The Formation of Christian Europe: The Carolingians, Baptism, and the Imperium Christianum

323 Pages·2014·2.428 MB·English

by  Owen M. Phelan

THE FORMATION OF CHRISTIAN EUROPE

The Formation
of Christian Europe
The Carolingians, Baptism,
and the Imperium Christianum
OWEN M. PHELAN
1
1
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© Owen M. Phelan 2014
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First Edition published in 2014
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For Lauren,
you make me happy every day.

Acknowledgments
Only after the long process of bringing forth my own project have I come to
appreciate (and to devote more time to reading) the paeans to family, friends,
and colleagues that preface the many books I pick up. I hope these few words,
which even fewer people will ever read, convey, however inadequately, my deep
appreciation and gratitude for the undeserved support and unwarranted kind-
nesses I have received from so many for so long.
I first wish to acknowledge the many teachers who offered me training and
advice. This project would not have been possible without the generous sup-
port of many people and, as my parents remind me, a long time in college. I
would especially like to thank the challenging and encouraging professors
from my alma mater, the College of William & Mary. I am especially grateful
for my two superb undergraduate advisors, Sara Lipton in History and Thomas
M. Finn in Religion. Without their examples I would not have been inspired to
pursue graduate studies and without their support I could not have advanced
to graduate school. During doctoral studies at the University of Notre Dame I
had the opportunity to work with guiding lights in several fields of medieval
studies, scholars who are as personally generous as they are erudite. I owe tre-
mendous debts to John Cavadini, Olivia Constable, Brian Daley S.J., Michael
Driscoll, Patrick Geary, Stephen Gersh, Michael Lapidge, Howard Louthan,
Frank Mantello, Daniel Sheerin, Michael Signer, and John Van Engen. Most
importantly, a young scholar could not ask for a better advisor than Thomas
F.X. Noble, once and always my teacher. His encouragement, criticism, insight,
and careful reading always challenged, but never demoralized. A talented
researcher and gifted teacher, Professor Noble perfectly tempers his sharp
intellect with his gentle touch.
During research for my project, I encountered many kind and learned schol-
ars, librarians, and archivists. The community of international medievalists
brought together for the Texts & Identities seminars made my time abroad both
more enjoyable and profitable than I could have dreamed. I would like to thank
Rob Meens for sharing with me his insights on early medieval religion both
during the seminars and in subsequent correspondence. To Mayke De Jong
who offered indispensable advice during the seminars, I owe a special word of
thanks. My chapter divisions first took shape in her den after enjoying a fish
meal peculiar to my American palate. My whole project would not have been
successful without the generous care and aid of Walter Pohl and the “Pohliani”
at the Institut für Mittelalterforschung of the Österreichische Akademie der
Wissenschaften, with whom I spent a Fulbright year. The value to me of the
manuscript work and theoretical discussions conducted there cannot be
viii Acknowledgments
overemphasized. I would like to single out Helmut Reimitz and Max Diesen-
berger especially for the many hours they spent walking me through Bavarian
manuscripts and explaining to me the intricacies of their fascinating scholarly
work.
Through the long course of revising a dissertation into a book, a process
always more abandoned than completed, many kind people offered to read,
sometimes re-read, and on occasion re-re-read sections and chapters. I would
like to thank Martin Claussen, Neil Dhingra, and Ellen Poteet who served as
targets of my remorseless petitions for advice. I am grateful to Tim Schaad for
his editorial eye, which helped me identify and avoid some of my most infelici-
tous formulations. I also wish to thank the anonymous readers for Oxford Uni-
versity Press whose careful reading and thoughtful responses helped me
strengthen my work in several areas. I deeply appreciate the professionalism of
Tom Perridge, Karen Raith, and Elizabeth Robottom at Oxford University
Press for helping to shepherd this project into print. All remaining errors of
fact, interpretation, or English are mine alone.
Finally, I thank my family and friends. I have been blessed with loving par-
ents, Merrill and Kathleen, who gave me the courage and the confidence to
pursue an academic career despite everyone’s better sense. Every day I am
grateful for the love and joy of my children, Declan, Therese, Ciaran, Michael,
Gemma, and Felicity. Though I may not have always shown it, they were almost
always welcome distractions from reading, writing, and other scholarly tasks
most often practiced alone. In this spirit, I would also like to thank the many
soccer players of Fairfield, PA AYSO. In addition to the obvious delight of
working with young people, their exuberance often lifted my spirits and ener-
gized me during those frustrating times that beset all academics. Most pro-
foundly, I wish to recognize my wife, Lauren, whose love and support undergird
anything good that I do, who sacrificed personally to benefit me, and to whom
I dedicate this work. I am forever grateful.
Feast of St. Agatha, 2014
Contents
Introduction 1
1. Sacramentum: An Ordering Concept from Antiquity
to the Early Middle Ages 8
2. The Articulation of Polity:
Baptism as the Foundation of an Imperium Christianum 48
3. The Carolingian Subject: The Sacramentum of Baptism
and the Formation of Identity in Alcuin of York 94
4. The Carolingian Machinery of Christian Formation:
Charlemagne’s Encyclical Letter on Baptism from 811/812
and Its Implications 147
5. The Sacramental Assumption:
Baptism and Carolingian Society in the Ninth Century 207
Conclusion: Loss and Legacy 262
Bibliography 279
Index 309