The Complete Works of Liudprand of Cremona

271 Pages·2007·1.051 MB·English

by  Liudprand of Cremona

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF
LIUDPRAND OF CREMONA
medieval texts in translation
editorial director
Thomas F. X. Noble
University of Notre Dame
editorial board
Paul Dutton
Simon Fraser University
Geoffrey Koziol
University of California, Berkeley
Carol Lansing
University of California at Santa Barbara
Barbara H. Rosenwein
Loyola University of Chicago
Liudprand of Cremona
THE COMPLETE
WORKS OF
LIUDPRAND
OF CREMONA
Translated with an introduction and notes
by Paolo Squatriti
The Catholic University of America Press
Washington, D.C.
Copyright  2007
The Catholic University of America Press
All rights reserved
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standards for Information Science—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
∞
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Liudprand, Bishop of Cremona, d. ca. 972.
[Works. English. 2007]
The Complete works of Liudprand of Cremona / translated by Paolo
Squatriti.
p. cm.—(Medieval texts in translation)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8132-1506-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Europe—History—
476–1492. 2. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, 912–973. 3. Nicephorus II
Phocas, Emperor of the East, 912–969. I.Squatriti, Paolo, 1963–
II. Title. III. Series.
d117.a2l513 2007
940.1'44—dc22 2007011013
contents
Preface vii
A Note on this Translation vii /
A Note on Liudprand’s Calendar viii
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 3
Liudprand’s Literary Aliases 3 / Liudprand as Wreaker of
Retribution 8 / Liudprand as Homilist 18 / Liudprand as
Imperial Apologist 24 / Liudprand as Emissary 29
the complete works of liudprand of cremona
Retribution 41
Book One 41 / Book Two 71 / Book Three 108 /
Book Four 139 / Book Five 168 / Book Six 195
Homily 203
Concerning King Otto 219
The Embassy of Liudprand 238
Bibliography 285
Index 291

preface
a note on this translation
This translation of Liudprand’s known writings was inspired by
Thomas Noble, whom I wish to thank both for his original idea
and for his later suggestions. The translation depends on the edi-
tion of Liudprand’s works by Paolo Chiesa. Chiesa improved on
the previous editions in several regards, for example, by including
Liudprand’s sermon within the Liudprandine canon and by clari-
fying the process of composition leading to the variant versions of
Retribution extant today.1 Chiesa’s new edition thus offered an excel-
lent opportunity for producing a new English translation of all
the works of one of the most informative, and certainly the most
entertaining, writers of the tenth century. In a period when many
of Liudprand’s themes are of acute interest, from conceptions of
European community to ideas of transgressive sexuality, from in-
tercultural encounter to the creation of new legitimacies for impe-
rial power, the works of Liudprand have a lot to offer.
The translations are my own, including those of the well-known
Liudprandine texts that have been translated into English before.
Unfortunately the older translations are no longer in print, yet it
would have been much harder to finish the translation without the
reassurance of F. A. Wright’s 1930 translation of the then-known
Works of Liudprand of Cremona and B. Scott’s 1993 rendition of the
1. P. Chiesa, Liutprando di Cremona e il codice di Frisinga Clm 6388 (Turnholt: Brepols,
1994).
vii
viii preface
Constantinopolitan Embassy.2 I am further indebted to Ross Balza-
retti for sharing some of his work on Liudprand with me, to Ray
Van Dam and Basil Dufallo for help on some difficult passages,
and to Carole Burnett, the editor of this volume. The remaining
misunderstandings of Liudprand’s words are entirely my responsi-
bility, however.
The scriptural quotations with which Liudprand laced his writ-
ings are rendered through the Douai Vulgate, somewhat modified
to match Liudprand’s text (or recollection). As for the notes to
the translation, they seek to ease the task of students in unraveling
Liudprand’s culture; I have tried to restrict references in the notes
to Anglophone sources, imagining the main audience for a transla-
tion like this will find these most useful.
In this translation the names of various protagonists in the nar-
rative do not retain the idiosyncratic forms Liudprand gave them.
His willingness to spell names in different ways, even in differ-
ent alphabets, is a distinctive sign of his literary style, but creates
confusion for modern readers. Though the names are rendered in
standard form here, readers should keep in mind the author’s vola-
tile onomastics.
My translation is dedicated to Giacomo, whose precocious taste
for Liudprand’s stories made my work more fun during a difficult
conjuncture in our family’s life.
a note on liudprand’s calendar
In the early Middle Ages writers used the Roman names for
months, as we do today. Like most post-Carolingian writers, Li-
udprand also preferred the Roman system for denoting days of
the month, though he was capable of employing Christian feasts,
too. The Roman calendar, widely adopted throughout the Medi-
2. B. Scott, Liudprand of Cremona. Relatio de Legatione Constantinopolitana (London: Bris-
tol Classical Press, 1993); F. Wright, The Works of Liudprand of Cremona (London: Dut-
ton, 1930).
preface ix
terranean basin and favored by Christian chronographers well into
the Middle Ages, called the first day of the month the calends.
The nones fell on the seventh day of the four months with 31 days
(March, May, July, October), and the ides on the fifteenth. Though
the length of the other eight months varied, the nones came on
their fifth day, and the ides on the thirteenth day. Calends, nones,
and ides were the cardinal points of Liudprand’s short-term dating
system.