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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture On Monday, April 11, 2005, at 7:35 pm, Phyllis wrote: > Today (12. April) is the feast day of: > Alferius (d. 1050) Alferius was a noble of Salerno. He contracted a > serious illness while on a mission to the French court, and vowed to > enter the religious life if he were cured. He did indeed recover and > became a monk at Cluny. Duke Gisulf of Salerno soon brought A back > home to reform monasteries in the duchy. A. was unsuccessful and > became a hermit. The disciples he attracted were formed into the > monastery of La Cava. A's cult was formally approved in 1893. Referring, as does Phyllis' source, to the southern Lombard principalities as duchies and to their rulers as dukes conforms with the in this case usually insubstantial pretensions of Western Imperial style but not with the practices of the Lombard rulers themselves, of the Roman Empire of the East, and of recent historians of early medieval southern Italy concerned to reflect somewhat accurately the ordinary realities of power in this region. Calling this particular ruler of Salerno "duke" also departs from the text of our chief source for A.'s life, abbot Peter II of Santissima Trinità at Venosa's _Vitae quatuor priorum abbatum Cavensium_, where Gisulf is referred to more than once as 'princeps' and never as 'dux'. Modern historians are also somewhat less inclined than is Phyllis' source to accept abbot Peter at his word when he names the prince in question Gisulf. This cannot have been Gisulf II, the last Lombard prince of Salerno, who succeeded to that office in 1052, when A. was already dead. Gisulf I's rule ended in 977; since Peter says that G. had sent A. on a diplomatic mission to Germany prior to A.'s mission to France and subsequent entry into monastic life at Cluny, A. will have had to have been born ca. 940 at the very latest. And, indeed, abbot Peter says that A. was aged 120 when he died. Since that would be little short of miraculous, it seems better to suppose that Peter was misinformed about the identity of the prince in question and perhaps, if he did not merely miscaculate on the basis of the wrong prince, that he was also misinformed as to A.'s true age at death. The current favorite is Guaimar III (ruled 999-1027). Best, John Dillon ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html