Can silence speak volumes? Widukind's Res Gestae Saxonicae and the coronation of Otto I reconsidered

The Res Gestae Saxonicae, Widukind of Corvey's chronicle of the rise of the Ottonian kings, waxes lyrical about Otto I's coronation as king at Aachen in 936 but passes in silence over his coronation as emperor at Rome in 962. This causes difficulties of interpretation, because the text is generally considered to constitute a unified narrative up to the end of its shortest surviving recension, dated to 967 or 968; scholars have previously dealt with these difficulties by claiming that Widukind's work was a ‘subtle polemic’ against the role of the pope in the making of an emperor. This article suggests instead that only the sections documenting events up to c.961 constitute a unified text, subsequent chapters being no more than hastily compiled addenda. Widukind's notorious omission of the imperial coronation was thus an accidental feature of the text, not the cornerstone of an ideological claim about the emperor's direct connection to God. His portrayal of the Aachen coronation establishes Otto's multiple claims to be the rightful king without differentiating qualitatively between them.     

Sagax animo: Jonas of Bobbio and the verse epitaph of Pope Honorius

The verse epitaph of Pope Honorius (625–38) inscribed at St Peter’s in Rome and the eulogy of the same pope that Jonas of Bobbio included in his Vita Columbani et discipuli eius (composed 639–42) share language and expressions sufficient to demonstrate that Jonas must have been familiar with Honorius’ epitaph at the time he composed the Vita’s obituary. This fact has implications for both Jonas’ biography and his literary methods. It also raises the possibility that Jonas was the author of the (otherwise anonymous) epitaph. Close reading of the Vatican epitaph highlights not only the epigram’s literary ambition and background but also identifies other correspondences with the lexical and poetic inclinations of Jonas. In turn, these observations undercut pessimism about the literary milieu of seventh-century Rome and Italy.     

Byzantine historiography and modern Greek oral poetry: the case of Rapsomatis

Abstract

In the ninth book of the Alexiad, Anna Comnene tells the story of the simultaneous revolts against her father Alexios which broke out in Crete and Cyprus in the year 1093. The rising in Crete was shortlived, as the Cretans changed their minds and murdered their leader on hearing the news that the emperor's fleet was approaching. Of the Cypriot revolt, however, Anna has the following tale to tell: The Cypriots, under their leader Rapsomatis, at first refused to fight after the emperor's forces landed in Cyprus, apparently expecting to talk their way out of a conflict. Rapsomatis, a complete novice in the arts of war, had embarked on the revolt more as a game than in earnest; and was easily defeated by Manuel Voutoumitis, captured and sent to the emperor's brother-in-law John Doukas who was in charge of the campaign.     

“Soldiers of Christ” from the Byzantine Perspective: Monks,Emperors, and Conflict in the Early Byzantine Empire

This article is an exploration of concept of monks as “soldiers of Christ” in Byzantine Anatolia during the late sixth and early seventh centuries CE. Through a case study of Theodore of Sykeon, this article will explore monks as agents of continuity in the Byzantine Anatolia of the late sixth and early seventh centuries through Theodore's conflicts with the emperors, imperial authorities, and the regional episcopal hierarchy. The conflicts Theodore had with various authority figures of his time were about helping them see the right path of supporting Catholic orthodoxy as the normative belief system of Byzantine society and integrating his rural community of Sykeon into the wider web of imperial and episcopal urban patronage. Thus, conflict in this context was a catalyst for social order and stability rather than a symptom of social collapse. This article also fits into the historiography of the holy man as local patron in Late Antiquity, suggesting an alternate interpretation of this phenomenon as first put forward in Peter Brown's seminal works on this subject.     

Locke on representation in politics

This article contextualises Hegel's writings on international order, especially those concerning war and imperialism. The recurring theme is the tragic nature of the struggles for recognition which are instantiated by these phenomena. Section one examines Hegel's analysis of the Holy Roman Empire in the context of French incursions into German territories, as that analysis was developed in his early essay on ‘The German Constitution’ (1798–1802). The significance of his distinction between the political and civil spheres is explored, with particular attention being paid to its implications for Hegel's theory of nationalism. The second section examines Hegel's development of the latter theory in The Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), stressing the tragic interpenetration of ‘culture’ and intersubjective recognition. A recurring theme here is the influence of this theory on Hegel's interpretation of Napoleon's World-Historic mission, as that was revealed in his contemporaneous letters. Section three traces the tragic dynamic underlying the discussion of war between civilised states in The Philosophy of Right (1821). Section four examines three other types of imperial action in Hegel's mature writings, particularly The Philosophy of History (1832). These are relations between civilised states and culturally developed yet politically immature societies; colonial expansion motivated by capitalist under-consumption; and conflict between civilised states and barbarous peoples. It is concluded that it is misleading to claim that Hegel glorified conflict and war, and that he did not see domination by ‘civilised states’ as the ‘final stage’ of World History.     

Telling off Justinian: Theudebert I,the Epistolae Austrasicae,and communication strategies in sixth‐century Merovingian–Byzantine relations

The death of the powerful Frankish king Theudebert I (r. 533–47) gave rise to a diplomatic imbroglio between the courts of the eastern emperor Justinian, who condemned the late king, and Theudebert's son and successor Theudebald, who aggressively defended his father's memory. This dispute provides two opportunities: first, to parse the sixth‐century sources into separate political discourses; and secondly, to examine the diplomatic letters of Theudebert and Theudebald, preserved in the Gallic letter collection Epistolae Austrasicae, as evidence for creative experimentation with the genre of letters, expanding the functions and forcefulness of the basic media of long‐range communication.     

Zu sall. Hist. I. 18

With regard to Nero's last two portrait types, which introduce the coma in gradus formata, various explanations have been given. It is here suggested that the new fashion was the result of the emperor's interest in the stage, and that the crest of stiff locks above the forehead may allude to the coiffures of theatrical masks. Influence from the theatre can also be detected in other manifestations of Neronic fashions and art.     

The Club of Rome A Case Study of Institutional Innovation

Abstract

The Club of Rome had its origin in 1967 when Dr Aurelio Peccei, an Italian industrialist, met the present author, a British scientist. They agreed on what later became the central concern of the Club of Rome: to find solutions to the tangle of interacting problems, now facing all mankind. So far the Club's greatest impact on world opinion was the report it commissioned from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Limits to Growth. The interdisciplinary concept is predominant in this and the Club's five subsequent reports. Regular meetings of Club members with Heads of States and other high officials is a further important activity; all these aspects are here fully reviewed. Like its small and local precursor, the Lunar Society of Binningham, two hundred years ago, the international Club of Rome derives its strength from its eminent membership of private citizens, working together as a catalyst and a spur to the world's conscience without budget, organization or constitution. They desire no political power nor do they invoke any new ideology.     

Imperial Rome and Britain's Language of Empire 1600–1837

Britain's pre-Victorian overseas expansion stimulated Roman comparisons. But imperial Rome was a warning as much as an inspiration to future empires, a harsh and uncomfortable model for Britain as a former Roman colony. Roman dignity was claimed for British monarchs and achievements by Dryden and others. But there were mixed feelings about identifying expanding Britain as a second Roman Empire. In the eighteenth century the British freedom-fighter Caractacus, defeated by the Romans, appealed far more to popular taste than Virgil's Aeneas or the Emperor Augustus. Sustained unease about imperial Rome, going right back to Tacitus, anticipated the liberal critique of imperialism of some Victorian and Edwardian commentators.     

Putting the Roman periphery on the map: the geography of Romanness,orthodoxy, and legitimacy in Victricius of Rouen's De Laude sanctorum

Victricius of Rouen's De laude sanctorum (c.396) contains an original discussion of the cult of relics, introduced by a brief excursus on his recent trip to Britain. In this article, I argue that the author used both sections to define two symbolic territories, Britain and the centre of the empire, which invited his audience to think geographically about the concepts of Romanness, orthodoxy, and legitimacy. Exploiting a long‐standing tradition of stereotypes and geographical imaginations, Victricius used his argument of the unity of relics to justify his position in the Felician controversy, a contemporary episcopal and political conflict.     

Auctoritas as sanctitas: Balthild's depiction as ‘queen-saint’ in the Vita Balthildis

This paper assesses the representation of Queen Balthild of Neustrian Francia in her seventh-century Vita as a new kind of saintly figure, a ‘queen-saint’ rather than as a traditional saint-queen. Balthild made herself unpopular among certain factions of the Frankish nobility during her son's minority by interfering in Church matters. In particular, she compelled bishops to grant episcopal exemptions to monasteries and promoted her own, unpopular, candidates to Neustrian dioceses, leading to her identification as a ‘modern-day Jezebel’ by her enemies, and her banishment to the monastic community at Chelles. Modern scholarship on Balthild, led by Lynda Coon, has assumed that Balthild's biographer was keen to erase from popular memory her actions as queen, actions which could be interpreted as inappropriate behaviour for a saint, and that the Life reflects this by emphasising Balthild's more stereotypical saintly behaviour as a nun once she had retired to Chelles. However, it will be argued that, rather than underlining her humility, the author of the Vita Balthildis was in fact keen to show that her interference in Church matters should be seen as contributing to her identification as a saint, by stressing that her autonomous and authoritative use of her power was actually a positive attribute.     

Negotiating episcopal support in the Merovingian kingdom of Reims (ad 561–75)

Minimal scholarly attention has been paid to the ecclesiastical policies of King Sigibert I of Reims (r. 561–75). An examination of Sigibert's policies suggests the lengths to which the king went to attract and maintain episcopal allies in strategic and politically divided civitates. While Gregory of Tours in his Decem Libri Historiarum blamed Sigibert's death on his stubborn refusal to heed episcopal counsel, the bishop of Tours recognized that the king of Reims was not consistently hostile to the church and its bishops, and saw the circumstances of Sigibert's untimely death as ultimately tragic.     

L'Oubli et la mémoire dans quelques tragédies classiques françaises

This article explores the dynamic interplay between memory and forgetfulness in three French classical tragedies: Cinna, Andromaque, and Britannicus. Corneille envisages forgetfulness as a political virtue in Cinna: Auguste's clemency represents not only the redemption of the political misdeeds of his enemies but also their conversion from rebellion to submission. Moreover, the emperor's magnanimity conjures the notion of historical myth, his transcendence of guilt, and his profound need to detach himself from his criminal identity. Andromaque highlights, on the contrary, the tragic inability of protagonists to escape the powerful hold of the past on their conscience. Memories of the Trojan War continue to obsess them. Whereas Pyrrhus calls into question his heroic identity and winds up rejecting it, Andromaque takes refuge in the mythic past of Troy and remains forever wedded to the horrific images of the war's carnage. Racine emphasizes the deep-rooted influence of the historical past in Britannicus: Agrippine incarnates the aging matriarch bent on recapturing her glorious past but remains obsessed with the tragic dimension of time, which will result in her ultimate fall from power. Néron exemplifies the would-be virtuous emperor incapable of escaping from the tragedy of genetic determinism. By centering attention on the sheer decadence of Rome and the ignominious reign of the “monstre naissant,” Britannicus stands in direct opposition to Cinna, which clearly belongs to the heroic tradition of French classical tragedy.     

Material memory: rebuilding the basilica of S. Cecilia in Trastevere,Rome

Examining Pope Paschal I's early ninth‐century architectural project of S. Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome, brings to light the diversity of functions of tituli in early medieval Rome. Not only was the church a papal basilica and site of the stational liturgy of Rome, but it was also a shrine to the saint Cecilia, a popular Roman martyr. The architectural arrangement makes clear that the papal project incorporated both the papal cult and the popular cult of the saint by manipulating the archaeology of the site and translating corporeal relics to the urban church.     

Negotiating race and religion in the West Midlands: narratives of inclusion and exclusion during the 1967–69 Wolverhampton bus workers’ turban dispute

This article considers the 1967–1969 Wolverhampton Transport turban dispute in the context of increased anxiety over immigration to the area and Wolverhampton South West MP Enoch Powell’s April 1968 ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech. We trace the narratives of the dispute through letters to the Editor in local newspaper The Express & Star, and argue that the letters column was a site of community construction for writers and readers, which elevated the issue from a trivial industrial dispute to a symbol around which the deep anxieties of race and nation coalesced.     

La ejecución de Atahuallpa: Símbolo andino de colapso y resistencia

This article studies Los dramas de Atahuallpa (Atahuallpa's Dramas) as an oral and ritual memory of the Andean natives. In those texts are traces of the resistance of the European domination initiated during the middle of the sixteenth century. They also recall the destruction of the Inca empire. The discussion points out the work done by the panaca, a Tahuantisuyo institution dedicated to preserving the memory of each Incan emperor's public life. During the twentieth century and the present years of the twenty-first, the tradition of representing Atahuallpa's death has been an expression of the political projects built by the native Andean as well as a symbol of the resistance against the conquest and its results.     

Bonsai of the consanguinities: cultivation and control of incest regulation in the works of Bonizo of Sutri

This paper examines the particular ways in which reformer and bishop Bonizo of Sutri's (c.1045–c.1094) treatment of degrees of consanguinity in both his Liber de Vita Christiana and De arbore parentele modified, reframed, and cut authorities on consanguinity and introduced an explicit power of episcopal dispensation to guide the application of these limitations. In this task, Bonizo's treatment reveals that the central problem in consanguinity rules was knowledge: knowledge of the grades, knowledge of how to match real kinship lines to theoretical structures, and how to cope with the ignorance of consanguinity. The following therein offers a specific case study of efforts to implement reformed ideas of consanguinity rules in a pastoral context.     

La prose metrique de l'ancienne historiographie romaine

In this attempt at an overall interpretation of Hadrian's poem (Büchner fr. 3) the author discusses the meaning of vagula and blandida in 1. 1 and puts a comma after vagula. He assesses in particular the two most disputed lines of the poem, 3 and 4, taking quae as an exclamation and adding some reasons for combining loca with pallidula rigida nudula. As to the marked use of diminutives ‐ 5 in as many lines ‐ the author sees no reason for giving them a uniform emotional meaning, but argues for grouping them into three categories according to the semantic value of the primitive involved. He discusses also how to read 1. 5 syntactically. In the last part of the study the aim is to show in what particular sense the poem can be reasonably taken as a product of the emperor's pen on his very deathbed.