Introduction the GSR : REDON ’S IDEALS and REALITIES
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Rutger Kramer – RMA Thesis – Monastic Ideals and the Use of the Bible in the GSR – 2007 Introduction THE GSR : REDON ’S IDEALS AND REALITIES Once upon a time, in the region that is nowadays known as Brittany, in the north-west of France, there lived a powerful nobleman whose name was Haelwocon. If this man, close advisor of the ruler of the land, had but one vice, it was his dependence on the lazy and luxurious lifestyle he had grown accustomed to. Haelwocon was a slave to his belly. He also was a drinker of wine beyond measure, and to make matters even worse, he refused to take advice from anybody when he was reproached, and he just laughed when called upon to mend his erroneous ways. In doing this, he opened himself up to attacks by demons, and only after such an attack had finally happened did he repent. Tormented by convulsions, he ordered his servants to tie him up and bring him to the nearest monastery, where he hoped he might find solace. Indeed, he did. Through the prayers of the monks, the demons were expelled from his body, “and from that day he took care to mend his ways and lead a sober life, and revere the holy place”. The story of Haelwocon is a story of redemption that has been written down in the Gesta Sanctorum Rotonensium ( GSR ), a ninth-century work that tells about origins and rise to prominence of the monastery of Redon, its first abbot, and the first generation of monks. 1 As such, it is no surprise that, in this anecdote, the monastery the hapless aristocrat asks to be brought to, is indeed Redon. The author of the story meant not only to teach that it is never too late to seek forgiveness, but also to portray his monastery as “the most potent shrine in all Christendom”. 2 The story that immediately follows the one 1 Gesta Sanctorum Rotonensium , ed. and trans. in Caroline Brett, The Monks of Redon: Gesta Sanctorum Rotonensium and Vita Conuuoionis, (Woodbridge, 1989), 106-219, at 206-213. Henceforth, references to this work will be made to the book and chapter so as to avoid any confusion with other editions, most notably the one by Jean Mabillon, in: Acta Sanctorum Ordinis Sancti Benedicti IV.2, (Paris, 1680), 184- 222, or the excerpts published as L. de Heinemann ed., Ex gestis Conwoionis abbatis Rotonensis , in: MGH SS 15.1 (Hanover, 1887), 455-459. In this case, the reference would look like this: GSR , 3.7. See also, on this edition, Joseph-Claude Poulin, ‘Le dossier hagiographique de saint Conwoion de Redon, a propos d’une édition récente’, in: Francia, Forschungen zur westeuropäischen Geschichte 18.1 (1991), 139-159. 2 Julia Smith, ‘ Aedificatio sancti loci : the making of a ninth-century holy place’, in: Mayke de Jong, Frans Theuws and Carine van Rhijn eds., Topographies of Power in the Early Middle Ages , (Leiden et. al., 2001), 361-396, at 387. I will be using the term “author” in spite of the fact that this concept is considered to have had a different meaning in the middle ages than it does today. See, for example, M.B. Speer, ‘Editing Old French Texts in the Eighties: Theory and Practice’, in: Romance Philology 45 (1991), 7-43, at 17, where she quotes the Italian linguist Cerquilingi and his dictum that “l’auteur n’est pas une idée médiévale”. 1 Rutger Kramer – RMA Thesis – Monastic Ideals and the Use of the Bible in the GSR – 2007 about Haelwocon makes this point even more clearly. In it, a Frankish aristocrat, Frotmund, is sent on a pilgrimage as a punishment for having killed his uncle and his younger brother. Again, he eventually ends his pious quest for forgiveness at the monastery of the Holy Saviour in Redon, this time through the intercession of the relics of the martyred pope Marcellinus, one of the patron saints of the monks, but only after having extensively toured most other holy places in the Christian world. In the course of several years, Frotmund had visited, among others, Rome, Carthage, Alexandria, and even Jerusalem, only to find solace at Redon. Apparently, the sanctity and miraculous powers present in this monastery were not to be trifled with. According to the author, this was indeed the case. In the GSR , examples abound of the power of the relics possessed by Redon as well as the sanctity of the monks who first came to that place in order to serve God. 3 One would expect nothing less from a foundation story, especially not one written at a time when the monastery seemed to enjoy a certain amount of very real success. After its foundation as a small, localised community in 832, the abbot Conwoion worked tirelessly to have his monastery taken seriously by local rulers, Frankish emperors, and the papacy alike, which included, but was not limited to the fact that the monastery initially had been dedicated to the typically Carolingian cult of the Holy Saviour. 4 He succeeded in his efforts. In 834, emperor Louis the Pious granted his sponsorship to the monastery, and in 848/849 the monks acquired the relics of the aforementioned saint Marcellinus as a gift from pope Leo IV. 5 Additionally, after some initial struggles, Redon received many donations from local rulers, and had relatively quickly grown into a very real power within the region. By the time of Conwoion’s death in 868, everything looked as if Redon was here to stay, even though his demise and that of their most powerful supporters hindered its development 3 These relics will hardly be treated in this essay. For an insight in their cult, see, among many others, Arnold Angenendt, ‘Relics and their veneration in the middle ages’, in: Anneke B. Mulder-Bakker ed., The Invention of Saintliness , (London and New York, 2002), 27-37. 4 Guillotel and André Chédeville, La Bretagne des Saints et des Rois, Ve-Xe siècle , (1984), at 240-243, give a chronological overview of the first decades of Redon’s existence. 5 Smith, ‘ Aedificatio sancti loci ’, 366-369 and 385-386. See also, by the same author, Province and Empire: Brittany and the Carolingians , (Cambridge, 1992; paperback edition, 2006), 23-24. On the acquisition of the relics of Marcellinus, the most important sources remain GSR 2.10 and a charter dated to their arrival at Redon, in A. de Courson ed., Cartulaire de l’Abbaye de Redon en Bretagne , (Paris, 1863), 88, charter 115: “...ipso die quando adlatum est corpus sancti Marcellini in ecclesia Sancti Salvatoris…”. 2 Rutger Kramer – RMA Thesis – Monastic Ideals and the Use of the Bible in the GSR – 2007 beyond the immediate region. 6 If the monks would not have been obliged to remain humble at all times, they might even have felt some pride in their accomplishments. In order to retain this momentum, one of the monks therefore decided to commit the deeds of his saintly predecessors, and of the relics and even the monastery in itself, to parchment, to ensure that “the memory of the saints is invoked, edification of the mind is provided for the faithful, and honour is shown to the monks”. 7 In doing so, he made a conscious effort to provide the community with a history that was not so much a depiction of how things actually were, as a textual self-portrait, meant to preserve the achievements of the community and consolidate their position. 8 Moreover, he provided the generations of monks that were to follow with a template for monastic behaviour, a moral compass ensuring that the example set by the founding fathers of Redon would be truly followed and not merely remembered. It is on this hitherto underappreciated aspect of the GSR that this thesis will be focusing. Before delving further into this source, however, it should be noted that Redon did indeed prevail and existed until the monastery was torn down by revolutionaries in the last decade of the eighteenth century, leaving only part of the abbey church as a witness to the past greatness. 9 Over the centuries, the community had weathered several Viking attacks, a lengthy exile, papal reforms and aristocratic interference, of which a very short outline is presented here. After the death of Salomon in 874, the region was torn apart by internal strife over his succession and even briefly conquered by the Normans. Only Alan I the Great (r. 888-907) and his grandson Alain II (r 936-952), managed to reconquer and unite the peninsula after returning from exile in England. After the latter died in 952, Brittany was once again divided, with the Frankish aristocracy controlling large 6 Smith, ‘ Aedificatio sancti loci ’, 370. 7 GSR 2.prologue, “…memoria sanctorum colligitur, aedificatio mentium credentibus traditur, honor monachis exhibetur.” 8 Smith, ‘ Aedificatio sancti loci ’, 380 and 395-396. Cf. Marco Mostert, ‘Reading, Writing and Literacy: Communication and the History of Medieval Societies’, in: P. Hermann ed., Literacy in Medieval and Early Modern Scandinavian Culture (Aarhus, 2005), 261-285 at 262-263, and John J. Contreni, ‘And even today: Carolingian monasticism and the Miraculi Sancti Germani of Heiric of Auxerre’, in: David Blanks, Michael Frassetto and Amy Livingstone eds., Medieval Monks and their World: Ideas and Realities, Studies in Honor of Richard E. Sullivan , (Leiden and Boston, 2006), 35-48, 40. 9 It was not the only monastery to undergo that fate: See, among many, Julian Swann, ‘The French Revolution’, in: Pamela M. Pilbeam ed., Themes in Modern European History: 1780-1830 (Abingdon, 1995), 12-39, at p.