HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor

BIOGRAPHY 1000‒1350 357An example of the biographer’s use of the prologue as a forumto voice some of the above themes is the Cistercian Caesarius ofHeisterbach’s extended epistolary dedication (1226) to ArchbishopHenry of Cologne in his account of the life, deeds, passion, and miraclesof the martyred Archbishop Engelbert. 11 Although the authorof a widely consulted Dialogue on miracles (1219–23), which containsabout eight hundred exempla, Caesarius modestly notes his insufficientknowledge and writing skill. He suggests that should the diocese possessmore learned men, they will in the future write a more satisfactorylife, since as a monk, and not a philosopher, his rhetoricalskill is limited. Citing Horace (II Epistolae 3.15,16), he remarks, perhapssarcastically, that they may write more to show their skills thanto edify the reader. He prefers to write in a simple, unadorned style,favoring the testimonies of Scripture over those of philosophy. Anapparent tension is here voiced between monastic hagiographers andthose trained in episcopal schools and, later, the universities. Theearly thirteenth century witnessed considerable conflict over the introductionof Aristotelianism into the schools, which at first was regardedas a threat to the faith. The same opposition to philosophy is voicedby the Cistercian Hugh of Floreffe in his life of Ivetta of Huy (†1228),who claims only to report the facts based on eyewitnesses or personalconfessions, free of philosophical controversies, since falsehoodis an offense to God, even if the intention may be pious. 12In the introduction to Engelbert’s miracles (which are intended tovindicate the saint against his enemies and report the cures he performed),Caesarius argues that Engelbert’s sanctity had been provensufficiently and that posthumous miracles were not necessary, as inthe cases of two martyred bishops of Cologne, SS. Evergislus andAgillolfus. 13 Nevertheless, God wanted to throw terror into the heartsof the saint’s murderers and so performed miracles, particularly thosethat occurred in the village of Gevelsberg, where Engelbert had beenkilled. Caesarius nevertheless claimed only to record those cases whichwere reported to him by Goswin, canon of St. Peter of Cologne,who was informed by “reliable persons” and who apparently was11Caesarius of Heisterbach, Vita, Passio et Miracula S. Engelberti, in AA.SS, 7November 3:623.12Hugh of Floreffe, Vita Ivettae, in AA.SS, 13 January 2:145.13Caesarius of Heisterbach, Vita, Passio et Miracula S. Engelberti.