Just released: Early Medieval Europe 23, no. 1 (February 2015) M.A. Claussen, Reims, Bibliothèque Carnegie, 806: a little-known manuscript of Benedict of Anianes Concordia regularum Benedict of Aniane is usually portrayed as the major instigator of a series of monastic reforms undertaken by Louis the Pious in the early years of his reign, which attempted to impose the Rule of Benedict of Nursia as the sole monastic standard across Francia. Based on information provided by Ardo, Benedict of Anianes biographer, the Concordia regularum has been seen as Benedicts main instrument in his attempt to convince or compel others to accept the Rule as a superior norm. The Concordia itself is a sort of commentary on the Rule, where almost the whole of St Benedicts Rule is explained by texts drawn from other monastic rules. However, a number of fragments from a copy of the Concordia, apparently written a decade or more before the accession of Louis, contests Ardos chronology, and challenges our traditional understanding of both Benedict of Anianes role in monastic reform and of the Aachen reform councils. An edition of these fragments is included in an Appendix. Fiona Edmonds, The expansion of the kingdom of Strathclyde The kingdom of Strathclyde was focused on the Clyde valley and ruled by a Brittonic-speaking dynasty. Historians have traditionally argued that the kingdom expanded southwards in the early tenth century, with the result that there was a revival of Brittonic language. Several scholars have recently challenged this interpretation, but in this article I defend the view that Strathclyde expanded southwards, and I propose a new model for the process. I argue that the kings of Strathclyde took submissions from the local nobility, who included Northumbrian and Gaelic-Scandinavian magnates. This accounts for the multicultural nature of the kingdom in its heyday. Antoni Grabowski, Liudprand of Cremonas papa monstrum: the image of Pope John XII in the Historia Ottonis In the Historia Ottonis Liudprand of Cremona demonstrates his skills as a writer, depicting Pope John XII as the ultimate monster. This article explores how this feat was accomplished, investigating both the accusations levelled against the pope, and the ways the story was constructed to lead up to his death. Jay Paul Gates, Preaching, politics and episcopal reform in Wulfstans early writings Putting Wulfstans earliest legal texts – the Canons of Edgar and the so-called Peace of Edward and Guthrum – in dialogue with his homilies on the role of the bishop, this article argues that, from his earliest writings, Wulfstan adapted approaches from Kings Alfred and Edgar as well as from the Benedictine reform to make ambitious claims concerning the role of the bishop in the secular sphere. These claims went beyond the contemporary understanding of the relationship between bishop and king both in England and on the Continent, to frame the bishop as the primary authority in the nation because he is the teacher of teachers.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 22:33:11 +0000
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