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 early decades of the Norman-ruled
kingdom and at a favored daughter house of La Cava responsible for Robert
Guiscard's burial church for the Hautevilles. Modern historians view with
skepticism Peter's assertion that Alferius was Norman, considering it
probably a strategem on his part for reinforcing La Cava's association with
the present ruling class of the principality of Salerno and with that of
the kingdom of which this formerly autonomous state 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: as is well known, 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 by Dom Leo Mattei-Cerasoli in
_Rerum Italicarum Scriptores_, 2d ser., VI, 5, ascribes the Vitae to P.'s
predecessor, abbot Hugh II); if he indeed uses "dux" he may have been
thinking in terms of the pre-kingdom principality under Norman rule, when
the dukes of Apulia were also the princes of Salerno (Robert Guiscard
having ousted the last Lombard prince in the male line, Gisulf II, in 1077)
but were still ordinarily referred to by their ducal titles.
Best,
John Dillon
At 04:49 PM 4/11/2004 -0700, Phyllis wrote:
>Today (12. April) is the feast day of:
>
>Alferius (d. 1050) Alferius was a Norman noble, a native of Salerno.
>He was sent on an embassy to France but fell ill and when he
>recovered became a monk at Cluny. The duke of Salerno got A to
>return, and he then founded the monastery of La Cava, the mother
>house of numerous Cluny-affiliated monasteries in southern Italy.
>A's cult was confirmed in 1893.
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