2 - Forgeries and Histories at Saint Peter’s, Ghent

Summary

THE LIBER TRADITIONUM

Early in the abbacy of Wichard (1034–1058), charters of the monastery of Saint Peter’s, Ghent were copied or summarized in a codex, conventionally called the Liber Traditionum by historians. This title could be translated as “Book of Donations” or perhaps more evocatively as “Book of Traditions” since it had been “handed over” (trado) to the monks. This name does not appear in the manuscript, though the titles of many parts usually contain the word “traditiones” or the verb trado, so it is apt. The compilation of the Liber Traditionum was done with a tendentious purpose and many of its charter copies had substantial and intentional alterations, from brief interpolations to outright inventions. These charters were complemented by short narrative sections and titles, which linked the work together. These linking texts were deliberate interventions by the composers designed to structure the book as a whole, including a long foundation narrative which headed the work. Collectively, they put forward a particular history of the monastery. This “story” as written, and probably told within and outside the monastery, offered a partisan view of the monastery's past.

The Liber Traditionum was clearly composed as a unified work, but its “story” is related below in five parts based on its structure. Three parts use titles provided by the manuscript itself. The other two parts were demarcated in the manuscript by a concluding phrase, which was partially capitalized like a title. Throughout I have added dates or other clarifying information in parentheses. Not only do these five parts reflect the intentions of the organizers, they will be a useful means of reference when the story is revisited later. But first the “story” itself must be related.

THE STORY OF SAINT PETER’S, GHENT

Here begins a story told in five parts.

Part 1: “An account of the foundation and building of the cloister of Blandinium, which is sited in the territory of Ghent in the place called Blandinium.” (610–815)

In the time of King Dagobert of the Franks, Saint Amand came to missionize the territory around Ghent, which was a wild and dangerous region, and wished to establish a cloister (coenobii) there.