medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> I know this is a nitpicky observation on what is a complex strain
> of conversation, but don't you think that calling the
> representation of the merovingian kings in Gregory of Tours
> "priest-kings" is a bit of an overstatement? At least in the 10
> books of History (history of the Franks if you prefer) any sort of
> manifestation of this type is only briefly mentioned once (in
> concern with King Guntram) in the entire 600+ pages. Gregory is
> much more inclined to be of the opinion that Kings should stay in
> their place...which is out of the hair of the church...and
> certainly does not seem to invest any sort of "priestly" air to
> them.
>
> Stacy
>
Stacy,
I am sure you are right to pick up on my casual use of the phrase
"priest-kings". I am not an expert on this but the following is some
information I have gleaned, mainly from J.M. Wallace-Hadrill (1962)
The Long-Haired Kings and other studies in Frankish history. I should
be interested in any other evidence or comments relating to this
theme. Rather than "priest-kings", with its possible implications of
Roman Catholicism for example, it is perhaps better to dwell on an
idea of "spiritual aspects" to the kings powers (at least as seen by
followers of the king who were by no means always in agreement with
the Church, not least in the case of the Plantagenets).
Gregory of Tours evidently accepted that evil spirits could be
exorcised by the invocation of the Merovingian royal name and the
virtus residing in it. He recounts that a woman with a sick son once
approached Guntramn of Bergundy (561-92) from behind, removed a few
fringes from his royal robe, soaked them in water and gave the potion
to her son to drink, with excellent results. Wallace-Hadrill
considers that Guntramn was assisted on the road to being ascribed
miraculous powers and grace of sanctity because he was of the right
race of kings. It is also clear that the verbum regis could offer
protection, in some instances, against physical attack in the
prevailing culture of `justice through family blood-feud', even as
early as the times of Clovis I (456-511).
A spiritual tradition is also evident in the cult of Guntramn's
predecessor Sigismund, king of Bergundy, founder of Aquame, opponent
of Arianism, and curer of fevers. In particular, the inclusion of the
virtue "curer of fevers" seems rather reminiscent of the spiritual
powers of plants in particular.
Your comment on Gregory wanting the king out of the Church's hair
reminds me of discussions of the various versions of the 13th century
"Roman de la Rose" with, it seems, some versions being tailored to a
"courtly love" interest of the nobility and other versions tailored
more to the Church with perhaps rather more of an implication of the
"rose of heavenly love". Also, the Middle English Agnus Castus
ascribes many healing powers to the rose, including assuaging fever.
The contemporary name Planterose is generally cited as the strongest
evidence for a "gardener" meaning to Plant-like names, including the
Plant name, but then the rose was a heraldic device (e.g. the Plant
blazon) and there are also contemporary moral (e.g. Nequam)
interpretations of the rose. In fact, the etymology of Planterose
seems open to many kinds of interpretation and, in that respect, is a
rather bad example. If I were asked to decide which meaning
summarised the notion that was the most potent and mundane in
medieval times, I should perhaps venture to point to implanting some
amalgam of spiritual love and healing powers, despite the fact that
gardening is now the most popular hobby (in England anyway).
John
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