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The Anxiety of Sanctity: St Gerald of Aurillac and his Maker

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2009

Stuart Airlie
Stuart Airlie
Affiliation:
Department of Medieval History, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ
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Extract

Count Gerald of Aurillac (855–909) might seem rather out of place in a gallery of medieval saints: an aristocratic warrior, a great lord, Gerald seemed very much a man of this world rather than a saint in ascetic withdrawal from it. This was also the initial opinion of his biographer, who is, as far as this article is concerned, effectively his maker since we shall be dealing only with the ‘textual’ Gerald and not the historical one. This biographer, no less a figure than Abbot Odo of Cluny (879–942), began his Vita of Gerald (c. 930) by saying that many people doubted that Gerald was a saint. The opening words of Odo's Praefatio are quite explicit and perhaps rather surprising: ‘many people tend to doubt whether what is said about the blessed Gerald is true. And quite a lot of these people say that these stories are not only not true but fantastic.’ Originally Odo himself had not been too certain of Gerald's saintliness, though by the time he came to write the Vita he was convinced enough.2 The problem lay in convincing others.

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The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 43 , Issue 3 , July 1992 , pp. 372 - 395
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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References

1 Odo of Cluny, VG Praefatio, 639 and see book i. 42. 667–8.

2 VG Praefatio, 640–1.

3 Ibid.

4 ‘Alii quoque velut excusationes in peccatis quaerentes, indiscrete hunc extollunt, dicentes videlicet quia Geraldus potens et dives fuit, et cum deliciis vixit, et utique sanctus est’: VG Praefatio, 639 and see Praefatio to book ii, ‘Nam laico homini multa licent quae monacho non licent…Geraldus quippe licenter suo ordini concessis utebatur’: 669. Odo was trying to reach men of Gerald's ordo.

5 Loup de Ferriéres, Correspondance, i, ed. L. Levillain, Paris 1927, no. 6; cf. no. 13.

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7 ‘ Quoniam vero hunc Dei hominem in exemplo potentibus datum credimus, viderint ipsi qualiter eum… imitentur’: VG Praefatio, 642 and note the comparison of Gerald to Noah as a God-fearing man worthy of imitation, 641. For further discussion of Gerald as an exemplary figure, see below and Lotter, F., ‘Das Idealbild adliger Laienfrommigkeit in den Anfangen Clunys: Odos Vita des Grafen Gerald von Aurillac’, in W. Lourdeaux and D. Verhelst (eds), Benedictine Culture 730–1050 (Mediaevalia Lovaniensia xi, 1983), 76–95, at p. 79.Google Scholar

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12 On such topics see Erdmann, C., The Origin of the Idea of Crusade, trans. Baldwin, M. W. and Goffart, W., Princeton 1977, 87–8; G. Duby, The Three Orders, trans. A. Goldhammer, Chicago-London 1980, 97–9; and Schneider, J., ‘Aspects de la société dans l'Aquitaine carolingienne d'apres la Vita Geraldi Auriliacensis’, Comptes rendus de I'Académic des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (1973), 8–19. These are merely representative of a larger bibliography.Google Scholar

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24 Chastity: De Virtutibus, 18. 626–7; pride: Ibid. 34. 635–7; superbia is warned against,Ibid. 23. 630–1.

25 De Virtutibus, 34. 637; Toubert, P., ‘La théorie du mariage chez les moralistes carolingiens’, in ll matrimonio nella società altomedievale (Settimane di studio del centro Italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo xxiv, 1977), 233–82, at pp. 246–7.Google Scholar

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28 Nelson, J. L., ‘On the limits of the Carolingian Renaissance’, in Derek Baker (ed.), Renaissance and Renewal in Christian History, Studies in Church History, xiv, 1977, 51–69, repr. in Nelson, J. L., Politics and Ritual in Early Medieval Europe, London 1986, 49–67, at p. 57.Google Scholar

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36 Manuel pour monfils, ed. Riche, P., (Sources Chretiennes, ccxxv, 1975). On the date of composition, see Riché's Introduction, 11, 19–21.Google Scholar

37 She prays for the flourishing of William and any future children of his – ‘in saeculo vigeat cum prole’: Manuel, 76. See also her condemnation of fornication and praise of marriage, which culminates in her assertion that the Fathers had blessed the institution of marriage – ‘ Non enim excludunt doctores nuptiarum sacris iungere thorum’Google Scholar: ibid. iv. 6, 228. On her own marriage see her Praefatio, ibid. 84.

38 See e.g. Manuel viii. 14, 15. 318–22, x. 5. 354 and for full discussion of this family, J. Wollasch, ‘Eine adlige Familie des frühen Mittelalters. Ihr Selbstverstandnis und ihre Wirklichkeit’, Archiv fur Kulturgeschkhte xxxix (1957), 150–88.Google Scholar

39 Alms: Manuel iv. 8, 9. 234–58; cf. Alcuin, De Virtutibus, 17, PL ci. 625–6 and Jonas, De Institution, iii. 10, PLcvi. 251–3. Concern with the rightful use of aristocratic wealth also appears in Odo's VG, e.g. i. 14, 651. For general Carolingian consideration on the spiritual dangers of hoarding wealth see Newhauser, R., ‘Towards modus in habendo: transform- ations in the idea of avarice’, Zettschrift der Savigny-Stiftung fur Rechtsgeschichte cvi, Kanonistische Ableilung lxxv (1989), 1–22, especially at pp. 15–22.Google Scholar

40 On the family see n. 38 above; on the priesthood, Manuel iii. 11. 184–96 and Riché's Introduction, 25–6.Google Scholar

41 Manuel iv. 8. 246–8; on Dhuoda's fear that corruption could cancel out the virtues of noble bloodGoogle Scholar, see Martindale, J., ‘The French aristocracy in the early Middle Ages: a reappraisal’, Past and Present lxxv (1977), 5–45, at pp. 17–18.Google ScholarA parallel statement that true nobility consists in behaviour pleasing to God can be found in Odo's Collationes: ‘Et certe, ut ait Hieronymus, omnes per divinam gratiam aequales efficimur, quos nativitas secunda regeneravit: per quam tarn nobilis quam ignobilis Dei filius efficitur, et terrena nobilitas splendore coelestis gloriae obumbratur’: Collationes iii. 30, PL cxxxiii. 613.Google Scholar

42 Odo, VG Praefatio, 639–40.Google Scholar

43 See VG i. 1. 641–3; 4. 644–5; 5– 645; 12. 650–1. See Lotter, ‘Das Idealbild adliger Laienfrommigkeit’, 79–80 and idem, ‘Methodisches zur Gewinnung historischer Erkenntnisse’, 308, 310. Hagiography can of course be a surprisingly flexible genre. In the present context it is relevant to recall the tradition of relatively ‘miracle-free’ saintly biographies written at Fulda, e.g. Eigil's Vita Sturmi, in Die Vita Sturmi des Eigil von Fulda, ed. P. Engelberg (Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Hessen und Waldeck xxix, 1968). On this text's place in Fulda's hagiographical tradition, see O. G. Oexle, ‘Memorialüberlieferung und Gebetsgedachtnis in Fulda vom 8. bis zum 11. Jahrhundert’Google Scholar, in Karl, Schmid (ed.), Die Klostergemeinschaft von Fulda im früheren Mitlelalter, i, Munich 1978, 136–77, at pp. 160–1.Google Scholar

44 Annales Mettenses priores, ed. Simson, B. (MGH SS rer. Germ., 1905), 1–19. The suggestive analysis of this text as a Davidic biography of Pippin in I. Haselbach, Aufstieg und Herrschaft der Karlinger in der Darstellung der sogenannten Annales Mettenses priores, Lübeck–Hamburg 1970, 37ff remains convincing despite the critique of Schroer, N., ‘Die Annales Mettenses priores. Literarische Form und politische Intention’Google Scholar, in Karl, Hauck and Hubert, Mordek (eds), Geschichtsschreibung und Geistiges Leben im Mittelalter. Festschrift für Heinz Lowe, Cologne–Vienna 1978, 139–58Google Scholar. The text of the ‘Royal Annals’ is in Annales Regni Francorum, ed. Kurze, F. (MGH SS rer. Germ., 1895) and relevant discussion in D. Bullough, ‘Europae Pater: Charlemagne and his achievement in the light of recent scholarship’, English Historical Review lxxxv (1970), 59–105, at p. 69.Google Scholar

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47 ‘ Vitam et conversationem et… res gestas… Karoli, excellentissimi et merito famosissimi regis’: Vila Karoli, Praefatio, 1.Google Scholar

48 ‘domini et nutritoris mei Karoli’: ibid.; see also Beumann, ‘Topos und Gedankenfuge’, 343–4.

49 Vila Karoli, 1. 2, pp. 2–4.

50 Vita Karoli, 18 (wives and concubines), pp. 21–3; 19 (children), pp. 23–5.Google Scholar

51 Charlemagne‘s wars are described in Vita Karoli, 5–15, pp. 7–18; ‘regnum Francorum… ita nobiliter ampliavit, ut poeneduplum illi adiecerit’: Vita Karoli, 15, p. 17.Google Scholar See Wallace-Hadrill, J. M., ‘War and peace in the early Middle Ages’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 5th ser. xxv (1975), 157–74Google Scholarand in his Early Medieval History, Oxford 1975, 19–38, at pp. 30–1. For hunting and feasting see Vita Karoli, 22, p. 27 and 24, pp. 28–9.Google Scholar

52 Thegan, Vita Hludowici, ed. Rau, R. (Quellen zur Karolingischen Reichsgeschichte 1, 1955); Astronomer, Vita Hludowici Imperatoris,Google Scholaribid. Dating and discussion of both texts in Wattenbach–Levison, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mitlelalter. Vorzeit und Karolinger, bearbeitet von H. Löwe, iii, Weimar 1957, 332–8. The latest thinking on Thegan is in E. Tremp, Studien zu den Gesta Hludowici imperatoris des Trierer Chorbischofs Thegan (MGH Schriften xxxii, 1988).

53 ‘Poetica carmina gentilia quae in iuventute didicerat, respuit, nee legere, nee audire, nee docere voluit… tardus ad irascendum et facilis ad miserandum… Nunquam in risum exaltavit vocem suam, nee quando … procedebant themilici, scurri et mimi cum coraulis et citharistis ad mensam coram eo, tune ad mensuram ridebat populus coram eo, ille nunquam nee dentes candidos suos in risu ostendit’: Thegan, Vita Hludowici, 19. 226–8.Google Scholar

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56 Thegan, Vita Hludowici, 19. 228; Vita Karoli, 24. 28.Google Scholar

57 VG i. 15. 652; see Odo's Collationes ii. 1, PL cxxxiii. 549–50.Google Scholar

58 Thegan, Vita Hludowici, 19 (military skill), 230–2; 26 (wife), 232; 1, 3 and 53 (importance of family), 216, 246.Google Scholar

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62 Irsigler, ‘On the aristocratic character’, 118–19.

63 Vila Arnulfi, iv, ed. B., Krusch (MGH SS rer. Merov. ii, 1888), 433.Google ScholarThe eighth-century date is argued for, against the conventional seventh-century ascription, by Ian, Wood, ‘Forgery in Merovingian hagiography’, in Fälschungen im Millelalter (MGH Schriften xxxiii, v, 1988), 369–84, at pp. 370-1. I am grateful to Ian Wood for discussion on this point.Google Scholar

64 Vita Arnulfi, iv. 433; see Prinz, F., Klerus und Krieg imfrüheren Mittelalter, Stuttgart 1971,Google Scholar

65 Confronted by his enemies, Lambert's first instinct is to reach for his sword, but he realises that the victory of eternal life is to be gained by submitting himself to his fate: Vita Landiberti, xiv, ed. B., Krusch, (MGH SS rer. Merov. vi, 1913), 367–8. See also Irsigler, ‘On the aristocratic character’, 119;Google ScholarPrinz, , Klerus und Krieg, 59–60; and Scheibelreiter, ‘Der frühfrankische Episkopat’, 138.Google Scholar

66 Vita Gangulfi, ed. W., Levison (MGH SS rer. Merov. vii, 1920).Google ScholarSee also Poulin, , L'idéal de la saintete, 157. Gangulfus' cult was fostered by some notable tenth-century figures including Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim and Bishop Gerard of Toul. See Levison's introduction to the text of the Vita, 153–4.Google Scholar

67 Vita Gangulfi, 3. 159.

68 Vita Gangulfi, 10-15. 164-70 and see especially C.15. 169 for an interesting account of the relationship between Gangulfus’ life, death and miracles.

69 VG i. 7. 646.

70 ‘satius esse temerarios vi bellica premi, quam pagenses et inermes ab eisdem opprimi’: VG i. 7. 646.

71 VG i. 7, 8. 646.

72 ‘Non tamen, ut plerisque moris est, ulciscendi libidine percitus, aut vulgaris amore laudis illectus, sed pauperum dilectione, qui seipsos tueri nequibant infervens’: VG, i. 8. 646. This is strikingly different from the stark celebration of a heroic vengeance ethic in the Annales Mettenses priores as seen at n. 44 above.

73 On Eberhard's victory as the victory of a Christian warrior, see Sedulius Scotus, Carmen xxxix, MGH Poetae Latini Aevi Carolini iii, 1896, 202–3. See also H. Lowe, ‘Geschichtschreibung der ausgehenden Karolingerzeit’, Deutsches Archiv xxiii (1967), 1–30Google Scholar and reprinted in his Von Cassiodor zu Dante, Berlin-New York 1973, 180–205, here at pp. 198-9. Another victory pleasing to Christians, that of Count Gerard of Vienne over some Vikings in the Rhone valley was celebrated in 860 by Loup de Ferrières, Correspondance, ii, no. 110.Google Scholar

74 See, for example, the combination of spiritual and practical counsel on warfare offered by early tenth-century monks at St Gall to the local nobility against a sombre background of Hungarian raids, in J., Dunbabin, ‘The Maccabees as exemplars in the tenth and eleventh Centuries’, in Katherine, Walsh and Diana, Wood (eds), The Bible in the Medieval World: essays in memory of Beryl Smalley, Studies in Church History Subsidia iv, 1985. 31–41. at p. 35.Google Scholar

75 ‘Nam reipublicae statu jam nimis turbato regales vassos insolentia marchionum sibi subjugaverat’: VG i. 32. 660–1. For discussion of general context see J. Schneider,’ Aspects de la société dans l'Aquitaine carolingienne’, and J.-P., Poly and E., Bournazel, La mutation fe'odale (X-XII siècks), Paris 1980, 136–7, 344. For Hincmar of Rheims, obedience to the properly constituted authority was what licensed warfare: see his De regis persona, 11, PL cxxv.Google Scholar 842 and J., Flori, L'deologic du glaive, Geneva 1983, 52–62.Google Scholar

76 Regino, , Chronicon, a. 888, ed. F., Kurze (MGH SS rer. Germ. 1890), 129.Google ScholarThere is valuable comment in H., Löwe, ‘Regino von Prüm und das historische Weltbild der Karolingerzeit’, Rheinische Vierteljahrsblätter xvii (1952), 151–79Google Scholar, repr. in Löwe, Von Cassiodorzu Dante, 149–79Google Scholar, at P- ‘62 for 888 and pp. 156–60 for Regino and the aristocratic ethos. The penetration of Regino's vision of the crisis of legitimacy is noted by K., Leyser, Rule and Conflict in an Early Medieval Society, London 1979, 15–16.Google Scholar

77 ‘Ridiculum hoc hostibus foret, nisi Geraldus vi divina roboratus, mox eisdem hostibus intolerabilis esset. Quod etiam suis valde videbatur ineptum’: VG i. 8. 646–7.

78 VG Praefatio, 642 and see n. 7 above. See also VG i. 42. 667–8.

79 ‘Nos autem de ejus actibus occasionem sumentes aliquid ad eosdem potentes commonendos…sicut rogastis, annectimus’: VG Praefatio, 642.

80 VG Praefatio, 639.

81 See his Collationes at, e.g. iii. 24, 25, 26, PL cxxxiii, 607–9, and B., Rosenwein, ‘St Odo's St Martin: the uses of a model’, Journal of Medieval History iv (1978), 317–31, at p. 324. Odo's own background was aristocratic: his father was a vassal of William the Pious.Google ScholarSee John, of Salerno, Vita Sancti Odonis, i. 3; i. 5, PL cxxxiii.Google Scholar 45–6 and J., Wollasch, ‘Königtum, Adel und Kloster im Berry während des 10. Jahrhunderts’, in Gerd, Tellenbach (ed.), Neue Forschungen iiber Cluny und die Cluniacenser, Freiburg 1959, 17–165, at pp.Google Scholar 120ff. There is further comment in P., Wormald, ‘Aethelwold and his continental counterparts’, in Barbara, Yorke (ed.), Bishop Aethelwold: his career and influence, Woodbridge 1988, 13–42, at pp. 19-21.Google Scholar

82 Vita Sancti Odonis, i. 8. 47. See Rosenwein, ‘St Odo's St Martin’, 321 and Wormald, ‘Aethelwold’, 20.

83 Vita Odonis, i. 35, 36, cols 58–60 and ii. 19, 20, cols 71–2. See J., Wollasch, ‘Parenté noble et monachisme réformateur’, Revue Historique cclxiv (1980), 3–24, at p. 7.Google Scholar

84 Collationes, Epistola Nuncupatoria, PL cxxxiii. 517; VG Praefatio, 642.Google Scholar

85 The key sections here are Collationes, iii. 24–30, 607–13.Google Scholar For general comment on such catalogues of rebukes for the aristocracy see Murray, A., Reason and Society in the Middle Ages, Oxford 1978, 102–3, 333–4.Google ScholarThere are specific comments on Odo in Lotter, F., ‘Das Idealbild adliger Laienfrömmigkeit’, 88–9Google Scholar and Rosenwein, B. and Little, L. K., ‘Social meaning in the monastic and mendicant spiritualities’, Past and Present lxiii (1974), 4–32, at p. 14.Google Scholar

86 ‘Nam laico homine multa licent quae monacho non licent’: VG ii. Praefatio, 669; the phrase ‘exteriora gesta’ comes from VG i. 42. 667.

87 VG ii. Praefatio, 667–70.

88 VG i. 8. 647; see Poulin, , L'idéal de la sainteté, 129–30.Google Scholar

89 Flori, , L'idéologie du glaive, 18–19. Hrabanus’ position was, however, a finely nuanced one - ‘Sed inter haec sciendum, quod magna distantia est inter legitimum principem et seditiosum tyranum’: Poenitenlium liber, 15, PL cxii. 1412.Google ScholarSee Kottje, R., Die Bussbiicher Halilgars von Cambrai und des Hrabanus Maurus, Berlin 1980, 240–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Nelson, J. L., ‘Ninth-century knighthood’, in Christopher, Harper-Bill and others (eds), Studies in Medieval History presented to R. Allen Brown, Woodbridge 1989, 255–67, at p. 257.Google Scholar

90 This was the fate of King Sigbert of East Anglia: Bede, , Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum iii. 18, ed. C., Plummer, Oxford 1896, 162–3.Google Scholar

91 VG ‘o 2. 643.

92 VG i. 3. 643–4.

93 Boso: Vita Iohannis Gorziensis, cvi, ed. G. H., Pertz, (MGH SS iv, 1841), 367.Google ScholarLouis and his wife: Visio cuiusdam pauperculae mulieris, text in Wattenbach-Levison, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen, iii, 317 at n. 85.Google ScholarCharlemagne and his daughters: Einhard, , Vita Karoli, 19. 24–5.Google Scholar

94 VG i. 9. 647–9. On Odo's view of physical comeliness as literally only skin deep, see Collationes ii. 9, PL cxxxiii. 556 and cf. Morghen, R., ‘Monastic reform and Cluniac spirituality’, in Noreen, Hunt (ed.), Cluniac Monasticism in the Central Middle Ages, London. 1971, 11–28, at pp. 23–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

95 VG i. 34. 662–3, and iii 10. 696.

96 See, e.g. Vita Arnulfi, 5. 433 with Lotter, F., ‘Methodisches zur Gewinnung historischer Erkenntnisse’, 346–7Google Scholar and Glasser, M., ‘Marriage in Medieval Hagiography’, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History, n.s. iv (1981), 1–34, at pp. 15–19.Google Scholar

97 Vita Sanctae Rictrudis, PL cxxxii. 827–48. See especially c. 5, 833–4, c- 7. 835. For discussion of Hucbald and his text see Essen, L. van Der, ‘Hucbald de Saint-Amand et sa place dans le mouvement hagiographique médiéVale’, Revue d'Histoire Ecclésiastique xix (1923), 333–51 and 522–52, at pp. 522–7 and pp. 543–50;Google ScholarWallace-Hadrill, , The Frankish Church, 410–11;Google Scholar and Poulin, , L'idéal de la sainteté, 157.Google Scholar

98 ‘simul patienter vivere, simul delectabiliter mori’: Vita Gangulfi, 8, 162.

99 Ibid. 162–3.

100 Sermo de Vita et Morte Gloriosae Virginis Maurae, PL cxv. 1367–76, at 1370. I am grateful to Andrea Hodgson for bringing this text to my attention and to Janet Nelson for giving me a copy of her unpublished translation.Google Scholar

101 Thegan, , Vita Hludowici, 42, 44. 238–40Google Scholar and Astronomer, , Vita Hludowici Imperatoris. 48, 49. 344–6. See Leyser, ‘Early Medieval canon law and the beginnings of knighthood’. 560.Google Scholar

102 Astronomer, Vita Hludowici Imperatoris, 32. 308.

103 VG i. 34. 663. Note also Odo's concerns with the sins of the flesh in Collationes ii. 7, 8, 9. 554–6.Google ScholarThere is a general discussion of related texts in Payer, P. J., Sex and the Penitentials, Toronto 1984, 49–52.Google Scholar

104 VG i. 34. 663. Compare Odo's own encounter with a young noblewoman who preferred the cloister to the marriage bed: Vita Odonis, i. 36. 59.

105 Dunbabin, J., France in the Making 843–1180, Oxford 1985, 105.Google Scholar

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107 Einhard, Vita Karoli, 19, 22, pp. 23, 27. For Charlemagne's queen and daughters on a hunt, see the epic poem Karolus Magnus et Leo Papa, ed. E., Dm (MGH Poetae Latini Aevi Carolini i, 1881), 370–4Google Scholar and Godman, P., Poets and Emperors, Oxford 1987. 88–9.Google ScholarFor Louis, see Ermoldus, , Poème sur Louis le Pieux, lines. 2364–2435, ed. E., Faral, Pari. 1932, 180–4.Google ScholarFor Notker on Charlemagne's hunt: Gesta Karoli Magni, ii. 17. 86–7.Google Scholar

108 See, e.g. Boniface's letter of 747 to Archbishop Cuthbert of Canterbury: ‘Servis Dei venationes et silvaticas vagationes cum canibus et ut acceptores et uualcones non habeant, prohibuimus’: Die Briefe des Heiligen Bonifatius und Lullus, ed. M., Tangl (MGH Epistolae selectae i, 1916), no. 78.Google ScholarThere are further references in Prinz, , Klerus und Krieg im früheren Mittelalter, 23–6, 83–4.Google Scholar

109 Irsigler, ‘On the aristocratic character’, 119–20.

110 Vita Trudonis, 4, ed. W., Levison (MGH SS rer. Merov. vi), 278.Google Scholar

111 Vita Gangulfi, 2. 158 and cf. Prinz, , Klerus und Krieg, 84 n. 42.Google Scholar

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114 Vita Odonis, i. 8. 47. On the parallels between Odo and his Gerald here, see C. Carozzi, ‘De l'enfance à la maturité. Étude d'après les vies de Géraud d'Aurillac et d'Odon de Cluny’, Études sur la sensibilité. Actes du 102 Congrès National des Sociétés Savantes, ii, Paris 1979, 103–16, at p. 106 and Wormald, ‘Aethelwold and his continental counterparts’, 20.Google Scholar

115 Asser's Life of King Alfred, Ixxvi, ed. W. H., Stevenson, Oxford 1904, 59.Google Scholar

116 VG i. 1. 642; see Dunbabin, France in the Making, 106.

117 Odo's worries are plainly visible in his Collationes iii. 30. 613, see n. 41 above. The saintly figure among her son's forebears, William of Gellone, is mentioned by Dhuoda but she does not distinguish him in any way from other members of the family: Manuel, x. 5. 354. On the differing views of Einhard and Thegan on saintly Carolingian ancestors, see Oexle, O. G., ‘Die Karolinger und die Stadt des heiligen Arnulf’, Frühmittelalterliche Studien i (1967), 250–364, at pp. 277–8. lls VG Praefatio, 641 and i. 34. 662–3.Google Scholar

118 VG Praefatio, 641 and i. 34. 662–3.

119 VG i. 11. 649–50; i. 15. 652; i. 16. 653; see Einhard, , Vita Karoli, 23, 24, pp. 28–9. In the citations from VG Gerald is specifically contrasted with other nobles, to his credit, but he does thereby appear as different.Google Scholar

120 His followers urge him into action: VG i. 6, 7. 646–7; scepticism over his tactics: i. 8. 646–7; complaints about his gentleness and his not being like other lords: i. 24. 656; profitless wars: i. 33. 662.

121 Collationes iii. 24. 608; iii. 27. 610–11. See Rosenwein and Little, ‘Social meaning’, 14 and Lotter, ‘Das Idealbild adliger Laienfrömmigkeit’, 89.

122 On noble mockers, see Collationes i. 19. 532 and Rosenwein and Little, Social Meaning, 14.

123 VG i. 26. 657–8; Vita Odonis, ii. 10. 66–7.

124 VG ii. 2. 670.

125 V., Fumagalli, ‘Note sulla ‘Vita Geraldi’ di Odone di Cluny’, Bollettino dell'Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo lxxvi (1964), 217–40;Google ScholarDuby, , The Three Orders, 97–8.Google Scholar

126 See e.g. VG ii. 10. 676–7; ii. 11. 677; ii. 24. 683–4.