The Saxons within Carolingian Christendom: post-conquest identity in the <i>translationes</i> of Vitus, Pusinna and Liborius

Abstract The Franks incorporated Saxony into the Carolingian empire through a long, brutal struggle coupled with forced conversion. When Saxons themselves began to write a few decades afterwards, they had to make sense of this history and of their role and identity in their contemporary Carolingian world. In contrast to the portrayal of Saxons in writers such as Einhard and Rudolf, three ninth-century Saxon accounts of relic translations — those of Vitus, Pusinna and Liborius — reinterpreted history to claim a place for the Saxons as a distinct group equal to the Franks within the populus Christianus under the Carolingian monarchs. As a key part of their literary strategies, these authors attempted to salvage from the story of their defeat and forced Christianisation an account of God's sovereignty, native agency and virtue (especially fidelity) as a foundational element of Saxon identity. These texts prefigure the debates about post-conquest Saxon identity which would underlay the later and better-known Ottonian triumphal self-conceptions. Moreover, the concerns of these authors led them to remarkable hagiographical innovations in grappling with paganism, conversion, miracles, social class and faith. Keywords: SaxonyCarolingianTranslationChristianisationRelicsIdentityCorvey Acknowledgements This article has benefited from the insightful guidance and critiques of Tom Noble, along with comments from Jonathan Couser, Emily Gandolfi, Marcela Perett, John Scofield and the two anonymous reviewers. I am also grateful for the financial support during the process of writing provided by the University of Notre Dame and by the Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fellowship. Notes 1 A. Lampen, 'Sachsenkriege, sächsischer Widerstand und Kooperation', in: Kunst und Kultur de Karolingerzeit. Karl der Große und Papst Leo III in Paderborn, ed. C. Stiegemann and M. Wemhoff (Mainz, 1999), 264–72; R. Collins, Charlemagne (Toronto, 1998), 43–57; M. Springer, Die Sachsen (Stuttgart, 2004), 166–261. The following abbreviations are used throughout this article: AASS: Acta sanctorum quotquot toto orbe coluntur, 68 vols (Antwerp, Brussels and Paris, 1643–1940; partially revised Paris, 1863–70); MGH: Monumenta Germaniae Historica; SRG: Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum separatim editi; PL: Patrologia Latina, ed. J-P. Migne, 221 vols (Paris, 1844–64); ARF: Annales regni Francorum 741–829 qui dicuntur Annales Laurissenses maiores et Einhardi, ed. F. Kurze (MGH SRG 6, Hanover, 1895); TAlex.: Rudolf of Fulda and Meginhart, Translatio sancti Alexandri, ed. B. Krusch, in his 'Die Übertragung des H. Alexander von Rom nach Wildeshausen durch den Enkel Widukinds 851', Nachrichten von der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttinger, Philologisch-Historische Klasse, 2:13 (1933), 405–36; TLib.: Translatio sancti Liborii, ed. V. de Vry, in his Liborius: Brückenbauer Europas (Paderborn, 1997), 187–221; TPus.: Translatio sanctae Pusinnae, ed. D. Papebroch (AASS Apr. 3), 170–3; TViti: Vitustranslation — Translatio sancti Viti martyris, ed. I. Schmale-Ott (Münster, 1979); Wattenbach–Löwe, DGM: W. Wattenbach, W. Levison and H. Löwe, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter, vol. 6: Die Karolinger vom Vertrag von Verdum bis zum Herrschaftsantritt der Herrscher aus dem sächsischen Hause (Weimar, 1990). 2 'Francis adunati unus cum eis populus efficerentur.' Einhard, Vita Karoli magni, ed. O. Holder-Egger (MGH SRG 25, Hanover, 1911, repr. 1965), c. 7, 10. 3 T. Reuter, 'Charlemagne and the world beyond the Rhine', in: Charlemagne. Empire and society, ed. J. Story (Manchester, 2005), 190. 4 This partially accounts for the slow, piecemeal conquest. M. Becher, '"Non enim habent regem idem antiqui Saxones…": Verfassung und Ethnogenese in Sachsen währen des 8. Jahrhunderts', in: Sachsen und Franken in Westfalen, ed. H. Haßler (Studien zur Sachsenforschung 12, Oldenburg, 1999), 1–31; The continental Saxons from the migration period to the tenth century, ed. D.H. Green and F. Siegmund (Woodbridge, 2003), especially I. Wood, 'Beyond satraps and ostriches: political and social structures of the Saxons in the early Carolingian period', 271–86; Springer, Die Sachsen, esp. 131–52, 260. 5 M. Becher, Rex, Dux und Gens. Untersuchungen zur Entstehung des sächsischen Herzogtums im 9. und 10. Jahrhundert (Husum, 1996). See also R. Corradini, 'Überlegungen zur sächsischen Ethnogenese anhand der Annales Fuldenses und deren sächsisch-ottonischer Rezeption', in: Die Suche nach den Ursprüngen von der Bedeutung des frühen Mittelalters, ed. W. Pohl (Vienna, 2004), 211–31. D. Appleby, 'Spiritual progress in Carolingian Saxony: a case from ninth-century Corvey', Catholic Historical Review, 82 (1996), 599–613, has a different focus which results in too quick an acceptance of Frankish-Saxon harmony. 6 L. von Padberg, 'Unus populus ex diversis gentibus: Gentilismus und Einheit in früheren Mittelalter', in: Der Umgang mit dem Fremden in der Vormoderne, ed. R.W. Keck and E. Wiersing (Cologne, 1997), 155–93, esp. 183; W. Pohl, 'Zur Bedeutung ethnischer Unterscheidungen in der frühen Karolingerzeit', in: Sachsen und Franken, ed. Haßler, 193–208; P. Geary, The myth of nations (Princeton, 2002), esp. 120–55; J. Nelson, 'The Merovingian church in Carolingian retrospective', in: The world of Gregory of Tours, ed. K. Mitchell and I. Wood (Leiden, 2002), 241–59; Reuter, 'Charlemagne and the world', 190–2; see also R. McKitterick, Charlemagne. The formation of a European identity (Cambridge, 2008), 214–91. 7 R. McKitterick, History and memory in the Carolingian world (Cambridge, 2004), 114–15. 8 M. Innes, 'Memory, orality and literacy in an early medieval society', Past and Present, 158 (1998), 10–13. 9 McKitterick, Charlemagne, 101–2, 245–50; J.M.H. Smith, 'Confronting identities: the rhetoric and reality of a Carolingian frontier', in: Integration und Herrschaft. Ethnische Identitäten und soziale Organisation in Frühmittelalter, ed. W. Pohl and M. Disenberger (Vienna, 2002), 177. 10 Smith, 'Confronting identities', 169–82. 11 C. Ehlers, Die Integration Sachsens in das fränkische Reich (751–1024) (Göttingen, 2007), 153–91, 307–9; see also Becher, Rex, 110–25; H. Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen nach Sachsen im 9. Jahrhundert. Über Kommunkation, Mobilität und Öffentlichkeit im Frühmittelalter (Stuttgart, 2002), 50-1. 12 Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen, 49–91; Ehlers, Integration, 153–91. 13 See M. Heinzelmann, Translationsberichte und andere Quellen des Reliquienkultes (Typologie des sources du moyen âge occidental 33, Turnhout, 1979), 109–12; Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen, 359–65. 14 Einhard, Translatio et miracula sanctorum Marcellini et Petri, ed. G. Waitz (MGH Scriptores 15:1, Hanover, 1888), 239–64; K. Honselmann, 'Reliquientranslationen nach Sachsen', in: Das erste Jahrtausend, ed. V.H. Elbern (Dusseldorf, 1962), 158–93; Heinzelmann, Translationsberichte; J. Smith, 'Old saints, new cults: Roman relics in Carolingian Francia', in: Early medieval Rome and the Christian west, ed. J. Smith (Leiden, 2000), 317–40; Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen. 15 Compare I. Wood, 'An absence of saints? Evidence for the Christianisation of Saxony', in: Am Vorabend der Kaiserkrönung, ed. P. Godman, J. Jarnut and P. Johanek (Berlin, 2002), 343. 16 McKitterick, Charlemagne, 292–380, esp. 329–30, 378–9; see also Ehlers, Integration, 43–267, 386. 17 Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen, esp. 325–49, 366–9. 18 P. Buc, The dangers of ritual (Princeton, 2001), 3–11; Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen, 260. 19 McKitterick, History and memory, 111–13. 20 Corradini, 'Überlegungen', 216. 21 'consuetudinem malam.' ARF a. 778, 52. Also ARF a. 784 and a. 793, 66 and 94. 22 ARF, a. 782, 62; Capitulatio de partibus Saxonia, ed. C. von Schwerin (MGH Fontes iuris Germanici antiqui 4, Hanover, 1918), c. 4, 37. See also B. Effros, 'De partibus Saxoniae and the regulation of mortuary custom: a Carolingian campaign of Christianisation or the suppression of Saxon identity?', Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, 75 (1997), 267–86; compare Y. Hen, 'Charlemagne's jihad', Viator, 37 (2005), 33–51. 23 'maledicta generatione Saxonum.' Alcuin, Epistolae, ed. E. Dümmler (MGH Epistolae 4, Berlin, 1895), ep. 185, 309; similarly ep. 110 and 177, 157 and 293. 24 Annales sancti Amandi, ed. G.H. Pertz (MGH Scriptores 1, Hanover 1826), a. 776 and 785, 12; Annales Laureshamenses, ed. Pertz (MGH Scriptores 1), a. 776, 30; ARF, a. 776, 47. 25 A. Nock, Conversion. The old and new in religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo (Oxford, 1933); K. Morrison, Understanding conversion (Charlottesville, 1992); Varieties of religious conversion in the middle ages, ed. J. Muldoon (Gainesville, 1997), esp. 1–10; C. Cusack, The rise of Christianity in northern Europe, 300–1000 (London, 1998), 1–29. 26 Eigil, Vita Sturmi, ed. G.H. Pertz (MGH Scriptores 2, Hanover, 1827), c. 7 and c. 23, 369, 376; L. von Padberg, 'Zum Sachsenbild in hagiographischen Quellen', in: Sachsen und Franken, ed. Haßler, 180–3. 27 Alcuin, Vita Willibrordi c. 5, 11, 14, ed. W. Levison (MGH Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum 7, Hanover, 1920), 120, 125–6, 128; I. Wood, The missionary life. Saints and the evangelization of Europe 400–1050 (Harlow, 2000), 86–7. See also R. Sullivan, 'The Carolingian missionary and the pagan', Speculum, 28 (1953), 705–40, esp. 734–6; I. Wood, 'Pagans and holy men 600–800', in: Irland und die Christenheit, ed. P. Ní Chatháin and M. Richter (Stuttgart, 1987), 347–61. 28 S. Bonifatii et Lulli Epistolae, ed. M. Tangl (MGH Epistolae selectae 1, Berlin 1916), ep. 23 and 46, 38–41 and 74–5; Alcuin, Epistolae, ep. 110, 157–9; Ratramnus, Epistolae variorum, ed. E. Dümmler (MGH Epistolae 6, Berlin, 1925), ep. 12, 155–7; Wood, Missionary life, esp. 83–6; but see also L. von Padberg, Mission und Christianisierung. Formen und Folgen bei Angelsachsen und Franken im 7. und 8. Jahrhundert (Stuttgart, 1995), 355–6. 29 'Qui ab initio tam nobiles quam et ad bella promptissimi multis indiciis persepe claruerunt.' Nithard, Historia, IV.2, 120; trans. B.W. Scholz, Carolingian chronicles (Ann Arbor, 1970), 167. 30 ARF, a. 782, 60. 31 Einhard, Vita Karoli, c. 7, 9–10; Appleby, 'Spiritual progress', 600–1. 32 Annales Laureshamenses 801, ed. Pertz (MGH Scriptores 1); Collins, Charlemagne, 148–52; H. Mayr-Harting, 'Charlemagne, the Saxons, and the imperial coronation of 800', English Historical Review, 111 (1996), 1113–33; J. Ehlers, 'Die Sachsenmission als heilsgeschichtliches Ereignis', in: Vita Religiosa im Mittelalter, ed. F. Felten and N. Jaspert (Berlin, 1999), 37–9, 48. 33 Rabanus Maurus, Liber de oblatione puerorum, PL 107, 432B; M. de Jong, In Samuel's image. Child oblation in the early medieval west (Leiden, 1996), 83. 34 Rudolf may have written his historical prologue as a freestanding piece, which Meginhart then incorporated into the translatio, but the two have at least a similar perspective. Wattenbach–Löwe, DGM, 711–14; T. Klüppel, 'Die Germania', in: Corpus christianorum hagiographies, II, ed. G. Philippart (Turnhout, 1996), 181–2; Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen, 127–34; E. Goldberg, Struggle for empire. Kingship and conflict under Louis the German (Ithaca, 2006), 176–9. There is no manuscript evidence for circulation in Saxony, but as the patron and the relics were in Saxony, early dissemination there is highly likely. Widukind of Corvey and Adem of Bremen used Rudolf in tenth- and eleventh-century Saxony. 35 Presumably not the Alexander whose relics Fulda already possessed: Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen, 129–30. 36 But compare H. Beumann, 'Die Hagiographie "Bewältigt": Unterwerfung und Christianisierung der Sachsen durch Karl den Grossen', in: Cristianizzazione ed organizzazione ecclesiastica delle campagne nell'alto medioevo (Settimane di studio del Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo 28, Spoleto, 1982), 146–8. Rudolf had no documented connection with Saxony beyond this translatio: Wattenbach–Löwe, DGM, 709–13. 37 TAlex. c. 2, 424. 38 Wood, 'Beyond satraps', 282; Goldberg, Struggle for empire, 178–9, but note that the nobles are still pagan. 39 For Rudolf as the originator: Wattenbach–Löwe, DGM, 712–13; Wood, 'Beyond satraps', 280–2; with parallels in I. Wood, 'Misremembering the Burgundians', in: Die Suche, ed. Pohl, 146–7. On possible oral tradition: Becher, Rex, 31–5; see the caution in J. Nelson, review of Becher, Rex, English Historical Review, 113 (1998), 955–7. 40 'terram eorum crudeliter ferro vastavit et igni.' TAlex., c. 1, 423; compare Rudolf on the Vikings: 'Nordmanni Dorestadum incendentes vastaverunt.' Annales Fuldensis, ed. F. Kurze (MGH SRG 7, Hanover, 1891), a. 847, 36. 41 'adunati sunt populo Dei usque in hodierum diem.' TAlex., c. 3, 426. 42 'quatenus earum signis et virtutibus sui cives a paganico ritu et superstitione ad veram religionem converterentur. […] pariter fidelibus et infidelibus.' TAlex., c. 4, 427–8. 43 The actual extent of Christianisation is obscure though most scholars are pessimistic: R.M. Karras, 'Pagan survivals and syncretism in the conversion of Saxony', Catholic Historical Review, 72 (1986), 553–72; C. Carroll, 'The bishoprics of Saxony in the first century after Christianisation', Early Medieval Europe, 8 (1999), 219–46, esp. 239–41; Goldberg, Struggle for empire, 176–7; see also E. Goldberg, 'Popular revolt, dynastic politics and aristocratic factionalism in the early middle Ages: the Saxon Stellinga reconsidered', Speculum, 70 (1995), 475–6. 44 TAlex., c. 6–8, 430–1. 45 I. Schmale-Ott, Introduction, TViti, 23–5; Wattenbach–Löwe, DGM, 853–5; Klüppel, 'Germania', 195; Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen, 100–8. See also Appleby, 'Spiritual progress', 603–6, but note our disagreements on the acceptance of the Frankish narrative and 'Frankish-Saxon unity'. 46 See Schmale-Ott, Introduction, TViti, 5. 47 Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen, 102. 48 The texts were available at Corvey at least by the late ninth-century: Wattenbach–Löwe, DGM, 863; Appleby, 'Spiritual progress', 601. On their popularity, see above n. 19. 49 TViti, c. 3, 34. 50 'licet compulsi.' TViti, c. 1, 32. 51 'Post salvatoris igitur Domini nostri passionem et resurrectionem, post triumphos apostolorum ac victorias martyrum tandem ipse rex regum et dominus virtutum superatis pacis inimicis pacem ecclesiae suae restituit adeo, et ipsi reges […] quos antecessores sui trucidarant, sepulchra ambiant. Quae victoria Christi cum primum apud Romanos tripudiaret, Longobardorum gentem penetravit atque in Francia gloriosius triumphare cepit, Hispanos adiit, Britannos conclusit, Anglorum gentem subegit; et licet compulsi ipsi Saxones, qui Anglorum socii fuerant, devota mente colla submittunt.' TViti, c. 1, 32. 52 For parallels in Frankish historiography see McKitterick, History and memory, 10, 99. 53 TViti, c. 3, 34. 54 'Convocavit omnes, qui sub ditione sua erant maiores, sacerdotes et principes, atque studiosssime quaesivit, quomodo veram fidem veramque religionem in universo regno suo firmaeret '(Emphasis mine).' TViti, c. 3, 34–6. 55 TViti, c. 5, 48. 56 'propter religionem et reverentiam beatissimi martyris Viti.' TViti, c. 27, 62. 57 TViti, c. 3, 36; Appleby, 'Spiritual progress', 605–6, but note that the text makes no mention of Warin's mixed Saxon-Frankish ancestry. 58 TViti, c. 3, 36–42. 59 TViti, c. 4, 46. 60 'tam pulcherrimo et devotissimo populo.' TViti, c. 22, 58; compare the Franks: TViti, c. 20, 58. 61 Thus Charles the Bald decided to aid the abortive Bulgar mission even though any direct political benefit would have accrued to his sometime rival, Louis the German: Annales Bertiniani, a. 866, 85–6. 62 See Goldberg, 'Popular revolt', 475–8; H. Schmidt, 'Über Christianisierung und gesellschaftliches Verhalten in Sachsen und Friesland', Niedersächsisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte, 49 (1977), 19–21. 63 The uncertain date of composition makes these precise goals speculative. 64 A. Cohausz, 'Der Hl. Walther von Herford', in: Festgabe fur Alois Fuchs, ed. W. Tack (Paderborn, 1950), 405; Wattenbach–Löwe, DGM, 868–9; Klüppel, 'Germania', 196; Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen, 108–17. The scholarship before Röckelein assumed a male author, which is possible, but see J. Nelson, 'Women and the word in the earlier middle ages', in: Women in the Church, ed. W.J. Sheils and D. Wood (Studies in Church History 27, Oxford, 1990), 53–98; R. McKitterick, 'Women and literacy in the early middle ages', in her Books, scribes and learning in the Frankish kingdoms (Aldershot, 1994), essay XIII, 1–43, esp. 23; K. Leyser, Rule and conflict in an early medieval society. Ottonian Saxony (Bloomington, 1979), 49–73. The text is also in R. Wilmans, Die Kaiserurkunden der Provinz Westfalen 777–1313: I (Münster, 1867), 539–46, unfortunately without substantial improvement since it survived in only one manuscript (now lost). 65 She certainly had access to sources written outside Saxony and makes a possible (though unlikely) reference to the Annales regni Francorum a. 826: Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen, 110–11. 66 TPus., c. 3, 4, 171; her specific examples do not include Waltbraht. 67 TPus., c. 7, 172. 68 'gens Saxonum […] Imperatoris Caroli auspiciis varia sorte bellorum vix per triginta annos Deo volente subdita, Verbi divini foedera et fidem in Deum et spem beatitudinis suscepit aeternae.' TPus., c. 1, 170–1; Appleby, 'Spiritual progress', 607. 69 TAlex., c. 1-2, 674–5. 70 TPus., c. 1, 170. 71 'Quoniam antiquis ritibus tenebatur, et nefas videbatur maiorum ceremoniis errorem ascribere: quod videlicet fiebat novorum sacrorum susceptione et veterum rituum abdicatione. Qui enim ceremoniis a maioribus sibi traditis renuntiare contendit, errare eos et ad et et post et et […] a TPus., c. 1, 72 the missionary by and see n. quam fidelibus TPus., c. 11, also c. 10, Appleby, 'Spiritual progress', compare Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen, in TPus., c. 6, 75 Alcuin, Vita c. 14, See also Gregory the in and P. de in: des occidental ed. Appleby, 'Spiritual progress', K. Honselmann, des 9. am der Pusinna in Herford', der (Münster, also the of for Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen, sancti ed. A. (AASS 3), c. Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen, For of Fulda see Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen, Becher, Rex, see also Goldberg, Struggle for empire, c. 171; Appleby, 'Spiritual progress', J. Nelson, Charles the Bald (London, the ninth-century relic the two during this see Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen, 1, but see also 82 Nelson, compare Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen, Sullivan, see also L. von Padberg, als und zur der im in: ed. D. W. and J. Jarnut (Berlin, 2004), As Charles attempted at least Nelson, The the Saxons c. 1 and 11, and Wattenbach–Löwe, DGM, Klüppel, 'Germania', Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen, G. Untersuchungen zur (Münster, c. 2, de Vry, c. 10, The manuscript but late of to this article: ed. J. (AASS For see de Vry, and in: de du ed. A. du 14, note his from de in et ab ad quod sancti et et ad ab c. See 46, in which the but are not c. 7, c. 3, in c. 3, also c. 2 and 5, and to this were for the that bishoprics in in ad […] c. 2, the of and the connection of early Saxon with mission H. 'The of the in: Saxons, ed. esp. c. c. 1 and and and include only one c. […] et in et Dei in ad c. On and see Rabanus Maurus, PL 110, See n. also Rabanus Maurus, in PL c. c. 2 and and c. Compare Goldberg, Struggle for empire, Becher, Rex, per quam sibi c. 2, c. 7, c. c. 3 and 6, and c. 7, c. and c. 25, c. 6, 7, 8 and 10, and 110 Compare Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen, 111 This is from three are only in c. 12, c. 22, 113 c. 22, c. in the a in of on enim populo ad Deum sibi et ad quos a c. 22, In not on this or make the c. 12, Corvey and were only by Saxon S. Kingship and politics in the late century (Cambridge, 2003), Becher, Rex, Carroll, esp. 'Die Sachsen als zum des im Corvey', see also Beumann, et populus de Caroli ed. P. von (MGH Hanover 'Die Sachsen', 48. or not the for a de Vry, On the of the see 'Die Sachsen', not and populus as in Saxon Röckelein, Reliquientranslationen, historical texts but Vita ed. W. Die Wattenbach–Löwe, DGM, Vita ed. A. (AASS 3), G. 'Der der Vita 12 Wattenbach–Löwe, DGM, Vita ed. O. (MGH Scriptores Wattenbach–Löwe, DGM, Wood, 'Beyond satraps', Beumann, Becher, Rex, Ehlers, H. Röckelein, der der Hagiographie in: Hagiographie in ed. D. and K. (Stuttgart, 2000), 'Die Sachsen',

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