Culture

Oh! the iron!

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Then came in sight that man of iron, Charlemagne, topped with his iron helm, his fists in iron gloves, his iron chest and his Platonic shoulders clad in an iron cuirass… All those who rode before him, those who kept him company on either flank, those who followed after, wore the same armour, and their gear was as close a copy of his own as it is possible to imagine. Iron filled the fields and all the open spaces. … This race of men harder than iron did homage to the very hardness of iron. … ‘Oh! the iron! alas for the iron!’

Thus did the late ninth century monk Notker the Stammerer relate the reaction of the Lombard king Desiderius as Charles and his army came into view, waiting in a tower in Pavia for the storm to break. Soon after, according to Notker, one witness literally fainted at the sight of the mighty horde.1.Notker the Stammerer, Two Lives of Charlemagne, bk.II, s.17, pp.163-164.

Where did all this iron come from? Of the many miracles related in dozens of saint’s lives from this period, none mention swords falling from the sky. All of the weapons, armor, and, for that matter tools, farm implements, and horseshoes had to be crafted by hand, using iron ore taken from the earth, and then smelted in villages, manors, and abbeys all through the realm. Let’s take a look at this industry, “of the utmost importance in the Carolingian Empire”.2.Butt, Daily Life in the Age of Charlemagne, p.89.

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Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 Notker the Stammerer, Two Lives of Charlemagne, bk.II, s.17, pp.163-164.
↑2 Butt, Daily Life in the Age of Charlemagne, p.89.

All the pope’s men

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The papal bureaucracy of the eighth century was the most advanced and ‘modern’ government in all Europe. Unlike the hereditary kingdoms that surrounded the papal lands, the papacy was (and, for that matter, still is) ruled by an elected absolute monarch, albeit via a somewhat constricted electorate.

But no man is an island, and the pope required just as much help to run his kingdom as any other king or duke. He needed able men to assist in the performance of the papal duties, both secular and spiritual, and those men in turn required administrative staff to carry out the papal will. There were seven positions that were considered key in the papal government. Let’s take a look at the seven men who supported the pope.

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Black smoke, white smoke – red blood

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In my last post Pope Constantine II won a contentious papal election, in a revolt of the ‘aristocratic party’ against the ‘clerical party’ for control of the Duchy of Italy (the nascent Papal States). But the clerical party, in a daring move, enlisted the help of the despised Lombard King Desiderius to regain the papacy. Desiderius, eager for the chance to have the pope deeply in his debt, ordered the Lombard priest Waldipert to assist papal clericists Christopher and his son Sergius, and sent them all to Spoleto to gather Lombard forces for the counter-revolution.

In Spoleto the clerics gathered a force of soldiery and marched on Rome.1.Liber Pontificalis, n.96, ch.7, p.91. As I mentioned in the previous post, virtually the only source for these events is the vita of Stephen III from the Book of the Popes. I won’t cite this source every time, but you can go read chapters 1 – 22. On 28 July 778, a little more than a year after Constantine’s consecration, the combined Lombard and clerical forces took possession of the Salarian gate. A fair question to ask is, what had the clerical party been doing for the past year? Aside from the plot that brought them to see Desiderius, no one knows. Biding their time, hoping for a miracle, and hatching schemes that never came to fruition are probably fair guesses. But now, in heat of a Roman summer, they were poised to turn the tide, and had yet another trick up their robes.

While the Lombard forces waited on a hill outside the Roman walls, Toto, leader of the aristocratic party that had put Constantine on the throne, launched an attack on these forces of restoration (as he must have seen them), but he was killed in the fighting. Constantine, hearing the news of the death of his patron and protector, and brother, let us not forget, fled the Lateran palace to the sanctuary of a local church. The Roman militia arrived, however, and placed him in custody.

Waldipert, probably acting on standing orders from Desiderius, found a local priest named Philip and quickly had him voted and consecrated pope! His pontificate didn’t last long (it must be one of the shortest on record), but he got a good meal out of it.

And following custom they took him into the Savior’s basilica. There the prayer was said by a bishop in pursuance of ancient custom, and he gave the Peace to everyone and they brought him into the Lateran patriarchate. There too, sitting on the pontifical throne, he again gave the customer Peace; he went aloft and as pontiffs normally do he held a banquet, with some of the church’s chief men and the militia’s chief officers sitting with him.

Christopher, seeing defeat being snatched from the jaws of victory, took a bold and risky step, and publicly proclaimed that he would never again enter the gates of Rome unless Philip was removed. No doubt Christopher knew that Desiderius had some kind of plan in mind for Lombard aggrandizement, but counted on his popularity with the Roman people to seize control of the situation. Philip, probably an unwilling participant from the beginning, scurried back to his monastery, and was never heard from again.

As a side note, Christopher must rank with the greatest schemers of this era, if not all of history. He extracted a (later broken) promise from Toto not to interfere in the papal election, made his own promise (later broken) to the pope to retire to a monastery, evidently pledged some kind of quid pro quo (also broken later) to the Lombard king, made a daring public and undefended stand to force the withdrawal of yet another pope, until finally his party emerged triumphant. Well played, sir, well played.

In Rome the way forward was clear. Christopher gathered together everyone in Rome who mattered, and opened a conclave of sorts to select a new pope. “They deliberated and with absolute and total unanimity they all agreed on holy Stephen.” Stephen was solid member of the clerical party, and with his election the right order of things had been restored. Punishment and cleansing were the next tasks of the day. Unfortunately for Constantine and those who followed him, the mob ruled the streets. That, at least, is what the author of Stephen’s life would like history to believe. The author mentions “plague-ridden instigators of evil” who egged on those “perverted individuals” actually responsible for the violence.

The first victims were Theodore, one of Constantine’s leading counselors, and Passibus, Constantine’s other brother. Both had their eyes gouged out and tongues cut off. Theodore was thrown into a dungeon and later died of thirst. Constantine, however, required public humiliation. “[H]e was brought out into the open; they fixed a huge weight to his feet and made him sit on a horse in a saddle designed for a woman.” The day before Stephen’s consecration Constantine was officially deposed. “Maurianus the subdeacon came forward, removed the stole from his neck, threw it at his feet, and then cut off his papal shoes.”

The mob’s blood lust had not been sated. Forces from Rome, Tuscany, and Campania mustered and marched on the town of Alatri, where they extracted a follower of Toto named Gracilis, brought him to Rome, and then “gouged out his eyes and removed his tongue.” After that the force “went to the Cella Nova monastery where Constantine the intruder into the apostolic see was confined; they forced him out of the monastery, gouged out his eyes and then left him blind in the street.” One more victim remained. Waldipert, despite taking refuge in “God’s mother the ever-virgin St Mary’s church called ad martyres,” and while “he was holding the image of God’s mother,” was taken to “the foul prison called Ferrata.” A few days later they put out his eyes and cut out his tongue, and sent him to a monastery, where he soon died.

While the mob dispensed victor’s justice, Stephen worked to solidify his rule. He sent word to Pepin of his election, and also requested that the king send a dozen bishops to a synod in Rome to discuss the happenings of the last year. By this time Pepin had died, but Charles and Carloman received the papal envoy warmly, and nominated the bishops as requested.

Once everyone was in Rome the synod was convened, and it was time to enact the final, formal denouement to Constantine’s time as pope. The first act of the synod was to put him on trial. Somewhat surprisingly, given his position and physical state (“now eyeless”, as the vita notes), Constantine mounted a vigorous defense.

He professed in front of everyone that he had been pressurized by the people, elected by force and taken under compulsion into the Lateran Patriarchate, owing to those burdens and grievances that lord pope Paul had caused the Roman people. Falling to the ground, with his arms stretched out on the pavement, he wept that he was guilty and had sinned more times than there were sands in the sea, and implored pardon and mercy from that sacerdotal council. They had him lifted up from the ground and that day passed no sentence against him.

The next day, however, Constantine pushed his luck a little too far. The synod did not appreciate his references to previous examples of layman being consecrated to high clerical office, and “they had him buffeted on the neck and ejected him from that church.” Next the bishops turned their attention to reversing all of Constantine’s acts, and demoted all priests and bishops whom he had elevated. After that the council strengthened the canons to ensure that “no layman should ever presume to be promoted to the sacred honor of the pontificate, nor even anyone in orders, unless he had risen through the separate grades and had been made cardinal deacon or priests.” They really were determined to root out any and all evidence of Constantine’s time in office.

In all fairness, Stephen and the bishops did not excuse their own behavior during the past year. Everyone confessed “that all of them had sinned in that they had taken communion from Constantine’s hands. So as a result a penance was imposed on them all.” The nature of the penance is not documented, which is too bad. But we can probably be certain that they didn’t cut out the tongues that had received communion from the ‘intruder’.

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 Liber Pontificalis, n.96, ch.7, p.91. As I mentioned in the previous post, virtually the only source for these events is the vita of Stephen III from the Book of the Popes. I won’t cite this source every time, but you can go read chapters 1 – 22.

Santa Maria Antiqua, reborn

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Once literally, now figuratively buried in the architectural mass of the Palatine Hill in Rome, lies a little church that is a gem of eighth century artistic expression. Buried in an earthquake in 847, it was rediscovered in 1900 with its frescoes more or less intact. The ensuing century has not been necessarily kind to the structure, with many of the ailments common to historic structures and artworks manifesting themselves. However, the church is a World Heritage Site, and conservators have been at work for decades to restore and protect the paintings. Best of all, particularly for my legions of Italian readers, the church is open now until 11 September, 2016, after undergoing decades of restoration.

Interior of the church

The Palatine Hill is one of the famous seven hills of Rome, and the one where several of the emperors made their residence. During the years of late antiquity, as the empire disintegrated, the Huns approached, and Christianity rose, a small church was created from a former guardroom, out of the walls and foundations of the west slope of the hill.1.Stalley, Early Medieval Architecture, p.24.

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Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 Stalley, Early Medieval Architecture, p.24.

To hell and back, again

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In the last post we traveled along with four different voyagers to the afterlife. Two were from the sixth century, two from the seventh, so now let’s look at two from the eighth century. These stories come to us from Boniface, the English monk who came to the continent late in the seventh century, was befriended by Charles Martel who rendered him protection, and eventually became the “Apostle of the Germans.” He was killed in 754 by a band of pagans in Frisia, close to the age of 80.

Boniface left a large collection of letters which provide rich information not available anywhere else. There are not a lot of ‘informal’ sources from the eighth century, as most of what we have are saints lives, decrees, annals, charters, and the like. Some of Boniface’s letters take a much more relaxed, conversational tone. In 716 he wrote to Eadburga, an abbess back in England, and provided a long description of an unearthly vision.1.Boniface carried on a lively correspondence with several women, another reason why his letters are so valuable

Boniface relates that he himself actually spoke with the man who had a vision (this fact alone separates this incident from all the others so far). As with others, this man was carried high into the air by angels, so that he “saw a mighty fire surrounding the whole earth, and flames of enormous size puffing up on high and embracing, as it were, in one ball the whole mechanism of the world.” He then heard all of the sins and all of the virtues he had ever performed speaking to him, in a catalog of his life.

He then saw a pit, with souls in the form of black birds perching on the edge, crying out in human voices. Farther below in the pit he heard a deeper groaning and greater lamentations. The birds, his angelic explained, were those souls who would eventually be granted eternal rest at the day of judgement, while those deep in the pit were “those souls to which the loving kindness of the Lord shall never come, but an undying flame shall torture them forever.”

The man then saw a “pitch-black fiery river” with a log laid across it like a bridge. Some souls passed easily over the log, while others fell into the river, but emerged cleansed of “those trifling sins” which needed purging. Heaven was on the other side.

[H]e beheld shining walls of gleaming splendor, of amazing length and enormous height. And the holy angels said: “This is that sacred and famous city, the heavenly Jerusalem, where those holy souls shall live in joy forever.” He said that those souls and the walls of that glorious city to which they were hastening after they had crossed the river, were of such dazzling brilliance that his eyes were unable to look upon them.

The man then saw several specific souls, including an abbot who was the subject of a virtual tug-of-war between demons and angels, a girl who stole a distaff (demons celebrated the theft), and Coelrad, then an English king, of whom a group of demons convinced his guardian angels to abandon their protection, much to the angels’ sadness.2.Boniface, Letters, II, pp.3-9.

There is another letter in Boniface’s collection that is not to or from him, but written to a monk by an unknown author. The letter is fragmentary, and starts right in the action, as the author relates a vision described to him by another. Souls are again dunked in a fiery river, the level of their sin determining the depth of their punishment. A pit was there, with places of torment being prepared for those still living. The visitant saw many “abbots, abbesses, counts, and souls of both sexes.” Demons were very evident, and, as with the previous example, highly engaged in everyday life on earth.

[H]e saw three troops of enormous demons – one in the air, one on land, and a third on the sea – preparing torments for the places of penitence. He saw the first troop striving to deceive men in this our common life and the second pursuing souls in the air, as they emerged from the prison of the body, and dragging them away to torment.

The man saw several specific people3.Otherwise unknown to history. undergoing various torments. Two queens were submerged “up to the armpits,” while their “tormentors themselves threw the carnal sins of these women in their faces like boiling mud, and he heard their horrible howls resounding, as it were, through the whole world.”

Heaven was described as a series of fragrant places, linked by rainbow bridges, the higher ones nicer than the lower ones.

Finally he was returned to his body, with angelic instructions to remember the love of God.4.Boniface, Letters, XCII, pp.167-169.

There are several common details in these and the previous descriptions. The voyagers, who are all male, often are either very sick or actually die before their vision begins. They are reluctant or even pained to return to the world of the living. Usually punishments and rewards are graduated according to a person’s life. There is a deepest hell and a highest heaven, to which the worst and the best are immediately sent. Then there are intermediate areas, where souls are cleansed and expunged before the ‘next step,’ usually the Day of Judgement. Fire predominates, with ice making an occasional appearance. Rivers of flame or lava or other boiling fluid are usually present, with the sinners having to make a crossing.

People with a religious calling during their life seem to be singled out for recognition and particular punishment in the afterlife, although perhaps the monks that recorded the visions felt the need to point this out to their fellows. Many of the visions include reminders from the angels that those souls who have a chance of advancing will benefit from the prayers said and masses performed for their benefit by the living.

The visions almost always describe the terrors of hell in far more vivid and unrestrained detail than the joys of heaven. This is understandable – people rubberneck at car accidents, not weddings. And anyone who has read Dante’s Divine Comedy can attest to how much more readable the Inferno is, compared to the Paradise.

While the visions are fascinating, in and of themselves, what most excites me is the idea of how real these visions must have been for those that heard the tales. Modern society is far more focused on the material, temporal world than that of the eighth century, and we tend to regard these recollections as quaint, or look at them with an analytical eye.5.I considered creating a table to analyze commonalities and differences between the visions.

The people that heard these stories were continually steeped in an invisible world, rich with pagan and Christian elements. Illiterate, untraveled, and what we would call hugely superstitious, hearing these stories must have had an immediacy and power that is lost to us. A peasant or craftsman would listen as their village priest told them of Boniface’s experience, that the great man (already so close to the living God) spoke to a person who actually visited hell, and it would be as real as hearing your neighbor’s story of meeting a celebrity in Las Vegas, but with vastly more power.

We have gained much, but lost much also. I know where I would rather live, but I must confess to a touch of sadness.

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 Boniface carried on a lively correspondence with several women, another reason why his letters are so valuable
↑2 Boniface, Letters, II, pp.3-9.
↑3 Otherwise unknown to history.
↑4 Boniface, Letters, XCII, pp.167-169.
↑5 I considered creating a table to analyze commonalities and differences between the visions.