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Financial Support by T+F Organisatieadvies for the Publication of This Thesis Is Gratefully Acknowledged Financial support by t+f organisatieadvies for the publication of this thesis is gratefully acknowledged. Cover image: Ary Scheffer, Charlemagne reçoit la soumission de Widukind à Paderborn (1840). Original in: Château de Versailles, Galerie de Batailles. The image is reproduced with permission of the Agence Photographique de la Réunion des musées nationaux. Design: Erik Goosmann Printed by: Proefschriftmaken.nl || Uitgeverij BOXPress Pagan, Pirate, Subject, Saint Defining and Redefining Saxons 150-900 A.D. Heiden, rover, onderdaan, heilige Het definiëren en herdefiniëren van Saksen 150-900 n. Chr. (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof.dr. G.J. van der Zwaan, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op dinsdag 3 februari 2015 des middags te 4.15 uur door Robert Flierman geboren op 2 januari 1987 te ’s-Hertogenbosch Promotor: Prof. dr. M.B. de Jong Copromotor: Dr. R.M.J. Meens Voor Janneke TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements viii List of abbreviations xi Introduction 1 1. The most ferocious of enemies Saxons from a Roman perspective 27 1.1. Ptolemy and the second-century Saxons? 30 1.2. Saxons and Franks 33 1.3. Litus Saxonicum 37 1.4. Saxons in Britain 39 1.5. A panegyrist’s perspective: Claudius Claudianus 45 1.6. Christian moralists: Ambrose and Salvian 48 1.7. Gildas and the Ruin of Britain 51 1.8. Saxons in a changing world: Sidonius Apollinaris 57 1.9. Conclusion 65 2. Rebels, subjects, neighbours Saxons from a Frankish perspective 70 2.1. A Latin panegyrist in a barbarian kingdom: Venantius Fortunatus 73 2.2. The limits of continuity: the curious case of Gregory of Tours 84 2.3. Saxons in seventh-century Frankish history-writing 97 2.4. Saxons in early eighth-century Frankish history-writing 106 2.5. Conclusion 111 3. Gens perfida or populus Christianus? The Saxons and the Saxon Wars in Carolingian historiography 115 3.1. ‘It could certainly have ended sooner’ 115 3.2. The early roots of fides 122 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS 3.3. Narrating the Saxon Wars 128 3.4. From gens perfida to populus Christianus 131 3.5. ‘Like a dog returning to its vomit’: the insurrection of 792 136 3.6. The benefits of hindsight: remembering the Saxon Wars after 804 140 3.7. Conclusion 145 4. Offering God’s Law to God’s People Saxons in the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae 147 4.1. Unexpected advice 147 4.2. The Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae 151 4.3. Paganism and infidelity 154 4.4. Biblical punishment and sacerdotal ministry 166 4.5. Contextualizing the Capitulatio 172 4.6. Mission from Mainz 180 4.7. Richulf, Saxony and the Capitulatio 187 4.8. Richulf and Alcuin 198 4.9. Conclusion 203 5. From defeat to salvation Remembering the Saxon Wars in Carolingian Saxony 206 5.1. A brave new world 206 5.2. Towards a Saxon past 211 5.3. Winners and losers 214 5.4. An episcopal past: Paderborn 224 5.5. Monastic memory: Herford and Corvey 233 5.6. Carolingian counts, founding families: Hessi and Widukind 250 5.7. Saxons writing for Franks: the Poeta Saxo 263 5.8. Conclusion 273 Conclusion 276 Bibliography 286 Samenvatting/ Summary in Dutch 332 Curriculum vitae 339 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been written without the support of teachers, colleagues, friends and family. First of all, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to Mayke de Jong, for taking me on as a PhD student, acting as my supervisor for four years and making sure that the project would eventually come to a conclusion. Right from the start, Mayke encouraged me to pursue my own research interests and even allowed me to refashion a project about biblical models of community into a study about Saxons. That I did not get lost in this audacious enterprise was due to her expert advice and guidance. Of course, after years of being her student, I was bound to find biblical models even while studying Saxons. I am also immensely grateful to Rob Meens, my co-supervisor during this project. It was during his inspiring 2008 research seminar on Religion and Violence in the Early Middle Ages that I first started to think seriously about pursuing a PhD in medieval history. In the subsequent years, I have benefited greatly from his help and advice, as well as his meticulous comments on my drafts and chapters. At Utrecht University, I found myself in the pleasant and inspiring company of many fellow medievalists: Bram van den Hoven, Janneke Raaijmakers, Marco Mostert, Carine van Rhijn, Els Rose, Evina Steinova, Irene van Renswoude, Dorine van Espelo, Erik Goosmann, Joanna Thornborough, Giorgia Vocino, Sven Meeder, Martine Meuwese, Mariken Teeuwen and José van Aelst. I want to thank them for their time, advice and encouragements. Special thanks go to Erik, Dorine, Joanna and Giorgia, whose company during lunch and coffee breaks ensured I always returned to my desk with renewed energy and inspiration. I am also indebted to Erik for helping me with the lay- out of this book. Any remaining mistakes are of course my own. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It was due to the generosity of the Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut te Rome (KNIR) that I was able to begin my PhD with a three-month residency in Rome. Working amidst some of the world’s greatest treasures and monuments was a great experience in itself. But my days in Rome were made even more enjoyable by the expertise and friendliness of the staff and other researchers working at the institute, for which I am thankful. I am indebted also to the staff of the Vatican Library, for allowing a junior researcher access to its unparalleled manuscript collection. As was bound to happen at so early a stage of my research, I left several stones unturned during this initial manuscript campaign. I thank the British Institute of Rome for enabling me to return to the Vatican Library once more to tie up some of these loose ends. One of the great privileges of working as a PhD student is being part of an international community of fellow researchers, who share your obscure interests and fascinations. I was truly blessed in this respect, because my PhD research was part of the HERA joint research project Cultural Memory and the Resources of the Past, 400-1000 which brought together medievalists from Utrecht, Cambridge, Vienna and Leeds. Over the past four years, I benefited greatly from the comments and insights of the other members of the project, for which I am very grateful. Project meetings often coincided with the Texts and Identities PhD conferences. I want to thank all the participants, and in particular the organisers, Ian Wood, Rosamond McKitterick, Walter Pohl, Régine Le Jan and Mayke de Jong, for enabling me to be part of this exciting academic community. Special thanks go to Cambridge PhD student (now postdoc) Ingrid Rembold, whose published and unpublished work on ninth- century Saxony was an ongoing source of inspiration and whose detailed comments on my work I always found most helpful. Of course, one need not necessarily go abroad to meet passionate fellow medievalists. At home, I was lucky enough to be part of the Emerald group, whose informal meetings were as fun as they were stimulating. I am thankful to all the members for their comments and advice. On a final note, I wish to thank my friends and family, for standing by me all this time, also during an unanticipated hospitalisation in the fall of 2013. I ix DEFINING AND REDEFINING SAXONS thank my parents for their endless support and a much needed holiday at the end. I thank my sister for coming over for dinner every so often, ensuring I did not lose my culinary and social skills altogether. Above all, I am grateful to Janneke for her boundless enthusiasm, encouragement and support. I dare not imagine having to write a dissertation without her by my side. For this reason, I dedicate this book to her. x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AL Annales Laureshamenses (= Annals of Lorsch) AM Annales Mosellani AMP Annales Mettenses Priores AP Annales Petaviani ARF Annales regni Francorum AASS Acta Sanctorum Blaise Dictionnaire Latin-français des Auteurs Chrétiens (Blaise, A.) BT Lat Bibliotheca Teubneriana Latina CCSL Corpus Christianorum Series Latina CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum DA Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters DnP Der neue Pauly MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica Auct. ant. Auctores antiquissimi Capit. Capitularia regum Francorum Conc. Concilia DD Diplomata Dt. MA Deutsches Mittelalter. Kritische Studientexte Epp. Epistulae in Quarto Epp. sel. Epistulae selectae in usum scholarum Poet. Poetae latini aevi carolini SS Scriptores in Folio SS rer. Germ. Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum seperatim editi SS rer. Lang. Scriptores rerum Langobardicarum et Italicarum SS rer. Merov. Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum NA Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde xi DEFINING AND REDEFINING SAXONS OLD Oxford Latin Dictionary PL Patrologia Latina Reviser Annales qui dicuntur Einhardi (= ‘Revised’ version of the Annales regni Francorum) s.a. sub anno xii INTRODUCTION Early in 850, the Saxon nobleman Waltbert journeyed across the Alps to Rome. Waltbert had various matters to attend to in the Holy City. As a fidelis of the Carolingian Emperor Lothar I, he was to make an appearance at the imperial coronation of Lothar’s son Louis II at Easter 850. Furthermore, he planned to make a pilgrimage to the graves of the apostles Peter and Paul and of the various other martyrs buried in the city’s suburbs.
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