Bonnie Effros De partions Saxoniae and the Regulation of Mortuary Custom : A Carolingian Campaign of Christianization or the Suppression of Saxon Identity? In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire. Tome 75 fasc. 2, 1997. Histoire medievale, moderne et contemporaine - Middeleeuwse, moderne en hedendaagse geschiedenis. pp. 267-286. Citer ce document / Cite this document : Effros Bonnie. De partions Saxoniae and the Regulation of Mortuary Custom : A Carolingian Campaign of Christianization or the Suppression of Saxon Identity?. In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire. Tome 75 fasc. 2, 1997. Histoire medievale, moderne et contemporaine - Middeleeuwse, moderne en hedendaagse geschiedenis. pp. 267-286. doi : 10.3406/rbph.1997.4171 http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rbph_0035-0818_1997_num_75_2_4171 ARTICLES ET MELANGES ARTIKELEN EN MENGELINGEN De partibus Saxoniae and the Regulation of Mortuary Custom : A Carolingian Campaign of Christianization or the Suppression of Saxon Identity ? O Bonnie Effros In the course of thirty-three years of war against the Saxons in Germany begun in 772, Charlemagne demanded the mass conversion of the people by force upon their defeat, beginning with their leader Widukind in the autumn of 785. This tactic constituted an important symbol of the Frankish king's hegemony over the Saxons, since by sponsoring Widukind's baptism Charle magne became his new patron and superior('). The Saxon's unwilling conversion thus fulfilled a central aspect of Charlemagne's vision of his ideal role as the figurative rex et sacerdos, king and priest(2). Most importantly, however, conversion comprised an integral part of the king's strategy to ensure that the hostile minority population would rapidly (*) Early versions of this paper were presented and commented upon at Wellesley College, Western Michigan University, and the University of Alberta in February, 1995, and at the Western Association of Women Historians Annual Meeting in May, 1994. Alain Dierkens, Nina Caputo, Mitch Hart, and Michael Wintroub also generously offered their time to critique the manuscript, and Michael Schmauder and Rebecca Winer kindly sent materials to which I would have otherwise had no access. I was thereby able to improve the piece immeasurably. All errors which remain, however, are my own. I would like to acknowledge the support of an Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Postdoctoral Fellowship and an Edward A. Dickson History of Art Fellowship while writing this article at the University of Alberta and at UCLA, respectively. (1) Fridericus Kurze, ed., Annales qui dicuntur Einhardi, Monumenta Germaniae Historica [M.G.H.]. Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in Usum Scholarum [SSRG], 6, Hannover, Impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani, 1895, a.785, p. 71. Arnold Angenendt, "The Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons Considered Against the Background of the Early Medieval Mission", Settimane di Studio del Centro Italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo 32, 2 (1986), p. 758-766. (2) Heinrich Fichtenau, The Carolingian Empire. The Age of Charlemagne, translated by Peter Munz. New York, Harper & Row, Publishers, 1957, p. 21-22 and 55ff. 268 Β. EFFROS assimilate and cause no further upheaval within his realm(3). As described by Einhard (d.840), the Saxons represented a particularly ferocious group of pagans devoted to demonic worship(4). To reduce the risks associated with potential Saxon insurrection, Charlemagne therefore exacted cooperation through mandatory baptism, monetary incentives and political rewards (5). With respect to those Saxons defeated by Carolingian armies, conversion was matched by forced settlement in dispersed groups within Frankish territory. Einhard stressed that the Saxons : "...were to give up their devil worship and the malpractices inherited from their forefathers; and then, once they had adopted the sacraments of the Christian faith and religion, they were to be united with the Franks and become one people (tinus populus) with them"(6). Although Christianization would eventually aid the Saxon nobility by increasing their authority over the lower levels of the social hierarchy (7), the Saxons could not have recognized the benefits at the time of their compulsory conversions. A critical component of Charlemagne's policy towards the Saxon people lay in the regulation of their burial custom. Three measures related to this concern were promulgated in 782 in the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae, a body of legislation pertaining specifically to the recently conquered people (8). In particular, the Saxon Capitulary forbade the Saxons from either (3) Donald Bullough, The Age of Charlemagne. London, Paul Elek Limited, 1973, p. 5 Iff and 94-95. Conversion was also thought by Einhard and others to be beneficial in forcing Saxon adhesion to Frankish treaties. Nevertheless, this policy was not entirely effec tive. As late as 841 in the Stellinga revolt, Saxons engaged in a political and religious cam paign against the Franks. Helmut Beumann, "Die Hagiographie 'bewältigt' : Unterwerfung und Christianisierung der Sachsen durch Karl den Grossen", Settimane di Studio del Centre Italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo 28, 1 (1982), p. 132 and 137. (4) ...quia Saxones, sicut omnes fere Germaniam incolentes nationes, et natura féroces et cultui daemonum dediti nostraeque religioni contrarii neque divina neque humana iura vel polluere vel transgredi inhonestum arbitrabantur {Q.W. Pertz and G. Waitz, eds., Einhardi Vita Karoli Magni, in M.G.H., SSRG 19, fifth edition, Hannover, Impensis Biblio- polii Hahniani, 1905, c. 7, p. 9). (5) Richard E. Sullivan, "The Carolingian Missionary and the Pagan", Speculum 28 (1953), p. 723-727. (6) ...ut, abiecto daemonum cul tu et relictis patriis caerimoniis, Christ ianae fidei at que religionis sacramenta susciperent et Francis adunati unus cum eis populus efficerentur. (Einhardi Vita Karoli Magni, ed. cit., c. 7, p. 10; English translation from Lewis Thorpe, Einhard and Notker the Stammerer, Two Lives of Charlemagne. Harmondsworth (Middles ex),Penguin Books, 1969, c. 7, p. 61-63). (7) Reinhard Wenskus, "Die ständische Entwicklung in Sachsen im Gefolge der frän kischen Eroberung", Settimane di Studio del Centro Italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo 32, 2 (1986), p. 590. For the Merovingian kings' use of religion to enhance their authority, see Ian Wood, "Frankish Hegemony in England", The Age of Sutton Hoo : The Seventh Century in Northwestern Europe, ed. by Martin O.H. Carver, Woodbridge (Suffolk), The Boydell Press, 1992, p. 240. Idem, The Merovingian Kingdoms 450-751, London, Longman, 1994, p. 319-321. (8) Wilfried Hartmann has most recently proposed that this legislation was produced at Lippspringe rather than Paderborn (Wilfried Hartmann, Die Synoden der Karolingerzeit im Frankenreich und in Italien. Paderborn, Ferdinand Schöningh, 1989, p. 101-102). For the DE PARTIBUS SAXONIAE AND THE REGULATION OF MORTUARY CUSTOM 269 cremating their dead or burying them in tumuli, the latter referring to pagan burial places, in particular grave mounds. Instead, the Saxons were permitted to inter their deceased only in Christian cemeteries. The penalty for violation of these precepts was death(9). Human sacrifice was likewise prohibited(10). *** For the most part, these three measures have been seen solely in the context of the remainder of the Saxon Capitulary, which mandated baptism, con demned attacks on missionaries and churches, as well as forbade pagan worship and divination^ '). Statutes against various pagan and superstitious practices had long been repeated in Merovingian ecclesiastical councils, just as they were condemned in the sermons of Caesarius of Aries (d.542) and Eligius of Noyon (d.66O)(12). On this basis, we might thus easily assume that longstanding difference of opinion as to the date and provenance of the Saxon capitulary, see François-Louis Ganshof, Was waren die Kapitularien ? Weimar, Hermann Böhlaus Nachfolger, 1961, p. 66 and 169; Charles De Clercq, La législation religieuse franque de Clovis à Charlemagne. Étude sur les actes de conciles et les capitulaires, les statuts diocésains et les règles monastiques (507-814). Louvain, Bibliothèque de l'Université, 1936, p. 167-169; Louis Halphen, Etudes critiques sur l'histoire de Charlemagne. Paris, Librairie Félix Alcan, 1921, p. 171-184. (9) The related measures include : 7. Si quis corpus defuncti hominis secundum ritum paganorum flamma consumi fecerit et ossa eius ad einer em redierit, capitae punietur. 22. Iubemus ut corpora chnstianonim Saxanorum ad cimiteria ecclesiae deferantur et non ad tumulus paganorum (Alfredus Boretius, ed., Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae, in M.G.H. Leges 2, Capitularia 1, Hannover, Impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani, 1883, n. 26, p. 69); also in Karl Joseph von Hefele, Konziliengeschichte 3, second edition, Freiburg im Breisgau Herder'sche Verlagshandlung, 1877, Synode zu Paderborn (785), c. 7 and 22, p. 636-637. Although some scholars have rightly contested the restriction of the definition of tumidi to solely grave mounds, the prevalence of this particular rite among the Saxons makes it a logical subject of Frankish legislation. Jörg Kleeman, Grabfunde des 8. und 9. Jahr hunderts im nördlichen Randgebiet des Karolingerreiches, unpublished doctoral dissertat ion,Bonn, Rheinische Friedrichwilhelms Universität, 1992, p. 191-193. (10) St quis hominem diabulo sacrißeaverit et in hostiam more paganorum daemonibus obtulerit, morte moriatur {Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae, ed. cit., c. 9, p. 70). I have included this measure