Calculating Time and the End of Time in the Carolingian World, c. 740-c. 820* Apocalyptic hopes ...

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CalculatingTimeand theEnd of Timein theCarolingian World,c.740-c.820*
Apocalyptichopes and fears werecapableofdrivingsignificant changeintheMiddleAges.1
Individuals and groups couldbemovedtoactioninordertobringabout or prepareforthe
end.Alternatively,focusingonfear,peoplemight trytodosomethingtoprevent it,to
attempt tosuppress theanxietyorits causes. Political ideologies couldberedrawn as aresult;
social structures remade. Theapocalyptic couldprovidealanguageandframeworkfor
inspiringandconceptualisingwhat was goingon, whichmadeit particularlypotent andits
popularityenduring.2Apocalyptictraditionintheperiodis oftencloselyassociatedwith
significant years which might haveinaugurated eitherthe Last Times ora final heavenly
kingdom onEarth: the6,000th yearofthe world(=c.AD500orc.AD800bydifferent
calculations),or,morefamously,theApocalyptic Year1000.3Scholars havearguedthat such
thought influencedkeyevents inEuropeanhistory, such as thedecisiontorestoreempire
*Iamgratefulforthecommentsoftheanonymousreviewers,aswellasthethoughtsofJustineFirnhaber-Baker,
RichardLandes,SimonMacLean,HenryMayr-HartingandElinaScreen.Errorsandidiosyncrasiesremainmy
own.
1ThisisthecommonthesisofJ.Fried,AufstiegausdemUntergang.ApokalyptischesDenkenunddie
EntstehungdermodernenNaturwissenschaftimMittelalter(Munich,2001);idem,‘Endzeiterwartungumdie
Jahrtausendwende’,DeutschesArchiv,xlv(1989),381-473;andessaysinR.Landes,A.Gow&D.C.van
Meter,eds.,TheApocalypticYear1000:ReligiousExpectationandSocialChange,950-1050(Oxford,2003).
Seealson.3below.
2S.O’Leary,ArguingtheApocalypse:ATheoryofMillennialRhetoric(Oxford,1994),10.
3J.Gil,‘Losterroresdelano6000’,inActasdelsimposioparaelestudiodeloscodicesdel‘Comentarioal
apocalypsis’deBeatodeLiebana(Madrid,1978),217-247;R.Landes,‘LesttheMillenniumBeFulfilled:
ApocalypticExpectationsandthePatternofWesternChronography,100-800CE’,inW.Verbeke,D.Verhelst
&A.Welkenhuysen,eds.,TheUseandAbuseofEschatologyintheMiddleAges(Leuven,1988),141-211;
idem,‘Millenarismusabsconditus:L’historiographieaugustinienneetl’AnMil,’LeMoyenAge,xcviii(1992),
355-77;idem,‘SurlestracesduMillennium:Lavianegativa’,LeMoyenAge,xcix(1993),5-26;W.Brandes,
‘“Temporapericulosasunt”:EschatologischesimVorfeldderKaiserkrönungKarlsdesGroßen’,inR.Berndt,
ed.,DasFrankfurterKonzilvon794:KristallisationspunktkarolingischerKultur(Mainz,1997),49-79;A.
Borst,DiekarolingischeKalenderreform(Hanover,1998),729-739;J.Heil,‘“Nosnescientesdehocvelle
manere”–“Wewishtoremainignorantaboutthis”.TimelessEnd,or:ApproachestoReconceptualising
EschatologyAfterAD800(AM6000)’,Traditio,lv(2000),73-103;J.Fried,‘PapstLeoIII.besuchtKarlden
GroßeninPaderbornoderEinhardsSchweigen’,HistorischeZeitschrift,cclxxii(2001),281-326.
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throughthe coronationof CharlemagneonChristmas DayAD800.Yet theideathat thedate
was reallyso powerful remains disputed,evenbetweenscholars whoagree that apocalyptic
traditiondefinedmorewidelywas significant in LatinandByzantinehistory.4 Iwish toopen
upnewfronts inthis debatebyre-examiningtheapocalypticmoodanddevelopments in
chronologyinthe years aroundAD800when,it has beenclaimed,theCarolingiankingdoms
adoptednewworldchronologies and AD-dating,allegedlytoavoidtheissueofannus mundi
(AM)6000throughdiversionanda‘consensus of silence’.5 Suchaclaim raises two
important issues: first,howthediverseintellectual networks oftheCarolingianworldcould
developandmaintainsuchaconsensus;6 andsecond,whetherthedefiningdynamic was
between an‘apocalyptic’ minorityand‘anti-apocalyptic’majorityor, as Ishall argue,
whethertherewas amorevigorous mainstream apocalypticism at workin whichthedatewas
at best ofsecondaryinterest.
Myargument will proceedas follows. First,it will benecessarytosketchbrieflysome
ofthetouchstones ofdebateabout apocalypticism andchronological traditionintheearly
Carolingianworld.These aredebates which arenot usuallywell integrated becausethe
approaches usedcanbesodifferent.Studies ofthe apocalyptichaveeither focussedclosely
onthedevelopment oftheological ideas, oftenintheabstract,orelsehave drawnonquasi-
sociological models todeterminethelogicofapocalyptictraces (ortheir absence)in awide
spreadofsources. Scholars workingonchronology, ontheotherhand,haveeitherfocussed
onthenarrativestructural properties ofhistories, orhavestudiedthedevelopment ofthe
numerous (andmostlyunpublished)handbooks relatingtothescience andtheologyof
4B.McGinn,‘TheEndoftheWorldandtheBeginningofChristendom’,inM.Bull,ed.,ApocalypseTheory
andtheEndsofWorlds(Oxford,1995),58-89especially62-4;R.A.Markus,‘LivingWithinSightoftheEnd’,
inC.Humphrey&M.Ormrod,eds.,TimeintheMedievalWorld(York,2001),23-34,especially28-30.See
alson.14.
5Landes,‘LesttheMillenniumbeFulfilled’,196-203;idem,‘SurlestracesduMillennium’,16.
6R.McKitterick,TheFrankishChurchandtheCarolingianReforms,789-895(London,1977);eadem,‘Unity
andDiversityintheCarolingianChurch’,inR.Swanson,ed.,UnityandDiversityintheChurch,Studiesin
ChurchHistory,32(Oxford,1996),59-83;Y.Hen,‘UnityinDiversity:TheLiturgyofFrankishGaulbeforethe
Carolingians’,inSwanson,UnityandDiversity,19-30.
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computus (loosely,‘time-reckoning’). It is thelast blockofscholarshipwhichwemost
urgentlyneedtofactorintotherelationshipbetweenapocalypticism and chronology,because
it reveals that theCarolingianinterest inadoptingnewAM andADdatingsystems was
foundedupontechnical issues todowithpaschal calculations andnot eschatological
reflection.Toshowthis morefully,thesecondsectionwill outlinehowmost traces of
apocalypticthought intheeighthandearlyninthcenturytieintoa relativelynarrow clusterof
reformingagendas, revealingits situational logicandcontext.Then,inthethirdsection, Iwill
comeindetail totheargument that thevarietyofreckonings andtechnical ideas in
computistical handbooks fail tosupport theideathat eitherapocalypticism oranti-
apocalypticism drove changes inchronological tradition.Rather,what thesehandbooks
reveal is theopenness of debates about time,andthecomplex interactions ofintellectual
networks, as theCarolingiancourt andits satellites pursueda greatersense oforderinthe
world.
Thevarietyof apocalyptictraditionis crucial.Richard Landes’s arguments that therewas a
focus onthedate, forexample,prioritises asense of‘chronological’or‘predictive
imminence’intheMiddleAges.7 Thesedates couldrepresent eitherthe comingendofthe
worldor,inamoremillennial mood,anewreformedpolitical order,followingaliteral
understandingofthethousand-yearreignofthesaints inRev.20.4.8 Treatingthedateas
propheticwas controversial becauseit violatedthe ideathat GodaloneknewwhenJudgment
wouldcome(Matt.24.36; Mark17.32; Acts 1.7), whichAugustineofHippohadwarned
7SeeespeciallyLandes,‘LesttheMillennium’,passim.
8R.Landes,‘RoostersCrow,OwlsHoot:OntheDynamicsofApocalypticMillennialism’,inG.S.McGhee&
S.O’Leary,eds.,WarinHeaven,HeavenonEarth:TheoriesoftheApocalyptic(London,2005),19-46.A
usefulapproachisalsosetoutinG.W.Trompf,‘Millenarism:History,Sociology,andCross-Cultural
Analysis’,JournalofReligiousHistory,xxiv.1(2000),103-24.
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against.9 Intheprocess,Augustinepromotedtheideathat numbers andsigns from theBible
weretypologicallymeaningful and therefore could not provideliteral clues whichcouldbe
used topredict imminenceinhistory,althoughthis didnot stopmanyinfluential writers such
as GregorytheGreat (d. AD604)promotingactioninanticipationofanEndthat was both
imminent andunpredictable.BernardMcGinnlabelledapositionsuchas Gregory’s
‘psychological imminence’.10 Manyadherents tothis kindofapocalypticism,it shouldbe
noted,also rejectedtheideaofan earthlyreignof thesaints.11 Inpractice,primarysources
such as Bede’s Letter to Plegwinplainlytestifyto bothpositions invariousquantities and
manifestations.12 Nevertheless, Landes has consideredthemedieval opponents of
‘chronological imminence’tobe‘anti-apocalyptic’andsuppressive ratherthandifferently
apocalyptic,whileMcGinnandothers havearguedthat concerns about chronologywere
largelyirrelevant.13 Wemight want tolooktowards thekindofmodel sketchedbyPaul
Magdalinoforthe ByzantineEast,witharangeof non-chronological apocalyptictraditions
madeactivebyevents andindividual eschatologies, onlysomeofwhichcouldmake
chronologyrelevant.14 This leads us toconsiderthe ways inwhichapocalypticism couldbe
situational andcontingent.
Chronological traditions themselves werenoless stableandclosedtorevision. Infact,
herelies akeypoint in Landes’argument: that changes incalculatingtime weredrivenby
9Augustine,DecivitateDei,XX.7,ed.B.Dombart&A.Kalb,CCSLxlviii(Turnhout,1955),710-11.P.
Fredriksen,‘ApocalypseandRedemptioninEarlyChristianity.FromJohnofPatmostoAugustineofHippo’,
VigiliaeChristianae,xxxiii.3(1991),151-83;McGinn,‘TheEndoftheWorld’,61-2.
10McGinn,‘TheEndoftheWorld’,63.
11AgainAugustine,DecivitateDei,XX.7,ed.Dombart&Kalb,709;Bede,Detemporumratione,67,ed.C.W.
Jones,CCSLcxxiiiB(Turnhout,1977),536-7.
12Bede,EpistolaadPleguinam,ed.C.W.Jones,CCSL,cxxiiiC(Turnhout,1980),especiallych.15,624-5.
13Ipassoverherethelessproductiveeffortstoexplainawayalltracesofapocalypticthoughtintheperiod,
notablyS.Gouguenheim,Lesfaussesterreursdel’anmil(Paris,1999),especiallyfortheeighthcentury204-
16.
14P.Magdalino,‘TheHistoryoftheFutureanditsUses:Prophecy,PolicyandPropaganda’,inR.Beaton&C.
Roueché,eds.,TheMakingofByzantineHistory.StudiesDedicatedtoDonaldM.Nicol(Aldershot,1993),3-34;
P.Magdalino,‘TheYear1000inByzantium’,inP.Magdalino,ed.,ByzantiumintheYear1000(Leiden,2002),
233-270 with criticism of Landes’s approach at 233-5. See also W. Brandes, ‘Anastasios ό δίκο ος:
EndzeiterwartungundKaiserkritik’,ByzantinischeZeitschrift,90(1997),24-63.
ϱ
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anti-apocalypticwriters keentoavoidtheYear6000,preferablybyprojectingit furtherinto
thefuture.15 From thethird century,thedominant linehadbeenthat the Incarnationcoincided
withthe5,500th yearoftheworld,but earlyinthe fourthcenturythe anti-millenarianwriter
Eusebius ofCaesarea recalibratedbiblical andprofanehistories so that the Incarnationfell in
AM 5199or5200instead,threehundred years furtherintothefuture. Althoughit madelittle
impact intheEast,this becamethedefault reckoningintheWest throughJerome’s
translationandsubsequent extensions, as well as theprologuetoVictorius ofAquitaine’s
widely-usedEastertables.16 TheninBritain,as AD 800approachedat some distance,anew
reckoningwas produced andpromotedbyBede(d.AD735)whichfixedthe Incarnationin
AM 3952inthecourseofhis workonDionysiac Eastertables, as theuseofAD-dating
spreadalongsideinhistories andcharters.17 This newAM-reckoningwas thenwidelybut not
exclusivelyadoptedinFrankish circles from AD807,afterAM 6000hadpassedwithout
incident.But does this count as atellingpattern? Chronographers suchas Eusebius andBede
hadgoodtechnical reasons tocriticiseprevious authorities without needingorinvokingan
anti-apocalyptic agenda (Bede, forexample,was addressingdifferences inthelengthof
generations intheVulgateBiblecomparedtothe Septuagint).18 Recent work byAlden
MosshammerandPeter Verbist has illuminatedjust howcomplicatedsuchenterprises could
be,as medieval chronographers calibratednot onlyhistorical informationbut also theluni-
15SeeLandes,‘LesttheMillennium’,passim.
16Jerome,Chronica,ed.R.Helm,EusebiusWerke7:DieChronikdesHieronymus,DieGriechischen
ChristlichenSchriftstellerdererstendreiJahrhunderte,xlvii(Leipzig,1956);A.Mosshammer,TheChronicleof
EusebiusandtheGreekChronographicTradition(London,1979).
17BedeistraditionallycreditedwiththedevelopmentofthischronologybecauseitunderpinshisDe
temporibus,16-22ed.C.W.Jones,CCSL,cxxiiiC,600-611;EpistolaadPleguinum,especially3-5,617-19,
andDetemporumratione,66,463-535.SeenowD.McCarthy,‘Bede’sPrimarySourcefortheVulgate
ChronologyinhisChroniclesinDetemporibusandDetemporumratione’,inD.ÓCrónín&I.Warntjes,eds.,
ComputusanditsCulturalContextintheLatinWest,AD300-1200(Turnhout,2010),159-89,whereitisshown
thatBedeandIrishannalistsmusthavehadaccesstoacommon,earliersource.Insupportofthis,notethe
reckoningsassociationwiththeIrishinLaterculusMalalianus,4,ed.andtrans.J.Stevenson(Cambridge,
1995),124andthecommentaryon178.ThatEusebius’schronologywaschallengedislesssurprisingifwe
rememberthatAugustinehadalreadyhighlightedconcerns:DecivitateDei,XV.13,ed.Dombart&Kalb,471.
18SeeF.Wallis,Bede’sTheReckoningofTime(2ndedn,Liverpool,2004),353-66.
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solarcycles whichunderpinnedEastertables.19 Scholars rarelyadoptednew calculations of
timefortheiraestheticvalues alone.20 Whynewreckonings becamepopular maybea
different matter,but thelogicoftheindividual changes seem tounderminethesuperficial
appearanceofthelonger so-called‘pattern’.
Medieval computus is crucial tounderstandingthebuilduptoAD800inthis context.
Thetechnicalities ofcomputus, balancingscientificluni-solarcycles against theological
traditions, meanthat it canappeartoberatherquirkyorperipheral tomainstream historical
concerns. But infact,as ArnoBorst andRosamondMcKitterickhaverecognised,it is in
computus andits treatises that wefindtheconceptualisationandorganisationoftimeitself
whichthenfedintoco-ordinatedliturgical practice andacommonlinearhistorical framework
across Europe.21 Theeighthcenturywas acritical period: followingonfrom thefamous
Easterdisputes inBritain wherethreedifferent reckonings wereinuse,therewereprolonged
debates intheFrankish worldtoo,as thequasi-official tables ofVictorius of Aquitainewere
onlyslowlydroppedinfavourofthosefollowingtheAlexandrianprinciples ofDionysius
Exiguus, whofirst usedAD-dating.22 TheFrankish resourcebase forchange was varied and
at times idiosyncratic,drawinginfluence from anumberofsources.23 Withinthis, however,
19A.Mosshammer,TheEasterComputusandtheOriginsoftheChristianEra(Oxford,2008);P.Verbist,
DuellingwiththePast:MedievalAuthorsandtheProblemoftheChristianEra,c.990-1135,Studiesinthe
EarlyMiddleAgesxxi(Turnhout,2010).SeealsoP.Nothaft,DatingthePassion:TheLifeofJesusandthe
EmergenceofScientificChronology200-1600(Leiden,2011).
20DionysiusExiguus,Libellusdecyclomagnopaschae,ed.B.KruschinStudienzurchristlich-mittelalterlichen
Chronologie[II]:DieEntstehungunsererheutigenZeitrechnung,AbhandlungenderPreußischenAkademieder
Wissenschaften,Jahrgang1937,Phil.-hist.Klasse,viii(Berlin,1938),64,providesonenotablebuttelling
exception.DionysiusarguesforAD-datingoverdatescalculatedfromthereignofEmperorDiocletianbecause
itwasbettertocommemorateChristthanapersecutor.
21ArnoBorstpursuedthisideaacrossanumberofpublications:Computus:ZeitundZahlinderGeschichte
Europas(4thedn,Berlin,2004),especially7-9;DiekarolingischeKalendarreform;SchriftenzurKomputistikim
Frankenreichvon721bis818,MGHSchriftenzurGeistesgeschichtedesMittelaltersxxi(3vols,Hannover,
2006).R.McKitterick,HistoryandMemoryintheCarolingianWorld(Cambridge,2004),95-7;eadem,
Charlemagne:TheFormationofaEuropeanIdentity(Cambridge,2008),321-6.
22B.Krusch,‘DieEinführungdesgrieschenPachalritusimAbendlande’,NeuesArchivderGesellschaftfür
ältereduetscheGeschichtskunde,ix(1884),99-169;Wallis,Bede’sTheReckoningofTime,xxxivlxiii;G.
Declercq,AnnoDomini:TheOriginsoftheChristianEra(Turnhout,2000).
23McKitterick,HistoryandMemory,92-5;Borst,SchriftenzurKomputistik,I,75-8.Alsofundamentalnowis
Warntjes,TheMunichComputus:TextandTranslation.IrishComputisticsbetweenIsidoreofSevilleandBede
anditsReceptioninCarolingianTimes(Stuttgart,2010),especiallyxxxviii-xliandclix-cci.Notethatthese
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Borst believedhecoulddetect Charlemagne’s handintworeforms of computus, startingwith
theteachingofthedisciplineandcreationofanewcalendarinAD789, andtheninAD809
withthecreationof amonumental seven-bookLibri computi designedtoresolvethe
‘confusion’(Wirwarr)in Frankish schools.24Theideathat Charlemagne,first as kingand
thenas emperor,wouldhaveattemptedtocontrol timecentrallyis alluringbecauseit plays to
certainideas about modernityoftimeandpower.25 But,alas, thereis littledirect evidenceto
suggest that the court was behindthecalendarortheLibri computi.26Thosebooks did,
however,playanimportant roleinpopularisingthemorerecent downward revisionofthe
world’s age,so theyhave beeninterpretedas aneffort toreconcilechronological tradition
followingthelackofanyapocalypticallysignificant events inAM 6000.27 This toostretches
what canbesaidabout theencyclopaedias, as weshall seebelow–not least becausetheir
arguments reliedonEastercycles ratherthanthetheologyofthedate.28 Tocontinue,
however, wemust stepbacktosurveythenature ofapocalypticthought in theperiod.
First,let us not denythat therewas anapocalyptic moodintheCarolingian worldandthat
chronologycouldplaya part.Sincetheseventhcentury,manychroniclers inoraroundthe
Frankish kingdoms hadnot onlycountedthe years from Creationtotheirowntimes, but had
also notedhowmanyyears remainedofthesixthmillennium followingthetraditionset down
worksnowshowBede’scomputisticalworkstohavebeenonlyonepartinacomplexseriesofdebateswhich
predateBede’ssignificantworks,contraD.Whitelock,AfterBede,JarrowLecture(1960),41-2andDeclercq,
AnnoDomini,175-80.
24Borst,Schriften,III,1054.
25ForagoodcritiqueofprojectingmodernityinstudiesoftimeseeW.Gallois,Time,ReligionandHistory
(Harlow,2007),chs.2-3.
26B.Eastwood,reviewofBorst,TheOrderingofTime:FromtheAncientComputustotheModernComputer,
trans.A.Winnard(Chicago,1993),inSpeculum,lxxi.3(1996),692-3;W.Stevens,reviewofBorst,Die
karolingischeKalenderreform,inSpeculum,lxxviii.1(2003),144-7.
27Heil,‘TimelessEnd’,76;Fried,‘PapstLeoIII.’,325(withreferenceonlytothe807chronicleadaptedforthe
Libricomputi).
28ForexampleLibricomputi,I.7C-E,ed.Borst,Schriften,III,1122-3.
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intheChronological Canons ofEusebius-Jerome.Examples includenumerous copyists of
IsidoreofSeville’s Chronicamaiora,AsturianmonkBeatus of Liébana,boththefirst copyist
andfirst ‘continuator’of theFredegarchronicle,andananonymous Colognewriterof AD
798.29 Noneofthese explicitlyciteapocalypticinterests, but theydo attest toaheightened
awareness ofwhat one Irish computist –inatextpreservedinRegensburginc.AD817–
described as ‘thespacewhichextends from thebeginninguptotheend’.30 Whethersuch
thinkingsuppliedthedominant framework forreflectionis oftenunclear. InAD786,for
example,manysigns werereportedintheskyand peoplewereafraid.31 But whetherthis fear
was becauseoftheproximityofAM 6000,as Gil, Landes and Brandes havesuggested,is
uncertain.32 Signs, prodigies andtheweather were meaningful at anytime,andinthis case
likelyso becauseof amajorrevolt against CharlemagneinThuringia.33 Onemight notethat it
is insomeways moreremarkablethat thereareveryfewsigns reported anywherebetween
AD786andAD800, whichbrings attentionback toAD786as animportant yearinitself
ratherthan as asignpost forwhat was tocome.
Perhaps themost potentiallysignificant event is also oneofthehardest torelate
clearlytoapocalypticconcerns: theimperial coronationofCharlemagneonChristmas Day
AD800,thefirst dayofthe yearintheJuliancalendarandthe first dayoftheseventh
29TheseexamplesarealldiscussedinLandes,‘LesttheMillenniumbeFulfilled’,especially168-71and191-6.
OnecanalsoaddtheVictorianprologueofAD699,whichindicatesatablewhichextendstoAD799/AM
6000:I.Warntjes,‘TheIntroductionoftheDionysiacEra,theUseoftheEasterTableofVictoriusofAquitaine,
andApocalypticisminIrelandattheTurnfromtheSeventhtotheEighthCentury:TheEvidenceofa
NewlyDiscoveredVictorianPrologueofAD699inanUnknownSirmondManuscript(Bremen,Staats-und
Universitätsbibliothek,msc0046)’,Peritia,21(forthcoming2011).
30TheMunichComputus,1,ed.Warntjes,2-3:‘Tempusestspatiumtendensdeprincipiousqueinfinem’.
31FragmentumannaliumChesnii,s.a.786,ed.G.Pertz,MGHSS,ii(Hanover,1829),33.
32Gil,‘Losterrores’,238;Landes,‘LesttheMillenniumbeFulfilled’,191-2;Brandes,‘Temporapericulosa
sunt’,72.
33J.L.Nelson,OppositiontoCharlemagne,GermanHistoricalInstituteLecture(London,2008).The
ThuringianrevoltispassedoverinAnnalesregniFrancorum,butisrecordedwithdifferentcolouringsin
AnnalessanctiAmandi(continuatioaltera),s.a.786,ed.G.H.Pertz,MGHSS,i,(Hanover,1826),12;Annales
Laubacenes(continuatioaltera),s.a.787,ed.Pertz,MGHSS,i,13;AnnalesLaureshamenses,s.a.786,ed.E.
Katz(StPaul,1889),32;AnnalessanctiEmmerammiRatisponensismaiores,s.a.786,ed.Pertz,MGHSS,i,92.
OninfluentialweatherintheperiodseeM.McCormick,P.E.Dutton&P.A.Mayewski,‘Volcanoesandthe
ClimateForcingofCarolingianEurope,AD750-950’,Speculum,lxxxii.4(2007),865-95.
9
millennium bytheEusebianreckoning.As anavowedreaderofAugustine, it seems unlikely
that Charlemagnewas signallinganewmillennialist regimeormakingastandagainst those
whohadthought somethingwouldhappeninAM 6000.34 Therewas, nevertheless,some
level ofeschatological thought behindthescenes. As MaryAlberi has shown,Charlemagne’s
proto-empirehad alreadybeendefinedas castra Dei (‘camp ofGod’),tobe defended against
theenemies, definedtypologicallyratherthanliterallyas thosefrom the ‘EndTimes’.35
Alcuin,Charlemagne’s one-timeadvisor,urgedhis kinganxiouslyinthe790s toprotect the
Christianworld‘inthese perilous times (IITim.3.1)’whenPope Leo IIIwas introublein
Rome,andEmperorConstantineVwas deposedbyhis ownmother.36 But it was also this
time,as Mayr-Hartinghas emphasised,that Charlemagnewas consolidatinghis conquests of
theSaxons andAvars, lendingfurtherpolitical impetus tothecoronation.37 Herelaya
numberofhistorical coincidences whichmovedevents forward.Charlemagnetravelledto
Rometorestoreorderafteranappeal byLeoinAD799.Oncehehadbeen crowned emperor,
thejustificationthencirculatedthat it was donebecause,with IreneinpowerintheEast,
therewas no (male) emperorandtherefore apowervacuum existed.38 Einhard,his
biographer,wrotethat Charlemagne was surprisedbythe coronation,althougha
contemporarysource from Cologneshowsthat a Byzantine embassyhad alreadyraisedthe
ideain798.39 Quitequickly, infact,it becomes plainthat therewere anumberofextenuating
34Einhard,VitaKaroli,24,ed.G.Waitz,MGHSRG,25(Hanover,1911),29.J.Nelson,‘WhyAreThereSo
ManyDifferentAccountsofCharlemagne’sImperialCoronation?’,inherCourts,Elites,andGenderedPower
intheEarlyMiddleAges:CharlemagneandOthers(Aldershot,2007),XII,19.Problemofproofraisedin
Gouguenheim,Lesfaussesterreurs,205-6.
35M.Alberi,‘”LiketheArmyofGod’sCamp”:PoliticalTheologyandApocalypticWarfareatCharlemagne’s
Court’,Viator,xli.2(2010),1-20,especially3-5.
36Alcuin,Epistolae,174,ed.E.Dümmler,MGHEpp.iv(Berlin,1895),288-9;M.Alberi,‘Theevolutionof
Alcuin’sconceptoftheImperiumchristianum’,inJ.Hill&M.Swan,eds.,Thecommunity,thefamily,andthe
saint:patternsofpowerinearlymedievalEurope(Turnhout,1998),3-17.
37Mayr-Harting,‘Charlemagne’,especially1128-9.
38Fried,‘PapstLeoIII.’,311-315;Collins,‘Charlemagne’sCoronation’,68;Nelson,‘Accounts’,10.
39Einhard,VitaKaroli,28,ed.Waitz,32-3.AreviewofopinionisgiveninR.Schieffer,‘Neuesvonder
KaiserkrönungKarlsdesGroßen’,BayerischeAkademiederWissenschaften,Philos.-hist.Klasse,2004,Heft2
(Munich,2004),especially9-14and Nelson,‘Accounts’,14-16.
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circumstances andinterpretations ofCharlemagne’s coronationand authority,andinnoneof
them was anybodymovedtomakecapital ofthedate.
Thedatemayyet havehadsomeresonance as JuanGil andRichard Landes have
stressed.But thereis silenceonthematter,bothin themedieval sources andtoalargeextent
inmodernhistoriography.40 Certainly, tojudgebyhis library,Charlemagne’s palace
chaplain,Archbishop HildeboldofCologne,knew exactlywhat the year AM was according
toEusebius-Jerome,andhecouldhave advisedCharlemagneonthematter.41 It maynot have
helpedthat asignificant bodyoftraditionintheeighthcenturycalibratedADandAM years
differently,placingthe IncarnationinAM 5199,sothat manychronographers wouldhave
consideredAM 6000tohavefalleninAD799,well inadvanceofthe coronation.42
Regardless: it seems surprisingthat,ifthetimingofcoronationwas deliberaterelativeto
apocalyptictradition,no oneattemptedto guidethat interpretationof events.43 At best,the
eschatological significanceofempires ingeneral mayhavebeenanissue, giventhesituation
intheEast; but divorced from chronological concerns. ThestateoftheRomanEmpirehad
longbeenconsideredinstrumental tothefateoftheworldand,sinceJerome,it hadbeen
associatedwiththefinal worldlykingdom envisagedbyDaniel.44 Charlemagnecertainly
knewabout this, andwas therecipient of ashort text bookonthesubject,just as his grandson
40In1988Landespointedoutthisgap(‘LesttheMillenniumBeFulfilled’,198)butsubsequentliteraturehas
largelycontinuedtoignorethesubject:forexampleH.Mayr-Harting,‘Charlemagne,theSaxons,andthe
ImperialCoronationof800’,EHRcxi(1996),1113-33;M.Becher,KarlderGrosse(2ndedn,Munich,2007),
85;R.Collins,‘Charlemagne’sCoronationandtheAnnalsofLorsch’,inJ.Story,ed.,Charlemagne:Empire
andSociety(Manchester,2005),52-70;McKitterick,Charlemagne,especially115-16.Ontheotherhand,note
Nelson,‘Accounts’,17-20.
41Seeinfra,??
42OnthesynchronisationseeWarntjes,TheMunichComputus,lxxiii-ivandn.209.Thecourtdatingofthe
coronationtoAD801isinAnnalesregniFrancorum,s.a.801,ed.F.Kurze,MGHSRG,vi(Hanover,1895),
112.5199yearsfromCreationtotheIncarnationiswidelyasserted,notablyintheprefacetotheAnnales
Laureshamenses,27.5200yearsismoreoftenimplied,forexamplewhenAD800isequatedtoAM6000in
AnnalesAugiensesbrevissimi,s.a.800,ed.G.H.Pertz,MGHSS,iii(Hanover,1839),137,despitethetext
openingbyasserting5199fromCreationtoNativity(136).Anotheralternativewas5195years,givenby
AnnalesGuelerbytani,pref.,ed.Pertz,MGHSS,i,23-46at22,sothatChristcouldbe33onthetraditionaldate
ofhisPassion,AM5228.
43Schieffer,‘Kaiserkrönung’,24.
44Jerome,CommentarioruminDanielem,II.vii.7,ed.F.Glorie,CCSL,lxxvA(Turnhout,1964),842-3.