HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor
HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor
LATER MEDIEVAL INSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 285period. As historians tend to see the papacy as the primordial episcopalinstitution, other episcopal histories usually are presented asthe diocesan pendant of the Liber pontificalis. Among these episcopalhistories the Gesta episcoporum in particular are singled out as generically‘quintessential’. Such Gesta, which frequently were written bymembers of the bishop’s familia (often his secretary) or by membersof the cathedral clergy, predominantly trace the history of the episcopalsee as a succession of bishops and their religious and worldlyendeavours from the foundation of the diocese onwards. 26 As a literarygenre, the Gesta episcoporum would have reached its apex betweenthe ninth and the twelfth century, notably in Northern France,Lorraine, and Saxony: centres of Carolingian, Ottonian and Salianimperial culture with close-knit ties between imperial and episcopalpower. 27Like the Gesta abbatum mentioned before, these Gesta episcoporum canbe interpreted as an intermediary between a mere catalogue andveritable historia: dealing with the succession of bishops within thediocese, but also digressing on the history of larger territories andthe vicissitudes of the Empire as a whole. Sot mentions in this regardthe Gesta pontificum Hammaburgensis ecclesiae, compiled by Adam ofBremen (ca. 1070), 28 and the episcopal chronicle of Thietmar ofMerseburg (†1018). Many original Gesta received one or more continuations,whereas others received reprisals, or became a muster forepiscopal histories elsewhere. Again the episcopal chronicle of Thietmarof Merseburg is a case in point. Thietmar’s work formed the basisfor later Gesta archiepiscoporum Magdeburgensium, Gesta episcoporumMerseburgensium, and Gestae episcoporum Halberstadensium, which were continuedinto the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. 29As was the case with monastic chronicles, the Gesta episcoporumcombined a range of different objectives. They firmly grounded thefoundation of the diocese with its territory and its churches in asaintly past, and they confirmed the legitimacy of episcopal powerin Church and Empire with recourse to historical precedent andestablished rights and privileges. The former element accounts forthe fluent transition between episcopal histories and episcopal saints’26On the Gesta episcoporum as a genre, see Kaiser (1994), 459–80.27Cf. Handschuh (1982); Engels (1989), 135–75.28Cf. Buchner (1963), 15–59; Sot (1981), 7–15, 32 ff.29Cf. Lippelt (1973).
286 BERT ROESTcatalogues. Normally, the founding bishops are depicted as saints,who before and after their death are at work within the diocesanterritory (in the proximity of their graves). Not by chance the burialor translation of a former bishop-saint frequently prompted compositionof episcopal histories. The redaction normally took place onrequest of the living bishop or members of his circle, who saw theoccasion as an opportunity to stress the sanctity of the episcopaloffice and to legitimise and sanctify episcopal authority in mattersof administration, liturgy and politics. In other words, many episcopalchronicles constitute a commemoratio and an authoritative memoriaof religious, sacramental and political efficacy, meant to establish adirect link between the present (the time of the author and his envisagedaudience) and the saintly past of the diocese. 30 The concernfor legitimacy and established rights and privileges, on the otherhand, explain the many digressions on the history of the Empireand the insertion of many archival documents and official episcopalletters. In turn, such well-documented diocesan chronicles could functionas a cartulary for episcopal usage and as a stable testimony ofthe possessions and privileges of the cathedral church and the dioceseas a whole. 31Insofar as the history of the diocese coincided with the history ofthe town in which the cathedral church was situated, episcopal historiescould evolve into urban chronicles, or at least provide a basisfor the production of urban chronicles after the emancipation of layurban authority from regional aristocratic and ecclesiastical jurisdiction.Within the Empire, this double process was accelerated afterthe collapse of the imperial episcopal system, which weakened therelative weight of bishops as political players. 32Traditionally, scholars therefore envisage a decline of the Gestaepiscoporum as a genre; a decline accentuated by a loss of wider perspectivesand a movement towards more local and modest bishopcatalogues, which in the second half of the fourteenth century alsosaw vernacular continuations. Lately, Markus Müller has challengedthis view by looking at surviving late medieval episcopal chronicles30Sot (1981), 18–19.31Cf. Sot (1981), 25–27, 48 ff.32The early twelfth-century Gesta Treverorum were an outflow of the original Gestaarchiepiscoporum Trevirensium. Hofmann (1987), 422. See Houts (1995), 25 ff., for afirst assessment of urban history in Italy and Germany.
- Page 243 and 244: 234 LEAH SHOPKOWThe Author-Subject
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- Page 267 and 268: 258 PETER AINSWORTHCrusader Histori
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- Page 287 and 288: 278 BERT ROESTThis chapter deals wi
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- Page 301 and 302: 292 BERT ROESTand anecdote collecti
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- Page 319 and 320: 310 BERT ROESTThese compendia share
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286 BERT ROESTcatalogues. Normally, the founding bishops are depicted as saints,who before and after their death are at work within the diocesanterritory (in the proximity of their graves). Not by chance the burialor translation of a former bishop-saint frequently prompted compositionof episcopal histories. The redaction normally took place onrequest of the living bishop or members of his circle, who saw theoccasion as an opportunity to stress the sanctity of the episcopaloffice and to legitimise and sanctify episcopal authority in mattersof administration, liturgy and politics. In other words, many episcopalchronicles constitute a commemoratio and an authoritative memoriaof religious, sacramental and political efficacy, meant to establish adirect link between the present (the time of the author and his envisagedaudience) and the saintly past of the diocese. 30 The concernfor legitimacy and established rights and privileges, on the otherhand, explain the many digressions on the history of the Empireand the insertion of many archival documents and official episcopalletters. In turn, such well-documented diocesan chronicles could functionas a cartulary for episcopal usage and as a stable testimony ofthe possessions and privileges of the cathedral church and the dioceseas a whole. 31Insofar as the history of the diocese coincided with the history ofthe town in which the cathedral church was situated, episcopal historiescould evolve into urban chronicles, or at least provide a basisfor the production of urban chronicles after the emancipation of layurban authority from regional aristocratic and ecclesiastical jurisdiction.Within the Empire, this double process was accelerated afterthe collapse of the imperial episcopal system, which weakened therelative weight of bishops as political players. 32Traditionally, scholars therefore envisage a decline of the Gestaepiscoporum as a genre; a decline accentuated by a loss of wider perspectivesand a movement towards more local and modest bishopcatalogues, which in the second half of the fourteenth century alsosaw vernacular continuations. Lately, Markus Müller has challengedthis view by looking at surviving late medieval episcopal chronicles30Sot (1981), 18–19.31Cf. Sot (1981), 25–27, 48 ff.32The early twelfth-century Gesta Treverorum were an outflow of the original Gestaarchiepiscoporum Trevirensium. Hofmann (1987), 422. See Houts (1995), 25 ff., for afirst assessment of urban history in Italy and Germany.
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