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Clerics and Troubadours

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Clerics and Troubadours CHAPTER 5 The Culture (Ninth–Twelfth Centuries): Clerics and Troubadours Isabel Grifoll 1 Carolingian “renovatio” Carolingian domain opened Catalonia to the Northern European cultural en- vironment. Charlemagne (742/747–814) promoted an ambitious cultural pro- gramme across his empire that is known historiographically as the Carolingian renovatio or Carolingian Renaissance. It was fuelled by the desire to unite the different peoples and ethnic groups that made up the empire by giving them a common culture. Culture was an instrument of policy, especially after Charlemagne’s coronation as Imperator romanorum in Rome (800). The Carolingian renovatio was built around two main axes, namely the Catholic faith as a principle of cohesion and the legitimation of the imperi- um through the revival of the classical roman legacy (imitatio imperii). After his coronation, Charlemagne felt he was the continuance of Augustus’ impe- rial lineage (Imperator Augustus) and he mirrored himself particularly on the model of the Roman Empire Christianised by Constantine I (272–337). Aware of the expansion of Christianity in the West, Charlemagne saw this as a good vehicle for the administrative and institutional reform of the empire. The em- peror’s good relations with the Church in Rome, the guardian of the ancient culture, favoured the assumption of the classical legacy. The culture of the Franks was inferior to that of other western peoples (Ireland, Saxon England, Longobard Italy or Visigoth Hispania). Their con- quests brought the Franks into contact with these areas, which furnished men and books for the Carolingian scriptoria and schools. The renovatio was, to a great extent, the work of foreign intellectuals. Charlemagne included them in the Schola palatina, a centre for reform set up near Aachen after his second journey to Rome (781). Notable figures there included the Anglo-Saxon Alcuin of York (735–804), the Longobards Peter of Pisa (744–799) and Paul the Deacon (720–799), and Irishmen, Clement of Ireland (c.750–818) and Dungal of Bobbio (c.811–827/828) the Hispanic Theodulf of Orleans (c.750–821), and Claudius of Turin (?–c.827) in the times of Louis the Pious. Other incorporations were the © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi ��.��63/97890043496��_006 126 Grifoll Franks, Adalard of Corbie (c.751–827), Angilbert of Saint-Riquier (c.750–814), and Einhard (or Eginhard, c.770–840).1 The Carolingian intellectuals undertook the task of standardising the liturgy. Alcuin played an important role in replacing the Gallican rites with the Roman ones. The so-called Missal of Alcuin, based on the Gregorian sacramentary and other liturgical sources, was prescribed first as the missal of the Frankish church before spreading around the territories of the empire, so contributing to standardising the liturgy of the mass in the western Church. The scriptoria were dedicated to the grammatical and theological homologation of the holy books. There was no stable text of the Vulgata available, which, with time and various transmissions, had undergone textual dispersion and variatio. The Vulgata was revised (recensio) and expositiones or interpretationes of it were written. Alcuin’s work on these matters has not survived. In contrast, we do know the work of revision and hermeneutics by Theodulf of Orleans (Codex Memmianus). The iconoclast exegesis of Claudius of Turin, promoted by Louis the Pious, was later condemned by the Pope. The main task of the scriptoria was to copy holy texts for the monastic or canonical foundations of the empire. A precise grammatical instrument was essential to meet these challenges. The Franks, who spoke a Germanic dialects, had never been Romanised. In contrast, the Bible and its commentaries were only accessible in Latin. The ef- forts of the schools were concentrated on Latin. There was a need for a language and style of writing that tended towards the fluency and exactitude of classical Latin. A standard Latin was also essential to enable communication among the educated elites of the empire (vital in the administration). Unifying the script was the first step. The Carolingian minuscule, standardised in the monastery of Corbie (eighth-ninth centuries), was a revolution. Alcuin had a leading role in its creation and dissemination. It was applied first in the great monastic centres for the transcription of the Holy Scriptures. It was then taught in the episcopal and monastic schools. Finally, it reached the public administration. The principles of the Carolingian renovatio called for spreading teaching as widely as possible. The intellectual and moral training of the clergy was es- sential for the reforms. They had to conduct the Roman liturgy correctly and fulfil tasks in the administration. Educational reform was based on the liberal arts. Alcuin established the Trivium and the Quadrivium as an educational pro- gramme, mainly orientated towards the interpretation of the holy texts. He inherited the legacy of another Anglo-Saxon, the Venerable Bede (673–735), whose work was a scholarly anthology. The grammatica was the indispensable piece in the system. The un-Romanised clergy in the Frankish kingdom had 1 Pierre Riché, Écoles et enseignement dans le Haut Moyen Âge (Paris, 1979)..
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