Narratives of Dissenting Aristocratic Identity in Medieval Bavaria
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University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2019 The Redeemed, the Condemned, and the Forgotten: Narratives of Dissenting Aristocratic Identity in Medieval Bavaria Luke Bohmer University of Central Florida Part of the Medieval History Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Bohmer, Luke, "The Redeemed, the Condemned, and the Forgotten: Narratives of Dissenting Aristocratic Identity in Medieval Bavaria" (2019). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 6733. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/6733 THE REDEEMED, THE CONDEMNED, AND THE FORGOTTEN: NARRATIVES OF DISSENTING ARISTOCRATIC IDENTITY IN MEDIEVAL BAVARIA by LUKE BOHMER A.A. Seminole State College, 2012 B.A. Rollins College, 2015 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of History in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Fall Term 2019 © 2019 Luke Bohmer ii ABSTRACT Identity in the Middle Ages encompassed numerous methods of transmission. Those of which that survive today include artwork, architecture, and written sources. In the case of written sources, the nobility and the clergy dominated the narrative to a substantial degree. Chroniclers of the Holy Roman Empire in specific saw both regional and pan-imperial narratives influence this identity through the exploration of historical figures. The medieval duchy of Bavaria fell into this milieu but experienced a substantially different relationship with its nobility from the twelfth century onward. The more condensed and consolidated format of medieval Bavaria under the Wittelsbach dynasty – as well as conscious efforts to project said configuration backward through history via chronicles – resulted in a uniquely Bavarian aristocratic identity into the early modern period. This aristocratic identity was the result of chroniclers’ pedagogical and didactic intention across laity and clergy in informing the mores and values of the Bavarian nobility, in addition to the history of their institution. Through Latin and later vernacular chronicles, courtiers and clergy expressed the veneration or damnation of key historical figures in Bavarian history to instill values and sets of ideal behaviors by the end of the fifteenth century. This thesis explores the changing narratives of three such figures, all of whom acted as thematic antagonists to prominent German kings and emperors: Tassilo III, Arnulf the Bad, and Henry the Lion. Ultimately, the widespread virtues of piety, respect for the clergy, and subservience to the emperor formed the main pillars of Bavarian aristocratic identity. However, Bavarian chroniclers required preexisting clerical traditions of chronicling, as well as adherence to the official narratives of the house of Wittelsbach, in order to fit these dissenting historical figures into a usable symbolic context. iii To my family and my wife, Julia iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Duncan Hardy, for giving me the guidance and direction I needed along the way. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Rosalind Beiler and Dr. Edward Dandrow, who helped me immensely in honing my skills and expanding my knowledge throughout my graduate career. I would like to thank Dr. Peter Larson and Dr. Amelia Lyons for giving me the opportunities to truly dive into history as a profession. I owe my methodology to the works of Dr. Alois Schmid and Dr. Stefan Dicker of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Finally, I would like to thank my colleagues Kody Whittington, Matthew Patsis, Onyx de la Osa, Callie Henson, Carys O’Neill, Quintella Greene, and Bryce Forgue for offering their unending support, advice, and insights. v TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 The Land Bayern and Germany .................................................................................................. 1 A Short History of Bavarian Chronicling ................................................................................... 9 Narratives of Condemnation and Identity ................................................................................. 24 CHAPTER 1: TASSILO III AND THE ROLE OF THE CLERGY ............................................ 26 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 26 The Narrative of Tassilo III ...................................................................................................... 27 Tassilo’s Narrative in the Twelfth Through Fourteenth Centuries ........................................... 32 Tassilo’s Narrative in the Fifteenth Century ............................................................................. 35 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 48 CHAPTER 2: ARNULF THE BAD AND NARRATIVES OF DERISION ............................... 52 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 52 The Narrative of Arnulf ............................................................................................................ 54 Arnulf’s Narrative in the Twelfth Through Fourteenth Centuries ............................................ 61 Arnulf’s Narrative in the Fifteenth Century .............................................................................. 72 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 86 CHAPTER 3: HENRY THE LION AND DISUSED NARRATIVES OF IDENTITY .............. 90 vi Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 90 The Narrative of Henry the Lion .............................................................................................. 92 Henry the Lion’s Narrative in the Twelfth Through Fourteenth Centuries .............................. 95 Henry the Lion’s Narrative in the Fifteenth Century .............................................................. 104 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 118 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 122 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 130 vii INTRODUCTION The Land Bayern and Germany Throughout the majority of the Middle Ages, most of German-speaking Europe was a conglomeration of deeply interconnected entities, such as bishoprics, towns, and territories. It was not until the nineteenth century – and the unification of Germany into a geopolitical state – that top-down, state-run, institutional assertions of self-conception began to flourish in ways twentieth- and twenty-first-century scholars would ultimately label as modern nationalism.1 However, this type of pan-Germanism did not form from nothing, and indeed the “German Lands” as a cultural concept did factor into the awareness of medieval and early modern Germans. But how did these lands and their people view themselves as a part of this whole, and how did their inhabitants reconcile their regional and imperial identities? Even though the myriad territories of the Holy Roman Empire knew what it meant to be “German” during the Middle Ages, regional identities existed and were indeed influential. People living in Swabia, Saxony, the Palatinate, and other territories within the empire viewed themselves as both German and something else, consciously aware of their place in an imperial whole. Historians view this sense of identity as encompassing the feeling of personhood, consciousness, and place expressed within a system of society, as well as the mores and values important to the individuals residing within those spheres.2 For the Holy Roman Empire, one of the main subsets 1 Leopold von Ranke, History of the Reformation in Germany, trans. Sarah Austin (Boston: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1909), 27-8. 2 Philip Gleason, “Identifying Identity: A Semantic History,” The Journal of American History 69, no. 4 (1983): 930-1. 1 of medieval identities that survive today are those produced by the nobility. Art, architecture, and written sources provide insight for modern historians into the nobility’s mores and values, or at least the ones they felt obliged to propagate. The nobility and clergy of the medieval duchy of Bavaria likewise viewed themselves as participants and often managers of this creation of identity. With this curation came a unique concept of Bavarian-ness expressed through the various forms of media available. The noble experience in the medieval German lands was for the most part fluid and fragmented, with acquisitions of land taking place constantly