Ansgar, Rimbert and the Forged Foundations of Hamburg-Bremen Church, Faith and Culture in the Medieval West
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Church, Faith and Culture in the Medieval West General Editors Brenda Bolton, Anne J. Duggan, and Damian J. Smith About the series The series Church, Faith and Culture in the Medieval West reflects the central concerns necessary for any in-depth study of the medieval Church – greater cultural awareness and interdisciplinarity. Including both monographs and edited collections, this new series draws on the most innovative work from established and younger scholars alike, offering a balance of interests, vertically though the period from c.400 to c.1500 or horizontally across Latin Christendom. Topics covered range from cultural history, the monastic life, relations between Church and State to law and ritual, palaeography and textual transmission. All authors, from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds, share a commitment to innovation, analysis and historical accuracy. About the volume Ansgar and Rimbert, ninth-century bishops and missionaries to Denmark and Sweden, are fixtures of medieval ecclesiastical history. Rare is the survey that does not pause to mention their work among the pagan peoples of the North and their foundation of an archdiocese centered at Hamburg and Bremen. But Ansgar and Rimbert were also clever forgers who wove a complex tapestry of myths and half-truths about themselves and their mission. They worked with the tacit approval-if not the outright cooperation-of kings and popes to craft a fictional account of Ansgar’s life and work. The true story, very different from that found in our history books, has never been told: Ansgar did not found any archdiocese at all. Rather, the idea of Hamburg-Bremen only took root in the tenth century, and royal sponsorship of the mission to Denmark and Sweden ended with the death of Louis the Pious. This book couples detailed philological and diplomatic analysis with broader historical contextualization to overturn the consensus view on the basic reliability of the foundation documents and Rimbert’s Vita Anskarii. By revising our understanding of Carolingian northeastern expansion after Charlemagne, it provides new insight into the political and ecclesiastical history of early medieval Europe. This page has been left blank intentionally AnsGAR, Rimbert and the FORGed FOUndatiOns OF HambURG-Bremen Church, Faith and Culture in the Medieval West General Editors Brenda Bolton, Anne J. Duggan and Damian J. Smith Other titles in the series: Saving the Souls of Medieval London Perpetual Chantries at St Paul’s Cathedral, c.1200–1548 Marie-Hélène Rousseau Readers, Texts and Compilers in the Earlier Middle Ages Studies in Medieval Canon Law in Honour of Linda Fowler-Magerl Edited by Martin Brett and Kathleen G. Cushing Shaping Church Law Around the Year 1000 TheDecretum of Burchard of Worms Greta Austin Pope Celestine III (1191–1198) Diplomat and Pastor Edited by John Doran and Damian J. Smith Bishops, Texts and the Use of Canon Law around 1100 Essays in Honour of Martin Brett Edited by Bruce C. Brasington and Kathleen G. Cushing Roma Felix – Formation and Reflections of Medieval Rome Edited by Éamonn Ó Carragáin and Carol Neuman de Vegvar Art and the Augustinian Order in Early Renaissance Italy Edited by Louise Bourdua and Anne Dunlop The Cult of St Katherine of Alexandria in Early Medieval Europe Christine Walsh Miracles and Wonders The Development of the Concept of Miracle, 1150–1350 Michael E. Goodich Ansgar, Rimbert and the Forged Foundations of Hamburg-Bremen ERIC Knibbs Stephan Kuttner Institute of Medieval Canon Law, Germany First published 2011 by Ashgate Publishing Published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2011 Eric Knibbs Eric Knibbs has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Ansgar, Rimbert and the forged foundations of Hamburg-Bremen. – (Church, faith and culture in the medieval West) 1. Catholic Church. Archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen–History–Sources. 2. Ansgar, Saint, Archbishop of Hamburg and Bremen, ca. 801–865. 3. Rimbert, Saint, Archbishop of Hamburg and Bremen, ca. 830–888. Vita Anskarii. 4. Missions–Germany–Saxony–History–To 1500. 5. Missions–Scandinavia–History–To 1500. 6. Church history–Middle Ages, 600–1500–Sources. 7. Catholic Church–Bishops–Biography. I. Series II. Knibbs, Eric. 282.4’3515’0902–dc22 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Knibbs, Eric. Ansgar, Rimbert, and the forged foundations of Hamburg-Bremen / Eric Knibbs. p. cm. — (Church, faith, and culture in the medieval West) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 978-1-4094-2882-4 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Catholic Church. Archdiocese of Hamburg- Bremen—History. 2. Ansgar, Saint, Archbishop of Hamburg and Bremen, ca. 801–865. 3. Rimbert, Saint, Archbishop of Hamburg and Bremen, ca. 830–888. Vita Anskarii. 4. Missions—Europe, Northern— History—Middle Ages, 600–1500. 5. Europe, Northern—Church history. I. Title. BX1538.H35K65 2011 282’.43515—dc22 2011005818 ISBN 9781409428824 (hbk) ISBN 9781315567266 (ebk) Contents Abbreviations ix Acknowledgments xi 1 Ansgar’s Predecessors 15 2 The Conquest of Saxony and Ebo’s Mission to the Danes 49 3 The Northern Mission in Transition, 830–834 71 4 Ansgar’s Failure in the North, 834–848 101 5 Ansgar, Bremen and the Pallium, 848–864 137 6 Rimbert and the Vita Anskarii 175 Conclusion 209 Appendix Peripheral Questions for the Early History of the Northern Mission 225 Bibliography 235 Index 251 This page has been left blank intentionally Abbreviations AASS Acta Sanctorum BM Böhmer-Mühlbacher, Regesta Imperii Germ. Pont. Germania Pontificia JK, JE, JL Jaffé, Regesta Pontificum Mansi Jean-Dominique Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova et Amplissima Collectio MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica Capit. Capitularia Regum Francorum Conc. Concilia Epp. Epistolae DD Arn Diplomata regum Germaniae ex stirpe Karolinorum 3 (Arnolfi Diplomata) DD LD Diplomata regum Germaniae ex stirpe Karolinorum 1 (Ludowici Germanici Diplomata) DD Kar Diplomata Karolinorum Dt. MA Deutsches Mittelalter: Kritische Studientexte SS Scriptores (in folio) SS rer. Germ. Scriptores rerum Germanicarum SS rer. merov. Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum PL Jacques-Paul Migne, Patrologia Latina This page has been left blank intentionally Acknowledgments I am above all indebted to Anders Winroth, who first suggested to me that there might be something wrong with the foundation documents for the archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen. I have benefited from his enthusiasm and honest criticism throughout this project. I am also deeply grateful to Marcia L. Colish, Colleen Farrell, Paul H. Freedman, Walter A. Goffart, Erica Miao, Dame Janet L. Nelson, Edward Peters, Steven A. Schoenig and Thomas G. Waldman, all of whom have read drafts or provided invaluable advice, vastly improving the quality of this book. This page has been left blank intentionally Introduction Sometime around the year 850, the prophet, bishop and missionary named Ansgar had a dream. He found himself walking in an unfamiliar city, looking for his former abbot, the long-dead Adalhard of Corvey. God in human form appeared to guide Ansgar, but refused to provide any advice. “You will find Adalhard by your own effort,” God said, “and no one may show him to you.” After some time Ansgar did find his old mentor, seated on a chair in a “shining and beautiful house.” Ansgar had a question but held it back, hoping to test Adalhard’s prophetic abilities. When Adalhard spoke he used only the words of Isaiah: “I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles,” he said as Ansgar knelt before him, “that thou mayst be my salvation even to the end of the earth.”1 As it happened, Ansgar had already brought salvation to the end of the earth, which was considered to reach its northernmost extent in Sweden. A quarter-century before this dream, Ansgar had been a monk and schoolteacher at the royal Saxon monastery known as Corvey. He held this post for several years before the missionaries recruited him. After a brief attempt to convert the Danes Ansgar traveled to Sweden, where he preached around Birka and won a few converts. Hopes were high, and in the ensuing enthusiasm Ansgar was made a bishop; according to his biographer, Pope Gregory IV and Louis the Pious put him in charge of a new archdiocese centered at Hamburg. Ansgar expected to convert enough pagans to justify his fledgling ecclesiastical province; Louis believed that exporting Christianity to the Danes would bring stability to the northeastern border of his empire. Ansgar’s project was novel and exotic enough to raise new questions about the practical limits of Christianity. One of his subordinates wrote to the leading theologian Ratramnus of Corbie to ask whether one should preach Christianity to cynocephali, or dog-headed men, as well as to ordinary humans. Previous writers had considered the cynocephali to be simple beasts without souls, but Ansgar’s assistant had seen enough to make him wonder. They lived in villages, he said; they practiced agriculture, wore clothes, and even had pets.2 1 Rimbert, Vita Anskarii c. 25 (ed. Georg Waitz, MGH SS rer. Germ. [Hanover, 1884]), 55; the scriptural citation is Isaiah 49:6. 2 The curious assistant is Rimbert; his inquiry is lost but Ratramnus’s response survives (ed. MGH Epp.