medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Our source for Alferius, founder of what became the famous Benedictine abbey of Santissima Trinita' at Cava de' Tirreni (a.k.a. La Cava), is abbot Peter II of Santissima Trinita' at Venosa in his _Vitae quatuor priorum abbatum Cavensium_, written during the initial years of the Norman-ruled kingdom and at a favored daughter house of La Cava in close proximity to Robert Guiscard's family burial ground for the Hautevilles. Peter's assertion that Alferius was Norman has often been viewed with scepticism and interpreted as a means of reinforcing La Cava's association with the present ruling class of the principality of Salerno and with that of the kingdom of which the formerly autonomous principality was now a part. It seems more likely that A. was a Lombard, as was his prince, Guaimar III (IV).
"duke of Salerno" is a strange anachronism: Salerno had been a principality since the middle of the 9th century. It's been a while since I've read abbot Peter (whose edition in RIS, 2d ser., ascribes the Vitae to his predecessor, abbot Hugh II); if he indeed uses "dux" he may have been thinking of the principality under Norman rule, when the dukes of Apulia were also princes of Salerno (the Guiscard having ousted the last Lombard prince in the male line, Gisulf II, in 1077).
The badia (abbey) of Santissima Trinita' at La Cava is famous for the rich documentary holdings of its library. The abbey church has retained medieval elements, perhaps most notably its reconstructed ambo with two tortile columns borne by lions, variously dated to the 12th or 13th century. Smallish photographs of the ambo and of the 13th-century cloister may be seen at:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/2545/itinere4.html
(near bottom)
and:
http://www.intermedia.sa.it/matteontheweb/badia.htm
Best,
John Dillon
On Fri, 11 Apr 2003 18:35:39 -0700 Phyllis Jestice wrote:
>Today (12. April) is the feast day of:
>Alferius (d. 1050) Alferius was a Norman, in service to the duke of
>Salerno. He was sent on an embassy to France, but fell ill along the way
>and became a monk at Cluny. The duke insisted that A. return home to
>reform the monasteries of Spoleto---which a. tried to do but failed. So he
>went and founded a new monastery, La Cava (near Salerno), which became the
>head of a reforming congregation that numbered 100's of confederate houses.
>A. himself is believed to have lived to the age of 120 (which sounds
>suspiciously like Moses to me).
>
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