustrations of the While the earlier volumes looked at Germanic, diverse artifacts of Carolingian culture, let down Roman, and Merovingian archaeological evi‐ only by poor editing, which results in tortuous dence, this volume focuses on portable objects, sentences and typographical errors (for example, particularly illuminated manuscript books, and "evoque" on p. 226, and "revoqued" on p. 98). sacred and secular architecture. Grounded as he McKitterick, in History and Memory in the is in the Germanic culture of central Europe, Carolingian World, also looks at the historical Schutz challenges the interpretation of the Car‐ precedents the Carolingians and their allies used olingian Renaissance as a revival of classical to justify their rule over a unifed Frankish peo‐ . Rather, he sees the renovatio (a preferable ple. According to McKitterick the identity and vali‐

2 H-Net Reviews dation of the Carolingians and their empire was narrative historical sources, namely cartularies based not only on their status as heirs to the and the confraternity books known as libri vitae. Christian kingdoms of the Old Testament and She shows how these works, like the narrative Rome, but also in relation to classical, and "bar‐ histories, can be read as creating a past to serve barian" history. In this original and thought-pro‐ the present and the future. Such an analysis could voking book, McKitterick looks at a narrower encompass an even wider range of texts, such as range of sources than Schutz and examines the saints' vitae and miracula. As Lifshitz has shown, context of their production and consumption in such texts were erroneously labeled "hagiogra‐ greater detail. phy" in the nineteenth century, but were often The copying of older imperial Roman, Chris‐ considered historia by their creators and, like tian, and barbarian histories, the composition of chronicles, annals, and cartularies, they created a more contemporary narratives, and the develop‐ particular version of the past to serve the present. ment of new genres (for example, annals) attest to [3] the intense "historical mindedness" (p. 273) of the While McKitterick complicates our methods late-eighth and ninth centuries. Using the physical for reading the manuscripts of texts, and there‐ evidence of the manuscripts and their transmis‐ fore how we use them in reconstructing events sion patterns, McKitterick rejects the scholarly from the past (such as Bernard's revolt against pursuit of an "Ur" text (the lost original) in favor in 817), Barbero takes a very dif‐ of examining the specifc motivations and re‐ ferent approach, synthesizing vast amounts of in‐ quirements of the audience, compilers, and au‐ formation from the primary sources into a thors of each manuscript. McKitterick's close straightforward and accessible account. Barbero's reading of a number of texts and manuscripts re‐ Charlemagne: Father of a Continent, compellingly veals a wider culture in which memories of the translated by Cameron, is clearly intended for a past were selected and shaped to support the Car‐ general reading public as well as scholars. To this olingian dynasty and to create Frankish identity. end, the chapters present clear and straightfor‐ Scholars such as Sharon Farmer, Patrick J. Geary, ward discussions, largely unencumbered by ‐ Thomas Head, and Amy G. Remensnyder have ex‐ notes to secondary sources, of various aspects of amined the texts and rituals of religious institu‐ Charlemagne's life and empire, while the bibliog‐ tions to see how these houses formulated their raphy for each chapter presents a detailed and histories to create communal identity and infu‐ well-documented essay on the historiographical ence relations with other sources of authority.[1] arguments that underlie Barbero's synthesis. For McKitterick diferentiates herself from this school this reason, the book will be appealing to non-me‐ by her relentlessly codicological approach, her dievalists, who will be interested to know that primary focus on the politics of empire, rather Charlemagne, like other people of his time, did than religion, and her consideration of the cogni‐ not eat breakfast (p. 121), but also useful to schol‐ tive aspects of memory. Thus she unites two re‐ ars for its convenient summations of recent histo‐ cent approaches to medieval memory, one that riography, although the latter may be rankled by deals with the creation of a communal past and the easy use of problematic terms such as feudal‐ another, exemplifed by the work of Mary Car‐ ism (a term also used by Schutz) and Barbero's ruthers, that focuses on the thought structures ready acceptance of the evidence from laudatory that underlay medieval memory and creativity.[2] sources, such as , in the body of the book. In addition to histories, annals, biographies, Although it discusses aspects of Charle‐ and letters, McKitterick uses what she terms non- magne's origins, character, and family life, this

3 H-Net Reviews work is not simply a biography, since it includes cates to this , Schutz characterizes Charles the chapters on social and military history that barely Fat (r. 876-888), as an "inept man" who "gave re‐ mention the . Because this book covers peated evidence of his weakness, poor judgment, such a vast subject, it cannot possibly be compre‐ and general incompetence" (p. 129). It is this stan‐ hensive, and so the reader comes away knowing dard view, of Charles as a passive, sickly, inefec‐ much more about what it was like to be a male tive king ruling over a moribund empire, that peasant than a monk, and more about the size of MacLean challenges. livestock (Carolingian chickens were smaller than MacLean discusses the main source for the their modern counterparts) than about the daily accepted view of Charles, the continuator life of peasant women. The real subject of this of the Annals of , and concludes that its au‐ wide-ranging book is not the emperor as much as thor's sympathies mean that it should not be tak‐ the empire--its administration, military organiza‐ en at face value. Using a number of sources, in‐ tion, and social structure--and, as Barbero makes cluding other annals, charters, and epic poetry, explicit in the introduction, he views this subject MacLean creates a picture of a ruler beset by from the perspective of the . This problems of succession, who administered his em‐ approach creates a tension between seeing the pire actively and usually with the assistance of lo‐ past in its own terms (Barbero observes that it is cal elites. This model of a cooperative, rather than anachronistic to ask whether Charlemagne's birth constantly competitive, relationship between the was illegitimate) and an in fnding echoes king and the local aristocrats is part of a wider and origins of the present (Charlemagne's stan‐ scholarly move toward a more nuanced model of dard currency is described as a "proto-"). Carolingian politics. In his rehabilitation of This tension is inherent in all historical scholar‐ , MacLean follows , ship and Barbero should not be criticized for ren‐ who, in her 1992 book, reevaluated the reign of dering it transparent, nor for using it to make his Charles the Fat's uncle, , who has work relevant to a non-specialist audience. In‐ also been characterized as a weak king whose em‐ deed, Barbero's interest in how the present pire was in decline.[4] shapes the writing of the past contributes to one MacLean argues that the conventional inter‐ of the most interesting features of this book, a dis‐ pretation of Charles the Fat has persisted because cussion of the contested versions of Charlemagne it coheres with several historical master narra‐ presented by French and German in tives about royal power and nationhood (p. 3). the twentieth century. Barbero's emperor does MacLean shows that this interpretation is teleo‐ not bear the anachronistic weight of nationalism logical, seeing the fall of the empire as the in‐ but the ideological burden of a unifed Europe. evitable result of three factors: Charles's inefca‐ That an Italian presents Charlemagne's cy, the rise of aristocrats who challenged royal au‐ Frankish empire as a way to think about Euro‐ thority, and regional fragmentation, which ulti‐ pean unifcation in itself reveals an implicitly mately led to the rise of nation-states. MacLean western idea of Europe. argues that Charles governed as efectively as an In contrast to Barbero's overarching (and early medieval ruler could, that the king and the largely triumphal) narrative of Charlemagne's aristocratic magnates interacted as they always empire, MacLean's Kingship and Politics in the had, and that there is inadequate evidence for the Late Ninth Century: Charles the Fat and the End evolution of politically cohesive regional units at of the Carolingian Empire focuses on the political this time. According to MacLean, Charles's down‐ history of Charlemagne's great grandson, a much fall was a direct result of his lack of heirs and the less celebrated monarch. In the few pages he dedi‐

4 H-Net Reviews frustrated aspirations of the illegitimate Carolin‐ By focusing exclusively on the late-eighth and gian Arnulf, rather than an unavoidable conse‐ ninth centuries, Chazelle is able to discuss the so‐ quence of Charles's weakness combined with in‐ phisticated Christology of this period in its own exorable forces of fragmentation. right in the detail that it warrants. Recent studies This book is clearly written and structured, of Carolingian religious culture, like Schutz's book enabling the reader to navigate the complex de‐ discussed here, have tended to examine the ways bates about intricate political machinations, such in which the Old Testament was used as a model as the fall of the arch-chancellor Liutward and the for .[6] Chazelle, however, gives a height‐ divorce of the empress Richgard in 887, or the ened sense of the importance of the New Testa‐ meaning of Louis of 's adoption. ment to Carolingian religious thought. She situ‐ MacLean's sly sense of humor occasionally shows ates the theological texts by examining how they through, for instance in his footnote attesting that responded to doctrinal controversies over the na‐ we do not actually know the girth of Charles the ture of Christ and predestination. By placing the Fat, whose unfattering nickname derives from Christological texts at the very center of her book, the twelfth century (p. 2). The main problem that Chazelle works in the same tradition as Amy Hol‐ besets the author is the partial nature of the evi‐ lywood (who looks at late medieval mystical texts) dence. Having undermined the reliability of the and Rachel Fulton, who read their sources as the Mainz continuator of the Annals of Fulda, he is serious theology that their authors intended.[7] forced to reconstruct both the character of Chazelle, in clearly explaining the complex texts Charles's reign and the events leading to Arnulf's and disputes, posits various diferent relation‐ coup from fragmentary sources. The piecemeal ships between the worshipper and Christ (who nature of these sources means that some argu‐ could be both lordly and compassionate), and ments--such as the link between Liutward and shows that there was not simply one, static Car‐ Richgard--are based on layers of well-argued olingian Christology, but a subtle and nuanced set probability rather than any frm evidence. It at‐ of interpretations that changed over the ninth tests to the clarity of MacLean's writing that the century. reader is able to discern exactly where the evi‐ While her approach is less codicological than dence ends and the author's interpretation begins. McKitterick's, Chazelle also undertakes a sensitive While Schutz, McKitterick, Barbero, and reading of individual texts, privileging the speci‐ MacLean are variously interested in political his‐ fcity of each work. Unlike Schutz and McKitter‐ tory, and its intersections with literary and artistic ick, Chazelle does not provide an overarching nar‐ production, Chazelle deals with theological texts rative about the purpose or message of the and images. In The Crucifed God in the Carolin‐ sources she studies as much as she emphasizes gian Era: Theology and Art of Christ's Passion, the subtlety and diversity of their doctrines. Ac‐ Chazelle draws on some of the same sources as cording to Chazelle, this diversity was possible Schutz, such as the Psalter and Rhabanus within the Carolingian church because the au‐ Maurus's picture poems on the cross, but while thors all participated in the shared and unifying Schutz aims for a broad synthesis, Chazelle's focus ritual of liturgy. The comparison of Schutz and is on close readings of the sources in their histori‐ McKitterick with Chazelle points to a tension in cal contexts. the fve books reviewed here, between specifcity and synthesis, between emphasizing the complex‐ Carolingian theology is often treated as the ity of Carolingian intellectual and political culture origin of later thought or the foil against which and ftting the myriad details into a coherent sto‐ developments of the high are read.[5] ry. Using very diferent methodologies, Schutz and

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McKitterick both attempt to balance the details Canadian Journal of History/ Annales canadi‐ and the big picture. MacLean, by contrast, evinces ennes d'histoire 30 (1995): pp. 77-83. a distrust of overarching narratives. He uses [3]. Felice Lifshitz, "Beyond Positivism and meticulous source analysis to dismantle the ac‐ Genre: 'Hagiographic' Texts as Historical Narra‐ cepted story of the inevitable fall of Charles the tive," Viator 25 (1994): pp. 95-113. Fat and the rise of nation-states and replaces it [4]. Janet Nelson, Charles the Bald (London: with a more complicated and contingent version Longman, 1992). of events. Barbero writes a diferent kind of histo‐ ry, whose very purpose is the presentation of a co‐ [5]. Rachel Fulton, From Judgment to Passion: herent, meaningful, and relevant narrative to a Devotion to Christ and the Virgin Mary, 800-1200 wide audience. Accordingly, he embraces an up‐ (New : Columbia University Press, 2002). dated version of the narrative of the Carolingian [6]. See especially Yitzak Hen and Matthew origins of Europe. While McKitterick focuses on a Innes, eds., The Uses of the Past in the Early Mid‐ recent historiographic obsession, how medieval dle Ages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, people remembered and rewrote their pasts, Bar‐ 2000). bero provides the most transparent example of [7]. Amy Hollywood, The Soul as Virgin Wife: the continuity of this process. Like the compilers Mechthild of , Marguerite Porete, and of ninth-century cartularies, or the Mainz contin‐ Meister Eckhart (Notre Dame: University of Notre uator, modern scholars write a Carolingian past Dame Press, 1995). that refects a contemporary set of concerns, about European origins, complex political negoti‐ ations, and a self-conscious literary culture that deliberately created and recreated its own history. Notes [1]. Sharon Farmer, Communities of Saint Martin: Legend and Ritual in Medieval (Ithaca: Cornell, 1991); Patrick J. Geary, Phantoms of Remembrance: Memory and Oblivion at the End of the First Millennium (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994); Thomas Head, Hagiogra‐ phy and the Cult of Saints: The Diocese of Orleans, 800-1200 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990); Amy G. Remensnyder, Remembering Kings Past: Monastic Foundation Legends in Me‐ dieval Southern (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1995). [2]. Mary Carruthers, The Book of Memory: A Study of Memory in Medieval Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990); Mary Car‐ ruthers, The Craft of Thought: Meditation, Rhetoric, and the Making of Images, 400-1200 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998); Faith Wallis, "Ambiguities of Medieval 'Memoria'"

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Citation: Anna Lisa Taylor. Review of Barbero, Alessandro. Charlemagne: Father of a Continent. ; Chazelle, Celia. The Crucifed God in the Carolingian Era: Theology and Art of Christ's Passion. ; MacLean, Simon. Kingship and Politics in the Late Ninth Century: Charles the Fat and the End of the Carolingian Empire. ; McKitterick, Rosamond. History and Memory in the Carolingian World. ; Schutz, Herbert. The Carolingians in Central Europe, Their History, Arts and Architecture: A Cultural History of Central Europe, 750-900. H-German, H-Net Reviews. April, 2005.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=10422

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

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