Penelope Nash

Demonstrations of Imperium: Byzantine Influences in the Late Eighth and Tenth Centuries in the West.1

In the year 972, in Rome, Theophanu, the niece of the Byzantine emperor arrived to marry Otto II, the son of the emperor Otto I, an event celebrated by an ivory carving of Otto II and his wife Theophanu, probably executed in (Fig. 12). Christ in the centre rests his left hand on Theophanu’s head and his right on Otto’s. In contrast to older standing representations, here for the first time the ruler of the West and his wife are depicted together in the same size and same relationship to Jesus Christ.2 Christ looks as though he is blessing their wedding and coronation. But is he really? The arrival of Theophanu in the West as the bride of Otto II provoked mixed reactions. Some wanted to send her back home because, although she was the niece of the Byzantine emperor, she was not the porphyrogenita requested and expected. Nevertheless, Otto I agreed that she should stay and marry his son. The stay was a success. Thietmar remarked, “Although of the fragile sex, her modesty, conviction, and manner of life were outstanding, which is rare in Greece.”3 This paper will skim lightly over this complex topic of Byzantine artistic influence in the West, merely touching on some aspects of architecture, manuscript art and ivory carving as depictions of imperium. Byzantine influence in the West was not new. The of Charlemagne’s court, centred at in what is now North-west , embraced many Byzantine influences, although they were not the only influences on this court. Archaeological excavations show the Royal Chapel at Aachen in Charlemagne’s time as flanked on the north and south of the Palace Complex by two basilical structures. At the east there was a small apse known from excavations which was later replaced by a Gothic choir. On the west, a large atrium, approximately 10 metres square, led into an aula, approximately 40 by 30 metres. The atrium and the aula were connected by a two-storey walkway approximately 120 metres long to an audience hall to the north. Its foundations are part of the present town hall. Until 1898, portions of the walkway were still visible.4 Roman and classical influences and symbols were also prominent. Theodoric’s statue was placed in the palace area near the entrance to the Aachen complex, possibly between the audience hall and the palace chapel.5 According to Janet Nelson, Theodoric’s stature “was of an imperial and Roman-Christian kind in a ceremonial setting with shades of

1 I would like to thank Lyn Olson and Michael Nelson in particular for help with accessing sources for this paper. 2 F-R. Erkens, “Die Frau als Herrscherin in ottonisch-früsalischer Zeit”, in A.v. Euw and P. Schreiner (eds), Kaiserin Theophanu: Begegnung des Ostens und Westens um die Wende des ersten Jahrtausands ( 1991), 253; H. Westermann-Angerhausen, “Spuren der Theophano in der ottonischen Schatzkunst?” in Kaiserin Theophanu II, Pl. 23, 214. 3 , Ottonian Germany: The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg, trans. D.A. Warner (Manchester Medieval Sources Series, Manchester 2001), IV, 10, 158. 4 C.B. McClendon, The Origins of Medieval Architecture: Building in Europe, A.D. 600–900 (New Haven-London 2005), 108–109 and Fig. 114, 108. 5 McClendon, The Origins of Medieval Architecture, 127; B. Brenk, “Spolia from Constantine to Charlemagne: Aesthetics versus Ideology”, DOP 41 (1987), 108.

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Ravenna”.6 A bronze eagle with outspread wings was set at the summit of the highest building, symbolising imperial power and Christian evangelism.7 A golden orb was perched above the drum of the dome of the Chapel.8 According to Einhard, Charlemagne’s contemporary biographer in the early ninth century, Charlemagne’s great piety and devotion to the Christian religion since earliest childhood caused him to build a particularly beautiful cathedral “decorating it with gold and silver, with lamps, and with lattices and of solid bronze. He was unable to find marble columns for his construction anywhere else, and so he had them brought from Rome and Ravenna.”9 Alcuin, Charlemagne’s leading scholar and teacher at the Carolingian court, described the Chapel in a letter to Charlemagne of 798: “We also talked about the pillars which have been set up in the wonderfully beautiful church your wisdom has prescribed.”10 The pillars, which came from Ravenna, some of the lattice work and the general shape of the Chapel, are all still visible today. There were certain Christian historical links to , especially through the British and Anglo-Saxon connections of Charlemagne’s court. At this time, the court’s self- identification with Israel was being replaced by imperial and neo-Platonic links closer in time than those with Rome. Theodoric and Ravenna now served as models rather than Augustus. Yet, unlike Constantine and Theoderic, who had used spolia to protect monuments, Charlemagne brought spolia from Rome and Ravenna to underline the imperial succession and to guarantee the continuation of the Christian Roman imperial tradition.11 In the Palace Chapel, an altar to the Virgin was on the eastern side. On the western side, Charlemagne’s throne was placed on the second level. The bronze grill-work could be opened, as a small gate allowed the emperor an unimpeded view of the altar below and the dome fresco portrait of Christ above.12 Similarly, Charlemagne’s rooms in his palace were elevated so that he could look down upon the people and see everything that took place.13 Among other influences, Charlemagne consciously included those of Byzantium. The dedication of the Chapel to the Virgin was a Byzantine custom. Byzantine influences are also visible in the original Chapel architecture as in the four sets of main doors in bronze (Fig. 13). The primary boasts two lions’ heads surrounded by acanthus leaves act as door-knockers. The great bronze doors, cast in a single sheet, have markedly classical features, though no other model has been found which reflects the same influence. Beckworth argues that, at this time, Italian or northern artists did not have the technical ability to cast such large sheets. Even in the eleventh century, large bronze doors for Italian churches were cast at . Bronze work in the West was generally undertaken by nailing small sheets to a wooden frame and only the doors at and ,

6 J.L. Nelson, “Aachen as a Place of Power”, in M. de Jong, F. Theuws and C.v. Rhijn (eds), Topographies of Power in the Early (Leiden 2001), 220 with n. 15. 7 Nelson, “Aachen as a Place of Power”, 220. 8 McClendon, The Origins of Medieval Architecture, 109. 9 Einhard, “Life of Charlemagne”, trans. L.G.M. Thorpe, Two Lives of Charlemagne (Harmondsworth 1969), III, 79. 10 Alcuin, Alcuin of York, c. A.D. 732 to 804: his Life and Letters, trans. Stephen Allott (York 1974), Epp. 80, 96. 11 Brenk, “Spolia from Constantine to Charlemagne”, 109. 12 McClendon, The Origins of Medieval Architecture, 113, 120 and fig. 121. The dome currently holds the image of Christ as a restored mosaic but the original differed from the mosaic perhaps only in some details after the building of the Chapel. 13 Notker the Stammerer, Life of Charlemagne, trans. Lewis G.M. Thorpe, Two Lives of Charlemagne (Harmondsworth 1969), I, 30 (128).