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delegate of Emperor Michael the Stammerer. 423 Louis then gave the manuscript to the
Abbey bearing the author’s name, commissioning a translation from Hilduin, then the
Abbot of St. Denis. 424 However, Hilduin did more than simply translate Dionysius’ works;
realizing that the relics his church already possessed might be rendered even more
valuable by a connection to the Apostles themselves, 425 he also created several other
works to strengthen the historical record linking Dionysius and Denis. 426 In this new
composite narrative, Dionysius converted to Christianity in Athens, where, as Bishop, he
composed his theological treatises, then travelled to Gaul as Denis the missionary, where
he was martyred.
Before Dionysius’ texts arrived at the Abbey, Denis’ grave was already an
important place of worship, and already enjoyed the support, financial and otherwise, of
many high-ranking patrons (beginning with Hilduin and Geneviève). The discovery that
Denis was also a great theologian greatly enhanced his reputation, but did not create it. 427
What the attribution of the Corpus Dionysiacum to the patron saint of France did do was
423 It is still unclear who made the first leap in identifying the two Dionysius’. Luscombe suggests that the
link was suggested (but not explicitly made) in 825 by Frankish bishops when discussing idolatry at a
council in Paris. In their written dispatches from the event, according to Luscombe, the bishops are not
careful about distinguishing between Dionysius of Athens and Denis of Paris. One of these dispatches was
sent to Constantinople, where the Greek church had opted for iconoclasm at that time. According to
Luscombe, this is perhaps the seed that prompted the idea of sending a codex of Dionysius’ writing (in
Greek) to France as a gift in the first place. Luscombe, 136.
424 Grover Zinn, "Hilduin," in Medieval France: An Encyclopedia, 860 (New York: Garland Publishing,
1995), 860.
425 Luscombe has Hilduin resorting to a bit of forgery for the “enhancement of his own position among the
prelates of France and in respect of France’s links with Rome and with Constantinople.” Luscombe, 140.
426 Hilduin would already have had the letters composed by the Frankish bishops that begin to make the
link, as well as a version of Denis’ passion composed shortly thereafter that retells the story in light of this
suggestion. He did, however, fabricate a ‘History by an imagined Aristarchus’, as well as a hymn to the
saint, and finally a work entitled the ‘Revelation of Stephen’. The Stephen of the last piece is Pope Stephen
(3 rd century), who in Hilduin’s fiction leaves a pallium and keys (symbols of ‘apostolic dignity’) on the
altar of St. Denis. Ibid, 139.
427 Dionysius arrived in the west already with impeccable references, so to speak. Two reputable and
orthodox Byzantine theologians, John of Scythopolis and Maximus the Confessor had added glosses and
scholia to Dionysius’ writings, which “claimed the Areopagite’s corpus for orthodoxy.” Paul Rorem,
Pseudo-Dionysius: A Commentary on the Texts and an Introduction to their Influence (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1993), 15.
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