UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Sacred time, sacred space. history and identity in the monastery of Fulda (744- 856) Raaijmakers, J.E. Publication date 2003 Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Raaijmakers, J. E. (2003). Sacred time, sacred space. history and identity in the monastery of Fulda (744-856). in eigen beheer. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:30 Sep 2021 II I NostriNostri maiores Betweenn 812 and 823 the names of the deceased monks were no longer regularlyy recorded in the annates necrólogici.1 Additionally, in these years transactionss of property were less frequently documented in Fulda itself.2 Thiss waning interest in Fulda to record the names of those to be prayed for orr to write down the property donated to the monastery in Fulda itself wass one of the consequences of a crisis, caused by a bitter conflict between thee abbot and a group of monks, that disrupted Fulda's monastic life severely.. The events of the crisis will introduce this chapter. Whenn the conflict precisely started is difficult to establish, but it mightt have been in 807, when many brethren of Fulda died in an epidemic,, including the children. Some young monks had tried to flee the monastery,, but their plan was discovered and their custodian was punishedd for it.3 We know that two years later, in 809, the archbishop of Mainzz had visited Fulda abbatis et fratrum causa, 'for the sake of the abbot andd the monks'.4 The reason for the visit of the archbishop is not known, butt in light of what was to come one might expect that there was some disagreementt between the abbot and the monks. In 812 a group of twelve monkss together with their abbot travelled to the emperor to ask for advise inn a conturbatio non minima in monasterio sancti Bonifatii, 'not a small commotionn in the monastery of St Boniface'.5 On this occasion the group off monks offered the emperor the Supplex Libellus, a petition, which lists thee complaints of the monks.6 The emperor instituted an inquiry. He sent 11 Schmid, 'Auf der Suche nach den Mönchen', pp. 142-52.; idem, 'Mönchslisten', p. 618. Seee also the former chapter. 22 Edmund Stengel, 'Über die karolingischen Cartulare des Klostere Fulda' in: idem, AblwndlitngenAblwndlitngen und Untersuchungen, pp. 176-81; Corradini, 'The rhetoric of crisis', p. 273. 33 'et moTtalitas maxima in monasterio sancti Bonifatii, ita ut fratrum iuniorum morientur [...]] sanctos aufugiunt pueri puerorum et pessime custo consiliis pravis conviciis multis tuncc lacerateraf. Chronicon Laurissense breve (AD. 807) ed. F. Schnorr v. Carolsfeld, Neues ArchivArchiv 36 (1911), p. 37. The Chronicon Laurissense breve is the only source, which reveals somethingg of the events before 812. See also Corradini, Die Wiener Handschrift Cvp 430*. 44 'Richolfus ad monasterium nostrum Fulda [...] missus est abbatis et fratrum causa'. ChroniconChronicon Laurissense breve (AD. 809) p. 37. 55 'Facta est conturbatio non minima in monasterio sancti Bonifatii, et fratres duodecim ex ipsaa familia perrexerunt simul cum abbate Ratgario ad iudicum imperatoris Karli, nee tamenn ita commotio ilia quievit, sed post Riholfus archiepiscopus Magontiacensis et Bernhariuss episcopus civitatis Wangonium et Hanto episcopus Augustensis et Wolgarius episcopuss ecclesiae Wirzaburg cum ceteris fidelibus, qui simul ad ilium placitum conveneruntt iussu imperatoris, sanaverunt commotionem illam in monasterio sancti Bonifatii'.. Qwonicon Laurissense breve (AD. 812), p. 38. bb It is certain that the monks offered the Supplex Libellus to Charlemagne. Candidus, Vita AegilAegil I c. 9, p. 9. Supplex Libellus, pp. 319-27; Josef Semmler, 'Studiën zum Supplex NostriNostri maiores thee archbishop of Mainz and the bishops of Worms, Augsburg and Würzburgg to the monastery to investigate and settle the matter. However, littlee seems to have changed by this committee. In the years following theirr visit monks continued to flee the monastery, others were expelled by thee abbot.7 Somewhere between the end of August 8168 and the beginning off August 81T* a delegation of monks went to court again and they offered Louiss the Pious, who by then had succeeded his father to the throne, a revisedd version of the Supplex Libellus.10 This time the emperor took tough measuress against Ratgar. He was deprived of his abbacy and put into exile.11 1 Thee conflict in Fulda gave rise to an intense discussion about monasticc life, the priorities and responsibilities of the monastery and provokedd a lively literary production.12 I have already mentioned the SupplexSupplex Libellus, a complaint booklet of a group of monks, written in 812- 816/7.. Another contemporary document that responded to the crisis in the monasteryy is the Vita Stiirmi. Eigil, who succeeded Ratgar as abbot of Fuldaa in 818, wrote the Vita Sturmi in the aftermath of the crisis, sometime betweenn 818 and 820. This chapter is about these two texts, which both appealedd to the past of Boniface and Sturmi, Fulda's founders, though for differentt reasons, as we will see. The first part deals with the Supplex Libellus.Libellus. This text records what the monks resented most about the abbacy off Ratgar. What did they complain about? How did they envisage their ideall monastic community? The second part of the chapter is about the VitaVita Sturmi. It sets out to show that, on the one hand the text is a response too a discussion about monasticism of which we see a glimpse in the SupplexSupplex Libellus, and on the other an attempt on the part of the new abbot, Libelluss und zur anianischen Reform in Fulda', Zeitschrift für Kircitengeschichte 69 (1958) pp.. 268-98. It is certain that in 812 the monks visited the Frankish ruler, but there is no writtenn evidence that proves that during this occasion the monks offered the Supplex Libellus,Libellus, though this is very likely. 77 Candidus, Vita Aegil I c. 5 and 6, p. 7; Vita Aegil U c. 5, p. 39. Freise, 'Einzugsbereich', pp. HOOff;; Hussong, 'Studiën 2', p. 153; Schmid, 'Personenforschung', pp. 242ff; Corradini, DieDie Wieiier Handschrift Cvp 460*, p. 78. 88 That is when the Aachen council took place, to which the Supplex Libellus refers. See Semmler,, 'Studiën zum Supplex Libellus', p. 286-8. Thus the text must be written after Augustt 816. 99 This is the date of a charter that was probably addressed to the monks of Fulda and in whichh Ratgar was no longer mentioned as abbot Because of that reason historians assumee that this charter dates from the period after Ratgar's depriviation. The problem is thatt the original is hardly legible because it has served as the cover of a book. This leaves uss with Eberhards copy in his twelfth century codex. In Eberhard's copy the charter is addressedd to the monks. CDF, nrs. 325a and 325b. 100 Semmler 'Studiën zum Supplex Libellus', pp. 296-8. 111 We do not know where Ratgar was sent to. Annales Fuldenses (AD 817), p. 356. 122 Apart from the Supplex Libellus and the Vita Shtrmi, there is also the Chronicon LaitrissenseLaitrissense Breve. 58 8 NostriNostri maiores Eigil,, to soothe the disagreements and bring new unity in the disrupted community.13 3 Thee Supplex Libellus Noo medieval manuscript surviving, we have to rely on Christopher Brouwer'ss seventeenth century edition of the Supplex Libellus.14 The copy, whichh Brouwer edited in the Fuldensiuni antiquitatutn libri IV, is addressed too Charlemagne. We know from the Vita Aegil, written around 840, that thee document was indeed given to this Frankish emperor.15 Yet, the SupplexSupplex Libellus appears to contain a reference to the Aachen council of 816.166 On the basis of this reference Josef Semmler convincingly has arguedd that there once existed two copies of the Supplex Libellus, one writtenn in 812 and one written after the summer of 816. Somewhere in the autumnn of 816 or the spring of 817 the author(s) presumably added at least thee chapter about the council of 816 in Aachen to their complaint booklet andd offered it again to Charlemagne's successor, Louis the Pious. We thereforee cannot be certain about what the Supplex Libellus originally must havee looked like and what was altered in 817. Next to this the authorship off the text is subject to discussion. Some have argued that Eigil was behind it,, but there is no proof for this hypothesis.17 Let us now turn to the SupplexSupplex Libellus and the causes of the crisis. Thee protests Thee first issue that the Supplex Libellus brought up is that of metnoria. Accordingg to the authors of the Supplex Libellus, the commemoration of the emperor,, his family, the Christian people, the benefactors of tine monastery,, the deceased monks, abbot Sturmi and the fundatores of Fulda, 133 All the translations of the Vita Sturmi are based upon C. H.